I went. To New York. Again

So I went to New York again. This time New York City. I went with Corinna and we had a blast. It was FREEZING!!! It was about 10 degrees colder than DC, and they also had the nasty wind attached to the cold which made it feel colder, but I survived. We were supposed to leave DC Friday night the 5th at 7:30, but our bus didn't show up until 8:20 which put us in NYC at 12:30 instead of 11:30. Oh well-right? We still made it. Then we got to our hostel in Harlem (I didn't actually tell anybody I stayed in Harlem until after I got back because I didn't want people to freak!) about 1:30. We checked in and the guy said to make sure we slept in our own beds because you get fined 10 bucks if you're not. My first reaction was "huh?" because I had only ever stayed in a hostel once before in Boston over the summer when we had our own room, and it didn't matter which bed we slept in. So we go upstairs to room 202 and bust open the door only to find 6 bunk beds mostly full of sleeping girls. One who snored! Oh man was she annoying.

Saturday morning we woke up and went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and looked around for about 2 hours or so. I was really interesting to all the different pieces there. Afterwards we wanted to go to lunch at a diner where the servers are all aspiring actors, but when we arrived, the line was out the door and around the corner, so we decided that we'd go after the show we saw that night for pie or something yummy. We headed across the street to get some pizza, and the place was PACKED! We couldn't find a seat anywhere and after having walked around the museum for 2 hours, all we wanted to do was sit and chill, but no luck. We ate at a counter. After lunch, since we were in Times Square, we decided to head over to the discount Broadway tickets booth to see if we would be able to tell which shows were 1/2 price that day, and when we got there (an hour and a half before they were to open the window) there was already a line forming, so we decided to hop in and wait. After about 1/2 hour we were practically freezing, so I ran across the street to grab a Caramel Apple Spiced Cider from Starbucks, but they were currently out (let me tell you how depressed I was because those things are GOOD!). I settled for hot chocolate, and we managed to get our tickets for the show we wanted to see.

After we finally got our tickets we decided we needed to go to the bathroom because we'd been standing in line for about 2 hours at that point, so we look across the street in Times Square to see if there's a place where we could go, and we see a sign that says Charmin Bathrooms on it. We head across the street, and the line is out the door, but we figure-hey, why not. They were handing out Charmin tissues that had aloe in them, and they felt really nice. I think I'll buy them next time I have a serious cold. Anyway-so we go in and go up the escalator, and there is a huge line for the bathroom, but there's an entertainer guy standing there talking to everybody asking how they are and what not. They had about 20 stalls in the room, and there was a worker that went in and cleaned each one after EVERY use so that when somebody went in, it was nice and fresh. They had your choice of toilet paper in there from nice and soft to sturdy and strong. It was hilarious. I tell people it was the best bathroom experience I've ever had.

After the Charmin bathrooms, we walked around a little bit, did a little shopping and stuff to kill time before it got dark so that we could go to Rockefeller Plaza to see the lights. We finally did that and it was so cool. It was seriously crowded and trying to cross the street right in front of the plaza was crazy. People pushing and shoving and getting upset that there were so many people. Whew! But we made it, took pictures, and got back outta there. We were headed down to the theater to see our show, and we stopped to ask a police man where we were going so that we knew we'd get there and not be late, and he was seriously the most unhelpful police man ever. He was not even interested at all in helping us. Oh well. We found it-no thanks to him.

We saw a musical called Rock of Ages that was a story line all set to '80's rock music. It was really cool and the people who sat in front of us were totally wasted and quite interesting to watch. It was just like being at a real 80's rock concert. Fun times. Afterwards we went to the StarDust Cafe where we were going to go earlier, and we got some hot wings and cheesecake, and watched all the waiters get up on the counter to dance and sing. It was pretty cool to watch them, and to see their talents. We made it back to the hostel, showered, and went to bed in our seriously uncomfortable beds with snory snorerson. Sunday morning we woke up and went to China town and went shopping! We stayed for a couple of hours, and I made one man so unhappy with me. I wanted to buy something, so we were discussing prices, and when I was about to leave, he kept lowering the price until I said ok, then he suddenly changed his mind. I told him I'd come back to get it, and I told him to remember me and my pink hat so that I could come and get the same good deal. When I did he claimed that he never told me that price and that I wouldn't be able to get that good of price anywhere. After haggling him for a few minutes, he finally sold it to me, and I left, after wishing him a Happy Halloween. He called me crazy and told me to get the hell out of his shop. He was so upset. But what's a girl to do when she's offered one price, then told she's not gonna get it?

We ate lunch in China town, then headed to the discount tickets booth again to catch a matinee before our bus left that night. We saw a musical called "13" which had a cast of all 13 year old kids. It was really cute, but I was a little discouraged to know that they all had better singing voices than me, and not only that but knowing that they were making tons more money than me. Oh well. I got over it. After that, we went back to Penn Station to catch our bus to head home. What a weekend. Full of fun and excitement, and we didn't even get mugged. Thank goodness!!! 

              

  Our waiter from StarDust Cafe singing, Rockefeller Christmas tree, me at the Charmin bathrooms, me in Times Square, and Corinna and I in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Why oh why?

So...I'm wondering why my blog doesn't just update itself? That would make my life a whole lot simpler. But unfortunately, my life is not all that stressful to begin with, so I guess it just comes down to me being a lazy bum. I only work. I come home, eat dinner, and basically sit on the couch for the rest of the night watching TV. You'd think that at some point during all that TV watching, I could update the people in my life about what's happening. But again, unfortunately, I don't do anything, so there's really nothing to blog about. 

Happy day!!! I almost have my grad school application done. I stayed in my pajamas all day saturday to do it. I sent out the forms for former professors and employers to fill out and to write a letter of recommendation for me, and I even got an email from one of my former professors saying he remembered me, and would love to write me a letter. Yeah for having such a charming and quite unforgettable personality. 

Other than that, life is pretty much same old, same old. It's getting cold here, which means I start to complain a lot. More. I mean a lot more than I usually do. Oh well.

And on one last, very important note, Kevin wants to know why people always say "bless you" after somebody sneezes. He thinks it's weird, so I don't get blessed when I sneeze around him. What's that about?

New York was a blast!!!

Our driving adventure, me being annoyed by Kevin's allergies, and Kevin being an old man? about to sneeze? bored out of his mind?

Wedding dancing!!!

At the wedding. Heather was beautiful and Alec looked handsome. As did Kevin. He looked so good in his suit, and he knew it!

Our Halloween costume. We were Cleopatra and Caesar.

The beautiful scenery.

So Kevin and I drove up Friday afternoon to New York, more specifically, the Catskills for his best friend's wedding. We had so much fun. I cannot actually believe how much free liquor was flowing around that place. We had an itinerary for the entire weekend, and after most of the activities, it said there would be an open bar. I commented to Kevin once that we may have been the only people over the age of 21 not drinking. But the wedding was beautiful. Kevin looked good in his brand new suit and he even behaved himself while standing for the wedding. He looked good! We boogied out on the dance floor for quite some time until his being allergic to New York state took over. He always thought it was just Rochester he was allergic to, but it turns out-it's the entire state. By the time we got back to Virginia-he was basically back to normal. Who'd ever think someone would be allergic to their home state. A little depressing if you ask me. Anyway...the drive up was fantastic-all the fall colors changing. I took pictures, but since I'm really not a photographer, they don't really do the beauty justice. The wedding and the whole resort was gorgeous. I tried to get pictures of every state sign that we passed on the way up, and then again on the way down because I missed some on the way up, and the only one I got both times was Delaware. And that was the only state we were in for less than 1/2 an hour. The rest of the pictures I got were either blurry trees, and cars because either I was too slow, or Kevin was driving too fast. I hope you all enjoy them though. I had so much fun!!!!

Did I fall off the earth again?

Oh my gosh. Life is so busy. It's been over a month since I have last blogged. There are so many things that I need to do, but haven't yet. The one main thing that comes to mind is calling my best friend from growing up. Brandee-I swear I'll call you sometime before I die. I'm a terrible friend. I had a dream the other night that it was December 7, and I forgot to tell you happy birthday. I felt really guilty. I swear I won't let that happen. Anyway...what's happened since my birthday?!?!

The week after my birthday, Corinna and I went to a Michael Buble concert in Baltimore. It was SO MUCH FUN!!! He's a great entertainer. It was fantastic. I'll post pictures as soon as I can take them off the camera and put them onto the computer. I'm sorta lazy when it comes to that. Corinna had her birthday a couple weeks ago, and we went dancing at Cafe Citron at Dupont Circle in the district. It was a lot of fun. The next night we had a ward activity at the Marriott up by the zoo in the district and there was dancing there too. I think I've gotten Kevin to go dancing more times in the last 9 months than he has in his entire life. And he'll go dancing the next two weekends too!

Last night Kevin, Corinna and I carved pumpkins. It was so much fun. I got lots of pictures, but again, you will have to wait and see them after I manage to take the off my camera. Tomorrow Kevin and I are leaving to go up to New York for Alec's wedding, and I'm really excited. He's less excited about the road trip merely because I can be really annoying with my music ADD, but we'll survive. We have to dress up for the rehearsal dinner in our Halloween costumes, and I'm really excited. We're going as Caesar and Cleopatra. 

Bye for now. I'll post pictures of Michael, Pumpkins and of course, Kevin dancing. I'm sure his family will appreciate it!!!

Birthday Bash

So I had an awesome birthday week. Tuesday was Kevin's birthday, and we met up for lunch. Wednesday was my birthday, and we went out to dinner with my roommate Corinna, and another friend, Marty to an awesomely good Greek place. Friday was the combined birthday party for Kevin and I at my house. We had friends over then went bowling. We had a ton of fun with everybody, and even won a few of free games to come back and use! This was quite a memorable birthday. I wish every birthday was a golden birthday, but alas, I will never again turn 24 on the 24th. Thanks everybody for making it amazing!

I'm showing off my birthday presents from Kevin and Corinna. The picture frame in the back is what I gave Kevin.

Action shot

He just about passed out from having to blow out ONLY 24 candles, even though technically he should have blown out 26. And he still missed two.

Our birthday cakes. Kevin had carrot cake, and I had yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Yum...

Doesn't he just look more than thrilled to...be bowling, to have his picture taken, to be looking at me?

The world became more beautiful...

...24 years ago today. Happy Birthday to me!

Wedding Receptions, Bouquets, and Dodging Bullets

Well, tonight, I attended a wedding reception. I had a marvelous time. There was good food, and lots of dancing, which are really my only two requirements in wedding receptions. The best part of the whole night was...yes, you guessed it. The throwing of the bouquet. Now, seeing as I have been in a serious relationship for 8 months now, people had expectations. High expectations. So, the flowers were tossed, and came straight to me. Alas, there was somebody, a good friend mind you, standing in front of me. I reached out and grabbed the flowers just as Abby did. She had a better grip because she had the bottom, and I had the top. I actually ripped out a couple of roses in the grabbing process. Well, feeling dejected and quite sad, I left the dance floor, only to be told by another friend, that Kevin was over thanking Abby for catching the bouquet. I questioned him about this, and he said he was simply telling her that he was grateful because she helped him dodge a bullet. WHAT?!?! Am I that un-marry-able that he feels the whole process is a bullet he needs to dodge? Where did this whole philosophy come from about the person who catches the bouquet is the next one to get married anyway? Silly traditions. Whateves. I'm sure he'll have his own comments about this whole thing, but we'll all just have to wait for his witty response.

This is Kevin and I at the reception. This was pre-dodging bullets comment :)

We danced! He even went willingly.

Corinna and I looking cute as always!

Pirate Kathryn the Ochre...

So today is international talk like a pirate day. To commemorate, Kevin and I are eating dinner at a place called Mango Mike's where they serve Caribbean style food with that kind of atmosphere. We were going to go loot a ship, but alas, we could not find one. Then, we were thinking we were going to watch Pirates of the Caribbean, but I don't own it, so I did the next best thing. No, not rent it, borrowed a different movie from a friend. We now will be watching The Goonies, which, as people should know, also has to do with pirates. They're going off and looking for a treasure left by one-eyed Willie, the pirate. It'll be fun. Kevin's mom attached a link on her blog where you could go find out your pirate name. Mine, apparently, is Pirate Kathryn the Ochre. I can totally see how they got that from Celeste. 

Well, on to something just as fun, but on an entirely different topic, it's official. Georgia can walk. She walks for me all the time. She'll walk around the house, out front on the sidewalk, basically anywhere. But for some reason, she's more reluctant to do it for her parents. It wasn't until this morning that her dad, Ben, saw her walk for the first time. They've left the video camera out so I can make a movie of all the fun things she does when they're not home. And on a smart note, Georgia is. I've been teaching her sign language so that she can communicate until she learns how to talk for real. Each day when she wakes up from her nap, I ask her if she wants milk (doing the sign for milk of course). Then she does it, and crawls to the fridge. As I'm pouring it, she'll say, "Please please please (while again, doing the sign). Then I'll go to hand it to her, and she'll go to take it, then stop, say thank you (once again, you've guessed it, with the sign) and then take it. Who knew I, of all people could teach somebody manners. She's the cutest kid ever. 

Sorry this is so long, but I'm not quite done. Moving on to less fun things. This has been the week for the breaking down of cars. I'm pretty sure I'm the one who has all the bad luck, because it's all associated with me. Well... Tuesday night was institute. Kevin was supposed to show up, but he didn't. I called him because I was all worried that he was laying dead on the side of the road, but he wasn't. He said his ignition was locked or something because he couldn't turn the car on. The wheel wasn't locked, so that wasn't the problem, it was something else entirely. So then Thursday, he had a locksmith come out and look at it, but that wasn't the problem. So he had to have it towed to a repair shop. Then, yesterday, I was out in the car that my employers let me drive while I'm working, and it wouldn't start. The battery wasn't dead, it was the starter. So then it too, was taken to a repair shop. Oh the joys of cars. I should not be affiliated with them anymore. I only get people into trouble.

On the plus side, it's the weekend, and I get to sleep in tomorrow. Yay!

The great great Gettysburg

So this weekend, my ward had a retreat up in the "mountains" of Maryland (I say "mountains" because being from Colorado, I know what mountains are. We were actually in foothills. I should know, I grew up in the foothills). We were only about 1/2 hour away from Gettysburg, so a bunch of our group decided to drive up there to check it out. It was a lot of fun. I drove up Saturday morning with my roommate and we spent all day Saturday, and part of Sunday there, then came home Sunday afternoon.

This is Kevin getting his head shoved into a cannon by two of my friends. He wasn't very happy.

This is a picture of some of the battle grounds.

This is the Gettysburg Address Memorial. The address was given about 300 yards from here.

We went for a walk, I made him carry my camera in case I wanted to take a picture of something. When, towards the end of our walk, he told me I needed to take a picture, I decided to take a picture of us. Notice his "bonecrusher" name tag? He thinks he's tough.

The time has come my little one...

The time has come my little one to talk of planes, trains and automobiles. Wait...what? We'll start with planes. Plane tickets are freaking expensive this year. I don't know if I'm looking in all the wrong places, if I'm still too early, or the time for cheap tickets has past. Like 10 years ago. Who knows. What I do know is that I'm attempting to go home for Christmas, while convincing my ever loving boyfriend that my family is crazier than I am (quite hard to do given the craziness of yours truly) because he so graciously agreed to come home with me. He may in fact be even more excited than I am. I know all my family members are!

Trains...I don't have much to say on trains. I've taken one a couple of times, but that was in Europe. Unless you count the train at Tiny Town which I used to love. Or that one park that has the train. I don't remember which one it is. Mom would know. Any who...I guess I could take a train home for Christmas, but I only get so much time off work.

Now moving on to AUTOMOBILES!! Kevin bought a car this week. Thank goodness for me to give him that much needed push-right? Well, the fact of the matter is...he has a car. Now I don't have to take a cab home on the weekends, even if I do only stay out until 10. He gets to drive me home now!

Alright. I've rambled enough for now. You've heard my venting on planes, and that's really all I wanted to do. Have a great one!!!

My Crazy Life on a Daily Basis

So as many of you know, I'm a nanny. Ever since I started, people have been bugging me to take pictures of the kiddos so they can see what they look like. Now I have. I just took these today while the kids were jumping on me, and it got kinda wild. Enjoy! They're cuties.

Just after getting pushed down by her big brother. You'd think she'd be used to it by now.

I finally got a good picture of him so people can actually see what he looks like. A very, very smart 4 year old.

This is what Quentin typically looks like. With his mouth open either talking, singing, or yelling. After he realized I was taking pictures of him, he tried to be funny.

I was laying on the floor, and Georgie crawled on top of me. She's cute. She turns 14 months tomorrow. Not quite walking, but OH SO CLOSE!!!! See the long line of drool from her mouth on down, and how the front of her outfit is completely soaked? This is a daily occurance. Apparently it's a very wet process to grow teeth.

Quentin and Georgia racing. Quentin always wins.

Our nose bleed seats at the Nat's game. they actually weren't too bad.

I turned around and he kinda caught me off guard by taking my picture. Good thing I'm so photogenic huh?

This is me sitting in the car waiting for Kevin. He was taking a long time at the leasing office, I was bored, and I had my camera!

This was just after he got his strike. He was really excited!

This was just before he got a strike.

This was us at the bowling alley. I think, if you look close enough into his eyes, he already knows he's going to lose.

Bowling and Baseball (and moving but that doesn't start with a 'b')

So I had a most excellent weekend. Friday night Kevin and I went bowling. We played two games, and I kicked his butt both times. It was fun though. Who would expect anything less from me! Then Saturday morning, bright and early, I helped Kevin move from his old place to his new place. We got it all set up, and it looks great. It'll do for now. We're going shopping tomorrow to get him all the odds and ends that he needs that he didn't know until now that he needed. Saturday night we went to a Nationals Baseball game. It was a lot of fun. Tickets were only 5 bucks, so it was totally worth it.

I have the next two days off work, so I'm trying to find stuff to do to fill the time. There's always the filling out of graduate school applications, which I've been putting off for about two years now, so maybe I'll get around to that. Or maybe I'll lay in bed and watch a movie. Both good options. Well, if I can figure out how to post pictures so they're not zooming all over the place, I'll post some of me kicking Kevin's butt at bowling, but if not, use your imagination.

I'm not at work...

So because I have the BEST job ever, I'm not at work today. Or tomorrow, or Monday (for obvious reasons) or Tuesday. My family went out of town to Texas for a long Labor Day weekend, and I get the time off. Paid. Oh, and I get to use their extra car. For the WHOLE weekend. That means a real date with Kevin. Wahoo! So now I'm just at home trying to find stuff to do to distract me from the stuff I should be doing (i.e. cleaning my house and doing my laundry).

So for those of you who know me-even a little bit, you will understand The Daily Puppy. I love dogs. More specifically, puppies. I don't really understand what the obsession is all about, but whatever. A new picture comes up everyday, and I'm really excited, because as I mentioned before, I love puppies.

Ok. I've run out of stuff to say. I'm helping Kevin move this weekend out of his apartment and away from the (I'm not the one who said crazy) roommate. It's exciting! Now I'm gonna go clean the bathroom.

So here it goes...

This is not my first attempt at being part of the 21st century, but this my first attempt at really, truely trying to stay connected with everyone. I feel so out of the loop because everybody has a blog, but not me. So here it goes. I guess the point of this thing is to keep people updated on the haps of my life, because it seems people are interested. So...as of this moment, here's the most recent update.

As of December 5, 2007 I moved out to the Washington DC/NOVA (a.k.a northern virginia) area to start anew. After three long months of looking for a job, I finally started the BEST job I could ever hope for-I'm a nanny. The nanners (work with me here-employee/employer-get it ha ha) are 1 and 4. Girl and boy respectively, Georgia and Quentin. They are the best children ever.

I also have a boyfriend. I actually got a boyfriend before I got a job. He didn't give me a chance to meet anybody else when I moved out here. Six weeks of living here, he asked me out, and we started dating, and now he's not willing to let me go. Not like I want him to anyways.

So...goodbye for now. I have to go to institute soon. And I have not yet eaten dinner. I love you all.