Halloween

Halloween was so much fun this year!  Friday before Halloween I was able to wear my purple hair extensions to work because I was in costume.  And my hair was up in a spiky messy do, I wish I could do that every day.  But anyways my costume was a conservative punk.  I forgot to get pictures though.

The following day, was Halloween.  Derek, Erica, and Miranda threw a Halloween party.  There were a lot of people there.   But I didn't recyle my costume, I was a goth Cinderella.  I felt so at home this Halloween.

My friends are Abby from NCIS and Jane from New Moon.

New York City here we come!

After leaving Washington DC this past August, we took the train up to New York to spend three days in "The Big Apple". (My first train ride!)

So here's an amusing story about when we first arrived in New York.  We arrived at Penn Station and gathered our belongings heading toward the subway.  (Which makes me laugh when I think about it.  But I won't go into the details.  Don't worry Amanda, this stays between you, me, Britt, and Bobbi.)  We were on the Subway a bit longer than I thought it would take, but it's ok because I'm following the directions.  Then we get off at the station which my directions told me to, but there was nothing in the area.  Well there was stuff in the area, but not the kind of stuff we wanted.  Amanda hailed us a cab (she's good at doing that) and we found our hotel.  Which wasn't as close to the subway that the internet told me.  Conclusion... I suck at picking hotels.

We had a discussion and decided we should change hotels, I called up Marriott and found us a room at the Courtyard in Times Square.  We decided it was worth spending the extra money to be close to everything we wanted to see.  The hotel clerk at our cheap hotel was super nice and refunded us all but one night of the non-refundable money we spent.  So we were excited!  And do you know how excited I was to be staying only a block or two from the Fashion District?!  Super excited!  And we were so close to everything it was amazing!!

We started site seeing right away.  So much to see and do but so little time!  I'm warning you right now, this is going to be a picture heavy post. :-)

We went to see the Statue of Liberty.  The crown wasn't opened when we pre-ordered our ferry tickets, but it is now.  But we did get to climb up it to the base because we had a monument pass.  Honestly I don't think I would have survived going to the crown.  And here's an interesting note... the line for the pre-ordered tickets was longer than the line of the non-preordered tickets.  Honestly, why separate the two lines?  Everyone goes into one line for the ferry, so why separate pre-ordered and on site purchased tickets? What's the point?

I highly recommend seeing the Statue of Liberty at least once.  But be prepared to stand in lines for the majority of the day.  We did the first ferry out because the thinking was "Who wants to get up early?"  Well, apparently everyone.

And we also visited Ellis Island.  You know how in the movie 'Hitch' there's a book that everyone who entered Ellis Island signed and the chick was able to view her butcher grandfather's signature?  LIES, lies I tell you!  There's no book!  That's right, no book.  Hollywood lied to us again!! But they do have an interest gift store that has some cool books.  This is cool if you have the time and know of an ancestor that came through Ellis Island there is a section that you can get the information.  Yay computers!  Yay family history!  I'm not sure how much it costs though.  I didn't pay attention since I didn't know of a name and I didn't have time to stand in the line.

We had lunch at Lombardi's Pizza and it was HEAVEN!  Heaven I tell you!  I wasn't able to eat pizza for weeks afterwards.  And then when I did I mutterd "It's not Lombardi's."

We also visited the World Trade Center site, which I posted about earlier and can be found here.

We ate at Serendipity.  Why yes, ate.  Because we were smart in this aspect, they don't take reservations for desert only, so we made a reservation for dinner!  My chicken diva was to die for!  And we still got our frozen hot chocolate for desert!

We walked through (and got lost) in central park on our way to the Met!

We did the split up and attack approach to The Met since there is so much to see and so little time.  I may have set off the alarm in the Japanese art area.  If I did it was totally by accident.  I may have been leaning in too much to get a good look at a screen.  And the screen in this picture may have been the one that I possibly set an alarm off while looking.

Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of me in The Met.

But we did eat a hot dog on the steps and pictures were taken.  The hot dog wasn't too bad for being from a vendor.  It may have been an old hot dog, because those just plump right up, but you couldn't tell while eating it.  This hot dog is in no way as good as the hot dog in Hawaii.  Miriam, you know what I'm talking about!

And then visited The Cloisters, which was on my list because I learned about it in my Art History class.

It was hot and we got lost walking around Fort Tyson.  I think I have a super power to get me and those around me lost while I'm travelling.  But in my defense the area wasn't well marked and somehow we missed the tiny arrow, so we ended up going in a circle.  But we powered through it and I thought it was worth it.

Brittani didn't want to go see a Broadway play with us so she opted to go to bed (she's the one covered up by the covers and pillow).  But Bobbi, Amanda and I were stoked to go see....

The Little Mermaid!  Yes, that's right we saw The Little Mermaid.  It was really cool how they translated it for the stage.

After the play we met up with Brittani to go have dinner at The Carnegie Deli.  Oh my goodness those sandwiches are huge!!  Amanda and I split one and it was more than enough.  We didn't eat until about 4 the following day because we were stuffed.  Well actually  we did get hungry before 4 but just didn't have an opportunity to eat.

Brittani loves the Empire State Building.  (Instead of going up the Empire State Building we went to The Top of the Rock).  And I love Mood!  I shopped at the same spot that Project Runway contestants go to!  It was so cool and I was stoked!  I could have spent hours in that store.

Brittani and I laughed that people in New York pull out an umbrella when it sprinkles.  I guess two Oregonians decided to be New Yorkers.  Eh, when in New York do like the New Yorkers, right?

We're in BRYANT PARK!  Now, I just need to get here when it's fashion week!

New York was a blast.  Thanks for inviting me girls!  I'd love to go back to New York because there's more to see and again I feel like now that I have the tourist stuff out of the way I can have a more leisure time next time.

Oh yeah and we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, that was pretty cool!  

We celebrated our fun at the airport but at the same time we were excited to get home.  But little did we know that this excitement would turn into this....

Our plane was delayed getting into Newark, which then made our plane landing late in Minneapolis.  But it's ok, because all other Delta flights were delayed at Minneapolis as well... except our connecting flight!  And the kicker part is the doors closed and took off only minutes after we landed.  So I had my first time missing a flight and my first time sleeping in an airport!  This trip was a lot of firsts for me!

Washington DC

Washington DC is one of the places I've always wanted to visit and I had the opportunity to go with some friends this past summer.  It was a lot of fun and we had a very amusing trek from Newark to DC.

I didn't find it amusing at the time, I was getting really frustrated, but now I find it freaking hilarious!  Unfortunately I found out the hard way that one of the people from the trip doesn't find it as funny as I do and it's a bit of a sore subject.  So I can't joke about it with her, so I'm going to stay in that state of mind and I won't be joking about it on here either.  Don't want to accidentally slip up.

We had two days in DC and we did as much as we possibly could in two days.  But we didn't get to see the Pandas and it wasn't for lack of trying.  We looked up the hours and read that the grounds opened up two hours (or so) before the exhibits.  When we read that we interpreted that you can walk and see the animals playing but wouldn't be able to go into the buildings to learn about the animals.  NO!  We were wrong.  It also meant that the animals are locked up until the exhibits open.  How lame is that?  Then why bother having the grounds open earlier?  Sorry Amanda!! (Amanda REALLY wanted to see the Pandas.)  But we did stop off at the Old Post Office and their gigantic archways.  Exciting, I know!

I definitely want to go back and see the things I missed, which actually were only a few.  And it would be more of a leisure trip since I have the "tours" out of the way.

We did make it to the Halocaust museum and boy is that moving, highly recommend it if you're going to visit DC. We had a tour of the Capital building by our representative's aide (didn't have to wait in the long line, that was awesome!).

Nothing says tourist like you and your friends putting a foot in the center of Washington DC when you're in the capital building and taking a picture of it.  Yes, you read that right, that's the CENTER of Washington DC.  And we saw the oldest bust of George Washington as well.  (among other things in the Capital building)

And we did a tour of the Library of Congress.  That place is gorgeous! 

You can get a library card to use the actual library.  We were going to do that but we were trying to squeeze a lot in and that got passed.  So next time, I'm going to get a library card and do some research in the Library of Congress.

We saw the Hope Diamond and the Flag that inspired The Star Spangled Banner.  It was big and torn and glorious!  And we didn't wait in line to get into the Smithsonian of Natural History or the Smithsonian of American History.  We think the trick is being a weeknight twenty minutes before closing.  We walked right into the museum and right up to the exhibits.  But unfortunately there was a guard in the flag exhibit so I couldn't sneak a picture.  I so wanted to!

We visited Arlington Cemetary and made it in time for the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  We also visited the JFK's grave and memorial.

We went to the National Archives because that was on the MUST list.  We saw The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, The Bill of Rights and The Magna Carta.  I had no idea the Magna Carta was there but it is!  We were super excited to get into the rotunda and view these documents.  (The Magna Carta isn't in the rotunda, you see that before you enter the line for the rotunda.  just sayin)

Remember how in National Treasure they're able to just walk right up and see The Declaration of Independence and hardly anyone else was in the rotunda with them?  LIES!!!  Lies I tell you.  The line actually moves pretty fast for it being a long line.  I'd say we were probably in line for 30 - 45 minutes and only about 20 mins of that was spent outside.   Lies....  and this is why you don't get your info or base your facts on movies / Hollywood.  They only pretend they know what they're talking about.  Anyways it would be a boring movie if they had to wait in a long line.  That sure would slow down the pace of the movie.

We saw the White House.  Unfortuntely we weren't able to get tour tickets but that's ok, we couldn't squeeze in another tour anyways.  And while we were there there was a hunger strike going on in front of the White House, I never heard of that happening and they were going on 2 weeks.  Why doesn't news like that make it to the West coast?  Or should I play the conspiracy theory card and say it didn't make it to the west coast on purpose?  duh duh dunnnnn!

We visited the monuments and memorials and may I say that Lincoln was an amazing man and so is his memorial.  I can't recall which speach... I think it's the Gettysburg Address, is carved on his wall and very impressive.  The whole monument is impressive.

We walked along the other memorials including The Vietnam War Memorial and The World War II Memorial.

Did I mention that we did A LOT of walking?

We then took the train to New York and it was my first train ride!  That will be in another post.

Family History and Ghost Hunters

So I'm watching the Ghost Hunters Christmas Eve marathon and working on Family History.  Isn't that a great combination?

Merry Christmas everyone!!

"Operation food boxes"

Was a success! My co-worker & I (along with a contribution from another co-worker) bought enough food to fill seven food boxes for families in the community that have had a rough year.

We may have been seen once as we were driving away.

I possibly had to hide behind a car while I waited for the snoopy teenager to go back in the house while my co-worker hid behind the neighbor's bushes. The snoopy teenager may have spotted us while we quickly walked past our car and down the street trying to give him the slip. With me muttering "Keep walking! Keep walking!"

My co-worker may have frantically ran for her life away from the only lit up house in the cultasac. Which she responded to "I don't know what I was so scared of there was a wheelchair ramp."

And I possibly had to use my spy movie skills and drive without headlights each time until we were clear of the house.

But not actually getting caught while ding-dong ditching is not too shabby. And besides, if we were caught they'd have no clue who we were anyway.

Oh yeah, we also may have discussed that instead of doing drugs people should ding-dong ditch because it's such a natural high. What a fun night!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Deconstruction Project

Here's a project that I actually finished.  Have I ever told you I'm horrible with finishing projects?  Well I am.  But that's not what we're discussing at this moment.  This past summer I finished my deconstruction project:

I love pockets.  So I went to goodwill and found some pants with cool pockets and ripped them up for my materials to use.  And then I made a skirt.  There's even an underskirt that has some tuelle that extends a little longer than the skirt itself.  I love this skirt and it's one of my favorite skirts to wear to church.

And on another note, I love my boots that I get to wear with this skirt.  I love those boots.

Girls Night out!

My nieces and I had a nice Friday night together.  We went to the movies and then went to Coldstones afterwards.  I was disappointed with Coldstones their chocolate ice cream had a coffee taste to it.  It was gross!  I first thought that maybe there was a coffe bean on the slab when they mixed in my Reese's Peanut Butter cup, so I asked for a new one.  He was super nice and even cleaned off the slab really well before giving me a new one.  But unfortunately it was still gross, it was the ice cream.  I was sorely dissappointed.

Anyways onto the movie:

We saw Disney's Princess and the Frog and I LOVED IT!!  I want to see it again.  Of course it brought back memories of my trip to New Orleans... I want to go back.  And with the setting the music must have a jazz touch to, which it does and is amazing.  The writing was good - yay witty dialogue.  And the animation... oh how I love animation, especially traditional animation so I was super excited when Disney finally put out a traditional animated movie (I hear this is the last one though, I hope that's a nasty rumor because computer animation is NOT the only way to animate!)  Anyway, the animation is very nice - which is good cause it's a Disney movie.

And Alivia reminded us that she can touch her nose with her tongue. Wa-hoo! Oh what a fun evening we had!!

Jen, Erika and I take Portland

Jen and Erika came up and visited Oregon this summer and we spent the day in Portland and then reminisced of younger days and had a slumber party.  I decided since we're going to Portland we should go to things that I've been meaning to see and do but haven't. 

We spent an hour or two at Powell's Bookstore and we still could have used more time, that place really is giant!  We walked to the intersection where they blew up a car for the season 2 opening episode of Leverage, (man, I hope they come back up here to film season 3!) and we posed by the building that was the bank in the same episode.

 

I showed them the gate to "China Town" and we ate at yummy Old Town Pizza.  The restaurant is an old hotel lobby, which was built in 1880.  We lucked out and were able to eat in the elevator shaft.  The elevator shaft is a coveted table.  This restaurant is haunted by Nina, who was found dead in the elevator shaft of the hotel after she agreed to help the missionaries clean up the neighborhood of the prostitution.  (Nina was forced into prostitution through white slavery).  And it's reported that Nina has not left the hotel. 

I took the photo of us using a technique called sync flash.  The shutter is open a little bit longer than normal and the flash goes off at the beginning or the end, which one you set it for.  I set mine to go off at the end.  It gives some fun results, I can't wait to experiment with it some more.

Oh the fun we had!

New Orleans Trip

I have always wanted to visit New Orleans.  It's rich in history and how the Spanish and French cultures mixed to influence the architecture and the basically the whole culture.  And not to mention Gambit, my favorite comic book character, is from New Orleans.

I turned 30 this March and I wasn't going to spend it home.  So I wanted to go somewhere else.  I originally was thinking of Hershey, Pennsylvania but it would have been could during March.  Then one day it hit, "I've always wanted to go to New Orleans, so why not?"  I looked online and found a killer deal for my sister and I and we had to book then.  After booking I called my friends in Utah to see if they would meet us there.

Miriam, Jen and Erika met up with Laura and I - and we had a blast!  We saw and walked among the craziness of Bourbon street.  Jen enjoyed a cup of bourbon gelato, but didn't think there was real bourbon in it.  And the best part is that when she found out it was real bourbon there was a discussion of the alcohol cooking out of it.  You don't cook gelato! It was so funny!

I love history and when you stick in the paranormal I'm in heaven, so of course I had to do the Haunted History tour.  Laura and Miriam went on the tour with me.  It was a very interesting and informative tour.

We enjoyed the weekend life of the French Quarter.  We entered this shop that was filled with these gorgeous venetian masks from Venice, they weren't for sale but were BEAUTIFUL!

We walked for a bit along the Mississippi, which was windy!  We had desert in this swanky restaurant that had a piano player.  That was my first time listening to a piano player in a restaurant.

Laura had her first praline and we danced in the streets!

 

We also enjoyed a cemetery tour.

 

 

We visited the Garden district and saw Anne Rice's old home.  We even rode a street car.

 

We also went on a swamp tour.  It was just the three of us, so basically we had a private tour!  Captain Allen was the best and he had an alligator for us to hold.  They're softer than I would have thought.

 

We had a fun birthday dinner and danced on the dance floor some of the elderly.  Miriam and I were partners and then one of the couples split up and showed us how to do the dance.  I like to think I can dance, but really I can't.  We took the trax to the restaurant, which meant we were waiting for it at dark.  Jen was our knight in shining armor.  She had a full 360 degree watch around us.

 

When it was time to go I wasn't ready.  I returned to the hotel room to see Laura and Miriam in pjs, but I wanted to go out still!  We took a walk for one last trip to Cafe du Monde.  Now that I think about it, the desk clerk may have been worried that we were doing that.  Our hotel was amazing!  FYI - It used to be a brothel, hence the red light.

I saw kids with bottlecaps on their shoes tap dancing on the streets.  I went into this coolest store, Fleur de Paris, it was right up my alley!  I so want that jacket and top hat that the clerk was wearing.  Yes, a top hat!  It was a very expensive store... which is why I didn't buy anything.

And not to mention, this one night we left Pirate Alley and two guys under the lamp post were singing in French.  One was playing the guitar and one the accordian.  It the coolest thing I saw.  Laura, if you took a picture of them, could I please get a copy?