Festival of Lights

Happy hanukkah, everybody!  My roomies and I hosted a hanukkah party on Sunday that was a smash hit!  What’s great about Hanukkah, from a busy person’s perspective, is that it’s 8 nights long.  So there’s a lot of leeway in terms of potential party dates.  And the 3rd day is just as important as the other 7 days, so…come light the menorah. Let’s have a party. We’ll all dance the hora.

What started out as an innocent idea to have a few people over for latkes and wine, quickly turned into a large potluck party with multiple rounds of Drunken Dreidle (my brother came up with it: a drinking version of the classic spinning top game from every Jew’s childhood) and dozens of delicious jelly doughnuts!

A fun time was had by all — even the goys were into it.  The latkes fried and the oil flowed.  For a first time Hanukkah party-thrower, I’d say it was a success.

Holidazed

This past week, Jen and I appeared as “Fanny & Jane” (our fabulous baking alter-egos) for the first time in months!  Since launching our new website and opening up shop on www.fannyandjane.com, the orders have been steadily pouring in — Jen has been shipping tons of orders and baking her butt off, and we’ve simply had less time to appear at events.   The inherent shmoozer in me always loves the opportunity to set up a table, bring our cake bites, and meet our sweet-toothed fans.  So this was a lovely way to spend a Wednesday night.  

Not to mention, it was our first holiday party of the season!!  Which was incredibly thrilling for both of us.  Even though I come from the menorah side of things, I sing Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas” at the top of my lungs…and two years ago, I even had my own stocking!  I mean, sure we’ve got hanukkah gelt for dreidle gambling, but it’s hard to beat an advent calendar with a piece of chocolate for EVERY DAY OF THE MONTH.  

Jen, on the other hand, is Legit Christmas.  She’s been celebrating since she was born, and I’m totally dazzled by her stories of being a child and waking up to her grandparents and parents and cousins revealing a huge decorated christmas tree in the living room with tons of presents on christmas morning, when the just the day before, the room was empty.  Like magic!  Oh, goys.  I friggin love it.  

Thanks to our friends at Cake Productions for inviting us to be a part of their fun event!

So Fresh

Never underestimate the power of fresh flowers.  I’m convinced that having flowers, or any living plant, in the house, has magical healing powers that leak into your subconscious and release endorphins.  Like going to the gym.  Except you don’t have to put on sweatpants.

A few weeks ago, my sweet boyfriend came home from a catering gig with a “little treat” for me.  I groggily hop out of bed (it was 2am), and am taken aback by a huge-ass bouquet of flowers sitting on my kitchen counter.

This thing was a monster!  It was from a big fancy shmancy wedding reception.  It is the biggest bouquet I have ever seen.  And to think, David carried this big heavy thing home for me.  >blushing<

So, the next morning, Shawna and I giddily began disassembling this big white flowery poof and carefully crafted smaller bouquets to scatter all around the house.  The fumes, or the seductive magical power of flowers (see above) must have gotten to our brains, because we started singing little songs and giggling and throwing petals in the air as we noticed all the flowers that soon seemed to take up every inch of kitchen counter space!  It was a riot.

It was a blast.  The week of life that we got out of these beautiful flowers, was an aromatic and happy one.

I know it’s only the 2nd of December, but I suppose I should start thinking about resolutions.

My first resolution for 2010: keep flowers in the house!

A Very Voorheesville Thanksgiving

The friends and good times…

And then there was food…

Well, that just about sums it up.  A 3-day vacation with some of my besties was just what the doctor ordered.  New York City is a funny place – I love it dearly, but every few months I just need to get the hell out.  And the crisp air of upstate New York, amazing comfort food, and some serious 3 on 3 basketball games were a the perfect little rejuvenators.  It was nice to have all the space in the world to run around, and also to have the option of staying in pajamas till 5pm.

With December practically here (holy cow, what!?), I’m hoping to take some more time off, and go visit my family in California during the holidays.  But procrastination really got the best of me this time, and airline tickets are already in the $600-$700 range!  Eeep.  Not an option.  I’m praying for a miracle, or some mercy from Virgin America.  Otherwise, I might have to get creative and plan a train-able/zip car-able/hitchhike-able East coast adventure for myself!  Any ideas?

And now I’m back in the city.  Back to the daily grind.  Everyone at work today was moving just a bit slower than usual.  It seems I’m not the only one who wasn’t quite ready to return from vaycay.  Or the lethargy could also be attributed to everyone’s happy little lingering buddha bellies filled with mashed potatoes and pie.