Thanksgiving in the City

This year we spent Thanksgiving at our apartment in New York. Consider this a PSA that this was not done by choice, but was due to financial constraints (have you looked at flight prices recently for the holidays? It is insane). I was extremely sad to not be with my family on Thanksgiving having the best mashed potatoes made in Michigan and checked in throughout the day to see how much wine every had and who was winning the best Bingo prizes. We still managed to have a festive and fun holiday though, cooking dinner in our apartment with Jocelyn and Cory and their friend from Michigan, Than, who is in his last year at Yale Law.

We had some minor mishaps (the turkey turned green from a combo of garlic and lemon, Google it) but all in all it was a very successful and delicious dinner. Complete with homemade apple and pumpkin pies. It was nice to spend the holiday with friends and not face the craziness that is an airport the day before Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin scone dance party

Baking up some sweet potatoes and baked brie with Monica's recipes

Thanksgiving breakfast

What cooking should look like

The dinner table

Carving our green turkey

The best part of Thanksgiving in my opinion

All of us

Sean was a little tired at the end of the day

The Blender's Back!

I've got to hand it to Breville USA. They have amazing customer service. After attempting to call their help line to find out if I could purchase a replacement jug for my broken blender, I gave up after being on hold for nearly 30 minutes. Frustrated, I sent an email to their customer service center with y question. They replied quickly, saying that they had changed the model slightly and would like to send me a free "jug replacement kit." I wasn't sure what that meant but figured I'd take my chances and sent them my shipping address. They let me know to expect it within 7-10 days.

Hurricane Sandy happened so there was a bit of a delay but I was very excited when I received a package from Breville holding a brand new blender jug and blade. Our blade was getting kind of gross, so this was even more amazing then just the free jug. They sell replacement jugs for some models on their website for $100. I was so thrilled, I had to take photographic evidence of my first green smoothie in the new blender. Sean was not so amused. What can I say, I love my blender!

Kristen and Nate's Wedding

Last week, Sean and I had the pleasure of attending our first ever Monday wedding. It was for our good friend Kristen and her fabulous guy, Nate. Sean and I met Kristen at MSU when we lived in Mason Hall together. Since moving to Astoria where Kristen also lives, we have enjoyed getting to spend a lot more time together. We were so thrilled to celebrate their wedding and share in their radiant happiness. (What can I say, Sean and I absolutely love weddings, because we love seeing people in love.)

The ceremony took place at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria. I have been once, when it was packed full of people trying to see a Jim Hensen exhibit. It was a beautiful venue for a wedding and afterwards we got to spend some time exploring the museum and making flip book movies, much more fun when not super crowded. The reception was one block away in an event space at Studio Square, a beer garden that Kristen took us to when we first moved here. Great drinks, food, and a ridiculous Gangam Style dance-off completed the evening. Absolutely the best way to spend a Monday.

Adam and Lisa's Wedding

Our post Sandy weekend plans were no small task. We needed to get to a wedding in Long Island in the midst of power outages and a gas shortage. Luckily, after a rental car cancellation and a mistake in our hotel reservation we were able to get help from our very generous friends, Mike and Jen, who drove us and shared their hotel room. I'm glad we were able to help someone who didn't have power by giving up one of our rooms and it made for some entertaining moments.

The town the wedding was in did not fare well in the storm, with many downed trees and wires and people not expecting to have power returned for a few weeks. It's a bad situation to be in with the way the temperature has recently dropped. The hotel was doing all they could to help people and also kindly tolerated our late night lobby hang outs.

The wedding was beautiful and I am so glad it was still able to happen. After a touching ceremony, we enjoyed some amazing food (lobster mac and cheese, calamari, mahi mahi, and deep fried oreos were involved, and that's barely scratches the surface), delicious beverages, and a crazy fun dance party during which shirts were removed and chairs were lifted in the air. It was a night to remember! We didn't take many photos because we were too busy having fun but here are a few.

Enjoying Bailey's on the rocks as gentlemen do

Cocktail hour

Why yes, this is our grand piano

Cake cutting

The amazing band

End of the night

Congrats Adam and Lisa! We are so happy we were able to be there and celebrate with you! If you can handle a hurricane the week of your wedding, I'm sure that together you will be able to handle anything life throws at you.

The mess

Well everyone, we made it through another hurricane smacking into New York. We felt sure we would lose power, our lights were flickering, power was going out around us, and the wind was really  howling. But our building held out. It seems most of Astoria was better off than other parts of the city. Our biggest problem seemed to be cabin fever. Many of our friends and coworkers are still without power and we are all trying our best to be patient with slow returns to subway service.

On Tuesday afternoon we went for a walk around Astoria and to the river. We avoided all puddles!

30th Ave

Water levels were already down

On our block

Now we are faced with a fuel shortage and trying to get to Long Island for a wedding tonight. This is sure to be interesting.