Recent Times in Pictures (First Installment)

There are a lot of things I have wanted to blog about in the last 4 of 5 months that I just never got around to. So I will start the new year out by being a little more...bloggy. :) I'm kinda gonna start my way near the end and work my way back. First off...

The 4th Annual Sister Day took place on November 6th. We took it up a notch since this Sister Day was the first ever to fall on a Saturday. We included Friday night in order to celebrate Sister Day Eve and we drove down to Santa Barbara and stayed in a Bed and Breakfast!

The entry to our room. It included a little porch with a table and two chairs and a jacuzzi. :) The room was really cute inside, but sadly I deleted most of those pics on accident. :( Well, sad for me...not for you.

Our yummy breakfast!

Sister Day always involves presents. These were mine from Emily. The book is a huge decorating book!

Em also got me this...

because of this...

Cruisin' down State Street. While listening to Boston of course!

We had always wanted to rent one of those two people bikes. A surrey. Let me tell you, those things are a lot of work!

It was a beautiful day for the most part.

Lunch. This pasta had chunks of brie cheese in it! So good!

What's a sister day without taking nerdy pictures of each other?

Santa Barbara pier.

And Santa Barbara ice cream!

And a beautiful Santa Barbara sunset. A perfect way to end Sister Day.

In December, Jeremy invited Em and I to tag along with him and Karli to New York! Amanda would not be Amanda if she turned down an offer like that! My Aunt Donna had enough frequent flyer miles for us all to go for free!

Here are Jeremy and Karli in front of the famous Rockefeller Christmas tree!

Em and I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to wear our hats, scarves and winter coats.

Times Square a couple weeks before the craziness!

I REALLY wanted to skate on that ice. But you should have seen the line...

I have a few favorite New York moments. One was eating at Carnegie Deli. Em and I ate there before seeing Mary Poppins on Broadway. It's so popular and packed that you have to squeeze at tables with other people. We sat with this older couple, a subway conductor and his wife, and we talked to them the whole time! They were so sweet. :) The subway conductor came to New York from Puerto Rico. And we had just seen West Side Story the night before. It fit perfectly.

We all ate at Cafe Metro two mornings while we were there. Including the morning that Em and I were supposed to leave. Unfortunately we didn't know that we were supposed to be flying on a plane while we were downing those pancakes and pieces of french toast. But that's another story...

The Guggenheim! So Jeremy and Karli did their thing while Emily and I did ours most of the time. We really liked hanging out here.

And we loved spending time in my favorite place in New York, Central Park! This is the view from Belvedere Castle.

Ice! I don't think I had ever seen a lake frozen over before.

Inside of the Guggenheim.

Washington Square. At NYU. I had always wanted to see this after seeing it in tons of movies.

Gray's Papaya. We had also heard of these amazing hot dogs from a movie. The movie didn't lie. They were scrumptious. Sauerkraut on a hot dog just works.

The price did too. Only $1.50 each. Our cheapest meal in New York.



I had always wanted to take a picture like this. Walking down a crowded street with all those heads!



And what's a trip to New York without visiting Tiffany's? Especially when Em had never been. I like the Christmas flair.

Well, we didn't have snow in New York, but guess where we did?! Sunny Southern California! Santa Clarita to be exact! Granted it wasn't much, but I know many friends who made miniature snowmen in their yards and threw real snowballs. I was home alone taking Christmas decorations down from the window and all of a sudden, I thought, that doesn't look like normal rain! Then I started freaking out and running around the house yelling, "It's Snowing! It's SNOWING!!!" The dogs must have thought I was crazy...

I didn't mind getting me or my camera a little wet.

Second installment coming soon....