Weekend with Susan!

One of my dearest friends, Susan, came down from D.C. to visit this weekend. We had so much fun catching up on all of those things that only come up when it's 1:00am and you haven't seen each other in forever, and it was also great enjoying the city with a friend. :)

On Saturday we headed up to the upper west side and had lunch at Cafe Lalo, which is the cafe from "You've Got Mail" where Meg Ryan's character waits with a rose for Tom Hanks' character to arrive. Remember? It was the cutest cafe with an old-time cash register (no credit cards here!) and a glass case full of yummy desserts. Even the trees outside had little twinkle lights all in them - too cute!
Then we spent the rest of the day wandering around Central Park - miles and miles of wandering, I'm sure! - before we headed back to put our feet up. Then we joined Matt (and all of the other OU fans in NY) in watching the Sooner football season opener - Boomer Sooner!

On Sunday we had brunch at Eatery, then took the metro to the Brooklyn Tabernacle for worship. And what a worship service it was!! We felt so at home singing many Chris Tomlin songs, and the absolutely beautiful sound of hearing thousands of voices of people with such diverse backgrounds and ethnicities praising God together made us feel like we were seeing a tiny glimpse of heaven! An hour later - yes, we worshipped in song for an hour! - the famed Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir sang three stunning specials, then Pastor Jim Cymbala (of Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire fame) gave a wonderful sermon on Christ-like zeal (from John 2). It was without a doubt one of the best services I've ever been a part of, and I'm so, so glad we were able to visit.

As you can see from the picture above, the outside of the church doesn't look at all like a traditional church building, and that's because it's not. :) When they outgrew their first building, they purchased the Metropolitan Theatre there in Brooklyn, and the interior of the church is absolutely stunning. Here's a pic I copied from their website so you can have a peek of what it looks like:

And today Matt and I enjoyed Labor Day by sleeping in then spending the afternoon reading and people watching at Central Park. It was the perfect way to spend the day together! :)