One cool dude!

Happy Birthday Will! Dan and I were just talking today about how much we love this kid and his sweet personality! I have a special place in my heart for Willie probably because he is the baby and I have always felt protective of him. He has come a long way since his toddler days of wild willie (who was constantly in time-out because of his stubbornness)! Will has grown into such a babe and we can hardly believe he is seventeen!

Sweet Tooth

I have never been one who loved sweets too much, in fact I would generally say I don't care to much for candy and although I like ice cream, I definitely don't Love treats the way Dan does. This was true until I discovered two delicious yummy treats I have been obsessing about lately!

I wouldn't be a good friend if I didn't introduce all of you to the most delicious little ice cream sandwiches money can buy! Apparently the folks at Ciao Bella Gelato and Eleni's cookies got together and decided it would be a good idea to make the most amazing and irresistible ice cream sandwich money could buy, and that is how The Ottimo (pictured above) was born! I would definitely recommend the strawberry and snicker doodle! They are delicious!
And my other new obsession, Pink Berry. Never been a big fan of Frozen Yogurt but this stuff is pretty dang good, and since we live so close to one, it is hard for me not to pop in when I walk by! As of now, Pink Berry is only in California and New York, but if you have the opportunity to try, don't pass it up!

I am loving the little taste of fall fashions we have been getting, and some of my favorites have come from a store I had almost written off, The Gap! I am especially in love with the suede ballet flats for only $38!

And this post wouldn't be complete without mentioning some of the new stuff at J. Crew. I have to say I was somewhat disappointed but there were some new pieces I might not be able to live without....A cute fall trench, a cardigan in a great fall color, and yet another pair of suede flats!

Princess Amanda!

This adorable picture of our niece Amanda Jane from Katie's blog made my day! She has grown so much since we saw her about 6 weeks ago! What a darling!

The next generation of Soccer fans

Let's just say I think the nephews loved the gifts Dan's parent's got them in Peru!

Fireworks and Fourth of July

For as long as I can remember, the Fourth of July has been one of my favorite holidays. Maybe it is my love for fireworks (the purple and white are my favorite) or the pure celebration of lazy summer days, but I get all giddy at even a hint of red, white and blue. Growing up, the fourth of July meant one celebration after another and day full of swimming parties at a friends or the local country club (where they would let goldfish loose in the pool for all the kiddies to catch) , homemade ice cream, juicy hamburgers and congregating on the golf course to stake out the perfect spot for fireworks. For me, the fourth of July has always been sort of a ritual, one of those holidays I knew exactly how I wanted to play out.

Despite my longings for the other idyllic childhood memories, I have spent many fourth of July holidays in equally memorable and different forms of celebration. I remember particularly when I was 17 and traveling in Europe with friends spending the fourth hiking near Grindlewald in Switzerland and passing other Americans sporting R,W, & B. Trips to Lake Powell with the family, sleepovers at the cabin, and the annual trips to the Oakley Rodeo in full cowboy gear, a more recent tradition that Dan and I have loved the pass three years, and will miss this summer!

Fast forward years later, to now. I am sure this Fourth of July however new and different it will be, will end up equally as wonderful, although I will pine for the family celebration in the backyard, it is exciting to think of creating a new kind of holiday tradition for Dan and I to share. As of now our plans include a church breakfast, a beach day with friends, rooftop fireworks, and hopefully, if we are really lucky, some homemade ice cream!
To all of you out there in the blogging world! Happy Fourth of July!

Say hello...

to the i-phone! As cool as it looks, I already hate this thing. My office is on the same block as the apple store and the line is wrapped around the block with smelly cranky people who have been camping out for days to get their hands on one of these puppies.

For some humor and sass re: this new gadget, visit one of my new favorite blogs, the fake Steve Jobs . Some anonymous guy writes this blog as journal entries of Steve Jobs, head of Apple. Pretty clever!

Coney Island Crowds

Note to self, when going to a popular summer attraction, check if there is a parade going on first. We headed out to Coney Island on Saturday with Kristi and Noah, only to discover that Coney Island as we know it had been overtaken by all sorts of crazy mermaids! I guess the mermaid parade is fairly notorious event @ Coney Island that celebrates, as Dan put it, "the free bohemian spirit of NY and Coney Island" though some locals also know as a gay/lesbian pride parade, while I wasn't quite sure what to think of it, it was funny since most people used it as an opportunity to wear scandalous outfits the probably shouldn't be seen in(excessive cellulite+spandex=yuck!). The heat, combined with the crowds, combined with the fact that none of the food nor attractions were accessible because the parade route basically cut everything off made it an eventful but exhausting day. Still we managed to get some good pictures and enjoy the atmosphere a little! I had to include this photo because it is sort of an inside joke with Missy and Aimee!
These two little kids were so cute!
You can see how crowded the beach is behind us!

Jill and I spied these rad light fixtures in Nolita and thought they were pretty stunning, I saw them a couple days later on the graham and greene website! my mind is racing with the possibilities, I think they would be amazing for a garden party or evening wedding, too bad they are so expensive

Far Far Away

Do you ever get homesick for places you've been in your life? Like the other day I was stepping out of the subway and smelled the yummy sweets baking at the nearby Hot & Crusty (NY bagel chain) and thought, "that smells like the air in Paris, and I miss Paris!" I have been to Paris twice but it is not like I have spent enough time there to really miss it, but I do!

There are a lot of places I find myself getting homesick for. Newport Beach tops the list right now. I have been there more times than I could probably count and I would probably say it is one of my favorite places in the world. I have so many great memories, riding bike or Rollerblading on the boardwalk, shopping at Fashion island, getting seaside donuts when they are fresh at midnight, getting frozen bananas on Balboa after riding the ferry, and if we are lucky, getting to see bio luminescent waves at night

(If you never seen it, it is amazing how the bacteria in the water makes the ocean glow, I got this pic off the internet, but doesn't it look like Rob Theurer?)

I also find myself getting homesick for another place I love, Florence. In college I spent a semester abroad in Firenze and I can't tell you how often I find myself wishing I was there. It is such a romantic and magical and historical place and strikingly beautiful. I was able to spend almost six months there, although you wouldn't know it by my Italian speaking skills, and it is one of my favorite places on this earth. Part of my time there was spent taking some amazing art history courses that took me all around the museums and monuments. I kept detailed notes thinking how one day I would bring my kids back there and tell them all about the amazing art and history of Firenze, well I don't know where those notes have ended up, and I certainly don't remember a lot of what I learned, but I still ache to go back there, hopefully sometime soon!

After we got married and I moved back to Utah while Dan and I finished school, I remember aching for New York! I missed it so much, the culture, the food, the museums, the shopping, I missed just the feeling you get being in New York and being part of New York, which is something you can only really experience living here, something that Dan has also come to appreciate in the six months since we moved back together.

This will sound so random, but I have also had moments where I am homesick for high school. Maybe it is just being at a point where we are accumulating so much responsibility and seriousness in our life, but I'll be honest, sometimes I do miss high school. I really loved my time at Highland and I feel like that was a time in my life where I was really making the best of myself, sure there were things about it that were hard, but I feel like in high school, lots of things made sense. I met so many amazing people through all the activities i was involved in and I really felt like I learned a lot about myself, being who I am.

Occasionally I find myself homesick for Utah, mostly for the mountains. I never really appreciated the Wasatch mountains, or the beauty of the Utah outdoors until I lived away, now I find my self in moments where I just feel like I need to be in the mountains, which is not really an option in the middle of the concrete jungle of NY City! I guess next time I am in Utah I'll have to go on a hike! Anyway, the point of this post is just to say, it is funny how places become part of you, your identity, and how you see the world, and if you have a time, leave a comment about a place that has been important to you.

what we've been up to lately

I am so bad at keeping up to date with pictures of what Dan and I are doing, so I thought I would get it all out of the way with one post. We have had two kids of weather in NYC lately, humid heat, and humid rain. Either way it is sticky and hot, but we are doing our best to enjoy the summer. Lately we have been taking a lot of walks along the east river esplanade and up to Carl Schurz park. There are beautiful views of lower Manhattan and it is fun to just walk a long the river.
We've been taking lots of pictures too of anything and everything. I am trying to train my self to keep my camera in my bag everywhere I go, just in case I find something that is worthy of taking a picture of!
We got new shelves for our bedroom that look really cute, Two of these are hanging side by side!
We lucked out by getting the good seats to one of the Yankees/Red sox games. My work has a bunch of season tickets and they are amazing seats we get access to often. This was such a treat, and Dan wanted to make sure I let everyone know that we were sitting right behind home plate and Bob Kostas and Billy Crystal were a couple rows ahead of us.
Our picture to commemorate our presence at the Yankees/Red sox game.
This is central park on an especially crowded day. It always seems like half of New York is in the park on a sunny day. The other night when we were walking home from the west side, we walked through the park at 10 p.m. It was so beautiful because it was virtually empty and really quiet. It felt like a really special New York moment. The best part was when a micro burst appeared out of no where and we were drenched by the time we got home, I felt like we were in a movie!
Picnicking in the park!
Since we don't have any cute little baby, or nieces and nephews to take pictures of, we have been taking entirely too many pictures of each other lately. This one of Dan looking so stoic is at Wrightsville beach in North Carolina!
I loved this brick wall in Wilmington, it was so cool to photograph because of all the textures and colors. Wilmington is a darling little coastal North Carolina town, where they used to film Dawson's Creek. I recognized some of the areas from the show. So weird! I love this pic of our feet in the sand! This picture is so Dan! I am definitely going to frame this one!
Our attempt at a Jonathan Canlas-esque photo!
this little market was so cool and I thought the colors in the photo were such a neat combo!
The two of us at my cousins Katrina's wedding.

In addition to all this, we have been looking for a new apartment, studying for the series 7 (Dan), Cooking some yummy dinners (I will post a recipe soon for the petite filet with apricot chutney I made for fathers day, so good!), Enjoying the city, sitting in front of the air conditioner, making trips downtown for Cafe Habana and The Shake Shack, going to the gym (I finally broke down and decided to spend the small fortune it costs to get a gym membership in the city, but I am loving it!) , Blogging, Hanging out with friends, avoiding the hot subways and walking to work, cleaning out closets (I have sold a ton of stuff on e-bay) . So far the summer is shaping up to be a good one, and hopefully it will include some trips to the beach and some visitors.

Same great style, just a little bit smaller

I am in love with the crewcuts collection at J. Crew. I seriously wish I had a cute little toddler to dress up in some of their adorable outfits. I'll admit it is a little pricey for kids, but the sale stuff is not so bad, and I especially love some of their special occasion outfits and their looks for summer camp are pretty adorable as well! Too Cute!

Something New

At this point I am sure most of you are familiar, will wall words. It is a cool concept but I have seen many people go way overborad with it. I was excited when I read about this company, wonderful graffiti who pared down the concept a little bit to a simple monogram. I love these! I think one of these would be great over a mantle, headboard, or even at an entrance of a home or over a crib in a baby's room. the best part is they have an array of colors to choose from so you can cater the monogram to match your decor. They advertise these to use as wedding decor which could be really cool to. I would love to get one of these at some point!

Happy Birthday Kathryn

I do not even know where to start when talking about Kathryn. As Dan's oldest sister, she is always looking out for and taking care of his whole family. She is without a doubt one of the most considerate and thoughtful people I have ever met, and she has more close friends than anyone I know.I will never forget how she would call me to hang out when Dan and I were dating. I don't think she realizes how much she helped make me feel welcome in the Creer family. She is one of our best supporters and was the first one to come visit Dan and I when we moved to New York. I feel so blessed to have her in my life because she is like the big sister I always hoped for, and I know how much Dan looks up to her and loves her. Anyone who knows her feels lucky to be part of her life because they can instantly feel her love and loyalty. Happiest Birthday wishes Kath! We love you so much and wish we could be there to celebrate this special day with you! Yesterday was her actual Birthday but I didn't get around to doing a post so hopefully this is better late than never!

My cousin Katrina got married last weekend in North Carolina. She was probably the most calm and peaceful bride I have ever seen! I love this picture of her and her dad. Her husband Matt is the sweetest and we are excited to have him as part of our family!