Good Friends Just Make Life Happier

Last fall two of my favorite people, Melanie and Stephanie, joined me on the East Coast when they moved to Washington DC.  I visited them in August.  They came up to New York in October.  We saw each other in Utah for Christmas.  Then, it was my turn.   So I packed a bag and left for DC with no definite plans on how long I'd be staying.

The trip ended up being 6 days of laughing, walking, Olympics, pictures, movies, and a LOT of food. 

We just had the best time.

I worked on a few shows in DC for 2 months in the summer of 2011.  There is something just so wonderful about that city.  It's big, and busy, and a place where important things happen.  Yet, somehow, it still has a small town feel.

Don't get me wrong.  New York is definitely a small town.  I'm reminded of that daily.  I think DC just feels more...quaint.  Maybe I should give up trying to explain how I feel.  I just love it.  So I'm so glad they live there now. 

We went and saw the monuments, and ate food.  Then we went to Mount Vernon, and ate food.  Then we went on a walking tour, and ate a lot of dessert.

George Washington had an amazing view from his house.

There were a lot of festivities happening at Mount Vernon for President's Day.

Old Town Alexandria.

When Stephanie and Melanie had to get back to their lives, I had the opportunity to head over to George Washington University where I'd rehearsed 3 years ago.  Quite coincidentally, 2 of the actors I worked with that summer were also in town.  One lives in NYC now, and the other in Chicago.  All three of us stopped by the school to visit with our old friends.  

Isn't this life wonderful?  There is something just so great about having friends all over the country.

We then went on a tour of Georgetown.  That is a cute part of town.  We walked around on campus and snuck in to this library.  Nobody stopped us or seemed to care.  Actually...nobody was really around.  Still, cool library right?

We bought so many treats while on our walking tour.  The cupcake craze started in DC, so obviously we had to partake.

I'd been here before (lived here actually), but hadn't gotten a picture of the "Welcome To" sign.  With this picture, I officially have 41 out of the 50.  I'm getting there!

I just love these girls.  We had a great time, but we also talked about our lives.  I am so lucky to have friends that understand who I am and what I want, and are able to give me advice based on that information.

I can't wait until they come up to New York again.  Tag, you're it!

New York Day. On a Tuesday.

Yesterday I had a meeting in Union Square, down on 15th street.  When I walked out of the meeting I thought, "it's a crisp clear day so perhaps I'll go for a walk."  As I started walking, I stepped in to a bakery and bought a cookie (obviously).

Side note - Last week I bought and ate the most disappointing chocolate chip cookie ever.  I'm not kidding.  I put it in my bag and when I pulled it out it was broken.  So anyway, the one I got yesterday was way better.

About 20 blocks later I grabbed a slice of pizza.  And kept walking.

The sun was shining. It was really quite lovely.

Check out all these flags. I don't know if they are here all the time or if it's because of the Olympics. I'm never really on 5th Avenue, so what do I know?

A little project I'm doing with Robbie, Audrey, and Casper led me to Rockefeller Center.

And, as you may recall from my 30 Years of Wisdom post, I'm trying to take better advantage of the city.

So I went skating!!

I thought it would be pretty fun.  I was wrong. 

It was SO MUCH FUN.  They had music playing, the ice was pretty smooth, and it wasn't crowded.  

I did have to go back once and trade my skates in for a bigger size.  Once I did that, I felt like I could skate for hours.

It was actually affordable as well.  It is usually $27 to skate and $12 to rent skates.  BUT, for $40 you get the package of skating, skates, and entrance to the Top of the Rock (top of Rockefeller Center, normally $27). So obviously I did that.  Once my session was over I walked through the empty hallways where there are lines throughout the rest of the year and rode to the top.

I got there around 4:30, and the sun was supposed to set at 5:30.  So I stuck around for a while.  It also wasn't very crowded (until the sunset), but boy it was cold up there.

The only down side to this spur of the moment day was that I wasn't really prepared.  I didn't have my camera or my Zagg Sparq.  So I just took pictures with my phone until it died. 

I then walked up to 59th street and went home. 

It was a lovely New York Day.

Super Bowl Boulevard

Some time in November I had a friend post on Facebook about the opportunity to work for the Super Bowl at the end of January.  I was already lined up to work the Macy's Parade for the second time, and I just figure that most of these opportunities won't come knocking again.  So...count me in!

New York and New Jersey co-hosted the Super Bowl this year.  The game itself was in Jersey, but most of the festivities were in New York.  They shut down 34th-47th street and turned it into a huge NFL carnival.  There just isn't a way for me to express to you how many people there were.  I was just happy I was behind the police barricades because of the massive crowds.  Nuts.

The first day was SO COLD.  This is a picture of me on training day.  It was fun how everywhere you looked it was NFL themed.

This was the main attraction.  A huge slide in the middle of Times Square.  It was $5 (all proceeds to planting trees in the city) and probably 5 seconds long, but people were waiting in line for hours and it actually sold out.  I didn't get to ride it, but I hear that the night shift did.  Whatever.

We had to wear these hideous "green" vests so that we stood out.  I guess it's better than having hideous coats though, because we got to keep our coats.

Along with our coats, we also got scarves, a shirt, ear muffs, gloves, and unlimited hot chocolate. The hot chocolate was the best.

For a few days I was stationed at the Roman Numerals, which also had a concert stage.  The cast of Rock of Ages came to perform a selection of songs.  Unfortunately Blogger won't let me upload it.  Annoying.  

The majority of the four days I worked on the Boulevard, I was distributing the Boulevard Badges and helping people register on a tablet (Windows Surface. In case you were curious.)  Basically I was inputing names, birthdays, home town, and favorite team.  

Of the hundreds of people I interviewed here are some stats:

• I'd estimate that 90% told me their favorite team was the Giants.
• Occasionally someone would tell me their favorite was the Jets.
• There were more Seahawks fans than Broncos Fans.
• 1 person said the Cleveland Browns.
• One woman asked me if I was from England because of my accent.  Either there actually is such thing as a Utah accent, or my face was too frozen and I was having a hard time speaking.  I'm pretty sure it was from the cold.
• I met 1 person from Utah. He was an older man from Lehi.
• I found people with the same birthday as Dad, Katie, and AJ, but no Amanda.
• 2 people had my birthday. We high fived and said we were the luckiest.
• I was literally the ONLY person the entire week that said "in line."  Everybody else would say "on line." As in, "just get on this line right here." Or, "Do we have to wait on line for those?"  It's definitely an East Coast thing.  I accidentally said on line once, but the rest of the time I embraced my weirdness.  What do you say?  "Stand in line." Or "stand on line."

I'm happy that I did it.  It was a once in a lifetime opportunity.  As happens with most of these gigs, I met a lot of fun people and had cool conversations.  I didn't win any Super Bowl tickets, but I guess that's for the best since it was the most boring game I've ever watched.