2010… A YEAR THAT I WILL NEVER FORGET {part 1}

I couldn’t let this year go by without talking about one of my BIGGEST accomplishments—my trip to New York! Many of you know about what I like to call “bloggers gone wild” in New York, but if you don’t, let me recap for you.

Julianne and the Moggit Girls teamed up and put together Nate Day.  On Nate day, a bunch of design bloggers blogged about Nate Berkus designs and what we loved about him in honor of the premier of his ne show.  Then, someone tweeted (not sure who)  to Nate himself and telling him about our posts and that he should let all of us be apart of his audience.  Fast forward to September and we all get an email saying that we were indeed invited and that’s when my heart went crazy!

  

At that moment, I knew that in order for me to get to New York for the experience, I would have to fly.  At that moment, because I had never flown before, I immediately said no way.  Then I either called Janell, or emailed her to see if she was going and indeed she was.  It was at that moment that I said (literally) “Well hell, if Janell is going to fly across the country to be there, I’m going to be there too!”.

Okay, on to how I convinced myself to get on a plane.  It started with a lot of sweating and heavy breathing.  You think I’m kidding don’t you?  Nope, I’m so serious.  The thought of getting on a plane gives me hives.  I start to have a panic attack (a mild one I guess because my husband rarely paid me any attention!), then I had to go shopping.  Shopping has always been a way to ease my nerves.  No matter what’s going on, a trip to the mall or Target will erase all worries.  Then it went to me telling everyone I knew about the trip.  I figured the more people I told, the worse it would be for me to then go back and say “oh, I didn’t go”…. How embarrassing would that be?

  

  

Moving on to the day of the trip, it was time for me head to the airport.  The drive was long (not really, 25 minutes), and as the planes in the air got bigger, my heart sank lower til it reached the top of my stomach.  When we reached the front desk and it was time for me to check in (I guess that’s what you call it), I started to tremble and  I knew that at any given moment, I would go running and screaming out of the building.  But then the thought of the police arresting me for causing a scene or thinking I was some sort of terrorist terrified the crap out of me (especially since that’s why I was feeling this way in the first place).  So I handed my ID and my luggage over to the poor lady at the desk and everything was fine until she said, “Okay Mrs. Duncan, you’re all set.  Have a nice flight”.  Have a nice flight? I said to myself.  What does she mean by that?  Why wouldn’t I have a nice flight”  Insert the tears here….. All I remember hearing after my river started flowing was “This is her first time flying” and “oh, I see.  Sir, you can walk her as far as you need to”.  It was too late for me to turn back (in my heart…not my head) so I had to continue walking through the airport.  Plus my kids were so excited about my trip that I couldn’t let them down.  And what’s a ninety minute plane ride anyway?  Ninety minutes of me crying, that’s what! Ninety minutes of me thinking that we could crash.  Ninety minutes of being SCARED OUT OF MY FREAKING MIND!

Needless to say the flight was great.  From take off to landing, everything was smooth.  I’m convinced that the lady at the front desk told the pilot that it was my first time flying and he was extra cautious for me;-)

Getting to the trip itself, my first thought of the city was it is so like it is in the movies! And from the moment I got in the cab (oh yes the famous yellow cab), I felt as if I was in a dream.  Why?  Because at one point in my teenage life, I was to move to NYC and live out my dreams as a fashion forecaster or a buyer for Saks or Bergdorf.  You know some fancy shmancy store.  And I would walk the streets of NY with my shades on with my hair blowing in the wind—blah blah blah…back to the story.  Checking into the hotel was breeze (a lot better than the airport) and I went to my room and took a nap. Slept like a baby too, you crying uncontrollably will do that to you!  Then me not eating had he me feeling sick when I woke up so I got up and freshened up right before my roommate arrived.  I must admit, the thought of sharing a room with a stranger had my stomach in knots.  All I could think about was “what if she think I’m this fabulous Atlanta girl” only to realize I’m just a boring ole mom of three that really stays 20 minutes outside of Atlanta who spends her past time in Target and Goodwills.  Then I realized that she reads my blog so most likely she already know all of that!

to be continued…