Behind enemy lines

If you don't follow too many sports, or baseball in particular, you might not know that the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves have one of the most spirited rivalries in Major League Baseball.

Growing up in Atlanta, I am, naturally, a Braves fan. My husband, however, is a Mets fan. You can imagine this has led to more than one moment of discontent.

On Friday, we made a spontaneous decision to go to a Mets game. We really just wanted to get out of the house (and Scott was trying to avoid the NFL draft) so we bought cheap seats in the nosebleed section and got out of the house for a while. But this wasn't just any Mets game...it was a Mets-Braves game.

I decided to take on a covert operation to cheer on my team while appearing as though I was a Mets fan.

Decked in one of Scott's Mets hats...



and my Mets duffle bag I got for free at a previous game...



we headed to the stadium.



Last time we went, I wasn't able to get this shot because of the crowds...



but this time, success! (And I already knew he was a home run...)

We arrived early to check out the stadium, since we got there late the one time we went last season, and Scott got to see the 1986 World Series trophy, won in a game which he remembers staying up late to watch when he was 12.



I took a picture of him down near the field, cause I figured that was as close as we were gonna get.



Behind the big screen in the stadium, there's a promenade with a few restaurants and things to do. Which apparently includes the torture of Braves fans in dunk tanks!



Even Scott got in on this. Hmph.



My disguise was so good, even Mr. Met shook my hand and wanted a photo with me.



As we made our way to our seats, this made me laugh:



The seats were actually not as bad as I expected them to be. We had a beautiful view of the river behind the screen.



BUT...in the fifth inning, I spotted an official-looking guy in our section looking around, and I caught his eye. He came over asked if the two of us would like to move down to field level, for free! Uh, lemmethinkaboutthatYES!! Our new seats were about 10 rows from the field, behind the left-field foul pole. Here's a view from our new seats. You can see our old seats.



Here's our new seats in a view from the old seats:



The Mets ended up winning the game, so a score for Scott. Not so much for me. But it's ok, 'cause I like it when he's happy. So in the end, we were both happy.



I might have to invest in a Braves hat, though...

Somebody owes me some money

Alright. Who was it? Was it you? Cause if so, why I oughtta...

You guys remember this post about my ingenious iPhone app? Go on, it'll only take a sec. Click the link, I'll wait here.

Done? Ok. Yeah. So...

I'm surfing the iTunes app store as I'm ... app-t ... to do (oh come on, that was funny!) and I came across THIS:



An app that uses the camera while you're using the phone so you can see where you're going! Sound familiar???

And I quote: "Wouldn't it be hilarious if there was an app for people's iPhones and BlackBerrys that showed them on screen what's coming up in front of them?"

This app is called Dial N Walk, and lets you dial numbers, look through your contacts list and more while displaying a backdrop of what's coming up in front of you, thanks to the camera on the phone.



I quote again: "Let the record show that this was my brilliant idea, and when somebody actually invents it, I want a cut, mmkay?"

Did I mention, at 99 cents to download, it's the the THIRD TOP-GROSSING iPhone app? That is a lot of 99 centses, people.

Somebody owes me, bigtime.

Baggin' up

Let me just preface this by saying: I have never felt unsafe or been pickpocketed during my time in New York. (knock on wood) This post is simply an observation.

In less than a week, my grandmother and aunt from middle-of-nowhere Kentucky (ok, it may be somewhere, but compared to here, I'm allowed to call it that, k?) and my mom are coming to visit New York for a few days. Since it'll be all ladies in this group, I thought I'd give a few rules and regulations on carrying a handbag in this city.

1) BE AWARE. That's pretty self-explanatory. Know who's around you and how close they are.

2) SHOULDER IT. I would not recommend carrying a purse that you can't put over your shoulder or across your body. Think about it. It'd be way easier for someone to snatch it out of your fingers than off your shoulder.



3) ZIP IT. It's best to have a purse or bag that zips so that no wandering hands find themselves in your bag when you're not paying attention. I also recommend carrying it so that the actual pull for the zipper is pointed toward the front, so no one can unzip it from behind you to stick their hands in.


Back when Big Red was brand new. Sigh.

Now, have I given you an excuse to go shopping yet?

Suspicioutivity

(sus-pish-uh-TIV-ity)

When you're standing around in the station, waiting for the train, you tend to hear the announcements a lot. I can probably quote the whole thing, I've heard it so many times. It's just about the rules on the train — no eating or drinking — and keeping your eyes open for anything suspicious.

Occasionally a new person will record the tape, and you'll hear that one for a few weeks. But there's this one guy that cracks me up every time I hear his version. It SHOULD say: "If you see any suspicious activity or unattended bags or packages, please call the Port Authority police at ..." But this guy gets going so fast, he stumbles over it and says: "If you see any suspicioutivity, or unattended bags or packages..."

Suspicioutivity? Right, sure, OK. I'll be sure to let you know if I see it...

No place like home

I wish I was as good at updating my blog while I'm away as other people are, but I'm not. And when you're gone for two weeks, you rack up a lot of stuff you could say. But really, it'd take me forever to write it all, and you'd probably be bored to tears. So let's do this in short form, shall we?

1. Stuck at airport for six hours because of SNOW in Atlanta. So much for global warming.
2. Ate at Chick-fil-a upon arrival.
3. Shopped with Mom.
4. Ate at Chick-fil-a.
5. Started going through old stuff in the bottom of my closet. Diary in 1992 starts, "No cute boys today."
6. Shopped with Mom.
7. Shopped with Mom and bought a $100 leather jacket for $12.99.
8. Met with my middle-school Spanish teacher, who was one of the first people to help me break out of my shell, for the first time since I was 13. She looks the same. I don't, thank God.
9. Went to church with my parents. Saw World's Strongest Redneck bend steel with his hands and teach the gospel.
10. Had mini-Oscar party with Meaghan and lots of cookies.
11. Drove down to Statesboro. Met my sister's boyfriend for the first time (I approve). Put her in the car too and headed for Hilton Head.
12. Shopped at the outlets. All the effort spent trying to get my sister to dress more like me might have been too successful.


Taken with Mom's cell phone

13. Went to the beach for about 20 minutes. It was getting darker and colder.

Click here to see more Hilton Head photos!

14. Had a really great seafood dinner on Hilton Head. Would have gotten totally lost trying to get back in pitch black if not for my iPhone.
15. Stayed up late talking cameras and iPhones with Dad.
16. Shopped with Mom.
17. Shopped with Mom.
18. Tried portobello mushrooms. Didn't die.
19. Ate broccoli. Didn't die. (Actually probably the best broccoli I've ever had.)
20. Drove past our old house in Smyrna. (We moved to Marietta when I was in fourth grade.)



21. Made attempt #1 to fly back. Flight canceled because of weather in Northeast. Can't get out till Monday.
22. Sang in church choir with my parents. Been a long time since I've done that. (Hey, I went to choir practice while I was there.)
23. Went to Georgia Festival Chorus concert. Been a long time since I've done that too. Most of those people hadn't seen me in 10 years.
24. Made late-night ice cream run to Steak and Shake with Mom. She says "you know this is crazy." Everybody needs a little crazy.
25. Finally made it on plane back to New Jersey.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some stuff, but it was a great trip. Spending more than a few days there really allowed me to not feel like I was rushing there and back.

Bag v2.0

Well, Big Red's getting a little rough around the edges these days, and I've been looking for a replacement. I've also been having some back problems and I think carrying a heavy bag over one shoulder all the time may be contributing to that, so I've been looking for something with a shoulder strap so that I can carry it across my body, and hopefully distribute the weight a little better.

I found this at Target the other day, but I can't decide if I like or if it looks too much like a beach bag.

Just a color shade down the scale, if I keep this one, it'd be Big Orange.

I feel like nothing will ever compare to Big Red, so my search is sorta doomed from the start. Anyway, what do you guys think?

Two years

Two years ago today, I was sitting in my apartment in Philadelphia, overwhelmed by the recent decision to move to New York and subsequent rush to find a place. I thought, if I had a blog, I'd call it Little Peach, Big Apple, cause that would be cute, no? I'll be a little Georgia peach in this rather daunting Big Apple of a city. And so I figured, why not? People will probably want to know about our lives in New York. So I sat down to write.

Two years later, this blog has been home to two sets of apartment photos, rules on what to do/not do in the city, lots of pictures, birthdays and anniversaries, some (what I would consider to be) inspired posts, and others not so much. It's brought me new friends and reconnected me with old ones, one of whom, though thousands of miles away, I'd consider among my closest. And it's forced me to look outside the blinders and see things a little differently. The "blog lens," as she called it, where you don't just take in the world, but look at it as something to share with others.

So happy 2-year anniversary to my blog, and stay tuned, there'll be lots more!

Hmm, I should have made cake...