Brrr, it's not too cold over here!

I thought it has been cold here in New York City being in the mid 50's to low 60's.... but, then I looked at the weather in Utah... 46 degrees today! Brr.... makes me cold just thinking about it. For all of you in Utah---I wish you luck!

Yay! More Mail!

It makes me so happy when I get something in the mail! It was a very pleasant surprise to see this envelope from my family in Utah.

What's inside the card?

School pictures of my little bro and sis: Cody and Courtney! These are going in a frame! I have good looking siblings--No fair they didn't have to go through an awkward stage like I did in Jr. High and High School. Love you family, thanks for the pictures!

My cool new find...

I was watching Rachael Ray and it was all about saving money and clipping coupons. They mentioned the website http://www.alice.com/ to save money on things like shampoo, soap, snacks, paper products, etc. You should check it out! It automatically applies coupons to what you order and the shipping is free. I just barely submitted my first order! I bought things like foil, index cards, bleach, granola bars, etc. The best part is I didn't have to pay any shipping! It talks about it on Rachael Ray's website: "Keeps track of the items you use most, finds coupons, and reminds you what's running low! Discount for Rachael Ray viewers - spend $50 and receive $10 off!" I just wanted to share my find with all of you. I have learned living in New York City that delivery and low prices are a major convenience!

More Job Interviews!

Since we have lived in New York City I have had 5 job interviews! Doesn't sound like a lot but before we moved I had only had 2 job interviews in my whole life! This is a different thing for me, but I'm getting better at it. I'm hoping that something good will come from all of these interviews. If not, I'm just going to become a pro-interviewer. I have had 2 interviews in the past two days and they are jobs that I am really interested in. I'll just be patient and wait...

Secret Service Guys Everywhere....

I had a job interview today and on the way we saw a lot of secret service guys. My first thought was that Pres. Obama must be in town---turns out he is! We're not positive that it was for him, but it's a good guess. After my interview there were even more! Then, while Scott and I were waiting at the bus stop there were a lot of black cars driving by with secret service guys sticking their heads out checking things out with sirens going. It was quite a disturbance on the street. We never did get a glimpse of anyone famous, but it was an experience seeing so much security

This Made My Day...

I got a package from my older sister Amber!

Thanks Am!
Pictures colored by my niece Taesya and nephew Canon, and one from Am
And pictures of the Kids!
Getting mail is so fun!

Operation

I shadowed my first doctor last week here at Columbia, and it was one of the highlights of my education so far! He is an orthopaedic surgeon, specializing in the hip and knee. To give you a brief run-through of my experience, I stumbled through the hospital trying to find the right elevators and offices, had to ask directions to find the operating rooms, wandered some more, and finally had to ask random nice lady in the OR recovery room where the doctor was that I was supposed to meet. She told me that he must have already gone into surgery early (but in reality, he was just running behind a lot, and started his previous case very very late).

"Just go find him in room 10," she said.

So I'm thinking to myself, "What? Are you crazy? You expect me to just walk right in there??" However, the only thing that comes out is, "Ok." . . . . . . "WAIT, I'm sorry, I'm new to this whole thing..."

So she helped me find where I needed to go, and then in I go to room 10. And while I was feeling completely out of place throughout this entire experience, no one ever questioned my legitimacy as I wandered through the inner corridors of the operating rooms with my trusty name badge.

Sparing all the surgical details, I got to watch a total hip replacement, and a partial knee replacement. I came away with an entirely new appreciation for surgeons and what they do. There are a lot of specialties in medicine that I think are somewhat interesting, but I never really know if it would be my "thing." But after that experience, I told Ashley that "I could totally see myself doing that for a living."

- Scott

This Pie's a Winner!

Our ward had a chili cookoff this past Saturday, and while I wouldn't say that I know how to cook a mean chili, I do have some connections to people who make good pies. Ashley and I were part of the committee in charge of the entire activity, and there was a pretty good showing of people - over 100, at least. There were 25 different chilis that people entered into the competition, and they were good! I personally had to try about half of them, all dished up in miniature dixie cups. My two favorites were a shredded chicken white spicy chili, and a spicy bleu cheese chili.

So, back to the pie...I made a banana cream, and it took third place! I know, I know, it's not first, but at least I got something! I made sure to scoop up half of a slice for myself near the beginning of the night, in case it didn't last, and I think it was a good thing.


This was my prize, a dish towel!

- Scott

Cornbread!

Our ward is having a chili cookoff tonight and to prepare I had to make 12 dozen corn muffins! I made them yesterday, it took me about 3 1/2 hours to get them all made. I cheated and used mixes, it would have taken a lot longer if I made them from scratch! It took 17 mixes...17 eggs....5 2/3 cups of milk. On top of that I made 2 pumpkin pies and Scott made a banana cream pie. Needless to say, I am a little tired of baking...

I took this:

and turned it into this:

Wet Paint Confession...

Whenever I see a wet paint sign I can't help but wonder if it is really wet... This leads to me touching it to test out for myself (which of course is the opposite purpose of the signs). I have seen a few of these lately. One was a post at the subway stop, the other a wall in our apt. building. I have given into the temptation and have discovered that neither place was wet...which just encourages this curiosity of mine. Scott just laughs at me...

This Weekend

This weekend was really fun and I wanted to give a bit of a recap:

On Friday we decided to go to The Met (The Metroplitan Museum). I really like art so I was really excited. It was a rainy gloomy day so a museum sounded like a great idea! Inside the museum was a little overwhelming because it is so big. We decided on a few things that we wanted to see because there is so much to see! We'll have to go back a million times to see everything. I took some pictures of some of my favorites.

I love Van Gogh so I was so excited to be able to see some of his paintings! Here are a few that I loved:

Irises, of course!

Some Jackson Pollock---I think his work is much cooler in person! I wasn't too impressed until I saw it in person.

We also saw some European paintings, Egyptian Art, other Modern Art, Arms and Armor. Scott wanted to see all the different types of armor and weapons and that was really cool to see. I was surprised, but it was cool to see the evolution throughout the years of armor and weapons.

It was a really fun night!

On Saturday we got together with some friends and watched the BYU game. It wasn't a very exciting game but it was funny seeing how far ahead we were getting. Yay BYU! Great job!

Also, on Sunday Scott and I were sustained in our new calling as being on the Activities Committee. I may be asking all of you for some activity ideas :)

On a lighter note...

I have found a new hobby!

You may think this is a little strange but my new hobby is making girl's bows, clips, etc. No, I'm not having a baby anytime soon I just have always wanted to learn. I took some inspiration from my friend Abbie that lives just above us, she makes cute bows for her daughter. I ordered the supplies and have found that they are really fun to make! I haven't decided what I'm going to do with this new hobby. I think I might try to start selling them online but I don't know quite yet.

These first few are some designs I copied from my friend Abbie (I hope you don't mind):


These are ideas I got online and I put my own spin on them: For the korker (curly) bows I even baked my own ribbon to make it curly---I am pretty proud...

Let me know what you think! I think I am going to make some more---it's fun!

Jobless and Bored

I've had a couple of interviews and have another one scheduled for next week...but still no job....

Being by myself during the day in our apartment is kind of driving me crazy now. It's days like this, that make me wonder what I'm doing in NYC. But then I see Scott come home excited about his school and that's a good reminder.

I hope I get a job soon because being at home all day alone is really getting old...