Christmas in New York = Happiness

Those of you who know me well (or may have just met me during the winter months) know that I LOVE Christmas. I mean, you have to be a real pessimistic person to be unhappy during this wonderfully happy season, but I would say my love goes far beyond the normal person...just ask my college roommate, Mara...

I certainly miss taking car rides touring the local lights in the neighborhood, caroling to shut-ins from church and baking cookies for neighbors back in Illinois...but I can't tell you how much I love that New York City shares my pure and utter joy for the season. Whether it is the tree in Rockefeller, the traditional lighting ceremony of said tree, all the department stores decked out with window displays or Christmas lights literally twinkling from every corner...even the tried and true New Yorkers have a smile on their faces and a skip in their step.

There is just something about this time of year when you HAVE to slow down, take the time to look back over your year and be thankful for your experiences, the people that crossed your path and made you better and the friends who made you laugh when you were crying... I try hard to stop and smell the roses all the time, but at least I always take the whole month of December to make up for my slack the rest of the year.

Although I am still going through my own mini quarter-life crisis, trying to figure out what I am going to do with my life, nothing can get me stressed the second I hear that first Christmas tune! I mean, what is the point to being stressed when there is so much love and happiness to be had in this world?

As I look around me, I have never felt more lucky and blessed in my entire life. Things always do have a sure fire way of working out and sometimes you do just have to step back and take the time to smell the roses (or the Christmas cookies:).

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Young Innovators

Cool agency setting, swanky snacks, all the stars of [young] Madison Avenue in attendance... Black-tie affair? Upper-crust Manhattan-nite event? No mam, it was none other than the Power of Ideas, Young Innovator event.

I am sort of a nerd (as most of you know) and so I love being involved and attending events like this. As a "young" person with high hopes and big dreams, I (along with my peers) often get excited about advertising celebrities from legendary companies in the industry. It's a classic marketing ploy and it works...important people = high attendance. This event was much different. The people on our panel were no less important than the CEO of P&G, believe me, they just had a fraction of the "experience".

Our panel was made up of four people, all under 30, who have done amazing things by being innovative in their daily lives. Jessica who invented a soccer ball that harnesses energy as you play with it, Josh who built a video game, Elandria who works with schools to teach about creative advertising, and Todd who started his own video production company...all in addition to their "day" job except for Todd. But in his own words, he lives, eats, and breaths the company. Oh and we can't forget the moderator, my co-leader of the young professionals, New Business extraordinaire at Universal McCann, and now owner of a cool ice cream cart business...Ori.

It was truly inspiring to see all these...peers...doing such amazing things! I mean, I am the Co-Chair of a Career Conference put on by the Advertising Women of New York and the VP of the Young Pros in Ad Club NYC, but these people have gone so far beyond that... They excel at their jobs and use that forward thinking in every aspect of their lives. They are marrying their passions with their careers and doing actual good in this world. Motivation and drive aren't even the beginning.

The event was a great success and I wasn't alone in my awe and deep appreciation of these panelists. I chatted with several starry-eyed young execs and felt happy to be part of such a wonderful network of people. It reminds me (and us all) that we really can do anything we want to. Resources and success are measured by your own motivation to make our dream into a reality.

To use a cliché, Paul McCartney was told he had no musical talents. Good thing he didn't give up on his dream or where would rock music be without the Beatles?

Trying new things

I have lived in New York for over three years and it wasn't until this past Friday that I finally tasted a famous egg cream. Now don't go drooling over that name AND if you think either eggs or cream are even in this drink, you would be mistaken. Interestingly enough, it was invented by a candy store owner and has been coined the poor man's root beer float. It is actually made up of chocolate syrup, milk and seltzer water and essentially tastes like a chocolate cream soda.

I tried the egg cream at a New York landmark (and another first for me), Eisenberg's Deli. Katz is a pretty famous deli 'round these parts, but i would say that Eisenberg's runs a close second (not to mention my foodie celebrity favorite, Anthony Bourdain gives it two thumbs up).

A dingy place of sorts, you have to really love those hole-in-the-wall type places to enjoy the experience here. Remember folks, it's about the food. Lucky for me, my friend Peggy was well versed in the menu and ordered a delightful pastrami sandwich decked out with all the fixin's, so I just doubled that order. It was salty, full of fat and therefore full of flavor. The "slaw" packed in alongside the tomatoes and lettuce gave it a nice sour kick to boot.

Overall, between that and the egg cream, I was feeling quite full and quite in need of a workout. I mean their slogan really says it all, "...raising New York's cholesterol since 1929." It's certainly not an everyday choice, but for a guilty pleasure and a darn good sandwich, it is worth every calorie!

Sunday proved to be a day of cooking yet again as I tried a new recipe using pappardelle noodles, butternut squash, baby spinach, shitake mushrooms, parmesan and fresh sage. It was actually quite an easy recipe to make, although it always proves more difficult when I am cooking in my boyfriend's [bachelor] kitchen consisting of one pan, one medium-sized skillet and two barely sharp knives.

Once I got past the utensil deficiency, I was on my way. The pappardelle really didn't take as long to cook as I was expecting. Actually, the toughest thing was getting the squash to soften up. Not to mention the balancing act me and the vegetables played trying to make sure I didn't slop outside the small skillet...

It turned out pretty darn good in the end and I was satisfied with this quite delicious, fall tasting dish. I did add some fresh garlic to mine (which it didn't call for and I really liked). You could also do some substitutions like using part olive oil or light butter instead of the full amount of regular butter it calls for. Lastly, I would be mindful that this recipe makes a lot of food. We cut down the ingredients nearly in half and it still made like 4-6 servings! If you are down to try it, check it out here:

RECIPE: Pappardelle with Squash, Mushrooms, and Spinach

A Spooky Affair...

Dressing up, guessing who is who at parties, eating sweet treats and drinking spiked cider... This is Halloween in my book! I don't know about the rest of you, but October sort of came and went without so much as a "hello." All of a sudden it is cold outside and I am already looking back fondly on my celebration this past weekend. Wow how time moves so fast...

I am happy to report that my Halloween "menu" was amazing. First things first, when my friend Peggy decides to throw a party she goes ALL out. I am not talking throwing some chex mix in a bowl and setting out a bottle of Jack. I mean spider webs hugging every square inch with fake rats, severed fingers and sticky eye balls nestled throughout...tea light candles glittering the room to give a spooky feel, scary carved pumpkins, professionally decorated cupcakes and shrunken head cider. Now that's what I call a party...

Seriously, Pegs gave Martha a real run for her money by executing this cider recipe that involved carving faces in apples and baking them...that's dedication. Anyone throwing a Fall-type party should try this out. You could carve different things in the apples if you want to change the theme :)

Not only was the food amazing, the costumes ran the gambit from funny/offensive to down-right creepy. Thing 1 and Thing 2 (a.k.a. S1 and S2 according to my friend Sarah's boyfriend, Frank)...Osama, Pee Wee Herman, Mr. Rogers...need I go on? It was pretty entertaining and I am just glad I have friends with a wonderful sense of humor. The only thing (or person I should say) missing from this festivity was our London-ite friend Thomas - that's right I am calling you out - who we were desperately hoping would surprise us all dressed as an avatar (he is giant tall and would have been PERFECT).

All in all though, I would say it was a successful party full of laughter and yummy food. Although maybe next year the party organizer might want to footnote the invite: no creepy childhood characters...