A Walk (& Ride) in the Park

Zoie & I got out and enjoyed the beautiful weather one Saturday afternoon...we went to the little park near where we live. She sure loves her hats & sunglasses! She was also very independent at the park (and everywhere else!), wanting to climb by herself and everything!

The Big Apple (Days 2-5)

The rest of the trip in NYC was much dryer than day one...actually we had gorgeous weather! On Sunday, we were able to sleep in (I don't even know what that is anymore!) and then had to meet in the hotel lobby and take cars from Staten Island to Manhattan for a meeting at the main NY election office. It was on this trip that we came through the Battery tunnel and ended up right at Ground Zero. This was my only venturing to that area...due to my own personal feelings about respecting what happened there and those who lost their lives. We arrived early for this meeting so we were able to walk to a local deli and grab a bite to eat. I loved the atmosphere of all the little delis we'd encounter; very citified and New York! The meeting was to go over policies & procedures for the primary on Tuesday, which was good to know, but what was incredible was that we were on the 10th floor of this building and they had some amazing views from all sides of this floor. My new camera (hehe) actually has a setting for taking photos through windows so I tried it out and it worked wonderfully! We could see where the trains come in & out on one side, and more awesome views of other buildings in Manhattan. The meeting lasted about 4 hours and after that we were on our own. One of my work colleagues and I took the car back to the hotel and chilled out for a bit then went from the hotel to the Ferry again, grabbed the Subway, and met another colleague near 42nd & 3rd avenue for dinner at a Tex-Mex place. You might not think NYC can do Tex-Mex, but it was really very good and it was laid back, which I liked. After dinner, we went to a local drugstore/novelty shop which was fun to look around in and then we headed back to the subway to head back to the Ferry and hotel. On the walk to the subway, we passed a corner market that had all these beautiful flower bouquets for sale...the colors were really popping! We also had a great view, when we looked up, of the Empire State Building and it's colored lights (yellow on this night), and a really neat church with outside statues illuminated by spotlights. Getting on the Ferry could probably be likened to how cattle feel being herded into one of those big transport semi-trailers...you know you have to get on, the next thing is to just try and find a decent spot. For this traveler, of course, my goal was to find a spot that presented the best photo ops! I did get some great pics of the Manhattan skyline, the Bridges and of the Statue of Liberty all from riding the *free* Ferry! And, as I digress, let me just say that it was really nice to have a couple of days where I got to watch the TV I wanted, could take longer showers, have a bed to myself and just be a little less responsible however, I adore Zoie and missed her very much. Ok, so on Monday, we had to visit the election office of our respective burrough, which was supposed to take all day, but we were only there for about 2-3 hours and then had the rest of the day free again! So, it was back to the hotel to drop off stuff and freshen up and then back to the Ferry to head over to Manhattan again - this time sans rain & umbrella drama. My colleague, and now friend, Su, was with me and we walked and walked and walked! We went to the Empire State Building, the New York Public Library, the Fashion District (it was NY Fashion Week while were there so while I didn't see anyone famous that I know of, I did see some great fashion - even on one unsuspecting trend setter with the bright blue tights!), Avenue of the Americas, Times Square (had a dawg from one of the vendors), and near Battery Park, where the Ferry docks are. We were originally going to meet up with the rest of the group and take the same ferry back, but we were both kind of done and we had to be up very early for election day so we went ahead and caught the Ferry back...and I am SO glad we did because the sun was setting over the harbor and city. I got some of my most favorite photos of this trip on this very last Ferry ride. Su & I went to a local bar on S.I. for wings & beer then went back to the hotel and retired for the night. The next day was election day so we actually had to do some work on our business trip and Wednesday we flew home (another direct flight!).



So, that's the story of New York City...apparently things were as peachy in Nebraska at this time as they were in the Big Apple with Grandma & Zoie! I think Zoie wasn't too happy that Mommy left...she would tell Grandma to stay out of the bedroom, telling her that it was "Mommy's room...leave it alone!" She also through one heck of a tantrum for Grandma so I'm not sure who was happier to see me when I got there! Zoie's eyes just got really big and she said, "Mommy..are you HERE?!" Then later she told me to not leave anymore, just to stay there. That is the hard part of this job, but it's necessary, and the time apart is good for us both! Enjoy the pics...

The Big Apple - Short Notice (Day 1)

One of my duties at my new job is to provide site support whenever any of our clients has an election (primary, general, school board, etc) and requests our presence. Well, the 5 main burroughs of New York City had a primary on Sept 9th that people were needed for and, originally, I wasn't slated to go but a colleague had a family emergency so they asked me on a Thursday afternoon if I could go in that person's place - to depart on Saturday morning of that same week!!! It's like winning a free trip but you have to pack and be ready in 24 hrs or you lose the trip - but so NOT like that! LOL Luckily, our flight was direct, which is a rare thing in these here parts, so we got there relatively early in the day and got to our hotel - half the battle of all travel in my book. I was assigned to Staten Island, which was great because it was definitely somewhere I hadn't been before! After getting into our rooms and freshening up, my travel companions and I grabbed a cab and headed for the S.I. Ferry to go over to Manhattan. Now, before I go any further, let me remind you all that at this point in time nationally, our eyes were peeled to a little gal named Hanna the Hurricane, who happened to be traversing her way up the East Coast; so naturally, there was rain in the forecast. Me, being the seasoned traveller that I am, I packed an umbrella..so, rain = no problem! It was overcast but not raining as we boarded the Ferry and had a nice foggy ride over to the dock in Manhattan - it was still really beautiful...the fog added a mystique & intimacy to the whole area which I was sure wasn't their otherwise.

Once we got off the Ferry, we grabbed a Metro Card for the subway (I was feeling like a real New Yawka then!) and grabbed the #1 red line to head to 42nd St & Times Square! We stopped at a little place and grabbed a slice and a beer first, then started to walk around and it also started to sprinkle; then, it proceeded to rain. I got out my trusty umbrella and I was good to go (or so I thought!). We kept walking and I was taking pictures and just taking in the atmosphere of Times Square...but for some reason, I still seemed to be getting wet. We decided to duck into a bar and have a martini to possibly wait out the rain (or get to a point where we really didn't care about it). After a yummy Tropical Martini, we grabbed our umbrellas (my companions bought one from a street vendor as they were everywhere) and headed back out. We walked some more over near Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall, doing a little light shopping and looking around in stores as we went. Each time we went into a store, I'd notice that I seemed to be wetter than before...I could not figure what the deal was and then I felt a drip on my face - while UNDER the umbrella. I reached up to touch the umbrella's underside that should have been nice & dry & it was soaked; water was seeping right through it and onto me! I went to the next umbrella vendor I saw and bought a $5 umbrella, and trashed the crappy one I had brought. I opened up my new purchase with pride...I would now be one of the elite, dry pedestrians! As I resume walking, I feel even more rain on my face...I look up inside this new improved umbrella and there is a fist-sized hole in the seem and water is just coming on in! Curses! I turned right back around and showed the hole to the vendor who promptly gave me a different umbrella, which we both checked out and I finally had a decent umbrella - I was beyond drenched and could wring water out of my clothes, but, hey, I had an umbrella! At that point, I was tired of being wet and I couldn't afford to shop where my companions were going (Kenneth Cole, etc.) so I told them I was going to catch the subway back to the Ferry terminal, get across the water and go back to the hotel for a hot shower. I had no trouble navigating the different trains in the subway and had fun looking around and people watching in the nether regions of the city. There were people preforming music and dancing...one especially moving performance of Ben E. King's "Stand by Me" by a robust African-American woman reminiscent of the ones who bring down the church singing in their gospel choir. I should have gotten a photo of her but being as wet as I was and the demise of my last camera being due to water, I was shutter-shy! I continued on my way to the Ferry stop...and was entertained by another gentleman jumping onto our car and giving a story like you might see in a movie about the life & times of Jackie Robinson and then adding an eerily accurate sounding soundtrack of "She Was Just 16." He then wandered through the car collecting offerings of appreciation from listeners in the car.

I got to the Ferry terminal and was very glad to be heading back to a hot shower, dry clothes and a comfy bed. Coincidentally, I ended up running into my companions again at the Ferry...my side-trips in the subway took up any head-start I had on them, but that was fine since we were able to share a cab back to the hotel. When we did get back to the hotel and I got in my room, I took the longest shower I've taken in recent memory...it was almost magical! After that, we had a nice, quiet, relaxed dinner with a wonderful glass of wine and I slept wonderfully!!

This is me, soggy on the subway:



The rest of the trip and more photos to follow in a subsequent post...

Just Say Click...Take a Pic!

Oh, happy day!! I have officially entered the photo-taking world again with the purchase of a new digital camera! I was going to wait longer but with my next posts, you'll understand why I HAD to have a camera!


My first pics with the new camera:

Old Friends, Together Again!

Well, it's getting here...that time when my high school friends and I are now closer to 40 than we are to 30!! In fact, a high school friend who graduated a few years before me, turned the big four-oh this month and her husband had a surprise birthday party for her. Kristin, now that she is a flight attendant and has way more ease of getting here than before, was able to schedule a trip in to really add to the surprise! Here are some pics we took at the house and then at the party where we met up with another HS classmate, TT. Guess if we have to get older, we might as well do it right and I think we all look smashing for our ages!! It was a fun night and great to see Kristin as always - even if just for a couple of days.
My mom & I...

Kristin & I...

Kristin, TT, & I...

Quick Update

Since I just started the job and have been getting royally bent over by the Nebraska Department of Labor (ie, Unemployment), we still have no camera so we're lacking photos (and I can't afford to develop the 9 rolls of film I have!) but I thought I'd just do a quick update of what we've been doing.

I started my new job on Tues, Aug 18th and so far I'm just doing all the getting settled in things - here's your desk, introductions that I never remember (thank goodness for name plates on each person's cube), this where this is and that is where that's at, etc. I have started looking at the material I will be working with and I think I will catch on fine, it will just be all the caveats of each state, county, city's different election rules!

The big change with the new job is our schedule...going from sleeping in til 9 or so to me getting up at 5-5:30 a.m. and Zoie around 6. We've both been zombies this week! LOL I know we'll get used to it but this is the hard part - especially around 3:00 in the afternoon when I could very easily lay my head on my desk and snooze away! Ha! Zoie still gets her nap each day thank goodness so she's really been doing pretty good with the change.

Before all this, we went to the little carnival at the Lancaster County Fair one evening and Zoie rode some rides - but only a couple as I did NOT trust those clankety death traps! Grandma and I joined her on the Merry-Go-Round and that was fun and we were also watching The K's cats while they were in Knoxville, IA, for sprint car nationals. Zoie loves going to "Mardee's House" whether he's there or not! Then last weekend we went to an open house that her preschool had...their theme was a Beary Special Day so she got to make crafts dealing with bears (masks, Goldilocks & the 3 bears - or 13 in Zoie's interpretation - and other things like that)...she enjoyed being at her school and seeing kids that are in the same room as her as well as showing Mommy & Grandma around. Other than this we just spent as much time together before it was back to the grind.

Losing a job is always a blow to one's confidence regardless of what reason they give you but those who know me, know I believe in everything happening for a reason. So, in between the stress of not having money and the tediousness of job hunting, I have been blessed to have one of the best summers I've had in years. When Zoie was born, I only got a true 2 weeks off and then worked from home for a couple of weeks but I missed out on being able to have 12 weeks like some mothers get or even the standard 6 wks before going back to work. Then when she was 6 months old we moved from TX to NE and things were crazy non-stop since then so I feel like I finally got my maternity leave with Zoie! We created some really great memories over the summer that I will cherish. I'm so thankful for this and for the new job that will give us other opportunities to make memories!


I borrowed Auntie Lindsay's camera to take some pics of clothes to sell and snapped this one of Zoie on 8/12/08 so this is her most recent...check the pucker!


I also got a new do...just in time for my 2nd interview...must have done the trick! And it's so versatile...ha!

A New Job and a Pot to Pee In

It's a day of milestones for HZI! Mommy was offered - and accepted - a job with a company called Election Systems & Software as a training specialist for the Voter Registration side of their business and completed her training classes to become a CASA volunteer (www.casa4lancaster.org)...but bigger than all of that, Zoie TOLD Grandma that she didn't want to puddle on the floor after getting out of the bathtub so she sat down on her pottychair and actually went pee! She actually held it in on purpose and let it go at the right time!! She is just growing up SO much...she is such a joy!

Stay posted for new adventures from all of us!