April Showers?

I'm at work staring out the window and I realize that it has started to rain. I'm sad because that means that I will be eating lunch from the cafeteria instead of from The Food Exchange. But as I keep staring, I realize that it isn't rain that is coming down...it's snow! And if there is one thing that I do not like, that's snow (unless I'm snowboarding). We haven't had too much snow in NY this year - maybe a couple of inches once or twice, so I guess I shouldn't really complain. And granted, I do sit on the 29th floor and down on the streets below it is probably only raining. But still...snow?!?! I'm pretty sure that whoever came up with the saying "April showers bring May flowers" was not thinking "snow" showers. And although technically it's not April yet...one more day...it's supposed to be Spring! Apparently New York did not get the memo.

Explanation of Why I Moved to NY

In 1955, Frank Sinatra starred in a movie called The Tender Trap. I had never heard about this movie until yesterday as I was looking through the free movies on demand. If you like old movies then you should watch it. It's pretty good. But the reason for this post is not to let people know about this movie, but it's to share with you all a quote from it about why women move to NY. So for any of you who have asked yourself (or asked me) why I would move to NY - so far away from family and friends...here is my reply:

We come to this town from Springfield, and Des Moines, and Fort Worth, and Salt Lake City. We're young, we're pretty and we're talented. All we have to do to get married is stay home. But the boys back home don't have what we want. We've got our eyes on something else: a career, glamor, excitement..and this is the place to find it. So we come to New York and we do pretty well...

So there you have it...the reason why we women (including myself) come to NY.

Tag You're It!

So the real reason behind this is that I went on Shannon's blog today (instead of doing all the work that is piling up on my desk) and she had been tagged. But instead of tagging 5 other like you're supposed to she left it open to whoever read her blog. And I'm sitting at PwC in a bad mood not wanting to work so I figured I would be one of Shannon's tagged people. There you have it - I tagged myself with this little "tell us about your life" activity. At least it will keep me occupied with something other than work for a while.

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?
10 years ago I was 14. So I was in the 8th grade. I actually loved 8th grade. I was starting to really get into dancing. I was living at home in Bountiful with my parents and 2 older sisters - the other 3 siblings were all married by then.

2. 5 things on my To Do list today?
I'm going to sound like the biggest nerd right now. Sorry if you don't understand any of the things that I have to do...I barely understand some of them. (1) Sec. 1256 analysis of the securities held by my client at year end; (2) Fix the partnership allocations for 6 funds with the new numbers we are getting from the auditors sometime today...darn auditors...But it's not like it's March 20 and we need to have all these returns done by the 30th... (3) Make sure all the partner information for the tax return is correct in our system for those 6 funds; (4) Drop off Jamie's sewing machine at the church for my ward's big Relief Society birthday celebration dinner (which I can't actually go to since after I drop off the sewing machine I have to come back to work - yes that's right - I have to leave the confines of my building to travel the 20 minutes to my home, walk up all 5 flights of stairs, get Jamie's sewing machine, walk down the 5 flights of stairs, walk the 7 blocks to the church carrying the dang thing, and then get back on the subway for another 20 minute commute, and work until after midnight...again); (5) Do a wash sales analysis on the 15,000+ securities purchased/sold by one of my clients.
Like I said - I sound like a nerd. A very busy one...and making that list makes me really wonder why I'm spending time right now blogging instead of attacking it. But at the same time that list scares me so much that I don't want to start working on it. Luckily these things do not need to be finished today or else I would be in big trouble.

3. What snacks I enjoy...
I really enjoy the treats that Joel has in his cat cookie jar on his desk (I love Sebastian) - this usually consist of chocolate which helps me get through my long days. What would this world be without chocolate??

4. What would I do if I were to suddenly become a billionaire?
The first thing that I would do (after writing that nice big tithing check) is quit! I would never work again. I would buy my own apartment on Park Avenue and fill it with furniture from Ikea and Pier One (I know I have a billion dollars, but why waste it on furniture? Plus they have cute stuff there). I would buy my mom and sisters designer handbags (and of course I'd have to buy one for myself as well) and I would find something to buy my dad and brothers - girls are so much easier to shop for!! Of course the accountant in me would put a nice chunk of it into a high yield savings bond or something to that effect - well more like I'd hire someone to earn me lots of money with it somehow. Maybe I'd even invest in a hedge fund - I see how much money these investors are making and I'm astonished!!! I'd probably donate some to my Alma Mater - GO COUGS! - and some other charities (gotta do my part in society). I would also go on a shopping spree and get a whole new wardrobe (again - gotta do my part in society...stimulating the economy and all). Ummm...I sound pretty selfish and material... but I guess it's just a dream that will never come true for me (unless there is some billionaire out there just waiting to marry me) so it's ok... Being in NY is showing me that there is a lot I could with a billion dollars. I don't think it would take too much effort for me to spend it all. Hahaha!

5. 3 Bad Habits
I would like to say that I don't have any bad habits, but I can't. Three of my bad habits are: (1) not making my bed, (2) not hanging up my clothes or putting away my shoes, and (3) cracking my knuckles.

6. 5 Places I've Lived
I haven't lived in 5 different cities...only 3. So here they are: (1) Bountiful, UT (2) Provo, UT and (3) NYC, NY.

7. 5 Jobs I've Had
(1) During high school I worked for Dr. Sam Wilson as a filer - that's right. My job was to put away the patient files and to put labs, etc. into the patient files. (2) Tutor - my favorite job ever. I would go over to the Ricks' house and help Cam, Lauren, Nate, and Meg with their homework. I love the Ricks family and miss them terribly!! I think we did more playing than actual homework...but they all passed their classes. (3) Assistant medical biller for Dr. Sam Wilson. (4) Receptionist for my brother - Dr. Scott Erickson. (5) Tax accountant at PwC - no comment.

8. 5 Things People Don't Know About Me
I am struggling to come up with 5 things that people don't know about me. And the things that most people don't know about me...well there is a reason for that (wink wink). But I'll try to come up with 5... (1) I almost died as a baby from a rare disease called the Kawasaki Disease. If you don't believe that it's a real disease here's a link: http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/medical/heart/kawasaki.html. They have a cure for it now, but when I had it they didn't. Because it is so rare, my doctor wanted to do lots of tests on me and document it in the medical journals, but thankfully Mom said no...it would have been a lot for a little baby to handle. (2) I sang a solo in my high school choir as we watched the Olympic torch run by. (3) I jumped off a 20 foot cliff into an icy river in the Swiss Alps. (3) I don't like dogs - sorry Jordan - but the more I live here in NY where dogs are EVERYWHERE the more I hate the little devils. They leave there messes everywhere and I can't go a block without seeing a puddle of nastiness. (4) I wanted to be a doctor for the longest time. My family even joked that I could be the famous singing doctor. Haha! (5) None of the girls in my family (excluding Mom) have middle names. So when Kelli, Kacee, and I were little we all made up middle names and mine was Lee. I made people call me Kristy Lee and even tried to get everyone at school to just call me Lee. It didn't work out though...but my family still calls me Kristy Lee every now and then.

Even though I wasn't technically tagged...I'm going to tag 5 people: Whitney, Tiffany, Jo, Katie, and Elizabeth. But if you were not tagged and you wish to be...I tag you too. And it's an official tag - you don't even have to feel lame that you tagged yourself. How about I tag everyone that reads this blog :)

St. Patrick's Day

Hey! Just wanted to share some pictures from the fabulous St. Patty's Day party at the Curran and Freeman residence. So much fun!!

Me and Carlee

Scott, Me, Sara, and Candice
The Irish Flag - We're so patriotic!!
Me, Emily, and GregKristen, Me, Sara, and Laurie

Me and Jo

Sara and Me

Had to throw this one in of Abby because she's so darn cute!!!

The Long and Short of It

This week was one of the longest weeks but at the same time it went by so fast!!! How is that possible?? It might be because I had a horrible day on Wednesday and I was wishing the week would just end. But at the same time I was so busy at work that the days just flew by.

If I were to go into all the gory details of why my day was so bad on Wednesday you would all fall asleep because it entails a whole lot of tax talk (lame!!!). So I'm going to sum it up by saying that I have never felt more like quiting than I did that day. But I was pretty sure that I wouldn't need to quit since I figured they would fire me before I could put in my two weeks. Basically, I messed up all this client information, and when I would fix one of my errors, another one would be revealed. I didn't know what to do or how to do it - and unfortunately, the jury is still out as to whether I ended up doing it correctly in the end. I'm pretty sure my seniors (bosses) wanted to strangle me because of my immense stupidity. And the worst part was that after I finished screwing up everything, I stopped getting work even though it's the middle of busy season and NO ONE is slow right now.

So I was sitting there thinking that my seniors didn't trust me to do any more work since I would just mess that up as well. Then a friend that I work with (who, in his defense, didn't know what a bad day I was having) basically told me that I had messed things up pretty badly. I'm pretty sure he was kidding around with me, since that's how we are with each other, but it still made me feel pretty crappy. Never before have I felt more incompetent or frustrated with myself as I did on Wednesday. I just wanted to go home and cry, but I knew I couldn't leave because there was too much work to be done in fixing all my mistakes.

Let me finish up my story by saying thank goodness for the Scriptures. Even though it was almost midnight when I arrived at home after work, I knew that I could not go to bed with those negative feelings. I picked up my Book of Mormon and continued where I was reading in Mosiah 1. Isn't it amazing how the Lord knows what you need to read/hear at certain times in your life? Wednesday night was one of those times. King Benjamin's speech was just what I needed to hear after my hard day. As I read his words I felt the Spirit rush over me and I can honestly join with the people of Mosiah when they declared that they had experienced a change of heart. Because of the words which King Benjamin spoke, I have faced the past couple of days with a new perspective and it has made all the difference. Although work was still busy, and I made a few more mistakes, Thursday and today were pretty good. But I am still glad that this week is almost over. I'm ready for a fresh start and a new week.

Lots on My Mind

OK - this might be a very random and long post. So bare with me I've got a lot on my mind.

1. American Idol's Top 12
All I have to say is thank goodness Danny is off!! For once I think that America got the top 12 100% correct. That being said...I would like to share a little known fact that I have learned recently about one of my top 3 boys: Jason Castro. A few years back Jason dated a girl named Cheyenne who had her own MTV reality TV show. Luckily my roommate owns the first and only season of Cheyenne so I got to experience the joy of seeing Jason on this season. He was just as cute then and still as awkward. That's what makes him so lovable. If ever you want to watch a great television show I would recommend getting your hands on a copy of Cheyenne. Ha ha!

I would also like to give a shout out to my favorite American Idol: David Archuleta. He is such a cutie and has a special place in my heart. I hope he does really well in the competition. I will continue to vote for him each week along with Jason (second favorite) and David Cook (my number 3). Sorry girls, but I have been working late each Wednesday so I haven't been able to give you any votes. But keep up the good work. Sorry to say, but the girls have to step it up to make it in my book.

2. New favorite movie
Last night, I went and saw Penelope with my friend Joanna. It's such a great movie and I think that everyone should go and see it. It's just a feel good movie and totally clean! And James McAvoy is very good looking. If you haven't heard of Penelope, it's about a girl who is born with a pig face. She just needs to be accepted by one of her kind to get rid of the curse so her mom hires a matchmaker to find a pure-blood, high society guy to marry Penelope. Unfortunately they all run when they see her face - except one... So if you are in the mood to watch a movie that will make you both laugh and cry and where you feel really good afterward you should really go see Penelope.

3. Is it April 15 yet?
Work is getting pretty crazy now that we're getting closer to the tax deadline. Luckily this busy season hasn't been as bad as expected, but I'm still putting in plenty of long hours. It used to be easy for me to be going all day and night, but these past couple of days of working until midnight have been really difficult. I think I'm getting too old to stay up that late. This week has been pretty rough for me at work. So what am I doing on my Saturday night after working all day? Sitting at home with my computer writing on my blog while watching Juno (thanks to bootleg copies sold on the streets of NY). Sometimes I love the feeling of being at home alone and totally vegging out. I love to go out and have fun with my roommates and friends, but a "me" night was definitely needed after such a long week. I'm definitely ready for busy season to be over. Just a little over one month left! I can do it! And then Mikey and Grandma Page will be out to NY to visit and then my parents! I can't wait until April 16. That's when the party will begin. I just pray the next month goes by quickly.

4. Music, music, and more music
All day as I sit at my computer at work I listen to music. Thus, I am getting pretty sick of my music selection. So tonight as I have been sitting here blogging, I decided to go onto iTunes and see what was new in the music world. Umm...let's just say I should be banned from anything where all I have to do to get something is click a little button. It wasn't too long before it dawned on me that I had purchased a lot of music. As I looked at my purchase list I discovered just how much music I had downloaded - almost 60 songs!! Ahhh! But as my roommate pointed out to me, it's an investment which will make the remainder of busy season bearable. So I guess I shouldn't feel too guilty. But as I'm doing a lot of publicity tonight for my favorite things I might as well give some free publicity for my current favorites in the music industry:
*Missy Higgins, Secondhand Serenade, Jon McLaughlin, Joshua Radin, Matt Nathanson, Colbie Caillat, Holly Brook, Lifehouse, and of course Snow Patrol.
If you can't tell I'm kind of in a chill-out music phase right now. It's all music that is a good background for work and relaxing. So if you are at all interested in alternative music give these people a try. I hope you all enjoy them as much as I do.

5. Vegan is not for me
So a few weeks ago I decided to try to be a vegan. It didn't work so well. I don't know if I even made it one day without eating dairy. That is something that is way too hard to live without. Dairy and eggs are in everything. And when I eat out for lunch and dinner every day it makes my selection very limited. Plus, when I'm working late I have to eat chocolate to keep me sane. So that goal went out the window pretty quickly. But I have kept with a vegetarian diet. I have not had any meat since I wrote about my new way of life. And I have to say that I have been pretty proud of myself. And thank goodness there are a lot of New Yorkers who are vegetarian/vegan so that there are plenty of meat alternatives. Last night, Joanna and I went to a vegan tea house, Franchia, and had some amazing "chicken" satay. It tasted just like chicken - but it wasn't! So while I was not successful with my vegan way of life, my vegetarian way of life is going strong. And if ever you are in NY (hopefully visiting me) you need to try out Franchia and the many other vegan restaurants.

6.One day closer to the release of the Twilight movie!!!
My sister Kelli sent me a link to a trailer for the Twilight movie and I have to share it with you all. Let's just say it made me really excited for December. I don't know what it is about those books, but even the thought of them makes me all giddy inside. I can't imagine what the movie will do to me. But I think that you should all check it out. I wish I could find me an Edward Cullin. But unfortunately I don't think there are too many "vegetarian" vampires out there. Ha ha! But here's to hoping!


Well...I have a lot more on my mind, but I think I'll leave it for now.

New York Forever!

You Belong in New York City

You're the energetic, ambitious type. And only NYC is fast enough for you. Maybe you'll set yourself up with a killer career Or simply take in all the city has to offer.

What City Do You Belong In?

Thanks Kac for posting this on your blog! I have to admit I was a little scared that it would say I belonged somewhere other than New York. Then I would have had to move to London or something! Hahaha! But now it's official - I'm here to stay.