i'm definitely not from around here

I just got back from the grocery store. I walked 1 mile total and passed hundreds of people, and six of them were white. None of them were even close to blonde. I was wearing a skirt with lace and my gold shoes, and I felt completely ridiculous. It was kind of terrifying. I stick out like a sore thumb in Harlem.

I wonder if this is how black people in Provo feel...?

But seriously, I'm learning things about myself here. I'm doing things I never would have thought I could do. I'm a stronger, more independent person than I thought. And I'm sure I'll get used to this and it will seem normal in a while. For now it is very different and kind of scary! I've never felt so out of place in my life! I just thought I would share since I'm kind of proud of myself for making the scary trip to the grocery store on Malcolm X Blvd. :) Thank you.

that's what friends do

They help each other move boxes, bags and furniture into a fifth floor walk-up. Our friends Casey and Todd rolled into town yesterday evening, and we went down to the East Village to help them move in. A lot of our BYU friends were there helping, enough that they had quite the assembly line going and no one had to take more than a flight of stairs at a time. Teamwork!

The Matheny's were nice enough to bring out a bunch of stuff for other people (including us) since they had the truck. So we all hopped in the back of the Penske and rode around New York dropping off people and their things. We had treats and good company, and it was fun! We played "guess where in New York we are" and after guesses were made Kelsey and Robby checked their iPhones to find out who was right. :)

It was so great to have friends around. We ended up getting dinner with Casey, Todd, Robby and Kelsey at Kitchenette up by Columbia. That place is way cute and yummy and we had a great time talking with everyone. We're excited to have some friends here and to get together with them more often! And with the Matheny's in the East Village, the Egan's on the Upper East Side and us in South Harlem, we'll have a lot of New York to cover!

Casey, Klane, Loralee, Kelsey, Billy and Robby

Loralee

Kelsey and Klane look like they think the truck is about to crash

i like the park. quite a lot.

I went running yesterday morning on this path. It was gorgeous and sunny with a cool breeze, and there were lots of people out enjoying the good weather. So beautiful! I will be back.

two year anniversary... to be continued.

Today was our two year anniversary! It was also the day to move into the apartment. Valecia Green drove us all the way into the city so we didn't have to transport 200+ pounds of luggage between trains, buses and subways. She is a saint. (Quick, someone think of a way we can thank the Greens for all they've done for us the past few days.) Klane went to DDB for the day, and my day involved a trip to the Bronx to sign on the apartment lease, transporting the luggage between wonderful Marci's apartment and ours (the subletters hadn't vacated our place quite yet so our stuff sat at Marci's for a few hours. Thanks Marci!), and an extended date with a roll of paper towels and a bottle of Lysol in the apartment. But I'm so happy to finally be here! (And to finally have it really clean!) We love the neighborhood, there are some yummy restaurants and grocery stores close by, as well as Central Park.

Tonight we celebrated our anniversary by eating amazing buffalo wings at Just Wingin It (a wing place just up the street, which was actually featured on Food Network, we found out), and making a trip to Bed Bath and Beyond in Lincoln Square to spend the last of our store credit from the wedding on a few essentials for the apartment. When the angel Moroni came into view on the top of the temple I was so happy! It was beautiful and wonderful to see. I decided I love Lincoln Square. We stopped in and checked the temple schedule and planned a date. On the way home we stopped by the Upper West Side Shake Shack for a concrete. Vanilla custard, chocolate cookie dough and caramel. It was totally worth it and so delicious! We're going to celebrate our anniversary more officially on the weekend when we have more time and I haven't been scrubbing floors and carrying heavy luggage all day. :)

We love you all! Despite everything that's going on, we do miss all of you a lot. Thanks for checking the blog so often and commenting, it makes us feel close to home! It's like you're all here with us on our adventure. (Sorry no pictures today, I really was cleaning most of the day and too tired to carry anything but a metro card by the evening!)

Klane's first day

This morning Klane and I went into the city, me for one more test and him for his first day at DDB! It was very exciting. DDB is kitty corner from the famous St. Patrick's Cathedral, and is in a beautiful part of town on Madison Avenue.

While Klane was at work, I wandered over to Rockefeller Center, hitting H&M and Anthropologie for some browsing, then made my way down to 34th street for my test. Other adventures of the day included Times Square to check on broadway tickets for when my parents come next week, lunch with Klane, and reading a book in Central Park for hours. It was a nice day, and I am now exhausted from all the walking.

Klane's first day went well, he got a desk and a computer and he is ready to be briefed on a new client tomorrow morning. They'll have him on a team working on stuff for a specific client.

We are excited to get into our apartment tomorrow! Woo hoo!! The Greens have been absolutely great and we've had fun getting to know them and their four adorable kids, but we don't want to wear out our welcome and are excited to finally get into our very own little place. Plus, cutting out the 30 minute train ride into the city will be nice.

Here's some of my day in photos...

These pretty flowers are by Klane's office

Klane's building. DDB is the second, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth floors.

Coming out the doors to meet me for lunch. He's just so grown-up! :)

We went to Chipotle. It was my first time and I approve.

It's a gorgeous time to be in NY. It was 80 today.
These flowers were in front of the Plaza hotel across from Central Park.

Central Park sounded like a good idea for the afternoon, and escaping the sounds of the street was nice. It's gorgeous there!
Full of people taking advantage of the great weather. I'm excited to spend time there with Klane!

This is called the Mall. I don't know why.
All I know is it is one of the places they sang that awesome/hilarious song in Enchanted, which I love and can't help but smile when I watch. (Watch it and try not to smile, I dare you.)
And I sat there reading for two hours. It was lovely.

celebrate with a shack burger

I knew before we ever went into the exam what I wanted to do afterward to celebrate. We walked the few blocks to Madison Square Park to grab a shack burger at the famous Shake Shack I've heard so much about. I was even happy to wait in the 45 minute line. The verdict? I thought it was great, Klane said he wouldn't go out of his way to go back. Carmen loved it! :) Shake Shack, I hope I see you again. (Oh, and pardon me for taking the same photo of the burger that many of you ny bloggers have taken before. I couldn't resist.)

North East Regional Board - DONE!

I can't believe it really happened, but it did. I survived the clinical board exam! I feel great, because this sounded like something that I could never do. Fly a patient to an unfamiliar, huge city, to a college I've never been to and take a rigorous clinical exam??! I really did that? It is still kind of surreal. This is us right after walking out. We feel great!

And for those who are interested, the test actually went really well. The clinic floor examiners and assistants were nice and helpful (in a very Eastern, short and to the point, almost rude but actually nice kind of way) and I finished cleaning the assigned teeth in an hour and 40 minutes, even though two hours were allowed. The examiners were actually a little confused when I sent my patient in to be evaluated early, but they said I did well!

new york in 24 hours

subway

the statue is behind me

Me and Carmen, who I will forever be indebted to for helping me become a hygienist

handsome hub, times square

shot from the hip while jay walking in little italy

we saw these pigeons bathing in a leaky fire hydrant and about died. "that's so new york!"

really cool street performers at battery park, they were hilarious

Carmen really wanted to take the ferry and see the statue, we're glad we went, she loved it

We wanted to make sure Carmen, my board patient, had a good time in the city since she did me a huge favor by sacrificing her time to fly out for my test. So we crammed in as much sight seeing as we could, between NERB orientation, the test itsself and meeting with some people in the city. Friday was a LONG day. We rode on a plane, subway, train, bus and taxi all in one day, with lots of walking in between (and some frantic running when we were late to my orientation meeting). Kind of unusual for Utah folks, but we only had a few subway mishaps. It was fun to show Carmen the city, she loved it. But we were so relieved when we got her on the plane this evening, it was really exhausting trying to communicate with her and entertain her all day. Anyway, we are very excited for the sabbath, we will be taking full advantage of the day of rest.

Pizza at L'asso

We had the best pizza today in Little Italy. I asked the guy behind the counter in a perfume store where to get good pizza and he pointed us to L'asso. We will definitely be going back! It was small but they had great pizza, homemade sauce and fresh mozzarella. And a cool big brick oven. And a cool vibe. We loved it!

pelham, new york

We made it to NY and we're staying in Pelham for the weekend until our apartment opens up next week. Bishop Green's son and his family are letting us stay with them. Hooray for the gospel family we have through the church! We are so grateful for kind people who are helping us along in this transition phase. There just happened to be a family that moved out of this adorable house this week, so we are staying here for tonight. Kind of shuffling around, but people have been so kind and helpful. And just look at how cute the neighborhoods are up here! We're about 30 minutes north of the city by train but are headed in for some sight seeing and my NERB orientation.

graduated!

We made it! Packed up, moved out, graduated, finals finished and hopping on a plane. A HUGE thank you to all those who helped us out this week. You made it happen!

the class of 2009

It's no secret that I'm totally and completely ready to be done with school. But there have definitely been some fun times, and the girls I've been able to know through this experience are what have made it great. We have a great class. Thanks for the good times, ladies. Here's to the UVU Dental Hygiene graduating class of 2009!