Giving Thanks.

With the semester blowing by, things have been crazy busy and to think Christmas music is playing everywhere! Between picking secret Santa with my girlfriends, planning our last few weekends before break, going home for thanksgiving and getting a sinus infection (!!!) I’m literally exhausted.

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed their time home with their families stuffing their faces, I know I wont be ready to eat turkey again for another year! Here’s a sneak peek of what I indulged in:

I also had a visitor for thanksgiving! My uncle’s bull terrier, Gus, had lovely visit to the country and had fun exploring my dog’s toy box (as seen below).

Finally, as tradition ensues, the day after gluttony is spent decorating the house for the next holiday to come, CHRISTMAS!!! My favorite part of decorating is hanging our stockings; my aunt hand made them for my two brothers and I about ten years ago and I think they're untraditional, yet beautiful.

A quick tip: Since the holidays can be expensive, me and my girlfriends pick secret Santa every year, we set a spending limit and all go out to dinner to celebrate the holiday together. It saves money and you actually get to spend time with each other rather than worrying about how much is appropriate to spend. 

Ex.Oh. 

Hurricanes, Elections & Other Happenings.

Where to begin?! This past week has been hectic to say the least. I hope all you east coasters are doing ok after the wrath of hurricane Sandy, I know I still don’t have power back home. With classes being cancelled for a week students either made the journey home or hunkered down in the Bronx apartments and the dorms. I went to the grocery store right before the storm got bad to see empty shelves and nervous customers preparing for the bad weather. I talked to some friends down in jersey that were finding fish and boats in their yards! There was even sharks seen swimming in someone’s back yard in New jersey- here’s the full article and see the picture below!

After the hurricane Americans were wondering what was going to happen with voters getting to the polls to place their votes. However, by midnight last night they were already projecting Obama’s reelection. It was quite the heated race with Obama and Romney only being within 1% of each other in many states, and with Romney beating Obama with the popular vote for a bit. In the end, Obama is here for another four years and I’m excited to see what changes he’ll be making for our economy.

Some other exciting events, IT’S CURRENTLY SNOWING IN THE BRONX. Our first snow of the season! Since hurricane Sandy apparently wasn’t enough from Mother Nature, we are now getting hit with a Nor’easter. Hope everyone stays safe and warm!

Ex.Oh.

Overwhelmed.

Hi All,

My apologies for my decrease in postings; school, work and my lack of a social life is slowly consuming me. For those of you who think senior year is a breeze, think again. With internships being so competitive you really want to prove yourself at work, while still of course passing your classes so you can graduate on time! To cheer myself up in my tiny amounts of spare time I've been.....

Indulging in some delicious Blood Orange Margaritas at one of my favorite restaurants back home called Bartaco. With raw sugar and rosemary coating the rim I couldn't help but enjoy more than one. 

We also got a small platter, which is an AMAZING steal at $22 dollars. We had six tacos (2 Baha fish, 2 chorizo and 2 chipotle chicken), two tamales, two sides (spicy cucumber salad and chipotle slaw) and chips with guacamole. I left completely stuffed and satisfied. click here for the menu.

I'll post again this week to keep you updated!

Ex.Oh.

Weekend Getaway.

A wine vineyard……

In Long Island?

When one thinks of Long Island, the word vacation doesn’t exactly come to mind, or as I would put it, “it’s nothing to write home about”. However, this past weekend I went to Long Island to stay with my boyfriend’s family and learned there’s a lot to love. We spent Saturday going pumpkin picking at White Post Farms in Melville and six pumpkins, one pie, one bag of popcorn, one box of fudge and one loaf of banana bread later, I was full and exhausted to say the least. We spent the night carving pumpkins; which I of course thought came out amazing.

 (Mine is second from the left which I mimicked the carving from my previous post).

The next day however, is when I realized that LI has a lot more to offer than I first expected. My boyfriend decided to drive me up to the North Folk region of Long Island also known as, “The Wine Country of Long Island”. We spent the afternoon doing wine tastings at three different vineyards: Paumanok, Macari and Shinn. Each vineyard had something wonderful and distinct about it. I was apprehensive at first since I assumed wine tasting can be rather expensive, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it ranges from $9 - $15 for three to five tasting glasses.

A little insight on each vineyard:

Paumanok: Beautiful outdoor seating. Perfect for a small group gathering. Most of the visitors had brought cheese and crackers and sat enjoying the warm sun and delicious wines.

Macari: Largest of the three. Better for a large group or party. You cannot bring your own food, however they sell cheese, crackers and some meats for you to snack on when sitting on their enormous deck while watching the sunset.

Shinn: Smallest of the three with limited outdoor seating. Also, this is the newest of the three vineyards. It has a very cozy cottage type building for you to sit and enjoy your wines. Due to the limited space don’t be surprised to find yourself drinking amongst strangers since you sit wherever you can find a seat.

These are only three of the 50+ vineyards found on the North Folk region of Long Island and I highly recommend you make the trip and explore the vineyards for yourself. Below is a map of all the vineyards to help you plan your own trip!

Ex. Oh.

SuperFan.

Since it’s our senior year, we decided to make a bucket list of 50 things we wanted to accomplish by graduation. Last weekend we were able to check another item off our list by being “Super Fans” and tailgating the Georgetown vs. Fordham game. As we rolled into the parking lot at 10 AM on Saturday morning with coffees in our hands and sunglasses to hide our tired eyes, the parking lot was looking pretty abandoned.

However, as the beers flowed and the time flew, the parking lot became packed and pretty rowdy with charcoal grills, tables of food and footballs being thrown every from every direction. After seeing how much of a good time it was I couldn’t believe this was the first time we decided to do it. Around 12:00 we were even lucky enough to have wings delivered from howl, I mean talk about being spoiled. So after our three hours of trunk open, music blasting, eating and drinking we finally decided to head over to the game. With an exciting first half we couldn’t help but obnoxiously sit in the “Georgetown section” and be rowdy fans. During half time we headed back to the parking lot to find many fans doing the same for a mid-game snack.

The icing on the cake of an amazing day was obviously Fordham’s  38-31 victory over the Hoyas. (-- Click Here for the full game recap) To say the least we had a fantastic day and want to do it as much as possible before our time here is over… well, we can always tailgate as alumni!

Ex. Oh.