Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Trick-or-Treat '07

As has now become the tradition, I went over to the T's house for trick-or-treat tonight. The weather was nice. Not too cold. And with the shifted around daylight savings time, the sun was still up for almost the whole first hour. My sister and I commented that it actually felt a little strange to be trick-or-treating when it wasn't dark outside.

I was happy to see that the 3 biggest T's finally got new costumes. Yay! Being in a big family, they're usually forced to wear the costumes for at least 2 years. Or wear a hand me down that was worn by the next biggest kid the year before. I'm sick of that damn elephant. Thankfully, Teagan will outgrow it by next year. The trunk sticking straight out of his head just looks like an erect....uhhhh... Teletubbie character. So we have a new race car driver, ninja, and ballerina this year.
This is what it actually looks like from the top of his head. Oh yeah... now you see it. It really is an elephant.
Tanner insisted I take a pic of his best ninja warrior pose. He actually had the nerve to refuse to trick-or-treat at the first couple of houses. He handed me his plastic jack-o-lantern and said he was just going to walk around with us. I guess he thought he was too old for all this nonsense. Until his mom informed him that if he wasn't collecting candy then he would not be eating his brothers' and sister's. He quickly had a change of heart.
This is one of the perks of having so many kids in the family. Just look at that candy pile!! We had a great time. Teagan was really into it this year. He had fun running up to the doors and getting candy with the big kids. Of course, as we were sorting the goods, Aunt Krista needed to sample some of the chocolate to make sure it was safe to eat. Wink wink.
On our route, we stopped by the local fire house to check out the fire trucks. The firemen set up a haunted house inside every year. The boys wanted to check it out. Tatum insisted on going, too. She has to keep up her tough girl image, ya know. It was a little scary. They had strobe lights, fog machines, people in scary masks jumping out at you. But Tatum kept her cool. I kept expecting her to have a meltdown but she didn't. About 30 seconds into it, Travis asked if he could hold my hand though. After we got outside, he said he didn't like it. He came out and told his mom that it "really freaked him out." LOL! Hopefully, we didn't psychologically scar him for the rest of his life.

Below is an illustration of what happens to a normal 4 year old when she has too much candy right before bedtime. You can just see the sugar coarsing through her veins as her eyes begin to bug out of her head.
Suddenly, her body starts to spasm and her tongue flops out uncontrollably in response to the sweets overload.
Her face contorts into an evil grimace until finally.....
she completely loses control of hand and finger movements as well. Be warned. Don't let this happen to your child.
After we were done, Mommy went to work and Aunt Krista went home. Leaving poor Daddy to fend for himself. Muwa ha ha ha.... It'll probably be a pretty good fight to get these 4 into bed tonight. But then again they should be crashing down off their sugar highs any second.

I also made a very important decision tonight. The first year I take Mia trick-or-treating she'll be dressed as a penguin! I may be in my motorized wheelchair and the T's will probably all be married and trick-or-treating with their own kids by then. But I'll have to find the cutest, most amazing penguin costume for her before she gets too opinionated and tries to decide for herself what she wants to dress up as.
Sigh.....someday.

Monday, October 29, 2007

Maddy-licious!

On Saturday Robin & Marty felt sorry for me cuz I had no plans. So they invited me over to watch the OSU-Penn State game. LOL! Oh and did I mention there was this cute kid there named Maddy? She's a big Buckeyes fan, too.

Although she seemed to have more fun tormenting the dog instead of keeping track of the touchdowns. The dog didn't seem to mind so much though.

Her silly daddy knows how to make her giggle.
Who needs toys when you have a cool ball hat to entertain yourself with?

At bath time, we compared scars. She has a zipper scar on her chest from her heart surgery. I have one from my bile leak-sepsis thing. She won. Her's is way cuter. How adorable is her ladybug towel?
Marty had a blender full of heaven waiting for me when I arrived. A man after my own heart! I tell ya, if he wasn't already a happily married man, Robin might just have some competition. LOL!
Okay relax people.... we didn't really let the kid drink it.
Awwww mom... do I have to go to bed now?

Thanks guys for having me over. I had a great time. The margaritas were delish. And so was your girl! She was just the dose of sunshine I needed to brighten my day.

Oh and OSU beat the crap outta Penn! Woo Hoo!

PS. Robin - I'll e-mail you the rest of the pics within the next couple of days.
XOXO

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Back On Track

This post may sound a little bi-polar after the one below......
but I think I'm finally coming out of this funk a little. I've been really down about the adoption lately. I hadn't completely bounced back after my Mexico vacation with the little chicas. I tried putting on a happy face. But behind it I was hurting. This week something has changed in me. I've actually started to feel connected to my daughter again. I started to realize just how much distance I'd put between my heart and The Wait. I expect the holidays will be hard. But I'll deal with it.
For today, I'm feeling better. And that's good.

It started with having to renew the I-171H. Pulling out all that old paperwork made me remember how excited I was during my paperchase. The dreams I had. How I jumped right in and started buying baby clothes. I named her before I even had my LID. She was real to me. And I was happy. But then The Wait came. I pulled back. I had to put all of that away for awhile. I distanced myself. I think we all have to for awhile just to get through it. The Wait is just so damn long and so uncertain. But sending in the new I-600A application brought back those memories and those feelings. I started to feel that little stir in my heart again.

Then researching what my options were for the maternity leave made me believe again that someday this will happen. I really will be someone's mom. And I'm just so grateful that I have some options to stay home a little longer with her. I never imagined I'd actually be able to figure out a way to be off for 3 whole months! I'm so excited about it! I dream of being a SAHM. But obviously that'll never happen. I mean who'd pay the mortgage then, right? But for 3 months, I get to be one. And that makes me happy. Very happy! Going without a paycheck for 6 weeks won't be fun. But the blessing is that I certainly have time to save the money, now don't I?

Then fighting for this insurance thing also lit a fire in me. I felt like I was protecting my daughter. Like I was fighting for what's right for her. And it made me feel connected to her again. I got some good news there as well. It seems the fire department had not signed their contract with the city yet. So they were made aware of this flaw. They stood strong and the city agreed to match their $3000 contribution if a single becomes a family plan mid-year. Instead of leaving the singles out in the cold and responsible for the $2500 difference. So they are re-negotiating our contract as well. The insurance still is not great compared to what we have now but what a load off my mind that is!

Because I was stuck feeling so blah, I didn't even put out my Halloween decor this year. Just didn't feel like it. And Autumn is my favorite season, people! But I was just feeling pretty depressed with the upcoming holidays. I'd already decided that I wasn't going to bother with Christmas. No decorating, no hosting the party, no tree. I just wasn't feeling it.

But today on the way home from work, I smiled just a tiny little smile and started thinking that maybe I will pull out that tree after all. I made it through 16 months. I can make it through 16 more..... if I have to.
:)

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Some Bitching & Some Ballet

Warning. I'm in a mood. An unpleasant, bitchy, whiny one. So proceed with caution.

My I-171H expires on Oct 26th. So wanting to get as much time out of it as possible, I waited until the last minute to send in my paperwork for the renewal. (Plus if you read through my archives you might figure out that I have a little problem with procrastination. LOL!) Luckily, I qualify for the one free extension and free re-fingerprinting. Which saves me $750 bucks!! Woo Hoo! No... not bitching about that.

But there was a message on the machine from USCIS when I got home today. I thought I was very thorough. I sent in my written request for renewal, a copy of my I-171H, my original homestudy plus an update, birth certificate, and divorce decree. I even sent in the certification and copy of the license of my social worker cuz there's a brief mention of that on their instructions. I wasn't sure if they needed that but I wasn't taking any chances.

But uhmmmm.... I forgot to submit a new I-600a. What? I guess I assumed they didn't need that since I had the existing I-171H and made a written request for renewal. That mistake cost me $16 to overnight it. I didn't want to take any chances and risk them giving me a hard time if I didn't make the deadline. Oh well.

Okay now we're getting into the really bitching part. We're switching to a different health insurance at work. It's a health savings plan. Which means that instead of co-pays, I'll be responsible for 100% of my health care costs until I reach the deductible cap. Which for a single is $2000. For a family it's $4000. But my employer is giving us some money to start off the account. Singles get $1500 and family's get $3000. Now that's better. But the plan still sucks. I pay full price for doctor's visits, prescriptions, everything. No more $20 to just go to the doctor. (Man that was nice.)

When the adoption is complete, I instantly become a family responsible for that $4000 deductible. But I'll only have $1500 in my account. And my employer has no plans to match the $3000 they gave to everybody else. So they will all be responsible for contributing $1000 of their own money. But I get stuck with $2500. I'm just basically screwed there.

I've been arguing my point with our union president who doesn't seem to be all that interested in fighting for what's right. I'm not real happy about that. I explained to him that my adopted daughter will require a very expensive medical evaluation once we get home. He told me that he thinks that's a preventative measure and preventative care is covered at 100% and doesn't count towards our deductible. WTF?! I'm glad he decided that. Unfortunately, he's not the insurance company who will most likely disagree. But he told me to find out what tests are involved and the cost so he could bring that info to the negotiations.

I called Cincinnati Children's Hospital and found out what is involved in a post adoption evaluation. Ay yi yi! The bloodwork alone is in the $2000 range. Yep...you read that right. She didn't break it down dolllar for dollar but basically told me that I could very easily hit my $4000 out of pocket just on this evaluation. Fucking great...

This comes on the heels of finding out that the only way to get the whole 12 weeks of FMLA leave I'm entitled to with the adoption, I have to take 6 of those weeks unpaid. Because I'm not birthing this child, I'm not eligible to use my sick time. Which I have an abundance of (even with being off for 3 months during my near death experience). Instead I have to use vacation time. But I can only carry over 6 weeks from year to year. It's virtually impossible for me to generate enough paid time off. So I'll be forced to go without a paycheck if I want to stay home longer with my new daughter. Just fucking great...


But there was one little bright spot in my day yesterday. Tatum invited me to come watch her at ballet practice. They only let parents and family observe every so often. Usually, they usher the girls in and close the door. It's all secret what they do back there. It was so freakin adorable! All these cutie pies in their leotards.

She really loves the class. And she's good at it. Normally her attention span is pretty short. But she paid attention in class and knew a lot of the routine by heart already. Below she's third from the end, right next to the teacher.

Tatum the prima ballerina. But she's no dainty thing. No way. Click here for an interesting conversation she had with her mother about booger eating. No, I'm not kidding. Being the only girl amongst 3 boys is not always a good thing apparently.
Here's a funny Tatum-ism. She came out of the bathroom with a balled up piece of wet tissue trying to rub off her temporary tattoos before ballet class. (Yeah... remember I said NOT dainty.) I asked if she has toilet paper. She said "No. It's a nose blower." I thought for a second and then said "Ohhhh... you mean a Kleenex."

Well, I thought it was funny anyway.

Thanks for listening to the bitching. We now return you to regularly scheduled programming.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

The Big Apple Adventure

Ready for the re-cap? Well, go grab a cup of coffee (or a beer) cuz it's a long one.

On Thursday, my BFF, Lisa, and I arrive at the airport at 7:30am for our 9am flight. We hop the plane and ride to Atlanta. Why do we need to fly 2 hours south to go to NYC? Your guess is as good as mine. While we wait for our connecting flight, we grab a burger and hang out at the gate. All the departure boards say our 11:35am flight to Newark is running on time. At about 11:25am, we realize that not only are we not boarding the plane but there is no airline employees at the gate with the 20 or so passengers sitting here. And that is when things start to get dicey.

Lisa walks down the concourse to go figure this out while I wait at the gate. She comes back looking a little pissed and tells me our flight has been cancelled. WTF?! Were they going to tell anyone? So she announces it to the other passengers and we all go looking for another flight. We get on at 1:30pm. Just as we board and they close the doors an announcement comes that we are delayed cuz of bad weather in Newark. Fan-tas-tic.

An hour later the captain comes out to talk to us. Imagine Jamie Foxx as our pilot. Very cool, very laid back, very handsome. He grabs the mike and starts off with "Okay folks...here's the skinny." He lets us know that everything coming into Newark is grounded cuz of a really bad storm. Our wait will be a MINIMUM of 2 hours. He stresses "minimum" several times. Which makes me a bit nervous. He assures us that he WILL get us to our destination at some point if we're willing to stick it out. But he gives us the option to get off the plane. Now getting off the plane doesn't mean we go chill at the airport bar and they call us when we're ready to go. Getting off means we're done. We won't be able to get back on this flight. Security regulations apparently prevent us from de-boarding and re-boarding. Why? I didn't say they use common sense here. But that was the way it was.

They serve us some delicious pretzels which we decide we better ration. It's like survival of the fittest in here now. They're not serving alcohol. Which makes sense, right? Would you want to be trapped on a plane with a bunch of disgruntled drunks? But a bit later, Lisa spots a guy about 10 rows up with a beer. What?! She can sniff out a beer from a mile away. So she heads up the aisle to speak to the flight attendant about this. (It was a dude ....so I guess we couldn't call him a stewardess.) She returns victorious!


It wasn't all bad. We were seated in a section with some pretty easy going folks. So we just chilled. I mean what could ya do? It was all completely out of our control. No sense in getting pissed about it. We drank some beer, chit-chatted with fellow passengers, read magazines and called people on our cell phones. There was a chick in the next row up that was dressed very Gothic. She kept doing these weird charts and reading tarot cards. Her carry on item was a fancy broom. I swear to gawd! We think she was a witch. Hey it's getting close to Halloween, isn't it? We wondered why she needed the airplane though. Why not just hop the broom and fly to Newark that way? I tried to discreetly take a pic of her messing with the tarot cards. I wanted to snap one of the broom but was afraid she'd put a spell on us. So you'll just have to take my word for it. Very interesting stuff.We finally take off!! The crowd claps and cheers. Can you see the time? It's a little blurry but yes it does say 5:40pm. We were stuck in that plane on the tarmack for 4 hours!!!! By the end of our 2 hour flight we were done. Just done. We finally got to our hotel at about 9pm. 7 hours later than originally planned. So we lost half a day of sight seeing. That sucked. We stayed in Newark at the Hilton Penn Station. It was much cheaper than anything I could find in Manhattan. I highly recommend it. The hotel was really nice, the beds comfy, the staff attentive. But most importantly it has a small shopping area and pedestrian tunnel connecting their lobby to the train station. For $1.50 each day we rode the PATH commuter train 20 minutes into the city. A free hotel shuttle gets you from the airport to the hotel and then just a quick walk across the street to get us where we were trying to go each day. It was not as convenient as walking out the front door into Times Square but for over a $100 bucks less a night it was sooooo worth it. And we walked by one of these every morning. So Friday starts off a little breezy and rainy. But nothing will keep us from our plans. I throw on a ball hat, we put on our sweaters and off we go. The PATH train takes us right to the WTC site. That was our first stop of the day. Lisa and I were there in April '02. A lot has changed. By the time we got there the sun was already starting to peek out a bit and the rain had stopped. Perfect!They've made a memorial site inside the church that stood in the shadows of the towers. The church became a retreat for the weary workers who conducted the rescue and recovery efforts. Here the volunteers clothed them, fed them, let them sleep, doctored their injuries, prayed with them and supported them. This place became their home. It was amazing. This is a photo of the robe the priest wore to give services everyday. The workers started pinning their department patches on to it. As you can see in the display, it's completely covered underneath the old constable hat and hundreds more spill onto the floor and are pinned up the wall. Very touching to see just how far away some of the places are that those patches represent. The whole experience was very emotional for us both.After we gathered ourselves and left the site, we walked about 10 minutes over to Chinatown. We wandered around exploring for awhile. There were lots of little shops. Lisa was fascinated by the fish markets. We're not used to seeing stuff like this in our neck of the woods. LOL!
We found a restaurant that served Dim Sum. We'd never had it and wanted to try it out. So it was Dim Sum and Chinese tea for lunch. Yummy!
After lunch we hopped the subway and rode uptown. We got some disapproving looks from the New Yorkers as we acted like dumb ass tourists taking pics of ourselves. We didn't care.We got off at Central Park and walked around for awhile. This is called The Mall. It's been filmed for a ton of movies and TV. Remember when J-Lo sat on Ralph Fiennes face in "Maid in Manhattan"? Or when The Russian took Carrie for a horse drawn sleigh ride in the snow for you "Sex & The City" fans? Yep...all that happened right here.Look how beautiful the weather turned out after it started so crappy! This is Betheseda Terrace which is inside the park. Lots of things filmed here too. Remember in the Mel Gibson movie "Ransom" when his kid gets snatched? Happened right there. In the background you can see the people who've rented little row boats on the lake. It was a gorgeous day after all. Here's those dorky tourists insisting on being in the pic again. LOL! You just can't beat this view. Let me tell you, the mommies in Central Park are so Ooh-La-La chic. Dressed in designer duds, pushing their $500 strollers in high heels. Totally different world.After our stroll through the park, we took a bus tour of the city. Now this was no ordinary bus tour. It was a "Sex & The City" tour. Lisa and I love love love that show!! We were so sad to see it end. So if you don't know what I'm talking about (was your head buried in the sand for 6 years?) or if you didn't watch it (are you f*cking kidding me?!) you might want to skip ahead.

For fans of the show, do you recognize this? It's Carrie's stoop!! And yes, someone really lives there.Another stop was the bar used in the show as Steve and Aidan's "Scout Bar". Of course, we got to enjoy the girlie's very favorite drink. A Cosmoplitan. Or perhaps two. Most of the tour was driving around to certain places where scenes from the show were shot. They showed the scenes on little TV monitors to refresh our memories. It was very cool! One of the 3 photo op stops where we actually got off the bus was to the Magnolia Bakery. It was also right around the corner from the stoop used as Carrie's front door. The bakery was where Carrie first told Miranda about her crush on Aidan as they sat outside enjoying a cupcake. We also got to enjoy a cupcake. It was heavenly! Unfortunately, we forgot a pic in the middle of our sugar feast. We also stopped at the store where the girls introduced Charlotte to the pleasures of The Rabbit. No pics from there will be posted either. Let's just say we had a really good time, shall we? Good thing I didn't pack carry on only. Wink wink.


The other added treat was they're actually filming the movie in the city as we speak. We drove down the streets where they had the cameras and lighting set up. We also went down where their trailers are. Someone swore they saw Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) but we didn't get the bus stopped in time for all of us to see if it really was her.

After the tour ended, Lisa and I stalked the trailers for a bit but gave up cuz we were starved. And bored. But I did see where Stanford's was. (Stanny is Carrie's very flamboyantly gay BFF, remember?) Not sure why they put the character names on the doors for the smaller parts but not the lead actors. Apparently, they use code names like Fred Flintstone or something for them. That's so they don't get a bunch of crazed fan freaks (like us) hanging around. LOL! If you're a big fan of the show, we highly recommend the tour. It was soooooo much fun! And it was a great way to see more of the city. We drove through the Village, SoHo, the Meat Packing District. (Dayum... can't remember if it has a proper name. But you get the idea.) Lots of cool places we wouldn't have made it to had we not been on the tour bus. So go take the tour next time you're in the city.

After that, we walked up to Times Square. Crazy, wild, loud, bright, crowded Times Square. But it's the heart of the city. And we love it!
Nothing better than real NYC pizza for dinner! We also found a Garrett's Popcorn with no line! It hasn't caught on here yet like the one in Chicago. At that one, there are long lines stretched around the corner. We bought some to munch on back at the hotel. Good stuff. We took the subway back to the PATH station at the WTC site and grabbed the train back to the hotel tired and with blistered feet. But what a great day!

Saturday we were up bright and early for our 2 1/2 hour drive. Conveniently, the car rental place was 2 steps from the front door of the hotel. We'd planned to finally meet up with Colleen & Hannah. I've been talking to her for about the last year but kept missing her at the bloggy functions. So we made a day of it.

However, I forgot that to get to CT from NJ ya gotta drive thru NY. I figured since it was highway driving, I'd be fine. I'd never attempt to drive in the city itself... but highway driving..... no problem. Or so I thought. Let me just say Oh-My-Freakin-Gawd! I'm an aggressive driver who drives too fast but I got nothing on those crazy ass New Yorkers! No offense to any of you's out there... but I was terrified. And the drive back at night took about 3 years off my life. At least. But somehow Lisa and I lived to tell about it.
Sweet Hannah is even more scrumptious in real life. She loves to give kisses which is what she was doing in the above pic. Melted me into a puddle on the floor. But she's one of those babies who's full of life and laughter...until you whip out a camera. Then she's so fascinated with what that thing is that you completely lose the moment. We tried so hard to capture one of those precious smiles. But it's still one of those rarely photographed treasures.
Colleen is drop dead gorgeous with the most generous heart. She had a beer waiting for me (I so needed it after the drive!) and offered to blend up some margaritas. I decided to wait for those until we got to the Mexican restaurant we were heading to for dinner later. We spent the afternoon chatting, eating delish appetizers, and enjoying that beautiful baby. I totally swiped this pic from Colleen. To see some more from her blog click here.


Host unlimited photos at slide.com for FREE!

Well, we go out for dinner later joined by her BFF, Tori. Daddy got to stay home on babysitting duty so the girls could enjoy their dinner and cocktails. I'm informed by the waitress who has about 2 brain cells in her pretty little head that the frozen drink machine is broken. Excuse me? It's been down for 2 days. I'm sorry ...what did you say? This is a Mexican restaurant that specializes in margaritas. Did it not occur to someone to maybe just go to Tar-jay and buy a blender to get you through until the machine is repaired? Unfortunately, I had to order mine on the rocks which is not my fave.

They make the guacamole at your table right there in front of you. That almost made up for my crappy on the rocks margarita. The food was okay but the company was exceptional. I hated leaving. Tori is just a doll. I see why those two are BFF's. After coming back to the house for some more gabbing, we finally forced ourselves to head back to the hotel. I really didn't want to leave. I could've talked to Colleen all night. Well, we almost did.Check out the cool gifts she gave me. Some cute penguin stuff, an adorable little pink outfit and the sweetest little tee shirt. Thanks sweetie. You are da bomb! We had so much fun and I can't wait til next time!
Wait, you have to see this stuff up close. The queen of chapstick somehow found some penguin lip balm. And look at the jar. Penguin poop! That's hilarious! Okay, it's actualy just chocolate candy. But it's pretty funny.
Sunday morning we slept in a bit. We had a hell-a-cious drive home wired up on Col's strong coffee. Then a little low fuel light incident sent us into a panic. We were praying for a gas station and ended up driving somewhere less than desirable in search of one. But we were desperate. We survived our adventure only to miss the exit for the hotel. So we got off at the next one but got a little lost in downtown Newark. Oh how I wish I could fly on a plane with my firearm. Well, technically I can but it's a huge pain in the ass so I choose not to. But we're smart, tough, independent women so of course we finally made it back to the hotel safe and sound.

We headed into the city just before noon. We stopped at Macy's for Lisa's favorite past time. Shopping! Then we rode the subway uptown to see "The Color Purple". We loved this movie so couldn't wait to go see it on Broadway! Sadly, Fantasia was out and the role of Celie was played by her understudy. But the show was awesome nonetheless. It was absolutely magical. The voices were amazing. Make the hair on the back of your neck stand up kind of amazing. Another highly recommended part of the trip. We really enjoyed it.We headed to the Empire State Building after grabbing a quick bite from the hot dog vendor. We decided to enjoy the ride and chose a pedi-cab instead of the subway. It was spectacular. A little hairy playing dodge-em with the cabs.... but hey as you've probably already figured out... we like to live on the edge of our seat. I just felt bad for the guy who had to pedal my fat ass 20 blocks. We tipped him good though. LOL!We went to the top during our last trip to the city but this time I really wanted to get up there in time to watch the sun set. It was on my list of things to do before I die. Normally the tickets are $18. But for an extra $30 bucks you can get an Express Pass which cuts you to the front of every line. It was absolutely worth it to us! We were worried about timing it right so that we wouldn't miss the sun going down and the lines are really unpredictable. Sometimes you can wait for hours. We felt like a celebrity being whisked to the front of all the lines. It was so sweet! I think some people were pissed looking at us like WTF?! Guess they should have spent the extra dough. We made it from the front door to the top in less than 5 minutes! Ha ha....Now tell me if that was not worth $30 extra bucks to be able to cross off your "before I die" list. Absolutely breathtaking view. That's a gorgeous crescent moon above the skyline as the sun sets in the most fiery colors. One of those moments to burn into your memory forever. I think it was priceless.I celebrated my 16 month LID-versary on top of the Empire State Building soaking in that amazing sunset. Unfortunately, I forgot to make the sign I wanted to hold. So instead just look at this pic of me and know that I'm thinking "Happy 16 Months Closer To My Mia!"It was a beautiful autumn night so we decided to walk from 34th St to 60th. When you see what we ate for dinner you'll know why. But we love to walk the city. It's the best way to see everything. Sometimes you turn a corner and accidentally find something. We ran into Grand Central Station this way. We also saw the Waldorf Astoria, Bloomingdale's and a bunch of other stuff just by walking around and being surprised. Fun fun fun!I saw this movie years ago. I heart John Cusack! In the movie they go to this restaurant and order a giant dessert called Frozen Hot Chocolate. I became obsessed with them after that. But they're trademarked to this restaurant and it's the only place in the world you can get one. Well, you can order a kit to make one but it's just not the same!So it was also on my "list". The wait was almost an hour but we're stubborn and determined.
This was our reward! Lisa chose this giant chocolate cake, hot fudge, ice cream concoction.
I got my much anticipated Frozen Hot Chocolate! Completely orgasmic!
Not only did we enjoy our desserts but one of the waiters made for some delicious eye candy as well. He noticed us noticing him every time he walked by. We left with his number. Yep...the mojo is not completely lost after all. LOL! And no, we didn't call him. Lisa is happily married and I.... well I was leaving in less than 12 hours so what was the point. But it was great fun to flirt.

We packed up and headed home the next morning. We wanted to get to the airport early cuz we weren't sure how long the lines would be getting thru security. On the way in they were horrible. But that must've been because of all the delays and bad weather cuz this time we breezed right though. But that meant we had over 2 hours to kill before our flight left. So what else was there to entertain ourselves with but to go have a beer. Who cares if it was only 9:45am? I'm sure it was 5 o'clock somewhere, right T? (insert evil grin) The connection in Atlanta was overbooked so they asked for volunteers to bump. Lisa and I agreed since they were offering 2 round trip tickets anywhere they fly. It meant we'd be stuck in the airport for another 6 hours but we're troopers. Plus I put a call in to my homegirl, Jeter's Mama, who was already throwing her shoes on to come keep us company. Unfortunately, at the last minute they decided they didn't need our seats after all so we headed home. It would've been great to hang with my homegirl for a few hours. And I already had my next trip planned with my free ticket. I was gonna go to Florida to drink some Mich Ultra's with the sea star. Damn. Next time.

So there you have it. The amazing fantastic super spectacular big apple adventures of K and L. I had the most fun ever!! And it came at the exact right time after the stressful few days I'd had.
I heart my BFF! Thanks for putting up with me, girlfriend. :)