Frido {unfortunately is not THAT cool}

So, I thought I better clarify something before everyone goes out and buys a ferret thinking they are magical creatures that can scale any vertical wall with ease. The furry object on the wall behind Klane's mom is NOT Frido. haha There have been some comments and confusion on the subject, so I thought I better come out and let you all know that the white furry object on the wall is an Arctic fox pelt that Patrick acquired in high school.


I have to admit it is a little morbid having an animal skin on the wall that looks freakishly like Frido, but I had to let Patrick have some say in decorating the apartment.

Sorry to disappoint anyone.

Thanksgiving Dinner {NYC Style}

This years' Thanksgiving was definitely one for the books. My friends Angie, Joanna and Alexa planned a very traditional Thanksgiving Dinner for all of us to enjoy. They are die-hard Thanksgiving fans. This means that they must have all the Thanksgiving essentials, including a large turkey, yams, stuffing, cranberry sauce, corn pudding, mash potatoes, rolls, pumpkin pie, dinnerware (not paper), goblets, and more.

I think I am too practical of a person to even dream of putting together such a meal in NYC. However, my friends would not let the difficulties of NYC life deter them—they were willing to put forth all the effort to make the most fabulous NYC Thanksgiving dinner.

Weeks before they had it all planned. I was in charge of hosting and the salad (they know how much I hate to cook). Angie and her mother-in-law were in charge of the turkey, stuffing, and yams. Joanna was in charge of corn pudding, rolls, and pumpkin pie. Alexa was in charge of the mash potatoes and the cranberry sauce. They had every detailed covered.

We started our Thanksgiving feast around 2:15pm, amazing only 15 minutes later than planned. Everyone made their way to our apartment by taxi or lugging backpacks full of goblets and pies in hand. Every part of the dinner was completely and utterly delicious.

As we ate dinner we took turns saying three things each person was thankful for—rules of the "game"- you could not repeat what someone else said and you could not say you were thankful for the given blessings (family and Jesus--haha we are so blasphemes!)

While we let our food settle, trying to make room for Joanna's fabulous pumpkin pie, we took a Thanksgiving quiz. This actually got quite heated as people debated over the phrasing and answers of questions; however, despite all the debate Alexa had the highest Thanksgiving IQ! Her prize? The first person to eat dessert and a horribly sung and on-the-spot song sung by Joanna and I.

The evening was completely perfect as we relaxed, chatted, played Catch Phrase, watched Frido play, and enjoyed each others company.

(All pictures courtesy of Angie and Alexa)

Thanksgiving Parade Fail

On Thanksgiving morning we planned on going to the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. The parade went from 9am to 12pm, so we planned on waking up at 9 and heading over to catch the tail end of the parade. However, it being our first time to the parade we made a fatal error--we didn't realize the parade ended at different times. Let me explain. The parade starts on the Upper West Side on 77th street and then makes it way down the island to 34th street. The floats start at 77th street at 9am and the last float leaves 77th street at 10:30am. I didn't understand the logistics of it all so we arrived at 77th street RIGHT as the last float, Santa, passed. The above picture is Santa passing our view just as we approached the parade and everyone leaving to go home.

As soon as we realized why everyone was leaving we were SUPER bummed.
Pat was pretty upset about missing it all.

I tried to cheer him up by explaining that next year we will wake up early and get the best seats.

Due to the crowds we thought it would be faster to walk home through Central Park.
Mid way through we stopped to sit at a bench to sulk over our major parade fail.

Even though our morning was not what we expected, it wasn't all bad. I had such a good time walking through the park and seeing all the families playing together.

Happiness definitely in the air and I see it and feel it everywhere I go.


p.s. On our way home I saw the actor, Andrew McCarthy, who starred in one of my favorite 1980's childhood movie, Manequin, in a coffee shop. I was pretty excited about it but it seems that no one has seen the movie! What a SHAME!

Macy's Thanksgiving Parade Balloon Inflation

Tonight Patrick and I headed over to the Upper West Side to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade Balloons up-close and personal. I heard about this event about a month ago and have been excited to see these famous balloons before their big premier.

We got a late start on the night because we had to wait for our groceries to be delivered (the only way I am able to keep my sanity in the city). Patrick is also sick, so he was a little weary of trekking "all the way" to the West Side. But hoping the trip would be memorable and worth it, we braved the bus ride, the crowds, and the suddenly colder weather.

We got the inside scoop on how to avoid the lines and the crowds, from Johnny and Joanna, so we were able to quickly make our way to see the balloons. It was so much fun to be apart of this Holiday festivity and to see all the people happy with their families.

We didn't stay long because the event was closing soon after we go there and Patrick was not feeling well, but I am glad we went and were able to see behind the scenes of the Nation's most famous parade.

Thanksgiving Quiz

What is your Thanksgiving IQ?

During the Holidays I like to have pre-planned activities to spice up my family or friends time together.

A few weeks ago, I had a question of why Thanksgiving is always on the last Thursday of the month. Of course I went to Google to find my answer. While investigating, I found out some more tid bits of Thanksgiving info that I did not know. This got me to thinking how it would be fun to have a Thanksgiving Quiz to take at the dinner table or after dinner when everyone is stuffed and cannot move. It also would be fun to give a Thanksgiving prize to the person who has the highest Thanksgiving IQ.

I created this Thanksgiving Quiz by different sources on the web. I wish I had time to make it pretty but I wanted to get it out there so others could enjoy it too. Just so you know, this quiz is not for the faint of heart, there are 52 questions!

Here is a sample of a few of the questions--

Butterball says the best place to put the meat thermometer in the turkey is:
(a) Breast
(b) Thigh
(c) Top of Leg
(d) At an angle so it hits both the meat and stuffing

The first Thanksgiving in 1621 was believed to have lasted how many days?
(a) 1 day
(b) 3 days
(c) 7 days
The longest balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is:
(a) Spiderman
(b) Superman
(c) Wonder Woman
(d) Barney the Dinosaur

If you want to test your Thanksgiving IQ or others' click on the following links:

Thanksgiving Quiz
Thanksgiving Quiz Answers

(These links will take you to Google docs where you can view and/or print the quiz. To print, go to the "File" tab located right underneath the Google docs logo on the upper left hand side. Then simply print)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

*For those people coming to our apartment for Thanksgiving...NO CHEATING!

What the?!?!

So, for the last month or so I have been itching--itching uncontrollably.
Today I went to the allergist and discovered that I am allergic to bananas!
What the!? So random.
I love bananas. They are by far my fruit of choice.

The more I think about it the more sad I get.
Goodbye banana bread
Goodbye banana, peanut butter, and honey toast sandwiches
Goodbye nutella and banana snacks
Goodbye to heating up a banana in the microwave in a bowl and adding honey to it
Goodbye to sliced bananas in my cereal
Goodbye banana pancakes
Goodbye banana cream pies
Goodbye to putting sliced bananas and peanut butter between two chocolate chip cookies
Goodbye...

p.s. The picture above is taken from a girls night out this past Friday to celebrate Angie Harding's birthday. It was by far one of the most fun nights I have had in NYC. I thought my face was appropriate for the way I must have looked when I found out that I was allergic to bananas.

Christmas Cards {The Galbraiths}

The Galbraiths

We are so lucky to have such great friends here in the city. A co-worker of mine was so confused at how we had so many friends already after only living in the city for 6 months. We are so lucky to have so many of our friends from BYU, and also be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints where you have insta-friends wherever you are.

We have become very close to our friends, Johnny and Joanna Galbraith, over the past year. Johnny and Patrick were advertising partners last summer when they interned for 6 weeks at Y&R. During this time Joanna and I got to know each other very well when we would meet our husbands for lunch, explore the city during the day, and watch "The Cougar" reality tv show at night when Pat and Johnny had to work late. These were the best of times.

However, our friendship did not end there. The following Fall we both headed back to BYU to finish up school. They were our "go-to-friends" that we would hang out with all the time. It was sad when we had to go our separate ways at the end of the semester. We thought that would be the end of all our frequent fun times. So you could imagine our excitement when Johnny got a job here in NYC! And not only that, but when they moved in only 6 blocks away from us!

It has been so great to have such wonderful friends that we love hanging out with.
We can never get too much of the Galbraiths.

Johnny and Joanna have never made Christmas Cards before. However, since they are so far away from most of their friends and family they thought this would be a good year to start. I felt so honored when Joanna asked me to take pictures of them for their card.

I always get really nervous when I take pictures for people for something that is going to be shown to others and that they want to turn out well. However, Johnny and Joanna were so fun to "work" with and we actually got tons of great pictures of them. They are just so photogenic it was hard to take a bad picture.

Of course the backdrop to our pictures had to be Central Park, especially before all the Autumn colors leave us.

This is my favorite picture that was taken. Not only because Johnny and Johnny look so cute together but also because of the direction I was giving them. So I suggested that Johnny and Joanna lean up against this wall. While I was taking the picture there were quite a few people around and I kept shouting out different directions to Johnny such as: Move closer to Joanna, there is leaf on your back, put your arm around her waist (Johnny was SUCH a good sport), and so on. Well, as I was shouting out these commands and taking pictures, in the mixed I shouted out "Okay good, now put your hand on Joanna's butt." Johnny being so obedient and following all my directions almost did it not really thinking about what I said. It was funny to see how many people were listening in on us as tons of people started cracking up, thinking I was a REAL photographer.

Here's to you Galbraiths! You two are the best!