So FABO!

Let me tell you a little bit about Debbie...

She is more like a sister to me than a friend. She has been there for the ups and downs of the past 5 years. She loves to cook and eat (and talk about food) as much as I do. She loves my boys just like family. She is someone that inspires me with her loyalty to her friends and her strong faith. She is fun and full of life and acts MUCH younger than her milestone birthday!

While she was away sipping champagne and eating foie gras in Paris, Bethany and I were secretly making plans to surprise her with a birthday party to remember...


Decorating ideas for the perfect Paris party!

If you know Debbie, you know her favorite color is orange and she loves Hermes scarves. We had to use that as the theme for her birthday party!

While Debbie was at work one weekend, Bethany drove down from Memphis to help me cook and to sneak into Debbie's house and transform it into this...




Debbie is one of the few people that has their own signature word... FABO! It's short for fabulous, but it's an extra fabulous word! Paris, Hermes, the color orange... of course it was FABO!


Bethany found the adorable orange mini frames at the craft store.


We decorated with Hermes boxes and bags.


What Paris party would be complete without lots of French champagne, in the perfect shade of orange and brown bottles and boxes!


And of course the signature drink had to be called the "French Kiss" cocktail and had to be the perfect color of Hermes orange. (By the way, it's made by pouring a little Campari over a sugar cube and topping with good champagne!)


Eiffel Tower candles... love is in the details!


The cake had a custom cake topper that I made by spray painting a wooden Eiffel Tower the perfect shade of Hermes orange and coating it in an extra layer of orange glitter. The I added a little hint at what was coming in that orange and brown box...




We were a hot mess trying to get ready in time and to have the house looking just perfect, but we made it! I could never have thrown this party without Bethany's help, creativity and cooking talents!

All that was left was to wait...


For the birthday girl!

At first Debbie was confused... Why was Firoze in her driveway? Why was I coming out of her kitchen? Why were her best friends from Charleston (Mary and Marie) standing in the garage? Hey, and what was Bethany doing here (leaving her new little baby just to make it here)???

SURPRISE! It's your birthday party! We love you Debbie!



She finally was able to take it all in and sit down and catch up with her friends that had driven 5 hours to surprise her.



We told her... have a cocktail, get changed out of those work clothes because your party is about to start!


Debbie... you make us hope to be as fabulous as you one day!

Ok, now the food...

Food is love, so we had to shower Debbie with love at her party. She is always cooking for other people and has brought many dinners to my house when I have needed it the most. So, Bethany and I put our heads together to come up with the perfect French menu for a cocktail party:

White Bean Soup with Truffle Oil
Baked Brie with Rosemary and Honey
Cheese Tray with various French cheeses
Arugula Salad with Champagne Vinegrette
Caviar Dip
Gougeres (Gruyere Cheese Puffs)
Garlic Chicken Meatballs with Remoulade Dipping Sauce
Roasted Shrimp Cocktail
Crostini with Black Olive Tapenade

Are we making you hungry? :)







After we ate, it was time to see the Eiffel Tower glitter and shoot fireworks, just like the real thing, so we set that cake a blazin' with some real firework sparklers!


Stand back... it's gonna blow!




Yay... the house didn't burn down!

Then we had to show her what was waiting for her in that special orange and brown box...






Oh how FABO!










Look at these lovebirds!

And after all that great food and cake, we cranked the music up and got this party STARTED!





You know it's a great party when...


... your glass is never empty because Firoze is the bartender!!


... and Doug is giving backrubs in the kitchen!


... and India is getting crunk on Debbie's porch!


... and the guest of honor dances like she's 20!

It was truly a FABO night for a FABO friend!

Empire State of Mind (Day 2)

How come it only takes 24 hours to feel like a real New Yorker? We started our trip yesterday and we were awkwardly looking around to see what everyone else did to get on the subway. But on Day 2, we were swiping our Metro Card like we did it everyday and made jokes while we waited for the N Train. We knew that the Canal Street subway station smelled like a bathroom. We knew that we could skip the donut cart because we were headed for something better. We were city girls now!

First we headed to Little Italy for some "love at first bite." We started our morning here...


Ferrara's - Little Italy



And we were like two kids in a candy store with these options for breakfast! Ok, I really would not recommend this for breakfast because I didn't realize it was truly a pastry shop. But, we were on vacation, so why not have pastries for breakfast? Why all these rules? Just give me this...



I obsessively watch "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" on Food Network and Chef Alex Guarnaschelli said this was her favorite thing to eat with a coffee in NYC. It's called a "Lobster Tail" (I'm sure you know why) and it's a crispy, flaky pastry filled with oodles of a custard like vanilla cream. It's exactly the opposite of Special K for breakfast. And it was delicious!



Honestly, the best thing about Ferrara's was the cappucino! I don't know what they are doing to their foam, but it was gravity defying!



After our healthy breakfast, we decided to walk around Little Italy for a bit and then head to Chinatown to get our shop on!



For some reason, I don't think the 'peeps on the street' along Canal Street would be cool with me taking lots of pictures. Let me just say, we got the full experience. There are plenty of "Rolodexes" and "Louis Be Gone's" to be had. All you need to do is give a nod to anyone wearing a down puffer jacket. Hmmm... I wonder what their summer uniform is???

After making our way from Chinatown to the East Village, we shopped until we dropped. We had to stop for nourishment! I'm sure you were worried about us. Another must eat was the best of New York pizza. After many lunch hours of internet research and reading the wars of restaurant reviews over NYC's best pizza, I finally decided on...

Artichoke Basille

This place was no bigger than a broom closet. I would bet the room was no wider than the pizza oven. And the waiting area to order pizza fit about 6 people comfortably. Dining options were either "stand inside and be squished" or "stand outside in the fresh air." I guess we were lucky because we found a 5 foot bench to sit down and eat our food. However, I would forgive eating this pizza sitting on top of a trashcan if I had to because it was so good!



They only serve 4 options for pizza. Don't try and say (in a whining voice): "I don't like artichokes. Can you please take them off?" They will say "No." Your choices are: Artichoke Spinach, Margherita, Sicilian, and Crab. I went classic with the Margherita pizza and Court got the Artichoke, but of course we tried each other's! The Margherita slice was the perfect balance of sweet fresh tomato sauce, bubbly mozzarella and fresh basil leaves.



Their namesake slice is the Artichoke Pizza. It tasted like cheesy spinach artichoke dip slathered all over hot crusty bread. Does that tempt you? Oh yes, it was really that good! Trust me, it made their lack of tables forgivable. :)

After that, we headed back to Times Square to see things during the day. We also had to force ourselves to go to Toys R' Us to get our promised gifts for the boys. Somehow it had proven to be very difficult to find "sea creatures" (per Devon) and "a grey racecar" (per Judah) in all the stores we had been to. So, we just gave up and headed to kiddie heaven, aka... Toys R' Us in Times Square.


I love the slightly creepy Panda in the background.



It's hard to be in kiddie heaven and not feel like a kid again! Suddenly, those giant lollipops were looking very tempting. And we felt the need to ride the indoor ferris wheel. Would we get the Barbie car? Or the Toy Story car? Oh please, oh please... let us get a cute car? Hmmm... yes, we reverted back to age 4! We got the Little Tikes Car! And we were a little bit guilty because we knew our boys would be totally jealous if they could see their mamas riding the ferris wheel in the Little Tikes Car. Ha!

After all our adventures, we only had one thing left to do.

It's campy. It's so NYC. It is the title of a movie...

Serendipity!



Ok, anyone who is a real New Yorker would say "it's Serendipity 3" with a look of total annoyance. And then they would probably say "you know, there are better places to eat..." But hey, we were only in NYC for 48 hours and we didn't care. We wanted to do the quintessential tour of the city and that included one very large Frozen Hot Chocolate!



They know that's the only thing you are going to order, whether you have two people or ten sitting at your table. All you would hear all day is "One Frozen Hot Chocolate please." So, they put a $16 dollar minimum in fine print at the bottom of the menu. So basically, you are just not going to have a Frozen Hot Chocolate. You are going to have to pick something. Oh the torture... So we ordered Potato Skins too. Why be good when you can be bad??? And they were good... very, very, very good. Mmmmmmm... creamy, dreamy, icy chocolate and hot, crispy, cheesy potato skins... It was the icing on our cake. It was the cherry on top!

We had seen it all. We had ate it all. We had laughed so hard that we were inappropriate. We had made new memories. We had walked until our feet were blistered and our legs were made of jello. We waved at the Empire State Building like tourists and rode the subway like real New Yorkers.

Maybe a little too real...


Real New Yorkers aren't impressed by the subway. They are bored. They sleep!

So, Court... we'll always have New York! I love you and am so thankful to have a sister like you! Hugs!

Bright Lights, Big City! (Day 1)

A long time ago, there were Barbie cities being built... There were whispers and giggling under covers late at night... There was dancing to Fred Astaire movies... There was hanging out all day with no agenda other than elementary school...

There was time spent with my best friend... the person that knows me best and loves me even though she knows ALL my faults... the person who constantly shows me how much she cares and is my biggest support...

And that is my sister, Courtney!

It seems like as we have gotten older, there is more stuff grabbing for our attention. More things on our to-do lists. Babies and kids that need us and precious few minutes left for our husbands. That means that it's hard to find time for our quick phone calls and our only time to talk is after midnight, when everyone is sleeping when one of us is visiting the other one.

This year, I wanted to save every penny and to spend those savings on the people I love the most (my family, thus the cruise) and my sweet sister. What could be better than escaping to the bright lights, big city of NEW YORK?!!!

So we said "good luck with the kids!" to our husbands :), packed our bags and headed off for a quick two day trip to NYC...





We are used to working full-time jobs, balancing a baby on our hip and keeping a toddler in check, running at least 10 errands a week, and trying to be "the cook, the baker, and the candlestick maker" of our households. This came in handy for our whirlwind trip because after 6am flights into the city, we literally did not stop until 1am that night!

Our goals were easy... spend time together, see the sights of NYC, and eat all the amazing food that the city has to offer (or maybe that last one was just my goal :)). Anyways, when I asked Debbie (my friend and NYC guru) what I had to eat in NY, she only said one thing...

Il Mulino.



Talk about starting a trip out right! This is known in foodie circles as the best of the best in Italian restaurants of NYC. And it did not disappoint.

We started with their complimentary antipasto. Debbie said if they ask you "do you want ______?" Just say YES. And we did!



There was a bread basket with what appeared to be two full loaves of hot fresh bread and a stack of bacon. Well, it was not bacon... it was long crouton type crunchy bread slices that were drenched in garlic butter. Then there was fried zucchini and thinly sliced salami. And then a hunk of parmesan cheese cut straight from the wheel. And then tomatoes for bruschetta with mussels. And then fresh hot crostini, rubbed with garlic. Are you full yet? Well, we had to make room because that was just the starter.



For our main course, we ordered two of their best pastas to share. We had spagetti with lobster in a tomato vodka cream sauce and cannelloni stuffed with sausage and spinach in a bubbly bechamel sauce. Are you jealous yet? You should be!

We were so stuffed. Like Thanksgiving Day stuffed. Like "unbotton my jeans please" stuffed. But this was a once in a lifetime lunch...

And so we ordered dessert.

And we decided on something "light." Ha! Strawberries with fresh zabaglione. May I just politely say that this should be what they serve you when you enter the pearly gates to heaven? You should be able to dive into a lake made of zabaglione.



Even though it looks so simple, it was perfect in every way. It might even be my favorite memory of the meal!

We spent our first day making our way from downtown to uptown and literally walked at least 30 blocks. Here were a few of our stops...


Statue of Liberty across the Hudson River


Century21 for some fun bargain shopping


Riding the Subway


Rockefeller Plaza



We saw the famous statue at Rockefeller Plaza and the ice rink. Then we started to do a little walking around and exploring at all the shops. And then I saw it...

Another place on my "must eat" list...

Jacques Torres Chocolate Shop. If you don't watch Food Network all day, like I do, then you might not know that name. Jacques Torres won all the awards to be named Best Pastry Chef in the World. And that is no joke. How could I go my whole life without eating a dessert from the best pastry chef in the world? Well, I couldn't...





We look so happy because we just ate this...



That is their famous chocolate chip cookie, which is like two layers of cookie dough with an entire layer of hot oozy chocolate center!

And that gave us enough energy to make it to the "Top of the Rock!"



And even though it had gotten cold and drizzly, we were in awe of the amazing views of the entire city and how beautiful Central Park looked from above.



But we were cold... really cold, so we took our cute handknit hats that we bought for our kids from the awesome outdoor market in the East Village and we shoved our adult heads into our toddler hats!


Court rocked the owl!

And then Court got to make one of her dreams come true... And that would be dancing on the piano at FAO Schwartz! Unfortunately, all the pics of that life changing moment are on her camera, but let me tell you... she got to put a big check mark on her bucket list!

While we were walking through FAO Schwartz, they had doll land which had a nursery, just like the hospital, with plexiglass that you look through and see the faces of sweet babies all wrapped up and waiting for a little girl to fall in love and beg to take them home. And I peered at all those little doll babies and saw a little face that looked like my little Dean...



And I missed him. I missed my little baby and wished I could snuggle him and smell him for one second. It's funny how even when you are having the time of your life, you still would trade it for one second with your kids.


Central Park at dusk

By this time, our feet were aching. We are not New Yorkers... we are Southerners who drive around the mall looking for the closest parking spot so we don't have to walk too far. So we had to head back to the Ritz to refuel with a hot bubble bath and a comfort food dinner of roast chicken and mashed potatoes.

Even though we felt like crawling into those big fluffy beds, we resisted the urge to be "moms" and headed out to spend the evening in Times Square! The bright lights and hoards of people were energizing and we shopped and walked until midnight. All those pics are on Court's camera because there was no way I was walking around with my big DSLR around my neck! We just had one last thing on our to-do list...

(As popularized by Taco Bell Commercials) "Fourth Meal!" Every "must eat" list by the locals included their favorite Halal Cart. I didn't know what Halal meant or what it tasted like, but I knew we had to have it. So we did... Sitting outside on the sidewalk at 1 o'clock in the morning, eating smoky grilled chicken over rice with an amazing white sauce on top...

We did it all! And that was just Day 1!