Merry Christmas, Friends!

Can you believe it's almost Christmas Day? Speaking of that, Merry Christmas Eve! I hope you all are settled in with family and friends, or are planning on it! If not, I pray that you will feel the loving embrace of Christ on His birthday. I also pray we will all reach out to others who may not have family or friends to celebrate with during this Christmas season.

We recently had the first snow of the season here in NYC and it was beautiful! I know snow is always a bear for the commuters, but I very selfishly hope that this winter will consist of A LOT of snow since it makes the city more beautiful. And I just got my first pair of REAL snow boots in about 20 years, which I am very excited about :)

Here are some pics of the snow covered city!

My phone camera wouldn't focus very well with the snow falling...

Dan and I had a ton of fun trudging through the slippery streets and we got a real workout after walking around for a couple of hours. Finally, we stopped to grab a beer at MexiBBQ, which has amazing beer!

Something I've been noticing lately is just how many kids there are in the city. I usually only see them when they're headed to or coming from school, and they are especially adorable this time of year in their big puffy coats, little mitten hands sticking out of their sleeves that don't quite rest on their sides (because of the puffy coats), and little boots trudging along the street. I snapped a pic of a big group of kiddos crossing the street on their way home from school this week while I was grabbing some pizza. They're so adorable!

A couple of them came racing in to the pizza shop with their parents; I guess a usual stop on the way home. Which is a smart move because the pizza was delicious, by the way.

Here's another gem I found on the way home from getting pizza. A church down the street owns some coveted outdoor real estate for a family of snowpeople, and the kids went all out! Looks like a grown up, a kid, and a toddler. They used anything they could find to make their faces, like yogurt cups, carrots, leaves, acorns, sticks, and grass. Super cute! And if you look closely, you can see a little girl in a pink coat in the background (right side), who I think must have been one of the sculptors.

I am sorry this post is so short, but I've been crazy busy this week preparing for our trip to Alabama and making Ugly Christmas sweaters for Dan and myself (pics will be posted!). I have to go finish packing for our trip and then have Christmas Eve with my loving husband who is begging to open his presents :) I pray that the hope of Christmas is in all of your hearts. Love you all, readers! And Merry Christmas!!!

Love,

Carole

Christmas in New York

Last weekend Dan and I went down to Rockefeller Center to take some pictures of the tree, and ourselves in front of the tree (which was really hard as you'll see later on here). We went right after the evening church service so we could take advantage of the lights and that awesome snowing at night look. Too bad it had already stopped snowing...I wish there was a way to show how cold it is in a photo besides snow or the gloves and coats people are wearing. I'm sure there is, but I haven't discovered how to do it yet!

On the way down there I was taking a million photos of all the Christmas lights and decorations as my poor phone was dying. Man that thing can last a long time as it starts to die! Anyway, if you come visit NYC and you want to feel like you are in the movies, go spend some time on the Upper West Side. A bunch of movies and television shows film scenes over there (like those neighborhood shots). For the You've Got Mail fans out there, the cafe where Meg Ryan's character is waiting to meet her secret e-mail friend is on 82nd and Amsterdam. We happened to stroll by on our way to the subway after church. It looks so beautiful at night:

Cafe Lalo - You can see a little snow on the benches

One of these days, I'm going to eat there, and you know I'll tell you all about it!

Another little gem of NYC is the subway system. It can be daunting at first, but once you get the hang of it, take some time to look around each station! They almost all look the same, but each platform has some small detail (or big!) that differs from the others. I think it's fun to look around and try to find interesting architectural features or colors. Each platform has it's street number or avenue name posted in the tiled walls. Some of them are fancy (like the more popular/busy stations) but all of them are artfully done and are worth a photo. Sometimes, you'll even find art tiled on the walls, like the 50th street stop in mid-town. Isn't this amazing!?

Alice in Wonderland art in the 50th street station, 1 train, mid-town

I just love finding these gems!

There's another fun thing I like to do in the subway...it may be odd to some, but I can't help it. I like to look for the rats on the subway rails. :) Dan used to laugh at me for it, but now he tells me if he spots one, haha. I have a fondness for them after having worked with rats in college. They are funny little creatures with different personalities. Yes, they really have personalities of their own and I can vouch for that after working with a rambunctious little rat who loved to jump out of his cage and weighing bucket every single time I saw him. The other rats didn't do that, just him. I guess he was really excited about learning what we were teaching him. Okay, back on topic, I love looking for the little buggers as they scuttle along the tracks. They don't usually come up on the platform, but when there aren't huge crowds waiting for a train, sometimes they'll come up for morsels of food people have dropped, like this little guy...or maybe girl:

See that little black lump in the middle of this very blurry picture (sorry!)? That's the rat! Now, don't fear, people who are afraid of rats. The NYC subway system does try to keep the population down by putting poison on the tracks and they post signs warning people that it's there. So while there is the occasional rat, I haven't seen any station crawling with them. Yet. I'll let you know if I do, and I'll probably have a photo to show you!

Once we made it down to mid-town, we found ourselves surrounded by lights. Here are a few of the sights to be seen at Christmastime in the city:

NYC cab in front of a courtyard just a block away
from the Rockefeller skating rink

Radio City Music Hall does a fantastic

job decorating for Christmas. You can see

the tallest Rockefeller building behind it

on the right. P.S. That's where Dan asked

me to marry him, at the Top of the Rock!

We finally made it over to Rockefeller Center and it was packed with people waiting in line to skate and many others taking photos. We had to wait a couple of minutes to get close to the railing that overlooks the ice rink. And then once we did we realized taking a pic of ourselves would be pretty difficult, but we managed. Here is the best one we could get:

The only one we could get of the whole tree, the statue
 and our faces!

And one of the ice rink itself:

They keep the ice rink pretty open for each batch of people. They don't want it to be too crowded! And the best part of being here (besides ice skating) is watching people. There was one guy who looked like he should have been on Broadway by the way he was skate-dancing. The ice rink is flanked on two sides by restaurants, and you can see the skaters right out of the windows. The Broadway guy was performing for the people in the restaurant - just for fun. Every time a new song came on (all Christmas music!) he'd bust out some moves for everyone to see and he was so good! And at the other end of the spectrum, a newbie ice skater (man in his mid-30's) had fallen on the ice and was having some hilarious issues getting up...the crowd was supportive, though, and cheered when he finally got on his feet and made a nail-biting trip to the rail on shaky skates. He made his way off the ice shortly after that. Poor guy! I'm sure he made a great story for most of the onlookers to talk about later!

As we made our way away from the ice rink down to 5th avenue to check out the lights, we stumbled across the Saks Fifth Avenue 3D light projection show. It is so thrilling to be there to feel the music echoing off the buildings. Each show is a tiny bit different, so staying for two shows is recommended. Everyone applauds afterward and the kids are all exclaiming how cool it is the whole time (and I was, too, since I have the personality of a 4 year old when it comes to stuff like this). Check out the video here (it's the second item on the page, credit to If It's Hip, It's Here for posting it).

And one last item for today. Have you ever wondered where New Yorkers get their Christmas trees? I always wondered about that, as well! I suppose many of us don't buy one, since there's not a lot of room in our apartments. But for the lucky people who have a bare corner, they can go shopping on the sidewalk! I'm sure you've heard of sidewalk vendors here in the city...we don't have many of them in the neighborhoods except for the fruit/vegetable vendors and the folks outside of the museums. And, of course, the tree vendors! You can get a huge tree, a medium tree, and most vendors actually do have teeny-tiny trees, too. But the teeny-tiny trees (I'm talking basically a twig, they are only about a foot tall) cost $30. For $15 more in Virginia, I could get a nine-footer! I almost laughed when the tree lady told me how much they are. It's crazy, but that's how they roll around here. Even though we can't have a tree of any kind this year, since every inch of space has been used already, I live vicariously through the sidewalk trees. They have them every few blocks or so and you can smell them from the opposite side of the street if the wind blows just right. I love walking by and just breathing in the scent of Christmas.

I wonder if these folks are actually planning

to buy a tree or just lingering in the 

scent of the trees?

That's all for now friends and thanks for reading!

Carole

P.S. Do you have a tree in your house yet? If so, is it fake or real? What is your favorite decorative holiday item in your home?

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade...a Belated Happy Thanksgiving

This is a bit late, but Happy Thanksgiving, all! It was a pretty crazy weekend for us, between the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, prepping for the potluck dinner at Dan’s brother Andrew’s apartment, Black Friday shopping (yes, we’re crazy, but you already knew that) and the Iron Bowl (for those of you who don’t know, that’s the yearly game between Alabama state rivals, Auburn University and University of Alabama. Auburn won, War Eagle!), I didn’t get much of a chance to write a post.

One of my dreams, since I was four years old, was to go to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Well, actually I wanted to be a Rockette performing in the parade. Considering my short stature, I don’t quite meet the minimum height requirement to be a Rockette, so that was a bust. But I still wanted to see it in real life, and this year my amended dream came true and we were two of the best performing attendees at the parade! You know, we were really good at watching (and squeeling with glee....me, not Dan, ha).

Now, it’s not as easy to do as we thought it would be. We figured we’d just walk across the park to Central Park West and wander until we found a spot we liked (at 6:00 a.m., by the way). By the time we got there, we realized our 5:00 a.m. dragging our tooshies out of bed wasn’t early enough; there was already a throng of people crowding the streets. Plus, they had set up fences everywhere and were herding people like cattle. We ended up funneling into a dead end single block that was already four people deep, outfitted with our chairs which were now pretty useless with the lack of room on the sidewalk.

BUT, we were there and we could actually see pretty well! We were at the very beginning of the parade so all of the participants were fresh and chipper (and cold, it was about 30 degrees and a little windy). We were slowly able to work our way up to the street inch by inch and I got some pretty cool pics. Instead of boring you with more talk, I’ll just post some pics!

P.S. The most famous person in the parade is at the very end of this post. Watch the video to find out who it is!

Our view of the street

Happy Turkey Day!

Snoopy

Jimmy Fallon and the Sesame Street gang

Hello Kitty

Julius the Monkey

The Kool-Aid Man - Oh yeah!

Duck Dynasty - sorry it's blurry!

Here comes Sponge Bob Square Pants

I love the way they did his feet!

Toothless - he was a BIG balloon!

The Wizard of Oz - that's a real guy in the basket!

His Spidey sense was telling him he was headed into the trees...

there was a blast of wind as he went by :) Every time a

balloon started to sway, the crowd would yell "oh no!"

Giant police officer

Pikachu

Cute Pillsbury Dough Boy - I love his arms, he looks very happy!

Close up!

Pillsbury Dough buns.....teehee!

Honestly I don't have a clue who this is, but it's cute.

Buzz Lightyear - don't you love how cool his clear helmet is?

Yes, Virginia, Santa is on his way

Elf on the Shelf - lots of comments in the crowd about his squatting position...

Happy Hanukkah!

The Smurfs

Papa Smurf

Macy's Elves all in a cute little row

Me and an elf...at this point my feet and fingers were numb!

And here is the guest of honor!!!!
.

Farewell, parade! See you next year!

I hope you all had a warm and wonderful gathering with friends and/or family during your Thanksgiving holiday!

Thanks for stopping by!

Carole

Heartwarming Wanderings

Today I took yet another load of it-won't-fit-in-this-apartment items to Goodwill. As I was walking past the lovely scent of Christmas trees for sale on the sidewalk (and dreading spending the rest of my day organizing the other items I will most likely end up pitching, anyway) I decided it was high time for another exploratory stroll around the neighborhood. For my gluten free friends, I made a trip to Pips Place, the Gluten Free Cakery, which is totally gluten free! The cakery’s name comes from the owners daughter, nicknamed Pippy, who developed Celiac Disease when she was fourteen. Her mom began baking everything gluten free and opened this little gem in May 2012.

I did not take this photo, I borrowed it from their website

Also from their website, not my own photo

Anyway, these folks are wonderful and my first experience there proves it. I walked in for a quick coffee and after I’d ordered, I noticed that you can only use a credit card if you spend $10 or more (a common thing in NYC, some places are cash only…I NEED to start carrying cash with me!). As you probably figure, I didn’t have enough cash. You know, how you do the frantic searching-for-every-penny-in-your-purse routine? When I only found $2.45 in all of the nooks and crannies of my clothing and purse, I told the nice man at the counter I would have to come back in a few minutes because I was a little short on cash. I apologized and explained that I just moved here from Virginia and I’m not used to carrying cash on me. Well you know what? He said “Don’t worry about it, just give me what you have and welcome to the neighborhood”! If you come to NYC, or are already here, you should pop in. Next time I plan on buying some baked goods and giving them a nice big tip!

There’s some construction on 2^nd avenue near our block, and every time we walk on 2^nd, we can’t see what’s on the other side of the avenue. So today I decided I would further avoid my apartment and brave the other side of the ave. It really paid off because I found a bit of history down there, which also involves food. Just looking in the window of Schaller & Weber Gold Medal Meat Products beckoned me to go inside. It was pleasantly crowded and full of delicious looking German food.

I needed some chicken, but also decided to look for some Bratwurst. You know, you can’t just walk into a cute German market and leave with only chicken. It would be a sin. Anyway, Dan and I were looking everywhere for Bratwurst last Saturday and only found it at one grocery. Well, I found some here and as I was grinning from ear to ear, the butcher (Bill) asked me if I needed help. At first I said no, but then I noticed they had headcheese. I had no idea what headcheese was so I asked him. He told me that it's chunks of meat from the head of a pig, suspended in a gelatin. Okay, I thought, that doesn’t sound very lovely...at all. But he asked me if I’d like to try a slice and I thought why the heck not? It ended up being delicious! It’s just like a deli meat that, as Bill explained, you can eat on salads, sandwiches, etc. I decided to get a little bit (and some pumpernickel bread).

After looking around a little more, I went to pay for my goodies and while at the register I asked the checker how long the shop had been there. They’ve been there since 1937! He introduced himself as Ralph Schaller (Bill, the nice butchers brother). He’s the owner, by the way, working the register and doing whatever needs to be done. He told me all about the shop, how his father, Ferdinand, came over from Germany in 1927, founded the company in 1937 and sold mostly pork. Of course, now it sells an array of imported German products, and has fresh meats of all kinds behind butcher counter. I told him how excited I was to find the Bratwurst; that I just moved to the neighborhood and am still figuring out where everything is. When I told him that we were looking for Bratwurst and could only find it at one market, he said “Oh, no, you should come here for the fresh stuff!”…they’ve won a bunch of awards for their meats! He told me that his shop is the last remaining German deli of its kind in all of NYC, and they actually provide their meats to restaurants throughout the city, country, and world. He was so excited about having a newbie customer that he gave me some free German Gruenkohl (Kale) a dish made with cooked kale, bacon, and sausage. He said I just had to try it (after I told him I had no idea what it was). Then he showed me their fresh made sauerkraut with sausage mixed in and I almost died because I LOVE sauerkraut and sausage! By the way, apparently Dan and I live in what used to be Germantown. How did I not know that? I just hadn’t met Ralph yet, that’s why. (Watch this Martha Stewart video featuring Schaller and Weber and you'll get to meet Ralph!).

He was so friendly and I really felt like an appreciated customer, just like I did at Pip's. That’s one of the best parts of living in NYC…you become part of a small community wherever you live. Yes, this city is huge and crammed full of busy people. But the fact is, it doesn’t feel like it when you’re just going down to the local deli, grocery, or cakery. It’s so intimate here and I just love it.

P.S. The Heidelberg, a restaurant that has been around since 1936, is next door to Schaller and Weber. They supply them with their food, and if you are looking for an amazing authentic German restaurant in NYC, you MUST go to The Heidelberg. It’s outstanding and the waiters dress in lederhosen and dirndls!

And now I'm back at the apartment, listening to Christmas music and considering putting up my decorations. And of course, eating headcheese with pumpernickel bread and gruenkohl. I hope you are all merrily preparing for the holidays with your own adventures! Thanks for stopping by!

Carole