12.31.10

the text i sent out at midnight said "here's to hoping we have less in 2011"

i ran a race in central park at midnight and it was shockingly warm. 42!

12.30.10

today i flew through minneapolis and this was there to greet me.

12.29.10

this is a lame photo, but i spent the afternoon and evening with rachael, jen, and jane and i nearly cried when they dropped me off that night. i miss you guys.

12.28.10

i noticed one night walking downstairs at my parent's house that my mom tied a ribbon around the pheasant for Christmas. Happy holidays!

12.27.10

Ski day!!!

12.25.10

My 2010 Christmas card. Merry Christmas!

12.24.10

Merry Christmas from Utah!!

12.23.10

Rockette on the left is my roommate. Merry Christmas from New York!

12.22.10

I went with an undisclosed friend last night to Victoria's Secret where she bought all the girls in her family gifts. The names of the products are the best part. Especially when your friend says stuff like "I have pure seduction or ravishing love already." Yes, yes you do.

12.19.10

Someone sent me a pen today with my name inscribed on it. I love it when it is hard for people to steal my pens.

Life Update version 20,004

List time.

• My dad went to San Francisco last week for some business and while he was there, he saved Bertha. She is now in storage and I can pick her up when I am ready for her again. I may not have room for her in New York, but at least she will be there when I need her. A big shout out to my dad who moved her out of my old house BY HIMSELF. As Rachael said "A God among men! Who knew?" Thanks, Dad!
• Jonna and her husband Ben were in New York for a few days last week and I was lucky enough to spend a bit of time with them. There are so many things to love about Jonna - she is sweet and funny and beautiful and just so much fun to be around. Her new music video just came out today and I think you should watch it. And if you like it, you should buy your own copy of the song on itunes. She has such a beautiful voice - enjoy!

• I was in my little "sister's" wedding a few weeks ago in Utah. Here is the beautiful couple:

Jessica with her bridesmaids.

Matt was my date to the reception and it was wonderful to spend time with him. If only we lived closer together. le sigh.

• On Saturday I ran a race in Long Island and since I bought this photo, I will show it to you via the blog. It is one of my happier race photos. Not as classic as this one, but good.

• My secret pal gave me some awesome cupcakes on Sunday and since the scale is messed up in this photo, you should know that they were each about the diameter of a silver dollar. And I ate almost all of them before I left church on Sunday.

And now I'd like to tell you about my Saturday morning.

It started out with me waking up at 6am after about 3.5 hours of sleep so that I could meet Brody at Columbus Circle and get on a train to Long Island for the Ho Ho Ho Holiday Run 5k. We were supposed to meet at 6:45am.

What do you do when you get stood up? You take a sad face photo.

Then you decided to drown your tears in Starbucks. I think it was the lack of sleep over the span of a week and sadness over unrealized expectations of running a 5k that I'd been planning on for months but I had huge crocodile tears in my hot chocolate.

Then you start walking home and get a frantic phone call from your friend who stood you up saying that his phone died even though it was plugged in all night and his alarm didn't go off, and he is coming to pick you up in a Zip car in 5 minutes.

And you make it to Bethpage, NY in record time.

So you run the 5k with lot of other people wearing Santa hats or even dressed completely like Santa. Smart in the cold weather!

You have a stranger take a pic of you post race.

Then you eat the best post-race treats ever. Fresh bagels, cupcakes, muffins, soda, and bananas. Just in it for the free food.

This last photo was taken at about 11am on Saturday and that isn't even nearly the end of the day.

Next post will be about Christmas Party Weekend 2010. If you like stories about me falling or not getting enough sleep, you won't want to miss it.

12.19.10

Cousins!! It isn't every day that in Relief Society, the girl behind you introduces herself using the last name Zundel. Insta-BFF.

12.18.10

Longest day ever. Yikes.

Please note that I realize that I look about 45 years old in this photo. Ok Ok Ok. 65.

12.17.10

Ugly Christmas sweater party. Sewed those bows on myself.

12.16.10

Dinner with jonna and ben tonight!! It was freezing in the apartment.

I usually think about things that I want to blog about when I'm on my way to work and then as soon as I: a)get outside and realize how cold it is, I forget about everything else or b)step into the office and realize how much I have to do, I forget about everything else.

My cousin and I were texting a few weeks ago about how things are going here and when I responded with "Busy!", she asked "with what?" and I laughed. To myself.

Let me tell you what I've learned from living in New York so far.

• One of the biggest blessings and curses in my life is that you can't talk on the phone in the subway since there is no reception. It is nice to have 30 minutes of general quiet time each way to work, but it also takes away from time that I used to spend checking in with friends. Just because I don't call you anymore to check in doesn't mean I don't think about you. People who have started to call me have won gold friendship stars in my mind.
• I love the subway musicians. This morning there was a man singing "Jingle Bells" to the tune of "Silent Night" in one of the tunnels in Grand Central and even though that combination sounds funny, it was beautiful. I look forward to the music every morning.
• I am in love with New York. Last week I was downtown for some event and was walking down Bank Street and just seeing the city at night at Christmas from a downtown perspective was beautiful to me. Kind of like walking down Lake Street at Christmas in San Francisco.
• Last night I went to bed at 7pm, woke up around 10:30pm for about an hour, then slept until 7:30am this morning. I think I could use another night like that and then finally feel like myself again.
• Stef took me up to Sylvia's on Monday night in Harlem. The corn bread was pretty good, but I thought the mac n' cheese was better.
• I still love the British. A lot.
• I don't love their mince pies, but I pretended to when my boss made some for us the other day!
• Went running the other day along the river by my house and couldn't believe how beautiful it was. The inhaler I got a few months back has changed my life - it has made running a million times more enjoyable.

Merry Christmas!

12.15.10

What I did tonight. (laid in bed all night)

12.14.10

Conehead on subway.

12.13.10

Stef and I on the bus. Snowing outside!!

Getting Control

I have a few December 13th resolutions to make.

No more candy.

Will start working out tonight

No more hitting the snooze button because I will be going to bed at a reasonable hour.

That is all.

Love,

Steph

12.12.10

Here I go again

12.11.10

i was a bridesmaid for the 11th time tonight. what a beautiful wedding.

12.10.10

Went skiing today with Christina Gunson at Sundance. Best $20 I spent all day. Note to self: next time, wear more than a tshirt under your jacket.

12.09.10

nothing better than seeing your nephew laugh

12.08.10

American Airlines has a new ad campaign that has been launched on the Shuttle between Times Square and Grand Central Station. I just snapped this photo of the window, but the seats are much more exciting. See other pic here.

12.06.10

on my way home from fhe

12.05.10

spent the afternoon with deb. was so wonderful to see a familiar face. i fully admit it - i miss my coworkers in sf even though i love them here, too.

12.04.10

stopped in to listen to the christmas program at the catholic church in my neighborhood on my way to dinner. there's just something special about hearing christmas songs inside a cathedral. i love this time of year.

12.03.10

Best purchase in December so far. Holly Golightly eye mask!!!!

12.02.10

It is like Christmas around here. So many packages of awesome things!

When do dreams become reality?

I had lofty dreams before moving to New York. Mostly those dreams included me watching a lot of television and sitting at home in the evenings all cozy in my sweat pants. Really. That is what my dreams are. When your reality is living in New York, going to the UK for work and you've already been to the 50 states, your aspirations are low. I am currently considering traveling to the ten Canadian provinces. I've already been to 4 and there are 4 more on the east coast that I could hit up if I planned it right in the summer. Prince Edward Island, anyone? And I digress. My dreams are really to sit on the couch and hopefully lie under the radar. But those dreams are just dreams. And my reality is that I haven't exercised regularly in over 6 months, I'm currently sitting at work procrastinating a project that needs to get done, and I got 5 hours of sleep last night after experiencing the most turbulent flight of my life and then taking a 3 hour greyhound bus ride home. And I'm not complaining - life is good here. I feel loved, appreciated, challenged, and I love the vibe of New York.

In the meantime, my dear friends, know that I miss you. Just because I am horrible at responding to emails currently doesn't mean that I don't appreciate the emails more than you know. Also, I am obsessed with this song right now in case you were wondering.

12.01.10

plaid cropped pants with uncoordinated striped socks. seen in the greyhound station in hartford, connecticut.