Here is one of my typical random catch-up posts. And you know what?! After this, I am officially caught up after continually lagging behind for months now! Ah, it feels soooo good. So, here's some random fun things I've done recently.....
Mindy and I have hit up Alice's Tea Cup for dinner twice in two weeks! I normally think of Alice's for breakfast/brunch, but we had both gotten coupons and they were only good for dinner Mon-Thurs. We had a super hard time coming up with nights we could go, but finally worked in our 2 trips...just before our coupons were set to expire. I was super impressed with their dinner. Warm, delicious sandwiches...perfect comfort food for the cold fall nights! And one of their amazing scones for dessert - so yum!
Twice a year, the members of my church come together for a brunch and update. I signed up to be part of the baking crew this time and took my Butterhorns. There ended up being around 130 people there...the last one, we only had 90! Huge increase!! And there was a ton of baked goods and they were ALL gone. It was amazing. The updates our pastor and other deacons gave were so good and encouraging. It is such a blessing to be a part of that community where people really love the Lord and want to know Him more and also love this city and want to learn to serve its people better. I was so excited to hear the church is introducing a seminary-level type course in 2011. It costs a little to enroll and would be a major time commitment, but I think it's something I really want to do. I love in-depth studies of the Bible where other people are holding me accountable to keep up with it and I've always wondered about taking a seminary class. This isn't seminary at all, but would be a similar type class. I'm still thinking about it, but will probably do it along with a few people from my community group.
After the church brunch, Lucy and I grabbed lunch. Uh, yeah, we went from brunch to lunch! I never eat much at those brunches and we ate at 10:00 and didn't leave until close to 1:00, so we got some food at a little Italian deli nearby. After eating and catching-up, we met some other church peeps at the movies. We saw 127 Hours. This was not an easy movie to watch, but it was made really well and the story was told well. I liked it a lot.
The New York Philharmonic put on a production of Mendelssohn's Elijah and I went with about 10 people from church. I've only been to the Philharmonic a few times (not counting when they're in the park, which is a totally different vibe and experience). I liked this one because it wasn't just instrumental and the singers sang the story of Elijah. It was good, but I really shouldn't go to the Philharmonic anymore...I get rather bored and it's probably not a good use of my time or money. Lesson learned - don't let me forget!
Last Saturday, my community group got together for a little shopping and brunch! I was designated the job of "Angel Tree Ambassador" for our group. Pretty important, yes? My church supports Angel Tree every year...giving Christmas gifts and helping sponsor a party and church service for kids and their caregivers who have one or both parent's in jail. It's a really neat organization. The prisoners actually get to suggest gifts and write notes to their children so the gifts end up looking like it really is from them. I got to participate back in October calling the kid's guardians to verify the kids names, ages, gender, etc... and make sure the toys and clothes the parent had suggested were still appropriate/needed/desired. Some of the parents have not seen their children in several years and you get a dad suggesting a doll for his 14-year-old daughter. So, the phone calls are to correct things like that. I was a little nervous about making the calls, but it was actually a really neat experience and some of the conversations were pretty funny. Anyway, my community group consolidated funds to contribute towards some Angel Tree gifts and then 5 of us went shopping for gifts. My group was so generous!! We were able to get all 5 of the Angel Tree gifts we were assigned as well as 4 other random toys we picked up to donate to His Toy Store...another organization my church supports (I helped at that one last year). After having fun shopping for toys and clothes, we went to brunch at a diner nearby. Fun times with friends!
My friend, Mindy, was in her first off-off-Broadway play. She was so excited for this. The play was The Seagull and it was recently on Broadway. It was actually a really good story and Mindy was the best actress there. I hope her success in this city continues to grow - she's been working so hard to make the right moves and meet the right people. I'm glad I'm not in the arts - I couldn't hack it!
And now, I'm officially caught up as we head into this busy Holiday season that is sure to create some blog-worthy material. I'll keep you posted!
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