The House of Nanking

I miss New York. A lot. There, I said it. Feels good to be honest. But, doing fun things in our new city seems to dull the pain--and sew the seeds of a new city love. Thanks to my brother Alex, we did one of our favorite things in any town yesterday--ate yummy food at a new restaurant.

Welcome to the House of Nanking. Chinese food. In China Town. I had beef with broccoli. H had pork fried rice. Verdict? Whoah mama. We're going back. Soon.

I could get used to this place . . .

PS. We're "spot" people. We've found our Chinese entree spot--preesh to Alex. Now we need to find our Dim Sum and our Sushi spot. Any ideas???

Crabby

Apparently it's crab season in San Francisco.

My brother, Jared and his wife, RyAnn have been a great help at getting us settled in San Francisco. They have lived here a little over 4 years (I think?) and have an annual crab fest...and this year we joined them!

We had a feast of sweet crab, caesar salad, mini grilled cheese, pasta salad, bread, homemade cocktail sauce. Let me wipe the drool off the keyboard real quick. Ok, I'm back.

We also played some games, listened to Christmas music, took Christmas card photos, and just enjoyed being with family. We are lucky to have them show us the Northern California ropes.

f/4 Holiday Celebration

All apologies for the self-promotion peeps. Can't help myself sometimes. Who am I kidding? You're used to it from me, right?

Anyway, me and the boys are doing our part to spread a little holiday cheer over at f/4. Each of our "One Photo Per Day" photos is Christmas-themed for the next little while. Think of it as a way to see the holidays through three sets of eyes--er--lenses. Bonus is you can use any of the photos as e-Christmas cards if you're so inclined. Go modern. Go green. Whoah--I sound like a San Fransiscan.

Just click on the "Send as E-Card" link underneath any photo. Include a personalized message. Send to multiple email addresses. It's easy.

Good news--it's free. That's right, f/4 is recession-friendly.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Thanks

I am thankful for

Jed...who makes me happy and complete and a long list of other things
Family...who makes me laugh and makes me want to be a little better
Friends...whose qualities make me want to be like them
Yahoots...who makes me smile every time I see them



Gospel...the simplicity that makes me grateful and thankful.
The newest member of the Thompson family...Zoie


Gym membership...which keeps me sane and not so guilty for eating yummy SF food
Opportunities to live in TWO of the greatest cities in the world...what an adventure


It's a great time to reflect on what makes you happy and thankful...so, what are you thankful for?

I love lists.

Some of you may remember the 60 Things in 60 Days list (which I must say, we gave it a heck of a shot) and since we've moved to a new city, we figured it's time for a new list. Not so aggressive, no time lines, but a list of things to keep us going and exploring this new city of ours.

Check out the list on the sidebar. We've been able to check a few things off the list. (Also, we are going to need to alter a few of these "San Fran To Do's"...27. Get a lap dance at Mitchell Brothers Theatre (Tenderloin)" may be switched to Get a laptop at the Apple Store-Chestnut Street (Marina)

So, lets not wait for the most gratifying part of a to-do list, let's cross some things off:

25. Grab a Vietnamese sandwich from Saigon Sandwiches. (Tenderloin)
Our Opinion: Two thumbs WAY up! We shared (new city, new habits) a pork Vietnamese sandwich with the BEST roll...the jalepeno's were disguised as green peppers (I mean, really, who cuts jalepeno's in a vertical strip) so I really got my clock cleaned. But, other than that, delicious!

43. Check out the southern view from the top of Alta Plaza Park. (Pac Heights)
Our Opinion: Fabulous. You can literally see from sea to shining sea at this park. We were mis-led by the world wide web and, contrary to the internet, the lights at the tennis court DO NOT EXIST at Alta Plaza Park.

44. Get a taste of the Mission at Pizzeria Delfina. (Pac Heights)
Our Opinion: Very Tasty. I hope I don't sound too bitter...but, it just was NOT our NYC pizza that we adore. However, it was authentic tasting (as authentic as Brooklyn...because I have YET to go to Italy on a pizza tour...which I would love to do)

We have a long ways to go...but, we aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

Frisco

Well, here we are three weeks later...living and loving San Francisco.

We are right back into living our normal lives again...no more sleeping on air mattresses or eating cereal out of tupperware bowls. We have settled in quite nicely. Jed is enjoying work and I am enjoying spending his hard earned money to get this apartment JUST the way we want it before we move again in 10 months (don't worry, we are still going to be in SF)

We have been able to do a little exploring, lots of walking (btw...we will take the 4th story walk up over these SF hills ANY day of the week), FREE tennis...and, after a 2 year hiatus, I must admit that we were quite pleased with our performance.

Jed has died and gone to photog heaven. I think that's the real reason we moved...NYC photos were getting a little mundane. Needed to switch things up a bit. :) I'd say from the pic below that it may have been worth it.

We are happy to be here and can't wait to get to know this city a little more!

Our new digs

After a long grueling battle of apartment hunting, we found a great little apartment that we are liking more and more each day. We are in Lower Pacific Heights which is 20 minutes to Jed's work, and we live above a psychic...all of which makes us happy.



Our hallway that has been revamped into a library/bike rack.

One of the two large closets (this is just off the hallway) that contains 3/4 of our belongings.




Our bathroom. Nuff said.

Bedroom. (I was going to say "where the magic happens" but, thought that was a little too MTVish) so, I am going to say "where we rest our heads" instead.



The dining/living room. Man, will I EVER get rid of those blue pants? I see them and think "you shouldn't wear those if people are going to see you" then for some reason I put them on, have my picture taken in them, and continue wearing them.

Anyways, as you can see, the room needs some accessorizing. But, since only one of us is bringing home the bacon, that will have to wait.




The kitchen. In all it's dishwashing/counter-spacing,/adult size fridging glory.

We are excited to make this place ours!

San Francisco Bound

This is it. It's been a week of "lasts." Last time in Central Park (finally got to see the fall colors), last time dragging bags to the LIRR (not really gonna miss that), and last time at T5 in JFK ... at least for awhile.

It's crazy to think that our tickets to SF are one-way, but we're really excited about what's next. Before that though, let's talk about what's been--the "Top 10's" (in no particular order):

Top 10 Favorite Foods:

1. Cuban Sandwich, Yellow Rice & Grilled Corn on the Cob from Cafe Habana
2. Burger, Fries & Peanut Butter Concrete (extra PB) from the Shake Shack.
3. Business Lunch from Del Frisco's Steakhouse
4. Breakfast (at any time other than breakfast time) at Moonstruck Diner
5. Peanut Butter Chocolate cookies from Levain Bakery
   
6. Banana Pudding from Magnolia's Bakery
7. Bangkok Tasty Thai food (pretty much anything they make)
8. Chirpin' Chicken BBQ
9. Grimaldi's Pizza
10. Cake Batter Ice Cream w/ Peanut Butter Cup & Brownie from Cold Stone (ok, you can get that anywhere, but we got it a lot in NYC)
    

Ahhh, we've been so healthy the last couple years.

Top 10 Favorite Memories:

1. Moving into our very first apartment together
   
2. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade--both years
3. Christmas in NYC (oh man are we gonna miss that)
4. Showing NYC off to all our visitors
5. Driving thru Westchester County in the fall
   
6. Maine
   
7. The Bahamas
8. Princeton
9. Lancaster County
10. Driving to Connecticut to find apples...stumbling upon Yale University instead
    

Top 5 Worst Memories (hey, there's just not that much to hate):

1. Getting sick from The Goodburger while we were staying with our friend Robert before we moved into our apartment
2. H's infamous run-in with the tie street vendor
3. Anytime it rained while we were outside. Umbrellas aren't made for NYC rain.
4. Carrying a GIANT mirror home from IKEA because it wouldn't fit in a cab and our Zipcar time was up.
5. Carrying our new TV home on the Subway.

It's been one crazy ride ...

Connecticut in the Fall=Magical!

We are so happy to have our FINAL NY visitor in town...my twin sister, Hillary.

After a hearty breakfast of Dunkin Donuts pumpkin donuts, we headed out to CT to show Hill what fall is all about back east. We toured Yale University again, got a deep fried hotdog from Rawleys (I couldn't really taste the "deep fried" part, so I guess I ate a couple MORE hundred calories for nothing) we also had pizza at Pepe's and a hamburger at Louis Lunch (supposedly the first hamburger joint in AMERICA)...this sounds like a lot of food, it was, but luckily the three of us shared everything. The "fun"-sized candy bars are a different story.

After taking "engagement" photos with Hillary (for some reason, whenever we got family photos growing up, the photog always ended up taking a picture of me and Hill that was a little more lovey than we were comfortable with...we had Jed recreate them. We were laughing so hard, so please forgive the less than flattering laughing faces) Hill was enamored with the squirrels. Ah the simple things in life.

We ended the day at SLEEPY HOLLOW. We were excited to see the reenactment of the headless horseman and be in sleepy hollow village...we were pretty disappointed. But, the surrounding area was fun to explore.

Blaze!

MUAH HA HA

We are in full force fall in NYC. We were so excited to hear about The Blaze from this little lady.



Over 4000 pumpkins lit with white lights, hoards of people (yet, not annoying...except one girl behind us trying to impress her boyfriend by talking loud (and, this is coming from me who is the queen of loud, so I know about loud talking) so, I had to get a tad bit New York on her and gave her a look that said "me and my husb are trying to enjoy some Halloween festivities, and it'd be a lot more successful if I didn't have to hear about how your hairdresser mistook your request for an a-line symmetrical cut into blunt bangs") I digress.

The town (Croton-on-Hudson...Isn't that name adorable?) had a definite charm about it. It was such an amazing production and we are happy we were able to visit.



Jed pretty much died and went to picture heaven, and I could put EVERY single one on the blog, but that may make for a post overload...so, I'm posting some of our faves.

It was absolutely incredible and we encourage anyone who can get their kiesters to Westchester county to DO IT!!! We had a great time.

Check Check Check

Checking things off the list feels oh so good!

Thanks to MB and her husb Scott, we were able to cross THREE things off the list.

Chelsea Piers
The Highline
Capturing NYC moments with a little photo shoot

Wanna see the pics? Check them out here

What's Left?

We still have a long ways to go on 60 things in 60 days. Can we do it? Two weeks to go!

60 NYC Things in 60 Days

1. Eat @ Katz Deli
2. Eat creamy rice at Zarela’s
3. Eat Banana Pudding @ Magnolia Bakery
4. Eat Deep Fried Hot Dog @ Rawley's Drive-In
5. Eat at Aron Sanchez’ restaurant, Centrico
6. Eat BBQ Beef Ribs @ Daisy May's
7. Eat BLT @ Choice Market
8. Eat Toasted Marshmallow Shake @ Stand
9. Eat a bagel @ H&H Bagels
10. Eat Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter cookie @ Levain Bakery
11. Dinner with our dear friend Robert @ Taboon
12. Eat Cuban Sandwich & Grilled Corn on the Cob @ Café Habana
13. Eat "Business Lunch" @ Del Frisco's Steakhouse
14. Eat Chicken 'n' Waffles in Harlem
15. Eat our favorite slice @ Café Metro
16. Visit Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island
17. See something on Broadway
18. Row boats in Central Park
19. Go to the "Top of the Rock"
20. Hang out at the Brooklyn Bridge and promenade
21. See the leaves change in Vermont (ok, so this is more of an "east coast" thing)
22. Visit Montauk
23. Kayak in the Hudson River
24. Buy something from the Fashion District swap meet (props to Hebe for this one)
25. Tour the NYSE & get a picture with "Da Bull"
26. Visit The Cloisters
27. Have a BBQ dessert day @ the Brenchley / Webb's
28. Play golf at Bethpage (J only)
29. Hang out with the girls at Kristie Larsen's house (H only)
30. Ride the Roosevelt Island tram
31. Visit the “Highline”
32. Visit Chelsea Market
33. Visit Chelsea Piers
34. Buy something from Uniqlo
35. Bike the Big Apple
36. Get some Nuts for Nuts…almonds
37. Eat @ Patsy’s
38. Buy something from Strand
39. Stroll through Central Park.
40. Buy something from Murray’s Cheese...then make the BEST grilled chesse!
    
41. Visit Coney Island
42. Eat Grimaldi’s pizza
43. Drool at B&H Photo
44. Drive across the Manhattan Bridge
45. Eat @ Jersey Diner
46. Visit campus of Princeton
47. Eat cupcake @ Billy’s Bakery
48. Eat burger @ The Burger Joint
49. Eat empanada @ Mama’s Empanadas
50. Eat @ Bangkok Tasty
51. Stock up on candy at Economy Candy
52. Dutchess county
53. Sleepy Hollow
54. Photo-shoot for NYC memories
55. Sample Rice to Riches
56. Visit Seinfeld Deli
57. Eat @ bakery on “Made of Honor”
58. Martha Stewart show
59. Eat @ Carmines Italian
60. Dachshund festival

Hot Dog!

We went to the Dachshund Friendship Club festival today (ie. the wiener dog festival) and I LOVED it!!!
We had a wienie dog growing up (RIP Kaizer Max Whilhelm) who was THE best dog. Ever since, I've had a slight obsession with the long bodied dogs.

We saw dogs dressed up (my favorite was a hot dog...unoriginal, but adorable!), long haired, short haired, dappled, black, red, brown, mixed, etc. I loved all equally (well, the dappled ones were on the bottom of the favorite list, but still...)
I'm so glad we went and can only hope one day we'll come back with a little wienie of our own.

60 Things Update

It's been a while since we've talked 60.

Anyone who knows me, knows I LOVE crossing things off a list (any list; grocery shopping, To-Do, I do not discriminate)

Thing's we've crossed off:
PB cookie at Levain Bakery
Business lunch at Del Frisco's (SO GOOD!!!)
Hang out at Brooklyn Bridge and Promenade
Get a picture with the NYSE bull

Had a BBQ @ the Brenchley/Webbs (not exactly a BBQ (crappy weather) but dessert instead)
Eat at Grimaldi's pizza
Eat at Bangkok Tasty
Eat at Carmines

An awful lot of eatings been going on!

We (Jed) crossed a few of these off while playing tour-guide to his parents. We were glad they were able to see where we live and how we live.

Next 60 Things in 60 Days: Wiener Dog Festival!!! It's been on my list of things to see before I die.

Photo Update

FAIR WARNING: If you're sick and tired of hearing about photography, stop reading, close the window, just do it, no one will know.

Still here? Good. There's some exciting things happening in the world of Eastman brother photography. Thought I'd share some quickly.

The site:

Today is Day 70 of the One Photo Per Day Project. 70 days. Whoah. We're in the middle of our first f/4 contest. Check it out here. You should enter, to0 (only requirement is a point & shoot camera). Last week we had over 500 visitors! Then again, 495 of those may have been H trying to pad the stats. To celebrate, we're launching a new site today. Check it out here. Read about all it's new gadgets and gizmos here.

The photogs:

Matt's turning into a pro. He's had several portrait gigs lately and has several more coming up--and he's gettin' friggin' good. If you live in the Utah/Idaho area and are looking for some saaweeeet family/portrait/wedding pics, you should check him out here or send him a note here.

Hebe has several photos entered in a contest with Capture My Utah. Photographers enter photos, the public votes, popular pics get published. Could be biased, but I think Hebe's pics belong in the book. You wanna help make that happen? You can vote for his photos here (click on each photo, then click "Yes! I dig it").

I also have several photos of Luke climbing entered in a contest with Rock & Ice Magazine. The winners get published and profiled in the mag. Fingers crossed! I'm also putting together an NYC photo book before we head off to the west coast. Any ideas what should go in it? I'm all ears.

I'm really proud of what Matt and Hebe have done photographically speaking in the last 4 months. It's been really fun to be a part of it with them. It feels good to have the support of so many great friends and family--especially H. I think I speak for Matt and Hebe when I say it takes 3 of the greatest wives in the world to let their hubbies enter the crazy, time-consuming, insanely expensive world of serious photography, let alone to be so incredibly supportive. You're the best H.

Campy McCampertons

We dusted off our tent and sleeping bags and headed for the great outdoors this weekend to do a little camping. Our ward does a camping trip every year. This year we went "upstate" to a church-owned campsite called Camp Liahona (as if I needed to tell you that it was church-owned, right?). We love going "upstate." Partly because we love saying we went "upstate" last weekend, but mostly because we've always been amazed at the beautiful nature you can find within minutes of the concrete jungle that is our home.

It's been awhile since H and I have been camping (really we only go once a year--with the ward). We looked like rookies.

Essentials we forgot:

• Air mattress (to the camping 'purists' out there who prefer to rough it on the ground: can it, we're city dwellers, okay?)
• Pillows
• Dinner
• Lunch

Anybody who knows H knows there is no way in h (sorry, can't help myself) we were gonna leave home without breakfast. As for the other stuff, we instantly became the ward charity case once our fellow campers realized our, ah, lack of "real" food (we managed to bring plenty of snacks, too--never leave home without those) so we didn't go hungry--gotta love our ward. We had the worst night of sleep ever. We were cold, uncomfortable, it was just a mess.

Oddly enough though, we both had a great time enjoying nature, our ward friends, and of course a good campfire and s'mores. We've decided we need to up our camping skillz and explore the old Sierra Nevada's outside our upcoming new home town. That is, according to H, as long as we take a "defense against the bears" class. Anyone know a good instructor???

I'm 28

Things I did this year that I am happy about
1. Took a sewing class and made my own skirt, pillowcase cover, and 1/2 a blanket...and have a goal to finish the other half in the upcoming year.
2. Finally got my passport (that's been a goal for 2 years now)
3. Explored a little...Maine, Bahamas, North Carolina.
4. Gained a strong liking to salmon and have really taken a liking to most fish. Who knew living in a coastal(ish) town would taste so great!
5. Landed a sweet job at an NYC publishing company
6. Found a strong love for people at church...they really are our family away from family.
7. Learned (ok, learning) how to knit (Thanks Martha! :)
8. Grew some thick skin (in a good way) living in Queens...need I remind you of the tie guy???

I have a few goals set for year 29, but will leave you hanging on for another year.

PS. I can't let a birthday go by without a shout out to Hill and say thank you for being my best friend for 28 years (and 9 months) Happy Birthday Twinkie.

And the list goes on

GoodBye #51, #52, and #12

I hope we all had a nice, relaxing, unlaboring labor day (weekend.)

Our weekend in a nutshell:

We started by stocking up on old candy at the Economy Candy Store. I was like, well, a girl in a candy store. (ba dum pum) If anyone knows me, knows I LOVE candy! I got the best little licorice nibs at this place.

Thanks to our great friend, we were able to hang out with her and her boys and spend a day in the county of Dutchess. The day consisted of:

Peach picking
Great Mexican food in Poughkeepsie
Visiting the Vanderbilt mansion (in Hyde Park) which was really cool! I love hearing about history and wished I had a FRACTION of the moolah that those VB's have.
Dairy Queen Blizzards

We spent the actual Labor day taking some pics of the cute Brenchley family, having a few snaps taken in return, watching TOO MUCH U.S. Open (which makes Jed very happy), shopping, eating grilled corn on the cob and a cuban sandwich here (which makes Jed even happier.)

60 Things - Take 5

#41. Visit Coney Island.

Whoah mama. H had been there before, this was my first time. For a guy who enjoys taking the--um--occasional picture, this place was the biggest candy store this kid has ever seen. I'm telling you, I haven't seen that many weird and crazy things in one place since I was in the MTC. It is one crazy island. Anyway, enough words, let's see some pics, huh?

Amusement park classics ...

The boardwalk ...

The souvies ...

Yeah, it says what you think it says ...

And yeah, that says "live human target" ...

Some Coney Island silhouettes ...

The first roller coaster I've ever seen that looks older and scarier than the one at Lagoon ...

Pretty sure H was tall enough. Doesn't mean we were about to ride it ...

The boardwalk v.2 ...

Classic ticket booth ...

Mr. Happy Balloon Man ...

A cool Coney Island sign ...

Ah, the sideshow freaks ...

All the Nathan's hot dogs you could eat--these guys eat their fair share ...

If by some miracle you still want more pics, you can see a few more over at the boys' photog blog here.