Unexpected Guest

I had a surprise visitor this weekend!! Brooke found out last Tuesday that she was coming up for a conference on Friday & Saturday. We got to play on Friday night and then she came and stayed with me Saturday night to Sunday. It was great to see her and I was glad I didn't have much planned so we could hang out. On Friday night, we went and got Italian food at Pietressanta. I remembered she really liked it last time she came, so we went back there. I hadn't been in a long time and it was delicious!! Afterwards, we walked around Times Square/Rockefeller Center for a while so she could take in the excitement. We got a kick out of this Jamaican dude and his light-up ice skates at Rock Center.On Saturday, I volunteered for a ministry called Kids Club. It was started by a Baylor Alum and I heard through the alumni group that she was looking for more help, so I went to check it out. It was great and I'm excited to go back in a couple of weeks. The kids live in the projects in Chelsea and we went and played with them for a while, had a story and memory verse, did a craft, and had snacks. The kids were a lot of fun and really sweet. Helping the girls jump rope was a blast and a group game of dodge ball was fun, too. We talked about prayer and who they could pray for and I asked a few boys if they knew anyone who was sick or sad and one boy said, "what about the poor people? we could pray for the poor people!" How sweet is that? The girl who started this organization, Shelley, was two years ahead of me at Baylor. And the fact that she's made this such a success is impressive to me. She also holds a Friday night Bible Study for the mothers of the kids who come to Kids Club. Her plan is to eventually make this ministry her full-time job and add more services for the people there. Her hopes and plans are pretty cool!

That night, I met back up with Brooke. We went to see Guys and Dolls on Broadway starring Lauren Graham and Oliver Platt.

Neither of us loved it, but it was okay. They did one or two amazing dance scenes and really should have done more!! Afterwards, we went to get dinner at Rachels, a restaurant I've been to and liked. We both got salads that were good.

On Sunday, we woke up and went to church and then walked through the Upper East Side to go to lunch at Serendipity. Brooke had never been and wanted to and I hadn't been in ages and always think it is so good. We both had yummy sandwiches and then split the Peanut Butter Frrrozen Hot Chocolate. We spent the afternoon doing some shopping and taking a long walk through Central Park.

The weather this weekend was amazing...on Saturday it was in the upper 60's and I was hot playing outside with the kids. Sunday was a little cooler, but also nice! Today, it's back to cold, but not frigid. I'm ready for spring!!

Happy Texas Independence Day, Y'all!

Did you know March 2nd is Texas Independence Day? After all those years of living in Texas, I had no idea until this year. I bet my friend, Worley, has a holiday from work tomorrow since she seems to get off for every holiday I've never heard of before. Apparently there are big celebrations in NYC every year and this year was the 1st Annual Texas Independence Day Concert. It was a night of Texas country music - Robert Earl Keen, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Charlie Robinson, etc.... A lot of people I know were going, so I went too! It was one of those moments where NYC suddenly seems really small...like the times when I run into people I know on the street. I met a couple of girls from my Community Group there and also a group from my Book Club. There were also some people from the Baylor alum group there who I saw scattered about. It was a fun night!

Robyn from CG & I

Robyn, Sarah & ISarah's friend kept popping into our pics

Random boy who went to the bar and bought

a bunch of beer for his friends. They left left

before he came back with it. We thought this was hilarious so we had to

take a pic of us with all his extra beersLynn, Rosella, and I from book club...Christina

was there, too, but didn't get her pic!

Lynn w/ her husband Trent. His birthday is March

1st, so this was his NYC birthday celebration.

On Saturday, I also went to cook dinner again for the ladies at the Bowery Mission Women's Center. Such a neat place!! I met a great group of girls from church at the grocery store at 3:30 to buy all our ingredients and then we headed over to the home to cook in the awesome kitchen! We made Mexican food again....enchiladas, home made salsa, black bean dip, Fiesta Salad, and awesome brownies for dessert. For some reason, things were really chaotic this time -- nothing seemed to go right, but we got everything made and on the tables...just had to postpone their dinner 30 minutes! I got the chance to chat with a few ladies in the home - they are so interesting! Most of them are in the 1st phase where they are rarely allowed to leave the house, and never alone. One lady I talked to is at the phase where she is able to have a job. They are all so sweet and excited about what the future holds for them.

Last week I had a busy week again...too busy. I have kind of made a decision to keep my week nights a little more open in March, hopefully I can stick with it! Tuesday was Community Group and it was GREAT! I've really been praying for our group the past few weeks. I've been meeting with these girls for over two years and I think that they are so fun and love their commitment and consistency to the group. But, I've felt for a while now that something is missing. We just don't go as deep as I'd like to go...in our relationships with each other or encouraging our relationships with God. I've been wondering if I needed a change. But, the last 2 times I've gone, I've really enjoyed it and seen a different side of some of the girls - really opening up!! Our church is doing 40 days of Prayer during Lent. They are sending daily emails and we are all praying for the same things every day during the Lenten Season. I think prayer can be so powerful and am excited to see how it affects our church, its people, and our city. We are also focusing on prayer in our small groups during this time and it was really neat to see the girls in my group excited to pray together and we had a really good discussion about what prayer looks like to us and what it should look like. Last week, there were only 4 of us and it happened to be the 4 who are currently not dating anyone. We added a commitment to pray that each of us has one date during the 40 days - ha!

Wednesday night we had our Ash Wednesday service at church. There were a lot of people there, which was great! And it was good to remember what Lent should look like for us and begin to focus on recalibrating our hearts back to Jesus. I am very excited about this Lenton Season and am looking to put to death some things in my life that have taken to much control and re-awaken some areas in my relationship with Christ that I have let lay dormant for far too long.

On Thursday night, I took Rosella, Christina, and Lynn to a hockey game. Ros & Chris have been wanting to go for a while and I got an extra, so we got Lynn to join us. I forget how crazy hockey fans are. At the Knicks game the week before, no one really got excited and started making noise until the last few minutes of the game. At the hockey game, there is noise from the first minute on. They are really into it! It was a fun night. I haven't gone to many games myself this year, but have enjoyed sharing my perks with others. I have sent the guys on the staff at my church to a game, then the 2 girls on staff went with 2 other girls from church to another game - it was one of the girl's birthdays and she is a huge hockey fan! I also sent one of the girls who is on my S.S. teaching roster to a game with her boyfriend. And our ticket guy has gotten better about alerting me when our 4 Dallas tickets aren't being used, so it's been fun to let my friends down there go to games! I don't care that much about hockey, so I really enjoy letting other people go more than I enjoy going myself!

Friday night, I went to see the movie The Wrestler. I don't know why I thought I would like that movie. I really hated the wrestling scenes - it was so painful to watch!! Luckily, I was sitting next to a random guy who thought it was hilarious, so after a while his laughter spread to me and I got over being disgusted by it and found it kind of funny. I didn't really like that movie though.

Now all y'all make sure to where your cowboy boots tomorrow to celebrate Texas!!

Knicks, movies, RW

I got to go to my first Knicks game last week! I think I have now conquered my goal of seeing all the major sports teams in NYC...Mets, Yankees, Giants, Rangers, and now the Knicks! I love basketball, so it's strange that this was the last team I made it to. The game was so much fun! We bought the cheapest seats, but snuck down to empty seats after the 1st quarter. Partly, because moving down one section made us much closer to the court, but also because I was originally sitting next to the nastiest smelling man you can imagine. I could not stop gagging and even my friends who were sitting on the other side of me could smell him. It was disgusting and unbearable! So, we went downstairs, picked up some nachos and drinks, and walked in the better section like we knew where we were going...no one questioned anything. The Knicks were playing the Spurs and my friends, Christina and Rosella, are Texas girls who decided to cheer for the Spurs. I went with the Knicks! It was a close game and even went into overtime, but the Knicks pulled it off. We all commented that we want to go to another game soon! Adding to the excitement of the night, Eva Longoria and Whoopi Goldberg were there and we could see them!!

This is clearly not a flattering self-portrait of Christina

or I, but she was trying to get that stinky man next to me

Kind of blurry, but Eva Longoria is sitting 2 people to the

right of the basket...the one with her legs crossed

and angled to the side.Whoopi, sitting court-side, in the middle of this pic.

I also made it to a couple of more Restaurant Week (the never-ending "week") locales. Joy and I met for lunch one day....it's even cheaper at lunch! We went to 21 Club, which is a very old, elite restaurant in mid-town near where we work. It was so cute and fun. The food wasn't quite as good as I would have expected. On Thursday night, Lucy and I went to Le Cirque, which is one of the most well-known restaurants in the city. The atmosphere was great...but they had us sitting in the Wine Lounge, rather than the regular dining room. We were glad though, because we saw the dining room and it was huge and didn't have as much character. I was expecting a lot from the food here and was a little disappointed...not that it wasn't good, just not as great as I thought it would be.

The outside of 21 Club is lined with Jockey statues...it's really cute. The inside cieling and walls are completely covered in hanging antique toys and sports memorbilia...it's different, but it's out of control enough that it is cute.

On Saturday, I spent all day at the movies!!! Lucy and I did the AMC Best Picture Showcase. For $30, you get to see all 5 of the Academy Award nominated Best Pictures, plus unlimited popcorn all day long. That's a pretty good deal anywhere, but especially here in NYC where just 1 movie normally costs $12.50! I wasn't sure what it would be like to sit through so many movies in one day, but it was awesome, I'd totally do it again! It worked out perfect because we'd both already seen Bejamin Button and had no desire to sit through it again. It was the 3rd movie of the day and broke things up for us. It gave me 4 hours to go home and do other things and get a run at the Park in. We decided to see Slumdog Millionaire again since we both liked it so much the 1st time. The other 3 movies, The Reader, Milk, and Frost/Nixon were new to us. The only one I didn't really like was Frost/Nixon. I liked the others, but didn't love them as much as I loved Slumdog Millionaire. I wasn't sure The Academy would like it as much as I did, so I was very excited to see it win so many awards!!

Two weeks ago, I officially signed up for my Movies 101 class. I knew that the class includes 8 weeks of class, but that it could possibly also include some free movie screenings. Class doesn't start until March 12th, but I've already received 2 invitations to movie screenings - yea!! I couldn't go to the first one, but got to go to one on Sunday morning. I can even take friends, so Mindy went with me. We loved it! We got to see "American Affair", which is a movie that will begin opening in theatres near you next weekend. I liked the movie, which was a fictional, yet plausible take on the JFK assasination. Afterwards, my soon to be professor interviewed the director of the film. This was the director's first feature film...he's only 32! The interview was really interesting and it gave me a sneak-preview of what to expect in clase - I think I'm gonna love it!

I watched the Oscars at home alone this year. Our book club had discussed having a party and I had at one point volunteered my place, but then my week started looking so busy that I didn't want to worry about cleaning and cooking and everything. And, everyone else kind of felt the same way - so we all watched alone and re-capped via email today. Kind of sad, but true! I enjoyed DVRing it and starting late and skipping the commercials! I thought it was a good show and liked how they presented the awards this year...allowed us to see more celebrities on-stage.

I heart Jessica Simpson!

I got to see Jessica Simpson in concert last Thursday, opening for Rascal Flatts!! Rascal Flatts was good – they are clearly some very talented guys. All the guys in the band had an opportunity to showcase their talent during the show. I was most impressed by Jay DeMarcus, who played bass through most of the show, but at one point took the stage by himself and sang while playing keyboard….he has an amazingly beautiful voice! But, honestly, I loved watching Jessica Simpson. I’ve been a fan of Jessica’s since before it was cool to be her fan and I’ve remained her fan after it became not-so-cool anymore. I don’t love her music, but I like her and feel sorry for the way the media attacks her. She looked great!!! Who cares if she isn’t Daisy Duke thin….she is still very thin! She seemed really happy and so excited to be singing at Madison Square Garden again…definitely not taking the opportunity for granted. I love her – she put a smile on my face! And she was not lip syncing and she really does have a good voice. She did start cracking on the last song….don’t know if her voice was worn out or what, but she sounded great on all the other songs.

I've done several fun things in the past week. Last week was really busy!! Last Monday night I stayed busy doing laundry and making chocolate chip cookies. It had been YEARS since I made plain old chocolate chip cookies. I went online and found a recipe on AllRecipes.com that got good reviews and made it. The cookies turned out really flat, but they were really tasty! I took them to my community group on Tuesday night. This semester, we are not doing a study together, but instead are discussing the Sunday sermons. The rest of the groups in our church have been doing that for about a year now, but we wanted to read the bible through last year, so we did that on our own. One of our pastor's puts together a detailed guide about the sermon each week so that we have something to get the discussion going. We are going to take turns reading the guide and leading the group. Last Sunday's sermon was great, so I was exited to hear what the girls had to say about it. The sermon spoke to me loud and clear that I’ve been trying to hard to turn myself into the person I think Jesus wants me to be, rather than allowing Him to transform me into that person. I have felt defeated trying to "fix" myself and it was good to be reminded why…I can’t do it on my own! The best quote from my pastor that really made some things click for me was, "It’s not behavior modification, but character transformation." I know that my relationship with Jesus has really suffered over the past few years and I need to get back on track. I need to spend more time with Him in prayer and scripture. The more time I spend with Him, the more like Him I will become…character transformation! I want so much to be who He created me to be!

This week I also had book club. We met at Kittichai to discuss "Forget About It", a very light chick-book we opted to read after our last book that was SO hard to get through. The book was okay - kind of silly, but a quick read and somewhat entertaining. Kittichai was amazing!!! I chose it because I’ve wanted to go there for a while and we could do their Restaurant Week menu. The atmosphere is soooo cool and we were in this little booth that was so fun and fancy. My favorite part of the meal was my appetizer…tuna tartar. Not only was it absolutely delicious, it was adorable! It came in these cute little petal-shaped shells. Presentation was excellent! For my entrée, I had pineapple braised short ribs in a green curry that was great, too. I’ve discovered recently that I really love green curry. My dessert was a flourless chocolate cake that was also good. This is definitely a restaurant I want to go back to…even just for a glass of wine and tuna tartar!

Saturday night, I met up with Mindy to go see Revolutionary Road and then eat at Corner Bistro. I really liked the movie, even though it wasn't a very happy one. I felt sorry for people who were there on Valentine's Dates! Not exactly a Valentine's movie. Mindy has been wanting a good burger in NYC, so I introduced her to Corner Bistro, which is in West Village and consistently ranked one of the best burgers in the U.S. It was really good and we had a lot of fun catching up that night. Mindy moved here last summer and is nannying for a little girl while trying to get her foot in the door of the acting world. She is really nervous about her nanny job ending this summer and not having some acting gigs or another job lined up when that happens. I think she's made some really great progress making contacts, taking classes, going to auditions, etc.... I hope she makes it!! And I am really praying that she'll have the courage to take the risks to stay here because she really thinks this is where God wants her....and I want her here, too!!

I had today off for President's Day and have to wonder why we don't have 3-day weekends all the time - or at least more often!! It is so refreshing! I was so productive around home, got in a really good workout, and then saved some time for fun! I went to the IFC Center to see the 5 Oscar Nominated Live-Action-Short Films. When I lived in Dallas, I would always see almost all of the movies nominated for any category of Oscar. I haven't done so well since moving to NYC, but this year, I will have seen a lot of them by the time Sunday rolls around. I have never, ever seen any of the Shorts, though! So, this was a treat and so fun! I really liked them all, but I have a favorite...Toyland. I hope it wins! I kind of hope to go back this week to see the Animated Shorts, but I don't know if I will make it there.

I started reading Twilight this weekend. There's nothing better on a Saturday morning than walking over to Starbucks and sitting down with a black tea latte and a book. I've been skeptical of this book....I'm not really into vampires or any kind of fantasy, really. But, I have way too many friends who loved it, so I gave in. It's good so far. I just hope I can read it as quickly as others have so that I have time to get through my book club book for March, too!

I babysat at church yesterday and had the babies. Kate is 1 & 1/2 and Aubrey is probably about 9 months. There was another girl with me, Megan, and she kind of took Kate and I took Aubrey who was not feeling well or something. She cried for an hour straight! And wouldn't let me put her down. Finally she fell asleep in my arms and I put her in a pack-n-play. I was proud of myself for not letting all the crying get to me or exhaust me!! Oh, and I served communion for the first time ever. One of the pastors asked me right before the service started if I would do it...I was like "um, sure. But, I've never done it before"! He gave me a quick run-down...it really isn't hard! I really love how our church does communion every week and really cherishes the act of remembering Christ's death and what that means for us. Everyone walks up to take a piece of bread and dips it in either wine or juice. The person holding the bread says "His body was broken for you" to each and every person as they take their bread and then the person with the wine & juice says "His blood was poured out for you". Often times, when I am taking communion, if the person who is passing out the bread or juice knows me, they will also tack my name on to the end of the statement (i.e. "His body was broken for you, Susan"). I didn't try to do that for anyone yesterday as I wanted to just get the basics down first!! I had the bread and was kind of nervous about messing up what I was supposed to say, but it went fine and went by so fast! It is very cool and meaningful.

So, it's back to work tomorrow and another pretty busy week. I'll catch you up after the Oscars!

Since Montreal....

Here are some things that have been keeping me busy since returning from Montreal:

- 20 @ 20 with Mindy! The last two weeks of January were when you could get $20 tickets to Off-Broadway shows 20 minutes before they start. We went to see Mike Birbiglia’s "Sleepwalk with Me". I have seen him do stand-up twice since I moved to NYC and I think he is SO funny, yet not too raunchy or too silly like many comedians. Birbiglia has been on a LOT of TV shows lately promoting this…The View, Conan, etc…. so you may have seen him! It is produced by Nathan Lane, so I’m sure this whole experience has been huge for him. Anyway, I was under the impression that "Sleepwalk with Me" was a play, but it was really more like any stand-up act. I loved it though – SO funny!!

- Restaurant Week. Winter Restaurant Week was officially the last 2 weeks of January, but has been extended through February (thank you, recession…no sarcasm this time!). I was in Montreal for most of the "official" 2 weeks, but Lucy and I and her co-worker did make it to Vong for dinner one night. She picked it….her chef brother had recommended it. I read reviews and got a little worried, but it actually ended up being really good. We all got lamb for our entrée - it came in this delicious sauce and with a bunch of fresh veggies…it was amazing! Vong is owned by the same people who own Spice Market, which is amazing, and some other pretty prestigious restaurants here and in Chicago and beyond. Over the next 2 weeks, I have reservations to hit-up Kittichai and Le Cirque…2 restaurants I’ve been dying to go to the past couple of restaurant weeks!!

- Super Bowl Party! What a great game! I decided to cheer for the Cardinals since I’ve always been a fan of Kurt Warner. Although they lost, having a team to cheer for sure made it more fun to watch! I went to my friend Lynn’s apartment to watch the game. She is in my book club and she and her husband moved here around August from Houston. So, it was mainly girls from book club and then a guy Lynn’s husband works with. She lives on the Upper West Side and it was so nice to just be able to walk over from my apartment. She and her husband live in a great building…it felt so new and fresh! And apparently Lisa Kudrow hangs out there because she has a good friend who lives there. We had a lot of fun and great food, of course! Since we’re all from Texas, we went with a Tex-Mex theme and it was delicious! We had queso, guacamole, and fajitas. Tex-Mex is best in NYC when we make it ourselves! I brought Cake Bites for dessert and they were, once again, a huge hit. I took the leftovers to work the next day and people went nuts! I really need to start a business here – they are still such a novelty!

- Discipleship & the Corporate World Seminar. My pastor put on a great seminar about bringing Christ into your workplace. He rounded up some Christian speakers from across the US who hold high positions at some very well-known companies. It was a great seminar! I helped out, so it was a full-day affair for me, but I enjoyed it very much!

- Joy’s birthday party. Danise hosted a birthday party for Joy and we all brought appetizers and Danise made a cake. It was fun and I got to catch-up with a few people I hadn’t seen in ages.

- Church dinner. Occasionally, my church will invite everyone who attends the evening service to go out to dinner afterwards. We go to this pub around the corner called “Shades of Green”. It’s convenient to church, the waitress is really nice, and it has a great back room we can take over. I went with the group this past Sunday and it was fun. I had yummy soup and salad. There were a ton of people there I had never seen before. It’s weird, but this is the service I used to feel like I knew most people at, but lately I’ve been going in the morning more and more and I definitely seem to know way more people there now!

-FRAUD. Things got exciting at work when we encountered some fraud. This has been the 3rd time I've seen fraud occur at companies I've worked at and I love it!! I really need to be a detective or FBI agent or something. We don't think this is an inside job, but someone who did have access to one of our checks, as they printed who knows how many checks with our information on it. Because of a previous incident, we have protection on our accounts, so the money would never actually come out without our permission. It was still exciting. We have received many phone calls from check cashing places or banks that had a person there trying to cash a check from us that looked suspect. These places called us to verify the authenticity of the checks and gave us information about the person trying to cash the check....some of them faxed us copies of the checks and even the persons ID. I was all over google and actually found pictures and detailed information about some of them - my co-workers were all huddled around my computer laughing at me. It was fun! We have since found out that it is some "Mystery Shopper" scam. The people cashing the checks were really the victims, not the criminals.

NHL All-Star Festivities

Like 2008, the NHL festivities over the All-Star weekend were pretty extraordinary. I love that I get to see this stuff. There were not big events on Thursday/Friday like the concerts we had last year. Instead, starting on Thursday and through the weekend, they had the "Jamboree". This was a tent set-up outside the Hockey Arena and had all kinds of interactive hockey games and activities. I went over one night and didn't think it was that great, but for anyone who is a big hockey fan, I’m sure it was a blast.

The street near the Jamboree was lined

with all the jerseys in blocks of ice

When I first saw this, I was afraid someone had made

a horrible mistake. Then, I realized LNH is NHL in French.

Gift Bag!! In addition to the new wardrobe, I also got a gift bag. We got a leather bag filled with all kinds of random stuff. Another hat, hockey cards, a puzzle, a toy motorcycle, a thermos, a key-chain, a set of playing cards, and a DVD.

Saturday night was the Super-Skills game. I like this competition better than the actual All-Star game. People compare it to the NBA Slam Dunk contest. It is basically an opportunity for the players to show off. It is so relaxed and fun! The players even had their kids on the bench with them – so cute!

In this game, each player has so many chances

to knock out all the McDonald's targets.

Mike Modano was so cute

talking to the other player's kids.

After Super-Skills was the big party of the weekend. I’ve been told that there were around 3,000 people there. It was held at a Movie Studio in Montreal where a TON of films have been made. It had the feel of an enormous warehouse, but was very well decorated. There were 3 rooms we had access to, each with a very different look and feel and each with a theme from a movie that was filmed there. The hallway that connected the 3 rooms was lined with posters from movies filmed there and on the floor were gold stars (like the Hollywood stars) with the All-Star players names on them. The first room we entered was themed after The Aviator. There was a HUGE airplane in the middle of the room that was from the movie set. There was live jazz music in there the entire night. The waitresses in that room were dressed to fit the era, some were walking around with cute little trays of candy. There was a shoe-shining station in this room and one lady I know got her shoes shined and said it was the best one she’d ever had because it was an awesome foot massage, too! This is the room that Schwartz’ Deli catered with their smoked meat sandwiches. There were also mini cupcakes that were quite yummy!

Schwartz' smoked meat sandwiches

The 2nd room was enormous and actually had 3 movie themes in it….The Mummy, Day After Tomorrow, and a third I can’t remember. This was the party room! It was LOUD, tons of people, tons of food tables, tons of alcohol bars, etc…. The Day After Tomorrow area was the coolest. All the waitresses were dressed in white mini-skirts and white tanks and wore white wigs. The bar was an ice bar – it was a huge, very long and tall bar made entirely from ice. There was a cover band in this room that sang any and everything – they were very good and fun all night long. I can’t remember what all we ate in this room…mostly little, fancy appetizers and these mini lemon tarts that were amazing. I definitely got my fill of red wine as well.

It's hard to tell in this picture, but there was a "wall" of
streaming water in the middle of the room. You could
stand on one side of and see the band through it.

The 3rd room was themed after Green Room. I have no idea what that movie is, but for our party, this room was set-up as if it was a dressing room on a movie set. They had people getting their hair and make-up done…you could even get your hair CUT! How crazy is that? They also had fun “bling” you could take and wear around the party. Even costumes you could try on! It was pretty interesting.

My new "fancy" ring

Last year, they had all the hockey players and other VIPs sectioned off, but they didn’t have that this year, so I saw lots of players walking around, although I couldn’t name any of them! It was a very fun night!

On Sunday, there was a pre-game celebration. I was only able to go for the tail-end of it as I was working in the Transportation Office during most of the party. I went over as soon as I could to check it out. It wasn’t super impressive. It was held in a very large banquet hall type room of the nearby train station. I’m sure it is a nice room, but it was very, very crowded. You could hardly move! There was also a big white tent located just off this room where a band had played, but it was very cold in there so people didn’t really stay in there for long. There was lots of food and drinks in the large room and in the tent. I didn’t eat much, but was very excited to try Poutine…a Quebec specialty. It is basically French fries topped with cheese curds and gravy. Sounds disgusting, right? It was actually very good! The cheese curds sort of scared me, but it actually tasted like good, quality cheese.

After the celebration, we were off to the All-Star game. I get bored during the game, so I only stayed until the start of the 3rd period….I didn’t want to miss the entertainment between the periods, but I could care less about the game! I just don’t know if I should cheer for the East or the West and when I don’t have someone to cheer for, I don’t care! I did get a hot dog at the game because this arena, Bell Centre, is known for their hot dogs. They are smaller and come on these really skinny, flat buns. It was pretty good!

They broke one of the panes of glass during

warm-up. It was pretty cool to see them remove

the braces and see the glass come shattering down.

Before the game started, there was a Cirque show that was pretty good. After the 1st period, a famous French pop star performed and then after the 2nd period, Simple Plan performed. It was all good and fun! I left as soon as the 3rd period started…I had a little bit more of Montreal to explore!

Cirque!

This violinst was pretty impressive as
she played while tumbling about in the air.
Simple Plan

All in all, it was a great week working and playing and staying in a hotel! I hope I get to go back next time, but it’s not for 2 years because next year our players will be going to the Olympics!! I REALLY wish I could go to the Olympics. Doesn’t sound like we’re really needed there, though, but if I find any way to get there, I’ll do whatever it takes! In 2 years, the All-Star game will be in Phoenix….a warm place like that would be a huge welcome in January!!

Exploring Montreal

My work schedule in Montreal afforded me plenty of opportunities to get out and explore the city. It was freezing cold there - literally - with temps as low as 0 degrees (negative 14, with the wind chill). But, to me, it was worth bearing the cold to get out and see stuff. I really liked Montreal or else I probably wouldn't have gotten out as much as I did. Pretty much everyone working the events had longer and different hours than I did...my job there is very cushy! So, that left me to explore the city on my own. I don't mind exploring on my own - I'd rather get out and see things alone than sit in a hotel room alone!

I was honestly shocked at how French Montreal was. Of course, I knew Montreal was full of French speaking people - I work with them! But, I guess I just expected it to be partly French/partly English. It was SO French!! Everyone would first speak in French to me and I would have to say I didn't speak it. They all knew English, but it is definitely not their 1st language. Some speak very good English, even with no accent, others struggle to know all the words - just depends on who you're talking to! Everything was in French!

Here is what I did when I got out to explore:

- Explored The Underground. Montreal has the 2nd largest underground city in the world! It was built for people to escape the cold winters. It is very nice - clean, bright, lots of good stores and restaurants. You can get to many buildings downtown and even entire malls without ever setting foot outside. Our hotel was located just above The Underground.

- Shopping & eating in the Latin Quarter. This was my favorite neighborhood that I found in Montreal and I ended up going there 3 separate times! It was very quick and easy to get there on the Metro, which had a stop just under our hotel. There were 2 streets I spent most my time on. 1) St. Denis which was a little more sophisticated and 2) St. Laurent, which was a little more funky. I loved the shops on St. Denis. Here are a few pics on St. Denis...it was a long street and each section had a unique look!


- Lunch at Schwartz' Hebrew Deli. Schwartz' is a very famous restaurant known for their smoked meat sandwiches. It was delicious. I ordered it like most people - with fries and a Black Cherry Soda. The sandwich was good, but the Black Cherry Soda might have been the best I've ever had. It turned out they had Schwartz' bring in sandwiches for one of the weekend parties - if I had known that, I wouldn't have gone there for lunch, but then I would've missed out on the awesome soda!

I was at Schwartz' on the coldest day of the week, yet

there were still people waiting outside to get in!

- Drinking chocolate at Juliette & Chocolat. I had never had this kind of hot chocolate (although, there are at least 2 places in NYC that serve it that I've wanted to go to over the last 2 winters, but haven't made it...maybe this is the year)! It was thick and dark and oh, so freakin' good! I loved it. However, within about 20 minutes, I had a sugar-crash harder than I've ever had before. I became so tired so quickly and generally didn't feel so great. Luckily it didn't last long, but, wow, that cannot be good for you.
- Chez Jose Bakery! When in France (or in a French speaking place), you have to get a pastry! I picked up a delicious tart from this quaint bakery in the Latin Quarter.
- Shopping at Jean-Talon Market. I had read good reviews about this market, so I went to check it out. It was evening when I went, so it was pretty dead. I was able to pick up baguette, prosciutto, olives, cheese, and some oranges to take back to the hotel for a yummy dinner.

Dinner from Jean-Talon and dessert from Chez Jose!

- Walking through Vieux Montreal (Old Montreal). I expected this area to have more shops and restaurants than it did. It was very quiet in this neighborhood, probably partly due to the fact that it was extremely cold the day I was there. It is a neat area with a more European look & feel. Really small, windy streets. I had wanted to go to a cafe there, but it was closed, so I really didn't do much there.
- While in Old Montreal, I stopped by the Notre Dame cathedral, which looks like a small replica of the Paris one. I debated going inside - not sure it could be worth the $5 entry fee. I ended up going for it and was so glad I did. It was absolutely beautiful inside! Pictures cannot capture it. But, the painting all over the walls/ceiling, the stained glass windows, and sculptures were simply amazing.

The outside, made to resemble the real deal in Paris.

The organ at the back of the church was gorgeous.

This was the chapel -- totally different look than the main sanctuary.

- Went to see Mont Royal. Mont Royal is a "mountain" in the center of Montreal, but to me it's really more of a really, really big hill than a mountain. There is a park on the mountain that was designed by the same man who designed Central Park in NYC. It was hard to get a real feel for what the park is like with all the snow and ice, but I'm sure it's probably really awesome in warmer months. I really wanted to hike to the Chalet that is at the top of the mountain, but the day I went was the coldest day we had and I was a little afraid that I would not make it up and back down! So, I just walked a little ways up and got a little view of the city and the river. I'm sure the views at the top were amazing!

This was the snowy trail that would lead me to the top!

View of downtown from inside the park

I thought this little, red buried fire hydrant was so cute!

- One thing I love to do when exploring a new city is to walk down residential areas. It gives me a better feel for the city than going to the touristy areas. There were some great residential streets near the Latin Quarter that were so cute. Montreal is known for having exterior staircases on multi-family homes. When I saw a picture of them before seeing them in person, I thought they would be ugly. They are actually quite cute in person!

- Tea! I went to a quaint little tea room that didn't end up being at all like I expected! I had read good reviews about it and expected it to be like an English tea room, with yummy teas and cakes and such. The entire menu was in French! So, I did my best to pick out a tea, but finding ones that had words that I thought translated to "floral" and "mint". The food didn't look great, so I just got the tea. It was good and nice to sit in such a cozy, quiet place, but I've definitely had way better tea.

I really liked Montreal and think I'd like to go back sometime in the spring or summer!