Dumdeedumdeedum. It’s Sunday night and my modem is broken. What better way to pass the internet-less time than with creating a blog post on ecto?! I have no idea when I’ll be able to press publish, but there’s no harm in working ahead 🙂

Last Thursday marked the final day of work for the nursing supervisor at my agency. She was retiring after 13 years! On Wednesday night, we had a party to celebrate the amazing work she has done at my agency.

We had music, thanks to DJ Jose:

But, more importantly, we had food (obviously, since we cannot have any sort of event at my office without it)!

A couple of things in particular caught my eye, such as this giant tray of roasted vegetables with hard-boiled eggs:

And this stunning dessert selection, including Heather’s pumpkin chocolate chip bread, Pansy’s ambrosia, Pura’s coconut flan, and a special bakery custard fruit tart (my favorite dessert ever):

When we got the go-ahead to dig in, I was not quick enough to be first in line. The boys beat me! But then there was some confusion about who got there first …

… and they had to step away to resolve the dispute:

When the boys got a grip on their drama, I was finally able to fill my plate and park at this elegantly set table:

My plate had roasted veggies, Greek salad, roast chicken, Mediterranean pasta, and maduros (LOVE THEM!!!!!!):

While we ate, we listened to several moving speeches and witnessed the presentation of this retirement quilt. Everyone on the nursing staff decorated a square, and Dorothy put them all together in one quilt. The finished product was a beautiful work of art!

And then dessert was served!

Since I’m working on not dropping dead due to a heart attack/diabetes, I took it “easy”and filled a baby plate with teeny slivers of coconut flan, custard fruit tart, tres leches cake/frosting crumbs, and more maduros:

Mmmmmmmmm, dessert perfection:

There was a ton of food leftover, so we all ate it for lunch on Thursday. After lunch, there was STILL a ton of food, so I packed up as much as I could possibly carry to bring home in this giant H&M bag:

Inside:

The loot included pasta, roast veggies, roast chicken, lettuce, and maduros:

Different angle to better display volume:

I put one container of veggies and one container of chicken in the freezer, and the rest is just about gone! Quite a significant portion actually went to fuel the New Years Eve fun run that Erik and I did in Prospect Park at 11:15 Thursday night. Before:

(I was obviously soooooooooo excited to run three miles in freezing slush in the middle of the night through a pitch black park in Brooklyn. I was maybe more excited to be taking these pictures with the help of my new gorilla-pod, a present my dad gave me for Christmas so I could attach my camera to random things like the back of a chair in order to get a better angle for the self-timer.)

Pre-race support from roommate etc. cheering squad:

We finished the race just in time to gulp down some free hot chocolate (the best thing I had ever tasted) at Grand Army Plaza and watch the dazzling fireworks display as the clock struck 12.

After:

Attempted tough faces because we braved the elements and survived:

I have a hard time with tough …

(Notice the soaking wet attire and beads of melting snow on our hats.)

And that is the story of how I ended 2009 with two of the best things that ever existed: delicious free food and exercise-for-fun.

By the way, do any of you know of someone who needs a spacious furnished room in a gorgeous Brooklyn apartment from now until 4/30 for $700 per month??