New York

So, way back at the beginning of November Dan and I had the lucky chance to go to Maryland and New York. (The Maryland pictures are all on the camera and will have to wait til a later date) It was a "business trip" naturally. Ok, it was a business trip. There was a huge Born to Run/barefoot running convention/meeting/gathering right before the New York Marathon and all the big "barefooters" were going to be there, Christopher McDougall (who wrote the book), Daniel Lieberman (the Harvard evolutionary biologist) . This was a big deal and our friend, Barefoot Ted said Dan had to be there! Naturally, I said I HAD to be there too! For support reasons ;) My cousin, Karen, is a nanny working for a family that lives right outside of New York and her family was nice enough to say we could come stay with them, so it was on. I got to come too. So, for the trip, we decided it would be best if we tried to do mostly free things in the city, so Karen suggested that we go explore Central Park. Both Dan and I had been to New York before but only really walked by Central Park before so we decided that we would do it in-depth. We'd go see the ice-skating rink, the castle, the Boat House, that bridge where Macaulay Culkin blows up the fireworks in Home Alone 2... Yes, all the important sites. For some reason, the two opportunities I've had to visit Karen in New York we have spent our time trying to find cool places where they have filmed some of our favorite movie scenes. Last time we spent the majority of our time going through the list of notable locations for You're Got Mail. Is this the best way to use your time while in New York? No....no, not really, BUT the Zabar's, where Meg Ryan goes shopping and tries to avoid Tom Hanks, and he ends up paying for her groceries? Yeah, it's a pretty cool, and stuffed of interesting pots and pans and has yummy French cheese and pastries and pain au chocolat and when there is yummy food and chocolate, time is never truly wasted, right? I digress though, Central Park? Yes.Our first stop was the Central Park Zoo. Yes, we might have gone because of Madagascar (which is a TOTAL LIE-no zebras, no lions, no giraffes, no hippos-there are penguins though), I mean, we went because it is a historical and cultural landmark of the city...It was really fun though, this is a picture of the snow monkeys. The two on top of the rock are cuddling, which we thought was cute, SO we took a picture, BUT you can't tell.We then visited the Boat House because of 27 Dresses. I thought that it was really cute and romantic and saw why she wanted to have her wedding there. We tried to eat lunch there but it was closed for the winter. So we had to hang our heads in sadness and continue our search for lunch options. We ended up eating hot-dogs from a vendor in the park. I hung my head in sadness again.
These guys were more cheerful though. We found these giant bubble blowers by the pretty bridge thing that's in Home Alone 2 ;) I know you were all wondering why we were there ;)
Do you remember this? Or have I seen that movie more times than I should have.

Here is Karen, our lovely host and tour guide. Thanks for putting up with us Karen. She's on top of Belvedere Castle in Central Park and has apparently been in a lot of movies that I haven't seen. I'm glad we went though, the view from the top was sweet.
And for the best part of the trip!!! Sadly, I couldn't get tickets to go the Born to Run things with Dan so Karen and I had to find something else to do. Karen suggested we go see the Radio City Hall Christmas Spectacular. Best suggestion ever because....
I got to see the Rockettes!!! After watching them on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade for every year of my life that I can remember I got to see them in person...and it was awesome!!!
This is a short version of the Nutcracker that they did. We all know how obsessed I've always been with that.
March of the Wooden Soldiers
And to my great surprise they ended with a full on nativity. It was beautifully done and I was quite impressed that after the Santa Claus number, and the toy shop number, and the nutcracker number that they still remembered what Christmas was really about. And I might have cried a little bit.

Karen and I ended the night by waiting an hour and a half to eat at the Serendipity because...well yes, because of the movie.We shared their famous frozen hot chocolate and one of their sundaes which was totally worth the whopping $15 DOLLARS that it cost (that's just the sundae, not including the hot chocolate). It really was some of the best hot fudge I have ever eaten and the ice cream and the whipped cream...it was soooo good! Fun fact about the Serendipity, they hold the world record for the most expensive dessert, it costs $10,000 and you have to give them at least 24 hour notice that you are going to order it. After seeing that on the menu I felt like we got out of there for pretty cheap.
This is not us eating, but it gives you an idea for how crazy it looks inside.

Overall, we had a great time! Dan's convention went amazingly well, he got to meet a lot of really influential people in the running (esp. barefoot running world) and I got to live my childhood dream of seeing the Rockettes and eating the most expensive dessert that I'VE ever had.

Update!!!

One of the reasons I don't update our blog very often is that I always feel like there are so many barriers to me actually doing it. The forces of evil work together to make it so I can't pull my photos off my phone...or I can't find our camera...or when I do find the camera and I plug it in, the computer doesn't recognize it...The list goes on my friends! I'm telling you Satan is working against my blogging, like he does going to the temple. K, not really. But sometimes! Even Dan (who loves me but secretly thinks I just do NOT understand technology) usually can't figure out the problem either when I bring them to his attention. One way or the other, I have given up on the photos in our camera for some other time when I have more patience and will stick to the adventures that I recorded on my phone.

I'm a wuss

I published these two posts on Sunday night for like an hour before I became too self conscious and deleted them...both Dan and Jill told me to not be an idiot so here they are again.

Because I have been given much

So, below this post you'll find a post I wrote some weeks ago that I never posted because I was too self conscious about it. You should read it first (if you want to read this at all-there will be no pictures and will be very boring so I suggest waiting for my next post that will contain lots of pictures and a lot less emotion and will be a lot happier). If you do continue reading though, read the deep thoughts post first-it ties in with this one and helps with the story.

So, I wrote that the day after Thanksgiving after Dan and I had stayed up all til 2am, on Thanksgiving, putting together his new store. For some reason the store does give me anxiety and I was grumbling all night and eventually went home sobbing about how we were going to starve to death and our lives were ending. (2 notes: I do get hormonally challenged when I'm on my period and go a little/a lot crazy 2nd: There were a great many other things that I'm not going into leading up to this moment of utter despair). Needless to say though, I needed a reality check.

The next morning I was cleaning up and doing the dishes and the poem I quoted came to my mind and I decided to go pull out my old 101 Famous Poems book from Carden. I read it was duly inspired. My new mission, to help some other people and not think about myself so much. Perfect, I used to be a ward missionary and still visit teach several less active sisters who usually need some extra help. What a great opportunity!

I knew one of the sister's was having an especially hard time, so I found some things I could do for her. Paid for a massage so she could have some money (big sacrifice on my part) asked her if she needed any other help. Yesterday, at church she told me that her car had broken down and she needed a ride home from church which I was happy to give her. On the way home she told me that her car was going to be over $300 to fix, that she didn't have any of that money. She wasn't quite sure how she was going to pay rent, or buy food, but more importantly she now has no way to drive to work or to any of her clients for massage (she's a message therapist). I wished with all my heart that I could help her pay to fix her car, but we're not exactly rolling in money right now either so I offered to help her do whatever I could. I drove her to work and offered her some dinner so she wouldn't have to go hungry.

On the drive home she told me this story though. She has a man living and sleeping on her couch right now. She told me that she found him sitting outside of a gas station and she felt like she should talk to him. She didn't have any money to give him but she asked him if she could give him a ride somewhere. He'd come to Seattle on a promise from a friend that he could get a job here because he couldn't find a job anywhere in Virginia where he is from. His "friend" had helped him pay for a few nights in a hotel, but then skipped town and left him because the job hadn't panned out. He left him with no food, no money, no place to stay, and no way to go home to Virginia. He didn't know a soul in Seattle. Amazingly, my friend, who has very little herself, said well you can sleep on my couch and share my food.

As she told me this story, my jaw slowly dropped further and further. By the end you could probably have knocked me over with a feather. Suddenly, my grandiose gestures of giving her a ride to work and offering her dinner seemed pretty pale in comparison. I think she saw my surprise and said, "Well, Heather, he needed a friend he had nobody! I wanted to show him that there was good in the world. Well not just "in the world" everybody knows that there's good SOMEWHERE in the world. I wanted to show him that there was good in HIS world. That God loves and cares about him."

I went home pretty humbled to say the least. I sat on my couch in awe just thinking: I have never EVER gone hungry cause I don't have food. I have never not had a place to sleep. I have never not had a friend or a family member to call if I needed help, or money, or was feeling alone. Not only that, I have a lot of nice things! I have a car, and really good food to eat. I have a home to go to, a bed to sleep in, and a family who calls and asks how I'm doing. I have A LOT to be grateful for... I guess there is nothing like a little perspective and a little gratitude to get rid of all feelings of self-pity.

As I was listening to President Eyring and Monson's talks during the Christmas devotional about the true meaning of Christmas and the gift's that we can give the Savior this Christmas Season. I decided I'm going to do something a little bigger this year than give fifty cents to the Salvation Army guy and take Christmas cookies to my neighbor. I don't know if I'm going to be able to invite someone off the street to sleep on my couch (I think it takes a very special person to do that, and my friend is definitely such a special wonderful person), but I'd like to show someone that there is good in THEIR world, not just "in the world." And you guys can hold me accountable for that. I'd at least like to help my friend and her friend this year. I don't know if I'll have to go sit down on the corner and ask for money haha, or write into one of the Christmas station that grants wishes, but I would at least like to help them get the car fixed. If anyone has any better ideas let me know. Merry Christmas!!!

Deep Thoughts From Heather: How did you take it?

Warning: This does in fact contain "deep thoughts" so if you're not into that, don't read any further ;) Cause after all blogs are about showing off and making everyone jealous of my "way awesome life" haha so read my other posts if you're looking for that ;) Anyway, I have been a little bit of sour puss, grumpy face, angry face (thanks Kristen), and all around downer lately. Well, this probably isn't a surprise to most people who know me well. Rolling with the punches has never been my strong point. When things get hard, I tend to whine and complain about it and give excuses for why I didn't succeed or why you should feel so bad for me cause my life is sooo very hard. Sadly, life is a little bit more complex that it used to be and the difficulties that I don't respond well to have moved beyond my hair not turning out all right and staying up til 3am to read Tess of the D'Urbervilles for AP English and still not finishing... Well, when I woke up this morning feeling gloomy and depressed this poem came to my mind. I have to say thank you to Mr. Bradford for making me memorize it in 6th grade. I have changed the title from (How did you die? to the earlier line "How did you take?" -cause thankfully, I'm not dead yet ;)

Did you tackle the trouble that came your way

With a resolute heart and cheerful?

Or hide your face from the light of day

With a craven soul and fearful?

Oh, a trouble's a ton, or a trouble's an ounce

Or a trouble is what you make it.

And it isn't the fact that you're hurt that counts,

But only how did you take it?

You are beaten to earth? Well, well what's that?

Come up with a smiling face.

It's nothing against you to fall down flat,

But to lie there-that's disgrace.

The harder you're thrown, why the higher you bounce;

Be proud of your blackened eye!

It isn't the fact that you're licked that counts;

It's how did you fight and why?

And though you be done to death, what then?

If you battled the best you could;

If you played your part in the world of men,

Why the Critic will call it good.

Death comes with a crawl, or comes with a pounce,

And whether he's slow or spry,

It isn't the fact that you're dead that counts,

But only, how did you die?

Deep thoughts eh? Now what I got out of it... So I can take what life throws at me and "take it" well or I can drown in self-pity. It's a sink or swim moment. Well sort of, I've tired sinking for the past while and it doesn't really work, you get a lot of water up your nose and don't go anywhere. So, it's time to swim. I have been given so much. It's time to be a little more grateful. I have been given a lot of talents. It's time to use them (instead of focusing on what I can't do and can't change). Wish me luck

Educate me...

So....I'm challenged and I don't know how to add friends and family to the side of my blog so that I can just click on your links and go straight to your blogs. How did the ones that are there get there in the first place you ask? Haven't the foggiest. Yes, I did put them there. No, I don't remember how I did it. It was like a year ago guys. But if I didn't have to go digging through three different blogs and facebook to get to friends blogs that would be wonderful. So, if anyone would care to enlighten me, I would be much obliged ;)

UW Game

So Dan and I got to go to a University of Washington Football Game with some of Dan's family! Dan's brother-in-law actually use to play for UW (back when they won the National Championship) and got us some tickets. The team sadly did not so much play like champions that night but despite that and the rain, we had a great time

Here we have Jill and Bart and Holdie Bear! He's the cutest! Watch him figure out the binoculars in these next pictures.

hmmm....

Yes! He was looking through them backwards for the longest time, I think he has them right in this picture but it was so funny!

Oh I'm so funny!

As promised....

This is for my like 3 friends who actually care about and read/look at my blog. You have been complaining...I have been making empty promises...but no more. Here is an update on the goings on of the last couple of months. How about we start with Halloween eh? We had some fun.

Here we have Dan's skeleton man pumpkin and Hannah's vomiting pumpkin ;)

This is my owl pumpkin
Here we have Alice, The CanCan Dancer, and Indian Chief Holden

I had to show a better picture of Hannah's pumpkin. This was all her idea! The mice are eating it haha! A little gross but you must admit, it's creative

For the ward Halloween party, for those of you who aren't quite sure, Dan and I were Tigger and Eeyore. We had a small discussion over who would be Tigger, which Dan won. I guess either costume would have been just as big on me though! They were for like a 6ft tall 300 lb football player, which is a hilarious visual image in and of itself, but they were HUGE! All the little kids thought we were pretty cool though. Thanks to Tom and Debbi for letting us borrow them.

Kauai March 2010

View from our hotel room


So we got to eat at the Beach House with Dan's parent's and they have these amazing oil paintings all over and I want one so badly...these pictures don't really do them justice

Hanalei Bay! We learned how to paddle board (aka paddle surfing) here which we have no pictures of...cause we were both paddle boarding...?

This is our dream house we went and looked at with Tom and Debi

This is me and Dan's Mom Debi
We went for a wonderful bike ride along the coast.

Heather and I ate at Ivar's for Valentine's Day. Heather mostly just watched me chow down on my messy king crab legs...they were owe so good!

First Blog Entry

Heather and I have decided to join the wonderful world of blogging. Considering how much my siblings are into it and now that we are married we feel the need to join the crowd. So enjoy our blog!...once we have something posted ;)