Sunday, September 26

We went to NYC (and Philadelphia for a day)

For Jared's quarter break we went to NYC for a week just the two of us. We rode the train to Philadelphia one day too which was really fun. We LOVED New York, we loved the time together, and we loved seeing it the way the locals would. We went with no real agenda and took it day by day. Central Park was definitely a fave, especially with the early Fall weather and leaves falling it made it feel so nice. There were so many pictures that we took (I have more on FB if you want to see), but here are a couple highlights! We can't wait to go back someday!
Classic...NYC
View of Manhattan from the plane...Central Park is what you see in the middle- it's huge!


We stayed in a condo on Strivers Row in Harlem (wikopedia it if you enjoy cool history!). We wanted to do NYC like locals would and part of that meant not staying in a hotel in Times Square. We loved Harlem...the rich history...they uniqueness of it...and I'm not going to lie the soul food we had our first night felt like we were in Jared's Aunt Sweets kitchen in St. Louis...it was food for our soul for sure!

Breakfast along the Hudson River boardwalk
Stopping for a break in the Chelsea neighborhood-notice the purple door? I could have taken pictures of cool doors everyday in NY- they were all so different!

This is how pizza is delivered in NYC!

Chelsea Market...a foodies Disneyland. I loved it!

Columbus Circle

The Subway...they should have this in every city. We loved the ease of transportation on this trip!
Central Park in the early Fall...beautiful

View of the Plaza Hotel from C.P.

Bethseda Fountain in C.P.

The Mall in C.P....recognize this from some movie scenes?

Shake Shack burger and fries...a local "must" in NYC that I read about on some blogs. It was mouth watering!
Brunch at Tartine in Greenwich Village

View of Manhattan from the rooftop at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Outside the Met


We did A LOT of walking!

The Bull in the Financial District

Just a cool photo opp in one of the neighborhoods we walked through
Jared with two guys who are part of the Ground Zero rebuild. It was a humbling and neat experience going down there!

Hudson River and Jersey City in the back. Walked along the boardwalk on the east side of Manhattan all the way down to the tip of Manhattan.


Statue of Liberty
Grimaldi's Pizza in Brooklyn...they say it's #1 in NYC and we believe them! :)
On the Staten Island Ferry...Lady Liberty and the Adams
We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge

City Hall in Philadelphia
Cupcake shop in Philly- they were the cutest and most creative cupcakes I've ever seen...I loved the ice cream sundae ones on the bottom shelf.
Ben Franklin Library

This is where the US Senate first met waaaayyyyy back when.

Visiting the Liberty Bell in Philly

Jim's Steaks in Philly- had our cheesesteaks here because we heard this is where the locals go. I told Jared after I ate mine that I wanted another one...it was that good!
Times Square

Radio City Music Hall in Midtown

Columbia University- cool campus and it definitely feels Ivy League!

Jared getting street food outside of Columbia University. You can't leave NY and not have tried street food!

Our favorite part of NYC was Central Park I think...it was just so beautiful!

The Reservoir in Central Park

People are so active in NYC- we loved it! Bikers and runners getting their workout on in Central Park.
St. John's Cathedral on the Upper West side

Friday, September 10

Sisters Sleepover

Last weekend we had a sisters sleepover in San Deigo since Alla just moved into her new place down there. Yup the baby of the family is all grown up and in her own apartment now :) ...so happy for her. So we went downtown into the Gaslamp district for dinner together and walked all around and then Sunday we relaxed, laid by the pool and grabbed coffee with Ryan who came to hang with us for a bit. It was so fun just being us 3 girls for a night...it doesn't happen as often as we'd like, but we had a great time laughing...acting silly...and just being 'girls'! I didn't get very many photos, but here are a few...




Friday, September 3

Santa Barbara Triathlon

This past weekend we went up to Santa Barbara with 9 of our friends to cheer on 3 of them in the Santa Barbara Triathlon. Saturday our friends Landon and Sarah did the full race and then Sunday, Lindsay did the sprint triathlon. It was SO fun to watch and I'm super excited because I've signed up for my first triathlon October 10th in Palm Springs. People have been encouraging me to sign up and after watching the races this past weekend, I totally got pumped up and decided to register. (thanks Linds and Sarah!!!) SB is beautiful...we left Loma Linda on Friday at 106 degrees and got out of the car in SB couple hours later to a nice 66 degrees. We all rented a house together which made for quite the fun weekend and got to enjoy some good times, good food, good weather, and good memories! Can't wait 'till next year!

Jordan, me and Lindsay waiting for Landon and Sarah to come out from their swim. It was a crisp morning...hot coffee was a perfect warm up!
Landon headed out on the 34 mile bike ride

Sarah coming out from the swim

Chris, Landon and Jared

Jared and Ben...Ben was supposed to complete in the race as well but he crashed on his bike while training the week before. Enjoyed having him come for support instead!

The fan squad-Jordan, Chris, Justin, Ben, Me, Lindsay

Headed into the cold water for the mile swim

So proud of these two!!!

Sarah ready to race