Day 3 and 4 of New York City

Ok, I know it's been a very long time since my last post, but here is our 3rd day in NYC...... We got up, dressed and headed to the subway. On the way to the subway we stopped at a little mom/pop market and got bagels and cream cheese for breakfast. By this time my allergies and sinuses are so bad I can't taste a thing. But I eat for my strength..ha... We then headed toward the Brooklyn Bridge. Once there we walked across it and back. It's exactly 1 mile but it seems like forever.... Once we got to the middle we all had a moment of reflecting the Miranda/Mike scene in Sex and the City.... After walking the Brooklyn Bridge we headed toward Manhattan. We walked around St. John's Cathedral. It's the largest cathedral in North America. Truly something to see. It was unreal!! Once we did that we found a little cafe and ate lunch. After lunch we started to make our way to 5th Avenue...Shopping baby.... We made a stop in Tiffany's. We also had a moment of reflecting the Tiffany scene in Sweet Home Alabama.... I found a necklace so I called Jimmy and asked him if I could buy a Tiffany necklace. His answer was "well, you're gonna buy it anyway I don't know why you're calling to ask". I then told him it was 2.5 million dollars and he changed his mind we quick. But I did find a cute little necklace and bought it for myself. This was my only chance to get a true Tiffany necklace, so I splurged. We then went into more stores and shopped around. After shopping we headed toward the apartment for some much needed rest. And yes, the elevator was working!! Woohoo!! After a rest we decided to get tickets to see the Lion King. It was unbelieveable. The costumes are unreal! After seeing the Lion King we went to Bond 55 for pizza, very expensive pizza. One of our pizzas had a lobster on it..ha.. After that we was too pooped to walk, so we took a cab. Man, after that cab ride, we all woke up! I think the cab driver was trying to see how fast he could go. Jennifer held my hand the entire time!! We finally got back to our apartment in one piece and went to sleep. By this time we all were so tired I don't remember my head falling on the pillow!!



Day 4: Our last full day:

By this time I was completly miserable.... I was taking allergy and sinus meds around the clock! We got up very, very early and headed toward the subway. We went to the Brooklyn Tabernacle Church for Sunday service and also to see the Brooklyn Tabernacle choir. The choir was awesome!! The entire service was so uplifting and the people there were extremely nice. You felt like a part of their lives. I can't say how great the service was!! But, I did have meds in my system and I fell asleep during the preaching. I just felt so bad!! After church we went to the original Jonathan's Cheesecake for brunch and also cheesecake!! It was so good!! We then headed back to Manhattan. After changing clothes and resting a bit we decided to hit Macy's and any other place we missed or want to go back a second time. We ended back at Times Square and say the freakey little man dressed as the tooth fairy running around. Hugh Scott warned me of taking a picture of him, saying if we took a picture he would come up too us. He was really putting on a show!! Later we went back to the apartment and got dressed for our fancy meal, Gramercy Tavern!! Hugh Scott snuck out and had purchased all of us girls a necklace. It is gorgeous!!! The resturant serves a 6 course meal and you don't have a choice of food, they bring you what they make. And if you don't eat what they bring you, you will have about 10 waiters asking if anything was wrong with the meal. It was very, very nice. After 6 courses, we were stuffed!! We kind of got special treatment because Hugh Scott knows the manager of this resturant. So we got about two more courses "this is from the kitchen"; and an extra bottle of wine "from the kitchen". We were pampered!! I could not force another bite!!

The next morning we got up and headed home. The man on the 9th floor came up to get our keys. Remember me saying that on the first night we got to our apartment from seeing Wicked, there were these "do not enter" signs on the door of the building. Well, we asked the guy on the 9th floor what had happened. He said that the people on the 4th floor apartment got caught selling knock off designer handbags and the Po Po raided them. Selling design handbags!!! I really enjoyed NYC, with the crazy sinuses and allergies!! But, I was so glad to get back in Mississippi. Not only did I miss my husband, I missed the south and my privacy. In NYC it was so crowded that nobody has any privacy!! I love living in the south!!

Day 2 of New York City:
We woke up very sore from the two stair climbs we had to do the previous day. I actually thought I was not going to make it out of the bed! Plus, my sinuses were starting to go haywired on me, so I doped up on ibuprophen and Alavert. We all got dressed, very slowly and made our departure (yep, down 12 stories of walking the elevator still wasn't working), I guess around 8:00 or so. Our first stop was Chelsea Market. It was a big warehouse, the first floor was all of these resturants and little markets, the upper floors is where the shows from the The Food Network is filmed. The public is only allowed on the first floor. It was really quite neat. We ate bagels with about a block of cream cheese on them. Which, I had peanut butter on my bagel. After breakfast we made our way to Ground Zero. It was very surreal seeing the same place where such a tragedy happened. We walked to Wall Street and saw the International Stock Exchange. After that, we made our way to the ferry for the Statue of Liberty. After standing in line, getting security checked, we finally boarded the ferry. It was cool seeing the Statue of Liberty. We didn't go up because after climbing up and down the stair at the apartment, we just didn't have it in us, especially since we probably would be walking up 12 stories when we get back to the apartment. So we just walked around the outside of the statue and took pictures. After the Statue of Liberty we ventured toward Little Italy and ate at a place called El Cattrell. It's an authentic Italian place where they have the back room for "the godfather" to meet. The food was good, although I was so conjested from my allergies I couldn't taste my food, I was just so thirsty. I did make my way to the basement to the bathroom. While on my way there were all of these photos of what looked like, to me, to be "the godfather". After eating a late lunch we went to chinatown. Chinatown was a little scary, and it was in the day! I can only imagine how it would be at night. Everyone was wanting us to buy from them. Scary people would come up behind you and say "Louie" saying they had the Louis Vuitton purses to sell, or they could just say "Lou" letting you know they had some Louis Vuitton to sell. Of course, it illegal to sell designer knockoffs, so that was their suttle way of letting you know they had some Louis. At chinatown, every store I walked in I would start sneezing so I would have to walk back out. My allergies went "postal" on me while in NYC. After chinatown we decided to make our way back to the apartment. When we got on our street we notice our little Rosa's Pizza Place sold cupcakes. So, we decided to see how theirs were. When we got to the cupcake counter Jennifer told the guy what cupcake she wanted and his response was, "Woa you guys are not from here....". We told him that we were from Mississippi, so the rest of the week when we walked in he would hollar "Hey my Mississippi friends". After buying the cupcakes, we went to the little corner store and I bought gatorade, water, and Mt. Dews (I needed caffine big time) preparing for the 12 story walk up. I had already decided that I was going to take my sweet time in the walk up. Once we got to the apartment building, guess what, THE ELEVATOR WAS WORKING!! We all was saying a prayer!! We went up and decided to check out the cupcakes. They were so much better than the Magnolia Cupcakes!! They cake was so moist and the icing was wonderful!! It was pure bliss!! We all took a power nap, got refreshed, and then ventured out for the night. We went to the top of Rockerfella Center. It was absolutely beautiful! If you're ever in NYC I highly recommend it! After we got back down we walked around Rockerfella Center and saw the famous ice skating rink, the flags and all. We then went to Big Daddy's Diner to eat dinner. It's a nice little 50's diner. After dinner we went back to Times Square and walked around some more. Late that night we then went back to the apartment and crashed!! Next post, I'll talk about day 3!!

New York City (378 photos), by Amy Moore

I'd like to share my Walmart Digital Photo Center photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

Here are the pictures of my New York trip. We had a great time!! Here is a play by play of our trip:
Day 1:
Got to New York and had our first cab ride to our apartment. We were able to rent an apartment cheaper than getting hotel rooms. We stayed in the old business district. Not the most beautiful site outside, but it was true New York style! Our apartment was on the 12th floor, which was the very top. We got in the elevator with a guy and the first thing he asked us was "Are you guys with the movies?" We just kind of looked at each other and said a very slow, "nooo" and then he told us that Law and Order shoots a lot on this site. He told us that when they shoot inside this building they will shut down the elevator. Then he told us that Jay-Z has an apartment across the street. I thought that was very cool.... We then got settled in the apartment. We had a great view of the Empire State Building (which Amy Nell called it the Eiffel Tower the entire time) and the apartment was really nice and big. It was on 28th Street. When you looked down our street we was looking at the School of Designs. We walked down our street and found a nice little cafe and ate lunch. It was really good. Anyway, we took the subway to Rockerfeller Center and just walked around. We walked to Central Park and took a horse and carriage ride. It was really cool. We then walked around Central Park and took pictures. We went to Magnolia Cupcakes (the same that's on Sex and the City) and got some cupcakes. We then went back to the apartment, and guess what, the elevator wasn't working. So, we walked 12 stories to the apartment. When we got to the 4th floor, there were cops in the doorway not letting anyone on the 4th floor apartment. Which had our minds wondering what was going on... Once we got to the apartment we all had to catch our breaths!! We ate our cupcakes and were very disappointed in them. The cake part was dry and the icing had no flavor!! After resting a little while we got ready and went to Broadway to watch Wicked. It was AWESOME!! After Wicked we walked Times Square. The lights, people, traffic was all amazing!! I had never seen anything like it. We saw the famous New Year's Ball!! We then took the subway back to our street and stopped at the corner pizza place, Rosa's Pizza, and got pizza for dinner. After a long night we got back to the apartment. There was a note on the complex door saying "Court Order, this building has been condemmed. Anyone entering can be arrested" or something to that effect. Our first instict was to panic because all of our stuff was up on the 12th floor, but then we decided to take a chance as to it was probably talking about the 4th floor. So we decided to go in. Hey, what could the do, arrest us? And yes, the elevator still wasn't working, so walking upstair we did!! I thought my heart was going to leap out of my chest!! I think I crashed when I went to bed.

Well, my next post I'll talk about our second day....

Birthday

On February 14th I celebrated my birthday! I am so blessed to be able to survive another year, and hopefully many more years to come! The night before my birthday David & Elizabeth cooked dinner for the family. It was great! For my birthday gift, Andrew, Kate & Claire got me a heart full of chocolate! And it just wasn't the cheap assorted filled chocolates, it was the yummy chocolate truffles! Below are a few pics from that night:

Kate couldn't stand the thought of me not having any candles to blow out. So, these two candles were all Elizabeth could find. So that means I'm 21, ha..?

I think Claire was screaming "cheese" on this first pic... She is really growing!

Kate & Claire has gotten their hair cut, don't they look so cute!

My actual birthday was on a Sunday. So after Sunday School, Jimmy and I played hookey and skipped morning service, Jimmy took me out for lunch. We then went to Bass Pro and I got some walking boots and smartwool socks for my NYC trip. We just had a nice day out, we went to a little western store south of Jackson (Jimmy is looking for a new pair of boots). We then just rode around Jackson. It was a great birthday!

Oh, when we got back home from Jackson, I was told that during the church service someone announced, "Amy's not here today because Jimmy took her out for her birthday and then they were just spending the day together". That's a small town for you, your business is everybody's business..., ha!! Gotta love Vaughan!

Snow in Vaughan!

February 2nd we celebrated Tracy's birthday. How old is she now??? 40??? ha..!! Big sis, I love you, even if you are getting old..he..he...! Also IT SNOWED IN VAUGHAN, MS!! Yep, you heard me right and I have the pics to prove it! It was the perfect snow that lasted for about a day and it was over!

In front of our house On Moore Road

Jimmy's brothers place Jimmy throwing a snowball at me!

My church, Ellison United Methodist Church

This tree really stands out! A little hidden pond beside my house.

December.....

Yes, December came and went in a flash! The first part of December the christian group Casting Crowns came to Jackson. I had no intentions of going to the concert. The past couple of weeks before we had lost two special church members due to cancer and I was totally in an emotional state. Sometimes when bad things happen it doesn't really hit me until a week or so after it happens and at the time of the concert I was emotional. But the day before the concert a lady from another office calls me out of the blue and tells me she has tickets and wanted to know if I would go with her. Something inside just urged me to go, so I told her yes. I also warned her that I may cry during the entire concert. The concert was unbelievable!! Totally amazing!! If you have never been to see Casting Crowns I strongly urge you to go! My friend is married to someone in who has some "coliseum pull", so she had us great seats!! I will always be grateful for her asking me to the concert. It was exactly what I needed. Below is a few pics.

Every December Dee (my mom), Tracy and I go to Tupelo shopping. We always go the weekend of the Tupelo Flea Market. This year was a blast! It was cold, it was raining, but we had the most fun! While making my way to Tupelo I stopped at Starkville and had lunch with my girlfriends, Janna, Tina and Mary Ann. It was great seeing them!

My girls!

One night while in Tupelo, we went to Outback to eat. While waiting for a table we all were sitting on a couch, behind the doors, a place that's kind of hidden from everyone. I got out my camera and wanted to get a picture of the three of us together. When I say that my mom is not very photogenic, I do mean it to be ugle, I'm being truthful. We would take a picture, look at it and just start laughing. Those of you who knows Dee, when she starts laughing, she has a very loud cackle that she can't just shut off... It goes on and on and on... It took a lot of tries to finally get a picture that we all were happy with. Below is the good, the bad and the ugly.... Dee would kill me if she knew I'm posting these pictures, ha....

Mom, open your eyes!! Tracy, you're halfway out of the pic!

Ok, mom, put the glasses back on. Tracy is still all not in there..

Our best two pics....

Look who we caught trying to catch a snooze in the massage chair at Bed, Bath and Beyond...

I think they were ready for us to leave...ha..

I took off work the week of Christmas. The day it decides to rain (all day) Jimmy finds a pack rat in our camper, and he was doing damage!! Needless to say I was not a "happy camper"! We had to get everything out, clean up the damage in the pouring rain!! Below is a pic of it's nice little nest we found when we pulled the drawers out. Yes, those are my dish towels, washing towels, towels, leaves and acorns. Tons, tons, tons of acorns.... He was ready for the cold!!

How gross!! Even after finding the nest, we still haven't found the rodent! Pack rats are not stupid! He knew exactly where the traps were. It was like he was teasing us. But, finally, on Christmas Day morning, we went to the camper and guess who we caught!! Needless to say, no more pack rat!!
Christmas was great! We went to Philly on Christmas Eve. Unwrapped gifts with our immediate family, then all of the cousins, aunts and uncles came over and we played dirty santa. We always have fun when we play dirty santa! I got a Calvin Klein perfume gift set, love it!

I always enjoy the ride home on Christmas Eve night. I love seeing all of the Christmas lights and listening to the Christmas music on the radio! Christmas morning we got up early, went to Little David and Elizabeth's house and watched the kids (Claire, Kate and Andrew) open up Santa gifts. Then we went to Jimmy's parent's house, had breakfast then unwrapped gifts over there. And back at the house around 8:00 a.m. for a quick nap!! And I didn't take the first picture during the Christmas holiday!! I actually forgot my camera!! But I did enjoy watching everyone this year and not saying "look this way", "smile"....

Getting Caught Up

I know, I know. It's been forever since I've made a post! I hate to use the excuse "I've been busy", but I have. It seems like everything happens all at once! We had a great Thanksgiving. Mark (Jimmy's brother), Sarah, Benjamin and Nicholas drove down all the way from Holly, Michigan to spend the holiday with us. Benjamin and Nicholas is getting so big! Below are a few pics of their visit.

Blowing bubbles

Playing with Uncle Hugh!

Playing with the grandparents!

Thanksgiving in Philly

The Wednesday night before Thanksgiving we had dinner at Uncle Keith and Aunt Marsha's house. We had a full house; but loads of fun. This year our family had added two new additions; My cousin Brian and LeAnn had their first baby this past November, Miss Adela Lillis. And my cousin Brock and Allyson added another addition this past August, Mr. Knox Lillis. Brock and Allyson lives in Clarksville, TN, so this is the first for a lot of us to see Knox. It was also great seeing Knox's older sister and brother, Mia and Brax. From the pictures below you can see how much fun we all had.

I'm holding Knox; and Casey is holding Adela


Knox really took a liking to my sister, Tracy


Mia holding her cousin Adela for the first time


Brock, mom and Knox


My nephew, Jake, has a soft side when it comes to little babies...


I think Brax is proving that he's swallowing his food, ha..

In Rememberance

Today our community all got together and said goodbye to a dear friend. Brian Campbell was not only our choir director, church member, neighbor; but he was also our friend. The last couple of days, people shared their favorite "Brian" stories. When I first met Brian I thought of him as being soft spoken, just a kind of person who kept to himself. And in a way he did, he was not a boastful person, but once you start knowing Brian (and his wife JoAnn) they were such fun people who enjoyed life to the fullest. If I ever saw the perfect soul mates, it was Brian and JoAnn. They complemented each other very well! The always did things together, it was never just Brian or just JoAnn; it was always Brian and JoAnn. When they did things it just wasn't "ok", they believed in putting everything into what they did; they always gave their 110%!! And I just want to share my favorite "Brian and JoAnn" story:

It was 2006. I was over the children's Christmas program that year. And the program was split between a classroom, with a teacher telling the children about a story that took place in mexico years ago, and the story actually being acted out in "mexico". So the children was part of the classroom scene and they would sing their songs; then the youth acted out the "mexico" scenes (and I had to bribe the youth with a pizza party). Well, I only needed one adult male to play the mexican granpa. The only problem, my mexican grandpa also had to sing a song (solo) and the children joined in. So, when I asked Brian to be my grandpa and then I smiled and told him "oh, there is also a small song with a small part that you would have to sing, oh, and some of the singing you will be doing by yourself, he, he." At first Brian just kind of looked at me; he sings very well but he don't enjoy solos. So I told him "Brian if you do this I will owe you one." And he just smiled and said, "well, in that case, you have a deal. And I will be getting you back." But the way he said it was all in fun. So, here we go. We all start practicing and start learning the songs. Everything is going well. A few weeks before the production Brian asked me what he needed to wear. And I said just some overalls and maybe an old flannel shirt and a walking cane, just something a grandpa would wear. I was already tired and I really didn't care at that point what my characters really looked like just as long as they showed up that Sunday morning. Well, the morning of production when Brian and JoAnn came to the church Brian was a bonafide mexican grandpa. From the clothes, the hair, JoAnn even drew a little mustache on his face. He looked like a true mexican grandpa. The youth guys thought Brian's mustache was so cool, so JoAnn had to draw mustaches on them, too. And when we had the production, Brian came out there speaking with a mexican accent. He even sang his solo with a mexican accent. He was the bomb! Like I said, when Brian does something, he puts his all in it and JoAnn was right there with him; she had him fixed to a tee! I was just in awe! Even with it being a small children's program; it became this huge fun production. Oh, and remember, I told Brian if he did this favor for me, I will do a favor for him. Well, he made true to that, too. That next year when we had our adult cantata. I had to sing a solo, and Amy does not do solos well. I sing better when I'm blended with other voices. I'll always watch what I say to people now..ha.. But it was all fun. But I'll never forget the effort he put into his grandpa part that year; he gave it his all. And that was the type of person he was. He gave it his all.

Last fall when he got sick he still fought for all he had. Today at his funeral the preacher told us that when Brian was in the hospital he told the preacher, "this won't end in death". And actually it doesn't end in death, it stays in eternal life. Death may be the end to this worldly life, but it's not the end... The preacher also talked about the earth as being an inn, a place where people stays for a while and then leave. We stay here on earth for a little while and then we will leave for eternal life. But yet, there are so many people who are so focused on this "inn" on earth that we forget about where we go when we leave this earthly inn.

I just wanted to share a little bit about a person who meant so much to so many people. Even though many of you may not know Brian, maybe you can get a glimpse of who he was by reading this blog. Above is a picture I made of them this past Halloween. You may not can tell, but Brian was very weak in this photo. It took all he had to climb the porch stairs. But I wanted you to see his precious family. And see, even for Halloween, they give it their 110%!!

Adela Lillis

My cousin, Brian, and his wife, LeAnn, finally had their little bundle of joy. Miss Adela Lillis came into this world on November 4th weighing 8.06 lbs and 21 inches long. She has a head full of dark hair. Mom, baby and dad are doing great. Below are some pictures:

Don't you want to pinch those cheeks?

The Lillis Family

She's ok now that her Amy has her..

Proud dad!!

Precious door wreath