i want to be a part of it, new jersey! new york!

way, way, way back at the end of april, i took a quick trip to visit my sister, heather, in new jersey and spend the weekend in NYC. heather and thomas colluded together and surprised me with a ticket. incidentally, the first time i went to NYC was the exact same weekend in 2002. i turned 22 and 38 in NYC! it had been way too long since i had seen my sister. i had never even met her new baby who is now a year old. as soon as i was seated on my plane, i could feel all my mom stress melted away. i sat in silence with my hands in my lap for the majority of the flight JUST BECAUSE I COULD.  the stress from my daily life melted away. i hadn't been that relaxed since i don't know when. the man next to me was playing computer solitaire. he personalized the backs of his digital deck of cards with an image of a naked lady. if i had kids on this flight, i would have been too distracted to even notice that! i arrived very late on thursday night and heather was a champ who picked me up in her miniature van. we got a little lost in scary town new jersey, but we made it. i was high on traveling ALONE. we stayed up chatting even later into the night. that was the same night that the golden state killer had been captured so of course i started thinking every little sound was the golden state killer and every little reflection was the golden state killer. i'm really laid back at night. dan had installed some extra air fresheners for my stay and one made little puffs of freshness all night long in my room. i forgot about the little puffs between puffs and jumped out of my skin every time, thinking the golden state killer was breathing over me. luckily, the guest bed was incredibly comfortable and after i knocked out, i was completed knocked out.

the next morning, i was aunt of the year. i'm really good at being a good aunt in small increments. 

june waiting for the school bus. i knew reagan would want documentation of june's bus schedule. 

after june left for school, heather and i left for the city. we rode the train! it was a highlight! i loved looking out the window and seeing the towns go by. we walked from the train station to our hotel, grabbed some lunch at an italian deli style place and then we went straight to the staten island ferry. i discovered that i am a power walker. i loved walking through the city. i also really like being a tourist. i think being a tourist often receives disdain, but there's a reason certain things are an attraction. but i will say i draw the line at time square. i do not care for times square, even though it's one of the most famous things about new york. there's nothing interesting there except the discount broadway tickets. otherwise it's a bunch of MEGA-sized stores and restaurants that you would find at your local mall. no gracias. 

did you know that i can sleep anywhere? ANYWHERE. try me. i can do it.

i felt safe enough to nap here because i knew the golden state killer couldn't get me because there would be too many witnesses.

this particular outfit day was inadvertently matching in camouflage and black. 

the statue of liberty. truly awe inspiring

look at how many hair colors i have in this picture:

blonde bun

dark roots

wiry gray hair in the dark roots

alexander hamilton's grave. interesting tidbit. thomas is a big alexander hamilton fan, but dislikes musicals. now he can never talk about alexander hamilton's political impact because everyone thinks he should know all the lyrics to "hamilton". he does not.

the 9/11 memorial. this place almost seems unreal. there is a significant change in tone of the city in this section. hallowed ground. 

since you are walking 12 miles a day around the city, you indulge all you want. chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chip brownies and hello dolly bars. they were good. my stuff is better.

we tried to do some new york shopping but we didn't have the best luck. i wanted to shop at a thrift shop that was supposed to be the best of new york, but the clothing selection was subpar. it had some nice furniture. later we wandered over to an antique shop and rifled through a million record albums until we uncovered neil diamond's greatest hits on vinyl. a very high point of the trip.

that night we ate at an excellent italian restaurant that we stumbled upon in little italy. i had real live gnocchi, my favorite. i love to eat delicious food! twinkies or little debbie do not tempt me in the slightest. 

this is the view from our fantastic hotel. cary grant used to live here! we got a really great room and it felt like a dream come true! because it was! 

we were going to stay up late and talk and watch tv and we made it about 5 minutes.

the next day's inadvertent matching was black pants, adidas sneakers and cross body purses. 

i think our mutual favorite activity in new york was walking. we loved walking. like pensioners circling the mall, we walked our hearts out.

we didn't go to radio city music hall and that was fine.

we didn't go to the night show. and we were fine!

we ate gigantic sandwiches. i truly love a good sandwich. i ate 90% of this sandwich before i had to tap out.

we DID go to times square as briefly as possible. i do not like times square. it's like everything you don't like about your local mall, on steroids:

a million smelly, loud people. 

a million smelly, loud people taking selfies in the middle of the sidewalk.

mall stores the size of a small country that you already have access to at home or online so there's no point in spending time there.

applebees

the only redeeming thing there are the discount broadway tickets. we waited in line and got tickets to see beautiful: the carol king musical

i loved it! love it! i've been a carol king fan for a while but i didn't realize how prolific her songwriting catalog is. it's immense and she's a genius.  

while we were watching the show, we could hear two ladies behind us making almost identical comments to the ones that heather and i were making. it was comical and we were excited to see what we were going to look like in 35 years. 

there you have it. heidi and heather at 68 and 63. 

sweatshirt jackets, elastic waist chambray pants, short, permed hair, acid washed backpacks, thick glasses and comfortable walking shoes. 

this photo could also be entitled, 

heidi and heather in elementary school or heidi and heather next weekend.

the street view of our hotel:

central park

heather looking for the apartment building that housed gozer the gozerian. this is not it, but it still looks like spooky central. 

project runway winner and really amazing fashion designer christian siriano's brand new flagship store was just a few doors down from the hotel. i chickened out and didn't go inside but i THOUGHT about it.

a amazing church of prodigious proportions. 

after we rode the train back from the city, heather and dan treated me to the BEST MEAL. pupusas, which i had never had before and were the perfect blend of deep fried and cheese and then probably the best ice cream i've ever had from a place called "last licks". go there. if you're in the tri-state area, pop and lactaid, put on your fat pants and go there.

me, freezing my buns off before church. i slept all through sacrament meeting and heather and dan sit on the front row. i was right next to a very bright window, so my sleeping was on full display for the ward. 

i flew home. it was hard to leave my sister, but it was nice to sit on a place and eat a jumbo bag of sour patch kids and read a ridiculous novel about a secret billionaire heiress trying to live an average life and her arranged marriage husband who used to be a computer hacker/gang member. 

when i got home, my mom surprised me with a cleaning lady for my birthday to clean my house from top to bottom. i did 8 loads of laundry while she cleaned. we were a great team. i hope she comes back to hang out with me again. 

38 started out pretty spectacular. i occasionally will look at these pictures to remind me of that "one time my house was clean" for a few hours.