Hunt for Cider

Saturday is typically the day that we do laundry, grocery shopping, etc.  This Saturday we decided to put off our chores and responsibilities and go out and have fun in the city. 

We woke up and decided to head to canal street to do some shopping.  It was insane!  I always forget how crazy it gets there with all of the crowds.  Once we found what we went there for, we left as soon as possible. 

We decided to walk toward Union Square where they have little holiday shops.  On the way we saw a lot of Santa Clause's, I guess there was a thing where people dress as Santa and go around to all the bars.  It was funny to see all the Santa's but we kept our distance, since we could tell a bunch of them had already had a few too many drinks.  Union Square was also insane, though it was fun to see the things people make to sell. 

We decided to head home to drop off our purchases and relax for a few hours.  When we got to our neighborhood we decided to stop by Starbucks to buy some of their caramel apple cider since we hadn't had any yet this season.  They told us that they couldn't make it because they didn't have any apple juice.  We went home and decided we would try again later that night at a different location, because it sounded so good. 

We had tickets to Wintuk, a Cirque du Soleil show, so we headed downtown to go to that. The show was a great! They did a lot of crazy circus tricks, and had amazing special effects. At the end there was a snowstorm (tissue paper snowflakes) over the entire office. It was kind of crazy how much "snow" was shot out. There hasn't been a snow storm in New York yet so it was fun to have a fake storm.

This is before the show started:

This is the stage, before the show started:

 Since we were already downtown we decided to check out the Macy's windows.  It was cool how they decorated the scenes, made mostly of paper.  I was impressed by the windows. 

We went into Macy's and saw that they had Starbucks so we decided to try again on our search for caramel apple cider.  We tried the 5th floor, they were out of apple juice, like the one by our apartment.  6th floor-same story, 3rd floor-no luck.  We found one on the 1st floor and thought that we would be lucky this time, but they couldn't make it for us either!  I was giving up, but as we were walking toward the subway stop we saw another Starbucks and decided to try that one.  There was a big line and when we got to the front we asked, not expecting anything, if they had caramel apple cider..... and they did!  We ordered our cider and I told Scott that I wouldn't believe it until I tasted it.  It was oh so good!  As we hunted for our cider it became a game, and was getting pretty funny that we were striking out so much.  It was totally worth the hunt!

It was a really fun day.  It was nice to do some festive things to get us more into the holiday spirit and just to spend the whole day together.  Life is so busy it's fun to  take a break from the things you "have" to do.

Christmas Cards

This Tuesday for Girl's night I thought it would be fun to make Christmas cards.  It was a small turnout--but very fun!  These are the cards I made:)  I decided to do a few different designs so I don't get bored making all of them. 

Remember Jack?

Remember Jack? Sorry Ash...

Cute Picture of Jovie

This morning I saw on facebook that my sister posted this picture of our new niece Jovie on Facebook.  I'm so excited to meet her, she is so cute:)

Ugly Sweaters and Gingerbread Houses

This weekend we got together with our friends the Hansen's and the Thomson's to wear ugly or festive sweaters and decorate "gingerbread" houses.  Scott and I decided to make very festive and ugly sweaters.  I gathered the supplies from Michael's earlier in the day for our creations.  Saturday morning a Christmas movie was on TV and there was a guy wearing a sweater that had a bright green moose on it which is how we got the inspiration for Scott's sweater.  The idea for my sweater came from a few years ago when my roommates and I made some really good ugly sweaters for a party at our apartment.  I tried to recreate it in a way.  See pictures below, along with how-to instructions for you to make your own ugly sweater:)

The front of my sweater:

There are bells and pom poms I used to cover the buttons/buttonholes.  Then I cut strips of those Mardi Gras type beads next to the buttons/buttonholes.  for the bottom of the sweater and the cuffs of the sleeves I used tinsel garland.

The back of my sweater: 

I used felt to make the tree.  I decorated it with pom poms, bells, and beads.  The "presents" under the tree are Christmas buttons.

Scott's sweater: 

Scott made his own sweater with a little guidance from me.  He printed off an outline of a moose, and used that as a template for his moose.  Googly eyes, and a bell were added as well as holly made from pom poms and pipe cleaners.  I think Scott's sweater turned out really well!

We had fun making our ugly sweaters, and are definitely saving them for a future party!  Here is us together at the party in front of the Hansen's beautiful tree, what a great backdrop for a picture:)

Here is the "gingerbread" house we made from graham crackers.  It is a replication of the apartment building we live in, tower 1.  This is while we were still adding a few finishing touches at the decorating table.  Scott was very creative in our tower.  He did the most work on it, I just followed his lead:)  

This picture is when it was all complete at another angle. 

We had such a great weekend, it was fun to do Christmasy things with friends!  I love the holidays!

Welcome Baby Jovie

We have a new niece!  Jovie was born on December 5 at 2:15 am, weighing 9 pounds 10 ounces.  We are so excited to meet her in a few weeks! Congratulations to my sister Amber and her family:)

Creak...Creak...

I'm at work and it is so windy today that I'm afraid this is what I'll be hearing all day---creak....creak...  It kind of makes you feel like you are on a ship getting seasick.  You can't really feel the building move, but the sound tricks you into thinking you can.  I think this is going to drive me a little crazy but I guess that's what you get when you work in a tall building.