Meeting the Families

So, after getting back from New York, I spent about a week and a half with my sister and niece and nephew before flying out to Vegas where I met Brett at the airport. I then spent about three days with him and his family. The whole crew was there. He has a wonderful family and it was fun to get to know a different side of Brett. Then we drove out to California where we spent about a week with my family. We did a little bit of everything from hanging out with Katherine and Tim and their kids, taking Kari to her first day of school, going to the first day of school ice cream...to spending some time with grandma and grandpa Lawson, going to a Dodger game, and just hanging out. We had so much fun together and we seemed to have passed the test with the families. The goodbye was definitely that much harder than it was a few weeks before in New York, but things are going well and that's what matters, right?

My time in New York came to an abrupt end. I can't believe those two months flew by so incredibly fast. I will be back considering I left some of my stuff there. I am waiting on some job offers and if those don't pan out, I will be going back at some point in September or early October to knock some agencies' doors down. Look out NYC, I'll be back! So, I came home a few days early to meet my new little niece, Katya Elise Cross. She was born on August 14th and is just a little princess. Nicholas is such a good big brother. It's been fun to be here for the first weeks of her life since I was in Argentina when Nicholas was born. Needless to say the past week has been fun and exhausting. Feedings every two hours are tiring!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Thanks for all the calls on my birthday, I appreciated it! The day was perfect...I woke up to two dozen roses and a daisy (you can all guess why the daisy was there), so the day started out perfect and ended the same way. It was crazy getting to the airport and working things out with my brother, but SO good to see him. Then Brett and I headed home to a little surprise party...even with all the changes of plans, he managed to pull it off! Here's pictures documenting the day.

Elder Nicholas comes to NYC!

My brother was scheduled to leave August 8th for Sao Paolo. Seeing as though I'm all the way on the other side of the country, I was quite disappointed that I wouldn't be seeing him before he embarked. So, I prepped myself for it all and was actually doing quite well with it. I had said goodbye to him over the phone and was back up at my desk working when I received another series of phone calls. What happened you might ask (although the subject of this post already gave it away)? Anyway, his flight to Dallas was cancelled due to weather conditions, so he ended up going all over the place and ending up at the JFK airport last night. Needless to say, I rushed right over there to see him and give him a big hug before he left the country. I don't know how he did it, but he managed to give me the best birthday present ever--just seeing him! Plus, he got to meet Brett. It turned out to be a good thing that we were there because there were even more complications at the airport with check-in. The cell phone came in handy seeing as we were talking to church travel for 45 minutes trying to figure things out. At long last we fixed it all, just in time to get his bags checked and send him running. No emotional goodbyes because he was looking so happy and I am just so happy for him! The whole incident at check-in was not for naught...we ended up giving a pass-a-long card to the ladies that we worked with and formed a pretty good relationship with them. They were even going to let us in the airport to see him to his gate, but we opted out of that seeing as though we had already said goodbye and there were more birthday celebrations to come. Good day!

The Picture You've All Been Waiting For!

For all of you to whom I promised a picture, here it is. Compliments of my Aunt and Uncle when they met him. This is Brett, the boy that I am dating right now. He is a winner!

I work one block from the Gershwin Theater, where Wicked is currently on Broadway. I won tickets a few weeks ago and my mom and sister used them. I couldn't wait for my chance to go. Well, last night I went over with some friends after work to try to win the lottery again. Brett had been planning to go over anyway to try to win us tickets, but I decided to go with others to increase our odds. To my utter surprise, Brett won!! The musical was AMAZING! I would recommend it to any of you who haven't seen it! It had to be, hands down, one of the best Broadway musicals of all time. Sitting in the front row was a unique experience. I thought at first that it would be too close, but on the contrary. It was incredible to see the play up close and personal. I felt as though the actors were interacting more with me. You could even see the spit coming out of their mouths and there was definitely a lot of it! Next time I might actually bring an umbrella to shield myself from it :) Good night!

Commuting in NYC!

Well, for those of you who haven't yet experienced life in NYC, I just thought I would make a quick note. Going to work can be a long commute even if you live relatively close to the office. You have to walk to the nearest public transportation and then wait (sometimes you don't have to wait at all and other times you're glad that you have good reading material in hand). Anyway, you really just have to plan well. Yesterday I left at the normal time and after getting to the bus stop, waited 10 minutes for a bus that was half a block away. Why, you might ask? The traffic was so horrendous that the bus literally sat at the same stoplight that entire time. Then once I got on the bus, it sat at the next stoplight for just as long. So after what seemed like hours, I got off the bus to transfer to the subway and what happens...I run down the stairs to catch the subway there and I get to the doors as they close...I tried to stick my hand in to get them to open really quickly, but had no luck. You've got to love the commute. Possibly the worst part about it all is waiting in the subway tunnel. If New York isn't hot and humid enough as is, you have to sit underground in a hotter, humider tunnel! I get to work everyday and feel like I just rolled through the mud. So much for getting ready each morning!

Pictures from 4th of July weekend!

Eating the best ice cream in New York on the Brooklyn side of Brooklyn Bridge

Just a funny sign we had to take a picture of in Times Square

Enjoying a Frrrozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity

The Globe from the World Trade Center in Battery Park

The NYC Skyline from the Staten Island Ferry

4th of July BBQ on my rooftop

Getting ready for the fireworks off the East River

One of my favorite things in New York
New York has its ups and downs, but let me just tell you about one of the ups. Of course you end up walking a lot and a chance to see fun restaurants and stores. But, my favorite by far are the outdoor flower vendors. It seems like you can't go two blocks without running into one. And the flowers they sell are absolutely beautiful. Honestly, it's so refreshing to see the beauty and walk by and enjoy the flower aroma. The only thing that would make it even more beautiful is if I had a boy right by my side to buy my flowers once in a while...haha!

Long Days and Short Nights that Fly By
I'm definitely getting wrapped up in the life here. My work hours get longer and my bedtime gets pushed back. I find myself leaving the house in the morning and then leaving straight from work to go to something for church or just for fun. That puts me home almost always after 10 or 11 each night. But, I am having a lot of fun. Fourth of July weekend I spent with my cousin, Nicholas. He came up from Virginia and we did a lot more sightseeing. We even made it to the Bodies exhibit at South Street Seaport. What an incredible system we are! The fourth was spent at the apartment...we had a barbecue on our roof and had a great turn out. I met lots of new people and yes, even some boys! If you want details on that, you'll have to give me a call! We went over to the medical school dorms at NYU to watch the fireworks. We weren't the only ones who had the idea cuz the rooftop filled up quick, but I had an incredible view of the Macy's fireworks on the East River. It was an awesome show...second only to the 50th anniversary show at Disneyland.

Sight-seeing in NYC! This past week and weekend, my mom and sister were out visiting. Needless to say, I did a lot of the touristy stuff here in the city. I went straight from work to the attractions around town. By the end of the night I was exhausted! Subways and buses are great, but there still remains a lot of walking after the commute. So what did we do...we got to have some real New York pizza, see Tarzan on Broadway (which I thoroughly enjoyed), I won 2 $25 front-row lottery tickets to Wicked, so they got to see that...oh so much that we got to do. I surprised my mom and took her to a famous cafe from the movie You've Got Mail. She loved it and we all shared some tasty treats. I had egg creme (which I didn't like too much)--my grandma used to get some for 5 cents on the way home from school when she was little girl growing up in the Bronx. We got to eat dinner in Little Italy where we met some crazy romantic Italians and a friendly waiter from Argentina. When he heard I had been there for a year and a half, we became fast friends. We made our way to Canal Street (the garment district of NYC) and bought some cool, cheap stuff. Saturday we enjoyed a day of NYC rain. Even with the rain we got to take the Circle Line to Liberty Island to visit Ms. Liberty and Ellis Island. Sunday morning took us to the Brooklyn Bridge...we walked across it and Kirst and I sang the tunes of Newsies...It was so fun to have them here. So, rather than bore you with the details...take a look at some of the pictures!

Kirsten and I outside the Richard Rogers theatre after seeing Tarzan.

My mom and I fighting the crowds at Times Square.

Outside Cafe Lalos...do you recognize it?

In Little Italy!

My mom hailing a taxi...TAXI!

Ok, sorry it's been so long! My life is beginning to reflect New York--fast, busy, and just like the Energizer battery it keeps going and going and going... Let's just start from where we left off. My first few days on the job consisted of lots of training meetings and a ton of reading up on American Express. What about my first weekend in NYC--that would be last weekend. Well, Friday night wasn't all that exciting. I met up with some friends after they had gone to dinner and we went to The Magnolia Bakery, a little bakery here known for its famous cupcakes and other baked goods. The line was out the door and around the corner which intrigued me even more. So I waited and got a cupcake and tried their banana pudding. It was pretty good, but to pay $1.75 for a cupcake like that isn't really my style. After all, I'm not a fan of store bought frosting. Now I hear that I have to try The Cupcake Cafe. So, after venturing to the cute little bakery, I ended up sitting on a bench on Broadway with some friends, just admiring the city. Saturday was my first trip to the beach on the east coast. We took a train to Long Beach on Long Island. The day was overcast, but cleared up late in the afternoon. It was perfect. They say the water is warmer on this coast, but I beg to differ, it was FREEZING! As you can see from the pictures, I stayed right up on the shore! I think the beaches in Cali are better only because it is free to go. Here you have to pay just to get to the sand! What's that all about!

The First Two Days on the Job! So it is official. I work in an Ad Agency. I still really do feel like I should be in the movies. Today I am EXHAUSTED! Playing all night after work and then getting up the next day to work again is tiring, but you have to celebrate your first day on the job with some dessert! So, yesterday...here goes. I got to work early since I didn't know how long it would take during rush hour. In all honesty I wasn't very nervous. We got there, waited, had some training meetings in the morning at which they served us breakfast. I was happy to eat for free! Before lunch we found out the accounts we would be on. Take a wild guess what account I am on... Ok, American Express--U.S. Cards. Ogilvy has a ton of AmEx accounts, mine focuses on the different cards that they offer. So all the advertising you see for the Clear Card, the Blue Card, the One Card, the Jet Blue Card, the Gold Card, etc. , that's all my account. I met some of the people on the account and went to lunch with two of the managers on the account. They took me to a Mexican Restaurant right outside of the office in the Worldwide Plaza called Blockheads. It was fabulous and even more so because they paid. The lunch was nice...we talked about the account and got to know each other. They seemed excited to hear that I don't have anymore school left (could that mean there are job opportunities). So, one of the guys on the account is Tyler, a BYU grad. He went to lunch with us and has been at Ogilvy for 10 months. He makes me feel right at home. Yesterday ended mainly in meetings and group things. The interns divided into five groups and went on a photo scavenger hunt around the city taking pictures of answers to Ogilvy related clues. It was a blast and tiring at the same time. The end of the day came quick. I loved it! Today was hard after a late night last night, but I managed and enjoyed getting to work a little bit more on the account. I had training about half the day and then the other half consisted mainly of getting familiar with the account. How cool is this? I got to watch a stack of DVD's of the latest TV commercials run for AmEx as well as other promotional events. Then I got to read through the strategies of the campaigns and look at all the print work! It was thoroughly entertaining. I am going to know more about American Express than I ever thought possible by the time this is over! I'm out for now...tonight is an early one for me!

Here are some pictures of my apartment. It is on the fifth floor. We have a balcony and a roof patio. These pictures are just of the downstairs. I haven't moved into my room yet, but will when Ashley moves out next week. More pictures to come then.

Wonderful Life in the BIG APPLE! As I stepped off the plane yesterday and got my taxi into the city, I had a deja vu experience. I felt like I had just arrived in Buenos Aires and was beginning my mission. Why you might ask? Well, for one, I had all this luggage and no one to help me with it and then when I got into the taxi, after telling the driver where to go, I asked, "So, how long have you been a taxi driver?" Every time we got into a "remis" (the Argentine word for taxi), we asked that and then worked the conversation into the Restoration and either gave a Book of Mormon or took down the address to go visit. The Haitian man that I talked to was incredibly nice...we talked the whole way and I felt like I a missionary again! Also, just as I felt in Buenos Aires, so I felt yesterday and today in NYC. I surely would never want to drive in this town! It's bad enough being a pedestrian. We arrived at my apartment--it is just like the movies! The door to the complex is in between two shops. My roommate Mindy came down to let me in and we started the climb up the five flights of tiny stairs to my apartment. My apartment is one of the nicer, bigger apartments that poor interns live in! It is three bedroom, two bathroom. Pictures will soon come. I just felt like I should be on an episode of Friends or something (without all the raunchiness). After getting a little settled, I headed down the block to the grocery store. My first thoughts as I entered and looked at the prices--"What in the world? There is no way I'm paying this much for food! I may as well stop eating with the price of food around here!" Haha...well I was quickly humbled and needless to say I swallowed my cheapness and bought myself some food! Just for your information--a gallon of milk is $3.99, a box of cereal $4.99 and above, granola bars $5.00 for the small box! Outrageous. It looks like I will be living on noodles and rice (sounding again like Argentina)! Today was my day venturing downtown and looking for my office so that I can get there tomorrow during rush hour. I met some of my friends who are already interning for lunch in Bryant Park (which is right by the New York Public Library). I haven't yet tried one but am very tempted by the $1 hot dogs on the street. Those will be coming soon. In my adventures I was able to drive through Central Park, walk through Times Square, look down Broadway, go into Y&R (another Ad Agency in town) and meet some people, and just see all the sites. Tonight is Museum Mile Festival where you can get into a ton of museums for free. If I can hook up with some of the other interns, I will be there. My feet are tired from all the walking...thank goodness for buses and subways. I have my 30-day Metro pass and will be getting more than my money worth for it. The buses were another reminder of Argentina. Oh, how I miss it. On every corner there are street vendors selling fresh fruit and vegetables (yet again like Argentina). I am excited to go buy myself healthy snacks. Well, I am off...tomorrow is the first day of work. Update on that to come!