Date #30 & our House Update

Have I mentioned before that I am blessed? God has definitely gone over and beyond; and I am grateful. ;) I haven't updated about our house situation in a while. Mainly because it's slow going. It is coming together and God has definitely provided all of our needs... and some wants... along the way.

ServePro was wonderful getting everything dry! Even though it took over a week, they were super thorough as well as pleasant. It is such a huge difference when you have nice people to deal with!

Our wonderful worship pastor Trevor help Drew put up dry wall in our kitchen... we hired a guy to help finish it, and Drew finished the light fixtures and painted. All we need now is the crown molding and possibly touch  up paint and the kitchen (central point of disaster) is complete. Woo Hoo!!

Our pipe that busted is fixed... we now have ice. I still can't believe an ice maker pipe made such a mess.

The plaster down stairs is up. The ceilings look mostly normal even though touch up paint will have to happen eventually.

Our friends Starr and Wes came over last Saturday to start our flooring process. He has laid down laminate before... so we told him we would make him treats if he came and helped us. :) Starr and I enjoyed a relaxing Saturday of school and paperwork and talks, while Wes and Drew got started on the basement flooring. They ran into some snags but after 423582430 Lowes' trips, they were well on their way.

We had a double date with Brandon and SamShe Friday night. They took us out for Outback and we played 'the newlywed game' and watched a movie. Those of you who don't have the Newlywed game... buy it. I got it on a whim last year and have quite enjoyed playing it whenever we have a couple over. We usually kick bum (your welcome mother [she doesn't like when i say anything other than bum])  but the Lomasney's did win one time on a technicality. Just beware that the questions are QUITE random.

This weekend we also had some great friends come help us out! Steven and Brandon were great servants and devoted their time working on the floor. SamShe and Lauren were able to help me sand and paint some quarter round and well, we went to Wal-Mart and just plain relax. It was quite wonderful. :) Stromboli, Cookies, and the game 'Nines' were also in that mix.
 

Oh, we can't forget some very wonderful people that gave us blessings when we thought we weren't able to go on our anniversary trip due to funds because of our water problem. We ended up being blessed several times to where, not only could we go, but we did not have to stress financially at all. God is good.

We still have a lot to do. Our stairs and upstairs need new flooring, painting needs to be down, crown molding, and that might be it. I will have to deal with this mess, not a problem when I think about how many people love us and help us when we need it. Boy, will I be super excited when it's done though!:) 

Pictures of the process to come when I find the cord.

Date #29 - being an adult

It's the little things in life people! We took our Christmas decorations down! I got my books for school so I started schoolwork frantically. We made dinner together. The latest House episode was watched. Bed felt wonderful! :) 

Just as a heads up, I may disappear a lot this semester. It is my first semester with Liberty (YAY) which also means my first attempt at 8 week classes. I want God to teach me a lot and mold me to be more like Him, but it's going to take most of my spare time. Church Ministries, Church History pt 2, and John for these 8 weeks, then a Philosophy, Theology, and Youth class. My head may explode, but if it doesn't I will definitely be encouraged by these great leaders of Christ!

All good things must come to an end

Friday & Saturday
Incase you didn't catch on. This would be our Date 28. :) I think spending a week together qualifies.

Friday we woke up with thoughts of going ice skating, but the more we walked around the more we decided we would rather explore than skate in circles and pay more money for something. So we walked around a different part of Central Park (it's big) and went in some stores (I could definitely find a lot of stuff for my house at Anthropology... it may be a new favorite) and ate lunch at a corner Pizza shop. 2 slices of pizza and a coke for $2.75 and it was good. No really, Drew said it may be his favorite ever. YUM-O. Oh yea, and we had people ask us for directions. Not only that, but Drew knew how to answer that. Does that mean we have upgraded from tourists to visitors?? It should.

We drove to Baltimore where we stayed one more night away from home. We stayed at an old hotel that is nice but doesn't have the hot tub I was looking forward to. We went to Ikea where I found some neat nick knacks and ate at Chili's. :) Relaxation was the definition of the rest of the night.

DREW:

Favorite - the pizza. and good conversation at dinner.

Least - paying Delaware $7 to be in their state for approximately 10 minutes. uncool. oh. and getting to our hotel in Baltimore and realize it's Valet parking. yuck.

KARI:

Favorite - exploring Anthropology and Ikea. Chili's was good as well.

Least - realizing our hotel in Baltimore, while very nice and gives me bath and body spa soap and lotion, does not have a hot tub. I NEED to soak my sore feet and hip and was very much looking forward to it!

My husband: "Did you know that this is the perfect crime? An icicle right through the chest. There is no evidence." Dwight Schrute you are a bad influence on my man.

What vacation really is about...according to Drew

Thursday

sleep. relaxing. snuggling. warm bed. lunch at home. Heroes

Ahh.... laziness is wonderful when you are on vacation. Even if you're in NYC. We both decided our feet/ my hip needed a break. At first it felt wrong not rushing to the city but I quickly decided we make the decisions, no one is telling us how we should spend out time, so Drew and I did the above until early afternoon and then headed into the City when we could check into our hotel. We wanted to spend one night in the city; so although we would have canceled if we could once we realized how great our friend's set up was, we were so glad we did! We were on the 25th floor of Millennium Broadway and could see Times Square from our CORNER ROOM. It was so pretty. I slept with the blinds open so I could see the lights. :) 

Once we got our room we got dressed up and headed to dinner. I wanted to go somewhere unique to New York, but every time we looked at the menus outside of the restaurants we decided to eat where we knew would be cheaper and safer.... so we thought. Turns out, Applebees is more expensive in NYC. Not just tax wise, but the prices are just higher. DUMB. Oh well, it was yummy and we enjoyed each other's company. (I always wait for us to get tired of hanging out on vacations, but it doesn't happen. We get more sick of each other at home when we can easily spread out than when we have no choice but to hang out. ;) ) 

Then we headed to WICKED!!! It was AHHH-MAZING! :) I LOVE musicals and this one was soo good. Even Drew, who is not a fan of them, 'had to admit it was well done. The sets were so good and I can't deny they have talent'. He said he wouldn't choose it but wouldn't complain if I want to see another one. That's huge coming from mister sports nut. Anyway, I loved the play, and the only way it could have been better is if we were closer. I'm very personable so I like seeing the actors faces and reading about their accomplishments. I know, I'm weird. 

Anyone ever wondered what Grand Central looks like after 11pm? Yeah we did too. So we headed over after the show since we weren't tired. There were still lots of people out, so we felt pretty safe. It's gorgeous and definitely worth the walk. It was cold but actually felt wonderfully refreshing. 

I fell asleep to sounds of sirens and billboards flashing in my window. :)

DREW:

Favorite - relaxing all morning

Least - realizing how much we paid for something we can get at home for close to half the price

Kari:

Favorite - umm... wicked. new music to sing to. Do I really need to explain??

Least - going to Applebees over the restaurant we stopped at first with singing waiters :)

Down Town

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday we slept in a little and then headed downtown to see all of those sights. Thankfully New York knows how to handle the snow so the roads were clear. Unfortunately, I was wearing Uggs (well, fake ones, but that type of boot) and they were not water proof! Thankfully, although my feet got wet, they stayed warm most of the day!

 We took the subway down to the ground zero sight. There isn't very much to see since they are already rebuilding the World Trade Center, but we did go to the 9/11 museum and spent a chunk of time going through the pictures/quote/videos of things that happened that day. It was an emotional morning.

 After that we went to St. Peter's to see where so many people received helped in the months following 9/11. Seeing that church started conversation about how few churches there are in NYC. We have seen several old church that people can come in anytime, but how many are bible believing churches that believe Jesus is the only true way?? Seeing that all were welcome in St. Peter's is awesome... I just wonder how many were turned to Christ as a result?

 I can't believe that I was only in 8th grade when that happened. I was in bible class at RVCS and we had a special chapel to pray for those involved. I remember naively thinking during my volleyball tryout after school that every plane I heard was a terrorist. It was a scary time even for those far away, I can't imagine...

Oh hey, I saw some phone booths. They made me smile. I didn't know they existed anymore. Just kidding. No seriously, they are still around!

 

 After grabbing a quick lunch, we headed past Wall Street to the Staten Island Ferry. We heard by a couple people that you get pretty close to the Statue of Liberty by this ferry and it's free, so we gave it a shot. I had a great time! I loved riding it, going on the hurricane deck and taking pictures, and just enjoyed being on the water. Oh Lady Liberty I do admire you for what you do. There is NO WAY I would be able to stand strong in the freezing cold! But way to go! :)

 We braved Chinatown where I bought a cheap purse and also Little Italy where we ate at an old Italian Restaurant. Yummy food, candle lit, and we survived the sketch area.

 Then, we headed to Madison Square Garden for a night of basketball. Much to our surprise, and Drew's excitement, we realized it was a double header. St. John's men were playing Syracuse, and then St. John's girls were playing UCONN. We started towards the back in our $18 tickets, but moved up to row 12 when most everyone left before the girls game. They were sweet seats and made my hubby really happy. :) Drew's choice of the week... SUCCESS!

DREW: 

Favorite - imagining being at an NBA game up close... being in awe of how many famous sports events took place in Madison Square Garden. 

Least - paying too much for bottled water at dinner. The waiter was tricky, and Drew was ticked. 

KARI:

Favorite - okay don't make fun.. I'm serious, brace yourself. My favorite part of this day was having my books come to life. :) I have been reading so many Karen Kingsbury books lately. I finished a series that was about 9/11 and then several other ones touched on that tragic day and months that followed. I read about firefighters that fought there, people that volunteered at St. Peters. I read about people who lived on Staten Island and rode the ferry and people who had dad's working in the world trade center. There has just been a lot of scenes from the books played out in NYC, even walked in Central park, and going to see 'The Lion King' on Broadway. So I LOVED that I could picture those things better. It made me want to go see so and so at the fire station or go to Staten Island and see a precious little girl I read about. Anywho... it made me happy to imagine that clearly. When I told Drew all of that, he did a good job trying not to laugh. but that's me. :)

Least favorite - my very wet toes throughout the day, and having Italian food make me sick through most of the men's St. John's game. 

HELLO NEW YORK!

Drew and I have been watching the TV series 'Heroes' and in it there is a Japanese man who can teleport. He finally gets himself to go to New York and raises his hands and yells "HEELLOO New York" in the middle of Times Square. So Drew acted it out and we were joking about it all week. :)

We were so blessed to have connections with a couple in Jersey to stay with two of the nights we were in the city. The have a townhouse on the Hudson, and our bedroom window looked out across the river to the city. Breathtaking.

We had such a blast this week and had many memorable occasions. :) There are tons of people trying to sell you stuff, tell you about discounts and get you to help feed the homeless. One guy was talking behind a 'herd' of us on a crosswalk saying "Excuse me, what are you doing on this wonderful afternoon. . . . besides . . ignoring the black guy?" I admit, I did feel bad ignoring them, so I would politely shake my head or say no thanks. I know I know, I would never survive there long term. I'm such a small town girl, but I loved it!

We definitely screamed tourists. I thought it was written on our foreheads because ever store we would enter they would ask us where we were from... After a couple hours walking around I realized it could be that I was wearing the ONLY white coat in Manhattan. Seriously, it's all black for the new yorkers. Which makes sense, it's dirty there. :)

I learned that you don't look at people on the buses, they are too busy looking at their phones to notice, but light conversation is not on any one's to do list. Except the lady with the little boy. I think the only reason that start was because the kid was kicking us.

Nothing says cheap tourist like going in to a 'diner' taking off our coats, getting menus, looking at prices, and then heading quickly to the door before our waiter got time for us. ;) whoops.

On Tuesday we went to the Empire State Building, the zoo/Central Park, Rockefeller Center, all through Times Square, AE, FAO Schwartz, Apple, NBA store, bought the most expensive m&ms ever, and ate at Bubba Gump. We walked who knows how many blocks. It was a fantastic day!

We headed 'home' around 730 because NYC was calling for up to 10 inches of snow and we did not want to get stuck in the city with the buses closed down! We enjoyed watching the snow over the Hudson while watching some NYC movies.

Drew and I have this thing where we try to ask each other what our favorite and least favorite part of our day. We got the idea from a friend, and while we are not daily consistent with it, we try to ask randomly. This trip we ended almost every night with it. It's a fun game, you should try it. Another question is what God taught you today.

DREW:
Favorite - Empire State Building. He has not been up that high before. Looking out over the city was magnificent. 
Least - His feet HURT by the end of the day... solution? wearing 2 pairs of socks a day!

KARI:
Favorite - people watching! I kept hoping to see someone famous but it never happened. I also loved walking the streets of New York happily being married and exploring together. 
Least - worrying about snow. By the time we got 'home' we couldn't see the city because of the fog/snow. It worried me that we wouldn't we able to do some things because of it!