Indian Summer

S E P T E M B E R

I've mentioned it about fifty times before, but I love summer, and at the end of August I was NOT ready to let it go! It didn't help that the second week of September we had a few days where it was in the low 50s, raining and windy..  I honestly was feeling pretty depressed about it, just bummed that the sunshine and warm weather and all the things I love about summer were ending.

So instead of thinking of it as the beginning of Fall, the month of September was my final farewell to summer. It (thankfully!) warmed back up and I was able to say my last goodbyes to summer hikes, the farmers market, and I even fit in a trip to California!

First up, family weekend up at Snowbird!

 

And after way too much online researching, I finally settled on this pair of light weight running shoes and have loved them so far.

Then cali cali cali with my twin! 2.5 weeks apart felt like forever. what are we going to do for the next 2.5 months?? We mostly just hung out on Pomona's campus (which is amazing!) and I followed him around pretending to be a student there too. But on Saturday we also went to Newport Beach and it was perfect weather for jumping in the ocean and bodysurfing in the giant waves.

^^ so happy to be at the airport at 6am.. 

See you in two short months twinny! 

Then back to SLC and more Zoe and more local fruits & veggies (aka my summer)

A few months ago I heard that the author Michael Lewis was coming to speak in Salt Lake City and I made sure to buy tickets the second they went up, so we scored 5th row seats in Abravanel Hall for a nearly sold out evening! I brought my friend Nate, our german kind-of-exchange-student Lotti, and of course mom. Michael Lewis was hilarious, so witty, so smart, and it made me want to read all of his books!!

Earlier this summer I read The Big Short, his book about the 2008 financial crisis, and even though finance is a foreign language to me, I loved it! The characters were so interesting and when you understand what actually caused the whole mess.. it's just insane! I'm so excited to see it on the big screen this Christmas with Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale, Steve Carell and Brad Pitt (!!!!!) It was so fun to meet Michael Lewis afterwards and have him sign my book. 

And then this year was the first memorial for Uta that I've been home for, and the first one where things have actually seemed settled.

By September 27th as we walked down the mountain towards our car I had finally made my peace and was ready to embrace the autumn season!

Here's to October! 

xx Jess 

TWENTY

I finally hit the big 2-0 a few weeks ago and I've got to admit it, twenty feels right!

19 was a solid year. I spent most of it in Switzerland at my dream school, traveling the world in my spare time, and skyping home to my tribe a little too often. I feel like I am well on my way to finding my own path in life, so I have high hopes for my 20s and it is a good feeling! 

For my birthday I hit up the gym (working on my summer fitness!), went out with my mom and sister to a delicious Italian bistro for lunch, went on a downtown shopping excursion with my twin bro to find an elusive jewelry box, and capped it all off with a huge family dinner at an awesome middle eastern restaurant and chilling on the back porch with friends. 

best birthday yet.  

cheers to the future! xo

Times Square // NYC

While editing this new batch of new york photos, I kept thinking about the last time Pelle and I went to New York with our mom, in 2011. So I went on a trip down memory lane and had a little too much fun looking through the old pictures and comparing them to the new ones. My brother will be upset if he ever sees this post, because the pictures are definitely blurry iphone shots, but you know what? I like them! They may not be the best quality, but they certainly are symbolic. 

Remarkably, little of our exterior appearance has changed in these last few years! Yeah we both look a little older, our hair is a little curlier, but other than that, we look about the same. Oh, if only a photo could capture the huge amount of inner personal growth both of us have experienced!  In the space between these photos: we moved away from home and from each other, we transitioned from high school to our respective universities, we have faced many trials and had many an adventure, overall we both have continually sought to become better people.. All this combined has definitely impacted our personalities for the better! 

We had a ridiculous amount of fun together then, but somehow this trip was even better.

Shoutout to mom for somehow dealing with our twin shenanigans twice now in NYC! 

Times Square is such an iconic New York City location and fun to experience. But, I also should admit that I have mixed feelings about this place.. I can't tell if Times Square is one of the best or one of the worst places in the city! haha. It is teeming with vibrancy and life, the billboards are bright and I love its city vibe. But on the other hand, it is packed with hustlers, tourists and an overwhelming number or people/things vying for your attention. I think it is one of those places you just have to appreciate for what it is, and realize that there is more to this city then Times Square.  

More New York 2014 posts HERE and HERE

Brooklyn Bridge // NYC

I think I have an addiction... This is my second trip to NYC in six months!
I seriously love this city. Whenever I come home or return to my university in Switzerland I have to fly through JFK, so this time I just paid an extra $5 (steal of a deal!) and delayed my "layover in JFK" to four days of NYC fun! My twin wasn't able to come with last trip (but don't feel too bad for him, he was gallavanting across Europe at the time) so he, and our awesome mom, decided to accompany me to NYC this time for a final hurrah to Winter Break 2014. Last week I said my goodbyes to Utah friends/family and we caught a red eye flight from SLC---> JFK, so the morning of day one was spent napping.. but that evening we decided to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, a first for all of us. It was only a bit chilly (luckily the polar vortex was gone by the time we arrived!) and we loved it!
Highly recommend "must do" item for anyone visiting NYC in the near future. 

// view of the city with the Manhattan skyscrapers disappering into the fog
// wooden slats on the bridge dating back to its construction in 1883
// the cutest little water tower there ever was

^^ excuse the low quality iphone photo, but it wouldn't be a "winter break" post without a twin pic! ;)

We started crossing the bridge at dusk so by the time we made it to the Brooklyn side it was already dark and the bridge was beautifully lit up! ^^

oh and tip for anyone walking the bridge: visit the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory near the waterfront on the Brooklyn side, their strawberry ice cream was DEVINE. I wish I had a pic, but that is a testament to how fast we devoured it (in spite of the cold weather!) it was that good.

last trip to NYC, click here
more NYC posts coming soon!

A Twin Celebration

Ingredients for a "perfect celebration"
✓ thai food (massaman curry for me, red curry for him)
✓ a snowy ski day up at Alta
✓ lots of laughs + fun times with the family at dinner
✓ a new episode of Sherlock (so good so good so good!!)