It’s Spring…I can feel it wants to be here but it’s having a hard time actually staying. The first day of Spring it started snowing…then we’ve had some nice 60 degree days and then some days of rain….These pics are from last year…at our work retreat in the hamptons…Some pics of me and some friends…and a beautiful backdrop! It makes me excited for spring!

Jeremiah and I are on Activities Committee at church. Our group planned an 80’s dance…we had tons of fun…I’ll have to find some pics of Jeremiah to put up here…We were decked out in our jean vests:) Watch out- 80’s are coming back! Actually they are back…all the stores are full of 80’s…Lots of fun. The outfits were awesome. We all had lots of fun.

Jeremiah and I have been on a dodgeball team in the city for the past 2 yrs. It helps to have a fun activity each week in the dreary winter months. Last year we did really well and this year we’ve joined the Varsity League so let’s just say- we’re hanging in there! It has been fun. We play in elementary school gyms across the city…nyc is awesome!

I’ve been horrible at blogging…maybe because we’ve been on the go every second it seems.

For Christmas Jeremiah and I headed to CALI…We had a good time seeing family and enjoying good weather…Here are a few pics…

Jeremiah had a really great Thanksgiving in NYC with his two bros and their families and with my sis Kara and Josh and Braeden and Clark visiting from DC. We were jam packed in our apt but it was really fun eating yummy food, playing some rounds of boggle, getting stuffed off three fabulous pies, and watching Wall-e. It was fun to host our second Thanksgiving with the fam…and our first one at our new place:) Much to be thankful for- great family! Before lunch I went on a long run in the park and then we headed over to catch part of the Macy’s Day Parade with Clark…We saw Santa bring in the Christmas Season…It was so cool to see all the people hanging out of their apartments on Central Park West cheering on the parade:) We love NY!

Jeremiah and I went to Magic Mountain for the day bc he had never been and I told him that Lagoon didn’t count as having REAL rollercoasters…We had lots of fun…but I think I’m getting older bc I started blacking out on some of the rides and definitely felt sick by the end of the day…x3 was the craziest ride! INSANE!

Quick update…I’m always behind on updating…Halloween was really fun. We went to St. John’s Cathedral Halloween Extravaganza. It’s this way famous cathedral that is down the street from where we live. Every Halloween they show a silent film- this year they showed Phantom of the Opera- and they have a person playing the music on the organ to it. It was sooo awesome! We went with family and friends. At the end of the show they have a procession of the ghouls where all these crazy creatures walk in between where we are sitting and try to scare people. I’m going back next year and the year after- a new tradition! We had fam and friends over to our place and had fun snacking and chatting:)

Jeremiah and I decided to take a trip out to Philly. We caught the bus out there and stayed at a bed and breakfast for 2 nights in historic downtown. It’s a pretty cool city- definitely a mix between old and trying to be new and also not quite knowing what it wanted to be. But the old stuff was awesome. I came away from that trip with a greater respect for the founding fathers and the coming about of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. These men really were inspired. I came away with a great respect for Benjamin Franklin. He really was an amazing diplomat and inventor, and scientist, and founding father. I feel like he invented everything. We had fun going through the first post office and seeing that it took weeks for the pony express to reach someone when now it takes less than a second to send an email to anyone in the whole world. The systems these forefathers developed have stuck overtime. Reading Market was also a really cool place with a bunch of Amish food to choose from fresh out of the oven. I think another highlight for us both was Independence Hall where we learned lots of stories. My favorite story was about George Washington’s chair. It has a sun on the back of it and Benjamin Franklin said that during their time in that room he always wondered if it was rising or a setting sun but in the end he knew that it was a rising sun and that there was much hope!

We went to Braeden’s Baby Blessing the first week or so in Oct. He’s so cute. We had a fun lunch after where we all crashed quickly after our lasagna…The painting from the previous days must have worn us out.

We all slept like a bebe afterwards:)

The glory part of all this work was the painting…all the hard work beforehand was definitely worth it but we were all happy it was over. Dad helped us with the detail work- that was his job while we got the big stuff! And to celebrate we ate at Tom’s Restaurant (the one shown on Seinfeld) down the street from us on 112th Street. I was so hungry I’d have to say that the hamburger I ate was the best I’ve ever had!

Happy Birthday to my best friend in the Whole WORLD! I LOVE YOU!

We bought a fixer-upper that we saw potential in…when we came in all the walls were these wierd colors of yellow, green, blue, and red random wallpaper all in the same rooms. Part one for us was to just get into the apt and paint…it’s the most affordable drastic change we could make. My parents came into town and without them I don’t know how long this project would have taken. A huge thank you to my wonderful husband Jeremiah who worked non-stop and sanded the entire apt by hand one day; to my mom a huge thanks for being the joint compound mixer in the a.m.’s and helping us to believe in the vision we had bc while in the process we thought we had destroyed the place even more; and a big thanks to my dad for his attention to details! We did the skim coat on our own!! (yep- on our own) and the paint has transformed the entire place! We love our apt! We spent lots of time taking out old mirrors, nails, wallpaper, shelfing, etc and setting up for the mess we started to live in! I was so happy though that we did it though- the walls are tons smoother and prettier and I sleep much better not sleeping in a puke green room with red and white reed wallpaper room! Great work team! THANK YOU!