End of Summer

I've been a terrible blogger this summer, I really have. It's not like I've been super busy either, I just haven't actually done it.  Here's a quick wrap of of my life recently, hopefully I get more consistent. That is if we ever get the Internet at our house.

The last few weeks we've been boating a tons, which is so much fun. I seriously love it so much. We got Elina up on the wake board and Heidi on skis, and the both loved it tons. We also took Daniel, Caleb and Todd (two different trips), which was tons of fun. Hopefully we'll go this week, and Mark'll be able to go with us.  We also played mud volleyball a couple weeks ago with my Dad's ward for FHE, which was awesome. Tons of clean up, but well worth it.  Steph and I went to a Parachute concert in Park City, which also had Michelle Branch and The Goo Goo Dolls. It was pretty sweet :)

On Sunday I went to my new ward for the first time, which was strange. I didn't know anyone! It's quite a strange feeling.  Plus our ward meets at 1:30, which is practically the worst time ever. I guess we'll never have an excuse to be late! After church I then drove to Prove to pick up Mark who was driving back from Kansas. I made it to Provo in an hour and fifty minutes, which I must say is pretty impressive :) The ride home was tons of fun. It was way good to actually see him and catch up on life.  When we hit about Ogden the little battery light started glowing in my car. My battery's only 1 1/2 years old, so it shouldn't be having any problems. We stopped at Angie's so Mark could say hi to his sister, and then I dropped him off at his other sister's apartment where all his stuff was. Sadly this is where my car died. Apparently the alternator is dead, which is just lovely. I'm pretty sure my car hates me. We've already put $1800 into it this year, it's getting a bit ridiculous. So I've been bumming rides off people this week, which makes me feel lame.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I moved out last week! I'm living with Elina, Stacy, Paula, Rachel, and another girl names Stacey I just met yesterday. So far it's been great. We didn't get electricity until Thursday or hot water until Friday, but it's been pretty good. We have tons of space, and Paula and I are working on making our little house adorable. Every thing's a little quirky and crooked, but it makes it all the more fun. My shower is super tiny though. I practically have to pull my knee to my face to shave. TMI, I know :)  I'm sharing a room with Elina, which actually used to be a garage. It has a sparkly popcorn ceiling that Cody is convinces is asbestos. We also have our own entrance to the outside, which is awesome. We don't have any air conditioning, which is a bit of a downer. Luckily my mom gave us a fan we named Oscar. He's a bit temperamental, but he's saving us from the heat.  Pictures will be posted when we get the Internet to our little house.

It's been a bit strange with school starting and I'm not going. People are talking about campus activities and classes and meeting people, but I'm not doing any of it. I feel so old!!! Right now I'm wishing I'd either taken another year to graduate, or was starting grad school right now. Is it sad I'm going through school with drawls? I'm a nerd, I know. I've always loved school, and it's all I've ever done, so I kinda feel a little lost right now. Hopefully I'll be able to figure out what I want to do with my life soon.

Dear Boys

Have any of you ever read Elise's Pieces? If not you should, she's adorable. We actually both know Nichelle over at Vintage Wannabee, but I've actually never met Elise. Sometimes I feel like I know people because I read their blogs, and then I feel creepy that I know things about them when I don't actually know them . . . . anyway, she does this hilarious thing on her blog called Dear Boys, where she writes little notes to the boys in her life, so I thought I'd give it a shot :)

Dear Plaid,

I miss your hugs, your face, and our chats. Let's play soon :)

Love, Michelle

Dear High School,

Please stop starring, it's never gonna happen.

~Michelle

Dear New Boy,

You think I'm cute, I think you're cute ... so yeah.

Love, Michelle

Dear BF,

"Jump then Fall" by Taylor Swift. Look it up.

Love, Michelle

PS Heidi might kill you if you don't do something . . .

Dear Basketball,

We should hang out for reals, and not just say we should.

Love, Michelle

Dear M,

I'm so very happy for you. I'm sorry I couldn't be there.

Love, Michelle

Dear Tall Boy,

Come dancing! You're my favorite, and you can do lifts.

Love, Michelle

Dear Blonde Boy,

You should ask Steph out, just sayin' . . .

Love, Michelle

Dear FEC,

I'm trying to be patient, I promise!

Love, Michelle

So I've decided it's about time I finally get around to writing about New York and Connecticut :) I've had this post written for a week and a half, I just needed to add the pictures.

The adventure started on a Sunday night. I had my carry on packed, the polka dot bag we were checking, and a bag that I was checking to bring Mark. I also had his laptop in my shoulder bag.  I loaded up Philip (my lovely blue Honda civic) and headed down to Rachelle's house. It's a little under a two hour drive, and I ended up getting there a little after nine. I grabbed a suitcase to take it inside, and then looked for my shoulder bag - it was nowhere to be found. I started to panic a little. After all, Mark needed his laptop for his job this summer, and the reason I had it was so that he didn't have to mail it to Kansas. I went inside and called Stephanie. Our phone conversation went like this, "Please tell me I didn't leave Mark's computer at home." Steph, "Well, I'm looking at it." Shoot!

My mother, being awesome, decided to meet us halfway so no one had to drive four hours that night.  Kathy and Rachelle hopped in the car with me, and we started back.  It actually ended up being a really nice drive.  We hadn't seen each other for several weeks, so it was a great chance to catch up and have some really good girl talk.  When we made it back that night we made sure everything was ready, and then set our alarms for 5:45 the next morning.

Rachelle's first airplane!

Monday morning we got up bright and early and managed to fit five suite cases in the car with us :)  Rachelle's brother Daniel kindly drove us to the airport.  We got there and made it through security super quick. We ended up being at our gate about an hour early.  Somehow we got lucky, and our seats were by each other all three flights.  We first flew to Vegas (a little out of the way), then to Detroit, and finally to Hartford. The first two flights we had the personal TVs on the seat in front of us, which was really nice. By the end of the day we were all sick of chex mix, red vines, and especially those Delta cookies. None of our layovers were very long, and everything was pretty uneventful. By the time we reached Hartford we were so ready to be done traveling. Kathy's brother Tim picked us up and we spent the night at his house.

On the Train

Tuesday morning we got ready and Kathy's sister-in-law Christy drove us to New Haven where we caught a train to New York. This was Rachelle's first time on a plane and train, so a pretty big two days for her :) After an hour and a half ride we exited into Grand Central Station, which is quite amazing. Google Maps told us our hotel was only .9 miles away, so we decided to walk it. Bad idea! For anyone who's ever been to NY, you know that they streets are crowded, especially around Times Square and the Theater district, which is where our hotel was. Trying to pull three suitcases through the streets was quite the adventure.

Interesting New Yorker #1: A random musician who calls himself 'Mustafa' - Rachelle made eye contact, and suddenly we're all holding Cd's. Kathy got hers signed, and both of us paid him $5, Rachelle got away with paying nothing. First souvenir in NY - a really crappy rap CD with 23 terrible songs. Win, hahaha. He then went on to say we were H-O-T, and could all switch off being a different letter every daily.

INY #2: The guy checking us in at our hotel. Kathy and I went in alone, in case we had too many people for our room :) He gave us 2 beds for the price of one, and in his words, 'best day ever!' He then proceeded to make fun of Kathy when she didn't know what she was talking about.

INY #3: Some guy trying to get us to go to a comedy club. "Are you guys sisters?" "No" "Dang you look alike!"

We at lunch at this little sandwich shop. I ordered a chicken pesto sandwich, but they were out of pesto, so I asked for grilled chicken or BBQ. I had them put on lettuce, cucumber, and avocado, and then for some reason they put on Sweet 'n sour chicken. Gross! It was probably the weirdest sandwich I've ever had, and it cost me $9.80.



Seinfeld Cookie

INY #4: The Purse salesman. We all bought purses from him, and he modeled a purse for Rachelle, pretty much mocking her at wanting to see it on someone :)

INY #4: The kind man in the subway who told us which train to take. "That's your train right there!" We ran up the stairs and then back down on the other side. "Two stops!" He yelled across to us. We liked him a lot.

While walking through NY, a pigeon flew in Kathy's face, and of course she screamed. She was then mocked by a man walking by us :) We then bought fruit form a very nice fruit vendor. We also found a purse for $2700 at Bloomingdale's.

On our way back on the subway, it was way more crowded than we'd seen it before. People push on and off at the same time, and it's quite chaotic. The doors closed so we had to wait for the next one. The next thing I saw was Kathy sadly waving at us as the subway pulled away with her on it alone. Her face was priceless!!! Rachelle and I got on the next train and got off just in time to get a call from Mark, who was just two blocks away. We met him and then we all reunited at the hotel :)

That night we went to Little Italy for dinner. When we got off the subway Mark said we were walking South. A man walking by us then replied, "You're walking east." We got a good laugh from that one :) We then ate on the street at a lovely little restaurant, and it was really good. We were then serenaded by a man with an accordion. He played a slow song and told Mark to dance. I've never seen him so embarrassed, it was hilarious! We then got gelato and saw tons of cockroaches swarming a drain. It was sooooo gross!!

INY #5 - An older man in the subway, wearing a graduation cap, singing happy birthday to Doralee. Only in NY.

That night Kathy, Rachelle and I had a conversation where everything was much funnier than it normally would have been, especially because we were whispering because Mark was asleep. Good times :)

Wednesday morning we headed off to the Statue of Liberty. It was really nice to be in a place that didn't smell like trash. We took a ferry to Liberty Island, and spent a while relaxing there.

Ferry to Liberty Island

Mark sleeping

Cheesy Tourist Pic Fail

 For lunch we ate at one of the 40 Ray's Pizza's in NY. A group of foreign guys invited Rachelle and I to sit with them, which we politely declined.

After Lunch Rachelle and Kathy went to do Baptisms at the temple, and Mark and I went to the David Letterman Show. We waited a while to get our tickets, and somehow got a sticker on the back that meant we were part of the 'audience elite' and were on the second row.  Apparently we're just good looking :) It was fun and a good experience, but I wouldn't normally watch his show. The coached us on laughing before the show started, and informed us all of Dave's jokes are funny, even if we didn't get them. We didn't laugh at the gay marriage and some of the other inappropriate jokes. I'm sure they loved having us on the second row :) The only person I really knew on the show was Patrick Dempsey, which was pretty cool.

 

That night Kathy and Mark went and did a session at the temple. Rachelle and I ate dinner at this salad place, which was really good, except for Rachelle's salad dressing, which was soooo gross! We had a great chat at dinner and then went swimming at the pool.

Thursday was a long day for Mark. He had really bad jet lag, and he tended to fall asleep everywhere. That morning we went to the top of the Rockefeller center, which had amazing views of NY.





  We then saw St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Rockefeller ice rink, and Radio City Hall.

We then got AMAZING smoothies, and took a subway to Brooklyn. We then walked across the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan, which was pretty cool, and fulfilled one of Kathy's dreams :)

After the bridge we went to Chinatown. We ate at this Chinese restaurant that was pretty good.  NY Chinatown is very different than LA's Chinatown. It's tons bigger, but much more ghetto. We walked around for a while trying to find souvenirs, but we were all a bit tired and out of it. Mark bought 3 watches, Rachelle got a purse for her mom, Kathy got a scarf, and I got some nail polish, a bracelet for Steph, and a headband for Meggie. We then got Canolis in Little Italy (which is right next to Chinatown).

I'll take the jelly fish please! (gross!)

We then all headed back to the hotel and took naps so we wouldn't sleep through our Broadway shows :) For dinner we at at Ellen's Stardust Diner, which was pretty fun. They sing show tunes to you while you eat, and it's very touristy and cheesy, but fun. We also got amazing frozen hot chocolate.

Kathy was very disappointed in her gross pickle

 Kathy then went and saw Wicked (for $150), which was another one of her dreams. Rachelle, Mark, and I went and saw Phantom of the Opera, which was amazing. The Phantom had the most amazing voice!

After the shows we went and walked around Time's Square at Midnight. It was still crazy busy. Kathy also got a really neat piece of spray paint art.

Mark loves Nerds :)

Friday morning started off eating breakfast at Fluffy's Cafe. We got real food, which was soooo good.  We then went to the Museum of Modern Art. It was pretty cool, and we did see some really famous pieces, such as "Starry Night" by Van Gogh, but a lot of it was really strange. Tons of it didn't really seem like it was 'art'. 

After the museum we made our way to Central Park. We ran into a guy advertising bike rides through the park, so we decided to do it. He asked where we were from, and had never heard of Utah! Crazy, I know.  We then rented two tandem bikes (Rachelle's dream!) and rode them through the entire park. It was way fun, but pretty tiring :) It was also quite hilarious. 

After Central Park we went to Ground Zero, but there really isn't much to see. When they have it finished it'll be much more impressive. We then at dinner at a different Ray's Pizza, and made our way to Grand Central Station. It was a bit crazy with all of our luggage and tons of stairs, but we finally made it to our train. Rachelle and I sat by two of the cutest little boys ever. One was less than a year old, and the other was almost two. Mark slept the whole way :)

 

Saturday we all slept in, and then headed to the beach. It was super nice to just lay on the beach and chill. The water was warmer than Cali, which was way nice. We ate at this little seafood place called Chick's, which was really good. 

We headed back and then picked Rachel up from the bus station. That night we at at a Portuguese pub, and it was actually really good. We even had squid.

 

Sunday we went to church, and then took Mark to the airport. The rest of the day we spent relaxing with Kathy's family and playing games. Monday was the 4th of July, and absolutely nothing goes on in Hartford!! We took tons of pictures, and went planking :)

We also had a BBQ and made a 4th of July cheesecake.

We attempted to see fireworks, but gave up when the traffic was insane.  We then drove to Storrs to take Rachel back to UCONN. It was a little bit of a creepy drive, which was quite hilarious.  Tuesday was our last day, and we spent it doing random things, like visiting Mark Twain's house.



Lego Mark Twain

 We also learned the importance of putting the correct address into the GPS. We put in 'Hartford' instead of 'West Hartford' when trying to get to the library. We ended up in a sketchy part of town, and witnessed a guys bash in a girl's back car window with a baseball bat about 20 feet from us. We decided not to get out of the car there. We also cooked Kathy's family dinner to saw thank you. That night something happened to the sewer system, and it was leaking in the basement. We all went out to ice cream to use the bathroom :) We also washed our faces outside like we were camping, and waited until we were at the airport the next day to use the bathroom.

Our flights home were fairly uneventful.  We only had our own TV's on our last flight, which was a bit disappointing.  We got to SLC around 4 and we were so ready to be home! Vacations are fabulous, but it's always so good to be back.

Weird coincidence, I texted my Dad when we were in the Minneapolis airport. He called me just as we were landing in Vegas, and apparently he had been in Minneapolis the same time I was! He was coming home from a business trip and then had a layover in Denver. Crazy!

I should have worn water proof mascara . . .

I know I need to blog about New York, and I will do it soon, promise.

Sunday is Steph's birthday, so she's having a party tonight.  I was in charge of making the cake, which was a very bad idea. I let Megan choose what to make her, and she decided on Sponge Bob.  Not too difficult, or so I thought. 

Things didn't go well from the start. It was really hot in the kitchen, so the fondant was extra soft, and it was kinda melting.  His body was made of four cakes (cooked in bread pans) stacked on one another.  They slowly kept tilting backwards, making it extremely hard to get the fondant to stick to the back.  We moved everything to the basement where it was cooler, but it didn't help at all.  Nothing would stick to the cake, and he kept leaning backward even more.  It was super lumpy and not smooth at all. I was so frustrated! Nothing was making it look better, and then I ran out of white fondant, and we didn't have any more powdered sugar.  I went to the bathroom, and when I came back, the top three cakes had tipped over competely. I tried to tell myself to laugh at the situation, because really it was hilarious looking, but I couldn't. I started to bawl. Crying over a cake, pathetic, I know. So there I was, laying under a table in the basement crying over a cake, with my mom telling me I need to finish it, and Megan telling me everything was going to be fine. How sad is it when your eight-year-old sister is trying to get you to stop crying?

You know when you start crying and then you can't stop? Yeah, it's one of those lovely times.  Seriously, it's just a cake, but it's for Steph. Steph's cakes are always beautiful and awesome, and so I wanted hers to be awesome too.  Also, tons of people are coming over, and they'll all see the horrorendous cake that I made. It's just embarassing, really. I told my mom we weren't giving it to her, but she's making me. I sat there holding Bindi while she finished it. I haven't even seen the finished product, but there's no way to make it look decent.

So now people will be here any minute, and I'm sitting on my floor with no make up on, looking like crap, and I can't breathe out of my stuffy nose. In my defense, I think the cake was just the tipping point. I've been stressed out with what to do in the fall, and with something else, and I think the cake just pushed my emotions over the edge.  The doorbell just rang, awesome. I really don't even want to leave my room. I suppose I should try to make myself look presentable. Hopefully I can keep from crying again the rest of the nigh. Well shoot!

NYC

So I'm currently in a hotel in NYC, in Time's Square. It's pretty legit. I'll have to write a big entry on the trip so far, especially chronicling our adventures and all the crazy people we've met, but I'll have to do it when I'm on a computer with a keyboard and not Mark's iPad. Anyway, just a short update to know I'm alive :) the next entry will include our random acquaintances, adventures, and such. Be ready for an update of awesomeness:)

Bored much?

It is currently 2:09pm Mountain Standard Time.  I've been sitting at this desk for six hours, with three more to go. I lead quite the exciting life. To entertain myself I've read every interesting news story on MSN, AOL, and Yahoo, read two magazines, blogged about man capris, organized my emails, and made a packing list for New York. It's been nice to have Mark's iPod touch (he let me borrow it while he's in Europe), because I can listen to it without headphones. I'm glad no one was in the front office when Julian Smith's 'I'm Reading a Book' came one, that would've prompted some odd looks.

Steph just came down to say hi and ask what kind of treat I want. Her jet lag's finally hitting her, so she's running an errand to avoid falling asleep.  I brought the book 'Emma' to read, but I'm afraid Jane Austen's writing might put me to sleep right now.

Two guys that are here several times a week just signed in.  They're a pretty funny pair. Apparently when Sandy's gone they're glad I'm down here, because someone else who covers for her doesn't have a sense of humor. Glad they like me :)

So, Steph just came down (much to quick to have gotten treats already) and told me that my mom just called.  Apparently April's (Heath's wife) sister was in a horrible car accident yesterday.  Both her and her husband have very serious injuries, and their five-year old boy was killed.  Luckily their 7 month old daughter wasn't hurt. I can't even imagine how hard that must be, for everyone involved.  Both parents are in the hospital, and their little boy isn't coming back. When things like this happen it makes me all the more grateful for the Plan of Salvation, and our knowledge of Eternal Families. It's just so sad for everyone involved. Prayers are definitely needed for April and Heath, and especially her family.

That kind of news always puts a damper on the day.  Besides that, it's been a boring, but good day.  The weather is gorgeous outside, which does make it harder to sit inside this office. There haven't been many phone calls, and no weird people have come in, which is definitely a bonus.  I really hate it when I page someone and they don't pick up the call.  Often they're not here, or can't hear the page, but I hate making people wait.  I don't have much control over it, so I hope the don't think I'm just putting them on hold and forgetting about them.

Just submitted a maintenance request form - I actually feel like I'm doing something when I do those. Yay for being helpful :)

Usually it's quite cold in here, but today's it's too warm. Lame. . . . . Just found out the air conditioner wasn't one, we'll see if I flipped the right button to fix it.

Maybe Steph's never coming back with treats . . .

Bored much?

Too bad my spinney chair isn't as comfy as the other chair in here

Oh! So, Steph's surprise was I cleaned her room, and got her some shoe organizers for her closet. It took me around 5 hours to clean it. It was kinda ridiculous.  I also changed the light bulb in her closet so she can actually see what she's doing.  A picture of the beautifully clean room will be posted when I get home :)

It seems to be getting cooler in here. . . . maybe it's the placebo affect.

For some reason this sticky note makes me want to touch it, just to see what happens. Delirium is setting it.

I am so tired of sitting here.  I have the strong desire to go running, probably because I can't right now. Lame.