Google says that business runs better when there are women on the team. But of course!

Mad Men office supplies

Megan of Mad Men

I have found bliss - in a creamy delicious frozen yogurt bar

Yes I took a picture of the box. You may think it was because I wanted to post on this blog (well, I guess) but mostly it's because I have sent it to the husband with strict instructions to purchase 5 or more boxes of said product if he sees these anywhere. Anytime.

I love greek yogurt. And I love ice cream. I do not however like calories. I don't do much to fight them normally. They usually win while the most exercise I get is from moving from couch to bed, so the fact that this beautiful, creamy dessert decreases the amount of which I need to fight, well then, I couldn't be more pleased. And if I eat the whole box it's only 350 calories!  When I *do* make it to the gym, it will only take me 1 hour to run that off!  Aces! GO get some:  Yasso!  www.teamyasso.com

Awesome. Thanks.

Every time my husband goes away on business something happens. Not anything ultimately disastrous just something enough to mess up the delicately balanced sanity that one needs to grip with white knuckles until he gets home.  Working full time and then starting the second job, the toddler job, when getting home can really rack some nerves. Oh and don't forget the shopping, cooking and cleaning. And when the hell can I wash my hair?!

So this particular trip's fresh hell brought us a leak in the ceiling from the numbnuts kitchen upstairs. Actually the leak was in the electrical outlet. Bubbling, gurgling, with water running under the countertop and raising it up just enough to tilt everything towards the sink.  So the landlord ripped out the soggy ceiling and let wet drywall and black stuff, oh just probably black mold ("spray it with bleach," he says) rain down on dishes and cabinets. Awesome.  So this is my kitchen right now. Did I say awesome yet?  This is the awesome-est.

Red, red wine.

Wow that Prince William married well. Kate Middleton looks like she has a team of handlers and stylists but apparently she does her own makeup and shops at H&M.  By that account, I should look like this when I leave for work too.  Ha ha.

New Starbucks in Brooklyn Heights!

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"My favorite!! #iphoneonly #popular #brooklyn"

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"Amazing blue door in Brooklyn #popular #color #iphoneonly"

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Tangerine Dream

Look at me all trendy in my tangerine denim (I know you were expecting me to rhyme: tangerine jeans, right?)

Birchbox bonanza

 Have you heard of Birchbox?  Go to the site now. Good Lord, Run!  This is the coolest thing ever.  I got a 'subscription' for my sister for last year's birthday and it's truly the best kind of gift - because she gets a new gift from me every month!! I paid only $120 for the year. 12 boxes!  Being a Mom of THREE KIDS and working full time, she doesn't get much time to herself for herself so Birchbox was a perfect way for me to give her things she didn't know she could use or that she didn't know she needed. She gets a new box every month of top-of-the-line samples - something just for her. Nothing she has to share with the kids.  And I got to 'customize' the boxes a bit. I could create her profile based on her type of hair, her skin, the colors she likes.  It's, and I quote her, "Total awesomeness."  

Here's what she just sent me:

Omg "eye rock" single use stick on eye liner strips, corrective dark spot solution (hallelujah!),green apple facial peel with vitamins and fruit acids, spicy Maya dark chocolate, 6 free download tunes from Green River Ordinance.  Toooooootally awesomeness!!!!

A little overboard?

Since my daughter started preschool I've finally gotten the chance to meet other parents. Before I just couldn't bring myself to ask for a phone number on the playground. That just felt too weird. Now we are entering the playdate zone. I got an email from a mommy of a child that shared a cubby at school with my daughter. She hoped she had picked up a hat by mistake. Unfortunately no but we struck up a conversation and now have a playdate scheduled for 10am. And I'm nervous. It's one thing to have the nannies meet. They don't care about whose house it is and if it's clean but this child is coming over with her stay at home mommy. And I won't be there. So I'm

relying on my nanny to be hostess and on my temperamental toddler to not knock this kid (or her mom) in the head with a thrown toy. So how do I compensate? With gifts and toys of course! Merely for distraction. Smoke and mirrors so to speak to hide the fact that we slightly resemble hoarders because of the stacks of donation boxes, old mail, rejected furniture and baby toys that no one in the house seems to be bothered by except me.

Anyhow I decorated 2 paper lunch bags and named them each with princess before their names and loaded them up with healthy snacks and a few butterfly bubble wands I had left over from the birthday party. I left instructions with the HB to tell the nanny (yeah that'll work) to set up the princess house, lay out the princess dresses, cut paper to make crowns (ha ha) and give each princess her snack bag while inside the princess house.

Update:  Got an email from the playdate Mom and the girls had an amazing time.  "At one point the girls were dressed as princesses, with shoes, riding bikes and playing guitars!  And dumb me no way to capture the very ridiculous moment."  I feel better now. 

I have graduated.

I've referred to, in the past, my overall disdain for that 'jet fuel' coffee by Starbucks.  But then my sister started working for them and all my prejudices disappeared. I became a full on believer. I am a 100 per cent devotee.  However, previously I only dabbled; dipped my toe into the vast coffee offerings, so to speak (ow) with the easy VIA and other very basic brews.  I always looked with envy upon those other coffee drinkers who ordered their customized concoction with such dignity and aplomb (I always wanted to use that word in a sentence. Will have to look it up now.) How did they know to that extreme level what specific size, flavor and mixture of coffee beverage to order?? What the hell is a macciatto?  So, as you know, I've been visiting one specific SBX location, upon noting what type of person also visits here, what the staff is like and what hours to avoid.  Today I felt confident. My hair looked good. (always helps)  The man who wears the headset and greets me, yes, little ole me, every morning with such genuine sincerity, that I figured now's my chance.  I asked what in hindsight sounds a bit like a nursery rhyme "How many pumps of vanilla are in a skinny vanilla latte?'  He says, 'depends on the size.' I say 'Grande, of course."  He says '4 pumps.'  I venture further, encouraged by his skillful handling of my query.  "How would I order half the vanilla but an extra shot of espresso?  He says " 2 pump skinny vanilla triple latte."  And there at 8:42am my coffee was born. See my new baby? Isn't she precious??

Fiesta tilapia

I made up a recipe. Go me! Well, ok, it's probably more accurate to say I borrowed one I read on all recipes and then adjusted it for city apartment living. You see, I love grilling. I will grill anything. Especially pineapple. Swoon. But since I'm not going to whip out the hibachi at 830pm after the toddler is in bed I wanted a recipe that I could make stovetop. Although playing Caribbean steel drum tunes may be optional at your house.

1-4 fresh tilapia fillets

1 14oz can of tropical fruit salad

1 t Chinese chili garlic sauce

1 T brown sugar

1 T butter

1-2 bunches of chard. (rainbow is good with the fiesta theme. Plus

have you ever seen anything so beautiful?)

1-2 c rice

Pour the juice from the fruit over the fish in an oven safe dish. Add a few pats of butter in between each piece of fish. Cover in tinfoil.
Bake at 400 for 20 minutes or until fish flakes with a fork. Chop up the fruit in another bowl and add the garlic sauce and brown sugar and stir together.
Wash the chard and steam in a skillet with a drizzle of olive oil and some of the fruit juice. Serve fish over chard with a side of rice. Add a few big spoonfuls of the chopped fruit mixture and be sure to add a spoonful of the juice mixture from the fish over the rice! Yum!

Saving dinner time

At our house it's rare we finish a whole jar of spaghetti sauce at one

meal. That's if I haven't made a huge pot of homemade sauce. But on

those nights I just want to make one serving of ravioli or spaghetti I

go for the jar sauce. Of course that means the rest of the jar sits in the fridge for weeks and goes bad. In a cleaning fit yesterday I started a bag of baby food accessories to donate. But I saw this individual meal freezer holder and thought it's be perfect for individual servings of sauce. So I'm keeping it. Pop one out and defrost it, voila.

Now that's a family restroom!!

We went to Cleveland for the holidays and what do you do in Cleveland? Why, go to the mall of course! Ok, not always. But we had to see Santa, and the mall is where he is known to hang out so there we were.  Anyhow, as it is traveling with a toddler in potty training mode, I have one eye open for suitable bathrooms at all times.  We cruised out of JCPenney (woot! party!) and spotted a sign for the family restroom. In pretty colors. Again, in a preventative measure, we took a side trip down this pretty colorful hallway to the most amazing family restroom I have ever seen. It actually had a SEATING area with games and TVs for the kids (or bored Daddies, imjustsayin...) and it had a large room with 3 baby-changing 'bays' (is that the appropriate word? I know they aren't cargo vehicles, but still...) with sinks and even a microwave. Then there were small curtained rooms with plush couches and a table. Must be for napping or nursing. I never wanted to leave. And I'm not even nursing anymore. Apparently I'm not the only one at this mall that knew of this hidden gem because the only actual toilet (that also had the cute toddler size toilet too!) was occupado. We waited. We waited. Then we heard the telltale flush, followed by the feared second flush! Out walked an older woman, sans child.  Can't say I blame her. That place was a palace.  Why can't more public establishments be like this?? When I was nursing maybe??