birthday girl

Well another year older, another year wiser right? I will say the 10 day span of Christmas to my birthday feels like I get all the partying out in less than two weeks each year. I use to loath when my birthday fell, particularly as a kid when people would always do a combination gift. I am sorry but that’s just lame, because even if you tell yourself your making that gift extra special, as a little kid you want to feel like each day is unique and special, not a great way to only have to put thought together once. Now as an adult, I am embracing the holiday hangover and just keeping the party going a few more days.

This year I hosted a cocktail party with appetizers to snack on. It was great to get everyone together and have a good reason to really make sure the apartment was in tiptop shape for company. Anyone have that problem? Sometimes the best motivation to clean and organize is to have people over, because nothing embarrasses me more than having people discover how messy I like to be on a regular basis. I also got to leave up the Christmas decorations up a bit longer because I love how homey that makes my apartment feel, plus it’s always a bit sad to take down all that holiday feeling.

I spend the day prepping food after a good workout session (I woke up Sunday morning with some seriously sore triceps) and doing some last minute cleaning. I was lucky to wrap up early enough to get a pretty birthday manicure, complete with the accent nail, before having people come over. I made my famous seven layer dip, turkey meatballs, the family holiday staple- cheese, pepperoni and crackers, veggies, frozen grapes with cinnamon and sugar, and gluten free cupcakes. I also was able to stock up on all that sale Christmas candy so put a lot of that out too. One of my friends make deviled eggs, which are one of my favorite foods. It was a delightful little feast.

It was my ideal birthday, with friends dropping in, enjoying lots of champagne (I’ve taught you all so well) and celebrating another year. Thank you to everyone who celebrated with me, and everyone who sent along well wishes. I look forward to next year.

battle of the matts - round 1

There was a week in September where I went a little crazy and purchased concert tickets for a few shows in back to back settings. It was really one of those, on Monday – hey want to see Matt Nathanson? On Tuesday, hey want to see Matt Wertz? Finally on Wednesday, I think I looked at a show and had to be like, Jill, concerts are great but isn’t this like a bit insane? So I took a bit of a breather and decided to go with seeing two of my favorite songwriters in concert in two consecutive weeks.  Upon going to the first concert this week, I’ve decided to call this the Battle of the Matts.  Seeing as these are two artists with the same first name, and well are two of my go to music choices when I am ready to jam, I thought it would be fun to host my own battle of concerts (some of you who read the title were really hoping I was dating two guys named Matt, right? Well so does my mother – get in line).

First up was Matt Nathanson, who has a new(ish) album – Last of the Great Pretenders, that I frequent on Spotify nearly daily. The show was at Terminal 5 – which was a first time for me at this venue.  Josh Radin was the opening act- another one on my list of artists that make me happy.  Matt Nathanson was funny, his stories were great, making me laugh. One of my favorite song openings, was when he explained he wrote the song for an ex-girlfriend as a hope of getting back together, they didn’t, but she provided enough material for five albums (clearly my documentation of the story is not nearly as good as his). He was good natured and humorous throughout the show – I thought well if he ever wants to try his hand at standup that might be a good backup career.  I really enjoyed the music, the band did a great mix of newer songs and some of the old classics. I loved getting some of the stories behind the songs I often sing at my desk at work (only when my neighbors are gone), but it definitely put a personal spin on so many songs I love.

Highlights:

Favorite Songs: Sunday New York Times, Mission Bells, Annie’s Always Waiting

Audience Participation Moment: Tiny Whitney (encouraging everyone that they have a tiny Whitney Houston trapped inside them)

Bonus: For the encore the band reappeared dressed as Poison and performed Poison songs before closing with Faster

Right now this feels like it’s going to be tough for Matt Wertz to compete with, but I am hoping to be pleasantly surprised. 

photo via pinterest

new work now

One of my favorite places in New York to see upcoming theater is definitely The Public Theater. This year I’ve had the opportunity to experience quite a few shows at The Public. Most recently, I went to one of their fall shows regarding new and upcoming work. I saw a reading of “Falling Apart… Together”, which my friend let me pick out based on title. The play is about a middle aged couple figuring out life as one son heads starts his senior year, it was surprisingly very funny and very heartwarming, even when things were not going quite as swimmingly. I think so many people can relate to trying to have it all, or barely having anything together. I will also give major credit to the author/play write and actress Kathryn Grody, not only was the story very entertaining, but having her play all the major characters was an amazing feat. I totally could picture in my mind how the each of the characters were and didn’t get to bogged down on that she was everyone, but it was truly amazing because I don’t know how I didn’t hit that focus point. Anyway, if you ever get the chance to go to The Public Theater, you should run – it’s definitely a more intimate experience compared to Broadway.

(photo from pinterest)

perfect duet

Last week while on vacation  there was lots of time riding in the car- something I am not use to as much anymore. Thank you New York and the ability to walk or take the train everywhere. My friend Melissa and I spent a lot of time listening to a Broadway themed Pandora station - which was surprisingly heavily focused on Disney classics. My favorite moment was when during a "Whole New World" we pulled of the duet perfectly - each of us taking either Aladdin or Jasmine. It amazes me that after all these years I still remember all the lyrics. Have you ever just hit your own Broadway moment?

(photo from google)

we'll drink a glass of champagne

An impromptu trip to Anthropologie brought me face to face with these gorgeous champagne coupes. I kept trying to walk away and not think about what a great addition these would be to my ever growing stemware collection. The glasses ended up winning this battle -  I couldn't resist. The  flowers accented with gold dots make these delicate glasses a standout in my mind. They have a lady like feel to them as well - I can picture classy old ladies sipping cocktails on the porch out of these. It also doesn't hurt that champagne is one of my favorite things to enjoy and celebrate with. In my eyes, champagne is not just for weddings - it's for celebrating just about any thing. Hopefully I can find many celebrations (or random Friday nights) to enjoy using these in the future.

I hope you dance

Over the weekend, I finally got around to decorating my apartment for the holidays. If it had gotten much later into December I probably would have skipped the task all together since Christmas is so close to Thanksgiving this year, and the fact that I still go away every single holiday to visit my family in Massachusetts. My mom loves to give my sister and me new decorations each year for presents- adding new additions for the house to each coming year. Half of the fun of displaying the cheer is opening the storage boxes and stumbling across memories from past Christmases. I love to look at the ornaments and think about the people who gave the to me, or remember a trip when I picked something out to remember a great vacation. This little joyful leaping deer is one of my favorite pieces year after year. He always brings a smile to my face when I walk by the mantle every day.

daisy, daisy - give me your answer do

One of my favorite things to do is have friends over for dinner. This is beneficial for several reasons, including giving me a clear deadline on cleaning up the apartment, as well as getting to try some new recipes that have been on the list to make. Since we are in the heart of fall, I couldn't resist putting the table together with some garnishes. I had some perfectly fall colored place mats, that were striped on side, and plaid on the other, which allowed for some mixing and matching of patterns on the table. On a trip to a local bodega, I saw orange, yellow and red Gerber daisies- simply ideal autumn colors to bring the table all together. I also cannot get enough of fresh flowers in the house, such an easy way to brighten up space and my overall mood.