musings of Mother Hood

BUST a Move

It now seems like a hundred years since I wrote this. Can that really have been just six months ago? I don't know how obvious it is from THAT post how doubtful I was that I would ever get to write THIS post, but trust me - it was iffy. 

I admitted to Jeff this weekend that I didn't realize I would be so committed to "this running thing". And, honestly, I didn't. Back in October, I downloaded the Couch to 5K app on my phone and did a week or two of the training before getting derailed by the holidays and a hundred other excuses. I had always considered running a "someday" thing, and I guess I was resigning myself to it being more like a "some OTHER day" thing. And I didn't mind. Too much.

Somewhere in there I broke my phone and any history of my first, failed attempt at C25K was erased. I had a clean slate I probably didn't deserve. But there I was. Back to square one.

After deciding a real, live goal might light my fire I registered for the 2011 Komen Ozark Race for the Cure 5K. I had six weeks to complete a nine week training schedule that would take me from zero ("couch") to my first 5K. Stranger things have happened.

And happen it did.

We woke up at 5:30, dropped the kiddo at Nancy's and headed to Rogers to meet up with 16,000 of our closest friends. Yes - 16,000! This race has grown so much the last few years!

There is no shortage of fun at this thing -- people show up in hopes of outdoing the next person in wacky, nonsensical pink clothing/hair/makeup. Tutus, pink zebra spandex, wigs -- if you can dream it, they can "pink" it.

My running partner for the race was my friend Jennifer - who got all fancy last year and decided to up and run a marathon! Maybe if I continue to surround myself with these running muses it will start to wear off on me!

After a quick "before" pic, we headed to the start line. And don't forget the other 15,998 people! They were there, too!

Jeff was able to snap a few pictures before/during/after the race, but I have no idea how he managed to find us in this mob. As this photo was taken, Jennifer and I were probably still standing in the back somewhere, waiting to GET to the start line. At one point, she turned to me and asked what time I was hoping to make. And then broke the news that we probably weren't looking at any personal bests while wading through that crowd...

Do you see me? Do you see me?

There I am!

That photo was taken just out of the gate and the crowd thinned as we ran, but it was pretty cozy for the first mile or so. I hadn't had time to walk/run the course before the race so I was crossing my fingers that there weren't TOO many hills.

Yeah.

The whole darn thing was uphill! Never incredibly steep, but a good solid incline -- for (what CERTAINLY felt like) the whole way!

Jennifer was a great pacer and we had a good run. NO WALKING! That alone was a huge accomplishment for me. I walked during one hefty uphill stretch of the Cow Paddy last week, and I had yet to do 3 miles - no stopping. So I feel great about that.

The race was chip timed, but as far as I can tell, all timing started when the gun went off. So... remember that slow start and waiting to GET to the start line? Meh.

I'm calling it good. 3+ miles, no stopping. And two 5Ks in 8 days.

The only New Year's Resolution I made this year was to accomplish five things on my Life List in 2011. Well.

PLUS

EQUALS

Incidentally, it also equals this:

My friend Molly recently told me, "5Ks are the gateway drug to running." I guess we'll find out soon enough. And maybe there really is something to this whole adrenaline and endorphins thing. Because I maaaaaaay have let myself get all excited this weekend and I maaaaaaaaaaaaaay have already registered for another 5K in less than 3 weeks.

Well, that. And I downloaded B210K on my phone.

B210K (Bridge to 10K): Specifically designed for C25K app (Couch to 5K) graduates. Pick up where C25K app leaves off and get to the 10K distance in just 6 weeks.

Giddy up.

Push to the finish!

The race is less than 3 days away! And all of you have been amazing with support and motivation and donations -- I can't thank you enough. And I want to make one last push.

I'm running on the Saatchi & Saatchi X Team. I've hit my personal goal of $1000 (THANKS TO ALL OF YOU) and SSX has raised just over its initial goal of $4000.

BUT!

Wouldn't it be cool for the team to raise an even 5K??

Didya see what I did there?

So CLICK HERE to help us get to $5000. And pass this link on to anyone who might be interested. You can donate in my name (LINK HERE) or anyone else on the team. It all goes the same place!

Thanks so much! And pray for a nice, sunny race day!

This could be the 5-hour Energy talking

I never wanna see another treadmill as long as I live. Well, until the next time it rains. Or until the next time it's dark when I want to go running -- because I'm a complete and utter scaredy cat.

Sunday morning was a breakthrough. I got up early and headed to the park to do Week 5 - Day 1 of my C25K program. You may have seen cryptic updates on Twitter or Facebook for this program. Something like this:

C25K = Couch to 5K. And while I didn't exactly start on the couch, I certainly started from square one as far as running is concerned. And I decided to throw myself an extra curveball by miscalculating the weeks between my starting date and the 5K. I had it in my brain that the program was six weeks long - so that's when I started. Yeah, so, evidently the app would prefer you take NINE weeks to get from your couch to the starting line of a 5K. Woops. So I've been squeezing nine weeks of training into six weeks of calendar. The race is 18 days away and I've got a little over four weeks of training left.

Weeks 1 and 2 really tested me. I was getting through the workouts, but I wasn't loving it. And I told myself it would get easier. Weeks 3 and 4 rolled through and I still wasn't feeling like the runner I wanted to be, but my patented mixture of blind determination and unadulterated stubbornness kept me moving. I had long ago convinced myself I hated running. This wasn't necessarily about that. This was about proving to myself that I could decide to do something - then do it.

I can't put my finger on the light bulb moment, but it happened. I considered for the first time that it was indeed possible I'd been stacking the cards against myself.

I run inside. On a treadmill. While half-listening to whatever randomness is on the TVs above my head. I usually alternate between staring straight ahead (at myself in the mirrored wall) and staring at my feet so as not to move more than 8 inches to either side lest I trip and fall. I compulsively check the timer on my running app and carefully count down every last second of the workouts with dread. Doesn't that sound like a barrel of monkeys?

So. Week 5.

Enter Michael. My new trainer. Well, actually he's the incredibly monotone male voice in the app who prompts me when it's time to run and how much time I have left. There's a female voice option, too, but it's much harder for me to pretend that "Alison" is really Bob from The Biggest Loser. So I go with Michael.

And since I had decided to join the rest of civilization and wear ear buds while I run, I thought it might be nice to listen to some music while I was at it. I'm still compiling a good workout playlist so if you have any suggestions please pass them along -- but Alanis came through in a pinch. Hey, it was either that or find a way to get energized by Zac Brown Band or Johnny Cash. Jagged Little Pill it was.

So there I was - music in my ears, wind in my face.

And before I knew it, my Week 5 - Day 1 workout was over. Seriously. What should have been a pretty taxing run was over before I was really tired. So I took advantage. And kept running. I made it official by switching over to Week 5 - Day 2. And finished that one, too.

Did you catch that?

An hour's worth of workouts. Five full laps around the park. At 7 a.m.

I bet you a million dollars it wouldn't have happened if I'd been on the treadmill. It's only taken me until Week 5 to realize that all those people I see jogging outside with headphones - might be onto something.

I felt really good after my long morning. Really good. I've never been so sure that this thing is actually going to happen.

---

I have set a personal fundraising goal of $1000 for the 2011 Ozark Race for the Cure. And I believe in the power of social media to help me get there. There are 18 days left before April 30th and my first 5K. Here's what you can do to help.

1. Post this link to Facebook: http://www.sarahmcow.com/my_weblog/2011/04/this-could-be-the-5-hour-energy-talking.html
2. Tweet this! Can the power of social media help fight cancer? RT and find out! http://tinyurl.com/5salmxs @sarahmcow
3. Post the link to your blog or any other social media outlet that will listen!
4. You can also do it the REALLY easy way by pressing one of the two cute little buttons at the bottom of this post. One says "Tweet This!" and the other is a Facebook "Like" button. Go ahead. Make my day.

Let's see how powerful social media can be.

1000 Good Reasons

I don't really run. We've covered this. Remember?

But! I recently committed myself to running anyway. Because I'm that kind of crazy. And because I have this curious urge to do and try things -- that I've never done or tried. That's right, this running nonsense is on my Life List. It's official. Right there at #37. Just - run.

So. Since it was my one and only "resolution" this year to cross (at least) five items off the list. And... since it's March 24th and I've yet to cross off a single one... it's about time we get this thing in gear, yeah?

Care to make it interesting?

I'm always bragging about the power of social media. I believe in it - strongly - as an efficient tool for information, impact and influence. So I propose a little experiment in the name of raising money for cancer research and prevention.

April 30th is the 13th Annual Ozark Race for the Cure. This week, I signed on to the Saatchi & Saatchi X Race Team and took on a $100 fundraising goal. After casually posting about the race on Facebook Tuesday night, I had nearly met my original $100 goal by Wednesday morning so I raised it to $200. By that afternoon, I was more than halfway to the NEW goal so I raised it AGAIN to $300.

See where I'm going with this? Almost without trying, I raised $135 for Komen in less than 24 hours.

There are 37 days between now and April 30th. Let's see how powerful social media can be. I just raised my goal to $1000.

Please post this link to Facebook, Twitter, your blog -- whatever you can do. The link to donate is HERE. I genuinely hope I'm forced to raise that goal -- at least once more. And if you're in NWA and you aren't already on a race team, let me know. You can run for the SSX Team!

1000 reasons to run.

All it takes is all you got. - Anonymous

Extended Family

I have been known to joke about my status of "Black Sheep" in a family of do-gooders. Whether it's military service or nursing or education or medicine, I'm surrounded by people who do very selfless, noble things with their lives while I work... in advertising. No one at my office is saving lives or defending the country, but this week I found a new respect for the people there and for what it is we "do".

See, it's all true. We're in business. And there's nothing inherently noble about the work we do at Saatchi & Saatchi X. Sure, you can find worth and usefulness and even fulfillment within our walls, but at the end of the day - our success is measured in dollars earned, not lives changed. And, especially considering all the do-gooding around me, that has always bothered me a little.

This week, Saatchi experienced heartbreak. One of our own, a member of our Creative Department, passed away Tuesday night. Justin Leland was a truly special guy and news of his tragic death sent absolute shock waves through the agency and throughout our offices across the country. It's a workplace typically characterized by the constant hum of productivity and action, but I will never forget what it felt like to walk into that painful, heavy silence Wednesday morning.

As the week unfolded, I watched as the agency became more than a workplace. It became a place in which people were leaning on one another and truly taking care of each other. I watched our management find ways to keep people from retreating to their desks, overwhelmed or confused. They were mindful to get people talking -- talking about Justin, talking about loss, talking about heartbreak and anger and grief. I saw people put aside the "job" in exchange for a hug and a moment and a comforting word.

It's "just a job". Sure. But it's a job that requires an "all in" kind of passion. It's a high-stress, high-intensity place in which things move quickly and it's really, really easy to get swept up in it all. There always seems to be more obligations than downtime and more sacrifices than rewards. People here win and celebrate together and, evidently, they mourn together. It's a job that requires too much heart and dedication to really tolerate anything less than total commitment.

It's a job that produces people who showed up for one of their own this weekend. Past and current Xers gathered Saturday night to love Justin and support one another. I saw faces I hadn't seen in years. And regardless of what had carried some of those people away from the agency over time, a sense of family and dedication to people brought them back. There were a lot of tears, but there was just as much laughter. There was music and poetry, stories and jokes. On a night that was forecasted to be rainy and cold, we spent the beautiful, clear evening outside against the backdrop of a crackling bonfire.

The deep and genuine friendships among some of those at Justin's memorial service were incredibly moving. These were not coworkers who had just lost a team member. These were hurting, grieving friends mourning the loss of an extraordinary man.

This week, the advertising industry lost an asset, and the agency world lost a truly authentic creative talent. But this family -- this Saatchi family -- lost a brother and a son. Employees come  and go, their positions are backfilled and their desks occupied. But family members are mourned and terribly missed. And seeing that brutally human element with my own eyes this week made me realize the depth of the dignity and the decency in this place I sometimes like to think of as "just a job".

Pows and Wows

I spent nearly every Wednesday night between the first day of 7th grade and the day of high school graduation at Youth Bible Study at Cabot United Methodist Church. It was a midpoint of the week and a time I remember with a smile.

One of my favorite parts of Bible Study was "Pows and Wows". We started each Wednesday night by going around the circle and sharing our Pows and Wows. A Wow is something good that happened to you that week -- a good grade on a test or a part in the school play. And a Pow was something not-so-good that happened to you that week -- a big paper was due or bad news from a friend.

Pows and Wows were - in their simplest form - "how was your day?" And something we spent a lot of time on each week. Often we had to limit everyone to one Pow and one Wow, just to be sure we could get to everyone AND do our Bible Study before it was time to go.

So here are my Pows and Wows this week. It's been a long week. One that hasn't yet materialized in any kind of coherent story or worthy blog post. So I'm going to quit allowing the blank computer screen to taunt me, and just get all this stuff out of my head and out of my way. Here goes:

Pows

• If you add up the energy level of all three Hoods this week - we MIGHT get to a full 100%. We are feeling collectively crummy. And that's no fun.
• Jeff was out of town for the first half of the week. Single parenthood is not for the faint of heart. And I'm glad he's back now. (That was kindof a combo PowWow.)
• We're approaching a particularly rough time of year for my family. This year is rougher than years past. And I'm hoping to come out the other side.
• I tried to donate blood Wednesday night, but was turned away because I've traveled in African countries with low risk of Malaria in the last 12 months. Picky picky.
• I think I've been clenching my jaw and grinding my teeth more than usual. The pain in my head keeps impolitely reminding me not to do that.
• It's that time of year again. That lovely time of year that means Colt's nose is in CONSTANT need of wiping.

Wows

• Colt's school had Picture Day this week. And you all know how I love Picture Day. I am already anxiously awaiting the cheesy, posed little proofs.
• The Boy is talking like crazy these days. It is music to our ears.
• Work has been crazy busy (which SOUNDS like a Pow), but I've really found the right team within the agency. I'm in a really good place and enjoying work like I haven't in a really long time.
• It's fall. I love fall.
• I took the munchkin up to campus this weekend to run off some energy and take some fun photos to send to his out-of-town Paw. They turned out pretty great.

Wow.

 

The Hoods in NYC - Part 5 of 5: All good things must come to an end.

Read Part 1 of 5 here.
Read Part 2 of 5 here.
Read Part 3 of 5 here.
Read Part 4 of 5 here.

Our flight wasn't scheduled until that afternoon, so we left our luggage at the hotel after checking out Monday morning. The plan was to have a really peaceful Labor Day and we had tentative plans to walk and shop and see where we ended up.

We started off into Greenwich Village in search of some breakfast and we were a little surprised to find that most things were closed for Labor Day. I gotta tell ya - if I paid what these people pay for rent, I'd be open for business! Nonetheless, it was a quiet day on the street.

Eventually, we found a little cafe serving brunch and we headed inside. Not only was it quite possibly the most reasonably priced food we'd seen since arriving in the city but they also had the most amazing breakfast beverage that I never knew existed.

Nutella hot cocoa. My life is complete.

We walked and wandered with no real plan. Just exploring the Village. We eventually came upon Washington Square Park and the beginning of 5th Avenue, which we followed on up to the Flatiron Building.

At that point, we met Ryan for lunch - he'd spent the morning with a friend who lives in the city. We found some food then headed East. We had visited the Bronx and Brooklyn over the course of our trip -- we thought we'd go wave at Queens. So we walked. Are you noticing a pattern?

The East River smells as bad as it did in my dreams. But the view was nice.

 

And we noticed some cool skywriting. An ad for a local casino. Those crazy marketing people.

The weather was beautiful and we were just soaking it up. If I had it to do over again, I might wear different shoes that day - but I wouldn't change anything else. Most of the city was either sleeping or relaxing in the various parks and pools we were passing. We saw napping. We saw sliding and swinging and running. And lots and lots of laughing.

Over the course of the day we developed a game we're pretty sure city kids play -- "Starbucks!" Same rules as "Slug bug!" It got pretty intense as the day progressed. And we managed to fit in one more Seinfeld landmark before we headed home. Well, two. First - Mendy's.

Then the NY Public Library - of which I neglected to take a picture.

I spent a good portion of our trip cringing at various signs, menus and marquees. The Grammar Queen never takes a vacation. Here are two of my favorites:

This sign hung on all sides of a presumably vacant building in Brooklyn. Gotta love it.

And this one was just down the block from our hotel in SOHO.

At first glance, there's nothing amiss. But look carefully.

Clever, right? Just like that - "Countyard" becomes "Courtyard". Ahh, the joys of freelance proofreading.

We eventually caught the subway at Times Square and shot back to our hotel. If you are paying attention and know anything about Manhattan -- we covered a lot of ground that day. It looked something like this.

Yeah. We started at the hotel around 10 am and made it to Times Square by early afternoon. I didn't bother doing the math on how FAR that actually is. I probably don't want to know.

We had a blissfully uneventful subway ride from Times Square back to the hotel to pick up our bags and catch our car to the airport.

What a trip! What a LUCKY trip. A completely freakish stroke of luck got us there in the first place. We managed to sidestep a hurricane and have disgustingly perfect weather the entire time. While we had our share of 'just ok' food experiences, we also dined on lobster tails at Yankee Stadium. Our flights were on-time and we all got home safely. Farewell NYC!

Thanks for hanging in there through the whole story. I hope reading it was even a fraction of the fun we had living it.

________________________________________

Note: I am in no way required by either The C.A.R.E. Initiative or Saatchi & Saatchi X to write this account of our trip. This blog has not been sponsored, compensated, or otherwise obligated by C.A.R.E. or SSX -- we just had too much fun not to share! For more information about The C.A.R.E. Initiative check out their website or shoot me an email.

The Hoods in NYC - Part 4 of 5: Liberty and Midtown

Read Part 1 of 5 here.
Read Part 2 of 5 here.
Read Part 3 of 5 here.

As the idea of this trip was to get in some relaxation and fun, we decided we wouldn't over schedule ourselves or make ourselves get up early. So when we parted ways Saturday night, we agreed that we would call when we woke up in the morning - whenever that might be.

Fast forward to 11 AM!

So... we slept in a little later than expected. But we didn't care. It's called V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N. And we had no real plans. Clearly.

After some Dunkin Donuts to start the day off right, we decided to jump start the day's activities by side-stepping the subway and opting for a cab ride down to the Battery Park area to see about taking a tour of Liberty Island.

Other than the Yankees game, we'd been hitting nothing but duds as far as food was concerned so we had our hearts set on finding a great lunch before going to the Statue of Liberty. We climbed out of the cab and set off into the Financial District for some food. But it was a Sunday morning, which meant most restaurants were either serving a breakfast/brunch menu (read: expensive) or closed altogether. Finally, we turned a corner onto a side, side street and stumbled upon an entire alley filled with tables and chairs. All the restaurants on either side of the street had outside seating for the day and there was activity up and down the walkway. Finally! Food!

We chose a little Mexican place called Mad Dog & Beans. It was cute and the food smelled good and Jeff could get sweet tea (which for SOME reason, is not readily available outside the South). We settled in with our chips and salsa, and - like he often does - Jeff warned the waitress that it would be tough to keep up with his empty glass. "Keep 'em comin'." And she did. She brought glass after glass of sweet tea for Jeff and Diet Pepsi (I found VERY few places in NYC that had Diet Coke rather than Pepsi. Not cool.) for me. We had our lunch while we talked about what we wanted to accomplish that day. Nothing eventful. Until the check arrived. Ryan about choked when he looked inside the folder. Then he looked at us and said, "umm. I don't think you get free refills." Nice. And three dollars a pop! Another fabulous NYC dining experience.

We grudgingly paid our lunch tab and headed back out to the street, toward the water. There didn't really seem to be a mass movement of people in any one direction so we finally had to stop and ask someone how to get tickets for the ferry to Liberty Island. Thattaway!

The line for tickets looked a little long, but hey - it's THE Statue of Liberty. So we jumped in line. And didn't move. At all. For many, many minutes. So we sent Ryan to see what the deal was and it didn't take him long to report back to the group.

"We have a decision to make. How important is the Statue of Liberty to you?" 

Hesitation.

"You see this line? Yeah. That's the line for tickets. THEN! You get to stand in THAT line to get onto the ferry." He motioned toward a line of what must have been over a thousand people. We hadn't even noticed it when we walked up. It would take us HOURS to get there. If it even happened before dark.

Decision made! This group would be admiring Lady Liberty from afar!

Who can find the Statue of Liberty in this picture? No, really. I swear. We went to the Statue of Liberty.

THERE it is!

After (sort of) standing in line for the ferry, we were in need of a bathroom. Heck, we HAD just blown our savings on tea and pop during lunch. We asked three or four different people for the bathroom -- all of whom sent us in slightly different directions -- but we finally found it. And I wish I had taken a picture of THAT line. The little stone building housing the bathroom had one side for men and one side for women. No line for the men. Mile-long line for the women. Of course.

We parted ways and after two minutes the boys were done. And Teresa and I hadn't moved. After another ten minutes. No movement. And having HAD it with the lines at this crazy place, we took matters into our own hands. We made Ryan escort us one by one into the men's bathroom. It was not void of men. Let's just say that. But we made it out alive. And on our way out of the park we waved to all the poor saps outside the women's bathroom who might as well have been standing in line for Christmas.

The next several hours we wandered around the Financial District and at the corner of Wall Street and Broadway is a beautiful little spot. Really peaceful, right in the middle of downtown. The Trinity Church. I really love traditional, old churches after seeing more than my fair share of them in Italy and around Europe. They have a way of simultaneously making you feel small and insignificant, and peaceful. And the Trinity Church was beautiful. And the grounds of the church contain the only active cemetery in all of Manhattan, the final resting place of Alexander Hamilton, John Jacob Astor, and actor Jerry Orbach.

It's amazing that this peaceful place can exist in the middle of one of the busiest areas of such a bustling city.

We continued our wander around the Financial District, stopping at the New York Stock Exchange and Federal Hall. And Ground Zero.

Then it was time to get serious. We'd already made poor Teresa and Ryan listen to Seinfeld quotes and inside jokes the entire trip. And we took them to Sardi's. But now it was time for the real thing. We rode the subway all the way uptown and found this:

Our Graceland.

Knowing full well that the show was not actually filmed inside this coffeehouse, we had to check it out anyway. It might have been the smallest restaurant I've ever personally entered. I almost had to back out the way I came in. But I was there. I can't BELIEVE that wasn't on my Life List!

Subway back downtown.

Jeff and I have about decided that we just don't feel like we're on vacation unless we walk a few dozen miles. We've hoofed it around Vegas a few times and most recently dragged each other to the top of Mt. Whitney and back -- so I guess it just felt natural to embark on a walking vacation of Manhattan.

Starting on 5th Avenue.

  

We stopped at another beautiful church - St. Patrick's Cathedral.

And took a slight detour over to 6th Avenue for this fun little spot.

Central Park eventually came into view and we went exploring. I love that you can get the peaceful, green park in the same shot as a high-rise.

Ryan stayed busy finding families and couples that needed a photographer. He took his job as complimentary tourist photographer VERY seriously and could manage to stop traffic on the busy walking path in order to get the perfect shot. We told him he should accept tips!

It didn't take long for us to find something dangerous to do. Climb a big rock!

 

Wouldn't you know it - flip flops are not exactly effective climbing shoes.

After meandering through the park, we were seriously, honestly looking for good food. It has to be out there SOMEWHERE. So we turned to the nearest iPhone and discovered that Mickey Mantle's Restaurant was less than a block away! One of our favorite Seinfeld episodes mentions Mickey Mantle's Restaurant. And the show is riddled with references to him and the Yankees.  Sold!

We plopped down in a booth, looked up and saw this:

How's THAT for luck?

The whole restaurant is decorated in sports memorabilia -- mostly Yankees and Mickey Mantle stuff, obviously, but plenty of others, too. Baseball, football, golf, basketball, tennis. I even saw a few pieces of music memorabilia from The Beatles and such.

Very cool place. And good food. Finally. I even ordered myself a real live piece of NY Cheesecake.

By this time, I'd gotten a handle on the subway and managed to get us ALL THE WAY home in one try.

If I can make it there
I'll make it anywhere...

________________________________________

Note: I am in no way required by either The C.A.R.E. Initiative or Saatchi & Saatchi X to write this account of our trip. This blog has not been sponsored, compensated, or otherwise obligated by C.A.R.E. or SSX -- we just had too much fun not to share! For more information about The C.A.R.E. Initiative check out their website or shoot me an email.

The Hoods in NYC - Part 3 of 5: Fantasy Camp.

Read Part 1 of 5 here.
Read Part 2 of 5 here.

At the center of the trip package I won that led to this NYC weekend in the first place were four (FABULOUS!) tickets to see the Yankees. And see the Yankees we did. That Saturday, as the subway got closer to the Bronx, more and more people decked out in jerseys and ball caps and pinstripes piled on. We had a feeling we were headed the right direction.

And oh my. When we came up out of the subway there were Yankees fans as far as we could see in every direction. All four of us are Arkansas alums and in an effort to show the love for our Razorbacks back home (and support them on the day of their season opener), we all wore Razorback red to the ballgame that day. And - as it turned out - it was a good thing we did. It made it easy to find each other in a sea of blue!

We made our way through the crowd and got closer to the massive Yankee Stadium. It reminded me a little of the Colosseum in Rome - it was almost majestic. And we just kinda gawked at it for a minute.

Then we made our way from gate to gate looking for this:

Yes sir! We planned on living the high life for the afternoon. I had read about the Legends Suite (go ahead - click the link) and seen pictures online, and I'd tried my best to prepare everyone for what the Yankees like to call "the most coveted tickets in sports".

We thought we knew - but we had no idea. We walked through the entrance and received a wristband signifying that we belonged there. Then we were let loose into a room that was the perfect marriage of Fancy Restaurant and Favorite Sports Bar. White tablecloths and fresh flowers meets great food and flat screens.

Our wristbands meant everything was free (except booze - which we passed on after seeing the $12/beer price tag!) and we had permission to eat ourselves silly at the buffet which included lobster, steak, sushi and various salads and breakfast quiches. We didn't even make it to dessert before it was time to head to our seats for the game. Riiiiight after we stopped at this little candy display on the way out the door, where we could choose from peanuts, cracker jacks, M&Ms, Skittles, chips, Twizzlers - you name it. It didn't matter that we were nowhere near hungry. We indulged.

Our seats were on the 8th row. Third base line.

And only the New York Yankees could order up weather like this.

But after about the second inning, our boys decided we weren't quite close enough and they scouted out some empty seats on the front row, a section or two closer to home plate. Why not?

Why shouldn't we sit on the front row of Yankee Stadium with our feet up on the Toronto Blue Jays dugout?

Why shouldn't we be so disgustingly close to the field that I can take pictures like this? Of DEREK JETER?

And this one? Of Mariano Rivera throwing the game winning pitch?

Why shouldn't we have a waitress IN OUR SEATS ready to bring us cheesesteak or sushi or milkshakes or hotdogs or Cracker Jacks? Or anything else we could think of?

I'm probably not supposed to admit this but the last time I cheered for the Yankees I was sitting in the Sports Book at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. You could say I'm not a huge baseball fan. But it didn't even matter that day. The experience was unreal. I felt like one of the Willy Wonka kids with a golden ticket. We were waited on hand and foot, we ate nachos and hot dogs and ice cream just because we could, and we spent the afternoon in the home of one of the most successful teams in all of sports. Go Yankees!

Boy did we ever get our money's worth out of those free tickets, too. The boys insisted on eating more hotdogs after the game - just because. Teresa and I loaded up our purses with bags of snacks and bottles of pop as we reluctantly waved farewell to the Legends Suite. We all agreed that we'd never have it that good at a ballgame again - unless one of our kids happens to someday PLAY for the Yankees!

Still on a high from the Yankees experience, we hopped on the subway and headed back to Manhattan, with plans of seeing the Brooklyn Bridge. The subway had other plans.

I had studied the subway map enough that morning on the way to the Bronx to know (more or less) what we needed to do to get around the subway construction and downtown to the bridge. Unfortunately, it required a little backtracking. So! Grand Central Station!

After what felt like multiple trips up and down the island, we finally got off the subway at City Hall and made our way to the bridge.

The sun was setting and it was a really beautiful time of day to be on the bridge with the city and the harbor in the distance. There was more pedestrian traffic than I expected -- and more than a few pushy bicyclists who didn't really show us the "Southern Hospitality" we're typically used to, but we eventually made it to the other side.

By that time, it was dark and we had just walked about two miles since getting off the subway back in Manhattan. So we looked for a place to get a drink and a snack and just put our feet up for a bit. We stumbled upon a little place that looked promising - O'Keefe's.

As soon as we walked in, we knew we were in the right place. Dark little hole-in-the-wall.  With sports on TV. Wishful thinking made us ask the bartender if he had the Arkansas game -- and what do you know? He found it! So we sat in a quiet little Irish/Sports Bar in Brooklyn Heights on a Saturday night and watched the Hogs.

Of course, we were a little conspicuous. What with our red Razorback gear and our request to watch a random, non-HD football game. And it didn't take long to make friends with the people at the next table. A guy and his girlfriend in the city for the weekend. He was Army and home on leave. And originally from Brooklyn. So after we convinced him that we were indeed NOT lost - that we had purposely left our trendy hotel in SOHO to WALK across the Brooklyn Bridge on a Saturday night to have a drink at this little dive - he told us that before we headed back to Manhattan we just had to walk down to the water and see the skyline from Brooklyn at night. Glad we took his advice.

Having had enough of the subway for one day, we decided to cab it back to our hotel where we proceeded to stay up WAY too late in the hotel bar reminiscing about our afternoon spent in the lap of luxury and our unexpectedly fun evening in Brooklyn.

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Note: I am in no way required by either The C.A.R.E. Initiative or Saatchi & Saatchi X to write this account of our trip. This blog has not been sponsored, compensated, or otherwise obligated by C.A.R.E. or SSX -- we just had too much fun not to share! For more information about The C.A.R.E. Initiative check out their website or shoot me an email.   

The Hoods in NYC - Part 2 of 5: Empire State of Mind.

Read Part 1 of 5 here.

After leaving The Boy in the more than capable hands of Ninny and Baw (Granny and Pop - Jeff's parents), we met Teresa and Ryan at XNA for our Friday morning flight. We were still cautiously optimistic about the weather, but our flight actually arrived at LaGuardia a little bit early and we had our bags before we knew it. So far. So good.

Bonus! As we stepped off the jet bridge and into the airport, we spotted a familiar face! A guy Teresa and I used to work with at Saatchi! The guys couldn't quite believe we'd been in NY about four seconds - and managed to bump into someone we knew!

Taxi to the hotel was fairly uneventful - which is good. Still no rain. And after checking in and quickly freshening up - we headed straight back out into the city. In search of food.

You hear all these legends of fabulous, glorious food in big, sexy cities like New York. And I'm sure it's out there. Somewhere. Probably being enjoyed by people who are in the city on their own dime and not there merely by dumb luck.

Nonetheless, we all had relatively high expectations regarding food. But we were hungry. And a little jet lagged. And the first thing we found was a little place called Getting Hungry. It looked good and (I may have mentioned this already but) we were hungry. Decision made. Decision confirmed once we stepped in the door and came face to face with a larger-than-life lion carved out of wood. Because why WOULDN'T you have a gigantic lion in the middle of your deli?

 

We browsed over the menu hanging behind the counter and stepped up to place our orders. Only to be met by an irritated-looking man who appeared to be in charge.

"I'm going to tell you something," addressing all of us.

We all look at each other, a little nervous.

"We are closing early today. And everything is put away." He motions to the bar of food in front of him, which I noticed had indeed been almost entirely packed away. "But I will do you a favor. I have turkey, ham and roast beef. And this cheese. I will make you a sandwich with what is here. But nothing fancy."

Visions of The Soup Nazi flashed through my head.

We all nodded to each other and told him we would comply. Then one by one we placed orders for "whatever you have".

What kind of bread do I want? Whatever you already have in your hand. Yep, that's fine.

We shuffled along the counter, not making any sudden movements. Then we took our sandwiches, bagged chips and bottled drinks to a table near the lion. We knew we needed to hurry, but figured we had time to eat while they finished cleaning up and closing down the store.

About that time, a guy with mop and bucket appeared beside us as if to confirm what his boss had already told us. Closing time, folks.

We ate faster.

Then we noticed that the "background" music in the store had been turned up a notch. Then five more notches. As we continued shoving food into our mouths as fast as humanly possible, the oh so patient and hospitable employees of the deli made their point by blasting Eminem so loud we couldn't even hear each other talk - not that we had time for chit chat anyway. All we could do was laugh. Welcome to New York.

 

Still no rain so we headed for the Empire State Building. We're such good little tourists. I was secretly hoping that the foggy skies would mean a short line, as the cumulative attention span of our group is not impressive -- but we completely lucked out. We didn't wait in line AT ALL. We walked right in the door, bought our tickets, headed for the elevator and all the sudden we were 86 floors up.

There was a slight incident on the way up involving King Kong -- what appeared to be a "stuffed" statue of King Kong in the elevator lobby turned out to be a guy with a twisted sense of humor who almost made us wet our pants when we walked by and touched him. He took off after Ryan while we stood and laughed. That's what friends are for, right?

By the looks of the line, you'd think it was a crappy day to be on top -- but that couldn't be further from the truth. The sky and clouds were a little hazy, but we could still see for miles. The Statue of Liberty on one side. Central Park on the other. It was beautiful.

You'd think after the King Kong incident, Ryan would be on his best behavior. But since none of us were chasing 2 year olds for the weekend, he thought he'd step in and fill the void. By alerting Empire State Building security when he stuck his HEAD out of the fence around the observatory deck. Good grief!

"Sir. Sir! Need you to get your head back in!" We died. How many people do you know that take an elevator up 86 floors, walk to the edge of the deck, and feel the need to squeeze their head through a hole in the fence for a better look? Ryan, you're the best.

Before we left the building, we made our first cheesy tourist purchase of the weekend.

It would be dark soon so we headed up Broadway to Times Square. I don't remember this from the last couple of times I've been to NY, but there are sections of Broadway blocked off up and down Manhattan where they've placed patio tables and chairs in the middle of what would otherwise be a street. Times Square is one of these sections. And you can just hang out in the middle of the street. So we did. We took a load off right there in the middle of Times Square.

And then it was time for the first of what would be MANY Seinfeld references over the course of the weekend. Poor Ryan and Teresa. They're still our friends after we made them spend a weekend with us in NYC finding a little piece of Seinfeld in E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G we did. Oh look, it's the New York Public Library. There was a Seinfeld about that. Riding the subway? There was a whole episode about that. Central Park? Seinfeld.

It's a disease. And it never gets old for us. NYC is the epicenter of all things Seinfeld. And we did our best to make the most of it. Starting at Sardi's.

Kramer: The Tony is taking ME to Sardi's.

We didn't really plan on eating at Sardi's -- just planned on taking a photo and moving on. But it's right there in Times Square so we went inside to use the bathroom and ended up staying for several hours in the upstairs bar -- telling stories and having a drink and eating way too many stale bar pretzels.

After a quick trip back to see the lights of Times Square at night, the time and the exhaustion finally caught up with us and we decided to call it a night. So we headed for the subway.

And apparently I misread something somewhere because we got off about 16 blocks from the hotel... And we walked around aimlessly until someone finally suggested we get a cab back to the hotel so we could just go to bed already. We made it back to our neck of the woods, grabbed some midnight deli food and crashed after making plans to meet in the lobby bright and early for Day 2.

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Note: I am in no way required by either The C.A.R.E. Initiative or  Saatchi & Saatchi X to write this account of our trip. This blog has not been sponsored, compensated, or otherwise obligated by C.A.R.E. or SSX -- we just had too much fun not to share! For more information about The C.A.R.E. Initiative check out their website or shoot me an email.