Our Uncharted Lives: Summer 2012 Recap: Visitors, Weddings, Broadway

As the leaves are changing, the weather is cooling, and football is gearing up, I've realized we haven't posted all summer! Here's a brief recap of our summer (and maybe a little bit of a recap for spring!).

Visitors:
In April, Chris' Aunt Pat came to NYC for a work trip, decided to extend her trip, invite her daughter, Sandy, and spend some time with us! We toured downtown and went to see the Lion King the musical. The show was great and the costumes were amazing - definitely recommended if you're a fan of Disney's version of the Lion King.

Sandy, Chris, and Pat in South Street Seaport

We are so lucky that many of our friends and family come to NY for work, it gives us an excuse to meet up! Kate's sister Sarah continues to travel to NY for work. And this summer, our friend Les from LA also traveled to NY for work. We took advantage and met up for dinner and drinks. (We missed you Lauren!)

Kate, Chris, Les, Fred

Our friend Katie also made it to NY for work. This just happened to be the same week of the Tony Awards, which is filmed on the Upper West Side. Since Kate and Katie are big Broadway fans, we made sure to check out the red carpet. We didn't really get any pictures but we did have some great celebrity sightings.

This summer, Kate's childhood friend Jennifer dropped in for sushi during her summer trip to Connecticut. CT is a short train ride away from NYC and we were thrilled to meet up with her! BTW: if you're ever looking for sushi in NY, try Momoya in Chelsea - it's our favorite!

Jennifer and Kate... and our delicious sushi rolls!

Theatre:
We also took in a Broadway show this summer. Chris is a fan of the TV show The Big Bang Theory so when we heard that Jim Parsons (who plays Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory) was appearing in Harvey we knew we had to check it out. It was so funny; we really enjoyed it! Plus, it was in the most beautiful, iconic theatre - Studio 54.

Weddings:
In May we knew two lovely couples who tied the knot! Kate traveled to Iowa for her cousin Tyler's wedding to Tara. It was a beautiful day for an outdoor wedding and a great excuse for Kate to visit her family.

Tara and Tyler

Kate's grandparents: Jane and Chuck

For memorial day weekend, Chris' ex-roommate of three years, Cesar, married our sweet friend Courtney in Vail, CO. We traveled with our good friends Fred and Liz out to CO and back for a four-day weekend of celebration. Chris was a groomsmen which made the weekend extra special. It was a blast to say the least and we couldn't be happier for Cesar and Courtney!

The beautiful drive from Denver to Vail

Courtney and Cesar

Fred and Liz

Kate and Chris at the rehearsal dinner

Speaking of weddings, we've continued to plan our upcoming wedding. We've booked both a band and a photographer - two of the more important decisions in the wedding-planning process! Kate had a difficult time choosing a photographer so we decided to have two engagement shoots to test them out. We highly recommend this because after the shoot and seeing the photos, it was very clear who was the best fit for us! Here's two of our favorite pictures from the photographer we hired: Guy Heart. If you're friends with us on Facebook, you've probably already seen the rest!

Ameri-versary:
A few of our friends were not born in the U.S. and so the day they obtained their U.S. citizenship is quite special to them. Celebrating the U.S. on the 4th of July is simply not enough; we often celebrate the day they became an American! Our friend Anu (originally from the U.K.), had such a celebration this summer - a BBQ on her apartment's outdoor deck.

Anu serving delicious BBQ

Chris, Fred, Bharani, Brandon

We can't fit our whole summer into one blog post so there's more to come: Kate's three-day birthday celebration, exploring some of NY's history, and traveling to Maine to celebrate our anniversary. But, we'll leave you with a few pictures of our spring and summer in the city. You'll see we spend most of our time taking in the parks.