Category Archives: Familia

Playing tourist in my own city

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In April, I had family from California visit. They explored NYC for many days, and I was able to spend some time with them and enjoy some sites I hadn’t been to before or hadn’t been to in a while.

I have been wanting to check out Little Island for a while now, so we went there first. It’s a great little park with lovely views.

An area of Little Island
The view from the top!
Family pic!

From Little Island, we went straight to the High Line. I haven’t been in years! The High Line is a public park built on a freight rail line elevated above the streets of Manhattan’s West Side. The park is from 14th Street to 34th Street and has impressive views and great artwork along the path.

Artwork
More art!

The High Line goes directly into Hudson Yards. We enjoyed the mall there and some yummy food.

Overall, it was a great relaxing day, enjoying the city.

Celebrating Mother’s Day

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I had a fabulous Mother’s Day last week.

Here is my mom and my little munchkin.

I greeted all the extraordinary women in my life and got plants for my mother, mother-in-law, aunt, and sister-in-law.

Mother’s Day gifts

I treated my mom and myself to a seafood feast!

Shrimp
Snow crab legs!
Clams
Banana pudding
Beignets!

My husband bought me flowers and I made beautiful arrangements with them.

Overall, a great day!

Celebrating Easter

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I’m a bit late, but I want to share my Easter this year. It was extra special because I helped organize an egg hunt at the New York Junior League (NYJL), and I had family from California visit.

We had approx 70 kids participate in the egg hunt at the (NYJL). The kids decorated their egg-hunting bags, bunnies and chicks, and photo frames. It was a huge hit.

Here are pictures of my family enjoying the event.

Maxine creating her bag
Savvy and Maxi
Eggs with Tita!
❤️
Family Pic

For Easter, I did most of the cooking. I wanted to cook ham but couldn’t find any, so chicken it is!

With my family from California.

This year, I went a little light with the Easter baskets. Less is more!

Maxi’s basket
My nephew’s basket. Went with a board game.
Got a dot activity book for my niece.

For family activities, we did cookie decorating and classic egg coloring.

Nothing better than spending quality time with the family.

Poconos Adventure

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In March, the family and I enjoyed a weekend getaway in the Poconos. Our friend recently bought a house in the area and invited us over.

The area is filled with many things year-round to do, but we enjoyed the local entertainment, which happened to be the deer. Each day we took part in a deer-watching ritual. My daughter Maxine loved it.

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3

We also enjoyed the Pocono Brewery Company. It’s a great spot offering fantastic food and beer flights.

Hopefully, we get invited to stay again soon!

Celebrating Valentine’s Day

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This Valentine’s Day, I wanted to do something special for my daughter, husband, and parents.

I bought flowers for Mom.
I got these beautiful flowers from my husband.
I found these cute food-related Valentine’s Day cards and had my daughter draw on them and give them to family members and her teachers.
I bought these cute cards for Maxine’s classmates. I had to nix the strawberry-scented erasers because they were a little small for the kids.
My daughter’s new favorite show is Octonauts, so I bought her a set of figurines and a dish set.
Chocolates were a must for my parents and my husband.
The way to my heart, and my family’s heart, is through seafood. 😆
I bought 10 lbs of crawfish from the Louisiana Crawfish Company. They came alive and kicking! I gave them a good wash and then cooked them. It was an amazing meal and a great ending to the night.

Year of the rabbit

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Happy Lunar New Year to those who celebrate!

Last week, I had some yummy dumplings and treats from Bund Dumpling House in Astoria with my family.

Pork soup dumplings
Roast pork buns
Matcha sesame balls stuffed with red bean paste

This past Saturday, we enjoyed the Lunar New Year celebration at the Queens Botanical Garden. It was super crowded, but it was fun to see my daughter, Maxine, enjoy the grounds and the dragon dance.

Miffy!

Taking a look back at 2022

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As the clock turns 12, I wanted to celebrate and look back at 2022.

I started the new year with a challenge, the January Pantry Challenge. The idea was to cook things I already had at home to save money. I ate a lot of soup and finally ate stuff in my freezer. Some of my favs were the shrimp stir fry, red beans, sausage and rice, and dumplings.
In February, I did some fun activities with my parents. We took part in a virtual chocolate tasting and a chocolate-making class.
In March, I did a bit of a staycation and enjoyed the TWA hotel at JFK. It was a lot of fun. It had a fantastic 60s vibe with great food and ambiance. One of the best features is that they remade one of the planes into a cocktail bar/lounge.
For Easter this year, I decorated eggs and did a few egg hunts with Maxine and my family. It was fun to make the eggs with mom, and even better to see Maxine’s face while she was looking for eggs.
I don’t see my friends as often as I would like these days, but it’s always a blast when we do get to see each other. In May, we had brunch at Lucky Chengs and enjoyed a fun drag show.
In June, I was a panelist for a new membership event at the New York Junior League. I have been volunteering for the league for about eight years now and I was honored to be asked to speak.
Dad turned 80 in July! I wanted to throw him a huge party, but that is not my dad’s style. We had an amazing dinner at a Greek restaurant in Astoria instead.
We rented out a beautiful house in the Poconos in August and had a kickass family trip. The place was amazing; it had an indoor pool, a game room, and a movie theater. We also did some hiking and saw some beautiful waterfalls, and did some canoeing as well.
September was all about soaking up the last bit of beautiful weather and enjoying the parks and water sprinklers.
I turned 41 this year and spent my birthday with my family in Atlantic City. We stayed at Caesar’s Palace. I haven’t been to AC in years! I gambled with my parents, and Andrew won big at the roulette table. I ate excellent food and enjoyed the beach, as the weather was nice. Andrew and I even got to have a little date night on my birthday and explored AC at night.
I kicked off the holiday season by attending the New York Junior League’s Golden Tree event. It’s a holiday market where a percentage of the proceeds go to the league. The event also had a great auction where you could bid on various items, including holiday wreaths. I participated in the auction for the first time and won these two beauties.
Maxine turned two in December! Last year, we kept it simple and celebrated at a buffet so this year, I wanted to go all out. I rented a small venue and we had a bouncy house, face painter and balloon artist. Of course it had to be CoComelon themed.

2022, thanks for the memories!