A Mangiaracina Christmas

This year, Christmas was extra special for us since it would be the last time that our little family would be a threesome. Don't get me wrong, we can't wait for the little guy to be here, but there was something special about celebrating this last Christmas season with just each other and Lucy.

Our holiday weekend began on Friday night with our traditional Christmas "morning". Since we planned to head up to NJ/NY on Saturday morning, we had to celebrate our family Christmas on Friday night. Ed and I started the evening with a wonderful dinner at Clyde's of Reston and stopped by our neighbors house for a little holiday shin dig (thanks Suzy and Glenn!). After a quick drink (for Ed of course), we headed home, put on our Christmas jamies, pumped up the holiday tunes and started opening gifts.

Lucy started with her BIG gift ~ one that Ed was SOOOO excited for. We wrapped it up with some treats so that she would tear into the paper which she did. She grabbed the treats and ran which wasn't quite the reaction Ed wanted, but she grew to love her new bed later that night. Along with some treats and toys, Lucy was a happy camper. :)

Ed and I didn't do to shabby either. I got some great stuff including new Ugg snow boots, the Cook Like a Rock Star Anne Burrell cookbook (new fav Food Network diva), some goodies for my camera (making the bloggers life easier), an iTunes gift card to upgrade my operating system and lots o' money to get prenatal massages. SCORE!!

Ed's Santa loot included a new pair of Cole Haan shoes, a manly circular saw with extra blades, a Bob Marley onesie for James, sexy message collar stays and Apple TV.

All in all, it was a great Christmas morning for our little threesome. Life is going to be very different next year, and we can't wait...but it was nice to take advantage of our time together this year. Next up...Christmas Eve in New Jersey with the Basile family. Stay tuned!

My Owie

Hi everyone. I wanted to give you all an update on how I am feeling these days. For some reason, Mommmy and Daddy thought it would be a good idea to fix my knee the other day, so here I am, in a cone, with a big boo boo on my leg. It hurts, but I'm strong and the doctor gave me some good medicine to help with the pain.

After a great Christmas weekend, I woke up early on Tuesday morning and thought it was going to be a typical day. I thought it was a little weird that both Mommy and Daddy took me on my morning walk and then played frisbee with me, but I thought, "Hey ~ it's Christmas!". Then Mommy started to cry when we got in the car (she does that a lot because of the big belly). I smelled something fishy and apparently, I was right to be suspicious. This is where Daddy took us:

This is the place where they put me in the little room and poke and prod at me. It's not too terrible because Mommy and Daddy are usually with me. This time was different. Mommy held me on her lap while they spoke to the lady Tasha. There was no poking. There was no prodding. But then Tasha grabbed me and brought me out the back door. Typically this is where they take me to cut my toenails, but not today. Instead, they took me to a little cage and left me there with no Mommy and no Daddy. I was not happy. :(

Things got a little fuzzy for me after this point, but what I can remember is that Tasha took me to a big room where Dr. Taylor was dressed up in a green dress and mask. The next thing I know, I'm back in the cage, there is a needle in my front leg and a huge bandage on my back leg. What the heck! I was pretty sleepy and my leg hurt, but I was happy to see the nice nurse lady. She took good care of me...but where were Mommy and Daddy?!

Well, they finally came to get me yesterday and I was SO happy to see them. All I wanted to do was lick their faces and go home to my bed...which is exactly what we did. I was very sleepy so it is a good thing that I have 2 beds. I made sure to be in both of them. :)

Unfortunately, I have to wear that stupid cone because I keep trying to check out my stitches. I mean, look at them! I want to see them...not rip them out! Well...maybe rip a few out. :)

I'm doing okay. It's hard to eat with this stupid cone on, but Daddy helped me out last night.

Mommy is spending a lot of time with me and giving me great neck massages. She even let me take my cone off for a little bit so I can eat, drink and be more comfy. She keeps a close eye on me though.

My recovery is going to be long, but I know that Mommy and Daddy will be there to help me. The worst part is that I have to sleep in the living room with Daddy (he's on the couch) while Mommy goes upstairs (something about her big belly). I don't really like being away from the Mama. The best part? Lots of kisses and rubs and they carry me up and down the stairs all the time now! Oh, and of course the treats! :)

Merry Christmas!!

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!!

The Nursery: Take Four

So, here we are again with another update on the nursery. Slowly but surely it is coming together and there really only are a few more things that need to be completed. But I did want to share with you 2 new items that have appeared since the last nursery post.

First off, if you remember from the "The Nursery: Take Three" video, were were in need of a little table to put next to the glider. I scoured the Internet, got lots of good advice from other Mommies on what to look for and ended up at Target where I found the perfect little table to hold our new lamp and iPod docking station/clock.

Not only does it fit perfectly, it has shelving where we can pile up the baby's books and it has a chic, contemporary feel adding to the overall style of the room. And if you are wondering about the blue and white blanket on the chair...well that is Ed's childhood blanket that his Grandma made for him. We thought it was a nice addition to the room.

The second new item in the room is something that I am very proud of because I actually made it with my own two hands. You may remember from this post that we were picking out fabrics for the valence. Well, we fell in love with more than one so we decided to use one for the valence and the other for the crib skirt. Check out the finished product:


I learned how to put this no sew crib skirt together from the Young House Love bloggers. All it took was the gorgeous fabric, some new scissors, an iron and ironing board, measuring tape and some ultra hold Heat and Bond. All I had to do was measure each side of the crib, cut the fabric a little longer on each side, make four hems and voila ~ a beautiful crib skirt!


I used velcro to attach it to the crib and I have to say, it looks pretty darn good! I'm majorly proud of myself that I didn't mess it up. This is WAY more Home Economics than anything I've ever done. I know that I didn't actually sew it (haven't been able to swipe sewing kits from any hotels lately!), but this iron-on adhesive is the next best thing.



Not to shabby if I do say so myself. I'm not so sure I want to tackle the valence on my own, but I did order enough fabric to give it a try and when I mess up, bring it to a professional. :)

So there you go...I'm thinking that our next Nursery post will be the final reveal. Only 11 more weeks until this little guy will be here!!

Merry Christmas Eve!!

A Culinary Experience

Last week, while in New York, I was lucky enough to participate in the TIA holiday party. Typically, the holiday party is pretty awesome. My first year at TIA, we had a private party at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square. My second year we did a walking tour of Grand Central Station (awesome btw) followed by lunch at a great place that I no longer remember (Lindsay, help me out!) and last year we had a 50's-style diner lunch (again, the name of the place escapes me) followed by a matinee of Jersey Boys. Can we say AWESOME?!

Well, this year, the fabulous Holiday Party Planners (aka Robyn and Lindsay) of TIA were able to top all other years. This year, we all donned Chefs hats and went to cooking school at the Institute of Culinary Education. Yes, that's right, we got to learn how to make some amazing food from top chefs and then partake in one of the best meals I've had in a while.

Upon our arrival, we were treated to 3 delicious appetizers and some adult beverages (kid beverage for me, of course). The apps included Mini Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with "Tomato Soup" Dip, Garlic-Grilled Shrimp with Almond Romesco Sauce on Toasted Pita Rounds and (my favorite) Mini "Beef Wellingtons" with Mushrooms, Truffle and Chives. Is your mouth watering yet? Just wait. :)

After receiving our aprons and chefs hats, we headed to the kitchen where we met our Chef leads. We split up into 3 groups and started preparing our lunch. On the menu:

• Fall "Panzanella" Bread Salad with Roasted Acorn Squash, Mushrooms, Roasted Peppers, Arugula, Hazelnuts served in a Parmesan Bowl with Champagne Vinaigrette
• Strip Loin of Beef with Truffled Demi-Glace, Twice Baked Stuffed Potatoes with Sour Cream and Chives, Sauteed Haricot Verts (aka string beans)
• Baked Apple Pancake with Vanilla Ice Cream and Caramel Sauce

Again, are you salivating? I headed over to help with the dessert where my main job was to butter the ramekins. And let me tell you, those ramekins were BUTTERED!! Everyone really got into it and seemed to have a really great time.


I also played a very central role in making the string beans...as in, I made them all on my own!! And they tasted DAMN good! :)

Once lunch was prepared, we were able to enjoy it. There is something very satisfying about eating a meal that you prepared and that tastes great. It was a truly great day and it just solidified my feelings that I work with a wonderful group of people.

P.S. Paul, our CFO, won last chef standing. He kept his Chefs hat on through the entire lunch and didn't even realize it was on until it was pointed out in a lovely toast made by my awesome boss. You can see him in the above photo. What a happy guy!!