Bananas and Wine

Many, MANY times before I have heard myself say ‘I could never be a stay at home wife’.  I take it all back, that dirty lie i’ve been telling. 

I came to this realization after Monday’s day off.  I rarely take days off to stay here in the city, not having not much to do.   

My day was FILLED! I could totally pull off this stay at home wife thing.  I say wife, because I don’t have any kids to be a stay at home mom yet (sorry E, you don’t technically count).  From cleaning, walking E, doing laundry, running, cooking and grocery shopping it was nearly 6:30 before I finished all my wifey chores.  Throw in a yoga class and book club and BAM stay at home wife complete. 

To be honest, I don’t even know how I’d pull off the stay at home mom thing, there would be no time for the kids!  Going to have to have a nanny for sure. 

One of the big tasks for the day was grocery shopping.  Tommy and I decided to give this gluten free thing a try.  Well, partially.   Since hearing going gluten free can do amazing things for your health, energy, etc we figured we would try trading off some of the things we eat daily with gluten free to see if it made a difference.  

So off to the store I went, turns out not only is it stressful to shop gluten free, but its a wee bit pricey. I returned with the necessities:

Bread and ice cream?  Makes no sense at all, but I’m going with it.  (the ice cream is actually really good! The bread? decent)

It took ONE day before Tommy asked me if he should stop and pick up some bakery bread on the way home. I don’t even think it was 24 hours since having his first gluten free sandwich.  ah well, we tried. 

The good news is wine is gluten free- yay! 

Off to eat a bowl of Almond Dream!

Not only were Tommy and I in need of our Florida trip, but apparently E was too.  On day 1, Eli immediately went into full relaxation mode with Uncle Bob:

Must be a tough life guys!  As you can see, the weather was A-MAZING, and remained that way until the second we left. 

The cool thing about visiting my parents is that we really get 4 days of quality time with them, since it’s generally just the four of us.  Think family trips to Walgreens and Target.  Yes, this happened, and I wouldn’t change it - don’t judge! 

Other fun things we did you ask? Tennis, beach, drinks, eat, sleep, repeat.  Can ya get more relaxing than that?  Another cool thing about visiting my parents is that they are super easy to hang out with, which makes it really easy to kick back and relax.  Which is JUST what we did. 

Some of the trip highlights include:

My mom’s awesome Macaroni Salad (in the making):

…and her biscotti:

i

This whole homemade biscotti thing was new to me, and lemme just tell you- these things are to DIE for.  I had to limit myself to two a day because they are that addicting. One kind is Cranberry, the other lemon.  On our last night, I enjoyed a lemon with a nice cup of tea, in an awesome Alaska mug(a gift from yours truly!):

Heaven on a hotplate! I know, you’re thinking I’m old again, but I was in Florida, totally acceptable since the median age is 85.  

Anyhoo, let’s get back on track here. 

Daily beach trips:

Hubba hubba!

The usual trip pizza off.  Set up so my Dad makes a white pizza, and Tommy a pepperoni  -  in the end we can all say “They were both so good, since they are so different, we really can’t judge them against each other”. So - both winners!

In progress:

Final result, white pizza:

I forgot to snap a pic of the pepperoni, but it we DE-lish as well!

Back to the grind tomorrow, luckily only a three day week since my office is closed Friday/Monday for Memorial Day! 

I have to say, taking the day off today after landing at 9am was one of the best decisions I’ve made in awhile.  Makes ending a vaca less painful. More to come tomorrow on my fun day off today!

Thanks for such a great trip mom and dad- we love you!

We’re here!  Until Monday!

After 4 days of straight rain and long days at work, this trip couldn’t have come at a better time.  Hellooooo 90 degrees and sunny!

Let’s just step back to Tuesday, after not getting home until nearly 8:30, I was exhausted and starving.  Luckily being in the office past 8 means two great things:

The company picks up the bill for:

1. Taxi home

2. Dinner

It makes wishing you had a 9-5 job a whole lot easier.  It also isn’t so bad when you have a hubby who knows exactly what to have set up when you get home:

 

To the left, the sushi I ordered was also set up on plates, all ready to eat.  Not too shabby.

Fast forward to this morning, after a looonnnng night of travel, we woke up starving and ready for our first day in sunny Florida.  While Tommy worked and my mom put away groceries and did the random piddlng around that she can manage to do for hours, I whipped up breakfast:

English muffine with eggs, canadian bacon and cheese. Yum! My mom and I had cinnamon raisin muffins with peanut butter- also delish!

Now it’s time for a little relaxing before getting outside for the day.  Mornings are so great here!  Isn’t my mom sweet all cozied up watching the view:

More to come in the next couple days, I hope the rain is letting up for all you NY-ers!!

…was a success!! After much planning, nearly everything went off without a hitch!

That delicious chocolate mixture you’ve been wondering about since Saturdays post? Cupcakes!! I must say, I am quite impressed with my skills, I also made the frosting:

I went with yellow and green because they are Mary’s wedding colors - perfect for a June wedding! 

Saturday morning was spent devoted to shower prep, after getting locked out 5 minutes before the party started, we managed to pull it all together and finalize the preparations before Mary arrived.  (MAJOR thanks to Tommy who climbed our balcony to get us back inside!)

Who’s cuter than Eli and Aunt Mary!? We started on the roof, but it was a little bit chilly so we ended up moving things indoors for lunch, I don’t think anyone minded- we were freezing! (Another MAJOR thanks to big T for grilling for 16 girls stuffed into our apartment!)

After finishing the shower thing - food, games, gifts, etc., everyone headed home and we set up for the bachelorette part of the evening.   

After dinner, we hit up this awesome Bulgarian vodka room (thanks for the reco Jeana!), where we each got to spend two minutes in the ‘ice cage’ sampling vodka.  It was PERFECT for our party, they even dressed us up in perfect gear so we wouldn’t get chilly in the ice room:

If that wasn’t enough, we then hopped on a Gypsy Bus that drove us around the city while we had some drinks and danced around.  

Some highlights of the bus include;

Meg and I amusing ourselves with awesome glasses:

Mary’s headdress:

…and Jenny’s face which was saved by her trusty beer can when the bus got into an accident- that’s right an ACCIDENT.  You should see the bruise on my leg!

Once we got off the bus of terror, we headed to the East Village Tavern to finish the night off with some dancing.  See the whole group before the night started to wind down around 2:30am, which is by far the latest I’ve stayed out in a really long time:

Hallelujah for 5 hour energy drinks! I have since sworn these off - it’s instant energy and fun in a little bottle, that leave you with heart palpitations and wanting to die the following day. 

All in all- an awesome party!

Tommy and I are off to Florida tomorrow night - based on the fact that I’m near panicking right now because I have no access to work email after changing my password today, only to forget it moments later, causing my emails to stop feeding into my phone only concludes that I definitely need a vacation - right away! 

Somers shower/bachelorette weekend as arrived! The final preparations were made by Jaclyn, Meg and I last night, before things get crazy today. Hooray!

Inside this bag, is a whole bunch of fun. So much fun your head will spin. Unfortunately, I can’t reveal the details because while the weekend isn’t a surprise, the things we are doing will be.

I will let you use your imagination:

Doesn’t it just SCREAM fun with all those colors!

I have been tasked with making an undisclosed sweet treat for the weekend festivities.  Which was when I made the decision to break out the big guns:

Heellloooo KitchenAid mixer!  I dreamed about registering for this sucker for-ev-er, and wasn’t shy about letting anyone who would listen know how badly I wanted it (this and the Dyson vacuum!).  Fast forward 10 months from receiving it, and I finally gave it a whirl - it was life changing, really. Just through all the ingredients in this handy dandy bowl, turn her on and let her ride!

Nearly THREE weeks after Easter and I can’t get away from the chocolate.   My hips and thighs are dying for me to lay off,  while my mouth and head just want to indudlge. Sadly, I am down to the last bag of Cadbury mini eggs the best candy on the planet.   Once one of these gets put in front of me, it’s all I can do to not tear into the whole bag:

Lastly, I leave you with one of the best products I have purchased to date.  On a standard upstate shopping trip with MIL, she introduced me to this:

Baby oil gel!  This stuff is the bomb for anyone  looking to keep things smooth (i.e. you’re truly who is about to be THIRTY-ONE).  Per MIL’s instructions, I slathered some on my feet, threw on my socks and went to bed, after a couple days my feet were silky smooth!   Now I also put it on my legs before running and I don’t think they have ever been smoother.  Ladies, not only will you love this, but your fella’s will appreciate it as well!

Time to get ready for the par-tay, more details tomorrow!

I have a serious love of New York street fairs, which used to only consist of typical fairs that only attract tourists and sell $2 jewelry.   I’ve since expanded my horizons and become interested in the smaller, one-off fairs that have a little something interesting. 

Tommy and I went off on a walk with the pup Saturday to the Hester Street fair- which is a really cool weekend fair of locally made foods, clothing and random RANDOM things.  (think second hand bikes and customized coasters)

It’s conveniently right around the corner.  Since Tommy has been practicing his camera skills, I’ve become the subject of many-o-pics

Still trying to get a standard pose down:

This was NOT the most random street fair. 

It was so nice out that we decided to keep walking around the hood.  Again, working on my pose, or rather, trying to learn how not to pose at all:

After this was when we came across the most random fair, hosted by the New Museum.

We came across things like:

A woman making smoothies from bike power:

A street scene, made completely of yarn.  There was a lady there with a petition to make this a permanent fixture in Brooklyn.  Considering these were actual people in the yarn, it might be tough:

…and finally, a woman sweeping the park floor, with a plastic bubble around her head:

Icing on the cake. 

That is all- happy hump day! 

just not on mine!  

Saturdays post which mentioned a relaxing Sunday was all just a ploy in case dear Jaclyn happened to check in on my lovely blog.  Sunday ACTUALLY was her surprise baby shower!

It went off perfectly, and everything came together just as planned.

The day started off with my first trip ever to Fairway!  For those not living in New York, Fairway has a rep for the best grocery store…ever.  It’s right on the water in Brooklyn, and it’s huge!

It actually has it’s own parking lot - amazing! 

After multiple stops throughout the morning, Meg, Mary and I all ended up in the front seat which was quite…dangerous:

Hi ladies! 

Once all the goods were picked up, and J was safely on his way to brunch with Jaclyn, the Meg, Mary, Katelyn, Ashley and Jac and J’s mom’s all snuck into their place to set up.  This way when they returned from brunch…BAM, baby shower!

I think we did quite a nice job:

This was later made into a ‘decorate the onesie’ game. 

With a delicious spread of food:

A perfect punch, which could be spiked with prosecco if anyone was feeling a little frisky:

Once we were all set up, it was time for our guest of honor to arrive!  

Surprise!
 

Jac had no idea both her mom and J’s mom were hiding in the kitchen, she was so excited! 

Once everyone mingled and ate for a bit, we played some games and got right to the good stuff- gifts!

The two stand out gifts of the afternoon were:

Baby Toms!  Are these not the cutest things you have ever seen?

Baby Porn for mom’s!

This book has spreads like this, with hilarious quotes.  This one reads ‘Let’s not have sex today, why don’t you lay down while I rub your feet and you can tell me all about the baby’s day’. Too funny!

Once the gifts and games were done, everyone mingled for another hour or so before wrapping up.  All in all a great shower.

I realized we haven’t got a new picture of the 4 of my girls in awhile, and managed to get a new one for the arsenal before the day ended:

Hope you had a great day Jac! Happy Mothers Day!!

Once we were done here, Meg and I headed back out for more party planning.  Mary’s (far left) bridal/bachelorette shower is this Saturday,  and there is lots to do! Luckily we were able to knock a bunch of stuff out yesterday so we are in good shape for the big party. 

After an exhausting day, I arrived home to these on the counter:

Eli was sweet enough to get me some mothers day flowers!  Thanks E!  He is such a great pup. 

We also found out our neighbors are moving last night, and as a parting gift they decided to leave us with all the alcohol let in their bar:

Party time! There is what looks like a really expensive version of Baileys mixed in there, which I am dying to get my lips on.  It’s probably bad to give it a whirl in this mornings coffee, right?  

I kid, I kid!

Have a good Monday! 

I am happy to announce that not one, but two born Sleasman’s are running the NYC marathon in support of cancer research.  Aside from the challenge of the run itself,  it makes me so happy to be doing this with someone who I spent so many of my childhood years with and in support of something that has affected close family members to the both of us.

Looking back at my half marathons, I can’t imagine turning around and going back and doubling the run, but I do imagine the following things keeping me going to finish all 26 miles:

1. Seeing Tommy at the finish line - I love knowing how proud he is to see me finishing challenging runs (and challenging life events in general)

2. Knowing I am running for the cause of something that has affected people close to me throughout my life and that will affect people close to me as I get older 

3. My Uncle Dave, who is the closest person to me in my life affected by this disease. 

4. My Grandpa Joe, who unfortunately lost the battle to cancer many years ago

As sad as this sounds, I really do see the this as a positive challenge and am very excited for training, raising money, and finishing the marathon no matter how challenging it may be. 

On a lighter note, looking back through past marathons, I remember the feeling of finishing and know this will also contribute to keep me going.   See these smiles, twenty minutes prior, I remember thinking I might die - but once the finish line is crossed and a bagel is put in my hand  - immediately happy as can be!

Meet my new training partner, Jen.  Having run TWO marathons already, she is going to keep me going through November - and I must say I am more than happy to have someone to knock out a few 20 miles runs with!

In  non-running news, this has been a great weekend here in NY.  T and I had dinner with friends last night - which was more than delicious.  The rest of the weekend has been spent strolling around, relaxing and eating in the Lower East side.  

Tomorrow I look forward to sleeping in, hitting up the gym and spending the afternoon relaxing some more.  Just the weekend I had hoped for!

More to come tomorrow on todays street fair extravaganza - ‘night! 

Lately, it seems to be the smaller things that really keep my going - and I’m kind of lovin’ it. 

All weekend, I kept having this same thought - ‘I am so glad I am not out until 2am all weekend, every weekend anymore’.   Life’s been so much more enjoyable ever since it stopped being about getting polluted (love that term!) with my friends all weekend and started being more about actually spending time with them over a few drinks. 

Don’t get me wrong, a girl needs a crazy night out with the lady friends now and again, but it’s just become so much different, and I am enjoying it quite a lot. 

….and, I’m old. 

Last night the girls and I grabbed dinner at Teany around the corner, isn’t Jac the cutest:

(aaawwwww) it really caters to all of us, it’s kind of centrally located, and conveniently down the street from our apartment.  Jac get’s her NA preggo drinks, while Meg, Mary and I sip on our usual wine.  Everyone wins! I really don’t know what I’d do if these ladies were not near by - I love you girls!

My getting old was further reinforced when I arrived home last night, and saw these had arrived:

Sa-wweeeeet!  I forgot to mention, that I am also into old lady magazines now.  Give me a couple of these and a hot cup of tea and you’ve just made my night.  They really do have some great health, life and cooking tips!  Sadly, I must admit my Cosmo days of ‘10 ways to tell if he is into you!’ and ‘What guys are REALLY thinking’ are no longer titles that scream out of me on the magazine stand.  Again…OLD. 

Last old lady reinforcement of the week (hopefully!), occurred on a visit to me dermatologist this morning - make sure you get those yearly skin checks ladies!

After letting my derma know I have successfully used the over the counter retinol treatment for a whole YEAR with no problems - she finally handed over the good stuff!

Thats right, straight up RETINOL- from what I hear this stuff is the bees knees in anti-aging - a girls gotta take preventative measures! The first month or so can be a little tough on your skin, but I can handle a month of whatever happens if it means my skin is smooth in my 50’s and 60’s.  You can find some helpful info here- http://www.skin-beauty.com/mosfreqasque.html

This is what I expect to look like in my 70’s:

…and I better still my drinking ‘colada’s, too!

On top of this, she recommended some really great sunblock/moisturizer.  Its good for every day AND beach wear AND perfect for people with sensitive skin (like yours truly) AND it’s tinted..Score, score and SCORE!

 

You see the more than a few samples on the table in the back ground?  At $30 a tube, you better believe I’m going to give this stuff a good week of sampling before diving in.  I’ll let you know how it turns out!

Time to go have a glass of warm milk and pet the cat - ‘night! 

Finally a spring weekend, where we aren’t freezing or cooped up inside! 

Friday night T and I wanted to get dinner, and honestly barely even made it.  We were EX-hausted.  We’re normally the ‘get home Friday and run out and find something to do’ type of people, this week…not so much.  We sat on the couch and said ‘What she would do?’ a good ten times each, before deciding we really didn’t want to do anything except sit there until we were hungry - which was just what we did. 

To be honest, we actually had to peel ourselves up just to make it out for sushi! 

Dinner was great, and even though I had sushi for lunch too Friday, I still enjoyed every last bite.  

I kept noticing Tommy glancing past me during dinner, thinking it was basic people watching I never turned around to check out what this over-the-shoulder look I kept seeing actually was:

Until about half way through when I decided something must be up.  To my surprise, this is what I saw:

A TV  - in a SUSHI restaurant- showing the DRAFT.  Is it football season ALREADY? I thought it just ended! 

Anyway -the rest of dinner was great and we went home, had some Easter candy and crashed.  This Easter candy is seriously never ending. 

Yesterday was gorgeous out, after hitting up the gym, Tommy and I headed out and about before coming back to get ready for dinner with a few friends coming in from NJ and Westchester.  

We crossed our fingers and took 6 people to Frankies, praying at 8pm on a Saturday, they would have room for us (it’s super small and they don’t take reservations).  Somewhere, the gods were looking down on us, and they had room - without a wait! 

It was delish - we had copious amounts of wine with cheese and meat plates, before our main dishes came.  We left full and happy and headed back to hang out at our apartment for a few late night drinks. 

At one point, we almost actually shaved Ryan’s head - apparently, he does not like having longer hair:

Meg and Marcie on the other hand, were NOT feeling this decision:

With razor actually out, on the counter, we decided against this idea, which I am sure Ryan is thankful for today - Meg definitely is. 

All in all, a great night with friends in the middle of an otherwise warm, relaxing weekend. 

Time for lunch before hitting the streets for the day!!!