V-day weekend! My sister's in town!!!!

My sister LeNae came into town from Ohio, for which I thought was her long weekend due to President's day, but I guess her community college she attends in the Cleveland area does not respect that... who does that these days?  Anyways, she was able to come and visit me for the weekend. We had so much fun- and she was the best guest, because she has spent much time in the city and was just along for the ride. So we went to CPK to eat dinner, and to Buttercup bakery to indulge in some divine red velvet cake. We then went to the movie "Shopaholic" and woke up bright and early on Saturday to clean the church... yeah.... then afterwards went with some friends for brunch at one of our local favorites, Kitchnette. Then stopped by Sephoria to do a make-over, since we hadn't put on any make-up. Then walked around South Seaport, and lounged for a bit. We made the infamous stop to Grimaldi's to eat their pizza with some other friends, then walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, and took in the beautiful view of the Empire State Building with the red lighting on the top. Then stopped by Times Square to perform the ritual and eat a delicious black and white cookie. Then she attended my ward and meet many more people, I think she was probably over socialized by the end :) What I love most about having sister around, is it didn't matter what we did we always had fun, simply just being together and having great talks- how much I love and miss my little sister LeNae :)

This is the place... UTAH!

So like I mentioned before my two friends and I (Thomas and Joe) found beyond cheap tickets to fly to Utah for the weekend. So we jumped on it, for multiple reasons... one was to finally attend my dentist appointment which I have had to postpone many times (don't worry about it, just a minor root canal... ouch!) to see a jazz game, and to go to Brian head to stay in our good friend Tracy's cabin. Well, since I was so close to home, I made a little pit stop in LaVerkin and Hurricane (that is where my mom lives now) and finally went to the infamous Pah tempe hot springs, the one thing in my own backyard I have yet to do. Then returned to SLC on Sunday night able to see a few friends before departing on my red eye that did not leave until midnight... yeah, it was kind of a rough night, I will not lie... but it was all worth it! Oh ya, and it was meant to be a skiing trip, but after my root canal in SLC, my head was pounding so that is why it's a picture of the guys and no me, and they had fun making fun of me while I was under the influence of loritab... such nice friends....:)

Conan O'Brien, Superbowl Sunday and a jazz game....

So my friend Mark Weinberg who lived in NYC last summer came out for a visit and his sole purpose was to see the Conan O'Brien Show before it sadly comes to an end. So last minute a ticket opened up and I gladly took that extra ticket :) I love going to tapings of shows and especially while living in NYC, this is the time to live it up! We then went to Star dust diner where the staff are wanna be singers on broadway so they sing karokee while serving their customers....

Then my cute friend Emilee invited me and my other cute friend Kim to a Superbowl party uptown at her friend's house. It was such a nice place, which felt like a fresh of breath air while cramped in our places, and we met a lot of nice people and even had fun with his Utah helmet, apparently he used to play for them :)

Then shortly after that my friends and I purchased cheap tickets to Utah for $240 taxes and all... so headed out to attend the Jazz game against the Dallas Mavericks while enjoying the VIP seats. It was so fun because we landed extra tickets to give to everyone, and my good friend Mehgan happen to be in town, so she was able to join us as well as Jenn who happened to be in town as well from NYC... small and random world....

Winter Activities in NY....

Ice skating, eating out and the i-pod game.... need I say more. So for FHE one night we all met at Bryant Park and went Ice skating. It was a riot and I did not fall down once :) Also while it is freezing outside I tend to stay in doors more and simply order in,which is a wonderful perk of living in the city. We go to a lot of movies like when a friend a mind sent out an email to see the chick flick "Bride Wars" to only a few girls and  you know how that communication chain works... so shows up 20 females to the theatre, better turn out than enrichment :) It was a lot of fun. We also had a good bye party for one our sweet friends, Jacinta who is moving back to Australia, and in her honor we played the i-pod game. Where someone listens to their ipod with their eyes blindfolded and sings to everyone else, horribly off key and we all just laugh and make fun... sounds fun doesn't it? Well it is and everyone participated and I dare say it had to have been one of the most fun nights of my life! 

O-H-I-O

So for the MLK's birthday weekend, I decided to take advantage and visit two of my sisters in West Lake, OH. Where it was 10 degrees below zero don't worry about it, the first time that I felt like the weather in NY was better :) I went and stayed with my sister Loni and her four darling boys, who just simply crack me up and she's such a good and cute mom. We took Roger and Mikey swimming, and when we walked out of the rec center, it was so cold my hair froze, it was brittle and I thought if I would, I could probably break it off, being a desert girl, never had experienced that one before. I surprised my sister LeNae, who didn't know I was coming and we had fun going to Target, watching movies, eating at the restaurant she works at, Brio and seeing "Marley and Me". I even embarked on the craze and attended a "stamp it up" party... let's just say it's not my thing.... I did love how wherever Loni and Todd went the boys clung to them, playing on them... it was so cute to see how much they just love to be around their parents. And the highlight was going to LeNae's single's branch special sacrament and testimony meeting in the Kirtland Temple :)

Yeee- HAW!!! it's the rodeo in the big apple.

So I must have been feeling home sick for the west.... because some friends and I decided to make our appearance at the annual PBR (professional bull riders) at the Madison Square garden back on Jan. 10th. We purchased cheap tickets for $10, and watched this rustic men tackle the notorious 8 seconds they are aiming for. However after awhile you can only see so many PBR's... it was fun to see the country folk coming out of the wood work of NY..... we of course continued the festivities by watching "8 Seconds" afterwards. Wow! I forgot how hot Luke Perry really was :)

 So obviously I am a bit behind, but that is okay, because at least I am posting again :)

So Christmas is that special time of year.... I went home to LaVerkin to spend time with the family and we were able to talk to my brother Reagan, who is on his mission in Texas, it was so good to talk to him and he comes home in June, how time flies.

Then for New Years some friends and I took a little road trip in a 15 white passenger van to Santa Monica Beach, to stay at my dad's apartment for a few days.  It was a very memorable and  "adventurous trip" with disputing over directions with Nate, being a shuttle service to the LAX airport for Ivan, Tracy's first experience eating Lobster, Hot tubbing, Venice Beach, tennis, a lot of board games, falling asleep to movies, rose parade (via TV for some, personal attendance for other) and Bunkerville..... need I say more.... it was a great trip!

Family Pictures!!!

Family pictures are those special times, the family members who all share such different tastes and likes try to collaborate and color coordinate their outfits to match, and then they all put on happy faces even if we are freezing outside in Ohio.... the beauties of keeping up with the appearances.

Thanksgiving

So this is my family's first Thanksgiving since my parents have just recently got divorce. I was a bit weary and nervous, but it ended up being one of our best. Everyone was excited to be with each other, we were all congenial with each other especially my parents. And the best part of the whole holiday weekend was after eating our Thanksgiving dinner, we went around the table to express what we were thankful for, and it ended up being a very sweet expressions of how we all love and forgive each other due to our circumstance, it felt like a bit of closure and our own special family therapy :)  (Sorry if it's too personal)

Then afterwards my sisters and I joined in doing a zillion piece jigsaw puzzle and taking the "Twlight" Which character are you test?...... drum roll please......you guessed it Jacob Black.