East Coast Holiday Adventure, Day 1

Well, finally the much anticipated East Coast adventure is here. I left my journal at home, so this actually makes me more accountable and will keep me updating my blog page. Anyway, this trip is especially exciting for me for many reasons. One, I am very happy to see my sister Andria and her husband Jon and of course, Baby Noah and Hailey, my nephew and niece. It's been a couple of years, and it is the first time I am seeing Noah. Unfortunately, money has been super tight, which has delayed the visit. Certainly it has not been out of desire. But things have opened up, not a lot, but enough to get me here. The other reason this trip is so exciting is that I am going to NYC for the first time!! I have fantasized about this since my childhood and now it is just days away. I am really looking forward to documenting all my highlights.

So, today was mad packing day. I spent the entire day right up until I left packing. I was a bit behind schedule because of this nasty sinus infection, which just slowed me down and sucked my energy. As a wise friend on Give It To Me Raw.com said, the illness is probably related to something emotional as well. Certainly, being sick gave me time to reflect on a lot of things. I am hoping that this trip will give me some perspective on things, stretch my wings a bit, and come back to LA with more clarity. But back to today. Packing, trying to get all my warm stuff in, constantly thinking about layering. Marina came by and loaned me an awesome second piece of luggage, give me a good laugh, and dropped off my umbrella. I was lucky enough to have Peter drop me off to the airport today..he knows I stress before a trip and he really helped me calm down, make sure I had it all together, and get me there on time. He even got me a nifty camera case on the way. I have great friends!

Once on the plane, I slept for about the first hour or so then watched a pretty good movie...can't remember the name but the basic message was let the love flow and you only get one life, so love and play hard!! Read a bit more of Natalia Rose's Raw Food: Life Force Energy. If you don't know about Natalia, she is amazing!! I highly recommend you check her out if you are interested in nutrition and health...and no, you don't have to go all raw on her plan. More on Mrs. Rose in another blog post!

We got in early, by like half an hour. I could feel the bitter cold as soon as I exited the plane. But I was layered up. Infact, I don't think Andi and Jon could recognize me under it all. It was really awesome to see them after so long. Their house is amazing!! I am in the downstairs basement, which is BEAUTIFUL!! It's like a whole other house down here and very warm. I like to be warm. Their home gym is down here and it rocks! Treadmill tomorrow. It will be nice to workout now that I can breathe again. I did get to take a peak at Noah...it was my first look at him. So beautiful. It was hard to not wake him and kiss him. Got to see Hailey, too. She was sleeping in her little princess room. It's hard to believe that she was just a bitty thing not so long ago. Jon filled me in on some of her antics so we shall see how she is tomorrow.

Overall, I am happy and so excited to see everyone. My only wish was that somehow I could see Dad, Jo, and the my other sisters and brother and of course, Mike, Ervin, and Mariah (my other brothers-in-law and niece), but you gotta roll with it. Will keep you updated!!