More additions

Last weekend when our new couch was delivered we agonized about what to do with our old couch. It was pretty old and beat up but not horrible. Some friends had planned to take it and then backed out at the last minute. We decided to put it out on the street on Saturday with a sign that said "free to a good home" and figured if no one wanted it the garbage men would take it on Monday. Well, the sign was up for about 5 min when a couple walked by and stopped to sit on it and decided to take it home! I was so glad. I hated to see it just go to the dump. Well that got our downstairs neighbors thinking and they started cleaning stuff out and putting it out on the fence to give away. We joined in and put some more stuff out (little things) too. It was sort of an impromptu stoop sale/giveaway. Then the neighborhood kids came by and we chatted with them and with people stopping to look at our stuff. Then the landlords showed up to deliver some planters for our front yard area. It was a nice way to spend a sunny day hanging out outside in the hood. So a little back story, the kids who live in the basement had been collecting wood because they wanted to build planters to grow vegetables out front. I had my doubts but Greg said he would help out if they wanted. When the landlords found out about the plan they were not happy. They forbid them from building anything but after much coaxing they did agreed to supply some planters. Of course they also decided what to plant in them leaving very little room for anything else. I find the whole thing funny but I think the boys were disappointed. The wood in the photo is some of the collected wood. You can see why the landlords were afraid of what might be built. This last photo is of our 3rd air conditioner. We are living the high life now! The basement kids were selling it dirt cheap so Greg and I picked it up to put in the office. This way when my mom visits this summer she can sleep comfortably! Don't mind the mess, you can see I have very little time for crafts these days!

New couch

Sorry, sorry, sorry. Greg had the camera for a few days so I had no photos to post. But it is back so I can share our weekend excitement. We finally got a new couch. We have been talking about getting one for over a year. In fact we almost didn't bring our couch from the Bronx because we were definitely going to get one last summer. Well, we never seemed to have time to shop together and the places we went to we didn't agree on the couch or the color. Fast forward to April and we happened to be at a meeting for Church which was right by Macy's so we decided to swing in and see if they had anything. We stumbled on one of the only modern looking sofas they had and instantly liked it and even agreed on the color (it is deep brown). It was delivered on Saturday so Greg and I spent the day arranging and rearranging the other furniture in the room. We also ran out to IKEA to get a new coffee table and a new cover for our chair so it would match. The coffee table didn't work out but the chair cover did and it looks like they are meant to go together. Greg even got a fire in him to deal with the other purchase we had been stalled on for over a year, a new TV. That will be delivered in a few weeks. For now I am delighted with the new couch and am already planning new curtains, wall color and pillows. Yippie! This last photo is for my mom to show that we moved the cabinet that was by the door into the dining room. We need more space by the door for guests to leave their shoes (they take them off even when we tell them they don't have to. I think carpet scares New Yorkers!) and we are thinking of getting a bigger TV stand for the new TV. I just plopped it down next to the other cabinets for now.

Spring has sprung

Just a quick weekend recap. We had a quiet weekend at home. Saturday was a really beautiful warm day so we decided to go out for dinner. At one point we were also going to see a movie at the movie theater in our neighborhood. We walked all through Sunnyside but all of our favorite restaurants were all full! That never happens. When did Sunnyside get so popular? Well it was probably the excellent weather. We ended up going home and getting take out from one of the places that didn't have any empty seats for us and we opted for a movie on video.

One of my favorite parts of spring in the Bronx was when the magnolias would bloom. You see almost every house between ours and the train had a magnolia tree and when they bloomed (the blooms only last a few days before they turn brown) the entire walk to work was so lovely. I was really going to miss the magnolias this year since there is far less foliage in our current neighborhood but while we were out walking on Saturday I found this beautiful tree in full bloom so I snapped a picture.
Spring is definitely here. I can tell because the house is cold in the morning. The weather is too warm to make the heat kick on but not warm enough to remove the chill in the air. I am so glad as I can already feel my mood lifting as the temps increase.

Earth Hour

Here is a photo from our impromptu Earth Hour celebration last month. I took a break from studying, shut off all the lights and non-essential appliances and invited the kids downstairs up for some dice and Uno. We pooled what little snacks we had and had a great time.

Using only candlelight really makes me appreciate the pioneers! It is so hard to see anything! Did you participate in Earth Hour?

Union Jack

This is a photo of little baby Lucy who was born just 6 weeks ago to a co-worker of mine. And she is modeling a little onsie that I embroidered on the sewing machine for her baby shower. Her parents are British so I thought they would like a onsie with a Union Jack but now I think I should have made a little US flag since this girl is a citizen! The machine embroidery on the onsie was not as easy as the other shirts I did because the fabric is so stretchy, thin and soft. A stiffer/thicker fabric holds the design much better.
Enough with the photos! A model needs her privacy!

Spring Hair

While in Maine visiting my friend Karen I woke up one morning and looked in the mirror at my snarled, dry and ratty hair and knew it was time for a change. I have really enjoyed long hair but I was ready for something lighter and need to remove a lot of damaged ends. I wanted to wait until the weather warmed up but caved in right before my test and got about 5 inches cut off. It is almost shoulder length and can be put up in a tiny little pony tail but it is much shorter and much thinner. I think my hairdresser took out about 5 pounds of hair as she thinned and layered it (to give it more body). Of course I am never happy with things as they are so I continue to curl it (like in the picture).

Seattle Trip

Since I mentioned the Seattle trip in my last post I thought I might as well elaborate. We were in Seattle in March for a few days to see the families and celebrate my Mother-in-law's 60th birthday. She didn't actually know we were coming so it was a huge surprise for her. She wasn't really excited to celebrate this birthday but in the end she had a really great time. We had been sending her 60 birthday cards before we arrived and she had been waiting for the last card to arrive (which we hand delivered out of the blue). Here is a photo of her card display:The other fun thing was that Greg's aunt came to town armed with 60 gifts for the birthday girl and we hadn't seen her since our wedding 7 years ago. We were really excited to get to spend some time with her.I drove down to Olympia to see my friend Katie and her oh so cute Ava. Greg had some time with his friends too including a trip to the bowling alley with Jeremy and his fiance. It was pretty surreal for us to be there since it was the sight of our 1st date and IT HAS NOT CHANGED IN 14 YEARS! So weird.
In addition to all the birthday festivities I managed to do some shopping and picked up 3 pairs of cute shoes at the Rack, some new clothes, craft and sewing supplies, and lots of cute papers, bags, and ribbon at Packaging Specialties. Also got to spend the day with my sister who is expecting a baby (the first Howard grand baby) this summer. More shopping for us girls! Even Greg did some shopping and got new used clothes at Value Village. That was another trip down memory lane since I worked there in high school. The store has changed a lot since then.Greg and I also went out to Mercer Island to cheer my mom on as she ran a 10K. It was supposed to be a half marathon but she is nursing an injury and her doctor told her no more than a 10K. We couldn't get to the finish line because of a mad parking situation so we camped out under the I-90 bridge and rooted for all the runners. We chatted with a nice race volunteer (who took our picture). We were right before a big hill (the course is really hilly) so we would yell "you can do it" "don't look to the right" "enjoy the downhill". It was really fun. We erroneously told people they were about half way (when they asked) only to find out later we were acutally at more like the 3/4 mark. Oops!The rest of the trip was spent hanging out with the families and working on a few small projects. While we were there we learned how to play my parent's new favorite dice game. My mom picked this game up while visiting my great aunt and uncle in Wisconsin last summer. My parents have played cribbage during meals for years and years but like this dice game so much they switched over. That's how you know it is fun! It is called "Oh Sh*t" or as my mom said while we played "That's too bad". It does involve gambling for quarters but it is a lot of fun and Greg and I have been playing at home during dinner ever since we got back. Here is a little video I took while we played. You can't see Rachel but she was still there (coming in last place!). Fun times.

I am sure I am leaving something out but we had a very nice visit and will be back again in August for Jeremy's wedding and to meet the our new nephew (we can't wait!).

Kale Smoothie?

Well I did it. This morning I washed and chopped up a bunch of kale. As I was drying it and putting it into my big half empty spinach container I was noticing how rough/stiff kale is and I was really doubting it would be good in the smoothie. That didn't stop me from piling it in and whizzing it up.....

It was great! A little less smooth than the spinach smoothie but still tasteless. I used lots of OJ in this one so it was very sweet and fruity tasting. And in case you need reasons to eat more Kale take a look at this powerhouse of a vegetable:

Kale (100 Calories) (3cups)

455 mg Calcium
9.46 g Protein
3.1 mg Iron
59 mg Magnesium
1059 mg Potassium
6.7 g Fiber
47 mcg Folate
.38 mg B2
2.2 mg Niacin
.59 mg Zinc
83 mg Vitamin C
21,159 IU Vitamin A
1 mg Vitamin E
0 g Cholesterol
0 g Saturated Fat
Tons of Phytochemicals and Antioxidants

I had over a cup of kale in my smoothie!

I'm Back!

Sorry for the long delay in posting. I did nothing but study for so long I didn't have much to say or time to say it. I took my test last week and it went very well. I had total peace and calm while doing it and came out with a decent score. I am debating whether or not it is worth taking it again in order to raise my score a few points. I am not allowed to take it again for 30 days so I have a little more time to think about it.

I took the rest of the week off to relax and read something besides test prep books. Next I have to begin working on my applications which are due in just a few short weeks.

Today I thought I would share something that got me through all the studying, my new favorite smoothie!

This is a green smoothie, or a blended salad. It may sound a little gross when I describe it but trust me, it is dynamite! I first read about the smoothie here on a food blog. I was intrigued and intended to try them sometime but skeptical that a smoothie with spinach blended into it could be yummy. And we are talking over a cup of spinach per serving, not a couple leaves. Well I was in Seattle and stopped in to see my friend Katie who was trying to whip up a green beverage to take to her recipe club. It had to be green for her St. Patty's day theme. She was working on this really odd concoction made of applies, avocados, mint, apple juice, and lime juice. It was not good. I won't say it was gross since I didn't barf or spit it out but it wasn't good. She was a little desperate for another option given her short amount of time and that she didn't have the opportunity to shop for new ingredients. I mentioned the green smoothie I had read about and we looked it up online. She happened to have bananas, mango, orange juice and spinach on hand so we whipped up a batch and would you believe it, it was fantastic. You really couldn't taste the spinach at all, just the fruits and juice. She took it to her recipe club and they loved it too and now apparently the green smoothie is making its way around town and even kids love it (take note moms!). It is a great way to sneak spinach into your diet and spinach is loaded with nutrients. I was just reading how leafy greens are the most nutrient dense food on earth. I have been having one of these every morning for breakfast and I love them. I am told you can use any greens even romaine or kale. I bought some kale and am going to give it a try this week. So here is the recipe adapted to the hand blender. You can use the link above to find the recipe for a regular blender.

Green Smoothie
Scaled to be made in the hand blender cup or right in a glass

1 ripe banana
4 chunks frozen mango
3 chunks frozen pineapple
1 fistful of packed fresh spinach or as much as will fit in the cup
water or juice to fill the cup and bring it up to the fill line. I like OJ and water in mine.
(Sometimes I add a scoop of protein powder to my smoothie too)

Put all ingredients in the cup and blend until smooth. You can use any fruit you want. Bananas make it creamy and berries make it more brown than green but all make it yummy.

Get up to speed!

Many of you may not know this but it is the main reason I have not been blogging these days. I am studying day and night to take the GMAT next week. It is sucking up all my free time so I have not been able to blog like I have wanted.

I am thinking about going to graduate school part time for an MBA or an MPA and this test has been both an opportunity to see if I have what it takes to focus and study again after all these years and it is required for one of my applications. So that is why I have been MIA.

Greg has been wonderfully supportive and really picked up the slack so I could focus all my attention on the test and remembering all that math I learned but apparently never use in real life.

On an unrelated note our mouse problem seems to be under control. We got a new threshold under our door so that the foil could be retired and no little critters could just walk right in. We also put out a bunch of traps with really delicious bait on them and have caught nothing (nor seen any "evidence" if you will).

My test is next Wed and then I hope to be back with updates on my Seattle trip, my new favorite smoothie recipe, my new haircut!, and many other exciting projects that are waiting in the wings!

I'm back!

I am back from a lovely vacation in Seattle with family. I will have lots of updates in the coming days but we returned home to find some little mice had moved into our apartment and we are having to deal with that. In fact the night we were back a mouse (perhaps the one who had been roaming around our kitchen) walked right in under our front door. We spent the evening emptying our entire front closet (where he ran and hid) to find him and chase him out. Now we are working with the landlords to get the gap under the front door fixed. Such a pain!

Bowling Trip

Friday night I finally started feeling better from my nasty cold. So far Greg is holding it off which I am thankful for. I always feel so guilty when I make him sick. On Saturday night we headed out for some bowling with our basement neighbors Cory and Marie. We went to a nearby bowling alley in Woodside. It was cosmic bowling which I hate where they turn off the lights and run black lights and smoke machines but we got lucky because there was league bowling at one end of the alley and we were placed 1 lane over from them with normal lights.
Greg wowed us with is unique bowling technique and I pulled out from behind for the win in each game (I found a good ball with xx-large holes). Cory bowled with a ball he found in the garbage and Marie was just super cute trying so hard to hurl her super light ball down the lane hard enough to knock down the pins. It was a fun time.
Sunday was spent with an early morning trip to the grocery store, chores, various projects, cooking a yummy meal, church and then watching the Oscars. Hope you all had a nice weekend.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

We are finally having some real winter weather today as we enjoy a snow storm. I say "enjoy" because I am still sitting at home watching the snow from my warm dry sofa. There are 5" so far in Central Park and they think it will continue snowing until about 1pm when the snow turns to rain and sleet. It certainly is pretty.

Maine trip #2

I hope you all had a lovely President's Day weekend. I just returned from a trip to Maine over the weekend to visit my friend Karen and her family. I had a great time as usually hanging out with her and her adorable children.

My trip included stops for haircuts for William and Mommy. A visit to the fire station.A walk through the snow in Hallowell and a stop at the bakery for a cookie and some hot chocolate.(Sorry, couldn't get enough of this too big snow suit! Is there a baby in there?) Tons of playing at home and reading books. Lots of yummy meals including almost no kneed bread which I will be trying at home soon, shopping without the kids, and a trip to the spa. Ah the spa. Karen got the great idea that we should get pedicures while I was there. So she put baby Eileen down for a nap and left William with Daddy. We wanted to go to the Senator Inn which has the highest ranked spa in the state but they couldn't fit both of us in for pedis. Instead we turned to the phone book and found a place in a town one over. The website looked nice and professional. We drove over and came upon an old farm house that had obviously been renovated to be a business (meaning it looked nice from the outside and had a little parking lot and everything). Once we were inside we quickly realized that this "spa" was just 1 woman. I got a leg wax which was pretty professional (although Karen had to sit and wait in a recliner for me to finish) and then she did our pedis one at a time. This was the first drawback since we didn't want to be gone too long. So I sit down on a little love seat and the woman proceeds to get out a galvanized bucket to fill with warm water and throws in a few rocks she found at the beach and lets me soak my feet! This is extra funny to me since I had said in the car on the way over that if I end up sitting on same strange lady's couch with my feet in a bucket we should run out of there! Here I was on a couch with my feet in a bucket. She gave Karen a pedi first. This involved sitting on a recliner up on a platform while the woman worked below on the foot rest. It was a totally bizzare experience. The second drawback was that the nail care was really mediocre. We probably could have done at least that much at home on Karen's couch. Not really up to par with even a nail place here in town let alone a spa. We had really been expecting a lot more. The woman was very nice but lets just say Karen is not planning to return! Oh and did I mention the place was infested with Lady bugs? Yep. Definitely fun for a laugh.

One drawback to my trip was that I picked up a cold from the kids. They just had runny noses but in me the cold includes coughing, scratchy throat, nasal congestion, a fever and body aches. So I am taking the day off from work to rest. Still worth it to see how much the kids have grown in just 4 months since my last visit.

Out with the old and in with the new

At the very beginning of the year my lab moved from our private location on 7th floor to a giant shared lab space on the 8th floor. The lab had been in one place for over 15 years. It was quite an undertaking but we managed to move everything (about 3000 sq ft) in a little over a week. I thought I would share some of our old vs. new space with you.

Keep in mind that the lab was old but it did look a lot better when we were in it! First up my office. I used to have a private office with a great view. Now I have a cubicle:And this is my view:I am really trying to get used to being so out in the open. As you can see from the photo I often look up and find someone else staring back at me. A little strange! Having no privacy has been hard.
The old lab space looking right:Old lab looking left:My old bench:Now it is just holding lots of junk but I used this bench for almost 2 years as a technician. At one point I shared it with Suzan. It was at that bench that we forged our friendship. I have never done lab work in this new space. That is a little bittersweet.
New lab, our benches:We get 10 benches in the new space. This is an example of 1 of our aisles. It is all open concept, no walls, open shelving.
The whole lab:The rest of the lab is common space. It has been hard to get used to and there are all kinds of group dynamics we are still getting the hang of.
Old lunch room:You can't even see the sink, microwave and refrigerator. Lets just say dorm rooms have better kitchens than we did.
New lunch room:We are all so excited to have a full sized fridge and a microwave that actually works well. Not to mention in the new space our entire lab can eat together and we aren't crammed around 1 small table. Though, we do miss the coziness of our old lunch room! (This room doubles as a conference room. You can't see the table but it is huge).
Core:This new space is pretty state of the art. We even have a robotics room.

There are lots of other nice details. We are settling in well so far. My job is not finished however since they are moving 3 investigators into that old lab after a minor renovation and I am coordinating all their moves plus 1 other person going into a temporary space. It has been an interesting experience negotiating all their needs and wants. I hope you enjoyed this little tour!

Valentine's Day

I can't say that I am a big fan of Valentine's Day in the traditional adult sense. I don' t like being told that one day a year I have to express my love for my hubby by purchasing pre-approved items that will cost 4x their normal value. Greg and I don't usually do a whole lot besides maybe cook a nice meal at home or give eachother a card. But I LOVE valentine's day in the child sense. Some of my fondest memories are of valentine's day as a kid. The parties at school, especially when the entire class would make mailboxes for our desks for the big day and we would hand out the little cards in little envelopes (they don't come in envelopes anymore by the way. So sad!) which would have 1 conversation heart candy inside. And at home my mom would give us pink milkshakes for breakfast or leave us a little presents by our beds with a card while we were sleeping and we would wake up to a fun surprise. That is the feeling I tried to recreate last year at work and decided to do it again. Not only for the fun of it but also to create comraudery in our new lab. So I began planning a few weeks ago. Nothing too fancy, just an hour in the middle of the day for a sweet treat.
I baked my Grandmother's awesome sugar cookies and some little cupcakes from a mix. To save time I used canned frosting (dyed one can pink). Used some old sprinkles I had in the cabinet and these adorable little toothpicks I found at a nearby store.I bought a whole bunch of kids valentines and asked people to sign them for me.Suzan made mimosas and we had some candy and fruit thrown in for good measure.
I also made these cute little felt stuffed valentines for the girls on the sewing machine last night. Super easy but really cute.Everyone had a fun time and got a little break from their work. One girl said it was the best valentine's day she'd had in 15 years. That made my day.(Miriam modeling a heart. Her baby is due next week!)
I hope your valentine's day is nice in whatever form you choose to celebrate it!
I love all my blog readers!