I'll be home for Christmas!

First of all, thank you Delta for free wi-fi-currently I'm somewhere over the Pittsburgh-ish area of the country.

Can I just say that going home for Christmas was much MUCH easier when I lived a 40 minute drive away from home, rather than a six hour flight? I never realized how nice it was to be able to pack up my car, with as much stuff as I wanted, and drive home, whenever I decided to.

JFK was a disaster this morning. Seriously, I think 5 year olds could run the airport better. After standing in line for the 1 kiosk that was actually printing out boarding passes (note to self, check-in and print boarding pass at home next time) I waited in line for OVER AN HOUR just to drop off my suitcases. Which, ps, I had to pay $50 to get on the plane. Come on Delta, free wi-fi but no free baggage?? Good thing I decided to take a cab instead of taking the airtrain-I never would've made it...

The good news is that I'm on the plane and heading HOME!! We actually left JFK on time....I think...I fell asleep for a bit...and in some hours I'll be home in SLC! I can't wait!!

p.s. in the absence of my usual suitcases packers (ie my mom and or roommates and friends) i packed my own suitcase, all by myself...ha ha ha

5 days...

...until I get to talk to this one!! What a great Christmas present!

Jamie Cullum is coming to town!

Jamie is finally coming to NYC!! March 4th. Calendar is marked and I'm counting down the days!!

17 days left...

...in 2009! Crazy! This year has gone so fast! With a little less than 3 weeks left in the year, I thought I'd do a review of my 2009 New Year's Resolutions and see how I ended up doing...

Resolution #1: Run the Salt Lake Half-Marathon in April. I'm also considering doing a triathlon in July...considering being the key word
Check! I did the SL Half and beat my last year's time! I also ended up doing the Wasatch Back and a couple of smaller races over the summer. I signed up for a triathlon but realized I'd probably drown and chickened out...perhaps next year?

Resolution #2: Be better at writing thank-you notes
Half check? I definitely wrote more thank you notes than I did previously...but there's still room for improvement...

Resolution #3: Keep my room clean
Um. Yes. My room was clean once in a while? Does that count? This will be a repeat resolution next year for sure.

Resolution #4: Cook more and eat out less
Half check? So when I was in Utah I did alright at cooking more but once I moved to NYC that all went down the drain. I think NYC is slowly sucking all of the domesticity out of me. Does making a bowl of cereal count as cooking? Sad and sad.

Resolution #5: Attend the temple at least twice a month
Half check? Again-when I was in UT I was pretty good at this. Not so much so being out here...

Resolution #6: Write in my journal at least once a week...I have about 15 journals in my room just waiting to be used
Check! I have actually been decent at writing in my journal. I've started writing on the computer because it's much faster. Of course anyone that reads my journal years down the road is going to think I'm completely ridiculous...but whatev.

Resolution #7: Be better at staying in touch with family and friends
Half check. I have kind of been better, but definitely could make more of an effort to stay in touch with my family out here in NYC...

Resolution #8: Exercise at least 4 times a week
Half check. Apparently not working or being in school did wonders for my resolution keeping. I was great at this over the summer and pretty decent during school at the beginning of the year. Again, not so much out here...

Resolution #9: Take advantage of all opportunities that come my way!
Check? I don't really know how to measure this or not. All in all, it's been a great year so far! So I'm going to call this resolution a success!

Overall I have 5.5 checks out of 9. Not too bad...time to start thinking about 2010 Resolutions!!

my new purchase

i may have purchased a pair of these over the weekend. and i LOVE them. i am trying to figure out how i survived winter without them! am i totally ridiculous??

The Garden State

so starting next week I will be working on a client out in New Jersey. now this is not New Jersey across the river New Jersey. this is big time, real New Jersey. like take the NJ transit more than an hour into NJ. honestly-i haven't heard wonderful things about NJ. most people say it and wrinkle their nose. since that is going to be my work home for about 3 months i decided to do a little NJ research via wikipedia...

A few fun facts about NJ:

• It's the most densely populated state in the US
• Jersey oak has been used extensively in ship building
• The median household income is the highest in the US but Newark is the 4th poorest city
• The drive-in movie, the ice cream cone, and the zipper all originated in NJ
• There are more diners in NJ than anywhere else in the world
• NJ state slogan: "come see for yourself"....why I think I will...thank you very much

I will be commuting approximately 2.5 hours each day, by train, to reach Piscataway New Jersey and I'm in search of some good train reading. now that I'm done with the CPA I can read an actual book without feeling guilty that I'm not studying Becker (and hopefully after scores are released I can keep that up and not have to study again...). any train reading suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

Thankful

i know i'm a few days late but i'm still thankful for...

my family...my parents came into town this weekend and wow it was great to have them here! i am so grateful for their unending love and sacrifice for me. i can't wait to go back home for a couple weeks over the holidays. AND i get to talk to sister!! ah! these must be the longest 18 months of my life...

my friends...oh my goodness. my friends are seriously amazing. i am so grateful for their love and support. i don't know how i got so lucky to have such great people in my life!

my job...so far (and i know it's only been 3 months-3 slow months at that) i really like my job! i am so grateful to have such a great job right now. we'll see if i still feel that way after busy season...

my Savior Jesus Christ...i am thankful for His sacrifice for me. i am so grateful to have the knowledge of the gospel and for all of the blessings that it brings to my life.

i just love thanksgiving and the coming of the Christmas season!!!

A letter to Jamie

Dearest Jamie Cullum,

Please send Amazon UK more of your CDs so they can send mine out. I want it. Now.

Kind regards,

Erin

Thank you hunter wellies for making my day in the rain much more pleasant.

A change in career?

today i was a teacher. don't worry-i'm def not planning any career changes anytime soon. work has been pretty slow so caroline and i decided to volunteer to teach a junior achievement course at a public high school here in the city. today was our first class.

we're teaching at an "inner city" school (at least i think it's inner city...definitely more inner city than Skyline...) and i had visions of the type of inner city schools you see on tv-complete with gangs, drugs, and unruly scary teenagers. when we first got there we ended up trying to go through the student only entrance. it was complete with id card scanners, metal detectors, those people scanning rod things (have no idea what they're called) and x-ray machines to put your belongings through. it looked a lot like going through airport security. when we finally got to the correct entrance we had to go through the same process and check in. it was definitely different from my high school...

i have never taught anything. ever. not in church. not at school. so i was worried. luckily it turned out i was worrying about nothing (as is usually the case). today's lesson was on budgeting. junior achievement has a great lesson manual and actually has pretty much everything you need to talk about written out word for word. after going through the beginning part of the lesson, we decided it would be more fun to just go to the game part of the lesson. surprisingly the kids actually got into the game and really played it! i think the kids enjoyed a break from the normal school day and we had fun teaching!

can't wait to go back for round 2 in a couple of weeks!

Home for the Holidays!

i just booked my ticket home for the holidays!! dec 23-jan 4. can't wait!

sometimes i make bad decisions

like the time i decided to sign up for all 4 CPA exams at once. and the time i decided not to study so much over the summer. and the time i should've been studying when work was INCREDIBLY slow but didn't.

yep. sometimes i make bad decisions. and now i'm paying for them. i take FAR in two weeks and still have 5 lessons, all the homework, and all the simulations to do. boo and boo. oh wait. and then a mere 2.5 weeks later i take BEC.

if you don't see me for a few weeks, you'll know why. and if you do see me, please make me go study...

a sunday miracle

remember when everyone had games on their calculators? it was super high tech to have tetris or poker or that drug mafia game on your TI-83. and when you were playing in class, it just looked like you were doing a complicated math problem and not playing a game. well, remember the game frogger? you had a little frog and you had to get him through several lanes of cars and trucks, safely to the other side. it was a classic.

today i played my own game of human frogger. and it was definitely unintentional. i was late late late to church. the local trains weren't running downtown (which i discovered after i was already down in the subway) and there were no cabs to be found so i schlepped it down to 65th for church. i was so close-i just had to cross columbus and i was safe! and not super late. so the light for the traffic was red. i didn't know how long it had been red for so i figured i had enough time to cross the 5 lanes of traffic and get to church on time. i leapt over a puddle and started my trek across the street. the light changed to green as soon as i had crossed one lane (ie i still had 4 lanes of NY traffic to cross).

you would think that the nice taxi drivers would stop and let me scamper across the street safely. not a chance. they all start driving and i'm standing in a sea of cars, trying to make it across the street in one piece. luckily, a few cars had pity on me and let me stop to cross the street. and luckily, i made it across still intact and made it to church mostly on time!

moral of the story: maybe it's a good idea to watch the lights a little closer to avoid any further human frogger experiences...

today i was supposed to study for the CPA (which i am taking in approximately 3 weeks). i still have 7.5 lessons to do, several hundred homework problems, and a handful of simulations. INSTEAD i went to brunch at elephant and castle, i shopped in soho (oh my, i love shopping in NYC), i caught up on The Hills and The City, and went to a spin class which was hands down the WORST spin class i have ever been to. oh how i miss todd's class.

the big news of the day though-i got a blackberry! i am super excited and i'm sure it does wonderful things. the only problem is i have absolutely no idea how to use the thing. anyone want to volunteer to give me blackberry lessons??

Weekend in Italy anyone?

I get these TravelZoo emails with fantastic travel deals every week. Today one of the deals was a weekend in Italy for only $499!!! It includes airfare, 3 nights hotel, and breakfasts for a bunch of different weekends in January/February. Who wants to come with me??

and yes, I'm actually serious about going...

The City

so before i moved out here, chelsea and i would joke about having "the city" moments in NY. you know what i mean-those cheesy, totally scripted conversations at some cute restaurant in soho or the meatpacking district. of course we would wear shoes we could barely walk in, and talk with absolutely no emotion. it would be wonderful and hilarious.

tonight i was in soho for dinner with some friends and who did i see, sitting on the curb chatting on her phone?

KELLY CUTRONE

no one that i was with watched the show. or knew who she was. but it was totally her. and yes, she is just as scary is she seems on the show. and she's kind of dirty and gross. strange that she's a fashion designer... i wanted meet her but was a lot bit terrified of her. ha ha ha. i was still excited about it-my first NY "celeb" sightseeing experience (if you can consider her a celeb). hopefully there will be many more to follow!

One month!

I've been working for one month! Crazy! In some ways it feels like I've been working forever and in others I still feel like I'm an intern.

I'm going to Vermont this weekend! I am seriously excited to see all of the leaves and be in nature! Get excited for fall photo shoot pictures to follow...

PS

Check out this from Lara's blog...excuse the super sick picture of me. I think I may be going through an ugly ducking stage right now. Ha ha ha.

About the hair, sister said it kind of looked like something was sick in my hair. Thank goodness we did it somewhere no one would really notice it...

Today

Today work was slower than slow. You can only muck around on the internet for so long until even that loses its appeal. Maybe when they send me to CT (that's right, I'm going back to CT-remember this?) I'll actually be busy?

Today I got my corporate credit card in the mail and my business cards are on the way! I'm officially official! Yay!

Today I went to the grocery store and remembered why I choose to grocery shop online. Whoa. Overwhelming. I might as well be grocery shopping in a foreign country. Apparently I need to learn the NY grocery shopping protocol.

Today I discovered the most AMAZING orange juice at the grocery store! Turns out I forgot to add orange juice to the freshdirect order so I stopped in at Fairway. They sell fresh squeezed orange juice by the half gallon! (probably by the gallon but the size of my fridge prevents such a purchase) I tasted it when I got home-it really is fresh squeezed! Best orange juice from a container ever!

Today I realized I'm on a first name basis with the salesperson in Papyrus. It's a little bit dangerous living right around the corner...

A run-in with the NYPD

I am not a good driver. I am not the worst driver ever, but I don't think I'm wonderful at driving. I actually don't really love driving, which was one of the reasons I was so excited to come to NYC-no driving!! Somehow, I managed to make it 6 years only getting pulled over twice and ticketed once.

Now rewind to about 3 weeks ago. I was on the subway coming into work. I had been at work until all hours of the morning the few days before. The train was nearly empty since I was almost to the end of the line. I decided to put my feet on the seat next to me and take a little nap until I got to my stop. The next thing I know, a cop is shining his flashlight at me and beckoning me to get off the train. I get off and go to talk to the cop. He asks if I know why he pulled me off the train. I questioned as to whether it was because my feet were on the seat? That was the only possible explanation I could think of, although that really didn't seem to make much sense to me. He told me that it was and that he was going to have to write me a ticket. WHAT?!? A ticket for having my feet on the seat?!? I told him that I seriously had no idea it was against the law to put your feet on the seat, and that I had just moved to the city 2 weeks before, and asked if there was any way he could let me off with a warning.

He told me no. Flat out no. He assured me that it wouldn't go on my criminal record, that it was like a parking ticket (which ps-I've never gotten a parking ticket!!). No matter what I said, I couldn't get the man to just waive my ticket. He did tell me though, that if I called the number on the back of the ticket and explained what happened, told them I was new in the city, etc etc they would most likely waive or dismiss the ticket. He gave me the ticket and left me standing on the platform, late for work, and waiting for another dumb train to come.

So this morning I finally called the number. I had been putting it off because I was a little scared to call. The lady on the phone tells me that they don't waive tickets over the phone and I'd have to appear for a hearing. Um. No thank you. There goes $50, to the Public Transit Authority whatever. Boo and boo.

I feel like only I could make it 6 years, driving like I do, and only getting one ticket, but then manage to get a ticket on the subway after only 2 weeks in the city!

Goodbye Gourmet...

So today I found out that one of my all-time favorite magazines is closing. Sad and sad. The magazine had awesome recipes and cool articles about wonderful places to travel and eat. Hopefully it's sister magazine Bon Appetit won't follow in it's footsteps...

Renter's Insurance?

Does anyone have renter's insurance? Do I need it? Who did you go through? How does it even work? Any suggestions or tips would be appreciated!! I'm thinking I should've paid more attention in that personal finance class I took a year ago...

Backstreet's Back!

I may have been a teenie (teeny?) bopper back in the day. My first concert ever was The Backstreet Boys at the E-Center in SLC with my Daddy. I own all of the CDs, had their pictures up all over my room (I think at one point I had a subscription to Big Bopper...ha ha ha). I got up in the middle of the night to stand in line for concert tickets. The teeny bopper phase may have continued into my college years a little bit. I may or may not have gone to Walmart at midnight with Kelsie the day that the BSB new CD came out a couple years ago. We went kind of to be funny, but kind of to be serious. And of course we listened to the whole CD before we made it back home.

Imagine my excitement when I discovered this! That's right friends. Backstreet's Back! The new CD comes out Tuesday! Ha ha ha ha ha....

Abbrevs

I kind of like the abbrevs. You know-like abbreviations. I think that perf is my favorite. Awes. Another one I have become fond of-sitch. As in situation. Remember that dumb cartoon Kim Possible? She used to say sitch all the time. One day Lara and I decided we'd get really into acronyms. NGH. LFA. PBHA. We may use these in coversation regularly. Yesterday at work I had an entire convo with my friend using only the first letters of each word. We actually got pretty good at figuring out what the other was trying to say. LI.

One of these days I'll get around to taking some pictures of the new apartment. PS-I'm still looking for decoration ideas. Suggestions are appreciated.

Jr League?

So I'm considering joining the Jr. League out here. I'm going to an orientation meeting on Monday to see what it's all about. Does anyone know anything about Jr. League? Is anyone a member?

Today I was weepy

we finally got our cable and internet all hooked up, which means that we finally set the tivo! one of my favorite shows is the biggest loser. i used to watch it at the gym while i was on the treadmill but had to stop because without fail i get weepy at some point during EVERY episode! chelsea and kat will vouch for me. don't worry. i watched it today. and of course i got weepy. i wept when hearing the green lady talk about how she lost her husband and two children. i got teary when the everyone helped the purple team guy finish the ramp challenge. my heart just breaks for him, getting stuck with that crazy woman. he seems like such a dear old man and she's just insane. i hope she goes soon, i think she's just horrible. i definitely got weepy during the deliberation meeting. goodness. does anyone else get like this watching this show?!?

My very own "ricardo"

My office is cold. And not just oh the air conditioner is on and it's a little chilly cold. It's arctic tundra, bring a coat and blanket to work when it's 75 degrees outside, mittens and hat cold. Around the office our cube is referred to as the ice box. Perhaps this has contributed to my current state of illness? (and yes, I realize I'm being a little dramatic about being sick) Anyways...today Caroline (one of my cube mates) and I decided we'd had enough. We hopped online and each ordered one of these...

A space heater!! Hooray! Anyone remember Steph's space heater "ricardo" in Italy? Remember how it warmed up those cold dorms in the dead of winter in Torino? Remember how wonderful it was to not have to wear seven layers of clothing indoors? Well, I will finally have a "ricardo" of my own to keep my cube nice and warm! They are being delivered to the office tomorrow. I can't wait!

isn't being sick great?

no. no it's not. not when you have to be an adult. and go to work. and have to think and be coherent (although i love the research project that i'm working on, much better than scanning or printing). gone are the days when you can skip class and be sick at home in your pajamas today. sad and sad.

my favorite part of being sick is when you have to go to the grocery store to buy medicine. i feel like it must just look hilarious-sick girl stocking up on nyquil, dayquil, kleenex, and vitamins. too bad my medicine stash didn't make the packing cut.

honestly though. the best part of being sick. nyquil. is it bad that i think it tastes good? probably. good thing i don't get sick that often.

in other news: i got my insurance card in the mail today. my very own insurance card. i'm officially a real person now.

My to do list this week:

1. Find some cute rainboots-fall is officially here and I'm totally unprepared. Anyone know where I can get some great rainboots?

2. Figure out the laundry situation-we actually have laundry in our building but apparently it's super sketch and dirty dirty. I'm thinking wash and fold? But have this fear they will somehow ruin all my clothes (which may not be a bad thing because I'm currently hating everything I own...)

3. Decorate! We finally got all our furniture-kitchen table, couch, my bedroom furniture! Now I just need to decide how I'm going to decorate. Too bad I'm the least decoraty person there is. Any ideas/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

The magic word

DELIVERY.

This week I have had great experiences with delivery. Over the weekend I needed to go grocery shopping. I got caught up doing other important things (brunch, visiting my new baby cousin, watching that BYU game...) that I didn't have a chance to grocery shop and come Monday I pretty much had zero food at my apartment. I had all kinds of things to do Monday evening so I couldn't go to the store then so I decided to give Fresh Direct a try. Fresh Direct is this company out here that lets you order your groceries online! You pick out everything you want and then pick a time for them to come deliver it to your house! How great is that! I live on the 5th floor of a walk-up building and of course don't have a car so if I shop at all, I can only buy as much as I want to haul around the city and up the 5 flights of stairs with me, but with fresh direct, it's someone else hauling your stuff up the stairs for you!

I placed my order Monday afternoon and Tuesday evening, it was all delivered to me! The poor man sounded like he was about to have a heart attack after carrying the box all the way up the stairs. I guess the stairs south of campus and the tanner building stairs prepared me for the 5 flights of stairs because I don't really notice them too much anymore. All my groceries arrived packed neatly into a box. It was like getting a fun package! AND it was cheaper than going to the grocery store! I am definitely a fan of Fresh Direct!

Second delivery experience: Since both me and Andrea are new to the city, we are basically starting from scratch with our apartment. I was in charge of getting the kitchen table and chairs. I found a good looking set online and decided to just order it without seeing it. There were several delivery options: curbside delivery (uh. no. there's no way i could get a table and chairs up the stairs and put them together. recall the bookcase incident...), in home delivery with no assembly (still no), in home delivery with full assembly (yes please). It was delivered tonight. Once again, the poor men that brought it up were on the brink of death after climbing the stairs with the huge box. It took them over an hour to assemble everything, which means it would've taken me at least 3. Worth every extra cent I paid. The finished product looks great though! Hooray for being an adult and owning my own furniture!

I guess to sum up my ramblings: Delivery, big fan. Love it.

2 down, 2 to go!

So after a week of anxiously checking the nasba website to see if my audit score had posted, I finally found out tonight! I PASSED!!! What a relief! I barely passed, but passing is passing.

Only 2 parts left! I'm on my way to CPA!

quick updates!

yes. i have been neglecting the blog. we don't have internet at the apartment yet and i'm not so sure about blogging at work, hence this is coming from a starbucks about a block from my place.

suffice it to say that i LOVE it here. LOVE. my place still doesn't have furniture and is an utter disaster. i'm still meeting people and making friends and trying to figure out where i fit in this big city. but i'm happier than happy!

the first week of work was absolutely insane. we worked 62 hours in 4 days. i work with fun people so it wasn't too horrible but it was quite the way to begin work and i got a car service home every night so my dreams of having a driver came true! since the 15th things have been SUPER slow. hopefully i'll get some CPA studying in. i've passed one part, still waiting to hear about one part (and the suspense is seriously killing me), and have 2 more to take before december 1st.

i have managed not to get completely lost on the subway or above ground. i have eaten at great restaurants and shopped just a little bit. today i discovered a good spin class. and i've made several adult type decisions involving 401(k)s, furniture, insurance, etc.

i have just been informed that starbucks is closing which means my internet time is up! i'll post some pictures of the new place soon!

Secret:

Me with my 5 suitcases the day I arrived in NYC

I rarely pack my own suitcases. This was actually brought to my attention in a letter from sister (oh how I miss her...). I had told her that my friends helped me pack everything to take to New York and this was her response:

"I laughed when you said that your friends helped you pack. Someday you will have to learn how to do that yourself."

It's not that I don't know how. I am perfectly capable of packing my own suitcases. I just don't really like to. Thank goodness for wonderful friends and my mamma who are willing to pack me! :)

Another thought I had today-completely off topic from packing-my days of singing in the car are over! I was watching Glee (any thoughts on the show? i am still undecided...) and it made me want to sing! Then I realized the only time I really sing is when no one can hear me when I'm driving. Since I don't drive anymore...I don't really have singing time anymore! I suppose I could sing on the subway? or while I'm walking down the street? Ha. Don't think that will be happening anytime soon.

One last random thought: I'm going to be in downtown NYC on September 11th. Deloitte's office is actually right across the street from the World Trade Center site. That should be interesting...

First day of work!

So from the time I was little little I would take a first day of school picture in front of the door every year. I even continued the tradition on to my college years-taking some kind of first day of school picture. Since this year I didn't go back to school I decided to take a first day of work picture instead!

Another thing I loved-buying school supplies! I always got so excited to pick out new folders and a planner and pens, etc. This year instead of school supplies, I got to pick out a bed and new bedding! Oh the joys of "adult life." Up next...furniture to furnish my cute little apartment! Yay!

I have a home!

So I have a ton of pictures to post from my last days in Provo/SLC and from my arrival in NYC, but for now I have great news to share....

WE FOUND A PLACE TO LIVE!!!!!

It is on the Upper West Side in a great neighborhood, right near Riverside park, and is so cute!! I can't wait to move in and get settled!!! I forgot to take pictures but don't worry....I'll post some soon!

Yay! I'm not homeless anymore!

Goodbye Utah, Hello New York City!

well. this is it. after several car trips from provo to salt lake, bidding farewell to so many, multiple weepy moments, packing my life into 5 suitcases with the help of some of my incredible friends (ps-good job guys, none of them were over weight), and one last look at my house i'm bidding farewell to utah. i can't believe it's finally time to move to NYC!! i am sadder than expected to be leaving utah but oh so excited for the adventures that await in new york!!

will return soon!

surprise! i'm leaving wednesday night instead of thursday. which cuts out my packing day. ah! i'll be back soon-with the rest of august's picture of the day posts, with goodbye pictures, and i'm sure with stories of the great migration...

August 25-2 great study breaks

first and foremost-i hate the cpa. i'm taking audit on thursday and am super nervous about it. please keep your fingers crossed for me...

to break up the misery of studying i took 2 great study breaks today. the first was a wonderful lunch with this girl:

It was so great to see her!! We were roommates before she went on her mission and had all kinds of fun. We lunched at Guru's and chatted and caught up on life. Love it. And this picture of us from about 4 years ago.

The second study break going to see these guys in concert. Oh my. They are so talented and so wonderful! Check out their song Will He Dance. It's my favorite! It was fun to be able to go to one last concert before I take off for NYC (in almost a week! ah!)!

Tomorrow it's back to studying for audit...ugh.

3 reasons I like Mondays

this is me and sister after the SL Half in April

It felt like all I did today was study. audit, audit, and more audit. I'm about ready to poke my eyes out. Hence, no picture was taken today. Instead you get 3 reasons I love Mondays:

1-It's letter day!!! Mondays are the days we hear from Rissa! I anxiously check my email pretty much all day until her email comes. I love love her letters and I'm pretty sure that I get weepy every time I read them...She is so great and I love hearing how she's doing and all about her mission!

2-Monday morning spin. Such a great way to start out the week. Even if it is a 6am...

3-It's the beginning of a brand new week? The first two are the real reasons I love Mondays but I felt like 2 wasn't enough...

August 22-Provo Farmer's Market!!

Today me, Kathryn, and Megan took a trip to the Provo Farmer's Market. We rode our bikes out there and it was a good time! I made me feel like a little kid again!

I had been wanting to go to the market forever but always seemed to forget about it Saturday mornings. It did not disappoint. We saw all kinds of fun crafts from headbands to hand bound books to wood carving things. And then there was the produce. I saw all kinds of vegetables I didn't even know existed-purple king beans? lemon cucumbers? There were people selling animals even! I was a little bit tempted to buy a chicken...and upon actually thinking about it realized it was a terrible idea. I ended up buying some red, yellow, and orange cherry tomatoes and a huge bag of wonderful, fresh basil!

There was also all kinds of wonderful food to eat there! We came across Belgian waffles, crepes, Hungarian roll tube things (I don't remember what they were called), tamales, empanadas, BBQ, real tacos (like mexico street tacos...yum!), and I'm sure other stuff I'm forgetting. Of course I had to get a taco. LOVE those tacos!

All in all-it was a great trip to the farmer's market! I definitely will be returning next week!

August 21-The Great Migration, part I

I have started moving things home to SLC. There's nothing like moving to make you realize how much stuff you have. Ugh. Part of me wants to just get rid of all of it and start afresh...ha ha ha

August 20-Antelope Island

Thursday I took a trip out to Antelope Island! Even though I've lived in Utah all my life, I don't think I've ever been out there. It actually was a lot of fun and quite pretty!

The sunset on the Great Salt Lake

Me in front of buffalo! Real ones!! I kind of wanted to touch one but this was as close as we dared to get. When we were going into the park we were talking about buffalo. The lady at the entrance overheard us and made sure we knew that they were bison and not buffalo. Maybe I just don't know anything about animals...but aren't they the same thing?!?

This was one of my favorite pictures of the night. Since we couldn't get close enough to a real one to get one, we decided to get on the statue instead. Caroline gave me a boost onto the buffalo and then Matt picked her up and put her on. We were laughing so hard we almost fell off the buffalo...love it.

Me and Caroline successfully riding the buffalo...after we had already gotten on we noticed a small sign saying not to touch the statue...oops

It was a fun excursion out to Antelope Island! I suppose that's one thing I can cross off my Utah bucket list.

And congrats to Rachel who guessed the place! It is Capri, Italy!! We took a day trip there while I was on study abroad and I fell in love with it!! Such a beautiful, amazing place! If you ever get a chance to go there-do it!

one of my favorite places...

my camera battery died so i didn't take a picture today. instead i'm posting a picture of one of my favorite places. the first person to guess where it is just may get a special surprise...

August 18-we're on our way to a CPA!

I PASSED REG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

one down...three to go

I actually made some progress studying for Audit today...I'm taking it a week from Thursday....ah! As Peter Olinto would say...I am on my way to a CPA!

August 17-FHE

For FHE we went up the canyon and roasted marshmallows. Yes, a s'more for each hand is definitely necessary. And yes, I roasted my own marshmallows, thank you very much.

August 16-Scenes from a Sunday bike ride

We rode past this incredible garden and saw this ENORMOUS pumpkin! The picture doesn't quite do it justice.

The owner of the duck came out while we were looking at it and assured us that he was friendly and would let us pet him. When I tried he nibbled at my toes and started to chase me...did wonders to alleviate my fear of any and all birds...

We are so bike-y...

Not pictured...

*me nearly falling off my bike

*the cows...yes, cows

*the cowboy riding one horse while leading another on the road right outside my house

who knew we were living in the country?

August 15-goodbye denver, hello real soccer team!

you get three pictures from saturday because i couldn't pick just one. it was my last day in denver. in the morning, allison and i went out for brunch. i love brunch! we went to this adorable place called snooze right down the street from allison's apartment. it was so yummy!! after brunch i packed and we were off to the airport. sad. next besties weekend: NYC style!

i love to travel. i love airports. but i really hate the actual flying part. luckily i only had to endure an hour of flying to get back home.

saturday night my friend megan invited some of us to go to a real soccer game. little did i know we would be getting VIP treatment! we got to go to a sweet dinner before which also included a pre-game chat from one of the real soccer people (i'm not quite sure who he was). we had A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. seats. i'm talking about front row, center field (is that what it's called?), plush, comfy seats. seriously-that is the way to do a sporting event! even more exciting-we got to meet a bunch of the real players after the game. let me just say that i am definitely a soccer fan after saturday night! thanks megan for a fun night!!

me with chris wingert!

we love soccer!

August 14-Denver Day 4

friday we went out to the denver temple. having never lived outside of utah i never realized what a production it can be to go to the temple. i'm used to living 5 minutes from the provo temple and being able to walk in pretty much whenever is convenient for me. it was fun to see and spend some time in the beautiful denver temple!

some random thoughts

*what happened to summer? it got so cold this week! i had to turn on the heater in my car this morning. boo.

*i am really starting to hate the sound of Tim Gherty's voice

*why is it that when I have to study all kind of other things sound so much more fun...like deep cleaning the frige? or cleaning my room? or catching up on the blog?

one last thing...remind me again why I want to be a CPA?

Denver-Day 3

let me just start by saying it's a good thing we did some exercising, because we definitely ate a lot. i suppose that's what vacations are for though right? we worked out in the morning. i ran a very slow 4.5 miles...i think my half marathon in september might be the end of me...after our workout we took our time getting ready and i actually took a short hour and a half nap. then we headed out on the town. we walked around the 16th street mall for a while and then had dinner at this fantastic trendy restaurant called lime. it was such a fun place and the food was SO good! i love mexican food. love it.

after dinner we went back to allison's and got her bike and took it back into the city. we saw a late showing of Julie and Julia, which i just loved! i would just love to go to culinary school-especially in france (or italy...). perhaps if this whole accounting thing doesn't work out...

Denver-Day 2

i have discovered that you can back-date blog posts! love it. allison had to work during the day so i hung out at her place-slept in, did a little reading, and even less studying (which i'll be paying for dearly next week i'm sure...). when she got home we made dinner and went out to the Rockies game. allison lives across the street from the stadium so we literally walked across the street and were there. we bought tickets from a scalper ($10 for both! yeah!) and had a great time watching the Rockies beat the Pirates.

after the game we walked into town and went to the cheesecake factory. we got this. it was AMAZING. i definitely recommend it. it was a wonderful way to end Denver-Day 2!

Relaxing day in Denver!

Today we just took it easy and had a nice, relaxing day. We slept in, ran some quick errands, ran a not-so-quick run at the gym, went to the grocery, and made homemade pizza! Yum! Allison had to work in the middle of the night (she works 3 am-3 pm...) so we called it a night early so she could get some sleep before work. Hooray for her not working the rest of the week and here's to some fun Denver adventures ahead!

Denver here I come!

Me at the airport-ready to go to Denver. Get excited for some fun Denver pics to follow!

I love Sunday

Today was a great sunday. Church was great. I baked and it was great. I went to a fireside-also great. And game night. Great. In all of the greatness I left my camera at home charging-so you get a picture of my fam the day we dropped sister off at the MTC!

Tomorrow I leave for a week in Denver with one of my besties! Can't wait!!

random thoughts...

*today's pictures are of the mountains. driving back to provo i decided to take the long way and they just looked so beautiful. i think i will miss seeing the mountains every day! i took these pictures while driving. yes-i am a hazard on the road. good thing my driving days are numbered (24 left to be exact)

*day 2 of YSA summit was great-they had some really interesting classes with great speakers. i opted out of the saturday night dance-a decision i feel great about

*i saw star trek tonight. surprisingly, i loved it! although i still don't think i'll ever actually watch the tv show-the movie was wonderful

*i have misplaced my favorite black dress and my favorite movie. i have searched everywhere and they are nowhere to be found. boo

*i no longer have to sleep with those horrid plastic eye covers-hooray!

*did i mention i move in 24 days? ah!

YSA Summit-Day 1...among other things

Today I:
*finished Audit lecture #2-two down, 3 to go and 3 weeks until my next test. I think I'm in pretty good shape considering I did 5 lectures the week before the test for my last one. Still keeping my fingers crossed hoping that I passed
*did laundry
*went to Costco-I seriously love that place
*went "back to school shopping" (even though I'm not going back to school-thanks Express friends and family day!)
*had a mini Team Hufflepuff reunion at Chilis
*went to the first day of the Salt Lake YSA Summit...or as I like to call it EFY-YSA style. Remember how much I loved EFY? Yeah...not much has changed.

Lara and I at The Summit-just for the record, she loved EFY just about as much as I did...

Happy Thursday!

Today was a great day full of friends and fun...

For several days (actually just since Sunday) we have been planning a girls night out and tonight was the night! We went and got gelato and had a wonderful time chatting, laughing, and picture taking. After several hilarious failed attempts, this one ended up being the best shot of all of us...

Sure do love these girls and am going to miss them so!

Every month our relief society has flower arranging enrichment night! Melissa is so talented and always has a fun project for us to make. Today we did flower cones-so cute and such a fun thing to make as a gift! I am always amazed with how easy Melissa makes it look and am always reminded at how NOT crafty I am.

Me, Tracy and Christina with our finished products

6 years later...

Tonight I went to dinner and a movie (Monsters vs Aliens-which was quite funny) with two of my favorite friends Lara and Laura. We go all the way back to the days of Helaman Halls. Freshman year we definitely had a "posse" and were pretty much inseparable.

I just love these two.

This picture is from freshman year, taken at one of the many trips we made to the mall. Saturdays in the dorms consisted of sleeping until at least noon, shopping, and cafe rio. Oh those were the days...

Golfing!

It was such a lovely evening tonight that me and my friend Marta decided to take a trip to the driving range. I kind of love golfing-even though I'm not too great at it. My first time golfing was in a class tournament in the jr. core. One of the guys in charge was in my group and told me that I could play-even though I'd never golfed before. Even though I was terrible, I actually could hit the ball and had a lot of fun. And my team won! (with my contribution of a 10 yard drive and a sweet putt-the boys were really good) I took a golf class the next year and got better. I haven't taken advantage of my non-employed summer and haven't been golfing nearly as much as I should have. I can hit the ball straight but can't hit it that far (according to my teacher, there's nothing I can do to hit it further, I can't hit far because I'm a girl. true story. he actually said that.). It was a fun time at the driving range and I actually had a couple of pretty good hits.

(check out that great golfing form...ha ha ha)