FALL!!!!!

I fully believe that Texas does most things better than every other state... Barbeque, Sunsets, Being Awesome... but New York definitely has a leg up on what Fall should look like. We had a little snow storm at the end of October (which NEVER happens apparently-- so of course it happened while I'm here, per usual) and it snapped the trees into action and they started changing into some amazing colors. Here's what I see out my window...

I know the camera can't fully capture it... but it's beautiful and I love walking while the leaves are actually falling all around and I'm in appropriate fall attire that I can wear without sweating and longer than two days, as opposed to in my motherland :)

Something else I love about fall, is that there is a thing here called "Apple Picking". Yes, my friends, this means you romp about in an orchard, pick some apples, each some apple cider doughnuts, and feel incredibly festive. I had the opportunity to go apple picking TWICE this year-- once with Leticia and two of her friends and then again with my friend Heather and the foster care girls mentoring group we started. Sadly I can't post most of the pics from the foster care girls group because of rules about posting pics, but I'll give you a few snap shorts of my apple picking experience...

 When we got to the orchard, we were informed that there were no more apples left... EXCUSE ME?! No... we got a ZipCar and trekked across the countryside... we are PICKING some APPLES!! So naturally, we snuck into the orchard and scavenged apples off the ground and plucked the lonely ones left in the tree. It was the Christian thing to do, obviously.

           

 Apparently an action shot was necessary.

 This is a sign one of the foster care girls wrote while we were shopping around in Grand Central Station waiting for our train to get there. Mercy First is the name of the foster care agency we volunteer with. These girls are amazing and it has been so much fun to hang out with them! I wish I could post their beautiful faces but you'll just have to use your imagination :)

 The orchard we took the girls to thankfully still had apples and was set up like a huge harvest festival, complete with this terrifyingly large black cat...

 And a hay ride!!! None of the girls had ever gone on a hay ride so they were REAL pumped about it. I think there was screaming... I'm not quite sure why. But we all survived and it was beautiful.

I think this picture is legal since it's just their backs. We had to use these long picking sticks and I think the girls had a lot of fun filling up our apple bag. I wasn't exactly good at maneuvering the picker so I just started trying to juggle the apples and ended up hitting some children on accident. Oops! I should probably stick to holding the bag.

Soooo in summary fall here is awesome and apple picking is something that has to become a tradition in my life. That's all there is to it!

Time To Go

** WARNING: This is a sentimental post**

Reflect back with me, to April. I had just succumbed to some intense brainwashing from Leticia and agreed to participate in a half-marathon with her. Sure, I thought, why not? I've done this before and I need to make myself work out every day. This will be good! Besides, the race is in July so it's just a few months and then it'll be over.

... And then the race filled up before we registered. But it was okay-- we just decided to do the Philly Half Marathon instead on September 18th. Awesome-- this meant we got to take a couple weeks off and then RE-START our training. My favorite. But we worked hard and dedicated each Sunday to running those long runs, bum knees, blisters, and all, and we were ready on race week to conquer the 13.1 miles! (And get those t-shirts.. let's be real, it's all about the t-shirts).

Back in Texas, my sweet grandma fell down on her knee at the beginning of September and had to be admitted into the hospital. It seemed pretty low-key and she was going to be released in a couple of days after having a procedure to rehabilitate the knee and she would be good to go. Unfortunately, her body wasn't exactly on board with this plan and her various systems started reacting badly and before we knew it, she was in pretty bad shape. Five days before the race, I received a devastating phone call from Mom and Dad stating Grandma was just given 24-48 hours to live. She had been given the choice to either undergo a grueling surgery that she most likely would not survive and if she did the recovery would be extremely difficult, or she could refuse the surgery and be moved into hospice care for her last few days. My Grandma has always been a strong, independent woman who is wise with her words and steadfast in her faith. During those terrifying few weeks, she dazzled the staff with her optimism and determination while receiving bad news after bad news. When she had to make her choice, she was wearing a breathing mask and could not talk. My mom wrote out the alphabet and asked her to point out the letters as to what her decision would be.

She pointed to T-I-M-E T-O G-O.

Grandma knew she had lived a life dedicated to the Lord and she was ready to be with Him. While it was heartbreaking to receive this news, and difficult to even write this post, I was once again amazed at the steadfast faith and wise words of my grandmother. Josh and I flew home immediately and Stacy drove in from school and we gathered with the rest of the family in Temple to say our goodbyes. It was an unexpected but beautiful time together as a family and we were there together as she went to be with our Savior.

So.. I didn't run the half-marathon. But I'm thankful I was able to be there as Grandma faithfully finished her race. She fought the good fight, she finished the race, and she kept the faith. And I know Christ was there to say to her "Well done, my good and faithful servant", as she ran into His arms-- wheelchair, cane, and artificial knee-free.

Grandma will always have a special place in my heart and I will never be able to open presents at Christmas, sing "In the Garden" or watch Dancing with the Stars without thinking of her quiet, consistent support and faith throughout the years. Thank you, Grandma, for leaving such a strong legacy of faith and for showing me what it means to be dedicated to going where the Lord calls, each day. No matter how difficult.

Leticia ran the half-marathon like a rock-star in record time and like a true friend, brought back the coveted t-shirt! She said we should run another one... to which I replied, "NEVER AGAIN!" :) Words that have been said before, I know...

Thank you for those of you who have offered up your prayers, encouragement, and casseroles during my family's time of grief. Your words and hugs have meant more than I can express. I am beyond blessed to have such supportive friends and family.

Movin' On Up... Er... Over?

I know after the last couple of posts you were all probably on the edge of your seats-- Will they move? Did eight more natural disasters occur the next week? Will they recover from their junk food coma? But I am happy to report that we DID in fact get moved, no more natural disasters have occurred (unless you call all of my clients forgetting to wear pants last weekend when I went to their homes a natural disaster... which I think I might) and I may never recover from the Irene Junk Food Influx of '11, but it was totally worth it.

So without further adieu... let me introduce you to Apt. 3I (the letter-- not the number-- it's already annoying) that is my and Janell's Brooklyn abode....

WELCOME!

This is our tiny tiny closet in which we have attempted to store everything possible after being allowed to spread out over some massive square footage in Queens. Yes friends, we moved into a smaller, more expensive apartment... by choice. It's the New York way apparently.

Our tiny but cute linen closets! (We have lots of towels-- so come and visit! Our towel collection makes up for our lack of sleeping space, I suppose?)

This is how I let you into the apartment. Or the Thai food delivery man. Whatever.

Behold the kitchen. I love it. It has that great bar and behold beneath the sink to the left, what do you see? That's right... it's a DISHWASHER. I know I know-- crazy.

Also please note to the right on the bar the stack of coupons. I have channeled my childhood Sunday past-time of clipping coupons, and I love it. Hey, you don't get to sit this pretty buying paper towels at full price!

This is an overview shot of the kitchen/dining room/living room. You can cross the area in about six big steps. So while it's not ideal for playing "Mother May I?", it's cozy and nice but open enough to host some little parties! And ones that people might actually attend, since we don't live in no-mans-land anymore :)

The dining room... and TV. Also to the right you'll notice our giant air conditioning unit directly next to the heater. Why not just combine all the eye sores into one central location? I mean seriously-- WHERE do you store an A/C unit?! Perhaps there's space in that linen closet.

Just in case we forgot we live in New York, we have the pics about the couch to remind us. Our dear friend Angie took those pics and they're awesome :)

Also you can see the coat rack that remains up all year... with all the coats still on.

See storage question above.

Our little bathroom.

I know I know, two grown women living Lucy/Ricky style may appear a little strange...

See above remark about the NYC way. Hey, it works!

The other side of the room. That back corner are some things yet to be unpacked... slash we may need to start storing things in the hallway.

All my sarcastic comments aside, I absolutely love this apartment. I may have to eat cereal for two of my three meals a day to afford it, but the location is great and coming home is no longer and hour plus affair, which makes it all worth it! So.. go ahead and book those plane tickets and come see the awesomeness for yourselves :)

Survival

We're totally prepared for this thing. Today we've been on at least four "walks"... which turn into trips to the grocery store for "just a few more things... you know.. JUST IN CASE". Obviously the items pictured below are exactly what you need in a state of emergency.

We watched some news for a little while but quickly got bored and turned to Punky Brewster Season One and Supermarket Sweep clips on YouTube. They have the entire episodes! It's just like 1999... check it out. We're trying to soak in as much Netflix/DVD/Internet time we can until the power inevitably cuts off. Then I guess we'll resort to puzzles... and conversation.

Note the suitcases. Yep... we're still packed and ready to move. Someday... someday it will happen.

What's Next... Locusts??

Well I'm sure as you all know from the obsessive media coverage, NYC has had quite the memorable week thus far. On Tuesday, I was sitting in my office, playing words with friends pretending to document my notes (What? Don't act like you don't do the same thing!) when all of a sudden the building starts shaking. This conversation happens:

Me: (to my coworker Mike) Um, do you feel that? Are you shaking my chair?

Mike: **silence....runs from room**

CHAOS ENSUES IN HALLWAY

I then see our supervisor who is deemed "safety coordinator" literally PUSH some co-workers out of the way and run out the front door. I finish playing my 33 point word and follow the crowd out the front.

We then stand outside for at least 45 minutes, checking the news (mainly Facebook) obsessively to see what happened and then finally... the words I had been waiting to hear...

Boss: "Well... because of the earthquake... we aren't going to MAKE you stay--"

Me: "Bye!"

So I left the sturdy, one-story building surrounded by nothing, hopped on the L train, and headed into the city full of skyscrapers to run some errands. Best earthquake ever. I was able to get stuff done and head home and continue packing because on Saturday, Janell and I are movin' on to Brooklyn...

... Or so we thought.

Enter Irene. I thought I had left the crazy hurricane prep back in Texas, but oh how it has followed and intensified. The city started evacuating, bottled water is gone, and ALL subways and buses are being shut down as of 12:00pm on Saturday. We continued to plan for our move though. I mean come on-- what's a little RAIN?? We paid a deposit!

So we made a Target run for some essentials (toilet paper, tuna... double stuffed oreos-- the usual) and as we're heading home ready to pack up the remaining stuff, we get a call from the movers who apparently decided to pansy out and said they can't move us until Monday.

So there we were... waiting for the bus... bags full of gummy worms and Reese's... doomed to stay in Queens through the weekend.

So here I sit... on my bed, surrounded by boxes, with a slight sugar high, waiting for Irene to pass through, sure to disappoint the crazy New Yorkers surrounded by their candles and batteries. All I can say, is that I'm not sure there are any natural disasters left to hit here, so I'm glad to have gotten them all out of the way during the first year.

For the next two days I foresee a lot of Netflix, board games, and steam of consciousness blogging. Get excited. I know I am.

Henderson Family Vacay

Back in the day, a classic Henderson family vacation consisted of a cross-country trek in a minivan full of ice chests of soggy sandwiches and heavy doses of Dramamine as we stopped into relatives homes (slash any random acquaintance's house who has a problem saying no) along the way. Well, it's been a few years since we embarked on one of these journeys and decided this year we would step things up. We were going to leave behind the Waffle Houses and toll-free highways of the South and venture into the Northeast-- land of the lobster roll and maple syrup. Up to this point, we had never travelled through these states. Obviously, if we had known there were so many cheese and cider sampling shops, we would have explored this land LONG ago.

I met up with the fam in Boston (where they had already had a week of fun without me while I made the big bucks in Brooklyn-- no summer break is lame!) and we began our 4th of July weekend o'fun. I took a bus from New York to Boston and was supposed to arrive around 10pm. Of course the bus was over an hour late and we sat in traffic in the Bronx for another hour so I didn't get there until after midnight. I was unable to read or watch anything on the trek because I forgot to take my Dramamine. It was the only appropriate beginning to a Henderson vacay. Apparently I can only go on road trips if my mother is there to administer my meds.

Moving on..

On our first day, we travelled to Cape Cod with the sole task of taking a tour of the Cape Cod Potato Chip Factory.

We made a brief stop off in Plymouth where we made every attempt to stand on the rock...

And took a shockingly natural-looking pilgrim photo. They were going to give Dad a muskett too but at the last minute decided to give him the Good Book. Naturally.

The day was off to a great start, but tragedy soon struck. Apparently the whole of the Northeast decided it would be a great idea to go to the Cape at precisely the same time as us-- causing us to reach the Cape Cod Potato Chip Factory five minutes after the last tour ended. I think the pictures best depict our disappointment.

But we pressed on. Saturday we headed up to Maine where we spent the day tasting taffy, reviewing lighthouses, pretending the Ocean wasn't freezing, and devouring lobster rolls...

This is apparently the only picture I took of Mom and Dad on this entire trip. Sorry parents! It was apparently necessary for Stacy and I to have daily sister photo shoots.

We made up a ranking system for the taffy assortment pack. A simply 1-10 wouldn't do. We developed five different options: the sunburst, for when the flavor burst forth when you chewed it, the lawn mower- for when eating that taffy was like a CHORE, A roller coaster for when the flavor was CRAZY, A cliff... for when you wanted to jump off a cliff after chewing it, and sleepy eyes for when the flavor was just boring. Safe to say we have taken car games and taste testing to new levels.

Stacy and I also spent a good part of the day re-enacting The Little Mermaid "Part of Your World" routine. It took more upper body strength than I was prepared for, but we were both naturals.

We settled in Portland for the night and played a rousing game of Quelf. It's hilarious- go buy it immediately for your next family game night.

We headed out the next morning with the goal of sliding down the Longest Alpine Slide in America. It was raining which meant the slide was closed and we somehow ended up ended up at the LL Bean outlet posing on a large shoe and trying on overly large backpacks...

This outlet mall looked like one of those pretend villages you walk through in Disney World. It was equally magical when we discovered the Maine state dessert- the Whoopie Pie. Naturally they had excessively large ones as well. This was an apparent theme at this outlet mall...

We ended up finding an alternate alpine slide later in the day and survived both the slide and the even more treacherous ski lift up the mountain...

He was terrified.

We're masking our fear with smiles.

That's Josh's victory face.

The next day was the 4th of July and our final day altogether on the road. We packed it full of cheese, maple syrup, apple cider and chocolate tastings-- all appetizers for the grand finale-- the Ben and Jerry's Factory Tour.

It was a day of deliciousness and probably the sole reason I have not noticed any weight loss after all this half marathon training. But I digress...

We dropped Josh off at Julie's parents house and spent the night in Connecticut watching fireworks on the hotel TV. Hey-- those free samples can be exhausting. And keep in mind, hotels are still a luxury the Henderson family is just beginning to explore.

We woke up bright and early and headed to NYC-- just in time for Mom, Dad and Stacy to take naps and me to head to work. Seriously, being a grown up is awesome.

We spent the next week exploring everything free NYC has to offer since we spent most of the trip fund on lobster and whoopie pies. Whoops! I took exactly ZERO pictures while they were here so if you need a visual of our adventures, feel free to reference Stacy's facebook page. What? I'm not gonna download and upload all those pics!

All in all, Henderson Family Vacay 2011 was a resounding success. Sure I'm still mourning the loss of the potato chip factory, but I guess we had to leave something for next time. Who knows what 2012 holds!