love – Page 5 – forEVR and always

La Esquina / Hot Date

January 17, 2013Leave a comment

Last night I had a night out with one of my bests, Adie! We did some (unsuccessful) shopping in SoHo, explored the weirdest Asian store ever (we were both way into it), and went to taco heaven at La Esquina.

Here are some fun ones from last night…

(view from dinner)

(like i said, taco heaven)

(yummy food & sodas)

(wrapping paper for the birthday girl…she loves some jesse pinkman)

(at home after dinner snuggling the boy)

(bracelet purchase from last night)

What do you guys think of the site redesign?

xo-j

Surgery

January 14, 2013Leave a comment

Friday I had a procedure done to help with my breathing, or lack of breathing! Over the past couple months I haven’t been able to breathe well causing quite a lot of trouble for me physically and emotionally (I get so scared I won’t get air in!). Hopefully now that the surgery is over, and once I have recovered, I will be good as new and breathing like a functioning human being again.

Thank God my Mom was here on Friday to help me! I was a mess! Bloody nose on the subway, felt like I had been punched 29058035 times in the face, and a bit out of it. I couldn’t be more thankful to have had her with me, I’m a lucky kid…

(lookin fly in my hospital gown…yea…)

After the surgery Mom and I had lunch together at Forcella…it was just the medicine I needed.

(proscuitto, arugula, parm, and mozz pizza…holy cow…and cute mama with her spin pizza!)

Since I couldn’t really go out this weekend, or drink, or stay out late, we had a lazy one. We saw Zero Dark Thirty, ate a ton of delivery, and cuddled the boy…

(hanging with my boys, and the absurd amount of snacks i ate saturday night)

(nail color from santa)

(my crazy long hair…idk what to do with it)

(mural of paradise in my neighborhood…less than 3 weeks till we are here)

Now all I can do is hope I start to feel a big difference in my breathing and I’m good to go!

xo-j

Lately…

January 9, 2013January 17, 20131 Comment

(our orchid is thriving…i have no idea how)

The past couple days have been busy with work for both of us. But here are some pictures of life lately…

(weirdo is obsessed with the butterfly chair. it’s his new hangout)

(he is way too loved)

(erin and i exploring at lunch found a beautiful church and indoor garden to eat our lunch)

(can’t stop eating brussel sprouts…i thought i was going to die i ate so many the other day!)

(it may not be beautiful, but those chicken tacos and beans were so delicious)

(3 more weeks…all we have to do is make it 3 more weeks until we are here ^)

xo-j

Ziti Time!

January 7, 20137 Comments

This weekend we did a whole lot of relaxing! A fun dinner at our friend’s apartment Friday, movies and fun night in Saturday, and laundry/de-christmasing the apartment Sunday. I think we both needed that kind of weekend.

On Friday I made ziti for dinner with friends and I wanted to share the recipe with you. It is a family favorite and one that I love to make!

ZITI RECIPE

What You Need:

1 – 16 oz box ziti
1 large onion (or two small)
2 tbs olive oil
8 cups sauce (I use original Francesco Rinaldi…any will work)
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp garlic (I use a little close to 1 tsp though)
2 tbs sugar
1/2 cup ricotta
2 tbs Parmesan
1 cup shredded mozzarella (I use more like 2 cups)
Pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Finely chop up the onion…

Then cook the onion on medium heat with the oil until soft…stir constantly!

2. In a pot boil water and cook ziti for 10 minutes.

3. Once the onion is soft, add the sauce and seasonings to the onion (basil, sugar, garlic, I also add a bit of oregano, pepper, and parsley)

4. Cover and simmer the sauce mixture for 15 minutes.

yummy yummy sauce

5. Once the pasta is done and drained, and the sauce has cooked, mix the pasta and sauce in a pot. Add the ricotta and parm and mix.

6. In a glass pan, pour the pasta mixture. I do layers…put 1/2 the pasta mixture in the pan then a bit of the mozz cheese, then the rest of the pasta on top and lots of cheese….

7. Bake the ziti for 30 minutes at 375*.

Here it is…beautiful, delicious ziti!

8. Enjoy with friends…

(rondo and albus loving each other at em & reg’s while we ate)

I actually added chicken sausage for the first time on Friday and it came out amazing! To do this slice sausage into tiny bites (crumbles), then brown in separate pan, and add to sauce mixture for the 15 minutes. It was a new twist and came out really well!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

xo-j

Then there are days…

January 4, 20131 Comment

There are days where I love nyc…when friends are visiting, going out on the town, eating amazing food, celebrating holidays, loving my neighborhood…and then there are days like yesterday…

Yesterday was 30 degrees outside but 85 degrees on the subway, we had to have the exterminator come to get rid of the mice (gross), I literally had to drag Rondo into the vet because he didn’t want to go in (and of course we were running late), I started making dinner then realized I didn’t have 1/2 the ingredients (awesome), and I think both of us are getting sick…ay! I try not to whine on here but yesterday was so frustrating…

Here are some things that remind me how good life is…even when I’m about to pass out on the subway from my jacket, there are mice crawling in our obscenely expensive apartment walls, and work is making me bananas…

(rondo and nick over on nye)

(found this weirdo in the tub yesterday just hanging out)

(this great pic julie took of rondo out with us on nye)

(shawty boom)

(oh wait…this one makes me feel queasy)

(Thanks for letting me steal all your pics Jules…you’re amazing!)

Have a wonderful weekend all!

xo-j

little christmas/big gift

December 21, 20123 Comments

(our tree and wrapped presents)

Last night we had little Christmas at our apartment. We exchanged gifts, ate a ridiculous amount of Italian food, and watched a movie. Though I’m sad we won’t be together on the actual day, it was a lot of fun to have our first Christmas living together and with Rondo.

(rondo “helping” me wrap the other day)

We exchanged gifts and I didn’t know what to expect from Jay…what he gave was more than I could have imagined…8 days in Punta Cana at this crazy luxurious resort! You can check it out here! How did I get so lucky?! I can’t believe in just a couple weeks we will be sitting on the beach relaxing together with nothing to worry about…now all we need is a puppy sitter…Mommmmmm :)????!!!!

Here are some more fun ones from present time last night:

(rondo’s daycare gave him a stocking! they are the greatest!)

(rondo hiding all his new toys behind the pillows of our bed & our mantle full of cards)

(jay opening, rondo loving his new metrocard toy…such a new yorker)

(the boys tuckered out from playing/opening…so cute)

My favorite gift I got Jay was this custom made poster since he loves Game of Thrones so much…

Pretty cool right? With his real family saying too!

Almost time for 11 days off from work…11! Looking forward to spending time with so many friends and family at home, in Boston, and back in Brooklyn next week. Wishing everyone happy, healthy, and wonderful holidays!

xo-j

ABC

December 10, 20122 Comments

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

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

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!

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

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

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

Some other randoms from the weekend…

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

(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

Christmas Mouse

December 3, 2012December 3, 20124 Comments

It has been Christmas around my office for the past couple weeks, and now it seems to (finally) be Christmas all over the city! Tress and decorations are everywhere! Look at the beautiful trees above…they made my trip to buy a mouse trap a little bit better. We are trying to pretend it’s a Christmas mouse and not freak out…but it isn’t working too well….I’m freaked out there is a mouse in our apt.

Otherwise we had a pretty calm weekend. We did some quality lazing….

We went movies Saturday to see Life of Pi (which was great!). We went downtown to our favorite secret theater. Here are some pics from our stroll after the movie…

(the new tower disappearing into the clouds)

(Jay got this app that swirls your pictures…here is one he took from our walk. Cool right?!)

I did do one successful thing this weekend…got our Christmas cards done! Woo! December 3rd and they are already mailed out. If I only had the same motivation to swiffer…

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

xo-j

What a week….

November 29, 2012November 29, 20124 Comments

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…