If my grandma was still alive, she'd have turned 70 today. She was taken from our lives early, but it was because of her choice to smoke throughout most of her life. I decided I wanted to write down a few memories and facts about her, because I feel like I've almost forgotten things about her. I don't ever want to forget who she was to me because she had a big impact on my life.
-My grandma and grandpa are from Iowa. They moved to Texas when my dad was in middle school. I went to Iowa with them one year to visit my great grandma. I remember staying in the room in the basement. I also remember finding a lot of old piano sheet music there that my great grandma gave me. I also remember having rhubarb pie, which I've never had since that trip.
-My grandma had 7 sisters, but I only met Mildred. She had one brother, Dick. To my knowledge, I never met him either.
-Her favorite gem was blue topaz. My mom gave us earrings a few years after she died with a blue topaz stone in her memory.
-Her favorite song was "The last date" by Floyd Cramer.
-Whenever I hear the song "Forever and ever amen" by Randy Travis I think of my grandma. I remember hearing this song in the car with her when I was growing up.
-When she had to stay on oxygen, I used to go to her house and vacuum and dust. I also helped change the sheets and make the beds. I helped her clean and I got paid $15 dollars, plus a tomato sandwich.
-When I was around 10 years old, I asked my grandma for the recipe for tomato sandwiches so I could make them at my house too. I wrote it on a piece of paper and my mom still has it. I plan on taking this one day, but my mom still holds on to it for now.
-When I got in trouble at my grandma's house, she would ask if I wanted to 'go to fist city'.
-My grandparents had a scottie dog named McDuff. At Christmas every year, the dog would have a present to unwrap. He could open his toy without much help.
-When McDuff died, they got a new scottie named McDoogle. He was a hyper puppy, but loved my grandma. He used to jump on her and because her skin was so thin, she would bleed. After my grandma died, McDoogle would look for her and was depressed for a
long time. McDoogle recently died, but he was old for a dog.
-My grandma was in the hospital for her last Christmas with us. She had already done the shopping. I still have the windsuit she gave me for Christmas that year. I've never worn it because it's not my style, but it's one of the few things I don't want to get rid of yet. I laugh at myself for this, but I still refuse to get rid of it.
-We used to go to my grandparents house for holidays. My grandma worked very hard to keep the family together. Ever since she died, things haven't been the same on my dad's side of the family.
-When she was in the hospital, she asked my mom to keep the family together. My mom was like the daughter she never had, and Donna (my grandma) was like the mom she didn't have anymore. My mom has tried very hard to keep the family together. My grandpa and uncles and aunts come to our house now for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Things are very different now.
-When my grandma was in the hospital she couldn't talk because of the tubes in her throat so she wrote everything on a note pad. The only memory I have of this note pad is seeing where she wrote what funeral home she preferred. My mom still has the notes from the time she was in the hospital. My mom spent more time than anyone with her at the hospital. My mom was with her when she took her last breath. This is something my mom still can't talk about without being overwhelmed with grief, even after 9 years.
-My grandma wanted my sister and I to sing at her funeral. We told my mom that we couldn't do it because it would be too hard. I don't regret that, because there is
no way either of us could have made it through a song.
-My grandma's middle name is Lorraine. I plan on it being the middle name of my little girl one day, if God chooses to bless me with children.
-I can still see my grandma's face very clearly in my mind. It's a face that I hope to never forget.
This morning my mom told me that my dad visits my grandma's grave 2 days a year-the day she died and on her birthday. This is something I never knew about my dad. I realize now that he is just like any normal person. He is a private person and I don't know if he would have ever told me that he visits his mom on those 2 days. It helps me to know that my dad has a sensitive side, even if he's private about it.
After my grandma died, I became very depressed. I still went on with my life, but there was always a part of me that was thinking about her. When I think about her now, I still can't do it without crying. She was the first person of significance in my life to die. I miss her a lot, even after 9 years.
Today I picked my dad up from work (b/c we're still sharing a car), and he said, can we go somewhere real quick? I had a suspicion that he wanted to go to the cemetery and I felt special that he would include me in this private time. He just told me to head south on Broadway. (If he had said that to Lindsey, she'd have had to ask which way that was-love you Lin) When we got closer to the cemetery my dad said, "Hope you don't mind, we're going to Jacksonville." I said, "No we're not. I know where we're going." He said, "Where?" And I said, "To see grandma." He asked how I knew. I told him that my mom told me this morning that he goes there on her birthday. I started crying, because I miss her so much and because I was glad to share this moment with my dad. We talked about a few good memories then went on our way. This is a day that I hope I don't forget anytime soon.
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
It has been decided that I have a split personality...I want this part of me to leave and never come back again
Today a thought crossed my mind that I didn’t think I would ever conjure up. I got an e-mail asking if I wanted to go to Chick-fil-a, and for the first time ever I thought, ‘you know, I don’t really want that’ however, I agreed to go. I couldn’t turn my back on this place, just because for some reason my Bite size Frosted Mini-Wheats didn’t want to share room in my stomach with a kid’s meal from Chick-fil-a. I must be coming down with something…and it’s bad if one side effect is turning down Chick-fil-a.
Currently Playing
The Joshua Tree
By U2
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The Joshua Tree
By U2
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Easter
Well, I’ve been going to Bethel Bible Church since January and I’ve enjoyed getting to know the people, but I especially love the worship service. I love the music and I really enjoy listening to Terry speak each Sunday. It was raining when I picked Aubrey up, and I was late as he pointed out so nicely. We made our regular stop at Starbucks for coffee that morning. The line was long, as expected, so we waited patiently for our turn to order. The guy running the register that morning is one I recognize because of how often I frequent this place. While I don’t know his name, we give each other a look of familiarity as I order my tall caramel soy latte. I hand him my card, he swipes it, and then ask what my plans are for the day. I tell him a few details, and then step aside for Aubrey to order. He orders his tall caramel macchiato, just as he does every Sunday. Now Aubrey has a ‘Starbucks name’ since people can’t always understand his accent. When asked his name he asked me if he should use his real name or his ‘Starbucks’ one. I laughed as he told the guy his name, Aubrey. The problem is that usually people think he says Obie, I knew I liked this guy working today-- he understood Aubrey clearly, so now we can just assume everyone else just has trouble hearing. Anyway, after we got our drinks we headed back in the rain for a moment and jumped in the car. We got to Sunday School about 15 minutes late, but that’s normal for us. Our class was meeting in a new room, so we had to find out where to go, but we made it. We’re meeting as a big group right now doing a study called ‘The Way of the Master’. It is done by Kirk Cameron (yes, the guy from Growing Pains) so I didn’t have high expectations for this study, but I actually didn’t hate it. During the video I noticed a guy that I went to high school with in there. I’ve actually seen him a couple times, but I was never close enough to say hello since usually I noticed him across the sanctuary. Anyway, I thought this was my chance to say hi after bible study, but I got distracted to say the least and didn’t do it. I was telling Aubrey about this before church started and he said I better say hi to him right then. I told him I didn’t know where the guy was now, but I would when I saw him. So I’m not sure why, but I was nervous about saying hello to someone that I hadn’t seen since ’97. It’s always awkward to see someone from your past, even if it wasn’t a bad period in your life. The service was good, but the one time they have violins, you could barely hear them. However, I enjoyed the music and Terry was great as well. The room was packed, as to be expected on Easter Sunday. I realized during the service that most Sundays I just go through the motions of being at church, and sometimes I don’t even take the time to really soak it all in and allow Christ to work in me. I’ve decided this is something I’ve really got to work on. When church was out, I talked to Megan for a few minutes, and then went to talk to Michelle and her grandmother. While Chelle got the car, I sat and talked to her grandmother. She’s such a sweet old lady and has some pretty cool pink shoes thanks to Chelle. I carried her grandmother’s purse while she helped her get to the car. While I was following behind them, with the big pink purse, I saw the guy that I told Aubrey I’d say hi to, so I did it. It wasn’t bad at all and actually a delight. I look forward to talking to him more when I get a chance. I took Aubrey back home, and then went home for lunch with the family.
Easter lunch was good. My mom’s family all came over and even Kaitlin got to come so it was great. (Kaitlin is my 6 yr. old cousin who lives in Maryland during the school year with her mom.) We hid eggs for the younger kids, they hunted them, and then the egg fight followed. The funniest moment of the day was when Conner, my 2 year old cousin, was petting my dog. The dog rolled over for him to rub her belly and Conner said, “What happened to her?” as he was touching her nipple. (Yes, I just typed nipple on my blog-get over it, she’s a dog.) His dad and I just laughed and told him, “That’s how God made her.” There was no reason to give more detail than that at his age. I’ll have some pictures from the day later.
That evening Aubrey, Chelle, and I went to bible study at the Burton’s house. Turned out we were watching a movie, The Body. I think under different circumstances I would have liked to watch this movie, but I needed some stimulation, so when the lights went off for the movie, I started falling asleep. We left early, brought Aubrey home, and then went to have dinner with Jessica and George before they both headed back home to Lubbock and Denton. George ate salad off the table behind us after the people left. That’s all I remember from the whole evening…she scarred me.
Currently Playing
Lost & Gone Forever
By Guster
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Easter lunch was good. My mom’s family all came over and even Kaitlin got to come so it was great. (Kaitlin is my 6 yr. old cousin who lives in Maryland during the school year with her mom.) We hid eggs for the younger kids, they hunted them, and then the egg fight followed. The funniest moment of the day was when Conner, my 2 year old cousin, was petting my dog. The dog rolled over for him to rub her belly and Conner said, “What happened to her?” as he was touching her nipple. (Yes, I just typed nipple on my blog-get over it, she’s a dog.) His dad and I just laughed and told him, “That’s how God made her.” There was no reason to give more detail than that at his age. I’ll have some pictures from the day later.
That evening Aubrey, Chelle, and I went to bible study at the Burton’s house. Turned out we were watching a movie, The Body. I think under different circumstances I would have liked to watch this movie, but I needed some stimulation, so when the lights went off for the movie, I started falling asleep. We left early, brought Aubrey home, and then went to have dinner with Jessica and George before they both headed back home to Lubbock and Denton. George ate salad off the table behind us after the people left. That’s all I remember from the whole evening…she scarred me.
Lost & Gone Forever
By Guster
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Thursday, March 24, 2005
Kids are so darn cute...
Setting: The Peer's house
Cast: Matthew, Kristi, Jackson & Crosby Peer; Michelle and myself
So last night we were at the Peer's house, as we are most Wednesday nights. As usual, after Jackson and Crosby take their bath, they ask me to read a book. Jackson had me read The Cross-With-Us Rhinoceros. It was annoying with all the rhyming, but I made it through it. Oh, and don't worry--The Rhino wasn't mad at the kids, he wanted to play with them. (Sorry for spoiling the ending.) Next Crosby brought her book, Glad Monster, Sad Monster. It is about feelings. The first page says, "The yellow monster says, "Opening birthday presents, playing ball, slurping ice cream, and dancing with my friend make me glad." I read that then folded out the glad mask, put it in front of Crosby's face and said, "What makes you glad?" She replied in the sweetest little voice ever, "You".
Currently Playing
Any Given Thursday
By John Mayer
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Cast: Matthew, Kristi, Jackson & Crosby Peer; Michelle and myself
So last night we were at the Peer's house, as we are most Wednesday nights. As usual, after Jackson and Crosby take their bath, they ask me to read a book. Jackson had me read The Cross-With-Us Rhinoceros. It was annoying with all the rhyming, but I made it through it. Oh, and don't worry--The Rhino wasn't mad at the kids, he wanted to play with them. (Sorry for spoiling the ending.) Next Crosby brought her book, Glad Monster, Sad Monster. It is about feelings. The first page says, "The yellow monster says, "Opening birthday presents, playing ball, slurping ice cream, and dancing with my friend make me glad." I read that then folded out the glad mask, put it in front of Crosby's face and said, "What makes you glad?" She replied in the sweetest little voice ever, "You".
Any Given Thursday
By John Mayer
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I'm finishing this now...New York
12/31/04-a.k.a the day we meet John and New Years Eve
So this is the day we picked to go to the Today Show. The reason was because John Mayer was going to be there, so it seemed like a great idea. We woke up at 3:15 a.m., got dressed warmly, and then called the taxi to be there at 4:15. We were meeting Tiffany, Beth, and Amy at 4:30, but at that time, it wouldn’t take very long to get there. We were a little leery of the taxi when it wasn’t a yellow cab, but we eventually sucked it up and got in, praying all the while that our lives wouldn’t be taken from the strange man. He ended up being very normal and our fears were in vain. We got to Rockefeller Center, saw our friends and looked around. We thought, ‘Hey, we’re the first ones here!’ We saw a stage being set up and were told we needed to clear the area because they were setting up stuff for Carson Daly that evening. We walked over to where the Today Show is filmed and then saw a short line formed. We asked the people what they were doing and they said they were in the line for the Today Show, so we got in line. There were only about 15 people in front of us, so we weren’t worried. We had our signs that we had made the night before, and then made a few more while waiting. Here we are with our signs before the show. Of course mine is the cleverest reading ‘John your body is a wonderland.’ He’s never heard that before, right?
The people in front of us had what we labeled ‘professional signs’ because all their letters had been carefully stenciled nicely. Everyone in their group had a letter that spelled out a message, but I can’t remember what it said. They were from Alabama though and a nice group. While we were waiting in line, we took turns going to the only place open for some breakfast, a bagel shop. They had German candy in there, which made Ine very happy and reminded her of home. While we were getting breakfast we missed out on the orange hats that were given away.
Luckily, I found 2 that people had dropped and later sold them on eBay for a profit of $33. Who knew people would want these silly hats?
The show went great, although since it was cold, John was playing inside…bummer. However, he did come out to meet people, and we were in the PERFECT spot. He came right to the section we were standing and we all began screaming. John autographed our signs and had a little chat with us. He said he needed our energy and thanked us for coming out. When he was signing something for a lady next to us, Lindsey had her video camera out and got me touching John’s jacket. Yes, I was being a total dork, but we had a lot of fun. Here's a picture of John.
Here is the guy that filled in doing the weather, Sean.
Here is Matt Lauer.
Most of the Today Show is spent standing around waiting to be on TV. We actually made it on several times, and luckily my dad recorded it at home so we could watch later. Also, the guy who was doing the weather, since Al was out, came to our section, holds the microphone in front of Lindsey and Tiffany and says, “So, does anyone have a good New Years resolution for us?” Lindsey quickly looks to Tiffany because she doesn’t know what to say and in typical Tiffany fashion, Tiff says, “Umm, well, I guess exercise more.” Yeah, so not too original, but good try Tiffany and you got on TV. Around 9, Tiffany, Amy, and Beth left to go try and get tickets to a Broadway show, but since we had already done the Broadway thing, we stayed until the end of the show. There was a strange lady that came up yelling at one of the camera men saying he was sexy…very funny. After the show, since we had gotten up so early, and knew we’d be up really late, we went back to our place to take a nap. We opened the window because of our room that was always warm, and slept for a good 4 hours. It was very nice. We finally woke up and headed to Times Square, but not before getting some 2005 glasses.
It was already pretty crowded even though it was only 5 p.m. We went to eat at Applebee’s then decided it was time to go ‘camp out’ and wait for the ball to drop. We kept getting sent in circles by the police, but eventually got to the right street to get to into Times Square. Of course, I had to go to the bathroom and so did Lindsey, so we spotted a McDonald’s and went in. They had a rule that you had to buy something to use the bathroom, so we got 2 small drinks and headed up the stairs to the bathroom. We didn’t even want our drinks, so we left them on a table, did what we were there for, and got back on our way. There were only certain cross street that you could get into Times Square from so these few streets were very crowded. There were people pushing up against everyone. We were basically standing without our legs because we were so crammed in there. Once through the security, which consisted of walking past policemen, we headed down the side street to get to 7th Avenue. We passed a man that was passing out tracks telling people as they passed that they needed Jesus. I wanted to give him a little encouragement, so I said to him, “We love Jesus!” He responded saying that “Not all who say to me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of Heaven.” I decided that was enough encouragement for the man that said I was going to hell and we kept heading toward our destination. We were at 7th Avenue and 49th street. The ball drops at 42nd street, so we actually had a great view since it’s so high up. We had a lot of waiting to do since it was 5:45 p.m. We weren’t too crowded at this point, so we sat on the street. I was a little hyper out of boredom and driving Lindsey a little crazy, but what’s new. Every hour, starting at 6, they had a countdown. I guess it was for the New Year in other countries, and Ine was glad to do the countdown along with her family in Belgium, even if they weren’t with her. Lindsey and Ine both fell asleep on the street.
Having fun while we waited:
There were some silly games up on a screen that we jokingly played along with during our long wait. Around 11 or so, Tiffany called me and said they were going to try and find us. I told them where we were and surprisingly they found us in the crowd. They also had 3 guys with them from Bulgaria. They were Trent, Angel, and Enrique. Tiffany said they followed them, but I’m not surprised with how wild Amy acted. Here are some of us with Enrique.
Tiffany got mad when Trent tried to kiss her at midnight, but I think she was pretty much asking for it with all the flirting. Of course, she has a boyfriend, so that is why she claimed to be mad. The ball drop was fun though.
14 seconds until midnight:
Happy New Year 2005
This picture was with my phone so the quality isn't as good.
We stood around and talked for a few minutes, then Tiffany, Beth, and Amy disappeared, leaving us with the 3 guys. They talked to us for a while, and then Enrique asked us to say “Happy New Year” in his language so he could send the video back to his family. We laughed and said ok. We started repeating after him, and then Ine said, “No! We aren’t saying that.” Luckily for us, Ine didn’t know their language, but knows enough other languages to know that he was making us say something pretty dirty. He laughed and said, “Man, you aren’t supposed to be so smart!” We managed to get away from the guys and headed towards the subway. Tiffany called and said the plans to go to a club were cancelled because they found out there was a $100 cover charge. We found out that all places had a big cover on New Years, which makes perfect business sense. We were looking for the subway since the ones in Times Square were closed. We asked a cop and he told us to go over by this statue and newsstand, and it would be on the other side of it. He lied, but we eventually found it and hoped on the 1 and 9 to get back to our place. I think we got home somewhere around 2 a.m. and were exhausted, so went straight to bed with confetti in our hair and all. At around 5 a.m. someone was knocking on our door. We just ignored it at first, but it kept on, so we yelled, “What?” A guy was talking on a cell phone out there, and said, “Is anyone in there for Florida?” and we said, “No!” We yelled for him to shut up and he told the person on the phone, “Someone just told me to shut up.” Ine then yelled, “Yeah, so do it.” How exciting, huh? We went back to sleep quickly since we were so tired, but a few hours later there were some really loud girls next door, so we hit the wall a few times and it eventually got better. I guess we seemed like old folks, but we wanted some sleep!
1/1/05
We slept for about 11 hours, and then got up to go see a few sites. We walked to Starbucks on 98th then hopped on the 1 and 9 to ride it until the end. The last stop going downtown is at the Statue of Liberation, which is what I called it the entire trip. We saw Battery Park, looked at the war memorial, and then took some far off pictures of the Statue of Liberty since we didn’t want to wait 2 hours to get up close. We were told it wasn’t worth it anyway. Here is the crowd at the dock.
This is the closest we got to the real statue.
We also saw a guy that was dressed as the statue of liberty. We were able to get much closer to him.
After that, we walked to South St. Seaport to eat at Nathan’s hot dogs, because we were told this was the best place. It was pretty tasty.
We went in a few shops there to get some souvenirs for folks, and then headed to Wall St.
We went into Trinity Church which was on the movie National Treasure. We looked all over but never found the treasure, but they had one section closed off, so I’m convinced that’s where to find it. I signed the guestbook and wrote in the comments ‘where is the treasure?’ which I’m sure they got a lot of after that movie.
We hadn’t discussed with Tiffany, Beth, and Amy what our plans were for the day so you can imagine our surprise when we ran into them after we left Trinity Church. We talked to them for a little while then walked on down Wall St. We went to Starbucks for some refreshments, then headed to the 4/5 subway to go to Grand Central Station.
We went to the UN building, but it was closed so Ine took a picture.
We then headed to the Empire State building, but the line was around the block so we decided to try and come back in the morning before we left town. We were supposed to meet Tiff and her gang for dinner so we started heading that way. We were about 20 blocks away, but we figured we may as well walk since we had the time, and it’d be nice to see the city. We stopped at Macy’s to use the bathroom and touch up our makeup using the samples at the make-up counter.
We finally made it to the restaurant which was this cute little Italian place. Some friends of Tiffany’s had recommended it. They told us that every 10 minutes or so they would turn the music up loud and everyone danced around.
We had a blast. There was an old guy with his family there that came and danced with us. We stood in our chairs and danced, then started a conga line, but when the old man stood on the table, the wait staff had to put an end to it. A group of high school kids were sitting at the table next to us and passed a note that said something about Amy. It referred to her as ‘pink shirt’. When we looked over there, a guy pointed to a girl saying she wrote it. Amy wrote a note that said, “Call me” and put the rejection number on there. (310-495-5412…call this, it’s funny) After we finished eating, we all split up because it was late and we were all leaving the next day. When we got back to our place I tried to print our boarding passes, but the computer messed up so we would just have to wait on them.
1/2/05-Our last day in NY
We had wanted to go to Brooklyn Tabernacle for church, but we didn’t really have time to get to Brooklyn since we had to be ready to go to the airport at 2:00. We put our luggage in the storage lockers in the basement, got breakfast at Starbucks, and then headed on our way. That morning we decided we’d go check out the Empire State Building, but the line was still pretty long. We took a picture and went on our way.
We headed to Central Park zoo. We got to watch the sea lions during feeding time and they did all kinds of tricks. I also got to see penguins up close and that was fun since we don’t have them at the zoo here. I took tons of pictures at the zoo, so I hope you don't get too overwhelmed with them here. Feel free to leave comments telling me I put up too many zoo pictures.
This picture (below) is of a really old sea lion. They usually only live to be 20 years old and they have 2 here that are believed to be over 30 years old.
While we had fun there, the most fun was in the children’s part of the zoo.
We decided that for our last thing in New York we would get hot dogs in Central Park.
This picture added just for fun:
We also stopped and got some roasted peanuts that were dang good. We got on the subway for our last time and headed to the place we had taken up as ‘home’ for our time in New York. We got our luggage and got in the Super Shuttle van to go to the airport. We had to wait a little while for another lady, but it didn’t matter because we were still going to get the airport in plenty of time. We grabbed a bistro bag as we got on the flight which had a really good turkey sandwich along with a triple chocolate brownie. We slept on and off on the flight, but we also took pictures when it was dark, disturbing people with the flash. When we landed there was bad weather so we had to wait awhile before pulling up to the gate, but we could use our phones so we managed to let the family know we were going to be off the plane soon. In the meantime, we wasted time putting on our 2005 glasses and acting goofy. One guy said we were the funniest girls on the plane and then told us he worked for the airlines, but didn’t want to tell too many people. He just wanted to be a normal passenger for that flight. The guy sitting in front of us was a basketball announcer for Manhattan College and offered us tickets to their game in Wichita, but I declined since I didn’t really want to make that drive the next day. We were greeted at baggage claim by Dad, Mom, and Kevin. Lindsey left with Kevin to spend some time with Jenni for her birthday, and the rest of us headed home. So these are more details than any of you care to know, but I had fun recalling the details. If you read all this, I’m very impressed. Please leave comments if you did…or even if you didn’t.
So this is the day we picked to go to the Today Show. The reason was because John Mayer was going to be there, so it seemed like a great idea. We woke up at 3:15 a.m., got dressed warmly, and then called the taxi to be there at 4:15. We were meeting Tiffany, Beth, and Amy at 4:30, but at that time, it wouldn’t take very long to get there. We were a little leery of the taxi when it wasn’t a yellow cab, but we eventually sucked it up and got in, praying all the while that our lives wouldn’t be taken from the strange man. He ended up being very normal and our fears were in vain. We got to Rockefeller Center, saw our friends and looked around. We thought, ‘Hey, we’re the first ones here!’ We saw a stage being set up and were told we needed to clear the area because they were setting up stuff for Carson Daly that evening. We walked over to where the Today Show is filmed and then saw a short line formed. We asked the people what they were doing and they said they were in the line for the Today Show, so we got in line. There were only about 15 people in front of us, so we weren’t worried. We had our signs that we had made the night before, and then made a few more while waiting. Here we are with our signs before the show. Of course mine is the cleverest reading ‘John your body is a wonderland.’ He’s never heard that before, right?
The people in front of us had what we labeled ‘professional signs’ because all their letters had been carefully stenciled nicely. Everyone in their group had a letter that spelled out a message, but I can’t remember what it said. They were from Alabama though and a nice group. While we were waiting in line, we took turns going to the only place open for some breakfast, a bagel shop. They had German candy in there, which made Ine very happy and reminded her of home. While we were getting breakfast we missed out on the orange hats that were given away.
Luckily, I found 2 that people had dropped and later sold them on eBay for a profit of $33. Who knew people would want these silly hats?
The show went great, although since it was cold, John was playing inside…bummer. However, he did come out to meet people, and we were in the PERFECT spot. He came right to the section we were standing and we all began screaming. John autographed our signs and had a little chat with us. He said he needed our energy and thanked us for coming out. When he was signing something for a lady next to us, Lindsey had her video camera out and got me touching John’s jacket. Yes, I was being a total dork, but we had a lot of fun. Here's a picture of John.
Here is the guy that filled in doing the weather, Sean.
Here is Matt Lauer.
Most of the Today Show is spent standing around waiting to be on TV. We actually made it on several times, and luckily my dad recorded it at home so we could watch later. Also, the guy who was doing the weather, since Al was out, came to our section, holds the microphone in front of Lindsey and Tiffany and says, “So, does anyone have a good New Years resolution for us?” Lindsey quickly looks to Tiffany because she doesn’t know what to say and in typical Tiffany fashion, Tiff says, “Umm, well, I guess exercise more.” Yeah, so not too original, but good try Tiffany and you got on TV. Around 9, Tiffany, Amy, and Beth left to go try and get tickets to a Broadway show, but since we had already done the Broadway thing, we stayed until the end of the show. There was a strange lady that came up yelling at one of the camera men saying he was sexy…very funny. After the show, since we had gotten up so early, and knew we’d be up really late, we went back to our place to take a nap. We opened the window because of our room that was always warm, and slept for a good 4 hours. It was very nice. We finally woke up and headed to Times Square, but not before getting some 2005 glasses.
It was already pretty crowded even though it was only 5 p.m. We went to eat at Applebee’s then decided it was time to go ‘camp out’ and wait for the ball to drop. We kept getting sent in circles by the police, but eventually got to the right street to get to into Times Square. Of course, I had to go to the bathroom and so did Lindsey, so we spotted a McDonald’s and went in. They had a rule that you had to buy something to use the bathroom, so we got 2 small drinks and headed up the stairs to the bathroom. We didn’t even want our drinks, so we left them on a table, did what we were there for, and got back on our way. There were only certain cross street that you could get into Times Square from so these few streets were very crowded. There were people pushing up against everyone. We were basically standing without our legs because we were so crammed in there. Once through the security, which consisted of walking past policemen, we headed down the side street to get to 7th Avenue. We passed a man that was passing out tracks telling people as they passed that they needed Jesus. I wanted to give him a little encouragement, so I said to him, “We love Jesus!” He responded saying that “Not all who say to me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of Heaven.” I decided that was enough encouragement for the man that said I was going to hell and we kept heading toward our destination. We were at 7th Avenue and 49th street. The ball drops at 42nd street, so we actually had a great view since it’s so high up. We had a lot of waiting to do since it was 5:45 p.m. We weren’t too crowded at this point, so we sat on the street. I was a little hyper out of boredom and driving Lindsey a little crazy, but what’s new. Every hour, starting at 6, they had a countdown. I guess it was for the New Year in other countries, and Ine was glad to do the countdown along with her family in Belgium, even if they weren’t with her. Lindsey and Ine both fell asleep on the street.
Having fun while we waited:
There were some silly games up on a screen that we jokingly played along with during our long wait. Around 11 or so, Tiffany called me and said they were going to try and find us. I told them where we were and surprisingly they found us in the crowd. They also had 3 guys with them from Bulgaria. They were Trent, Angel, and Enrique. Tiffany said they followed them, but I’m not surprised with how wild Amy acted. Here are some of us with Enrique.
Tiffany got mad when Trent tried to kiss her at midnight, but I think she was pretty much asking for it with all the flirting. Of course, she has a boyfriend, so that is why she claimed to be mad. The ball drop was fun though.
14 seconds until midnight:
Happy New Year 2005
This picture was with my phone so the quality isn't as good.
We stood around and talked for a few minutes, then Tiffany, Beth, and Amy disappeared, leaving us with the 3 guys. They talked to us for a while, and then Enrique asked us to say “Happy New Year” in his language so he could send the video back to his family. We laughed and said ok. We started repeating after him, and then Ine said, “No! We aren’t saying that.” Luckily for us, Ine didn’t know their language, but knows enough other languages to know that he was making us say something pretty dirty. He laughed and said, “Man, you aren’t supposed to be so smart!” We managed to get away from the guys and headed towards the subway. Tiffany called and said the plans to go to a club were cancelled because they found out there was a $100 cover charge. We found out that all places had a big cover on New Years, which makes perfect business sense. We were looking for the subway since the ones in Times Square were closed. We asked a cop and he told us to go over by this statue and newsstand, and it would be on the other side of it. He lied, but we eventually found it and hoped on the 1 and 9 to get back to our place. I think we got home somewhere around 2 a.m. and were exhausted, so went straight to bed with confetti in our hair and all. At around 5 a.m. someone was knocking on our door. We just ignored it at first, but it kept on, so we yelled, “What?” A guy was talking on a cell phone out there, and said, “Is anyone in there for Florida?” and we said, “No!” We yelled for him to shut up and he told the person on the phone, “Someone just told me to shut up.” Ine then yelled, “Yeah, so do it.” How exciting, huh? We went back to sleep quickly since we were so tired, but a few hours later there were some really loud girls next door, so we hit the wall a few times and it eventually got better. I guess we seemed like old folks, but we wanted some sleep!
1/1/05
We slept for about 11 hours, and then got up to go see a few sites. We walked to Starbucks on 98th then hopped on the 1 and 9 to ride it until the end. The last stop going downtown is at the Statue of Liberation, which is what I called it the entire trip. We saw Battery Park, looked at the war memorial, and then took some far off pictures of the Statue of Liberty since we didn’t want to wait 2 hours to get up close. We were told it wasn’t worth it anyway. Here is the crowd at the dock.
This is the closest we got to the real statue.
We also saw a guy that was dressed as the statue of liberty. We were able to get much closer to him.
After that, we walked to South St. Seaport to eat at Nathan’s hot dogs, because we were told this was the best place. It was pretty tasty.
We went in a few shops there to get some souvenirs for folks, and then headed to Wall St.
We went into Trinity Church which was on the movie National Treasure. We looked all over but never found the treasure, but they had one section closed off, so I’m convinced that’s where to find it. I signed the guestbook and wrote in the comments ‘where is the treasure?’ which I’m sure they got a lot of after that movie.
We hadn’t discussed with Tiffany, Beth, and Amy what our plans were for the day so you can imagine our surprise when we ran into them after we left Trinity Church. We talked to them for a little while then walked on down Wall St. We went to Starbucks for some refreshments, then headed to the 4/5 subway to go to Grand Central Station.
We went to the UN building, but it was closed so Ine took a picture.
We then headed to the Empire State building, but the line was around the block so we decided to try and come back in the morning before we left town. We were supposed to meet Tiff and her gang for dinner so we started heading that way. We were about 20 blocks away, but we figured we may as well walk since we had the time, and it’d be nice to see the city. We stopped at Macy’s to use the bathroom and touch up our makeup using the samples at the make-up counter.
We finally made it to the restaurant which was this cute little Italian place. Some friends of Tiffany’s had recommended it. They told us that every 10 minutes or so they would turn the music up loud and everyone danced around.
We had a blast. There was an old guy with his family there that came and danced with us. We stood in our chairs and danced, then started a conga line, but when the old man stood on the table, the wait staff had to put an end to it. A group of high school kids were sitting at the table next to us and passed a note that said something about Amy. It referred to her as ‘pink shirt’. When we looked over there, a guy pointed to a girl saying she wrote it. Amy wrote a note that said, “Call me” and put the rejection number on there. (310-495-5412…call this, it’s funny) After we finished eating, we all split up because it was late and we were all leaving the next day. When we got back to our place I tried to print our boarding passes, but the computer messed up so we would just have to wait on them.
1/2/05-Our last day in NY
We had wanted to go to Brooklyn Tabernacle for church, but we didn’t really have time to get to Brooklyn since we had to be ready to go to the airport at 2:00. We put our luggage in the storage lockers in the basement, got breakfast at Starbucks, and then headed on our way. That morning we decided we’d go check out the Empire State Building, but the line was still pretty long. We took a picture and went on our way.
We headed to Central Park zoo. We got to watch the sea lions during feeding time and they did all kinds of tricks. I also got to see penguins up close and that was fun since we don’t have them at the zoo here. I took tons of pictures at the zoo, so I hope you don't get too overwhelmed with them here. Feel free to leave comments telling me I put up too many zoo pictures.
This picture (below) is of a really old sea lion. They usually only live to be 20 years old and they have 2 here that are believed to be over 30 years old.
While we had fun there, the most fun was in the children’s part of the zoo.
We decided that for our last thing in New York we would get hot dogs in Central Park.
This picture added just for fun:
We also stopped and got some roasted peanuts that were dang good. We got on the subway for our last time and headed to the place we had taken up as ‘home’ for our time in New York. We got our luggage and got in the Super Shuttle van to go to the airport. We had to wait a little while for another lady, but it didn’t matter because we were still going to get the airport in plenty of time. We grabbed a bistro bag as we got on the flight which had a really good turkey sandwich along with a triple chocolate brownie. We slept on and off on the flight, but we also took pictures when it was dark, disturbing people with the flash. When we landed there was bad weather so we had to wait awhile before pulling up to the gate, but we could use our phones so we managed to let the family know we were going to be off the plane soon. In the meantime, we wasted time putting on our 2005 glasses and acting goofy. One guy said we were the funniest girls on the plane and then told us he worked for the airlines, but didn’t want to tell too many people. He just wanted to be a normal passenger for that flight. The guy sitting in front of us was a basketball announcer for Manhattan College and offered us tickets to their game in Wichita, but I declined since I didn’t really want to make that drive the next day. We were greeted at baggage claim by Dad, Mom, and Kevin. Lindsey left with Kevin to spend some time with Jenni for her birthday, and the rest of us headed home. So these are more details than any of you care to know, but I had fun recalling the details. If you read all this, I’m very impressed. Please leave comments if you did…or even if you didn’t.
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
I'm bored
The states in red are the ones I've visited. I didn't count states I've only driven through.
create your own personalized map of the USA
create your own personalized map of the USA
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Spring 2005-Aspen/Snowmass
Well, since I have a little free time, I decided I'd go ahead and write about the trip so far. We left on Saturday, the 12th at 9:30. We were all packed in the Suburban and ready to go. If you don't know yet, I'm in Colorado with the Smith family. They needed someone to come along to help with their 4 boys. They are Logan(8), Dylan(6), Caden(4), and Ethan(2). Obviously they would need some help! When we got on the road, Thomas (their dad), explained to me why they had 2 pink headbands in the car. He said that when the boys were bad, they had to wear the pink headbands. Within the first 30 minutes of the trip, Logan had to wear the headband twice. I noticed that Logan, being the first born, was much like me. He was stubborn and bossy with his brothers. I know I was the same way at that age, and even as I got older although I'd like to think I've grown out of that for the most part. Logan was however very sweet to Ethan, which was exactly how I was with Cory being the baby. Dylan was very much a typical middle child, just like Lindsey. He cried several times, of course it was usually because Logan had hit him. I felt like I was re-living my childhood all over again. Most of the trip I was reading All the Presidents' Pets and listening to my iPod, in between getting things for the boys. Logan also wanted me to play a game he had made up with his baseball cards so I gave in and played. The first day we were just driving to Amarillo where we stayed at the Residence Inn. The boys love this place because there is an indoor pool. We checked into the hotel, then went to eat at Hoffbrau Steaks. Of course I didn't have steak-you guys know that. I had some chicken that wasn't too bad though. After that we returned to the hotel to go swimming. We swam for about 2 hours, but Ethan had to stay in the room with Pam(their mother) because he had a fever. Once we all got back to the room, we settled down and went to bed.
Day 2-Agenda: Drive to Snowmass, Colorado (In case you're curious, Snowmass is one of the 4 mountains at Aspen.)
We got on the road around 8:30. I was pretty sleepy so I slept a lot that morning. We stopped at Arby's for lunch. I don't think I've had Arby's since I was in 5th grade, but I had a turkey sandwich and it was pretty good. After lunch people were dozing so I read a little and listened to an old NPR segment with David Sedaris on my iPod. There was a lot of snow storms during the drive, but it wasn't sticking so we were able to stay on pace. We were on I-70 when we listened to the traffic report that told us an 18-wheeler had flipped over so everyone was being routed onto Hwy 6. This wasn't good news because that would make the trip longer. We saw a sign that we were 5 miles from Hwy 6, but since traffic was only going about 3 mph this was going to take awhile. We were stuck in traffic for an hour and right before we got to Hwy 6, I-70 opened back up. Even though we had been stuck in traffic for a while, we were glad we could stay on track and not have to take an alternate route. After a long 11 hours, we arrived in Snowmass. We checked into our sweet condo, went to rent skis, then went to buy Caden a helmet since they were required for kids in ski school. His dad found one for him and for the rest of the night, Caden wouldn't take the helmet off. After that we ate dinner at a pizza place at the base of the mountain. We came to the condo and everyone went to bed since it had been such a long day.
Day 3-My first day with Ethan alone
We got up that morning and had breakfast. Then, so Ethan and I could get out, we all went to bring the 3 older boys to ski school. Ethan was crying a lot the whole time and it was frustrating for all of us. After the boys were all checked into their ski school, Thomas, Pam, Ethan, and I all came back to the condo. Ethan was so tired from screaming that he fell asleep on the floor. Thomas and Pam left soon after that to go ski. Ethan woke up a little later and we had lunch. Ethan said he wanted to go bye-bye, so I got him dressed and we were headed out the door. As we stepped outside, Ethan lost it. He was screaming again and just having a bad time. I decided it wasn't a good idea to go into town with Ethan acting so badly, so we went back in the condo. He decided he wanted to stamp, so I got his paper and stamps and he went at it. We watched a little of 'See Spot Run' then I put him down for a nap. Everyone got home around 3:30 and Ethan woke up. I played Sorry with Logan. He won the first game and wanted to play again. I beat him the 2nd game so we played a tie breaker. The whole time we were playing he was telling me that he hadn't lost this game ever. Well, I beat him the 3rd game and he got upset. Ethan was still a little whiny, and Pam decided to give him some medicine. He perked up after that and has been great since then. We all had dinner at the condo, then watched a little TV. It was bedtime so I helped get the boys ready, then I went to bed myself after a little reading.
Day 4-Downtown Aspen
We got up and had pancakes for breakfast-Thank you Pam! Thomas left early to go fly fishing for the day, so everyone but Caden was taking the day off. Caden had to go to ski school, so Pam left to bring him. Logan, Dylan, Ethan, and I ventured out behind the condo where there was a stream and lots of room to run. Logan and Dylan built a fort while I pulled Ethan on a sled. Ethan got tired of that so we went to look for the bird nest that we could see from the window in the condo. We walked to the back porch, but the bird wasn't there. The neighbor was so we talked to him for a few minutes, then Ethan got impatient so we went to wander around. Pam got home while we were outside. Ethan and I came in, found her, and she said we needed to leave in about 15 minutes, so I went to get Logan and Dylan. They came inside and then we all loaded up to drive to downtown Aspen. We had lunch at Boogie's Diner, which is a 50's diner, but there is also a lot of high-end clothing downstairs. After a great lunch, we walked around for a little while then headed back to the condo, because it would be time to get Caden soon. Ethan went down for his nap so Pam, Logan, Dylan, and I played Sorry. Logan and Dylan were being poor sports when Pam and I would use a sorry card on them. It was funny to watch them overreact. Pam and I just laughed at them until it was enough, and they were told to change their attitude. Logan sort of had a breakdown, but after a good talking to he was better. Pam had to go get Caden after that, so Logan and Dylan went to finish their fort while I stayed inside with Ethan. He woke up about the same time Pam and Caden returned so they all played together. Logan and I were playing Sorry again when Pam asked if I wanted to get out of the house for a little bit. I said sure, so I was going to go to the grocery store to get a few things. I was glad because I needed some sunglasses too, so I figured I could find some at a shop nearby. Logan and I finished up the game, then he came with me to be my helper at the store. We went out to the bus stop and began to wait. We saw a red fox across the street so Logan decided to go check it out. I stayed at the bus stop and waited for the #8 bus. Logan was still looking for the fox when a #4 bus stopped. I told the driver that we needed to go to Snowmass Center, and he said since he didn't have anyone else on the bus, he could take us real quick. I yelled for Logan and off we went. The bus driver was really nice and we thanked him for going out of his way to bring us to the store. Logan got a buggy in the market and we got the list out. We found everything pretty quickly so we checked out, then walked next door to look at sunglasses. Well, I'm prone to lose sunglasses, so I didn't want to spend a lot on them. The pair I liked the most were $46 and I wasn't about to pay that for glasses I would probably lose or break later. I told Logan I wanted to go look in the market again, because maybe they would have some cheaper ones. We started looking and Logan found the toy section. I told him to stay there because I could see the sunglasses. I found a good pair for $10.99, much better than the last price. Logan asked if I would get him this cheap looking toy with guns and arrows. I told him we had to get something for all the boys or it wouldn't be fair. I wasn't sure how much the toys cost at first, but then we saw a sign that said "All these items $1". So Logan went to work picking out toys for his brothers. Of course he picked the guns and arrows for him, a basketball game for Dylan, a soccer ball for Caden, and a truck for Ethan. We headed down to the bus stop with all our stuff after checking out again. It was 4:45, and the bus comes at 30 minutes after the hour and on the hour, so we had about 15 minutes to wait. Logan got a little impatient, so I showed him how to play Snake on my cell phone. The bus came at exactly 5:00, so we got on and headed back to the condo. Logan passed out the toys to his brothers. Caden and Ethan traded toys, but I was just glad they weren't fighting over them. They all played until dinner time, then we all sat down to eat. Thomas got home from fishing while we were eating and joined us. He was tired from the day, and everyone was pretty worn out so we all sat down to watch 'See Spot Run'. This was just one of the many times I got to watch this movie throughout the trip so far. All the boys love it. Dylan wanted someone to hold up his basketball hoop so he could play, but no one wanted to so he got a little frustrated. Pam laughed because he was getting so worked up about a $1 toy. After the movie we all settled down and went to bed. I talked to Lindsey for a little while, then fell asleep listening to some NPR reruns.
That's all for now..I'll continue more later. I'm going skiing tomorrow so maybe I'll have more stories to tell that aren't all the same! Oh, and I'll add pictures later too.
Day 2-Agenda: Drive to Snowmass, Colorado (In case you're curious, Snowmass is one of the 4 mountains at Aspen.)
We got on the road around 8:30. I was pretty sleepy so I slept a lot that morning. We stopped at Arby's for lunch. I don't think I've had Arby's since I was in 5th grade, but I had a turkey sandwich and it was pretty good. After lunch people were dozing so I read a little and listened to an old NPR segment with David Sedaris on my iPod. There was a lot of snow storms during the drive, but it wasn't sticking so we were able to stay on pace. We were on I-70 when we listened to the traffic report that told us an 18-wheeler had flipped over so everyone was being routed onto Hwy 6. This wasn't good news because that would make the trip longer. We saw a sign that we were 5 miles from Hwy 6, but since traffic was only going about 3 mph this was going to take awhile. We were stuck in traffic for an hour and right before we got to Hwy 6, I-70 opened back up. Even though we had been stuck in traffic for a while, we were glad we could stay on track and not have to take an alternate route. After a long 11 hours, we arrived in Snowmass. We checked into our sweet condo, went to rent skis, then went to buy Caden a helmet since they were required for kids in ski school. His dad found one for him and for the rest of the night, Caden wouldn't take the helmet off. After that we ate dinner at a pizza place at the base of the mountain. We came to the condo and everyone went to bed since it had been such a long day.
Day 3-My first day with Ethan alone
We got up that morning and had breakfast. Then, so Ethan and I could get out, we all went to bring the 3 older boys to ski school. Ethan was crying a lot the whole time and it was frustrating for all of us. After the boys were all checked into their ski school, Thomas, Pam, Ethan, and I all came back to the condo. Ethan was so tired from screaming that he fell asleep on the floor. Thomas and Pam left soon after that to go ski. Ethan woke up a little later and we had lunch. Ethan said he wanted to go bye-bye, so I got him dressed and we were headed out the door. As we stepped outside, Ethan lost it. He was screaming again and just having a bad time. I decided it wasn't a good idea to go into town with Ethan acting so badly, so we went back in the condo. He decided he wanted to stamp, so I got his paper and stamps and he went at it. We watched a little of 'See Spot Run' then I put him down for a nap. Everyone got home around 3:30 and Ethan woke up. I played Sorry with Logan. He won the first game and wanted to play again. I beat him the 2nd game so we played a tie breaker. The whole time we were playing he was telling me that he hadn't lost this game ever. Well, I beat him the 3rd game and he got upset. Ethan was still a little whiny, and Pam decided to give him some medicine. He perked up after that and has been great since then. We all had dinner at the condo, then watched a little TV. It was bedtime so I helped get the boys ready, then I went to bed myself after a little reading.
Day 4-Downtown Aspen
We got up and had pancakes for breakfast-Thank you Pam! Thomas left early to go fly fishing for the day, so everyone but Caden was taking the day off. Caden had to go to ski school, so Pam left to bring him. Logan, Dylan, Ethan, and I ventured out behind the condo where there was a stream and lots of room to run. Logan and Dylan built a fort while I pulled Ethan on a sled. Ethan got tired of that so we went to look for the bird nest that we could see from the window in the condo. We walked to the back porch, but the bird wasn't there. The neighbor was so we talked to him for a few minutes, then Ethan got impatient so we went to wander around. Pam got home while we were outside. Ethan and I came in, found her, and she said we needed to leave in about 15 minutes, so I went to get Logan and Dylan. They came inside and then we all loaded up to drive to downtown Aspen. We had lunch at Boogie's Diner, which is a 50's diner, but there is also a lot of high-end clothing downstairs. After a great lunch, we walked around for a little while then headed back to the condo, because it would be time to get Caden soon. Ethan went down for his nap so Pam, Logan, Dylan, and I played Sorry. Logan and Dylan were being poor sports when Pam and I would use a sorry card on them. It was funny to watch them overreact. Pam and I just laughed at them until it was enough, and they were told to change their attitude. Logan sort of had a breakdown, but after a good talking to he was better. Pam had to go get Caden after that, so Logan and Dylan went to finish their fort while I stayed inside with Ethan. He woke up about the same time Pam and Caden returned so they all played together. Logan and I were playing Sorry again when Pam asked if I wanted to get out of the house for a little bit. I said sure, so I was going to go to the grocery store to get a few things. I was glad because I needed some sunglasses too, so I figured I could find some at a shop nearby. Logan and I finished up the game, then he came with me to be my helper at the store. We went out to the bus stop and began to wait. We saw a red fox across the street so Logan decided to go check it out. I stayed at the bus stop and waited for the #8 bus. Logan was still looking for the fox when a #4 bus stopped. I told the driver that we needed to go to Snowmass Center, and he said since he didn't have anyone else on the bus, he could take us real quick. I yelled for Logan and off we went. The bus driver was really nice and we thanked him for going out of his way to bring us to the store. Logan got a buggy in the market and we got the list out. We found everything pretty quickly so we checked out, then walked next door to look at sunglasses. Well, I'm prone to lose sunglasses, so I didn't want to spend a lot on them. The pair I liked the most were $46 and I wasn't about to pay that for glasses I would probably lose or break later. I told Logan I wanted to go look in the market again, because maybe they would have some cheaper ones. We started looking and Logan found the toy section. I told him to stay there because I could see the sunglasses. I found a good pair for $10.99, much better than the last price. Logan asked if I would get him this cheap looking toy with guns and arrows. I told him we had to get something for all the boys or it wouldn't be fair. I wasn't sure how much the toys cost at first, but then we saw a sign that said "All these items $1". So Logan went to work picking out toys for his brothers. Of course he picked the guns and arrows for him, a basketball game for Dylan, a soccer ball for Caden, and a truck for Ethan. We headed down to the bus stop with all our stuff after checking out again. It was 4:45, and the bus comes at 30 minutes after the hour and on the hour, so we had about 15 minutes to wait. Logan got a little impatient, so I showed him how to play Snake on my cell phone. The bus came at exactly 5:00, so we got on and headed back to the condo. Logan passed out the toys to his brothers. Caden and Ethan traded toys, but I was just glad they weren't fighting over them. They all played until dinner time, then we all sat down to eat. Thomas got home from fishing while we were eating and joined us. He was tired from the day, and everyone was pretty worn out so we all sat down to watch 'See Spot Run'. This was just one of the many times I got to watch this movie throughout the trip so far. All the boys love it. Dylan wanted someone to hold up his basketball hoop so he could play, but no one wanted to so he got a little frustrated. Pam laughed because he was getting so worked up about a $1 toy. After the movie we all settled down and went to bed. I talked to Lindsey for a little while, then fell asleep listening to some NPR reruns.
That's all for now..I'll continue more later. I'm going skiing tomorrow so maybe I'll have more stories to tell that aren't all the same! Oh, and I'll add pictures later too.
Friday, March 11, 2005
A night at the theatre
Last night I went with Michelle and Stephanie to see TJC players at work. The theatre department was putting on the show called 'The Comedy Murders of 1940'. It was very entertaining.
Yes, that is a guy dressed as a girl...and he doesn't make a very pretty girl, but I figure that's a good thing if you're a guy.
Yes, that is a guy dressed as a girl...and he doesn't make a very pretty girl, but I figure that's a good thing if you're a guy.
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Yes, as a matter of fact I do have too much time on my hands...
I'll give $5 to the first person that answers all these questions in the comment section.
1. What time do you get up? As late as possible...usually that means 7:30, but I'm also late to work most days, so maybe it should be earlier.
2. If you could eat lunch with one person, who would it be? Fantasy lunch would be with Jake Gyllenhaal-but only because he's so good looking. If I'm being realistic, I'd like to have lunch with my sister since that doesn't happen often.
3. Gold/Silver? silver
4. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? 'Hitch' when we were in Lubbock
5. What is/are your favorite TV show(s)? The Amazing Race and umm, cough, Gilmore Girls
6. What did you have for breakfast? nothing today-or most days...I don't get up early enough, but if I'm not running too incredibly late I go to Smoothie King
7. What inspires you? People who are spontaneous
9. What is your middle name? Renee'
10. Beach, City or Country? City to live, country to relax, beach for a summer home
11. Favorite Ice-cream? Mint Chocolate Chip
12. Butter, plain or salted popcorn? Don't eat it much, but I like Kettle Corn
13. Favorite color? Kelly green
14. What kind of car do you drive? Toyota 4-runner (when it's not in the shop)
15. Favorite sandwich? Quizno's Sierra Smoked Turkey...or McAlister's Turkey on Croissant
17. Favorite flowers? Tulips
18. Where would you like to go on vacation? Hawaii or hiking through Europe
19. What color is your bathroom? Umm, red, blue, green, lots of colors...I don't pay attention since it's just my temporary residence
20. Favorite brand of clothing? Gap
21. Where would you retire? West Coast
22. Favorite day of the week? Sundays, because we play soccer
23. What did you do for your last birthday? Had lunch with my dad, Lindsey, and Cory...my mom was out of town
24. Where were you born? at Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler, Texas
25. Favorite sport to watch? Basketball, specifically the Mavericks
26. Who do you least expect to answer these questions? I don't really think anyone will, but if you do, I'll buy you something at Starbucks when you're in Tyler (I know, so sad that I have to bribe people to comment on here...)
27. Person you expect to answer back first? see above
28. What fabric detergent do you use? The cheapest kind
29. Coke or Pepsi? Coke
30. Are you a morning person or a night owl? Well, I'm not a morning person at all, but since I've gotten older, it's hard for me to stay up all night, or even past midnight...I'm a wimp and need my sleep
31. What is your shoe size? 9
32. Do you have any pets? Yes-Annabelle, my black lab
33. What is your favorite season? Spring
34. What time is it? 4:03 p.m.
35. What is your name on your birth certificate? Jennifer Renee' Shepherd
36. Nicknames? Jenn, Shep, Shep-dawg
37. Number of candles on your last birthday cake? Well, it's a sad story, but I didn't have a cake on my last birthday. Since my mom was out of town, I didn't get one. My dad is great, but can anyone else see him buying a cake?
38 Kids? I guess this is asking if I have any, so no
39. Hair color? dark blonde, which is it's natural state...I've thought about going darker...what do you think?
40. Tattoos? nope
41. Eyes? blue/green
42. Piercing? ears a few times
43. How much do you love your job? I love it at times, and hate it others...that's normal I think
44. Residence? With my parents since August of last year...moving again in July-I told them I'd keep my deal to not stay more than a year!
45. Favorite food? Chick-fil-a
46. Been to Africa? No
47. Been toilet papering? Yes
48. Have you ever been in love? Yes
49.Been in a car accident? yes
50. Croutons or bacon bits? Croutons
51. Favorite saying or phrase? "I just threw up a little bit in my mouth"
52. Favorite restaurant? Chick-fil-a
53. Favorite nonalcoholic drink? Water
54. How many times did you fail your driver's test? Never
55. Before this one, from whom did you get your last e-mail? Matthew
56. Do you sing in the shower? Yes-and it sounds good too!
57. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Probably Target or Gap
58. What do you do most when you are bored? Answer silly questionnaires like this...or play games online
59. Bedtime: Usually midnight, even if I try to make it earlier, that doesn't happen often
60. Glass half empty or half full? half full usually
61. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? Right now I'd say New York City...but only for a year or two
1. What time do you get up? As late as possible...usually that means 7:30, but I'm also late to work most days, so maybe it should be earlier.
2. If you could eat lunch with one person, who would it be? Fantasy lunch would be with Jake Gyllenhaal-but only because he's so good looking. If I'm being realistic, I'd like to have lunch with my sister since that doesn't happen often.
3. Gold/Silver? silver
4. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? 'Hitch' when we were in Lubbock
5. What is/are your favorite TV show(s)? The Amazing Race and umm, cough, Gilmore Girls
6. What did you have for breakfast? nothing today-or most days...I don't get up early enough, but if I'm not running too incredibly late I go to Smoothie King
7. What inspires you? People who are spontaneous
9. What is your middle name? Renee'
10. Beach, City or Country? City to live, country to relax, beach for a summer home
11. Favorite Ice-cream? Mint Chocolate Chip
12. Butter, plain or salted popcorn? Don't eat it much, but I like Kettle Corn
13. Favorite color? Kelly green
14. What kind of car do you drive? Toyota 4-runner (when it's not in the shop)
15. Favorite sandwich? Quizno's Sierra Smoked Turkey...or McAlister's Turkey on Croissant
17. Favorite flowers? Tulips
18. Where would you like to go on vacation? Hawaii or hiking through Europe
19. What color is your bathroom? Umm, red, blue, green, lots of colors...I don't pay attention since it's just my temporary residence
20. Favorite brand of clothing? Gap
21. Where would you retire? West Coast
22. Favorite day of the week? Sundays, because we play soccer
23. What did you do for your last birthday? Had lunch with my dad, Lindsey, and Cory...my mom was out of town
24. Where were you born? at Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler, Texas
25. Favorite sport to watch? Basketball, specifically the Mavericks
26. Who do you least expect to answer these questions? I don't really think anyone will, but if you do, I'll buy you something at Starbucks when you're in Tyler (I know, so sad that I have to bribe people to comment on here...)
27. Person you expect to answer back first? see above
28. What fabric detergent do you use? The cheapest kind
29. Coke or Pepsi? Coke
30. Are you a morning person or a night owl? Well, I'm not a morning person at all, but since I've gotten older, it's hard for me to stay up all night, or even past midnight...I'm a wimp and need my sleep
31. What is your shoe size? 9
32. Do you have any pets? Yes-Annabelle, my black lab
33. What is your favorite season? Spring
34. What time is it? 4:03 p.m.
35. What is your name on your birth certificate? Jennifer Renee' Shepherd
36. Nicknames? Jenn, Shep, Shep-dawg
37. Number of candles on your last birthday cake? Well, it's a sad story, but I didn't have a cake on my last birthday. Since my mom was out of town, I didn't get one. My dad is great, but can anyone else see him buying a cake?
38 Kids? I guess this is asking if I have any, so no
39. Hair color? dark blonde, which is it's natural state...I've thought about going darker...what do you think?
40. Tattoos? nope
41. Eyes? blue/green
42. Piercing? ears a few times
43. How much do you love your job? I love it at times, and hate it others...that's normal I think
44. Residence? With my parents since August of last year...moving again in July-I told them I'd keep my deal to not stay more than a year!
45. Favorite food? Chick-fil-a
46. Been to Africa? No
47. Been toilet papering? Yes
48. Have you ever been in love? Yes
49.Been in a car accident? yes
50. Croutons or bacon bits? Croutons
51. Favorite saying or phrase? "I just threw up a little bit in my mouth"
52. Favorite restaurant? Chick-fil-a
53. Favorite nonalcoholic drink? Water
54. How many times did you fail your driver's test? Never
55. Before this one, from whom did you get your last e-mail? Matthew
56. Do you sing in the shower? Yes-and it sounds good too!
57. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Probably Target or Gap
58. What do you do most when you are bored? Answer silly questionnaires like this...or play games online
59. Bedtime: Usually midnight, even if I try to make it earlier, that doesn't happen often
60. Glass half empty or half full? half full usually
61. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? Right now I'd say New York City...but only for a year or two
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Washington, D.C.
So my brother went to Washington D.C. this past week with the junior class at Grace Community School. I think they had a good time. He borrowed my shirt that says "George W. Bush is my homeboy" to wear on their tour of the Whitehouse. They actually got the 'red carpet' treatment there because one of the students has a relative that is a federal judge. Apparently this judge made a phone call before they went and lined up this special tour of the Whitehouse that is usually only for groups of 3-4 VIP's. When I went to DC my freshman year in high school, our tour of the Whitehouse was more like a drive-by without the guns. The tour guide said, "If you'll look to your right, you see the Whitehouse." That was it. Very lame compared to my brother's very impressive inside tour. He told me that some of the secret security guys laughed and commented on the shirt so that's fun. Before he left for the trip I told him he better bring something back for me, but of course I was joking because Cory never brings anything back for anyone. Anyway, when he got back late Friday night, I said, "What'd you get me?" and he said, "Oh! I did get you something, hold on." I went back to my room and he returns with a keychain that says 'Washington, D.C.' and has a picture of the capitol building on it. I was like, "umm, thanks." It was sort of ugly so I knew there must be more to this keychain. He said, "Oh, it has a good story to go along with it. Me and my friends were walking by this giftshop and noticed a bum go in, swipe some stuff, then come out and start selling it. I told the guy that we saw him steal it, and he just said 'those are your words, not mine.'" After that Cory proceeded to by this keychain from the bum for 87 cents and David bought a pen from the guy for a dollar. Nice, huh? Anyway, Louie Gohmert, our representative, also gave them a behind-the-scenes tour of the Capitol. In fact, one of Gohmert's interns even said that he had never been where they were at one point. So yes, I'd say they had a grand 'ole time up in our nation's capitol.
Monday, March 07, 2005
Soccer, part 2 and some other stuff...
Yesterday Chelle and I decided to go back and play soccer again with the guys at Pollard Park. Granted we weren't very good last week, we had fun and it was worth experiencing again. We managed to talk Megan into going this week so we had 3 girls who had no soccer experience. I'm sure all the guys appreciated this! There were several guys that weren't there the week before so we met a lot of new people. Michelle and I played paper/rock/scissors and I lost, so that meant I had to go play with all boys again. Her and Megan got to be on Aubrey's team, but since Aubrey spent most of his time talking to me while I was playing goalie (I did learn a rule: Aubrey was offsides when he was back talking to me...ha), it seemed like he was on my team half the time. It was pretty funny because we'd be in a conversation and the ball would be headed our way, so he'd stop talking, go play, then come back once my team got the ball. Now when we first divided up into teams, Kevin was sort of our 'coach' of some sort. He was assigning positions to everyone. I was thinking, 'What's this? Positions?' Last week all we did was run around! After he assigned positions, he said, 'Ok guys, we're skins.' All my teammates proceed to take off their shirts as I'm standing there. Not that I minded some of them taking off their shirts (some I could have lived without seeing their hairy backs). I looked at Kevin and said, "I'm not taking my shirt off!" He laughed and said, "We didn't expect you too!" Yeah, so that was settled...ha. Anyway, Carlos was on my team, a guy I know from work, so that was fun playing with him. Some of the guys from last week were back so it was good to see them all again. Claudio said to me, "Hey, you guys came back. Good!" I wasn't real sure if the guys minded us being there, so it was nice for them to say they liked us being there. Megan had a good time too so that was great. I think she'll come back again too. Before the guys know it, all us girls will just take over! Then maybe Aubrey will let us play with a pink ball like I requested. (-:
After soccer we went to Alley and Sarah's house for bible study. Sarah was nice enough to give us a turkey sandwich. We sure needed it after using all our energy in soccer. I also had some avocado dip, but don't tell my mom because I claim to hate avocados. During bible study I was thinking, 'What is that smell?', then I realized it was my sweat. Oh well...hope Clint didn't mind sitting by me on the couch.
On Saturday I had a meeting with Kazue along with Megan and Lauren (the other 2 girls going to Japan). It was really good to get some of the detail information since so much of the things I had been told up to this point seemed pretty vague. We had lunch at Willowbrook Country Club which is really nice. After eating we talked a lot about Japan, and some of the big differences that we'll encounter there. I left knowing a lot more, so that was good.
After the Japan meeting, my cousin Michelle had a baby shower. Her best friend Renee had planned some games for the shower, so first we had to guess how many inches around Michelle's belly was. I'm like the worst person ever to guess the size of anything. I guessed 55 inches. That's just absurd because my cousin is like a size zero when she's not pregnant. She measured in at 38 1/2 inches...yeah, I was really off. After that we played a version of 'pin the tail on the donkey' called 'put the passy on the baby'. Yeah, that was stupid. Anyhow, I got some cake and talked to some folks so it was alright.
That evening we celebrated my brother's 17th birthday. It was his choice, so he decided he wanted to go to Chili's. For his birthday my sister and I got him a device that would allow his iPod to play through his radio. He asked for it so we knew he'd like it. I wrapped the present with pictures of girls in bikini's. What a nice sister I am, huh? I ordered the grilled caribbean salad because it sounded really great. I ended up only eating one bite of it because I was full from chips and salsa. Oh well...it will be good when I eat it for lunch today hopefully. That night I went to Chelle's and we watched part of 'Open Range' then went to Starbucks. Yeah, so that was basically my weekend...Oh, and I did find out I'm for sure going to Snowmass, Colorado for spring break. I'm leaving on the 12th and returning on the 20th, so I'll try and give a report on that trip soon after I get back, but don't get your hopes up...you all know how long it is taking me to write about the NY trip!
After soccer we went to Alley and Sarah's house for bible study. Sarah was nice enough to give us a turkey sandwich. We sure needed it after using all our energy in soccer. I also had some avocado dip, but don't tell my mom because I claim to hate avocados. During bible study I was thinking, 'What is that smell?', then I realized it was my sweat. Oh well...hope Clint didn't mind sitting by me on the couch.
On Saturday I had a meeting with Kazue along with Megan and Lauren (the other 2 girls going to Japan). It was really good to get some of the detail information since so much of the things I had been told up to this point seemed pretty vague. We had lunch at Willowbrook Country Club which is really nice. After eating we talked a lot about Japan, and some of the big differences that we'll encounter there. I left knowing a lot more, so that was good.
After the Japan meeting, my cousin Michelle had a baby shower. Her best friend Renee had planned some games for the shower, so first we had to guess how many inches around Michelle's belly was. I'm like the worst person ever to guess the size of anything. I guessed 55 inches. That's just absurd because my cousin is like a size zero when she's not pregnant. She measured in at 38 1/2 inches...yeah, I was really off. After that we played a version of 'pin the tail on the donkey' called 'put the passy on the baby'. Yeah, that was stupid. Anyhow, I got some cake and talked to some folks so it was alright.
That evening we celebrated my brother's 17th birthday. It was his choice, so he decided he wanted to go to Chili's. For his birthday my sister and I got him a device that would allow his iPod to play through his radio. He asked for it so we knew he'd like it. I wrapped the present with pictures of girls in bikini's. What a nice sister I am, huh? I ordered the grilled caribbean salad because it sounded really great. I ended up only eating one bite of it because I was full from chips and salsa. Oh well...it will be good when I eat it for lunch today hopefully. That night I went to Chelle's and we watched part of 'Open Range' then went to Starbucks. Yeah, so that was basically my weekend...Oh, and I did find out I'm for sure going to Snowmass, Colorado for spring break. I'm leaving on the 12th and returning on the 20th, so I'll try and give a report on that trip soon after I get back, but don't get your hopes up...you all know how long it is taking me to write about the NY trip!
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
She’s gonna be a soccer player…
For the past month and a half, Aubrey has asked Chelle and me to come play soccer on Sunday afternoons. We usually come up with a half-hearted excuse, mainly because we’re no good at soccer. Aubrey, along with most of the other guys, have played soccer all their lives, while mine and Michelle’s experience is limited to playing when we were 5 and only played then for the CapriSun at the end of the game. Well, we decided to stop arguing and give it a try yesterday. We headed up to Pollard Park at 3:30 to ‘get our game on.’ Aubrey assured us there would be other girls there. What we didn’t know was that meant one girl—and she was good. Luckily the guys didn’t take the game too seriously. I ended up playing goalie (insert laugh here) and along with that game some bruises on my leg. Aubrey had again assured me that since I was in the goal, the guys wouldn’t take any hard shots at me. Yeah, right! One guy took a pretty hard shot at me, but it was deflected by the goal. My teammate quickly defended me by saying, “Man, don’t hurt her! Quit taking it so seriously.” What a nice guy! I figure the bruises are all part of the game, right? The guys were actually all really nice though and we had a great time. They even invited us to play indoor on Thursday with them. We’ll go back on Sunday again for sure…and we’ll bring CapriSun too.
2 months later...
So I know most of you don't even care to know the details of the NY trip that was 2 months ago, but I'm writing it for myself. I want to write all I can remember for now, so I can look back at this with fond memories. So here it goes-another attempt at recalling my wonderful trip to New York.
Day 3-12/30/04
Since we were on vacation, of course we slept in again. Once we rolled out of bed, we hopped on the subway and headed downtown. We stopped at Starbucks to grab some breakfast and then ate on the subway on our way to Ground Zero. We were a little disoriented and didn't know exactly where we were going, so we wandered around a bit before figuring out where to go. My sister had seen Ground Zero six months after 9/11 so it had changed a lot since then. Now it looks more like a construction site rather than a place where such a disaster occurred. Here are 2 pictures from across the highway.
Some other closer pictures of the construction area:
This was taken down where the trains come in by the site:
While we were walking around this area, I couldn't help but think of how many people were running away from the place we were all so eager to see. There were a lot of tourist in the area all wanting to catch a glimpse of a place that had been a disaster area 3 years ago. All the memorial pictures that had been put up were just a reminder of 9/11, and it wasn't something I wanted to remember, even if I hadn't been directly effected by the event. People around us were recalling where they were when the tragedy had occurred, and of course Lindsey, Ine, and I all remembered where we had been when we first heard about it. There were also many people trying to make a dollar by selling photos of the towers before and after. I think we were all ready to leave after the visit, so we headed to South St. Seaport to get lunch. We did a little browsing in stores on our way there. We all had pizza for lunch, then we took some pictures.
We had tickets to see Rent that afternoon, so we headed back uptown to Broadway. We had chosen to see 'Rent' since 'Chicago' had sold out on the cheaper seats! The best part about seeing 'Rent' was that Drew Lachey, former member of 98 degrees and brother of Nick Lachey, was playing one of the lead roles. Now I was a little skeptical not knowing how well he'd do, but he did a tremendous job. I was very impressed with his theatre ability and we all really enjoyed the show. Here we all are before the show:
While we were waiting, I also saw Drew get out of a car, thank his driver and walk in the theatre. It all happened so quickly that I didn't get to meet him, but it was still pretty fun to see him walk right past us.
Ine and Lindsey also took some illegal photos before the show of the set. Here is one of them:
We also tried to use our voice recorders on our phones to record some of the music, but it didn't turn out too well! Here we are later taking a picture by the sign advertising 'Rent' starring Drew Lachey:
After the show, Lindsey and Ine were ready to get out of their heels. (I was smart and wore flat boots. Who cares if they looked so much taller? I had comfortable shoes.) We went back to the hotel and changed clothes.
We had plans that night to meet up with Tiffany and her friends that had just arrived earlier that day. It was Tiff's 21st birthday and apparently on their trip the flight assistant decided to give her a lot of free drinks...funny stuff. We all met up at Chevy's, a mexican restaurant in Times Square. I know, you're thinking why did we get mexican food in New York? Well, it was actually pretty good. Tiffany of course ordered up a big margarita for her birthday.
When we told the waitress it was her birthday, they brought her a big sombrero and ice cream.
After we left Chevy's we had to keep a close eye on Tiffany. She was a little tipsy and we had to make sure she didn't wander off. We wanted to ride the party bike so we talked to one of the drivers. He gave us his cell number and said to call him later and he'd come pick us up. We decided to go try and ice skate at Rockefeller Plaza since Beth and Amy really wanted to go. Well, the line to skate was over 2 hours long, so that idea was out. We did try and buy some 2005 glasses, but Beth was trying to make a deal (6 pairs for $10) and we knew that wouldn't happen. After walking around some more, we decided to call it a night since we were getting up early to go to the Today's Show the next morning. That did mean no party bike, but we figured we might try it another evening. When we were walking up to our hotel, we saw a rat on the sidewalk--fun, huh? Once we got inside, we asked the guy at the desk a number we could call to get a cab since we would need one at 4:00 a.m. We weren't sure how easy it would be to get a cab at that time, so we figured it'd be smart to call ahead. We headed up to our 4th floor walk-up, and went to sleep. More to come when I feel inclined to do so...
p.s. In case you're wondering how I even remember this much about a trip that was 2 months ago, Ine took some notes and shared them with me. So thank you Ine for being a note taker, something I've never had the patience to be.
Day 3-12/30/04
Since we were on vacation, of course we slept in again. Once we rolled out of bed, we hopped on the subway and headed downtown. We stopped at Starbucks to grab some breakfast and then ate on the subway on our way to Ground Zero. We were a little disoriented and didn't know exactly where we were going, so we wandered around a bit before figuring out where to go. My sister had seen Ground Zero six months after 9/11 so it had changed a lot since then. Now it looks more like a construction site rather than a place where such a disaster occurred. Here are 2 pictures from across the highway.
Some other closer pictures of the construction area:
This was taken down where the trains come in by the site:
While we were walking around this area, I couldn't help but think of how many people were running away from the place we were all so eager to see. There were a lot of tourist in the area all wanting to catch a glimpse of a place that had been a disaster area 3 years ago. All the memorial pictures that had been put up were just a reminder of 9/11, and it wasn't something I wanted to remember, even if I hadn't been directly effected by the event. People around us were recalling where they were when the tragedy had occurred, and of course Lindsey, Ine, and I all remembered where we had been when we first heard about it. There were also many people trying to make a dollar by selling photos of the towers before and after. I think we were all ready to leave after the visit, so we headed to South St. Seaport to get lunch. We did a little browsing in stores on our way there. We all had pizza for lunch, then we took some pictures.
We had tickets to see Rent that afternoon, so we headed back uptown to Broadway. We had chosen to see 'Rent' since 'Chicago' had sold out on the cheaper seats! The best part about seeing 'Rent' was that Drew Lachey, former member of 98 degrees and brother of Nick Lachey, was playing one of the lead roles. Now I was a little skeptical not knowing how well he'd do, but he did a tremendous job. I was very impressed with his theatre ability and we all really enjoyed the show. Here we all are before the show:
While we were waiting, I also saw Drew get out of a car, thank his driver and walk in the theatre. It all happened so quickly that I didn't get to meet him, but it was still pretty fun to see him walk right past us.
Ine and Lindsey also took some illegal photos before the show of the set. Here is one of them:
We also tried to use our voice recorders on our phones to record some of the music, but it didn't turn out too well! Here we are later taking a picture by the sign advertising 'Rent' starring Drew Lachey:
After the show, Lindsey and Ine were ready to get out of their heels. (I was smart and wore flat boots. Who cares if they looked so much taller? I had comfortable shoes.) We went back to the hotel and changed clothes.
We had plans that night to meet up with Tiffany and her friends that had just arrived earlier that day. It was Tiff's 21st birthday and apparently on their trip the flight assistant decided to give her a lot of free drinks...funny stuff. We all met up at Chevy's, a mexican restaurant in Times Square. I know, you're thinking why did we get mexican food in New York? Well, it was actually pretty good. Tiffany of course ordered up a big margarita for her birthday.
When we told the waitress it was her birthday, they brought her a big sombrero and ice cream.
After we left Chevy's we had to keep a close eye on Tiffany. She was a little tipsy and we had to make sure she didn't wander off. We wanted to ride the party bike so we talked to one of the drivers. He gave us his cell number and said to call him later and he'd come pick us up. We decided to go try and ice skate at Rockefeller Plaza since Beth and Amy really wanted to go. Well, the line to skate was over 2 hours long, so that idea was out. We did try and buy some 2005 glasses, but Beth was trying to make a deal (6 pairs for $10) and we knew that wouldn't happen. After walking around some more, we decided to call it a night since we were getting up early to go to the Today's Show the next morning. That did mean no party bike, but we figured we might try it another evening. When we were walking up to our hotel, we saw a rat on the sidewalk--fun, huh? Once we got inside, we asked the guy at the desk a number we could call to get a cab since we would need one at 4:00 a.m. We weren't sure how easy it would be to get a cab at that time, so we figured it'd be smart to call ahead. We headed up to our 4th floor walk-up, and went to sleep. More to come when I feel inclined to do so...
p.s. In case you're wondering how I even remember this much about a trip that was 2 months ago, Ine took some notes and shared them with me. So thank you Ine for being a note taker, something I've never had the patience to be.
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