Tinkerbell Fairy

Sunday was so relaxing and nice. Sometimes nothing is better than catching up with old friends, and this was one of those days. We all (Me, Brad, Maria, and Corey, Maria's husband) watched conference on TV in our pajamas and Maria made us cinnamon rolls that were to die for (Brad was really impressed, and Maria, you should post the recipe up here as a comment).
Today was also Maria's little girl Audrey's birthday. She was three today, and Maria made her a tinkerbell cake that turned out awesome. So while we watched conference on the laptop, we talked and frosted the cake and made magic cupcake wands for the party. So cute!!
We left about 5, and headed out to finally catch up with Brad's friends, who were late, so we walked around Temple Square for awhile, which was nice. We met up with Brad's friends for just a few minutes and then headed over to Emily Smith's house. It had also been a little over a year since I'd seen her, and I had never seen her newest little boy, Everett. So we spent a few hours just talking and catching up, too. Her little boys were so cute and it was so nice to see them all again. (And thanks for the sandwich!! And you should post your bread recipe up here, too!!) - Tha's em's husband dave standing up all fuzzed out in the picture as brad plays papparazi....
We drove home all in one night because Brad had a test this morning. We drove from 9p to 6a. It wasn't so bad. And we did see lots of cute animals. 2 ground squirrels, 4 bunnies, 2 dead deer, 3 dead racoons, and mouse. Fun fun fun!

Crazy Day

How lucky we are to have friends! Not traveling to Utah very much, I sometimes forget I actually have friends who live there. (especially if I don't check my blog for a day or two). Hold up...I should probably talk about conference a bit...
So Brad and I oringinally had tickets to different sessions. So he posted on craigslist that we would switch with someone and it worked out great. So we did a little manuvering once we got inside and got to sit together. We went to the Saturday afternoon session, and it was really good. Besides the fact that it's just an amazing sight, my favorite part was standing and singing with 21,000 people. Besides knowing a bunch of people in other countries are doing the same thing.
Afterwards, Brad and I drove to Layton and ate at Olive Garden. It was really crowded, but surprisingly, the bar was almost empty. So we sat and ate dinner there, which was actually very good.
I had called Maria- my friend from high school that I haven't seen in at least 2 years-- to see where exactly she lived. Which was in Layton! So I dropped Brad-o off at the guys' session of conference at a church near Maria's house and just went over and chilled. It was so fun to talk and catch up on things.
At 8, I left to go pick up Brad. We had plans to go to a comedy improv at the Off Broadway Theatre. I had a blind date that someone from work down in AZ had set me up on. And two of Brad's friends were supposed to meet us there.
So we set off looking for a hotel where we could stay, but they were all booked. So...
I called Maria and asked if she really wouldn't mind if we stayed in here basement and she was like "totally!!!" So almost all of my stress went away.
BUT I Still looked like a mess because I was wearing my church clothes and my makeup had all worn off AND it had rained like crazy and my hair was plastered to my head. So...sneaky sneaky...we drove back to the Peery hotel. And I got my clothes and toothbrush out of the trunk, and walked through the lobby to the bathrooms in the hallway. And changed. And brushed my teeth. And then walked straight out. Scandalous!
I did my hair and makeup in the car and then we drove to Temple Square and met Chip in front of the assembly hall. (Nice guy, not really attracted to him). Brad's friends had bailed on us so it was just us 3, which actually was ok.
The theater was hilarious. The show is called Laughing Stock and it's right off Main and 300 South and is totally worth going to whenever you have a chance.
So we dropped off Chip, and drove back to Maria's. She had left the door unlocked so we sneaked right in and downstairs with our Wendy's. :o) She had left us cute little notes all over about where stuff was and was so cute.
And I think I caught up on 4 nights of sleep while I was there 'cause I felt better than I had in a long time.
Thank you, Mer!!

The Peery Hotel

One thing Brad does really well is think of fun things to do. He's still working on all the planning elements. :o) So we he called two of his friends really late to see if we could stay there (I think they'd kind of talked about it....I thought a little more...) they were busy or out of town. So I got online and got us a fun hotel. Now, it's kind of a waste of romantic-ness to stay in a hotel this fun with your brother, but it was still fun. They had one room left with two beds and it wasn't too expensive. The Peery hotel is right downtown and was built in 1910. I think the elevator is original..it's really squeaky and has crazy old buttons and hasn't completely stopped by the time the door opens. hehe so fun. Also, we had two canopy beds, free bottled water, bath and body works stuff, 500 thread count sheets on Simmons mattresses, and robes, and Egyptian cotton towels. That's what the website says, anyways, and it was a blast. I slept so good. But not long enough. Turns out our 10 hour drive was an 11 hour drive where we changed time zones and lost an hour so it seemed like 12. Anyways, here's some pictures of us chillin' in our room.

Arizona is prettier than I thought

Brad and I headed out to SLC on Friday. I took my first Paid Time Off, and must say that I enjoyed it quite a bit. :o) Up till now, I had only driven from Bullhead City to Phoenix, which is not a particularly gorgeous drive. This time we drove through Flagstaff and on cool little highways and it was gorgeous. I took one picture that turned out great (due to Brad's cool camera that can make pictures turn out great at 80 mph). It was SO COLD when we got to Utah!!! We left a 94 degree day and arrived at a rainy 42 degree night. Ahhh! Take me back! Take me back!

The Dinner Parties Are Starting!!!

So, before I even moved here, I told my roommates my exciting plan to have people over for dinner from our ward so that I could get to know people better. It's taken a few months. I wasn't really totally comfortable doing it alone, and I was still getting adjusted to work and stuff, but about four days ago, Brad and I got together and made the menu. And today I stood up in church and announced it and we passed around the list. We are going to have two guys and two girls over each week. We planned it until the end of the year. Unfortunately, people were so interested in reading the menu that it made it through about 4 of 60 rows. So we are going to have to split up the pages next week. People seem really excited, though, and are excited that people are "being so social." Tonight we had a few girls over, five actually, FIVE, (thanks Brad) and he made a roast and corn and I baked chocolate chip cookies. We all just sat around and talked and it was really great. We are going to Salt Lake for General Conference next week, so the craziness starts 2 weeks from today. Yay!!

I Know Now Why People Live Here

This article appeared last week in the Arizona Republic. It sums up nicely how crappy summer is here and how amazing "fall" is here. It's like the most beautiful 95 degrees I've ever been a part of. With awesome 75 degree nights and mornings. I went swimming on Wednesday. Usually I don't even like swimming all that much, but I was in for 40 minutes and totally didn't want to get out. I met a cute boy, our neighbor, named Darren, I think. :o) Anyways, it was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

A Bit About My Job

So I haven't written very much about my job because some of it would violate the whole privacy act thing, and really, the stories are the best. But I'll say as much as I think I can get away with. With no blood stories, except, really the #2 stuff is way worse and I almost throw up every single time. Really.
So I usually have five patients. I work on a floor with a lot of old people, a lot of gallbladder removal surgeries, small bowel obstructions (lots), newly discovered cancer, and fainting spells, heart attacks, and strokes. And alcohol withdrawals and a few random car accident people.
I've had a really good time meeting a lot of my patients. The thing is, by the time they get to us, they are pretty stable, and it's a lot like serving- except that you take vitals, give medication, and tuck them into bed.
The confused people are my favorites. Usually. Except one lady was totally nuts and I had to call up security and put her in restraints and give her a shot of Haldol to calm her down. These same people also rip out their IV's and cause all sorts of drama. And usually take off their clothes.
The other day one was telling me about her non-existant Ukranian boyfriend who made her have sex 29 times. "29 TIMES!" she says. "Can you believe it!"
Poor little confused people.
Im getting good at putting IV's in. I have now given a backrub and washed someone's hair while they were on the toilet, because, well, once they are in bed they don't like to move.
I met an amazing 90-year old who had just bought himself a new Dodge pickup and was about to go hunting. Hadn't been to the doctor is 40 years. He went home the next day.
The healthy ones who just pop in are amazing. The people who come back because they just won't make the changes they need to drive you nuts.
There have been days where I feel like I'm the best nurse ever. And then days where I totally forget to do important stuff and am like, "Crap! The antibiotic is 3 hours late and I never gave that unit of insulin and it's been 6 hours and I haven't even looked at the chart 'cause everybody's IV is infiltrated (swollen) and they're in pain and the doctor is calling and......" AHh!!
And then there are awesome days that go smooth and the patients think you're the best nurse in the world and you leave notes for doctors in the charts that you are convinced are going to change their lives and all is good.
I work at night, so usually I don't so much see the doctors or call them as much as leave Post-it notes in the charts for them to see in the morning.
Oh, and ATIVAN. Ativan is lovely. And I don't know how anybody was ever a nurse without it. When your patients are anxious, frustrated, upset, scared, or can't sleep, or withdrawing from alcohol, you give them ativan, and all the bad stuff goes away. Lots of day shift nurses get all frustrated and I say "Did you give them this ativan that was ordered if they need it?" And they say no. And I give it, and everybody is happy. I'm kind of a huge ativan fan.
I work 7p-7a usually, which is great. I eat lunch about midnight and sleep from 8a-4p. Very well.
That's my job!! :o)

I Totally Puked

In all my many years of working out, I have never puked. Never, actually, have I even come close to puking. Not after my 10K, not after any of my several crazy things. Here is the formula. Eat only a peach for breakfast. Meet with your Personal Trainer at the gym. Do a five minute fit test on a bike, then do 3 leg exercises, 2 sets of 15. Bingo!!
I was appalled.
So I joined a new gym. "Pure Fitness"- I gave up on ASU, and here you get a personal training session once a month (twice your first month). So...that's how it went. I talked to Brad. He said leg exercises on an empty stomach make him puke, too. And since I generally avoid leg exercises, never really had a problem.
I will be eating next Saturday before my appointment.
Anyways, yes I made it to the bathroom (barely) and am very excited for this gym. It's really nice, not too crowded, and my personal trainer is really cool. He's from Vermont, and he moved here about the same time I did. Jeremy.
This week I worked two 12 hour night shifts, 2 6 hour day shifts, and a 9 hour night shift. My body has no idea whatsoever of when it is supposed to sleep.
I am getting callouses on the fingertips of my left hand. Sexy yes-i-play-guitar-callouses. Really, that probably deserves its own entry because I am SOO excited about it. I even told people at work. I know like 9 chords now and am very happy with the whole situation. My guitar doesn't stay in its bag anymore, and Brad has been playing his a lot more (he knows a few songs) and we sit around on the couches and play together and I love it.
Tomorrow I am going to finish applying for the Doctor of Nurse Practice Program. It's 3 years and starts in January. Then really. No more school.
Going to go yoga out my sore sore legs now.
Love y'all,
cc

Wow.

So on Saturday night I went with a girl from church to see Micah- my guitar teacher-play downtown. You know when you go see someone you know perform and you have this certain level of expectations and if the actual performance falls anywhere in the vicinity, then you're happy? This wasn't like that.
I was SOOOO impressed. And it was so fun to point him out to people and go," That's my guitar teacher." His songs were amazing, the lyrics were sexy, and his voice was great. Really. It was. I was so impressed. His website is fromguitartomusic.com. Then you have to click on a few things to actually hear the clips he has on there, but he played "Midnight" and "One by One." I don't know how they compare to the live experience, but fun nonetheless..
Afterwards, me, Ariana, Micah, Jennie (girfriend), Brad (brother), and Ashli (Brad's date to the ASU football game) all went and ate and hung out at a place called Boston's until like 1 am. It was such a blast and we all had such a good time talking and laughing.
Good, good times.
cc

The Cooling Tunnel

This is the view looking in the cooling tunnel that all the syrup goes through. Kinda cool. Apparently one lady who worked there with her husband at the other end of the tunnel spelled out I love you in syrup bottles. How cute.

Factory Girl

This is me today at the church cannery. I put about 8000 bottles of syrup on this conveyor belt. Sweet! Also, I had my first Arizona date today. We had lunch at On The Border. Not my soulmate, but definitely a nice guy. And a good lunch. :o)
cc

They're BACK!

Last year, my roommate and I went on a mad hunt for Dark Chocolate Peanut M&M's. You see, they made them when Star Wars came out as a special edition. By the time they were discontinued, Jessica was already addicted. So we drove around Boise for about three hours looking for any we could find. We finally found about 6 bags at a Rite-aid drugstore across town. And we bought them all. And kept them in our freezer. And this whole year, I'm thinking about the protein/antioxidant mix and how on earth M&M hasn't capitalized on this yet (especially dark chocolate almond M&Ms- then you even get the HDL/good cholesterol thing too). But anyone, someone wised up and today I found them at CVS. Whoo-hoo!

KABLOOM!!

Today Brad and I got flowers for a girl in our ward (church) who is kind of having a crappy time of it lately. I mention this not so you know how cool we are :o) , but to say first how fun it was and second to say how cool this flower place (KABLOOM) was. (There's one in Eagle, ID, too) They did such a good job and were so nice. AND if you go in and say "This is how much I want to spend and these are what flowers I like, is that possible?-- They do it for exactly that much and it's way prettier and cheaper and more perfect than it would otherwise be. And then they spritz it with little water droplets and it's so so fun. Yay!
Oh, and my hot guitar teacher is now reading my blog (sometimes I just talk and talk...) so unfortunately now you all will forever miss out on all my naughty thoughts about him. Crap-o-la. :o)
And Maria, I'm so glad you are reading my blog. It makes me so happy when people do. You are so sweet to me. And you are amazing. And beautiful. And a great mom, etc, etc..
Love y'all!
cc

Guitar Hero

I HAD MY FIRST GUITAR LESSON TODAY! It was sweet. And my instructor is hot (which, hypothetically, is irrelevant, but not really)- he also lives with his girlfriend, which also is not so irrelevant. Anyways! I now can play a G,D,C,A,B, and E on my guitar. I also learned I need heavier strings, but it was so fun. The lesson was supposed to be an hour, but it actually lasted 2. Mostly we just talked the first hour. I get my own CD of the important stuff from each lesson that he makes while I am there. Good Times! Jimi Hendrix here I come (actually "Hey Joe" will be my first song. Yes!)

Fixed!

So apparently on my computer I have to "export" my pictures out of iphoto and into my picture folder to upload them anywhere. But it works. So cute pictures on Flickr. Tons of pictures on here...I went all the way back to Aug 2nd and added them all in. Yay! What a good thing to do on your night off work when you have 2 more nights to go.
And a list of things I love about Boise will from now on be a permanant part of the bottom of the first page. I'm sure I will occasionally add to it.

Disproportionate

Number of life preservers:



Number of people on ferry:

Marilyn

I stood on every subway grate to try to get a Marilyn Monroe picture. I had to settle for the air conditioning on the Empire State Building as week walked outside. Whatever. I love this picture.

Statue of Liberty

Fun Fountains

2nd Night

At The Bus Station

Grand Central Station

Very New York

Gray's Papaya!

Felicity Worked Here!

Greenwich Village

Favorite New York Pictures

First Day on Subway

1+1 makes life so much easier

Brad got here on monday. Man, I love that kid. We make dinner together, and it's so much fun. And when I say, "Brad, do you think you could cook me dinner on the nights that I work so that I can have time to work out?" he says, "Sure." And I love it. And we watch The Office together because he has all 3 seasons. We actually skipped season 1, and have already watched season 2 and half of season 3. Jess, Nate makes some cute expressions like Jim. It is a funny show. Never even really knew anything about it. Anyways, my adventures might not be as crazy because Brad runs some of my errands while I work (like buy milk) which are the little things that make life more stressful. But we might go on a church campout this weekend, which may prove exciting.
My job is good. I'm off orientation now and have worked 5 shifts on my own. I usually have 5 patients at night, and, yes, it is stressful. But I'm getting better. And it's been good.
Love y'all!
cc

Picture Problems

My dad may have been right about one thing. I can't figure out how to put pictures up on this thing on a MAC. Or on flickr. I think I have to pay $12. Hmmm...
So for now you get just my words.
I'll try to make them interesting. :o)

High School Insecurity

So I've been working out occasionally at the ASU gym. Turns out that working out during the summer is totally different than working out during the school year. I went with Brad and totally felt like the dorky kid of the world. I felt kind of like I had gone and bought an outfit on clearance at Sears and then went to work out at Abercrombie and Fitch without any make-up. So cool. My legs were so white and my little race for the cure shirt.....oh my goodness....and all these little 20 year olds with their hot little tan legs. So I stopped by the bookstore and I'm wearing my ASU shorts right now.
I still have white legs.
How did I wear spandex capris to the gym in Boise?

The Blisters

This is what my poor feet looked like after that first day

The Pictures Are Complete

I'm going to throw a few of my favorites on here, but the complete collection is at
http://gallery.mac.com/christin27

According to my dad, if you just ignore or close out the username and password, you don't have to enter it. Just double-click on the first three albums. The fourth one (with like 176 pictures) has a lot of blurry unrotated ones without labels that are duplicates of the others-- I just can't figure out how to delete it yet. The others are fun fun fun.
Love yall,
cc
Oh, and I lost a bunch of e-mail addresses when my computer died, so get me yours again!

Altered Ego

I did get my eyebrows waxed yesterday, and she did a great job. This is my new spa:
www.alteredegosalon.com

Photo Album

So I just figured out how to put all 200 pictures we have in a share-able photo album, so when Brad gets here on Monday, we'll get to it. I started to do it tonight, but it wouldn't be the same without the cute pictures he has. So sometime next week, cute New York Photo album. Yay!!

Saturday

Today we saw the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. And I papparazzied some cute kids. The Statue is so much prettier in real life, and Ellis Island was just fun to look around. This was a very fun part of the tourist experience, and I loved it.

"Let's Smell All These People and Get Out of Here"

This is an actual quote from the top of the Empire State Building. The ESB does not close until 1 am, which is good for me and Brad, because it means we probably won't be late. One of the coolest things is that your ears start popping about the 20th floor and pop about 3 more times before you get to 86.
A few traveling tips:
1- If you are looking for romantic, pay the extra $15 and go to the 102nd floor. Or go closer to midnight. We went about 9 and it was jam-packed.
2- Go in a couple years when the construction is done.
3- Maybe bring a map

It was beautiful, even amidst all the craziness. We had a good time taking pictures of ourselves and some for other people. Brad had perfected his camera's functions by then, and this couple who happened to have pretty much the same camera asked us to take their picture. Brad messed around with it a bit and took an amazing picture of them. They were so excited.
There are a lot of languages spoken up there!!

Monday Night "If I give you $11..."

After having missed the last ferry, Brad-o took me home and made dinner for me and his roommate Jamison. Chicken, potatoes, corn. It was really good. We decided to hit up bloomingdales, saks 5th avenue (on 5th avenue), and bergdorf goodman, just because they were close and I thought the stores would be cool to see.
We got downtown at 8:05.
The stores close at 8:00.
Why on earth can you eat at Little Italy at 1am but not shop Saks after 8pm I have no idea.
H&M, however, was open. And that was a fun store I had always wanted to shop at. It was huge, but nothing I had to have.
Except a hoodie, because the hospital is really cold from 3am-5am. And they were having a sale on hoodies for $10 instead of $20 if you were buying denim. I found the perfect hoodie, but no jeans. But the guy behind me in line was buying jeans and no hoodie. So I gave him $11 and had him buy my hoodie for me. The girl behind the counter just about passed out when she realized we didn't know each other. We all ended up introducing ourselves.
Christin from AZ, Tim from Michigan, Essence from NY.
:o)

"There is No Free Parking in NJ" Monday, cont'd

Parking is insanely expensive here. Like $9 an hour. Reason #7022 why not to get a car here. So when Brad and I drove on the NJ side (NYC & NJ are like 2 miles apart) to see the Statue of Liberty, and he asked how much parking was, I said "It's probably free." And we laughed and laughed. Because there is no free parking in New York.
Turns out, however, there is free parking at the Statue of Liberty after 4pm. Brad and I high-fived each other and were like "No Way!" As we pulled into the parking lot, I said, "Wouldn't it suck if the reason parking is free after 4pm is because no more ferries to the Statue of Liberty run after 4pm?"
The ferries quit running at 4:30.
We got there at 5.
Awesome.
Oh well.
There really is no free parking in NJ.

Do Not Drive in New Jersey. And Do Not Get Lost. Monday, August 6th

Today I drove a stick shift in NJ. Not by choice, necessarily. Brad is working in NJ/NY installing security systems, and he had to do one today. I tagged along, and decided to drive down the street to get some band-aids for my poor feet. Well, I got turned around as I often do and went on a 45 minute joy ride in the worst traffic ever. And I am terrible at driving stick. Lesson learned. I survived. I got back. I will never ever do that again.

Sunday, August 5th Central Park and Ground Zero

I finally remembered my camera this day, so I have some pictures of my own. Today we went to church in the Manhattan 8th ward. This may have also been the day I realized that the Lincoln Tunnel (and the Holland Tunnel) run UNDER the Hudson River.
Wow. I know that seems obvious to people who may actually know geography, but it wasn't to me, and it made all our rides through it seem that much cooler.
Anyway, so church was in a building 10 blocks from Times. Square and we took the elevator to the 3rd floor. The ward seemed cool, and everybody seemed to have so much style. I swear this place is like walking though a copy of Lucky magazine. :o)
Brad had packed us a lunch, so we sat and ate in the car. While we were eating, this guy walks over to the apartment near us with flowers and groceries and buzzed himself into his friends house. It seemed so out of a movie, so I totally papparazzied him and his picture is here.
Then we walked over to Ground Zero. Again, I thought a memorial had already been built, but apparently 6 years is a little overzealous on my part, and it basically looks like a big construction site at this point. Still, it was interesting to see.
Then we drove over to Central Park. We gave directions to two girls to the subway. Good directions. To Grand Central Station. From 5th Avenue. Across Madison Ave. To Park Ave. It felt so surreal and fun.
Central Park is amazing. Besides the beautiful fountains and stairs, it is so densely green and has such nice feeling to it. We walked around and watched these 40something black women double-dutch jump roping to music. They were so good. There were some crazy people too, but mostly very normal cool people. Sheep's meadow is where they have a lot of concerts, and when we went, there were people playing frisbee and soccer and stuff. Brad and I just sat and played with our cameras to take cool pictures of the skyline. Good day.

Clothes and Taxis

NYC Fashion Update:
I asked Brad what people wear in New York, and he was like, "I don't know..just regular clothes." People in New York wear a lot of skirts, sundresses, and khakis. And sandals and flip-flops. They do not wear jeans. I saw like 10 women wearing jeans the whole time I was there. Luckily, I had brought some skirts. That I wore with docs and/or tennis shoes because I was recovering from the blisters.

Taxis:
As cool as it sounds to take a NYC taxi, this is what it costs:
$2.50 to get in
40 cents a mile
40 cents a minute that you are stuck in traffic

We took pictures of the taxis. :o)

The Rest of Friday: HotDogs, The Subway, and The MET

In "Fools Rush In," Sala Hayek brings Matthew Perry Gray's Papaya Hot Dogs from New York City as a present. So we decided to try to find one. (Actually, I decided, and Brad was cool with whatever..) And the best way to get across town is on the subway. Brad had never been on it, and I was so excited. We actually had a little map now with the subway lines on it, so we got on the 4 train. Actually, we got on the 7 shuttle first (same direction, luckily)...I asked the guy next to me where we were, and he was like, "Grand Central Station," and I felt all giddy and excited inside for no particular reason (we didn't go upstairs at Grand Central Station until Monday...that's when I realized why I was excited). Anyways, so we continued on to the SoHo district, which I hear is great shopping, but we had hot dogs to find. I love "The Lower East Side." Walking through Greenwich (gren-itch, thank you Bekah) was one of my favorite parts of the trip. The street we were on (12th?) was so straight out of a movie. The thing abut NYC is that you are in a big huge city, but that's not necessarily the coolest part. The coolest part is that you feel like you are living history. I mean, these buildings are like 100 years old, and there are all these groups of people and the city just has so much character. I adored it. Absolutely adored it. So we found some cute places and finally found Gray's Papaya. And the hot dogs are just a buck each and are soo soo good. We also passed a bakery with fresh cookies and a line of people wrapped all the way around the corner. I took a picture, but we didn't wait.
Afterwards, we took the subway again to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We only spent an hour there because, well, they close at 9 and we got there at 8, so we only saw the Egyptian exhibit, but it was amazing and fun. Super cool building.
We rode the bus home. Just to say we did. Those pictures are cute. It was a very crowded bus, but the bus station was fun. Brad talked to a woman from Syracuse, and I talked to a guy from Oklahoma.

Friday, August 4th aka "Wow. These shoes are horrible."

Today we went and saw the Lion King on Broadway. Once again, we were subject to horrible directions and wandered Times Square for about 40 minutes. I wore my navy blue patent leather heels. HAH! That was the worst idea EVER.
A couple things:
1. People do not dress up to go to Broadway
2. People do not care what you wear in New York, as long as you don't wear heels. Then you get the weirdest looks ever.

Within 30 minutes I had the worst blisters in the history of the world, and those pictures are on Brad's camera, but they will definitely be posted. I stopped at the first shoe place I could find and bought some $15 flip-flops, which also ended up giving me two cuts and one huge blister, but still felt better than those horrible heels, which I am returning.
Anyways,
Lion King was wonderful. They amazingly let us in late and we sat on the stairs for a little bit so we didn't disturb anyone. The lighting was amazing, the stage and scenery were breathtaking, and the acting was phenomonal. Brad had never seen a live show and was so much more impressed than he thought he would be.
Good Times.

Back to NYC, August 3rd.

Some pictures will be a little delayed because they are stuck on a cd in my old computer. (the ones that brad took)
But back to the last entry...
So we went back to Brad's apartment and then took off to the city. Our destination was little Italy. People give terrible directions here. I didn't believe Brad at first, but it is true. It's like everyone's from a different place and they know they've seen a place once and it's "over in that direction."
So we ate dinner at Cafe Nepoli (?) at 1 am. It was so good, and such a fun little place. The waiters were like, "It's delicious. You no like it, you no pay."
We had an appetizer of baked clams, mussels, fried fresh mozzarella cheese sandwiches (heaven), shrimp, mushrooms, and eggplant. It was huge, but we were starving.
I had sea bass and Brad had Loster Ravioli. Such a fun first night!
It was raining really hard when I first got there, but it had just turned into a nice sprinkle by the time we ate, so we ate on the patio.

Macs are compatible/Can I put you on hold for a minute?

Jessica can jump in here whenever she wants to, but this message is for my dad. Macs don't crash, they don't have viruses, they look sweet, I can do cool things with pictures, they have built in cameras, and due to the fact that they spent probably millions on advertising and putting them on every single show and movie over the last 5 years, they are now pretty much compatible with anything. Including Microsoft Office. This was a good decision. I promise.
And my semi-horrible day yesterday...
Yesterday I woke up and called Sprint to try to get out of my early termination fee, in which I did not succeed. I waited 40 minutes to talk to this person and was a little upset. (The good thing is the guy who returned my wireless card at the Sprint store yesterday gave me a $200 credit for a free card, so I shut up about it.)
Next, I called to check on my loan and the guy told me I was declined because I had $10000 in overdue loans and just about freaked me out over my identity theft, until he realized the secretary had paper clipped somebody else's credit report to my loan application and he approved me over the phone because of my (actually) excellent credit.
Then I went to the bank and got pulled over for passing a cop. She gave me a warning but told me I needed to pay more attention while driving. I wanted to tell her I was already stressed out and that's why I wasn't really paying attention, but I didn't. Of course. I don't need any extra tickets.
Then I went to Verizon and got a new wireless card and for some reason my account was wrong and it took 30 minutes to get a new wireless card.
Then I decided all I wanted to do was get my eyebrows waxed and maybe the day wouldn't seem so bad. So I turned into a spa and my battery and brake lights went on. I went inside the spa anyway, but they were all booked for the day, so I called the one car place I know and they said it was probably the alternator but they couldn't look at it until tomorrow.
So I walked outside and started sobbing. I don't know if it was that on top of my computer dying or what, but it was the final straw. So I sobbed and sobbed. And said a little prayer and turned left into this hard-to-see auto place of super nice guys who replaced my alternator in an hour and a half.
And then I went to a church activity called "Cookies and Conversation" where we all just sit around and talk at someone's house and it was actually very fun.
So that was my stressful day.
And life is ok now.
And now I have found two good car places. Whoo-hoo!
cc

bv NV CCC? huh?

Those letters mean that we were together when my computer took a nosedive and never recovered. I didn't drop it, actually. It just died. So I made a huge purchase I hadn't really planned on and bought a MAC. So I have a cool new computer and just barely got the internet, and I am working on putting everything back together, which is taking a little bit longer than I thought it would. :o)

Friday, Aug 3rd, 1st night

I got into JFK about 8pm. When I made my reservations, my mom was like, "Christin, more flights are delayed at JFK than any other place in the world." But, of course, a girl has to fly into JFK at least once in her life, so I did. And the flight was delayed. We sat on the runway for about 45 minutes. Which was okay, because traffic was horrible and Brad was late and called to tell me that if he ever had to make that drive again he would shoot himself in the head. Anyways, we finally met up and drove home. The thing is, Brad technically lives in New Jersey and NYC is huge, so a lot of this trip was spend wandering and driving aroound. bc v v v v v nv

NEW YORK IS SO COOL

K- So I had a really good time in New York. Brad and I took like 200 pictures and saw so much in the 4 1/2 days I was there. It's a little overwhelming to try to put everything relevant online, but here goes. (I've been home since the 7th, but I've been working.)

The thing about this sign is that there`s only one. Haha.

Half Empty, Half Full

Wednesday could be looked at in a lot of different ways. It was my day off, and my big day to run errands before I go to New York on Friday :o)I need to get used to the fact that errands take a lot longer here and to just go with the flow. I really think it's easier, though, to go with the flow when you have someone around to deal with the crazy flow. But it helps to share. So this is my glass half-empty, glass half-full day.

Empty: My Service Engine Light was on and I had to go get it looked at before I could go do anything.

Full: The people were really nice, the cute guy there gave me a screwdriver and showed me where my distributor cap was, and it didn't cost a thing. (The monsoon puddle set it off.) And I had a killer breakfast burrito at Whataburger.

Empty: I had to go to the DMV 3 f-in' times before I finally got my car registered and my drivers' license. I had to drive like 7 miles away the 2nd time to go get my car emissions tested before they would register it. And I had to stop by my house because they only take cash or check.

Full: It's done. The girl who worked at the emissions place was from Salmon, ID, and was nice. It took me all the way back over to where I had been this morning (near Whataburger), but it was near another errand that my parents wanted me to do, so that got done, too.

Empty: I plan to make a tile mosaic under my washer and dryer because our lineoleum is horrible. So I called a tile store a week or so ago that said they had mismatched tile 20 for $1. Perfect. Today I drove like 15 miles to that tile store where a guy with a middle eastern accent looked at me like I was crazy and said they only stocked one pattern of tile in at all and he had no mismatched tile at all. He said there were no other tile stores in the area. I am still completely confused by this.

Full: Ok, really that's just an empty part of the day

Empty: I headed to the Chandler mall from the tile store. Turns out Chandler, AZ is Southwest of me, not Southeast. Just about a 30 minute detour.

Full: I stopped by a tanning salon to get directions to the mall. This, if you are wondering, is an excellent idea. The girl was not exactly a genius, but she gave me killer directions to the mall.

Full: The boxes above are from the Disovery Channel store, which is going out of business. Their fixtures were 50% off, and I bought both of these for $15. Brad has no bookshelves or endstands so we are going to refinish them for him. I was excited.

Full: MAC make-up lets you get a free lipstick if you recycle 6 empty containers. Unfortunately, their lipsticks look terrible on me. BUT! The nice girl at the mall told me that now the free-standing MAC stores (in Scottsdale, for example) will let you get either a lipstick, a lip gloss, OR an eyeshadow. This is fabulously exciting.

Full: I got a cute little white shirt from a store called A'GACI.

Empty: I spilled bright purple Acai juice on it when I put the bottle (empty, I thought, and closed) in the same bag with it.

Full: It came out

Full: I got all my grocery shopping done.

Empty: The people at Fry's are more than a little anal about getting out on time. When I said "hi" to the greeter, he said, "You have a half hour." THANKS. And then every FIVE minutes for a half an hour they announced that you should come to the front with your things because they were closing. And then I knocked over a display of froggie hair ties.

Full: I also got a water cooler for $90. I actually am just hoping this turns out to be a good idea.

Full: I went to the Post Office, sent Jess her CD's back, and Bekah had a job interview that went really well.

If it seems like this was the longest day ever, it was. I was gone for 13 hours.

And I'm going to New York tomorrow! Plenty of pictures when I get back.

Love y'all!

cc