I used to live in a desert...

....I'm not saying I miss it; I'm just saying the humidity might kill me. That or the cockroaches; I have no idea how Disney managed to make the cockroach in Wall-E endearing because those things are disgusting. I saw one for the first time this last week...it was in the shower with me; there was a lot of screaming, a little cussing, and a ridiculous amount of pep talk required every time I've showered since. I keep on trying to tell myself that I've survived gross bugs before, I can do it again. Luckily I have yet to see any since my shower buddy; I've rigged my room with traps and poisons so hopefully that keeps them away.

Speaking of things that freak me out, if you know me you probably know I don't handle blood very well. It's one of the reasons I chose to do nutrition in the hospital instead something a little more hands on. Well I had experience this last week that convinced me that I could in fact live out my Grey's Anatomy fantasy and possibly one day become a doctor. This last week I had to give a patient an education in the cardiothoracic ICU. First off, the ICU is a little intimidating. The patients are obviously more advanced so I haven't had a lot of experience working with them yet, alarms are constantly going off, you can see right into the rooms that often have very sick patients in them, IV's and tubes are coming and going from everywhere, and I feel like all the doctors are staring and wondering what I'm doing there (I don't blame them, I'm sure I look a little lost). So I was wondering around the ICU trying to find the patient I was supposed to teach (and of course the rooms are numbered differently in the ICU than the rest of the hospital) trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, when I realize that the doctors around the patient directly in front of me are completely gowned up, elbow deep in blood, with their hands in a man's chest. Apparently something had happened and they couldn't get the patient to the OR in time, so they made do with his room in the ICU. I had to check in with myself a couple times, but I didn't faint or even get too queasy; after the initial shock wore off I realized that I mostly just curious. For a little while I was pretty convinced that it was sign that I was meant to be a surgeon. I quickly changed my mind when a couple of days later I was sitting at a computer in the ICU typing a note and the smell of burning flesh wafted out from one of the rooms that had the curtain closed. I held my breath, walked quickly out into the hallways and decided that I'm completely okay the fact that I will probably never be a doctor.

It's that time again! (ok, it's definitely past that time, at least I'm finally getting one posted!)

First off, I wanted to share that the mystery of theblack flats that I had mentioned here has been solved. I got a call from my little sister informing that she has been missing a pair of black flats--apparently she has great taste inshoes and is a half size bigger than I am. Not as exciting has my closet being shoe baby making central-but I'm glad Amy was able to get her shoes back before they were shipped off to D.I.

Secondly, I love this city. Trying to fit everything that has happened in the last couple months and into one blog post seems a little bit overwhelming,

so I'm going to make this as short as possible.

I've been dancing here

(yes those are gold skulls on the wall)

and here

(yes those are x-rays on the walls--apparently bones are in?) and many other places and they have all been crazy. I've been a little surprised at the amount of virtually unmixed top 40 I've heard and how ridiculous the line out front can be, but I still love it. I have to yet to find my "go to" place that always has great music and a great crowd like the W Lounge or had an experience that has blown my mind quite like Rain in Las Vegas, but you better believe I'm not going to stop looking. (Not that I'm complaining at all, I'm mostly just looking for an excuse to go out as much as I can)

I've seen ridiculous amounts of talent (bizarre and otherwise), not at shows or on stage, but on the streets and I'm actually not sure how I feel about it. Yes, I definitely enjoy sitting in beautiful Central Park listening to a guy play an amazing concerto on his violin, but I'm afraid that the fact that he's playing under a bridge means that he hasn't made it big, which I find kinda depressing; he obviously had a lot of talent, so what else exactly is he lacking? One of the more bizarre talents was this guy who moved in ways no one ever should (yes, he fits in the box; sure I could have timed my picture for two seconds later, but I thought this way was much more suspenseful.)

Danny and Durr came to visit! It make me miss home a lot! We did everything you could possibly do in 3 days, including mixing up the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings, walking the Brooklyn Bridge, visiting ground zero, battery park, and walking everywhere in between. Durr even braved some of the street food...I'm not sure he'll be doing that again anytime soon.

We also went to Cut Copy and it was AMAZING, definitely one of my favorite shows ever. The venue was amazing, the crowd was excited, the company was perfect, and the band played spot on.

But as much as I've loved the limo rides, penthouses, drivers, rooftop parties, and legit Italian restaurants, sometimes I still miss home. I definitely miss friends and family but I'm feeling especially bummed that I have yet to meet this girl. Meet my niece Tessa....I'm in love.

Takin a bite of the big apple

I'm here! After many months of anticipation I'm finally in New York. It's still feeling pretty surreal--I'm not sure when it's going to hit me that I live in one of coolest places in the world. Right now I'm exploring it bit by bit. Getting here was a little stressful, apparently I don't do red-eye flights; I value my sleep way too much. My room wasa little terrifying at first, but thanks to the local bed bath and beyond and TJ Maxx, I was able to make it feel a little less like a jail cell. (I really can't complain, I actually have one of the bigger rooms in the place; I wish I was kidding.)

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The walls still feel a little bare, but I'm planning on putting pictures of friends and family up; we'll see if I ever get around to printing them.

I miss all my Utah friends a lot, it's a little weird not having my "favorite spots" to go eat, hang out, and go dancing, but I'm really excited to find new ones. I'm loving the variety here, it's super refreshing to be surrounded by people that are so wonderfully different than I am. All the girls in my internship are no exception--I'm predicting that it's going to be a really fun year.

Some of the exciting things that have happened so far:

• I saw Harry Potter eating lunch. I know I already bragged about this on Facebook, but I thought it was pretty exciting. I didn't really have time to snap a picture, his bodyguard was really great at rushing him into his escalade. He was unfortunately a lot shorter than I expected.

• I started my internship! I took a picture to commemorate the occasion.

Yes, I have to wear lab coats every day. I've decided I feel the same way about lab coats as I feel about glasses--they're not always the cutest things, but I feel really smart in them. Honestly it's been a little boring so far, but apparently learning the ins and outs of a ridiculously humongous hospital takes some time.

• I've successfully navigated the subway, even with some construction and some of the lines being close. (Sure I may be constantly watching the map on my phone so I can count down how many stops I have before I have to get off, but I'm sure everyone around me thinks I'm just playing a really intense game of angry birds)

• I went to the Lion King with my mom. It was completely fantastic.

• Someone asked me for directions and I knew where to tell them where to go (I don't care if they were asking for the street right next to my building, I still thought it was impressive)

• I spent an entire day exploring the Metropolitan Museum; I'm pretty sure we only saw maybe 1/100th of everything there was to see. This was one of my favorites. The picture doesn't do it justice, all the mirrors really played with the light and skewed your perception.

That's all for now, more coming soonish!

Apparently the most difficult part of blogging is coming up with title

I was having a conversation with a friend about blogs and she told me that the only blogs she ever reads are the cute married/mommy blogs or train wreck blogs--you know the ones where they're sharing so much embarrassing personal information that it makes you cringe, but you just can't look away. I'm hoping that my blog will help her diversify her reading materials because I'm neither married nor pregnant and I'm not going to be sharing my deepest, darkest secrets (they're not that exciting anyway.) You'll just have to settle for things I've done or learned and the occasional funny story.

So apparently I'm a shoe thief. The other day I put on a pair of my black flats and one of them felt really stretched out compared to the other. I was pretty impressed that I stretched out only one of my shoes, but there wasn't a lot I could do about it, so I eventually forgot about it. A couple days later I was cleaning my room/organizing my shoes when I picked up the same black flats--this was confusing because I thought I had just put that pair very nicely in the back corner of my closet. I'd thought right. Turns out I have two pairs of the same exact shoes, plus or minus a half size. To assuage the guilt that I somehow stole someone's really cute shoes I've started telling myself that my closet just must be shoe baby-making central.

Also, am I back in high school? A couple days ago I was driving home from Salt Lake when a car pulled up beside me and stayed there for the entire on-ramp. I may have a mild (ok severe) case of road rage, and this just bothers me, if you're going to pass, man up and do it. The two lanes eventually merged so I had to pull in front of him. He continues to follow me as I change lanes and it was pretty obvious that he'd never mastered the two-second rule in driver's ed. At this point I'm ticked, I hate when people ride my ass, especially when I'm in the fast lane going 80 and I couldn't merge right if I wanted to. After a couple minutes of this he gets into the HOV lanes and pulls up right beside me and stays there. My road rage almost rears it's ugly head when I turn to ask him what the hell is wrong with him. Luckily I only got the "what" out because he proceeded to tell me that I was hot and that he wanted my number. I did my best to mouth thanks but sorry, I can't handle your driving even when I'm paying attention to the road, I am not going to try to multi-task. (Don't worry, I mouthed it more nicely than that) The whole thing reminded me of going down the St. George with Steph and Lauren and cruising around specifically just to get people's number. I would always freeze and stare straight ahead when we pulled next a car full of hot boys. Lauren and Steph on the other hand had it down to an art. Apparently I'm not any better at it now than I was then. After this he did start driving like a sane person, with appropriate spaces in between cars and everything. I almost feel guilty for not giving him my number so I could say sorry I have a boyfriend and I'm moving across the country in less than a month but thanks for the ego-boost. Oh and don't worry folks, I was pretty immediately knocked back down to size. That same day I was wandering in Target waiting for my prescriptions to be filled when a man walks up to me and asks me if I know where the nursing bras are. Um...what the? Now instead of feeling super hot I'm left wondering what about me would make a complete stranger think I know that answer to that.

Concrete Jungles Where Dreams Are Made Of

I've been meaning to start a blog for a little while--I feel like it's a pretty decent way to avoid doing the things that I actually need to be doing, while feeling a little more productive than staring at the same Facebook photo albums for the last hour. Plus, I'm planning on having insane adventures in New York that I will want to share with everyone.

So there it is, the main reason I'm doing this. I'm moving to New York City, in less than a month, for an entire year, and it's going to be an adventure. I somehow doubt I've missed telling anyone because I've been talking about it every chance I've got for the last 8 months, but if you haven't heard I'm doing my dietetic internship at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in the Big Apple. It's an unpaid internship, I'll be working at the nation's largest not-for-profit, non-sectarian hospital doing rotations in endocrinology, oncology, end stage renal disease, peds, obstetrics, and much much more. I'm staying in housing provided by the hospital. It's 8x11 room, (did you know that is a common size for area rugs? yup, I'm going to living and fitting all my stuff on an area rug) sharing a bathroom with who knows how many people right by the east river.

At this point it all seems a little overwhelming. I was born in a town with 800 people, went to a high school that had 600 students, moved to a city with a population of 118,500, went to a university with 30,000 students, and I'm now moving to an island with 18,976,500 people. I'm not great with math, but I know that a lot more people than I'm used to. I may be a little out of my league. Would you judge me if I told you that I've been watching Gossip Girl just because it's set in New York? (Ok that a lie, I was watching it before then, it's a guilty pleasure; everyone has them) I have religiously been reading the guide book that my wonderful brother and sister-in-law bought me for Christmas. Did you know that no one in New York calls the subway lines the "blue" or "orange" lines--it's the A-C-E and the 1-2-3, and that most New Yorkers think that Times Square is the most commercialized, overrated place ever? I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm probably going to look like a tourist for most of the year I'm there. I do however plan on becoming a street-savvy New Yorker eventually.

So this next month is going to busy, a lot of ending the old and starting the new. I'm sad that so many things that are really important to me are in the "old" category. Even though I'm sure most of you have probably heard me complain about it once or twice, I'm going to miss Provo. I'm freaked out about leaving my friends and family. (It's only a year right? People please keep on reminding me this isn't forever, I'm not losing anyone, they're still there, just a little farther away than I'm used to.) Again, I'm sure you've all heard me complain about it, but I'll miss my job and all the amazing girls that I've had the chance to meet there (and the fact that they feed me every time I work--I think I've forgotten how to cook).

I guess it's coming, whether I'm ready or not, so here's to the new...New York that is.