Goodbye 2010

Obligatory post about 2010.

Best moments:

-Jackie's birthday celebration at Hamilton Pool and West 6th. One of the most memorable days for many reasons: cacarones, learning that life is precious, good times with friends is one of the best things ever.

-Going to Vietnam for the first time, having my eyes opened and learning more about my culture. Appreciating my heritage.

-Getting a job and moving to NYC. One of the best and most bittersweet things I've done for myself. I miss home but I'd rather miss something then regret something.

Next post in 2011!

The Coming of Chris...tmas

As most of ya'll know I will not be returning to Austin for the holidays. Woe. Originally, my family was to come up. But my dad is visiting one grandma and my mother has deemed NYC too cold for her. Alan will be coming the day after Christmast to visit. Kevin got a ski trip, so he won't be coming up...I think...

Dressed for company holiday party, haha

With my roommates back in Tejas, I will be spending the holiday weekend with Chris, mainly, with visits from Henry and possibly Simon. We will do nothing but watch March of the Penguins, Law & Order and eat. I will bake goodies galore. It will be glorious and as stress free as possible. Not because my roommates are gone, but because I will have time to do NOTHING! YAY!

Two notes: my reason for not updating in so long is that I've been swamped at work. Also, it's the holiday season so there have been many goodies at work...cookies, brownies and candy galore. And I bake alongside all of these free treats. What to do. What to do.

We got a Christmas tree!

With presents from best friends!

Delicious cookies and caramels from Mattie!!!

Moules Frites with Chris. 

Had some people over to decorate sugar cookies

Opened one of my gifts halfway!

 Had a lovely Christmas Eve lunch with Chris and  Henry at Sho Shaun Hergatt. And then Henry came over for Christmas Eve dinner. We're watching re-runs of SNL. I'm waiting for midnight mass. I opened all my Christmas presents already...

I LOVE THEM! I thought this Christmas wasn't going to be too fabulous. But it has been. All my loved ones have sent me something and it means a lot since I can't be home to celebrate the season with them. And a common theme: everyone who is close to me has given me something food related from Trader Joes to bakeware to food itself. I am truly lucky to have such wonderful people in my life.

More pics to come!

Busy blues

I'm home sick today. I kinda did it to myself because I went to work yesterday while under the weather. Why did I do that? Because I wanted to go to trapeze school. (this will be explained in my next post!) So here I am, at home, attempting to do some work while eating steel-cut oats and ice cream.

Been busy since I've come back. Gabby is in town! She's been here for the past weekend and will leave on Friday. It's her vacation. She actually left for Boston today though, to visit some family.

And since I owe ya'll a post but I am not feeling to well but have a best friend who's on vacation and has a blog of her own we'll just recap my weekend through her eyes.

Wintry Weather Weekend

Did I mentioned it's super cold here? Maybe not like Chicago but it's pretty blustery.

OH! And I will be on the CBS Early show this Thursday. Tune in. See if you can catch me decorating cookies!!! My network TV debut!!!

Back in the action

I am now back after a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday week in Texas. Gawd, I miss Austin so much. It was wondrous, glorious and so much fun. Much needed.

I know I owe ya'll a long, overdue post but that will come later. For now, I have to say that I have the best roommates ever. Only we would go to the gym and walk on the treadmill just to watch the Victoria's Secret Fashion show. One: because though we now have a TV we don't have any channels. Two: Dancing on the treadmill is great. Three: Even is you're running hardcore, you'll still feel too fat for life while watching this show.

Lifting weights, trying to find the taco truck and watching our horoscopes on L's new Roku--great night.

Weekend in DC!

Hippo in Smithsonian

YAY! I'm coming home so so so so soon. Get excited Austin! I am absolutely ecstatic!

Crochet of the coral reef in the Smithsonian

 Can't believe my last post was November 1st. Time has really gone by. I've mentioned it before but when you're working all day, 5-days-a-week and you're just living for a weekend it all just whooshes by. I can't believe I've been here for 5 months already.

Sculpture Garden in DC

Of course my job doesn't help with this flyby sense. I'm constantly planning for the future. Deliverables are due by this date and that. We need to think about next fiscal year (which is April). Deadline is at Christmas. blahblahblah. At this rate my life is like an oilslick!

I went to DC last weekend to visit Mattie. I had a grand ol' time. Shop, ate and walked around Whole Foods for the first time since I moved. Gosh, I miss that place. I am determined to start going regularly despite my horrid first impression with the one in Union Square (abolutely ridiculous line, and all I wanted was a snack!).

The mess we made in the kitchen

Anyways, Mattie and I made a delicious dinner. It was the most simple and perfect roast chicken (which is now my go-to recipe for guests. I made it for Chris and my roommates last night--awesome). And vanilla roasted pears with REAL vanilla beans. It was so nice to go back to a 'normal' pace. Slower, unhurried and just about lounging around and doing nothing. We did get to go the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, which was nice.

Smitten Kitchen...vanilla roasted pears

Voila!

Apple A Day

South Norwalk, CT

 Apple picking. Apparently it's a big deal up here. And common. Of course, I had never heard of the past time being from Texas and all. But last week, I was lucky enough to get to go and catch the tail end of the season. It was glorious...to be able to ride a car through winding roads in the Conneticut countryside which were paved with autumn's gold and scarlet leaves. It's truly fall. The most beautiful fall I've ever seen. Shelby, Chris, Jackie, Lauren and I went to Blue Jay Orchards.

 Once upon a time, in the beginning of my career, I co-founded the Apple-A-Day (henceforth known as AAD) with my supervisor. It was a joke between me and him. And we let others in on it. Then I started bringing in apples for each member. And each member started paying dues. And then I penned a weekly newsletter. And that newsletter became bi-weekly.

 Yes. I created an club at work. What started out as fun, became a real thing. The simple concept of an apple a day (keeps the doctor away). I had an even dozen members, included myself. I had to cap membership since I did not want to be buried under bushels of apples, that I would have to lug to work everyday. But there were honorary members, those who knew of my faux passion for apples and those who enjoyed the quick wit and sarcasm I displayed in the newsletters.

However, I am sad to report, that with the end of apple season, and the turn of a new month, AAD is no more. Well, in the sense that I will not be personally placing an apple on each member's desk in the morning. And that dues will no longer be due. It might be the end of an era but there is always the future.

What to do with my apples? Well, I have been eating them...Jackie made applesauce. I made...nothing...so far.

But I have been on a baking bonanza.

Samplings of my shenanigans:

Easiest Banana Softserve

Brownie Roll-Out Cookies

Brownie bear...

Attempt at Baby Jesus Cake

Less than picture perfect snickerdoodles

Roasted Eggplant Soup

Sunshine likes to watch TV on the laptop too!

Cheers,

Sandy

Brotherly Love

Taking a cue from Gabby I decided to capture the highlight of my day in a single pic:

I don't think anyone in the world can understand how happy my brothers make me.

And don't worry. A more in-depth post tomorrow!

Hufflepuff

I visited Chris at Yale for the first time this weekend. It was a lovely trip, out of Manhatten on the North Railroad, going through Connecticut. The leaves are beginning to turn into warm golds, bright red and the sun sets a bit earlier, leaving a soft, hazy glow that wraps around everything. It is truly fall.

I've been wearing boots and trenches and scarves, not only because it's fashionable, but because I really need to as the weather turns crisp and brisk. It'll be my first real fall and I am enjoying every bit of it. I am not in Texas anymore. For real.

Yale is beautiful.

Every time I visit the older college campuses of America, especially up here, I can't help but sigh and wish that I realized the beauty of going to college not in Texas. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed and am extremely grateful for my experiences and opportunities from school. But the beauty of UT does not strike me the way the old schools do. I wish I could be more articulate about my thoughts but my brain has become decidedly lazy. And that's a subject for another post.

Inside the courtyard of Timothy Dwight

Another view inside same courtyard.

Yale has a residential college system that is like the house system in Hogwarts. That's Harry Potter for those of ya'll who do not get the reference. (Read the series if you have not. Life changing.) And they all have a residential area, complete with a courtyard.  You're put into a college as a freshman by random assignment. And each college has a master and it's own budget, yadayadayada. Read more about this here.  I wish I had that. I also wish Harry Potter was real.

Chris and I got in a tiff because he said that if Harry Potter was real and I was at Hogwarts I would be a Hufflepuff. Which of course makes me huff. But I took this sorting hat quiz and it turns out I am...Not the biggest bummer in the world, at least I'm not a  Slytherin.

 The Halloween Holiday was in the air...

In other news I've been busy in the kitchen. Many treats to come. Nom nom nom.

SUNSHINE!

Hiatus

I know, I know it's been three weeks since my last post. And due to high demand from my 'darling' readers.

A lot has happened. AdWeek, which was great. Long nights at work--not so great. But a thing to note is that I'm going to try and post more regularly. Like I said before, I get too wrapped up in trying to document EVERYTHING which makes me hesitant to post because I feel like it's going to be such a ordeal. Once I come to terms that I'm not going to be able to outline every single detail of my life online (not that I want to or should, I mean, I'm not the most important person in the world...or am I?), then I'll be able to post more regularly with random tidbits.

Anyways, onward and upward!

Vivian and Mattie came to visit this past weekend and it was amazing. I need to write a whole post about it this weekend but while I get that all together here are some bits and pieces to what's been going on.

Of course if I was going to have guests over, I needed respectable furniture, a sneak peek:

SEA OF SHOES

 Okay, not really but it's my display and collection of shoes (not all of them, I have to admit) but I am missing the back of the bookcase. Why? Because I am looking for the perfect wallpaper/fabric for a DIY like this. But not necessarily that color or print.

Vivian's and my pisco drinks at Pio Pio , a most delicious Peruvian chicken place.

 I really really really like drinks in coupe glasses. I am looking to get a set for myself. So retro but fun and more interesting than regular tumblers or even martini glasses.

Bisous Ciao-macaron heaven

 Definitely more to say about macarons in another post.

Halloween spirit!

 I haven't forgotten about my love for cupcakes. In fact, there was a week that I had one everyday because reps just kept bringing them in. NOM. This is large one from Crumbs.

Gratis

Imagine a Friday afternoon at work with you, seated at your desk, diligently typing away. And the mailroom guys come in pushing a cart loaded these babies shouting "Let's get chocolate wasted!" Everyone in the office got a bottle and a movie ticket. Because we just won a few little accounts like Diageo and Relativity Movies. Ah-may-zing.

I hope that suffices some readers' sandy-fix. Lol. I am SO hilarious.

Until next time,

-Sandy

Odds and Ends

And SURPRISE! 2 posts in a day!

Just some photos of what's been happening the past few weeks sans Mattie's visit. I promise to buy a real camara just as soon as I buy furniture....so it's going to be a while....

I went to the Vera Wang store during Fashion's Night Out and saw Evan Lysacek and the designer herself (who was TEENY tiny and looked amazing for being 60).

Jackie got me this adorable apron for my birthday. It's almost too pretty to wear.

I baked these amazing dreamy cream scones which really were all that. I added orange zest to mine which made them extra nommy.

I also made crepes for the first time. They turned out very nice and I filled them with a homemade seafood filling or jam depending on my palate when I wanted to eat them.

I hope ya'll liked my back-to-back posts!

A visitor from below

I realize it's been a while since I've written and I know every one of my readers (yes, all 4 of them) is dying to know what's been going on. Well, I've been extremely busy at work and when I'm not at work I'm either taking time to myself or immersing myself in my new hobby of cooking and baking.

Cooking and baking has always been a hobby for me but somehow, in the past 2 months, it's grown exponentially. Thanks to Gabby I am absolutely obsessed with smitten kitchen. The surprise me feature has me on my toes! I've e-mail myself about 2340842 million recipes to make so far.

This past weekend was very lovely. Mattie came to visit, arriving by Bolt Bus from DC. I wanted to take her to my favorite Hummus Place but it was closed...for Yom Kippur. A holiday that never even crossed my mind! I blame the fact that I grew up in Texas for this oversight.

Anyhow, our weekend was filled with beautiful weather, Subrina, arts and UT football. We ate bagels (YUM, however that is a box I should not have opened because now I want them AOTtime, my new favorite: everything bagel...!!!), had a picnic in Central Park, went to the Met, saw Easy A and ate thin crust pizza.

Oh wait...here is my weekend in pictures:

We had a delightful lunch at Nick's Pizza.

The Metropolitan Museum's current rooftop exhibit: Bambú. It was pretty awesome.

View of Central Park from the Met rooftop. Imagine the perfect weather that enveloped me as I took in this scene.

Right before Mattie left, we spontaneously stopped at Bouchon Bakery for macarons (we both got caramel, DELICIOUS). On a whim, we had looked it up after seeing a father and twins relish delicacies from this place during our picnic in Central Park.

All in all, I hope Mattie can agree that I am the hostess with the mostess. After this weekend I am determined to make macarons one day and I am in love with this fall weather. And I miss my friends and family from home even more now.