Unhappy Anniversary

I'm an idiot. Really. I left for work this morning, drove through the neighborhood, and wondered why everyone had their flags out today. I even opened my day planner to look at the date....maybe I missed something. But all I got from that was that it was Yom Kippur. Halfway into my morning I finally realized that today remembers seven years from the September 11th attacks. I was sad, but also a little grateful that this was something I was able to overlook. Sad because obviously it was such a devastating event that took so many lifes. But grateful that I was able to move on in my life without losing anyone dear to me and with a stronger sense of patriotism. Each year I am able to remember what a great country we live in, and how even after such a horrible tragedy we were able to bond together as a country, united, and move on.

Visiting New York last month was incredible. As we explored ground zero (really, there isn't much to explore, just a big gaping hole in the sky) I couldn't even comprehend what it would have been like that day, working or visiting surrounding buildings. I'm sure we can all remember where we were that day, and maybe we might forget for a brief moment as each anniversay comes around, but hopefully we can always remember what a great country we live in and how blessed we are to have the many opportunities that we do! In the years that follow, I hope that I might not be too caught up in my own life to remember all that was lost, and all that was gained on that day.

my grampy

This is my Grandpa. We were over at their house the other day when I noticed his suspenders. I said "Grandpa, those are some really awesome suspenders you have there" His response: "Well Grandma doesn't like when I wear suspenders, so I thought if I wore these camo ones that she might not see that I had them on." Grandpas say the darndest things.

Something for the Twilight Obsessed

So I know there are a lot of people out there that are as Twilight Obsessed as I am. I'm here to share the grim news with those that haven't heard. For those of you that don't know, there was a fourth installment to the saga, Midnight Sun, the book that would tell the story from Edward's perspective. Stephanie had the first chapter to the book on her site as a kind of teaser. I read it and loved it, and was almost more excited for this book than for Breaking Dawn. But something terrible has happened. (I know I'm being a little over dramatic, but it's just who I am) Stephanie posted on her site that somehow the draft to this book got released over the internet and now she is REFUSING to finish the novel because she's so angry about it. After her comments she releases the rough draft herself so that people don't go looking for it online and maybe end up with the wrong thing. It's just the first 264 pages or something like that, but it's BRILLIANT, even with her punctuation and grammer errors. I love it from his view and am so sad she's not going to finish it. If you want to read the draft you can get to it by clicking here. Now, let us all mourn together.

Baby Owen

The Tuesday before we left for New York, my good friend Janeen had her baby! She was supposed to have him on Wednesday the 27th (my birthday) which would have been fun, but I'm glad they had him before we left so we could visit with her in the hospital. He is such a DOLL! Congratulations!

8 Pounds 4 Ounces

19 1/2 inches long

The Big Apple

Wow. New York was SO AMAZING! We had so much fun and saw so many great things. The only thing that could have made it better was not forgetting my sneakers. My feet were cracked and hurt so bad by the end of the trip from wearing flip flops and walking 50 miles. Some things about New York:

A. I knew there would be bums but I didn't really think they would be sleeping in boxes. They literally slept in boxes on the sidewalk. It was sad.

B. Even though the subway is dirty and has some crazy people on it, overall I think it's just amazing. Incredible that they can build such a huge underground transportation system.

C. It must just be from watching too many movies, but I expected to see more people that were really fashion forward being that it's such a huge fashion capital and there weren't. Just average people in average dress.

D. The Statue of Liberty is small. Absolutely amazing, but smaller than the movies make it look. (I guess I should stop watching so many movies)

One of the best stories we got from the trip was when we were getting off of the Staten Island Ferry. We were behind this woman that was pushing a stroller and also had her small child with her. Maybe 5 or 6 years old. Woman talking to her 5 year old son "Hold my arm, HOLD MY ARM!!! Do you want somebody to grab you and kidnap you, and then chop your head off and cut you into tiny pieces? HOLD MY ARM!!" She wasn't kidding either. I just wanted to say Lady, your kid is like 5 years old, if anyone is going to cut him into tiny pieces it's going to be you, because you're crazy!

Here are all of our pictures. There are seriously a ton, but I couldn't choose just a few.

Sorry the picture is blurry. The first night we were there we ate at this mexican restaurant. And this is their menu. On the top of the menu it has all the mexican dishes, and then at the bottom of the menu it says 'FOR GRINGOS' And lists a few American items. Pretty funny.

There were some seriously amazing churches. And the graveyards surrounding the churches were awesome. Some of the headstones were dated from the early 1800's.

Rockafeller Center, Carnagie Hall and Radio City

Times Square

Empire State Building

Grand Central Station

YANKEES GAME

I know they haven't been doing the greatest this year, but we got lucky and went to an AWESOME game. Called up in the 7th inning, Giambi crushed a game-tying pinch-hit home run, then drilled a ninth-inning walk-off hit to defeat the Red Sox, 3-2, in the final regular-season Yankee Stadium contest between the two storied rivals. It was so amazing. I'm so happy I was able to see the stadium before they tear it down.

Brooklyn Bridge

Wall Street and the Financial District

It was cool seeing all the men in their expensive suits, and the security standing outside the banks with serious artillery.

Staten Island Ferry

Chicago on Broadway (so amazing)

Central Park

One of my favorite things in New York was walking around Greenwich Village. I had a guide that took us around to different houses and tells you about them. These houses were built in the 1820's and the architecture is just unbelievable. Just such a cute place. If I were to ever move to New York it would be to here. There is one picture of a cobble stone street I'm walking down. This was the original cobble stone street from when they used horse and buggy as transportation. The pictures aren't very good because it was dark.

Just a really really amazing place to go and experience. If you ever get the chance you need to!