Michele's Visit and Joanne's 25th Birthday ( 1.18.2007 - 1.20.2007 )

(Molly Post)

Michele came to visit MLK weekend in January. It's always fun when Michele comes, but this trip was made even better since Joanne was having a birthday celebration the same weekend! It was the first time all 6 of us summer roommates were together since we lived together. The weekend began quietly. Michele, Erica, Amber and I grabbed dinner Friday night at a famous burger place on the UES, JG Melon's. The burgers were fantastic. Afterwards, we went to a nearby bar to hang out and catch up for a few hours, but ended up home before midnight.

Saturday, we vowed to stay out later, especially since it was Jo's party from 9-12. Michele and I started with dinner at McCormack's, our old favorite pub, down in the 20's.

From there, we went to Black Finn, where Jo's party was. It was an open bar from 9-12, so the place became steadily more crowded from 9 PM on. We had a great time, as we always do hanging out with Jo, Claire, and Chrissy. We caught up, laughed, and danced (even though there was a sign at the bar advising us not to) all night. Below are some pictures of the evening.

Me and the birthday girl!

The 6 summer roommates, back together again.

Overall, a very fun night and weekend. Can't wait for the next time Michele comes to visit!

New Years Eve 2007

(Molly Post)

New Years Eve was pretty quiet this year. Cody was still burnt out from the Christmas rush and working all week up until New Years didn't help. However, I was determined to have a fun night, so Amber, Cody, Tim and I hung out for the evening. We started with some Champagne and dinner at our apartment - a royal feast of Burrito Deli, ordered in even though it's about 15 steps from our building.

The boys were good sports, considering they wanted nothing more than a good long nap. Somehow, Amber and I dragged them to Kinsale to ring in the New Year. We went around 11 and snagged the last table. It was pretty fun - they gave us free "Happy New Year" top hats, lays, and a glass of Champagne at midnight. I decided it would be fun to steal everyone's hats and combine to make one giant hat. I think it made quite a fashion statement.

It was New Years when we finally made it as "regulars" at Kinsale. Our normal waitress jumped in a picture with Cody. (Side note: the next time we went, she came and gave us a hug...if that's not a regular, I don't know what is!)

After we said Happy New Year!, we went home and were in bed by 12:30. A little lame, but there's always next year...

Christmas 2007

(Molly Post)

For Christmas this year, I decided that I wanted to be with Cody. It was a hard decision, but I didn't want to spend the holidays without him. However, my parents decided they didn't want to spend the holidays without me, so they came to New York (and brought Lily!). They came Saturday, December 22nd and left the day after Christmas. It was a wonderful weekend. They found a pet-friendly hotel for a steal - they had a living room and kitchen and tons of room for Lily to run around. Lily was a trooper and survived New York (she's extremely shy, so the big city was a bit frightening to her). I spent a lot of time at my parents hotel room playing with her!

Saturday, my parents and I had a wonderful dinner at Atlantic Grill, a seafood place on the Upper East Side. Sunday, Cody and I met my parents at Kinsale for lunch. My cousin, Cece, was in town visiting her boyfriend, Richard, so they came to join us. It was great to see a cousin around Christmas, since I wouldn't see them in St. Louis. Below is a picture outside of Kinsale with them.

Sunday evening, we sent my parents to a little French place, Le Refuge, for dinner while Cody and I had a quiet night. Cody was pretty exhausted at this point in the holidays, so I didn't want to wear him out on his day off. On Monday (Christmas Eve), my mom and I went shopping for some last minute gifts. We shopped for about 5 hours and had a lovely pizza lunch - it was the perfect day. My dad met Rob and they had a 2 hour lunch of their own - they needed some alone brother time to catch up. For Christmas Eve, Cody joined my parents and I at an Italian place in the East 80s. It was great food.

Christmas morning, Cody and I woke up around 9 AM and opened the presents we bought for each other. Below is a picture of our tree with all the presents under it and one of Cody opening his new pillow.

By about 9:30, we woke up his parents and sister in Steamboat and opened presents with them over the phone. It was my first cross-country present opening (Cody did this last year) - it was a lot of fun! We took pictures of what we were opening on our phones and sent them back and forth. We both got a few pairs of new SmartWool socks - they are the best!

After opening with Cody's parents, my parents came up to the apartment to open presents and have Christmas brunch. Isn't Lily cute!

After brunch, my parents went back to their hotel and we cleaned up the apartment. They came back over for dinner, and Rob and Celia joined us also. We made beef tenderloin for dinner and had some fantastic wine. The conversation was great as well.

It was a wonderful Christmas in the city...a little weird not being in St. Louis, but definitely one of the best I can remember.

Getting Ready for the Holidays ( December 2007 )

(Molly Post)

December was a very busy month for Cody and I. He was working 80 hour weeks at the store and I was attempting to send over 2,000 holiday gifts out for NBCU. Basically, we were both too exhausted during the week to do anything, so Sundays became our day to get all our errands (and holiday shopping) done.

The Sunday after Thanksgiving, we went and bought a new (fake) Christmas Tree. I need a tree for a full month prior to Christmas, and since a real tree would be a fire hazard in our super-dry NYC Apt for that long, it had to be fake. Below is a picture of the tree assembly.

The finished product (yes, we used the Guinness Bottle as our "star" again this year)!

Another Christmas tradition is my family's fudge. This year, I felt guilty for not being in St. Louis with my whole family, so I decided to make double the fudge and mail it home to the family. However, I spent so much energy on my family that while I made fudge (and packaged it very nicely) for all my friends...I didn't do so well with mailing it. So I apologize if you did not receive fudge this year. It was in my fridge until last weekend when I cleaned it out. I promise to do better next year!

As for holiday presents, you can guess who wrapped everything (me!). I even wrapped a few of my gifts because Cody couldn't figure out how to wrap them! As you can see below, it was a big project! All those little gifts next to me are travel sized toiletteries for Cody's Dad - I wrapped each individually (he had a hard time unwrapping on Christmas...haha).

On to Christmas...

Joanne's Holiday Party ( December 2007 )

(Molly Post)

In December, Joanne (former summer roommate) had a Holiday Party at her apartment in Stamford, CT. Definitely a fun time that could not be pasesd up! It had been awhile since I hung out with the summer roommates (aka, Joanne, Claire, and Chrissy). We always have fun when we get together.

Below is a picture of Claire and Josh - they are getting married in June!

Share the love!

Claire's friend has the coolest dog - his name is Awesome! She's taught him a bunch of amazing tricks like "Dig to China" and "Bang Bang" (where she shoots at him and he rolls over and pretends to be dead). He was in the holiday spirit for the party...as a reindeer!

We tend to get a bit silly when we get together...

Definitely the best holiday party of the year!

Thanksgiving ( 11.18.2007)

(Molly Post)

For Thanksgiving this year, I decided to go home to St. Louis, which meant that Cody would be without a Turkey Dinner on Thanksgiving. So, the Sunday prior to Thanksgiving I made my annual dinner (4th Annual to be exact). However, this year we decided to take in all the people in New York we knew who wouldn't be able to enjoy a dinner on Thursday. It started with Charles and Tim...and of course Brian had to come, since he has been to every Sunday Thanksgiving...and we invited his girlfriend, Erin...and then we decided to invite Amber...and of course we had to have Rob and Celia over so it felt like a family occasion...and then we invited Jen (my friend from work) and her fiance, Andrew. All of the sudden, we realized we had 11 people (including us) for dinner our apartment - plus a dog!

Since we were having so many people, we quickly realized we would have to get more furniture to seat everyone. After going through all the options, we decided to rent. We rented a 6 foot table, 8 chairs, and (since we had a minimum for delivery) 11 plates, silverware, napkins and a table cloth. Living and working around the table and chairs before Sunday was fun!

I set up all the plates, silverware, and napkins on our bed so it would easier to transition our living room into a dining room.

Below is our turkey - my biggest ever - 24lbs!

Isn't Filbert IV pretty?

Around 6 PM, everyone started to arrive. It was a little packed in the apartment for the first hour while I finished cooking. When the time was right, Cody handled the transition from living room to dining room - surprisingly, it only took about 5 minutes. Afterward, we loaded up the table and sat down for a wonderful meal with friends. Below are some pictures from the evening.

After all the fun, we had to clean up...it took about an hour. Below is a picture of how we had the apartment set up with the table.

Can't wait for next year - hopefully it doesn't grow anymore...we won't have the space!