Mercedes Club Residents Party

The pool in our health club opened today!

It's not even 70 degrees out!

We went to the free party, which featured

some delicious little bites of lamb

on vegetables and a dab of something delicious.

Um, it was delicious.

And there were three different liquor tastings,

including the lovely gin and tonic drink above.

The gin drink was refreshing, but it wasn't as flavorful as my Hendricks.

The best part was the live music:

these two guys playing and singing Latin music.

And, of course, the snocones by Handsome Dan.

A block of ice turned into magic fluffy snow

covered in sugary raspberry syrup and fresh lemon juice.

I think he kind of looks like Jake Gyllenhaal,

so you might want to check him out

and eat his snocones in real life.

Hello!

I had another snocone because it was FREE

and so good.

(A pomegranate with condensed milk--

Handsome Dan explained that the pomegranate was a bit tart

so the milk will set it off--so cute, 

I just want to suck on sugary ice!)

Since someone couldn't eat all the delicious snocone stuff or drink

and had allergies, we left after the guys played "La Bamba."

Poor guy.

Another reason for leaving was that it was really awkward

watching the swimsuit models freeze.

#firstworldproblems

Jonathan:  oh man

they are having an ice cream party at work

for no reason!

Jeckin and Pinal's Big Fat Indian Wedding

Great times.

Great food.

Great people.

Happy family.

Happy friends.

Happy lives.

Cinderella on Broadway Was So Awesome!

Tonight we saw Cinderella on Broadway,

and I thought it was so awesome,

I think I want to see it again!

I went with my aunt, mom, PoPo, and cousin Sam

for Aunt Isabel's birthday.

The other day I had been walking past the theater to get home,

and I saw a woman in full Disney Cinderella regalia.

It was odd because the woman was like in her late forties,

and it was FREEZING out.

Jon said that if he were going,

he'd dress up like GusGus.

I'm kinda of sure that there are at least five people

who think they're going to see the Disney version of Cinderella

instead of the Roger and Hammerstein version for every showing.

Not sure what the difference is?

(Not that one is better than the other

because both are excellent.)

This is the Disney Cinderella:

This is the Roger and Hammerstein version:

I think Disney distributed it

--at least the TV version with Brandy in it--

but I love the Cinderella that Leslie Ann Warren plays.

  

Slippers are so back.

March Snow

Ugh. Snow.

I had to walk in it to work

with my messed up toe.

I waited ten minutes for a bus.

Buses are so stupid.

It never came, of course.

I left work late that day.

The snow all melted.

Swing Tree by Discovery

I heard this song on Pandora the other day.

(Sorry, guys, Spotify just doesn't know what songs I might like!

I need something that guesses right most of the time in my life.)

The song was so summery,

and it had the dubby beats that's

nearly the same as the Electric Slide,

which I associate with my Italian side's weddings/celebrations of all sorts.

And it's just fun and awesome--both Swing Tree and the Electric Slide.

This photo was an August sunset over the great state of NJ.

I miss sitting by the river and watching those like whoa.

S&S Christmas Party 2012! This Is How We Do It

It's that smilebooth time of year!

I think they set the backdrop too close.

See last year's photos to compare.

Our coworker Katrina was cut off on the right!

Can fit up to eight people, my butt.

This year's party was not as fun as last year's

for a variety of reasons,

but after the party I went to hang out with Dani, Monica, and Lucia--

the cutest little girl toddler ever.

Seeing Lucia sit on the stoop (like a little old Italian lady)

with a board book I worked on

was the best thing I've seen in a long time!

He Can Has a Bucket!

I'm basically taking the photo and my facts from this New York Times article.

For some reason 

I really adore 

this 234-pound, 

15-week-old baby.

His name is Mitik,

but his friends call him Mit.

I hope this isn't some weird 

subconscious-brainwashing thing

to start loving things named Mit,

because there's that other famous Mitt, 

who in a contest of 

cute baby animals 

would definitely lose.

"We say he is small, but scrappy--the perfect New Yorker."

How Did That Get in My Mouth?

The other day I was talking to Lakshmi,

and I started coughing on something.

Though I had a summer cold

for half of the summer

(seems like it was allergies),

this cough was different.

This cough

was due to something odd in my throat.

So I pulled that oddity out of my mouth,

and what was it?

Well, I'm not sure.

Hay?

A piece of grass?

We were in Soho/Noho.

Lakshmi's phone provides a black background

for the piece of . . .

something

that I pulled out of my mouth.

Weird.

Gross.

My Husband Is Very Corny; Me, Not So Much

As we made our way to Jon's cousin's wedding on Labor Day,

we passed by a farmer's market with the coolest corn statue.

It was about two p.m.,

and we needed to still get changed

for the wedding that started at two thirty p.m.

There was plenty of time. . . .

I was starving,

but I was trying to save my appetite for cocktail hour.

The bride and groom

went to culinary school,

so their wedding food had to be tasty.

Jon got a roasted corn that a dude 

at the back of the farm

was selling.

Jon didn't like the corn very much.

He said it was too late in the season for good corn.

To put Jon's love of corn in perspective,

earlier this summer,

we bought corn from D'Agostino,

which in the scheme of life isn't a good market for produce.

However, it was really awesome corn.

To his chagrin, they didn't have corn for a while after,

so he bought a ton of corn from Fresh Direct.

When he got that corn that weekend,

he toted around with us,

in case we landed somewhere

(my sister's house was a huge possibility)

for him to cook and enjoy it.

He was so paranoid about sharing it though

that we ended back home

so he can eat it all himself.

I like corn.

Creamed-canned corn was my favorite.

I thought it was God's nectar

when I was a kid.

Sweet, salty, creamy goodness.

As a finger food that needs to be gnawed

(see: ribs, wings, etc.)

corn on the cob falls into a love/hate category.

Still, the lack of fresh corn on the cob

in the fall and winter and spring

just illustrates why fall and winter and spring

suck.

On a side note,

the farmer's market was selling fifty pound bags of potatoes

for only $12.99!

That's cheaper than some cocktails!

Blue Moon!

Winked at the blue moon for Neil Armstrong.

Took some pics with the new camera.

It was a nice night.

Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-RX100: the Unboxing

Jon got me a fancy new camera for my birthday.

(Thanks, B!)

He says that this is what the Internet calls

an "unboxing."

This is an envelope with the instructions

that sits at the top.

I've been meaning to read those instructions. . . .

(And at the bottom of the frame are my shorts and legs. . . .)

There she is!

She's all set up and ready to go.

I want my first picture to be of something awesome though.

Like awesome clouds or a sunset or something.

Unfortunately, the whole weekend was crap--

between copyediting/Americanizing work and having a hacking cough.

I need to go somewhere cool

to take cool cloud and or sunset photos.

20 megapixel cloud photos!!!