3 Years

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Last night Jay and I went to dinner for our 3 year anniversary at Marlow & Sons. Everything was so delicious and it was really nice to go out to dinner alone (we’re so busy it doesn’t happen too much!).  I took some pictures but they all turned out dark…bear with me here…

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(duck leg with green apples, spinach, onion, and so many spices mmm. sweet sunchokes with bacon. crostini with feta, fennel, and red onion salad)

IMG_4593(my man loving his chicken/lemon/rice soup.  if you know jay, you know his world revolves around soup.  look at the concentration!)

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(table settings, menu, chalkboard menu)

IMG_4588(attempt to take a picture of us)

It was a really nice night, followed by the 12.12.12 concert, a double overtime Celtics win, and this little guy doing this all on his own after a walk in the cold…

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He cracks us up!

xo-j

Butterball Cookies

IMG_4518 (rondo investigating the cookies…good thing they were covered!)

This weekend I made my favorite cookies for Christmas/Doug’s Birthday!  They are so yummy and beyond easy.  I thought I would share the recipe with you today.

What You Need

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1 stick butter
1/4 cup powdered sugar + some for rolling
1 cup flour
1 tsp water
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)

Directions

Preheat to 250

1. Cream the butter and powdered sugar together in mixing bowl
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2. Make sure that is all mixed up well…

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3. Now add the flour, vanilla, water, and nuts.  Continue to mix…I use a spoon at first then my hands for this part because I think it works better than the mixer.

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4. Once it is all mixed up start rolling the mixture into about tsp size balls…

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5. Place balls on a cookie sheet.  No need to space, they don’t rise.  Cook for 30-40 minutes.

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6. Get your powdered sugar ready for rolling!  The second you take the cookies out of the oven, roll them into the sugar…

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7.  Let cool…and you are done! Tasty simple butterball cookies!

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I hope you enjoy this recipe!  One of our close family friends always made them for us when we were kids and they’ve been my favorite ever since!

xo-j

ABC

This weekend we had our Anniversary, celebrated 2 Birthdays, and my Mom had her Concert!IMG_4456

Friday we had our friend’s (also called Justine!) birthday at Stand4.  It was so yummy!  Boozy shakes…mmm…

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Saturday was our anniversary!  I got Jay a bunch of game of thrones glasses for our apartment since he loves the books/show and I keep breaking all our glasses…whoops!

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That night we went out to celebrate Jay’s brother-in-laws birthday!  Look at this perfect couple…

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Then Sunday I went home to see my Mom’s chorus concert.  They were wonderful…especially Mama!

concert

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I also got to meet my brother’s new kitty Caesar…I tried to steal him…

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Some other randoms from the weekend…

  IMG_4459 IMG_4528 IMG_4438(sleepy boy, hair for dinner sat., orchid has 3 new blooms…how it is still alive idk)

IMG_4525(the city from the pier saturday night)

Now it’s back to work…how is it Monday already? Hope everyone had a great weekend!
xo-j

Lately…

Wild weeks at work mean lazy nights at home.  I did however do some quality wrapping while Jay was out at his basketball game last night!  Here are some things from around the city and home in the past couple days…

IMG_4396 (walk in central park in the weird warm weather monday)

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(columbus circle christmas shopping)

IMG_4407(snuggling my boy enjoying our tree)

IMG_4401(the rock tree is up!  it really never gets old…the crowds do…but not the tree)

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(my sweet boys playing together…they’re too cute)

yay almost friday!

xo-j

Another Rainy Day

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A yucky morning in NYC…but it is supposed to be 60 this afternoon and sunny!  I’ll believe it when I see it.  Some rainy pics from my morning…

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(dark street & mural by my apt)

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(even the park looks sad it’s raining)

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The good news is words with friends has decided Rondo is a playable word…clearly I am way too excited about this!

Also, you can see more of my photos on Instagram!

xo-j

 

Bubbly in the bathroom?

IMG_4314Last night Erin and I had a really fun dinner with clients at Beauty & Essex.  The food was delicious (we tried bone marrow!), the drinks were festive, and best part is they have champagne in the bathroom!  A little weird but really cool! Here are some pics from last night…

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(my new burgundy tights!)

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I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

xo-j

 

What a week….

This has been one of, if not the, all time most stressful week at work…but thank heaven we have gone to print and this issue is over with!  Now I can get back to enjoying life…until we print again in 2 weeks ha!

With all the mania this week, there have been some things that have helped make it better…

(our tree is up and beautiful)

(candy cane kisses are back…and I think they are a suitable breakfast)

(obsession with brussel sprouts, 3 ft teddy my client sent me, my fav red dress perfect for holidays)

(our stockings! not exactly a fireplace but it’ll do!)

(this sweet babe snuggled under my sweater)

(that the mustache month is almost over and I’ll have my cute bf back!)

xo-j

Thankful Thankful

I know it’s a bit after Thanksgiving, but if anything being home reminds me of all the things I’m thankful for…

I’m thankful for…

…my family…

…this little guy…

…having a wonderful home to go visit…

…and home looks like this…

…that it’s holiday season and I feel like I deserve to eat every kind of junk there is…and mom’s cooking too…

…and of course that it’s finally Christmas season and Jay and I are having our first Christmas living together…

(a million decorating and pictures of us to come)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and long weekend!

 

 

 

Carrot Cake (I totally won an award)

Last week I made carrot cake for our friendsgiving and another one for Jay’s office Thanksgiving.  Turns out they were doing a contest and my cake won!! Yes…we won a carving knife, and not a trip to the Bahamas…but still, it won!!

I wanted to share the recipe to this amazing cake (thanks Mom for always sharing your recipes and being the best non-professional cook ever)…

CARROT CAKE

What you need:

For Cake:
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

3 eggs
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla

1 – 8 1/4 oz can of crushed pineapple (drained)
2 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped nuts (optional…but totally adds to it)

DIRECTIONS
preheat to 350

First sift the first four dry ingredients together (I don’t have a sifter, I just fluff it around a bit with a fork)

(like my picture shadow in that?!)

In a separate bowl beat the eggs.  Then beat the sugar, oil, buttermilk, and vanilla into the eggs…

Once that is ready to go mix the egg mixture and dry ingredients together…

Now grate up those carrots! This is by far the worst part but it pays off! Once the carrots are grated mix the carrots, pineapple, and nuts into the egg/flour mixture..

Beautiful!

Pour into a lightly greased pan (I used baking Pam) and bake for 55 minutes.

Time for the FROSTING!

What you need:
1 – 8 oz cream cheese softened
1/4 lb butter softened
1/2 to 1 lb powdered sugar (depending on taste)
1 tsp vanilla

Go ahead and leave out the cream cheese and butter while the cake cooks so it can soften. Wait patiently…drink wine…yum…

Ok now your cake is baked…let it cool!

Mix up your frosting while the cake is cooling.  Mix the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together.  Gradually stir in the powdered sugar.  This is the best part because you get to stop and taste check.  I only use about a 1/2 lb of the powdered sugar, but if you are a sweet tooth you may want more…

Then frost!

Now you are all done and ready to enjoy the best cake you will ever have…

I would have taken a picture of it cut open to eat, but by the time we got to friendsgiving we ate it all too fast!

Everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

xo- J

Busy/Work

Hectic work week for sure.  By the time we got home from work all we wanted to do was zone out.  Luckily all our favorite shows have come back so we can do just that and be entertained!  I don’t know how anyone in the world could not love Pam Beesly…anyways…

Puppy daycare continues to be the greatest.  Especially when our weeks are so wild at work, it’s nice to come home to a calm puppy who wants love instead of a wild man who wants to play with every. single. toy. he. has.

Yesterday my friend and I went to go see the Showtime activation at Grand Central. You could be made up to look like you were Dexter’s victim, including getting your picture taken wrapped up in plastic wrap with cuts.  It was a fantastic display, really great marketing.  They also had a fan art contest…

Otherwise not too much has been going on here in this wild city.  I made orange chicken (Trader Joe’s…I worship you), and tried to use the sock bun to curl my hair overnight.

Busy work = boring nights!  Tonight we have an engagement party at Brooklyn Brewery which should be a lot of fun and distract us from this yucky weather! Then a weekend of relaxing together in {hopefully} some sunshine.  Rainy days make me wish life was always this…

Have a wonderful weekend!