What, Janell still has a blog??

I am not going to spend a bunch of time apologizing for being a sucky blogger.  Suffice it to say, I'm sorry, I am still alive and kicking, and I will try to do better. :-)

Sooooo, how do I sum up the last 5ish months for you?  It would be hard.  So many amazing and wonderful things are happening up here in NY and I certainly don't have the time or energy to tell you about all of them. So I'll give you the highlights.

I am coming up on my 9-month anniversary here in the city.  Since I last blogged, I have moved apartments (and boroughs, for that matter).  Sara and I are now proud residents of Brooklyn (Prospect Heights, to be more specific).  We love the new place, and it's SOOOO much more accessible to Manhattan, which is nice.  It cut my commute by more than half.  Sara wrote a great blog about the apartment, so rather than repeat everything she said, you should just read her post here.

I also just celebrated my 6-month anniversary at my job.  I have been so incredibly blessed with the people and the work I get to do there, and I am really looking forward to my future with this amazing company.

Sorry it's so blurry, but it's the only picture I have of the 3 of us

Shortly after my last blog, I went back to the great state of TX to see my family and attend my cousin April's wedding to my lifelong friend Clay (we went to kindergarten together!!).  It was a beautiful ceremony, of course, and really special for me because I got to see so much family and tons of friends from growing up as well.  So very happy for them, and thrilled to have Clay be a part of our family.  Some of my favorite memories from the trip...

My big sister, Alecia

Finally got to meet baby Eli! His mom, Rebecca is one of my oldest and dearest friends.

SOOOOO happy to see my sweet niece, Bella!

And, of course, this little man, my nephew, Cooper

It was definitely hard coming back home, but I have to say, fall in New York is absolutely breathtaking.  All around me, the trees are changing colors and losing their leaves, and there is this wonderful chill in the air that reminds me the holidays are just around the corner.  I took this picture the other day just down the street...

And best of all, I saw this the other day when I was walking past Rockefeller Center...

That's right, folks, the tree preparations are underway, which I am super pumped about. :-)  Holiday decorations are popping up all over the place, and I LOVE IT.

Ok, time to close for now, but I'll leave you with a story...

On Veterans' Day last Friday, I was walking down my street to the subway station.  All of the sudden, I hear some stomping and huffing and puffing happening behind me.  I turn around and there is a little guy, probably like 8 years old, wearing his backpack and clearly frustrated.  He is repeatedly letting out these huge sighs and literally stomping and shaking his fists.  My curiosity got the better of me, so I asked him what was wrong.  He very angrily said,

"THOSE IDIOTS!"
Before I could ask him who the idiots in question were, he says,
"You know where I go to school??" (I did not)
"ALLLLLL the way up there at PS 43!"
"And you know where I live??" (Also did not)
"Way down here at 1015 Washington Ave..." (His mom should probably have the "stranger danger" talk with him, come to think of it...)
"And THOSE IDIOTS did not tell me there was no school today!!"

This little guy had gotten up out of bed and walked all the way to school on a holiday.  Poor thing. I tried to help him see the bright side by reminding him that no school was most definitely a good thing.  He wasn't really having it.  He finally said,

"I guess you're right.  It is a nice day out."

Such wisdom.

When we got to his apartment building, he goes,

"Well, this is me. Catch ya later!"

Haha.  He totally made my day, and I hope he ended up enjoying his day off, however unexpected it may have been.

So here's to looking on the bright side.  Catch ya later! :-)