Shirley Temple's Save My Social Life

It's been a week of celebration in place of goodbye's.
Even if my length of stay is prolonged, I wouldn't be working with the same people in the same place at the same time again. I guess that's how the hustle and bustle of New York is all about.

Monday- SCENE 1 - Tom and Jerry's FRENEMIES WRAP PARTY INTERIOR
I stepped in dog poop twice in two blocks right before I arrived. Dave can't walk in a straight line and this habit of his runs me into a lot of things. Like dog poop.
Wrap parties are the best. I'm glad instead of teary goodbye's everyone just takes the time to relax and laugh. I don't drink. Sometimes it can be a little hard when everyone wants to do shots but is also wonderful because Shirley Temple's taste SO GOOD. Everyone got to meet Dave for the first time too and I'm happy to have a trophy husband. MMMMmmmm.
I am very surprised that I was even invited to the wrap party seeing that I was only an intern and even the producers weren't invited to our crew party....or other interns. Beth also took the time to give me a red moleskin with a handwritten "Thank You" inside. For me? Really?! Everyone else had a black moleskin and I'm pretty sure she gave me a red one because of my duties with blood on shoot days.

On my days off, I usually spend my time at the gym because I have a free two week pass and I miss the gym. I also saved up my days so that I could have it when it was too cold to run outside. I tried a recipe and added so much cornstarch it turned into a goo. Not my best creation.

Wednesday- a crew member of mine found out I'm going back to Utah for the time being and decided to try and get me a job to stay in NY. In one day I applied to a lot of jobs. It was slow in the office.

Thursday - SCENE 2 - Williams Abode - INTERIOR
I had sent a resume to my friend Jessica Cooper just for kicks and giggles and within a few hours I had an email from an executive producer in Salt Lake City. By 1:30 I was in an interview on a 6 person conference call, all because Jess gave me raving reviews.

Friday - SCENE 3- Atlas Media - INTERIOR
I receive news that the digital media team in Salt Lake really like me and if there is a job opening in the next week they will contact me. I also went out for "drinks" with two other interns right after work since it was Michaela's last day. There are loads of irish pubs near Atlas, I hadn't noticed until this night. They ordered two pitchers of beer and after a while, they got very giggly. There was this drunk man who looked just like Andrew Jarvis if he were black dancing in odd ways right behind Angelica so at times it was hard not to be distracted by him. The music was so loud that when I arrived home to greet Alex Page, I thought they were whispering when indeed their volume was normal.

Saturday - SCENE 4 - NYC - EXTERIOR
It was a crazy day to go to the city but Al Page was only with us for 24 hours and Dave designated me to be the tour guide on the snowiest coldest day. I must say I didn't do too poorly considering we hit Times Square, Rockefeller, 5th Avenue, Grand Central Station, Bryant Park and the Empire State Building. The weather was so numbing it hurt and in the morning Al didn't think he needed a coat. Despite our pleas and commands he decided to head into the city with a mere hoodie. Within 5 minutes of walking around, he was ready to find a store with coats and we directed him to a plethora of options at Uniqlo. We also ended up going to 3 more bars with Alex this day...which is actually quite funny but once again I got my friend "Shirley."

Sunday - SCENE 5 - Bloomfield - INTERIOR
The weather was so bad that church got canceled. Honestly, I don't think it was bad enough to cancel church but I guess I'm more used to snow than New Yorkers. It was also a big day because my dad got released as stake president....lets just say a lot can happen in 10 years and note that when he was called I was 13. Ben will be a great fit. Both Dave and I are very close with Ben and his family. Ron also got in early Sunday morning and it's a blast having him around. I like that Dave's parents even tease him. That nut.

Today is my last day at work. Sad face.

I believe in shirley temple's.

Flourish

Today I started worrying a lot about the future. I mean, there is  a lot to think about but there is one word that has been sticking in my mind despite the fear of the unknown.

While taking the senior exit survey for BYU it asks you whether you would describe your current situation in life to be "flourishing" or...ok I don't remember the other F word but it was similar to "failing." I could honestly answer that to me, my life is "flourishing."

Since then, the word "flourish" continuously is on my mind. I need to have faith that my feelings will continue this way. If so, I have no need to worry for it will all be alright.

I believe in flourishing.

Screenshots

I'm going to be on TV (various episodes) in January. Oh joy. Haha, I find the scenes pretty ironic considering that I don't drink.

 No shave November.

Last Episode, Rockefeller Tree and Face Painting

"....Monday you went to work, came home, and we fell asleep super early. It was wonderful. Tuesday you were gone until after 9 or 10. Which was also wonderful. Wednesday we worked out pretty much all day. What? Say it say it, what. Thursday was our magnificent day in the city and we did gloriously beautiful things, no questions asked. Friday night you worked, came home and both of us for some reason were exhausted so we went to sleep. Saturday was a great day, we worked out for hours, did laundry and yea and then we went to our dance thing, it was great. I think there is a reason I don't do the blog posts, catch my drift? Catch my, feel my, catch a drift? It's a rhyme time to be in a prime time. Where should I put these cookies? Lizi babe?  What? What are you laughing at, huh? What chu laughing at girl? Hey, Hey I said. Don't start writing stuff down what I say."-Dave

There's a time in your life that you realize you have just met an interesting person, not saying that everyone doesn't have their own odd quirks but you come across people who are extra special once and a while. I was requested to shoot on Tuesday for the last episode because we were going to have to do the kill scene twice and they wanted their "blood specialist" to be there.  Cleaning up the fake blood was extremely difficult because we used 4 times as much blood than usual, plus some cranberry sauce for coagulation. I actually spent my entire lunch hour cleaning up after it. This made me lose my appetite, spaghetti definitely didn't look appetizing after that.

I have found a mockingjay on set, if I hum a certain song by our second camera man I can hear the song eventually jump from each person until everyone in the crew has hummed it. My personal favorite song to make contagious on set is "Elmo's world." The story behind that is that a few episodes ago, they asked me to name a rap song and then they started singing some strange arrangement of who knows what so I said, "Elmo's world?"

The lady at the location we were shooting talked to her dolls as if they were real children. Plus, she had a tons of dolls in every room, the creepy kind that stare at you wherever you are in the room. To top that, there was a hibernating bear in the backyard. We could see it from the back porch window.

At the end of the day, I was washing the dishes we used in our episode and that's when it hit me. Life suddenly ran in slow motion. I could see other crew members running behind me in the reflection of the back window and just sunk it in-trying to enjoy the dwindling moments. I don't know why but I seem to always be the only person that is not ready for these types of things to end.

Wednesday I set up a LA Fitness guest pass account so that I could run these last two freezing cold weeks. I guess Dave thinks we worked out all day. I made Champ pose for pictures and he wasn't thrilled about it.

THURSDAY WAS A BIG DAY FOR US. I woke up cranky, when things come to an end I can sometimes get a little on the snarky side but the best medicine was going to take pictures in the city. Dave gave me a limit. I was only allowed to take 2 pictures....I only took 400. I got up the guts to take pictures of strangers at the Rockefeller tree because the people were usually too distracted by the view to notice me, my personal favorite is a picture I took of a girl taking a selfie (believe me, it's a funny one.)

Christmastime in the city has officially became my very favorite time of year. They encourage CHRISTMAS on every street corner and wrap entire buildings up like presents. Walking around is a magical experience, I'm so glad I have survived long enough to walk around NYC during Christmas season.

I had a friend who recommended that I try a butter beer from starbucks, I asked if it had caffeine and my friend reassured me that it was decaf. Well, they were wrong. After walking around 3 miles in the city, I was tired until I had that drink. Suddenly, my speech became fast and I wanted to go to the gym. We went and I did a zumba class, didn't feel like I was expending enough energy and then ran 5.5 miles....do you think it had caffeine?

My family celebrates a European Christmas holiday called The Nikolaus, our version is a lot less scary than the original holiday. So Dave and I tried to inconspicuously find out what everyone's favorite candy bar is. That turned into Maja yelling to everyone in each corner of the house, asking their favorite candy bar. We put everyone's boots on the front porch, filled their shoes with candy and then waited until morning....then it rained all night. So much for that idea lol.

Friday was the last day my crew was in the office...I'll be a little lost without them in the office. Atlas decided to have a lot of meetings on Friday too so it was a very busy day. I walked around in the rain all morning. Went to two very long meetings and one significant question later, I still had to finish all of the expense reports. By 8:30pm Alex told me to just go home, she even took everything left to do out of my hand. I will finish those up next week but I wanted to make sure she got everything done she needed to.

Saturday we went to the gym and got ready for Maddie's dance fundraiser. They recruited me to be a face painter....little does Katie know how much I LOVE to face paint. I can space out everything else in the world and focus on creating a beautiful masterpiece on a childs face. I only got like 10 faces painted by the end but they were glorious. The same thing happened this time that happened last spring at my niece's carnival. The other face painters get really weird around me...do you remember that Linda? It's odd because I'm not trying to compete or anything, I really just focus on butterflies, unicorn's and fairies. There usually is one really loud girl that begins yelling, "I'm an artist, I want to paint your face." I'm fine with that, paint their face. If they are in my line, let them decide haha.

The dancing is phenomenal there. It's a dance studio that is run by an Alvin Ailey alumni and you feel the emotion from every dance. There also was a tiny little redhead that looked exactly like Sadie Coleman dancing to the nutcracker.

I believe in giant Christmas Trees.

Will

Some of you already may be aware that I am on a film crew with the Discovery channel. The catch is we recreate murder scenes and I have officially been promoted to "blood specialist." Ironic, right? I often get reminded of how temporary our mortal existence is.

So, as morbid as this may be I have decided what I want my funeral to be like.

Specifics will be written in my journal but if it is never found hopefully someone will find this. Any main speaker at my funeral is required to share 3-5 of the funniest moments you have shared with me, anyone else may have 1-3.

I just want the people I love to be happy. 

The Champ is Here

I love the dog that we are staying with. I wish I weren't allergic to him.

34th Street, Macy's Day Parade and Thanksgiving

On Monday at work, I finished the binder. Well, up until episode 210....and made a to-do list for the rest..and a table of contents. It made Alex so happy she shrieked with joy to see it (basically, that means it was totally worth it.) We also had our last pre-production meeting. I guess they started their first episode while sipping milkshakes at the the diner on 34th and to fulfill the tradition we all went to the diner on 34th to discuss episode 212. I have seen a lot of the small diner, which I don't think is particularly popular but is in a sublime location. It was much more than a production meeting, we all discussed what we're doing afterwards (which is pretty all around nothing since Frenemies ends at such an awkward time) and options of what to do from here. I cannot believe how wonderful it is to work with people who value your strengths. I know I have a lot to learn when it comes to filmmaking but working with a crew that recognizes the importance of hard work and helps me learn where I fall short will be hard to leave and start again. 

Tuesday we arrived in Oneonta (did you see my "Macys Day Parade" picture? I was there....just a lot earlier than the rest of the parade.) It's a good thing we decided to leave a little earlier for Oneonta because apparently the weather was going to be absolutely nasty Wednesday and Thursday. We had quite the snow storm but I didn't find it nasty, rather, I felt the weather was welcoming the holiday season. Kim practiced her aerobic routine with me, I think it was odd for her because we do aerobics a lot together but we never are facing each other. I am well aware that I am an awkward mover. 

During this visit, Lucy figured out how to say "Dave" and everything became "Dave." The car keys were "Dave," my phone (has a picture of him on it) was "Dave," any bearded man in the mall was "Dave," the picture of Jesus in the hallway was "Dave" and we both preferred this over last time we went to Oneonta (she literally cried everytime he came near her.) She was also very concerned that dave wasn't included in whatever was happening. If Mary and I were giving soft tickles to one another, Lucy would command us to soft tickle him. If she had to take a nap and everyone was giving her kisses, she would then say "Dave?" My name was occassionally "Dave" as well because I guess "Lizi" is harder for an 18-month old. 

Wednesday I was informed that my exam had been graded and I promised Dave I wouldn't check my score until after the Thanksgiving break....well, I peeked. I got the exact score I needed to graduate, what a miracle! I became a little sad because I didn't really end college on a strong point but then I remembered how wonderful it was that I'm where I am and that the next day is Thanksgiving I got over it quickly (Thank you btw for those of you who sent me kind words about my last blog post, I didn't intend to be depressing but thank you for being so nice to me.) 

Thanksgiving Day 2013 we spent in a cottage-like home, toasty on the inside and enough snow to play in on the outside. Kim is the best cook in the world. Buddy and Mary fight over who will be "willed" Kim's cookbook, Buddy apparently thinks it would sell on Ebay for 14 million dollars. I also missed my dear Grandma Pace today, I always think of her around Thanksgiving. The holiday smell alone reminds me of the great Thanksgiving's I've spent near my Grandmother. My mother was so kind and roped Erika into setting up skype so we could see the family. Not only were Grandma and Grandpa there but I got to see CLAIRE JARVIS. I totally understand that 2-year old and miss her often. I love it when Katie calls because I will often get to speak to Claire as well (I like speaking to Katie too.) Near the evening, we welcomed in the holiday season with some desserts and games. I'm pretty sure I win every game of zilch that I play....right Dave?

Friday We got to see Catching Fire. I know, everybody loves the movie. I admit it was done very well. I won't lie, it makes me so anxious but the book did too so at least it's consistent! Living in conditions so bleak as the setting of the Hunger Games really scares me. Kim and I exercised everyday while I was in Oneonta too but that's because we both find exercise therapeutic.

Saturday, we loved being in Oneonta but it began to set in that our stay was coming to the end...and that we don't know when we will be able to see the Noorlander's again. I tried really hard not to focus on that fact, I hate goodbye's and I say goodbye's too often. We set up Christmas decorations and Danny is a great decorator. I also can only go so many days without taking pictures or filming something and I couldn't handle that it had been a while so I spent the evening filming Lucy dancing in front of the christmas tree.

I met a woman on Sunday who turned 100 last month. I also was called the "calm" one in my family although we asked Dave if that's true and he disagrees that I'm calm. Kim made the best pretzels on earth and I have been craving them lately so it was perfect to be able to eat eight soft pretzels to help my craving. The family let us skype in on Advent in the evening and it was a perfect ending...for now. 

Today at work I talked to four strangers about their lives. I guess people are more talkative right after Thanksgiving. OR I'm a more social person after I've spent nearly a week with Kim. That makes more sense. We also went into what I picture Bakery Heaven would look like. Dave refuses to eat our advent calendar chocolates though, he is too afraid they will taste like cardboard. I do not have a fear of eating chocolate.

I believe in the Holidays.

The Storm is Rolling In

What glorious red hair.

Sounds Like Thanksgiving

I'm not sure if you know this small fact about me but I love to write down conversations from those around me. I write what I hear when I'm distracted and I'm oddly in the vicinity of several breakups. There are many that I feel are too private to share with the world but I liked this phone call I heard at my office today, I don't think he'd mind if he found out I typed it down either.

mom. for what? 

Didn't I just tell you...

Don't bring it. 

I have that.

You can't add more to what I'm doing because there's not enough time in the day. 

It can...

but so much time in the day and there's not enough time. I can't make this work anymore. It is ME.

leave that ALONE.

Not everybody can go home at 5. 

everybody is going to eat more than enough food. 

I'm just calling one person and that's not right. 

Freeze her food, there are things to be ready.

Yea but they are home during the day I'm coming home at 8:30 at night.

This...I'm going to disintegrate!

You cannot put too much pressure on one person.

I'm saying to you, you cannot put too much pressure...

if you keep adding more stuff, you're going to add more pressure. It won't help.

The food was...we can't finish it.

I'm saying there's enough food already!

Stop adding! That's what I'm saying, stop adding!

All I ask you is to meet me in the middle. 

Mom, you told me to add more and I'm saying to please leave it.

That's what I'm saying...to leave it alone. Leave it as it is. I'm saying the same as you, leave it as it is. 

It's going to be more than enough. Always, always! So you have to have faith in me. Nobody is going to go home hungry. 

What time are you guys getting home tonight? 

All right so I think I'm going to travel...so...start talking to you. 

I believe in Thanksgiving.

The Bronx, my FINAL and Pretending Salem NY is Las Vegas

Monday I was done, I had enough of the sickness. I decided to recover and to take my sleep very seriously. I haven't really been able to breath let alone let myself sleep. I usually expect to hate Novembers and if being sick the entire month is the worst that it gets, I'll take that over some of my past Novembers. If you haven't heard me talk about it before, I usually find that November is ironically the hardest month of the year. My theory is that trials remind you how grateful for the things that you still have going right. I used to have a plethora of other crazy theories but Dave helps calm the fire I build within my own anxious walls. I spent a lot of the day studying and worrying because....

Tuesday I took my final. Yes, my final final for my undergrad experience with BYU was Tuesday November 19th, 2013. I'm a horrible test taker, I had been looking forward to this day for so long but I still am confused why I chose Statistics as my last class seeing as it was probably my least favorite from my college experience. Well, I know there were a lot of people out there rooting for me to do well...and I'm not sure if I made you proud. I started out very strong but I soon double guessed and triple guessed every answer I wrote. Soon, minute long questions turned into 45 minute problems and the test took me 5 hours. I remember turning in my test, I thought I would have a huge relief and burden lifted from my shoulders but I had quite the opposite effect. I cried. The tears silently streamed down my face as I rode the subway home during rush hour. To my relief, no one really stared at me as I cried for the hour and a half ride home. I didn't know if I got a high enough test score to pass the class and I know that the score I would get didn't reflect how hard I worked this semester (which has been a constant hardship for me during schooling.) I did the first mind numbing thing I found, I saw a lady playing "candy crush" so I downloaded the game and played it to get my mind off of my life.

Wednesday was early morning production, whatever I had done the last few days to recover from the flu was useless since we shot all day in the blistering cold weather. I LOVE production though so it wasn't as horrible as it could have been. We went to Taylor's house to shoot the beginning and his parents are LDS so I was immediately introduced as the Mormon. I felt very comfortable in the house so I'm great with that. Then we had to made an Indian reservation look like Las Vegas for the kill scene which was a bit far fetched.  I am glad that the gang made a fire before they decided to be so vicious because every 20 minutes the crew could run over to the fire and huddle around it to warm up frozen fingers. 210 was a great episode because we had a boom operator (I picked apart that man's brain about being a freelance sound guy,) I got to run slate and 2nd AC responsibilities with second camera in the woods so I had a lot of energy and excitement for such a cold, late hour shoot. It was wonderful.

Thursday was more of a relaxing day, I felt weird not having to do any homework. I mainly snuggled Champ and Dave as we talked about our dreams for the future and what to make for dinner. Dave and I went to a huge mall as well to shop for Josh's birthday gift. We got distracted by massage chairs, uniqlo outfits, shoes and puppies but eventually found him a perfect gift. We gave him an ugly Christmas sweater for his wine bottles. I hope he liked it.

Friday all of Frenemies were out of the office and they tried to let me have the day off too but I stayed for a few reasons. I wanted to catch up a bit on the huge binder and I had told Angelica (another intern) that I'd go to Micaela's (another intern) benefit concert. I found out in the morning that Angelica went on a production shoot with Stalked so she said she would meet me in the Bronx. I was fine about it until Maron freaked me out that I was going to die and be chopped up into little pieces if I went there alone so I asked Micaela if I could leave with her even though she was leaving super early. It was a great decision, she knew where she was going, I didn't focus on getting lost or any other thing I happen to worry about and we got to talk a lot. It was good to see the perspective of another intern. She works on Frenemies as well but she does more of the research and pre-production aspects of it. So we talked about the day she got a phone call from one of the characters in prison to talk with her (scary, I know.) She goes to a school called Mount St. Vincent which is one of the prettiest campus's I've ever seen. She literally lives in a tower right off of the Hudson river. I guess the students don't like the school very much there but I thought it was GORGEOUS. It was fun to see them practice before the concert started too, I miss self run singing broadway reviews. I also love to observe people and this was a great chance to do it. I worried about Angelica though because she didn't show up before the show started AND her phone ran out of battery. She got there to see the last three songs and I could tell she felt really bad about it but I was just happy that someone asked me to do something (I'm pretty game for any group hangouts.) I also knew she was making much more of a sacrifice than I was, she was shooting in Sparta, she traveled to the Bronx and then traveled back to Staten Island....that's determination. After the show, the three of us went to get "drinks" (shirley temple's save my life) and it was really nice to get to know these two girls. They were very different from each other but I felt like I could connect with both of them individually. We talked until we almost missed our bus back into the city (that would have been VERY bad seeing as it was the last bus leaving that night) and Angelica and I talked a ton on the bus. She reminds me of Ana Chavarri a lot but with a thick New York accent instead of an Ecuadorian one. Driving down 5th Avenue at midnight a week before Thanksgiving is MAGICAL. There are so many lights and I'm taking Dave there when we get back from Thanksgiving because I haven't seen something so romantic since Europe. 12:20am in New York City is not late I guess. There were a lot of people roaming the streets which really helped me feel safe. I said my goodbyes to Angelica and made it on time for my last bus home to Bloomfield. I still don't know what I would've done if I got stuck in the Bronx or in the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Angelica didn't get home until 2:10am, that's crazy.

Saturday, I felt like Dave wanted to go in the city but he wouldn't admit it, plus I needed to rest. Someday I might actually get over this cold. He noticed I wasn't the most chipper version of myself so he sent me on a run, that genius. Runs always help my attitude. We had a hot date to Target, we saw crazy runaway carts hit cars and then walked around the store talking about everything under the sun. The girls from the night before told me they had to make binders about their experience at Atlas so I decided I wanted to make a binder about our experience here in NY so we originally went to Target for a simple binder. The sheet protectors are twice as much as the binder so now I have a binder without anyway to store all of my doo dad's inside, we'll figure it out.

Today, I forgot my tithing for church again and even though I don't recommend this to most people I felt like I should go home and get it during Sunday school. When I got back and finished writing everything down on the tithing slip, the sister giving the lesson got up and said, "Today we're going to talk about the importance of tithing." So hopefully I did the right thing. Dave has been sleeping since church, I fear the worst....he may indeed be catching the never ending sickness.

I believe in new friends, public transportation and binders.

Three Things that Changed My Life Forever (other than the obvious like marriage or moving to NY...etc)

1. The week before my junior year of high school I had the goal to say "Hi" to at least ten people a day, I was terrified since I was deathly shy of all living beings at that time. The next year I upgraded the same goal to saying "Hi" to every person I had ever I met, even if I had just been assigned to sit next to them the day before. I believe that this goal single highhandedly changed my social life, my self confidence and I ended up with hundreds of more friends than I had before. Who knew something so simple could be more than just an act of acknowledgement but an act of care.

2. I moved in with my sister Linda Lewis. I spent a good 20 years of my life wishing I could be closer to my sisters but they intimidated me so much (they are all very talented, drop dead gorgeous and outgoing.) When I ended up moving in with Linda and her family, I was so afraid that she wouldn't like me or that it would turn into a very negative experience. Instead, I gained a lot more confidence around my family and now all of my sisters are my closest friends, they make me feel like a better person, a happier person and mainly I feel loved around them.

3. Investing in a camera. I've always known I've had an attraction to photography/film and I'm a very visual learner. My mother is a brilliant photographer and the hobby was one of the many attributes I admired about her growing up. I used her camera's a lot in middle school and high school, spending lunch sessions in a dark room, editing concerts for my gma...etc but Dave made me buy my own camera right after we got married and it doesn't sit on my shelf getting dusty. I use a camera and think about photography/film at least 6 days a week. Every song I listen to reminds me of a way I could portray an emotion with film to the song, every day I see people I wish I could photograph to remember how classy they look. I try very hard not to be overbearing with my love or pressure people into having photography sessions or films about them because I understand that I am not the only person in the world that is passionate about the subject. However, if you ever want a photograph/film of you from me, I guarantee I've thought about it before and would be thrilled to document the lives of anyone.

I believe in goals, courage and passion.

Brooklyn (unedited)

Brooklyn, Two production shoots and a Throwing a Dummy in the middle of a lake.

This week was very eventful...or I'd not update anyone because once again, sick. Leaving me no motivation to be awesome.

Monday I helped out with Investigation Discovery shoot episode 210. I fell down a mountain like four times, the leaves were super slippery. I didn't have to go back into the city to catch a bus and that was a first. It was a long day and I still finished all of my assignments by the end of the evening. I also loved that our shooting location was with a woman named Purple, how great of a name is that?

Tuesday was the only day I had off. Dave and I went running and only accomplished 4 miles when the goal was 6. It was freezing cold and I'm pretty sure my lungs froze over. I think that day scared me a bit with it being so cold, I really had no desire to leave the house.

Wednesday, we finished the receipts for 3 episodes. Yes, that is a big win.

Thursday we went into Brooklyn to visit Bryan Hutchison and Naomi Flinders. We went in early to meet up with Bryan first but he had a super important project he was worried about so was at the studio. It's ok, Dave and I fell in love with Uniqlo and also the surrounding area. MOM IF YOU ARE READING THIS, UNIQLO SHOULD BE YOUR NEW FAVORITE STORE. Dave and I decided that Brooklyn would be where we live if we were to be near the city, it had our style of life. We met up with Naomi and Bryan at a place called Siggy's, it was delicious and very healthy (both are a big plus in the Fesler household.) It's a good thing that Naomi knows the area really well and had an opinion of what to do because I think the rest of us were fine with doing whatever. We strolled along the promenade, we went on a carousel, we shopped at an amazing middle eastern store, to the farmers market and a Trader Joe's in an old bank. Naomi is such a joy to be around, it was exactly the kind of day we were hoping for.

Friday I should've studied all day. My cold took a turn for the worse and I drank 7 lemon honey tea's to try and help it. We had two company meetings that were pretty cool, the man in charge of the accounts at Atlas Media and the head of the company at Atlas Media. Both very enlightening about the business of film, also, they had the best cupcakes I've ever tasted in my life.

Saturday I got to film with the same crew I usually work with yet for a different television series. Afrin is my best friend, yesterday would've been a million times harder without Afrin. It was also nice to see some of the actors we worked with before, they all got pretty close by the end of the shoot day. To add to all of that, we shot at the most amazing mansion by a lake I have ever been to and immediately following, probably one of the scariest drug houses I've ever seen. I got to be the dead body zipped up in the body bag, I felt like I was in the Boo box. I also got to help taylor make a fake dead body on the dock and get to throw it in the middle of the lake. Unfortunately, the fake head popped out of the water and so we wanted to shoot it again but then it was too far for our pole. So Taylor's not so brilliant plan was to go swimming in the freezing winter water to get the body out. We all vetoed that idea, found a boat, spent a good 45 minutes trying to get the dummy (covered in chains) out of the water and ended up making a different one anyway. hopefully it doesn't float to the surface in a few months and someone thinks it's an actual dead body. After we wrapped the set, I got to talk to the actors on the way home. I don't know why but I loved it so much, learning about what their long-term dreams are. They invited me to come eat with them afterwards, I made sure that it was a group thing before I agreed but I did have time to burn so it was nice to feel like I actually have friends and people who actually wanted to hang out with me when they didn't have to. My cold medicine wore off right about the time I needed to walk to the bus, so it was perfect timing. I stressed a little bit that the waiter wouldn't find the cash I had under my glass so I double checked to make sure that one of the actors would make sure he saw it and then slept.

Today, I've slept all day. I really need to study. I really need to pass this final, it's the only thing I have left to do with my entire college existence but I CAN'T STUDY. Not being able to breath doesn't help but if anyone wants to pray that I'll pass this class, I'd greatly appreciate it.

I believe in Brooklyn.

and other Spikey Objects

On Monday I went to Harlem for Equipment returns.

On Tuesday I took 4 TESTS. Took me 5 1/2 hours. It did not feel like a day off. I took the test at the Manhattan LDS institute, the missionaries would look at me oddly when they walked by because I often did jumping jacks and there were several deaf investigators in the office (whom I deeply wanted to sign with but wasn't allowed since I was taking tests for a super long time.) I have to be completely finished with my Statistics class by November 19 to officially graduate and it took seven weeks for my first test to get here. So that's the story. My final is on November 19, if any of you want to pray for this girl here.

On Wednesday I made a wardrobe breakdown and filed receipts (oh joy.) I also forgot a lunch for the first time since I got here so I chose a random place to eat. Wok to Walk turned out to be much better than I had originally anticipated. I wasn't going to start another book until after my Statistics class but I couldn't help but snag a cheap copy of Jane Eyre.

On Thursday I ran 6.5 miles in the rain. Dave went to the gym when I did it because he didn't want to run but I guess it wasn't raining in Clifton so he didn't know I was getting drenched. We also watched Kate and Leopold (based in New York) which was my favorite movie when I was 14 and Dave LOVED it, he was hesitant at first but ended up yelling for joy at the romantic parts.

Friday was November 8, I met Dave five years ago on this day at a Latin Dance. He wouldn't dance with me then so I was determined to go to a dance this evening. I found a dance but it ended up being for people older than 50 (HOW AM I SO BAD AT FINDING PARTIES?!) so we ditched that idea. I fell asleep super early and woke up 4 hours later, then I couldn't fall asleep again until 5:30 where I was woken by the sounds of an 11 year old playing the clarinet. At least I was grateful for my dear parents who endured me learning 6 DIFFERENT INSTRUMENTS in my youth.

Saturday Dave and I went into the city. We walked through Central Park (still absolutely gorgeous right now btw.) We went through the Natural History Museum (I was hoping to see Ben Stiller but unfortunately didn't get to.) We entered the Broadway lottery for Matilda and WON. I never win anything so it was a pretty big deal. We went to the closest cheapest restaurant and I randomly got to see my dear friend Katie Burdick who was only in the city for a day-trip. MATILDA WAS AMAZING! I'm glad dave has finally seen a play in which there was phenomenal acting, phenomenal music, and phenomenal messages. I was very pleased that it was clean and absent of the big league cuss words (that means a lot to me) because then you can really enjoy the pure talent without the cheap tricks. It got out at 10:39 so we ran to the bus to catch it on time. We were there by 10:44 but the bus had ALREADY LEFT, I'm still angry that they left early, it wasn't fair.

I believe in children.

JFK

They were passing out reprints of the newspaper from when JFK was assassinated to promote the National Geographic movie "Killing Kennedy" which will be premiering on the 50th anniversary of his death.....so I guess it's time you know that secretly I'm obsessed with the JFK assassination.

Understanding Italian

Got a lot of walking in today. Crossing a street near Penn Station, a man turned to me and started shouting in Italian. Funny, I've never taken Italian nor am I usually familiar with this language. I seemed to understand every word the man said.

Update! by Dave

This past weekend was spent with Lizi's sister in Oneonta, NY. Oneonta is a wonderful place that reminds me of Brookings, SD, where I, as a wee lad, grew to be the strapping man I am today.

Kim loves Halloween, so we spent the day surrounded by holiday cheer and gorging ourselves on an excessive amount of sugary treats, as one should on this particular holiday.

Prior to our little jaunt to mid-state NY, Lizi worked tirelessly at her internship, saving lives and making the world a better place in general. 

I'll also update you on the week before: Lizi = sick. Thank goodness that's over.

Well, love you all.

Dave "Big Nose" Fesler

Proof:

Happy Halloween!

Head Wound

After sleeping off the exhaustion of production: I woke up, poured myself a bowl of cereal and began to devour it just as any other day. Dave came into the room to join me but stopped in his tracks as he looked at my face. Suddenly, he rushed by my side and started sifting through my hair.

"What are you doing?"
"Your head is bleeding. Badly."
...."No it's not."

Dave called for Katie to come look at it too and she seemed convinced as well, I had a head wound. But where did I get it from? I had no recollection of hitting my head and then I realized what happened. The night before, I was helping our actress rinse off all of the fake blood out of her hair and clothes and as she swung her hair out of the shower, fake blood was getting everywhere. To try and shield it I stood under her hair so the fake blood would drip on me instead of the homeowners floor. I was so worried, it looked like we had murdered something in the shower, the actress was freezing and everyone else in the crew were waiting outside to leave. I ran upstairs to grab her a change of dry clothing, towels and a whole roll of paper towels. She got dressed, towel drying her hair as I frantically cleaned the shower. I must say we were both impressed at how fast it went from murder to normal but I never thought to look at myself in the mirror. Dave picked me up when it was dark and so nobody would have really noticed blood dripping down my face until the morning.

I believe in paper towels.