Giveaway! Personalized Weathered Wood Signs (Winner Announced!)

Time’s Up!! :) The winner of the personalized wood sign is comment #123, emilyjpaterson! Congrats Emily! :)

Don’t forget, now through the end of September, use the coupon code kandaBOGO when ordering from Signs by Andrea. It’s not too early to start thinking about Christmas Gifts! :) This coupon is good for Buy One, Get One 50% Off at Signs by Andrea (special order signs included! expires 9/30/10).

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Filed Under: Giveaways • 566 Comments

Top of the Rock & The NYC Cupcake Challenge!

On our last day in NYC, my awesome travel buddy and snacking partner-in-crime Jenny and I headed to Top of the Rock, the observation deck at Rockefeller Center.

What an incredible view of the city we had!

From up here, the island looked so small..

I just love the big green rectangle of Central Park. Looks so funny surrounded by all the buildings!

We got a huge kick out of seeing all the tiny cabs down below. :)

All weekend we had been meaning to go to Crumbs Bake Shop (which had a location right by our hotel) to continue our NYC Cupcake Challenge! :) Finally on Sunday afternoon we were able to make our way over there. We brought these goodies back to the Royalton lobby for testing. Don’t you just love their bags!

First… The Cinnamon Roll Cupcake with cream cheese icing. This was totally Jenny’s favorite!

Next… the decadent Brownie Cupcake.

Incredibly rich chocolate cupcake filled with chocolate fudge, drizzled with chocolate, and topped with little bites of brownies. I think this was my favorite!

Then… the Cookie Dough Cupcake.

Ooh, chocolate fudge filling! What a fun surprise. The icing was a cream cheese frosting mixed with chocolate chip cookie pieces.

And finally… the Cappuccino Cupcake!

A delicious chocolate cupcake filled a coffee cream cheese frosting and covered in mini chocolate chips.

Also very close to our hotel was Magnolia Bakery! We were in heaven surrounded by all these cupcakes! :) I got just a plain vanilla cupcake with buttercream icing.

Jenny got a Banana Cupcake with caramel meringue buttercream frosting. Tasted just like banana bread!

The Verdict? So, who was the winner of our NYC Battle of the Cupcakes?? Here’s the final rundown!

Crumbs Bake Shop. These were good cupcakes, but I’m just not a huge cream cheese frosting fan. Seems like all the cupcakes we tested that day had cream cheese frosting. I’m definitely a buttercream frosting kinda gal!

Magnolia Bakery. If you’re a traditionalist looking for a plain vanilla cupcake, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed! My vanilla cupcake and the buttercream frosting were both delicious. I’m definitely going to be trying the Magnolia Bakery recipe. However we were not overly wowed with the “specialty” flavors they had that day.

Eleni’s Cupcakes. Hands down, these are the winner! :) We couldn’t stop talking about our Oreo and Peanut Butter Cup cupcakes. That buttercream frosting was just outta this world incredible. If you are ever in the area, definitely head over to Chelsea Market and check them out!

Thanks for sharing NYC with us!!

Filed Under: Vacations & Travel, NYC Trip • 35 Comments

Meeting The Pioneer Woman . . .

Saturday was an insanely crazy day in NYC! First I met Adam Gertler and won a new cell phone at the BlogHer expo. Next we had some deliciously decadent cookies from Levain Bakery. Then late Saturday afternoon I got a message on my phone saying I’d won a book from the expo. Jenny and I headed back to the Hilton to pick it up. We were standing in the hotel lobby, and you will never guess who walked through the doors…

Ree! The Pioneer Woman!

I had my back turned, and I heard Jenny say hi to someone. Jenny knew everyone at the event, so I wasn’t too surprised! :) But when I heard her say Ree my head whipped around so fast you would’ve thought it was going to pop off!

I was so surprised, I don’t think I could even remember my name, much less introduce myself. But Ree hugged us and said “It’s like meeting old friends!”

Then she turned to me… I still don’t think I had been able to utter an intelligible word out of my gaping mouth at this point… and she said,

“Amanda, your scarf tutorial changed my life!”

*Pick me up off the floor!*

The Pioneer Woman has seen my dorky little scarf tutorial?!! The one I only begrudgingly posted because you guys talked me into it?! She’s seen it and recognized me from it, and could immediately place me?? Oh my goodness, I think I just about fainted at that point.

Let me just say, Ree was so, so sweet. And beautiful. And sweet. So glad I got to meet her! She seemed to be in no hurry, she just stood around with us in the lobby, talking, making conversation, and gabbing like girlfriends. She told us about falafel, her Today Show appearance, and going out to dinner with her husband. She joked about wearing Spanx. She asked where we were off to next and we told her Sephora. She said, “Oh, Sephora, I love that place! I wish I could go with you girls!” I just love her. :)

Well, Jenny & Ree talked. I mostly just stood there with my mouth open.

Who knew I was the star-struck type!

Filed Under: Vacations & Travel, NYC Trip • 61 Comments