today after kari jo and i tackled
a big project in her basement
we rewarded ourselves
with lunch at aroma.

it’s a delicious israeli sandwich and
salad place that opened on 72nd
street a few months ago.

we ordered our salads and took the
girls upstairs on the roof deck.
it’s a charming area on the second floor.
we had a nice lunch outside in
the humid but breezy pre-rain,
new york city summer air.

we browsed the toy/office supply
store a few storefronts down and
hit the pet store on the way back
home.

card games
puzzles
barbie dolls
blank notebooks
colored pencils
goldfish
rabbits
hamsters
parakeets

our last stop:
buttercup bakery for a cupcake.

what a fantastic morning/afternoon.
i love my cates girls!!

this lasted about 0.5 seconds…then back to
the silly smiles i love so much.
p.s.-do you see the chunck of hair missing under
the bow above her ear?  she got a little too friendly
with the scissors.

i just got back from a lovely
afternoon ride, just me and
lightning.

i went down to toga bike shop to price
some new pedals for my cycling
shoes to clip into.  it turns out
the pedal that matches the clip
i have on my cycling shoe is no
longer being made by look, the
brand of clips i have.

bummer!!!

i’ll figure something out.

the minute i set out for my ride it
started to sprinkle/rain and
continued in varying sererities
throughout my ride.

i went over to riverside at 68th
street and up the hudson river. 
then i went out to the street and did
a power loop. (by power i mean
steep-killer-hill-loop) it was an
accident, but i loved it in the end.

then i went down and over to the top
of the park at 110th.  the road entrance
at that spot dumps you onto the bottom
of this big massive hill and doesn’t
quit for a good while.

i tried to get a good workout out
of this ride as well as attempted to
learn my bike…but i sort of got
distracted by my surroundings.

this was my thought process:

okay, i can make it up this hill…
go
go
go
go

oh, those flowers are so pretty!
that’s where you’ve got mail was
filmed…

relax your shoulders
use your abs
breathe
breathe
breathe

that little pond is so charming!
the moss
the benches
i’ve never seen it before
i bet that couple sitting there is
having a romantic time…

push
pull (if i was clipped in with my shoes)
push
feel the pedal
push down through your heel
don’t point your toes
keep your knees in line

oh, the reservoir looks so grand today!
what a view of the city!!
i love the city!

dig in
dig
dig
take this hill like a man!
don’t stand up!
don’t do it!
almost there…

that man is wearing a scarf
and capri pants?
he must be european….

change gears
make it a bit harder
try and pass that guy up ahead of you
relax into the pain in your legs
push
push
push
don’t run over anyone…

ohhhh, sheep’s meadow!
it’s so empty
so green today
another beautiful view of the city
i wonder what those tourists are doing
for the rest of this rainy day…

as you can see i need to focus a
bit more when i do a serious
ride.  i should be thinking about
the bike and my body and going
fast and covering lots of ground…
not men’s scarves, romantic couples,
tourists, and bodies of water. 

i’ll work on this.

a couple fridays ago  

i got a new bike!

i haven’t ridden a bike since
i lived
in china.
it all came flowing back to me…
riding in the streets through traffic
with the cars,
weaving in and out of people with grace
(actually, just without killing anyone),
looking up at the city around me to
find myself amazed and breathless at the
beauty of my surroundings…

old memories began to flow freely and
i chuckled to myself more than once.

meghan and i went to the lower east side
to find bikes

FRANK’S BIKE SHOP

is the place to go. 

but on our way we stopped
for breakfast at doughnut planet
it
was
AMAZING!!

now, back to frank…
he reminds me of my dad
in about 20 years.

he basically gave me 2 free locks!
he took lots of time to explain our bikes
to us and teach us how to lock them up
properly. 
i sort of love frank and his cohorts. 

we met rob, a nice man with the most classic
new york accent i’ve ever heard.  he gave us
info on a triathlon on staten island in aug.

we took our bikes and rode east to the
river.  there we went under/along side the
FDR  and next to the manhattan and
brooklyn bridges.  it was so fun!!

we kept yelling to eachother
“this is so amazing!!”
“i love my bike!!!”

from there we continued south down the
island to south street seaport…
cobble stone roads and a boardwalk.

after this we came upon the staten island
ferry port and the boats that go to
lady liberty,
whom i love.

lightning and thunder needed a picture alone
with the statue of liberty…do you see her standing
tall in the background?

we curved around the tip of the island
and headed north through
battery city park.

we cruised past a bunch of yatchs
and the fleet of boats owned by the
manhattan sailing school.

continued up battery city park
along the hudson river.

we took a pit stop for lunch at
a sweet little place.
THE PARK

it’s like eating in a neat old greenhouse.
we were able to sit at the edge and park
lightning and thunder next to us.

that’s our bike names.
we’re starting a bicycle gang.
our name is

weather on the 1s

new york one is our awesome
local news station that gives
you the local weather every
ten minutes on the 1s.
10:11
10:21
10:31
and so forth.

i personally love meteorology
(just check out the #1 request on
my christmas list two years in a
row…that i have yet to receive)

we might call ourselves the 1s|
or storm
for short if we need.

so all our bikes will be named
after some sort of weather terminology

lightning-my bike…she’s yellow
thunder-meg’s bike…he’s gray
cyclone-conrad’s bike…he’s blue
tsunami- whitney’s bike…he’s silver
angi and cory’s bikes i can’t remember
and julia has yet to purchase one.

cory is carrie love’s boyfriend,
not kari jo’s husband, although he
does have a bike and is included
in our bike gang… but has not gone
out with us yet.  i think his bike’s name
is wind and i can’t remember the
color.

carrie love is my new roommate.
i will introduce you to her soon.
I LOVE HER!!!  

all of our bike gang members are
required to have weather names if
they want to be in…

and
who
wouldn’t
?!?!

answer: NO ONE!!

so back to our inaugural ride.

we got back on the road after
lunch and finished up our ride
by going from 17th street
(the location of our lunch destination)
to our home on 72nd street.

we had a fantastic time.
taking a tour of new york on a bike
is highly underrated!!! 

why did i wait so long to get
a bike?!

i’m going to be looking into
t-shirts for weather on the 1s.

in the meantime me and lightning
are becoming good friends.

i will treat her well and lock
her up always.

when i lived in china me and
my family there went through
25bikes for 11 people during
our first year there.  i had three
bikes stolen in my 2.5 years.

this will NOT be the case with
lightning.  lightning will be with
me always!

i also promise to wear a helmet
when riding in the city streets
and not to talk on my cell phone
while riding.

this is the beginning of a beautiful
relationship…

it’s sad that my grandfather asked me if i
had another website because i haven’t
written here since may.

i’m horrible for making poppi think
that i’ve been sharing things and telling
stories on an undisclosed blog.

no, poppi!!
i’ve just been the biggest slacker
EVER 

i apologize and hope to write much
more frequently.

for my first blog back in a long while
i’d like to share a little treat with you.

a photo

of a cat

who had an

unfortunate

haircut

whitney gave me this photo tonight
after church and i actually cried
real tears from laughing so hard.
i’m still roaring with laughter just
thinking about the picture. 

here’s the story:

a lady took her cat to be groomed.
for some reason she asked the
cat-stylist to cut a line down the cat’s
side and shorten the belly hair.
the groomer heard “like a lion.”

there are so many unanswered
questions here:

*why didn’t the cat-stylist clarify
and go over the cut with the owner?
*is this what she thinks a lion looks like?
*how ticked off do you think the cat is?
(the thought bubble calmly reads: i hate my life)
*does the cat-stylist hang this picture up
in her shop like pediatric nurses hang
pictures of their beloved former patients
on a bulletin board in the nurses lounge?

i hope the answer to that last one  is yes! 
everyone needs to see this!

you’re welcome for this picture
and

goodnight.
you’ll be hearing from me again soon.

_______________

this just in!

wonderful whitney found the profile view of
the cat-lion.

now i can see where the groomer was thinking
lion, but the furry little ugg boots cut on the
cat are still the funniest part about the whole
thing.  i’m glad the groomer got the puff on
the end of the tail.  if you’re going lion, do it
right!  go big or go home!!!

the cat still has a mixed look of
anger
and
surrender

this is a strong argument for
not
grooming
cats!

i was just visiting kari jo, meghan, and
brianne’s blogs.

their pictures made me long and yearn
for a new camera.

each of them has a super-nice camera with
lenses and caps and flashes and doodads.

it’s not all hype.
go check it out for yourself.
(see links above)
(wait until brianne is back from
her trip to europe before you look
at her blog.  it’s gonna have some
stellar pics on there, i’m positive.)

this is a quote from an email i just
sent to kari jo:

“something ignites in my heart when i see a
clear crisp photo.  the moment is captured
more fully and the life in it pours forth with
much more power when it’s clear…when
the right object/person is in focus when the
background is blurred correctly, when the
shadow falls on just the right place on the
face, when you catch the twinkle in the eye,
the tilt of the head….”

isn’t that so true?!
when you see a good photo you are
transported into the picture, you
experience the moment, and the
photographer becomes brilliant in your
eyes.

maybe it’s my poor photography skills…
or maybe it’s my camera.

i don’t know, but i want to find out.

…the silence is me calculating in my
brain if this purchanse is a wise move
for me or not…

we shall see
we shall see

(this was one of the window displays)

every year at this time macy’s
takes a million-bajillion flowers
and turns them into beautiful works
of art on the first floor of the store.

it’s a magical place to be.

so i went.

i took denise…
did i tell you about denise’s trip??!!
woe! i didn’t, did i?
i’ll save it for later.  it was a whirlwind of
a trip.  in and out and lots of sights in
just three days.

i was a bit dazed myself at the end.
it was fun and terrific and full of
meaningful conversation.

like i previously mentioned, one
mandatory stop was at macy’s.

this year’s theme was the pink
flamingo. ..
not the living kind that reside in
florida but the plastic tacky kind
that reside in suburban front yards
dressed in sunglasses and aloha shirts.
(i’m not kidding about this, i read it
on a sign)

so there we are in awe, nearly silenced,
looking up at the pink rear end of a huge
flowered flamingo.

how do they do it?!!!

they never fail to totally transform the
mac counter, coach shelves,
and fossil cases into a lush botanical
bursting with blooming, fresh, unique,
dazzling flowers and plants. 

i’m stunned every single time. 
this is maybe one of my favorite things
about new york in the spring.

    
do you see the purses hiding in there?                            it’s like shopping in a wonderful fairy land!

two weekends ago we a peek into the
near future…SPRING.  it’s not quite
sprung here yet.  i’m pretty sure i wore
my winter coast on monday and wanted
to wear it again the next day, but refused.

the weather last saturday and sunday
afternoon was absolutely beautiful.
i was as happy as a lark!

our plan for the beautiful day really
only needed one thing to make me
ever so happy….

FRISBEE

and that it did!

10 of us got together to play some
ultimate.  julie would have wept
at the beauty of it all.  we foolishly
went to the park for a place…ha!
when i say park i mean Central Park.

1/2 of manhattan was also there.
we found a dirt/woodchip lined
area with some pesky trees.  but
we weren’t going to do any better
than this without relocating to another
park.  so we made it work…
and work it did.

no injuries
no one cried (except the other team in their hearts
when my team schooled them…twice!!)
everyone was hydrated
barefoot crazy man collin didn’t step on
any dirty needles
my new frisbee performed well
i may have gotten a couple new people addicted
to the game (my secret plan)

it was so so so fun!!!

then we strolled over to the great lawn,
took off our shoes, and lazily watched
an old man team play softball.  it was
quite entertaining.

    
conrad, whitney, me, and meghan                                    frisbee friends enjoying the sun and grass and park.

    
faith and jules watching the game                                   lisa and whitney pretty in pink.
do you see all the lounging and lazing going on here?

seriously, the catcher had to be al least 70
years old and another man who had a
designated runner once he got on base
had to be pushing 80.  the other team had
committed to sweat pants for this game.
everyone can appreciate that, right?!

 next we split a grocery list up and went
out to get all the needed materials for a
bbq in our back yard. 
it was magnificent!!

steak
chicken
asparagus
potatoes
mixed veggies
vitamix 5000 strawberry sorbet
with shortbread for dessert

delicious!!!

we hung out in the back yard talking by
candlelight for a long while after the sun
went down.

i convinced a few friends who hung in
’till the end (whitney, conrad, meghan,
and chris) to stay for a rousing game
of wizard. i did not come in last (meg)
but i didn’t win either (whitney).

so that was saturday…pretty fantastic,
right?  right!  the weekend is not over though.

sunday:

i met two new friends, trenton and
paige hudson (two amazing people from
oklahoma…go figure…amazing…oklahoma
…it’s bound to happen) we became friends
instantly. it was like magic. we first met a
few months ago in the redeemer cookie
room after the 5pm service.  angie
introduced us.

angie

anyway, they usually go to new song, a
sweet little church in harlem.  so i met
them there at 11am and joined their
community for a morning.

 after church i met  a few folks in the park
for a picnic lunch of cheese and crackers,
strawberries, grapes, and potato flatbread.
we lounged on blankets, soaked up the
sun and played a little catch.

whitney and conrad threw around the
football with this big big guy who
played for Ohio state (?) or was is
michigan? or was it texas?  i can’t
remember, but he was big and could
throw the football really far.  his wife
and kids were adorable!

then off the the 5pm at redeemer.
it was wonderful as usual.

the weather was beginning to transform
back into early spring weather (i.e. cold
and gray) but we persevered in the cates’
backyard over some delicious dessert
made by emily.  it is so easy to sit at the
cates’ house and talk and tell stories for
hours on end.  it’s one of my favorite things
to do.

but we had to leave early to make it to
dinner at trent and paige’s place in
battery park city. (that’s all the way down
at the end of the island by the ferry to
the statue of liberty)

when i got there i got right to work on
fresh guacamole.  julie would have been
exceedingly proud.  a large bowl of it was
gobbled up in 30 minutes flat!!  it had a
perfect balance of:
avocado
garlic
lime juice
tomato
onion
salt
and this fresh light salsa i picked up
at fairway (so i didn’t have to buy
the cilantro separately…it worked well)

trent and paige made this pork shoulder
they learned to make at a latin cooking
class they went to for paige’s birthday.

the food was amazing!

the company:
a couple from new song
-he’s in med school and she is in public health, and
both are from ghana africa
ternt’s co-worker and his beautiful wife
-from mexico
rickey, his sis susanna, and a friend from florida
chris
- chris was born in south africa and lived
there until he was in grade school then moved
to edmond oklahoma!  his girlfriend, i think,
was from oklahoma too.
whiteny, conrad, meghan, and me.

after dinner we talked about our favorite
new york moments.  remind me to tell you
trent’s.  it’s crazy!!

trent and paige know how to throw a dinner
party!!  i love going to their apt and
connecting with this sweet couple and
lovely friends they surround themselves
with.

it was a F A N T A S T I C  weekend and
i was sad to see it fade into monday.

note: this past weekend was almost as
wonderful.  it included MORE playing of
the frisbee, sun, church, and eating out
of doors. 

get ready to see this pattern quite often
as the spring and summer months go by.

happy easter, friends!

i think easter is the most understated
holiday.  the resurrection of
Christ is central to my own life.

today we celebrated the death and resurrection
of Christ and all the blessings that
come to us through Christ’s substitution
for us on the cross.

oh, the beauty and richness of this day!

julia and i had a lunch at our apt.
apartment 1B hosts this easter
lunch/brunch every year.  this year
was a lot like most easter afternoons
in manhattan…

COLD!

the day started at 37 degrees and got to
48 degrees at the warmest part of the
day.  our guests did a smashing job of
enduring the chill and eating outside…
lunch AND dessert.

we gave in near the end and came in to
warm ourselves before the walk to
church.

we made the back yard quite pretty
with table clothes and jars of colorful
poppies.  julia’s dad made us a fire
in our grill.  it did a good job of keeping
our hands warm.

the food was delicious and i made
party-in-your-mouth punch for
the special occasion.  it was a HUGE HIT!!
this is the punch we made for every
birthday party when i lived in china.
the recipe is engraved upon my mind
and i take great delight in making it…
and drinking it.  oh, the memories of
sweet and festive birthday parties
of old that flow through my mind as i
make it…and drink it.

we had a wonderful mix of friends
that joined us:

scotty d
kevin
whitney & conrad
jordan & trevor
margret & matt
collin
marisa
amy
felicia & david
faith
cory & kari jo
cates children-bestsy, caroline, henry, nathan
jennings children-leah, daniel
hesiah

we even turned on the masters when
we came in to warm up.  brianne would
say, “there’s nothing like watching the
masters on easter…it’s tradition!” i’m
sure she shed some happy sports tears
at the end of the sudden death playoff
this evening.  the green jackets, the music,
the golfer fist pumps… she just loves it
all so much!

after lunch we brought everything in
and walked to the 5pm service at
redeemer.

and it was gooooooooooooood!

minister: alleluia! Christ is risen!
all:  the Lord is risen indeed! alleluia!

three amazing testimonies were shared.
i’m talking AMAZING stories of God’s
redeeming work in people’s lives.

the music was off-the-hook!
really?!
yes, really
…our music is unbelievable!

like every year we sang
Christ the Lord is Risen Today,
by charles wesley, written in 1739

and we sang a song i just can’t get
enough of lately.  i weep every
single time.  i sing it to myself some
mornings.  i hum it as i go to bed
some nights.  i love this song so
much!!

In Christ Alone
in Christ alone my hope is found,
he is my light, my strength, my song;
this corner stone, this solid ground,
firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
what  heights of love, what depths of peace,
when fears are stilled, when strivings cease.
my com forter, my all in all,
here in the love of Christ i stand.

in Christ alone, who took on flesh,
fullness of God in helpless babe!
this gift of love and righteousness
scorned by the ones he came to save.
and on the cross as Jesus died,
the wrath of God was satisfied.
forever sin on him was laid;
here in the death of Christ i live.

there in the ground his body lay,
light of the world by darkness slain;
then, bursting forth in glorious day
up from the grave he rose again!
and as he stands in victory,
sin’s curse has lost it’s grip on me;
for i am his and he is mine,
bought with the precious blood of Christ.

no guils in life, no fear in death,
this is the pow’r of Christ in me;
from life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny.
no pow’r of hell, no scheme of man,
can ever pluck me from his hand;
’til he returns of calls me home,
here in the pow’r of Christ i’ll stand!

woe! so good. so powerful.
that third stanza…oh.  imagine
the blasting voices of hundreds of
worshiping people at the crescendo
on the middle three lines.
so so moving.

a little post church clean up with
the help of conrad and whitney,
and i called it a day.  really julia
did all the washing… all credit
goes to her.

we did watch the end of the masters
and extreme home makeover with
lots of conversation mixed in.

it was a good and beautiful day.
even if i had no lovely people to
spend it with, no delicious food,
no kickin’ sermon by tim it would
still be a good and beautiful day,

for today my Savior and my God
was raised from the dead.  that
means life for me!  that means
peace now and forevermore for
me!  what an indescribable and
gracious gift i’ve been given.

it is worth celebrating.
he is worthy of celebration, honor,
glory, and praise forever and ever.
AMEN

okay, this is the last installment…
i promise.

i’m sure you’ve all had enough of
my birthday.

me, meghan, brianne, and maren
went away to a ski resort in the
mountains of upstate new york
for the birthday fortnight finale.
march 3rd-6th

we stayed at the thompson house.
it was a great place.  we had the
jacuzzi suite.  it had two big rooms
including a living area,
game area (well, that’s what we did
in the area), and a large entryway
for our wet/snowy/muddy boots
and jackets.

it was perfect!

we rented a car for the road trip.
it was 2.5 hours from the city.

these are a few lisa, brianne, and meghan
roadtrip traditions:
*stop at starbucks for breakfast and coffee
on our way out of town.
*road trip snacks=beef jerky, triscuits,
and jalapeno chips.
*i start the trip by driving us out of the
city and brianne ends it by driving us
back into the city.
*meghan falls asleep sitting up in the
back seat.

all of these things happened like clockwork
on this trip.

i missed a key exit just past the george washing
bridge and we had to take a big loop through
jersey.  OOPS!!!  b and m couldn’t have cared
less, but i was stressed about it.  there were
so many signs and it was all so unclear!!!  but,
with a few illegal u-turns we got back on track.

AND we had some excellent music to get
us there. good road trip music always
makes the trip go faster.  brianne made
me a cd full of  songs that came out in
1979, the blessed year of my birth.
that  one cd took us most of the way
there since every song is about
15 minutes long!!

maren met us there 20 minutes after
we arrived!!  perfect timing!

that afternoon meg and i went to scope out
the slopes.  it was COLD that day.  but i was
more than stoked to be on a mountain!!
i would have given anything to shred
down just one run that first afternoon.

that night we played and hung around
the thompson house until dinner.
well, we thought we’d go out and get
something to eat around 8-ish.
it might have been even earlier.
i checked out the menus in the lobby.
nothing delivered but the pizza place
up the road and it was already too late
for them to deliver.  8pm…too late to
deliver.  we were certainly in a foreign land.
we took ourselves into “town” and
NOTHING was open. no stores, no restaurants…
it was like a ghost town.  we drove around the
dark town and up a hill into a dark
neighborhood with big creepy (only
because it was night) houses.  we did
this mainly to freak meghan out.  she
kept telling us that scary movies are
set in places like this.

so all was not lost on our hunt for food
because we found a subway.
and it wasn’t just any subway.
it had an ice cream shop, antique
store, AND movie “theatre” in it.

we got our sandwiches and ice cream
and headed home.  dinner and games
for the rest of the night.

day 2:
breakfast
rent equipment for lisa
snowboard a lot
(walmart for brianne and maren)
dinner
more games

meghan took a lesson.  she didn’t have
the brightest instructor, which was a
shame, but by lunch she made it down
the bunny hill alone and without falling.

maren and brianne met us for lunch at
the lodge at the bottom of the mountain.
wearing snowboard gear,
eating grilled cheese and tomato soup
with these three girls
and the beautiful mountains set behind us…

i was one happy 30 year old!!!

i spent some time on the bunny hill
with meg.  she was sore my the day’s end.
she totally ditched the idea of staying on
one edge and leafing across the hill and
back.  she pointed her board down the
hill and went, and fell, and went and fell.
i was so happy to see her on the board,
but she was not ready for a lift yet. one
more day and she’d be ready.

we decided to get out a bit earlier for dinner
this night.  and it was

CINCO DE MARCH!!!

each year we celebrate the 5th of march
with yummy mexican food and margaitas!

okay, actually it was the 4th of march,
but the place we wanted to have dinner at
wasn’t open on wednesdays, so we
jumpstarted cinco de march
and celebrated a day early with a
mexican dinner.

a trip in the car on dark mountain roads
proved to be super fun and lovely. we
took the superduper long way, but at
least we found it at all.  this place claimed
to have

“the best mexican food this side of the
border.”

we weren’t sure if they were referring to
the mexican border or the canadian
border.  it might be a true statement if
they were talking about the canadian
border.

it was, in fact, delicious.  maren ate a
burito the size of her head, brianne
and a ham and cheese burrito, and meg
played it safe with the chicken quesadillas.

on the way back we passed an old
dilapidated drive-in movie.  we started
to pull in and turned off the car lights
to freak meghan out again…and boy did
she!!!  woe!!  she forced me to get out of
there and not get us all murdered.

funny story:
so after we all had some pretty serious
mexican food (i mean, maren had a
burrito supreme 2/3 the size of a
bowling ball!!!!) we had some toilet
problems the next day.  the problem
was that we broke it.  none of us wanted
to go to the front desk to ask for help.
so…
after some pretty good critical thinking
(three of the four of are are nurses,
after all) we figured out a way to fix
the toilet and i volunteered for the
job.  we wrapped my fist in several
layers of plastic bags and i became a
human plunger. we were ecstatic when
it worked.  we are brilliant!!!!
and you know we were almost crying
in laughter before, during, and after the
whole thing.

day 3:

it didn’t look too dissimilar from day 2.
meg was super sore and decided to bow
out of boarding this day.

it was a beautiful day.

i tried to make friends and ride with
people, but it didn’t work…until the
end of the day.

i became a stalker.  once i saw these
two boarding chicks who looked cool,
so i followed them down the mountain.
no, i didn’t talk to them…i just followed them.

at one point we were flying down and they
stopped to talk.  i kept going and right after
i passed them i totally wiped out.  it was so
embarrassing i had to keep going and left
my new non-friends.

this happened again with a few sets of people.
i followed three young guys across the  mt
into the park.  that’s where there are jumps
and poles and stuff to grind on.  that’s where i
took my first jump of the trip.  i didn’t die…or
even fall.  i was surprised.

at the end of my day i rode a lift with sean.
he is a snowboard instructor for the
mountain, but is out sick with mono.

yep.  he is a SERIOUS boarder.
he’s not cleared by his doc to work,
yet he’s shredding up runs all day.
he just graduated from college in
long island.  so nice!

at the top he taught me to ride switch.
it’s where you ride with your back foot
as the lead foot.  it feels weird at first, but
to do jumps and tricks you have to be
able to do it.

he was an excellent teacher!!!
he went through the park and we said
we’d meet at the bottom.  but i couldn’t
find him.  i was so sad.  i called him my
snowboard angel; here to help for one
moment, then gone.  i was thankful for
his help and temporary companionship.

that night we went to a restaurant on the
side of the mountain with an amazing
view.

i went into the bathroom.  and the worst
thing that could have happened…happened.
i dropped my iphone in the toilet.

i do not want to relive this tragic event again.
so please see my previous post about it.
splash

after dinner we decorated the canvas tote
bags maren and brianne got for us from
their walmart adventure.  we did them up
80’s style with shiny puff paint circa 1985.
i was last at the table.  even ugly puff paint
has to be just right.
i know,
i have issues.

then as a birthday gift to me we played
yahtzee texas hold ‘em.

i always beg to play this game every time
we get together to play games and i’m
always brutally rejected by the crowd.

so brianne kindly brought the game for
us to play.

and guess what?!!

everyone agreed that
IT WAS FUN…REALLY FUN!!!

i must say it can go a bit long, but
besides that we all enjoyed it.  i
went all in at the end and because
i don’t understand all the rules
i took all of my chips and brianne’s
chips because i won the hand.
thought i got everything…that’s
what all in is, right?  not exactly.
but i did the the two armed scoop
action to take in my winnings and mixed
all the chips together.  so i may not  have
actually won the game…but it ended.

opps!!  sorry, brianne!!
thanks for playing girls!!
i really appreciate it!!

day 4:
breakfast again
1/2 day of snowboarding
drive back to the city

each morning the sweet thompson house
people set out breakfast and even homemade
muffins one morning.  there is a fire place and
a pretty view of the mountains.
quite enjoyable.

we decided that i would go snowboarding and
meg and brianne would pack up and come get
me on our way out.  this was the best idea
because snow turn to be horrible slush in the
40 degree sunny weather.  it was close to
miserable.  east coast skiing/snowboarding is
quite different from the rockies, where i grew
up skiing.  i won’t go into the gory details, but
it was ugly. half a day was plenty.  i took some
pretty nasty falls because of the ice.  i had a
mild ice-burn scratch down my face for a few
days because of a spill.  that one hurt!!

and guess what!

i ran into my snow angel again.  we talked
and took a few runs together.  this time he
taught me how to take the jumps.  i was so
glad i found him again!!  we went through
a few parks together. again, it was too short.
but i did get a picture with him.

then brianne and meg came to pick me up.
they were there for my last run.  i came to
the top of a park that was visible from the
base of the mountain.  they got in position
to take some photographs and i showed
them what i’d learned from sean.

when i got down the mt the conversation
went a bit like this:

me: DID YOU SEE ME??!!  DID YOU SEE
ME TAKE THOSE JUMPS?!!  DID YOU SEE
ME?!!!!
meg and brianne: yeah! that was awesome!
we got a couple of pictures.

this written log of the convo doesn’t do it
justice.  it was sort of  like a little kid on a
playground who did something inconsequential
like sliding down the slide by themselves and
the genuinely excited parents respond with a
kind, “that was just great, honey.”

we returned my board and boots to the rental
shop and headed home.  the drive back was
much shorter than our first drive.  it may or
may not have been the loop through jersey
that first time around…i’m not sure.

did i mention we had a SWEEEEEET rental
car?  we always love driving out of the city
and miss being in cars.  but on our way in
there is crazy traffic and we have to find a
gass station and parking and blah blah…

so by the time we have to return the car we
are so ready and very thankful that we live
in a place with such great public transportation.
who needs a car?!!!
not us!!!

we had a GREAT time on the birthday
snowboard  trip.  i was the one who did
most of the snowboarding, but we all
had a wonderful time.  thanks girls!!!!

for more pictures of the trip and other
birthday fun please see brianne and
meghan’s blogs.

THE END

of the birthday fortnight, that is.
however, gifts and cash are still
always welcome.

i know, get a new title, right right…
but it’s almost the end of the series,
almost.

monday, march 2nd

it finally came!!!!!!

plan for the day:

1) get a call from my mom.  every year she
calls early and tells me she is feeling
labor pains.  i was born at 12:15 in the
afternoon after 17 hours of labor, no
meds.  i repeat…no meds! apparently, it
was really hard and the pains begin to
return each around my birthday.
go figure!!  this sweet annual call
usually ends with
“i love you, baby!!” 
oh, how i love my mom!! 
she is a good one!!

2) lunch with a several girls at

JEAN GEORGES

it’s the restaurant at the bottom
of trump tower in columbus circle.
it’s one of my favs in the city.

ladies present:
julie
amy
brianne
felicia
faith
emily
meghan
kari jo

 
felicia, emily and kari jo
brianne, me, and julie

   
i got beautifully wrapped gifts!!  thanks!!!!

it was delicious!!
i think i was the only person who’d
ever eaten there before.  so it was a
pleasure to introduce them to jean
georges.  they are now all dreaming
about it every night.  that’s how good
it is!!!

it was such a blessing to have these girls
around for my birthday, AND i had julie
close at hand.  it was perfect, really.

it snowed about 12 inches the night
before and into that morning.  so
everything was covered in a thick
blanket of white.  the windows to the
restaurant look out into central park.
try to imagine with me…
eight very fun ladies eating unbelievable
food, laughing and telling stories, while
looking out over snow capped
central park. 
dreamy, right?!!!

and there were gifts too!!!
i will not list them all for you, but
thank you dear friends for everything!!!

we crossed the street to take this
picture.

so much snow all nyc public schools
were canceled.  for your lisa-trivia
files, on my 16th birthday i had
TWO snow days IN A ROW!!  but i
also had to push back my driver’s
test by two weeks because of it.  i’ve
had some snowy birthdays.

sadly, i had to put julie on a plane
shortly after lunch.  it’s always so
very happy, delightful, and sweet
to be near her…so it’s extra hard
to say goodbye.

    
this pic on the left is a really good one of
both of us.  actually, it is a realistic pic of our
time together…lots of talking at the same
time.

she got to her plane just in time.
her original flight was canceled
due to weather, but thankfully she
got back to texas at a decent time.

3) went to the billie jean king cup. 
TENNIS!!

serena williams
venus williams
jelena janovic
ana ivanovic

…in madison square garden.
it was like a mini tournament.
venus played janovic and won.
then serena played ivanovic and
won.  so then they played each other.
it’s what everyone wanted to see,
right?!  the williams sisters duking
it out on the court is alway thrilling!!
always!! and on my birthday!!!  how
lucky am i?!!!

it was super fun!
whitney and conrad were there.
they are a new couple plugging
into our fellowship group. 
superfun people!!   meghan and
julia were also there with me too.

we moved down to closer seats
for the last two sets.  everyone
was leaving because it was
so late…do you think that’s what
we did?  oh no!  we moved in for
a better view!  who cares about
how late it is?!!  not us!! 

it was a good birthday…
friends, yummy food, beautiful
white snow, and tennis!!!

i love my life!!

oh! p.s.- guess who presented billie
jean king with an award in the middle
of the tournament…

BILL CLINTON

we were surprised!
who knew he was
going to be there?

sunday, march 1st

this was t-one day until
my 30th birthday.

julie and i slept in a while and took
our time getting ready…
just like every other day she was
here.  wake up, talk a while,
laugh a while…no need to rush
about.  so we didn’t.

we went to alice’s tea cup for
lunch.  as expected, there was
over an hour wait, so we put our
name in and wandered around the
neighborhood.

to our delight we found the warmest
suit on earth in the north face store.

after lunch we had just enough
time to meander back to my place
to get ready for church.

having julie worship next to me
is always a special treat.  that
didn’t even happen much in
hawaii because we went to
different churches.  this sunday
was especially sweet because it
was the first sunday of the month…
the Lord’s Supper!!  i just love
communion sundays.

after church we chatted to our heart’s
content in the cookie/coffee room.

then we made our way to kari jo
and cory cates’ apartment where
there was an apartment full of
people waiting for me.

SURPRISE!!!

well…
kind of

meg got me ice cream cakes,
angie made me a wedding
cake (i love the moist vanilla-y
almond-y flavor of classic
wedding cake…and i got it!!),
and cory and the kids made me
TWO apple pies.  i did my best
to make a good dent in each
of the sweet treats made in my
honor. (you’ll see below…my mouth
is full in most of the pictures)
it was in heaven!

3   0   
and saftey…it has no quitting time.

we talked and laughed for a good
while.  then came the presents.

my dear clem girls sent a lovely
package that kj had ready for me.
-hand made stuffed animal, an owl
-vintage material and a book to show
me what to do with it.
-delicious sour cream cookie
-handmade scarf
all so full of love!!  thanks!!

nancy also sent the perfect gift
and card, like always.
felicia and david gave me a nice
big cookbook. can’t wait to use it.

    
betsy is lookin’ good.  she’s showing us the
best sassy face she’s got. 
i like it!!!

i convinced 75% of the crowd to stay
for a round of telephone pictionary.
it was hilarious!!  the digressions are
so so funny.  the drawings have a high
potential of breaking down around me.
i have quite poor drawing skills.

nathan and henry got to play the second
round with us. they were loving their lives!

       
after everyone left, emily, her sis amy, me, julie, and meg (pictured
on the far right) suckes some helium and sang a few songs for
kari jo and cory. it was the perfect ending to this fiesta!!  i might
put the viedo up for you…if you really want it.

then a walk home in moderately heavy
falling snow.  we had a distinct layer of
white on us when we arrived home from
the one block walk from the cates’ apt.

THANK YOU
THANK YOU
THANK YOU…

whitney, conrad (behind the camera) faith, kari jo, cory, julia, angie, felicia, david, amy,
betsy, caroline,greg, meghan, emily. jenn and david are not pictured. 

oh, did i already say
THANK YOU
THANK YOU
THANK YOU

i need to make some
shout-outs.

+to kj and cory for hosting this
fun time.
+to angie for making a delicious
cake
+to meg for the ice cream cakes
(a lisabrown birthday tradition…even
if i have to eat one by myself i always
try to have an ice cream cake)

as you know i love shows,
and i love the ballet.

so that’s what we did on the saturday
prior to my birthday, julie’s second
full day in the city.

me and jules met up with meghan to
try for the wicked lottery.
we did not win. surprise!!
so we went over to the tkts booth.
nothing.
our next bet was box seats at
marry poopins
and they had four. yes!!

the 15 minute tap number with all
the chimney sweeps thrills me to
pieces every time!!

our view was certainly obstructed,
but worth the cheap price we paid.
meg’s sister, erin, decided to join us
for the show. 

we went home and changed for
dinner.  julia, julie, faith, me, and
meghan met at that quaint little
italian place i told you about a
few weeks ago.  i wore a darling
new red dress as did julie and
meghan.

julie, me, faith, julia, meghan

then off to the BALLET!

the program we saw was called
21st century movement. portions
of four ballets that premiered in the
last nine years. 
they were all wonderful.
the partner work and lifts were
unbelievable…breathtaking!

julie and i got shushed by faith
and meghan.  they were pretty
serious about the whole being
quiet thing, even though we were
in the very back row of the orchestra
and were whispering supersoftly.
i hate being shushed. 
just let a girl get her jokes out!
(not me. julie is the funny one.)
“they are just ninos getting out their wiggles”

a brisk, cold, and painful walk took
us back to my apartment only
six blocks uptown from lincoln center.
you see, julie’s shoes were not her own
and caused a considerable amount of
pain to her sweet little feet.

it was a fantastic day.
good food +
singing +
dancing +
pretty dresses +
friends =

the perfect pre-birthday celebration!

february 26th julie came to town.
that was a week and a half ago.

on her first full day in town we
went all over…from greenwich
village to midtown, to my hood,
the upper west side, and even
over to jersey.

we had an amazingly delicious
lunch of fish and chips at
a salt and battery,
this fun little british place in
greenwich village.  they
pipe in a bristish radio station
and run around the kitchen
yelling (nicely) at each other in
thick, but lovely british accents.

when julie and i were waiting to order
the man behind the counter was
flying about making orders.  he
and his black and white striped
chef’s pants asked us to give him
a minute. “i’ll be with you in just
a second, love!!”
(i think the pants look suspiciously
similar to hammer pants.  remember
those dad?  i know you do!)
at just that moment he pulled out
a plastic bin that held tiny containers
of tart sauce.
it was empty.
he frantically shouted:
WE  HAVE  A  TARTASTROPHE!!!
and ran to the back to fill the bin
with more tarter sauce.

julie and i looked at each other
and giggled, storing that moment
away to relive again and again.
adding ‘tastrophe’ to the end words
became a favorite past time of ours
on julies visit.

for dessert…
milk and cookies
that is the actual name of the
cookie shop.
cookies go straight to julie’s
heart.  she loves them more
than most.  julie with her warmed
dark chocolate english toffee
cookie and cup of coffee and me with
my warmed chocolate caramel
cookie and ice cold glass of milk
were to girls in a pretty blissful
existence…while the cookies lasted.

we wandered around the village for
a while and found a fabulous stamp store
that might possibly have a picture of
julie’s grandmother as a child hanging
on their wall.  she was convinced it was
her grandmother and was more than
creeped out by it all.

look at all the stamps and ink!!!
and this was just one of several
stamp-covered walls.

next we slowly made our way uptown.
*the ribbon store.  i just love
the place’s tall ceilings with
walls covered in all sorts of
ribbon: satin, grosgrain, rickrack, solid,
striped, spotted, thin, thick.
*fabric store
*lee’s art shop.  i don’t know how i’ve
lived here for years and no one has
taken me to lee’s…a real crime against
me has occurred!!  it’s amazing.
this place is like an art supply store/
michael’s, a house of lights, and
a kb toys all smashed together…
and shrunk down of course.  julie
and i could have spent hours there.

…but had to go home to get ready for
erica and sean’s going away
party.  it was a costume party.
since they are leaving and we
are sad we decided to dress like
we were going to a funeral.

so me, julie, and brianne got
clad in black dresses and made
hats/head coverings out of
some black netting we picked
up at the fabric store.  we put on
lots of black eye make-up and
bright red lipstick.

we made our way to the est side
for dinner at the tibetan restaurant.
it was delicious like always.
brianne and i have a very tender
place in our hearts for tibetan food.

then to jersey city for the party.

(i’m having some technical difficulties
uploading pics from this party, so
please please come back later…they
are good.)

it was good to see my friends off.
they are leaving on a six-ish
month road trip across the
country.  the trip will end with
their wedding in oregon in mid
september.

the quote of the evening was from
julie when some good music
was played later in the night:
“i thought i was tired…
but i was just tired…
of not dancing!!!”

when erica and sean gave us a tour
of their tricked out road trip van
i said this is fantastic!!  but everyone
heard, “this is vantastic!!” i wish i had
really said that…it’s much
less vanilla than fantastic.
anyone can say ‘fantastic’ at anytime,
but VANTASTIC
who gets to say that very often?
i totally missed my chance!

yay, erica and sean!!!
we will miss you, friends!!

it was a LONG day in the city.
long…
and AWESOME!!!

i have some bad news.

all you who are sensitive to sad
stories involving electronics need
to stop reading now.

on thursday night i was at windham
mountain (more on this tomorrow)
at a mountain-side restaurant.  i
went into the bathroom with my
iphone in my shallow back pocket.

before i knew it my iphone was
in the bottom of the toilet!!!

morpheus jumped out of my
pocket and into the toilet bowl
for a swim. 

it only lasted 1.5 seconds, but it was
enough.

i immediately ran the phone out
to the table where meghan,
brianne, and maren sat.

“i dropped it in the toilet!!”
“i dropped it!!  it got completely
wet!”
“it went into the toilet!! what do
i do?!!!”

i sounded like a crazy person.

they calmed me and helped dry it
off.

we used a blow dryer and didn’t turn
it on for 24 hours.

the next day…

n

o

t

h

i

n

g

black screen
zilch
darkness

can you believe that apple does not
repair iphones?!!  i have to get a new
one.

thankfully i was able to down/up load
(i’m not sure which one) all my data and
contacts to my computer and all my
files will easily go onto a new phone.

one short swim and it’s all over.

so all of you out there be very
very careful with where you
carry your phones and make
sure to keep them far from
bathrooms, pools, oceans,
rain, even tall glasses of water.
don’t take any chances.

i’m so sad and
so frustrated…no one wants to
spend their birthday money on
something they technically already
own!!!

i am mourning the loss of
my twenties and iphone morpheus
all in one week!! 

my birthday fortnight has been
wonderful except for this tragic
incident.

more on that later.

julie k repass has arrived in nyc.
not just in nyc, but in my very
own apartment.

we’ve spent the last solid hour
laughing and talking and laughing
some more.

happy
happy
happy

i’ve missed her so.

her big blue eyes,
her hilarious vocabulary,
her interesting stories,
her sweet and contagious giggle.

she is fantastic and i am so excited
to introduce her to my nyc family.

confession:
we just might have matching
pj’s that are so embarrassing:
red bloomer type shorts with
white hearts.

i will dream happy dreams with
her next to me tonight.