The Life and Times of Holly and Carolyn: October 2011

Monday, October 17, 2011

NEW YORK BABY!!

While we were in town, we saw several fantastic shows! Billy Elliot, The Book of Mormon, The Addams Family, and The Mountaintop. They were all so great! Billy Elliot was inspiring! The Book of Mormon had us laughing so hard, our faces hurt! The Addams Family was an unexpected pleasure! And the Mountaintop was one of the best plays we have ever seen, we were both in tears by the end and amazed by the talents of Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett on stage.

We got up one morning and walked over the Brooklyn Bride (started on the Brooklyn side) it was a bit hot and humid, but what a view!!

We took the Staten Island Ferry for the fun of it and to get a better view of the Statue of Liberty.

In front of NBC - where we got to see SNL (see separate post) and tried to see Jimmy Fallon, but didn't make it in. We spent a lot of time on this street! The best part is the bakery on the corner, where they make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches out of peanut butter cake... by far the BEST (and probably most fattening) PB&J we have ever ate!!

Carolyn in front of the library... where just a few days earlier, everything was closed and blocked off for President Obama's visit.

The early days of the Occupy Wall Street movement. We saw it in the beginning and had no idea how far or how fast the movement would spread! It is still going strong today in cities all over the world!! It was interesting to see so many people pull together for a cause like this.

We walked around Central Park and visited Strawberry Fields. This is Holly in front of the Imagine mosaic - a tribute to John Lennon, and Carolyn in front of the Dakota, the apartment building where John and Yoko lived, and where John was killed.

The weird little green pond at Central Park... how in the world does it get so green??

One day, to get out of the rain, we visited the Metropolitan Museum (the Met). It wasn't an original idea, as the museum was packed!! It was a good way to spend a rainy day. The best part? The cafeteria! Salads and pastas, and the oh so yummy cannoli!

The 9/11 Memorial. What a beautiful way to honor the lives lost.

Saturday Night Live - NYC (September 23-24, 2011)

One thing that both Carolyn and I have always wanted to do is be on Saturday Night Live... but tickets are nearly impossible to get in advance. They have a lottery once a year and you don't get to pick the dates of the show you want to attend, so for out-of-towners, not ideal. The only other way to get tickets, is to line up and get stand-by tickets on Saturday morning at 7:00 am. There is no guarantee you will get into the show with these tickets. We thought it was worth trying!!

They pass out tickets at 7:00 am on Saturday morning. But we knew people started lining up the night before (we thought just the night before). We headed down at about midnight on Friday night. When we got there, we were amazed to see such a long line already!! Later we learned that there were people that had been in line since TUESDAY!! CRAZY!! We were about 115 and 116 in line. We were in for a long night, and didn't come prepared like some of the others (many had tents, lawn chairs, blow up mattresses, etc.)... so I dug some milk crates out of the garbage so we wouldn't have to sit on the ground all night.

It was very humid and the weather called for rain. We lucked out and didn't get rained on! There was a 24 hour pharmacy a block away where we went to get snacks. There was also a McDonald's about 5 blocks away - where we went to use the bathroom.

In line, we met some great people!! Right in front of us was two guys from Venezuela.

And in front of them, two gals from New York. We talked all night and became great friends before the sun came up the next morning!

Having such a great group of people to stand in line with, made the night fly by! By 7:00 am, we had to make a choice - we could either get stand-by tickets for the Dress Rehearsal or the Live show. All our friends chose the Live show - which were at numbers 70 and 71. The Dress Rehearsal numbers were only at 60 and 61... we didn't know which to pick! We asked the woman handing out tickets, "If you had to pick, which would you choose?" She said the Dress Rehearsal, so we did.

We had to come back at 7:00 pm that night and wait in line again. We did, and we barely made it into the rehearsal! They only sat a few people after us. We found out that our friends were the last ones into the Live show, so if we had picked those tickets, we wouldn't have made it in!! LUCKY!! It was truly amazing. We were seated on the front row of the balcony and got to see so many people! Alec Baldwin was the host and Steve Martin and Seth Rogen were both on the show as was the full SNL cast. What a great experience!!

New York, September 2011 (Famous People!)

Wow! We saw many amazing people on this trip! We were not really planning on it, but we just happened to run into them! On our first night in town, Bryant Park and the Library was surrounded by security - Secret Service, NYC Police, and many others... The block was barricaded off by big cement trucks and pedestrians were not allowed to use the sidewalks at all. We found out that there was an event at the Library for the UN and President Obama was in attendance! No wonder!!

As we stopped to take pictures of Macy's for Rosella, we noticed a large crowd gathering. We were told Beyonce was on her way to unveil her new perfume being sold in Macy's stores! We hung out for a few minutes and got to see her up close! She is gorgeous!

After leaving Billy Elliott, there was a crowd gathered across the street. We went over and saw Angela Bassett and Samuel L. Jackson. They were starring in "The Mountaintop."

We heard that The Addams Family on Broadway was worth seeing, so we got half price tickets at the TKTS Booth and went to see the show! It was pretty funny, and afterwards, we waited to see the cast. We were able to meet the entire cast (and get all their autographs on our Playbills), including Roger Rees (my favorite role was as Dr. Marlow on Grey's Anatomy) and Brooke Shields (who was the sweetest thing!).

LOTOJA Ride (September, 2011)

LOTOJA is a European-style road classic that is unparalleled in distance and beauty. At 206 miles, LOTOJA is the longest one-day USCF-santioned bicycle race in the country!!

The Suzy Q's (Mike, Annette, Carolyn, and Holly) would like to ride in LOTOJA next year on a relay team. So, Holly and Carolyn went to check it out. They got up early (5 am) and went down to the start line to watch some of the first riders begin the race.

After they watched at the start line - they got in the car and proceeded to drive to Jackson Hole, Wyoming where the race ends. For some of the way, they took the same route as the riders. Other times, all cars were routed other directions for the safety of the riders. In all, they drove over 300 miles to get to the finish line. But it worth it!!

The first finishers, came in at 9 hours and 16 minutes. Yes, that is right... 206 miles in just 9 hours. Amazing!!

Wonder Woman Ride (September 17, 2011) - Third Metric Century

The Wonder Woman ride in Payson, Utah was one of the most beautiful rides we have taken so far!!

We stayed in Provo Friday night so we wouldn't have so far to drive to the race on Saturday morning. We filled up on carbs at the Brick Oven Pizza! The ride went through Mona, Utah and Goshen Canyon - what beautiful country!! Wonder Woman herself was actually there directing traffic!!

Def Leppard Concert (September, 2011)

Carolyn, Holly, and Annette Miner went out to USANA Amphitheater to see Def Leppard... Carolyn didn't know who they were, but the songs brought back memories for Holly and Annette! They were rockin' out!!

Tony Grove, Utah (August, 2011)

We went to Tony Grove with the Watsons and the Balls in August. The wildflowers were in full bloom and were just gorgeous!

My cute, little lumberjack! Bringing home the firewood!

Our day hike to White Pine Lake... what a great hike!

Cute hats!

Carolyn having a "leaf" sword fight with one of her nieces! Too bad her "sword" was a bit limp!

We dug up a Geo Cache! We exchanged treasures and hid it back where we found it.

K.C. sure made the trip fun! She was good for more than a few laughs, especially when she managed to cover herself in mud after her swim in the lake!

HRC on the Road to Equality SLC (August, 2011)

On the Road to Equality" is the Human Rights Campaign’s nationwide bus tour to spread the message of equality by educating the American public and empowering lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to become advocates for themselves and their families. http://www.hrc.org/road-to-equality

Carolyn and Holly enjoyed the weekend with HRC! They went down to Liberty Park and walked with others in the 5k.

Holly and Carolyn showing off their PRIDE at the 5k event!

At the HRC Event that night, they heard from Joe Solmonese and other HRC representatives.

ULCER Ride (Utah Lake Century Epic Ride), August 2011 - First Metric Century!

On August 6th, we geared up and headed down to Thanksgiving Point for the start of the ULCER Ride. We rode 63 miles that day - a Metric Century - and what a day it was! We were so proud of ourselves by the end, we couldn't hold back the tears! Biking has become our favorite activity, and it is changing our lives!

Atlanta, Georgia (July 16-23, 2011)

We went to Atlanta for the 2011 RID National Conference. We went with the summer School-to-Work interns, plus Carolyn's sister Joelynne and the boys, and her mom Rosella all came along - Carolyn's sister Suzanne and her family live in Georgia, so it was a great opportunity to visit! Holly was appointed to serve as the Region V Representative at the conference. She will be in this position for the next year.