Holidays | A Sprinkle of Adventure

Archive for the ‘Holidays’ Category

The Coziest Time of Year

Posted in Holidays, San Francisco, tagged Christmas, Holiday, New York City on December 24, 2011| 2 Comments »

There’s just something so wonderful about holiday lights that always puts me in a festive mood and gives me warm fuzzies all over! This year I get to spend the holidays with my close family and friends which I’m so happy and thankful for. Things I’m especially looking forward to in no particular order:

1. Dunkin Donuts

2. Shopping at the best mall and best outlet in the country (in my opinion anyway) with zero sales tax!

3. Spending time with the little ones in the family

4. NY Pizza

5. Counting down the New Year with friends I’ve known since middle school!

6. My dad’s cooking

7. Sugar Sweet Sunshine cupcakes!

8. Freezing my toesies off but being okay with it because it’s the holidays!

9. Wandering the streets of NYC

10. Finally trying out the awesome Barres and Belles class that turned my friend’s butt into buns of steel and hoping that I will have them too…after 1 class.

I hope you guys are all enjoying the holidays in your own special way and I’ll be back next year with a bunch of inspiration posts!

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New York City Winter Favorites

Posted in Holidays, Travel, tagged Christmas, Holidays, New York City, Travel on December 18, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I’m back from my weekend in Tahoe and I have the sore arms and butt to prove it! Unfortunately I don’t have many pictures to show you guys since my camera broke 😦 but I’ll do a write up soon on what we did and where we ate.

So it’s officially less than a week until Christmas (eek!) and I’m really looking forward to heading back to NYC/NJ to visit friends and family. While fall is definitely the best time weather-wise to visit NYC, I personally think that Christmas is the best time to be in the city, for those who can brave the weather. All the store windows and restaurants do such a great job of holiday decorating that it’s impossible not to feel the holiday spirit while walking around the city. Here’s a list of some of my favorite things to do in the city around the holidays and hopefully I’ll get to some of it while I’m there.

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No trip to NYC during the holidays would be complete without visiting the iconic Rockefeller Christmas Tree. Go to the newly opened Bouchon Bakery for a cup of coffee and pastry and people watch around the ice-skating rink. If it gets too cold, head underground to the Concourse and window shop.

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Starting from the Rockefeller Center, walk up Fifth Avenue and admire all the beautifully decorated windows. I swear they get more and more elaborate each year and it’s definitely fun to just see all the luxury stores try to outdo each other.

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Even though it’s always crazy crowded, I always try to make a stop in FAO Schwartz. It’s the oldest toy store in the country and features every toy imaginable. I don’t know if there’s any better time than Christmas to let out your inner child!

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Grab a cup of what is considered by many to be the best hot chocolate at the Jacques Torres shop in Chelsea Market and head to nearby Highline Park (below pic). Although it’ll be cold, you’ll be guaranteed to have the elevated park mostly to yourself, plus you have the hot chocolate to keep you warm!

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Catch the annual showing of the Nutcracker at Lincoln Center where you’ll instantly be transported into a winter fantasyland!

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And finally my favorite winter activity in NYC, visiting the Wollman Ice-skating Rink in Central Park. There’s multiple rinks in the city, but none more romantic than Wollman where you’re ice-skating amidst snow covered trees under the beautiful NYC skyline. Or if you’re like me and prefer not to ice-skate, make your way over to the rock formations nearby overlooking the rink where you can sit and people watch.

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What are some of your favorite holiday activities? Are there any in New York City that I missed?

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Hansel says Happy Halloween!

Posted in Hansel, Holidays, tagged Costume, Dog, Halloween on October 31, 2011| Leave a Comment »

No matter how you’re celebrating this day (at work, trick-or-treating, dressing up), hopefully it’s a good one!

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Halloween Happenings

Posted in Holidays, Travel, tagged Travel on October 29, 2011| 5 Comments »

Well, it’s that time of year again…the time when it’s fun to get the living daylights scared out of you, when you can dress up scary, silly, or sexy and get away with it, and when you can justify buying a 50lb bag of candy for the “trick or treaters” (I know I’m not the only person that does this!). The holiday falls on a Monday this year, and you know that means this weekend will be devoted to Halloween festivities. Here’s a sampling of some events happening across the U.S.

The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze (Croton-on-Hudson, NY) – wander through 4,000+ individually carved, illuminated jack o’lanterns:

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Eerie Evenings (Salem, MA) – hear haunted tales of local folklore and legend at the Witch House, the actual 17th century home of a Salem witchcraft trial judge:

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Scary Acres RI (Hope, Rhode Island) – a haunted corn maze and hayride and a house of fears:

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Reno Zombie Crawl (Reno, NV) – first participate in the thriller dance (part of Thrill the World, an organization setting up a huge thriller dance all over the world simultaneously tomorrow evening!), then crawl through the streets of Reno dressed as a zombie:

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