pearl jam

For as long as I have known Jason he has loved Pearl Jam; most guys on a first date try to impress a girl with some romantic mood music ... not Jason. I remember riding in his silver rodeo to our first date while Pearl Jam played in the background (so sweet).

A few months ago Jason told me that the one band he really wanted to see in concert was Pearl Jam. Ironically, that week one of the guys at work told me he was really excited because Pearl Jam tickets were going on sale. I was soooo excited! The guy at work told me to get on Ticketmaster right when the tickets went on sale or I wouldn't get any. So I literally had 5 people waiting to search for tickets right when the clock struck 11, and thanks to Holly, I was able to score two tickets before they all sold out in 11 minutes (for both nights). At the time Jason was in the middle of his finals crunch so I decided to give them to him as a "Happy end of finals" present after he took his last test. He was very excited and even more so when he found out that it had been 5 years since their last appearance at the garden.

Last night was the big night and if you ask Jason, the concert exceeded all of his expectations, so much that the first sounds of Eddie's voice gave him goosebumps. I'm not a huge fan of Pearl Jam (I just don't listen to them enough to know their songs) but I have to admit that Eddie's voice was amazing live. The garden was pact with several 30 somethings trying to relive their youth and despite a few spilled beers and no "Yellow Ledbetter", I had a great time. I don't know what it is about concerts but even when I'm not a huge fan of the music it's so fun to be surrounded by all the crazy fans who are. And for those of you who aren't familiar with Pearl Jam, I've added a few of my favorites songs for your listening enjoyment.

Eddie shinning the light off his guitar

goodbye seniors

My first and only calling since moving to NY has been in the Young Women's and I have loved getting to know all of the wonderful girls and leaders in in our ward. This year we will be losing 3 of our seniors and I am so sad to see them go. Each girl will be moving on to college and I am so excited for them to start this exciting new chapter of their lives.

(Melissa, Denisse, Jenny)

When I first moved in Melissa was a recent convert to the church and was so shy. She is now one of the funniest, bubbliest girls I know. She has lived in NYC her whole life and has decided to make the plunge and move to "Happy Valley" Provo, Utah to attend BYU. I am so excited for her. I know this decision wasn't any easy one and that she is nervous to go, but she has been so brave and I can't wait for her to be among so many wonderful saints and experience BYU.
She was able to visit Provo a few months ago and when I asked her what she thought she said all the open space made her nervous (now that's a true New Yorker). One of my favorite memories of Melissa was the first conference session I watched with her after being called to the YW's. We were all sitting around listening to the membership report and they had just given the number for the new members in the last year and Melissa turned and told me that she was one of them. She was so excited to share that with me and it instantly brought tears to my eyes. This number is always exciting to hear but it meant so much more when one of those numbers was sitting next to me.
Jenny is also a native New Yorker, and one of the smartest girls I know. She has honestly read more books then I can even count and if you ask her a question about anything she'll more than likely know the answer. She is so strong, she attends an all girls catholic school and has had to defend her religion on more than one occasion. This fall she will be starting at Fordham College with hopes to become a doctor and I know she will become whatever she puts her mind to.
Denisse, will be the first person in her family to graduate from high school and the first to attend college. She is such a strong, beautiful girl and everyone who knows her, loves her. She always comes to church with a big smile and a hug for everyone. She is known as the ward babysitter and there are going to be several sad mothers in our ward when she moves upstate this fall to attend Buffalo College. I know she is scared to move away from the city that she has known her whole life and like Melissa, a little apprehensive of living in a much smaller city, but she knows what she wants, she's worked so hard to get it, and nothing is going stop her.
Last Saturday, we had a party to honor our seniors and luckily all the seniors were able to make it. We ate pizza and battled it out on the guitar hero. Jenny killed us all with her mad guitar skills and was so good, that she didn't even have to stand up to win. I had so much fun spending one last activity with these girls.

(Jenny - winning while sitting)

(Denisse and Melissa batteling it out)

I know you always hear stories of women talking about the impact their leaders had on their lives when they were in young women's but I can truly say that these girls have shown me just what it takes to stand strong and be a daughter of god. They have faced more challenges then I could ever imagine and each has touched my life for the better. I am so grateful that I was able to be their leader. I'm so proud of them and all that they have accomplished and I am so happy to know that there are beautiful young women like these 3 girls out there representing our church.

star struck

One of our favorite things about living in New York is the random encounters we have with celebrities. Usually Jason will spot one in passing on the street and then get upset because I missed them or because I disagree that who he saw wasn't really a celebrity. Obviously, I don't pay attention when I walk down the street, I guess I need to start looking at who I'm passing.
We've seen a few big ones; Julianne Moore, Johnny Knoxville, Tim Gunn and Ryan Gosling (to name a few) but on Friday we were truly star struck when we walked out of the theater and ran right in to ... Adam Sandler.


It was crazy! We were walking out of the movie and for some reason there weren't very many people around us but a few people ahead of us were staring at something. All I could see at first was a man shaking hands with all of the workers and then Jason stopped and said "You've got to be kidding me ..." (for those of you who don't know Jason, this is a common phrase he uses when something surprises him). We just froze and finally managed to say hello as he looked straight at us and said hello back. It was AMAZING!! He was going into another theater to surprise all the movie goers that were in watching Zohan. After a few minutes of regaining our thoughts and realizing just what happened we were a little upset with ourselves for not following him into the other theater. But I love that he was shaking hands with all of the workers, he seemed so down to earth. Despite his outfit (he was wearing a long brown trench coat with shorts, old shoes and an out grown mowhawk) he was all smiles. He is a little shorter than I imagined; I could see the top of his head so I'm guessing he's about 5'6".
Ironically, several clips from the movie Zohan were shot in front of the building where I work and last year, as they were filming, I got to see his stunt double film the scene where he is riding on top of the car (pictured above). I was so disappointed that I kept missing him when they were filming but seeing him up close is so much better.
The rest of the weekend Jason kept spotting people and saying they were a semi-celebrity but I didn't recognize any of them.

spiderman vists ny

Not one ... but TWO men scaled the NY Times building yesterday. Unfortunately, I missed out on the action but I found some great pictures of Alain Robert's climb and ascent. You would think the second guy could have been a little more original and at least try to scale a different building. Let's hope this doesn't spark a stream of copycats. Just one more reason to love NY!

Ashville, NC

Last weekend, Jason and I flew to Asheville, NC for my cousins wedding and it was a quick trip ... to say the least. We were scheduled to fly out at 9:30 Saturday morning but didn't end up leaving until around 12:30 (I'm really getting sick of all the delays out of NY) which gave us a total of 18 hours to spend with my family.
Asheville was beautiful. Very similar to Connecticut, but the trees seemed more green and much more dense then up here in the north. When we arrived we were rushed to the hotel, checked in, and had just enough time to rest before we were off to the wedding.
Asheville is home to the largest home in the U.S., the Biltmore Estates, and I can't describe to you how beautiful the home (castle) and grounds are. I felt like Elizabeth Bennett staring at Pemberley for the first time (I love Pride & Prejudice). The estate sits on thirteen thousand acres that include an Inn, Winery, two restaurants, several gardens, ponds and a waterfall. Before the wedding started we walked around the house and through some of the gardens and then on to the Deerfield restaurant for the wedding.
It was so nice to see my cousins, the last time I saw them was 12 years ago, and introduce them to Jason. The wedding venue was amazing, the couple was married in an old stable house followed by dinner and dancing in the courtyard in the middle of the restaurant. Despite a little fainting spell by the groom, all went well and the bride was beautiful. Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera to the wedding, but I took several pictures of Shea to make up for it.
We had so much fun seeing my family and playing with Shea, she has changed so much since the last time I saw her. It took her a minute to warm up to us but after that we were instant friends. She loved giving us kisses (especially Jason) and our favorite was when she would fall down and then stand up and "brush it off" (while literally brushing off her clothes) to show us how tough she was.
It was so nice to be with our family and see our cousins again. Thanks for the trip, Dad.

The Main House





The Family


Shea and Na'ma (Grandma)


When you tell Shea to smell the flower she blows on it


The Gardens






Shea pulling her fishy face before kissing her puppy