'Arry Pottah [Translation: "Harry Potter" in an English Accent

Let me first say that I am not a crazy person or a paparazzi. Sure, if I see a "famous" person on the street I will stop and look, or even tweet about it, but I am not one to go chasing after them or to interrupt their meal when spotted at a restaurant. That being said, on Wednesday I was the most starstruck I have ever been in my entire life.

I saw How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and loved it! The cast and music were both great. And in case you have been living under a rock, Daniel Radcliffe just so happens to be the star of the show. And since you have been under that rock, I guess I should tell you that Daniel Radcliffe is Harry Potter. Rock or no rock, you should know who that is.

[he's only taller than me because he's on a ladder. seriously, he is itty bitty in person]

The show started and down came Daniel Radcliffe from the ceiling. Girls squealed and screamed and i thought, "how ridiculous". But then there he was, right in front of me, the boy who lived, and my jaw dropped. So of course when I overheard a security guard giving someone a tip on the best way to meet him after the show, I recruited my roommate and we decided we would just "pass by" where the guard said to wait. And that "passing by" turned into standing for over half an hour until he came out. And he was lovely and signed our playbills and let people scream and flash their bright flashes in his direction [could you imagine?]. He also just so happened to accidentally grab my hand as he reached for my playbill and apologized for it. No apology necessary, my friend. For a brief moment I honestly thought that might turn me into a wizard and scenes of me on my way to Hogwarts flashed through my mind. Alas, I am not a wizard but it was still magical.

[so maybe this was a little too much. but he was so close that we had no choice but to invade his personal space. and i needed proof that i saw harry potter]

[this is what starstruck emily looks like]

All joking aside, it was such a great show and who knew he was so talented! He can sing, he can dance, he can talk in American accent... If anyone is in New York, I definitely recommend it!

A little of this, a little of that

A few nights ago I woke up on the floor.
Apparently my poor little air mattress had a hole so in attempt to make it sleep-able
I had to scavenge through our apartment
[which was 95 degrees at 12am]
for a quick fix before I went to bed.
I found some used packing tape and mailing labels that I was sure would do the trick.
No such luck.
I ended up making a nest like a bird to sleep on...with my clothes.
Not ghetto at all.
I think an actual bird's nest made of sticks might have been more comfortable.

So I went and bought an roll of duct tape and went to work.
I used the entire roll and will still be sleeping on the floor.
Notice the air bubble?
Bummer dude.



On another note, I went and saw David Letterman this week.
I think the air conditioning was actually my favorite part
[it has been insanely hot here]
but I also got VIP seating and I sat at his desk.
Not too shabby.


And, look at this cute boy!
Couldn't you just kiss his sweet cheeks all day long?
I got to visit the Lythgoes in Connecticut for a few days and we had such a fun time!
Sadly I didn't bring my camera so this is the only picture I have,
but the rest of the kids are pretty dang cute too!
We got to go to the library, read books, play with American Girl dolls,
talk about harry potter, paint nails and play with legos.
it was awesome.
Thanks for having me, Lythgoes!

seriously...those cheeks!
and don't even get me started on his laugh.
it's the best.
[And he got that bump on his head while I was watching him. I'm the worst]

Memories according to my trusty old Blackberry

You know how some pictures just stay on your phone and you have no need for them but you don't want to delete them either? Well friends, it's your lucky day because I am about to share with you some of my Blackberry's favorite memories of the last year before he has a chance to bite the dust and they are gone forever.

First up, we have Brumbittle. He asked me to send this picture to his boyfriend, Unicornasaurus before I left for New York. Unicornasaurus sent him this picture before he left on a trip too. Little lovebirds.

There are many more strange pictures of my brothers where these came from but for some reason these are the two that made the cut and I still have on my phone. Aren't they precious?

A while back Hannah and I [mostly Hannah] made these fruit tarts for baby Hendrix's shower. She's pretty much the best at baking.

I am pretty sure I promised I wouldn't post these next pictures to Facebook. I never said anything about a blog so hopefully I don't get in trouble. I went to the Happiest Place on Earth in May and all I got were these pictures. Pathetic. Who knew that two 25-year-olds couldn't handle a little ol' ferris wheel? As you can tell by his face, Chad was not happy at first and then he was just plain scared. If you would have seen me, you would have thought I was about to barf all over him.

Right before Winter semester ended I got to go to lunch with my two favorite girls! It was the first time we had seen Jessi Cat since her mission..reunited and it feels so good!

As I am sure you all know, I hate the snow. I think I took this picture to remind myself that it could be pretty sometimes. This was seriously days before graduation...and I slipped on ice seconds after it was taken.

Chad and I tried to go see Mindy Gledhill but we missed her performance by minutes and got to see this lady instead. She wore ruby slippers, a crazy dress and a house on her head so I think we got our money's worth once we got our laughter under control. She even walked right up to people in the crowd and sang to us. Amazing.

And this is what happens when you take boys of any age to Macaroni Grill. Zombies, brains, blood...it's a mess.

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook came to BYU with Senator Hatch to speak to us. This was the first time ever that he had spoken to a University. Pretty cool, right? I especially loved that he sported the jeans and sweatshirt.

This is probably one of my favorites. One night while driving home from Salt Lake we decided to stop at a waffle house for some...waffles [obviously]. We were just sitting there minding our own business and i look across the table and this is what I see. So I turn around to see what the commotion is all about and there is a group of middle-aged women at a table with a whole bunch of these gothic dolls! They had special wigs and fancy cases and everything. It was maybe one of the creepiest, most fascinating things I have ever seen. We caused a total scene and could not get ourselves together after that. And the best part is that a few months later we were at the mall and we saw a couple shopping for engagement rings WITH their gothic doll. Apparently it's a thing?

This picture of the Salt Lake Temple is probably my number one background on my phone. I was lucky enough to be able to go to General Conference a few times while I lived in Utah and this was from October, when I was extra lucky because I got to see my hermana there too!

Tessa Sue and her cute family moved to Boston and we went out for one last hurrah before the big move. We NEVER take pictures of us together so I love this one, even if it is dark and blurry.

I came home from work on day to this scene going on in our bathroom. Just a little makeup, a toothbrush, and an empty carton of ice cream. Apparently Jann had a rough morning.

And this was my cute corner of our little loft area. I loved it so much. It got a lot cuter but sadly I never took a picture.

Okay fine, they might not be the best team and they might not have any money but our little family are huge Doyer fans! Last year I went with my dad and Sam to watch them play and to eat my yearly Dodger Dog [and ice cream in a Dodger hat, of course]. It was a perfect night!

I never got around to blogging about our little vacation to San Clemente last year but it was such a blast! Lots of cousins, late night trouble-making, walks to the pier, fires, and chronic tacos. We loved staying in our little mansion and visiting the places we love, including Grandma Posey's old house. Let's not worry about the odd band I have around my head. It's been a year, I'd like to think I am older and wiser now and that will never happen again.

If you made it this far, I am impressed.

Music from the Hundred Acre Wood

Today I have been listening to the new Winnie the Pooh soundtrack.
Those of you who know me well know that I love both Winnie the Pooh and Zooey Deschanel.
So imagine my excitement when I realized she would be working on the soundtrack!
I love it!
And in case you were wondering...
No, you are never too old for a little Winnie the Pooh.

So I'm in New York

Okay so on to July.
July has been an adventure as well.
I decided on a whim [a kind of stupid whim],
that maybe I should pack up and fly to New York.
So since July 3rd, that is where I have been.
I found a cheap place to stay for a month and decided, why not?
So yeah, I'm in New York

Now this is normally where I show you all of my exciting pictures
and talk about the fun adventures I have had so far.
But this is my blog so we are doing things different today.
To be honest, this probably wins the "worst vacation" award [if you can call it a vacation].
And if you can't call it a vacation,
then it wins the "worst idea" award.

My apartment does not have internet or air conditioning at the moment.
So every night I sleep with ice packs at my feet
and a miniature fan that blows what feels like warm wind in my direction.
Until I discovered my roommate's case of DVDs,
my only form of entertainment was a GQ magazine from November 2010
[which I have now read cover-to-cover more than once].
To keep myself sane, I make daily visits to Starbucks
where I can benefit from their free air conditioning and internet.
The downside is that I am pretty sure I permanently smell like coffee.
Life here gets lonely and I miss my family and friends more than I can even say.

Now that I have been such a downer, I've been trying to look for the positive too.
One of the first nights I was here a friend called to check in.
I was in my hot room feeling sorry for myself and recovering from a minor break down
when I decided I needed to think of something positive to say.
I looked around my room in search of some inspiration, and there it was.
All of a sudden I blurted out that at least I had a pretty door knob.
And it's true, I do have a beautiful door knob on my bedroom door.
I am lucky to have a good friend that kind of understood [or at least pretended to]
and congratulated me on my pretty door knob.

As ridiculous as it sounds, that door knob made me happy for a moment.
So since then I have tried to look at silly things like that when I need to forget the negative
and focus on the positive.

So here are a few more:
[1] I have quickly become a sudoku master while I have been here
thanks to long train rides and that being the only game on my phone I will play.

[2] Also, I am very safe.
There is one gate,
two chains,
three doors,
and four locks
just to get into my front door.

[3] The train I take home from the city goes to Flushing/Queens.
If you recall the theme song from The Nanny,
she was working in a bridal shop in Flushing, Queens.
It makes me smile at the thought of it every time I see the 7 train.

[4] The same Beatles cover band still plays every Friday night in the Times Square station,
and just yesterday a man at Columbus Circle played and sang the best version of Stand By Me ever.

[5] The people watching here never gets old. Never.
The other day on the train my phone was about to die so instead of playing sudoku, I watched.
Right next to me there was a group of women reading some writing on an envelope.
At first glance it just looked like something written down in Korean, but then I noticed some English.
They were trying to memorize the following three lines:
"I respect your need for rest and relaxation"
"I thought maybe you were a policeman in disguise"
"In danger, a sea cucumber cuts itself in two"
Ummmm...what?!?
I don't know what these ladies are up to where they would need to know these phrases,
but it sounds a little fishy [and they should probably stop].

[6] On a more serious note, I have some pretty amazing friends that help keep me positive.
Visitors and phone calls have been the highlight of my days here,
and my friend Lauren has gone out of her way to make me feel at home here in NYC.

[7] And church.
How lucky am I that I can go pretty much anywhere in the world and have a place to go that is constant and feels like home?
Pretty lucky I tell you.


Like you thought I would really go a blog post without at least one picture.

The 4th of July was my first full day here and Adi came from New Jersey to visit me because she's great like that.
I couldn't resist taking a picture of the fireworks next to the Harry Potter billboard.
It was a beautiful thing.
The only thing better was the little girl next to us that thanked her dad every two seconds
for taking her to see the beautiful fireworks and how much she loved him for taking her.
It was maybe the cutest thing I have ever seen
and made being squished like sardines with a bunch of sweaty people almost worth it.

That's it for July so far.
Hopefully the change from my usual upbeat blog posts doesn't alarm anyone.
But I realized that part of the reason I have this blog is to document my life
[it makes me feel better for being bad at keeping a journal].
And sometimes life doesn't always go as planned
or as wanted.
Right?
Right.
Glad we agree.

June in a blog post

Where has time gone?
It has been almost a month since my last blog post, but not because life hasn't been uneventful!
June was a month packed full of friends, family, weddings, birthdays & parties.
All of which required a lot of late nights, glittery hands, glue sticks, buckets full of flowers, baking frosting & hard work.
And it was all worth it!

First, we had Courtney & Eric's wedding!


It was such an amazing day and I am so happy for the cute couple!
Sadly, I did not end up with a shot of the newlyweds,
But I did get one of me and the beautiful bride enjoying some shave it.

Clearly this wins photo of the night,
Maybe even photo of the year:

[love and miss this girl so much. so glad I got to see her!]

Then this handsome boy turned 17!!
17 years old, people! can you believe it!?
And can you believe he is my BABY brother?
I know, it's crazy.

[hannah and i made him this gross, boy-looking cake]

Fast forward a few days and we had a lovely little backyard shower for Miss Anna.
It turned out so well and we are so happy for Anna and Jordan!



On top of all of these fun events and then some,
my mother dear was slaving away over lots and lots of gorgeous wedding flowers!
She really is quite incredible.
If I do say so myself.
Here are a few of my favorite pictures from some of her June weddings:






And......that was June!
[more or less]
And what a lovely month it was.
On to July?
Maybe tomorrow.