Look Who Came To Town! (I even included pictures)

A few weeks ago, my old roommate from college, Elissa and her sister Kirsten came to town for a visit. They were came in on a Friday night, and left the next Wednesday. We had quite the visit in between. The point of the trip was to see the cherry blossoms down on the Mall, but we definitely got a lot more than that done.

The girls spent the first day at the Bull Run Battlefields (after missing the bus to get to the Metro downtown). Friday night we stayed the night at the JW Marriot. I wasn't that impressed. I even tried their $75 robes. My robe is much nicer.

Saturday we did more walking than I care to remember. We saw all of the monuments, the former Italian Embassy (it was practically in Maryland!), the Library of Congress, and even went under to all the tunnels that connect the Library and all of the House office buildings. This doesn't even touch the surface of your trek!

Sunday was church day, and then that evening, we were off to.....




Monday was spent in Philly. We spent the night at a Residence Inn Sunday night, and I must say I thought it was much nicer than the JW Marriot. Maybe I'm just too simple. Philly was fun. We saw the major historical sites and of course got a Philly Cheesesteak!

Tuesday was mostly stuff in town. We spent a lot of the day in Falls Church going through cemeteries. We were looking for the grave of Edgar Alan Poe's doctor when he died. Apparently he was once mayor of Falls Church. We also went to Arlington National Cemetery. We saw the big stuff there and also stopped at my grandpa's grave. He served in the Korean War and Vietnam. Now we have a pass to drive through the cemetery, and we don't have to pay and park in the Visitor's Lot!

All in all it was a fun trip! It's always fun to play these girls. I don't get to see them enough!

Where Has The Time Gone?

So it's been almost two years since I last posted. I wouldn't be surprised if I no longer have any followers, but that' okay. However, if there is anyone out there instead of writing a long post to try to catch up on the last two years, I'll just post in list form. I guess only time will tell whether or not I keep it up. So without further adieu, here is my last two years.

In February 2009, I started a temp job working in an HR department at a hospital, hired permanently in June 2009
Completed two 10K's in Richmond
Traveled to Utah twice
Went to New York 4 times
Made a trip to Denver
Played at the beach a few times
Bought a brand new car
Earned my PHR in June 2010
Passed the record of the time I've stayed in one job since college
Got promoted at my job after two years (okay it’s not happening for three more weeks, but it’s effective in April)
Grilled food on a grill myself for the first time (did it twice in one summer)
Served as Activities Chair in my Ward
Currently a Gospel Doctrine Instructor
Spent some time in Boston and Salem Massachusetts
Got a season pass to Kings Dominion
Worked hard on getting a good tan last summer
I saw two friends leave on missions, one join the army, and too many to count get married.
I took by brother out to school at BYU. He graduated from High School in June, and I got to play the part of mom when I took him out there.
I was set apart as a Temple Worker at the Washington DC Temple (I did that previously before moving to NYC)
I gave 3 or 4 talks in Sacrament Meeting
Saw Diddy’s Car he was riding in.(That’s not really much of an accomplishment)
Attended 7 concerts
I’ve played basketball through church and play with a group regularly.
I took up Zumba!

Okay, so I’m sure I’ve done a whole lot more in the past few years, but I can’t think of anything else right now. My goal this year though is to try to write on here more.

Slacker

So I haven't posted anything for a while. I will have to post an update, but I'm getting ready for bed so I will do this quick Tag. I was excited to see that a friend tagged me a few weeks ago when I was playing catch-up on my blog reading. I'm still way behind. As usual, I'm not going to tag anyone else so just enjoy my info.

I was tagged.
Here are the rules:
1. Post rules on blog
2.Answer the 6 questions with 8 items
3.Tag 8 people-Not going to do it.

8 Favorite TV Shows:
1. The Big Bang Theory
2. Boston Legal
3. The Office
4. Lost
5. American Idol
6. Boy Meets World
7. Scrubs
8. CSINY

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
1. Went to Work
2. Went to the Temple
3. Watched American Idol
4. Watched Lost
5. Watched CSI NY (obviously, Wednesday is a big TV watching night for me. My tv watching comes in spurts, and right now it's in the higher end. Sometimes I don't watch at all.)
6. Read scriptures
7. Forgot my dinner at work
8. Learned more about the Mexican drug cartels which I grow more and more fascinated with everyday.

8 Things I Look Forward To:
1. The weekend
2. Going to NYC in a few weeks
3. Seeing Elissa
4. The Law of Consecration
5. Going back to school
6. Seeing my grandma
7.Chik-Fil-a (I don't even know how to spell this) opening near my house.
8. And my little brother wants me to write, returning to Heavenly Father, which I have to agree with.

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1. Serendipity
2. Big Daddy Diner
3. Angelo's
4. Brooklyn Diner
5. Taco Bell
6. Johnny Carino's
7. Long John Silver's
8. The Shake Shack

8 Things I Wish For:
1. To have a theme song play everytime I walk into a room.
2. All of the seasons of the shows that I want on DVD
3. To learn how to write music so I can write movie scores
4. To travel whenever I want
5. My dad to join the church
6. Happines
7. To achieve all my goals
8. I wish to go to the festival...

8 People I Tagged:
8 no ones

That is all because that are the friends that we have that blog.

At 5 In The Morning, People Walking To The Bathroom, On The Train, Look Drunk And Confused

This is what I observed as a I took am Amtrak train from NY's Penn Station to DC's Union Station at 3AM last Saturday. This was my return train to my home, and I'm now living in Virginia again.

Anyone that reads my blog regularly knows that I had been living in NYC working as a nanny. I haven't written too much about the actual position, but let's just say it was horrible. Once I got used to it, I enjoyed the city life, but I hated my position. So when I was home over Christmas, I really thought about what would be the best option for me. If anyone has ever seen my decision making style, you would know that it's a most stressful event for all involved. In the end, I decided that I needed to remove myself from the situation. So when I got back, I gave my notice on Monday January 5, 2008. I told them that I would stay until the 23rd of January or the 30th at the latest. Well last Thursday, the 8th, my boss told me that they found a temporary person, and I could leave on Friday, and that is how I found myself on a 3AM train headed to DC.

So now I'm back in Virginia. I miss the city a bit, and maybe I'll get a chance to return one day, but this is where I am for now. I'm back in the job search and living at my parent's house again (hopefully temporarily). I'm beginning to sense a pattern with myself.

I'd Like To Take This Opportunity To Thank You Tube

So a few years ago( Who am I kidding? It's been almost 4 years since I've been out of college so it has to have been at least 5 years and not just a few.)they would show in theaters before movies. My roommate, her sister, and I loved it. I tried finding it a while back and was unsuccessful. I just thought about it tonight and thought I should look it up on You Tube. I don't know why I didn't do that before. Well I found it, and ladies and gents I present to you, Deluxe 247.



It's Deluxe Son!

I Don't Mean To Toot My Own Horn...

So the apartment building I live in is doormen on duty 24 hours a day. I love all of the doorman and guys that work downstairs. I have a lot of fun with them. In fact two of them the other day invited me to their rap fight. They were joking, but the one had asked me if I had any Biggie or Eminem on my IPOD. I said no, as that is way old school, but I don't think they realize that I have a secret love for rap and the hip hop culture, but I digress.

So all these doormen range in all sorts of different ages. There are younger ones a little younger than me, and then there are some old enough to be my grandpa.

Recently I feel like there's this secret game of who can get in Laura's pants. OK, so it's not that serious, but I do have several admirers. Plus if they were playing that game with, the only getting in my pants is a party where all would have the opportunity to try on my pants.

1. The first one is the guy that took me to the hospital when I blew my face off. He is definitely too old for, but he was interested to know if I called my boyfriend to let him know that I was in the hospital. He also passively tried to get me to take a dance class with him. One of the maintenance guys was teasing him one day while talking to me because he thought he was trying to impress me.

2. Another one of the guys (he's a doorman/maintenance man. Some of them rotate posts) kept asking questions to find out whether or not I was single and informative questions. I must admit that I was excited because I had a mini crush on him. One day, he finally asked for my number. Sadly, we still haven't gone out. I was out of town for a few weeks, and I guess maybe he lost interest. I'm too nervous to ask him why we never went out.

3. The next guy is one that I see all the time during the day when I'm downstairs doing laundry. It's like he just woke up one day and realized how beautiful I am. He referred to me as beautiful one day, and the next day he decided that we had never properly met (this isn't true, but I'm used to meeting people several times and not remembering that they met me. It's one of the curses of having a good memory.) He treats me very well now and always engages in conversation which he never did before. He also enjoys teasing me. I'm kind of intrigued my him.

4. The last one I'm not sure about. He just started yesterday. He's really tall and kind of dorky, but I'm a sucker for dorky. I don't really know him enough yet so I don't know for sure his style. However, he winked at me several times today when I was walking by. Like I said, I don't know him well enough so I'm not sure the purpose for his wink. It's kind of cute because it's an odd wink, but I can't place my finger on why. It just seems kind of random , and there's nothing provoking the winking (except of course extremely good looks, warm inviting smile, and my sexy hello.) I'll see how this winking progresses; I could just be getting a head of myself.


Either way, I find myself feeling pretty good about myself when I fraternize with the building workers.


But Seriously, can you blame them?

Friends

I love good, caring friends! It makes me happy.

I Live In An Apartment Where A Music Video Was Filmed

This is a music video that was filmed where I currently reside. It was a couple of weekends ago. They only used the kitchen, but you can see the infamous oven that nearly burnt off my face. There are also two kids seeing in the background; one of them is the boy that I nanny. At the end of the video, there are shots filmed in the studio, and he is the boy in the red shirt.

The artist in the video is Tina Devaron. (www.tinadevaron.com)

Six Quirks!

OK so I was tagged forever ago so I thought I better do this.

Here's how this works..
List 6 quirks about you..
Tag 6 people..(Good news, I'm not tagging anyone. I love being tagged, but I hate tagging others so be at ease as you read; you don't have to worry about finding your name at the end.
Tell who tagged you.. Julie S.

1. OK, so I've improved with this over the past few years, but I used to be very OCD about it. Whenever the I would go through the Sunday Washington Post, I had a certain method to it. I would pull out all the sections and ads that I looked at. Then I would have to read them in a very specific order. My family used to take parts out just to drive me crazy and throw off my groove. It was very frustrating. As I said, I've gotten better and am not so OCD about it.

2. I do all sorts of strange things in my sleep (of course we all do, but I've got some good ones.) My mom caught me trying to go to the bathroom on the trash can once. I have made animal noises. My wrote a poem and recited it to my roommate as she was walking out the door to class. I often cross my legs when I'm laying on my back. I will bend one up, and then cross the other one over it. I also curl up into strange positions. One time my roommates couldn't find me because I was curled up into a ball at the top part of my bed, near the corner, and they did not realize a person was there. They just thought I was the blankets.

3. When I was younger, I used to have to always start a set of stairs on the right foot, and count them as I went. It would throw me off if I didn't start on the right foot, especially if I was using my home stairs because I didn't end on the correct foot. (Yes, I know there is no right or wrong foot in real life, but the OCD world of me, there is.)

4. A friend once told me that I laugh shamelessly, and it's true. I try to keep it as appropriate as possible, but when I think something is funny, I laugh. I feel no shame in letting my laughter heard, even if it means I'm the only one laughing. (It happened the other night at the movie theater.)

5. Whenever I see a play or some sort of improv show, it always makes me wish that I had gone into acting and performance. I think it would be so much fun.

6. I am awesome at the game Honey I Love You, But I Just Can't Smile. I didn't realize until I played it a few months ago. I think it's something I perfected over the years. One person there thought I of all people couldn't do it. Though I laugh shamelessly, I can also control it. I think that's why when my roommates and I made prank phone calls Freshmen Year (Don't judge me, I was living in Rexburg, ID, and it was a tough winter) I was the one that always made the calls. I was the only that could do it without laughing. We made a lot of friends this way and even got my roommate a date once....only in Rexburg.

Post

So I don't have a good title for this post. I am excited to write about my weekend, but I'm too tired now, and I want to give it my all (as requested by Hot Cup) so I'm just going to do a quick little post.

I have two main points.

1. Today I was talking to an old friend on the phone. My friend told me of an epiphany that they had recently, and I just had to do one of those smack yourself in the forehead and say "duh!" smacks. My friends epiphany is one that was obvious my most, but I guess people have to find out things on their own

2. I discovered a new fun game on Facebook. I'm going to find events that are open events and reply that I am not attending. The funny part (at least in my little brain) is, it's for events I'm not even invited too. I love it!

A Post Where I Talk About the Celebrities I've Seen In The Past Week

As I've mentioned before I'm not ashamed at how star struck I can be, and this week was no exception.

On Wednesday I was taking the boy I nanny to Tai Kwan Do. After I dropped him off, I ran to the store real quick, and then headed back to class. I was on the phone when, I look into the class, and there is Al Roker from the Today Show! He was sitting with his son while watching his daughter in class. I was sitting next to his wife. I learned a lot about him and his family by observation. To keep his life private, I won't air it all on here, but I will say I rode the elevator with him...I was too nervous to talk to him.

The fun doesn't stop there. There were signs posted up within a three block radius of where I live posted this week. It was instructed cars that they couldn't park there on Thursday because of filming. They were filming for the NBC show Lipstick Jungle. I've never watched it, but I've heard of it. So Thursday was a filled with trailer after trailer.

I didn't spend the whole day out there, but when I was out I would canvass the place to figure out what was going down. I found the actors' trailers. They threw me at first because they were labeled with the name of the characters on the show (sneaky) During the day all I could really figure out was where the snack trailers were. I also saw a sign that filming was until 2AM.

So I went out after the kids were in bed. And there I stood at 10PM in the freezing cold (I was too dumb to bring a hat and gloves.)I was able to find where they were filming, and I was set for the duration. I stood by watching. I was close enough that I could've been part of the crew. I was even tempted to grab a chicken finger when they were passing them around. Then all of a sudden it was time and there was Brooke Shields! It was quite exciting. It was even more excited, for me, when there was Andrew McCarthy. (I'm too lazy to make one of those links to Wikipedia to tell you who he is, but he is one of the Original Brat Pack from the 80's. I've always loved him. He's adorable. So there he was. I think he was directing this episode or had something to do with the filming.

I stood with a lady and her dog. She asked them earlier if her dog could be in it. Some crew man told us that for 30 minutes of TV, they film 80 hours and usually work 14-16 hour days. It takes 9 days for one episode. That's crazy, not to mention how darn cold it was out there. I was also asked twice if I was there with the extras.

After a few takes, it was a wrap. As I stood on the outskirts of the circle, Brooke gave us a rousing speech on how fun it's been and how she has good hopes for them and hopes they will all be on for Season 3. Champagne was passed around, and it was a good time. Everyone was clapping and hugging. It was an emotional time, and I was there for it. Everyone hit the bars afterwards.

Here are some things that I learned from this experience:

1. Filming takes a long time. ( I also watched them set up once for a Sprint commercial in Times Square that is being run right now. I ended up getting bored watching.)
2. When an actor is in their trailer, there is a little light that comes on, placed on the outside.
3. Smoking makes you look rough. (Andrew is/was a smoker, I'm not sure of his present smoking status, and he looked rough.
4. All of our world's energy goes to powering all of the actor's trailers, wardrobe, food trailers, etc.
5. I really want a career as the canteen girl on set. I watched the guy at the above mentioned Spring commercial stock the food table, and it was amazing. It was ridiculous how much food there was. And it was like times 10 for Lipstick Jungle. I think it would be a fun job. I love being in charge of refreshments.

And finally, they told me the episode will be on tonight at 10pm. So if you watch, no the part where Brooke Shield's daughter throwing up in the trash is right on 5th Ave, and I was right in front of them!

Back In Action

Well it's almost been a week, and tonight I was back in the heat of action. Yes, I returned to using the oven. I must say I was very nervous, but I sill have a face and hands. Thank you all who express their concern when I almost blew off my face. And yes, Iggy I agree they need a new oven. I believe one is in store when they redo their kitchen...in the summer.

Update

I'm doing much better today. I'm able to type this without my hand being in pain extreme pain. As long as I don't rub it on anything, I'm okay. My face is kind of stiff. The worst part is the left side of my face. I had mascara on my eye lashes, and I think when they got burned, it got burned on. I can't get it off. I'm afraid to pull because my eye lashes are so short now. I must say it's weird to have your eye lids burned. I'm excited to stop wearing the Ointment so I don't look like so much of a grease face.


OK, so there were a couple of requests for pictures so I to please my adoring fans, I am posting. I must say that it really just looks like a bad sunburn. You can see the eyebrow a bit. I tried the best I could to capture the lost of hair. It looks like I gave myself a little buzz right at the top. You really don't notice unless you know about it, and you look up close.

Again, I can't say how blessed I was. The more I think about it, the more I realize how scary it really was. I keep having flash backs of a flame flying in my face. I'm going to get checked out tomorrow. They wanted me to come in for a follow-up. If anything is wrong, I'll let you know.

So enjoy the pictures. (So try your best to see the short hairs. Also I realized that you really can't tell how bad my hand really looks, mainly because I have stubby little gnome hands, and I have a natural red tint. As the maintenance man Irving told me, I always just look a little red.)

Hot Hot Hot

So I spent some time in the ER tonight. I was preparing to cook dinner, and the stove that my employers have is very old. You have to light it. Well when I lit it, the flame came back in my face.

I'm doing well. I only have first degree burns. It's possible that my index finger and thumb could have second degree. I'm struggling to type this. I had two freaked out kids mainly due to the burnt hair smell. My mother had to chuckle because the first thing I did was run to a mirror to see if I had eyebrows. I have to go back Friday to make sure it doesn't get worse. I mainly look like I got a bad sunburn, plus a little bit of singed eyebrow and part of my hair. I actually looked quite frazzled on the ends. After I showered, I realized it wasn't too bad. I was really nervous because my hair is already thin, and I lost a few chunks. My eye lashes are shorter, and I did lose a bit of eyebrow. The worst part is last night I did some long overdue plucking. The brow that got burnt the most was the one that got a little over plucked. Had I known I would burn them off, I would have skipped the
plucking.

I got in and out of the hospital fairly quick. I was nervous because the emergency room was packed. One of our building workers took me and stayed with me the whole time. I got all the good gossip on our door men and maintenance men.

All, and all, I'm doing amazingly well. My hair still smells, and my fingers are killing me. I'm icing up and have ointment (though the ointment looks like I rubbed Vaseline all over my face). I think my face will be fine, and my hair will grow back. I was extremely blessed.

I Can't Believe I Forgot!

The always funny and lovable, Seth Myers.

I was a little sad that I didn't see Tina Fey or Keenan Thompson. However, I did see Keenan Thompson years ago at a concert at Nissan Pavilion. A lot of the cast was there from Nickelodeon's show 'All That'

Live From New York...

As mentioned in a previous post, my present interests are in my celebrity crushes. That continues to remain the same. However, depending on what I'm viewing at the time determines my crushes. I've really been into Saturday Night Live this season. Even when the skits are stupid, I love it. I have a crush on about half of the male cast. Being in NYC, I have an even greater love for the show.

Well last night a friend and I went over the Rockefeller Plaza where the show is taped. We watched all the people with tickets go through Security since the Secret Service was there for John McCain. We didn't actually go to the show because we didn't have tickets. However, we waited around until after the show to see what we could see.

First, we ended up seeing John and Cindy McCain. They were in a black Suburban, but Cindy they both gave us a wave. Then we went to another side of the building where the actors came out of. I have no shame in admitting that I am a very star struck person. I know it's dumb, because they're not any better than you and me, but that's how it is. I've actually seen many famous people in my day, and I must say this is probably on the top of my list because I'm in love with some of these guys. This goes on my list of greatest moments in my life.

So without further adieu, I present to you the cast of SNL. (I actually didn't get all of the cast because they all didn't come out or some were not around long enough for pictures.


Lorne Michael's-Producer of SNL (He's the old guy in the middle, about to get in the car.)



Casey Wilson Moynihan(Casey is the one with the big bag.) and Bobby. They are both new this season.


Will Forte (No I don't know the girl in this picture, but I'm over it.)


Jason Sudeikis (He's married, but I think he's adorable in glasses. I'm a sucker for mean in glasses. The picture doesn't do him justice)


Bill Hader

I also saw Kristen Wiig, and Fred Armisen, but didn't get picture. I also saw David Cook. He had a little entourage with him. I got a few pictures but decided not to post them. His entourage annoyed me.

But the greatest sighting of them all...be still my soul, my heart may need a defibrillator just thinking about it.


ANDY SAMBERG!!!!!!!!!!!

As I said before, one of the greatest moments of my life.

No This Is Not A Red States Verses Blue States.

visited 35 states (70%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or determine the next president


So I was going to write more in this post, but I'm too tired. It was going to be about how I thought I only had one more state on the East Coast to make it to, but apparenlty our smallest state eludes me. Blast! I will explain another day how I was able to knock out a few states recently.

Something That Made Me Laugh

So my boss had some people over for wine last night. The 9-year boy that I nanny was excited to play waiter. So he asked for help opening the bottle of wine. This is how it went down.(Note: I don't remember the exact quotes.)

Boy: Will you help me open this?
Me: Yes
Boy:(As he gets the cork screw) How do I do this again; I forgot?
Me: I don't know;I've never open a bottle of wine.

The Times They Are Changing

So this week was a big week for me. It was a week of changes. I ended a job that was my longest worked job out of college, I said goodbye to the house that my family lived in for 15 years (they've been moved into their new house for a while, but we were finishing up cleaning and painting), and got ready to move to NYC.

All of these changes are good changes, and time for all of them. However, it's interesting how hard change can be. The one I find most interesting is how bittersweet it was to leave work. Yes, I'm so happy to be done, but there really were parts I enjoyed. It's what I've known for the last year and a half. It's been my life. Wednesday was a day of mixed emotions, and yes some tears were shed.

Now I sit typing this in NYC. I arrived safely and my bags are unpacked. I'm excited for the times ahead and to see what life will bring next. I will keep you posted on my happenings.

I'm debating on whether or not to change the title of my blog. It's not so much mixed up files now that I'm not working in an office. I am open to suggestions for new titles. Does anyone have any thoughts? (No I will not rename it the Nanny Diaries)

The Birds And The Bees

So I realized the other day that I don't presently have a crush. It's been a long time since I haven't had a crush on at least one person. I'm not here tonight to go into all of those details. If you've been around me in the past few years, you know the story. If not, you may just be out of luck.

Anyway, I'm not out searching for a crush. I like this time to be be free, but I did decide that I have some celebrity crushes. There are three that I'm currently into. I find them all strange because I don't really find them attractive, but at the same time, I really do. I'm drawn to all three for different reasons, and I'm very intrigued by them.

So I present to you my celebrity crushes.




I was going to write a list of things I liked about them and also why I find it odd that I like them, but I'm too tired now so I'm going to leave that up to your imagination.