Oh by the way... there is a bomb threat for 2:00...

Today was my 2nd to last day of work and this is what I heard when I went to work this morning. The first thought I had was great, I'm never going to be able to escape this building, I am going to die in this building...Why did I go to work today? Apparently they also don't warn the people at the desk unless it is a serious threat which made me feel so much better:( Throughout the entire day this threat was lurking in the back of my mind. I texted Scott telling him about the threat and he told me if I heard explosions to start running:) Thanks Scott! People were kind of joking about it to release some of the tension at the desk. We were all kind of jumpy and very alert and cautious about everyone coming into the building. When we heard that another building had a threat and was evacuated it kind of freaked us all out. Anyways...2:00 came and went and nothing happened, which I am very happy about. Security was up the whole day and there were police around the building on the inside and outside. Still it was kind of a scary thing to experience. I hope I never have to go through something like that again. I'm glad I'm going to be working at a building that is less of a target.

Good News....

I got a new job! My last day at the Empire State Building will be on Friday. I have worked 4 weeks at that job and it was definitely an experience. I will be starting work on monday at...

It's a big kid job with a salary, benefits, vacation days, etc. I am super excited to start! It is a nice office on the east side. I'll keep you updated on my training and experience there.

Welcome to the Empire State Building...Where are you going today?....Can I see your ID?

These are the words I say at work about a billion times a day working at the Visitor Desk. For those of you who don't know I work in the Empire State Building. I haven't blogged about it yet as I am trying to catch up with blogging. I work at what's called the "Visitor Reception Desk." It is in the part of the building where the offices are and we check in the people coming for appointments. If a person wants to visit an office in the building the people in that office are supposed to put their name into the computer so we know they are approved to go. If they are registered in the system then we just print out the pass and they go up. If they aren't in the system then we have to call up to the office and ask them to approve the person to come up. If they do then we make a pass and send them up. If not, then we have to tell them they are not allowed to go up and send them away. If they give us problems then sometimes we have to involve security. Not too often, but if it gets out of hand. The job is very easy and you just do the same thing over and over. It is better than not having a job because now we have an income. It does get monotonous after a while though.

I had a dream...on the subway?!

On my way home from work yesterday I was super tired. I decided I would just, "rest my eyes." Of course that always results in falling asleep for me. I began to have a crazy dream that I don't remember now because it didn't make any sense. The only thing is hearing them announce, "This is 145th street..." That was the announcement that made me jump and run off the subway yesterday. 145th street is where I get off and transfer to another train either the A or the C. I was so close to missing my stop which scared me, the other thing is I woke up freaked out that someone could have taken my stuff without me knowing.

Moral of the story: I'm going to try to stay awake on the subway. Sometimes it is just so hard when it feels like your mother is rocking you to sleep...

I know I'm not the only one who has fallen asleep on the subway though:)

"You look like you are 14!"

I am so tired of hearing this! I know I am young and look even younger! I know that it is shocking to some that I am married! Why do you have to keep pointing it out to me? This is what I wonder to myself each and every day at work.

I have a few examples to share. My first day of work one of my coworkers called me "raggedy ann" because I looked so young with my curly red hair. I have gotten called young lady, kiddo, hon, sweetie, etc. by everyone I help. I used to pass for 12-13, but now I'm able to pass for 14-15 which is good news getting up there:)

A lot of people I meet notice that I'm married and feel very negatively about it and feel the need to point it out. I've had a lady tell me, "well I hope he's the right one!" All I said in response was, "he is!"

The most recent story is a guy that came in like last week. This is how the conversation went:

Mr. ?: What are you doing here?!
Ashley:Um... working
Mr. ?: You shouldn't be working in a place like this!
Ashley:Okay...
Mr. ?: Where are you from?
Ashley: Utah, near Salt Lake
Mr. ?: Utah? You never want to go back to Utah with all those Polygamists and Mormons!!!!
Ashley: Actually, polygamy is not practiced by the mormons anymore, and by the way I am mormon.
Mr. ?: (looking at my wedding ring) You look too young to be engaged to be married!
Ashley: Actually I have been married for 1 1/2 years and I am about to turn 23.
Mr. ?: You look like you are 14! You have made a big mistake!
Ashley: Here's your pass... have a great day sir! Goodbye.

People say that I will "love it when I'm older." But until then....I hate all the comments...

Here's to my 23rd birthday in March! Then people will be even more shocked when I tell them my real age:)

Harlem Costco Trip

Not too long ago a Costco was built in Harlem. This is the only Costco in Manhattan so everyone has been pretty psyched about it! We decided to make our trip out last Saturday. We left around 11:00 am with a giant suitcase in hand ready to ride the subway and bus. Why would we have a suitcase you may wonder... to bring back all of our groceries of course! It's what you've got to do in the city when you don't have a car, and taxi's are expensive. When we got to Costco it was amazing because I sort of felt like I was back in Utah again. We got the stuff we usually get at the grocery store but in bulk so we saved some money. To go home we stuck all of the stuff we bought into the suitcase. See picture below. It was super heavy! Scott weighed it when we got home and it weighed..................................115 pounds!

Good thing I have a strong hubby to carry the heavy things:)

The MoMA!

Last Friday night we decided to go to the MoMa aka the Museum of Modern Art. It's free on Fridays so we went for free. Let me just say that I love art! It brought back so many memories of AP Art History in high school which I loved. Here are a few pics of my fav's and also some of the art that you look at and think, "yeah I can do that." If you come to New York be sure to go to the Art museums. They are truly amazing!

One of my favorites: "White on White" I hope to recreate this one someday:) I just think it's so funny that Malevich painted this and it became famous. It's white paint on a white canvas.

Jackson Pollack

Scott standing next to the skinniest little painting I have ever seen. The red strip is the whole piece of art. Everything else in the picture is the wall.
Picasso!
Andy Warhol of course!
We still want to go back to try to see the Tim Burton exhibit. It was sold out when we went.

A little Mondrian

Cheese Fondue

A few of my friends recently have asked for my cheese fondue recipe so I thought I'd share it with everyone! Ignore all of the unhealthy ingredients that are in this recipe, that's what makes it so good!

Three Cheese Fondue
½ c. onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic
1 ½ cup heavy whipping cream
12 oz. cream cheese
1 ½ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
¾ cup gouda cheese
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Sauté the chopped onion and garlic until tender. Put all ingredients into fondue pot and heat on low to medium heat. Stir until smooth and serve with breads, chopped vegetables etc.

Our Christmas Letter

My intention was to post our Christmas letter on our blog so that everyone could see it and we could save on some postage. Of course I never did post it around Christmas Time so here it is! Enjoy!

A New Year! A New Resolution to Blog!

Our blog not been updated in like a month and a half. Several people have commented to me that I need to start blogging again. Sometimes I have so much to write that I just am too overwhelmed to write at all. I'm going to do some catch up posts and some recent posts. So excuse the random order....