Service Saturday

One of our co-workers mentioned to us that she volunteers to feed the homeless at her church on Saturday mornings. Laura and I had been looking for a way to help others out in the city and figured this would be perfect! After having to re-route our journey to the church  we finally arrived at The Most Holy Redeemer Church in East Village.

 The church has been feeding the homeless in the area for the past ten years. Our co-worker’s mom and aunt started the program when they saw an increase in homeless people asking for food during the winters. They used to serve the meals in the church, but it got a bit out of control a couple of times so now they just pack warm meals and pass them out at noon on Saturdays. Every Saturday morning between November and April about ten to fifteen women show up around 8 am to the basement of the church to start cooking. They usually make a salad, dessert, pasta, rice, veggies, sandwiches, soup, and some kind of meat. It all looked delicious today! 

 Everyone does small tasks with the different foods until 11 and then we begin to package the cold food in the to-go boxes. Today at around 11:30 people were lined up outside the church and by 11:45 the line was wrapped around the corner of 1^st avenue. At 12 pm all the volunteers say a prayer and then the assembly line begins to package all of the meals. It is SUPER quick. Around 150 meals were thrown together in about 20 minutes today! That’s a great supply chain if you ask me! Kiker helped pack the salad and I threw the sandwiches in the boxes and closed them for Randy to take outside. While we weren't able to hand out the meals, I certainly saw the long line from the basement window.

While we were preparing the food today, we met WONDERFUL people that helped prepare the meals. There was Carol, the magnificent cook, who had been the soup chef for the past three years. She taught me all sorts of things about cooking! 

Maria, who loved conversing with Kiker in Spanish. Bill, who had worked in construction in the city for 25 years and told us about the unbearable cold up as he built a 100-floor building with no protection from the wind. He was cool…he helped build Trump Tower and the AOL building! (Kiker is going to try & apply for an internship with Trump now…)Margaret was also one of the founders of the program and kept a tight ship on the cooking. Tamara seemed to take pictures of Laura and I the whole time and also found it necessary to shout “Hott stuff coming through” whenever Laura walked into the kitchen. 

There were also lots of other women who talked about the different things to cook next week and one in particular who lectured to Laura and I about cell phones and texting. The funny part was that she said had a cell phone only for her son to call her and pick her up. Other than that, she turns it off. Her husband doesn’t even know she has one and constantly begs her to get one. She also mentioned that women should never give a man their number, cause they won’t stop calling. Looks like Kiker will have major problems considering she has been passing out her business cards left and right in the city.

 Overall we found it a great way to start off our weekend! It was really great to meet so many generous people and felt great to help out those in need. We look forward to more Saturday mornings spent at the Most Holy Redeemer! 

First Friday

For those of you who have ever lived in the College Station/Bryan area you know that the city of Bryan hosts events in downtown Bryan on the first Friday of every month. There's music, art, and lots of fun to be had by all. Well this Friday wasn't the first in February but there happened to be a lot of firsts.

First time I had seen a kindergarten field trip to the grocery store. Such cute little nuggets! Maybe I should consider becoming a kindergarten teacher!

First time for us to walk out of work to snow!

First time for New Yorkers to stare at the Texas girl as I yelled “Oh my gosh IT’S SNOWING!!” 

(Just like Buddy the Elf)

First time for both of us to slip on the ice as we were trying to cross the road. (unlike in Texas, no one here helped ya up)

First time to see someone use a umbrella for something other than rain… snow! Yep it’s a thing here.

First time I realized I just wanted to get home ASAP to escape the cold!

First sweater kiker had ordered from C Wonder!

First time for me to get cookies from Texas!  (thanks Dad! They may be already gone)

First time for Kiker to realize she was drinking sour milk.

First time for Kiker to find a black banana in her purse. Yuck!

First time for Kiker not to go to a bar on a Friday night.

First time to come out of our place to a winter wonderland!

(probably wasn’t the only time kiker spilled her popcorn at the movies.. but it was funny)

First time for us to see all of chases personal shopping cards. SWMATR (Single White Male Addicted to Retail) 

First time for us to write in the snow.

Came home to this?! Unacceptable.

And most importantly Brooklyn’s first time to be sprinkled with snow! (We had originally planned to put her on the fire escape so she could become a frosty white, but then realized she still hadn't drank her water. So instead of having it spill all over trying to get her out the window… we just brought snow in for her)

Maybe after you drink all your water you can play in the snow Brooklyn! 

Oh yeah and Brooklyn had her first sleepover... with Chase! 

A New York Life Lesson

In Texas laundry is pretty easy. Sure its not fun, unless you’re Sarah Sistrunk, but it’s not a huge obstacle. You have an over-sized washer and dryer and it’s relatively simple. Walk to the laundry room and throw in the soap and clothes and fold when its done. TA DA! Batta boom batta bang- You’re done! Laundry in New York hasn’t been that easy. At all.

Last time we ended up doing laundry at the cleaners below us. They charge a dollar per pound and its done in 24 hours. This time we decided to save money and visit the girls apartment 5 blocks from us to do laundry in their basement. Couldn't be too bad. Do it yourself, just like at home. HA HA NOT!

It was more like a horrible nightmare from the dorm days. It took me 30 minutes to figure out how to start the washer. It wasn't until a guy walked in and told me that he unplugs it and plugs it back in to get it to work. I would have never figured that out. 

So after starting two loads I dragged the rest of it up 5 flights of stairs to wait at Ashleigh’s house. Well 30 minutes late I came back down to switch it and well someone else’s stuff was in the dryer. When they finally came to get it they only restarted it for the 3^rd time because the dryer was SO slow. So with this circumstance we dragged the wet laundry 6 more blocks to finish at a laundry mat.

It was my first time to ever go to a laundry mat and well lets say it was a bit different but overall okay. We got our laundry done and took a cab back with our two big suitcases filled with clean clothes. Lets just say it ended up costing us more than if we would have paid to get it done. 

A picture is worth a thousand words..

So here is our week in pictures. Let us know what your 1000 words are :) 

Kiker wanted a massage before bedtime. 

Kiker made lots of to do lists on our first day out of training. 

I made my first grilled cheese. 

I went to dinner with my Impact Counselor and ate cake. 

Watched over time square all week. 

Ate some bad Salsa. 

Went to work at my client. 

Went to the ever yummy, Comfort Diner for dinner. 

Got a new fish game on my phone because I have too much free time. 

Watched the sunset in the city. 

Kiker got new boots! 

We took lots of selfies! 

Kiker's mom sent cookies from Texas! 

Had another yummy dinner.

Went to Turtle Bay and found a turtle.

Had a fun night out on Friday. 

Played hangman at dinner. 

 Found a good quote. 

Tried on Sarah's glasses.