Random Happenings

This post is just a hodge-podge of stuff I've done over the past couple of months, but never got around to blogging about.  I'm trying to catch-up here, folks and have a lot of pictures to get out here on the WWW.

Etsy craft night.  Mindy and I grabbed dinner at Five Guys (Burgers & Fries!) and then went over to Southstreet Seaport for an evening of nautical crafting.  We did an embroidery project and Etsy provided all the supplies.  I had no idea, but embroidery takes forever!!  I didn't get very far that night and swore I would finish it at home, but I still have not picked it back up.  Maybe on some cold winter night I will get back to it.

They even gave us a gift bag (and we didn't pay a penny

for ANYthing).  So nice!  Yarn, fabrics, thread, buttons!

I hope to do more Etsy craft nights.  We had fun

crafting away and really enjoyed chatting with the

other 3 ladies sitting at our table.

Lucy's & Jessica had a rooftop party.  I met

Stacy, Mindy, and Hillery for dinner at Dogmatic

beforehand for some yummy sausages.

Party, complete with DJ

Stacy and I

Sorry for the blur!  Hillery, Angela, me and Amanda!

I met Rosella and Kianti for lunch at the Boat Basin one lovely Saturday.  Thankfully, the weather stayed lovely the whole time we were there...unlike last time when I went with Jessica and a random and sudden storm blew in!

Subway tour w/ Robyn.  Robyn moved away :(  After 10-years in NYC, she still had things to mark off her list of to-do's!  She really wanted to take a tour of the oldest subway tunnel in the WORLD, so I joined in.  It's located in Brooklyn and hasn't been used for many years now.  To get to it, you have to climb down a man-hole in the middle of a very busy street.  That was probably the most exciting part!!

Down goes Robyn!



Down goes Susan!

We had to make our way through

this little narrow section

Then crawl through this little hole

Then down a bunch of stairs

And finally into the main part of the tunnel,

along with a ton of other people

Self-portraits are bad.

On our way back out!



I had my old Community Group over for brunch one last time.  I made goat cheese scrambled eggs, butter horns, a spinach/strawberry salad, and a fruit salad.  Yumm-o!

Hillery, Erin W., Robyn, Kim, myself, Jen!

Mallorie and Erin G. couldn't make it :(

We'll stop there for now, but there's still lots more to come!  Stay tuned, friends!

It's a Small World. Full of Famous People.

Sometimes I just can't get over how small this world really is.  Or at least how small NYC is.  Okay, I know. NYC is HUGE.  But I think the fact that there are so many people here makes it small.  It's like, how can you not know people here when there are SO many of them.  Surely all of you know someone here (besides me).  Anyway, that brings me to my latest "small world" happening.  I started Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) for this year (I'm talking in school-years here).  More on BSF later.  Last week was my first week and I went to meet my small group and I sat down and looked up at the person sitting across from me and what do you know?  It's Mary Carmen, my sister's next-door-neighbor from freshman dorm in 1991!  Woah!  I remember the first time I met Mary Carmen when I was all of 15-years-old and my friend, Jessica, and I got to stay a night in the Baylor dorm.  Beth and some friends took us for dinner at El Chico and Mary Carmen came along.  She is the only friend of Beth's that I can remember being there at dinner.  I remember her because she was very eccentric and Jessica thought she was the coolest ever.  The last time I saw Mary Carmen was in 2003 at my sister's wedding.  I had heard she was living here and vice-versa, but it has been great to reconnect.

Okay, so the world is small.  It's also full of famous people!  Or at least people who know famous people.  Or people who are going to be famous!  I am none of those, but I like meeting anyone who falls into any of those categories.  Last night, my friend Katie and I went to see our friend Hillary do a Cabaret Showcase.  It was so much fun and Hillary was excellent (maybe she'll be famous)!  We're all in a new community group together (Oh, yeah...I quit my community group of 4 years and have a new one.  More on that later, too).  Hillary had invited a couple of other girls she knows from church who Katie and I met for the first time.  One of them is a lovely girl named Sarah Jane.  My conversation with Sarah Jane went something like this:

Me:  So what do you do here?
SJ:  I'm an actress.
(This is a very typical answer here.  Most of the time it means they WANT to be an actress, but haven't really found work yet.  Doesn't mean they aren't talented.  Just means there is a LOT of talent here).
Me:  Oh, do you like to do plays or musicals?
SJ: I've mostly done musicals.
Me:  Are you working on anything now?
SJ:  Yeah.  Promises?
Me:  You mean, like, "Promises, Promises" on Broadway?
SJ:  Uh, huh.
Me:  That's great!  What role are you?
SJ:  Oh, I'm just in the ensemble. 
Then, under her breath,
SJ:  And I fill in for the lead when she's not there.
Me:  You mean Kristin??  (as in Chenoweth, folks).
SJ:  Yes! 
Me: Wow!  That amazing!  So great.  Congratulations!  So, what else have you done?

And, it turns out this gal is legit.  But, very, very humble.  Not only is she filling in for Kristin Chenoweth now, she was also her Understudy for Wicked.  Oh, and also for The Apple Tree.  Yes, that's right, she's basically been Kristin's body double for the last 7 years.  Well, not that whole time.  There was the period where she was the Understudy for Sutton Foster in Shrek.  Simply, amazing.  It was so fun to hear her talk about what it is like to work with Sean Hayes and Kristin.  Sean?  Humble, very nice.  Kristin?  Self-absorbed.  But, sweet.  But, self-absorbed.  Oh, but so sweet.  But, so self-absorbed.  She said Kristin is a completely different person today from when she worked with her 4-years ago.  I asked if the fame had gone to her head.  And she said it wasn't that so much as you can tell she has been treated differently and she has gotten used to being treated that way.  Very interesting to hear these kinds of things first-hand.

Oh, and back to the small-world thing.  When I found out SJ went to school at CCM in Cincinnati, I quickly did the math in my head and realized she just might have been there at the same time as a guy I knew in high school.  Yep, turns out Sarah Jane was roommates with his little sister.

It's a small, small world!

Governor's Island & EATALY

A few Saturdays ago (September 11th to be exact), Stacy and I decided to take full advantage of the gorgeous day. We headed downtown to catch the free ferry to Governor's Island. I had only been over to GI for the Polo match in June and it was crazy crowded and hot that day so we didn't really see much of the island. I was excited to really explore it! Governor's Island is an old Army Post and has a lot interesting buildings, many that the public are free to explore.

We took a ferry like this one

Once we got to the Island, we rented bikes and

spent about 2 hours biking around the island.

There was a trapeze school on the island

so we watched for a while - cool!

We found 2 churches on the island

We were allowed to go inside one-

it was pretty bare inside

This is the wall surrounding the barracks.

That's a moat you're looking at!

There were all kinds of interested buildings

This was a really pretty house - inside and out

There were many yellow houses similar to this one

Always love some archways

We saw no less than 4 cruise ships that day

Flag at half-mast for 9/11

Great view of Manhattan and a cool sailboat

Me and lady liberty

After an afternoon of sunshine and biking, we were hungry! We decided to hit up Eataly...it's what everyone is talking about these days!

Eataly just opened a couple of weeks ago and is a new food market/eating venue backed by Mario Battali. I was a little nervous about going as I'd heard the crowds were almost unbearable, but we decided to go for it anyway. It was really cool. There are all kinds of food stands...gelato, Italian desserts, panini's, cheese & wine, etc.... There are also a few sit-down restaurants - a steak house, a seafood restaurant, and one that has pizza and pasta. We put our name on the list for the pizza/pasta restaurant while we explored the rest of the space. In addition to all the foods you can eat right there, you can basically do your grocery shopping there, too! There is also a cookbook section and a kitchen supplies area. It's a pretty cool place! I'd love to go back sometime and pick up all the fixin's to cook a great Italian meal at home.

Fresh pasta

Fresh ravioli

Produce

Stacy and I split a pizza (fabulous) and pasta (also very good) for dinner. Afterwards, I got some gelato and she got tiramisu and we took it across the street to Madison Square Park where they were airing the US Open live on a big screen - fun! My gelato was excellent - I will be back! Oh, and we got lucky that night because Mario was in the house...Stacy was brave enough to ask for a picture!

I honestly didn't spend much time dwelling on the significance of 9/11 this year, but Stacy and I did head downtown that night so that we could see the lights representing the 2-towers...I can't believe I'd never seen them before. I think next year is the last year they will have the lights...I can't believe it is going to be the 10-year anniversary. It really does not seem that long ago.

Labor Day Weekend

I tend to go out of town for most 3-day-weekends and it is nice to just stick around and have an extra day in this big city with more things to do and see and eat than I can keep up with. Labor Day weekend was perfect. Perfect weather, perfect friends, perfect events, and even some great productivity thrown in there! My sister's friend Chandra and her friend Kristy (from Two Funny Girls) were in town for the weekend. I met up with them on Friday night to grab a bite. I wanted to take them to Kashkaval (still one of my faves), but it was too crowded, so we ended up at Eatery, which also is always pretty good. It was fun to catch-up with the girls over a yummy meal.

I spent most of Saturday doing some cleaning and conquering some projects that have been on my list. I've had so many changes I wanted to make to my apartment this summer, but it's been slow going...there has been some progress though and pictures will be coming in the near future. Saturday night, Chandra, Kristy and I went to dinner at Nonna - Italian food in my neighborhood. I had only been once before and it wasn't quite as good as I remembered the first time, but still pretty good. I had risotto and it was chalk-full of veggies. I have a serious risotto addiction. I'll definitely be back there. After dinner, I took the girls to a party in Brooklyn. It was at some church peep's apartment...it was amazing! They have an awesome patio off their apartment that has stairs leading to their private rooftop that has fantastic views of the city. It was an apartment to die for! The owner, Rick, also had a couple of Emmy's sitting on the shelf...way cool!! He won them when he worked for the Dallas Morning News and they won for their coverage of Hurricane Katrina. He also had a Pulitzer, which he said was a bigger deal to him.

Kristy had to get her pic with the Emmy!  (and Rick)!

And the Pulitzer Prize!

On Sunday, I had a day full of church - I taught the kiddos in the morning, served communion at night.

Monday was a fun-day and I met Stacey at The Met to have a cocktail on the rooftop..it was my first time to be up there and it has seriously been on my list of "to do's" since before I moved here. Soooo glad to finally check that one off my list! The Met has a different exhibit on the roof every summer and this year I'd been hearing great things about it. It is a massive bamboo structure that is constantly in development and growing and changing all summer long. You can take tours of it - meaning you get to climb all up and around it. Unfortunately, we weren't able to do the tour...you have to be there at specific times and we couldn't work it out. Afterwards, we went to the new Shake Shack on the Upper East Side for a delicious burger dinner. It was a great day!

The crazy bamboo structure

Made only of bamboo and bungee cords.

There were pathways all up and around it

for the tours...so cool.

My first time to see the views from the top of the Met!

Stacy and I enjoying our day of freedom from labor

An Exciting Walk!

This post is for my Dallas girls!

The last Sunday in August, I took a long walk down Central Park West.  It was a gorgeous day and so nice to be outside.

91 degrees with little humidity?  Yes, please!

But, simply walking wasn't really my only goal. I had a destination in mind!

On behalf of the girls I used to watch trashy TV with, I was hoping to catch a glimpse of some contestants from "The Bachelor", "The Bachelorette", and the new (and oh so awful) "Bachelor Pad" series. I had seen a blurb that Deanna, of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, was coming in from Cali to do a charity event with Alex's Lemonade Stand, along with Graham, one of the contestants during Deanna's run as The Bachelorette. Much to my delight, several other contestants who live in the Northeast decided to show up as well. It was actually kind of fun, but would have been way more fun if any one of the girls I used to watch the shows with had been able to come along!

That's Graham Bunn of NYC chatting on his celly

Deanna and her new fiance, Stephen Stagliano

stealing a moment alone

There were a few guys there who I swear were

on one of the shows, but I couldn't quite place it.

See the guy in the middle of this next pic with really dark

hair (sorry-got his profile only)?  Who is he?  Anyone?

My thought when I saw him was that he was the guy from Jillian's season who lives in New York and has a job working with kids (that's all I could remember).  Y'all remember Mike?

But, once I started comparing online pics of Mike to the guy I saw in person, I wasn't so sure.  Anyone have a clue??  There's a better picture of him from that day here.  There's definitely a similarity, but something is also different between these two.  I'm just not sure!

Just as I was about to head home, all of a sudden, more Bach's showed up!  Gia (Jake's season and Bachelor Pad) and Craig R. (Alli's season) were there!  Gia lives here in NYC and is probably the tiniest girl I have ever seen.  Deanna was small and Gia was really about 1/2 her size.  Crazy.  I like Craig R.

So, here in this next picture, you have Craig R. and Graham in the back and that's Stu Lopoten (yeah, I had to do some research to come up with that one...he's an oldie.  Jen Schefft's season.  Lives here in NYC).  And that's Gia looking great in her shades.  The blonde??  Well, I had no doubt that it was Gwen (from Aaron's season and The Bachelor Pad).  But, I've doubted it ever since that day because she looked absolutely horrible!!  Her hair was very stringy, her clothing choices were odd, she had a lot of wrinkles and looked quite old, and she was wearing a fanny pack!  But, she and Gia hugged and cheered like long, lost pals when they saw each other.  And Gwen lives in Philly (as does Craig R.), so it isn't so far-fetched.  And the following week, she and Stu were spotted together at the US Open.  So, it seems prettly likely that it was her.  But, I'm still confused how she looked so bad when she's so pretty on TV.

Here's Deanna and Stephen chatting with a fan.

To the left, the tall dark haired guy is Richard Mathy

(from Deanna's season).

He lives in Upstate New York.

Deanna, Graham, Gia

Graham, Gia, Deanna, Stephen

I also got a free cup of lemonade (I felt bad I forgot my money and couldn't contribute, but enjoyed the lemonade anyway).  Then, I headed back up through the park towards home.  Everyone was out that day!

Sheep's Meadow was packed!

The Great Lawn was pretty happenin', too!

And many others were enjoying the row boats

What a great day!

Celebrity Sightings!

I had two good celebrity sightings last week!  On Thursday, I stood on a street corner next to Ann Curry...she's adorable!  We were both standing impatiently in the street waiting for the light to change.  When we realized a bus was coming our way and the light was not going to change before it got to us, we knew we had to get out of the way.  Ann turned and looked at me and said "Wellllll" as if to say, "I guess we're going to have to move".  So, we did and then we both crossed the street and walked into 30 Rock, where I'm assuming she has an office and I was picking up a salad for lunch.  Made my day!

Then, on Friday, I took the day off and was bopping around my neighborhood getting things done before a weekend away.  I went into Starbucks to pick up what has become my new favorite meal (the cheese plate with a grande skinny iced chai latte).  Sitting at the back of the shop was Caroline Rhea, just chatting with friends and not wearing any make-up.  Wonder if she lives in my 'hood?

Texas Twang

If you received a weird email from me, beware! I got a virus. I took my laptop to the PC doctor though and it's all cleaned up now. And I had a funny conversation with the really old doorman at the building where I took my computer. He had to check my ID and it went something like this:

Old man doorman: You from Texas! What are you doing here all the way from Texas?!
Me: Well, I moved here a while ago. I just never changed my ID.
Old man doorman: You never changed your accent either!

Hahaha.

Okay, I realize this is a boring post after a long period of no posting. I have some posts in the works and hope to publish them to you soon!