you know you're guilty

of doing this very thing: 

i know i am.

happy monday people

dance a little

thanksgiving in nyc

thanks to finishing up jury duty in time, i was able to go to new york for thanksgiving
and it did not disappoint!
sadly, i don't have many pictures to document the trip since everyone got sick after the first day.
a lot of time money we had planned to do fun things ended up being dedicated to extra sleep and lots of emergen-c.

but here are a few from the first night while i still had the energy to take out the camera:

lady gaga partnered with barney's and opened up a holiday workshop
there she is above cutting the ribbon with a giant pair of scissors

she took good care of us who braved the cold weather by sending cute mini cupcakes and cocoa
you can't really tell from the photos but the cocoa was topped with glitter!

chad and i in the workshop with our gaga treats

we were out and about in the city when i spotted this billboard across the street..
mathew gray gubler from criminal minds [i love him!]
the picture above was actually taken at the spiderman theater, which we happened to see
we also saw how to succeed in business and daniel radcliffe winked at chad from the stage
it was quite the experience
we ate way too much pizza at grimaldi's and chocolate at max brenner
saw justin beiber perform on the today show [although we couldn't hear him over the screaming]
enjoyed the holiday window displays
saw quite a few celebrities out on the streets
and walked in our soggy wet shoes until we couldn't walk any more

i also got to spend thanksgiving with some of my very favorite people
the nielsens were so kind and generous to invite chad and i to eat with them
and then i lost a coin toss and saw the muppet movie instead of breaking dawn
you win some, you lose some

chad and i had flights back around the same time
so once we got through the insane security lines, we had a farewell treat
which of course we had to document


new york, once again you treated me well

dental malpractice

yep, that's right. i was selected to be a juror for a dental malpractice trial and they didn't even try to get rid of me! i was quick to point out that my dad was a dentist and i had also worked in a dental and other doctor offices in the past. i knew there was no way they'd want me on their jury! well, i was wrong and that was the beginning of three and a half weeks of jury duty.

i doodled a lot in my notebook to stay awake, learned more than i could ever want to know about dental implants, made lots of friends in the other jurors, and listened to hours and hours of testimony from what seemed like an absurd amount of witnesses. speaking of witnesses, i decided that i need to become an 'expert' in something because one of the expert witnesses was paid twenty thousand dollars to testify for about an hour and a half!

during this time, i decided to go to new york for thanksgiving. the judge assured us the trial was coming to an end and would be over by thursday. I had a sunday night flight so i was feeling pretty good. until two surprise witnesses were called in and new evidence appeared out of thin air. closing arguments ended thursday afternoon which gave us only friday to deliberate if i was going to make my flight. no pressure. we almost didn't make it. we had a hung jury but after meeting with the judge and a little more deliberation, we came up with a verdict and presented it with just three minutes to spare!

everyone asks me if the dentist was innocent or guilty. that's how i thought it was going to work as well but actually, we were given a series of questions to answer and decided the punitive damages and percentage of responsibility for both the plaintiff and defendant. so really no one 'won' but the plaintiff did not come out with as much money as he wanted, which i was very happy about. half a million dollars for some teeth you didn't like does not seem fair to me, no sir.

i actually loved the experience. it was interesting to see how the whole process worked and our bailiff told us he had never seen a group of jurors get as long as well and have as much fun with each other as we did. i even got a thank you note in the mail from the judge just the other day. i'd love to do it again but hopefully next time i'll get something a little more exciting than dental malpractice. 

update: these pictures aren't that great but this is almost everyone from the jury. as you can tell, we took our deliberating very seriously...we brought treats and everything!  i loved these people! even if we were in the middle of the most stressful part of the three weeks...

 

playing catch up

I know you're all just dying to hear more about my jury duty experience but first, I have to play catch up to my catch up.
October!

I went to Utah and got to see this beautiful lady at Neena's wedding! Jann was a bridesmaid, made Neena's wedding dress, and threw some fabulous wedding decorations together at the last minute. What doesn't that girl do?

We fed goats and I kissed a horse. I also discovered I am in fact allergic to goats. Can't say I was too heartbroken over that one. I loved being in Utah and being able to spend time with some of my very favorite girls!

As soon as I got back from Utah Chad came to LA to shoot his first two commercials. Exciting, right? You can see them here and here. While he was in town we went to the UCB Theater (one of our NYC favorites) where we got to see Ben Schwartz, who some of you may know as Jean-Ralphio.

Third week as juror #3

Today I started my third week of jury duty. Yes, THIRD. You would think I was on a murder case or something exciting like that but really it's just a bunch of stubborn men who can't agree on anything so we have to make their decisions for them. Seriously. Once it's over and I can tell you all about it you won't believe they kept me on the jury.

I was a little grumpy about the possibility of being involved in a trial that could go until November 22nd but I have actually enjoyed most of it. It's interesting to see how it all works. I kind of feel like we're celebrities because whenever we walk in the courtroom everyone jumps out of their chairs and stands until we're all seated. I think that may have gone to some of our heads. And even though I am the youngest juror by many years, we all get along perfectly. Our bailiff, Frank, (who we also love because he tells us jokes) says that he hasn't seen any other group of jurors who get along like we do. They even took me out to lunch on my birthday!

We're hoping that if all goes smoothly we'll be deliberating by Thursday at the latest. Of course, that depends on whether or not the world's most ridiculous lawyer can contain his lengthy questions. If not, one of these days my pen is going to fly across the room and flick him in the forehead. It's bound to happen if it goes on too long because I have been holding myself back for two weeks now. Hopefully I'll last a few more days so we can wrap this thing up!

A handy tip for the easily distracted

It's been too long since I've blogged.
I blame it on the combination of being distracted (by nothing important or necessary)
and having nothing exciting going on in my life to report about.

I present to you a handy tip for those of you who are also easily distracted:

Don't you feel like you need to do this sometimes? Miranda July is brilliant.
This is a deleted scene from The Future, her movie I saw in January at the Sundance Film Festival

I knew I loved you before I met you

[for those of you who saw the juicy title of this post and are excited, i apologize ahead of time for the disappointment.]

If I had to sum my feelings for New York up in a song (or at least in a line from a song) it would be the 1999 Savage Garden gem, "I Knew I Loved You". And for those of you who were still in diapers at the time, the line is "I knew I loved you before I met you". When I was a little girl my biggest dream in the world was to go to NYC at Christmas, sit on a bench with hot cocoa, and watch people pass by with their shopping bags. I knew I would love it, I just knew it (which i realize now was a risky thing to commit to loving before I ever stepped foot into the city since people tend to either love it or hate it).

The Christmas after my first semester of college I flew from Salt Lake to LAX and met my mom, dad and sister. From there, the four of us headed for a big adventure in the big city (and for those of you worried about my brothers, we made it back before Christmas). It was everything I ever thought it might be, except a little colder. I was in love. New York and I just....fit.

And then I came up with a new dream, which was to work in New York. When that came true last spring, I fell even more in love with the city. I loved walking down the street in my business clothes and being a real person, not a tourist. When I went back in July I wasn't sure if it was going to be the same. For the first little while it wasn't but then one day after church I wandered over to Central Park and, bam! Just like that, it all came back. Oh New York, how could I have ever doubted our love for each other? Especially when I knew I loved you before I met you.