My Sweet Nana

As many of you know Nana, my great-grandmother, passed away late Sunday night. She passed very peacefully, while surrounded by many loved ones. Her health, both mental and physical, had dropped drastically over the last few months. In the last few weeks of her life here on earth, she had become a distant Nana that neither reflected her well-known zeal for life or her charmingly inviting personality.

George and I were very blessed to have been able to spend as much time with her as we did over the last 6 months. Every time we came home from New York, we were happy to go see our sweet Nana. Some of our visits were spent listening to her stories about special moments in her life, sometimes we would try to update her on our unfamiliar life in New York, and other times were just spent sitting in peaceful silence with her. One thing that she couldn’t avoid was George teasing her with questions like “So tell me about the boyfriends that you have been meeting”, “How many boyfriends do you have?”, “Are they cute?”, etc. This always tickled her and she would finally give in and play back with comments like “they are all too old for me!”. We also would try to keep her updated on her favorite team, the Braves, until she just couldn’t keep up with them anymore.

Each time we were able to see her; it became more and more apparent that she was slipping farther and farther away. She began to refuse to eat and communication became increasingly difficult. Knowing that she wasn’t comfortable and accepting that her mind wasn’t the same were the hardest things to deal with. I wanted MY Nana back in great health and sharp mind… the Nana that I knew growing up, the one who loved to let me play in the sprinklers and pickle bucket, the one who I always wanted to come “wibus”, the one who loved to play dress up with me, the one who made the best cakes in the world, the one who could tell the best stories of her life (even if they were told over and over again :)), and the one who epitomized such pure, unselfish love.

Although I am selfishly sad that I can’t have her with me on earth anymore, I am even happier that she is now in a place so wonderful beyond comprehension. I can only imagine the moment that her beautiful soul arrived in Heaven. I bet that Andaddy (my great-grandfather) was patiently waiting to welcome her, probably in a fishing boat. Oh, what a moment!

Last Tuesday was the last time I would see Nana alive. There is no doubt in my mind that the Lord brought me home last weekend for this reason. Mom and I stopped by the nursing home before heading to Atlanta to catch my flight back to New York. We spent 30 of the most peaceful minutes with her that Tuesday afternoon, and I will never forget a single detail. I can’t speak for my mom or Nana, but I truly had a feeling that it was going to be the last time I would ever see this special person again on earth. This feeling made it a very emotional, yet peaceful, visit. All I wanted to do was hold her and tell her how much I loved her. When the unwanted time came to say goodbye, I knew that not one thing was left unsaid. I gently hugged her fragile body, we exchanged cheek and forehead kisses, and I told her I would see her soon… and one day I will.

Sweet Home Alabama

George and I had the privilege of going home this past weekend and had the absolute best time.  We both flew out of NY Thursday night, George flew back to NY Sunday, and I flew back to NY Tuesday.  We spent the majority of the weekend in Birmingham and headed to Alexander City on Sunday. Two of George's best friends from high school, Stephen Perlis and Mindi Mullins, were married on Saturday and George was a groomsman.  Besides fun wedding events, we enjoyed getting to spend time with family and friends.  I will elaborate later on some parts of our trip.  For now, here are some of the many pictures from our time at home...

George giving his toast at Mindi and Stephen's rehearsal dinner.

George and I with the bride and groom.

Group at the rehearsal dinner.

At the Skybar of Birmingham, Innisfree... just like old times!

(wait, did we leave behind any treasures this time?)

George and I scooting around Birmingham on the Vespa!

At my second cousin's, Bella, baptism with the fam.

Me and sweet Nana, my great-grandmother.

I love this picture!  I think it reflects how much Nana adores George.

Wake surfing... I finally got it!

It was so much fun! 

I am voting for...

The true reason I am currently blogging is because I can't take looking at the last post.  I've come to peace with the fact that this event occurred, but when I check my bank account or look at the blog, happiness does not resound.

I also haven't posted since my maiden voyage several months ago.  I'm pleased to report that I have not had any situations involving elliptical machines and wifey in close proximity.  Additionally, I have been a responsible dog walker..

Did you know that pigeon shooting was once an Olympic sport?  It was.  I propose that we bring back pigeon shooting and get rid of fencing.  The only cool thing about fencing is that the US women dominate - bronze, silver, and gold this year.  The issue with watching fencing is that no one has any idea who wins.  They are fighting with these little bitty swords that you can't see and the only way to tell who just jabbed/stabbed the other one is by their reaction.  My analysis leads me to believe that these fencers have discovered this and just celebrate even if they know that they just took one in the jugular.  It's similar to how soccer players fall down and cry for a foul even if they know it wasn't warranted.  Let's think about how obvious it would be to watch an event in pigeon shooting.  You hear a loud noise.  The flying rat we call a pigeon explodes.  Then you repeat this over and over.  I would watch that.  NBC would make big money on ad sales and we could see commercials from Obama/McCain about which one is going to do something about alternative energy (the one issue they both pretty much agree on).  Forget politics - I vote for pigeon shooting.

WARNING

Back in the days of Auburn, I had the privilege of working with a company by the name of HDK. It is an illegal (in my mind anyway) towing company that I dealt with on more occasions than I care to share. I honestly believe that they went around town looking for Isabella, my car. Besides causing me a huge inconvenience by stealing my car, they charged an unreal amount of money to release Isabella from being held hostage. I thought that I had escaped the torture of such scamming... until the other day.

George was out of town, so I took Clancy out for his evening walk a little early, before it got dark. Around 7:00 pm we returned to the apartment, but I suddenly realized that I had forgotten my keys! Oh no! I had never done this before and, as luck would have it, George was out of town. The only other person who had a key to our apartment was our dog walker, Elizabeth. After spending about 2 hours trying to get in touch with her, I finally gave in and called a locksmith who had left his card on the doorstep of our apartment building. When speaking to him on the phone, he told me it would be about $160 to "get me back in" to my apartment and an extra $40 something dollars for the emergency call. I told him I had never heard of a locksmith charging that much, but he assured me that this was the standard rate. After about 20 minutes the locksmith arrived, and I was in my apartment after 10 minutes of his labor. And now the climax of my story... He handed me the receipt. I was floored. After relaying to him my surprise and the price that had been discussed previously, he explained that I had to pay for the installed lock as well. Shock! I thought for a second, but what could I do? The work had already been done. Frustrated and overwhelmed are understatements.

Happy Birthday to George!

We celebrated a very special birthday yesterday... George's 24th!  Since he had a long weekend at Stephen's bachelor party, we laid low and celebrated at our apartment.  After his requested meal of appetizers, Clancy and I gave him his presents and his pecan tart birthday cake.  His parents gave him a gift certificate to a really nice restaurant below our apartment that we are planning on going to this weekend to continue the celebration.  Here is George after 24 years...

The Bowery Mission

This past weekend, as George ventured off to Sea Grove for a bachelor party, I stayed in New York while my newfound friends took me under their wings (yes, I finally made some friends that are not from Auburn). Lauren Kloss and Christine Cook are two of our friends from bible study, and I met the others this weekend. One of them, Bradley, ended up being from Nashville and went to the same school as George’s mom!

We got manicures and pedicures, went "designer resale" shopping, watched a movie, and went to the beach. We had a great time doing all of these girly things, but the most fun thing we did was host an activity night for the Bowery Mission Women's Center. It is an organization that Redeemer works with that houses about 15 women who have previously been homeless and provides a program to get them back on their feet and teach them about God. If you go to this link and watch the video “To Dream Again” you will get a better idea of it… http://www.bowery.org/Display.asp?Page=TBMWomensCenter.

We fed them pizza at the townhouse where they live and then took them bowling. Although they seemed to have a great time, I believe we got the most happiness from the event. The women were so amazing and grateful for everything we did for them. I believe most of them front-hugged me at least twice. The pictures below are of our evening with them.

Christine with some of the women at the Harlem bowling center.

Christine and I while bowling.

My new friend, Donita. This lady was hysterical and danced the entire time.

A group of us waiting to bowl.

Visit From My Mom and Hallie

Hallie and Mom's train ride all the way to NY!

Clancy thinks he is a person and sits like one too.

Waiting in line at Magnolia Bakery for the "best cupcakes in the world!"

Hallie and Mom waiting in line for The Today Show and Miley Cirus at 5:00 am.

This past week was a real special one, because my mom and Hallie came to stay with George, Clancy, and me in New York. I was so happy to be able to spend time with them and celebrate Hallie's 12th birthday on Friday. Since they had already completed the touristy attractions on previous trips, we were able to do some unique things on our to-do list, they were able to witness and participate in our "normal" daily lives, and experience some of our favorite places and things. Hopefully the pictures will show how much fun we had.

For the most part, their trip was laid back and not too structured... except for Miley Cyrus's spot on the agenda!  Hallie is a big Miley fan (apparently, as is the rest of the world). Miley performed on Hallie's birthday on The Today Show, so Hallie had to be there of course. Waking up at 4 am to assure a front row spot was not successful, however Miley did see her "Hey Miley, It Is My Birthday" sign and wished her a happy birthday in front of the huge crowd. It pretty much made Hallie's whole week that she got a personal shout-out from THE Miley Cyrus.

Our weekend was filled with fun excursions. On Saturday, we decided to check out what the beach was like up here. Although we had no idea of what to expect, some of George's co-workers gave us a few tips on where to go. We ended up going to Long Beach, Long Island. It was about an hour train ride on the LIRR, and it dropped us off right at the beach. Surprisingly, it wasn't too much different than the Gulf of Mexico beaches. The sand may have been a little darker with a few rocks, the waves were bigger, it was way more crowded, and there were lifeguards... but other than that, it was pretty much the same. We all loved it! On Sunday, we ventured to The Bronx Zoo. Although it rained the majority of the day, we didn't let it stop us from exploring the exotic animals. One of my favorite parts of their trip was our visit to Clancy's favorite dog park, Carl Schultz Park. It is the neatest, yet quaint, little park, right on the East River, and one of my favorite places in New York. I had wanted them to see it ever since George and I discovered it!

All of us at our apartment before heading to the beach.

Hallie doing cartwheels on the beach.

George and I at the Bronx Zoo.

Clancy's dog park at Carl Schultz Park.

Saying Goodbye

George and I love to have visitors... No matter how cramped our little apartment gets with more than 2 people in it, having people stay with us is completely worth it. We always have more fun and do cooler things when our friends and family are here. Although the excursions are always filled with fun, their presence is what gives us the greatest happiness.

The only negative thing I can possibly think of regarding visitors, is having to say goodbye. I am not good with goodbyes, and it is always harder for me to deal with living so far away when visitors leave or when I come back from visiting home. It wasn’t any different when my mom and Hallie left on Tuesday. I already miss the anticipation of walking into our apartment after work, and them being there. Since I was little, my favorite moments have been when everyone that I love was in the same place at the same time. My wish is that it could be like that all the time, starting right this instant. I know this is unrealistic, so for now I will continue to have faith that my wish will be reality one day. Oh what a day that will be!

"The Last Play at Shea"

This past Friday night, George and I attended the Billy Joel concert at the Met's, Shea Stadium. We had been pumped for months about the concert, "The Last Play at Shea: The Beatles to Billy". Gossip around town had prepared us to expect some surprise guests, but nothing could have prepared us for how unforgettable the show was.

First of all… what a venue! The thought of bidding farewell to Shea Stadium before it is torn down, added to the excitement in the crowd of thousands. And we had great seats! Then, as if Billy Joel wasn’t impressive enough, the surprise guests just kept coming throughout the night. The first half of the 3 hour concert was almost all Billy Joel singing his songs and a couple of The Beatles’ hits. The second half included Tony Bennett helping Billy sing “New York State of Mind”, Garth Brooks singing “Shameless” which was written by Billy, Roger Daltrey of The Who singing “My Generation”, Steven Tyler of Aerosmith singing “Walk This Way”, and finally Sir Paul McCartney singing “I Saw Her Standing There” with Billy and ending the night solo with “Let It Be”.

It was amazing! Although they don’t do it justice, I have added a few pictures that we took on George’s camera. My favorites of the night were Garth Brooks and the obvious, Paul McCartney. The only person that I can think of that would have made it better, would be Randy Travis ;).

Visit From The Doobas

This past week, George's parents (a.k.a. "Mamma & Daddy Dooba") came to visit George and me in New York. It was their first time to see how and where we live. We had a big time and are so glad that they were able to stay with us. Most of the time, we did more "New Yorker" things than touristy things.


One of the highlights was traveling about 30 minutes upstate New York to a place called Stone Barns. It is a big farm and restaurant built by the Rockefellers a long time ago. George's cousins, Mark and Emalee, live in Boston and randomly heard of the place. It is beautiful! If you've ever heard of the book "1000 Places to See Before You Die", it is on the list. {On a side note... George and I told our bible study group about our visit to Stone Barns and they found it quite comical that, out of all the things to do here, we Alabamians would choose a BARN as a place to visit!}


We also spent Sunday at the bottom of Manhattan at South Street Seaport. It was a gorgeous day, and the breeze coming off the river made it the perfect temperature.