thankfulness

i am thankful for:

• having a job i love going to every day


• my grandparents


• the amazing support from my parents this summer


• another lovely year with my love


• my true friends, without which i would be lost


• josh hamilton


• my lf and our lyric texts


• my eled girls -- they know what tws, iep, gssp, lep, tpa, and countless other acronyms stand for.

mostly, i am thankful for the fact that i have a warm apartment and food to come home to at night. being around my students everyday, i have come to realize that i was one of the lucky to have had such a glorious upbringing.

cheers to the holidays.

NYC trip -- Sunday

Sunday was the big day for travelling around in the city.

We decided to start at the MoMA (museum of modern art). chris and i both love art, so we were hella excited to get to go here. to spare everyone the bland details, it was an AMAZING experience. we got to see everything from matisse and monet to van gogh and warhol to everything inbetween. my favorite part was seeing the george seurat exhibit because he is one of my favorite artists. what a fun time!

us at the MoMA

next, we FINALLY were able to go to the times square toys-r-us -- aka: one bigass toy store.

i went in the barbie house

i met new and interesting friends.

chris bought a huge gummy snake

all was well with the world.

then, we decided to take a ride on the always luxurious staten island ferry. the ferry takes you near the statue of liberty and from manhattan --> staten island and then from staten island ---> manhattan. we met some brilliant people and families...and then headed back to phebe's for some beer.

the bar was rockin' because the game had already started. i would have never expected to see that much orange and black in the middle of the city. but there we were. unfortunately, i didn't have enough room in my suitcase to pack my housh jersey. fortunately, they had yuengling on tap and i got to have my first (and second and third) taste of this glorious beer.

sadly, we had to leave before the game was over because we had to get me to LGA...but we had a wonderful, lovely time together.

NYC trip -- Saturday

on saturday, we bid goodbye to my host and caught the train to the city.

we went to the SONY Wonder Lab. the coolest thing we saw was this projector that showed raindrops falling. as you would move your arm around, the raindrops would change their course to follow your arm. really hard to explain, but totally cool to watch.

next, we went to this AMAZING bar/restaurant in the east village called phebe's. this is not your average bar...but a BENGALS bar in the middle of nyc. i love that they spread who dey throughout the land. we were told to come back on sunday during the game...more to follow on this.

next, we traipsed downtown to ground zero to check on construction progress. there wasn't much to see, but we did get to see the plans for the upcoming freedom tower.

after this, we spent a good while traveling around the Port Authority trying to figure out how to get to the Meadowlands. Luckily, we finally found our way and had some amazing pineapple/chicken pizza for dinner.

i loved having a relaxing day with chris in the city. it was nice to not feel rushed and we still have a perfect subway record :)

NYC trip -- Friday

FINALLY i am getting around to blogging about last weekend's trip to WP/NYC. i had a very enjoyable time and it seems to be getting harder and harder to leave chris at the end of each weekend.

Here's what happpened on Friday:

• flights were great. i missed an earlier flight by about 5 minutes, but no worries, b/c i really do like airports. i got a great lunch/beer in concouse C at CVG.


• met a WONDERFUL guy named bruce on the plane from CVG to LGA. he was taking his wife and daughter to NY for the weekend to catch a broadway show. they were from columbia, SC and were truly great people.


• caught a sketchy bus from LGA to grand central. i learned all about this woman's botched plastic surgery and our bus driver offered to refer her to some miracle chinese doctor.


• before my stop on the train, i started up a conversation with some guys about tayshaun prince. they asked me where i was from (they guessed MS or GA) because of my accent. this is noteworthy because this is the first time i have ever been asked about my accent while in NYC.


• chris picked me up (!) and we quickly went on post for the game. let me tell you...it was one of the most miserable experiences of my life. not only did army lose BAD to rutgers, it was about 20 degrees, with the wind coming off the hudson, in RAIN...SLEET...and SNOW. thankfully, my love is truly lovely and kept bringing me hot chocolate.

anyone who knows me knows i HATE getting my feet and jeans wet. unfortunately, i did NOT have my rainboots with me and was forced to have standing water in my shoes and water nearly to my knees; NOT a good combination. in spite of everything, i really did have a great time because i was with chris and surrounded by cadets.

ole lefthander

before i began blogging this morning, i was catching up on the latest news from this week. i was disheartened to read that joe nuxhall, longtime player/broadcaster for the reds, had died this week. this is incredibly sad because i, like so many others, would fall asleep to marty and joe many a summer night.

while i prefer marty as a broadcaster, it was marty and joe's relationship that makes WLW the preferred means by which to catch a reds game...even in this day of satellite TV and chris welsh.
my dad and i would always listen to reds games in the car. we always knew it was "joe's inning" to call because there would be 10 second pauses in his talking. i always liked to think joe was more interested in the game as a fan than as a broadcaster. after being forced to listen to jeff brantley this season, i know joe will be missed even more.

the ole lefthander rounding third and heading for home...

back from ny. blogging to follow.

i have returned but have left a piece of myself in ny. lots of blogging/pictures to come. we had a great time and i can't believe i have to return to life tomorrow/in 6 hours. hope everyone had a great weekend.

NY bound

i will not be around to blog this wknd b/c i will be in ny with my love. catch you all on the flip side of the empire state.

this is us on our one year anniversary -- aug 07

girls nights out

last night, ria, jen, and i went out for an impromptu movie night at carmike. i adore carmike because it's only $1.50. we saw the nanny diaries, which i was dying to see because it is one of my favorite books. i must say, i enjoyed the movie far more than i had anticipated, but several abhorrations threw me off:

• Mr. X -- he should've been tall, dark, and handsome
• Mrs. X -- should've been brunette
• Grayer -- should've been younger
• Nanny's mom -- this entire piece of the plot was not true to the book and was not needed in the movie. they should've kept her out of it and put the bohemian grandmother in instead.
• i did like the different ending.

i thoroughly enjoyed DROOLING over a new specimen...although i will take JT Dinero anyday.

___________________________________________________________________

tonight was the first "dinner dames" night between jen, b, and me. i really hope this becomes a regular occurence because the dames they are a'smokin. on the menu tonight was chicken/rice casserole.


quote of the night: "how does a library work?"

<----- b

arachnid invasion

this morning, i -- yes me -- killed a spider. all by myself. it was about the size of a quarter and i successfully killed it without much incident. suzy homemaker? you betcha.

fab fam

this weekend, i was at a family reunion in indy. when i was younger, i used to avoid these gatherings, but in my old age (?) i have come to look forward to them. it is so weird to see how everyone else is getting older. the kids that used to be in elementary school are now about to graduate high school.

family is a funny thing. when i am at these reunions, i can't believe i don't hang out with these people more...but in the two years between reunions, i barely think twice about them. i suppose that will be my new year's resolution. to keep up with family more.

the rice clan has always been close...now i need to share the love with the extended ones.