APOLLO THEATER

Let me just start off by saying that I had no idea what the Apollo Theater was when I said I would go. So you can imagine my surprise when we walked straight down our street into the heart of Harlem and were pretty much the only group of white people around. It was then I realized what the surprised looks on my coworkers' faces meant when I told them I was going to Amateur Night at the Apollo.

It was a little overwhelming when we walked in and "Lean Back" was being blasted throughout the theater and EVERYONE was standing up and dancing. As if our group of white BYU students in polo shirts and khaki shorts didn't stand out enough already, dancing to that genre of music was thrown into the mix. I know what you're thinking..sounds like a recipe for disaster. Well, it was more like a recipe for entertainment. One guy thought it was so funny he spent his whole intermission video taping our group dancing. So somewhere out there, I am being played over and over in some family room in Harlem while a whole crowd of people are laughing so hard tears are rolling down their faces.

But...I loved every minute of it! The performers were incredible and I would go again in a second! So, if you are ever in NY on a Wednesday night and feel like braving downtown Harlem, I highly recommend it. You won't be sorry! [well maybe just a little when you get outside after and it's dark and you are in the middle of Harlem]

Guess who came to visit??

This girl!

{No, she did not arrive by giant shoe, this is the only picture I have at the moment. Don't kill me Adi}

She trekked all the way from DC to come visit for a day. And by trek, I mean bus ride. Anyone who knows both of us will all know that together, we are pro at one thing. And that is doing absolutely nothing. It was nice to have a regular, real-life day in the city.

Here is a small sample of the trip's highlights:

- Adi having to walk down the streets of Harlem at 2am to get to the I-house.

- Squishing into my shoe box of a room on quite possibly the two warmest nights we have had since I have been here. Without air conditioning, of course. Thank you, I-house.

- Getting in trouble in borders for sitting on the floor and reading books in the children's section

- Awkwardly sitting in between two couples at dinner who [i kid you not] did not speak one word to each other during their entire meal. Not one.

- Seeing Killers. Just to clarify, it was the movie, not THE Killers, the band. Yeah, I was confused too.

- Adi deciding "out of nowhere" it would be a good idea to play the game "pick one person on the subway you would date' when conveniently the most attractive man I saw the whole time in NY happened to be sitting right in front of us. Hmmm I wonder how she thought up that idea...

- And of course, Bryant Park at night. It is the best! I kid you not, we tried for a good 10 minutes to get a semi-decent picture of the both of us with no success. I would show you one of our attempts but I promise, you don't want to see. So instead, I leave you with this picture of the park, sans Emily and Adriel.

CENTRAL PARK

I have fallen in love with Central Park. Not like a little crush. Like In love.

As many times as we have gone, it has never gotten old to me. I could go every day [if the weather's nice] and be perfectly content. Our favorite is to go on Sundays since there isn't much else to do around here.

Here are a few of many adventures in the park:

Everyday at 12:00 for the last nine years, the "mayor" of strawberry fields comes to the Imagine circle and does a little presentation. You have probably seen pictures of the flowers all around it, usually in a peace sign. Well this is the man that does it. That's dedication if you ask me.

Brunch at the Central Park Boathouse.

Courtney and I became obsessed with turtles after spotting one in a pond one day. Turns out there was also a turtle pond in the park, which we were very excited to see.

And what did we find right next to Turtle Pond? Well a castle, of course! Belvedere Castle to be exact. It was cute and tiny and I loved it! We spent an entire afternoon there after church a few weeks ago. It was perfect.

MEMORIAL DAY!!!

In honor of Memorial Day we decided to do something patriotic. What could possibly be more patriotic than participating in fleet week? I know, mom, I promised I would stay away but we just couldn't resist! Can you really blame us?



My favorite part is that when I think about taking this picture all I can think of is Chad, the only boy in our group, saying in disgust, "These are public servants! Not sex symbols." At least he was a good sport and willing to be our photographer for the day. Because let's be honest, there are many more where this came from!

...like this one, for example




We waited an hour and a half in the hot hot sun waiting to get on this huge ship. We almost didn't make it but I'm glad we stuck it out because it was so cool to see! It is amazing that it is huge enough to have all of these massive tanks and helicopters and other massive equipment [not to mention hundreds of people] and still look spacious.

{We may or may not have kicked small children off of these so we could have a photo shoot.}

FIELD TRIP

One of the accounts I am on at my internship is a publishing company called Egmont Books. It is one of my very favorites because I get to read the books on their summer and fall lists. For those of you who don't know, I have a serious weakness for pretty much any type of literature that is well below my reading level. Children's books, young adult, you name it and I will probably read it and love it. So naturally, this account and I are a perfect fit. One other thing I love which is silly is that my books all say "uncorrected bound proofs--Not for sale" at the top.

Well last week I was lucky enough to get to go to a luncheon with our client and also a HUGE book convention. I know, it sounds boring but I promise it was anything but. There was a booth for every publishing company you can imagine and free books were being handed out right and left. You should have seen these people there! Total book hogs...hoarding their bags and bags of books. I felt like it was that episode of friends where Monica goes to the sample sale to find a wedding dress and everyone turns into wild animals. Except these people were a little more nerdy.

First of all, the luncheon was so amazing! Amazing food, amazing people, amazing location. It was all...amazing. I felt so legit with my "exhibitor" pass [which is actually kind of funny since it didn't even have my correct name printed on it]. I got to drink lovely lemonade out of a fancy glass and kiss people when I introduced myself. You know, the kind of stuff important people in movies do. We had the most delicious looking and tasting food as well. Some too fancy for my taste buds but I'm sure it was all equally divine. All of the authors of Egmont's summer book list books were there and we spent the afternoon chatting.

A few of my favorites were Anastasia Hopcus whose book "Siren" is coming out in July [she has the brightest red hair you have ever seen. naturally we bonded right away], Tricia Rayburn, who wrote "Siren" [the first book I read from the group which I loved], The Voelkels [a cute couple..and their book was featured on the Today Show last week!], who wrote "Middleworld", which came out in April.

Anyway, we had that whole lunch which was great and then we went to the convention, which I believe was actually called Book Expo America or something like that. As I was leaving the convention you will never guess who I ran into! None other than Tim Gunn! That's right, from Project Runway. Since this post is at least three paragraphs longer than it was meant to be already I will make this short and sweet. He was the nicest man ever! He talked to me for 20 minutes about my internship and his new book and he even gave me directions back to Times Square. He said if we were going the same direction he would have given me a ride. What a gem he was. I didn't think of it until after but I should have taken a picture of him. But for your viewing pleasure, here are some creepy stalker shots I managed to sneak as I left.
Enjoy!