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.

Favorite fall photos

Our fall came very late this year... I loved experiencing the colors of a New England fall. Here are some of my favorite photos from this time of year.

Visitors from DC

For Columbus Day weekend, we were blessed to have our friends from Washington, D.C., Megan & Michael drive up for a visit. It was such a treat to visit with friends for the weekend.

NYC Marathon

Jason ran this marathon 3 years ago, so we decided to go down & cheer on the runners getting close to the finish line. Watching them come in & thinking about their accomplishment brought tears to my eyes. That, along with the sight of New Yorkers actually out in full force cheering for runners, it was quite touching. We watched the professional men & women come in at just over 2 hours, then went & had lunch, to return a little after the 4 hour mark when the non-professionals were coming in. It was so exciting & invigorating to cheer on these people who had just ran 26 miles!!

Visitors from Spokane

Jason's parents came out for a visit this weekend. What a nice time we had with them! Jason took a day off of work and showed them around some of the touristy areas of NYC. They even braved the Bronx and went to see his school. On Saturday, we headed up to Cold Springs, a small town up the Hudson River about an hour. It is across from Westpoint which is always impressive to see. Unfortunately, the day was rainy, but we still managed to have a great day, taking the 25 cent trolley around town and eating a delicious lunch down on the river. They'd hoped to catch the fall colors, but were a little ahead of mother nature's schedule this year.

Maybe a permanent position

After nearly 6 weeks at the bank, filling in for admins who are on vacation and working on a different desk, different floor and sometimes a different building each week, I seem to now have a position which might turn into a permanent placement here. Unfortunately, the primary banker I will be supporting is known for being a tyrrant, so that is not encouraging, but I would really like to become permenant at the bank if possible. In any event, I'm working on the 47th floor - this is the view that I see when I get off the elevator in the morning and the view from my bosses office. Can't complain about this!

Jamaica Bay Preserve

Jason & I decided to see how far we could go on our subway cards...we ended up at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Preserve (really a bird preserve). It was fun to explore. We were completely fascinated by the Horseshoe Crab shells that were literally lining the shores of the bay. I had never seen such a thing...we really wanted to see one that was alive, but seems only their shells were left for us to play with. It was a good, easy and free way to get away from the city for the afternoon, which we are always up for!

Hiking Breakneck Ridge

While the title of this hiking area doesn't exactly encourage those who are not sure-footed, we needed to escape the city for a day, so escape we did. We grabbed a Metro-North train up to Cold Springs and hiked to our hearts content. This area doesn't have too many hills, so there wasn't a ton of elevation climb, but there were some nice viewpoints and we were away! The only bad part...after hiking 7 miles, we couldn't locate the other train "station" (a ten-foot wooden platform) in time to catch the train back to Cold Springs and we ended up walking the 2 miles back along the tracks, then having dinner at the Cold Springs French restauarant. We saved the other dinners from our hiking stench and opted to eat on the patio :)

Our very 1st visitor!

My best-friend, Julie, came out to visit her brother along with Jason & I. It was such a gift to be able to see her. The only bad part, I'd just started my job and couldn't take any time off to hang out with her. We made-do with visiting in the evening and had a wonderful time catching up.

Carrie gets a job!

It's only a temporary position, but it IS a job! It pays enough that we can afford to stay in the city. We don't know what God has for us here, but clearly he is enabling us to stay, at least for today. We are so thankful for this tremendous opportunity to experience a new place. Oh, I'm working for the investment banking division of Bank of America as an administrative assistant. I know nothing about investment banking, but I guess I am going to find out!

Jason gets a job!

Wow! God provides in some incredible ways, all the time and always beyond our expectations. Jason & I knew that we could only afford to live in NYC 6 weeks without jobs before we'd have to leave & see where God was leading us instead. However, just 2 weeks after arriving here, Jason has a job!!! He will be working at an 8th grade history teacher at a Preperatory Charter school in the Bronx. I am so proud of him and excited for him! Since this is also my birthday, I call this an incredible birthday present! Now, I need to find a job too, so that we can actually afford to stay here!

Chickens in NYC???

As I was getting ready for church this morning, I heard a very familiar sound...one I hadn't heard since living in Tonga. The crowing of a rooster!! I could hardly believe my ears! I looked out our back window and sure enough, scavenging through area behind an abandoned building were two chickens! Of course, I had to take a picture! The sound that used to wake me up hourly beginning at 1 am for the 6 months I lived in Tonga had followed me to the biggest city in the USA! While some might have been annoyed to hear this, Jason and I delighted in it and in the memories it brought of our lives in Tonga.

Moving to NYC!

We hopped onto a red-eye flight last night in Seattle and arrived in JFK this morning ... anxiously, hoping and praying that the apartment we had arranged to sublet (sight-unseen) was not in fact a scam. Thankfully when we arrived, our new building "super" was sitting on the stoop watching as our cab driver grumpily dumped our bags out of his trunk into the middle of the street. Al helped us hoist our bags inside and up the narrow, slightly slanting steps to our new home - at least for the next 6 weeks. Inside, we were delighted to see that the place looked exactly as beautiful as it had looked in photos we'd seen. It felt like we had just walked into a lovely bed & breakfast.

Seattle!

Our flight to New York departs from Seattle, so we took a bus here yesterday to spend our last few west coast hours with Jason's friend, Jeremy, and his wife Krista - for those of you who came to the wedding, you'll remember them as the incredibly striking looking couple ...


















We spent the Monday being tourists in Seattle as I'd never been here before - of course, I loved it!

Tuesday, Jeremy was recovering from his night shift at work, so Krista took us over to her Aunt's mansion to spend a day on the lake!

Here we are ... waiting for our red-eye flight into NYC!!!