GEARING UP FOR THE SUPER BOWL

today its the super bowl. and its a pretty big deal, not just because its football (of the american kind, of course) but because its the first year its being held in new york, the home stadium of the new york giants. which technically is in new jersey, a whole other state, but new york have claimed it as theirs!

theres a lot of excitement about this and new york have pulled out all the stops. broadway has been pedestrianised and theres all sorts of attractions, including a toboggan run! more of that in a later post.

before christmas i got to go to my first football game! not only was it to watch the giants play, but also in their stadium, the one where the super bowl is being played today. because we got tickets through nick's work we got to experience the game in style, in a booth, with food and drink all laid out for us. i'm not that much into football, its quite a slow game, constantly stopping and starting, plus i dont really understand the rules....but, i LOVED the atmosphere! the hype, the cheers, the advertisments, the food it was so much fun!  

unfortunately the giants were annhilated by the sea hawks, but seeing as the seahawks made it to the super bowl i guess its ok...so thats who i'll be gunning for today, just to justify the giants loss!

SOME FUNNIES

nick and i were up the other night in stitches at this buzzfeed and so i wanted to share it, its that good! i think my favourite was the boy with the big hand, or the over hairy arm! which are your favourites?

*and this random picture because it makes me laugh....nick was miss heard at starbucks...for HANK!!!

ROOSEVELT ISLAND

way way back in the warmer months of october when there was still some sun in the sky, my parents came to visit. it was a lot warmer than when they came in february so we made sure that we did as much as we could outdoors.

one of the highlights was our trip onto roosevelt island. this was the first time we had been and we picked the perfect day for it. we got the subway onto the island and walked around before heading back to manhattan via the cable cars. it was an incredible experience to travel back over the east river and into the city's skyline, but i was holding onto the railings in the cable car for dear life! 

heres a short video of our day, featuring mum and dad daw and nick!

Roosevelt Island from Elizabeth Johnson on Vimeo.

WELCOME BACK

i never intended to take such a long leave of absence from the blog but things have been a little crazy recently. we had to take a last minute flight to london as sadly nick's grandad, jim, passed away.

"i have come that you can have a real and eternal life, more and a better life than you have ever dreamed of" 
john 10:10 the message

for many of you who know us, nick was very close to his grandad and we were so blessed for jim to marry us. despite the time back in the uk being very sad it was also incredible remembering and celebrating his life. he was certainly full of life, i mean he took up ice skating in his 60's! 

in response to this, nick and i want to live our lives to the full, for gods glory. and so with that said we have about 6 months left in the states before we start our next adventure.....so heres to making the most of them!  

FAMILY NEWS....

this post is far too long overdue, and i've finally found some time to sit down and write it....

something very exciting happened in our family 2 weeks ago and seeing as its been so hard living across the atlantic at this time i felt entitled to share it with everyone on this here small blog! 

on the 11/12/13 (for any americans...12/11/13, which doesn't have quite the same ring to it!) i gained a new love in my life. my brave brave sister gave birth to their second child, a gorgeous little boy, josiah william. 

my niece, beatrice (featured here) is now a big sister and i'm so excited to see her take on this new role, showing josiah the ways of the world, learning to assert her big sisterly authority, burning off their energy together and caring for each other. my brother in law can induct his son in the world of football,  how to play (although beatrice is already pretty good, she has a mean kick!) and the trials and tribulations of chelsea football club. my sister can dress her child up in baby braces and bow ties, although to be honest that is probably more of my desire than my sisters! 

i so enjoy watching my niece grow up into a little young lady and can't wait to see josiah grow into a young man. 

for those of you interested in his name, josiah, means 'the lord heals' which is very meaningful to my sister and brother in law. 

we're so sad that we haven't met you yet josiah, but we cannot wait to have big cuddles with you one day and spoil you rotten! so heres to you josiah, welcome to this world. love from auntie lizzie and uncle nick.

WEEKENDERS

this weekend was probably one of my favourites. we've been getting really busy with work and life recently so we took saturday out to just have fun. heres our saturday in pictures......

nick was super romantic and told me during the week that he wanted to take me out for breakfast before all of new york wakes up! now the idea of waking up early on a saturday might not be romantic, but the fact that nick would sacrifice his lazy saturday morning for me was super romantic. so all before 8:30 we were up and out breakfasting at the 'grey dog'.

isn't it just the best? nick comes here every wednesday morning before work to meet with some guy friends from church and is always on about how great this place is. i love that he wanted to show it off to me!

we chatted, ate a scrummy breakfast and played scrabble! needless to say nick won, but i gave him a good run for his money and he only won by 7 points! well played, well played!

we popped into the pet shop on the way home and ended up in a playpen sitting on stools playing with a fluff ball puppy!

we were diverted one final time by the christmas tree stands on the side of the road and bartered with a 10 year old for a metre tall tree!

nick was ever so strong and carried this heavy tree all the way home!

the decorating took all of 5 minutes, even with a rather intrigued kitty! but it was fun with the christmas music on and hot apple cider in hand.

oh, and the obligatory fairy light fixing also took place!

after our lazy afternoon of snoozing and decorating we carb-ed out on bread and pasta for dinner whilst watching bridget jones' diary. that film bought back so many teenager memories. its a great christmas movie!

we also got to snuggle with oli. don't you just love the way that he crosses his arms over like this. he does it all the time and its just the cutest!

p.s im so excited for christmas. theres something about new york that makes christmas all the more magical and exciting, it might be all the lights and the big rockefella christmas tree, or the christmas tree stands on the side of the road...but new york really knows how to do christmas!

THANKSGIVING

i'm a little late in posting this, but last thursday was thanksgiving. this was our second thanksgiving in the city, last year we watched the macy's thanksgiving parade which was just outside our apartment at the time. we then went for a thanksgiving meal at our church.

this year we decided to go and see the macy's thanksgiving balloons being blown up the night before thanksgiving. it was fun seeing all the balloons that we recognised from last year. then on thanksgiving we had dinner with friends at their apartment where we got to taste traditional delicacies such as sweet potato mash with grilled marshmallow topping!

this year i'm so thankful for friends that we've made since being in nyc. friends that have invited us to be their friends. friends that have made living here so much more fun. friends that have shown us how to live well in nyc despite all the sacrifices of the city. friends that have even taken on some of our british words. friends who have loved us so well and friends that we will be so sad to leave when we move back. 

diary of a wimpy kid

can you imagine living in one of those apartments? a rather surreal view!

and heres a few snaps from last y ears parade-i presume its the same each year!!

have you heard about 'elf on the shelf'? he's a little ornament that comes out at christmas and sits on your shelf, but each day leading up to christmas he moves around the house, and the kids have a fun time finding him each morning in a new place!