mission: wedding week!

that's right! my sister is getting married this friday, and i am ready...well almost. being the maid(tron) of honor, i have been a tori's beck and call, waiting to help out, planning and organizing, trying to keep her as sane as possible. i am at the point where i have just about reached my limit of sanity, and my stress has began seeping out of my pores awaiting a gigantic wave of hilarity and madness to come rushing, no longer seeping, out of my very being. for now, it is at bay. fortunately, my sister-in-law, lauren, has helped me, for she is the most organized person i have ever met and so detail oriented she asks me things i never even think of!  my mom also has been a help, making sure everything is getting done and keeping me laughing all the way. so with this powerful band of super women, this wedding is going to go on without a hitch (except for tori and dylan...they can get hitched).

until then, my to-do list is at home, staring me in the face every time i sit down on my lovely red couch. lime green with pink polka dots, the cutesy-ness does not fool me. i have what seems like a daunting amount of things to accomplish before tomorrow night. most of those things consist of cleaning and organizing my own apartment, a wreck of a place that is usually neat and tidy. i think it has become a reflection of what my mind looks like right now. let's just say, good thing i have off tomorrow, and also, good thing i have a husband who is willing to help me out, more so to keep me happy than anything else (because who really wants to take out a mound of recycling that has been collecting for quite some time...sarah and michael, you know what i mean).

i am getting a few things accomplished before i leave manhattan tonight, so that helps. and! this morning i did clear off my coffee table from the clutter of mail and magazines. was that a blockbuster video hiding????

so enough with the complaining, i am super excited to party it up! my mom told me she is going to dance the entire time at the reception, and i said that's all i do! there is a leashed dancer within me, and it only gets to really come out at weddings. i take that back, i dance all the time. dylan, my soon to be brother-in-law, laughs at me while asking if there is ever a time i am not dancing. no. there is not. and i sing all the time too. but! weddings are the times i get to dance with my husband, so that makes it extra special for me :) this will loosen us up for the bollywood lessons we are going to take in the spring!!!! woot woot! 

i will keep you readers updated with the wedding and get some pics up on here by the end of the weekend. cheers to tori and dylan!!! happy wedding week!

this is beth signing off.

mission: oh crap...the matron of honor speech...

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dream: i stole from bloomberg

whenever i take nyquil before i go to sleep, i am consciously aware that i will have a crazy dream. so as i took a dose last night, as i still fighting off this ridiculous cold, i looked at myself in the mirror and declared, "here is to a funky dream." pill swallowed, chased with cold water. out cold in five minutes.

my dream began in a cabin, and there was lots of snow outside. my dad was there and so was my mom and her mom (mimom...oh dear this will be a funny dream). my parents are no longer married to one another, and so this bizarre reality has begun. i am talking to my sister about a money scam i participated in. it was something like, i get a fraction of a cent every time someone, who i don't know, spends. they never even know i am stealing from them (isn't this from a movie...oh yeah office space!) my sister tells me she was involved with the same thing, and she was stealing from michael bloomberg, the mayor of nyc. she said she almost got caught, but it was no big deal. that is when i began to panic. i hopped into a car with my dad driving it and i told him what i was involved in. he was willing to help me escape, and as i was saying goodbye to him, the fbi found me. i was shaking with fear and dread of what they were going to do to me. they told me i had stolen $500,000 and i wasn't going to get away with it.

i was taken into a room, and a lot of people were there waiting for me. i finally saw a man who looked like mark twain, and come to find out, it was bloomberg trying to hear the truth from me. i said that i was tricked and scammed. i didn't mean to steal form anyone. and through my tears, bloomberg felt sorry for me and told me that i had until midnight to get the check of $500,000 to him so that i could be set free. if i didn't get it to him, i would be sent to prison. i rushed back to the cabin and was trying to find the check everywhere. it was in my purse, but a dog had taken it to play with it. i tried to find the mangy mutt but could not to no avail. i told bloomberg what had happened, and so he set out to help me find the check, trusting that i was telling him the truth. i also let him know that if i knew he was in that room when i first met him, i would have given it to him right then and there.  anyway, we searched high and low for the dog and i was running out of time. i was getting so upset with my family because they refused to help me out. i was freaking out, noticing how time was slipping so quickly from me. it was 11:39 last i checked, and suddenly! patrick woke me up from my dream. thank goodness.

strange...here is my analysis.

patrick and i have been able to spend a little bit more money that we normally would because we both have had decent bonuses and patrick just got a raise. we haven't been out of control, but if we continue on the path we are then we will! i guess i am subconsciously worried that money will take over my life instead of enjoying the things that i already have. we need to be wise with what we have been given, not be careless (or steal...haha) about money. 

this is beth signing off.

mission: laying off the nyquil for now.

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mission: my date on v-day

so it has been four days since valentine's day occurred, and i am finally getting the chance to sit down and blog about it. i have been super busy and feeling a little under the weather, so my need to blog has been less than urgent. however, i have the gumption to get going to recap my lovely day my husband planned for me.

valentine's day began with a rude awakening. patrick and i were spending the night at our friends brittany and tim's house, and around 12:00 a.m. their downstairs neighbors decided to have a 45 minute argument about rice. it woke me up from my slumber and i was pretty irritated then slightly amused about the rice conflict. when morning came, the four of us headed to pancakes plus for some breakfast. after we inadvertently had the hostess kick out some elderly folk from our seats, we ate our yummy comfort food and then walked it off around downtown nyack. there is a most delightful chocolate shop that we like to frequent when we are there, and so we bought a few truffles for a valentine's treat. brittany and i also had to go in a shop called saffron to check out the beautiful gifts. patrick ended up buying me a pom-pom blanket instead of flowers. let me tell ya, the blanket was a better buy because i can enjoy it as it keeps me warm for the rest of the winter, not to mention it is a super cute addition to our couch!

after spending the first half of our weekend with some friends, we headed into the city for a night on the town. stop number one was abboccato, a charming and classy italian restaurant in mid-town. when it came to ordering food there much debate, mostly within myself, on whether or not we should order from the regular menu or the special valentine's day tasting menu. i wanted pasta, and some of the items for the tasting didn't appeal to me as much as i would have liked. i looked patrick in the eye and told him that i wasn't feeling as brave tonight, a cop out sure, but i wanted to enjoy my food. he looked back at me and said, "come on beth! this food looks so good, why don't you want to eat it? " i went back and forth, driving myself, patrick, and i think out waitress a bit crazy. so after drinking half a glass of champagne, i decided on the special menu. and it was not a mistake.

my first course was a soft italian cheese with sweet pea puree and fresh greens. it was melt in your mouth amazing and very fresh. the second course was a ravioli made with a cocoa dough and stuffed with veal cheek. it was smothered in a vanilla bean butter that pleased my palate!

my main entree was john dory (a meaty white fish) wrapped in phyllo dough. the pastry was also stuffed with foi gras which i did not love. the texture was too mushy for me, but patrick seemed to enjoy its flavor very much. for dessert i had a warm chocolate torte complemented by raspberries and vanilla ice cream. everything was so great, and i will visit again to taste their regular menu next time.

we both drank some good wine and were feeling full and happy as we left. the next thing we did was go to see a little night music, starring catherine zeta-jones and angela lansbury. both women were fantastic, but i have to say that angela blew me away. i think it is because she is still doing what she loves and has the spark to continue acting on stage! i hope i am as spunky and hilarious as she is when i am older.

our night ended there, and it was good to get home once again. the excitement of the day and the buzz from my wine left me sleepy in the arms of my dearest. and that is all i will say about that.

this is beth signing off.

mission: romantically satisfied!

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mission: new nyc adventures!

i was talking to my friend sarah not too long ago about my blog. both she and her husband michael read my blog and found it endearing. she liked what i wrote about, but thought i should mix it up a bit and ask my readers to give me suggestions of what they would like to know about here in the city. so, here i am asking you to tell me what you want to read about! it can be anything from shows, to restaurants, to anything super fun to do in the city. i will take these suggestions and over the course of the next few months i will accomplish anything you would like me to.

other up-coming adventures for me include: my sister's wedding (dum dum da dum) and a trip to greece!!!!! until then, i will stay holed up in my warm apartment drinking hot chocolate. 

this is beth signing off!

mission: whatever lies ahead 

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mission: fixed sinus infection

i got the neti pot and it totally helped clear up my sinus infection! i could breathe a lot more easily as it cleared out my clogged sinus cavity. this is what the process looks like.



first, i stuck it in my nose just to show how ridiculous i felt.



then, i tilted my head...maybe too much. i am practically falling in the sink!



next, i poured the water into one nostril. this part feels like when you do a flip in the pool and you forget to breathe out of your nose mid-flip and the water is stuck inside. that feeling only lasts a second and then it is quite painless.



finally, the water comes out of my other nosrtil to clean me out! once you have used all the water in your neti pot, you blow the rest of the water from your sinus cavity out. i just do that right over the sink and wash all the boogies away. i know it sounds gross, but it is an amazing feeling when i am done. i can breathe so easily! speaking of, i am going to go use it right now.

this is beth signing off.
mission: successfully accomplished.

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mission: get rid of my sinus infection!

working with kids means getting all those icky nasty germs that they obtain from other children at school or at play places. so i think i am on cold #86 this season, and i have had it up to here (my hand is really high above my head right now) with catching them. the worst part is the remedies i must endure. here are my issues with cold medicines

1. they are not exactly what i am looking for and so i waste a good 20 minutes perusing one aisle in the drugstore to find what i am looking for (and i still haven't found what i'm looking for....i know, i am singing it now too).

2. meds= way too much money. even the off brands can be a little pricey, and i hate spending money on drugs. i would much rather purchase several bottles of nail polish instead.

3. if i buy the day and night packages, which is what i usually go for because i think it is a good deal. then what happens is that the nighttime pills never outlast the daytime ones as i forget to even use the daytime pills. but i always think i will need both kinds, and when i don't, i feel like i have wasted my money.

ok, so my solution to my whining is this! a neti pot! my friend danielle told me back in october that i should buy one. she swears by hers (she works with kids too, so she is an excellent source to trust) and says that she can breathe so much better when she uses it, even if she doesn't have a sinus infection. also, my friend marie told me about how much she loves hers as well. she uses it at least once a week, and told me that i need to buy one. marie is a medical student at u penn, i totally trust her advice as well.

my qualm about using the neti pot is this: it is weird. have you seen the commercial for it? if you haven't please, watch the video on youtube. after work today i plan to go to a drug store and pick one up, because i think it will make me feel so much better. we shall see, and i will let you know my feelings about it later.

this is beth signing off.
mission: well, like i said...we shall see.

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mission: bridal shower

this weekend i was down in nj once again for another bridal adventure, tori's bridal shower! it has been months of planning
and organizing, and i am happy to move on to the next party to plan. there was a lot of thought and worry that went into making this a special day for my little sis, and me, being the perfectionist that i am, had to have everything be perfect. i based everything around the wedding colors, blue and silver, taking into consideration that it is a winter wedding. i am most proud of the cupcakes that i helped to make with my mom. the funfetti cake was topped with vanilla frosting and either covered in sparkly sugar or shredded coconut then topped with a blue and white snowflake. the favors were also snowflake shaped cookie cutters, tagged with "tori and dylan: cut out for each other." i tried to buy blue flowers for the centerpieces, but had to settle with chartreuse pom poms, white roses and daises, and purple filler flowers. they were set in rectangle vases that were filled halfway with blue and silver stones. i have to say that they looked really pretty.

the shower took place in collingswood, nj at a cute little catering space called the painted cottage. we had a brunch, which was really good and included breakfast items, made to order omelettes and waffles, as well as some lunch options (the chicken marsala was a favorite). tori's bridesmaids were a big help in organizing the afternoon and keeping the flow of our activities moving. we played the classic toilet paper bridal gown game, as well as bridal bingo, and a trivia game all about the happy couple. tori then opened her plethora of gifts, and everyone truly showered her with love and joy over her quickly approaching wedding.

it was a lovely affair, and i look forward to the few events that remain surrounding her wedding. all that is left is the rehearsal, bachelorette party, and of course the BIG day!!!

this is beth signing off.
mission: accomplished



the bride with her girls (tori is the one in blue). thanks to everyone for your help! it was so very much appreciated.

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