ellyn's adventure in baking: April 2010

4.18.2010

Look Who Turned 30!

I was very excited to have my birthday weekend off to celebrate in New York City. Sister Alyson came over the night before so we could wake up on April 17th raring to go. Lauren was sneaky and decorated the whole apartment after I went to sleep.

Thanks everyone for all the birthday wishes! Beautiful flowers from my parents, pretty spring scarf from sister, and Gaga tickets from Lauren!

Two wine glasses for toasting me! One from Lauren and one from Allison.

Favorite decoration was the giant 30 balloons from my sister.

We headed out into the chilly wind of New York City this fine day in April to have brunch at Good Enough to Eat. We started with some lovely brunch cocktails and ended with yummy biscuits with strawberry butter.

Happy Birthday to me! Three different slices of cake from Magnolia Bakery: Red Velvet, Coconut, and Lemon.

After cake and presents, we headed out from some afternoon drinks at the Rusty Knot.

We proceeded to try almost every drink on their menu. Many came in tiki cups and one in a coconut cup!

Sister ordered me a Pickle Back which is a shot of Jameson and a shot of pickle juice. You can tell by the look on my face that I was a little scared.

But I'm happy to let you know that I really enjoyed it!

Pickle Back was my favorite drink of the day!

Ended the afternoon with a flaming volcano of adult beverage.

Time to head home and get gussied up for birthday dinner. All those drinks weren't enough to keep me warm on the walk home. SO windy!

We had dinner at Quality Meats including myself, sister, Lauren, Lauren Strayer and Sarah.

Thanks for all the planning sister!

Ladies of the night. Dancing ensued at The Park. Old lady Ellyn called it a night earlier than usual. So very tired from a whole day of birthday fun! Thank you everyone!

4.11.2010

The Big Apple

I flew to Philadelphia to meet up with Lauren to drive our stuff into New York City, but first Lauren surprised me with lunch. I had my first "real" Philly cheese steak at Pat's and I loved it! I am a cheese whiz fan.

We pulled the car up and had it unloaded after three trips up and down the elevator. My sister, Alyson (the resident New Yorker), came hang out for the afternoon. We had our first groceries delivered to our door step. Definitely a new experience.

This is New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Hospital. Lauren and I navigated via bus from our apartment to the hospital on a test run. Everything went smoothly.

We even wandered around inside and did a drive-by of the Neurological ICU where we will be working. It is a nice big hospital. I am very excited about being back in a big teaching facility.

The Happiest Place on Earth

Two lucky unemployed girls got to go to "The Happiest Place on Earth" for free! Our friend Ben's sister, Holly, works at Animal Kingdom and hooked us up.

We started our fun filled day at Animal Kingdom with a safari in "Africa".

Rhino

We got to see so many animals just on the other side of our ride.

Lauren, Holly and her boyfriend on the Safari.

Hippo

Giraffe

Elephant

Baby Elephant

Mother Ostrich that was a little upset about us driving by her nest of eggs. I made sure I kept all my arms and legs inside the moving vehicle so not to be attacked by her.

Gorilla

The Tree of Life

We headed over to "Asia" where Ben's sister works. We made our way to Expedition Everest, a great roller coaster. The perks of going with an employee other than getting in for free was getting to skip everyone in line and sit at the front of the coaster! Super fun!

Made our way over to A Bug's Life for a 3-D show. After which Holly and her beau left us to fend on our own.

With no time to waste we made our way over to Disney's Hollywood Studios.

We had predetermined what we wanted to do at each park...so we made our way straight to a map and started checking things off our list. Looks like I'm wearing Mickey's hat (didn't even plan that)!

Next 3-D show: The Muppets. I can do a great impression of the chef!

Wacca-wacca-wacca (in the words of Fonzy the Bear)

And yes the two old guys were in the box seats cracking jokes above us. Love those guys! I think I might need to buy "The Muppets Take Manhatten"!

Lauren catching a picture of what I do best, navigating through the park and keeping us on schedule. Can't go on any outing without a back-pack (I get that from my mom).

Making our way to the Toy Story ride. Just me and a barrel of monkeys.

Mr. Potato Head kept us entertained while we waited in line.

Woody and myself in my third pair of 3-D glasses of the day. This was the best 3-D interactive ride/game!

Little afternoon treat! Ice cream Mickey ears on our way out of Hollywood Studios. They sure melt fast in Florida.

Last but not least, the mother load!

The Magic Kingdom

Cinderella's Castle.

Alice's Tea Cups.

They are a classic.

Anyone thirsty?

Dumbo!

Swiss Family Robinson Tree House

Too funny that I watched the movie just a few days before we came to Disney World...so I was really into running around the tree house.

Night-time in the Magic Kingdom. I wasn't happy with the t-shirt options...So we opted to skip the fireworks and make our way to Downtown Disney. We promptly found t-shirts for our souvenir and at dinner around 10pm. We made it back to St. Petersburg around midnight with huge smiles on our faces! It really is the happiest place on earth!