Today, Tina and I went into the city and began our tour of cupcake joints.

Pictured here... a chocolate cupcake from Miette and a vanilla cupcake from Citizen Cupcake.

When one is traveling and one goes to visit an Ikea one really must remember that they flew there on a plane and really mustn't buy large items or furniture... no matter how cute it is.

After reading over some of the "must visit" recommendations, this evening we went to Japantown. Joel stopped at every sushi window to look at the fake pieces of sushi. I nearly passed out when we went to the Kinokuniya Bookstore. I had time to pick out three books before it closed. I hardly got a chance to see everything, so we will have to go back again. There were some books that were so cute my head nearly popped.

I can smell a cupcake a mile away. Ok, well maybe not exactly, but I did spot a sign for Teacake Bake Shop across from our hotel. After work today we walked over and bought some cupcakes and cookies. They were delicious and I loved the pink box they came in. Dangerous thing, how close they are to the hotel.

Today I had Jamba Juice and wore new socks. Today was a good day.

I love, love my new socks. They are made of bamboo and they are so comfortable.

Tina thinks we should buy stock in bamboo... they are making so many things out of it, flooring, clothes, yarn... even soap.

And really, really comfy socks.

I am going to be in San Francisco the next two weeks for work. As soon as I got back from Ithaca, I packed my bags and flew out. Joel is here too and Tina joins us tomorrow. We have a lot of work to do, but we hope to get around a little too. Joel and I have already hit the In-n-Out Burger. Yummy, yummy.

Anyone have any must visits?

While we were in Ithaca we went to visit an orchid grower that Aaron met recently at a floral show. You may have seen his orchids at Wegmans. We got a tour of his greenhouse... there were hundreds and hundreds of orchids growing. Then we had tea with him which was amazing. I was thrilled because my two orchids at home just bloomed and I got to take another home to join them.

Aaron had to go to Ithaca for work this weekend, so Oscar and I went with him.

We did some window shopping and ate at the Moosewood Restaurant.

Here are some pictures of our weekend that I uploaded to My Gallery.

I just went to My Google and discovered I could add a theme. This one is called Tea House... so cute!!! I love the fox in the boat.

If you input your location, it will change dynamically based on what time of day it is! Those Google people are crafty!

On our way to Spragues Maple Farm, we stopped in Cuba, NY to visit the Cuba Cheese Shoppe.

Cheese cheese cheese! As far as the eye can see. Wonderful!

My favorite is the 3 Year Aged Reserve Black Diamond Cheddar.

I know it is almost spring when it is time for all you can eat pancakes. This past weekend and next weekend are Maple Weekends here in NY state. That is the time that the maple sap is running and is tapped.

To celebrate many maple syrup producers open their doors and demonstrate the process. Some offer all you can eat pancakes.

We went to Spragues Maple Farm. Shruti, Vishal, Tina and the champion pancake eater of all time (Lauren) went along with Aaron and I.

Check out the pictures from our little road trip on My Gallery.

My friends Sarah and Denis had their annual St Patrick's Day party this weekend. I didn't get my camera out until the end when we were hanging out in their kitchen with their dogs... how unlike me.

I love St. Patrick's Day parties because I like making green food. This year I made something we have back in PA quite a lot... Watergate Salad. Very green and very yummy.

Saturday was my friend Doug's birthday and we went to his bowling birthday party. Check out his awesome cupcake birthday cake.

I have not been bowling in years... as you can see from that fabulous split I produced. I won't be joining the pro tour anytime soon. (but if I did I would need this bowling ball and bag!)

I wrote about disguising your digital camera over on 1000 Words, thanked the snowplow guy and praised the soup swap at Rocha-chatter. Check them out and leave me some comments there!

Chuck and Tina took Lauren to have her picture taken so Aaron and I tagged along. I wanted to be there because I heard there were going to be bunnies involved. There was only one bunny brought out and he nearly got his stuffing squeezed outta him by an overly enthusiastic one year old.

Still, it was great fun to watch Lauren's parents dance around with stuffed animals, whistling and clicking to make Lauren smile. And as you can see... the results made it all well worth it.

Happy St Patrick's Day everyone!

(big butter shamrock cookie from Oven Door Bakery)

Mmmmm... leftover yogurt.

Do I have grapes for lunch today? No! It's a mini banana! Yes, I bought a bunch of mini bananas JUST because they were mini and cute.

That's Tina's regular banana laying next to my mini banana. I told her that if her banana was a phone, my banana was a cell phone.

I crack myself up.

Ironically, today... (the day after I proclaim that I want to eat healthier) just happens to be National Potato Chip Day. To celebrate, folks in my office brought bags of of different kinds of chips to share.

Of course I had to sample as many as possible and now I have Captain Crunch mouth (another very healthy food). All the salty shards of deep fried potatoes have shredded the roof of my mouth and swollen my gums. Serves me right.

I was thinking about what to plant in the garden this year, when I realized I never posted last year's results. I have a few pictures of our little raised garden growing and what we harvested, on my Projects Gallery.

I am not exactly a health nut... I love my Krispy Kreme doughnuts... but I do feel I should pay more attention to what I eat. Of course there is so much to consider. Should you buy organic? What should you absolutely buy organic and what doesn't have to be? Should you buy organic or buy local?

It seems the ideal is to buy local organic. We usually supplement our backyard harvest with public market produce, but this summer in addition, Aaron and I have decided to join a CSA co-op farm. For a reasonably priced half share (enough food for two adults) we will get a bag of food each week plus U pick berries, flowers and the option to purchase eggs, pork (fresh bacon!), beef, turkey and even grains. All organic. If we work three to four days in the summer the cost is even less. Aaron is super excited about going to work on the farm even though I had to remind him they are not going to let him drive the tractor.

I finally uploaded my Through the Viewfinder pictures for the World Through the Viewfinder Day group on flickr. I used my two favorite subjects for my pictures. They are so good at sitting laying still for the camera.

I missed the cutoff for judging but that is okay because I am actually a judge myself! There are so many great shots... it's gonna be hard.

January 23 was National Soup Swap Day. It's a few months later, but after reading notMartha's post about the soup swap she attended I had to have one, albeit a tad late.

It's a great idea. Everyone makes soup, brings six 1 quart containers of their soup, then goes home with six containers of different soup.

Aaron and I made Potato Leek soup. We added London to the name because we first had it in there when my friend Kristen made it. In fact, we have the recipe she used from olive magazine. We had to keep checking the measurement conversions when we were making it.

Our swap was a great success and we are planning on eating soup all this week.

• my soup swap site
• another soup swap
• soupswap.com
• potato leek soup recipe and pictures
• pictures from our soup swap

This morning Tina and Lauren joined us for breakfast at our favorite diner (Jim's Restaurant). I took "across the table" pictures of all of us this time.

Something weird is going on at our house. The pictures illustrate the recent events. Oscar is sleeping in Stewie's bed and Stewie is eating Oscar's food. Even stranger... the other just stands by... "Oh fine, I'll bunk in your bed then." "Having a snack? That's okay... I'll just wait til you're done."

It's like Freaky Friday but with pets instead of Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster.

It's hard to ignore all the Easter Stuff in the stores already. I love bunnies and they are everywhere. I spotted these bunny suits in the Easter aisles at Target.

Aaron looks disgusted because I was suggesting we get one for him to wear for Easter Sunday. I made him stand next to it to see if it was long enough. That's one big Easter bunny!

Two years ago I wrote about the Numi Flowering Teas (tea leaves that bloom into flowers when dropped into hot water). Tina got me a sample but I still haven't used it. Because I - don't - have - the - special - glass - pot.

I have been drooling over the TeaPosy products at Wegmans for months now. TeaPosy has the cutest clear glass teapots, bitty dainty tea cups and their own line of flowering tea. And they are from Rochester! I do enjoy supporting my local businesses.

At mystarbuckshirt.com you can build your cup of coffee... and at one time you could get a shirt with the finished cup on it. I was so excited when I built my coffee... it really sounds like me... short, sugary, nutty. (I don't really ask for organic milk... there was no whole milk option and the organic green looked nice with my design)

I was crushed when I found out you couldn't get the tshirts anymore... and super crushed when I found out they were actually free! You can go to the online auction and buy a shirt from a celebrity... but I don't want THEIR coffee on a shirt! I want MY coffee on a shirt. I want to walk into Starbucks... point to my shirt... smile and nod.

I was admiring the ripple blanket made over on Posie Gets Cozy and then was equally impressed when she jumped right into a granny square blanket when I remembered something...

When I was home for the holidays, my grandma gave me an unfinished granny square blanket she got from my great aunt. Jackpot! One third of the squares are finished, two thirds need the tan edging and then all the squares need stitched together.

The colors might not be exactly what I would have chosen, but having the project kick started for me is so worth it. A lot of work has already been done, yet there is enough work that when I finish it I can still claim that I made (part) of it! I just need to get a square to the store to buy matching tan yarn. Hmmm... maybe I am going to discover why my great aunt stopped in the middle.

I just got this smaller sized Two's Company insulated lunch bag and I am so pleased with it. Not only does it look nice with my Pylones Starbucks thermos... but since I tend to bring a lot of items for lunch *ahem* it all fits perfectly.

The freezing rain we have been getting is actually making me nostalgic for the snow. This is what I found in the office parking lot one evening this week. My VW had a snow moustache.

Here are some across the table pictures from today and last weeks's Friday Breakfast Out. Dunkin Donuts and then Starbucks.

It's a good thing we only do this on fridays or else I would probably see myself getting chubbier picture by picture.

I spotted these Flat Earth Baked Veggie Chips at Wegmans in the snack aisle and was wondering why they weren't in the natural food section. They looked so wholesome.... then I was suspicous because I had read about companies putting farms and cows on their packaging to "look healthy".

After reading the back I discovered they are made by Frito Lay but they do seem relatively healthy.... no artifical flavors or preservatives, no trans fat, 1/2 serving of real veggies in every ounce.

Always game for something new, I got the Farmland Cheddar. They were very tasty! They also have Garlic & Herb Field, Tangy Tomato Ranch, Wild Berry Patch, Apple Cinnamon Grove and Peach Mango Paradise flavors. I thought berry and peach chips sounded strange but I have heard people say they love them.

It's so hard to tell these days what is good to eat and what isn't. I even read something about my beloved Annie's Mac and Cheese!

This article from the Onion is pretty funny though.