nyc.

Life is... well, crazy. Crazy good, but crazy nonetheless. Between the two of us, Dan and I have 5+ trips over the next 2 months, we are trying to sell our home and buy a new one, we will be celebrating one little man turning ONE! and one turning FIVE!, I am trying to train for a half-marathon, trying to keep our heads above water at 2 full-time jobs and enjoy every possible moment with our 3 precious monsters. 

At this point I feel like my next full breath will come in April. Maybe. 

But, honestly, no complaints. Life is good and full of adventure and love and thankfully friends and family who are always here to help, especially my mom and Amy -both of whom we're so thankful for. 

My first business trip away from Jonah came this week with a quick trip to NYC. I often have these moments of wondering how I was ever chosen for the work I do. I'm convinced that the day will come when someone will look around the room and ask me to please leave because clearly I'm not smart enough to be there. Luckily, this did not happen during this trip but I'm still trying to figure out why. On Wednesday we spent the entire day at the New York Google headquarters followed by some time at the Facebook HQ on Thursday morning. 

In between meetings I was able to have dinner with one of my very best friends, Katrina, who lives in Manhattan, take a quick walk around Times Square and stop by the 9/11 Memorial on my way out of town. I'm always so humbled and thankful for these opportunities. I can't help but believe that God puts me in these places and with these people for great reasons and so I do my best to soak it all up to my core. 

Taking photos from the plane for JP. He is a details' man and loves seeing as much as possible from my trips.

The view from my Wednesday meetings. One Trade Center in back middle, Statue of Liberty in back/right (looks tiny!), the rest are the Chelsea and Tribeca neighborhoods of Manhattan. 

Late night stroll through Times Square. 

Sobering, humbling visit to the 9/11 memorial. 

Time seems to be moving even faster than normal and this week was no exception. Between a last-minute trip to NYC, trying to squeeze in final training runs for a 7 mile race this weekend, soaking up Jackson & Audrey time and enjoying some of the most beautiful weather.... life is so crazy and it is so good. 

I was only in NYC for about 24 hours, but I'm not sure you can ever really visit that city without at least one somewhat random story. For us, this time, it involved our dinner location. We had been given the recommendation to go to a restaurant in SoHo called "La Esquina" which was supposed to be the best Mexican food in the city. 

So, before dinner I ran to the hotel to check-in since I hadn't yet had time to do that and was then going to meet my team at the restaurant. So, while I was at the hotel I looked the restaurant up on Yelp because I needed to figure out where it was located exactly. I found the address right away and then started to read a few of the reviews. Every review came with a story about how insanely hard it is to get into the restaurant, how there are these crazy door men who decide if they want to let you in or not, how the place is frequented by Beyonce and how- get this- the restaurant itself is hidden. 

On the street level it looks like a taco stand on the outside- and there is a taco stand there, but if you go inside and around the corner there is a "hidden" door to the basement. If you can get by the door men, they will let you downstairs where you are led through the kitchen, around a maze of hallways and finally to one of the most beautiful restaurants I've ever seen. I have no idea how we got in, but we did and the food was amazing. Only in New York...

By the time I got home I was exhausted- I had been up by 4:30am two days in a row to catch flights and by mid-Wednesday morning I had already been in 4 states: New York, New Jersey, Kentucky and Indiana. But, luckily these two are always ready to welcome me home- in exchange, of course, for treats from "the big city" which were actually Skittles from the airport, but JP thought they were the best thing ever anyway. 

PS: Not that it was planned to be this way, but given La Esquina's status (voted multiple times as #1 in the city, I have deemed it worthy of crossing off another 30 by 30)

a new york minute.

I love New York, I really do. This trip was brief but so sweet. Catching up with a best friend, spring in the city, fantastic creative sessions, great food, meeting new people... and brief enough to enjoy it fully since I knew I would quickly be coming home to my little monsters. 

Reunited.

This morning before my meetings began I was able to meet up for coffee with my long lost best friend and college roommate, Katrina, who lives and works in NYC! It was the perfect way to begin the day.