Idina at Carnegie Hall

The last time my Mom and I went to go see Idina Menzel was at Lincoln Center with the NY Philharmonic back in 2011. We had the best time going to see her then and of course we had the best time going to see her again, this time at Carnegie Hall. This concert was actually supposed to be back in October, it was originally scheduled for the day that Hurricane Sandy hit the NY/NJ area pretty hard, then they rescheduled for a couple weeks later, which turned out to be the night before my first day of work but because the NY/NJ transit was hit so hard from the storm and things weren't back up and fully functioning they pushed the concert out to January, which worked out well for us and of course it was well worth the wait. 

This time it was me, Mom and Barbra, who is also a huge Idina Menzel fan as well. We all met in the city for the concert. I drove in from our house and was amazed at my ability to parallel park in a super tight spot right in midtown on the first try, just have to throw that in there. After a little dinner we were ready for the main event. I'd never been to Carnegie Hall before but it was beautiful. Here's some pictures of the concert hall and me before the show. 

 

The show itself was absolutely wonderful, she is such a talented woman, it's such a gift she has to be able to sing like that. We enjoyed the show from start to finish. She sang a few songs from Wicked which are probably our favorite, she always sings "For Good" acoustic. She opened though with "The Wizard and I," which was amazing.  And she sang some other Broadway show songs from Rent, which are always a lot of fun, I love "Take me or Leave Me," which I hadn't heard her sing live before (at least that I remember anyway). She sang "Don't Rain on My Parade," which how could you not love her singing that song. And she is just so funny, she was joking the entire time, cracking jokes about being from Long Island, which was hysterical. It was such a wonderful concert to see her live, I'm sure this won't be the last time we go see her in concert that's for sure!!!

Book Review - I've Got Your Number

Second book of the new year, although I don't think I'll come close to reading as many books this year as I read last year, with getting home from work and the gym late, showering and getting ready for the next day there's not as much time at night to read as before when I didn't have much of a routine to get ready for. This was another library ebook loan, although this one had a very long wait list for, I think I waited several months for my number to come up, but not like I was waiting on pins and needles for it and had nothing to read in the meantime. I can see now why it was so popular and was well worth the wait.

Book Title: I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

Book Summary (From Amazon): Poppy Wyatt has never felt luckier. She is about to marry her ideal man, Magnus Tavish, but in one afternoon her “happily ever after” begins to fall apart. Not only has she lost her engagement ring in a hotel fire drill but in the panic that follows, her phone is stolen. As she paces shakily around the lobby, she spots an abandoned phone in a trash can. Finders keepers! Now she can leave a number for the hotel to contact her when they find her ring. Perfect!

Well, perfect except that the phone’s owner, businessman Sam Roxton, doesn’t agree. He wants his phone back and doesn’t appreciate Poppy reading his messages and wading into his personal life.

What ensues is a hilarious and unpredictable turn of events as Poppy and Sam increasingly upend each other’s lives through emails and text messages. As Poppy juggles wedding preparations, mysterious phone calls, and hiding her left hand from Magnus and his parents . . . she soon realizes that she is in for the biggest surprise of her life

Book Review: This book was adorable, as far as chick lit goes, it gets an A in my book. It was fun to read and honestly was slightly different from what I was expecting. The author made what could be a pretty far fetched storyline into something that felt natural and eased into the progression of the relationship. I enjoy Stophie Kinsella's writing style and think it was really cute. I was highly entertained and engaged with the book throughout the entire story and found myself wanting to read on to see what the next adventure was going to be for Poppy. Definitely a fun chick lit read I would recommend!

Lessons Learned from My First Christmas

I know I will want to remember this story one day, the time I hosted my first Christmas! I only posted our menu from our Christmas dinner but never got to talk about how the day went. We were 12 people for the day, My Parents, Matt & Nohra, Mike's parents, Nick & Stephanie, Mike's Grandma and Nohra's Mom, Susan. It was the perfect little crowd. 

It was very chaotic when everyone arrived and bringing all the presents to our house this year and trying to open them all, everyone at once. I can't even imagine the amount of presents that would be involved if there were grandchildren. I honestly had no idea who got what this year and didn't get to see any of the gifts, but once that was squared away and we had room in the living room we were on our way to the food. 

The first blip of the day happened during our appetizer course. I had everything set up on the coffee table in the living room, all the cheese and crackers, the hot appetizers, all the little sides and such. I was finally just about to sit down for the first time and Mike was carrying over a tray of food so I went to go make room for the tray and I picked up a wine glass from the top and my "strength" literally broke the glass. It shattered right over all the food and poor Susan. So that was fun, we had to clean that all up, I was so disappointed, I still can't even believe the class broke like that. 

Once we were able to enjoy what was left of our appetizers that weren't soiled, we were ready for the main event. We started off with our salad and pasta course. It was around then when we were getting ready to put the beef tenderloin in the oven, Stephanie noticed it was frozen solid. Mike's Mom had bought beef tenderloin for Christmas dinner, which we usually have at her house, and she had given it to us to serve with dinner. She gave it to us on Sunday night when we were down there for dinner, but Mike and I didn't realize it was frozen, so we just put it in the fridge when we got back to our house. Stephanie was then trying to come up with ways to defrost these huge chunks of beef. She wrapped them in saran wrap and filled the sink with scolding hot water. We eventually got them slightly defrosted and put them in the oven, well these things took forever to cook and were still pretty rare. Good thing we had nine pounds of ham, looking back that was also far too much ham for just 12 people, note to self for next time. 

Finally it was make your own K cup for coffee for dessert. We had the giant coffee pot all ready to go only to realize Mike and I didn't have any coffee grinds in the house since we're so used to using our kureig that we didn't even remember to buy coffee! Oh well. 

Other than that it was a great night, I guess everything can't go perfect, especially since it was my first time hosting Christmas dinner. I'm glad Christmas only comes once a year though. Here's some pictures of our Christmas dinner. 

Reflections on 2012

Well it's now past a full month into 2013 and I'm behind on my blog again. It's not that I haven't had time to write but I honestly do have to be in a certain mood to sit and write and it just hasn't always hit me. Maybe this morning I will catch up on a bunch of my draft posts that are sitting in the folder.

The last few years I have written a reflections post on some of the things that happened in our lives that year. Looking back on this year I know the biggest change for me was moving on to my new job. Finally being able to move on was a huge burden lifted off my shoulders. When I look back on 2012 I'm just so happy that I was able to move onwards and upwards from a bad situation. Now that I am three months in my new job I can see even more clearly (not that I couldn't then either) that my job was just so wrong for me and was impacting me so much in my life. I feel like as I started my thirties I started it in a really good place.

Which brings me to my next reflection, I turned the big 3-0 in 2012, which I know is a milestone birthday, starting out a new decade of my life, leaving my 20's behind. I am happy to leave my first job and company behind. I feel like I am starting this decade with a new slate and a new outlook. My 30th birthday was the best birthday I've ever had. I was surrounded by almost every important person in my life (except my out-of-staters, my southerners). It really was the best birthday I ever could have asked for, just having everyone there meant the world to me. And the beautiful party my husband and Mom put together for me was the best!

All of the families continue to grow and the kids are growing up way too fast! I can't believe how big they keep getting, too quickly I might add, I need them to slow down. I only wish that I could see them more often. Every time I see them they've gotten so big, I want to see more of their personalities and how much they are growing and learning every day! This is technically part of 2013 (so doesn't necessarily belong in my 2012 reflection) but already this year we've got two new nephews!!! Both Isaac and Jayden are big brothers to their new little brothers, Evan and Bryce, I can't believe two more little babies already! I hope we get to meet the boys soon. Look at how much my little Gabby and Olivia have grown this year, they're so stinking cute!

Speaking of families growing, ours officially grew by 1 new member in 2012. Only in an official capacity, Stephanie was already put of our family long before the title but I couldn't have asked for a better sister-in-law either, and we had so much fun at their wedding, everything was absolutely beautiful!!! And I will say Mike gave a pretty awesome best man speech too.

Unfortunately we didn't have any big trips planned for 2012, which you know I'm kind of bummed about but we couldn't do it with my job situation. But I have big plans for this year and next year to make up for it, if I can get Suzy Orman, I mean Mike (the budget guy) on board with it. There was plenty of fun little trips though. Mike and I did a weekend in DC, and we explored the Hamptons over the summer.

I'm actually kind of glad 2012 is behind me now, it wasn't necessarily the best year but I know going forward things are def looking up. I know I'm in a good place with work, and have much to be thankful for, all of our friends and family and all of the beautiful, healthy little babies in our life! And of course our Rocky too, 2012 was rough on him too with his surgery last year but he's doing much better now thankfully. I'm excited to see what 2013 is going to bring our way!