snapshots of the {christmasy and chilly} big apple

day-after-thanksgiving exploring and merriment in the concrete jungle where dreams are made of... (i love new york city. i love it so so so so much. every time i go, i feel determined to move there.)
  
^^can you spot lady liberty?^^
   
^^we stole the window seat at the donut plant in chelsea to wash down all that thanksgiving turkey!^^

^^looooove those pop-up christmas tree shops on nyc street corners!^^
 
^^everyone else had already been to the 9/11 memorial, so i had a little solo adventure downtown. i feel like visiting the memorial was a great day-after-thanksgiving activity. i felt so humbled and grateful.^^

^^we went to fifth avenue to experience all the chaotic christmas cheer. it was sooo crowded in fao schwartz and all the way down the road to the {yet un-lit} rockefeller tree. it was also very cold and both my camera and phone battery were dead. but. it was magical nonetheless. nothing, nothing like fifth avenue at christmastime.^^

and then my whirlwind east coast tour was over and it was back to real life! super glad i made the trip. so grateful for so much - including siblings that live in the best places!

nyc thanksgiving

17 beloved people in a one-bedroom new york city apartment for a thanksgiving feast = just the right amount of grateful crowded chaos.

on thanksgiving morning we got all bundled up and headed out into the chill. some walked with the babes and some ran - a good little turkey trot.



saydi, julie, tal and i ran through the upper east side and central park to the starting point of the macy's thanksgiving day parade. it was totally exhilarating and awesome. we got to see lots of floats and balloons and performers getting ready to do their thing. it was the perfect way to catch a real-life glimpse of the world's most famous parade. the air was electric with thankful excitement. and with cold!



then it was time to prep the turkey and get that bird in the tiny oven! a few of us walked 15 blocks to a friend's apartment to cook the sweet potatoes since there was no room in tal's oven. getting the feast ready in the teensy kitchen was quite an adventure. we packed in and all did our part.



talmadge, jeff and i took a quick break to play some thanksgiving football in the park with charlie.



then on to setting the table and making the finishing touches on the food...

 

and then time to feast! (charlie went ahead and dug into the turkey's leg...)


baby zara's first thanksgiving!
 
tal and anita's swiss friends joined us for our feast. they brought the most delicious stuffing!
 

it was a pretty epic thanksgiving. so, so much to be thankful for! 

the district of columbia in the rain

it rained the entire 30 hours i spent in washington, dc. did not let up even for a minute. since i lived in the district one summer and have visited probably a dozen times, i wasn’t too worried about the weather spoiling my ability to experience the nation’s capital – and i just went on and got wet exploring.

by the far the best attraction that i experienced in dc was my niece zara! and i loved seeing my brother and sister-in-law’s condo on capitol hill. i got in to check it out just in time – eli and julie are moving to new york city in january! after reunions and breakfast, eli and i set out to see a few spots of dc that i’ve never been to before.

first stop: georgetown university. majestic!

 

gotta love the rowhouses along m street in georgetown!

next stop: the kreeger museum – a gorgeous building (that reminded us of the byu jerusalem center) with an amazing collection. we only had enough time to take a peek and couldn’t explore the grounds due to the rain, but what we saw was so lovely! i love how eli appreciates art and cool places.

then a super quick stop at the national cathedral, since we were passing right by it and i’d never seen it. pretty cool, but kind of paled in comparison to our next stop…
 
have you ever heard of the basilica of the national shrine of the immaculate conception? yeah, i hadn’t either. it is the biggest church building in the western hemisphere! and it’s incredible inside! (this photo of the outside gives a good picture of the gray weather…) everything is mosaiced and it’s just amazing.
 
it felt like quite the productive morning of unseen dc! we met julie and zara for lunch at nando’s. this place is really popular in england, especially among mormon missionaries in the england london south mission, and it only exists in america within the district of columbia. i loved having a little taste of the mission!

julie and zara and i checked out the tunnel between the east and west wings of the national gallery after lunch (and stopped by to see the impressionists while we were there). isn’t the tunnel neat?
 
we met eli at the museum of natural history and went to see an imax about jerusalem! it was really awesome, because all three of us lived in jerusalem (eli and julie met there!). and it was in 3d so we got to look real cool.

twilight on the mall – still raining!:

we made a drive by to my favourite monument and the newest monument. julie and zara stayed in the car while eli and i ran through the rain.

blurry siblings:

blurry abe:

we got take-out (the only kao soi – my favorite northern thai dish – i’ve ever encountered in america … i discovered it last time i visited dc four years ago) and stayed dry in eli and julie’s apartment!
in the morning i took a run around capitol hill in the sprinkling rain. it was kind of really, really awesome. my running heart was so happy moving through such a beautiful and significant (both for the world and for me personally) place.
 
we worked on getting eli and julie’s place all perfectly clean and nice to be shown to potential buyers and then ate breakfast at founding farmers before heading out on our drive to new york city. holy moley – that stuffed french toast!

there’s nothing like driving into new york city. especially after a seven hour drive through traffic… better believe we blasted frank sinatra and jay-z and made it just in time to reunite with the shumways (who drove down from boston) and my brother talmadge, sister-in-law anita and niece annina (who live on the upper west side), grab some shake shack burgers and celebrate thanksgiving eve together.