"New York, New York. So nice they named it twice. Manhattan is the other name."

Even though our trip to New York city was a good four months ago, I'm finally getting around to blogging about it.  I definitely had to name the post after the quote said by the character Michael Scott from the Office.  I'm pretty sure I quoted that line at least a dozen times during our trip.  Even Daniel jumped in with a few Michael Scott quotes.

This was the first time I have ever been to New York City.  Since Daniel's brother Dustin had moved there with his wife Susan and daughter Fiona, we found it to be an opportune time to visit the grand city.  We planned only a few days to spend in New York so we made sure to be productive each day.

I was so surprised at how large of a city New York was.  I knew it was large, but seeing it for myself I was just taken aback from the amount of skyscrapers, and people, and cars.  I was so excited to see all the iconic buildings that I had seen in all the movies.  The Statue of Liberty was so amazing to see, and the Empire State building is definitely very tall.

The best part of our New York trip was being able to visit with Dustin, Susan, and Fiona.  The last time we had seen Fiona she was not even a year old and now she was walking around and talking.  She warmed up to Daniel really fast allowing him to read to her while she sat in his lap.  Fiona kept asking Daniel to read to her one book after the other.  She is so smart and willing to try anything.  A friend of theirs full on put an iguana the size of Fiona on her lap and she just grinned about it.  She was so adorable and fun to be around.  I was also able to visit with some friends of mine from back home who I had not seen in over 10 years.

Daniel and I are looking forward to the next time we go to New York.  I know there are a few things we didn't have time for.  There are also things that we did that we would like to do again.  The MET would be one of those things that we would love to go through again.  We needed two day just to tour that.  I would also love to go on a carriage ride through Central Park.  I've never been on a carriage ride so why not through such a beautiful park.

For your enjoyment, here are a few pictures from the trip.

First up, pictures from our friend Jeff's wedding in Chapel Hill.

Then we went to the spring game at UNC Chapel Hill.

We stopped in DC to spend time with Daniel's parents and sister Amanda.

Then we went to New York.  I took a few pictures of different buildings.

Daniel's cute niece.

 I was in charge of dressing her, and she took advantage of the fact that I did not say no.

Pictures from Central Park.

A few pics from the MET.

 Seeing old friends :)

Delicious fries with multiple dipping sauces.

Yankee Stadium.

China Town.

We've got Internet!

  After moving to Charlotte, NC we decided to keep things simple and not get internet at our place.  Well we finally cracked and I must say I am happy that I will be able to update our blog more often now, of course this means I no longer have an excuse for not updating.  So what has the Joyce household been up to?  Well there is not too much excitement going on here.  We have decorated for Christmas which is fun.  I definitely love this time of year.  We'll be spending Christmas here with each other. Although we'll miss family, it'll be nice to have each other's company the whole day.

This would be the ole Christmas tree.

Sophie found her new favorite spot to nap.

The mantle place, Daniel and I are sharing a stocking, the doggies have their own.

The wreath I bought, I added the ribbon :)

  Last night I woke up to the sound of Sophie whining in her kennel.  I looked at the time and knew that at 3 AM that something must be wrong.  I got out of bed and braced myself for the worst,  As I opened the door a strong pungent smell crept into my nose.  She got sick in her kennel.  Poor Sophie was up against the back of her kennel trying her best not to step in the mess.  I spent the next hour bathing her then cleaning out her kennel. Needless to say I didn't get a very good nights rest last night. As the day has gone on she seems to be feeling better.  She's quarantined in the kitchen right now so that she doesn't have any accidents on my carpet. Keif is enjoying the break from Sophie chewing on his face.   

Cute little Sophie from the day we adopted her.  She was 17 lbs when we got her and almost 3 months old.  She is now almost 7 months and 35 lbs.  Any predictions on how big she'll get?

Keif can't even escape her in his own kennel.

They like to snuggle

             
     This would be my picture from when we went to watch BYU play at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.  It was a nice day trip and I had a lot of fun with Daniel's family.  It was a great gift from my in laws.  I'm proud to say that I still know the fight song and that I was able to sing it many times at the game.  The final score was 41-17.  I'm sad that I work when they play their bowl game, but I will be rooting them on.

 

North Carolina Living

  Moving to North Carolina in the height of summer is not recommended by no means.  I've been in heat before, but humidity makes for a hot, sticky time and not in a good way.  Our second week in Charlotte there were record highs for heat not just here, but all over the country, while San Diego stayed a comfortable 70 degree average.  The humidity did not help with the move adjustment, but it was expected so I was not surprised to be experiencing it.  Living in North Carolina so far has been good.  Our apartment is nice and in a pretty good location.  Plus it is our own place and our own space, something we hadn't had in a while.  The people here are very friendly and I do really like that.
  Work is going well, Daniel has been working hard at his job cleaning carpets for Prestige Chem Dry, while I have been serving at Maggianos and trying to get some kind of system down when it's busy so as to be more efficient and a better server for my guests.  I'm still learning the menu, but I know it takes time to really get it down.  The money has been a lot better at Maggianos vs Chili's and I'm very grateful for that.
  While living here I have already been to a Carolina Panthers' football game as well as a Charlottes Knight's minor league baseball game.  Daniel's family came to visit for a Reunion for Randy (Daniel's step dad) and we got to spend a nice weekend with them.  We've also been visited by Daniel's friend Chris Gearheart, wife Shelly, and son Salem, and even my brother-in-law was in town on business so we got to meet up with him too.
  So far my favorite outing was a trip we took to Charleston, SC.  It is such a pretty city with so many old buildings.  We had Keif with us and so we did a lot of walking and even went to a dog park that had a lake for the dogs to play in.  It's so great to see so much history, to see where the history started in our country from when it was settled.
  Now going into our third month of being here we have introduced a sweet little puppy into our family.  Her name is Sophie and she is so sweet and loves to play.  So far it's been a bit of an adjustment for everyone.  Our home feels a bit more crowded and we have to train her non stop.  Keif is a bit jealous of her to, he looks really grumpy when we play with her, we're trying to work on giving them both lots of attention.  Can't imagine how much harder that will be with kids someday, but the doggies will give us a lot of practice.

 These were from hiking Crowder's Mountain on the 4th of July!

(Top and Bottom photo)

 Below are all pictures from our visit to Charleston, SC.  

Although it looks gloomy, it was still pretty hot and humid

 Top and Bottom picture were from a very nice dog park in Charleston.

 I liked seeing the old cemetery while visiting.