{A Taste of the Big Apple}

Our New York trip was everything we hoped it would be. We ate amazing food, met new friends, saw a great show, and of course we had to go shopping. No really—we HAD to. Here’s why…

As we headed out the door for the airport on Friday evening Brittany said, “I hope I didn’t forget anything.” Emily replied, “Well, whatever we forgot we can just buy when we get there…” This got her thinking. “In fact,” she said, “why don’t we leave EVERYTHING here!” (…crickets chirping…). After a solid 60 second-stare down while we tried to gauge each other’s level of interest in the impulsive idea, we concluded that yes, we would leave all of our clothes in California and purchase new ones to wear in New York! Our bags this leg of the trip consisted of nothing but makeup and shoes.

We arrived in New York in our PJ’s and headed straight for the shopping splendor to outfit ourselves in the finest fashions the Big Apple had to offer (at a reasonable cost, of course). Two girls walking around New York City wearing pajamas and HUGE backpacks (they shouldn’t have been quite so full this time, but we brought a lot of shoes) don’t scream TOURISTS! at all. Nope, not in the least bit. It reminded Emily of her first trip to New York with her family when she was a freshman in high school. She was absolutely mortified that her dad was wearing a camera case on his belt. Didn’t he know that totally made us look like tourists?? Right, like her white socks + Doc Martin sandals and Gap logo T didn’t tip people off right away (in her defense, that style was totally cool in Billings at the time). Luckily, we came across some great finds to slip in to, lessening the “we’re not from around here” vibe we were so emitting.





That afternoon we saw the Tony Award winning Broadway hit In the Heights (which we highly recommend). It’s the story of a neighborhood in Manhattan’s Washington Heights area. The music was upbeat with a hip-hop feel that was different from any other show we’d seen before. We were very happy with our selection (thanks for the suggestion, Adam!).






That evening we had a lovely dinner at Patsy’s (which is currently tied with D.C.’s 2 Amy’s) with new friends that were nice enough to take us on a stroll to see some of the less touristy parts of the city. Later on, we met up with our long lost roommate January! She is spending a few weeks in the city doing training for work and we’ve missed her dearly. We were so happy that our time in the city overlapped with hers. We had dessert at Max Brenner where everything on the menu is chocolate. Literally. It’s a cocoa wonderland that could satisfy any craving—as long as it’s white, milk, or dark chocolate related. (You will notice that there are no photos of people to document this portion of the trip. You can blame John for that).






The next morning was the highlight of the trip for Emily. Why? Because she was reunited with her first love. Before there was Zach Morris or Daniel Larusso, there was Josh Black—the heart throb of Mikey’s Preschool in Billings, MT. Emily and her friend Ashley would often fight over who got to sit by Josh or which one of us he liked more. He moved away when we were about 10 years old, so we were reunited for a scrumptious mid-morning brunch after the 15-year separation. It was fun to catch up on the last decade and a half, give updates on our families, and laugh about the good old days. Thanks to Brittany and Thomas for putting up with the walk down memory lane.





The highlight of the trip for Brittany was seeing her best friend Carissa. She and her husband recently moved to the city with their adorable baby to attend school. They live in an amazing place in the financial district and seem to really love their new life in the city. They are such cute family! After not seeing each other for two years, Brittany and Carissa were able to see each other twice in the past month! It was so great to visit with them!



Next, it was off to church. We felt right at home since we’d made so many friends the night before and had fun chatting with them before we had to leave. NOTICE: Below you will see some of the lamest pictures of all time. What makes them so lame? We are in the heart of Manhattan where there are endless photo opportunities and magnificent backgrounds, and where did we choose to take pictures with our new friends?...In front of a solid white wall. The only thing lamer than having this white background would have been not getting pictures with our new friends at all, so at least we captured the moment.







The trip ended with some running through the airport (again). The trip just wouldn’t have been complete without it. This time we were wearing church dresses and carrying shopping bags which added to the amusing spectacle. Oh, and we were accompanied by our new pal Lloyd, a fellow All-You-Can-Jet pass holder that we bumped in to going to and from New York. After a whirlwind 36 hours, our time in the city had come to an end and we headed back to our lives on the west coast.

A special thanks to Adam & Co. for putting us up for the night and serving as personal tour guides around the city, for the hot dog vendor at 46th and Broadway for providing us with 2 meals on Saturday (one of those meals may or may not have been breakfast), for all of the stores that we shopped at for preventing us from having to prance around the city in our pajamas, and for Paul, our knight in shining armor, who waited at the airport for two hours because Brittany neglected to mention that our flight had been delayed.


It’s sad but true. This weekend is the final trip for our handy little passes. We plan on finishing out the month strong, so look forward to a recap of our adventure in Salt Lake next week!



B&E




Soundtrack from this trip: Boots are Made for Walking and Material Girl

{Ms. Emily and Ms. Brittany go to Washington}

Whoever said traveling is all fun and games was sorely mistaken. These trips have drawn out our blood (see Lincoln Memorial visit below), sweat (or swack, as Mindy calls it), and tears (apparently one of us gets a little emotional when she’s low on sleep). But somebody had to use these Jet Blue passes, right?! And we couldn’t be happier that it’s us. Here’s what happened during our fabulous trip to D.C…


We thought we'd hit the jackpot when we found ourselves in the front row of the airplane. Turns out there is a huge disadvantage to sitting on the first row for a redeye flight—the armrests don’t go up. After trying a variety of positions (legs over the top of the arm rests, curling up in a ball on the seat, lying on the tray), Emily noticed that there was a TON of wasted space right there in front of them on the floor—just enough for her to lie down comfortably. After weighing the pros and cons (Pros: Possibly getting a few winks of sleep. Cons: Unidentifiable crumbs and germs on the floor; the embarrassment of being shooed back to her seat by a flight attendant), Emily decided it was worth the risk. She curled up in a little ball on the floor and got a solid 20 minutes of sleep before she started shivering from the cold air seeping through the air vents. We got a combined total of around one hour of sleep on the flight, but arrived in D.C. bright-eyed and ready to take on the city.



The morning started off just the way every Saturday should in D.C.—with blueberry buckwheat pancake goodness from Eastern market. Dr. Pepper isn’t a natural pairing with this particular meal, but it was essential to get us moving after our sleepless night. To our surprise, we ran in to our friend Julie from Palo Alto who was in D.C. for the week doing some interviews (good luck, Julie!!). We were so excited that she joined us for breakfast.





Mindy, one of Emily’s dear friends from college, also met up with us for breakfast and spent most of the day touring around the city.



Luckily we had a lot of walking ahead of us to work off our hefty breakfast. We hit up the National Mall to take in all the sites that make D.C. such a hot destination for travelers from around the world. We met some very friendly gentlemen from India who were nice enough to ask for photos with us. As you can see from the picture, one of them really thought he and Brittany hit it off.



Even though Emily has lived in D.C. and has visited the monuments countless times, seeing their majestic wonderment and enjoying their sentiment never gets old.











Oh, we almost forgot. We decided that because each trip is only 36 hours long, there is really no need to bring any more than a backpack. Plus, this allows us to hit the ground running straight from the airport rather than making a luggage drop first. For all intents and purposes, this makes perfect sense. But just because we’re only there for 36 hours doesn’t mean we can cut back on the beauty essentials and clothing/shoes choices. Our packs were bulging at the seams which invited plenty of strange looks. We also noticed that the packs contribute significantly to the sweat factor (which without the pack would have been a mere “glow” rather than actual sweat). Mindy informed us that the technical term here is actually “swack” (sweat on back=swack). Pretty gross, but hey—at least we’re making the most of our time!



Did you know that D.C. has a fashion week? Neither did we! But thanks to Brittany’s stellar research skills, we found out that a fashion show was being held on H Street to wrap things up for D.C.’s annual week of fashion. We hopped off the metro at Union Station and followed the directions from the website. Now, anytime you head in the southeast direction in D.C., it should be cause for concern. But because Emily lacks any sort of sense of direction, and Brittany wasn’t aware that this should be a red flag, we continued along our merry way.


After walking a solid 20 blocks and passing a number of obvious drug deals, we arrived at the “fashion show.” It turns out that D.C.’s fashion week has nothing to do with fashion, but does have Obama shirts on sale for $1 (we couldn’t resist), a booth where you can get your face painted on a rock (darn line was just too long), and free spaghetti (very posh). There was a “runway” in the middle of the street where a few models showed off some clothes, but they were clearly made by a high school home ec class, rather than actual designers. Needless to say, I don’t think we’ll be seeing these styles on the rack any time soon.









That evening we met up with Palo Alto friends Brandon and Don for dinner at one of Emily’s favorite places on Earth—2 Amy’s. The restaurant was a regular destination (meaning weekly) when Emily lived in D.C. The Neapolitan-style pizza lived up to her memories and was just as tasty as she remembered. Had the trip had ended after that meal, it would have been complete in her mind.



That night we found another party to hit up where we ran into fellow BYU and U of U grads. So is it any surprise that we ran in to co-workers and neighbors from freshman year of college, siblings of friends and people we’d been setup on blind dates with? We didn’t think so either. It was fun to mingle with some of the D.C. residents and hear about their exciting endeavors.







After the party, we had to do another one of Emily’s D.C. favs—visit Abe. There’s nothing more D.C.-esque than sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial overlooking the Washington Monument and reflecting pool.
Spectacular view + good friends – Brandon kicking Brittany in the face = perfect night.
(He claims her face hit his foot—not the other way around.)











The next morning we attended church at the Colonial 1st ward. It was fun to see the friends we had made the night before, along with several other familiar faces from when Emily attended this ward as a regular. After church, we dined at the infamous Old Ebbitt Grill with friends and took an afternoon stroll by the White House to say hello to the first family.





And just like that, the trip had to come to an end. We headed for the airport and made it just in time to walk right on the plane (we’ve gotten really good at not getting to the airport until the very last minute).


This week we’ve done our best to catch up on the sleep we’ve missed from all of our traveling. Some of the effects have started to show through, which has caused a bit of embarrassment. Brittany became frustrated by not one but TWO sinks that weren’t turning on. Emily gently reminded her on both occasions that it helps to turn the faucet handles. Emily found herself confused about her whereabouts during a conversation with someone at the party and actually had to ask “wait, where am I?” Apparently it’s hard to keep track of where you are when you’ve been in 4 states in the last three weeks. And finally, one of us had a small meltdown for no explainable reason other than she needed a nap. She is now well-rested and ready for this weekend in....NEW YORK!


B&E


Soundtrack from this trip: D.C. Chillin and Ghetto Superstar

{Home Sweet Home}

Back from an exciting adventure in DC. Expect an update soon...

B&E

{...Miles to go before we sleep}

Our Boston adventure began on the way to the airport when we got a tad lost and arrived just 30 minutes before our scheduled takeoff. We jumped on the nearest parking lot shuttle and told our trusty driver to book it to the terminal.

Now, if any of you know Emily, you know that she’s not exactly the “athletic” type. Watching her run in normal circumstances is entertaining enough, but strap on a 10 pound backpack and an oversized purse, coat and scarf in one hand and plane ticket in the other, and you’ll get a visual display that leaves no question as to why she left any athletic pursuits behind in the third grade after a traumatizing season of YMCA basketball. Luckily, we made it just in the nick of time.



We were greeted in Boston by our friend and gracious host Amanda. She recently moved to the area to start business school at a little place called Harvard University. She’s only been there a few weeks, but has made a seamless transition and seems to be right at home in her new environment with friends and classmates. She fits in so well that it’s hard to believe she hasn’t been there all along.



We started out with lovely breakfast and a tour of the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum. The museum was an art-filled home of a woman who donated the residence to the city when she died, with the only stipulation being that nothing could be moved or changed from how she left it. The 4-story home was built with a breathtaking atrium in the center that gives the impression you're in the heart of the Secret Garden rather than downtown Boston.




Did I mention that it was POURING rain outside? Because it was. But due to our limited time in the city, we weren’t going to let a little thing like the weather slow us down or ruin our plans. With map in hand, Brittany served as chief navigator as we moseyed along the Freedom Trail sipping our caramel apple ciders and white hot chocolates. We didn’t bother trying to fit in with the locals, but instead embraced our role as tourists and read each landmark description and called on strangers to take our photos at every possible opportunity.





The trail led us to sites we remember learning about in history class but never comprehended as real events until seeing them in person. Just to name a few, we saw the home of Paul Revere, Bunker Hill, the Boston Massacre memorial, and a cemetery where colonialists such as John Hancock and others are buried.







By this point we had done a LOT of walking, so much that Brittany got a hole in the bottom of her shoe that formed a sponge in the sole. Her poor little toesies were like raisins by the end of the day (now that’s some serious dedication!).

After dinner we headed to a party that Amanda heard about through friends. Even though we didn’t know anyone going in, it was no surprise that we ran into several familiar faces from our BYU and University of Utah days. One of these faces was B-Money, a Provo rap-legend that is well-known by anyone who has spent any time in Happy Valley. We were lucky enough to snag a photo with him.





We topped off the night with some dessert at Finale with Amanda and some of her classmates. When we returned to her apartment, we found ourselves with blistered feet, sopping clothes and drooping eyelids. All evidence of a very busy and fun-filled day.


After a solid 4 hours of sleep, we got up to attend the 7:45 AM service at Trinity Church to catch a glimpse of the building that the architecture community has ranked in its top 10 list of significant buildings for over 100 years. The building lived up to its reputation with its intricate details and endless panes of stained glass.


After the service, we headed to the Boston Harbor to have our very own “Tea Party.” We decided to take the Function over Fashion route this leg of the trip, and sported our tennies and socks with our church dresses. Our poor, battered feet simply wouldn’t have it any other way. Fashion faux pas? Yes. Slightly embarrassing? Yes.



The rest of the day consisted of church at Amanda’s ward followed by a tour of the Harvard Business School. The campus was just how we imagined, with its massive red brick buildings, cherry wood furnishings and JFK, Jr. look-a-like dreamboats around every corner (sigh). Amanda is one lucky girl to be spending the next two years on that campus.



So, it's official. We love Boston.



Thanks to Amanda for being a wonderful hostess, to Juan for personally escorting us through Boston's public transportation from the airport (turns out he thought we were still in high school), to the man on the airplane for his unsolicited dating advice, and to Dunkin Donuts for being on every other corner and providing us with much needed sugar boosts multiple times over the weekend. You all made this a very memorable trip.


We're now in rest mode in preparation for this weekend. D.C.--here we come!


B&E



Soundtrack from this trip: I Would Walk 500 Miles and Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head.