Happy Weekend!

Here it is Sunday nite--Oscar's Nite--and I'm watching Click with Adam Sandler. Never been much of an Oscar's groupie.... It's been a good weekend. Kind of sick all weekend--spent Friday nite at church for a missions dinner, then doing my taxes at Dawson House (Anne's). Saturday, had a super fun brunch with some girls from BSF, did a condo open house thingy, shopping for a fancy dress, finished taxes and crashed at Dawson again. Sunday moring we got a snow storm! 6 inches of snow in like 3 hours!! We've been snowed in all day/nite...watching movies, eating chili, doing taxes....very grown-up of us! ;) Good times.

Not excited about going back to work tomorrow....but looking forward to a fun week! Have the women's retreat next weekend!

It's time for a reminder....tag, if you are reading this....you are IT!

Grateful:

1. Health. Lots of scary and sad news about friends this week. Good friend of the family had a wreck and was submerged under water; and old friend in LR has cancer. Praise God for His grace and goodness.
2. Family. I miss mine. Chad came up to visit a couple of weekends ago--and I just didn't know how much that would make me homesick. But it did. And I miss that precious baby. Good to have family.
3. Blessings. This week I found out that my cc benefits are indeed going to pay my deductible and fees from my wreck this Christmas--Praise the Lord! Also, I'm gonna get back a fairly significant tax return! I'm so grateful.
4. Hopes. I have big hopes for a race this summer in my hometown...hoping to be joined by friends and family--nervous that it won't come together...but here's to enjoying the excitement of planning!
5. Friends. I've likely worn out my welcome this weekend, but mine have let me crash all weekend to do my taxes on their internet connection, watch their movies and eat their chili. Thanks ladies.

Here's to a blessed Lord's day. Have a great week!

Bye, Shauna!!!!

Right before I went on my retreat, I had the pleasure of hosting Shauna for a quick 2 day visit! She was here for a work gig, but I got to spend V-day with her! What a treat! My B/F/F got to be my Valentine! Fun stuff!!!

We had a great time--good company (lots of folks-Dedra, Beth, Michelle, Anne, and Tango) came for dinner at Duangrat's for the best Thai food EVER! Anne stayed over and we had a slumber party (actually, we went to bed immediately--kind of lame :) ), Shauna and I did a tad bit of shopping and had Chipotle--then watched Tivo. It was a perfect visit!

Miss you, Shauna-belle!

So sleepy....

This weekend I went on a retreat with my church youth group--11th grade girls, specifically.

Geez. I forgot how much drama there was in High School.

Holy Cow. Who knew it was possible to function for 4 days on 0 sleep??

I'm not even sure how to begin to describe the weekend. It was cold and snowy and a gorgeous setting. But exhausting.

I may be too old to work with high school kids. :(

All I kept thinking during every activity they played, was, surely this is a terribly dangerous idea! Lots of throwing things at each other...dodgeball, stressball dodgeball...lots of blindfolded games....lots of snow/ice games (frozen lake broomball---yikes!!!). It was exhausting being so scared for them the whole time!

But God was there. In a big way. It was amazing. Not sure if the youth thing is my gig--but I'm so glad I went. Fun to hang for a minute here and there with Tango, and made a new friend, too. But mostly just got to love on kids all weekend. Pics to come. Good stuff.

New York, New York!!!

Brrrrrr!!!!! It's cold up in the NE these days! It's crazy that like 2 weeks ago I was wearing shorts and complaining about not having a real winter....over it!!! Wish it would be warm again!!!

This weekend Anne and I went to NYC on a belated b-day trip for-you guessed it!--ME!!! We had a FABULOUS time!!! It's definately one of my all-time fave weekend trips--and maybe the best trip to NYC! Thanks, Anne!

Here's a run-down of our events. Got up at oh-zero-early Saturday morning and drove to the big city of NYC to arrive at about 10:45/11 ish. Drove thru the city, found a parking spot, had breakfast at "Pick a Bagel". Met 3 of the OU track team and visited w/ them for a good while (they were having a meet there for the weekend.) Enjoyed breakfast--as after 30 seconds out of the car I was FREEZING. Got back in the car, drove closer to our destination, and parked for our 12:00 appointment at "The Manhattan Club." Anne's old roommate, Jackie, has a place there w/ her husband. She nominated Anne as a buyer, and to make a long story short, for the small price of 2 hours...we got a pimpin' hotel on 56th and Central Park (literally, ON the park) for about $250---down from the regular price of $700ish. The timeshare presentation wasn't too bad. Anne had a bad cough and towards the end, really had to use it to get us out of there! Once we convinced her we had no $, she showed us out the back staircase into the service entrance/exit! It was pretty funny. My how the mighty fall....

After the presentation, we drove down to Ground Zero to check out the progress and see the new timeline presentation they've put up there. Spent a few minutes there, then drove back uptown to our hotel. We found a parking garage to leave the car in, carried the bags a few blocks and enjoyed our palace for about an hour before leaving for dinner. We had dinner in a fancy little Italian joint on the same block as our theatre. It was so nice! Although, if you know me, you know fancy food is wasted on me. I just don't get it. And if it's weird, I don't want to get it! I had a nice piece of salmon and the absolute best creme brulee I've ever had! The hostess was fun and reall italian---which is always kind of cool. We headed to the theatre to see "Beauty and the Beast"--which was neither of our first choice...but free tickets, what're you gonna do?? Turns out, it was FANTASTIC. I was awed. Amazed. So great. Loved it. Can't rave enough. And, it was fun to know the words to all the songs. After, we went to this cool "champagne speakeasy"--it's now a champagne bar, but was a speak-easy in the late 20's, so it has the closet-like booths, curtains, etc.... Very fun!

Sunday morning, got up and went to church at Redeemer Pres--that's where we go everytime we are in the city. It's the best church. I love it! It meets in the auditorium of Hunter college, right in the middle of the city, so it's not the most comfortable setting--but the pastor is FANTASTIC. They do communion every Sunday, too, which I love. It's alway such a great experience--go if you have the chance! After church, went back to the room to pack, had a late checkout, walk thru Central Park (in the freezing cold, but still beautiful day), lunch at Broadway Diner, then drove home!

When we got home, we decided to pick up fajitas--and in maybe one of the most exciting turn of events, found the best mexican place in town!!! Wahoo!!! And the colts won. Good times.

Here are some pics--didn't turn out that great....

Can you tell we are in the theatre? See the beast behind us??

The cool "glowing stage" phenom--pre-show....

At the champagne bar.

The fabulous gilded halls of our hotel!!! Can you tell the ceiling is solid brass?? So funny....