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Easter Fun
Easter was a two-day adventure this year. My family and I dyed and decorated some eggs, had two yummy feasts, creative Easter basket ideas, and egg hunts.
Dying and decorating the eggs was a family affair! My mom was in charge of the dye, but we all pitched in decorating the eggs with stickers.
Saturday night we had our big feast.
I got my daughter a Slumberkins Unicorn basket, and I got my husband and me a little planter that Maxine could also enjoy. She could watch the veggies grow before her eyes. She is still small, but I think she’ll still enjoy it.
Lastly, and my favorite, the egg hunts. I did two, one indoors at my Mom and Dad’s place on Saturday and another outside at my in-laws. Maxine had a blast!
Enjoying the holidays
Recapping my year is a must, but first I want to share how I spent my holidays. This year looked and felt different, but I was determined to make the most of it.
Tree watching:
I kept it local and virtual. I watched the tree lightings virtually for Athens Square Park and Astoria Park.
Astoria decorations:
I honestly didn’t venture around the neighborhood as much as I wanted, but I still got to see some beautiful decorations.
Home decorations:
I didn’t do much this year. I confess I didn’t even open up my Christmas boxes. I went with simple and familiar. Each year, I do a tree of Christmas cards, and for a tree, I got a tiny one this year so that we could enjoy the stuffed toys from my daughter’s advent calendar.
Christmas parties:
I’m fortunate that I could celebrate with my groups of girls. Both parties weren’t fancy, but I had a great time, and most importantly, everyone got to meet my daughter, Maxine.
Family activities:
A big hit this year was the gingerbread houses! Two were made with my husband’s niece and nephew, and one was made with my parents.
The advent calendars were also an obvious favorite. We all enjoyed our own. Andrew had a whiskey one, Maxine had a stuffed toy one, PJ and BB shared a fancy feast one, and my parents and I had a chocolate one.
I had low-key family parties with great food, but I’m pretty proud of my Christmas Eve dishes. I went all out with a seven-fishes-themed spread. We had raw oysters, crab, salmon slices, mussels and clams in a white wine, fried shrimp, and baked fish. We also had steak, brussel sprouts, and mashed potatoes. For dessert, I made brownies.
Christmas outfits:
I was so excited to dress Maxine up this year for parties and PJs. I couldn’t help myself.
Christmas cards and gifts:
I went with both personal cards and virtual cards. I sent many of my older family members cards with personal notes and sent a virtual card with pictures to all my online family members.
I gave many food-related gifts and personal touch gifts this year. Below are some of my favorites.
Overall I had a great holiday, and I hope you did as well.
More treats than tricks this Halloween
Halloween this year was pretty amazing. It was just the right amount of activities for the entire family.
As a Halloween/Fall activity, I like to carve or decorate pumpkins. This year I didn’t get around to carving myself but we made it an activity for my husband’s niece and nephew.
I also decorated some pumpkins with some stickers.
The night before Halloween, as a date night, my husband and I did a virtual Halloween Scavenger Hunt with Watson Adventures. It was pretty tough! The hunt had a haunted theme and we visited various websites with some kind of scary involved. What made it tricky was some of the questions involved us navigating links with virtual tours and 360 views that can be difficult to find and figure out on a laptop. Our daughter was also still awake and would not fall asleep. We had the lowest score of the night but it was still fun.
The best part of Halloween was dressing up Maxine. She was the cutest baby leopard. I also had her in pumpkin pjs the night before Halloween.
On Halloween, instead of trick or treating, we did a virtual experience instead, and enjoyed a bubble show from Bubbledad. Maxine had no idea what was going on but it was cute to see all the kids who zoomed in participate in the interactive portion of the show. The kids got to make their own bubbles by using a cardboard tube, straws, and socks.
To cap the night off, I had myself a delicious treat from Pecking House.
Next year, I want to aim to dress up as a family and enjoy trick or treating or attend a party.
Queens Perennial- Flower CSA
I first heard about Queens Perennial through a friend’s Instagram post last year. The CSA partners with Luna Family Farm to offer flowers each week from May to October. I knew I wanted to take part this year because who doesn’t want amazing flowers each week!
I’ve loved all the flowers so far. Check out the beauties I received…
Each week, I get a new bouquet and instructions on how to take care of it. Besides appreciating the beautiful flowers, I also enjoy learning about each one. Most of the flowers I’ve never heard of.
The CSA has four locations to pick up from (Astoria, Jackson Heights, Greenpoint, and Williamsburg). If you are interested in learning more and signing up for the last six weeks, check out queensperennial.com.
Goodbye 2019
I’m not going to lie, 2019 was a rough year for me personally and professionally but I had some really great moments with the people I care about. So here is my year in review…
January was a tough month for me but Andrew and I were still able to have a kick ass date night at Secret Summer’s Aquarius party. Here I am with the naughty wolves.
In February, Andrew and I decided to get away from NY for Valentine’s Day and his birthday and headed to The French Manor Inn and Spa in the Poconos.
Early March, I celebrated my Mom’s birthday at one of our favorite restaurants London Lennies.
Enjoyed Cherry Blossom season in DC with my friends Dawn and Christie in April.
Kicked off the summer season with my girls at Jones Beach for Memorial Day Weekend. Got the weirdest tan which I still have till this day.
Andrew and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary in June. We enjoyed a beautiful boat cruise and then a few days later had dinner at our wedding venue. Here is Andrew messing around on the boat cruise.
Got to enjoy my family’s beach house in Shirley Long Island in July. I don’t go there enough. It was beautiful and peaceful.
I’ve been pretty obsessed with trying to hit all 50 states lately. After working on a small puzzle of the US for a team building exercise in August, I bought a bigger one and plotted my next adventure.
My next adventure turned out to be a road trip in South Dakota and Minnesota in September! Here is a picture of us in the Badlands.
October is a very important month because it’s BIRTHDAY month! I did a lot of celebrating but my fav was exploring the Sojo Spa in New Jersey. Multiple floors, hydrotherapy, infinity pool….I can go on and on. Here we are in the heated pool.
I kicked ass for Thanksgiving. I cooked a full menu, cooking a turkey for the first time, which included an apple pie. I really out did myself.
Here is a picture of my turkey pre-oven:
Here is my apple pie:
And lastly, December. I started the year rough and I ended the year rough but being with family this past week has been a god sent. One thing I’m really proud of this month is getting my tree. I’ve never really grown up with a tree so getting one was a big deal to me. I’m sure I’ll collect more ornaments in the future but it was the perfect first tree.
It’s been real 2019 but 2020 I’m coming for ya!
2019 Holiday Season Memories
This holiday season went by so fast, I really can’t believe it’s almost over. It feels like Thanksgiving was yesterday but lo and behold 2020 is just around the corner. Here are some of my favorite memories.
Kicked things off by watching the Rockettes. I started going to the show every year with my Dad not so long ago. This year my Aunt and Uncle came along.
One thing I’m really proud of this year is cooking for Thanksgiving. From turkey to apple pie, I took care of it all.
I also cooked up a storm this past month.
Fried Chicken
Baked wings
Green bean casserole
Really decked out my apartment this year.
This is the first year Andrew and I got a tree!
The cats loved it!
Also, had some great family moments.
My cousin Rosie’s baby shower.
Annual Christmas party with the girls.
Pre-Christmas meal with my family the Saturday before Christmas.
Hosted my family’s annual Christmas Eve party. 
The most famous tree
Made my rounds to Rockefeller Center to see the most famous Christmas tree the other day. (Because why not and I’m all about holiday traditions these days.) The tree did not disappoint!!!
Also, got to enjoy the Saks light show 🤩.
NYC Holiday Windows
There is nothing like New York City during the holidays. I always visit Herald Square, Rockefeller Center and 5th Avenue at this time of year. It’s become a tradition!
Carnival games seem to be the theme for Macy’s and Bergdorf.
Here are my favs from Macy’s:
Here are my favs from Bergdorf:
Saks had an amazing Frozen display. Still haven’t seen the movie yet though!
Winter Lantern Festival
Last week, Andrew and I accompanied my Aunt and Uncle to the Winter Lantern Festival at Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden in Staten Island. The holiday light show had over 1000 lanterns of various figures – mostly animals and flowers.
Here are my favs:
It was def. fun as a group. We had a blast.
The Casual Explorer 