This afternoon, Darren and I loaded up our car with all the holiday gifts we bought for everyone.  We headed over to the Herman’s to celebrate Hanukkah and have a great afternoon with friends and family.  It’s been a long standing tradition in the Herman household to celebrate Hanukkah on Christmas Day, which I think is great because it gives us plenty of time to shop!   The Kepner’s were also late in celebrating Hanukkah this year, as Darren and I joined the Kepner clan over the weekend for a gathering at my brother’s house in New Jersey.  After two days of present exchanges, Darren and I ended up with some great clothing (some of which are perfect for our upcoming ski weekends in Vermont), a ticket to the Rangers/Devils game, a slingbox, some great kitchen gadgets and a gift card to Home Depot so we can finish our cedar closet this winter.   My surprise gift came earlier this month – my new Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited.  Darren’s surprise is his new Nikon D80 camera which he absolutely loves.

We had a great time celebrating the holidays with both our family’s and watching the look of excitement on everyone’s faces as we exchanged gifts.  Its hard to believe that the holidays are now behind us but we still have New Year’s to look forward to before 2007 comes to a close.

For some great photos of the festivities click here.

What do people do on Christmas Eve when they don’t celebrate Christmas? They go to the movies since that is pretty much the only thing you can do. In anticipation of the crowds, Darren and I bought tickets online earlier in the day to see Charlie Wilson’s War. We had a failed attempt a few nights ago when the show was sold out as we were waiting to exchange our free passes for tickets.  This film has been generating quite a bit of buzz since its Golden Globe nomination, which came out before the film was released.

Charlie Wilson’s War is a drama starring Academy Award winners Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman, who were all excellent. The movie tells the political story of how a playboy congressman from Texas (played by Tom Hanks) and a beautiful Texas socialite (played by Julia Roberts) who team up with a renegade CIA agent (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) lead the most successful covert operation in history. Their fight led to the downfall of the Soviets in Afghanistan and the end of communism.

The movie exemplifies the US governments actions of funding Afghanistan’s fight against the Soviets and our country’s instrumental role in this world changing event.  Unfortunate however, after Afghanistan defeated the Soviets and their troops withdrew, our government did not see the need to help the Afghan people build an infrastructure, create an education system or provide them with aid to help establish their country as a nation. We gave the Afghan people weapons and taught them to fight. Little did we know that by not seeing things through we were creating a breeding ground that would eventually come back to haunt us in 2001 with the most devastating and horrific act of terrorism and violence on our own soil.

Is this movie a foreshadow of our future as a nation? Regardless of your political party or your feelings on whether or not we should have gone to war with Iraq, we did and now we have another country that is in desperate need for assistance in education, schools, roads, water systems – all the things that we dropped the ball on in Afghanistan. My guess is that all the “fat cats” in Washington, both Democrats and Republicans, are more concerned with winning re-election than learning from the past and they will walk away again. We have the power to prevent this, but our government will most likely bury their heads in the sand and ignore the situation. We will not escape the fact that history does repeat itself. How unfortunate for us all.

The alarm went off this morning at 7:30am and quickly Darren and I got dressed and dashed out of the house. We thought we were getting a jump start on the holiday crowds gathering at Riviera Bakery in Ardsley, NY. Boy were we wrong! The store opened at 7am and will remain open til 4pm (or until everything is sold out). We arrived shortly after 8am and the parking lot was packed and the line inside wrapped around and around, almost out the door. It seems plenty of people had the same brilliant idea we had of being the first people to arrive.

Every holiday throughout the year, people from near and far in Westchester County descended on this bakery shop for their amazing desserts and baked goods. The shelves were filled with fresh breads (sourdough, 7 grain, rye, french bread, etc..), muffins (pumpkin, blueberry, cranberry), turnovers, holiday cookies and cupcakes, and fresh baked cakes and pies. The apple crumb pie, sour cream coffee cake, double chocolate cake, babka, banana cream pie, were all flying off the shelves faster than they were coming out of the oven. Holiday favorites baked in the shape of the Yule Log, Reindeer, and even a replica of the Empire State Building filled the counters. While Riviera is known for their baked goods, they also sell a variety of quiches, soup, even chicken pot pie. Their tarts were also popular and are not just the traditional fruit tart. They had root vegetable, potato leek, chili and zucchini/brie/mushroom. People were buying everything and anything in preparation for the Christmas holiday. After about 30 minutes, Darren and I walked out with a variety of cookies, cupcakes, and turnovers. We will be bringing our scrumptious treats with us tomorrow as we are headed to Darren’s folks for a holiday gathering. If you still need to pick up your baked goods, you should get up and get and out of the house fast before everything is gone.

Last night Darren and I planned on a night of dinner and a movie.  Unfortunately we were locked out of the movie despite arriving at the theater over an hour before start time.  We ended up trying a local restaurant that we’ve had our eye on.  La Bocca, is an italian restaurant on Church Street in the heart of White Plains.  The restaurant is open only a few months but it seems to have caught on as every table was taken.  The decor is earth-toned, with an antipasta table and a very long list of wines to choose from.  Bread is served with roasted vegetables for dipping.  The fare is original Italian with a nice selection of pasta, seafood or meat.  I started off with the beef carpaccio served with arugala and fresh parmagania cheese.  The beef was sliced extra thin and was very flavorful.  Darren started with the fried calamari which was a generous portion but nothing special.   While the menu had many delicious sounding selections I opted for one of the fish specials, a whole bronzini fish fileted served with a selection of vegetables and potatos.  The fish was light and flaky grilled with some olive oil and light seasoning.  I thought it was tasty and luckily for me, there was not a single bone left.  I enjoyed it.  Darren was less than satisfied however with his entree.  He tried the cornish hen but didn’t think it was very good.  Not much meat at all and too many bones and fat for his liking.  We were too full for dinner however, so we passed on dessert.   Overall, I thought the food was pretty good and I would consider going back.  Darren on the other hand, thought it looked better than it actually was. 

This morning I joined Darren and his team from The Media Kitchen for an early breakfast at Bubby’s in Tribeca. This hot breakfast spot was packed even at 8:30am where practically every table was taken before we order our food. Business execs wheeling and dealing to tourists stopping in before starting their day filled the restaurant. The menu is small but homey and traditional as is the atmosphere. Yummy pancakes, eggs, omelets, even grits are served up at this trendy eatery, that supposedly has had their share of celebrities stopping by although we didn’t see any. Bubby’s is traditionally known for their pie but it was too early to try some. If you are in the area, stop in. You will enjoy yourself. We certainly did and it was a great start to the morning. Lucky for me, I had the day off and hit the stores for some last minute holiday shopping while the rest of them went to the office.

It might be winter, but I just set up my first lemonade stand on Lemonade.com.  Lemondae.com is the number one website for 2007 according to Time Magazine.  This cool new start-up allows users to create a digital lemonade stand and sell all sorts of products (electronics, apparel, books), just to name a few.  The average person can become the middle man between consumers and retailors and earn a nice commission if someone buys a product through their stand.  Users can create their own customized stand.  My stand is bright lime green and specializes in ‘Great Gadgets’ for the holiday season.  I am also thinking of creating a second stand with Stocking Stuffers.   Not only is this venture a money making opportunity for people but its also a lot of fun.  The Lemondade application can be added to several social networking profiles including MySpace, Facebook, Yahoo! 360, Blogger and AOL People Connect. 

I think this is a really cool and innovative idea.  Visit my stand and you’ll see what it is all about (and if the mood strikes you, feel free to buy something too). 

I am a big fan of retrospective lists, shows, etc….  I like looking back in time to see how far things have come or changed over the previous 12, 24, 36 months…..  Since we are nearing the end of 2007, it is only appropriate that these lists are starting to emerge.  I think Time Magazine does a fantastic job of highlighting the best of the best across so many different areas:  News, Arts & Entertainment, Business & Technology, Pop Culture, etc…..   They highlight the Top New Stories, Movies, DVDs, Books, Websites, Quotes, Buzzwords, Fashion Trends and the list goes on and on.  Check it out and see if you agree. 

Walking thru Grand Central every day, you can’t help but be in a holiday mood.  Holiday songs are playing, commuters and visitors are passing by with packages and the shops are busy with people buying gifts.  There is also a fabulous holiday fair in the Vanderbilt Hall that shouldn’t be missed.  Small businesses have taken booths and are selling great merchandise.  If you are looking for a unique gift, stop by and check out all the great jewelry, crafts, and apparel that are for sale.  Most merchants are little known but some more mainstream brands such as Our Name is Mud and Little MissMatched are increasing their profile with their presence at the fair.  A couple of nights when I arrived before Darren, I strolled though the area and was very surprised to see such nice and different kinds of gifts.  If you are passing through Grand Central, definitely stroll through the booths, you just might find what you are looking for. 

A new study out today by Pew, says that 47% of people have ’googled’ their name to find information about themselves on the internet.  This is up from 22% from five years ago.  I know I have googled myself at least once or twice – who isn’t curious?!  Googling friends, family, prospective dates are ultra common.  We all want ‘the skinny’ on people so its only natural that we turn to our computers to get the scoop.  In fact, when Darren and I first met, within hours of meeting me, he will confess that his fingers hit the keyboard in his Vegas hotel room as he tried to find out as much information as he could.  Much to his dismay though, he couldn’t find anything.  I was late to the game of social networks so at the time there was nothing for him to fish for dirt on me!  I on the other hand, found pages and pages on Darren and his accomplishments so at least I had the scoop on him.  You can learn so much by searching – its fabulous – unless you find out something you wish you hadn’t, then it stinks.  The world is definitely changing and google is the enabler.  Happy searching!