i ♥ ny

Oh my goodness gracious but did we have a fabulous time in New York! It was a long drive there and a long drive home, but in between, we really had fun.

We arrived with enough time to walk around, see the tree at Rockefeller Center and the ice skaters. And on cue, big fat fluffy flakes of snow fell on us. It was just magical to look up in the sky, embraced by buildings that stretch so far up there, and have such beautiful snow drifting around.

The show was amazing...my parents eyes sparkled just like a child's. And my mom kept saying "This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!"

After the show, we decided to just walk around a bit and take in the sites. We went into St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was just so beautiful (and packed!) And then we made our way to FAO Schwartz (even more packed!)

It was getting dark by then and the snow was really falling and blowing in our faces. We decided to make our way back to the car, looking for a restaurant on our way. We asked the bellhop at Warwick to suggest a restaurant and he recommended Il Gattopardo. Really, so wonderful. My mother declared it "The best meal I've ever had!"

little delivery & big apple

Club Little House packages are on their way...woohoo! Can you believe how many boxes? They reached the ceiling. I can't wait to show you the goodies...won't that be a nice Christmas Eve treat?

I'm heading to bed early tonight because tomorrow we're taking my folks to NYC to see the Rockettes! My father overheard me telling someone that they'd never been to New York. Offended, he replied "Oh, I've been to New York...I haven't been since 1952 but I've been to New York City"

The last time he went, circa 1952, he and a friend went for New Year's Eve. His friend got a bit tanked and my father ended up having to carry him (over his shoulder) plus both of their suitcases to the hotel.

I'll tell you about our adventures in the Big Apple when we get back.

here I am!

Oh, boy...I did not mean to fall off the face of the blogworld for a whole week! Seriously.

Here's my week in review:

Monday: Club Little House sorting party...great fun and lots of work. Thanks so much Hope, Pam, Lorraine, Claudine and Leslie for being such fabulous elves! (see Pam's blog for club little house sneak peeks, but not if you want to keep it all a surprise!) Here's a picture of what my family room looked like with all the club little house submissions ready for sorting.

Tuesday: Spent most of the day wrapping gifts for the baby and packing them up to send off to California...took way more time than I thought it would. My three favorite gifts were a cat face shaped keyboard which had an option to change the notes to "meows", a chipmunk toy (we used to have a chipmunk that would come visit our front door everyday and Baby would (many times aday) go to the front door with his face pressed against the glass and say "Monk" Monk"), and a tiny digital picture viewer to which we loaded 50 pictures of us, the baby, and other fun things.

Wednesday: Worked on handmade gifts in the morning and went shopping in the afternoon, treating myself to a very nice lunch out alone.

Thursday: Had some little friends over in the morning for a crafting project. Afterwards we had gingerbread with whipped cream (lots) and egg nog served in tiny espresso cups of different colors. Went to the dr. in the afternoon and finished up handmade gifts in the evening.

Today: Met my friend Hope at Newberry's in Brunswick for their moving sale (great!) and then exchanged stockings at Beans in the Belfry! Dropped off 20 gifts for my sweet friend Irene to give to all the angels in her life, including the staff of her dr's office and the folks at the drive-thru of McD's. Stopped by for a quick visit with Ann and Linda at the Cottage. Ate a late lunch at Tuskie's.

Here are some pictures that Hope took on Monday before the sorting party of my holiday decorations...