a weekend to be thankful for.

I'm thankful for all the new and fun experiences we get in this city.

I am thankful we could make it through the masses to experience our first {and last} Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

I'm thankful Rachel Ray led me along the way in cooking my first Thanksgiving meal at home. And what a success it was!

I'm thankful that after a messy kitchen like this...

...there were two willing boys to clean it up.

And last but not least, I'm thankful that the Cougs could pull through against the Ute's this year! Go BYU!

bryant park festivities.

Sunday afternoon was exciting as Todd and I ventured up to Bryant Park to get a taste of the beginning of a New York Christmas. Replacing the Central Lawn was a big and beautiful ice skating rink already full with skaters. It's the only free rink in the city—as long as you bring your own skates.

Unfortunately this brought up a past debate that Todd and I had since his own skates got cut on our nyc packing list. He wasn't too excited about that and felt this furthered his reasoning. {Hey, storage is precious in the city, and they'd just sit there for the other 9 months. Ladies, you know what I'm talking about!}

Set up around the rink were some really cute shops that we enjoyed window shopping. But considering it was Sunday, our favorite shop happened to be Kettle Corn NYC who was handing out free samples! Chocolate caramel, coconut, blue ranch, and cheddar are just a few flavors to name...coconut being my new favorite!

Look for the big tree in the background. It hasn't been decorated yet, but I hear it becomes the most beautiful tree in NYC. Can't wait!

ikea, i love you.

I mean really, there's nothing more exciting than a Saturday afternoon spent at Ikea. Todd may disagree, and I just might have to bribe him to come, but I sure do love it!

Hubs was my muscle man in bringing home these shelves, but I'm so mad because they're too big!! Now I'll have to lug them back myself and replace them with smaller ones...

{this, i do not love so much}

pretty pretty prints.

Beautiful. Bold. & Bright.
Just what I look for when decorating.

And with my family coming in town this season I feel like I'm in a race for time to finish my apartment.

If I could incorporate just a few of these prints, I'd be golden!

spice up your life.

Hubs has been working quite the hours these past few weeks,

so once Friday finally rolled around he decided to

play hooky from Scouts and take me out to a romantic dinner at Spice.

{quickly followed by a movie + cuddle sesh}

{what a hunk}

yanks! yanks! yanks!

 Yanks #1

We may have only lived in the city for six months,

but I've caught onto my sports teams real quick.

It's got to be my lucky Johnny Damon shirt!!
{ow ow}

BOO!

The hubs and I usually attempt to make our Halloween's pretty eventful, but this year it snuck up pretty quickly, so it wasn't until the morning of that we started thinking costumes.

{procrastination is a talent of mine}

But what a cute Charlie Chaplin duo, right?

We spent the night with The Egan's (Waldo's) and The Cannon's (Ghost's...?) and had such a great time! We first stopped to watch the Village Halloween Parade, but once the rain began and all of NYC joined the line-up, we decided it was time to leave.

After a quick stop at Five Guys {yum}, we all maneuvered through the congested streets back to our place to enjoy treats and games.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

the fallidays.

{i love fall}

the changing leaves. hot cocoa. cute jackets.

 but i especially love the pumpkin patches!

although quite quaint in the city, they're heerrree.