That one time I went to New York, NY

Way back in March of 2009, my soon to be best friend Kristy and I went on a rather spontaneous trip to New York City. We worked together and I remember just hanging out one day when it was slow and she just kinda pitched the idea of going to New York for a weekend, probably half joking, and I said, sure! I had a little extra cash (oh the simple days of college!) and we had an excellent hook up on a free place to stay. So boom, Kristy, her friend Stacy, and I were off to New York.

We stayed at the Waldorf Astoria which was really swanky. I wish I had taken more pictures, it was so big and old and fabulous. I had never been to New York so I was basically in a constant state of "OMG LOOK AT ALL THIS" and it was awesome. Stacy and Kristy had been before and were excellent tour guides. Kristy was there for a while for school so she knew her way around the city. I can't imagine going without someone who knows their way around, it's so BIG!

I was a little obsessed with all the fantastic churches. They were everywhere, hiding in between modern skyscrapers, like a time warp on every block. I was also obsessed with all the art. We went to the MoMA, the Met, and the Guggenheim, I was in heaven. At the time I was in the midst of a slew of art history courses so it was kind of surreal to see the works of art we had been studying and writing papers on, in person. It was like seeing a movie star. I was ALSO obsessed with the Subway. And how everyone really did wear black. And the taxi cabs. Basically I was obsessed with New York.

Let's recap via a lot of photos. Excuse the quality, I was rolling with a little canon point-and-shoot back in '09.

 

 

Why yes, that IS me. Somehow. A much tanner, black haired version of me. It was a different time you guys. But my thing for firetrucks (firemen) hasn't changed:

On our way back we had a little layover and we took that tiny little plane up there from Houston to Dallas. I felt like the President, walking outside to my plane. But once we got inside, I did not feel like the President. That thing was tiny! 

Best trip to New York ever. One of my favorite trips of all time. It needs to happen again. Sooner rather than later! And because Kristy is so awesome, I leave you with this:

 

Let's go to New York again ASAP, Kristy!

The Chisty's in Austin

As if this weekend wasn't fun filled enough, Sunday we got to see one of our favorite families in the world, the Chisty's! Z lives all the way in Hawaii and although Sarah lives up north in Dallas now, she's about to move to Wisconsin! And Mrs. (and Mr., though not pictured, he was there in spirit!) Chisty live in Montreal! So I am very very glad we got to see them before they leave Texas for who knows how long.

We took them to eat at Hopdoddy (if you haven't eaten there, go, right now), last time Z was in town we tried to go but the line was too crazy. This time we braved the line and it was worth it!

After stuffing our faces with amazing-ness on buns, we meandered down South Congress and popped in a few shops. We definitely went a little crazy at the Big Top Candy Shop. Candy is good. Later in the evening we went down to Auditorium Shores for a little walk and Brendon got verbally abused for not knowing who Stevie Ray Vaughn was. Oh Austin, you are ever entertaining.

Also, I swear I took these with an iPhone, not a flip phone from 2006. Grainy is cool right? It's like, retro.

Bromance.

It was so good seeing Z, Sarah, and Mrs. Chisty. They are seriously some of the nicest people in the whole world. I am always blown away by how wonderful the people in our lives are! I will say it a million times over, we are so lucky! It is really sad that our friend-families live so far away. Oh well, sounds like a good vacation opportunity! Hawaii? Wisconsin? Montreal? I'm in! We miss you guys already. Come back to Texas!!

Birthday time for Kristy!

On Tuesday it was my best friends birthday. This was pretty awesome because not only is it a day celebrating her birth, but I just so happened to be in Dallas do so with her! Hurray for good timing!

To start the day off we went to this place called Jump It Up, which is basically a giant building full of inflatable bounce houses, slides, and obstacle courses. It was free for us and only $7 for Kennedy and we were the only people there. We had the whole place to ourselves. It was pretty awesome. We jumped around like we were 8 and loved it. Although it quickly sapped our energy, as we are not actually 8.

Look at this picture. Pretty awesome right? Let's discuss. Kristy is one of those people who are ridiculously photogenic no matter what their doing. Girlfriend does not take a bad picture. I mean, LOOK AT HER HAIR. Not fair. Also check out Kennedy in the corner. Looks like she is either hating or loving life A LOT.

Now lets look at my attempt to be cute while jumping:

MASSIVE FAIL. Why does my hair not cooperate? Why do I look so foolish? Why did I wear those grandma socks? 

MY HAIR HAS A MIND OF IT'S OWN. And, without further ado, the most ridiculous picture, ever:

Yep. That's pretty rough, eh? So to boost my ego, here's a decent picture of me, to prove I am capable of looking normal:

 After jumping around like kids, that night we had dinner at this little Italian place with her family and it was delicious. I ate a lot of bread.

Tiara for the birthday girl! And this next photo is pretty terrible as far as quality goes, but look how cute Greg and Roxanne are!

Of course there was a homemade card with a creepy ass party cat on the front. That's how I roll.

I hope Kristy had a wonderful birthday. I'm so happy I was here to celebrate with her and I'm so glad she was born 26 years (and a few days) ago! She is my bestest friend and I have had so much fun all week hanging out with her. I seriously dislike that this is not a normal thing. It was like a week of, "hey this is what it would be like if you lived remotely close to your best friend". Not fair.

And thank you, thank you, thank you Kristy, Ryan, Kennedy, and the kitties for being generally awesome, entertaining me all week, and treating me like family. You guys made this trip so much fun. Move to Austin, y'all!

And on that note, I must say that both Brendon and I are both very very lucky when it comes to friends. We have managed to find wonderful friends that not only welcome us into their lives, but into the lives of their families. Is it normal to be friends with your friends' parents and extended family members? If it's not, I don't care because it's great. I love that we have "friend-families". Kristy's family is so kind to us. Ryan's family is the same way! I feel welcomed into my best friend's and her husband's extended family. That's so awesome. And we have other friends with awesome families that spoil us. We won the friendship lotto I guess. Thank you friends for introducing us to your families, and thank you families for welcoming us into your lives when you totally didn't have to. You are all too dang sweet.

Big D

Sorry for my absence! I swear I have not fallen off the face of the earth. I am in Dallas for a week, on my first ever "business trip"! Fun stuff. While not working, I have been enjoying the wonderful company of my favorite Dallas residents, the Chasaks! And I'm getting spoiled since I just saw Kristy and Kennedy a couple weeks ago. This needs to continue to occur frequently!

They've been sooooo nice and have been entertaining me in my off time for the past couple days. Today I accompanied (and documented) them while they ran a 5k at the Hexter Howl Halloween festival. It was a lot of fun, although very cold! I also got to hang out with Kristy's dad Greg and step momma Roxanne, who I think of as family as well and always love to see!

It was just a little chilly.

 Congrats Kristy, you are the next "ridiculously photogenic running girl", so not fair. I'm sure you'll have a meme soon.

Kennedy was not sure about that crazy owl.

Ryan was 2nd in his age group and Kristy was 3rd in hers, while pushing a stroller! I was originally going to try to run it with them but I assumed I would be working during the morning so I left my running gear at home. Whomp, whomp bad idea. But I made an excellent spectator and even walked the kids 1k and received a ribbon. Booya.

Kennedy was hilarious, she was wrapped up like a burrito to stay warm but she really wanted access to her chocolate croissant. So Kristy propped it up by her face. She was a happy camper, but I don't think she ate any. She just wanted to smell it.

After the 5k we headed over to the little festival they were holding at the local school and Kennedy competed in a costume contest! She won it last year, so she was defending her title. She was an extra cute little sailor, and even had her granddaddy's dog tags and a couple of his medals on.

Alas, the baby in the dalmatian costume stole first (cheaters, babies always win) but she rocked the pants off of 2nd place! Which is saying something because that is an extraordinarily cute group of kids.

It was a super fun morning, even if it was a little chilly, and it had me ready to go run! Brendon and I are running an obstacle course again in November, and I need to whoop my butt into shape a little before then. Also, we are probably going to freeze to death.

I am so glad to have so much time with these wonderful people, but I am a little home (husband) sick. We haven't been apart for this long since like... 5+ years ago. It's no bueno being away from Brendon, but I've been keeping busy and time is flying. I've had tons of fun so far and I'm excited to see what the rest of the week brings!