Sandy's Birthday Dinner

To celebrate Sandy's birthday, we went out to dinner and had a great night out! Sandy wanted Thai food, so I suggested a place called Kratiem in Englewood ... I go here for lunch almost every week with my next door neighbor Lizzie (she picks me up from work and we drive 5 minutes to Englewood).

Jen, Nicole, Amanda, Sandy

We decided to make it "family style" so that we could order several dishes and have a little of each ... it was delicous! I'm now addicted to Thai food ...


After dinner, we walked over to Baumgarts and had some decadent desserts! Thanks for a fun night out, ladies!!

Melisa's Sprinkle (aka Baby Shower for 2nd Child)

Tonight was a fun Mom's Night Out (MNO) to celebrate Melisa's pregnancy! Stacey and Corey organized the dinner as a "Sprinkle," a very cute way to celebrate a second baby without a full-blown "shower!"

Standing: Ronni, Michelle, Corey, Stacey, Alexis

Sitting: Amanda, Melisa (guest of honor), Kelly

Melisa's arrival (we shouted "surprise!" even though she knew about the occasion)

Amanda and Melisa

Corey, Stacey and Ronni

We had a great dinner at a restaurant called Buca in Clifton. After dinner, we came out to find that it was pouring rain (it was REALLY coming down!). Ronni had us all cracking up; she was freaking out about how she couldn't go out in the rain because she had just washed and blown out her hair that evening ... if it got wet, it would go all frizzy and she had some type of wedding event to attend the following day.

My Birthday Dinner

Happy Birthday to ME! Last night I got to celebrate my birthday with all my wonderful friends and it was so much fun! We went to Pancho's Burritos in New Milford which turned out to be the perfect location. Thanks to all my fabulous friends who planned/organized the whole thing ...

Nicole picked me up and we got to the restaurant a little bit early to make sure they had our table ready ... it's a very small restaurant and we needed to seat 10 people, plus a baby :) Nicole and I stood at the bar while they got our table ready and I had to take a picture of her beautiful Strawberry margarita! Get ready for a LOT of pictures, since I combined the pics from my camera, Nicole's and Jen's!

Amanda, Nicole and Jen

My adorable cousin Sara made the schlep from Brooklyn to New Jersey just for the occasion ~ it was great to see her and introduce her to all of my friends!

Sandy, Amanda, Maribel

Christie and Meredith

Christie, Meredith, Erin, Sandy, Sara, Amanda

Diane and 3 week old Erin

Doesn't Diane look beautiful?

Jen looks like she's ready for another baby!

Nicole, Erin and Diane (with the red glow from the lighting)

Sandy, Sara, Amanda and Maribel

Erin, Diane, Jen, Christie & Meredith

Meredith ran 12 miles that morning because she's training for an upcoming half-marathon ... she ordered a burrito and we all laughed at how huge it was! Despite having burned thousands of calories that morning, she only ate a small portion of it :)

This isn't the best picture of Erin, but I had to post something about her since she was such a good sport ... she's my only single friend, so she had to endure an evening of conversations that revolved around children, motherhood, and marriage! We hope we didn't scare her away :)

They brought me a big slice of chocolate cake with strawberries and everyone sang Happy Birthday to me

As you can see, I had a great time!

The group shot (poor Erin got the brunt of the flash!)

THANKS to everyone for coming!! It was the perfect ending to a wonderful day!

Botanical Gardens

I had a wonderful morning in the Bronx today with Nicole. She took me to the Botanical Gardens which are right across the street from Fordham University and around the corner from the Bronx Zoo. Nicole has a membership, so she can go as often as she likes, but she was nice enough to let me use a guest pass she had, so I got in free (a $20 value)! She picked me up at 9am, then took me on a drive through Riverdale area of the Bronx where she grew up ... her parents lived there until she was in 2nd grade, when they moved to Waldwick, NJ. Interestingly, Nicole moved back to Riverdale while she was getting her master's degree at Columbia University. She showed me where she and Chris lived after they got married and he was getting his master's degree at NYU. They lived in the Bronx until 2 1/2 years ago, when they moved to Westwood, about 2 miles from me. It was fun to see where she lived and worked, since I've heard a lot about it.

The New York Botanical Gardens was having their annual Orchid Exhibit, so we came armed with our cameras and tried to be nature photographers. We had such a nice time strolling through the Conservatory, taking our time and looking at the unique orchids. It was very relaxing. I took over 150 pictures, so here are some of my favorites:

We were in the Conservatory from 10am-11:30, then we took the tram tour around the gardens ... the Botanical Gardens consist of 250 acres of beautiful gardens, but unfortunately, nothing was in bloom yet. I'm anxious to return during the spring for the tulips and the magnolia trees, and then in the summer and fall to see all the other flowers in bloom.

After leaving the gardens around noon, we went down Arthur Avenue, the Little Italy of the Bronx. We stopped at Borgatti's, a well-known authentic Italian shop that sells freshly made ravioli and pasta. Nicole and I both bought some ravioli to cook for dinner and it was AMAZING! We also stopped at Nicole's favorite Italian bread shop, and then an Italian deli where we shared an Italian sub ... it was all delicious!

I got home around 1:30 or 2:00 and I was on a high ~ it was such a lovely morning! Thanks so much Nicole, it was just what I needed.

Bookclub at Christie's

Tonight was our bookclub meeting which was hosted this month by Christie Adams (my talented photographer friend) in Hawthorne. Jen was nice enough to drive Nicole and me to Christie's house.

Christie, Jen and Amanda

Jenny, Sara, Emily* (34 weeks pregnant), and Sari
*Christie actually did a photo shoot of Emily that morning, so if you click on Christie's name above, you can see the preview on her blog ... great maternity shots!!!

Nicole and the spread!

Jenny, holding up Christie's book selection, "Time of My Life"

We decided that the next bookclub will be held at my house in February, so I got to select the next book. I've been meaning to read "Water for Elephants" for about a year now, so I decided to chose that one ... something a little different from the ones we've been reading lately.

Moms Night Out

Jen, Diane, Nicole and I met at Cornerstone in Hillsdale for dinner tonight and had a lovely time. Jen, Diane and I met last year when our kids were all in Ms. Lisa's preschool class together. Jen met Nicole at the same time in a Music Together class in Westwood, and then they realized they both knew me. Then Diane helped us out with our Garage Sale for the LLS over the summer, so she met Nicole (and then Nicole and I went away to Diane's lake house in September). Anyway, I find it interesting how friends come together which is why I'm sharing the origin of our friendships!

We decided to order a variety of appetizers instead of ordering entrees ... we totally indulged in lots of yummy (but BAD) dishes, like nachos, buffalo chicken tenders, Asian dumplings, and hummus. Then Jen decided to add some healthy tuna to the order, as well as her own helping of broccoli rabe. What? Broccoli on a night out with the girls? We gave her a hard time, so I had to take a picture of it!

Here's Diane, about 25 weeks pregnant with her third child ~ doesn't she look great? It's taken her a long time to start "showing" and I kept telling her she didn't look 25 weeks along, especially for her 3rd pregnancy! Her son JP and daughter Kaitlyn will be happily welcoming a little sister to the family in March.

On Monday at preschool, I told Ms. Lisa that I had plans to go out with Jen and Diane on Thursday and she said she might stop by to have a drink with us. I was so happy that she showed up! As I've said before, I just love Ms. Lisa as a preschool teacher for my daughter, but I also love her as a person and as a friend. She's wonderful and she was the perfect addition to the evening. Thanks for a fun night out, ladies!!