Flat Iron Building

I forgot to add Ryan's awesome picute of the Flat Iron Building

Memorial Day Weekend

We have almost experience New York in every season of the year and by far spring is the best. The weather has been amazing which make life just that much more pleasant. It also makes you want to get out of our apartment and see New York. We didn't have anything really exciting planned for the weekend but I was proud of us because we went and did new things. Friday was a quiet day which was really nice because we were exhausted from being up all night with the barking dog. Ryan walked the dog to the office so we could hand the dog off to my boss and so Ryan and I got to go to lunch. We went to a really yummy inexpensive restaurant called Eatery. I got off of work early but we took it easy and watched old Scrubs episode.
Rusty (Ryan's little brother) loves the show but we haven't really watched it until we borrowed the first season and we are hooked. It is pretty funny. Or maybe we just really like it because we are starved for TV. We don't have a TV so sometime we miss watching it. We went to bed early on a Friday night the first time in a long time. Saturday morning we woke up and got a few little thing done like laundry, buy an air conditioner, and buy little thing that we needed like soap. Saturday night we went to a play that had only been open for a few weeks and now it is closing. It is call Coram Boy and it was amazing. It did really well in London but it is pretty dark so I guess the New York crowd didn't like it. We went with one of my work friends Morgan and one of her friends Josh. We had a really fun night. We hung out in Time Square after and man are there some crazy people out there. Sunday we went to church and relaxed the rest of the day. I loved knowing that I didn't have to go to work the next day. I think every weekend should be a three day weekend. My cousin Laurel came over for dinner and the start of a movie. Then we all started falling asleep. Monday we slept in which is always fun and had a fun day downtown. We walked around Soho which we really haven't done. I found a fabric store that I really wanted to visit called Purl Soho and it was as cute as it looks in the pictures. We wandered up to NYU area and walked around. Everyone was out and about because of the good weather and it was nice to just walk around. We walked through Washington Square Park and then hopped on the subway and headed up for another 15 blocks to the Flat Iron district.

We had a wonderful lunch at the Shake Shack. It is a Danny Meyer restaurant that serves hamburgers, hot dogs, and shakes. (He owns many of the best restaurant in New York.)

I have been wanting to go for a long time but it is always super busy. But when we walked by it wasn't to long of a line. The food was great and the best part is that it is really cheep for New York. It is on Madison Square Park so we sat outside under all the trees and it was wonderful.

After dinner we rode the bus all the way up Madison ave. We enjoy riding the bus because one the are cleaner and two we get to see the run streets of New York. It was a great weekend.

Doggy Sitting

Thursday night we doggy sat my bosses dog. Her name is Moxi and she is a toy poodle. She is pretty funny but not so funny when she was awake and barking at 3 in the morning.

The Best Concert Ever

On Monday night Ryan and I went to one of the best concerts I have ever been to. His name is Damien Rice and he played at Radio City Music Hall. It was an outstanding performance. His vocals were incredible, the staging was cool, the music was great. It was one of those performances that was so good that now his CDs don't sound as good. It was a fun night out with my little Ryan.

A little show we call The Office

I am so sad that the Office is over for the summer. So this post is a tribute to the show that I love. For those who don't watch it, you need to. It was a great season finale.

The weekend with the Bailey's

We had a wonderful weekend. My aunt and uncle came into town this past weekend to visit my cousin and they invited us out for Friday and Saturday. We had a really nice time. It was great to see them and catch up. We went to dinner on Friday night at the MET opera house. Then we went to the Ballet. It was beautiful. I can't remember the name right now but I will look it up. The dancing to exquisite. The run part was during intermission we went back up to the restaurant (the ballet and the restaurant are in the same building) and had our dessert. It was very civilised. On Saturday we went to dinner at The Modern. It is the restaurant in the Museum of Modern Art. The food was amazing. The reservations were at 5:30 and we didn't leave until 9:00. It was a long dinner but we didn't even notice. With great food and even better company we didn't even notice the time. It was very nice thank you Steve and Vicki.

Mother's Day

I have a lot to catch up on. So I will have to post a few times today. For mother's day weekend we went home to Reno for a few days and it was WONDERFUL. It was such a fiasco getting there but once we were there we had a great time. It was really nice to be with the Stodtmeisters. Saturday we watched Kyle in his track meet, we went to a wedding, ate yummy Mexican food, and enjoyed mom and dad's new jacuzzi. Sunday we got to talk to both of Ryan's brothers who are on their missions, we went to church, had dinner at Ryan's aunt Rhonda's house, and watched family videos. Monday we decided to stay and extra day so we could run errands, be with the family a little longer, and watch more family videos. It was a really great weekend. It is good to because we got to see Nicole and Chris. We were sad that Mom and Dad were in Houston but we are glad that Dad is doing so well.

Robin Hood Benefit

Last Thursday everyone at my office went to one of the biggest benefits I have ever seen. The foundation is call Robin Hood and its goal is to stop poverty... "to significantly affect people living in poverty you have to attack its root causes. That’s why Robin Hood focuses on poverty prevention through programs in early childhood, youth, education, jobs and economic security." (from their website). It is an amazing foundation and all money raised goes 100% to the foundation. Last Thursday was their large benefit and it was amazing. There were over 4,500 people and the majority of them were very very wealthy. It started with cocktails and Hors d'œuvre while people wandered around large castles and tents constructed out of famous New York coffee cups. Then they moved us into the dinning area.

(Bethany, Morgan, and Me)

(We all match, kind of funny)

Dinner was fun to all sit and chat. After dinner they talked about the foundation and started the auction. Robin Hood raises their money by auctioning off large packages of goodies. (example: one of the packages was a trip to the 2008 Olympics in China and along with that you get to do all sort of fun things and stay in cool places. That went for $2.2 million). It was crazy so see people dropping that much money. It is wonderful because it is all going to a great cause but it is still crazy. Jon Stewart was the MC and there was an actual auctioneer. All in all the foundation raised $72 million last Thursday night. WOW. What an amazing cause. After to finish the evening Aerosmith played for about and hour. They would not be my first choice in bands to see but it was still fun rock out. It was a magical night. So Surreal. It is a blast to spend time with the people I work with outside of the office. Everyone is great and we all have a really fun time together.

Great Adventure

April 26th was a day this will go down in my books. Great Adventure is a Six Flags amusement park in New Jersey and on April 26th our company took over. The park was closed to the public but was open to our company and our 400 closest friends. It was unbelievable. This is how the day went...
The bus picked us up in the city around 1:00pm and the adventure began. When we arrived in the park there were a total of 4 buses and 7 cars in the parking lot. It was empty. It was crazy.

There was a small ribbon cutting ceremony. The tall man in the grey sweater is my boss. The little girl in the pink stripes is his daughter Lucy. She helped cut the ribbon and it took a little effort.

Me and Bethany

All the Loony Toon characters were there. Here is the crazy part everything was open and everything was FREE. The food... FREE. The games...Free. The pictures...Free. It was so fun. We had ice cream, Cotton candy, more ice cream, popcorn, more ice cream and really anything we could get our hands on.

Me, Morgan, and Bethany

We went from ride to ride and it was almost creepy how quiet it was at the park. Sometimes you wouldn't even see other people. It was deserted. But it was super fun.

Morgan on the bumper cars

It is embarrassing to say but I almost got sick to my stomach. I guess I am getting old. After about 8 roller coasters I was done for the evening. I also learned to appreciate lines because it gives my stomach time to settle down and get ready for the next ride.

We had an awesome special concert just for us. It was Ali and Ajay. (Don't worry I didn't know who they were either, Disney special) They are sisters that sing and play instruments. After the concert we ran around and played as many games as we could and carried home arm fulls of oversizes stuffed animals.

The end of the day was topped off with a fire works display. It was a perfect ending.

Free Arts NYC

Last night I went to a benefit for Free Arts New York. I went with two of my co-workers Joelle and Alex. I am getting quite the education out here. Life in New York is a whole different world especially when it comes to these benefits. It was a whole lot of socialites dressed in their artsy attire buzzing around. Artists donate a piece of art and then they were auctioned off at the benefit and all the money goes to Free Arts NYC. It was in a funky Chelsae art gallery and it was packed. It was fun to see all the crazy outfits and catch a glimpse or two of some famous people. Liv Tyler and Naomi Watts were there. Once the auction started and we couldn't hear much and our feet were killing us we left and went to dinner. The weather was still wonderful in New York last night so we sat out side at a fun little restaurant and had yummy pizza.

I love warm weather

Life is wonderful when the weather is warm. We had the best weekend because it was gorgeous in New York. Friday night I went to the Orchid Show at Rockefeller Center. It was pretty incrediable to see all the different unique flowers. I went with a friend from work and we had a great time. I even purchased a little something for our appartment.

I love having fresh flowers in the house. My orchid has at least 4 more buds to open and the flowers will last a few months if I don't kill it first. On Saturday we we wandered around the park for a few hours and enjoyed the warm weather with our closest 5 million friends. The park was packed with everyone and their dog. Ryan is in the final crunch still the end of the semester so while he worked on his papers I started a painting for our wall. This is only the beginning of it but I will keep everyone posted when it is finished.

Spring Break Video

Hello out there. Just doing some fiddling while avoiding writing papers. Here is some footage of us in Florida during spring break. I figure with Beckey and Craig in Houston this is a great way for them to see us and stay in touch. So, more video to come...after the semester is over.

I am going crazy

I am going to take 5 minutes to post before I go insane. I am hoping these 5 minutes of venting will help me from pulling my hair out. For the past few weeks I have been helping one of my bosses plan his honeymoon in July as well as his flights to and from Sweden (where the wedding is) and I am going CRAZY. He is one of those guys who is way into details and researching every possibility before he makes any decision (and I mean EVERY possibility). After these details and possibilities are found one must then create a spread sheet to be able to compare and contrast. Needless to say I am really ready for him to get married.

OK enough about that. Life is good here in New York. I don't really have anything exciting to report. But as soon as I have something I will let you all know.

Happy Easter

We had a perfect Easter. At the last minute we decided to go to Palmsprings and meet my family for the weekend. It was a wonderful weekend away. We golfed, played tennis, enjoyed lots of good food, sat by the pool, swam, read, and slept. It was so relaxing. The best part of it is that we were together as a family. Oh yea and the weather was really really nice. We are back in New York and it is raining like crazy and it is cold. I'm not happy about that. Ryan is in the final count down until the end of the semester. His last paper is due in less than 3 weeks. So for the next few weeks it is going to be nuts for after that is going to be wonderful. I am looking forward to having him home when i get home from work. It was nice to have a little break right before crunch time. I hope everyone else had a wonderful Easter.

One Great Birthday

Yesterday was one great birthday. Ryan brought me doughnuts in the morning. The Stodtmeisters sent me flowers at work (beautiful). I got a cake at work and they sang to me. To finish the evening we went to dinner at a really yummy tapas place called Pipa. It was a blast. The food was great and they had a flamanco dancer that was really awesome. But the best part of the day was the ice cream cake Ryan bought me. Thank you everyone it was a wonderful day. It was the perfect way to start year number 26.Me, Laurel, Eve, and Tan (Laurel's friends) at dinner
Ryan and I at dinner

The awesome ice cream cake

The beautiful ring my mom bought me

Spring Break

Ryan and I both did our undergraduate work at BYU so we never had the blessing of a spring break. But this year we got to experience what a spring break is like and it was glorious. We flew down to Florida where I served my mission and were the weather is warm. We had lunch with one of my great friends from the mission Mary Contrerez. She is so sweet and it was great to see her again. There were wonderful mission flash backs. When we got to West Palm the first thing we did we head to the beach. The weather was perfect and since I had never walked on the sand in Florida we strolled down the beach. We had only been there for maybe an hour and all the stresses in my life were gone. I love the beach. It was marvelous. From West Palm Beach we drove down to Miami stopping at all my old mission areas along the way. We rented a convertible and enjoyed the warm air. Ryan's cousin Julie and her husband Bob live in Coral Gables which is in Miami. We stayed with them the first night. They took us to a wonderful restaurant the first night and we caught up on what we are all doing. It was fun. And we appreciate them letting us stay with them. The next day we left Julie and Bob's apartment and drove through my area in Flagler. Then we went west to the everglades. The airboat ride was fun and we saw a few baby alligators. Then we watched a guy teach us about alligators. It was red neck but that is what Ryan wanted. We drove around Hialeah which was my first area and then we went to Key Biscayne. There is a National Park out there were you can rent bikes, have picnics, sit on the beach, fish, and check out the light house. We rented a tandem bike and cruised along the water for about a half hour. There were beautiful views of Miami. After the bike ride we sat on the beach and watched the awesome Florida clouds float by. The clouds were something I loved about Florida from my mission and they were as cool as I remember them. Ryan liked them also. Day two we put the top down and headed to Key West. It is a long drive because the speed limit is slow and there are only 2 lanes but the scenery is breath taking. For 2 hours we were driving over keys and bridges with water on both sides. Our first stop in Key West was the Hemingway house. We were both very impressed and really enjoyed it. We took a small tour of the house and then walked around and took pictures. It is an amazing home and surrounded by beautiful gardens. The grounds has over 40 cats and they are famous for their 6 toed cats. It was also really fun to learn about Hemingway and his life. After the Hemingway house we walked down Duval street and then headed to the most southern point of the United States to take pictures of the monument and the sign that says 90 miles to Cuba. To the left of Ryan is all the wording but the line was huge to take a picture and we didn't want to wait. So we snapped a shot and took off. We then went to dinner at a cute restaurant by the ocean. We had pina coladas and fish and enjoyed being on the beach. Man I want to live near the ocean. (I know we live in New York which is right near the ocean but it is not the same).Before we left KeyWest we were told we had to make a stop at the Blondie Giraffe. We would never turn up key lime pie. The Blondie Giraffe is a cute ma and pa store that just sells key lime pie and it is to die for. The marangue on top was perfect and had little zests of key limes. It was really yummy. After the pie we drove back to Miami to spend the night. Before we headed up to West Palm I drove Ryan through South Beach. He really liked it. All the art deco buildings give south beach a fun feel.

Right before we left we headed back up to West Palm Beach and had lunch at The Old Key Lime House. It is the oldest building in the area and has now been turned into a restaurant. The restaurant opens onto the water. It was beautiful. Ryan had fish and chips and I had fish tacos. We needed to get as much fish in as we could before we left. The shark was right outside. After lunch we went back to the beach and enjoyed the sun, sand and water for about an hour before we needed to be back at the airport. The waves were rolling in and there was a man-o-war invasion so there were big purple jellyfish all over the beach. It was a perfect ending to a perfect vacation.

Update

I am so excited because my Mom, Dad, Sister and Brother-in-law are flying into New York today. It is always fun to see family. We had a good weekend. Saturday morning I went to our stake women's conference. It is always nice to have that spiritual boost. The weather was so beautiful and warm that I ran home to get Ryan. He showered and by the time we headed out the door it was cold, windy and cloudy. Oh well. We walked around for a little bit and headed back home. Poor Ryan has been sick for a week now. So the weekend was really low key. Ryan and I have been called to be temple workers on Tuesday nights. Last night was our second time and it was wonderful. There is such a calming feeling in the temple I love it.

Snowy Day

We went to Laurel's (my cousin) house last night to watch the Oscars. When we left the house it was snowing. It was kind of fun. So the park is all snowy today. It is such a contrast with our Saturday activity. We walked through the park for a few hours and enjoyed the sunshine. Since we have been back from Christmas I feel like I have not seen the sun. In the morning walking to work the sun is still low enough that it is hiding behind buildings and then by the time I get off the sun is set. So I have been hungry for pure sun light. We walked through the park and watched the ducks waddle around on the frozen ice, listened to the saxophone players and peaked in on the polar bears at the zoo. It was a nice afternoon. But now we are back to snowy cold weather and no sun.

Il Mulino

I have to tell you all about my Wednesday night. I went to dinner at a little restaurant called Il Mulino. It was a group of 12 of us from work. My co worker Joelle and I were the first to arrive and we walked in to check and see if anyone else has arrived. We opened the door and it was the darkest, smallest, most crowded restaurant i have ever been to. It it was even weirder when we realised that everyone standing there was a male in a dark suit. Needless to say we waited outside for everyone else. This restaurant was something right out of the Godfather or the Sopranos. When the entire party was there they sat us at a table that couldn't have fit more than 6 people but we got 12 in there. I don't think the restaurant had more than 30 tables and 30 might even be to many. After we got settled we noticed that food was already on the table and from that moment on the food just kept coming. We started with bruschetta, fried zucchini, bread, crispy garlic bread, and mussels. The bruschetta was my favorite. I really don't like mussels but these i have to say were actually good. Those starters were done family style. The next course was individual servings of tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, prosciuto, and a roasted bell pepper. Also good. The third course was warm seafood. There was a large prawn, clams, and calamari also individually served. Another surprise I liked all of them. The fourth course was a pasta course. This course was by far my favorite. Individual portions of pasta with three home made sausages, lobster ravioli, and to die for mushroom ravioli's with black truffle sauce. Oh man it was amazing. The fifth course was the main course. We each ordered our own main course and I had the Dover soul with a lemon and butter sauce. For all of you that know me i can never turn down a lemon and butter sauce. The fish was excellent. The sixth course was family style of deserts. We tried sorbets, fruit with fresh cream topping of yumminess, tiramisu, chocolate cake, and cookies. Wow i hope you were keeping track and realised that I said yes 6 courses. It was unbelievable. The food was wonderful. But even better was the company. We all had a great time and laughed like crazy. That restaurant didn't know what hit them after we left. After a few bottles of wine everyone was is rare form and talking really loud. It was a really fun but late night. Poor Ryan didn't get to come but it was really nice of him to let me go. He is going to laugh at me because he says all i talk about on this blog is where and what we ate. I blame my family for being very food centered and that is usually what we are doing. But I'm not complaining. I love Food.

Friday Night at the Theater

Friday night Ryan and I went to a play at Lincoln Center called Dying City. It was a heart wrenching play but it was amazing and the actors did an amazing job. The play is about this woman who lost her husband in Iraq. It involves her husband's twin brother and flashbacks to before her husband died. I have to say Lincoln Center is one of the prettiest places in New York. Standing in the middle with the three buildings surrounding you is a spectacular sight.