We Don't Know What's Going On

"We don't know what's going on in your life anymore."

Megs and Jules informed me of this last Friday night when Rob (fighting the urge to call him Robalicious, fighting the urge...) and I visited them at Megan's house.

I launched into some spiel about how I don't know, when another person is involved in my day-to-day life, how much of that can be considered "public" and how much can be considered "private."  So, I'll share the big stuff so you have a little morsel.

1. My sissy Britty and her new husband Matt came to town to visit me for Thanksgiving!  Lots of great adventures - watching the Macy's parade, the on fire fountains at City Creek, the funicular at the St. Regis, Christmas lights in downtown SLC, Quick Wits, game nights with old friends, IMAX Skyfall, two new pairs of boots for $35 total at midnight (These and two pairs of gym pants were my total black Friday haul) and pure exhaustion.

2. I experienced my first Ferre family Thanksgiving - complete with Christmas singing afterwards!  And my first Smyth-family Pie Night on Thanksgiving Eve.

3. Rob is coming to Ohio for Christmas adventures, complete with a visit to the A Christmas Story house!

4. I have been asked by my wonderful director of ole, Wendy Dahl-Smedshammer, to reprise my role as Sister Mary Leo in Nunsense in March.

I think that's it in big news for now - love you all!

LEATHERBY'S!

Britty and Matt helped me decorate for Christmas and I awarded Brit the "star on top" privileges

Christmas Tree in the LDS Conference Center

Scheel's - this totally ridiculous sporting goods store

Ferre family Thanksgiving

Cafe Rio with Rob's amazing friends from Orlando days of yore

Pie Night at Megan Smyth's

Ferre Family Thanksgiving

Cantina - my fav Mexican place!

NYC: City Sidewalks, Busy Sidewalks, Dressed in Holiday Style

I just returned from my second adventure to New York City to celebrate Thanksgiving and ring in the Christmas season.

Thanksgiving morn, I checked into the hotel and headed straight away to Central Park West and 66th to watch the Macy's parade. At first my view wasn't prime, but about half way through, the gentle cops let me into a private viewing area - three cheers for cops! I took pictures of every float and balloon I could see. I've added a few here for you - Kanye, Buzz, Jessica Simpson, Smurf, Joan Rivers, and Santa (the most important).







You can't escape a trip to New York at Christmas without the obligatory photo of Radio City Music Hall - home of the Rockettes. Just around the corner is the Rockefellar Center tree, but we left about 30 hours before the official lighting, so those pictures are kinda boring.


One of my favorite NYC meals is white pizza - hands down top five.


We stopped by FAO Schwartz just to see if there was a "Big Piano" show going on, but we found Santa instead. Looks like I made the naughty list this year;-)


I never have my picture taken in Times Square because it seems so cliche, but I figured after making it through Black Friday alive, and with a full shopping bag in tow, I deserved a celebratory cliche photo.


Britty and I decided to go visit the real Santa at Macy's again this year. We told him what we wanted last year and all our dreams came true. Why not give it another go? We love the winter wonderland you travel through to meet him.


On our descent from Santa's house, we took this photo so I could post it and show you all those people. Yeah, there were easily three times that many people the day before. Don't try Macy's the day after Thanksgiving. Ever.


The thought just occurred to me that I could have been wearing the same outfit the entire trip and you would never know what was under that coat. Regardless, the morning of our departure day, we went for the most amazing, peaceful walk along the East Side of the island near our hotel to see the Statue of Liberty for my sis. You can see from the sun and my squinty face how beautiful of a day the sun kissed us with.


If you want to see more photos, you'll have to check out my Facebook page. My sister also took just as many photos, but we divided up the task, so we don't have any duplicate pictures. I can't wait to see them.

What else did we do in NYC?

We saw the first ever performance of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. I am going to dedicate an entire entry to that experience alone. How many times in your life can you say you saw the first production of the biggest budget Broadway show in history? Oh yeah...pretty much never. We were very blessed and fortunate.

I also saw Elf - The Musical, Memphis, and Next to Normal. I can't begin to tell you what a life-changing experience Next to Normal is - if you ever have the chance to see it, you must. No arguments. Memphis is a Broadway spectacular if I've ever seen one - I left saying, "Now that is a Broadway show." Elf? Cute, darling, colorful, gorgeous sets, energetic dances, great for children, but nothing worth screaming about - the movie is just too good to speed up to fit in musical numbers.

One unique experience we had this trip was meeting up with my friend Clint. He drove into the city and escorted us around all evening. We visited a Christmas market in Union Square, sampled truffles, crepes, pretzels, and organic hot chocolate, visited the Met (first time for Brit!), ate Thai food, walked around Rockefellar Center, and topped the evening off with Magnolia cupcakes and door-step service to our hotel. Shout-out to Clint - thanks for the magical evening!

Other things? Shake Shack! Chinatown, the new Disney Store on Times Square (extremely disappointing compared to the old 5th Avenue location), Central Park, the Christmas star light show at Columbus Circle (magical, calming, see it...late at night), Pier 17, Max Brenner's Chocolate by the Bald Man, Serendipity, World Trade Center area (where our hotel was), walked by the Ray's Pizza that is the original according to Santa in Elf, and stayed up late chitter chattering. The trip was fantastic. If you've never been to NYC, stop making excuses and just go. I'm in love.

Temple of Dandur and Clint at the Met

Me and Brit at Rockefellar Center

Me and Brit with the Rockefellar Center Tree-topper

Columbus Circle light show

New York at Christmas Time!

I failed to mention that I fled the sorrow that was encompassing my life a few weeks ago by taking a less-than-one-week's-notice-holiday trip to NYC!
I have had a dream of being in New York at Christmas since, well, at least since Home Alone 2.
I stood there watching the Macy's Thanksgiving parade in Times Square and thought to myself, "I feel so foolish. The only reason I'm standing here is because I am running away from my problems." Then I realized, no matter the reason I was there at that moment, I was living a dream come true - not just for myself, but for so many others. I received a text from my mom during the parade about how she has dreamed her whole life of doing what I was doing.
I also decided to fly in my little sister as her Christmas present, although she couldn't come in until the day after Thanksgiving. She somehow convinced her friend Ryan (who came with us in April) to come as well. The three of us had a blast.
I can't describe the feeling of your heart being filled with sorrow and joy, both overwhelming, at the same time. My life is extremely blessed. I know this even when I'm going through any sort of emotional or physical challenge. I know my Heavenly Father loves me and watches out for me - including making the fares to NYC the same price five days in advance as they would have been a year in advance:-)