New York, New York

Well, I can't believe it's been three weeks since the big trip to NYC. We had a FABULOUS time and were in for a HUGE surprise when we landed.

The drive to DIA was extremely nerve-wracking due to a good snowstorm that left the highway a parking lot. Mom was sitting in the front seat and seemed really nervous. So nervous she couldn't talk and was so worried we'd miss our flight. Well...the real reason for her concern was that she and Aunt Kay worked up quite the plan to surprise Bec and I. Aunt Kay flew into JFK 2-hours earlier than us and waited for us down at baggage claim. Imagine our surprise when Bec and I saw Aunt Kay patiently waiting for us to get our luggage. It was so fun to have the two sets of sisters together. My mom and Aunt Kay are so fun to be around, they had us laughing the whole trip. It's hard to say what the highlight was but I'd say it was seeing the Rockettes and our last dinner at La Bonne Soup!

Me, Mom, Aunt Kay & Bec

Times Square

Saks Fifth Avenue Dancing Snowflakes

Bloomingdales

Macy's Herald Square

Lord & Taylor

Top of the Empire State Building

Lunch at Thalia

I don't know if I'll ever be able to thank my mom for this Christmas gift. No words will describe how much I'll cherish these memories. I also know that we'll have to go to NYC again since we didn't see everything on our wish list. The fact that Aunt Kay was able to join us really put it over the top. Thank you Mom, it was better than I could imagined. Love you!

Dear Nuggets

We need to have a talk. You are disappointing me time and again as we enter 2010. I had great seats last Sunday when I watched the Dallas Mavericks bench score 50 on you. 50?!?!?! How does that happen? I'll tell you:

1 - You don't play defense. Your best defender is Arron Afflalo and your bigs are a non-issue for the opposition.

2 - JR thinks he's the PG and the shooting guard.

3 - We need Chauncey back...fast.

4 - Nene is the weakest big man I've seen. What big man drives to the lane for a lay-up? A lay-up? I hate to say it this way but, man up and play with some presence.

5 - Groom Ty Lawson and allow him to use his speed for good. (This is the most painful thing to say as a die-hard Blue Devil but he's fast.)

I hope that when Chauncey returns he'll take care of the offense and run it like a well oiled machine. As for Nene, trade JR for a real big, someone who has an inside presence. That's all for now, here's hoping 2010 starts off on a good note to carry us strong into the all-star break.

Thanks Jess for treating Corey, Jeremy and I to the game. We had a great time as usual!

Brunch with the Ladies

I had brunch with Jess and Kelli before Christmas in honor of Jessica's visit home. We went to Rootdown and it was phenomenal. If you have not been, I highly recommend the fried egg sandwich for brunch. It was great catching up and I'm thrilled to say that Kel and I are going to see each other before Jessica's next visit. I'm headed to her girl's nigh next weekend. This is a record for us!

Kelli, Me, Jessica

I'm so lucky to know these ladies, especially since I've known Jessica for 25 years. It is mind blowing when I think back to us in elementary school. This photo shows that I never caught up to her in height but it is much better than when she was inches taller than me as kids.

Christmas 2009

This Christmas was a complete departure for us from years past. For starters, we had Christmas Eve dinner at LoHi Steakbar before we headed to mass. (We'll be headed back there for another meal - it was great.) Then on Christmas Day, Jeremy and I agreed not to exchange gifts and we didn't have any children with us on Christmas Day.

So knowing this wouldn't be a "traditional" holiday, Bec and I planned a mystery dinner for our loved ones. I say "loved" ones since they weren't thrilled when they saw what we had in store for them. Here's our dinner menu Bec prepared:

We had perfect numbers to sit our guests in the dining room, all 8 would be contained for the festivities while Jeremy, John, Bec and I served dinner from the kitchen. The highlight was really watching everyone eat their very traditional meal (roast, ham, baked potato soup, sweet potato souffle, corn casserole, fruit salad, spinach salad, roasted carrots and potatoes and rolls) with limited use of a fork, spoon, knife, napkin, toothpick or straw. It really did shake up the typical dinner and had us laughing really hard. I don't know if I'll be hosting Christmas for a while, this may have been a good scare tactic.

Impressive use of the spoon and straw by Mom.

Corey - the big cheater of the night - kept unloading forks from his pocket. Here he's stuck with the straw & knife and doing just fine.

Grandpa did great with his toothpick, although we did let him borrow a knife for the roast and ham.

Grandma & Grandma Josie were a real team, helping each other all night.

After dinner we did stockings, unwrapped gifts, then watched the Hangover and played some board games. It was so relaxing and was great to have the grandparents at the house. I still say Mom does the best stockings ever. I also have to say that my new apron from J is wonderful. It's the perfect apron for this girl! I know it sure beats the one her son gave me for our first Christmas 10-years ago. Yep - Jeremy gave me an apron for my first Christmas gift and it didn't even scare me off;)

There's some more of that Grandma teamwork!

Grandpa & Grandma

Our guys with the new beer coozies - courtesy of Mom.

I hope you all had as memorable of a Christmas as we did here.

Where oh where has Katie Lady gone?

A quick note to say that:

1 - Yes I am alive and well.

2 - I took my first true vacation in 11 months from the office. It was a great feeling to really leave work at the office. (I'll share photos of our NYC trip later this week - BEST GIFT EVER!)

3 - I had the worst week of work in years when I returned from vacation. (The vacation was still completely worth the pain of returning to the office.)

4 - All of my free time is spent doing pilates and keeping up with the house. (I'm not exaggerating this either, I'm at the studio Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. It's a good thing I have a caring and VERY tolerant husband.)

5 - I'm trying to get this Christmas stuff together. (Your cards may be late this year but you'll get them.)


Something pretty to leave you with from the one and only Martha - I'll post more later this week! Only 10-days until Christmas!