Manhattan Math

Beautiful architecture +

One giant park +

A city-sized temple =

Beautiful day in Manhattan

(Now that's math I can get behind!)

My Birthday: Part 24

Dear Reader,

That's right. I'm now "old." (Well, according to my Young Women.) 24. Oy vay.

To ring in the new year, Mom and Caitlin came to visit and we went to NYC! We went on a tour at 30 Rock, which pretty much was a dream come true. I got to see the SNL set, soooo...yup. Pretty cool.

We had dinner at Ruby Foo's, saw "Anything Goes" on Broadway, and had the following dessert from Junior's:

Delicious. 

The next day was all shopping on 5th Avenue (you know, classy places like Tiffany's, Saks . . . and the American Girl store.),

then a tour through Central Park and a visit to the Met.

On our way out of town, we passed through Times Square on our way to eat dinner at Junior's and to pick up my birthday cake!

Yup, here it is. It was amazing.

Maybe some of the best cake I've ever eaten. Of course, I am only 24. I may come across one that is better in the upcoming years. But I'm not hopeful. It's a shame to have peaked so early in life--but it was worth every bite.

Who says toys are just for kids?

Dear Reader,

So I've heard of comic conventions, book conventions, and boring businessy conventions, but I'd never, until a few weeks ago, heard of a TOY convention. So imagine my excitement when I was asked last Friday to go with the Highlights team to the Toy Fair in New York City the following Monday (two days ago).

"Whaaaat????? Heck yes I want to go!!"

I believe that's more or less a direct quote when my supervisor asked me if I wanted to come. And I may have also jumped up in the air I was so excited.

Now I ask you to try to imagine how magical this Toy Fair was. Imagine floors and floors, rows and rows, booth after booth of toys, board games, puzzles, and action figures. Stuffed animals, balloons, science experiments, books, candy, and dolls. Names like Mattel, Lego, Playmobile, TY, Gund, and Melissa and Doug. Retro toys, classic toys, contemporary toys, classy toys, and modern toys. Swarms of people flocking from booth to booth to admire and analyze each company's selections. Sellers trying to catch the attention of buyers. Exhibitors explaining what makes their toys so amazing. And me, the intern, trying to see it all.

Pure. Magic.

I also fulfilled a lifelong dream of meeting Clifford the Big Red Dog (Well, I just said hi to him. He waved back. Dogs can't talk.) and the Care Bears (They just look so huggable don't they?).

Also, shortly after this picture was taken, the Power Rangers walked by. So...yeah, it was pretty awesome. Good to know the Toy Fair was being kept safe from evil space aliens.

It was impossible to see everything at the convention, but I had to satisfy myself with the fact that I at least got to go and get a taste of what it would be like to work with toys all the time. Aka...pretty cool.

I'm going to go ahead and mark that day as one of my top ten best days working for Highlights. Win!

So long, 2011!

Dear Reader,

2011 is over! Sometimes it's hard to believe. And then other times I feel like it's already about October 2012, since that's where my brain is at Highlights. (We work 10 months ahead.)

This year has been exciting. Let's relive it!

January:
I began my LAST SEMESTER OF COLLEGE. This was both exciting and terrifying, partly because I'd missed school during my eight-months-of-internships break and partly because I would be graduating soon, and mostly because I had no idea what I was doing with the rest of my life after graduating happened.

February:
February was slow. Like Februarys usually are. But I did make lasagna with Natalie.

March:
I participated in the Divine Comedy music video "Firebolt" which proves that wizards are real. If wizards are college students running around with sparklers and stuffed owls.

April:
I GRADUATED!!! And then left Provo for Michigan. And then had an interview with Highlights for an internship, which I guess went well because they gave me the job!

May:
I moved to Honesdale and began my internship at Highlights! I also took a trip to DC to visit Natalie on my birthday weekend when I turned 23. And I found the apartment I was going to live at in Honesdale which meant I didn't need to live in the Highlights cabins anymore:

June:
I went to NYC with Natalie and Amber! And I adopted Bailey.

July:
I hit up DC for the fourth. Nothing like Independence day in the capitol! Especially when it rains really, really, really hard. I went to Chautauqua Writer's Conference for work where I spent 8 days on staff working really, really hard while mingling with awesome people.

August:
I went to Philly to a Death Cab Concert and then visited Natalie and the temple in DC.

September:
Natalie came to visit me in Honesdale!! And I went to pick her up in Philly.

October:
It was finally fall! My favorite season. And I went to a pumpkin patch, ate cider donuts and drank cider. It was the perfect fall experience!

November: 

I went to Portland to go with Natalie through the temple! This trip was long-awaited and sooo worth it! Yay Powell's!!

December:
I helped plan and throw the ward Christmas party, oversaw the craft room at Highlight's Holiday Open House, and then drove home to spend Christmas and New Years with my family!

So I got a college degree, landed the most awesome internship, and traveled to some of the country's most awesome cities all in one year! I think it was an excellently productive year. Here's to 2012! May it be just as exciting--and even better (if that's even possible!).

New York, New York!

Dear Reader,

Last weekend I went to New York City for the first time! I went with Natalie and her sister Amber and it and was the most magical experience ever.

I left from Honesdale on a bus early in the morning and met up with Natalie and Amber at Times Square. Like, actual Times Square!

We walked around for a bit, until winding up at the most fantastic place in all of New York City.

30 Rock.

Oh my goodness. I mean, can you even imagine the joy I felt when I saw that beautiful sign blazing in the misty rain? It was one of the greatest moments of my life. All I wanted to do was walk into that building, go on a tour, and feel like I was a part of that amazing, wonderful world.

Unfortunately, the tour was sold out. That was a huge bummer. But we spent sufficient time in the gift shop and hanging out around 30 Rock eating cupcakes, though, so it was OK.

It was a misty, rainy day. Which meant we couldn't go to the top of the Rock and see the city, either. Ah well.

Not gonna lie, for pretty much that entire day I was quoting 30 Rock like every 5 minutes. Natalie and Amber can attest to that.

We walked roughly 6 miles each day we were in the city. Our feet hurt reals bad. Part of the reason we walked so much was because we got lost when we went to Central Park. We were looking for the bridge and the sidewalk that are in every romantic comedy movie. But don't worry, we found them eventually:

The sidewalk.

And the bridge.

While we were in the park we met a street entertainer who makes huge bubbles. He told us that he was on the season finale of Glee--and I rewatched that episode last night and it's true! He was in it! He was awesome--he let Amber make bubbles (and she has quite the gift for bubble making). He even made a bubble around her. A random little bit of fun in the Park.

We also did a lot of shopping in New York. Pretty much it was all little kid shopping--the American Girl store, FAO Schwartz, Dylan's Candy Shop, the children's section of The Strand . . . we are basically just kids at heart, I guess. (Natalie has the pictures of most of those visits on her camera . . .)

And as for the food. Oh the food. So, so good. A slice of New York pizza, burger at Junior's, frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity's, Dylan's Candy Shop, ice cream cones from a street vendor . . . and possibly the worst soft pretzel I have ever eaten in my life. But we'll let that one slide.

Oh, and we also hit up Tiffany's. I wonder what it would be like to walk into that store and actually be able to buy something from it? . . .

We never actually rode on the subway (hence the 12 miles of walking). Every time we walked past it looked terrifying. Like somewhere you go to be murdered. Walking was way cheaper anyway. And good for us since we, you know, did all of that eating . . .

So, in conclusion, New York is very, very dirty. But it was cool to be there and I really want to go back. And soon.