jace the face at the place setting the pace

Last night Jace and I went into the city to have dinner with my friend Erica and her husband Spencer at their amazing little apartment in Hell's Kitchen. Yesterday and the day before it snowed a crazy amount out here and in the city. NYU (where Spencer is attending law school) even closed their campus for the second time in 10 years (the first time was a few weeks ago when another crazy snow storm struck) because of the weather. I knew this, and yet somehow I thought that it wouldn't be all that bad. And, compared to the suburbs, it wasn't. Jace, my family and I have been shoveling snow twice a day for the last two days and I tell you what, my arms are sore. We have mountains of snow piled up on the sides of the sidewalks and roads that are almost as tall as I am. Or, at least, it feels that way. In the city the snow was not piled nearly as high. There were, however, hidden icy slush moats found on the corner of every block. While I'd worn my thrift store hiking boots that were fine for mountains of snow, they were no match for the slushy puddles of doom. By the time we'd walked the 12 blocks or so to the Rick's apartment both Jace and I had at least one very wet foot. 

 

We were able, however, to snap this photo of Jace terrorizing the Empire State Building. He really is a giant of epic proportions. (Also, please note his amazing Canada tuque that I got him at the Olympics. He WILL love Canada! He WILL!) The top of the Empire State Building is always lit up in colors for different occasions, like red/pink/white for Valentine's Day or red/green for Christmas which is fun. Right now it's lit up different colors depending on which side of the building you're on, which is pretty unusual. The north side is blue/black/blue, the east side is yellow/black/yellow, the south side is green/black/green and the west side is red/black/red. What? I looked it up and it's because of...dun dada dunnnnn...the Olympics! This weekend is the closing ceremonies so they've lit up the building in the colors of the Olympic rings. Fun fact! Now go impress your friends with your knowledge.

After an amazing bean soup and cheesy muffins dinner we hit the town! Erica and Spencer took Jace and I on a small tour of downtown Manhattan. I've been to the city countless times but it was fun to be there and not be one of the people in charge of showing people around. Erica and Spencer did a great job of hitting such hot spots as Times Square and Central Park. Jace finally gave in to his tourist side and was snapping pictures right and left. It had been years since I'd been to Times Square and I'd forgotten how bright it is at night! During the day it doesn't pop as much as it does at night when the only light is man-made. It was pretty fun.

Central Park was great too because it was dark and snowy and even though we still saw people it was more or less quiet and it was almost as if the city that never sleeps was asleep under all the snow. Apparently early that day someone had gotten killed walking through the park because a branch that was heavy with snow broke off its tree and fell on them. I never know what to make of stuff like that. It's so weird and so bazar that it could only happen in New York. Luckily, we were safe and did not encounter any killer trees while we were there.

We went back to the house, ate delicious chocolate fondue (made with chocolate orange chocolate which is amazing and clever) and watched the Olympics. Jace and I caught the 12:34 train home and didn't get back to Summit until 1:30 am, but it was one of the best nights we've had while he's been here. Hooray for friends, the city, and adventure!

textually speaking

When people send me text messages that I think are funny I save them. Pretty soon my whole inbox gets filled up with locked messages and I have to go through and delete them. Here are some of my favorites of the moment, preserved in all their spelling and typo dignity:

• From: Brendan Hancock—Last night i had a dream where i needed to get some secret information from an intelligent talking globe. So i made a holographic program of princess leia and a silber android lying on a bed. The globe was in an elevator and when the door opened he saw princess leia and the silver android rubbing the sheets seductively and eyeing him. He stood looking at them for a second, then stepped off the elevator into the room. My cd-alarm started waking of up with the theme from "2001", and i said "this guy is seriously messed up."

• From: Dave Buck—You can't just start throwing apostrophes around saying they mean whatever you like

• From: Harold Miller—That is mysterious. Maybe you sleep ran naked through a swarm of them

• From: Erica Martin Ricks—You are the hippest adventurer i know. Thanks for coming to nyc. And im not jst saying that bc you left the wheat thins

• From: Harold Miller—Did i tell you that i successfully pregnated two cows yesterday? It was awesome! But I am very sore today. [...] It's a lot harder to get cows pregnant than i thought.

• From: Jace Wickman—.....can we try and fall and miss the ground

• From: Jace Wickman–Buahahaha Ahahahaha...well thats comeing along nicely
  

There are many more messages I have saved, but lots of them are from Jace Face and they are mushy and I'm not supposed to talk about them. True face. Also fact.

friends in the city

The day before I left for Ecuador I met my friend Erica in the city for lunch. She and her husband recently moved there so he can attend law school at NYU and this was the first chance I'd had to come to visit. It was a pretty busy day for me, seeing as I was leaving for Ecuador the next morning, but Erica had been hounding me to come visit for weeks so I made the time AND I'M SO GLAD THAT I DID! I met her at her apartment in Hell's Kitchen where we made cucumber and cheese sandwiches, then walked over to the pier and ate them. We talked about living in the city, job hunting, married life, and life in general. I had forgotten how nice it is to have a friend that I don't have to explain religious things to because she already knows, often better than I do myself. Erica is seriously an amazing individual that I am lucky to have met in my many travels and even luckier to have kept in touch with since then. I snagged the above picture as we parted ways for her to head off to an interview that she was hoping wasn't a sales position (it was). Luckily since then she has found honest employment elsewhere. Yay for adulthood!

Additionally, I forgot how dirty walking along the streets of Manhattan can make your feet when you are wearing flip flops. Exhibit A:

Note that this is dirtier, in fact, than the dusty roads of Lake Como, PA AND the fields and roads of Ecuador. Things to think about...