First off thank you to everyone who gave feedback on my motion piece!! You all have been so helpful and it’s awesome to get input and see your reactions. After being in a little shell last quarter with our close knit digital class, it’s so nice to find out what real people think (sometimes I don’t think digital kids are real…our brains are starting to seep into computer screens). Anyway, I’ll definitely be considering all comments when I make my decision and refine my piece.

Now, please don’t judge my eating habits…I have become cupcake obsessed, but that will end this Wednesday. I am going to test my willpower and give up chocolate AND cupcakes for Lent! OH GOD. This might cause me to be irritable and unfulfilled at first, but I will conquer my womanly desire for sweets, yes I will. That being said, I was unlimited with my indulgence this weekend (mind you it was Mardi Gras weekend, I was allowed to splurge).

Cupcakes. As always I’ll start on Friday when me and Emily went to Magnolia Bakery, most known for its gained popularity after being on Sex and the City. We went to the original bakery, inhaled its sugared intoxication, and bought ourselves some heaven. Red velvet and chocolate with vanilla icing. I wasn’t so bad as to eat two in one day, but it was tempting. Magnolia’s little cupcakes ended up being sweeter and topped with tons more icing than Crumbs Bakery cupcakes. I didn’t mind that one bit.

After going to Borders and buying To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, Friday was meant to be a relaxing night, watching movies and just savoring some alone time. This failed when my roommates ended up being home and loud and I ended up being too busy wrapping up plans and some portfolio work to enjoy myself. At least I got some things done.

While waiting to go meet my mom at the hotel the next morning, I squeezed in watching Wuthering Heights. I had just finished the book, which was a million times better than the dumb movie. Sadly, my morning didn’t go too smoothly. I nearly caught our apartment on fire. I plugged in our lampshade-less lamp while the blind was down and hence the bulb burned a hole though the window shade. I feel like an idiot and luckily Melissa walked in before anything went up in flame. Sigh, it was a close one and I’ll definitely have to be a little more aware of exposed light bulbs from now on.

After my near calamity,  I took off to the Marriott in Times Square, waited an hour for my mom’s shuttle to arrive, and then gave her a gigantic hug. I missed her!!! Mrs. Baumer, a.k.a. my mom’s cool friend Peggy, also came to New York for the weekend. They were both along for the ride and I did my best to show them the city in one and a half days.

Hunger was our first obstacle, we were all starving, and when we sat down for some cornbread and pulled pork at Virgil’s Barbeque, life couldn’t be better. Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of the food, but the restaurant was all decorated for Mardi Gras and their barbeque sauce rivaled Montgomery Inn. Mmmm.

Next we went to the Met for a bit, Central Park, and then all the way down to Canal St. where my mom absolutely, positively had to see where those fake purses are sold :p We got cussed out by some old Asian lady when we didn’t follow her, not to mention nearly trampled by the crowd and attacked by other foreign speaking hagglers. Despite all of that it was fun to walk through SoHo and experience a bit of the crazyness of Chinatown. Little Italy was only a couple streets up so we walked past the dozens of Italian Restaurants until we came to Pomodoro, a small, kind of shabby, pizza place where despite its appearance, we ordered some mouth watering slices of pepperoni and cheese. Our waiter was smitten with Peggy and my mom and nearly stole my camera ;) He was a lot of fun and has come to be one of the first attentive waiters I’ve had in NY.

I then introduced them to Crumbs Bakery and we bought a Grasshopper (chocolate cupcake with a fudge middle, mint icing, and chocolate chips) a Reese’s Cup Cupcake as well as a Devil’s Chocolate Cupcake. We tasted and shared but couldn’t quite finish them.  They were perfect though, as was the rest of the night watching Saturday Night Live and slowly falling asleep in a CLEAN room with fluffy pillows.

Early Sunday morning we set off for Egg.  A popular, but tiny place in Brooklyn that serves some fantastic brunch. We walked though Williamsburg right to the restaurant and snatched the last table (after that a line formed outside). They gave us some cinnamony cream puff pastry things, served us water in a wine bottle, and I got some freshly squeezed orange juice. We split Eggs Rothko (brioche and egg and grafton cheddar and yum) and biscuits in sausage pork gravy. The tiny place with its bare walls and homey breakfast was the epitome of morning food.

In order to guarantee that we would get rush tickets for the Broadway show Chicago, we had to be in line at the box office so that when the theatre opened at noon we could get seats for thirty dollars instead of one hundred and ten. Starbucks in hand, this wasn’t too bad of a wait, and obviously it was completely worth a bit of our time to save so much money. After buying tickets we had time to kill till the 2:30 showing. This resulted in us walking around to different souvenir stores looking for a decent tee-shirt for me and Tony. The general result of this was a bunch of foreign guys literally yelling at us about the shirts being organized and that we should only take the top one otherwise we’d be wasting their time and messing up their perfect stacks of cheapness. God forbid we touch the shirt unless we are for sure going to buy it, I was so sick of them hovering, asking questions, and scolding us for trying to find what we were looking for. Complaining aside, we eventually found a decent store, bought our shirts, and ventured to spend our time doing something a little more fun.

We came across Stardust. Apparently the place is well known, but we didn’t know this as we walked under its crazy glowing sign into a retro world of aspiring Broadway singers and pricey burgers. This place was a lot of fun and it didn’t matter that our blue cheese burger was expensive because we were really paying for the entertainment. There was constantly a waiter or waitress singing their heart out (stupid expression, but it’s true). Plus I had pink lemonade, which I haven’t tasted a drop of since I left Cincinnati.

Off we went across the street to Ambassador Theatre finally to be seated for the show. Some senile old lady snatched our tickets and seated us, but it didn’t matter because Chicago was amazing. Lots of sexy girls with long legs and lean stomachs dancing and spreading their legs on stage. I think any boy would have withstood the singing to see this show ;) Not to mention it was way better than the movie (as the real performances always are). The show was funny too, especially finding out that the high soprano voice of Mrs. Mary Sunshine was actually a man. Woah, and what’s even better is my mom saw it coming when I didn’t.

After the show we headed back out into the misty rain and went to Greenwich Village, another part of town that my mom really wanted to see. In order to work up an appetite we wandered through a gigantic bookstore (I must go back because it was wonderful) and then a shoe store. One tummy rumble later, we stepped into Mexicana Mama, oh lala, and sat down in the cutest booth and ordered some chips and salsa as well as a raspberry margarita. Needless to say, it was quite strong, and that combined with the warm food and hot salsa made for a fantastic dinner. The salsa was almost like Indian Tikka Masala, it was thick and spicy and delicious. Together we split an appetizer of some gourmet Mexican concoction including tortilla chips, fancy cheese, peppers, chicken, beans, corn…and maybe more, but it was hot and yummy. We also split a chicken burrito with all your typical ingredients except for the addition of chipotle potatoes, which tasted like sweet potatoes, but made a particularly fantastic combination. Not to mention it was served to us sliced like sushi with rice and more special sauce on the side. SO GOOD.

After this my mom and Peggy (not me!!!) suggested cupcakes again and so I led us to our doom. We got Lolly (vanilla/strawberry cupcake with hardened pink icing and a surprise layer of cream between the top icing and the moist cake) and Bubba Boey (chocolate with whipped peanut butter cream icing and peanut butter chips circling the fluffy top). I have to say the pink one is by far my favorite flavor from Crumbs. I absolutely love the thick icing (reminiscent of dunkin’ donuts strawberry),the silk cream and crumbly inner cake.

I am going to miss them dearly but one must have limits I suppose. ( I think I will allow myself to break Lenten fast my last week here and devour one of these pink delights before I leave…maybe) Anyway, splitting these cupcakes is one of the best ideas ever and we fell into a sugared slumber while watching the Academy Awards (yey for Heath Ledger!)

Because I had work we had to wake up super early today in order to make it to Petit Abeille for breakfast. Nana had heard or read about this Belgian restaurant somewhere and knew that it was a good place to go. Not only that, but Petit Abeille means “little bee” and since our last name Appiarius means “bee keeper” and my mom’s name, Deborah, means “queen bee”, it was only appropriate that we went there for their last meal in New York. I ordered some hot chocolate which came in a bowl and tasted like gourmet, bittersweetness melted into a drinkable soup. Together we split a Belgian waffle topped with fresh strawberries and whipped cream as well as a Western omelet with cheese, ham and peppers. Like my bowl of hot cocoa, it was a bittersweet meal because sadly I had to head to work and they had to get back to the hotel and catch the shuttle to the airport.

I absolutley loved the company of my mom and Peggy. My mom is, and always will be, my best friend and Peggy is such an easy going and fun loving person that I couldn’t imagine a better pair to take around New York to enjoy small talk in various restaurants. We had an awesome time together by just relaxing and enjoying the sites . The trip ended up being a hundred times better than it would have been trying to shove in all those touristy attractions like Ellis Island and the Empire State building. I’m so glad they came to visit me and gave me the chance to have good company for a fantastic Broadway show and excellent eateries. I’m pretty sure they enjoyed it too ;)

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