Week in Review

Yes it's cliche but.... I "heart" New York. Always have. My dad's birthplace, the city that never sleeps, the center of the fashion/media universe. From St Patrick's Cathedral to Battery Park and of course Central Park..I have walked it all many many times loving every minute of it. This week, I did not one thing outside of work. Not that I couldn't have grabbed my sneakers and run out late at night or really early in the morning as I have done in the past (NOTHING, used to keep me from St Patrick's Cathedral, a few blocks from Mimeo). But this trip, I just couldn't do it.

I arrived at midnight to my hotel on Monday night and crashed for my first night of bad sleep for a few hours before I got up to head to our meeting. First of all, I snapped this picture for you my loyal readers.

This is the back seat of my cab with the TV and GPS for the passenger to watch. Am I getting too old for all this high tech stuff? I mean...shouldn't we all have our eyes looking up at the buildings and the city and gripping the seat for dear life as the cabbie speeds through Manhatten? Also, you can now pay by credit card swiping right there in the cab.

So, our meeting is in Times Square (the silver building in the center of the photo above). Let me tell you, this building was AMAZING. This was not Mimeo's office, but a building we held the meeting in, and the view of the city was breathtaking. Promptly at 9:00am all the ceiling to floor windows were covered with shades and the day of meetings began.

8 hours, 1 Dr Pepper, 5 bottles of water (yes the heat they blast in these rooms make me so dry) and 2 Tylenol later (headache from 8 hours in the dark staring at powerpoint slides) I jumped into the fatal elevator that I got stuck in for 45 minutes. No more need for the detail here, just know for 45 minutes I was suspended between the 4-5 floors coming down from the 42 floor with 12 of my now closest Mimeo friends. Once the doors opened I opted not to take the second bank of elevators with the same people down to the first floor and dragged my sweaty, close to hyperventalating self, down those 5 flights of stairs to rush into the cool January air. New York City air full of car fumes/resturant food was the greatest thing to fill my lungs when I tumbled out the doors onto the street. Praise the LORD! I shouted to the dark sky dimmed by the neon of Times Square.

Mimeo took us to a night of bowling as you saw from the previous post and then Wed I headed into the office to work with my team. Instead of sneaking out to sighstee I had Thai food for lunch and I was off to the airport early...to see my little Coop!

My flight was delayed twice, sat on the plane in front of drunks who spilled beer and were obnoxious the whole flight and I got home at midnight, only to again have the 3rd nights bad sleep in a row. Not sure what's up there. I am heading to bed now but the week feels like it flew by. Superbowl is Sunday, so we are exicted to see Nana and Papa this weekend and fill up on chicken wings and mini meatballs (Mere- I need Danny's recipe please!).

So...sorry I don't have grand stories of seeing celebrities, partying like a rock star or getting on the Today Show like in the old days. This old mommy worked, nursed a hangover from the drinking after the elevator episode and got her butt back on the first plane she could.

Back to this little guy :)

New York New York

So folks, I am still in rainy NYC and even though a lot has happened, the big story is I got stuck on an elevator with 13 people for 45 minutes yesterday! ACK!!!!! Yes, I didn't stop for the bathroom break I needed and I jumped into a crowded elevator, going from the 42nd floor down and the damn thing stopped in between floors. Besides the TIGHT quarters, the heat (as we stripped our scarves, hats etc.) we all did ok, no one had any panic attacks but some cam close. I wanted to bond with my NY colleagues and the management ( who were all in this elevator with me) but not that much.

After our all day meeting we had a party at a bowling alley. After the elevator incident all I did was drink.

More to follow when I get home :)

Saturday fun

My sister took Grant for his first professional photo shoot. Take a look at this darling baby! Don't you just want to reach through the pictures and kiss him? :)

For Cooper and I, we were out the entire day as we lunched and shopped at the Mall at Millenia in Orlando. We met up with my old roommate and her son and spent the day shopping. We even ran into Hope and Jake at Pottery Barn! What a great mall and a great day...both Cooper and Zach were so good, we hit the whole mall.

Kim and Zach at PF Changs

Who can resist this kid?

Thanks for this outfit Nana...we love it!

Crazy Hour

Cooper loves his bath! And more than this bath, he loves his post bath baby rub down we give him. He goes crazy kicking and "talking" away...crazy hour is starting in our house around 7:30pm right before he knocks himself out from the kicking and jumping around and drifts off to sleep. It's amazing he's the same little 5 pound peanut we brought home from the hospital 4 short months ago! As soon as he sees the camera he tends to stop a bit... but I got some of it last night :)

Generations

A very cutting edge woman I know, who now goes by the name "YaYa", sent me this email with the idea of taking pictures of the hands of all your family's generations. I think it's a great idea regardless of how many generations your family has and I thought I'd pass the idea along. It's kind of a long read (as most email forwards are) but I loved the sentiment. GRANDMA'S HANDS Grandma, some ninety plus years, sat feebly on the patio bench. She didn't move, just sat with her head down staring at her hands. When I sat down beside her she didn't acknowledge my presence and the longer I sat I wondered if she was OK. Finally, not really wanting to disturb her but wanting to check on her at the same time, I asked her if she was OK. She raised her head and looked at me and smiled. 'Yes, I'm fine, thank you for asking,' she said in a clear voice strong. 'I didn't mean to disturb you, grandma, but you were just sitting here staring at your hands and I wanted to make sure you were OK,' I explained to her. 'Have you ever looked at your hands,' she asked. 'I mean really looked at your hand s?' I slowly opened my hands and stared down at them. I turned them over, palms up and then palms down. No, I guess I had never really looked at my hands as I tried to figure out the point she was making. Grandma smiled and related this story: 'Stop and think for a moment about the hands you have, how they have served you well throughout your years. These hands, though wrinkled shriveled and weak have been the tools I have used all my life to reach out and grab and embrace life. 'They braced and caught my fall when as a toddler I crashed upon the floor. They put food in my mouth and clothes on my back. As a child, my mother taught me to fold them in prayer. They tied my shoes and pulled on my boots. They held my husband and wiped my tears when he went off to war. 'They have been dirty, scraped and raw , swollen and bent. They were uneasy and clumsy when I tried to hold my newborn son. Decorated with my wedding band they showed the world that I was married and loved someone special They wrote my letters to him and trembled and shook when I buried my parents and spouse. 'They have held my children and grandchildren, consoled neighbors, and shook in fists of anger when I didn't understand. They have covered my face, combed my hair, and washed and cleansed the rest of my body. They have been sticky and wet, bent and broken, dried and raw. And to this day when not much of anything else of me works real well these hands hold me up, lay me down, and again continue to fold in prayer. 'These hands are the mark of where I've been and the ruggedness of life. But more importantly it will be these hands that God will reach out and take when he leads me home. And with my hands He will lift me to His side and there I will use these hands to touch the face of Christ.' I will never look at my hands the same again. But I remember God reached out and took my grandma's hands and led her home. When my hands are hurt or sore or when I stroke the face of my children and husband I think of grandma. I know she has been stroked and caressed and held by the hands of God. I, too, want to touch the face of God and feel His hands upon my face. -- Author Unknown PS- The first pic is not my family's hands, it's the one that came with the email :)

Gray day, gray post

Well, it's another rainy day here in the sunshine state. It poured all night and looks like it is about to again now. Thank God, we need the rain.

The continued discussion of death keeps popping up every day in my life and I can't decide if I am just sensitive to it since my dad's passing or if it just comes up more. I, like everyone else, was shocked at Heath Ledger's death, and I obviously don't know him. I wonder about his ex-fiance Michelle Williams and their daughter and how they are doing, if they are in NY yet and how terrible it must be. I guess when you know the hell and shock of losing someone you love, you empathize with others and how traumatized you feel for a while. 5 months later some days I still feel like "I can't believe that happened!" and then I have this terrible anger and jealousy at those who don't know what it's like. I know that is awful but it's true and as I always say "Anger is an emotion we know how to express, the others are harder". Being mad a leukemia or heart disease that took my dad isn't tangible, so I am jealous and mad at others who have their nuclear family still in tack. I am terribly judgemental when I hear people talk about their parents and I think they don't know how lucky they are and that they take it all for granted. I am sure it's part of grieving but just to be honest...that's how I feel.

In other crazy entertainment news...what up with Britney Spears??? Will someone please publicly diagnose her Biopolar with Borderline Personality Disorder and get the girl some hard core drugs! Please..how much more can the public take? She is everywhere with this! I have self diagnosed her with the help of Dr Phil and Dr Drew...I have my MD from TV people!

This is a terrible post and I have almost deleted it twice but I think I'll keep it. It's a gray day, I have gray thoughts and what the hell....the sun will come out...tomorrow.

Sunday snooze

Pop came over to see Cooper today around 2pm, as soon as we got home from church and then lunch out. Cooper was really hungry and just ready to nap but I hate to disappoint Pop so I put them both in the lazy boy and told him to rock him and give Cooper a bottle. I just snapped this picture, it's 3:30pm, the big game is about to start and Pop told me in his raspy but bossy 90 year old voice "LEAVE THIS BOY ALONE". He has no intention of putting Cooper in his crib...he just wants to hold him all day...so....I guess I'll leave them like this for a long as Pop can take it.

Update: I am not done posting this and Pop is also asleep, guess I'll go lay on the couch myself and curl up to watch the Patriots :)