Wish You Were Here: New York City

We had so much fun in the Big Apple last week! I'll never forget the first time I traveled to New York City. I was eight years old and it was my first time on an airplane! My uncle lived (and still does) in Greenwich Village and my grandparents took me to visit. I still vividly remember the night we arrived and I went to my first Broadway musical, CATS! We visited the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, the World Trade Centers, and much much more. Since then, my sister has gone to NYU and made her home there, so we've been really lucky to be able to make several trips there over the years.

This trip, however, was a first for Marcus! I was so excited to be able to make the trip with him and for him to see all the really touristy places. It was also a special trip because all of my family was there and we celebrated my sister's 30th birthday! Kyleen was so shocked when we arrived at her house and the entire long weekend was just so much fun.

We started off with a visit to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Both places are full of history and such a neat experience for all ages!

Isn't she a beaut?

After lunch we went to the 9/11 Memorial. I guess I wasn't really sure what to expect, but it was a really neat experience. The fountains are beautiful and they pay important tribute to those who lost their lives while symbolizing hope for our country's future.

One of the fountains at the memorial.

Freedom Tower, still a work in progress.

We finished a day of sightseeing at the Top of the Rock. I was really excited about this because it was new for me! We opted for the observation deck at Rockefeller Center over the Empire State Building because the wait was much shorter and the view was just as amazing.

Hello from the top of New York City!

For dinner, we went to the iconic Grand Central Station for dinner at the long-established Oyster Bar. One of the fun things about Grand Central Station is that you can stand in a corner and talk to someone standing in the opposite corner, kind of like a tin can telephone!

My dad in timeout!

The next day, we took a lovely stroll through Central Park. In my opinion, no trip to NYC is complete without a good old-fashioned New York hot dog. So this was our first stop at the park. Second to a hot dog, my favorite spot in New York is the Literary Walk. It's just so picturesque and peaceful in the city that never sleeps! We also visited the boatyard and turtle pond as well as the fountain that's seen in many films, including One Fine Day!

Next stop was the Metropolitan Museum of Art. My uncle calls it his Number 1 Must for anyone with refinement and artistic sensibilities! :) Marcus enjoyed all of the modern art, and I just loved the new Schiaparelli & Prada exhibit. If you love clothes and fashion, it's just incredible.

After some classic New York style pizza at John's, we headed to the Broadway Theater to see Sister Act: the Musical. I have to admit, there were other shows higher on my list, but it was a really fun show. We laughed out loud and had a good time!

Best pizza in the city!

As always, trips to New York are too short and it's just impossible to see everything. After our time in the city, we spent a couple of days visiting family. Stay tuned for a post about my sister's surprise party and my special birthday gift!

I'm Back.....for now!

I have been itching to finally start posting again in the past couple of weeks, but Marcus has been away on mission trips with the youth group, so I just now have the computer back!

Because of your sweet comments on my last post, I was reminded of why I started this blog in the first place. The whole point of Wish You Were Here is for our friends and family to stay in the loop on what's going on at the Womack house. So, this post is just a big ole recap of what's been happening for the past couple of months. I don't really remember as far back as April (except for Easter and finally getting to watch TV again!) so I'll just start with May and catch up to today. Get ready for lots of iPhone pictures ahead!

In May:

• I started working on a Christmas quilt! This is the one I kept promising to show you my progress. Here is the only picture I have. And I haven't worked on it again since then! :) But I'm excited to see it start coming together.

• I visited the Main Downtown branch of the Nashville Public Library! This was on my bucket list, so I was really excited to finally go and mark something off my list!
• I joined a book club! For May, we read Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick. It was absolutely fascinating. I highly recommend it! This month and next, we're reading Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. It is one ginormous book!

• We spent Memorial Day weekend floating on the river in Knoxville! One of my best friends Laura, and her hubby Rob recently moved there, so we spent the weekend on the houseboat they were renting until they could move in to their house. Lots of fun!

• We came home to an escaped dog who had found some Tylenol (no bueno) and made our first visit to the emergency vet clinic. I don't wish this on anyone. Ever.

• We celebrated TWO wonderful years of wedding bliss. Marcus took me to a fancy restaurant and I made him watch our wedding video. :) For the second anniversary gift of cotton, I gave Marcus a monogrammed handkerchief and a Longhorn cap, and he gave me a beautiful canvas photograph that I want to hang above our piano (when we live in a house big enough to have the piano!).

Who forgot to ask someone to take our picture at the restaurant? Yep, us.

I can't believe how quickly the past two years have flown by. Marriage has been such a wonderful adventure and we love our life here in Nashville.

Stay tuned for some of our June adventures (I promise I won't wait a month to post about it).

Happy Birthday, Hubs!

Marcus is 25 today! In the words of his favorite band, the Beatles:

They say it's your birthday!
We're gonna have a good time!
I'm glad it's your birthday!
Happy birthday to you!

Marcus, I'm so glad it's your birthday and that I get to celebrate with you! You are the love of my life and I can't believe I'm so blessed to be your wife. I love you more today than I ever thought I possibly could. You have filled my life with so much joy. I am so proud of the man you are and the man you are becoming. You are my best friend. I love you!

Tour of the distillery this weekend!

Wish You Were Here: Colorado

One of the perks of Marcus still being in school is that he still has a week off every spring semester. Around this time last year, I knew this would most likely be one of his last spring breaks and with the busy schedules of my family, I knew we would need to start planning far in advance if we wanted to go somewhere.  So I emailed my parents, my sister, and my brother-in-law (and Marcus, too!), we all marked it on our calendars, and I've basically been counting down the days since!

My family has been going skiing during spring break nearly every year since I can remember.  When I was five, I got to go for the first time and with the exception of a few years (including the college mission trip where Marcus and I met), I haven't missed a one. We are fortunate that my grandparents have a condo in Silverthorne that's really close to several resorts, so we've always stayed in the same place every year, and we pick where we ski based on our mood that year. :)

Before I get to our trip, though, I have to mention that the weekend we left was also a very special weekend because one of my best friends, Laura, got married! I was so honored to be a part of her wedding and we had an absolute blast!

The lovely Laura Lawrence!

The Lawrences and the Womacks

After the wedding, it was off to the Rockies! It was so great to spend a whole week with my family. There were NO lines, the weather was beautiful, and we had so much fun skiing, playing games, and catching up on life.

Unfortunately, I failed to take a single picture the whole time we were on the mountain. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?! See, here's the deal. Skiing is a lot of work. I'm extremely cold-natured so it takes a lot of time and energy to get bundled up and play in the snow all day.  I had my camera with me, but by the time we were off the ski lift and stopped long enough to take a picture, it wasn't worth the effort to take off my mittens (yes, I wear mittens because they're warmer than gloves), pull out the camera, get everyone together, ask someone to take our picture, put the camera back in my pocket, and put my mittens back on.  I just wanted to get down the mountain, ok? My dad did snap a picture on his phone though, so here's proof that I was there and I skied:

After three days of skiing, we were pretty exhausted, so we decided to spend our last day shopping around the little village at Breckenridge.  If you've ever been, you know what a cute little town it is, full of little shops and restaurants!  First, we had a little lunch at a neat little crepe cart, Crepes a la Cart.

Super yummy!

We shopped around for a bit, visited a little ski museum, and then stumbled upon a wine shop, where my mom, my sister, and I did a fun wine tasting.

We shopped around a little more and then headed back to Silverthorne for dinner.  We had been told about a place called the Mint, where you cook your own steak. I still don't understand why people think it's cool to pay money to cook your own food, but I totally bought in to it and we had a great time.

Hard at work grilling my steak.

The real grill master (I had no idea what I was doing).

Deeeeeelicious!

The whole family!

Spring Break 2012 despite what the Christmas lights might indicate :)

I'm so thankful I was able to take a whole week of work and spend Spring Break with my family. Hopefully this is a tradition that will continue with our kids (many, many years from now)!

Married to the Ministry

When I pictured my life as a kid and a teenager, even as a college student until Marcus and I started dating, I never imagined I would marry someone in the ministry. I'm not sure why, it just never occurred to me that that might happen.

Yet here I am, nearly two years into a marriage to the love of my life and wouldn't you know it? My husband is preparing to go into full-time ministry.  If there's one thing I've learned in my life, it's that God always has a way of changing your dreams for the better.

Being married to a seminary student is one of the hardest things I've done. But everyday, I'm so very proud of my husband and the commitment he has made to the Lord. It is not fun to deal with his ever-changing schedule and his late hours at the library, but I am constantly reminded that this is just for a season and soon enough (December!!) he will be done.  And then we'll continue the odd hours of weeknight church activities and the seemingly never-ending process of ordination in the United Methodist Church. ;)

Despite the trials of being married to a minister, there have been just as many blessings.  Marcus has a great job as a youth ministry intern that has not only provided scholarships for seminary, but wonderful friends and invaluable experience.

The life of a minister (and his wife) can be uncertain.  We're not sure where God will send us when Marcus graduates. But I know that I wouldn't change a thing about the life God has chosen for me. He continues to amaze, surprise, teach, and provide for me, and that is all I could ever ask for in marriage and in life.

Marcus and me after he preached at our church.

Today I'm linking up with other ministry wives at Kelly's Korner. If you're a minister or married to one, you should join us!

Marcus Writes

My wonderful hubby did a guest post for the blog of the Youth Worker Movement yesterday. If you've ever worked in youth ministry, it might be of interest to you. The Youth Worker Movement is a great resource for anyone working with youth.

Here is the link to his post: Confessions of a Youth Worker.

I hope you enjoy! Maybe some day I'll get him to "guest" post on here! :)

November Babies

Thanks to an article in the Valentine's Day edition of my high school newspaper, February 14th will forever be a reminder of the day all of us November babies were...how shall I put this...thought of.  If you were born on or around November 15, give your parents a high five today. Or don't...that might be weird.

Anyway, it's Valentine's Day and Marcus and I are celebrating with a little weekend getaway to Chattanooga in a few days. For tonight, though, I'm giving him his favorite Little Debbie snacks and these! If your sweetie is a fan of Arrested Development, they might be just what you've been looking for:

via

via

I originally saw these on Rage Against the Minivan, and couldn't resist! You can find these and print for free at Kyle Hilton Illustrates. There are other TV series too, like Breaking Bad, The Office, Parks and Rec, and more. Enjoy!

I hope that whatever today means for you, you feel the love. Happy Valentine's Day!

Review and Resolutions

As 2011 rolled in, it was hard to believe that it would be able to top 2010, the year Marcus and I got married.  To be honest, I'm not sure any day can top our wedding day (until we have kids) but I do know that every year with Marcus just keeps getting better and better!

Our year started off with my transition into full-time employment. What a blessing! I love where I work and I'm so privileged to be a part of the Blood:Water Mission family.

Then...

We returned to the scene of our engagement...

Alki Beach in Seattle

 And welcomed our beautiful niece, Clare Isabella!

We also welcomed a new addition to our little family!

Maximus Womack 

Look how much I've grown!

Marcus finished his second year of seminary and started his third, with a trip to England in between.

High Five, John Wesley!

 We celebrated lots of weddings...

The Pitcocks!

The Litzlers! 

The Rigdons!

The Robinsons!

The Zeisigs!

...and the first anniversary of our own wedding!

One year!

We went to Disney World...

...and marked U2 and Martina McBride off our concert bucket lists!

I made my first quilt...

...and my second!

All these things are just wonderful reminders of the blessings God has given us, and as I look ahead to 2012, I know it will bring many more blessings.  I can't wait to see how our story continues to unfold.  I'm usually pretty bad at coming up with resolutions, but I do have a few things I'd like to accomplish this year.

1. Get back into the routine of exercising at the Y. This was a resolution last year, and it lasted for a solid nine months. I was pretty proud of us! I want to do better this year, and that may mean I have to give up some things to be better disciplined about staying active!

2. Start a routine of cleaning and maintaining our house. I'm SO bad at this right now. I rarely have any motivation to clean the house, yet I constantly feel frustrated at the state it's usually in.  I really want to be better about this and if you have any suggestions, I'll gladly take them!

3. Spend more time in prayer. Starting this one now with Stormie O'Martian's "The Power of a Praying Wife" devotional.  I can't wait to go through this book and hopefully share it with you!

4. Create a bucket list for Nashville.  Knowing that there is a chance that we'll move back to Texas at some point after Marcus graduates, our time in Nashville is likely becoming more limited. There are several places to go and things to do here, as well as places to visit nearby. Time to write them all down and start checking them off!

I could probably go on, but I think this is a good start. Don't want to get overwhelmed before I even start!

Thanks for letting me share our life with you!

Wish you were here!

The Womacks

Happy New Year!

I cannot believe it is already 2012! I hope you all had a great time ringing in the new year.  The Womacks sent 2011 out in style...on the couch.  It was actually a nice NYE, just going out to eat and spending time together as a family.

I have enjoyed reading all of your posts about the holidays, and I finally have a chance to sit down and share mine.  We had a great time in Texas visiting with family and friends and celebrating the most wonderful time of the year.  It always goes by way too quickly, but it was also good to come back to Nashville and start settling into the new year.

Our break started with the wedding of our dear friends, Nicki and Alex. After dropping Max off in Longview with my parents, we headed down to Houston for the party! We had such a great time celebrating and catching up with close friends from college.

The Womacks and the Zeisigs!

We headed back to Longview on Sunday and spent some time with my family. It was really great having time to just relax, eat, and enjoy family time! I was really excited for our family gift exchange because I finished my grandmother's quilt! While it was fun to watch everyone open the gifts we gave, I was most looking forward to this one.  Here is the completed quilt!

Front

Back

My grandmother collects quilts, but has never had one made for her. I made this using some doilies that her grandmother and grandmother-in-law made! This was such a special project for me and I'm so pleased with how it turned out. Here she is opening it up!

I think she liked it!

Unfortunately, I was really bad with the camera this year, and didn't get many pictures of the rest of our family. Maybe I should add that to my list of new years resolutions?

Christmas at Nunna's!

On Christmas Eve, we headed to Rockwall for Christmas with the Womacks. We had so much fun visiting with family, especially our nieces.  They NEVER run out of energy so there was lots of play time while we were there.

Love these crazy girls!

We are always sad to leave Texas, especially when we don't know how long it will be until we're back. But we returned to Nashville hopeful for the new year and all that it has to offer. Come back tomorrow for a review of 2011 and my resolutions! I know most people have already done this, but better late than never, right?