HAPPY MULTI-HOLIDAY POST.

Hello blogger-lovers!! It has been quite the holiday-laden past few days, hasn't it?! I hope you all had the most wonderful Valentine's Day, a joyous Chinese New Year, an enjoyable day off from the office for Presidents Day, and an indulgent and celebratory Fat Tuesday!!

You must be dying to know what I did for the holidays, right??? ::confirmatory nods received from all readers::

I decided to celebrate Chinese New Year a little bit early, because I knew a lot would be going on over the holiday weekend. My buddy, Christina Seid, over at the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory was hosting a cake decorating workshop at the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) for their Lunar New Year Family Festival. She invited me to come along for the ride and of course I could not help but JUMP at the opportunity to get some volunteer work under my belt...and some cake into my belly.


Here are all the slices of pound cake and decorations that we used to make our tiger cakes (aka ice cream sandwiches).


There's the ever-so-patient and talented Christina demonstrating how to fill the center of the cake with ice cream. You should see her with a tube of icing!!!!


Before getting their hands into the ice cream and other sugary confections, all the kids had to practice how to write TIGER in Chinese characters. They were then supposed to use icing to write the same character on their cake in honor of the upcoming new year of the WHITE TIGER!!


But several kids definitely had some...interesting interpretations of the tiger character...but hey, Chinese is a difficult language to grasp! I give them mad props for...kind of trying.

Moving on to the next holiday!!! Oh, good ol' VALENTINE'S DAY!!!! The holiday every single woman dreads. But I kept myself nicely occupied.


I kicked off pre-Valentine's Day festivities by being the lucky and ever-so-gracious recipient of a ticket to see the New York City Ballet's performance of Swan Lake (thank you, Luci!!!!). Beyond winning the award for the worst costumes I have ever seen in my life (save the swans), the dancing was truly beautiful and impressive. You could really sense and feel that the Swan Queen was really a woman trapped in a swan's body. But who knew this story had such an unfortunate ending??? The Swan Queen and the Prince don't live happily ever after...but I am kind of OK with that. Keeping it real, Tschaikovsky. Nice.


The next morning I arose bright and early to head to Hunter Mountain to spend my Valentine's Day on the slopes. Snowboarding is a different kind of monster and I don't believe humans were meant to bind their two feet to a wooden board and not be able to move one without moving the other in the same direction. It's just cruel. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time lying on the ground, screaming, and cursing the person who invented this death trap that is commonly known as a "snowboard."


As soon as I returned to the city it was time to get ready for the Valentine's Day evening activities! Charmillionaire and I played hostess to our very first Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance happy hour benefit in honor of the year that has passed since our dear friend, Vivek, fell victim to a horrible mental illness. There was only one proper way to commemorate Viv - and that was in celebration (and by celebration I mean step dancing, walking it out, and singing to Beyonce's Single Ladies, all with drink in tow). Our happy hour benefit raised over $300 and we were so proud to be able to make this contribution to the Vivek A. Patel Foundation on behalf of all of our amazing friends that came out to help support this important cause.

I spent half of my Presidents Day in bed, recovering from a day of falling down a mountain and from a night of donating my money not only to the DBSA but also to the bar. I finally dragged myself out of bed to have a sushi lunch with a dear robster friend and her girlfriend...checked out this new tea spot that opened up near Madison Square Garden...went to Chinatown to buy some produce and dumplings...and then later on met up with my sister at a Brazilian restaurant for dinner. All things that I will blog about in upcoming posts.

This finally brings me to the most recent of all celebratory occasions - FAT TUESDAY!!!!


I am so glad that I know the daughter of the most AMAZING baker I have ever not-met in my entire life. Mrs. Scott is the owner of the Something Sweet Bake Shop in Daphne, Alabama and she has provided me with a reason to go to work everyday - in hopes that she may have mailed a care package to her daughter...and in even higher hopes that her daughter will call me over to her desk to share!!!!! I had a slice of her king cake last year and nearly died from happiness and serenity. This year was no different.


Not to be morbid...but when I pass, my dying wish is to be buried in this cream cheese frosting. Really. I would want nothing more on this Earth than to forever be covered by the most delicious substance I have ever tasted in my life. SOMEONE GET ME TO THE SOUTH WHERE I BELONG. COVERED IN BUTTER, CREAM, AND SUGAR. WITH PAULA DEAN. AND MRS. SCOTT.

I hope all you Catholics got your Fat Tuesday ON, because starting tomorrow - most of you will probably have disavowed chocolate, dessert, and carbs. And I will have to find a Jewish chubby buddy.