Two of my Favorite Things: Chocolate and Friends

Chocolate Tour 2009 was awesome. Despite the rain and people dropping out last minute, it was great. It started out small, with Anne, Jessica and I at Max Brenners.


HugMug Photoshoot:



And let the chocolate tour begin!


Next stop, Voges, where we met up with AnnMarie who was in town for the weekend:

Trying on AnnMarie's butterfly mask:

"Quick, act like a butterfly!" "um..."


Next stop: Maribelle's and Kristin joined our group. Um...not sure why she isn't in any of our pictures until Kee's. Sorry girl.


Jessica told us to pose...did she expect more?



The best stop is always Kee's Chocolate. AMAZING!

That is pure joy in Anne's eyes. Mixes with a little excitement.

Finally, a pic of all of us!


And we ended at Jacques Torres. Always good! As you can see, Anne and Kristin had had a lot of chocolate at this point:


AnnMarie and her AM Quickie. Question: How much does an AM quickie cost? Answer: The bargain price of $3!!

Anne playing in the kids section.

This is what the day was all about...CHOCOLATE!!

Thanks Anne for a great tour!!

Mad Men Party

The week before Halloween, Jill hosted a Mad Men party for her birthday. It was a blast. Jessica Later agreed to help us get ready. She is amazing, she turned some ducklings into swans:



All dolled up, and somewhere to go!

Profile:



Birthday girl and Kristin.

Jill, Alina and Sara

Past and current roomies:

I don't think that Alina approves of Anne's dance moves...

Kaish came by later and it was all over for the rest of us girls. The boys were all attention!

Enjoin my DC.

Alina and her awesome hairpiece!

Anne and I doing what we do best...eating!

Chillin on the couch

Arranged by height...Anne, Alina, me and Sara


My new friend Sean and I

Hamming it up:


Anne, Christian and Kristin hamming it up:



Alina and Sara


Sean checkin' Sara out for a joke


Way home from the party, stop in Time Square. Anne, Kaisha and I.


Happy Birthday Jill, thanks for having us!!!

Birthday extended

Got a package at work from Rachel. It was my birthday package, complete with princess crown and scepter. Do I have the coolest sister ever? I.think.so.



Let's not forget the paddle and ball that I am now determined to learn how to use:




Thanks Rachel!!

I have no words

So I went to a huge birthday bash for four of my friends/coworkers last month. It was a great party and I had a lot of fun. Sadly, no one had a camera!

However I just found out that there was a photographer there from the bar. That's right, just found out that I am now on the site of the bar the party was at. Yeah...the hot blond is my coworker Emily...and there's me in the back.



Seriously, what made me think that would be ok? Great pic Em, you can totally crop me out, I won't be offended. Happy Birthday!

My Birthday and Keith Urban

I recently had a birthday. Yup, can't avoid them anymore. It was a wonderful day though. My supervisor got me flowers and a group of people at the office got me cupcakes. Val, Jess and Anne got me dinner and we just had a few people over for cupcakes that night. Thanks to everyone that was able to make it. It was a very nice night. Here are some pictures of me being lame:



I have no chin!!


We took some more pictures of everyone that was there, but I am still trying to track those down.

Thursday night, I went to see Keith Urban in concert at MSG. Our seats were cheap, horrible and I had a blast! I went with Chris, Valerie, Jessica Later and Chris's friend.

Me, Chris, the other girl (she is really cool, I just forgot her name, Sorry!), and Val. I have no idea what Chris is doing. He doesn't get much sleep.


Chris really, really wanted some cotton candy. So much so that he paid for a $7.50 bag of it.


Jess and I eating cotton candy.


Jessica is such a hottie!


Keith!!! As you can see, from our seats we could see the backstage better then the front of the stage. It was still amazing. He is so good in concert.


He's a bit closer!


It was a wonderful birthday and week. Thanks to everyone for the well wishes and love!

Aubrey's Party - Last Month

Sorry, this is a late post. But my camera broke last month and I have been at the mercy of other people's cameras and schedules getting me pictures :) So the pictures below are from Jessica Harris, Jessica Later and Jennifer Fernholz's cameras. Thanks girls!

Anyway, last month was my friend Aubrey's 21st birthday. She threw a big party called "Top Hats and Tiaras" formal dress required. Jennifer helped plan and decorate and did an amazing job. Check out some of the pics!

The outdoor party area.


Aubrey and the amazing Party Planner Jennifer


Birthday girl in her beautiful party dress!


Aubrey's mom flew out to surprise her for her birthday, so cute!


Singing to Aubrey


Aubrey and Jessica, so cute!


Anne is hot in a top hat!


Jessica, Jessica, Aubrey, Emily and Valerie:


Chet and Aubrey are both adorable in this picture.


Kristin, Val and Anne bustin' a move...oh, and there's me in the background :)


Rustin and Chet breaking it down


Me, Emily, Jessica, Aubrey, Valerie, Jessica, Anne


Emily, Jessica, Aubrey, Valerie, Jessica, Anne - Hot ladies!


My favorite picture OF THE NIGHT. Valerie rocks!


Strike a pose with the huge Balloons!


Me, Anne and Jessica


Pose!


Awesome party girl after the party


Me and Anne waiting for a cab after the party and helping with the clean up.


Whew, it was a late night, but an amazing party! Happy Birthday Aubrey, Love you!

Nephews (and maybe nieces) Update

That's right! Both of my amazing sister-in-laws are expecting! I am so excited for them both. Nicole is due at the beginning of March, Laurie is due at the end of March. These little kids coming to our family are freakin lucky to get the best parents ever.

In the meantime, I am checking Baby Gap and other fun places and looking forward to being able to buy them cute little clothes!!!

Here are some pictures of my current adorable nephew, Elliott. He is in Belgium for a few weeks with his mom visiting her family. I think my poor brother is pretty bored without them. But don't worry, I sent him a gift in the mail that should help cure a bit of that boredom!!

Anyway, I can't believe how fast he is growing!

He spent part of the summer in Idaho with my parents and sister. Here he is helping dad mow the lawn:


Helping Rachel practice the piano:


Dad, Ben and Laurie roasting marshmallows on the fire pit in the backyard.


In the kiddie pool.


Just being cute!


Check out more pictures of him at Ben and Laurie's blog here.

Eat Freely!

Check out our new site for Hot Pockets and join the movement, it's pretty awesome!



We also launched two new TV spots last week. The spots were so much fun to be a part of making. They are pretty funny! Watch them below if you have a moment:



Let me know what you think of them!

"Karene and her hair."

The last few weeks have been really stressful because we have been finishing some commercials for Hot Pockets. Towards the peak of the stress, I decided I needed a change. I made a hair appointment at this place around the corner called Cabellos and told the stylist, Nekky, to do whatever she wanted.

I then looked down at my BlackBerry and continued to work. She took my hair in a pony tail and cut it all off! I looked up and saw how short it was. My thought was "I might regret this one, guess I will learn how to pull back short hair for the next few months." That's right, she gave me a bob...but I LOVE IT!

She had no idea, but I have always wanted to get a bob. It's probably just because I always thought I couldn't because of the curly hair. She was fantastic and knew all about curly hair and how to cut it well. The cut she gave me is is longer in the front and shorter in the back, which gives it more volume and body whether it's curly or straight.




Here you can see the back in the mirror.


It actually does look cute curly too, but I don't like it as much. Here's Anne and I playing in the fountain at Columbus circle.




Right after I got it done some friends came up from DC. It was rainy that day and my straight hair was already going curly in the picture below. I need to work on that!

Neal, Erik, Anne, Jeremy, Me and Lindsay.


Apparently, when my little sister Rachel showed my dad a picture of me on Facebook, his response was a sigh and "Karene and her hair." Hehehe!

Boston

A friend Thom invited Anne, Val and I to go with him to Boston for a day. He had a softball tournament to attend all day on Saturday. And I just wanted to finally check out Boston.

Val and Anne on the drive up.


I was out voted and the New Kids on the Block CD was put in.


Saturday morning I dropped Thom off at the park, then the girls had free reign of the city! We started in Cambridge and checked out Harvard. It was beautiful.

Anne chilling at the Coop


Valerie stocking up on her Harvard Gear


So I found this little lens that you can put on your phone camera and it gives you a wide angle view. Here is the picture of Valerie enjoying her ice creme without it.


Here is the ice creme picture with it. Kinda fun.


Then we drove to Boston and parked the car. The rest of the day was spent wandering. I know I am a New Yorker, but by the end, my feet were getting a little sore.

Duck tours! We didn't take one.


PF Changs for lunch. Give us a break ok, they don't have them in Manhattan!



Anne at Boston Common


Just chillin at Boston Common


Valerie at Boston Commons


Anne and her friend from college who met us, Yin. She was very cool


Anne and Valerie absorbing Boston at the harbor


The Boston Harbor


Anne and I at the Harbor


The court house


Sights:



Paul Revere


Paul...still there


Old North Church


We were going to buy hats for everyone, but they were $10. So we just took pictures of Anne with it on.


Valerie's sweet frisbee form


Frisbee form


Anne's Frisbee form




gymnastics while waiting for Thom


Dismount


Thom...tired Thom


We were starving on the way home, but for some reason Thom didn't want to stop anywhere. He kept saying, "next town." Finally at 8pm we led a mutiny and insisted he stop. Of course, we ended up in Hartford where everything was closed because they were having some sort of festival in town.

We ended up at this Italian place that was completely empty. Infact, when we walked in the cook was sitting down drinking wine and seemed startled by us.

Val and I at the Italian place in Hartford


The deserted restaurant we ate at


The food was amazing and the people were very nice. Well worth the random stop.

Good trip! Thanks Thom!