For as long as I can remember my sister Sophia has loved horses. Her 1st birthday party we had a pony. Her 5th birthday party we had another pony. This year for her 8th birthday all she asked for was to go horse back riding. So, that's exactly what we took her to do.
Both of my sisters we so excited to go and ride horses. Since the previous years there was only a pony involved they both felt grown to be able to ride and actual horse instead. For hours the brushed the horses and fed them treats and finally got to ride around the course with them. I love to see them smile and this had a smile on their faces all day.
Britnie: 0 Car: 2 ..... as I was getting ready to leave the ranch from horse back riding I accidentally locked my keys in the car. For those of you who read my December blog, on the way home from Miami I ran out of gas......Yeah. I had to call pop a lock to get my keys out which took him all of 5 minutes and charged me an arm and a leg. Apparently I'm in the wrong business. Moving on ......
Treatments. This month was the beginning of a series of infusion treatments for my liver I will continue to have until my body decides to reject them. I wrote a blog a few months ago explaining my medical condition so I'm not going to get into that again. ( See said blog here ) My first treatment was ..... intense. I couldn't sleep the night before because I got myself all worked up and worried about it. When I got there I was a complete mess while I was waiting for them to put my iv in. My friend Allie (@allieerickson) happens to work at the office I go to for these infusions so it was nice to see her which kept my mind off of things. The picture below is the room where I sit for 3 hours for this infusion process. It doesn't look as bad as it really is. I figured I was going to sit in a big comfy chair with tvs. Which I do. But as soon as you walk in that room it's a completely different feel. I'm not in there by myself. I'm in there with many other people being treated for cancer, blood infusions, iron infusions and many other chemo treatments. It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be to stay positive in an environment like that. I've had a total of two treatments so far.....still waiting to see results. prayers please.
Enough of the emotional stuff. Moving on to NEW YORK CITY!!! Last month I went to Miami for my 24th birthday. This month I went to New York for Kahlin's 24th birthday!!!!!! What a whirl wind trip.
Welcome to the concrete jungle. We flew into Laguardia. No problems with our flight. It was smooth. Perfect start. I decided I was going to fly in Juicy sweats. Bad idea! Once we got to NY 1. I was freezing 2. We were going straight from the airport to meet our friend Ashlee at Philippe for dinner where she just so happens to work. Totally had to change my clothes in the airport bathroom. WOMP! We got to Philippe with luggage in tow. Yes I said luggage in tow. How embarrassing! Those of you who haven't heard of Philippe let me just fill you in so you can understand why we were embarrassed. Philippe is one of if not the hottest spots to eat in NY. So here you have two little Orlando girls strolling into this restaurant with tons of luggage. Thank goodness for Ashlee working there because the staff was so nice to use and put our luggage away from us while we ate dinner. The manager comped our dinner for us WOOP WOOP which was so sweet of him. I mean he did sit and eat with us and had an infatuation with kissing my hand .... it was much appreciated!
The next day was our journey. We walked from Upper east at least 7 or 8 miles around seeing all of the spots Kahlin and I put on our list of must sees. Our first stop, Dash. We've already been to the one in Miami so we figured it would be nice to see the new one. SIKE! There was a line to get into the store. we were shocked because the one in Miami we just walked right in. We got our pictures in from and said screw it we're not waiting in the line to get into a store that most likely looks and has the same products as the one in Miami had.
Next stop, Kleinfield's. This was my pick. I watch "Say Yes to the Dress" religiously. Not only do I watch it from entertainment purposes but since the show came out I've said I will be getting my dress from there. It was a bitter sweet moment.
Times Square! Lights! Camera! Action! I felt like a kid in a candy store when we made it to Times Square. You could totally tell who the tourists were because everyone was stopped taking pictures.
Rockerfeller Center was something that I forgot to put on the list. As we were walking around be happened to pass it which was AMAZING!!! I've always wanted to go there and see it. Not necessarily ice skate but just experience being there.
That night after walking about the world we get back to Ashlee's apartment and her heater was NOT working. Um, freak out mode! It was cold. We all bundled up in tons of layers and went to sleep like that. hahahaha it made for a good laugh and funny pictures.
Subway ... eat fresh. Just kidding. This was my first subway ride. I was told I didn't really get to experience a "real" subway ride because my face wasn't smashed up against the glass. But none the less it was an experience. I give people in NY props for traveling on that thing on a daily basis. I was so confused which way and ones we needed to take. And every time I swiped my metro card it never worked for me.
We took a million different subways and made it over to New Jersey! When we stepped off the subway and first seen Hoboken none of us said a word for at least a full minute. It was so adorable. It looked like a town that Walt Disney developed. It was so clean and the complete opposite of NY.
Both of my sisters we so excited to go and ride horses. Since the previous years there was only a pony involved they both felt grown to be able to ride and actual horse instead. For hours the brushed the horses and fed them treats and finally got to ride around the course with them. I love to see them smile and this had a smile on their faces all day.
Britnie: 0 Car: 2 ..... as I was getting ready to leave the ranch from horse back riding I accidentally locked my keys in the car. For those of you who read my December blog, on the way home from Miami I ran out of gas......Yeah. I had to call pop a lock to get my keys out which took him all of 5 minutes and charged me an arm and a leg. Apparently I'm in the wrong business. Moving on ......
Treatments. This month was the beginning of a series of infusion treatments for my liver I will continue to have until my body decides to reject them. I wrote a blog a few months ago explaining my medical condition so I'm not going to get into that again. ( See said blog here ) My first treatment was ..... intense. I couldn't sleep the night before because I got myself all worked up and worried about it. When I got there I was a complete mess while I was waiting for them to put my iv in. My friend Allie (@allieerickson) happens to work at the office I go to for these infusions so it was nice to see her which kept my mind off of things. The picture below is the room where I sit for 3 hours for this infusion process. It doesn't look as bad as it really is. I figured I was going to sit in a big comfy chair with tvs. Which I do. But as soon as you walk in that room it's a completely different feel. I'm not in there by myself. I'm in there with many other people being treated for cancer, blood infusions, iron infusions and many other chemo treatments. It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be to stay positive in an environment like that. I've had a total of two treatments so far.....still waiting to see results. prayers please.
Enough of the emotional stuff. Moving on to NEW YORK CITY!!! Last month I went to Miami for my 24th birthday. This month I went to New York for Kahlin's 24th birthday!!!!!! What a whirl wind trip.
Welcome to the concrete jungle. We flew into Laguardia. No problems with our flight. It was smooth. Perfect start. I decided I was going to fly in Juicy sweats. Bad idea! Once we got to NY 1. I was freezing 2. We were going straight from the airport to meet our friend Ashlee at Philippe for dinner where she just so happens to work. Totally had to change my clothes in the airport bathroom. WOMP! We got to Philippe with luggage in tow. Yes I said luggage in tow. How embarrassing! Those of you who haven't heard of Philippe let me just fill you in so you can understand why we were embarrassed. Philippe is one of if not the hottest spots to eat in NY. So here you have two little Orlando girls strolling into this restaurant with tons of luggage. Thank goodness for Ashlee working there because the staff was so nice to use and put our luggage away from us while we ate dinner. The manager comped our dinner for us WOOP WOOP which was so sweet of him. I mean he did sit and eat with us and had an infatuation with kissing my hand .... it was much appreciated!
The next day was our journey. We walked from Upper east at least 7 or 8 miles around seeing all of the spots Kahlin and I put on our list of must sees. Our first stop, Dash. We've already been to the one in Miami so we figured it would be nice to see the new one. SIKE! There was a line to get into the store. we were shocked because the one in Miami we just walked right in. We got our pictures in from and said screw it we're not waiting in the line to get into a store that most likely looks and has the same products as the one in Miami had.
Next stop, Kleinfield's. This was my pick. I watch "Say Yes to the Dress" religiously. Not only do I watch it from entertainment purposes but since the show came out I've said I will be getting my dress from there. It was a bitter sweet moment.
Times Square! Lights! Camera! Action! I felt like a kid in a candy store when we made it to Times Square. You could totally tell who the tourists were because everyone was stopped taking pictures.
Rockerfeller Center was something that I forgot to put on the list. As we were walking around be happened to pass it which was AMAZING!!! I've always wanted to go there and see it. Not necessarily ice skate but just experience being there.
That night after walking about the world we get back to Ashlee's apartment and her heater was NOT working. Um, freak out mode! It was cold. We all bundled up in tons of layers and went to sleep like that. hahahaha it made for a good laugh and funny pictures.
Subway ... eat fresh. Just kidding. This was my first subway ride. I was told I didn't really get to experience a "real" subway ride because my face wasn't smashed up against the glass. But none the less it was an experience. I give people in NY props for traveling on that thing on a daily basis. I was so confused which way and ones we needed to take. And every time I swiped my metro card it never worked for me.
We took a million different subways and made it over to New Jersey! When we stepped off the subway and first seen Hoboken none of us said a word for at least a full minute. It was so adorable. It looked like a town that Walt Disney developed. It was so clean and the complete opposite of NY.
The one and only reason for going to Hoboken New Jersey was to go to Carlos Bakery. Hello how can you be that close and NOT go there. We all love the show and wanted to experience being there. The line wasn't that bad. Maybe 15 minutes. They had a door guy which we thought was a little humorous but made sense once it was out turn to actually go inside. HOLY CHAOS! talk about a New York subway experience. There was no room to move around. People were packed in this small little shop yelling out orders as their numbers were called. $145 later on some souvenirs and tons of pastries we squeezed our way out of there. Sad thing is, I'd do it all over again!
Ground Zero wasn't on our list of places to see either but we ended up walking by it. You see and hear about it on the news and it effects you to a certain degree but nothing like actually being there to see it in person. I didn't realize how big of a space the buildings occupied when they were standing. I unfortunately never got to see the buildings when they were standing. It was sad and weird standing there thinking about everything that had happened on those very streets I was walking on. I was trying to imagine what the streets looked like then and nothing in my wildest dreams could of compared.
We also stopped in the memorial building to. They had this video playing of people telling their stories. At one point I had to walk away because I was getting teary eyed listening to them.
Seeing all of the aftermath was something I'm glad we ended up doing. If you've never gone down there and you live in NY or plan on visiting I recommend this as a must on your things to see and do.
Pizza! Pizza! All we wanted the whole time we were there was an amazing slice of pizza. We googled, I called my dad, we asked friends .... where is the best place for pizza. Everyone answered with Grimaldi's in Brooklyn!! When we got there, there was a line of people standing outside in the freezing cold just to get in. We walked up right in time and got right in. THE MOST AMAZING PIZZA EVER! The pizza was so good that 2 tables down from us the guy bought an extra slice of pizza from the table next to us because they finished theirs and he wanted more. That place is a must from now on!
Our last stop that night was Serendipity. This was the one place Kahlin kept talking about she HAD to go to. We were all s stuffed from the pizza that we barely touched any of this, which we knew was going to happen. We just went for the experience.
I love this game! GAME DAY! Knicks VS Suns! This was Kahlin's actual 24th birthday!! woohoo! This was supposed to be her surprise but I can't keep a secret for my life especially when I was just excited about going to this game as she was. Shouts to my friend Darnell (@darnellenrique) for helping me pull this off <3 We ended up getting suite tickets for this game. I would have even been happy in a standing room only section thats how bad I wanted to go to this game hahaha Kahlin was rooting for the Suns because she loves Steve Nash. And me, well, GO KNICKS.....At least that day anyway. Magic fan forever!
After the game we went to grab something to eat before we had to go back and pack our stuff up to head to the airport. Darnell ended up meeting up with us since I didn't see him the whole time I was up there. LOSER! :)
Good bye concrete jungle. Back to the sunshine state!
Complete topic switch. At one of my treatments Allie (@allieerickson) told me that one of her coworkers just had a keratin treatment done on her here. Those of you who know me personally see me with straight hair on a day to day basis but have no idea what goes on behind the scenes to get my hair straight. I've been looking into treatments on my hair for years to straighten it and I've always been afraid. Well, have no fear. Keratin is here! Ladies this is where you should get excited. The next couple of pictures are of my hair in its natural state. Meaning I washed it and let it air dry with no product except leave in conditioner.
This picture is right after I just had the treatment done to my hair. I had to wait 3 days before I could do ANYTHING to it. The 3rd day I washed it and let it air dry and my hair dried flat and straight with a few sections that have some wave to it. My only complaint about the treatment is since it straightened my hair out my hair is flat now. I LOVE BIG HAIR! Other than that, it was worth every penny and I'm satisfied. I would recommend it.
Since I was away from my little sisters and didn't get to spend much time with them we decided to go to Islands of Adventure. I finally broke down and bought a Harry Potter scarf and shirt. I know. I know. What a nerd. I can't help it. I love the Harry Potter movies.
Out of all the times we've been there my sisters have never experienced the wand shop. It was a cute concept. Don't get your hopes up because not everyone "gets chosen" by their wand.
Girl Scout cookies. I had to add this in this blog because I know everyone who reads this from my Facebook is so tired of hearing me talk about Girl Scout cookies. This picture below captured my little sisters FIRST door to door Girl Scout cookie sale. Would you believe I got teary eyed when I was taking this picture?! Oh by the way, both of my little sisters ended up selling 323 boxes of cookies which means they both earned their Goal Getter badges! Thank you to everyone who placed orders with them!
My friend Shanon (@Shannon__Nicole) had a Princess Party at her house. I eat out 99% of the time so I really just went for support and to see her daughter Sophia that I love! This little girl is a trip!
Universal. My second home. My mom and step dad decided they wanted to go to a Magic game so they asked me to find them court side seats. Since they were off going to the game I decided to take both of my little sisters and my little big brother and spend the day at Universal. I love when we have sibling days like this. They mean the world to me. Plus who doesn't enjoy going to the theme park on their older sisters dime?
This stuffed animal picture has a story behind it. My sisters asked if they could play one of the games to try and win. Well they didn't. My brother and I decided we were going to try and win for them, which we did, just not the largest stuffed animal they offered. I don't like to lose so a few games more and tons of money later we finally ended up winning them the one they wanted. yaaaaay! NOT! bad idea winning that when we still had half of the park to do. We couldn't take it on the rides and the lockers weren't big enough. We ended up have to do a baby swap but witht he stuffed animal. hahaha lesson learned.
January was good to me this year. I was able to see things I've been dying to see for years. I hope everyone else has had a smooth start to their 2011. Stay Positive. Stay True. Stay Blessed.<3>
