Check Out This Biker Babe

Heathe's new cruiser arrived today. I put it together while she was still at work (I was what they call "working from home" today) so she could take it for a test ride as soon as she got home. She looks perfect riding it...like that bike was made for her!

A few more pics...

Welcome to Amish Paradise

Jed and I traveled to a wonderful land called...Lancaster Pennsylvania! We had a RIOT in a city where riots are unheard of. For those of you who don't know, Lancaster is the Amish Country. Very VERY different than our lives in NYC.
Some of my highlights:
1. Dairy Queen Blizzards (there are no DQ's in the city)
2. Horse and Buggy's AS A MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION for crying out loud!!!
3. The Hershey chocolate tour
4. all you can eat breakfast...SO good!
5. Kitchen Kettle Village. I bought 2 low-sugar homemade jams (I'm a jam snob...it HAS to be homemade)
6. Free goody bag from the dirtiest hotel we have ever seen.
7. Finding Eastman Avenue in the first 10 minutes of our trip
8. All of the Amish kids waving to us as we passed
9. Getting harassed by a local (a man offered to take pictures for us, then offered to drive us to our hotel, then asked if he could join us for dinner...at that point, we removed ourselves from the situation. Overly nice. Weird nice. Maybe just Lancaster nice???)
10. Spending a very nice weekend with my husband, in a city that reminded me of Utah. Sans the horse and buggy. Although, people seem to think that my hometown is equivalent to the Amish. :)

Click here to see all the pics from our trip.

Hey Hey Mr CPA

Just got my last CPA exam score. 79. Passed by a mere 4 points...good enough for me.

At this moment, there are a few people I'd like to thank:

First and foremost, the academy.
Long Spring Garden, couldn't have done it without your General Tsao's chicken.
Entenmann's, your tasty treats made it all a little more bearable.
Brigham Young University for the second-to-none education that prepared me for this moment.
My parents for the intellect to match the challenges of the dreaded AICPA.
Most of all my lovely wife for her unprecedented skills in flash card quizzing, for her patience through all the lonely nights and boring weekends, and for telling me I passed every time I told her I failed. For all her hard work and perseverance, she can now say with pride that she is married to one of the most boring professions on the planet...ah, the sweet taste of victory.

All I Know to Do is Run

Well, it's not official yet, but it's definitely getting there...I think I'm becoming a runner. I participated in my first official race in New York City last night. It was the annual American Heart Association's Wall Street Walk/Run 5K. We ran through the streets of Manhattan's financial district (which fortunately were closed for the race) and I have to say, it was a lot more fun that running through the streets of Provo for the annual Rex Lee Run (my only other competitive race to date). In fact, I'm not sure they even had to close the streets for that one.
Anyway, the race was really cool. It had been raining all day, but the rain stopped a few minutes before race time and made for some really cool temps during the race. Running through the streets of what I like to call "historic" New York City was amazing, and doing it with thousands of other runners was pretty cool. But I think my favorite moment was turning the corner to enter the Battery Park promenade and running along the Hudson to the finish line. Never thought I'd say this, but I think I actually experienced my first runner's high.
All told, by my calculations I ran the race in a little under 24 minutes, giving me about an 8 min/mile pace. Definitely not a break-neck speed, but at this point I'll take it.
The next step is the New York Road Runners Anniversary 5 miler on June 5th. I'm also entered in the lottery for the ING New York City Marathon and am waiting to hear whether or not I'm in. In the meantime, the marathon training is going as well as can be expected of something so sadistic as training for a marathon, but it should get a little more enjoyable now that we've ordered a new cruiser for Heathe so she can bike along side me on my long Saturday morning runs.

Sometimes NYC chews you up...

Then spits you out!
Today is one of those days for me.
I had a verbal altercation with the tie man (yes, the man who sells ties on the side of the road) when he accused me of stealing two ties.
And so the story goes...
I am on my cell phone with nothing else but my wallet (this will be a key piece of my story) and I choose two ties ($5 each...ten bucks) I give him a twenty and he didn't have change so he went across the street to see if one of his "co-workers" (his words, not mine) had change for a twenty. (By the way, the co-workers he is referring to would be the sunglasses, jewelry, and fake purse guys across the street...I am still standing in plain sight) He comes back, gives me $10 and I stand there waiting for the ties. He said "I gave them to you" I clearly did not have anything in my hand but my cell phone. I said "No sir, you didn't" he proceeded to FREAK OUT and accused me of taking the ties and passing them along to a waiting accomplice.
Now, I may be a new New Yorker, but I am not that new (yes, this was most likely his scam of the day...or so he thought)
After a screaming match, he said I could "go and call the cops" I said in my VERY new york tone "absolutely I will, but I refuse to leave here without $10 and two ties" (thinking to myself, would the cops REALLY side with a man selling ties on the side of the road???) he said "sorry, your not getting them" I said, "well then, you call the cops" I took two ties off the table and walked away.
Did I get the ties I wanted? No...the justice? Yes.

A Day in the "Office"

So, after a day at the office (which I may add was a gloomy, rainy, dreary day...the type of day where you want to get into pajamas and eat soup and watch movies) I'm heading to the subway. I round the corner and see a few people crowded around a hotel entrance. Of course, I automatically think, "who's the celebrity" and sure enough...I saw the WHOLE cast of The Office walk out of the hotel to their awaiting cars. Jim (with a beard), Dwight, Stanley, Tobey, Kevin, Phyllis, Oscar, Kelly, Ryan, Meredith, Darrel, Andy and the weird one whose name I can't think of...he's always stealing things. Pam, Michael Scott, and Angela were MIA.
To ice the cake...I was also standing RIGHT next to a guy that I thought looked awfully familiar. Laura Dern then came out of the hotel and met up with her husband, Ben Harper, who I was standing right next to.
Ah, the silver lining on the very cloudy day!

Shout out to Sher

Being that it is Mother's Day weekend, I thought I would say thanks to my mom for being such a great mom! We have some great memories...some of which I would like to share:
1. Visiting Jared in San Fran and you being so scared to drive down the hills.
2. That day when the sun was SO BRIGHT!!! (Man, it really was so bright that day :)
3. All your help for making my wedding day as perfect as it was.
4. When dad was working in Hawaii, Britt and Jared were off to college, it was me, you and Hill...the THREEEEEEEEEEEEE Amigos. (I think we ate Shepard's Pie 4 times a week)
5. Having our first drink on the plane together (I said Cran-Apple juice...the stewardess interpreted that to "CROWN" apple juice...which is a whiskey. It took one sip to realize we got the wrong drink! Needless to say my mom couldn't drive us home from the airport. haha JUST KIDDING MOM!)
6. Going to Good Things Utah...where the good things are! (see picture to the right)
7. Your love for "favorites" on the computer.
8. Not understanding that there is an option to print one page instead of 60 pages that you aren't going to read.
9. Your daily e-mails...makes me so happy to hear from you!
10. Asking me one year "do you want a sewing machine for Christmas" My response, "No thanks"...waking up Christmas morning with a sewing machine. (side note, I now LOVE having a sewing machine.)
11. Being a great friend!
I love you mom. Thanks for your example...you are one of a kind!

Save the TaTa's

This past weekend was quite an active weekend. I have been talking about this Revlon 5K for a while now...talk no more, I participated on Saturday. It was an INCREDIBLE experience. I know it's only 3 miles, but the whole experience was just amazing. My day started out at 7. The race started in Times Square (42nd st) and ended on 105th in Central Park.
There were SOOOO many participants. I could guess that there were over 50,000 people...give or take a few, and all walking/running for a cause. There were so many people that had shirts with names of loved ones, reasons for running, or team logos...one of the best? "Pissed off woman kicking cancer's ass" nuff said. (thanks Kristy for finding such treasures)
This was such a fun experience. I can't wait for the next race! It was really nice to be doing something active with friends from the ward, and to see my #1 fan at the finish line...thanks Jed.