Year One

This week marks an incredible year in New York City. I'd like to share a few things I've learned, observed, experienced in the last 12 months of my new life.

• 40 Degrees is almost spring
• Hummus is YUMMY.
• I'm more likely to find organic peanut oil than ketchup in someone's home.
• I think in blocks not miles.
• I have a take out menu drawer.
• I've learned how to dress for cold, windy & cold, rainy & cold, windy, rainy & cold.
• I personally know 3 people that have been hit by taxis.
• I wish my 'across the street' neighbors had curtains.
• Love the street musicians because they add a soundtrack to my life
• Rarely do the same thing twice on the weekends
• LOVE LOVE LOVE street fairs when it is Spring & Summer
• Know my neighborhood homeless people
• Getting on line has nothing to do with the internet
• The addition or removal of scaffolding can make you feel lost in your own neighborhood.
  
• Order my toilet paper on amazon.com so I don't have to lug it from the Brooklyn Target
• Have a box of extra toiletries under my bed that I bought from Wal-Mart to save $
• I know the High Holy days and sometimes eat Kosher foods
• I know what nosh, schlep, pre-walking, brownstone, & bodega mean
• I LOVE Central Park (especially on Sundays).
  
• I've learned that it is never mud on your shoe
• It takes 40 minutes to go 1.5 miles
• I hate that the air conditioners pee on me in the summer.
• The subway cars are empty only because there is no AC or a smelly/crazy person is on there.
• Don't let the bed bugs bite has real meaning.
• Walk on your tiptoes in heels to cross the subway grates
• I've been completely sprayed by a taxi (see earlier entry for details)
• A $37 steak doesn't come with a salad or a side
• Things just get started at 1 am. I got invited to a party and the invitation said from 10pm on.
• Pay higher rent or get mugged?That is the question.
• You pay for the neighborhood not the apartment.
  
• My feet are black after a summer day.
• Fruit is best bought on the street corner near 67th and Columbus.
• No refills...ugh
• Silence is suspicious.
• You are not the smartest, funniest, prettiest, coolest, greatest. I've been challenged and almost devoured by the competitive culture.
• It is so so so so so so expensive to live here.
  
• There are 16 restaurants between 82nd and 83rd on Amsterdam.
• Everything can be delivered.
• Starbucks is great for a public bathroom.
• Some of the most talented musicians are playing on the subway platform.
  
• Even if you are one in a million, in New York City, there are 10 just like you. Be willing to be broken and motivated.
  

25 things about me

1) I make up words and if you hang around with me for long you will also use them. Score if you can tell me at least one of my made up words.
2) I randomly say things in French (For example, I never say, Pajamas. I always say Pyjamas.)
3) I've had the same best friend since elementary school. Awesome and dangerous. She has pictures and stories for black mail. I say her name a very specific way.
4) I am ESTJ on the Myers Briggs but have tendencies of the I for personal refueling & some tendencies of the F. I guess I'm getting more emotional as I get older. Just great.
5) I'm a country girl at heart but...
6) I would wear heels everyday if they were as comfortable as they are cute.
7) Christ is most important in life. II Cor 5:17-21
8) I plan to travel my whole life experiencing new cultures and places.
9) I have a love/hate relationship with New York. Don't we all?
10) Good, true, committed friends are hard to come by. I've got a few who are stuck with me forever. (Ta Ta's, Squawk, Hannahs)
11) Some of the funniest people I know are Adriana, Laryssa, Crystal, Ashley L., Joe Naramore & Blair Burke.
12) I've tasted great joy and great sorrow.
13) I'm a wuss. No comments from any peanut gallery/former roommates about my whining. It comes with the package ;0).
14) My brothers and Adriana can draw out a playfulness in me that no one else can.
15) I probably have the most awesome, crazy family out there. Just come to a reunion with me. You will agree. I'm blessed.
16) This is impossible but an awesome day would be riding four wheelers/motorcycles on my Paw Gene's farm in NC with my brothers and then getting dressed up and going to a Broadway show in NY.
17) My parents have taught me how to laugh until it hurts, have compassion on those around me, and to cling to Christ.
18) I've lived in North Carolina, France, South Africa, and now NYC.
19) I broke my arm in Mrs. Rhye's Second Grade class on the monkey bars. If I think it about too long I can still feel the pain. Reference # 13
20) I love watching shows about medicial mysteries like the Woman with Half a body, or Half ton Dad, or the one with the lady with crazy, big legs. And yes, I might add, all 3 of these people are married.
21) I've seen every single episode of Friends a million times and pretty much think of scenes from the show daily. You can't tell me Ross' leather pants aren't hilarious!
22) I have two non-blood related nieces. Lily & Elizabeth and I love them.
23) When I was 3 years old my dad had me sing, "Jesus loves me" in a bar.
24) My grandparents have been some of the most influential people in my life.
25) I love to read. Some faves are, "Strong Women, Soft Hearts," "Kite Runner," John Piper's Swan Series, "Redeeming Love"

Yikes...reality bites!

If time is money in this town, then clearly I need a lot more time.

"In New York, where a new study from the Center for an Urban Future, a nonprofit research group in Manhattan, estimates it takes $123,322 to enjoy the same middle-class life as someone earning $50,000 in Houston, extricating oneself from steep bills can be difficult."

By ALLEN SALKIN

Published: February 6, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/fashion/08halfmill.html?_r=2&em

The Potential of Longings Fulfilled

During my quiet time yesterday God showed me an amazing connection between Proverbs 13:12 and Revelation 22:1-2. I was studying this verse because my fellowship group is reading Paula Rhinehart's book, "Strong Women, Soft Hearts."

The first chapter is Awakening: God Calls Our Hearts. The main point of the chapter is that as the pain of life inevitability affects our hearts it causes us to be people who build walls of self-protection instead of bridges. As we build walls we shield ourselves from pain but also from experiencing the good parts of life. She writes that we should experience life deeply as we feel connected to those we love. Of course living this way exposes our hearts to the potential of pain & rejection in a real, vulnerable way.

Hence the reason we more naturally build walls and not bridges.


Proverbs 13:12 says, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life."





According to dictionary.com I found these meanings:

Hope: feeling of desire, to hope is to look forward to with desire & confidence
Deferred: postponed, delayed, suspended, withheld
Heart: the center of personality, innermost or central part, core, essential part
Sick: afflicted with illness, nausea
Longing: strong, persistent desire or craving
Fulfilled: satisfied, completed
Tree of life: tree in Eden with fruit yielding eternal life; tree of the heavenly Jerusalem with leaves for healing of the nations

In other words, Proverbs 13:12 could sound something like this:
"Desire withheld makes the center of your personality afflicted with nausea; a craving satisfied is the healing of the nations."

So, what would it mean if we as Christians live like this?

• building bridges with others
• hoping & risking our hearts to pain (or nausea)
• allowing longings to be truly felt & completed
  

The potential is in Rev 22:2. "On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing 12 crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations."

Living among the diversity (the nations) in NYC, I pray that God would give me the grace to risk my heart, to live in hope, to build bridges, that I would be like Christ, THE HEALER OF THE THE NATIONS.

Limoges 1999

Ten years ago today I went to Limoges, France for six months to attend L'Université de Limoges. In honor of my time there, I will blog en français today (google language tools can help non-francophones out). The pics are of places I love in Limoges. Enjoy!

Je pense avec les souvenirs très vivants à ma vie à Limoges . Je pense à la Residence Beaublanc et ça me manque beaucoup. Le temps avec les Américains Clay, Pamela, Connie, et Deana. Avec mes amis français comme Romain. Mon très cher ami, Karim qui m'a prêté un balai et après il est devenu mon ami à vie. Xav, Christophe, Tom, et tous les restes. C'était un temps simple. Un temps pour se reflechir. Un temps avec Dieu. C'était la première fois très loin de ma famille.

J'ai appris de la belle vie Européanne et je voudrais vivre comme ça maintenant. Une vie où tout le monde arrête chaque jour pour sentir les fleurs. C'est un vrai contraire de ma vie à New York où le temps est l'argent.

La France a besoin de notre Seigneur et c'était évidemment quand je vivais là-bas. Priez avec moi.

La France me manque. J'avais fais les vacances plusieurs fois à Paris ou dans le sud mais la langue me manque (c'est clair maintenant quand je perds les mots et la grammaire).

Limoges n'est pas Paris mais c'est une ville simple avec des gens splendides. Je veux trop la chance de manger un kebab dans le centre ville avec Clay et Pamela. Un jour, je reviendrai à ma Limoges.

Comme Sabrina, j'aime toujours La France et ma vie là-bas. Getrude Stein a dit, "L'Amerique est ma pays et Paris est ma ville natale."

Je suis d'accord.

Note: s'il vous plaît à nu les erreurs dans le français. Il a été un peu de temps et j'ai besoin de plus de pratique.

The Big Apple from A to Z

I recently had dinner with a Redeemer family, the Cooks. They have two very cute blond four year old twin girls. They had this book, New York, New York: The Big Apple from A to Z.

Though intended for a slightly younger generation (wink, wink), I just had to buy one for myself. I also mailed copies to my 2 nieces in NC (non-blood nieces but I'm Aunt Amy regardless of the DNA evidence).

I've learned so much about this amazing city from this book. Did you know that the Rockefeller tree has over 5 miles of Christmas tree wire on it each year? That little tidbit can be found under R.

35,000 people a day go to the Empire State Building as tourists, for work, or to run errands. You guessed it. Find it under E.

My favorite info is found under the letter C.

CENTRAL PARK, of course.

Took this shot from the Empire State Building when my parents visited last May.

Who knew that in this concrete jungle there could be 26,000 trees? It is no surprise this country girl lives so close to this amazing park!

Last week while babysitting my new little friend, Lennon, I showed him this picture. He is four and lives only a half a block from the park and all he knows is life in the city. His reply, "That's my park!!" I'm glad he likes to share his park with me or I just might not make it here.