Monday Night

Last night I went with Joy, George, and Rachel to see Mike Birbiglia again. He's a funny guy! He was at a little venue in the East Village called "Mo Pitkins House of Satisfaction". It was a very cool place with a bar/restaurant downstairs and a tiny little theatre upstairs. A bonus last night was their $3 Margaritas! After the show, Joy and I got Starbucks and walked through the Village some. It is such a cool area and we saw some shops and restaurants we really need to go back to! We ended up walking all the way to my neighborhood-- must have been about 3 miles and I was wearing my tall black boots-- crazy! It was so nice though to just enjoy the city and great weather we've been having!

As we walked, we passed a movie set on the street. We could see Richard Kind and Alan Alda and an unidentified woman. They were taping a scene where Richard and the woman were talking on the street and would then walk into a brownstone and Alan Alda was inside. It was fun to watch!

NYC Marathon Weekend

I had a fantastic weekend! Friday night I went to dinner and a movie with Joy. We ate at a place called Serafina's. It was good Italian food....we got 2 pizzas and shared and they were really good--more like authentic Italian pizza. They were really rich, though! We saw "Borat" after dinner. It was pretty funny, but definitely went overboard a couple of times!

On Saturday, I met Joy and another guy I used to work with, Stan, for brunch in the East Village. We ate at a place called the Sidewalk Cafe. It was good food and a great price for their brunch which included mimosas-- yum!! The weather was really nice so we even sat outside and enjoyed the sunshine for a couple of hours! There is another restaurant on the street called 7A and I'd also like to try it out-- it's really popular for brunch as well.

I spent most of the rest of the weekend volunteering for the New York marathon! It was an experience and I had a lot of fun! Saturday night was the Barilla Pasta Party for all runners. It was crazy...trying to feed 37,000 runners! I was put on dessert duty which was definitely the worst job. The runners would eat in this huge tent that was added on to Tavern on the Green for the event. Then they would be sent out the exit where they got a goody bag and lots of free pasta and food and other items and then they would just get dessert to go. We were outside serving Italian Ice! It was already cold enough, but having to handle the little tubs of Italian Ice made my fingers turn purple! It was kind of miserable. But, I enjoyed some of the people I worked with and I got a free t-shirt, some cookies, and a pasta timer out of it! I do love free stuff! Actually, it brought back a lot of memories from when my old roommate, Deanna, and I used to do races...we ran the Honolulu marathon together, but also did many 5k's. I think we were both pretty driven by the free stuff, though. We would leave with bags stuffed full of bananas, bottles of water, yogurt, etc.... Some weeks, it was our main source of grocery shopping, I think! So, when I saw people coming out of the Pasta dinner with huge black garbage sacks full, I could relate! It was fun.

Then, Sunday morning, I volunteered at the drink station at mile-24 in Central Park. It was a great location to be! I was a Gatorade girl and it was quite a process. We had to set up tables, hang banners, then mix and pour the Gatorade- lots & lots & lots of Gatorade! All the Gatorade mixers got these huge ponchos to wear because it can become a sticky mess-- I thought they were hysterical! We also wore plastic medical gloves and one girl I talked to some said it was "just like Grey's Anatomy!" She was really funny to talk to. The most exciting part of the day was seeing Lance Armstrong run by-- he looked great! We also had fun figuring out the best technique for the Gatorade "hand off". See, the runners would go by so fast that they would often knock the cups right out of our hands. I quickly figured out a way to hold the cup to help ensure a good catch...I still lost some, but it did work pretty well and other people began following my lead!

Sunday night I had my first opportunity to try out a new chruch, Redeemer Presbyterian. There are 2 churches in the city I've been most interested to try and Redeemer was the only one that has evening services, so that worked with my marathon schedule. It was really good-- the pastor seems like an excellent preacher and very wise so that was refreshing for me! But, it is a HUGE church and I wondered how difficult it would be to get involved and meet people there. I think there could have been 1,000 people there tonight and it was one of 4 services today. I am going to try out the other church next Sunday...it's a church plant and they're still averaging only about 100/week. The pastor there came from Lake Pointe in the Dallas area and I've been told that it's where "all the Texans" go to church. I know a guy I went to both high school and college goes there and he seems to like it and I've heard excellent things about the pastor through some Lake Pointe people. So, we'll see how that goes!

Here's some pictures from the marathon!! It was hard to get the runners though so I missed getting one of Lance...sorry!

Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing

When I was in the 4th grade, my parents took us on a trip to Washington DC. I hated it. My sister hated it. My parent's love DC, but that trip....they hated it. Beth and I were brats the entire time and my parent's vowed to never take us back! And they didn't! I just wasn't very interested in all the history and all the museums. I remember having to get up really, really early to get tickets for the White House and back then, I had this weird thing where if I stayed up too late or got up too early, I threw up. So, that morning I threw up right in the middle of a street near the White House. It was a great trip!

Since I'm now living in the Northeast and haven't really seen much of it at all before, I have a lot of places I want to conquer while I'm here. DC was on my list because I thought that now that I'm grown up, I'll enjoy it. Also, a friend of mine was there on work for a short-term assignment, so I had a free place to stay! Unfortunately, I discovered that my feelings towards DC in the 4th grade might have had less to do with my age than I thought. I'm just not a history buff. I was never really a C student, but I started making C's in my History classes in 8th grade and continued to make C's until I took my last History class my Freshman year of college. I'm just not interested. However, this time I did discover that DC is a very pretty place and walking around it was very nice especially with the great weather I had. DC also has some really nice neighborhoods-- DuPont Circle and Georgetown. I really liked walking around them. Unfortunately, I only had 48 hours in DC, so by the time I realized my lack of interest in the museums, I didn't have much time to spend exploring these communities! The other downfall was that I was having slight stomach issues and am now 2-for-2 for throwing up in DC....lovely! Anyway, here's what I did with a link at the bottom to my pictures!

• Went to the Supreme Court and got to watch about 5 minutes of the case they were trying. I actually did find this interesting to watch and enjoyed seeing the Supreme Court Judges.
• Went into the Senate Office Building to grab a muffin in their cafe-- my mom told me to go here to try to spot Senators! The most vivid memory I have of being in DC when I was 9 was being in this building and my mom seeing some famous Senator. She got SO excited and had us following him all over the place until he got on an elevator we weren't allowed on. So, she made us get on the elevator for the public and try to GUESS which floor this Senator was going to so we could see him again. I had know idea who he was, but I sure did think this was exciting!! That's my mom for ya! Anyway, this time it was VERY quiet...Senators were out campaigning, so my dad says.
• Went to the National Cathedral-- attempted to go to an organ concert there, but got confused getting there and was too late. It was a pretty place though.
• Saw the monuments/memorials-- Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, FDR, WWII, Vietnam Vets, and the Korean War Veterans. I went late afternoon so that I was able to see most of them in daylight and after sunset...very pretty!! The FDR Memorial was my favorite-- it's much bigger than the others and is basically just a ton of different waterfalls and quotes from FDR.
• Went to the Holocaust Museum. This museum I did like. It was very interesting. Luckily, the day I went, it was very quiet. My only issue was that there was SO much information, to me it was overwhelming and I began to feel a little ADD. It took me about 2 hours to get through-- I had been told it takes 3, but I started skipping over stuff after a while. Also, I can see how it could get very crowded and you get stuck behind people waiting to see the next thing which would not be fun.
• I was disappointed that the Smithsonian Museum of American History was closed for renovations....until summer of 2008!!! Two years-- wow! Anyway, I had read that they had moved their best exhibits temporarily to the Air & Space Museum, so I went by there to check it out. Unfortunately, the temporary exhibit wasn't open yet. So, I did walk around the Air & Space stuff and some of it looked cool, but for the most part, I just wasn't interested.
• I went into the White House Information Center-- it had some pictures of the inside of the house and some history, but really not very much stuff of interest in there.
• Walked up as close as you can get to the White House...very pretty. It looked as expected from the front, however, on the side, I was surprised by the size...much bigger than I thought.
• I walked around Georgetown...both the neighborhood and the shops. Like I said, I could have spent much more time here! The houses are really cute and I had a list of houses JFK lived in, so I looked for those, mostly just because I enjoyed walking through the neighborhood so much! If I had had an extra day, I really could have done some damage shopping around there! The restaurants looked interesting, too!
• I also did a bit of walking around DuPont Circle. Again, if I had had more time, I would have enjoyed the shopping and restaurants!

So, that was my whirlwind trip to DC! If you want to see pictures, they're located here!

Time Off

Some of you have been asking "What has Susan been doing with her unemployed self"? I've managed to keep myself somewhat busy these past couple of weeks--- a very enjoyable, slow-paced busy! I've taken my mornings slow, which I love to do. Finished reading "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" and am working on "Desiring God", which I've been trying to read for a while now. Both good books I recommend!

I've also done some shopping!! I bought my winter coat to gear up for the bitter Northeast winds and cold air! I ended up getting a long down-filled one. They're sort of "in" right now, but I think mainly just because they're so warm, not so much because they're super-cute. I got a choclate brown one and I love it! And it was pretty cheap because I went to Century 21 to get it. Century 21 is a famous department store here full of Designer clothes, shoes and accessories, but all at discounted prices! I also went shopping in both the big Bloomingdale's and Macy's. Didn't buy anything at either place, but they're both fun to look around in. When I was in Jersey w/ Beth's in-laws, her mother-in-law was telling me that she used to buy Caviar at the Macy's market when she lived here while she was in the NYC Ballet. I told her I didn't think the market existed anymore. But, I was wrong because I found it this time! It's in the basement. I grabbed lunch there, so taht was fun. That store is HUGE! I wonder what else I'm missing there! I also bummed around an area called Astor Place that has some good shopping. I was on a mission for gloves and a scarf, but didn't find anything I wanted.

I also made myself get out and do some NYC things. I went up to the Cloisters Museum one day. It's located in very far-north Manhattan in a park called Ft. Tryon Park. The park was gorgeous! Full of trees and located on a cliff above the Hudson. They had a beautiful garden and it sounded more like spring with all the birds chirping away! I couldn't help but explore the park some before heading to the museum! I really liked The Cloisters as well. The building itself was just so neat. They've brought in parts of 5 different monasteries to create the rooms and doorways and it really was pretty and unique. Amazingly, it is a museum where they allow pictures to be taken (with no flash). You can view pictures from my day-trip here.

On Friday night, I went to a show at St. John's Cathedral. It is the only gothic cathedral in Manhattan and it's quite pretty. They were having a Halloween show! It was really fun and interesting. First, we watched an old silent film about a vampire. Someone was playing the organ in the cathedral along to the movie. That lasted about an hour and then they had a parade of ghouls! It was actually pretty fun and interesting! Pictures are here!!

Curly Girl

Last week, I got my hair cut at Devachan-- which I lovingly refer to as the "Curly Girl" salon. Most of you know I went there when I was up here on vacation in May of 2005. That time I got my hair cut by THE curly girl herself, Lorraine Massey, author of the book "Curly Girls". A lot of you have borrowed my book, but if you're a girl with curly or even barely wavy hair and have not read the book you should get it! Anyway, Lorraine's hair cut was the best I've ever gotten, but also by far the most expensive. It was kind of a once in a lifetime sort of thing. But, I needed a haircut last week (I haven't had one since I moved up 6.5 months ago)! So, I called to see how much the other stylists at the salon are and they actually have some that are fairly reasonable! Yippee! So, I got to go back to Devachan. I love that place! My stylist was an Asian guy named Jeffrey. I loved him! He asked me where I was from originally and I said Dallas. I added that I just moved up here 6 months ago. And he looked totally shocked and said "What?!?! I thought you looked like a true New Yorker! I thought you'd been here for years!" How amazing is that? A true New Yorker already! Anyway, the hair cutting at Devachan is an experience...they give you this delicious fruit tea and they pamper you and the head massage while they wash your hair is the best!! It was a fun day!

Martha Stewart

I saw Martha Stewart tonight! I went over to the Columbus Circle shops to pick up a Jamba Juice for dinner. As I was leaving, I noticed a huge line outside William Sonoma, so I walked over to figure out what the hype was all about. Turned out Martha was there signing her new book. So, I went inside and pretended to be shopping so I could catch some glimpses of the homemaker. She looked like she was being very friendly to everyone-- I've always heard she's mean! And she looked small. Of course, she was beind a table, so I couldn't see her too well, but I could see her legs and they looked tiny.

I'm WAYYY behind on my blogging. I have updates from last week and I also went to DC for a couple of days, so I've got some catching-up to do!

TCU vs. Army

A guy I went to church with in Dallas is a huge TCU fan and he came up with the TCU alumni group to go to the football game at Westpoint-- I got to go too! We took buses with the other TCU alums and it took about 1.5 hours to get there-- west over the Hudson river, then north.

I really like seeing neat college campuses, so I really enjoyed the opportunity to see Westpoint. It was a beautiful campus, set right on the Hudson river and the leaves on the trees were starting to change.
























































When we arrived, we got to see the cadets doing their marching parade.














































We had lunch with the TCU alums at the Westpoint club-- beautiful rooms with large windows overlooking the Hudson.

We took a long walk to get from lunch to the game. I enjoyed walking through the old Army fort, and through the neighborhoods on campus. It really feels more like a nice community, rather than a college campus. Lots of neat houses where Lieutenants and their families live.











































The game was fun-- TCU won. It was fun watching the cadets and their traditions. Each time Army makes a touchdown, the freshman all have to jump out of the bleachers and onto the field and do push-ups. Also, a canon is shot off each time they score. A few cadets did a gun drill at half-time. I enjoyed talking with the older man sitting next to me-- we were in the TCU section, so he was a sweet old Texan. He spilled his hot chocolate ALL over himself-- I felt bad for him, but then we really got a good laugh about it together-- he was funny.












For some reason, I love how they shaved and
colored the "A" on all their horses behinds















You may have to click on this one and enlarge
it to see the freshman doing their push-ups














There were a couple of other "new" things I did while Rob was in the City.

We spent some time in the park and for the first time, I went to the top of Shakespeare's castle. It did have a great view of the park.































The Central Park Resevoir















The pond in CP with the row boats-- I love
this!














We also went to a great steak restaurant--Uncle Jack's -- and saw Spamalot. Now Spamalot isn't exactly the kind of humor I enjoy, but it was a Broadway show, so the singing and dancing were excellent as always. And the show was actually a pretty fun one-- they even had me singing along at the end!