first full day

today was delightful!  it wasn’t very cold at all – i actually didn’t wear my heavy coat for most of the day. 

we all slept in until about 9:30 and then took our sweet time eating breakfast and getting ready. 

bethany and i decided to take the subway into lower manhattan and go down to seaport village. 

(on the map above… if you start at the flag and move down and to the right, seaport village is on the water just below where the green and gold lines cross)

my family visited seaport village last time we were here (july of 06) and it was one of my favorite places to go.  and surprisingly, bethany had never been down there!  so down we went.  one of my favorite things down at seaport is the dock – and the boats-ships! that are docked there.  they look rather old fashioned with their tall masts and lots of lines. 

here’s bethany and i are the dock:

this is the view of brooklyn from the seaport dock:

the brooklyn bridge!  (with the manhattan bridge just beyond it)

and of course, most things in new york remind me of scenes, lines, or locations in Newsies (my favorite movie of all time).
david: “i’ve never been to brooklyn.”
boots: “i spent a month there one night.”
jack: chuckle

we also went into this rad bookstore called Strand.

it reminded me a lot of Powell’s bookstore in downtown Portland.  and it was particularly fun to go browsing with Bethany – very reminiscent of our trip to Powell’s together back in May of 05.  to commemorate, we both bought Strand book bags.

according to bethany, carrying a Strand bag is sort of a status symbol here in new york.  it apparently announces to the world “hey!  i read lots of books from independent book stores in cool cities!”  which i don’t.  but whatever.  🙂

a couple thoughts from the bookstore:
– the children’s section has always been my favorite section of any bookstore.  i love perusing the titles and smiling at the books i remember reading as a child.  or even ones that i discovered as an adult and love anyway.  like Olivia the pig.  Oooo-livia!
– i find it rather disturbing how the “art section” of so many stores has become just an excuse to display very inappropriate and provocative images.  the cover of nearly every book on the “art” table had some form of inappropriate picture.  since when has art been synonymous with THAT?

i found myself changing the way i walked and took in the streets and people because i was with my pregnant friend.  i always wanted to walk in front of her, as if to clear the way or protect her precious not-so-little tummy; or walk slower so she wouldn’t get tired out too quickly.  i think my own maternal instincts were kicking in.  haha!

well bethany is in the kitchen (about 8 feet from where i’m sitting) preparing some amazing sausage and pasta dish for dinner.  i’m going to see what i can do to help.

and i think we’re going to watch Sabrina (the new one) later on! 

good night from The Big Apple! 

new york city!

i’m here blogging from brooklyn heights, NY!  i left phx around 10:00am and arrived at JFK international airport shortly after 4pm EST (about 35 minutes earlier than scheduled – woot!)  i took the airtrain from the airport terminal to the nyc subway and then “sub’ed” all the way into the brooklyn heights, where bethany met me.  we walked a few short blocks and arrived at their cozy little apartment!  it looks just like she said.  🙂

i can’t even begin to describe the joy i feel at being able to look across the room and see her face… or to hear her voice in real life… or grin at the way her nose crinkles when she laughs…  it’s so good to see her again.  oh yeah, and it’s good to see keith again too.  🙂  i love the way that keith is bethany’s perfect mate.  it’s really beautiful. 

i will strive to remember to take pictures and update more as the weekend goes by.  until then, here are a few random thoughts on my trip:

…ok for as long as i can remember, smoking has been prohibited in all airplane lavatories.  right?  so can someone please explain to me why there was an ashtray in the bathroom on my airplane?  there was also an electrical outlet in there too.  i’m so confused…

…while standing at my first subway station waiting to get on the A line and head into manhattan, the air smelled like a donut fryer.  and then it suddenly smelled like pei wei.  odd.  and neither smell were a particular blessing since i was quite hungry, having not eaten anything since the 1/2 bagel i consumed on the way to the airport 7 hours prior.  speaking of being hungry…

… since when did cross-country direct flights stop giving out decent food?  maybe it’s just an airline thing.  they had $7 meals available for purchase and complimentary packages of mini pretzels (if you can actually call that a package).  it was quite disappointing.  as if i needed another reason to stay loyal to southwest airlines.  seriously.

…it gets dark in the northeast much earlier than it does in arizona! waiting at the airtrain platform i was shocked to see that it was completely dark outside!  and it was only 4:55pm! 

… i still far prefer the DC metro to the NY subway.  it’s cleaner and more comfortable and much easier to understand.

… the airport in phoenix claims to be “international” and while that may be technically true, it is nothing compared to JFK.  it seemed like nearly every time someone around me would open their mouth, they uttered words i didn’t understand.  i’m quite sure i heard german, spanish, some sort of eastern european language (czech? romanian?), and several accents to boot.  very cool.

alrighty, i’m off to look at bethany’s most recently acquired baby items!  🙂

merry christmas!

how my happy heart rejoices
i can hear the angel voices
“Christ is born!” they all are singing
from the sky this good news bringing
let the earth rejoice
oh come and lift your voices!

Christ the Lord is born today
He came from heaven’s throne
God is born a man today
To bring his children home

death and darkness surely tremble
light has come to all the people
the lion comes to crush the serpent
he comes a lamb, a lowly servant
let the earth rejoice
oh come and lift your voices!

Christ the Lord is born today
He came from heaven’s throne
God is born a man today
To bring his children home

God has sent his greatest treasure
show His love in greatest measure
sending Christ to bleed and suffer
purchasing our joy forever
let the earth rejoice
come and lift your voices!

Christ the Lord is born today
He came from heaven’s throne
God is born a man today
To bring his children home

merry christmas!!!

sickety sickety

it happened.  i was actually surprised it didn’t happen early.  surprised and yet very grateful!  if it had happened any earlier than this week, it could have been disastrous!  God is so kind in his timing, is he not?

oh sorry – what happened you ask?  i got sick.  am sick.  low fever.  enough to make me stay home from work. 

but on a happier note – we had our annual tfs christmas banquet sunday night!  here are some pictures!

my table: (clockwise starting with me: uh me, janelle wieler, zach geesling, brittany hoyt, raigan palmer, jake geesling, christy smith, david barr, jonathon sawyer)

me and corny (probably my favorite pic from the evening)

this is my lovely caregroup leader’s wife, erin

me and raigan (the bestest!)

my deary kierstyn and i

me and tara, our singles’ pastor’s wife

it was a beautiful night and a lot of fun!!!

the highlight of the evening was when todd – my caregroup leader – got up and honored our caregroup with a song, “The 12 Blessed Virtues the Spencer Caregroup Brings” accompanied by his newly-acquired ukelele and sung in a full-blown falsetto voice.  it was hilarious.  yep, that’s my caregroup leader!  🙂

my lunch

so i had lunch at in-n-out burger today. 

one thing i think is fun about in-n-out is how the people that it draws are from all across the spectrum.

there’s the business man in his suit apparently having a “business” lunch with an associate of sorts.  at in-n-out.  yeah.

there’s the lower income family with kids relishing their burgers and downing their milkshakes.

there’s the lady who looked like she drove down from north scottsdale – complete with brown velour work-out suit, large blonde hair, very pronounced and slightly overdone make-up, and a serious tan… esp for december. 

there’s the high school punk boys laughing and just burning daylight.

there’s the cute elderly couple taking their time eating their burgers and sharing their fries.

and then there’s the two girls from a church office catching up with an old friend from out of town.

that was my lunch experience today. 

samples

it’s always been fun to walk through costco or sam’s club and try the various samples they offer.  the cute little old ladies with their hairnets and plastic gloves, carefully heating or slicing or dishing up bite-sized items for you to snack on in hopes that you might buy them (does it really work?  it never worked on my family…).

but it always seemed a little strange to me to look over and see them slicing and serving… oranges.

what’s with that?

changing tastes

as a kid, i never liked it when it rained.  in my world rain was a hindrance.  it meant i couldn’t play outside, or we didn’t get to go to P.E. class, or something fun was cancelled.  besides, clouds and rain and overcast skies were so gloomy.  the sun was my friend.  the rain was not. 

not so much anymore…  i’ve come to really enjoy it when it rains.  although i think what i enjoy more often than not are the associations and things that come along with the rain.  like the cozy feeling it brings.  or the clearness of the skies afterwards.  or that it’s just a fun and exciting change of pace.  it’s still a tad inconvenient at times (the 5 days out of the year that it rains here seem to always fall on major outdoor events that we’ve had to cancel or completely revamp.  it’s gotten almost comical), but for the most part – it’s really fun.  🙂

i’m also not generally a huge fan of soup.   i love rolls, though and they make almost any soup tolerable. 

however there is one soup that i just LOVE.  my mom makes cauliflower-cheese soup from The Moosewood Cookbook that is amazing.  it’s all creamy and blended and a perfect light fall orange color.  toss in some  sauteed cauliflower heads and it’s a fabulous rainy day meal.  Mmmm.

can’t wait!

oh boy.

oh boy oh boy oh boy!

i am SO EXCITED about this:

(preview is from narniaweb.com)

hurry up may 16th!!!

new york

yeah.  i’m just a little bit excited.  🙂

(and to my maryland friends – ally gave me full consent and support for changing my plans.  i will see you soon, i’m sure!)

so november has been a blurr… 🙂

here’s the whirlwind update.

so the first wknd in november i went to maryland to visit my friend ally, who is getting married at the end of december. and because i’m terrible at remembering to take pictures, i only have this one of us and some friends at lunch at Potbelly’s:

(L-R: ryan tiren, casey somerville, me, ally bowden-soon-to-be-loftness)

on the flight home i was browsing they skymall magazine on the plane and came across a few… interesting items…

some weeks i could really use this!

are you KIDDING me?! for the love…

i’m sorry, but this is so wrong… i can’t believe they even MAKE these for adults…

.:Thanksgiving:.
my family went down to my aunt and uncle’s house in tucson for thanksgiving this year. it was very relaxing and fun!

here’s my aunt kathy and mom making delicious food in the kitchen, with my uncle being himself. 🙂

my dad and uncle joe and cousin jonathan hanging keeping an eye on the turkey being fried outside!

aunt kathy eating olives the “kid” way.

me and the brother.

me and my friend victoria (who lives with my aunt and uncle)

my cousin timarie and her boyfriend ben (from covenant life in MD)

oh! and you remember this little guy from last christmas?



well the family that adopted him from tucson was out of town over thanksgiving so my aunt and uncle were dog-sitting him. 🙂 his name is [now] Franklin and he and i got along quite well. he looks a bit different now… he actually looks a lot like my old dog BG, which was rather sentimental.

i drove down to tucson on thursday morning, and while my brother went back thursday night, my parents went back friday, i drove home on saturday afternoon.

this:

and this:

made for a delightful drive home.

oh yeah, and somewhere in all that was a regional men’s conference that we (the office girls and i) worked. it was a blast and a blurr. 2 starbucks runs a day, 3 days, 4 breakout sessions, 5 main sessions, 6 pink track jackets, 75 pizzas, 800 men, 9 radios (with earbuds – yeah buddy!), thousands of dollars in bookstore sales, less-than-ideal amounts of sleep (but somehow it was enough – God was so faithful), and lives forever changed. it was awesome.

and that’s some (most?) of november.

the end.