New York, I love you!

This summer Austin and I haven't been able to attend the ward we met in because it has been closed for construction. We thought we might get lucky this last weekend but alas, it was still closed. Boo. Just my luck.Austin, Jake and I had some really good sushi at Sushi a-go-go. The title would make you think the word "fast", right? It was anything but. It took forever to get our sushi but when it finally came, it was very good. We ate bowl after bowl of edamame while waiting...has anyone ever had chile edamame? Different, but good. My question is, why doesn't this city believe in tempura sushi? I guess people here just don't appreciate fried foods as much as I do.

When you pay $3 for soda in the city, this is what you get. I've saved lots of money this summer because I haven't had diet coke for about 3 months! =)

Our "photo shoot" at this cool court yard by our chapel.

Don't let him fool you--he was saying dirty, funny things to me during this photo shoot. In almost every picture I am cracking up and he looks all innocent.

Sierra joined us later and we went and visited the "Friends" sites. Austin and I are addicted to Friends and we watch the dvds over and over. I don't even call it just Friends anymore--I call it "my friends". Behind us on the right in this picture is the outside of central perk (the inside of central perk is a studio set) when this restaurant used to be green. 

Monica and Ross' apartment building are behind us in this picture. Their actual apartments are also studio sets but these are the apartments they used for the outside shots.

Monica's apartment building.

Ross' & the naked, fat guys apartment.

We also walked around Greenwich Village. I love this place--one of my favorite areas of NYC. I've decided that this is the spot for my future NYC condo (I can always dream, right?). We went to this cool tea store where we were able to sample some naturally decaf/herbal teas. Yummy. I bought some along with all of the "tea-making essentials". Anyone want to come to a tea party?



Austin had some delicious gelato but I actually didn't taste it because it was $5 a scoop. I couldn't expect him to share his only scoop of $5 gelato.

After much deliberation, we decided to give Lombardi's pizzeria a try. It is the OFFICIAL first pizzeria in the United States. It even has a plaque out front. That's legit, right? No really, it was opened in 1905 and it has been inducted as a "historical site". The pizza was amazing....mmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about it --but I must say, Grimaldi's is still better (sorry Mr. Lombardi).





Later that night we ditched the cast of real world to go bowling. You see, Austin and Jake became friends with the cast of Real World New York. One of the members is in our ward & Jake used to date one of the female cast members. No one knows who they are because the episodes aren't aired until 2009 but well, we know. Sorry you"ll just have to watch the episodes. Austin and Jake went to dinner and hung out at their sweet apartment in Brooklyn the other night. They'll probably be part of an episode (I guess that means I will have to watch the ENTIRE season just to see if they make an appearance in an episode). The cast invited us to open mic night at a club in Brooklyn last night but none of us were feeling in a clubbing mood. 

We went bowling instead. It was fun. 

The first game Austin and I bowled our worst ever. But I still beat him (that is a first and I was quite proud).We picked it up by game 2 and by game 3 the bets were on. It was me and Austin against Sierra and Jake. Losers had to buy icecream. Well Austin and I already knew we weren't losers, we just had to prove it to the "B Team". And prove we did, I think we ended up beating them by about oh, 40 points. Go "A Team! Oh and might I add, we bowled next to "Johnny", a professional bowler. We noticed in frame 8 that he had all strikes. Everyone else noticed too. A crowd gathered and we watched intensely during the rest of his game. Frame 9 he got a strike. We cheered. Frame 10 he...well, let's just say a big swear word came out of his mouth. 2 pins were left standing. He missed a perfect score by 2 pins. We were just as disappointed as he was. He even helped me bowl a little (you know letting my bowling ball touch his for good luck but then telling me that I "make my own luck"). 

Our sweet, stinky shoes.

Bowling modeling pictures:

I'm "Mist Vision" (long story...something to do with the binoculars at Niagara Falls seeing through the mist) and Austin is "Skadoosh".  Our worst scores ever--but I beat him by 5!

Bowling together in one lane is an acceptable practice here.

"A Team

New York is so easy to love. I fell in love with Austin in New York City and I fell in love with the city itself long, long ago. It seems that my heart belongs to and in this enchanting city. I never want to leave.