Friends in the City

Moving to/living in New York has given us some of our closest couples friends. Almost as soon as Clark knew he had an internship offer at CS he organized a big game night for all the other couples moving out to NYC. I was really nervous about forcing all these poor girls to be friends with me, but turns out we all get along so well! So before the internship last summer I had a huge group of amazing girls to hang out with while our husbands worked 24/7. 

And then we met even more friends this past year at BYU and over this summer in NYC! I can't believe how lucky we are to have so many great friends in the city - here for internships, for training, for vacations, and for permanent jobs! I know it's cheesy, and maybe I've been watching too many F.R.I.E.N.D.S. episodes, but I really feel like we've become a little family out here in NY - all of us are always there for each other during these busy/crazy years. So here's some of the fun stuff we've all been up to recently:

^This cute girl turned 24!!! So on her birthday we went to the Brooklyn Flea market. We had such a blast looking through all the neat vintage items, cool local crafts, and eating sweet treats. Thanks for letting me take up your whole birthday afternoon Morgan!^

^We also took Morgan out to a birthday dinner at El Centro!^

^The following night we had a triple birthday party for Morgan, Mani, and Brian who all turned 24 within a few days of each other! It was so fun! And a huge thanks to the Clark's, who invited us all up to their rooftop for the party^

^Brian^

^Mani!^

^Morgan!^

^How's that for a birthday party "photo wall"^

^Darling and delicious cake Lauren made!^

^Singing happy birthday to these 24 year olds^

^Lots of great wishes happening in this pic^

^A few days later Clark and I finally got pictures to go on our front room wall! We only need to buy a TV and then we're totally moved in!^

^I stumbled across this beautiful shop during on of my walks around the neighborhood. This is totally my dream. I want a library like this someday!^

^The next weekend we got together with a bunch of our friends for a day at the beach! At first we were nervous our beach day was going to get rained out, but luckily the sun came out and our picnic was perfect! The only bad part about the day was it was our last time hanging out with Morgan and Adam - he finished his internship, and they had to go back to UT. But hopefully they'll join us permanently next year!^

^Coney island is so fun!^

^Oh and for those of you who wonder what I do during the day? I'm a temp! Meaning I have a very flexible schedule and do temporary secretary work for a bunch of different companies. It's a fun job. Perfect for the summer, because on my days off I get time to explore the city. However, come fall I think I'll be more interested in having a permanent schedule, so if you know of any public health jobs in NYC I'm your girl!^

^A few days later Lauren, Camille, Mani, and I explored Greenwich Village. We started off at Big Gay Ice Cream (yum) and then walked around the darling maze-like streets. I was DYING over all the apartments and brownstones. So many of them were covered in ivy just like this!^

^This was taken in the garden of St. Luke's Chapel. You can't even tell we're in the middle of the city!^

^Oh and thanks to Morgan's wonderful recommendation, we checked out this tasty shop - Sockerbit! It's a Swedish candy store and YUM they had some good stuff^

^you could say we had a "sweet" afternoon^

^The next day Whitney, Mani, and I walked around central park and got some cookies from Levains. YUM. haha I guess I really do just go eat sweets ;) ^

That evening a large part of our NYC crew met up at the World Trade Center memorial. Now last year we were able to go to the beautiful park and memorial they have set up where the towers used to be. This May they opened up the museum. It is the most emotionally powerful museum I have ever been to. They have so many artifacts from that horrible day. Tons of recordings from people who experienced the attacks and survived. And so many voicemails from people in the buildings/plane who called their loved ones to say good-bye. Those were horrible to listen to. But it was so wonderful to know that their loved ones have that to remember them by. The museum really makes you proud to be an American. And it's such a perfect way to honor those who lost their lives that day. Honestly, if you can only do one thing on your next visit to NYC, visit the museum. We only could spend an hour in the museum (because of our ticket time) but I hope we can go back soon and spend a whole day pouring over everything. 

^At the base of the building, where you enter the gallery portion of the museum. This is the retaining wall that holds back the Hudson River from flooding the Financial district.^

^They had a neat world map where you could write your feelings about 9/11 and they would be projected on the wall^

^Some of the original steel structure with the new freedom tower in the background^

^The memorial for the North tower^

^We are so grateful we got to go to the museum together. And although we didn't get a group shot, I am so glad we were able to share this neat experience with so many of our closest friends!^

^And to end on a much happier note, another NYC favorite is having friends/family come and visit me! So one of my best HS girlfriends, Alexis (& her darling family), my brother-in-law Matt (picture below), and cute Kelli (above) have come to visit us. If you have plans to visit the city, please let us know! I really love seeing familiar faces in this wonderful city!^

^With Matt!^