Thursday, December 20, 2012

Dear Sandy:


love Hate letter

I have a feeling that I’m not the only person to tell you this Sandy, but you are a narcissistic, plan ruining a-hole. We were all just minding our own business, enjoying a little bit of wind and then you went and got carried away with yourself. I mean really, what has the east coast, specifically New Jersey, done to you lately. We bring everyone the best of the best – Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, the shore, pizza, taylor ham and cheese, REAL bagels, diners, tons of animal print clothing, awesome accents and the fist pump. It seems to me that someone took the cancelling of the Jersey Shore too literally. I am a proud resident of Hoboken, New Jersey and you really screwed with us Sandy. Although I thankfully wasn't nearly as devastated as so many were, I was very much inconvenienced. Because I share a little bit of your narcissism, let me tell you how you ruined my day week.

Proof Point 1: Loss of Power aka back to the dark ages
Although quality time with roommates is always appreciated, it is much more enjoyable when you have POWER! You couldn't just go ahead and put us out of our misery and cut off the power in one painless swoop, but instead, you had to tease us. As we had been watching updates all evening, waiting to hear something about what was predicted for Hoboken; a reporter stationed in Hoboken finally comes on. But just as we were watching, at approximately 9:15pm on Monday evening, you flicked off. We thought the end had finally come; the anticipation was killing us of what might happen. But, so sweetly, it came back on just 2 minutes later. We thought we were home free; the worst had finally come and gone. But no Sandy, you had other things in store for us and just 5 minutes later you went out again…and this time, for good.

You continued to stay off for 6 whole days (and we were the lucky ones)! At first it was fun, ok not fun, but an adventure. You had wreaked havoc on our small town of Hoboken, see proof point 2¸and forced us to find old school ways of entertaining ourselves. Although the exploring was fun at first it quickly got old. Our trusty iPhone’s had no more battery and would barely get a signal (because you also very rudely screwed with the cell towers) AND we began to get very tired of the 2 large pizza pies we had purchased on Sunday as we “prepared” to ride out the storm. On top of that, they make large flat screen TV’s for a reason. And that reason is so that you don’t have to huddle around a yellow sports radio in order to find out what is going on in the rest of the world!

Sandy, you forced me to stoop to new levels. As we scavenged around our destroyed town, we did what any child of the 21st century would do. I searched and searched for a small miracle, a power outlet. Because as any one who was born in the 80’s knows, no matter how bad things get, you ALWAYS have to find a way to charge your phone.  

One street in town had power right after the storm. This nice guy let power cords out his garage for
people to charge their phones! We spent almost 2 hours waiting for a full charge!
After finding a cord out of a garage, we walked home and found this huge charging station at the corner of our street. Verizon brought in charging trucks for people to use! Such first world problems!
Proof Point 2: Water. Apparently I didn't get the memo that a row boat was required to live in Hoboken.
Hoboken is known for not having the best drainage system. Sometimes, when it rains lightly, parts of the town get a tad bit of flooding. Sometimes an intersection will fill with water, or you have to get through a rather large puddle to get where you need to be going, but it tends to be pretty manageable. Thankfully for us, our apartment is right on the outskirts of this bad drainage and we usually remain unaffected. We were feeling pretty confident about the storm, and figured worst case, we may lose power. But no, Sandy you had other plans for us. After you rudely cut off our power for good, you then decided that we hadn't had enough fun for one evening. As we began to get restless, we decided to look out the window onto the street to see what it looked like all dark. Oh Sandy, did you have a surprise for us! What we found was a lot of commotion, car alarms going off and oh right, about 3 ½ feet of water down our ENTIRE street!!! People were outside wadding through the water, almost waist deep trying to save their cars. One couple decided that their expensive SUV was better than your powers. But Sandy, you sure proved them wrong. As they naively tried to drive their SUV down the street – where they were going I have no idea – you made sure they didn't make it far! They got stuck in the middle of the street, where there car promptly stayed for quite a few days.

These are pictures from AFTER the water went down a bit!
The dumb SUV I mentioned above. PS - I don't think that Jeep is for sale anymore!
Intersection of my street
Garage under an apartment building 
A neighbors garage
A shop a few doors down
Intersection down the street
Intersection I take to get to my best friends house. And this was 3 days later!
Down the street 3 days later
You could say there was a little bit of sewage in the streets.
Grocery store that was condemned. No idea when it will be functional!
After a few days, the water subsided, but what was left was much worse. Although you did a number on the contents of our garage, it was nothing compared to the loss that so many people experienced. Those that lived in a street level or basement apartment lost everything. As you filled their homes you took away years of memories, possessions and hard work.  You left my neighbors with nothing and forced them to start over. You shut down family run businesses, ruined cars and you ruined lives. Thankfully, after being ignored by the news outlets, our Mayor put out a rather pathetic desperate cry for help. Before long the National Guard was in town, helping people get out of their homes and FEMA arrived to help them begin to rebuild their lives.  Neighbors helped neighbors by donating items and helping them clean. We’re finally beginning to get back to normal as rebuilding has begun and streets are cleaned up. But Sandy, you sure didn't make it easy!
Contents of our garage
Neighbors house...
Across the street
Across the street again
Proof Point 3: Guess I’m moving back in with my parents…again.
If the power and water weren't bad enough, you made it so it was nearly impossible to leave Hoboken. We became our own little island and there was no way on or off. Like a little girl I called home begging my mommy to come get me. But nooooo. Without a Hoboken ID you weren't allowed into the city. Getting out was almost as tough as it was almost impossible to maneuver through the streets because of all the flooding. After three days stranded at our apartment we FINALLY made it out. My roommate Christa, her fiancĂ© and I escaped to mommy and daddy’s house. My parents of course were very gracious hosts. They fed us, kept us warm, gave us tons of wine and good company. But no matter what, we were constantly distracted by what was going on at home. We wanted to know how our town was doing, how bad the damage really was, and how long it would be before we could return back to our apartment. It almost became surreal watching TV. The Today Show, Anderson Cooper Live and all the news stations were broadcasting from Hoboken. They gave us a glimpse of what was going on. And all that did was make us even more nervous. Thankfully Sandy, you decided to let up by Saturday and gave us power back. So, we thanked my parents, loaded up on food and supplies to donate and made the trek back to home sweet Hoboken.
My mom entertaining us with a good ole game of Mexican Train Domino's! 
Proof Point 4: Work, who wants to go to work?
Because everything else wasn't nearly enough, you decided that it would be tons of fun to make it almost impossible to get out of Hoboken. Most of the town may have begun to get power back, but that didn't mean you were going to make it easy to go anywhere! You flooded our Path station and completely destroyed it. You also flooded a good portion of our buses and destroyed a whole parking lot of cabs. Buses from around the country had to be brought in to accommodate the commuters. You made it so the only way to get into the city was via ferry (which is sooooo expensive and not convenient) or bus. The only problem with the bus is that 90% of the town was commuting on it. You know what this means Sandy? This means that the first week after the storm it took almost 2 hours each way to get to work! Thankfully I have an amazing boss who allowed me to work from home that first week. But even with that you still didn't make it easy. It has been two months of commuting hell. Two months of long lines, tons of traffic and a pain in the ass commute. But Sandy, we've finally beat you. As of yesterday, the path is up and running and before long, you’ll be a thing of the past!  
The flooded Hoboken Path Station
Yea I'd say the Path got a good amount of water
Small glimpse of what the lines looked like. This is nothing!
You may have slowed us down for a bit, but you never stopped us. I know how much you enjoy hearing about yourself, and consuming people’s lives. But this coast is coming back from the ashes, and it’s coming back with a vengeance. Because one thing you can’t do Sandy, is ruin our spirits. Don’t mess with Jersey, we’ll come back harder and better than ever because we are JERSEY STRONG! Next time we’ll be ready…so don’t say you weren't warned.


Love,
Samantha 

Good vs. Evil


It hasn't escaped me that I’m not the greatest blogger. It has become so bad that when I go to my bookmarks on my tool bar, and see the name of my blog, I scroll past it really quickly in the hopes that it didn't catch me avoiding it. The thing is, it’s not that I don’t have anything to say it’s more that I come up with ideas and posts and the most inopportune times. For example, without fail, I come up with great blog ideas while I’m taking a shower. While washing my hair I can dictate to myself and entire post, and most of the time it’s so good that I catch myself smiling and giving myself a pat on the back. And every time, I say ok, after I get out of the shower and get dressed I’m going to start writing. But, inevitably, I get out of the shower, put on my pj’s, sit down on my bed for 5 seconds while I’m waiting for my hair to dry, and all of the motivation I had just 5 seconds earlier has left me. I can no longer think about what I had just found so witty and just decide to screw it in hopes that I’ll do it tomorrow. Then tomorrow comes and this cycle just repeats itself. Now, if someone could invent a computer that I could take in the shower with me, I’m pretty sure I’d be back to blogging on a daily basis. However, every time I think about investing the time to come up with such a thing, this small voice in my head starts telling me that it’s a terrible idea.

So, we've just explored problemo numero uno. But my blogging problems don’t stop there. I have another issue. A much larger issue. Half the things that I’d like to write about are probably not the most appropriate things to share on a blog that is not well protected, can be read by anyone, and is also read by people whose good side I’d like to remain on. For those of you that know me (like how I’m assuming that strangers out there read this? I think they call that narcissism…), you know that I don’t have the best filter – and let’s not even get started on my facial expressions. Actually, maybe we shouldn't call it a faulty filter, lets call it more of an over active Bull Shit detector and the inability to not call people out on their crap. Thankfully however, becoming a real life adult has taught me to put a little bit of a lid on this and to be better about when I chose to share. But, it’s still not the greatest lid, and although I’m still trying, I’m a work in process. So because I’m trying to be a better “adult” and I’m trying to avoid allowing my mouth to get me in trouble, I find that when I sit down to write a blog entry, I get a little carried away. I spend more time deleting the inappropriate thing’s I've said than I do actually writing content. So I find myself in a dilemma. Do I use my blog for good, or for evil? Do I, 

  • A: use it to give people fun updates, or do I 
  • B: use it to stand on my own personal soap box and hold nothing back? Or,
  • C: do I give this adult thing a real try and compromise and do something in the middle? OR,
  • D: do I just stop blogging altogether


I suppose the “fair” thing to do for all of us is to chose option C, so that’s what I’m going to do. I’ll just keep it real - whether that means fun updates with pictures, or the occasional outburst, I’ll make it more Samantha. I've never really been good at being anyone else anyway! Hence a really absent blog…

With that, you have the opportunity now to stop reading. If not, welcome to the new Straddling the Hudson!  

Friday, August 31, 2012

Have you met Lucy?

Lucy Ryder
As I think you are all well aware by now, I am one very proud big sister. Zachary and his band Lucy Ryder have spent the last 6 months putting together their new album, Stranger Danger AND IT IS FINALLY HERE! The official release date is September 11th, but since I have an in, I already have the album! If you're interested - - and you should be - - email me and I'll send it your way! Don't worry, one day you'll be able to say that you heard of them first! In the meantime, check them out below to see them in action!


Also head over to Have you met Lucy? for updates and music!

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Where did Summer go?


There has been so much that has happened this past summer that I don’t really know where to begin. I’ve been putting off posting for so long because I’ve been overwhelmed at the thought of having to play catch up. I know, I know, if I had been better about updating my blog, I wouldn’t be in this position BUT I am so WOULDA. COULDA. SHOULDA.

So that I don’t completely bore my total of probably 10 readers (including my parents) I’m going to do most of this via pictures. Because lets be honest, we all prefer picture books anyways – and what’s the point of all the pictures I take on my iPhone if I don’t show them to somebody!

Because the world revolves around me, I consider the start of summer May 25th, the best day in the world and otherwise known as my birthday. Thankfully, it is also almost always Memorial Day weekend - - as it was this year - - so most other people consider it the start of summer as well. This year to celebrate my magnificent 27 years, my best girlfriends and I took a trip to Rehoboth Beach, DE to celebrate both me and the start of summer. We had a great few days filled with lots of laughing, too much sun, (ok maybe that was just me) good beverages and great company. We even had our $300 plus dinner anonymously paid for. However, I sill believe that Alex was responsible for that one but she still refuses to take the credit!

Leigh, Alex, Me, Kerri, Erin before our anonymously paid for crab dinner!
I may have gotten a tiny bit burnt...


The wonderful month of May is also when my parents moved out of my childhood home and into their new house. In an effort to not completely unravel my brother and me, they thankfully just moved a town over into a much smaller house. The house is absolutely perfect for them - - it’s beautiful, open, still has a pool, a larger back yard than our old house, (which I didn’t think was possible) and most importantly it’s  filled with love and family pictures. I’m so happy for both of them and look forward to the weekends I get to spend with them there.

Bye bye to my childhood home!
A backyard full of memories
Hello new house! - Includes 3 bedrooms, full basement and finished attic!
New pool
HUGE backyard! The dogs are VERY happy!
In June my best friend Carrie took me to a Yankee game for my birthday, (obviously she knows me pretty well) which we of course won, and we celebrated my friend Michelle’s bridal shower and bachelorette weekend. I can’t wait for her wedding in Colorado in September!

Decked out in our Yankee gear.. duhh!
We got to see Andy Pettitte pitch! Mom was way jealous 

Carrie and me in our fancy hats at Michelle's Shower
Girls at the shower!
The Bride Michelle, Carrie and I at dinner
Group shot at one of the bars!
Followed by a little bit of dancing!
 July started off with a bang watching the NYC fireworks over the Hudson from the rooftop of a friend’s apartment. Haha get it… bang…no, not funny?




Next one of my bff’s from Virginia, Kendayl, came to visit with two of the girls I used to babysit for. Kendayl nannies for them in the summer so she took them on a “field trip” to the Big Apple. It was so much fun seeing the city from a kid’s point of view. We decorated our own cupcakes at Carlos Bakery thanks to Carrie, saw the Statue of Liberty, played at many a toy store, ate lots of candy and even jumped around on the famous BIG piano at FAO Schwarz.

Reily, Kendayl and Emily on the Ferry to the Statue of Liberty
Lady Liberty in all her glory

Emily and Reily with the cake they got after Carrie
gave them a tour of  Carlos Bakery in Hoboken
Tattoos at Toys R Us
World Largest Hershey Bar at the Hershey store... don't worry, we didn't buy them!
(we're not crazy!)
The BIG Piano
Posing in front of the bakery!
The rest of July was spent celebrating both of my parent’s birthdays, especially my dad’s BIG 6-0! Somehow, my mom and I managed to throw my dad a surprise party that included tons of family and guests he hadn’t seen in over 10 years! The best part of the surprise was that my brother Zachary flew up from Austin, TX to surprise him as well. Zach and I got to spend lots of time together as he hid out at my apartment for a few days before the party. After all the hard work and planning for the party, it was all worth it when my dad laid his eyes on Zachary and began to cry! At that point, there weren’t many dry eyes in the house! We also got to spend a lot of time with my mom's best friend/man of honor in her wedding Tommy, and his family! We have spent many a summer's with them and it was so much fun to catch up! 

Annual Watson and Buley family picture
Dad's birthday Chelsea themed birthday cake, of course made by Carrie!
Aren't they too cute?

The Watson's with their best friends - Carrie/Sam, Betsy/Tommy, Larry/Mich
Zach/Ryan
Cousin love
Zachary and his pups!

The Watson's, all together!
Before I knew it we were already in August. Now it was time for the long trek up north to Newport, VT (and when I say long, I mean long, it’s about 7 miles from the Canadian Border!) to celebrate my cousin Derek’s wedding. My mom was born in Newport, and since we hadn’t been back up that way for quite a few years, it was really great to get reacquainted with my mom’s old town and to hear all her stories about growing up.  We had such a great weekend with family and did quite a bit of laughing, lots of dancing and tons of catching up. This summer we got lucky and were all able to get together twice, as most came down for my dad’s party as well. I think we’ve learned that after all these years we really DO like each other and hopefully won’t wait so long to see each other next time.

Lake Memphremagog were my mom grew up and where the wedding was
Mom, me and dad at the wedding - we missed you Zachy!
Catherine and Derek exchanging vows
Me and the groom!
Cousins!
Always a daddy's girl
With the newlyweds - such an amazing wedding!
Enjoying the festivities!
August ended celebrating one of my best friend Sally’s Bridal shower. I have been honored to be chosen to stand up next to her as one of her bridesmaids as she marries the man she loves! All the bridesmaids spent the last few months planning for her shower and if I do say so myself, it was quite the success. Sally was showered with TONS of gifts and many well wishes for a happy marriage. Now we have her bachelorette weekend to look forward to in September and then her wedding in October!

Sally and her bridesmaids!
And now we’re at Labor Day. I must say, that my summers have changed quite a bit from spending my days at Shongum Lake on the swim team, or “protecting” the beaches as a lifeguard with all my best friends, but I guess I can’t complain too much. I mean it obviously must have been fun or I would have had much more time to blog!!!! :)

Boo summer's over! :(