US Open

Last night I went to the US Open with my friend Sara. It was the second day of the tournament, and I expected to see a couple of no-name players. Not the case at all!!! The first game was between Samantha Stosur and Venus Williams! But it only gets better. The second game was between Maximo Gonzalez and Roger Federer!!! Can you believe it?!? I got to see both one of the Williams sisters and Federer play at the US Open! It was my lucky day! Here are a couple of pictures for your enjoyment!

The US Open at dusk - it was the perfect night for tennis

Sam Stosur (left) vs. Venus Williams (right)

Sara and me listening to our free US Open radio commentary and eating one great cookie - we stimulated the economy last night

Maximo Gonzalez (right) vs. Roger Federer (left)

First the Worst, Second the Same, Last the Best of ALL the Game

Remember when you were in elementary school racing your friends to get in line for the slide and, being last again, you taunt them with that little rhyme? Well, never in my life have I desired those words to be truer than I do today...

Waking up this morning I feel the pressure weighing me down. I say to myself "by 12:00 this will all be over." If only I could get that stupid voice out of my head saying..."well, maybe." I get up, get dressed, eat some cereal (thanks again Kimmy for letting me use your milk) and get back in bed for a few last minutes of preparation. Something tells me that I should check the address just one more time. Oh my goodness!!! You have to be kidding me!!! I have to be at Penn Station and NOT 42nd and 3rd? What am I still doing in bed?!?! I need to leave, NOW! This is not how I would have liked to start the day. But I say a quick prayer as I run down the stairs thanking Heavenly Father for that warning. I don't know what I would have done had I gone to the wrong place.

45 minutes later I step off the subway and head to 1 Penn Plaza. I give the girl at the front desk my driver's license and credit card. Well, I've passed the first requirement - I am who I say I am. She asks how I'm doing...I say that I'm doing pretty good while in the back of my mind I think "how do you think I'm doing...do you know what I'm about to do?" But I smile as she shows me to my tiny cubicle (30 minutes earlier than expected!!). I sit down and with one deep breath I click "OK" on the computer...

2 hours later I finish just as I had began...with a deep breath and one final click of "OK". As I click on that button for the final time it hits me...this could possibly be the last time ever that I have to go through this!! That weight that I was feeling so strongly this morning is immediately lifted. I can forget all about this ordeal for at least a month...

Now here is the part where I explain how these two completely different experiences tie together. This morning I took my final section of the CPA exam (assuming that I actually passed it and the previous section). And if that little taunt I used to say to my friends ahead of me in line is true...today was the last exam that I will have to take EVER AGAIN!! Here's to hoping, right?

ps - Thanks to all my friends for their support and for understanding why I was shutting myself in my room instead of having fun on the weekends. Hopefully all that anti-social behavior was well worth it!

Tag-Team Back Again

Before I begin my actual post...here are the promised picture of my new haircut. Enjoy!


The other day I was taking a shower thinking..."man it's been a while since a new tag for blogs has come my way. Low and behold...a few days later Camille informs me that she has tagged me.

Here are the rules:
1. You link back to the person who tagged you
2. Post these rules on your blog
3. Share six unimportant things about yourself
4. Tag six random people at the end of your entry
5. Let the tagged people know by leaving a comment on their blogs
6. Enjoy the results!

ONE: I love music. My favorite is to find stuff that no one has heard of really because then I know that it won't get overplayed like so many songs do. And I like to feel like I'm cool when I tell people about new music that is out there. And another plus to liking less popular music is that when they come in concert the tickets don't cost hundreds of dollars. For example, Thursday night I went to a great concert - Missy Higgins and Eric Hutchinson. Both are great singers and I LOVE their music. And the tickets only cost $25!!! You can't beat that.

TWO: I used to hate reading, but now I'm totally obsessed. For some reason all throughout junior high and high school I detested reading. I didn't read an entire book my whole high school education (thanks to sparknotes.com I got an "A" in my AP Lit class). But after I graduated from BHS, I became obsessed with reading.

THREE: I have a recurring dream that started when I was 10 years old. I'm outside and I see a bear and it starts chasing me. After I run into an enclosed space that I can't escape from, with the bear still chasing me, I notice Dad laughing at me. There is an explanation for this dream...I just don't want to go into it right now so I'll leave it for your imagination for now.

FOUR: I get panic attacks if I ever feel like I'm going to be late. All you have to do is ask Mom about this and you will have no doubts left that I do not handle being late well. I've gotten a little better as I've grown up...but I still show up to everything at least 10 minutes early (or an hour early if it's something like a flight).

FIVE: I always read the last few pages of a book before I get to the end. If I'm being good, I get at least half-way through before succumbing to the temptation to find out how the books end, but I usually don't even reach the half-way mark. Many people believe that I am ruining the best part of reading - the suspense of knowing if things will work out in the end. And all I can say is that it doesn't ruin anything for me. If anything it helps me to enjoy the book better. I'm weird I know.

SIX: In the 11 months that I have lived in NYC, I have gone to 23 Broadway/off-Broadway shows (19 different shows...I've seen a few twice). I have seen some amazing shows and if you were to ask me my favorite I don't know if I could tell you. Of course Wicked is amazing, but so are so many others that I've seen. Surprisingly enough, there are plenty of other shows that I still need to see.

I hope you've enjoyed learning a little more about me and that I didn't bore you too much. To carry on this fun post...I am going to tag Jo, Kacee, Whitney, Liz, Tanner, and Katie Shelley.

My Addictions

This weekend I realized that I have three new addictions to add to the ever increasing list. These are not your typical addictions, and when I tell you about them you might just think that I'm ridiculous (which quite frankly I probably am). But since when do I care if people think I'm ridiculous? So here you are...my three new addictions:

1. I realized this first addiction as I was sitting at Arrojo studios on Saturday. It had almost been three months since I had last gotten my hair cut and I was WAY past the "trim" phase. So I decided to do something new...shocker! That's when it hit me. I am totally addicted to cutting my hair. And not just cutting my hair but shocking people when I come home or go to work and church with a whole new hairdo. I seriously love to see people's reaction to my newest hair style. I don't know what it is. But I love surprising people (that is the reason why there is not a picture of my new hair cut to go with this little blurb....I'm waiting so I can see Kacee's reaction next week when she picks me up at the airport- don't worry...pictures will shortly follow my trip home). And the crazy thing is...as I was getting my hair cut I wasn't thinking "I think next time I come I'll just keep this same style" (even though I absolutely LOVE my hair), I was thinking "what will I do next time with my hair?" See...I'm addicted!

2. Go back to the time when you were about 12. What games did you play with your girlfriends at sleepovers? MASH, fortune, the name game (where you match up your name with the boy you like to see if you're a match made in Heaven), others? Well apparently my friends and I have not grown out of the 12-year-old girl phases of our lives. A few months ago some friends and I were sitting around talking when we began the fun old game of Marry, Date, Kill (yes we changed the name to be a little more Mormon friendly). Now if you haven't heard of this game it is where you choose 3 things (usually guys but we have taken this game to new extremes where we include professions, hobbies, and other non-human objects) and you have to decide who/what you would marry, who/what you would date, and who/what you would kill. I know it doesn't sound like this would be something that you could get addicted to...but I totally am. I find myself walking down the street thinking up men/things to M/D/K. For example...the other day I walked by a corner that just smelled NASTY (which unfortunately is a frequent occurrence in NYC), then some jerk blew cigarette smoke in my face (another joy of NY), and of course there was a pile of dog poo on the corner as well (gag). That's when I thought "of those three things what would I M/D/K?" But this is not when I realized that I was addicted...it was last night when Jo and I were over at Stacy, Kara, and Candice's apartment and we just had to play one round of MDK about three of the boys in the group (secretly and in code of course because like I said we're 12). But in my defense this game does provide many hours of entertainment when you are in a group of friends and no one has any suggestions of what to do.

3. This last addiction I'm sure most (if not all) of you have experienced. I am totally addicted to blogging. Now you might be thinking..."Kristy, you couldn't possibly be addicted to blogging. It's not like you do it everyday." But I have to confess that a day doesn't go by when I don't think of at least 2 different posts that I could write. Most of the time I refrain from actually making those posts because I figure that people don't want to hear my random thoughts that often :). But I will be walking down the street thinking about something that happened during the day, something that I wish would happen, or just thinking about really nothing (when I'm not thinking up M/D/K's) when I find myself composing a blog post about that subject in my head. And I must say...sometimes I'm a pretty good writer in my head. Haha! But it's not just my blog that I'm addicted to. A day doesn't go by without me checking my friends' blogs for their newest posts (ok...I might miss a day or two now and again...but I'm pretty constant). I thought that my blogging phase would die out pretty quick...but I'm learning that this is something that is going to stick around for some time. Plus it gives me some form of entertainment when, like today, I really just don't want to work.

So there you go...the three things that have I realized I am addicted to.

PS - M/D/K: blogs, facebook, or flickr?

The Bachelorette

Warning: Spoiler alert!
(If you haven't watched the season finale of The Bachelorette and you plan to...stop reading now and come back after you watch - unless you don't mind having it spoiled for you)

Ok - for those of you who have been faithfully following the Bachelorette as I have you will know what I'm saying when I say what was DeAnna thinking? Ok...maybe that's not fair. DeAnna did seem to love Jesse and there are probably people out there who were rooting for him to get the last rose. I'm just not one of them. I like Jesse, but just not as much as Jason, Jeremy or Graham. For the past few weeks at each rose ceremony I have been shocked that she kept calling Jesse's name first. I just kept thinking...does she realize that she just kicked off another amazing (and extremely good looking I must add) man from the show?? But nothing could prepare me for the shock that ensued when, as Jason got down on one knee, she told him to stop and that she cared for him, but was in love with someone else (aka Jesse). I am still in a little bit of shock. I thought for sure she was going to choose Jason. But I guess I should be happy for Jesse and DeAnna. I'm just sad to see Jason go. (However, if you would like to have Jason or Jeremy as the next bachelor you can go to abc.com and vote)

Best Fourth of July EVER!

What do you think of when you hear "The Fourth of July"? I have always thought of parades and fireworks. But all of that has changed after the day that I had today. My Fourth of July started out early with a trip to Coney Island. Some of you may have heard about Nathan's Famous Hotdog Eating Contest. Honestly, before today I hadn't. But apparently it is super famous and world champion eaters come from all over to compete in the contest. ESPN even broadcasts the competition, so if you're curious about what went down check it out at espn.com. The winner, Joey Chestnut, beat out Kobayashi in overtime after they had both eaten 59 hotdogs in 10 minutes. Chestnut won by being the first to successfully eat 5 more hotdogs during the tiebreaker. 

But watching the hotdog eating contest was not the only thing to do at Coney Island on the Fourth of July. After eating at Nathan's Famous Hotdogs 

(of course we had to participate in the hotdog eating too) we walked along the boardwalk for a bit, and then decided to risk our lives riding The Cyclone. If there was anything other than the hotdogs that Coney Island is famous for it's The Cyclone. The Cyclone is the oldest roller coaster in the United States (maybe in the world...I don't really know). This thing was built in 1927 and it is still running. For those of you who have been to Lagoon and ridden the white roller coaster...if you thought that was rickety you haven't seen anything until you've ridden The Cyclone. Ricketiest roller coaster I've ever been on. There was a point where I thought I was going to fly 

right out of the cart (yes, I did lift off my seat on multiple occasions) but luckily I made it through with only one minor injury. For some reason both Sara and I ended up banging our elbows and getting bruised. But man, that was one fun and crazy ride!! It was a very hot and humid day today, so after spending a

few hours crowded together with many other sweaty people on Coney Island, I was grateful to get back on the nice air conditioned subway and head back to Manhattan. It was quite a long ride, and we were all pretty exhausted, so a few of us decided to take a short nap.

After getting cleaned up (a nice cold shower has never felt 

so good) I was getting all set to go watch some fireworks...until I looked out the window and it was POURING rain!! So my friends and I changed our plans. Instead of joining the other New Yorkers along FDR/East River, we went to Stacy's house to catch a glimpse of the multiple firework displays. This way we were able to see the fireworks while keeping dry.

However, we also had other plans for the night for which we had to leave a bit early so I only got to see a few fireworks. But I would give up watching fireworks any day to go to the show we went to. Abby's co-worker at the Apple store is in this production called Fuerza Bruta and he was able to get us free tickets 

for tonight's show. Oh my goodness!!! IT WAS AMAZING!!!! Seriously...you HAVE to check out the website. (click on the name above) It doesn't even come close to showing how cool this thing was, but it will give you some idea of my crazy night. What it is, is an interactive, weird artsy show with a little Cirque de Sole/Blue Man Group vibe. There were things going on all around us. And when I saw all around us I mean ALL around us (in front, behind, and even above - on walls and ceiling). It's standing room only due to the fact that you are constantly having to move because the performers and "stages" keep moving and coming out from different places. One of the coolest parts was when the performers were swimming above us on this clear plastic tarp thing. For anyone who watched America's Next Top Model you will know what I'm talking about because they did a photo shoot using this same thing. Anyway...as they were "swimming," it was lowered down from the ceiling far enough that I was touching it. I got very close up and personal with men in boxers as they were swimming over my head. There were also many times when the performers would run through walls of boxes filled with confetti which was pretty dang awesome! Anyway...as you can tell I could go on and on about this show because it was seriously one of the coolest things I've done in NY so far. But there is one more part that I need to share with you about Fuerza Bruta. Throughout the show there were multiple parts where the DJ (dressed up in a Mozart wig) would just play music for everyone to dance to and would spray the audience with water. It was great. But that's just the beginning to how crazy it got. After the performers took their final bow, it was time for the real party to begin. The DJ came back and started spraying water and then it started raining from the ceiling. And I don't mean a nice little trickle. I mean a freaking huge rain storm inside the building. Let's just say I was SOAKED!!! And there was tons of confetti everywhere from the show, so not only were we

wet, we were covered in confetti. (I wish I would have gotten a picture of all of us right after the show, but the only picture I have of the craziness is my feet covered in confetti.) Oh my gosh! Seriously...I can't get over how freaking awesome this show was. If you ever come to NY you HAVE to go see Fuerza Bruta. Just make sure you check all your belongings at the coat check and wear comfy clothes and shoes that you don't mind getting wet.

Anyway...now can you see why I would say that I had the best 4th of July ever?!?! It is definitely one to go down in the history books (at least my history books). And if you're thinking that it doesn't seem like the most patriotic thing to do on the 4th of July, you might be right; but they did play Jimi Hendrix's Star Spangled Banner at the show (Camille I thought of you and how you told me your dad would wake you up by blasting this song) and I did watch the annual 4th of July hotdog eating contest...so I would say I got my patriotism in. God Bless the USA!!!

Having Fun in NYC

Friday night, a bunch of girls and I went to a karaoke club! We had a BLAST!!! What a difference it makes singing karaoke with only girls. We sang songs by Celine Dion, Jewel, Salt n Peppa, Kelly Clarkson, and many others that we would never consider singing in front of guys. After, we were going to hit up this club in the Meat Packing District, but we found out it was just a bar so we stopped by a different club on the Upper East Side. The club was full of old European men who kept hitting on Sarah. But we had a good time dancing the night away! Here are some pics from our fun Karaoke and club night.

Me and Kristen singing Chris Brown 

 The group of girls singing a dancing away to some chick music!

Candice and Emily 

 Me, Kristen, and Jo at the Karaoke bar

This is outside the club we went to 

 Like I said...lots of old men at that club

Me and Candice dancing 

Another fun thing that I did this week was to go to the New York Philharmonic concert in Central Park. This was our FHE for the week. What a great time! It was fun to just sit and chat with friends and listen to great music all while sitting in Central Park. It was the perfect night for it - not too cold and clear. And after the concert there were fireworks!! It got me really pumped for the Fourth of July!!! Here are some pictures from this great FHE.

 (Kind of creepy looking fireworks in this picture. It looks like red skeletons dancing in the sky.)