august dreams

Salt Lake living is good. And I feel pretty strongly about how awesome August is. But I still have a lot I want to fit in to the Utah part of summer.

Any other suggestions?
And want to join in any of the fun?

Picture Recap

Before I started this blog, I distinctly told my husband how I wasn't worried about material to blog about. I had entries upon entries in mind, which I rattled off to him. I made sure I had that list, because I didn't want to start another blog if I was ONLY going to write while we were in NY.

The problem, folks, is not content. I have some anecdotes and some pictures and some thoughts.
Part of the problem could be attributed to hectic/lazy summer life. But the real problem for a scarcity of blog posts is presence of mind. I told my husband the other day how I feel a little lost. "Happy, but lost," I explained.

For the first time in two decades, this fall I will not be starting a school year. The past few years I've started new jobs/projects with BYU that coincided with the new year, and this year is not the same.
We are also pretty plan-less as Jason is finishing his last 2.5 weeks of classes (yippee!) and applying for jobs and internships, well, everywhere.

Who's to say what's ahead?

Here's some looks back at the past few weeks that I don't want to forget.
If I were a better person/blogger, they'd all be formatted in the same aspect ratio or at least in a more aesthetically-pleasing format.

Locations include Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, the Uintahs, Big Cottonwood Canyon, Millcreek area, and en route to any of those places.

Waterslides with cousins, man.

We thought we had successfully landed in California--and smoothly handled a flight alone! She threw up immediately after this picture.

Waking up in a tent.

silence on the airwaves

Between moves, trips out to the west coast, starting classes, parades, and a lot of family time, we simply haven't been blogging.

We're in Utah now! For awhile.
More soon.

not fully sober

I didn't realize he was drunk immediately, but the pictures he offered to take for us soon showed it clear enough. I have to say, getting a few family snapshots taken by a drunk isn't the least entertaining thing we've done.

Clearly it's a little difficult to hold steady enough to frame all of us in the shot.

On a similar note, yesterday as I was going to meet some friends I met a man in the subway elevator. After a few words about the time and what floor we each needed to go to, he added a slurred "Do I look okay for an interview?"

I looked over his suit and tie and assured him his outfit was great.

"Okay, I'm just really nervous." His words were hardly separate. He was a little slow in expressions and reactions. He was very sincere, and also very plastered for a man on a Tuesday at noon who, by all means, should be extremely nervous about an upcoming interview in his current state.

He ended up in our subway car and tried very hard to focus on the map, all the while asking how to get to Lexington Ave. I tried to be encouraging, and then snuck away. I figured he'd have his own remorse coming if he was nervous enough about a a job to get this drunk and effectively shoot his own chances.



It is a bit of a relief that we never have to worry about our inebriated decisions.

These are a few of our favorite things:

As our time here grows short, we're thinking a lot about this city.

Here are a few of our favorite things:

- art museums
- doughnuts. for the love, these doughnuts.
- street fairs
- Brooklyn
- Central Park
- hair envy. people here have really great hair.
- the sense of community. New Yorkers are proud of where they're from and united in their own cute way. (Jason describes it as the "older sibling" feeling: they give it to you straight and are often pretty rude. But you feel like if you really needed them, they've got your back.)
- art museums
- Greta in a raincoat
- Central Park
- how many things you can do for free. We're really going to miss free museum nights.
- tall tree canopies. I'm sorry, but nothing compares to New England trees.
- Prospect Park
- bakeries
- living on the coast and being close to the ocean
- New York accents
- art museums
- how green it is
- dogs in bags on the train
- the Children's Reading Room in the library
- parks and playgrounds and splash pads everywhere
- the subway. it's a drag sometimes, but actually an amazingly efficient system. and living without a car ain't so bad!
- pizza. it's different out here.
- did we mention Central Park?
- rich-people streets with doormen and rich-people dogs
- how much is going on all the time. Jason and I do not mind the fast pace of this city one bit.


A few least favorites:
- rootbeer is not a standard fountain drink
- the smell of urine in elevators everywhere. The other day there was just straight-up a puddle.
- so many stairs, so little stroller accessibility. We have no idea how people live in this city in a wheelchair.
- language. we've discovered the common vernacular can be pretty vulgar, at best.
- how the humidity makes our crackers and chips weirdly soft and stale







Thursday's goodbye is not going to be easy.
We've been here long enough that we ache at the thought of going and we realize how much of our heart might forever stay here. I also get sentimental about absolutely every place we live, so you can bet we'll get home and I'll go through all of our pictures and post 40,759,237 of them.

the summer my baby slept in a suitcase

 

Our move via airplane did not allow for much packing room. Sadly, my daughter's beautiful crib just did not make the cross country journey. And nor did her pack'n'play.

We planned to get something for her here -- and instead just got a little creative with what we had and the lack of space in our studio apartment here.

Do what you gotta do, right?

At least she'll have a good story to tell.

postcards from the Browns

I believe that most pictures are best with *people* in them.
I learned this watching my grandpa's old home movies. They were really great, but he focused mainly on the plant life of wherever they were vacationing. I was going crazy wanting him to turn the camera on his cute family, and could've cared less about the flora! So I made the decision that I would take pictures of people.

Well. We do have a lot of those. In the thousands.
But here are a few exceptions we've taken recently--and by no coincidence, some of our favorite views.

Brooklyn Heights Promenade offers a one-of-a-kind view of Manhattan.

Coney Island on Memorial Day

Dominique Ansel knows what he's about.

Doesn't take long to be a Yankees fan.

We can't get enough of this city.