My sisters and I are in the Big Apple. We are managing to cram so much stuff into our days that we are quite exhausted. Since there's so much stuff, I'll only write about our first day in this post, then write about other days later...way too many details for one post!!!
So, we flew out of Houston on Sunday. The airport stuff was long (who knew so many people would be flying out of Hobby the Sunday before Memorial Day?). We got through security, then went to the gift shop, then to our gate. We were in group A on Southwest, so we moseyed over and stood in line. There were some guys being searched and we were saying how we would be so embarassed. My youngest sister, Laury, said "If that happened to me, I would freak out." Right after she said that, this little man came up to us and told her to come with him. She had to go be searched!!! They do the metal detector wand and everything. Missy & I could not stop laughing. Well, we did stop laughing long enough to take her picture, which, if I could figure out how to upload, I would totally do now. The one good thing about the search was that Laury got on the plane first and we got the exit row seats. I usually avoid these because I'm scared of having to actually do something during an emergency. But, man these are awesome...so roomy!
The flight is uneventful, except that both my sisters are scared of flying, so I had to calm them down some, but we made it. Had to change planes in Chicago, then on to NYC. Well, not exactly NYC. Because I had these vouchers, we flew into Long Island...tiny airport called Islip. I had a car reserved for us, so we called them and they came to pick us up. Only, I couldn't remember the name of the car company, so we weren't entirely sure that the guy we got in the car with wasn't going to kill us. Fortunately, he didn't. He was actually pretty friendly and made fun of us for having so much luggage (one of my bags was 49 lbs, just 1 lb shy of having to pay extra!).
We got to our hotel, the Courtyard Marriott in Midtown Manhattan. I highly recommend this hotel...it is great and great location. We were hungry, so we checked in, then went to eat. The concierge recommended a pizza place, so we went there. It was Angelo's and it was great. Then, for some insane reason, we decided to walk around some. We tried to go to Serendipity, but the wait was 2-1/2 hours!! So, walked down to Times Square. On the way, we walked down Park Avenure. We took pictures in Times Square, along with all the other tourists. I would have been concerned about being mugged, except the only people around had nicer cameras than we did. We went to eat some dessert at TGI Fridays where we had a waiter named Abdul who showed us his name tag like he was Vanna White. He had lots of "flair" on his suspenders! We ate our dessert in a comatose state, then walked back to the hotel (decided not to start using the Subway at nighttime) and really fell asleep before we got in bed...we were so tired!!
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Mayhaw Jely & Why I Am Crazy
I promised in my last post to tell you about Mayhaw jelly and why I'm crazy, so here's a short blurb about that...BTW, they have nothing to do with each other.
First, mayhaw jelly. My grandmother used to make it and, if you've had mayhaw jelly, you are missing out. It's totally a Louisiana thing (I think because so many people have never heard of it). This man at work was auctioning some off to benefit the Relay for Life and I know him. I bid on the jelly in the auction, but it was a little too rich for my blood ($37!!!). Since I know him, I pestered him to bring me some for free, which he did and it is so good! I have only eaten it once because I am saving it to eat with really good biscuits. I had some Popeye's biscuits a few weeks ago, so I ate some of the jelly. Such a treat!
OK, on to why I am a crazy person. I have decided that I want to qualify for and run the Boston marathon. The reason that this is insane is that there are qualifying times for Boston based on your age. If I wanted to qualify right now, I would have to run another marathon in under 3 hours and 40 minutes. I have done one full marathon and I did that in 5 hours and 37 minutes. So, clearly, I have some room to improve. The crazy part is that this is kind of phyiscally impossible for me. But, I've written it down on my list of things to do before I die. Yes, I have a list that also includes things like take tennis lessons (check!), see a Superbowl in person, and live in Washington, DC for a year! So, now that it's written down, I have to do it. Sigh...I think I will be very happy and relaxed when I'm dead and can't work on all of these goals anymore : ).
First, mayhaw jelly. My grandmother used to make it and, if you've had mayhaw jelly, you are missing out. It's totally a Louisiana thing (I think because so many people have never heard of it). This man at work was auctioning some off to benefit the Relay for Life and I know him. I bid on the jelly in the auction, but it was a little too rich for my blood ($37!!!). Since I know him, I pestered him to bring me some for free, which he did and it is so good! I have only eaten it once because I am saving it to eat with really good biscuits. I had some Popeye's biscuits a few weeks ago, so I ate some of the jelly. Such a treat!
OK, on to why I am a crazy person. I have decided that I want to qualify for and run the Boston marathon. The reason that this is insane is that there are qualifying times for Boston based on your age. If I wanted to qualify right now, I would have to run another marathon in under 3 hours and 40 minutes. I have done one full marathon and I did that in 5 hours and 37 minutes. So, clearly, I have some room to improve. The crazy part is that this is kind of phyiscally impossible for me. But, I've written it down on my list of things to do before I die. Yes, I have a list that also includes things like take tennis lessons (check!), see a Superbowl in person, and live in Washington, DC for a year! So, now that it's written down, I have to do it. Sigh...I think I will be very happy and relaxed when I'm dead and can't work on all of these goals anymore : ).
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Simple Pleasures
I know, I know, I haven't written on here in forever. I can't really think of what's been keeping me so busy, except I have been just that...insanely busy! But having fun. This past weekend, I had a great time enjoying simple pleasures that I think I should enjoy more often.
Friday night, two friends of mine got married in League City. The wedding was outside and it was just beautiful. The reception was at the same place and it was so much fun, too. Lots of dancing and catching up with friends. Have I ever mentioned that I love my friends? Or that I am a terrible dancer? Like I just twirl around and always go the wrong direction. No matter how good the guy I'm dancing with is, I can not do it right. I think it's because I keep thinking for myself...always a mistake. This is one of the things that I want to get better at. Only I don't know how to do that without embarrassing myself horrendously. Well, that's never stopped me from doing anything else, so why should it now? I'll keep you posted on my progress.
Saturday, I went to the International Festival in Houston. This is one of the reasons that I have fallen in love with Houston...much like Louisiana, there is some sort of festival or event any given weekend. The iFest has been around for like 40 years. This year, the feature country was China. Which was really cool. The funny part about this International festival is that there were 4 kind of highlighted areas of the world..China, Jamaica, Texas, and Louisiana. It made me laugh! I was very happy, though, because the Louisiana section had Zydeco music. My friend, Maradee, and I sat and listened until we couldn't stand the heat anymore. Turns out that I work with one of the guys in the band! Oh, I also had a real snowcone...first one of the season. It was delightful! They let you put on your own flavors, so I got to soak it with the flavors I love (rainbow of cherry, grape, and blue bubblegum...best snowcome flavors EVER!). Anyway, we left there and went down to Bacliff (smaller than a dot on the map) and ate at this great restaurant, Clifton by the Sea. I have been there several times and I've never had a bad experience. I highly recommend it. They had a live band, too. We sat outside like 20 feet from the water and listened to a Louisiana bluesey Zydeco band. I was so happy! The last few years, one of my favorite "simple pleasures" has been to be outside, no matter what. I feel like I'm just soaking up outside air to make up for the first 27 years of my life when I sat inside all the time! I had plenty of opportunity to aborb the sun and the outside air and lots of other things on Saturday. After dinner, we watched Raising Arizona. This is a really funny movie that I have not seen in forever. My favorite line by far is..."Do these balloons blow up into funny shapes?" "No, unless you think round is funny." Cracks me up!!
Sunday, I got to run in the morning before church. Did you know that I love running? I do. It is so nice and peaceful and all up to me...no one else can do it for me. And it's not easy, which means I have to work at it, which I love. Anyway, I went running with one of my favorite people to run with. It is getting hotter, so it's not quite as easy as it was a few months ago, but still great. There were so many people where we were. Unfortunately, there were also dogs. I only got scared once, though (for those that don't know, I'm terrified of dogs!). Sunday afternoon, I went to play Ultimate Frisbee, but not many people showed up, so we just tossed the Frisbee around. This is also one of my favorite things in the world to do. And I am terrible at it. I really don't care. The thing I love about it is that I get to run alot. I don't even have to because it's not like I impact the outcome of the game (except negatively), but I still run up and down the field the whole time. It is heavenly! Sunday night was group. I also love my group (I am loving a lot of things today!). We are doing another cool study and we had good discussion. Then we went to dinner for good fellowship.
OK, OK, I have got to stop writing such long posts. Sorry. If you made it this far, thanks for bearing with me. I'll write again soon about Mayhaw Jelly and why I'm a crazy person (think marathon!). I am loving my life these days!
Friday night, two friends of mine got married in League City. The wedding was outside and it was just beautiful. The reception was at the same place and it was so much fun, too. Lots of dancing and catching up with friends. Have I ever mentioned that I love my friends? Or that I am a terrible dancer? Like I just twirl around and always go the wrong direction. No matter how good the guy I'm dancing with is, I can not do it right. I think it's because I keep thinking for myself...always a mistake. This is one of the things that I want to get better at. Only I don't know how to do that without embarrassing myself horrendously. Well, that's never stopped me from doing anything else, so why should it now? I'll keep you posted on my progress.
Saturday, I went to the International Festival in Houston. This is one of the reasons that I have fallen in love with Houston...much like Louisiana, there is some sort of festival or event any given weekend. The iFest has been around for like 40 years. This year, the feature country was China. Which was really cool. The funny part about this International festival is that there were 4 kind of highlighted areas of the world..China, Jamaica, Texas, and Louisiana. It made me laugh! I was very happy, though, because the Louisiana section had Zydeco music. My friend, Maradee, and I sat and listened until we couldn't stand the heat anymore. Turns out that I work with one of the guys in the band! Oh, I also had a real snowcone...first one of the season. It was delightful! They let you put on your own flavors, so I got to soak it with the flavors I love (rainbow of cherry, grape, and blue bubblegum...best snowcome flavors EVER!). Anyway, we left there and went down to Bacliff (smaller than a dot on the map) and ate at this great restaurant, Clifton by the Sea. I have been there several times and I've never had a bad experience. I highly recommend it. They had a live band, too. We sat outside like 20 feet from the water and listened to a Louisiana bluesey Zydeco band. I was so happy! The last few years, one of my favorite "simple pleasures" has been to be outside, no matter what. I feel like I'm just soaking up outside air to make up for the first 27 years of my life when I sat inside all the time! I had plenty of opportunity to aborb the sun and the outside air and lots of other things on Saturday. After dinner, we watched Raising Arizona. This is a really funny movie that I have not seen in forever. My favorite line by far is..."Do these balloons blow up into funny shapes?" "No, unless you think round is funny." Cracks me up!!
Sunday, I got to run in the morning before church. Did you know that I love running? I do. It is so nice and peaceful and all up to me...no one else can do it for me. And it's not easy, which means I have to work at it, which I love. Anyway, I went running with one of my favorite people to run with. It is getting hotter, so it's not quite as easy as it was a few months ago, but still great. There were so many people where we were. Unfortunately, there were also dogs. I only got scared once, though (for those that don't know, I'm terrified of dogs!). Sunday afternoon, I went to play Ultimate Frisbee, but not many people showed up, so we just tossed the Frisbee around. This is also one of my favorite things in the world to do. And I am terrible at it. I really don't care. The thing I love about it is that I get to run alot. I don't even have to because it's not like I impact the outcome of the game (except negatively), but I still run up and down the field the whole time. It is heavenly! Sunday night was group. I also love my group (I am loving a lot of things today!). We are doing another cool study and we had good discussion. Then we went to dinner for good fellowship.
OK, OK, I have got to stop writing such long posts. Sorry. If you made it this far, thanks for bearing with me. I'll write again soon about Mayhaw Jelly and why I'm a crazy person (think marathon!). I am loving my life these days!
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