Our Fabulous Weekend Out and About!

So over last weekend, Travis and I did a lot of stuff- fun stuff (yay!) and necessary stuff (boo!). Truth be told, it really started on Thursday with our trip to the DMV. I won't bore you with any details from that trip as I already blogged about it. If you haven't read about it... then, my dear, it is time to catch up, don't you think? Hmmmmm???

Let's begin with Saturday, shall we? On Saturday, I had the idea that Travis and I should go into the city to spend the day relaxing in Central Park together just because. After all, he is gone for so much time during the week in the city, and he is also working on writing a book that has deadlines (therefore his time home in the evenings is eaten up by writing). Thus, a day to relax was the doctor's orders! ...Okay... So technically, I "ordered" it... and I'm not a doctor... but... ignore that and move on! Okay then!

We went into the city via train into Grand Central. This was a lovely experience as it helped me to have a greater appreciation for what Travis does each morning and evening. Yuck + Boring = train. Once arriving we walked all the way from Grand Central to Central Park ( after, of course, dropping by Starbucks- you know...). We arrived at central park, found a place to lay our Abbey Road blanket, and plopped down to rest and relax in the amazingly clear and cool weather. Ahhh, joy.

We then decided to get up and grab some hotdogs! So... we did! =D After that, we hunted for a bathroom. While the public restroom at Central Park with the line longer than the Mississippi on steroids looked appealing, we opted for the bathroom at a Starbucks. Now, normally Starbucks keeps its bathrooms looking really clean and nice. This one was the black sheep of that family of restrooms. It smelled like pee... had pee on the floor... and was just... guhhhhhhhh! Still, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do- ya know what I'm sayin'? *proceeds to do the awkward elbow-nudge thing whilst winking and side-smiling like an awkward, old man* Therefore, I did it... I used that bathroom. GAH-ROSS!

The good news is that I am still here to tell the tale. Yay for living! After the restroom, we trudged to Central Park again (me having a more comfortable bladder situation), and we played some frisbee like champs! We actually don't stink at frisbee anymore; I am really proud of us. All silliness aside, we are actually pretty good at frisbee now. I'm not trying to brag; I am just being honest- we used to be HORRIBLE!! That is the only reason I can say we are good... because we were so very, very terrible before. Ha ha! Anywho, we played for a little bit and then decided it was time to hit the Stage Deli before hoppin' a train back to good ol' Somers.

As we were heading out of Central Park, we heard a familiar voice singing and saw many people sitting all around. We looked at where the people were huddled to find a huuuuge screen with John Lennon's face on it. Through the speakers, his voice was being blasted. "Ahhh, that's right. Today is John Lennon's birthday," we thought... yes... together, in unison like that. I know... eerie. We are married, though, so it is okay. =] Wait... where was I? Oh yeah, John Lennon's 70th birthday! Woohoo! We decided we wouldn't stick around- we were tempted, though. We then saw the line. The people we saw sitting around were sitting on the outside of the little stadium area; the line to get into the stadium area to sit on actual benches, instead of Central Park grass and dirt, was gihunkous.

We then walked to the Stage Deli where we ordered a piece of the most amazingly, delicious chocolate cake. If you read my posts from the New York apartment hunting trip, you will know that I am seriously in love with this cake. It is sooooo good that we don't live in the city because I would weigh 1,000 lbs. That cake is just... gahhhh! Aaaanyway... besides my love affair with the Stage Deli's chocolate cake...

After eating half of the cake (if even THAT- the piece is big enough for 4 people!), we got a box for it and headed to the station. We grabbed a much needed bottle of water and sat down to rest our feet after walking nearly 5 miles around the city! Foot/leg pain? I think yes! We then rode the long train ride home after a great day together in the city!

We decided that we needed to sleep in on Sunday, so we were bad and didn't go to church- I knowwwwww! Anywho, after we finally rolled out of bed and got ready, we headed to the Danbury Mall in Connecticut where we did some much-needed winter shopping. Travis bought a water-resistant, long trench coat with a liner that zips out, gloves, and another dress shirt; I bought a long, winter coat, 2 pairs of tights (to keep my legs warm whilst wearing a dress/skirt), gloves, 2 bellybutton bars, and a set from BareEscentuals (foundation, Mineral Veil, bronzer, three different brushes, and brush cleaner- at an amazing price! If you use this makeup, check the set out online- it will save you a lot of $$).
After that long shopping day and two pretzel dogs, we headed home. We both hate shopping, so this was quite an accomplishment to get everything we needed in one trip without checking out early! We did it! We bought our winter stuff- just in time, too! It is getting super chilly here, so I am glad we endured the trip.

Well, that was our fantastically fun weekend (the 9th and 10th). It seems silly to post about LAST weekend during THIS weekend, but I post when I have time and get around to it- oh well! Maybe NEXT weekend you will hear about THIS weekend! Ha ha! Cheerios!

Slaughterhouse

Today started off productively with getting a 45 minute treadmill workout and floor exercises out of the way. I then held each of the babies individually in my hands. I even LET Jasmine bite me a couple of times to realize that it was "okay" and that I wasn't an enemy/predator. She nipped a few times but then kind of let it go, realizing that I wasn't going anywhere. Isn't that kind of our relationship with the Lord? We tend to nip Him over and over because for some reason we think His will may not be best or we don't fully trust Him (just like Jazz doesn't yet fully trust me), and yet, He is faithful. His hand remains in our lives; He shows us that He "isn't going anywhere". Many times I'm sure He would love to just whack us once for nipping Him!!! Well... I know I would want to whack someone for doing that! ...Everyone should be VERY happy that I am not God!!!! Haha!

Well, as is custom, I digress... back to the topic! I held both the babies individually in my hands for around 20-25 minutes each: important bonding time. I know, "A whole 20-25 minutes each!?!? You are going to be an AWESOME parent!" you are all thinking. Haha! Clearly I am being sarcastic. See this is why we get pets prior to having human babies! We need practice being unselfish. =] I will spend more time with them tonight. I cannot wait until they have bonded to me to the point where I can just keep them on my shoulders and chill. When I hold them now, I have to make sure they don't "escape". Once they have bonded, the word escape won't be in their vocabulary! "Why?" you ask. Because dear one, Sugar Bears don't speak English. silly goose.

Now then... after holding the babies, I got ready for the day. However, it wasn't just a matter of getting ready for the day... it was a matter of getting ready for my LICENSE PICTURE- UGH! This means I had to put on makeup and do my hair- joy to the world. Once I did that and gathered all of the paperwork needed for the DMV, the reeeaaallll fun began.

Before I discuss this DMV experience, let me just say that I had already gone to the DMV once in New York trying to get my license and car title thing done... did it work? Ummmm.... need I remind you that I live in NEW YORK and I was working with the DMV??? DMV = horrible. New York = difficult and governmental (a strong emphasis on the "mental" part). DMV + New York = WHYYYYYYY?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!??!?!?!?!? Now that I have prepped you, let's begin:

Travis told me to come to the White Plains train station. The White Plains DMV stays open until 6:00pm on Thursdays- sweet deal! Therefore, Travis logged some extra hours in the beginning of the week so that he could get off early for our Thursday trip to the DMV. Welllllll, I looked up the train station in White Plains and drove there in time to pick him up (he was to get in at 5:33pm which would allow us time to park and get into the DMV by around 5:45pm).

Did you know that there are two train stations in White Plains? No? me neither.

Once we had spent a decent amount of time trying to explain to one another where we were and how to find each other, Travis confirmed that I had not gone to the North White Plains station, right? oops.

Because the DMV was so close to the train station, Travis just walked straight there so that he could get into the building in time. Meanwhile, I needed to find the DMV, park, and hustle to the DMV before 6:00pm! I punched the DMV into the GPS, headed out, found it, punched in "Parking", and parked in a straight-up sketch parking lot that displayed a sign that warned me that my property and car was not their responsibility. That was encouraging. I was like... okay great... my car is going to get broken into- joy!

Either way, I made my way to the DMV and got into the building literally 1-2 minutes prior to them shutting the door. By the way, when the people at the DMV shut the doors... you can look down at your cellphone to see that they do it at EXACTLY 6:00pm. Those people want to get the junk out of there! And for good reason! I wouldn't want to work there and deal with all of the cranky people who come in there only because they have to get something done. If you work at a place where people kind of have to go- such as the grocery store- it can be annoying enough. But when you work at a place where people have to go because the government forces them to, oh that is a treat... like a "candy-made-out-of-poo" kind of treat. Well, either way, the people there were actually quite cordial to us- especially the last girl with which that we worked (we jumped around from person to person- who knows? DMV...). She was super friendly and funny. She made it an actually pleasant experience. No... your vision isn't going bad... I did write "pleasant". DMV... pleasant???? WHAT IS THIS WORLD COMING TO?!?!?!?!?!?! Shocking.

Oh, DMV... as lovely as it was to work with that last employee... I shall not miss you. BOOYAH! Driver's licenses and car title- DONE!

=D

P.S. "DMV" is written in this blog 19 times... that has to be a record or something.

P.P.S. I know some of you are double-checking my counting abilities. That's right... you can't hide.

All right, ALLLLL RIIIIGHT!!!!!

Fine! After popular demand, I will share the cookie recipe I just used for the Totally Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies I just made for Travis. Will I share my Heart-Attack Cookie recipe with you? NO! Howeverrrrr, I will be gracious enough to share this delicious and super-chocolatey cookie recipe with you. It is from an amazing book that I think all cookie-lovers should own: bigfatcookies by Elinor Klivans. It is a beautiful cookbook featuring big, bad cookies that would make the Cookie Monster give up his stupid new-found love for veggies (freakin' liberals) and return to his true love. For those of you who are not rushing to www.Amazon.com to buy a copy, let me share the recipe I just tried (successfully!):
Ingredients:
- 2 & 2/3 cups (16 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda  
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, slightly softened (for about 30 minutes)
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large cold egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

...Okay, good luck! It will be more meaningful if you "discover" how to put the ingredients together to form the cookies (my Elementary Education friends should be chuckling at this)! Now then... toodles!

jk.

"Twelve cookies, one pound of chocolate chips--sounds like a good ratio to me. For these cookies, some of the chocolate chips are melted and mixed into the dough and some are mixed into the dough as chips. The result is a dark chocolate cookie with a heap of chocolate chips.
Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Put 2/3 cup (4 ounces) of the chocolate chips in a heatproof container or the top of a double boiler and place it over, but not touching, a saucepan of barely simmering water (or the bottom of the double boiler). Stir the chocolate chips until melted and smooth. Remove from the water and set aside.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until smoothly blended, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. On low speed, mi in the melted chocolate chips until blended. Add the egg and vanilla, mixing until blended, about 1 minute. Add the flour mixture, mixing just until it is incorporated. Mix in the remaining 2 cups chocolate chips.

Using an ice cream scoop or measuring cup with a 1/4-cup capacity, scoop mounts of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing the cookies 3 inches apart.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until they crack slightly on top and a toothpick inserted in the center of a cookie comes out with moist crumbs, not wet batter, about 18 minutes. (If the toothpick penetrates a chocolate chip, test another spot.) Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. The outsides of the cookies will become crisp as the cookies cool.

The cookies can be stored in a tightly covered container at room temperature for up to 4 days."

Makes: A dozen cookies

Cookie Making: 20 mins

Cookie Baking: 325 degrees, two baking sheets for around 18 mins each

Voila! Give it a shot! With that much chocolate, you absolutely cannot fail at this recipe!