Thursday, February 08, 2007

Hello Again, Hello

I do not rock half as much as Hope Wallace does. She is the one who got this site up and running again after Blogger switched to the new and improved version. The new version was not improved. In fact, many of us couldn't post for months. I wrote support so many times that I lost count. I began logging on to message boards chatting with other bloggers in distress. Thanks Hope! Oh Queen of Rockness. Did I mention that her store Paper Relics received a fabulous write up from Daily Candy? Check it out. Hope is hot!!

So much has happened that I thought I just give a quick review starting with my southern Christmas.
Tom & I drove over 7 hours to Richmond, Virginia the Saturday before Xmas. Tom was behind the wheel the entire time and boy, was he grumpy. We had a wonderful dinner with his parents, sister and her man Justin and Kyle. Missing were his sis Gina, hubby Steve and our nephew Jackson. They were stranded in blizzardy Colorado. Xmas Eve as full of shopping, wrapping, cookie making and cramming in as much time with Kyle before he headed back to Virginia Beach. Our formerly stranded family members arrived after 10pm. We scared the Bjesus out of little Jax with our excitement of his presence. Loads of gifts were opened. Champagne flowed as did Tom & Jerry's (family tradition egg nog like drink). Xmas morning we all jumped in Gina and Steve's bed, playing with Jackson, waiting for HoHo to arrive. Ho Ho was very generous! Tom and I got a trip (to Costa Rica) which we'll be taking at the end of the year. Bill (Tom's dad) made an amazing breakfast. A frittata like sausage & cheese combo that was yummy. We packed up our car and drove 5 hours down to North Carolina to see my mom and sis. We arrived in time to drink wine, eat stuffed mushrooms, pickled everything, and lasagna. We played with Bobby (nephew) and baby Gabriella (mom's friend's child). She did the best Cookie Monster impersonation that we ever did see. The day after Xmas we went to lots of furniture stores, ate, and chilled. We were up early the next morning and hit the road and drove mucho, mucho, hours back to NYC. Are you thinking that we were totally high to do all that traveling in 5 days? Yup, so were we. We now realize how crazy it all was and probably will not ever do that again, unless we have about 2 weeks to play with.

Back in NYC preparations were being made for Karen, Gina & Steve's (Tom's sisters & bro-in-law) visit with us. We have never had 5 people stay overnight before in our 1 bedroom apartment. It was fine. Worked pretty well. We ate lots of pizza, visited Ground Zero, shops, had a good French meal, went to Astoria for authentic Greek pastries and Ouzo. OOOHPA!! The pastry place made the wedding cake that was featured in "MY BIG, FAT, GREEK WEDDING". We threw a New Year's Eve dinner party. I made an antipasto, gravy for cavatelli, meatballs & sausage. Cooking is a breeze when you have people slicing, dicing and grating your garlic, onions and cheese. Tom took everyone out for the afternoon so that I could set the dining table all fancy and decorate for the festivities. What a blast! We ate loads, champagne flowed, cigars were smoked and games were played. Girls against the boys (80's trivia & SNL Trivial Pursuit) and we kicked their butt! Hangovers were had by all. New Year's Day was officially slug day. We stayed in our pj's, ate leftovers & lentils and watched movies.

Since then it's been all about keeping warm (man, it is brutally cold) and working on lots of projects. Stuff for Heart of Gold, gathering content for my design/organizing business website, getting this site up and running again, and catching up on lots of movies. Pan's Labyrinth was the best we've seen so far. I'm going to Nashville in March for a conference. I'm excited about visiting Music City! We're headed to Costa Rica in May with friends. Yup, we're going twice this year. Checking out all different areas and going on some real estate tours. And taking an excursion to Nicaragua. Our Costa Rican bathroom is finally done! It looks so funky! We still have to take some after pictures and then I'll share the results with you all. All in all I'm psyched about 2007! It's going to be a year filled with adventure, changes and progress.

Posted by Dawn Falcone @ 5:38 PM 13 comments

13 Comments:

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At 11:32 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Here from Micheles today.
Sounds like you have had a very busy winter season!
I can identify with the drive between north & south, I'm originally from Massachusetts & live in Virginia now- it's not a trip to undertake lightly.
Keep warm!

 
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At 1:59 PM, Blogger ... Paige said...

Hi, here by way of Michele's, she says hello.
Love the before and after bags. They are great.
Happy Weekend

 
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At 2:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

My fat greek wedding was filmed in ASTORIA? or at least the pastry place? I plan to come to NY when it gets warmer...I miss all the action!!

 
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At 5:00 PM, Blogger Lisa Martin said...

so glad you're back!!! I check your site often and was worried when you hadn't posted in a while! Heart you, heart garlic!

 
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At 4:00 PM, Blogger Liquid Sky Arts said...

Hope does rock! So glad to see you're able to post again.

Costa Rica, that's so exciting! Promise to take a lot of photos. :)

 
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At 6:34 AM, Blogger Jessica Moreau Berry said...

Hope totally rocks it!! Do you know how many times she has saved my butt?! God love the Queen of Rockness!!

I am glad that you are up and running! And guess what else I love????????????????????

I get to see you in just a couple of more weeks! And our two Dorky Boys get to meet up!!! I will definetly bring Tom his favorite Maine drink!!

See you soon!!! xoxoxo

 
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At 6:34 AM, Blogger Jessica Moreau Berry said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

 
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At 11:28 PM, Blogger i *heart* paper said...

OMG, Dawn, Congratulations on the new design web site. So thrilled for you...and still anxiously waiting for the cookbook :-)

-Dawn

 
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At 4:41 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I love your website..
You are a talented writer...
Maybe in this day and age we would actually like each other...

We didn't in highschool...

but things change..

 
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At 1:49 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Of all garlic's reputed medicinal benefits, perhaps the most well known is its use as a natural antibiotic with reports going back through history. There are even stories of garlic being used to ward off the plague. It's not known how effective this was, however there is some evidence that anthrax is sensitive to garlic. Some people have even suggested that it might help in the fight against acne although that might be too much to hope for.
Garlic's antibiotic properties have sportsbook been more extensively studied than some of its other reputed health benefits. Louis Pasteur examined garlic's use as an antibacterial back in the nineteenth century and showed how it killed bacteria under laboratory conditions. Numerous modern studies confirm that garlic has definite antibiotic properties and is effective against many bacteria, fungi and viruses. According to Wright State University, garlic is approximately one per cent as potent an antibiotic as penicillin.
http://www.enterbet.com

 
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At 10:37 AM, Blogger kimberly sayer said...

Hope Wallace Karney is a self taught artist and designer living outside of Baltimore, . Hope is known for mixing old elements with modern principles to create unique and whimsical designs for her greeting card line,costa rica fishingPaper Relics. Her work has been featured in several national magazines, including Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion and Country Living.
http://www.fishingcostaricaexperts.com

 
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