musings of Mother Hood

Lucky 13.1

I almost can't believe I'm sitting down to write this post. Finally. Well, "finally" and "already" all at once.

After I was a few months into running and it really started to stick, I knew I wanted to set a goal for myself. A big one. Something challenging but attainable. And something that would force me to decide if running was truly going to become part of my lifestyle.

So back in May, after I had raced in all of three 5Ks, I pulled the trigger and went and committed myself to a half marathon. In Las Vegas. And I immediately started to panic. (It's what I do.) Sure, six months is a long time to train, but I didn't even know what "training" was. I didn't have any idea how to get from three miles to thirteen miles. And I'd gone and committed us to a trip requiring plane tickets and hotel reservations.  Not to mention the pesky little requirement of the THIRTEEN MILES. But I had time. And I had supportive running friends and an encouraging husband (also periodically prone to committing himself to somewhat outrageous physical challenges). So I felt ready.

I Googled my way to a training plan that felt right and I kept running. The 5Ks turned into 10Ks, and I was gaining mileage - and confidence. When I officially started my 12-week training plan the calendar square marked "Race Day!" seemed so far away, but it kept creeping closer and closer and closer. And then - just like Christmas and anything else anxiously anticipated - it was here.

We drove to Little Rock to drop off Colt with Jeff's parents and catch our plane. After the merciful people of TSA allowed me through security with an expired Drivers License (oops...) we were off to Sin City!

After checking into our weekend home at the MGM Grand, we set out to meet our friends Tena and Scott for dinner and a show. They had scheduled a vacation to California the last week of November so they extended their trip and met us in Vegas! We grabbed some dinner, saw Ron White at The Mirage (SUCH a funny show), and stayed up disgustingly late hanging out in the empty Sports Book at the Bellagio. After we couldn't keep our eyes open anymore -- flying west and "gaining" two hours will do that to you -- we decided to call it a night.

Before we said goodnight we made plans to have breakfast together in the morning, but no one was really awake while it was still "breakfast" so we joined up for lunch instead. And after lunch it was time for my very first race expo! There were 44,000 runners signed up for this thing and, from the looks of it, they each brought ten people to the expo with them! It was crazy and crowded and loud and crowded and more crowded (little did I realize this was obvious foreshadowing for race night...) but we successfully picked up my shirt and swag and bib and timing chip. We tried to enjoy the expo a little and peruse the different vendor booths, but the foot traffic was just ridiculous so we bailed. We got what we came for.

Typically, our trips to Vegas involve a lot of walking, but I wanted to save my legs as much as possible for the big event Sunday night so we cooled it the rest of Saturday. We watched A LOT of football in the MGM Grand Sports Book that afternoon and mostly lazed around.

Same story on Sunday. The wildest thing we did all morning was meet Tena downstairs for some fabulous Vegas breakfast buffet action. THAT is eatin'. The race was at night and I didn't exactly know what to do all day Sunday as far as eating, so I had a big breakfast then some midday snacking (when I wasn't napping), and I had brought along my usual pre-run oatmeal.

Around 2:30 I started nervously laying out my clothes and pacing around the hotel room. I knew I was ready, but I was so incredibly anxious to actually be there. I got dressed and we headed out of the hotel to meet Scott and Tena - and find the Start Line.

It was COLD. I had debated for a week whether I should wear shorts or pants. It's December... but it's Vegas... but it's at night... I brought both and made the call Sunday afternoon. Pants. Wise choice, as it turned out.

The Start was at the Mandalay Bay - clear at the end of the strip. And there were SO MANY people headed that way. The full marathon started before the half so that race had already cleared out by the time we got there. But oh my gosh. It was dark and cold and there were a bajillion people everywhere -- a lot of them dressed up in sequins or Elvis costumes or blinking lights. Vegas!

We made it to my corral and had plenty of time to hang out, warm up and do some people watching.

Here's a pic of my favorite running buddies. I've run with Tom for awhile, but I recently added baby Aidan (Does his middle name look familiar?). Aidan's mama, Tara, is a friend of mine from high school and, after losing Aidan in September, she writes a blog about the emotions and heartache she and her husband have experienced - as well as the special ways they are finding to remember him. I am so proud to run with both these boys.

After 'good luck' hugs all around, it was time to squeeze into my corral. Did I mention the people? ALL the people? I thought so.

FINALLY, it was time to GO.

The half marathon was almost entirely on the Strip, which they'd closed down for the race. So cool. We started at the Mandalay Bay and ran by the Luxor, the MGM Grand, Bellagio, Caesar's Palace, and on and on under the lights until we left the Strip and the race had to find an extra four miles or so in the kinda boring area of town between the Strip and Fremont Street (downtown). These few miles were uneventful and I couldn't wait to get back on the Strip for the homestretch back to Mandalay Bay.

Even in the dark, the race photographers managed to get some photos of the runners. That can't be easy. And they even took some video!

Here's a clip of me at the 5K point:

 

You have to be quick! Along the bottom-ish portion of the shot there's a guy in a neon yellow shirt with a black stripe down the arm. He runs directly into the corner of the video screen. I'm right behind him.

And they caught a shot of me running back down the Strip. I think this is around Mile 12.

Remember the Turkey Trot? With the crowd and the weaving and the crazy walkers in the middle of the road? This was almost like that. But for 13 miles... But the energy of the crowd was awesome. And running the Strip at night was unreal.

There were spectators along the road up and down the entire Strip, but coming into the last half mile there were more and more people on the sidelines. Signs, cheering, cow bell! It was such a cool feeling to be running that last leg. I took my headphones off so I could hear the crowd and soak up the energy.

Finally! The Finish Line! (Far left. Red shirt. Right at "the line".)

And another video:

 

I cross the line in about the sixth second of this video, over on the left side of the screen.

See what I mean about the crowds? That's the FINISH line.

After I finished, received my medal and blanket, and grabbed a handful of energy bars it was time to pose for my official finisher photo.

Originally happy with my decision to wear pants, I'd changed my mind around Mile 2 and wished I'd worn shorts. But as soon as I stopped moving at the Finish I was SOOOO glad I had those pants on. Vegas at night is COLD. Tena, Scott and Jeff opted out of the absolute madness that was the Finish Line and we met up in the Mandalay Bay lobby. After seeing that the line for a cab wrapped around the building 17 times, we decided we were hungry enough to walk back to the hotel. It was a nice stretch for my legs anyway. And as we shivered our way back to the MGM it started raining a little, just for good measure.

Cold, a little wet, and pretty darn exhausted the four of us collapsed into a booth at the closest restaurant and scarfed down some burgers. This is the only picture I have of all of us from the weekend -- and we are all so tired we can barely keep our eyes open!

Race. Over.

Weird.

I'd spent twelve weeks training and focusing and RUNNING in preparation for this. And it was honestly every bit as fun as I'd hoped.

Going into the weekend I had a few goals:

Goal #1. RUN the entire race. Check! I walked two steps through a water stop in Mile 10 so I wouldn't get water up my nose, but other than that I ran the entire thing. And - due to the weaving and whatnot - my watch says I actually ran 13.25 miles!

Goal #2. 2 hours 10 minutes. Nah. After the first few miles I was getting worried that the crowd would keep me from maintaining my pace and by mile 7 or so I just had to get OK with not hitting my 2:10 goal. You can only run as fast as the 10,000 people directly in front of you. But that's ok. There'll be a next time.

Goal #3. Learn something. Hoo boy did this one get crossed off the list. I'd like to think I've learned a little something in every race I've done -- I'd even say I've learned something in every single training run. So I wanted this to be productive, too. I learned about pacing and I learned how much I still HAVE to learn about nutrition during a race. And I learned about patience and running etiquette and about rolling with the punches. I will probably wonder if I could have hit my 2:10 if I'd been able to run the pace I wanted for the entire race. And I'll wonder if running at night could have affected me, too. But it's all good. And I'll be stronger next time, either way.

Goal #4. Have a lot of fun. Check! I'll only run my first half marathon once. And I wanted it to be memorable. The Las Vegas Strip? At night? Sign me up! For gosh sakes, the medal glows in the dark!

We headed home Monday morning a little bummed we hadn't seen more of the town while we were out there this time. We always have a great time in Vegas, but Jeff reminded me that we were there on "a business trip" and that we'd be back.

You can bet on it.

Yosemite - Summer 2011

Finally, right? We've been home a week now and I've had time to sort through and edit photos, and I've even received photos from a few other members of our hiking group - which I love! You're probably already aware of my 'the more the merrier' attitude about pictures. But I've enjoyed reliving our trip over and over through the photos, and I wanted to be sure I captured the story, too. The details.

So without further ado -- CLICK HERE for full trip report, complete with photos. Enjoy!

On the Road

Things will be quiet around here for the next week while Jeff and I take our annual trek into the wilderness. There will likely be more bears and mosquitoes than cellphone signal, and that's just what we need.

So if you're looking for me, I'll be here:

See you on the other side.

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.

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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 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.

________________________________________

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.

The Hoods in NYC - Part 1 of 5: It's always best to start at the beginning.

This story starts back in May. With something so outrageous I wouldn't believe it if it hadn't happened to me.

#68 on my Life List originally read "Win something from a radio station". But since it's my list and I reserve the right to amend it at any time -- I decided to change it to "WIN something!" because this story is just too cool to be left off my List.

So. Back in May. The company I work for was doing a push for employee support of our non-profit, The C.A.R.E. Initiative. It might sound familiar as I've mentioned it here before, and I not only have a passion for the mission of C.A.R.E. but I am also actively involved in fundraising events through SSX. So back in the Spring, SSX (with the help of Mr. Bill Cochrane - Saatchi Worldwide CFO) offered an incentive to anyone supporting C.A.R.E. -- a trip to NYC complete with hotel, airfare, spending money and 4 tickets to a Yankees game.

As I'm sure you've figured out by now, I won the thing. I was in a drawing with every other SSX employee who supports The C.A.R.E. Initiative via monthly payroll deduction. And I WON. And I didn't quite know what to do with myself. It was one of those things that I knew was technically possible, but I hadn't actually considered what I would think or do if I actually won.

So I called Jeff and finally convinced him that this had really, truly happened and we could choose any home game for the rest of the season. We pretty quickly decided that a long weekend would be fun, we invited our friends Ryan and Teresa -- and then we had to wait THE ENTIRE SUMMER for Labor Day Weekend to get here.

Back in May, September seemed like an eternity away. And then - of course - all of a sudden the trip was "next weekend". And I had done no planning. And since I was the only one of our group that had been to the city before, I was unofficially designated as "The One In Charge". So I Googled and asked around and I compiled a little plan for us. We had a little less than four days to tour the heck out of NYC - and we planned to give it our best.

A few days before we were scheduled to fly out, a little nuisance called Hurricane Earl showed up on the radar, threatening to ruin our perfect holiday weekend. It wasn't looking good for our flight when I got an email from Yahoo travel warning me about the weather and about Yahoo's inclement weather policy. We were crossing our fingers that the weather would let up just enough for us to GET to New York -- we could deal with a rainy Friday if it meant the rest of our weekend was salvageable.

And wouldn't you know it? Earl died down during the night and we woke up Friday morning to clear skies and little to no threat of winds and rain in Manhattan. NYC - here we come.

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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.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program...

...for a little breather.

Sorry for the weird lull. It's only been about five days since my last post, but it seems like forever and I didn't want you to think I'd abandoned you.

Jeff and I were out of town for the holiday weekend -- some of you may have followed us through NYC via Facebook or Twitter, so you'll have seen sneak peeks of our trip -- but we're back in Fayetteville and trying to recover. Colt spent the weekend with Ninny and Baw (Granny and Pop) and we'll be spending the rest of the week straightening him out, too. (We love you, Ninny and Baw!) I have about a billion pictures to sort through and I'll be blogging about our trip in installations over the next week or so. 

Hi! to anyone who may be visiting from over at Peekaboo. If you're new here and would like to put up your feet and stay a while, feel free to bookmark us, subscribe to the feed, or subscribe via email. Also don't forget to become a Facebook fan up there in the corner. Thanks for dropping by!

And speaking of Peekaboo, I received a few more pictures last week from Kim, the fabulous photographer behind Sweet Portrayal Photography, who did the shoot for the magazine. I'll leave you with these for now -- and I'm off to sort through NYC photos!

   

The Big Apple

Start spreading the news
I'm leaving today
I want to be a part of it
New York, New York

These vagabond shoes
They are longing to stray
Right through the very heart of it
New York, New York

I want to wake up in that city
That doesn't sleep
And find I'm king of the hill
Top of the heap

My little town blues
They are melting away
I gonna make a brand new start of it
In old New York

If I can make it there
I'll make it anywhere
It's up to you
New York, New York