Mambo Number 5

I can't believe I've been here for five weeks! I feel like I've only worked a week, but yet it feels like I've been away from Jace for over a year... needless to say I'm dealing with a whirlwind of emotions in regards to leaving. I'm sad for the broadcasting aspect to be over. I've learned so so much... seriously though... I'm going to kick my advanced reporting class in the butt! Nevertheless I've got someone pretty great waiting for me in Utah... and I don't think I could make it any longer with out him... seriously though...I'm going crazy.

I've been trying to cram as much as possible into this past week so if this post seems list-like... it's probably because it is.

I've never been to a movie by myself... but I decided to go to a Broadway Show completely alone... is that weird? No one else could go and I really wanted to see Catch me if you Can. So I went to the box office... snagged a student rush ticket... and was very pleased with the show. It's exactly like the movie.... jokes and all... so if you weren't too thrilled with the Hanks/DeCaprio version this might not be for you. I was too shy to ask someone to take my picture in front of the theatre so this is all you're gettin.

One of my best friends from high school, Jamie Weist came into town earlier last week and it was wonderful catching up with her. We ate pirogies from Veselka... walked across the Brooklyn Bridge... and stayed up super late talking... it brought me back to our many late-night sleep overs in the weist basement.

Last week was Fleet Week here in NYC so a bunch of us headed over to the U.S. Intrepid to watch Top Gun on the Deck... it was way fun...way free...and I forgot how creepy Tom Cruise is.
Elora and I before boarding the Intrepid

My dad came up to spend memorial day with me and we had a wonderful day. We hit up the MOMA...a precious fish and chips place called A Salt and Battery (it's been featured on the food network a bunch)... people watching in central park... pizza at Mariella's... and Momma Mia! I am so glad I got to spend time with my dad... he really made me feel at home in this huge city.
See Tiff- I told you I would get around to seeing it! (Tiff's one request was that I go see Starry Night while in New York)

Water Lilies is actually a whole lot bigger than my postcard version


...And today we toured the United Nations for our class...Did you know that even though it's in NYC...the U.N is International territory...AKA no man's land?

Anna and I talking the audio tour

Oh Hey Ban Ki-moon!

A Southern Anniversary

Jace and I have officially been married for over a year! Last week I headed to Louisiana where he is selling to spend the weekend with him. It was perfect. He was perfect. We were perfect.... minus one major case of food poisoning... I guess it's not a wedding celebration unless one of us is sick.

For our anniversary dinner we celebrated cajun style... with a whole platter of crawfish. They were awesome (until Jace got sick).
Turns out southern folk aren't much for movies...I begged Jace to take me to Water for Elephants...and we were actually the only ones in the theatre... take that Provo!

We spent about 4 days together but it honestly felt like 2 hours. I couldn't believe it when it was time to go back to NYC. Back to skype dates and phone calls... Don't get me wrong I'm totally loving this experience... I'm learning a ton and taking in the whole city...I just love my husband a whole lot more.

are YOU ready for may 21st?

Time is flying by here! Work has been incredible... seriously though... the best news stories seem to be breaking during my stay here and it's awesome to be apart of it all! Last week the entire BYU group went to see Wonderland. The play is a spin off of Alice and Wonderland, which I've never seen before because my mom always told me it wasn't worth my time. If the movie is anything like the musical then my mom was spot on.... it was the most random/ obscure/ pointless show I've ever seen. It opened last month and closed two days ago because it got such bad reviews.

The only picture I managed to take that night was this one of a huge camera screen in time square outside the theater. Can you find me and Anna? (hint: look for my pink coat)

This past weekend I hopped on a bus and headed down to PA to see my family and some of my best friends from high school. Even though it only lasted a little over a day, it was the perfect getaway. I loved spending time with my mom. We went out to eat, saw a movie, and just lounged around which is exactly what I needed. Later that night I headed over to see Jamie, Christine, and Kelly. I hadn't seen them in over a year but it honestly felt like I never left. We talked well into the night and I actually didn't get home until 4:45 AM...Christine Jamie Kelly and Me *taken at 4 AM so you'll have to excuse our faces

I was so sad to leave home. I tried to act tough in front of my mom but all I wanted to do was stay home with her and watch hours of desperate housewives and greys anatomy (my mom is a big McDreamy fan). When I got off the bus and stepped into the subway everything was so fast-paced and busy again... Don't get me wrong- New York is amazing- but it's just so fast and different from everything I'm used to


Today is Anna's birthday so we decided to celebrate with Magnolias! So all of us broadcasters headed downtown for some desert.

These signs advertising the end of the world are all over the place here. Supposedly the judgment day is this Saturday which would really get in the way of my anniversary plans....

I work(ed) with Katie Couric

Many changes are happening around CBS... and although I'm sad to see Katie Couric leave... I'm thrilled that I get to be here to see everything happen first hand. Katie will be leaving soon and Scott Pelley (isn't he dashing!?) will be replacing her as the anchor for the evening news.

I decided to take this picture on my lunch break before they take it down... oh Katie... how will I ever recognize this building without your ginormous face all over it!?
I swear this picture doesn't do her (or me) justice... she's actually stunning in person.

a little glimpse into my nightly activity...

After work/exploring I usually come home and get my skype on with this guy. In case you're wondering Jace is currently in Louisiana selling pest control... and he's killin it! 2 weeks down... only 5 more to go (34 days to be exact... but who's counting...)

Tiff conquers NYC

Another week down here in New York. Tiff just left (literally like five minutes ago) and I've decided to blog everything we did in order to keep me from missing her. I'm so so glad she came... because I seriously checked off almost all of the things I wanted to do here with her. Yesterday we explored from 9 AM till about 11:30 PM. And even though my feet felt like they were going to fall off... it was seriously an awesome day!
First we went to the 9/11 memorial museum which was especially patriotic given all of the recent news events. I really liked this because I've spent so much time doing research on stories about 9/11 at CBS. It was really cool to actually go to the sight, see the museum, and see the nearly finished memorial building (which should be completely done by this upcoming 9/11).


Next we hopped on the Staten Island Ferry (for free) and got to see an awesome view of the City and the Statue of Liberty.

China town was next. This was a fun experience because I felt like I was walking on the boardwalk in Atlantic City. Every shop literally sells the same things... so once you've walked one block... you've pretty much seen it all!

Later that night we went and saw Chicago. We were both super excited to see this show because we love the music... we scored awesome seats... and it was a great break from all of the previous walking. But we actually left the play really disappointed. Christie Brinkley starred as Roxy Hart and not only was she a bad singer... but she couldn't act... and they had to simplify all of the dances so she could keep up. I didn't know it was possible for Broadway talent to be lousy ... but she was downright terrible. As soon as she started singing Tiff looked at me and said, "Oh no..." It was the first Broadway show I've been to where the audience didn't give a standing ovation.

We decided to make up for our crumby Chicago experience by doing something fun this morning... so we rented bikes for an hour and explored Central Park! This has by far been one of the coolest things I've done here. Central Park is absolutely breathtaking... and HUGE! I will definitely be taking advantage of this more often.

Even though I'm glad to have my tiny bed all to myself again... I miss having Tiff here. She's an excellent traveler because she plans and then she executes. She gets everything done that she wants to see... no matter how far she has to walk. I seriously don't think I would have seen half as much in 7 weeks as I did this past week with her here. Thanks for an awesome time Tiff!

I've got my own mind.... I do my own style in my own time...

I hope you caught that sister sister reference in the title. I thought it was appropriate because my oldest sister Tiff has been here the past 5 days (hence the lack of updates). But let me fill you in on what happened before she got here.

Last week (after work) I went out with the broadcast kids to do some exploring. We ended up getting some banana pudding from Magnolia bakery, and then we walked past a crew of people shooting this LOVE statue. We thought they might be with a station so we quickly introduced ourselves and asked what they were up to. Turns out this statue is about to be put up on an auction and they said it will probably sell for thousands and thousands of dollars.Anna and I making "love signals"... in case you can't tell

Tiff arrived last Thursday and we've been busy ever since. On Friday we went out for canolis (a Gampe family favorite) and then saw Billy Elliot. This was by far one of the best show's I've seen. The music was great and the dancing was phenomenal. Our days have been filled with shows, eating, shopping, walking and more eating... and Tiff has been cramming in as many art exhibits as possible.Tiff's first experience with Max Brenner... she was easily converted


drinking Italian hot chocolate... so so good

Yesterday my parents came up and spent the day with Tiff while I was working. Later that night I met up with everyone for dinner. It felt so great to see my parents, and having them here with Tiff really made me feel more at home in this big city. I'm sad they had to leave so soon but I'm planning on making a trip home next weekend to catch up!

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

What a Weekend!

Since I intern for the Weekend Edition I work Wednesday-Sunday which means I've spent the last two days exploring the city (pretty much alone because all of the other interns are working). The first day I decided to be brave and make my way down to spring st. and do some shopping. I got lost for a little bit but I didn't mind at all because all of the streets were lined with designer shops. Later that night Andy, Kristin and I went to see Mary Poppins. I've heard great things about this show and I wasn't disappointed. It was absolutely adorable. The stunts were incredible (Bert tap dances upside down on the ceiling!) and the music brought me back to the days of singing "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" in the nursing home my grandma worked at each summer with my sisters.

But NOTHING tops what I did today.... this morning Andy and I woke up at 5 AM and got in line to get tickets to see Live with Regis and Kelly! I am a die hard Regis and Kelly (mainly Kelly) fan. I remember the first time I saw Kelly on the show... I thought she was so poised and I know that this might sound awkward or embarrassing but watching her was what ultimately convinced me to go into broadcasting. Not because I want to do entertainment reporting (although if her job ever opens up I'll have to take over... just sayin) but she's just so good at being conversational and whenever my broadcast teachers tell me that my writing sounds too formal part of me always thinks... "how would Kelly Ripa say this?" So now that I've revealed my creepy obsession with this 40 year old woman... let me tell you about what it was to see her.

Me after we got our numbers for the standby line which meant we were officially going to the show!

First off.. the studio is a lot tinier than I thought it would be... the audience is super small and overall the setting is pretty intimate.

Second, Gelman (the producer of the show) is such a worry wart. He was constantly "forcing" the audience to clap and cheer... and any time he thought of something he wanted them to say he would frantically write it down on a big cue card and hold it in front of their faces.

Regis and Kelly were everything I thought they would be. They were really funny and they had amazing chemistry. They just work really well together and all of the conversation seemed super natural (although some of it was directed through a teleprompter).
the guests on the show were the coolest. I honestly couldn't have picked a better show to come to.
Gelman getting the crowd excited during the Trivia portion of the show

Kelly and Regis reading off of Gelman's cue cards
During the breaks of the show Regis and Kelly would chat with the audience. It was super hard to get pictures of them though because we weren't allowed to use flash (hence the fuzziness in all my pictures)


first we met Andy Samberg who was really laid back and funny.

And then we met Melissa McCarthy (who is in the new movie Bridesmaids).

Then once the show was over they told us to stay put because they had to do another quick interview with a very special guest.... who just happened to be Patrick Dempsy!!!
This was honestly one of the coolest experiences ever. I think I enjoyed it because it was so laid back and easy going. Kelly and Regis weren't nervous or stressed.. people weren't running scripts around... the whole thing was just a well-oiled machine.
Oh, and I had my mom tune in for the show and she saw me jumping up and down like a maniac in the audience... so at least all my enthusiasm didn't go unnoticed.