Two weeks ago, we had T.J.’s cousin and her husband visit for about four days. It was so fun to see some family again.
Since Hannah had been in town just the week before, I didn’t go out and sightsee with them too much, plus they are newlyweds so I knew they would love exploring the city together. But we still had a couple meals together and enjoyed their company. Come back again, Phillip and Kendra!
On August 24, T.J. and I took Eva to the Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn. I was expecting it to be just as busy and crowded as the Central Park Zoo (that place was packed) so when we strolled in around noon without even waiting in a line to get a ticket, we were delightfully surprised. The weather was absolutely perfect that day, as well, so our trip was fantastic and worth the hour ride on the subway.
If you are in NYC with kids, you should definitely check this zoo out. The subway stop with an elevator is right next to Prospect Park (which is beautiful to walk through too)-I’d feel comfortable taking Eva there by myself. It’s just $8 a person and Eva was free (which is much cheaper than Central Park’s). But if you’re expecting to see big animals, you will be disappointed. This zoo is small, yet quaint. A lot of little animals to see, including a petting zoo (which we do more of looking instead of petting) and if you’re lucky like us, everything will be out for you to look out. The sea lions even do a show every day which was the highlight of our visit.
(Before I start: I love you mom… this is just a funny memory that has a good ending.)
Growing up I could never understand how we’d ask my mom for one thing at the grocery store and she’d come home with something similar but not exact. Regular Life instead of cinnamon. Mango juice instead of orange. Pizza blasted goldfish instead of cheddar blasted. You get the deal.
We’d always say, “Just look at the label!” But still… it always happened and I never understood.
Until this week.
It’s happened to me TWICE!
I was at Trader Joe’s in the pretzel aisle and I wanted the pretzel nuggets with the peanut butter inside. I saw a big bag and a small bag, I thought I should go for the small because goodness knows I didn’t need a big bag of those delights. So, after leaving the store, I couldn’t even wait one minute before opening up the bag. But as soon as I ate one nugget I knew it wasn’t right. I grabbed the wrong kind of pretzels even though I was in the right snack section! They were still good (sesame pretzels), but I was disappointed.
The second happened yesterday. I went to grab the new box of Crystal Light Raspberry Lemonade that I bought on Monday (that’s my favorite kind and I buy it every week) when I noticed the label looked a little different. Sure enough, I bought the fruit punch flavor! I haven’t had fruit punch for years and there is definitely a reason. Yuck!
So, there you have it. Slowly but surely, I am turning into my mom. One day my kids are going to look at me with those same confused faces we gave our mom years ago. I guess what goes around, comes around… right?
It’s about that time of year. Yep, you guessed it. TV time. Our favorite shows are coming back in just a couple of weeks and I can’t wait. Although I’m still mourning the loss of my favorite Office group, the fall lineup will still be pretty great!
Oh, and since I brought up The Walking Dead, let’s all just take a minute to watch TJ’s project he made earlier this year. I’m still obsessed with it:
Usually when I’m on walks, I use the time to count my blessings because it’s finally a moment away from the media, entertaining Eva, or doing work. It feels good to get unplugged from the world every once in a while. And goodness knows I need that. It won’t come as a shock to you to hear that I love social media.
Well, today as I was pushing Eva, I was thinking of things that I’m thankful for here in Jersey (skyline above) and started looking around for ideas. Upon leaving the parking lot of Target, I saw a dead, smashed rat that I almost walked on last week (thank goodness Hannah warned me in time). And don’t confuse this gross rat with the dead mouse TJ ran over with the stroller last night. Two separate creatures, two horrifying sites. Anyway, the smashed rat kind of halted my blessings list and made me start thinking about the bad things out here. But then I came up with a little game in my head. For every bad thing, I tried to think of the bright side. The silver lining. Horray… the title of my blog is finally applicable!
No car. More exercise, lose weight, save money.
Our bed in the living room. Get to watch TV in bed… every kid’s dream.
Living in a city instead of suburb. H&M is within 100 steps of my door, and thousands of other incredible places to see are close-by.
Take the subway everywhere. See lots of interesting people, very humbling.
Very humid. Don’t have to do my hair, because the humidity would ruin it anyway.
Always smells like curry in our building. Maybe one day one of my Indian neighbors will teach me how to make authentic curry.
Roaches under sink. At least they’re not mice.
$3.25 to do a load of laundry. Not doing as much laundry anymore.
Rent costs a fortune and I want to cry each month as the money vanishes into thin air. At least it’s going to a mortgage… WAIT… no, it’s not. There’s no bright side to this one.
I haven’t been able to think of a silver lining to seeing a dead mouse and a dead rat either. Let me know if you can.
Saving the best for last:
Dear Danica,
One day you’re going to come visit me. Hopefully it’s this fall, so we can strut our stuff around the streets of NYC and pretend your Serena and I’m Blair from Gossip Girl. We can wear colorful wool coats and knee high boots. But Gossip Girl is not what I want to talk about today. When you come visit, we are going to get a rental car and see the sites of Scranton, the Electric City. And it’s going to be awesome. Sure, I know The Office was filmed entirely in LA, but that won’t stop us from being crazy hot messes as we drive into town past the “Welcome to Scranton” sign.
I’ve already mapped it all out.
First we will hit up the Steamtown mall, and talk about relationship problems at the food court, then we will head over to the Lackawanna Coal Mine and maybe play some laser tag.
We’ll get lunch at Alfredo’s Pizza Cafe, NOT to be confused with Pizza by Alfredo. We’ll do the Scarn at Poor Richard’s, and maybe go for a dip in Lake Scranton. But we’ll make sure our GPS knows how to get us there first.
For dinner we’ll go to Cugino’s, and make sure we get a picture in front of the Pennsylvania Paper & Supply Company. On our drive home, perhaps we’ll stay overnight at the Stalk Inn or Schrute Farms if we get lucky.
As we get back to the city, we’ll pay Corporate a visit and split a pizza from the best pizza place in town… Sbarro’s near Times Square.
So now all you have to do is buy your plane ticket! I’m hoping this will give you that extra nudge you need.
Sincerely-Your Sista (remember how I called you sister that one time? weird) and fellow Office fan,
Katie
This week I started searching for places to see, things to do, and popular restaurants in the NYC area. I’ve been saving everything on my google maps, so when we have free times, we can just pick a star on the map and go! I really want to see as much of the city while we can before it gets cold this winter.
This weekend I thought it would be fun to see the home where the Huxtables from the Cosby Show were supposed to live. It was relatively close to the Ghostbusters headquarters, so we made a morning out of it and explored a new area of the city. I eat that stuff up! Celebrities, TV/movie sets, past film sites… I love it all!
Look familiar? I’m sitting on Dr. Huxtable’s front steps!
We got to the firehouse right as a tour group was leaving, so the place was open for a couple minutes for us to look around! We lucked out!
Have any other places I should star on my map? Restaurants, bakeries, shops that are a must-see here in the NYC area?
On Tuesday, we had our day all mapped out. We were going to go to the Met, Central Park, and Serendipity 3 for their famous frozen hot chocolates. But we woke up to pouring rain and had to improvise. I wasn’t thrilled about bringing Eva into the city with all the rain, so Hannah took the subway to the temple and did a session there. She’s pretty much a champ and conquer anything now that she did the NYC subway without any problems. One of her trains was broken down, but she still made it to her session in time!
Afterwards, she explored a bit and saw an area where You’ve Got Mail was filmed and picked up a cookie from Levain Bakery.
That night, I took Hannah to Chelsea Market for tacos and gelato. What a great ending to a wonderful trip!
It was great to have you in town, Hannah, and to show you around a bit! I hope you had a great time and didn’t want to kill us after staying in our tiny apartment!
I wasn’t joking when I said Magnolia’s Banana Pudding changed my life. Okay, maybe I was a bit dramatic. But really. It’s so good. I don’t even really like pudding. Especially banana pudding. But man. This is so good. And after making my own, I know why.
It is VERY fattening. But sometimes you have to make fattening desserts because cookies made with applesauce just get old.
So, here’s a copycat recipe I found online. I thought it tasted just as good as the real stuff. And it costs MUCH cheaper to make your own, considering a small at Magnolia’s is about five bucks.
Hope you enjoy it as much as me!
Ingredients
Directions
That’s it! It’s so easy and tastes like a dream! Enjoy!
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