Rockin' Robin

The day after Thanksgiving. Today I ventured out to Snellville to do a little Christmas shopping with mom. I got quite a bit done although I think my mom bought more for me on this trip than she was supposed to, not that I'm complaining. So after a morning of shopping we decided to get some lunch at Red Robin , a burger chain that sells gourmet burgers. I have never eaten at Red Robin but I will say that my experience there was a great one. We walked to the door and the host came out and quickly opened the door before we could get there. There was another young man inside waiting for us with two menus and took us to our table ... without waiting for anything. We were seated and our server (coincidentally named Amanda) got our drinks and was just very enthusiastic about our lunch selections. So we ate and enjoyed the BUZZ Word game on our coasters. Lunch was a little expensive. Twenty dollars is quite a bit for burgers but the service was FANTASTIC and they have endless steak fries! Who could ask for anything more. By the way Buzz Word is a fun game especially for "word nerds" like me. Buzzword is a party game that really keeps things hopping during the 45 seconds in which players must guess the answers to ten clues. On each team’s turn, a card is drawn that contains a “Buzzword” and ten clues. The answer to each clue must include the buzzword. For example, if the buzzword were “Apple”, the first clue might be “The object of my affection,” to which the answer would be “Apple of my eye.” A point is awarded for each correct answer, and any unanswered clues are given to the opposing team for a chance to steal a point. The first team to attain 50 points is crowned the winner. All in all a great game that I suggest you buy.

Seasons Greetings from the Crosbys...

Elf Yourself is back! If you are not familiar with this.. it is a website where one can upload photos of yourself and it will put your face on an elf body and make you dance! Its ridiculously fantastic and I seriously laughed for hours playing with my face, my friends faces and even a few celebs. So this is what I ended up with. In case you do not watch hockey this is me and Sidney Crosby ( Hockey player and sexiest man alive) doing the Charleston and wishing you Happy Holidays. I invite you all to visit. http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/ and create your own elfself, and please copy me on the email, I would love to see how your elf turned out.

We didn't land on Plymouth Rock! Plymouth Rock landed on us!"

"May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!"
-Anonymous

Happy Thanksgiving friends! Well it's that time...Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving has never been my favorite holiday..in my opinion its right up there with Flag Day. If you ever watched FRIENDS think of the Thanksgiving episode where Chandler hates Thanksgiving ... I share Chandler Bings opinion on this beloved holiday. I don't like Turkey, Yams, Pumpkin or any other Thanksgiving foods. I would like to start my own holiday on November 27th .. called "amandagetting".. a holiday where the menu is Italian subs, Pizza and hot wings, and the day is celebrated by getting Amanda presents.
So heres how Thanksgiving goes for me. I start out with the usual tradition of working. Unfortunately I have to work on most holidays but I am thankful that I have a job so I tried not to be too bitter. I went to work at 6 am and made tons of cakes, petit fours and lots of bread pudding and now I am home. I did get to break a wishbone that I dug out of one of the nearby turkeys and I won so hopefully my wish will come true. In my opinion the only good thing about Thanksgiving is that it means Christmas is looming. While I am anti-Thanksgiving I am absolutely in love with Christmas...It is the "most wonderful time of the year". So I made my annual Christmas C.D. which I tried to play and work (it was quickly vetoed) and as you can see from my previous blog I already put up my Christmas tree so I am ready for this holiday season. I love Christmas!!! Tomorrow I'm off to Snellville to partake in Black Friday, wishing that I had finished my shopping last month when the stores weren't crowded with people. Wish me luck!

In other news did anyone catch Top Chef last night with the Foo Fighters. It was GREAT! I must say after watching the Foo Fighters on Top Chef I love them a little more. The challenge was to cook a Thanksgiving meal for the band. The contestants were divided into two teams. The girl who one the "Quickfire Challenge" got to pick her team..which was painful to watch as she clearly selected all the strong chefs to be on her team, leaving behind the runts to be on a team together. How awful would it be to be on that team? I truly felt bad for them. So two teams, Team Sexy Pants (the apparent winner) and Team Cougar (the losers), I would like to say that all three of my picks for "the finale" were on Team Sexy Pants = I am awesome! So my Italian Stallion Fabio and the rest of his team won the challenge which allowed him and his teammates to see the Foo Fighters concert as their prize leaving the losing team to clean up. The gay guy with the crush on Tom got booted off...which in my opinion was a mistake...I think that the blond good looking guy should have gone home for serving "Barf -fait" , seriously what was this guy thinking, Pumpkin mousse with Fresh Fruit? That doesn't even go together, and I can say that because I am a freaking Pastry Chef! Well I'm sure he knows that it is inevitable that he will be returning home shortly.

So I will leave you with my favorite Christmas tune, Josh Groban singing O Holy Night.



-wishing everyone a happy and safe thanksgiving! xoxo

Too quick to judge

Last week was the start of a new season of Top Chef and I started out by selecting the chefs that I thought would make it to the finale. I would like to apologize to Fabio ... he is defiantly one of the strongest competitors and I failed to include him in my top picks. So I am rectifying that right now. "Fabio I am picking you to make it to the end!" , there I said it. If you do not know Fabio well ... Fabio is the guy who speaks in a fantastically thick Italian accent and in addition to his good looks and cooking talent he seems to be a team player. For those of you who do not watch top chef...well you should, and next week the chefs will be cooking for the Foo Fighters in a special Thanksgiving challenge.

Twilight & Christmas Trees

So this has been a great day for me. I have been in love with the Twilight series ever since I read the first book, and today I went to see the movie with my mom, Lauren and Brittany. We started out at lunch at Atkins Park and then went to a viewing of Twilight! I must say the book was much better than the movie but nevertheless the movie was great! I felt that they did they best they could to squeeze the key points into a 2 hour movie but I still would have loved a 5 hour movie to get it all in there. I must say that Edward Cullen is the hottest vampire ever!

(Lauren, Brittany, Mom and Me @ Atkins Park)

(My ode to Twilight)

So earlier that morning my mom brought over a Christmas tree that her and my Dad bought me for my first home! So Brittany came over to help me decorate it and I love the tree! It is decorated in gold and red tones and it sits in all its splendor in my sun room. Its a good tree!

(Trimming the Tree)

(Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree)

Pop the Champagne!

Well my friends the art is hung. History was made today! Eric came over and hung my artwork over my couch for me. My friends and I all toasted with some fine champagne to my artistic accomplishment. The living room is finally finished being decorated and now I move on to my guest bedroom which is in dire need of a little TLC. What will my next art project be?

(me and the art)

(Jeff, Eric and Me)

(Eric seeing how far the cork will go..it flew an impressive 15 yards off the balcony)

Martinis & Imax ... make mine a double!

Fernbank Museum has this great thing they do called Martinis & Imax. For $15 dollars admission you can see an Imax film and sip martinis (the martinis at $8.00) on a Friday night. My friends and I decided to take our friend Brittany there for her 24th Birthday. So we all got dressed up and headed down Ponce. I rarely get dressed up so this was a little stressful for me but I put on my new hooker boots and went. Let me just say that Steve Madden (designer of said boots) evidently hates women. My feet are still sore a day later, but it was nice to be taller than 5ft 3'' for a few hours. We sipped on our sweet tea martinis and watched a film about Antarctica on the humongous screen and then headed back to Lauren and Jeff's for Birthday cake and presents. A fun way to spend a Friday night I must say. Happy Birthday Brittany!

Top Chef Wednesday!

"I'm not your bitch, Bitch!"
-Dave Martin (Top Chef Season 2)

Here it is folks, the long awaited 5th season premiere of TOP CHEF taking place in New York. So my favorite thing to do is to pick the person who I think will make it to the top chef finale and then pick out the people that will make a total asshat of themselves. Sad to say that girlie from Atlanta got kicked off in the quickfire challenge, not even making it to the elimination challenge. The characters on this show are insane. From Finland dude arguing what a vinaigrette is to Charla who is lets her "spirit guides" show her which ingredients to use and then the blond good looking guy (jeff) who announced that he carries a comb in his pocket and asks his busboys how he looks. So here we go .. Will Tom Colicchio get a culinary boner this season? Lets hope so.

So here are my picks for the finale.

HoseaStefan (also gets my vote for asshat)So we will see how this season unfolds. I must say it was nice to see Jean-George on the show as a judge (one of the best chefs in New York). But I will be more excited when Anthony Bourdain makes his appearance.

-Auf Wiedersehen

Forever in Blue Jeans

"My voice is unadorned. I don't try for perfection. I try to be honest and truthful and soulful with the voice I have. If I make mistakes in notes, or there are cracks in notes, I don't fix them. Thats the way it is."
-Neil Diamond



Today on my favorite oldies station 106.7 I heard a great story of an elementary school principal who plays Neil Diamond songs over the loud speaker for his students every Friday calling them NEIL DIAMOND FRIDAYS. He then proceeds to hand out a teddy bear coincidentally named Neil to the class that showed the best spirit that week. Is this Genius? ... I think so! Being the Neil Diamond enthusiast that I claim to be I am sad that I didn't think of this first, and more importantly why didn't I attend this elementary school in northern Iowa. In further Neil news the principal went on to say that since the start of Neil Diamond Fridays suspensions are at a record low.
As a child I used to play my mom's record Hot August Nights...my favorite of all Neil Records and replay Cracklin' Rosie and Cherry Cherry over and over again. I really believe that this principal has the right idea, I know that I can't think of a better way to bring the masses together than through the music of Neil Diamond...known to many as the Diamond Cutter or the Jewish Elvis.
I encourage all my readers (all 2 of you) to think back to your favorite Neil memory or even your favorite Neil Song. The world would be a much happier place if we all succumbed to Neil Diamond Fridays. I leave you all with my favorite Neil song.

Cherry Cherry

Oh Picasso where Art thou?

Tonight I glazed my very first professional painting. I say professional painting because I had the assistance of a professional artist. I have always loved art and my art career was a series of Bob Ross painting classes at a local Michael's craft store; I have since been learning from my friend Eric how to paint and I am so excited to finish my first work of art. I wish I could say that the painting I just finished was something I came up with but it is a replica of an Eric White original and its amazing. My condo was in desperate need of some artwork on the walls so I can not wait to hang this series of paintings above my couch. Hooray for art! Here is a preview to what will soon be hanging in my living room.