Bren got married...and I got a tan!

I still remember meeting Bren in the 6th grade. We went through some of the most awkward times in our lives together...aka, Middle School. Together, we have been through boy troubles, pets, college, life's hard moments and life's biggest celebrations. She is my prayer warrior and constant voice of encouragment. So excited for Bren & Will to start their lives together. My favorite moment of the ceremony was having the tide wash over our feet.

The bride!

Richard and I relaxing the day before the wedding... Daytona Beach, Florida.

We loved staying right on the beach!

Morning of the wedding - writing in the sand, brunch at Crabby Joe's, welcome gifts and getting our hair done.

The vault. haha Our middle school days...

26 & Dallas.

It has finally happened. I have entered the second quarter of my life. AHHHHHHHH. Just kidding. I still have a 2 starting with my age, I think I will be OK. For four more years anyways... ;)

Well, as I told my family, God must know how much I love my birthday since He sent us back to Dallas for it! It was quite a whirlwind, especially since we had a 6AM flight from Florida to get there! However, in-between the chaos of travel and work, we were beyond excited to see friends and family. I am not a fan of large mixed crowds - they are exhausting and I feel like you miss out on good conversation and catching up. Luckily we were able to meet with separate groups of people during our short trip - sure, we might have had two dinners in one night, but who's counting?

It has only been 3 months since we left Dallas for NYC, and I was worried that my niece and nephew would be driving cars and dating - but luckily, Chloe has not started kindergarten yet, and Jude is still very much a little one. 

Being in Dallas felt... strange. It was our home, but it was not our home. We got to drive a car on familiar streets while having personal space (you do not get this privilege outside of your apartment in NYC), our hotel room was larger than our apartment, we listened to Kidd Kradick, watched our familiar local news anchors and splurged in Taco Bueno and Whataburger - not to be found in The Big Apple. We enjoyed coronoa-rita's, tex-mex, biscuits & gravy and good company. Until we meet again Dallas...

Our favorite part of coming back to New York City is the skyline - there is nothing like the view of the skyline you get driving back to your apartment (although, I get SO car sick in the taxis). But, of course, the best part is getting our sweet doggies, Pickle and Sundae, back home with us. Play time must have worn them out - they put themselves to bed. That never happens!

Family in The Big Apple!

They came. They saw. They walked. They toured. They ate. They rode subways. They took pictures. Lots of pictures. They...liked New York City? We hope so! =)

We had a great time with family...see for yourself!
***

As we drew near New York I was at first amused, and then somewhat staggered, by the cautious and grisly tales that went around. You would have thought we were to land upon a cannibal island. You must speak to no one in the streets, as they would not leave 'til you were rooked and beaten. You must enter a hotel lobby with military precautions; for the least you had to apprehend was to awake the next morning without money and baggage, or necessary raiment, a lone forked radish in a bed; and if the worst befell, you would instantly and mysteriously disappear from the ranks of mankind.

-Robert Lewis Stevenson

 New York is the biggest collection of villages in the world. -Alistair Cooke

 The thing that impressed me then as now about New York . . . was the sharp, and at the same time immense, contrast it showed between the dull and the shrewd, the strong and the weak, the rich and the poor, the wise and the ignorant . . . the strong, or those who ultimately dominated, were so very strong, and the weak so very, very weak-- and so very, very many. -Theodore Dreiser

 New York is a different country. Maybe it ought to have a separate government. Everybody thinks differently, acts differently --they just don't know what the hell the rest of the United States is.

 -Henry Ford

 You come to New York to find the ambiance that will evoke your best. You do not necessarily know precisely what that might be, but you come to New York to discover it. -Dr. James Hillman

 Cut off as I am, it is inevitable that I should sometimes feel like a shadow walking in a shadowy world. When this happens I ask to be taken to New York City. Always I return home weary but I have the comforting certainty that mankind is real and I myself am not a dream. -Helen Keller

A hundred times have I thought New York is a catastrophe, and fifty times: It is a beautiful catastrophe. -Le Corbusier

Not only is New York the nation's melting pot, it is also the casserole, the chafing dish and the charcoal grill -Mayor John V. Lindsay

The thing I can't tell is whether cab drivers yield to each other out of fear or respect. -New York Policeman