Joe P.'s Rally Run

The first annual 5K in memory of my cousin, Joseph Peabody, is this Saturday! All money raised will go towards fighting childhood cancer! The below messages are from emails I received with information about the run:

Only 2 days left before we take over Centennial Park! If you still haven't signed up, go ahead and register at http://www.facebook.com/l/3f532;www.joeprallyrun.com, it will save you $5 dollars and we can ensure your tshirt size.

Joe P's Rally Run is now just 2 days away, on Saturday, the 31st, at Centennial Park off West End in Nashville, TN. The park address is 2600 West End Ave. Registration begins at 6AM, with the race starting at 7:30AM. Just make sure you show up at least 30 minutes in advance so you can get your car parked and checked in for the run. Registration will be at the Pavilion near the back of the park, behind the Parthenon. The best way to find it is to look for the big train and the airplane. Parking will be available throughout the park, in any designated parking area. Costumes??? Absolutely! There will be prizes for the runners/walkers voted with the best costumes. We are inching closer to our goal of $25,000. To date, we have raised about $17,500 and we have over 140 registered runners. So tell everyone about it and bring a friend to the run and help us reach our goal! On your mark...Set...RALLY ON!

In Recovery

I just got off the phone with Sarah and Brown is doing as well as could be expected! His surgery lasted around 6 hours and Chris and Sarah were finally able to see him around midnight last night. They spent the night in his room, but poor Sarah only slept about an hour. She said they have taken a few of the machines/tubes off him and he is now breathing on his own! Thanks for praying!

Sweet Brown

When Brown was born back in June I wrote about his heart condition. Brown was born with Tetralogy of Fallot. He is the sweet baby on the left. The sweet baby on the right is his cousin Ben. Brown is having heart surgery at Vanderbilt on Tuesday, October 27. We want as many people as possible to be covering him in prayer during his surgery on Monday. Please also pray for his doctors and all of us who love him and want his little heart to be well. You can do more than pray - you can let Brown's parents know that you are praying by calling his prayer beeper. If you call 1-731-235-4683 you will hear a recording to enter your number. Just hit 11 and then hang up. This will cause Brown's prayer beeper to beep and his family will know how many people care and are praying for their child. The beeper keeps count of how many people call and I know it is really encouraging to Chris and Sarah to know that so many people are lifting Brown up in prayer. Call whenever you can and whenever you think to pray for him. Thank you very much! I will update you on his condition after the surgery.

Dear New York City,

Shut up, shut up, shut up!!! I have spent 10 nights here and have yet to sleep an hour without waking up, and you should know that I have been sleeping through the night with no problem for about 26 years now. What is going on out there ALL NIGHT long? Will Smith told me when I was in high school that "New York is the city that we know don't sleep" but even if NY doesn't sleep, I would still like to. Every night it's the same thing. Several super-loud garbage trucks start rolling in around midnight and stay well over an hour. Loudly beeping as they back up, making loud crashes as they drop things, and just completely disturbing my peace. Then, some construction people join the garbage truck people and they all have one big party until around 5:00 AM. I wake up 2-3 times an hour (and not a quick wake up and fall right back to sleep, more like the sudden jolt into a sitting up position, wide-awake kind). Imagine the kind of sleep you would get if a helicopter were hovering right outside your bedroom window and a big swinging ball was knocking the building next to yours down and a person stood on the sidewalk under your window clanging cymbals. That's the kind of sleep I've gotten for the last week and a half. New York, I am tired. I have tried using a sound machine. My husband didn't even know it was turned on thanks to all your ruckus. As I'm lying awake at all hours of the night I take pleasure in imaging what I would like to do to the noise makers outside. I have pictured myself as Granny from the Beverly Hillbillies, hanging out my 7th floor window with a bb gun and screaming mean southern phrases at the ones who rob me from my sleep each night, occasionally shooting one or two people in the butt as they take off running down the street to get away from the crazy hillbilly. Now I would like to thank you, New York, for taking the time to place signs on all of the streets that say "No Honking. $350 Fine." However, this sign does not seem to scare your taxi drivers one little bit. They honk non-stop. I can report to you that they have been completely ignoring your signs 10 nights in a row. I have heard really long honks that say "The light turned green, get out of my way!!" I have also heard the two beep honk that says "Hey, friend." What are we going to do about this? If you want my help, I will be happy to start passing out $350 fines. I could really use the money to buy earplugs and have new sound-proof walls and windows installed in my apartment. Think about it and get back to me. Call anytime, I'm always awake.

Sincerely,
Exhausted Southerner

P.S. Some Yankees have the reputation of being a bit cranky or aggressive. Give them a break, they haven't had a good night's sleep in their life! Another week of this and there's a good chance I will be cranky and aggressive! Maybe I already am...

Goodbye Swimsuits, Hello Cute Boots!

Current weather in Miami: 81 degrees, feels like 87
Current weather in New York City: 39 degrees, feel like 31

The past two weeks have been about as busy as you can imagine! We packed up everything in Miami, drove the 15 hr 45 min drive between Miami and Nashville for the 5th time, had a few days in Nashville to visit and swap out our summer clothes for winter clothes, fly to NYC and settle in our apartment. My parents came last week and brought my winter clothes from Jackson and my Mom was able to stay the first few days we were here. When Ryan and I got to NYC on Sunday we had only had about 4 hours of sleep, were freezing, and were really overwhelmed by this city! I have been here several times, but it feels very different when you are planning to stay a week versus staying 12! We think our apartment is teeny-tiny. The whole apartment is about the size of our bedroom in Dominica (which was a large bedroom). According to New Yorkers, we have a large apartment! In just a few days I have pretty much walked all over midtown and the upper east side of Manhattan. We are in our routine now and are enjoying the city. We got to see Hugh Jackman and Steven Spielberg. We have eaten at many wonderful restaurants, been in tons of nice stores, and I was able to go see Wicked with my mom. Ryan walks to Grand Central every morning and takes the subway to Brooklyn. Our apartment is in a great location. We are very close to Times Square and the Theater District. Rabbi and Lisa just signed a lease for an apartment one block from ours, so we are very excited about that! We are planning to go ice skating with them this weekend in Rockfeller Center. Last night we met Ryan's cousin, Brittney, for dinner. She is doing her pediatric residency at Cornell so we had not seen her in a long time. Now we are just trying to find our "normal" routine. I am trying to decide where I want to study every day. There is a Barnes & Noble close by, so I'm thinking that might be a good option. I'm sorry this blog post is not entertaining, but I need to start studying! Please vote on the poll at the top right of the screen. I have seen the following: Annie, Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, The Marvelous Wonderettes, The Lion King, Wicked, Aida, The Producers, Peter Pan, Little Women, and Movin Out. If you could buy Broadway season tickets, I would go everyday!

NYC visitors scheduled: 16
My parents
Beth & Michael
Paige & Dave
Julie, Emily, Brooke, & Marissa
Ryan's parents
Adam & Theresa
Emily & Jeremy

Things I'm looking forward to doing in NYC:
Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center
Attending a taping of SNL (hopefully)
Auditioning for Millionaire on Nov. 20 (hopefully)
Ice skating at Rockefeller Center and in Central Park
Going to more Broadway shows
Experiencing the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade live
Going to the Knicks vs. Celtics game