The Best Birthday Gift Ever, Otherwise Known As Rob's Wedding.

Geez.  I have put this post off so long because I almost don't even know where to start.  I had a fabulous birthday weekend because I got to go to DC for Rob Moffat's wedding.  What that also meant was, I got to spend the day/weekend with some of my favorite friends in the whole world, the Tinneys, the Littles, plus Joseph Ogden, all in from Utah for the wedding.  I'll start with mah birthday and move on from there, shall I?  I shall. 

I took a bus down to DC on the big day, which was fine because I knew who was waiting for me on the other end.  So 4 hours on a bus was no big deal.  I met up with my people about mid afternoon at the Foggy Bottom metro station. 

 

Don't worry that when Chad told me Foggy Bottom, I thought he said "Soggy Bottom," so that is what I asked about when I got to the train station.  The attendant laughed at me sooo hard.  No biggie, I laughed with her, and marveled that the station attendants are so NICE in DC as opposed to NYC.  Seriously.  My friends laughed at me pretty hard too when I told them the story.  We ate dinner at some burger eatery; I don't even remember the name, but I sure did get a free birthday cake shake. 

:-)

 

We saw a play called Sheer Madness that night, and had a great time. We laughed so hard, in part because of the sweet boy in front of us who was REALLY enjoying himself.  I love audience members.  

Larene needed me to do a little bit of lunging for my day, and everyone else got in on the action.  Truly, I don't even know how or when this became my thing, and everyone knows it, but there it is. 

 Happy Birthday to me!  

I really do love my friends.  They are the best, and made my day so fun.  

Rob's wedding on Saturday wasn't until 4pm, so we went out and saw some sights in the morning.  Just a few monuments, you know, but enough walking that Larene needed to stretch out in preparation.  

Also captured for posterity would be my amazing style of sneakers with my skinny jeans, and Joseph's switch leaps in front of every monument.  It's fine. 

Jefferson Memorial

Jefferson with my faves.

FDR memorial

MLK Memorial

The wedding was just incredible! 

Mr. and Mrs. Rob and Courtney Moffat!

 First of all, beyond seeing my great friends from Utah, I was so excited to see Rob's family, who I haven't seen in years.  But then, all these old friends from college showed up that I had no idea would be there!  It was just a big reunion! 

 I could have died of happiness that day.  And the weather was gorgeous to boot.  

Oh, and yes, one of my best friends in the world married an amazing girl in a beautiful ceremony in the DC temple.  I cried.  I'm so happy for him.  So there was that.  Winning. 

  

The dinner was held at a lovely Italian restaurant.  

We all had assigned seats, and were all given T-shirts as party favors that said #worththewait on it. We ate really well that night.  The only problem I had was the bartender put way too much cream in my Coke.  This happened and it was gross.  Oh well.

Cristian was at the dinner as well.  He is also very close to Rob.  I haven't seen him in 4 years, and so it was kind of a big deal to see each other.  I met his new wife Venus, who was lovely, in all honesty.  I can't imagine being the new wife of a man when he sees his ex for the first time in years.  And witnessing all of it.  She was really gracious about the situation.  Truth be told, it was harder and more emotional than I thought it would be.  But we got it over with and were able to move on with the night.  I'm so everlastingly grateful for the support of my friends who were there with me, watching me to make sure I was alright.  I felt so loved that night and I'm profoundly thankful.  The night was still awesome, however.  I loved every minute, sans The Greeting Of The Ex.

Young Ambassador friends Jay and Marilee Spencer.

I stayed with my old friend Nancy Burgess, who I reconnected with this past year.  She lives in DC, and is good friends with the bride, Courtney.  It was so fun to see her!  

On Sunday we went to the Holocaust Museum.  It was stunning.  I really could spend days there, just learning about all the intricacies of that major aspect of our history.  It was horrifying and utterly fascinating, trying to comprehend how one person could influence so many people to commit such atrocities.  The way Hitler thought is so completely foreign to me that I can't even comprehend it.  

I had a beautiful weekend.  In every way.

Those crazies even sent me this pic to let me know they missed me.  

And then I came home to this.  #WHY

#springcallmemaybe

Winter, You Can Be So Pretty, But We Need To Break Up. And I Have A Cold.

Some shots of Central Park the day after a big storm came through.  Those days are always stunning.  Most of the time it is really sunny, but freezing.  The snow is actually white, though it does not stay that way for long!  The world seems like it is just coming to life again on mornings like this. 

I had come down with a cold as soon as I got back from my grad school audition.  On this particular morning, I was bravely doing another audition, even though I had only about 50% of my voice.  Looking back, not a great idea.  But 'A' for effort, right?  Anyhow, I got some pretty pictures...

I also really love Park Avenue.

Sometimes, when you are tired, you bring your own chair to sit on while waiting for the train.  Then you take it with you and sit in it on the train.  You know, just to make sure you get a seat at rush hour.

My friend Suzanne and I (my favorite Jew, you know. It's fine.  I'm her favorite Mormon).  In total defiance of the freezing day that it was outside, we met for frozen yogurt to celebrate her one-woman show, and my grand accomplishment of auditioning for grad school.  Really, it was just our version of needing to treat ourselves, since I'm not going to get drunk with her. :-)  She probably took care of that just fine with others....

I was still sick this day.  Looking back, I was sicker than I gave myself credit for.  I probably should not have been out of the house.   Dumb cold.  So sneaky.

Finally gave myself a sick day, but wanted to follow through on my commitment to feed the missionaries with my friend Dave that evening.  I was rewarded by getting to witness this arm wrestling match over the last cookie.  Elder Holtum won.

Feeling much better, and good enough to document my commuter chic.  What else is a girl supposed to do when her pants are hemmed for heels?  You're welcome.

Just a little peek at Eva after she discovered her true artistic self.  And the markers.  Thanks for the updates, Sarah!

Can we be done with winter yet?  And PS, being sick is for the birds.

Untitled Post About How I Have Awesome Friends.

This is Mel, as we head home in the cold after a girls night in at Deb's place.  In the winter, you just do what you gotta do.  Those are definitely onesie pajamas under her coat. 

Joseph Ogden, as we celebrate some kind of pie day. 

Jeff.  My soulmate.  To clarify, WE ARE JUST REALLY GOOD FRIENDS.  And always will be, nothing more.  But I love this man so much.  He left to work on a cruise ship, and this was taken at his farewell party.  I miss him to pieces.  He gets me. 

Sometimes old roommates and friends come to town for a quick visit and I meet them for an essential lunch at Shake Shack.  This was one of those times.  Oh, how I love me some Natalie Monreal!

Going to see some live music with these crazies.  I really need to do this more often.

Matt Bellows and I, auditioning for a toothpaste commercial.  Not really.  We just went to lunch on a freezing day before he moved to LA.  But our teeth look so white!  It must have been the grilled cheese sandwich.

Sometimes David uses a vase for juice.  Because he can, I guess.  That same vase was also definitely used at his birthday party a few days later.  Not for birthday flowers, but for water.  It's cool. 

Sometimes you show up to a party wearing a new shirt you are really excited about, and discover that your friend Alexis is wearing the same shirt. (Thanks, Old Navy! Still one of my faves, 3 months later.  I wear it all the time).  So naturally you take a picture, and naturally you are photo bombed by the precocious Lily Orton.  The cutest.  Plus, I had just gotten my hair cut and colored that day and it looked awesome. :-)

Just A Slice Of Life, You Know...

These didn't warrant a post in and of themselves, but I wanted to throw a few pictures up from the last few winter months because, why not?  Enjoy.

Karaoke night is serious business.  It's also serious business when a friend steals my phone and takes selfies. 

???  I don't even know what to say to this, but I'm glad for the clarification. ???

NYC is a concrete jungle in a lot of ways, but somehow I still love the view.

Speaks for itself, I say.  Found in a Playbill at a Broadway play I saw recently.  PJ's, anyone?  No? OK.

Another shot of the Empire State Building on a beautiful, cold day.

Another play with my girls Mala, her mom, Amber, and Sharon for Sharon's birthday.  And of course Mala brought birthday donuts for intermission.  Winning.

Valentine's Day in Central Park.  If this doesn't make you want to stay inside under a blanket with your Valentine, I don't know what does.  I'll let you know the next time I have one of those...

Sometimes, the struggle is real, folks.  The struggle is real.

St. Patrick's Cathedral!  I love this place, and it has been going under pretty extensive restoration/renovations since I moved here.  But a lot of the scaffolding is finally down from the outside and inside.  So beautiful!  The souvenir medals machine inside?  Not so cute.  I'm sad about materialism encroaching on a church.  What is extra sad is they probably really need the money to keep the operations up.

But really.  This place is gorgeous.

Subway Etiquette

Guys.  Subway Etiquette is a thing.  Pay attention and act accordingly.  The only picture I have yet to get, but I will, is the one about man-spreading.  That's a thing too. 

For The Love Of Bacon...

My friend Melanie Donahoo loves bacon.  Loves it.  My other friend Rachel Perkins and I love scones.  Love them.  Long story short, Valentine's Day turned into Bacontine's Day with a big brunch for our friends.  A whole lot of bacon happened, plus scones, eggs, muffins, fruit- you name it.  It was amazing food, and so fun.  Kudos to me on choosing such a fun group to spend my spare time with!

And, I have to say, that Naomi's maple butter was the hit of the morning.  No joke.  I also had to go to 4 different grocery stores before I found the mapleine flavoring, but it was totally worth it.

Happy Bacontine's Day!

Dallin the photobomber.

Rachel, Mel and I, cooking the scones and bacon like champs.

I like these people.  And this apartment.

Ty, Sharon and Brigham, with some scone/maple butter realness.

#snowpacalypse

The end of January brought the most intense, massive blizzard warning New York has seen in 20 years.  Everything shut down.  For the first time ever, the whole public transportation system went offline. A snow day was called for the all the schools in the city in preparation.  Thousands of people left work early and business hours were shortened.  In fact, I would say most people I know had a snow day called.   It was going to be a big one.  So I (against my better judgement, but not wanting to miss a night with my girls) packed an overnight bag and headed to Deb's place for a sleepover with Melanie and Carolyn, who was in town for a few days.  We ate and chatted until the wee hours of the morning, all the while thinking this huge blizzard was going to come.  

It didn't come.

It was just a snowstorm like any other.

I know a lot of people were very relieved, but frankly, I was looking forward to the drama of it all, and a potential day off. Didn't happen.  So I was a little let down, honestly.

At least we lived, and weathered the storm together. Whew.

Then I went to work.

I'm ready to brave the storm, heaven help me.

Thai/Mexican food and Schmackery cookies. A typical night with the girls.

Carolyn was done.

The crazy aftermath!  

NYC as a ghost town is always cool. 9th Ave.