I can't go an entire month without updating so... here is my attempt to prevent that.

Even though it is kind of cheating.

Aaaaaand, I miss New York

Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas

Vegas was a lot fun

It was hot. We went to the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign.

it was the first time I had seen it.

And walked around in the Bellagio hotel, had a delicious buffet there, and saw the fountain.

And spent most of our time in the 108 degree weather at the pool.

It was very relaxing.

But it is very nice to be back in Salt Lake.

5 Pointz

Courtney, Taylor and I made the trek up to Queens to see 5 pointz today

a graffiti "museum" that is a square block that graffiti artists covered in their own artwork.

Almost every square inch of the walls were covered in graffiti. some of them were so impressive it was almost impossible to believe they were done with spray paint.

like this one of Batman... Joker was painted too but a van was blocking him so I couldn't get the whole mural in the same shot.

This one was a clear favorite of mine. When we came back the garage door was open and the entire inside room was also done in the same pattern. It was amazing.

The day inspired me to change my title picture... Thanks NY graffiti artists.

@thoyt's birthday

Today was Taylor's birthday

Courtney, Taylor and I went to the row boats at Central Park.

to dinner at unknown Italian restaurant in little Italy,

then to Brooklyn bowl to get turned away because we didn't have tickets to the Talib Kweli concert,

then to Bowlmore carnival place (very sketchy until we got upstairs).

It was a very enjoyable day.

pictures were taken on Courtney's camera and will probably appear on her blog sometime within the next two days...

But here are so unrelated pictures

New York is hot.

The temperature is something that you cannot describe to someone who has never experienced it.

90 degrees actually feels like 213.

It just isn't right!

I check the weather on my computer before I go outside, see it is a cool 89 and dress accordingly.

Recently, I have just accepted that it's going to be hot and I'm going to be a sweaty mess regardless of what I wear, so I end up going with shorts and flip flops.

Before I walk out the door, I take one last breath in the freezing cold air-conditioned room and brace myself for the sauna I'm about to step into.

Heaven forbid you have to take the subway on one of these days...

It is like switching from a sauna directly into a steam room.

I swear the humidity is at least 98% down by the 4,5, and 6 trains at Union Square

Probably the best thing you can see on one of these days is this little sign:

"Air Conditioned Car, Please close windows"

One nice thing about it being so hot is when you step inside an air conditioned room it seems that much cooler. Aaaand then you step back outside and are overwhelmed by the heat again. It is a vicious cycle.

the buried life

50 things I want to do before I die.

This list will hopefully eventually reach 100, but for now 50 will suffice.

1. drive a rally a car

2. bungee jump

3. sky dive

4. go to new zealand

5. make a difference in a stranger's life

6. go to every state in the US

7. have a million dollars

8. play an instrument

9. step foot on every continent

10. become fluent in a foreign language

11. have 'the perfect kiss'

12. pick up a hitch hiker

13. win something significant

14. be able to honestly say that i'm not stressed

15. invent something

16. be an extra in a movie

17. pay for a stranger's meal in a restaurant

18. shoot under par on 18 holes of golf

19. ride a bull (mechanical works)

20. sing karaoke

21. make a donation as 'anonymous'

22. throw the first pitch at a baseball game

23. be involved in a protest

24. make and sell a piece of art

25. be on a game show

26. witness a miracle

27. learn to surf

28. go on stage at a concert

29. get a college degree

30. make a toast

31. attend the finals of each sport(super bowl, NBA finals, world cup, world series, etc)

32. buy a one-way ticket somewhere not knowing when I would return

33. ride an elephant in a foreign country

34. stand under a waterfall

35. watch the ball drop in Times Square

36. drive the autobahn

37. complete a triathlon

38. drive the car of my dreams

39. have one day of completing entirely selfless acts

40. stand up for something i believe in

41. have something published

42. leave someone a tip that is more than the meal

43. be the first thing to come up on a Google search of my name

44. be VIP at an event

45. fly business class overseas

46. fly in a private jet

47. keep a journal

48. give a person on the street a $100 bill

49. jump into a pool/lake/ocean with all my clothes on.

50. ride a motorcycle

Writing this list not only made me realize how soon I need to start this list, but also how privileged I my life has been. Reading over others' lists of things they want to do before they die, I noticed that I had already completed a good number of them. I take for granted how lucky I have been to live in such a great area, have been able to travel and experience life. I am so grateful to have the parents I do who encourage and help me with these life changing experiences.

More pictures from the week/end

Governor's island - She & Him concert

Downtown Manhattan - From Brooklyn Bridge

Lower Manhattan - From Brooklyn

Manhattan/Brooklyn Bridge

The 4th

i love the 4th of July.

A combination of patriotism and fireworks make it my second favorite holiday

(just barely trailing Christmas)

This fourth of July was very different than my normal tradition...

Park City parade and fireworks either at the golf course or Sugarhouse park.

The concert started at 4:00 but a limited number of wristbands were given out, so we got to the island at 12:30 to ensure that we didn't make the trip for nothing.

To fill the four hour gap, we prepared a picnic at Whole Foods to enjoy in the sweltering heat (96 degrees)

Kylie, Vinnie aka ohhkcox and vincentjmerlot and I went to the store to prepare the picnic and take it onto the island for entertainment while waiting for the concert.

We thought we were very original with our Whole Foods picnic walking up to the ferry line.

we quickly realized we were wrong.

Every other scene-ster, wayfarer wearing, skinny jean kid in line for the ferry(clearly only going for She & Him) had the same paper Whole Foods bags.

She & Him played and were amazing. I love everything about Zooey Deschanel.

Following the concert, we went to Hoboken, NJ to watch the fireworks over the NYC skyline.

It was a great fourth of July.

The NBA draft was this past week and Scott, Courtney, and I decided it would be worth checking out. It just happened the Jazz had a draft pick in the top 10 so it was a very rare opportunity for us to see, and it just so happened that we were in New York for it! We scoured the internet trying to find tickets for the event, however, only hitting dead ends.

Nowhere was selling tickets.

After calling the Madison Square Garden ticket office, we learned tickets were only to be sold the morning of the draft, and would go on sale at 11:00 a.m. None of us were really sure what to expect... And all of us were very wrong to say the least.

Getting off the subway we were greeted with a line that was about a block and a half long. Didn't seem too bad. However... after an hour of waiting in the line and moving no more than twenty feet, we became a little weary.

As more and more people approached us, selling their tickets to neighbors in line for $30 +($15 at the door) and being told there were only 300 more tickets and none of us were going to get in, our hopes evaporated. sweat, on the other hand, came nowhere close to evaporation and instead was pouring down our faces in the 90 degree heat.

After three hours, an end was in sight. Only 100 people or so were in front of us, however, you could tell a shortage in tickets was near. We were herded into the box office like cattle, being cutin line by the annoying four kids behind us and the potentially mute man behind them - who was very sneaky.

We finally got our tickets and were back at 7:00 that night for the big event. In the end, the memories of the day were probably more fun than the draft itself... but now we have the memories to relive and the ability to say we have attended an NBA draft.

Carnivorous at the strike of midnight?

As the vegan month is coming to a close (6/21),

I am definitely glad that I will be able to eat real food again

but I have mixed feelings about it.

What do I do now?

Courtney and I decided that we will have at least a week, to binge and eat whatever we want

Cravings have included: Pizza, fried chicken, Snickers, ice cream, sushi, chicken sandwich, and mashed potatoes

just to name a few.

But the real dilemma is what to do after that...

Our vegan diet was noticeably healthier, fun(in some ways... not including getting made fun of at famous pizzeria, Grimaldi's, when I had the chef make me a vegan pizza - by customers and waiter), and changed the way I want to eat in the future.

I definitely don't want to stay vegan though. But maybe, I could handle being a vegetarian.

On another note... The end of this 30 day challenge means another thing... Courtney and I have been in New York for a month already! It has gone by insanely fast. There is so much more we need to do...

I have yet to...

• See the Statue of Liberty(not from the Staten Island Ferry)
• Visit the Empire State Building
• Go up to the top of the Observation Deck at 30 Rock
• Get a job(but that is getting less likely with each passing day!)
• See Ground Zero
• Ride in a cab - cash cab maybe?
• See the city from the High Line
• Visit all 5 boroughs

And I am sure I am forgetting some.

Unexpected Excitement

It is amazing how much other people being excited about something can change your view about it so much.

A year ago, I had absolutely no interest in soccer. I had no idea any of the rules of soccer. I had no idea who any soccer players were. Between Real Salt Lake winning the MLS Cup finals and living with a soccer fanatic, I started to learn a little about the game.

Being in New York, the hype for the World Cup was much more that it would have been in Utah. Puma City, a two block area designed for soccer fans to enjoy "Football by day. Parties by night." It even included a miniature field for fans to play on.

Even with all the excitement around me, I did not predict my emotions when the England vs. Unites States match started this afternoon. I was standing up. cheering. yelling. clapping. along with all the other soccer fans at the restaurant. They probably had no idea this was the first full soccer game I had ever watched.

Now, I cannot wait for the next games. I have been researching the best teams/players so hopefully at the next game I will even sound like I know what I'm talking about. At this rate, this will be me on July 11 (World Cup finals)...

hopefully not though...

... and found!

I was exploring Courtney's blog to look at her layout to see if I could do anything similar with mine. I looked at multiple blogs of her followers to see if there was one that caught my eye.

As I was blog-creeping I began reading a music review of Miike Snow someone had written and became curious. I clicked on the video included in the blog and it was the song I could not figure out!!!

Miike Snow - Animal

This happened about 5 minutes after posting about not being able to figure out what the song was. I have been listening to the song on repeat since. Thank you, universe/Spencer Flanagan.

Here is the video.

Lost...

You would think with the technology we

have at our fingertips, there would be something that could read my mind and tell me what song I am thinking of.

I have been craving a song for about 4 days now...

Unfortunately I don't know it well enough to attempt to sing it to someone to see if they know it (even though that would be a failed attempt, regardless) or figure out what movie I originally heard it in.

I thought my Pandora was somehow connecting with my brain for about seven seconds until the intro of the song ended. I quickly realized my computer was not telepathic.

I also thought I had intuitively remembered the movie I heard the song in, but after scouring the soundtracks of both Wicker Park and Garden state, I was once again left in sadness.

I am so curious what this song could be or where I heard it.

One plus side of this curiosity, however, was that I was reminded how amazing all of the songs in both of those soundtracks are. So, even though I don't have the song I was originally looking for... I have rediscovered some equally good music to tide me over until I can find it.