Cougar Reunion

A few nights ago I had a gathering at my house. Inspired by an old college friend in town for the weekend, I invited BYU friends from across the years over for an old fashioned piano party. The usual suspects were present (Wade, Paul, Carlos, Jacob, Seth). We welcomed back recently returned friends Nicole, John, and Tony. Also joining us was the lovely Jenny, recently arrived in the big rotten apple.

Joe's Birthday at Buddakan

Last weekend the gang got together to celebrate Joe's birthday at the lovely and delish restaurant Buddakan. You may remember this locale as the site of Carrie and Big's pre-wedding dinner in the Sex and the City movie.
I am convinced that food always tastes better when enjoyed with best friends.

Bowling in Harlem

I thought the bowling alley in Rexburg, Idaho was a little trashy.
You have no idea how ghetto bowling can be until you hit the lanes on 125th St. in Harlem.

Some work friends and I hit the lanes and had a blast!

2010: It can only get better from here

So, December 30th, the night before I flew back to NYC I met my good friend John, and new friend Riley in downtown Salt Lake City for dinner before catching the red eye flight back to Manhattan. We had a wonderful dinner, got caught up on gossip and each other's lives, and enjoyed the gorgeous recent snow fall.
Let me break down the timeline of what happened next:
9:30pm: Enjoyed a lovely dinner and quite spectacular Cobb Salad at Red Rock.
12:05 am: Departed SLC feeling fine.
6:00am: Arrived at JFK airport feeling slightly woozy (not uncommon after a red eye flight and no sleep).
7:00am: Got on the E train subway heading to Manhattan.
7:25am: Felt a wave a nausea, broke out in a cold sweat, and nearly passed out on the train.
7:28am: Prayed like I have not prayed in a long time that I would not hurl on the rush hour packed express train.
7:31am: Arrived at a random stop in Queens. Rushed out of the train with my luggage and puked into a garbage can on the platform (HUMILIATING!!!).
7:40am: Got on the next train thinking (foolishly) the worst was over.
7:50am: Arrived in midtown. Repeat of 7:31am mishap.
7:55am: Got in a cab to go the rest of the way home. Continued my prayer to make it home without incident.
8:10am: Arrived at my apartment building. Could not make it to the 5th floor. Illegally broke into the apartment below mine and puked in their toilet (no one is living there and the door was miraculously unlocked).
8:20am- next 32 hours): Wore a path between my bed and the bathroom with painful intervals about every 20 minutes. At one point made a bed on the bathroom floor out of towels because I simply did not have the strength to return to my room.
December 31st, 11:59pm: Listened to my neighbors count down to the new year with my cheek pressed against the toilet seat (it felt so cool). Tried to be optimistic by looking at this as a full body cleanse to start 2010 off right.
January 2nd, 10:00am: After sleeping about 20 hours after the final 'cleansing' I woke up famished and craving scrambled eggs.

Oh There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays

Christmas comes at a horrible time of year. Between flu season, year end work reports and other requirements, lousy weather that makes travel risky and chaotic, etc... it's a wonder there is time/energy left to celebrate the season at all. However, even with all the distractions/hassles/obligations, I look forward to this time of year more than any other season.
Last week I returned from seven days home with my family. Most of the vacation was spent in the car (after a 5 hour drive from the airport to my house, we turned right around and drove to southern CA after 'Santa' brought the family Disneyland tickets).

I had a wonderful, relaxing, and very merry Christmas. I hope you all had an equally marvelous holiday.

Some of the highlights include:

Mitchell's 4th birthday party on December 24th:


Christmas morning with the family- especially Avery, Wyatt, and Mitchell.



Spending time with Grandma Flint, Grandma Henderson, Aunt Nancy, and other extended family.

Temple Square with my favorite niece Avery.

Las Vegas (Aquarium, hotel suites, strolling the strip, gondola rides at the Venetian, etc...) with the family-








Disneyland:








La Brea Tar Pits:



Santa Monica Beach:

Christmas Traditions... Ten Years and Still Going Strong

Every December I get together with my best friends and we have a night of "New York Family Christmas." I am very lucky to have such a close group of friends- and we certainly get to see a lot of each other during the year. However, even after ten years of NY Family Christmas, I still eagerly look forward to this special night each season.
This year we celebrated in Carlos and Joe's new house. All the seasonal necessities were provided... a lighted tree, Maureen McGovern singing Christmas standards, and peppermint cosmos. I am so So SOOO grateful that I get to spend another year with this group of extraordinary besties.









Each year we take a group photo at our Christmas get-together. This was taken at 2:30am after we had fallen asleep watching a movie. Not our best shot of 2009.