Farewell 2005

So, it's 2006. I really feel as this whole holiday season went 100 mph while I was standing on the side of the road. It usually does, but even more so this year with all the newness in the life. In a little way, I'm quite sad about it, because I love the holidays and I feel they didn't get the ritual or celebration they deserve, but then again I saw friends and family, even if I was less prepared this year than in the past.

J and I rang in the new year in style this year. Jammies, good food and our sofa. And while we regretting saying no to Metuchen fireworks, or an evening of hot tubbing, with everything over the past few months, we needed some good quality time with each and a weekend without any demands on our time. Saturday took us for some last minute food shopping, where we decided to try one of the supermarkets we hadn't been to yet, to see if it was closer than our current favorite. That turned into a 3 hour excursion where we started taking side roads, and a bit of exploring, leading us to two different and wonderful Italian Markets, one with fresh and frozen pastas of all kinds, sausages, and good cheese while the other had an amazing deli counter, really good prosciutto balls and strufoli.

And now that it's 2006, it's time to put my together my photo album for the year. As I began to go through my 2005 photos, I realized it was, to quote Frank, a pretty good year. The home front brought time with family to a new level through many more wonderful weddings, my niece getting bigger and talking, walking and just being the cutest thing. My parents are both getting healthier, loving their role as grandparents, and still taking good care of "their little girl" even if she is not so little anymore.

Good friendships got even better as the "Cool Table" continued our monthly night on the town (even if now I may not make them as much anymore). Old friendships got closer as a grammar school buddy moved into my neighborhood (even if two months later I moved out) putting us only an hour away instead of the 5 that we were for the past 13 years. Friends got married, had children and changed jobs and through it all we laughed at the silly things, continued traditions, listened when it was needed, and supported each other through trials and tribulations of growing up. And even now that I'm no longer a few minutes from my "jersey" friends, I love the time I spend with them, and look forward to lots more dinners, movies and dips in the hot tub.

2006 promises to be another hectic year so while I'm taking a bit of a breather today, I wish all my friends and family the best. Happy New Year!

Merry Merry Christmas

Tia Christmas 2005, originally uploaded by gfiorillo.

Because I haven't shown her off in a while, here's my bee-you-ti-ful niece, enjoying Chrismas morning with the fam! Isn't she just the cutest!

Hope your holidays, whatever you choose to celebrate (or not if you don't) were filled with love and wonder, just like Tia's.

News other than the transit strike

CNN.com - 'West Wing' actor dies at 58 - Dec 16, 2005

With all the transit strike info, I had missed this bit of news until tonight, while watching the West Wing on Bravo they flashed his photo and 1948-2005.

He shared my birthday. And he was from Jersey. And I really liked him as an actor. So this made me feel sad.

A Transit Strike For My Birthday, You Shouldn't Have...

So YAY, I woke up and there was a transit strike. Normally I would be all happy, cause I would just work from home and it would be great. Especially cause it's my birthday and then I could be in jammies all day long, and eat leftover cake, and actually get work done without all the annoying stuff. But nooooooo, I had a meeting with our DC and California people who were in town only yesterday and today so I had to go to work.

Decided the easiest thing would be to drive. So prepared to hit balls of traffic over the Verazzano, I was happily suprised when I left the house at 8:15 and at 8:40 was already only about 6 exits away from where I needed to be. But it all went downhill from there - one hour it took to go the last 7 miles of my journey.

I actually made it into work as the 3rd person (out of the7 that made it in, of the 10 that would normally be there). And I was "on time", at least on time for the average start time of the day. And my day was ok. Highlights include flowers from my in-laws and a bee-you-ti-ful and aromatic rosemary tree from my best "woman".

I figured getting home would be ok, and I offered my boss a ride. Well without going into details lets just say 2 hours to get home, I hate street names on Staten Island, and Brooklyn roads suck as well. And the worst part. I have to do it all over again tommorow cause we have intervies scheduled. Grumble grumble.

But J gave me flowers and made me dinner, so birthday day ended on the upside!

Another Year, Another Guinness Cake

Guinness Cake, originally uploaded by gfiorillo.

Two weeks ago, as we were looking at the pile unpacked boxes, and the mess that the home was I doubted I could pull off another Christmas Party. But after 14 years, how could I not.

Normally I am planning in September, writing invitations in November and have a detailed plan of attack by the week before. This year I spent the week of the party searching for menus, sending Jack all over downtown for cake pans and bottled chestnuts, and downing Nyquill for the two days before praying that I wouldn't be running a fever the day of the party and missing out.

But although I still can't breathe through my nose, the party came off without a hitch. And as most of the dishes are washed, and we snack on cookies and rice krispie treats for breakfast while leftovers are packed up for lunch for the week I'm happy that we went ahead. As C said, it was mellower - maybe due to the fact that most of J's friends weren't there, or maybe we are all just getting a little older and enjoy good wine, good food and good conversation to the kegger booze fests of our younger days but I like it this way. To me, there's no better way for me to give my friends presents than to cook for them.

I made "my" Guinness Cake, which at 6 inches high was an impressive centerpiece to dessert. The Martini Salmon was a tried and true recipie, and the pork roast was from one of my favorite cookbooks, that has never let me down. So for last minute recipe hunting, it all came together pretty well, and I only spent a few hours in the kitchen on the day of the party.

One thing I forgot however was to make my toast. So to those who were there, and those who missed, know that there is no better joy for me than to be surrounded by all of you year after year. I wish you the merriest of Christmas, and thank you for making life so enjoyable the other 364 days of the year!

Christmas Christmas Time is Here....

Welcome to the 2005 Christmas Edition of Getting to Know Your Friends! (as stolen from karchamb)

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Cocoa, especially Green & Black's, or mint flavored.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Always wrapped, they look so pretty with all the fun bows and stuff!
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Don't do the outside, since we're all apartmenty, but the tree white, colored in some windows, and red and green strands go up as well. Pretty much different each year.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? Yes, but it's fake. And I always forget to take it down.
5. When do you put your decorations up? Ideally, the first weekend in December, but as long as it's up for my annual party I'm cool.
6. What is your favorite Christmas dish (excluding dessert)? Gotta love the whole Christmas Eve dinner at Aunt C's - shrimp, baccala, calamari. And it's not a holiday without some meatballs.
7. Favorite Christmas memory as a child? Cara and I heading downstairs to open our stocking at like, 5 am. We couldn't wake up my parents but could open our stocking without them.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Honestly don't remember. And to this day my parents still sign gift "from santa". It's never been acknowledged that he doesn't exist.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? The extended family exchanges. Christmas morning is reserved for me, sis, and folks.
10. What kind of cookies does Santa get set out for him? Cheese. Or if my santa is good, chocolate Guinness Cake.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love, love, love. But it definitly sucks to go to work in in and NYorkers don't believe in snow days. Gonna have teach them about that.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? My camera was pretty cool. As a child my art set was a big hit for years.
14. What's the most important thing about Christmas for you? Traditions with family and friends
15. What is your favorite Christmas Dessert? Everything, but chocolate pudding pie has a special place in my heart.
16. What is your favorite Christmas tradition? Besides the whole shebang - cutting down the tree each year; still doing it with Christine after all these years.
17. What tops your tree? A copper star
18. Which do you prefer Giving or Receiving? All of the above. I'm bad at keeping secrets too, so I tend to spill presents before I give them.
19. What is your favorite Christmas Carol? Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (sung by Fozzie Bear). Muppets and John Denver Christmas is my favorite album.
20. Candy Canes! Don't really have an opinion but can't go wrong with anything minty.

g

Oh Tannenbaum...

Time for the annual excursion to find the perfect tree.

Growing up, my family always trekked out "into the woods" (well, it was a farm, but to an 8 year old it seemed like woods) and searched for the tree that would be the canopy for all the wishes and wonder of our living room. Each year my mom said "how about a blue spruce" and each year my sister an I would cry "no, no blue trees". We also always trekked out with the same family - through snowy blizzards, unseasonably hot days, rain, sleet or sometimes even the perfect winter day. We always had hot cocoa for after the tree, and then had lunch and bought some ornaments and then us kids slept happily on the way home.

Senior year in high school, some friends didn't believe we did this. So we brought them along - on one of the chilly years. I fondly remember seeing G & M huddled under blankets wondering where the fun was. To me, the fun was in the tradition. I loved going out, and as I got older I appreciated it even more. Through college our families would arrange time for us to go out and get out trees. It was a ritual that always meant my favorite season was officially here.

And now, although our space is limited, recent apartments have always been able to hold a small tree. So today we donned on our snow boots, bundled up and me and my friend, who for 30 years have looked for trees, trekked out with spouses and children to find our perfect tree.

An excursion it was. The first place we went to was sold out. The second place you couldn't cut your own. Luckily her parents had gotten lost and stumbled along a third location, which turned out to have few tree and mostly short (I mean, 3 ft short) and wide. So after about 3 hours we decided to go to one last place, in which we couldn't cut, but at least had Santa, cause little Jack was starting to get a bit bored. While we found a great tree, I am feeling a bit cheated, since my honey wasn't on the ground with a say, but we did have a yummy lunch and some great chocolate chip cookies. And little Jack got to tell Santa that he wants a train, and I got to hang out with Carter and spent another year with my best friend and her family trying to find the perfect tree.

g

Gotta Love My Hometown

All I could say when I read this was thank goodness it wasn't at the Twain...

Gotta love mob hits in you're hometown.

G