Mr. Personality

A couple of weeks ago, Ryder & Beau did a 1 week soccer camp in the evenings.  There were a lot of kids there ranging in age from 4 to 12, making R&B some of the youngest kids.  On the last evening, all the kids got participation certificates and there were 3 special awards that were each given to only 1 kid in the entire camp - best player, most improved, and best personality.  Beau got the award for Best Personality out of all the kids!  Hilarious!  And awesome!  While I was in Dallas for the 4th of July weekend, Beau enjoyed posing for pictures for me quite a bit.  You can catch a glimpse of some of his big personality in these pics.

He is quite the poser.

And a little bit of a whiner.

He's a trooper!

This was about 80% down the length of the pool at his

swim meet.  He was in dead last place and the only

swimmer left in the pool, but he kept on swimming!

And when he got out of the pool, he happily exclaimed,

"Hey, everybody was cheering for me!"

Rather fearless.

Silly.

SO Silly.

A little bit sassy.

Funny.

Happy.

Rather mischievous.

A barrel of fun.

Laid-back.

Patriotic!

Bossy.

So sweet.

Joyful!

Key Lime Pie. Fail.

I went to a lovely party just this past Saturday night.  It was yet another feast experience at Claire's apartment.  This time was to celebrate/mourn the loss of our community group leader to London.  She's headed across the pond for a year (or maybe longer) for work (or maybe more so, a boy).  Claire envisioned a wonderful indoor picnic theme and when we offered to help, she had some specific ideas of how to make her vision a reality.  One part of that was Key Lime Pie.  I offered to take that on.  I've never made one (so I can check another recipe off the New Year's Goal list!) and I knew my sister had a good recipe I could use.  The pie came together quickly and easily on Saturday afternoon.  I even got some fresh limes to decorate it with and I got to use my half-price pie plate that I bought during my annual Day-After-Christmas shopping adventure.  Once it was ready, I popped the entire pie plate w/ pie inside one of those plastic cake plates w/ covers.  This seemed to be the smartest way to go since I could put the pie in there without worrying about the top of the pie getting smushed and my decor ruined.  I was ready to go!

As I was stepping out my door, I propped the cake carrier with pie on my left hip, holding it with my left hand while I locked the door with my right.  At this time, the bottom of the carrier snapped apart from the top and the pie plate slid right on out.  Shattered pie plate and key lime gush was all over the entry way to my building.  I felt defeated!  I cleaned it up all the while coming up with a plan to quickly make a 2nd pie.  "I can do this!" is what I kept thinking.  I quickly texted the group (we have this awesome mass texting thing where you send a text to one # and everyone in our group gets it).  I told them the pie was gone, but I'd whip up another and be there only about 30 minutes late.  But, I quickly realized that I was missing two key ingredients.  There was no way I could pull this off.  So, I re-texted the group letting them know it wasn't possible, but I'd pick something up along the way.  I was determined to find us a key lime pie.  I quickly got on Google and started searching for places on the Upper West Side.  After calling a couple of places, I finally located a place that was open and had a whole key lime pie they could sell me.  Success was found at Cafe Lalo!  And it happened to be right on my walk down to Claire's place.  It was also a pretty tasty pie.  I still think mine would have been better though :)

Glee! Live!

I mentioned a while back that I had the opportunity to go to the Glee Live concert with one of the cast member's moms.  It was such a fun night and a great concert!!  My friend, Megan's mom is a friend of Mark Salling's mom.  So, we got to tag along with Mrs. Salling to the show.  She was such a nice lady!!  And while we were there, I made the connection that she knows my friend Elizabeth...it's always a small world!  We had great suites and this was absolutely one of the most fun concerts I've been to (and you know I've been to a lot the past few years).  They perform such fun songs and the cast is extremely talented.  I was especially wow'd by a couple of the dancers!  Since they were taping our show for the 3-D movie, our show had a couple of special guests who aren't touring with the rest of the group...Jane Lynch and Gwyneth Paltrow - woo hoo!  Definitely was awesome to see Gwyneth there.

Jane Lynch started the show off

Mark had his moment to shine with a guitar solo

So fun when Gwyneth made her appearance!

Lea Michelle was definitely the star of the show

Loved these dancers with Kirk!

Final bows

 Backstage after the show with Mrs. Salling

Thanks for taking me with you, Megan!

Of course we got our picture taken with Puck!

Letterman

Walking to Bible Study after work one evening, I came across a taping of David Letterman outside his studio.  I'm not sure what the show was about, but I watched him swing at a few balls then continue on my way.

The Rooftop @ The Standard Hotel

My sweet friend, Mallorie, moved to Alabama last week where she will be attending her first year of law school at the University of Alabama.  So excited for her!  Mallorie has been such a wonderful friend to have in this city.  She is so sweet and normal!  I selfishly wish I had met her earlier and that she would have stayed here much longer.  She grew up in CoMo like I did and that has been a fun connection to have.

A few of us wanted to spend an evening with her before she left the city to say good-bye and congratulations (on getting into law school AND getting engaged - woo hoo!)  I asked Mallorie if there was anything she was dying to mark off her NYC to-do list before she left.  She mentioned hitting up a roof-top bar.  I did a little research and found the perfect place for a fun evening with the girls.

The Standard Hotel is a swanky/uber-cool hotel in the Meatpacking District, right on the Highline.  They have a great restaurant (which I haven't yet been to) and several other cafes/restaurants/bars.  They also have a rooftop bar.  I saw pictures of it and it looked absolutely adorable.  We were a little worried that this place was out of our league, but decided to try anyway.  Getting in the door was a little intimidating (the hostess glared unapprovingly at my shopping bag I had from running an errand that day and she made me check it at the coat check!).  We all somehow individually made it past the girl...each with a different/strange experience.  And it was totally worth it!  The views from the top were amazing!!

Cute, fun furniture!

Spectacular views of the Hudson River & downtown

Me, Lucy, Mallorie, Sally, Jen

Take note of the building just between Lucy & Sally - 

the tallest one that is pretty lit up.  That is the new Freedom Tower.

Until this particular evening, I had NO idea it was already that tall.

So exciting!!  And, I read a few days later that it is officially the

tallest building in NYC now.  Love it!

These are some of my favorite people!

Summer Wedding

I got to attend a very fun wedding back in June.  Angela is on staff at my church and one of her primary roles has been coordinating all the children's programming.  As one of the lead teachers for the past 4+ years, I've gotten to serve alongside her.  She is wonderful at what she does and it has been both a pleasure and a blessing to get to work with her in this capacity.  Sadly, she will be replaced soon and she will be taking on another role serving our pastors.  Anyway, Angela got married in mid-June and it was such a perfect celebration and it was all SO very "Angela".  The wedding had a very homemade feel to it, yet everything still came across as professionally done.  The couple was also extremely resourceful...which is a little easier to do when you work for a church in Manhattan and have access to quite an incredible pool of talent.  The music, cakes, and photography were all done by church members.

The ceremony was held at the church where I attend on Sunday nights...St. George Episcopal church.  St. George isn't my church, just owns the building we rent for our Sunday night services.  It is a beautiful space and this was my first wedding to attend there.

The bride wanted everyone to go barefoot, if they wanted!

The bride/groom and their wedding party were all sans shoes.

Angela has explained to me before that she feels more

comfortable and free to worship when she goes barefoot.

And she references Exodus 3:5, where God asks

Moses to take off his sandals in His presence.

After the ceremony, there was a break before the reception, so

I joined some friends for a drink at a bar where you get a WHOLE

pizza (albeit a small one) with every drink purchase.  Crazy!

And they had an outdoor patio, which was nice on this hot summer day.

The reception was a bit of a trek out in Brooklyn, but it was at the Brooklyn Historical Society which had a gorgeous outdoor space that was so perfect for this occasion.

Is the groom's cake not the best you've ever seen?!

It actually looks like the groom himself!

Mason jars for everyone, with attached tags and markers

provided to claim you jar

Most of these ladies are in my Community Group

and they are such amazing people to know!

Madison Square Park Art

I'm going to attempt to start blogging again!!  I have got to get caught up and get my Spain trip documented.  So, there may be a bunch of random posts as I go through my camera photos and look back at my calendar of events.  Here's the first of (hopefully) many!

Madison Square Park is an adorable park, possibly best known as the home to the original Shake Shack.  This park is also known for it's Art Exhibits and this summer has been home to statue titled Echo.  It is really cool!

That would be the Empire State Building poking up

behind and to the left of the statue.