Un Attimo, Per Favore.

Yesterday Stewart came home from his LDS Mission in Long Beach, CA. Here are some pictures from the day:

Puddin’ Head is Stewart’s nickname (his hair looks like swirl pudding cups with his blonde patches). The back of the Puddin’ Head poster said…

Siblings reunited! We wish Amber could have been there…

Telling mission stories while going to baggage claim.

KT and Stew comparing their hips. Their legs were the same length when Stew left. KT’s are longer now.

One day after work I went to Central Park. I climbed up Pride Rock….err, Umpire Rock…(it reminds me of Lion King, okay) to watch corporate sport teams play kickball and softball.

As I began to eat dinner a boy who appeared to be 7 years-old caught my attention. He looked dapper with a green hoodie, black leather jacket, skinny jeans, and neon shoes. The boy and his father started climbing the rockface. About 10 minutes later his mom and sister came into view. They starting speaking Dutch to each other, I’m guessing to communicate the mom and sister would wait for the dad and son to climb down.

After the conversation, the mom turned around to watch the sport teams. The little boy quickly climbed down and began to wave through the trees sneaking closer to his mother. His sister saw what he was doing smiled and shook her head. The mom saw the sister shake her head, turned around, and when she thought she’d catch him he hid behind another tree. Looking puzzled she walked closer to the tree she thought he was behind. The boy stealthily snuck behind his mother, grabbed her and said, “Boo.” The mom screamed, turned around, laughed and said something to the effect of, “You got me good.”

I began to laugh uncontrollably, and this moment made it’s place as one of my “Top 5 people Watching Moments in NYC.”

Year 23 was full of change, adventure, food, friends, family and jokes.

It began by eating a birthday burger and french fries on April 22, 2012. From there I became cultured through countless museums, lectures and spending time in the UES, met countless people who are living their dream and inspired me to live mine, began working at the Manhattan temple as an ordinance worker and cleaning supervisor, strengthened my relationship with God and Christ, purchased a round-trip bus ticket from NYC to DC for $2, ate the best burger in my life (so far) at Ray’s Hell Burger in Virginia, sat court side at the US Open, took a road trip with 2 incredible people Upstate (saw Niagara Falls, went to Canada, paid 50 cents to cross the boarder back to ‘merica, saw several church history sites, learned to SUP), played tour guide for friends and family, trained for a marathon with Brenda, ran a half-marathon, flew first class (for the first, and most likely only time, in my life), spent ample time Puerto Rican Sneakin’ with Holls, assisted with the Hurricane Sandy cleanup efforts in Long Island, ran countless miles through Manhattan, ate my way through Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and Hoboken, quit my job in public relations (three times), moved to Portlandia, had a Goonies roadtrip with the fam, moved back to NYC, stuffed envelopes for a non-profit, worked as a secretary at a hedge fund, became a nanny, began working at Bumble, realized my dream and began relentlessly pursuing it.

A special shout-out to the MVPs of this year:

• Mia Familia - Pops, Mama, Amber, Stewie and DD. Y’all are the best.
• Holls - For teaching me all you need in life is good food, friends, and jokes…and for being my go-to adventure bud.
• Brenda - Girl, you are too good to me.
• Mark, Zach and Sara - For making public relations fun, inventing carrot ball, for the after work nacho nights, and for being premium people.
• All of my friends, and those whom I’ve met this year - Thank you for the adventures and laughs.
  

Here’s to another year. Love y’all to the moon.