That Redheaded Chick

Manhattanniversary.

2012-01-09T22:42:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was my four-year mark in New York City. Aside from my hometown, this is the longest I've lived anywhere. (Technically, I lived in Utah for 5 years during college, but between summers home, an internship, and study abroad, it was actually under 4 years cumulatively.) It's strange to think that so much time has passed when it many ways these years have seemed to go by faster than any other period in my life.

I have waxed poetic about New York many times in the past and likely will again in the future, so I'll spare you that now. But I will say that I have grown to love this city that has become my second home. I remember during my first weeks here, leaving my apartment in the mornings and just feeling like everything was right. I didn't really have any friends and I was making $12 an hour at my job, but I knew I was in the right place.

Something about this year (unrelated to Mayan shenanigans) feels like a year of change. I don't don't really have any idea what that change is, but I'm excited for more adventures to come.

2011: An obligatory photo retrospective.

2011-12-31T22:38:00.005-05:00

(Mostly because I can't let all of December go by without a post.)

The highlights:

Moved to Harlem. Welcomed Jess into the family. Said farewell to Harry. Climbed a mountain. Ran a marathon.

I also met a heartthrob and survived a hurricane.

There were some ups and some downs, but overall 2011 was not too shabby. Bring it, 2012.

Whipped.

2011-11-26T23:54:00.002-05:00

So in love with New York today.

Thanks.

2011-11-24T23:31:00.004-05:00

Today and every day, I have a lot to be thankful for--wonderful family and friends, a job I enjoy, and films starring Ryan Gosling. But one thing in particular I've been reminded of recently is how blessed I am to have a strong and healthy body. I've watched loved ones struggle with debilitating cancers, and I've also seen my parents put their children to shame by running, biking, and lifting weights regularly as they approach their 60s. I have had amazing experiences like climbing mountains and running a marathon. All of these things remind me not to take this body for granted, to care for it the best that I can, and to try and use it to its full potential.

Which naturally includes filling it with a Thanksgiving feast:

I am also thankful for the Costco rotisserie chicken which made my first homemade Thanksgiving quite painless. Not pictured: the pumpkin chiffon pie that we will consume for breakfast tomorrow.

Our new roommate is a vegan, so her feast was a little sparse. (Don't worry, there was also cranberry sauce, roasted chickpeas, and my favorite chocolate cake recipe that just so happens to be vegan.) Which reminds me! I am also thankful for cheese.

Top of the heap.

2011-11-08T23:20:00.001-05:00

This weekend I ran the New York City marathon.

Part of me still can't believe that I did it--I mean, I couldn't really believe I was doing it while I was doing it. And it was especially amazing because as of about a month ago, I wasn't at all sure it was going to happen.

After my trip to Peru I had developed some patellar tendinitis in my left knee (more on this when I finally post about Peru, but basically the Inca Trail includes miles and miles of stone steps both up and down that were pretty hard on our knees). I discovered this after an attempt to run resulted in wrenching pain in my knee. Not really ideal when I was supposed to be hitting my highest training mileage. After a couple weeks of physical therapy I still couldn't get farther than a quarter mile or so without the pain coming back. I did some workouts on the elliptical trainer but I knew it wasn't enough, and I was starting to worry. After another week of no improvement, I almost had a heart attack when the doctor wondered aloud if I could have a torn ACL, but thankfully she was able to rule that out. She referred me to an orthopedist who prescribed me an anti-inflammatory. That weekend I went for a short jog/elliptical workout and the running was still fairly painful. I called Sarah, who was coming to New York to cheer me on, and tearfully told her I didn't know if I was going to be able to do it. I was heartbroken that after working for a year to get into the marathon and then going through months of training, I might have to defer it for another year.

On Monday the following week I went to the gym and tried a slow jog on the treadmill. My knee still felt a little sore but it was so much better than the pain I'd been experiencing for weeks. I nearly cried with joy at my ability to jog a 12-minute mile. Over the next couple of weeks I was able to work up to a few high-mileage runs, with 20 miles being my longest before I started tapering. Side note: any time you think that 12 miles seems like a short run, you know something is wrong with you. I felt ready, all things considered.

Sarah had an awesome jersey made for me. I knew from watching past marathons that it was essential to put my name on my shirt to maximize crowd support, so it was perfect.

On the ferry to Staten Island.

Start village.
The New York City marathon is the largest in the world, with over 47,000 runners this year. They split the runners into three waves, and each wave has three start groups. I was in the Green start of Wave 2, which started on the lower deck of the Verrazano bridge connecting Staten Island to Brooklyn. We got into our corrals and moved toward the base of the bridge to await out turn. Then the start gun went off and huge speakers blared Frank Sinatra singing "New York, New York," and the crowd of runners began singing along as they surged forward. It was a moment I will never forget.

For the first 10-15 miles I had a huge grin plastered on my face. The crowds in Brooklyn were great, and it didn't hurt that I had several hundred people wish me a happy birthday. Even knowing that none of these people had any idea who I was, the psychological boost of hearing people cheer your name is amazing. I was smiling, high-fiving children, shouting back at people, and generally having the time of my life. I didn't even listen to music for most of the time, just coasting by on the crowd's enthusiasm.

I knew that the Queensboro bridge at mile 16 or so (connecting Queens to Manhattan) was one of the toughest parts of the race. It's a pretty serious incline, and no spectators are allowed on the bridge so you don't have that support. I took a minute to stop and stretch my legs, which were starting to feel a little tight, put "Party Rock Anthem" on my iPod and kept going with the Manhattan skyline in front of me.

Exiting the bridge onto First Avenue was nuts. The crowds were several people deep and everyone was just going bananas. I was also excited because I knew I'd be seeing Sarah and lots of my friends in just a couple miles, so I had that to keep me going. My lovely friends were there with signs, costumes, and huge cheers. Around mile 19 I spotted Sarah and she started shrieking and jumped out of the crowd to run along next to me, clutching band-aids, chapstick, sport beans, and an array of other supplies. She ran with me for a few miles--through the Bronx and back down onto Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Many people asked me when I "hit the wall." I honestly don't think that I did, and it's because I had Sarah there next to me as my own personal pit crew at probably the toughest part of the race. It made all the difference, and I'm so glad she was there. I stopped to stretch again and then we kept going--thankfully she has a gift for chatting while running so I could just listen and have her distract me. Around mile 21 she did as, "So, do you think you'll do this again?" NOT THE TIME, Sarah.

Taken by Sarah as we ran.
As we came down Fifth Avenue I said goodbye to Sarah around mile 23. At that point I was incredibly tired, and the long hill on Fifth Avenue was pretty brutal. I saw more friends (and some of the same ones who had also been on First), and I wanted to be able to run over and give them hugs and high fives, but at that point I just had to keep moving straight ahead. But having them there helped me keep putting one foot in front of the other. Also helpful was the random dude who shouted, "Laura, you are looking DEAD SEXY!" The course veered into the park for the final couple of miles, and I think it was at that point that I finally realized, "Hey, I'm running a marathon right now and I might actually finish it!" Those last miles felt incredibly long, but soon the finish line came into view. I don't think I had the energy left to cry, but I let out something between a laugh and a sob after I crossed that line. It was a surreal and pretty incredible moment.

To be honest, the worst part of the marathon was probably just after finishing. I got my heat sheet and my medal and a bag of food and drinks, and then began the long, slow walk to pick up my bag. They make you walk almost a mile to keep the flow of traffic moving and to prevent people from just sitting down and passing out. I was cold and exhausted and emotional, and all I wanted was to get out of the park, see Sarah and stretch (although I have to say, I am amazed at how well organized this race is--I can't even imagine the magnitude of planning that must go into it). I finally got my bag and made it to the steps of the Natural History Museum and put on my sweats, and immediately felt a lot better.

Please excuse my giant head and tiny tyrannosaurus arms.
I had originally planned to go home and shower and then get some dinner afterward, but I realized I was ravenous and that if I went home I probably wouldn't want to leave again. I had already selected Shake Shack as my post-marathon meal, so we headed there and gorged ourselves on burgers, cheese fries and ice cream. There were lots of other runners there and the employees were giving out free hot chocolate. After dinne, we came home and crashed on my couch and watched X-Men: First Class, because I had definitely earned some quality time with James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender.

Anyway, I really don't think I could have asked for a better day. The weather was perfect, I had fantastic cheerleaders, I didn't have any pain beyond what was to be expected, my knee felt fine, I didn't feel like puking, and all of my toenails are still intact. Now I just have to figure out how I'm going to top it for next year's birthday.

Here come the waterworks.

2011-10-23T11:22:00.003-04:00

It's starting, you guys. Every year, Asics does a great ad campaign in the weeks leading up to the New York Marathon, and banners and posters have been popping up all over the city. Every time I see one, I get a little choked up. Totally normal to get emotional over an ad on the side of a bus, right?

Am I going to weep through this entire marathon? It's a distinct possibility.

Two weeks to go.

Parental advisory.

2011-10-13T14:01:00.002-04:00

When my parents come to visit, it always means delicious food and Broadway shows. (And hugs. Lots of hugs.) They rolled into town this past weekend after an East Coast extravaganza of visiting Allison in North Carolina followed by a cruise to New England and Canada. My aunt Nancy met up with us as well and even though they were here less than three full days, we packed it in.

On Saturday, after wandering midtown for a while, we caught a matinee showing of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. The show was delightful, and (mostly) independent of my love for Harry Potter, I have to say that Daniel Radcliffe does a fantastic job. His voice is decent, but I was most impressed with his dancing and his general commitment--you could tell he was just going for it the whole time and having fun. And he and John Larroquette were fantastic together. Of course, the whole time I was wishing that Becca and Krissy could have been there. (And of course, my mom texted Becca during intermission to tell her how cute Daniel Radcliffe was. Ha ha THANKS MOM.) If you haven't seen the performance of "Brotherhood of Man" from the Tony Awards, it's worth a watch:

After the show we had a fancy-pants dinner at L'Ecole, the restaurant for the French Culinary Institute (though I did, in actual fact, wear normal pants). And for good measure, we rounded out the night by seeing Ides of March. (I had referred it as "The Ryan Gosling Movie" in conversation with my dad and he pretended to be confused--"Oh, you mean the George Clooney movie?") It was really good. And I probably would have thought so even if it wasn't full of eye candy! Maybe.

On Sunday after church we had a delicious outdoor lunch at the Harlem Tavern down the street from my apartment, followed by an unsuccessful attempt to catch even a glimpse of the 9/11 memorial downtown. Then we headed back up to midtown for our extremely appropriate Sunday evening activity: The Book of Mormon musical. Currently, the only way to get tickets is to pay triple the face value or to attempt the ticket lottery with hundreds of other hopefuls (something my friend Jenny has tried 16 times, to no avail). Thankfully, my dad had the foresight to get our tickets months ago, before Tony mania set in.

I have to admit that my feelings about this show had gone from outrage to morbid curiosity to cautious interest, and when my dad asked if I would want to see it, I wasn't sure. Based on early reviews, though (including a couple from friends), I was intrigued enough to go and I'm glad I did. Fair warning: this show is not for everyone. It has strong language and some very offensive and shocking things in it (there was a Parental Advisory warning, so I guess it's good I went with my parents?). It is also clever and hilarious and quite touching at times. I will say, though, that what did offend me didn't do so because I'm Mormon, but because it was offensive in general. I realize that's a lot of rationalization, so to each his own. Obviously it's not exactly an credible source for information about the Church (it is satire, after all), but I didn't feel it was malicious toward my religion in any way. In fact, I found the Church-related humor to be pretty hilarious and they really nailed some of the missionary jokes in particular. The music itself is fantastic. Aside from a couple songs I could do without, I've listened to the soundtrack a few times this week alone. I dare you to listen to this song and not have it stuck in your head for the next week. It's the opening number and it's great--I swear the missionary actors looked exactly like some of the dudes I knew at BYU.

On Monday we had brunch at Sarabeth's and went to the Tenement Museum down on the Lower East Side. I'd never been there, but it's pretty great--you choose from a few different tours about different immigrants/families and spend an hour going through the preserved tenement housing and listening to their stories. I've been to Ellis Island, so it was sort of a cool follow-up to see how the immigrants lived after making it to New York and some of the conditions they were subjected to.

After our tour, we had time for a quick stop at the Doughnut Plant and a walk through Chinatown and Little Italy before it was time to say goodbye. It's pretty exhausting to be a tourist, but worth it when you've got good company, conversation, food, and entertainment to keep you going.

Also, do I win for most parentheses used in a blog post ever?

Back.

2011-09-11T20:42:00.003-04:00

So, Peru was incredible. I have approximately 700 pictures to post (roughly 65% of which are of beautiful valleys, so get excited for that), but that will happen later. For now it feels great to be back in my bed with indoor plumbing. We flew into JFK after midnight and I got to see the always beautiful New York skyline with the Freedom Tower lit up in red, white and blue.

[source]

One of the best things about this trip was experiencing such a different culture, being reminded of how different my lifestyle is from so many others, and of how much I have to be thankful for. And as much as I absolutely love traveling, there's still something wonderfully comforting about coming back to the States and having the customs agent smile and say, "Welcome home."

Emergency preparedness.

2011-08-26T12:35:00.002-04:00

[source]

Things I'm doing to get ready for Irene:

- Having a Provo-style girls' night tonight (California Pizza Kitchen and going to the movies).

- Hopefully fitting in a long run tomorrow morning before the rain starts in earnest.

- Went to the grocery store this morning to stock up on essentials like string cheese and Lucky Charms (don't worry, Mom, I also have crackers, fruit, Luna bars, bread, peanut butter, canned black bean soup, and plenty of water). I also bought a pint of ice cream instead of a big carton so that, should the power go out and I have to eat everything in the freezer, I won't get sick. Foresight!

- Charging up my laptop and phone and putting the batteries in the head lamp I bought for Peru.

- Reviewing highlights from The Day After Tomorrow for good measure.

Melissa and I are planning to spend the weekend watching movies and eating in our pajamas. Our neighborhood is relatively high elevation and outside of even the most extreme flood-watch zones. We have guy friends down the street who have volunteered to come defend us from the zombie apocalypse, should it come to that. If we can somehow get work canceled on Monday I'd say we're all set.

I don't think you're ready.

2011-08-23T12:58:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago we had an email go around at work about some upcoming shows that Beyonce was doing at Roseland Ballroom for which we could request tickets. The shows were billed as An Intimate Night with Beyonce, and given that B is used to selling out arenas like Madison Square Garden, this would be a pretty unique opportunity.

I immediately texted Karrie, knowing that she had been planning to take the bus home to Virginia that weekend but also convinced that she was the perfect guest for this event.

L: So you are like definitely definitely going to VA next week right? Because I just got Beyonce tickets from work for Thursday.
K: Omg. Wait. This changes everything.

Soon after that, her original plans were canceled and we were composing outfit ideas. Karrie's main strategy was to "sparkle like a sexy baby on Toddlers & Tiaras" which, I think, was both wise and appropriate. I briefly considered wearing a sequined vest that I had borrowed from a friend at work, but in the end I just couldn't pull it off.

We got to the venue around the time the doors opened to see a line snaking around the entire city block. Eventually we made it inside, got our VIP wristbands for the mezzanine (perks!), and staked out a pretty great spot with a nice view of the stage. A few minutes before showtime, the peasants down on the floor started making excited noises and pointing their cameras toward the part of the mezzanine near the side of the stage. We squinted through the darkness and Karrie nearly hyperventilated, pointing out the be-headdressed figure of Lady Gaga being escorted to her seat.

Beyonce herself came out around 10pm and did her thing for a solid hour and a half in a sparkly gold minidress (proving that Karrie had the right idea all along). She did little snippets of all the old favorites from Destiny's Child (which took me back to memories of junior high and high school) and then moved on to some of the solo hits before focusing on stuff from her new album.

We sang along and pondered the meaning of "Bootylicious" and danced until our little high-heeled feet felt like they would fall off. And for the record, Gaga was dancing and fist-pumping with the best of them.

In case you didn't know.

2011-08-01T20:36:00.005-04:00

I wore pants today for the first time in over a month. Like so many ingenious ideas, I didn't really set out to do it on purpose at first, but eventually the idea of No-Pants July took shape. It was especially handy around the time a massive heatwave made even a breeze feel like someone was pointing a giant hair dryer in your face. Things got a little dicey last week when we had a random evening of 70-degree rain and wind, but I powered through. Today I wore jeans just because I could, and when I got to work the air conditioning was broken. Bummer.

Ice cream for dinner at Serendipity during the heat wave. The only choice.
Marathon training also started about 5 weeks ago and is going well so far. There are definitely still mornings when I wimp out (those mornings usually involve something higher than 85% humidity) and I don't love having to wake up at 6:30 on Saturday mornings to get a long run in before it's blazing hot, but I've surprised myself with how diligent I've been. Also surprising is how I manage to get choked up every time I read someone's account of running a marathon or see pictures from a marathon or think about running the final stretch down 5th Avenue (seriously! It's happening right now, you guys!). I guess I'm looking forward to it.

By the way, one month from tomorrow I leave for Peru.

Potterpalooza: A Series of Unfortunate Events.

2011-07-24T22:06:00.003-04:00

Alternate titles:

Things Fall Apart
How to Fail at Most Things Despite Trying Really Hard
We'll Laugh About This Later
So here's how the rest of the weekend was supposed to go: on Saturday morning, get day-of rush tickets to How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, spend the day shopping, hanging out in the park, and eating before going to the show that night. The next day, maybe a repeat viewing of HP (naturally), do anything else we felt like, and then send the girls off home again. Sounds great, right? Well, it would have been. Now, I should mention that the things I'm going to whine about are all very First World Problems that I realize don't matter at all. But being the way that I am, I don't like it when my grand plans go awry, especially when I'm responsible for other people.

The box office for the show opened at 10am so we showed up around 9:45 thinking we'd be fine, since there were two shows that day. What I failed to consider was that 1) when I've gotten rush tickets before it was usually limited to students so there weren't as many eligible for tickets, 2) Daniel Radcliffe is in the show and is kind of popular, and 3) it was HARRY POTTER WEEKEND. The line was about a mile long, but the girl working there said they often get through the whole line. So we stuck it out. By 10:45 we'd made it up to the front and the only available tickets were a few singles or standing room only. A miscommunication between myself and the ticket lady meant that the girls behind us bought their tickets before we could, and we came up short. Disappointed, we went over to the TKTS booth in Times Square to see about tickets for the matinee, but they had just run out as well.

I was frustrated, but decided that after lunch I'd come straight back to TKTS to wait for when the evening tickets went on sale at 3. We trekked across to the wasteland of East Midtown to eat at this really delicious place Becca and I had found on her first visit to the city a couple years ago. It was a nice little grilled cheese stand that had awesome sandwiches and milkshakes, and I had checked their website that morning to confirm its location. We walked into the little building and the decor looked different, and they just had pre-packaged sandwiches and other random things. "Oh, no," the guy behind the counter said, "the grilled cheese place closed like a year ago." Great. We raced back across town (missing a bus in the process) to eat at Shake Shack which, while crowded with tourists, was delicious as always. Krissy bit into her portobello burger and exclaimed in wonder, "What IS this???" Fried awesome, that's what.

Armed with sunscreen and an umbrella to protect me from the blazing hot sun, I got back in line and the girls went off to shop for a bit. About an hour later, the ticket availability went up on the marquis. Guess what show wasn't on there? Feeling defeated and tired, we headed back uptown to shower off the sweaty day and the stench of failure.

I was frustrated at having wasted pretty much an entire day for nothing, but we still had a really nice dinner with a couple of my friends and some of Krissy's friends who live here. We split off afterwards and Becca and I stopped off to get some cheesecake at Junior's. We decided to go over to the theater, which would just be letting out, to witness the crowd mayhem waiting for DanRad to exit the stage door. It was pretty nuts, although I did manage to get a glimpse of his back as he climbed into a car. Becca was distracted because at that moment a middle-aged guy had tried to run up to Dan and the cops had pushed him on the ground. Yikes.

The crowd.
The next morning, Becca and I had talked about going for a run in the park, but ultimately decided that we'd give rush tickets one last shot (despite the fact that we had maxed out my Times Square tolerance long before). We got there earlier and the line wasn't too long yet, so we figured we had a chance. Around 10:15 they hadn't opened the doors, so I went up front to investigate. FUN FACT: apparently on Sundays, the box office doesn't open til 12. At that point we knew it was time to give up. We had brunch plans for 11 and anyway, I wasn't about to wait another 2 hours in line just to risk being disappointed yet again.

Thankfully we had yet another delicious meal to drown our sorrows in, followed by some street shopping in SoHo. Then it was back to my place for some leftover cheesecake and putting Krissy on the train to the airport. Of course, things couldn't go off without a hitch at that point and Krissy missed her flight by a matter of minutes. I was pretty sure we were being Punk'd. Luckily, she was able to get on another leaving shortly after, and Becca got home without any trouble (or at least she had the decency not to tell me about it).

All in all we really did have a ton of fun during the weekend; I just wish the last two days had worked out like I'd planned. But anytime I get to see these girls is a win in my book, and we've already decided that our next trip will be a beach paradise where we don't have to schedule a single activity. And thankfully it will be nowhere near Times Square.

No.

2011-07-22T15:29:00.003-04:00

Just no.

Potterpalooza: The Pottering Continues.

2011-07-21T08:45:00.001-04:00

On Friday we slept off our wizard hangovers until almost noon, and then walked a few blocks to meet Karrie for brunch. She was still smarting from having to miss the fun from the previous night, but thankfully we had some delicious crepes to soften the blow.

While we were in the neighborhood, I took the girls through a bit of Columbia. Now that I live somewhat close, my morning runs sometimes take me through campus and I think it's beautiful. I wouldn't mind pretending to be a student there. Afterward we hopped on a bus to take us across town to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There's an Alexander McQueen exhibit there through the summer and I'd already been once. If you're in New York in the next month or so, it's a must-see.

We got reaaaaaally good at standing in lines by the time the weekend was over.
Once we had had our fill of avante-garde gothic romantic couture (as if that were even possible), we sat on the Met steps for a minute to rest our tired feetsies and eat some cherries to keep our blood sugar up. Then it was on to Times Square for:

The Harry Potter Exhibition at the Discovery Museum. I'd heard about it a few months ago and knew I had to save it for this weekend. They were pretty militant about taking photos inside, but it was pretty cool. They had costumes, props, and set pieces from all the movies, with different scenes playing on TVs throughout. Pretty much nerd heaven. I wanted to steal Hermione's time-turner, but I wasn't sure I'd be able to find my way out before they ran me down (though I AM marathon training right now, which probably would've helped). Also, seeing the costumes really reinforced how TINY Emma Watson is. Also, we sat in Hagrid's chair.

At that point, we were pretty tired and hungry, so we went to Patsy's for some delicious pizza and then walked to 16 Handles (which recently became a hangout of Ryan Gosling's, by the way) to eat froyo and people-watch outside in the lovely summer breeze.

Potterpalooza: The Final Countdown.

2011-07-19T21:02:00.006-04:00

I woke up early on Thursday morning after maybe 5 hours of sleep to check my phone. Becca was at JFK, waiting for Krissy to deplane, and then they'd be on their way to my apartment. Soon I was out on the sidewalk as their cab drove up, hugging two tired girls and excitedly welcoming them to New York.

Since they'd both taken red eye flights and I hadn't slept much either, we had breakfast across the street (red velvet waffles, I love you so much) and then crashed for a few hours back at my place. We spent a few hours in the afternoon strolling through the park and lying in the grass, and then it was game time.

"Wait, so we're really wearing our Harry Potter shirts to dinner? Okay, just making sure."

We got to the theater around 8pm to scope out the situation. An employee told us the line was outside, so we went out and saw a line stretching around a city block. Yikes. The good news and bad news was that it was one line for all of the midnight showings, so while we wouldn't be as far back as we feared, there was definitely potential for mass disorganization. We settled in and played some HP trivia on Krissy's iPad.

Throughout the night, a few different TV crews, including MTV and Extra, came through to interview people (not us, since we weren't dressed up). One of the girls in front of us, dressed as a Slytherin, was chosen to be on camera.

TV Lady: Can you shout something at the camera? Like "I love Harry" but something different.
Slytherin Girl: Sure, okay, how about... MAGIC IS FOREVER!
TVL: Um, all right. Maybe... try it again, a little less scary this time?
SG: MAGIC IS FOREVER!!!!
TVL: That's... good. Thanks.

Needless to say, we had a mantra for the rest of the weekend.

We passed the time talking, texting, emailing, and posting Facebook updates (thank heavens for smartphones--am I right or am I right?). Around 10, two girls appeared behind us, apparently having tried to bribe the family behind us $20 to let them cut in line. The dad wasn't having any of it, giving them back their dirty money and making them leave. Awesome.

Then the mayhem began. A little while later, employees began coming down the line. "Okay, the 12:03 and the 12:08, you guys can come in." Portions of the line began to dissolve as people rushed into the theater and we waited nervously (our official showtime was 12:02). It was so disorganized and illogical that we were convinced we would end up in the front row of our theater somehow. Krissy volunteered to go investigate, which we figured was a good idea--she's pretty and unassuming and stood a good chance of getting us in. She texted us from the front lines that it was insane inside the theater, people on the verge of rioting while employees tried to keep the crowds back. Becca and I held our place in line and listened to Slytherin Girl's companion (a Gryffindor) sing soulfully along with her iPod.

Guess who didn't get the sadface memo?
We started to get nervous when we didn't hear from Krissy for some time. Then we got a text: "I'm inside and have seats. There are only two other people in our theater." VICTORY! Soon after that, our theater was announced and we sprang into action. I joined the massive line at the snack bar (where I ran into my friend Kent and we sent a gloating photo of ourselves to Karrie, who was not allowed to come because she is only on Book 4) and then it was time to get settled in the theater. As the lights went down, the three of us grabbed hands and got ready to say goodbye to Harry.

We loved the movie, and it's always awesome to see it with the midnight audiences because the crowd reactions are just right. The mass exodus afterwards was pretty impressive, and we passed by people in line outside for the 3am showing. We walked along Central Park West for a while trying to find an unoccupied cab, and when we finally hailed one, the driver seemed pretty bewildered.

"Why are all these people out so late? Was there a concert or something?"

Nope, just a nerd convention. It was a good night.

End of an era.

2011-07-13T23:37:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow morning, Becca and Krissy fly in for a long weekend of playing in NYC. We decided it was only fitting to celebrate/mourn our final HP midnight movie experience with one last Potterpalooza (although of course, nothing could top our last one). I honestly don't know if I'm more sad that the series we love so much is ending, or that we won't get to have this tradition anymore, but either way there is a 100% chance that I will cry.

Still, I could not be more excited for my BFFs to get here and for a weekend full of the kind of silliness you can only have with people you've known for 20+ years. We're going to have some fun.

California, Part 1: The Wedding.

2011-07-11T13:37:00.001-04:00

At the end of May, the whole fam convened for a week-long extravaganza of eating, laughing, and general awesomeness. The main event was my brother Jeff's wedding, and everyone had a fantastic time. I generally love weddings anyway, but fill the guest list with my favorite people in the world, throw in some beautiful weather, great food, and hours of dancing, and there's pretty much nothing better.

The bride was stunning (am I right or am I right?).

The kids were entertained.

And, if I may say so, my peeps looked pretty awesome.
We gathered for pictures in the afternoon at Murietta's Well winery. The place was beautiful and rustic, and with the sun slowly setting over the vineyard it was just gorgeous.

Then it was time for the ceremony. Donovan was the dapper ringbearer, and Ainsleigh, Emaline, and Gemma were enlisted as flower girls. Gemma, apparently deciding that she had far too much style to merely walk in the procession, opted to do arabesques down the aisle.

When Jess appeared on her dad's arm, Sarah tapped me on the shoulder and whispered, "Look at Jeff." His face said it all--happy, peaceful, perfect.

After a lovely ceremony and a cocktail hour, we headed inside for the party. The food was delicious, and when it was time for Jess's dance with her dad, Gemma came over to sit on my lap for a closer look and whispered, "Oh, it's the princess and her father!"

And then, we danced:

After cake-cutting (including the Funfetti groom's cake my mom made that turned out to be wildly popular), it was back to dancing. My older sisters weren't sure how long their kids would last and thought they might have to take them home early. Turns out they were the life of the party and were on the dance floor til almost 11pm.

Unbeknownst to us, Dono is a breakdancer extraordinaire. He also danced with all of the bridesmaids and most of the female guests.

Partway through the night, Gemma was getting tired and went to sit down at her table. Then "Just Dance" by Lady Gaga came on and she ran back onto the floor shouting "JUST DANCE IT'LL BE OKAY!" Later, as the clock ticked past 10pm, she plopped face-down on the dance floor on top of her Ducky. About 10 seconds later, she jumped back up and got right back to dancing. These kids have stamina.

By the end of the night we were all tired and my feet hurt like crazy, but it was so much fun. A great night of partying with my favorite people, and I get a fantastic new sister out of it? Win-win-win.

More pictures here.

Into the field.

2011-06-21T14:26:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago I stood in front of my parents' church congregation and willed myself not to cry. In a few minutes, my little brother would be giving his missionary farewell talk. I was about to sing a hymn whose words were a little too apt for the situation and I wasn't sure I'd be able to get through it without getting emotional. Don't look at anyone, don't think about the words, I thought. SING LIKE A ROBOT.

Somehow I kept it together, and David gave a wonderful talk, despite my attempt at sabotage by giving him a big hug right before. That day we all got a glimpse into the wonderful missionary he will be for our Church.

My oldest sister Sarah already posted a great tribute to David, and I won't attempt anything like it since a) it would fall short and b) I generally try not to cry at work. But David leaves us tomorrow to go to the Missionary Training Center, and I wanted to acknowledge the occasion. I know he will have amazing experiences and that he will develop a great love for the people he serves, and vice versa.

We're proud of you, Doov. Good luck!

Planner.

2011-05-24T13:44:00.000-04:00

It probably won't come as a shock to most people that I love to plan. It's a trait that comes from my dad and is one that I've adopted with a somewhat manic enthusiasm. At the end of my freshman year of college when I picked my major, I charted out all of my classes (pre-reqs, GEs, major electives, etc.) and credits for the rest of my college career. I also had alternate charts for scenarios including Study Abroad and getting a minor in Management (both of which I did). I love schedules of any kind. I like any excuse to make spreadsheets or add things to my calendar. I check my budgets daily on Mint.com. I get immense satisfaction from making lists. It is probably a great travesty that I have never pursued a career in event planning.

What I love more than anything is talking about my plans with other people. So here are a few things that are currently bringing me great enjoyment:

Making preparations for this year's Warrior Dash, including a 10-person cabin in the Poconos.

Researching every aspect of our trip to Peru, obviously.

Adding to a shared "Summer Bucket List" on Google Docs. As oppressively hot and humid as Summer is in the city, it's also REALLY fun.

Crafting my training schedule for the New York Marathon.

Bookmarking places to eat when Becca and Krissy come to town in July.

And my favorite hobby at the moment: checking and double-checking my flight itinerary for my trip home to California and seeing 3 days until departure in the little box.

Booked.

2011-04-25T13:54:00.002-04:00

Dear Peru,

[source]

See you in September.

This weekend some friends and I officially booked our 4-day, 3-night trek through the Andes that ends with a sunrise arrival at Machu Picchu. I am about 10% freaking out and 90% super excited.

Who wants an alpaca?

Bob gets married.

2011-04-18T13:44:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago I got to take a little trip to see my lovely friend Robyn get married. I wasn't sure if I'd get to make it across the country for the wedding, but luckily I was able to spend a couple of days working in our LA office and then head down to Orange County for the wedding weekend.

First, a little note about Robyn. We met on London Study Abroad in 2004 when we shared a room with 12 other girls. The following semester, we shared an apartment with Marisa (who was also in our London group) and Noelle (who we'd visited in Rome). Robyn has many excellent qualities, including but not limited to: baking delicious treats on a regular basis, great taste in music, a tendency to say exactly what's on her mind (which is usually something sarcastic and hilarious), and a fantastic laugh, not to mention a smile that can stop traffic.

I've taken this opportunity to steal pictures from other people's Facebook albums, because my laptop is broken and I can't upload my own.
After working and meeting with clients for a couple days (I know, I am super fancy), I drove down to Anaheim on Friday night for a bachelorette dinner at Downtown Disney. It was a lot of fun, and it was great to spend time with friends that I hadn't seen in years. My Uncle Morrie and Aunt Dawn live one town over from Robyn's family and were nice enough to let me stay with them for the weekend. I loved getting to see them and catch up!

Robyn and John got married in the LDS temple in Newport Beach. It was a beautiful day and Robyn looked STUNNING. In addition to some college friends, I got to hang out with my BFF Fara (Marisa's baby):

We are basically inseparable. She texts me all the time.

Fara's mom kept wanting to take pictures with me, too.
Between the ceremony and reception, Fara, Marisa, her husband Rob and I made the requisite stop at In-N-Out so I could get my fix. I noted to Marisa that I was a little taken aback by how chatty and friendly the cashier girl was. Some things are just a bit jarring after being in New York for so long, and especially after a long and bitter winter.

That night there was a ring ceremony and reception in Robyn's backyard, and everything looked fantastic! After sending the happy couple off with a line of sparklers (and some hugs), we all said our goodbyes and I headed back to Morrie & Dawn's.

The next morning it was back up to LAX for my flight to New York. I managed to get a yogurt through security, but then the only movie on my flight was Voyage of the Dawn Treader, so... win some, lose some, I guess. Anyway, it was kind of a whirlwind weekend, but I'm glad I got to go!

Moving Day, it's Moving Day.

2011-03-18T13:08:00.001-04:00

Well, tomorrow is. And I will probably be singing this all day long.

After two years in our current apartment (and three years, for me, in that neighborhood), we:

are leaving The Heights. I've spent my entire time in Manhattan living in what most of my coworkers basically consider Canada ("Don't you live in the Bronx? I'm pretty sure that far north is considered the Bronx"). And while our new neighborhood may not have a Broadway show based around it, there's still a certain amount of street cred that comes from saying that you live in Harlem, right? I mean, sure, the neighborhood is rapidly gentrifying and the realtors are still trying to make "SoHa" happen, but I think it counts.

While it's smaller than our current place, the new apartment is gorgeous and I am super excited about this move. Here are 4 reasons why (in no particular order):

1. We'll be much closer (walking distance in most cases) to like 90% of our friends.

2. Central Park is a 5 minute walk away.

3. Full-sized washer and dryer in our apartment (!!!!!!!!!!). This is virtually unheard of for a New York apartment, and after three years of laundromats I feel I am being rewarded.

4. The bus to Costco and Target stops around the corner. Churros anytime I want!

Last night as I left my friend Karrie's apartment following our usual Thursday night TV/bonding sesh, I was grumbling about making the hated 45+ minute trip home. Then we both squealed, "LAST TIME!!!" in unison and my excitement returned.

Between this and the fact that it is 70 degrees and sunny outside right now, it is taking all my willpower to concentrate on work today.

Called to Serve.

2011-03-11T11:26:00.003-05:00

This dapper young gentleman:

is all grown up and received his mission call yesterday. Surrounded by his college buds and while Skyping and conference calling with various family and friends, David found out that he has been assigned to the New York, New York South mission and will be teaching the gospel in the Mandarin Chinese language!

It's very possible that I was more nervous than HE was as we waited for him to open the envelope. When he read "New York, New York," everyone (especially me) erupted into cheers, which doubled when he read "Mandarin Chinese." David started taking Mandarin this semester because he really wanted to learn it, so he was thrilled with this news. And while he won't be serving in Manhattan, I'm hoping I'll have an opportunity to "accidentally" bump into him (with freshly baked cookies in hand, probably) at some point.

I can't believe that the little boy with the bowl cut is going to be leaving us for 2 years. David is the baby of the family, and over the years has been subjected to all kinds of humiliation at the hands of his older siblings. And yet, he still turned out to be one of the nicest kids you'll ever meet, and he loves his family a lot. I couldn't be more proud of him and I know he will be a fantastic missionary.

Babies, sunshine, and milkshakes.

2011-03-08T17:25:00.002-05:00

For President's Day weekend I went out to North Carolina to visit Allison and the rest of my peeps out there. I know I always talk about how nice it is to get out of the city, and I promise I really love living here, but this trip came at a perfect time. It had been frigidly cold here for a while, and between that and a couple other things, I'd been feeling kind of down lately. So spending a long weekend in the sunshine with family was just what I needed.

I flew in on Friday night and our first stop was to pick up some Bojangles fried chicken and biscuits on the way home from the airport. It's always a nice welcome to the South to be licking grease off your fingers at 10pm. In the morning, I was awakened by two little blondies and we got round TWO of Bojangles--this time, breakfast biscuit sandwiches. Delicious.

The weather was supposed to be sunny and in the 70s all weekend, so we spent most of the morning playing outside. I can't say for sure that Emaline was more excited about this than I was.

In the afternoon we went to the Charlotte Nature Museum and had fun checking out bugs, birds, and butterflies.

Next to the Nature Museum is Freedom Park, which loyal fans of reality television will recognize from Emily's hometown date on The Bachelor. Allison told me beforehand that she had recognized the park from a preview in last week's episode, and when my face lit up, she said, "See, Dave! I told you she would think it was cool!"

After Allison and I shared a romantic embrace on the bridge, we headed to Cookout and gorged ourselves on burgers, fries, and delicious milkshakes.

On Sunday, we had waffles with the Spekuloos I had brought from NY. Seriously, this stuff is joy in a jar, I am telling you. My roommate eats it with a spoon. Anyway, we went to church and then while Allison worked on an awesome roast dinner, I enjoyed tea at Emaline's restaurant, aptly named "Emaline Fiesta Crab". We had a few rounds of Mario Kart and then the kids went to bed and we watched Amazing Race with a big bowl of buttery popcorn. Bliss.

On Monday, Emaline had to go to school thanks to a bunch of snow days earlier in the month. After she was dropped off, I dragged Allison and Dave (with the jogging stroller) out on a 3.5 mile run. I couldn't stop exclaiming about how gorgeous the weather was and I was seriously loving the abundance of vitamin D. We stopped by Emaline's school for lunch, which was fun--I loved seeing the tiny kids going and buying their lunches, acting like they're real people.

Allison and I spent the afternoon shopping and chatting, and then it was time to head back. And to add insult to the injury of returning to 20 degree temperatures, halfway to the airport I realized I had left my coat at their house. Awesome. Allison offered to let me take the Strawberry Shortcake blanket that was in the back of the car (Emaline had some strong objections to this plan) but I toughed it out (aka took a cab home from the airport). It was a great weekend, and just what I needed to get me through these last few weeks of winter!

Starstruck.

2011-03-01T16:10:00.003-05:00

Sometimes my life is so fancy that I can hardly stand it.

Last week they started arranging a portion of our office to use as a movie set.

I suppose that is just one of the perks of working at a glamorous music company in New York City, right? We knew that The Pfeiff would be shooting here but weren't sure who else from the cast would be in the scene. You can imagine the hearts set aflutter around the office when this teen heartthrob showed up:

I walked into the office kitchen to prepare my oatmeal this morning and there he was, piercing blue eyes and all.

P.S. Apparently my dad was about as nonplussed by this news as he is by "Justin Beaver" (sic). I'm sure he'll come around once we officially announce our engagement.

Be mine.

2011-02-14T08:36:00.001-05:00

I'm going to be honest with you: I think it's kind of dumb when people get grouchy about Valentine's Day. There's only been one year when I actually had a romantic Valentine for the holiday. It was in college and we'd been dating a few weeks, and he came over with a handmade card and a mix CD and told me how much he liked me. And then he took me out for a smoothie and it was adorable. (Actually, scratch that, there were two times. The other was in the 4th grade when Cory Cozzens and I exchanged valentines and both of us had written, "I like you, do you like me?" inside. Super romantic.)

Anyway, my point is that I've still always liked Valentine's Day. Maybe it's because when I was growing up, my parents would leave us little cards and candy outside our bedroom doors in the morning. Or because of sisters who would send me packages with boyfriends-in-a-box and valentines for my friends. Maybe it's because of roommates who would bake delicious cookies and pass out gorgeous handmade cards. Maybe it's because I really like to hug. I know people will complain that it's so commercialized, or that it's a conspiracy by greeting card companies to humiliate single people, or whatever. But really, what holiday HASN'T been commercialized at this point? And I am willing to bet that those single people still have one or two people in their lives that love them. So why not celebrate that?

Sure, maybe it's silly to have one day where you're expected to show people you love them, when you should really be doing that every day. But hey, I love eating a lot all the time and it's still nice to have Thanksgiving to give me an extra reason to indulge. I guess I'm just lucky that I've always had family and friends that have made this day mean something--not by spending tons of money or giving extravagant gifts (although that's certainly nice), but by doing small things to make others feel special.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is, will you be my Valentine?

Won't you take me to... Quakertown?

2011-02-12T19:05:00.002-05:00

Last weekend, a few friends and I went to a cabin outside of Quakertown, Pennsylvania for a little mid-winter getaway. Due to a few people having plans change at the last minute, we ended up with 7 girls and one guy, so it wasn't so much a co-ed weekend as a woodsy version of The Bachelor. Still, it was really fun and it's always nice to get out of the city and relax with friends.

We drove up late on Friday night and the car I was in had a few GPS issues along the way (thanks in part to a bridge across the Delaware River that was closed since it was covered in ice). At one point, we were driving along a dark and kind of creepy highway through the forest and we missed a turn-off. The GPS recalculated the route and instructed us to "turn right on Dark Hollow Road." We were not so into possibly getting murdered in the back woods of Pennsylvania (Katie actually shouted "NOPE!" at the GPS lady), so we opted to make a U-turn instead and made it to the cabin unscathed.

Anyway, I had the amazing foresight to bring my Saved By The Bell DVDs. After Megan made us some delicious pancakes (and, unfortunately, turkey bacon) on Saturday morning, we spent a few hours lying around in our pajamas and enjoying Bayside High shenanigans. The rest of the day, we alternated between watching more episodes and:

Eating lots.

Walking out to the frozen lake (and not falling in, despite my Little Women flashbacks).

Going into town for more snacks (including Girl Scout cookies, miracle of miracles).

Making ice sculptures.

Exploring.

It was fun. My friends are fun.

Frigid.

2011-01-28T08:45:00.001-05:00

You guys, is it me or has it been January for like three months now? Maybe I'm just extra crabby because this is what I awoke to on Monday morning:

That sun seems awfully pleased with itself for something that's right next to a "-5" don't you think?

I feel like I should get an award for extricating myself from bed that day, is all I'm saying. Thankfully, it's been in the balmy 30s the rest of the week, although that came with a price: the snowiest January on record in New York City.

My street yesterday morning.

I also have become resigned to the fact that I will never in my life have a snow day. Well, at least not one that was mandated by a higher power. Growing up in California obviously didn't afford me that opportunity, and when I went to college in Utah, nobody ever seemed impressed enough by the snow to cancel classes. (The closest I came was one blizzardy day in February when I "didn't feel well" and my roommate and I skipped class and spent the whole day watching episodes of 24 in our pajamas and eating leftover Chinese food.) And now that I live in a city where the majority of people take underground transportation, there's no real excuse not to make it into work.

Most of my social life this month has consisted of friends holing up in each others' apartments to hang out and escape the cold. It's also a great excuse to watch mass amounts of TV and movies. Some of the entertainment has admittedly been a little questionable, but I'm also hooked on Downton Abbey thanks to my mom, aunt, and sisters. If you like period pieces, or British people, or Maggie Smith saying awesome things, you should probably watch the first three episodes online and then watch the season finale on Sunday. Sometimes you just have to make your own snow day, and you may as well have something good to watch.

Firsts.

2011-01-20T18:14:00.002-05:00

So with the beginning of a new year, I'm already looking forward to a couple of new experiences I'll be having in the near(ish) future.

One of them is a trip, probably in September or October. I've been wanting to take a big trip for a while, because it's been a few years since I've left the country (I don't count my weekend in Montreal last year, since Canada is basically America Junior). (Just kidding, Canada, don't be offended! Your citizens are actually extremely nice and friendly and your crepes are delicious.) Anyway, where the "first" comes in is the destination: Africa or South America. I'm very lucky to have been several places in Europe, and while I absolutely love it there, I want to try something different. Originally the plan was to go to Egypt, along with spending a couple days in Istanbul. I still really want to do that, but recently another idea has been forming: Machu Picchu*. I'm talking the 4-day Inca Trail hike through the Andes that finishes with a sunrise arrival at the ruins.

And now I'm torn, because both trips sound really awesome and don't worry, I've already spent hours on Lonely Planet and TripAdvisor planning both of these getaways and I have them all budgeted out, and they will cost roughly the same amount. So, thoughts? Where should I go? And also, do you want to come with me?

The other first showed up in my inbox the other day in the form of an email confirmation:

It's happening. November 6. On my last day of being 26, I plan to run 26(.2) miles for the first time in my life. Cute, right? And also mildly terrifying. So if you want to come and make some signs and cheer me on, I would be fine with that.

*I included the Wikipedia link for people who don't know what Machu Picchu is. When I mentioned to my friend that I was thinking about it, he stared at me blankly until I showed him a picture. He then claimed that if I'd just called it "Peru Mountain City" he would have totally known right away.

Witchcraft and Wizardry, Part 2

2011-01-18T21:12:00.003-05:00

The next morning was slightly more leisurely as we knew we'd have all day at the Magic Kingdom (we wanted to stay for the fireworks, which weren't until 9pm). We got up feeling much more rested than the day before and went to breakfast before continuing on to the park. Arriving at the Magic Kingdom (both Florida and California) never fails to make me feel like a little kid, so we were very excited as we drove in through the absolutely enormous Disney complex. Seriously, there are miles and miles of parks, hotels, parking lots, etc. It's amazing.

The park was pretty crowded, and it felt all the more so because of the legions of strollers everywhere. Being in the park again made me nostalgic for when we had come the previous year with the whole fam for my parents' anniversary. I definitely missed having the kids there this time, but I was pretty glad I didn't have to wait in the hour-long line for Peter Pan's Flight. Win some, lose some, I guess.

We had a great time running around all morning, one of the highlights being our ride on Splash Mountain. Becca skipped out of line at the last minute, despite our protestations that we "probably" wouldn't even get wet. We were cruising along just fine until our boat stopped right next to the falls. It was only a couple seconds, but it was enough--another boat flew down the slope and its tidal wave of a splash drenched us. Becca laughed at us afterward and then we went and got soft serve and stood in the sun while we tried to inconspicuously let our pants dry out.

Doing a jig in honor of my mom while in line for Pirates of the Caribbean.
By early afternoon we had done most of the things we wanted to in the park. Since there were still hours to go before the fireworks and the parade, we were trying to figure out what to do in the meantime. "So... do you guys... want to go see a movie or something?" We checked showtimes and oh, how interesting, the theater at Downtown Disney is showing Deathly Hallows every half hour. I mean, we might as well, right? Ridiculously, there is no direct transportation between Magic Kingdom and Downtown Disney (we asked four different Disney employees, all of whom gave us different--though all equally convoluted--directions). But we eventually made it to the theater a few minutes before the next showing. It was just as excellent the second time around.

We got back to the park in time to go on a couple more rides before the parade and the fireworks. I don't care how old you are--if you aren't at least a little affected by the fireworks exploding over Sleeping Beauty's castle while "When You Wish Upon A Star" plays, you probably have a heart of stone (maybe I'm getting a little choked up right now just thinking about it, don't judge me). Standing there with two of my best friends in the world, I couldn't help but think that if we'd known back when we were five that someday we'd go on a vacation like this together--no parents, staying up ridiculously late, eating whatever we wanted, and running around amusement parks--it would have totally blown our minds.

On Sunday, we had to say our goodbyes to Krissy as she left to go back to California and Becca accompanied me back to New York for Thanksgiving. We were all sad for the trip to be over, but we had so much fun and I could not be happier that we really did it. Which just goes to show you that sometimes the most ridiculous ideas end up being the most genius.

More pictures here.

Witchcraft and Wizardry, Part 1

2011-01-15T17:46:00.000-05:00

So a few months ago I went on the best vacation ever and then I never wrote about it. Sad.

My sister Becca, our best friend Krissy and I have made a tradition of seeing the midnight showing of every new Harry Potter movie together (we've been friends for 21 years, so we feel very comfortable with each others' nerdery). Aside from my mom's homemade cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning, this is my favorite tradition of all time. So last spring, when the trailers for Deathly Hallows started showing up, we were trying to figure out how we'd be able to see it together. Now that we're adults (ha), we all live in different states. Then the Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened in Orlando, and Krissy sent us an email that said, "When can we go?" Oh, wouldn't it be awesome to go when the movie came out?

It was kind of a joke at first. But then we thought, no, seriously, LET'S DO THAT. And the anticipation began. We spent the next few months planning and getting excited. At one point, Becca was faced with the possibility of having to take a flight with two layovers that left really early in the morning. "It's okay," she said. "If Harry can fight Voldemort, I can do this." I like her.

Anyway, we all flew into Orlando on that Thursday. After getting everyone picked up at the airport and dropping things off at our hotel, we headed to theater where we had tickets to the IMAX showing at midnight. We had a great time catching up and wasting time waiting for the movie to start. Around 11:30, Becca left to get popcorn since the line at concessions was crazy (there were several midnight showings in the theater). By about 10 to midnight, there were still a bunch of people in front of her in line, and she started freaking out, so Krissy went to wait with her. At midnight they were just barely getting to the front of the line and were worried they'd miss the beginning of the movie, because the previews had started. I texted them each time a new preview would start so they'd know they had a couple more minutes. As the IMAX countdown appeared on screen, I frantically called them to tell them to get back to the theater. Nobody picked up, but as the countdown ended, I saw two little figures sprinting along the bottom of the theater with popcorn in hand. They collapsed into their seats just as the title screen came up. A true Potter miracle.

The next morning we got up early-ish after about 5 hours of sleep to walk over to Islands of Adventure. We got there right as it opened and headed straight for the Harry Potter section. Turning the corner and seeing Hogsmeade village with Hogwarts castle in the distance was seriously my 13-year-old dream come true. Everything was so incredibly detailed, it felt like we had walked right into the movie.

Besides a kid's coaster and a couple other attractions, there are two main rides: the Dragon Challenge roller coaster with two interweaving tracks (so you see other cars whiz by you) and the Forbidden Journey ride, which is part virtual reality, part Indiana Jones-style thrill ride. The line for Forbidden Journey weaves through Hogwarts castle, so you get to spend time looking through the classrooms, Dumbledore's office, etc. Both rides were awesome, and we spent the morning going on each a few times and looking through all the shops.

After lunch at the Three Broomsticks, we decided to go to the other parts of Islands of Adventure for a bit. None of the park was especially crowded (our line wait time averaged about 10 minutes), but the HP section was by far the busiest. And we hardly saw any kids there--it was mostly people our age or slightly older. We came back to HP land for another time on each of the rides and to get some Butterbeer.

Butterbeer, which I MUST figure out how to replicate.
Around 4pm, we were feeling pretty exhausted, so we decided to call it a day. I will say that as fantastic as the park was, I do hope they expand it at some point. All day we were coming up with awesome ideas for more rides and attractions, which is just proof that they should hire us for these things.

In line for Dragon Challenge.

Leaving at the end of a glorious day. I call this one "Accio Hotel".
Back at the hotel, we collapsed and took naps for an hour or two. When we woke up we considered going to a different movie that night, but we were all too tired. Instead, we opted for dinner at Sweet Tomatoes (an old school favorite) and watching a movie in our hotel room. Our 24 hour Harry Potterpalooza was everything I'd hoped it would be, and my only complaint is that I do not live there.

End of an era.

2011-01-10T23:28:00.002-05:00

Until New Year's Eve, I hadn't really thought much about the fact that midnight would mark the end of a decade. Between that and the fact that my three-year Manhattanniversary was this weekend, I've been feeling a little sentimental and have had time to wax nostalgic about the last 10 years. I think that for me, they can be summed up as The Decade I Grew Up. Although I still don't really consider myself an adult, 2001-2010 contained some of the most significant moments of my life thus far. I went to prom. I graduated high school. I got a passport. I left the country for the first time. I went to college. I had my first boyfriend. I lived in a foreign country. I got my degree. I moved away from home. I landed my first grown-up job. I also made some lifelong friendships, learned what it means to make major decisions, and discovered how to rely on myself.

In the car on the way to the airport to come back after Christmas, my mom and I were talking, and she asked, "What do you think the next decade will bring?" When I imagine myself 10 years ago, it's hard to remember what I thought the next decade would be like. I picture the skinny girl with the braces and the new driver's license and the basically zero life experience and I think, you have no idea. No idea how great and hard and exciting and challenging and hilarious and amazing and scary and FUN things were about to get.

Even if I had the chance to go back in time and tell Past Me about everything, I wouldn't want to (not the least of reasons being that I'd have to prove that I was really from the future, and in the movies they always use their knowledge of the outcomes of sports games as evidence, and I would totally suck at that). For better and worse, I'm glad I didn't understand back then what I was getting myself into. And that's why I won't even try to predict what's next. Because I'm fairly certain that I really just have no idea.

Merry and bright.

2011-01-08T15:16:00.003-05:00

Oh, hey. So Christmas was pretty great. It was lovely to escape the city for a little while and spend 10 days with my favorite people. It helped that while NYC was beset with frigid winds and crazy blizzards that shut down three airports, I was enjoying 60 degree sunshine without a care in the world. My parents' house was inhabited by 14 people, with several more coming and going depending on the activities. It's nice to be in a house full of people who share your priorities, namely: eating a lot, silliness, wearing sweats, hugging, and playing video games.

Some highlights:

Christmas Eve feast.

Nerds.

Getting some work done.

An amazing Thai dinner, prepared by my brother's future mother-in-law (p.s. I am awesome at wrapping won tons now, if you require services of that nature).

San Francisco.

A birthday.

In-N-Out. (Twice.)

Hugs.

A zillion more pictures here.
While the break was probably the perfect length and it was nice to get back to real life, it has been extremely hard this week to force myself to do stuff like concentrate on work and wear real pants. I don't like to think of myself as a hero--I'm just doing what I can. And I'm already looking forward to seeing my peeps again this summer.

Anticipation.

2010-12-23T10:15:00.003-05:00

Yesterday morning, after going to bed too late and tossing and turning most of the night, I woke up naturally at 6:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. Normally I would be annoyed and exhausted and have to drag myself out of bed, but this time I felt like I was jumping out of my skin with anticipation. After forcing myself to try and concentrate on work for a few hours (seriously, we were all having a maaaaajor case of senioritis in my office), it was off to the airport to head home to California.

Although the box of treats I was carrying home on my lap was seriously testing my self-control, we both made it home in one piece. Over the last week or two, my friends have listened patiently as I waxed poetic about my awesome family and how much fun we have together over the holidays. Many of them have had the same reaction--some variation of, "How do I get in on that?" Consequently, my little brother David has quite a few suitors trying to get in on the Ostler action. He has informed me that he has no problem whatsoever with older women.

Birthmonth.

2010-11-16T22:42:00.006-05:00

I've often thought that having a single day to commemorate my entry into the world was sadly inadequate. Luckily, I seem to be finding opportunities to more fully celebrate this wondrous event throughout the month of November.

Last year, watching the ING New York Marathon became one of my all-time favorite activities, and this year it just happened to fall ON my birthday. My friend Zach, who was my spectating companion last year, held a pre-marathon brunch at his apartment. We ate and made signs and tracked the pro runners on my iPhone (the winner averaged a 4:53 mile, no big deal) and then headed over to 5th Avenue to watch.

We loved watching the masses and yelling out random people's names (many runners put their names on their clothing). Our signs were a hit--mine especially, for obvious reasons--with many runners giving us thumbs up our shouting things back at us. One guy came over and gave me a hug before running on. I also got to see my friend Reagan running (who had given me my birthday haircut a couple days earlier!) as well as Suzette, one of my friends from work. It was so much fun, and made me even more excited to run it next year.

I rounded out the day with a trip to my beloved Shake Shack with a couple of the ladies, after which we laid around watching random movies on TBS and feeling cozy. I also had calls from various family members and got to listen to several children shout the Happy Birthday song at me over the phone, which is always a win.

Last weekend was our now-traditional roommate joint birthday party, which this year added another friend with a November birthday. With our combined ages, it's a wonder we didn't burn the apartment down, but we managed to have a good time without having to invite the fire department.

To counteract all this aging, my two best friends in the world and I will be embarking upon the Greatest Vacation Of All Time (TM) this Thursday in Orlando. After that, Becca comes back with me to New York for a week of Broadway, delicious food, holiday lights, and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. My excitement levels are about on par with a 5-year-old on Christmas Eve, so it's good to know that even after 26 years I haven't become too much of an adult yet.

Louie.

2010-11-13T16:02:00.004-05:00

We had never really been dog people. I mean, most of us liked dogs, but the closest we’d ever come to having pets was a few goldfish and some sea monkeys. Then, about a week before Christmas when I was 16, there was a knock at the door. My little brother went to answer it, and we heard him shout, "Guys, it’s a dog!" Everyone ran to see what he was talking about, and there on the porch was a little crate with a puppy inside, and a note saying that Santa couldn’t wait until Christmas for this present. We brought it in the house and opened the crate door, and out waddled a tiny ball of white fluff. We were beside ourselves with glee.

Louie quickly came to be adored, and probably a ridiculous amount. He had a loving and affectionate demeanor, and was always ready to cuddle up next to you for hours on end. He would also drag you out the door and down the street as soon as you put on his leash, and he was always game for a round of hide and seek in the house. He submitted meekly to all sorts of indignities, from babies pulling his hair and trying to ride him around the house, to Becca taking pictures of him with various flower clips in his hair. And even when you caught him eating used Kleenex or barfing up grass on the carpet, you couldn’t stay mad at him for long.

When we would first arrive home after being away for a long time, Louie would go bananas. His little face would be waiting in the window when the car pulled up, and then would disappear as he ran to meet you at the door, jumping up and down with excitement as if you were the most amazing thing he’d ever seen. He was great with people, and rarely barked unless he saw that the squirrels in the backyard were getting a little too big for their britches. Louie had a personality all his own, and we loved him for it.

Two days ago, Louie passed away unexpectedly. It seems to have been complications from a fast-moving form of cancer. We’ve all been pretty shocked and devastated, especially since Louie never really seemed to grow out of the puppy phase, and we assumed we had at least a couple more years with him. We will miss him terribly, but we are so lucky to have had the last 10 years with such a fantastic friend.

We were never really dog people. But we were Louie people.

Fall foliage.

2010-11-06T18:25:00.001-04:00

You guys, I love Fall so much. It's always been my favorite season, but I think living in New York has given me an even greater appreciation for it. And while there are many great things about summer in the city, I am only too happy to say goodbye to sweating in the subway, the smell of hot garbage, and people blasting music on the sidewalk at 3am. Now is the time of gorgeous colors in the park, boots, salted caramel hot chocolate, and baking every treat I can find that is even vaguely pumpkin-related.

Recently, a few friends and I decided to take a weekend trip to Boston. I'd never been, and I really loved it. But can we be honest? Boston is not a real city. I mean, it's beautiful and I would totally live there, but come on. It reminded me a lot of the touristy parts of DC--lots of brick buildings and wide streets. At one point, we decided to walk through Boston Common for a bit. After like 10 minutes of walking, we came out the other side, and kind of looked around, puzzled. "That's it?" Heh. I guess I've been desensitized a bit by New York?

Harvard was also very nice. I totally should have gone there. Here you see the first stop we made after dropping our stuff off at the hotel--an ice cream place across from Harvard yard. (That sentence kind of makes it sounds like our hotel was the ice cream place, which is something I can only dream about.) Pumpkin and chocolate chip ice creams in a cone? Yes, I'll have that.

We did all the obligatory tourist stuff--Italian food, the Freedom Trail, clam chowder. Aside from our bus driver almost making us miss the season finale of Mad Men, it was a delightful trip.

The next Saturday involved a day trip with some other friends to Sleepy Hollow, about 30 minutes north of Manhattan (which I refrain from calling "upstate" thanks to Noelle). We frolicked in the cemetery (who doesn't?) and visited the Headless Horseman bridge (pictured above). I would really be interested to know the amount of revenue that town sees in October compared to the rest of the year.

I'm actually excited to pull out the coats from under my bed, and to have a use for all my scarves other than preventing frostbite at my office. And while I know that come January, the tears will freeze to my cheeks as I cry over the arctic temperatures--for now, I'm in heaven.

Adults.

2010-10-19T11:26:00.003-04:00

One month until...

and

with

I could not be more excited. And yes, I will be 26 years old by that time--why do you ask?

Confession.

2010-09-29T13:16:00.002-04:00

Last night I did something I thought I never would in my entire life.

I'm not proud of it. I managed to get through 5 years living in Utah without it happening.

I attended a country music concert.

We were offered tickets to the Lady Antebellum show through work, and knowing that my friend loves them intensely, I got them. Because I am a really good person.

I might have danced a little. And possibly sung along to that one song that I know (and that, okay, I have on my iPod). And only once mocked the lead guy's many entreaties that we "get this party started".

It was actually kind of fun. Please don't judge me.

Warrior.

2010-09-22T23:29:00.003-04:00

Have you ever wondered how you would have fared as a Viking? Ever since Sarah showed me this link six months ago, I knew this was something I needed to be a part of. Luckily, I have a few friends who are game for ridiculous (by which I clearly mean awesome) ideas, so we all got to experience it together.

The Northeast region race was held at a ski resort in the Catskills last weekend, so 12 of us (8 racers, 4 cheerleaders/photographers) drove up on Saturday morning for a 3.25 mile race. On a mountain. With obstacles.

Yes, I realize I'm making the "I love you" sign, not bull horns as I had intended. It was corrected later.
The place was insane--packed with upwards of 8000 racers plus spectators. It was awesome, though, and there was an immediate sense of camaraderie because let's face it, this is kind of a strange and crazy thing to do. Tons of people wore costumes, some more elaborate than others. People kept shouting "TUTUUUUUU!" at us and we became instant friends.

Our groupies.

The initial ascent.
Our wave started at 1:30, and I was giddy with adrenaline. We were joking about how I should push to the front, and then our group started chanting, "LAURA'S GONNA WIN! LAURA'S GONNA WIN!" Spoiler alert: I did not win. Anyway, off went the gun (and by gun, I mean giant FLAME-THROWERS) and off we ran. For like 2 minutes, until it became very clear that the crazy uphill climb was not ending anytime soon and we decided to walk for a bit. At one point as we were all gasping for breath, a girl near me told her friend, "At least we can say that we're true warriors. None of our friends can say that!" The other girl simply replied, "Our friends are JERKS!"

For the next 3 miles, we ran (sometimes trudged) through forests and across ski slopes, hopped over walls, crawled through tunnels, ran through tires, waded waist-high ponds, climbed cargo nets, careened down a giant Slip N' Slide, leaped over fire, and dragged ourselves through mud (under barbed wire) to the finish line. It was awesome.

After we finished and got our medals, we hung out by the mud pit to wait for the others and watch the racers come through. Some guys were absolutely fearless--diving or flipping straight into the mud, some even clearing the first line of barbed wire. They got huge cheers from the spectators, while people who stepped gingerly into the pit were met with resounding boos.

Who wants a hug?

Afterward we headed for the showers, which were basically power hoses set up on a grassy area. The water was ice cold and I totally shrieked like a crazy person while I tried to wash off as much mud as possible. After that, it was back to the car to change. I ditched my shoes in the donation pile but cleverly forgot to bring an extra pair, so I spent the rest of the day barefoot.

We were all starving after the race, so we stopped at a random diner for sustenance. I ordered a huge 1/2 pound cheeseburger with fries and completely cleaned my plate, and still felt awesome afterward. Because I am a true warrior.

It was an absolute blast, and I can't wait to do it again next year.

The usual.

2010-07-24T16:45:00.002-04:00

Despite the crazy heat (99 degrees plus humidity), today's been pretty good so far. I got all my laundry done, went to the library, picked up a package at the post office, hung out with friends, and then nudged a dead pigeon off my window sill using a bendy straw.

Sometimes.

2010-07-14T23:51:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I get really fed up with living here. Sometimes I wish I could get from Point A to Point B without having to rely on public transportation. Sometimes having my own big, new apartment with walk-in closets for less than I'm paying now doesn't sound so bad. Sometimes I just want simple tasks like doing my laundry or going to Ikea to not be a production that I have to plan my whole day around.

Last night was not one of those times. Lying in the grass in Central Park, listening to the New York Philharmonic play "Rhapsody In Blue" and selections from West Side Story, watching fireflies float lazily through the warm air, I felt perfectly content. When I hugged my friend goodbye later, I said, "This was magical." And for once, I wasn't being facetious.

People often ask me what I like best about living in New York, and I always have a hard time answering. Because it's those random, perfect moments that happen every now and then that make people so in love with this city. Running along the river at sunset, looking at the Rockefeller Christmas lights, people-watching in Columbus Circle--I freeze-frame those moments and put them in a mental album entitled This Is Why You Live Here (And Pay A Lot Of Money To Do So). And luckily, it's enough to get me through those other times that aren't quite so magical.

Heat wave.

2010-07-12T22:26:00.002-04:00

You know what's awesome? When the temperature inside your apartment is 93 degrees. Doesn't that sound awesome?

If you know anyone who lives in the Northeast (oh, hey), you've probably heard them complain about the heat wave we had last week. Temperatures spiked to the triple digits with high humidity over the 4th of July, and things got nuts. Heat advisories were issued. People posted crazy expletive-filled rants on Craigslist, begging someone to sell them air conditioners. One guy started stabbing people outside my office building.

Thankfully, I was able to escape the city for most of it (except the stabbing spree! that was exciting) and go to Colorado for a redhead bonanza of a holiday weekend. I traded in stuffy subway stations and the smell of hot garbage for:

pajama-time sparklers

baby bedhead

becoming one with nature

and lots of silliness
(okay, I might have stolen this one. my camera isn't quite that nice.)
There were also early morning jogs with my sister (including some nearly-exploding lungs thanks to the 6000-foot altitude change), tons of homemade deliciousness, hours of playing Lego Harry Potter (and NOT with the 5-year-old, oddly enough), swingsets, zoo animals, hugs, stupid jokes, and Oreo pancakes.

Thanks to a crazy thunderstorm on the 4th, we opted to enjoy NYC's fireworks display on TV (which, ironically, it turned out that many of my friends in New York did as well). We were champs, though, and were rewarded the next night with re-scheduled town fireworks that we enjoyed with a giant bag of freshly-popped popcorn.

I had a great time and, as always, was reminded that I kind of like my family. But soon enough it was time to come back to New York and my nightly Sophie's Choice: the TiVo in the living room, or the air conditioner in my bedroom. Reality can be harsh sometimes.

More pictures here.

Of mermaids, pasties, and corn dogs.

2010-06-30T23:35:00.002-04:00

A couple weekends ago was the Coney Island Mermaid Parade. The parade happens every year to celebrate the start of summer. And since anyone can march in the parade and New Yorkers love any excuse to let their freak flag fly, it's extremely entertaining. My favorite was seeing a woman with pasties on (a common sight at the parade) holding the hand of her young daughter. It's a family event!

A group of us made the long trip out, with a pit stop on the Lower East Side for donuts on the way (of course). It was fun to be on the train and see people get on at various stops with their costumes on. I'm already planning my outfit for next year.

There were more than a few oil spill-themed floats and costumes.

We finished off the afternoon with corn dogs and soft serve, because it would be criminal to leave Coney Island without enjoying all it has to offer. Plus, I was just happy I didn't have to run there, so I was milking it.

Dad.

2010-06-20T22:46:00.003-04:00

Tonight, as some friends and I considered eating ice cream despite our already full bellies, I shared some wisdom passed down from my father: you're never too full for ice cream--it just fills in the cracks.

The same man who gives sage advice on ice cream consumption goes running and rides his bike dozens of miles a week (and looks pretty awesome doing it). The same man who can intelligently discuss everything from literature to economics to medicine always appreciates a well-placed fart joke. The same man who enjoys fine cuisine and Broadway musicals also loves butter-drenched popcorn and watching Jack Bauer chomp a guy's carotid artery. The same man who won't hesitate to mock me when I deserve it has always been one of my biggest supporters, and will take every opportunity to let me know that he's proud of me.

I don't know how my life would have turned out without this man in it, and I'm so thankful that I get to call him my dad. Happy Father's Day.

The tourist lane.

2010-06-09T12:12:00.002-04:00

Pictures, articles, and videos of this project started popping up on the internet and in the Post last week, and it looked pretty hilarious. I know I'm not alone in feeling the city could seriously benefit from an initiative like this.

The full story can be found here.

Catching up.

2010-06-06T22:19:00.003-04:00

So. Let's talk about May, shall we?

It started off with a little of this:

And kept on being pretty stellar the rest of the time. I got to go to the live taping of Oprah at Radio City Music Hall, thanks to my lovely clients at Harpo. It was a lot of fun and also extremely amusing because everyone was decked out in their cutest outfits in bright spring colors (I didn't look to bad myself, if I do say so). O even commented on it when she came out in her pink sequined floor-length skirt. Anyway, we didn't come away with any swag, but it was a good time all around.

A few days after that, I got to go home to California for a visit. Two of my sisters were visiting at the same time, so I got to see most of the fam, which was great. Some highlights:

Visiting the Jelly Belly factory.

In-N-Out runs.

Flying kites in the park.

Kissing scrumptious baby cheeks.

Other activities included Ostler favorites: eating lots of delicious food, playing games, winning at Buzz (me), watching movies, squealing during Wii Super Mario, taking walks, and laughing a lot. I also got to see Marisa and Rob for the first time in far too long, but apparently we did not take any pictures. We did eat ice cream though, so win some, lose some.

I had a great time at home, as always. I love living in New York, but I've realized that it's necessary to get out of the city every now and then in order to keep enjoying it. Otherwise it starts feeling a little claustrophobic. So this was the perfect way to relax and just be able to hang out with a lot of people that I happen to really like.

The week after I came back to the city, I did half marathon #3, in Brooklyn.

Lauren and I post-race.

I did this race last year, which was my first half marathon. I didn't break my goal, unfortunately, but I did run it much faster than last year and my knees didn't give me any problems (which has been my biggest concern lately), so it's all right. I'm taking a summer hiatus from races (running in 90 degree humidity does not seem that appealing to me) but already have plans for the fall: Warrior Dash. I don't think I need to say anymore about that.

May ended with a road trip to Montreal with a couple of my girlfriends, which will be a separate post. In the meantime, more May pictures can be found here.

Moomsie daisy.

2010-05-09T22:34:00.002-04:00

This picture, to me, kind of represents the mom jackpot. Wearing her most huggable outfit, sporting bodacious hair first thing in the morning, frosting homemade cinnamon rolls for us on Christmas. I kind of want to live in this picture forever.

My sister has already written a much finer tribute than I can, but I will say this:

Thanks, mom, for making it so that I never understood why women in movies are always so horrified when they realize, "I've turned into my mother." Because frankly, that seems like something I can only ever aspire to, and I will count myself extremely fortunate if that day ever comes.

Milestone.

2010-05-06T11:48:00.004-04:00

A few years ago I wrote a song about these three girls. It was about them being kids and thinking about what life would be like when they all grew up. And it was about how even though things would inevitably get tough, they'd always be there for each other. In hindsight, it probably should have included something about destroying hilariously awkward photographs of themselves.

Today feels like a milestone for these girls, as the youngest one is graduating from college and they are all officially adults now. And the girl who, in high school, claimed she was "just not smart" is now a Dean's list graduate of the University of Utah Nursing School, and is about to go on to do great things and change lives.

I'm sure our lives are not quite what we imagined they'd be 20 years ago (I'm still waiting on our connecting houses), and there will be plenty of uncertainty to come. But I'm glad to know that these girls will be there for each other for lots more milestones.

Congratulations, Becca! We're proud of you.

Runner's high.

2010-03-22T20:03:00.003-04:00

As I stood shivering in my tank top in the half-light of Sunday morning, I couldn't help but wonder, "Why in the world am I doing this again?" Like, maybe when I had signed up a few months earlier to run 13 miles, I hadn't been seriously considering how comfortable my bed is. I wondered how many of the other 11,000 people there were thinking the same thing. But after training for weeks and quickly destroying the cold virus that had threatened me earlier in the week (including some Googling to contradict my friend's claim that high volumes of Vitamin C can lead to kidney stones), I wasn't about to turn back.

Thankfully, it was a beautiful day for a run, with clear skies and a cool breeze. My favorite part of the race was around mile 8, when--after coming out of Central Park and before turning down the West Side Highway toward the site of the World Trade Center--the course took us through midtown. There's something about being in a sea of runners going through Times Square while total strangers cheer you on that is pretty hard to beat. It was the perfect adrenaline boost for the last half of the race.

Photo from New York Road Runners

(Incidentally, my second favorite part was the group of people around mile 11 holding a sign that read "High Five Station" and slapping our hands as we ran past.)

My goal for my first one was basically to not die, which I managed pretty well and finished in 2 hours 20 minutes. This time, I was shooting for 2 hours. My official finish time was 2:00:23. I'll take it. And besides, I'll have a chance to break the 2-hour mark in 9 weeks, when I run the Brooklyn half marathon. I'm taking a week off while I hobble around on ridiculously sore legs like an 80-year-old, and then it's back to training. I think maybe I'm a glutton for punishment.

In like a lion.

2010-03-15T21:57:00.002-04:00

This weekend, driving rain coupled with 60 mph winds turned New York City into an umbrella graveyard. On Saturday afternoon, my roommate and I ventured out to the nicer grocery store several blocks from our apartment to get some things for a party we were having. I was happy we were together as I would have felt really stupid clutching my umbrella in front of me like a shield and shrieking if I'd been by myself. Instead, it was kind of hilarious. We opted to take the bus back after finishing our shopping, and didn't really brave the elements again that day (though all our party guests had to... they were rewarded handsomely with pie, though). Sunday morning, the carnage was everywhere--mangled skeletons of umbrellas, dumped hastily in garbage cans or lying abandoned in gutters. It was strangely poetic.

Thankfully, the 10-day forecast shows sunny and 60 degrees, with only one day of rain during that time. Except, guess which day that is? Half marathon day. I also appear to be coming down with a cold, so I'm downing NyQuil and am currently at about 2000% DV of Vitamin C (you can't overdose on vitamins, can you?). Bring it.

Shame.

2010-03-02T17:58:00.002-05:00

Sometimes I feel like people are silently judging me.

Like when I'm trying to stuff all my things into a locker at the gym, and three boxes of Girl Scout cookies fall out of my bag.

Je voudrais un croissant.

2010-02-08T12:07:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow is my first day of school. When I finished college, I secretly wished I could stay another semester or two and just take classes that I wanted to for fun. But since I'd already been there for 5 years and gone on study abroad (twice), I figured it was best not to try my parents' patience any further.

Anyway, I'd been thinking for a while about taking a class of some kind, since there are so many options around the city for continuing education. I settled on learning a new language, and decided to try French on for size. My reasons include 1) the fact that I took Spanish in high school and was awesome at it (we won't go into my retention, which is probably more relevant now that I live in a heavily Dominican neighborhood, but whatever), 2) it sounds pretty, and 3) it is one of my life's ambitions to meet a cute foreign boy and have zany/romantic adventures together while riding around on a scooter, a la Passport to Paris.

(For reference, my other life's ambitions include winning an Oscar for Best Original Score, meeting Ben Folds, and being a contestant on Cash Cab.)

My friend Zach signed up to take the weekly class with me, and we've already envisioned great things for ourselves. We're convinced that our plan to speak to each other exclusively in French after about week 5 will amaze both friends and strangers, even though our conversations will mostly consist of things like, "Where is the library?" and "I like oranges!"

I figure that, after the 14 weeks are up, my life in general will look something like this:

Type.

2010-02-03T23:02:00.002-05:00

One night last week, I made my way to the store to return a book. As I crossed the street, a group of hooligan teenagers passed me, each waving a book in the air and yelling, "OZZY RUUUUUULES!" While I appreciated their enthusiasm, I was confused as to its source until I entered the Time Warner Center and saw the massive line outside of Borders. Next to the line was a poster: Ozzy Osbourne Book Signing. Apparently the Prince of Darkness himself was in the store to promote his recent biography, and these people were waiting to get into the signing.

Unfortunately, that meant that the checkout line was also filled with customers waiting to buy their copies of the book. I sighed and went to the back of the line, wondering if the $5 refund was really worth it. A few moments later, an associate came to the front of the line and announced in a shaky voice that he was sorry, but they were completely sold out of the Ozzy book, and those who didn't already have copies would be leaving empty-handed. He looked so terrified that I felt sure he'd never worked a Harry Potter midnight release party. There were loud grumbles from the crowd and, to my delight, 90% of the line dispersed.

As the crowd of mostly overly-pierced teenagers and aging rocker-types were turned away, I was surprised to see a conservatively-dressed man in his 60s. He walked slowly past me and said, in dejected tones, "You heard they're out of the book, right?" I looked down at my green peacoat and skinny jeans and then back at his neatly parted hair and sweater vest, and my gut reaction of, "Do I look like an Ozzy Osbourne fan?" disintegrated. So I just smiled and said, "Yes, thank you," and went to the front of the line.

Juvenile.

2010-01-29T17:28:00.000-05:00

A couple mornings ago, as I stood in the office kitchen pouring milk into my cereal, my boss came in and caught sight of what was in my bowl. "A little Kix to start the day, huh?" he asked. Yes, because apparently I am 7 years old.

The cereal in question was actually Berry Berry Kix, also known as the greatest cereal ever. It was one of my favorites when I was younger, but it seemed to disappear for a while and I thought it had been discontinued until some time ago, when Allison reported a sighting at her local grocery store. When I went to visit Allison a couple weekends ago, my very own box was waiting for me to bring back to New York.

So anyway, I went to North Carolina to see my new baby. Isn't she cute?

Annabelle is a delight, and enjoys such activities as cuddling into your chest, not crying, and making adorable baby noises in her sleep. When I wasn't staring at her, I was making mischief with this little hoodlum:

At church on Sunday, Emaline dubbed me "Reindeer" because of the way my necklace was looped to look like, well, a rein. From then on, whenever she addressed me it was, "Reindeer, do you want to play Mario Kart?" "Reindeer, can you read me a story?" and so on. I get no respect.

One day, when I was taking one of thousands of pictures of the wee one, Emaline asked if she could try. I handed her my camera and showed her the button to press, and it was somewhat like what I imagine the moon landing was for Neil Armstrong. Her face lit up and she immediately began taking pictures of everything in sight. Each photo was proclaimed to be more beautiful than the last.

A brief photo essay:

Anyway, it was a great weekend and, despite Allison's apologies that we weren't doing anything exciting, I had a great time sitting around in sweatpants and playing with the kids. Plus, sometimes outings can get overwhelming, like when Allison and I sat in the parking lot of the Cookout for 10 minutes while I tried to decide which of about 15 kinds of burgers I wanted. These are big decisions, people! Sometimes I much prefer having virtual sword fights with a 4-year-old or laughing about stupid things with my sister. Or eating Berry Berry Kix for two meals a day.

Things.

2010-01-11T17:48:00.004-05:00

The half marathon training has officially begun. On the first day, the cold wind was making my eyes water, and then the tears froze on my face. So you could say things are going well so far. The schedule, for those of you who want to play along at home:

If any seasoned runners have advice or suggestions to share, please let me know. Last time around, my goals were twofold:

1. Don't die.
2. Don't come in last.
This year, I want a finish time of 2:00:00. I'm pretty good at endurance over long distances, so speed is the main issue that I need to work on. Anyway, we'll see how that goes.

My training might get temporarily derailed this weekend, though, as I'm going to North Carolina to see The Whitleys and meet baby Annabelle.

I was talking to Allison earlier, graciously offering to help with some things while I was there, and she acknowledged that she would "put me to work". She further explained that to mean keeping Emaline entertained. I don't think she understands what "work" is, because I'm pretty sure it doesn't normally include playing dress-ups and having a 4-year-old draw pictures of you and give you hugs. Challenge accepted.

I'm going to stick my finger in her dimple.

Round two.

2010-01-07T23:18:00.002-05:00

Well, I had so much fun last year that I'm going back for more. The New York City Half Marathon is in two months, and I just found out that I got accepted out of the lottery drawing for entry. The race I did last year was in Brooklyn, but this is the big one--it starts in Central Park, then goes through Times Square, and finishes downtown. I think it will be awesome, and I'm trying to keep that in mind as I contemplate training in 20-degree weather.

New Year.

2010-01-02T15:41:00.000-05:00

The holiday roundup:

More pictures here.

Degrees of average temperature higher than NYC: 35
Delicious dinners eaten: 9
Movies seen: 6
Hours spent playing Wii Super Mario: countless
Varieties of pajama pants worn: 3
Old friends caught up with: 6
Peppermint bark eaten: at least half a tin
Hugs: thousands
New nieces born: 1

Annabelle Hope Whitley made her debut on New Year's Eve. Welcome to the family, little girl. You have no idea how many people are in love with you already!

Staying warm.

2009-12-15T21:28:00.004-05:00

Well, it appears to be winter. You know how I know? Because yesterday I saw a dog wearing shoes. I also saw some pigeons eating a slice of pizza, but I'm not really sure what that means. In any case, our lovely mild Fall left us rather abruptly, with the average temperature dropping 40 degrees within about two days. It was sad.

Thankfully, there are ways to stay warm that don't necessarily involve watching Glee in my pajamas and eating ice cream (not that I have a problem with that). For example, a couple weekends ago our stake had our annual YSA film festival. Most of the entries were predictably mediocre, but one stood out as a crowd pleaser and won the final prize:

Twilight Years from Tom on Vimeo.

It's also party season, which I happen to be a fan of. In addition to our company holiday soiree and various dinner engagements, we went to a Roaring 20s themed Christmas party recently. Pretty much everyone got decked out and looked fabulous, which was a lot of fun. Our friend Joshua has his own photography business and was there taking glamour shots:

All shots can be found here.
And a week from tomorrow I can look forward to thawing out a bit more (and eating my weight in homemade candy) when I fly back to California for a week and a half. Until then, I'll be keeping a close eye on the behavior of the neighborhood animals.

Running for pie.

2009-12-02T23:47:00.002-05:00

At the beginning of October, around the time I discovered I would get to go home for Thanksgiving, Sarah and I talked about finding a race to do together while we were there. Others caught on and things got a little out of hand, with the end result being that last Thursday morning, 8 of us participated in the Silicon Valley Turkey Trot. Most of us did the 10K race, while Sarah's husband Joel ran the 5K and two mini-redheads rocked the kids' races (and got MEDALS, which I am totally not at all jealous about).

The weeks leading up to the race included many mass emails back and forth with updates on mileage and training. It was fun getting each other hyped up and also talking trash (obligatory). It all culminated in the glory of Thanksgiving day, running alongside some of my faves with the promise of major gluttony later on.

Totally gangsta.
Disgustingly, David smoked all of us and finished first despite not having trained at all (unless you count going on one 2-mile run a few weeks before the race, which I do not). But we all finished under our goal time of an hour and looked fabulous doing it. Special props to my dad who, though he is in a two-man biker gang with my mom, had never run more than a couple miles before he started training for this race.

We were rewarded handsomely with a little of this action:

There may also have been mass quantities of pie involved. My stomach had been training for this day just as much as my legs had. Life is about balance, right?

More pictures here.

Quarter century.

2009-11-19T23:35:00.002-05:00

In my first week of being 25, I got called "ma'am" by an NYU student. In my second week of being 25, I'm going to see this.

So I guess you could say it's basically a wash so far.

Birthday week kicked off with a ladies' brunch followed by mani-pedis. It also featured some lovely gifts and cards, as well as listening to small children shout at me on the telephone. Another highlight was the church speed dating activity, in which I managed to talk to at least two guys about Lord of the Rings, and told another one about the Titanic website I had when I was 13. One guy was in grad school for Mapmaking, so be aware that that is still apparently a thing.

The next weekend, Birthdaypalooza was rounded out with a joint party with my roommates, who are also November babies. It was really fun and we got to spend the rest of the weekend eating leftover chips and dip. It was a birthday miracle!

Getting older is kind of a fire hazard.

Central Park in Fall.

2009-11-05T23:59:00.003-05:00

Last weekend my friend Zach and I went to watch the New York Marathon. I'd kept hearing about how cool it was, and how it was such an event--it goes through all the boroughs, and people in every neighborhood come out to the streets to watch. Apparently in Brooklyn, people start getting drunk at like 10am and then go cheer on the runners.

Also, I really liked the ad campaign that ran in the weeks leading up to it:

We had a great spot on Fifth Avenue, right at the Mile 23 marker. Since there are 40,000 people who run the marathon, they break it into several waves of runners. The wheelchair racers start first, followed by the professional women, then the professional men, and then three waves of regular runners. No spectators are even allowed at the start because there are so many people, but I can't imagine how much energy and adrenaline there must be there.

We got there in time to see some of the lead runners come through, including the two first place men (pictured above), who were neck and neck at mile 23. The American guy (on the left) ended up winning. USA! By the way, these guys are running 5-minute miles. For 26 MILES. I doubt I could have kept up with them for ONE if I'd just started running alongside them.

My fave.

At first, the runners were sparse, so Zach and I used the lag time in between to wax poetic about athleticism and the triumph of the human spirit. We were also amused by the people who had brought Red Vines to hand out to the runners.

The masses.

Lots of people had their names and/or countries on their shirts, so we had fun shouting things like "Way to be, Tom!" and "Jennifer, you are very good-looking!" to random strangers. Anyway, it was awesome, and this is definitely a new tradition I want to keep. We've already got big plans for next year, including camp chairs, snacks, and a boom box playing "The Final Countdown" to get the runners through the home stretch.

Afterwards, I wandered through Central Park for a while, enjoying the fall colors.

I can't say it was an entirely terrible way to spend a Sunday morning.

Flat Ainsleigh.

2009-10-31T12:06:00.002-04:00

Last week I had a visitor. While getting the mail one night, I found manila envelope with my name scrawled across it in slightly crooked lettering. I opened it, and there she was: Flat Ainsleigh.

Sarah had told me a few days earlier that Ainsleigh's class had read Flat Stanley and that they were supposed to send a flat version of themselves to someone for a week, as part of their Geography unit. Naturally, as I live in the coolest place of anyone she knows, I was the chosen one for her adventure. I was instructed to take Flat Ains with me everywhere I went for a week and write about what we did before sending her back.

Commuting.

Ainsleigh taking my calls.

Saturday brunch with the girls.

After the Poland Spring Marathon Week Kickoff Race in Central Park. It's important to stretch.

Times Square. Normally I avoid this place like the plague, but it was her last night in the city so I made an exception. Notice the expertly captured taxi with the Broadway billboards in the background. I pulled out all the stops for my little paper friend.

Flat Ainsleigh was a big fan of M&M World.

We had a grand time together, and oddly enough I kind of missed the little paper doll after I sent her back. Luckily, in about 3 1/2 weeks I'll get to see the 3-D version over Thanksgiving, and I probably won't have to keep checking my bag to make sure she's not getting smooshed.

Wanda.

2009-10-26T22:18:00.000-04:00

I recently confessed to my mom something kind of strange. I have vivid memories of being sick, and being so happy when she would put her cheek to my forehead to feel if I had a fever. I remember how soft her skin felt, and even now, the memory conjures feelings of comfort and reassurance.

Happy Birthday to my best mom, who always makes things better. When I felt under the weather during her visit a few weeks ago, I asked her to feel my forehead with her cheek, for old times' sake. I'm pretty sure she cured me. The Cheek's still got it, and so does she. Happy Birthday, Moom.

Gift horse.

2009-10-15T11:31:00.002-04:00

One of the shows I do music licensing for happens to be a famous talk show. Today at work, I received a package that came with a nice note from the show's music supervisors, thanking me sincerely for all my help. I eagerly peered inside to see what they'd sent, and was seized by a fit of laughter at the irony. Oprah sent me wine.

I promptly handed the bottle to my coworker who had handled the show before me, as I'm sure he will enjoy it more than I can. I wouldn't be surprised if he has a very merry Thursday afternoon. But as the time of corporate holiday gift-giving looms nearer, my question to you is this: would it be ungrateful of me to say that, in lieu of more alcohol, I want tickets to her Favorite Things episode?

Back on track.

2009-10-07T12:12:00.000-04:00

Oh, hello there.

Well, Autumn is here and I couldn't be happier, because it's my favorite season. It's not cold yet, but it's getting cooler, which means boots and cardigans and not sweating in the subway. Summer in the city can be especially, um, rank, so I'm enjoying taking deep breaths of crisp, cool air.

To highlight the awesome beginning of the season, my parents came to visit last weekend for the first time since they moved me out here almost two years ago (I still don't really believe I've been out here that long). It was really fun to have them here, especially since last time I was still one of the tourists and now I push them over on the sidewalk.

My dad had business in town on Thursday, and my mom flew in later that night. They came to visit my office on Friday and met some of my coworkers and my boss (she later commented that they are "such a good-looking couple" and I had to agree). We had a dinner of ridiculous portion sizes followed by delicious cheesecake at the Carnegie Deli, and went to see "Billy Elliot." I thought it was pretty good, but not as amazing as I'd heard. There were some good numbers but it was a bit long, and while the kid playing Billy was a great dancer, he didn't have a very good voice. Still, I was glad I got to see it.

Saturday we started off with a trip to the Natural History museum to see the new planetarium show that's narrated by Whoopi Goldberg. I think we all learned a lot from Whoopi. We walked through Central Park for a while before picking up some lunch and heading to a matinee of "Bye Bye Birdie." I already had monumentally high hopes for the show, since it currently stars John Stamos (his bio in the program buried his Full House credits somewhere in the middle, which I thought was a travesty). But the rest of the cast was excellent and I loved the show--very cute and a lot of fun to watch.

Later that night, we went to dinner in Brooklyn at Peter Luger, which according to Zagat is the best steakhouse in New York City. To my chagrin, I had felt a little queasy all day (possibly a side effect of the flu shot I had gotten on Thursday), but I powered through and was able to at least sample some of the deliciousness. We all agreed that Woflgang's was better, though, and we topped off the day with a showing of The Invention of Lying.

On Sunday before heading home, they came up to my neighborhood to get some of the local flavor (the flavor being that of the Dominican Republic). After checking out my apartment, we went to breakfast and I showed them around a bit, although they declined to attend the Medieval Festival that was happening in the park that day. We did get to see some people walking around in chain mail, though, so it wasn't a total loss.

It was a fabulous weekend, and it's always nice to have your parents tell you how awesome you are (though I can only assume my siblings haven't experienced this nearly as much as I have). I had a great time, and look forward to going home for Thanksgiving in a few weeks!

Procrastination.

2009-08-27T16:57:00.002-04:00

Things I'm doing instead of blogging about our Orlando trip:

Enjoying the recently-reduced heat and humidity (we'd finally gotten about two weeks' worth of real summer, and I'm totally over it--no more sweating in the subway, please).
Trying on clothes I can't afford.
Repeatedly enjoying the amazing hilarity that is Heidi Montag's Miss Universe performance.
Playing Word Warp on my iPhone.
Watching Mad Men.
Being jealous of my friend's awesome new apartment on the Upper East Side (and eating takeout in said apartment while "helping" her move in).
Going to Ellis Island.
Re-reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Looking up airfare to London, Sydney, and the Bahamas.
Anticipating my parents' visit next month.
Eating popcorn.

35 years.

2009-08-17T23:06:00.002-04:00

For their 30th anniversary, they took us to Kauai. For their 35th, they took us to DisneyWorld. I'm already looking into a Mediterranean cruise for 2014. But besides taking us on bitchin' vacays, my parents have spent the last 35 years building a family, and showing us a wonderful example of what a marriage should be. I know that my family's great relationships and the fun we always have together--whether sailing off the Na Pali Coast or sitting around eating popcorn--is a credit to Mark and Wanda. So Happy Anniversary, mom and dad, and thanks for everything. Especially the bitchin' vacays.

Excitement.

2009-08-08T10:15:00.003-04:00

Am I too old to have had trouble sleeping the night before a vacation to Disneyworld? In a few hours, 15 Ostlers will converge on Orlando, including a niece whose 4th birthday party will be a lunch with the princesses at Magic Kingdom.

We're going to have some fun.

Pappy.

2009-08-05T20:44:00.003-04:00

Do you know what this is?

It may look like a plain yellow legal pad to you. But anyone in my family knows that in the hands of my dad, it becomes magical.

My dad has probably used thousands of these during his lifetime--often for work or keeping track of daily tasks. But there is another, wondrous thing that he uses it for: planning. Anytime there's a holiday or trip coming up, you can find one of these bad boys filled with my dad's scrawling handwriting. Pages of lists, excursion ideas, sites, charts, timetables, possibly even diagrams designed to maximize the enjoyment of everyone involved. He loves coming up with great ideas that ensure everyone has fun. In my family, when you see the yellow pad, you know amazing things are about to happen.

Today I wish a happy birthday to my favorite travel agent (and career advisor, and trivia guru, and hug provider, and arch nemesis), knowing that any enjoyment he gets out of his celebrations today likely pales in comparison to the pleasure he is currently finding in finishing up the planning for our upcoming family vacation extravaganza.

It commences in just 3 days, and the excitement is palpable.

Temptation.

2009-07-27T22:50:00.004-04:00

Sometimes I think the Mister Softee guy knowingly parks his truck in the most enticing spot on my run--at the top of a mile-long steady incline--purely to torment me.

Two thumbs up.

2009-07-26T01:43:00.003-04:00

Dear Fox Searchlight,

You produce good movies. (And apparently are also behind the upcoming Arrested Development movie. I approve.) This one was no exception:

The only problem is that now I have an almost uncontrollable urge to cut my bangs again. But I'm pretty sure I still won't look like Zooey Deschanel.

Thrill ride.

2009-07-21T22:25:00.003-04:00

My trip home was lovely. By 3am PDT on Wednesday I had been up for almost 48 hours, with a cumulative 5 hours of sleep in the interim. Totally worth it. The rest of the week was spent lazing around, eating lots of red meat (thanks Mom!), shopping, and being silly with the fam.

As if to make up for my previous experience, my flight home on Sunday went swimmingly. I had a window seat, the movie was enjoyable, I had brought plenty of snacks, and we landed a half hour early. I had booked a seat on a SuperShuttle to take me home, since we were originally supposed to land at 10:30pm. And given my track record with air travel, I wanted an alternative to the 2+ hour subway ride home that wasn't a $60 cab ride.

My driver, a small Senegalese man, picked up myself and another passenger at our gate. Though we spent the next half hour driving from terminal to terminal picking up 8 more people (four of whom spoke animated French with the driver), I thought that as long as I was home by midnight, it would be worth it.

And then we hit the Van Wyck. They say nobody's ever beaten the Van Wyck, but our driver came as close as anyone ever has. He was weaving across lanes, swerving out to the shoulder to bypass lanes of traffic. He was cutting around cars turning onto off-ramps, and veering back into traffic mere inches in front of another car's bumper. My fellow passengers gasped and clutched their seat belts as tightly as possible. The French guy next to me was swearing under his breath and documenting everything on his camcorder. I can only hope the video is now somewhere on YouTube.

Being the farthest uptown, I was the last passenger dropped off. We pulled up to my building at 12:03am. Touché, SuperShuttle.

Dear Air Travel: Why do you hate me?

2009-07-14T22:49:00.002-04:00

I was originally booked on a flight leaving JFK at the very reasonable hour of 11am. I was awakened around 2:45 this morning, though, by the incessant buzzing of my phone. I ignored it but a few minutes later it buzzed again. I stared groggily at the 800 number on the screen and, assuming it was some robocaller trying to discuss my nonexistent car warranty, tried to silence it. Thankfully, between my half-asleep state and the fact that it's a new phone, I accidentally answered the call. An automated voice proclaimed that it was calling from American Airlines and that my flight had been cancelled.

Now I was wide awake. Robovoice informed me that I'd been rebooked on a flight connecting through Boston and arriving in San Francisco at 11:30 pm. This itinerary would cause me to miss an extremely urgent appointment: the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince with Becca and Krissy.

"To accept these changes, say 'yes'. To reject them, say 'no'."

"Nooooooooooooo!"

I got an operator and found out that my only other option was the flight leaving at 7:05 am. I took it, and called Becca to let her know when to pick me up. By that time, it was about 3 am and I realized I might as well get up, as I'd need to leave for the airport in about an hour anyway (I heart public transportation).

I dozed as well as I could on the plane (considering I had an aisle seat that was right next to the bathroom... I also passed on watching Race to Witch Mountain) and was able to take a 3-4 hour nap when we got home. Assuming I'm still on East Coast time, this midnight showing will be starting at 3 am my time. These are the things I go through for Harry Potter.

All I'm saying is, if I'm ever in a job interview and I have to give an example of my dedication and perseverance, this is the story I'm going to tell.

Patriotism.

2009-07-05T16:44:00.002-04:00

Is there anything more American than fighting massive crowds at Coney Island to watch a guy cram 68 hot dogs into his face in 10 minutes? I submit to you that there is not.

This was my first NYC 4th of July, since I went to Denver for the holiday last year, so I didn't really know what to expect. After a flurry of last-minute text messages to different people about what our plans were, a group of us decided to go to Coney Island for the sporting event that ranks just under Wimbeldon on the prestige scale: the International Hot Dog Eating Contest. It was a truly awe-inspiring experience; thousands of fans chanted "USA! USA!" while San Jose, CA native Joey Chestnut obliterated both his own world record and second-place finisher Takeru Kobayashi. Patriotism at its finest.

Afterwards, we went to Battery Park (on the southern tip of Manhattan) for a free concert by Conor Oberst and Jenny Lewis. We grabbed some lunch and a sweet spot in the sun-dappled shade, and spent a few divine hours listening to indie rock and lazing around in the warm breeze.

As afternoon turned to evening, we headed uptown and walked toward the river. The West Side Highway had been shut down to make room for people to watch the fireworks, so we scouted out a place. It was kind of freaky walking down this huge expanse of deserted highway, like something out of a post-apocalyptic movie. We found a good (and surprisingly uncrowded) spot at the crest of a hill, and watched the sunset while we waited for the rest of our group to join us. (My friend Joe and his friends had come up from DC for the day, which just proves that July 4th in NYC is even better than in our nation's capital.) Darkness fell, and we watched as dazzling fireworks were shot off from six barges along the Hudson river. It was the perfect end to an amazing day.

More pictures here.

In passing.

2009-07-01T20:58:00.004-04:00

"I love your red hair."

"Thanks."

"Dude, she actually answered! That's amazing! [shouting] You're amazing, redhead!"

If only all men had the discriminating taste and high expectations of the two I passed on my way to the library.

Mile high.

2009-06-30T22:56:00.003-04:00

So, a few weeks ago I went to Denver to be with my peeps. There are not nearly enough redheads in New York, so sometimes I start having withdrawals. Luckily, a visit to the Hill household filled my quota and then some.

Sarah outdid herself cooking delicious meals and fantastic desserts (do you think a frozen key lime pie would mail well?). I outdid myself eating everything in sight. The kids kept me busy with paper dolls, stomp rockets, and quality time on the trampoline. I learned that Dono's favorite question is, "What should we play now, Wor-uh?" Sarah dragged me on a couple of early (for me) morning runs, thinking that between my having just run a half marathon and her being acclimated to the high altitude, we'd be about equal. (She was right.) She also found me a couple of great running tank tops on clearance at Target (which came in handy last night when I went running for the first time since, um, my trip to Denver--I was inspired after watching Run Fat Boy Run over the weekend). We had family over on Sunday and I got to catch up with my cousin Lisa and see her adorable little boy for the first time. My record skyrocketed in Wii Bowling, and I discovered a new favorite Cold Stone Creation (thanks Sarah). Ainsleigh was sick for a lot of the weekend, but still looked cute wearing an ice pack as a hat. Gemma crawled out of her pants, and I still laugh thinking about it. Dono learned how to do a flip on the trampoline:

It was delightful. And at the end of the long weekend, they sent me back to New York with a 100-degree fever. But I guess that's the risk you take when you visit a house that's crammed full of fiery redheads.

More pictures (with a shockingly high kid-to-adult subject ratio) can be found here.

Confidence.

2009-06-21T20:02:00.003-04:00

When I was younger, I remember my dad telling us about an idea he'd had for a movie while he was driving home from work. I won't divulge the details of the film (which I still remember to this day, including the title) because someone would undoubtedly steal the idea and make millions off of it. But I vividly remember thinking it sounded like the greatest movie I'd ever heard of. At the time, I told my dad he should make the movie, and he laughed and dismissed the idea. This utterly baffled me. Because in my mind, my dad could do anything. Why shouldn't he become an overnight filmmaking sensation?

As far back as I can remember, my dad has always been able to inspire that complete confidence in his knowledge and abilities. He has a seemingly endless store of trivia and history knowledge, he knows the best solution to any problem, and he has an excellent vocabulary. I may never know how he got to be so smart, but I will definitely enjoy continuing to reap the benefits.

Happy Father's Day, Pappy.

Rx.

2009-06-11T21:26:00.001-04:00

Tonight's grocery list:
NyQuil
tissues
chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream

Tonight's entertainment:
So You Think You Can Dance

All together, I'd say that's definitive prescription for any illness. I totally should have been a doctor.

Bacon.

2009-06-05T15:48:00.004-04:00

You guys, I promise this is the last of the birthday posts (until, um, August).

I'm heading to the airport in a little bit to go spend a long weekend in Denver at a veritable redhead convention. But there is one very important member of the redhead brigade that will not be joining us, unfortunately. So, what can I say about Becca that I haven't already said? When she came to visit me in New York, she stopped by my office one day and met some of my coworkers. At one point, we both laughed at something, and Brian just looked at us and said, "That was creepy. You guys laugh exactly the same." And that pretty much sums us up, I think. Becca and I are very different in a lot of ways (though people often claim we look like twins), which made sharing a room for the first 14 or so years pretty interesting. But she has been and always will be my kindred spirit and best friend. She is crazy, loud, thoughtful, big-hearted, and spirited, and she turns 22 today. Happy birthday, little girl!

Half marathon.

2009-05-30T14:52:00.005-04:00

10 weeks of training
a 5:30 am wake-up call
3+ hours on the subway (round trip)
one wicked blister
3 cups of Gatorade
13.1 miles
one tired girl

This is what victory looks like.

Dave.

2009-05-28T22:40:00.002-04:00

I remember having a conversation with Allison once where she joked that the reason she and Dave got married was because no one else would "get" either of them. While that may be true, it's great to be around them and see how much fun they have together. Dave shares Allison's mellowness (it's a word) and love of being silly. He can seem quiet and reserved but also has a weird sense of humor that presents itself at opportune (and inopportune) moments, with hilarious results. Dave made me grits the first time I met him, and though I may have never eaten them again since that time, I've always found him to be an excellent addition to our family. Happy Birthday, Southern Dave!

Memorial Day weekend.

2009-05-27T21:40:00.002-04:00

"So I just landed, and now I'm like... trafficking? Is that drugs or is that planes?"

The girl in the seat behind me drawling into her phone was the perfect start to my stay in Charlotte. The night only got better as Allison picked me up and we headed straight to Bojangles to get some fried chicken and biscuits. And of course, the rest of the weekend was equally fabulous. We relaxed, we played, we laughed, and we ate until I began to wonder if I'd ever feel hungry again. It was nice getting out of the city and enjoying country roads, huge grocery store aisles, and greenery everywhere. Emaline was in top form, finding ample opportunities to butter me up for future birthdays and Christmases ("Aunt Laura, I'm so glad you came to visit me!" "I'm going to be so sad when you go back to the York, Aunt Laura!"). We had a great time reading books and drawing and running around, and I was sad to leave. But we consoled ourselves with the knowledge that we'll be seeing each other again in August when the whole fam goes to Disneyworld. And while Emaline might not actually understand what that is, she definitely knows it's something to get excited about.

More pictures can be found here.

Holiday weekend.

2009-05-22T14:56:00.002-04:00

I'm off to North Carolina for a weekend of sunshine, fried food, strawberry-picking, hugging, and lots of silliness. I hope you all will be spending your holiday weekend in a similarly delightful fashion.

I am coming to get you, little girl!

Krissy.

2009-05-20T17:22:00.003-04:00

Most people don't know that I actually have four sisters. Okay, so one of them isn't actually my "biological" sister, if you want to bother with technicalities like that, but she has been my best friend for 20 years. So I think the honorary title is deserved.

Krissy's family moved in next door when I was five years old, and most of my favorite memories involve her and Becca and our ridiculous shenanigans. The bedroom I shared with Becca faced Krissy's across our respective side yards, and we spent countless nights shouting to each other through our windows, discussing plans and sharing secrets that surely the rest of the neighborhood found fascinating.

The three of us spent summers playing kick the can with our siblings and neighbor kids in the street. We dedicated sleepover time to developing stories about the ghost that haunted Krissy's house (trust me). We choreographed dance routines and made embarassing home videos that will come back to haunt us when we're famous. We went to midnight releases of Harry Potter books and movies. We talked endlessly about how weird it would be when we were grownups, and the trio of connected houses we would (WILL) live in someday.

Today she turns 23. And while I'm not sure our younger selves could ever have fathomed being even this old, I'm looking forward to 50 more years of shenanigans to come. Happy Birthday, Keesy!

Gemma.

2009-05-15T23:56:00.002-04:00

I can't let the day go by completely without acknowledging the birthday of the littlest lady in the fam. Today marks one year that she's been giggling, squawking, and slobber-kissing her way into our hearts. Here's to many more years of having us wrapped around your tiny finger, Gemma.

Glee.

2009-05-13T12:04:00.003-04:00

Is it weird that I'm really excited for this show?

A shorter promo can be found here.

A comedy about a high school glee club featuring lots of Broadway stars? Yes, I will watch it. The only bad part is that they're airing the pilot next week as a preview, and the actual season doesn't start until the Fall.

Luckily, I've got something to hold me over in the meantime.

D-listed.

2009-05-12T21:29:00.003-04:00

As I pay for my Starbucks chocolate creme frappuccino, I notice the young male cashier looking at me intently.

"I'm gonna say something to you," he says, smiling.

"Okay....?"

"You know who you look like, right?"

"No, who?" I reply, racking my brain for redheaded celebrities. Does he think I look like Amy Adams? Julianne Moore would be awesome. The only comparison I've ever gotten is "that girl from Orange County." This is so exciting!

"Kathy Griffin," he says triumphantly.

I stare at him. Probably sensing my lack of enthusiasm, he quickly adds, "That's a compliment! She's... really funny!"

Sigh.

My favorite mom.

2009-05-10T23:36:00.001-04:00

This weekend I took a quick trip down to Washington, D.C. to visit my friend Tim. He and his roommates were relating a story about a recent attempt at baking cookies, and how even though they followed the recipe exactly, the end result was subpar. Tim asked me how girls do it. "How do you just know how to make cookies and have them turn out perfectly?" Without even thinking, I replied, "Because we learn from our moms."

Thanks, mom, for instilling in me a love of cooking and the skills to do it well. Thank you for inspiring me with your constant efforts to learn and try new things. Thank you for being a total badass on a bike. Thank you for encouraging my talents and my education. Thank you for being an example of a strong woman and a wonderful mother. And above all, thank you for being super hot(t), which gives me hope for my future.

Happy Mother's Day.

Sarah.

2009-05-03T17:06:00.002-04:00

Whenever I try to explain the hair color composition of my family to people, I have to emphasize that my oldest sister is a REDhead. "But you're a redhead, too," people say. I know, but her hair is RED red. Which pretty much encompasses everything that Sarah's about. She doesn't really do things halfway. She's loud and outgoing and has an opinion about everything. She shows great enthusiasm for what's going on in your life, whether it's getting excited about your upcoming study abroad or coming up with colorful verbal abuse for a boy who's just dumped you. Sarah's the kind of person you want in your corner, because she'll always be there cheering you on (and maybe throwing some of the punches when you're not up for it). I often find myself missing the three months I spent living with her and her family--we had a grand time going to the gym together, watching trashy television, discussing boys (that was mostly me), and of course eating delicious food. I wish I could be there today to celebrate her birthday, but I hope her day is fabulous. Knowing Sarah, it really couldn't be otherwise. Happy Birthday!

Well-played.

2009-04-29T21:15:00.000-04:00

Well, apart from virus outbreaks and 9/11 flashbacks, New York City is a pretty great place to be these days.

This weekend I got to spend some time with the lovely Jill, who was in town for a few days. Jill was my roommate during one of the most fun years I had at BYU, so it was excellent to see her and reminisce and play in the city. Luckily, NYC was experiencing my absolute favorite weather--sunny and warm without being too hot or humid, balmy evenings with a warm breeze--so it worked out wonderfully. Jill and her friend Scott hit up most of the tourist stuff on their own, but I (of course) opted to introduce them to some of my favorite edible delights in the city, including Crepes on Columbus, 16 Handles, and Grimaldi's.

Typical line outside Grimaldi's--it's like trying to get into a club. A club that serves delicious pizza.

After Jill left on Sunday afternoon, I met up with some friends in Central Park for a little picnic and elementary-school-throwback sporting events.

A little kickball.

New obsession: Trader Joe's Kettle Corn. And I don't even LIKE kettle corn.

Wrapping up with a round of four square.

I suppose there are worse ways to spend a weekend. Then on Monday night I went on a 9-mile run, so I'm immensely pleased with myself. The Brooklyn Half Marathon (for which I am now officially registered!) is a little over 4 weeks away, so here's hoping this lovely weather continues to cooperate with my training schedule.

And, let's be honest, my playing schedule.

Ballison.

2009-04-26T16:55:00.003-04:00

When I was a sophomore in high school I went to visit my sister Allison at BYU. Back then we weren't all that close, mainly because when she left for college I was still in junior high. Still, we spent the weekend shopping, eating delicious food, watching Drop Dead Gorgeous, making ice cream, playing games with her friends, and laughing a whole lot. When the weekend was over, I spent a decent portion of my flight home crying because I had had such a good time and I didn't want to leave. We hadn't done anything particularly special, but that's the great thing about Allison - she makes anything fun. Whether it's watching a crappy TV movie or getting the latest Harry Potter book at midnight (and then having a sleepover) or just telling a story about dogs, Allison loves to be silly and always finds ways for people to enjoy themselves. Which is probably why we can have phone conversations that start with "I really don't have anything to say" and end almost an hour later. Today she turns 30, and I'm grateful that in the last 10 years she's become one of my best friends. Happy birthday, poopsie!

Plans.

2009-04-24T12:35:00.001-04:00

Last weekend: Ate lunch outside in the sunshine. Took a Friday afternoon work break and discovered both the amazing gelato place downstairs (how have I worked here over a year and am just trying it now?) and the cute Italian guy who works there. Saw 17 Again with the girls and was only slightly ashamed that I loved it. Went for a lovely 7-mile run along the Hudson River. Ate taco salad. Spent Sunday evening lounging in the park, reading and enjoying this view:

This weekend: More outdoor lunch-eating. Definitely more gelato (and cute Italian guys). Helping throw a bridal shower. Spending quality time with the always-delightful Jill B., who's in town for a few days. Brooklyn pizzerias. Manhattan burger joints. Possibly some donut-flavored frozen yogurt. And the forecasted days of sunshine and 80 (!) degree weather mean that some serious park-frolicking is gonna go down. I think I speak for everyone here in the Northeast when I say, "Hello, Spring. So nice of you to join us."

What are your plans?

Basketcase.

2009-04-22T10:52:00.003-04:00

Dear Mom,

You're now 2 for 2 on recommending books that break my heart (in a good way). Thanks a lot for making me cry on the train.

Love,
L

Joof.

2009-04-17T17:19:00.003-04:00

Today marks the birthday of my big brother Jeff. In addition to being 28 years old, he is also a history and geography wizard, a trivia lover (seriously, he TiVos Jeopardy), and possesses a fantastically dry and quick wit. He also enjoys betting you five bucks you can't do something that he can. An important detail about the five-dollar bet is that you will invariably be able to do said task and Jeff will get mad. Once, on a long drive to Utah, he bet me that I couldn't cut a deck of cards exactly in half and I did it. I'm still waiting for my money. Anyway, Jeff also loves kids and they are obsessed with him because he riles them up and plays with them tirelessly. He is always up for new adventures (he's been bungee jumping and he ran with the bulls in Pamplona last summer) and getting people to do fun things. Happy Birthday, Jeffy boons!

Conditions are perfect.

2009-04-16T20:00:00.007-04:00

Last night I attended my second Flight of the Conchords concert. While I don't think anything can top the amazing events of last year's show, it was an awesome night and we had a fabulous time.

My date for the night was my friend Greg. Thanks to his Halloween costume, he conveniently had a Bret sweater to wear to the show. Please note that our seats were 5th row center. Radio City is huge, and we kept joking about how we were going to have to get water bottles and take breaks for our hike all the way to the front of the venue. After the show we turned around, and the actors who play Mel's husband and Todd (from the Crazy Dogggz) were about 4 rows behind us. They are on the show, and their seats weren't even as good as ours.

Kristen Schaal opened with some stand-up, and was very weird but funny. She was rocking some sparkly gold shorts that I really want.

During the first song, Bret was playing a red toy piano, and near the end he knocked the stool it was on and it fell and broke. Jemaine started laughing and said, "I guess that's the end of the song." A crew guy ran out to replace it with another one, and Jemaine was like, "Yis, we spared no expense on the budget for tiny pianos." The keys from the first one were all over the stage, and they would periodically pick them up and throw them into the audience.

Their banter between songs was, of course, hilarious. They also had great interaction with the audience. At one point someone shouted out "Where's Murray?" and we got this exchange:

Jemaine: Murray is a fictional character. What you should have asked was something like, "Where is the actor, Rhys Darby, who portrays Murray on your show?" And the answer would be, "In Auckland, New Zealand."

Bret: Maybe you should go and find him. Go stand outside his house and yell "band meeting!" It'll be like a secret joke between you and him. Don't tell anyone else I told you.

Jemaine [after someone yelled out "Where's Dave?"]: Stop asking for the whereabouts of all the people we know! How would you like me to shout at you and be like, "Hey, where is your... niece?"

And then when some guy kept trying to yell stuff to them...

Jemaine: You can't just try to have a conversation with us when we're here on the stage. Have you ever been to a show before?

Bret: Stop shouting at us! Have you any idea how ridiculous your voice sounds? You sound like an angry muppet!

Jemaine playing a little xylophone on "If You're Into It."

Anyway, it was a great night!

EDIT: At the advice of my attorney, I have removed a hilarious video that may or may not have been recorded by someone of the redheaded persuasion at the aforementioned concert. If such a video does, in fact, exist and if a person were at all interested in viewing it, said person would be welcome to contact me and I might be able to provide that person with the means to enjoy such a hypothetical video. In theory.

Eating my feelings.

2009-04-14T19:59:00.002-04:00

Well you guys, it's been a day. I won't bore you with the details, but among taxes and other financial drama I managed to make of myself a tightly wound ball of stress. And an unwelcome twist on 24 last night certainly didn't help matters. Since napping wasn't a possibility (my first choice when things aren't going my way), I opted to take comfort in food. I ate most of my coworker David's leftover fries at lunch, and happily accepted the sour candies that Bridget brought around in the afternoon. I had some leftover chocolate cake from Easter waiting at home, and this afternoon I announced to Brian that I was going to eat it for dinner because of my mood. "Weren't you talking about how you were going to do that anyway?" he asked.

Which was technically true. But not the point.

Thankfully, most of the stuff has been resolved. And let me tell you, I have never been so happy to discover my own mistake as when I was staring at those tax forms. Now I can relax a little and look forward to the good things on the horizon. Like the fact that I'll be in the fifth row at the Flight of the Conchords show tomorrow night at Radio City. Or the trip I just booked to visit a crazy blonde child in North Carolina for Memorial Day. Or the fabulous Disney World family vacation my parents are taking us on in August. All of which are even better than chocolate cake.

I still had it for dinner anyway.

Joel.

2009-04-06T23:26:00.003-04:00

Man, I didn't know what I was getting myself into with all of these birthday posts. And this is only my immediate family, you guys. Ha, just kidding, I would never begrudge this guy a blog tribute:

Joel was the first outsider to join the Ostler fam, and over the last 10 years he's proved that he fits in nicely. His steady persona is the perfect compliment to my, how you say, "spirited" oldest sister. Frequently, when I call to talk to Sarah, Joel will answer and we'll end up chatting for half an hour or more before he hands over the phone. He does gorgeous work with photography and graphic design, is a worthy ping pong opponent, and is one of my favorite people to swap good music discoveries with. He also can always be counted on to roll a 7 in Settlers of Catan. Happy Birthday, Joel!

Puppies and other things.

2009-04-05T22:42:00.003-04:00

Well, so far the beginning of April is outperforming the beginning of March by leaps and bounds. We've had our fair share of rainy days, but a smattering of lovely weather here and there gives me hope that Spring is finally coming. Last week a few work friends and I took a little break for a donut run one afternoon (and I saw Nigel Barker on the way! I tried to smile with my eyes...). Today my delightful roommate and I decided to take a walk in the sunshine across the George Washington Bridge, because who can get enough of New Jersey? On the way home we decided to walk by the pet store that's across from our apartment, as is our wont. We paused at the window and decided that this time we would actually go inside. And the puppies, oh, the puppies. They are unbelievable. The guy working there asked if we wanted to hold any, and it was all I could do not to let out a squeal right there. (I actually might have a little bit.) Melissa selected an adorable Corgi and I went for the little black puff ball that had been laying next to him, which turned out to be a Pomeranian. You guys, this puppy is my soul mate. He is so ridiculously cute, I'm obsessed. After like 15 minutes of holding them, we decided we needed to give them back and walk away before some serious dog-napping took place.

Other than that, things have been pretty uneventful. I'm loving my new apartment and my new running paths nearby. I also signed up for the company softball team, so we'll see how that goes. I was the only girl on my Little League teams back in the day so I'm pretty sure I'll be MVP in no time.

And lest I forget, the most important news of the weekend is the fact that my mom has started her own blog, thus cementing her position as cutest mom in the world. If you put her and my Pomeranian friend in the same room, the universe would probably implode.

Ainsleigh.

2009-03-31T20:27:00.002-04:00

Seven years ago today, my mom woke me up on Easter Sunday to inform me that we were going to the hospital, and I got to be in the room when my first niece came into the world.

Probably my favorite picture of her (which is saying something, because they take a lot).

I've always had a soft spot for Ainsleigh. Sometimes she just seems like a little porcelain doll. She's sensitive and thoughtful and introspective, and it's always fun to talk to her and feel like you're sharing secrets between just the two of you. Even at this age, the boys love to have her attention and make her laugh, so I'm sure she'll be a heartbreaker when she grows up. But luckily, that's a little while off. Happy Birthday, Seesee.