Friday, June 29, 2007

31 days!

Hey all, I realized today that I'm moving home in 31 days! Wow! It's exciting!
I have a new cellphone, so I'm doing much better this week. Life is so much better when I can keep in touch with you all!
It almost feels like I didn't go home for St. Johns -- it was so quick! But then again, I got in some good talks and times with lots of people, so I made the short time worthwhile. :)

This Sunday my friends and I are going into the city for our last day together. We all start leaving in about a week (well, for vacations and stuff, so it's the last full day all 5 of us will be together, probably forever). We are all getting the I heart NY shirts, and we're going to go around the city and take pictures at all of our regular spots, and most of the tourist spots. We're getting mostly group shots, but we all decided on one place or thing in the city that is "ours" or reminds each other of us. So we're going to take individual pics at those places. Mine is the Brooklyn Bridge, Tamara's is a bagel shop, Sarah's is Saks Fifth Avenue, Ellen's is St. Patrick's Cathedral, and Katharina is going to hold a map upside down (she's indecisive). So it's going to be a fun day (we'll be tourists in the city again!!), but kind of bittersweet knowing it's the last day with all 5 of us. I was getting a little sad the other day, thinking that I'm only going to the city a couple more times. It's strange because it has become such a familiar place for me, and I'll be leaving it soon not knowing when I'll ever return.

We watched a really big thunderstorm over the Sound the other night. It was awesome -- tons of lightning!

I'm going to start going through my things and throwing out whatever I don't really need... I have to try to consolidate everything so that it fits when I have to pack it to move home.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Whew!

This girl is exhausted! But in a good way... for a good reason. This past weekend was crazy, and I'm back here so fast it hardly feels like I left! But seriously, it was my best St. Johns ever! I appreciated everything so much more than I have other years.

I didn't want to waste any of my 39 hours that I had up there... so I only ended up sleeping for 6 hours the whole weekend. Both mornings I hopped out of bed nice and early and ready to go... usually it's so hard to wake up during St. Johns. Not this year! :)

It was fun surprising everyone, too! Probably the last time I'll get to do that (ever). It's such a good feeling walking in and getting the surprised reactions.

THANKS everyone for a great weekend! I was having a bad week last week, but after last weekend I can make it through anything... so thanks!!

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Busy weekend

Seriously. LIFE IS BUSY!

On Sunday my friends and I drove down to Ocean City, NJ to spend the day on the beach and boardwalk. It was beautiful and perfect beach weather! It took us 2.5 hours to get there... and 5 to get back. Unfortunately we were stuck in traffic by the GW Bridge for TWO HOURS. Ah! :S I went crazy. I'm not so patient in situations like that. I can handle half an hour, or an hour... but TWO hours is a bit much for me.

Then yesterday I met Miranda in the city for the day. We didn't really know each other before yesterday, but we had a lot of fun, and we're planning another day in the city. We both appreciated being with someone from 'home.' (Even though we actually live like 7 hours apart at home.) We were walking down Central Park South and heard someone singing in front of a big crowd, and it turned out to be Toby Keith!

We ran into some other people, but I'll talk about that later...

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Florida! Cellphones :( and SIX weeks!

I'll go in that order... Florida was a lot of fun, but really exhausting!! We had quite the adventure getting down there. I'll make that part short. We were supposed to fly out of a certain airport, almost had to drive an hour north to a different one, and ended up driving an hour to JFK (after we had arrived at the original airport). I was on a different flight than Marcy and the boys, but we all made it to Orlando within an hour of each other. TOO MUCH EXCITEMENT! We made our way to the Magic Kingdom, where we had about 8 hours to spend. We did all the big things (Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, and Space Mountain), along with the little things (Pirates of the Caribbean, Snow White, etc.). Monday we went to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. Busy, busy day trying to do everything. We had a blast there. I was surprised at some of the things the boys would and wouldn't do. (vague enough?) On Tuesday we went to MGM Studios, and once again had a busy, fun day.
(This photo was on Monday at Universal Studios)



This one's on Tuesday at MGM -- at the end of a loooong day!


Wednesday we woke up early and drove to Ft. Lauderdale, where we stayed with Marcy's sister and brother-in-law. They were pretty much right on the beach, so that was a big bonus! Plus they had a pool -- the boys loved that. We had a surprise birthday party for Marcy on Wednesday night: a Shrek theme. Everyone wore Shrek ears (it cracked me up a little that halfway through the meal all of the adults still had the ears on, and none of the kids did), we had Shrek toys, balloons, and everything! One night we took the boat out to a restaurant, another day we went to Monkey Jungle (where the people are in cages and the monkeys run wild -- seriously!).


On Thursday evening I got together with my cousin Amy and her husband Tom. It was fun catching up with them and hanging out in Ft. Lauderdale. It's a cool city!

Now, for my next topic: my cellphone. I lost it on a roller coaster at Islands of Adventure. :( So I'm going crazy without one. I'm not handling this very well... so if I'm not calling or texting you, that's why.

I am coming home on July 30th: just about 6 weeks from now. It's so crazy that I'll be home so soon. Pretty soon this'll all just be memories -- I'll be coming on here to read about what I did when I was here.

My mind has been in Minnesota most of yesterday and today. My family is there for Josh and Holly's wedding. I'm sad that I'm missing out on it, so I'm hoping to see some pictures!!

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Daughtry... again!


My experience watching DAUGHTRY was so great, I'm going to revisit it on here for you. I'm including photos this time, so it's even better.

Remember we were in the first row? So I'm pretty sure I have some sweet photos!! Okay now I'm having problems uploading pictures! Ahhhh! So here's the first one: Tamara and I with our sweet signs!! (smiling that big at ~7:00am!)



Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Track Stars!!

(Today must be photo day for me or something...)
I've been gone since October, but I've still managed to see a least one game in all my siblings' sports. Until now... the spring sports. :(
So I asked Heidi to keep me up-to-date with photographs from the track meets. She did an AWESOME job! Thanks Heidi!!
Here are a few she sent to me:


Doesn't she look like the ultimate pro track star?? :)
Dave approaching the bar... looks like it's over his head (and he's TALL!)
Katz leading the pack in the 800! YEA Katz!!
David about to let it fly!!

Another Tribute to my 5 favorites!


Karen and Heidi: January 26, 2007 on Liberty Island, NYC


Karen and Jules! Chicago, IL, April 2007

Katz and Karen: Grand Cayman, April 2006

Michelle and Karen: December 2006 HOME

Karen and Kristin: NYC November 2006

Sisters

I'm so grateful to have sisters, and extra lucky that I have five of them! I can't imagine life without them! One day pretty soon after I moved out here, I was on the phone with Mom (this is usually a daily occurrence). She said when she first moved away (from Michigan), phone calls were few and far between. A phone call then was a big event. I'm so lucky that I get to call and talk to people from home every day. I don't think a day goes by that I don't talk to one of my sisters! (How lucky am I?!!) And usually we're both envious of each other...

So today I was going through some pictures I have on my computer and thought I'd put some sister pictures up. We have some pretty amazing ones! :)


This one is from the cruise, and includes my awesome sisters-in-law, too!

7 Mile Beach on Grand Cayman (Bathing Beauties!)



Another one from 7 Mile Beach. I've been told we really looked alike that day :)



I know this one looks like the Caribbean... but it's actually at the camp! The night before Kristin's big day we celebrated with a luau!



The BIG day for Kristin and Jason! She had her five sisters share and be part of her most important day. That was really an honor!

I really love this last one. Doesn't it look like a fake background? It's Mom, the 6 sisters, and two sisters-in-law last November. (Photo compliments of LIZ)

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Florida

I don't remember if I've mentioned this... so I apologize if it's a repeat. We're going to Florida on Saturday for a little vacation. We'll have three nights in Orlando (DisneyWorld and Universal Studios) and three in Ft. Lauderdale. I've never been to Universal Studios so that'll be new and fun! And the boys are getting sooo excited to go! They're pumped that I'm going with them, too.
When we get back I'll have about 6 weeks left here. Then it's back to MI... how fast has the time gone?!! I can't believe over 2/3 of my time in CT is over. WOW!

Monday, June 4, 2007

I love comments!

Every once in awhile I stop writing on here because I don't think anyone's reading it... because I don't get many comments. But then people tell me they're reading it (and enjoying it), so I keep writing. So: feel free to leave comments so I know I'm not writing to myself. Thanks! Gracias! Kiitos! Danke! Merci!

I am NOT adventurous!

So last night I tried to venture out of my comfort zone.

I ATE SASHIMI.

For those of you who don't know what it is.... it's raw fish. Yeah. and I ate it.
Raw tuna. and EEL. I ate raw EEL! and some other stuff that I don't remember what it's called. Oh yeah, OCTOPUS!

I think that might be the last time I'm stepping out of the comfort zone. Cause I'm really comfortable in it. and my comfort zone tastes good. ;)



Here is what eel looks like, if you don't remember...

DAUGHTRY!!

I can't believe I haven't written about him on here yet!
Tamara and I woke up extra early (this is becoming a regular weekly thing) on Friday and took the train into the city. We got to Bryant Park by ~6:40, and got in line. Almost immediately, a guy approached us and gave us one VIP ticket that he couldn't use... so I took it and got in the VIP line and scored us a FRONT ROW spot!!!! Tamara waited in the regular line and came up to the front when she got in. So we had like the best spot in the whole park!!! We made signs this time. Mine said Michigan (hearts) DAUGHTRY. David gave me an idea for the back of the sign, so he can take all the credit for it. It said "Brandon Inge is my Tiger." :) I got lots of questions about that, so I got to talk about the Detroit Tigers to some NYC people!

We got to watch the warm-up for about 30 minutes! Then the actual concert was about 30 minutes, too. He sang Home, Over You, and It's Not Over.
Here's the best part: when it was all over, he came and gave autographs!!!! So he signed my sign. :) and I got to shake his hand! :) Lucky we were in the front row!!
Mom and Maria both said they saw me on tv.

Tamara and I talked to some Army soldiers (stationed at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn) at the concert. I found out something really interesting. The New York METS support the military. They are always giving the soldiers there tickets to the games, and recognizing them and everything. Not so for the Yankees. They don't acknowledge them in any way. Yet another reason to have no respect for that team.

After the concert, we met up with Katharina and her parents. Her parents were on their way to the airport to rent a car to travel around for a bit. Then Tamara, Katharina, and I decided to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge!! I thoroughly enjoyed that experience! and I took lots of photos. We had heard about a really good pizza place in Brooklyn, so we found it and had our first Brooklyn-style pizza. Yum!!

Heather, Lanette, and Molly!!

So, I had some Michigan visitors in the city yesterday! Heather, Lanette, and Molly took a bus up from Baltimore. I met them around 10:30 and gave them a whirlwind tour of NYC. First stop was Times Square where they got to see it in all of its craziness. (Although it wasn't very busy at all... I suppose 11:00 on a Sunday morning is one of the quieter times for that area.) We hit up the M & M store -- one of my very favorite stops in the city!! Next was Central Park, where they enjoyed the carousel, then took a little walk around. Then we got lunch and met my friends for lunch in the park. Two of Ellen's friends from the Netherlands were here, too. So there were ten of us at lunch! Next was the most insane subway ride I've ever experienced (we had to get to Battery Park to catch the ferry to the Statue of Liberty). Seriously. If the subway was like this all of the time, I don't think anyone would ever use it. I'll give you a little rundown (if I can remember it all).

1. We exited the park on 72nd St and took the B (orange) train.
2. At 59th St. (Columbus Circle), we switched to the 2 (red) train, which should've brought us to South Ferry (right in Battery Park). But there was construction going on. So the furthest downtown it went was 14th St.
3. At 14th St. we walked a few blocks (underground) to the L train, which took us to Union Square (14th St.).
4. At Union Square we boarded the 6 (green) train, which should've taken us to Bowling Green (basically Battery Park). But because of construction, it stopped at the Brooklyn Bridge.
By this time, we had been underground for over an hour. (It should've been a quick 20 minute ride.) So we decided to take a taxi the rest of the way. Well, with 6 people (Tamara and Sarah were with us, too), this might've taken quite awhile. But the first taxi we saw was a van... whew! So he took us right to Battery Park. FINALLY!

So we got on the ferry (amidst some spinkles) and went to the Statue and Ellis Island. When we got back to the mainland, we speed-walked up ~6 blocks to Ground Zero, where we realized we had to be back to catch their bus in about an hour (which would usually be fine, but after the ordeal we had earlier, we didn't want to count on anything. Luckily this subway problem with the construction was only for downtown-bound trains. We got on our uptown train and made it back to Times Square in about 15 minutes.

I think they had a lot of fun... I apologized profusely for the underground nightmare, but they didn't seem to mind (they didn't know how else it could be, since it was their first NYC Subway ride).