It's my birthday!

i don't feel 31. i don't look 31 (whatever 31 is supposed to look like). but i'm 31 today. it's a little strange to write since i feel like i'm still in my early 20's, and i don't think that will ever change. maybe when i have kids or when my kids have kids. we'll see...

last night, me, hubby, my parents and my brother and sister went out to dinner for an early birthday celebration. we ate at new big wang in chinatown. ok, that was the old name of the restaurant (it's now called yee li), but new big wang is so much more fun to say. tonight a bunch of us are going to have our big karaoke party at one of the japas restaurants. i love karaoke parties because we have a private room and we can get loud and sing as awful as we want without having anyone else hear. i'll report back with pictures tomorrow!

happy birthday to me!

Sweet Tooth

so tomorrow's my birthday. that's right, this fabulous mrs. is slowing turning into an old broad. i'll post about my fabulous day tomorrow. this post is about how i didn't get something sweet for my birthday from my co-workers. that's right, i was forgotten at work! my group has only 9 people and we have a birthday list. i'm usually the one who remembers birthdays and i'm the one who gets the sweets for the birthday gal/guy because i'm just sweet like. we usually get a crumbs bakery cake (my favorite so far has been the rainbow sprinkle cake), cupcakes or a delicious blackout cake from somewhere on the upper west side.

yes, my birthday wasn't today, but tomorrow is a saturday, so i figured i'll be "surprised" with something sweet today. usually around 2:30, for other co-workers' previous birthdays, my big boss comes into the room and mills around awkwardly until someone yells happy birthday and we have cake. today, 2:30 comes along and nothing. 2:45...nothing. by 3:15, i knew they forgot. ok, so i'm not 5 years old and this isn't elementary school where birthdays are never forgotten. i just really wanted some yummy dessert! maybe next year....

Speed Friending

midtown girl posted last week an event hosted by girlfriendcircles - speed-friending! i thought it was a great idea but couldn't convince myself to sign up because i kept thinking i was lame to want to do this. i have great friends but it seems sometimes that when i want to do something i have search them out or for other friends, our schedules are so different that it's near impossible to see them more than once in a blue moon. i signed up and went tonight and it was fantastic. when i was heading over, i felt nervous like i was meeting a guy on a first date! shasta nelson, the founder of girlfriendcircles, made the event comfortable and fun though. plus, it was at sweet revenge and we had samples of cupcakes and wine!

basically, it's like speed-dating. ther were about 12 ladies and we split up in four different groups. shasta created sharing questions so we would have a topic of conversation. she rung a bell and for two minutes, each lady talked about herself and answered the sharing question. we rotated groups and got to know each lady. i'm not sure if i found new friends, but it was nice to get out of my comfort zone and meet new people.

Running With His Wallet

i just walked out of work and i hear a guy yelling and running towards my direction. i couldn't understand what he was saying, but he's an older guy shouting and running down the street. then i see another guy running past me. i realize the older guy is yelling "he took my wallet! he took my wallet!" then the cops are running by. i have no idea if they caught the guy. drama!

it makes me think what i would have done if realized earlier why the guy running past me was running past me. should i have tripped him or got in his way to stop him? what if he had a gun though? i hate to to think i would be scared to help someone in need, but this is new york city where you never know who's crazy.

2012

tonight hubby and i went to watch 2012. he didn't particularly like it, but i thought it was really good. it had it's share of action, but it also had lots of commentary on human nature.

i want to really believe that something will happen in december 2012. the mayans predicted the end of the world, but others have also talked about an enlightenment or shift in humanity. whatever it is, i want to believe that something will happen in 3 years. why? it's the sci-fi geek in me or maybe the belief that we all need a change. i told hubby i thought we would do really well in surviving if we had to. he thought HE would do really well, but stopped there. you watch out...i'm one tough cookie! i'm curious how it's all going to turn out.

Sake Tasting at Sakegura

last night, the girls and i went for sake tasting at sakagura in midtown. the restaurant is hard to find and in the basement of an office building, but once inside, it's a great place. em and i have been trying to do sake tasting for a long time and we finally started finding places (and going there!) to try different kinds of sake. our first one was my favorite - m-something - and it was deliciously smooth. the second one was a little dryer and according to the waiter, fruity, but we couldn't tell the difference. the food was really good too: chicken meatballs, cod, shrimp sticks, eggplant three ways. and of course we had dessert: chocolate souffle, black sesame creme brulee, and black sesame and green tea truffles. i would definitely go back for more!

Getting Together at Crispo's

tonight hubby and i met up with some friends we haven't seen since the wedding for drinks at mckenna's and dinner at cripo's. it was a mini-celebration for our friend who is getting married tomorrow at city hall. her soon-to-be husband wasn't there since his parents were in town and he had to entertain them so we half-celebrated without him. if you go to crispo, get the pork shank! it's to die for. also delicious and definitely worth getting...eggplant carbonara and brussel sprouts.

Tiny Candy

one of my co-workers brought in candy her friend brought back from japan. how cute are they?! leave it up to the japanese to make tiny candy so freakin' cute and it's all sugar so it's really yummy too. it's funny to watch my other co-workers, who are grown men, eating a lollipop that is so tiny even for a little kid.

M&M's Made Just For Us

my sister order personalized M&Ms for the candy buffet for our wedding. of course she only ordered them a few days before the wedding so they never came in time. i have pounds and pounds of pink and red M&Ms personalized just for us. i have to figure out what to do with them! don't say eat them. i rather not gain 10 lbs right after our wedding just because i didn't want to waste chocolate!

Summer and Presents in November

it was a gorgeous fall day...t-shirt weather in november! my parents were driving into the city so of course i took the advantage of the ride back. we had lunch and while my mom went to the salon, my dad and i walked around. i love the little things...talking and walking with dad on a gorgeous day and buying groceries in chinatown.

to make the day even better, i (finally) went to bed bath and beyond to exchange the silver kitchen aid stand mixer we got as a wedding gift to a RED kitchen aid stand mixer. i was overjoyed when i saw one of our friends had given it to us, but now that it's red, i can't stop looking at it and adoring it. look out hubby, your new competition is in the apartment ;)

Home in the Garden State

i'm back in my parents' house in nj for the weekend. they needed help doing a major fall house cleaning so i "volunteered" to come home. actually the converation with my mom went like this:
me: "oh, i wanted to come home to visit this weekend."
mom: "great, come for the whole weekend. i need you to clean the windows."

being the guilt-ridden oldest child, i came home. and cleaned the windows. including the screens. i'm glad i don't own a house. or maybe i should have kids soon so when it's time to clean the windows, they'll be old enough for child labor.

i love being home though. they're something about being in the house you grew up in after you've moved away that makes you feel like a kid again. i also like how quiet it is in the suburbs. the only sound at night are the occassional cars that drive by. no honking, no firetrucks, no people shouting outside your window. i slept like a baby last night.

Tufts Entrepreneurial Network Inaugural Event

i love my alma mater tufts. love it!. i had a fabulous college experience so i try to stay involved with the school as much as possible. last night clara and i went to tufts entrepreneurial network's inaugural event where sara kugelman (class of '85) talked about the two businesses she started. her first one was gloss.com, an internet start-up back in 1999. i've never heard of it, but it was pretty big with the celebs. her second start-up a few years ago is skyn iceland, a line of natural skincare products that are "specially formulated to treat the effects of stress on skin." check out her company! (i'll shamelessly plug people's products after meeting them for five minutes.) i've used the arctic face mist sample that she gave out yesterday. i'll let you know how it feels after using it for a few days.


it was pretty amazing and inspiring listening to her and sitting in a room with entrepreneurs from all different industries. i networked a bit and asked sara for advice on my small little wedding start-up. her advice: get sufficient funding and try to distinguish yourself, preferably land a celebrity wedding. (i knew i shouldn't have rejected ivanka trump's wedding planner request for her wedding this past weekend.)

Seasame Street's 40th Birthday

have you noticed that google is having a different seseame street character on their main page every day? it's to celebrate SS's 40th birthday. happy birthday!! growing up, i LOVED seasame street. if i knew what time it was on and i didn't work during the day, i would probably still watch it. the skits were catchy and i wished i were real friends with the characters. who wasn't there when mr. snuffleupagus was revealed to the adults as being real?! who didn't cry when mr. hopper actually passed away?! i don't think i had only favorite character, but if i had to pick i would say that i loved big bird and snuffy. i can't wait until i have kids so they can experience the show like i did. of course that will give me an excuse to watch it all over again

~ this post was brought to you by the letters E, A, C ~

November Baseball

i haven't blogged about the yankees all season. it's hard to live in ny and not experience the yankees one way or another - either loving the team or hearing about someone who does. i'm in the former camp. hubby and i would go to games every season. this year, however, since they built that new stadium and prices for seats are $50 for the nosebleed section, we've watched them on tv instead.

welll...my darling yankees are in the world series and it's been a great 3 games so far. yes, they lost the first one and sabathia pitched awful, but i think they're going to make it all the way. either way though, it's be great baseball.

this entire day is a turnpike series sports day: giants v. eagles; knicks v. 76ers; yankees v. phillies. go ny!

NYC Marathon

{photo credit: AP Photo/David Goldman}

today was the nyc marathon! i'm not a runner. i've done one 5K and barely made it, and at the gym, i'm usually done by 2 miles. so i have so much respect for marathon runners especially those who are running it for the first time. it's amazing the dedication and endurance they have.

today american meb keflezighi won the men's marathon. i watched it on tv (although i should have gotten my butt out of the apartment and walked the 5 blocks to where the marathon ended!) and i was so proud! an american guy hasn't won the nyc marathon since 1982. go usa!