Not So Wordless Wednesday

On your birthday Starbucks gives you free drinks. The Starbucks on base doesn't use the app or whatever it is with the gift card reloadable thing (you can tell I do this a lot) but they still give you a free drink. I asked for a medium and the girl behind the counter told me to live a little, it was my birthday after all, so I ended up with a passion tea lemonade the size of my head! Plus they matched my new birthday present Ray Bans my mom found on major sale somewhere. So I took a rare selfie, especially since I had my hair curled, another rarity.

On 9/11 I didn't have work, so once Ryan came home we went to the 9/11 Memorial in Jacksonville. I am ashamed to say I didn't know it existed until that day and the base Facebook page posted about it, but I am glad we went. It is a piece of steel from the Twin Towers and you can see the notes and flowers people left throughout the day. We arrived just after it rained so it was just us for awhile in the evening sunlight. It was beautiful.

Football season started and I was super excited. Now both my teams are 0-2 and I want to bang my head on the wall. Sigh.

Last weekend my parents met us for lunch in New Bern and we tried a delicious restaurant called Persimmons, which we had never been to before. It was right on the waterfront and all of their food was made from fresh, local ingredients. Check out my fried green tomatoes (with regular tomatoes, goat cheese crumbles and balsamic reduction). Oh my gracious it was heavenly.

We walked around a bit then and just enjoyed the view and showing my dad New Bern since he hasn't been before. It was pretty hot so the breeze coming off the water was much appreciated.

I finally managed to snag something from The Enchanted Brush. I was way too excited and I already wore it! I ordered it Friday, it arrived Monday, and I wore it Tuesday. One day I will own a pair of her amazing shoes... when I can afford them!!!

I am back to the "Let's guess why your digestive system doesn't work game." with a new gastroenterologist. So far I like him, we have some ideas, but until I have an attack again they cannot do as many tests as they want. I am under instructions to go to the ER during my next attack and have a CT scan and blood work done... which should be fun. When I am in attack mode I can barely move or leave the bathroom let alone get myself to the ER in time, but we shall see. I cannot seem to go more than six weeks without an attack so maybe within a month we will know more. He did decide to test me for celiac's disease with a simple blood test after my appointment. I went to the lab and I told the young HN naval guy I have deep veins, just to give him a heads up. He felt around, said he found one and was good. He then stuck the needle in said, "Oh." and promptly pulled it out again. As blood trickled down my arm he went and grabbed someone else and said, "Can you tap her, I blew out her vein." Sigh. I warned you dude. Now I have a lovely bruise on my arm. The other arm where the other lady tapped me? Not even a mark. I also have a gastric emptying test scheduled for this Friday. I sincerely hope I get some answers anyway possible at this point. I am tired of these stomach issues... it has been nearly a year now! But I like this doctor and I feel like he actually listens to me, unlike the other one, so fingers crossed.

When I visited my mom over the weekend of my birthday I got a gel manicure that lasted me a full two weeks. My nails are never long so I wanted to keep it up if I could. I went to Target and got the Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Nail Polish since it was no light necessary. I really don't have the time to go get my nails done every few weeks so I was excited to try this. Sadly, it chipped in less than a day. My nails look a little extra ragged from when I removed the salon gels, but the chips weren't even in the same spots on some of my nails. So yea, kind of disappointed. I have done a touch up already and those have chipped too. Just in case you were wondering before you buy! It's a shame because the colors are gorgeous and they dry pretty quickly, but they sadly just do not last with me.

I am trying to get back to blogging regularly, so thanks for sticking with me and my random accumulation of thoughts... especially in this post in particular.

This is not a sponsored post in any way, all opinions here are my own in terms of restaurants, Etsy shops, and nail polish... just sharing what I experienced!

A Day in the City

The day after the parade was Monday, Memorial Day, and Ryan and I decided not to battle traffic on 95 so we weren't leaving until Tuesday. We tossed a few ideas around, but I really wanted to go into the City. It had been way too long since my last trip and we never really had the chance to go together. We went to Coney Island last summer, but as for the City itself, not so much. So we spent the morning saying goodbye to my mom and dad and brother as they got on the road and then hung around with Babci and Poppy until lunch time. Then we got on the train to head to New York City.

My cousin Jill lives in the City now as she is attending law school there. She offered to meet us when our train got in and to hang out with us and help us get around. It has been a few years since I have been there so I happily took her up on her offer! Our first stop....

Chipotle. I am dead serious. There are no Chipotles in eastern North Carolina and we have been craving it like crazy! In Alexandria we went there quite a bit and it had been well over a year since our last burrito. I always get the burrito bowls and a grapefruit Izze... oh it was heavenly.

Some of the sights we saw from afar, like the Empire State building, but others we really wanted to go to as neither of us had done them before. One was the World Trade Center Memorial. We took the subway to the area but the line for tickets was HUGE. We were sadly about to cut our losses when a guy reaches over to hand Ryan something. Like a good city boy (well, not really, but he lived in DC long enough) he said "No thanks" without looking. The old man then growled at us, "Son, take the free tickets!" We look and the man handed us three tickets to the Memorial for 5pm. He explained he couldn't go and would be coming back tomorrow and he had three tickets to get rid of. Looking at him he was obviously a veteran and I am convinced he recognized Ryan as one as well (the haircut tends to be a dead give away!). We were so touched and thanked him profusely... we could now go to the Memorial.

We did have some time to kill so we decided to walk to the Brooklyn Bridge, another big must see for me as I had never been! We went through a nice park and then watched some pretty awesome street performers before heading to the Bridge itself.

It was crowded! Oh man was it crowded. And warm... it finally hit the 70s and in all honesty it was the perfect day to be walking out in New York City. Even though the Bridge was packed we still walked across and took pictures. It is never that crowded in the movies :P

My cousin was an awesome tour guide! Thanks Jill!

All three of us on the Brooklyn Bridge. My husband never wears sunglasses....

The Statue of Liberty

Skyline

This picture became one of my favorites. We just had a great time together enjoying everything. After we got off the Bridge we made our way to the Memorial. After going through security (and by passing the HUGE non ticket holder line) we were finally there. As someone who lived less than an hour from the City during 9/11 it was extremely difficult for me to be there, my cousin too. Both of us definitely shed tears. My husband was extremely quiet as well... the reason he decided to join the Marine Corps in 8th Grade was because of what happened on 9/11. Now nearly twelve years later it was incredibly surreal to be standing there, looking at the giant fountains where the Twin Towers had once stood.

The Freedom Tower is basically in between the North and South fountain memorials. Standing below and looking up at the finished (at least on the outside) building made me feel so incredibly small. I have seen it from afar during its construction but being right there was a whole different story.

When we walked around and saw roses, mementos and other things it was just heartbreaking. As we read the names what got to me was how many had a woman's name with "and her unborn child" next to it. Each time we passed one Ryan wiped the pollen/dust from the surface of that name and paused for a moment. The Memorial is beautiful and I am so so glad we went.

We also saw the Survivor Tree... it has been there since before the 1993 bombings (also honored at the Memorial) and survived 9/11. It was transplanted during construction and recently replanted at the Memorial site. It is slowly starting to take root again and will be a constant reminder of Survival to all who see the Memorial.

The museum on the Memorial site wasn't open so after sitting for a bit we headed out. On the way out we saw a table giving away pins to the first 1,000 veterans or active duty military who came to the Memorial so Ryan got a nice pin that he wore the rest of the day.

After pausing (and in all honesty taking a needed smoke break to calm ourselves) we took the subway to Rockefeller Center to get me some cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery. I ended up eating them in the car on the way home the next day and they were delicious! I got Red Velvet and my second favorite, yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

We walked by some shows and man I wish we had the time to stop and see them! It would have gotten us on the train home way too late, but I hope to see another Broadway show some day. I saw quite a few growing up (it happens when you're a theatre person and live not too far away) but it has been years since the last time I saw one.

We then got to see my cousin's apartment (nice!) and relax for a few minutes before going to a bar/restaurant nearby to meet her boyfriend for dinner. I also took the moment to photography my Magnolia stuff properly.

We had a good (if pricey, welcome to the City) dinner of burgers and beer while watching the Yankees/Mets game before Ryan and I had to get back on the subway to catch our train home. As you can see he is wearing his pin in this train picture!

We had a wonderful time playing tourists and got home in enough time to make sure Babci and Poppy were not worried about us being out too late! The next morning we all had breakfast before Ryan and I got back on the road. Luckily we planned it right and hit no traffic except for an accident right outside of Baltimore but even then we were only stopped maybe ten/fifteen minutes before we reached our exit.

Ryan's allergies developed into a cold that day which he then gave to me.... but we are both better now and I finally got to blog about our road trip! Whew.