October. It's already over? ...Whoopsie.

And soon November will be over as well. Whaaaaaat?! Where has the time gone? So, I've got about 50 million pictures to show you all. Most of these pictures are from October and are long overdue, but better late than never. Hold on to your hats, folks... here we go!

Nate came into town from Utah for a  visit and we got to do quite a few fun things while he was here. Here we are with Nikki, a friend from BYU, after she performed in Bring It On the Musical! It was a really fun show... If you are a teeny bopper at heart (like me), you would totes love it. The lead in the show, also Nikki's roomie, is in the picture as well and Liliya, another friend from Utah, is on the far right.

Nikki gave us a backstage tour after the show! It was really fun to see what behind-the-scenes Broadway is all about... not too different from non-Broadway behind-the-scenes, but still. :) Nikki was great in the show. It was so fun to see one of my friends on a Broadway stage!

Liliya was only in town for a day, so we made the most of it! The 3 musketeers ventured out in the pouring rain cuz nothin' was gonna stop us from crossin' that Brooklyn Bridge!

Just waitin' fer the subway... enjoying the dry ground!

Liliya took Nate and I out to Brighton Beach where Little Russia is! It was awesome. Liliya is originally from Ukraine, so she gave us a little rundown on what her country is all about.

Lunch at Grimaldi's in Brooklyn! Yummy yum yummers!

Liliya showed us all the cool things in Little Russia... including this store with anything and everything Russian! It was so fun to watch her browse around... she was in heaven. :)

And then she took us to a food market where I found this. Do you know what that is??? Cow tongue, ladies and gentleman.  Woof.

And since we're on the topic of other countries and weirdee foods, here are a few pics from China town in Brooklyn. My BYU friend Kevin was in town for a few days, so Nate, Nicole and I joined him on a little adventure where we saw lots of Chinese people...

Did some window shopping...

And ate some yummy soup! 

Nate and I went to the 9/11 memorial one afternoon. It was a beautiful exhibit and so surreal to be there. 

A group of us walked the Highline one afternoon. Marty, Nate, Brendan, Jeff and Nicole.

This is us watching Troll 2. Please tell me you have seen it. But on second thought, you're better off if you haven't. Best worst Halloween movie of all time. Like fur rillsies. Ryan, Nicole, Abby, Jeff, Stephan, Rachel, Brendan and Carolyn.

Meet Nick. This is us taking a stroll through Central Park one afternoon. It's fun spending time with Nick cuz people always stop and ask if he's Tom Cruise or Christian Bale. He gets both on a regular basis.

This was after our Highline walk. Some other friendsies joined us for lunch at Max Brenner. DELISH! Brendan, Nate, Marty, Carolyn, Kevin, Jeff, Nicole and Abby.

Brendan and I went on a sushi adventure togeths! Have you ever tried to bite a piece of sushi in half instead of just putting the whole thing in your mouth? Epic fail. But very entertaining!

Mmmmm... look at them fishies! 

Nate and I saw our friends Becca and Autumn one night! Becca and I went to BYU together. She's a rockstar. We ate thai food (my fave) and good times were had by all.

Here is a group of us NYC kids just chillin' at a party. Steve, Kristy, Ryan, Abby and Nick!

Nothin' like a little late night Indian food. Ryan, Abby and Darold!

Here's Ryan, a fellow Las Vegas native, and I.  Just enjoyin' some Chipotle! A little taste of somethin' from home is always nice. Meaning the burrito... not the boy.

Here's Stephan just chillin' before we watched Bernie. Ever seen that movie? So interesting. But you get to see Jack Black do a rendition of '76 Trombones' from The Music Man that is just to die for! Right, Shelly? :)

It ain't Fall without some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies! Here's Vanna White-- I mean, Abby! 

And here we have the old me. The me before I joined the gym and vowed to never eat sweets past 10 pm again. 

But can you blame me? Pretzels with nutella and cookie butter (It's a Trader Joe's thing) is the next best thing next to mac & cheese.

The view from my roof in Harlem! 

I've had a couple little opportunities to perform here in the city over the past couple months. Nikki, the one in Bring It On, asked Shayla (another BYU friend) and I to be her backup singers in a little concert that she did. We rocked 'I Need a Hero' from Footloose. It was a fun experience and Laura Osnes, my Broadway idol, was in the audience! Big deal right here.

And here I am singin' in a little cabaret show a while ago. Funny story: when I threw my heels in my bag to go to the show, I accidentally put only one heel in and didn't realize it 'till I got to the theater! Luckily, my homegirl Nicole had me covered. She let me wear her bootsies. Lifesaver! 

And lastly, just a couple Harlem gems for you:

So, I asked our super named Perry to come over and fix our cabinet because the front of it completely fell off the other day. And... this is how he fixed it. 

Upside down. Really?! ... whatevs. That's how we do in Hawlum.

And this little vid was taken a few weeks ago on my way home from an audition. It was just too good not to share...

Favorite parts of the vid: 

1) It takes me 30 minutes to get the camera in focus

2) Homeboy is jammin' away and then BAM! He looks straight at me. Awksies...

3) The other people on the subway are obviously very enthralled with his performance.

I love what I get to see and experience every day here. Never a dull moment in the city... never. Well... and with that... I bid you farewell. Peace and Blessings!!!

I survived a hurricane!

So... some of you may have heard that there was a hurricane up in hurrr. Hurricane Sandy, to be exact.   Totes cray cray. My roomies and I were extremely lucky and only lost water for several hours, then had only cold water for a day and then no heat for a week. But we had power the whole time, which was such a blessing! I was stranded in times square one evening after work and had to start the trek home on foot and luckily found an available taxi after I was about halfway there, which was about 50 blocks. That's what happens when the subways and buses are shut down! But again, I have no reason to complain at all... So many people have had it SO much worse. 

Because we were stuck inside for a few days in a row with nowhere to go, we experienced a little bit of cabin fever. Here is a little video that illustrates this... :) Have you ever made someone put their arms AND legs inside the arms of a sweatshirt? Well, meet Carolyn. This is what she did to provide us with entertainment for the evening. Oh - and many thanks to Ryan for accompanying her on the piano...

Jeff attempted the same thing with Brendan's assistance, but it just wasn't the same with a short sleeve shirt... Good effort though, Jeff, good effort.

 

We also played the get-the-cookie-from-your-forehead-to-your-mouth-without-using-your-hands-game. Good times were had by all. Here's Ryan and Carolyn, neck and neck.

And here's Brendan using the lip technique and Jeff on the right using the "Part of Your World" technique...



















But really, I was the champeen. I even overcame my little eyelash trouble halfway though. ;) But Abby was tough competition... she gave it her all. Here's a video for some proof...

Have you ever played Quelf? We played it all together one night and this is Carolyn and I with our paper cobra snakes that we had to make in just 30 seconds or so. Everyone liked Carolyn's better... whaaaaaaat?!? I thought mine was killer. Not literally.

  

Look at these beauties. Best part of the hurricane stay-cation? Not having to get ready for the day. Carolyn, Kristy and I had a good time just staying warm, rationing our water and watching Zac Efron movies. What a dreamboat. 

Carolyn, Jeff, Nicole, Ryan, Kristy and Abby playing Quelf. Just one big happy family.

Evidence that we'd been cooped up for awhile. We made enchiladas, cookies and there is a roast cookin' in that there crockpot. We didn't go hungry, that's for sure.

I went for a run as soon as the storm had stopped and this is what the street looked like. There wasn't too much damage in Harlem... only a few trees that had been split and lots of debris lying around.

Here is one of the casualties... right across the street from my church building!

Another view of the post-storm skies. There was just a quiet, solemn feeling in the air.

I can't believe all the damage that was done in other parts of New York and New Jersey. It has been cool to see how my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has pitched in and offered its help wherever necessary. I have been out of town for the last 2 Sundays, but I know that they have cancelled church services and sent out members of my stake on buses to go help with the cleanup. Here is a little vid that tells more about that sitch:

http://vimeo.com/53357089

I love my church and I love the Gospel! The church is true, yo.

Stay tuned for many more posts! I got lots to catch up on!