Memorial Day Vacay

I spent a long weekend at home for Memorial Day and it was great!! My main goals were to spend time with Ryder & Beau and spend time outside at the pool. I was really, really bad about pulling out my camera this trip, so this will be a pretty boring post - sorry. Here's what I did while in Dallas:

- I spent Friday through Sunday nights at my sister's house. My parents were in Columbia, MO for the wedding of one of our old neighbors...a girl I started babysitting when she was a baby and I was 10-years-old. I moved over to my parent's house on Monday after they returned back to Dallas.

- Lots of pool time. The pool at my sister's house is great - I want one in my backyard (oh yeah, a backyard would be nice too). I spent time at the pool every day except Wednesday because I kind of over did it on Tuesday. The boys were out there with me much of the time - they can spend hours upon hours in the pool. They are such the little swimmers these days! It's a little scary with Beau because he seems to think he can swim, but he doesn't move at all and if you turn your back, you might find him face down in the pool just hanging out. That one has no fear. Ryder, however, doesn't stray too far from the edge, but he could - he can totally swim across the pool with a little coaxing and trickery. On Tuesday, my mom and I both went over there and she also had a blast playing with Ryder in the pool - Beau was napping. That's the day I stayed out too long and ended up burnt...it was only slightly painful and has faded into a tan now, just what I wanted!

- My sister lives close to some good shops, so I walked over there on Saturday afternoon after I'd gotten enough sun and Beth was out getting her hair cut. When I lived in Dallas, I also lived very close (probably closer) to these same shops, but I NEVER walked there - maybe once I did. Now that I walk everywhere I go, it seems funny that I used to drive to stores that were probably two tenths of a mile away from home.

- I babysat the boys on Saturday night so that Beth & Brian could go out. I took them to Chick-fil-a (or Chick-Oh-Lay, as they call it) for dinner and to play on the indoor equipment.

- I was bad and skipped church on Sunday, but enjoyed the quiet house while everyone else went. I woke up slowly, ate a good breakfast, and did my own quiet time and some other reading.

- I met friends for dinner on Sunday night. I decided to make things easy this time and invite all my Dallas friends to meet for dinner at once, rather than plan any one-on-one time or smaller group outings. I just didn't want to try to juggle too many things this trip and have more time to just relax and hang out with family. Nine of my friends ended up coming to dinner, so it was a great turn-out! I was joined by Kelli, Jennifer, Deanna, Worley, Brooke, Michelle, Andi, Tamara, and Elizabeth. I got reservations at Rise No. 1 and was SO excited because I've called them the last 2 times I've been home and hadn't been able to get a table. It's a souffle restaurant that my sister has been raving about. It was really cute inside-very French and the food was really good. I started with a Tomato soup that had mini goat cheese souffles floating in it. Then I had a tomato/pesto souffle for my entree that was really good. For dessert, Kelli & I split the chocolate souffle - it wasn't as good as I'd hoped it would be - not very sweet, but it was okay. I was so glad to see everyone and missed the few who couldn't make it.

- On Monday morning, I took the boys out to Bounce U to play. This is the store that my friends, Jennifer & Todd, opened back in January. It's one of those places filled with bounce houses and other bouncey games. The boys had a great time as evidenced by Ryder's exclamation as we walked to the car, "I am SO tired and I am SO hungry"! We picked up chick-fil-a on the way home, of course! Bounce U was the only place I took pictures all weekend long!

I didn't have socks so I couldn't play, but Todd was a sport and helped Beau through the more difficult obstacle course. Beau was a little frightened of the slide, so Todd helped him down!

Ryder can do the slide all by himself!
Ryder also knew exactly what to do in the boxing ring.
He looked SO funny in the huge gloves.Beau quickly followed suit

And the match began!
Ryder playing t-ball

- Monday night, my parents drove straight to Beth's from Missouri and my uncle and his girlfriend came over as well. We had a BBQ w/ burgers, potato salad, apple pie, etc.... It was fun and good to see my uncle since he is moving to Colorado soon and seeing each other will become harder.

- After the BBQ, I went over to Michelle's house and got to watch The Bachelorette w/ the girls I used to watch with before moving! We still chat about it each week, but actually getting to watch with them was a real treat for me! I had planned to ban this season because I didn't like the outcome last season, but when I found out I could watch a show with Michelle, Andi, Worley, and Brooke, I decided I had to at least watch the first 2 weeks. Of course, now I'm probably hooked and won't be able to stop!

- Shopping! Something about shopping in Dallas is more fun. I think it's because I have people to go with me and have a car to lug my goods home in. I'd rather fly with my new stuff in a suitcase then drag it up and down the subway stairs! My sister and her whole family and I got up on Saturday morning and rushed to be at Old Navy at 9am for their annual flip flop sale ($1 each). Once we got there, we decided we didn't want them and left empty handed. On Sunday, my sister and I hit up The Gap so I could try on a bajillion pairs of jeans - I wanted to find 2 new pairs, but only found 1. My mom and I conquered a bunch of stores on Tuesday and Wednesday. I got some good stuff at Nordstrom rack - new dress, new towels, cute pair of flats, and earrings!

- On Tuesday night, mom made dinner for my dad and I. She whipped up a delicious chicken dish in about 30 minutes - I wrote the recipe down and hope to use it for myself! After dinner, mom and I rushed to the $1 theatre to see Taken. We got lucky because it was fifty-cent night - what a bargain! And we snuck in our own bag of microwave popcorn. Super cheap movie night! We loved the movie, which was totally our type - full of suspense.

- Last lunch. Before my flight on Wednesday, mom and I met Beth and the boys at Two Sisters for lunch. I was familiar with Two Sisters as a catering company, but didn't know they had opened up a little lunch spot. They had tons of different salads and sandwiches and good little desserts. It's a tiny little place and they were very busy that day, so it was a little chaotic, especially with the boys, but we had a good time and enjoyed the food!

My mission for the trip was accomplished. I came back to NYC with a tan and mosquito bites - this city girl couldn't ask for anything more!

Case in Point

This is a follow-up to my blog, here. As I stood in line to buy my train ticket to the airport last Friday, I noticed that there were 8 people in front of me. Six were women and 4 of the 6 had the Le Pliage bag by Longchamp. Four different colors & four different sizes, but the same bag. I'm telling you, they are everywhere!

I've been wanting a small tote that I can use to carry a book, bottle of water, extra pair of shoes, my sack lunch, etc.... I've been using my purse for all these things and I think that my purses wear out faster and my purses are always painfully heavy! The Le Pliage bag seems perfect for this, but I just can't bear to buy one. Instead, my mom and I went to the Wisteria warehouse while I was home and I picked up one of their small totes for $3! It's perfect and I love it! I've had one of their larger bags since Christmas and it is great for when you need a larger carry-on or it makes a perfect overnight bag. Perfect and cheap alternative to the Le Pliage.

Movies 101 : Summer Hours

I completely forgot to blog about my last Movies 101 class, which was now 2 weeks ago! Our last night of class was a little bit different in that it started with the guest interviews. Do you remember at the beginning of class, I got to see a screening of “The Great Buck Howard” with Colin Hanks (he is still my most favorite interview of the class – love him)! Well, that movie is based on the life of a magician named Kreskin. So, my teacher reached out to Kreskin and over the course of our class they became friends and Kreskin came to our class. He is a very old, funny man. He was hilarious just to watch – he has a huge smile on his face at all times. After the interview, he did 2 magic tricks for us. The second one was pretty impressive, but I later figured out how I think he did it. People really think he has a 6th sense, but I really don’t believe it.

Then, we got to have a 2nd interview! A blog-writer for Hollywood.com (I think) came to discuss the movies we’d seen and how they’d done in the theatre compared to other movies that came out during the same time period. It was interesting, but by this point it was getting really late and we still had a movie to watch!

Our final movie was another French film called Summer Hours, starring Juliette Binoche. I really liked this movie – didn’t love it, but liked it. It was about a woman who lives in a beautiful house in the French countryside who passes away. The woman’s uncle was an artist and the house was full of valuable pieces of his and other artists as well. So, her 3 children are left to deal with deciding what to do with everything in the house. I think my favorite part was just the house – I’d love a house in the French countryside.

Overall, I am glad I took the class – it was something I’d wanted to do for a couple of years and I am happy to have had the experience. I don’t know that I’ll take it again anytime soon because it isn’t cheap (although, he is offering recession specials this summer)! I do want to take it in the fall sometime though. This past fall they got almost all the big Oscar-nominated movies and had guests like Kate Winslet and Clint Eastwood. That seems like the time to take the class! Maybe some year!

Making It Big

I just know that I know (or will know) someone during my time in NYC who will make it big in the entertainment industry. There are just so many people here trying to make it in film, theatre, TV, dance, music, etc... I don't know who it will be, but I really think I'll know someone who actually makes it. Maybe it will be little Sydney, the girl in my Sunday School class with an amazing voice who always entertains us with her acting. Or maybe it will be Kira or Chris who both had stand-in parts in Duplicity. Perhaps it will be Tom who leads worship at my church and on the side plays shows of his own secular music at night - his first album comes out this summer. It might be Evie who is currently starring in the tour of Hairspray the musical. But, I hope it's my friend Mindy!

She has become one of my favorites this year. She moved up a year ago after going back to school and graduating with a Master's in Theatre from Oklahoma City University. OCU is known for its theatre department (especially musical theatre, but Mindy doesn't sing). Its most famous graduate is probably Kristin Chenoweth. Upon graduation, Mindy was offered a nanny position in NYC. It was a job she never really wanted, but one that would allow her to live in the city with the most opportunities for her dream job. She used the year to make contacts, audition, take acting classes from the best, etc.... whenever she had time away from the family. She has now left for the summer to work at the Fine Arts camp the family owns in Massachusetts. She'll be back in the fall when she will be a free woman with more time to focus on making her dream a reality. One thing she did this year was take voice-over lessons. She had about 5 lessons and then made a demo to send to agents. She sent me the demo and I just love it! Check it out here!

I Can't Believe I Just Said That

Walking into a store today, there was a man standing in between lines and I was trying to figure out if he was in a line or not. He spoke up, "I'm not on line." To which I repeated, "You're not on line"? I wanted to bite my tongue off. Did you catch it? I said ON line, not IN line. That's how they say it up here and I will never, ever get used to it. You'll be in line at the post office and hear the lady behind the counter yell out "Next ON line" or someone will say "We had to wait ON line for 30 minutes to get tickets". I can't believe those words came out of my mouth. I know, I was mindlessly repeating what the man had said, but no excuses! I will not conform to using this phrase!

On a side note, I really can't stand the Northeast accents. If I hear the VP of my group say what sounds like "sore" for the word "saw" one more time, I might punch him. I really hope my slight accent w/ a little bit of mid-west and little bit of Texas (depending who you ask) stays like it was when I got here.

Catch Up!

Over the past several weeks, I've had time to just do short entries and the few long ones I did from my mom's visit. In the meantime, I've missed updating on other things that have been going on. So, this is a bit of a catch-up post! Here's where I've been:

-- Work, work, work! Things at work have been insane and all I keep thinking is "I did NOT sign up for this"! It's our budget season, which is normally a little busy, but this has been crazy. There have been some midnight and 1am work nights and then it all came to head this past weekend when I worked until 10pm on Friday night, went back at 3pm on Saturday and stayed until 3am (who is at work at 3AM on a Sunday morning....ridiculous). Then back again on Sunday from 3-7 and back Monday morning at 7AM (WAY early for me). I thought it would basically be over Monday when there was a big meeting, but there were more changes to be made and this week was still a little crazy- although the latest I stayed was 8:30pm. I don't deal well with these kind of hours, so this better not continue!

-- Tonya & Sean came into town for work and I got to meet up with them for dinner. It was raining, so we wanted to stay close to my office/their hotel. There aren't many good options in mid-town, but I did remember that I'd heard about a restaurant called Aspen was supposed to be pretty good. We decided to check it out. It's in a hotel, but it has a really cool atmosphere and we enjoyed the food...small plates that we shared. We got a little thing of chocolate fondue for dessert - yum! It was fun to catch-up with Tonya and Sean for a few hours!

-- Kids Club Carnival! I've been trying to serve at Kids Club at the Chelsea Projects once or twice a month. This past Saturday was the annual carnival with the kids. So fun!

The kids won tickets at the games and then got to get prizes with their tickets. There were some great toys & games! And it was all completely free for the kids - so awesome.

I helped out with what was definitely the most dangerous game at the carnival. You probably can't tell in the picture below, but this little girl is holding cardboard with push-pins sticking out of it. Grab that sucker the wrong way and ouch!! We had a board with balloons stuck on it (also with push-pins) and the kids would hurl this little disk at it in an attempt to pop a balloon. I'm not sure who thought this was a good idea. Kids would pick up the disk the wrong way, the balloons would come flying off the board along with a push-pin that would go sailing through the air, the disk would go no where near the direction of the balloons and towards crowds of people, etc.... I don't know how we survived without any casualties...especially me since I was in charge of replacing the popped balloons and it's hard to get a kid to stand still and wait their turn...the disk was thrown my way more than once.

This is Sassary. Sassy, Sassary. I know you're not

supposed to pick favorites, but I just can't help it!

Dean manning the Lemonade & Popcorn stand

Face Painting Booth
There was a Christian singing group there doing fun kids songs

-- Tribeca Film Festival! I went to see one of the Tribeca Talks forums and it was the one with Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding). It was at the Apple Store in SoHo and I think they actually do this kind of stuff all year long and have some pretty big actors come in, so I need to stay on top of their calendar - it's FREE! She was talking about her new movie that is coming out in June. It was so much fun! The next day, I went with Mindy to a screening. The number of films at this thing is overwhelming and it's very difficult to know how to choose what to see and then getting tickets can be tricky as well. We ended up seeing a French film that was made to look like a documentary, but wasn't. It was about actresses trying to make it and some of the best actresses in France played the main characters. It was kind of a strange movie, but we enjoyed it. The writer/director/star of the film was there for a Q&A afterwards which was probably the most interesting part.

-- Max Brenner's! Mindy and I had lunch at Max Brenner's (The Bald Chocolate Man) after seeing our Tribeca movie. I had a veggie burger and it was so delicious! I need to go there more often. After lunch, we went back to the theatre with the intentions of seeing another movie, but decided the lines were too long and we couldn't decide what we wanted to see, so we went to the other Max Brenner's for dessert! We split a souffle that was amazing!

-- Walking, walking, walking! At work, we're doing a 10,000 steps a day challenge. I love it! To kick things off, a physical trainer from Equinox came and took us for a 1.5 mile walk. It was a fun outing! We're doing it again on Monday. I've also enjoyed wearing the pedometer...it motivates me to walk more. I've been trying to walk a mile at lunch and then walk home in the evenings which is about 2.5 miles and also trying to do little things like walking the platform while waiting for the subway. My walk home takes me either through Central Park or along Central Park West (which is lined with beautiful high-rise apartment/condo buildings that have views of the Park). When Brooke was here, she asked if the Park gets flowers during the Spring/Summer! Yes, and it's gorgeous!

The trees with blossoms are my favorite!

And a couple more...

I am a little embarrassed to admit I recognized these two guys from the Real World:Brooklyn walking home last night. I don’t even really watch that show and still knew who they were! Couldn’t have named them, but definitely knew they were the RW boys.

Scott

Chet

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