Winter Wonderland

"Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!". That's what it did for 12 hours straight, heavy heavy snow. Here are some pictures of the city which pretty much shut down. Streets upon streets not plowed, stores closed and a quiet feel to whole city. It is quiet a sight to see. So beautiful.

We thought this was a lot of snow on our deck, just wait . . .

Artistic picture by Ryan Joy

Good Morning, look at our deck now.

Central Park

The only little bit of water that was not frozen so all the ducks flocked to this area.

Park Avenue, pretty much shut down.

These cars are not leaving anytime soon.

Merry Christmas

It has been so much fun having my family here in NYC. Here are some pictures of Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner. I was excited to use our nice plates for the first time. It was also a first having more than 2 people sit at the dinning room table. Unfortunately I didn't get my white Christmas but the amount of snow that fell from the sky the next day, made up for it all.

Dunne's in NYC

We had a wonderful time with our friends Bryan and Jackie Dunne. It was so great being with such great friends, seeing New York sights, eating delicious meals and having many laughs. The weather was chilly but we were able to see a lot. We loved that they came and visited and wish their stay didn't fly by. Thanks for coming and we miss you already!

In front of the New York Stock Exchange.

The boys with Matt Hill

Jackie and I at Columbus Circle

Central Park

Central Park

Our new favorite bar

Rockefeller Center

We saw Mary Poppins

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas!

As many of you know I LOVE Christmas. Since we moved in, the first thing I thought about was where to put the Christmas tree. Well now the time has arrived! We got our tree on Sunday and set it up. Unfortunately in NY they don't let you look at the trees, they are all bundled up and you just choose which one you think looks good. We bought it at the closest place to our apartment and walked it home. We ended up with a beautiful tree but this guy is fat so he basically takes up half of our living room. Not what I expected BUT had to go with it. It's a great tree, already not drinking enough water so I'm scared he's going to die on me but I made him as festive as I could considering I didn't bring out any of my decorations to New York. Candy canes and cheap ornaments made him look pretty, I even made my own star, Martha Stewart would be proud.

The city is so festive and I just love walking around and seeing all of the beautiful lights. Ryan and I debated about going to the Rockefeller Center tree lighting but the rain and the 20,000 people scared us away so we went to the Stock Exchange tree lighting instead. Unfortunately when we went it was 20 something degrees outside. Brrrr! The weather here has been freezing, literally. You know when it's been really cold, when last night it was 32 degrees, and that felt warm. They say it's abnormally cold for this time of the year, guess it's preparing us for the really cold months.

We're excited for our next visitors, the Dunne's will be here on Friday, my family after that and then the Anderson's. It will be great to spend time with good friends and family for the Christmas Holiday.

Merry Christmas!!!

Taking home the tree.

Our Tree

Tree in Bryant Park

Tree in Chelsea Market

Lights in Chelsea Market

NYC Stock Exchange

Stock Exchange Lighting

Tree in our lobby

Cate and Gregg's holiday party

Cate and Meredith

Thanksgiving in London

Our adventure to London for Thanksgiving was a fun-filled, eventful, short, and chilly trip. After taking the red eye flight and not sleeping we powered through and had a full day. We rode the red bus to see all the sights, went on a champagne ride on the London Eye to see the sights from above and then had a mini pub crawl which lead us to Sean and Stacy's favorite steak frites place for our Thanksgiving meal. London is so festive with all of their Christmas lights up everywhere. Even though it was freezing, literally, we feel as if we were able to see many sights on top of going to lots of Sean and Stacy's favorites. Sunday came too fast and we were back on the plane. We definitely missed being with family, the day didn't feel like Thanksgiving but it was fun to do once.

In front of Sean and Stacy's place, they live in an old church. Such a cool place and fun, posh neighborhood.

View from the London Eye of Parliament and Big Ben. My camera had major issues with taking night pictures. Very frustrating considering the fact that it got dark at 3:30pm.

The four of us.

Big Ben, brrrrrrr

Cute phone booth, had to take in a picture in one.

One of the many pubs we visited

Guard at the Buckingham Palace.

Buckingham Palace

Ice Bar, everything made out of ice, even our glasses. There are three in the world, we've now been to two, New Zealand and London. We just have to go all the way to Vegas to visit the third.

Two of Sean and Stacy's friends are with us.

Me in front of Tiffany's, look at how pretty the lights are. It was like this all over London.

Just loved the lights that went down the streets. We are on one of the most expensive shopping streets in the world, New Bond Street.

Berkeley Square (sounds like "Barkeley"), right by Sean and Stacy's house

Entering yet another pub, I just loved all of the buildings.

Unfortunately we won't be seeing many of you over the holidays. Ryan and I will be staying in NYC for Christmas and New Years, maybe even experience our first white Christmas, definitely our first very cold Christmas. We will miss seeing everyone and will let you know the next time we are in CA. We miss home and everyone very much. xo