Rise Up

While my sister's wedding was absolutely gorgeous and she looked spectacular and it was a blast, unfortunately we go hit with a curve ball on Sunday night. It was a fabulous wedding and we had a great time, but I'd like to discuss something a little more serious today.


I hope everyone reading this is safe and dry! This has been an insane past few days for all us New Yorkers, New Jerseyians & Connecticutites (not sure if any of those are "PC"). I've been overwhelmed by what Mother Nature has the capacity to do. While I know a lot of people out there have dealt with destruction and devastation, this part of the country/world has been awfully lucky. We are not in an "area" that is generally hit by these types of storms. Snow storms, yes, we'll take it and we're prepared. But this, this was just insanity.

I'm not going to pretend I had the worst, I was incredibly lucky. My parents still don’t have power and won't for most likely 10 days. They are in the same boat as others. I was lucky and still have power. However, my night on Monday night was incredibly scary. I live alone in a studio on the 6th floor. Basically my whole back wall is a 20 foot window. I was so terrified that it was going to just blow in. And the wind between the apartments was creating a wind tunnel of sorts in the hallway and all night my door was just banging. It was so scary - especially being alone.

When I woke up on Tuesday, I had no idea what to expect. The area around me was ripped through. I was walking up the FDR, which was crazy, it's always bumper to bumper with traffic, but yesterday, there was not a single car. It was really eerie.

I think what really got me the most was the devastation to my beloved Jersey Shore. It's basically washed away. We have so much to rebuild and put back together. There are memories, homes, businesses, that have just been demolished. Boardwalks are gone and streets are flooded beyond recognition.

I'm not trying to be all Debbie Downer and sappy, but as I was walking into work today I was listening to Bruce Springsteen's song "My City of Ruins" and I just started to cry. If you've never heard it, it was about 9/11, however it was so fitting for what is going on. And for Springsteen, he's a shore guy, it just really got to me. When you hear the lyrics (I also put them below), you'll get it…

"My City of Ruins"

There is a blood red circle

On the cold dark ground

And the rain is falling down

The church door's thrown open

I can hear the organ's song

But the congregation's gone

My city of ruins

My city of ruins

Now the sweet bells of mercy

Drift through the evening trees

Young men on the corner

Like scattered leaves,

The boarded up windows,

The empty streets

While my brother's down on his knees

My city of ruins

My city of ruins

Come on, rise up! Come on, rise up!

Come on, rise up! Come on, rise up!

Come on, rise up! Come on, rise up!

Now's there's tears on the pillow

Darlin' where we slept

And you took my heart when you left

Without your sweet kiss

My soul is lost, my friend

Tell me how do I begin again?

My city's in ruins

My city's in ruins

Now with these hands,

With these hands,

With these hands,

I pray Lord

With these hands,
With these hands,

I pray for the strength, Lord

With these hands,

With these hands,

I pray for the faith, Lord

We pray for your love, Lord

We pray for the lost, Lord

We pray for this world, Lord

We pray for the strength, Lord

We pray for the strength, Lord

Come on

Come on

Come on, rise up

Come on, rise up

Come on, rise up

Come on, rise up

Come on, rise up

Come on, rise up

Come on, rise up

Come on, rise up

Come on, rise up

We have a long road ahead of us - but we will "Rise UP" once again! Stay safe! XOXO

Loooorrrrryyyyy’s

We had a friend’s bach party down at Long Beach Island, NJ.  When I found out the location I was psyched.  I had been going to LBI for years (since I was little) and I couldn’t wait to go back to my old stomping grounds with all the girls!  I was a little skeptical, however, when I heard we were staying at this place called Lorry’s.  I had never heard of it, which was really weird because I knew pretty much everywhere on the island – red flag #1.  The weekend we were about to embark on was more than I could have ever imagined. 

Most of the girls started the weekend early and got there Thursday night.  Ruby, Hillary & I couldn’t get out of work, so we had to meet the group Friday night.  Our ride was awful and we thought we might be in a brief horror movie when we were driving down these deserted streets with no other cars in sight and it was pitch black.  But alas, we made it!  As we pulled up, this is what we saw (only it was dark so we didn’t get the full affect until the next morning):

Please take note of the teal paint and the beautiful "deck" work.  I'd also like you all to notice the multiple flags and other paraphernalia around this spectacular motel.  

By the time we got there, the rest of the girls were raring to go.  We threw our stuff down and got ready quickly.  We had to get to The Shell!  For those of you not familiar, The Shell is this amazing beach bar – and by amazing I mean dive bar ridiculousness.  See what it looks like in the daytime below…

We get in, shot gun a few beers, totally normal – we needed to catch up.  There was an amazing cover band there that night and we were having a blast.  All of a sudden I look over to see this guy heading towards me.  It was a blast from the past – an old flame!  Sydney refers to him as Big Face, so I’ll keep with that.  Apparently he has like the biggest face people have ever seen.  He’s actually quite cute, but point taken, his face may be a bit large!  Big Face approached me and gave me a kiss/hug saying all the right things.  I had just broken up with that one douche bag, Todd, so I figured, what the hell – I’ll just go with it!  A little back story - Big Face and I had known each other for years - since we were "kids".  I would see him every summer and we'd made-out a few times in the past!  Next thing I know I’m at his beach house, in his bed, nbd.  Next morning he drove me “home”.  As we’re pulling up, he was like – “why the hell are you staying here?!”  I totally understood where he was coming from.  I as I looked around I noticed we were next door to a trailer park – yup the only one on the island.  As he was walking me to my room, I also realized the “manties” that were hanging on the clothesline.  Amazing.  I got to my room and ran inside to recap with the girls.  I crawled into bed with Ruby & Hilary and we began our discussions!  It seemed that Hilary got a lil too tipsy the night before and accidentally walked into someone else’s room and I believe got into bed before she realized that the people in there were not with us.  So she ran out screaming.  And the rest of the girls had caused a bit of a ruckus, as well.  Therefore, it made more sense when were summoned to a “meeting” with management the next evening.  After a day on the beach, we all had to sit in the “courtyard”:

And listen to this man yell at us and tell us how unruly we were and if it didn’t change he was going to call the cops and evict us.  Oh I’m sorry because by looking at this place I’m sure you have such fine upstanding clientele.  We all apologized profusely and promised we’d be good.  After all, we only had one more night, we could make it!

So we all retreated to our rooms to get ready for that night.  While I was in the shower, I realized, as did all the other girls, that it appeared to have a hole cut into shower (right under the shower head) just big enough for a camera.  Now I’m not saying they were def taping us (and all other guests), but it did seem strangely odd.  So I showered as quickly as I could – I mean I’m not even sure the soap was out of my hair.  As I reached out to grab my towel, the towels were so voluptuous!  And by voluptuous, I mean it was a hand towel that barely covered my butt - by no means am I indicating that I have a small butt - but it's not like ginorm.  And not only was it small, it was sooo rough!  Seriously it was like a washcloth made out of a Brillo pad!  So that was fun.

That night we went out and celebrated our friend’s final nights as a single lady!  We had a great time – went to another fun bar with a great band.  Had way too much to drink and grabbed late night food!  We had a blast! 

Lorry’s will forever be held near and dear to my heart.  Not only was it a great weekend with great girls, but also it gave us great memories and stories.  I mean manties, cameras in the shower, getting yelled at by “management” and a recurrence from my old flame Big Face!