We visited Betty Owen’s twins’ school for their 8th grade awards ceremony.

Shout out to Ben…he wanted to be on the blog!

And sweet Sarah, too.

Uncle Bill cooked Indian food…a family favorite!

Mom and I were able to spend a gorgeous Saturday afternoon in Manhattan, along with our friend Margaret (it was Margaret’s first time in NYC).

No trip to Manhattan is complete without lots of great food. We found an awesome (and inexpensive) Thai restaurant in SoHo, then of course ended the day with sweets.

And finally, I towed a Crumbs cupcake (caramel apple…to die for) all the way home to Florida for the Duke to enjoy. Am I the best wife or what?

These pictures took forever to upload! I hope you enjoy. And if you’re the praying kind, please send up a few for my aunt. She needs a miracle to recover…doctors don’t know what’s going on, but are saying her brain is basically “asleep.”

Enjoy your week, and thanks for stopping by.
The Duchess

I was supposed to be blogging about a Tuscan Tuna Salad today, but I created these scrumptious little gems yesterday and just had to share.

Spinach Sliders with Marinated Veggies. Oh Yeah. Seriously. This little sandwich packs a serious punch. I passed the marinated veggie counter at the grocery store the other day and just had to scoop up some of the mushrooms, olives and feta cheese. Note-these are all foods that the Duke wouldn’t touch with a 50-foot pole. That’s perfect…more for me!

Easy peasy, right?? Sometimes the smallest and easiest things in life can be the best. And don’t you ever forget that.

Make this for your next Ladies’ Lunch and you’ll thank me profusely. Have a great weekend, friends! The Duke and I are off to see Le Grand Cirque tomorrow night with my parents. It’s like a knock off Cirque du Soleil. Should be fun.

Tata!The Duchess

I’m so excited to share some pictures of our new rental house. We officially close on the previous house around 3pm this afternoon! I can’t believe we’ve already purchased and sold our first house. We’re such grown-ups. Anyhoo, the Duke took some fabulous shots of the new place.

The house is in a gated community that is so typical of Florida. I love all of the stucco homes with well-manicured yards.

Get a load of the huge kitchen…

Ruby loves running around the golf course after all of the golfers have left for the day. I’m sure we’re totally breaking some code from the Home Owner’s Association, but oh well!

What do you think? I think the Duke and I are really going to like it here. It’s a bit smaller than our last house, but it’s the perfect size for us. We plan on staying here for a few years…basically, until we’re ready to build our dream house.

Check in tomorrow for an awesome cookie recipe that will be perfect for your Memorial Day weekend plans!
The Duchess

I’ll quickly take a brake from the chaos to share a positively sinful cookie sandwich with you. I’ve been on “Operation Clean Out the Pantry” over the last few weeks, so that we don’t have to move lots of food. I had some Reece’s cups and chocolate cake mix on hand, so I whipped up a scrumptious treat.

Ooooh yum. They are every bit as good as they look and then some. I mean, if you like chocolate and peanut butter. But who doesn’t?

I don’t know what my deal is, but I always forget how to make butter cream. For some reason, this time around, I thought it called for TWO sticks of butter with three cups of powdered sugar. No, I did not open a recipe book or look up a recipe online. I was just so sure that I knew what I was doing. Add 3/4 cup peanut butter and some cocoa and voila! The creamiest and richest butter cream ever!

Mmmm….cookie batter. Is there anything else you need in life?

I’m still laughing about my butter cream snafu. The Duke took the Cookie Pies to work and his coworkers flipped for them! I’ll never tell them my little mistake secret that made them so delicious. The Duchess

Gosh, I love this house. It’s a four bedroom/ three bath beauty with a pool and a two car garage. A little much for a couple of newly weds, huh? Well the house was in much need of some TLC when we bought it (I’m cursing the fact that I can’t find the “before” pictures), and that’s just what the Duke and I gave her.

I knew we were going to turn around and sell her all along, but I couldn’t help growing slightly attached. This was the first house the Duke and I purchased together, so it will always hold a special place in our hearts. I’m trying to look at it as a money-making move (which it is), and not get so sentimental about it. We’ve only been in it a year, after all.

This is what the house currently looks like…

…a good ole fashioned mess!

I hate messes. I can’t go to bed at night if there are dirty dishes in the sink. I have to have the kitchen in order, my lunch packed and laundry folded before I can rest. Needless to say, the mess of this move makes me crazy!

Thankfully the Duke and I have been working hard all weekend. We’ve packed up about 2/3 of the house, and taken numerous loads of boxes to our new rental house.

I can live with the mess since I know it’s only temporary. The movers are coming this Saturday to load up the big furniture. So, this time next week, we’ll be out of this house and on with our lives.

It’s definitely a bittersweet goodbye, but the Duke and I are both very optimistic for the future. And very thankful that our house sold! Well, like I said before, it’s under contract. Keep your fingers crossed that it all goes through.

I’ll post pictures of our rental house soon. It’s to die for! The kitchen is simply FABULOUS. The Duchess

We started out the day at Bobby Flay’s Bar Americain.

Isn’t my mom too cute? I’m an only child, so she’s my best friend in the whole world. Love you, mom!

The Duke ordered some home made potato chips with blue cheese sauce to start. Oh yum!

The Buckhead Diner is our favorite restaurant in Atlanta, and we always order their blue cheese potato chips when we go. Bobby’s weren’t quite as good at Buckhead Diner’s, but they were still pretty great.

For lunch my mom and I split the mussels with house french fries.

I usually love mussels, but this dish was not my favorite. They were cooked in broth of white wine, spinach and peppers, but it was just missing something. To be honest, I was quite disappointed with brunch. We’ve been to Mesa Grill in Vegas twice and loved it, but Bar Americain just didn’t meet my expectations.

Ruby had her own special sign!

After seeing Promises, Promises (can’t believe I didn’t take a picture of the sign ), we walked around Times Square for a bit. For dinner, mom chose to go to Little Italy. The Duke and I love Italian food, so we certainly didn’t complain!

My dad ordered to ossu bucco and it was seriously the BEST I’ve ever had. I could have licked the plate clean.

The Duke chowed down on a huge mound of lasagna….comfort food at it’s best.

And that, my friends, brings my trip to Manhattan to a close. We came, we saw, we ate! The food in NYC really can’t be beat. I absolutely adore that city, but don’t think I could ever live there. I like having plenty of room to stretch my legs, ya know?

Could you ever live in such a big city? If you do, what do you like most/least about it?? The Duchess

One of my favorite spots in Manhattan is the gorgeous, but very pricey, market at Grand Central Station. Beautiful produce, baked goods, cheeses and meats abound.

After leaving the market, we stumbled into Crumbs, one of NYC’s many fun cupcake bakeries. Oh yum! Crumbs is nothing like Magnolia Bakery, with its tiny and dainty cupcakes. Crumbs offers some big mommas in a zillion flavors.

It was difficult to pick just one, but we decided on the Butterfinger.

It was a vanilla cupcake (chocolate cake is just not my thing) filled and topped with a peanut butter icing that had crushed up Butterfingers in it. It was then dotted with chocolate chips.

The Duke and I were technically splitting this bad boy, but I ended up eating about 3/4 of it. I honestly could not help myself. On another note-did you know it’s a law that restaurants in NYC must tell you the number of calories in all their food? Well, this beast of a cupcake packed 590 calories! It was well worth it.

After digesting my cupcake, we headed over to City Island in the Bronx for my twin cousins’ B’nai Mitzvah.

Here are Ben and Sarah with their Rabbi. I honestly can’t believe they’re 13! Time sure flies. My dad also took part in the ceremony. From left to right, this is my mom, dad, aunt and cousin, Sarah.

After the service we danced the night away and ate like kings. I didn’t snap any pics, though. I was too busy boogying! I’ve got one more day’s worth of photos coming, so stay tuned. The Duchess

Photo from Google Images

My twin cousins are having their bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah on Saturday in the Bronx, so the Duke and I decided to make a long weekend out of it. We went to NYC the first Christmas that we were dating back in 2006, but neither of us have been since. I absolutely adore Manhattan, so I can’t wait.

My mom and dad are already up in NYC, so we’ll get to spend Mother’s Day (which happens to fall on my mom’s bday this year) with them. We’re having lunch on Sunday at Bar Americain and then going to see Promises, Promises on Broadway.

Photo from Google Images

Kristin Chenoweth, AKA my favorite theatre actress of all time, is starring in this revival, along with Sean Hayes from Will and Grace. I’m so excited for the show, I can hardly stand it!

I hope the big city is ready for a couple of country bumpkins like us. Ready or not, here we come! The Duchess

To get the month of May started out on a healthy and productive note, I’m participating in Yoga Pose May. Tina over at Carrots ‘N’ Cake (one of my all-time favorite blogs) is heading up this “blog-wide yoga challenge” in which bloggers from all over feature a yoga pose on their own site. The idea is that readers of all these different blogs may be inspired to give yoga a try. Pretty cool, huh?

It’s been a while since I’ve done yoga, but I used to really love it in college. I probably went to at least one class a week. I love the stretching and toning that yoga provides, while relaxing me at the same time. Well I’m not wasting any more time, because my pose is featured today! May 1st, baby.

Here is my rendition of Warrior 1:

Like most yoga poses, Warrior 1 requires a great deal of balance. It’s certainly something that a beginner can master, though. If I could do it with the sun in my eyes, you can too!

Ruby also got in on the action.

I hope my participation in Yoga Pose May inspires you to give yoga a try. If you don’t have any yoga classes at your disposal, there are some great DVDs that allow you to go at your own pace (in the comfort of your home). Make sure you keep up with Tina all month. There are plenty of poses to come.

Have a great weekend and a marvelous May!The Duchess

Do I look like my Dad? Some people say yes, some people say no.

The weather was awesome!

My favorite was this Prosecco. The Duke and I first tried the Italian sparkling wine when we were in Rome for our honeymoon last year.

Champagne, prosecco, sparkling wine…it’s all good! Champagne is usually my drink of choice, but I try to save it for special occasions. Tomorrow’s Friday. That’s a special occasion, right?
The Duchess