Cheers!

Wherever you're toasting the New Year tonight,
  I hope you'll be with the ones you love
      and have a wonderful time.
          
                       [Linking back to the Thursday Photo Challenge (beverage) 
and to Weekend Reflections.]

ABC Wednesday—Y is for "Happy New YEAR"

Here's wishing my blogpals a festive 
time tomorrow night and all 
the very best in the coming year!

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]

cock-a-doodle-doo!

I'm off to the Virginia countryside for a few
days of R and R (and R, for my cousin's
outsider-art rooster—isn't he a hoot?).

[Linking back to Ruby Tuesday and Our World Tuesday.]

Macro Monday

It's a macro shot of one of my all-time
favorite Christmas presents . . .

a sparkly 3-foot addition to the ET collection
—and, yes, it does have twinkling lights!

[To see more Macro Monday pics, go here.]

Shadow Shot Sunday

Well, we may not have had snow here for the 
holidays (far from it—it hit 72°F/22°C
here in NYC on Christmas Eve!), but it was 
a winter wonderland at Saks Fifth Avenue.

[To see more Sunday shadows, go here.]

It's all about the ribbon

I love wrapping gifts (can you tell?)—I'm
a happy girl when I'm in the presence of presents.
Hope all of you who celebrated yesterday
had a very Merry Christmas.

And Happy Boxing Day to all my "British Empire" buddies.

[Linking back to Pink Saturday.]

Happy Christmas!

Another Fifth Avenue holiday window.
If you're celebrating today, I hope 
you're having a blessed Christmas—and one
filled with family, good food, and fun.

[To see more Weekend Reflections, visit James's meme.]

Thursday Challenge—"beverage"

These are called duck farts—and taste 
much better than that sounds.
It's equal parts Kahlua, Bailey's Irish Cream,
and good whiskey.  If you make them
one at a time, pour them into the glass in 
that order (1/2 oz. each) and you'll
have three separate layers—a killer shot,
but it looks good.

And here's my toast to you: Happy Holidays!

[To see more of the Thursday Photo 
Challenge, visit Dale's meme.]

ABC Wednesday—X is for "Xmas"

Too easy, perhaps—but this is my
14th round of X (and the 4th
"Xmas," I have to admit).  I really 
am going to miss it when it ends in a 
couple of rounds, though—hard to
 imagine Wednesday without the ABCs.

[To see more ABC Wednesday posts, go here.]

those enormous ornaments

I know I've shown these before, but every
year I pass by here (diagonally across 6th Avenue
from Radio City Music Hall) and every year
I just have to take a picture—and share it.

[Linking back to Ruby Tuesday and Our World Tuesday.]

Macro Monday

We're in full-on present-wrapping mode
(one of my fave parts of the holidays)
 and my dining table looks like Christmas 
just exploded all over it: boxes and 
paper and ribbon, oh my!  Here's a closeup of . . .

this fun stuff.  Someone will 
have to dig through it to find their
buried "treasure."

[To see more Macro Monday posts, go here.]

inSPIREd Sunday

Another shot of the newly renovated
St. Patrick's Cathedral in NYC.
The reno took three years, cost $175 million,
and though it was due to be completed
this month, it was finished in time for the
visit of Pope Francis in September.

[To see more churches from around the world, go here.]

The Weekend in Black and White

The Citicorp Building, all decked out for 
the holidays, with 12 14-foot stars 
suspended in the multi-story atrium overlooking
 Columbus Circle and Central Park.

[To see more black/white images, visit Dragonstar's meme.]

Weekend Reflections

I went to Rockefeller Center to see this
year's tree—an 80-year-old, 10-ton,
78-foot Norway spruce that's been adorned
with 45,000 LED lights (that's it in the background).
But on my way down the Channel Gardens,
I discovered some other trees that also
featured . . . silvery reflections!

[To see more Weekend Reflections, visit James's meme.]

Thursday Challenge—"glass"

This is the 103-year-old, 43-meter-high
dome that caps the Galeries Lafayette, 
in Paris.  That's a lot of glass!

[To see more of the Thursday Photo
Challenge, visit Dale's meme.]

ABC Wednesday—W is for "water lilies"

And not just any old water lilies. Apparently, 
I timed my visit to Giverny last July to see Monet's 
flowers blooming pretty much as they were 
when he painted them. 

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]

Radio City lights

All lit up inside (hey, Rockettes!) and out.

[Linking back to Ruby Tuesday and Our World Tuesday.]

Christmas in the City

There are still some interesting buildings in
Manhattan—and I like this one even better with the
big and little trees in the courtyard all 
covered in blue fairy lights.

[Linking back to Blue Monday and Monday Mellow Yellows.]

inSPIREd Sunday

This is the crèche at St. Patrick's Cathedral,

with everyone focused on the baby

(who won't be placed in the manger until

Christmas Eve)—including the rector's yellow
lab, Lexington (a bit unorthodox, but wouldn't the
shepherds have had dogs?).

[To see more churches from around 
the world, go here.]

Pink Saturday

I came across these beautiful pink flamingos
preening themselves when I visited the
Bronx Zoo recently.  So elegant!

[To see more Pink Saturday posts,
visit Beverly's meme.]

Weekend Reflections

This is the Graybar Building (more about
their "rodent problem" after the holidays)
—all lit up for Christmas in New York.

[To see more Weekend Reflections,
visit James's meme.]

Thursday Challenge—"white"

This time of year, it seems as though every
branch of every tree in the city has been wrapped
with fairy lights.  Sometimes they're blue,
but the ones in the neighborhood where I work
are white—and SO pretty (don't you think?).

[To see more of the Thursday Photo
Challenge, visit Dale's meme.]

ABC Wednesday—V is for "Victor Hugo"

. . . also for Galerie Vivienne, in Paris,
and for volumes—you'll find
many beautiful ones both old and new at
the picturesque Librairie Jousseaume. 

[To see more ABC posts for the letter V, go here.]

Bloomie's

As promised yesterday, here's one of Bloomingdale's 
holiday windows, featuring a zillion red roses and 
a reindeer with some a-mazing antlers.

[Linking back to Ruby Tuesday,
Our World Tuesday, and Weekend Reflections.]

Blue Christmas

Here's one of Saks Fifth Avenue's elegant
holiday windows—the theme: Winter Palace.
{Stayed tuned tomorrow for one of
another NYC store's holiday windows.} 

[Linking back to Blue Monday and Weekend Reflections.]

inSPIREd Sunday

Another shot from my daughters' recent
trip to Turkey—this one that Lila took
in the breathtaking 17th-century Sultan Ahmet
(aka, the Blue) Mosque, in Istanbul.

[To see more houses of worship
from around the world, go here.]

The Weekend In Black and White

As promised in yesterday's post, here's Lee Lawrie's
Art Deco statue of Atlas.  It's four stories tall, 
weighs 7 tons—and when it was unveiled in 1937
some folks complained; they thought the face looked a 
bit too much like Benito Mussolini (actually, it does).

[To see more b/w pics, visit Dragonstar's meme.]

Weekend Reflections

This is 630 Fifth Avenue, across the street
from St. Patrick's Cathedral and right
behind the 1937 Art Deco statue of Atlas
(more about that tomorrow).

[To see more Weekend Reflections, see James's meme.]

Thursday Challenge—"powerful"

I went to the Bronx Zoo recently, and stopped 
by to see the band of gorillas.  This is the
silverback: the big kahuna, the main man—large
and in charge.  Don't mess with this dude!

[To see more of the Thursday Photo 
Challenge, visit Dale's meme.]

ABC Wednesday—U is for "under construction"

I was a kid in the mid 20th century, a time when girls 
played with dolls—and my older brother got 
the Lionel trains, Lincoln Logs, and ... the erector set.
If I'd been allowed to play with "his" toys, who 
knows?  I might have grown up to be a good 
mom and an architect.  Just sayin'.

[To see more ABC posts for the letter U, go here.]

Topkapi Palace

My daughters went to Turkey for Thanksgiving
(yeah, yeah, I know) and I couldn't resist
borrowing this image from Lila.  It's possible that
you may be seeing a couple more pics 
from Istanbul and beyond.

[Linking back to Ruby Tuesday and Our World Tuesday.]

What is it?

This stuff is amazing.
You could probably have a camel or a 
huge hunk of Limberger cheese in 
your house, and if you put out a bunch
of these little gel odor eaters
you'd hardly notice (well, I guess the
camel would be obvious, but not for its "scent").

[Linking back to Blue Monday and Macro Monday.]

Shadow Shot Sunday

I can't imagine going to Paris and not
taking at least one stroll along the
beautiful arcades of the Palais Royal—
especially lovely when the sun is out and
the lamps cast their shadows.

Simple and elegant!

[To see more Sunday shadows, go here.]

Pink Saturday

. . . and here they are
(see yesterday's post).

[To see more Pink Saturday posts, go here.]

the bamboo wood

Apparently, this is the little boat 
that Monet rowed out in to 
capture his water lilies in all their glory. 
(stay tuned . . .)

[Linking back to Weekend Reflections and
to The Weekend in Black and White.]

Thursday Challenge—"hard"

Mom and Dad were having fun, but their little girl
was still pretty unsteady on her blades.  My
father first brought me here to the Rockefeller Center 
rink when I was 4 years old, and I quickly learned two things:
Ice-skating is hard—and so is that ice!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends—

[To see more of the Thursday Photo
Challenge, visit Dale's meme.]

ABC Wednesday—T is for "tiles"

This beautiful floor belongs to
Veniero's Pasticceria, which is not in Italy
(though you might think so), but rather on the
Lower East Side of Manhattan. I told 
you all about it last month.

[To see more ABC posts for the letter T, go here.]

If it's eucalyptus, it must be November

I love the folks who come to our local
greenmarket with flowers from their farm. 
It starts with daffodils and tulips in
April and ends with dried arrangements and huge 
bunches of eucalyptus—like the one this guy
has just bought—into November.

[Linking back to Ruby Tuesday and Our World Tuesday.]

A "cautionary" tale

Look out! Be careful! Watch where you're going!
But don't forget to love yourself too.
I'm making fun of where they put their little 
feel-good sticker, but the folks at the
Love Yourself Project are doing some good 
work—especially with kids and art.

[To see more Monday Mellow Yellows posts, go here.]

Today's Flowers?

My new work space is right next to the 
food editors at another magazine, Family Circle. 
This showed up last week, so I went over to
admire the pretty orchid—and then . . .

someone cut into it!

[To see more (real) flowers from
around the world, go here
and click on the link.]

Saint-Antoine-des-Quinze-Vingts

This Paris church is relatively young—it was
built in the neogothic style and completed
in 1903.  I've featured it here before.

[Linking back to The Weekend in Black and White,
Shadow Shot Sunday, and inSPIREd Sunday.]

Weekend Reflections

Hi-ho, hi-ho—it's off to work we go.
But it was a Monday after a very
nice weekend, so I doubt any 
of us were feeling that enthusiastic.

[To see more Weekend Reflections, visit James's meme.]

Thursday Challenge—"warm"

As we move from "sweater" to "jacket" to 
"pouffy down coat" weather, I'm thinking about 
"barefoot"—from a mere two months ago.

[To see more of the Thursday Photo Challenge, go here. 
Also linking back to Weekend Reflections.]

ABC Wednesday—S is for "Starbucks"

At the Louvre, no less.  There's something
about it that's just so un-Parisian.
(On the other hand, I have to admit that
I really do like those cups.)

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]

Kings Theater

This theater, On Flatbush Avenue in the heart
of Brooklyn, opened in 1929 and was
closed in 1977.  Finally, after the completion this
year of a $95 million restoration of the original design
along with 21st-century technical improvements,
we have a wonderful new venue for live entertainment.
SO glad they opted to renovate rather than demolish.
(I was there with my girls to see the
So You Think You Can Dance live touring show—
anyone else addicted to SYTYCD?) 

[Linking back to Ruby Tuesday and Our World Tuesday.]

Fluctuat nec mergitur

I took this picture exactly two years ago,
when I was in Paris with two fellow
bloggers who have now become my good friends.
They are both there now, and I am so
grateful that they—and all my Paris friends—are
safe.  We won't let what's happened keep us 
from the city we love so much.  As the motto of Paris
says:  "Elle est agitée par les vagues, et ne sombre pas"
(She is tossed by the waves, but does not sink).

[Linking back to Macro Monday.]