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a weddin’ weekend

February 8, 2010

You know how sometimes you go to a really fun wedding? Just one of those great times where the perfect combination of friends, love, family, little kids dancing, a big buffet of food and an open bar comes together and you all have one a fantastic day that you’ll always remember?

On Saturday, my dear friend Phil Wells got married! This is a photo of my (and your) friend Greg and me. Keith Huang took this shot with his iPhone, an art which he seems to be perfecting. Thanks for all these great shots, Keith!

You might remember Phil from this very early entry on follow my bliss, or perhaps you’ve ventured over to Phil’s blog before. Phil is one of my oldest friends from the improv world – he was in my very first-ever improv class and I remember looking at him and thinking “This might be the only normal guy in here.” Turns out there were a lot of “normal” people in that class, lots of lovely people, and I also finally learned to stop judging people so much, but that’s a blog entry for another time. But Phil remains one of the best guys I know.

And on Saturday, he and his new wife Alli, and his family and her family threw a fantastic party. It was just one of those weddings that was a FUN, easy, simple, creative, delightful time. The focus was on eating, drinking, laughing, dancing and congratulating the happy couple. And oohboy did they look happy. It was just an absolute joy to see. If my (eventual) wedding can be half as fun as Phil and Alli’s, I will be thrilled.

It was a day wedding, which I was skeptical about when I was trudging through the snow at 8am in my fancy boots heading to New Jersey Transit. But the ceremony was short and sweet and when we had our first drinks in our hand around 2pm during the (delightful!) cocktail hour, which was complete with so many varieties of yummy passed appetizers that you couldn’t believe your eyes, I decided the day wedding wasn’t so bad afterall. (I guess you can see where my priorities lie.) We partied into the evening and ended up back at Phil and Alli’s hotel around 7:30pm, which might as well have been 3am as far as we were all concerned. And the party continued.

Kevin and I arrived home at 12midnight on the nose. We’d sprinted through the snow to the bus outside the hotel, the one that would take us right back to the city, successfully boarded that bus, nobody lost any wallets or cell phones, and everyone’s feet hurt. Good party.

Congrats to Phil and Alli who deserve all the happiness in the world. And my admiration goes out to Alli who seems to have softened the heart of my friend Phil, a guy who likes to tell people he’s “dead inside.” (He is SO not.)

Also? I have great friends and I had a great time with my great friends!! It was just SO MUCH FUN. I’ve made that clear, right?

It was a tiring but refreshing time and Kevin and I spent yesterday recovering and doing some Fanny & Jane work, but not as much as maybe we should have. Today, I have much, much more work to do. So I’m going to get my podcasts up and running (I like to listen to old Car Talk episodes while I bake) and get to work.

Today is Day 23 of the Yoga Challenge and I cannot wait to go to class tonight. One week, seven days, left. And even though it will be nice to feel the accomplishment of hitting the 30 Day mark, I will be a little bummed when it’s over. I might have to do some other kind of 30 day challenge just to carry me into the month of March, because, frankly, Spring cannot arrive soon enough for me.

Posted in friendies, improv, just livin, odds and ends | 1 Comment »

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update

February 5, 2010

It’s busy season again! Not a bad thing at all, but it’s busy. It’s nice to see how much we learned from the Christmas rush, and how this Valentine’s season is made simpler because of that. I’ve gotten much better at scheduling what needs to be done, prioritizing, and being realistic about time frames. It takes time to bake stuff, you guys.

I feel like I have nothing in the world to write about right now except the 30 Day Y0ga Challenge and the bakery. Because in many ways that’s all I have going on. It’s simple and lovely, in a way.

The cold weather is killing me – I can write about that for a few sentences.

I cannot wait for the summer. I daydream about it every day. And I daydream about this time next year when Kevin and I are just returning from having spent the month of January in a warm, tropical location. Big dream, right? I figure if I set out to leave my job LAST January and I made that a full-fledged reality by THIS January, what can I do by NEXT January? “Live somewhere warm for one month in the winter” seems like as good of a goal as any.

My shoulder is so much better – not perfect, but healing. Yoga is wonderful and hard and I’m so glad I’m doing this challenge. I’ve lost track of what day I’m on – somewhere close to Day 20. My arms feel thinner, my legs feel slimmer, my waist feels firmer, and mentally I feel much more balanced. I’m going to be sad when it’s over – and maybe also a little bit relieved. 30 days is a long time! But I’m loving it. This was an awesome gift to give to myself.

I’m also hanging out with an insightful and spirited four-year-old for two hours every Tuesday and Friday lately. He’s a fantastic dose of realism in my world. Geoff and Jenny, his parents, have done a phenomenal job with this little guy.

The other day I was telling him that I hurt my shoulder some how, that it was bothering me. He asked me how I hurt it. I explained that I wasn’t really sure how I hurt it.

He said, “I know! You hurt it when you were exercising! You fell down.”

Maybe, I said. And then I explained to him that when you’re older, when you’re a grown-up, your body sometimes aches more often than it does when you’re a kid. That grown-ups fall down and are sore for a few days, while little kids can fall down, on the playground for example, and bounce right back up. Little kids bodies are made that way, I told him.

He said, “Well. I guess it’s a lot more fun to be a kid than to be a grown-up.” Of course, I had to laugh out loud and tell him, “You might be right.”

Oh, one more thing. I wanted to tell you all that, more than ever before, I keep having these moments recently where I realize that I quit my job and haven’t worked there for almost a third of a year now – and I’ve survived! And I’m happy and enjoying what I’m doing! I don’t know what’s around the next corner – I really haven’t a single clue – but do we ever really? And I’m still absolutely loving my new life. It’s so much simpler and more my style. The other day I spent the day baking, and then I headed into the city around 5:30pm for a rehearsal. I realized that I used to be sitting at my desk at 5:30pm, wouldn’t have been able to make it to that rehearsal, didn’t get out of work until 7pm.

Leaving that job, as beneficial as it was for my bank account and my health insurance policy-holding status (I know, Mom. I know.), remains one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Posted in Fanny & Jane, bakeries and sweets shops, cooking and baking, friendies, healthy lifestyle, inspiration, odds and ends, the conversations, the other side, the yoga life, update | Leave a Comment »

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a quick one

February 2, 2010

Y’all. I hurt my shoulder. Doing what? Probably doing yoga. Or maybe it’s an old injury from years ago at the gym. Or maybe my winter coat is too tight. Either way, it’s all messed up. So I’m nursing it back to health. I’m still holding up my commitment to do yoga every day, but I’ve been doing less – I’ve been taking restorative classes, doing some stuff in my living room, taking it easy in class and always telling my teacher that I’m injured.

What else? Fanny & Jane Valentine’s Day Special is up! Wheee!

We put together Sweet Love Chocolate Boxes, filled with our most popular sweets (and personal favorites).

We’re doing $1.00 Flat Rate Shipping if you place an order by THIS WEDNESDAY, Feb 3 at midnight. So take advantage of that if your little heart desires. Maybe send a little Valentine gift to your Mother, or daughter, or hey, your brother. Thanks so much for all the orders we’ve gotten so far!

Look at this adorable card that Teresa of BelWell designed for us to give away for FREE with our orders! I love it.

Beyond that, we’re donating 10% the proceeds from every Chocolate Box order to Doctors Without Borders for Haiti Relief. That makes me happy.

You can place an order here. :)

Posted in Fanny & Jane, bakeries and sweets shops, healthy lifestyle, the yoga life | Leave a Comment »

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salted peanut butter BUCKEYES!

January 29, 2010

If you’re not from the midwest you may never have heard of the Buckeye. I have several native New Yorker friends who didn’t know what they were.

Well, I’m pleased to announce that the newest edition to the Fanny & Jane menu is our special version of this classic chocolate bon bon. Announcing the Salted Peanut Butter Buckeye! (Cheers erupt, the crowd goes wild!)

This, believe it or not, is the first new item we’ve had on the menu in quite some time!! Having been totally overwhelmed with and blessed by tons of holiday orders, we didn’t add anything new during November and December, so this is a very exciting day for me, personally. Mostly because I’m a Sweet Treat Geek.

When I was home for the holidays and stopped by my Aunt Lisa and Uncle Kel’s house (Hi, Aunt Lisa!!) for a visit one afternoon, my uncle offered me a Buckeye. They’d received an adorable box of them as a gift from a family they’re close to. I ate one and then drifted off to heaven to enjoy the peanut butter goodness. Then I ate another. Then I split another one with Kevin. Oof. They’re divine. Plus, I’m a huge peanut butter person, thanks to my grandmother, from whom I most certainly inherited my daily semi-medical need for the stuff.

And I got to thinking: We definitely need a peanut butter item on the F&J menu. I wonder if I could come up with my own recipe for these.

Then, I forgot about them. When I got back to New York a few weeks later, I was brainstorming one afternoon with my good friend, colleague, and a very knowledgeable pastry chef, James (Hi, James!!!) about what new item I should add to the menu next. And he, out of the blue, suggested the Buckeye! I couldn’t believe it. First of all, I was shocked he even knew what they were, since he’s from New Jersey. (But this guy really knows his stuff, so it wasn’t THAT shocking.) And secondly, I was so delighted that I’d had these little peanut butter wonders on the brain and he’d thought they’d make a great edition to the line too. So, of course, I’m not one to deny synchronicity. And I got to work coming up with the Fanny & Jane version.

Our Salted Peanut Butter Buckeyes are dipped in luscious milk chocolate. For a crunch, we’ve added graham cracker bits to the peanut buttery center. Also, since salty + sweet is a match made in heaven, we added a little Fleur de Sel to finish them off. They’re delicious and I’m crazy about them. I have to hide them from myself because I will literally consume dozens otherwise.

You can order some here.

Posted in Fanny & Jane, true love, trying new things | 4 Comments »

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day 11 – 30 day yoga challenge

January 29, 2010

I know I’ve been posting a lot of cat pictures lately, but how could I not? LOOK AT HER. They are the apples of our eye, these cats. We’re huge dorks about them. But that’s how it is with pets. You know it’s true.

Wednesday was Day 11 of the 30-Day Yoga Challenge! I’m writing this blog entry on Thursday night, after successfully completing Day 12. Very exciting. I’m really proud of myself.

Day 11, however, was an anomaly.

I woke up in the morning on Wednesday at an earlier hour than usual. Yes! The sleep schedule is improving. And I got to work on Fanny & Jane stuff right after breakfast/computer time. I ended up spending most of the entire morning and afternoon workworkworking and before I knew it, it was time to pack up and head to yoga. But first I had to ship some parcels, and I also had to organize the packages of sweets I was going to be dropping off to Simple Studios and The PIT. There was just a lot to be done! And so I got out the door a bit late and by the time I was on the subway, I’d come to accept that I wasn’t going to be able to make it to yoga class. I was going to be too late.

I felt mild panic. This is not what’s supposed to be happening, I thought. Panic over a yoga class. It’s supposed to be the opposite. “Supposed to.” Anyway, I calmed myself down and asked myself what my options were. After shipping packages I had to head off to The PIT for the first night of the new 2010 House Team sets. Definitely couldn’t miss that - big night for The PIT community! So I determined that  yoga class was not going to happen. Wow. What now? I thought. Well, I’ll just have to do some when I get home tonight. Whenever that might be.

I told myself this would be a 30-Day Yoga Challenge and I’d decided, for the most part, that I’d take hour-long yoga classes every day. But occasionally, I knew I’d have to do yoga podcasts at home OR, in the worst case scenario, only do a few minutes of yoga one day. I’m lucky to be able to fit in an hour-long class (plus the commute to and fro) every day – very lucky, but I knew there might come a strange day where I just couldn’t fit it in.

So I went to the PIT shows on Wednesday night (great shows, great time) and then I went out afterward with friends. This is something I rarely, if ever, do on Wednesday nights. I’m just not a big drinker so it’s not that fun for me to hang out at the bar for a long time. But every once in a while, I’ll go, and I’m always glad I do. Last night was a special night because we recently had auditions for House Teams (which we do every year) and lots of people were moved onto new teams, some people were cut entirely, new people were added and we we’ve all been grappling with the 2009 version of things coming to an end. These little teams are families, in many ways. We spend tons of time together and have lots of shared experiences, so it’s tough when things change. Last night was definitely a night to go out and honor that. So I was happy to be out chatting and reminiscing with my friends.

I had three or four beers! What! I felt pretty good when I got home since they were spaced out throughout the night, but that’s still a lot for me.

I arrived home around 2:30am.

And then…I did 13 minutes of yoga.

YUP!

I am SO proud of myself for this it’s ridiculous. I definitely did not want to do it and I definitely did want to go right to bed, but I knew I could just put on my pj’s, roll out my mat, and at least lay there for a few minutes and do some gentle stretching. So I did that and then some. It felt great, actually, to be stretching the day out and to just take that little time to check in with myself.

So, Day 11? Checkmark!

I went back to an hour-long class today, Thursday, and it was nice to be back. I’d missed it! But this challenge has been hard for me the past few days, physically speaking. My body is tired and some of the poses are even harder or just as hard as they always are. I might be due for a restorative class soon. (Did one last Saturday…)

I’m also struggling mentally on the mat sometimes. It’s hard to be open-hearted and not judge myself all the time. I’m working toward it, but sometimes I’m just grouchy. I felt like that all day today. Irritable, grouchy and fed up with the world. The yoga glow isn’t gonna happen 24/7, at least not after only 11 Days.

So it’s a process. As I practice not judging myself for my limitations and not expecting miracles, I’m still glad I’m doing this. I’m proud of myself.

Here’s a picture of Chawser and his dad. Kevin had just gotten home from a long weekend trip and Chawse was drunk with contentment over his return.

Posted in Be., Fanny & Jane, cats and dogs and pets, healthy lifestyle, the yoga life, trying new things | 1 Comment »

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