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Last Friday, Sept. 29th, a group from my church choir went to New York for the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir Music Conference. We went last year and had so much fun that we decided to make it a tradition. We arrived in New York and went to our hotel in Brooklyn. Then we walked to lunch at a pizza place under the Brooklyn Bridge. (I still prefer Johnny's Pizza though.)

Pastor Jim Cymbala's wife Carol is the choir director and leader of the conference. Many of you might remember some of their songs we sang in college. It's so cool being there after reading their books. Friday nights are their usual choir practice time, so the whole choir came and sang with us, then sang for us. On Sunday, we got to go on stage and sing with them the songs we had practiced. Carol told us about the whole process of getting into the choir, auditioning, being interviewed, etc. It made me glad that my choir director didn't make me audition! A lot of their choir members don't read music so Carol teaches the notes like Shayla used to teach me in children's choir when I was little. Carol holds her arm in front of her and moves it up if the note goes up and then down, etc. I can sort of read music but I can't necessarily sing what I see. So this is a good method for me. Although anytime you want to hear a G in perfect pitch, just ask Todd.

Here are my roommates for the weekend...Mitzi, Natalie, and Debbie. On Saturday, we went sightseeing. We're on our way to Canal Street to do some shopping. We even went "underground" for some purse shopping. Quite an experience!

That night, Natalie and I went on a night tour on a double decker bus. It started raining a little while we were waiting to leave.

No matter where I go, I always seem to find some men in uniform. What's sad is that they look 12! That must mean I'm getting OLD!

My favorite part of New York is Times Square.

Radio City Music Hall

Mmmmmm...the Hershey's store!

The Wall Street bull

On Sunday after church, we went to Ground Zero.

This is part of a steel beam that made a cross shape.

This is the view looking down into the where the towers were. That's the subway system below.

Here's a poster showing the Freedom Tower that's going to be built there.

There were 18 of us that went. Here is part of the group waiting for the subway. That's my new fake Coach purse. :)

Good times!