Manhattan at it's finest...and coldest!

A Tribute to Starbucks

And what trip outside the country would be complete without numerous trips to Starbucks!










A reunion with my friend Sarah who lives in Minnesota!


...and Renee from Long Island

NYC during the HOLIDAYS...

SOOooo it came and went like a flash - but I was home in Queens NY for most of December and some of January. Of course you're living everyday trying to fit everything and everyone in because you know you'll be leaving soon and don't know when you'll be back again. This is how our visits home always turn out. Its so wonderful to see family and friends and cats and eat great food again :) Italians just have the market on pretty much everything - ok maybe not EVERYTHING, but cooking, beautiful land, personality, fashion, etc...and then NY Italians are a subculture of the real Italians...just displaced in another city :) LOL

So i really didn't mean to get into all things Italian, but this time for some reason, I realized more than ever how cultural my NYC family is. How more often than not, our conversations would revert to food, a recent dish we had, or what amazing homemade Italian restaurant we'd go to, or having my own Grandmother come over and make some seriously great stuff she hasn't even made in years. Until finally one day my dad finally admitted, "We really are food snobs aren't we..." hahah. We all heartily agreed.

So with all that said - i'm going to post tons of pics on this "BLOG" turned "PLOG" (sincs it's more pictures than written material)...i'd say I'm a more 'visual" person, because that sounds like a great excuse, and i'm not one for writing too much PLUS i just think pictures really say a lot more than i could. Tho i'll put in some explanations too...

First things first: our time at home, the wonderful family we have and the amazing family traditions we have during Christmas. Don't really know how or why they started, but they make the holidays what they are - fun times.

this was our first big shopping trip. We went the day after we arrived! Awes :)
















the fam...


















The famous Villa Mosconi's in Manhattan...they love us!!

































the one time we FINALLY got a chance to take my grandparents out to eat - and pay for them...we had a little battle but got in covered... :)
































Another random nite, nicole and tony were making their first ever Gingerbread House which almost turned into a disaster, but somehow turned out pretty nice...complete with a Menorah in the window and a paw print from one of our sneaky cats!




















My mom had a lot of help cooking the the kitchen...