Not sure how I feel about this...

I won't lie.  Publicity makes me feel kinda famous.  It's also a bit embarrassing.

A few weeks ago, someone I know who's associated with a local theater contacted me asking permission to use an old photo of me on the theater's 2011 membership brochure. 

Why not, right?

If only he'd picked a better picture.  The double chin and weird length side bangs don't do me much justice.

At least my name's not on it.  ha.

Caro(lyn)line in the City.

Ever see that show?  During it's mid-90s run, I acquired the show title as an unfortunate nickname.  What is with kids and their obsession with nicknames?  Anyway...

We spent this past weekend in one of my favorite places... NYC!

We left bright and early Saturday morning and headed straight into Manhattan for brunch at Ai Fiori in the brand new Setai hotel.  One word.  AMAZING.

Clockwise from top left:

Oysters for the husband.  I don't do oysters, aphrodisiac or not ;)

Olive oil cake

Sweet polenta with marcona almonds and currants.  Delicious.

Ricotta and marscapone tortelli with a red wine glaze.  Again, delish.

View of the contemporary dining room overlooking 5th Ave.
Veal angolotti.  Incredible.

Unpictured:  A bottle of  rose champagne

And because I'm a giant dork (and I had 2 glasses of bubbles and a glass of Riesling in my system) I took a picture in the bathroom.  ha.  It had mirrors on opposite walls, so you know, when you look in one, you see a thousand.  It amused me ;)

After brunch, we did a little shopping and met up with friends for a drink at a funky little hole-in-the-wall Irish pub, complete with stereotypical Irish-New Yorker bartender.

Three vodka and sodas later we headed back to the hotel to clean up for dinner.  Our 8:00 reservations at Aureole turned into an 8:15 since someone just had to curl her hair.  Ahem.

This dinner with husband's two best friends and their girlfriends was one of the more memorable I've had.  The food was truly amazing.  It was all so delicate and flavorful. 

Sorry for the shitty pictures... it was dark and we didn't want to use the flash.

Clockwise from top left:

Hamachi with mint, cilantro, red onion and guava.  So light and yummy.

Ruby Red Shrimp w/ curry meringue, kaffir lime and coconut jus.

Husband's entree:  Dry aged rib eye with ricotta cannelloni and red wine jus.

Cannoli Sundae

Dark Chocolate Torte

My entree:  Alaskan black cod w/ creamed spinach and brown butter.  Melt in your mouth, creamy good.

Unpictured:  Two bottles each of champagne, gruner and syrah.  We don't like to drink at all.

The waitstaff took such great care of us... three courses, dessert and the first bottle of bubbles were sent out on the house.  Helps that husband is friends with the GM :)

Before leaving, we got a tour of the kitchen and got to meet the very talented chef.

After dinner we headed to the bar at the Gansevoort.  Not my scene.  Way too crowded and loud... I can't hang like I used to.  So sad.

After one pathetic drink at the Gansevoort, we headed across the street to someplace a little more my speed.  A place where we could actually sit at the bar and have a conversation:  Primehouse.  I don't think I had a single drink there though... it was after midnight at this point and if you've been following this post, you'll recall that I've been drinking basically all day. 

 

Couldn't leave without a cute picture!

After stopping our taxi a block and a half away from our hotel to grab a late night slice of cheese pizza (4th meal!), we ended the night in our shoebox-sized room around 1:30.

Sunday was a wine and restaurant trade show at the Javits Center.  Too bad we were far too hungover to really enjoy it.  We ended up cutting the day short and heading back to Albany early.  The ride home wasn't complete without a pit-stop at Woodbury Commons though!  Saks and Kenneth Cole missed me :)

So.  Long weekend full of good food, drink, friends and fun.  Now it's Monday evening and I'm still recovering.  I can go to bed at 7:30 tonight, right? ;)

Confession to myself.

I haven't been being honest.

See this pretty little weight tracker from my Spark People page?

It looks pretty great, right?  I'm so close to the finish.

If only I was being honest.

I was honest when I logged that beautiful 133 back in, oh, October.

I even managed to get down to 131.5 for a few glorious days.

And even better than that, I stayed put at 132 throughout the ENTIRE holiday season.  I call that an accomplishment.

Somewhere along the line in January, though, I got horribly off track.  In my own defense, I had a very busy social calendar. 

And as previously discussed, I don't do well when I'm walking through life tired and hungover.

I still went to boot camp once or twice a week and played volleyball a few times but other than that, I got almost no exercise for a full 6 weeks.  I have no excuse other than pure laziness on my part.  I also ate like crap.  Those six days in St. Louis were brutal... mexican and margaritas, way too much wine, late night drunk-sledding followed a trip to White Castle, etc, etc, etc...

Somewhere near the end of January, I reluctantly stepped on the scale.

137.

Oh.  My.  God.

I mean, I guess I wasn't truly shocked.  5lbs isn't all that much when you consider the crap I put in my body, but damn.  I was so happy at 132. 

Enter February and slightly warmer weather.  I got back on the exercise train with a couple outdoor runs and I've been going to spin class at least twice a week and playing volleyball every Thursday.  And I've gotten my eating back on track.  For the most part.  I eat so well Monday-Friday then blow it every weekend with multiple course meals and far too much alcohol. 

So explain to me why I was surprised when I stepped on the scale Saturday morning to see it read 137.8. 

Surpisingly though, I don't feel all that bad about myself.  My clothes still fit, only some pants are a bit tight and I think I look pretty damn good.

I've come to a conclusion though.  This high-maintenance, calorie-tracking, exercise-fiendish lifestyle I try to live really isn't condusive to my wine-loving, social-hostessing, all-around-fun life.

So in an effort to be honest with myself, I'm changing my weight-tracker to reflect this weight gain and I plan to be fully honest with how well (or not well) I'm eating and not let a few nights of fun hinder my progress.

Ah, honesty... be nice to me please.

The day my dog pooped on the computer.

M & B.  Cute, right?

Super excited to be out for their first walk since, um, October?  They loved it, I loved watching them love it.

This, however, I did not love. 

Yes, that is dog poo on my computer.  Thankfully I saw it before I felt the need to use an exclamation point.

Bella gets a tad over-excited at times.

Like when she's sitting next to me on the arm of the sofa and sees someone walking down the street.  She immediately turns into protector-of-the-neighborhood and goes ballistic.  This particular time, she felt it necessary to leap over the computer sitting on my lap.  Mid-leap, a dangler dropped out of her hairy little behind.  Thank God my lap was covered. 

Oh, the joys of dog-ownership.

You're welcome for that fun little story.

What I Wore... v2.0

I'm more than a little obsessed with fashion.  If I had endless amounts of money, I'd most likely spend most of my time shopping.

Too bad that's not an option.

For now I'll make due with numerous outfit repeats, as shown below.

First up, Wednesday and Saturday.

Outfit 1: 

tank, cardigan and pants:  Express

boots:  Macy's

necklace:  um??  This is what I get for taking such crappy pictures.  I can't see it well enough to tell which one it is, nor can I remember what I wore that day.  Sad.

Outfit 2:

tank:  Van Maur

(faux) leather jacket:  Marshall's

pants:  Express

boots:  Macy's

belt:  NY&Co.  (sidenote:  wearing a waist-cinching belt to the Mac & Cheese Bowl was a horrendously bad idea... it came off as soon as I got in the car)

Next up is Monday, Thursday and Monday.  Let's call this series "What Carolyn looks like hungover". 

'Cause that's exactly what it was.  Note the unwashed hair, ponytail and hat.  Sad that there were three days last week where I wasn't feeling up to par.  'Tis the story of my wine-loving life.

Outfit 1:

tank and cardigan:  Express (from like 3 years ago... eek)

jeans:  Mavi

boots:  Kenneth Cole

hat:  Nine West

necklace:  so old I have no idea where it came from

Outfit 2:

Sorriest excuse for a ponytail ever.

sweater:  Express

leggings:  Target

boots:  Kenneth Cole

Outfit 3:

Much better on the ponytail, Carolyn.

sweater:  NY&Co. from last year

jeans:  Mavi

boots:  Kenneth Cole (I shall now dub these my hangover boots, as the pattern is obvious)

Next group, well outfit, is Sunday.  We were headed out to dinner.  Husband requested a dress and heels.  It was like 10 degrees out.  I said "um, no.  Boots and pants."  Then I said, "you don't want me to be miserable because of my cold bare legs, right?"  And he said "I don't ever want you to ever be miserable."  Right answer, husband, right answer.

Outfit 1&2:  shown with and without jacket

sweater:  Target

skinny pants:  NY&Co.

boots:  Nine West

belt:  NY&Co.

adorably cute faux fur jacket:  Arden B.

hair:  curls!

Husband caught me taking the last picture and asked why the hell I was taking pictures of myself.  My (half-in-the-bag) answer:  "So I remember what I looked like skinny."  ha

This is embarrassing.

I conquered a fear today.

A fear that is rather embarrassing to admit.

I'm afraid of the car wash.

Probably not in the way you're thinking though. 

I don't mind going through a car wash while someone else is driving.  

The crazy-looking contraptions that attack your car don't scare me in the least.

My fear is the driving into the thing that you line your tire up with that takes you through. 

Literally driving into it.

I'm so afraid that I'm not going to line up my tires correctly and get yelled at by the minimum wage earning 16 year old who's trying to guide me through.

(This might stem from a Jiffy Lube incident as a young driver that we won't speak of.)

But alas, I have a shiny new car that I would like to keep shiny and new.

And husband bought me a car wash package for Christmas (even though he is VERY aware of my fear).

Something came over me yesterday though.  Maybe the dirt build-up on my pretty Jeep was speaking to me?

I sucked it up and drove to the car wash. 

This is the point where my heart started pounding.  The damn car in front of me was blocking the wheel-line-up thingie!  How am I supposed to line my car up if I can't even see it???

I tried to get a picture of it as the car in front was sucked into the wash and it finally popped into view but I WAS TERRIFIED.

Turns out I'm a big baby.  Somehow my car lined itself up properly and off I went!

Clean, clean, clean!

Tell me I'm not the only one who has (had?) a completely irrational, embarrassingly ridiculous fear?  Please?  Anyone?

Weekend (Food) Warrior.

I think I earned that title this past weekend. 

After a lovely dinner of mussels frites and wine at Garden Bistro 24, then drinks and dessert at dp on Friday, the Mac & Cheese Bowl on Saturday, and drinks at Cafe Capriccio followed by a ridiculously large dinner at Chez Mike on Sunday, I'm spent.

Yesterday was recovery.  I was basically non-productive all day.  The older I get, the more and more I need that extra day to recover.  Sad, right?

And true to form, I have almost no pictures from the weekend.  Even though my camera sat in my purse the entire time.  Fail.

I have a few from the Mac & Cheese Bowl, which was amazing, by the way.  dp and Yono's had a booth with their fabulous "Mac & Cheeks" (description in the picture below).  And I ran into Jen from Jen is Green!  When she walked up to the booth next to ours, I felt like I spotted a celebrity.  Guess that's what blog-stalking does to you ;)

Clockwise from top left:  Cup upon cup of mac & cheese... after about a dozen, I was done.  Nick and me behind the dp/Yono's booth.  More of the good stuff.  Chez Mike's cheddar -ale mac was my favorite of the day.  Mac & Cheese Bowl t-shirt.  dp/Yono's mac & cheeks. 

There were 30 restaurants at the bowl who were judged for best mac & cheese.  Sadly, we didn't win, although it was definitely one of the best there, in my opinion.  I ate some that I seriously couldn't force down.  More than one cup ended up in the trash after just one bite.  But some on the otherhand, were so good that I went back for seconds and thirds.  It was such a fun event... just please don't show me any mac & cheese for at least a month ;)