Weekend in West Chester, PA

This weekend was AMAZING!!!! Seriously!

As I stepped off the train at Paoli, PA, I almost cried when I heard a voice say "Hey!" This is the longest time Jo and I have been apart from each other so it was so great to see her!!! That night we just went back to her house, put on our pj's, chatted and watched some TV - just like the good old days. We didn't stay up too late (just a little late) since we knew we had a busy day ahead of us.

The next day was sort of a marathon.

After breakfast Jo and I went to an orchard and picked some apples. We just had to make a stop at the little farmer's market at the orchard and pick up some apple cider doughnuts and apple coffee cake (both VERY delicious). After we filled our 1/2 peck bag full of apples, we headed back to her place to bake an apple pie. Can you think of a yummier way to use the apples we picked? I think not! It turned out great (even though we weren't able to eat any of it until Sunday).

After the pie was in the oven and Pat and Harvey (Jo's parents) assured us they would take it out when the timer rang, Jo and I headed to the movie theater to see Fame. Music. Dance. Drama. That's my cup of tea. It was a great movie although I wish there had been a little more dancing in it.

By the time the movie was over, Jo and I were fairly hungry so we searched for a Wawa on our way to our next event. Wawa's are everywhere in PA. They are basically a convenience store, but they have delicious hoagies. We ate our dinner in the car in the parking lot of the Wawa.

Then we headed to the Tower Theater for the Snow Patrol & Plain White T's concert! Our seats were on the 7th row so we had an AMAZING view. The Plain White T's opened the concert and did not disappoint. They put on quite a good show. If you are not familiar with the Plain White T's other than their 2 songs (Hey There Deliliah and 1, 2, 3, 4) then you should get to know their other music as well. I like it. Plus the guitar player/back up singer Tim Lopez is H.O.T.T!!!!!! Seriously he's beautiful! (evidence of his beauty in the picture to the right)

And then the main event: SNOW PATROL!! I was proud of myself for not shedding any tears during the concert. Even when Gary Lightbody walked off the stage and up the center aisle. You see...I was on the left aisle. So I was not one of the lucky few who got to touch him! (If you haven't guessed by now, yes...I'm one of THOSE fans). But I held in my disappointment and cheered and smiled. I danced, sang, screamed and laughed for the ENTIRE show. Honestly, it was one of the BEST concerts I've been to - and not just because I want to marry Gary, but because they are seriously good live.

During their song "Shut Your Eyes" Gary had the audience battle out the ending with "shut your eyes and sing to me". After the first round, Gary mentioned that we was impressed w/ PA. He said that in Glasgow, when one side would sing, the other side would boo. He said he liked us better than the Scots (which was funny because the lead guitarist is from Scotland). Well...you can probably guess what happened next. When the right side was singing "shut your eyes and come to me", the left side (my side) booed. Gary thought this was really funny and dropped his guitar and fell to the ground laughing. Once he regained his composure he had us try it again, but begged us not to boo. It was one of the many great moments of the concert.

I could go on forever about all the different amazing aspect of the concert...but I won't. But I do want to mention just a few other great moments of the night:
- 3 middle aged women being the only people in the audience standing up and dancing during the Plain White T's
- Cute dad and daughter in front of us. The dad was an avid fan like me so we talked quite a bit. But the cute part was how he was with his teenage daughter. They were just adorable together.
- Jo leaning over to me and saying that she's never seen me that excited/happy
- Really cool lighting and graphics in the background
- Losing my voice from singing and screaming so loudly
- Jo telling me that I could no longer exclaim "I love this song" since I would be saying it to EVERY song they played

But the very best thing about the weekend: I got to see my most favorite band ever with my most favorite person ever!

PS - Sorry for crappy pictures. I forgot my camera so I had to use my blackberry :'(

Apple Picking NYC Style

My ward went apple picking upstate New York last weekend. It was such a great time! We had PERFECT weather for our outing. There was plenty of trees with apples ready for the picking. We hit up the Macintosh apples since they were all of our favorites. Some apples were pretty high up there, but luckily we had some tall guys with us. But even they weren't tall enough to get some of the best looking apples of the day. Here's a video and picture of our solution to that problem:



The orchard we went to had more than just apples. We had a little "picnic" consisting of apple cider doughnuts, apple blossoms, and apple pie. Needless to say we didn't have room for our sandwiches. But we didn't complain :) (well except for Steve...for some reason he was "sad")

They also had a little petting zoo, a haunted house, and this:

As you can tell we had a ton of fun at Masker's Orchards! I love NY in the fall.

My New York Bucket List

I'm sitting at work right now, bored and not wanting to do the work on my "to do" list (basically the same story every day). So I've decided to make a New York Bucket List: a list of all I want to see and do while I still live in this wonderful city!

1. Catch up on Broadway shows (it's been a while since I've indulged in this little passion of mine)
2. Eat as Sea
3. Make a trip up to Boston
4. Go to the Bronx Zoo
5. Go to museums (Guggenheim, MOMA, and Frick are at the top of my list)
6. Go to the cloisters (sadly I missed when they are the best - in the Spring)
7. Take dance classes at Steps
8. See someone from Gossip Girl
9. Go to the Top of the Rock
10. Ice skate at Rockefeller Center
11. See a show at the Apollo
12. See the tree at the Met

That's all I can think of for now...but it might get longer as my time in NY gets smaller. But this is a pretty good start. Can't wait to start marking some of these things off!!

Two of my favorites in one weekend?

How lucky can I get? Jo + Snow Patrol concert in one wild weekend! If only today were tomorrow then tomorrow would be Saturday and I'd be seeing Jo tonight and Gary Lightbody & the band tomorrow night. But all that must wait one more day. In the meantime...enjoy the new song from my all-time favorite band: SNOW PATROL



Oh - and FAME comes out tomorrow and you can best be believing that Jo and I will be there! Can we say BEST WEEKEND EVER!!!

And the confusion never stops...

I feel like a broken record lately. It seems the only thing I can talk/think about is what I'm going to do with my life. I know I need a change, but am I ready for such a drastic change as the one I have semi-planned?

As I'm sitting at work putting together my professional development plan for the upcoming year, all I can think of is that I don't really have any goals. I don't know where I want to be, what I want to do, or how I'm going to do that mysterious "something". In other words...I HAVE NO PLAN!!!

If you know me then you also know that this is not like me. I'm a 'plan' type of girl. Sure I enjoy the spontaneous road trip, but when it comes to life plans - I've pretty much always had one in place...except for now.

You know in The Incredibles how the mom can be stretched all four ways? Well that's how I kind of feel right now. My heart and head (and a multitude of friends and family) are pulling me in so many directions the only solution I can come up with is to curl up in my bed with a good book and not show myself until my life has been figured out for me. Wouldn't that be nice? I wish someone would just tell me "Kristy, the best thing for you to do right now is ___________."

P.S. Feel free to fill in the blank as a response to this post ;)

Today...

It's Saturday today. I was working until 11 pm last night (Friday night) and was back in the office by 11 am today. And how am I spending my Saturday at work? Sitting the partner's office watching her sign returns. What joy! What bliss! But seriously...that is my actual assignment.

Why did I need to get a Master's in Accounting??

What would it be like...

Today, a guy at my work walked in, picked up his computer and dropped it off at HR with the parting words of "good luck with busy season" and walked out. No 2-weeks notice, no hint of his plan to leave. He was just pushed to his limits and decided there were much better jobs out there. You may be wondering what the atmosphere at work is after such a blow. If I had to say it in one word - that would be "envious." All people can talk about is how they wished they had the guts to do that.

It really got me thinking "what would that be like?" And I can tell you this: it would be liberating... until the bills started piling up and I had no money to live in NYC anymore. But I do wish I had the guts and finances to follow his lead.