And...July comes to a Close

I do not even know where to begin, this month has been full of craziness.

I last wrote about New York City so lets see here, since then I received a visit from my best friend, received a couple gifts from my love, took a great step forward with my photography, visited Nashville, and had been faced with some drama which involved major support duty, and lastly going through the challenge of the making it through one more month without seeing my Cliffy Cakes.

I hadn't seen my best friend since January when she moved to Charleston. Her transformation from then until now has been phenomenal. She has definitely found herself and where she belongs which I know she had struggled with for quite some time.  On her drive here, she was faced with rough driving conditions near Knoxville, Kentucky where she hydroplaned, spun, and landed in an embankment. She was trying to surprise me that Friday by arriving earlier then expected and showing up at my work, but instead she had to call me and tell me the news about her accident and that she didn't know when she would be here that day. I know she was disappointed and upset about the situation, but I am so proud of how she handled it. She was calm and was just glad to be alive considering just a few miles down the road from her, there was a fatality due to the driving conditions on the road. She said the people who helped from the police officer, to the auto shop, to the rental car company were extremely nice and comforting. Gotta love the Southern Hospitality!!

Needless to say, she did make it here to Jasper later that night safely in the rental car. She was only supposed to stay that weekend, but with the car situation she ended up staying for almost two weeks waiting on her car to be fixed. More time for us! YAY!! the only unfortunate part was I still had to work and couldn't ask for time off so she was stuck at my place during the day alone. She kept herself busy going through some of the stuff she still had here and cleaning my place haha.

She got to meet some of my good friends here and she helped with my photography by letting me have a photo shoot with the two of us. Nothing like getting pictures taken in extreme heat and humidity as your sweating every source of hydration from your body! The pictures turned out great and I know now, this is something I look forward to pursuing further and I hope it takes off.

I have named my photography business "Fritz Photography" and below are some pictures I have taken thus far. I still feel like I have much to learn, but practice makes perfect! I'm so excited to get started!

And then a few scenic pictures:

I have a few events lined up for more opportunities, There is the Straussenfest (spelling?) here in Jasper which is a huge event in the town, a couple weddings, and some holiday pictures. I really cannot wait! I am so inspired I can just get up and dance a little boogie right here in the living room!

I did get to visit Nashville with Ashley and her brother, we stayed the weekend. The drive there was fun...we know how to make it that way, cause we are just too awesome for words! I was going to try and post some videos of us two singing in the car, however somehow I have given up trying to figure out how to rotate the videos so they are not upside down. They are on my facebook so you can check them out there in the meantime!

Not much to report from Nashville, we mainly walked around the downtown area off of Broadway and visited the Country Music Hall of Fame. The best part, getting to have some Mikes Ice Cream :o) OMG!!! makes my mouth water again just thinking about it.

This month there have been  a lot of relationship hardships, not on my part, but from others around me. I mainly was needed for support or advice which I hope I was able to offer. I normally am not surrounded by all sorts of drama, so it has been a bit of a change in my little lifestyle this month for sure! It breaks my heart to see those close to me suffer through such hardships, but no matter what happens in the end...I will always be there to support them. You really realize who your real friends are in tough situations.

This month especially, I have been so thankful that the relationship I have developed with my Cliffy Cakes is simple, peaceful, and full of fun and love. I could not have asked for a better person to be in my life. I appreciate everything that he is. We have kept things so strong and I look forward to seeing him in September over Labor Day...our longest stretch thus far - 3 months without seeing one another. Its been hard as I miss him so much! and just in time...he sent me two little monkeys and some flip flops which I LOVE!! I'm glad I now have little cuddlers to keep me company if I get lonely (Herbert and Newman) hehe...he is so good to me :o)

 Nothing beats some bright green angry birds flippies!!

New York City...WHAT! ?

I have always wanted to visit New York City...I didn't think however, that work would be the thing that would bring me there.

Khovnanian is one of our builders that are contracted with us (Masterbrand Cabinets Inc), a big account that we intend on keeping which means....kissing their Butt at all times lol. I was introduced recently to help put a more creative spin on their kitchen designs during their plan development stages. Fortunately, I was able to meet them in person at their corporate office location in Redbank, New Jersey. In the meantime, Our sales rep was nice to take me and another designer into New York City for a few hours. Not long to experience everything, but long enough for me to enjoy the fact that I was able to walk the streets of it!

We headed into the City immediately after getting off the plane. The Sales Rep gave us two choices...1- Head into the City, or 2 - Go have dinner in Redbank, New Jersey.  Ummm, lets see here, that was a no brainer!!! I was not going to pass up an opportunity to see the city. Every moment from the drive under the Lincoln tunnel, the traffic, the architecture, and the insane amounts of people was so overwhelming, but exciting as well.
 
I will say, as much as I hate traffic...I am glad that I got to experience being in traffic in New York City and that our Sales Rep was the one driving!! Oh my...people are crazy when it comes to driving in the City. I have driven many times in the City in Denver, and this was no comparison. I don't even think I saw designated lanes, people were just driving where they pleased, walking where they pleased, and had no concern for those around them.

This marks the beginning the of the adventure....

 The drive in from Newark, New Jersey 

 The Lincoln Tunnel - 1.5 miles long underneath the Hudson River

hold your breath!! here we go!!

It was a little creepy knowing we were underneath a large amount of water, but a fun little journey to say the least in bumper to bumper traffic.

Once on the other side,which seemed to take forever...NYC had no problem showing its face immediately. WOW!! it went from one extreme to another. One thing that caught my eye as I was trying to look at as many things as possible is that I noticed within this wide alley way between a couple  buildings were several cars parked upon one another within this crazy elevator-operated Mechanism. 

I was unable to get a picture and perhaps this is not new information to most, but for me...I had never seen something like this before and I found it to be fascinating.

Our mission was to find a parking garage, it was not a place where you wanted to park on the street and paying for a garage was considered well worth the money. I would not have second guessed that considering all the activity everywhere.

We parked across the street from the Museum of Modern Art, unfortunately we did not make it in time to see the exhibits, but we were able to see the little gift shop there. I did not see much that I was interested in other than some fun kid toys lol...nothing worth buying for sure. Ultimately, we figured that walking around the city would be a good way to experience it. It didn't take long before I had no idea where we were lol. 

I honestly felt like I had to keep pinching myself...I still could not believe I was here! As if I didn't already look like a tourist with my camera...I proceeded to make sudden stops to take photos and I am pretty sure the locals did not appreciate the fact of having to walk around me haha. Luckily I did see some commonalities that make me chuckle. 

• I am pretty sure smiling is considered against sidewalk rules
• All working men must wear a collared under shirt in some shade of blue because any other color would get you fired
• "Excuse me" is no longer a word but replaced with a harsh push instead
• The little white man telling you its "OK" to cross the street is pretty much ignored, poor guy...
• That little turn signal called a blinker in your car is either broken or never was installed as there is no need for it apparently
• If you are wearing jeans, you are no long a part of the crowd
• No need to go to the gym, just taking a run through the crowd is perfect as the pace is about the same and you get great cardio weaving in and out
• Music on the street consists of a man banging on buckets, very talented I might add

Moving on...we did manage to find our way to Central Park. The only greenery you will see in this city. We only covered a small portion of it, I'm sure there were many pathways we could have taken, but we were limited on time so here is what I got...

And we just continued walking....and walking. On the street corner after leaving the park, I came upon a horse who was pulling a carriage, he was taking a break I think because he was stopped and just chillin. As we were waiting for the light to change so we could walk across, this horse and I really had a connection. Great brief conversation asking him how his day was...he let me pet his nose :o) I kind of felt bad for him, he seemed as though he missed being able to run the pastures. Poor guy :o(

By this time....I was in love, in New York City

This picture is so fun.. :o)

Somehow as we were walking we found ourselves on Fashion Avenue...Gucci, Louis Vuitton, etc. stores that I myself refused to walk into due to the price tags. We got to see Trump Tower and walk through Rockefeller Center where I found a great purse (in my price range) and some little gifts! Here are a few more pics, in no particular order...

 In front of Gucci in my non-Gucci Clothes lol

One of my favorite highlights was dinner at Alfredo's, I love Italian food so this was perfect! Great place to talk business and eat expensive food! we were there for quite a while and even had dessert. This place was recommended by the door guy at Rockefeller Center and I will say he gave us a good choice!

Unfortunately after dinner it was time to head back to the car and drive to our hotel in Redbank, New Jersey. The drive back out of the city lead us into Time Square. With me hanging out of the window, check this out!...

After all the traveling, walking, and driving when we finally arrived at the hotel I was completely pooped! Normally I do not sleep well the first night in hotels, but this night I slept great! The next day was the meeting with Khovnanian. Located in Redbank, New Jersey along the harbor I hoped to be able to see more of the town after the meeting, but we ran short on time to get back to the airport to fly back. I did manage a few pictures...it was a bit foggy unfortunately, but still managed to be quite scenic.

Khovnanian Office

Is it already over??? Ha...part of me kinda wished. We got to the airport and our flight was delayed by 3 hours causing us to miss our connecting flight in St. Louis to get to Louisville Kentucky. After standing in line for an hour 1/2, we had to stay the night in New Jersey again and hop on a flight at 6 am that next morning. Sleep that night was not happening either, the noise into the atrium where the pool was I could hear everything through the walls. It was about midnight before actually getting some sleep. Needless to say the flight the next morning to get home was a struggle on top of the hour 1/2 drive to get home from Louisville. 

Traveling is exhausting sometimes! oh well... the experience was well worth it all!!