FINALLY DONE WITH FINALS

(for this semester that is... if you thought I was a mess this semester aka if you were with me this semester at all and saw first hand, then we better all prepare ourselves for the quals next May)

Some of the best things about being in Utah include:
skiing
my family
home
kershaw
driving

Within my first few days of being home, I got all of those :) Wow, I love Christmas at home.

Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time

Did I write that title because Carine hates that song because it's extremely catchy and gets stuck in her head all the time?

Yes.

Does it describe my Christmas season perfectly?

Yes.

Do I have incredible friends who make me food and bring me ice cream and keep me sane during finals?

Yes. A million times yes.

M&M Store

There's a special kind of bond and friendship formed from experiencing the ups and downs of high school together. It is the type of bond where you allow these friends to drag you to the M&M store without putting up a fight or even rolling your eyes more than once. These friends for me? Carl & Shlynny. In fact, I'd have a full tourist weekend with these two. I would go to Times Square and Macy's for them. Even Black Tap to get the crazy shakes.

So that's just what we did.

NYC Thanksgiving

I love that my family loves where I live. We find every excuse possible for everyone to come out to New York. The fun part about having everyone out here is that they've been here many times before and we are all done doing the "touristy" things. Instead we go to movies, hang out at the hotel, eat food, go to basketball games, and shop. This trip was particularly freezing (did someone say the coldest Thanksgiving Day Parade in 100 years??) so we went to a movie every night. Okay, it wasn't every single night, but it started getting to feel that way until I began to protest and Dad suggested going to a game instead (which everyone loved, so it worked out well for all of us).

Mom made sure we had a hotel that overlooked the parade so that we could watch in our pajamas. Megan, Carine, and Steph (Carine's sister) joined us for parade viewing, which was fun! Mom and Dad ventured outside for a few minutes to say they watched it from the street, but the rest of us were perfectly content in the warmth of the hotel room. I feel no regrets.

Thanksgiving dinner was hosted by Carmine's and wow what a perfect meal...all the food, none of the work. We just showed up and they started bringing out huge dishes full of potatoes, stuffing, turkey, more potatoes, veggies, etc. etc. and even pumpkin pie. Megan and I will have leftovers for weeks (or at least until they begin to rot).

Thankful for...

... my family

... my friends

... and the feeling of being at home in this amazing city.

Knicks game and hair braiding.

Megan was taking care of Dorito the lizard while John and Michael were out of town, so Rin and I snuck in to practice
the piano (thanks, Michael!).

Hahah I love this one of Mom. (Also don't Christopher and Nicholas look so cute?)

Tay-J no longer (but yay!!!)

Ahhh this weekend my best friend forever got married and everything was perfect. So perfect that I really don't have that many photos of the wedding itself. I spent the entire day with Taylor and it was EXACTLY what I wanted. I loved every moment. The night before we had a mini bachelorette party with just the two of us, meaning I had her wear her "bride to be" paraphernalia and we packed for her honeymoon. The next day, I picked Tay up early and we went to get her makeup done, then headed to Provo to meet up with Cole and the rest of her family. Their sealing wasn't until 3 pm, so we had the whole morning to slowly get ready and just chill. After making sure that everything was set at the reception center (we hardly had to do anything; everyone else was so on top of it!), Cole and Taylor went to take Cole to drop off a final exam (rough...wedding day finals) and I picked up Cafe Rio. The three of us sat and ate Cafe Rio all together discussing how nice it was to have a leisurely morning rather than an entire stressful day. I felt honored that they would let me third wheel with them all day.

Soon enough, it was time to get ready for the wedding! Taylor and Cole left earlier and I hung out with the rest of the family until it was time for us to leave as well. I love their family so much!! They really are like my second family and I love that I can comfortably hang out with them even without Tay around. After the sealing (beautiful!!) and pictures (freezing! but fun), our friends and Cole's friends, both families, and of course Tay and Cole, all hung out at the reception center together until it was actually time for the reception. Those 30 minutes, or however long it was, were some of my favorite. Everyone was happy and peaceful and at ease even while prepping for the reception. Taylor was happy and calm and just in love. I loved it.

The reception was perfect. Everything went without a hitch. Food, friends, family, dancing, and everything was beautiful.

Tessa and I on "Tide-to-Go" duty

The only non-professional photo we got together that night hahaha.

My People Here

Hey, Mom... I'm being well taken care of here by some pretty amazing people that I love a whole lot and I'm really happy.

San Francisco

Carine and I have made it a goal to travel once a year for college football. This year we headed to California for the UW vs. Cal game. Let's not talk about that game because it was very disappointing. What we should talk about is the magical weekend we had in SF! Carine and I flew in Thursday night and Nate picked us up from the airport. Nate recently moved to SF and was so kind to host us all weekend!

While Nate was at work on Friday, Carine and I enjoyed the perfect vacation day of sleeping in, running to the Golden Gate Bridge, walked around downtown, ate delicious food, got pedicures, and met several UW fans. We met up with Nate after work and he took us to his favorite sunset spot overlooking the city. Beautiful. That night we all "dressed up" and headed to the Berkeley Institute dance, which was actually amazingly fun. Nate was "pajamas", Carine and I were "the night sky," and together we were "bed time." At one point Carine and I literally evacuated the dance floor because we were all out dancing and it was a dream (dances where you know basically no one and don't care what anyone thinks are most definitely the most fun). We convinced a couple people to go to In-N-Out after the dance (us East Coast girls are deprived!!) and soon enough people leaving the dance were chanting "In-N-Out! In-N-Out!" and tons of people ended up going. Carine and I felt pretty cool getting all these strangers to come with us 🙃

Nate has a goal to surf every weekend, so Saturday morning we went with him to the beach and while he surfed, we drove the coast a bit! Ahh, California beaches are beautiful and coasts are beautiful and it was great. After surfing and eating delicious pastries, we headed to Berkeley for the UW game! On our way, we stopped at La Taqueria in the Mission to eat what probably was the best burrito I have ever had. Yum. The football game was 1) disappointing because UW didn't do so hot... but 2) amazing to be back at a game cheering for UW.

We left early Sunday morning and were sad to have to go. What a perfect weekend and fun little vacation. Thank you, Nate, for being the best host!! We will be back as soon as we possibly can 😊

Boston

It's about time I start taking advantage of all these amazing East Coast cities so nearby! Logan has siblings living in Boston who were so kind to let us stay with them for a weekend as explored Boston, wandering around Harvard, eating delicious food, watching the Head of Charles Regatta, walking the Freedom Trail, and hiking around Walden Pond.

"Enter to grow in wisdom."

Hahahahah accidental stage lighting photo of the French toast.

I cannot resist a face-in-the-hole picture.

LOVE Logan's family!! Thank you for hosting all weekend :)