Mother Nature

Well, she's freaking out a little bit lately...

Despite my plea for Hurricane Irene to leave my basement alone, she did listen too well.

That would be my basement with about 3-4 feet of water in it.  For a better understanding of what I and a lot of Hoboken woke up to today, this is my street:

Luckily, I did not lose power in the storm and the inside of my apartment did not get damaged at all.  So - for what it could have been - I think we lucked out big time.

For all those who were affected in the storm - I hope you are okay and that you bounce back quickly.

Let's celebrate!

This is my 100th post and what better way to celebrate than on my Mom's birthday!

Today we celebrate a woman who defines day after day what it means to be a great mother, friend, daughter, sister and someone who can be counted on no matter what.

One of my favorite posts so far was a compilation of some of her greatest sayings - so I thought we could celebrate her birthday with a few more...

Rosie-isms:

1. "What do I look like, BIG BEN?" - this is when someone asks her what time it is because we are too lazy to get up and check and think somehow she will know the time...
2. "HHHUUUUUHHHHH?" - normally occurs once a day when one of the 5 of us would yell to her from another floor of the house and expect her to hear not only exactly what we said but also be able to tune out the rest of the daily hustle and bustle...
3. "This is going to be F-U-N fun." - to make doubly sure you know she thinks the event will be a great time
4. "That's a sin." - After hearing bad news or something disappointing - this is the normal reaction...(please note that I have adopted this one and say it frequently...)
5. "Hey, what are you gonna do?" - this is usually the ending to when she is teaching us a lesson about life and we are upset about something. 
6. "Get something good." - the advice my Mom gives when you tell her you are going to a restaurant - as if we are going to go and pick something that sounds nasty...
7. "S-H-I-T." - With a family of 5 children ranging in a 14 year span, rather than saying this word out loud, she'd spell it - because odds are, the child who shouldn't be hearing it didn't know how to spell - so she was in the clear...
8. "Just what I need, the FREAKIN ice cream man" - while this is not a saying that happens all the time - the story of this saying is told pretty regularly.  We are outside cleaning furniture for the deck at the beginning of the spring season.  My mom hears a sound which she presumes to be the ice cream man bells  and proceeds to blurt out "Oh great.  Just what I need.  THE FREAKIN ICE CREAM MAN." In utter shock, we all look at her, completely confused...within 5 seconds she turns her thought completely and says "Oh wait, maybe it's the chimes next door (our neighbors had chimes on their deck).  Again - we all are looking at her like WHAT??!!  First of all, just what you need is something a little bigger than an ice cream man (perhaps a flat tire on the way to the airport for a family vacation would be something that would warrant a "Just what I need" emotion and second of all, none of us were really the type to beg for ice cream from the guy from the truck.  On the whole, we were pretty happy with the half gallons we had in our freezer - so in reality, the FREAKIN ice cream man was really not even an issue at all.
9. "When dog moves in, Mom moves out" - this is what we heard until about 4 years ago whenever we asked if we could get a dog.  My mom told us she had enough to take care of...
10. "Are you the baby of the house?!?" (think very high pitched voice)- this has now replaced item #8 as Misty - aka, the greatest dog in the world - has become a Noonan.  She follows my Mom everywhere and the two of them have quite the bond... 

Looks like she can make that 6 kids....

Happy birthday, Mom!

Here's to many more laughs and many more years of hearing all of your sayings - they really are something else!  

I love you!

Dear Hurricane Irene,

You are causing quite a commotion in the Northeast as we prepare for your arrival. 

Do me a solid and leave my basement alone.

Sincerely,
Noons

Winner winner, chicken dinner

I have come to find that cooking is something that I truly enjoy.  I like taking tons of ingredients and turning them into something that not only looks appetizing but tastes great.

I try to look up new recipes and add a bit of my preferences to make the dish my own.  I eat tons of vegetables and chicken on a daily basis, so most of my recipes involve all of the above.

Tonight for dinner I made chicken cutlet with a side of spinach and onions with breadcrumbs in a lemon sauce.

To start, I set up my station to make the chicken:

I seasoned in the chicken with salt and pepper and then dunked it in the flour, then the egg and milk wash.  Then I dropped the chicken in the breadcrumb mixture, ready to hit the pan.

I had precut some onions and sauteed them in garlic and olive oil after seasoning them with salt and pepper as well.

I then threw some spinach in the pan with the onions, added some breadcrumbs and dressed the veggies with lemon and a touch more of olive oil.  Once the veggies were ready to go, I transported them to another pot with a lid to keep warm while I cooked the chicken cutlet.  

With a little olive oil and garlic, I dropped the chicken in the pan and cooked them low and slow.

...and for the tah-dah shot...

My finished chicken cutlet - golden brown and ready for plating!   

I had made homemade sauce last week - so I used that to dip my chicken in and scooped myself a nice helping of the spinach and onions.

Not bad for a mid-week dinner!  And I made enough to have leftovers another day - which makes this meal that much better - I get to enjoy it twice! :)

Now, what to have for dessert...

When it rains...



...Hoboken floods.

Not a good look, Bokes - not a good look.

Anyone have a Daddy Warbucks' direct dial?  Hobokenites - one and all - are praying that the sun will come out tomorrow!

It's official

New Yorkers are addicted to coffee. 

I passed a Starbucks this morning that literally had a line out the door and around the corner.  Additionally, there was a Starbucks employee (who at first - I thought was acting like a bouncer) who was taking orders from the people in line and relaying them via walkie-talkie to the baristas inside. 

In the last year, I have learned to appreciate a nice cup-a-joe but I don't think I will ever stand in a line that long for a fancy (expensive) concotion of ground beans, milk and sugar.  Call me crazy...



A great start to another year together!

I think I am going to post updates that mix the time that I missed over the past month as well as some of the more recent events.

To start, I thought it would be good to pick up where I left off - mine and Tom's 2nd anniversary celebration.  Since it was a Tuesday, we obviously both had work during the day but made sure to leave at the dot of 5:00 to go to a special lounge for a quick bite to eat before the Broadway show.

The show started at 7:00, so we wanted to make sure we got something to eat but also would make the show on time.  We decided to take advantage of an "instant deal" on one of the daily deal websites and we picked a place that was close to the theater.  The place was called Inc Lounge and is a pretty swanky place that had great appetizers and specialty drinks.

After a flat bread pizza, chicken skewers and dumplings we were quite full and ready for to learn How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying!

The show was absolutely phenomenal.  The songs were great, the acting was excellent and the entertainment factor was most certainly present from curtain to curtain.  Tom and I both really enjoyed this show and were laughing along with the subtle jokes pertaining to working in an office - as we both now have experience working in corporate America.

It was a nice treat to experience the city after work hours.  I feel fortunate to be able to dress up for work and then go to a nice dinner and show in New York City when people from all over the world make trips to do that very same thing sometimes only once in their lifetime.  I also appreciate that Tom and I have common interest in taking advantage of what New York City has to offer us while everything is literally at our fingertips.

We recently bought tickets for Sister Act which has gotten wonderful reviews!  I will be sure to report back in late August after we go to let you know how it is!

It's been a while

My loyal readers - I apologize for the lapse (again) in posts.  Things are much different in my world since the last time I checked in and I have been formulating posts in my mind for over a month.  Life seems to get very busy at times and in the past month, I can honestly say, I haven't stopped moving since the end of June.

As most of you probably know, I moved to a new apartment in Hoboken. In my first apartment, I lived uptown in Hoboken and now I have moved downtown, which is closer to the PATH train and has made for an easier commute.  I will be back soon to tell you more about my new apartment and my new roommates soon!  I want to spread out my updates over a few posts :)

My sister, Regina, is back from Paris and had the most amazing time.  I got to spend time with her and my Mom, sister Victoria and brother Sean for a few days in Ocean City, NJ.  It was so much fun to be with her and the rest of my family for a few days on the beach...more to come on that :)

I also spent some time with Tom's family in Connecticut a few weekends ago and the time in the pool and playing backyard games was so much fun as well!  Another fun summer weekend was had by all!

This past weekend I was home in Philadelphia to celebrate my brother, Patrick's, birthday.  We had the nicest weekend just being with the family and enjoying a relaxing weekend at home.  On Friday night, Tom and I took the train to PA and were picked up by my Mom and Regina.  We then went to my uncle's house for Chinese food and a game of rummy.

On Saturday, we had breakfast, watched the movie Bridesmaids and then went back to my uncle's house to go in the pool!  On Saturday night, my Mom made delicious steak sandwiches for dinner (I miss my Mom's cooking so much!) and then we went to a new ice-cream shop for sundaes!

On Sunday, it was Patrick's birthday and we really had a nice day together!  The 8 of us went to Mass together and then we came back for an afternoon of good food, baseball and time together.  Since it is rare that all of us are together - since I am in Hoboken, Regina is at Penn State, Patrick and Karen have so much going on and Victoria and Sean are busy with high school activities and sports - we stopped to get a photo together!

My mom and the Noonan kids

So hang tight just a little longer - I will be back soon to update more of what has been going on - hope you are having a wonderful summer!