Weekend Update

This weekend was the best of both worlds. For me. For poor Daryll it meant working all Saturday evening and missing a fantastic friend reunion, only to be free Sunday for all the "Suzie homemaker" business. Sigh, thems the breaks of being a grown up in the restaurant business I guess... But yes this weekend was very nice.. For me.

Friday night consisted of girly dinner and drinks at one of our old standbys Arriba, Arriba in Sunnyside. 5$ Margaritas and pretty decent Mexican food. Yes and yes. My bff Lowra and I had a lovely chat per usual, and my carne asada taco's definitely hit the spot. Daryll = working, but then a surprise! The restaurant was dead (this being August in NYC and all the restaurant's regulars, i.e. finance people were either in the Hampton's or in their various other summer houses. Seriously, August in NYC is void of most of the high falutins. Especially on the weekends. Yay for plebs!) so D got to come home early and meet us at Molly Blooms, a beautifully redone Irish pub also on Queens Blvd. in Sunnyside. They have a rad back garden for drinks and food during the summer. Definitely check it out if you are in the area. We were just enjoying our Woo woos, (i.e. the vodka, cran, and peach schnapps ridiculous drink special for the night) and a chat when the "best bar owner ever" stopped on by. This guy was everything I love about Ireland. Irish of course, extremely friendly, witty, and deliciously irreverent. Seriously the jokes that he was coming up with were hilarious and shocking. Wonderful! He totally sold us on a trip back to the pub
which goes to show, if you are friendly with your guests and make them feel at home, they will not only have a great time but want to return to keep the good times rollin'. Plus, he reminded us all of D's dad so much it made my heart smile. We are so homesick for our families! I definitely have the sweetest most fun in-laws ever so anyone that reminds us of them has to be good people.

Saturday was a busy one. We got up early at 11am. tee hee. and headed over to our friends, Smashryn and Job's house on the upper west side for their house warming party. I got to see the place a few weeks back when it was infested with Smashryn boxes, but now the place looks super swank! They both put in long and hard hours to make their home look great (note Job's pseudonym is..well..Job.. like the bible man. That should give you a clue as to the trials of the S and J apt) and it all paid off. It was a lovely party with homemade fancy cake, and sangria, and gifts of bacon. D did get to partake in a few hours of the party, and then he went to work, and I went off to BEER GARDEN! Beer Gardening is an important agricultural activity here in New York. One cannot have summer without it. There were many people that were ...um... watered, and card games that were...um...sowed ...Our good friend, hmm lets call her Jan, came over from Philly to visit, and we all had a good catch up. We took a break from drinking for some life changing Greek food over at Taverna Kyclades in Astoria, and more drinking. Really a perfect evening with Drinks, Friends and Fried Cheese! mmm.



very serious business, this beer gardening..

 Sunday= Cleaning, Trader Joe's food shopping, and Irish Stew making... All of which Daryll got to participate in. Lucky boy! Definitely the best part of the weekend to piggy back on, don't you agree..Not! Cue sad trumpets....:(

Notice for a post this long winded there should most definitely be more photos. Greek and Mexican tastiness- MIA, Apartment Party and Fancy Cake-Absent. Say it with me ala JFK. "We can do bettah!"

Friday! Woot!

Frida Kahlo. In honor of our Cafe Frida trip. Amazing food, amazing woman.

Ah, another Friday is finally here! Thank God! It is actually one of the first weekend in a long time that the boy and I will both be off work together and there is lots to catch up on since we NEVER see each other. At least we live together or we really wouldn't see each other. Right now we are just getting by on good mornings and goodnights, but hopefully that will continue to improve. Tonight I am going out for dinner and drinks at Cafe Friday with some friends. Tasty! and then out more drinks to celebrate a friends birthday. Fingers crossed, Mr. Man will get off work at a reasonable hour tonight so he can join the festivities too. Saturday/Sunday are big ones. With our big wedding coming up in 12 weeks (AHHHH!) there is a ton to be done. (For those who don't know us, we had a little wedding last summer due to some immigration hurdles and are now planning our big religious wedding in Ireland). So on tap are the following....
Finish afters invitations and mail to Ireland.
Finish favors (Very excited that I just got my Divine Twine last week for these!),
Trial runs for the bride and bridesmaid bouquets so I can plan what flowers to order. Yes we are doing our flowers. In Ireland. The day before. No I am not psycho. I have a plan. And elves.
Touch base with our vendors and lovely attendants, order BM/GM gifts.
Start planning our drink tickets and seating cards.
Hang our new pictures from Ikea (not wedding related, but we need to change it up).
and finally craigslist the airconditioners that have been in our living room since last summer and need to go before the bridal shower in 2 weeks. (Anyone looking for a cheap almost new AC?!)

Ugh, I'm tired already. Any fun plans for you, blogosphere?

Hope for Spring

Photo by Jeffrey Friedl. His blog has some breathtaking photos of the Japanese countryside.

        Hope you had a nice weekend. I spent mine sorting out a bit of spring cleaning (11 hours on Saturday! Eep!) but I have to say the house is in great shape and having everything organized definitely helps to chase those winter blues away. It has been a long, cold one this year but in light of the recent news overseas, I are reminded that we are lucky in countless ways. As we don't have cable, I've been catching up on the news in Japan online. It is truly heartbreaking what the citizens and their loved ones are going through. I'm planning on donating to one of the following charities, but is always hard to decide where one's money will make the most difference. How are you planning to help? Does anyone have any other suggestions of how we can lend our sympathy and support?