Tuesday, December 27, 2016

More KrisJen Adventures

One of the major highlights of this fall was when the one and only Krusty Tung came to visit New York! It was SO much fun to catch up with her and talk about everything that's scary and important in our lives. We also celebrated her birthday. Here are some pictures. 


At the subway going to meet Krust in my new shoes which I was very proud of

Dumplings with Kristy's old roommates

I wish that this was still funny...this was before Trump won

Famous New York Cheesecake

Krust

tehehe...I made her take lots of silly pictures

I'm actually kind of proud of this picture. I like the composition.
It's a pizza shop right next to the cheesecake place

The many moods of Kristy Tung...

"Listening dispassionately" 

"Considering"

"Agreeing"

"Hilarious, Darling, Hilarious!"

"Oh stop!"

And then the others finally realized what we were doing

Cool graffiti subway station way uptown

Protestors outside Trump Tower. There was a guy dressed up as Abe Lincoln

Delicious breakfast date at Big Daddy's with Krust

Waffle sandwhich

Walk around Central Park

Love her!

Walking the Brooklyn Bridge at night

Big Bird in the park

Famous Central Park fountain


So there it is in a few pictures- a very wonderful weekend with the Krust!

Friday, December 9, 2016

Goings of Gotham

So, moving to New York, I was pretty determined to take in as much of the city as I possibly could. Here are some of the sights I saw in late Summer/Early Fall.



Apartment complex near the first kid I started tutoring privately in East Village.
I was SO nervous the first time I to his apartment. Now I spend up to 5 hours a week there! 



On one of my first days off, I went to the Met.
Look at this old school yogi! ;) 

This statue is honestly better with only half the face-so epic!

I love these kinds of paintings

top of the Met

Series for sale at the flagship New York Public Library.
I'm curious to see what my alter ego does to earn extra cash money moonlighting 

MOMA! 

I'm meta right? It's a picture of everyone looking at and taking pictures of Starry Night by Van Gogh.

"The Rope Dancer Accompanies Herself With Her Shadows"
It's an enticing caption. Plus, it reminds me of a character in a book series I just read
(Six of Crows for all you other book nerds)

Colored Squares! 

Cool book I found and later borrowed from the library

30 Rock! 

Beginning of the 30 Rock Ice Skating Season

St. Patricks Cathedral 

Halal Food with Alyssa and Christina 

Typical day on the subway. 

Walking the highline with Alyssa and Christina.
It's an abandoned subway line that was transformed into a public park- pretty cool! 

My 'look I made friends' face

I just thought this house was a cool backdrop- who would think this was NYC?

Insomnia cookies was having some promotional so I got a free cookie! 

Soho graffiti: "Resistance is feasible even for those who are not heros by nature" -Lego Han Solo 

Oh, if only he HAD been the loser


Elder Holland came to New York for this LDS Public Affairs conference! I volunteered at the conference so I got to hear him speak! When I showed up early to start my shift he was on the other side of the lobby doing a tv interview! That was pretty cool! I got to meet him on my mission and seeing him again just kind of brought back those same feelings that he was a man of God.

Italian food in Little Italy with my new pals

For a little while we had a cat living on our porch-it was great!

My new life motto



Any Stranger Things fans out there?
My local library was decorated like this at Halloween which I thought was cute


So yeah...some of the day to day goings of Jenny around Gotham!


Sunday, December 4, 2016

Transitions


Ok, I'm way behind on the blog but I've been busy here in New York doing as many things as possible to take advantage of my time here in this crazy city! When I moved here 3 months ago it was gruelingly hot. Now it is frigidly cold. I came here knowing no one and now I have wonderful coworkers, roommates and wardies. I still get lonely on the regular, but moving is always hard and living in New York has been such an adventure. I NEVER thought I would live here (honestly, I never really had a desire to) and so a small part of me feels like a survivor every day I make my way on public transportation across this bustling, smelling, expletive-filled island. Perhaps the most surprising thing here though is that people are actually incredibly nice. Maybe my concept of 'nice' has been re-calibrated since living among the crusty olde New Englanders but I'm constantly seeing people do thoughtful things for each other. From regularly seeing people give up their seats for the very young or elderly on the train, to the random man that took a passing blind man by the arm and guided him to his bus stop, to those who stop and talk to beggars or offer them food. While there are definitely days where I witness fights or rudeness, for the most part I have been uplifted by the sense of community and humanity I see around me every day in New York. 

Anyway, please enjoy some pictures from the first couple months I moved here to my new home! 



I went to meet up with some friends at Shake Shack and just happened to walk past a real authentic Banksy! 

Typical day on the subway at the end of the hot hot summer.
Someone was brave enough to bring their artwork haha

So much of my time is spent in this scene

Can't move to a new place without a trip to Ikea, right? My roommate Rachel and I went with our friend Gloria.
Gloria had never been to Ikea before and had no idea what she was getting herself into.
As a result she basically just started sleeping in every show room we went through! 

One weekend, our ward got invited up to a YSA activity at West Point

It was a beautiful evening!
This is me with my roommate, Caitlin

In order to get to the campus, we had to take a ferry across the river! 

The best way to describe West Point is as a mix between an Ivy League and a prison.
I don't think that the inhabitants there would say I'm wrong. 

Really cool campus
 Later, I went to Chinatown/Little Italy for a festival.

Really, a good motto to live by

Awesome Italian street festival

I spent the evening looking for the perfect cannoli 

Little Italy! 

Beautiful street art
 A few weeks later (?) I went with some friends/roomies to get epic milkshakes that I had discovered on pintrest. They were pieces of art
Not the most flattering of pictures, but pretty accurate of my emotions

Beautiful, right?

I finally decorated my room and now it feels like home to have my regular pictures and postcards up.
It's a good little alcove I have

The other angle

A picture I took during sunday school one time.
I just think its so funny out of context- we were making a list of people who are prideful

Now finally, let's address that I'm pretty poor here! It's been a good experience for me to work on budgeting and financial planning. This pioneer quote pretty much sums up my new lifestyle! (or at least what I'm aiming for)