Well as most of you know, we escaped Hurricane Sandy, which the governor of NY has recently declared NY's Katrina and estimated costs at $42 billion. Now, there were some real tragedies of Sandy and my heart goes out to those people who have lost enormously and have little resources to get them back on their feet, however the news coverage of the poor family in Hoboken who's house flooded and to make matters worse, oh no!, their 2nd home on the Jersey Shore was also hit. Really local news, do you think I'm really concerned for the Mercedes-Benz hat wearing guy's SECOND home? The governor of NJ showed up on SNL for a light-hearted take on the storm. I just love that he has a fleece that says he's the Governor; no state designation necessary.
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Anyway, more about us. I had very coincidentally scheduled my vacation for the exact week Sandy would knock NYC out of commission, so we got on a bus to DC on Sunday afternoon just before they shut the subway system down and we would have really been SOL (well, not really. In a spoiler alert, our neighborhood was not hit bad at all and even though some of my fellow residents had to stay at the hospital Sunday to Wednesday in order to work a shift or two, we are close enough that I can walk back and forth to work and would not have been subjected to sterile hospital call rooms and slow growing insanity.). But instead we spent an awesome week in DC and I got to show John where I called home for a year, once upon a time. We also got a family filled week where John tried to prove his dominance in fort building over my brother Patrick (Annie, my niece, was equally dismayed by the easy crush-ability of both their attempts), we experienced trick-or-treating Alexandria, VA style, and spent some great nights hanging out with the DC Carr's (Patrick, Karen, and Annie), something we're trying to take advantage of while we are so close these next couple years.
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| Hello senators and congress people |
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| Washington! |
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| Oregon! |
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| With our good friend, Abe |
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| And then with our good friend, Barack |
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| Cinderella, Patrick, and Karen |
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| Representing at the Natural History Museum |
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| And finally at the home of our good friend George Washington. His home is actually John's dream life with the farm and the livestock and the self-sustainability. I kindly pointed out that GW's life came with lots of helpers, not all of which were paid...... |
We were back in the city for just a few days when the day I was expecting and sort of dreading finally came: JP got a J.O.B. So I lost my house husband just when he was really starting to get gourmet on me, and I was really getting used to the pampered lifestyle. For the best though (I guess.....) and it'll be nice to have extra income in this crazy expensive city we live in. Most of you probably know John's job is at the clothing company Orvis. He ended up being in charge of the stock room in the new store they opened, which is better than having to deal with customers all day (we all know John, Johnny, JP, Timber, Punkass, etc. .....). Plus he got to buy a tool the other day so I feel less guilty all of a sudden about dragging him from the mountains to Manhattan. The funniest part (maybe I shouldn't laugh, but it's just too good...) is that John Perry from the Eastern part of the state of Washington (greatest state in the union he would say. I say tied for first.), who's never lived in any other state, with only one city-living experience in Spokane pop. 210,000, who never wanted to move from his beloved Cashmere pop. 3,104, now not only lives in one of the biggest cities in the world, but also everyday for work takes the subway from Harlem to Times Square, with the lights and the tourists and the street performers, and bobs and ducks in and out of people to get to his job which is across the street from the NY Public Library. Who would've thought????? And the next question is what have I done to him???!!!???
While we were happy for John to have something to do with his days besides cater to me and my schedule (sniff), it unfortunately screwed up our Thanksgiving plans to go back to DC (thank you Black Friday....), so instead we stayed in New York and did a very New York thing by going to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Now, you may think this was my idea to subject ourselves to crowds of thousands of people, but you would be wrong! I, of course, wanted to go but was super surprised when JP himself suggested it. And it actually turned out to be a lot better than I even thought it would. You see these things on TV and think it can't look that big in real life, but those balloons are serious! We found a fairly uncrowded side street to watch about an hour of the parade go by, sadly missing the Hello Kitty! balloon, Carly Rae Jepsen, AND the US gymnastics team (no I am not a 13 year old girl), but we did get to see Mickey Mouse and Kareem Abdul Jabbar, so I felt less slighted. No Woody Woodpecker balloon this year.....
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| These people had the best view |
No real Thanksgiving dinner that night, but I decided to cook for my husband (working on the wife skills here) the next day while he was at work and I had the day off. The meal was good (I even got a high-five for the mashed potatoes), but my timing is a little off and I alone ate a hot thanksgiving dinner on Friday night at 9pm while John slept in our bedroom, having fallen asleep around 8pm after getting up at something crazy like 5am to go to work. So now I know to start the turkey earlier next year......
Other happenings in our life include going to watch the Portland Trailblazers play in the new Brooklyn Nets stadium, which unfortunately ended in a loss of Portland. Still always enjoyable to see the Blazers, and John and I proudly wore out Portland gear in a sea of Brooklyn t-shirts (well, I may have been more proud since John never took his coat off, which I allowed since it was red and black). I will say the Brooklyn Nets may have a better dance team than the Blazers (I've always been pretty sure I could make the Blazer Dancers team), but the fans don't even come close in comparison. Portland fans, best fans in the union. :)
After the game we crossed the street to use the bathroom in the mall John once was mistaken for a Jew in (you all remember that story!) and I had a sad experience of walking into the womens restroom to a nonsense muttering woman standing in front of the mirror, then checking the two open stalls to find one covered in urine (NOT squat-able with my long scarf and bulky jacket on and the possibility of contamination) and one covered in poop. Yes, poop. I walked out and John found me with a frown of disgust (the face you make after you see what I'd just seen) and wondered why I'd finally beat him out of the bathroom.
Which reminds me of my other poopy story! We were going somewhere on the subway and waiting at a fairly busy platform. A train approaches and it looks full in the beginning and then the cars towards the end start to clear out, but then to our excitement the car second to last is almost completely empty and I think to myself, "Sweet! We can get seats and not be constantly brushing up against other people puffy black jackets" (oh yes, that's all people wear here), and John says aloud, "I wonder if that car stinks". And I don't really listen because I'm fantasizing about my own bench and no one else bags or boots or breath near me, and then we step onto the car. Oh dear, we've made a mistake and the doors have already closed. The car STUNK to high heaven and the reason John had correctly surmised we would be greeted by rancid odors was sitting at the far end of the car. We, along with the two or three other people who had also made the mistake huddled at the other end with our coats and scarves covering our noses. Yeah, it was that bad. We promptly got off and on the next car over at the next stop and enjoyed watching people from then on get on the car, and then off really quickly either giggling (the teenagers) or eyes-watering and grimacing in disgust (everyone else). Teenagers like to giggle even in the face of smelliness.
Well, I guess that's about it for now. Still happy......
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| Thanks to John's mom, Manny's and Tillamook Cheese! |
