Show & Tell: My Best Day in NYC

Good Afternoon Humble Readers! I hope you are all well.

I spent a ton of time trying to figure out where to start telling the story of our time in NYC, and ultimately it came down to beginning with the day that stands out the most in my memory.

Yes Humble Readers, that's right... I met Mario Batali!

I wish I could say that I was cool about it and was able to chat with him, but no... your friendly neighbourhood hobbit was star struck! Let me tell you the story...

It was Friday, the day we had decided was going to be my Beloved's very merry Un-Birthday, seeing as we had missed celebrating his actual birthday (it was right in the middle of his dad passing away and the memorial and all). On the itinerary for the day was an "On Location" New York TV & Movie tour and the Yankees game in the evening. We got on the bus right by the Ed Sullivan Theater (where we had seen the David Letterman show a few days earlier), and were treated to a ton of information about the area around Times Square and movies that had been filmed there. We slowly made our way south, heading toward Washington Square Park to check out some "When Harry Met Sally" and "I Am Legend" sites.

When the bus stopped and we all got off, we discovered that we were right outside Otto, where my Beloved and I had eaten lunch a few days before. (The food was fabulous... but I'm planning an NYC food post for later in the week... stay tuned!) We walked around the corner and spent a few minutes taking pics of the Washington Arch where Sally dropped off Harry, and the doorway that Will Smith came and went out of over and over.

At that point our guide mentioned that she had noticed that Mario had been sitting at the bar in his restaurant and if any of us wanted to meet him, he is usually very open to meeting fans. My Beloved and I, together with one other lady from the tour practically ran back to Otto.

We walked in, and at first I couldn't see him because he was sitting at the far end of the bar near the door to the kitchen. Immediately my shy-ness took over and I very hesitantly led the way (btw, when was I voted fearless leader?) over to him.

I didn't want to interrupt the conversation he was having with the man next to him so I waited a moment before speaking (read: was too star-struck to open my mouth). He looked over at me and smiled and said, "Well, you can't just stand there and not say hello." I must have stammered something intelligible about taking a picture with him. He graciously let my Beloved capture the shot above, and allowed me to take a picture for the other lady who had come with us.

At some point I managed to regain my powers of speech, and mentioned that we had just eaten there the other day and that the food was amazing. Especially the olive oil gelato (OMG!!!! All other ice cream will pale in comparison for the rest of my life). He laughed and mentioned that the secret is the salt sprinkled on top.

We thanked him profusely for his time, and then dashed back out to the bus. I couldn't stop grinning! I felt like a complete goober, but it was great!

The day continued with the rest of the tour, a wander down 5th Avenue (and some time spent in FAO Schwartz), and ultimately the Yankees game in the evening.

The game was great! Our seats were waaaaaaaaaaay up in the nosebleed section (fourth deck up, right on the first base line), and the breeze was so cold we ended up spending a small fortune on Yankees sweatshirts. We also spent a ridiculous amount of money on food (but man those sausages and fries tasted sooo good!). The Yankees won, and my Beloved thoroughly enjoyed himself (which was the point of going to the game)! It was a long subway ride back to the hotel, but it was a fabulous day!

Now don't forget to head over to Mel's place and check out what the rest of the class is showing.

We're Baaaaack!

Good evening Humble Readers!

Yes indeed, we are home! It was an incredible trip and I can't wait to tell you all about it. I have spent most of today fussing with my new layout (as you can see) and in fighting with Ph.ot.o.bu.cket to sort through all the pictures we took (more than 1200!). I've also been wading through my reader list... it looks like I missed a lot of goings-on. I hope to be caught up in my reading and commenting soon.

I'm not going to be doing much away from my computer for the next day or so, so I will be around. Can't wait to reconnect!

Gone Fishin'!

Ok, so my Beloved and I aren't actually fishing. But I won't be around for a while. I hope all of you have a very (re)productive couple of weeks, take care of each other and know that I will be thinking about you guys and praying for you (especially my expectant-bloggy friends who are approaching their due dates).

While I'm away, I'll be missing a couple of important dates on the calendar. First up, my b-day! I won't be turning eleventy-one, only 35. I'm sorry but I won't be hosting a true hobbit style birthday, I'll be busy being lost on the streets of Manhattan. Second, my blogoversary... a year of posts, of hopes, of tears, of giggles... I can't believe it's been a year!

Sign up for Blogger Bingo and ICLW! Two great ways to get to know other bloggers! I'll be back for Show & Tell on September 30th.

Show & Tell: Date Night With A Cause

Good morning Humble Readers!

The company I work for puts a big emphasis on giving back to the community. Our in-house charity supports children's literacy. Every year, for the last five years, we have been able to distribute 1.5 million dollars among high needs elementary schools to help rebuild their libraries. Most of that money comes from the store level, donations provided by our customers and from our staff.

Here are some statistics for you (Canadian stats)... back in the day, when I was in elementary school, a school received $27 per student per year to buy new books and resources for their library. Today the average school receives $3 per student per year. Teachers invest an obscene amount of their own money in resources for their classrooms, and only 13% of Canadian public schools have a full time librarian. And the most shocking piece of info about this situation... if we increase the literacy rate in our country by just 1%, that will equal an $18.4 billion (yes, billion) boost for our economy. (One other piece of info that I don't recall the exact numbers on but is shocking nonetheless... the population of Canada's peneteniaries is more than 70% functionally illiterate!) Inspiring kids to read, and providing great resources for them is key for our coutry to continue to move forward.

So what does this have to do with our date night?

Well, one of my responsibilities at work is to come up with ways that we can fundraise for this project. I'm happy to say that my staff is really really gung-ho on this, and since April we have raised more than $10K, doing things like running lemonade stands, soliciting donations from our customers, and most recently a penny drive.

For the months of June-August we collected loose change. Pretty simple, right? We had a 5 gallon water jug more than half full of change. And last week my Beloved and I counted and rolled all that change!

We spent more than four hours on Friday night sorting, counting and rolling all that coin. My Beloved then spent a large chunk of Saturday rolling while I was at work the next day. All totalled we raised $340 in loose change. My Beloved did the math and we had more than 11,000 pennies.

And let me tell you... money is dirty! Check out the difference in my hands.

Don't forget to swing by Mel's place to check out what the rest of the class is showing this week!

They Say You Can Never Go Back

Good Morning Humble Readers...

I have had these thoughts percolating for a while, and I think it's time to get them down on 'paper'. I will preface this by saying that, if you are going through a tough time right now, you might want to skip this post. I won't mind...

I recently went back to some of the message boards I used to frequent. There are women there who I miss. They are women who started on this journey around the same time as me, and we shared our excitement about becoming mommies, celebrated each other's successes and mourned each other's losses. They supported me through our miscarriages, encouraged me when we were waiting for tests and for the go ahead to try again. These women are incredible, strong, veterans of the road we travel. Many of them are dealing with RPL like me, and some have had heartbreaking numbers of losses.

I had stopped posting on the message boards back in the spring, when it became apparent that we were going to have to take an extended break. I felt that I didn't want to be a downer, whining about having to wait to try again... so I excused myself. (Of course that didn't stop me from whining here... my apologies, Humble Readers). I also knew that reading about them moving ahead would be difficult.

I went back recently, genuinely hoping that most, if not all, of the ladies there would have been able to move on... yes, I know it was an unlikely thing, but I hoped it for them anyway.

I started reading some of the recent posts and was saddened to see so many names I recognized. I was saddened further to read how down they all were.

We all have our bad days. A bfn, a failed cycle, discovery of a cyst, the flu at exactly the wrong time... all of these things can bring us low. I am not making light of those emotions. We all need to process them, grieve our losses big and small, and we often need the support of those who truly understand our situation to help us get through.

But when does commiserating become something more? When does it become a vicious cycle that has no end? When do we stop trying to one up each other with how sad we are?

How do we pull ourselves up out of our darkness? How do we help each other when things seem to be spiralling into the abyss?

I have long believed that the only thing we have control over in this world is our response to it. Barring a chemical imbalance, we get to choose how we respond to the things that happen in our lives. That doesn't mean we don't get sad, but we do get to choose whether to let that sadness overwhelm us or to start moving forward.

I'm in a good, hopeful and, dare I say, content place right now. I want to celebrate that. And at the same time I want to support these ladies... but I don't want to blow sunshine and rainbows.

Maybe after this cycle comes back as a bfn, I won't be so happy, maybe then I will feel like I fit in again with them. But I don't want to let that change my happiness in this moment. We all live in two week incriments... shouldn't we take the joy where we can?

Is it wrong that I choose to be happy?