Ok ok ok, I have months to recap. I don’t even remember all that happened, but here we go.
Oh yes, August. August, you weren’t necessarily my favorite. You brought me the bee sting, that stupid bee sting that made me miserable for like a week! The good news: I survived. My toes are completely normal and all the dead, poison-infested skin has long since been shed. It is as if it never happened. And I’m thankful for that… and of the mind set now that for all intents and purposes, I am now allergic to bee stings.
Our family also grew a bit… well we finally got a Mac. That’s what I meant. And for the most part, it’s been great. I’ve done some video editing, just a bit of picture editing, and tried my hand at some very small design projects. Very small. I think I will learn to love a Mac. But I refuse to love Jeff’s. There have been times where it has left me to be with Jeff on a work trip, and it has broken my heart, because I needed it. I relied on it. So I will not love it. I will love my own, though. Some. Day.
August also brought my parents to town. Ok, August, I must confess. Walking down this memory lane, I’m realizing you really weren’t all that bad. Anyway, Mom and I dabbled in cupcake decorating (so fun and delish!), and I started my love affair with painting with Jeff by my side. Sips n Strokes is so cool. If you live in Nashville or Atlanta or Alabama, you should go check it out. You will not be disappointed. And you will be surprised by how well you really can paint. Trust me.
Oh New York City. I love you. You reawakened my love for travel and stirred a deeper love in me for excellent theater. And speaking of those video projects, below is the NYC photo tour video, just because I love it, and I want you to watch it again. Ready, go.
A friend from church has a beautiful story of how she spent a day with her nephew. When she brought him home, his mom noticed a difference in him and said that it was obvious his little love cup was full. I love that saying! And I know he’s blessed to have such an awesome aunt.
This past weekend, Jeff and I made the trek to Georgia to celebrate AIM’s 20th Anniversary. We got all dressed up for dinner and dancing on Saturday, then headed to the park on Sunday for worship and a picnic. We mingled with coworkers, donors, and friends of AIM along the way. While there, I talked with one coworker of Jeff’s. To say that where she and her husband are today is not at all where they thought they’d be at the beginning of the year would be about exactly right. They literally are not - they’re back to living in Georgia, which was not what they thought this year had in store. I asked her if she thought God had revealed the reason to her yet for placing them in Gainesville, and she passed on a great word that was spoken to her when the changes took place. Another wise coworker at AIM told her (and I’m going to do a horrible job at paraphrasing this, just so you know) that maybe it’s about the people God has called them to be with, and not necessarily where God has called them to go. And she thought that absolutely, these Georgia people they have community with is exactly “her people.”
I loved it. Not only did I love the fact that once again God is gracious enough to answer our “whys?” but to also call us to community, and that she not only recognized it, but that she was seeing the fruit of it.
I feel that way about Nashville, about our friends and some of my coworkers. And specifically, I’m blessed to be a part of a church that has such amazing examples. There are women who are great examples of how to be a Woman of Faith, a wife, a mother (someday way down the road), a friend, a sister, a daughter. And I attend a small church, so each woman is great at a number of these things! I would not be who I am or where I am had even just one of these women not been a part of my life these last three years.
Something that has been impressed upon my heart in the past couple of months is just how blessed I am because of this community (and Jeff, too, by the men). I have been overwhelmed with the desire to just take every opportunity to be with the ladies and to also bless them and say thank you and to learn. I’m so thankful that they’re not only willing to spend time with me (or at least they’re great pretenders!), but that they are honest and vulnerable with me (they’re also excellent listeners!). And that, when I see the opportunity to, they allow me to bless them, and they don’t argue with me about it, but just receive it. And so humbly. I’m such a giver. I’d much rather give you something then let you give me something, so I’m not always good at a humble and simple “thank you.” But I do still like presents on birthdays and Christmas, so you’re not totally off the hook! But that’s not what I’m referring to. I’m talking about just out of the blue blessings.
So I’ve spent lots of time with the ladies, and even blessed a few along the way. I saw Steel Magnolias at the TPAC last week with a dear friend – it’s her favorite movie of all time. I had lunch Monday with another and spent a Friday and Saturday night with a few at an awesome woman’s conference, Finding Grace. I’m celebrating a couple birthdays in these coming days, and I’m so stoked to celebrate the lives of two women that I am so incredibly grateful to God for creating them and for bringing them into my life.
Other blessings, of course, include my husband. If you’ll remember, he gave me ballroom dancing lessons for my birthday. We are in the middle of lessons, and progressing nicely, according to our teacher. It is so great to not only have received such a fitting gift, but to also be able to experience this together.
And then I have my “old” friends. The friends from days gone by. Man, sometimes I feel like I do not see them enough. Thankfully, we’re going to get our fix of college friends soon, as one of our bestests is spending Halloween here with us! I’ll share her with Jeff a bit, but I am going to be totally selfish and steal lots of girl time with her.
And of course, my family is in this category. I’m looking forward to seeing them in a few weekends for family photos. And then we’re all vacationing together over Thanksgiving in Orlando. And just because I haven’t shared the latest (all be it, these are a month old) pictures of Gary and I don’t know how else to close this blog, here you go. He’s getting such a big boy face. But unfortunately, this adorable little guy won’t be going to Florida with us. But that might actually be a good thing.
First, we must thank American Express for having great bundled hotel/flight deals (Expedia, you had them, too, but your sales kept ending too quickly for us), Paramount Hotel for the great location, Paramount Hotel for your comfortable – - yet so not really – - double-sized bed (you liars!), City Sights tour buses for showing us the city (I think it’s safe to say that you live up to your name), Circle Line for showing us Lady Liberty, American Airlines for keeping us safe and for $40 less in our pockets (I shake my fist at you baggage fees!), TKTS for getting us in to a real Broadway show for ”cheap”, Mary Poppins the New Musical for allowing me to relive my childhood in an incredible way, 9th Avenue for having amazing restaurants, oh and the house cleaning lady who did not know what “Privacy Please” signs really meant and gave us a clean room every day – - even when we didn’t want one.
We arrived in New York City the Friday before Labor Day. We checked into our room at the Paramount Hotel, made a pseudo plan for the evening, then made the short one block trek to Times Square. Our goal was to just explore Times Square, find some New York style pizza, and possibly get discount tickets to a Broadway show. We wondered up and down Times Square, taking it all in, hoping to run into TKTS and score some tickets. After about an hour, we finally stumbled across one (Broadway and 46th maybe?!).
What happened next led to probably one of my favorite moments at NYC. We scored majorly discounted tickets to Mary Poppins for that night, about 20 rows from the stage. Definitely one of those wow, I feel blessed moments. And because of our new found plans, the evening took on a bit of a different plan.
New York style pizza was still on the list for supper, and there just so happened to be a delicious looking place right next to our hotel, Patzeria. Off we went, folding our pizza in half, eating it in this cute little restaurant only big enough for four bar stools, the giddiness growing in my everyone moment for what was in store, and then we headed back to the hotel to freshen up before the play.
Seeing a Broadway show was incredible. Disney renovated what is now known as the New Amsterdam Theater, and it is gorgeous. We actually got to take pictures inside, but they do not do it justice. One of the most unbelievable things for me about the play was the set on stage. They actually constructed an almost life-size doll house for 17 Cherry Tree Lane, and they would roll it back and forth to the front, as well as raise and lower the third floor (where the children’s room is) for certain scenes involving just Mary Poppins and the children, or when they would run into Bert up on the roof. I am doing a horrible job that does not do the set justice, but I promise it was incredible. It was something that I’d think real architects would have to had build!
Besides the set, the dancing, acting, singing, all of it was incredible. It may be a silly little kids story to some, but it really isn’t. It was amazing. I have not stopped thinking about the experience. I am not as cultured to theater as Jeff, him being a thespian once, but it is something I’ve grown interested in over the past few years. Between this experience and seeing the touring Broadway play Wizard of Oz in Nashville in January, I am now hooked. I cannot wait for my next Broadway show!
Saturday was one of two days we spent on a double decker tour bus. We got a package that gave us 48 hours to use the buses, and we could hop on and hop off at stops as we pleased. Places we saw included Downtown Manhattan, many of the villages, Macy’s (and we shopped, too), Empire State Building, New York City Museum (we got off here, too, but I don’t know that I really enjoyed it), Central Park (more to come on this later), Carnegie Hall, Rockefeller Center, several of the Broadway and Off Broadway theaters, and the night tour took us over the Manhattan Bridge to give us a good view of Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge from Brooklyn (beautiful).
While on one of the tours, we were told that 9th Avenue was the place to eat. So we ate a couple times over there. We ate at 5 Napkin Burger (yum!) and Amarone (Italian and also delish!). Other eateries included the Carnegie Deli (wasn’t a huge fan), Roxy Delicatessen for some delicious New York style cheesecake, and a pizza place over by Central Park.
Sunday night, after a day of touring on the bus, we made our way over to Pier 83 to hop on Circle Line and drive (boat?) by the Statue of Liberty. That was a beautiful sight. Monday morning we checked out, boarded our bags at the hotel, and then headed over to Central Park. We saw most of the southern half, and it was gorgeous. The building that John Lennon and Yoko Ono lived in (apparently she is still there), and also where John was shot, is right across the street. It is a beautiful building, and in Central Park, by the building, is where Strawberry Fields is and the Imagine tribute. The Plaza Hotel isn’t too far from there, and in the center by the hotel is the location of FAO Schwartz and a rather interesting Apple store. We visited both. We also took a hop, skip, and a jump (well, quite more than that) over to Serendipity to try the Iced Hot Chocolate. It was good, but I think it would’ve been awesome hot (defeats the purpose, I know). But I was bummed to discover, when rewatching the movie Serendipityafter we got home that Monday night, that the scenes filmed in the store were filmed upstairs, which is where we did not go. So close!
So anway, here is a look into our little weekend getaway. I hope you enjoy…
