Where Were You?

I started my freshman year at college in 2001.

I was in my freshman English class at 8:00am on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. The class was supposed to go to 9:40am...but for some reason, we were released early. We were released at 8:45am.

My English class was on the south side of campus and my dorm was to the far north. I decided that morning to walk through our student union building to get back to my room. I don't remember my reason now. Maybe it was to check my mail. Maybe it was to pick up a little breakfast. I can't remember anymore. All I remember was walking into the building and noticing the flat screen TV behind the information desk.

There were only a few people around the desk. Not enough to cause alarm or even look out of the ordinary, but again, it wasn't the people that caught my attention. It was the TV.

I noticed a burning building on the screen and it looked oddly familiar to me. I had been in NYC in the spring of 2001 on a trip with my mom and we did the touristy things: saw Broadway shows, went to the empire state building. I bought two paintings while I was there: one of Times Square and the other of the NYC skyline, featuring the World Trade Towers. Those two paintings hung in my dorm room. From what I could see on the TV, one of the World Trade Towers was on fire.

It was 8:50am and the TV station was reporting that a plane had gone into the World Trade Center; an accident. I couldn't believe it. After watching for a few minutes, I left the student center thoroughly confused.

I got back to my dorm room at 9:00am and immediately turned on the TV in my room. The hallway was quite at that time...a few stirrings behind doors, but overall...quiet. Its not surprising given the time of day.

I switch on Good Morning America and quickly see the burning building in the skyline with Charlie Gibson's narration. I can't remember who he was talking to, but what happened next I will always remember.

A second plane went into the second World Trade Tower and this was no longer an accident.

After being stunned into not know what to do...I sit down at my computer and look at my instant messenger. My mom was online for some reason. So I sent her a message and she responded, saying she was working from home that morning. I quickly asked if she had seen the news?

No. What news? she typed back.

A plane just flew into the world trade center! I typed back.

Oh that's too bad she typed.

I didn't think she was getting it.

No mom. We're being attacked.

She turned on the news and then gave me a call. She hadn't understood me. She thought a sightseeing plane or something of the like had hit accidentally. She never imagined a jet purposely went in, let alone two.

She told me my dad was traveling, out on business, and that she hadn't heard from him...which scared me. He didn't have a cell phone, so tracking him down was extremely difficult. She didn't know for sure if he was in New York or not. (Note: we did find him and he and a coworker rented a car and drove home because the airports were shutdown).

She told me to be careful but she wasn't concerned for my safety because who would attack my little college town. She was honestly grateful I didn't pick a school in a big city.

I left my door open and people starting coming in, checking on me, talking about what had happened. My suite mate had a brother and uncle who worked in the financial district of NYC and hadn't heard from them. A girl across the hall from us had a father in the Pentagon. It seemed everyone was affected by this event and I became a rock.

As I watched everything unfold in front on me, including the plane that crashed into the Pentagon, I received another phone call. My roommate's mother was calling me trying to reach her daughter. She had no luck since she was in class, so she called our room. She let me know that Stefanie's father was OK. He was known to go into New York City for work from time to time and on this day, he didn't go.

I said I would pass the message on and when I saw my roommate shortly after 9:40am coming up the staircase to our room...I told her the news. She broke down...and I became her rock. She couldn't get through to her mom until later that evening due to the volume of calls trying to cross the country, but just knowing that I had spoken to her had helped Stef.

I didn't go to my 10:30am class. I don't even remember what it was, but I knew I needed to be with my friends in my dorm. By 2:00pm, the towers had fallen, the Pentagon fire was fairly contained and the news of the plane crash in Pennsylvania had come and gone. I had a 2:10pm acting class that I left to go to...and as we all gathered in our black box theatre, my facade cracked.

At that time, I still didn't know about my dad and his location. I was trying to be strong for all my friends back in my dorm and in the theatre department...and I finally broke.

....

Over the last ten years, I've relived where I was a few times, especially as each anniversary nears. It doesn't feel like ten years. Honestly, in some instances, it feels like it was just yesterday. I remember seeing the pictures the days following the attack and those images are still fresh in my memory today.



Where were you that day? Never forget 9/11/01

Attack of the Evil Sock Monkey...Cake?

My coworker, Emily, had her birthday this week and I knew I was going to make a cake her cake to bring into the office. And I already had my idea for it...

The inspiration came from a little sock monkey that we found in the recent office move and Emily adopted. I joked that I would make her a sock monkey cake for her birthday and the joke became a reality.

So how do you make this...


...into a cake?

Watch!

Once I split the fondant apart, I needed to color have of it for the body of the sock monkey. My forearms were a little sore the next after all of that kneading! Separating the body parts was next.

Even the ears got special attention!

Honestly, the mouth was one of the most difficult parts, but one of the most fun to do...it gave the monkey its best feature!

Then all the parts had to come together!

Isn't he cute?! What could make it better...

How about the hard hat of Emily's office nemesis...AT&T. I know they annoy her, but I wanted to make her smile at it because hell...a sock monkey wearing an AT&T hardhat? Even if you hate them, he makes it so freaking cute!

Add a homemade red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting and...

You have a great cake that everyone thought was great...especially the birthday girl...and I had fun making!

So....who wants the next one? I now take requests! ;-)

Not Exactly Retracted...But Reclassified

...because Hurricane Irene was a bigger problem than I first anticipated.

I did get to the store, without a problem in fact. Hardly anyone was on the roads, though the trees were definitely swaying. Once I got into the grocery store, I looked around and found that I was the only shopper. The only other being in the place were the skeleton crew on duty.

Pretty fantastic if you ask me.

I got my few items and headed back into the weather. Once I made it home, I unloaded my spoils (this becomes funny later) and then headed out for lunch.

Problem #1: there was hardly anything open! Driving around, again, hardly anyone on the roads and as each restaurants passed, my outlook on lunch was looking dim. (To answer the unasked questions, yes, I had just purchased food at the store...but it was milk and eggs. I wasn't looking to cook that for lunch.)

Finally, a beacon of light in the distance...cars in the parking lot of an open restaurant. Heading into the Ninety-Nine Restaurant, I was optimistic. (PS...I had never been inside one of these ever). While there was an abbreviated menu, due to the advanced cut scheduling of the staff, I had a very tasty wrap and fries.

Just before heading back to the apartment, more and more people were arriving at the restaurant because of power outages at their homes. I was feeling very happy that we still had power at home.

Watching a movie was next on the agenda, especially with the weather being what it was. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 was placed into the DVD player and before I knew it, I fell asleep for a good portion of the movie (I had seen it enough before, so I wasn't missing anything). As the movie was ending, it was decided to go see Part 2, which was still in theatres (but barely). After looking up the time and hopping in the car to head out to the theatre, I was sitting in a seat just as the previews were beginning to roll.

The movie let out around 6pm. Dinner was decided upon (since my life revolves around food) and the wait was fairly long at Texas Roadhouse. Since I wasn't extremely hungry, it wasn't a problem and around 6:45pm my table was available (PS...remember that time).

After a tasty dinner, again, before leaving the restaurant, I was hearing a lot of people talking about power outages. Again...I was happy that we had power....

Until I looked at my phone.

I had a text from my best buddy Andy, who lives in the same apartment complex, asking if I lost power. I thought that was a very nice question to ask...you know, to check in. Except, the more I thought about it...the more I thought, he would know if I lost power, because double or nothing, he would have lost power too.

Crap.

As I drove into my complex, I could see all of the street lamps were off (not a normal sight at dusk) and many many people out in the parking lots. Definitely not a good sign.

Problem # 2: Walking into my apartment and trying the light switch...in which nothing happened...I was not a happy girl. After further investigation with Andy, I found out that the power went out around 6:45pm (time sound familiar?) and nothing had really happened at that time (the sun was out, no more rain at that point). So, the hope was that they shut down the power to fix a few things.

The next two days we were living my natural and candle light and I was going to bed very early in order to pass time. By 3:45pm on Tuesday, power was restored and all of those 'spoils' I had gotten at the store Sunday morning were just that...spoiled.

So...I kind of retract my early statement of 'the hurricane that never was' to 'the hurricane that passed by...and then I lost power.'

No bueno.