nyc: day five

Monday, happy labor day! woke up one last time at 6:00am to run around the whole park. felt so good. love the park. finished up and ran back to the hotel. 8 miles total. got ready, finished packing, and checked out. i didnt realized how much stuff i bought. my autumn shopping is done for this season i can tell you that. checked out and had the hotel watch our bags since out flight wasnt leaving until 8pm. walked over the park to eat at Sarabeths. ordered from baby bear porridge and a pumpkin waffle with pumpkin seeds, raisins, whip cream with strawberries. im officially ready for autumn, i want to make pumpkin waffles. finished up and headed over to FOA schwarts to see the huge piano that is in the movie big. took some pictures then headed to Rockefeller to shop for a few hours to work up our appetite from serendipity. 2 o'clock came and head up to serendipity to meet my family to have lunch. had another great sandwich followed by the one and only frozen hot chocolate. cant wait for vegas ragnar, ill be having another one. stopped by the little shop to pick up frozen hot chocolate to go packets. yes i bought chocolate and mint with a hug mug. said goodbye to the family and stopped at Dylan's candy bar at the corner. this place is amazing, every possible candy you can think of and more is in this shop. i got a little to go baggy to eat on the plane. looked around and then jess and i headed back to the hotel to repack by bag, because i had some much stuff. waited for our black taxi to come pick us up. felt kinda cool cause he had my last name on paper waiting for us. got in the car headed to the airport and said "goodbye nyc, till next time" when headed across the bridge. got to the airport, checked in our bags. had to reorganize my bag because it was over 50lbs. then waited for our flight. away we went and saw the New York City skyline from my window and once again said "goodnight new york, i will be seeing you again"

nyc: part four

sunday, didnt set my alarm today because i dont run on sundays. we slept in for a little bit and then off the the singles ward. yes we went to the singles ward. hoping to find my husband. just kidding. saw chad clemens from usu. caught up with him. boy i would love to live in the city. just went to sacrament meeting, listened to all the testimonies about the hurricane and the earthquake. the hour the over and left and head back to out hotel to change. got in our street/workout clothes and headed back to the park to ride bikes around the park. given my experience last time renting bikes, i went with the most legit bike rental company. even if it meant i had to pay more. i was not going to walk my popped tire bike back to the south end of the park from behind the MET. not going to happen. went around, didnt realize that it was the hilly. what a big difference it was from riding a bike versus running. sweat like a pig but still had an hour left. Jessica was done after going around once. i still wanted to go around one more time. we dropped her bike off and she went over to the MET while i road around again. the second time i wanted to go out onto the streets. I road up Madison ave. which was kinda freaky with the cars but it was kinda fun. Saw dean and deluca and stopped to get some water and a pre-made sandwich. headed back to the park on the street then realized i was going the wrong direction on a one way road. opps. quickly crossed the road to the park and road past the Guggenheim. took a picture. then road the rest of the way then i checked my bike in. sat down by the statue with the gold horse man (its in enchanted) ate my sandwich. called jess to tell her i was done and we met back at the hotel. got in the shower again because i seriously was nasty. got ready again for the night and hoped on the 6 back down to soho to eat at a crepe place we saw when we were there the previous night (i need to do that more often, more open to trying new things). afterwards we got some pink berry frozen yogurt. sooo much better than red mango. we need a pink berry. finished our fro yo. then hoped back on the 6 to drop off our bags to head over to times square. took some pictures at the radio music hall, then stopped at the M&M store again because i wanted to make Utah Utes cookies for work. all i can say about times square is its a crazy nut house. everyone is out doing random things for money. from drawing/painting pictures to dressing up in a nasty elmo custom with a tag around its neck saying "tips for picture." now i dont know if you have heard about the naked cowboy, he is dressed in a speedo with a cowboy hat and boots with a guitar. heard about him? well i didnt see him, but i saw an old, old naked cowgirl. wear swimsuit bottoms, cow boots and hat, guitar, and wait for it.. red star pasties on her saggy boobs. so nasty. but not only was there one, there were two naked cowgirls. a much younger one that got very mad that the older one was stealing all her money and went up to her and grabbed her blue wig and ran. so mature, yet funny and gross all at the same time. then saw a male cop that you can tell felt like he was famous because everyone wanted to take a picture with him. the best part was seeing his partner in the car just reading probably thinking really.. really. after that we decided to head back to the hotel, pack and call it a night.

nyc: part three

saturday, set my alarm again for 6:00am to go on another run around central park. like i said, favorite. came back and took a quick nap before jess and i head off to the Manhattan temple to do baptisms for the dead. we got all ready in our sunday gear and head off towards the subway, low and behold the train we wanted was under construction for the weekend. now the temple is a good mile and half away and we walked. i realised that we would be there at 10am so i called on our way to change it to 11:45 and took a detour to the park. walked to the south east corner of the park right across the street from the plaza, you know home alone 2. saw "the bridge" one of my favorites of central park. took some pictures. walked to the other side of the bridge, took some more pictures. then headed towards the mall. that long walk way you see in so many movies, ie harry met sally. took some more pictures then walked down the stairs while hearing some gospel soul music to the Bethesda fountain. listened to theses 5 men singing, gave me the chills, gave them a few bucks, then walked a few steps to the fountain. took some more pictures of us and took pictures for other people. saw a small gathering of people the the left of me, realised that a gay couple was getting married. thought it was a rather cute area to have a little marriage. im all about having a small gathering. then i heard a faint "Jocelyn" turned around and it was my mother. my words as i saw her. "Shut up!" of all the people in NYC i see you not only once but twice. my little brother told my mom that she has this motherly radar where she can point out her kids anywhere not matter how crowded the area is. said hello again. told them that we were on our way to the temple and then said goodbye. walked up the stairs and headed towards the west side of the park to strawberry fields where John Lennon's imagine is. took another picture. walked across the street to where John Lennon was shot right in front of his house, the Dakota, by his fan. Kept walking till Columbus street, turned left and told Jess, hey do you see the angel Moroni? this view of the temple is probably my 2nd favorite. angel Moroni  with a bunch of sky scrapers. you can ask me later my 1st favorite view of a temple is later. it took her a few minutes to find it. walked a few more blocks then went into the temple and did baptisms. nothing like how we do baptisms in Utah. got ready and headed up to trader joes to get some of the pre-made sandwiches and some other goods to take over to the park to have a little "picnic" (picnic in central park, off my bucket list) took all our stuff back to the hotel. chilled for a little bit, changed, then got back on the 6 (subway) to meet my parents and wilson at the Brooklyn bridge to go eat pizza at grimaldi's in Brooklyn. walked across in awe. love that walk. we were now in Brooklyn territory. saw the line for pizza, still worth the wait. dad stayed in line while we went to the pier to look over the city. you'll recognize the view. wait. wait. and waited some more. an hour and a half later we went back to see where my dad was in line and we were next. like i said this pizza is worth the wait. sat down in the crowded restaurant, mingled until our pizzas came then no one was talking to each other. good thing we had to walk back the city because we seriously were stuffed. but don't you worry Jess and i were going to make another stop at rice to riches on our way back. walked back across the bride. this view is better then walking into Brooklyn. said goodbye to the parents again and off to get rice to riches to take back to our hotel. back on the 6, and up to our room, got on our pjs and enjoyed some bourne and rice pudding.