Movie/TV Locations Tour

On our last day, John's friend Brennan booked us on a bus tour of movie locations around the city. My favorite part was seeing the steps used in the opening credits of The Cosby Show.

Brennan has lived in NY for a few years and was a great tour guide. We had lunch in Little Italy and went to Battery Park to do the only thing John hadn't done yet that he wanted to do...see the Statue of Liberty.

Leona Lewis

Here's the performance of Bleeding Love that John and I saw when we went to the Letterman taping. She was so good. John and I are new fans.

(copy and paste link)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQtRpziJINc

The After Party

Following the movie several people Jason and John know met up at their hotel to go out. We had a midnight dinner (only in NY would I go out for dinner at midnight!) and then went back to John's hotel to dance at the nightclub. John taught everyone how to goofy dance.

Some More Photos

NYC Day Two

I spent the morning and afternoon walking around by myself while John and Jason met up with their co-workers in their company's New York office. It was neat for them to put faces to the names of people they do business with. At 5 p.m. we met up at John's hotel to go to the Indiana Jones screening. John, and I hope he doesn't mind me saying this, was a nervous wreck. I figured someone was going to need an ambulance before the night was over and I wasn't sure if it would end up being John or Harrison Ford. A giant black SUV with tinted windows showed up at the hotel to pick us up. It was hilarious that we were being driven to the theater because we could have walked to it. But that's how big celebs like us roll, ha. When we pulled up to the theater, we sat in the car for a minute while John called his contact with Paramount. There were about 20 photographers lined up at the doorway and I think they were getting pretty anxious to see who was going to step out of the SUV (which is the same type of car the celebs were showing up in). Jason and I, a.k.a. "John's entourage" got out first. I was wearing a somewhat short dress and as the photographers snapped away, I tried my best not to pull a "Lindsay Lohan." When John got out in his costume the flashes really started firing....until they came to the realization that we were a bunch of nobodys. John looked at them and said "I really disspointed you guys, didn't I?" Yeah, they told him, he did.

A crew from Entertainment Tonight met up with John and stayed with him prior to the movie. They set us up so that we greeted the celebrities just before they walked into the theater where the movie was playing. My job was to photograph everything and I was sooo nervous that I was going to do something stupid and ruin John's photos. I was getting anxious about the lighting and saw a guy with fancy camera equipment and asked him if he would help me with the settings on my camera. He ended up being Paramount's photographer and he set me up perfectly, thank goodness!

The only celebrity who turned John down for a photo was Lauren Bacall. John got a kick out of the fact that he got shot down by Lauren Bacall.

Shia LaBeouf, Harrison Ford and Karen Allen were extremely nice and spent time interacting with John.

NYC--Day One

I recognized right away that I had packed entirely wrong for this trip. There was a chill in the air and it was raining off and on. I was pretty cold in my short sleeve shirt and light jacket, but then again, I was in NY, so what could I possibly have to gripe about, really? This was John's trip (and his first time in NYC), so he was calling all the shots, we were just along for the ride. We walked around Columbus Circle, Times Square, went to a comic book store, had lunch at Planet Hollywood and dessert at a diner where the wait staff sing. John and I are pretty big Letterman fans and we had tickets to that evening's taping. We got in line early and had tickets #1 and #2. We had SO much fun at the taping. Paul Schaffer and the band at the Late Show are so good in person and play before the show and during all the commercial breaks. On the show that night were Harrison Ford (John's first sighting!), Ali Lohan (Lindsay's little sister) and Leona Lewis (whose song "Bleeding Love" was incredible to hear in person). John and I had seats in the second row on the side of the stage where the band is positioned. After the taping, we were ready to drop with exhaustion. I went to John's hotel and grabbed my luggage and walked several blocks to check into my hotel. I was upgraded to a suite!! I fell asleep for a few hours. When I woke up, I went out to get some dinner, which ended up being a blueberry muffin, croissant and glass of orange juice.

NYC-Day One

John checking into the hotel

When we walked into luggage claim at La Guardia our driver was standing there to greet us with a sign that said "Welcome John Alexander." It was 8 a.m., so there was quite a bit of traffic going into the city. John and Jason's hotel, which we looked up online and costs about $450/night (with one room as high as $630), was very chic. Some of the people in the lobby looked like they were on their way to their modeling agency. John's friend from Somerset, Brennan, met us in the lobby. My mom and Brennan's mom taught school together back in the 1970s. I guess they never imagined at the time that their kids would one day be running around NYC together. The room wasn't ready, so we left our luggage there and went out to explore the city.

NYC-Day One

Our flight left Lexington at 6 a.m. John and Jason arrived at the airport from Somerset via a Lincoln Towncar. My driver was my dear husband who had to get up waaay too early, considering he wasn't going to NY and it was a work day. I was only slightly nervous about flying. I knew, though, that John would keep me entertained all the way there. I counted only 15 people on the flight, so we each had a row to ourselves, which was nice. In fact, they made us move around prior to take off to balance the weight distribution. We flew into La Guardia, which was awesome because we had great views of the city as we landed.

Here We Go Again

OK, I've decided to resurrect the ol' blog. It's time for a new adventure. Tuesday morning, I leave for New York with my cousin John and his friend Jason.

Why?

Well, they won a little contest:

(copy and paste this link)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIGxd1DtWIY

Isn't that cool?!? I could not be more excited for John. I seriously doubt there is a bigger fan of Indiana Jones in the entire world.

We have Letterman tickets for Tuesday night and Harrison Ford is going to be on.

Now, the problem is, I cannot decide how to pack. It's such "between season" kind of weather. I feel like I need to dress in layers but don't want to overpack and drag a giant suitcase around the city. Oh, the dilemma.

Soccer update: We have two games left (one of which I'll miss while in NY...I don't know how they'll survive without me). We are getting better and better. In fact, the last several games, we have been able to keep the other team from scoring in the double digits.

Places I've Been

1. New York City, NY, USA


2. Chicago, IL, USA

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States I've Been To:

1) Florida
2) Georgia
3) Alabama
4) Louisiana
5) Mississippi
6) South Carolina
7) North Carolina
8) Virgina
9) West Virginia
10) Tennessee
11) Missouri
12) Illinois
13) Indiana
14) Ohio
15) Pennsylvania
16) New York
17) Michigan
18) Delaware
19) Nevada
20) California
21) Hawaii
22) Kentucky

Pineapple

I thought I was finished Hawaii blogging, but I had to add one more entry. I just sliced up a pineapple for the first time in my life. It's one I brought back from the trip and I'm going to share it with my Sunday school class tomorrow morning. I had no idea how to slice this thing, but I read a couple of Web sites. I don't think I did too bad of a job.

My Blog

This is the first time I've blogged. I am really glad I decided to do it because taking notes during the trip really helped me to keep the memories alive now that I'm home. Otherwise, I think all the stuff would have run together and I would have forgotten parts of it.

This blog goes in reverse sequential order, so probably best to read it from the bottom up. Hope you enjoy it.

I didn't bring my good camera, just a little point and shoot, so don't judge my photography too harshly :-)

Leaving Hawaii

I'm happy to be going home. Hawaii is a gorgeous state, but it's not home, and I really like home. The only place I've ever visited and not been ready to leave is New York. I am depressed every single time I leave that place. I always turn around in my seat in the car and watch the NY skyline fade until there's nothing left to see. I will never forget leaving New York on 9/9/01. I never imagined the changes to that skyline and our nation that would come less than 48 hours later.

That was on my mind when we visited Pearl Harbor. My Papaw was in the Navy and spent time at Pearl Harbor not long after the Japanese attack. As we stood on the memorial, I looked down at the sunken U.S.S. Arizona for a while, but my attention was on the edge of the military base too. I tried to imagine what it was like to stand there and witness the destruction. I got to go back to NY a couple weeks after 9/11. Smoke still rose from the rubble and it smelled like burning plastic. There are no words to describe the scene of utter destruction. I don't think I've ever wanted to be somewhere and not be somewhere so strongly at the same time. I wonder if that's how they felt at Pearl Harbor after the attack and I wonder how it changed the people who witnessed it.

Papaw never talked about those days to me much. I at least know for certain he, like me, was one who was ready to go home from Hawaii. He loved home as much as I do. The woman I bought this ink pen from at the airport store was telling me about their return policy and asked when I would be coming back to Hawaii and I told her I didn't know, but now her question has me thinking. I'd like to visit all 50 states before I die. I feel like I'm now able to check off one of the more difficult/expensive of two, Alaska being the other. I'm definitely thankful I've seen Hawaii first-hand and fully appreciate the blessing of being able to come here in the first place. But, this place just isn't me. I can't see Chris and I making this a regular place to pass through. Chris loves beaches and these were some of the most fabulous beaches we've ever seen. But, there are beaches all over the world. We'll be in Florida a couple times between now and Nicole's wedding, so I'm sure we'll see some beach time there too. I'm just not sure we will ever feel the need to come back to Hawaii. I'll probably take one last look at this part of the world as the plane leaves the island, but it may not be the "see you later" look I give NY, but more of a pure, "goodbye."

I am nervous about the flight, but the Lord is giving me lots of reassurance. I sat down in an empty waiting area at the airport facing the beautiful green mountains. I opened up my Bible study. The first verse I read was Psalm 121:1-8. It begins, "I raise my eyes toward the mountains. Where will my help come from?" Sitting there staring out toward the mountains, the passage started to take on a special meaning for me there in that moment.

"My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber. Indeed, the Protector of Israel does not slumber or sleep. The Lord protects you; the Lord is a shelter right by your side. The sun will not strike you by day, or the moon by night. The Lord will protect you from all harm; He will protect your life. The Lord will protect your coming and going both now and forever."

Some Parting Thoughts

Everything is outdoors or partially open air, including Starbucks.

These stoors are everywhere.

A taste of home.

Lanais at an apartment outside our hotel room.

A few things I noticed about Hawaii...

1) Everybody waits for the crosswalk signal, even if there is absolutely no traffic coming. I kept wanting to go ahead and cross the street, but Chris was afraid I was going to get some sort of jaywalking ticket, considering nobody was doing it.

2) There are convenience stores on nearly every street called ABC Store. They all have the same stuff and many of them displayed alcohol in the window. Every time I passed one of these stores and saw the Wild Turkey bourbon in the window, I would think how cool it is that I can go to so many places in the world and still have access to my hometown drinking water (although bourbon is gross).

3) Like I said before, there are a LOT of Japanese tourists here. Many things are translated into Japanese and there are trolleys that are pretty much just for people from Japan and duty free stores. One of the oddest things to me were the indoor firing ranges that people on the street would hand out flyers about. I guess being able to shoot a gun is something exotic to people from Japan.

4) You can't help but notice, surfers are hot. Chris and I agreed on this, so he won't mind me saying it (there were plenty of female surfers). We'd watched a TV show about how surfing shapes a rock hard body, and they were right. Makes me wish we had some waves in Kentucky, I'd definitely take it up.

5) I had intended to take surfing lessons in Hawaii, but after the boogie boarding, I was too sore and worn out. I still have my shirt, so maybe I will wear it when we go to Florida for Nicole's wedding.

6) Everyone we encountered was really friendly (except the airline employee who checked me in on the way home).

7) Lanais (balconies) are very popular and people seem to pretty much live on them. We saw them used for everything from storage to laundry facilities.

8) There are very few places that are entirely indoors. Even our hotel lobby didn't have a front on it, just a big open air area. If there were bad weather, I couldn't see any doors that would be shut. It think it's pretty much open air all the time.

9) There are a lot of roosters.

Day Seven-Polynesian Cultural Center

Going to the luau

I can't remember what these balls were called, but it was hard to do the tricks they tried to teach us.

Chris learning to hula


My tattoo (which got all over me since I was all greased up with sunscreen)

Practicing my hula skills in front of the Elvis gift shop

Our last full day in Hawaii was spent at the Polynesian Cultural Center. It's kind of like Disneyworld without the rides. Most of the employees are college students from Brigham Young University's Hawaii campus. They were very nice and engaging. Our tour guide took us around the grounds which were made to look like the various island villages of Polynesia. There were activities and shows at each "island." We did tolo (spear throwing), got ink tattoos, learned the hula, sampled some weird food, etc..etc... We took a boat to dinner and then went to the luau. I don't regret going to this place because it was a chance to do some quintessential Hawaii stuff before leaving, but it was pretty expensive. I would especially recommend it if you have kids (and a lot of money).

Day Six--Japanese BBQ

Green tea ice cream

The menus were stainless steal so they don't catch on fire.

We went to GYU-KAKU Japanese BBQ for dinner. I think we were the only people there who were not Japanese. By the way, Hawaii really caters to visitors from Japan. Which, I think, is part of what makes America great. All the tables had a little grill thing in the middle and you cook your own food here. This was the most expensive meal we ate in Hawaii, so I found it a little ironic that we had to cook it, but that was part of the fun, I suppose. Chris was the chef at our table. The food was soooo good. We had green tea ice cream for dessert, which tasted a lot better than it sounds. According to the menu, there are a lot of these restaurants in Japan and they're now in the U.S. in Hawaii, Los Angeles and New York.