The Many Faces of Noelle

Last week I was able to spend almost a week with my sister, brother-in-law, and their new little dear one. She is growing so much every day, and I am glad I could capture some of her facial expressions.

hehe...Tori and I couldn't help but laugh at this little funny face.

She is so cute, isn't she? Okay, I am slightly biased, but still...look at that face!

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Travels..as of late.

For those of you who know Patrick and I, you by now realize that we love to travel. We are constantly on the go, and although it can be quite exhausting at times, I enjoy visiting places new and old.

This past weekend we went to Arizona to meet up with Patrick's mom and sister, Emily, for some spring time excitement. On Saturday, which was St. Patrick's Day as well as Patrick's birthday (yes, that is why he is named Patrick), we hit up the Rockin Rodeo, dressed in cowboy boots and all, and supported the Hospice program that is a part of Tucson Medical Center. Every year they throw this event and raise money via silent auction and gaming tables where all the proceeds go to this charity. It sure was fun, boot scootin, black jackin, and eating lots of delicious cowboy type fare.

Me and Emily

Me and Patrick lookin' good.

Mom and Emily two stepping'

Patrick swinging his partner, Emily, round the floor.

Back at the Homestead, we surprised Patrick with a cake! Happy 27th Birthday!

After we celebrated Patrick's b-day, we hit the sack and slumbered like there was no tomorrow. Enough with the cowboy lingo...The next day we drove to Phoenix to go to a spring training game to watch the Angels play the Dodgers. Patrick is having a difficult time letting go of Mr. Pujols, although he won't outright admit to it, so we had to see him play for his new team. Just to let you know, Patrick is still an avid Cardinals fan, but saying goodbye is difficult to do.

We thought the game was going to be rained out, and yet the sun decided to shine through 5 whole innings...just for us :)

So excited to watch the game!!!

Trying to stay warm...rain and hail were coming our way!

Albert Pujols...there he is. Patrick took many pictures of him that day. We were quite close to him (our seats were along the first base line...for a reason).

This week I am heading down to Jersey to spend time with my sister, brother-in-law, Noelle, and lots of other family members! My twin cousins are in a school musical, Lil' Abner, and I cannot wait to see them shine on the stage. It is going to be a great week!

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Becoming an Aunt Again!

If you have been keeping up with my blog in the past couple of months, you well know that my sister was going to have a little girl, Noelle. I am happy to report that she arrived 10 days ago, and I am completely in love with her! She is so precious, and I cannot wait to see her again.

Being an aunt has brought me a lot of joy over the past couple of years as I have gotten to see my brother's little guy grow and change. He is so smart and so funny, and now with a niece, I am excited to see her grow up as well.

The day Noelle was born, my mom and I were supposed to be there with my sister throughout her labor to be a supportive and encouraging system for her. We never made it. Her labor and delivery happened so quickly that as my mom and I were driving on I-95 in Philly I got a text form my brother-in-law, Dylan, that said "6 lbs 2 oz." No one expected Noelle to come out so quickly, and although my mom and I were disappointed at arriving late, we quickly got over it when we walked into the room to meet the little peanut.

Noelle Eva, born at 9:04 a.m. on 2/27/2012.


I cried when I held her for the first time. I felt so much love and happiness, but most of all I felt pride in my sister. She had a really rough pregnancy but rarely complained throughout everything. She had shown me true strength, and as I held Noelle, I couldn't help but feel awed and inspired. Life is a gift from God and is a precious treasure. Thus, I broke down into a puddle of tears.

Once I gathered my emotions and sucked it up, I took pictures over the next couple of days.

Dylan and daughter.

Tori, Noelle, and Me.

Making fishy faces with my sweet nephew...this was my attempt at entertaining him while his parents met Noelle.

I am looking forward to those days when I will get to bake, knit, craft, play sports, go to Disney, read stories, act out plays, and all the other fun things that aunts are supposed to do with their nieces and nephews. Being an aunt is a true blessing for me.

Have a happy Wednesday!

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The Neglect is Settling In...

Well, I really tried to keep up with my blog, but the past couple of weeks have proved trying for me to accomplish the task of writing. You, see, my sister just had a baby last Monday, and in the midst of visiting her, we had visitors of our own and other events, and I just became too weary to keep up with my blogging duties.

But alas, I am back and I will share a few things with you all since my last post. First of all, Patrick and I have spent some spare time going to a few amazing restaurants around town. Two of them had a similar thread in common...they were both begun by Lidia and Joe Bastianich along with Mario Batali. That's right friends, we went to Del Posto for our Valentine's dinner with a follow up of the Pizzeria at their famous Italian market, Eataly, just 2 weeks later!

If you decide to hit up these amazing Italian hotspots in NYC, which I highly recommend, make sure you have the 100 layer lasagna from Del Posto and the pepperoni pizza from Eataly. These were our favorites, and I kid you not...they are pretty much the best foods I have ever consumed.

I am lacking some photos from Del Posto, but here are a few from Eataly.

Me and my pizza

Patrick's pepperoni pizza and beer served in a wine glass.

The pizza ovens.

So, after eating all this scrumptious Italian food around the town, I decided to make some of my own at home! I watched a clip of Fabio Viviani from Top Chef make his gnocchi one day, and I thought to myself that it look fairly easy to make. And so, I tested out the recipe in my teeny tiny NYC kitchen and found that it was a fun, although time consuming, dinner to make. Good thing I had all day to make it!

Here are some pics from my homemade Italian culinary adventure!

Gnocchi in a garlic, tomato olive oil sauce and topped with freshly grated parmesan.

Patrick enjoying his gnocchi.


Well, I hope to get back on track with my blog (again) now that some things are settled at the moment. I have a few adventures awaiting the near future, so stay tuned for those in the coming weeks!

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Valentine's Day!

Yeah yeah yeah...love blah blah blah...greeting card with hearts and puppies...chocolates...flowers that will die in a few days...what is the big deal? You may ask yourself this question as the cheesiest, corniest, lovesick day ever approaches. But, I have to admit that I love Valentine's Day. This was not always the case because I think one year in college I decided to boycott the day o' love and eat Ben and Jerry's ice cream whilst watching a non-romantic comedy. I was only kidding myself, however, and I just really wanted to send my friends Valentine's in the College Post Office (the C-PO as we called it) and get a few in return for myself.

Anyway, this is a day that we can use as a reminder to spend time with the ones you love, and you don't have to buy roses that cost an arm and a leg. Make a homemade card or a favorite meal for your friends. Valentine's Day isn't just about romance (although I do expect some from my husband), it is about showing love in an extra special way to those who mean the most to you.

This year, we decided to spend the night at home. We went out to a fancy dinner just the other day, trying to avoid the Valentine's Day rush. During that dinner, I looked over at Patrick and reminded him that this was our 7th Valentine's Day that we had spent together. We tried to recall what we had done each year, and to our amazement we remembered every single one of them. The first is difficult to forget. Patrick made me spaghetti with shrimp, and then for dessert we ate chocolate covered strawberries while watching Benny and Joon, one of my favorite movies. This was a big deal because Patrick doesn't cook, but he was willing to get out of his comfort zone and do something special for me. Since then, we have been to some amazing places for dinner, but mostly I have made meatloaf with potatoes and green beans. It has become a Valentine's tradition, and this year is no exception to that rule.

This year I am going to attempt to make a cake from foodandwine.com called toffee almond crunch cake that looks positively amazing. I hope it turns out as good as the one in this picture.

















I hope you have a happy Valentine's Day, and be sure to spread some love!

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Oh How I Love to Craft

It's funny to say I love to craft because about 5 years ago, I would always say, "I am only good at art. Not crafts. I do not make crafts." LIE! I should have said I don't make kitschy crafts, you know, those oddly painted porcelain dolls or creepy figurines that chill on my shelves. Some people love those, and good for you if you do. I don't. My particular love of crafts combines my artistic side, I suppose, and since becoming a member of Pinterest my craftiness has exploded into an out of control desire to make something every other day.

My dining room table has been transformed from a nice area to eat lovely meals to craft central, with an intermission of the mail catchall. What can I say? I live in a tiny Manhattan apartment, and I wish I had a "craft room/art studio" where I can live in art supply disarray! For heavens sakes, those very supplies occupy 4 baskets underneath my coffee table, for easy access, but also for lack of space. Oh well...not much I can do about that for the time being.

So, last week, as you know, I went to Disneyland to run in the Tinkerbell Half Marathon with my Aunt Sue. I wanted to make her something that said, good job...way to go...I knew you could do this all the while giving her a good laugh. I decided to make her a pillow out of a T-shirt she had given everyone in my family about 15 years ago that displayed a portrait of my dad's family back in the 70's. It is quite hideous and severely hilarious. I received this shirt during a white elephant exchange during my brother's 30th birthday party, and I knew it would make an excellent gift for Aunt Sue! As they say, what goes around comes around!















I cut out the picture on the T-shirt and sewed strips of fabric to create a frame (sewing the top and bottom first before the sides). Then I used a solid square of green fabric for the back and sewed that onto the front, leaving a small space open so I could stuff it with poly-fill. I closed that very opening with a matching green thread, and voila! A lovely pillow for a lovely aunt.

Another project I began is a paper covered lantern that I will use as decoration at a friend's tea party. This is an adorable Martha Stewart project where she actually uses a paper lantern and decorates it with tissue paper. I did not have a lantern, and those things can be tricky to find here in the city if you do not have the right store in your neighborhood, which I do not. So I was thinking and thinking of what I could use instead of the lantern when all of a sudden it came to me! While at the Tinker Bell Expo, Dannon Yogurt gave me some coupons and a free beach ball! And, in the place of brightly colored tissue paper, I decided to cover the ball with pages from a book, cut into circles. Here is how I made my beach ball transform!

First, you will need some supplies: a sharpened pair of scissors, paper of your choosing, double sided tape, and something that is circle to trace so that all of your circles are the same size...I used painters tape (inside of the roll) as my guide.












I had an old Bobbsey Twins book that I had gotten for $1 at an antiques store. I have used the pages of this book for several other projects, and the discoloring of the pages is so perfect.













Next, find a spherical object such as: paper lantern, ball, globe...that is what you will cover with paper circles.














Cut out your paper circles. Be sure to trace your circle first, and then cut out many pages at once because it makes that step go a lot faster. I would say for the size I used, I had to cut out about 50-75 circles.












Before I had begun taping the circles onto the beach ball, I wanted to tie ribbon on it so I could hang it up. I measured about a yard of white satin ribbon and then tied it around the valve, pressing it down to make it extra secure.












Place strips of the double sided tape at the top of each paper circle. You want the appearance of flower petals, so they cannot be secure on all sides...just one!











Start placing the circles on your sphere, beginning with the bottom and work your way up until the entire ball is covered.














Here is the final product. I added the bow to give it a nice girly touch!

Happy crafting, and I hope you have a great weekend!

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Tinker Bell Half Marathon- the Inaugural Year!

Happy Groundhog's Day readers!!! As you well know by now, we are looking at 6 more weeks of winter according to Punxatawney Phil, and so I thought that a nice little read would be a perfect way to spend a chilly winter's evening (unless of course you live in a warmer climate...in that case, I hope you are reading because you like my blog).

I have tried to sit down and write this post about 4 or 5 times at this point. I do not know what is wrong with me this week. I want to share with you so badly about my awesome trip to Disneyland, and I just couldn't figure out how to get it all in without sounding too boring or droning on and on and on about everything that happened. And trust me, there are so many fantastic things that happened! The idea finally hit me while using the ladies room. Wouldn't you agree that that is the place where our best ideas come from? I have had many an a-ha moment while sitting on the potty...that's right. I said it. Anyway, I will begin my fairytale.

Once upon a time, I signed up for the Tinker Bell Half Marathon last summer, and convinced a very dear aunt, Aunt Sue, to join me on this endeavor. We thought we were going to run in the Disney Princess Half this year, but upon hearing that we would be among the first to run this race, as it was the inaugural year, we could not pass up this golden opportunity!

And so, we trained in two separate states, made plans, booked flights and hotels, planned outfits, and before we knew it, we, along with Patrick, were off to the magical land of Anaheim, California, where dreams really do come true. Upon arriving, we checked into our hotel and then dashed over to the Tinker Bell Expo where my aunt and I picked up our race packets and some souvenir merchandise. Oh for those of you who were wondering about my outfit, I did not wear the Under Armour shirt...I found a better one!























Aunt Sue and I began our enchanted adventure on the Tinker Bell carpet.
























Then I flew, like Tink, into the Expo. Race day packet here I come! I can fly, I can fly, I can FLY!!!!!
























While at the Expo, I just had to get another Sweaty Bands in sparkly green. Mirror, Mirror, on the stand, who is the fastest pixie in Disneyland? (not me...but I think the headband is cute)

Upon leaving the Expo, the trio of us travelers grabbed a bite to eat at Outback Steakhouse, and then we went straight to bed, for we had a long and wonderful day ahead of us...a day at Disneyland! This was my first time EVER, and I couldn't wait to see what the park was like.

The very next morning, I woke up bright and early (5 a.m. what? I was still on East Coast time) to get ready for the day. Our first stop was to get some delicious beignets and coffee at the Jazz Kitchen Express. We chowed down on the melt-in-your-mouth fried dough covered in powdered sugar and strolled over to the theme park. I was feeling quite elated, but I had to keep reminding myself that the castle wasn't that big and I might not like "land" as much as "world." When I finally laid eyes on Sleeping Beauty's Castle, I burst out in laughter at its minuscule size! I could not get over how ridiculous it looked in comparison to Cindarella's massive fortress. However, for those of you who love Disneyland, do not get too upset with me yet! I have to say that Disneyland soon won me over in its charm and character, and I found out that many of the rides are WAY better than the ones found in Orlando. Both Disneyland and California Adventure packed a lot of punch, and I will admit that I love Disneyland as much as I love Disney World!

















Patrick, Aunt Sue, and I posing in front of the castle. It may be small, but it is mighty!

After riding all of the classics at Disneyland, including but not limited to, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Carribean, and the Haunted Mansion, we trekked over to California Adventure. Our first ride was the Grizzly River Run, where we got a little wet, which was a nice respite from the midday sun. We also journeyed to Paradise Pier and rode California Screamin' and Toy story Midway Mania.






















Paradise Pier reminded me a lot of the Jersey Shore. It was like a piece of home!



















Although we waited in line for ever so long, Toy Story Midway Mania was worth every minute once we stepped into our carts. This may be my favorite interactive ride in the whole wide world!





















My handsome prince in front of Mickey's Fun Wheel, which had swinging carts just like the Wonder Wheel in Coney Island!

The three of us were spent of all energy at this point so we headed over to the Grand Californian Resort where we sat in the lobby and awaited Patrick's mom's arrival. Once she found us, our next scheduled event was to eat dinner at the Naples Restaurant in Downtown Disney so that we could carb-load before the big race! We sat outside and enjoyed some live entertainment of a violinist and a guitarist. It was a delightful meal, but I was ready to have a good night's sleep before I had to endure the Tinker Bell Half the very next morning.

I had about 4-5 hours of sleep before I woke up, bright eyed and bushy tailed yet again, and got into my race day outfit!






















Here is my new, and more beautiful, shirt that has sparkle and shine! I was anxious to get the party started!

As I ran along the course, I took in all the amazing sights and characters along the way. I remember running down Main Street USA towards the castle, and I couldn't help but feel so happy and so blessed to have the strength to run this race. A small prayer of thanks to God welled up in my soul, for He is the one who allows me to run every step, breathe every breath, and experience true joy in this life. Yes, running can be a spiritual connection, and it definitely was for me in this particular race.



Around mile marker 4, I found my darling and my mother in law, and the two of them encouraged me to keep doing well. They promised they would see me soon enough at the finish line.

From that point on, I focused on keeping pace and trying to beat my previous records. The characters along the way and all the local high school bands and cheerleading squads kept up my spirits when the miles seemed long and endless. My goal was to finish the race under 2 hours and 30 minutes. I knew it was going to happen for me. In fact, I knew I was going to blow that time out of the water! My finishing time was 2 hours 16 minutes and 6 seconds. I came in 1500th out of about 7000 that finished. Filled with pride and excitement at completing this race, I realized I could not have done it without the amazing support of my friends and family, especially my husband. I thanked God once again for his strength which enabled me to push beyond my limits and capabilities. Needless to say, it was an awesome race!




At the finish line, all the runners were greeted with music, Daisy Duck, and lots of fans! It felt great!




























I received my Tinker Bell finishing medal shortly after I crossed the finish line. Then I was off to gather lots of goodies and hydration and finally I met up with Patrick and his mom. It felt so good to see them waiting with hugs and congratulations.






















When we met up with Aunt Sue, we found out she had hurt her ankle and was unable to continue after completing half of the race. She inspired me immensely because she was not defeated by her injury. In fact, she was excited because it was the most she had ever run at once to date. She even asked me what race we were going to sign up for next! Aunt Sue had a better idea of how she can train more effectively with her ankle (she had surgery on it just a year and a half ago...she is strong!) and also came to the realization that she is able to run a half marathon and will complete one someday! Truly amazing.

So, to celebrate our victories, we ate an amazing breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen! I wanted to congratulate myself with some Mickey waffles, the best waffles in all the land. We were greeted by many characters (9 in total...take that Disney World! I usually only see 3 or 4 during a meal), and chatted with some princesses. It was a lovely way to end the race.


















Mulan joined in a picture with Aunt Sue and I, and she left us with encouragement and some smiles.






















Finally, I got to show of my best curtsey with Princess Aurora. I hope that next race will be as lovely and as adventurous as this one was. Because, when you wish upon a star, your dreams do come true.

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