A series of photos of Christmas Trees taken with my cell phone:

Washington Square Christmas Tree (with a streetlight in the way)

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

Galesburg Christmas Tree

I just finished reading The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder, which is a terrible book. There wasn’t much selection at the library, and I had chosen it based on the fact that I liked two other books by Rebecca Wells. Anyway, I reviewed it on Goodreads.

I just finished The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold — yes, several years late but before the movie comes out! I posted my review on Goodreads, which I’m linking to here. Don’t worry, I didn’t include any spoilers!

1. random loud yahoos, like the guy who parked outside our building this morning at one in the morning, blasting music and shouting “Happy Hanukkah!” through a megaphone¹
2. PBR cans in the trashcan by the elevator

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¹That’s at least what it sounded like. We couldn’t actually see him.

I’ve mentioned before that shopping at Trader Joe’s can be a hassle. I was in the 12-or-fewer line this evening when the woman in front of me asked if I would hold her place in line so she could go get butter. I agreed because I’m nice, even though I think she should have gotten the butter prior to getting in the line, and she literally ran off. The line started to move, and I went to go nudge her basket along … and discovered she had also left me in charge of her baby in a stroller. Seriously?

I am doing the very last load of laundry in our current apartment. YAY! The new place has in-unit washer and dryer, so (assuming I don’t suffer the same fate as my good friend Liz) I will no longer have to deal with washing machine cards and dragging my laundry through the halls, looking for a dryer that isn’t broken. YAY! Oh, and no more dealing with stranger’s hair. Ew. Double YAY!

Winter finally found us here in New York. It was time to buy a hat.

When I review something on Yelp, I generally just post a link here. I’ve decided to change that policy. Now I’m going to be pasting them here as well, for no other reason other than it will amuse me to do so.

Accordingly, here is my Yelp review of Baoguette:

I had a mediocre experience at Baoguette in August, but, since I love Vietnamese sandwiches, I wanted to give them another try. Last time I ordered vermicelli noodles, and I suspect that’s where I went wrong: I should have ordered a sandwich.

I met a friend here for lunch today, and I got the Veguette (or however they are spelling it). I worried that I should have stuck to real meat instead of mock meat, but that worry proved unfounded. The mock meat was really tasty, and it didn’t take away from the other aspects of the traditional Vietnamese sandwich. The bread was tasty and fresh, although it was a bit softer than I generally expect in a Vietnamese sandwich.

All in all, I was glad I went back. It’s not the best Vietnamese sandwich in town, but it’s still darn good.

I was waiting to cross 14th the other day (leaving the Christmas Market that had popped up at Union Square and heading to Whole Foods) when someone offered me some chocolate. I know I shouldn’t accept candy from strangers, but it was a lovely little square of Ritter chocolate and so I was intrigued. It turns out she from the Ritter Sport Team, and she wanted to take my picture with my (free) chocolate. I obliged.

Then she gave me another piece of chocolate! It was a good morning.

I’ve been neglectful of my blog, and I apologize. Things have been crazy-busy since I got home from Thanksgiving, and I just haven’t had the time or the inspiration.

The most important time-suck was finding a new apartment, and I am pleased to report that we did! Later this month, we are leaving our Village studio for a one-bedroom apartment in a new building in downtown Brooklyn. It will certainly be a change, but one that we’re very excited about.