ed sheeran at hotel cafe

in january my dear cousin brought it to my attention that ed sheeran had an la show coming up

if you haven't heard of him, he is a british singer-songwriter

and he's amazing.

shocked that i had let such a thing go unnoticed i rushed home to buy tickets

and it was sold out. 

sold out! 

a few days later i found out he'll be touring the states with snow patrol

but my heart was still set on his smaller gig in la where he'd be headlining.

well, i lucked out and got tickets to see him

and he did not disappoint!

 

[here he is on stage at hotel cafe]

words can't really describe how good his show was.

he was funny and serious and loud and quiet and a million other good things all rolled into one! 

 his music [which i don't think i have gone to sleep without listening to since i discovered him]

was even better live than on his album.

and boy can that kid use a loop pedal.

i was so happy i got to see him in such a small, intimate venue instead of on tour

at one point he even came out and stood in the middle of us,

spinning around and around while he sang.

  

[me & ed. i think i was shocked by the flash]

so ladies and gents, the moral of this story is...

do yourself a favor and check this guy out

you won't be sorry

back to december

we started december off with a bang by having the ward christmas party in our backyard. 

hosting a "night in bethlehem" at our home has been my mom's dream for years 

so despite all the stress and work it took to get ready, it was totally worth it. 

i am pleased to announce that it all went off without a hitch 

and she is even entertaining the idea of doing it again.

 

everyone came and set out blankets to eat and socialize. 

we had the coolest booths set up for food, dessert, candle and bead making, etc. 

and of course, a night in bethlehem wouldn't be complete without a rabbi to tell stories! 

one of my favorite parts was the angels up in the treehouse with the spotlight. 

it was magical.

 

this is probably one of my favorite photos of the night. 

we had a petting zoo with baby miniature goats and lambs

he was obsessed with the sheep--too cute!

 

the donkey we tried to book had another gig that night [seriously, he did]

so we settled for this little guy instead

i had literally worked all day so my definition of "bethlehem attire" was haphazardly throwing on 

a coat and a few scarves over my workout clothes. 

not quite as convincing as i had hoped it would be.

 

the absolute best part was ending the party with a live nativity.

goats, sheep, donkey/mini horse, shepherds, wisemen, angels, real baby...

the whole deal.

 

after the nativity all the little kids ran up to the manger, wanting to meet baby jesus.

it was the cutest thing to see their faces!

 ...............................................................

 after the ward party was over, it was a race to get ready for christmas!

we celebrated the holiday in utah this year since we had a lot of big events happening up there.

 

of course there was a lot of baking going on...

[best when done late at night while in your pajamas or a santa apron]

 

sometimes christmas can just be so overwhelming...

a few meltdowns occurred, but none as cute as this one!

who can resist running for their camera when such sad and pathetic cuteness is happening?

.................................................

our cousin jessie got married just two days after christmas

so there was lots of partying going on

 

some of my cute cousins at the reception

 

we're all so happy for jessie & kelly

[even if the photo booth man could not be convinced jessie was the bride and kelly was the groom]

 .................................................

fast-forward two days and we were at the salt lake temple again 

for the wedding of one of my oldest and dearest friends 

i was so excited i could be there with them

 

when we were growing up, jenni was always sure about two things:

1. she wasn't they marrying type

&

2. if she did get married, she would have an absolutely gigantic and gorgeous ring

at least she was right about one of them!

[i had to document it because her selective memory didn't believe she would have said such a thing]

 

and here i am with the happy couple

the official third wheel!

but i am sure glad jen got such a good second wheel

i wouldn't have let her go through with it if i didn't think he was absolutely perfect! 

...............................................

and that, my friends

was december

in a nutshell.

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!