empire state of mind

my dearest new york,

you were everything i remembered you to be.

thank you for your loud yankee citizens who, to everyone else in america, drive like maniacs, but to them, it is completely normal and justified. and everyone else in america are actually the ones with the driving problems.

i am either growing thicker skin, or yankees don't seem as rude as the stereotype once implied. they have strong family values. and take care of those around them. strangers or not. i interacted with numerous and very friendly yankees during our trip. it made me think about this whole idea of "southern hospitality".

thank you for the most fabulous long island wedding i've ever been to. the cocktail hour was more food than i've ever seen in my lifetime.
and the photobooth produced enough pictures for blackmail for the rest of our lifetime.
i had the best time dancing with the entire sales family to songs we all love, seeing sides of family members we forgot existed, and just being ridiculous (i.e., keith wandering around in a coconut bra).

thank you for the day-after BBQ (as northerners say). to southerners BBQ is something you eat, not do. you can see why it's confusing. southerns would say "we're having a cookout with barbecue". how can you say "we're having a barbecue with barbecue?" or "we're having barbecue at the barbecue." say what? it makes no sense. plus, i just like to poke fun at our differing northern/southern dialect. (trust me, keith rips apart all the sayings i use. but that's for another blog, on another day.)

anyway, moving on.

new york, thank you for the beautiful weather we had in poughkeepsie. sure it was hot. but the evenings and nights made up for it.

thank you for family fun. cornhole playing. pool volleyball. too much food (as usual).

thank you for lunch at a cafe that shares a name with me, "babycakes." keith calls me that, if you were wondering.

thank you for trivia night. and for our team not coming in dead last. it made playing a little bit more fun.

thank you for the hudson walkway. which is an old train track that has been converted to a walkway over the hudson. beauuuutiful. and breathtaking.

thank you for our "shopping trip" to the brewery in new paltz. which meant we went shopping for like 5 minutes, then went over to this great brewery, the gilded otter. for beers and appetizers. it seemed like a more fun idea than walking around in the blazing heat. i think our group had the most fun that day.

thank you for a long trip, well worth the drive, to bash bish falls. i got to be in two places at once! the park is in new york and massachusetts. so you guessed it, on the border...i could have on foot in new york and the other in massachusetts.
the falls were amazing and beautiful. and it was a relaxing day spent in great company (carolyn, christine, michelle and kevin)!

thank you for "cousins night" which included an outdoor movie at christine and al's. they had great drinks and candy and popcorn and real ethnic hispanic food (courtesy of their neighbors). which was AMAZING, btw. it was like being at a real movie theater. or drive-in. but a million times better.
because it wasn't a rip-off. and we could talk without being shushed. and this "theater" allowed beers. not many theaters do that.

thank you for allowing us, as a family, to celebrate a wedding, to be there for each other when it seems the worst has happened, and thank you for the chance to for all of us to be together to celebrate our engagement too.

new york, thank you for bringing us all together. you know just how much this family loves each other. and you know just how to bring us all together again.

however, us southerners must find a better way to get up to see you next time. the drive is killing us. but we'll probably make a visit to your good southern friend, north carolina, first. i hear there is another wedding in the making ;o)

take care new york....
kendra

ps: i'll post some pictures soon!!