I am so excited! I have recently rediscovered my passion for cooking and baking. I.Love.It! Food gives me all those warm happy cozy feeling. It’s a way for me to express my love and appreciation for others. It’s something I’ve been doing since I was young and incidentally as a teenager became the cook in the family, which was a role I LOVED. Now I want to learn how to REALLY cook. I want to know the hows and the whys you’re supposed to do what the recipe tells you to do, and more, I want to CREATE my own delicious food.
So, I am taking the next step.
I’m allowing myself to be completely obsessed and immersed in all things culinary, which honestly isn’t a far cry from what I already am. I’ve decided to start with taking local classes. I discovered the New York Culinary along with a place called The Kitchen that has some great topics that they cover in their classes.
Also? I purchased some highly rated really-teach-you-how-to-cook cookbooks. Not just a bunch of books with a bunch of recipes. They just arrived today. See!!
I’m CRAZY excited.
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oh.my.gosh you guys. I have discovered a wonderful place. A place that smells and tastes so good that you forget any and all problems in the world. A place filled with the most heavenly deliciousness you could imagine. A place that gets your insulin maker pumping. A place filled with chocolate. Wonderful, delicious, sweet chocolate.
Yesterday, I took Maddox (5 yr son), along with Jaden, to get his haircut at Lulu’s, a fun place that sells toys and kids can watch movies while getting their haircut.
Afterwards, we went out for hot chocolate. Not just any hot chocolate, but REAL hot chocolate. I took them to a place called the Chocolate Room on 5th Ave. here in Brooklyn. http://www.thechocolateroombrooklyn.com/
This place is famed for their chocolate cake, which was featured in Oprah’s O Magazine, but this time I really wanted to try their hot chocolate and oh. my. goodness. I was not prepared for what they gave us. It wasn’t that powdered stuff out of a can that gets watered down. This was LIQUID CHOCOLATE in a cup. Delicious! You can even get a hot chocolate float. Jaden got a vanilla ice cream hot chocolate float and Maddox got a mint ice cream hot chocolate, and I had mexican hot chocolate. HEAVEN. I could barely drink the whole cup it was so rich and delicious. It reminded me of the deliciousness that oozes out of a molten chocolate cake. sigh… I can’t wait to go back and try their Oprah famed cake.
I wonder if they have a punch card for frequent visitors. I have found paradise.
(Source: thechocolateroombrooklyn.com)
It’s holiday break. I had it all planned out. We were going to spend the whole day at the well reviewed Brooklyn Children’s Museum. Woot!
Then, last night, my poor Jaden (8 yr son) got a fever. And? Woke up with one.
So, sick day for us.
Fever, headache, his eyes hurt, and upset tummy.
Now, we don’t mess around with upset tummies. He asked if he could lay in the bathroom and I gladly agreed. Sleeping bag and pillow all set up comfy. (Don’t worry, thankfully, I had just scrubbed the bathroom “just in case”.)
My poor little guy.
And that’s where he”s been most of the day. Thankfully the bathroom facilities weren’t required by his stomach so I put him in his bedroom to sleep the rest of the day.
To be honest. I’m not that disappointed about missing out on the museum. It’s kind of nice having a cozy day in. My youngest son (5 yr.) got to play video games, we watched movies. And of course, I have to have chicken noodle soup cooking. I had it planned, but Jaden must know from previous experiences that sick days = homemade chicken noodle soup because he asked and I did. Mmmm….smells so yummy.
And I don’t want to admit it, but aside from the sick part, sick days are nice. It feels so nice to take care of him. Parenting isn’t easy, but sick days? Sick days I’ve got down. They need lots of love and snuggles, comfy cozies, and some homemade chicken noodle soup.
And who doesn’t love a day full of snuggles from their “big boy”?
With my new transition in life going from a stay-at-home mom to kids in school FT, I’ve been asking myself “what the heck now?” I’ve been really introspective in figuring out what my next adventure will be and I’ve been struggling with pure happiness. The last few years have been a bit of a struggle for me emotionally as we have gone through a few country-wide moves, more goodbyes than I ever want to have, along with all the ups and downs of a startup life. I’ve always tried to carry myself with the grace and dignity of Jacqueline Kennedy or Grace Kelly, but I know I’ve had a few too many failings to want to admit to.
Lately, I’ve gotten pretty sick of myself. You know what I mean? Playing the whole victim thing and asking myself very unhelpful questions. This is not my normal. My friends (affectionately) refer to me as bubbly and happy. Always having something in the oven, cracking jokes, thrill seeking, daring. So I’ve been trying to figure out what the heck happened and more importantly, how do I get it back?
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Ok, so I have to share this with you. I’m not getting paid to plug it or anything. I just loved it after seeing it tonight and have just ordered it online myself and I just HAD to share it with anyone who has children or akins themselves to being a superhero. Come on, you know you do.
It’s a book. For children. And its awwwwsommme! It probably caters more to boys (I have 2 sons) or tomboy girls. I saw it and just had to grab it from barnesandnoble.com. It’s called
“The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man”.
It’s about this man who is a super cool kid-friendly superhero with a secret identity. He uses so much energy throughout the day fighting crime that it comes to a point where he gets so tired he’d like to kick a wall or act out in a not nice way. Kind of like certain people of a certain size and certain age range and he explains what his superhero self does in such a cool fun way!
Here is a link to a sneak peak to get a feel…
http://search2.barnesandnoble.com/BookViewer/?ean=9780061914621
His secret identity IS revealed at the end and I’m sure pleases all children.
I plan on reading it and using it as a friendly reminder when my little guys are about to lose their cool. I hope it works!!
LOOOOVVE IIIT!!!
Ok, so I’ve told you about it. I hope you check it out and enjoy!
There’s this great place around the corner called Butter Lane Cupcakes…
They have kids classes where you MAKE the frosting and decorate cupcakes with other kids! So of course we HAD to sign up!
It was Halloween theme; hence the costumes and “blood red” frosting chock full of candy. So fun….
Yes, folks, that’s the Green Lantern and his amazing cupcake
Sweet Success!! (and a hairnet. Woot!)
This past weekend was quite the whirlwind. Subways, costumes, walking and more walking, carved pumpkins and a lighted Pumpkin Parade and Sail in Central Park!
I, probably like a lot of moms, had this special evening played out perfectly in my head, because as well all know, it always goes according to plan. LOL! Our pumpkins were carved and ready the day before, so we just needed to get our costumes on, walk down to the subway, hop on and we would be there. Then we would do all the crafts with pumpkin carving, sports, and all the other great Halloween projects in store for us, but alas, that is not how it played out.
We ended up running late with kids wanting this and not that and sibling bickering. You know how it goes. So we ran all the way to the farthest subway station possible WITH our THANKFULLY smaller soccer ball size pumpkins, enjoyed a nice quiet moment on the subway, and then rushed off to Central Park where all the fun festivities were taking place.
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We have a routine every morning. I wake up. Wake my kids up and do all the things every parent does to get their kids ready for school ON TIME in the morning. Feed them, remind them to get dressed, remind them to brush their teeth, remind them to put their shoes on, etc., and when I say “remind” I mean nag. Then we walk to school. First my oldest to his 2nd grade class and them my kindergartner to his class.
Well today was different. Today we get to school and J (my oldest) runs into 3 of his classmates and starts walking with them to his class. UPSTAIRS. WITHOUT ME. He was walking shoulder to shoulder and they were all sounding like little chipmunks chatting back and forth and they were so cute. And he was walking away from me. GULP. I swear for a split moment, as I watched him, those busy halls with people bumping their way through other people and trying to get to their classes in time, were no more. Time literally stood still. All I could do was watch my baby grow up from infancy and walk away all grown up.
OK, so great. Now I’m about to cry.
So I called out his name and waved goodbye and told him I loved him, trying not to embarrass him, but he flashed me his huge smile and nodded and said “love you too, mom”.
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So, we’ve moved. To New York. In a little neighborhood/borough in Brooklyn called Park Slope. It’s the perfect family neighborhood. I swear it’s like living on Sesame Street, brownstone buildings and all. In other words, it’s fantastic for our family. So, obviously, I’ve been a bit busy to write, but I’m back at it.
We have had quite a ride the last year and a half. All the ups and downs of a startup/startup family + more, but that has made me so much more thankful for the people in my life and having made it here. We are always growing and there’s always more to do, but right here right now is happiness. For any startup/startup family to have made it this far is HUGE. So HELLO NEW YORK!
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