Apple Pie (from scratch!)

Everyone knows that I love to bake, but did you know that Evan does some baking? Well, he does! This weekend he made this apple pie from scratch! He came home with a half dozen apples from the farmer’s market and announced, “I’m making an apple pie.” It was absolutely delicious!

New York Trip Sept 2009 - Day 3

It has taken a full week to get all my posts up from our NY trip. In reality it has taken me this long to get back to normal life. I still think I’m in the Marriott hotel when I get up in morning, but once I open my eyes, I realize, no, I’m at home, bah.

Our last day in NYC was the only day that it didn’t rain. It was absolutely beautiful, sunny with a cool breeze. We had plans to have brunch with my brother and Brad, so my mother was anxious all morning. She didn’t want us to be late meeting him, so we had to make sure we were packed up and checked out of the hotel. I hate packing at the end of a trip. I can never fit everything back in the suitcase and with the two pairs of stiletto platforms, this pack up was specifically challenging.

After we checked out and checked our bags, we went on a little adventure to find a place to eat. We settled on The Bryant Park Grille. They have a beautiful patio with tables outside next to the Fashion Week tents. We had a really nice brunch, caught up on celebrity gossip and relived my trip and fall moment with good laughs. It is nice that my brother can still find time for us during these crazy weekend trips. We got to have good meal with just family, nobody buzzing around with cameras or clipboards. At the end of brunch we had to do our goodbyes and then headed to do some more sight seeing.

We jumped in a cab and headed towards Central Park. We drove past the MTV set up for the MTV Music Awards that were scheduled for that night. Tons of teens were already lined up on the sidewalks waiting to get a peak of their favorite rock stars. We got dropped off in front of one of the entrances to the park and were immediately approached by a rickshaw tour guide. We had to take two rickshaws, so Evan and his Mom rode together and I rode with my Mama. The tour guide was very nice, but had a small obsession with the movie Home Alone 2. He must have mentioned it at least 10 times on the tour. We learned about some other movies filmed in the park and saw the elite buildings over looking the park where different celebrities have apartments.

After the tour, we made it back to the hotel, collected our belongings and caught a cab to the train station. As our trip was winding down, we had time to review all the exciting moments from the previous two days. We talked about how amazing it was to see my brother’s name on the window at Saks. My Mom relived her encounters with Tim Gunn, Fern Mallis and the CEO from Payless. We all agreed that we were so glad that we ended up at Rock of Ages. We had such a wonderful time and I can’t wait for the next trip in February.

New York Trip Sept 2009 - Day 2

The day of the runway show is filled with anticipation from the moment I wake up. Fortunately for me, I got to sleep in this year! It was great that our travel day and the day of the show were not one in the same. That meant much less anxiety for all.

Evan and his mother jumped right out of bed with plans to see more of the city. They headed over to Rockefeller Center and even made an appearance outside the Today Show. If I was a morning person I would have gone with them, but I’m glad that they got to go exploring so that Jane could get to see more of the city.

Read more and see more pictures here…

New York Trip Sept 2009 - Day One

I am still reliving every moment of our New York Trip over and over in my mind. We had an absolutely amazing time and I wouldn’t have done one thing different.

Day one is always a whirlwind. We took the train up from BWI to NYC Penn Station and immediately headed over to my brother’s studio. On the way to the studio (which was only two blocks away) we passed by a Payless Shoe Store and had to stop to take a picture of the window. My brother’s entire line was displayed right up front with a picture of him and info about the shoes. My mother was so proud.

Once at the studio, it was a fun reunion, but it was also obvious my brother was incredibly busy. He really only had a few minutes to get us situated and get us out of there. His crew was having lunch when we arrived which was nice so we could chat with them for a few minutes before they were back to work work work. As I mentioned before I got to try on a few dresses, took home one and picked up the two pairs of shoes Payless had made for me. At that point, my brother called his driver to take us around the city.

It was a lot of fun to have the driver waiting for us. We are definitely not used to that kind of treatment. The first place we wanted to go was to Saks 5th Avenue to see my brother’s clothes on display on the exclusive designer 3rd floor. We were dropped off right in front and made a loop around the building to check out the window display. In the window were dresses by the likes of Roberto Cavali, Dolce and Gabbanna, Oscar DeLa Renta, Zac Posen and my little brother, Christian Siriano. We almost died as we walked around a read all the names. I thought I might fall over right there on the sidewalk and my mother got tears in her eyes. We posed for a picture at the window and then went inside. We took the elevator to the third floor and found his rack. The rack had been picked over quite a bit, but we each posed for another photo in front of the sign with his name holding a piece of this clothing. Then my mother told a few of the associates that she was his mother. After loitering in the designer area for a while, we went upstairs and Evan bought us each 2 pieces of chocolate from the chocolate counter. We went back one more time to look at his display and then called our driver to come pick us up.

Read more and see more pictuers here.

Fashion Week Outfit

It is that time of year again…FASHION WEEK!! This past weekend, Evan, Jane, my Mom and I had the best New York trip ever. The whole trip was absolutely awesome! I hope to post updates like I did last season, but I am trying to catch up with work and don’t have a ton of time to blog (hence my blogging absence the past few weeks). So until I can sit down and pour out our trip in written form, I wanted to post a quick update about the outfit I wore to my brother’s show. Of course my brother designed it! We stopped by his studio right when we got off the train on Friday. He had been doing fittings all day for celebs who wanted to wear something of his to his show. I tried on two dresses, the one I wore and another strapless short party dress, both in the red print. I was in love with both dresses but went with the halter style since the strapless was on hold for another celeb. The strapless dress may end up in my closet eventually since no one ended up wearing it. The shoes were also designed by my brother and produced by payless. I ended up wearing the gladiator platform boots that were worn in the show. I wore them all night and only fell once! More to come later this week...