Happy Birthday Handsome.

today is a very special day.

today, the love of my life turns 27 years old.

today is the day that I woke up extra early to make the love of my life breakfast in bed.

today is the day that I watched the love of my life get excited over birthday presents.

today is the day that I sang Happy Birthday to the love of my life twice within a 10 min period of time.

today is the day that the love of my life wore a whole new birthday outfit to work.

today is the day that I look forward to all year.

today is a day that I will always be in love with, because the love of my life was born on this day.

today I am so grateful for the love of my life.

he is so handsome.

he is so smart.

he is so funny.

he is so silly.

he is so loving.

he is so helpful.

he is so charming.

he is so friendly.

he is so stubborn.

he is sooo handsome. {wait..i already said that}

he is so hungry.

he is so hardworking.

he is so sleepy.

he is so active.

he is so righteous.

he is so energetic.

he is so vibrant.

he is so OLD. ;)

and he is ALL mine. 

I am one lucky girl to be married to this wonderful 27 year old. 

xoxo

{also - i have vowed to myself that i will catch up on my posts.  we have been on so many trips and adventures that i want to share with you all. be back soon. promise.}

Occupy Wall Street

we have had some visitors camping out in our neighborhood.

they all have signs and something to say....

the only problem is...they don't really seem to know what they are saying.....annnnnnd they want people like my husband to be put in jail.

no thanks.

they have been camping out and marching around our neighborhood for about a month now.

it's starting to stink...because there are thousands of people sleeping in the plaza....with blankets and tarps.

and it keeps raining. eww.

these guys are keeping us safe while we are at work on Wall Street.

i can't wait for the campers to go away.

LOOK WHAT I DID!

okay..i have so many things to catch up on.

what else is new. 

we have had such a fun summer on the East Coast and i even have pictures to prove it.

right now i want to fill everyone in on a little E factoid.

I LOVE TO BE IN THE KITCHEN.

i really do.

i like to bake and cook and create.

i was thinking about this last night, because we are in the process of potentially moving apartments at the end of October....and it makes me sad....because i REALLY love my current kitchen.  it's updated, has granite counter tops, has plenty of storage (which is a rarity in NYC), and has top of the line..brand spanking new appliances. i digress.

sooo. the awesome apartment we are looking at is the total package, except for one thing... 

OLD appliances.  

 I'M TALKING OLD! 

stay tuned to see if i take the plunge and deal with them.

so. back to my E factoid.

me.. loving to work in the kitchen.

a few weeks ago my awesome friendie Whitney told me that she wanted to make a cake for one of our friends who had a birthday!  we had been wanting to try something new and exciting for a while and decided that this was the perfect opportunity to attempt this project.

a RAINBOW cake!

yesssssssss.

after we gathered all the things we would need we got going.

we mixed the batter, separated it into four bowls, and added food coloring.

we baked the cakes, let them cool, and trimmed them to the appropriate sizes.

then it was time to stack. frost. stack . frost. stack. frost. stack. frost. stack.

we made homemade cream cheese frosting. and gave it a quick crumb coat then set it in the fridge for about ten minutes.

after we pulled it out of the fridge, we gave it another layer of frosting, and voila!

a birthday cake with an awesome surprise inside.

i had also been wanting to try something else i had never attempted. 

a mini party bunting banner for a cake topper.  

i got creative.

all you need for this little masterpiece of mine is:

• two straws.
• a long string of dental floss
• scissors
• tape
• a pottery barn catalog

that's right.  i only used the products above. i'm telling you, you guys.  this girl is thrafty. 

why yes, i did just make that word up.  it means that i am the perfect combination of thrify and crafty.

not really....although sometimes i surprise myself.

if you have been wanting to try this kind of cake out, DO IT!

it looks a lot scarier than it really is. 

promise.

the birthday girl loved it!

             the moral of the story is that i love to work in the kitchen.

a nice kitchen. thanks mum...you turned me into a kitchen snob!

also.

lesson learned from this baking experience?

i have O.C.D.

my friend Whit thinks i'm crazy.

thanks again mum.    :)      

xoxo

the youngest is now an adult.

so....as you may remember from this post, this post, or this post i like to blog about my favesies on their birthdays!!!

today just so happens to be the birthday of my AMAZING and BEAUTIFUL baby sister CARLY.

lets be honest...i think we accidentally skipped a few of her birthdays and somehow ended up at 18.
seriously.
18.
18.
18?
18!?!?

it cant be true.
i remember the day she was born.
i remember sneaking in her nursery with lex to try and wake her up from her crib as a baby.
i remember when lex dropped her when she was a baby....
....lucky for lex, CARLY turned out to be the smartest of all three Athay girls.


carly, or as we ever so lovingly call her:

C.J.
Goosie
Charleston Chew
Carl
Car-Car-Ack Bar
carlton
ceej.
the 12 year old
the baby


..is one of the most caring people i have ever known.  she is so sweet and funny.  i wish she lived with me in NYC.  ugh. i would love that.  she has always been so smart and brave.  and knows every single line from FRIENDS.

i am so proud of the little lady she has become.  i have missed out on being around during her highschool years...and somehow she turned out okay without me around?? ;)  {kidding daddy, mum, and lex...you guys did great!} 

she has become such a GORGEOUS girl and has so much going for her! 18 is such a fun stage in life and i know that she has all the right things going for her in her life. 

i am so blessed that my two besties are my sisters.  i think everyone needs a sister...im one of the lucky ones with two. i know that whenever i need my day brightened up i can talk to lex or cj and they will put a smile on my face.

i am so sad that i am in NYC for CARLY JANE ATHAY'S big day.  i wish i was there to sing happy birthday to her and give her 18 spanks.  its days like this that i am so thankful for skype and facetime!

HAPPYBIRTHDAYCARLYJANEATHAY. ILOVEYOUSOSOSOSOMUCH!!!!!

XOXO

IRENE.

here she comes.

hurricane IRENE has set NYC in her sights and is headed straight for us.

yesterday Mr. Larsen and i received word that we lived in what Mayor Bloomber was calling Zone A.

Zone A just so happens to be all low-lying areas in New York City and is the only zone that was given a mandatory evacuation notice.

we learned about it yesterday and had to be evacuated from our home no later that 5pm today.

some amazing friends offered to let us stay with them at their place in Zone C. We packed up our food and water and 72 hour kit last night so we are prepared!

I have never been in such a crazy situation.

Mr. Larsen and i were some of the mobbing people at Target last night stocking up on H2O. 

we already had plenty, but i didnt even want to think of running out.

There were NO cases of water left at costco...in fact..

there wasn't much left at costco.

windows are being taped up...

we taped our windows shut and placed towels along the bottom to try and keep water out of our place.

the water surge is supposed to be 6-12 feet high, which means our lobby could possibly be underwater by tomorrow afternoon.

Let's hope not!

 other crazy things going on:

• the lower part of the city is now a ghost town.
• this is the first evacuation of Manhattan in history.
• this is the first time in history that all NYC public transportation systems have been cancelled.  They stopped subway and bus service today at noon.
• we spent hours playing on some other friends golf simulator and playing ping pong this afternoon to pass the time until we HAD to be in the safety of an apartment. 
• it has been raining all day, and getting more and more windy by the hour.
• we moved all of our furniture away from our windows.
• hotels, stores, and restaurants have boarded up their windows.
• we are now just sitting here waiting for the storm to hit around midnight.
• we are being told to expect 21-24 hours of straight hurricane storms.

so...it's a waiting game.  i am a little scared and very intrigued by mother nature and i can't wait to see how this all pans out.

i can't believe that in one week we have an earthquake and now hurrican irene threatening us.

what is this world coming to!?

we will probably lose electricity. but i will try to keep everyone posted!

just know that we are okay!

love you all!

xoxo

sidenote: please excuse the random craziness of this post.  i just realized that i am having a REALLY hard time focusing. :)

COME ON IRENE!

eArThQuAkE

you may have already heard.

but we felt an earthquake today in NYC.

they weren't kidding when they said we would experience some crazy things while we lived here.

(and by "they" i mean everyone we talked to after finding out about our move to nyc.)

the earthquake originated in Virginia and was measured at 5.9 magnitude.

we are all fine. obviously.

if we weren't, i probably wouldn't be blogging.

here's hoping Hurricane Irene doesn't crush us this weekend.

AVOCADO AND GRILLED CORN CHOWDER WITH GRILLED CHICKEN.

the only word that comes to mind when i think of the meal i made last night is...

bliss.

my mom passed the recipe over to me and said that it was a MUST HAVE.

it sounds amazing right?  Avocado Chowder? AMAZING.

if any of you want the recipe let me know. happy to share. maybe.  

it may stay in the vault as a guilty pleasure.

i used the missionaries and Mr. Larsen as my guinea pigs, to be the first to try it out.

they liked it.

let me describe it:

chilled avocado puree with honey, fresh o.j., salt, pepper, chopped red peppers, green onions, and grilled corn kernels. 

served with strips of grilled chicken and cilantro on top.

probably my favorite meal of the summer.

the day before school starts.

how appropriate.

xoxo