I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I had a great day. Josh and Liz and Carlos came over for dinner, which went really well, dispite the fact that Liz had brought over pomegranate cocktails and we were both rather tipsy, to put it mildly. And that was before I had even put the roast into the oven. I had everyone decorate cookies while we waited for dinner, which was fun, and for dinner we had roast rib eye of beef with a horseradish and Hawaiian sea salt crust, creamed spinach, corn with herbs, and a really wonderful crispy/creamy mashed potato bake.

I've been trying to adjust my sleeping schedule, staying up late, sleeping in, by going to see very late movies and drinking coffee at 9pm. So far, so good. I've seen Sweeney Todd and There Will Be Blood, both quite good. Sweeney Todd was really great, as only Tim Burton and Johnny Depp Movies can be. Steve and Carlos even enjoyed it, despite the music, although they both wished it were a straight film and not a musical and I enjoyed it despite all of the blood and killing. There Will Be Blood, however, was mindblowing. It's been called one of the most important films ever, compared to Citizen Kane and Stanley Kubrik films. And this is completely deserved. The cinematography is stunning, Johnny Greenwood's score is breathtaking, even if you're not preoccupied with the fact that it was written by the same person who wrote Idioteque. Paul Thomas Anderson manages to maintain constant tension, and built complex relationships throughout. While the acting is not necessarily the most subtle, the characters don't call for it. Daniel Day-Lewis is sublime as usual, and Paul Dano definitely lives up to his earlier promise. Tonight we're going to lighten it up and go see Walk Hard. Enough serious films for one week. Bring on the sushi and low-brow comedy.

I only have two days left working on the farm and while I'm very excited to start working in the kitchen again, I'm really going to miss the people I work with here. They're some of the nicest, sweetest girls, and it's been great actually hanging out with women for a change! So after a year and a half, I'm leaving StoneBarns. But I'm leaving on an eventful week. Yesterday we had our holiday party for work at the Rockefeller's playhouse. By "playhouse" I mean a mansion built as a place for the secluded Rockefeller children to play. When you first walk in, it looks very much like a beautiful old house you would pay to tour. There are portraits of the family lining the walls of the main room where we had cocktails and hor d'ouerves and gathered around lovely crackling fires in the huge fireplaces at either end. We were encouraged to explore the building, which we totally took advantage of. There's a 2 lane bowling ally, a racketball/squash court, an indoor pool that is how I would picture a Roman bath, men's and women's locker rooms, a gym with basketball hoops, climbing ropes and rings, and a full sized indoor tennis court. With a cozy little seating area complete with it's own fireplace. Between each of these are beautiful hallways lined with art and sculptures. Basically, it was beautiful, opulant, and extravegant in the most classical, early Depression-era American aristocracy. The fireplaces were all brought over from Europe where they were being salvaged from old manors, and much of the construction on Rockefeller property, including StoneBarns, was done as a work project during the Depression.

Everyone at the party loved my new dress. Mom got it for me when she was here the other weekend, so I was really excited to wear it. I'll post a picture as soon as I get one.

Jack and Shannon had their baby! He was born yesterday morning at 5:34, was 8lbs, and 20 1/2 inches. I don't know his name yet though, because Jack won't tell us what it is. We were all very excited, and took half the day off to cook them food. She had the baby at home, with the help of a midwife, Jack, and their son Sedge (who's 2). Hopefully we'll get to see him soon.

We're kind of in the middle of what is supposed to be a big storm, but so far it's just snowed a bit and then melted. So this could get nasty. Stone Barns was closed today, so I'm home from work, but I kind of have a bad feeling about tomorrow. If all of this melted snow freezes, then the drive tomorrow is going to suck. This is what I love about the city. Even when the weather sucks, and the roads are awful, we can still get around. I'm going to go see a movie soon, and then tonight I'm suposed to meet Steve and Zac for sushi and maybe a midnight movie.

This weekend I had a rather impromptu visit from Mom, Kelli and Grandma Davis. Kelli called me saying they wanted to take a roadtrip and was I busy the next weekend? So, they drove over on Friday and we took the train down to the city. It was probably the best executed visitors weekend I've had yet. There wasn't really enough time to think about it so we were pretty much just winging it. Mom, Grandma, and Kelli were pretty much just coming to visit and shop, so that's what we did. Kelli made me take everyone down to Ground Zero, which as you should all know by now, is not someplace I enjoy going. But there is a beautiful little church down there that I think is the oldest in the US. and Century 21, which is like a really really good Filene's Basement where I got a lovely little blue dress for an upcoming holiday party and maybe, hopefully for New Year's Eve. I'll post pictures soon. We soon discovered why, exactly, Rockefeller Center is avoided at all costs this time of year. After being literally moved down two city blocks by what amounted to a mob of package-crazed consumers, we crammed ourselves into the American Girl store, where they ran out of the doll Sammy wanted, and then Mom bought too much stuff, and then I was pretty much completely overwhelmed by it all.
But other then that, it was a thoroughly enjoyable time.

Winter is here! We had almost an inch of snow on Sunday, which was beautiful. Steve had a bit of the flu, so I had to go out early to get him some medicine. And let me tell you, people do not venture outside at 9am on a Sunday morning around here. At least not enough to mess up a pristine snowy sidewalk. Sunday was also Shannon's 30th birthday. (that's Jack's wife) So Emma, Jenny, Julie and I went over tonight after work to wish her a happy birthday and ended up being entertained by their 2 year old son Sedge. I don't think I've met a more natural entertainer since Zach was tiny.

One good thing about the cold, we've been working in the greenhouse lately, which also means that we get to let our bunnies out to scamper around while we work. They tend to nibble a bit on the greens, but don't do too much damage. Some bad things about the cold, my car is in the shop right now getting a complete tune-up and a new radiator fan, my time is running out on the farm as we run out of work, and, well, it's just cold out.

I've posted some pictures here for you all. Some of the people I've been working with this past summer, and then some more of this beautiful farm I've been working on.