Showing posts with label birthdays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birthdays. Show all posts

Friday, February 18, 2011

Surprised and Delighted!

Surprised and Delighted is the theme for today, February 18th, in New York City. Why?

1. I woke up and, as I often am after a night of many glasses of wine, was a bit disoriented and had forgotten that my sister was in bed with me. Surprise #1, oh how wonderful it was to find her there! She had come into town for a 12 hour flash visit to spend my birthday eve with me. Horray. I was also surprised that she brought the birthday bird with her, along with some Patagucci loot. Delightful!

2. IT IS 66 DEGREES IN NY! Yes, 66. Yes, it's Febuary. Yes, I'm thrilled. Yes, I went for a run on the westside highway to start my day, and yes, I actually danced while waiting at the stop light. And sang. Oh and during my run there was a topless man on rollerblades gliding down the westside highway. I'm serious. Clearly, this is my day.

3. I got to work and after logging into my email, I went to google.com and BAM- this is what I saw.
This was surprising-- why would Google have a birthday doodle on the homepage? (I mean, I know I'm kinda a big deal but not THAT big a deal.....yet). When I rolled my mouse over it it said "Happy Birthday Natalie!" OMG. That is QUITE a delightful little feature that seems to be only for logged in Google employees on their birthdays. Loves it!

4. I've gotten showered with love in the form of flowers, phone calls, facebook messages, emails, texts, cupcakes, chocolate cakes, and hugs. WIN WIN WIN I love you all!

Also as my team at work managed to out-do last years' celebration and get me this. WOW, this is VERY exciting.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Birthday Becca

She's so excited. Really.
I'm thrilled to be celebrating the 25th Anniversary of NOT being an only child today! Yes, that's right, my not-so-little sister has reached the peak of her mid twenties. The good news is, I'm still a hair taller. And no one can tell who's older. Well I wish I could do what they do in Katroo.... but since I can't, I'm taking the train to Philly for a delicious dinner with the birthday girl and cousin Alex. And here's to hoping the Birthday Bird shows up in Newton next week!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

A High Hi 5 for the Bday girl!

Two gifts for the beautiful birthday girl, LPR (previously LJP).

1. The Hi 5* that keeps on giving:

2. And of course some homemade (magnolia recipe) cupcakes in the bday girl's fav hue.


* I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that looking at these sweet HI 5 mittens, actually caused me to go to wonder to whether this was the correct spelling; or, whether it was spelled as I previously assumed "High 5." It caused me to think it either/both as the gesture is both a greeting (as in "hi") and also elevated (as in "high")....wikipedia says correct spelling is High 5. I might just have to call it a Hi High 5 from now on.....

Friday, August 27, 2010

Stanford Family Camp Roundup

Two weekends ago we held the first (of what is requested to be an annual or quarterly) Stanford Family Camp weekend at Post Pond. The idea's been in the works for a while and sadly some of our campers had to back out due to jobs (boring), but the 7 of us had a hell of a weekend/GB.

It was a beautiful day on Saturday and the boys (including Ballew the bday boy) hit the Dartmouth Golf Course early and we met them post for a lovely lunch in Hanover.
The afternoon was filled with activities: swimming, canoeing, kayaking, fishing, tennis, ping pong, trips to the ice cream shop, and many hours of Celebrity and Loaded Questions. We shopped uber-local and feasted on New Hampshire's finest summer veggies and steak.
And finished off our fabulous summer feast in front of the campfire making s'mores.
All campers were well behaved and quite happy-- we are planning fall foilage and ice fishing weekends at Post Pond to come! Many more photos here.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Back to Baking: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and Coconut Chocolate Cupcakes

Perhaps due to the cooling temperature, I've started heating it up in the kitchen in the past couple weeks. In case the east coast gloom is getting to you too, I am posting some yummy treat recipes today. Disclaimer: they are not my own-- I stole both, but added my own touch :)

First up: my personal favorite cookie of all time: oatmeal chocolate chip. You don't have to look far to find this recipe, in fact, it's probably in your cabinet already. The recipe on the underside of the Quaker Oats top, is by far my favorite cookie, as long as you substitute raisins with chocolate chips. These cookies are so chewy and delish you won't miss the chewy raisins, I promise. They are also excellent with butterscotch chips. Warning: There is a reason they are called Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies-- you'll want to consume these sans restrictive waistband...Enjoy!
The second recipe is a bit more involved. For Lara's birthday I mixed up something that combined her two favorite sweets: coconut and chocolate. I started with Martha's recipe for coconut cupcakes and then topped with this rich chocolate frosting.

I will admit that Martha's cupcakes are a bit laborious, but let me tell you, they are worth the extra beating, mixing and washing because they are just that light and fluffy. After trying various cupcake recipes, I think I've dialed in on her secret: what Martha makes you do that others don't is beat a separate batch of egg whites which you fold into the batter after the rest of the ingredients are mixed. This is quite a PITA, and it makes your beautiful shiny batter look gross, but after my testing, I have determined this extra step helps keep the cupcakes moist and light. YUM....and if you think you've made a mess, just imagine my dishwasher-less kitchen ;)

This frosting is a cinch (who uses that word?) to make and it's chocastically rich-- heavy on the milk chocolate flavor, which I much prefer to buttercream. It's basically the closest thing I've ever made to that awesome Duncan Hines frosting you grew up with. And, it stores easily too and is delicious by the spoonful (which probably explains why I haven't lost a pound despite the fact I'm logging 30+ miles a week for marathon training).

To top the cupcakes off (and remind coconut-haters to back away) I covered the top of some of them with coconut flakes.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Happy Birthday Rollerblade Skipper!

Check her out: She's turning 25 today....Ms. Allison (Skipper) Kronick!

I think she could use a little snazzier an outfit- and maybe fewer pads? Hopefully those are on her Bday wish list.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Rabbit Rabbit

Happy June 1st. Today signifies two very important events:

1. It's officially after memorial day: and it's fair game to pull out the white pants, shorts, capris, skirts, jumpsuits and whatever else. (Paisley and seersucker are also officially in season and highly encouraged.) I think it also means it's appropriate to put neon nail polish on your toes...but would request that someone more stylish than myself to verify.

2. (did you really think I'd forget?) It's Neva's Birthday! So this has been a very important day to me since we met in the 6th grade and became bff: she was too cool for school in her purple doc martins and I was wearing limited too spandex and matching headbands. No idea why she friended me, but thank god she did. The most memorable Neva birthdays were spent at Water Country where we celebrated every June in middle school. Ah to be back at Water Country today sporting a one piece speedo and riding the pludge.....Happy Birthday Love, hope your birthday is more exciting than water slides and cotton candy!

Friday, March 26, 2010

Happy Birthday to Em, the Red Velvet Queen!

Today's Emily's birthday, and in her honor I baked 2 dozen red velvet cuppy cakes last night...
when the clock struck midnight, I threw a pajama party to celebrate (I was the only attendee): Emily introduced me this very sweet flavor, and I've since become a bit obsessed. The bestest ones ever are from Sprinkles in LA. But, this recipe from Cooking Light is adopted from Sprinkles' and is lighter with the same delish taste-- AMAZING!

I also packaged some up in this adorable cupcake box for a very special neighbor:
The rest will be desert after family dinner tonight :)

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Spring Training 2K10

So yes, as you may have heard Erin mention on National TV, we headed to Scottsdale for a 5 way bachelorette weekend directly following our big Martha win. It was a repeat trip-- after the best weekend of our lives last year, we just had to return to the Valley Ho for some spring training fun.This time we had more to celebrate than just ourselves, as 5 of the 12 team members have been rocked up since last year's training.

Unfortunately us NYC girls had a bit of trouble getting there-- it started with the worlds most anxious cab driver, we then missed our flight and were faced with frustrated and rude US airways employee and 3 screaming crying fellow passengers. We kept our cool, found out Jet Blue had a flight out, and sprinted to their terminal. We got lucky with a gem of a gate agent who processed our tickets, checked our bags, ran us to the gate, AND wore a birthday hat (which clearly I offered her) in less than 35 minutes, to get us on our flight.
The crazy departure made our late arrival at the Ho even more exciting, there was screaming hugging and laughing that sent security to our room shortly thereafter....

In true Team and Pi Phi fashion, all the single ladies (*queue Beyonce song) acted as though the 5 ladies: Dyani, Ashlee, Jess, Alex and Megan ("DA JAM" for short) were our pledges.
Here they are, aren't they just the cutest?! (we totally won rush)
Here goes the recap:

Friday night: We lock DA JAM in one room to make up a dance to be performed on Saturday night, while the single ladies got to work decking out the room with banners, pictures, posters and assembling gift bags of tshirts, cups, rings and all sorts of goodies:
The single ladies then preformed a rhyming roast/toast, complete with a drink to honor each bachelorette:
We then continued to have our cake (and champagne) and eat it too.... lots of catching up.

Saturday was a perfect Scottsdale day, high 70s and sunny, with 0% humidity and 100% awesomeness. We spent it by the pool, drinking Go Bananas and mimosas until early afternoon when we headed to the Giants/A's game. Unfortunately unlike last year we did not get kidnapped on a party bus, but we did get taken for a free ride on a pedicab....
We were careful to monitor our beer intake at the game, for fear of passing out by 9pm, and luckily we managed to keep it in check. We trapped DA JAM in the side room again and set up for Red Night (another pi phi tradition).

Rather than buy some standard pink bachelorette crowns/veils, I decided to make DIY headwear for the ladies....I found the stretchy sequinned trim, lace, letters and feathers all MJ Trimmings, and went to town fashioning these Red Night meets flapper accessories for our rocked up ladies:
We then played a "how well do you know DA JAM" game...we had asked them all for random facts ahead of time, and the single ladies had to guess. Following that there was a very odd Pi Phi tradition interlude....The Cookie Shine, where basically we lay out a sheet and ate cookies and read stories sent by the boys about their fiances. Cheesy? Yes. Necessary? Definitely. (and of course there were tears shed).

Next stop before dinner was getting a shot of the group in the tub, clearly. So we called the bellhop and about 50 flashes later we were ready to roll. Locked up Ladies:
And the whole group:

Last but not least, we made DA JAM preform their dance....which looked strikingly similar to the "Devil Dance" several of the ladies had performed at rush 5 years ago, with the brilliant addition of Dyani doing the worm as the finale (video coming soon).
If you've read this far, you probably want to check out the rest of the pics. Let's just say, this weekend sets a hiiiiigh bar for bachelorettes!


Monday, March 8, 2010

JEANious Birthday!

Since we'll be in on National TV (PS: Set your TiVo for Friday's Martha Stewart Show) and flying to Scottsdale on Erin's actual birthday this Friday, we celebrated this weekend. The theme was Canadian Tuxedo-- though, in fact, this Jardy was in the USA....

The night began at my/Erin's place where we got the jardy started and getting decked out. I made my headband with jean scraps, and a "Jardy Girl" crown which Erin deemed too much (her hair looked pretty sweet) to wear. Whateva, her joots surely made up for it. Kait looked straight out of an 80's sitcom in my mom's vintage Wrangler jacket and I borrowed a jean dress and pulled out the full length "jench" coat from Jess's birthday in SF:At Bills Bar and Burger, we got to applaud all attendees costumes over pitchers of beer. From cutoffs to Weans (white jeans), to vests, to Linsday's jean jumper, we were pretty impressed by the costuming. As usual, Alberto's arrival was highly awaited, and he did not disappoint in jean capris and a jean blazer with shoulder pads:
Best story was Lara recounting Berto getting dressed-- "so he comes out of the room in the blazer and capris and is like 'should I wear the white shoes or the brown? I mean, I don't want to look ridiculous!'"

We then headed to 675 bar, where we were joined by many more jean-clad friends. Full pictures from the night are here. The night ended, as many of Erin's birthday nights do, at Japas.
Jardy on.

Friday, February 19, 2010

The celebration continues...

Had a fab morning yesterday and the day just got better. I was pleasantly surprised by my team at 4pm with a life sized natroid:Yes the droid is throwing balloons, confetti and Michael's gift cards. They know me well...

They also strayed from the classic (and dare I say overdone?) birthday cupcakes and ordered a cookie cake. Excellent choice!
Then headed up to TGIAF for some beer tasting and flip cup (what? at the office? yes, I know: Google is great/I'm probably getting fired)
Then went to a delish din at Yerba Buena Perry with some special ladies. Chelsea sent us this fabulous desert, and Mom and Dad the wine...could life get better?
Apparently it could: Lauren arrived at 11pm to meet us for drinks at Village Tavern. If yesterday has anything to do with it, this year is lookin good.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Great start to my 27th Year....

This morning has been a fab start to my 27th year. I woke up to a text message from the birthday bird (wow that bird is tech savvy), a bottle of champagne and cookies outside my door from my fabulous neighbor Erin, and then hit up Physique 57 to tone this 27 year old butt into shape. Allison told the teacher it was my birthday so mid class everyone was punching "Happy" "Birthday" "Natalie" while shaking their hips. That's a happy birthday indeed. My coworkers are doing a fab job as the "replacement spirit fairy" (since that is usually my job). Even big bird is wearing a hat!

The best birthday wish in my inbox so far goes to my sister who made this someecard for me. Um, clearly she knows me well:
Lookin forward to celebrating through the weekend!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Happy Valentine's Day!


Happy Valentine's Day!

Seriously, I left my place (for LA) in a state of LOVEly disrepair, covered in red and pink sparkles, paper, glitter, stickers, ribbons. I absolutely love Valentine's day- a perfect excuse to make everything girly, chocolate and full of LOVE! Here are some of the goodies that came out of the kitchen of Natalie Schwartz.
And don't feel unloved if you didn't receive them-- I didn't send them in the mail.
And Happy Birthday to Nikki and Cristina my favorite heart day birthday girls!
PS: I made these on Wednesday and on FRIDAY Martha sent out Conversation Cookies as her craft of the day. 2 days late Martha....plus, I think mine are cuter (just sayin)
Hope your day is full of Love and Chocolate! I just woke up on a sunny morning on the beach in LA, made some banana pancakes. This is true love. Can't wait to celebrate this glorious day with my sweethearts- Alex, Emily and Lauren :)

Friday, December 11, 2009

Top 10 of the past 10 days

Holy moly it's the holidays and I've been so busy with merriment that I have TOTALLY neglected the Internat. Apologies. Pour yourself a cup of eggnog and relax, here's the top 10 of the past 10 days.

1. I decorated the Google conference room with 3 dozen ornaments hanging from the ceiling, a mini tree, and plenty of tinsel. All purchased with 21 dollars cash at the dollar store, which I have disturbingly visited more than twice since I last blogged. It looks especially festive through the video conference lens, so anyone that happens to VC with us is, like, jealous. Totally jealous. we'rehavingmorefunthanyou.org. Sorry.
2. Apartment 2J--that's J is for Jolly-- is crafted out. I used the same recipe from my halloween cookies to make Christmas cookies.
And of course I packaged them up with as many red, green and white printed papers boxes and ribbons as I could find.
3. I've gone BELListic. I've made bell wreaths, earrings, and used them to tie packages...everything is better with bells really.
4. I saw a very merry Mary Poppins with Kaitlin.The music and set were to die for. Though they did leave out the penguins which were always one of my favorite parts. In any case, it was a jolly holiday with Mary, and really, overall a supercalifragulisticexpialadoious experience.

5. We had our team holiday party, "A Dealthy Carnival Christmas" at Death and Co. (a speakeasy) and Carnival (a carnival themed bar, complete with midgets, games, and people on stilts). It was quite a hit- highlights including our director Andy doing a roast of every employee while we stood on chairs, followed by near disaster when Leslie threatened the jerk in the dunk tank and he threatened to call security. Unfortunately I won nothing, but pretty much everyone else won stuffed animals, live fish and other treasures
...including this 9 foot long stuffed snake, which was an excellent limbo rope and is now a permanent fixture in the office. The "wanna play with my snake" jokes are getting a little old....

6. I saw the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, and let me tell you: they don't call it a spectacular for nothing. Those Rockettes were un-be-lievable. Nothing says Xmas in NYC like watching these life sized barbies throw their legs up 1000 times in unison. I'm going every year.

7. I ran the New York Road Runners Holiday 4 Miler in Prospect Park on Saturday with Kronick. My little mini-me was quite a star in her first race, despite the fact that she had butterflies all week and the temperature was in the toasty 20 degrees on Saturday morning. Santa Hats make excellent running headgear....
8. Lara moved to town and threw Alberto a surprise birthday dinner on Saturday night. It was probably the best surprise entrance ever. We saw he and Adam walk into Dos Caminos and we started a slow clap at our table, Adam followed along and of course so did Alberto, thinking it was just some randoms in the restaurant. He ran to the back slow clapping all along and then was shocked to find that the slow clapping table was actually people he knew! Classic Berto.
After a round the table "my favorite Berto moment" storytime and too many tequila shots, we hit up Rolf's, which very well may be the most festive bar in Manhattan. With litterally thousands of ordaments and lights hanging from the ceiling and walls, there is no other way to describe the sensation other than saying, it feels like you are inside a Christmas tree. We enjoyed the decor almost as much as our conversation with Neil, who had been drinking since 8am at Santacon. Here he is with the birthday boy:
9. Sunday I threw a cookie decorating party for the Stanny 05 gang.
Many things came out in our frosting. 1. Taco is excellent with the pastry bag 2. Kaitlin has trouble "decorating cookies that don't look realistic" I really pushed her out of the comfort zone by frosting a tree purple.....Here's a collection of the cookies we decorated.
10. I got a Christmas gift from Google that I am not allowed to blog about but can't wait to play with.

That's all for now, folks. Momma's coming to town tonight for a few nights of fun. Can't wait!