New York City Again. And Other Stuff.

Ollo (<---yes, that's a link, click on it watch it for like 15 seconds and then you can get back to reading the blog......you're welcome) everyone (aka Hello).  If you haven't seen Megamind yet...shame on you.  

Anyway, I apologize for not updating in QUITE some time!  Things have been super busy around here!  Rich is staying very busy with his projects at work, and I was just promoted at CNT to a full time -SALARIED- position!  It happened somewhat suddenly in an unexpected....almost "spur-of-the-moment" way.  I wasn't even considering it like 2 days ago.  But when it actually became an option, Rich and I talked about it and I think it's going to work out and be really good for our little "family".  I will actually probably be making a little more than I was teaching in UT, which is kinda significant.  It isn't teaching...no, which made it kind of a hard and stressful decision to make, but at this point in our lives we need the extra money to save for the future.  So for the meantime, teaching has been put on hold. :(

So every week at the office/tutoring center we come up with a question of the week for the kids who come in to be tutored.  Sometimes there's downtime or when they're waiting for their tutor to finish up, they are able to have something to do.  So, I got to come up with the question this week!  

"If you could go back in time and change one thing in history, what would it be and why?"

I posted this on facebook...hoping to get some response.  I actually took a picture of it, but when I uploaded it to facebook it uploaded 

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so....that's annoying and probably why no one answered it.  Also, it's a pretty hard question.  It was inspired by an 8 part series that Rich and I watched on Hulu called 11.22.63 -which - for all you history buffs would know is the day that JFK was assassinated.  So, the plot of the series (which...as a forewarning uses the F-word far too liberally -view expression advised) is about a man who goes back in time to try to stop the assassination.  It is VERY VERY good.  It's based off of a novel by Stephen King and it's great.  

And let's be honest....James Franco is easy on the eyes.  So, to my fellow lady friends, you're welcome.

Anyways....now that I've been totally sidetracked...how would you answer the question?  What would you change in history?  I still don't know what I'd do....

Sometimes we "cuddle" with Bilbo.  Rarely does it last long.  When it does it's adorable.  Sometimes I even manage to get a decent picture of him.  I take that back.  A PERFECT picture of him.

Behold.

Look. At that. Face.  Perfect.  He's such a good, good boy!

And....just like that, cuddle session over.  Like I said, they usually don't last long. #energizerpuppy

You'll notice that in the background of these pictures are our new living room curtains!  They look GREAT! 

They seriously add so much!  Don't they look so pretty!? --THANK YOU MOM-- I'm obsessed with them.  I feel super fancy when I tie them up like this like I'm a rich person living in a fancy, nice house even though I'm pretty much the opposite.

This past Saturday Rich and I went into NYC again.  We're becoming real city slickers.  We told ourselves we'd "take it easy" but something about the city just exhausts you.  We DID try to take it easy but there is just so much to take in that you end up feeling like something was taken out of you.  Amy and Brandon (my sister and brother in law, Rich's sis and bro-in-law) were also in the city so we had the chance to meet up with them and on Sunday night they actually stayed with us for a night, so that was fun!  A lot of fun actually!  It was nice to have family visit.

We found our way to the Rockefeller Center (we actually just sort of stumbled upon it on our way to Central Park) where they have a giant Lego store, so we went inside to take a gander.  They had all kinds of lego sets imaginable!  Here's a Lego statue of "Atlas".  He actually didn't think it was that cool, but I did so naturally I made him pose for the picture.

Looks kind of like the Trevi Fountain in Italy.  I think this is where they have the beautiful huge Christmas tree during the holidays.  I also think there's an ice rink here somewhere in the wintery seasons.

There's Rich talking to Amy on the phone.  We were trying to meet up with them at some point.  They were actually heading to the Rockefeller center when he was on the phone here.  Notice all the flags...pretty cool.

There's another view.  You can kinda see Rich too if you look close enough ;)

NBC news is right around the corner.  We kept walking to find some very talented street artists.  

I took this picture from inside the NBC news store (which is pretty lame and just sells a bunch of overpriced stuff that says "TODAY" on it), which is across from NBC news, you can see it in the background!  Pretty cool, right?  The guy right int the middle was drawing a little girl, he was actually the guy who drew ours, even though I wanted the woman.  Rich kind of wanted for us to be drawn as superheros or Star Wars characters or something.  Unfortunately he didn't speak English too well and so we ended up with...

BOOM.  I think Rich looks great, he's got the beard doing good things for him!  It took us a while to figure out what was in his pockets....but then we realized it was stacks on cash!  We still aren't certain on what the thing is that Rich is holding in his muscular arms is....we think maybe a golf club?  The artist drew me with bigger bosoms that I will EVER have, but I still think he did a really good job.  We look VERY glamorous!  I thought he did a good job with my hair - he even got the bow that I was wearing in!  Not bad for a caricature!  It was really fun even if we do look completely not like our real selves.  It's now in our bedroom.  I'm too embarrassed to put it up in the living room where people can see! 

I think this guys talent was pretty unique.  He was using spray paint to create these cool paintings!  It was pretty mesmerizing to watch him.  He worked VERY fast and it was cool to watch him scrape off the wet paint to make the shape of the buildings.  

Which is your favorite?    It would be very hard for me to decide, they all look WAY cool!!.  Next time I'm in the city - maybe I'll pick one up!

As we were heading to Central Park we found this place.

Jimmy Fallon could be anywhere!!!!

As we got closer and closer to Central Park we got slightly harassed by people trying to sell us stuff.  This one guy was trying to sell us a carriage ride around the park for 40$.  He was very hard to understand and somehow he roped us into listening to his schpeel, even though there were probably like 1,000 other people right by us.  Luckily, we got out of it when the light changed and we were able to cross the street.

There were tons of people crowding around everywhere right before entering the park.

This guy looked pretty great.  He kept moving around so he didn't look very statuesque, otherwise I would have been able to take a better picture.  But he looked pretty good!

This is what that guy was trying to get us to buy.  Beautiful horse.  There were tons of them all over!  

Here's a view of the park amid the busiest city in the world.  The park is like a quiet escape from the loud and craziness of the city - although honestly, there was so many people (at least in this part of the park) that it wasn't that quiet.  The air felt cleaner though.

We stumbled upon this statue.  Someone had put a flower in the dog's mouth, which you can kind of see in the photo.  I think this statue is called "Indian Boy and Dog"...not sure though.  When I saw it I was reminded that there's a statue of Balto in the park somewhere - I even saw it on a map while we were strolling along.  Balto was one of our favorite movies to watch when us Levi kids were younger.  I remember thinking it was SO COOL to think that a wolf-dog help save a bunch of little kids.  Now I want to watch it again.  And then go find the statue of him in CP.

It was soo good!!  Anyone else ever watch this??  Also I noticed that the movie "We're Back" is on Netflix.  That was another one that I loved!!  I started watching it last night though and was totally unimpressed and kept thinking "Why did I love this so much?"  I bet Balto is better.

I didn't take this pic, but that's the Balto statue!

Anyway...moving on from childhood movies...here's one of the more famous parts of the park.  It was a perfect weekend to be there.  The trees were mostly all budded out and the flowers were blooming - it was so pretty.  I think that fountain is in a few famous movies (like Home Alone).

Like I said...flowers were blooming and all in blossom!  It was sure pretty!  Also...after I took this pic I was like - WHOA MY HAIR IS GETTING SO LONG!!  It's taken YEARS to get to this length again (I don't really remember the last time I cut it).  Maybe once it gets a tad longer I'll cut it to keep it healthy.

A nice teenage couple asked me to take their picture, so after I took a few pics of them, they took some of us.  This is the famous bridge (another link....click it....fast forward to 3:30 and you'll see this bridge in Disney's "Enchanted" - also a great movie) in Central Park where so many romantic scenes of several movies take place.  Don't we look romantic?? 

The wind took my hair in this pic.  I thought it might look cool when they were taking the picture but it doesn't look as sweeping, lovely and windswept as I thought it would.

We did happen to see some "wildlife".  We're pretty big animal lovers (obviously...Bilbo).  We were enjoying this little guy for a while.

There's our squirrel friend.  He was cute.  We have lots of squirrels in Wilton as well.  So...they're not really uncommon  for us.  But we love pretty much all animals.

Look VERY close and you will see the Cardinal we saw.  It's bright red pretty much dead center.  This was the only pic I was able to take before he flew away.  There were several bird/animal watchers there.  It would be a good place to spy them!

Did you know that there's a CASTLE in central park?  Me either.  Turns out they have a little part of the park that's kind of dedicated to William Shakespeare.  This is the Shakespeare part I guess.

We sat down on the grass for a little bit, talked about how much we missed Bilbo (for reals though...we're obsessed, probably unhealthily so) and rested (our feet...correction - MY feet were hurty) for a bit and then tried to make it to the Museum of Natural History.  

We did make it but, we didn't realize that it closes super early!  We looked at the dinosaur bones upstairs for like 15 minutes and then had to leave.  :(  While we were looking at some touch screen teaching us about the T-rex family, some OBNOXIOUS 9 year old came up from behind us and said "excuse me!" just to STEAL THE TOUCH SCREEN from us!  We were SO APPALLED!  And his dad did NOTHING!!!!!!  Part of the reason why museums are un-enjoyable at times is because they are OVERRIDDEN by children who think they own everything!  Is that just this new generation?  Are their social skills being severely damaged because they've been brought up with so many devices and  an "I need it now" mentality?  I absolutely love kids, but not when they don't behave.  Maybe that's why I love teaching because when I'm in charge they DO behave!  Ok...vent over.  But seriously....kids need to be taught better manners (a tleast at museums).  

Anywho....we made our way back to Times Square so we could meet up with Amy and Brandon for some dinner.

Rich wants to see Fiddler on the Roof.  It's playing in the Broadway Theater on Broadway!  And it's one of the less popular ones so tickets are cheaper.  We'll probably see a show next time we're in the city.

Here's the green M&M Statue of Liberty in the M&M store.  It was huge and it had all kinds of cool M&M stuff.  You could even get customized M&Ms that said your name or said "Happy Birthday" on it or something.  Pretty cool.  It was just lots of fun.  It was very crowded, but yes, lots of fun.  I love how everything there (Times Square) is just so bright and colorful!

Right across from the M&M store is the Hershey store.  They had lots of fun stuff too - when you go inside you're given 2 kisses to snack on while you shop/gaze.  They had everything from GIANT chocolate bars to unique gifts, like Hershey kiss shaped necklaces.  They had a place too where you could customize the WRAPPING of your chocolate bar.  Rich and I thought it would be cool if you could actually like put your picture on the actual chocolate though.  He was saying that in Hershey, PA they have a bigger store/factory where you can do more (and it's probably less crowded too).

There were TONS of people in Times Square that day, probably because it was a Saturday night and all the partiers were just getting their nights started!

This is just the street.  'Snapped a pic just so viewers like you could have a glimpse of what I glimpsed.  Nothing special, just city life.  

Amy and Brandon treated us to a fancy dinner at an Italian restaurant.  This was my meal.  They noodles were made in house and green stuff is artichoke (which I LOVE) and the pink stuff is ham/bacon.  It was DELICIOUS!  Normally, I'm not the biggest fan of Italian, but this was quite exceptional.

I had a side of eggplant parmesean with fresh basil on top.  It was SO YUMMY!  That cheese on top was PERFECTION! I'm hungry just looking at this again.

This was Rich's meal.  He had a pretty classic pasta.  Again, the noodles were house made.  His had some kind of sausage in it.  It was pretty tasty, the noodles were fantastic.  He had a side of french fries, so I didn't bother taking a picture (who hasn't had french fries).  I liked my meal better though ;)

Okay....we are wrapping things up!  That was pretty much the last thing we did in the city.  We realized it was almost 9:00pm and that we needed to get home to Bilbo!  (I always feel bad if he's in his crate for too long, even though he's probably just fine and just sleeping....turns out puppies need like 18 hours of sleep per day...even at 9 months).  So we headed out to grand central.  We were pretty exhausted....the city really takes your energy.

Here's a pretty good view on Grand Central.  It was really pretty all lit up like that.  It was like a beacon of hope for our tired selves.  We knew that salvation for our weary legs and feet (mostly me again...#flatfootproblems) was in sight!

So that was our day in NYC.  It was lots of fun to have Amy and Brandon stay the following night.  I fixed dinner for them on Sunday and we tidied up the apartment (it really needed a good clean-up) for them.  Things seemed to go pretty well, but of course...a few things just HAD to go wrong! 

The aero bed that we borrowed kept deflating slowly, so poor Amy and Brandon would wake up on the floor and then inflate it back up.  Fortunately, it's the kind where it just has a motor and when you push the button it just inflates itself, but still.  We felt kind of bad that they had to endure that.  

We have this CRAZY bird that lives outside of our apartment that literally sings ALL. NIGHT. LONG.  It doesn't do it all the time, like every night, and usually it's not a problem.  But on Sunday night boy oh boy was I ready to shoot that dang bird!  It woke up Rich as well.  This bird does NOT sing a pretty song either!  We think it's a Mockingbird, and so it will make like 50 different sounds, most of them obnoxious, throughout the "mating call".  (turns out it's mating season).  It changes it's noise about every 10-20 seconds, so you can imagine how annoyed we were and how hard it was to sleep!  We eventually got out of bed to go outside and try to find it.

When we got outside we discovered that it lives in a bush RIGHT OUTSIDE OUR BEDROOM!  So...we jostled the shrub a bit and threw a few rocks until we were pretty sure it had either flown off or decided it better shush up.  We finally were able to get some sleep.  (this was at like 4am btw)

Brandon had a great time with Bilbo.  They were best buds from the get go.  It was like having another rough-housing Rich around.  So I'm sure Bilbo misses him a lot.

A few days ago, I went to Subway (the ONLY chain we have in Wilton...the ONLY one....be grateful for your chain restaurants people....be so, so grateful), and I saw a sign by a pretty landscaped tree that said "NESTING DUCK, DO NOT DISTURB, FEDERAL OFFENSE".  So I peeked under the tree and there she was!

She's just the cutest!  I can't wait until the eggs hatch so that I can see her cute babies.  There's not much in the world more adorable than baby ducks.  A lady who saw me taking the picture told me that she moves around, kind of rotates so that all the eggs get an even amount of warmth, and she NEVER leaves the nest.  It looks like a cozy spot!  

Well, this post literally took me about 4 hours to write (with little distractions here and there) so hopefully now that you've made it to the end you are feeling satisfied.  

Happy almost May!

Incase you don't understand this reference....first of all, shame on you.  Second of all, I'm in a linky mood today -clearly- .  Enjoy this N'sync music video.

An Email from My Future Self

Happy April Blog Friends!  I know it's been April for a while, but I'm just really glad it's no longer March, that April is half over and that it will in 2 and half short months it will be Rich and I's 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!  We are planning on going to visit The Poconos (which, Pam and Roy visit together in the early seasons of The Office - which we are currently re-watching.  If you haven't watched it ever, I HIGHLY recommend it.  I also recommend watching it over and over if you've already seen all 9 seasons.)  Anyway, The Poconos are in Pennsylvania and there are several romantic hotels there.  We're also planning on taking a quick visit to Scranton (where The Office takes place) as well.

And here's a picture of  6 of my favorite entertainers.  The.  Office.

This past week was Teacher Appreciation back at Manila.  I saw several pictures from my coworkers posting cute stuff from their students and room moms.  It made me super school-sick (I just created that word).  I am learning how difficult it is to get a job here!  I have reached out to a few principals who have told me that they don't have a current need teachers, even in the coming school year!  I feel like the need for teachers is very different in UT.  But - I'm not giving up!  I just...really want to get back in a classroom.  Even if I'm not teaching.  I need the interaction with those littles!

Also, Rich and I talk a lot about how much we miss our friends.  We miss playing games with other people our age.  It's really hard not having anyone that we've "hit it off" with.  We have been invited to dinner a few times though - which that has been really great.  It's nice to get to know people (ward members) in their homes.  

Last weekend I went babysitting at a ward member's house.  They are the sweetest, cutest kids.  They were having a sleepover with a girl for the first time EVER (the mom was super apologetic...explaining that they never have sleepovers and that Ella was sleeping over as a favor to her mother) so the kids were all wound up and when it was time for bed, they all had a hard time going to sleep.  We watched "Spy Kids" which I remember being OBSESSED with as a kid.  Turns out it's actually totally scary.  Brooks, their youngest, can't do scary and when he started closing his eyes at the "Thumb Thumb"s we had to turn it off.  Anyway, they have a beautiful home.  I felt like I was in a hotel.  This is their master bathroom.  

It's....pretty much beautiful. I want to live in a home.  But for the time being, I'll just babysit in some perfectly manicured and worked in by maids homes so I can get ideas for the future! 

Last weekend it was cold BUT sunny.  Saturdays are our adventure days with Bilbo so we went to a new park called Winslow in Westport  (which is  CUTE CUTE little beachy town, we'll be taking some trips there in the summer).  

When we were there we met an English Mastiff - which if you are unfamiliar with dog breeds - that is a MALLAFALLA HUGE DOG!!  His owner told us he was barely a year old and weighed - get this - 180 LBS!  That's more than I weigh!!!!  He was also saying that he will GET BIGGER and he eats 12 CUPS OF FOOD PER DAY!!! He was huge.  Slobbery, slightly cute and huge.  We're glad we have our Bilbo pup who is only about 55 lbs.  (if you think he's big, just be glad he's not an English Mastiff - we're glad he's not).

Anyway, Winslow is a pretty big park and there's lots of cute trails that go behind and around these adorable and very nice (probably million $$$) homes.

This is what most houses look like out here.  Really nice.  Mostly perfect.  Pool.  Typical.

This little house/shed/greenhouse thing is the cutest!  Rich and I both noticed it while we were walking Bilbo.  We're not really sure what it is....we think it might be a guest house in the backyard of another one.  We fell in love with it.  It's just CUTE and Wilkins sized.  It'd be perfect for me, Rich and Bilbo.  

There was this CUTE Golden Retriever strutting around with this massive stick.  He was so proud of it and would NOT put it down.  His owner made a few rounds and we saw this dog not once, but TWICE making laps with the same stick!  I had to get a pic - it was too cute.  Miss you Lucy!!  (she's our Golden Retriever back in Spanish Fork)

Anyway, the past few weeks haven't been all that exciting....which is why I haven't posted a blog in a few weeks.  I did however get an email from my future self....  

It reads:

Dear sweet Tata,

We start going by that name in 2025 I think. This is an email from yourself from the future.  Please allow me to enlighten and warn you.

First of all, you have already made the best choice ever in marring Rich. He is quite the beast because of size,appetite, and hairyness. I must warn about the scare you have after your 3rd anniversary when he is hospitalized for triple bypass surgery after reaching roughly the size of a baby killer whale!  Remember to watch what he eats and keep him fit. Not to worry though, he eventually snaps out of it and loses 400 pounds and finishes his first marathon at  the age of 30! We are very proud!

Second, enjoy the East while you can! After a couple years you ship off on another adventure. I don't want to give too much away, but make sure you speak wookie.

Next,  I have a mission for you should you choose to accept.  Well you better! It's the reason I am writing you.  Donald Trump becomes President in 2016 and you must stop him! Yes I'm talking about you know....JFK all over again. He is our final president and the main reason we have to eventually abandon the earth in 2040!

Lastly, make sure to stock up on the cheez itz! There is a shortage in 2023.

Stay sweet and good luck!

Tata

It kinda made my week.  It obviously wasn't written by....my future self.  *cough husband cough*  On the same day I received this email I also received a red rose....so I think I'll keep him!  :)

I babysat a new family this week, the Dupaix family.  They live in Norwalk in an apartment.  I was sitting for them this past Wednesday so that they could go see JIMMY FALLON (oh yeah...we live an hour away from New York so that's a thing people do around here).  Their kids were adorable.  We watched "Holes" on Netflix, which of course is the movie based on the book by Louis Sachar -AMAZING (don't worry - I made sure all 3 of them committed to reading the book).  The kids loved it - particularly the little boy, Gunner.  He's in 2nd grade and immediately after the movie was over he wanted to go outside with his toy shovel and go play "holes".  We were outside and I didn't realize I was being included in his game and he asks me "Do you know how I got here?"  I was thinking he was actually asking me how he got outside...and I didn't know what to say.  He said "I stole some shoes."  Then my heart melted when I realized he was pretending that he was Stanley Yelnats.  <3

The weather out here has FINALLY started to lighten up.  This past week, I was asked to check up on a ward member's dog (they actually watched Bilbo for us when we went to Washington DC).  They have a beautiful home here in Wilton with a pool and an awesome and totally haunted (not really....but it looks like it could be in The Ring - oh yeah they also have a well) shed.  I took Bilbo up there a couple times to play in the woods and with Ginger (their dog).  They also have a cat - guess what the cat's name is?  Guess!!  Guess!!  Ok I'll tell you....their cat's name is.....Basil.  Basil is their cats name.  So their pets are named after spices - which I thought was pretty cool.  Bilbo had a good time playing around their house and in the woods surrounding.  He really loves living out here - there is so much for him to do!  We spent some evenings going to Cranbury Park and playing fetch.  Fetch is his FAVORITE GAME!  See for yourself.

Also - Rich is wearing some joggers that he bought at Old Navy last night.  I think they look GREAT on him, I kept telling him all day today how much I liked them.  This video was taken at Lake Mohegan - it's a big dog park that's like 20 minutes from where we live.  The weather was absolutely perfect today so we hat a lot of fun there today.  It was our first trip out to that park (we were itching to do something outdoorsy) so we had lots of fun venturing in the meadows and in the water.

Here are some pictures for you viewers to enjoy.

  

This was taken at the "cascades" of Lake Mohegan.  It's like a little waterfall/rapids.  There were several dogs there.  Bilbo is such a good boy.  He was off leash the entire time and we didn't lose him once.  He was very obedient...there were actually a few other dogs who took off after Bilbo instead of the other way around.  He's learning to listen when we call!

This was taken right before we left.  Rich threw the ball in the water and when Bilbo got to it....the ball sunk.  So he swam around aimlessly (and slightly stressed) looking for his ball.  After his attempts were futile, he came back to us with a heavy heart.

This is the BEST pic of Bilbo.  This picture captures the essence of everything Bilbo loves.  Water. Balls. Outdoors.  Rough housing.

So that's pretty much the update.  It's mostly a lot of pictures of Bilbo - can you tell we love him a lot?

I took this about 30 minutes ago.  This is our sleeping boy.  He sleeps in the STRANGEST positions but he was just absolutely knocked out!!  His little front paws were twitching and flopping as if he were dreaming of swimming at Lake Mohegan (he probably was).......

Amy and Brandon Price will be coming in to town this next weekend and we're planning on visiting the city with them on Saturday so that will be fun!  Love you all.  Until next time.

BYU, New York at Night and an Irishman at Manila

Hello Friends!  This week has been a nice quiet one.  Rich has really been enjoying Nielsen, I've been keeping busy at CNT as well as a little bit of babysitting within the ward.

I forgot to post a few pictures last week.  It was a pretty long post and I think by the time I finished and was ready to post I was tired and forgot a few pictures.  

For those readers who live out west and don't know what a toll road is - this is what they look like.  Last weekend, on our way back from DC, we passed through SEVERAL of these tolls.  The ones that say EZ PASS - are like your quick pass - you get a little barcode on your windshield and you zip on through.  The ones that say CASH - are the longer lines, the ones we went through.  They were the biggest thorn in our sides on our trip.  The way back from DC was the worst when we crossed the George Washington bridge into New York - it was a 15 dollar toll!!!  (most are around 5 dollars).  We spent about 50$ in tolls that trip.  If you're coming back east - and you're planning on driving - bring money for tolls!!

They were quite annoying and we were VERY happy to be home and greet our puppy when we got home.  I forgot to mention last week that we came home to a pleasant surprise waiting for us on our counter.

We were pretty exhausted but it made my heart melt to see that the "easter bunny" had visited our house!  Our sweet angel neighbor Lynn made us some yummy banana bread, and the Tuppers from the ward left some chocolate bunnies and flowers.  It was such a pleasant surprise and it totally made our evening!

This week, on Tuesday we had the awesome opportunity to watch BYU basketball in MADISON SQUARE GARDEN!  We never were able to see the Cougars play when we were in Utah, so it's ironic that the first game that we saw of the season, was at the NIT in MSG.  

Here's a pic of us at the game.  We played the first half terribly, but the second half was pretty entertaining!  We still lost but it was a close game in the end!  It was cool to see how well represented BYU fans were - the majority of the fans were rooting for the cougars!  But the Valpo fans were loud too (mostly drunk).  (we were louder)  Also - doesn't Rich's beard look handsome?  He's never gotten this far before and he's always stroking it.

On the way to the game at the last minute, I decided to paint this on my cheek with blue acrylic.  It was pretty tricky to do because of the bumps on the road.

It was a lot of fun to be in Manhattan at night.  The buildings were lit up, the smells of the hot dog and food stands were floating in the air - it was "magical".  We were walking along, heading back to grand central, when suddenly, look what came into our view....

That's right.  The Empire State Building.  In a previous post I mentioned that seeing it was underwhelming.  And in a way, it is.  But, at night, it was beautiful.  It was all lit up and tall as can be.  Before when we saw it, on our first trip into the city, we were almost to the point of death we were so tired, so maybe we were just disappointed because we were tired.  But you can see in this picture, it looks quite stunning.  (and sorry...this picture is horrible, but we were walking while I took it and it was the best I could do....sorry about that bright street lamp)

We had a pretty quiet week.  Rich actually went BACK into the city on Thursday for a team building activity with his work.  (He's becoming quite the New Yorker).  He and his coworkers had to "break out of prison".  The way he described it, it was kind of like a real life game that also helped in team work exercises.  He didn't get home til pretty late that night like 8 or so.  They hid rush hour traffic at about 5 and it took 3 hours to come home instead of about 1.5.  

We finally have mostly everything packed away and most of the decorations put up.  So it actually looks like people live in our apartment now.  So I took pictures this week.  Enjoy.

We have the bed SUPER high because we have all my school stuff under it.

Can you see those makeshift curtains?  We're getting REAL curtains soon...compliments of my mother! ;)  

Gotta love that rug!  It was in my classroom before we moved.  But...we need rugs!  Apparently the man who lives beneath us can hear a lot - we learned that when we had an unpleasant visit from the police.   The rugs help.  

You can see the bathroom directly through the bedroom.  It is ITTY BITTY!  I didn't bother taking a photo in there because it's very small and I'll be honest...it wasn't the cleanest either.

Here's our closet.  It's STUFFED.  There's a Christmas tree in there somewhere.  We literally have nowhere else to store things so this is where we had to tetris it all.

Here's our living room.  View #1.

And here's the other view.  Do  you see a sleeping husband?  (conference nap)

 Here's a view of our kitchen.  It's small.  But cozy.  It's really not bad.  The roses on the counter were given to us by LYNN!!!  I love her.

Here's the entry.  BYU BANNER!  Let's go cougars!

That pretty much sums up the whole apartment.  It's smaller than you think it is, but...it's ours and we like it a lot.  It's really close to everything.  And it's a very safe place to live.  Rich and I have gone on some evening runs this week (we're really trying to get back in shape...we've been feeling flabby lately).  We've gone after dark each time and it's been really nice.  Everyone kinda goes to bed at 5 (so it seems) so the streets get pretty clear and not too many people are out.  We actually had our first frog encounter this week!  We stopped to stretch and I saw something move in the grass - it was a spring peeper!  Bilbo came with us and made friends with the frog too.  I was so worried he was going to eat it, but he was pretty gentle and only pawed at it gently and licked at it.

In between conference sessions today (which all 4 were sensational!!  I really loved Rasband's and Oaks' talks this time around) we took the dog on a little adventure.  Lynn told us we need to check out this place called Town Forest - it's just a big long hiking trail with a little creek alongside it.  It's going to be SO beautiful once the trees get leaves (winter is lasting SOOOOO LONG).  

While we were walking, I noticed this fungus stuff growing on a fallen log.  I thought it looked pretty cool.  We don't have stuff like that growing on trees in Utah.

I made these beauties this morning.  And mmmm were they delicious!  We shared one with Lynn and we'll probably enjoy them for a few more days.

I also meant to share this a while ago.  Back at Manila, my students (the 1st and 2nd graders) were able to hear from this Irish Olympian!  Our student teacher, Jane Hart, has a friend (boyfriend actually) who came from Ireland to UT to do some skeleton luge practice at the Olympic park.  He was able to speak to the kids about what he does.  His name is Patrick Obrien (can you get any more Irish!?).  It looks like most of them (except Brielle - 10 guesses who she is?) really enjoyed it.  

I miss my kids sooo much!  I have had 2 letters from them - and I check the mail every day for more.  I miss teaching so much more than I thought I would - I know it's my calling.  I'm trying to get on the ball and get a job as a teacher ASAP!!

Well, that's all folks.  Who knows what next week will hold!