The Hardys

Be Kind and (H)onest

2012-02-01T14:41:00.000-08:00

Now that we actually have a table, I can do projects again. Not that I ever did a ton, but it's nice to have the option :) I decided it was time to bust out the sewing machine and working on the monthly square project Nana started. It's a little trickier on my own, but I manged to figure it out again.

Obviously Chicago wanted in on the action too.

I just about finished 'Be Kind.' I have to finish outlining and add the face details.

Same with 'Be Honest.' Except I have to figure out what happened what happened to the H. I'm sure it's around somewhere, and I'll probably find it while I clean up the mess on the table.

My progress :)

Only eight (and two final details) left to go :)

Faceless

2012-01-28T20:35:00.000-08:00

We live in a great ward our here. They make going to church a lot more fun :) Tomorrow, there is a Munch and Mingle after the block. We were given the theme of faces, with a prize going to the person that brings food that looks the most like Bishop Glass. Yeah, I thought about what to do for a long time. I had no idea. And given that I've only seen the Bishop a few times in person, I couldn't come up with any distinguishing characteristic. So instead, I made faceless cupcakes. Yep, my forever Plan B (and usually Plan A) treat.

And I must say, the frosting is looking a TON better now. I'm finally figuring it out :) Though because I want to practice the cute swirl, I haven't done much fancy decorating on the tops. I did consider decorating cupcakes like the faces of Sesame Street characters for a couple days, but I didn't have enough time to do that, write a talk, and work all day. I couldn't make them too far in advance if they were going to taste decent.

So here are my little faceless beauties. They have stripes and spots... bodies with no faces.

But they are pretty cute, if I do say so myself :)

Dining Options

2012-01-25T08:23:00.000-08:00

You'd think that after over a month of living in this apartment we'd have a classier way to eat than on our laps sitting on the couch. Don't worry, now we do!

Ah yes, a table and chairs.

all the placemats we made with Nana over the past few holidays will look so nice. I'm excited to use them!

I put together the majority of the chairs. Then when I got to the end, I couldn't really understand the instructions, so Marcus took over. He then did the table, and I put the felt pads on the legs. Definitely a group project :)

...did you notice Chicago peering over the table????

Maybe Curly found a new home too. I'm still deciding where he should live.

I do like this spot for the table because it gives so much more room by the oven. But I have flipped it the other direction too. We'll see.

It's not so empty anymore :)

I'm really excited for a table and chairs. Plus FedEx finally delivered something when I was home, so that was good too. Now I can sew. Or work on other projects. Or put my computer on it. Or put the mail somewhere. Or have more counters for preparing meals. Or just eat like a normal person. :) Tables are definitely one of those things that you don't realize how much you need them until you don't have one. I'm glad we do again :)

The Newest CooperKat

2012-01-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

It's official... Marcus is an Account Coordinator at CooperKatz!

Obviously we knew that already since we moved across the country for it, but it's still fun to see it ON THEIR WEBSITE! :) He took several pictures and had a bio written. Pretty snazzy!

http://www.cooperkatz.com/team_details/marcus-hardy

Marcus' Surprise

2012-01-23T16:50:00.002-08:00

Some husbands bring home flowers, Marcus does things a little different. :)

We were really sad when we couldn't bring Boo with us to New York, but there was no way we could have added a plant to the bazillions of other things we took on the airplane. So he's staying with my family in Arizona for now. Marcus surprised me when he came home from work with what he called Curly Fries. Where did he find an Arby's, and how did he get them all the way back here??? I was very confused. And then pleasantly surprised.

Meet Curly Fry -- Boo's long lost NY cousin

I am really excited about our new little one.

Chicago likes Curly too!

Brotherly Love

2012-01-23T16:50:00.001-08:00

Marcus has always loved looking out for his brother Paden. He loves talking on the phone and texting him-- just being part of what is going on his life. It's really cute.

Marcus was giddy when he graduated from high school, started at BYU Hawaii, served a mission...

And he's especially excited that Paden just proposed. We're looking forward to Rebecca and Paden's wedding this summer!

(Sorry Paden, I stole this picture from your facebook, but it was too cute.)

Our First NY Snow

2012-01-22T12:17:00.001-08:00

We woke up Saturday morning to some snow out of our window.

There was a little more on the ground.

You can see it better here.

Kind of pretty actually.

I like how the snow looks on the subway tracks.

Bishop Glass said it would be gone by tomorrow--NY snow only stays a couple days. I guess we'll see what happens.

DIPLOMA!

2012-01-18T09:20:00.000-08:00

Guess what came in the mail...

MARCUS' DIPLOMA!!!

It's funny how having that little piece of paper just makes it seem more real. But he worked really hard for that, and hopefully one day we'll have a place to hang it up. Congratulations Marcus!

Our other little studious one:

I wonder what she had been researching...

hopefully not this: http://www.catswhothrowupgrass.com/kill.php :)

Wants or Needs

2012-01-18T08:56:00.001-08:00

Working at Bed Bath and Beyond definitely has some Pro's and Con's. It's a pro that I can get the things I need. It's a con that it's too easy to get the things I want. :) However, this time, I think what we purchased was a need.

And I put it together. All by myself. Seriously. (After putting together the entertainment center, Marcus is on DIY strike.) Apparently I have mad skills. Haha. But fitting all those pieces in the box was a crazy puzzle, and I'm proud of myself. It feels like there is a lot more space in the bathroom now, even though I'm sure these pictures just make it seem like too much stuff in a tiny area.

But Nate Berkus said if you keep the tops of counters clear, rooms will seem bigger and cleaner. So I got everything off the sink. It's a start :)

With the extra towels out, we now have another cupboard to put away some kitchen linens and things. And since we couldn't put anything on the back of our crazy toilet, now we can.

One project down. Next up, getting the kitchen ready for the table. Bless Amazon and BBB for all their help with our move. :)

Shopping

2012-01-17T07:29:00.000-08:00

I had to post this picture because it cracks me up. Marcus really wanted one of the shopping cart things, even though you usually only see older ladies with them. But he wanted one really badly for laundry and to make Costco trips more efficient. (I won't lie, it will make laundry easier when the weather is crazy, and it justifies things like Snack Pack puddings at Costco because we couldn't carry anything extra without one.) Well, we were at Costco, and they had a decent one at a great price. ...So here's Marcus with his new shopping cart (notice the Snack Packs and Yoohoo-- haha):

Natural History Museum

2012-01-14T14:49:00.000-08:00

So today we had one of our first touristic days in the city. And we decided to go to the American Museum of Natural History.

It's definitely a favorite. Marcus had gone there over the summer, and I was so excited about their IMAX movie-- it was an easy decision to go there first. Plus, we decided that instead of paying to go a couple times, since it is so gigantic, that we'd become members. That way we can wander around as many times as we want, and we can break it up so our feet are never too tired :) Plus we get into more exhibits, tours, and IMAX movies that way.

We didn't go in the front entrance. And good thing we didn't because the crowds were so much crazier there. We used the "secret" entrance from the subway. Lines were much, much better. Plus, we are members, so we got to skip the lines anyway.

The first thing we did was see the IMAX video Born to be Wild. Here's the clip about it. It was fantastic. The elephants and orangutans were so incredibly cute.

And since we are now members, we decided that we'd just pick a few exhibits to go to or walk by since we can come back as much as we want for the next year :) Here are some of our favorite spots.

Northwestern Indian Art

The ocean animals

It was really dark in there so I googled a picture of the GIGANTIC whale hanging from the ceiling:

I really liked this area. It's like SeaWorld!!!

A ray for Marcus :)

We'll go back to the dinosaurs another time, but I did want to see the ones in the entry:

And I requested the African animals too:

And Marcus, of course, wanted to see the space exhibit, but to get there we had to go through reptiles. Not my favorite.

But this made it better. Cute.

And then we walked through the space section.

(After that, we got super hungry and went to Mariela's for pizza.--This area of NY is one of my favorites with Central Park and all, and Marcus loves it because we always go to Mariela's for pizza.)

I'm sure we'll be back several times. It's a really neat museum. So much to see. (And if you come visit, we can go again-- we get discounted passes to bring more people. No pressure. Just if you want. Haha.)

Plus I found this awesome picture of their Christmas tree-- so we'll be back for sure next winter!

Sunnyside

2012-01-14T14:15:00.001-08:00

On the way to and from our NY adventure, I finally took some pictures of Sunnyside.

Here's exiting our building:

And walking down the street toward the subway station:

The first intersection:

Looking across:

A church on the other side of the road:

That's the subway in the back.

Queens Blvd and the subway track:

Looking down from the middle of the crosswalk:

Under the subway:

On the platform:

Looking toward the city from the platform:

A train:

The other side of the subway:

Looking north again:

Northwest again (toward the city):

All bundled to battle the wind:

Yes, those are cupcakes from Crumbs. LOVE THEM.

And I'm pretty sure that hat is one I made during Nana's craft time one Page Family Thanksgiving. :)

10 NYC Must Have's

2012-01-12T16:22:00.000-08:00

As I was on the train coming home from work tonight, I started thinking about how we're finally accumulating the things we need to be actual New Yorkers. Quickly I came up with a list that I thought would be fun to share.

1. Driver's Licence:

You can't do anything in this city without an I.D. (Ours came in the mail yesterday!!!) Definitely number one on the list!

2. Metrocard:

Seriously, best thing ever! I love being able to jump on the subway whenever, wherever. It's so much easier than maintaining a car and parking it somewhere in a city like this. Plus I can't even imagine driving here!

3. Brita Filter:

I guess you don't need Brita, but you do need a water filter. I've never consistently had so much water to drink. It's the best.

4. Cash:

You don't necessarily have to have a lot of money, but some cash always. It makes things, like getting pizza, so much easier :)

5. Smart Phone:

This city is too crazy to get around without one. There are the best apps to get directions and subway maps.

6. Down Jacket:

Love mine! That wind could kill you, but with down, you don't even notice. Seriously.

7. Big Umbrella:

Yes, that adjective is necessary. It rains from multiple directions at once here.

8. Fan / A.C.:

Summer in NY? Humidity? Yes.

9. Boots:

Snow. Rain. Makes sense.

10. Humidifier:

You'd think that in a humid city you wouldn't need it. But when that heater is on sucking all the moisture out of the air, you need it! Actually a manager at work had to explain that to me. haha.

What a special place :)

New Years Cleaning

2012-01-11T07:36:00.001-08:00

I'm really learning a ton about culture living in New York, but that was obviously going to happen. I guess I didn't realize how much I'd see Asian cultures around my work. I've heard several people refer to the area I walk through to get to my store as Mini Chinatown, and it's definitely on its way to just that. But this means that later this month, it will be crazy there celebrating the Chinese New Year! It's on January 23rd, and it's the year of the dragon, FYI. :)

At work, we talked about how most of our customers will be preparing. Our Item of the Month is an envelope that Chinese people give to married couples with money inside. That's about all I know. They buy these red envelopes and give them to any married friends. I think I like that tradition :) Obviously, there will be parades. And there is going to be one in the mall! Pretty cool. Hopefully somehow I'll be able to take pictures.

And they'll all prepare by having intense cleaning time, so we'll be selling lots of cleaning products. I took that as a sign that I should consider doing the same. We haven't had a good cleaning since we moved in, and it was just getting dusty and gross. So since it is finally looking nicer, I thought I'd take those "moved in" pictures that were requested. Sorry, still no pictures are up on the walls yet-- mainly because I don't want to put them up and then move them once we finally get a table/chair/whatever we end up with :)

And eventually I'll post some pictures of Sunnyside. It really is a fun little area. Lots of shops, restaurants, and of course people. :) But it was too dark to take pictures when I went out today.

So let's start the tour at our front door:

And looking down the hall to the left--notice the closets on the left and then the bath mat on the right:

Closet One (technically my closet):

The top of that closet so you can see all our coats:

Closet Two (technically Marcus'):

And in the bathroom that was on the right (hot water pipe/crazy storage guy):

Old School toilet:

A bigger view of the bathroom:

And straight down the hall way is our bedroom (where Chicago sleeps during the day):

The corner of stuff we're still dealing with (where you can see the fire escape):

To the left in the bedroom (my music mess):

Now back at the front door, looking straight forward:

The right side of the living room with Marcus' man project:

Our make-shift kitchen storage area (I'd originally planned to hang more mugs, but have since decided against it and now wish they were lower):

Continuing along that wall:

The left side of the kitchen:

Our fancy book shelf and the window behind it where Chicago often sits:

Kitty's view from the window:

Our heavy, but so comfy couch:

Our reading nook :) and the clock will go on the wall eventually:

And looking back at the front door:

And that concludes another tour of our apartment. But this time, the counters were cleaned, toilet scrubbed, floors swept, ... Feels good knowing it's clean :)

And one more picture just for fun. Chicago apparently enjoys YouTube videos with cats:

2012

2012-01-05T13:26:00.000-08:00

I seriously still can't believe it's already 2012. And we're basically all moved in here in New York. There are still a couple piles of things stashed around, but I have a feeling those will be there until we start reorganizing or something. That's what Spring Cleaning is for, right?! :)

We had a very calm New Years celebration. On New Year's Eve, we went down to Times Square in the evening to see the crowds and hype. Nothing was really ready for the night, but there were TONS of people, cops, and SWAT teams. NY is definitely on top of preparing for this huge event. Marcus and I walked around until we were tired and headed home to watch movies, drink sparkling cider, and watch the countdown on tv. It's weird how close all of that was happening, and we were watching it on tv. But going down there would have been more than overwhelming with so many people in such a small space for hours. On the first, we went to another one hour week of church and came home to make dinner. See, really a calm New Years. :)

And we've both started 2012 working hard-- I had my first day of work on Monday, and Marcus started with CooperKatz on Tuesday. We're still figuring out how our schedules will align and how to plan dinners and whatnot, but it's been fun. On my first day off, after cleaning our apartment a little bit, I went to the store and then walked around Sunnyside a little, mostly to figure out what's around. It's a great area! And Marcus finished his first Man Project-- started 2011, ended 2012. That seems like it took forever with the change of the year. But most of the time we were waiting for miscellaneous pieces to arrive. I'll post some pictures since he's pretty proud of it :)

We hope you all had a great New Years! Happy 2012!

(Yes, I did write 2011 at first and had to change it! Haha.)

------

Like many of you know, we decided to save money, we'd spend more on a tv. That way we'd want to stay home and watch movies-- we do own like a million :) Plus we used credit card points to get a free surround sound, which arrived before Christmas, and were given a bluray player for Christmas. It was great because we could put our full budget toward the actual tv. So we ordered one through Amazon. When we sold our tv in Utah, we also sold the stand. So my job was to pick out a new one, which conveniently we ended up ordering through Amazon again. Marcus' job was to put it all together.

And he did it! Of course he did :) The only problem was that the actual stand for the tv wasn't in the box, so we had to call Amazon and figure out what happened. And they were fantastic. They got Sony to ship us a new one for free! We just had to wait for it to come snail mail style. In the meantime, we wanted to use our tv, so we leaned it against bubble wrap. Worked great.

And when the stand came, Marcus was able to finish the project. Won't lie, we love it!

And that's the story of our new tv. In case you were interested. Or not.

Official New Yorkers

2011-12-29T16:20:00.000-08:00

Now, here's a story for you. How we earned our shirts.

Too bad they don't actually give you one after wasting so much time at the DMV. Haha. So obviously New York has a billion too many rules. And exchanging an out-of-state license is no exception.

We had to have several documents proving our names and birthdays. You'd think that's actually easy, and for Marcus it was. The fact that neither my birth certificate or social security card say Hardy really confused the lady processing my application. There were no problems with the two previous people I talked to, but for some reason, she couldn't figure out what was going on with my paperwork. The funny part is that we had gotten everything ready according to the online requirements, but it still confused that lady. Plus, online it said it was like fifty dollars cheaper.

So that lady kept crossing out Page and Hardy all over the place. She thought the guy who'd helped me prepare at the previous window was crazy (but he'd done it all right!), and she kept telling me that I couldn't change my name and just make a maiden name my middle name without going to court... even though my social and Utah drivers license say everything correctly. She'd say it all out loud right and then do something different. Weird.

After she put in my address and name (with Hardy), she said she was then going to do the name change. I had to quickly stop her, assuring her that was correct. She was going to flip everything back to Page! I don't know what she was doing. So she just looked at it and gave up I guess since she'd done it all backwards (of how the first guy had put it together).

And when she finally decided everything was finished, she realized she hadn't done my voting registration or organ donation. So she was going to do another transaction. But then the voting part printed, so I guess she had done it. ??? I had seen a sign about signing up to be an organ donor, so I decided to just do it online. She was just too confused :) So I got my temporary NY license. Crazy!

Now we can legally join this picture of New York.

But don't worry, I (we) do not plan on using my (our) new NY license(s) to drive in the crazy traffic out here! I'll just be a pedestrian here and drive in other states :)

Aww, look at my cute little New Yorkers

So Marcus decided it was finally time to get a haircut. His hair was getting a little crazy, and I think he decided the beard was just too much. So I chopped it all off. And there was so much hair everywhere that he decided to...

Vacuum it up

And he decided to try a new facial hair look

A new look for the newest New Yorker

Lunch with the Starrs

2011-12-29T15:54:00.000-08:00

Marcus was pretty excited when he heard that his buddy from the MPS was in town for Christmas. Scott, his wife Lena, and their son Scotty were visiting family for Christmas, and they were in NYC for a show. So we had lunch together (of course it was pizza at Mariellas) with the Starrs.

Little Scotty

I think he was just a couple weeks old the last time we saw him!

Marcus with his eyes closed and Scott squinting in the sun :)

After lunch, the Starrs were headed off for some quick pictures at Times Square. We had two destinations planned as well.

1. Madison Square Garden

We're getting pumped up

And we may have picked a game we'd like to go to... Marcus wants to see Jimmer. Haha.

This picture leads to our second destination. Notice my coldness, despite the cute argyle sweater from Park City. Haha.

2. MACYS!

I love Macys here. It's so huge. And amazing. With tons of Christmas stuff! And everything I could possibly want or need... including... jackets!

I spent awhile debating which one I really wanted. And if I really wanted one. And if I should actually buy one. ...but they were 60% off...and all New Yorkers have them... Oh, I did it, and just a few days of staying ridiculously warm and shielded from the wind, good idea!

See how happy and warm I am :)

It's even easier to enjoy living in New York City when you have a nice, warm coat. And I think Marcus likes it better when I'm happy in my nice, warm coat too :)

Our Extended Christmas

2011-12-27T13:55:00.000-08:00

Since we flew out to New York, we could only take so much with us from Phoenix. Obviously we had pushed the limits anyway, but my mom decided to mail our Christmas presents to our apartment since they wouldn't fit in our suitcases with the rest. Since it was a holiday, the mail was a little slower, and we got our presents today. Of course we didn't waste any time opening them, and some of these pictures are pretty good.

Thanks Mom and Dad!

Our First Christmas in NYC

2011-12-25T10:19:00.000-08:00

I'm sure the whole picture overload on this blog will get old fast, but it's the best way I've found to share what we're up to-- especially while Marcus battles with the wifi connection for Skype and other video chats. But I had to post about Christmas. And then we can compare future years and see what traditions we've made :)

For breakfast on Christmas Eve, we made Jiffy's. Nothing special, but I did put them in cute Christmas tins and arrange them like a tree. A for effort :)

It was such a beautiful day outside. Obviously this first Christmas is not going to be a white Christmas. But it's nice to ease into NY weather instead of being dropped in on the crazy frozen winds.

I decided to first clean up a little more of our mess. Not too much though since it was a holiday :)

We spent the afternoon in Manhattan. We went to go see the new Sherlock Holmes movie. We're big fans :) Seeing movies here is definitely more special occasions since they're not cheap. But this one was so worth it! And there are some great movies coming out, including The Dark Knight Rises and The Hobbit.

Marcus was really hungry when we got back from the movie, so we had our little appetizers. Crackers and a cheese ball.

And then the dinner preparations began. We wanted to so some traditional foods, and the Hardys usually have clam chowder. I was not too big on that idea, so we compromised. We were going to make soup. Marcus made bread bowls from scratch!

He was a little nervous about them because the rising was going as well as he'd hoped.

And I made Cozette's recipe for potato soup. We make a great team :)

All smiles for the perfect bread bowls

Look how pretty it is! It was really good too!

And later we did make some cookies for dessert using special swirled chocolate chips. They turned out perfect. I'm really liking a gas stove and oven! So much better than our crazy ones in Provo!

Marcus' family opens their presents on Christmas Eve. My family doesn't. Just PJs. So after lots of pleading, I gave in and let Marcus start with a couple Christmas Eve presents. We opened our ones to each other.

I gave Marcus a gyropter, that he'd picked out at BBB awhile ago, a picture frame for his desk at work, and a religious/inspirational/patriotic plaque.

Marcus apparently wanted to do something I couldn't guess this year, since usually I can always figure out what he got me :) He pulled out a little blue box...

...with blue diamond earrings. He did lots of research and got them during a Black Friday sale. I guess Marcus really is a keeper :)

Of course, Marcus wanted to try out his gyropter. And the kitty did not approve. They had a good face off. She even swipped at it a few times.

Technically we also opened a present from my family. They had sent two gifts in the mail, which will probably arrive Tuesday. But we had sent the Blu Ray player on the moving truck, which has conveniently been here all week. So we broke it in on Christmas Eve with some Potter. And it looked good!

It was a very simple Christmas Eve, but it was really nice.

We woke up on Christmas with enough time to open presents before church. Chicago had been so patient-- we gave her hers first. Naturally it was a cat toy with feathers. (We think we left her chicken toys in Arizona.)

She started playing with them before we even got the bow off :)

And Chicago gave Marcus his present too-- more jeans! He's only been complaining about having so few pairs for over a year, since I stole his last ones and made the quilt.

He was really excited.

The cat finally discovered the Christmas tree after attacking the bow on her toys. She pulled that one off the tree and tried to pounce on it too.

We had fun opening presents from Marcus' family, G/G Hardy, and Nana. We received some really great books, games, gadgets, scarves, gift cards, socks, and movies. Basically we were spoiled rotten. It was worth carting it all through the airport like crazy people. Haha.

This isn't the best picture, but I tried to get one on my phone before we left for church. Marcus looked very snazzy in his green suit and red tie, and I wore my new shirt and sweater from Mimi, new warm tights from the Hardys, and my pretty blue diamond earrings.

We got back from church before noon, and it was omlette time! Another tradition we definitely had to keep.

Marcus studied the art of Grandpa's omlette making while in Arizona, and these were really amazing!

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. No unpacking. No cleaning. I read and blogged. Marcus figured out how to set up the TV and fought with the Internet. And the cat slept. She slept on my lap. Under my chair. In the bed. On the bean bag. Basically everywhere. We talked to family via Skype. We ate too much. Listened to Christmas music on Pandora using our new sound system. Great times.

As we prepared dinner, we put on one of Marcus' new movies, Despicable Me. Definitely a favorite. Marcus loves those minions :)

You can almost see our meal in this picture. Marcus used the broiler to make some steaks. And I made mashed potatoes and a salad. I thought it was pretty good :)

And instead of making a dessert, we decided to buy some cupcakes at Crumbs. I think those are my favorite. I had a peppermint hot chocolate cupcake, and Marcus had red velvet. I was going to quote Florian from Cupcake Wars about how good they were, but then we realized all the great quotes are negative. And these are the best!

It was a sweet end to a fun holiday. We hope you had a great Christmas as well!

Christmas Adam in The City

2011-12-23T17:33:00.000-08:00

When you live in New York, you have to go into the city and see fun Christmas lights and decorations. And after days of packing and unpacking, we were ready to see the fun! And celebrate Marcus' graduation. So our first destination was Mariella's Pizza-- Marcus' all time favorite! And then the Rockefeller Center! We could tell it'd be great as we got closer :)

And of course the Radio City Music Hall across the street

Ice Skating

The ornament fountain up close

Marcus trying to enjoy it all as much as I do :)

And THE TREE!!!

I was so EXCITED!

Yay for New York at Christmastime!

NYC BBB

2011-12-22T11:34:00.001-08:00

Today, Marcus and I took the subway out to Flushing to see the Bed Bath & Beyond that I will start working at in January. The transfer went through, so I have a job! Yay! And of all the places we looked, I'm glad that Curt and the NY HR lady made this one happen. It's a straight shot on the subway, so NO TRANSFERS! Plus it's AGAINST THE COMMUTE! That means only local subways, but at least it won't be the crazy downtown crowd. :) And it's in the Sky View Center, which is a really neat, new mall in Flushing. The BBB there just had it's year mark on Black Friday! See, really new :) All the people we talked to were super nice, and the store looked great. Marcus is excited because it's in a nice area, and there's a Five Guys in the mall! lol.

Here are two pictures from the inside of the Sky View Center all ready for Christmas.

First NY Life Lessons

2011-12-22T11:19:00.004-08:00

We haven't been in New York very long, obviously, but there are a few important lessons we've already learned.

1. Movers were key! We loved working with Bailey's in Orem and Allied for the move. Best decision ever. Seriously.

Oh yeah, those are ours. All one million of them :) And we didn't have to carry one!

2. No matter where you are, Costco is nuts. The only difference is here, you have to have one of those rolling cart guys because carrying just a huge block of cheese, chicken, laundry soap, toilet paper, bread, broccoli, and spaghetti sauce through the subway is heavy enough!

3. My hair LOVES New York. And that's not the good sort of love. That's Monica in Barbados kind of love... and Marcus did suggest the braids :)

Ok, it's not that bad, but it does curl in ringlets!

4. Malls here are really nice! Not like Metrocenter. Haha.

That's the Skyview Center in Flushing, NY

5. Ordering from Amazon and other online stores is even more justified! Love that they deliver to your door. (Free ad for Amazon Prime-- you want it!)

We love that smile :)

6. Pigeons poop on everything. Including Marcus. On his first day back in the city. It was hilarious.

I'm sure many more lessons will come, but those are a few starters for your enjoyment :)

Unpacking -- Day One

2011-12-22T11:19:00.003-08:00

Most of these pictures just show huge mess. Serious mess. Boxes everywhere. Stacks. Piles. CRAZINESS! But hey, there's been progress, and I love organizing. It works out.

In the bedroom (we are going to keep all music things in there since it's definitely bigger than any Utah bedrooms)

Marcus was feeling super sick, so he and Chicago took a nap. It took him about two days to feel better. But while he was napping, I made some great progress unpacking.

CHRISTMAS TREE! (He did help a bit before his nap.)

I can't tell if I just scattered the mess or actually did something productive. But the front room does have less boxes.

And we did get the couch and the nearby corner cleaned up.

And at least you can see the kitchen area now. Definitely progress :)

Ah, the bathroom. If you've ever had a crazy toilet in your home, you've got nothing on us! You can't see it here, but trust me, it's way old school. Seriously.

This room is actually now a total mess too, but the bed is made.

There's some of the mess. Nate Berkus said we always put off our bedrooms until last because we want to get rooms people see presentable. I'm going to mark this moment as my Nate moment and decide to work on that room next!

Moving in December probably wasn't the best idea, but the Christmas tree in all the pictures is a nice touch :)

To reward our good efforts, we watched The Polar Express. Marcus had never seen it! Well, he still really hasn't since he fell asleep at the end.

But check out all the empty boxes...

Obviously we're making more progress all the time, but I feel like it's slowing down a lot now. The living room is coming together, and the bedroom actually looks like a room not just a pile of cardboard and drawers. Hopefully by the weekend it will really look nice. By nice, I mean no huge boxes obstructing any hallways :)

Moving Across the Country

2011-12-22T11:19:00.001-08:00

My mom wanted to take a couple MORE pictures before we left for the airport in Arizona. So here are those first:

And with that we were off. We knew it was going to be a hectic trip, and I think we were prepared for that. We had three checked bags (2 flew free--love JetBlue) and our allowed carry-ons, plus a cat, a pillow, a blanket, and a cello! NUTS! Seriously, what were we thinking?!?!?

That was way too much to carry on a plane, but JetBlue is amazing!

And we were off, with a millions things. Luckily everything worked out smoothly. Ever since our crazy experience having to switch apartments, things have been falling into place much more nicely. Even the cat was a great traveler. She only woke up once on the plane, but Marcus helped her fall back asleep.

Just in case you're curious how the rest of this flight worked out:

So we took a red-eye leaving Phoenix at about 10:30 P.M. We got to New York bright and early. We hung out at the airport for a little bit before calling the car service. Somehow their Lincoln Towncars can fit EVERYTHING! And it was wonderful being dropped off right at the apartment.

As many of you know, we weren't allowed to sign a lease from Utah, but the broker did help us tons! She was fantastic! She told us to just inside the building when someone was leaving, and she left our apartment door unlocked. We really didn't have to wait very long for someone to leave for work, and we were able to crash in our apartment for a couple hours until the office was open to sign our lease.

Here are some pictures of our initial visit and our napping set-up :)

Our building early in the morning

You'll notice the cat throughout most of these pictures.

Living Room / Kitchen

Our luggage :)

Don't worry that everything is so empty-- it didn't stay that way for too long. Marcus was super excited when his surround sound system showed up about six weeks earlier than expected! Hooray for free gifts from credit card points :) We used it as a table for dinner, and the cat inspected the box for quite awhile.

Tired Marcus

Tired Kitty

Our camp-out

And later that first afternoon, we went to the broker's office, which is conveniently down the street, and signed our lease! Finally, after way too much stress and a crazy move, we have an apartment!!! Woohoo!

Mimi and Grandpa's

2011-12-19T19:45:00.001-08:00

It's always great having an excuse to get a bunch of family together, and I think Brian getting home from Russia is definitely one of those times :) Even Brad, Ada, and Jake came down from Flagstaff to spend some time together. There are several miscellaneous pictures of them, my family, Mimi, Grandpa, Nana, Jonne, and Jana.

Not the clearest picture, but she's so cute!

We did have a little bit of Christmas before we left, mainly to help with the packing for New York. Let me tell you, moving around Christmas is CRAZINESS! It makes being in NY more exciting, but it definitely complicates packing and flying. We did a present exchange with Mimi and Grandpa, and then we opened two presents that needed special care for the flight.

From Trevor. (I'm so excited to be a Knicks fan! LOVE AMARE!) We actually used this blanket to pack around my cello so it'd make it safely through the move.

And my mom gave me a necklace with my grandpa's signature on it. It's a great memento of a wonderful person!

Zoo Lights!

2011-12-19T19:45:00.000-08:00

I LOVE going to the zoo, especially for Zoo Lights at Christmas. I think it had been close to ten years or something nuts like that since the last time we went. So since so many people were in town, we battled the crowds at the zoo. And let me tell you there were serious crowds! Good thing Mimi got tickets ahead of time!

Trevor, Dad, and Brian

Marcus, Erica, Trevor, and Brian with the lion in lights

Trevor, Saguaro, Brian

dramatic Trevor

flamingos, my mom's favorite

Dad, Mimi, Mom, Grandpa, Jana

Marcus found his missionary tag in his coat. Brian was surprised.

the camel would lean down to get water

the monkey would actually swing!

a very blue tree

Trev, Dad, Jonne, Brian, Marcus, Nana

Trevor, Dad, Brian, Marcus

Over in the Arizona section....

javelinas

My Older Younger Brother

2011-12-18T21:04:00.000-08:00

One of the main reasons we came to Arizona instead of flying to NY straight was obviously to see my family and pick up Brian from the airport. Seriously! Brian's back from Russia! After a little over two years, he returned from his mission just in time for the holidays. It was really fun to get a bunch of family together to wait for him to get off the plane. In these pictures, you will see Nana, Jonne, Mimi, Grandpa, me, Marcus, my mom and dad, Trevor, and the Lee family (who happened to be at the airport picking up family too).

My dad made posters at work welcoming Brian home. And there was a Russian couple in the airport who told us everything was written correctly in Russian. We were a little nervous it could've said something insulting accidentally :)

And here he is-- crazy hat and all. Typical Bri. Haha. Actually the hat was a gift for Trev.

Our Russian Celebrity

Brian with his best friend Brad Meese and Brad's fiance

Sibs

The kids

My family

I had to include this picture. Here's Brian's room after dumping out his suitcases. I am sure my mom just loves this... :)
It's great having Brian back home. It seems crazy that he's back after two years already. It was slow while he was there, but now it is like nothing changed. He looks the same and acts the same. And the three of us kids probably argue the same. But it's great. The biggest change in him I noticed came during his Homecoming Talk in church. It was really wonderful. He's gotten so insightful and has such a strong testimony of the gospel and principles of concepts like obedience and patience. What a guy :)

COLLEGE: CHECK!

2011-12-18T21:03:00.000-08:00

That's how Marcus has been putting it at least. :)

And this could be his:

And let me tell you, it feels great. His most frequent comment is that he doesn't know what to do from now until when he starts working in January. :) He's been reading a lot, trying to sleep in, and moving to NY. So I guess that hasn't left much free time. But still, it's amazing!

We don't know if he'll be able to walk at the BYU April Graduation yet, so until that happens (or if it doesn't), this will have to do...

CONGRATULATIONS MARCUS!!! Our newest BYU alumni :)

Packin' Up

2011-12-18T21:00:00.000-08:00

It makes me nervous how they say every year goes by a little faster-- I can't believe we've been packing up to leave Utah. We knew it was coming, but I never thought it'd be here this fast! I started packing a couple months ago to avoid the crazy rush at the end; however, that didn't quite work out as planned :) We were in the stage of only a few things packed for a long time, and then we had to basically do everything in a week. Craziness! Especially since on top of the packing, we had to find a new apartment and meet a deadline for a moving truck while we both worked and Marcus finished school. Thank goodness it's all over now :)

We were at this stage for a really long time:

This picture just cracked me up. Marcus was in his "smoking jacket" researching tvs and whether or not we were going to sell ours. Yes, we did end up selling it. And yes, he really did call his bathroom a smoking jacket for like a week. Haha.

I think this was the most overwhelming part. A billion boxes NOT PACKED!

Chicago loved having boxes and bags everywhere. So many places to hide!

The moving company came right on schedule, and by that time we were so tired of packing that we just threw everything else in the car. It was madness once we got to Arizona to try to sort through the stuff and pack what we needed for the airplane flight.

And we were off! With Baby Boo, our bamboo plant, in the cup holder.

We drove to Arizona with Trevor, Nana, and Jonne. Sadly my bad luck traveling rubbed off on them, and they had a quick call to AAA along the way.

Surprisingly enough Chicago was great almost the entire way to Phoenix. Once we pulled out her blanket, she slept the rest of the car ride on someone's lap. Hopefully her sedatives for the plane ride make that quick and easy too!
Getting to this point was crazy, but it did go by fairly quickly. I love being in Arizona. It's sad we are only here for a long weekend. But I have some more posts coming about this trip soon.

Dear Provo

2011-12-16T21:38:00.000-08:00

Dear Provo,

I thought long and hard about what I wanted to tell you at this monumentous occasion, and I decided it was too easy to trail off on tangents. Living in Utah was never one of my goals. And several times, it caught me off guard. I had never thought of myself as a Utah girl, but having lived there for six and a half years, with a Utah license and license plate, I guess I must fit that category. But it's really not a bad thing. You're a great place, and you've provided many wonderful experiences and opportunities. Instead you'll get a top ten list of things I love about you and will miss about you.

10. You know they say that you don't realize what you had until it's gone, and I think that's totally the case with you. Let's be totally honest-- Everyone knows I hate the cold and the snow, and those are two of your greatest characteristics. You do them both so well. I finally am willing to admit I have admired your mountains and trees, definitely in the spring and fall, but also in the winter. Even the bubble world of Provo is simply beautiful. And this has been such a great time to finally reflect on that a little more than normal. I have many pictures of you during all seasons, and I am positive that New York will never compare, although it does have its own beauty.

9. I will definitely miss the conveniences of living in Utah. It's so easy to travel around to different areas and events. It was fun being able to have weekends in Park City, Snowbird, and Logan. There's so much personality in every city, and we have many great pictures and memories.

8. BYU. I swear you leak this out too much, and I'll come back and haunt you one day. Like what my mom plans to do at the cute little house in California she loves. BYU really is an incredible school, and it provided so many experiences that I couldn't have gotten anywhere else. And I have so many unique memories involving masterclasses with the cello studio, crazy classes, and orchestra concerts. Marcus and I both worked extremely hard for our degrees, and it's nice knowing that other people respect those diplomas and the opportunities we've had there. And of course I met Marcus freshman year in the dorms at BYU. I guess at some point I should recognize that fact :)

7. The MPS. Marcus had one of the All Time Best College Jobs. Seriously. He loved his boss, and he was trusted with a lot of responsibilities that made working a lot of fun for him. He met so many talented people that have worked on amazing projects such as the temple videos, the new New Testament clips, and 17 Miracles. And he was always able to get a lot of homework done when he'd sit down and focus :)

6. Working for the Provo School District has led me to great jobs and amazing friends. I never would've thought that my lunch job would have gotten me a connection to teach orchestra or meet people I still email. The ladies in the office really took care of me and were basically family.

5. Of course Bed Bath & Beyond has to make the list. It really has been a great job for me right now. I worked with a great group of people, and they really have been some of my best friends. Plus the managers are all one of a kind. They were never afraid to speak their minds and help you out in any way possible. It's such a great company, and if you ever need a job, look into it!

4. It took us awhile to find what we really liked, but there is some great food mixed around this state. It will be different than NY obviously, but you can't compete with Cafe Rio, Texas Roadhouse, Maria Bonita, and Cafe Paesan. Yum! I'd say I'll get thinner finally without those places, but I doubt that's really true :)

3. Playing with the Utah Valley Symphony has been a great time. Really. I've been able to force myself to practice the cello every once in awhile and be part of some fun concerts.

2. We've made great friends in Utah. People like the Staklands, the Shields, and the Sleeps. Obviously we like people with last names starting with the letter S. :) We've had so many fun times with them all and will miss them all greatly.

1. Obviously, number one is the family members located around the state. During my senior year, Brian was out here, and during Marcus' senior year, Trevor was at BYU. It was great spending some time with those two crazy guys. Plus having the Hardys close has been wonderful, and one of the few things I regret is not getting up to see them more often. Luckily I know they are anxious to come visit us. There are also obviously quite a few Pages, Morins, Nielsens, and more scattered about. It has been too easy to get caught up with work and school and miss out of chances to spend time together. Moving away makes me cherish the memories I have more.

You've been good to us Provo. We appreciate you ;)

Love,
Erica (& Marcus)

Patience

2011-12-13T20:17:00.000-08:00

With all the craziness recently, I think the moral of the story is that patience cures it all! Seriously. No matter how absurd the management companies can be, how many miles you are away from your destination, how much notice moving trucks need, or how many boxes somehow need to be packed, if you just keep at it, it will solve itself. Eventually. :) And every once in awhile, something positive happens. For example, maybe you've been trying hard to find a box to move a fairly decent sized keyboard with no luck-- but then you finally find a way to make it happen...

Yep, I added a good few inches to the box. And I think it worked :)

The apartment is getting empty-- we're getting closer!

BBB Surprise Party

2011-12-09T09:15:00.000-08:00

You know, some work situations are just plain bad. And I've thought about it a lot. I've come to the conclusion that the majority of what makes work good or bad is not what you're doing or how customers/clients treat you, but it's your relationship with your coworkers. If they're supportive and fun, any bad experience remains just that, and you can make it through any kind of day. Working retail was not necessarily my first choice long term, and I'm sure my attitude wasn't always the best. But working at Bed Bath & Beyond has really been great. Not just speaking about paychecks or insurance, but day to day. I work with a group of incredible people. And moving away will be extremely difficult when I think of leaving what we've all developed at work. They aren't just coworkers, they're friends or even family.

Alicia decided she wanted to throw a surprise going-away party for me. Apparently she'd been planning for weeks. And everyone at work was invited. I knew something was up, especially when she started to get frantic that I had other plans for last weekend. But we all made it work :) I definitely did not expect this many people to come. And I must say it was a blast! It was so much fun to spend some time outside of work together, no matter the reason. I don't have pictures of everyone who was there. I didn't get a camera out before Ron left for sure, and it was put away before Ashlee came, which was sad. But I really wanted to post these pictures so I'd always have them.

(going clockwise, starting with me) Crystal, Amy, Ben, Kaylee, her hushand Brandt, Ashley, her husband Garrett, Courtney, her date, Alison, Kalee, and Sammie

Alicia, Heidi, her husband Trevor, Brianna, her boyfriend Randy, Phil (Kacie's husband), Kacie, and Daniel (Alicia's husband)

Alison and Kalee

Tori and Sammie

Amy and Ben

Crystal

Brianna, Sara, Daniel, Randy, Brandt, Kaylee

Marcus posing :)

Alison, Kalee, Tori

Brianna, Marcus, Sara, Daniel, Alicia

Just thinking about going to a different city with different coworkers makes me sad. I'm really going to miss these great people! You always say you hope you stay in touch with old friends, but I really do!

Utah Valley Symphony

2011-12-02T09:12:00.000-08:00

Last night was my final concert with the Utah Valley Symphony. Crazy. Somehow it's been two and a half years already! We've really had some fun concerts over that time, and I've loved having family attend. In the last concert, I sat first stand with LaReita for Moussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. I really enjoyed playing that piece, and of course, it was good for me to sit up front and really pay attention all rehearsal :)

It was fun that my last concert was the Christmas one because I always love that concert. I'm definitely a Christmas nut, as many of you know from when I visited Macy's in NY, and starting off December with a concert with all holiday music is a great way to kick off the season.

I obviously couldn't really take pictures while playing, but I do have two from rehearsal and one of Bryce from the UVS website. Sorry, I'll work on taking picture of myself playing while rehearsing. That'd be a talent :)We've been rehearsing at a local senior center, and they will be building a new one next year, so these pictures will be outdated quick :) And the concerts are in the Covey Center for the Arts in downtown Provo. It is a beautiful hall. If you've never been, go see the UVS play there sometime! It's always more fun to have a concert with a sold out audience.

Bryce Rytting

In rehearsal. We rotate seating, so I didn't have the best spot this last time. But notice, we're playing White Christmas :)

A little more of the group tuning in the Eldred Center

I've enjoyed playing with this group and will miss being forced to practice and play the cello :) LaReita (my cello sister-- we had the same original private teacher in Phoenix) was so great to get me involved and help me as I started teaching more private students. And Bryce is a phenomenal conductor! Everyone needs to attend a concert with him. He knows so much about the history and music itself.

So go to a concert! :)

utahvalleysymphony.org

Black Friday Cupcakes

2011-11-25T12:22:00.000-08:00

On Black Friday, we always have a potluck lunch. The store provides meat and potatoes, and we bring all the sides and desserts. I had no idea what to make. So I went to my default-- cupcakes :) So I did a white cupcake with a pretty swirl vanilla frosting. I've gotten a little better at frosting them.

Then I decided I wanted to make them look a little fancier.

I thought they turned out really good. And I love the cherry-- it almost makes them look a little more Christmas-y with the gingerbread boy liners. Hopefully they'll taste good too!

more pictures at frosted-cupcakes.blogspot.com

Thanksgiving Dinner

2011-11-25T07:15:00.000-08:00

For Thanksgiving this year, we went to Marcus' grandparents' house with his family. We spent the day down there, hanging out and relaxing. It was a very nice holiday. Dinner was great, and you'll see pictures of the meal below.

Instead of making a big turkey, we had individual Cornish Game Hens. And they were really good! I think I liked it better than turkey!

Marcus' Oma showing off her birds

Getting ready for dinner

My full plate. Yum!

And then after dinner, we watched 17 Miracles, which is a fantastic pioneer history movie. It was even more fun because Marcus knew so many of the people that were in the credits due to his security job at the LDS Motion Picture Studio. We'll have to buy it :)

It was a great Thanksgiving! Fantastic food. Wonderful company. We hope you had a fun holiday as well!

House Hunting

2011-11-20T07:54:00.000-08:00

I guess I shouldn't call it house hunting because who actually has a house in New York City. But whatever :) We went to New York for the weekend to sign a contract. That was seriously our goal, not just look but sign. It was a quick weekend trip, so it was a rather ambitions weekend. Especially once we found out our red-eye flight was delayed two hours. Lame. From the moment we got into the city, we were focused on our mission.

The first place we went was an apartment in Woodside (Queens) very close to where Marcus lived over the summer. We were referred to it from one of Marcus’ two New York friends (outside of work) who knew the couple that lived there and was trying to move. We were hopeful that it would be perfect, but come on, it’s New York, housing couldn’t be that easy to find. But it really was exactly what we were looking for—small, one bedroom, decent sized rooms, close to the subway, good windows, a couple closets, more than two cupboards in the kitchen, … But we decided it was best to keep looking at least for awhile. We looked around for the rest of the afternoon with a management company that actually manages the building this first apartment was in. Crazy coincidence. And we decided that that first apartment really would be our best start in New York. So we got on the paperwork to take over that lease. Then we waited. We could either keep looking or cross our fingers and enjoy being in New York City. Yeah, the second option won. Haha.

We had lots of great food—Indian, Thai, and pizza of course. Oh, and cupcakes from Sprinkles! We walked around Central Park with our Starbucks cups of hot chocolate and caramel apple spice (my favorite!) like true New Yorkers. We went to church on Sunday at what will hopefully be our ward, and we really enjoyed it. And we rode the subway all over the city. We stopped by a Bed Bath & Beyond where I might work. We checked out their Costco, where I tried on official NY jackets.

We probably won’t know for sure about the apartment until after Thanksgiving, so keep your fingers crossed. We do have a Plan B, but Plan A would be so nice to have it just work out how we planned. But that’s always a little much to ask ;)

And here are a few pictures from our trip, in no particular order:

hopefully our future subway stop

Waiting for the subway

Trying on coats in Costco

A cute street in Manhattan. No, our apartment will not look this fun.

Marcus at his desk-- it even says his name on the phone already!

NY excitement!

Sadly, a dark picture of Sprinkles

At Central Park, though it's too dark to tell

Trying to fit in with his Starbucks

Waiting to hear back about the apartment has been rough, but it was fun to pretend it's all worked out already.

Serious Project Time

2011-11-12T13:08:00.000-08:00

Well, it's serious project time here in Provo. I realized yesterday that we are going to be driving to Phoenix in exactly FIVE WEEKS! And since we will be going to New York straight from Arizona, that means we have 35 DAYS LEFT IN UTAH! I'm not sure if I'm more excited, stressed, nervous, or overwhelmed. It's all a blur. But that means that in the next FIVE WEEKS, we have just a few things on our agendas. In those next FIVE WEEKS, we have:

24 more days of work (for me)
9 more days of working at the MPS (for Marcus)
4 weeks of classes (until Marcus graduates)
4 days in New York (searching for an apartment)
3 stockings to make (yes, that's on my list)
3 Sundays in Nursery
2 Christmas presents left to wrap (yes, just two!)
2 tickets to purchase (to fly to New York)
1 football game Marcus has to work at
1 cat to prepare for travel (urgh)
1 apartment in New York to find
1 entire apartment to pack (minus a small stack of boxes)

And probably several more, I just don't want to really stress myself out :) Oh, and within these next five weeks, BRIAN WILL GET HOME FROM RUSSIA! **GASP** But now, it seems like there's so much to do because I've done about nothing. Here's a couple pictures of the few things (or projects) I have accomplished before this FIVE WEEK FINAL COUNTDOWN!

The second square in my quilt (except the angel's face)

The first of the four stockings I plan to make

Wrapped Christmas presents :)

More boxes packed

Progress emptying closets

And of course, more cupcakes... Chocolate Orange. Check out my cupcake blog to see more of those pictures. :)

At least I started all these things. So much for getting a lot done ahead of time. But come on, what fun is that?!?!?! Haha.

Empty Shelves

2011-10-30T09:01:00.001-07:00

I don't know what's scarier:

We're only this far packing

-OR-

I've started packing so we can move across the country in like seven weeks.

Crazy!

Trevor's Haircut

2011-10-29T10:23:00.000-07:00

If you know Trevor, you picture a tall kid with lots of curly blonde hair... Well, not any more. Here he is with major hat hair before I cut his hair. I will be honest, I was super nervous since it is so curly, but luckily he wanted to go pretty short.

First, I cut Marcus' hair, I think because Trevor really just wanted to watch our tv for a bit. Then I destroyed his mane. Check out all the hair on the ground from the two guys. Can you tell which half belongs to which guy? ;)

Hairless Trevor

He seemed to like his haircut, and he insisted I shared the pictures so our mom could see that he finally cut his hair out in Utah. :) I don't think I'd be comfortable cutting it longer, but apparently I'm now his stylist for any short haircut needs. Ha.

My attempt at Halloween

2011-10-29T10:15:00.000-07:00

Isn't it amazing that it's already the end of October??? Seriously though. Crazy! We move in a month and a half, and don't worry, nothing's packed and we still don't have a place to live. So instead of thinking about that, I made... CUPCAKES :) I never really got into the whole carving pumpkins/costumes and whatnot, but I tried to be a little festive with pumpkin cupcakes. They don't taste like pumpkin because I thought that was more for Thanksgiving, but they almost look like them. And somehow I convinced Marcus to help. He actually wanted to this time:

We have Jack-o-lantern cupcakes!!! Can you guess which one is my favorite???

Do you spy Jack the Pumpkin King? the pumpkin that's a basketball for Halloween? a pig? Ron Weasley? Ha.

Sewing Progress

2011-10-23T19:25:00.000-07:00

We had our first Page girls sewing extravaganza. We weren't all there at the same time, but that would have been crazy with everyone on sewing machines. It was a lot of fun, and I think I'll actually be able to do this! With Nana's help of course. This isn't the best picture, but it was hard to get one with how busy she was making sure everyone was doing okay.

Lisa was focusing really hard. One day she'll stick her tongue out, like all the rest of us Pages, as she concentrates :) But that's why there are no pictures of me. It's really not cute :)

Here's the second square I started. Still a ways to go.

Check out the details. I'm learning lots :)

And my first completed square. TA-DA!

One and a half down. I'm making progress! Yay :)

It's that time again...

2011-10-15T17:59:00.000-07:00

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5th from 7-9 A.M. is the Friends and Family Event at my work. Save all your coupons for another time because if you come to the Orem Bed Bath & Beyond then, I'll get you 30% OFF YOUR ENTIRE PURCHASE! If you want to order something, you'll get 25% off that. And breakfast is included. I believe they're doing crepes again this year. Let me know if you're interested, so I know to expect you-- we have to check out at about the same time, so we'll have to coordinate :)

Loads of Pages

2011-10-15T17:27:00.001-07:00

We've had several occasions this year to have the Pages all together. It's been a lot of fun seeing everyone. Papa always encouraged us all to spend time together, and I know he'd have been proud seeing us band together preparing his funeral. I stole some pictures from my mom and aunt because I wanted to post them to make sure I always have them.

All the grandkids, minus the two missionaries, sang in a musical number together. I don't know when our group got so big!

I played in a musical number with Kelsey, Molly, and Shelby. It was fun pulling it together-- I don't know why we hadn't played together before.

There were beautiful flower arrangements. I should've taken pictures of them.

It really was a beautiful day.

All Nana's grandbabies

I finally got some pictures of everyone from Park City. I'm glad Papa and Nana had put together that reunion. We don't usually get to see everyone together twice in a year.

All the sibs

Nana and Papa and the grand- (and great grand-) kids

Park City Pages

What a group :)

A New Year-Long Project

2011-10-15T17:09:00.000-07:00

Two of my cousins, Jolynn and Lisa, and I all have spurts of really wanting to sew. It's funny because it seems like we're always trading off who's calling Nana or Jana for tips. Both Nana and Jana have done some really amazing projects, and those two smart ladies decided that we could all get together and sew quilts, which honestly seemed way too intense for me. I barely did one blanket and a few funny looking other projects. Luckily they presented it in a way that seemed much more manageable. We are each going to sew a our own quilt that has twelve blocks, one for each month. Definitely not as crazy sounding. One at a time, I think I can do it. And I think we're all super excited!

Our first task was the letters. We had to cut out all the letters for the entire quilt. Nana helped show us how to do that :)

It's harder to trace backwards letters than you think :) But they turn out so great-- the fabric is really cute! Nana was a genius getting material with circles, I was nervous about cutting straight lines, so I'm sure I would have gone crazy if there were stripes in it.

And there were so many!

But I did it! Cut them all out all by myself.

Phase one, complete :)

Making Pizza

2011-10-15T17:02:00.000-07:00

Apparently, Marcus and I are preparing for New York in more ways than just packing. Honestly, we haven't actually started that part, but at least we're starting the pizza craze early. These pictures are from the first time we made pizza. We make pizza all the time (Papa Murphys and frozen pizzas), but this was dough from scratch. Marcus did the majority of mixing, but I helped make one of the pans of pizza. Can you tell who made which one???

They turn out great!!! :) Yumm! I'm glad we're making it for dinner tonight because it looks so good. Don't worry, we do put toppings on it :)

Cupcake Catch-up

2011-10-15T16:46:00.000-07:00

I've obviously fallen behind in blogging. So I figured I'd start with the easiest post first. It's good motivation. :) So, here are some cupcake pictures. Naturally-- haha.

I made these cupcakes two weeks ago, and they were pretty good. Not my best, but you could take the lemon and blueberry-- you can definitely see the blueberry too. I had never baked with fresh fruit before, so that was an adventure.

Now here was an entirely new challenge... Soda in a cupcake. Seriously. And next time, I'd use more.

Last, at least in this cupcake post, is one of my all time favorite post-cupcake pictures. It's an older picture, but it's proof someone really enjoys chocolate cupcakes...

In honor of Papa: Colorblind Cupcakes

2011-09-25T16:23:00.001-07:00

It's definitely been a long weekend for the Page family. My grandpa suffered a stroke on Friday morning, and I don't think anyone was prepared. Nana was so brave as she sent him off the hospital, and everyone was very hopeful that there would be no permanent damage. But things haven't been going well. Since I've been just staring at this computer and not able to write more than a couple words at a time, I'll probably have to post about what all has happened later. But today was really a special day. Almost the entire family was together at some point or another to support Nana and show their love for Papa. He's such a great man. He loved his family more than probably anything. And I am so glad that most of the Pages were able to be in Park City this summer and share some great memories. I love how happy Papa is in all of the pictures from that week.

I've been thinking a lot about how to make Papa proud, especially during this time. Even though I usually never say the right thing when there is any emotion or stress involved, I loved how our family was able to find ways to be together. And Papa loves when we are all together. He always wants everyone to be enjoying each other and sharing with each other. I've always felt that he loves to talk about everyone individually and what we are all doing in our lives. I know personally, he's been so supportive of everything I've done with music. I can only think of one orchestra concert he's missed since I've been in Utah. And throughout school, he was always making sure that I was enjoying it and doing well. And ever since I've started this cupcake craze, he's always been excited about whatever I'll bring to our Third Sunday Dinner. So I decided with all the family together tonight, I'd bring some cupcakes in honor of him. They're black and white because he's colorblind, a fact we often joked about :) And even Nana said tonight how proud he'd be of me for bringing some to share. But I think this is about all I'll be able to get out tonight, so here are Papa's colorblind cupcakes:

The Frogs' First Day of School

2011-09-21T13:57:00.000-07:00

Since we decided that it wasn't practical to take a tank of frogs across the country this winter, we found a new home for the little guys. They are going to live in a first grade classroom with my college friend Jessie. She was so excited to have them, and we were glad to have found them a home they'd obviously love :)

Today we took them to their first day of school. Marcus insisted I be in a picture with them before their day started.

One last picture of "the fat one" so we can say bye. It's such a happy/sad moment. I'm gonna miss those guys...

But honestly, I think they'll be very happy in school. Marcus calls it the School of Croak-craft and Ribbit-try. Ha.

Marcus wanted to add his goodbye to them too: "Fare thee well, friendly frogs."

Mesa Temple

2011-09-18T20:14:00.001-07:00

The Orem Bed Bath & Beyond is selling beautiful temple pictures right now. So for my birthday, we ordered one of Mesa, and we finally put it up today. I love it!

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

2011-09-18T11:55:00.000-07:00

This time, I made snickerdoodle cupcakes in cute leopard print liners for Juliana's birthday. And I loved these :) They were cinnamon cupcakes with cinnamon frosting. Yum! And they even looked cute this time. Or at least cuter than the last time for just simple frosting. I always make Marcus choose the ugliest cupcake and try that one. That way, no one sees the ugliest one, and I know for sure if they taste decent. He approved of these :)

I finally got a little better at frosting them!!! Hopefully next time around they're even better :)

Chicago was sad that I wouldn't let her get close to the cupcakes.

And I had these really cool candles that have different color flames. So I used those on the birthday plate for Juliana.

You can kind of see it in this picture.

YAY CUPCAKES.

I think I have a cupcake problem. Haha.

Our No Good, Very Bad Day

2011-09-07T21:26:00.000-07:00

Our No Good, Very Bad day apparently started early, but I only heard about it as I was driving home from work. At that point, Marcus was not a happy camper. He had a rough day and then my phone call distracted him, which caused dinner to burn. No good. I tried to cheer him up when I got home, but it didn't really work. So instead, we dug through the fridge to make something else before we both had to leave again. We found cheese and salsa. So we decided on omelets. You'd think that has nothing to do with a very bad day, but then as Marcus is flipping his omelet, yes flipping like without a spatula to turn it safely over, it misses half the pan and goes all over, including the wall behind the stove. Very bad. Luckily, this time he's laughing a little more about having two failed attempts at dinner. So he makes me flip the second omelet. I warned him it was a bad idea, but he insisted I try. Not only did my dinner fall all over the pan, it hit the stove, the fridge, the floor, the ceiling, my pants, my arms, well, everywhere. Very, very bad. At this point, we feel there's no hope for dinner and just laugh. But now, Marcus has eaten most of his first omelet, and I have splattered dinner. So I insist he makes me something, since I had the idea for his dinner. So with cheese and salsa, he decides to make me a quesadilla. Great idea. And he had one successful little guy. Except somehow as he's heating the second little tortilla in the pan, it burns. The stove wasn't even on very high. It hates us! So I put the burned tortilla on my head and dance around the kitchen like Monica does with the chicken (with the little hat and sunglasses) in Friends. We have another good laugh. At least I laughed this time :) So I make the quesadilla, and again, it burns, even though I turned the stove to basically low. Oh, and I still have egg everywhere. So Marcus leaves for class, I jump in the shower and then run off to orchestra rehearsal, and now our crazy evening is hopefully about over. Rough evening :)

My collegiate baby brother

2011-09-04T09:25:00.001-07:00

Trevor started college last week, which seems crazy. Since sometimes I still think of him about this size:

Well, probably more this size actually:

And sometimes when I need a laugh, I remember this day (Halloween):

But here Trevor is all settled in his dorm:

And loving it:

And proof he's enjoying college:

It has been fun seeing him occasionally-- I'm glad we'll live close this semester.

Taste Challenge

2011-09-03T22:56:00.000-07:00

I've decided it's time for me to learn how to really frost a cupcake. I didn't want to just decorate the little guys, so I found a great recipe in one of my cookbooks and crossed my fingers. I wanted them to look simple but taste great. It was a cinnamon apple cupcake with cream cheese frosting. And they tasted pretty good. Sadly, frosting them was more of a disaster. So some of them just got sprinkled. Marcus said they were the best tasting cupcakes I've made, so we call it the Taste Challenge. :)

The frosting madness...

Getting closer to a pretty cupcake:

One day I'll make some truly cute cupcakes. But until then, I'll stick to the fun, colored liners. :)

America's New Favorite Past Time... Cupcake Style

2011-08-26T21:27:00.000-07:00

That's right, Angry Birds. It's definitely taking over EVERYTHING! Good thing it's a fun game :) It was my mom's idea to make it for this month's Page family dinner. Definitely a great idea! So we'll take a quick tour through the levels...

Now the blue ones that multiply:

Then my favorite, the ones that accelerate and break through all the wood barriers:

And the mean (and laughing) little piggies:

The whole group that joined us for dessert:

Marcus' (& Our) Fun in NYC

2011-08-20T10:43:00.000-07:00

While in New York, Marcus (and sometimes Marcus & Erica) had a lot of fun seeing various sights. New York is so large that it is difficult to see and do everything over the course of a few months--but here are some highlights:

Marcus is a huge fan of all things airplane. He was able to visit the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space museum on one of his weekends. The museum is on the east river, and features a number of exhibits and aircraft all floating on the Intrepid, a WWII era aircraft carrier that was later retrofitted for service during the 1960s and 70s. This picture is of Marcus with an A-6 Intruder, an airplane he loved as a young boy.

This is a view of the Empire State Building from the ground just below it--Marcus walked past this building every morning on the way to work (until he moved out to Queens). It is currently the tallest building in the city--and will be until the One World Trade Center tower is completed.

This is a picture of Times Square that Marcus snapped on his first night in the city

Marcus going into central park for the first time

Our good friends Misha and Jen visited the city for the day on their way to Europe. They spent the morning walking across the Brooklyn bridge and seeing a few sights. Marcus got to hang out with them and enjoyed Misha's massive muffin that he bought him (he looks chubby here--you wouldn't believe how much skinnier he is now).

Marcus enjoying a Yankees game with his company, CooperKatz as a part of their 15th anniversary celebration. The Yankees gave up five runs to the Blue Jays in one inning (what that Canadian?). Regardless, it was a fun night in good company with good food.

Marcus went to Amateur Night at the famous Apollo Theater. It's steeped in African American culture and history, and he really enjoyed the evening. White folk invent disco. These folk invent funk. Enough said.

A nice exterior shot of the Intrepid during Marcus' visit to her.

The front of the Intrepid.

"RAWR! My arms are useless!" Marcus visited the Museum of Natural History and was quite excited to meet Mr. Rex--they even have the actual bones on display, not just a cast.

Marcus' with a long neck--he didn't remember the species. He took all these pictures with Severus, his new little smarty pants phone.

Marcus' favorite pizza spot was Mariellas near Columbus Circle. New York pizza (the good kind anyways) is crispy, and the cheese and sauce are WAY better than anything you might find in Utah at a more "normal" pizza place. This is good "slice pizza"--there is other stuff that is fancier, but if you're looking for a quick lunch, this is the spot.

A view of the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) line at Woodslide in Queens, where Marcus lived. As you can see, he's a ways away from the city.

Yay! Marcus and Erica @ Grand Central Station.

After seeing The Lion King (which was astounding by the way).

Lady Liberty!
Us standing by the statue. We're both so excited to return to NYC for Marcus' new job at CooperKatz. We leave in December and he starts in Janurary.

My birthday week!

2011-08-11T22:00:00.001-07:00

Last Tuesday was a pretty exciting day. It started bright and early when I went to the school district's office to work with the Nutrition Department, like I have for the past two summers. Gail had brought me a birthday muffin, which was really good! And extremely cute ;)

I worked on mailing out letters and manned the fort while there were training meetings for about eight hours. My day was divided by an email and a call from Marcus telling me that he was formally offered a job at CooperKatz! Definitely a great birthday present! And then it was back to work. This picture doesn't show the part of the pile I was working on. Both those stacks were originally equally high!

It is such a phenomenal group of people in the Nutrition department. They invited me to go with everyone to lunch at Iggy's where of course they embarrassed me by having the waiters sing and bring out a beautiful sundae.

Then that evening, I worked at the store until close. So I guess it was a little busy :) I figured a nice paycheck would be my birthday present to myself. That, and Marcus said we'd go out once he was back in town to celebrate some more.

He flew back in town on Saturday, very late. And he brought me a special New York birthday present. Definitely a fun surprise, since my present was supposed to be the Lion King tickets from last month.

Naturally, cupcakes :) These are from Crumbs, and if I remember correctly, the founder was on Cupcake Wars. They don't look as fancy as some of the cupcakes around here, but they were by far my favorite! We've been splitting them whenever we have a sugar craving so we can both try them all.

I think my favorite is either the Red Velvet or the Cookie Dough cupcake. Marcus agreed about the cookie dough :) We've also tried the Raspberry and Cosmo, but still have to try the Brownie and Lemon Meringue.

Then on Monday, we finished up my birthday celebration with lunch and a movie. We saw The Help, and it is fantastic. Read the book. See the movie. You won't regret either decision.

I don't know if I could've stretched out my birthday any farther :) But it was fun to have excuses to eat lots of treats and see a great movie.

Our Next Adventure

2011-08-06T12:53:00.002-07:00

This week, Marcus was offered a job at CooperKatz! (That's where he's been interning in New York all summer.) He has a job! Seriously! Woohoo! He starts in January after he graduates from BYU. Congratulations Marcus--he's so amazing! So at the end of the year, we'll be off to New York...

Oceanside

2011-08-06T12:53:00.001-07:00

In July, we went on our annual Gardner family beach trip to Oceanside, California. It was sad that Marcus couldn't be there, but luckily everyone else (minus Brian of course) was there. We were in a new house this year-- it's getting harder and harder to fit everyone in one house, but it's a blast. And I know for a fact it is a favorite family tradition! Be warned, lots of Ada pictures :) Well, there are lots of pictures in general (since I actually took my camera and didn't just steal my mom's pictures), which is why it took me longer to post about the week.

The house

The "backyard"

The pier-- we were a little closer to it this year

Apparently that's some military ship off in the background that helicopters land on-- Marcus would know what it was called :)

Nighttime

Our home base

the big tent

Notice, I'm under the umbrella to not fry in the sun-- you can see the shadow

Gage

Reading-- with crazy CA hair

Sunburn? I was so careful.

Ada wanted to see a picture of herself and her toys

She assembled them all for the picture

And then she decided to scoot up really close to me to steal my cake, one little bite at a time.

Ada and G-Daddy

Dad, my mom's cousin Paige, and her two dogs

Ada helping Grandpa and Mimi open their 50th Anniversary present from my mom -- two books she put together online with pictures of all our beach trips and the family growing up.

Grandpa reading inside

Trevor being a 'lame old person' -- sitting under the umbrella napping :)

Kade

Alyssa (Jake's girlfriend) napping. She and Jake drove all night to get to the beach as early as they could after work.

Gage watching Kade and Jake play paddle ball

Yoga. Seriously. A lady on the beach asked my family if they wanted to join in yoga a couple days, and most everyone participated :)

Trevor and Jake

Jeff

Trevor, Jake, Alyssa, Jeff

Kade and Jeff

Trevor

Jessica helped demonstrate

Kade skim boarding

Ada was afraid of Trevor, until she had him read to her -- she loves books!

Brad, Ada, and Jessica

Debbie reading to Ada

Ada wanted to show off her shell

my dad and mom

Brad -- Ada kept cracking up every time he fell playing paddle ball

Trevor digging a hole (with Jake and Jake's friend Michael)

Trevor taking out some boogie boards

Mimi getting some sun

To celebrate the big 50th Anniversary, we all went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner. Mimi's choice :)

Jake, Alyssa, my mom, and me (I was obviously searching for the non-fish option)

Getting ready for some crab :)

We walked around a little after dinner

Michael, Trevor, Alyssa, and Jake

we ALWAYS take pictures the last morning we're there.

Jake, Alyssa, me, Grandpa, Mimi, Kade, Gage, Trevor

(not pictured: Ada, Marcus, and Brian)

the currently small Page family

me and my big little brother

Waiting for a table at Mimi's Cafe. If I remember correctly, we're all watching Ada. Naturally :)

We LOVE Oceanside!!!

Page Family Reunion in Park City

2011-08-06T12:26:00.000-07:00

This week, my family went up to Park City for a Page Family Reunion. Almost all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins were there for at least part of it, and it was a lot of fun to see them. I was only up there two nights (my day off), but I was glad to make it up for at least a little bit :)

We had family history presentations about all of the in-law families. I really enjoyed talking with Marcus' parents about where their families came from to prepare my few minutes about the Hardys. Sadly I missed most of the other presentations, but there will be a dvd to catch up on later :)

While I was there, we also played some Minuit-to-Win-It games. My team won :)

My mom and I have similar concentration faces

I met my step-cousin's daughter (Tyrel and Tricia's baby Baylie). This is a picture with Grandma Nanci. :)

We had some crafts planned for the week. In this picture Trevor had just had his hands waxed. He loves that. I made sewed some placemats-- I should've taken pictures of me at the sewing machine for you all to believe it! :)

This weekend was the Art Festival in Park City, and my mom and I walked up and down the street a billion times looking at all the paintings and projects... and of course looking in some of the shops. This picture is for Marcus:

My mom and the bear

My mom loved the junk animals, so she bought an opossum. It's really cool actually! I have a picture on my phone that's better, but since my phone is so new, I'm not sure how to upload it just yet.

We took family pictures with a photographer (I believe he's my dad's cousin). Sadly, half the kids in my family weren't there, but we still took some pictures.

My cousin's son (Matt and Jolynn's son Cooper) wanted to make sure we took one of him too. :)

Some of the group waiting for their pictures

Nana and me

Matt and Jolynn's kids Cooper and Sydney

My dad with his parents and brothers and sisters

Dennis, Jana, my dad, Nanci

Jonne, Ken, Nana, and Papa

Nana and Papa with all the grandkids sporting the tie-dye

Trev and his girls (cousins Cadie and Corie)

My greeting whenever Trevor sees me

It was a beautiful weekend in Park City, and it was a lot of fun to see the Pages together.

Paden's Home!

2011-08-01T21:30:00.001-07:00

Marcus' brother Paden recently got back from his mission in Texas, and Marcus was able to fly down from NY for his homecoming talk this past Sunday. I obviously don't have pictures from the Sacrament Meeting (FYI, his talk was phenomenal), but I do have one of Marcus and Paden together outside their parents' house. Marcus was so excited to see Paden and be able to spend the weekend with his family.

And of course, a random picture. No, it's not a cupcake. It's Luke!

Marcus and me :)

It looks like I'm kind of tan from the beach in this picture... don't worry, I'm already super white again!

And if you're keeping track like me, Marcus will be home for good in less than two weeks. Seriously. Can you believe it's already August?! Yay!

Ward Pioneer Day Party

2011-07-23T20:25:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the ward Pioneer Day party, and it actually was a lot of fun. There's a huge pavilion and grassy area behind our stake center, and it was the perfect evening to be outside.

First they had a parade with the primary kids. Emma was having a great time watching all of them.

(This is Ammon-- he's one of my nursery buddies)

And they had a musical number before dinner. These four guys have sung in our ward a couple times-- they're amazing!

After dinner, they had some activities and a couple more musical numbers. I put together a small string group with six kids from the ward. Four of them were in my orchestra at Sunset View either last year or the year before. And Tim took some pictures so I could post them (thanks!).

It was a little stressful, but we lived :)

And then we socialized. Look Marcus, proof: (haha)

I'm glad I went. I had never really celebrated Pioneer Day before, and it was a lot of fun with such a great ward.

Albert's Drawing

2011-07-20T18:38:00.000-07:00

While I was in New York, Marcus and I met a guy named Albert on the Brooklyn Bridge. He was selling pictures he drew, and we had to support him, which was easy to do because they were fantastic! Marcus is a sucker for things like that, which is great because I love getting drawings on trips-- I have one from Paris too. The one we bought in New York is a street Marcus walks down every day to get to work by the Empire State Building. I had it framed when I got home, and they finished it today. Marcus really wanted to see it, so I thought I'd post a few pictures for him.

its new home :)

ignore the mess please

Marcus loves his signature on the bottom. Weird?

Yay-- LOVE IT!

Red Velvet

2011-07-17T12:03:00.001-07:00

I finally did it. Cupcakes from scratch. Not to give away all my secrets, but cake mixes really do make great cupcakes. Instead of decorating for this month's family dinner, I wanted to make a good Red Velvet cupcake (since everyone on Cupcake Wars can do that!). And I thought they were pretty good. Usually I don't really eat any, but I had two of these.

The frosting wasn't fancy or anything, but it was good.

I was a little nervous about taking them because I wasn't sure if they were good or not. Luckily I had a great taste tester.

I think she liked them :)

Fourth of July weekend

2011-07-06T20:02:00.000-07:00

Maybe I should've named this post New Freaking York!!!, since that's what I've been referring to the trip as all along :) I had such a blast visiting Marcus in New York-- actually that's an understatement. I loved New York and would go back tomorrow. And don't pass it on too far, but Marcus actually admitted he likes New York too! Actually I think he said he likes New York with me there. (cute) I wasn't there even a week, but we did as much as we could physically handle to walk around and see everything. This post does contain a million pictures, so be prepared.

So Marcus works for the PR agency CooperKatz in Manhattan. He currently lives in an apartment in Woodside, which is part of Queens, with his buddy Ted, and they commute about 30 minutes to and from work. Marcus has lost whatever little bits of married fat he had from all the walking and looks great (not that I'm biased or anything). He said he likes to stop at the little stands and buy peaches, so maybe it's the lack of a real diet that helped him slim down. We definitely made up for that this weekend with so much eating I thought I'd gained like twenty pounds. But it was all so good!!! Anyway, instead of giving a play-by-play, here are the pictures, and I'll just narrate them:

This is the view of the city Marcus sees everyday from his subway station in Queens. Rough life :)

We walked into the city the way Marcus goes every day. He gets to look at some awesome(ly large) buildings :)

I made him smile by the American Eagle store downtown. I think he liked the cops standing outside chatting right behind him.

BROADWAY!

I think my favorite part was how everything actually looks like it does in all the movies!

The next day, we walked around Woodside. Marcus likes the area because it isn't quite so "big city"-- check it out, the church even is just a normal building!

There were definitely more people with cars in Queens (not just crazy taxis everywhere), but still tall apartment buildings with shops on the main floors.

This is the view of Woodside from the stairs going up to the subway.

And bam, twenty minutes later, we're at Grand Central Station!!!

Even Marcus enjoyed being an annoying tourist :)

We even found the ginormous Bed Bath & Beyond. Multiple levels, with escalators for shopping carts. What an experience!

On Sunday we went to the ward that meets in the temple building. That was pretty sweet.

The area was just so neat!

I was Marcus' good luck charm for the weekend because I don't think we ever waiting more than five minutes for the subway. And we saw two rats on the last day I was there. Not sure why that was good luck, but thought I'd share :)

We wandered around a lot while searching out great pizza places, like Mariellas. I already miss that!

And of course we walked around Central Park. I kept hoping Phoebe would be running there, but I never saw her :( The first day we went it was raining a little, but it was still amazing.

They have some crazy squirrels and pigeons in New York. We walked some pigeons fighting over bagels for... probably too long to admit.

For my birthday, even thought it is still a month away, Marcus got us tickets to see The Lion King. And it's frankly phenomenal. I've seen many shows, and that one was on a whole new level. The singing. Costumes. Everything. Marcus will tell you over and over how it's just beautiful art :) I'd go again if I could. So would he :)

Marcus' works with a lady named Rachael who lives up in Great Neck, so one night we took the Long Island Railroad out to stay at her apartment. Such a beautiful area! It was so great and cute. Very different from Manhattan. Marcus LOVED it there.

We went all out being patriotic on the 4th of July, starting with a tour of Liberty Island.

Lady Liberty herself

This is looking back at Manhattan from Liberty Island.

And we did audio tours of Ellis Island. That was incredible. We were there all day and could've stayed longer.

While we were out there, we watched the Macy's barges prepare for the FIREWORKS!

And we caught one of the last boats back to Battery Park to get ready for the evening's festivities.

As we walked around to find a place to rest our tired feet and watch the fireworks, we came across this beautiful church. Apparently it's famous and someone important is buried there, but I can't remember :/

We also walked by Ground Zero and saw the new tower they're building. Amazing. It's already over 50% finished! You can see it in some of those pictures from the boat out to see the Statue of Liberty.

We found a great bench to watch fireworks. I had fun messing with my camera and taking pictures of the Jersey side of the river.

So many boats were there for the fireworks. Now that would be an incredible way to see the show.

On my last full day in New York we went to CooperKatz to see into Marcus' business life. This is a picture of their second floor where Marcus likes to eat his lunch :)

And we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge after eating more great pizza at Grimaldi's. They cook their pizza over coal. Cool.

While walking across we met Albert, and we bought a drawing of New York he did. Best souvenir ever :) Come see it sometime, once I get it framed.

We walked through Central Park again and saw seals. Seriously.

And that's a summary of my trip. It was great being there with Marcus. Only five more weeks, and he's back for good. Thank goodness it's going by (relatively) quickly. New York was fantastic, but I can't imagine being out there alone. He's a trooper.