Christmas with the Chitty's

The South did not scare Jon. He was a hit!!

The trip started off delayed. Due to the weather in New York our flight was delayed 5 hours which made us miss our connecting flight in Dallas. Therefore we had to stay the night in the airport on Christmas Eve. We were told that they would put us up in a hotel but when we landed the ticket lady told us that we would have to pay and gave the robotic answer of, "Mam We can not control the weather". It wasn't that bad, we only had a few hours to be there anyway.

My Mom was sweet enough to make Jon his own stocking. It made him a part of the family. I hope it didn't freak him out.My dad wanted to make a good first impression as well. 
Tyler and Elisabeth showed true sibling love and Christmas Spirit.I wanted to show Jon a little bit of the real Louisiana so we went to some of our friends who live on the Bayou. 

The Whole Family. I think he fits right in, don't you? We even saw a snake. It was friendly snake, well as friendly as a snake can be. If it were up to my brother that snake would have had a Beebe bullet in between his eyes.Jon and T enjoying a little tire swinging. I became the protective mother by screaming, "That's too high!! That's too HIGH!!" I could just see that tree limb breaking and Tyler flying all the way into the bayou.They had a zip line set up to zoom across the bayou. It looked like a lot of fun so everyone tried it out.

Jon did it without falling in the water....
Rick did it without falling in the water...My Dad made it over the water...Even Kelly did it and made it over the water...SO I was up next. At first I was confident that I was going to be able to do this but then....The fear of falling in the icky bayou took over and I panicked. I stood up there forever debating. I just didn't feel that my grip was strong enough. So I went as far as the land lasted and then dropped to Jon. A 10 year old little girl called me a woos, I have to agree with her.I let down Tyler as well. He wanted to try it so bad but we didn't think he would have been able to make it. He probably would have done a better job than I did.
Next we went out on the water in the house boat. A storm started setting in so it made the ride a little bumpy.

It was a good time for Elisabeth to try out her new rain coat that I got her. 

Tyler practiced his Ben 10 Alien Force moves on the boat. What? You don't know what Ben 10 is? Get with it people, "It's only the coolest thing out there," Tyler say's.

Back home and back to family time. Nana and Elisabeth making cookies.

Tyler and Nana playing Bakkagon Brawlers. Nana was winning and T was getting a little mad. 

And to make the Holiday's complete, a funny face montage......

So over all Jon did well. He fit right in and everyone liked him. I still need to get the inside scoop from everyone once he leaves. I will let you know though. 

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a wonderful New Years!!

Merry Almost Holiday!!

Since living up in the North i have learned that I can not just say Merry Christmas as there are other people up here who celebrate things other than Christmas. So I now have to say "Happy Holiday's" to be politically correct. I am excited about being back home in 4 days and be able to say "Merry Christmas" freely.

Jon flying in to NYC on the 23rd and then we head off to Shreveport on Christmas Eve. Hopefully there are no delays or we will miss our connecting flight for sure and be stranded in Dallas.

This is the first time for my family to meet Jon. Fingers crossed that all goes well and we won't scare him off. He is meeting mom, dad, Rick, Kelly, Tyler and Elisabeth. We might try to make it down to see my Grandmother but will see if we have time in there. He also will be meeting Danielle, my best friend since kindergarten.

We will try to show him good ole' Louisiana Southern hospitality with sweet tea and lots of hugs. He will have to learn the phrases, "I reckon", "Sure enough" and "Bless his heart". He is excited about the seafood part and will share oysters with my dad.

I will keep you all updated on the events and how everything is going.

I hope you all have a great Christmas and an even better New Year!!!!!

None for me, Thanks

This year for Thanksgiving I stayed in New York. Sure, I wanted to go home and have some of the good ole' southern cooking that I know and love but due to the extreme costs of the plane tickets and all the traveling that I have been doing I decided to stay in the city. Thankfully a few of my friends did too.

Last year I cooked for 20 of Jon's closest friends in London for Thanksgiving. So this year I told myself that I would not take charge and do all the organizing and cooking. BIG mistake.

We originally planned to wake up early and line up to watch the Parade. I have never done that in the years that I have been in the city and told myself that I would this year. The night before I get a phone call that no one wants to wake up that early and stand in the cold. Boo! I was a little upset but come Thanksgiving morning I was ok with it. We all decided the night before that we would meet on the upper west side at a friends apt for breakfast and to watch it on TV. So Meredith and I hopped on the subway and headed up.

I thought that we could get off at Columbus Circle to at least see some of the balloons with our own eyes. She was up for it. I am as happy as a little girl waiting to witness my first balloon sighting. We were on the other side of the parade so we couldn't see the floats and bands but could hear a little. They don't do near as much walking down the streets as they show on TV. First balloon sighting is Shrek. He was huge as you can see. He looked like he was going to take out some of the street lights. How do they control these things when the wind picks up?Waiting on my second one. I can see it coming. It's Horton Hears a Who. Not knowing that story very well I was a little unimpressed by it. Where were all the others, like Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Garfield???This is when it was time to leave. Giant candy canes. This kind doesn't even make it on TV. It takes forever for one balloon to pass that I didn't want to stand outside and wait for the others. So NOTE TO ALL OF YOU: If you are ever in NYC for Thanksgiving just watch the parade on TV. It's better. Unless you are at Macy's and can watch it with all the excitement.

While we were standing out in the cold we got a call from Ayla saying that no one was meeting for breakfast early and we were just going to go to Brooklyn to start getting the feast ready.
Yes, I was upset once again. Not only did I wake up early and trek all the way to the Upper West Side i missed most of parade and could have had a better time watching it on TV. I was not a happy camper when I arrived to Brooklyn.


But seeing how it was Thanksgiving I tried to ignore my anger and make the most of the holiday. We opened a bottle of wine early.

We had 6 people and everyone brought what was "Thanksgiving to Them" for the meal. As most of you know I am very particular about what I eat. Some would call it picky. I like to say that I have a unique pallet. I cooked Green bean Casserole, Pink Stuff (a fruit salad that my mom always has) mashed potatoes and homemade cranberry sauce (that I don't even eat). After few hours of preparing all the food and cooking the turkey we were finally ready to eat.Once the food started passing I noticed that there was only a few things that I could put on my plate and those few things happened to be what I cooked. No turkey, because it was on the bone. No stuffing because it had sausage in it. A broccoli dish that I had to pass on because I don't like broccoli. Brussels Sprouts, no thanks. And a few others that just didn't match my pallet. Where was all the food I was use to? Oh ya, back in the South. It's my own fault for having such a unique pallet. I have been trying to overcome this fault of mine but it will take a few more years I'm afraid.

So even though I had to wake up early, miss the parade, miss breakfast, stand in the cold, go to Brooklyn and not eat anything I still am very Thankful.

I am thankful for my mom and dad and their unconditional love and support. Jon for loving me for me being me (unique pallet and all). My friends for being my support system. The rest of my family for making me who I am.

The World Wide Web

This year I planned to get an early start on my Christmas shopping. I began making my list for everyone in September and had an idea for everyone by October. One of my favorite things about the Holiday's is shopping. Walking the cold wintry New York streets, arms full of shopping bags, humming Christmas music and sipping a skim Chai in the red holiday cup from Starbucks. Seeing how we all are trying to save a buck here and there I decided to get online and look for the best deals. I don't usually shop online because it takes away the joy for me. BUT this year I am able to save so much by buying everything on the web. Although this is making me happy because I am saving money I am missing out on the excitement of it all. I went out today to see if I could top my Internet deals and it turns out that I can't. What do I do??? It's upsetting to let go of one of my favorite things and something that brings me so much joy. It puts me in the Christmas spirit.

An online shopper? Me? Where is the fun in that? I know some of my friends who are mothers shop online because they have no time to otherwise. Do you guys miss getting out there with the hustle and bustle? I guess if you have 2 screaming kids you don't. I am actually thinking of filling up shopping bags that I have at home and just walking around pretending that I am shopping. But then I thought, that's just silly. I do enjoy standing in the checkout line debating everything I have in my hand and making last minute decision with little trinkets that you find in bins close to the registers. I also enjoy the satisfaction of signing my name to the credit card receipt and exhaling with feeling of accomplishment. Those things are going to be hard to do without actually purchasing anything.

So maybe all of you can send me a list and money and I will do ALL of your shopping for you. Seriously. I will. No list is too long. I will ship it all back to you. I'll even wrap it because that's the kind of friend I am. It's a win win situation.

If I do decide to "fake shop" I will for sure take plenty of photos and/or video. It's sure to be a laugh.

On a side note: If you can, watch LIPSTICK JUNGLE on Friday nights at 10 eastern time. The show is on the verge of going off the air and it's one of my favorites. I am doing everything to keep it on. Also, Friday night I sat next to Brooke Shields and Lyndsey Price from the show. Brooke's little girls were there as well. She is 10 times more beautiful in person if you can believe it along with being a very sweet person. Just a little celeb FYI.

A Night in History

On November 4th, 2008 we elected our 44th President and our 1st black President. Although some of you may be upset about America's decision you can not deny that this is a wonderful thing for our country for several reason. I think this was the most watch election to date. We had an election party at Meredith's apartment to get in on all the excitement.
The moment this flashed up on the screen the city below rang out. There was celebrating in the streets and screams like when we won the Superbowl. It was insane.I feel that both candidates gave beautiful speeches. Kudos to the speech writers for doing a great job. Our new friends Tim and Rachel that just moved here from CA. Tim looks a bit like Jimmy Fallon, dontcha think?

London Round 5

Back and forth, back and forth. It seems that I spend more time on a plane than I do in one place now. I don't want to complain because I am finally happy and if it means I have to fly to a different country to see him then so be it. We are looking for a solution in the meantime so if any ones knows someone in London that wants to hire a little blond American girl let me know.

We had a great 10 days. It fun having someone who laughs at my stupid jokes and beating me to my own punchlines.
Last time I was there Jon and I happened upon a place that blew me away. It was an old public toilet, yes you heard me right, that is now a bar. It's the size of my nyc living room, which is tiny. While we were there last time we all of a sudden heard a piano start playing and a man in a top hat came out and started singing show tunes. I was in heaven! It ended up being open mic night Broadway style. So of course I had to go back this time around...

This time we brought his guy friends to witness it. They loved it.

Maybe a little too much...Here he is, the one and only Champagne Charlie. He is the host of the night and a fab tap dancer.

Halloween Night. We didn't dress up...or did we? Jon says we were going as an International Business Man and his girlfriend. Can that work? I know, I know, don't be mad at me. I wanted to dress up but we didn't do anything that required a costume.

I never get sick of this bridge. It's just so beautiful!!!!

My sweet Italian Friend Antanella. Antanella and Warren, aka The Woz. Great Friends of Jon and now me.
How many more photos can we take like this. I think we need to spice it up.
I often wondered if Robin, Batman's sidekick, was gay. My question was answered. Not that there's anything wrong with it....

Every year there are people that go as Knocked up nuns. Why is it so funny? I laugh every time. I really loved the guys on the far lefts tights. I need to get some of those.