Tom and I had NEVER been to NYC together, so we figured it was about time. 

Olivia (my college roommate and one of my dearest friends) moved there after college to pursue film. Tom and I decided we would take a weekend trip to spend time with her and the bf Andrew. 

We stayed near Time Square in a cute boutique hotel, close to shopping, food, and drinks.

We had some slight delays on flights...We took a red-eye  out of SLC and ended up getting delayed, and delayed, and delayed again, and some more delays....finally making it to NYC just in time for dinner when we were supposed to be there in time for breakfast! Oh well, we had a good time being together in the Philly airport.

^^^
After dinner we were laying in bed and I decided to get on my phone and Yelp some treat places...found this gem and convinced Tom we had to walk there. Cake Batter Cookie for the WIN!

Shopping time^^

^^^Grand Central Station

^^^a much needed brunch stop and off to more shopping

^^^and finally a night with Olivia. We headed out to Brooklyn and spent the evening at her place. I love seeing my friends happy and doing what they love.


This was a QUICK QUICK QUICK trip but so worth it and fun.

Nothing better than traveling the world with T.

xoxo
m

PS: Here is some more randomness.

Hamburg Germany

So about a month after we got home from Scandinavia we got an email from Norwegian Airlines saying "crazy cheap flights to Europe..you NEED to go," jk it didn't say that but it pretty much did. 

We scored round trip tickets to Europe for under $600 each. CRAY

We started our Euro road trip in Hamburg. 

Hamburg is known as a "working metropolitan" city. We arrived around 1:30 pm, jet lagged as can be, but DONT worry it was Hamburg DOM! Yeah, I didn't know what it was at first either but basically it is a HUGE fair, probably the best thing you can imagine to help beat jet lag. 

We got to our awesome apartment hotel, perfect size and space for your first night in Europe after a long day traveling. Once we did some yoga, we headed to DOM and absolutely loved it. We ate the best doughnuts drenched in powder sugar, drank some local brew, had one too many coffees (gotta make it till at least 9 pm) and bought more candy. 

About 2 hours into Dom it starts snowing, i don't mean cute little romantic snow flurries, I mean blizzard snow, but everyone was just carrying on as if nothing was wrong...we thought the whole place was going to shut down, OH NO, everything just kept on a going, we road a huge roller coaster in a blizzard...that will be one memory for the books.   

obligatory "I'm in germany in the fall with my main lad" pic 

Bless my jet lagged heart.

I mean honestly...so darn cute

Next morning we woke up, T picked up the rental car and we were on to AMSTERDAM (possibly my new favorite European city)

xo

m

Quick trip to Texas

I try to make it to TX once a year to see my sister and her family.

Every time I go I am reminded of how much I miss my nieces and nephew, seeing them grow up in Utah was such a blessing in my life. Spending so much time around them reminded me of a few things:

1. Life is short, spend it with those you love

2. There is something so MAGICAL about being with little kids

3. Sometimes the simplest things are the best things

We took the kiddos to Schlitterbahn, a huge waterpark an hour away from their home in Austin. From the second we arrived they were SOOOO excited to go to the waterpark and stay in a hotel, every day they would ask me "Mia, are you excited to go? Can you believe we are staying in a hotel?" Each night I would pause and think about how much excitement they carried with them and how much joy it brought them and it reminded me I need to do the same. Find joy in the small things!

One more ramble.

Each day I would ask Mili, the youngest of the girls, "is this the best day of your life?" Every single day her answer was yes, and it was always yes for different reasons. It simply reminded me that each day is the best day, live it like it's the best day ever and see what happens.



xo

m

Chicago Girls Weekend

There is nothing better than a spontaneous trip. 

It was a Saturday when Rachel, one of my long time friends, calls and says: 

"hey, wanna go to Chicago Thursday?"

UMMMM yes! 

And that was that. 

We had an amazing weekend in Chicago. So much fun to spend time together. Even thought we've all been changing and doing different things in the world, we know that when we come together it is bound to be wonderful. 

We ate REALLY good food, visited wonderful museums, strolled through the park, shopped a little too much, and drank way too many soy vanilla lattes. 

(killer hotel view)

(some lady offered to take our photo...she was so sweet... but really?! This close? we laughed for a good 15 minutes)

(I'll do yoga with this view ANY day.)

Time with friends is always time well spent. 

PS,

If you are every in Chicago DO NOT MISS these:

The Museum of Science and Industry

(cool interactive exhibits!...I loved the space area)

Lou Manlnati's Pizza

(Killer deep dish pizza)

Water Tower Place

(amazing shopping) 

Millennium Park

(Amazing things to walk around and look at)

Art Institute of Chicago

xoxo

m