What’s Going On

That’s a great song, by the way, but not really the point of this post.

The point of this post is to, well, say “Hi!” and to update you on what’s going on (there it is again) in our crazy little world.

So, what’s been happening since I voluntarily/involuntarily stopped blogging? (read: I forgot I had a blog because I became a Facebook Addict, and now everything I write consists of three sentences or less.  Thank goodness I haven’t started to like Twittering, or you’d never hear from me again)  Oh, so much (read: not much of anything, but I’ll see what I can scrounge up for you).

Well, October was a pretty busy month, which is very very rare for me/us.  At the beginning of the month, Jesse and I went to NY to celebrate our five-year anniversary, and as always, it made me miss NY tremendously.  When that plane touches down at JFK or LaGuardia or whichever airport has the cheapest flight, I instantly become a New Yorker.  What can I say, it’s in my blood and always will be.  We took the AirTrain into the city (saves so much money in comparison to taking a cab, and that’s what us real New Yorkers do, you know) and hoofed it to our hotel, which was on the East Side by the United Nations.  I’ve never stayed on that side of town, and although it was a bit of a trek to Grand Central to catch a subway, Jesse and I always go to NY with the mindset that we are going to do a ton of walking, so that was just par for the course.  For those who don’t know, 1st Avenue to Grand Central is on a hill, so we got our money’s worth with the walking.  We were exhausted that first day, but by the end of the trip we were doing ok.  I really miss all the walking I would do when I lived in NY, it was the only exercise I got on a regular basis … but it was good exercise.  These days, the walk from my office to the upstairs bathroom down the hall is enough to make me short of breath (so not funny, I know).  When I arrive in NY, I instantly want to get out and go, so we got to our hotel, dropped our bags, and set off to wander the city.  BTW, our hotel was so awesome – I booked it through Hotwire.com, which I’ve never used before and so I was a bit apprehensive about it.  They don’t tell you the hotel name, just the area it will be in, so unless you know the city you are visiting, it’s a crap shoot what you will get.  I know NY well enough that I was pretty confident in which areas were good and which were not good (and it’s not even “good” v. “bad”, it’s more which areas are close to things and which aren’t.  For example, on the West Side, you don’t want to stay above 77-80th streets, not because the area is bad but because you will be far away from everything and it will cost you money (taxi) or time (subway) to get to the heart of the city), so I was pretty certain I could get us a good hotel.  Yes, it was far from a subway, some tourists might complain, but I thought it was actually a great location.  And when I told them it was our anniversary, the desk clerk upgraded us to a room with an amazing view of the city – honestly, I’ve never stayed in a hotel with a view of anything other than a brick wall, so this was so great.  We could see the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, the United Nations, Roosevelt Island, Brooklyn and the Brooklyn Bridge waaayyy off in the distance.  At night, it was gorgeous, all the lights of the city glittering.  Just amazing. 

The view from our hotelRoosevelt Island

Mickey Mouse!

Sorry, Laurie, I didn’t get your comment in time.

We went to Disney World yesterday for the first time. It was a pretty good day. I would even venture to call it a success.

We wanted to go before Millie turned three – mainly because we will start having to pay for her when she is three, and have you seen how much it costs to get into that place these days? Ridiculous. If I’m gonna pay that much for a ticket for a 3 year old, they should throw in free food for her all day long. I’m just sayin’.

I had the whole thing planned out – leave our house at 8am to get there around 9:30am, go straight to the park until about 11:30am, then go to our hotel to check in so Millie could take a nap. Then go back to the park around 2:30pm and stay there until 7pm. We were going to start at Adventureland and do that plus Frontierland before her nap, then go to Fantasyland and Toontown after her nap (we were going to skip Tomorrowland altogether). Good plan, huh?

Didn’t quite work out that way.

We left our house at 8:20am (not too far off-schedule) and made it to Disney at 9:40am (go Jesse go, what a good driver!). By the time we picked up our tickets, it was already 10am. Then taking the ferry across (which Millie liked) and going through security, we didn’t make it into the park until about 10:30-10:45. Millie was pretty mesmerized by the whole day, she didn’t do the “oohs and aahs” I was hoping for, she was pretty much just slack-jawed with awe the whole time. We saw some characters on Main Street and Millie just looked at them – I have no idea what she was thinking. We started walking over to Adventureland but I wanted to check the Crystal Palace to see if we could get in without a reservation. Lunch started at 11:30am and it was 11am when we walked over. I asked the reservation girl if she could fit us in and she said, “I will have more info at 12pm but I can’t guarantee anything” – why couldn’t she have more info at 11:30am when lunch started? Odd. So we went on our way to Adventureland and it was hot. We wore jeans and we were sweating. We went on Swiss Family Robinson and Millie wanted to walk up all the stairs herself. We held up the line behind us but who cares, she liked it. Once we were done with that, Millie had a mini temper tantrum and we realized she was hungry, so we went to eat at a quick service place (so much for a wonderful lunch at the Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh). Millie actually ate really well. By the time we were done with lunch, it was time to leave for the hotel. So we sprinted through Frontierland and back out of the park. Oh, on the way out, a nice cast member gave Millie some Mickey Mouse stickers – needless to say, that was her favorite part of the whole day, those free frickin’ stickers. Sheesh.

So by the time we get to the hotel, it is about 12:30, and we are off schedule (and Millie is quickly getting overtired). The hotel didn’t have my reservation on file, so they had to figure that out while we waited. We finally get into the room at 1pm, and of course Millie does not want to take a nap. So we try to get her to lay down but she’s not having it. We finally admit defeat and get up at 2:30 to get ready to go back to the park. I’m disappointed because we are not going to get to see the 3pm parade, the only one that we could have managed to see that day. I know she would have liked that. And she hasn’t napped yet, so we are worried that the rest of the day is going to be whiny and fussy. But on the drive back to the park, she falls asleep! It’s a short drive, only about 15 minutes, but once we get to the park, we find a parking spot really close to the front of the transportation area (so we don’t have to take a noisy tram), and we just put her in the stroller and go. She doesn’t wake up, even on the monorail, so we make it into the park with her still asleep. We decide to go get ourselves a snack while she is sleeping, so we go to Tomorrowland for ice cream and people watching, my favorite activity. She sleeps for about an hour, and then we make our way over to Toontown. She wakes up on the way and is a bit groggy but eventually perks up. We go through Mickey and Minnie’s houses (we don’t go to see Mickey or any of the other characters, she is scared of them) and then we walk over to get a fastpass for Winnie the Pooh. By this time, it’s about 5pm – man, does time fly! We see Winnie the Pooh and Tigger characters, so we look at them (from afar) for a bit. We can’t get on Winnie the Pooh until 6:50pm, so we go have dinner at another quick service place, and again Millie eats like a champ! After dinner, we go to It’s a Small World and wait in line. We are nervous, because we don’t know how she will handle standing in line, but the line moves quickly, and she enjoys looking at all the kids and playing with the lane chain (the chain that separates the different lines). We get on the boat, and she sits on my lap and is still the entire ride. She is looking around, big big eyes, quietly taking it all in. We point stuff out to her, but she stays silent, just absorbing it all. When the ride is over, we go back to Winnie the Pooh and wait in a short line there and then get on the ride. Again, she sits on my lap and just stares at everything. I loved that, it is so great to see it all again through the eyes of a child who is experiencing it for the first time. After the ride is over, we decide that is enough and we make our way out of the park, but not before Millie picks out a Piglet stuffed animal for herself – she’s been carrying him around ever since. We get back to our hotel room at 8:30 (her normal bedtime) and she is in bed by 9:30 (as are we, since we are sharing a room and we can’t make any noise). She is out like a light pretty quickly and that was our day!

We went to Downtown Disney this morning for breakfast and to walk around a bit, and then we drove home during her naptime, and she slept on the way home. Awesome.

I think overall it was a great trip. It’s hard to accomplish anything with a toddler, but I’m proud that we managed to do what we did. We do much better at Busch Gardens, because we only go to see the animals, and that only takes a morning to accomplish. We did make it through each area, even though Frontierland was a blur. But there is nothing for her there anyway, except Country Bear Jamboree. When we were walking out of the park, we passed it and it was just seating, but I knew we were pushing her naptime to the extreme, so I let it go for another visit. I think she enjoyed it, but like I said, her favorite part was the free stickers. Oh well.

I’m coming home

I am sitting in the JFK airport, waiting for my flight home.  I love NY, I really do, but I am actually very happy that I am finallly going home.

I’ve been in NY since last Saturday – 7 whole days.  Normally, this would make me very happy, because NYC is my favorite place in the world (not that I’ve traveled outside of the country, but I know that even if when I do go abroad, I will still love NY the best).  But right now?  I’m tired, and I miss my family.

NY is such an exciting place.  One thing I love is that when I arrive in NY, I immediately feel like I am home.  I am so comfortable here.  I never feel like a tourist.  I love the hustle and bustle, the busy streets, the people who are all jetting off to God knows where.  And I really love all the walking I get to do – I get more exercise here, in the concrete jungle, than I ever get at home.

But NY is a sucky place to be alone.  Everywhere I go, I am by myself.  I like solitude, occasionally.  But not constantly.  I hate eating alone.  Since I was here on business, the company is paying for all my meals, so I can actually eat pretty well, in some nice restaurants.  But there is no one with me to share it with.  I can’t turn to Jesse and say, “Wow, this steak is amazing” or “This pasta sucks” (both true experiences).  I just have to store it away to tell him when I get back home.  I have to go to the theater and movies alone (actually, those are both things I like to do alone, that I don’t get to do by myself at home, so never mind that).  And I’m not comfortable going out by myself at night – I can explore some areas at night, like Times Square, but it’s just not as much fun as when I have someone with me.

I didn’t go to the park at all, mainly because I was working.  I love the park, but I want to go back with Jesse, since that is where we got married.  NY can be a little depressing on your own.

I got to do lots of shopping, which is very exciting – I bought tons of stuff!  My suitcase is so heavy – I purposely packed light because I knew I was going to buy stuff here, and now it is filled to the brim.

I saw two shows – Spring Awakening and Xanadu.  Spring Awakening I saw twice, actually.  Our seats the first night were in the front row, which was great but it was hard to see everything.  So I went back a few nights later and had a seat a bit further back, so I could take it all in.  That was also a better night because there were no understudies in the show – the first night, there were like three or four.  Spring Awakening is a good show, but I have to say that I actually like the music better, on its own.  That’s actually pretty rare, that a cast recording can stand up on its own like that.  Xanadu was a silly piece of fluff, but still amusing.  It was really short, only an hour and a half with no intermission.  So to me, that is not worth paying full price for a ticket.  I could have gone to see more shows, but actually, there isn’t anything else playing that I’m dying to see, so I just chilled in the hotel room a few nights, watching old episodes of “The Office.”  And I saw “Superbad” at the movies – what a funny movie!  I’m going to see it again when I get home, so Jesse can go with me.

Let’s see, what are some strange things that happened while I was here (something strange always happens in NY): the cabbie on the way here to the airport had some type of incense in the car, it smelled really bad (to me, at least – some people like that stuff); I saw a drunk man fall on his face in Times Square; I saw a really cool brass band play in Times Square; and the best thing – I was waiting for my food in the diner downstairs from the hotel, when this slightly mental-looking woman set her purse down on my table and began rummaging around in it.  She acted as if I wasn’t even there – it actually continued for about five minutes, and towards the end she briefly looked at me and said, “Sorry” while continuing to rummage.  At first, I was like, “Should I say something?” and then I just chalked it up to another strange NY experience and let it go.

I had some pretty good food, but nothing spectacular.  We had sushi the first night, and that was pretty good.  I had some really salty meatloaf and some non-existent pasta, and some pretty good steak.  But really, nothing to write home about.

The weather was pretty good – it rained one day and today it was overcast.  The temperature was hot the first few days and then once it rained, it went down to the 70′s, which was lovely.  The day it rained was the most humid, muggy day I’ve experienced in quite a long time (Florida included).  It was absolutely disgusting.

All in all, it was a good trip, but I am so ready to see my babies.  I would talk to Millie on the phone almost every night, and even though Jesse said she was a pain, I think she was just missing me.  When I left Tampa, I did that silly “mom” thing and started crying – she was at the terminal, waving to me, and I just lost it.  I can’t wait to see her.

It was a fun trip, I love NY so much and I can’t wait to come back again – but next time with my husband, so we can enjoy it together.

Oh, and my car was stolen while I have been gone.  But that’s a whole ‘nother story.

What Happens in Vegas …

… gets recapped here.

I went to Las Vegas for four days for work.  It was very tiring, but fun as well.  I got to see my sister and her fiancee, and her gorgeous engagement ring (well done Mike!), I got to see the fountains at the Bellagio (a goal ever since I saw Ocean’s Eleven) and I even won some money at the casinos.  All in all, not a bad trip.

Even the flights weren’t bad.  It was about 4 and a half hours to Vegas, and only about 4 hours back.  I watched a good movie on the flight back (The Queen, with Helen Mirren), played Sudoku and listened to my iPod.  It flew by (ha, that’s a pun).

So, I won $180 while I was in Vegas – all from penny slots!  One time I won $94 and the other time I won $74.  That was awesome, because everything I bought on the trip after that was bought with found money – I didn’t spend a dime of my own money.  I saw Bill Gates, Howie Mandel and Peter Brady (that’s a strange trio, huh?), and my sister saw Drew Barrymore and Stanford from Sex in the City.  Oh, and some other people saw Criss Angel the Illusionist and The Pussycat Dolls.  Lots of celebs in Vegas.

I got hit on by a techno geek and got stared at by many, many, many more, which was alternately nice and creepy.  I met a guy who makes the glass in LCD tv’s for a living, as well as a guy who works for the video game company that makes The Sims.

I ate at some very nice restaurants and saw “The Bodies” Exhibit.  I had a backache every night from walking and slept like a rock.  I took a bath every night (luxury!) and slept in every morning.

I missed my babies and couldn’t wait to get home.

Living out of a suitcase is not for me.

What’s Going On

So, now that I can write freely and whenever my little heart desires, I can finally spend some time talking about the past month.

The past month has been filled with sickness, plague and misery.

I am so dramatic.

Our trip to NY was kind of sucky.  It was good to see everyone, but we didn’t get to do as much as we normally do.  And I have to attribute that, I’m sorry, to the Mils.  Travelling with a baby is not easy.  The flights were fine, but once we got to NY, it was a jam-packed week filled with nothing in particular, yet we had absolutely no time to do anything because we kept having to think, “What do we do with Millie?”  And then, everyone got sick.  Well, everyone except me.  Jesse and I went to the city on Friday to stay overnight.  We were going to go to dinner with E and Mike, then spend the next day wandering.  But when we woke up on Saturday, I called my mom to check on Millie, and both of them were sick.  So, we went straight to the train station and back to Long Island.  Then Jesse got sick on our last day, so he had to travel sick.  We are all still sick, even me, who must have caught it from all of them later.

I don’t want to blame Millie, but I can’t deny that it was much easier to go to NY without a baby, and I don’t think we’ll go back anytime soon – at least, not until she is more self-sufficient.  It was a disappointing trip.

So like I said, we are all sick.  Jesse and my mom were on antibiotics for awhile (although Jesse’s ear infection is back, we think, so he will have to take another course of antibiotics), and now Millie has an ear infection (her first cold followed by her first ear infection … boy, are we proud!) so she is on antibiotics too.  It has been so sad, watching her be sick.  She is so listless and puts on a sad face, as if to say, “I don’t like this, I want to be running around eating paper and playing with the remote.”  She is also very clingy, which is both sweet and sad.  I love that she wants to be close to me, but I’m sad for the reason.  We only had her in daycare one day this week.

That’s the other difficult thing.  She’s been in daycare since October 5th, but still is not used to it because she has missed so many days.  She has only had one full week of daycare so far, the rest has been hit and miss because of travel or sickness.  I want her to get used to it, because it is so sad to have her cry everytime I leave her there, or everytime I pick her up.  I know she stops crying when I leave (I’ve hidden outside the door to make sure), but it sucks nonetheless.  I do think she enjoys her time there, once she forgets about us … but that’s the thing about daycare, you are just never sure.  I hope she’s ok, and I have to have faith that she is ok, otherwise I would be stalker-mom, watching from across the street when they are out playing or peeking through a window.  And that would not be good.

Our Halloween this year was a bust.  Millie was sick and tired, but I wanted to at least try to get her to go to a few houses on our street.  So I got her dressed in her mermaid costume, and she proceeded to walk around the house at breakneck speed (so I don’t have a good picture of her), with a sock in one hand and a small Halloween pumpkin in the other hand.  I tried to get her to go trick-or-treating, but she really just prefers our sidewalk.  We would walk down the walkway, then walk back up the walkway.  We would walk up the front porch steps, then back down.  When I tried to pick her up and carry her to a house, she would scream and cry.  After about twenty minutes, I gave up and we went back into the house, where I changed her into pjs and she went to sleep in about five seconds.  I’m assuming next year will be better.

My Graves disease is holding steady.  I went to the doctor after the cruise, and my numbers have come down and are holding steady at about 2.0 (normal is 1.7).  I am supposed to just keep taking my pills three times a day and get monthly bloodwork, and I will go back and see the doctor in December for another checkup.  All my symptoms went away immediately after starting the medicine, so now it is all about getting to the normal range and staying there.  Eventually, my pill intake should begin to lessen, until I am weaned off them altogether.  So really, nothing new to report.

Millie is becoming the most fun kid.  I know all parents say that, and it is true for all of them, but man, she is fun.  She isn’t talking yet, just babbling, but it’s funny to watch her try to be eloquent – she uses her hands and face to express herself,  all the while babbling nonsense.  She is still the smiliest kid I know, always happy (except when she doesn’t feel good), lots of energy, so curious and loves to explore.  Everyone just loves her to death, her father and me included.

Jesse is doing well, he only has two more classes in college after the one he is in currently, and then he is done for awhile!  He is starting to look for accounting jobs, and we have a really good lead on one, so we are hoping he finds steady work soon.

All in all, we are doing well.

Cruisin’

We are going on a cruise tomorrow.

I can’t hardly contain my excitement.

I’ve never been on a cruise.  Neither has Jesse.  We are cruise virgins.  We are going to Grand Cayman and Calica, Mexico, on a five day cruise with a bunch of friends.

I AM SO FRIGGIN’ EXCITED!

Everyone has always told me how kick-butt cruises are (apart from the seasickness, viruses, and falling/being pushed overboard parts).  Plus, I’ve never been out of the country (aside from a two day trip to Toronto where I never left the airport hotel, so that doesn’t count), so not only am I going on a cruise but I’m leaving the country to boot!  Two new experiences rolled up into one.

The only sad thing is leaving Millie for five days.  We will miss her so much … but we really need a break, so we can just be a couple, if only for a few days.

I plan to eat and drink and get a tan and swim and play bingo.  Yes, bingo.  Who cares about the casinos – they have BINGO, people!  I love it and I don’t care if it is for old people, I want to yell, "BINGO!" and win two dollars.  I have small dreams.

We are going to snorkel probably (one of my least favorite things to do, since I hate the water, but Jesse will enjoy it) and maybe go horseback riding on the beach.  I CAN’T WAIT!

We will have lots of pictures when we get back which I will try to post, and I’ll write up an account of our trip for all you interested readers (all three of you).  Extra bonus – we get back on Thursday, but I’m not going back to work until the following Monday.  A whole week away from work … be still my beating heart!

Bon voyage!

My trip to New York

I had a lovely time in New York.  I went for 3 days for work.  It was cold and a little rainy, but I didn’t care.  I was just so happy to be in New York again.  I haven’t been back since the wedding.  As soon as I got to my hotel, I dropped my bags and went to the TKTS booth to buy a ticket.  I saw Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and the next day I saw The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.  They were both very good.  And I got to have dinner with a friend I haven’t seen in years.  So all in all, I had a great time.  But …

… man, did I miss my family.  The day I left, I was crying because I didn’t want to leave Millie.  I had all those crazy thoughts you have … what if my plane crashes, I’ll never get to see my baby again, blah blah blah.  I knew it was silly to think that way, but it really is true, once you have a baby everything changes.  Oh, and of course I missed Jesse, too.  I really wish he could have come with me, it’s not as much fun to go to NY without him.  I was going to go to our wedding site, but I changed my mind at the last minute – I just couldn’t go without him.

See, Jess, I really do love ya!

Anyway, it was a great trip and I loved being there, but I will love going even more when I can have my family with me.

2004 in Review

So, what’s happened to me this year, huh? Oh, you mean you don’t know? Ok, I’ll fill you in.

1. My belief in the adage "everything happens for a reason" is tested when I get back to work after New Year’s and am given the heartbreaking news that my good friend and co-worker has lost her 2-1/2 year old son on New Year’s Eve. **Today is the anniversary of his death, and I hope and pray she is surrounded by loved ones to help her through this difficult day.
2. Lots of work upheaval. We move our offices to another building, get a new boss, hire two new co-workers, and hire one guy who quits after one week – wussy. My boss is now on maternity leave, so I’m in charge until she comes back (if she comes back – could YOU leave twins after only 3 months?). My other co-worker that lost her son, is now 8-1/2 months pregnant with another child, and will probably give birth within the next two weeks. So she will also be gone for 3 months. I just LOVE being short-staffed!
3. Jesse and I take a short trip to New York in May. We are delayed for six hours in the airport in Tampa because some stupid person has stuffed a baby’s diaper down the toilet and it has clogged up the pipes. Of course, the airline could have just sent us on the next flight, but that would have made too much sense. We did get free round-trip tickets out of the deal, so I guess all’s well that ends well. Oh yeah, and we get engaged in Central Park on Saturday, May 22nd.
4. We take another nice trip to Savannah with our friends Lisa and Sean. What a beautiful city – would love to move up there (actually, we would like to move anywhere, just to get out of Florida). I decide I do not like ghost tours, or darkened cemeteries.
5. My sister gets a promotion at her job (finally!) and moves to Virginia – her first time out of Florida. I am very proud of my sister!
6. Go back up to New York in July to meet with our photographer, scope out ceremony locations, and test out our restaurant choice for the reception. My sister is up there as well, in the process of moving to Virginia, so we get to hang out. Lots of text messaging ensues. Where R U?
7. Try to throw Jesse a surprise 30th birthday party in August. Of course, Mother Nature consipres against me and decides to throw a couple hurricanes our way. Reschedule the party with limited success.
8. New TV season starts, and I become addicted to The Amazing Race. You got a problem with that?
9. Get married on October 8th in Shakespeare Garden in Central Park, New York. It is a perfect day, and I am so glad Jesse and I have chosen to start our life together in our favorite place in the world. I am also extremely happy that Jesse and I found each other (I guess that goes without saying, huh?)
10. I turn 32 on October 13th. I’m not scared of being in my 30′s anymore – it’s sort of fun, actually. I like myself much more now than I did in my 20′s. I now think I am one hot mama, and I still look like I’m in my 20′s, so ha ha!
11. Jesse and I take a mini-honeymoon to Sarasota. We enjoy our slanted room.
12. The holidays happen, and I just can’t get it up. Too much wedding stress this year.
13. It is now New Year’s Eve. My resolutions are nothing major: get pregnant at some point next year, get promoted at work, buy a house, and redo my blog.

I hope everyone has a wonderful, safe and healthy 2005!

You lovely island

Or Key, as it were.

We had a great time on our mini-honeymoon to Siesta Key in Sarasota. We wandered around a little shopping area, had a great dinner at a Spanish restaurant, went to the Ringling Museum and saw "Ocean’s 12". It was nice and relaxing. Oh, and they weren’t paving the hotel, they were laying a brick walkway – but it was rainy on Friday so they didn’t even show up that day, and we still got our 40% discount. It was simply splendid!

Discount?

Is it a bad sign the day before you go on your mini-honeymoon that the hotel calls you and says that they are going to give you a forty percent discount because they are having some "minor construction" and they are repaving?

Am I going to smell tar the whole time?