Dear Santa...no...Dear Wendy...

I was fortunate enough to receive confirmation to one of Wendy Williams' holiday shows.  Kathy I attended today and we made out like bandits.  It's hit or miss...although never really a miss - anything we get is always appreciated.

I was going to take my own photo of my stash but why, when I can just use Wendy's!

First up:  Olivia & Joy bag...both Kathy & I got the gold one.

Next...A Clarisonic Pedi system

Last:  An array of gifts!

From top left corner:  

Nescafé Dolce Gusto One Cup coffee maker with carton of cappuccino and free carton of choice

Gendarme cologne

J.R. Watkins Body Butter

Becca facial brush

Papyrus card

Legal Eagle Seafood shrimp

Tablet case/clutch/make-up case

Champagne glass (fits a whole bottle of champagne)

Timex Weekender watch

Wireless Call Notifier (hang it on your bag or belt and lights up when a call comes in and phone is on silent)

Boomphone -headphones that can also play externally & phone ready

USB bracelet from EBay

Apparently about $1000 worth. :)

We were lucky and happy gals as we lugged our goodies to a Dallas BBQ lunch.  

Happy Holidays!!!

Crispy Honey Garlic Chicken Wings

The first recipe I've tried from Pinterest.  Easy, excellent and sooo delicious! (And no frying!)

Jazz Brunch in the West Village

Always great to see Ronna and the family!

                                 

From left to right: Derek, Ronna, Howard (Ronna's brother), Izzy & Mark

                      Ronna's cousins: Josh, his sister Pam & her son, Ben

                            

Turkey Day 2013

This year, we had everyone in attendance!  So special these days with some of the kids grown and having their own thing to do.  Mom was feeling good which was extra special!  Each of us contributed something and it all made for a wonderful dinner and family get-together!  Love my family!

Nikki prepping her Brussel Sprouts

                           

Girls and their mash

My Turkey & Stuffing!

Kathy's Famous Rolls

An array of homemade desserts:
Evelyn's Chocolate Pecan Bars, Kris' Blueberry Pie,
Salted Caramel Cupcakes (only thing not homemade which I provided)
Kathy's Cranberry Cake and Pumpkin Roll, Nikki's apple pie-lettes

                           

The Allure of Macy's

On Saturday, Winnie - who gets all kinds of wonderful invites to events - told me I should register for this year's Allure event to be held at Macy's Herald Square.  I did and was so happy that I did.  It was early...8am...2 hours before the store opens.  The first 300 would get a gift bag.  Winnie & I were there around 7am.  And from our place in line, we would be assured a gift bag.

We signed in, got our ticket to redeem for the gift bag on the way out and went to enjoy coffee, an assortment of mini croissants, danishes, muffins, quiches and fruit ka-bobs.  We even partook in some Mimosas.  As a sweet treat, tiny meringue kisses melted in our mouths.

We watched demonstrations by professional make-up artists applying eye shadow, foundation and filling in eye brows.  All very informative and interesting.  Then we walked around the beauty counters in the newly renovated Macy's which was beautiful.  The store was in the throes of getting decorated for the holidays.  I have to admit, in search of the ladies's room, it was odd to be wandering around the store that was not yet opened to the public.

Macy's is part of my childhood memory.  This was our go-to store.  As a family, we would shop there for our start-of-school clothes.  My mom would take us to buy fabric and sewing notions and then lunch across the street at Woolworth's cafeteria.  As a child, I had no idea it was this huge department store...the biggest in the world...to me...it was simply where we went to buy clothes and such.  Back in the day,  I knew this store like the back of my hand.

Both Winnie and I purchased fragrances and in doing so, received an over-sized Macy's tote.  I was the first customer of the day at the Calvin Klein counter and the salesgirl gave me a bonus gift of a miniature Obsession spray, lotion and shower gel in a sleek make-up bag.

But our gift bag upon exiting was very exciting.  We got a full sized bottle of Estee Lauder's Modern Muse (a new fragrance retailing at $78), Mac's red lipstick, Benefit's It's Real mascara, Lady Gaga sunglasses and an array of fragrance samples.  A silver make-up bag and compact mirror and of course, their latest issue of Allure.  It certainly was worth waking up early for.  Thanks, Win for a fun Saturday morning.

Foundation

Eyes

Our goodies

Nikki's ING NYC 2013 Marathon Medal

Barbados 1981

I was organizing or trying to organized my huge collection of photographs and came across images of the 2nd part of my honeymoon in 1981.  We only had 5 days when we went to Nice & Monte Carlo after our wedding in May so Stan and I went to Barbados that September.  We stayed at Cunard's Paradise Island hotel and when I looked at these photos...all I remembered was how "fat" I thought I was!  Ha!  If I could only go back and tell my 24 year old self that I was fine and should be happy with the way I looked....As they say....youth is wasted on the young!

I've never shown anyone this photo because I looked FAT!

Stan tanned very easily...(Nikki is like that too) and he
got tremendously dark on this trip.