Wings

We went to a sports bar to watch the BYU basketball game on saturday.

we ate wings. I dont really eat wings.

Too much work for too little food.

I had BBQ honey sauce all over my face.

I hate being dirty.

But I look really happy here.

and my friends really enjoyed it.

Finding Hope

We went to the 9/11 memorial site the other day. It is incredible to say the least.
There is such a unity and peacefulness you can't deny.
The stories I read and heard were definitely goose-bump worthy.
I am grateful I live in America.

The Oak Tree

I just want to take this time to express my love for this gospel. What an incredible knowledge it is to know that I can live with my Heavenly Father again. That he knows me personally. That he knows every pain, every sorrow, every heartache. That he knows every joy, love and success I have ever felt.

I set a couple goals this week. and let me tell you, I am SO glad I set these goals when I did, because I am positive that it would have been a much harder week without the watchful eye of my Heavenly Father, and the loving spirit that I so warmly felt.

I stumbled across this poem, from a CES fireside I was able to go to by Elder Ballard at BYU a couple months ago. I loved the poem then, and I love it now.

“The Oak Tree” by Johnny Ray Ryder Jr.

A mighty wind blew night and day.
It stole the oak tree’s leaves away,
Then snapped its boughs and pulled its bark
Until the oak was tired and stark.
But still the oak tree held its ground
While other trees fell all around.
The weary wind gave up and spoke,
“How can you still be standing, Oak?”
The oak tree said, “I know that you
Can break each branch of mine in two,
Carry every leaf away,
Shake my limbs, and make me sway.
But I have roots stretched in the earth,
Growing stronger since my birth.
You’ll never touch them, for you see,
They are the deepest part of me.
Until today, I wasn’t sure
Of just how much I could endure.
But now I’ve found, with thanks to you,
I’m stronger than I ever knew.

"My beloved young brothers and sisters, be like the strong oak tree. Come to know how strong you are. Push your faith and trust in God and Christ down deep in gospel soil. Always be aware of the artificial flies being presented to us by the counterfeit fisher of men, Lucifer. May we have the wisdom and spiritual insight to discern and refuse his many dangerous offerings. Live the doctrine of Christ, the simple and basic principles of the gospel, each day—have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repent, honor the covenant of baptism, live worthy of the Holy Ghost as your companion, and endure to the very end. Do this every day, and the Spirit of the Lord will be with you to keep you safely on the pathway that leads to eternal life." - Elder Ballard

word on the street

is that this place is for sale. And! it's located just down the street from me. How convenient...

along with your penthouse purchase..

we will include this fabulous pink diamond engagement ring. This is way too much.

But I'll take it!

change of attitude.

Last night (after the eye watering blunder), walking home from a friends house, I became so angry at the snow. It creates such an unnecessary hassle for everyone. It has absolutely no purpose. Why on earth was it invented?

This morning I had a change of heart. It was such a beautiful peaceful walk to work this morning. (Besides the piles of stuck cars on the sides of the roads).

The sights were truly incredible. So ...I would like to apologize for my bad attitude and under appreciation for the picturesque piles of powder.

I did feel bad for this car though...

all smiles here
thumbs up! I dont know why my thumb looks so crooked
such a wonderful sight...

My beautiful snow covered street
yay for snow.
I love walking through piles of snow and running, in a pencil skirt mind you, through puddles of slush. (notice the positive attitude through all this).

no pants

I had a bit of a traumatic experience last night on my way home from the gym. In the midst of my trying real hard to be a tough, know-it-all city girl, I relapsed and caved into my embarrassed, petrified, emotional little girl self after such a silly silly, yet daunting series of events.

After an exhilarating gym time with the roommies, I decided to opt out of the gym showers and shower at home. I was extremely confident I would be able to make this 15 minute journey with success. I repeated to myself several times the subway transfers I would make, and went on my merry way. Smooth sailing until....

I realized I forgot pants. So I started my travels with my gym shorts on, my snowboard coat and goosebumps.

p.s did you know that once every couple months they have "No Pants Subway Rides? If only it was one of those special days. I would have totally fit in.

First subway transfer was successful and my legs were still in tact. As I waited patiently for the other train, 40 minutes passed, and my legs became numb, and people began to stare.

I should have just owned it like this girl below.

"Its cool to wear shorts on the subway in winter, so Im going to swing on the subway rails and show you all whose boss."

Instead I sat like a fool biting my lip and pretending like I was looking at something important on my phone...when I was playing brick breaker...over and over again.

In frustration and a watery eye blunder, I timidly got on another train that unbeknownst to me, brought me 30 blocks passed my house into the Bronx.

I gave up and stormed out of the subway. Trudging through a couple feet of snow I was convinced it would be way more reasonable to cough up some money for a taxi. No taxi to be found. So, as a dark car stopped in front of me and said get in, you can imagine the internal battle. I just wanted to be warm, but there was something about getting in a dark unknown car that gave me the heebie jeebies. He assured me it was a NY car service. I saw the official tags, and jumped in.

The driver was nice. He called me crazy for wearing shorts. So I cried more. He demanded cash that I didn't have, so I wrote him a $10 check. I think he felt bad for me. I wonder why.

Subway Spandex Sliding

Yesterday, my friend asked me what my favorite part of NYC was.

and..I think i figured it out.

Yesterday, on the way home from the gym I was wearing slippery spandex pants.

I was sitting on the subway on a long bench..alone..until a solo young New Yorkan joined me.

As the train suddenly jerked to a stop, I began to slowly...then quickly slide into my new subway friend.

As our sides bumped, we began to laugh, and I stood up and proceeded to exit the train.

As I walked out he kindly yelled "You be careful out there honey."

My favorite part of New York City is: subway spandex sliding.

A bad day in New York City..

...is still better than a good day anywhere else.

55

days until spring. But who's counting...

Springtime in Central Park

back of the bus

we took the bus yesterday for the first time. we like the bus.
Rachael, the other intern, and adorable person, taught us how to ride the bus. Apparently we have to sit in the back because the elderly sit in the front. So we enjoyed a leisurely trip around Madison Ave on our way to the gymnasium. nbd.

We like the bus because :

1. you can sit down on slightly padded seats

2. you dont have to smell the stinky underground mold

3. you are less likely to catch a disease from a stranger, who isn't acting like a stranger, because he is so intimately invading your personal bubble, due to lack of standing room.

stay hot

Tonight as we were walking around, we realized it was soo cold our legs were numb. Literally could not feel our chins, and our toes were probably about to fall off from frostbite, so we went to Starbucks to get a hot chocolate and warm up a bit. As we sat down, I realized the charming worker man scratched out the other words on my cup, as to make a quite flattering little message for me. It Definitely warmed me right up. what a sweetheart.

just kidding. That whole story was made up. But i liked the picture. and I kinda liked making up the story. Heres to wishing we'll all stay hot.

yummy in my tummy

Welcome to the best cupcake shop EVER to exist.

after hours of debate of what flavor to choose and whether or not to share (dumb debate) I decided on the "half baked" cupcake all to myself. I dont regret it one bit. I HIGHLY recommend this place. plus, the workers were oh so helpful in our perfect cupcake search.

We were tempted to get one of these Colossal Cupcakes....but we refrained. next time. after one of our Central Park runs. It will help with the justification process.

Also...we saw Country Strong tonight. WAY good. I was totally hooked. I dont think I moved once during the whole movie. and the music is amazing. and Beau is hott. not to mention is manly stanley voice. yes please. and I cried. and sometimes I like crying.

5 years ago

One time my mom and I came to New York for fun and we met these wonderful people. I forgot about this previous famous encounter. Kinda trumps the whole famous poet interaction. Sorry Howard. I wanna meet more GMA news people...

One of these mornings we will wake up at 5 am to go to GMA headquarters.

you just wait.

Serendipity 3

This will be my next purchase.

Since im already Frrrrrozen on the outside. I wanna be Frrrozen inside too

mm hmm

Seesters

These are my seesters.I dont know where I would be without them.

They are my laugh when I've had a bad day. They are my pep talk when i feel down. They are my chill out when I am nervous. They are my girl talk when I hate boys. They are my light when I feel dark. They are my necessity every day of my life.

Famous encounters

This is Howard Altmann. He is a famous poet living in NYC, who has had 5 poetry books published. He sat by us in a restaurant the other night. We started talking. Apparently he is writing a story right now about a 65 year old man living on the same street we are living on in the Upper West Side. It sounds creepy..but I promise its not. Just cool. It made us feel famous. So if you happen to stumble across a poem by dear Howard in the next year about 3 Mormon girls living in the upper west side we are them. I promise I wont forget the little people.

danger on the train

We met a red head Canadian the other day on the subway. She voluntarily told us of a crazy adventure she had the other night. I wanted to forward the story on to you for your entertainment and possibly provide you with an excellent learning opportunity.

"So I was comin' home from a long night out in the pub. I was completely hammered, and I mean totally sloshed. So I was wearing a Canadian Flag as a cape." (Naturally).

"I wanted to show my pride for my people. I was running onto the subway, stubblin' a little bit, and I luckily made it right into the train when the subway doors were closin'. I got to my stop, luckily, and right when I jumped off, the doors closed and my cape got stuck in the train. I was literally dragged by my neck for at least 5 feet. I needed my cape, but I also needed my life, so as you can see this was a problem. I yelled and waved my arms, so he stopped the train opened the doors I got my cape out and went home."

.....

"I'm lucky to be alive"

Canal Street

Where all the danger getting, cheap purse buying, chinese speaking love happens.

Great Timing

Got off the subway and look what just started to play..just for us!

Which one of these is not like the other?

Radio City Music Hall

I WILL go inside one day

Attempt at making a good video

failed

The Majestic Manhattan Bridge

Such an adventure

Walking the night away

We started the day with sleeping in till 11 then watching The Social Network till 2 pm. (which was kinda a depressing movie ps), then going running in Central Park at 3. (pictures of that to come). Central park is incredible by the way. People were everywhere. Definitely will be making a habit of running in there every morning (high hopes). So ...to make up for our semi lazy day, we decided to walk all over town. So...

We started our night in Soho, where we went to dinner in Soho. Such a cute place. Expensive Boutiques everywhere. A girls dream...well a rich girls dream..but still. We ate dinner at an amazing Cuban Restaurant then walked through China Town and Canal Street. I didn't realize it was really literally China Town. like..Chinese translations on everything. Makes sense I guess .

We walked across the Manhattan Bridge. Beautiful. Kinda chilly and a little creepy considering no one else was on that 9203 mile long bridge. But way cool! Kim carried around her pepper spray which she stores in her zip lock baggy in a zip pouch inside her zip close purse..so that made us feel safe.

We visited Brooklyn for all of 3 minutes and rode the Subway to Grand Central Station! Incredible! Reminded me of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. We met some Military men who were more than willing to take our picture. We thanked them for serving our country and went our separate ways.