New Year's Eve in Times Square

We decided that since we would be in New York City for New Years Eve, we needed to spend the evening in Times Square. Of course, most people think about standing in the cold for several hours with a bunch of strangers and cringe...we thought about that, but more importantly we thought about the extreme lack of toilet facilities available to those who are trying to "enjoy" the evening. My solution? Adult diapers. Telling you this might be sharing too much, but you may as well know. Jason & I went to Target and bought a pack of Serenity brand adult diapers for us and our 4 friends (who I won't name, but are pictured here) to wear so that we could have peace of mind during our 7-hour marathon of standing in the cold. The evening itself did drag a bit...I don't think I've stood for 7 hours, ever. But, with good friends, the time did pass, we even bought a pizza which was delivered to us in the human corral that we were confined to for the evening. And, since I know you are probably wondering, none of us actually used the diapers we were wearing, although Jason had tested one to ensure it's reliability before we embarked on our evening adventure! All-in-all, we're really glad that we did New Year's Eve in Times Square, but we're equally as glad that we won't ever feel the need to have to do it again!

Friends for a visit

Our very good Peace Corps friend, William, and his girlfriend Adrienne have come to NYC for a visit as a side-trip to visiting Adrienne's family in Virginia. We haven't seen William since our wedding day and he is a very special friend for many reasons, but especially since he is the first person who knew that Jason was in-love with me. We were especially excited to spend some time with Adrienne and get to know the girl who has caught William's eye.

Christmas Eve

For Jason & I's very first Christmas together as a married couple, we were simply that - together. Away from all of our family and friends. It felt a bit strange, but we had such a beautiful Christmas. I tried my hand at making rack of lamb and it turned out pretty good for my first attempt.

Snow Day!

Our first real snow day arrived today. We had some snow flurries last month, but nothing that stuck to the ground. When we woke up and I glanced outside, I was delighted to see everything covered in a couple of inches of beautiful, white snow. Our "super" Al, was already outside salting down our stoop and the sidewalks in front of our building and the others he cares for on our block. It was only 21 degrees outside, but we bundled ourselves up and headed out to church, then continued on to explore the snow covered city. We had such a fun day. Since everything was already decorated for Christmas, the snow just added to the wonderful holiday spirit. We spent hours exploring (and only having had a cupcake for a snack!) and were definitely ready for some good food and warm house when we were done.

Random exploration

Since we both did not have to work today, we decided to get out and explore a new neighborhood in the city. There are so many different areas within Manhattan, each with its own personality. For today, we started down near NYU and enjoyed Washington Square Park - it was very cold out, we shivered watching a wedding party trying to take photos in the beautiful square. We wandered up through the West Village, enjoying a cupcake along the way!

Our First Thanksgiving

We started the day with a trip downtown to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We arrived a little late, but were happy because within a half hour, the majority of the big "balloons" had gone past us...so we headed back home, grabbed Sarah & Randy's bags & headed down to Penn Station to send them on their way to the airport. Afterwards, we relaxed and started in the preparations for our very first Thanksgiving feast together. Of course, everything took a little longer than expected to prepare so we didn't end up eating until MUCH

later in the day, but since it was just the two of us, there was no pressure to have everything ready by a certain time.

California friends visit

We were really blessed to have our friends, Randy & Sarah Botts, visit us all the way from California! They had been visiting family in upstate NY and grabbed a train down into the city to spend a few days with us before traveling home on Thanksgiving Day. We had a great time exploring the city and sharing our lives here with them. And as always, it was terrific to be among friends.