There are no strings attached to my friend with benefits.

Yesterday I came across this hilarious list of 25 questions to ask someone when you're stuck together during a hurricane. I was kind of stuck with someone this last weekend and though we are great friends, we aren't romantically interested in each other. I still sent it to him. And it reminded me of a recent list that I came up with (I'm sure based on some other list that I saw on that website). Drumroll please.

Reasons to justify having a makeout buddy.

1. He has cable - you don't.

2. He lives alone - you don't

3. His couch is quite comfortable and yours feels like a metal bench with a piece of pleather over it.

4. He always seems to contact you when you are out and about - and he lives close to a subway stop.

5. I like to kiss. So shoot me.

And in relation to the list above:

Reasons to justify not having a makeout buddy:

1. He doesn't speak to you in public.

2. You like someone else.

3. Two of the reasons above no longer exist due to a recent move.

Carry on.

West Coast - Seattle

In July I went to Seattle for approximately 24 hours to spend some time with close friends. When I arrived at the airport, I was glad to see that little Lucy had forded the river safely and made it to Oregon Washington. I have been worried about that ever since I quit in the middle of my Oregon trail game in the 5th grade.

Kim, Steph, and Me. I love these girls so much. So here is the back story - The two on the left are cousins and their respective mom and dad grew up in the same ward as my mother. Kim's family moved to North Carolina when I was 11 and she quickly became my best friend. When Kim's cousins came to visit, her Aunt and my Mom would catch up and so the first time I met Steph I was probably 12 or 13. Fast forward through years of living in Utah and being best friends still with Kim, I would see Steph around campus at Ricks College and other various things that we were both involved in. We were bridesmaids at Kim's wedding in San Diego about 3 years ago and Steph and I were both at a loss as to why we weren't closer friends. The rest is history. Sometimes I forget that they are related - and then they act like each other and it freaks me out. I was so glad to be able to spend time with Kim - the time we get to spend is far and few between these days. Boo to that.

For something to do on a rainy day in Seattle, we went to Pike's Market and ate donuts, crepes, and cherries. Oh, those cherries were amazing.

Every time that Kim and I see each other, we try and get a photo - that should be a post in and of itself. Now that I have a photo scanner, maybe I should get on that, eh? Here is our 2011 pic.

And anyone who can hula hoop, play the guitar, play the harmonica, sing, and dance at the same time deserves to have a photo on the blog.

And seeing Kim's cute little girl, Abby, wasn't so bad either. :)

And I will leave you with a cute pic of Steph and Marcus.

Action Jackson

Maybe you heard about some of the action that has been going on in New York over the past week? Earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, rumors of wars, etc. I have to admit that things got a little exciting around here as far as natural disasters go. Maybe that can be another post? Maybe.

Really though, the most exciting thing that happened in my life this last weekend was that I moved into my new apartment and I could not be happier about it. There are a lot of great things about it and I'm sure that those things will become apparent in subsequent posts, but here is a photo of my new bedding (and bed!) - I am in love with it.

This was one of the best weekends I've had in New York - and I left the apartment once. And before anyone thinks that I am ungrateful, I owe many many people so much for letting me stay with them during the past month. I think that in the month of August I slept (alone, Mom) in 8 different beds. To anyone who housed me or fed me or friended me - you are the best. Oh, I am so happy. So happy.

Spa Heaven or Hell

A friend of mine is moving away next weekend. And while I am sad to see her go, I am moving into her bedroom, I took her calling, and she is moving to San Francisco. Maybe she can move into my old bedroom and take my old calling? Would that make things even?

As a going away, we had a spa day with some of her nearest and dearest in Heaven. Heaven is in Queens, believe it or not; and is a place also known as Spa Castle. Holy cow - if being in water and laying in saunas is your thing, this is the place to go.

First off, the girls all wear matching outfits and so do the boys. Then in each locker room, there are bathing areas where swim suits are not allowed. Scary. For most of the day, we laid in saunas, hot tubs, special pools where the water flowed over you, etc. Each sauna had different minerals - like jade, gold, salt, etc. and was pretty cool (and hot). I run fairly hot naturally so I didn't last as long in the saunas as some of the girls did. I really enjoyed my 45 minute nap though in a lounge chair this afternoon. Those were special times.

By 6:30pm, there were only 3 of us left at the spa. We went down to the locker room and checked out the spa there and decided that we were going to brave it and go full throttle. Let me also say that the towels that they gave you in the locker room were about 6 inches wide and 12 inches long. If you were going to do it, you were going to do it. I must admit that after about 30 minutes of being in the room with about 50 other women who were baring it all, it became fairly empowering and suddenly I realized that no one cared the least about what I look like without my clothes on...except me. And then I ate a huge burrito and a snow cone for dinner. I'm just going to eat away that pain!

So - would you do it? I'm curious. Are you too self conscious or would you strip down in front of your friends in a bathhouse?

Why yes, I can be talked into doing things...

The other day I somehow stumbled across this song called "The Pretty Girl From Matthews".

Dear The Avett Brothers,

If I'd have known that you wrote a song about me, I would have loved you so much sooner.

Love, Me.

But really - I want to know who this song is about because if she is from Matthews, I know her. For reals. I have used my crazy amazing deducing skills to figure out that this "Matthews" is my hometown. I will stop rambling about this now.

It is quite a country song. Which is fitting if you are singing a song about a girl from North Cackalacky.

Last weekend I went camping with friends. Please reread that. I went camping. I was talked into it for a few reasons. The first being that I really liked who invited me (in a friendy girly way). The second was that I decided that in an effort to make more friends, I was going to say yes to anyone who invited me to do something unless I already had solid plans. So, I borrowed some camping gear from a generous friend (who is also hott - thanks, Jen!) and headed out into the wilderness of Scranton, Pennsylvania! No, I did not see Dwight Schrute there.

Here is how you camp as a New Yorker:

1. Pack up a rental car so full that you are fairly sure that you will be feeding 100 people and housing 50 in the woods for 2 weeks.

2. Get stuck in traffic on your way through the Lincoln Tunnel at 9pm on a Friday night.

3. Take a photo with Adrienne in a car, because you are in a car and not in a subway or on a bus.

4. Make friends with the local campers when you arrive at your campsite and have them give you enough wood to make s'mores. Put your headlamp on so that you look more outdoorsy.

5. In the morning, plug your waffle-iron in and eat up.

6. Appreciate the outdoors with 7 friends after breakfast and stay in this same position until someone realizes that it is 2pm.

7. Put some real clothes on and head down to Lake Lackawanna. (It is approximately 50 yards away)

8. While you are kayaking across the lake, it will start pouring rain and you will spend the balance of your time in the wilderness inside a tent napping, reading, talking to friends, OR you will be under a tarp eating dinner and you will be mostly damp.

9. I will spare you photos of this, but you will be munched on by approximately 500 bugs that I have decided were chiggers. Just imagine a foot that looks like it has chicken pox over every inch of it. There you go. Also, imagine the cute pedicure that I got today at lunch. That's even better.

In regards to the other craziness in my life (aka - couch surfing), things are going well. I am really grateful for good friends. Also, my dad is going under the knife tomorrow and getting a rod put into his leg. The saga continues.

I am waiting for my compensatory blessings

This is part of a conversation that I had with someone last week:

"So, a lot has been going on with me.
1. My parents were in a horrible motorcycle accident in Spain and they are finally back in Utah and it will be a long road of recovery for both of them.
2. My ex-boyfriend who I really loved and was going to marry showed up on my doorstep for a week
3. I found out that my roommate was overcharging me by $400 per month and pocketing the money.
4. I AM TURNING 30 IN 3 WEEKS."

And then I cried.

OK - maybe I cried a little earlier.

Life has been hard the past few months - not going to lie. I sent out an SOS to friends last week and was sent a lifesaver within minutes from so many. People invited me to stay with them, to dinner, to classes where I could punch people in the face, to help me move.

Last Saturday was easily one of the worst days that I can remember in recent history. Moving under duress is never good. BUT - I went to brunch with some friends that morning which was wonderful and needed, then that evening I went to see the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art where I stood in line for more than 3 hours and caught up with a wonderful friend (or 2).

Just wanted to send out a little note to say that I am alive and doing well. I watched Bachelor Pad last night with my friends and who knew that watching Vienna and Jake (and Kasey) again would cheer me up so much?

If bad things happen in three's, there are some amazing blessings waiting for me around the corner.

That's what friends are for

In the midst of catching up on the blog, life has happened and tonight instead of going to play flag football with friends, I decided to lay in bed and catch up on blogs and chill out.

I was out until approximately 2:30am on both Friday and Saturday night, and my lack of sleep is catching up with me in a major way. That is my excuse, ok?

A few weeks ago I had a chat with someone about how I've struggled to make friends since moving here. I have friends - don't get me wrong. I have wonderful friends here. I've never sat home at night due to loneliness, but I don't have a group of friends that I can always rely on. I think you know that I'm saying. Right? I told Rachael this already, and continue to tell her constantly, but the Lord is answering my prayers to have good people put in my path and to make friends that will bless my life now and forever. My prayers are being answered - not always in the ways that I've expected and sometimes the process hurts, but I am getting there. We so easily look at other people's problems and see the ways things

turned out and think to ourselves that our problems are harder to bear in some way or another. No one knows in their darkest moments how the light is ever going to come again - and I am so very grateful that I am being molded into the person that I need to become. So many people have reached out to me lately and I have felt very loved.

I will eventually update you on my trip to the West Coast a few weeks ago, but for now, these girls should know how much they are loved. What a great group of friends I have. A year later and I am still calling you withmy problems. Thanks for being the light at the end of my tunnel. You know how easily scared I get.

The only advice column I will ever write. Probably.

I saw something today on someone's blog about introducing people. And I have a little tip for those of you who have trouble remembering people's names and often have a wingman.

When I was in college, Matt and I were inseparable. Matt is adored by many a male and female and is also horrible at remembering people's names. Without fail, his adoring fans would approach him wherever we were and he would hardly ever know who they were even if they thought Matt was a close friend. So we came up with a system. If he didn't immediately say: "{George}, this is Stephanie, Stephanie this is {George}" upon seeing them, I would take this as a signal that he had no idea what this person's name was and I would say:

"Hi. I'm Stephanie. What's your name?" Bingo. We both got the name without making Matt look like a forgetful poop. Sometimes I would add "How do you know Matt?"

I've even started applying this in my own day to day life. If I am with a friend who runs into someone and I am not introduced immediately, I will take it upon myself to go through the exercise mentioned above. It is always awkward when you are with someone who doesn't introduce you to their friends.

And now you know.

Catch up part 1 - Duck Beach

This year Duck Beach was a major highlight. We played so hard that by the time I left, I looked Latina and had averaged approximately 4 hours of sleep per night for a week straight.

We had so many good times. So many. I will just let the pictures speak for me.

Always a good time with Scott.

Watermelon in the pool with my girls. Oh how I love this photo.

This is how rumors start about things at Duck Beach.

And this photo may be the wallpaper on my phone.

Uzi and Toddles

The view during sacrament meeting. Yep, I am sitting in the hall and there are hundreds of people standing around me. During sacrament meeting. This is not after church.

View from our kitchen deck.

Scott is obsessed with taking pyramid photos. Obsessed. In turn, I have a collection of pyramid photos. Luckily, they are always with some of my most favorite people.

Um, sorry, Scott....

Uzi and I had to hit up an island so that we could keep up with our Summer Island Adventure. We went down to Roanoke Island for a few hours the morning that we flew home. I have been there before, but it was the first unsuccessful English colony in North America. I get excited about it. =nerd

And for the Grand Finale, some mathematical equations for you:

1. Steph + Todd = Steph Todd

2. Kristy Uzelac + Stephanie Zundel = Kristephanie Zundelac (duh)

3. Me + Duck Beach + Good Friends = Happiness

PS - Wendy made a great list from people's follow up emails of fun memories from our house this year. Since this blog is really for me anyway (sorry, Rach), here is the list.

1. Dorian's cowboy recitation of "Square Dancing on My Heart" at Duck Deli

2. "Just Dance"...but not with the yellow controller... for HOURS... never got old

3. Mauri's photo shoot

4. Watching Kristine, Scott, and Christian work out while the rest of us ate breakfast

5. The video sent to our iphones of Vicki running and (trying to) jump on Shamu while Michael moves it out of the way!!!

6. Cruzin' to Duck and crankin' the tunes!!!

7. Norfolk Costco reunions with other 'Mormon Ducks'

8. Dance Parties galore til 3:00am!! Including spontaneous new dance moves such as the "Don't Stop Believing" group sit

9. Karaoke!! Don's Backstreet Boys backup dancers (Wendy, Kristi, & Alicia) and adoring crowd of female groupies

10. Double dream hands & feet dance by everyone in the house at once! shoulder. chin. shoulder, shoulder, shoulder...

11. Trying to build a beach pyramid with sunscreen lathered bodies

12. Toothpicks. Diver down. SAFETY FIRST!!! Carrie's epic fake-out bumping Scott out of the game & Anna getting pushed back in again, and again. SAFETY FIRST!!!

13. Scrum on steroids--Rita not being able to remember to let go of the cue ball

14. Ultimate Frisbee intimidating kick-off dances and goal celebrations

15. Dance prison--how was that Travis!

16. Alicia and Boone's eye of the tiger Rocky routine--complete with arm-chair cover & killer punches

17. Spencer's "hit me baby one more time" dedicated to Wendy (kinda freaky)

18. Brett's black man's hair

19. The birth of the best dance move ever...the jumping shimmy (perfected by Jen) :)

20. Scott's "chicky chicky parm parm" and more of his and Vick's Porter-isms and abbreviations

21. 3am viewing of Tom Haverford's food names...over, and over, and over.

22. "What you ought to know" celeb viewing

23. Rook tourney until the wee hours complete with pu-pu-pu-pu-poker faces. Or not.

24. Patti Papsicle and her many expressions of surprise. "Yeah, I was supwised."

25. Travis packing heat on his swim trunks!

26. Culinary genius of the meal leaders and their crews--pistachio salmon, margarita chicken, kabobs, mexican corn, breakfast blankies, brown sugar bacon, and who knew so much could be done with pre-birds??

27. Hot tub confessionals. (Brett's specialty).

28. Beach cruisers and long walks...

29. The "No Recording" sign outside our house.

30. Tons of toe trauma--including Brett jack-knifing his foot

31. Flying fighting kite, puzzling and riding house bike with no theft

32. Boogie boarding catching some totally awesome waves in the warm ocean

33. Trying to take the raft and oars out past the waves and getting pummeled!

34. Chasing crabs and being brave with Alicia to let them walk on our feet...Todd trying to be brave and then giving up and screaming like a girl

35. Pool play, pink floaties, watermelon, toothpicks and Shamu not to mention the subterranean divers

36. Martha Washington up-do contests in the hot tub

37. Patti singing "You Shook Me All Night Long"--OPERA STYLE

38. Watermelon Pool Scumming--including the opposing teams' clever strategies of "7 minutes in heaven" & "wedgies from hell"

39. Rob K's flash demonstration of why his chest doesn't look like the house owner's picture

40. Scott making wind for Alicia's hair with a cookie sheet during her celine dion cover debut

Adventures in Dating

A month or so ago I had a long-time friend send me a link to a dating website. If you know me well, you know that I have no opposition to online dating. On this specific site, you enter very basic information such as: if you are religious or into politics and to what degree. And you put up a photo. Done.

I put up a date idea a few weeks ago and had some guy send me a message saying that he was interested in my date idea. The conversation that followed totally made my day:

Me: Hey there! Still want to check out the Cloisters?
Him: sure. why not? what sort of serious faith do you have that fits into other?
Me: Are you asking me what religion I am? I'm fairly sure you are - and I'm Mormon, actually.
What about you?

Him: not really religious at all. think it might be more fun if were then cause it would seem more wrong for all the things i do :)

Me: having rules to break always adds to the excitement, for sure. ha

Him: so you break the rules often? isn't it too hot today to wear magic underwear let alone any underwear? :)

Me: Wouldn't you like to know....

Him: actually i would...

Me: look. if this underwear were magic, i wouldn't be online dating. lets be real.

I win.

Sweaty in the City

I have thought about revisiting the pic per day project just so that everyone out there knows that I'm ok. I was going to start to do it tonight, but I was sweaty from my running class (in which I ran the fastest that I've ever run and then felt like I was going to overheat in the middle of Central Park). So I didn't. So there.

I was told yesterday that my blog is suffering. It is - I need to figure out how to get this thing going again. Part of the reason that I haven't been saying much is that this month has been full of hard things. Really hard things.

First off, my parents are doing well. My mom's prognosis went from being in Spain recovering for 10 months to going home next week. Of course there are going to be doctors at the airport to greet her when she gets back to Utah and who knows what is in store from here on out, but she is looking forward to yelling at doctors and having them understand her. I have been extremely touched by the Relief Society sisters in Valencia, Spain, who have taken care of my mom when no one else really could. They have been amazing. My parents were able to see each other for the first time in nearly a month on Sunday morning since my Dad was able to get on a plane finally.

Just when that is getting under control, I get a text from one of my nearest and dearest that his mother had an aneurysm and is more or less now in a coma. I have always been close with this particular friend's mother and it just fills my heart to the brim to know that she isn't doing well. Ugh. I have a lot of friends who are going through a lot currently and it has been overwhelming. I sure love you guys.

Then He-who-shall-not-be-named came to town. I knew that he was coming to New York sometime at the end of June/beginning of July. What I didn't know was that he would end up staying at my apartment and that I would spend the better part of a week with him - and I mean every second while I wasn't at work. I have been thinking about what I wanted to say here about the entire situation and I'm not super sure what to say. You should know that I still really love him. I think I always will. I have never done anything but be kind and just love him and unfortunately have put up with him not treating me in like manner. Here are some pictures from our week together:

I am also happy to say that I am now completely over him. It is fairly empowering to be able to say that you love someone so much and that you hope that they have a wonderful life without you. That chapter of my life is officially over. Can I have an amen?

In the meantime, I will be blogging about happy things going on with me. For example, my trip to Massachusetts for the 4th of July. Duck Beach! My upcoming trip to Seattle and San Francisco. How I got a booty call a few hours after Darrel left town on Sunday. Well, maybe I won't be blogging about that. While you are processing that information, I will be going to the frozen tundra of Seattle and San Francisco in the Summer and I am excited about every second of it. I promise to have picture overload from that.

Because you will want to know this

This week I have been spending a lot of time with this person. Just want to keep my fans informed. You may remember him from here. and especially here. Carry on.

The Bi-monthly update, which is what this blog has turned into.

I have been meaning to blog for a few weeks, but have been too tired. On Saturday, I was supposed to be at a ward activity (which I was in charge of) and instead I laid down on top of my unmade bed and slept for 3 hours in the middle of the day. Exhaustion, perhaps?

About 2.5 weeks ago, I got a call from my dad that he and my mom were in a motorcycle accident. He said that they were both fine, but they both had broken right legs and were in the hospital. He vaguely mentioned that my mom had been in the ICU, but I figured that this was probably just due to my mom's various medical issues. At that point, I wasn't too worried. Fast forward a few days and I get the full story: my dad's leg was broken in 2 places and my mom's leg was shattered (luckily just below the knee). There was a 50/50 chance that she would lose her foot. Needless to say, times were not good. A week after the accident, my mom was flown from Mallorca to Valencia so that a specialist could look at her foot/leg to decide what its fate would be. Since then, she has had 2 surgeries including a skin graft and has been in Valencia figuring out how to communicate in her broken Spanish. Despite the sheer amount of time that my parents have lived in Spain during their lifetimes, my mom never learned Spanish. It is unfortunate that her crash/survival course has come at a time like this. Of course the members of the Church have come to the rescue and have sent women to spend the night with her every day and help her at mealtimes. My dad has even asked them to smuggle in food. Jamon y queso really is the cure-all. My dad got out of the hospital this last week, but since he has a medieval torture device attached to his leg still, he can't go see my mom quite yet. Things are looking up for my parents, but it looks like they will be spending the next 10 months at least in Spain making sure that my mom is able to walk again. Sending some prayers up for them is still appreciated. It has been a rough go.

And now that the bad news is out of the way, let me tell you what has been going on here in New York.

A few weeks ago, some girlfriends came into town to visit. Liz is in Palo Alto, Annette is in DC, and Emily is in Boston. We all met in the Bay Area and it was so fun to have them come visit for a few days. It is so nice when people come to town with no agenda - they are happy to just spend the day in New York. Also, please note that I have lost all motivation to do my hair with the humidity. I am learning to embrace the fluffiness of my hair.

This sign was on the sidewalk of an elementary school on the Upper West Side. I <3 NYC!

Did I mention that the reason that we had this girly weekend was kind of a bachelorette weekend for Liz?!?? She is getting married in August and I couldn't be more thrilled for her.

Food carts in New York are one of my favorite things. Food carts from restaurants I love are a double bonus. Since Tavern on the Green is currently closed, they have the back open with picnic tables - and that view of Sheep's Meadow. (lamb tacos at Sheep's Meadow anyone?) Really - how can this place get better???

My friend Jackie gave me a guide to New York before moving here and one of the things I decided I was going to take part in was the Mermaid Parade in Coney Island. Please note that I did not look up the website before deciding to go. So yeah - I saw more boob than I planned on. :) But since Liz and Annette were here and we were all the way out at Coney Island, we decided to pay up and ride the Cyclone ($8 per ride...) I will say 2 things about the ride: 1. I am glad we did it. 2. Shaken Baby Syndrome.

It is awesome when you not only have a roommate who will GO to the Mermaid Parade with you, but will dress like this AT the Mermaid Parade. Awesomeness.

Then we went to Rita's to get frozen custard. If you live on the East Coast and have one of these close to you - please get there as soon as possible and get a Gelati. You can thank me later.

Me and Dani

Todd & his twin, Tyson. They don't look as much alike in this photo as they do in real life...

Brandy was one of my closest friends in high school and I am so lucky that we have remained close even though we haven't lived in the same town since 1998-ish. She was in town visiting her husband's family this last week, so we got to hang out one evening. She has the cutest little boys and the nicest husband/family. I have said this before, but it makes me happy to know that high school Stephanie had good taste in her friends - and I'd choose the same friends today. I love this pic. So cute.

On Friday my boss brought his kids into the office. Tiny British people! It was so fun having them in the office - not that we got a lot of work done, but being able to play with little ones was great. Good for my soul, for sure. The little girl just came and sat in my lap a few times - bliss.

So. In summary - its been a whirlwind. Also, because all of my posts in the last few months have mentioned running, you should know that I'm taking a running class. And I kick it in the trash every week - for once I am one of the best in my class. I loooove it.

Ok now leave some comments, friends.