It’s Christmastime…In the City!

My mom asked me this morning why I hadn’t posted since Friday. Sorry mom, I’ve been busy having fun.

I had my company holiday party on Friday. I might not have gone for rum, coke and dancing, but I still had fun. The party itself was at Catch Roof (from the same people who bring you Tenjune. Judge accordingly), and then we went to the Vinatta Project. I’m reading now on UrbanDaddy that they have these sort of alcohol vending machines. Apparently, you load up a card and then can dispense yourself pours of whatever you’re drinking by swiping the card. Somehow, we missed all that, but we did take advantage of the mixologists.

You tell them your flavor and your booze, and they mix up a drink for you. I started off with passion fruit and champagne since I’d been drinking the bubbly all afternoon and wanted to stick with it, but I was totally underwhelmed by the drink. It also wasn’t really worth it, because all the drinks seemed about the same price and the champagne cocktails were much smaller. So, I totally recommend this place but not the champagne cocktails. I switched to rum, pineapple and mint afterwards and was very happy with that decision.

Afterwards, we went to La Gazzetta, a cozy little Italian place around the corner. My coworker Dana and I split the gnocchi pesto and the orrecchiete with broccoli rabe and sausage because neither of us could decide between the two. Friday was the first time I’d hung out with coworkers outside of the office, and I’m glad that it went really well. I got home just before midnight and started wondering why the hell I’d planned to host a cookie swap the next day. I hadn’t even been planning on it, but someone tweeted me at me a few weeks ago and told me they were looking forward to it, so apparently it’s become a tradition of mine.

I woke up early and my favorite person ever, Shannon, gave my slightly hungover self a ride out to NJ so we could grab some stuff for my party. Suburban grocery stores, how I miss you. Things are normal prices. Produce stays fresh. Aisles are wide. Lines are short. We powered through and were back by 10. I had three hours to: shower, clean, bake my cookies and put the food out. I immediately started panicking. And baking.

I used Lizzy’s recipe for hot chocolate cookies, and it didn’t turn out very well, mostly because of the marshmallows. I stuck them under the broiler for 2 minutes, which was apparently at least a minute too long, because they turned into one melty mess. Which ended up getting stuck in the beaters on my mixer.

Three different chocolate chips? Hot chocolate mix? Marshmallows? If I don’t get diabetes now, I’ll never get diabetes.

I had some veggies and cheese and crackers to snack on before we started on the cookies. (Mad props to my friend Jen for helping me put this all out while I was finishing everything else!)

I had about 20-25 guests, and asked everyone to bring two dozen cookies to swap. If you think that little sign on the first one says “has bacon,” you’d be correct. Meghan made some amazing bacon cookies. I’m lobbying for her and her husband to adopt me and cook for me everyday.

Requisite “bloggers will be bloggers” photos. Hi Melissa!

At one point, I grabbed a bottle of champagne, and all of my friends put their cups out. Okay, ladies, I get it.

My old college roomie, Jen, who I miss very much. We don’t hang out enough.

LANEY! This lovely lady and I have been following each other on Tumblr and emailing each other for years but finally just met yesterday. She’s pretty much one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met.

This is Molly, Shannon’s dog. Shannon and I share a dog-walker, and they walk our dogs together, so Shannon’s husband brought her over to see her little man. (So, yes, Shannon’s dog and my dog see more of each other than we do.)

I have to stop here and give mad props to the lovely ladies at Turner PR who sent Bailey this Filson dog mat. Jillian and MK at Turner are awesome, because you can tell from their pitches that they obviously read my blog and tailor their pitches accordingly. They’re really friendly, and I don’t feel like they’re shoving their clients down my throat, which makes me more likely to write about them.

Lacey is actually the dog whisperer. Sorry, Cesar.

This morning, I slept in, had cookies for breakfast and went out for a run with Ashley. I ran 1.25 miles to her, ran a little more than 3 with her and ran a little further to get to A Store I Will Not Say to get my dad a Christmas present. I ended up running a total of 5-ish miles in the cold. My lungs killed, and I was tired, but you really never regret a run.

ALSO! Remember when I filmed the Dr. Oz Show with Tina? It’s going to be on, tomorrow, December 19! If you’re in the NYC area, it’s on Fox 5 at 4pm. (I’m also pretty sure there will be clips online afterwards.)

What kind of holiday stuff did you do this weekend?