round up

So my birthday came and went. Life has become one blur of events to another. My birthday was indeed a wonderful celebration, bringing together friends from home and work (and missing friends from college). I had a night filled with intense laughter, due in part to my bubbly, crazy, wonderful friend Makenna, who constantly brings joy and fun to any situation simply with her presence. The next night was an absolutely delicious dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Mim's, with my family. And of course, the birthday weekend ended my favorite way - with ice cream cake. Yum.

Since then, work has been incredibly busy, which I am actually quite thankful for. With the economy in such ruins right now, and with businesses and jobs suffering, I am glad to be busy at work. I am glad we're holding up pretty well. And I am glad to feel fairly safe and secure.

Last night I headed into the city with my friend from work, Kim, and her husband, Steve. We met Makenna and a bunch of her friends at Butter, a very trendy restaurant in the Village, for Makenna's birthday. We had a lot of fun, as always, and ate for hours. Tomorrow is Makenna's actual birthday, so I baked her lemon poppy seed cookies, since she absolutely loves lemon poppy seed cake. They came out really well, so I hope she likes them! I really love baking. This upcoming Fall, I'm considering taking a 10-week baking and pastry arts course at the Culinary Academy of Long Island. It's a continuing education course held on 10 Saturdays for six hours each. Even though I already know a lot about baking, I think it would be really great to learn all the fundamentals and get a chance to really learn how to bake all types of desserts from cookies to cakes to breads. It's a lot of hours spent baking and costs a considerable amount of money, so we'll see how I feel about it after the summer.

This upcoming week includes a really big event for me at work, so it's going to be a bit hectic, but exciting. It's one of my favorite annual events, as well as one of the most stressful, so I'll be both happy and sad when it's over. Wish me luck!

they say it's your birthday (preview edition)

It's my birthday tomorrow! And I'm home on Long Island to celebrate it for the first time in four years, which I'm definitely excited about. While all my friends can't be here to spend it with me (some still at Lehigh, some busy living/working in the city or NJ, some moving to Puerto Rico...), I'm still very happy to celebrate with a few close friends and family. The weekend is going to mainly involve eating and drinking...and definitely being merry. More to come later...

fun fun fun

Back home from a really fun weekend in my home away from home, Morristown, with my wifey, Lizzy, Morristown friends and a whole bunch of strangers. The weekend started off a bit rocky, when no LIRR trains were running from Jamaica to Penn Station - major issue. I planned to sort of wing it, and knew there had to be another way to get from Jamaica to the city other than by train. Rather than completely throw caution to the wind (I'm not exactly known for my spontaneity), I called my dad to see if he knew what subway I could take. He told me the E would bring me right to Penn Station - good old dad, always knows what to do. As we pull into Jamaica, and everyone is getting ready to find their way into the city, we hear the announcement that service has just resumed, and we could stay on the train to get to Penn Station. OK, crisis (and adventure) averted. I can't lie. I was a little disappointed. While I'm not exactly the most adventurous person, when I take my little weekend trips, I seem to get a little more gutsy. I was looking forward to a new subway adventure. Oh well.

We still got to Penn a little late, so I had to run through the station to get to NJ Transit to catch my 4:50 Dover Express to Summit, where Vic can pick me up straight from work. This train skips all stops before Summit, so it's only a 35-minute ride, which is great. I figured I'd pay the $5 extra, and just get the ticket on the train, rather than miss it completely. As I get down the steps at track 4 at 4:45, I am amazed at how packed every train car is. I go all the way down to the end and see no where to squeeze in. Hot, sweating and red-faced, I am determined to find a spot for me and my suitcase. I head back down the length of the train and see my space - barely enough room to get in, but I'm on. Turns out, this train has been changed to be a Dover Local, rather than the Express. A NJ Transit train had broken down earlier, so this train included two trains worth of people. It was insane. I stood in between train cars the entire 50-minute ride, squished in between other commuters trying to get home after a long day at work. All I wanted was to hear "Summit - next station," and get to Vic as soon as possible. What a stressful day of travel.

Even with the rocky start, the weekend turned out to be so wonderful. Celebrated Vic's 23rd birthday all weekend long. We ate at our favorite places in Morristown, and some new places nearby. I met some of Vic's Morristown friends. We went to Morristown bars - Sona Thirteen (?), The Office, The Grasshopper and George & Martha's. We did some amazing people-watching. We played drinking games at Vic's, and felt like we were back in college. We got hit on by married men in wedding parties. We laughed...a lot. And we had a great time.