January: Week 1 recap

Nothing like waking up on Jan 1 with a mind-blowing hangover. But truthfully, I don’t remember the last time that we actually left our living room on New Year’s Eve, let alone stayed up until midnight. Years, I’m telling you, years.

So it goes without saying that our night out on the town had to be a go big or go home kind of evening. Starting with bowling and ending with dancing at some vaguely European-Middle Eastern-type of swankfest that used to define my 20s but is now just a blip in my hazy memory.

Waking up as a vegan on Jan 1 was no treat. Where were those greasy yet restorative egg and cheese sandwiches? The burgers dripping with fat? I had to console myself with quinoa sliders, which I assure you aren’t at the top of anyone’s hangover list. But Thursday brought some well-needed grease back into my life when I was able to track down a vegan cronut. Nothing like starting a January cleanse with cronuts, vegan or not. Give an inch and I’ll take a mile.

Although I welcomed cronuts on Thursday morning, it was also time to say goodbye to a few of my favorite places. So long seafood counter at Whole Foods, you’ll be missed. 25 more days until we’re reunited.

But I’m getting well-acquainted with a set of healing vegan foods this month, including lots of hummus and guacamole, 36 ways.

And there were plenty of fun activities that kept us busy in this first week of the new year. We saw Annie the musical on Broadway. Nothing is more angelic than little ones taking in the lights of Times Square.

And we had our first snow day of the year. I crept out just past dawn when the city was still sleeping to snap a few shots of the still-white snow. And then Jackson’s paws got cold. If you’ve ever seen a canine drama queen, I urge you take a Hungarian vizsla out for a winter stroll. It was 30 seconds tops before he started to hold up his paws, like the queen of England, demanding that I do something about this despicable situation.

Fortunately I have some heartier children at home. Kids that don’t care too much about getting their paws wet, their mugs frozen. Sam was thrilled to be making th-nowmen and th-nowballs. 

And what’s a good snow day without hot chocolate and croissants? At least to my food-obsessed first grader, she who prefers to eat her bread toasted with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of Maldon salt. She pointed out that these chocolate croissants were made in a non-traditional way with chocolate chips in the center as opposed to strips of chocolate. Watch out Gail Simmons, someone is next in line for your job…

After coming home from our visit to the park, we had a little downtime, including a Kung Fu challenge in the windowsill. Sam stripped down to his new favorite Tshirt from the Hiho Batik and Appaman holiday party, which he got to design himself. In addition to the skull and crossbones, he included his name: MAS. Now in addition to the nickname SAN which he earned from this incident, we now call him MAS. Which frankly takes the pressure off of his less desirable nickname Gernesto, so I don’t think he’s disappointed.

And finally, the wind up dolls sputtered, circled the room once or twice, and collapsed in a heap, ready for a movie and a nap.

From action-packed to shellacked, that pretty much describes my week. Happy new year everyone, hope you’re braving the first week better than I did. Week 2, still getting my strength back and trying to get on top of the mountain of bills, to dos, and apartment fixes that are have been waiting for my attention since November. But at least I’m sticking to my vegan cleanse, cronuts or not.