Happy New Year

Christmas Tree

I'm a little behind...so I'll start with our Christmas tree. Some people go cut down their own trees or at least go to pretty tree farms to pick out a tree. Not us. When tree day came, Mark walked across the street to Zeytuna, asked for the biggest tree they had and came home 5 minutes later.



When he walked in the door, Lyla yelled "keys-ma", which, if you were her mother, you would understand sounds perfectly like Christmas. She wanted to put a star on top right away



We store on Christmas decorations in Long Beach. With the trip to Paris and my being sick, I never got a chance to go pick them up. So we had an eight foot tree and no decorations. I bought a tree's worth of decorations in a flash and figured since we won't have our "traditional" tree, why not make it a little funky. So our 2010 tree is pink and turquoise, with a little lime green. It looks pretty cute! Mark calls it a department store tree because there are no personal ornaments on it.

Lyla helping with the decorations. One nice thing about my "instant" tree decorations -- everything I bought is non-breakable! Lyla tosses them everywhere. We'll have to remember when we have our traditional ornaments next year to reminder Lyla that you cannot play catch with the ornaments.


We took a little dance break while we were decorating.




Finally, time for the star!




Our tree!

Home

Just arrived back in NYC to see the remains of the snowpacolypse!

Making Spirits Bright

Paris

I had grand plans to document our long weekend in Paris, but with being sick and Christmas approaching, time has simply gotten away from me.  Instead, I'll keep it simple and just share ten things I want to remember about our trip to Paris.  Mark left on Monday to attend a conference and I left Wednesday night to meet him on Thursday.  Lyla stayed in New York with her Bammie and Pa and didn't miss us a wink.

1. We did a bunch of touristy stuff we would never do it New York.  We would never go near Saks in December but went to see the department store holiday windows (they love Mamma Mia there).  We would never go to St. Patrick's during the holidays, but we went to Notre Dame.  We would never shop on Fifth Avenue, but we found ourselves on Faubourg several times (Chanel stores in Paris are almost as ubiquitous as Gap stores in the U.S.

2. People in Paris use "ooh la la" in their everyday conversation.  We were having lunch at a little cafe when a woman came in and sat at the table next to us.  She started talking to us in French (I think about how cold it was because she was kind of hugging herself and rubbing her arms) and at the end of her sentence said "ooh la la."  Fabulous.

3. Outdoor cafes and markets are open and busy even in the winter.  I was amazed by all the people sitting outside at restaurants and all the outdoor markets that were open in December.  Every restaurant had those outdoor heat lamps and often times the outdoor seating area was more crowded than the indoor seating area. And it was COLD.  We eventually realized that the reason for this is that you can smoke if you are sitting outside.  I hate to generalize, but I will -- everyone smokes in Paris.

4. You can never eat enough Croque Monsieur.

5. Next time we go, I want to stay at a hotel near the D'Orsay (7th Arrondissement).  I loved the cute streets and boutiques in that area.

6. Paris is a great walking city.  In one day, we walked from our hotel on Hausmann, down to Les Halles, across to Notre Dame, through the Latin Quarter, along St. Germain, across the Seine, through the Tuleries, past the Louvre, across Vendome, and back along Fabourge.  I'm impressed with myself for remembering all these neighborhoods/streets.  I did no planning before the trip (which is unusual for me) and we just winged it all weekend.
7. My favorite street we stumbled upon was Rue Montorgueil.  It was all open markets -- butcher, fish, chocolate, pastries, cheese, etc.  And I actually saw women walking with baguettes in brown paper bags.  So French!

8. I could never justify buying Christian Louboutins in the U.S., but in Paris, it doesn't seem so bad.

9. Riding the Ferris Wheel is touristy but worth it.  The view of the city is awesome.

10. We went to La Relais de Venice (known as L'Entrecote) one night.  We waited on line for about 30 minutes before we got a table.  There is no menu -- they only serve steak frites.  The only question is how you want your steak cooked.  Regulars write down the temperature and their drink order on the brown paper tablecloths so the waitress can put the order in right away.  And when you are done, they serve you ANOTHER portion of steak frites.  Ooh la la!

I am speechless...literally

Mark and I just got back from a long weekend in Paris and my only souvenir (other than a fabulous pair of shoes) is a severe case of laryngitis.  I can't speak above a whisper and even that is strenuous.  Lyla was initially confused and now she thinks it's the cool new way to talk so she too is whispering.  She is taking very good care of me and we are snuggling in bed and catching up on all the Housewives and Top Chef episodes we missed.  Meanwhile, Mark is enjoying the silence :)

Nino

Mark's very good friend Nino, who grew up with him in Cleveland and now lives in NYC, came over last week to watch LeBron return to Cleveland in the Cavs-Heat game. Lyla is usually pretty skeptical around men, but she warmed right up to Nino. She plopped herself down in her little chair right next to him and didn't move for awhile. What a flirt!

Latkes & Nutcrackers

Last week, the New York Ballet gave a free 1 hour performance of the Nutcracker at the World Financial Center. I asked Eileen and Aunt Phyllis if they wanted to go with us and it turned out Michael and Danielle were still in town, so we all planned to go together with the kids. It was the first night of Hanukkah so Eileen invited us over before the show to light the menorah and eat some latkes.

Dennis was an excellent candle lighter. (Lyla and Dylan are in the background jumping in baby John's crib)




It was great to have time with Hailey and John before they went back to Florida. Hailey loves her little brother.


Before the ballet, there was a lighting ceremony. Every year, the World Financial Center decorates with 100,000 lights. The place went from this:


To this:


The ballet was great. We started out sitting on the steps way in the back and progressively worked are way up until we were right in front of the stage. We lost a couple of the kids on the way -- Dennis found a toy store with Legos and Hailey wanted to do whatever Dennis was doing - so by the end of the show it was me, Eileen, Dylan and Lyla. They were adorable dancing in the aisles and imitating the ballerinas.










When the ballerinas did this...


...Lyla did this


We are so fortunate to live in this great city where Lyla has so many opportunities. Where else can you make last minute plans to see a free performance of the ballet just a few minutes from home?