A Beautiful Day!!

All I can say is, today's events completely made up for the slightly lame Friday evening.

My roommate Jessica is graduating from Columbia in 3 weeks and has that time to get everything on her bucket list done before she gets married and moves to Hawaii. Running a race in NYC was one she was able to cross off today! She officially entered while our roommate Julia decided to "run rogue" with her in the race. I was in charge of photos, bags and meeting them at the finish line. The race was called Revlon 5K and was for Breast Cancer. During the opening ceremonies we saw Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel and Jimmy Fallon. (Wooo!) It was reported that over 25,000 people participated in the race. It was crazy! After the race started I rode the subway up to meet the girls at the finish line.

Jessica and I - That's Jessica Alba behind us...

Julia and Jessica

The 5K ended in Central park so we passed by the John Lennon memorial and the Bethesda Fountain on our way out.

The Bethesda Fountain

After we got home and got ready for the day, we headed over to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens to the Cherry Blossom Festival. It was absolutely GORGEOUS outside! Perfect day for a trip to the gardens. The flowers were incredible and the smell was amazing.

Yumm.... :)

Gorgeous Tulips!

Jessica, Julia and I

After a wonderful day at the Revlon 5K, the park and the gardens, we took a detour on the way home and did some much needed therapeutic shopping on the East Side. I have never been there before! It was really interesting the difference between the neighborhoods on either side of the park. The West Side, where I live, is more relaxed and family-friendly. The East Side... how can I describe it... stuffy? Sure. Just a little more... uptight I guess. I'm happy where I am.

It was a beautiful day.

Friday Night

Before coming to live in the city, I always imagined these big, extravagant Friday nights of going out and dancing or to see a show. Well, tonight was even better I have to say. It was so well planned and I was able to experience a truly unique NYC experience.

And what was it, you ask?

LAUNDRY!!!!!

My roommates and I truly had an extravagant Friday evening. We took our laundry to the laundry mat, started our loads and then went and got Thai food!! It's a cute little place called Thai Market. It's more American Thai, but it was decent. We got our food to go and took it back to the laundry mat to eat while we waited for our laundry to finish. Don't be jealous, really. You can do it too! Evenings in NYC are so glamorous...

Memphis

Yesterday, a coworker and I decided to go check ticket prices for Memphis, a 2010 Tony Award winning musical. Since I'm a student, I am able to get SRT (Student Rush Tickets) on the day of the show for a ridiculous discount. We were able to get two front row seats for that night at $25 each, instead of the regular $150. Now, just so you know, front row isn't the best. We were practically EATING the stage we were so close. But it was well worth the $25. The music was amazing. The story line was spectacular - drama, humor, excitement. And the acting? Oh wow... Comparable to Wicked... Some of you may think I'm exaggerating, but you're not the one who has had songs from Memphis stuck in your head all day and wouldn't mind going back and seeing it for a second time this summer.

Investigator

Today at work, one of my bosses called me in to her office. She said that our CEO had just gotten out of a meeting with Reuters and he wanted us to note some contacts he had made there and get their information. This is the information he gave me to figure it out... I kid you not...



Yes, all we knew was one name completely, part of one name and the last two that they worked with Bill... Who the heck is Bill?? And how should I know who he works with?? Sometimes we feel like "The Devil Wears Prada". No matter what our boss asks us to do, our response is, "Oh yeah! Sure, I'll get that for you." (If you remember off of the movie she had to get a copy of the unreleased Harry Potter book for her boss's daughters.)


30 minutes later, who had all four? Yeah! That's me!

I think I could go into some kind of investigative profession. I'm very good at finding information on people... so watch out.

The Great Hill and Bocce Ball

This last Sunday was absoultely gorgeous in the afternoon. So my roommate and I, along with some people from our ward, headed over to the Great Hill in Central Park for the afternoon!

While at the park, I had my first experience playing Bocce ball. I'm pretty good, I'm not going to lie. It's pretty much a series of throwing one ball out and everyone competing to see who can get the closest to hitting said ball.

Cathedral Photos

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine

I absolutely love living on the Upper West side of Manhattan. So much history and culture up in this area. One of my favorite perks about this area is the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. It's just around the corner towards Central park. Today I had the day off, so I decided to pay a visit!

First of all, just a quick history on the cathedral. The Cathedral of St. John the Divine is the 4th largest Catholic cathedral in the world. Pretty cool, huh? It's a whopping 121,000 square feet and has been nicknamed "St. John the Unfinished" because it is in fact, unfinished!

The cathedral was designed in 1888 and began construction in 1892. It was undergone radical stylistic changes and construction has been interrupted by two World Wars. Originally designed as Byzantine-Romanesque, the plan was changed after 1909 to a Gothic design. After a large fire on December 18, 2001, it was closed for repairs and reopened in November 2008. It remains unfinished, with construction and restoration a continuing process.

I couldn't believe how gorgeous the cathedral was! And how big! And being Good Friday, I was able to witness services being done at the cathedral in honor of the Passover. It was such a great experience and I know I'll go back before I leave.

Westside Market

This is my grocery store. Westside Market on the Upper West Side. My first experience here was slightly chaotic. As you can see, the aisles are very close together and stacked quite tall as you can see. They don't offer grocery carts. Just hand baskets and some form of a cart that's a basket with wheels and a handle making it possible to drag the basket along behind you.

One of the many things I love about this store is the vast array of fresh fruits and vegetables. It's amazing! Mom, you'd be impressed!!

I'm pretty sure this store holds just as much as a regular grocery store and it's about one fourth of the size. They just know how to stack it better. :)

What's in your desk drawer?

Several people keep a variety of snacks in their desk drawer at work. This is called your "desk drawer pantry". In a normal office this consists of pretty much everything from diet Coke, candy and crackers. We're a little different here at Coltrin. We have "desk drawer survival food". Today I opened up my drawer and found this...

Yes, BEANS! Weird, huh? So I asked one of my coworkers what they were for. His response? Natural disaster. Apparently everyone in the office has at least one can in their drawer. So people, if there's a natural disaster in NYC while I'm at work, be comforted to know that I'm OK because I'll be living off of Pink Beans and Red Kidney Beans. Woot woot!

Pitching

Work today was kind of quiet at first, but come noon, things started to really pick up. We're working on pitching a client right now to a variety of media outlets. The client is Life Technologies and they do biomedical research including personalized medicine and gene therapy. We are working on pitching two stories. The first offering a meeting with the VP of communications or the CEO of the company. This would feature what is happening currently with Life Technologies and the announcements they are voicing in the next couple weeks. The other is a meeting with their VP of marketing who was named businesswoman of the year in 2009. This would be a feature focusing on the VP and her accomplishments as a woman in the workplace and being involved in the expansion of Life Technologies. Anyways, they put me on using Vocus to look up potential reporters, editors and producers we could pitch to. It's harder than it looks, but apparently I have a good eye for it.

For all of you future PR professionals, media pitching isn't as easy as it seems. You frequently get hung up on and cussed at by reporters for bothering them at the most inconvenient times. Don't get down about it, someone out there will want to talk to you, trust me. Just keep trying!

In the midst of all this joy, I was asked to write a press release. Kill me. I botched it up the yin yang. I didn't know what I was saying, but I think she just appreciated the fact that I put a lot of effort into drafting it for her - in a half hour, mind you. Thank you all my professors for teaching me how to write well! Even though it wasn't that great...

Pink Berry

Today's newest experience - Pink Berry!!!

For anyone who knows me well, they know that I have a problem with eating.... Dairy Queen ice cream. Well, here in NYC, there aren't any DQs. So, I'm working on developing a new love. Pink Berry is about a 5 minute walk from my apartment. Their menu consists of six different flavors of nonfat yogurt and a variety of toppings to finish of your dessert of choice. My roommate Julia absolutely loves this place. So here I come, new addiction. Be prepared to see me often...

Thanks for visiting!

Thank you to everyone who is following my blog! I'm seeing a lot of traffic come in on my news feed. Please feel free to leave comments! I'd love to see who is reading. Thank you friends!

There and back

Well! I made it through my first day. And honestly? It went very fast.

I woke up at 7:00 (Gosh, I love how New Yorkers are lazy and don't work until 9:00...) and got ready for work. Rode the 1 train down to 50th, walked out of the subway station, and there in front of me down the street was Time Square. I walked up 50th to 6th Avenue, Radio City Music Hall. To my left, Time Inc.

My first day working at Coltrin was a great experience. Typical first day, but I really think I'm going to like it. Today I learned how to search for media contacts with an online program called Vocus. It's a database that has contact information for news contacts at every media outlet you can think of. You can search by keyword, subject, reporter name and media outlet. I'll be spending a lot of time in this program.

I went and got lunch with a couple people in the office at this place down the street called Cosi.

Jenny and mom, we are going here! Delicious flatbread with marinara, mozarella and SPINACH. Jenny told me that the best NYC pizza has spinach on it - she was right!

After we got lunch, we took our pizza back to the office and ate with everyone else for lunch. It's great! Everyone is really friendly and I'm going to make some great friends there this summer.

This afternoon I was able to sit in on a client/reporter interview with Allison, one of the account executives. First, she called the client (the CEO of Popeye's supply chain) and prepped them for the interview. She told them kind of what the reporter would most likely be asking. Allison then called the reporter and talked to them about how the interview would play out - first Popeye's would give an overview of the announcement they had made the week previous, then he was free to ask questions. She then connected the calls and listened in on the interview and took notes. It was really cool!

At the end of the day, it was a miracle. I made it home no problem. I have officially mastered the 1 train from 50th street and back to Cathedral Parkway. :) That's honestly the only thing I was worried about for today. Getting there and back again.

That was pretty much my day. Any questions? :)

Conservatory Garden

I've been stacking up on adventures this weekend because I know once work hits Monday, I won't have as much time... So today! Church was great. Big ward up in Harlem. I know what you're thinking, but I didn't get shot. :) This afternoon my roommate Jessica asked me to take some engagement photos for her. So I tagged along with her and her fiancee to the Conservatory gardens on the east side of central park. GORGEOUS! Take a look.

This is what it looks like to ride in the back of a public transit bus... I know you were dying to know!! Don't lie...

The gate to the Conservatory gardens

The trees are in full bloom!!

This is Jessica and her fiancée

Me in the garden.

These are bushes that grow up in the summer. I'll have to take more photos later!

Me outside the gardens. Like my matching outfit? :)

Rain

Today, I experienced rain in New York City. Want to know what happened? Well, I soaked my first pair of shoes. Went and changed into tennis shoes. Then on the way to TJ Max, my umbrella totally SHREDDED in the wind and my tennis shoes got wet. So, I bought rain boots and a new umbrella once we got to the store. So much more well equipped now.

Hoboken, New Jersey

So I've made a decision, that every week I'm going to do something new. And today, I went to Hoboken, New Jersey for the first time.

When my roommate Jessica came home today, we were watching Cake Boss on TLC. She said to me, "You know what sounds really good right now? Crumb cake from Carlos Bakery." (For those of you who don't know, Carlos Bakery is featured on Cake Boss.) I said, "Well, if you want me to go with you, I have no plans today."

A half hour later, we were headed to Hoboken, New Jersey. It's only about a 40 minute commute.

We got there and the line was ridiculously long. We're talking down the block, onto the next. It's for the experience, right? So we stood in line for about 20 minutes (not moving) and we decided we were hungry. Jessica decided to go get us some pizza. She brought back the best pizza I've ever had... This little place called Giovanni's Pizza; thin crust with real mozzarella, thin tomato sauce and spinach. SOOO GOOOD!!!

Well, after the pizza, we stood in line for another oh, hour. So I decided to walk around Hoboken for a while. It's such a quaint place. I'd never live there... but it's New Jersey... :)

(What I saw on my walk.)

After a while, I headed back and we waited in line a bit more.

Four and a half hours later.... We had our treats and were on the train headed back to Manhattan. For those of whom are curious about what I got, peanut butter cupcake (divine) and a lobster tail which is fried pastry with pudding cream filling.

It was a great first day in the city. :)

Thus far...

Well, it's been a crazy last 24 hours!

Mom and I spent the day in Seattle yesterday doing a bit of last minute shopping before I flew out for the east coast. After about 6 hours of running around, we went and checked into my mom's hotel then she came with me to the Seatac airport on the shuttle to drop me off. We checked my bags in and I went and stood in line at security. It wasn't until I got up to the point where they check your ID that I realized my laptop was missing. I HAD LEFT IT IN THE HOTEL ROOM CHARGING!!!! (Idiot....)

I FRANTICALLY grabbed my things and bolted for the shuttle stop and called my mom. She had gotten back to the hotel at that exact moment and realized the same misfortune. She rode the shuttle back and had the laptop to me within a half hour. I then headed back up to security, waited for what seemed like forever, and made it to my flight with 10 minutes to spare.

One five hour flight later, I made it to JFK airport. I grabbed my luggage, got in a taxi and headed straight for my apartment.

I absolutely love my apartment. The building is decent, and the apartment is adorable. The original crown wood molding, rusty fire escape and wood floors make it a true New York experience.

I met my roommates briefly this morning: Hayley is working to become an accountant downtown, Julia works for a fashion designer down on 59th, and Jessica is a grad student at Columbia and is also my room roommate.

After my bed was delivered around 8:15, I put away all my things, made my bed and took a nap. :)

I woke up around 11:30 and decided I better get ready for the day. Jessica showed up later and that adventure.... you will read in the next post... :)

(The outside of my apartment building)

I think I'm going to need... a bigger airplane...

This is the place...

When I tell people I'm moving to Manhattan for the summer, they ask me what for.

When I tell them I'm doing an internship, they ask where.

When I tell them Coltrin & Associates, a PR firm, they ask, what's that?

Check out Coltrin's website and see what I'm doing! http://www.coltrin.com/

Home... for now

Well, made it home safe and sound yesterday! Experienced a variety of weather; everything from a blizzard to 60 degree weather. It sure is good to be home...

Home (taken December 2010)

I love home. A girl couldn't ask for a better place to be. As Dorothy said, "There's no place like home."

I'm sad I will only be here for a few days, and by no means will this be a relaxing few days. But it's good to once again sleep in my "princess and the pea" bed, and sit at the bar in the kitchen and eat breakfast. My room is a disaster now, by the way. Anyone want to clean it for me? :)

I know this won't be my home forever. In a few days, I'll live further away from anyone I know in the first time in my life. I guess you could say I'm the rebel of the family. Currently, all my siblings live within an hour and a half drive from each other, except me!

What I love...

Well, finals are finished! Which is a miracle considering my brain checked out about a week ago... But all is well and... This city will be my home in 6 days... It's crazy. This miraculous blessing is testament to the fact that dreams really do come true. For a long time I talked about how I would move there and make something great out of myself, and I'm doing it. It may be only for 5 months, but it's happening.

7 days...

Well, seven days until I leave for New York City to begin the next chapter of my life! I am nervous, but at the same time incredibly excited. This is such a wonderful opportunity and I am so blessed to be able to take it.

So just a brief overview of what I will be doing, where I will be working and where I will be living this summer.

I'm interning at Coltrin and Associates this summer April 18 through August 12. The office is located down in Midtown, Rockefeller center. I will be living with three girls on the Upper West Side. Yes, a true West Side Story... :) Check out the map below!

Everything is so surreal. I think this will all become a reality once I step off that airplane, into a cab, and onto the streets of Manhattan.