Home: Part 5

Our trip ended by dumping snow on us. We, non-drivers, were forced to drive in this horrible weather. To be safe, we changed our flight, knowing we would not make it to the airport in time. Driving was the worst in this weather. Tyler gave us a hard time and told us to stop acting like we weren't from the Midwest. Ha ha. We couldn't help it!

Greeting the sun in our last moments in the Midwest. It was nice to see one last sunrise before flying home.

City, you have no idea how happy I was to see you. Thank you for having beautiful sunshine for our return. Thank you for having warmer, non-snowy weather. Thank you for being my home!

Home: Part 4

Sunset as we headed to meet Paula for dinner. Is it crazy that this is taken in the middle of a large city? It is to me. We'd never see such flatness in our city. Seth kept talking about how he expected to look and see tall buildings everywhere. NOT the case... (Dinner was Mexican food! YUMMM... One thing we haven't found to be as good in NYC.)

The dreaded driving.

Brunch with a large group of our closest college friends after a CRAZY night out. We haven't forgotten how to have a good time. We haven't forgotten how to act like we are still college students.

I'm sure the restaurant wished we'd forgotten - we were having a bit too much fun. Tyler's probably trying to defend himself after I brought up embarrassing stories of the past (in my defense, he was picking on me first)... Or trying to convince us to stay another night (which he did... we have since vowed not to listen to his ideas. They just hurt too much.)

This photo is a bit dark and blurry. I just couldn't help myself. We stopped by the bar in town that a lot of my high school friends would frequent when we were in college. It's run down, old, and only takes cash. They serve pickled hard boiled eggs, too. (YUCK). We were trying to kill some time while waiting for my brother and his wife (yah!) to come into town after flying in from their honeymoon. When we walked in, we were greeted by a barefoot guy on the floor. I was shocked by his state and how early it was. Why was he not wearing shoes, especially since it was snowing outside?! Here, the friend is giving the guy socks - he just happened to be wearing 2 pairs. Only in the Midwest, I guess.

Brothers-in-law with one of their favorite drinks.

We've changed a little since that porch photo I posted in the last post... No?

Saturday's List - Love These Links

Mrs. E started a weekly list set recently, Saturday's List - I love it! I am much like her when it comes to lists! I thought this weekend, I'd go ahead and join the fun.

My theme for Saturday's list is links. I want to share a few links of cool blogs, sites, and things I've found recently. (In no particular order...)

** Cover Spy - This website shows what New Yorkers are seen reading around the city. How fun is this!?!

** What font are you? - I'm Courier.

** To Do: - Now this list is exactly what I should be following! Beautiful, no?

** The Living Project - Inspiring work.

** Skinny Love - Ian was holding out on me for a while, but I finally got this song out of him.

** Heartbeats - Speaking of music, I can't get enough of this song. Mind is a razor blade...

** my *2010* is HERE - This is a fairly new blog, by Amanda, and despite it being new, I Love it! She posts often and has really fun things to share :) She's a fellow New Yorker and heading into the same profession as I'm in.

** That Year - Was recently sent this video...

** Ice Skating - And I recently sent this video to my husband. I teased him saying I wish this man could be my husband.

** 50 Steps to Simple Happiness - From New York Magazine

Home: Part 3

Spent an evening in my college town with one of my best friends, Cherish. This is a stool at my favorite bar there. It's the one bar that reminds me most of NYC, but it's still so far away. I've known her since 8th grade when she moved to our small town. We rode the bus together.

The next night, I stayed at home in my old room. My parents have an old farm house. My room is still untouched from what it looked like when we moved in Years ago. Someday, they'll redo it. Someday this "lovely" wall paper will come down. It takes me back. I spent years looking at this wall paper. I came to understand the pattern. (Sounds weird right... I seriously spent so much time in that room, I couldn't help learning the wall paper! :)

The old ceiling. The stars I hung years ago.

The bright sunlight that woke me up sooo early. I'm not used to that anymore. I awoke wondering who in the world was shining a light right in my face so darn early! Another view I used to know.

We were so cute. Ben and me years ago. This was taken outside the house we lived in when I was so little. I drove by that place while I was driving through town. It's interesting seeing the places we used to be in. The places I once knew that seem so distant now. The back fence we used to climb on. The yard we used to catch fireflies in. The very porch we are sitting on here. The dog pin where our basset hound lived...

Home: Part 2

Emma, the dog who loves balls, let us stay with her our first night in. Because our flight was delayed, we didn't get in until midnight. Then we drove about an hour to a good friend's place. We were exhausted, but the excitement of being with an old friend, whom we haven't seen since we moved, kept us up. I gave up about 5:30 - 6 a.m. The boys kept going until the sun came up. Bottles of wine and a flask named Darrell being the source of energy.

I had to get home on Friday to catch up with the family and get to the rehearsal, so Seth sent me on (to drive by myself!! SCARY!) and made a stop in our college town with Tyler.

I was amazed by the openness. I was taken in by the beauty of the golden colors, by the big blue sky. I did miss this.

The road home. I know this road, drove it most of my life. It's so different than the roads I've been seeing for the last few years.

The morning after the wedding, Grandma had us over for a breakfast. I got some fun playing time with my cousins. Here's the youngest with our bomb pops. Those boys are great fun. I do miss them :)

Week 8: Wide Open Spaces

This weeks collaboration is coming a little late and in a little different style. I took last week to visit the Midwest and was away from my cityscape. So, Mrs. E and I decided to capture the wide open spaces, something I don't much see living here in the city.

Top Photo: Metropolitan Magic, Me

Bottom Photo: Country Charm, Mrs. E

Heading Home: Part 1

Thought I'd share our trip back home to the Midwest through the iPhone photos I took. Part 1 is in the airport and plane on our way there.

Bye City. I'll miss all your lights.

It's Good to be Home

Seth and I had the most amazing time home last week in the Midwest. I was nervous and interested to see how it would be for me. We've been in NYC without heading home for 20 months (my grandma counted :), and quite frankly, our life here is worlds away from the life in the Midwest.

I was curious if, upon going back to the way we'd lived the over 20 years, we'd miss it. We'd want to move back home. I don't know how I ever thought that might happen... We definitely are no where ready to leave the lives we have in NYC. We are no where ready (and may NEVER be) to return to our home state.

I felt so weird while spending an evening with one of my best friends in our college town towards the beginning of the visit. It was quite unsettling and stressful. We had to drive everywhere. There weren't many people around. Everyone was the same (in a sense... at least no one was interesting like in the city). I went to Wal-Mart.... (that's enough to make me very miserable!!) And I just kept thinking about how they wasted all that space spreading everything out... I felt a bit of culture shock, which really is funny, considering I feel like we haven't been gone long, and we did spend so much time in that life before.

On another day, I visited the town I graduated from high school in, which is weird since a tornado wiped out a good portion of the town, including my high school, almost 2 years ago. As I was walking down the sidewalk, the only one, someone came out of their house and say hello to me. I did a double take, looking around to see who they were talking to, since I was sure I was the only one around. Turns out, it was me they were greeting. Why did she just say hi to me? Funny, how something I'd have expected a year and a half ago, weirded me out now.

Then there was the drive I had to make between my parents' home and Seth's parents' home. One hour and 15 minutes... No big deal. I commute at least that far to go one-way to work each day. Right. It was HORRIBLE! Twenty minutes in I was on my iphone, which isn't a good idea when you are in charge of driving a car! It was absolutely terrible. All I wanted was a subway, a bus, to walk... something other than being stuck in that car!

A part of me was afraid that I might no love NYC as much when I returned from being back in the "normal" world. That part of me had nothing to worry about.

This week, as I took in my city, I thought about how much I loved it. Even though I had to wait for 30 minutes at 34th street the other morning (making my commute almost 2 hours long) only to realize the train was running on the opposite platform... Even though the weather has been gross, first rain, then mushy, slushy snow, and now a good couple of inches of it... Even though people are rude, just as New Yorkers are (ha ha, our first day back we went to Starbucks and some woman was being Horrible to the barista... and all I could say was "I LOVE NY")... Even though I'm stuck smelling the stench of some subway rider or listening to some crackjob homeless guy ask for money... I LOVE NEW YORK CITY. (I love it more than my home-state. Sorry Midwest. I just do!)

Snow Day!! AGAIN!

I didn't think it would happen, but early this morning, my phone rings with the most amazing message to go back to sleep!! And that I did... Until 10 this morning. :) I very much needed to catch up on some sleep. I've been dragging all week long, trying to work and recover from our trip last week.

What shall I do on my snow day - the dishes that have been SCREAMING to be done... the laundry... ahhh and tackle the mess in our living room. Then off to the post office to pick up a package and maybe to the library to get all the books I recently put on hold for work. I am really hoping to also spend some time at the Tea Lounge sipping a chai latte and working on the wedding & baby belly photos.







PS: These photos were actually taken yesterday - We have more snow than that now. I haven't been out yet today, but yesterday's was really weird - wet and slushy, even though it was falling in the largest snow flakes.

Another Day away from the City

We extended our trip a day. Driving to the airport today was scary, horrible, torturous, long, drawn-out, crazy, snowy, cold, nerve wracking... Not FUN! We got about half way there and knew that there was no way we wanted to push our luck, so we called and got our flight moved. Unfortunately it was to tomorrow morning, so no city tonight. I really wish I'd been more in tune with the weather - I completely spaced coordinating our travel with potential inclement weather. Going for almost 2 years of hardly driving and then being stuck driving in this weather isn't exactly the type of situation Seth and I had wanted to be in (*Note: "stuck driving" means him driving and me riding along... but all the same).

It'll be nice to get home. I have had a most amazing time visiting friends and family, but I feel completely over stimulated. I need to just be for a while. I am hoping to lay low for a few days once we get back.... My body and mind are exhausted.

This weekend has been a fun one. Many of our old college friends came back to town for a little reunion fun. We definitely had ourselves a good time! I really hope it isn't so long before we are all together again next... It's so nice to know that even though time and our lives have moved us apart, we can all still get back together and have the best of fun. Plus, we were also able to get one last night hanging out with my brother and his new wife after they returned from their honeymoon.

I'm off to try to squeeze all the stuff into 3 bags so we don't have to check more than 1... We'll see how successful I can be... Then off to bed to cuddle up with my honey and catch some z's.

I am freaking out

We fly out today. But here we are just leaving our college town and
it's snowing. Our flight leaves in 4 hours and 20 minutes. We are
hoping it gets delayed or we make it there in time. All for the sake
of friends... One of which convinced us to stay to watch the
basketball game that we missed ( all but the last minute and a half)
last night. Our credit card will HATE us if we miss this flight. Why
didn't I get that ticket insurance?

Baby Belly

Beautiful, beautiful baby belly.

Railroad Bridge

Last weekend, before heading to our hometown, we wondered around a friend's town. She took us to a railroad bridge for some early morning pictures.

Blond hair, blue eyes

I've spent the afternoon playing with photos that I took at my brother's wedding. Here is one of his flower girl (our baby sister). Isn't she absolutely beautiful!!!

Week 7: Valentine's Day in Our Towns

Top Photo: Country Charm, Mrs. E

Bottom Photo: Metropolitan Magic, Me