Merry Christmas to All

‘Twas the night before Christmas, in our NY apartment

Each household item in its little compartment.

Christmas this year will be different you see

As I turn to Kyle and say, “It’s just you and me”.

We will certainly miss all our family this year

But we’ve done our very best to spread holiday cheer.

 

A tree, not that big, that we bought on the street

Stands in a basket as you enter, it’s about 6 feet.

It twinkles in the night as we relax on the couch

By the way, the Egg Nog is adding to my pouch.

We’ve hung up a wreath on a window or two

With a bright red ribbon, one for me, one for you.

No fireplace or mantle to hang our stockings for St. Nick

So here on a window ledge with a hook we did stick.

 

 

 

On the dresser sits a small nativity scene

There to remind us what Christmas really does mean.

On the chalkboard is written a seasonal quote

Surrounded by Christmas cards with a photo or a note.

 

 

This December 25^th will certainly feel strange

But in a just a few days Kyle will be hitting balls at the range.

To Arizona we head this coming Saturday

To celebrate Christmas with a bit of a delay.

So there it is, our Christmas decor

If you’re ever in the city please come knock on our door.

We are extremely blessed to have friends and family like you

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year’s too!

Homemade Ornaments

Since all my ornaments are in Arizona, decorating our tree was a challenge.

Sure, I could go to Target and buy a bulk box of colored balls to hang on the tree, but

when you're used to each ornament telling a story, that just wouldn't do.

 

Instead, I thought we could make some of the ornaments. I was thrilled with this idea,

but as I'm sure you're guessing Kyle was less than enthused. I assured him he could "help"

by just hanging out with me and drinking Egg Nog. In knew he'd be fine with that.

 

They turned out pretty good and were a lot of fun to make (at least I thought so). We used different cookie cutters and small letter stamps to write different messages. If you'd like to make these with your family, here's the recipe I used. It's just cornstarch, baking soda, and water and super easy!



Our first "little" tree

 

I can't believe that we're just now buying our first Christmas tree together. I guess between

living on an island or with family, we just didn't have the need. I'd say for our first time,

you can't get any more special than walking down the street, finding the perfect evergreen, 

and carrying it home over your shoulder. Only in NYC, right?

 

 

 I'll be sharing pictures of our little tree decorated and in all its glory soon.



3 Years

December 6th was our 3 year Anniversary. I can't believe it's been that long since we said "I do". We've done and seen so much over the past 3 years and I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

To celebrate, we decided to keep things simple.

A little ice skating in Central Park and a romantic dinner of cheese fondue at home.  

 

 

 

It's Christmas Time in the City

Christmas in New York is such a spectacular sight. Everything is dazzled in lights
and the window displays are out of this world. We have a long list of things to do and
see during the holiday season and slowly, but surely, we're checking things off.
 

 First up was the lighting of the tree at Rockefeller Center. Since there were thousands of people waiting to see the tree lighting, we opted to watch it from home where it was a bit warmer.
(I did manage to snap the shot of the tree, pre-lighting, before we were whisked away by NYPD)

Park Avenue also has a tree lighting where many trees along the street are lit in honor of
the men and women of the military. Families gathered in front of an old church to sing
Christmas carols and watch as one after another the trees began to twinkle in the night.
This was much more intimate compared to Rockefeller Center and definitely more our style.

 

 

There are also several holiday markets where you can buy handmade crafts and freshly

baked goods all while sipping on hot cocoa. It's like walking through Santa's workshop!

We have more to do and see, but we've gotten a good start.



Food Tour

A food tour of NYC is not only genious it's right up my alley. One of my biggest complaints about living here is so many restaurants, so little time (oh, and not that much money)

 

The tour allows you to taste generous samples of 5 or 6 restaurants in a neighborhood while learning about the cultural history of the area. It's really the perfect combo. Not to mention, if you like your little sample, you can go back for the whole thing, or more, another time. Time and money unwasted!

 

Our particular tour was of NoLIta (north of Little Italy) and NoHo (north of Houston).

I had no idea this area was so full of boutiques, Mafia history, quaint streets, and a fabulous mix of totally affordable, yet gourmet, cuisine. I love new discoveries!

 

Brooklyn Blackout cupcakes from Little Cupcake Bakeshop

 

Prosciutto & Arugula Pizza from Emporio.

 

Ratatouille Tartine with bread overnighted from Paris! Tartinery

 

Homemade graham crackers from Peels. So simple, but completely divine.

 

At this rustic cafe, The Smile, we had homemade ricotta cheese on whole grain bread

with cherry tomatoes. I licked my fingers clean and I don't even like ricotta!!!

Mexican roasted corn with chipotle mayo and cheese at Tacombi. I was too excited to try a bite before I took the picture. Hence, the post-stirred and half-devoured cup of corn in the photo :)

 

Although all the food was out of this world...

the best part of the tour was walking around the streets of NYC with all of these people.

 

 

Parade

One thing all our visitors were really looking forward to was the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Talk about a Turkey Day tradition!! Seeing it live was pretty spectacular.

 

Early Thursday morning Kyle and I made our way through Central Park to find a good

viewing spot along Central Park West. The park was in perfect form for a morning stroll.

 

 

Soon the balloons, floats, marching bands, and performers made their way down to us.

Here are a few of my favorites, floating many stories high.

 

Other than the parade itself, a big highlight was running into Jimmy Fallon

as he made his way to his float along with the band from his show, The Roots.

(on a side note...he was the nicest guy to everyone)

 



Thankful

This Thanksgiving we were showered with visitors and we did everything possible to create a traditional Thanksgiving meal together. After all was said and done, it turned out great! A total group effort, I signed up for turkey and pie. Here's a little peak at the bird, start to finish.

Brining the bird on the fire escape of our apartment. Refrigerator temps provided by nature.

 

After being massaged with butter and being baked for hours, it was time to take it to the apartment my in-laws had rented in Hell's Kitchen. So...Kyle and Jared built a box for the bird.

We nuzzled the turkey in the box and squeezed into a cab, with a whole slew of other essentials, and headed across town. It was certainly the best smelling cab I've ever been in!

 

We all, including the bird, arrived in once piece and soon it was time for the turkey to be sliced for our enjoyment. The honors were done by Grandpa Hickman and I think he did a pretty fine job!

 

 

It involved a little more planning and maneuvering of ingredients, but Thanksgiving dinner

turned out fabulously. Just look at all the happy eaters and drinkers!!

 

Thank you, thank you to everyone who traveled near and far to spend Thanksgiving together with us. We loved seeing your smiling faces and truly enjoyed your company.We are certainly thankful.



Halloween

Halloween this year was pretty different for us. First, I think we're in that in between stage of enjoying the costumes and candy. We have no kids to parade around and certainly are too old to

dress up ourselves. Also, trick-or-treating in the city consists of going from one apartment building to the next where you have a gathering of families and candy in the lobby. It's quite different from the door to door and neighborhood strolling we're used to. Most of all, Hurricane Sandy halted the festivities  with many areas cancelling their events and others simply without power.

 

The only enjoyment we had out of Halloween this year was this little video from Jimmy Kimmel. He asked parents to tell their kids they at all their candy. I just love their reactions...priceless!

 



The Aftermath

I'm sure many of you have been watching the news and have seen the extremely devastating effects of Sandy on the Northeast. Parts of Manhattan were hit very hard as well, but luckily we live north enough to avoid any power outages or flooding. We certainly had a lot of extremely strong winds and the howling of that was a haunting sound to listen to all evening.

 

People are out and about today, probably just trying to get some fresh air, but the city is still pretty quiet and many places are closed. Mass transit is still shut down and will be for quite a few days while they assess the damage of the flooding and this keeps millions of people from getting to and from work. We took a quick walk this afternoon around the blocks immediately around our apartment and here a few pictures I took and some of the damage we saw.

 

toppled over lights and signs

 

an awning to a neighboring apartment that was ripped from the building and stripped of its fabric

 

 a dangling convenience store sign

 

countless numbers of tress with broken limbs or uprooted all together

 

We feel so blessed to come out of the storm virtually unaffected,

but are certainly saying many prayers for those who weren't so fortunate.



Sandy

This isn't the first time I've made a posting about a hurricane heading our way, although when we lived in the Caribbean it seemed a little more expected. Who knew New York City would be in the direct path one of the biggest storms this hurricane season?

 

 

 

Well, we're prepared! We loaded up on water, batteries, candles, lanterns, and flashlights...as well as some other essentials like beer, Oreos, granola bars, and chips and salsa. Got to cover all your bases, right?

 

With all transit being shut down completely by this evening we'll be staying put in our little apartment for the next 2 days or so. Good thing we like each other because we sure are going to be spending a lot of time together, potentially without power.

 

On that note, here's a direct quote from my dear husband:

"My two main concerns are keeping you safe and being able to watch the 49er's game on Monday night...in no particular order".

 

Thanks babe. I always know I can count on you!

 

Send us luck (or perhaps an oar and a canoe).

Apt. 4FE

We've been here almost 4 months and I feel like I've been promising photos of our apartment for well, almost 4 months. After all your requesting and nagging...finally, here are some pictures of our apartment. Our perfect, tiny, New York City apartment. We absolutely love it and hope you do too.

 

 

 

 

Hope you enjoyed the quick tour!