Just Flew in from Costa Rica...

...and Boy are My Arms Tired! Ba-da-dum ching!

12 days ago I boarded a plane from JFK and some hours later met up with 3 of my oldest friends and the 4.5 year old of 2 of them in San Jose, Costa Rica. The next morning we rented a car and made the sometimes scary, very scenic drive down to Quepos/Manuel Antonio. Once there we found the house we rented - which was a bajillion times more amazing than we ever imagined - and settled in for an 11 day vacation in paradise. On the 6th day my sister joined us and the trip just got more magical.

Highlights from the trip include....

The view from one of our many verandas.

The sunsets.

The spider monkeys outside my bedroom window.

Zipline rain forest canopy tour.

The barking geckos that ran all over our house eating the bugs.

Spending a million hours in the ocean.

Surfing!

The food!

The drinks!

The Brazilian night at gay bar!

Having the time to read 4 books.

Tasting the most delicious bacon in the world.

Weekend of Birthday Fun

This weekend was Abe's 29th birthday weekend... and also a long weekend (thanks, MLK Jr.!). On Friday we went to dinner at Motorino, which was just delicious. I had pizza with brussel sprouts on it.

On Saturday we had an impromptu birthday celebration at our house before heading out to another birthday party way down in South Brooklyn. For his birthday I made about 40 cupcakes (24 of them were minis). I got the recipes from the latest Martha Stewart magazine and they were sooooo good.

Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes & Buttercream Frosting (with 6 oz chocolate chips added)

Abe with his presents.

I love seeing cupcakes in peoples' hands.

Little sandwiches served by Ben - a recipe I also got from a Martha Stewart Living magazine.

Andy proud to wear a lanyard.

Matt & Dave talking music talk.


Steve & Andy realize Brooklyn looks like a gnome wearing a hoodie (I think it looks like a Victorian kitten wearing a bonnet).

Night on the Town :: The Fabulous Entourage

Last night Colleen, Lauren, Margot and I went with Piper to the Bowery Ballroom to see her man Kyle perform with his band The Fabulous Entourage. This was the first time for all of us and even though we knew it was going to be good, I can't believe how much I loved their music and seeing them perform on stage.

Before the show we met up at Vegetarian Dim Sum House on Pell Street in Chinatown. Dim Yum is more like it! I highly recommend the mock sesame chicken & broccoli and the mock pork dumplings.

Oh hello, Colleen. Glad you could make it. Have some tea.

A cold, cold, cold walk to Bowery Ballroom.

Piper tried to start a coat pile, but we weren't having it.

Highlights of the night:

1.) Dog sweater.

2.) Two drunk teens.

At one point a huge plastic bottle of vodka fell out of one of their purses and onto the floor. They were escorted out by security shortly thereafter.

4.) Debbie Harry was there!!!!!!!

3. The Fabulous Entourage!

5.) MY Fabulous Entourage!! (minus Meredith, but we talked about her a lot)

Old Pawn Indian Jewelry

I have a serious thing for Blue Jays and Cardinals...and not the baseball teams. Growing up we used to keep a dish of cat food on our porch for our cat, Tony. The Blue Jays in the yard would always come and eat her food. For some reason that made me really like them because they seemed to have a strong personality...I liked them enough to make a bag with one:

And Cardinals just seemed like their classier cousins. My grandparents had a lot of Cardinals in their yard and my grandmother would always get excited and point them out to me. They had two paintings from Mexico - one of a Blue Jay and one of a Cardinal. When my grandparents passed away my sister and I each got one.

Anyway, I was just out e-browsing and came across this necklace at PuebloDirect.com. If $975.00 is ever an insignificant amount of money to me I am so buying this piece of jewelry. Its double-sided - if only it had a Cardinal instead of a Hummingbird!

For My Enchanted Mountain Room

Oh man, I heard from so many of you guys when I posted Angela Adams' Forest Floor Rug from her Birds and the Bees collection. Well, look what I just found....

Easton's Pond Tapestry + Munjoy Sofa from the Couture Collection by Angela Adams.