Remember how a while ago I was attempting to post once a week? Well obviously, that hasn't worked out so well for me. So let's just talk about all of June.
1. Mama Emma. Carine's 95-year-old grandmother who lives on the Upper West Side and raised her family in this same apartment. Ever since Sarah and I moved out to New York at the same time almost a year ago, we've tried to visit Mama Emma every so often. She only speaks Spanish, so we bring our friend, Ricardo, with us to help translate. She shares with us stories of her life and time in New York, gives us advice (my favorite being that I need to learn Spanish so I can get a good boyfriend), and always showers us with love.
2. The temple. I went through the
temple once I got home from the UK with Carine. I loved having my parents and Gram with me and I loved going through the Manhattan temple where everything feels more personal and like home. I've been coming to the temple nearly weekly for a while now to do baptisms and I started to get to know all the temple workers. President Bean would often come down and say hello while I was in the baptistry and he ALWAYS had the exact piece of advice to my unasked question. He is so in tune with the Spirit, it is a huge blessing and example to me. (Also, what a testimony builder to know that Heavenly Father knows our unasked questions and they are important enough to Him that He prompts someone else to answer them.)
One day when I ran into President Bean after a stake conference where he had, again, spoken on an exact topic I needed to hear (I can't remember what it was now, but I remember just being in awe that he always seems to know what I need), we began chatting and he asked me, "Why aren't you endowed?" I thought about it for a moment and really had no good reason. I gave an excuse along the lines of "I missed the start of the last temple prep class, so I was just going to wait until the next one." His answer? "You know my temple prep class? On the way to the temple for the first time, my dad looked at me and said, 'Son, this is going to blow your mind.' Do you study the scriptures? [*I nodded*] Do you love the Lord? [*I nodded*]. Then that's all you need." He told me, "You don't need to go through right this second, but now is the time to start praying about it."
Well, that was the exact push I needed and I immediately made appointments to start getting my recommend and go through. The temple brings the gospel to life. I had a testimony before, but now everything feels so REAL and important. I don't even know if I can adequately describe it any more than "real." I have since loved going back almost every week.
3. 4. 5. Lab. Double date (more like, excuse to hang out with the lovely Lindsay). Picnic in the park (with surprise appearance from Shakespeare in the Park and its entire audience).
6. Beach Day. Coney Island happened to be having their Mermaid Parade, so the subway was insane and the crowds were (probably normal) out of control. BUT the beach was surprisingly beautiful and nice!! I don't know what I expected...I think I expected a gross beach where you can hardly stand to sit on the sand without a towel. That was not the case. It was beautiful! The water was freezing, but I did not want to be the girl who went to the beach and never got in the water, so I made it a priority to first thing run into the water and get it over with. Turns out, you got used to it kind of after a few minutes (but not used to it enough to spend an entire afternoon swimming). Sidebar: all three girls immediately ran into the ocean and I don't think any of the boys swam, so turn of events when it comes to stereotypes.
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| I know... three of practically the same photo. But I love them all and this is my blog, so I can do stuff like that. |
7. Lab outing (!!!). Shivam moved to New York from India for his masters degree and Martin moved from France to research for the summer. Neither of them had ever been to a baseball game before, so we decided it was time to introduce them to America's favorite pastime!
8. FHE. I've been family home evening "mom" for my little group of blocks and I've loved the excuse of planning weekly activities for people to come hang out with me!! Game nights, ice cream nights, dinner, walks around the reservoir, Yankees vs. Mariners game (go M's!) and much more 🙃
9. Haley's birthday. Bless Haley for welcoming me to New York with open arms! We all went around the table saying when we first met Haley and almost every single person commented, "In my first two months in New York when I didn't have any friends, Haley invited me to hang out with her." 💕 We celebrated with tea at The Plaza! Such a fancy and classy afternoon with fancy and classy ladies :)
10. Smorgasbord. This one picture deserves its own section and let me tell you why. After 3 months in New York, I started feeling settled. After about 6 months in New York, I loved it. But after I started hanging out with Celeste, I truly felt at home. This smorgasbord day is still referenced often. We both were going home to an empty house and a pretty bleak dinner. Sooo instead we brought our bleak dinners together and came up with a pretty delicious and filling random smorgasbord dinner!
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John came over later with fancy potatoes and veggies to share with us, which was very kind and much appreciated, but first
we had him take a picture of our well-rounded and nutritious meal of tamales, rice, golden grahams, and ramen noodles. |
11. Krista's graduation. Congrats, Krista!! Also super nervous to try to attempt to do everything Krista knew how to do without her around to show me the ropes. Gerard said to us, "Courtney, make sure you learn everything before Krista leaves." Everything. Daunting. (But also exciting!)
12. Visited home. ❤️
