South Korea

I flew back home from Chicago on a Monday morning and spent the week preparing for my next trip to visit my sister {Morgan} and brother in law {Wes} in Dongducheon, South Korea. Wes is stationed there for 2 years, and well, I just couldn't go that long without seeing my sister! So the following Monday, I boarded what seemed like the longest plane ride of my life {2.5 hours to San Francisco and 12 hours to Seoul} to experience the culture shock of a lifetime. I definitely wasn't in Texas anymore!


.... and I'm going to be honest, there's no way I would have any desire to visit South Korea except for the fact that my sister lived there.


Anyway, my sister posted a lot of the pics from the trip on her blog, but I will add some of my favorites from the various places we visited:

My sister and I in Itaewon

Shopping in Myeongdong

We saw the show "Nanta." I was pulled up on stage for the first time in my life! It was SO much fun. 

Fish pedicure in Gangnam. It tickled sooo much! 

Morgan & Wes

We stopped at a batting cage on the way home from Osan. Yes, we match. TOTALLY unplanned. 

 The boys: Wes, Mike, and Adam

This is what my sister and I did 90% of the trip... shopped

I was a wreck leaving my sister. I think I cried the first 2.5 hours of the plane ride home! If I am still on my  'post graduate school not ready to enter the real world tour of the globe' {as my sister so fondly calls it} in Sept/Oct of next year, then I will definitely be going back!  

Chicago

I'm really behind on posting, but better late than never, right? We left the beach and spent 2 days in my parents hometown of Woodbury, New Jersey. We then flew out of Philadelphia and headed to the final leg of our journey: Chicago.

Christian had purchased a condo in August and this was my first time seeing it. Can you say bachelor pad?! I was mortified that he was living like this for a month! In defense of Christian, he works a lot so he had not had any time to go furniture shopping.... I fixed that real quick :) 

Some before photos: 

The guest bedroom. Not quite sure where the guest is suppose to sleep??

His bedroom. Just pitiful. 

The kitchen. 

 The living room. Yes, he sleeps on an air mattress in his living room... I have NO idea why. 

You can't beat the view of the city though. 

Anyway, the entire place is concrete so I had to explain to Christian that RUGS are going to be his new best friend. We spent a good deal of the time fixing up the place and I will post some after pics once it is all complete. I am happy to report that he is now sleeping on a normal bed in his BEDROOM. haha!

Dear Christian

Dear Christian,
          I feel like I need to tell you this now rather than later.... I have fallen in love here in South Korea. His name is "Buck"........

Yes, it is a puppy, but o my gosh he is so freaking adorable and I am in puppy LOVE. I want one :)

haha! Just kidding!

 Lastly, this picture was taken by my BIL Wes. Morgan and I can't stop laughing at it. 

I'm really going to miss this girl {and Wes!}!

Ocean City, NJ

The next stop on our vacation was Ocean City, New Jersey. A place I will hold close to my heart forever. I spent many summers there growing up and I wanted Christian to experience it with me. We took a bus from New York City on Sunday morning to Atlantic City and then a taxi to Ocean City, where we met my Grandmom {aka G'Ma} and a few of her close friends.

The house we stayed at. It was right on the beach. 

The view from the house. 

First stop: the Ocean City Boardwalk. Another place I have wonderful memories of.

 Shrivers Salt Water Taffy.

Christian in front of Mack & Manco's Pizza. 

My G'Ma and her friend Bob

The entire group eating pizza at Mack & Manco's

We spent the rest of the trip relaxing at the house or at the beach:

I am really glad we were able to visit my G'Ma. We had a wonderful time and I look forward to going up and visiting her again.


Side note: I had NOOO idea it was going to be cold in EVERY city I went to. Packing in 100 degree Texas weather, I figured it would be hot everywhere, but NO. Sooo I packed 3 long sleeve shirts total, which you will see me repeat multiple times throughout these pictures. So I apologize for looking like an outfit repeater :)-- they were clean though!

New York City

I could live in this city. I really could. I love everything about it. Although we only spent 4 days here, we definitely made the most of it. Here are a few highlights:

We ate about 5 of these the whole time.

 Times Square

 Lombardi's pizza is a must when visiting NYC. The pizza is AMAZING. 

The Feast of San Gennaro was going on in Little Italy while we were there. Lots of yummy food! 

Cannolis!

 The rebuilding of the Twin Towers. The Memorial had just opened a week before we were there, so  tickets were unavailable for the next month. 

Another must eat NYC restaurant.... Carnegie Deli

We saw this show and LOVED it. So funny and the actors and actresses were great!

I love this picture. God love him... holding the camera bag while waiting in line to get me cupcakes :)

Ok, so there are NO pictures of Christian and I together and here's why.... 

National Lampoons European Vacation- Camera Theft {click to watch video}

I know, I know. I need to get over this fear. But after spending a little bit more than I am use to on a camera, I have become somewhat overprotective of it. :)

San Francisco

Well the summer officially ended for me on September 11th. So on September 12th, I boarded a plane to begin the first leg of my 2 week vacation... San Francisco.

I am going to first rewind a week and a half. While doing lunges at the gym, I tore my right iliopsoas muscle, strained my adductor of the right pelvis, and tore my right gluteus muscle. After having an MRI, my doctor told me I was to be on crutches for an entire month and he "didn't think going on my vacation was a smart idea." Let me tell you, I just about had a nervous breakdown. When you spend your ENTIRE summer looking forward to something and then it basically gets taken away from you, well, it just plain stinks. So, I compromised. I rented a wheelchair and called Christian to inform him of my plan and of his new role as my "wheelchair pusher."

He did a wonderful job :)

The first night, we had dinner at the only Kosher vegetarian restaurant in San Francisco with Christian's research partner (Craig), his boss (Dr. Friedman) and his wife, and other past researcher assistants of Dr. Friedman. We had a wonderful time and ate lots and lots of food!

We were in San Francisco for a total of 3 days. The majority of the time,  I was off doing all the touristy stuff:

Gorgeous house on Lombard street

I drove down Lombard Street all by myself! 

While poor Christian was stuck inside doing this: 

haha! Just kidding! We really were able to spend a lot of time together in the afternoons, so we went and visited some of my favorite SF attractions:

Kara's Cupcakes= LOVE!

  Ghirardelli Square

Best seafood restaurant ever!

 Fisherman's Wharf

People rave about this restaurant so we had to try it. We were not disappointed!

  Me and Christian on our hop on- hop off bus tour

Christian picked out a pearl for me :)

I am wayyyy behind on this blog {I am currently in South Korea visiting my sister and BIL}.... so I will try and catch up soon!