Stars, cars, mountains and hair

Now that I'm back in the city, this is what I miss most about being back in Utah:

STARS
I was standing in my brother's backyard one night and just stood there staring at the stars in the sky for like ten minutes. You see, I don't actually see stars in the city, there's too many city lights competing. Even when I'm on someone's roof for a party stars are pretty rare to see. So when any of you are out at night be sure to wish on a star for me!

CARS
This one seems pretty obvious; you have no idea how much of a luxury it was to be able to get into a car and be in control of where I was going. Also, I could control the temperature, the smell, the music, the people I rode with. The fact that it was raining my last two days there didn't worry me because it was a short walk from the back door to the car--no walking in the rain with an umbrella that gets blown up by the wind. And, it's a great place to store purchases bought throughout the day instead of carrying everything around like a bag lady!

MOUNTAINS
This one seems kinda obvious too. But I always get this feeling of awe and amazement when I drive along Bangerter and see the Wasatch mountains in the East and the Oquirrh in the west. Being in the city is great, but it's very much closed off; there aren't open spaces where you can see everything. So I'm always just looking at the next few blocks ahead of me and at the tall building around me. Mountains and space are awesome!

HAIR
I definitely miss the way my hair looks in Utah; it's not made for this moist, humid air in New York. It's not as if my hair holds curl very well anyways, but now it's practically nonexistent--it's always flat and frizzy!

Man did I eat well when I was in Utah (eating out is also a luxury that I don't partake of here in the city). A few times I booked get-togethers with friends a little too closely and ate way too much food in way too short a time. Where I ate: 5 Buck Pizza, The Red Iguana, Red Robin, Village Inn, Sconecutter, Chili's, Cafe Rio, bbq at Wal-mart, hot dog/chips/nachos at Delta Center (I refuse to call it Energy Solutions Arena).

But more importantly, I did some awesome things: was greeted at the airport by a "Welcome Home Aunt Julie" sign being held by Ivy, Elliett and Moses, saw cousin Rachel and her new baby Kitt, attended a book signing, went to the last Jazz game of the post-season (which caused me to miss the actual signing of my book!), went to Pammy's baby shower, hung out with Lindsay-loo, celebrated my brother's 29th birthday with cheesecake and ice cream, lost my sunglasses, watched CMT, had face time with my luvah, played Yahtzee with two cheating boys!, hung out with my dad, bought pink shoes, saw Tina and David's adorable daughter Teue, got a new driver's license, felt really cared for and missed by my friends at Wal-mart, and all around had a great time! I know I'm forgetting tons of things, but my memory really is that bad.

So now you all have to come out and visit me!!! I have a new couch that is much more comfortable, and non-smelling, than my other one so you'll even have a place to sleep that's not the floor!

I'm back!

Yes, I realize that it's been two weeks since I last posted. I had meant to come back on my birthday and finish the post, but then my life was overtaken by the Tribeca Film Festival, which I just finished on Sunday. I'll get to that later.

I'm one of those people who make a big deal out of birthdays. Everyone should have a day that's just for them and is totally awesome. I'm big into the dinner and cake and ice cream and going to a movie and making that person feel special. But when you're the usual planner of things, your own birthday usually gets overlooked because it seems wrong to plan your own birthday and nobody else makes as big a deal out of it as you would. But I must say that my family--mom and Emily--have really been great with my birthday the past couple years. I know it's the distance this year, and the making up for the terrible birthday two years ago, but I really do appreciate what they do for me. They sent me a package with gifts and totally awesome cards (with sound, one playing the Buffy theme song and one that was perfect from Emily) and chocolate. My dad sent me a check....and cereal. I'm not sure which one I was more in dire need of--money or food. Thanks dad!

My roommates were also totally awesome. Rosemary and Maria both made signs wishing me a Happy Birthday, one placed on my door and the other on the back of a chair with presents surrounding it. And a huge shout out to Marky Mark for planning my birthday dinner. I don't know how the job got placed on him, except that he's been in the city for four years and knows a million more places than I do in the Lower East Side, which is where I wanted to eat since I would be coming from Tribeca (yes, I will get to that in another post). He found a great Italian place, Three of Cups, in the village where I had some awesome ravioli with pink sauce. No, I don't know what pink sauce is, but it was pink and so I got it. Mark then took us to Whole Foods where he bought me a birthday cake--which was made of dark chocolate and pretty much to die for.

And the capper to my evening was a phone call from Ivy, who didn't want to go to bed without first telling me something, "Happy Birthday!"

I wish I was a better storyteller, but I have a hard time remembering what happened last night let alone what happened two weeks ago! Maybe I should make notes for myself as things are happening....


A big thanks for all the phone calls, texts, wall posting, presents, posters made (Paula and friends back at Wal-mart) and singing voicemail messages. I appreciate Rosemary, Maria and Mark for making it a special day for me when I'm so far away from family and friends. It was definitely a great birthday! Only regret--I didn't get any pictures of me on my birthday!

Birthday run

I know it's not technically my birthday anymore, but I didn't have time to write yesterday about my run. I'm not even sure I have time today, but I'm doing it anyway. As you may or may not know, yesterday was my birthday and I decided to start it out with a run. It was a good run, not spectacular, since it's been a week since I had run last. I definitely felt a little rusty. I saw Rosemary on the track while I was running, so that was cool. The blisters were fine, except near the end, when sweat was getting into them and it didn't feel that great.

I'm including these pictures of my nieces, Elliett and Ivy, at the Salt Lake City Kids Fun Run because they're just so cute. I'm still bummed that I couldn't be there to participate with them, but I will be there next year! The first one is them before the race and the second is them after, where they got free ice cream! Sure can't beat that.

Port Authority is the portal to hell

Yesterday I took a little day trip to DC, just to get out of the city and do something different. Normally I do not have Saturdays off from the Crew, as those are pretty much the busiest days. But I had asked for this one off so I could have a joint birthday party with a friend that has the same birthday as me. Well, neither one of us are really good at the planning stage; we're more of the talking-big stage. I didn't want to waste my free Saturday, and I definitely didn't want to pick up anyone's shift, so I decided on a little mini-trip.
I decided to go Greyhound, since it's cheap for a person of limited finances--$39.50 for a roundtrip ticket. I wanted to make the most of my day in DC, so I purchased the ticket leaving New York at 3:45....in the AM!! Early, I know, but this way I would get into DC at 8:40 and have tons of time to do what I wanted. Then I wouldn't have to come back as late. Oh, how simple and naive were my thoughts!
I got up at 1:15 and left my apartment at 2:20. I'm one of those people who worries about not having enough time to get ready and so gets up earlier than needed to make sure there's time for everything. Plus, you never know how long you'll have to wait for a train when it's 2:30 in the morning.
I've been to Port Authority before, but not to the place I went yesterday morning. The stairway smelled like urine, the floor was dirty and strewn about with bottles, trash, and sticky liquids. Gross. I would deter any sensible person I know away from it. In fact, I would pretty much anyone I do and do not know. It's just not a great place to have to spend three and a half hours of your time! That's right, I said three and a half hours! It seems as though Greyhound sells more tickets than there are seats. Or else there was an incredible back-log of prior departure times missing their buses, hence making my bus, that I didn't get on, full of people who had tickets for a 1:30 departure. Having never rode Greyhound I can't confirm either one. All I know is that I stood in line for 30 minutes before we were informed that another bus would be here in an hour to an hour and forty-five minutes. Or, roughly, the 6:30 bus.
Around six it was announced that everyone at gate 74 with a destination of Washington D.C. would now have to move to gate 71. Did people politely move in an orderly, line-following way to gate 71? No! It was a mad dash to gate 71, with people pushing and shoving hoping to get a better position. No order, no line, just craziness and chaos. And when a bus finally showed up, and people who had been in line behind me when there actually was a line, were getting on the bus. At this point I was tired, frustrated, and considering just stepping out of the crowd and going home. I clearly wasn't getting on this bus and I had now lost out on three hours of my day in DC. If that's how I was feeling I couldn't imagine how the people who had 1:30 departure time tickets were feeling; they waited over 5 hours, and now people who had priority seating (something that I know see is totally worth the extra 5 bucks) for the 7 am bus were getting on before them. I almost felt bad if I got on before one of them; I was just going for pleasure but what if they were going for something important?
But a manager showed up to tell us that another bus would be here in three minutes. I somehow, miraculously, got on, and, along with everyone else on the bus, immediately fell asleep. Not as if sleeping on a bus could be considered good sleep, but I was allowed to close my eyes so it was passable. And at 11:20 am I finally got to Washington D.C.

Blisters

This morning I got up, not quite as enthused as yesterday, but, nevertheless, up, and put on my runnin' shoes. I was ready to hit the track for my third run this week. And then I put on my shoes. You see, yesterday was such nice weather that I broke out my sandals, the ones I've had since high school, the ones that I love, the ones that give me a weird circle sun-tan on my feet. Every year when I break out my sandals for the warm weather I always must re-break them in, a ritual that costs me dearly those first few days after but is well worth it when my feet are blister free the rest of the summer. So yesterday was the breaking-in day, and while my feet sure looked cute with my skirt, they were also in pain. I was half tempted to take them off and walk barefoot home, but anyone who has seen the sidewalks in my neighborhood knows this would be an icky choice. I made it thru the day, aided by loosening them before leaving the Apollo which helped a lot, but there's no way I could've made it thru a run this morning. I was actually kinda bummed. Perhaps I'm getting the running bug after all.....

Another run

This morning I went for another jog/run. What was so amazing is that I was actually looking forward to doing it. Yes, I did sleep in, but once I got up and changed into my running clothes with my pink running shoes I was excited for it. Maybe because the weather is actually getting warmer and I was able to wear my shorts instead of ugly blue pants.
Nothing new really to share about the run; I did the same pattern of running the straightway and walking the curves. This time, though, I really ran my hardest on the straightways. Then I decided to run the entire fifth lap. Man, was I tired after that! Whenever I do that I can't believe that I've actually ran, well, jogged, a 5K. Running around a track, though, is really boring. The thrill of an actual race and running through the city and seeing the finish line with your family waiting are quite big motivators.
When I ran on Monday then went to work I felt really tired. Isn't it supposed to make you feel refreshed? Maybe it's because it was the first run in a couple of weeks. Hopefully today I don't feel tired. But seeing as how I don't have to go to the Crew today and help pretentious rich people I think I'll be okay!

Race-day pictures

Pictures from last year's race; me in my the morning of the race in my cool race shirt, the trax station where I caught the trax to go downtown, and the finish line of the race. Did I mention that I'm super bummed I can't make it this year?