Lowe's Heroes Will Pay A Visit To Riverside Elementary

I have blogged over the last few months about the school budget crisis in our town.  In the end, the tax increase needed to keep Center Street Elementary open was voted down.

I have to give credit to all the teachers, staff, and parents for making the last days at Center Street truly memorable for the kids.  There were fabulous activities planned, and everyone enjoyed themselves.  Now we are moving on to a new school and a new adventure.

My boys were assigned to Riverside Elementary.  We found out Adam will have a male teacher this year.  We are excited, especially seeing Adam wants to be a teacher himself one day.  We are also excited for Brandon to begin kindergarten.  While I have mixed emotions about my baby going to school, I am looking forward to all the great memories he will make.

So far, we are very pleased with the introduction we have received at Riverside.  The principal is very "hands-on" and welcoming to questions and new ideas.

As many of you know, Jay is the store manager for the Lowe's in Oneonta...... that is what brought us to this town.  Every year Lowe's Heroes runs a volunteer program to improve the local community.  This year, Lowe's will be paying a visit to Riverside Elementary.  I don't want to spoil the surprise as to what is coming, but I will give a hint.  It involves improvement to the outdoor area of the school. 

The project is set to be underway in a few weeks.  After it is done I will post pictures and give more details.  We are so excited to be a part of this great idea!

Brag About It

Last year, my friend Amy told me about a shop on Etsy called Brag About It.  This very sweet woman, Melissa, makes hand stamped, personalized jewelry.  So, I checked it out.  Very cute things. 

Amy had ordered a few pieces for herself and gifts for the holidays.  She was very happy with her purchases.  I totally trust Amy's opinion on things like this.  First of all, she is very honest, loves a good deal, but not if it sacrifices quality.  So, if she said it was good, it must be ;)

Well, I have been browsing the site every now and then.  I liked the Face Book page too.  This way I get updated on new designs or sales.  Yes I said SALES!!!

About a month ago, I took the plunge and ordered myself a necklace.  I fell in love with her design called "My Boys"...how appropriate, right?!  I had an Etsy conversation with Melissa to do some tweaking to my order.  I added a longer chain and birthstones.  The additional cost was minimal.  I also placed the order during a sale, YIPPEE!

I received my piece, and it is wonderful.  I can wear it casually with jeans, shorts, sundresses etc.  I was so pleased, that I placed an order for someone on my holiday gift list.  I'm pretty sure she doesn't follow my blog, but just in case I won't mention who;)

I highly recommend following Brag About It on FB to catch the sales.  Also don't be afraid of changing an item listed, to make it truly yours.  The owner is great to work with.  Happy Shopping!

Classic Blueberry Muffins

Last night a vote was cast for breakfast.  On the menu was toads, snails, or blueberry muffins.  While Adam's little friend voted for toads with ice cream, blueberry muffins won.  So this morning, I whipped up a batch of classic blueberry muffins.  However, I did experiment with my new trio of vanillas.

While I was in Buffalo, I visited one of my most favorite stores, Williams-Sonoma...sigh.  I could spend hours there.  If only I had that million dollar inheritance, I could afford a lot more there too.  I did splurge on the trio of vanilla.  For years I have used the Madagascar Bourbon, and I really love the taste of it.   For today, I chose the Tahitian vanilla.  It pairs nicely with fruit items or non-baked foods, such as whipped cream. 

For the muffins, I bet you have all the ingredients in your pantry and freezer.  It is really simple, but that is why this recipe is so nice.  The blueberries and vanilla really have a chance to shine.

recipe (12 muffins)

2 c. flour

1/2 c. packed brown sugar

1 tbsp. baking powder

1/8 tsp. salt

2 eggs

6 tbsp. melted butter, cooled

1 c. milk

1 c. frozen blueberries

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a standard muffin tin with non-stick baking spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  In a large measuring cup whisk together milk, eggs, and vanilla.  Make a well in the dry ingredients and slowly pour in milk mixture.  With a spoon or spatula, carefully mix batter until just combined.  Fold in blueberries.

Scoop batter into the muffin tin.  Fill about 3/4 full.  Bake for 18 to 20 minutes.  Allow to cool on a rack.

Nowak's Take Manhattan (Part Deux)

While I was on blogging hiatus a lot happened.  I kept taking pictures, writing recipes, and journaling so I would be able to share. 

Back in December we took the boys to New York City for the first time.  You can check out this post: Nowak's Take Manhattan to see all of our first adventure.  Well, for Mother's Day, Jay surprised me with another trip to New York City.  We had already talked about taking the boys back in the spring or fall sometime, but I honestly wasn't expecting another trip so soon.

This trip was wonderful.  We learned from our first experience.  To eliminate Jay suffering from what I term "GPS Brain", I drove.  We made it to Poughkeepsie, in one piece and a bit early.  I overcame a fear of driving on bridges, and I managed to find the parking ramp on the first try (instead of driving in circles for 30 minutes). 

Arriving at the hotel, was like coming home, well to a second home.  Jay and I have always fantasized about buying property in the city.  After scouting out possible areas I would like to live, I have discovered it will remain a fantasy, unless I inherit a few million dollars.  Anyway, we settled into the hotel for the night.  The next morning, to save on money we ate breakfast in the hotel room. I packed shelf stable milk boxes, cereal, granola bars, etc.  We chilled them overnight in the fridge, and voila....saved about $25 on breakfast.

So let the adventure truly begin!  Jay was off to the visit the World Trade Center Memorials, while I took the boys to the American Museum of Natural History.  We ventured to our subway stop together.  Jay checked the train we were to get on, and then went the opposite direction to his destination.  Seems great right??  Well the hitch was the B train was not running.  So I punted and got on another train going the same direction.  This would have been OK, but I got on an express.  So as we were cruising by our stop, and then the next 6 to 7 stops, I started to worry.

Where did we wind up??? In the Bronx :)  A wonderful local girl in her 20's got us going on the correct train, and we made it to the museum just as they were opening.  We enjoyed the planetarium show and the dinosaurs. 

In the meantime, Jay was trying to get ahold of us to notify me of the subway change.  Yeah, I couldn't get reception in the museum, so we were without communication for about 3 hours.  After finally, getting ahold of us, we met outside the museum and headed to Central Park.  I did ask Jay what he was going to do if he couldn't find us....he replied with, " I was going to get a hot dog, cause I was hungry, then I would have called the police."  Thanks Jay, your stomach comes first ;)

At first I wasn't going to confess our subway mishap, then Jay told me about his little trip.  After changing trains, and going in the wrong direction, he wound up in Harlem.  See the great adventures we have!

On to Central Park.  It's beautiful and the boys loved playing there.  We even took a few rides on the carousel.

After our glorious day in the park, we took the boys to Time Square at night.  Brandon was convinced it was still daytime.  The next day, we sailed around Manhattan for a Mother's Day brunch cruise.  The food was fabulous, I experienced my first mimosa, and the boys were on their best behavior.  The perfect Mother's Day :)

So is our New York City adventure complete??? Not quite yet.  We are going again in September, except this time Jay's parents will be joining us.  We are going to do our best to show my father-in-law how much New York has changed since the 1970's.  Stay tuned for the tale of New York City Meets The Parents ;)



Adam's 7th Birthday

The kids and I are back in Oneonta today.  We had a relaxing couple weeks in Buffalo.  Although I did spend some much needed time "relaxing", we also managed a few visits and celebrations.  Adam celebrated his 7th birthday Harry Potter style.  He had two parties, one with a spell book cake and the other featuring golden snitch cupcakes.  Here are a few pictures from his special days.

hat & broom made from tootsie rolls and glasses
from chocolate, then book edges sprayed gold





wings made from color flow




Now I am off to spend some much needed time with Jay :)



"Bocca" Summer Salad

Last week Jay and I had our first date night in a long time.  My mom is here visiting and watched the kids so we could sneak out.  I left the dinner plans to Jay.  He took me to a restaurant in Cooperstown, NY called Bocca Osteria.

 The cuisine is Italian, and very delicious.  We ordered the "Bocca" salad as an appetizer and it was just delightful.  It had candied pecans, oranges, bleu cheese crumbles (which I'm normally not a fan of, but were wonderful in the salad), mixed greens, served with a balsamic vinaigrette.  We added chicken to ours too. 

After consuming most of it, I told Jay, I would come back just for that salad.  Now I love salad, but normally I would not go back just for a salad.  This was exceptional!

So here is my version of that scrumptious treat.  I added cherry tomatoes to mine, just because they were hanging around in the fridge.  I also didn't have time to candy the pecans, so I just dry roasted them in the pan.  My version wasn't as delicious as the orginal, but it will do until I can get back.

ingredients

4 c. mixed greens, washed
2 chicken breasts, grilled and sliced
handful of cherry tomatoes
2 oranges, supremed or 1/2 c. mandarin oranges
1/2 c. toasted pecans, chopped
2 oz. crumbled bleu cheese
1/8 sliced red onion

balsamic vinaigrette

1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
2 tsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
3/4 c. olive oil

Combine all the ingredients in a mason jar or creut and shake vigoriously.  Combine all the salad ingredients in a large bowl.  Pour 1/4 to 1/3 of the vinaigrette over the salad and toss with tongs.  Serve immediately.

Getting Ready For Adam's Birthday

My oldest is turning 7 years old in a couple of days.  I can't believe how fast the time has gone.

So each year I ask him what he wants for his birthday theme.  This year he asked for a Harry Potter birthday.  He was very specific about what cake he wanted too.  For the party at my parent's house, he wants a spell book cake, and for my in-laws he wants golden snitch cupcakes.  OK, I can do this :)

So today, I decided to make the wings for the golden snitch cupcakes.  I want to give them plenty of time to dry before I transport them 300 miles.  So I whipped up a batch of royal icing, traced a sheet full of wings, and began piping.  I finished them off with clear decorating sugar, to give them a bit of sparkle. 

What do you think?