Madison and Matt

30 October 2009

New York, New York!

At the end of the summer, before heading west, we stopped for a few days in New York City! This was my second trip to the city, but it was Matt's first. Lauren came down from Connecticut to be our tour guide. We stayed in my cousin's apartment on the edge of Harlem near the northern end of Central Park. We had such a fun time and can't wait to go back someday.

On the metro. Unfortunately I lost my $20 metro pass on Day One within twenty minutes of buying it and we had to buy another one. I can't stand doing careless things like that! We didn't let it ruin our trip, though.

We saw The Little Mermaid on Broadway! It was a very fun and creative show. Sebastian was phenomenal. I had our digital camera in my pocket when we sat down for the show. Little did I know it slid out of my pocket (the same pocket the metro pass disappeared from) and onto the ground beneath our seats! Luckily I realized the camera was missing about 3 blocks from the theater and we were able to sprint back and recover it. As organized as I am, every once in a while I get into these bouts of carelessness and stupidity, as was evidenced twice during Day One of our trip.

We had a fun adventure in Chinatown where Lauren and I got some new purses. Matt enjoyed our adventures into the little, secret shops and closets where the goods are kept.

Matt approved of the NY pizza.

Yummy NY cheesecake!

M&M at M&M World! How appropriate. Matt got lots of M&Ms.

Times Square. Matt loved this place.

Views from the top of the Empire State Building.

Grand Central Station.

Matt is always so good at being chivalrous and carrying all the bags and purses.

Matt took some very artistic pictures of the Statue of Liberty.

I love the view of the cityscape from Liberty Island.

Ellis Island and our bike tour through Central Park. Our bicycling tour guide was Hispanic and gave us our tour in Spanish! We loved it.

Me, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Hagrid. And Matt and Batman. All made of Legos at FAO Schwartz.

Matt LOVED FAO Schwartz, especially the overpriced candy he bought. (Apparently the M&Ms weren't enough.)

Matt and I were approached in Times Square to go to the David Letterman Show! The guests were some random comedians, and Imogen Heap performed. We sat in the second row, right across from Dave's desk. The second picture is The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which I only had about 45 minutes to basically sprint through. There are some amazing works there; I can't wait to go back!

Madison Avenue!

27 July 2009

The Good Ol' South.

Matt and I spent the end of May through the end of June in the city of Greenville, SC. While he spent long, hard days in the humidity knocking on doors, I spent a couple of weeks writing what seemed like an endless amount of Thank You cards. I finally finished the majority of those and was able to be a little more social and hang out with the other wives. Our days typically consisted of going out to the pool.

I spent the rest of my time in my TVless and sporadic-internet apartment. It's given me some time to work on my cooking abilities. Matt is always a trooper and eats my meals even when he doesn't particularly like them. I think I'm getting a little better.

Oh yeah, the wives and I did go and tour the BMW factory one day. The tour guide's auto/mechanic lingo went right over our heads, but it was still cool to see the Transformer-looking robots and flying sparks put the cars together.

This summer I've also gotten to read a couple of good books! The Book Thief was so good and a real tear-jerker. Matt couldn't believe how much I was sobbing as I finished the last few pages. I then read The Alchemist which was really different than what I usually read but so enjoyable. It was a pretty quick read, too. Then I read The Notebook. I have to say that I love the movie, but I was a little disappointed by the book. It's probably because I experienced them in the wrong order. The movie just seemed more riveting and dramatic than the book. It was still an entertaining read, though.

One cool thing Matt and I got to do together in Greenville was take a stroll around Falls Park, which is in the nice downtown area of the city. It was beautiful. While we were there we passed by some old guy who shouted, "Well you two look like a good Christian couple!" "Yep!" was our response, to which he replied, "Amen!" Good ol' Southerners.

On Matt's 23rd birthday, June 21st, we took a little trip to Atlanta, GA. He was dying to eat at Benihana's and the closest one around was in Atlanta. While there we went to the World of Coca-Cola, but I wouldn't put it as one of my favorite attractions. The most exciting part of the tour was probably when we got to try dozens of Coca-Cola products from around the world. I guess the glass bottling factory part was okay, too. After that we strolled through the Centennial Olympic Park, which was built for the 1996 Summer Olympics, on our way to dinner. I guess I'm glad we can say we've been to Atlanta, but I think it would've been cooler to visit somewhere like Savannah. We're hoping to make it to Charleston, SC one of these weekends before we leave.

Benihana's.

Great photo-op in the entryway at The World of Coca-Cola:
Giant Coca-Cola bottles...

Cool retro room with old school, nostalgic Coke stuff.

This kind of reminds me of It's a Wonderful Life.
"I wish I had a million dollars... Hot dog!"

The room with old Coke posters and advertisements.
Matt LOVES when I take lots of pictures.

Testing the flavors. Some were pretty good; others NOT so good.

We got to pick up a FREE Coke bottle on our way out for paying to see the place.

The next day we had some Papa John's pizza (our favorite) and Baskin Robbins mint chocolate chip ice cream cake (Matt's favorite; I prefer Cold Stone). Becca and Steve came over to enjoy the cake with us and celebrate Matt's special day. I got Matt two Brian Regan comedy DVDs as well as a bunch of his favorite movie candies. I think he enjoyed them. :)

On the 4th of July we packed up the car and took the freeway north and east from Greenville to Charlotte. We didn't get to sit and watch a fireworks show from beginning to end, but we caught probably a dozen parts of various firework shows throughout our drive. I really like our current apartment. It is actually an executive suite owned by Marriott in an apartment complex, so it almost feels like we're in a hotel! It is much more homey than our last apartment because there is artwork on the walls and nice, comfy furniture. Not to mention we now have two TVs and a microwave! Now if that's not a step up, I don't know what is.

Matt drinking his FREE Coca-Cola on our drive to Charlotte.
What a way to celebrate the 4th!

Here are some pictures from our very first apartment (Greenville).
I'll put up Charlotte ones later.

Matt, just hanging out in the living room.

View from the entryway; kitchen.

Hallway; bathroom.

Our bedroom; not much to look at... Can't wait to be able to decorate in Provo.

Charlotte Marriott ExecuStay welcomes us to our new apartment with a box of goodies!
Again, Matt LOVES when I say, "Wait right there; let me take a picture!"

15 July 2009

Our Honeymoon: Just Maui'd!

Matt and I went to Maui and had the most wonderful honeymoon ever. We spent the first five days at the Westin Ka'anapali Ocean Villas, which was a beautiful resort. It was so tranquil and romantic. We had an amazing room on the bottom floor, adjacent to the resort pool and, even better, the ocean. We sat out on our little porch each morning in our resort robes and ate our breakfast as we gazed at the incredible view.

Our view in the morning and our view at sunset...

We did some really fun things while we were there. We went to the Old Lahaina Luau, which was a spectacular show, not to mention a sensational meal with fresh Kahlua pork that we witnessed come out of the ground. It wasn't a pretty sight, but it tasted delicious.

The Banyan Tree in Lahaina; it is huge and has about 12 trunks!

We spent one whole day taking a catamaran out to the little island of Lanai, snorkeling in a gorgeous and exclusive cove, touring the cute and tiny town of Lanai, enjoying great meals along the way, and witnessing the beautiful sunset as we sailed back to Maui.

For the last three days of our stay we went to the Grand Wailea Resort. It was an enormous and incredible resort, complete with fun pools and waterslides, as well as gorgeous views. We felt especially lucky when we got a free room upgrade to a 1700 sq. ft. Molokini Suite overlooking the ocean!

On our last night, my sweet sister and her husband treated us, as a wedding gift, to a delectable dinner at the amazing Mama's Fish House. It was one of the most incredible meals I've ever had. I don't even like seafood, but it was so fresh and delicious that it didn't even matter. Matt and I were in heaven.