I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

Living

NKOTBSB @ Fenway {1}

You may recall that I confessed my love for The Backstreet Boys last year when their newest album came out. They were my first concert!! They are my ‘I-know-every-word-to-this-song’ and my ‘drive-Pricer-super-crazy-by-playing-all-their-CD’s-on-repeat’ band. So when I heard talks of a tour with New Kids on the Block I was tweeking out a bit. what? NKOTB AND BSB?!?!?!! One year my camp councilor woke us up every morning by BLASTING a NKOTB song. You will def wake up to ‘Hang Tough’ blasting and wake up happy. When the ‘boys’ ended the American Music Awards with a mashup I sat glued to the TV and watched it over and over again.

 

Fast forward a few months to their tickets going on sale and Amanda sending out a tweet about getting some American Express presale tickets. Sign me up!! After counting down the months, weeks, days we finally made our way to Fenway to see NKOTBSB!!!!

Every aspect of the show was fantastic!!

Jordin Sparks opened for the bands. It was the second time I had seen her as an opener

Mayor Menio named June 11th 2011 NKOTBSB day (actually it might just be NKOTB day but you can’t understand a word that man really says)

Mark Wahlberg, aka Marky Mark, came out to introduce the bands

The bands ran out on the field from the Red Sox dug out for intros

 

It poured rain but we were under the upper deck so remained dry

Even though it poured and was so cold the boys kept performing and even had fun in the rain splashing around and using the stage as a slip and slide

 

Oh and let’s not forget the abs, lots and lots of abs. umm Donnie is 41… Those Wahlbergs have amazing genes and must work out 24/7.

Naughty By Nature came out and performed a song. Holy 90’s night!!

Joey Mac brought out his son at the end. so sweet!

Intro from Mark and first performance from the bands

BSB’s “I want it that way”

Naughty By Nature’s “O.P.P”

Many more photos and videos to come…

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Sing me a song

I heart Ian Axel. Price knows. It’s okay.

We first saw Ian perform back in January. It was a great show then and a great show now. The Red Room at Cake 939 is a great venue to see a show since it has a low stage, and the majority of the space is SRO. Because of that Price and I get to stand really close to enjoy the performances.

We missed the first act since we were too busy drinking rum out of a bottle at home while catching up about each others days. Yeah true story. We did get to see Alicia Lemke perform. I thought she was completely stunning. She performed a brand new song called ‘Maiden Lane’ that is a lullaby about a first responder on 9-11. Amazing. She created it to accompany a cook about 9-11.

 

Prior to Ian’s set, we chatted with Chad Vaccarino for a bit. We talked about how we were at the show in January and how he no longer drives, it freaks him out. I think that is hilarious and awesome.

Ian played solo for a bit, then Chad played with him, and then Ian was solo, etc. They are a great team together when they play. Ian is amazing on the piano. Price kinda wishes he had kept up with the trumpet whenever Chad plays. This time Ian played a ukulele. There was new music, more sing a long. Overall another fantastic time.

 

They will be back in Aug/Sept and I’ll be sure to get tickets to that show as well.

Gone

You’ve Got a Friend in Me

Girl, I Got a Thing

Dear Thief-

Dear Thief-

I don’t know what kind of person you really are but I know at the lease you are a scummy asshole.

Stealing my debit card information, not my actual card, and hitting up the ATM must have made you feel really awesome. You must have felt like you were smart, witty, and soon to be rich. Transaction #1 for $500 was not enough, no? Just had to get another $200, didn’t you?!? Plus you just had to do it at another bank too so I go hit with 2 service fee making the grand total $706.

Thanks for making me freak out on an already sucky Monday morning. First day back at work isn’t annoying enough, you just had to throw this in.

Thanks for making me take an extra long lunch to deal with this crap. I now have the pleasure of making up that extra hour.

Thanks for making me have to file claims paperwork. There was much confusion about what God Damn address to send it to, the one I am at now or the new one. Send it to the current one because I am having the mail forwarded? Why am I saying that address when it doesn’t match the address on file? When will it be sent? How long will it take to get there? My name won’t be on the mailbox until the 31st. What’s the zip again? Trying to explain this to a robotic woman on the phone just doing her job trying to make sure I am myself, and not a thief, is not funny. (Although the bank of America guy named Chris and I had a good laugh about it later)

Thanks for making me have to get a temporary card and have to wait to a new one to arrive in 5-7 business days. I now can’t do any online ordering with this because it doesn’t even have my freaking name on it.

And most of all thanks for having me just through hoops changing me automatic bill pay information. Thankfully, Netfix, my gym membership, and book club have all just gone through. But now I have to deal with the other few that are going to be processed soon. Most worrisome is my Studio Calico membership billing, which will occur while I still have my temporary card.

So thank you asshole. This situation is exactly what I wanted to deal with right now, the week before moving, not like I don’t already have enough on my plate. I hope they catch your sorry ass on video surveillance cameras and you go to jail. And while your in jail you look at someone the wrong way. This will piss  them off just enough so they figure beating you is more important than some guard’s consequence.

Sincerely,

Nicole

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Body Movin’

The weather has me in a funk.

My deadline at work as me in a funk.

Heading into work when it’s raining and leaving 14+ hours later in the dark got to me yesterday. And I have a few more days of that schedule to look forward to. Yes, I’m being sarcastic. But I look forward to getting the dinners we want and the OT.

Since I can’t do much about the weather, stress at work, lack of time to pack this week, and lack of sleep, I’ll just cheer myself up by watching these cuties bust a move.

Price’s family was in town a few weekends ago. We headed over to one of their friend’s places for dinner and allowing the 3 kids to play together.

How can I be in such a funk when I get to see a skillful ballerina and break-dancer?!?!

ummmmnicole look at me!

Price’s nephew Addison always says my name ‘ummnicole’. It’s all one word, really fast. But we can still hear the ummm- part of it. I’m not sure when or why he picked it up, but it’s adorable.

When we were back in Skaneateles a few weeks ago, Addison showed off his skills riding his bike. Sure a little kid riding a bike… big whoop… well I’m really impressed since he is 3 1/2 and is a master of a 2-wheel bike.

the 3 amigos

my mom took this photo of the dogs this morning and emailed it to me. these are our family’s dogs… Piper, Macaroni, and Cobi.

Piper aka Pipes, Piper-do…  is almost 14 years olds and was ‘my’ dog, a gift for my 13th birthday, but when I left for college is stayed in Greenwich. She did come up to live in Boston for a few weeks when I was not working at one point. Now she pays more attention to Price when we go back to visit then me.

Macaroni aka Mac… is the newest addition to the crew. My mom rescued him last month or so from a shelter. He was 1 of 2 dogs that this homeless woman had. When she got housing she had to give one up. He is has fit right in with Piper and Cobi. He is afraid of the getting sprayed with a water bottle so you just need to pick it up and he will stop barking, which he really likes to do.

Cobi aka Cobi Monster, Chewbacca… is the sweetest dog ever. His named is derived from Cohiba cigars. He sounds like Chewy when he wants attention. Cobi is starting to go a little grey, under his chin and now has a patch on the back of his neck. I usually get him to sleep with me when I am visiting the boat.

Ian Axel

On Thursday night Price and I went to the Red Room at Cafe 939 to see a show. We saw Ian Axel, Field Mouse, and Allison Weiss. I bought the tickets to see Ian Axel, who I have been hooked on since first seeing a song of his posted on Kelly Purkey’s blog.

The show was incredible. The venue is small, and while packed with people you still feel like it is an intimate experience.. You can stand or sit on the sofas that line the wall or sit on the floor. Only draw back really is that there is no booze there since it’s associated with Berklee College of Music, but really an amazing performance is better than a beer.

Ian’s set was amazing. He was intense and witty at the piano. While I love “This is the New Year” the song that really grabbed my attention was “Gone”. Clearly, I had heard this song before but I felt so much more watching him perform it live. I am not one to cry on a whim (except that Sarah McLachlan’s ASPCA commercial gets me every time!) but I really had to hold back some tears while I was standing there. Luckily, I managed to hold it together. I also really enjoyed the rest of his set, which included “Girl, I got a Thing”, “Leave Me Alone”,  “Afterglow”. I can’t forget to mention that Chad Vaccarino also performed with Ian, he sang and played the trumpet. That is one dynamic duo.

After Ian was done with his set Field Mouse performed and then Allison Weiss. While I enjoyed the Field Mouse set, I felt that the singer lacked punch to get heard over the drums. Keep in mind that I am no music aficionado but I would like to hear what the lyrics over the music. That being said, I listened to them later on myspace and loved them. Ending the evening, Allison Weiss’ performance was fantastic. I loved how she joked around between songs, gave the meaning and inspiration for songs, and overall commanded the stage.

It was a great night, even though I fell walking back to the T, because I got to see a fantastic performance from a musician I have been hooked to for awhile. Plus I saw another that I instantly loved, resulting in an iTunes purchase, which is a pretty big deal for me.

Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

Birthday Dinner

Yesterday was my friend Emily‘s birthday. We went out to celebrate with food and drinks at Post 390. This place always impresses us with their amazing service, fantastic food, and tasty drinks. Those drinks go down just so easily! Esp when your best friend is yelling at you to drink another one because it’s her birthday and that means you have to do what she says.

The Hedgehog Ornament, one of the gifts I got for Emily, was getting cozy with the butter, and confusing all the servers. It’s not a porcupine people! The hedgehog started to off having plenty of room but soon he lost out on real estate when all our appetizers and sides came. It is perfectly reasonable to make a meal out of appetizers and sides.

We had a great time catching up. Yes, we live live 3 miles away, email each other every day, Price and her work together… but we still need long dinners like this to really catch up on the shit storms that are our lives. Oh, the hilarious insanity.

Happy Birthday Emily… may this year bring you happiness and success. But really… let it bring more (controlled) backyard/kitchen fires, drunken nights playing Trivial Purist, overnights sleeping on the Cos, and adventures driving to random towns.

Living Today at Martha Stewart Radio

My love for all things Martha is undeniable and pretty well known. Martha magazine, cookbooks, show, products, and radio.  Well when there was a chance for the ‘first 5 people to email to get to attend a live broadcast for the Tree Trimming holiday show on Friday’. I jumped at the chance thinking I would be way to slow. Luckily I was not!

On Friday morning, I left Brookline before 6am to drive down to CT to meet my mom so we could go into The City together. Of course I stopped on the way for breakfast at Bill’s Bread and Breakfast to get the BEST english muffins around.

We encountered some issues with the train since service was down. Luckily, as soon as we ran back to my car to try to another station on a different line there was an annoucement  saying it was just restored, so we ran right back. And very randomly, I ran into someone I had not seen since HS so we got to catch up. Fate… maybe?

I love New York City. I doubt I could ever live there, but I love to visit it. I love the energy of the city. We arrived in busy Grand Central and then headed over to 5th Ave. We saw really interesting window displays at Sack’s as well on our way up to St Patrick’s Cathedral. After that we wandered over to Rockefeller Center to see the tree.

We then headed over to grab some light lunch at ‘Witchcraft in the concourse of 30 Rock.

The McGraw-Hill Building is the Sirius HQ, so we went there next to see the radio broadcast. We arrived to a busy scene with with Martha Stewart Staff decorating the tree in the lobby. Even Greg Kleva was there!

The group of us went into the Fish Bowl Studio, where the show was being broadcasted from that day. The studio was just as busy as the lobby with Mario (the host), Lauren Gloud (the producer), engineers, interns, and the incoming guests.

The first guests were 2 Rockettes, Allyson Kelly and Elizabeth Sousek, from Radio City Music Spectacular. They were stunning. The explained how they became Rockettes, what it is like being a Rockette, their healthy life styles, and they even brougth recipes with them. But the most impressive things about Rockettes… their kicks! They told us they do 300 kicks per show. Clearly they had to show how they do the kicks, and clearly, I had to volunteer to learn now. I was really embarrassing and hard! I have this on video so I will have to post all this embarrassment later. ha

The next guest was Sal Scognamillo, head chef and co-owner of New York City’s Patsy’s Restaurant. He brought Baked Clams, Shrimp Scampi, and Strufoli for everyone to try. Sal discussed Christmas traditions and some of the ways to prepare for the Feast of Seven Fishes.

The third guest was Event Organizer David Monn. David explained various ways of setting the holiday scene at home or at a party. He explained that creating the mood does not have to be expensive since a candle can add a lot to a space but you can get them for as little as $3. He brought 2 centerpieces with him that were stunning, inexpensive, and creative. The centerpieces are ‘low’ because you want to have pieces that are not in the way of your guests looking across the table to someone. He explained that centerpieces should not go much higher than your wrist when you have put your elbow on a table (see photo)

Abby Dodge came with some desserts. She wrote about book about desserts using only 4 ingredients in each recipe! She brought chocolate cheesecakes, bourbon balls, and pistachio shortbread. I loved the shortbread! Abby took questions during the show about baking recipes and problems- even from audience.

So the show has covered… appetizers, entrees, decorating, and dessert… what else does it need? DRINKS! Allen Katz, mixologist, brought 2 suitcases with him to haul up his drink ingredients. Allen made 5 drinks to fit perfectly for the upcoming holidays- like Run, Run Rudolph. Sadly, we did not get to try the drinks there but I think that the punch recipe is calling for me to make it.

After the show mom and I rushed back to Grand Central to get a train back home. We then did some dinner with my grandma- fried calamari on pizza is amazing! I was back on the road by 9pm and picking Price up from his poker night by 12.15. It was a L-O-N-G day but really worth it.

Check out the Martha Radio Blog post about that show, including recipes, here. (My mom and I are with  Mario in picture #31!)

Meet Cara

Price and I went down to CT this weekend so we could pay my brother and his girlfriend a visit since they had a very important person to introduce us to.

Cara Alexandra born 10/31/10 at 9:59. 8 lbs 5oz

Cara has just gotten up from a nap when we arrived so she was in a really good mood when we were over there. She was content laying down, getting her diaper changed, and being held.

She is very expressive. From puckering her lips, raising her eyebrows, looking around, squinting, and giving little smirks. Cara is absolutely adorable with the load of hair she has. The mohawk suits her well.

I can’t wait to really get to know her. To see her grow up. I wonder if the expressive nature she has now will carry over and she will be that way when she is older. I hope so. She is an absolute joy.