5 Things....

I have been following a lot of bloggers to give me inspiration as I close in on my second year with Married to the Mobs.  I've been lucky enough to have trips and events to keep my blog busy all year, but I've been wanting to take on more conventional blogging topics, such as recipes, organizational tools, or maybe books I'm reading.  One thing I've seen many bloggers do is what's called "5 Things". I take hundreds of pictures of random things with my iPhone every week, so I wanted to just share a few "things" that have made me smile or made me happy!

1.  These guys!  My in-laws came to visit a few weeks ago, and we are always happy to have our family come visit.  We were so anxious to take them to the 21 Club and tell them all about our trip to Italy and discuss our plans over Christmas.  We can't wait to have them come back in a few weeks for our first Christmas in NYC!  We weren't the only ones who were happy to have them in town, Winston was even more thrilled as you can see here!

2.  I love my city.  This just wont get old.  I'm surprised and in awe of New York and find new things to appreciate about it's beauty and life almost every day.  I walk through Madison Square Park daily on my way to the office, and it was this beautiful fall scene, coupled with freshly laid grass, and of course the majestic view of the Empire State Building that stopped me in my tracks for a few moments.  Most days I feel like I'm dodging tourists and playing "frogger" through the crowds during my commute, but I'm not above stopping to take a moment, breathe in the chilly fall air, and take a picture of my city.  Before I moved here, someone once said that you should "never look up" when you're walking in NY, because that's a sure sign of an out-of-towner.  By my goodness, when you do look up every once in a while, it's pretty incredible!

3.  WWF Superstars!  For the past few months, my Thursday evenings have been committed to a kickball league with our friends.  It's comforting to know that no matter what is happening at work, or how crazy a week can get, I was guaranteed at least one night to let off some steam and have "friend night".  The Superstorm and the following nor'easter had sidelined our schedule for a bit, but we resumed play last week with the playoffs.  After 3 games and 3.5 hours of playing kickball in one night, we came away with the silver.  It's no gold metal, but it was a great run and such a fun season.  I'm already trying to figure out how to improve my skills in the off season!

4.  A nice big pot of chili.  It's not fall unless you have a giant pot of delicious chili simmering for hours on your stove.  I'd love to take this opportunity to share a personal recipe with you all, but I try a different one every time I cook chili, and unfortunately,  it's not original.  I am not a seasoned enough chef to just eyeball ingredients and experiment.  Chili is surprisingly pretty healthy as well. I stole this recipe from Giadi, and will definitely be making it again.  The best part is...it was a hit with my husband!  Who would have thought that Swiss chard, chicken and white beans could make him happier than a bowl full of red meat!  I'm also a fan of having leftovers, it makes working late on a week night so much easier when you know dinner is taken care of when you get home!  

5.  We got a few deliveries that we had almost forgotten about from our trip to Italy.  While we were there we purchased a gorgeous oil painting and of course, a few bottles of wine from the vineyard we visited in Chianti.  When those packages were delivered, it was like a little time capsule from our trip!  We can't wait to share our Italian wine with the family over Thanksgiving next week!