Variety Shows, 5Ks, Cherry Blossoms and Pillow Fights

Honestly, where does the time go? It seems as of late things have been so busy and I haven't had the time to tell/show everyone what has been going on (that or I'm just way too tired from staying at work much later than I used to). So finally I'm going to blog about the last couple of weekends to get everyone up to speed...

Variety Show
Scene: Ward Talent Show
Location: UWS at the Lincoln Center Building
When: Saturday evening, March 21st

A couple of weekends ago, our ward held a talent/variety
show. I had planned to participate, but due to technical
difficulties I decided to pull my act from the line up. The
night was a great success though with some great
participation from fellow ward members.

This is a New Yorkie. We were supposed to give these
away at the end of the show as an award to the different acts.

John and Jeff played/sang a little diddy by
the Flight of the Conchords. Pretty funny.

These boys performed an original song by Chris
(on the far right).

Chad also performed a song he had written himself.

The most amazing part of the evening was
learning that our dear bishop had a secret talent
that he had been hiding under a bushel...he plays
the accordion. How cool is that? That's the second
church leader of mine that has played the accordion!

DC 2nd Ward Fun Run
(and some other stuff)
Scene: 5K run with Jana's ward in DC
Location: somewhere in Maryland just outside DC
When: Saturday, March 28th

Having planned to go visit Jana down in DC during the
weekend, she convinced me it would be a good idea to
participate in her ward's annual 5K run...this would
be a first for both of us. I didn't do too bad considering,
but definitely not on my list of favorite things to do.

Jana and I pre-run with our t-shirts.

"We're the runners!" (think Beyonce/JT SNL skit)

Later on Saturday...

After the 5K run, we spent the day going to brunch,
visiting Eastern Market, and joining some of Jana's
friends for late lunch/dinner at Good Stuff (owned by
Chef Spike from Top Chef). The different vendors at
Eastern Market and the food market were fun to meander,
but my favorite part was this bookstore where books
were stacked floor to ceiling. Crazy huh?

After spending the day out and about, Jana and I decided
that we should make a cake. See, Jana is apart of this group
that holds an "Iron Chef" competition once a month. The
coming competition's ingredient is going to be peanuts, so
we had been discussing recipes all day. As an experiment,
we decided to make a Peanut Butter and Jelly cake.

Frosting the cake with the peanut butter frosting
(you can see here my hair is really starting to get long).

Here's Jana putting jelly on the outside.

Yummy!

Cherry Blossoms

Scene: Viewing the blossoming of the cherry trees
Location: Near the National Mall in Washington DC
When: Sunday afternoon, March 29th

After church during my weekend visit to DC, Jana
and I headed to the Mall to check out the cherry
blossoms. Saturday had been rainy and dreary all
day, but Sunday was BEAUTIFUL! The weather
was so nice and the trees were so pretty.

Jefferson Memorial

A picture of me with the blossoms where my hair
is not in my face (it was very windy).

I think this picture I took of Jana is amazing!

NYC Pillow Fight

Scene: hundreds gathered to participate in a huge
pillow fight in the street
Location: Wall and Broad/Nassau in front of the
Stock Exchange and Federal Hall
When: Saturday afternoon, April 4th

In the past there has been a big pillow fight at Union Square,
but this years event took place in my neighborhood. Many
were gathered to participate and observe the amazingness
that was this event. I mean, it was a huge pillow fight in
front of the NY Stock Exchange for goodness sakes!

Peace, Love, and Pillows indeed.

People on the steps of Federal Hall.

Some people were even in costume, such as
this dude in a bee costume. Awesome.

This guy in the blue holding the pillow was
really rallying the troops and getting them excited.
He had people singing, chanting, and even doing
the wave with their pillows.

LET THE FIGHTING BEGIN!!!

Watch out Brittany!

There were even little kids there joining in on the fun.

See the feathers coming out there? There were so
many feathers everywhere afterward.

Other fellow downtowners were there, too.
Jamar looks like he really has it for Carly here.

The scene as we were leaving. The pillow fighting must
have gone on for over an hour or so. Oh, New York City,
how I love the random things that happen here.
Honestly, never a dull moment.

And that my friends, have been some of the activities over
the past couple of weeks. Until next time...