my long awaited trip to new york city finally came and it was so much fun! we did so much, I don't even know if I can remember it all....but if you don't mind a lot of pictures, here it goes. I flew in on saturday night and ryan and his cousing sarah were there at the subway station to pick me up. (it was SO nice having sarah there to help us!)
on the way to sarah's house we walked through times square. we walked out of the subway station and there was the late show! so that was our first picture. times square was really crowded but was awesome.
sarah took us to her and her husband justin's apartment and we settled in for the night. she lives in hoboken, new jersey and we took the subway out to her house. a few blocks from her house there is a great view of manhattan over the water. I loved her apartment and it was SO nice of her to let us stay with her!
the next day we set out for our first fun adventure. sarah was our guide so we didn't have to worry about maps or where we were going or getting lost! this is washington square? I think....at any rate, its a park and we got offered drugs there. so that was exciting.
ryan thought this picture was hilarious. (notice the sign)
it was in grand central station. it was so funny how throughout the trip everything we saw reminded me of a movie or tv show. I was like "oh yeah, like in the movie madagascar!" when we got to grand central station! this is a dark view from inside. but you can kind of see the clock that the giraffe gets his head stuck in! they had this cool kalidescope light show going on on the ceiling and walls. very christmasy. 
this is the chrysler building
and this is sarah and me inside the chrysler building
this is us at "THE tree" in rockerfeller plaza. we couldn't get close to the ice skating rink because there were a million tubas performing christmas songs down there at the time and there was a big crowd.
this is outside of saks fifth ave with their cool snowflake decorations
we did some more walking and ended up at radio city music hall
times square again
and then ryan broke down and gave into my desire to see a broadway show and we got tickets to see mary poppins!
it was WONDERFUL! it was a in a really cool old theatre and the play was great. ryan even said it was better than he thought it would be, so I guess he enjoyed it a little! it was an awesome way to end the night. then we made it back to sarah's apartment all by ourselves....
....and that was the first day! I know, man alive, we packed so much in!! we were so exhausted....but then we woke up and did it all again the next day!
we started off by timing the subway ride to columbia because ryan's interview was the next day and we wanted him to be ready. we found the school of nursing first and the hospital that is across the street is so old looking!! and it was a really foggy and overcast day to begin with so it almost looked haunted!! then we took the subway back a couple of stops to where the actual columbia university is. we walked around to kind of look at where we would want to live. there were 2 really pretty parks right there! okay, they were less pretty in the winter, but I still enjoyed them and could see the potential they had in less cold seasons!
this is ryan looking smart in front of the columbia library....isn't it a pretty building?!?! we loved the campus!
sarah and I walking by one of the parks
after we were done looking around columbia we hopped on the subway and headed for the temple.
it was so funny seeing such an important building look so small!! but it also felt kind of homey and familiar to see church things in that big city! the wards around columbia actually meet in the chapel in the same building, wouldn't that be cool?
after the temple we headed down to the other side of manhattan and saw wall street and the NYSE and the things around it. sarah and I both had a massive craving for a cookie so we also found a little place that had some sweets that we stopped and ate!
this is a really pretty church that is right in the middle of all that financial stuff I talked about up there. it was amazing. I love old things like that, and especially cemeteries!! there was a little one out on the side and you could actually read some of the markers.
then we saw the statue of liberty. we decided it was too cold for the ferry ride (don't we look freezing?!?) it was funny because when I was listing off the things I wanted to see when we were there, I kept forgetting about the statue of liberty! its only one of the most new york things!
we were also pretty tired by this time so we decided to head back to the apartment and ryan made his pasta and we played games. it was so nice to relax and hang out with justin and sarah. they are really cool and it would be so fun to live near them!
the next morning was interview morning. here is ryan in his suit on his way out the door. (its from a funny angle because I was warm and snug in bed and I didn't want to get up!) 
doesn't he look handsome in it? he headed to his interview and sarah and I stayed and slept and took our time getting ready before we headed out. I was so sore by then (especially my hips....it must be a pregnancy thing because I thought it was a weird place to get sore!!) we went to central park and it was really big and really nice.
it was amazing how when we got into the middle of it how quiet it was. someone was really smart to think to save that spot for a park because a city like that definately needs it!! this is a famous fountain in the park that I can't remember the name of.
we were at the park when ryan called and said he was done with his interview. he said it went really well and the director said she didn't see any reason why they wouldn't accept him. so now it looks like we have some decisions to make! we met him at the temple where he changed out of his suit and then we did the last thing on ryan's list....ate a hot dog from one of the vendors.
we had left our bags at justin's cool modern workplace at bloomberg and so we headed over there and got our luggage and said goodbye! sarah took us pretty far on the subway and then we made the rest of the way on our own. our flight back was long and we got home after midnight. we were so exhausted. but it was so worth it! thank you so much to sarah and justin for all your hospitality! it wouldn't have been half as much fun without you!
I just hope we're as good of tour guides when all of YOU guys out there all come visit us in new york someday!
now I worked today and work tomorrow and ryan works tonight and tomorrow night and then we leave friday for washington. lots of packing and laundry and everything to do! so this will probably be the last post I do until after christmas when we got home from wenatchee! can't wait to see some of you there and to everyone else
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
I have lots of christmas catching up to do, but I thought this took priority! have fun!
