stereotypes map

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i came across this map today and i thought it was pretty funny. i'd just like to point out that i've lived in HOT, LIFE OF THE PARTY, MORMON, and HOT AND DRINK. but the three i'm most proud of are: OBESITY EPIDEMIC, FABULOUS UNHAPPY PEOPLE, and SNOOKI. so awesome. i also like the names for oregon and for oklahoma/kansas/missouri/arkansas. so funny. where have you lived? which stereotypes are your favorite?

new york new york

next wednesday, peter and i will be going to new york for a week. i am REALLY excited. peter has to go to a dental conference from thursday-sunday, so i decided to join him and we're going to make a little vacation out of it.

since this trip is pretty much all i've been thinking about for the last several weeks, i've decided to do a blog post about all my favorite new york spots. hopefully after this week's trip, we'll even have some more favorite spots!

so . . . here they are, divided into different categories:

RESTAURANTS FOR DINING

where to start. okay. here goes:

1. The Mercer Kitchen - swanky and so good.

2. Bozu - Japanese in williamsburg. best tofu salad i've ever had in my life. seriously, the tofu is like creamy deliciousness.

3. Good - best brunch ever.

4. Cafeteria - delicious food and you'll always be in the company of an entertaining crowd.

5. Citrus - their own description says it best: Latin Fare. Asian Flair.

6. Le Barricou - french bistro in williamsburg.

7. Tomoe Sushi - very authentic sushi and an assortment of japanese dishes. in soho.

8. Woo Lae Oak - awesome korean food.

9. Peep - yummy thai food. you've gotta check out the bathrooms at this place.

10. Balthazar - best french food. the mussels are TDF. and of course the steak frites as well.

11. Grimaldi's - hands down the best pizza i've ever had. if you want some good new york pizza, eat here.

i could go on and on, but i'll call it good with those.

RESTAURANTS FOR DESSERT

1. Kyotofu - yummy japanese desserts.

2. Max Brenner - more chocolate than you can handle. they have good food there too . . . but they're known for their desserts.

3. Rice to Riches - all different flavors of rice pudding with toppings to boot. mmm.

(don't ask me why that link just switched to blue. weird.)

COMEDY CLUBS

1. Upright Citizens Brigade - only go to see comics you know. otherwise you might hear some sketchy things. but UCB is almost always a good time.

2. Comix - fun to eat dinner while you watch. *** just clicked on the link and found out they've closed. bummer.

OTHER THINGS TO DO

1. Brooklyn Botanical Gardens

2. Brooklyn Museum of Art

3. Opera at the Met

4. Great Jones Spa - best spa ever. just go to the water spa for a relaxing morning.

5. Central Park. of course.

6. Go for a walk along the Hudson River Park (where my hubby and i got engaged!)

THINGS TO DO IN THE SUMMER

1. Kayaking on the Hudson

2. Free movies under the Brooklyn Bridge

3. Shakespeare in the Park

4. NY Phil in the Park

5. Summerstage - tons of free concerts, comics, plays, etc. in Central Park

6. Taking the ferry out to Fire Island

7. Going to Far Rockaway to the Beach

8. Rooftop BBQ's

TOURISTY THINGS/CHRISTMAS IN NEW YORK

1. Take the ferry to the Statue of Liberty

2. Top of the Rock

3. Ice skating in Bryant Park

4. Walk the Brooklyn Bridge

5. Lincoln Center

6. Broadway

7. Rockefellar Center to see the Christmas Tree

so there you have it. off the top of my head, those are some of my favorite things to do in fabulous NYC!!! what are your favorite things to do in NY?

a mormon moment

i keep hearing the phrase: a mormon moment.

i guess we're having one. with mitt romney and jon huntsman toying with presidential runs and the The Book of Mormon musical getting raves reviews on broadway, i guess we have finally arrived as a staple in the ever fickle pop cultural arena. i guess that's a good thing.

it seems like mormons have always had a mysterious members-only mystique about them for outsiders looking in. but with all that has come about in the last several years with big love on HBO, the publicity of Prop 8 in california, and now this "mormon moment," it seems like mormonism is seemingly more accessible for the "outsider."

and along come this: Duck Beach, A Single Mormon Story.

i don't pretend to know what the producers/directors purpose for the film is, but i think it is going to be a very accessible, very in-the-moment look into mormonism.

being single in mormondom comes with a unique set of obstacles, rewards, rules of the road that serves as a great insight into what drives the mormon psyche in general. so i think this documentary will be of great service to educate the "outsider" into mormon culture and beliefs in an honest and probably amusing sort of way. anyway, i won't try to speak for the people behind the movie. i'll let them do that. check it out.

i think it's a noble endeavor. so while it's always tacky to ask for money. if you have any to spare and you want to contribute to a worthwhile project that will slant the mormon moment towards the positive, by all means give a little.

click here to learn more about the project and how to donate.

full disclosure: i know the producer of this documentary very well. and i would being saying these words regardless of that relationship.

let's own the mormon moment on our terms, before someone else does on theirs...

Easter Sunday

we had a fun-filled easter yesterday. will woke up ready to find his easter basket!

okay, not really. he didn't really have a clue that is was easter, but when peter brought him out to the living room to see his easter goods, he immediately perked up to find so much candy and chocolate sitting out for him.

he was more interested in mom's and dad's treats than he was in his own easter basket. (or should i say lightening mcqueen bucket. even though real easter baskets are cuter, i just couldn't help picking something out for him that he'd be able to use and enjoy later, and not just on easter.) so all in all it was a fun, chocolate filled morning.

after checking out (and tasting) all of our goodies, we decided to dye some eggs. i know we were a little behind, but we hadn't had the time until easter morning. we stripped will down, moved the table and set everything up on the floor. will immediately went for the eggs. and while he enjoyed helping me dye the eggs . . .

he enjoyed doing this to them even more.

after we all got cleaned up, we went outside for our easter photo shoot. will looked like he was ready to go read The Great Gatsby while lounging on the porch drinking his mint julep. but doesn't he just look darling????

and of course he had to stop and smell the flowers!

and here's one of our little family . . .

after church, we made it down to peter's mom's house for a delicious dinner/easter celebration/family home evening/birthday party. and thanks uncle nick for the yummy birthday cake!

girls day

in japan, there's a holiday called Girls Day. it's celebrated on March 3 of every year. (there's also a Boys Day every May 5.) so every year, my mother-in-law, shauna puts on a girls day celebration. even though girls day was in march, we celebrated it this last sunday.

part of the tradition is to set up the beautiful display of girls day dolls. the girls day dolls consist of the emperor, empress, attendants, and musicians all in their traditional court dress. included are also trees, food, tools, and different chests/furniture. they are all very beautiful and it's fun to admire the special dolls. at the party, we also ate some yummy japanese food, prepared by shauna. it was delicious.

we also dress up in traditional kimonos. usually the boys don't come, but this year, shauna invited them, so here's a picture with william and peter in their traditional japanese jackets.

lots of cousins and family came to the party and we had a great time chatting, eating, and sharing our girls day wishes with everyone.

s'mores please!!!!

on saturday, peter was really itching for a little campfire action. so we invited the cousins over to celebrate our first mallow roast of the season. we set up our mini grill on our back patio and enjoyed a whole lot of smoke and some yummy smoke-roasted s'mores! yum . . .

the kids had a great time running around together and filling their bellies with lots of sugary marshmallows and perfectly cooked s'mores.

thanks for coming up and hanging out with us, tews! jill and grandma, we missed you!

don't forget about sendai.

(hirosaki castle in northern japan)

with all the craziness going on in the middle east, it seems like the news media has forgotten about sendai. well sorta.

for those of you that don't know, i served my mission in sendai almost 10 years ago. the tragedy there in those cities is indescribable.

i could go on and on about how beautiful the country side is there in sendai. it seriously feels like you've taken a step back in time to an incorruptible land and time when you travel through northern japan. the juxtaposition of the rice farms as far as you can see as the bullet train rips you along the country side is astounding.

(me, yukari, and shinbori when i went back in 2005)

it's been a brutal week or so watching the news of cities that i once knew report this disaster or that. most of my friends have been safe and without major disruption. many are without gas, sporadic electricity and food shortages. my mom's cousin is the mission president in sendai right now we get intermittent updates on the state of affairs in the area regarding to church. what's even more amazing is that for the most part many if not all members of the church are doing ok. plus, my old mission president is currently serving a public affairs mission in tokyo right now too, so we get updates on that front as well. you can read the official stuff here.

MSNBC covered did a piece on this for their world blog. it's a nice piece. you should read it.

they also did an interesting profile/interview of one of the missionaries who witnessed his bike get washed away in the flooding. that's an incredible story too.

for now, the best way to help is to donate money. supplies and the like are hard to get to the places needed, the most flexible help is money. either via the red cross or lds.org.

(this lady (unknown to us) just wanted to share the love for our camera)

for those that don't know. there are tons of old people in northern japan. this the second major life altering national tragedy that have had to endure. i feel so bad for them and wonder how in the world are they going to put their lives back together after this nightmare. i just wish the air force needed japanese speaking dentist to send to sendai to help out.

i wish there was more that we could do. it's tough sitting here sitting on my hands not being able to mobilize the willing to go and help over there. in the mean time, don't forget about sendai and the whole country of japan...

yes. we're those people.

over this last extended weekend, emily and i became those people.

and by that, i mean we became the people who have their 1.5 yr old out and about past a reasonable hour at the casino and out on the strip. (we got a sweet deal at The Paris hotel on the strip in vegas)

needless to say, william loved it.

i had a continuing ed course to attend in LA, so we made a long weekend out of it.

on the way down, william pretty much loved the big boy at the big boy thermometer and the mad greek, both in baker, ca. and i would say he hated most everything else about the drive down.

once we got there though, he was in heaven. he LOVES his grandparents. plus, he got to meet his newest twin cousins, Annie and Parker (not pictured, but adorable), and hang out with his other cousins too, especially his buddy weston, even if that meant just picking up sticks all afternoon.

we had a pretty good time. since emily's sister lives in san diego, her parents in LA, we decided to all meet up in orange county at her brother's house. lucky for us, there was a petting zoo nearby. it seems like there is always a petting zoo nearby when we go to cali.

you probably don't remember the last time we went to the petting zoo. let's just say, it wasn't will's favorite. this time however, he followed the leader of the zoo champions, his cousin kate, and jumped right in. granted, he wasn't kissing bunnies like she was, but he was much improved this time around.

emily and i also got to relive some california traditions as well, besides the petting zoo. back during spring break the first year we were dating, we went out to LA for the week and went to little tokyo to get delicious ramen. since leaving new york (forever ago) we haven't really found a new spot for ramen (except maybe koko kitchen downtown). so we took emily's parents to go find the spot again. we got close enough and had a pretty fun night on the town in little tokyo. so much so, that emily and i went back the next morning to stock up on japanese goods, including: egg formers (pictured below), a boy's day carp kite for will, a million japanese beverages, and other finds you have to try to understand.

these egg formers will press a hard boiled egg neatly into a panda face or a bunny. pretty amazing, creepy, and hilarious all at once.

LA, as always, was fun and relaxing, and the weather was perfect. we stopped in vegas for the night on the way home to split up the drive for william. and that's when we became those people you look at funny when they're walking through the casino at 9:00 pm with their kid on their shoulders. we wanted him to sleep well that night, what can you do? and he did have a lot of fun looking at all the lights and listening to cool music though, so don't judge us too much...

viva las vegas!!

also, if you call us on the phone and you hear some extra loud babbling. it probably means william has confiscated our phone and is trying to tell you something important (or funny).