A Weekend With Reese

Biggie + Reese 

Isn't Reese like the cutest dog ever? I was lucky enough to spend a whole weekend with him. My work is a very dog friendly place and almost everyone brings their dog to work. One of my coworkers asked if I could dogsit Reese for the weekend while she was on vacation. Reese and I had already become BFFs at work so I was more than happy to watch him.  

My friend Amy has a dog name Biggie that looks just like Reese. We decided that it would be fun to take the dogs to Prospect Park in Brooklyn. So on Saturday, Amy, her boyfriend and I brought our dogs, grabbed lunch and walked in the park all day long. 

Besides taking Reese to the park we hung out all weekend like best friends. We went to bed together, watched Netflix together and I basically took him with me everywhere I went. We were attached at the hip. On Sunday morning I went on a run in the park and my roommate volunteered to watch him for 30 minutes. When I got home, Reese was waiting for me at the door. I was dying, I thought it was the cutest thing ever. He was jumping on top of me, so excited that I had come home.  My roommate was like, "he has serious separation anxiety when you aren't around." 

Unfortunately I had to give Reese back to his momma on Monday morning. I can't believe how attached I get to this dog. But, I have these adorable videos and pictures to remember our fun 3 days together :)

November Recap

It's December so it is time to do a November recap on my blog. It's a little late to post about November but it has been difficult balancing my time between work and the holidays. My blog hasn't been a major priority and I also haven't been super diligent about taking a lot of pictures. 

My family came into town for Thanksgiving. This was my first Thanksgiving in New York. I am glad I stayed in the city this year. I wanted to experience the holidays in Manhattan. While they were here, we went to the Macy's Day Parade, walked around Rockefeller Center and made sure to hit all the shops on 5th avenue. Being together with family is a beautiful thing and I am thankful my family and I have been fortunate to still be able to spend time together even though we are all spread out. My brother and sister in law live in New Jersey, my sister Jen lives in Boston and my youngest sister has been on a study abroad in London for the past few months. 

Next week I will be on a plane back to Utah to spend Christmas at home. I can't wait to see my friends and family that I haven't seen in a while and I am definitely looking forward to the break off work. The holidays are my favorite time of the year and I am really looking forward to these next few weeks :)

 

I Love This Song

Sunday In Philadelphia

A couple of Sundays ago, my friend Amy and I took an early morning train ride to Philly. I wish I would have taken pictures on the train ride, because looking out the window at the beautiful scenery was heavenly. I felt like I was in a dream. 

The train left at 8:05am from Penn Station and I got there at 8am. I set my alarm for 6:45am so I could pack my bag, get ready and be out the door without feeling rushed. Well.... I did not hear my alarm and I woke up in a panic when I saw that it was 7:20am. I woke up to a million texts from Amy being like "You up?" "Hello, I am starting to worry?" "Are you coming!!!!" I bolted out the door and ran all the way to the subway station from my apartment. I really didn't want to let Amy down, because we had been so excited for this trip. We had planned it like 6weeks in advance and were talking about how much we were looking forward to it all week long. I was going to be supppperrrr bummed out if we didn't end up going because I woke up late.

Well I ended up making it....but not before I had to run from the 42nd street Time Square stop, to the 34th street Penn Station stop because, for whatever reason the subway I was on decided that 42nd street was going to be its last stop (typical.) Things always go wrong at the worst times!! I thought to myself, I can either wait for the next subway...or I can just book it 10 blocks down the street. I figured I would be faster on my feet and I would have a better chance of making it to Penn Station on time. So there I was, at 7:50 in the morning, running as fast as I could down 7th Avenue. The taxi driver that saw me kept gesturing for me to get in his car, but I kept telling him I was almost there and that I didn't need a ride! He followed me a block or two before he finally got the hint that I was not getting in his car. Amy was of course happy to see me when I finally arrived at the train station! And thank goodness I made it, because we had the funnest day! 

My good friend Grayson lives in Philadelphia where he is finishing his last year of law school. We have been friends since my freshman year of college! We met at a block party at Utah State University, so many years ago. I had blonde hair at the time and he was in a band called Battle Field? or Battle Ship? or Battle School? Or whatever the name was. He approached me, we started talking and we have been good friends ever since. Gray showed Amy and I around the city and he took us to all the cool spots :) We had brunch, walked around and he took us on a tour of his campus. 

I have this playlist I listen to every year at this time and most of the songs on it are Bon Iver songs. I don't know what it is, but I just think Bon Iver is meant to be played when it is cold outside. 

You know when you don't play a song for the longest time and then you listen to it again and it takes you back to the best times in your life!? Music can really take you back and make you remember. These were some of my favorites in college that I would listen to around this time of the year. I would listen to Bon Iver and music like his while I walked to class and the leaves were changing on campus :) Gotta love the good ole days. Enjoy!

October

October has been good to me so far. I love this month. It's the best when it is sunny outside but the weather starts cooling down and the leaves begin to change. I love festivities and this month kicks off the holiday season. I love walking into stores and seeing decorations everywhere. To me fall means being cozy, pulling out my heated blanket and lighting candles every time I turn on a Netflix show. 

Every weekend up until this weekend, I've had visitors come stay with me or I have gone away to visit friends in other cities. I have been to Atlanta, Boston and New York. I went apple picking with my sister Jen and road tripped to Philly with my mom so we could see Independence Hall. Experiences are better when they are shared with someone else and I am so glad these last two months have been so up beat. 

I compare a lot of my relationships that I have had throughout the course of my life to a tree. A weird comparison, I know, but my roommate introduced this analogy to me and a light bulb went on in my head. There are some people in your life that are your roots. They keep you grounded and they see you through everything. They are the people you can count on. Other people are like leaves. They make your life beautiful but they are only in your life for a short amount of time. I believe there are reasons why certain people come into our lives but some relationships aren't meant to last forever. One of my favorite quotes says, "In life you'll meet two kinds of people: the ones who build you up and the ones who tear you down. In the end, you'll thank them both." 

New York Weekends

Julie, Me & Amy 

Julie is my Utah best friend. We met in college. Amy is my New York best friend. We interned together when I first moved to the city.

The three of us hung out all weekend long :) 

Saturday afternoon, Julie and I brunched at Lido. It is an Italian resturaunt up the street from my house. 

Julie has visited New York quite a few times. Now when she comes to the city we just chill. We sleep in, eat brunch and lounge the whole day until we are hungry again.  

Bar Primi is my favorite Italian restaurant in the city! It has an excellent brunch and dinner menu! These pictures are from our Sunday brunch. 

Julie and I dressed up on Saturday night for a girls night out on the town. We haven't had a girls night in such a long time. I miss having my best friend with me 24/7 like old times in college. 

This is how you grill in New York City. Gyu Kaku is a Japanese restaurant where you grill freshly prepared meats and vegetables at your own table. I highly recommend it!  

Labor Day Weekend

Good bye summer and hello to fall. Not that it feels like fall yet, it is still blazing hot in the city. I don't know about everyone else, but I am definitely excited for the temperature to drop and the leaves to change. This past weekend my best friend Julie came into town!!! We met in college as roommates and have been best friends ever since. Although we don't see each other too much anymore we still talk everyday and I always look forward to when she comes to town. 

Delicatessen is easily one of my favorite restaurants in NYC. I realize I use that term loosely when I post about food on my blog. But can you blame me? New York has the best food in the whole world! Everything at Delicatessen is delicious but their Mac Rueben is what really sets it apart. 

On Monday my brother and his wife came in from New Jersey to hang out with Julie and I. They wanted to hang out in Greenwich Village. I love the West Village but I am not super familiar with it. However, the thing that is so amazing about New York, is that you don't need to plan your day out. You just happen upon so many amazing restaurants, shops and places to hang out. 

For brunch, we found a darling restaurant called Meme Mediterranean. I am sure you can tell by the pictures that it is delicious. 

I am so lucky that one of my best friends is a native New Yorker. I always let Amy decide where we eat. She orders for me and I trust her recommendations! On Sunday Julie, Amy and I went to Shanghai Asian Manor in China Town for soup dumplings. 

Our last and final day at the beach did not go very smoothly. We got lost on our way there, our umbrella was not cooperating and it was so windy!! I guess this is just one of the signs that summer is over and there will be no more beach days. My best memories from this summer include our road trips to Robert Moses beach. We said our final goodbyes on Saturday. It was a little heart breaking.

We ended the beach day with a seafood dinner at the Oyster Bar. We always order more food than we can stomach. Pictured above are oysters (my favorite), baked clams, fried calamari, french onion soup, shrimp and seafood linguine!!

Labor Day weekend is over but at least I get to spend one more weekend with Julie. She is in Boston  for the week at a work conference and then she will come back to New York one more time before returning home to Utah. I can't wait!