"New York, New York, It's a Hell of a Town..."

If you don't like New York City, then I hope today's post just might change your mind. Or at least pique your interest.

If you've been reading for awhile, you know I {Heart} New York in a big way, and each year I look forward to my annual I {Heart} New York Trip. I refuse to travel to NYC with T...we visited once together in 2006, and let's just say that T is not a big city guy.

It's usually just girls these days, but April's brother-in-law decided to tag along this year, and he was able to go the entire day without making us want to hail him a cab to JFK.

The only trouble with this trip is that it's more of a jaunt. We travel through our local Parks & Rec department, who organizes the trip. I met my friends Christy, April, John-David, and my sister-in-law Susannah (also known as SuSu) in the P&R parking lot at 3:45 am on Saturday morning.

Yes, you read that correctly. 3:45. In. the. morning. Please keep that in mind when you think I am looking a little rough in these photos.

Susannah, Christy, and I were lucky enough to get our own seats on the charter bus (score!), but April had to share with John-David, who was sort of high maintenance as to temperature control, or so I hear.

I think it's safe to say that I get more sleep on this bus trip than I do when I sleep at home, and that's with a departure in the wee hours of the morning. No one says "Moooooooommmmmmmyyyyyy" at 7:30 am on the dot and no one sings at the top of her lungs when she wakes up on the bus.

As our bus came upon this scenic view of the city from across the armpit that is New Jersey, we knew we were close.

We pulled up on 34th street around 9:30 in the morning and hopped off, ready to go wherever the wind might take us. As it turns out, the wind took us quite a lot of places....

Gratuitous shot of the Empire State Building, which I always seem to just happen upon by accident.

First stop: Macy's (and not just because all the girls needed to use the facilities)

Looove the way they suspended the ornaments from the ceiling in the children's toy department.

Time to see the store windows!

The lights and glitter are just mesmerizing!

We stopped to take some pictures in front of the New York Public Library. John-David opted for a more traditional pose, as we waited ages for the guy in front of us to take shots from every angle of his girlfriend straddling the poor lion.

Rockefeller!

If you look very, very carefully, you can see Santa Claus on the rink...down on the right.

I was so glad my sister-in-law, Susannah, was able to come with me!

On to St. Patrick's Cathedral!

I bet you'll never guess where we went next....

Come on, take a guess.

Only one place could create a display like this:

Could it be?

It's Tiffany & Co.

April and Christy came home with little blue boxes. I'm so insanely jealous so happy for them.

I got a bag.

Christy asked the salesgirl for an extra, and she gave it to me. I'm going to frame it.

By this time, we were famished, so we stopped at a random deli we found uptown and refilled on sandwiches, chips, and soda...such a healthy lunch.

The Plaza! (Hi again, Eloise!)

Central Park. We didn't go in far last year because it was dark, and it was just three girls, and we didn't want to end up as the muses for a new episode of Law & Order: SVU.

Central Park is refreshing in the daytime.

Until Christy and I found a bone behind a mesh fence keeping the leaves off the walkway.
Turns out it wasn't a bone. Just a really white stick. But we thought for a minute that we could write an episode of Law & Order or be on The Today Show or something.

After our disappointment at not finding something to solidify our 15 minutes of fame, we needed some excitement.

So off we rode on the magical subway to Times Square.

You can run into all kinds of crazies in Times Square.

The excitement wouldn't be complete without a trip to the M&M store, but the line was out the building just to get in, so we went to the Hershey store instead.

They were handing out little bits of chocolate bliss at the door. They sure know how to market to me!

No day in New York (for me, anyways) is complete without a quick stop in Chinatown...Canal Street, to be exact.

A few of us bought some knock-offs things and then we jumped aboard the subway to hit Greenwich Village.

We split a quick (and delicious) pizza at Patsy's and then booked it back to Herald Square to see the lights at Macy's one last time and meet our bus.

One last shot:

A wonderful, cold, whirlwind trip!

And I'd love to do it all over again next year!

Do you have any traditional trips you take with family or friends?

Warning: Highly Addictive Christmas Treat Recipe!

Disclaimer: The recipe in this post is highly addictive. You may be inclined to make multiple batches of this Christmas treat due to the simple, straight-forward, and quick manner in which it can be thrown together. You may be inclined to hide Tupperware bins of this tasty delight in your cupboards and tell your husband you gave it to the preschool teachers. You may notice your waistline expand after "sampling" several batches. Please don't send me Anonymous hatemail comments if this occurs. You can blame T's Aunt Millie because it's her recipe anyways.

One of the best things about T's family is that they know how to cook. Well.

Today, I thought I'd share a recipe for Chocolate Cracker Candy that T's Aunt Millie gave to me 8 years ago.

Don't click away yet! I was a little put off by the idea of using Saltine crackers in a Christmas treat, but when I tried it, I felt like maybe I was tasting a little bit of heaven.

This recipe is a quick fix! It's perfect to wrap up as a gift for preschool teachers, neighbors, or husbands who keep asking, "Isn't there any dessert around here?"

{Millie's Cracker Candy}

from: Millie T

Ingredients:

~Approximately 40 Saltine Crackers (I grabbed the cheap-o Wal-Mart ones because they were on sale and I didn't notice the difference in the results)

~1 cup butter (DON'T be skimpy and use margarine...you will notice a difference, and it won't be a good one!)

~1 cup light brown sugar

~2 cups milk chocolate chips (I just use a whole bag because who wouldn't want more chocolate?)

Directions:

Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and layer with Saltines. They don't have to be perfectly aligned. Some can overlap if necessary.

Combine butter and brown sugar. Boil in a small saucepan and stir for 3 minutes.

Pour mixture evenly over the crackers. I use a spoon or spatula to spread it if I need to.

Bake at 400 degrees F for 5 minutes. Immediately sprinkle with chocolate chips and let stand for about 30 seconds.

Spread with a spatula until it looks like this (even chocolate coverage):

Refrigerate 2 hours (I like to do it overnight). It does not need to be covered in the fridge.

Break into pieces and be sure to peel off any pieces of aluminum foil that might have stuck to the bottom.

Enjoy, or wrap in wax paper and package in a cute gift boxes to share! Easy peasy!

{Bon Appetit!}

It's Tasty Tuesday time! Visit the always fabulous Jen at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam to see what's cooking there! You won't be disappointed...there are always plenty of great recipes to choose from.

"The Seaweed Is Always Greener..."

"...Just look at the world around you/Right here on the Ocean floor/Such wonderful things surround you/What more is you looking for?"

After attending a very elaborate "Golfing Under the Sea" party thrown by my friend Tracy, Natalie was inspired to ask me to do an "Ariel Under the Sea" party for her 4th birthday. I agreed because The Little Mermaid was one of my favorites when I was a kid.

Lucky for me, Tracy was willing to let me borrow all of her amazing decorations!

Not only did Tracy let me use her fabulous glittery stuff, she also came over and helped me set everything up. The hard part of having a child with a birthday in early December is trying to decorate around Christmas. What a friend Tracy was for helping me figure it all out!

Ariel herself floated through some seaweed to greet Natalie's guests!

Loved this glittery stuff!

We always play Pin the __ on the ___, depending on the theme. This year, I attempted to draw my own Ariel so the girls could play "Pin the Flower on Ariel."

I made little purple flowers with a scrapbooking punch I had. I'm a pretty crappy artist, but I suppose if a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds can tell this was Ariel, then I'm not that bad.

Tracy has a gorgeous, cardboard ocean background that we used to cover up the built-ins in our addition.

We thought it would keep the kids out of the toys, but we should have known better. At any rate, it made for a nice backdrop.

It was Tracy's idea to hang glittery blue-green "seaweed" from the molding in the family room.

Then we hung some little seahorses, an octopus, and some fish from that.

We did the same in the dining room.

More seaweed and sea horses in the kitchen. Tracy hung a fishing net over the front window too.

I always use a little Christmas tree as a centerpiece and decorate it for whatever theme the party is. This year, I used some of my own sea shells and some of Tracy's glittery stuff and topped it with a glittery purple ribbon and pearl "bubbles."

I bought one Ariel balloon at the party store.

The rest were the white kind you blow up yourself and I decorated a few with left-over Little Mermaid stickers.

I know, I know. The ceiling fan in the kitchen is hideous. But there's not much we can do about it right now. I tried to dress it up with some more of Tracy's treasures.

Trying to save some money, I made the cupcakes myself this year.

T's mom still had an Ariel figurine that belonged to my sister-in-law when she was little-bitty. We borrowed it for Natalie's cupcake. She wanted pink icing, as you can see.

I made the toppers myself with a flower punch and more left-over Little Mermaid stickers.

First game of the day: Pin the Flower on Ariel

We didn't have a potato for "Hot Potato," so we played "Hot Flounder" instead and passed around a plastic Flounder figurine to the tune of "Under the Sea."

Then somehow the plastic jellyfish I had got lost, so the girls took turns trying to toss Flounder into the shark's mouth. No one seemed psychologically damaged by this game.

Prizes were rings and necklaces that my mother-in-law had leftover from a girls' church tea she did.

Time for presents!

I love how the girls always start sitting down, and as they get more excited they crowd around until it's one big wrapping paper fest!

Uncle Matt and Uncle Mike stopped by to give Natalie a new pink Barbie bike. It has training wheels, a bell, and a basket. I am a little jealous myself.

"Happy Birthday to you!"

I've never seen such a rush to get to homemade cupcakes, Breyer's ice cream, and juice boxes!

Goody bags! I shopped for these all year, so I didn't spend a chunk of cash at once.

Bubbles with a quote from The Little Mermaid on the front.

The party was over, so the girls rode off into the sunset on Natalie's new bike....

Time to start planning the next party! Michaela Byrd turns two in January!

PS. If you've never seen The Little Mermaid, it's the cutest! Here's a clip:

Linking to The CSI Project