Thursday, September 18, 2008

Sesame Street

In honor of the #1 fan of Sesame Street living in our home...
(thanks, Lloyd!)




You Are Ernie



Playful and childlike, you are everyone's favorite friend - even if your goofy antics get annoying at times.



You are usually feeling: Amused - you are very easily entertained



You are famous for: Always making people smile. From your silly songs to your wild pranks, you keep things fun.



How you life your life: With ease. Life is only difficult when your friends won't play with you!

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Confessions of Quirkiness

(found during an hour of blog-stalking when I should have been cleaning the house :) )

1. I eat the edges first, including pizza, sandwiches, hamburgers, etc., then the middle part. It's that "save the best for last" theory, which you're not technically supposed to do when you eat because it pretty much guarantees you'll eat the entire thing :)

2. I really cannot stand blue jeans, socks or pantyhose. I will tug and pull and squirm out of discomfort all day long when I wear any of these.

3. When I was younger, I sometimes used to count in a pattern when I walked (1-2-3-1-3-2-1)...can we say Rain Man??

4. I have always played with my ears and popped them...since I was a baby. When I was little, I used to play with other peoples' ears, but as I got older, I quickly learned that my mom was really the only one who thought that was sweet and cute. Everybody else just thinks it's annoying, so now I stick to my own pair.

5. I still bite my nails and have stopped feeling guilty about it.

6. I eat steak with ketchup. I do not care if we are at a five star, head-spinning expensive restaurant. If they're serving steak, I'm packing a bottle of Heinz 57.


7. I tend to bump into people when we're walking along together in a straight line. I'm convinced it's because one of my legs is very slightly shorter than the other.

8. When I'm really nervous and walking into a room/situation where I don't know many people or don't know what to expect, my eyes water. This started in high school for some reason (which was a very positive experience), and doesn't happen much anymore, but is totally embarrassing when it does because people who look closely think I'm crying.


I tag all people reading this blog that have quirks to confess :)

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

I heart NY!!

Michael and I had a FABULOUS anniversary/my birthday trip to the big apple for several days.
(thanks to Poppy and Mimi for watching our sweet boy while we were gone!)

First I'll list a bunch of the stuff we did, then I'll post the pictures, which is all anybody wants to see anyway :)

Friday we got in, got to our hotel, which was 2 or 3 blocks from Times Square and the theaters where our shows were. We went to broadway's Phantom of the Opera that night, which was AMAZING!! (Andrew Lloyd Weber, how do I love thee?), and then around Times Square. It was around 11:00pm when our show got out, and there were a million cops around and everything was lit up like the 4th of July, so I felt safer there than I would here in good ole DFW. These dudes on bicycle carts kept trying to give us a ride back to our hotel, which was kinda funny.

Saturday we did a bunch of sight seeing and a TON of walking and subway riding. We walked across the entire width of Central Park (width, not length...I'm tough, but not that tough), which was beautiful, saw a lot of the super cool, super expensive stores on 5th avenue (I didn't go in because I didn't want to be tempted beyond Michael's patience/our stores of money :) ). We went to Chinatown and experienced the crazy behind the walls rooms and alley ways necessary to look at "Coach" "Gucci", etc. handbags and all that other fake but real stuff that costs a tenth of the regular price (no, I did not buy any of it - it's ugly, truth be told, and ridiculous...just my opinion, no offense to those of you who choose to indulge). We also went to Little Italy and bought a lot of our souvenier stuff there. I decided on this trip that every time I go somewhere new or exciting, I'm going to buy a picture frame and put a picture from that trip in it. Unfortunately, I didn't do this for Prague, D.C., China, or Europe, but you've gotta start somewhere, right? Saturday night we ate out at a nice New York pizza place and then went back to our hotel to watch football (pregnant lady was exhausted, and my honey wanted the Ohio State game stats :) ).

Sunday we took the subway to the southern end of Manhattan and saw Ground Zero...pretty amazing, and then took the ferry across to Statton Island to see the TINY Statue of Liberty, which was a total let-down after seeing it being so HUGE in the movies, but was also interesting since it was so very different from what I expected. We walked around this area pretty much all morning, then caught lunch and went to change before our Sunday matinee of broadway's Wicked, which was also FANTASTIC. The plot for this show is phenomenal...it's one of those complete outside the box thinking kind of deals, which I always enjoy, and at the same time wish I'd thought of :) For dinner we ate at the Rock Center Cafe, which is right under the Rockefeller Center, and is also where everybody ice skates in the winter and is usually filmed by the network stations for Good Morning America, etc. VERY cool experience - we ate the fanciest, most expensive BBQ we've ever had, and I could tell our waiter was slightly annoyed that we weren't drinking anything but water - hee :) After dinner, we took the tour of the Rockefeller Center and got some great pictures of the city from a crazy amount of stories high.

Monday we packed up, ate a leisurely breakfast, and shuttled back across to New Jersey to catch our flight home. Fantastic trip, and quite nice to get some adult alone time and to celebrate our 5 years and where God has brought us in that time. I'd recommend NY to anyone, definitely.
And now, without further ado, the pictures...


Coming into the city, our driver got a ticket :)

Our hotel lobby

View from our room - Times Square

At Phantom

We were in the second row. Awesome.

After the show.

In Central Park.

Grand Central Station elevator.

The Campbell Apartments :)

Elmo on the subway...a $5 picture b/c Michael didn't have change :) I told Elmo it's because my son REALLY likes him.

Ground Zero construction.

On the ferry, headed back to Manhattan.

Teeny tiny Statue of Liberty *sigh*

After the show.

At the Rock Center Cafe.

On top of the Rockefeller Center. (Empire State Building in the background)

Thanks, honey for this amazing trip!! I loved every minute of it!

Monday, September 1, 2008

Pray for the Carders

Take a look at the link that says "Amy" on my sidebar to see this sweet family's story. They need to be covered in prayer and lifted up to the Lord, especially now that little Ella has been born (evening of Aug. 31st). Please pray for both Amy and baby Ella's healing and recovery.

We love you, Carder family. You're in our prayers and thoughts.