My weekend update...

Running. Lots of running. Studying, so much studying. (Not me, but Mitch.) Teaching dance. Playing with Mary-Katie. Shopping with Mitch, this is a true Christmas miracle. Chipotle, of course. Church. So much more studying. And a little bit of TV.

Today is Mitch's last final. All I can say is hallelujah. I am so happy for him to finish. And so proud of him.

Can you believe it's Christmas week? I can't.

Loves,

Sj

New York, New York

New York was one of the best things that has happened to me this month. First, I got to take Ali along with me, which always ensures a most delightful, hilarious time. Second, I got to see Abby. I love her so much, we got to chit-chat like old friends all through the night on Friday. Third, Jason was there. He is my favorite shopping partner.

We were in New York for about 36 hours. It went by much too quickly. We started our trip off with some pizza. Jason knew the most perfect place in Penn Station. Did I mention we ate pizza at 11:00 pm?

(Don't mind my small photos, all from the iPhone.)

Friday we stayed up until 2:30 am. I have really got to stop doing this, it always gets the best of me. We started off Saturday with some delicious peppermint hot chocolate and bagels, while walking across Central Park to the East Side to see the Angel Tree in the Met. It was beautiful.

Next we just happened to come upon Dylan's Candy Bar. I haven't been there for years, I felt like I had landed right in heaven. Bins and bins and more bins of sour candy. My heart's desire. I love candy stores, I love buying candy that is too expensive and I love eating candy that is too expensive. I ate all of my candy within seven minutes of leaving the store. I was trying so hard to make it last through the day, what was I thinking? I would have need 1000 bags of candy to last me for an entire day.

Next we went to see "The Windows" at Bergdorf Goodman. And yes, they were beautiful and deserved to be called "The Windows." I loved every detail of each window. The clothing was absolutely stunning and the design was done so well.

Then we walked on over to Rockefeller Center to see the Tree. It was big and wonderful and there were about a billion people too many there. We only spent a few minutes admiring the magic of Christmas. I hope every time I walk past Rockefeller Center that Tina Fey is going to just walk right out the front door and say to me, "Sarah, will you be my best friend?" Maybe one day, maybe one day.

Then it was time to eat again, of course. Abby took us to Chinatown and we ate at the BEST Chinese restaurant ever. We indulged in dumplings, fried rice and vegetables. I could eat there again and again.

(Just in case you are wondering, this is a dumpling. The broth was so delicious.)

We then proceeded to go to MAC. I tried and failed to do my own make-up. My eyeshadow looked ridiculous, and yes everyone in the store was staring at me.

I dragged Abby to get her eyebrows waxed with me, Ali was spending all her time buying fabulous new glasses. Do you know what the lady told me at the eyebrow place? Here is our conversation:

Nice, over enthusiastic make-up lady: "You don't use under the eye cream, do you?"

Me: "Um, no."

Nice, over enthusiast make-up lady: "Well, you really should."

Awesome, I have aged and people are noticing. Not just me. Did I mention that I found another grey, shining, silver hair on my head last week?

After hours of shopping for glasses, we went to the most wonderful store in the whole entire world. Oh my. I could have spent hours and hours in there. Have you heard of Fishs Eddy? I want everything in the entire store. I could buy everything in there. It was fabulous.

By this time is was late and of course, it was time to eat again. I mean seriously, how could we not? We went to Eataly and yes, it was delicious and simple. I first had to treat myself to some delicious focaccia bread, the wait was an hour. And once we sat down, I ate delicious spaghetti. It was simple red sauce and tasted oh so good.

We ended the night by attempting to watch Elf. I was out in about 10 seconds.

Sleep came and then we left early in the morning.

New York was a dream. Until next time, I will most definitely miss you.

Just in case you are obsessed with Mary-Katie, like me, here is a picture of her. She is the best and I lover her so much.

New York in December.

Hello New York! I can't wait to see you tonight!

Current.

Currently eating carrots. Boring carrots. I am making myself eat my bag of carrots before I can have another Diet Coke. (I woke up at 4:34 am to work roll-out at J.Crew.)

I am practicing serious self control. I also forget the rest of my snacks and my lunch has been long gone for an hour.

Awesome.

Happy Monday.

A time to give thanks.

Thanksgiving was as fabulous as ever. We celebrated with Jason, Abby, Spencer, Sara, Claire, Baby Mary-Katie and the Pratt family. Abby cooked delicious yams and I made Shelley's stuffing, a Henriod tradition. I stuffed myself with red jello and stuffing. It was a perfect day. I made Abby run with me in the morning, she was a champion.

Jason and I went Black Friday shopping and I LOVED it. Maybe I really am a Crookston. We met Emily and Mandi at Target, they graciously stood in line for us. And we met the madness of shopping with pure excitement. I didn't buy any electronics, only 550 count tread sheets. Totally worth it. Emily and Mandi got some great deals for their kids and significant others.

The Thanksgiving weekend was perfect. Lots of relaxation and time with family. We watched movies, ate delicious food, went shopping, went to the Z00 lights and totally enjoyed ourselves.

So much to be thankful for. Here are just a few of the things Mitch and I wrote down for the month of November.

• Grandparents. Mitch's Grandpa Joe died a week before Thanksgiving. During this past month, Mitch has spent a lot of time reflecting on all the wonderful things that Grandpa Joe represented. Grandpa Joe will be forever missed.
• Family. Oh how much we love our families. Both of them, equally. We look forward to being with them. We are so lucky to have Spencer and Sara so close.
• Friends. There are a lot of friends that I consider as part of my family. I would be completely lost without them.
• Exercise, especially running. Mitch has turned into a runner. I love it. Maybe one day I can convince him that we need to run another marathon together.
• Books. We love books.
• School. Mitch is basically the perfect candidate to be a student forever. He loves to learn and loves to teach.
• Dance. This element of my life is crucial. I love dance always, all the time.
• Food. We are foodies, is that even a word? We love to go out to eat, we love to eat with others, we love to share our food with others, if only I really loved to cook. I love to cook when I have endless amounts of time and fresh vegetables. Maybe one day.
• And we are so thankful to have somewhere to call home.

I hope that your Thanksgiving was as wonderful as mine was. And now, it's time for Christmas. I love Christmas. I started off my Christmas holiday by eating sour Santas from Jolly's. There is no better way to celebrate the Holidays than with food. Oh, and I bought a box of dark chocolate covered Holiday Jo-Jo's from Trader Joe's. So DELICIOUS.

Happy Holidays.

My Niece Tessa

She is so cute!

To Jenna

(This picture perfectly displays my mission. I wore that black sweater for probably 100 days straight. It was a different sweater from the one I shrunk.)

Jenna is my friend, one of my best friends and today is her birthday. We met in 2006 in the MTC, Missionary Training Center, in Provo right before I left to go to Lithuania. We luckily ended up being companions for a large majority of our missions. Jenna and I laughed every single day together. She was my favorite companion and I love her so.

Some of my favorite memories with Jenna include:

• Me, smashed in the bus doors. Jenna laughing.
• Jenna carrying me over a large puddle of water. Jenna peed her skirt, I dropped my Book of Mormon in the large puddle of water and my shoes ended up getting wet. And loads of contact cards floating everywhere.
• Making clay figures for Andi when Jenna was sick. I was bored out of my mind and our clay figures melted in the oven. We are idiots.
• Striped socks! So, so funny.
• Yellow Face.
• Sister Arklys.
• Jolita and Alexandra telling both us we were fat. (Lithuanians are not afraid to be honest, we were fat.)
• My black sweater. (One of the worst days of my mission. I cried for an hour over my wool sweater shrinking in the washer. I obviously didn't know how to do my own laundry. Jenna laughed so hard, she peed her pants.)
• Running in the forest.
• Klaipeda. It was a dream.
• Watching Jenna drive away with President and Sister Watterson on a cold day in February and it was raining. (This was a scene just like from a book, I was in total depression.)
• The fat man on the bus with our Christmas boxes.
• Jenna not able to resist opening all of her presents before Christmas. She was like a kid in a candy store.
• And of course all of the spiritual experiences.
• Jenna rescuing me after my accident. She didn't even skip a beat. She was there in 10 seconds.
• Probably my most favorite memory of all was teaching a woman, who's name I forget, and her crazy obsession with the TV and the bus ride on the way home. I laughed so so so so so so hard.

Happy Birthday Jenna! I love you so.