highlights from my time spent with 2011

2011 – AKA THE FASTEST YEAR EVER!

Greatest vacation:  London in October!  Enjoyed 4 different double decker bus tours and a boat cruise, excellent food, gorgeous weather, made the London Eye rotation twice, took fabulous photos and did some souvenir shopping.  Took a train to Bath where I worshipped at the altar of Jane Austen.  Took a train to Oxford where amazing architecture is found and lots of students live and learn.  Cried while hearing Alfie Boe sing “Bring Him Home” during a performance of Les Miserables.  Drank tea at the Orangery in Kensington Palace, more evidence I’m a descendant of British royalty.  

Greatest vacations that didn’t include a 5 hour time change and a passport:  Walt Disney World in January where we dined with the princesses and wore cheap tiaras.  Utah in March for a friend’s wedding.  Spent 5 days in the Bay Area in April where I visited the majestic Muir Woods & Muir Beach.  Took a tour of Alcatraz at night and saw my childhood through adult eyes.  Enjoyed the southern hospitality and face melting heat of Charleston in June.  Trips to see my family, see below…

Greatest family time: annual water park fun in July including taking Blake on the cave waterslide, celebrating the baptism of my beautiful niece Julia in Indiana, lots of hands of pinochle, meeting my newest nephew McKay for the first time in March, playing tennis and our monthly video chats

Greatest unexpected life changes:  serving in Ward Relief Society Presidency and starting a book club to socialize and read books I wouldn’t normally – highly recommend Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. 

Greatest new purchases:  Mikimoto pearl earrings and necklace from Japan World Showcase in Epcot Center, my iPad 2, hard bound books of my blog posts and my AppleTV

Greatest guilty pleasures:  Sprinkles cupcakes, Ann Taylor friends & family discounts, using expensive shampoo & conditioner, wearing a sparkly tiara in public, Instagram photo taking, asking my friend Megan & my mommy to sew dresses for me and Till the World Ends (Britney Spears)

Greatest songs played on my iPhone: the entire 21 album by Adele, Iridescent (Linkin Park), Movielike (Jimmy Eat World), Called Out in the Dark (Snow Patrol), Don’t Turn Out the Lights (NKOTBSB), Moves Like Jagger (Maroon 5), Turn to Stone (Ingrid Michaelson) and Belong (Cary Brothers)

Greatest television: Friday Night Lights, Revenge, Once Upon A Time, White Collar, The Good Wife, Glee & anything on the HGTV channel especially The Property Brothers

Greatest concerts/Broadway shows: Les Miserables with Alfie Boe at Queen’s Theater in London, War Horse, How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, Andrea Bocelli @ Central Park, Anything Goes, Plain White T’s @ Highline Ballroom, Sister Act, New Kids on the Block & Backstreet Boys @ IZOD Center, NY Philharmonic @ Lincoln Center, Catch Me If You Can and NY Pops @ Carnegie Hall

Greatest hours spent in a movie theater: Moneyball, Crazy Stupid Love, Fast Five, Captain America, Midnight in Paris, X-Men: First Class, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II & The Help

Greatest need for a movie ticket refund: Limitless, Cars 2, One Day and Tower Heist

Greatest New York moments: spent birthday in Central Park, took pictures of people, places and moments, 10^th Anniversary of New York Fun Day, out of town for Justin Bieber performance on the Today Show, monthly dinners with friends I don’t see often, not losing electricity during Hurricane Irene, “I’m a Mormon” cab ads & Times Square billboard, met the stars of White Collar, played tour guide for Flat Stanley & friends’ trips to New York & Alexander McQueen exhibit @ the Met

new york fun day 10th anniversary

new york fun day's 10th anniversary took place on saturday, december 17th.  i was ecstatic that doc was able to fly in from medical residency to participate in the event.  she was my co-founder way back in 2002 when i was a little new york newbie.  

this year we decided to go big or go home.  we added a little personal pampering, christmas karaoke on saturday instead of friday night, a three course meal in a nice restaurant and buying seats in box at carnegie for the new york pops concert.  we had a great time!

new york fun day is one of my favorite new york christmas traditions.  it makes me appreciate the city and the magic it creates during the holidays.  spending a full saturday with my best buddies is an added bonus.  

i can't believe we have had 10 years of new york fun days.  it has gone by so quickly.  thank you new york city.

this week's simple moments

1.  my mommy sent me flowers for christmas...she is the best mommy i know
2.  enjoyed the new york philharmonic's performance of handel's messiah on wednesday night
3.  stood in line for 30 minutes to enjoy laduree macaroons.  worth every minute of line standing.
4.  made my bed every morning this week.  progress.
5.  glad my bed was made when my co-worker had to escort me home from work because i was sick. 

move over magnolia, you've been replaced!

in a previous post about three years ago i expounded about the virtues of magnolia bakery, which had just opened in rockefeller center.  i was in cupcake bliss and became a bit addicted to grabbing something sweet from their luscious catalogue of goodies.

now i have taken a vow to ignore magnolia's siren song.  i have found a new and better cupcake shop to obtain my hard earned funds.  it's all about sprinkles!  the red velvet, cinnamon sugar, pumpkin, lemon, banana, etc. make me so happy!  the cupcake has a perfect cake to frosting ratio.  neither are overly sweet.  they just taste so dang good.  if you're in new york, DC or california you MUST have a cupcake.  they will change that frown upside down, i guarantee it!

bereavment for decent television

my dvr is very sad.  nothing much for it to look forward to until next month.  i miss you revenge, once upon a time and  the good wife.  i guess i'll actually have to watch those 100s of movies/tv shows i currently have on a book shelf.  or there is always abc family and lifetime cheesy christmas, made for tv movies.

plus i'm looking forward to the introduction of new shows like smash.  i get chills every time i watch the preview.

old age rears its ugly head

monday night was a trek to new jersey to buy a christmas tree and enjoy the 'burbs for an evening.  took a pick up truck over the hudson river for our excursion.  made sense since i had to bring back a tree. 

driving the pick up reminded me of grandpappy.  he used to take me and my cousins in his datsun black pick up.  we would pile in the back and he would drive along and then start turning the steering wheel so it felt like we were shaking.  i remember squealing with my cousins whenever he would do that.  love those memories with my grandpappy.

anyway, back to original blog post story...

after loading the trees we did our best to secure them and the drop cloth generously borrowed from a friend.  we used my bungee cords and rope to secure.  when i got going on the highway (aka freeway for those living on the west coast) the drop cloth kept flying up so we pulled into a parking lot and i jumped in the back to try to tie rope around the trees and secure it.  pretty sure that is how i strained/pulled my back.

the next morning it was horrendous pain with any movement.  took quite a few advil just to get through the day.  came home last night and popped into a hot bath to try to loosen the tension.  thankfully clare had given me a flannel wrapped rice bag that i could heat up also.  did all i could to make it feel better.  woke up this morning and it was worse than ever. 

moral of the story is that my 30s mean the aches and pains seem to be more frequent and of longer duration.  makes me mildly concerned for my 40s.

christmas season has begun!

the christmas season has officially begun! 

the first official activity of the season is the brick church park avenue tree lighting.  it happens every 1st sunday in the month of december.  100s and 100s of community members gather on park avenue at 6:30pm to sing carols and watch the illumination of the trees along the avenue.  this year the weather was absolutely perfect.  it wasn't its typical freezing temperatures.  loved the atmosphere of being surrounded by my friends and neighbors as we sing the songs of the season.

netter and i with our annual photo after the park ave trees are lit

now i can focus on the rest of my christmas activities!  here's a quick run down of what christmas in new york city (per moi) consists of:

• buy christmas tree in new jersey
• watch white christmas
• wrap all pictures hanging on walls so they look like presents (a la Joani)
• write christmas annual review letter
• address christmas cards
• listen to tuba christmas on rock center ice rink
• buy and ship christmas presents to family & friends
• make christmas music playlist #2
• attend church services
• read nativity story
• donate to Sub 4 Santa
• decorate christmas tree
• NEW YORK FUN DAY!

i'm obviously most excited about this year's new york fun day!  doc is coming all the way from michigan to celebrate the 10th anniversary of new york fun day.  i'm so so so happy she's coming since she was the co-founder of this great event.  this year we're adding some things to make it even bigger!  can't wait for december 17th!

today while walking back to my office after grabbing lunch a song came on my iPhone.  it was the brass rendition of "o holy night" performed a few years ago on the awesome show Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.  it almost brought tears to my eyes because i think it is so beautiful.  take a listen below and let me know if you enjoyed.

attack of the soy sauce

i was wearing a white collared shirt today.  it looked pretty cute. then i went to lunch with some co-workers.  we walked through the doors of mandoo bar to enjoy some yummy dumplings.  i was grabbing the last goon mandoo, a delightful piece of pork and veggie heaven wrapped up and pan fried, when the soy sauce attacked!

i neglected to take into account that there was a sizable hole on the surface of the dumpling which meant the soy sauce i "dipped" it into filled up with a ton of volume.  i bit into it and SQUIRT! soy sauce all over my face, drops all over my shirt, and the most tragic of all - IN MY HAIR!  my hair was crunchy and best of all, smelled of soy sauce. 

thankfully this horrible attack doesn't make me anxious every time i contemplate eating another dumpling.  i'll be happy to walk through the doors of mandoo bar when the opportunity provides itself again.

and thank goodness my co-worker paul had a handy tide pen.

budding artists

my nephews greatly enjoyed the capabilities of my iPad. their favorites are the bubbles app and the penultimate app. they both drew me pictures which I'm willing to share with you. aren't they little budding artists?

me, blake and jaxon at the zoo

just call jaxon "mini jackson pollock"

blake's interpretation of where i live - aka new york city

time with the family

there is truly nothing better than spending time with my family. I was able to enjoy a fantastic Thanksgiving week this year. this is only the third time in almost 10 years that I have shared turkey, stuffing and most importantly candied yams with my Utah residing family members. i flew in on Tuesday night and am heading back today. as I sit in the delta sky club I'm so thankful for the time playing trains with Blake, parcheesi animals with Jaxon and watching baby McKay take some of his first steps. my mommy fed us well and the weather was perfect. all in all it was a spectacular week. it recharged my battery to be ready for the crazy week that is staring me in the face starting tomorrow.

thank you my family for always being happy to see me and for sharing your holiday time off with me. I love you bunches and bunches.

personal realization #7

if someone does something that is an exception to the behavior of those around him/her it seriously irks me.  no one should expect "special treatment".  if you are a receipient of "special treatment" then you should be excessively grateful because you didn't earn it or deserve it. 

i learned at a youngish age that i don't know how to keep my mouth shut when someone does something or asks for something that would give them a "leg up" on everyone else.  this personal characterization can best be explained in two personal stories.  one from my youth and one from yesterday.

YOUTH STORY
where:  disneyland in anaheim, california
when:  about 1994 which makes me in my mid-teens
why:  waiting for the Fantasmic evening performance on Tom Sawyer Island

my family and i found a place to stand by a very prominent rope that sectioned off a circular walkway with a tree and bench in the middle.  ropes were placed on both entrances to this small walkway effectively telling the disneyland patron that this area wasn't available for fantasmic viewing.  (refer to my drawing below)  as i stood directly behind the rope i watched about 8-10 people at different times duck under the rope and go stand by the tree.  a nice disneyland cast member would walk over and tell them they couldn't stand there.  the 8-10 people would then put on their best "i had no idea this area wasn't open for watching" expression and duck back under the rope and try to squish next to me.  i got more and more irked, annoyed, bugged by these people who thought those ropes were there to keep everyone else out except them. 

i finally snapped. 

this youngish couple ducked under the rope, cast member told them to leave, they put on the "i had no idea" expression, ducked back under the rope, tried to squish me and I LET THEM HAVE IT!

i distinctly remember saying with disdain dripping from my voice - "do you think i'd be standing behind this rope if i could be closer to the show?  what do you think this rope is here for - to keep me out and make your viewing better?"  then i gave them a very dirty look and elbowed more personal space for myself.  pretty sure the youngish couple was dumbfounded that they were called out on their bad behavior by a teenager. 

my mom and dad looked at me aghast but with some respect and a little bit of "you go girl!" in their eyes.

YESTERDAY'S STORY

where:  radio city music hall on the corner of 6th avenue & 50th street

when:  november 15th at about 3:05pm EST

why:  buying radio city christmas spectacular tickets for my friend physical therapist

got to the box office at radio city to buy the tickets and there were about 18 people in front of me in line.  bummer.  after about 10 minutes, the older man directly in front of me gestured to one of the ticket ushers to come over because he had a question.  he proceeded to start giving the usher grief because he was there to buy barry manilow tickets and everyone else was getting christmas spectacular tickets.  why should he wait?  he wanted to bypass the line to get his tickets for the manilow show happening in FEBRUARY.

...sidenote, i had already had a rough day when i exited my office building to go buy these tickets so wasn't in the best mood or have "what would Jesus do" at the forefront of my mind.  ok back to the story...

i spoke up and asked the man, again with disdain dripping from my voice, "why are your barry manilow tickets more important than my or their christmas spectacular tickets?"  the older gentleman, who was both shorter and smaller in muscle tone than moi, turned to me to berate me for listening in on his "private conversation".  this seemed ridiculous to me since we were standing on a sidewalk in the middle of new york city.  he told me how he hated people who butted into other's conversations when it didn't concern them.  i told him i didn't appreciate people thinking they deserved special treatment.  after a long minute of death staring at each other, he turned back around and i continued to listen to adele on my iPhone. 

the funny thing is that the usher who originally was part of this brew-ha-ha took off as soon as i said something to the man.  he let me fight that battle.  when i finally got to the front of the line the usher supervisor was there and made a grand (and almost loud in volume) apology for the rudeness of the man in front of me.  he hoped i had a wonderful day and would come back to see shows at radio city often.

here's where the personal realization kicks in.  i don't necesarily think that i should be going around berating people for what i consider elitist behavior.  i'm not their mother or father.  plus i don't want to get in a more severe altercation.  i do think there is nothing wrong with being annoyed or frustrated and perhaps asking them to realize that they aren't alone in waiting in a long line for tickets or trying to get the best view of something.  i just think that rules are made to be followed by EVERYONE! 

maybe i should go into law for my next career.  work to make sure rules are obeyed for the greater good.  uhhh, maybe not...lawyer hours are really long and too much school is required.

gift ideas for moi

joani made the dreaded call a few days ago.  it was the call asking me for ideas of what i would like for christmas this year.  i'm TERRIBLE at coming up with ideas for people to buy me gifts.  as previously posted i fully know that i'm a difficult person to buy a gift for.  i'm very specific in what i do and don't like.  i clearly know this about myself.  the other issue with buying me gifts is that i live in new york where space is tight and i can find everything on my own. 

must say that joani wasn't the first to request ideas from moi about gift giving.  moocher texted me a couple of weeks ago because she won the sibling lottery when i was assigned as her designated sibling to buy for.  sorry mooch.  in my own defense i did tell her what i wanted.  top of my list is an employed man to take me on a date.  really hope she's working on getting that present wrapped up under the christmas tree. 

i guess this blog post is really an apology to my mom at my utter lack of help when it comes to buying things for me that i might like and don't have to store for the majority of the year.  so sorry joani.  if i think of anything that doesn't involve the word "card" at the end of it i'll let you know.  until then inspiration can always be gleaned from my wishlist located on the left side of this blog. 

yanni, the cure for the common insomniac

joani told me today that she has been struggling with insomnia.  has to be one of the most frustrating things to deal with because you literally can't do anything about it unless you start popping pills which i DO NOT want joani to do.  that could just open up a whole nother can of worms.

as i was thinking of natural things to suggest to joani for her insomniac ways, a light bulb went off above my head (not literally mind you).  the answer was so great and perfect in its simplicity.  joani needs to embrace yanni in her life.  he can make the mind wander into a haze of bliss that is conducive to eyes closing and the REM cycle starting.  go ahead and tell me i'm wrong.  doctors need to start prescribing his music to insomniacs the world over.

to help motivate joani to embrace the yanni i've chosen my favorite slumber inducing piece of my greek buddy to demonstrate below.  i beseech you my madre to take one yanni "pill" and call me in the morning.

...please don't become fixated on yanni's perfectly coiffed mane of hair or groomed to within an inch of itself moustache.  really wish the director had focused on his hands tickling the ivories rather than his facial expressions as he "feels" the music.  oh well, i blame the 90s...

and good night.

and thus busy season begins...

yesterday i sent out the email to my co-workers detailing all of the holiday events happening at rockefeller center.  the rock center tree arrives this friday!  as in three days away!  then the biebs performs on the plaza in two weeks and one week after that we have the ceremonial tree lighting.  what has happened?  how can it possibly be the month of november?  i'm either in shock or feeling the effects of post traumatic stress disorder due to the rapid movement of time in my life.  anyone else feeling a bit of PTSD from the fact that it is november - specifically november 8th?

i'm really hoping to keep the blog posts coming but beg your indulgence if my relationship with new york suffers due to professional, religious and personal increased demands on my time.  please keep checking as i will do my best to keep the levity and pictures coming. 

a trip to the kingdom with pictures

i'm officially in withdrawal from my london vacation. it was an amazing time that would like to repeat often from the travel, food, culture, day trips, shopping and lounging in hyde park. all of the negativity created by the lack of sunshine and bad food choices from 2008 was wiped clean with this most recent excursion. we arrived to a long line at border patrol, grabbed our bags and snagged a ticket for the heathrow express. the mass transit system really is great but quite expensive - just an FYI. a very nice man was willing to help carry my bag up the long flight of stairs from the tube notting hill station. love me some brits and their courtesy. perfect beginning of our time in the united kingdom.

...sidenote, love that this land is literally a called a "kingdom". how cool is that? i was visiting a kingdom with numerous palaces. apparently all of those disney princess movies did work their magic on me...

here's a run down on what we did over the six days we were in the united kingdom:

went to the national museum. took an evening ride on the double decker tourist bus. ate some pizza express in notting hill. bought some groceries. arrived at london eye at opening time to wait in line for about 15 minutes. took lots of pics from the eye. found the awesome skate park full of graffiti. took more pictures. boarded a boat for our tour down the thames. took another ride on the tourist bus. ate dinner at a whole in the wall indian place. saw les miserables with alfie boe where i cried multiple times. hopped on a train to bath. fell in love with bath. took a lot more pictures. rode the tourist bus. ate at jamie oliver's italian restaurant - yum. enjoyed some ice cream in the bath abbey square. bought a magnet. went to the jane austen center to worship at her altar and try to remove the stank of singledom. twirled and danced within the assembly rooms. ordered pizza hut meat pepperoni lovers pizza on our return. ordered an amazing english breakfast with fruit, tea, hot chocolate and bread basket at the wolsley where the women next to us ordered a traditional breakfast including baked bean. hmmm. caught a train to oxford. took a ride on the tourist bus. walked around christ church college and magdalen college. absolutely stunning colleges. did some light shopping including a t shirt. took more pictures. ate at wagamama noodle shop. devoured left over pizza for dinner. took bus to harrod's department store. ate an overly priced breakfast on the fourth floor. wandered around. bought some macaroons from laduree. bought my christmas cards. netter bought earrings from tiffanys. jealousy developed. went to kensington palace gardens. sat on a bench to eat macaroons and enjoy the sunshine and atmosphere. learned the seven princess' names during the enchanted kensington palace tour. took some more pictures. waited in line for afternoon tea at the orangery. decided i want to move to london while drinking lemon ginger tea and eating an orange scone. dropped purchased and headed back to london eye for night viewing. took a whirl on the fastest carousel i've ever ridden.  walked across the thames to hitch a ride on a bus to picadilly. found huge tourist shop where picked up flex's christmas present and a few other trinkets. found a red phone booth for optimal picture taking. toured the royal mews which was awesome. joined light crowds at buckingham palace for more pictures. saw the most awesome mullet ever. stopped at EAT for lunch on the go. hopped in a cab to paddington station for heathrow express to airport. hung out at heathrow until flight back to the land without the word "kingdom" in it.

i know how lucky i am to be able to take these trips to far away places. even as a youngster i wanted to be adventurous and traveling was really the best way for me to feed the independent beast. i have never regretted any time spent in my travels. and am thankful that the opportunity is always there to pack a bag and head out for the next destination.

photography class in central park

a couple of weeks ago i did a photography class with my buddy cara.  the instructor wouldn't let us shoot on any preset modes like "landscape", "portrait" or "sports".  instead we were only allowed to photograph using the aperture and shutter speed ranges.  it was so fun and very informative.

we then had to shoot a saxophonist playing under a bridge, poet's walk and the sun shining.  here are a couple of my favorite shots i took.

do you like?

heading on a jet plane

london here i come!  t-minus eight hours until my plane takes off for the land of the brits.  i'm very excited. 

last night i prepped my ipad and iphone for the journeying.  made the decision to include entertainment that was written, sung, set or performed by the natives.  my ipad only has british movies on it currently.  i filled it up with my jane austen fix of persuasion, pride & prejudice as well as jane eyre, the king's speech, les miserables 25th anniversary concert (which is technically french but produced by a brit so it's allowed).  the fabulous miniseries of north & south along with little known movies like the duchess and young victoria.  have grand plans for adele, snow patrol, coldplay and keane to sing to me.  my plan is to do as much british immersion as possible and watching and listening to these british artists starts the trip off right. 

i must confess that my boyfriend dwayne johnson's movie fast five also made its way onto the ipad.  so for my purposes, dwayne is an honorary british citizen.

i'm hoping to share pictures as often as i can while trapsing the tube stations, harrod aisles and roman baths.  until next time, cheerio govenor!

this week's simple moment

i'm bucking pinkymcg blog trend and only mentioning one simple moment this week.  this moment has been on my mind a lot recently as i walk the streets of my adopted home town.  a large number of my friends are leaving the city for locations distant and often considerably warmer during the winter.

the mass exodus from NYC seems to have begun in may with gooch moving to dallas to pursue her dream job.  then came clare taking her talents, VW beetle named daisy and contagious laugh to utah.  and then the ward friends are systemically leaving to go to london, san francisco, utah, baltimore, toronto, australia, miami, etc.  it seems that each time i walk through the doors of church there is another family who has recently announced that they are moving out of the city.  enough already!

i definitely don't judge these friends who are choosing to take their life's journey down a path away from the concrete jungle.  i'm just sad.  the simple moment of life in new york city is that eventually almost everyone leaves.

the only way i've tried to stem the pain of separation is to give these moving friends a charge to always think in the back of their mind when they meet an LDS single man - "is this guy a possible good match for my totally awesome friend pinky?".  if the answer given by their mind to that question is "yes" then it will make the long, short or miniscule time we spent together in nyc completely worth it.

thank you utah photographer

a lovely woman in utah took pictures of my brother coyote and sister-in-law sunshine's family recently.  sunshine was smart to send me via text a link to the photos on the photographer's blog.  i immediately used my iPhone for the purpose of tracking down the latest from their male heavy family.  these pics of their family were some of the best i've seen in a really long time.  of course i'm biased.  but seriously, how cute are my nephews?  the answer you're looking for (in true utah fashion) is "totally freaking adorable!"

all creative credit to the photographer as well as coyote and sunshine for making such amazing kids.

mckay, blake and jaxon

love reflection of coyote and sunshine making silly faces

the soundtrack to london

need to make a playlist for my journey through that other awesome island...england or the uk.  i've been in a bit of a rut with my listening choices.  as previously stated, my love for my BFF 4-eva adele has not wavered and i'm sure she'll sound even better when i'm walking upon her native soil.

please help me oh friends of mine.  share the wealth when it comes to good music that is propelling you through your day.  i'm open to all types of music minus twangy country, hard hitting hip hop (previously known as "gangsta rap"), and techno (also known as "house").  don't be shy...let me know in the comments section what is good that i'm currently missing because my devotion to adele and maroon 5's moves like jagger is currently blowing up my headphones.

i'm completely willing to give a shout out to anyone who increases the joy in my life by sharing good music.  i might even name one of my future children after you.  now that's a reward to aspire to.