Keeping busy.

Last Monday: Tribeca Film Festival
Tonight: Feist concert
Tuesday: Flight of the Conchords (and the fulfillment of all my hopes and dreams)
Wednesday: Panic! At The Disco, Motion City Soundtrack, and Phantom Planet concert
May 13: being the whitest white girl at the Kanye West concert
May 19-23: Jeff and Kirsten visit
May 23-26: Memorial Day in Charlotte with my favorite blondes
May 31: Harbor Cruise (possibly)
June 10: Death Cab for Cutie concert
June 18-22: Becca visits
June 27: Matt and Noelle's wedding
July 4th weekend: A trip somewhere? TBD.

Everywhere in between: Work, eating my weight in thin-crust pizza, trying out every farmer's market in Manhattan, running in the park, free Argentine Tango classes, being in a bicycle gang, rooftop cookouts, outdoor cinema at Bryant Park, beach trips, and probably trying not to die of heat exhaustion in my non-air-conditioned apartment.

Spring fever.

"I feel like everyone just got out of jail." - my friend Dave, on the sudden abundance of people wandering the city, enjoying the nice weather.

On my run last Saturday, I noticed something different about Central Park. Compared with the Saturday before, it looked like almost a completely different park - the grass was radiantly green, trees went from barren to blossoming, flowers I didn't even know were there were blooming. In short, it was as if the park itself had finally decided it was officially Spring, and the difference was stunning. I have to say, I approve. I mean, it's not like Central Park is ugly during the winter, but now it's a positively gorgeous urban oasis.

And of course, what better landmark of spring than the prom? Dave's roommate Luke's birthday was on Saturday, so they threw a prom-themed birthday party. Luckily, I found a sweet dress at Salvation Army at the last minute. There was dancing, there was cake, and I was voted the Prom Queen. Awesome party? Yes. And a great way to kick off what promises to be a fantastic summer.


More pictures of the festivities can be found here.

Muse.

Today I ventured out to the Bronx for a purpose that was entirely unrelated to going to Target - I visited David and Jana Badger and their adorable little boy Breyton. David was my home teacher during my sophomore year at BYU, and the original President of my fan club (and also, in my opinion, the spitting image of what my little brother Dave will look like in 10 years). Anyway, they invited me over, and it was great to see them again.

When I got on the train to head home, there was a man in the middle of the car with a guitar. As I sat down at the end of the car, he shouted, "Okay, the next person on this train to get a song about them is gonna be the white lady!" I looked up from my book, and sure enough, I was the only white person in the car. I laughed and turned back to my book, causing the gentleman to yell, "White lady! Hey, white lady! This song's for you." He then composed a song to what I think was the tune of Mariah Carey's "I'll Be There" that had something to do with turning my hair from red to black and protecting me and also going to Wendy's.

It was the first time I've ever had a song written about me (that I know of), and I have to say, I was a little let down.

Real quick...

99 words

Speedtest

I dare you to beat my score.

Also, Wednesday night I attended Amateur Night at the Apollo, and let me tell you this: there is nothing quite like the mob mentality of booing someone off the stage.

Victory.

On Saturday I ran the entire loop around Central Park - 6.3 miles (the first time I only made it about 4.5 before walking the rest). And while I know of at least one marathon runner who reads my blog, for me this was quite an accomplishment. I would like to dedicate my success to one Kanye West, whose inspiring anthem "Gold Digger" ("We want prenup! Yeeeeeah!") helped me to conquer Heartbreak Hill.

My identifying trait.

Kendra: Did you make the spinach dip?
Me: Yep!
Kendra: I knew it! It had bacon in it, and I figured you must have made it because I know how much you love bacon.

Well played, Thursday.

You guys, I need to tell you about my day yesterday, because it was amazingly gorgeous and ridiculously warm outside. I'm talking, epic levels of nice weather. So it automatically put me in a great mood, and the rest of the day just followed suit. It consisted of many highly enjoyable activities, including (but not limited to):

- Lying in the little park by my office during lunch, drinking a milkshake and reading my book while I soaked up the sunshine.

- Licensing songs for the upcoming season of So You Think You Can Dance.

- Walking the 50 blocks from my office to Lincoln Square for Institute just so I could spend more time outside, rocking out to Feist on my iPod and stopping for some delectable sushi along the way.

- Watching the eagerly anticipated return of The Office with a group of people after a leisurely stroll up the Upper West Side.

- Trash-talking and then failing to live up to my own hype at several rounds of Rock Band (but whatever, I hadn't played since Christmas, and I was on drums which is like the hardest one anyway).

- Being ridden home on the back of my friend's bicycle junior-high-style through the streets of my 'hood.

Too bad the joy was fleeting - today it was foggy and drizzling. But I'm not crying. It's just been raining on my face.

Flames on the side of my face.

Oh, no. Oh, no no no NO. Someone is making a "hip-hop reimagining of Jane Austen's Emma to be renamed" ...wait for it: "Emme." I mean, okay, I will fully admit to seeing Save The Last Dance, and whatever, I might through no fault of my own have watched Step Up more than once (seriously, I don't know how that happened). But there is a time and a place for this sort of nonsense! It is supposed to involve poor dialogue and climactic montages and people from seemingly different worlds coming together through the power of dance. It is NOT supposed to involve classic literature. You guys, I swear, this makes me even more angry than Jessie Spano.

Speaking of that post (and others), may I make a request? (I mean, I know I can - it's my blog. Do as I say!) If you don't have a Blogger account and therefore are commenting anonymously, make sure to put your name somewhere. There have been several instances of witty and amusing comments with no author, and I would really like to know from whence they came. The "I'm so excited" comment still makes me giggle every time I read it.

Saturday is a special day.

The other night as I stood waiting for the elevator in my building when I got home from work, I spied a copy of Us Weekly sitting on the shelf by the mailboxes. I eyed it, thinking, "I wonder if anyone would notice if I just took-- HEY it has my name on it!" My subscription had come, and I was excited. (Look, don't judge me. It was $9 for the year, what was I supposed to do?)

Anyway, yesterday was a fantastically pleasant day. I wish I could say it started with a run in Central Park, but stupid weather.com had informed me of alleged "AM showers" so I decided I might as well sleep in before General Conference. When I woke up at 9:30, I looked outside and the sky was a gorgeous blue (the horror!). A quick look at my laptop confirmed that it was 55 DEGREES outside, and was supposed to get up to 60s that afternoon. I grumbled a bit about missing out on such fine running conditions, but my mood quickly improved over breakfast when I discovered my new favorite show: Dogs With Jobs. It's on the National Geographic channel, and combines two of my favorite things - dogs, and acts of heroism.

Since we don't get the BYU channel, my roommate Megan and I decided to go to the Union Square chapel to watch Conference. In between sessions we wandered around the Village (someday I will make enough money to live down there - it's adorable) and ate at a cute little Italian restaurant, which was delicious. We went back for the second session at 4, and afterwards caught a 7pm showing of Leatherheads, which was delightful (though to be honest, without George Clooney and John Krasinski it would've been only okay). The theatre we were in was cool too, one of those huge olde tyme ones with a balcony, which is where we sat. We then stopped at Magnolia Bakery to pick up a slice of carrot cake and a mini-cheesecake, and headed home (Becca and Allison, I introduced Megan to Harry Potter Guessing Game. Also, I think I use parentheses too frequently...) to watch an episode of Alias whilst we enjoyed our delicious treats.

All in all, not a bad way to spend a day.