Cuy and Me

Now as much as I mock it, there are things that I really do love about New York.  I love the city.  And pizza.  And bagels.  I also love that you can find almost anything here. 

Case in point:

 
This, friends, is a cuy.  A Super Cuy, apparently.  Look closely.

Yep, that's a guinea pig.  Known in Ecuador as cuy (pronounced cuh-wee).  It's a traditional food there.  Think about the noise that the guinea pig in your first grade class made.  You know, "cuy, cuy, cuy."

I'm sure y'all think I'm a sicko, which is true.  But I have a point.  See, Mr. Snoop and I were on a hunt for our Christmas Eve tamales when we found our friend Super Cuy.  We couldn't find the Mexican-style tamales that we wanted (skinny with goodies inside, not just masa, in case you were wondering).  But then we found the frozen Super Cuy.  See, you can find anything in New York.

The best part is that my brother just returned from Ecuador that same day, where he ate cuy.  So we sent him that pic to welcome him home.  My parents had just visited him and they ate cuy while they were there.  (We're a whole family of sickos, obviously).  In fact, my sister is now the only one, minus Mr. Snoop, who has not eaten cuy.

Here's little college age Snoop circa 2005, eating her very own portion of Super Cuy in Ecuador:

 In case you can't tell, I'm holding his little hand.

If you're still reading, I'm sorry.

cuy cuy cuy cuy cuy cuy cuy cuy cuy cuy cuy cuy cuy cuy cuy cuy

Mr. Snoop is Famous

True story.

Mr. Snoop was putting together his resume on Monday.  For residencies.  Yes, already.  Cue panic attack about control issues... now.  Back when we lived in Nashville (where I was in grad school), Mr. Snoop worked at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute.  One of the major perks was that he got this awesome tshirt with cartoon eyeballs running across the back.  Less importantly, he learned how to draw blood.  Phlebotomy, shlebotomy.  The cartoon eyeball tshirt is way better.

Anywho, in his free time, Mr. Snoop volunteered at the Vanderbilt hospital, which he really enjoyed.  For the purposes of his resume, he had forgotten what the position was called, so he went on their website to check it out.  Whence he found this:

Hey Mr. Snoop.  Nice guns.  Nifty vest.  Hottie.

I told you he was famous.  You can check him out here.

Solstice

When the sun sets at 4:29pm, I find it best to...

1.  Throw a temper tantrum about how dark it is as soon as I get home.

2.  Pout and whine until I decide to make myself happier in the following ways.

* Eventually put on my big girl pants in the form of a super glamorous outfit like this one:

Mr. Snoop on this outfit: "Ohhh... I see that you're going to a baby shower and don't know if it is a boy or a girl"

* Wrap a gift.  Wrapping presents is my spiritual gift.  Mr. Snoop's spiritual gift is lifting heavy objects.  Did you know that?

In this case, it is a known quantity that the baby is a boy.  Baby Jack!

* Make cookies whilst watching Bones.

* Hot chocolate with Baileys Irish Cream.

....How do you deal with the dark?

Have y'all ever seen...

... a black squirrel?

I guess they are more common in the Great White North.  My cousin Katie (hi Katie, start a blog!) says there were tons of them when she went to Canada.

We had one visit over the weekend.  Here it is tempting Shammy Boy through the window:

While black squirrels are significantly cuter than their brown relatives, I still agree with Carrie Bradshaw:

"A squirrel is just a rat in a cuter outfit!"

Amen, Carrie.

Surviving Winter: Part 2

In addition to the cold, yankee winters are miserable because everything is dead.  Everything.  So it is totally gray and dreary.  Not to get all cheeseball, but I had a totally new appreciation for Easter and "new life" after my first winter up here.  Because from November to early April there is nary a live green thing in sight.  I guess there are evergreen trees and bushes, but even they look depressed.

Last fall I brought this geranium (above) up to my office from our yard before it froze.  And she LOVES it here.  She must be Presbyterian.  My office is awesome for many reasons, not least of which is that there are two south-facing windows that get great all day sun.  It is so nice to walk in out of the snow and see something alive, green, and blooming.  Not to mention that I adore geraniums.  Or any other big, dramatic flower for that matter.  Hydrangeas, rhododendrons, etc. 

So there's my second surviving winter tip: Get a pet plant!

Surviving Winter: Part 1

I hate the cold.  A lot.  Like I throw total toddler-style temper tantrums about how cold it is.  Obviously, winter in the Great White North presents some serious issues for me.  Part of the problem with winter up here is that it is freakin long.  Like cold from October to April, long.  No leaves on the trees for six months, long.  The sun goes down at 4:00.  See photo evidence, taken out my office window yesterday at 4:00:

I can sort of deal with the cold right now because it is the Christmas season.  After that, it stops being festive and cute.  Then it is just dreary.  In an effort to remind myself that I can make it til May, I'll be posting about how to survive my third winter as a Texan in New York.  God help me.

Winter Survival Trick #1

This fall, I found these lovelies at Nordstrom Rack for $7.  They are fleece-lined and come in tights and leggings.  I'm hoping they'll be the answer to my prayers this winter:

I got 2 pairs of the tights and 2 pairs of the leggings.



Do you like the cold?  How do you make it through these dark months?

Weekend Snapshots

1.  Keely generously shared her super fun girlfriends for the weekend.  On Saturday, I tagged along with them to the city for some shopping and drinking.  We went to the Union Square Holiday Market, which was cray-cray but something I'd definitely recommend if you are in New York around Christmas.  Lots of cool stuff, like this cat, which I creepily molested.  Just doin' what I do best. 

Hi Heather.  I stole your picture.

Then we went to Rosa Mexicana for a late lunch and lots and lots of sangria.  After which Keely and I may or may not have performed a few sangria-fueled routines of "Jingle Bell Rock," Mean Girls-style on the street and in the subway. 

2.  That night, Mr. Snoop and I babysat for our neighbors/landlords/friends.  I painted fingernails like ladybugs and Mr. Snoop, well.... this is what happens when Mr. Snoop babysits.  Sorry about the blurry pic but I don't want to reveal any identities/faces of kids because I am a paranoid freak about internet creepers.

Pillow slam!

Don't you think he should be a pediatrician?  He could fix all the arms he breaks doing this kind of stuff.

3.  Sunday was a work day, por supuesto.  I had a gigantic turnout for a family Gingerbread House event I held and am still recovering from:

Some of the magnificent creations.

What was your weekend like?

Painted Ornament Craft

I don't know if I've told y'all this, but Mr. Snoop is not only a medical student, he is also getting his Masters of Public Health.  Because medical school is not hellish enough as is.  Anywho, I'm really super proud of him, but the MPH means that he has classes at night in addition to his rotations.  The other night, instead of sitting on my butt and watching the E! True Hollywood Story: Casey Anthony, I decided to sit on my butt and watch the E! True Hollywood Story: Casey Anthony while making a crafty craft. 

Here's what I made.  For the record, these are not any of yall's Christmas gifts, but I think they'd make pretty good gifts: easy and cheap.  Using the Michael's 40% off coupons, making 12 ornaments was under $10.  Can't beat it.  At least in Nueva York.

1. Start with a clear glass ornament.  Like so.  I got mine from Michael's on sale, yo.  (rhymes!)

2.  Then take some paint.  Also from Michael's.  The Great White North has severely limited craft store options.  Oh how I miss you, Hobby Lobby.  I used glitter, obviously.  Why wouldn't you?

3. Take the tops off your ornaments (girls gone wild!) and then dump a bloop of your paint in the ornament.  I don't have a picture of this step because I needed two hands.  Swirl the bloop of paint around your ornament till it coats all sides.  This takes a little while.  I found that tapping the ornament in the palm of your hand helps spread out the paint.

4.  Then turn the ornament upside down on your crappy free local newspaper and repeat:

A lot of the paint will slide out of the ornaments.  That's ok, it's all part of the process.  You might want to move the ornaments around every so often so that they don't get glued to the paper by globs of paint.  I let them dry overnight and they looked like this in the morning:

If you want your ornaments to have a more intense color, add a second coat once they have dried.  And then swirl:

Here's what you can do with them once they've dried and you put the top back on...

If I were giving these as a gift, here's how I'd package them... 

- In those little six-pack egg cartons with cute wrapping paper or even just a little ribbon  

- Wrap one or two in a cellophane bag with a cute ribbon

- Use as an accessory for bows when you wrap gifts

- Nest in a cute tin with rafia.

Enjoy!

Portraiture

One of my (many) favorite things about my job is the wide variety of ages I get to work with.  Not many people in education get to work closely with ages 3 to 18, so I definitely consider myself lucky.  For comparison purposes, here is some relatively recent artwork I have been gifted.  Get ready, y'all.  You're about to see some talent.

From the Middle School Age Group:

By "M"

This is me.  Obviously.  Why would I show you art with anything else as the subject?  M had a little kit where you choose face shape, hair, outfits, etc and trace them.  So she replicated my entire outfit that day, down to my favorite gold Kate Spade flats, which I'm sure many of you recognized.  And the cardigan.  Duh.  Also, I prefer to stand and walk in the above pose.  At all times.

From the Preschool age group:

By "S"



As if you had to guess, this is also a portrait of moi.  As a mermaid, obviously.  S clearly intuited the many afternoons I spent in my best friend's pool pretending to be a mermaid when I was a kid.  Please note that S is right on target with my current hairdo.  Such perceptiveness is truly moving.

I hope y'all have enjoyed the lovely art.  What can I say, receiving portraits is one of many perks!

Our Weekend

Not much of a coherent post, but here's what has been going on for the snoops.

- Mr. Snoop is on his last day of Labor and Delivery.  Because he is at a high risk pregnancy center, he has seen about a thousand cesereans and zero v@ginal births.  So cross your fingers that someone comes in today to give birth the traditional way! 

- We both had a serious hankerin for a greasy cheeseburger this weekend, so we went to Elevation Burger with some friends.  It is a new place and it is all fancy pantsy organic, so I was suspicious.  Normally I'm all about the organic thing, but I like my cheeseburgers downright filthy.  Organic and filthy don't usually go together.  Well friends, Elevation Burger proved me wrong.  It was everything a burger should be: I needed tons of napkins, the bun totally disentegrated, and I could have eaten two.  And now I want another one.

- I've done this craft with two different groups of kids in the past two weeks:

It was a huge hit!  You can use anything--I provided marshmallows, raisins, and fruit loops.  You use toothpicks to stick them on.  Lots of fun if you are looking for a simple thanksgiving craft this week.

- I got the maybelline baby lips chapstick.  I have been meaning to pick some up since I had a coupon.  Then I saw and ad for it and it did me in.  I really like it, creepy name nonwithstanding.

- Dancing With the Stars: My girl Keely has me hooked.  J.R. and Karina rocked the freestyle and it was freaking awesome.  Along with the rest of America, I just love J.R.  I was tickled to learn he is one of People's Sexiest Men.  And love what he had to say about it:  "Being listed as one of peoples sexiest men alive shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. What do you think I had 33 surgeries for?"  For those of you who don't know, the dude was blown up by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan (or Iraq?) and is burned all over his body.  Totally America's Sweetheart.

- Mr. Snoop and I are headed down to Austin tonight for Thanksgiving.  75 and sunny, here I come!

- What are your Thanksgiving plans?

The Alert System

Confession:  I am a super grouch when I get low blood sugar. 

Another Confession:  The above is the biggest understatement of all time.  Replace "super grouch" with rapid, evil, destruction-wreaking, blood-sucking bat.  That is more like it.

Part of the problem is that I get low blood sugar without ever realizing that I am hungry.  And then bad things happen.

From Pinterest

My family holds Mr. Snoop in high esteem primarily because he invented a System.  The System is the Alert System.  For me.  When I get low blood sugar.  It goes like this:


Situation Normal:  Snoop is well-fed.  Everything is ok.

Yellow Alert:  Snoop is getting low blood sugar.  Develop a plan to feed her.  Quickly.

Orange Alert: Snoop has the initial stages of low blood sugar.  Accelerate a plan to feed her.  Now.

Red Alert:  Snoop is ravenous.  She should have been fed 5 minutes ago.  Situation is dire.  Alert national and international security about immiment devastation to be wrought by Snoop unless she is fed.


So there you have it.  The Alert System.  Mr. Snoop is pretty much a superhero for inventing it.

A peek over the fence

Amniotic fluid on his shoes

This past weekend, Mr. Snoop had his first 27 hour shift in Labor and Delivery.  He started at 6am on Saturday morning and finished up Sunday morning.  Since it was the day after 11/11/11, I figured lots of women would have been trying to get their labor started for an 11/11/11 baby and would overflow on to 11/12.  Plus it was also a full moon, and he was there overnight.  So you'd think, lots of deliveries, right? 

Nada.

Mr. Snoop was most upset.  And tired.  I came home after work Sunday morning to this:

Yes, he was wearing my eye mask.  And yes, Woo was keeping him company.  Yes, Woo is a small bear, not a cat.

So Mr. Snoop had an overnight last night (6pm  - 6am).  He was really hoping for some delivery action.  When he came in at 6:30am, I asked him how it went.  All he said was "I got amniotic fluid all over my shoes.  I'll tell you about it later."  He's still slumbering, so I'll let y'all know what went down once I find out.

With all the talk of amniotic fluid, I'll leave you with a wondrous picture of Shammy Boy that I took over the weekend.  You might want to shield your eyes from the glory.  The butt and tail fluff on that guy is outrageous.
 

Next time we do Moses, I am totally telling the kids that this is what the Pillar of Cloud looked like.  Without the pink nose.

Our Weekend: Brooklyn Bridge

This weekend marked the end of Mr. Snoop's time in his psychiatry rotation.  He just missed the guy dangling from the Tappan Zee bridge, who came in to the psych unit at Westchester Medical Center once he failed to swim away from the police.  Too bad!  To celebrate his weekend off, we spent Saturday in the city.  Mr. Snoop has never walked to Brooklyn Bridge, so we did that.  And then we went to Grimaldi's Pizza on the other side.  We waited 45 minutes.  Worth it.

After Grimaldi's, we had ice cream (totally decadent) and then went over to the High Line, which we have both been wanting to do.  For those of you who haven't heard about it, the High Line is an old elevated train track which they have turned into a park on the Lower West Side.  It is pretty awesome. 

On the train down to the Brooklyn Bridge there was a group of guys chatting en espanol.  I was super excited because they were calling each other "wey" and "cabron."  It was like a little piece of home on the subway.  Then later in the day we witnessed several episodes of New Yorker Psychosis on the train.  Sometimes I really wonder about peoples' blood pressure up here.  All that anger can't be good for you.

Also, while in the city we were stopped by four separate people/groups asking us for directions, which made me happy.  I guess when your husband is wearing a tshirt that says "Rebuilding Lives- Annunciation Mission, New Orleans" you look pretty approachable.  I was glad because I actually knew enough to help them! 

Mr. Snoop starts his ObGyn rotation today.  This week he is doing Gyn surgery, which he was feeling a little unnerved about.  Good thing he had Woo to help him break in his surgery crocs.

PS: Mom, this is the new rug I was telling you about.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

My Sister's Blog

Sisters doing what we do best: tormenting our brother

It's official.... all three of the Sullivan kiddos are blogging! 

The three of us more recently, at my cousin's graduation.  Chris, why were you wearing a tie?

My sister just started a blog!  It is called Music Ed. Mayhem.  When it comes to all things music, Kathleen is your girl!  She sang "The Lord's Prayer" at Mr. Snoop's and my wedding, and it was my favorite part of the entire ceremony.  Those of you who know Kathleen know that she has been singing since birth, pretty much.  And she has an incredible voice!

Kathleen's college degree is in Vocal Music and Education.  So girlfriend knows what she's talking about.  Since there is a hiring freeze in Texas right now, she is applying to grad school in Choral Conducting.  Suffice to say that all the music genes in the family were saved for her!
So go check her out over at:

 Music Ed. Mayhem

Plus, she was an extremely adorable baby.

And she is really good at torturing Shammy Boy



Halloween Weekend

I hope everyone had a very happy Halloween!  It was a HUGE weekend for us.  We left Friday at 7:00pm for Mr. Snoop's sister's wedding in Norfolk, which was so much fun.  Both Mr. Snoop and I just love our new brother-in-law and could not be happier for the new Mr. and Mrs. Guerra! 

On Sunday we flew back to NY at 7:00am, and I had one of my biggest events of the year: the annual Pumpkin Carving.  There were close to 70 people there, even though the church was out of power and heat.  It was so much fun!  Some pics from the weekend...

Mr. Snoop and his nephew in their matching periodic table tshirts. 

Family resemblance, much?

The Guerra's sweet love of an angel kitty, Eva.  She is so petite and precious!



Meanwhile, this sh*t was going on in New York. 

This is a photo of my car at work, mid morning on Saturday, that my co-worker sent.

Our ensembles for the wedding.  We are looking a bit yellow.  Thanks, iphone.

I headed straight off the plane to work on Sunday morning, and then spent the rest of the day getting ready for the Pumpkin Carving.  The church had partially lost power, so there was no heat (good thing there were so many people there for body heat!) and only two of the lights worked.  But it was a great turnout and a great time just the same.  Then I went home and slept for 14 hours.  True story.

Pizzas from the Pumpkin Carving.  Cute, right?

Our house, post October snow.  Hate.

Weekend in Austin

Mr. Snoop and I had a marvelous weekend.  Thursday afternoon, we left for Austin to spend the weekend celebrating my grandma's 80th birthday.  There was much consumption of Tex-Mex, beer, wine, and shopping.  After landing in Austin, we high-tailed it to Fonda San Miguel for mango margaritas and appetizers.  My mom and I really liked the cowhide chairs they had in their entry way:

She liked it so much that she gave the royal wave.

On Friday, I made a pigrimage to my very favorite place: Last Call.  Last Call is the Neiman Marcus outlet, where they sell all the stuff they didn't sell in their regular stores.  It is paradise.  I got 2 dresses and a pair of shoes, and Mr. Snoop got dress shoes for his rotations.  After that, we stopped by Russel Korman to get my rings cleaned, and InStep to get Mr. Snoop some crocs for surgery.  I made fun of all the ugly shoes in that store, which I don't think the salespeople appreciated.  But they just didn't compare to my new, bright red Delman flats.

source

Versus...

source

Right?

Then, Mr. Snoop, my red flats, and I went to Central Market for lunch and to get groceries for the weekend.  We marveled at how inexpensive groceries are compared to New York (and Central Market is not cheap, y'all).  Then we found this, and the heavens opened and choirs of angels sang.  At least for Mr. Snoop.  Then we ate lunch with all the grackles on CM's patio.  It was glorious.

Yep, that is a wall of Shiner. Every type imaginable.

Friday night, the extended family started to come in, and we all went to Matt's el Rancho and to the Broken Spoke, which is an awesome dance hall.  Mr. Snoop "officially" learned how to two-step, which is a skill required of any Texan.

Saturday, my mom and went shopping at another of my favorite places in Austin: Tuesday Morning.  I know that there are Tuesday Mornings all over the country, but the one in Austin is amazing.  We found some good stuff and then went home to watch football and admire my cousin's wife's baby bump with the whole family.  My aunt and uncle stayed with us and brought their dog, Gracie, who is the absolutely sweetest thing in the whole world.

 

Saturday night was the party for the lady of the weekend!

Nearly 50 people attended my grandma's birthday party.  Family flew in from Colorado, Florida, and New York (that'd be us :).  We just had the best time.  I horrified my cousins with my rendition of a New York accent, and Mr. Snoop nearly wet his pants from a youtube video they showed him.  There was a great slideshow of pictures of my grandma, and my brother even made it from Ecuador via skype:

My grandpa talking to Chris.  We all passed him around :)

It was such a great weekend!  So nice to be home for a few days to spend time with the family and enjoy the nice weather.  Of course we got back here and it is now in the 50s.  A far cry from in the 80s and sunny.  I'll have to talk about the experience of flying American there and JetBlue back, but thats's for another post. 

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend as well!

Randoms

- Mr. Snoop was gone for a family wedding this past weekend.  Unfortunately, I did not get to go because I had a huge work event.  But since I was working like a madwoman all weekend, I did not have much time to stew about the fact that I was missing all the fun.

- When the temperature in our house/outside drops below a certain degree, our cats begin to nest.  It is not uncommon to come into our bedroom to find something like this:

Or this:

Not natural feline behavior, I know.

- I ordered our Christmas cards.  Phew.  Feels good to get that done.

- My new favorite thing is baked potatoes in the crock pot.  So easy and convenient.  On nights like tonight when Mr. Snoop  is on call and I have Middle School youth group, it is a real life-saver.  All you do is wrap them in foil and set it.  Then you come home to perfect baked potatoes.  Last week I did sweet potatoes and this week I am doing the regular ones.  Try it.  You won't regret it!

- Mr. Snoop and I are leaving for Austin tomorrow for my grandma's 80th Birthday Weekend.  The weather forecast looks perfect, and I can't wait for good Tex-Mex and to sip a margarita while sitting outside.  The whole fam damily is going to The Broken Spoke Friday night.  It will be Mr. Snoop's maiden voyage to an authentic Texas dance hall.  Can't wait!

- I'm sad Carson went home on Dancing with the Stars.  While his "skills" might not have been on par, he was just so enthusiastic, entertaining, and fun to watch.  Boo.

- I guess that's all, folks!