Updates Part 2

Ok, the Twitter one was complicated and annoying, so I took it down. If you do want to share any posts on Twitter, you can do so at the bottom of the individual post (there are several icons in a row - Blogger, Twitter, Facebook, Google Buzz, etc.). You can also do this for Facebook, but I left the button on the side in case you want to share the entire blog, not just one post.

Updates

As you can see, I have been fiddling with the layout of the ol' blog. I am no good at this stuff, plus I want to keep it simple so that there's not so many backgrounds/pictures/other crap that you can't even read the blog.

But I do want to make you aware of a couple of new things I added you might find helpful. On the right hand side of the blog, you'll see some new features. The follow by e-mail should be self-explanatory. If you want to receive updates when I post a new blog, just enter your e-mail address. Blogspot.com assures me that you will receive no spam or anything other than just notifications regarding this blog. The two buttons below that are so that you can share my blogs on Twitter or Facebook. Please feel free to do that anytime (just not with anyone I talked bad about on here). Let me know if there are any problems with any of these buttons. Like I said, I have NO idea what I'm doing.
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P.S. - I am actually looking for a job, despite my deceptive frequency of posting on here. I don't want to jinx anything, but I hope to be able to share some news on that front really soon, like in the next week.

Rachel Comes To Visit!

This weekend, my good friend Rachel came to visit. Rachel and I grew up together and our parents live across the street from each other (although they couldn't come up with this bright idea until we were in college, so we didn't really get the benefit of being neighbors as kids). Anyhow, she already had plans to come visit me in July (for the New Kids on the Block/Backstreet Boys concert - oh yeah, that is happening. Bet you can't wait for the blog on that one), but it just so happens that her job (at Dr. Pepper - how fun is that?) sent her up here to work for the next two weeks. So she came up a day early and we had roughly 24 hours, from Saturday to Sunday afternoon, to hang out/make the most of the city.

I gave her the number of my driver to come pick her up from the airport on Saturday. Luis is not actually my driver, but he works for a local car company and has driven me a few times. He lives just around the corner from us, so the last time he drove me, he just gave me his personal cell so I could call him directly instead of going through the dispatch. So I'm gonna go ahead and refer to him as my driver. Rachel found this very sketchy, but I told her it was all on the up and up (I think - haha).

Once she arrived, there was no time to waste. She wanted to go to this place she had been the last time she was in the city called Sarita's Mac And Cheese (S'MAC). Basically, they only serve mac and cheese, but they have all these specialty flavors. Rachel went for the Napoletana (fresh mozzarella, roasted tomatoes, roasted garlic, and fresh basil) and I had the Alpine (gruyere and bacon). Both were SO good! Check out their website to see the rest of their awesome flavors. I decided this was definitely one of the best places I've tried since moving here. In fact, I'm not gonna lie, I went there again yesterday. Haha. After S'MAC, we walked a couple of blocks to Crumbs. Lots of people had told me about this place, but I had yet to try it. It did not disappoint. I went for the carrot cake cupcake and Rachel had the red velvet. Both were delicious. Observe. There is nowhere to sit in Crumbs, so we took our cupcakes over to Union Square and sat on the stairs. Let me just say that Union Square is one of my favorite places in Manhattan. It is where the sand artist guy was in my previous post, and there are always some unique characters hanging around. Especially on a Saturday. Here are just a few of the things we saw.

Nintendo DS was doing some big promotion, so they had all these people walking around letting you play on them. The best part was that they had them attached by those black ropes. Like someone was going to run away with their DS. Actually, that's probably exactly what would have happened, so good thinking, Nintendo.

What are these 30-something-year-old men doing, you ask? Playing hacky sack, that's what. Hilarious. Side note: hacky sack always makes me think of Freddie Prinze, Jr. Bonus points if you can name the movie.

We also saw a big group of people in Union Square holding signs that said "Free Hugs." I didn't take their picture for fear that they would try to give me a hug. Maybe next time.

That night, we really wanted to see a show on Broadway. We put our names in the lottery for Book of Mormon (along with about 200 other people), but no luck. So we then proceeded to walk to all of the surrounding theaters to see what the ticket situation was. We finally decided on "That Championship Season". I had heard that it was good, and it had a fantastic cast...Brian Cox, Jim Gaffigan (hilarious comedian!), Kiefer Sutherland, Chris Noth, and Jason Patric. The show was okay. The actors were all really good, but the story was just a little lacking for me. Hard to follow.

But lucky for us, as we were heading out of our show and walking to Junior's for some post-show grub, Chris Rock just so happened to be coming out of his show in the theater next door. I snapped this picture of him while he was signing autographs. Sunday, we got up and headed back into the city for more cupcakes. Haha. This time we went to Billy's Bakery, a favorite of mine (and Shahla's!). Then it was off to Central Park. Rachel had gotten a new camera and wanted to take some shots in the park, so we spent a little time there. I wanted to walk over and see the place where Tavern on the Green used to be. Below is what the area looks like now. Just a bunch of food carts. The inside of the building has a visitor's center/Tavern gift shop. Pretty sad. If you have no idea what I am talking about, you can check out the whole story here.

So blogosphere, on the occasion of my first celebrity sighting, I want you to leave a comment saying who you think I will spot next. If someone is actually right, there will be a fantastic prize involved.

Happy Hump Day!

Girl Scout Cookies and Snow...

Yes that's right...SNOW. Let's start with that, shall we? Now, I am not a moron, I understand that I moved to New York and that means I am going to be dealing with my fair share of snow in the winters. What I was not expecting was that I would be dealing with it in late March. Wednesday, as I was heading into the city on my quest for Girl Scout Cookies (which we'll get to), I found myself dealing with snow/hail/sleet/slush/all of the above smacking me in the face. And it wasn't even pretty snow...just enough to make a gross gray sludge on the ground. Keep in mind that it is about a 10 minute walk to the subway station, so I was pretty soaked and frozen by the time I made it there. Needless to say, I was missing Texas pretty bad that day. (Don't worry, I bought some rain boots today so at least I'll be a little more prepared for the snow in the forecast this week).

I tried to get a picture out my window of the snow falling, but it didn't really work. This is the best I could do. You can see it on the cars below.

Anyhow, once I got to the subway station, I noticed that there was some sort of police investigation going on. I was trying to take this picture discreetly, as not to draw attention to myself, but this guy and a cop were taking pictures of the ground behind the caution tape. No idea what happened. Probably something stupid - nobody really seemed too concerned.

But enough about that. My main goal in the city that day was to find Girl Scout Cookies (heretofore known as GSC's). Yeah, you thought you were going to finally read a blog of mine that was not about food...well, YOU WERE WRONG. Now, I love me some GSC's. I actually tried to buy some before I left Texas to bring with me, but the kids at the CVS were out of Thin Mints. I found this so preposterous that I refused to buy any cookies from those imbeciles. (I am, of course kidding - I mean, not about refusing, just the imbecile part. I have no beef with the Girl Scouts).

My roommate Leticia had heard that you could actually buy GSC's at the GS headquarters/main office in Manhattan. I figured it was worth a shot, so I looked it up, and I headed to 23rd Street. The Girl Scout offices are in a very upscale looking high rise with tons of other companies that is not really labeled. Lest you forget the beginning of this post, I look like a drowned rat. But I had to remember my mission. I walked into the building, and there is a very official-looking man sitting behind a reception desk. He asked if he could help me, and I said, "Um, yes, I was looking for some Girl Scout Cookies." And then he laughed at me (this was not in my imagination), but he directed me to the 6th floor.

Luckily, upon arriving on said 6th floor, there was a sign that said "COOKIES" with an arrow. So I wasn't the only poor schmuck who had set out on this mission. Once I made it to the cookie room, it was smooth sailing. There was a really nice lady who helped me purchase my 4 boxes (don't judge) of cookies, and I was on my way. I'm fairly certain I heard the reception guy snickering on my way out.

But it was all worth it when Sara, Leticia, and I enjoyed some tasty GSC's while watching The Biggest Loser that night. (Again, don't judge.) Thin Mints have never tasted so good.

Check back soon for details on my first house guest and my first celebrity sighting! You knew it was only a matter of time with my penchance for running into famous people.

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures I took in my neighborhood on Saturday.

Bet you thought this was just a Texas thing...apparently, New York also likes to torture people in terrible weather for the sake of income taxes.

New York requires restaurants to put calorie counts on all their menus. Kind of takes all the fun out of fast food, doesn't it?

My Mom's Gonna Be So Proud!

I am actually working on a post about the last few days that will be up soon, but I thought in the meantime, I'd leave you with this. THIS, my friends is what I just ate... What's in that?? I HAVE NO IDEA. But I ate it. Those of you who know my extreme eating habits as well as my tendency (compulsion) to pick through my food are probably picking yourself up off the ground right now. I'll give you a minute.

Want to know something even crazier? I LIKED IT.

Let me give you the full story. This is what's called a Maoz sandwich. Sara, Andrew, and Leticia kept telling me that I had to try this restaurant called Maoz with them because it is super yummy. So tonight after church, we went. When I walked in, I realized that there is pretty much one option there, and that is the Maoz sandwich. Seriously, there's nothing else. I was ready to leave, because as you can see from the picture, it did not look like anything I would eat. But I decided (with Sara's threatening...err...guidance) that I would give it a shot. She also made me promise that I would not try to pick through it. Hey, I think I am turning over a new leaf. :-)

Anyway, all I know is that that ball of green stuff is falafel. So help me God, if any of you blog readers tries to tell me what's in that, you're dead.

I am being honest when I say that I truly liked it. And the pride of knowing that I faced my fears and tried it made it even yummier. Plus, they serve it with these INCREDIBLE sweet potato fries.

So, if you're facing a challenge this week, remember me and my Maoz sandwich and you meet that challenge head on. No time for fear, folks.

Don't worry, I am going to address the snow in my next blog, as well as my quest for Girl Scout cookies in Manhattan (Was I successful? Guess you'll have to check back and see).

In Search Of The Perfect Cannoli

Before I get started, let me share a quote I am finding all-to familiar these days.

Sara - "Can you Yelp me a Chase?"

*Translation - Will you use the Yelp.com app on your iPhone to find the nearest Chase bank?

Yelp is definitely our friend in the city.

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SO...Saturday, Sara and I decided to go to Hoboken, NJ.

I randomly stumbled across Hoboken when I came to NY last January. We were staying in Jersey, and had scheduled Shahla's hair appointment in Hoboken before we went and took her wedding pictures in the city. As we were walking down the main street of Hoboken, we saw a crowd of people outside this bakery. Once we got closer, Shahla realized that it was Carlo's Bakery, otherwise known as Buddy, "The Cake Boss"'s bakery. And he just so happened to be there. We didn't actually stop at that point, but later that day, we came back by, got some amazing treats, and Buddy even came and took pictures with all of us. It was really cool, and we LOVED the whole city of Hoboken. There is this awesome park that has a great view of the city, and it is really just a beautiful place.

Anyway, so Sara had never been and I thought it would be a good day to go check it out and get something yummy from Carlo's. What I didn't think about was that it was Saturday afternoon (and spring break, nonetheless). The line to the bakery actually took up 2, almost 3 entire blocks.

Yes, I realize you cannot even see the bakery in this picture. Neither could I.

After hearing that the wait was going to be TWO HOURS, we decided Carlo's and Buddy could wait for another day. But the trip to Hoboken was not a total wash, because we did find a Panera Bread there and enjoyed an awesome lunch. Love that place.

We set off back towards the city, but I was not satisfied. I had it in my head that I was going to have a really tasty cannoli that day, and I was not giving up that easily. So we used Yelp to find a place called Stuffed Artisan Cannolis in the Lower East Side. These are not just any cannolis. They have specialty flavors that change from day to day. On this particular day, some of our choices were Girl Scout Cookie (tastes like a Samoa), Birthday Cake, Peanut Butter Cup, Salted Margarita, Mint Chocolate Chip, Banana Daiquiri, Pina Colada, Coco Loco, and a few others I can't remember. We couldn't decide on just one, so we ended up getting 6 altogether (don't worry, we didn't eat them all at once. :-)

Looks good, right?

So I suppose the lesson in all of this is something along the lines of "When God closes a door, He opens a window." Haha. If it hadn't been for the ridiculously long line a Carlo's, we never would have found this little gem. And that would have been a shame. :-) Now don't get me wrong, I will definitely be heading back to Hoboken for some of Buddy's famous pastries, but I'll just stick to the weekdays for that.

On Sunday, I met up with my friend Jason from back home in Highlands. He has been living in New York for over 5 years, and he works in the food/restaurant industry. We ended up walking around the city down near Union Square, and saw some pretty interesting things.

This is the police department. Pretty gorgeous.

Grace Church - we saw it from the street and decided to walk inside. One of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen.

Artist in Union Square - if you look closely, you'll notice that is not chalk. It's SAND. He had little bags of sand he was using to create this. WOW.

Sunday night, I went to church at Apostles NYC, a church started by J.R. Vassar (fellow Texan!). It was a very special time of worship, and I really love what this church is doing in NYC. Check them out at www.apostlesnyc.com.

Well, that's all I got for now, and I should really be getting back to the job search. Wish me luck!

Oh, one more thing...I have decided to make it my mission to actually see if there is decent Tex-Mex in New York. So, I will be trying every place that has Tex-Mex in the title (and there are actually quite a few) and reporting back with my findings. Get excited.

Cool Show 4 Teen Girlz

I am pretty impressed with the frequency of my blogging these days. Granted, I have no job, so I have a little extra free time. So enjoy it while you can, blogosphere...

A cool thing that I did the last time I was visiting in New York was to check out the Upright Citizen's Brigade. It's an improv comedy theater that was founded by Amy Poehler of SNL fame, and we checked out one of their shows back in August. It was hilarious. So, on Friday, Sara and I were trying to find something fun to do, and we saw that the UCB was doing something called "Cool Show 4 Teen Girlz." Basically, a fake talk show where they countdown all the most popular things for teen girls. But it's set in the 90s, which made it even better. Some topics included the game of MASH, the Babysitter's Club, Britney Spears, boy bands, etc.

Even better, was that Chris Kirkpatrick, one of the original members of *NSYNC (you probably know him as the guy with the braids), was on hand and acted in a sketch as well as playing himself in a sketch. He was actually pretty hilarious.

So, it was a fun night, and definitely a place I'll be going again. Here are a few pics from the show.

The whole cast after the show

Chris Kirkpatrick

Chris Kirkpatrick as "K-Smalls," a fitness guru trying to sell his DVD's on TV

Probably my favorite sketch of the night - "The Rules of the Baby-sitter's Club"

Ex: You MUST have different interests than your friends. If your friend is a dancer, you better put away your dancing shoes, because friends with similar interests is not a thing.

We're not in Texas anymore, Toto...

Ok, folks...the last few days have been a bit of a whirlwind. I have been making notes of things in my phone of things I want to blog about so I don't forget. There is so much material here in NYC! Lots of interesting people and happenings, and I am loving it all so far. So I'll just jump right in.

I arrived late Tuesday evening, so Wednesday was my first real day in the city. Like I said in my earlier post, I basically planned to just have a fun day in the city. And I definitely did. I slept in until about 10:00 and got dressed and headed towards Manhattan. It is about a 10 minute walk to the subway station from our apartment, and it was a beautiful day. I did stop at Mr. Bagel (as suggested by Sara) and had a YUMMY bacon, egg, and cheese bagel before I got to the train. (By the way, you should probably go ahead and get used to the fact that a lot of what I write is going to be about food).

But eventually I made my way to the M train and headed into the city. Out here in Queens/Brooklyn, the trains are actually above ground, which is nice because I can still do things on my phone until I get closer to Manhattan and go underground.

I took the train all the way into Rockefeller Center, because I pretty much just had one thing on my mind at that point, and that was the Magnolia Bakery. I only discovered this place about a year ago when we came to the city for Kristi's birthday/Shahla's pre-wedding weekend, but I absolutely LOVE their cupcakes. I got off the subway and headed straight for the bakery. In addition to my vanilla cupcake with chocolate buttercream frosting (should've taken a picture for you, but there was no time for that), I also got a hot chocolate with their homemade whipped cream on top. Probably the best cup of hot chocolate I've ever had. So those of you planning to visit me, you can pretty much expect that we'll be going here at least once during your stay. :-)

After Magnolia, I found a nice bench in Rockefeller Plaza (where the Christmas tree is during the holidays and also right across the street from where they film the Today show) and enjoyed my treats and watched people for a bit. Then I headed to Starbucks. This was the guy behind the counter.

Let me tell you about this guy. When I got in line to make my order, he was standing over on the other side of the counter and looking in the complete opposite direction. But he kept saying, "Ma'am, what would you like?" I finally realized that he was talking to me, but he still wasn't looking at me or walking over to where I was. So I told him what I wanted and he continued to talk to me but never looked at me. I proceeded to watch him do the same thing to several other people who had walked in. New Yorkers are weird.

After exploring the city a little more, and getting some Garrett's popcorn (also a place we will be going if you come visit!), I headed down to the Union Square area to meet Sara for dinner. We ate some fantastic Thai food at this place called Klong, and then we went to Brooklyn Heights. This is the area that Sara and Leticia want us to move to when our lease is up in August, so she wanted me to see it. Her small group from church was meeting out there and we had a little time to kill, so we walked over to the promenade, and I was sold. It has an AMAZING view of the city, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Statue of Liberty, and we just so happened to be there at sunset. Check it out.

That is the Brooklyn Bridge (and see the Empire State Building?) behind me.

Statue of Liberty

Sara

I also saw this in Brooklyn Heights, which made me even more sure that this is a place I would like to live. Can't beat Five Guys (I didn't even know they had them in New York!).

I've definitely noticed a lot of differences between New York and Texas in my few days here.

Here are just a few:

1) Smoking - It seems like EVERYONE in New York smokes. It kind of becomes this song and dance when you get stuck walking behind someone who is smoking. It's like dodgeball - you keep trying to dart out of the way of the smoke and figure out how to pass them up on the crowded sidewalk. I'm getting pretty good at it though.

2) Profanity - There is a lot of it. I think I have heard the F-bomb more times in the last 3 days then I did in my last 3 years in Texas. People use it so casually, which is a very weird thing for me. They also use it when they want to kill each other. Case in point - I was approaching an intersection near Penn Station on Wednesday and there was a left turn lane with two vehicles in it. They had a green arrow but there were some pedestrians crossing, so the guy in the first car was letting them pass (so as to not kill them, which I thought was a pretty good thing). But the guy behind him wasn't having it, so he begins honking and yelling, "You got a green ehhrow (NY accent), you dumbf*&#! GO!" Which of course created a lovely yelling match (think LOTS of F-words) that ultimately ended with the guy in back getting out of his car and running towards the other guys' car to fight him. Seriously?? But the guy in front just drove off, so that was pretty much the end of it. So crazy though.

3) St. Patrick's Day - Ok Texans, let's take a poll...how many of you have actually gone through an entire St. Patty's Day and never even remembered it until that night when someone makes a dumb joke about pinching you because you're not wearing green? It's happened to me on more than one occasion. But these New Yorkers are CRAZY about St. Patrick's Day. I got into the city at like 2:30 PM on Thursday and the bars were already packed, and there was just green everywhere. Also, there were people playing bagpipes outside just about every bar. Who knew it was such a big deal? I kind of felt bad for not wearing any green, and I was definitely out of place. I'll have to remember that for next year, I guess.

Notice the lone bagpipe guy

Wednesday was Sara's friend Andrew's birthday, so on Thursday, a bunch of us went out to celebrate. Now if you read Sara's blog (which you should - www.saraehenderson.blogspot.com), you may have already heard about Milon, which is the Indian food restaurant we went to for dinner, but if not, prepare to be amazed. This place was crazy. I'm gonna need you to look at this picture before I go any further.

There is so much crap hanging from the ceiling you can barely walk through it. And, yes that is Sara in the corner of the picture, but those guys are not with us. Just sitting ridiculously close to us because the place is tiny. There is like super loud Indian music playing that makes you feel like you are in the middle of a Bollywood movie. But it's awesome. And so is the food. I had never actually tried Indian food before, but I had a really good chicken dish with some basmati rice. Favorite part of the night was when the lights started flickering (like strobe light style) in the entire restaurant and the music changed to an Indian Happy Birthday song. Then the waiter brought out ice cream for our whole table and everyone clapped and cheered for Andrew. It was fantastic. Will definitely be returning here.

Ok, that is all for now folks, but I'll leave you with a couple more pictures I took in the city. Check back soon so you can find out how I ended up about 10 feet from a member of *NSYNC last night. (Don't get too excited though, it wasn't the good one. Haha)

Empire State Building

Really cool Barnes and Noble at Union Square

Phillies STINK!

Ok, I know I teased you guys earlier this week about my hatred for Philadelphia. Really, it's not so much a hatred for the city itself, but the stupid Philadelphia Phillies. Here are a couple of reasons why I already hated them before this week:

1) They jacked one of my favorite Astros pitchers, Roy Oswalt, last year, leaving us with no real ace, and a pretty dismal rest of the season.

2) They have basically put together the most powerful pitching rotation known to man, in the form of the aforementioned Oswalt, Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, and Joe Blanton. If that isn't a reason to hate (and fear) them, I don't know what is.

So, last week, I was at the rodeo with my sister Kristi, and we started talking about opening day of baseball. I thought it might be fun to check out an opening day game at one of the ballparks around me (Mets, Yankees, Phillies, Red Sox, Orioles, Washington D.C. - all within 5 hours of me!! HEAVEN). So, you can imagine my excitement when I saw that my beloved Astros were opening the season in none other than Philadelphia! A quick hour and a half train ride from NYC! I was super pumped!

What I neglected to think about was that when you have a superhuman pitching rotation and one of the best teams in baseball, you tend to sell out opening day games. Us Houstonians don't really think about things like that. Haha. So as I browsed StubHub and found nothing but $80 standing room only tickets, my hatred for the stupid Phillies grew even more. Why couldn't the Astros opened the season against someone sucky, like the Orioles? I bet they don't sell out any games.

So, needless to say, watching my Astros on opening day is probably out of the question. But don't fear, I will be scoping out their schedule and making sure that I go watch them as much as possible when they're in the area. I might even get beer thrown on me from some unruly fans for being that obnoxious fan cheering for the visiting team, who knows? I'll keep you posted.

By the way, I'm sure Philadelphia is a lovely place.

Welcome to New York!!

Well, here I am in my apartment in Glendale (slash Queens slash New York City...it's all kind of confusing, but we'll stick with Glendale since that's what it says on my address) It's currently 12:57 AM. However, between the time changes (daylight savings and time zone) and the excitement of the day, I am about two hours behind and still wide awake. So I thought I would blog about my day while everything is still fresh on my mind.

I woke up about 6:30 this morning at my parents' house in Highlands, TX. I wanted to get showered and dressed before my sister came with my niece and nephew so I would get to spend a little time with her before she went off to work (my parents are watching the kids this week since Kyle is in Guatemala). After saying goodbye to my sister, I got to spend the majority of the morning with my sweet niece and nephew. (With a run to the bank, grocery store, and some last minute errands mixed in). Here are some pictures I took with Isabella and Cooper at the house. Seriously, how cute are they??

We went to my grandparents' house to tell them bye and drop Cooper off since we figured between all of my crap and a 4 year old, it probably wouldn't be best to take him to the airport. Leaving him at the house and thinking about how much he would change before I saw him again was probably one of the hardest parts of the day. Of course, he just tried to bite my face and laughed his head off. :-)

Bella, my mom, my dad, and I then set off to Hobby Airport. I opted for the curbside check-in since one of my bags I knew was over the weight limit and I didn't really feel like lugging it through the airport. The skycap guy laughed when he told me that it actually weighed 78 pounds. What can I say? I have a lot of stuff.

Once inside, my mom and I got interviewed on camera about the new remodel of the airport that was being unveiled that day. Not sure if it was for the news or what. I will say that I didn't even really notice it had been remodeled. But I didn't tell them that. Haha. Then we had a little bit of time before I had to go through security, so we hung out and repeatedly had to explain to Bella why it was not appropriate to play Duck, Duck, Goose in the middle of an airport. I also attempted to get a picture of me with my parents, but when you have a 4 year old for a photographer, you take what you can get I guess.

It was a sad goodbye for sure but I hugged and kissed everyone and made my way to security. Once I got through, I made sure to eat some Pappasito's one last time for good measure, and thus began my day of flying. Here is the rundown of my itinerary...fly to Panama City, FL, stay on the plane and continue to Baltimore, switch planes in Baltimore and, finally, head to LaGuardia airport in New York. Not the ideal flight plan, but it was the cheapest. Oh well.

On the first leg of my flight (to Panama City), I sat beside the sweetest old couple. I pretty much talked to the wife the entire flight. She told me that she (a retired nurse) and her husband (a retired doctor) had met in NYC back when he was doing his residency and she was finishing up nursing school, and that they had actually gotten married in Manhattan in 1958, though they only lived there a few months afterward. Now they live in Florida. She had all kinds of stories to tell and I really enjoyed talking with her.

The rest of the flight to Baltimore sucked because I had a screaming baby RIGHT BEHIND ME. I always feel so bad for those parents and I try not to get too annoyed because I know they can't really help it, but it was really frustrating to listen to that for almost 2 hours. So much for my nap.

Anyway, this is getting lengthy, so I'll speed through the rest. Flight got delayed in Baltimore (of course) but I eventually got on the plane to New York. Quick side note - there were these three SUPER LOUD girls who were probably sitting 10-12 rows in front of me, yet I could hear EVERY word they were saying. In fact, at one point, one of them stood up and addressed the whole plane to ask us...wait for it...if anyone knew what Louboutins (as in Christian Louboutin shoes) were. Only on Southwest...

But I did make it to New York, and I called this car service Sara has used in the past to come pick me up from the airport. The driver's name was Luis, and he was Dominican I think. He was super nice and even gave me some helpful hints about living in the city (like don't go to the Bronx after dark...haha).

Sara met me downstairs and it was SO good to see her!! We of course exchanged some pleasantries and then got to the business of watching the Bachelor finale/After the Final Rose. Just like old times for those of you who followed our running blog...too bad there's no Dairy Queens around here. Haha. Our other roommate, Leticia, is back in Texas for spring break, but she will be back soon and then our little apartment will be complete. She and Sara did leave this for me on the table along with some Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs (my favorite!!). I think I'm going to like it here. :-)

On a serious note, I really can't believe all this is happening. The Lord has really made a way for all of this and I feel so incredibly blessed (albeit overwhelmed) about what He is going to do in and through me during this season of my life. I covet your prayers so much and I am so excited to share this journey with all of you.

I decided tomorrow is going to be a fun day. I am going to head into the city and indulge in some of my favorite treats (Magnolia Bakery, here I come!) and do a little exploring. But after that, it's time to get serious about the job hunt. I will most certainly keep you all posted. Good night for now!

PS I didn't forget about the Philadelphia thing. I will dedicate an entire post to it, probably tomorrow.

And...I'm off!

Alright, time to start up this blogging thing again. Thanks to Billy Gross and Rachel Nibbe for the suggestions on the name/URL. I knew it needed to include my love for the Astros/hatred for the Yankees somehow.

Right now I am in Houston, where I've been for the past 10 days, trying to squeeze in as much time with my family (as well as Chick-Fil-A and Tex-Mex) as possible before I fly to NY TOMORROW!!!! I just checked in for my flight online which means the countdown is now in hours instead of days, weeks, months, etc. I can't believe it's finally here. Emotions (good and bad) are running high for sure.

I have about a million things to do today, so this first post is going to be short and sweet, but I can't wait to start blogging about my adventures in the big city! You will get to be along for the ride as I look for jobs, a church, and just learn about the city in general. I can't promise a smooth ride, but it should definitely be an interesting one. :-)

So follow me, tell your friends, and let's do this. Look for my next post soon on why I hate Philadelphia (and I've never even been there). Go Astros!