BEST BIRTHDAY WEEK EVER!

A little delay on this post… Needed a little recovery from my birthday weekend (hey I’m older now ;-)) and then a nasty cold decided to knock me out this week. So I’ve been DayQuil and NyQuiled up all week.. but alas, I’m feeling better so I’m getting this up!

Sooo my birthday week/weekend was pretty much amazing! I don’t know what kind of perfect alignment I got with the universe, but it was truly fabulous. My week started off with a beautiful surprise of flowers and balloons from Mama Duck that brightening my office all week long :)

Plus bonus, remember not only was it my weekend, but also our SEAHAWKS! So my birthday was kind of SUPER SUPER Blue Friday. I had to dress all work appropriate, but I still got my Seahawks colors in — proof cheesy bathroom selfie. 

On my actual birthday the office couldn’t have made my day better. My boss order lunch from one of my Italian restaurants and we had a feast!

Anddd they got me the best cake from Momofuku. Their birthday cake is to die for. Nom, noms.

After work, Chris surprising me with two dozen purple roses!  So I decided to make one big massive bouquet out of all of my mom’s pretties and his. It was pretty :)

It was a day of Italian food! We went to our usual spot for my birthday, this amazing restaurant called Crispo. It’s my 4th birthday we’ve celebrated together (ah, that many already) and the 4th time we’ve gone to Crispo. Also I think it’s the one place I have never actually taken pics in… I’m not sure how that’s possible, but let me just tell you.. We had the best dinner ever. I know I tell you about a lot of good things I eat, but that dinner, topped all dinners.

We got our usual truffled parmesan fries and mozzarella risotto balls for apps and splurged and also got some pomegranate sangria. I don’t usually order drinks with dinner, a root beer here and then but for some reason I just usually don’t. It was my Birthday though so why not!

Normally we get their spaghetti carbonara for dinner, which is amazinggg, but we decided to split an order of our carbonara and also try their Black Truffle Ricotta Ravioli. Maybe we just have a thing for anything with truffle oil (totally true) but that ravioli was hands down the best thing I’ve ever eaten. Like, if I get to plan my last meal, that’s it. After dinner we were on the subway heading down to meet up with my friend for a drink and we were just on the subway smiling.. about the ravioli. TRUE story. We’re food nerds.

We ended the night at the coolest place in the West Village called Houston Hall. It’s this huge beer hall, like it’s so big — totally unexpected for the location. I was giving Chris a hard time because my friend Lauren was visiting and found this place that both of us had never heard of — and she was just visiting! It was awesome. The beer was great and the company was even better. It was a great way to close out the night!

The next day led us to a full day of events! My friend Lauren, was visiting because her boyfriend was in charge of this HUGE event for DIRECTV for the Super Bowl, and bonus, they got us in! THANKS LAUREN AND BRIAN!!

During the day, they hosted a celebrity flag football game and they had all of these really cool things going on as well as some bomb-diggity food. Pretty much whatever food you wanted was there. It was awesomeee.

Oh hey dessert table, I see you ;-)

The event was SO much fun! And the venue was phenomenal. Get this, the whole thing was temporary and built in this huge tent on the westside waterfront. INSANE! I learned early on I’m not much of an event-planner but man do I have mad respect for the people who are. Just getting a little peek inside of all of the work that went into creating an event this big just boggles my mind. True dedication, and I learned a lot of sleep-deprivation.. These guys deserve a long all-inclusive vacation after what they pulled off!

It was really fun watching the celebs compete! Some of my favs including Chace Crawford, John Legend, Nina Dobrev, and Guy Fieri!

Oh yeah, and I tried really hard to get a good pic of Dr. Oz for my Dad!

After the game wrapped up, the venue switched over to a concert from Paramore. She rocks! I used to listen to her a lot in high school driving around in my car (miss you car!) so it brought back lots of fun memories.

Here’s where things get a little crazy. So not only did Brian’s team have to coordinate everything for the huge day event, but after the event wrapped they only had a few hours to switch it over to the night event. Insane! 

The night event was so awesome! The place was packed and the lines to get in were blocks long, but Lauren hooked us up and we got go past the lines. Totally felt like VIPs! The place was packeddd and also packed with celebs. We definitely spotted Kendall Jenner and Joe Jonas, but some of the other celebs that were there included Lindsay Vonn, Kate Upton, Jamie Foxx, Nicky Hilton, Spike Lee, and AnnaSophia Robb.

Let’s talk about the real star of the night though…. Yours truly, Jay Z! He came, he saw and he definitely conquered. We were literally one standing row from the side of the stage and it was crazy! I totally got my white girl, Taylor Swift dance moves on. No shame.

So Jay Z, was totally awesome and then…..

Beyonce showed up! You thought people went nuts for Jay Z.. times that by like 10 when Beyonce took the stage. I can’t even describe the night. Ah-mazing! We danced away the night into the wee hours of the morning and by the time I caught a cab home I was pretty tired, but not too tired to see the Empire State Building lit up in the Hawks’ colors! Best night ever.

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The weekend wasn’t over yet though… I still had another day of celebrating! My Super Bowl birthday shin-dig! I managed to get a few hours of rest in before I needed to get to work on my party food, but luckily the adrenaline for the game kept me going all day and night! 

 Here’s a few pics of my little food tables! 

Can’t ever have enough food!

It was such a fun evening with my friends and the fact that the Seahawks dominated the whole game had me dancing around like a little school girl. It might have not of been as eventful of a game for my friends that weren’t super into the Seahawks, but they fed into my excitedness ;-)

But wait, there’s more! Chris got me my first Fudgie the Whale ice cream cake, which is kind of a right of passage for kids around here. I might as well have been turning 5 because I was so excited about the cake and my friends loved it too! 

And the only other thing that could literally make my birthday weekend the best weekend ever?! I also won our Super Bowl squares pool! Luckiest, and best weekend ever. Hands down!

Thanks again to all of my lovely family and friends that made it so memorable! 25 definitely got started on the right foot!

Super Bowl City :: Super Bowl Boulevard

So I went down to Times Square to check out Super Bowl Boulevard and it was AWESOME!!! So awesome that I think Times Square should just be like that all year round. Now it’s time for me to bring my experience into your living room/office/wherever you may be! 

The before… Getting geared up!

The middle… snapping shots of all of the subway ads on the way to the Shuttle to Times Square!

I have arrived!!!

This should be blue and green… Who didn’t tweet for the Hawks?! Better luck tomorrow.

And that’s a wrap! Go Hawks!

Super Bowl City :: Seahawks Dominate the Press

Your NYC Seahawks correspondent is back! We’re 4 days out from the big game and you know I have a lot more to talk about. Today’s topic? How the Seahawks are dominating this year’s media coverage. 

I may be a Seahawks fan, but I’m reporting this from a semi-objective since I’m living in the Super Bowl epi-center which has no ties to either team.. I will say that from the coverage I’ve seen in the city, there’s no doubt that the Seahawks are taking over. Whether or not that will covert in the game, we will have to wait to find out, but I will say I can’t get enough of the coverage. 

  • Marshawn Lynch and the media: It’s no secret the guy isn’t big into media interviews but I actually noticed MORE coverage on the fact that he only spoke for 6 1/2 minutes of Media Day than any of the other player’s actual interviews. 
  • Baby is given “12th” middle name: I haven’t quite decided if this is kind of awesome or just embarrassing, but new parents in Washington gave their newborn baby the middle name 12th and with the last name of Mann, she’s officially 12th Mann. 
  • 12th Man Pale Ale: A brewery in Federal Way hit the jackpot with their 12th man ale and everyone is talking about it. We may not be able to get it here.. but the 12th man of Seattle is eating (or drinking) their marketing plan right up.
  • Hawks fans lighting up NYC in blue and green: We’re 2 for 3 so far of lighting up the Empire State Building. Verizon is hosting a contest on Twitter to let the fans decide which team’s colors will light up the iconic building each night.
  • Marshawn Lynch and Skittles: The guy who doesn’t like the press is getting some of the most press… He’s become known for his love of Skittles and just signed a deal. Coolest part of the deal? Skittle’s special edition release of a “Seattle Mix” that only has blue and green Skittles.
  • Richard Sherman a media favorite: Right or wrong, Sherman has continued to dominate press coverage since his intense after-game interview. One thing is for sure, people definitely know who he is now.
  • Derrick Coleman’s Viral Duracell Ad: Coleman is another member of the team that people definitely know now that his ad has gone completely viral with over 12 million views. So proud to have him on our team!

Now how about some big stories from the Broncos? Oh wait, I haven’t heard of any… Go Hawks!