Speaking of getting ready for winter early.. I’ve also been planning my Halloween costume since, well the middle of September. This must also be a sign of aging, the lack of procrastination.. Whatever it may be, I think I’m okay with it. 

By the third week of September I had come up with two different options, and I finally settled on a decision last week. I am going to be a sparkly pink owl :) I found a cute children’s DIY costume that I thought was cute and am going to try out their technique (in a bigger size of course!)

I went to Michaels and picked up different colors of pink felt, a mask, ribbon, foam for my owl mask, and glitter! The next step was finding a dress that I wouldn’t mind sewing my feathers on, so Goodwill around the corner was the obvious choice. I scored a dress for $6 and was onto cutting duty. Now I have all of my feathers cut out and I’m working on the sewing part, which is going to take awhile. It’s times like this a sewing machine would be helpful. I can be patient though, really I can!

So I will have to keep you posted on my progress. I still have a few details to work out, but I’m excited for how it is going to turn out. Plus, I don’t think there will be too many pink sparkly owls roaming the streets of New York this year. 

Oh and the best news too? I stopped by forever 21 this weekend and found the perfect pink tights to go along with my costume! I’m talking the perfect shade of pink. Cannot wait! More fall adventures, including a trip to the pumpkin patch on the way for you this weekend!

As the news has broke of Steve Jobs death, I wanted to take a minute to show my respect on my blog.

As Steve Jobs’ death has started to settle in I have realized that I spend more time with my apple products during the day than anything else, let alone anyone. From my apple ipod for my morning and evening commute, my apple desktop at work, and my apple macbook laptop at home, apple products surround my life. We’re talking a minimum of 10 hours a day.. plus adding in the amount of time I spend on my laptop at home. If you do the math, I think it is safe to say that apple products have a heavy influence on my day-to-day life. All of this because of the visionary behind what is apple today. Even if you aren’t an apple-junkie, I’m sure you’ve heard of another little company called Pixar, also a part of Steve Jobs’ legacy among many other things.

So today, we honor one of the most ingenius and imaginative men to grace the Earth during my lifetime. Steve, you truly have changed the world and may you rest in peace.

I will end with this quote about living you life, from Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford commencement speech: 

"You can’t connect the dots looking forward you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path."

I encourage you to listen to Steve’s full speech. Thank you.

If I had to eat mac and cheese for every dinner for the rest of my life, I’d be perfectly okay with that. Homemade, Kraft, generic brand, baked, or from a restaurant I love every kind. Who really makes the best mac and cheese though?! At least in New York that is… I’m on a mission to find out. For this post, the contenders are as follows:

Southern Hospitality: I’ve eaten there a number of times, but this was a first for their mac and cheese. Their mac and cheese was classic with elbow pasta, and a four cheese blend that defines creamy. I was a little surprised that there weren’t bread crumbs on top, being that it was a southern restaurant, but the cheese blend was delicious.

Beecher’s Handmade Cheese: Aw, I was really excited to try this place out! I saw it through a post on my digital reader and when I saw “world’s best mac and cheese” you know my eyes were caught. Once I looked the restaurant up online some more cool details emerged. Turns out, Beecher’s actually originates out of yours truly, Washington! Pike Place Market to be exact! How cool right? They just opened their New York location this summer and their only other location is back in Seattle. I ended up getting a grilled cheese, with a cup of their mac and cheese and some Boyland root beer.

What is really cool about Beecher’s is that they make their own cheese in the shop! You can even watch them prepare the cheese through the glass windows. They actually have a sit-down restaurant downstairs, but we just stopped by the cafe. Their cheese in the grilled cheese and mac and cheese was to die for! I’m a huge fan of Oregon’s Tillamook cheese, and Beecher’s gave me a taste of the west coast. The mac and cheese had penne noodles and tasted like perfectly fresh ground cheese. I still have a lot more mac and cheese to try before I say they are Anna’s world best mac and cheese, but it was definitely wonderful, and their grilled cheese was one of the best I’ve had.

MacBar: We stumbled upon this place by accident in Soho, but with a name like MacBar you knowwwww I couldn’t just walk right past. The restaurant is tiny, and resembles a cheese block with a yellow interior. It was the perfect stop-and-go place to drop in and grab some mac to go. We tried the cheeseburger mac and cheese.

My motto with mac and cheese really is, “the cheesier, the better” and Macbar did this really well. My favorite mac and cheeses are the ones with an extra layer of cheese melted on the top and Macbar had my mouth singing songs with their cheese! They had some pretty unique flavors on their menu too that I’m definitely going to have to go back and try.

So who has the best mac and cheese in New York? Well, I’m still deciding that.. but MacBar may have stole my heart for now…