Zantar baby...

I was lucky enough to be selected from a HUGE pool of applicants to be in my friend Collin's Lingo film.  Thank you Collin for that honor.  ;) Although I almost froze my tail off...we had a great time filming it and thanks to Collin's savvy editing skills it looks like a Zantar masterpiece!

A picture from the set.

The movie!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9fz2kD92_U

Thanksgiving

This year I get to stay in NYC for the WHOLE holiday season!  That's correct...Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Eve.  I am pretty excited about this as it makes me feel more 'adult' than I have ever felt before.  We hosted Thanksgiving at our house and it was so delicious!  Good friends, good food, good movie.  

The carver, Brent.

The Cassie.

The friends.

The spread.

The appetite.

The holiday.

The movie.

Weekend of Indulgence

One of my favorite people in the whole world came to visit this weekend.  Kristan Brooks!  She was a former New Yorker but left to go to pursue her MBA at BYU.  Viva Provo!

In honor of her visit we had a weekend of our old usual ways...which in the end we realized was really just a bunch of food, chatting, shopping, and the occasional?? chair massage.   But seriously, I cannot think of anything more fun.

Brunch at Bubby's!  I downed my whole breakfast plate and then shared a slice of Mile High Apple Pie.  Yum.

Walking up to Soho we stumbled across this little treasure.  The firehouse from Ghostbusters!!

Dinner at Shake Shack.  No more trekking downtown for these juicy burgers.  We now have one in the neighborhood and of COURSE we had to take Kristan there.

Cruisin' down the streets.

Patsy's!  An UWS institution.

And of course....loads and loads of Diet Coke.  

COME BACK!!!

Obama or Uma?

After a rousing evening of wings and election coverage, Chris had the great idea to venture up to Harlem to check it out.  It was electric.  

And who knew we would stumble across a little celebrity....Uma Thurman anyone?  Notice that is Jamar's hand she is kissing.  He was in a daze after that.  Hasn't washed it since.

Sorry the video is sideways.  I am not too tech-savvy.  Careful with the neck.

And a few pics....

Washington

I had so much fun in Washington this summer.  It was so good to see the whole family and to be back in the country!  Here are some of the highlights.

Gardening with my cute nephew Brycen.

Going to the beach.

Going to the fair.

Love it.

Toronto

Initially, I planned to stay in the city for the summer of 2008.  I was sick and tired of hearing about the fabulous and fun-filled NYC summers every August when I got back.  I was going to experience it myself.  Well, I lasted about a week and a half.  Heat exhaustion combined with mild boredom and a resistance to getting up before noon forced me to vacate the sweltering ACless city.   The country lakes and ponds were calling my name.  First stop...Toronto.

My cute niece Melanie and nephew Jared met me at the airport.

We tested our new snorkeling gear.

Hung out at the Pallin Cottage.

Visited a mushroom farm.

We went to the beach.

And finally, played lots of rock band!

I had a wonderful time!  I love my sister and her family.  I can't wait to go again!

Puerto Rico!!

Yes, I know I have had quite the blogging drought.  It is hard for me to blog when I am not home with my own computer and pictures!  But I am back home and here it comes!  First Puerto Rico!

Whenever I have time off, and I decide to go somewhere, I always tend to want to go to Europe or a gritty Asian country. I have never had a lazy, sunny beach vacation and I decided in July it was about time.  Friends have always talked the beach resort up and I quickly found out it was a heaven on earth I had been missing.  Puerto Rico was fabulous!  We stayed at this AMAZING resort, went swimming in the never-ending pools, went night kayaking, hiked through rainforests, visited old forts, played in the ocean, ate tons of food, and of course drank gallons of Diet Coke.  My idea of a good time!

perhaps my new profession?

Just before the school year ended I took the kids on one last field trip to the fire station.  Little did I know I would have more fun than they did.  Cute firemen, dressing me in and out of their gear...yes please!

Things that make me smile.

Random midnight visits from Bob the upstairs neighbor.  

Only trying it once

There are some things in life that you should only try once...and perhaps not at all.  For me it is pig's feet.  I consider myself to have somewhat of an adventurous palate.  I enjoy the rare dish or the spicy entree but the boiled pig's feet with the who-knows-what-it's-made-of sauce that is drizzled all over the top is way too much for me.  I have tried it once and never again.

Hello Summer

I love that sometimes when I am walking down the street I start to think it is raining, but then I quickly realize that it is just the disgusting water dripping down from the millions of air conditioners sticking out of the windows.

*around the manahatta*

It started as an innocent dream...to ride around the outside of Manhattan.  Legend has it that there is a paved bike path that outlines the whole of Manhattan.  Trusting the rumor and turning away from any research on this said 'bike path' Derek and I decided to attempt the ride last Saturday.  Well, let's just cut to the chase and say it was SO much harder than we thought....especially when there is NO path that follows the island.   I repeat...NO path.  

Derek has his own road bike here in the city but was a little wary of using it...(he thought he would be too speedy for me) so he rode my bike and I rode my roommate Cassie's bike.  The ride started off pretty smooth until the bike Derek was riding started making this unbearable screeching sound proving to be unridable at about ...oh...135th Street and Riverside.  We put the sweet Craigslist bike to rest on the corner and headed back down on the subway to Chinatown to retrieve Derek's super speedy bike.  Game on.

We started over again with the ride, quickly finding that the we had to carry our bikes up stairs and across pedestrian overpasses many, many times.   Hence the huge bruise on my shoulder the next day.  But seriously, everything aside, we had a fabulous time.  I thought it would take about 4 hours....more like 9.  

We saw so much of the city...so many neighborhoods I had no idea existed.  I found a new appreciation for Manhattan and all that it has to offer.  An extremely fascinating experience I would recommend to all....just be prepared to lug around a huge hunk of steel.