The Tree The Leak and The Cat

Merry Christmas EVERYONE!!! WHOO HOO!!! I love Christmas and I love presents and I love our tree!!! Here it is...It's little, but fluffy...and yeah, I made that little fire place.

The little angle on top is my favorite. I wish you could tell how funny this girl is. I got her for a dollar at little store by my apartment. She is all hot glue and left over pieces of an 80's craft kit. I love her.

Everything has been so great lately that something had to go wrong. My friend Abbie (who was recently locked out of her apartment because her door broke) says that is one of the great things about New York. You get to celebrate through all of the mess.

I also want to wish all of my Jewish friends Happy Hanukkah. I love seeing all of the Menorahs around the city, they are so pretty!

Last thing...Wicket is so cute...He has really enjoyed cuddling inside of anything lately.

Have A Very Torpey Christmas!

It's true! I do love New York! Last night New York had it's first blizzard of the Season...I don't even know what the definition of a blizzard is...hold on I will check...Blizzard: A severe storm condition characterized by strong winds. low temperatures,and heavy blowing snow. Yup, that is what was happened. We were out and about because we were off to see the comedy group Dan Ryan again! (yeah, they are still awesome.) Aren't they so cute! Can't you just tell how funny they are? They also performed with an awesome guy Michael Torpey and another comedy group called Serious Lunch. Here are the places you can check out and fall in love with them yourselves.

http://www.seriouslunch.com/

http://www.black20.com/

Here we are enjoying the show...Yeah, new Beanie...http://www.fredflare.com/

We got to meet Torpy...Don't you just want to be best friends with him?

After the show we headed home and it was cold...But, It was BEAUTIFUL!!!!

Rhett took this picture...In NY they sell trees on almost every street. I feel like this picture shows why I love New York so much!

Tara Takes Manhattan

All of the Johnson's were so super excited that Tara was coming for a visit. Including our cats!

Once Tara was safe and all of her luggage dropped off we immediately went to find sustenance at Dinosaur BBQ. It was amazing, yummy, and messy.

Tara and Wicket spent some much needed TLC time together the next morning before we went out.
The first thing we did was visit The Empire State Building. It was super fun and Tara and I went and spent the extra money to get to the 102 floor. It was SO AMAZINGLY not worth it. However on the elevator down they hit a little button that tells you "congratulations you are in the elite 102nd floor club" and I do like being called "Elite!"

On the way up to the top there was a BIG stuffed gorilla that everyone was taking pictures with. (apparently that is what they want you to think right before Gorilla scared the pants off of you!) Tara and I were so bright eyed & sweet that the stinking gorilla just couldn't resist attacking us as we willingly ran into his arms! I started screaming, ran into Tara who started screaming and running and the entire guest list of The E.S.B. laughed at us.


We saw the tree at Rockefeller, which is from Arizona! Go Grand Canyon State!
Okay....That girl in the black jacket is Kate Beckinsale. I SWEAR!!! She was at the Museum Of Modern Art with us and she is SO pretty. Ask Tara... it is her!




Hands Down the coolest sight was the St Patricks Cathedral. It was beautiful and lovely. Everyone should go.



We went to Canal Street! CRAZY!!!! Here we are after with a couple of our amazingly cheep finds! (Cryz, that's my scarf I was telling you about.)

Then we went to Staten Island so Tara could see the statue of liberty and ride the ferry. We made a huge mistake and stayed on the island for dinner...Ghhaallaahhghg...I don't even want to blog about it.

Exploring Midtown!

We also went to the Rockettes at Radio City! It was a great thing to do at Christmas time. They did a huge nativity and the Rockettes really do do some amazing things.

We then went Ice Skating at Bryant park at 12:30 at night. I wanted to be a party pooper but my complaints went unheard and I went ice skating...But get this people, Tara hurt her foot and Rhett was done after 5 minutes! People should listen to me more.

Sunday we went to church and after Rhett had a meeting so Tara and I went home without him...However I didn't bring keys so we went to Central park instead. It was really great and I am glad we got locked out.

Now Tara is gone and I am sad...Come back soon Tara! Wicket and Kelly Clarkson miss you SO much!

Thanks + Giving = Thanksgiving

November 26th started off a little rocky...Only to turn into the best Thanksgiving I have EVER had in New York! Rhett and I were suppose to wake up early and meet our awesome friends Mike and Michelle...That didn't happen. After Rhett got me out of bed we hopped on the subway and headed down to 76th and central park. Michelle and Mike love us so much that they saved us a spot.

I loved all the cute kids that loved the parade!

There were some baloons and floats that reminded me of people.

PS These things were so HUGE!

Hi Mom, that is Andre Bocelli...He didn't look very happy on that bridge.

After the parade we decided to stay down town and watch The Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey. I don't think I loved it...It was not as fun as the Mickey Christmas Carol and not as light hearted as Muppet Christmas Carol...Apparently I like all classic literiture presented to me in a funny manner by cartoon and muppet animals. The 3-D element was super cool however.

Then Rhett and I went to Michelle and Mikes for dinner...Let me tell you something world. Michelle is an amazing cook and their table was beautiful. Oh, and Michelle and I rocked Rhett and Mike at a domino game. TA-DOW!

Have You Seen Big Business?

It is a big hearted comedy about country girl, Sadie Ratliff's, visit to New York...There is a lot more to the plot, however, for the purposes of my post we are only going to focus on this piece.

When Sadie arrives in New York she feels more small town than she ever had before. She tries her best throughout the film to fit in and prove she can handle anything these big apple folks can throw at her.

This is how I felt last week when I attended a GAP PR Event with my super awesome friend Michelle.

I was so out of my element before I even entered. There were people standing outside waiting to get in...security, velvet ropes and camera men...The whole shabang.

When I was inside it was amazingly hip. It was also incredibly packed, leading me to believe that Gap was breaking a fire code or two. Catarers dressed in black and wearing Gap scarves (which looked rediculous and Gap should have left their uniforms alone) were walking around with trays of drinks, brownies and cookies all in a fashionable maner.

While we were there we could shop for clothes and get a % off and another % of the sale went to charity. I had to buy something right? Well, I did, and it is super cute and has both ribbons and buttons. WOOT!

There were all these famous people walking right by me, or rather walking around with me. I wasn't looking at them from afar and they wernt being rushed past me like I was a lowly peasant. I was one of them...I was a welcomed member of their society. I tried to act cool. I tired to pretend I was bored. I don't think I pulled it off.

Michelle and I were given a lot of attention from the camera men because we looked so cool in these hats.

Halloween In New York

This Halloween like every other year, I didn't plan out a costume. Thank heavens for bunko! I dressed up as Fun Run Angela and Rhett dressed as Three Hole Punch Jim. We met a very cute Jim and Pam at the ward party. (We love these two kids!)
The ward party was fun. Classic gym dressed up as a spooky gym. These New Yorker Mormons party it up though, Everyone came and EVERYONE dressed up! Out of all of the costumes these were my favorite!

After the ward party Rhett and I went down to Greenwich Villiage and kicked it with the locals who were haveing a big parade. It was CRAZY!!! Tons of people, tons of costumes, even more profanity and belly buttons. Hands down, one of my top five favorite things about NY is all the people watching you can do. These two were extra spectacular!

"Did you ever know that you're my hero" yes, that was the song I sang as Elna Baker, the writer of "The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance" walked up to the mike. She was lovely.

First, she talked about her five worst dates. One was a guy who picked her up in a mini van and she had this overwhelming feeling that she needed to fill it with children. The guy asked her how long she had been in New York and when she said 8yrs he said..."8yrs? Can you even sew?"

What a lame-o guy.

But Elna, not to brag but I am pretty sure I have your worst dates beat.

It was senior year, Homecoming and I went with a sophomore who said to my face..."I asked you on this date because I thought you would be fun." Then he gave two freshman a ride to the dance and told them how he wished he had gone with them...Then he decided to rank me against other girls while we stood in line to get in the dance. This was not the first nor the last...But I win right?

Back to the reading, Elna then read a chapter of her book and answered questions. She did a great job and was so nice to everyone. Then I got to meet her...Everything I liked about her came spilling out of my mouth. I have no filter when it comes to people I have to awkwardly meet.

"Hi Elna! Wow, I just love you so much and I love your book and you are so pretty and I have this book will you sign it and I made this sign, Oh can I take a picture with you? Because I made this sign for my friend Crystal, she loves you too in fact she sent me the book when I moved here from AZ and this sign is for her."

"Sure." replied Elna.

Dan Ryan Comedy Troop Rendenvous

Last night was the BEST NIGHT YET!!! Rhett and I, a long time ago ran across a website called Black 20. Its basically hilarious and we love it. A bunch of the people from the website were preforming at a sketch troop contest at this little dive called The Pit.

While I was taking a picture of the stairs above all the guys we LOVED walked right past us...We were star struck. It was the same feeling when I saw Mariska. We followed them up (oh that sounds totally stalker but it wasn't like that) When we got up we introduced ourselves and told them how much we loved them. They were so gracious and nice, we took a picture and they thanked us for coming. EEK!

Then, when I was hanging out there with Rhett I spotted Jessie Cantrell! she is the FUNNIEST girl in the USofA...Honest. I said" Jessie?"

"Hi!" She smiled and said back and walked over like we were old friends.

"Hi I am Leslie and you don't know me."

"Oh okay, Hi, I totally acted like I did though, wasn't I good?"

I told her how stinking awesome I thought she was and then asked her for a picture and just like the guys she was super sincere and grateful we were there to support them.

It was an super fun show and of course all our friends won. (they are the stinking funniest, no one else had a chance.) The audience got to vote and they also had judges. One of the judges was...Are you ready for this Young family and Katlyn...One of the writers from MONK!!! When they introduced him I cheered and after the show was over I went up and talked to him. We discussed how sad we were about the end of the show and how much fun he had working there and how much fun I had watching it.