New York, New York!

Well, here we are at New York! Actually we're back now but we were there last week. It was awesome! I loved it! I can't believe how HUGE New York is. Someone like me who grew up in SLC can't understand how massive it is. You could spend an entire month in New York and not do or see the same thing twice. You go to down town Salt Lake for 2 hours and you've basically see it all. We went to two Yankee's games. Bennett was in heaven the entire time. It was quite a different experience for me. I was so bored I fell asleep not once but twice during the same game. These weren't little head nods either; they were full blown half hour naps! I even brought a book but was too embarrassed to pull it out.

This is our hotel room with Bennett taking a little pre-bed nap. I wanted to show you how small our room was. This pretty much shows the entire room.

Notice Bennett's knee on the right and the door straight ahead. Now you've seen the entire room!

Oh, don't overlook our sink here. If you think I forgot something (like the toilet and shower) you're wrong. We had to share the bathroom with 3 other rooms. It wasn't a problem though because no one was ever in there when I needed it. Actually, even though our room was tiny like a model of a hotel room it was perfect! We were only there to sleep, shower and use the bathroom anyway (and maybe make a small fort).

We saw Wicked at Gershwin theatre. It was fantastic and very funny!

We weren't supposed to take pictures during the show but I took a couple secretly. This is the stage before the show began.

Here's the final bow. Oh, I forgot: a mouse ran under the seats in front of us during the intermission.

The Statue of Liberty is amazing! She's gynormous! After all that I still don't understand why the French would make us a statue but it's cool!

Here's a view from the Empire State Building where I lost Bennett for 2 hours. I'll have to tell ya later... it's a long story.

Here's a place I wouldn't mind never seeing again: Time Square. It was soooooo crowded at all times whether it was 10 am or 12 am. It's amazing that I'm not being pushed over by a mob here or harassed by someone trying to get me into a comedy club. Here's the type of yelling you would hear while passing them by without taking their flyer, "You like comedy don't ya? What's wrong with you?! You too good or something for comedy?! What!?" I'm being serious.

Central park was beautiful and huge! It's 3 miles long by 1.5 miles wide. We spent half a day there and didn't make it all the way to the top. This is the bridge at the end of You've Got Mail where they meet and kill each other. There's still some blood there.

snails=christine/lizard=leesa (only friends)

We were instant friends, me and the gecko! I was proud that I didn't yank its tail off! take that Christine!! I win friends by not pulling their tails off and by not giving them salad, as our wise friend once said "you dont win friends with salad! I just wanted to show off my gecko holding skills!

Chalk Art Festival

Bennett and I went to the gateway yesterday for their chalk art festival. It was pretty cool what some of the artists drew. Some of the drawings were really life like. I was amazed by their talent. Here are some pictures of our adventures:

This water was drunk by Bennett at J.B.s after the chalk art festival.

Bennett's not depressed here, he's trying to add artistic flair to the afternoon.

Here I am eating my strawberry shortcake (Bennett wanted me to write that I'm eating my own regurgitated garbage.)

Here's Bennett eating his own regurgitated garbage. Notice the artistic touch that really gives this picture feeling.

Here's a good one: you too can order a 1/2 slice of pie for 99 cents. This is a picture of a picture of a 1/2 piece of pie.

Here's a surprising addition to the J.B.'s menu: cocaine.


Okay, so we forgot to take pictures of the chalk art festival and tried to make up for it at J.B.'s after.

Basketball Shawn Basketball Shawn; Shawn Curtis

Today I met Shawn Curtis' cousin. She works at Mayo right across the hall from me. She also knows Bishop Curtis and Ryan Curtis (Obviously since Shawn and Ryan are cousins as well). Anyway I told her that Leesa has a huge crush on Shawn and then I sang her the Basketball Shawn Song (you know the one that has the same tune as the Basketball John Stockton song). It goes Basketball Shawn...Basketball Shawn...Shawn Curtis. So she said she would be telling Shawn that Leesa is in love with him. We'll see what comes of that.

Keep away!

This is a really funny video of a dog trying to keep its bone away from itself.

http://abc.go.com/primetime/afv/index?pn=player&itemId=364224

Super Saturday Extravaganza

It's my birthday, it's my birthday, it's my birthday boy or girl! We had a birthday party for myself and Kanami at Murray park last Saturday. There was a home run derby and we made the kids serve pudding blindfolded to their also blindfolded partner. Rika almost died laughing.

Here's Kanami showing me that she's turning 5. Wow! She's going to kindergarten this year. I cannot believe she's turning 5 already! I'll probably always think of her as being 2 or 3 even when she's 25.

This is Bennett's nephew Jackson. I love this kid! He's just a mellow guy and enjoyed eating all the cupcakes his stomach could hold.

Edison (Bennett's nephew) was told that if he wanted to play in the home run derby he had to go stand by Josh. So he went and stood right by Josh (whom he doesn't know), 2 feet away and talked to him the whole time. Edison is the sweetest kid. If you're having a bad day you can just go stand by him and you'll feel a lot better.

Here's Bennett swinging like a real ball player.

Elann got the worst of the pudding feeding. He has it up his nose and probably can't breathe. He also got it right in his eye.

A sad day in sesame street

Part IV in the Recipe Saga: Gluten Free Cupcakes!

Here ya go Christine! Indulge and then tell me if they're good because they look pretty easy to make.

Cupcakes Gluten Free Recipe
1-1/3 cup semisweet chocolate morsels - Nestle*
3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Six large eggs, separated
1/2 cup sugar, divided
2 teaspoons gluten-free vanilla extract*
Sweetened whipped creamMini chocolate chips -- Nestle*

Directions:Heat oven to 350-degrees. Line 18 muffin cups with baking liners. Coat liners with vegetable cooking spray. Stir chocolate and butter in heavy saucepan over low heat until smooth. Remove from heat. Cool to lukewarm.
In large bowl, with electric mixer on high, mix egg yolks and 1/4-cup sugar until very thick and pale, about three minutes. Fold in chocolate mixture and vanilla. Using clean, dry beaters, beat egg whites and remaining 1/4-cup sugar in bowl until stiff but not dry, about two minutes. Fold egg-white mixture into chocolate mixture until combined. Divide batter among baking liners. Bake 28-30 minutes. Cool completely.
Serve with dollop of sweetened whipped cream and chips.
* Nestle morsels are gluten-free. Recipe makes 18 cupcakes.

Cupcakes of destiny

So someone brought in heavenly cupcakes yesterday and I've been obsessed about them ever since. I didn't realized that I kept talking about these cupcakes until last night when one of my coworkers asked me why I was obsessed about the cupcakes. I just like to look at the cupcakes and smell the cupcakes, and ask what flavors the cupcakes are, and then I'll put them away for a few hours (until I start the process all over again). I can't get the cupcakes off of my mind! AHHHH! So I made Andrew go to the store with me last night to get a Hershy bar so I wouldn't give into the cupcake tempation. I ate two bars last night, but I probably should have eaten 60 bars. OH the goodness of cupcakes!!!!

I like this guy better

Oh crude. I tried to copy a picture and then I was going to put it here, but it won't paste. I think I will just go to bed.

man in tutu

Actually I don't know how to make a comment and to have an extremely appropriate picture to go along with it. So you get this posting, and a picture and a comment to Katie's blog about the raging river incident. If anyone wants to enlighten me about how to go about doing these very complicated shinanigans with the computer, I will listen but I probably won't be able to do.