Project 52~ Week 4

Finally found a great mani & pedi salon in San Antonio

New York~ Day 5

This is my final NYC post until the next trip. Speaking of, I should put in a request for The View tickets soon. Has anyone been to a taping of The View? I would LOVE to go.

On our 5th day in NYC, we attended a taping of Regis and Kelly. In August, we each sent a post card requesting 4 tickets. Leslie ended up getting the tickets. Yay! My sister couldn't go because she had a work meeting so I invited my friend Nancy who I met on the 2006 China trip.

Regis was not hosting because he was recovering from a recent surgery. I was a little disappointed when the guest host was Bryant Gumbel, boring! The show guests that day were Ray Romano and John Lithgow. During commercial breaks Kelly talks to the audience. She's really sweet, funny, and crazy skinny.

The show was over, Bryant left the studio, and Kelly told us they were going to pre-tape a segment for the following week and we could watch! She left the stage to change clothes and I started to wonder who the guest host would be. I was really hoping for the beautiful Anderson Cooper.







Guess who was our guest host? When he walked out the studio audience, consisting of mostly women, screamed and cheered. I actually jumped around in my seat. I love him. The show guest for the 2nd taping was Colin Firth. I was more excited about Anderson. :)









We had lunch at an organic restaurant around Bryant Park. Honestly, I won't go back. The food was good but it could've been seasoned more. The biggest problem, they did NOT have diet coke. Not okay, not going back. Wow, you think I have a diet coke problem?


After lunch, we looked around at a Christmas market at Grand Central Station. Then we headed to Times Square for half price Broadway tickets. We were able to get great seats to Mary Poppins for half price! I love a deal. The show was cute and magical. The theater is gorgeous! Broadway in NYC is the best, beautiful theaters and all the seats are good!

Project 52~ Week 3

From a display window I just completed at the airport (my side job) for the candy store. I love this window, so I decided to post a few other photos from it.

M.I.A.

Apparently going back to work after a 7 week break is much harder than I had anticipated. It didn't help that my computer was infected by a nasty virus. Fortunately, it was NOT the "g*y s*x fetish" virus that my computer got last year. I was 100% horrified when I had to tell my company help desk the name of that virus.

I went out of town last week for work and had issues packing and getting out the door. I'm the queen of traveling. What has happened to me? I've been behind on work, which is unusual. I always work ahead. I'm also behind on blogging and reading blogs. Ugh. I'm catching up though and getting back into the swing of things.

Project 52~ Week 2

I think the purpose of Project 52 was to take a good photo each week of the year. I definitely failed miserably this week; this is such a bad photo. Oh well, I'll try again week. If you're from Texas and you love Chuy's, you know exactly what's in this photo.

Chuy's Creamy Jalapeno Dip~ a little bowl of Heaven on Earth

Fishs Eddy

Last month while visiting NYC we discovered a great kitchen shop. We arrived a little early for our dinner reservation at Craftbar on Broadway and found this treasure across the street, Fishs Eddy. It's fun! We walked around the store until our dinner reservation and then went back after dinner. The store is that good, y'all.

Love these


Polka Dot Dishes, Canisters, Glasses, Mugs, & Dish Towels... so fun. These would have been so cute in my college apartment.


My Part of the Store~Vintage China



Floor plan Dishes~ so clever! Wouldn't these be a cute gift for an interior decorator?




Glass Printed Bowls~ with a lid

Nautical Kate~ this photo is for you

New Blog Design~ The Best Ever

I had another blog post planned for tonight about a cute store but it will have to wait. My new blog design deserves a post of its own. My friend Danielle, The Design Girl, created this cute, vintage, girly blog design for me tonight. I LOVE it; I can't stop looking at it. Of all the designs I've had, it's my favorite.

The Design Girl is offering all my readers a great discount on custom blog designs. A custom blog design includes a template, a header, recoloring of text and links, and wallpaper. The price for a custom blog design is $75 but Danielle is offering the custom blog design to all my readers for $55! What a deal. Wouldn't it be fun to start the year with a new blog design?

Since I don't like to post without a photo, here's Danielle and me at Disneyland last year.

Tagged

Jules at Chic and Pink tagged me. Yay and thanks Jules, January is boring.

Here are the rules:

1. Answer 5 questions with 5 answers

2. Tag 5 other bloggers

Question #1 – What were you doing 10 years ago? I have day planner pages with everything I've done documented and I have tons of photos from 2000. Unfortunately, everything is buried in the townhouse garage so this answer is from memory. I considered fighting the junk and climbing on the Jeep Wrangler parked in the 1-car garage to access the boxes of photo albums and my day planner pages but it could get ugly.

1. On the infamous night of Y2K, I had dinner at the Kemah boardwalk with friends. Remember how the media said something bad was going to happen at the stroke of midnight and nothing happened? I was a little disappointed; at least the lights could've flickered to amuse us. Luckily I wasn’t one of the people who stockpiled canned goods and peanut butter. :) Since everyone was worried about staying out late, after dinner we went back to a girl’s apartment for movies and cocktails. That night I slept in tent, in her apartment on the living room floor. Oh my gosh… I so glad it’s 10 years later, I can't imagine doing that now.

2. I think that was the year I went on a cruise with my BFF Tiffany. I have so many photos from our trip in the garage. I wish I could post one.

3. I was offered a job as a sales rep with my company. I had a bad feeling about the position and I declined it. Four years later that position was completely eliminated.

4. My company initiated a huge project in 2000; I traveled every week. I kept a swimsuit in my suitcase and always rented a SUV with tinted windows. After work I changed into my swimsuit in the back of the SUV and hit the beach or the pool. I would NEVER do that today; I care too much about my skin. Also, I remember taking a nap in the back of an SUV rental in an Olive Garden parking lot in Florida. Classy, huh?

5. My favorite restaurant was Star Pizza in Houston. I really love pizza. I’ve had pizza in many cities, even Rome, Italy and Star is always a favorite.

Question #2 – What are 5 things on your To-Do list today

1. Work

2. Run a couple errands

3. Go to the gym, which is difficult. I'd rather play with razor blades in the middle of the interstate at rush hour.

4. Dinner

5. Watch the "most dramatic and scandalous episode ever" of The Bachelor.

Question #3 – What 5 snacks do you enjoy?

1. Hummus with pita bread and veggies

2. Diet Coke

3. Chips and Dip

4. Sugary Candy- jelly beans, gummi peach rings, etc...

5. Snow Cones





Question #4 – Where are 5 places that you have lived?

1. Houston, TX

2. Conroe, TX

3. Abilene, TX

4. San Antonio, TX

5. A multitude of hotel rooms across the U.S.




Question #5 – What are 5 things you would do if you were a billionaire? I’m really boring. I wouldn’t even quit my job.

1. Donate to church and charities

2. Save and invest

3. Sponsor tons of kids in China & sponsor volunteer trips to China orphanages for people interested

4. Hire a full time personal trainer. As you can see with my answer in question #2, I need help with motivation. My sis and I worked out with a trainer 2 weeks ago. Yikes, it was hard but awesome!

5. Re-decorate my house over and over and over

I tag...

Guitars and Pralines

Jimmy Choos and a Baby Too

Walk with Me on this Journey Called Life

Jill's Real Life

Happy Daily

Photo Project 52~ Week 1

The goal is to post one photo each week of the year. There is also Project 365 and the goal is to post one photo each day of the year. I cannot commit to posting a favorite photo each day of the year. I won’t even commit to living in a particular city. Yesterday my dad talked to me about the advantages of home ownership (blah, blah I've heard it before) and how I should consider it. No way, can’t commit! You think I have issues? ;)

I am not a professional photographer. I work for a major U.S. based photo company and I like taking pictures. I have spent time in a dark room and I loved it but I’m not a pro. I know I could be a better photographer if I had a nicer camera. Isn’t it funny how the camera makes all the difference these days? I have a basic Sony point and shoot camera (not the company I work for, such a trader). I’m an amateur.

Here’s my photo for week 1 of Project 52. Wow, I almost didn’t make the deadline.

This week I spent a couple evenings with my Grandma. Since my Grandpa passed away on December 16th, she has been staying with my parents. My parents had a couple obligations this week and didn’t want to leave her alone. My Grandma has dementia and can’t do many things for herself.

I remember when I was in high school, my Grandparents volunteered at our local hospital. They would sit and visit with sick people, people they didn’t even know. My Grandma always brought a bottle of nail polish. As she was visiting with the sick ladies she would offer to paint their nails, most said yes. Girls love to be girls! This week I painted my own nails with OPI Lincoln Park After Dark and then offered to paint my Grandma’s nails pink. She loved it .

P.S. I promise I won’t give this much of an explanation on each Project 52 photo. I just liked this story.

Is it just me or January a boring month? Next week I’m going back to work and I’m actually looking forward to it. I’ve worked from home a little but I haven't been in the field since November 20th. I’ve been busy and entertained until this week. I'm running out of stuff to do or not interesed in the last few items on my "to do" list.

My friend Gigi at Guitars and Pralines awarded me with The Chic award. Thank you, Gigi for my first award of 2010. The rules are to pass this award to someone you admire. I’m going to pass The Chic award to my friend Melissa at Create The Life You Love. Melissa has a heart of gold and she’s extremely talented. I admire the way Melissa lives her life and her eye for beauty. Check out her blog and her cute Etsy shop. I just ordered one of these CUTE note pads and a few other things.


Y’all know Nautical Kate, right? Well, every week on her blog she features a blogger dressed in a nautical outfit. Check out who’s featured this week?

New York~ Day 4

We started our 4th day in NYC with brunch at Max Brenners. Max B is known for his speciality chocolates. The menu felt more like a dessert menu than a brunch menu, which isn't a bad thing. I ordered the apple cinnamon and white chocolate truffle cream french toast. Yum....

Next we went to the Time Warner building for a photo shoot. I love vacay photo shoots and I love it that these girls love them too. Have you noticed that guys never want to take a ton of photos, maybe a few and then they're ready to move on? We were at the Time Warner building for an hour, just taking photos.

After the photo shoot, we went to Central Park for a horse and carriage ride. It was such a pretty day.

Next on the itinerary was the empire state building. We purchased our tickets online to bypass some of the lines. We definitely had a great view of the city from the observation deck. However, I had to leave the observation deck before the other girls. I started feeling sick and queezy. I'm kinda (but not completely) scared of heights.

After the empire state building we headed to Times Square for dinner at a small deli and more photos in Times Square.

My sis and I had a pretend "sister fight" in Times Square. If you have a sister, you know the kind of fight I'm talking about... pulling hair, scratching, screaming, and slapping. For the record, we haven't actually had a fight like this in many years but we do bicker. We thought our family would enjoy these photos. Jenn emailed the photos to our parents and brother. I don't think we got a response. Ha Ha.

And the next minute we love each other and all is forgiven... a true sister fight.

Jenn drinking wine from a little bottle in Times Square, we're so classy.

We ended the day at Rockefeller Center and watched the Saks Fifth Avenue snowflake light show... very cute!

New York~Day 3

The week after Thanksgiving my sis and our friends took our annual Girl's Trip to NYC. We were in New York for 5 days and had SO much fun! I didn't want to bore y'all and post about our NYC days over and over. I'm spreading them out.

On day 3 of our trip it was raining, so we adjusted our plans and did activities inside. We attended the Martha Stewart Holiday Craft Show. It was held at Martha's corporate office and this was the first year it was open to the public. We were very excited. There were lots of booths with homemade items for sale, demonstrations, ideas and samples.

Standing in front of Martha's Nautical Christmas Tree. Of course, I thought of Kate.

We got to make Christmas gift tags, using Martha's supplies and tools sold at Michael's.

After the Craft Show we headed to Macy's and Bloomingdale's for lunch and shopping.

We had lunch at the Macy's Cellar. Salad + Wine + a Slice of Cheese Pizza= $50! Only in New York! That lunch would have cost $20 in San Antonio, $30 in Houston, $7 in Beijing, $38 in Los Angeles, okay I'll stop now. I'm really hyper and A.D.D right now.

Maria purchased her first pair of Tory Burch Reva Flats

And a ton of other things....



When we left Bloomingdale's it was snowing, which is really exciting& magical for Texas girls

That night we had dinner at Craftbar, a Tom Colicchio concept (Top Chef Host). It was delicious, especially the Risotto Balls and Pecorino Fondue. We highly recommend it. ;)