going, going, gone...

Cupcakes tend to have that effect on people.

Especially when they're fabulously-themed Valentine's cupcakes with extra sprinkles.

long awaited

In almost five years in New York City, I've never even been to the MoMa! My sister-in-law vowed that she was going to pick a day to come into the city and that I "must" join her for a visit (although she's been multiple times and lives in New Jersey). Annnd, today is the day: I'm meeting her and a few of her friends there this afternoon. I just checked out the website to see what is on exhibit right now and I'm even more excited.

Especially to see this:

ooh la la

So pretty and magical.

Verdi Square, 73rd Street and Columbus Avenue, last night before the snow came.

hunkering down.

That's right, that's what we're doing here in the city: hunkering down. The snow has started to fall and the flakes are the size of potato chips. No lie, they're huge. And beautiful and sparkly.

I have to say, every once in a while, I love a good snowstorm. I can't imagine how the white, fluffy flakes can be all that dangerous (spoken like a true southern girl), but if they say it can happen, then I'll take precautions. My plan is to do a whole lotta nothing this weekend. Stay inside, be cozy and snap pictures of snow outside my window. If the number of hot chocolates that I've already had this afternoon (um, 2) is any indication of what my weekend will be like, I think I'll be fine.

Stay safe and warm if you're anywhere in the path of this crazy Nemo nor'easter!

#livecolorfully

Kate Spade posted an invitation on their blog for followers to submit photos showing how they "Live Colorfully." My friend Maggie snapped this photo in December as we made a walk down 5th Avenue to look at the Christmas window displays.

I couldn't think of a more fitting photo to interpret how I like to "live colorfully" (um, rainbow everything). If you follow me on instagram or twitter, you've seen that I submitted the photo this morning to the Kate Spade contest. It's for the chance that my photo could be used in an upcoming campaign of theirs. It may not fit their criteria, but here's hoping with fingers crossed...

happy birthday Pameleeanne!

Two of my dearest friends in New York City were born two days apart. We celebrated them last weekend over coffee, laughs, and grits. It was delightful: a Tipsy Parson brunch, 4 girls reminiscing about the wonderful, fateful summer that brought us together in the big city (+ the almost 5 years that have followed that summer), and our shared southern roots. It's such a joy to have all of us still in the city and able to celebrate each other every year on our birthdays. LeeAnne's birthday was yesterday and Pamela's is tomorrow. So I'm splitting the difference (er, I'm not actually late, LA!).

wishing them both a big, merry, cheery and fabulous HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

filling nyc subways with holiday cheer

I was serenaded on my commute this morning by this talented & cheery quartet on the 1 train.

[click to listen: Subway Jingle Bells]

citywide worship, tonight

If you're looking for something to do tonight, this is it: Citywide Worship at Mason Hall. I went to this event back in January, and it was beautiful. It's always a very powerful thing to see churches from across the city come together for worship and one common mission. Too bad I have to miss tonight. If you go, will you let me know how it is? I hope they take another photo like this.

#roommates #birthdays

Birthdays are always fun to celebrate, but there's something extra special about celebrating a roommate's birthday. Last weekend my roommates and I got to celebrate together for Bethany's birthday. It was on a beautiful rooftop on the Upper East Side with a black & white theme. Everyone, except the guests of honor, wore black and white. And we got our first roommate picture! Still so excited and thankful to live with these girls. I hope someone has another birthday soon...

philharmonic in the park

I'm up way past my bedtime for this post, but for very good reason. Every summer, the NYC Philharmonic does a free (yes, completely free) concert in Great Lawn of Central Park. And to make things even better, at the end of the concert they shoot off the most amazing fireworks. I'm here to tell you: it is one of the best things New York City has to offer. Believe me.

homemade photo booth

I am really, really into photo booths these days. They are just so darn fun, I'm not sure how anyone couldn't be into them. I made a homemade "photo booth" for the kiddos at VBS last week, and - as I suspected - I'm pretty sure I had 10x more fun than they did. Some were excited, some appeased me and at least had their photo made, and some were just short of screaming bloodymurder. But as you can see, we adults had a great time! Thanks for all the help (ahem, Maggie, Maggie and Bethany) for making this day run semi-smoothly.

hello, ibou

"Hello!" "I love you." 
-Ibou

peace...er, popsicle sticks

Well, no peace around here this week! Just lots and lots (and lots...) of popsicle sticks. It's VBS week at Redeemer and I eagerly agreed to organize the crafts for all 150 kids. Gasp, I didn't know it was quite 150 when I signed on the dotted line. Although, today was the first day and it proved to be tons of fun. I'm really excited about Wednesday's craft...probably more excited than the kids will be, in fact. But these popsicle sticks might have something to do with it, if I make it to Wednesday.

& saying goodbye

A few more pictures of my little visitors last month. This is always the hard part - saying goodbye - especially with a short visit. But Krispy Kreme in Penn Station helped a bit, I suppose.

twinkies (without planning it, they said.)

impromptu doughnut monocle.

little girls in the big city

I can't believe it's been a month since I had these little surprise visitors visit me in New York. We had a fun (short) day, and I hope that they weren't too worn out or scarred to come visit again soon. As I was reminiscing about them being here, I wanted to share some adorable pictures that were too cute to miss. Thanks for braving the city with these two, Mom! I loved having all 3 of you visit.

McKay's I [heart] NY shirt: so perfect.

We found Minnie & Mickey in Times Square!

cute sisters.

All the M&M's they could imagine...

Of course I took them to Shake Shack.

...and, the American Girl store.

Dinner at Carmines.

another amazing wedding video.

A friend of a friend proposed to his girlfriend a few weeks ago...in Bryant Park...with a marching band...and a flash mob. It doesn't get much better than this! The story even made it on ABC News.

Just check this out,



Thanks Pamela for sharing this!

big apple bbq festival

As I mentioned, this past weekend was the Big Apple BBQ Festival. It happens every year around the second weekend in June, and I look forward to it all year long. That's mostly because my favorite BBQ from growing up and visiting my grandparents, Big Bob Gibson's in Decatur, Alabama, comes to the event every year with loads of pulled pork and their famous white BBQ sauce. And every year, it's the only BBQ I'll eat at the festival. (One year, I got my picture taken with the owner!) This year - as is the case every year - Bob Gibson's had the longest line, and Brendan and I stood in the line for over 45 minutes for a couple of pulled pork sandwiches. There's nothing else quite like it! It was worth every minute we waited. Until 2013, Big Bob...

[I took the picture of me eating Big Bob's just for GG and Anna Curl!]

scenes from the weekend

This weekend was a fun one! It was very busy with lots of fun things going on, and now I'm having to take a deep breath to take on this Monday. Sometimes the weekends wear me out more than the work week. But with summer here and lots of fun things to celebrate, I think I can handle that!

On Friday afternoon, I spent some time at the Great Lawn in Central Park before heading to my fave italian spot, Carmines, for dinner with some friends, which turned into a spontaneous birthday celebration for Nichole. Saturday, Brendan and I went down to the Big Apple BBQ Festival (another post on that) and then to Brooklyn Heights for a friend's graduation party. Sunday we went to a wedding shower for some friends (Brendan's first, which he loved) and then ended with dinner at my UWS neighb-fave Jacob's Pickles. It was a wonderful way to celebrate the beginning of summer weekends. Ah, my favorite time of year is finally here.

that wedding.

Last week I mentioned that I went to another wedding. And then I said that there was more to come later on that wedding. That "more to come" just meant I was biding my time until the bride & groom's first dance was posted on youtube. It turns out, the bride is a very accomplished actress on broadway. And she completely choreographed a spectacular flashmob for their first dance as husband and wife. To say it was amazing would be a gross understatement; my chin dropped to the floor the moment I knew what was happening.  If you don't believe me, take a look for yourself at the video. Everything started out with a normal first-dance song to Dave Barnes' "On a Night Like This" and it quickly turned into THIS...I'm still smiling...I felt like I was at a broadway play....

surprise visitors

At the end of last week I got a text from my mom that said "I might be in New York next week." Given that I get my lack of spontaneity from my mom, my mouth dropped open. After having her pour out all the details of needing to bring my brother and sister-in-law some furniture in New Jersey, she told me she was also bringing Mayce and McKay with her for a day in the Big Apple!

They arrived, took the city by storm, and now they're gone. I'm still pretty sad about that last part, but it was fun having them here for a quick trip and a fun time giving them a lightning fast 1-day overview tour of the must-see New York spots (American Girl, Build a Bear...of course)!