Hurry Christmas, Hurry Fast

Break was wonderful, I only had a few short days and let me tell you they were jammed packed and I still didn't get to see everyone I wanted to.  I did get some stuff I really needed done though, I cleared out my closet again, the less stuff I have in general the better.  My opinion is if I can live months at a time without it, or missing it, most likely I don't need it and if I need it later in life I can just buy a new one.  So I need cleaned my room, getting ride of that skirt from middle school I loved and was "waiting to fit into again" (Ha) and those chatchski's that just were collecting dust with no sentimental value.  I felt better leaving my room this time around knowing I had just....  Less.  I did keep all my posters though, I have a couple, ehem, motivational posters from the movie Kick Ass.  I like being reminded each morning I get up that I can do what ever I set my mind to, and that I will kick ass at what ever I so desire to peruse...  the only caveat to that would be directions and maps(fail on all accounts).

First Pumpkin Spice Latte with mom

Now my layover in Germany, while amusing did set me back a day.  I had thankfully made my appointment for the Indian Consulate for Thursday not Wednesday(the original day after I would have arrived home) giving myself a buffer in case my jet lag was worse than I anticipated.  The second half of Wednesday was spent unpacking, stories and hanging with the fam.  Then came the best 12 hours of sleep I ever got.

best. earmuffs. ever.

Thursday was then spent in the city, my appointment was for first thing in the morning so I got that out of the way, then my mom and I spent a good couple of hours "shopping" on Fifth Avenue which was absolutely fantastic.  I went into Fendi and tried on $3000 earmuffs, and they were nice.  Ok I'm lying, they were beautiful and warm and I never wanted to take them off.  I have read enough fashion Blogs and articles to know that most sales associated of high fashion or couture stores can tell the instant a person walks into their store if they are just messing around or if they are actually going to buy something.  Well, as it turns out the attendant who greeted us had just moved to New York last week from the mitten!  He left Michigan to seek his fortune in the fashion realm, and small world he lived in the same town as my roommate freshman year, weird right?  I tried to distract him for as long as possible so I wouldn't have to take off the earmuffs.   As for right now, I don't ever plan on spending $3000 on my ears unless its reconstructive surgery to get elf ears... Just kidding...  Maybe.   If I turn 50 and have nothing going on, maybe....  

We moved on to Gucci (LOVE everything about them), Saks(eh, take it or leave it), Juicy Couture (dollar store jewelry for $100.  Over rated) and then what ever else we could find on 5th before lunch.  We went into H&M because there was giant sale going on that day that looked very promising.  When my mom and I walked into the store, the attendant Cheritre (pronounced Cherry Tree) took one look at my mom's sneakers and went "oh honey" and then proceeded for an hour to give my mom and I fashion advice.  To be fair she was very stylishly dressed but wore sneakers because we would be doing a lot of walking through the city, which according to Cheritre was a sin.  He was hilarious, and almost convinced us that we would look better as blondes (Ha, never going to happen).  Finally, we got tired and wanted some lunch.    

Ok LUNCH!  Ok, so I love Hibachi cooking more than any other style of restaurant ever, except a New York pizza place but I can't go to those on the regular.  Hibachi is a Japanese-style meal that is prepared on a stove top in front of you.  Typically you get a soup (the best you will ever have) and a salad, then I always order the steak and fried rice.  The things these guys do with their knives is so impressive, and then sometimes if you get a good chef he will throw pieces of veggies at you to catch in your mouth or Sakai.  Every time I came home from college (fall and spring) my mom or dad would take me to lunch, but I was surprised when I pulled up Urban Spoon on my iPhone and saw Bennihanna that my mom agreed to go (its her least favorite).  I was meeting a friend in the city and once we met up, we started walking on following the directions that Urban Spoon gave us - right to Bennihanna's old apartment.  As it turns out, before he died, Bennihanna had an apartment off of 5th and as the rather grumpy bellman told us, people keep trying to get into the building for dinner and are so confused(like us) when they get turned away because it is a residence.  He pointed us into the right direction, so we did make it there and it was well worth the wait.  I am going to gloss over the next hour and a half as it involves me acting like a five year old girl on her birthday after her parents got her a pony.  Lets just say I was wearing a paper chef hat for most of lunch, and leave it at that.  My mom and I kind of lost steam after lunch, what with the big meal and the long day, and ended up just meandering over to Grand Central Station to make our way home.

Christmas Eve we all headed up to Fishkill for a lovely dumpling dinner and some fish.  Classic.  Plus in addition to good food was good family!  YAY!

Intermission for transportation back to Connecticut.

Christmas morning in the Homola house is one filled with fun traditions, drinking prune juice before you can open any presents is thankfully been left in the past.  My mom is an organist so she had church all morning, which when you're a kid is basically eternity.  So we would wake up with the sun and get to open one present that my parents would strategically pick that would maximize our attention.  Noon time would roll around and our living room would look like a wrapping-paper war zone, with massive cookie casualties.  This year was no different, I'm just taller with more eyeliner and less stuffed-animals..

80's video montage to cover the transportation to Carmel

We then had my favorite meal of the entire the whole entire year, including roast beef, ham, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, you know the works!  And then...... duh duh duhhhhhh

Christmas to be continued........ *cue dramatic music*