NYC recap!

Home from the city! It was such a great time, Alynda and Kirby are the NICEST people ever and I am very sad that we live so far away from each other. Seriously, why are all of my friends at least an hour away? It makes me feel very anti-social.

Anyway, J and I got to Union Station in Hartford around 6:30 in the morning, and stuffed 16 dollar bills into a box in the parking lot that was supposedly going to pay for us to park there all day. Very sketchy, we were wondering all day if the car would actually be there when we got back! We met A in the station, got our coffee and slept for two hours on the train ride. We got to NYC around 10, and walked around Penn Station for a while trying to find a bathroom because we were both freaked out by the one on the train. We got outside and went to Macy's to meet Alynda and Kirby. They were running a little late, so we went through Macy's for a while and found hundreds of ties in one room - seriously, in every color and texture. What would guys need that many ties for?!

Around 10:30 we met them at Macy's, and from there we walked (a lot) and nearly got sprayed at by a sidewalk-washer, saw lots (LOTS) of pigeons, bargain-shopped in souvenir stores and talked about all of our pets, toured each floor of the World of Disney, and searched for lunch that wouldn't cost $20 for a sandwich. Which ended up with us eating at McDonald's and it STILL cost us like twice what it would have at home. J felt better after eating and perked up, poor thing was dragged through stores all morning and half the afternoon, but he's a trooper and told me on the way home that it was quite as horrible as he thought it would be. (But was sure to still make it clear that a day of shopping in NYC wasn't his idea of a great day, haha). We did some more shopping, and had to leave Aly and Kirby outside of a shop on Broadway, so we took lots of pictures and said goodbye until the next roadtrip.

When they had to leave, Kirby generously dontated her map of NYC to ensure we wouldn't get lost. Sure enough, A and I screwed up reading the map about 56 times, so J was appointed the job of Official Map Reader. We started to walk toward the Natural Museum of History, and stopped along the way at a Starbucks to make a game plan and to recharge with some coffee and Amanda's super cool smoothie. When we finally got to the museum, we made it through one exhibit of North American Mammals and then spent an hour in the gift shop looking at globes and reading books about NYC. From there, we stopped to get dinner at Uno's and then headed to the subway to get back to Penn Station. We just barely missed the rain, it started coming down right as we got to the station. We were an hour early, so we hit up some sketchy souvenir shops and Amanda and I got ice cream. Right before we boarded the train I decided to go to the bathroom because I knew that ten minutes into the ride home I'd have to go, and inside the bathroom at the train station there were signs everywhere saying "please do not bathe in the sinks" and "please do not engage in sex inside the bathroom stalls." That thoroughly creeped me out so I booked it out of there and waited for the train.

We got home around 11, and luckily our car was still in the lot across from Union Station. A and I said goodbye, which was sad because we dont have another adventure planned right now. I'm sure one will come up though, and if not we will create one for over Christmas break!

I was so exhausted this morning though, and felt like I had 100 bricks on top of me this morning (or afternoon, I should say, since J and I rolled out of bed around 1pm) and it literally hurt to move for about an hour. We kept it low key today, all we did was lay around, watch tv, and play with Milo, who STILL has fleas! Next weekend's goal: to get rid of them for good!

I will post pictures soon!

new york, new york

Off to NYC tomorrow! Really excited, to see the girls and just go to the city in general. Hopefully we beat the rain, but I'm sure it will be fun either way. Here's to hoping I don't spend too much at World of Disney =)

hello goodbye

I have a new home!

http://emiliemarie.wordpress.com

9/11

I find it sort of strange, that every year people seem to go on like normal on 9/11. Especially here in the north, where we could see the smoke in parts of Connecticut, where our hospitals prepared for victims of the attacks, where it literally hit closer to home. All we do is a measly moment of silence, and that is supposed to sufficiently commemorate and remember the attacks?

My mom's best friend, her boyfriend was a firefighter in NYC in 2001. He is the only surviving member of his company. I wonder how he feels when he drives down the street and sees that most flags are not at half-mast, or when he sees that there are no vigils, no ceremonies, nothing. Maybe most people did feel that sting every time they wrote the date today, like I did, but no one acts like it.

I know that in fifty years, this wont be as big of a deal as it should be right now. But we are still at war with the country that did this to us - and we all act like today isn't a significant date. My family members are still over in the Middle East risking their lives to defend this country. Whatever your stance on the war - the troops should be supported no matter what. The troops don't say "Well, I don't really support this war so I'm going to sit this tour out." I'm posting the link to my brothers tribute video for 9/11, because I feel like I should do something to remember the victims and families and businesses and churches and schools and strangers who were affected by 9/11, and the troops who are overseas fighting for our country right now.

9/11 Tribute

new home

I've found a new home. This site is way easier to navigate and use and whatnot. So yay!

I am getting very excited about NYC on Saturday. I've never been, and have heard so many great stories from people who have been. So much happens there; it seems spontaneous, exciting, and foreign. I think it's so strange that I can consider a city that is two hours from my house foreign! It's definitely a completely different world than my middle-class small suburban town.

We are planning on going to World of Disney (of course...I've been bugging J to go with me for the last year), Times Square, Rockafellar Center, and Central Park. I really don't know how much you can do in just a day trip, but we'll find out. I can't wait to see A again, we haven't hung out since March. And we will be meeting the oh-so-kind Aly and witty Kirby! Especially exciting, for sure. It will definitely be worth the 7am train ride!

And this is why I am more and more disappointed with Americans each and every day:



Someone keyed J's Mustang in the middle of the night on Monday. Most likely, he says, they were after his rims and got pissed when they couldn't get the lock off. Really, what benefit do you get from keying this car? You still end up with nothing!

inspiration

I've decided to start writing again. It helps me, I think, to have someone (or something, I suppose, in the case of a blog) to just be able to say things to, without any criticism, or opinions, or advice. That kind of implies that I've got only negative things to say, which isn't true, but I also kind of like the idea of 5, 10, 15 years from now, being able to go back and see what my life was like right now.

Speaking of the future, lately I've been wondering what my life will be like 5, 10, 15 years from now. Not for any specific reason...but it seems like so many things are changing right now. Politically, who knows where we will be in even a year's time, maybe in ten years I will be living in Canada. I'm almost done with school (almost meaning 1 year of undergrad and 1 year of grad school away) and it gets me to thinking about my future...what am I going to do, where will I work, where will I live, who will I live with?

I really think, that in 15 years, I'll look back and wish I could return to where I am right now. What can I complain about? I make decent money, I live rent free, I am learning, I am young, and I am in love with a really good, honest person. I know that I've struggled a little lately with some things that have gone on in my personal life, which is part of why I stopped writing, but really - all of that yucky stuff aside, I am really lucky to be me right now.

If I look back even just 2 years and compare who I am now to who I was then...I am immensely proud of what I've done in those two years. I've learned a lot about myself, who I am, and what I want. I've taken control of my health, I've fallen in love, I've decided on a career path, and I've purchased my very own brand new car.

What I need the most right now, is to slow down and really look at what is important. I am so quick to react to things without really letting them sink in. I tend have a one-track-mind when something is thrown at me, and I want to be able to look at things in a broader light.

look onward baby, someday you might need a friend

Soooo it's been a little bit. I broke my elbow, couldn't type, and now I'm frustrated with not being able to use my right hand that I took the crap off of it and am using it despite it being broken and hurting like a mofo. So much for becoming an expert rollerblader by June 15th, apparently my stopping techniques weren't up to par. No worries though, I will get it down by the end of the summer for sure. Next summer's goal will be to conquer playing hockey while on rollerblades...I'm sure more broken bones will result.

I wish I wasn't so clumsy. It seems like I'm tripping or falling or hitting something at least a few times a day. Speaking of, it's been almost a year since the fateful Bambi incident, and I told John he has to drive me everywhere on May 11 because I am not driving anywhere. This also means that I can FINALLY see a plastic surgeon about doing something with my arm. I wasn't going to fix it, but then I realized I dont want to look like my arm was gnawed at by a mountain lion for the rest of my life.

We're having a BBQ at work tomorrow, I am pretty excited. I love working there and I adore my residents. They're so cute, I hope I'm as cute as them when I'm really old. They come out with the funniest things, the other day one of them asked if I was available and when I told him no, he was all "Damn, I sure missed out." At least it keeps my confidence up. haha.

I'm really tired and have gotten into a bad habit of going to bed at 11 and being really tired all day. I want to cut my hair short again.