the woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. 
the woman who walks alone will usually find herself in places no one else has ever been before. 

{ albert einstein }

crio bru

i'm completely obsessed with crio bru.
it's brewed cocoa. like coffee. but not. just chocolate. YES!
my aunt peggy, told us about it and we can't get enough.
you brew it as if you would brew coffee (which i don't drink- so i'm learning how to do that), they say it has a ton of benefits but i just think it tastes amazing.
we hit decadence in orem which has a pretty sweet crio bru bar (i'm nuts about the iced coconut crio or the coco loco) but i've just discovered that if i brew it at home & add almond joy creamer,
it's even better (and only 35 calories).

looks like this little mormon girl needs to buy a coffee machine... or better yet, a french press.

10 days in august

 our awesome neighbor, troy, hosted a lovely (and fancy) lemonade stand. always happy to support local businesses, i was thrilled that he had cold diet coke as an option.

 sussy, nina, and i were in charge of bachelorette party extras....
we hit the party supply store and had too much fun...

 i really am regretting not buying that sombrero....

we tricked out the car and opted for tiaras & ring pops over male body part accessories....

 you may not want to invite me to your bachelorette party... there will be dares upon dares upon dares. we knew how to get that party started!

 the mini bride.

 sisters.

 the groom. we never had a little brother so i guess you could say our forced dress up is because we never got to do that as kids.

 nina and i enjoyed a saturday bike ride to bridal veil falls (one of my favorite places in utah).

 it is so beautiful here.

 the following day, we packed up and headed to our houseboat in lake powell. i was shoved back into the 3rd row of the sequoia (stuffed in by bags) and made a million friendship bracelets while we watched movies (evie's favorite, peter pan, was on repeat).

 we always stop in bever for our mustache shot. keeping it classy...

 honestly, it doesn't get more WT than eating McD's WHILE walking thru walmart....

mom still doesn't delegate grocery responsibilities to us so we end up making a parade of carts and force nina to push us around..... idiots. 

 these are ali's husband, bruggy's, feet. he says it's a baseball thing. i say he's trying to be like those asian ladies who wear socks with flips.

the walmarts has serious olympic spirit.

 this is jim bo. he helps us with our boat. what you're sorta missing is a pretty spectacular mullet int he back that he says he takes out of his pony when he's ridin' his harley cause he feels more "free and bad ass." i love him.

 lake powell is the most beautiful place on earth. the sunsets are spectacular.

 this year, my bil, jeff, had the genius idea to bring dad's ancient japanese/hawaiian shave ice machine. best part of my trip was eating 5 + of these bad boys/night in our happy hour activities.

 ugh! it doesn't get any better!

 evie agrees. i'm dying over her gluttonous bellybutton.

 i'm missing this so much.  we have such a great time eating amazing food, playing games, and laughing our heads off. i feel so lucky to have spent every summer here.

 sussy is the biggest ham. she's doing titanic on the ski boat.

 we headed to rainbow bridge (one of the natural wonders of the world) because so many of the young ones on the trip had never been. it's pretty spectacular.. and hot....

 evie refused to be carried and wanted to hike on her own. this kid is so hilarious.

 i *think* that's kara, ali, & bruggy

 you can't even capture the magnitude of these canyons in a picture.

 evie fell asleep in my lap after her epic hike and it was one of my favorite moments of the trip.

 we've always had a sorority of sisters but now that everyone has men, the dynamic has turned dramatically. there is a lot of jumping off things, tricks, and fishing.
we're loving it.

 mom, evie, ali, and dad enjoying happy hour shave ice while watching the boys do tricks off the boat.

i think adam is practicing for a "toddlers and tiaras" glitz pagent. 

 bruggy learned to drive a boat & wanted to make sure i caught a pic of it...

 i love me some s'mores & singing.

 we didn't have any cell coverage, but we did have cable so we didn't miss a minute of olympic action. it was so awesome to be able to take a break from the sun and catch up on the action. go usa!

 love this boat.

 i'm newly obsessed with surfing behind the boat. i finally aced it and didn't need the rope. i also had a few "qual slalom shred sesh's" according to nina's fiance, dan.

 nina brought back some pretty sweet batik fabric from ghana so we looked pretty tribal ... especially in the end with our fierce tans.

 dan has some impressive boarding skills. he threw a toeside tantrum which greatly increased the competition factor btwn the boys... to be clear, bruggy (the star baseball athlete) didn't participate.... don't want to get him in trouble.

 by the end of the trip i added two more bracelets to this picture..... i'm obsessed.

 evie likes to pray with her eyes open and glow sticks on. party time! i, evidently, pray with my eyes open and camera in hand.

 caught adam acting a fool for the camera.

 final shave ice on our way back into the marina.

 the sunsets are like none other... no filter on any of these beauties taken in cookie jar & gun sight canyons.

farewell lake powell!
see you next year!
xx

*sorry for the obnoxious mix of insta & real pix. we all know i'm not known for my blog style....

the COLOR RUN {winners!!!}

blends,
i'm really super sorry i'm so late in posting winners.
got major tonsilitis on ali's big wedding day and it had me under water...
then i started IN THE HEIGHTS rehearsals on monday-sick as a dog-(tickets are on sale NOW!)
and it's a lot more rapid-fire spanish than i anticipated (homework homework homework)... plus i have a social life... sorta...
so i haven't had a min of internet time.. (what is facebook?)

anyway, congrats winners!!!
email me at MormonInManhattan@gmail.com
and i'll see you at the race!!!

i can't wait to run the color run!


have you signed up???

nyc in july

before i get to this weekends wedding, i have to re-cap july's festivities. looking back, i had so many great times with my awesome friends. 

this is sheldon. he's a south african who transplanted to atlanta. we dated when i came thru on "hairspray" and have maintained an awesome friendship ever since. i hadn't seen him in 8 years!

 he came up with the coolest group of power players from the ATL. i had one of the funniest nights of my life hanging with these major people. this is dolvett. he's on "the biggest loser" and i adore him.

 i lunched with angela, one of my favorite women in nyc. she's incredible and has been such a great friend to me.

 was able to boss audra's seamstresses around at her bridal fittings. she will be the most exquisite bride and i'm sick that i can't make the wedding. it will be so special.  i really think i should start a business where i'm a hired bossy maid of honor. some brides just need someone to do their dirty work.

 i hung with my girl, kyra, and we traded lingo- here, we're showing our "soup coolah's".... amazing. her coolers are way more fabulous than mine!

 i saw my newsies boys again. i can't believe how talented these guys are and what they're asked to do 8 shows/week. watch for jeremy on SMASH this season! yay! and come see thayne in the show. he's wonderful!

 elena and i have been buddies since college... truthfully, i may have decided to attend nyu because i audited a class she was in and heard that glorious voice of hers and wanted one just like it. that didn't happen, but i did play "anita" to her "maria" in West Side Story and gained her as another sister. she's wonderful. i'm happy i got to see her and my sweet "birdie baby," Catherine, in their NYMF show.

 the greasers (laura, max, and i) went to see our girl, Lindsay, in DOGFIGHT which made me ugly cry (like you've never seen) before intermission even started. it was wonderful and the cast was brilliant.

 this boy, derek, will be a mega star. we all loved the show so much.

i was happy to have a little BYE BYE BIRDIE reunion with my babies and the stamos.
i love this little group of stars.

 our dysfunctional family photo out side of joe allen's (how very broadway!)

 we got a few massive thunderstorms which made stellie go nuts. i had to hold her heart to heart ... she lost her mind.

 my bff, LPM, came to nyc and we lived it up in rare form. we are each other's ultimate wingwomen and laugh ourselves silly when we're together. i love her and can't wait till she's in nyc full time.

 we went out with subsy and i'm so glad they love each other too... the three of us are the biggest fools. i love these women.

 my bestie, worthie,  and i got to play a bit. it's always harder to schedule around little colette's schedule, but worthie is such a trooper and makes it happen. i love her so.

 sunday walk thru central park in the first flats that are blister-free! thanks, GAP!

 sussy came to nyc for shoots and we hit some awesome restaurants. i love that she's here so often! we have the best time together. SISTERS!!

 PIONEER DAY!!!
here's what i've done in pioneer days past 

this year, i dressed up as pioneer... and i walked.. and walked... and walked.. and walked down 42nd street. 

 and had dinner with our outrageous mormon magazine mavens (these girls are literally RUNNING martha and ladie's home journal)! go girls!!!

 hill sisters at hill country bbq.  keeping it classy!

 my buddy boy, deven (tommy devito in jersey boys) popped by for a fun catch up.

 and i finally got to see my good friend, Caissie, star in GHOST on bway. she was wonderful. i sobbed my eyes out in friend pride!

 i attended my good friend clay's wedding to his wonderful eric.  it was such a sweet wedding and so many of our great friends were there.

 with nater and la.

 and fabulous miss murney.

 it was a who's-who-of-broadway event celebrating the newlyweds.

 i saw the incredible rachel potter (this girl can SANG some country. get her EP now!) with my friends, katie, marty, and laura singing with her at joe's pub. brilliant.

 miss jess was my date. here we are in awkward prom pose. i'm obvi wearing my olympics t with great pride. i was obsessed.

miss la, and the orem girls (katie thompson and me) after rachel's show.

man! looking back on this month, i'm dying over my talented friends! i love them all so much. thank you all for making my life in nyc so rich and exciting.