Crazy, Stupid, Love.

last night Mr. Larsen and i went to the premier of Crazy, Stupid, Love.

4 thumbs way up.

i loved it.

he loved it.

it's not just a chickflick.

it's a bromance romance.

girls and boys will both love it.

Ryan Gosling is hot.

REALLY HOT.

see? HOT.

and he is probably the best dressed man i have ever seen in this movie.

again...A+.

seriously.

i will definitely buy this movie.

disclaimer: Mr. Larsen is like REALLY hot. the hottest.  And he knows that i have a crush on Ryan Gosling. And we are still in love. cool huh?

HEAT WAVE.

for those of you into meteorology you may have noticed that the east coast has been under a blanket of death...i mean heat for the past week.

i'm from Idaho.

it can get fairly hot there.

most summers it will hit the 100's. 

but its dry.

i'm okay with dry heat.

the east coast thinks its cool to add humidity to the 100 degree days.

like last week.

we had 3 days in a row that were at least 100 degrees.

then humidity was added.

i think the hottest day's heat index was 115 degrees.

yeah..it felt like it was 115 degrees.

i felt like i was being slow roasted.

however..there is light at the end of this whiny tunnel. 

with the heat wave...comes ocean waves!

we love living on an island on the coast!  

we have a few beaches to choose from all within an hour away.

we usually go to Rockaway Beach and love it.

it has become our new weekend ritual.

last Saturday we packed up and headed out at 7am to beat the heat and it was perfect!

as a side note:

i had no other options than to wear my hair like this last week...

little house on the prairie style.

simply because even the best of pony tails stuck to my neck and back.

i asked Mr. Larsen if he liked my hair like this.

his first answer..."umm, it's pretty intense."

my answer..."SO IS THIS HEAT"

maybe i should shave my head...Demi Moore style.

humidity is no bueno.

cubbies.

Mr. Larsen and I have had the wonderful opportunity to be called as Cub Scout leaders in our ward.  I have somehow been placed as the "Cub Master", with Mr. Larsen and a dear friend as other leaders.

fyi. i call the Cub Scouts "Cubbies".  

it's cuter.

and Cub Scouts needs some cuteness.

you may also be asking yourself right about now how a cubbie program works in this place.

we like to think of is as "urban scouting". as you can imagine we tend to stay away from things like fishing and building fires.  we focus more on subway safety and the stock market.

now lets be honest.

when i was called as a cubbie leader...i was not thrilled. Mr. Larsen was...but me...no..not so much.

i am the oldest of three girls. barbies, dresses, cooking, and the young women's program are my strengths.

wrangling fourteen 8 year old boys was foreign ground for me. 

lucky for me Mr. Larsen and our dear friend come from all boy backgrounds.  i am enjoying this calling so much, and i love making treats for the little guys.

these little boys are so sweet and energetic.

we get to do fun things, like build birdhouses, race car derby's, and go to NBA games.

i am in heaven.

we are on a cubbie break for the summer while families travel and play in the heat.

this means that i have been missing my cubbie boys like crazy!!

i was thinking about them this week and thought i would share with the world the calling that Mr. Larsen and i have been having so much fun with.

Happy New Year...a look back in time...clearly...because it's July 15th.

for some reason i have been on fire when it comes to catching up on this bloggity blog.

maybe i finally realized that i could very possibly forget about cool things that happen.

i vow not to ever forget so here is another look back into something that has already happened.

a long time ago.

we spent our first New Year's Eve in New York this year and it was crazy!

we started off the night with karaoke in the east village.

i wasn't sure if this would go over very well, because i've never been a huge karaoke fan.  

it turned out to be really fun, because everyone just let loose and sang their hearts out.

 all the professional singers.

we then went to dinner on the east side at a cute little italian spot.

this is a picture of Mr. Larsen and Paul.

apparently their seafood pasta monstrosity was number one.

blech.

 a picture of our awesome hats and noise makers the restaurant gave us.

i know....looking good.

after dinner we walked over to Times Square.

Times Square was definitely a mess after the big shebang.

 Mr. Larsen must have had too much sugar.

he and paul were having way too much fun with the noise makers.

Egans, Davis', and Larsens in Times Square in the early hours of 2011

Mr. Larsen and Paul down in the subway on the way home.

 Mr. Larsen again. even though it was about 2 in the morning he seems happy while waiting for our elevator in our lobby. 

it was a great way to kick off the new year!

p.s. my poor bestie Whitney dropped her cell phone onto the subway tracks on the way home from Times Square that night. BUMMER.

visitors.

while living in NYC we have had so many visitors!

we have been so lucky to have such great family and friends come and see us.

here are a few pictures of our lovely visitors.

i hope i haven't forgotten anyone!!!

 

JEFF, AMBER and AMMON.

the Tingey's came for Thanksgiving! here we are watching the MACY'S Thanksgiving Day Parade.

TERICA CAME TO PLAY!

eating a yummy dinner at Max Brenner.

(i'm not sure why this picture is sideways.)

CHARLOTTE WAS LIVING IN D.C. FOR A FEW MONTHS SO SHE CAME TO VISIT OFTEN!

riding in a horse drawn carriage in Central Park.

ALEXA AND CARLY CAME TO PARTY!

this picture was taken on Liberty Island on our trip out to see Lady Liberty.

MY AMAZING MOM AND DAD!

this picture was also taken on Liberty Island. 

(they are cute.<3 )

 MY AMAZING COUSIN KARI CAME TO STAY!

Kari was in D.C. for work and extended her trip to come see me! 

she is so awesome.

CHARLOTTE AND JESSICA CAME FOR A WEEK!

it was so good to have a couple of my best friends here in Manhattan.

this picture was taken in front of the Central Park Boat House the day we rode bikes through Central Park.

MR. LARSEN AND HIS BFF MARK!

this was taken on the subway coming home from Chicago on Broadway.

WHO CAME TO NYC WITH MARK?? HIS FIANCE TAYLER OF COURSE!

this is a picture of Tay and myself at the Yankees/Red Sox game.

ANGIE, SKYLER AND JAY!

Skyler finished up his mission in France and my wonderful in-law's Jay and Angie went and picked him up.

on their way back from France, they made a pit stop in NYC to visit us!

now, this is a pretty extensive list of visitors. they all came within about 6 months of each other and filled our little apartment with love and laughter. thank you all so much for coming to see us even though it was a one room slumber party!

xoxo

IT ALL ENDS.

i have mixed emotions.

part of me is jumping out of my skin with nerdy excitement as i await the private screening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (part 2).

the other part of me is stricken with anxiety as i await the private screening because i know it is the last.

i just finished re-reading the last book...like 10 minutes ago.

it was my third time reading it.

i will forever be a faithful supporter of all things Harry Potter.

i read the first book at the ripe old age of 10.

this means that i have grown up in an era of Harry Potter therefore i will forever cherish my magical childhood.

The first showing of Harry Potter in the U.S. is at midnight tonight.

Mr. Larsen's company has reserved the entire theater in Battery Park.

with this special reservation, they are also showing the movie before everyone else.

which means that in 2 hours, i will be viewing the final movie.

words cannot express how i feel about that.

lucky i have my investment banker Mr. Larsen to hook me up with my deepest desires. 

"We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided"  

-Albus Dumbledore 

another thing i love.

Mr. Larsen's first time ice skating...EVER.

Rockefeller Plaza.

a couple reasons i love NYC.

Mr. Larsen and I ran across this Doo Wop group on a corner in SoHo. 

it made me happy.

and this....MADE ME SOOOOO HAPPY.

 

look closely and if you are a fellow POTTERPHILE you will see why. 

Giving Thanks

2010 also presented me with my first Thanksgiving away from my entire family.

i was so happy to hear that my cousin Amber and her family would be coming to NYC for the holiday!

Mr. Larsen and i went on an amazing trip cruising the Caribbean with the Tingey's last summer and always have fun with these two.

Amber's sis-in-law lives here in the city and they invited Mr. Larsen and myself to join in on their shindig!

we gladly accepted the invite, and were so excited to spend time with family and new found friends!

i had so much fun cooking with Amber and Becky, and it was fun to incorporate some of our Granny's recipes into our city dinner!

i carried out a life long dream and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!

Larsens and Tingeys

Mr. Larsen and his buddy Ammon bundled up in the cold

 the girls sitting along Central Park West

j. simpson. my high school idol.
i may have acted a little loco when she rode by.

and of course Garrett's Popcorn.
yum.

we had such a great time here in the city on Thanksgiving Day.
we are so blessed and thankful for all that we have!

Christmas

this is a post from ohhhh. December. 

i suck at blogging.

{also: please excuse the terrible iphone pictures.}

since we are now east coasters going home for the holidays is a little harder than it used to be.

as a first year analyst, Mr. Larsen has been working hard for the money.

so hard for it honey.

first year analysts aren't supposed to take very many days off. and by very many, i mean any.

so let me rephrase that.

first year analysts aren't supposed to take any days off.

bummer.

we also learned that doing Christmas the "normal way" is a little hard to do in the city.  

you cannot just drive to the mountains and cut down the most beautiful tree you find.

no..we settled for a small faux tree this year...mainly because it is all we could fit in our studio apartment.

 our cutie pie tree topper from anthropologie

 i secretly love it.

 this is a picture of our first skiff of snow on our little island.

we didn't do most of the normal Christmas time things.

we sent out our Christmas cards to all of our loved ones back home and made holiday plans for the east coast.

Mr. Larsen has family in Maryland.

they are so sweet to us, and welcomed us into their home for our first Christmas away.

we had so much fun being in an actual house, eating yummy food, and spending time with family.

even though i was so sad to be away from my family on Christmas morning...(which just so happened to be the first time in my life)...Mr. Larsen's relatives totally filled that void and made my Christmas magical. 

 Christmas Eve gift from my family <3

i wore my holiday bow

 Mr. Larsen's aunt had stockings made for us

 relaxing by the Christmas tree

Mr. Larsen had fun being with his cousins and spent a little too much time goofing off.

after all of these magical holiday events took place we then endured ....{this}.....now you can get an idea of the time line I am working on at the moment.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMACITA!

today's post is all about my amazing mother, because today is her BIRTHDAY!

i feel so blessed to have such an incredible woman as my mom.

my mom has been there for me in good times and in bad, through thick and thin, through happy and sad.

she is so beautiful and so much fun!

my mama is my best friend.

it takes a special mama to raise three crazy girls.

fortunately we lucked out with the most special mama there is.

mom, thanks for all that you do for our family.  you are such an incredibly talented and loving woman.

i have learned so much from you in my short 23 years.

not everyone is happy when they start turning into their mother.

i can tell you that i could only hope to be just like you when i grow up.

i love you!