I <3 NY

Jesse decided to work as a tech for a security system company in New York for the summer. Long, lonely, pressure filled days awaited him there. For that I am deeply sorry, Jesse. But it really worked out awesome for me! I decided to visit him, and one of my best friends in the whole wide world came with me! And then, just 'cause we're spontaneous her little sister came with the both of us! We drove many miles made difficult by the challenges of road rage, wobbley tires, GPS systems, and sibling rivalry, but we conquered all and made it to the "Big Apple." But nobody really calls it that. Anways, I have some sweet pictures. And it was great to see my brudder!

Behold--the Statue of Liberty! As seen from the Staten Island Ferry--a very cost effective mode of transport.The view of Manhattan at "dusk" from Brooklyn:

Oh yea--we went there. We were trying to avoid "touristy" things. We were driven by some urge to look cool and local. But then we realized we had to be true to ourselves.

Our adventures in China town! The legality of our adventures here fall into what some people would call "gray area". Sneaking into hidden rooms to barter for Gucci bags and Chanel earrings is an everyday thing for these people.

Central park seems nice. This is about all we saw of it.

The Brooklyn bridge has some very scenic angles.

Exhibit A:


Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

(This is the Manhattan Bridge, as seen from the Brooklyn Bidge)

All of us at the end of our 1.14 mile trek across the Brooklyn Bridge. We're pretty hardcore.

The Museum of Modern Art. They have art. And they have a sampling of the average height of today's humans. Which is also art, apparently.
We're cute:

This is about the time we stopped trying to fit in. The combination of self timing camera's, steps and us is not a wise one.

This is all we need:Times Square:

Bikes are fun:Our first official New York street vendor fare:They don't really show you this side of New York in all those sappy romantic comedies, or sassy career woman flicks. But this is the truth:

After a few days of the dirty, busy, exciting city we decided to take a break and relax on Fire Island.The journey to the lighthouse took longer than expected. I had to forage.

We FINALLY made it to the top of the lighthouse. See the random guy bringing up the rear? Lara, Claudia and I were chatting with him for a while. Then Jesse walks in and it turns out they go to the same ward! Trippy, I know.

Our reaction to the news that we're now going to have to listen to the 80 year old tour guide speak:
Beach fun:

Sexy has never looked so good:
We were a little shocked to find out we went to a nude beach. Whoops.

Don't Mess With Texas

Last week I had the chance to fly to Texas. Yes, I flew. I was planning on driving. Th arduous and lonely 11 hour drive was not going to be fun. But I viewed it as a challenge. A challenge for my staying awake ability, not to mention my poor little car. My dreams of the great American Road trip were thwarted Kourtney, the bargain hunting fiend. Like a sweet angel sent from above she found a manageable airfare, and so I flew.

Question: Is it rude to not make friends with the passenger sitting beside you on an airplane? I just...didn't feel like it.

American Airlines gives you a whole can of beverage. Not like those Delta cheapskates. Delta gives you a cup filled to the rafters with ice, then only pours enough beverage in the cup to wet a baby's tiny toungue. Curse you, Delta.

Anyways...my friend Holly is married now. We met in 6th grade, and all throughout the three trying, awkward, braced and acne riddled years of middle school we were there for eachother. Mindy, Holly and I--or the Three Amigos, as we liked to call ourselves (seriously.)-- were inseperable. But not for long. Highschool came. We became separated, but still kept in touch, and I had to be there for her wedding. Simply had to. I mean, we'd been talking about our weddings since middle school. You don't just miss something like that.

So, I forgot my camera. I brought only what could fit into a tiny carry-on duffle bag (checking luggage is pretty lame, in my book), and the camera was left out. My little phone has a tiny camera built in, and luckily I remembered my phone. So, here is my trip, pictured in all of its grainy, low resoluted glory.

The Houston Temple. So gorgeous. I love just..sitting on the temple grounds. Except when its over 100 degrees outside...then I love sitting in the Temple waiting room.




First steps as man and wife...

First bench to sit on as man and wife...

Holly wanted us to express our personalities through our shoes. As long as they were dark brown shoes. Maybe she should have set more boundaries.

Lake Bryan. Flat, smooth, peaceful, and blazingly hot. Mindy took me kayaking.

Our glasses matched. Not planned! Mindy had all kinds of adventurous things to do with me.

Not pictured: bike ride through perilous nature.

Kourtney took me to explore the tacos and antique shops of downtown Bryan. We found fun, expensive stuff! Also, when I lived there, there was no "Downtown Bryan." Only "The Ghetto Part of Bryan." Funny how things change. Now its quite picturesque.

Kourntey and I are so ready. For anything. I think this was taken right before we began the long journey to tacos. Seriously. We walked for days but the sweet promise of tacos was enough to sustain us.

I love this picture. We found it in an antique shop. The crazy eyes must run strong in that gene pool.

Also, we spent a good while spelling our names with the stamps from an old printing press. We're pretty wild.

When I try to explain Texas to people...they don't understand. They don't understand Stetson hats, or the Aggie yell leaders. Nor do they understand fields of blue bonnets that cover the country side for a few weeks. They don't understand that the state flag is considered a tasteful motiff for birdhouses, park benches, shirts, babies...

I had a few things I really wanted to do while in Texas. And, eat 10 snocones was on the top of my list. Let the record show that I almost met that goal.

If You Can't Take the Heat...

Following the noble tradtion of singles wards across the nation, Tallahassee's very own 5th ward holds a "Break the Fast" potluck on the first Sunday of each month. This past Sunday it was "Battle of the Sexes" themed--each gender's dishes were to be compared, judged, and the winners were awarded first pick of the dessert table. On Thursday I get a lovely wall post from our Break the Fast Co-ordinator proclaiming her excitement for my "Chinese Onion Pancakes". Chinese....onion...pancakes? Oh dear. Lots of thoughts ran through my head...confusion..and...well, mostly confusion. Long story shorter: I figured she needed someone to make them and I blindly follow orders, I googled them, and learned something new.

Sunday morning, I walk into the kitchen with my oniony goodness, and tell her something along the lines of, "Well, I don't know what you're expecting, but I tried...". She turns and looks wide eyed at my dish. "You MADE them?" A few minutes earlier, CINDY, a girl from Taiwan had brought in her plate of, you got it, Chinese Onion Pancakes. Apparently Cindy doesn't have the clearest handwriting. And she signed up right next to Kristen, so Lindy was the next name that came to mind. What that says about me and Kristen, I don't know. :)

So, my googled version of a Chinese staple faced off against a, shall we say, authentic version. And I'm told mine put up a good fight. Were maybe even (dare I say it?) preferred. Take that, all of Asia.

Pictured in all of their glory. What you think is a table cloth is actually my apron! And yes, I am aware that it looks like it belongs on a 70 year old cat lady's couch. That's because thats where I got it! I helped a little old lady with her garage sale, and found this GORGEOUS throw pillow case. Now it is my apron, and I wear it with pride.

Speaking of cooking, I finally finished my little recipe book. Inspired by the recipe notecards Becca Renfroe makes, I took my favorite recipe's and made them into little 4x6 notecards. Then it was quick work to put them into a photo album (water proof!), and for convenience's sake make little tabs. I love tabs. Since I only had about 10 recipes that I loved that much, and it took a lot of time to make the silly cards, I went ahead and printed off Becca's recipes too! Thanks Becca! So now my little book is full. If you would like the cards, I can e-mail them to you. No problemo.

So handy!

Make Over

This is what I look like this week. I think its cuddly, cute, and tons of fun. But, that could be the medication talking.

Wedding Extravaganza

I now officially belong to the "Wedding" stage in life. I should have seen the signs before now. My fluff viewing and reading material has been shifting so slowly I didn't even realize what was happening. It started with the movies. Ten Things I Hate About You suddenly seemed immature and....highschoolish where it had once been so...grown up and cool. And then 27 Dresses, My Best Friend's Wedding, and finally Bride Wars just felt so...relevant. The finalality of it all came with Kendal's wedding. Now, this was no shotgun wedding. It was figured in our plans since househunting a year ago! But it still seemed to sneak up on us. I got to be a bridesmaid! Now, I'd been a bridesmaid in Kourtney and Jackie's weddings, but my bridesmaidly duties were basically "show up" and "love your sister". Check and check. But this time I had to...like...do stuff. There was dress shopping, the bridal shower, bachlorette party (hey o!), supporting and advising the bride, being generally helpful, and so on. So basically, I acknowledge that I'm growing up, and its not too bad.

The bridal shower! We went classy with a Breakfast at Tiffany's theme.

The amazingly fabulous invitations, brought to you by Alyse and Kristen's Auntie.

See those little pearls? They're mints! Mints!

There were some points in the decorating process where Kristen and I asked, "Is this too much, really?". The answer was always, "No."

I don't know where Ashley got all those Tiffany's bags and boxes. They don't just give those away you know. I guess someone loves her a lot.

Cute little favors filled with kisses, wrapped in love, and tied with a little bow.

After eating and gifts, we made scrapbook pages. Here Kristen and I work steadfastly. Well, she works steadfastly. Apparently I'm just really in love with that piece of paper.

Room mate love:

Kristen and I got to plan the Bachlorette party! I like those. We stuffed our faces at Stevi B's (Any and every pizza you can imagine. Really. Cheeseburger, Mac & Cheese, Bar-B-Que, and Baked Potato are the usuals. But we got Spinach, Mushroom and Alfredo on special request. And then Just Pickles on super special request.) The we headed back to Kendal's little love shack for games and gifts. What a wild night :)

The guest list was pretty exclusive:

Lara trying her hand at "Pin the Kiss on Chris"

(Virgin) Margaritas on the rocks.

Clever title brought to you by Kristen.

On an unrelated to weddings side note, I learned to make Cake pops!