New York State of Mind

Over a month ago, I went to visit my sister, Emily, in New York City. She is graduating from Pratt Institute with a degree in Painting this semester, so in order to graduate, she was required to show her work. She invited our family, plus my uncle and his wife, to come see the show on her campus in Brooklyn. We also got to meet her boyfriend, Matt, and enjoy a few days around the city!

First stop - Bloomingdale's!! As if there was any doubt...! I got a new shirt and some make-up (free gift!). Here are my sister, Mommy, and me.


Emily and her boyfriend Matt, who we met for the first time. Verdict is in: he's approved.


Here I am at FOA Schwartz, wearing the new shirt I bought at Bloomingdale's. I'm taking a picture with all the jungle animals to show Jackson. He loves jungle animals!!


We saw this as we were walking back from the MoMA. My Mom & I love each other! (In case you can't tell, I'm making a heart with my hands)


We're taking a cab from Manhattan to Brooklyn with all our groceries. Grocery shopping in New York is interesting. The store was SO SMALL.... and we couldn't find mini-quiches. I mean, really, does New York have something against them?


One of Emily's pieces for the show. It's now hanging in Steven's conference room.


My sister (the artist) and me in front of another piece. This one was featured on the flier.


Our family went out to dinner with Matt, my Uncle, and his wife afterwards to celebrate Emily's successful art show. Here is my family: Me, Emily, Mommy, Daddy. I love them! And we don't get to spend a lot of time together as an entire family these days, so it was nice to get a picture together. Back to dinner though, it was DELICIOUS! and it was at the end of an alleyway, which made it taste better because it felt like a secret. Yum.

New York was great and I can't believe it took me almost 2 months to blog about it!

Steven's Blog

Since we became members of a Methodist church, Steven has been exploring Methodist theology (specifically, John Wesley's teachings) to reconcile the differences between what I was raised with (Methodism) and what he was raised with (Baptist and Non-Denominational with a Baptist background). I don't think he's completely satisfied on every point, but it's actually been a good thing. I think it's forced him to pay more attention to God and his relationship has really deepened lately. He even decided to start a blog to discuss what he's found.

http://astudentsearchingfortruth.blogspot.com/

Jackson says "Naou-aooo-araraeh" which I think means "Check out my Daddy's blog."

Roly Poly Boy

Jackson is officially mobile! He may not have a clue where he's going or how to get there, but he can move and grove his way all over the floor. Parents who are reading this know that this is the beginning of the end. He also loves to get his hands and mouth on everything. Step 1 - hands, Step 2 - mouth. Oh man... it's time to get cracking on that baby-proofing business!

Here's one of my new favorite photos of my favorite little boy:
What a heart breaker! He's been sick lately, but he doesn't let it get him down! He still laughs with me and grins and plays like a champ! I love this little boy and I can't wait to watch him continue to grow!

Lazy...

I've been putting off updating this blog for awhile now... as a few people have brought to my attention! There's so much I want to write about... the New York trip, pictures of Jackson to post, my fantastic poker skills... I don't even know where to start!

Well, I guess I'll start with my friend Jess. Jess and I have known each other since we were both freshmen in college and we pledged TriDelt together. We lived in the same dorm (kind of...), so we'd ride the bus home from meetings together. We also had the same major. Actually, we lived in the same room freshman year, but at different times. Long story, but it boils down to neither one of us being crazy about our respective roommates.

So anyways, Jess and I became very close, especially our senior year of college. Other than Steven, she is probably my best friend and was one of my bridesmaids. We even stayed in touch when I went off to Japan for a few years. Well, earlier this year, Jess and her boyfriend Chris came to visit Steven, Jackson, and me. I hadn't met Chris before (aside from a few phone conversations), but he really clicked with Steven and me. We had a great weekend (other than Steven's bout with food poisoning, but that's a whole other story...) and they went back to St Louis. A couple months later Jess called me to tell me that they had been ring shopping. A few days after that, I got a FB message from Chris, asking for some guidance. Ok, I LOVE shopping and I'm a wedding freak, so I may have been even more excited than he was! We discussed some different rings and then I didn't hear from him for awhile. Then last week he snuck in to Jess' phone while she was at an interview, stole my number, and called me to tell me that he was going to propose!! Yay!!

Now, during all of this, Jess is freaking out that they went ring shopping and she hasn't heard another word about it, so she called me to find out when he was going to propose. I thought she was going to leap through the phone and strangle me for not telling her. But it was totally worth it when I got the call on Thursday!! Jess called to tell me that she was engaged, and we opened up some wine to toast over the phone, with Chris' best friend also on the other line. I love happy endings!!

Here's how he did it:
They went to a B&B at a winery, and he let them know that he was going to propose. The staff decorated a gazebo with lillies and left a bottle of champagne. Then they roped off the gazebo with a sign that said "Reserved for wedding party, April 2." Chris pointed out the gazebo and asked to go look at it. Then, he got the champagne and started to open it. Jess, of course, is flipping out, saying "Chris, what are you doing That belongs to someone else!" and he said "Actually, this is for us." And he popped the question! Awww!

Again, I love happy endings! They are such a great couple and I couldn't be happier! Congrats Chris and Jess!!