Month: January 2016

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Sedona2015_4223

Sedona

The first mention of Sedona that ever perked my ears was in Scotland, when one of my friends told me it was the most beautiful place she'd ever been. When we researched spots to stay near the Grand Canyon, the options were sparse, so we decided on Sedona, about 2 hours south of the Canyon, as our launching spot. Driving into Sedona right after sun set was like entering a red cave. The rocks we curled around in the slow evening traffic loomed, almost glowing overhead. The town of Sedona is known…

Snowstorm 2016_6366

Blizzard Jonas, Part 1

After nearly 5 years in Brooklyn, we've seen unexpected weather about . . . once (Hurricane Sandy). Every other storm has been hyped and then (oops!) only 2 inches when they had already shut down the subway! So when they said a blizzard was on its way, we expected around 3-5 inches. But then predictions swelled and with it, our excitement. Saturday, we woke up to snow streaming by our windows in horizontal winds. For hours, I sat on the couch reading and it never abated. Because our apartment s…

Grand Canyon_3905

The Grand Canyon

The week after Christmas we glided over the Rockies to much warmer climes than the snows of the midwest to what turned out to be one of the most restful times we had all year. Wonderfully, I had over two full weeks of vacation for Christmas, the longest stretch of vacation I’ve had since moving to New York, and my in-laws generously planned a trip with us to the warmth of Arizona between Christmas and New Year. On the itinerary: the Grand Canyon, the red castle rocks of Sedona, and the boulders …

MN2015_3657

Minnesota Snows

The first time I visited Minnesota was 2 days after Walker and I got engaged. I’m not sure now how true my memory is—feet of snow, landing in a blizzard, unimaginable cold, and a house full of hugging family at the end. But we did land in a snow storm, and there was a lot of snow on the ground already. The temperatures sunk under 0 and Christmas was unreal, Nordic, and magical. Walker’s entire extended family celebrated Christmas Eve together with the same traditions we celebrate now, 7 years la…

AZ-2015_3910

Happy 2016!

This holiday season was especially wonderful and we are still feeling rays of sunshine on our backs from all the goodness. My siblings and I were all home in Jersey for pre-Christmas for the first time in 5 years and this time there were 4 kiddos cuddling next to me for books and begging me to play anything with them. We saw Walker’s whole family on Christmas in the magical gingerbread-and-ice-candle-land my in-laws always create in Minnesota. Right on Christmas evening, a white Christmas fell. …