Our two week holiday was nicely split into two 1-week segments, the first week in Ontario with Mark’s family, and the second week in NYC.

We flew out of Seattle, and if you were following the news, you’ll recall the storm of the decade… Those Dec 21 “on time” flights you see on the board were complete lies! All flights were cancelled, and, as the announcer said over and over on the speakers, “Please go home”…  Unfortunately for us, they waited 7 hours after our flight was supposed to depart before telling us to “Please go home” at 5am…

We sat in a hotel for two nights in Seattle and couldn’t drive anywhere because we were snowed in, and most nearby restaurants were closed except for Subway… I don’t think I’ll need to eat at Subway again anytime soon after having that as our only source of food!

When we finally made it out of Seattle a day late, we then missed a connecting flight and had to stay overnight in Kentucky before finally (and barely) getting a seat on a plane to Ontario. Our bags got a little confused along the way, and joined us on Dec 26th after taking a grand tour to a few airports. I had a frozen tofurkey in our suitcase that whole time- oh how naive I was thinking we’d be in Ontario after just one night of travel!

I don’t really have many shots to show from Ontario (apologies to Mark’s family- your blog appearance will have to wait until 2010, when Mark’s sis gets married!), so on to New York!

We stopped at the Buffalo side of Niagara falls to check out the view from the US side before flying to JFK.

We didn’t let our camera rule our lives this winter break, we played tourist instead.  We have gone backpacking in the past and had our lives dictated by our camera- feeling incredibly exhausted at times but still forcing ourselves to shoot every day.  I had a photo-a-day street photography project while traveling through China for 4 months.  That was very rewarding, but at times not fun, so this time we took it easy.

After watching so many New York based TV show episodes and movies (how many times did YOU watch Elf this Christmas???), I had a lot of ideas in my head of what NYC would be like in real life and I knew a lot of them would come out quite different, but this one didn’t disappoint: my vision of what New York would be like at Christmas time, Rockefeller Center!

It looks magical, but then the reality hits… a mile long lineup to use the skating rink for a limited amount of time, all skating clockwise… not even close to how it is in the movies : )  But the tree didn’t disappoint!

Our hotel was right at Times Square, which was packed the whole week we were there

Warm fuzzies at the New York Stock Exchange tree on Wall Street:

We went to the MOMA

We also went to the Met (for 7 HOURS I might add…) … that’s what happens when it’s “Mark’s day” : )

I kept myself entertained by making him stand in front of things:

Also, “Mark’s day” consisted of our $100 USD lunch (food only!), that’s bone marrow on the left, btw. Mark says it was gooood. It was Mark’s dream to eat dinner at a 5* restaurant in NYC, but we debated over that and settled for lunch at a 4*     ; )

We took many Subways on our $25 week long metro pass

Sushi in the city

We went to the 911 memorial site

I also endured “18 Miles of Books” at the famous Strand Bookstore… Mark’s new heaven

We didn’t shop here…

One highlight for me was walking across the Brooklyn Bridge (and immediately getting lost in Brooklyn and then finding ourselves in some interesting and different neighborhoods…)

And we rang in the new year at Times Square!

Ok so here’s the thing about New Years Eve/ball drop at Times Square.  This crowded photo was taken at 1pm… 11(!) hours before it was time to see the Clintons hit the button to make the ball drop.  Apparently to even see the ball drop, you need to pack yourself in on the street at least 6 hours in advance, and once you are there, you aren’t allowed to leave!  That’s the reality of the situation : ) It was also the coldest new years since the 1930s….  I cannot believe that these people waited (and survived) to ring in the new year!  I admire them… but we spent the evening in the hotel room at Times Square because we were lucky to be able to hear all the performances from our window while watching it on TV (with a tiny delay).  We went down a few times to check things out, but it was just too cold to stay longer than 10 minutes.

Aaaaand HAPPY NEW YEAR!  These drunk guys in the foreground had a better New Year’s midnight kiss than Mark and I did : )

So that’s where we’ve been and what we’ve been doing.  Happy new year to everyone and congratulations to all the new engagements that happened over the holidays ; )