More.

Although Winter is one of my favorite seasons, I can honestly say these last few weeks have definitely had me feeling extra emotional. It's been five days since the sun has shown its face in Houston. The temperatures have been well below average, and the sky has only been shades of grey..... 

The new year has been full speed ahead, with work holding steady and days flying by. We are already half way through January! My God! Time doesn't last as long as it used to.. I've been doing my best to hold on to those last sprinkles of magic from my New York adventure, but slowly the glitter is fading away and I find myself longing... longing for another journey, longing for another adventure. Just longing for more.

My friends and I visited a new church this past Sunday. I can honestly say it has been months since I've steadily attended the church I'm actually a member of. I used to faithfully attend service every Sunday, then my visits became more and more sparse until I was an official member of Bedside Baptist, watching services online every week. I still got the word, but I still feel as if something was missing from physically being in the sanctuary. 

The morning started off ugly. It was freezing cold, and rain was pouring. Perfect sleep in weather. Had it not been for a text from one of my friends, I probably would've stayed burrowed under the covers awaiting my standing date with Olivia and Elliott. But we soldiered on and were mightily blessed. 

"The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense."

Proverbs 27:9

I'm so happy my friends included me in their quest to find a new church home, because from the moment we walked in until the time we left I felt blessed. 

The pastor preached on the prayer of Jabez. I personally was not familiar with this verse of the bible, but it was preaching directly to us and our current situation in life. 

1 Chronicles 4:9

Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.” Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.

Jabez made the perfect requests of God. He asked for more. And not only did he ask for more, he asked to be happy with the more he was blessed with, in God's will. Because even though you ask for something, it may not be in God's will. That's not saying that you will never get blessed, because you will.... You just have to be happy with the blessing you receive.  Every human experience just is not for everybody. 

I've often found myself feeling guilty for wanting more out of life. I got the salary, but I still don't have the husband and find myself disappointed. Why are you still asking for more Fal? You should be happy with what you have. I am, but there is still more that I desire. And that's okay. 

We all oftentimes find ourselves wondering why it seems like others have been blessed more than we have. Well, just like Jabez was born out of pain, a lot of times we don't see the behind the scenes and pain others had to endure in order to get their blessings. No one has lived the perfect life, and despite what it looks like on Facebook, everyone has faced some form of heartbreak, or setback or challenge in life before they made it. And accordingly, sometimes it takes great pain to experience extreme pleasure and blessings in life. I've had my share of down times. I should definitely be more than confident that every blessing God has for me is still out there for my claiming. We just have to keep striving....

Live righteously, keep praying, and keep waiting. If it is in God's will for your life, it is on it's way. I just pray that I have the ability to be happy with whatever it is I'm blessed with. 

We just need to keep asking for more. It's not selfish, or ungrateful to desire to live your best life possible. The wait is the hardest part, but that's where faith comes into play. 

After church I had no choice but to smile for the rest of my rainy Sunday. I genuinely needed to receive that word.....

The work week is halfway over, and as I'm sitting here looking at the dreariness outside my window, I can't help but think about the more that is out there for me. 

We've been talking about trips all morning in our group chat... Now the only thing I need to work on is the more money I'll need to save up to take those trips, but that's a story for another day....

I can genuinely say that I'm happy with the "more."

New Year, New York......

2014 is over, so there really isn't any reason to still be discussing it.
But 2015 on the other hand...

I spent New Year's Day recovering from our epic evening the night before. Then it was back to the office for a couple of hours, before my friend GEV and I were dropped off at the airport to catch a flight to Newark, New Jersey. From Newark we would be commuting via train into New York City. This would be my first trip ever to New York City and I was beyond excited.

Ironically, another friend and I had JUST been discussing a trip to New York (literally two days prior) when GEV posted on Facebook that she wanted to go to New York to see Cinderella on Broadway before it ended. Now let us backtrack..... I tend to be one who is extremely cautious with my money. I plan, calculate and meticulously arrange for every aspect of my life. I never use credit cards, unless I can pay the balance off before the billing cycle ends, and I never make impulse purchases. Basically, I'm a tightwad.... So, when I saw her post, part of me was hesitant to respond, but then I heard a little voice in my head say fuck it go for it, so I texted her immediately that I was down for the cause. After a few hours of stalking every airline available we found reasonable flights, and our other friend was able to secure his flight benefits so he could fly stand by and we were on our way.

I pretty much slept the entirety of our flight, and once we landed we thought it would be smooth sailing into New York. But much like life usually is, the unexpected can happen at any moment and throw a wrench in your plans. We sat for over an hour on the train due to some issue with a bridge not functioning properly. We had to go back to the previous station, and take another means of transportation into the city. By this time it was well after 2 am, and not only were we getting hungrier by the minute, our attitudes were also being put to the limit. We made it finally with no further delays. A different route than we anticipated, but we reached our destination. Much like life......
Our guy friend ended up beating us to the hotel, but by the time we cabbed it over he was giddy with anticipation of our arrival and we were right back out the door to grab a bite to eat.... It was almost 3:30 am by this time.

We were in a cab for what seemed like forever, until we finally arrived at Tom's and destroyed gyros, omelets, and the best sausage I've ever had in life.

It was decided that since we were already out, and wide awake we would go ahead and squeeze in a quick trip to explore Times Square since I was technically the only first-timer to the city.

It was so bright. And so cold...... I snapped as many quick photos as I could before my hands were frost-bitten, grabbed some street meat from a vendor, then we were back to the hotel and laying our heads down somewhere around 5 in the morning...

Stay out all night they said, it will be fun they said...

We all remembered that we were in our thirties when we finally woke up the same next morning. We had mentioned being at Sak's first thing when they opened at 10am to catch the sale, but we underestimated the toll staying up all night would take on our bodies.
We finally came alive around noon, and headed out the door only to find out it was lightly snowing in New York that morning. To say I was overjoyed would be an understatement. I'm from the South, I've legit only seen snow falling from the sky maybe three times in real life, and I could've literally cried tears of pure bliss right there on Park Avenue.

Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined myself strolling down 5th Avenue, browsing the aisles of Sak's and actually feeling like I belonged. Yeah, I know I'm an attorney and all, but... this here life has been a struggle to get to where I'm at today. I don't take anything for granted, but on that same accord, I've sold myself short so many times that it's hard for me to envision myself doing certain things. But this right here was reality, and confirmation... It's possible. It's right now.

We came, we saw, we shopped (I even scooped a pair of highly discounted Ralph Lauren Purple Label booties, which I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of in the mail) ...and grabbed a quick bite to eat before we headed over to catch our 2pm showing of Cinderella.

Both Keke Palmer, and Nene Leakes did an amazing job in the production. There were moments of laughter, enchantment and even tears as the Fairy godmother told Cinderella to stop doubting herself, and to believe that anything in life could be possible... Straight up message from God if I do say so myself. It's possible. Things are happening everyday...

By now the snow had turned into rain. Umbrellas in hand, we treked through China Town, Little Italy (where we ate) and took a subway over to Brooklyn to take a glimpse at Barclays Center.

We took a few moments to compose ourselves after that world wind of activity, and then headed back out for the night. We went to one club in Chelsea, then ended our night around 3:30 am in Harlem. My head hit the pillow somewhere around 6am... I think. Details are a little hazy from that point on...

On our last morning in NYC, our bodies held us hostage in bed so we got a late start for the day. We grabbed food at a pizza parlour near our hotel then rushed to the Met.

Since we were pressed for time we didn't get to see any of the exhibits, but I did get an opportunity to fall in love with the shops inside the museum... We had brunch plans with two of our law school colleagues who live in the area so we hurried off to meet them.

Brunch ended up turning into a full blown party in the middle of the afternoon on a Sunday. We were all skeptical about the whole set up of the event due to the pictures that came up when we googled, but we all ended up having the time of our lives in there. While we were falling in love in the club, the airline was continuously sending out mass texts alerting us to flight delays. By the time we finally dragged ourselves away from the men brunch, our flight had been delayed by two hours. And then another hour, and then another hour passed after we had finally boarded and were sitting idle...

It was 2:49am when we finally landed.... We got dropped off so we didn't have rides home, the friend who landed with us who did drive lives an hour away so she wasn't able to take us home and our friend who flew standby was delayed even later than we were. Insert heavy sigh....

After a few calls and realizations, we decided to suck it up and just take a taxi home. There were no uber drivers in the area, so we had no other choice. Whoomp whoomp whoomp... Houston is HUGE. And is not a taxi city. You ever come here, rent a car or else you will get nowhere. I laid my head down at 4:36 am, and made it to work at 10am that Monday morning.

Was I upset that our plans once again didn't work out how I anticipated, yes, but I am happy that I atleast made it... and that's all that matters. Set backs and delays occur, but you can't let them ruin the journey for you.

I fell in love with New York. I honestly felt a tad melancholy returning to my regular life outside of the city. I missed the excitement, and the newness. But then I remembered that this is indeed a new year, and anything is possible...

Things are happening everyday.