Happy Anniversary!

Today is Dave's and my last "dating-versary". :) 3 years ago we started dating, and here we are, now approximately 3 months away from our wedding. I love that I've been able to chronicle our first two anniversaries together, and can't wait to continue to document our relationship here.

We've gone through and done so much during these last three years. We went to Washington D.C. overnight on a whim when we first were dating, a cruise to Key West/Mexico 7 months in, I made you put on groom Mickey ears in Disneyland and let's not forget our amazing trip to Costa Rica this past summer. I relocated to the Bronx so we could live together, and although it took a little adjusting at first, I'm now proud to call it home.

We're not afraid to be crazy/silly/stupid together, and when I come home from work and have had a rough day, you always let me vent, no matter how trivial the issues may be. Although you wish I cooked more, and I wish you cleaned more (not that I do all that much cleaning myself), I wouldn't change anything about us.


Happy Anniversary, Dave. I can't wait until March 20. :)

Morning routines

A lot of people I know live by routine. They have routines so that they don't forget anything. A routine for how they get up and ready for work/school in the morning. A routine for studying. People create routines for just about anything, whether that's for memory issues, or just for the daily comfort of the familiar. I realized that I have a lot of routines, and when looking at them from a stranger's eye, they're pretty random.

In the mornings I don't have any specific routine at home before leaving for work. I try to pack lunch or my gym bag the night before if I'm being a responsible adult, just so I don't have to do it in the morning, but that's pretty much it. However, when I get in my car to head to the subway, that's when the routine begins.

Get in car.
Turn on radio - must be set to Z100. (I like their morning show.)
Drive to subway. Curse at drivers who are too slow to make the long ass light halfway there.
Find parking. (Some mornings quicker than others.)
Trudge to train. Hike up mile of stairs to get to platform.
Reach platform, look up tracks to see if train is coming.
Get into train car that will allow me to exit right by the stairs at my final destination, attempt to find seat right next to the end, so I don't have to be squashed in between 2 people. If no seat by the end, find seat by the pole in the middle, or seat in between 2 people with most room.
Turn on iPod.
Make eye contact with no one. Close eyes, or if weather appropriate, rock sunglasses.
Do not take off sunglasses even when train goes underground.
Make sure to pop out an elbow when someone tries to sit next to me, to ensure maximization of room.
Check time at 125th Street station, determine if enough time to stay on this train, or switch to express, without being late to work.
[Switch trains if running late... happens more often than not.]
Get off at 42nd Street/Grand Central.
Elbow people and push through crowds to get up the stairs and get on the blasted Shuttle.
I hate the Shuttle.
Run to whichever track is leaving first, try to get into whichever car will leave me closest to my exit.
Head to escalators, curse people who stand on the walk side. (New Yorkers, you know what I'm talking about!)
If there's time, get breakfast before heading into the office. (It was usually Dunkin Donuts, but I'm trying not to go as much.)
Get into office, shed iPod, sunglasses, coat, etc.

And the routine doesn't stop once I'm at work. When I get into the office, the following must occur:

Get settled at computer.
Open up work email, database website, other database website, any important internal documents that I need to work off of for the next event.
Open up Gmail, Google reader, and Twitter.
Make sure cell phone is on vibrate (lest we want Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" blasting at everyone when I get a phone call.)
Start to consume breakfast, or run out and get breakfast if I was running late (which is more often than not.)
Discuss last night's episode of Gossip Girl/So You Think You Can Dance/Glee/etc with coworkers.
Turn iPod back on. With only one earphone in so I can eavesdrop around me.
Catch up on any emails that came in over night.
Commence real work.

Anyone else have insane morning routines? It's funny how leaving out something during my morning can totally throw me off, like if it's sunny out and I forget my sunglasses, or if I forget my iPod.

I'm weird.

Where in the World Wednesday!

I'm participating in Classy in Philadelphia's Where In The World Wednesday!

The idea of WITWW is to post a picture of you in someplace in the world...it doesn't have to be somewhere foreign or tropical. Just a picture of you somewhere that you consider traveling.

WITWW has been going on for a few weeks now, and I'm going to try and hop on the bandwagon whenever I can!

This picture is from my trip to Israel in March, 2008. We're at the Dead Sea, and when you go, everyone slathers the mud onto their bodies, since it's very rich in minerals and stuff (really scientific explanation, right?) We were also all trying to get our (lame) group leaders to take pictures of us for the group website so our families could see, so I painted HI on my stomach. :)

I also wanted to post this picture because HOLY MOTHER OF EVERYTHING do I wish my body still looked like that. I need to post this picture on my fridge or something to motivate me to get my butt in gear. I'm also trying to get a gym reimbursement from my insurance company, if you go 50 times in 6 months you get $200 back, and then an extra $50 from my company, so that's BIG motivation for me, if not just getting back into shape.

3 gym visits down, 47 to go! Haha.

Screw the turkey! I'm talkin desserts, people!

Im talkin desserts!!! Since we had two Thanksgivings (one at my parents, and a "Postgiving" at our friends), I was up to my elbows in dessert!! And I need to share these recipes with you, because they are THAT GOOD.

Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes. Oh yes. I originally saw these on Nancy Pearl Wannabe's blog, during the first Whip it Up Challenge. I knew immediately that I had to make them, but it took me until this Thanksgiving to do so! (Dave was very opposed to a dessert that had no flour in it.) Let me tell you... they are decadent. Not too heavy, super rich, oh man. People RAVED. I would make more batter next time though, or get smaller muffin pans, cause they just made 12 cupcakes, and I definitely could have had more.

Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes

- 1 2/3 cups or 10 oz, dark chocolate chips (60% cacao or higher)
- 2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup) cut into small pieces
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 tsp. instant coffee
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 8 large eggs
- Powdered sugar for dusting over the top

1. Preheat oven to 325

2. Place chocolate, butter, water, and instant coffee in a large, thick bottomed saucepan. Heat on medium low, stirring frequently until smooth. Add granulated sugar and stir until smooth.

3. Beat eggs on high for 5 minutes or until the volume doubles. Fold 1/3 of the beaten eggs into the chocolate. Fold remaining mixture in 1/3 at a time until fully encorporated.

4. Spoon into cupcake pans – they don’t rise much at all, so you can get pretty close to the top edge of the papers. Cook until the tops look dry and slightly spongy — about 7-8 minutes (I cooked mine a bit longer, maybe 10 minutes? Just until they didnt look wet anymore.)


Now the other dessert... well hold onto your hats people!! I won Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book from a giveaway that Kaitlin had awhile back and until now, I've done nothing with it except look at the pretty pictures. (They are very pretty.) Anywho, I needed a dessert for my mom's house, and lo and behold, what did I find? Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes. Otherwise known as Mini Oreo Cheesecakes, or the best thing you ever put in your mouth. (Insert jokes here please!)

From start to finish:


Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes

- 42 Oreos, 30 left whole and 12 coarsely chopped
- 2 pounds cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 cup sour cream
- pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 275°. Line standard muffin pans with liners. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each liner.

2. Beat cream cheese at medium speed using an electric mixer. Gradually sugar, beating until combined. Beat in vanilla.

3. Drizzle in eggs, a bit at a time. Beat in sour cream and salt. Stir in chopped cookies.

4. Divide batter among pans. Bake for about 22 minutes or until filling is set.

5. Cool completely on wire racks. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Remove from pans just before serving.

(Makes 30 cheesecakes) Holy Hell these are good. I love that there's a whole oreo on the bottom. Amazing dessert, and super easy to make.



Enjoy!!

I am a horrible Jew

Hanukkah is next week and I am SO NOT PREPARED. I mean, all I really have to do is get presents for my parents, but still. Meanwhile, our Christmas tree and stockings have been up since the day after Thanksgiving.

As I say to my friends, I'm Jew-"ish". :)

Don't fret, my plug-in menorah is ready and raring to go, and I have replacement bulbs that my mom picked up for me. (NO ONE sells orange bulbs for menorahs anymore, just the lame blue ones.) If I had other Hanukkah decorations, they would be up too.

Anychrismaka, I needed to get a tree skirt. We had one last year for our tree, but it was a cheapie that I got from a drug store, and I tossed it when we dumped our dead tree. Now that we have an (awesome) fake tree, I can get a nice one that we can have for a long time! So, instead of getting stuff done at work like I probably should have been, I went online tree skirt shopping!!

Ta-da!
Clearly, that's not my (future) last name. Instead of it saying "The [insert my married last name here], ours will say "The [insert my married last name here] Family". I really liked it, cause it didn't cost an arm and a leg like ones from Pottery Barn, and it's so stinking cute!!

Man, I better go find some Hanukkah decorations asap, so if people walk in our apartment, they realize a Jewish girl lives here too!!

The bad and the good

Some things this past week that have been bad, but have had some good as well.

Bad - it took until last Wednesday to get the accident report for my car from the police.

Good - it was a REAL police report, not just someone who saw my car had gotten hit. Full info and everything.

Bad - when I called the insurance company of the person who hit my car, it turns out it was the wrong company. So I have to call my company again to find out what the correct insurance company for this person is, to try and get money from them.

Good - At least my car still runs during all of this!!

Bad - I am that ghetto person driving the hoop-de (hoopty?) with pieces hanging off everywhere.


Bad - The girl who was going to do my hair, and hair for a few other girls in my bridal party kinda flaked out.

Good - My Co-MOH Allison is hard at work trying to find someone else for me, so hopefully that will get resolved soon.


Bad - I dropped my phone into a toilet on Saturday.

Good - After opening it up, and letting it dry out in some uncooked rice for a day, it works perfectly!! (Even though I repeatedly kept trying to turn it on, only to have Dave yell at me each time to leave it alone.)


Bad - We had two events at work this week, so things have been nutty

Good - They're over! And now I don't have another event until January!

Bad - There is still a TON to do, and I had to cancel a doctor appointment today cause I wasn't going to finish some time sensitive stuff in time. Boo.


Good - Hanukkah is soon!! And Christmas! And our tree is up!!!

Bad - I am SO behind in shopping! Especially for Hanukkah. It's next week! Eep.


And SUPER GOOD - our 3 year anniversary is next Thursday. :) I can't wait to celebrate, and we're going to Peter Lugers for dinner!! YUM. Turns out you have to make a reservation for dinner at Lugers like 6 weeks in advance! Whoops! So I guess we'll figure out something else!

“So much time, and so little to do! Strike that, reverse it.”

These last few days since Thanksgiving have been SO busy. And I've been on my feet for literally 40 of the last 48 hours, so my feet are aching, and I am running on fumes right now. I have a lot of things to catch you up on (like my car situation), recipes to post and other fun stuff. But for now...

We bought our wedding rings!!
Mine is an eternity band that matches the band of my engagement ring, and Dave's is yellow gold with white hammered gold in the middle, and a diamond chip in the center.

There's no going back now! :)

I wanted to work out, not get worked up!

I was really excited to get home from work yesterday, since it was the first day in the loooooong time that I was going to the gym! (I don't even want to tell you the last time I was at the gym.... ok it was May. I suck.) So, I get off the train, begin the walk to my car, and as I approach my car from around the corner, I notice something...strange.

My thought process kind of went like this:
"What is that big, black thing on my car? Is that part of my car? Is it on the fence in front of my car?" And then I saw it...

The big, black thing was actually a HOLE IN MY CAR!!! Nice to come home to, right? I'm surprised I didn't bust out crying, but I guess I was too much in shock. I called Dave, who was already on his way to the gym, so he didn't have his phone. I took pictures of everything, and then found a note on my windshield that read, "A police report was filed for you" and then the precinct number. So at least there was that.

The way the car was hit, the person had to have jumped the curb. That part of my car was on the inner side of the sidewalk, so no straightforward hit from behind would have caused that kind of damage.

I wound up going to the gym as planned, since there was nothing I could do for my car at that point anyway. (And I got in a really good workout! I'm excited to go back.) We called the precinct after we were done, but the report hadn't come in yet, so we're going to go tonight to see what they have on it.

Sigh. I'm at least thankful that my car still works, and I wasn't in the car when it happened. Things could be worse!