javajanie

New Music Friday

New to me anyway. And free.Red Mountain Church

The Last of the NYC Blog Posts

We're back from New York City. We left Friday evening after shopping for gifts to bring back for the kids. They were so well behaved for my brother in law. I'm so blessed to not only have a brother in law that will stay with my kids for a week, but for kids that I can trust to behave (Tori watched them during the day). Gary even said that he looked forward to getting off work each day and coming home to them. Sure I like my kids, but it's even nicer to know other people like my kids. 

I think I left off with Wednesday in my run down of our trip. Thursday, we ended up in the Village again. I really wanted to have French at this little bistro owned by a cousin in law of a fellow blogger, but I found out Steve does not like French food. How can you not like French food? We ended up at an Italian restaurant, can't remember the name. The risotto was delicious. Afterwards we went to Cafeteria in Chelsea for dessert and drinks. The deep fried oreos are ridiculous. Although, the Rose Gimlet stole the show. So tasty. We ended up walking by the French restaurant. Steve saw their little sandwich board with specials and said, "Oh, that's the restaurant? That sounds good." Guess we'll have to go back another time.

Friday, Steve headed back to class while I packed up, checked out, and did some shopping for the kids. Of course, I had to go back to Woorijip for lunch. It's right by Herald Square and it's cheap and so good. Then I wandered around trying to shop. Steve is so much better at picking out gifts. Luckily he got out early and soon joined me. We didn't get done til around 7. So, um, we went back to Woorijip for dinner. I couldn't get enough. 

The kids waited up for us. It was so good to get back. Everyone loved their gifts, legos, Webkinz and some cool NYC fashions for the older girls. I had teased them I got them all I love NY shirts and mini Statue of Liberty tchotchkes. 

The weekend was full of last minute school supply and shoe shopping. Now everyone is back to school. So quiet, but there's plenty of cleaning to do. 

Hopefully from here on out I'll do less blog run down posts. Really trying to get back into my groove as far as writing. I miss it. Back to the cleaning. 

Never A Bad Night To Be In New York City*

I hope you all realize I'm not trying to bore you all with every little detail of my "vacation". It's just that I went back to my old OLD blog (the one that is locked up from prying eyes) about a week ago. I started reading from the beginning. It was mainly just everyday life kind of stuff. More importantly, it was lots of cute little things the kids did, things I don't remember. So I'm trying to be better about writing stuff down. I'm not sure at what point the memories I have today will just seep out of my head like the ones from 7 or 8 years ago. It's nice to have a place to go back and read them. 

And that brings me to Wednesday. I spent a lot of time reading "Forest of Hands and Teeth" (Gah. Books in print...quotations? caps? I can never remember!). It was really good, but gave me a lovely nightmare that caused me to turn all the lights on in the middle of the night for about a half hour. Yes, because I am really 5 years old and scared of ghosts. Seriously, this was one evil ghost hunting me down. You would've turned all the lights on too. 

Guess I need to fill the gaps in between my day of reading in the hotel and the 2am nightmare. Hmmm, let me think, this stuff is already seeping out of my brain and it's only been 2 days. Oh yes, Wednesday was Pizza Night. We went down to an area known as Nolita and had pizza at what is claimed to be America's first pizzeria, Lombardi's. I have to say it lived up to the hype. I thought it was very good. Baked in a coal fired oven, fresh mozzarella and basil. Seriously, can't go wrong with that. Although, honestly, I still dream of the best pizza I ever had from this place in New Hampshire by Alisa's house. George's thin crust cheese. Sigh. Best. Ever.

After dinner we walked through SoHo and back to the Village. I really like the feel of the Village. It's so relaxing to just walk through and talk on a cool night. We stopped at the Dove Parlour. I have been in search of a lavender martini ever since I heard of them in May. Finding a place that has them in the DC area has not been fruitful. I was hoping a city as big as NYC wouldn't disappoint me. And they didn't. Although, I wasn't crazy about their choice of grapefruit juice with the lavender. Oh well, we sat and talked for a good while. The atmosphere was great and people watching in the Village is so much better than Midtown. Seeing real New Yorkers in their natural habitat. It's like going to a Wildlife reserve instead of the Zoo. I kid, I kid. I love you New Yorkers in all your craziness. 

Another nice night. I finally feel like I'm getting to know New York City a bit more. Sure I like Broadway plays, the bright lights of Times Square, the huge shops around Herald Square, but there are so many other sides to NYC and I'm really enjoying getting to know some of them this week. 

*A kinda sorta quote from DMB's Central Park Live CD or whatever it was called. Gotta love Dave. 

Spectacular Tuesday

Why was it spectacular? Mockingjay*, Promises Promises**, and more Woorijip***. Need I say more? 

*Couldn't have been a better way to end it. At least that's what I think.

**Special thanks to Kelly who sent us an awesome discount code. Got our tickets at half the usual price and the seats were great. 

***Yes, I dragged Steve back down to the Korean place because I love it so much. I might just have to hit it up one more time before we leave NYC. 

A Little Bit Of This And A Little Bit Of That

The chinchilla lives on and Steve and I are in New York City. It's nice having one last trip before the kids go back to school. Although, once again it's business for Steve, vacation for me. Not that I'm complaining. I feel very blessed to have so many opportunities to travel with him. 

So far it's been a great week. Church was really great on Sunday. Awesome time of worship followed by a long time of hanging with people talking after the service. It set our departure time back a bit, but it was worth it. We got in around 10pm Sunday night, checked in, and headed straight to our favorite Mexican restaurant just off Times Square. Although, I have to say, Viva Pancho wasn't as good as I remembered. The salsa tasted like it was made with tomato paste. Chips were awesome. The Chile Relleno was exceptional too. 

Monday, we overslept thanks to setting the alarm to 7pm instead of 7am. It didn't help that the beds at the Residence Inn are like sleeping on a cloud. No joke. Best night sleep I've had in a long time. Guess we really do need to replace our mattress. After Steve rushed off to class, I was getting hungry so I checked out Yelp and found this awesome little Korean place in Koreatown, Woorijip. I had no clue there was a Koreatown in New York City. It's just past Herald Square around 32nd Street. Anyone who knows me, knows I love Korean food, more than Chinese. Give me some bulgogi, kim chi and jap chae and I am one happy lady. So I walked in, joined the crowd at the pay by the pound buffet and  that's what I got. Oh, and some awesome veggie dumplings with this dipping sauce that is just to die for. I didn't do any book reading that afternoon. I opted to nap on that glorious bed.

After Steve got back from class, we got on the Subway and headed down to Greenwich Village. It's an area of New York City we've never really visited aside from driving through. I felt like I could actually breathe in Greenwich Village. No throngs of tourists like Times Square. I'm thankful we've had enough opportunities to come to NYC and see all the tourist stuff that we can venture off the beaten path a bit. Anyway, the Italian restaurant Steve picked out was closed, but a local woman noticed us on our phones looking a little lost. (We were actually on Yelp looking for a new restaurant.) So we took the opportunity to ask her where her favorite place was to eat nearby. She pointed us in the directions of two restaurants across from each other. We ended up picking the Swedish restaurant, Smorgas Chef, since that's one we don't get very often (unless I take a trip to Ikea, and I was guessing this would be better than Ikea). Steve opted for the Swedish Meatballs with Lingonberry Sauce. I went for the Blue Shell Mussels and Fries. So good. Although, the real star of the meal was the sangria made with St. Germain Elderflower liquer. Sigh. It now sits in my top ten favorite drinks. There's just something about flower flavored drinks and sweets. It's all Esther's fault for telling me I had to go to Harrod's and buy the lavender and rose chocolates. They were divine and I've been hooked ever since.

But I digress. When we were done with dinner we walked over to this bar that's been open for over a 150 years. It has an original WANTED poster from when John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln. It's been hanging there since they were hunting him down during the Civil War. I can't remember the name, but what I do remember was that it wasn't as close to the Village as we thought it was (Ok, just googled it, it's McSorley's). But it was a nice night and I enjoyed walking the city with Steve. Steve did decide to take a cab back to our hotel. Actually, we took a cab to Magnolia Bakery where I got a chocolate cupcake with chocolate buttercream frosting, then walked the 4 or 5 blocks back to our hotel. 

Wow, so yeah, that was just Monday. Guess I'll blog about Tuesday later on today. Monday was great, but Tuesday was spectacular. 

Box Full Of Cute

Our 2 new runner ducklings, Willy Wonka and Gerber

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As "Crazy Duck Lady" As I'm Gonna Get

We ordered two Runner ducklings yesterday. Ashley and Tori's chickens ended up being roosters, so they had to go. Instead of wanting new chickens, they wanted ducks. So next Wednesday I should get an early morning call from the post office to pick up 2 itty bitty ducklings. I was debating waiting til Spring, but we do more traveling in the Spring/Summer. This way they'll be out in the yard and not need much by the next time we go out of town. 

Of course, as soon as they arrive I'll take lots of pictures. Ashley picked out a Chocolate Runner. She plans on naming him "Willy Wonka". Tori ordered a Blue Runner. The jury's still out on the name. 

Other than that, things are getting back to normal around here. School is around just around the corner. Sports practices have started back up. Music lessons are in full swing. Yup, life goes on. 

Happiness

Singing at the top of my lungs during church. Risking my life on the rapids. Karaoke in an empty restaurant. Texting 30 Rocks quotes*. Ridiculously long facebook messages about BEA. And you know what makes all these things so awesome? I have wonderful friends to share them with! 

*This is what happens when your husband finally gets unlimited texting. 

It All Started With A Chat Room And A Post-It Note*

So here I sit in a basement in New Hampshire, a little over 10 years after that chat room and post it note. Take a lonely housewife in Maryland whose husband worked ridiculously long hours with 2 kids and one on the way and mix it with a soon to be new mom in New Hampshire stuck on bedrest. Add an "Expecting" chat room full of pregnant women. Give 'em a due date just days apart. Mix in years of AOL instant messaging before the days of unlimited long distance. Throw in a couple of messy divorces. Hours upon hours of heart to hearts. Then add in finding our soulmates, new marriages, and some wonderful new kiddos. Somehow that became the recipe for one of the best friendships I have ever had in my entire life. 

The laughter, the tears, just plain everything, God has been so good in blessing me with a friend like Alisa. God even made sure to postpone everything that I would get this trip to be able to see her and share her 32nd birthday with her. Sure most days, it's a phone call is all we can share. But this week we shared life and death experiences (depending on who you ask), laughter, a bit of sangria, good food, pretty painted toes and fingers, and more karaoke than I ever thought I'd since in my lifetime. 

*Ok, so we had close due dates and I was going for an appointment. We had just met in the chat room and Alisa wanted me to let her know how my appointment that day went (she was new to the chat room), so I put a post-it on my computer monitor so I would remember to log on and tell her. Best use of a post-it note ever. I guess I owe post it note a thank you for helping to forge a friendship that would last for years. 

Oops, I Did It Again

Yeah, I totally was going to blog every day...or maybe every other day...or more than I have been. I have a good excuse right now. I'm in New Hampshire visiting one of my best friends for the first time in three years. And it's wonderful. 

Janie and Alisa