"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see."

When I was looking for a title for this blog post I wanted something that related to art.  I found this quote by Henry David Thoreau and I think it fits.  I told Kayla when we were walking through Central Park yesterday that I feel like different cities have different personalities.  When I think about Boston or Philadelphia I think history.  When I think of Washington DC, I think formal, power.  When I think of Seattle I think romance and free spirit.  When I think of New York, I think art.

New York City has every kind of art there is.  There are the performing arts...music, dance, theater.  There are culinary arts in bakeries, delis and restaurants.  There are textile arts in fashion and interior design.  Then there are the fine arts such as paintings, sculptures and architecture.  So far in this trip I've experienced performing art in the theater and culinary art in the restaurants.  Today I got to continue my exploration into the arts.

Today we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art or The Met.  This is a picture I took of the fountains outside The Met the last time I was here.  The fountains weren't on today, but I really like this picture.  We took our lunch and ate on the steps leading to the front door of the museum.  While eating we were treated to the music of the gentlemen below.  They sang several Motown hits for the crowd assembled on the stairs.  They were selling CDs as well.  We didn't buy a CD but it did make the group more legit than the many random musicians we've seen in the subway or in front of other museums.

The Met is the largest art museum in the United States with approximately two million square feet and a length of close to 1/4 of a mile.  There are over two million permanent works of art housed at the Met with temporary exhibits that also make an appearance.  The works are from all over the world and span from ancient pieces to modern photography.  It would take hours or days to truly see everything.  We started our time in the museum today with the tour of period rooms in the American Wing.  Beginning on the third floor you can walk through history.  There are 18 rooms set up to resemble various eras in history.  From there we went to the musical instruments exhibit.  There were instruments of all types from all over the world.  We also spent time in the arms and armor exhibit and the Egyptian rooms.  Everything that we saw was amazing, you learn so much when you spend time at The Met.  Here's a picture of one exhibit from the arms and armor room.

On the way home we walked by some windows not far from Kayla's apartment building that are decorated for the holidays.  These are interior design businesses with beautifully artistic displays.  I'll leave you with a sampling of New York City holiday windows.

Vertical Living

If you spend much time in New York you will spend a lot of time going up and down stairs.  That is because this is a vertically built city.  There is no room to spread out, so everything is up and down.  Today I got to do several "Day in the Life of a New Yorker" events.  This morning Kayla needed to run to her office to pick something up to take to a client.  We walked to her office building and took the elevator to the twenty-first floor and into the office space filled with cubicles.  Kayla actually works from her home, so she doesn't have a cubicle space, but I got to meet some of her co-workers while we were there.

We walked from there to the subway to head to Grand Central Station.  It was this subway ride where it really hit me what an amazing feat of engineering this city really is.  We were about eight stories below ground riding the train.  A combination of staircases and escalators took us underground.  We took an underground walkway when we needed to change trains, probably three stories underground.  When we got to Grand Central Station this is what we saw.

I didn't take this picture, I found it on google images.  The ceiling is painted with zodiac images.  This is the main concourse.  There are several shops in the wings off of the main concourse on this level.  One level below this is where we had lunch, in the dining concourse.  I wanted to branch out and have something different, so I had a lamb gyro in a pita.  The pita was given a layer of hummus before lamb and slaw were stuffed inside.  I had lamb once when I was in England several years ago and I've had hummus before, but not a gyro in a pita.  It was very tasty!  After lunch we walked through the Holiday Fair that was set up in one of the halls.  They were all handmade items and they were gorgeous!  I wish I could have bought so many things.

From there we went to Trader Joe's in Chelsea.  Trader Joe's is a grocery store.  Groceries here can be very expensive, but Trader Joe's is one of the more affordable places to shop.  The thing about grocery shopping here is that you have you be able to carry everything that you buy.  That limits what you can buy.  We limited ourselves to four bags, two each to carry back through the subway and the four block walk to her apartment.  

After we dropped the groceries at the apartment we went to Central Park.  Kayla lives about five blocks from the east side of the park, so we went there for a stroll.  We walked through part of the Central Park Zoo to get to The Great Mall.  There are even stairs and hills in the park.  This is not a flat island!  We bought roasted nuts and sat in the cool weather to eat our snack.  It was about forty five degrees but I was comfortable.  Kayla, however, was bundled in her parka!  We are very different in what temps we enjoy.  As we were leaving the park we walked past the ice rink.  This isn't the best picture, the camera on my phone isn't great, but the white area toward the back of the picture is an ice skating rink.  Some kids were playing hockey and other people were figure skating.  It looked like so much fun, although I'm not coordinated enough to ice skate.

We took the subway from Central Park down to the lower east side to Hi Thai for dinner.  It was the first time I'd had Thai food.  Greek for lunch, Thai for dinner...it was a day of firsts!  Kayla ordered me the Chicken Pad Thai.  It was really good.  I'll have to try Thai again sometime and pick a different dish.  I'm really trying to branch out and try new things.

From Hi Thai we went to Hotel Chantelle to play Bingo.  Again with the vertical experience, we had to climb two large flights of stairs to get to the Bingo room.  We had such a great time.  It was so hilarious!  The prizes were all very silly and we laughed the entire time we were there.  I won the first round which was a pair of lanterns that light up.  One is a duck and the other is a bunny.  I had to go up on stage when I won to collect my prize.  The emcee interviewed me while I was up there.  I also won a later round and got the DVD board game for The Office and a t-shirt.  The grand prize of the evening was a jackpot of $143 dollars and several other silly prizes.  Kayla and I were both disappointed that we didn't win that prize, but we had such a good time while we were there that we got over it.

It was a great day...tomorrow it's The Met!

Movies in Manhattan

Today was movie day.  I've never before done a double feature in the theater, but that's what Kayla and I decided to do.  We had such fun seeing two fantastic movies!  We started the day with breakfast at a diner just down the block, before heading to an 11:20 showing of Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2.  Who knew you could go to the movies before noon?  Kayla had bought our tickets online last night, so we were quickly checked in.  For the first time in my life I rode an escalator in a movie theater.  We went down two floors below street level for our first movie of the day, Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2.

Kayla and I have both read the books and enjoyed them very much.  Movies are never just like the book, they can't be and I don't expect them to be.  I just expect to enjoy the movie, which I did.  It was action packed and entertaining from start to finish.  Just before the movie started we decided we wanted to make this a double feature day and watch Lincoln next.

After Twilight, we had some time to walk around so we went to a small children's bookstore, a toy and party store and then to TJ Maxx.  It was a cool but beautiful day.  I took the picture below of the Queensboro Bridge that we passed on our walk today.

After our walk we went back to the movie theater to see Lincoln.  It was a phenomenal film, of course it's a Steven Spielberg film so I would expect nothing less.  We had popcorn for lunch and sat in a packed theater for two hours, captivated by the history we were watching.  We both left with a sense of patriotism and a deeper appreciation for our freedoms.  Spielberg does a great job telling the story of the thirteenth amendment.

Tonight is a low key night with tacos and a Law and Order Marathon.  Tomorrow promises to be another full day.

Brunch and Broadway

What a fantastic day!  Kayla and I started today by sleeping late.  We didn't get up until 10:00.  Since we went to bed a little after 2:00 we were due for some extra z's.  Shortly after getting up I learned my first New York lesson of the day, apparently brunch is served here from 10:00-4:00.  We went to a great restaurant in the West Village called The Half Pint.  Here's a pic from their website.  The table on the left in the corner is the one where we sat.  It's actually known for being a beer bar but we went for their brunch menu.  Kayla enjoyed the eggs benedict and I had a mozzarella, tomato and basil omelet.  The groupon deal that we had included mimosas.  It was a fun way to start the day.

From there we walked over to SoHo and did a little shopping.  I love going to the Scholastic Store there.  Since I'm not in the classroom anymore, I don't buy many books, but I love walking through the store.  They have a huge Magic School Bus that you can walk through.  They have a fun Clifford display and a fabulous Harry Potter display that includes a lego set to build Hogwarts.  We left just before The Grinch was supposed to make an appearance, but before leaving Kayla and I made a deal.  She's going to read the Harry Potter series (which is a first for her) and I'm going to read The Hunger Games (which will be a first for me).  We left there and went to Old Navy where Kayla found some great deals and then worked our way back to the Subway to head back to her apartment.

Tonight we had reservations for dinner at Stecchino which is an Italian place in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan.  We met up with Kayla's friend Dana for the evening.  We went from there to the Snapple Theater Center where we saw a quirky play called "Perfect Crime."  We sat on the fourth row and enjoyed the play.  Most of the theater productions I've been to were musicals so this was a fun change.

The play was in the theater district which isn't far from Times Square so when the play was over we walked through Times Square and took a couple of pictures.  One drag queen approached us and asked me to take a picture of him.  It takes all kinds to make the world go round, especially in Times Square!  We worked our way to Harold's Square and Korea Town before we made it to our last stop of the evening, Ayza.  Ayza is a Wine and Chocolate bar and it was delicious!  We sat outside to enjoy warm spiced wine and a chocolate pizza topped with strawberries and bananas.

It was a perfect way to end the evening!  I'm so glad I got to spend the day with my sister.  Now for some sleep so we can get back at it tomorrow!

The Joys of Traveling

I love to travel.  Flying, driving, riding...you name it, I enjoy it.  Today I had the pleasure of traveling from Oklahoma City to New York City.  I am a planner when it comes to flying.  Here are my personal rules for flying.

1)  Do not book long trips through priceline or travelocity.

      A few years ago I booked myself and three co-workers to travel to a conference in Portland, Oregon through travelocity.  While that site may have gotten us the best fare, doing so meant four different airlines for the four flights it took us to get to and from OKC and Portland.  Changing airlines like that meant running between gates because generally speaking in large airports each major airline has their own concourse, different flights with different airlines means changing concourses which can be tricky and certainly takes time.  Depending on the airport it may also mean claiming your bags and re-checking them or having to leave a secured area, having to go through security again.  If I'm going to book a trip that requires a plane change, I book with a specific airline and so far that has allowed me to avoid some of that craziness.

2)  Do not schedule connecting flights through DFW.

       I avoid flying through Dallas Fort Worth if I can help it.  I don't mind flying and I don't get motion sickness...for the most part...but the flight from OKC to Dallas is all of thirty minutes of flight time and the plane feels a little like a tin can.  It is small so you feel every bump and it's such a fast up and down that it often makes me queasy.  That being the case, I try to fly through other cities.

3)  Schedule at least an hour between flights.

       I don't like to be rushed.  It doesn't bother me in the slightest to spend time sitting at the gate waiting to board.  I would much rather do that, than run between gates or skip a bathroom stop just to ensure I can make it to my next flight.  If at all possible I schedule at least an hour between arrival and my next departure. My preference is more like an hour and a half, because really you aren't waiting that long.

4)  Only take a carry-on that can fit under the seat in front of you.

       I don't enjoy hoisting my bag into the overhead bins and inevitably when I board there isn't space in the bin above my seat so my bag ends up someplace else on the plane.  I avoid all of that by only taking one carry-on and making sure it's small enough to go under the seat in front of me.

In my planning for this trip I broke rules number three and four.  Our boss let us go early today so I had no problem getting into the Oklahoma City airport and through security.  I don't mind security.  I try to be efficient about how I pack my things so that I don't hold up the line too much with the shoes and carry-on e-ray process, but security is there to keep me safe, so I don't get in a twist about it.  I allow plenty of time before my flight to go through the appropriate procedures, so for me security isn't a big deal.  My time in the OKC airport today was eventful only in the sense that there are some interesting people to watch.  A fellow passenger was convinced that I must be going to Germany with all of the luggage I was taking.  One gentleman got tired of waiting on the only attendant that was working to help people board so he tried to scan his own boarding pass.  He got a pretty stern look for that one.  One lady was traveling with her poodle and to keep him from being anxious on the plane she gave him medicine that made him drowsy which meant he looked a little inebriated as he was walking around before they boarded.  People watching is always so much fun.

Because I had broken rule number four and had a roller bag to go with my backpack as carry-ons I had to do a valet check for the roller bag.  Oklahoma City pretty well has all connection flights which means that the planes are small and the overhead bins cannot hold roller bags.  The airline employee then gives you a gate check tag for you to use.  You drop your bag at the end of the jetway as you board and you should be able to pick it up when you deplane.  Tonight when I got to Detroit, this gate check business caused me a major problem.

I only had 45 minutes between flights tonight, I broke rule number three.  As I deplaned in Detroit I also had to wait on my gate checked bag.  It should be a pretty quick turn around for you to get your bag, but for whatever reason that wait this evening was about fifteen minutes.  The other issue that cause a problem for me was that I got off the plane at gate B5 and had to go to gate A75 to make my connection.  That is gate 75 out of a possible 78 in Concourse A.  It's a long walk let me tell you!  While there are escalators and moving sidewalks to assist you, it's still a long walk.  What I discovered as I approached gate A70...after hoofing it for all that way...was that there is a tram at the Detriot airport.  I was more concerned about remembering my flight and gate number than I was about finding the fastest way to get there and ultimately it cost me because I essentially jogged between gates.  You know me well enough to know that I don't jog, but by golly I wasn't going to miss that plane!

My last flight was interesting because I sat next to two sixteen year old boys who are students at the Interlochen School of Dance, which is a boarding school in Michigan.  They were very polite and kind throughout the trip.  One of the two is from Connecticut and was coming home for Thanksgiving break.  The other is from Denmark and he was visiting the Connecticut family for the holiday.  We got into a conversation about the origin of Thanksgiving and the must do's in NYC.  I'm sure they will enjoy their time here.

I am exhausted myself and am going to call it a night.  It's just after 2:00 in the morning and I know that I have many more adventures tomorrow.  I loved getting to hug my sister's neck and laugh at a Friends re-run while we planned our day for tomorrow.  My vacation is just beginning!!

On the road again

I love watching the CMAs.  As a country music fan, it's exciting for me to watch the performances, awards and banter among the stars.  I don't always agree with the award winners, but I enjoy the show.  I sing along at the top of my lungs and laugh out loud at the carefully crafted jokes that walk a fine line of appropriateness.  In last week's award show Willie Nelson was recognized for his lifetime achievement in country music.  The tribute to him was so much fun to watch and hearing him sing "On the Road Again" made me smile.  When we were kids and my parents loaded us and all of our stuff in the van to head to my grandparents' house, "On the Road Again" was part of the beginning of our trip.

This week I actually was able to get on the road again.  After a week of transmission issues and a car in the shop I was able to get back to my school visits on Wednesday.  It was a busy three days trying to fit everything in that I missed last week, but I loved it!  I told my mom I took the long way around to a couple of places just because I could.

Next week I hit the road in a different direction.  On Sunday I leave for my monthly Oklahoma City trip.  Five days of training with a team that I get to know and love more every time I'm down there.  You can't help but bond when you spend all day in a small room, sitting almost on top of each other, eating every meal together and sleeping down the hall from each other for five days every three weeks.

Friday however I begin my vacation.  Friday I fly out of Oklahoma City and head to New York City.  It's been a little over a year since I was there last and I've only been in the summer so far, this will be my first cold weather trip.  I am so excited!  I get to spend four days with my sister before my parents and brothers fly up to join us so that we can all spend Thanksgiving together.  I even get to have my birthday in the Big Apple.  I've not been big on celebrating my birthday in recent years, but who isn't excited to celebrate their birthday in the city that never sleeps?   Given the recent weather challenges that area has had, I'm not sure what kind of plans we'll have to change but the time with my family will be fun regardless.  One of my goals while I'm there this time is to go to the Roosevelt Presidential Library.  I told you back in the spring that I would like to visit every presidential library and this would be my fourth of the thirteen in existence.  Several to go still, but I'm hoping to get to see one in about a week.  We can take a train out of New York to get to Hyde Park.  I've never ridden a train like that before so that in and of itself would be exciting!  I've ridden subways in several cities, but I don't count those as a train like this one.

However it works out, I'm looking forward to having sister time and family time for a whole week!!  My posts will definitely become more frequent while I'm traveling.  It's a new journey!

** Picture from Google Images.

The Green Eyed Monster

If I were to identify something that I struggling with daily it would be envy.  It is not my only struggle but it is my constant struggle.  In an article that I found online author Joseph Epstein is writing about the seven deadly sins and he has this to say about envy:

"Surely it is the one that people are least likely to want to own up to, for to do so is to admit that one is probably ungenerous, mean, small-hearted."

I agree completely!  To admit that I envy those around me makes me seem ungrateful for what I have or what I am and I certainly don't want that to be the case.  I am grateful.  I know that I am blessed in many areas of my life.  Yet when I step back and look at my life as compared to the lives of others, the green eyed monster flares inside.  Epstein also writes:

Is envy a "feeling," an "emotion," a "sin," a "temperamental disposition," or a "world-view"? Might it also be a Rorschach test: Tell what you envy, and you reveal a great deal about yourself. It can be all of these things--and more. No one would doubt that, whatever else it is, envy is certainly a charged, indeed a supercharged, word: One of the few words left in the English language that retains the power to scandalize. Most of us could still sleep decently if accused of any of the other six deadly sins; but to be accused of envy would be seriously distressing, so clearly does such an accusation go directly to character. The other deadly sins, though all have the disapproval of religion, do not so thoroughly, so deeply demean, diminish, and disqualify a person. Not the least of its stigmata is the pettiness implicit in envy.

What I hope is that you were unaware of this struggle until you read this post, because that would suggest to me that I am able to overcome the depth of these emotions and not allow them to effect my relationships with those around me.  I am not comfortable revealing what it is that I covet.  I realize will cause you to speculate on your own.  I'm willing to weather the speculation to keep that to myself.  I'd like to ask however that you join my prayers.

I pray daily that God give me the strength and confidence not to envy those around me.  I pray that He strengthens my character and improves my vision so that the things I covet move out of my line of sight so that I might see Him more clearly.  I also pray that God helps me be kind to myself throughout my struggle.  I am incredibly unforgiving of my flaws.  I do not allow myself room for error or grace for the times that I falter.  I pray I can better acknowledge His grace as I attempt to work through this struggle.

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Epstein, J. (2003).  "The green-eyed monster: Envy is nothing to be jealous of." Retreived November 5, 2012 from http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0307.epstein.html.