The Rest of the (Long) Weekend

Pin It now! I started the long weekend on Thursday night with a free INXS concert at the Beacon Theatre.  Free!  I won them from a radio contest.  Earlier in the week, WPLJ was giving away free tickets to INXS if you were caller 95.  Michael thinks I was the only caller that morning to they had to give the tickets to anyone who called.  Whatever - I love INXS.  My favorite song is Beautiful Girl and I remember buying all their albums decades ago when I first heard the song on the radio.  M and I actually went to their concert in 2006 at Radio City Music Hall right after the reality show ended and the band found a new lead vocalist.  That concert was amazing - we didn't have any expectations and it was so much better than we thought it was going to be.  the new lead vocal JD Fortune was spot on and it was a little spooky how he sounded like Michael Hutchence.  Tonight's concert was for their Original Sin album which are remakes of their old songs. I was really disappointed because I didn't like the new version of Beautiful Girl, which was the one song I was looking forward to.  I'll see them again (if I win free tickets).

On Monday, we threw a birthday BBQ for the hubs (Happy birthday my darling!). I made a second batch of jello shots and a Macedonia berry salad (recipe is from Debi Mazar's show Extra Virgin on the Cooking Channel - recipe is here).  Meatball Shop was my inspiration of the orange creamsicle jello shot - when we went a few weeks ago, the orange creamsicle was delicious.  I couldn't resist to make it on a large scale for the party.  The party was fun and we had a lot more people than expected.  Ed Westwick made an appearance too... yeah, because we roll like that. 

(posted with L's permission)

Just a note... to my husband and very best friend.  It's been 2 & 6 years together.  I'm thankful for every day and it's definitely an amazing ride.  I get weepy because I always daydreamed how I would be all grown up, and this life right now with you is better than I could have ever imagined.

Lady Gaga in the House!

Pin It now! I had the most fabulous celeb sighting today... Lady Gaga!  She was going up for a XM Sirius Satellite show and she came through my office building.  I was arms length away from her and she was totally fabulous!

I used to think she was a bit annoying and a copycat of Madonna.  I actually told the DJ at our wedding not to play any of her songs (the horror!).  I watched her in a few interviews though and read her bio in New York Mag recently, and I adore her now.  What caught me was that there are so many people, especially those who feel like outsiders, who find inspiration and hope in her and her songs.  She's a bit freaky but she's honest and real, or as real as a person who wears a meat dress can be!

The Weekend Recap

Pin It now! I hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend.  It was nice to have a long weekend although I technically worked from home on Friday.  Thanksgiving Thursday was a full day of the Garden State.  The usual hour-long ride took us almost three hours from the city to hubby's cousins house - an hour from the parking lot to the Lincoln Tunnel alone.  When we finally got to their house, it was nonstop eating (thank goodness!).  After trays of stuffed mushrooms, proscuitto wrapped breadsticks, pulled pork and the first Thansgiving dinner of the night, we headed to my parents' house the next town over for our second dinner.  Don't judge!  My sister and her boyfriend did the same although they were in Philly first and had a few hours to digest on the way to my parents'.  My mom was amazing and made everything herself this year since we had our obligations earlier in the day.  She made some of the same (cream of mushroom soup, candied yams, garlic string beans) and a few new additions (a delicious new stuffing recipe, homemade cranberry sauce and chinese bbq spare-ribs).  I made smitten's spiced applesauce cake for dessert and took a horrible photo of the turkey...

Friday we took advantage of The Gap and Rite Aid's Black Friday sales (good basics and toilet paper, respectively).  It was a low key night and we stayed in to watch the original Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo.  I haven't read any of the books, but why didn't someone tell me the movie is not for the faint of heart.  I was expecting Borne Ultimatum, but instead (spoiler alert!) the movie is full of sexual violence and serial murders.  It was a good movie, but a little terrifying.

Saturday, while hubs was at the gym and taking his friend's Crossfit class, I was off to TJMaxx (again!).  I bought a couple more toys for my office holiday toy drive and then hovered over the Le Creuset table for a long time.  5-qt Oval French oven for $199 (retail $$225), 5.5-qt Round French oven for $159 (retail $235).  If I didn't have all the toys with me and didn't have to lug the heavy pot home, I would have rationalized buying one.  I imagine myself cooking roasts and stews like Giada de Laurentis in a gorgeous Le Creuset... Where the old Filene's Basement was on 6th Ave, they put in a new Marshalls.  The home section is fabulous and has great designer finds, something I didn't find at TJMaxx.  I saw a Vera Wang Wedgewood Sable Duchesse teapot for $99 (retail $216) and teacups for $11 (retail $30).

** Celeb alert!  We saw Harvey Keitel outside of Amity Hall last night.  Anyway, yay for four day weekends.  By the time Sunday arrived, it felt like I was on a mini-vacation.  Today was all about the chores though.  Laundry, supermarket, baking (smitten kitchen's pear bread) and cooking dinner.  Ahh, almost done, just need to do a little ironing and I'll be finally done.  I'm ready for Amazing Race and Walking Dead tonight and then back to work.

Hope you had a fabulous weekend too!

Spending Sunday in K-town

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hubby and i went to k-town this afternoon for lunch at mandoo bar. mandoo bar has the most delicious dumplings, and you can watch the ladies making them in the window as you walk by the restaurant. we ordered the pork and veggie mandoos, and they were so good. then we had our regular trip to h-mart and got the usual...udon noodles, kimchi, (more) dumplings, seasoned spinach, and spicy korean ramen. we're set for the week!

btw, celebrity sighting...i saw nina garcia of project runway fame today at whole foods doing some grocery shopping with her daughter.