More on Macy's

I know this is a weird picture, but this is the escalator at Macy's. It is wooden! It feels like church pews made into an escalator. It's also kind of freaky to step on...there's an optical illusion effect. We went to Ben and Jerry's on the fourth floor during one of our breaks.

During lunch Todd, David and I took off to an Irish Pub somewhere in the fashion district. We weren't sure we could find food, but we knew we could put new buttons on my coat or buy some sweet trims! Project Runway fans rejoice. During lunch we had the computers out and were looking at the Christ Fellowship website. I got a blog in on Coffee Shop Journal, too.

Spring Hoffman managed to get to Q by 11 or so; not bad considering she had to get up at 5! We were hunting for caffeine to charge us, and a phone charger to charge her battery.

Day One at Q came to a close when we went to Little Italy to meet Greg Reade and his parents for dessert. Long but good day!

Q day

This is the building we are meeting in...GOTHAM HALL. Does it get any better than that? Yes, it does. Gotham Hall is just down Broadway from the flagship Macy's. Do you know they have 7 restaurants inside including Starbucks? I am so energized by being here in this city, learning about new ways God wants me to work in the world, hanging with so many of my best friends in the world. If you know me, you know the mood that I am in: I just want to jump out of my skin with the sensations of it all. And in addition to that I'm learning new ways to change my world all the time!

Comment, people: I wanna know if you are listening!

Landed in New York City

What a great day we had! David and I had a smooth flight, love our hotel, and had a yummy dinner at Carmine's with great friends. We poked our heads into the Times Square Church, shopped at Macy's for black T-shirts for David for tomorrow, wandered Herald Square and climbed the Empire State Building. Not bad for our first few hours in town! I can't wait for the conference tomorrow, but I've already felt refreshed.

I'm going to the Q conference!

I took this picture earlier this week to remind myself why I love South Florida. It's so blue and green!

I am headed to New York City tomorrow to attend the Q conference sponsored by the fermiproject. I will be blogging about the conference on Coffee Shop Journal, so check in for updates. And I think I will attempt to upload some fun NYC pics here, so check back here, too. Honestly...pictures are so much easier to upload in Blogspot than on Wordpress. Hmmm.

Not Your Average Joe's

In a collection of my favorite places, this restaurant would sure rank high on my list! It is called Not Your Average Joe's, and it lives up to its name. This restaurant is a small, local-owned chain in the Lexington, MA area. The first thing I fell in love with in this restaurant is its use of color. Every color is clear, intentional. The mirrors are positioned perfectly to make you feel like you have a view of "living artwork" in the room. I love this effect, even though (to be honest) I sometimes get motion sickness from staring into the mirrors. Walking into Joe's you just feel hip and cool. Sometimes I don't feel worthy. By the way, the food at Not Your Average Joe's is amazing. Every dish has a twist, like the caribbean buffalo chicken tenders with pineapple-mango salsa.

So what good does reading about my favorite restaurant do you? Not much unless you happen to be traveling to the Boston area. But I just wanted to put up a picture of a place that makes me feel happy. Something about the way the colors and design work with the food, the smells, the ambiance. I like the thoughts I think when I am in this room. Do you all have any places like that?

What Do You Smell Like???

This is part two of the post that began when the guy smoking cigarettes came to our front door and smelled everything up. Nasty smells surround that guy and he doesn't even know it!

Well today I had a rough "re-entry" to our normal life, if there is such a thing. Wednesday nights are always tough around here anyway, and last night was no exception. Which made this morning a difficult day to start, and it got worse from there! There is a point to this, I promise. I'm not just rambling to get you all feeling sorry for me!

By the time dinner rolled around, Mama had HAD IT. And you all know what happens when Mama has Had Enough. So David, being the peacemaker that he is, took me out for a bite to eat leaving the dueling divas here at home. I had a nice dinner, but honestly my mood did not improve like it should have. Until...

We were standing in line at Moe's to buy some rice and beans for Jillian. Just standing there behind two girls out for a quick dinner. They were not beautiful. They were not special. They were not dressed up for an amazing night out; in fact they were quite casual. One girl had a tattoo that said Princess (which I kind of think is funny.) The other looked like she had worked as a receptionist all day and was glad to get to some real food. They were just standing there. But I caught a whiff of princess-tattoo girl's perfume. I don't know what it was. But suddenly, everything was right again. In that slightest of smells I was reminded of sweet summer nights when it is worth putting a dab of perfume on. I was reminded of being happy, of the lightheartedness of standing in line at Moe's. I was reminded that life is good. All from just the littlest sniff of an unknown perfume.

I love a world where God makes smells that transport us to another place in a heartbeat. And once more, back to my metaphor of being a fragrant offering to God in all we do, I wonder what we smell like.

New Artwork for Creative Every Week

This is a painting I did of a sunflower. It sits in my Lexington condo waiting for me to find it a home. Funny thing is, I like the digital version of itself better than I do the real thing. I just took a picture of it on my camera using the digital macro setting, then cropped it the way I liked. I also took a version of it where the color was all removed except the golden color. I think it is kind of interesting, too.