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.

More happenings

Today on my way home from work someone asked me for directions... and I knew where they were going! (however 5 min later I accidentally boarded the wrong train but that's a whole different story) I don't know what made me more excited- the fact that I knew the directions, or the fact that they thought I'm from here... it must have been the power shoes I was wearing.

Oh the things people do for money...

Today Andy and I went to church which meets on the 2nd floor of the Manhattan Temple. On the subway ride there I noticed this cute girl who was dressed in this adorable modest dress. We kept making eye contact and finally she asked, "are you Mormon?" I just sort of laughed because I was so caught off guard. Then I nodded and said, "Yeah... are you?" She laughed and said "Yeah, we stick out like a sore thumb here" Turns out her name is Rachel. She graduated from BYU, got her masters at NYU where she met her husband and now they both live and work in NYC. She was darling.

Me outside of the Manhattan Temple.. not the greatest photo but we had to run to work

Work has been slightly overwhelming but great. I'm trying to learn as much as I can, and so I often find myself tagging along with producers as they go about their day to day tasks. I learned how to edit a piece. And get this- I was super thrilled to find out that CBS edits with the same program that BYU uses so I already know how to do a lot of the stuff. But the editing staff is AMAZING they can lay a story down in five minutes (it usually takes me 1-2 hours) and then they spend about 5 hours adding sweet effects.

This is a picture of the studio. Everyone calls it the fishbowl and this is the room where all of the producers work before/ during the show. If you look closely you can see through the glass where the anchor seat is- which is where Katie and Russ read... and if you look even closer you can see those tiny black screens which are their teleprompters.

Bright Lights Big Citaayyyy

I feel like I had my first real city experience last night. I went to bed as early as I could because a few of the broadcasting girls decided that we would go for a run along the Hudson River early in the morning before work. Anyway... at 4 in the morning I wake up to the shrillest screams I've ever heard. I thought it was a police siren at first... but as it kept going I realized it was a fight between a man and a woman on the street. Someone was threatening to kill someone and a bunch tired people were shouting down death threats to the screamers who were keeping them up. Needless to say things get pretty hostile here on the upper west side.

the view from my room

the street where the little quarrel took place (this picture was taken after the incident)

Work was awesome. I got to meet Russ Mitchell who is the anchor of the weekend news. When he first walked into the room I was so star struck that I simply smiled at him and completely forgot to introduce myself. Thankfully 10 min later one of the producers brought him back so that I could redeem myself and let him know who I am. He was super nice and I'm really excited to see him perform this weekend.

the one and only Russ Mitchell

I also got to meet and work with more of the producers at CBS. They were extremely helpful and gave me great tips on how to succeed in this industry. One of them is even going to take me out on a shoot this weekend and I can't wait!

today I saw Katie Couric...

Today was my first day of work... I intern with Andy Reeser (who is also a BYU broadcast student) and I'm so pumped that we were picked to work together. I feel like we help put each other at ease when one of us is freaking out with nervousness. We left for work extra early just to be sure that we made it to CBS on time. The morning commute was people watching at its finest. I saw a girl fall asleep and miss her stop (which is one of my biggest fears), and I listened to two moms from Sweden chat (I had no idea what they were saying but I was still mesmerized by how they talked).

When we got to CBS we had to wait in the lobby for someone to come and get us so I had Andy snap this picture in front of their huge wall logo.

my hair was frizzy and flat before work even started... I don't know how I ever survived 18 years of east coast humidity!

When we finally got through security we were greeted by Nick who is the CBS page. Nick is the Kennith of CBS... he's diligent... the fastest phone answerer i've ever seen... and he loves the news more than anyone I've ever met. He's also from Vermont and talks in a deep new english accent. I like Nick a lot... and I hope to get a picture of him soon so you can like him too.

We spent the majority of our work day touring the station... learning the duties of an intern... and meeting everyone on the staff. Andy and I will be working solely on the weekend edition of the news which is awesome because it's a smaller staff which means we'll get more hands on experiences. Plus we are the only two interns right now so we really get to soak everything up!

After work we asked if we could sit in the control room and watch the evening news cast. So, Nick took us downstairs and we got to watch everything behind the scenes. The control room at CBS is HUGE. There are TV monitors in every corner... my eyes were going crazy trying to focus on all of them. Katie Couric is actually in London right now working on the royal wedding (so pumped I came in time to cover this) so she anchored the news with a live shot in London. The guys in the control room gave Andy and I headphones which were plugged into all of the microphones so we could hear everything that Katie was saying both on and off the air. It was really really cool. She seemed really sweet and down to earth. She is also extremely poised and could keep complete composure even when things went wrong with the show.

After work we met up with Anna and Elora at Serendipity. We all shared our experiences from the day and loaded up on some frozen hot chocolate (It was to die for!)

just a couple of interns looking pretty beat

98% excited, 2% scared.... or maybe it's the otherway around

Greetings from NYC!! It's hot, humid, and I have many a blister already. Yesterday Jace and I loaded my life into three 35 pound bags.... bid adieu to our beloved shack house.... and headed for the airport. lots of tears were shed (by one or maybe even two of us)... and we said goodbye for 7 weeks (eek!!!)When I landed in NYC I hailed a cab... which was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. My driver's name was Rafin and he told me about all of the crazy laws in the US (did you know it's illegal to play the Shining at drive in movie theaters in Delaware?)

When I arrived at the I-house I checked in and found my room on the 6th floor. I was told before hand that the rooms were similar to the dorms at BYU but boy was I in for a surprise. My room is teeny tiny! My oldest sister Tiffany is coming in a week to visit and the plan was to have her sleep on a cot in my room... but after accessing my quarters I'm pretty sure we'll be bunking it up on my twin (so if you're reading...bring me some sheets tiff... these ones here feel like paper)

told you it was small.


The first night was hard... I missed Jace. I'll just leave it at that.
Today me and some of the other Broadcasting girls (who I simply adore) tried to get familiar with the subway, and tried to make it to our internships and back... it took us about 5 hours. Needless to say I'll be leaving extra early tomorrow to make sure I get to CBS on time.

Kelsey, Briana, Me, and Anna at 30 Rock

Right outside of CBS. This is where I'll be spending the next 7 weeks!

Overall I'm feeling really really happy. I'm living my dream and I get to spend time with some of the best girls! I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!