9/11

this day is forever a piece of america's history. we have grown. we have struggled. we have stumbled. we are better. we are worse. we are united. we are divided.
9/11 is such an important day for all that happened in 2001, but for all that has happened since. many great and amazing things have been created all out of terror and horror. and this is heartbreaking.

we often get lost in 9/11 for it's horrific past to remember that it is an important day to others for different reasons. birthdays. anniversaries. deaths. achievements.

on september 11th 2000, a life was lost all too soon. a life that i never got to know, but somehow, i feel that i do. a precious life that was lost due to someone else being careless.

september 11th. this day will forever be a tough day, no matter what it memorializes. i encourage you to find the joys, the successes, the achievements in america, in your community, and in your life to celebrate on september 11th. through celebration we can truly begin to heal and to have hope for the future.
[9/11 day of service is a great way to give back to your community while celebrating the great things going on around you.]

unfortunately, terrible events are a part of life. all we can do is learn from them to make us stronger and better. by learning from our past can we only learn how not to repeat it. doing so requires courage to grow and prosper.

me at the 9/11 memorial gazing in one of the reflecting pools.

TC, we miss you everyday. thank you for watching over us and keeping us safe. we will see you soon, but not soon enough.

lots of love and hugs to you all.

xoxo,
ks

the city that never sleeps.

so wednesday, februrary 15th we traveled. ALL DAY LONG.

we said goodbye to montreal around 9:30am and hello to NYC! at a much later 8:40pm. it was a veryyyyyyy long train ride. we slept. a lot. we enjoyed the views of upstate new york. the hudson valley is incredible. we ate and drank. we read. and of course played on our phones. free wifi! thanks amtrak! we definitely kept ourselves busy, but at about hour 9-10 we were going stir crazy. LET ME OFF THE TRAIN. I DON'T CARE WHERE WE ARE. I MUST RUNNNN.

sooo bored.

really bored.

the most bored.

being cute.

arriving into new york at night was pretty amazing. the city was all lit up. and what's more is that it looks like this magical, peaceful place. full of wonder and shiny lights. our train came into penn station, which was great. because our hotel was right across the street. there would be no wandering around looking lost idiots in NYC. thanks, we've got this. we can cross the street.

we stayed at hotel affinia. and when we checked in the lady asked us about our honeymoon, which was a piece of information i had provided all the hotels as to the reason for the trip. but she was the first to ask. she also asked about our wedding and how excited we must be. then she said "this may be a silly question...but do you guys like champagne?" and we both kind looked at each other, smiled and replied yes. and she then asked if we'd like a complimentary bottle sent to our room. uummmm no thanks we're good. OF COURSE WE WILL HAVE SOME FREE CHAMPAGNE!!
so we went up to the room, got settled, waited on our champagne, and made plans for dinner. we toasted to our honeymoon and being in new york and off we went!
since it was kind of late, we just decided to have dinner at the hotel restaurant, niles. wow. what a place. it was poppin'. it was a restaurant/bar. so people come in off the street to get drinks and hang out. plus there had been a knicks game earlier and with all the "linsanity" that was going on...everyone was out celebrating.
up until we got to new york, i felt like we'd be pretty tame in our honeymoon. in that we hadn't stayed out too late or partied too hard. we did lots of touristy stuff. we had done a good job, so far, to keep it all well balanced. well...something changed in new york. there is something about the new york lights that just gives you energy. you just want to do stuff ALL NIGHT LONG. you want to be out and go places. meet people and do things. so while we were at niles, keith celebrated his new york energy by having 11 beers. ok, so not 11. but it sure seemed like it. and of course, drinking makes you hungry. once we left the bar we just had to order a new york pizza. some how keith kept it together to order a pie. which was sooooo delicious. i love new york pizza. hands down, it's the best pizza in the world.

yummmmmmmmmmmmmm

 the next day...was our first day of shitty weather. we had gone 7 days of great weather. and then this day happens. it's cold. it's windy. and it's fucking raining. however, when we got up and got ready it wasn't raining. so i decided it would be a good idea to wear these stupid knit boots. that are definitely not waterproof. so we head out for the day. and guess what? it's starts raining. and better yet...my feet are soaked in a matter of minutes. so now i have cold, wet feet. awesome. i hate rain. i really hate cold rain. so i am really trying my best to hold it together since i brought this misery on myself. i spotted the NHL store. not the macy's or bloomingdales, but the NHL store. yes, i am a true hockey fan. so we go in there to warm up. we browsed around and bought some hurricanes gear that we can't get in raleigh. yeah that's right. what the hell kind of sense does that make?

crappiest weather of the trip. yuck.

Not excited about the cold, rain, and wet feet.

hurricanes shoes! that we did not buy.

hurricanes/whalers gear that we did buy.

so anyway, we head back outside to the cold and rain. a few more minutes of walking and i am back where i started. soaking wet. and now my feet are going numb. you know, since it's freaking cold out. and i am getting more miserable by the minute. we are close to rockefeller center, so we go there to see the ice rink, grab some lunch, inside! and then head back to this gap store to try to find me some boots. luckily they had some rain boots...on sale! they really saved the day. 

gap rain galoshes! saved our day.

then we hopped on the subway and headed down to the 9/11 memorial. to get inside was like going to the airport. security was tight. we had to unzip our coats and take off our belts. nuts. but i am not surprised either. i told keith that while we were there, we were probably in the safest place in the world.
the memorial was breathtaking. sad. left me in awe. tear-jerking. amazing. calm. beautiful. serine. it is so awful that something so terrible had to happen to create a place that is so beautiful.
being there made our hearts sink, but it was something we had to do while we were in new york.

we left the memorial and had to get our mind elsewhere, after all, we had a hockey game to get to.
we headed back to the hotel, got ready and received our complimentary bottle of wine! i had a coupon from the hotel. wine and champange?! this hotel is awesome.

it was hockey night, game three of our trip. chicago v. new york rangers.
madison square garden (MSG) was also located right across the street from our hotel. which made it soooo convenient. right when we walked in this guy was yelling about free hoodies. my ears popped up. i was like let's look into this. i mean, every hurricanes fan needs a NYR hoodie. so the deal was we had to sign up for the sunday NY times, and can cancel whenever we want. and presto! a free hoodie. i have yet to cancel the subscription. we actually like reading it. so i see it as a win-win.
anyway, MSG was weird. i felt like a train station or an airport to me. all the signage was similar in nature to what you'd expect to see at either of those places. the arena corralled you up the stairs and around and around like cattle. it was weird. and it's old.
BUT the game atmosphere was really great. the NYR fans were a lot of fun and just had a good time with the game. even getting beat 4-2 by the blackhawks. plus, the beers were awesome. not only was it in a plastic cup with a handle, it also came with a pretzel.

beer + pretzel = no need for $5 popcorn

only bad news? beer sales stop right when the puck drops at the start of the 3rd period. so weird. at the end of the 2nd period, i saw fans flying out of their seats and i was thinking, "what is the rush?" well, now i know.
and during the 2nd intermission, keith and i got up to also get more refreshments. i was ahead of him and as i was walking down the stairs, i thought i faintly heard my name. so i grabbed the handle bars on both sides, and kind of turned around. at that same moment, i felt my feet go out from under me. it turns out keith had seen my gloves in my back pocket (yeah, sure he was looking at my gloves) and they looked like they were about to fall out. and as he was reaching down to get my gloves, he slipped and fell on his ass, which caused him to kick my legs out from under me. it felt super great. and he was mortified. he tried to repair his pride with beer. it took lots of beer.

excited!!

MSG.

US, post-game 3.

Final, Rangers 2 Blackhawks 4

after the game we went to the flying puck. it is a bar that is located across the street from our hotel. i saw it the night before while we were at niles and insisted that we go there before we leave new york. i mean, who wouldn't want to go to a place called the flying puck?! it was the best hockey bar ever. every tv had a different hockey game on. if you wanted to watch any other sport, too bad. it wasn't happening at this bar. there were even minnesota wild fans there cheering on their team. how did minnesotans get to new york? were they lost?
before we wrapped up our night, we went back to our hotel bar, niles, for a quick bite to eat. hockey makes us hungry...i guess.
we love NYC and really hated that our trip went by so fast. we hardly got to enjoy it, but enjoyed all that we did have time for. there isn't enough space on this blog to discuss my love for NYC. it's a vibrant town that just makes you feel alive. we had a great time there. next time our stay won't be so short.

and there it was...staring us in the face...our trip to our last city. sooo sad.

xoxo,
ks

hockeymoon

10 days. 8 teams. 4 cities. LOTS of hockey.

keith and i just returned from the most insane honeymoon there ever was. instead of relaxing in a hidden paradise for a week, we decided it would be better to run around in four strange cities for 10 days. all in the name of hockey. and of course, love.
we only had a few hiccups. and we most definitely would do it all over again :)

in order to share our amazing hockeymoon with you i am going to break it up into several blogs. this way you don't have to read through one tremendously longgggg blog. instead you can read many kind-of long blogs. because we all know that i am slightly long-winded about things that make my heart pound.

unfortunately, the blog is going to post everything in reverse cronological order. if i can figure out a way to fix this, i will. so, don't cheat. READ THEM IN ORDER. so fight the temptation to read the end first. SCROLL DOWN. and just in case you don't remember this was the order of our trip:
toronto
montreal
new york
philadelphia

also, in other bad news, the cord that connects the camera to the computer...well, apparently we have the wrong one. so, whereas i do have some pictures to share, most of them are from hockey games. or are are mediocre pictures taken on an iphone. once we figure out the cord situation on the good camera, i will most definitely share more pictures!

lastly, i will include a blog (or two) about our favorite things and our least favorite things. and if we did this all over again, things we'd change and things we do just the same.

i hope you enjoy reading about our journey as much as i enjoy reliving it and sharing it with you! ♥ :)

xoxo,
ks

HONEYMOON

i have gotten some requests for details about our honeymoon...so what better way than to share with my blogger world :)

so, keith and i have not gone on a 'honeymoon' yet. we had an amazing wedding week at the beach when got married, so it felt like a honeymoon. but all of our family and friends were there too. so it was definitely not a honeymoon. not that we don't love our family and friends, but i think you all know what i mean. ;)

quickly after keith and i got engaged we talked about what we wanted to do for our honeymoon. we tossed out ideas like tropical vacations. mountain trips. exotic islands. and all of sounded wonderful, yet none of it fit. it just wasn't 'us'. then out of no where, i had it! this amazing idea just came to me....a hockey honeymoon! we'd take a hockey road trip and go to several different cities, see hockey games in different arenas and get to experience different towns!
now, if you know keith and i at all this idea is PERFECT. hockey started our relationship and will forever be a huge part of 'us'.
first of all, we are HUGE carolina hurricanes fans. the point of this trip is not to follow the hurricanes, but yet to experience other hockey cultures. we are going to each city and really try to immerse ourselves in what the locals do. we know that other hockey clubs are cherished by their fans just like we cherish our hurricanes, so on this trip we want to learn why.
and of course, all the while, we will be in amazing cities...so we can be big, huge tourists! we can stay at amazing hotels, eat awesome food and drink great drinks; and perhaps do some sight-seeing ;)

the kicker, hockey is a cold weather sport. so there is no 'warm' time of year to take a hockey road trip. well, we are going in february. eeeepp.
when trying to decide what cities to go to, going to canada was a must for me.
so the trips starts with....us flying up to toronto. this is the longest leg of our trip. hang out there for a few days. go to a montreal vs. toronto game. see the sights. toronto has a lot to offer. the hockey hall of fame. the CN tower. the royal ontario museum...sounds fancy. centre island, which appears to be an amazing park. and niagra falls isn't far away if we can brave the cold. an underground walkway filled with shops, restaurants and entertainment. part of the city lives underground. literally!!!
after all the fun in toronto, we will hop on a train and head to montreal. now, montreal has a legit underground city. toronto's underground 'area' is more like a township. montreal's is a city. you see, canada is so fucking cold that they had to figure out a way to get people to shops, restaurants, movies during the 10 months of winter. eureka! the underground city! while in montreal we will see the hurricanes play against montreal. now, now...it wasn't on purpose. it was just the way the schedules worked out. we will not wear any hurricanes paraphernalia to the game. just something red...since both teams wear red. no one will know that we are secret 'canes fans :)
montreal is our last canadian stop, eh? then we'll get on another train. and take a very longggggg train ride to NYC. we will see chicago play against the new york rangers at madison square garden!!! i am so excited! i love everything there is to love about NYC. and i am even more excited to be seeing a game at MSG. whooop. while we're in NYC, for only two days, i want to go to a broadway play, climb the statue of liberty, go to the 9/11 memorial, walk museum mile (and perhaps go to a museum...MET), and ellis island. whew. that's a lot for two days.
our next stop is in philadelphia. we'll see pittsburgh come to town to play the flyers. philly has so much of our national history, that i don't even know where to start. the liberty bell, all the original documents of our nation, betsy ross house. and we'll definitely eat cheese steak. a lot of it.
the last stop is raleigh. obviously we live in raleigh, but the hockey road trip part of it will end in raleigh, with a home hurricanes game against the washington capitals.

so. there you have it. as we add more details and things we'll want to do in each city, i'll update you guys! we can't wait!!!!

it truly is our honeymoon.....♥

xoxo