the other side of aruba

One side of Aruba is white sandy beaches and the other is a desert, so one day we rented a jeep and did a little off-roading on the desert side. Everyone recommended renting a jeep so you could go off the main road and follow the trails to see some of the sites. It was a little bumpy at times but I think Jason enjoyed roughing it. Our first stop on the trail was the Alto Vista Chapel built in 1750, a quaint little chapel. Next we saw the Bushiribana Ruins with several wishing rocks stacked around. On the trail we kept seeing old shacks along the cliffs and thought they would be the perfect setting for a horror film, we also saw this weird stick thing with flattened soccer balls, old toys and other creepy things - we watch way to many scary movies.

After that we ventured on to the Natural Bridge, a bridge that was formed by the cliffs, that looked pretty cool, but unfortunately it collapsed a few years ago, but it was still amazing to see the huge waves crashing into the side of the cliffs. Next, we had quite the adventure trying to find the natural pool and after a longer hike then we had expected - we finally made it. It was a nice break from the heat and fun to see the pool among the huge rocks. After barely getting out of their alive, we were back on solid, smooth ground and enjoyed the rest of the evening cruising around Aruba with the top off.

We loved having a change of scenery and getting a chance to explore our adventurous side.

Alto Vista Chapel - built in 1750

A creepy sculpture thing that looked like it came straight out of a horror film

Ruins

Wishing rocks - you are suppose to stack them and make a wish


The natural bridge that collapsed


An Ostrich farm we found along the way (this ones for you, Kade)

The natural pool & Jason hiking out


Mountain goats taking over the road

3 years in nyc

Exactly 3 years ago today Jason and I boarded a plane with a one-way ticket to NYC and all of our belongings crammed into two suitcases each. I remember walking into our new apartment and thinking "how am I going to live in just one room for the next three years?" It took some adjusting and after first feeling lost in such a big city, I finally started to feel comfortable. Jason started school and I was left to figure out where to find basic necessities in the city, how to get to and from each location and just how to survive with out the normal things I use to use everyday. I can't believe how the time has flown, law school is over and we feel like this is the place for us. In Aruba people would ask where we were from and we would always say NY. It is our home, and I think after three years we can officially say we are true New Yorkers!

Our first trip to Central Park after moving to the city


* Aruba post to come

he's baaack!

I don't know if you were aware, but Jason has been missing for the past two months and he has FINALLY returned!! I cannot tell you how long we both have been waiting for this moment, I honestly think that if the bar had been even a week later we wouldn't have made it. It has been two very long, hard months since we have done anything together while he has been studying for the bar, and I am so happy to have him back. He will tell you after this experience he may never be the same man he once was, but I'm hoping a little R&R in Aruba will help bring him back to normal. Thank you all for your encouraging words and for checking in to see how he was doing, I know it really meant a lot.

the bar

Jason is currently sitting for the first day of the NY bar. As if the bar isn't intimidating enough - they go and cram several thousand nervous law graduates into this big cold, creepy building (Jacob Javitts Convention Center) for two days with only a gallon size plastic bag for their lunch and no cellphones to have contact with the outside world. Good luck, Babe!

seriously

Living tourist attraction Naked Cowboy has officially announced he is running for mayor of New York City.

shakespeare in the park

Since moving to the city I have always heard of Shakespeare in the Park but never took advantage of the free tickets to see a play in action. The deal is, you stand in line the morning of the performance and tickets are distributed first come first serve. This year Anne Hathaway played Viola in Twelfth Night and because of all of the amazing reviews, and the fact that it was the final weekend, those interested in attending the free event had to stand in line a little longer to get tickets.

Some of my wonderful friends insisted on attending and had to sleep in the park to get tickets for Friday's performance (read about Taylor's experience) and lucky me, a few of their husbands weren't able to attend, so I was invited to go in their place. Ironically, I was going to stand in line the next morning (not knowing that you had to stand in line overnight to get tickets) and was so excited when I got the call to go.

Other than the fact that Anne Hathaway was the lead, I knew nothing about the play but read up on the plot before going. One of the girls said that the movie She's the Man was based on the play and after realizing this we knew what it was about. Isn't it sad that we new nothing about this famous play, but thanks to Hollywood's remakes we knew what it was about?

The Delacorte Theater was the perfect setting for the play. A quaint little open air theater in the heart of Central Park with the Belvedere Castle in the background. It was a nice cool evening and we were very anxious for the play to begin. Before starting a few of the girls spotted David Schwimmer and we were able to spy on him through the binoculars and there were rumors that Neil Patrick Harris was also in attendance - we love our celebrities!



The play was hilarious! I was a little nervous going into it because I don't always fully understand Shakespeare but the actors did such an amazing job that it made it very easy to follow. I didn't know Twelfth Night was a comedy but I am so glad it was, I laughed through the entire performance.



I can not tell you how amazing Anne was - not only was she stunning but she did an amazing job playing a boy and she had a beautiful singing voice. Besides Anne we recognized a few of the other actors, Julie White (Scartlett Johansson's mom in The Nanny Diaries) and Audra McDonald (one of the doctors in Private Practice)it was fun to see so many actors we recognized and they all did a wonderful job.



After the show I was trying to hail a cab and Julie White walked up and started talking to a bunch of us that were congratulating her on her performance and then she stepped in front of me, raised her arm and got the cab that should have been mine. I wasn't too upset, had it been anyone else I would have complained:)

I loved everything about the evening and I have to say, Shakespeare in the Park is climbing the charts as one of my favorite NY events. So thank you for sleeping in the park ladies - I had such a great time!

4th of july

This year Jason was busy preparing to take the bar, so we decided to stay in the city for the 4th. I've heard the Macy's firework show is amazing, and apparently they heard we moved to the west side, so in honor of our move (and Henry Hudson's discovery) they moved the fireworks to the west side this year so we wouldn't have to leave home.

As I mentioned, Jason is studying non-stop, so I spent the day discovering the Upper West Side on my bicycle. I really love my new neighborhood, the day before Jason and I rode all over Riverside Park and along the Hudson River bike path. We saw the spot in Riverside Park where Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan kiss in You've Got Mail; we found several great picnic spots and discovered there are so many things to do along the Hudson. I know some of you say you could never live here, but if you were to really see the city, riding a bike through all the different parks and along the rivers (and not just Times Square) I think you would love it!

After a relaxing day I walked over to Kelli & Bryan's apartment and watched the fireworks from the penthouse floor of their building. We had a perfect view of the show. Macy's had 6 barges launching fireworks and each was synchronized to launch their fireworks at the same time. It really was amazing and lived up to it's reputation as being the best in the U.S., but I have to say, it's just not the same as watching them from the Theurer's front lawn:)

king of pop

Because I use this blog as a journal I wanted to document the passing of Michael Jackson. The last few days we have been watching the MTV and VH1 specials on his life and it has been fun to see all of his old videos. Many of his songs brought back great childhood memories for both Jason and I. I remember watching the Black & White video when I was in first grade and loved how all the faces changed. Jason remembers wearing his uncles Halloween costume of the red jacket and glove from Beat it and break dancing at his grandmas. As we watched, each video brought back a new memory and I kept saying that each one that played was my favorite, but he has so many great songs that it is hard for me to choose just one. Jason says Smooth Criminal is by far his favorite with his amazing "lean" move but I have always loved Billie Jean.

Now I know he was a little strange and no one really knows if the molestation charges are true or not. But after watching the specials about his life I feel like he was so lost and confused. He was such an amazingly talented man and it is so sad that he got caught up in so many terrible things. I know everyone says this, but he was by far the best entertainer and there will never be another like him. We were talking about his music videos and how he put so much into them and everyone loved to watch them and then compared them to the videos today and there is no comparison. Jason hates when I use the word but he really was such a cool guy with his smooth moves.

summoned

A few weeks ago I was summoned for jury duty in the NYC Supreme Court and I was actually looking forward to the opportunity. I wasn't quite sure what to expect having never been called before, so I went prepared with a good book. The first day I sat in a room with 160 other strangers and listened as they called several other names but not mine, the second day (it is required that you serve a minimum of 2 days in NYC) was almost the same and I thought I would make it out of there without being called but they finally read my name on the last call of the day so I was asked to return for a third day for jury selection.

Jury selection was very frustrating and I felt like I was a witness on the stand being interrogated with all of their questions. By the end of the third day they had excused the first 5 people in our group and asked the rest of the 19 to come back for more selections. The fourth day I was finally selected, but very annoyed how people had behaved just to get out of serving. I felt like I could be fair and impartial and didn't think it was necessary to make up excuses to get out of it. However, if I had known then just how long and inefficient this process was going to be, I probably would have tried harder to get out of it. The next two days were spent sitting around and reading more (I read 3 books) while they selected the rest of the 6 jurors and 2 alternates.

I understand that everyone deserves the right to a fair trial and I have no problem with this, but there should be a rule as to how long the attorneys can take selecting 8 jurors for a civil, personal injury trial. After they finished their selections we calculated that they went through 45 people to select 8 of us. At this point I was extremely annoyed and embarrassed that I had already taken a week off of work and the trial still hadn't started.

Although I was annoyed and not looking forward to hearing more from the attorneys I was anxious to see just how the trial process worked. All I know is what I have seen in the movies, and let me just say, it's not nearly as glamorous as Law & Order. I won't go through the whole process but I will say that the judge was awesome and treated the jury like we were royalty but she always seemed so annoyed with the attorneys. My favorite was when the plaintiff's attorney was questioning a witness and had been doing so for quite some time when she interrupted and said he had two more questions and then he would be done.

The part that annoyed me the most was listening to the defenses two medical examiners and wondering just how credible their testimonies were. Yes, I am sure they were telling the truth but I felt like they weren't shown all of the plaintiff's medical records therefore they couldn't give an accurate diagnosis. I mean, how can you say that someone has not suffered neck injuries if you haven't even seen their MRI's?

In the end (after two weeks off of work)I felt like our decision was obvious, we all came to an agreement quite quickly. We found that the defendant was, in fact, negligent and rewarded the plaintiff money for his pain and suffering. I didn't like how we (the jurors) were sent back into our chambers with little direction on how we should reward the plaintiff as far as a monetary value. I mean how much do you give someone for the pain and suffering they have endured and will continue to endure for the rest of their lives? We finally agreed on an amount and after we were done I was very glad that it wasn't on a criminal case, determining the fate of someones future. I am glad it is over and happy to say I have done my civic duty!

Other than jury duty we haven't done much so far this summer (if it would ever stop raining). Jason is busy studying for the bar and I will be so happy when he is done. I thought finals were bad but this is like one big final that never ends:(

chamber magic

On Saturday we saw Steve Cohen's Chamber Magic at the Waldorf Astoria with the Granum's and it was fabulous! Kelli heard about it from another friend and looked in to getting tickets back in February but the earliest we could get them was for May. So we said it would be in celebration of Jason's graduation and got them.

It was a one man magic show in one of the private suite's in the Waldorf Towers and thanks to Bryan we were able to get a front row seat. I didn't know quite what to expect, we had to wear dresses and the men suits and when we arrived we were one of the youngest in the crowd so we were a little nervous this wasn't really up our alley. But as soon as we sat down we knew we were in for a treat.

I cannot tell you how amazing and mind boggling his tricks were. From reading minds to making cards magically rise from the middle of the deck and pin pointing the exact city on a U.S. map that a woman had written down, we were seriously in shock after each trick. But the one that left us feeling most stumped was "Think a Drink" and coincidentally Jason got to be the volunteer for this one.

Each audience member was given a blank card and on it we were instructed to write our favorite drink. Our cards were collected and Jason had the honor of shuffling and selecting 6 cards from the pile to give to some of the audience members and he then placed one in his suit coat without looking at it. Steve Cohen then pulled out his magic tea kettle with six shot glasses and one by one asked each of the six volunteers what was written on their card and then would pour the beverage into the glass and had the person drink it to confirm it was, in fact, the drink written on their paper. Of course 4 of the 5 drinks were alcoholic and Jason was literally sweating bullets that his would be as well. We were actually all nervous for Jason as he was called back up to the front. He was given the kettle and glass and as Steve read the drink on the card from his pocket Jason was asked to pour it into the glass and thankfully one good audience member chose Yoo-hoo as their favorite and Jason then poured the glass and out came the chocolate milk. Jason was relieved and sampled the beverage and confirmed that it was in fact Yoo-hoo.

It was such a fun NY experience that we totally didn't expect and we are still trying to figure out his tricks days later. Thanks for a good time, Granum's!

on my way home from work . . .

i ran into Rose McGowan filming a movie. At first I thought it was Blair Waldorf and I got really excited and was a little disappointed when I realized it wasn't but I must say, Rose was stunning in person.

washington dc

To most Memorial Day is an extended weekend of fun to kick off the summer, but this year I was able to see the true meaning of the holiday. We went to Washington DC last weekend so we could see the sights and check off another city from our Northeastern city tour and it ended up being much more than that. This was Jason's first visit to our nation’s capital and my third but sadly the first two times I didn't appreciate the memorials so this trip was much more meaningful.

The first stop on our list after we arrived was to check out the paddle boats in the Tidal Basin. That night we walked around the memorials and I loved seeing them all lit up. Before we left everyone kept telling us that DC is a walking city and there was no need to rent a car, and while I didn't think a car was necessary, I do remember thinking the memorials were a lot closer together than they actually are.

We had read before we left that there is a huge parade in DC for Memorial Day called the Rolling Thunder ride to the Vietnam Memorial, and that we would be seeing several motorcycles but I totally didn't expect to see thousands. Most of them rode in that night and were surrounding the Vietnam Memorial. I wasn't alive to witness the tragedies of this war, therefore, seeing the memorial doesn't affect me as it should, but it was so touching to walk among these grown men in their leather vests and long gray ponytails as they wept for the friends they had lost. I am so glad we were able to see this at the beginning of our weekend because I was able to remember what this weekend meant to all the veterans and it helped me gain a greater appreciation for those who have served our country.

The next morning we caught the first tour bus of the day and we were off to see the sights. Once again the sightseeing tour did not disappoint and we were able to see all that we wanted of DC. The next day we visited the Holocaust Museum and were reminded of the hardships many have endured throughout history. This was Jason's favorite stop. We took our time and were able to read everything that took place. We heard stories from survivors of Auschwitz and it was so sad to hear of their losses. We then visited the American History Museum and got to see everything from the First Ladies gowns to Julia Child's kitchen to Jerry Seinfeld’s pirate shirt. We were able to see the Rolling Thunder parade with it's estimated 100,000 motorcycles but most of all we were able to just relax and have an enjoyable weekend with each other before Jason starts his Bar classes.

While in Washington we learned that Monuments are built during someone’s life and Memorials are built after the person passes, and that the Washington Monument was started during his life but was not finished until after his death. We were able to brush up on our history on this vacation but more importantly remember the true meaning of Memorial Day.

Lincoln Memorial

Vietnam Memorial

Jefferson Memorial

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

The White House

Jerry's Shirt

Supreme Court Building

Exorcist Stairs - Jason just had to see them

Georgetown

The National Cathedral

The Rolling Thunder Parade

juris doctor

It's official ... Jason graduated on Friday and now holds the degree of Juris Doctor.



As I sat in the theater at Madison Square Garden and watched Jason and all of his friends march past I couldn't help but get a little emotional. I was so proud to see him in his purple gown, knowing what an accomplishment it was to be graduating from one of the top law schools in the country. The convocation started with a procession of the graduates marching down the isles through the audience down to the front where they were seated and I was lucky enough to have an isle seat on the second row and got to see each graduate as they passed. Jason has made so many great friends at NYU and it was a little sad to think that they would now be scattered across the country.

The speakers did great but my favorite was the hooding ceremony, where each graduate walked across the stage as their name was read as one of their professors then placed a purple velvet hood around their neck, patted them on the back and crowned them juris doctors (or at least that's how it felt to me).



I know it's blurry but doesn't he look so happy?


I loved their purple "doctor's" gowns. They were so much better than the bachlor gowns. First, the fact that they were purple was my favorite, it just made them look like royalty, which in my eyes(after all his hard work) he should be. On the sleeves were three black velvet stripes and the front was faced with black velvet strips with what resembled a crest with the NYU torch and the year 1835 on the chest and then of course the black velvet cap and purple velvet hood.



After the hooding of most of the graduates they then had the hooding of those who's family members were alumni of NYU law and it was so fun to see fathers and mothers hood their children, grandparents hood their grandchildren, siblings hood each other and even husbands, wives and fiances hooding each other. I couldn't help but secretly hope that perhaps someday Jason will be able to hood one of our children/grandchildren.

I am so proud of Jason for graduating from law school; however, I feel like law grads kind of get the shaft in the title department. I mean, if they get the doctor degree then how come the title doesn't come with it? I would prefer seeing Dr. Jason Larkin to Jason Larkin, Esq. and when do you ever see someone placing the suffix with their name? In my eyes I think they are just as important so I am just going to call him My Juris Doctor.

It was such an honor to be the wife of a graduate and I was touched when people congradulated me as well, I was truly proud of Jason. He has worked harder over the last three years than anyone I have ever known. I have never seen anyone as dedicated to their studies as he was and I feel like it has finally paid off. He continues to thank me for helping him through it but I am the one that needs to thank him. So thank you, Jason, for moving me to this amazing city; for learning what law school is all about; for always working so hard; for the stressful interview process and landing a job that alows us to stay in the city; and for still remembering to make time for me while you did it all. I love you!

Jason's family came to town to celebrate his big day




Some of Jason's law school buddies




Around the law school



**Fun Fact: Jason is the first USU alum to graduate from NYU Law**

color coded

As law school draws to an end I want to document some of Jason's studying habits/quirks. Jason has never studied at the library, (except for the day we were evacuated from our building last year) instead he prefers to lay on his stomach on our bed with his books scattered around him as he types away on his computer. He sometimes has to stop because his arms have gone numb because all the blood has left them but he still prefers the bed to the desk. As finals get closer he can spend an entire day on the bed with a cup of sunflower seeds to keep him awake and a huge bottle of water to quench his thirst. Jason likes to drink caffeinated beverages but before he gets into his finals crunch he has to give it up so he won't get headaches during finals from the caffeine withdrawals. Each night after he has studied all day he has to take a break and watch at least a half hour of TV before going to bed to help his brain unwind. Sometimes he studies quite late right before a final so he also has to wear the headphones when I am trying to sleep - so don't feel too bad for me, I'm not the only one that has to wear them.

But my favorite of all his many quirks are his outlines. In law school a good outline is key to doing well on an exam and I believe Jason has mastered the sport. Some students wait till right before finals to draft an outline but Jason starts working on his from day one. I have no idea what the colors mean but he has his own system that helps him find exactly what he is looking for during an exam. Not only are his outlines color coded but his text books are covered with different colored tabs and the pages are splashed with neon yellow, blue, pink and green. I like to tease him about is highlighting fetish but I guess I can't mock it if it works.