Celebrating a 15th Anniversary!

Okay, friends.  Third blog of the day?  I think we're on a roll, folks!  I've been working on this post for approximately 5 months.  Just haven't been able to get it finished!  I'm determined now.

So...going back to a weekend in June.  My cousin, Nicole, came to visit in celebration of her 15th wedding anniversary!  Does it sound a little crazy that she came to NYC rather than taking an excursion with her hubby of 15 years?  Maybe, but I think it made perfect sense!  Let me just preface this by saying that Nicole and Jason have a great marriage.  I am so proud of them for making it 15-years.  They both love the Lord before they love themselves or each other and that is very evident in the strength of their marriage.  Nicole & Jason did originally start thinking about a vacation for the two of them, sans kids, to celebrate this milestone anniversary.  But, the more they thought about it, the more they realized that maybe a vacation with each other wasn't what they really needed.  Nicole married Jason at the young age of 20 and became a mom soon after and now has 4 kids.  She doesn't have much time alone and a trip to the big city where she could prove her independence and spend some time alone was appealing.  Jason, on the other hand, thought it might be a good idea if he had some time with the kids, without their mom.  They are used to having their mom around and turn to her for everything - he wanted a chance for them to be dependent on him.  Plus, Jason had some cool trips coming up with his company that Nicole gets to tag along on, so trips without kids were in store anyway.  I, of course, loved this plan because it meant I got a long weekend with my cousin (she got her alone time while I was at work on Friday and Monday)!  I am so glad she came - we had a great time!  Jason & the kids had a great time, too (despite some severe bad luck one evening that included a broken collar bone for their 11-year-old and a $300 fine as a result of their 5-year-old pulling the fire alarm at a national park...there were a few hours when I was afraid that Nicole would jump ship and go rescue her family.  But, she handled it SO well and didn't let it ruin her time one bit).  

Here are some of the things our weekend together included :

Shecky's Girls Night Out - got free passes.  Went primarily for the free gift bag, but since our entry was free, they wouldn't give us one.  Bummer.

Dinner at the Frying Pan on the Hudson -- good food, good views!

Cupcakes from Billy's Bakery - yum!  I had free coupons, so double yum!

Waiting in Central Park for Shakespeare Tickets.  Well, Nicole did the majority of the waiting while I was at work.

Italian dinner @ Nonna, in my 'hood

Shakespeare in the Park!  We saw All's Well that Ends Well right in the middle of Central Park.  Love this experience!  Thankfully, Nicole did her homework and read up on the play we saw and then gave me a quick tutorial before the show.  Knowing what was going on helped me follow the story and I enjoyed much more than I've enjoyed Shakespeare in the past!

Tour of the NHL Offices

Shopping at a random street fair was came across

Trader Joe's!

Tea @ Lady Mendl's.  I love this place and loved experiencing it with my cousin.  Maybe someday all the ladies in the family can have tea there together :)

Free Fresh Lipgloss @ the Fresh Truck.  After a 30-minute wait in line, they gave us a lip treatment and then we got a free tube of their Sugar Lipgloss (retails for $28!!).

Crepes @ Chelsea Market.  This wasn't planned, but sooo good.  I need to go back there and try more crepes!

Walking on the Highline.  Love this elevated park with city and Hudson River views.

From the Highline, we could see that the Empire State Building

was lit for Gay Pride Day (or as Nicole pointed out, God's Promise)

Random art on the Highline

Nicole

Us :)

We ran across this random temporary exhibit with rainbow

colored blow-up features

We took a few turns at playing with some of them

More than anything, it just looked cute!

 Food Tour in Central Village & SoHo.  I love these!

Someone famous lived in one of these.  But who was it?  Bob Dillon?

I cannot remember...which is why I should blog more timely.

Lots of yummy stops on our food tour

Really cool art that our guide pointed out to us

This place had TONS of coffee bean flavors.

I don't like coffee, but these beans smelled SO good.

Funny sign to read as you hear about 10 taxis honking "unnecessarily"

They recently re-did Washington Square Park and it looks fabulous!

Doesn't it look like a park in Europe?

Hard to see in this picture, but there is a guy playing piano.

Apparently he rolls the piano there every.single.day.

Cuba was my favorite spot on the tour and a restaurant I really need to get

back to for a full meal.  It was such a cool environment and Nicole

and I shared the best Mojito I've ever had (by far).  We also sampled some tasty food.

Graindaisy Bakery makes interesting & yummy pizzas, among other things.

We strolled through the northern end of Central Park to see the gigantic swimming pool, Botanical Gardens, etc...  I didn't realize until right now, but I think this picture is right where my friend Brookie got engaged 2 years ago!

As part of the tour, we got a few coupons and one was for a jar of PB with the purchase of a sandwich at Peanut Butter & Co.  So, guess where we went for dinner?!  I got the Elvis sandwich...bananas, honey, & pb, toasted, but I had them use their Cinnamon & Raisin PB.  Oh MY!  To die for.  And I got the Dark Chocolate PB to take home (it doesn't really taste all that chocolatey though).

So, thinking back almost 6 months is hard!!  I'm sure I missed some fun things we did.  I do remember it was a great weekend though!  Loved spending time with my cousin!  And Nicole did a great job navigating the city by herself while I was at work! 

(Mostly Christmas) Music You Should Have

First off, the worship band at my church just came out with their first CD!  I got to go to the CD release concert/party on Friday night and it was great!  The CD is mostly written & recorded by my church peeps, but it includes one song with Bart Millard (of Mercy Me!) and one song includes a rap by Andy Mineo (he goes to my church and although I wasn't familiar with him before I am told he is a legit recording artist).  Andy did his thing for us on Friday night and he was incredible!  Anyway, check out the CD on itunes.  At the very least, download the title track...it's my fave so far.  But I also love hearing my friend, Sarah Jane, on I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say.  You can currently listen to all the songs for FREE or download the entire album here.  Or, it just released on itunes!

What are you listening to Christmas music-wise?  I have my favorites I look forward to every year, but this year some fun bands came out with new albums and I'm feeling Christmas music overload!!

David Crowder : oh for joy

I haven't listened to it all, but I just went ahead and downloaded

the whole album.  I mean, how could any of it be bad?!  It's David Crowder!

Pretty sure this is going to be a new favorite for many years to come.

The Civil Wars : Tracks In The Snow

 This little EP is only 2 songs, but their version of "O Come O Come Emmanuel"

is genious.  AND FREE on itunes right now!!  Go download that sucker - no excuses.

She & Him : A Very She & Him Christmas

I was super excited to hear these 2 were coming out with a Christmas album.

Their music takes a little longer to grow on me, but once it does - wow!  Love that Zooey.

Sufjan Stevens : Songs for Christmas

I picked up a few of the songs off this album last year.  Love them!

And then there are the albums I have had and enjoyed for many years now.

Jewel : Joy A Holiday Collection

Jewel can seriously sing some Christmas tunes.  One of my all-time favorites!

But, my favorite Christmas song by Jewel is actually on Rosie's album (see next!)

Rosie O'Donnell : Another Rosie Christmas

I'm really not a fan of Rosie, but I've got to give her kudos when it comes to 

assembling a Christmas album.  And don't worry, she farms out most

of the singing duties to the professionals.

Michael W. Smith : Christmas

Now if anything says Christmas to me, it's this album.  It's by far the album

I have listened to most and longest.  It's the only one on this list that I

originally had in CASSETTE format.  I listened to it throughout high school and

in college, I would listen to it for the entire ELEVEN HOUR drive home

at Christmas.  This album it tried and true. I love it.

Jessica Simpson : REJOYCE 

This is her older Christmas album (I didn't like the newer one as well).

Been rocking out to this every Christmas since the late '90s!

Avalon : Joy

I've always love the harmony of Avalon.  So you put them

in a Christmas album and you just can't go wrong.

So, those are some of my favorite new and old Christmas albums.  Of course, there are other songs you shouldn't miss (Twelve Days of Christmas by Straight No Chaser would be at the top of the list), but these are my very favorites.  What am I missing that is on your list?!

The Book of John

So, this may not be the kind of post some of you've been hoping for.  Not about me or my life or NYC!  I recently was given the idea to read through the book of John and in the process write down everything that is written about Jesus...anything about Him or what He did.  I'm a few chapters in and finding it quite interesting.  And it's such a great time to remember His life since we're spending this whole month celebrating His birth in various ways.  I highly recommend that you try this little activity on your own, but for those of you who don't, I thought it would be neat to record what I'm writing down here so that you, too, can be reminded of who Jesus was and IS.  So, here goes!

John 1:1-18

• Jesus was there in the beginning
• Jesus is the Word
• Jesus was with God
• All things were made thru Jesus
• Jesus was life, the light of men
• Jesus shone in the darkness
• Jesus was the true light
• Jesus gave light to every man
• Jesus was coming into the world
• Jesus was in the world
• Jesus was not recognized by the world
• Jesus was not received by His own
• Jesus gave the right to become children of God to all those who received Him and beloved His name
• Jesus became flesh
• Jesus made His dwelling among us
• Jesus is the One & Only
• Jesus came from the Father
• Jesus is full of grace and truth
• Jesus made God known

WICKED!

I want to get back into blogging.  I really do.  So, I thought I'd start with a very easy post.  Quick synopsis and just 1 picture!

Basically, I had an incredible opportunity to see Wicked recently.  I've been in a Bible Study for the past 5 months with some incredible ladies from my church.  Two of them happen to be Broadway superstars.  One of them has been playing the role of Glinda in Wicked for some time now and recently had her final performance.  We got to go see her perform during her last week.  It was my 3rd time to see Wicked and it is always an excellent show but this was by far my favorite experience.  Katie was incredible and it was just so fun to see her in this role - she fits it perfectly and is so very good at it. We had excellent seats at half-price and then we got to go backstage afterwards and visit with Katie in her dressing room and then she gave us a fabulous tour of the stage and she told us all their tricks and showed us all the fun props and such.  The evening was finished with an exit out the stage door where a crowd of people were waiting to see Katie herself and get her picture or autograph.  It was all so much fun!

That's Katie in the white dress and the rest of our Bible Study crew

Katie told us that she pumped up the cast that night by occasionally shouting out throughout the evening "Let's do it for the church ladies!!!"  Hilarious!

P.S.  For my Chicago readers, Katie recently made a tough decision to spend the next 4 months doing the Wicked tour.  She'll be in LA most of that time, but there is a short time that you can catch her as Glinda in Chicago!  I'm not sure of the dates, but I can find out if you're interested.

The Rest of the 4th

So, 4th of July was filled with more than just Mr. Personality and a Swim Meet!  Here's what else I got to do while in Dallas...

- Met baby Truett!  My sweet friend Brooke had her first baby in March and it was so good to finally meet the little guy!  And he could NOT have been sweeter.  Andi went with me to meet Brooke and Truett for lunch (they indulged me with Chick-fil-a).  Truett let me hold him for quite some time and even fell asleep in my arms.  Soooo precious!  I am kicking myself that I didn't get a picture with these ladies and Truett.

- LOTS of pool time with my sister and the boys.

Ryder has become quite the swimmer and

it is fun to have races with him (he gets

a big head-start!)

Shep LOVES the water and loves to "jump" (more like fall) in

He also showed off his "survival swimming" skills for me.

If you drop him in the pool and he's close enough to the edge

(must be VERY close), he can get to it and pull himself up to breathe

And if he's not close to an edge, he knows how to flip himself

over and float on his back and breathe.  (Brian is under him

in this pic "just in case", but Shep can totally do this with no assistance!)

It is very cool!

Shep also loves him some hats!  If Shep & a hat are

in the same room, it is definitely going to be on his head.

I wish I had taken more pics of the many hats I saw him

in during my weekend visit!

Beau tried out the Slip-n-Slide!

Beth tried it out, too!  I hope you can

see her facial expressions in these pictures, but it

was one of the funniest things I've seen/heard.

She said it was extremely painful!

- Dinner at Rafa's, a Mexican joint around the corner from the Mc's house, with my entire family.

- 4th of July BBQ with the family (on the 3rd of July).  Burgers and my Greek Panzanella.

- Serious patriotic flare from Beau and Ryder!  Running the streets with flags and belting out rousing renditions of God Bless America!

- Kaboomtown!  An air-show and fireworks (also on the 3rd)!

We could see airplanes from my parent's house but drove

over closer to be able to see the fireworks.

We set-up camp in a parking lot and I decorated with the flags!

When it started to get dark, a night writer came out and it

was really cool!

An Ice Cream van came by!

While we waited for the fireworks to begin,

the boys enjoyed playing with some light-up

flying toys I bought them in Barcelona.

- Shopping at the Le Creuset outlet with my mom!  We were so wow'd by this place!!  The prices were incredible.  Most the pots have dings on them, but some are so small they are nearly impossible to find.  And the man working that day went in the back to find us the very best ones.  My mom is helping me start my collection in Dijon (a yellow color) and bought some stuff for my birthday (and then we couldn't stop, so she's already bought my Christmas, too!!)

- A cancelled flight on the evening of the 4th on an airline with limited flights to NYC meant I'd only get back in time for 1/2 a work day so I made it a full day and stayed an extra 24-hours.  Four days is much better than three!

- Getting to see more fireworks on the 4th with Andi & Michelle was an extra bonus to my extra 24-hours!  We took the Dart Rail to the Cotton Bowl where we thought we were seeing fireworks to the tune of the Dallas symphony.  Turns out we missed the symphony and saw the fireworks to random music (the typical 4th of July songs and, of course, Katy Perry's firework.  They played her at Kaboomtown, too.  I think she was pretty smart to hit the nearly un-tapped market of 4th of July songs.  They'll be playing her for years alongside Lee Greenwood!)

- Checking out the old downtown Carollton with mom (not super impressed) and eating lunch there at Babes (which was okay).

- Layover in Atlanta = one more meal of Chick-Fil-A!

Swim Meet!

I flew home the Friday night before 4th of July and stayed at my parent's house.  Sheppy spent a couple of nights with us, including that first one.  Since the guest room is nearest to the kiddos nursery, I knew there was a good chance I'd be the first to hear Shep wake up and I wasn't sure how he'd respond to me. I feel like I saw Ry & Beau a lot more by this age and that they knew who I was (Ryder for sure), but I was pretty sure Shep would have NO recollection of who I was and it might freak him out a bit to be greeted by a stranger first thing in the morning.  When I expressed this concern to Beth she told me "Oh, no.  He's real friendly.  Except for when he's rude.  Sometimes he grunts in people's faces".  Grrreatt!  Luckily, when I did get him up that morning, he was quite sweet.  Of course, as soon as he saw that my mom was around and could change his diaper instead of me, he grunted in my face.  I consider that perfect timing since I didn't have to change that nasty diaper (not really....I love doing anything with these kids, including changing nasty diapers)!

Isn't he a handsome little dude?!

We all got ready that Saturday morning and headed to the Country Club to meet the rest of the Mc clan for Ryder & Beau's swim meet.  They don't belong to the Country Club, just get to be part of their swim team and it's a pretty nice little deal because that meant they got to spend some of their summer hanging out at a really great pool!  I was most impressed by the free, unlimited serve-yourself drinks!

I was a little shocked when my mom called in June and said she'd been to the Ryder's first swim meet.  "What?  He can swim the whole length of a pool?!"  My mom's response, "Well, I don't think he's ever swam that far before, but he did it today!"  Ryder apparently complained afterwards that it was too hard, but when I asked him about it on the phone a few days later, he was very excited about it and rather proud of himself.  Beth overheard the conversation and was surprised he'd had a change of heart.  So, he kept on swimming.  At some point later, I learned that Beau had joined the team as well.  Swim team was only a month long adventure with 4 meets.  I was so excited when I learned that one of those meets coincided with my trip home.  I must say, it was rather impressive to watch these little guys.

For their first race, they swam freestyle against each other and a few other boys.  Ryder won!!!  It was so fun and exciting to cheer him on and see him tap that wall first.  He was so proud of himself.  I think Brian and I had a little trouble containing our excitement while Beth was down cheering on Beau in his lane.

Beau is on the left w/ Beth behind him giving him some last

minute tips.  Ryder is two lanes over on the far right of this

picture, bent down and ready to dive in!

Good form, Ry!

By the time Brian and I got over from Ryder's lane to Beau's lane, the WHOLE pool was cheering for Beau as he was the only swimmer left in the pool.  He had to stop every so often and hang on to the lap lane divider to catch his breath, but he finished that swim and was mighty happy with his performance.

It was a long morning with lots of waiting in between races.  The boys had fun playing in the water fountains and on the playground.  I had fun catching up with my family and a sorority sister whose kids were on Ryder & Beau's team.  She was a year older than me in school and I never knew her too well, but she was SO sweet at the meet and I enjoyed talking to her.  She was there with her parents and they happen to know my pastor, so it was fun to make that connection.

Shep was mostly happy to hang out and watch all the excitement.

For their second races, the boys swam backstroke.  Ryder did fairly well, but didn't win this one.

Looks like Ryder knows the backstroke, too!

Beau had NO clue how to do the backstroke and hung out at the far end of the pool while B&B shouted at him to either swim to the other end of the pool (where I was cheering him on!) or swim to the side and get out.  He finally opted to just get out.  We were afraid he'd be upset, but he didn't seem to be bothered at all.

The final race was the butterfly.  Ryder and Beau simultaneously burst into tears when they were given this information.  I could totally feel their pain as I remember feeling the same way when I was assigned to the butterfly race EVERY single meet for the 3-4 summers I swam on a team.  They claimed to have no idea how to swim butterfly.  Beth and I finally convinced them to just swim however they could and make it to the end of the pool.  They finally agreed and did just fine.

Shep lined up for the Butterfly race while

Beth & I tried to pump the big boys up!