6 Months in Manhattan!!!

Today marks 6 months that I have LIVED in New York Freaking City, the city of dreams.  One thing I’ve learned about NYC is that it breaks you down, and it does so quickly.  Its strips your outer shell off and gets to your core.  It forces you to examine who you are, not who you’re pretending to be, not who you have been, not who you want to be, not who your parents know, not who your friends know; it forces you to really examine yourself for who you are in this very moment.  There is no hiding from what it reveals.  You can try to fight it, to protect yourself from dealing with the truth about yourself, but it won’t let you, you will inevitably cave. You should cave. You have to let New York work its magic on you, it may feel like black magic and suck the big one, but, I think there’s a method to its madness.  Living in New York is like living in the middle of the refiners fire.  Right now, I am in the middle of the heat, being melted and sculpted, I’m convinced this is as hot as it gets, but I’m sure I have a few more degrees before I start to take shape.  But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Somedays you feel like a shell of the person you used to be, the person you thought you were.  Those days are lonely days.  Its crazy to think that you could be so lonely when you’re in a city so big, full of so many different kinds of people, but it happens.  It happens a lot.  I don’t know what I would do without the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life.  I give so many kudos to young people who move to NYC on their own and literally know no one and have to start from scratch.  I already had a base built in because of the church in my life.  I joined all the Young Single Adult facebook groups before I stepped foot off the plane, I had some sort of community that I could crash, without having to figure out where to start.  I’m so thankful for that.  That is my favorite thing about the church, is that you have this built in community all over the world, not just in major metropolitan areas.  That’s so comforting.  I’m not saying you’ll click with everyone in that community, and that you’ll want to even be friends with them, but knowing that they’re there is  comforting.  Anyway, enough with the fluffy, mushy, boring stuff.  Let me recap my last 6 months for you.

NYC by the numbers

Number of Pizza Slices: 19

Number of Pizza places tried: 6

Number of Restaurant tried: under 10 ( this doesn’t include pizza, or delis, just sit down places)

Number of Cabs hailed:0

Number of Cabs taken: 5

Number of cars ridden in that wasn’t a cab :2

Number of buses taken: 200

Number of subway rides taken: 400+

Number of Boroughs I’ve been to: 4 (out of 5)

Number of times I’ve been lost: 13

Number of Jobs I’ve had: 5

Number of Jobs I’ve applied for: 300+

Number of times I’ve fallen: 1

Number of times I’ve tripped: Under 20

Number of dates I’ve gone on: 3 ( maybe, I’m not sure what they were)

Number of little crushes I’ve had: 3

Number of times I’ve made out with someone: 0

Number of time someone’s made out with my cheek: 1 ( refer to past blog post about quiet clubbing)
Number of Babies I fell in love with:1 ( Ari my lover)

Number of strangers I’ve hugged: 5

Number of People I've seen sleeping in public: 100+ ( I'm starting a People of the subway album)

Number of Broadway shows seen: 6      

Number of movies I’ve seen being filmed: 3

Number of movies in a theater I’ve seen: 2 ( Meet the Mormons & Imitation Game.  Dollar movies are of the past)

Number of times I’ve been to Central Park: 4 (Haven’t had time to go more, it’s a goal)

Number of homeless I’ve given money to: 10

Number of times I’ve panhandled: 1

Number of time’s I’ve been to the west side: under 20

Number of people I’ve yelled at on the subway: 1 ( it was a hard day)

Number of times I’ve cried in public: 10+

Number of ferry rides I’ve taken: 3

Number of wardrobe malfunctions: 3

Number of times I’ve been to the beach: 1

Number of times my phone broke: 1

Number of times my credit card # was stolen: 1

Number of times I forgot my umbrella:13

Number of times I’ve bought an umbrella: 3

Number of Shoes I’ve gone though: 2

Number of new shoes I need: 5

Number of miles I’ve walked: 400+

Number of Chobani yogurts I’ve eaten: 32

Number of visit to Rice to Riches: 5

Number of time paid for over priced, over ripe food: everyday

Number of times I questioned if I should be here: my whole first month

Number of times I knew I shouldn’t be back in Utah: my last 5 months

Number of times I wish my best friends were here: ALL THE TIME

This is just a small sampling of some of my NYC highlights.  Hopefully more great ones to come.

Much love,

Lolo

Sending love from the Big Apple

Meet Me in Montauk

So I’ve made a list which is in no way exhaustive of things I want to do in life and places I want to go, a bucket list if you will.  That’s exactly what it is, I titled it “Bucket List.”  Anywho, I am focusing on my New York City bucket list….Why?  Because I moved her 6 months ago and haven’t seen much.  Holy crap six months, that sounds like it deserves its own blog post….so that will be coming soon ( yay you have something to look forward too!)  

Montauk Lighthouse

One of the places on my BL ( bucket list) is Montauk, New York.  I was talking to a friend, and Montauk was on his list too (I later looked at his list and have since stolen half of it making my list way longer than seems doable.) So I decided to crash his one person trip to Montauk last weekend and we made it a group thing because there were other crazies who wanted to go to this fabulous summer destination in the middle of winter with us.

*Side Note:  Reason why I wanted to go to Montauk

10 years ago I was watching the Bachelor and Charlie O’Connell’s family had a house in Montauk and they went there for a hometown date or something and it was in the winter, and then I was like, “ I want to go to Montauk”.  Not the most sophisticated of reasons, but ever since that episode its been stuck in my mind.

So Saturday morning we made the drive to Montauk.  Thankfully one of my friends has a cute little Mini Cooper and super bad ass driving skills and drove us 2 ½ hours to Montauk instead of a 4hr public transport time, which meant more time to explore…or get lost.  To get to Montauk you have to go through the Hamptons.  Yes THE Hamptons, like white party, straight out of “Revenge” Hamptons. 

Tons of cute little, expensive shops, and thrift and antique stores.  But, everything was kind of vacant.  I know the rich people had to be somewhere, but they weren’t venturing out in the cold.  They probably have bowling alleys and movie theaters in their beach house mansions.  We got to Montauk and lost track of each other, there were 8 of us so it was easy to go off in multiple directions.  A few of us went the opposite way of the Montauk lighthouse (my bad) and walked along the shore for probably 2 miles.  Just taking in nature and reveling in the fact that this revitatlizing views was just outside the concrete jungle we live in.  We took our shoes off and let the sand squish through our toes with no fear of gross subway germs attacking our skin.  We walked in silence at times until we came across something dead and then of course I would have to shriek and run over to investigate it.We came across some interesting dead things that I was quite excited about.  I almost took one of the giant finds home for a mantel piece, it was so cool and alien like.  I was like a 5 year old running around on the beach ( well walking, because I couldn’t run in sand if my life depended on it.), was so excited to look at everything, it was like I had never even grew up going to the beach all the time.

It was also a very emotional experience.  I hadn’t been on a beach since before my mission, since before my moms parents were both alive.  My grandma collected seashells and had them for decorations in her bathroom.  I thought of all my memories with them as I came across all the little shells on the beach and it hit me that I’ll never see them again in this life.  Their presence was very strong with me, and I slightly held out both of my hands and pretended to walk between them and talked to them about my accomplishments, my fears, and asked them for their help.  I felt their love so strongly, and it really was the first time that I have spent grieving both of their deaths.  I could have walked alone for hours with them by my side, but I didn’t want to seem like a crazy person, so I rejoined the boys I was with before they got worried that I was talking to myself too close to the water.

Dylan and I

Cam and I- The original ones with Montauk on our BL's

Me Reveling

After our exploring of the beach, we thought it’d be appropriate to go eat some seafood.  Everything was closed, but we finally saw some people who directed us to a little fish mongering shack and said that if we hunt the owners down they’ll make us some lobster rolls.  When we arrived they took us back through their clear butcher curtains, past their “workshop” and sat us down on some patio furniture that they had set up in the back of their shop, with a space heater and some rockin 80’s music on the boom box in the corner.  Simple menu, simple food, expensive prices, couldn’t get much more authentic.  We sat there and took in the simple-ness of our surroundings and our great company and felt very thankful.

Charles, Daryl, and Moi at Dureyas

Shaylee, Emily, Danielle, and Dylan ( Cam taking pic)

Afterwards it started snowing so we made our way home, but not before driving down a few streets in the Hamptons to look at the big mansions.  A few hours later we were back in the city, soaked and ready to get back to our fast paced lives.  It was a wonderful day trip, with wonderful people.

Quote of the Trip

“I knew you weren’t prim, proper, and wholesome right when I  met you”- Emily Arnold to Me

*Emily said this to me after saying my hair looked like “sex hair” in one of my pics, and she knew I wouldn’t be offended by her saying that to me.  She was right, I wasn’t, I took it as a compliment.
Much Love,
Lolo

Happy New Year