Let's not let a little WORK get in the way of a lot of FUN!

Despite Clark having to work long long hours, and the fact that I spend most of my day in an office now, we've still managed to squeeze a TON of fun into our busy schedules!


Right before Clark started full time we had a couple of days to enjoy the city - and one of our favorite places to visit is definitely Central Park. But we had never really seen the north end of the park! And what better way to explore than via the bike trail?! I highly recommend it. I will admit that once you start heading back downtown on the loop there is a pretty steep uphill by my standards. There may have been a couple of times when I had to get off my bike and walk it up the hill.... whoops! But it was really a neat way to explore the park - and we were able to find more areas of the park to explore later! We rented bikes from a kind of sketchy looking group, but they had the cheapest deal and we were able to easily ride the whole loop in an hour - with time to spare for pictures and stopping to admire the park! And it was SO fun to go with the Hopkins. We're so lucky to have great friends who are always up for an adventure!

Clark's final work-free day I got up early to wait in line for student rush Cinderella (and Lauren came to help me get tickets!). I was able to see Cinderella last summer with Clark's family (see this post) but poor Clark was busy working and couldn't come. So we were super excited to see it together!! I love this take on the classic fairytale - it was the Rodgers and Hammerstein version! The music is so fun and the plot has some clever twists! Definitely a good one to see if you ever come to visit. And I STILL don't know how they accomplished some of the magic transformations!

 

I'm so lucky I found my prince charming!! No need for magic glass slippers for me - although they are pretty marvelous! 

After the play we got Junior's cheescake. Best. Cheesecake. Ever. Get the raspberry swirl and I promise you won't regret it! 

The next morning Clark started as a full time Analyst for Credit Suisse! I'm so proud of him! Doesn't he make such a handsome investment banker?

Our sweet friends from Provo, Kayla and Jordan, were able to grab dessert with us during their visit to NYC! We went to Dylan's candy bar, which has such a fun atmosphere. I got their frozen hot chocolate - it was good but not as good as Serendipity's. But their ice cream sundaes looked like they were delicious! Maybe next time :)  After dessert we took the Roosevelt Island tram over a) to watch Goldfinger in the park with the Maxwell's and Gladstons, and b) to show Jordan and Kayla the gorgeous aerial view of midtown. I totally recommend taking the tram at least once! You get such a neat view, especially when you're Manhattan bound! 

I don't know if I'll ever get over how amazing the Empire State Building looks from my window. And I love it when they change the colors on the lights! 

I LOVE going out with these cute girls! This statue is right outside my office building and it was so fun to meet up with Lauren and Jani after work.

First we went to Sprinkle's cupcakes for a much overdue birthday treat for Jani! I got the black and white (super rich frosting!) and Jani got the smores (yes that is toasted marshmallow on top). 

You could say I was excited to try the famous cupcakes. And how cute is their store?!

This is the view from my office. Pretty incredible right? And the company I work for has two offices one right by the big LOVE statue. The other office (where I am right now!) is even closer to Central Park and I'll try to snag a picture of its AMAZING view.

This hottie was able to visit me for lunch! How ironic is it that the friday before Labor Day I had to work and Clark was off?! I was bummed, but at least we got to meet for lunch and he didn't have to work the whole long weekend. 

Did I mention my office is super close to Central Park?! I love walking up there during my lunch breaks. 

So to start off our Labor Day weekend, on Saturday we went to brunch at Sarabeth's. There's one one block away from Clark and I. And it is FANTASTIC.

I got their toasted coconut waffle with fresh diced mango, vanilla rum butter, orange marmalade, and their house syrup. It was the most amazing breakfast. Best one in the city so far!  I will say if you want a cheaper but also amazing brunch go to Eatery in Hell's Kitchen. Their cornflake crusted french toast was delicious too... haha just thinking about all these good brunches makes me excited to visit even more yummy places! 

Anyways, after brunch we went up to Sheep Meadow to just chill and throw a frisbee around. It was awesome! It's a pretty good place to people watch too. There's always some crazy person/some weird thing happening  that entertains everyone else! After our day at the park we grabbed some dollar pizza (another NY favorite - so far the best dollar pizza I've had is on 9th between 50th and 51st). Then we went up to James and Jani's to watch Divergent! Overall a great and super fun/relaxing day.

On Sunday we went to church, got to go to Sunday School and Relief Society (usually we're in nursery, but this was our Sunday off). After church we had some new friends over for dessert & games!! I have to say at first I was nervous about our ward, just because it is the smallest ward I've ever been in. But it is such a fantastic ward and we've already made so many great friends. I love it! 

On Monday, after sleeping in  (the BEST) we took a trip to Morningside Heights with the Crawleys to see St. John the Divine's cathedral and explore Columbia's campus. Firs stop was the Cathedral! It is such a gorgeous building! Apparently it's the 4th largest Christian church in the world! Such a beautiful building.

My favorite thing about visiting cathedrals? Stained glass windows. St. John's did not dissapoint! Just look at those jewel tones!!!!!!!!!

While exploring the area we happened upon Riverside Church! For any of you who went to BYU's sacred gifts exhibit, this church houses several of Heinrich Hofmann's paintings of Christ. Unfortunately it was closed, but we'll definitely make a return trip to see the inside! 

Columbia has such a dreamy campus - and I love this plaque on one of their music halls!

I had to for my dad "Brian the Lion".

We sure love the Crawleys!! It was such a blast walking around Columiba/Morningside Heights with them!

Even though she's not our Alma Mater, she's pretty cool.

Don't you think Columbia's main hall looks like the "scare hall" in Monster's university?! We did too!

After Columbia we grabbed some Shake Shack and met up with more friends for a mini picnic in Central Park and then Catch Phrase at the Crawleys (girls totally won! 2 out of 3 games!). A pretty awesome holiday weekend and a whole lot of fun. Now back to work! :)