NYC & Jackson turns 42!

Jackson had to work in NYC so we went a few days early to celebrate his birthday. The big 4-2! I made birthday brownies at home so MacKenzie could join the celebration.

Birthday brownies!

We interviewed a new person to watch MacKenzie that we met on the website Rover.com. It is like Uber for dog-sitting. Brandi did a nice job and watched MacK in her home for us for only $30/night. We dropped MacK off and headed to the airport. We caught an easy flight to Newark and grabbed an Uber into our hotel in the Financial District. It was a gorgeous day so we dropped our things and went out to explore. We were staying right by the World Trade Center which is always kind of cool to see.

WTC looking gorgeous as we headed
out for a day of exploring

I follow quite a few people who live in New York on Instagram so I'd seen this new sculpture- park-neighborhood area called Hudson Yards and decided we had to go see it for ourselves. We rented CitiBikes to get to the High Line (an elevated walking path) and then eventually got to "Vessel" as the sculpture is presently known. It is actually free to climb, but you must have a ticket and they were sold out by the time I learned about this requirement. Bummer! It was still cool to see it!

"This is weird"

TOURIST!

We walked around the shopping area behind the Vessel just long enough to realize that this neighborhood was out of our price range and we continued on with our day! I decided that biking and walking a million miles meant that we should obviously go to Levain Bakery for dessert! We got in what may have been the most terrifying Uber ever (simply due to the driving style in NYC to which I'll never grow accustom). Praise God we made it for cookies safe and sound.

New Yorkers willingness to line up
for EVERYTHING is always amazing to me

No trip to NYC is complete without a trip to
Levain Bakery, though, so the line was worth it!

Heavenly cookies.

You get cookies there for $4 each (they're HUGE), but there is no seating in the area so you have to walk to Central Park to enjoy them. It really is an experience. I love it! We finished our cookies and realized an early flight and sightseeing had worn us out and we were now a really long way from our hotel so we opted to use the subway to get back to our side of town for the evening.

Like real New Yorkers--taking the subway
around town!

We got mildly turned around on the subway and missed our stop. It was no biggie, we just got off at the next station and headed back the other way, but we were so annoyed that we ride subways all over the world without issue and it is in NYC that we get confused! We got to exit at the World Trade Center-Cortlandt Street which just reopened in September of 2018 after being destroyed on 9/11.

The new station is pretty magnificent and this is
the entrance/exit 

We called it a night at that point. On Sunday we got up and went out exploring in the pouring rain. Boo!

The birthday boy and the Bull*

*Not pictured the hoards of foreign tourists that we had to fend off to get a photo of Jackson alone. 

We went to Leo's Bagels (so good!) to get breakfast
then ate at a Starbucks like true locals!

It was seriously pouring rain so we kind of gave up on turning the day into much and went back to our hotel room and caught a "Wicked Tuna" marathon. Yep. What a wild birthday! That evening we had reservation at a place I'd heard about on Instagram (where else?!) so we walked the roughly a mile in the misting rain to get there from the hotel. Walking to dinner is one of my favorite things in the world. I don't know why.

Max's was a cute little place

Like a fine wine!

Authentic bruschetta

Some of the best pasta this side of Italy!

Dinner turned out to be just wonderful and salvaged the otherwise washout of a day. We wandered back in the rain which wasn't as fun as it could have been, but just soaking in the energy of NYC is always great.

La Colombe coffee

Monday was a workday for Jackson and a vacation day for me (what?! this never happens!) so we went for coffee at a place I'd seen great reviews about on Instagram (are you noticing how I planned this trip yet?!) then grabbed bagels at Leo's again. It was still raining cats and dogs so while Jackson was on work calls I just read a book in the room. The weather really stunk during our trip! :(

A rare sight: Jackson working when Jenna ins't! ;)

We moved across the river to New Jersey for the rest of our stay because that is where Jackson's meetings were so it just made sense. We'd never stayed across from the City and looked over at it. It was pretty cool, too. We braved the cold and wind to go down to the waterfront to get some epic views. Then we grabbed dinner and snuggled in the room while it rained. We watched the Martian for the 90th time and were still hooked like we always are.

NYC from Jersey City

We tried to get a cute photo of us but the wind had other ideas

Maybe if I am on this side? No...

Maybe if I hold my hair back?!

Ok! I give up!!! Jackson looks handsome, though! 

Tuesday Jackson had to work nearby so I slept in and then went to the nearby mall to shop all by myself. I love doing almost everything with Jackson, but he loses interest in Sephora so I spent a ton of time there just sampling every single beauty item ever made. When Jackson returned we decided it was a waste to be so close to NYC and let a little (or a lot) of rain keep you inside. We figured out how to get the commuter train near our hotel and soon enough we were in Midtown Manhattan. Listen, the trains in NYC are not super intuitive so this was a real accomplishment in my mind. We made a connection and got back up to another Levain Bakery location as I wanted to take some cookies back to my Mom and I'd be visiting her on Friday. We made it about 30 minutes before they closed and got some additional goodies. (I'm proud to report that I had willpower and the cookies made it back to my Mom! Whew!)

We decided to walk to dinner at a pizza place Jackson found called B Side and ended up wandering by areas of the city that I'd not seen in prior trips somehow. It was raining and the walk was about 1.5 miles, but we eventually made it.

Lincoln Center!

I'd love to see a show here one day!

B Side Pizza

Jackson loves NYC-style pizza. It is not my favorite, but this was still pretty good. Really it was just nice to be warm and dry for a bit! Once we finished dinner it was another 1.25 miles to get back to our commuter line to Jersey City. This meant we walked through Times Square and got to see its bright lights. We almost never go to that area when we're in town so it was kind of fun to see it. A Broadway show was getting out as we were crossing through so it was packed at like 10pm on a Tuesday night. The City truly never sleeps.

Jackson captured an artsy shot

We got the train back to Jersey City and then realized that the weather was finally clearing and we'd have a better view from the waterfront so we walked down there instead of back to the hotel. It was cold and windy, but it was worth it.

NYC showing off

We finally made it back to the hotel to dry off and warm up. Wednesday morning we shared an Uber to Newark Airport where I hopped a flight back to Ft. Myers and Jackson picked up a rental car to head into rural New Jersey for a few more days of work. I'm glad I was able to join him for some of the trip even if the weather didn't cooperate.

Reunited.

I landed and went to get my tiny bestie. She did really well with her Rover and I was very proud of her! 

Life in Naples...

Beach walks are our favorite

Sunsets are the best here

Representing Upland at the pool!

MacK sent me this and told me she'd
had a rough day

So excited for bed time!

Besties.

Another lovely day at the beach

Work friends

Trip planning

No one else is hanging at the beach these days!

We also have the pool to ourselves!

The dolphins don't care about "season" though!

April...

We are starting to settle in and find our new normal for life here in Naples.

Random beach time? Yes, please.

I even dusted off my rollerblades! 

MacKenzie found ALL of her tennis balls

Tiger Woods delighted me to no end by winning the Masters

My dream house in Naples
"Only" $4M

You can tour the home here. It is just so lovely. Maybe they'll drop the price by $3.5M and we could almost afford it! ;)

I MADE THIS ALL ON MY OWN!

I'm trying to get more comfortable in the kitchen so one night while Jackson was traveling I made myself oven-roasted salmon and potatoes along with a brussels sprouts salad! Sure, Jackson cut the potatoes for me before he left, but I did it pretty much on my own from there with only a few panicked calls to him and some frantic Google searches. HA!

I read "Where the Crawdads Sing"
in a single day. IT WAS EXCELLENT.

Susie taught MacKenzie some bad things like
begging for goldfish crackers. Tisk!

MacK snuggling her new Easter bunny!

We had some gnarly rain on Friday which meant that the beach was really churning on Saturday. Jackson didn't mind!

Jackson braving the waves

Susan headed back to Indiana so we moved into the master bedroom for the summer season.

MacK "helping" us to unpack

Golf course views during our evening stroll

MacK in her "Easter best" bandana

Coffee and golf-watching.
It doesn't get much better!

This week we plan to join a gym and I've got a dentist appointment. This place will feel like home in no time!

Settling back in...

Thankfully, we both took Monday off of work so we were able to sleep in and recover from the stress of flying our worldly belongings back home. I always get extra freaked out when we have MacKenzie with us, but she was fine and that's more of a mental thing anymore. Jackson offered to take me to Skillet's for breakfast so off we went!

Cannot beat the Denver skillet!

Watching hoops inspired MacK

We watched the shocking Virginia win with a kid who should have stayed in Indiana and played for IU. I've still been finishing up work on taxes and settling in to work with Ball State. Jackson had some work travel this week and more next week so life continues to keep marching on.

Relaxing stroll at the beach

Catching sunset

Last night, though, we had dinner and then decided to go to see sunset. It was still a pretty crazy feeling to drive our own car down to the beach after dinner at home and a long day of work. It felt like a vacation, but this is life now. I think we made a good choice to relocate!

Indiana for tax season

It turns out that our quick move to Florida made us weenies when it came to the cold quite quickly! We had to be back for just about a month so we staged at Susan's Fishers apartment and I worked for Ball State during the day and for my CPA on the weekends and some evenings. Jackson commuted a few times back to Florida and also helped out his old team at work. It was kind of a hassle to be in such limbo, but we did it. 

MacKenzie speaks for the entire family: BRR

We did get to go see the Porterfield's!

I love these little old buddies!

MacK even babysat for Ella!

MacKenzie made her own bed with Grammy's pillows!

We made it down to an IU game!

The Hoosier won. Barely! In the NIT. How embarrassing!
They ended up losing their next game.

It was a gorgeous day in Bloomington and we were
glad to have gone down! 

Family photos by Fishers' new
"Instagram wall"

Besties.

We got to see the Bates family

We did some house-sitting for the Porterfield family

These dogs are onto something--this bed was
THE MOST COMFORTABLE PLACE TO SLEEP EVER!

This was when MacK demanded we come home.

"I'm serious. Get me back to Naples" 

Magic toast.

I met my friend Megan for brunch at Cafe Patachou and they had the world's best toast. I mentioned to Megan how much I loved it and when I went to the restroom she ordered me a whole loaf to take home. I was beside myself at her sweet gesture. Jackson made good use of it and made us BLTs that were amazing. 

Billy!

I had a client who is a farmer and I got see his pet goat. I love him! 

We got to visit Upland a few times!

I miss Ella the most
*don't tell my Mom.

We tried to visit everyone we could, but I was just working a ton. We plan to back "home" in Indiana sometime this summer.  MacKenzie was the world's best little passenger on our flight back. For now, though, it is good to be back actual home in Naples!