Last Snow of 2010...According to Mumble

Late December saw the first real snow of the Winter season...and the last snow of 2010. And it began like all other snows...cold, wet, constant. But I won't be telling you about my observances about the snow...but rather Mumble's....

Our inflatable penguin. He saw a great December this year with hardly any disturbances...until late in the month. The ambush of snow caught him by surprise and he felt "weighed-down" by the on-slaught.

The weather was so depressing to Mumble that he felt that he just wanted to disappear.

And within 24 hours, he did just that.

Today, Mumble is with us, but only in physical form. Let's just say that the "spark of life" inside him went out...and he will be missed.

Christmas 2010 in Review

The morning began just like every other Christmas morning....the smell of bacon permeated the apartment as I fried it up. Better than coffee...I think. I was working on the finishing touches to my Christmas tradition...the breakfast.

For as long as I could remember, we would have a breakfast souffle that just could knock your socks off. Sure...its one of the simplest things you could make...but its not Christmas until I have it.

Anyway, I was cooking the bacon to top it all off...and Robyn emerged from her room...

"Mmmm, bacon.....Merry Christmas!" Well...I agree in the order of priorities!

Anyway...I put the breakfast in the oven, Robyn started her coffee...and the it was STOCKING TIME! Yes, stockings take place before presents and before breakfast...and its a free-for-all!

Once we finished were finished, , I played "elf" (as Robyn's father says) and passed out the gifts from under the tree. Then breakfast came out of the oven and we enjoyed the tastiness of the season!!! YUM YUM!

Now...down to business. Traditionally...in my family, we open gifts from youngest to oldest. With only two of us...we just switched off opening presents.

One of Robyn's gifts was 50 cookie cutters from Andy...which she was thrilled about, calling it "her own Animal Cracker set."


We continued to open presents, back and forth, and finally Robyn opened her final present...from me...that I told her she had to open last....and this was why...

That's right....her very own Kitchen Aid mixer...which ps, she hugged and didn't let go of for a while. She is now trying to decide what recipe to break it in on. Haha!

All in all...it was a very nice Christmas...

With a lot of dead wrapping paper left...displaying the battle that we won...

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas...and won your own wrapping battles!

Happy Birthday To Me...

This week was my 'birthday week' as deemed by a couple of people from work. And boy...what a week it was!!!

It all started with a trip to NYC with Andy! We drove down to New Haven to catch a train into the city. Once we arrived we had a few things to walk around and see before the main event of the day...

SO we headed to Le Parker Meridian...a high-end hotel near Carnegie Hall. They were having a Gingerbread Extravaganza and the theme this year: Movies In New York. Local bakeries created their renditions of some classics...


....like West Side Story...

....or Ghostbusters...(check out that Stay-Puffed Marshmallow Man!!)

...and King Kong (whoa there....big monkey!)....

...and Andy's favorite....BIG!

We then headed out on our walk to Times Square....and saw a bunch of neat things on the way...

(those are some big ornaments)

(but damn...those are big lights!)

Once we got to Times Square...we visited the M&M store before heading to the main event...BILLY ELLIOT!! It was such an amazing show with great songs and awesome dancing!!

We then headed out for dinner (ps...really good) and then decided to go look around a little more...hitting the Disney store and then down to Harold's Square for Macy's...

I had never seen the windows at Macy's....hell, I'd never been to Macy's in NY.

Once we experienced Macy's (including heading up the 8 floors to see Santa Land)...I finally hit a wall...and we headed back to Grand Central to catch a train back home...

It was a long day...but an amazing one!! And definitely, a birthday I won't forget...ever!

Into The Woods...

So...this is a late blogpost about this...considering this morning had a little left over frost/snow...but the Fall is my favorite time of year. It's cooling off from the summer and the colors are the best of all.

I had a 'bf' or 'best friend' day with Andy which was filled with walking around our outdoor shopping center and alot of hanging out...but my favorite part was the hike we went on.

There is a one-mile trail right around where we live that was beautiful. There is a reservoir that trickles out into a stream along this path so you could hear the small babbles of the water while we were crunching along in the leaves.

I really want to come back to see this trail during every season...particularly in the snow!