Put on the Glasses

Every six months or so Brian and I see someone's apartment or go to an open house. This inevitably results in our deciding that we need to change things in our apartment. Our friend, Jay used to make fun of us because our apartment would be completely different every time she came over to visit. We can't seem to help ourselves. This time we saw our neighbor's apartment. We were watching their cat over the holidays and they have the most wonderful, open apartment. They have nowhere near the amount of stuff we have but it isn't empty or cold. We are a bit jealous. So, of course, this results in our consulting the IKEA catalog (it's pages get pretty worn by the end of each year) and rethinking our space. This time I decided to use graph paper to create a new layout for the bedroom. This is our bedroom right now: Behind the bed are windows that you can't get anywhere near with the bed where it is. This layout is also really annoying because the dresser draw...

Brian did an excellent job shopping for me this year. He looked at my wishlist and bought me almost every book on there. Six books! With all of these and the huge stack of books I picked up at the library last week, I will be reading until rapture! Hooray! I already peeked inside and read the preface to Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation and I was rolling on the floor laughing. She is hilarious. He also bought me a personal library set! I've always wanted one of these. Now I can labels my books properly when I lend them out. :) Because he got so many books, he got me the free tote bag at the Strand, my favorite bookstore in NYC. They really do have 18 miles of books or at least it feels like it. I am so excited to read the books that I can hardly contain myself. I guess it was a good thing I was an English major, huh?

It was a Lego filled holiday season in the Copeland household. During Black Friday shopping, Brian and I scored a 50% off coupon at the Lego Store at the Mall of America (there were only 3 50% off coupons in the whole store that day; everyone else got 10 or 15% off). We used that discount to obtain the wonderfully stylish Fallingwater seen above. The set usually runs $100 but we got it for $50. I was beaming. That same day we also picked up the Empire State Building set. Then, on Christmas, I opened my presents to discover that my Mom had sent me the Guggenheim set! Brian has a picture of me when I opened it, with a huge smile on my face. He refused to let me post the picture, claiming that he will put up a blog post tomorrow. We shall see. My Mom also sent us the newest Santa and Snowman sets from Lego. They're cute and will make an excellent addition to my Christmas Lego decorations. I love Legos!

Leela wishes you all a Merry Christmas. This is the cat that got herself stuck under the oven. Right before I took this picture, she tried to eat the Christmas lights behind her. She is not a smart cat but she makes up for it by being cute.

Merry Christmas from the Copelands!

Every year Brian finds a way to outdo me in Christmas wrapping. This year was not an exception. He put ribbons in the wrapping paper so that I can quickly open the present, like a FedEx envelope or a pack of gum. I am very excited to find out what he got me. Merry Christmas Eve, Everyone!

On Sunday, we went with Tanya and Jorge to see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. It was beautiful this year, with the snow just having fallen the night before. At times, I thought the snow was fake because it looked so idyllic. Above is Brian in front of Radio City Music Hall. Here I am in front of the tree. Obviously, it is very well lit. We were really curious how they got the lights so evenly spaced and with the colors balanced correctly. Here is the tree with the statue of Prometheus. You can just see the edge the ice skating rink (they were fixing the ice between skating sessions, which was the only reason we were able to get close to it; the crowds were crazy). Finally, here is a picture Tanya took of us and Jorge. This was supposed to be the non-silly picture. Instead, it captured Brian and I making fun of each other, a common occurrence. The star behind us is a big replica of the Swarovski star on top of the big tree. I'm saving the great picture that Tanya...

We own a lot of Christmas lights. Every year, we get excited before we take out our decorations in storage and we buy more lights. This year, Brian put our overabundance of lights to good use by creating this silhouette of a tree in lights up on the wall. It's terrific because we don't have the space for a full sized tree and it tricks you into thinking a tree is there. I love it. Good work, Brian.

This is the front side of the Christmas letter we sent this year. We did a silly quiz. My Mom was right: you need to send mail to get mail. We sent out Christmas cards shortly after Thanksgiving and we have received a ton of cards in return. I am so excited! I am decorating my bookshelves with them to celebrate. Thank you, everyone! To everyone that I didn't get a chance to send a card to: this is the letter that we sent with our cards. Enjoy! This is the back of the letter:

I finally got around to trying a recipe from The Pioneer Woman's blog . I picked an easy one to test, the Mushrooms Stuffed with Brie. They came out almost perfectly. I let them bake a bit too long and the brie kind of liquefied. It didn't matter though., They were delicious. Also, I substituted spinach (1/2 cup chopped) for parsley because Brian hates parsley. For the recipe, with mouthwatering photography, click here . You will enjoy them and they are super easy. Trust me.

I finally put to rest my old Googlepages website that was located at aliciaglaser.googlepages.com. I haven't used it since Brian and I were engaged in the Spring of 2008 and I had not looked at it in a year. It was sort of sad to see it go. However, Google made it easy to download the entire website to my computer for backup. Now I will always have a copy for posterity and not worry about what is lingering on the site in the future. Data protection has been a bit of a worry for me and Brian lately. Ever since Brian's Dad had his identity stolen, we have been locking down our information. I deleted my old MySpace account. I also locked down my Facebook account so that outsiders and 3rd party applications cannot see my data. I am debating deleting my Twitter account but I haven't gathered the nerve to do that yet. If you want information or photos from the old site feel free to ask!

Creepy that the day after I make Brian promise to go with me to see the tree at the Rockefeller Center, Tanya asks if I want to go see the tree. Great minds think alike. I spend far too much time on Facebook Wednesday night, I was baking cookies in the oven and the oven starting clattering like it was alive. I freaked out, thinking mice or, heaven forbid, a rat was in my oven. While debating what to do, I checked to see where the cats were and Leela was missing. A while later, a white paw reached out from under the stove. She was, I don't know how, under the oven. My oven does not sit up high; the cat had wedged herself in the 2-3 inch space under the oven. Brian had to move furniture to give her enough room to climb back out. Stupid cat. I really am enjoying the new Lady Gaga album I read 2 good books this week: Ice Land by Betsy Tobin (fictional novel based in Icelandic myths) and Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane (novel about a U.S. Marshall sent to investigate the disap...

It's Christmas time and we will be stuck here in New York. As a result, I have been cooking like crazy to try to retain some semblance of tradition. Christmas isn't the same without my Mom's caramels, fudge and cherry-drop cookies. In the past I have always failed at making my Mom's caramels but this year I finally succeeded (with a giant stock pot and a diffuser). Here's a shot of the caramel when I just started to heat it up (before I was distracted by the need to constantly stir and watch the thermometer): Here is a picture of the huge pile of caramels when I was done wrapping them: Now, I refuse to divulge my Mom's recipe to the internet. It is her recipe, not mine and I do not feel that I have the right. I will, however, recommend a sugar cookie recipe. I always have had issues with sugar cookies. They never live up to my iconic memories of the perfect cut-out sugar cookie. This year I finally found a recipe that did live up to my internal hype. I got ...

making the cats like me decorating for Christmas the movies A Serious Man and Paranormal Activity the tragic repetitiveness of John Saul novels the British shows The IT Crowd and Wire in the Blood the Lego advent calendar Brian bought me finding passive aggressive methods to annoy the neighbors that make too much noise (yesterday Brian sat on a stool in the hallway and pretended to read a book to make them shut their door) homemade hot chocolate spiked cider making lists of foods to cook for the holidays that I will probably never make like sugar cookies, caramels, etc. the game Risk; I have only beat Brian once but I am getting better every time

I love zombie movies. My first date with Brian, I made the poor guy watch Dawn of the Dead and Shaun of the Dead . A while back I saw a photo of a glass case that held a fake shotgun that said "in case of zombies break glass" (click here for my original inspiration). Of course, I wanted one. However, they were a promotional item for a videogame. Plus, the shotguns were fake, not at all useful if zombies actually were going to attack. I tried to see if I could buy one of those fire cases that hold fire extinguishers and fire blankets and just adapt it. Those boxes, it turns out, cost at least a hundred dollars. I decided to take matters into my own hands and build myself an emergency box to prepare for the zombie apocalypse. I bought a frame for a few bucks from a discount store and hand painted the glass: The objects surrounding the glass were part of my "cat deterrence system." Oddly it worked. Livia prefers to sit on my paper projects anyways. I built a...

No reason to post pictures of the cats. You will just have to deal with my obsession.

After the garden we finished our day at the Brooklyn Museum: It looked large from the outside but it had a pretty small collection on display. We were utterly confused at the museum, unable to take pictures and they had mysteriously run out of maps for visitors. We ended up wandering around aimlessly, wondering what we were missing without the use of a map or any signs. I don't think I'll be going back any time soon. Brian. however, enjoyed the fountain in front and claims that this is what he wants in his future dream home: For dinner that night we went to Rye, a hidden restaurant/speakeasy in our neighborhood on a whim. It was delicious. I could eat their duck confit with gnocchi every day. I highly recommend the place. To end the day, just under the wire at 11:59 pm, Brian presented me with a homemade birthday cookie: It was delicious. A terrific birthday yet again.

Continuing in the Botanic Garden, Brian and I were amazed that in the rock garden, even the rocks had signs: It turns out that the entire rocks garden is composed of rocks that were deposited on Long Island by a glacier. They traced back the origins of each rock and noted the story on each boulder. Here is a wider shot: They also had a serene Japanese Garden and pond. I loved the big fish that swam up to the dock: Here is Brian looking at the Fish: We loved the Botanic Garden and plan to go back soon. One more birthday post left. You best return tomorrow for the final part of the story.

After Grand Army Plaza, we made our way over th the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. This turned out to be the highlight of the day and we have vowed to return. Here is Brian looking at flowers: It was amazing how many flowers were in bloom. coming from Minnesota, you grow up believing that everything hibernates as the first frost. I particularly loved these flowers that covered the ground: There were beautiful, quiet paths to walk down in the gardens: They also had signs to help those of us that do not know their plant life. I took a picture of this one because I like it so much: More pictures from the Botanic Garden coming tomorrow.

Our walk through Prospect Park ended at Grand Army Plaza. It was impressive. There was a market in the plaza that day by the park, hence the tents. The arch is a war memorial modeled after the Arc de Triomphe in Paris: Oddly, the corner stone for the arch was laid on October 10, 1889, exactly 120 years before we saw it. Here are some up close shots: However, the highlight of Grand Army Plaza was the Brooklyn Public Library: It was huge inside and I am going to have to go back to scan the shelves. I'm glad I finally got to see it though since it is a bit of a pain to get here from our apartment. Stay tuned for upcoming posts!