Life inside an oven

I feel like I've become really lax lately about blogging, but to be honest, my whole life has become rather drab since the recent "global warming-esque" heat wave struck NYC. I have no energy to do anything but sleep. I can't write. I can't eat. I can't shop. I can't run... (okay, I take it back...the heat hasn't prevented me from accomplishing at least two of the above mentioned activities..I'm sure you can guess…)

But seriously, I'm no wimp when it comes to heat. I'm from Texas for Pete's sake!!! But these 102 degree days in NYC are getting a little ridiculous!

I wasn't sure what it was about the heat here in NYC that made it so much worse than the Texas heat until one of the guests I greeted summed it up perfectly. He described Manhattan as an oven, and I'm going to go ahead and add that we are all like a bunch of turkeys baking down beneath a skyscraper-dotted sky.

So since I was beginning to feel a little helpless, I decided to pay a visit to my good friend GOOGLE to get some tips for surviving the summer heat...I found a pretty long list of suggestions but decided to highlight only a few and give my opinion on each.

1)Do your best to stay out of the sun and avoid strenuous activity during the sun's peak hours of 11AM and 4PM. Plan your workout or other physically demanding activities for the day's coolest hours between 4AM and 7AM.

No, you haven't lost your mind. Whoever wrote this definitely said to workout between 4 AND 7 AM!!!!! IS THIS PERSON CRAZY? WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD WORKOUT THAT EARLY?

Moving on...

2)Drink plenty of water even if you don't feel thirsty. Your body needs water to keep cool.

Sounds like a great idea. I would absolutely LOVE to drink a lot of water...IFFF NYC would KINDLY PROVIDE A BATHROOM!!!!!!!

3)Eat small, frequent meals. Avoid high-protein foods. Put that Atkins diet on hold until the temperature drops.

Okay, this one doesn't sound too bad. And since we're avoiding protein...a Magnolia cupcake should suffice. I'll take two please? : ))

4)Head to a local swimming pool or beach to cool off. During heat emergencies, New York City pools and beaches are open late and often offer free or reduced admission.

Once again touching on the bathroom complaint, if you don't have it, don't suggest it. A pool in NYC?? I haven't seen one.

5)Cool off at a fire hydrant, using only City-approved fire hydrant spray caps available free of charge at local firehouses. Illegally opening a fire hydrant is wasteful and dangerous - one illegally opened hydrant wastes up to 1,000 gallons of water per minute.


A FIRE HYDRANT?? You've got to be kidding. I'm gettting a scary mental picture...Not gonna happen.


6)Monitor signs of heat exhaustion or heat stroke. Contact 911 immediately if medical help is required.

Hmm...Does inability to breathe, a hot temper (no pun intended), and the desire to curl up in a ball in DIE sound like symptoms of heat exhaustion? If so, I'm going to have to take advantage of 911's services.

I'm going to stop there. All of these sound like crazy ideas. So for now, I'll just continue spending my afternoons immobile on my bed next to the air conditioner.

Until next time!

Red, White, and Fabulous!!

Hello everyone! I’m back from the BEST Fourth of July weekend ever (No offense small town Texas, but NYC has you beat when it comes to Independence Day activities.) I know it’s been forever since I’ve written, but at least I have something interesting to write about today. Here’s the scoop on the food, fun, and other details of my FANTASTIC holiday.

My 4th of July weekend began with a trip to the Hamptons on Saturday. Travis and I took a really nice bus out to East Hampton to visit his great uncle (I’ll just refer to him as Uncle W from now on). Upon our arrival, Uncle W met us at the bus stop and drove us to his beautiful house just down the block from some lady named MARTHA STEWART!!

As we rounded the first corner on the way to his house, Uncle W pointed to a GINGANTIC Hampton’s style mansion and said, “Some guy named Bon Jovi lives there. He and Paul McCartney had a concert here a couple of years ago.”

You know, some guy named Bon Jovi, no big deal, right!??

Here are some pictures at my "dream beach house"

The front...



A view of the back of the house...



The "guest house"



The interior of the "guest house"...loved the beachy interior



The hydrangeas were beautiful!!



After Uncle W gave me a quick tour of his precious house (built in 1912), and after I picked my jaw up off the floor, Travis and I quickly changed into our swimsuits and headed down to the beach to soak up some sun! It was sooo nice! It felt like the first time the sun had touched my skin in ages. The NYC skyscrapers surprisingly aren’t conducive to my sun tan.

After we baked in the sun for a few hours, we headed back to the house to get cleaned up for dinner at an old country club in East Hampton (I think Uncle W told me it has been around since 1892). Thankfully I had spent the previous three days stressing about my outfit, so getting dressed for the dinner was relatively painless.

The dinner was a lot more laid back than I expected, so my new Anthropologie skirt and blouse didn’t clash with the shiny Versace gowns like I had expected. (Honestly, can you blame me… dinner at the East Hampton country club?? What was I supposed to think?)

Travis and I after dinner...



Anyway, dinner was great. Travis freaked out because the main character from the show “Modern Family” was there with her real family. But I, being the experienced celebrity stalker that I am, didn’t get too worked up about it. I mean, who’s she compared to Taylor Lautner? : )

After dinner, we took a nice stroll on the beach. But no worries, we didn't go anywhere near the water. It's kind of hard to get your feet wet when you are accompanied by someone who is afraid of sea monsters. : )

Here are some pics of Travis and I on the beach...







Our bus the next morning left at 10:00, but Uncle W offered to take us up for a quick ride in his plane, so obviously we chose to postpone our trip back to the big city in favor of a nice little airplane ride over the Hamptons. And that wasn’t all…Uncle W had even more surprises up his sleeve. Not only did he give us a tour of the Hamptons, but he also flew us over to Nantucket for a nice lunch in the harbor.

A view from where we ate lunch in Nantucket...



A view of the beaches in the Hamptons...



Travis and Uncle W talking about guy stuff...



I seriously felt like I was living in a dream world this entire trip. I'm so grateful for Uncle W's generosity. He's definitely maintained his southern hospitality despite the many years he's lived in NYC.

As you might have noticed, the Hamptons part of my holiday kind of trumped the rest of my weekend activities, but I can't wrap up this blog without mentioning that I also ate some AMAZING food, finally saw Phantom of the Opera, and also did a little shopping (duh). I couldn't have asked for a better weekend!!

Here are some more pics…

Outside the Phantom of the Opera...



Waiting for the fireworks...next to the Hudson



Couldn't possibly capture how beautiful the fireworks were in a photograph...



Until next time,

Papa-paparazzi

It's official, I'm a creep. I love celebrities. I love celebrity gossip. And since I've been in New York, I've become somewhat of a celeb stalker. It's terrible, but there's just something about seeing one of them in person that makes life SO EXCITING!!!

Take Taylor Lautner, for example. I mean, he's not a great actor, but I fell in love with his character when I read the Twilight saga, so hopefully you'll understand why I spent the day chasing him around New York City, right? :/

It all began when my friend, Megan, called me today and told me the Eclipse premiere would be taking place at a theater on 66th street. I was just about to lie down for a nap when she called, and those of you who know me well know that I DO NOT SKIP NAPS!! HOWEVER, you can bet your bones,(yes, i just invented that phrase), that I wasn't going to miss the opportunity to see the cast and take a few creeper pics! TEAM JACOB, DUH!!!

So, off I went during my nap time to find the theater where the premiere was allegedly taking place.

BUTTTTTT, after I made the trek all the way from 116th St to 66th St, and finally found the theater, I found out that the cast would not be making an appearance! Sad day!! I was really bummed out and thought about cashing in the chips for some retail therapy, but here came Megan, an expert creeper like myself, who told me that Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart would be making an appearance on the Letterman show.

So off we went again, paparazzi style, to find our Twilight heroes. Once we finally made it to the theater, we saw a large group of pre-teen girls with New Moon posters and magazine covers, so we knew we had found the right place. We heard Kristen Stewart had already left, but everyone was still anticipating Taylor's arrival. Megan and I decided to wait, so we perched on a metal rail and hung out for an hour IN THE RAIN to see our beloved werewolf boy.

We were joined by these people,



And the paparazzi, of course...


After about an hour, he finally showed up!! yay!! I was screaming and falling around when he got out of his car and came over to sign autographs, so I didn't get many good pictures the first time.



But the second time he came out, I was prepared!! Unfortunately, I wasn't standing close enough to get a picture with him, but these will do! Isn't he precious?? (I feel a little bad saying this since he's my little brother's age).

Precious!!!


Here's another...


And another...


Anyway, I'm going to stop being creepy for the day. It's time to go wash my rain-streaked face and get in bed! It's been a long, exciting day in the Big Apple.

AND, I almost forgot to mention...my friends and I are planning on making an appearance outside the Letterman show again tomorrow to try and spot Jennifer Aniston, so maybe I'll have more celebrity updates mañana!

Here's one more pic...sweet dreams peeps!



Until next time...: )

Snazzy New Blog

NOTICE...BEFORE YOU CLICK THE BACK BUTTON OR TRY A GOOGLE SEARCH, YOU ARE AT THE RIGHT PLACE!! HERE YOU HAVE, LADIES AND GENTS, THE NEW AND IMPROVED VERSION OF "KATE'S LIFE IN NYC."

Ok, enough of the capital letters. NO, I wasn't screaming at you, I was just trying to get your attention before you clicked away!

Kristi, who I mentioned in my last blog, finished this masterpiece just this afternoon, so even though I have absolutely nothing to say, I wanted to write something to try out my snazzy new blog!

So why the new title, you may ask? Well, by the time I got back from Seville, I was completely over the "Mi Vida de Sevilla" blog title, and I wanted something more catchy and creative for my New York blog. Unfortunately, my creative juices weren't flowing, so it took me several weeks and countless days of nagging my roomie (who's an advertising major) to come up with a better name!

I hope you like the changes...my writing may be boring, but my blog is just so darn cute!: )

I'll fill you in tomorrow on my 5 mile race in Central Park as well as all the other useless information you didn't ask for! : )

Your truly,

Art Un-Appreciation

When I was in the 4th grade, I participated in the UIL "Art Appreciation" contest. The basic premise of "Art Appreciation" is to study art, obviously. You memorize all the details of the painting including: who painted it, what year it was painted, what movement it was from, etc.

To be honest, I wasn't a huge fan of "Art Appreciation," but it definitely came in handy while I was in Europe this spring. I saw so many works by famous painters such as Van Gogh, Degas, Monet, Leonard da Vinci, and it was nice to be able to recognize the paintings and know a little bit about them.

HOWEVER, (you knew it was coming didn't you), as much as I try, I CANNOT develop an appreciation for modern art. So I guess when I visited the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) on Friday, I should have known I would spend more time concentrating on what I wanted to eat for dinner rather than the artistic value of a splatter painted canvas or a green square.

I mean, COME ON PEOPLE!! I could give my six-year-old cousin a large canvas and some black and white paint, and she could produce a "masterpiece" similar to that of the splatter paintings in the MOMA. Call me classless, but I just don't understand some people's preferences when it comes to art.

It was upon leaving the MOMA that I walked up behind an elderly man and his wife and heard their conversation. I thought their two-sentence banter described my sentiments about the MOMA perfectly:

Husband: "Why'd we stay in there so long?"
Wife: "Well hun, I just kept thinking it was gonna get better."

Now that I'm done ranting, I will say I enjoyed seeing "Starry Night" and a couple of Picasso paintings. I also especially enjoyed the photography section. I've grown up seeing the picture of the woman and her children during the Great Depression, and it was very moving to see it in person.

Here are some of my favorites...

Van Gogh




Andy Warhol:


You will be interested to know that I have a couple of additions to my "seen" and "met" lists.

Seen:
Toby Keith
Shannon Bream (although I feel like we met because we sat in the producer pre-show meeting everyday).

Here are some Toby Keith stalker pics (since I couldn't meet him, I had to be a little creepy)



He hadn't seen (or used) a razor in a while...




Met:
Jon Scott

Also, before I wrap this thing up, please remember to go check out my contribution to "Fox Rocks with Kate and Carly," the weekly intern blog on the Happening Now portion of the Fox website. Every Friday, I will collaborate with one of my fellow interns, Carly, to produce an update on what life is like as an intern at Fox News. This week was our first week to do it, so you can find a quick bio about each of us!

AND COMING SOON...Kristi, a family friend, is helping me re-vamp my blog, so you can look forward to a new and improved blog soon! She has designed some pretty cool blogs. Check her web site out @ http://kristiskringles.blogspot.com!

Until next time...

The Handshake

Hello Everyone!!

For those of you who have Facebook, you've probably already seen my pictures of the additions to my "met" list.

If not, wait for it. Are you ready? Prepare to be amazed! I can now officially add DENZEL WASHINGTON to my list. It's been several days since I shook his hand (4 days to be exact), and it's getting increasingly harder to shower with one hand! Haha!
Just kidding, I've washed my hand since then, even though I would have loved to preserve a little bit of that dream-like moment forever.



So, moving on...work has been great lately. Last Saturday, I volunteered to help with the Huckabee show, and I had the opportunity to talk to Tommy Chong (the “Chong” from “Cheech and Chong”). He was definitely an interesting character. I especially liked talking to him about the nine months he spent in prison. : )



Saturday was a great day because when I left the show, I shook hands with Denzel, then my friends and I bought tickets to the Broadway Musical, "In the Heights." The best part was, we stuck around after to meet the cast (including High School Musical star, Corbin Bleu).



I forgot to add earlier that I might as well go ahead and re-add Governor Mike Huckabee to my "met" list because I had to introduce myself to him a second time when I worked his show!

I made a completely normal situation really awkward when he walked up to me and said, "Thanks for helping out today, I'm Mike."
"I know," I blurted out, "I met you the other day, on floor 12, next to the green room, after your makeup. I'm from Texas...Kate, remember?"

Yes, I really said all of that in a span of 5 seconds. And no, I didn't breathe in between sentences. But I tried to save myself, and him, the embarrassment by saying, "It's alright. I'm sure you meet a lot of important people."

It was after I blurted this out, I realized that I just categorized myself as an "important" person. I always seem to be able to find the perfect way to make a perfectly normal moment extremely awkward.

As I said before, work has been going really well lately. I've continued to learn more about the news gathering process on the national level which has been very eye opening. Most recently, I've had the opportunity to collaborate with a fellow intern on the blog for Happening Now. Every day before the show, we'll right "teases" for what will be discussed during the show.

This Friday, we're also starting an "intern blog" about what working at FOX News is like from an intern's perspective. I'm really excited to get started on that. I always find myself the happiest when I'm writing. For those of you who want to check it out, here's a link to the place where I'll be blogging.



That's about all the updates I have for now. I feel like my "MET" and "SEEN" lists are getting smaller as far as work goes because the "famous" faces are beginning to become familiar!

MET:

Denzel Washington
Tommy Chong
Corbin Bleu (and the rest of the "In the Heights" cast)

SEEN:
"Snooki" (from the ridiculous MTV show, “Jersey Shore”)

Also, here's one last thing I wanted to share with you. This is a view of the city from my dorm room window. It's beautiful, my lack of camera skills definitely don't do it justice!



Until next time...

Knobby Knees and a Summer Breeze

Tonight I made yet another agonizing trip to the grocery store. I say agonizing because as I mentioned earlier, there is nothing fun about lugging 10 pounds worth of groceries a quarter of a mile back to the dorm. But this entry is supposed to be uplifting, so I'm going to jump back over to that track.

Usually I feel inspired to write about my encounters with the rich and famous or my experiences at work, but tonight it was the simplest thing that spurred me to write a few words.

So I'll begin by going in reverse...back to me lugging the grocery bags. So here I was, walking through the 116th and Broadway entrance to the Columbia campus, when I walked up behind the tiniest old man I had ever seen. If it had been any other day, I might not have noticed him, but the shape of his body left me puzzled at how he could even manage the slow pace he kept.

His spindly legs were connected by knobby knees and his hunched-over upper body looked like a potato balancing on a couple of toothpicks. As I said before, I had no idea how this man even managed to walk, but I was so moved by his effort and by the serene consistency of his meandering pace, that I put the "I'm in New York, and I have to be in a hurry because that's what we do here," routine on hold and took a couple of minutes to walk behind this tiny old man.

I know, sounds creepy, and for those of you know how much I love old people, you're probably not surprised, but there was something about his calm, patient manner that made me want to slow down for a bit and BREATHE.

As I crept along at a snail's pace behind this tiny old man, I listened as he whistled a tune I hadn't heard before. I imagined it was something he used to listen to from a large radio as he sat and read the paper after dinner. I noticed he had a gold wedding band, and I thought, “Maybe that's the song he and his wife danced to on lazy summer evenings, the way they do in the movies.”

All of this imagining may sound crazy to you, but while following the gray haired meanderer, I realized how far I have gotten from the "Life is meant to be lived" way of thinking I developed in Spain. As much as I love America, I feel like sometimes we forget to find joy in life's simple pleasures, like long slow walks in the evenings or the tingling feeling you skin gets when grazed by a cool summer breeze.

So, that's all for tonight. I've stepped off my soapbox and slid it under my bed. I hope by writing this, I gave you the opportunity to take at least 5 minutes to breathe deeply and smile at the thought of a little old man walking, whistling, and bathing himself in the joy of life’s simplicities.

Until next time...buenas noches!