Your state gives me what???

After watching the Miss America Pageant last night, I debated posting my thoughts and observations on this blog.  But, as a former "pageant girl" myself, I couldn't bring myself to type it all in...it just felt a little disrespectful I guess.  I mean, I know the level of nerves those girls are dealing with (albeit only on a state level - nowhere near the nerves produced by national exposure I don't imagine).  I know the courage it takes to prance in front of an audience in a swimsuit, and I know what it feels like to think you did less than your best in responding to an on-stage question, or with your talent.

And now I'm just an old pageant alumni...who can look back on that time in my life with great fondness, but never a desire to return.  (Well, maybe to my pre-baby-work-with-a-trainer-three-times-a-week body...)  And I look back at the good experiences and the bad experiences with lots of laughter, knowing each produced positive character development and shaped who I am now.

So please know that this is very tongue-in-cheek, and that if you don't have a sense of humor you might want to just click the close box now.

But, I happened upon THIS POST today by a blogger I follow regularly and I couldn't help myself but share it. If I had written my post last night, it would have been almost identical.  Check it out if you want a good chuckle. The line during the show that almost made me snort tea up my nose was Miss Iowa claiming that her state gives us gas.  Oh people, that was just completely hilarious. 

Furthermore, if you've never seen my favorite on-stage answer EVER to a question, check out the video below.  Mark and I both can't even utter the phrase, "Such as..." without the other one of us interjecting, "...the Iraq!" and bursting out in hysterics. 

 

Hilarious.  Simply hilarious!

One day, she'll understand.

My dad wore his lucky shirt - the same one he's worn to and during every single game this year.  My mom had on her earrings - the ones she's had since college we think. 

My mom and I folded clothes and baked - what we do when we can't sit still and watch an Auburn game.

We debated about whether to put Turner to bed, and decided to proceed as usual - didn't want to jinx things.

We paced, and waited, and hoped.

And with 2 seconds left on the clock, we ran down the hall and woke Turner up.  At 11:30pm.  She was sitting in my lap when we watched the ball sail through the uprights and I raised my fist in the air in victory.

She begged to go back to sleep, to not have to change out of her comfy pajamas.  We just told told her that one day when she is older, we'll explain all this and it would all make sense.  And then we loaded up and headed to Toomer's...for the craziest football after-party I've ever experienced.  We arrived around midnight and got home around 1:15am. 

I took some fun photos, and shot some video for those people who couldn't experience this in person.  It was completely surreal!  The looks on the faces of people, particularly those of my parents and people of the generations that have come and gone since 1957, were filled with emotion and wonder...the child-like feeling of excitement when you get a present you didn't think you'd receive.


I am so glad we were able to be a part of it.  To experience it with my own parents who instilled a love for Auburn in my heart, and with my daughter who we hope grows to love Auburn like her parents and grandparents do. 

Awesome.  Just unbelievably awesome.

Video tidbits: the video starts with our ride into town and the massive traffic flowing into Auburn at midnight.  (Remember, we've been out of school for two days due to an ice storm...that didn't seem to concern anyone.)  Then there are several snippets first down Magnolia Avenue, but when that became so crowded it was frightening, we made the block and came in front of Samford Hall down College Street.  The last few videos were shot directly under the big tree.  For those of you who were in Glendale, or those who couldn't be in either place - hopefully you'll enjoy seeing what this was like!

For any of you who were here for Toomer's 2000 - this was infinitely more crowded.

This is the view looking down toward Samford Hall from the tree at Toomer's corner.  There was so much toilet paper it was hard to tell in which direction you were facing at times.

I've been a bit reflective as this season ended, perhaps because one of the most devout Auburn men I have ever known went to be with the Lord this past year and didn't get to see magic of this season in person.  I know many would have a similar feeling - we all know devout Auburn men and women who would have been so proud to have stood at the intersection of Magnolia and College last night.

Mr. Benny Strength and his wife Mrs. Pat were my surrogate grandparents as I was growing up, and I have very few memories of them that don't include something Auburn in my mind's eye - the gamedays I spent as a middle-schooler at their tailgate on the concourse (when you could still drive down Thach mind you), the tiger picture they brought to me before I left home as a freshman to come to Auburn, the fact that most conversations with them included something Auburn related.  After the SEC Championship game, Mr. Benny was the first person who came to my mind.  It made me a little sad that he wasn't here to witness the Auburn Tigers having a shot at a national title. (That's still weird to even type...)

Then, last night I got a little tickled when it suddenly hit me...forget StubHub, ticket brokers, and Ebay - Mr. Benny had the BEST seat in the house.  I can't help but smile at the thought of Mr. Benny, Dean Foy, Jim Fyffe, and Coach Shug Jordan all sitting in their heavenly recliners watching the spectacle.  Wonder what the trees look like in heaven tonight....

War Eagle y'all.  We're not going to get over this one for a while.

Duck Hunting

I don't duck hunt, but we have a friend who does and he's kind enough to share his bounty with us (thanks Jake!)...so it was only appropriate that we try out our duck gumbo recipe today. :)   Let me tell you, duck tastes pretty darn good.  I hope that approximately 4 hours from now I'm at Toomer's Corner celebrating the biggest Duck hunt in Auburn history!   

 WAR EAGLE!!!!! 

Our Christmas in New York - Part Two

On Monday (Dec.20th), we started the morning at our favorite breakfast spot, Clinton Street Baking Company.  I blogged about it last time, but it's quite the popular establishment thanks to being featured in an episode of "Throwdown" with Bobby Flay.  We never quite got over the warm maple butter that we used to smother our blueberry pancakes and as expected, it was well worth the wait again. 

We left Clinton Street and headed for one of my favorite stops - Chinatown!  It was quite a different experience this trip since shopping in the 30 degree winter cold with a sharp wind made for much faster trips through the various shops.  We had several items we were specifically looking to purchase, namely a new Elmo shirt for Turner.  We brought her one back from our last trip and his eyes barely have any white remaining due to repeated washing and wearing!  We found one and even managed to talk to the seller down from $15 to $5 (what we paid last time).  And I might have found a few pieces of jewelry for myself...and some sunglasses...

Around mid-day we toured the Ground Zero Museum Workshop.  We were deeply moved and touched by the artifacts and photography in this tiny, one-room museum.  The museum was established by Gary Marlon Suson, who was the only photographer allowed at Ground Zero during the recovery efforts.  Guests visiting the museum follow a self-guided tour with headsets and are allowed approximately 1.5 hours to listen to narration (by Gary Marlon Suson) explaining the content of each photo, when and where they were taken, what the photos signify, etc.  Mark and I were individually most impacted by different photos and different artifacts, but none more chilling than the actual piece of American Airlines Flight 11 which crashed into one of the towers on that September morning.  To see an actual piece of the airplane that was transformed into an instrument of horror, I really can't explain it.  This museum is worth your time and money a million times over.

Photography is allowed, so I am including a few pictures that were most meaningful to me.

This picture highlights the only time that an NYPD officer was allowed to participate in the Honor Guard ceremony carrying out the body of a FDNY fireman.  The man on the far right is the father of the fallen officer and the policeman on the left is the brother-in-law of the fallen officer.

This is one of the more chilling images in the museum, the encased clock on the right is the one pictured in the photograph to the left.  The photo was taken in a train tunnel underneath the World Trade Center Towers.  The force of the first tower collapse on Sept. 11, 2001 was so powerful that it knocked out most of the power in lower Manhattan.  This clock is stopped at the exact minute at which the first tower fell.

And this picture is the one that got to me....  This man is one of several retired New York Firefighters who lost their sons on Sept.11th.  Many of them came to Ground Zero during the recovery effort to search for their sons, and the resulting picture series of these brave men is called "Band of Dads".  As he searched, this particular man held his finger marking the page of Harry Potter that his son had read to his grandson on September 10, 2001.

If it seems heavy, it was.  If it seems a little too real, it was. Something I will never forget, it was.

We took a quick train ride back to midtown to meet up with a dear friend from Auburn, Lee Miller and his lovely fiancee Ashley.  We enjoyed wonderful fellowship and a delicious lunch at Eataly, which is a very unique and delightful Italian marketplace and series of restaurants.  A must-see for those who are culinary gurus, especially in the Italian realm.

After our later lunch, we headed back to the hotel to change and re-group before heading to our first show - the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular featuring the Rockettes.  Long years ago I dreamed of being a Rockette or dancing on Broadway, and have always wanted to see this show.  It was funny, but not all that unexpected to run into some familiar faces from Auburn waiting in line!  Though I couldn't shoot with a flash, I did snap a few pictures to help us remember the spectacle that this was!  Totally entertaining, totally mesmerizing special effects, and the Rockettes were even better than I had imagined!

 

I did find it totally neat that the pre and post-show entertainment was provided by two fabulous organists playing in these two "holes" on either side of the stage.  They ended with the "Hallelujah Chorus" from the Messiah which just pleased me to no end!  They were awesome!

This was by far the most impressive move of the entire show - that's the Rockettes in toy-soldier costume.  The premise is that the cannon (not pictured other than the "boom" flag at bottom right) shot blasted the toy soliders down, with each individual dancer slowly leaning back into the next dancer.  I have no clue how they maintained balance for this to cycle through all 36 dancers with all eventually falling like a bunch of dominos - in a perfectly straight line!  It was amazing!

The picture quality here is poor, but this was a spectacular living Nativity scene complete with live camels! The choir singing all verses of Hark the Herald was absolutely remarkable - so traditional and so familiar, yet brought to life the power of the words "Mild He lays His glory by, Born that man no more may die, Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth".

After the show, we dined at this fabulous Tuscan steakhouse, Bisteca Fiorentina.  Delicious food, and a great post-show atmosphere.  Definitely gets a thumbs up from us!

 As we arrived I looked just past our restaurant down the street a little and ironically saw a familiar establishment I visited with some friends from AU Singers when toured here in 2001. It's a great little piano bar called "Don't Tell Mama" and that evening produced such inside jokes and memories that I know if I called any of those friends on a moment's notice and said, "Shhhh, Don't Tell Mama!",  it would produce fits of laughter.  Such a treat to happen upon it again!

We walked back through Times Square on our way to the hotel and caught a glimpse of ourselves on a GIANT screen in the middle of Times Square.  (Mark is waving, I'm in the long red coat.)  If you'll notice everyone just staring up, it was quite mesmerizing to unexpectedly see yourself projected up there for all to see!

Tuesday was a bit of a whirlwind with lots of fun things planned! On Tuesday morning, we headed out early to visit SantaLand at Macy's since it was terribly crowded the first time we tried.  We were close to first in line and it was quite the sight to behold!  The decorations were traditional, appropriate, and magical!

And much to Turner's delight we actually got to talk to Santa and share some the things on her Christmas list with him in person.  We have video of me talking with him, which Turner thought was just too cool!

And I couldn't help but photograph this letter to Santa...she asks for Ugg boots, Itunes giftcard, and various other items....then tells him she's ok with whatever.  Yeah right!

After the visit with Santa, Christmas (and birthday...and Valentine's...) came a little early for me when I got to spend a few hours with Eva Scrivo in her beautiful salon in Noho.  Mark surprised me with a trip to get a haircut with Eva back in 2005, after much research online for renowned stylists in Manhattan.  I learned that she had some celebrity clients such as Martha Stewart and Jon Bon Jovi, but when I first met her in 2005 I realized quickly that you wouldn't know that unless you read that on her website.  Kind and charming, and unbelievable at what she does. A couple of weeks before our trip this Christmas, Mark asked me if I wanted to visit her again...and though I would have never asked for that, I certainly wasn't going to turn it down.  Eva actually remembered us, and was just as kind, charming, and delightful as I remember her.  I don't know that you'll need to see anything more than the before and after shots below to see how good she is at what she does.  :)  Mark sure does know how to make me smile. 

Before...

After...

Next time I have the privilege of visiting with Eva, I want to eat lunch at Il Buco, the restaurant she recommended that's just across the street from her salon.  

We made a quick trip to a yummy pizza restaurant in Greenwich Village (a part of NYC I want to explore further on our next trip) called John's Pizzeria of Bleecker Street.  I found this restaurant on TripAdvisor and as usual, following their advice was a good decision.  Very reasonable prices, awesome atmosphere (not far from NYU), and delicious pizza.

We made a very fast trip back to the hotel to change and then rode the train back up to Rockefeller Center to go ice skating.  We had a private lesson for 30 min (which was basically our ticket to not have to stand in the 2-hour plus lines) then we had the opportunity to skate for an hour and a half.  This was truly an act of love on Mark's part because while this is something I have always desired to do, it's something he really didn't want to do at all.  But he was a champ and actually pretended seemed to enjoy himself.  I skated till my heart was content!

After we skated, we made a quick clothes change at the hotel and then headed out for our second show of the trip, the new Tony Award winning "Memphis".  We did stop and ask someone to take our picture in Times Square (just like we do every trip)...in this one I have on so many layers of clothing I sort of look like the Pillsbury Dough Boy!  But, I love looking back at these pictures and thinking back to that moment of fun!

 As for Memphis...WOW.  Just wow.  Words can't do it justice, but I'd go see it again this second if I could.  It just may have risen to the top of my list and claimed the spot of "my favorite ever".  We had fabulous 5th row seats - so close I could see the performers spit and sweat flying as they sang and danced!  The rock and roll/rhythm and blues music is wildly entertaining, the vocals are outrageously awesome, and the 2.5 hours literally seemed like 30 min.  I left wanting to hear and see it all over again - so sad that it had to end!  Go see this musical if you can - we are already looking for tour dates so we can try to catch it again when it's near!

And on Wednesday, we got up and headed for the airport, and boarded a thankfully uneventful flight back home to see our sweet daughter who had missed us quite a bit while we were gone.   I am still getting huge hugs from her with her saying, "Mommy I missed you SO much while you were in New York!"
*Note:  We did arrive to the park-n-ride lot to find that my car had a very flat tire (which we are so grateful didn't blow on our trip to the airport in the pouring rain), so our trip home was postponed by about an hour while that was repaired.  

A special thank you to Tootsie and Pop who were so willing to keep Turner for us while we were away.  It's never something they hesitate to do and she's so well entertained she barely has time to talk to us on the phone when we call!  Thank you, Mom and Dad, for your making it possible for us to spend this special time in one of our favorite places in the world - just the two of us.  We appreciate you so much!

More magical than I had dreamed- our Christmas in New York! Part One

*After working on this post for several days now (started last Sunday afternoon), I've determined this will be a multi-part post.  It's just too long to include everything in one post and it's taking forever to get it all edited like I want it.  So, I give you Part One...

I have struggled with choosing the right words to describe how much fun Mark and I had in New York City for a few days before Christmas this year!  It's a trip that I will never get over I am afraid, and Mark said to me just yesterday, "I already want to go back"!

We started planning this trip back in the summer after the flights to NYC jumped significantly one evening as we were pondering a trip to NYC in July.  We were also pondering some other destinations but when we made the final decision that we would forgo a "big" trip this summer and wait until Christmas I just knew we had to go to NYC.  I had been three times before Mark and I married, and he took me in 2005 for our 1000 day anniversary.  I know, he's awesome.  That was his first trip to the city and he absolutely fell in love with it.  We went again in 2009, but all of my/our previous trips have been in the summer months.  I couldn't wait to be there to actually see all the sights that Christmas movies make feel so familiar - Rockefeller Center, Macy's, Radio City Music Hall and the famous Rockettes.

Let me also mention here that this trip is sort of a late celebration of a pretty big birthday Mark had last December, as well as Christmas this year, and our 8th anniversary (which was this past Tuesday).  We've also allowed it to carry over for Valentine's Day for this year, and then Mark surprised me with another visit to see Eva (I'll describe in Part Two) which is my birthday present for this year!  :)  Thankfully Mark and I both agree that the memories we make when we take "us only" trips are so much more of a treasure to us than any presents we could buy. 

I like to try to detail everything in a chronological format, just to help us remember as we look back at this post in years to come (we referenced my last post several times to remind us of restaurants, etc.). I also always have people ask us about our "itinerary" or what we did while we were there.  Rest assured I could attach our very organized and color coded spreadsheet, but I'll leave that to your imagination if you know Mark and me very well.  We won't travel any other way - it maximizes our time and leaves us absolutely exhausted from the fun every time we travel. 

We left on Saturday, December 18th and I won't say much about our travel experiences other than that the security processes in the Atlanta airport were as bad as I expected.  Mark and I were both tagged to be scanned and frisked - while other people walked calmly through the metal detectors and on to their flights.

We arrived to our destination, the Hotel Chandler, via the calmest cab ride I have ever experienced, and found the staff and environment to be welcoming, charming, and quite nicely appointed.  The hotel is about three blocks from Macy's and the Empire State building and the nearest train station. Definitely somewhere we'd recommend to anyone planning to visit the city.

Do you know how excited it made me to see these little Aveda bottles?  I heart Aveda hotels.  :)

We realized quickly that we had left our major toiletries bag at home (when we left at 4:30am) so we had to make a trip to the CVS around the corner for several necessary items.  We also took this opportunity to grab our favorites - milk and coke zero - which we could stash in the mini-fridge they brought to our room upon request.

After we got settled, we headed out for our most "unplanned" night of our trip.  The only priority was to go to Macy's to see the Christmas window-scenes, SantaLand, etc.  We didn't really think about the fact that we were heading out on this adventure at 7pm on the last Saturday before Christmas - there were people EVERYWHERE.  Macy's was just unbelievably decorated for the holidays - when we walked in a couple of days later Mark asked me if I knew they had red carpet.  It had been so crowded on that night we didn't even see the floor!

The Macy's window-scenes this year were famous scenes from the movies "Miracle on 34th Street" and "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus."  I am not sure what I was expecting, but I wasn't expecting the grandeur of 8-10 windows in chronological format, all intricately designed and many with moving parts to animate the movie scene. 

As I mentioned earlier, this night was fairly unplanned, so we decided to walk up to Times Square which was glowing it's famous neon glow through the skyscrapers surrounding us in front of Macy's.  There's still nothing like the adrenaline charge that I still get when I step into Times Square - I will NEVER forget the experience of being a high school freshman from small-town Alabama and experiencing that for the first time.  I have loved this city ever since.

And because the experience of being in NYC in the winter as opposed to the summer is quite different regarding temperature, we found ourselves drawn into stores just to get warmed up a little as we walked.  We are both still in complete awe of the massive Toys-R-Us in Times Square and all it's grand toys.  We both can't wait to take Turner with us one day and let her ride this gigantic Ferris wheel!

On Sunday morning, we slept in a little (considering we were actively shopping at midnight after having gotten up that morning at 4:00am), and then made our way via train to Brooklyn.  We found the most delicious Mom&Pop bagel shop and deli - La Bagel Delite - and devoured perhaps the most delicious bagels we've ever eaten.  I don't normally photograph my food, but I couldn't help snapping these bagels to show how much cream cheese was slathered between the bagels.  They go ahead and sandwich the bagel halves around the cream cheese for you so all you have to do is take a bite - the portions below are the halves we couldn't eat because these were so yummy, rich, and huge!  We'll be visiting La Bagel Delite again for sure!

This was my bagel - cinnamon rasin bagel with cinnamon/rasin/walnut cream cheese (the light brown fluffy stuff in the middle).  Oh. My. Goodness.

And then we made our way to the Brooklyn Tabernacle for their noon church service.  You may remember that we visited this church for the first time in 2009, but we determined then that we'd never visit NYC again without scheduling our trip over a weekend so we could go back again.  We were super excited to worship there on the Sunday before Christmas, but were even more excited to discover several weeks prior to our trip that their Christmas musical production would be occurring that afternoon as well.  We were grateful that we decided to attend the noon church service since we didn't have to leave the building and stand in the line (that wrapped around the block) waiting to enter for the 3pm musical performance.

Church at BT was as amazing as we remembered - this place is so full of the presence of Almighty God and to markedly empty of the distractions that cloud most church experiences in my lifetime.  These people really worship in "spirit and truth". I watched a sweet young man in a wheelchair in front of me, hands lifted high, worshiping and praising God with such passion and excitement.  If most of us are honest with ourselves, we only get that excited at football games. Pride is much more apparent in a church pew than a stadium seat I fear. I sometimes wonder if these people's lives have been different from mine, maybe they've been delivered from serious addictions, or self-destruction.  Could it be that they have a greater appreciation of their redemption so they worship with a more passion, with a bigger view of God?  Am I so "churched" that my pride is bigger than God's redeeming work, therefore leaving me worshiping with a smaller view of God and a bigger view of me?  Pondering...I always leave the Brooklyn Tabernacle pondering.

I am including this picture mainly for myself (and for those who may be curious about what their sanctuary looks like - this is only a small part of their beautiful facilities) --- you can't see the sweet young man I referenced earlier, but I can.  In my mind I know where he was sitting - just behind the sweet little boy in the bottom right corner - and I don't ever want to forget the image of him worshiping as we all should.  In spite of his apparent physical weaknesses, his obvious joy and spiritual strength was inspirational to me.

And for you music junkies...I sing with a mixed ensemble at church and we perform a lot of music from the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir. They have a recognizable style and it's fairly centered in the gospel/soul genre.  So you can imagine my surprise when the worship set at the service included Hillsong's "Mighty to Save" and Chris Tomlin's "Our God" from the Passion 2010 CD (which Mark now refers to as "the God fight song" by the way). I cannot even put in in words...the unbelievable privilege to be part of a 1500 member congregation chanting, "...and if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us, and if our God is with us, then what could stand against..."   Nothing.  Like.  It.

After the church service and awesome Christmas musical production, we ventured to what has become one of our very favorite destinations in New York City - Little Italy.  Last visit, we ate at two fabulous restaurants on quaint little Mulberry Street, but this time we tried a new one called La Nonna.  As usual, the Italian food was yummy and was priced reasonably.  The charming man who enticed us to come in stopped us on our way out to ask where we were from.  When we answered, "Auburn, Alabama" he about jumped out of his skin with excitement and gave us a hearty "War Eagle", then he shared that Cam Newton and his family (sans his infamous father) ate there while they were in town for the Heisman Trophy ceremonies.  Who knows if that is actually true, but he was certainly quick with this response to hearing of our beloved hometown.  We got a kick out of it for sure!  The picture below is of nothing in particular, other than the lights strung across Mulberry Street that signal to me and Mark that we are close to our beloved Little Italy.

The decorations were much more festive at this time of year, but there was a definite absence of outdoor seating options due to the cold air!  The landscape was different, but the delectable foods never change!

And finally, on our way home Mark wanted some hot chocolate so we stopped in the Dunkin' Donuts around the corner from our hotel....which also happened to house a Baskin Robbins.  I decided that despite the low temps, I really wanted to try the red velvet cake ice cream.  If you haven't tried this flavor, find a Baskin Robbins immediately and try it.  It was perfectly flavored to mimic red velvet cake - complete with a ribbon of cream cheese icing. YUM. 

 

All those words and pictures, and I am only through the second day of our trip.  :)  

Stay tuned for Part Two....