Hurricane Sandy Cleanup

During Hurricane Sandy I was in Utah.  I tried my hardest to get back before the storm but had no luck getting back to New York for at least 3 days after it hit.  Watching a storm hit your home on the news when you are thousands of miles away is not super fun, I can tell you that.  What's worse is flying back into JFK a few days after a hurricane and seeing the devastation from the air.  Boats were in piles and it took me 4 hours to get home from the airport.  

I had definitely heard of the yellow Mormon Helping Hands vests but had never actually worn one.  The day that I got back to New York I received an email from the stake here asking us to help serve the areas that were so badly affected by the hurricane.  

To get to the Rockaways we had to take the D train all the way to 86th St. in Brooklyn, then get on a chartered school bus of yesteryear and take that for about 30 minutes to get to Rockaway.  Once we were there they gave us gloves, face masks, and a yellow vest (and a few tools).  We were divided up into groups and then given an assignment and off we went.  I did this 5 times over the month-long period that we were asked to serve.  Some of these photos are not mine but if they are not mine they were taken while I was standing there.  

Checkpoint at the Middle School

Two weeks after the hurricane hit

Megan is doing such a good job at showing us how tall those pile of sand are.

Stacie, me, Micah

We emptied this family's entire basement - everything was caked in mud.  We even found books in the rafters that had floated to the ceiling.  

Jill, Alicia, and Amber came up from DC for a weekend and came out to help gut a family's living room and kitchen.

Members of my ward.

Our last day of service with Ellen. Lost her brother in 911, newly divorced, and had just refinished the first floor of her home earlier this year.  We spent the entire day just ripping up the floorboards in her kitchen.

Me and Megan freezing to death in Far Rockaway

Scalped doll

Serving these people was such a great experience.  I heard countless stories of neighbors helping each other and saving each others lives.  Calls to serve aren't always at convenient times but I think almost daily about the ways that I was blessed for making the time to go and help people who needed it.  On a few occasions we were able to pray with the families that we helped and it was always a moving experience to pray for them to have hope in their lives despite their circumstances.  The days were long but so so worth it.

And in case you haven't seen it, watch this video.  Amazing.

Also, for 2 of the days that I could have been helping, I watched this guy so that his parents could go together.  And now he is referred to as my boyfriend, Hudson.  I adore that child.

LeOra's Birthday!

My wonderful Grandmother, LeOra turns 99 today and I can't let the day go by without sharing a few thoughts about her.

For those of you who are fortunate enough to have met her, you know what I'm talking about.  There is just something special about her.  My dad has often jokingly lamented the fact that when his friends call him, the first question they ask is not about him - they want to know how his mother is doing.

Of all important lessons that I've had in life, I feel like she has taught me the most important: she has taught me the art of laughter.

A few years ago her niece and nephew were in town visiting and at about 9pm she said that she was tired and was going to head to bed.  About 5 minutes later she came prancing out into the kitchen wearing these red longjohns.  She was at least 95 in the below photo.

Can't wait to celebrate triple digits with her next year.  Also, I'm glad that Dancing with the Stars finally ended so that she'll answer the phone when I call.

While You Were Working...

I came clean about a month ago about not having a job for a few months.  A lot happened during that time and I just didn't want to deal with it publicly. (Although LeOra doesn't know...) The company that I moved to New York to work for was a major let down and it never was a good fit for me.  I still love New York though.  Here are some pictures of things I did while I was you were working (either at a desk job or wrangling children).

I visited the Bartow Pell Mansion with Jaylynn one day way up in the Bronx.  It was an adventure getting there.  We took the subway to the end of the line, took a bus for a few miles then walked the rest of the way.  

For my birthday Juliann, Rachael, and Amy were in town.  I could just cry.  I miss my SF friends a lot.

On my way to a job interview one day I stepped into this church  and said a little prayer.

At the National Museum of the American Indian.  Such a pretty building.  I wasn't crazy about the exhibits they had, but overall I'm glad I went.

Statue of Liberty made of seal byproducts.  Thank you, Alaska!

Went to Long Beach with friends.
{this was the only time I went to the beach in NY all summer}

Said goodbye to Karli as she moved back to Utah to go to school.  Boo.

I spent a lot of time babysitting.  When little Oliver fell asleep in the swing, I let him sleep.  45 minutes later he woke up in a panic.  Pretty cute.

Took a tour of St. John the Divine, which is a few blocks away from my house.  Amazing cathedral.

Had some singing/dancing parties in my room when I was in bed. "Let's hear it for the boyyyyy"

Went to the New York Public Library for the first time.  Stop judging me. I've only worked within 2 blocks of this building the entire time I've lived here.  Great building and I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibits they had.

Kirsten got married and her reception was a harbor cruise.  Here we are under the Brooklyn Bridge.

Theodore Roosevelt's Birthplace is a national museum/park in New York and as such, is free.   Check it out.  

Ate at S'Mac with Steph Bishopp.  (and Adam Findley, who I mysteriously have no photos of even though he was at my house for a week)

Took a bus with Robert while he held Kirsten's bridal bouquet.  Yep.

Kirsten & Wil.  Gorgeous.

Again! Steph and Steph.

My roommate, Mala, moved at the end of October and for her going away party we had a 90's dance party.  I got pretty dolled up for the event and took some hilarious photos on my way out the door.

Missy and Paul came to town and I felt like I was in college all over again and I hope and hope and hope that  one day we can live close.  Missy and Paul are just the most bueno.  They came to NY for the 10 year anniversary and shared a room with me for a week. Ha!  Now THOSE are good friends.  :)

Brock came to town.  We played.  It was fun.  He is so excited to be standing outside of Tom's Restaurant!

Grant's Tomb.  Finally went.  Loved it.

I am such a product of The South.  I saw this bust and immediately thought about how mad I am at this man.  He destroyed the South.  Boo.

The Upper West Side is amazing at Halloween.  I captioned this photo "What I looked like that time I rode my bike down 5th Avenue"  Funny and accurate.

Beverly (and Mindy) came to town and we went to the Scandinavia House to get dessert.  There is a tree in the middle of the restaurant.  Cool place - I want to go back.

Bev took some pics of me in Bryant Park.  Yeah, I'm craning my neck, too.  Self, stop posing weird.

Brody had a birthday.  He is just the best; isn't he?!  Also, we are twins.

Thank you, Cafe Lalo, for having Guarana.  Thank you, Guarana, for keeping me awake all night.

I babysat Sam a handful of times over the few months that I didn't have a full-time gig.  I really grew to love that child.  He loves animals and every time we'd read this book with pictures of animals, he would hug each picture.  Here he is, hugging the cat.  Amazing.  I miss him.

Maren.  We met and a few minutes later I knew we would be good friends.  We spent a week together and it was delightful.  Then I find out that she is related through marriage to one of my besties.  I love the small world that we live in.

I got offered a temp job and went to celebrate with Brody and Micah at Num Pang.  Holy yum sandwich.  The corn was good, but not as good as at Cafe Habana.

And then the next day I started working again.  I can't lie - sleeping in every day was not a bad gig.  Also, I was really lucky to be able to spend the majority of my time off with a lot of amazing people.  My roommate was also unemployed at the same time so we were able to spend some quality time before she moved to Texas.  I'm currently working for a private equity firm as a temp...and we'll see if it ever becomes permanent.  For now, the jury is out.  I will keep you updated if that changes.

New York is such an amazing city.  Here is a half-remembered overall list of things that I did in my 2 months off:

• Forbes Magazine Galleries
• Guided tour of Grand Central Station
• The museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology
• Winter Garden at the World Financial Center
• Rode the tram to Roosevelt Island
• Morgan Library
• Grant's Tomb
• Bronx Zoo
• Museum of American Folk Art
• Museum of the American Indian
• Trinity Church
• 911 memorial x 5
• Scandinavia House
• NY Transit Museum
• Chick-Fil-A at NYU
• Riverside Church
• St. John the Divine
• Shakespeare in the Park

Halloween in Utah

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.  I love any excuse to dress up.

This year I found myself in Utah on Halloween.  Hurricane Sandy messed up my plans to spend Halloween at a Jack O'Lantern festival of sorts in New York with friends.  Instead, I took my sister's 4 oldest kids trick-or-treating and then went on a date.  In Orem.  Go figure.

BBQ sauce, a firefighter, a chef, and a frog. 

These kids threw on costumes in about 2 minutes and ran out the door.  I remember spending so much time getting ready to go trick-or-treating.  I guess I still spend time on my costumes.  The goal for these kids was not to have the most creative costume; the goal was CANDY. (even though my sister spent time on them and they looked great!) 

Daniel was home sick so he didn't come with us.  He is just the funniest.  I love all my sister's kids, but it always amazes me how differently I love them.  

How can you resist that little smiling face?  I spent a lot of time with her when I was home and so grateful for the time I had to snuggle with such a cute little pumpkin.

 

In which I show you ugly photos of myself and talk about running.

I'm not sure what came over me in January when I thought that maybe I should consider doing the 9+1 Program through New York Road Runners. You probably didn't click that link, did you?  Go back and click it.  Maybe it was when this happened in January:

Oh, Miami.  What did you do to me?  Running in shorts and a tank top in January only leads to disappointment later in life.  Also, what are those pics!?!?

You guessed it.  I signed up to qualify for the 2013 New York Marathon.  And qualify I did, as follows:

Scotland 10k

City Parks 4M
This might be the ugliest photo of me that I've ever seen.  And Martin right behind me taking photos of my best side.  If you ever wonder how I actually feel about running, please reference this photo.

Healthy Kidney 10k

Portugal Day 5M

5th Avenue 1-miler.  A few minutes after this race, I thought I might be dying.  I would also like to note that during this race I also stopped to tie my shoe.  I ran my little heart out.  Then I remembered that I have asthma and couldn't breath for the next 3 days.  

Some races were not photographed, but below is the list of races that I ran.  

 There were many days that I did not want to get out of bed and run yet another race and there were a few races that I signed up for that I didn't run and wasted a bunch of money.  Such is life.  So now comes the hard part where in 382 days, I will be running my second marathon.  Let the countdown of death continue.

Being enough

In applying for various jobs over the past six weeks I have had to go through all sorts of past educational transcripts and be reminded of all sorts of test scores and grades that have long been forgotten.

Some random grades from my past that you might find interesting:

Aerobics: C
Travel & Tourism: A
Preparation for Eternal Marriage: A
World Religions: C
Biology: D
Orchestra: A

D in Biology?  I do know that I passed the AP Biology test, so I'm not sure how my teacher graded the rest of the year.  Also, how did I get accepted into college with that as a grade?  The mind reels.

Satan is good at kicking you while you're down.  All these feelings of not being good enough when I'm surrounded by people making a lot of money who have lots of graduate school level education and I was taking classes like Horse Back Riding in college and loving life.  And now I'm unemployed and applying for jobs as an administrative assistant.

Some advice that I would give my 15 year old self:

• Study harder and watch less tv
• Major in something that will financially benefit you more than English Literature
• Be on the track team in high school.  Running is good for the soul.
• Don't quit piano lessons.