Snowbirds

Michael and I were able to experience the snowbird life this past weekend. I had to be in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday for my job. Rather than fly down just for the day, we decided to take advantage of the fact that Michael's father lives in Fort Lauderdale (well, Sunrise, if you want to be specific) and made a weekend trip of it. Our flight out of Regan on Friday evening was delayed for 2 hours because of snow and ice - which made landing in warm southern Florida that much better!

We had a blast with Padre and Dale - highlighted, as to be expected, by several amazing dinners. They sure know how to eat! We were able to pick up some Cuban (which we missed during our most recent NYC trip), Argentinian (chimichurri = yummy) and Korean BBQ (which I just discovered on the aforementioned NYC trip). We did drive down by the port and beach to see the cruise ships and inspect the beach repairs to the Hurricane Sandy damage. Mostly, though, it was just nice to sit out in the (not-too) warm weather and enjoy not having to bundle up just to get the mail.

I am not a picture taker, we all know that, but I did get a few shots of Michael having a little fun when we stopped for some hot-from-the-oven donuts . . .

Making the difficult decision

Padre's grown a beard!

Isn't he adorable?!

Not Even Skin Deep

I was catching up on my blogs after our trip this weekend and read a post on epbot.com (by Jen Yates, of cakewrecks.com - so funny!) and she posted about this Pinterest board where a former model/photographer points out all the Photoshopping that is done to celebrities and models. I'm happy that I've always had a pretty good self-image but even I can get a little down seeing images of all these beautiful women - and based on all the Facebook and Pinterest posts of friends tagging such images with captions such as "gotta get to the gym so I can look like this" or "why can't I have such flawless skin" or other such statements, I know I'm not the only one. And I can imagine, if one doesn't have a healthy self-image, that the images could contribute to a pretty damaged psyche. The problem is, as the creator of the board points out, the women (and men!) we see in ads, promotional campaigns and movies are so digitally altered that they no longer look real and are not even recognizable as the original celebrity!

Anyway, I spent a good hour perusing the photos (fair warning, there is a decent amount of skin as many of the images are taken from ads and we all know - sex sells (or, at least, that's what Madison Avenue thinks)) and it was probably the best waste of my time on Pinterest ever. Definitely check it out - and let me know what you think! Like I said, I know I'm pretty happy with who I am, but I definitely worry about my (hopefully) future children - one more reason to limit their exposure to pop culture and seek out healthy role models! But even with taking such measures, I know they'll still see stuff that makes them wonder - so I want to make sure I have conversations from the get go on how Hollywood is not real life and their self-worth should not be defined by an unrealistic perception of beauty.

NYC PBR

Because of snafu I made when booking our hotel for our Thanksgiving jaunt to MI, we had some credits with Hampton Inn to use up. Because I knew of Michael's love for bull ridin' (that's right, we don't say the 'g') I decided to check if there were any upcoming PBR (Professional Bull Riding) events near us. Sure enough, PBR was kicking off its 2013 season the first weekend in January at Madison Square Garden in NYC. We really enjoyed our NYC trip in 2011, and now that it is just a hop, skip, and a jump away, it was a no-brainer, particularly when we discovered a Hampton Inn with reasonable rates (for NYC) just one block away for MSG. We decided to see PBR on Friday evening, a play on Saturday evening and bisit sights we had missed last time we were there (I was keen on seeing the Statue of Liberty and/or Ellis Island).

After a long, but ultimately stress-free, bus ride (I definitely recommend it as the best option to get to NYC from NOVA) we arrived at Penn Station/MSG around 15:30 - plenty of time to check in, rest for a little bit, get some food and get to PBR. With the help of Yelp I was able to determine that we were essentially in Korea-town and that miss Korea BBQ was well liked. I had never had Korean BBQ, but I will now sing its praises to anyone who will listen. It was soooo good. Michael had bibimbap, which I make at home and it was tasty, but the star of the show as the thinly sliced marinated spare ribs I ordered. The tables all had propane hot plates (essentially) in the middle and I was able to quickly sear the meat on that. The marinade and BBQ sauce were so flavorful. We are most assuredly going to scout out the Korean BBQ options in DC!

PBR was a blast, as always, complete with plenty of buck-offs (is that the technical term?), a few full 8-second rides, and plenty of inane chatter from the rodeo clown. Seriously, I feel for the guy, having to keep up that patter night after night!

Arena before it filled up

Waiting around

Hold on tight!

Opening - someone stood up in front of us right at the beginning, so I didn't get the full show.

I think this guy is from CO . . .

. . . or maybe this is the CO guy.

The jumping bull looks exciting, but this ride actually was scored rather low because he didn't twist at all.

Saturday day I had hoped to visit Ellis Island or the Statue of Liberty but we discovered (thankfully online, before we made the trek out there) that both areas were closed due to Hurricane Sandy. Shucks! Instead, we spent most of the day wandering through Central Park and visiting the Met. The Met was pretty awesome - although, after seeing museums in Europe, it'll take a lot to wow me - not that I don't think the Met is as good as those museums, it's just that I've seen so much amazing stuff that more amazing stuff is still amazing, just not as amazing as when I first started seeing amazing stuff - does that make sense? I'm going to see how many more times I can use the word amazing!

We really enjoyed their Asian and Islamic art section, mostly because we really enjoy Asian and Islamic art! That section is where we spent most of our time - much like the British Museum or the Louvre or any other great museum, you really have to pick your battles when it comes to having only one day in a place. We did wander on over to the Temple of Dendur (not as exciting as I'd hoped), through the small portion of the American wing that included several Tiffany stained-glass windows (beautiful) and stared at the Christmas tree surrounded by a Neapolitan Baroque Creche (which was far more interesting to me than Michael). If you click on the captions below, the link will take you to relevant page on the Met website.

We like rugs!	Just look at the detail!	I was tired out!
This is on the list for our next house - just, you know, with references to Jesus and God, not Mohammed and Allah	Serene Damascus room - reminded me of Topkapi Palace	Islamic tilework
Glassware is hard to photograph	Also on the list for our next home	Poor Roman guy, he lost his nose!
Take that, Medusa!	Do not be deceived. These are not sculptures, they are Vanuatuan musical instruments.	The Temple of Dendur would have been more interesting if we could have actually gone inside it.
Beautiful stained glass	Again, look at the detail!	By Daniel Chester French, who also sculpted the seated Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Christmas tree	Beautiful Neopolitan Creche	Obligatory Ingres photo

Lunch was at an unimpressive pizzeria (can't even remember the name now to link up to) but dinner was at our favorite little French restaurant, Saju Bistro. All-you-can-eat free olives - what more can you ask for? We had earlier picked up tickets for Nice Work if You Can Get It, which is a new musical comedy based on old material - the music of George Gershwin and the writings of PG Wodehouse. With those two names, you better believe it was good! Completely and utterly ridiculous - and isn't that what musical comedy is all about?! Matthew Broderick was doing a star turn as the lead character, as did Blythe Danner acting in a cameo role as his mother. Based on applause when other actors came on stage, I'm figuring they were famous in the theater crowd as well, but I didn't recognize them. It was so fun, seeing a brand new musical - meaning I didn't know the story, so everything was new - but still able to hum along with most of the songs, since I do know me some Gershwin. Actually, one of the many LPs I gave Michael for Christmas was a Gershwin collection!

Sunday morning was church, of course, and Michael wanted to take me to high church so we went to Church of the Resurrection, recommended to him by some Boston friends. I had my doubts, as our experience with city churches is that they tend to be rather heretical. Fortunately, I didn't hear the priest say anything I disagreed with - unfortunately, that may just have been because I didn't hear much of what the priest said. It being high church, they used incense - and it being Epiphany (and Feast of the incense-bearing Magi) they used a LOT of it. I've been in services with incense before, but they've generally been in cathedrals with high ceilings and lots of volume to allow the incense to dissipate. Not so, this little city church. The incense stuck around - you could barely see the lights above, the smoke was so thick. Apparently, incense and I don't mix, because I felt ill the entire service. I had a death grip on the pew in front of us whenever we stood up. Another interesting point is that the choral mass was performed in German, using a mass likely written by Mozart père (as opposed to the more famous Mozart fils). I can get down with a good foreign language mass, but even the notes on the score in the church bulletin commented on how it was nowhere near as good as what Wolfgang wrote - and it showed. I don't mean to sound so down on the church - the people were quite friendly - but clearly not my cup of tea!

After church, we had to rush back to the hotel to grab our belongings and head to Penn Station for me to catch a train to Newark airport, as I am in Houston this week for training on my new job. There wasn't much time before my train left, so we wandered into Penn Station, trying to stay close to my train departure platform - because Penn Station is a labyrinth you will never escape from if you venture too deep. There was a TGI Friday's nearby and, while we weren't expecting anything spectacular like our Korean BBQ or French Bistro experiences, at least it should be familiar and quick - and, apparently, expensive! $20 for a entree salad, something that would be $8, $10 max anywhere else. We spent more here than we did at the aforementioned pizzeria (which, will I said it was unimpressive, was still decent) and the only reason it was cheaper than our dinners is because we didn't order any alcohol. Plus, the service was terrible - we ate there specifically because it was close and should have been quick but it took forever to get our food. I was starting to sweat it near the end. Never again! Fortunately, I made my train and flight with no issues and Michael was also successful in catching the bus back home - to our unheated house. Yep, the furnace is on the blitz again - so thankful I'm in warm(er) Houston this week!