I realized I had not yet posted a photo of my tree fully decorated and lit up. I went for a bit of a color theme this year since I was starting with only two ornaments to my name. And also Macy’s had their ornaments on sale for 50% off. I was a little disappointed I never found a magenta, red, or even white or silver star for the top. Maybe next year. Except next year we all promised the littlest Spurlock that we’d have Christmas in Birmingham so we wouldn’t be using my ornaments at all.

I think my tree turned out quite nice, actually. It’s one of those things where I’d kind of like it to stay up forever. I’m giving it another week before we take it to the mulch station a few blocks away set up by New York Parks, which is good knowing your tree will be useful after you throw it out.

Oh and a bonus cakepop of sorts from one of the bakeries in Chelsea Market, Ruthy’s. He was so cute it made it (almost) impossible to eat:

Le Parker Meridien is a fancy hotel. With a fancy restaurant called Norma’s that supposedly has a fabulous brunch that I will hopefully be lucky enough one day to try for myself.

But Le Parker Meridien also has a secret divey hamburger joint inside it as well. And it’s called Burger Joint. Also, it’s not so secret anymore. The first time I tried to go it was at lunch time during the week and I walked in with my coworker and we walked right back out because the line in the lobby was HUGE.

*Also, Anthony Bourdain recently blew up the spot even more on his NYC episode of The Layover, my new favorite show.

But, when I had my family in town we wake up super early and get out the door super early which makes us the first in line for a lot of things. In fact, Burger Joint wasn’t even open yet. But eventually it was and we got inside and snagged a booth first thing.

The menu is not so huge, obviously. You’re there for the burger. The messy, messy burger:

Oh, yes. I love hamburgers. The fries were good too.

The only bummer was that they currently weren’t making shakes when we were in.

Dang, guess I’ll have to go back.

I have a Christmas tree in my apartment! It’s the first time I’ve had one so this is all very exciting. I actually got it the weekend *before* this past one because I wanted it for my ugly sweater Christmas party. Finally today I added the ornaments – although I am still in a need of a topper, and then I will post a picture of the tree in all of its glory.

Getting one was very exciting. I picked one out in Brooklyn Heights across from Colonie and a very nice guy named Sam helped me and answered all my silly and not so silly questions. Like I said, it’s my first time having a tree so I wanted to be prepared!

I was lucky enough to have Missy help me and here we are with the tree we picked out. It’s from Nova Scotia!

So we carried this babe to my apartment and up five billion flights of stairs and it is now very happily in my living room.

Releasing the Christmas tree was very fun and very exciting. And so was putting together the stand. If you are wondering, this baby cost $45 and the stand was $15. I actually didn’t think that was too bad. I’m pretty happy with it.

The only thing – since I got it over a week ago now, I fear it is already dying. I may just be oversensitive because my family never got trees that early (um, one year I came home the day before Christmas Eve and there was NO TREE so I went out with my sister’s boyfriend at the time and bargained with some guy and picked one out for $20) but everyday when I see pine needles on the floor (which I know is normal!) I’m like, “Oh no! Are you dying?” ALSO it stopped drinking water! Except that may not be true. The water *seemed* to be at a higher level yesterday than it was the day before so I’ve been meaning to ask my roommate if she’s been watering the tree the whole time… because THAT would explain things. If she hasn’t been, then I really don’t know.

Baby, baby, I love you, I love you. Stay alive til Christmas, please?

Oh and if you wonder what an Ugly Sweater party looks like, here’s a ladies-only shot from some point of the evening that weekend:

My friend Susan’s hat was the win of the evening. You can maybe sort of see it but it was there is a sequin Christmas tree on her baseball hat. Tis the season, my friends.

Um…

I checked into one of my many mobile apps last night and it informed me it was my fourth night in a row at a bar. Umm… at least two were work-related? And, inside scoop, last night I only drank a Coke. BUT on Tuesday, I did drink beer with my ZogSports volleyball team.

In case you’ve been wondering how my team is doing… Well, I don’t *think* we’re going to make the playoffs. But I do think we have a chance for best team spirit!

So after the game on Tuesday we went to the nearby bar where ZogSports sponsors a happy hour. Pitchers were $13, not bad, so we got a few as well as some appetizers (I saw tater tots come out of the kitchen and was like HEY). Anyway, I won’t lie – the happy hour turned out to be way more fun than the actual games. It’s nice getting to know new people and laughing so hard the team next to you tells you to pipe down. Maybe cause they beat us. :). While at the bar, I suggested we play a game. I was actually thinking a “get to know you” game since I’m new to the team but next thing I knew, we were playing flip cup. First time since college? Maybe. Did my team win three times in a row? Definitely.

I love ZogSports.

Life has been good. Monday I went to a Ranger’s game, Tuesday I had Zogsports, last night I had a crazy fun work dinner and here I am the other day at Mile End, a “deli” in Brooklyn if you can be a deli and serve poutine on the side. Or maybe that’s the way it is in Canada, where the owners get bagels shipped in from. It’s supposed to be the real deal. And the poutine… that’s the real deal, too I can say.

Lucy helped me eat my poutine, which was nice. She’s basically the best roommate ever. She also got a sandwich to go. At night, you only have one choice of sandwich.

And here’s a shot of the interior:

It’s kind of real small, but it’s kind of real good. And it’s also a part of Zagat’s 140 chefs, restaurants, and bloggers to follow on Twitter. Now you know.

I am so trendy. First The Standard and now The Dutch. Okay, then. Actually this post has been a long time coming.

I finally, finally went to The Dutch a few weeks ago when my roommate’s brother was in town. We tried a million things. Oysters to start, obviously. I am SO glad that I like oysters. Seriously.

Broccolli rabe and mashed potatoes. I enjoy mashed potatoes.

And now with Asian White Boy Ribs (what?). I enjoy ribs.

And the chicken that is no longer on the menu. Now there’s chicken stroganaff which I would not mind trying. This particular chicken (sorry about the color, btw) had foam with it and foam just doesn’t impress me. But the chicken itself was very good. This was one of those meals where you’re like, “Ok, I’m full now” and then you keep eating. I guess that means it was good!

I am really good at weekending. At least lately. This past weekend I spent Friday night watching movies with my best boy (If you haven’t seen the Conan documentary yet, it’s worth seeing) and Saturday I had cupcakes with Kelly, bought some flannel sheets (life changing) and then met up with Kelly again to watch the most awesome MSU football game ever. We even made random friends. And then Sunday started with this. Drinks and brunch at The Standard with my homegirl Leeann.

The Standard is a happening place. It’s actually pretty cute. It’s in Meatpacking, an area I typically avoid, but sometimes you do want to see and be seen and there were LOTS of people to see at The Standard on Sunday, let me tell you. Such interesting, interesting folks.

Btw the drinks at the top are a Bloody Mary (left) and The Standard 69 (right). Like really? You couldn’t just call it “The Standard”? Sigh… I hate the way people name cocktails sometimes.

Anyway… Leeann’s friend met up with us and it was probably one of the last beautiful days to sit outside, so we did.

I’m sure everyone can guess what I had…

Sometimes you just gotta get out of town, Charlie Brown. Have I mentioned that some parts of New Jersey are gorgeous? This past weekend we had to drive through it to get to Pennings Orchard & Farm Market and seriously, some parts of New Jersey are NICE. The lakes and the hills and the trees! Goodness. Same for upstate New York, too. Wouldn’t mind having a house there someday (upstate New York, I mean… not sure if I could ever say I live in Jersey, no matter WHERE it is).

Anywho. Riding in a car is fun. Even in a teeny tiny backseat:

And the reason for the drive, of course: Apple picking! I have so many apples in my fridge right now.

Ruby was the champ of apple picking, I think. And maybe Marty, too, because he is tall.

Ahh, how pretty is everything? Trees! Grass! I’ll say it again. This city girl also likes her space.

And cider donuts:

“Hi, we’ll take 40.” Just kidding. I did eat two, though, naturally.

So delicious. Best ever. I love life.

Also, this place had a beer garden and they were grilling sausages and there was a petting farm and kind of like a sports bar inside the “farm market” I guess with the Giants game on the TV. And also there were TONS of apples. They gave you a map with all the different kinds and we tried a whole lot of them. It was $25 for all the apples you could fill in your bag and we didn’t even fill ours to the top because we weren’t sure what we were going to do with fifty billion apples. Make apple pie I guess, but yeah… that’s not happening. At least not this week. :)

There is cute and then there is cute. If you’re a cupcake, you should probably be cute. Or be surrounded by zebras. Seriously. The one wall of zebras made me really want a pattern wall of some sort of animal in my bedroom. That would be awesome. That is also my reason to have children – so I can decorate their bedrooms for them except really for me. Although I could totally do this zebra thing in any other room as well.

I have a lot to catch up here on City Mitten because I just spent the past five days or so in TEXAS of all places but first I have a couple of updates to finish from when Em Bem and my mommy were in town. Which is where we get this picture:

You see, Em Bem loves cupcakes, perhaps even more than me if that’s possible. And she was dying to go to Sprinkles once she heard they were opening one on the UES. They apparently were the first cupcake-only bakery and started in Beverly Hills and are now in a bunch of major cities.

And look, you can get some for your dog! How sweet.

So we got two chocolatey ones. One with chocolate sprinkles because my mom loves those and the other one because it was cute as a button. And I also love their wooden cutterly with “Sprinkles” spelled out onto them… such good branding!

Wheee, Sprinkles is good.

I love Peels. I won’t deny it. I wrote a love letter to their brunch the other day. And on a weekend late afternoon, sometimes you don’t have to wait for a table at all! We had been walking around all day and our feet were killing us so my mom, Emily and I stopped at Peels for a little smores cupcake I saw in their bake case recently and some iced coffee and iced mochas.

Isn’t she pretty? We had to try. The whole top is a marshmallow basically.

And of course they also have really good iced coffee: