Revlon Run/Walk

Isa and I woke up before the sun this morning, and we found ourselves in Times Square at 6:45am. Do you realize how early that is? We haven't been up at that hour since our trip to Australia, and that time it was forced upon us. Needless to say, we are not morning people.

But we did it today for several reasons. The main one, I guess, is to cure cancer. But seeing Matthew Bomer (from White Collar) and Jessica Alba (:)) - it's hard to put a smiley face in parenthesis - but anyway, seeing all the celebrities and all-you-can-eat Dunkin Donuts and lots of free shwag, all that stuff helped too. But still, it was early. And cold. (And my phone said the weather was going to be "Sunny and Delightful." Have you ever heard a weather report say delightful?)

Isa and I participated in the 14th annual Revlon Run/Walk to help cure breast cancer. It's a 5k trek from Times Square up through Central Park, with lots of festivities before and after the race. It ended up being a good thing we got there so early, because we were front row at the stage to see all the celebrities, with 25,000 people standing behind us.

I took pictures of all the celebrities, which were too many to put them all in here (they're all on my facebook album, if you want to see them) but here's the list:

• Karen Duffy (ex-MTV vj), 
• Matt Bomer (Neil Caffrey from White Collar - Isa's not-so-secret crush)
• Dr. OZ (who, it turns out, is a real doctor, although he also plays one on TV)
• Nate Berkus (something about interior design and Oprah - I think he's the male version of Martha Stewart)
• Jessica Beil
• With musical guest, Keyshia Cole
• Jimmy Fallon!! (hysterical)
• and Jessica Alba (who I didn't realize I had a crush on until I saw her and freaked out like a little girl who just saw Justin Bieber, especially when she looked straight at me and melted my heart:)

My zoom isn't very good, but she's definitely looking at me.
Or at the teleprompter above my head. But I think it was me.

And I guess, to be fair, because this is everything Brisa, not just about me, here's Matt Bomer:

I didn't zoom in on him.

Jimmy Fallon led us in a countdown to the start of the race, and confetti cannons went off and soon the whole square looked like a party:

It really was incredible to see this many people walking.

And people were still crossing the finish line 25 minutes later.

After the race, we wandered around the bandstand area of Central Park and picked up free Veggie Chips, Pop Chips (soo good!), Hint Water, lipstick, pens, and lots of other random stuff. And then we happened upon a secret area labeled "Survivors." Which, you probably don't know because I rarely tell anybody, I am. This secret area gave us totebags, a rose, chocolate-filled croisants, cereal, granola bars, and even more goodies, our favorite being these expensively delicious cupcakes:

Mmmmm.....

Yeah, so overall, it was a pretty good morning. And hopefully the donations given today will help find a cure for cancer (have you heard about Halaven, btw? Pretty exciting stuff!)

If you'd like to donate, click this link. Or just text WALK to 50555 to donate $10 to fight women's cancers. 

Cupcakes

For Isa's book cover design course, she had to design a cover for an anthology. She decided to do it on the cupcake craze. So she used her mad photoshop skillz to create the coolest cupcake book cover ever:

Would you not seriously buy that book as soon as you saw it? I would.

And then, much to the happiness of my belly, she made cupcakes. :)

Isn't she amazing? :) Love her!

Springtime in the City

It hit 80 degrees yesterday, and high 70's today. I love right now. :)

Are these tulips?

I've been eating lunch at Madison Square Park the last few days because it's been so nice out. And because the park is super pretty right now.

And they just installed a huge sculpture, called Echo:

They tell me it'll be finished tomorrow and look even better, but I didn't want to wait to post it. Plus I wanted to write about it on my other blog. It's surprisingly serene. I ate my lunch directly in front of her today, and her calm demeanor really made the park feel even more peaceful than normal. Go Jaume Plensa for sculpting that.

In other news, Isa finished her paper and is moving ever so closer to the end of the semester and free time. We're exactly three weeks away from Las Vegas. We ate nachos tonight. And Heritage Field has grass on it!!!!

Can I tell you how badly that makes me want to play baseball?!

My Volleyball

Have you seen my volleyball?

It's about this big.

Last time I saw it, it was over there.

That was about 3 o'clock.

and for an added bonus, get ready for the smolder.

Modeling and Music

Why, hello. I didn't see you there. Come in. Make yourself comfortable. Don't mind me, I'm just going to stand here and let you stare at my amazing biceps and washboard abs clean white shirt.

Isa's latest school project was to direct a photo shoot. She had to bring attention to a white shirt. She needed a model, and although there may be plenty of other options here in New York, she settled on chose me! What I think is amazing is how she was able to photoshop the background (below) completely out (above). What else is amazing is my Blue Steel impression:

We have to do the shoot again, and maybe then I'll do the Volleyball routine for you (it's a story to help us beginner models run through various poses). It's pretty epic.

And if you'd like to stare at me for a little longer, browse through the music player over there. Isa and I updated it and added lots of new material. Our two personal favorites are "Christmas TV" by Slow Club (if you watch Chuck on NBC, you'll know this song and you may begin to cry. I do - @1:30) and "I See the Light" by Mandy Moore and Chuck (Zachery Levi) from Tangled (which, if you haven't seen, you should buy it right now), which somehow also makes me teary-eyed with all the lanterns flying around. Man, I need to man-up or something. Football! Monster trucks! Yeah.

Awww. :)

Yesteryear Easter

My mom and I chatted for awhile today. My grandpa has been in the hospital recently (he's fine though) and so she went to visit him a couple days ago and just got back to Sitka. She sent him these pictures (and forwarded them to me) to cheer him up this Easter since he's still in the hospital and working to revive his memory. I loved the set of pictures and so I wanted to share them.

My Aunt Lori (left) and my mom on Easter.

My Grandma Carolyn on Easter.

Me dying Easter eggs.

Easter Sunday

Happy Easter!!

The Easter Bunny stealthily dropped off a little surprise for Isa this morning. She never saw it coming. (Well, she kinda guessed last night when she found all the candy in the kitchen, but whatever.)

We had a delicious breakfast with the family up in Woodlawn (that's pretty much the northernmost part of the Bronx) at my Nana's house. Eggs, sausages, potatoes, bacon, and orange juice. We ate so much. MMMmmm.

Then we took pictures. I didn't get one of the whole clan, maybe I'll put it up when I get it from Dad or something, but here are a few taken with my camera (you can click them to see the larger image if you want):

All the grandkids (and 2 great grandkids) with Nana.

There are a bunch more grandkids that couldn't make it this time, including both my brothers and their families. Oh well. Next year.

Dad, Mary Anne, Isa and Brian

Baby Olivia (and mom Kimberly)

After pictures, the little ones ran around to find the eggs that my cousin Rich, Isa, and I hid earlier. There may or may not still be one hidden somewhere in the yard. We hid 15, but only 14 were found. But we checked all the hiding spots we could remember and they were all found. I suppose they'll be able to find it by smell in a few weeks if we missed one.

Isa's name kinda got rubbed off in the leaves and mulch it was hidden under. :)

So happy easter everybody! Hope you had a great day! Did you do anything special today?

I love Saturdays

Saturdays are my one day to sleep in, relax, and do nothing. (And by "nothing" I of course mean laundry, errands, cleaning, etc.) Thanks to my lists, I was super productive today:

• Make Brownies (notice how this was first on the list)
• Groceries (all the candy was $1 at Target!!)
• Shower (it has to be on the list if I want it to get done)
• Finish Part 1 of the Secret Project (Getting excited about this!)
• Laundry
• Clean Everything (almost)
• Dishes

And as I was coming back from doing the laundry, the people next door to us were moving out, and they asked if we wanted some furniture. So we got new furniture!!

A place for all our games.

We're going to put pictures up on that top shelf. :)

More shelves for the bedroom!

I can't believe that fit in our bedroom. 

Seriously, there's not even an inch to spare on that wall now.

Isa worked and made that paper, you know how she do, yo. Word. And then we hung out tonight and watched some Cougar Town and Glee over a little Chicken Caesar Salad I whipped up while she did some homework.

Look at us, so productive on a Saturday. And now we're going to bed because we have an early morning tomorrow. Easter with the family! See you tomorrow with a pic explosion of cousins in pastel colors.

Happy Good Earth Friday

I don't see what the problem is. We can have two holidays on the same day. Good Friday being the day Jesus died, and Earth Day, I suppose, being the day the Earth was born (April 22 seems like as good a birthday as any). Look how well they go together:

I read a lot of posts and status updates today about people complaining that everyone was talking about Earth Day and nobody was focusing on Jesus or remembering that he atoned for our sins today. But honestly, do we ever focus enough on the Savior? Don't we hear the same thing every Christmas? "It's too commercial... Remember the reason for the season..." I think it's kind of a joke that some people only go to church on Christmas and Easter. It's like only telling your wife "I love you" on Valentine's Day and her birthday. It takes a little more consistency to prove that you really mean it. If you really want to show your love for the Savior, keep His commandments every day.

So who cares if you didn't post on Facebook that you were thinking about Jesus? How are we to know they're not saying a silent prayer? I thought about Earth Day more than Good Friday today. Does that make me a bad Christian? What if I told you my wife and I went to the Temple last night? Would that change your opinion? Surely, showing your love for the Savior means much more than merely professing it, and doing something for Earth Day is a perfect way to show you care.

So it's awesome that so many people are thinking about Earth Day. I mean, who gave us the earth? If we take care of it, it's showing Jesus our gratitude for His gift to us. To me, it's great that Earth Day and Good Friday fell on the same day this year. What better way to show our love for Jesus than by renewing our efforts to live a greener lifestyle, which blesses the lives and well-being of everyone on earth? We're doing a huge service to all mankind, and to the wonderful world He's created for us.

You should help New York by planting or donating a tree. 

We love trees here in the City. :)

What I don't understand is how we can have two holidays on the same day, one of them religious and the other one a global holiday, and yet I still had to go to work today. :(

Evann and Mom

Evann and her mom are in New York City for a few days and Isa and I met up with them today for lunch. All morning I thought, "Awesome, I can post about Evann tonight. We'll go out to eat, we'll take a picture, I'll write about it." We chatted and had a good time and all, but we all forgot to take a picture. So I scoured her facebook and stole my favorite:

Evann is awesome. She was one of my interns in Del Sol Juneau. She's gone on to work in Key West and Savannah, GA. She's so much fun to hang out with. One of my favorite hikes in Juneau was with her and Kendra up to the ice caves:

So... Lunch! We went to Cosi. We love Cosi!! I usually get the Chicken Parmesan Melt. Isa gets the TBM (Turkey-Balogna-Mushrooms, I can never remember what it stands for).

We had a lot of fun giving them as many ideas of things to do as a tourist. Mainly Times Square, Central Park, and Top of the Rock. Oh yeah, and a little (ok, not so little) Harry Potter exhibit (Evann loooves Harry Potter), complete with a sorting hat, quaffle throw on a quidditch pitch, and Hagrid's Hut where you can sit in his chair and everything! So yeah. Go there. :)

So yay! We love Evann. :)

ps: Isa just told me it's a Tomato-Basil-Mozzarella. Yummers!

Megamind Movie Review

Movies in the mailbox. Love it.

What a yummy cast this movie had. Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, Brad Pitt, and David Cross (Tobias from Arrested Development). We absolutely loved Tina Fey as an animated character. (We love her anyway from 30 Rock). 

So, basic plot: Megamind is a good-hearted bad guy (like Dr. Horrible) and Metro Man is the city's hero, and Megamind's nemesis, and Tina Fey is "the girl" (try to say that in a googly-eyed, love-struck tone). In a surprising twist, Megamind defeats Metro Man, but gets bored that there's nobody to fight. So he creates a new hero to fight against - Jonah Hill.

The movie is full-on entertaining the whole way through. We both loved the stories and all the twists. One of my favorite parts was after Megamind took over the city and put up these posters:

Seriously, how clever is that?

So, we recommend it. For sure. If you haven't seen it, you really should.

Lists

My friend Natalie made a list today of things she wants to get done this year. On that list, she mentioned how she wants to get back in the habit of making lists. And I totally agree with her. Because if it's not written down, it doesn't get done. At least not for me.

I have a one-track mind and the attention span of those dogs on Up.

Squirrel!

...

I get distracted so easily. Like today when I came home and sat on the couch, I stared at my facebook page and thought, "I really thought I was going to be productive tonight, but I can't think of anything I was going to do." Finishing the next homework assignment honestly NEVER crossed my mind, neither did calling people for cub scouts tomorrow or working on our Secret Project (which you'll hear more about in the future. Maybe). But then I remembered something: my list. And that's how the dishes got done today and the kitchen got cleaned and the people got called and the Project moved forward. Somehow I still managed to not do my homework, though. Oh well.

When I leave the house in the morning, I check each of my pockets: Front right - camera and keys; front left - phone and a pen; back right - wallet; and back left - a list. I always have a piece of paper and a pen. One of the wonderful things about being so attention deficient-y is that random things always pop up in my head - things I need to do later, ideas for posts on here, food to buy/eat, places to go, etc. And I write them down. Because just like in Memento, if I don't write them down within 20 seconds or so, I can kiss that thought goodbye forever.

But I think the best part about lists, and this is true for both Isa and me, is crossing things off. You feel so productive and useful.

Put up another post before midnight

Oh yeah, that felt good. :)

Do you make lists?

Random pic of us at the movies last week. :)

Monopoly

Isa and I love to stay home and watch movies (we love Netflix!) and play games. Our game of choice, as long as we have the time, is Monopoly.

Do you play by the official rules? We don't. First and foremost, Free Parking gets you all the money in the middle of the board (any taxes, fees from Chance/Community Chest, get-out-of-jail money, etc) plus the $500 that we throw in there to start off the pot. I thought that was part of the game, but according to the rules, Free Parking gets you nothing. It's just a free spot. Who actually plays like that? Do you?

Second, when we run out of hotels and/or houses, we don't stop building. We improvise.

And let's be honest, if there were actually a Starburst Hotel, wouldn't you want to stay there?

And third, to speed up the bankruptcy of the other players, we don't stop at one hotel. For example, Isa finally lost a few weeks ago because she landed on North Carolina with two hotels and three houses, which costs $3450 a night (hotels = $1275 each, plus 3 houses = $900).

And as karma would have it, Isa beat me last night when I landed on her North Carolina, where she had built one hotel and four houses (for $2375).

What's your favorite board game? Do you have any other house rules for Monopoly?

Relaxing Subway Ride (Favorite Memory)

Isa and I do a lot of things together, the vast majority of which never make it to the blog (or even facebook). So we thought we'd create a new section to the blog called Favorite Memories. I really don't think we need to explain any more than that, I'm sure you get the idea.

When Isa and I got married, we had to move all of her stuff up from her Manhattan apartment to mine in the Bronx. Besides all the clothes, books, and random stuff, we brought up this IKEA chair.

Sometimes you see people on the subway dressed like a giant banana (seriously), or rocking an afro the size of the New Year's Ball in Times Square, or muttering nonsense over and over again, and you just accept it and smile to yourself saying, "I love New York." You don't stare. You act like it's all normal. Just like people acted as if riding the subway in a rocking chair was normal. Nobody asked us why or gave us curious looks.

They didn't even care when we made a little video.

We ride the subway every day. Most trips are uneventful, but some stick out - mostly those when a particular performer we like or a unique beggar gets on our car - but the one ride that I remember most was this one, where we rode in style and comfort.

Aunt Wendy

Note: I don't want any of my other Aunts (or Uncles) on either side of the family to think I'm playing favorites by writing a post about Aunt Wendy (my mom's sister). I'm writing this because she came to visit. And if you come to visit, I'll write a post about you.

Please don't kill me for putting a picture of you on the internet.

Aunt Wendy was traveling through and stopped by our place for a night of eating (we made this again, and Isa made her famous Pineapple-Cherry Magnificence, which I'm not allowed to post a recipe for), watching a movie (Megamind, so good - review to come soon), and playing games (Parcheesi - she won). Fun night for sure.

The picture up there is from the Balcony at Aeropostale, one of my new favorite "secrets" in Times Square. The views are great, the atmosphere is fun, and Isa's favorite part, there are seats. You should go there.

So, back to Aunt Wendy. She's awesome. She kinda took over "mom" responsibilities when my mom passed away about 5 years ago (mostly, I replaced my mom's number with hers on my speed dial, so any time I would have called my mom, I called her. It was a much needed transition). I could not have handled that time without her. She's always been there for me, even when I wanted to buy a ring for Isa that was WAY over my credit limit. She let me throw it on hers. Now that's trust.

I'm so grateful she's in my life, and we can't wait to meet up with her again at my brother's place in Vegas next month. Oh yeah, I haven't told you that yet. We're going to Vegas next month. And San Diego. More on that to come. So stay tuned. Or stay online. Or whatever the term is for following blogs. (Following! That's it! Stay followed.)

I love you, Aunt Wendy. You rock. :)

Pinewood Derby

Isa and I were recently asked to create a cub scout pack in our area, which we're really excited about. Our church building will host a Pinewood Derby in a few weeks for the other packs around the Bronx. If you've never seen or heard of a Pinewood Derby, they're kind of a big deal in the cub scout world. So, in order to know what we'd be doing, Isa and I went to one out in New Rochelle to see how they run it.

It was a lot of fun. The kids had a great time and their cars were really creative. This Converse shoe was my favorite.

It was very well-attended and all the kids were surprisingly well-behaved. Look how well they stay behind the ropes:

My dad was there, and he brought some of the cars that my brothers and I had made when we were in cub scouts. I'm proud to say that mine still held their own on the track. Dad's car still beat us every time though.

Have you ever made a car for a Pinewood Derby? Do you still have it? One year in college, my FHE group had a potato derby. Much like this one. Now that's fun.