p e r s e v e r a n c e: travel is for relaxing.

slacker: "someone who puts off doing things to the last minute, and when the last minutes comes, decides it wasn't all that important anyways and forgets about it" -urban dictionary

saying that i have been a slacker in the month of october is kind of a major understatement. and i absolutely hate the excuse that i am about to use, but i have been really busy. i promise. i am a firm believer that if something is important to you, you can make time for it. and i have been wanting to make this space a priority since it is a way that i keep family and far away friends updated with my life. so i apologize for being a slacker, and am really going to make a conscious effort to do better.

so, to welcome myself back to the blogging world, i'm going to come back with a bang! and tell you all about my amazing vacation to the east coast with my dear friend grace. the trip was spectacular, here is a recap for you...enjoy.

wednesday:
after a very long work day for both of us, we boarded a red eye to boston massachusettes. we were planning on sleeping the entire flight, but quickly came to the realization that that was not going to happen. and it became a very long flight.

thursday:
we landed in boston on thursday morning and were ecstatic to be there! let me tell you, boston is gorgeous. we were greeted by some rain, but didn't mind, it was still stunning. we took the "t" [aka boston's subway, it is amazing how quick and efficient their public transportation was. la is way behind on the times] from the airport and to our hotel. praise the lord we were able to check in early! we freshened up and then went exploring! we walked around the city, and then headed over to cambridge to visit harvard university. we took a tour of harvard, it was actually really interesting and we learned so much! i am rethinking my university decisions... on our way back from cambridge we stopped at mass general hospital. it. was. stunning. probably one of the most beautiful hospitals i have ever been in. we went and spoke with nursing recruiters about the steps we would need to take if we wanted to relocate from california. everyone was so happy and helpful. grace and i are thinking a relocation is going to take place in early 2013. we both need a change. even if it just for a couple years.

after we left mass general, we went back to our hotel for a quick nap and then we met up with grace's older brother alex. we had a delicious dinner at a restaurant called stephanie's, and then went out for drinks with him and a few of his friends from boston. it was such a nice and chill evening. definitely what the vacation doctor had ordered.

[hello harvard university! in front of the beautiful harvard library.]

[with some pretty awesome westmores.]

friday:
the weather on friday was absolutely beautiful! we started the day off with a duck tour. it was so much fun! you take a tour of the city in this truck thing that turns into a boat! awesome i know. if you ever go to boston, i highly recommend this! after the duck tour we walked all around the city and were tourists! one of the tourist activities we partook in was drinking a sam adams while looking at sam adams' grave. it's ok, you can be jealous. we met up with alex later, and enjoyed another fun night with him!

[at the boston marathon finish line.]

[fell in love with this beautiful city.]

saturday:
we had to wake up nice and early to catch a train to new york city, we were definitely not ready to leave boston on saturday morning. the train ride was absolutely beautiful! and, it started snowing while we were on the train! yes, that's right, we were on the east coast for their first snow of the season. even though it was absolutely freezing, it was a pretty cool experience to say the least. when we got to new york it was like we were in the middle of a blizzard, it was ridiculous! there was snow/slush/water everywhere! and it was cold. really cold. we walked to the little cafe serendipity 3 for some hot chocolate and tea. the goodies were delicious, but the walk was freezing. we met up with grace's other brother garrett who is living in new york that night and watched the usc game at a usc bar in the city. it was such a fun night [even though they made me cheer for the trojans].

[on the train to NYC!]

sunday:
the weather on sunday was perfect; you would have never known that there had been a small blizzard the day before. sunday turned into a walking day...we were determined to see a ton of the city since we couldn't see a ton the day before. our hotel was only a few blocks from times square, so that was the first place we saw! it brought back a lot of memories from new years' eve 2008 from when i stood out there for 12 hours with devon, charissa, and steve. after times square we ended up walking over 4 miles to ground zero. i had been looking forward to seeing the 9/11 memorial ever since we planned this trip back in september. well, we get there; and guess what...you have to have tickets to get into the memorial. the tickets are free, but you have to get them online prior. to say that we were a teensy disappointed is just a little bit of an understatement. so now you all know, if you are going to NYC, and want to see the 9/11 memorial, get tickets beforehand. learn from our mistake people.

even though we were a bit bummed from the memorial, sunday night made up for it. why? you ask...because we got to go see mary poppins on broadway! the show was phenomenal. and we had bomb seats [thank you kind ticket booth man and our "coupon!].
after the show it was still somewhat early so we walked over to rockerfellar center. they were getting the ice ready; and just being there made you want to be in a holiday mood! NYC is such a magical place.

monday:
we woke up monday being a little sad, because we knew that our vacation was coming to an end; and we would have to be getting back to real life. but we were determined to make the most of our last day on the east coast. first order of business, running in central park! 6.1 miles of running to be exact. that's right, we ran around the. entire. park. boom. miss marathon runner grace was done is 2 seconds...it took me a little bit longer. after our run we went and got freshened up, checked out of our hotel, and spent the rest of the day doing some more sightseeing. we hit up levain bakery and consumed some amazing chocolate chip cookies. from there we went to the empire state building for one last touristy activity. the view from the top is spectacular. and it was a perfect way to end our amazing trip.