All Things New

So, since I've been here in the great NYC for all of two weeks (as of tomorrow at least) I have done a little reflecting, and have realized that I have a lot of things now that I didn't have two weeks ago. (I could list the things I no longer have - access to my puppies, friends, boyfriend, bed, car, or nature in general) But this is supposed to be a happy post, so I am listing the things I DO have now - some things I honestly never expected to ever have!

I have:
1) A New York City address!
(275 W. 11st New York, NY 10014 for all you snail mail writers!!)
2) A commute to work
(which was very scary at first - the subway that is - but now I do believe I am quite used to it! In fact, I use my subway time to read which is a great way to start off my day!)
3) An office
4) An office with a VIEW
(see previous post)
5) My own work phone line
(I don't think I should necessarily post that number for all the free world to see - but if anyone is interested in calling at work, let me know - I have my own line I can answer!)
6) Blisters on my feet from ridiculous work shoes and the hike I have to make to and from the subway.
7) A job with a purpose.
(Ok, so this may only be an internship, and sure, other jobs before have had purpose, but here I am creating resources that will be used by the Global Methodist Church!! I created a power point presentation that will be used as an introduction for a speech on the latest UN Millennium Goals in Seoul, Korea in two weeks!! I think that is pretty exciting!)
8) Access to resources that I never knew exsisted but would have been OH so helpful on papers I have written over the years.
9) A subway pass
10) Access to a city full of culture and musuems and music
11) A view of the Empire State Building from my room
12) The opportunity to meet missionaries from around the world!
13) A whole new waredrobe for this "real job"
14) Free time.
(I have always been in school - night times have always been filled with studying. Now, I have a job that, when I am done for the day, I am done for the day! I can go home, relax, and read WHATEVER I want!!)
15) A running route along the Hudson River
16) I am soon to have incredibly awesome leg muscles from all the walking I do around here!
17) Good friends that call, text message, and email to check up on me.
(You guys don't know how much that helps!!!)
18) A great bakery right across the street from a great bookstore, just a few yards from my door
19) The opportunity for some really cool pictures
20) A great beginning for a book/short story....

"I wanna be where the people are..."

"I wanna see, wanna see them dancing!"

Oh, and dance they did!

Saturday, one-day-pass-friend Kandis and I adventured out to Coney Island. When we got there we were delighted to find out that day they were having the 24th Annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade!!! I love parades!!

This is a painting of a mermaind eating a hotdog -how appropriate!







Sorry for the chaotic nature of this post. Blogger is being silly and at risk of losing my pictures all together (which is just incredibly frustrating) they will just have to be slightly out of order



Apparently, I learned on Saturday, Coney Island is where they host the International Hot Dog East Contest every year, on the 4th of July! We watch those eating contests at work every now and then - it is amazing to watch some of those people! The worlds record for most hot dogs eaten is 38 for the women's division, and 53 1/2 for the men's division!! The guy who holds the record is this little bitty Japanese man! Crazy!!


The parade was a lot of fun. It was long - lasting nearly and hour and a half. There were step dancers, kazoo bands, children dressed up like mermaids.....











Pirates doing really cool balancing acts.....

(this just adds to the debate that Pirates are way cooler than Ninjas....I mean, who ever heard of a Ninja parade? Boring! And look, you get a sword, and there are mermaids, and music..so fun to be a pirate!)


















Random: this is a picture of Coney Island and the beach from the super cool Ferris Wheel we rode before the parade started....












And a better view of the previously mentioned super-cool Ferris Wheel - the Wonder Wheel! What makes this one cooler than all the rest? The cars in the middle of the wheel? They are on a seperate track from the outside cars, and the move and shift all over the wheel during the ride.







And now back to the parade.

More she-pirates balancing real swords on their chest. Earlier they had them on their heads, but the crowd kept getting in the way of my pictures!










This is me, a real-live mermaid, and one-day-pass-friend Kandis - after the parade. The reason this is the only picture of a mermaid on this post (other than the children) is because this is a PG rated site, and most of what we saw by way of mermaids that day would not have been legal outside the confines of a parade!! We saw more pasties (or lost pasties) on more middle aged women than I really ever hoped to see. The younger mermaids opted for no-pasties and just merely painted themselves the part instead. And yet others just didn't even paint. It was crazy!!



But all in all - Coney Island was a lot of fun. I, of course, ate a hot dog. We enjoyed a lively parade, and I learned something about mermaids: Anything goes. Man, woman, child, old, young, fat or drunk - anyone can be a mermaid. My favorrite mermaid...ahem...merman, was this middle aged man, covered in tattoos (nearly full sleeves and a lot of chest and back work as well), with two little pasties! Like I said, anything goes!!

Welcome to the Big Apple

So here I am, in the City. Working, living the dream...but wait, I forget what dream it was that I was supposed to be living...

Many people have asked me "So, do you just love it? Have you made a ton of friends already?" And it is time to be honest - No. Not that I hate it - it is just completely different than what I thought it would be like. Living here, by myself, is taking some getting used to. The first full week of learning everything new was not a very easy transition. The people, the places, the smells, the sounds, everything was different. I have found it difficult to make friends here for a couple of reasons.















One: In a city of 5 million people, people make it their personal goal of the day to make as little eye contact as possible. Its kinda hard to meet people when they won't even look at you.
Two: I work in an office with all middle-aged women who have homes and families.
Three: There is no one else within my age bracket living in the Alma House.

So, I can wander the streets all night, but if no one is making eye contact, I am not going to push some random chick off the curb to get her attention, in hopes that she will be my friend. Nathan suggested just going and hanging out in a bar or something to make friends there. So one night I went down to one restaurant that advertised Live Jazz with no cover. Only problem here, my one small Blue Moon was $7!!! So now it is expensive to make friends! Well, never fear friends, because as we all know, the Lord knows what we need even before we ask. Last night I learned that there were in fact some young people very close to my age, staying in the Alma house through this Saturday. And another group of people my age will be coming for missionary training July 7th-31st! So pretty much for the remainder of my summer, there will be people to get to know!!














This are the olds posts in Hudson River. I sit in front of them most afternoons on the fake grass and read, trying to get a little sun. =)

Tomorrow I have plans to go to Coney Island. That was something I had completely forgotten to even put on my list! But there is a girl here, Candance, who suggested going, so, my new one-day buddy and I are going Coney Island! Yay for plans! And hotdogs. And rides.

So, all of that to say, hopefully the days of feeling sorry for myself are over. I am learning my way around. I take a walk every night around my neighborhood, just to familiarize myself with the area (hoping to decrease the chance of ever getting lost!) Things are starting to look familiar. I have found some green. Right outside of my very own window.















So that is nice, not nearly as nicely as Kentucky, but it will do. And again, it is the weekend. And with things like a little more hopeful for the rest of my stay, I am actually looking forward to a great weekend.
















By the way - this fella above, I still miss like crazy! It turns out a visit from him just isn't going to be possible this summer - which is a complete bummer. But, as everyone keeps telling me, the next few weeks will fly by and we can see each other before we know it. So that means anyone else who has mentioned that they might come visit me, they had better not back out! (Leslie, Vanessa, Nathan, Valerie, Mary!!!) =)

I know this post has been a little bit spastic, but don't worry, its over now. Hopefully tomorrow I will have some fun stories and pictures to share. Till then....

The View from up here

While I still have a little lunch break left, I thought I would post a little bit about where I work. My office is located on the 13th floor of The Interchurch Center. This building was built in the 1950s with Rockafeller money on top of an old tennis court. The building was designed to house the city's major church and non-profit organizations. The dream was that this building would be a place where Christian, Muslim, Jew and anyone else inbetween could come together to work for the common good of the community and the world. Each floor holds a different faith or a different denomination. It is pretty cool to know that I am working within such close vacinity to so many who are just wanting to do good for the world!

Where I am specifically, I have my very own office, with my very own laptop, my very own view (well, maybe that isn't my very own - I kinda share that!) and my very own spinning chair! Yay for spinning chairs. I am surrounded by books - which is like a nerdy-dream come true. I am about half-way through organizing and catologing the library. When I finish this project (hopefully by the end of the week!) I can move onto the research part of my internship.

Ok, lunch break is nearly up. So I will leave you with a couple of pictures of the view from my office....

A random picture share

This is where I live!! 275 W. 11th St. I know I'm home when I see the flowerboxes!! =)
















See!! I told you that Kentucky sunsets are better!! This is the sunset over the Hudson River

















My new favorite place, the very cool New York City Library!! "Books are my friends" (there is also a beautiful garden off to the side that I wasn't able to get pictures of yesterday due to some random concert)



















A view from my room. Yup - that is the Empire State Building! It lights up at night, but unfortunatly, my camera won't take pictures that far! But on the weekends it is red, white and blue - how appropriate! (during the week the colors vary)





The mini-park by the Hudson River with FAKE GRASS!! How terrible is that!?!

How did she do that?!?!

I watched this woman today sleeping on the subway. Not a bum, a buisness woman, worn out from her Monday, head banging against the cold metal wall of the train; oblivious to the furtive stares. "74th Street!" and she pops up without even a hint of the deep sleep she was in only moments before. New Yorkers are amazing!!!

Oh, and also, it doesn't matter which way I go walking and exploring, I always end up on Hudson St. Strange yet comforting.

Somewhat settled in

So, I'm here in New York now and there are so many things to share I don't even know where to begin!! I wish I had access here at the house to download my pictures, but that will have to wait for a break during work. =) I am settled in the house - I am living in a house owned by the ministry division - they host conferences and traveling missionaries here. I am located smack dab in the middle of West Greenwich Village, which apparently THE place to be!! I spent the weekend exploring, taking in the sights, enjoying the local street fair and the sunshine. I found a little church today that I went to, and I will have to save that for another post. Let's just say I have never walked out of a service before. I am still processing some of the things that were said.

My work is good so far. The first week or so will be spent creating and organizing a resource library for the division of ministry to women and children. This means finding the books (which are scattered in about 30 different packed boxes!), organizing them on the shelves, and creating an annotated bibliography. This may seem boring, but it is pretty interesting to me, because I get to see all these books that would be useful in my own studies. Also, my advisor told me that if there are double copies of anything, that I am welcome to take them for my own use, or to take them back to the Asbury library! How awesome is that? The next part of my internship will include a lot of research. My advisor Marcia is working on developing a section of the library dedicated to women theologians, as well as developing a ministry plan to women and children of third world countries in crisis. So I will be researching work and programs that have already been done or implemented, and using that information to help her in her own studies and programming. This will also be highly useful for my own personal studies. There is also time alotted to going to different centers of interest, such as UNICEF, the UN and other ministry houses. So it should all be pretty interesting.

If you want to see where I am living, until I can post personal pictures, go here: http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/amh/aboutus.html

If you want to see where I work, go here: http://new.gbgm-umc.org/work/women-children/

I continue to appreciate all prayers and messages. If you are the snail mail sending type, I would love letters to be recieved at :
Liz Hooks
275 W. 11th St.
New York, NY 10014

Or any emails, blog messages or phone calls! =)

Till next time....

New York, New York

So, I leave at the butt-crack of dawn tomorrow morning for a summer adventure in New York. I am a little overwhelmed, highly excited, a little sad, and compeletly worn out. So, before I go - just wanted to share some things I think I will miss about Kentucky, and things I will love in New York. I appreciate all prayers, emails, and phone calls this summer. Love you all!!












What I will miss:
-Kentucky sunsets - there is nothing like watching a larger-than-life orange ball sink slowly into the rolling horse farms here.
-The color green.
-Kris - I have grown so used to having him at my beck and call - being 10 hours away won't be easy.











-Doug and Dave - my very favorite, very high class, very gay, very comical regulars at the bar that come to see me at least twice a week.
-My puppies - enough said.
-My pillow - it is really the best thing in the world!

What I will love:
-A change of scenery
-Having a "real job" where I have to get dressed up for every day
-Buildings
-Travel options (I am going to be a three hour train ride from both Boston -aka Lane and Mary- and DC - aka Tripp-)
-The Muffin Shop - there is apparently this incredible muffin shop two blocks from where I will be living - three seperate people have told me to go there!

Pretty in Pink??

(Amanda, Cassandra, Jessica and I at the rehersal)

Well, my morning started off as the sun was rising about 6am. After a quick shower, I went to pick up Jessica. We ran all over town, picking up dresses, dropping off tuxes, taking some cute pictures, and getting our hair done. I sweat the hairdresser used no less than 100 hair pins in my head!!! We got to the church early - so we had plenty of time to dress and eat a light snack. We had pictures before the ceremony, and then we waited anxiously in the side room for everything to get under way. I know that I was way more nervous than Jessica was - she was just this serenely beautiful bride, waiting for her father to give her away. The ceremony was quickly, but lovely. The reception was cute - with too much food.

(Myself and the bride moments before she walked down the isle)

The dresses were bright, the bride was floating, my hair was leaving a trail of pins, and the ring-bearer was a hoot. (Last night at the rehersal he kept walking down the isle yelling, "But why are you making me do this!?!" It was so funny!) All the stress, the planning, the eating, the running around, the exhaustion, the money, the time, the prayers, and the laughter....all came together to create a beautiful day to start off their new life together. I pray for and wish them all the best.

One day to W-DAY!!!

The wedding festivites are well under way. There has been a lot of eating, running around Panama City and cleaning up.








Wednesday night the girls and I surprised Jessica with a dinner party. In high school Heather and I hosted the first Christmas dinner party as a Christmas present for Jess and Jessica. The dinner party became a tradition that we all looked forward to and dressed up for every year. Unfortunatly, with Jess in LA and myself in Kentucky, we haven't been able to get together these past three years. Our 6th somewhat-annual Dinner Party was a great success. The guys were funny, the girls were hot, and the food was surprisingly amazing. (Thanks Kris!) There were stories, lots of laughter, and great anticipation for the exciting journey Jessica and Shawn are about to start.





























Last night was the 80's theme Bachelorette party. There was big hair, scary make-up, TONS of food and fun games. It was good for Jessica to just relax and have fun with some of her girlfriends. I personally was reminded why the 80s were a bad idea.














Today we have the rehersal and dinner. No big hair - hopefully. The day is so quickly approaching. I know Jessica is ready to be married, and I am ready to be able to focus on something else other than her wedding!! I am hoping to get to spend some time with my family on Sunday (I haven't seen them but for more than a few minutes since I've been here!)
Hopefully there will be more pictures tommorrow night.