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.