NYC/Jersey

Finally, after a year and a half of living in the east coast made it to New Jersey to see family. Spent a day in NYC. An easy ride on the New Jersey Transit system and checked out some of "the city's" holiday spirit.

Rockefellar Center Xmas tree

There were a lot of people sightseeing, shopping, ice skating. Got a little overwhelming at times.

Made it over to Times Squate where the ball drop for New Years occurs. Saw the stage set up for the big event. I still can't get over that people choose to go stand in the cold for hours with no beverage just to count back from 10. Watching it on TV sounds much better to me.

The stage where they will do the countdown for the ball drop

Spent some time with family in New Jersey. My cousin Em lives in Hoboken;
a nice escape from the craziness of New York City. Loved checking out the shops/restaurants/bars of this area.

Hoboken-quite the contrast from Manhattan.

Cousins : )

The Cake Boss Bakery is in Hoboken. Personally have never seen this show, but people were lined up around the block to get in.

Great views of Manhattan from Hoboken.

Not sure why I hadn't bothered to head this way before. It's an easy, inexpensive trip. Definitely will have to make it back this year.

Las Vegas, Nevada

Viva! Las Vegas! Went to Sin City to celebrate my 33rd B-day and run in a half marathon. I definitely did not prepare like I should have for the half, but I managed to finish, jogging about 7miles and walk/jogging the last half. Kate, Kristall, and Jason were all nice or crazy (depending on how you look at it) enough to run with me.

(I really wanted to find a party hat for my b-day, but had to go with a St. Patty's day one)

The half marathon course started at Mandalay Bay went down Las Vegas Blvd, over to the Fremont District and back towards Mandalay. Running down the strip and seeing the lights of Vegas was a pretty neat course.

There were 45,000 people running which made it nearly impossible to run at times. Bands were set up along the course to play music for us "runners" I found that most of the time they weren't playing when I went by, which I found to be very frustrating.

Of course couldn't go to Vegas without doing a little gambling and having a some fun. Wish I could say that I won big, but no such luck. Thanks to my family, Kristall and Jason, Robbie and Nicole, Lela, Mark for all the fun.

It's Christmas time so a little holiday spirit Vegas style.

As always has a lot of fun! Next year I'll have to prepare better. Anyone interested in running next time?