Strollers, Hot Chocolate, and Cronuts: Playgroup in NYC

When I was raising my kids my lifeline was playgroups.  This was in the days before Pinterest, Instagram, and even the Internet.  The way we got moral support, tips, and adult conversation was by actually hanging out with other adults.

Typically playgroups were one day a week at a park.  We'd pack a lunch, and the kids played while the moms visited.  Sometimes we congregate at someone's house, or at an event, but it was easier to just go to the local park the same time each week.

In downtown Manhattan, you might think the moms don't have a playgroup.  Well, I'm happy to tell you that you are wrong.  There is a very active and fun group of women who take turns picking something to do in the city with their toddlers and strollers in tow.   And these amazing mothers are gracious enough to let me tag along.  

Today's playgroup was a walking hot chocolate tour in SoHo.  Because, you know, you can do that sort of thing in NYC.  The plan was to buy a hot chocolate at each shop, and then pour a little bit into each of our mugs and take a sip.  

I decided to run to TJ Maxx because all my travel mugs are in Utah, and I didn't want to be the one with a simple mug from my kitchen.  I felt like I needed to be more cosmopolitan than that, I mean I've been in the city 6 months now!  

After picking up a travel thermos, I walked up to what is known as the red cube which is a popular meeting spot for the downtown moms.  

Not hard to see how it got its name, right?

Fortunately, in downtown NYC, everything is really close, it was a just a couple streets from TJ Maxx.  

After we were gathered, we walked to our first stop, MarieBelle. 

MarieBelle is officially in the SoHo district.  This is an area south of Houston street.  And if you just said "Hewston" in your head when you read the word, Houston, you are pronouncing it incorrectly.  I'm happy to say that here in NYC it is pronounced "Howston" which is how my Houston line pronounces their last name.

SoHo is right above TriBeCa (which means the triangle below Canal Street) and next to Little Italy and Chinatown.  It is known for its shopping, but today we were there for the hot chocolate.

Our first stop was MarieBelle.  This place is more like France than France is like France.  

The staff was extremely friendly and even invited all of the women to bring their strollers into the store so that we could sit in the back and enjoy our drinks.  We explained that we are actually just tasting different hot chocolates and couldn't stay.  

The back of the store has a Cacao Bar where you can sit down and sip your drink.  They  have different chocolate bases you can use to design your own drink.  

We ordered the Hazelnut and the White Chocolate drinks to share.  The white chocolate had Tahitian vanilla bean, and the hazelnut was like drinking melted Nutella.  Both were very good, but very different.  Most of us agreed that it was like drinking melted chocolate and could maybe use a little milk to make it more drinkable.  

Imagine my surprise when most of the moms pulled out their ceramic mugs to try the hot chocolate. One mom brought small dixie cups to try each flavor.  So smart.   Much more practical than my silly travel thermos!  Here in NYC cosmopolitan = having common sense.

Our next stop was around the corner at Vosges Haut-Chocolate .





This place also had lots of French decor.  The funny thing is that I don't remember hot chocolate being that big of a deal when I lived in Lille, France, of course I was there in the summertime.

Vosges sells a flavor that is called Bianca, that I highly recommend.  That is if you like lemon lavendar-flavored white hot chocolate, which apparently I do.  It tasted more like lavender lemon tea with tons of cream than like a hot chocolate.  But I'm someone who likes a little bit of tea with my cream, so I was just fine with the flavor.  

The decor was a deep rich purple with a dark wood, quite a contrast from MarieBelle, which was like being inside the palace of Versailles.

Our last stop was just down the street at Dominique Ansel Bakery.  

 Have you ever heard of Dominique Ansel?  No?  Well, have you heard of a cronut?  Yeah, Dominique invented that.

This was a very light and inviting store.  The staff was also extremely friendly and accommodating. One of the things I really liked about Dominiuqe Ansel is that has a sun-filled room in the back where you can sit and enjoy your rose pistachio cronut.  They also sell the blossoming hot chocolate, also invented by Dominique.

A flower-shaped marshmallow is covered in white chocolate to hold its shape and then dropped in a hot chocolate where it blossoms.  You can see how it works by watching this video.  

After our hot chocolate tour, we all walked home, which for me was about a mile and a half.

I don't think I'll ever cease to be in awe of these strong, confident women who are raising their toddlers in a condensed, crowded city.  Their strollers are their mini-vans.  They know where all the subway stops with elevators are.  They know which parks are safe for kids and which ones to avoid.  They put up with rude comments from busy New Yorkers trying to walk past all the strollers to get to work.  They also let a middle-aged woman hang out with them for the day!  

Layers: Squeezing millions of people onto an island

After we moved to NYC, I decided to do some math.  What if Utah had the same density as NYC?  How many people would be living in Utah?  The answer?

84 billion people!



The earth only has 7 billion people.  

So how does that many people fit on the island of Manhattan?  I think the easiest way to explain it is in one word.

Layers! 

After a few months of living here, I've tried to observe the layers that this city has to offer.  Because there are so many people, you can find several different layers.  Where a person fits mainly depends on one thing.

INCOME 

For my son's sociology class, we've been studying the social classes.  The bottom is called "lower class" and the top is called "upper-upper class."  I can't think of any other place that shows the stark contrast between the two than NYC.

LOWER CLASS


For those who don't know, there are people who are tricked into taking on debt to come to America with a promise of a job.  They become an indentured servant for the rest of their life.  I usually see them late at night scouring through the garbage looking for recyclables that they can turn in for 5 cents each.  While technically they have a job, they'll never pay off their debt, and since they are undocumented, they don't have any recourse.  Essentially, they are slaves.

While NYC has many resources for the homeless, many choose to go it alone with their cups and memorized speeches on the subway.  They tend to congregate near the tourists spots where they'll get more traffic.  As I walk past these individuals every day, I rarely see anyone give them money.  It is clear that some are battling some pretty severe health problems, particularly with their feet.  Since my mother battled health problems with her feet for 15 years, I can almost imagine the kind of pain they must be in.

Some people live in NYC and collect a welfare check.  One of my new dear friends is one of these individuals.  She was born with the cord wrapped around her neck and as a result has cerebral palsy.  All of her family has passed away with the exception of a brother who struggles with addictions.  She has lived on the same block all 50 years of her life.  She has home health care workers who come in to help her clean her apartment and take care of her personal hygiene.  She's very hard to understand, and uses a wheelchair.  She is a light in my life and I love her.

WORKING CLASS - Many commute every day from Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, and other boroughs to work as doormen, clerks, and other service jobs.  I met a woman who commuted on the subway 2 hours one way to work at a Duane Reade in the Upper West Side (those west of Central Park).

MIDDLE CLASS - While the middle class is definitely shrinking, you can still find evidence of it in NYC.  You have people crammed in one apartment to save on rent in Harlem (uptown from Central Park).  Young families with the husband working long hours hoping to get a promotion.  While it's hard to live in NYC on less than $100,000 it's not impossible.

UPPER CLASS - I don't know but I would guess this is the most represented here in NYC.  Especially if upper class is defined as $100,000 or more a year.  In some parts of the country that may seem like a lot of money, but not here in NYC.  These are people whose wealth came because of their own work and not from inheritance or trust funds.

UPPER-UPPER CLASS

A great example of the upper-upper class can be found in the Upper East Side which is east of Central Park (UES).  The UES wives will get injections to get their feet numbed so they can wear the latest shoes.  They have to find a dealer to help them buy a $150,000 purse.  Having the cash isn't enough, you also have to have the right connections to own one.  They hire tutors to make sure their kids pass their entrance exams and get into the right kindergarten.  That's right, kindergarten.  In the UES summer is a verb, not a season.  Where you summer is a sign of status.

How do these different income levels manifest in NYC?  A stark difference is in transportation and housing.

TRANSPORTATION

Here in NYC we have lots of transportation options.  I'll try to list as many as I can think of with their prices:

• Downtown Connection Bus - free but only runs along the edges of lower Manhattan
• Subway and Bus- Monthly pass $117 or $2.75 a ride 
• Car - @$600 a month to keep in a garage
• Bike - @$50 a month to store in a building
• Zipcar - @$100 a day 
• CitiBike - $15 a month or $150 a year
• Train - Between $95 to $485 a month depending on zone
• Taxi/Uber/Lyft/Juno - Minimum fare is between $8 and $25 dollars 
• Chauffeur and Limousines - $75 to $500 an hour - minimum 5 hours
• Personal driver - $150K a year
• Charter Helicopter - about $1750 to each airport (not sure about around town, I have to request a quote to find out and if I have to ask, I can't afford it.)
• Walking - free

I personally like the subway.  It's fast because it's underground.  I feel like I can get just about anywhere I want to go quickly.  I feel safer because I'm never alone.  But it definitely has its drawbacks. It's hot in the summer, has strange smells, and lots of pan handlers.  I like the bus too, but they aren't as reliable and you have to deal with street traffic.

Car services are nice, I like them to get to and from the airport.  I don't really like using them around town because I feel like I'm just paying all this extra money to sit at a red light.  They are great if you have lots of stuff you need to carry or you don't want to walk in the rain.

We bought a Trolley Dolly with stair climbing wheels so that we can transport lots of stuff easily.  It cost as much about 3 taxi rides.  We love it.

HOUSING

I'm not sure I know enough about NYC housing to include all the options, but I'll try my best.

• New York Housing Authority Developments a.k.a. "The Projects" - These are buildings designed to give low-income people a safe and affordable place to live with access to community and social access.  In my church's congregation we have some who live in these buildings.  The income disparity is huge compared to surrounding neighborhoods and buildings.  
• Micro apartments - by law an apartment in NYC must be 400 sq. ft.  (or the size of our shed in our backyard in Utah) but in 2015 a new micro apartment was born under Mayor Bloomberg's idea in 2013.  These apartments are 260 to 360 sq. ft.  (or the size of our daughter's bedroom in our home in Utah)
• Studio - These are apartments that have one room and usually a separate bathroom.  Some will have a separate kitchen, others will not.   
• Flex - this is where you take a a room and create a bedroom by adding a temporary wall.  Some buildings allow this, some do not.  If the room does not have a window that opens to a street, garden, or courtyard, it's not legally considered a bedroom
  
  
• Walk Ups- any building with more than 6 floors must have an elevator. A walk up is simply a building with multiple apartments without an elevator.  Each tenant must walk up and down the stairs to get to their unit.
  
  
  
• Penthouse - To be considered a penthouse it must be set back from outer walls, but not all penthouses are on the top floor.  Some will be 2 to 3 floors from the roof but with a recessed roof to have a terrace.  
• Loft - These were high-ceiling living spaces in old industrial buildings with exposed pipes and beams, but now builders are purposefully building a loft space in new buildings. 
• Prewar - These are old, thick-walled, beautiful architecture buildings in the Upper West and Upper East Side that get higher rents.  
• Floor-through - unit takes up an entire floor
• Duplex - unit is two levels and is connected, triplex is three levels
• Condo- each unit has it's own deed and tax bill, shares hallways and other amenities with rest of building
• Co-op - owner doesn't own a unit, but shares in the entire building based on the size of the unit
• Garden apartment - bottom floor of a townhome or Brownstone
• Railroad apartment - one room leads to the next, no hallways, like a shot gun house
• Brownstone - 4-story building built of sandstone in the early 1900's, located south of 125th street in NYC.  Other similar structures not made of sandstone is a rowhouse or a townhouse

In addition to the type of housing units, there are some key amenities that can affect your rent and your lifestyle in NYC.

• Elevator 
• Doorman 
• Laundry in building or Laundry in unit (huge difference)
  
  
• Rooftop access
• Workout facility
• Bike room
• Parking garage
• Proximity to metro stop
• Live-in super

We live in an apartment that has laundry in the building (we have 2 washers and 2 dryers on our floor) 24-hour doormen, 24 maintenance, a workout facility, rooftop access, large lounge with a kitchen, two dining tables, and two living rooms sets, yoga room, game room, playroom, and multiple bathrooms and within a quarter mile of multiple subway lines (this is why I love living in lower Manhattan, this is where most of the subways converge) We are in a quiet suburb-type part of NYC known as Battery Park City.  We are close to the Hudson River and the Esplanade which is the longest park in North America.  I would say that we are living in the middle class part of Battery Park City..  Sort of like being the smallest house in the nicest neighborhood.

So how do so many people fit in one little space?  We literally live, work, and travel on top of each other.  You know, in layers.




From what I have observed, you have different kinds of people within each layer.  There are those who are desperate to move up from where they are, either for prestige or just so they can know where their next warm meal is coming from.  There are those who feel lucky to be where they are.  There are those who know they are in a good layer, but annoyed by those below them.  And of course those on top, who don't even realize who is below them.  Luckily, I've met those who are very kind and loving to those living below them.  It's true, being kind doesn't cost a cent.

I believe that it's possible to be just as miserable living in the UES, as it is to be homeless living on the street.  (I mean, shots to numb your feet?  Jeez!)  It's also possible to be just as happy living in a walk up with no laundry as it is in a penthouse with a personal driver and maid.  It's not a matter of which layer you are living in, but your attitude while there.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - Week of September 11

Something I promised my friends before I left for NYC was that I would write about everything, not just the fun and glamorous parts of my NYC life.  I've decided to start a weekly roundup called "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" in order to keep this promise.  

Online Ordering

THE GOOD: 

I'm so glad that Google Express got here before I did.  I can have delivered to my apartment just about anything that Costco, Target, Walgreen's, and other stores sell that's non perishable.   If I realize I need something on Monday night, it can be at my door the next day, sometimes as early as noon.

THE BAD: 

Furniture delivery.  Ugh!  These can be tricky.  Some items must be scheduled in order to be delivered, especially if they are bringing it into my apartment.  If we bring it in ourselves, we have to pay a $500 deposit and let the building know 24 hours in advance.  If we don't break anything on the way up, we get our money back.  

I've been waiting on three large pieces from West Elm.  I called to find out where they were.  I discovered that 2 of the 3 items have been sitting in their warehouse for a week waiting for the third piece.  While they are willing to deliver them to me one at a time, they weren't going to let me know that.  

THE UGLY:

About 50% of the furniture we have already received has been damaged or broken.  Returns are tricky in NYC, because you are responsible for transporting it back.  When a certain Englishman bought a couch at IKEA, he paid $50 for a driver to bring it back to our apartment.  He took the huge boxes upstairs only to discover that one piece was damaged.  So he had to pay $55 for an SUV Uber to go back to Brooklyn to switch it out and then another $45 to get the right piece back to our place.  This was over 10% of the cost of the couch.  

DOORMEN

THE GOOD:

I LOVE our doormen.  They are really amazing.  After our first meeting they know our name.  With 548 units, I don't know how they do this.  These are the most friendly, funny, New Yorkers I interact with on a daily basis.  It's like having a loving family member looking out for you.  I want to give them all a hug.

THE BAD:

While the doormen themselves are wonderful, it can be tricky having them.  They aren't allowed to let anyone up to your apartment unless we tell them in advance that they are coming.  So visiting and deliveries aren't anything like they are out in the suburbs.

THE UGLY:

Fortunately the doormen are there to receive all packages, 24 hours a day.  Unfortunately, they receive TONS of packages every day.  Each one must be processed, scanned, put into a computer, and then the apartment is notified of the package.  They do this by putting your apartment number on a big screen, emailing you, and even calling you if it is Google Express.  As you can imagine this takes quite a bit of time for them to do this.  So a package that you desperately need may be downstairs but you can't pick it up because it hasn't been processed.

SUBWAYS 

THE GOOD:

I really like taking the subways.  They bypass all the street traffic and can get you around town much more quickly than a bus or car.  There are lots of apps that help make using the subways much easier.  My favorite is Citymapper.

I don't know how I'd get around without Citymapper.  It tells me how much an Uber would cost, how long it would take to walk it, which buses and subways I can take to get there.  It even alerts me to delays.  It was through Citymapper I found out about the explosion in Chelsea.  

THE BAD:

Weekends are tough on subways.  This is when most of the construction happens and you never know what will be open and what won't.  A certain Englishman was an hour late getting to the airport to meet us because of a line closure he didn't know about.  We have had to travel by foot long distances because of unexpected train delays or closures.  

THE UGLY:

As convenient and inexpensive as subways are, they are also a popular place for the indigent.  While illegal, many times someone will beg for money with a prepared speech.  Last night as word of the explosion made its way to New Yorkers, many of us discovered that we are on a subway line that was shut down preventing us from getting home.  Many people had out their phones and were trying to book Ubers or find alternate routes.  While all of this was happening, a man who was trying to start his speech asking for money, started to yell at everyone to be quiet and to listen to him.  He didn't realize what was happening.  All he knew was that no one was paying him any attention.   We finally stepped off the train so that we could hear each other, as did most people.  

We had just bought our weekly groceries at Trader Joe's and had two heavy bags.  We ended up walking about a total of 12 to 15 blocks at various points throughout the city so that we could find a line that was running.  

Which leads me to.... 

Compeed

THE GOOD: 

This pretty much is the best thing ever when it comes to blisters on feet.  It comes in a carrying case that I keep in my purse. 

THE BAD:

Shoes that have been really comfortable in Utah, are not so much in NYC.  Fast walking to catch a train or get to a meeting, puts lots of stress on my feet and shoes.  Ouch!

THE UGLY: 

What my feet look like when I don't put on Compeed fast enough.  

NYC Walls and Ceilings

This week our wall mount for a 55" TV came in.  A certain Englishman set aside Wednesday night to install it.  He finally got it finished Saturday afternoon.   Here's why: 

THE GOOD: 

According to NYC code, all walls shared with another apartment must be double sheet rocked.  This equates to about  1 1/4 inches of sheet rock.  This means we can't hear anything coming from the apartment next to ours, even their yappy little dog.  The ceilings are made of concrete and keep us from hearing anyone above us.  We also don't have to worry about making noise and disturbing anyone below us.  

THE BAD: 

The screws and anchors that came with the wall mount, wouldn't work.  NYC doesn't use wood studs in high rise buildings, they use metal ones.  This means you have to use an anchor system with togglers.  

These actually work pretty well but can be tricky to use.  And when one breaks and slips behind the sheetrock, you have go back to the hardware store to buy another one, which is a 15-minute one way journey by foot.  Thank goodness for teenage sons!

THE UGLY:

As frustrating as learning how to navigate thick sheet rock can be, figuring out how to hang from a concrete ceiling is worse.  This requires a special carbide drill bit and special anchors.  And as we learned the hard way, a different drill.  A normal drill can't cut it (literally).  You need what is called a hammer drill.  Fortunately, our neighbor already has one we can borrow.  But it was a long afternoon figuring all of this out on our own.

Grocery Shopping 

THE GOOD:

Grocery stores and fruit stands are everywhere.  It's hard to walk very far without someplace that sells food.  Trader Joe's has national pricing, which means while it can be expensive in some cities, it is incredibly low-priced in NYC.

THE BAD:

Grocery shopping is tricky because you have to be able to carry what you purchase.  Lots of grocery delivery places exist, but some can cost $300 a year just in membership fees, and I'm just not ready yet to have someone else decide which bananas we want.  A certain Englishman is very particular about the level of ripeness in his banana.  So I like to make my own purchases.  Which means weighing the trade off of getting the larger size with more savings versus having to carry it home.

THE UGLY:

Living with a teenager, we go through lots of milk.  I found a market in TriBeCa where the milk is only $4.29 a gallon.  (I can't believe I just used the words "only" "milk" and "$4.29" in the same sentence.)  But the store isn't too close, and if we suddenly run out of milk, it would take a while just for one gallon.  I decided to see what the market across the street from our apartment charges.  I figured it would be more expensive, but maybe worth the savings in time.

Are you sitting down?

First of all the store only sells half gallon sizes.  I guess there aren't too many teenagers in Battery Park City.

Secondly, half a gallon of milk cost $5.00.  

That $10 for a gallon of milk!

Think about that next time you load up on milk at Costco.

And there you have it, the good, the bad, and the ugly of our first week in New York City.

You Are Now Ours: The LDS Church in NYC

For those not familiar with the LDS Church, our congregations are divided geographically into what are called wards.

Here's a short 2 minute video that explains what a ward is in our church community.

I've always wondered how those not in the LDS faith move to a brand new place with no friends or family close by.  It must take a lot of bravery and confidence.  Or, I imagine it would, because I have never had to.

When my two youngest kids and I lived in France one summer, one of the first things we did was try to find the LDS Church building.  At the building we met two sister missionaries and were invited to a baptism which allowed us to meet several members of the ward.  By the time we attended Sunday service, we were already part of the family.


Here in NYC, the wards are divided based on subway lines, not neighborhoods.  Our ward is relatively close to the 1,2,3 subway lines in lower Manhattan.  We are called the Union Square Ward because our church building is near Union Square.

New York City's population is .36% Mormon.

Which is a huge change from Pleasant Grove, Utah which is 89% Mormon.  Which might explain why my last ward's boundary looked like this.

Almost every home in our ward has a Mormon living there. 

After a long day and night getting moved into NYC  , we pulled ourselves out of bed (the 2 hour difference from Utah is felt the most in the mornings) and went to church.

We have attended service in this ward before, so it was nice to see familiar faces.

As the Bishop (the congregational ecclesiastical leader) opened the meeting, he welcomed the Stake President, President Buckner, who was sitting next to him on the stand.  The stand is the area behind the pulpit.  Multiple wards are grouped together in what is called a stake.  Manhattan is one stake with 15 wards and branches (small congregations are called branches).

I didn't think anything of the announcement because a Stake President will frequently visit the different wards within his stake.

The Bishop then said that the Stake President was going to speak to us.

Pres. Buckner stood up and said that he was there to call a new Bishop.

He then gave some interesting statistics.  I learned some others that day as well, that I'll also include.

• The Manhattan Stake has 15 units, because of this, the stake has permission to have 15 members on the High Council (a group of High Priests who support the Stake President and his two counselors), most have 12.  
• The average time someone is a Bishop of a ward in the Manhattan Stake is 1.8 years.  That number is skewed a little high because two bishops have been currently serving for 7 years.  Typically an LDS Bishop serves for 5 years.  
• In the Manhattan Stake, there are 3000 members of the Relief Society, the women's organization within the Church.  Many stakes have around 900 and many much less than that.  
• The membership of the Manhattan Stake has a turnover rate between 20 and 30 percent, every year.  

President Buckner said that being the Stake President is like running an aircraft carrier.  There are airplanes constantly landing and taking off.

While learning all of this, I was starting to wonder if we would just be viewed as one of those many airplanes.  Today you land, tomorrow you take off.  Please get out of our way and leave quickly so that we can get back to work.

Later that night, I ran into the wife of the newly called Bishop.  We ended up riding the subway home together (another great reason to divide wards by subway lines.)

She said something that brought me comfort.

"Once you move to New York City, you are now ours.  We will immediately bring you into our family.  Some accept the embrace and jump right in, others just wait on the sidelines until it is their time to go back home."

I plan on jumping right in.

Moving Day Pt. 2: Reunited with a certain Englishman

A certain Englishman moved to New York City a couple weeks ago.  

You can read about that day by clicking here.

On Saturday, Johnny and I joined him.  

The past two weeks have been spent, packing, cleaning, ordering furnishings online, and saying goodbye to friends.  

Finally moving day arrived.  I decided to bring my world traveler, my Jane Austen action figure.  

Also my favorite paper weight from a dear friend. 

We boarded the plane and I settled in to read the book I'm currently reading, Primates of Park Avenue, but the people behind me were really loud.  I decided to listen to music instead.  

My plane ticket was less than a seat at the theater.  

I discovered that the Hamilton soundtrack was available.  Both CDs took most of my flight to listen to.  It was a good flight.  

We met a certain Englishman at the airport and grabbed a taxi because I didn't want to have to wait for a car.  

As we got closer to Manhattan, the skyline appeared. 

This reminded me of when I visited New York City 9 years ago.  As we took the airport shuttle back to JFK, I turned around and saw the skyline through the window.  I started to cry, I knew this was where I was supposed to live, but I knew I never would.  

Thankfully, I was wrong.

We arrived at our building and unloaded the taxi.

I was surprised that the driver didn't make a comment about how heavy and large our luggage was.  My guess is, he didn't care.  

A certain Englishman introduced us to our friendly doormen, and took us to our apartment. 

Where we dropped off our luggage and promptly left.

You see, Johnny had to be at the LDS Stake Center at 7:00 p.m, and we were already late.  It was the Seminary Kick-off party a chance for Johnny to meet the other LDS teenagers living in Manhattan. 

So we got our Metro cards refilled 

and went to the LDS Stake Center.  We stayed to make sure that Johnny knew where to go and would be taken care of.  

We met a wonderful couple who had just moved to NYC three weeks ago.  

Well sort of.  

A couple of years ago, they moved to NYC with 6 of their 12 children as what they called "a dry run."  They kept their house in Utah and rented an apartment with the intent to move back eventually.  His project ended 9 months later and they returned back to home.  

Only to discover that they didn't like their home in Utah anymore.  It was too big, and too far away from people.  So they sold it, got rid of most of their stuff and came back to NYC where they are happier.  

"I wonder if that will happen to us," I thought. 

After exchanging numbers with the couple, we went to check on Johnny.  He was surrounded by a large group of teenagers, we knew he was in good hands.  I was starving, so we went to our favorite pizza place, called Little Italy, which was close by. 

Then we stopped at Trader Joe's for some groceries. 

I love how their dairy section is called "Moo" York City.  

Are you wondering why we shopped at the expensive Trader Joe's?  Well, two words.  Nationally priced.  Meaning it's not expensive at all in NYC.  

This Trader Joe's has all the same food and prices as the one near you.  With maybe one exception.  

Over 30 registers and a person who stands at the front of the line letting your knew which register is yours.  

When we got home I told a certain Englishman to relax and watch some football.  He has been working so hard these last two weeks that he's lost quite a bit of weight and now has a cold.  I unboxed and put away many of the deliveries.  I worked until 2 in the morning, or what my body thinks is midnight.  

Johnny got home on his own after hanging out at the Stake President's home with a bunch of boys to watch the BYU football game after the Seminary dance.  He fell into bed and promptly fell asleep.  

I'd say moving day was a great success.  

"God Be With You": Saying Goodbye to Temple Square

"God be with you till we meet again."

~Jeremiah E. Rankin

When I first moved to Utah over 16 years ago, I promised myself I would take advantage of living so close to Temple Square.  

And I have.  

I can't count how many events I've attended at the Conference Center, Tabernacle, Assembly Hall, and the Delta Energy Solutions Vivint Smart Home Your Ad Space Here Center.

I've gone to the musical production of Savior of World multiple times.  

I saw Light of the World, a special production for the 2002 Olympics.  

I've seen the Utah Jazz play from the hospitality suite.

Honestly, we didn't catch much of the game.

I have listened to the Christus recording in Romanian, Japanese, Chinese, and Spanish so my guests would understand it.  

I've attended several weddings and sealings at the Salt Lake City Temple, which is where I was married.  

I presented information to LDS Church employees at the Church Office Building. And got lost in the parking garage afterward! 

I have a frequent diner card for the Lion House and have even eaten lunch in the room where Brigham Young organized the Young Women program.  

I have celebrated my anniversary at the Roof even when we had very little money. 

I have spent hours researching my ancestors in the Family History Library.

I visited my ancestor's ironing board on display at the Church History Museum.

It's no longer there!  I didn't take it, I promise. 

I have peeked inside the cabin where my ancestor, Christopher Riding lived which is sandwiched between the two buildings.  

The last time I went shopping with my mom before she died was at City Creek.

I know the best parking spots and the shortcuts to avoid tourists. 

I definitely have a soft spot in my heart for Temple Square.  It's like a second home. 

Yesterday, the kids and I went to the Conference Center to attend the live broadcast of Music and the Spoken Word.  

Of all the events at Temple Square, Music and the Spoken Word is my absolute favorite.  There is a special feeling connected with that show.

Did you know Music and Spoken Word is 88 years old?  Most people who are alive have only known a world with Music and the Spoken Word in it.  

Just before the show ended, I started to get melancholy.  I realized that I wouldn't be able to come to Temple Square whenever I want.  Instead of a 35-minute drive, it will now be a 5-hour plane ride.


One of the reasons why I like to attend the broadcast live is because they always do something that you don't get to see on TV or hear on the radio.  After the cameras turn off, they sing a song to the audience.

They always sing the same song, "God Be With You Till We Meet Again."  I knew the song was coming, but it wasn't until they actually started to sing the words that I started to cry.  

I know that no one who was singing that song knew that I had been there several times and that this was going to be my last for a long time.  But in a weird way, they did know.  I felt like they knew my sadness and were trying to comfort me.  It's as if they were saying, 

"God will be with you in NYC.  Don't worry, we'll meet again."

Never has that sweet hymn had so much meaning for me.  

1. God be with you till we meet again;
   By his counsels guide, uphold you;
   With his sheep securely fold you.
   God be with you till we meet again.
2. (Chorus)
   Till we meet, till we meet,
   Till we meet at Jesus' feet,
   Till we meet, till we meet,
   God be with you till we meet again.
3. 2. God be with you till we meet again;
   When life's perils thick confound you,
   Put his arms unfailing round you.
   God be with you till we meet again.
4. 3. God be with you till we meet again;
   Keep love's banner floating o'er you;
   Smite death's threat'ning wave before you.
   God be with you till we meet again.

If you ever have a chance to go to Salt Lake City, visit Temple Square.  If you have a long layover, they even have a free shuttle for you.

And if you do, will you tell it "Hi" for me?