bLiZzArD

i am a little behind, but wanted to share our holiday card with my blog world friends. :)

 

i hope that you all had a magical Christmas this year.

things were a little different for me, because i spent my first Christmas EVER away from my beloved familia.

getting back to idaho just wasn't in the cards for us this year....let's just say that spending over a grand per person for a flight wasn't going to fit in the budget. 

sad.

we ended up spending our Christmas time in maryland with mr. larsen's awesome aunt and uncle.

they were so sweet to invite us, and welcome us into their home and Christmas festivities.

we feel very blessed to have some family fairly close.

we ventured to maryland this last weekend on a bus.

why you may ask?

i know you asked.........because i asked, when mr. larsen informed me of our transportation.

well...the reason is because it only cost us $20 per person!!!

yes. 20 bucks.

i wish that was how much a plane ticket to idaho costs.

the trip to maryland is only about 3 hours and 45 minutes away from manhattan.

we loaded up all of our things, and headed uptown to penn station for the bus stop.

we were booked on the 7 o'clock bus and got there at about 6:15 to get two seats by each other.

when we arrived a bus was at the curb, but little did we know the bus sitting there was the 5 o'clock bus.  

yes...the 5 o'clock bus hadn't left yet, and it was after 6pm.

obviously punctuality is not a priority for MVP bus company.

we went and had dinner at jimmy's burgers...mmmm.

and waited for the next bus...because we lucked out due to our punctuality and got ourselves on the 6 o'clock bus that was going to arrive at 7:20pm. 

whaaat????

yeah, annoying.

finally the 6 o'clock bus arrived and we boarded and set off for the beauty that is maryland.

we spent a wonderful, magical, merry Christmas with mr. larsens relatives.

THEN.

on Sunday, mr. larsen began a conversation with "i have some bad news"

nothing good ever comes with those words. obviously.

he informed me that our bus home to manhattan scheduled for that evening at 6 pm had been canceled because there was supposed to be some snow that night.

haha. some snow.

after a bit of stress mr. larsen was able to get us on a different bus line that left two hours earlier.

we went and hung out with his other uncle for a few hours, and then he drove us to our new bus stop.

the bus was right on time, 4pm on the dot.

we boarded and talked about how the earlier time was going to be better for us.

we would get home and have time to unpack, unwind, and relax that Sunday evening before our crazy schedules picked back up the next day.

it had been snowing a little that day.

nothing much.

just light puffs of white floating around.

it was beautiful.

anywho.

we started on our trek back to the big city.  

we would be home in no time and i couldn't wait.

if you have been watching the news lately you will now know that we did not make it back in time to unpack, unwind or relax.

our bus ride did not take a short 3 hours and 45 minutes.

it took a long 8 hours and 30 minutes.

yeah. i'm not joking.

that means that we got home at 12:30am.

there wasn't just "some snow" 

there was a TON OF SNOW.

like 20 inches measured in central park.

the roads were so bad that i kept saying little prayers that we would get home safely.

this would be us. outwardly unhappy about the current situation we were stuck in.

we obviously hadn't planned for the long ride, so to pass the time we took turns tickling each others backs, talking, laughing, complaining and sleeping. well, mr. larsen slept (shocking)....not me though.

i was WAY to freaked because of all the wrecks and cars i saw that had gone off the road every 20 feet.

our bus driver was a champ.  we may have only been going 10 mph and stopping smack dab on the freeway here and there, but we made it home in one piece.

that was a first for my "day after Christmas" events, i can assure you of that.

i think that this little trip home constitutes as a Christmas miracle. :)

 this is our bus, which holds our spectacular bus driver. i was happy when i took this because we were off the bus.

i was not too happy here as i was blasted with snow and 40 mph winds. 

real cute. i know.

this is down in the subway after we arrived near our home. the blizzard blew the snow underground!

-and this is mr. larsen lovingly trudging through the snow with our over sized suitcase.

you can't really tell by the picture, but here we are walking home in the midst of the blizzardy downfall of frozen water molecules.  it was windy and frigid. ...and 2 feet deep.

so as many of you now know, NYC was hit with the 6th most intense blizzard of all time for the city.

 and the larsens survived it.   

i think this is why we are supposed to be here in NYC.

we are having so many adventures and we love it.

we love you all, and hope you had the merriest Christmas ever.

much love from the big city.

xoxo

done.

i thought i would report back after the Hunger Games trilogy was completed. 

all i know is that in my mind, Hunger Games = SUCCESS.

i am irrevocably in love with the series, and i am so sad that i am done reading them.

never fear...my hubby bought me the trilogy to keep in my little library.

i love books.

i have a library.

it's small

someday i want it to be HUGE.

 not unlike the library in beauty and the beast. mmmm.

anyone have any suggestions on the next book i should dive into?????

<3

wingardium leviosa.

so as some of you know i love to read.  like..really love it.  

lately mr. larsen has been studying for a few tests dealing with work certification.  unfortunately we live in a spot the size of a nice hotel room. yes...our living room and bedroom are THE SAME ROOM.  oh the joys of studio apartments and manhattan. we seriously love it...but anyway. 

back to nate studying...there is no way that i could survive in my home while he was there studying...every move i made was too loud, and every time i turned the t.v. on i was asked if i could mute it and read subtitles....umm ya, that happened. bless his heart... :)    %$#@ ^%$@ #%$#@

SO-since i was apparently acting like an elephant in a china closet and disturbing the peace, i decided to resort to what i love to do best. READ!

the place that i read the best is of course my bath tub.  some say this is the weirdest thing they have ever heard..i say that it is pure genius, and the best thing everrrrrr.
i have been known to sit and read in the bathtub for hours. seriously.....hours. when my bath water gets cold i empty it out and refill it with warm, toasty, goodness and pretend that i am far far away..not in my little studio.  i think everyone needs a refuge...mine usually and definitely as of late has been my tub. <3

---side note---

since my personal library was cut in half and some left behind in Idaho when we moved to New York, i usually resort to my classics....you know the really old ones that have inspired and moved nations.

you know.......harry potter and/or twilight. hahaha. i'm totally being serious though...i love to read any kind of book.  buuuut the fictional amazingness of the two aforementioned series just hit the spot on any occasion. 

they are in no doubt my guilty pleasures of literature.

---moving on---

i decided to start reading a book that i borrowed from the small library selection in our building..a book called homesick creek by Diane Hammond.  let's just say it was a good story, but i only made it 1/4 of the way through...bottom line?  

IT WAS RAUNCHY, and not that great either.

so i was telling my friends about it at church, and i said that i really wanted a good book to read that didn't have anything to do with witches, wizards, werewolves, or vampires...but still had all the similar magical qualities that would enthrall me until the very end.

this is when my friend taylor cannon spoke up and told me that i HAD to read.....drum roll please.

THE HUNGER GAMES.

and so i started them.  she loaned me the first book in the series earlier this week, and i was done in two days.  i started in on the second book last night, and i wont lie...i am almost halfway done with it.

i don't know what it is about fictional stories...i want to be in them. most think i am super-de-duper-de nerdy..but i love it.

so..in review:

• i am a sucker for magical fictional amazingness
• you should not read homesick creek
• you should read the hunger games
• you should all try to read while in a bubble bath because...well...it's the best
• nate is not a fan of his wife being locked in the bathroom for hours reading...actually the part he doesn't like is that his wife is racking up a bill with her excessive tub water usage. :)
• and lastly: if you aren't a reader, you should give it a try. reading is definitely one of the best ways to relax and unwind..and enter a different world for a little while. :)

i plan on finishing catching fire today or tomorrow. stay tuned friends.

 

the birthday girl.

i have been MIA in regards to my bloggy blog. oops!

i have lots to share...and will do so in the near future. (fingers crossed)

i do, want to get on today to document one thing that is currently happening...like right now. and that one thing is my beautiful sissy ALEXA MESHON ATHAY's birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is alexa.

a.k.a. franny

a.k.a. lex

a.k.a. lexy

a.k.a. lexica

a.k.a. sissy la la

a.k.a. middle child

a.k.a. leonard

a.k.a. chachie

a.k.a. lecker

annnnd. she is my sister...and carly's sister. annnnd. we both love her.

today is the day of her birth...which happened 21 years ago in Nampa, Idaho. 

bless this day.

she can now partake of the alcoholic beverages...but we don't drink, so nevermind. 

she can now....well, i guess she can now say she's 21 i guess. :]

shes freaking cute. and now she's a double, U, O, M, A, N.  bahaha. i crack myself up.

me and lex are only 19 months apart...so as you can imagine we grew up fighting. and now that we are older we LOVE each other. i wish that me, lex and carly would have had our older selves from the future come and talk to us when we were little and growing up. i wish they would have said.."listen little brats. one day you will all three be each others best friends...so make it happen sooner than later, because you will not want to waste precious time with each other!" yeah...that would have been a good pep talk.

even though that didn't happen, we still made it to the best friendie stage with little bloodshed and lots of time to spare. <3

i love my sissys, and i am pretty bummed that i am in nyc on the day of franny's birth.

i hope that she has an excruciatingly WONDERFUL day, because she deserves it.

p.s. this is my other sissy carly. she is also a hottie and a junior in highschool.  

we have SO many a.k.a. names for her because she is our baby. and thinking that she is our baby, makes me think that we are all old now...because she will be in college soon. yuck.

anyway...i think i will write out all of her a.k.a's for her birthday...which is september 14th....when she will turn 18.

ahhhhhhh.

what would i do without my sissys? they are amazing and super duper gorg...which clearly means gorgeous.

<3

Happy Birthday LEX.  i love you to the moon.

im hoping to get our recent happenings on here soon! 

until next time.

<3

NAMASTE

so i have had an awakening. i have become a lazy slob. 

there i said it.

as of late, i have been "letting myself go".

enough is enough.

i went to a yoga class last night because i think that mixing it up when it comes to fitness is the only way for me.

let me just say...I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT.

how fun is it that a bunch of women i know get together for a relaxing evening of yoga once a week!? can i just say that i am so stoked about this??? i finally made myself go and i was more than fulfilled. 

i can't believe how peaceful and relaxed i felt after the class.  gone are the days of dancing my buns off each day for hours and feeling the release i received from my favorite thing. i have been missing dance A LOT lately, and i think that yoga might help fill that large void for the time being..(until i start dancing again..thats right...i'm definitely NOT done). even then...i may stick with yoga. it makes me feel happy and at ease.

oh how i wish this was me all twisted up like a pretzel...

i will admit that i have a long way to go before i'm balancing on my hands or holding a headstand for minutes at a time, but you have to start somewhere. i have done yoga  in the past a few times and never stuck with it, but i am now a devoted servant and will be attending wednesday night yoga from here on out!

thanks to all the fun girls who put it together!

Sneaky Sneaky....

So this last weekend I was very very sneaky.

Why you may ask? .............because I snuck to Idaho last Thursday!

YES.

What a success my sneaky plan was!

Here is the behind the scenes info:::
The beginning of October, I was sent an invite via email to my darling Granny Browns 80th Birthday party. I read the invite and became pretty sad about the situation.
-side-note- upon moving to New York, my sweet husband told me that I could go home any time I wanted.
Therefore I went to my sweet husband and told him of this monumental event happening the weekend of Halloween in Twin Falls, Idaho. I had come to the conclusion that this would be the first time I would like to take him up on his offer/bribe. :)
I booked a round trip flight for the end of the month and told only one person back home...My little sis ALEXA. I decided that I wanted to keep this a surprise. Then I realized that I needed help getting from the airport to my parents house, so I commissioned Lex to be apart of my sneaky plan.
For an entire month Lex and I had to lie to everyone! AND LET ME TELL YOU~~we had a blast doing this.

Looking back it might have been a little cruel to my family....everyday that I spoke with my dad, mom, or sissy Carly I pretended that I was SO SAD that I couldn't be home for the big shindig.
-side-note- This was the first time in YEARS that my whole extended family on my moms side would be together...because of missions and such.

My mom was so funny about it. She kept trying to cheer me up and keep me positive when I would talk to her. But then Lex would call me and say that she just got off the phone with my mom and that she was so sad that I couldn't come. Lex totally egged her on too, telling her that I had cried to her on the phone the day before about it and stuff! How mean are we!!!!

Well it was all planned out. After a MONTH of waiting...I flew out of JFK October 28th and headed back west. I had a connection in SLC that I almost missed and finally made it to BOI at 9:30 that evening. Lex had driven all the way from REXBURG to pick me up. Yes I know...2 hours in the wrong direction. Luckily she had a friend who needed a ride to Boise and didn't have to drive alone. She picked me up at the airport in her cute little bug. We then hopped on the road (I drove-for the first time since moving!) and headed to Twin Falls. Since neither of us had a house key at the moment..i know weird...Lex called Carly and told her that she was coming home that night to surprise mom and dad and that she needed her to unlock the front door. Carly had NO CLUE that I was coming too!
Here is the surprise part:
We got to Twin Falls around 11:30 that night. Lex went in and made the big surprise while I waited out front in the dark. After she had been in the house for a couple of minutes, I gave her a call on her cell phone. Her phone rang, and she said something like this, "Oh, it's Erica! She knew that I was driving home tonight and kept me awake...she's probably calling to see if I made it home okay!" Then my dad said something like, "it's 1:30 am in New York! Why is she still awake!?" Before that question could be answered, Lex put me on speaker phone and said "Hi E! I just got home and I am in mom and dads room with everyone, say hi!" I then continued to say my hello's to my special family. We talked about my work day and how much we missed each other. As Lex started talking in response to something I said, I snuck in through the front door and tip toed into my parents bedroom. Keep in mind we were still connected on the phone. I got to the door and jumped right in! It was the perfect reaction.

Carly: First one to understand what was happening. She screamed so loud and came running over to give me a big hug!

Dad: Freaked that someone just walked in through his bedroom door and looked shocked...and very happy.

Mom: Best reaction. What was going on clicked, and she came running over and started sobbing as she hung on me hugging me for a looooong time. I will admit=I may have teared up a little too.

Let me make this very clear: I love my family SO much. It was so important to me to be at this party, because I would have been the only family member not there...sadly, the only two people who couldn't make it were Jeff Tingey and Nate Kitty Larsen.

Even though Nate couldn't go, he knew it was so important to me. Lucky. :)

I had such a fun few days there with my family. I only got to spend 4 days with them...but I needed it.

Now I am back in the big city with my tank of family time filled up. I needed that, I was definitely running low.

TO ALL THE PEOPLE I DIDN'T SEE WHILE I WAS IN IDAHO: I'm sorry!!!!!!
This was an extremely quick trip and it was for one purpose...to surprise and spend some time with my family for Granny Brown's birthday. I promise that I will make a trip in the near future to see everyone. Please know that I miss you all too!!!!

I am so grateful for my sweet husband and his willingness to let me go home! He stayed home and worked like a beaver to provide for us. What a lucky duck I am!

I am so grateful for my sweet little sis Alexa for agreeing to come pick me up. She drove all the way across the state to swoop me up from the airport. I wouldn't have been able to complete my fun plan without her. THANK YOU CUTE SISSY. <3 I am so grateful for my family and their willingness to deal with me when I just decide to "drop in" for a few days. I have the cutest parents and little sissies anyone could have....and for my mama and dad for driving me back to the airport when it was time to go home. I am so grateful for the chance I had to go home and to spend time with my loved ones. I miss them all SO much, and I know that families are forever. I am so grateful for that. I cherish so much the knowledge I have that I can be with them for ever and ever. What a lucky duck I am!

Today I am grateful.

Families are forever!

PMA and ETERNITY

well..it has been a while since i've posted. and i am happy to say that my attitude has changed dramatically from my last post about a month ago.

i made the big move out to manhattan. we moved into our apartment. i felt sorry for myself and bawled for a week. and i got over it.

i have been here for a month now and i would like to list off all of the positive things that have come our way with this move.

• a fresh start. we are able to renew our lives and start clean in a new place. this sounds good doesnt it.
  
  
• a shoulder to lean on. we have needed each other now more than ever. and guess what? we are so much closer.
  
• a beautiful apartment. our little place may literally be "little", but its ours and i am in love with it.
  
• the lights. this city has so many lights. they are so beautiful at night.
  
• thomas edison. for inventing the light bulb.
  
• diet coke. without it, i would not have survived.
  
• some pretty special girls from my new ward. without them, i would not have survived.
  
• some really nice people who gave us some "starter" furniture to get us by for now. what a blessing.
  
• my family. distance makes the heart grow fonder.
  
• music. i have always loved and appreciated it. but it has become such an amazing release when i am down.
  
• gilmore girls. new obsession. therapy.
  
• the battery park city library. my reprieve and sanctuary from the city my first few weeks here.
  
• tall buildings. the taller the better.
  
• the church. it really is the same everyhwere you go.
  
• the subway. it makes me feel like im at disney land.
  
• humidity. ok im lying. i hate the humidity.
  
• living on an island. it makes me feel exotic.
  
• my dear friends back home, who have sent me notes and words of encouragement.
  
• yogurt. i ate my weight in it my first 3 weeks here.
  
• pizza. new york pizza. need i say more.
  
• my first anniversary. what a blessing to be married to such a guy.
  
• my bread winner. he loves what he does.
  
• and i never thought i would say it....but i am thankful for this city........it took a small town girl and gave her a spoonful of the big city life. a HUGE spoonful. and boy am i grateful now.
  

i really think that i could go on and on and on and on...i feel extremely blessed right now.

i have been thinking a lot about something my dad always said while i was growing up.

PMA

POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE

this little acronym has been buzzing through my head for the past month. what great advice. i will admit that there have been days that i spent wallowing in self pity. but i have made a huge attempt to stay positive.

thanks daddy.

i mean...what an amazing adventure we are on.

we are so young and mobile. what a better time to get out and explore the world. i also received some great advice from a cutie friend here during the first few weeks i was in the city.

---dont resist the new york way. you will be unhappy. be open to the city and what it offers. be open to the change. you will adapt quicker. and love it faster. dont get stuck in your own ways, because the ways out here will be different without fail. embrace the city life!---

i think that this advice along with the life lesson given to me by my dad has been the key in my success here. and when i say success, i mean joy, happiness, smiles. i can now get myself around the city while alone, go grocery shopping alone, explore, enjoy, appreciate, and grow.

the only thing i am missing here so far are all of my little visitors. where are you!?!?!?

moving on.

october 9th, 2009

nate and i have now been married for a year!!!!!!!!

we just had our first year anniversary and it was so much fun celebrating in NEW YORK CITY!

here is a little synopsis of our special day:

building new entertainment center

staten island ferry

Statue of Liberty

walk through battery park

beautiful flowers delivered to apt. 2G

mamma mia on broadway

strolling through times square until october 10th.

a whole day devoted to us and the fact that we are married.

<3

since i have no talent in the organization of my posts yet, a few pictures documenting our anniversary are at the very top. :)

enjoy.