By the way...

I (Chris) love taking pictures. Sometimes you can grab a fantastic snapshot of a person or thing and be amazed by its beauty.

But every so often, you can capture a moment, and it's supernaturally beautiful.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, Katie McIver Green:

From NYC

NYC Day Three - Wow

Katie and I told each other that we weren't sitting in the room at all...we were going to walk and experience New York...rain, sun, or snow. Day Three so far has several checkmarks off the To-Do list.

If you're coming here to see pics of Bella, you can check in on her adventures over at Julie's Blog. Here's a teaser...

From NYC

Let's recap last night. As Katie mentioned below, we stood in the near-freezing rain for an hour to get half-priced musical tickets from TKTS in Times Square. It paid off as we were front and center for Cirque du Soleil - Wintuk last night.

It poured...terribly. As we walked off the subway at Madison Square Garden, the monsoon rain dominated our $5 umbrellas, and we sought refuge in a quaint restaurant called Stage Door. After dinner, I experimented with what it would feel like to be...older.

From NYC

Then we crossed the street and entered into Madison Square Garden's WAMU Theater. And the night was made even more magical because Cirque figured out how to make it snow.

From NYC

From NYC

From there, Katie and I headed back up town to a bar right across the street from our condo, The Home Brew. It's a cool, underground sports bar, with tons of international beers. We stopped for a raspberry wheat beer, brewed in New York, and some potato skins.

DAY THREE

We thought we might try, at some point on the trip, to get on the Today Show. Honestly, I never thought Katie and I would be able to get out of bed. Somehow...we did. After hitting snooze 14 times, we rushed over to Rockefeller Center with a piece of pink poster board and a large photo of Bella in-hand (that Julie snuck in our luggage). One thing I didn't realize...only ladies go to the Today Show...so a 6-foot-something guy like me would have no problem skying over the women and children to get our sign on TV. Katie made a quick call to the McIver's just before the live shot for DVRing. And...the rest is history. My only regret...not having the presence of mind to call others...like ehem...my mother. Sorry mom!!

Enough talking...here are the pictures of Day Three (morning).

From NYC

From NYC

From NYC

From NYC

From NYC

From NYC

From NYC

NYC Day 2 / Freezing Rain

From NYC

To add to yesterday, we went and saw "Wicked" last night - we didn't know what to expect. It is the story of the Witches of Oz, FYI. It was very good - the quality of the performers was what was awesome to me! I do have to say, though, my love of Chicago won't let me rank Wicked as #1.

From NYC

From NYC

We sat next to a couple about our same age - Matt and Teneale. They were from Australia and Matt works at a big church, too! They were such nice people and we hit it off. After the play ended, we went to Starbucks and talked until midnight. It was cool to learn about Australia and their life (especially in those accents)! They took off two months from work!! (This is kinda like their summer "holiday" time). They already went to Vegas, LA and are headed out today for 5 weeks in Europe. How cool? Anyway, it was neat to meet them.
This morning we were so tired from yesterday, so we didn't get a very early start. And it's sooooooooo cold out today!!

From NYC

We ate lunch at a thai place called Yum Yum.

From NYC

From NYC

We got cupcakes from Magonlia Bakery (Thanks, Tara.)

From NYC

Then we've basically been out walking all day and we are now in the room thawing out. We just stood in line at TKTS for tickets to see Cirque Du Soleil at Madison Square Garden tonight!

From NYC

NYC Day 1 & The Naked Cowboy

From NYC

My parents came down to pick us up early this morning. We left the house at 8; our flight was at 10:20. Because of the weather, we didn't take off until noon!! Two hours of sitting on a plane without going anywhere is not fun!! But, good thing for the iPhone, I was able to facebook chat with Gilly which made the wait better.
I know I'll miss Bella, but I was thankful not to have a one year old on the plane like the lady behind us.
Here we are ready to go!

From NYC

We rented (or subleased - strange) an apt on 51st street! I can't believe people live in these tiny spaces!

From NYC

We are a block or two away from the Gershwin Theater, and we're going to see Wicked at 8pm tonight. We are in the room for a quick break after walking all kinds of places today. Here are some photos from the day. We didn't break out the camera, just our iPhones since it's kinda rainy. It's so cool to see all the lights and Times Square is about 2 blocks away!! We are having a great time already...
Chris' Dream...

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We thought we went to Ray's Pizza. That's what the awning said. Then once we were eating, we realized it was called something else. Amed's Pizza or something. I guess they hadn't changed the name or something. It was still good.

From NYC

The famous "Naked Cowboy"

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HAAA! We loved it!

From NYC

Now we are off to Wicked!!! See ya...

And... we're off!

Chris and I are off to NYC tomorrow morning! I am looking forward to making some fun memories. And you know we'll share pictures soon!

Gracie's Birthday

We celebrated with Gracie for her third birthday this weekend.

From Gracie's Third Birthday

From Gracie's Third Birthday

Bella and GG:

From Gracie's Third Birthday

Bella and Uncle Brian:

From Gracie's Third Birthday

From Gracie's Third Birthday

And oh my goodness there were some cute kids there:

From Gracie's Third Birthday

From Gracie's Third Birthday

Including one that looked like he was eating bubbles:

From Gracie's Third Birthday

Doesn't get much cuter...

...than in this outfit and coat from her Great-Grandmother!

From misc.

From misc.

Could she get any cuter?!??
This was before church this morning - Chris had a cool step team from Morehouse College preform between the worship- it was awesome!

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Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Question #3:

What do you love about Chris now that you never would've imagined about him in high school?

Good question, but hard because sometimes I forget I haven't know him my whole life! I had to go back and think on this one... there are many, but one that pops out to me is...

I really admire his work ethic.

It's more than just the fact that he doesn't miss work unless he's really really not feeling well. It's the fact that he genuinely cares about his job and puts in 150% - whether it's working facilities in the corporate world, volunteering, or in a really "good fit" job like he is now. He really cares about the people he works with, and cares about his character and just is a good person overall. He makes it easy to respect him as a husband.

I love him.

Happy 28th!

It's Chris and Brian's 28th today! Happy birthday to you both. And Happy "Birth"day to you, Lynn, 28 years ago!
Here are some cute and old school pictures of my hubbie and his twin brother, Brian.

From Chris Growing Up

From Chris Growing Up

From Chris Growing Up

From Chris Growing Up

From Chris Growing Up

From Chris Growing Up

From Chris Growing Up

From Chris Growing Up

Here's to hoping they don't kill me for that! :)
Hope you both had a great birthday!!

New York or Bust

Chris and I are going to NYC next week! This will be his first time AND he wanted to see the city at Christmas time! So we are going for his birthday/our Christmas present to each other. This will also be a first time for us leaving Bella for anything more than overnight! Yikes! I'll be ok, but is it bad that I'm already looking foward to coming home and seeing her? haha!
We are looking to have a great time and make the most of our trip. Any suggestions of what we should see or do???