NYC: Week 4

I know, guys. I'm super, super behind. And I haven't even been doing that much. I just got cold during the superfreeze (what I'm choosing to call the storm after the polar vortex) and didn't want to do anything except hide under blankets. So here's what I did our fourth week in The City. 

Monday: Did a load of laundry, went out to dinner with Luke at the Georgia Diner, and then bought him some pants at Target.

Tuesday: I did some work in the morning, then did a deep clean of our house in the afternoon. Our apartment gets dirty quickly here. Not like, cluttered, but actual dirt. If I don't sweep every other day, the floor gets pretty gritty. 

Wednesday: I went out with the other wives for lunch. We had a really great time and ate some really good pizza. It was all the way on the Upper East Side, so it took about an hour to get there, and then an hour back. Which doesn't seem like it's a big deal, but when you've got three kids who are out past nap time, things can get a little crazy. 

Thursday: Groceries and laundry again. Yay! Not every day is glamorous. 

Friday: I spent the day bumming around at home. In the evening, I went into the city and we had dinner with our friends at another diner (there's a lot of them out here, okay? And they have really awesome extensive menus). They had the best risotto. Also, black and white milkshakes are awesome! I always thought they'd be just so-so. They're just chocolate and vanilla, but man! So good!

Saturday: Luke put in a few hours of work today, so I met him in The City for dinner. Just a block away from his office is this great restaurant. It's called Wok to Walk, and it's awesome! It's like a Mongolian grill, but more Japanese style. It's probably my favourite place so far. Afterwards, we tried to go to Serendipity for dessert, but there was a line, and it was cold. So we walked down the block and went to Dylan's Candy Bar. We didn't get any candy, but we had fun wandering around. We got ice cream before leaving, and it was super delicious. 

Sunday: We went in for church, and then spent a relaxing afternoon at home. Tonight was also the night that The Beatles tribute aired on TV. Yes, I love The Beatles. Yes, it was awesome. Yes, I might have cried a little at the awesomeness. 

Grand Central Station

Seriously, living in NYC is so much colder than I thought it would be. So all of my sightseeing has to be done indoors. That makes Grand Central perfect, since the only time you have to go outside is when you walk to your subway stop. 

So you know how when you think of Grand Central, you think of that large room, and people are walking everywhere? When you first arrive via the subway, it doesn't look like that at all. In fact, it looks just like any other dingy subway stop. Once you get closer to being above ground, it starts to look a little nicer. 

It's a bit blurry,  I know. But considering how big the room is, and how dimly it's lit, I figure this is pretty good. This one's a little better...

They're celebrating 100 years of the station being in use, thus the window decorations. And of course, the famous clock. 

New York Public Library

One of the things on my NYC to-do list was visit the NY Public Library and get a library card. So last week, I bundled up and headed into the city. From the outside, it's pretty big and foreboding.


























The famous lions: 

Inside, everything is made of marble. I thought about taking pictures, but I'm not sure if it's allowed or not, and since there were quite a few security guards, I didn't want to risk it and get kicked out before I'd even explored.  

I signed up for my library card, but since I'm not a real resident, I don't get to check books out. Which, if you ask me, is kind of the point of a library card. Oh well. 

For the next few hours, I wandered around until I found a study room where I could do some writing. It was nice, but a little too quiet to do any real work. I mean, when you have a room made of marble, everything tends to echo. 

I wanted to get home before rush hour, so I packed it in around 4. Before heading home, I ran across the street to Pret a Manger for a sandwich. It was one of my favourite places when I lived in London, so I'm really glad they have a few locations here on the East Coast. Before I got on the subway, I took this picture of the Chrysler building looking down 42nd Street. 

NYC: Week 3

Well, I'm almost caught up with my weekly updates. Hooray! Here's how I spent my third week in The Big Apple. 

Monday: I was brave and set out to find the New York Public Library. I took a few pictures, but I feel like this adventure deserves it's own post. I got a library card, but because I'm not a resident of NYC, I can't actually check out any books. Which is why I got the card in the first place...  I also got lunch at Pret a Manger, which was one of my favourite sandwich shops when I was in London. So that was awesome. 

Tuesday: the weather turned cold again, but I didn't want to sit at home. So I went out with a friend to check out Grand Central station. Again, I feel like this deserves it's own post, but I'll tell you one thing: when you first arrive at the station, it's doesn't look like what you see in the movies. It just looks like a regular subway stop. You have to go through a series of hallways to get to the recognizable part. 

Wednesday: So, there's a good story from today. I found this restaurant, called Best Wingers, that claimed to have the best buffalo chicken in the city. Since I left one of my favourite restaurants back in Provo {Winger's, in case you were wondering}, I hoped that this new place would be similar. I mean, the best in the city sounds pretty good, right? Wrong. So wrong. And sad. It was nothing like it promised. In fact, I didn't even finish my dinner. To make it worse, Luke and I had to walk several blocks in the cold to get there. It may be the best in the city, but it's definitely not the best in the country. 

Thursday: Grocery shopping day. Whee. It's a much bigger adventure when you don't have a car to carry you and your groceries. I went with my friends and their kids, and I think it's fair to say we all miss driving to get groceries. 

Friday: Luke had a doctor's appointment in the morning. For lunch, I went out with some of the other wive's whose husbands are working with Luke. They're all super nice, and we had a good time. I spend the evening at the laundromat because I'd waited too long in between trips, and had a ton of stuff to wash. 

Saturday: I spend the morning catching up on work before heading out to explore Roosevelt Island {which will also get it's own post}. The weather was finally nice enough that we could get out and walk around. In the evening, we went bowling with Luke's company at the swankiest bowling alley I've ever seen. 

Sunday: church in Manhattan again. This time, the trains were running on their regular schedule, so we were able to get there on time. Afterwards, we walked through central park before heading home. 

FIT Museum

My new friend K. and I decided that we wanted to do some sightseeing. But since it was still so cold, we opted to do something indoors. We decided to go to the Fashion Institute of Technology Museum. It's small, but admission is free. 

Their current exhibit is called Trend-ology. It sounded kind of boring, but it actually was pretty cool. I loved seeing outfits that used to be the most stylish fashions of their time. Some of them even looked like they could be worn today {Chanel really knows how to tailor a suit}. It was a smaller exhibit than I was expecting, but my friend and I enjoyed it, and we spend about an hour there before heading out to lunch.

Here are a few of my favourites, shared from the Museum at FIT's website {since photography wasn't allowed}. 

All photos courtesy of MFIT via http://www.fitnyc.edu/museum. 

 Shawl created in the town of Paisley, Scotland. {1820-1850}

Black wool twill designed by Jaques Fath {1947}

Turquios silk satin evening dress by Christian Lacroix {1988}

NYC: Week 2

I'm a bit behind on my updates. Don't be mad. Here's what I did last week.

Monday: I spent the holiday doing chores. I found the closest laundromat, which is down the street and around the corner. I miss my washer and dryer at home. It's much easier to carry laundry down the hall, rather than down the street.

Tuesday: Continuing on with the chores, I spent the day working, working out, and then making a run to the grocery store. Turns out, when you can't pack your car full of groceries, you need to go shopping much more often.

Wednesday: I went with a friend to visit the Fashion Institute of Technology Museum. They had a display on fashion trends for the last hundred years. It was interesting, and more importantly, free. 

Thursday: We were still feeling that polar vortex. So instead of going out in the cold, I opted to stay home. 

Friday: I spend the morning doing more chores {yeah, I'm still settling in}. I went to Target by myself and popped down to the local grocery store. That way, I didn't have to lug home a gallon of milk on the subway. 

In the evening, I went into the city to meet up with Luke and friends for dinner near Times Square. Afterwards, we got cupcakes from the Cake Boss Cafe. While the cake part was good, the frosting was average and not real buttercream. Honestly, it tasted like it came from a grocery store bakery. So don't believe the hype. 

Saturday: After a long week, Luke and I decided we just wanted a low-key day. So we went shopping and had lunch. We spend the evening relaxing at home.

Sunday: This week, we went to church in Manhattan. The trains weren't running on regular schedules, so we ended up being a bit late. Some of the Manhattan wards meet in the chapel that's a part of the temple building. While that sounds pretty cool {if you're a Mormon, at least}, the floor designated for the chapel looks pretty much like any regular ward building. It's got a kitchen and a large gym with basketball hoops. In fact, unless you look out the window, it feels like any other ward building. 

Polar Vortex

Turns out, the snow actually sticks here in NYC. And yes, I went out in that. Twice. 

Our First Week in NYC

Well, we've been in the city for a week now {give or take a few hours}. We haven't done anything super exciting, since we're going to be here for such a long time. Most of my adventures are related to figuring out how to live my life in a new city. But here's what we did, if you're interested.

Monday: arrived in the city. Went out for pizza at a place down the street. Got metro passes. 

Tuesday: slept in. Luke's first day of work. I ventured down to the Asian market for some groceries. Later in the day, we went out to find the closest Target. This was my first time riding the subway. 

Wednesday: Luke worked a long day. I stayed home, unpacked a bit, and went on a walk with one of our neighbours. 

Thursday: I went into the city with Luke. On my way home, I got lost and ended up in Times Square. Which is large and kind of intimidating when you don't know where you are. 

Friday: I stayed home all day, catching up on work. 

Saturday: Luke was feeling sick, so I took him to the doctor. We spent the rest of the day relaxing at home. Later we went out for pizza and doughnuts. 

Sunday: Luke wasn't feeling better yet, so we stayed home. 

At first, I had a hard time with such a slow week. We didn't get out much or do any sightseeing. Then I remembered that I live here now, and that by taking a few days to relax and get my bearings, I'm making it easier for myself in the future. Hopefully this week, I'll have some better adventures to share. And hopefully some pictures, too.  

Rough Landing

Guys. Traveling to New York yesterday was probably the hardest day of traveling that I've ever had. And I've been left waiting at the American border, and spend 30 hours straight coming back from London. 

We flew out of Salt Lake, which is usually a pretty easy experience. Only, this time, it wasn't. Since Luke's company paid for the tickets, they put my last name as D. Only, all my identification, including driver's license, passport, and {expired} student ID is under N. So when we got to the TSA guard, my names didn't match. 

Apparently that's a problem. 

They called up a new guard to figure everything out. He had to call up another agent to check if I was on any watch lists {hint: I'm not}. Finally, I was allowed through, but only if I agreed to additional screening. Which meant that I had to go through the full body scanner and get patted down. Twice. The first one was pretty basic. Just a quick check of my arms and legs. Then I had another agent search my carry on bag, as well as the rest of me. It wasn't as invasive as I thought it would be, although she did test her gloves after giving me the pat down. My best is that they're either checking for cocaine or gunpowder. 

All together, that took about half an hour. We made it to our plane in plenty of time, though. And the flight itself was pretty smooth. Well, not literally. There was a lot of turbulence, since there's so many winter storms going on. 

Things got stressful again for our connecting flight in Houston. That is a BIG airport. So big, we had to take a shuttle from terminal C to terminal B. Meaning that we had to hustle in order to get on the plan at the right time. But we made it! 

Finally, we got to LaGuardia, which is actually a pretty small airport. All was well until my suitcase came out of the baggage claim. I don't know what happened, but one of the wheels was pretty damaged. And by damaged, I mean, it's totally missing, and there's a big chunk missing from the bottom corner of my bag. So it looks like I'm going to need a new suitcase in order to get home.

Things started looking up when we got to the apartments where we'll be staying. It's close to the subway stop and several restaurants. I'm not sure what else is around, since I haven't been out exploring yet. Plus, the apartment is really nice. I don't think we'll need to worry about cockroaches, which was one of my main concerns being here. 

Here's the view from our living room window: 

Last Year's "Resolutions"

I meant to check in a bit more throughout the year on how I was keeping up with my goals. I might have, here and there, but not to the point I thought I would. So I'm going to do one big recap now, and then later on today I'll post my new goals for 2014. Here's the original post I made last year, if you want to check it out. 

The goal was: Be a better friend 

My success: not as good as I'd hoped, but better than nothing. I kept in touch with some friends, met up with others in real life, and called/emailed/Facebooked a few more. I even had some friends and family come for visits. However, I didn't put as much effort into it as I would have liked. 

The goal was: Be healthier 

My success: overall, pretty good. I joined the local gym, and I go at least once or twice a week. I increased my endurance as well as my lifting ability. I also increased my water consumption. I didn't lose the weight like I wanted, but I did gain some muscle. 

The goal was: Try one new recipe a week 

My success: not as good as I'd hoped. In fact, I kind of forgot about this one. I did try some new recipes, but I didn't document my progress at all. The best thing I tried was BBQ bacon grilled cheese sandwiches, which I adapted from Iowa Girl Eats {I just left off the chicken}. Or maybe it was the blueberry lemon yogurt cake. I think the worst thing was the two ingredient "cookies". You just mash bananas up and stir in chocolate chips, then bake them. They turned out like little rubber banana balls. So gross. 

The goal was: Be more creative 

My success: I'm pleased with how well this went. I did some embroidery, I made some artwork to hang in our house, and I learned how to cross stitch. I even tried a bit of sewing. And I made over a small hutch into a jewelry holder. So yes, 2013 was nice and creative. 

The goal was: Travel 

My success: A+. In March I went home for my brother's mission homecoming. In May we went to Northern California for my cousin's wedding. We almost made it to Goblin Valley in Southern Utah. We drove up to Barnwell in August and took a day trip to Waterton while we were there. We went to Bear Lake multiple times, and finished the year off with a back-and-forth between BL and Barnwell. So yes. That went incredibly well.  

December Recap

It's been awhile since I posted. That's probably because the month of December got away from me a little bit. Then it was Christmas, and nobody blogs during Christmas. Anyway. Here's what I was up to. 

• Got the keys to our new apartment. Well, technically, it's a condo. But only because it's a privately owned unit in an apartment complex. 
• Started moving in to the new place. 
• Continued moving. 
• Moved over the large furniture {turns out, we have a lot of stuff}. 
• Cleaned the old place. 
• Went to Bear Lake for some pre-Christmas fun 
• Went to Barnwell for more Christmas fun 
• Had Christmas at home with my whole family for the first time in 3 years. 
• Saw The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug 
• Back to America/Bear Lake 
• Celebrated New Year's Even in our new apartment 

Like I said, the month kind of got away from me. This list doesn't even include the friends I hung out with, Christmas shopping, and playing Beatles Rockband with my siblings {which is pretty much the best thing ever}. 

December was rough and busy but also full of awesome.