Honey I'm Home!

During the week I am blessed to be able to sleep in until about 6:20. Now I should get up earlier than this but I have mastered the 30-45 minute morning routine. I am out the door by 6:50-7:00. I then usually stand at the end of the bed and quietly say Pat a couple of times to get a good bye kiss which is follow by Pat falling back on the pillow and me walking out the door. Pat and I are on totally opposite schedules these days. He is up late and I am up early. Today I came home to find I was locked out...No I didn't leave or lost my keys somewhere... Pat had locked the chain lock. Now this is not the first time I had to stand outside my door and say Pat, Pat until he wakes up to undo the chain, but this time he went right back to bed. I leave my husband sleeping and come home to him sleeping, HMMM. I know I shouldn't and I do remember my father telling me "what goes around comes around", but Pat slept for a little too long and now I can't help myself. I was kind and didn't get too close to his face.

I know he has classes all day and that is mentally draining. I guess, I don't have much sympathy because I have classes all day too...classes with 100 pre-teenagers yelling and screaming through out the day. Maybe I should to be more sympathetic. I'll try again tomorrow. Have a good nap honey!

Macy's Thanksgiving Parade

My family has a tradition of getting up early and running a 5-10K every Thanksgiving. I love this tradition and I was going to find a race to join here in NYC, but instead we decided to go see the Macy's parade. My friend Crystal and her husband Joel and their baby Robert stayed the night at our apartment the night before and we all got up early on Thanksgiving to go watch the parade. It was amazing! The balloons were huge! We watched the parade until about 11:30 to try and beat the traffic. Crystal made the Turkey, stuffing, rolls and a pumpkin pie . I made an apple pie (displayed above), Yummy potatoes, Yams, and a Veggie platter, and Pat made a delicious cranberry chutney. It was a wonderful day

Pat and Julie on Julie's 29th Birthday

My mom pointed out that we were missing a picture of us on my birthday. She said that although the salad looked amazing she wanted to see pictures of her kids. Plus I also had my hair chopped off that day. It was almost to my gluteus maximus. It is quite a change. I still need to mail it into Locks For Love, but it is ready to go. So, Mom, this picture is for you. Oh, and yes, Patrick is growing a full beard. Maybe it is to help keep him warm during the New York winter. Who knows; he is always trying something new with his facial hair.

Fine New York Dining

Last Saturday was Julie's birthday. In order to properly celebrate her twenty-ninth birthday and to make up for last year when I was in Mexico during her special day, I decided to pull out all the stops and take her to Les Miserables on Broadway, followed by dinner at a really good restaurant. I had the tickets and the reservation.

Unfortunately, the Broadway stagehands had other ideas. One week before our planned show, they went on strike. Needless to say, they are not our favorite people at this time.

Thankfully, though, no one was striking in the restaurant business. We ate at the Gotham Bar and Grill. To be honest, I don't think that I have a refined enough palate to say anything other than the food was amazing! As an example, I ordered a seafood salad for the second course (there were three). It was delectable and the presentation was first rate as well.

I highly recommend it for those with a taste for the finer things in life and a flexible budget. Overall I think Julie enjoyed her birthday, despite the worker sabotage. I don't think my budget can stand another such birthday, but it was well worth doing at least once. I am open to suggestions for future celebrations; what ideas do you have?

The Metropolitan Museum of Art and....the codpiece!

Yesterday, Julie and I took the train into Manhattan to visit with my ex-roommate Morgan Williams and his wife Keara. They were in New York for job training and interviews. We met for breakfast and then meandered over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a quick sampling of the displays. I was particularly impressed by the Egyptian artifacts and art. In true New York fashion, they even had an entire Egyptian temple on display. Apparently, it was disassembled in Egypt and transported to New York, stone by stone. Although its presence is slightly disturbing (I mean, honestly, how does Egypt feel about this?), it was fun to stand next to it and feel like Julie and I were touring the desert west of Cairo. We even noticed some early 19th century graffitti carved into the stones of the temple. Apparently, people are the same today as they were two hundred years ago!





We also took the opportunity to view some authentic armor from the middle ages. Here is a picture of one that caught my interest.

Overall, this armor looks like a standard set of mid-16th century armor. However, if you look more closely at the middle of the picture, you will notice a piece of the outfit that protrudes in a rather interesting way. After some research, I discovered that this part of the armor is known as a "codpiece". As we all know, men in the middle ages wore tights as part of their daily garb. What I didn't know was that these tights were similar to modern chaps; they only covered the legs, leaving the rest of the lower body free and clear! This wasn't a problem for most of medieval history since the tunic extended well below the waist and provided the wearer with the required modesty. However, in the mid-16th century tunics became very short and, in order to maintain modesty, men began to wear the codpiece. Obviously, there were many styles of codpieces and the size was often dependent on how powerful the wearer wished to appear. Anyway, the armor of the mid-1500s mirrored the fashion of the royal courts and we now have this example of Emporer Ferdinand I's armor with a rather large, yet plain codpiece.

This is why I love New York. I learn new things every day!

The Hand of the Lord

As most of you know Patrick and I have recently found out some hard news. We were expecting a child in May, but it turns out that the fetus stopped growing at six weeks. Although 25 percent of all pregnancies end in miscarriage, no expecting mother or father ever really wants to accept that their pregnancy could end up as part of that statistic.
I have felt torn with the desire to be a mother and my knowledge that it is all for the best both biologically and spiritually. Biologically, I know that the fetus was not a normal or healthy fetus; it probably lacked the correct number of chromosomes that we, as humans, need to live. I also know that a miscarriage doesn't prevent a person from having perfectly normal and healthy pregnancies in the future. Spiritually, I know that Heavenly Father is aware of me and my needs, that he knows what is best for me and any future children he may choose to send to Patrick and me. I know that His Son suffered for me and understands my pain and that he will comfort me the way I need to be comforted if I let him.
I have felt very comforted. My eyes have been truly open to the blessings that I have in my life. I am grateful to be able to see the Lord's hand in my life these past few days and I thought I would share a few even though I won't be able to name them all.

First, I have a wonderful and caring husband who worries about me and makes sure I take care of myself and do things like go to the hospital when needed.

Second, I am grateful that my sister Leta was in town this past weekend and although I wasn't able to play with her like I had hoped, her presence was a great comfort.

Third, Patrick and I have been blessed by caring and loving parents who are always there when needed.

Fourth, I am grateful for the teaching fellow (like a student teacher) in my room who was able to provide consistency for my students the last couple of days and relieve some of my school stress.

Fifith, I am grateful for Nurse Anna who took my hand, led me into a room, and gave me a hug just when I needed it.

Sixth, I don't know what I would do without good friends who have visited, made dinner, called, e-mailed, sent flowers, gave a blessing, and said prayers for us. It seems that I have always been blessed to be surrounded by good people and good friends.

I know that I have not mentioned everyone or every moment that has blessed our lives these past few days but I want every one to know that Patrick and I are grateful for you and all you have done for us. We love you all.

When the Cat's Away...

... the mice are lonely!

Since marrying the most amazing woman in the world, there are a few things I've learned. First, nothing that used to be mine is truly mine. This applies to my sweatshirts, t-shirts, pajama bottoms, hairbrush, and toothbrush. The "sharing" of personal items isn't a two way road, either. I can't use Julie's sweatshirts (too small), t-shirts (too tight), pajama bottoms (too pink and too short), hairbrush (she threw it away and now uses mine), or toothbrush (that's disgusting). Additionally, when the wife is gone I tend to revert to my days as a single student at BYU. This means that I spend the majority of my free time (which, thanks to attendance at a Jewish school, means a four day weekend right now) chugging Coke, playing video games, surviving on chips and salsa, avoiding the cleaning that really needs to be done, and generally doing things that would earn me a stern "Patrick Lloyd" if she were here. Finally, I have learned that I really miss her when she is gone. It's just not that much fun to laugh at your own jokes, eat junk food by yourself, watch TV alone, or misbehave if you're not going to get caught. In short, the times when Julie is away visiting her family (she is currently on her way to Salt Lake City to see her sister Laura before she enters the MTC) remind me that I was really happy when I married her and I don't enjoy being alone! I can't wait until she comes back home.