The snow has been falling for a few hours now and as I gaze out the window I am captivated by it. Watching snow fall is one of my favorite things. I could stare out the window all day as it blankets the roads and the trees. When we lived in the city I would love to stroll through Central Park and gaze at the snow and ice covered trees. What a beautiful sight. That will always be a great memory of mine. Today however, I am home in Westchester admiring the scenery from our bedroom window. I planned to work from home today before I even knew about the pending snowstorm as we need to have a cable repair made so I’m hopeful they actually show up.

Today is the kind of day that growing up my brother and I would be hoping for a snow day. Snow days that fell on a Friday or Monday were the best – instant three day weekend! We loved waking up, hearing the schools were closed and crawling back into bed. We would watch television and hang out and then inevitably we all got dressed and headed out to shovel the driveway. I always hated that – my hands and feet were freezing cold in minutes no matter how much I bundled up. I would be miserable. Mark however, would rescue me from my misery by sending me back inside to bake. As we got older, I never even managed to go outside. Right from the time the first flakes fell, Mark would ask….so what are you going to bake today? I loved it. I would be in the kitchen baking a cake or brownies while Mark and Mom tackled the driveway. Dad always managed to make it to the office even if it took him five hours! When the driveway was finished we’d gather at the kitchen table and indulge in my warm and delicious creations. Then we’d breakout Trivial Pursuit and spend the afternoon playing board games. Those were great times!!!

If you are like me and Darren, we inevitably end up getting to the airport well in advance of our flight and most of the time we are looking at each other wondering what we can do until its time to board. We usually eat somewhere but often that’s just not enough to keep us busy. Some airports are better for killing time than others. When traveling through London Heathrow’s Airport I never seem to have a problem. There are many duty free shops to browse in so the time can go quickly plus the airport is enormous and it could take 20 minutes just to get to your gate. Smaller airports though are a sharp contrast. Often there is nothing more than a news stand and a Starbucks.  However, with many airports undergoing renovations more and more stores, restaurants, bars and in some cases spas are popping up. This is great for travelers. In fact, Travel & Leisure just published a list of their favorite airport restaurants, bars and spas.

Travelers through Boston’s Logan Airport can have a delicious meal at Todd English’s Bonfire restaurant.  Vino Volo, a wine bar at JFK serves up wine from all over the world as well as wine from local vineyards.  Top lounges can be found in Geneva at the Swiss Airline lounge or at the OneWorld Lounge at LAX.  Heathrow has a great spa called Elemis which is top notch.  I stopped in at Elemis on a layover to Budapest and it was fantastic.  Check out T&L’s list for more great places to kill time when you are at the airport.

I am a huge Billy Joel fan and so is Darren so it is no surprise that we were online bright and early this past Saturday to score the hottest ticket in town – the final concert at Shea Stadium before the Mets move to a different field after the 2008 season.  Ticketmaster was offering tickets for the July 16th show through an auction system which sold out in 48 minutes.  To ensure we would be at this historic event, we decided to fork over some cash and nabbed four tickets through a ticket broker.  We know we paid big bucks for the show but it will be worth every penny spent.  Ticket prices on sites like StubHub, TicketsNow and others will only continue to sky rocket as the show gets closer.  Right now, Billy Joel is the number one sought after ticket on StubHub followed by the Yankee home opener against Toronto on March 31st and Sampras vs. Federer on March 10th.  I have a feeling it will remain in the top spot until the show in July. 

I’ve been going to Billy Joel shows for years and just love his music.  Growing up we listened to his albums all the time.  I have so many great memories of seeing him in concert.  My favorite show to date is definitely his concert at Yankee Stadium back in the 90s.  I went with my brother and a bunch of his friends and we rocked out the Bronx.  It was a great night and I have a feeling the closing show at Shea will be even better! 

For those that don’t have tickets yet, don’t fret….another show has been added for Friday, July 18th and tickets go on sale Saturday at 9am.  Good luck and hopefully we will see you at the show!!!!

Michael Jackson’s album ‘Thriller’ turns 25 this year and it is only fitting for Jackson to release the 25th Anniversary edition to honor its success.  Thriller is the largest selling album of all-time with over 104 million copies sold and was the first of three albums to have seven Billboard Top 100 top-ten singles.  The singles released from this album are still dance favorites of today.  I was a huge fan of the Thriller album when it first came out and can remember dancing away in the basement of my house and with my friends to all the great singles that blarred from the record player.  Yes, we owned albums and cassettes back in the 80s!  The hits from that album are still club favorites today including remixes of Billie Jean, Beat It and Thriller.  Everytime I hear them and other great singles like ‘Wanna Be Starting Something’ I can’t help but fall back into my much younger days.  No matter what craziness has surrounded Jackson in recent years, he is a music icon that hopefully will be remembered far more for his music and talent than his eccentric lifestyle.  According to wikipedia, Thriller still sells about 130,000 copies a year in the US and perhaps with the release of a 25th anniversary edition, sales will spike a bit.  I am sure the songs will be filling the airwaves again especially on the 80s stations of satellite radio.  I know will tuning in and singing away in the car – oh poor Darren!  

With Hollywood starlets popping out one baby after another lately, it is no surprise that celebrity gossip magazines are capitalizing on every moment of their pregnancy and the birth of their newborn.  Magazines are paying a small (or not so small depending on the starlet) fortune for the exclusive rights to their newborn’s first public photos.  While waiting on the platform this morning, Darren and I were speculating how much Christina Aguilera was paid to show off her son Max to the world on the cover of People Magazine.  We estimated $250-500K, but boy were we off.  According to Ad Age, the price is more in the millions, depending on the star.  Speculation is that Marc Anthony and J. Lo will be getting anywhere from $4-6MM for shots of their twins that are due very soon.  Gossip magazines make most of the money back in sales so its no surprise that they are willing to fork over big dollars for these coveted shots.  With babies on the way for Halle Barry, Jessica Alba and possibly Angelina Jolie – who knows how much more publishers will be willing to spend just to get these shots.  Pretty amazing! 

Today was President’s Day and Darren and I both had the day off.  After a weekend of celebrating my best friend Shari’s wedding, Darren thought it would be special to plan a surprise day in the city for the two of us to spend together.  I had no idea where we were going or what he had planned so when it was revealed that we were headed to Soho I was really excited.  The weather was unusually warm for February so it was going to be the perfect afternoon to walk around.  After sleeping in this morning we headed to the city around lunch time where Darren made a reservation at Woo Lae Oak.  I had never been there but have wanted to try it.  Woo Lake Oak is a Korean restaurant with a modern decor and an open kitchen so you can watch as the chef cooks up your meal.  There are some negative reviews on menupages but I would disagree.  The portions were very large and the pricing was not bad at all.  We started off with a delicious appetizer – scallop, sweet shrimp and calamari in a spicy chili sauce.  We both thought it was fantastic although a slightly bigger portion could have been served.  Next we were given a salad to share and some vegetables and white rice.  Darren ordered the fried rice with chicken for his main dish and I went for the sauteed noodles with vegetables and shrimp.  The portions were huge and arrived piping hot.   We both enjoyed our meal although Darren thought his had a little too much oil and I thought there could have been a little less plum sauce on my dish.  Nonetheless, we both thought it was a fabulous lunch and quite reasonable given all we were served.

After satisfying our craving for food, we walked the streets of Soho.  We stopped in at several furniture galleries to check out the modern styles which we both love.  We admired some interesting works of art too.  We then strolled into several clothing stores where I admired the spring fashions.  Unfortunately, our stroll was cut short as dark clouds rolled in and so did the rain.  We hopped in the car and headed back home to the suburbs.  Even though the afternoon was cut short, we really enjoyed ourselves and can’t wait for spring to arrive so we can have many more afternoons like today.

This weekend, Darren and I joined many of our friends to celebrate my best friend’s wedding.  Shari and I have been friends for 13 years and have been inseparable for the better part of the last 10 years.  There was nothing more exciting for me than to celebrate her wedding day with her and her fiance, Steve.

The weekend extravaganza began with a fabulous dinner on Friday night at Soho on George in New Brunswick where the wedding party and family from out of town gathered to kick off the weekend long celebration.  As Shari’s matron of honor, I felt unbelievably honored to be by her side all day long as we prepared for the big night.  Saturday was occupied with all the usual pre-wedding rituals, including hair and makeup.  Shari hired Tamra from Brides by Tamra and she was absolutely amazing.  She attended to everyone and made the day go by smoothly.  The wedding ceremony and reception took place at the Hyatt New Brunswick which was absolutely beautiful.  The modern decor was the perfect backdrop for photos and I am sure they came out fabulous.  We spent the hours leading up to the ceremony primping and taking pictures while more friends and family arrived at the hotel.  Before we knew it, the ketubah was signed and Shari was about to walk down the aisle.  The ceremony was absolutely beautiful, the perfect mix of sentiment and humor.  The reception was fantastic – Jill and I were out on the dance floor from the minute the doors opened.  The night flew by and before long it was 1am and the final song of the night was played.

This morning was a brunch to honor the newlyweds where we all wished Shari & Steve well as they start their new life as Mr. & Mrs.  It was when Shari and I broke down and cried.  It was an emotional moment for us as we have become more like sisters than friends.  The last 12 months have seen so many changes in our lives that I think the magnitude of what an amazing year it has been just hit us.    It was a fabulous weekend from start to finish…..click here to see the pictures and enjoy the good time that was had by all.

Darren found this cartoon in his RSS feed and it is SOOOOOO us!  What can I say, we are web analytic geeks!

Last night to celebrate Valentine’s Day, Darren and I went to our favorite Westchester sushi place, Japan Inn.  Japan Inn is a cozy restaurant in Bronxville that serves up a huge selection of fresh sushi, rolls, tempura and some hot dishes for those that are adverse to eating raw fish.  As you would expect, the restaurant was packed but we managed to get a table which was pure luck.  We didn’t think ahead to make a reservation but we probably should have.   Surprisingly, service was pretty good although the sushi chef did make a mistake on two of our rolls.  

We come to Japan Inn fairly often, so we know the food is good but last night the fish seemed exceptionally fresh.  Perhaps it was the anticipation of the big crowd for Valentine’s Day that resulted in the freshest fish being served.  Either way we were very happy.  We probably over ordered a bit but we were two hungry ‘bears’ when we arrived.  We started with a salad and vegetable tempura which arrived piping hot and was the right mix of batter lightly fried.  Delicious.  For dinner we ordered a bunch of rolls and shared.  The Godzilla roll and the Nomo Roll, two of their specialties are excellent choices.  At the end of the meal, we were served a 1/4 of a fresh pinapple which was the perfect way to finish off our dinner.  We had a great, low-key Valentine’s Day celebration which was just what we were looking for.