Spotted: Glenn Close on the UWS

Spotted on 73rd bewteen Broadway and Amsterdam, on my way to work (late of course)

A Night with Elton

So Wednesday morning as I was riding the subway to work, reading the Metro, I came across an interesting article. It talked about the Tribeca Film Festival and events that were going on to celebrate the opening of the festival. Well, one of the events of opening night was a showing of the documentary The Union followed by a performance by Sir Elton John! Even better news-he was playing right in the World Financial Center (where I work) and anyone could get tickets! When I got into the office I told my coworkers and after convincing them that I was not making it up, a group of us decided to take a field trip during work to see if we could get tickets.

We waited in line for longer than anticipated, but we ended up getting in! YAY!! Excitment was in the air the rest of the afternoon as we anxiously awaited Elton time!! They showed the movie outside by the water.Thankfully it was not raining but it was colder than cold, and I was unprepared to spend an entire evening outside so I froze my face off. The movie was interesting- it talked about Elton and Leon Russell (who I had never heard of) and their colaboration for their recent album. By the end of the movie, I was freezing and anxious for it to be over.

When EJ came on and started singing though, it was worth it! He started off with Tiny Dancer, one of my favorites. Then played an interesting rendition of Rocket Man, a few songs from his new album, I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues, and ended with Your Song, one of my favorites. He is such a great performer and is so amazing on the piano! I am convinced that I must see a full Elton concert. It was a great night and definitely worth the wait in the cold!!

This is a photo of the screen-we were kind of far away but you can see tiny live Elton in the bottom left corner...ha ha

Weekend Recap

I had a wonderful, busy weekend at home (one in which I took zero photos. oops). Thanks Deloitte for sponsoring my trip!! Let me just say that I hate flying. I hate sitting in those seats and watching the airplane on the map creep across the country slower than slow. I get too antsy to read, to bored to watch TV. So I end up just sitting there, wishing I could fall asleep, or urging the plane to go faster. To top things off, on this flight I was sitting in the row in front of the exit row which meant my seat did not recline! Ah! I survived the flight and got into UT around 11.

Saturday:

• I ran the Salt Lake 10 miler! More to come on that race...
• Went to visit my Abuelita and helped get her house ready for my Aunt Patty who is moving to UT from Colombia!
• Quick shower/conference/after race nap
• Shopping with sister! I made it out without purchasing anything. Yay me!
• Cafe Rio-definitely a must while at home
• Michael Jackson Just Dance with the fam. SO FUNNY watching the parents play

Sunday:

• Delicious breakfast cooked by my mamma-she made bacon. YUM.
• Conference time
• Delicious dinner cooked by my mamma (the weekend involved a lot of eating)
• Dessert night with some of my favorite Utah friends-It's always so fun to see them when I'm in town! I have such great friends-I am so lucky!
• Trip down to Provo to spend the night at sister's place. So strange to be back in Provo and back at BYU off-campus housing. What?!? This entire building is just full of girls? Strange.

Monday:

• Paid a visit to my old favorite spin class!! It was so great-and totally worth waking up at 5am for. Camilla posted a great summary of Todd's spin class on her blog here.
• Ran errands with Mamma
• Trip #2 to Cafe Rio. Still so delicious.
• Nap time!
• Deloitte Final Four event at Sundance (the reason I got to go to UT in the first place)-It was so funny to be on the other side of the whole recruiting thing. I saw a lot of old accounting friends, BYU professors, and even the people who interviewed me for my internship at Deloitte!
• Back to SLC to pack and rush to the airport. Made it just in time to get in line to get on the plane.
• Bumpiest, most turbulent plane ride ever. And on the landing we hit the ground so hard I thought we had crash landed (my judgement may have been impaired in my sleepy state...)

It was a really great couple days at home! I only wish that I had been able to be there longer!!

NYC Half Marathon Finisher!! (a few weeks late but better late than never right?)

I did it! I finished the NYC Half Marathon!! I actually had a really great race. The NYC half is a fun one. You run a loop and a half of central park, then run down 7th Avenue through Times Square, and then finish the run by running down the West Side Highway along the Hudson to downtown NYC.

It was the first half that I have run in 2 years so I was a little bit nervous. The longest training run that I had done previous was 8 miles so 13.1 miles felt like a big jump. Of course I bought a new running outfit. Ha. Unfortunately, in purchasing my new outfit I overestimated how warm it would be outside and ended up wearing my black jacket over it.

(Yes, this is me at 5:30 am self portraiting in Andrea's room)



After a breakfast of half a banana and half of an english muffin with peanut butter I headed out my door to catch a cab to the start line. My cab driver was very chatty and wanted to know all about the race. He also told me that I didn't sleep enough and probably wouldn't be able to finish! Thanks buddy. Ha. I got to my starting corral and had about 45 min until the race started. Don't worry that it was 37 degrees at the start line. I have never been so anxious to start running!

I love races! I love the energy of everyone around you and the excitement in the air. I was so glad that it was not raining and even though it was freezing, it was looking like it would be a nice day. It was fun to see the crowd, see what other people were wearing, and just to see all the different kinds of people that were running. The NYC Half Marathon had about 10,000 participants-people from all around the world. So fun!

The running itself was actually fun. The first couple miles are always the hardest for me. I have to give myself major pep talks for most of the first few miles and then after that I get into the groove and can keep going. My dear friend Jane was there to cheer me on right before the terrible hills at the north end of the park. Goodness, I need to practice running hills because I hate them so much. Thankfully we only ran the hills once and the rest of the course was flat/slightly downhill. Anita and Julia were cheering for me around mile 8 with fun, colorful signs. My dad, Aunt Camille and cousin Chris greeted me around mile 12-one more mile to go! Then I saw Anita and Julia again right before the finish line.

It felt so great to finish!! It was barely faster than my slowest half time but I felt really great at the end as opposed to feeing like I was going to die like I have in my other races. I had a great time running and it was so fun to have so many friendly faces along the way! I have such fantastic friends!! I got my foil blanket thing and my medal (the most important part) and met up with Anita, Julia, Jen, Russ and Eric. We all made our way over to the WFC to meet up with the fam and then headed towards the subway.

Friends all made their way to church/naptime and me and the fam went to brunch at Good. I had my traditional after race tacos and my much anticipated Diet Coke (I had given up all carbonation and candy for the 2.5 months before the race)! All-in-all it was a great race and I had a good time!! Can't wait to run another!

I'm coming home!

See you tonight SLC!