20 hours from dallas

well i am not too sure the depths of my feelings towards coming home tomorrow so i thought i should write a little to let you and me both know. well there is the surfacy excitement first of all. for example. my parents house. they have been working on this garage and swimming pool since the day i left, and now they are both done, so i am pretty excited to swim in the pool even if its cold.

also i am excited to be off of work for a week. i am excited to drive a car. excited to eat mexican food. excited to do laundry in some what normal conditions. i am excited to get home and wrap my own gifts since i have finished all the new yorkers at this point. i am excited about warm air.

but at the same time, i am a little worried. because although i am excited to see people initially, i am a little worried about how i am going to feel when i have to leave them. my dear friend erica came up to nyc last week, and it was wonderful. we had THE BESt time. so fun. but when it was time to part, i couldn't take it. i cried. yep i did. it just made me think oh my goodness. this was a sweet glimpse of how we used to get to spend time with each other all the time. bittersweet. tastes so good, but there are few happy thoughts concerning the miles between us at this point. and that was just one near and dear friend. whats that say for scarlett and my momma and daddy???? this is why i am a little worried.and here is a little more explaination on why there is reason to worry about the topic.

you see, i LoVE NYC. i just wish the distance between nyc and dallas could be like the distance between dallas and denton. the absolute PERFECT distance. but its not. it is a very complicated 2500 miles from point a to b. so i love living here and i am not coming home for good yet and i dont really want to, but i do love some people in dallas that make the place rather hard to resist. so i am just wondering how i will cope with the deep love of two places and many people in each place whom i love. it is a challenging topic to face. so in this sense i am worried about coming home and loving it and wanting to never return to nyc. wouldnt you be a little concerned if you had rent and roommates to answer to.

well to end on a happy note I AM SO EXCITED TO COME HOME AND SEE EVERYONE!!! i hope scarlett has been studying her pictures and practicing her "S's" fun fun. call me or email me if you are reading this and want to see my face!

2 pictures

it snowed more! i got my wintery gear just in time!


fun friends in town.

lighting and limos

well i have had a bit of touristy fun within the past week that i wanted to tell you about. first we went to the Christmas tree lighting in Rockefeller Center here are the pics from that. if you didnt see it on tv, i am not too sure what you missed, because we didn't see anything either. well barely. but beyonce, the jonas brothers, harry connick jr, miley cyress and tony bennett were all there. not to mention britney not quite ready to perform but announcing she could do. there were what seemed to be millions of people there, and we saw two fights break out because so many people were shoving their way to the front. exciting you can imagine. but we stayed til the end and it was fun. we should have been there earlier, but whats new. here is what we saw.

we stopped in at Kenneth Cole to do a little "window shopping" i couldn't resist taking a pic. this would have been the best place to watch the lighting. warm with a perfect view! and the people below were waving at us.




my alloted personal space for the night. it looks way bigger in the picture.




brr. i love my fur collar.




there it is in all its glory.




check out the manly minks in the background. wow.




we ended the evening by walking through times square to get on our train home.




THEN. saturday night we celebrated nikki and katies birthdays. we went to eat dinner in china town. we were eating and it started snowing! lots of snow. like piling up on cars snowing. so we walked to canal st to get cabs to go to our next stop and happened to hail a limo instead of a cab. yes with lights, loud music, fake flowers, cheap old whiskey and a character of a driver. i would say this was the highlight of my evening. it was fun. we were driving through nyc in a tacky old school lincoln town car limo while it was snowing, i mean i dont think that could happen anywhere other than NYC. is this the life?

you know you are sick for home when...

your christmas countdown starts at 21 days and you are 25 yrs old. (and it has nothing to do with december 25th)
you listen to circa '99 country music to motivate yourself out of bed daily
your consistent topic of conversation revolves around menu planning while in TX...mmmexican!
you aren't worried about rent even though you are missing a week of work
you have a friends visit planned to make it all come one week faster

ok well i dont know if i am really that home "sick" or more so it is just EXCITEMENT to come home. it is going to a much needed week of reconnect! i love you all. and i want to see many many of you. i also have fun friends coming to see me in one little week! they are arriving on our 4month anniversary of being here! yeah!! whoa. i feel like i have been here 4 years. im not kidding.

well see you all soon! i can say that now because i am now only 16 days away from home!

givingthanks and shopping day in nyc

12 at the table plus 8 more

our beautiful table by dana


kelly and nikki in the kitchen for last minute prep.


this is my friend Katie workin on the turkey and amazing stuffing!


and hello! this is the actual NYC new years ball that drops made by waterford crystal! right there in the middle of macy's. i didnt believe it was the real thing, but apparently i was wrong. whoa.


there was alot of money flowin through here. not to mention the people! it was packed out. very nyc shopping experience. lots of fun.


we went shopping all day in the city! this is the big macy's entry way. please correct me if i am wrong, but i dont think these stars are hanging in the entryway of the denton macy's????

because i know you would want to know

new york city really does have a wide variety of people here. from cultures and economic status to plain and extravagant. from simple to out of this world. they are all here.




including Nixon's daughter, Caroline Kennedy, and Tom Hanks. you know how i know this....because i have encountered these people at the finest paper store of nyc. yes nixon's daughter is a kate's frequenter, and caroline kennedy spent a large sum of money on her rolls of wrapping paper and ribbon this week. not to mention the one and only tom hanks stopping in to get his lovely wife a journal. sightings like this help me appreciate the UES (upper east side) culture.

giving thanks

i am not very profound so i will botch up a quote of someone who is, GK Chesterton. i couldn't find the exact quote online, but heard this last week at church and thought it was appropriate to post on this thanksgiving eve.

paraphrase: Children thank God for filling their stockings on Christmas morning, but why are we not thankful to God for filling our stockings with legs.

well this is all to real to me as i sit in my apartment in nyc with two layers of pants on my legs. one layer of wonderful leggings my dearest mother sent me and one layer of old faithful blue jeans. it is hard to believe how much we take for granted in this life we have been given. i can honestly say it has been a rare occurance in my life that i have genuinely been thankful for the clothing on my body and sadly far less for the body that fills the clothes. i am thankful for the "big" things ya know...family, friends, health, wealth, and the usa, but its the small things in life that consistently get overlooked.

so i dont mean to be provoking thought by any means. instead i will end by telling you that tonight i am thankful for my heat and hot water that was absent from my life at 6:15 this morning. brrr...

a testimony from a reliable source

in case any of you were questioning the purpose of your course in subway appreciation i have a quote from a long-time new yorker Olive who believes whole heartedly in the lab of life on the new york subway. In Olive's wise words, "By riding the subway you get your education. You see the good, the bad, and the ugly."

this being said after a business man, riding the train to work at 10:30 in the morning, finishes cleaning the cardboard of a twinkie package of its excess cake and licking everyone of his fingers, followed by finishing off the breakfast of champions and eating twinkie number two.

may we all take what we have learned from Olive today and press on through our course and continue on this quest for knowledge.

Question: What goals do you have there in New York?

Anything you are working towards? Or just living the life right now?

Answer: this question is killing me right now (because i have issues with goals, i don't like them, because i don't like failing because i am kind of perfectionistic:). well i guess i have accomplished one goal which was to survive. three months today! i think there should be some career/arts goal in there somewhere, but i dont think i am at that point. i would like to take an continuing ed class at some school here, and i would like to volunteer at a museum in some fashion. and i would like to be involved in some college aged students lives. but more so i am really wanting to step back in life and live it. ya know. like love work, love the people at work, go to church, for worship sake, get to know my neighbors, and all that is more than enough to keep me very busy, so those other goals seem peripheral at this point. which is a shame, but ya know one step at a time. i gotta get a hold of schedule, money, relationships, and how each of those overlap. so maybe that is my present goal.

"ladies and gentlemen, we are experiencing train traffic ahead, please be patient"

subway appreciation lesson #3
first watch this video
Now let me just say, the nyc subways arent exactly this packed, but nearly. ok well not really, but they are packed. now in dallas rush hour traffic lasts from about 7:30 am-9:30am and 4:30-maybe 6:45ish. in nyc train rush hour is from about 6:30am-10:30am and 3:30pm-7:30pm literally. if i am coming or going at any of these times it is packed. packed means long waits, standing, pushing through crowds, etc... given i only ride one line, so it could be different on the west side, but over on the green 456 it is packed. so here is what you must appreciate about this. those trains hold say maybe 200 people apiece with 11 cars on each train that is 2200 people per train. with all the trains in the city and over 20 lines running all over the place that is a whole heck of alot of people moving around. i mean it is pretty incredible to think about the bodies that go here and there during those hours. the trains come every few minutes at that time of day and by the time they arrive there have already been two or three local trains pass by the same platform to drop off more people to fill up the next express train arriving. i mean when you think about it the train system really is mind boggling. it is hard to understand the complexity of the coming and going and the ins and outs.

so at the same time we will take a moment to appreciate the ever so rare empty train during rush hour. what happens is (and i am speaking only from experience and observations specifically at grand central 42nd st) a 4 or 5 express train comes in already packed. people have been waiting for a while, so they say to heck with it i WILL get on this train if it kills me. so that train fills like the sardine video example in tokyo. the few and the patient say i will wait for the next train thank you. i wont put myself or the person next to me in any unnecessary discomfort today. and low and behold as soon as the packed train departs and is on its weighed down merry way, a fresh, light-on-its-feet, speedy, nearly empty, 4 or 5 train comes rolling right by to pick up all the patient left overs. then those who are patient get to ride home in style and comfort. of course this is not always the case. many times trains are packed and all are full of tired, worn out, new yorkers who just want to get home. and in that case we have to appreciate the trains either way cause in the end it is the cheapest, hassle free, dependable and quickest means of transportation in the city. so thank you MTA. we should have MTA appreciation day. i will work on that.

visitors.

my first visitors officially booked their flight, but there is still time for you to beat them up here if you want to see the christmas tree light up on december 3rd. erica and natalie will be coming up on saturday december 13th. yea! then i will come home that next weekend. in case you are interested or wondering the dates of my time home will be from the 22nd-29th. back in nyc for new years.

it hit cold again here. i am drinking my first (of the season) cup of hot chocolate tonight. home made with cocoa powder and peppermint extract. mmmmm. we went to the winter cirque du soleil this weekend which also got us into the wintery spirit with snow fall at the end. and thanksgiving is two weeks away still. reminder to self this is fall weather. yet i am talking about wintery things. hmmm. i still haven't bought uggs. i know you were wondering that too. and i am still not working full time at the paperie either. but soon. but maybe after the new year officially. are there mysteries drifting out there that you want to know. ask me questions if you have them.

3three new posts. be sure to see it all.

sorry to bombard all at once. i have been planning these thoughts, but havent gotten to sit down to get them out. the one directly below this is a conversation between my nonexistent grandchild and me. clearly i am not supposed to write fiction. or maybe you are secretly thinking i am not supposed to write anything. if so let me know. dont leave me in the dark.

an excerpt...

of a historical, fictional conversation between my grandchild and me as we reminisce on the days of old. the first black president of the united states. a conversation dedicated to my mimi who told me about sacrificing "nylons" during WWII so they could make more parachutes, among other historical lessons.

child: so did you vote for him?
me: well child times were different, i was young and uniformed. i had been raised to vote for republicans. i slept through my zero hour political science class. i didn't know right from left or red from blue. the week of the election i frantically emailed my older and wiser brother and sister to see who they were voting for, and they both said mccain. i had a lot of discussions with the people i worked with, my roommates, neighbors, and it was a toss up, because i thought it would be great to have a black president, but i wasnt sure that i really believed in obama. i wasnt convinced. i stuck to what i knew and voted straight republican. thats the way i voted, but i was still excited with everyone that he won. and when i went to vote, i had to stand in line for two hours. i was late for work, but it was excused. i was one of about 20 white people in the building voting. i was living in a place where i was the minority. there were tons of people in line. the girl behind me was voting for the first time. she was there with some friends, and they kept talking about the people they saw coming out to vote. these girls said they were respecting some of the men they saw showing up to vote. i thought that was surprising to hear. i knew people would come out to vote, but i was still surprised that it was really coming out that way.

child: so what happened? were people really that excited??
me: yes! child! oh well you know i happened to be living in new york city the metropolitan capital of the nation in those days. and i happened to be living in a predominantly jamaican/ carribean neighborhood, so they were ecstatic at the results. there was obama artwork hanging in my building. when it was announced we started hearing some yelling in the streets, that yelling turned into shouts of joy. people hanging out their windows singing "hallelujah". cars were driving down the streets honking in celebration. everyone came outside and shared the joy. it was a nice uplifting spurt for nyc because spirits were definitely down because of the financial state that affected so many new yorkers. the city needed a pick me up. and that is just what happened. the next day at work everyone was so excited. tears of joy, champagne, parties, news papers sold out, hugs, kisses, smiles, high fives, you name it and if it is associated with celebration it was happening. the city was walking on a cloud.

and you know what one of the headlines said? i dont think i could ever forget it. it has always stayed with me, "One man to change the nation" that is what everyone was believing. Everyone thought that this one man was going to change their personal state of being and in turn change the nation. and about that. that was a really sad thing to watch. i think i remember that headline so well, because i thought if people could believe that mumbojumbo, then couldn't they believe the gospel too? one man did change the world. but still these people had put all this hope into obama's empty promises. he made promises of change, and i think people took what he said and thought it meant direct, immediate change. the whole campaign was based on hope. that obama was the hope our country needed. well ill tell ya i didn't buy that. i knew obama would eventually fail those people in numerous ways. our hope is in the Lord. he is the one that brings about real change. but ya know even back then with my skepticism, i knew it was an exciting time to experience another step towards a less racist country. which reminds me of another thing we were thinking on election night. i remember thinkin i hope he doesnt get assassinated right now. he didnt but we were all so fearful for him that that would happen.

child you need to be thankful for the place where you have been raised. be thankful for where our country is today, and know that in the midst of good and bad history shapes who we are and who we become and who comes after us. so when exciting things happen don't throw them to the wayside take it in and experience it.

factoid

do you know how much tickets to the presidential inauguration are? before you scroll or google think of what you might be willing to pay to see the historical moment standing on the mall in dc a couple of football fields away from the capital. ok got it... now scroll and you can find out if you are going or not.


































$995 for standing tickets on the mall (this is actually higher than yesterday).
$1500-$2250 for closer standing options.

well i still might go, but i am NOT buying tickets obviously. i am so close to the actual event and i dont know that i will have an opportunity like this again in my life, so i might just take life up on it. how bout you? we can rent a car and go together...

"Sally you haven't updated your blog in a week," mom said.

its always good to know that mama cares right? i love my mama.

here are some pictures of what happened this past week.

Halloween happened. a holiday that has become a favorite of mine since i have had the opportunity to dress up. i love dressing up. it is so fun. at the paperie, we had to have a costume made out of paper, how appropriate that i make a tree out of paper. get it paper is made out of trees. that was the extent of my smartness...plus our store won a contest between all the 5 kate stores. yea. my mother thought i was "a tree grows in brooklyn"(the book i am reading right now) now i am smart, but just not that smart... i was just a tree in brooklyn/manhattan


marcia the metro card queen, christine the ice queen, and sally the tree queen.


Voting happened. this is ps138 where i voted. notice my surroundings. not many mccain voters around i don't believe. right there is that far right corner at the end of that line against the wall is where i started. i was there for 2 hours. i should have taken a picture of the machine i voted on. i felt like i was going back in time to some 1964 contraption. don't think i would have known what to do if i hadn't done my prevoting research.


Victory happened. for obama our future president, and most new yorkers as they see it. lets just say that people are pretty excited up here. apparently excited enough to take $50 off anything redwhiteorblue.


Disgust happened. we went to get some mexican food. ya know how we have tex-mex this was some odd conglomeration of a type of food that at some point originated from mexico, but i cant come up with a clever name for it sorry. naturally it was a let down, but at least we got free chips and salsa like normal.

forecast

snow is on my weather forecast for tomorrow. "they" say you get used to this. "they" must not be as cold natured as I am. i wore my new long coat shamelessly tonight. i was warm enough, but i might need to get some extra snaps to keep it from flapping open. part of the long coats job is to keep the legs warm.

i think people were cold in the city today. they acted like oh this is no big deal this is only the beginning oh you newbie wearing your pea coat and scarf and hat haha. it is all a front, and i know they were all secretly cold. you know what else "they" say cold hands cold heart.

but the heat works and i am thankful.

this is the church, this is the steeple.

open the doors and see all the people...
yes the church is the topic of this post. i just wanted to inform you all that i have gotten the chance to get plugged into this great church. thus far in my life, the Lord has been so gracious to me. I have lived a life of ease to some degree. i am thankful for the provision of the lord's goodness and blessing for me. therefore i just want to tell you all how thankful i am for the great church that i have decided to be apart of. it is called apostles nyc, and we went for a while with out going to a community group, and then we finally went to a small group, and it was so great. we absolutely love the entire group. in previous life situations, i have connected with one person easily, but not as much a whole group of people like this. my friend karen upchurch has told me how when she and her husband robert lived in nyc they had a great group of friends that still mean so much to them, and that the time they spent in the city was so great because of the good deep friendships they formed. she says there is something special about the christian community here because it is such a big lost place and it is so easy to be lonely, that good friends truly become a tight knit family. well let me tell you, that i really can see that happening with the group of people that we have just come in contact with through this small group. we are all basically the same age and generally new to the city and far from a home, and working, and living life here. it is so great because these people have been genuinely encouraging and we have had some great time to get to know each other outside of our tuesday night get together. so now i feel like we have friends here. special. well i was just telling karen about this last week, and was getting all excited about it and couldn't stop talking about it, so i thought i would just let yall in on the greatness that is apostles, and what a difference it has made in my life already. thank the lord for that with me. it is good.

I've never...

needed a pea coat in october
wished i had on tights under my pants
considered buying UGGS
set a mouse trap
lived without a dishwasher
spent $20 dollars on laundry
gotten hot because of the uncontrollable heater
had a radiator heater
taken my clothes to a laundromat in a push cart
heard a gun shot
smelled weed constantly
seen obvious drug deals goin down
been the only white girl for a consistent amount of time
been OCD about cleaning
loved riding on a city bus
wanted to hail a cab just to ride in back seat of a car
been excited to see a banana republic
thought 30 minutes was a short commute
slept on an air mattress for 6 weeks
sprayed down my clothes with febreeze every night
heard the f-word so much from ages 4-104
had to consider purchases based on what i could carry home
or had to take a cab because i couldn't carry my purchases home
been greedy about quarters
seen so many dread locks
been around so many orthodox jews
or wished i were jewish just to have to holidays
missed chili's
prayed for safety in my own home
had three robberies in 2 days within such close proximity to my home
bought a canvas tote to schlep groceries home
been excited to see OTB from the highway
had a door/watch man
driven 2 hours and been through 2 states
seen autumn leaves change
been to a two story target with a cart escalator
seen a presidential candidate carved in a pumpkin
had the fridge not in the kitchen
not worn my red coat to prevent getting mugged
had so many hours to read
had to take turns carrying a computer to the mac store
not been able to run home to get something
had to use drying racks instead of dryers
been to an indian restaurant covered in chili pepper lights with a disco ball
had a halloween costume made out of paper
gone to applebees to feel at home
wanted so much
been away so long
been so thankful for community
wanted my own room so badly ha
taken a PBJ to work in my adult life
been welcomed to the hood
lived in a city with 8,000,000+ people
paid rent, much less to share a room at the pretty penny of $525....

until i moved to Brooklyn NY.
every day is filled with new experiences. never a dull moment.

a couple of weekends

some pictures. this past weekend we went on a women's retreat in the poconos. it was fun. we got to know some of the girls in our group a little better as well as meet a whole lot of new people. very fun. then the weekend before that there was an art show in our building so i have some pics of that as well. this is life. be in the know. i am expecting to see some amazing pictures from Scarlett's first birthday party from this weekend as well. and by the way, it is cold in NYC. its gonna get worse before it ever gets better at this point.



america the beautiful




self explanatory




pic from the car ride back home. the poconos at their finest my friends. we were there at peak autumn colors.




this is a little bit more my interest in beauty. look at that.




this is our foyer that i have never taken a pic of to show. crazy murals all over the walls. pretty neat. so artsy. i am sure you are thinking just like you sally. ha




this man had a lot of anger. he was one of the performers. questionable.




this is the infamous Deitrich Davis. our night watchman. he takes the 9-2 shift mon-fri. don't look too closely.




some live painting from the art collective at our building last weekend.

new post

i want to write a new post, because i liked updating alot last week, but i have to admit, life gets busy when you get friends. so here i am on my free night of the week at midnight needing to wake up at 6am. yikes. but let me just give you a little something to tide you over...

1) no i havent heard from the brooklyn childrens museum, but i am ok with that at this point. it has been a week. i didnt follow up, because i didnt feel the great urge to do so, i know this is bad, but in the big scheme of things if i dont want to impress, then why force it. if she was impressed by me, then i will let her go for it. i might shoot an email tomorrow, to see what the status is. i dont want to do the snakes really, and i dont want a part time job that i always have to work on saturdays and sundays. who wants to do that.

2) kates paperie is going really well this week. lots of good things happening. i am working an extra day which will help, and i dont know if i can go full time, but i am considering the option, because things right now are good, and i am enjoying it enough, that i would actually be open to it. i am coming to grips with this, but i think it could be good.

3) we love our church. we went to an informational meeting about the church on monday, and it was informative. obviously. really it is great. i have met all of the people on staff which is about as big as the college life staff, but the church itself is smaller than the mass of collegelife. so that is nice. different, and very welcoming and homey for right now. we love our community group that meats in park slope brooklyn, it is just a little 20 minute bus ride to their apartment. which for the big city is nothing. everyone in the group lives in brooklyn, which is fun too. we all share the joys of brooklyn life. nikki and i are going on the womens retreat this weekend too, so we are really getting connected quickly. it is fun. oooh and we get to go OUTSIDE of the city and see nature. leaves changing. this could be amazing.

4) speaking of leaves changing, as i walked to the subway today, i decided I HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED FALL. i didnt know the extent of this season. it is truly with no exaggeration a totally new experience. i am enjoying it thoroughly. are you jealous? dont be. the grass is always greener over the septic tank. ha.

5) i have some pictures of last weekend that i need to post. but not tonight.

picture day

people were honking because the cabbie stopped in the middle of the street and it was a green light. and nikki was taking a picture of me apparently.


oh just our new grocery store in brooklyn at an old bank building. trader joe's


in a cab. the true new yorkers that we are.



for my uncle. in my travels we passed the brooklyn tabernacle. so there it is in all its glory.


our "get ready station" that is where we get ready. for the day.



my earthly possessions



a shot of our newly arranged spacious bedroom


come to NYC and you too can become a subway guru.



nikki took this pic down in Soho. she started eating crack herself when she found out there was a tiny mouse in dana's closet. :)

"the LORD God said to the serpent....

... 'because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. i will put enmity between you and the woman'"

a small factor that i have not been able to come to grips with concerning the position at the brooklyn children's museum is that one of the birthday party options is a snakes and reptiles party. a job requirement is the willingness, capability, and excitement towards handling and showing these such serpents to the children. this is definitely something to consider when offered a job. what kind of sacrifices am i willing to make to get to my next career stepping stone?

during the interview, when i lifted my jaw off the woman's desk, i kindly responded "that it wasn't something i would naturally gravitate towards, but that i was willing to learn." so we shall see. maybe i would rather go full time at the paperie. i can trust paper not snakes.

"this is a brooklyn bound Q train. next stop Canal"

subway appreciation lesson 2:
the lost art of chivalry and respect for elders

a good way to get a seat on a full train is to get pregnant. well you have to be showing substantially, and it would be good to be able to stay in that state for more than 12 weeks, but its a sure way to get a seat. you see something that you have to keep your eyes open to are the very few instances of people giving up their seat. here is how it tends to go. train stops, doors open, people exit, people previously on the train grab seats as people are exiting, before new people entering have a chance to get a spot, then comes in any of the following, pregnant woman, older lady (maybe 65 but clearly a new yorker who has done this for that long), old old man on cane or just decrepit. usually someone will give up a seat for all of these people. i think that is worth appreciating. it is just too bad i havent come across that fine gent who is willing to sacrifice his precious seat for me. oh well. now an exception to this situation is when a woman gives up her seat for one of the above mentioned, and there is a fine man then willing to give you his seat. and there is of course those men who do still have a small drop of chivalry left in their bones who when a seat comes open allows a lady to sit rather than taking it for themselves. i guess you could say the rarity come more when the man has to stand up and give up his spot on the bench.
questions? comments? concerns?

week 7

ok well the interviews went well for both nikki and me. they were just normal interviews with no major information given. i might know something next week, and nikkis was hopeful but not promised. so we will just wait and see.

i went to community group. it is really good. we really like all the people there. it is funny though because it is supposed to be a coed group and there are only two guys. one who is married the other who didn't show up tonight. so we will see about that. it is sad for them if one of them misses. i know rick who is of the couple is going to be out of town for about 3-4 weeks, so that leaves the other guy to come to our all girl group, so we need more guys for sure.

i am starting a new book today. it is called "a tree grows in brooklyn" by Betty Smith. does anyone want to join me? i read the first couple of pages and i am already excited about it. it is in the modern classic bracket of book life. honestly i dont know what it is about, but i have not stopped hearing this title since i have been here, and i live in brooklyn, so it seems all too appropriate for me.

i would write more, but my evening was drastically altered when i went to the lobby to check the mail, and got into conversation with our night watchman Deitrich. He is our friend, but he talks alot. alot. alot. about alot of stuff. random. know it all. he is a story for another day. since it is late. because he talked alot.

goodnight. thanks for praying for our interviews.

interview 10 am

please remember that my interview is at 10am tomorrow morning, and also know that nikki is going to an interview at 12:25 for a counselor position at the crown heights community center. yea! so it would be amazing if the lord answered our prayers of our job needs tomorrow. both these positions are within walking distance of our home, which is basically unheard of here in nYC especially if you 1)move without a job, and 2) you live where we live. we don't exactly live in job opportunity central. more like the "up and coming" of nyc. anyway please pray for both of us!

its a small world afterall

well first of all this bible study we went to was great. it was very comfortable and fun and nikki and i really liked the people. not to mention that 3 people there we had pretty close ties to in some way or another. this one couple who had it at their apt happened to be a friend that i was supposed to be getting in touch with because of a mutual friend we had in amber black. that was just crazy. then one of the girls had only lived here a month and worked at Gensler which is where our good friend katie works. so they are supposed to become friends. then one of the girls was a pretty good friend of a collegelife guy we know. it is a small world up here. it is really fun though. we found it easily. it is in park slope which is near by us. i think i will go again. it was fun. oh and they like watching cowboys games. fun! over all i think that was a good experience.

"Stand Clear of Closing Doors Please"

subway appreciation lesson 1:
appreciation of the homeless on subway.
1)i recently read a book called The Glass Castle, which I would highly recommend. it is by Jeanette Walls. It is a true story/memoir of this womans life, and her parents end up homeless in NYC. in the book she says how the city makes it too easy to be homeless. that it isnt even hard to be homeless in nyc. that is because so many people are willing to help out in small ways. i have decided that there is no reason not to give to people. it may be easy to think of a million reasons of why you shouldn't give to a homeless person, but i have decided for me it is easier to just be giving. and its not like you have the opportunity to give to someone every day or every train you get on, so when the opportunity arises i have chosen to take it. so tonight i gave a man a granola bar i had been carrying around for a couple of days, and i usually dig around in my bag for change when the united homeless organization comes through the train. it may be small, but it brings perspective on what i have. so instead of closing my eyes, turning the other way, reading my Bible, I am going to pay attention to those people who are all two often overlooked in this world. there is a level of appreciation that must happen when paying a person some attention.

2) on another aspect of the homeless subway rider, there must be a level of appreciation for the homeless stank. thats right the stank. sometimes it is just straight up stanky. i caught a wiff of it tonight and haven't been able to kick it since. but instead of moving from that seat because of my discomfort, i asked the homeless person to please move to the next train. i asked nicely, oh wait that is not how the story goes. ya know we are all people and we all gotta get somewhere. so i sat there and thought of what i would tell yall about appreciating the homeless person stinch. so when it is you on the train just take it in, and breathe through your mouth, and be a little more thankful for your shower when you get home that night.

pictures of dc!

these are our pictures. the one of me solo is of this massive wall of colored pencil scribbles. it is an installation by this artist Sol LeWitt, and i had never seen any of his work before now. so i wanted a picture. and we got yelled at by the guard for an unforeseen reason.

homework

here is your homework for the subway appreciation course. click here and begin your journey of appreciation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TohBp6zT1rw


yes i saw this in real life.

extra credit or further research
http://www.blackviolin.com/

mary louise

well louise wasnt all i had anticipated. bummer. she was just as depressing as the first day i met her. i dont know if i can be her friend. she hates her life and i do not need to be around a long time new yorker who hates life in the city and only wants to know about life in dallas and makes me dream and think about that. now i am worried that she knows where i work and she is going to be my new york stalker. she is married. she wants a divorce. this also creates a problem. 1 because i am not going to out right condone and tell her go for it drop him. 2 i dont want to be her sounding board/ shoulder to cry on if she does go through with it. well i told her she could call me. she has such a lack of motivation in life it will probably take a while for her to get back to me. and she was weird. and crazy. and i could deal with anne ross and her craziness because she does have a sparkle in her eye (most days) and she is open and interested in being encouraged in her joy that comes from her saviour. so i dont know what exactly to do about mary louise caldwell, but i guess we will cross that bridge when we get there.

six week break down

so everyone told me to expect a six week break. down. it. came. and it went away nicely as well. so. i just need you to understand that this is my first time away from home for an extended amount of time. it is hard to believe that with all the camps and excursions i have been on and my ability to appear extremely independent, but i have never been away more than one month. so i never thought that the distance would really be that big of a problem. but here i am 1554.85 miles away unable to be there for the pool, scarletts birthday, thanksgiving, and so so much more. it is weird. some of you may be able to relate, but i was really encouraged by my longtime friend chelsea and her momma who was in town this past weekend. it was nice because they have already been through this and still go through it as the years go by. so anyway just thought you should know my emotional state of being.

so as a pick me up, i got to go to DC to see two of my friends from program. Colleen was in DC for an interview and she was staying with Jennifer. I tried to get Colleen to come here, but a broken leg prohibited her from the ambulatory needs of the city. so i went to her. on a bus. vamoose. it was fine. no big deal. and we got to go see the capital and go to the national gallery of art. it was a nice day trip. fun for all. then we went and had lunch with Jennifer and we drove around in Georgetown as well. pictures coming soon. i think you will like them.

also i called the brooklyn childrens museum for the 8th time today and finally got in touch with Sue Bender the Events supervisor. So now i know i have an interview next tuesday at 10 am. i am going to wow her.... hopefully. my friend jillian (who lives here and who i student taught with in denton) she sent "good vibes" my way for the interview. i ask that you send something a little more powerful directly to the good LORd for me.

so i guess october 1 passed as fast as it came upon us. before you know it we will be sitting at a table drinking coffee or something amazing of the like.

in other news...

ok things i need to tell you about are.
1) i have an interview coming up at the brooklyn children's museum. i dont know when, but i am excited. it is a part time job, but it is still a good thing. it is a party coordinator position. yippee. we will see
2) louise caldwell called back. i am meeting her on friday night. we will be talking about possible organizational needs she has. we talked on tuesday for one hour and forty-five minutes. does spelling those words out help you understand the length of that conversation? it was long, but ya know it was funny. i like her. so we will see what i am getting myself into with her.
3) it is getting colder. i am wearing my favorite cozy red jacket from gap that i love. i could live in this jacket and i wish this jacket created enough warmth for the whole cold winter that i will encounter, but we all know that won't happen.
4)that being said, i bought my winter coat. at nowhere else than the good ole burlington coat factory. i am so excited about this coat. it is black and long. like to my ankles long and has an ENORMOUS collar. i will take a picture in it and you will be jealous you don't live somewhere in need of such an amazing coat.
5) i am done babysitting for susan. no more tuesday/thursday babies. bummer, but good.
6)something to look forward to... subway appreciation 101. i know you can't contain your excitement for an online course.
7) my parents will have a pool soon. that is exciting. i am going to miss the first pool party.

pictures.

we got stuff. well dana has stuff. i have a bed. and my favorite computer i have ever owned. pearl.mac



isn't this the quaint little spot you imagined in your head of what our outside entrance looks like? well whether or not it is, this is what we got.



a shot of our front entry. in case you want to know what the door looks like that we rarely enter through.



a new marketing scheme kelsey and i came up with for heinz 57 ketchup.... maybe people will drink whole bottles of ketchup and buy in 6 packs. just an idea.



the streets of BK that i walked on a saturday shopping excursion



the common vista as you look out the window at the target bistro. a bustling brooklyn below and beyond.

onlyinnewyorkcity....

well there are somethings in this world that you would ONLY SEE/ENCOUNTER IN NEW YORK CITY. i have two to share with you today

one: this lady at the paperie told me that she had turned her kitchen into a library. that is correct. she presently has no refrigerator. is that not the craziest thing you have ever heard. i said what if you want like ice cream or a yogurt... she said her diner down stairs from her apartment was her kitchen, and that she didn't want to sit in her lonely apartment in front of the TV eating her delivered dinner. i think this is a valid point. 

two: an encounter from nikki

at a pretty big subway station today nikki was walking through to transfer to her train, and a man was walking past her and said " can i have a drink of that?" referring to the lipton ice tea bottle in her hand. she had to have him repeat himself because it caught her so off guard. so he said it again "can i have a drink of that?" nikki kindly gave the man the drink and told him he could keep it.  i mean really. who dose that. 

onlyinnewyorkcity....

mary louise caldwell...

well as i mentioned i met an interesting character at the paperie last week. yes her full name is mary louise caldwell but you can call her louise for short. she is from amarillo texas, and was so glad to have met another of her kind. the main thing you all need to take away from this encounter was the fact that i actually got to give my business card to someone! that is a monumental experience making the whole thing worthwhile. but anyway. this lady is in the store and me being the nice little retail worker i am simply ask "is there anything i can help you with today ma'am?" well that was the beginning of something that i never thought could happen. I don't know how exactly it came up other than that I hadn't lived here long, but within about one minute or even less i knew this woman's name and origin. and she knew i was sally from dallas. then she talked to me/ at me for a solid hour. Now in retail especially at a paperie in new york city, you rarely help one customer for more than 30 seconds. just a simple oh that way, oh its right here, oh well thats all we have, or whatever the appropriate response is to the busy new yorker. so the fact that this woman sat down on a table and took off her hat and set down her groceries on behalf of me and my TEXAS heritage, this was quite out of the ordinary.

Well the thing that she talked about that got me to thinkin, was that she had lived in the city more that 25 years and had moved here right after college with some friends. She wondered why i had moved here. But there was a deep level of desperation and depression in her eyes. I mean to the point it seemed that I was the reason she was continuing her life that day. So it just made me very thankful that i have a deeper reason to be in this city, but it is so easy to forget, so easy that i forgot until i am here writing these words. I mean not that i have totally lost purpose in life, but its just so good that i don't have to worry about looking back in 25 years thinking how did i waste my life in THIS city with THESE people. I do have a hope and a future and God has prepared a plan for me and it is prosperous. Anyway cheers to that.

so louise gave me her number as well. i called her, but didn't touch base. she hasn't called back. I wanted to call her, because i did enjoy her to the level i enjoyed Anne Ross the first time I met her. and i always will have a void in my life without anne around. (who called wanting her car keys because she is having her car shipped to Arizona. little update within an update). So i was thinking i might just see if this lady wanted to be a possible NYC replacement of my sweet anne. i will let you know....

Nikki is going home tomorrow to Kemah. Her house, that is on the water, got hit pretty hard by Ike. So you can be praying for her and her family. They need it. She doesn't have a return flight, but she plans on being back in about two weeks. A dear friend of her's payed for a plane ticket home. That has left me home alone for 6 more sleeps on my air mattress and then dana will be here with furniture, MY BED, and my lovely computer Pearl.

a time line

so we have been here two days shy of one month.
we will be getting our beds in just 10 more days!!! we are counting down the days!

i would say that i am very thankful for my little part time jobs and content to be here for now. i have applied for lots of jobs and had NO responses, so I am just having to be ok with that right now.

We (nikki and my friend kelly) are signing up for a community group at Apostles church. We are going to a prayer night at someone's apartment tonight as well. So we are just trying to meet some people there and get involved.

Everyone keeps asking if I am settled in, but i honestly just think that this is all so surreal still, that it is hard to believe that this is life. I mean i am here living life and the days are passing by and it is great, but ya know it isn't "normal" as i know "normal". well what ever normal is this doesn't feel like it, but i am enjoying it and life is good and fun and here i am so what am i going to do about it now. not that i want to do something about it, like it is bad or anything, but it is crazy that i am here without all you people, doing something that is totally different. i met this lady yesterday, she was a little odd, but i am going to have to tell you more about her later, but she relates to these thoughts i am having about what i am doing here. so look forward to a little story about Mary Louise Caldwell....from Amarillo, Texas.

pics of our stomping ground

the street we walk down to the subway Eastern Parkway

cute brownstones along the same street

new york avenue. the cross street. 

gotham city. its dark. its not that great of a pic, but it was pretty in real life.