When Worlds Meet

Speaking of 90s shows . . .

For Nate's Birthday I gave him the first three seasons of Boy Meets World with a card that read, "I'm so glad that you're my Boy and that our Worlds met!"

My Boy...

Happy 27 Nathan DEAR!

107 on 3.2.2011

"The Franky Fantabulous Theodore Seuss Geisel"
A. K. A. Dr. Seuss!!
Happy Birthday Doc!

In honor of the Seussical man himself, take this quiz to test your Dr. Seuss knowledge.

I'm a Good Girl, I am!

My beautiful mother sent me My Fair Lady for my birthday this year. There's a special place in my heart for Eliza Doolittle, or should I say Audrey Hepburn. If she doesn't inspire you to be a lady, I don't know what will. Recently I read a talk about being refined. If you enjoyed The Gospel Vision of the Arts, you will love Your Refined Heavenly Home by Douglas Callister. In the talk it mentions an interview had with Audrey Hepburn about her role in the movie.

"I once had opportunity to visit briefly with Audrey Hepburn, the great actress of days gone by, at the time she was making the movie My Fair Lady. She spoke of the opening scene in the movie in which she depicted a modest, unpolished flower girl. Her face had been besmirched with charcoal to make her seem part of her surroundings. “But,” she said, with a twinkle in her eye, “I was wearing my Chanel perfume. Inside I still knew I was a lady.” It doesn’t take expensive perfume to make a lady, but it does require cleanliness, modesty, self-respect, and pride in one’s appearance."

"Dear daughters of God, you are the crown jewels of all of His creations. There has never been a sunset, symphony, or work of art as lovely as you. May you catch the vision that you are destined to be a refined and regal queen, honored by an uncountable posterity, worlds without end."--Callister

"The difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she is treated. "--Eliza Doolittle, My Fair Lady

Have your Cake and Eat it TOO!

Warning: Excessive amounts of food displayed in the following photos (and all photos are from phones that aren't smart phones). Don't judge the birthday girl!

The office provided Magnolia Bakery's Red Velvet Cake for my b-day. Scrumptious!

Nate and I went to Rosa Mexicana for my birthday dinner and this was their amazing tres leche.

Saturday morning I ventured to Tribeca and Soho with three of my favorite new yorkers for some sour cream pancakes. Bubby's was bomb!

Rach & Kellene

Kim & Anna

In Honor of Fashion and My Birthday

Models performed at the Moncler Grenoble Fall 2011 fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Grand Central Terminal for Rachael Lauritzen's birthday on February 13, 2011 in New York City.

Had I know that they were holding that lovely event for me I would have been there! You know me, I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff, but I had a prior engagement. I was having the time of my life blowing out candles for the first time since I was a youngster. In fact, I almost forgot when the singing stopped that I was supposed to blow out the candles. I clapped like I always do for all of the one year old friends I've made in my day and then realized that I had a job to do. Don't worry, I got 'er done! Thanks to all who made my day memorable

Hello Goodbye March

Anne Hathaway

Madonna

Valentino

March has been crazy to say the least. Nate's parents came the last week in Feb. through the first week of March. We had a great time with them. They stayed with us for a few days and then they stayed at a hotel the last couple of days and enjoyed themselves inside from the cold while Nate and I worked. We had fun going to visit them both nights. They spoiled us for sure. My favorite part was watching the Bachelor in bed with them. I'd never seen it before but we couldn't miss the finale. It was a good week for them to visit because Nate got off at a decent hour most nights.

The next couple of weeks went by. Then, on the 13th my mom and brothers Jake and Josh came to visit. It was a long trip for them, but it kind of needed to be because Nate and I worked a lot while they were here and we did most of our fun stuff with them on the weekends. They loved the city, didn't love our 5 flights of stairs, but the stairs are good for us all. We spent most of our time in Time Square or 5th Ave near 59th st where FAO Schwarz is. Jake and Josh loved that store and Jake picked up a new hobby while he was here..Myachi or something. Like a hand hakki-sack. We went ice skating in Central Park, saw Shrek on Broadway, gave Nate a mini surprise b-day (nothing tops Nate's surprise party last year with all of his friends...but we tried to make it special for him), and on his birthday we went to the Olive Garden. That night we took a different way home, accidentally got off the subway a stop early and ended up back at the plaza hotel by 59th and 5th ave again where I said we spent a lot of our time. It was nearly midnight when I noticed Oprah's friend Gale King standing across the street from us waiting to get into her car. Then Nate noticed all of the paparazzi and we went over to see what was going on. We stood around for a bit and different people kept coming out. Rumor was that Madonna and Gwen Staffani were inside. Sure enough we saw Madonna, Anne Hathaway, Valentino, and lots of models and stars that we weren't as familiar with. Nate turned into a paparazzi and he was even comparing his pictures with all of them. It was hilarious! He enjoyed himself "thoroughly!" Anyone who knows Nate knows that "thoroughly" is one of his favorite words that he uses a little too often. My mom and I just laughed as Nate suddenly mustered up enough energy to stalk famous people and get autographs of Russian models that he didn't even know. (and he won't let me throw away that model's autograph...like he knows her? She said "ooh Nathan!" with her accent and it bothered me because she liked the attention a lot! hehe But Anne Hathaway is a doll! And Valentino really is tan! holy moly. We had fun. Josh was bored out of his mind, but waited patiently. He isn't pictured too much above but he was so cute and fun to be with while he was here. Jake and Josh had their brotherly moments, but that's life. Josh loved loved China Town! He bought tons of stuff. Jake & I on the other hand weren't such fans but for different reasons. Some dumb China woman kicked me out of her store very rudely because I couldn't decided fast enough what I wanted.

Overall, we were very blessed to have our families come to visit! We've been in the city almost 8 months. Time flies when you are having fun!...well not all of this time has flown but we're growing and learning a lot. This week I had a couple of days off because the Gibsons went to Puerto Rico. I can't wait to see Sadie in the morning and see how their trip was. I finally went and got my pedicure that they gave me for my b-day. It was fun! I'd never had one before. How lame am I?

This upcoming weekend my cousin Kristen is moving to Pennsylvania to nanny so we are planning a weekend get away to go visit her and my aunt and uncle. IT should be fun to rent a car and take a roadtrip. I love Nathan! He's a sweetheart. We've enjoyed our weekend together.

The Details...

Last Friday was my 21st birthday. I wasn't sure how to feel about turning 21 and when I woke up that day I wasn't excited at all. Then, I went to work. When I got to Sadie's house (the baby that I nanny for) Kristi-Lynn (her mom) said, "Don't look in the kitchen yet. Sadie has a surprise for you!" So I waited until they were ready before I went to see my surprise. They were so sweet! They had decorated with balloons and a happy birthday sign, and they even got me Tulips! Very pretty. Kristi-Lynn had lit 3 candles on my mini cheesecake (that was heavenly!) and her and Sadie sang to me. It was fun. Then I opened my presents which were a new laundry backpack (which is amazing for hauling loads of laundry up and down flights of stairs! ) and they gave me a gift certificate to get a pedicure (which I've never had in my life, so I'm thrilled). Kristi-Lynn, Brett, and Sadie put a lot of effort into making my birthday special. Sadie even made me a purple card with her cute little footprints on it. I love it! She is over 12lbs now which is pretty exciting news. So thanks to the Gibsons for brightening my morning. Later that day I received a text from Nathan saying to be ready by 7 because he had a surprise. I met him at Grand Central around 7:30 and he gave me a dozen roses! They were pink, coral, and an orange-ish color. Loved them! We proceeded to walk to time square and he handed me tickets to Mary Poppins on broadway! We loved the show. There were a couple of parts that were different from the movie (of course), but it was fabulous. We especially loved the Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious scene!! After the show Nate bought me a Mary Poppins snowglobe! I've decided to collect snowglobes and he is collecting mugs! One day when we have a house we want to have a New York/Memorabilia room for all of our fun stuff that we get out here. After the show Nate took me to dinner at Chevys in Time Square. We've been wanting to go there for a while. So that was friday night. On Saturday Nate and I went to an early movie 11:40 am and saw Confessions of a Shopaholic. I totally loved it and I think Nate enjoyed it as well. We ran errands and were out all day, so we took our chances with getting into Serendipity...(yes like the movie...one of my favorites!) We had a 2 hour wait and went shopping in the mean time. When we got back we were able to get right in. It was perfect and we had lots of fun just being together. We shared a delicious "Forbidden Broadway Sundae," and on our way out we bought another "snowglobe" as my Valentine's present. In the morning before we left I gave Nate his present. It's a cute red mug with the words "Yes Dear" on it(a mug of course..we're so silly, but we love each other!). Overall, we just loved spending so much time together. We love our weekends together now. I'm sure glad tomorrow is Friday again!!! I love you Nathan. Thanks for celebrating all weekend with me and making it so much fun. I love you!!!

Happy Happy Birthday Rachael Dear!

I not only had an amazing birthday, but I had an amazing weekend. I'll explain later, but for now the pictures say it all!

Not such a good blogger anymore!

Me & the birthday girl, Melissa!

Most of the Party

Yuhi, Shannon, & I

So Its been quite some time since I've blogged regularly. We are alive and well! Haven't really slept much for some reason...don't quite know why. We're working on this one. Just some updates. We have been called to be the CTR 5 teachers at church. We're enjoying it and look forward to teaching the group of kids that we have. They are cute and Nate is great with the kids. Also, I have been at my new job for about 3 weeks now and I'm loving it. Little Sadie is just precious and I love taking care of her. I couldn't have been blessed with a more perfect job. I'm very grateful for the way things have come together. Also, I've started school online which has been a really neat experience. I still get to feel the "Spirit of Ricks" without actually being there in Idaho. (And I've heard that it has snowed like crazy this winter in Idaho, so I'm happy to have the frigid NY winter without much snow. ) Being an online student is very different though. I already sometimes wonder why I decided that I wanted to finish school...cause its so much work. I went from having nothing to do in New York to lots to do. Gotta love it! I guess you could say that Nate has started busy season work. He usually gets home anytime from 8-11 at night. Luckily I have lots to do now! Last weekend a couple in our ward had a birthday party at a place in Time Square called Dave and Busters. It's like a big Chuck E Cheeses for grown ups. Nate had a blast playing basketball and Deal or No Deal at the arcade. We had a good time, despite the fact that they almost didn't want to let me in cause I'm not 21 yet! That was a little embarassing. When I told the guys at the door that it was okay cause I wouldn't be drinking and neither would any of our party he looked at me and laughed. They let me in because almost everyone else was 25 or older, but it will just sound better to say that I am 21. No worries...birthdays are coming up for Nate and I. Which means we've almost been married for a year and half. These are some pictures from the party.