WWPD {What Would Pat Do}

To preface this post: Pat knows nothing about this and he wouldn't be happy to know I putting this out there in cyberspace for others to read.

This past week there was a bone chilling cold front that came through Manhattan. One morning it was a nice 40 degrees and by the evening it was in the teens. This left icy sidewalk and roads throughout the city.

This past week, close to midnight, Pat and I were exhausted and were excited to head to bed. However, as we were getting ready for that nights slumber, every few minutes Pat would look out our window. Outside our apartment a man's car was stuck in some icy snow. Some passerby's tried to help, but were ill equipped. The car was really stuck.

I told Pat to forget about it and go to bed and he did. However, just a few seconds after I turned out the lights Pat was up and getting dressed, as for me I stayed under my warm sheets. Pat headed out with the limited supplies we had on hand.

Some other people with a Jeep had stopped to try to help; however, they didn't have anything to but some jumper cables, which they were about to use to pull him out--thank goodness Pat showed up!

After hooking up the cars and trying several different driving tactics, the car was freed. I managed to take a pic of the occurrence and jump back into bed without Pat even knowing.

This is just one small example of Pat's kind heart and just one of the reason I fell in love with him. When I am caught in a situation that I can either ignore or help, I often think to myself "What Would Pat Do?" Also, situations, such as saving a NYC pigeon, proves that he is more than just nice, but is truly unique.

When he was a kid he used to tuck all his stuffed animals into bed. However, once all the animals were tucked in there was no room for him. Wanting his animals to be warm and comfortable, he opted for their happiness over his and slept on the floor. Throughout our marriage I have seen this trait, of sacrificing his own happiness for the happiness of others, countless times--it is a daily occurrence.

Also, to illustrate my point even further, when Pat and I were dating he tells me this out of the blue:

I love you so much that if you lost all your limbs,
I would pull you around in a wagon and just love you forever.

How's that for a kind heart and romance?!

Appreciating the Small Things

When I first moved to New York City certain things about living here were really cool to me, mostly because while growing up I would see these novelties on TV or the movies.

One such novelty is our intercom/buzzer. When I first moved into our apartment I felt SO COOL when I would check to see who was buzzing us and then felt even cooler when I would buzz to let them in. It actually took a little bit of practice - the synchronization between speaking and pushing the right buttons at the right time is not as easy at it seems!

One time when we first moved in I had our Super over fixing something and someone buzzed our apartment. When I went to go see who it was I got all confused and flustered and pushed all the buttons at the wrong time. I was a little embarrassed as my Super laughed at me and my inexperience at city life.

The other day I was going through this process, of "buzzing" someone in. I did everything so unconsciously and I realized the "coolness factor" had totally worn off. I no longer felt "cool" when I went through this process. How sad!

It then made me think of all the novelties of the city that I no longer enjoy, get excited about and/or appreciate, such as:
-Riding the subway
-Going to Times Square
-Seeing dog walkers or dogs with shoes (okay...I still really like this)
-Swiping your subway card (there is actually an art to this. I was really excited when I finally got the technique down)
-Seeing movie shoots
-Living within a stones throw (literally) of a Laundromat, Indian Restaurant, Thia Restaurant, Deli, Argentinian Restaurant, Mexican Restaurant, Italian Restaurant, Nail Salon, and Dry Cleaner.
-Working on Park Avenue
-Living a few avenues from Central Park
-Wood floors in almost all apartments
-Hailing a cab
-It taking 4 minutes to walk to church
-Being able to get anywhere in the city (pretty much) by the subway
-Knowing exactly where to stand on the subway platform so when you exit the car at your destination stop you are exactly where you need to be so you can save those precious 30 seconds.
-Jaywalking everywhere, even in front of cop cars
-Riding the subway at rush hour (I thought this was the funniest thing the first time I did it)

I know there are so many unique things about living in a city that I have just gotten used. In an attempt to not forget ALL the little things, I wanted to compile this list, so perhaps next time I am stuck in a subway car during rush hour I will be able to revert back to my excitement of experiencing it for the first time.

Just think of how exciting life would be if every time we did something it felt like the first time! So if you can think of any more..please do tell!

(Items shown in the above picture:
Top from left to right:
-An Acrylic painting of Times Square purchase for $20 from street vendor in 2001 when I visited my best friend, Meghan, in her home state of NJ, during Thanksgiving. We took the train into NYC on Black Friday and when I saw Times Square for the first time I thought it was the most spectacular thing I had ever seen.
-"Barn's burnt down, now I can see the moon" framed card. Once again my best friend, Meghan, gave this card to me in 2002. I was reading a very odd short story in one of my classes called something like "Barn Burner." She gave this to me and it quickly became my favorite saying. It is the ultimate optimism quote. When everything seems to be at it worse (for instance your livelyhood being burned up in a fire) you can still find good in the situation. Meghan ultimately had this card costumed framed for me (isn't she the best!?)
Middle from left to right:
-Patrick's missionary tag from when he served his LDS mission in Orlando Florida. He wore this tag on his shirt or suit front pocket for 2 years from November 2003- November 2005
-The infamous intercom
-My missionary tag from where I served a Mormon/LDS mission in Salt Lake City, Utah, Temple Square. I wore this tag everyday for a year and a half from November 2004 - May 2006. The reason I have a U.S. flag is because on Temple Square there were 150 missionaries, serving for the Mormon church, just like me, from all over the world. I worked closely with ladies from Ukraine, Japan, Mexico, Spain, New Zealand, Russia, Germany, Ghana, Brazil, South Korea, and MUCH MUCH more. There is also a little gold pin with the ASL sign for "love." I "learned" American Sign Language on my mission; however, I only learned enough to give a tour of the historic temple ground and to explain about The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints.
Bottom from left to right:
-Light Switch (ha)
-A photograph that Patrick took from the "New Yorker" Hotel of the NYC skyline. It turned out so beautifully we just had to frame it.

The Ultimate Birthday Gift

Yesterday, Pat and I were lucky to experience the most creative birthday gift. Pat's friend, Nathan, turned 27 yesterday and for his birthday gift his wife surprised him with the experience of graffiti-ing at the famous 5 Pointz.

5 Pointz is an outdoor art exhibit space in Queens, NY, considered to be the world’s premiere “graffiti Mecca,” where graffiti artists from around the globe paint colorful pieces on the walls of a 200,000-square-foot factory building.

Unlike most graffiti, 5 Pointz allows these aerosol artists to express themselves legally. However, you must have your design approved and paint in your given area.

Nathan's wife, Raquel, wanted to surprise Nathan on his birthday by giving him this special opportunity; however, it was a bit of a challenge due to the fact that you just can't show up and paint. Weeks prior Raquel tried to get Nathan to create a design that she could send and get approved. However, getting him to actually create something, without him knowing what it was for, was not easy. She asked Pat to try his hand at getting Nathan to draw something at work; however, that didn't work either. Finally, for a Family Home Evening activity, Raquel finally got him to create a design...thank goodness!

For some reason this picture reminds me of "The New Kids on the Block."
I swear they took a picture exactly like this.
(From Left to Right: Stanton, Jordan, Nathan, Chad, Patrick)

It all worked out perfectly. Raquel sent the design. The design was approved. And the date was set.

So yesterday, Nathan and Raquel arrived at 5 Pointz, and Raquel was able to reveal her birthday gift- Nathan got to leave his mark on one the famous 5 Pointz walls. A few of Nathan's friends showed up to watch and also help Nathan spray paint his design.

I thought this was such a creative gift idea and told Pat later on in the night to not expect anything close to this for his birthday. Raquel really makes us wives look bad. haha

Happy birthday Nathan!

Hot Cocoa + Dragons + Magnolia's

This past Saturday started like so many others: sleeping in and laying around 'til noon or so. We look forward to those mornings all week. However, if someone where to tell me how this particular Saturday would end, I would have never believed them.

Ever since the Youngbergs and us went on our Hot Chocolate Crawl, I have been craving The City Bakery's hot chocolate. But this desire intensified even more when Maribeth told me about the bakery's specialty hot chocolate month, where they feature different hot chocolates everyday for the month of February. This Saturday's featured hot chocolate? Carmel. I had to have it.

It was misting rain all day on Saturday. Perfect for hot chocolate drinking. We arrived at The City Bakery wet and thirsty—ready to sit, sip and enjoy.

The first sip was just what I had anticipated—thoroughly and utterly delightful. However, if you have ever had this hot chocolate before you know it's not like any other hot chocolate. It has a syrup like consistency and is VERY rich. It did not take too many more sips for both of us to be completely full and in need of some water and a salty pretzel croissant to off set the sweetness. During our hot chocolate crawl I finished a whole cup; however, this time I could barely finish half. Needless to say, we left The City Bakery with a lot of precious hot chocolate virtually untouched.

Later, Nate and Ashley Smith invited us to go to Chinese New Years Party at the Lincoln Center. This sounded like a lot of fun to me, considering I always wanted to go to the Chinese New Year parades in San Francisco when I was a kid. I looked forward to it all day. However, when the time came for us to meet them, Pat informed me that it was a CHURCH Chinese New Years Party...NOT a NYC Chinese New Years Party. HA! This changed everything. The exciting event I had been envisioning quickly shattered; however, with the promise of good friends and their companionship, we went (Yes, that is how much we love the Smiths).

However, when we arrived the attendance of the event was staggering. Authentic homemade chinese food was being served with the background music of a chinese string instrument heard and seen in both China and the NYC subways system. The great thing about this was that the gentleman playing this instrument was in fact the same man who plays in the subway system. A member of the church asked him if he would play for our Chinese New Years party and he accepted. He was such a cute man. I am definitely tipping him next time I see him.

The evening was full of Chinese musical numbers and dances. I especially loved this group of "older" ladies dancing. The whole night I kept telling Pat "I think I was supposed to be Asian." I just love everything Asian, and I think I enjoyed the whole evening a little too much.

However, the highlight of the evening was the "Lion Dance." This is where a dragon danced around the room to the beat of Chinese rhythmic drums. I love the way these human motioned dagons move. They become so life like and bring out the kid in everyone that sees it. I have never seen one in person, so I was especially excited.

As if a Chinese New Years Party was not enough "firsts" for one particular Saturday, afterward we headed over to Magnolia Bakery. It's hard to believe after living in NYC for a little over a year (including the summer Pat was interning here) we have never been this this popular bakery. They are known for the cupcakes (which I have heard mixed reviews about) and their banana pudding (which I sadly could not have because of my recently discovery of my-oh-so-odd allergy).

I really liked the bakery, not only for its food but for its comfortable and relaxing atmosphere. We stayed there talking with the smiths for a good hour and half and had a blast talking about everything from Palm Readers to Egypt. I would say this was another great Saturday filled with good friends, good food and dragons.

The Lion King

Yesterday, Pat and I went to Disney's The Lion King on Broadway. As previously mentioned, we got the tickets at a 2 for 1 deal, due to NYC's Broadway week. I have been wanting Pat to see this show for a while now, knowing out all of all the Broadway shows out there this would be his favorite.

I had seen this show before but had forgotten how amazing it was. The opening scene really sets the mood for the rest of the play, as people are transformed into magnificent African animals. We had great seats as the creatures walked rights passed us in the aisle all throughout the play. The show was a literal feast for the eyes. I could not figure out how these costumes where made. Not only were they beautiful to look at, but it blew my mind how they flowed so seamlessly with the actor.

I was unaware throughout the play if Pat was enjoying himself. However, I was so excited that when it ended he said he really enjoyed it and was blown away by it all, just as I was.

I am so glad that we were able to see this play. It was so fun to finally experience our first Broadway show together in NYC.