7,702 Translations and a Weekend of Royalty

I know I have been failing on blogging... But here is an update on everything!!

At work, I was asked to do a sample of translations for Vonage. Emilio had me translate 21 phrases to see if the Art Director and one of the Senior Account Executives approved of my skills. After getting my sample approved, they provided me with 7,702 phrases in Spanish to translate in English - Oh, and the client wants it ASAP. No big deal. This started on Monday afternoon and continued all the way through Friday morning! I translated 400 phrases an hour... These phrases are search terms that people Google about Vonage. Although I was going cross-eyed and could have sworn I was getting carpal tunnel, it was great practice for my Spanish. After completing the entire list on Thursday afternoon, the team looked over my work and only had MINOR changes!!! This was the best news I could have received. I had been successful in translating almost 8,000 phrases?! I came back into work Friday morning to edit the list before sending it out to the client.

This past weekend was a HUGE success :) On Friday after work, Molly, Ashton, and I headed to Central Park for a late lunch. We picked up sandwiches from Loeb Boathouse and headed to a nearby pond. We sat in the park for 3 hours and talked and enjoyed the scenary. This pond is the one with the sailboats you can rent and drive around. It was absolutely gorgeous and one of our new favorite spots!



After the park, Molly, Megan, Ashton, and I went out to a bar called Gatsby's down in SoHo on Spring Street. It was an adorable red little pub! My friend Catherine from work and her brother met us as well. The DJ created mixes of Backstreet Boys with Snow Patrol - definitely revived the old songs.

On Saturday, Molly and I woke up and headed to Citi Field to the Mets game. Prince Harry was in NY for 3 days for his 2nd visit to the city and was throwing the first pitch for the Mets. Since Molly is OBSESSED with the royal family, we decided we'd make it a weekend full of Prince Harry. When we got to the field, we found out we could stay at the field level to watch Harry pitch and then go up to our seats. We got fantastic pictures and enjoyed the adorable redhead laugh about his pitching skills :)





After watching the pitch and grabbing some hot dogs, Molly and I headed up to our seats on the TOP ROW of the stadium! We decided we didn't mind this because we were in the shade and had the perfect breeze blowing on our backs.

Our free hats - so attractive, we know!

Citi Field

After our adventure at Citi Field, we headed back home to meet friends for a late dinner in Greenwich Village before calling it a night.

On Sunday, we headed to Governors Island to watch the Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic, which Prince Harry was playing in of course! Nacho Figueras was playing in the game as well - he's the Ralph Lauren model :) We arrived to Governors Island at 12:30 and the game started at 3. It was SO hot but luckily we had Molly's umbrella, even though that was only minor help.



the group - Molly, me, Megan, Ashton, and Rian

After taking lots of pictures of the polo field to distract ourselves, the game finally started! We then were quickly entertained to watch Harry and Nacho prance around.
:)

Nacho Figueras



With a weekend full of stalking royalty and crossing off the bucketlist, we had a blast and filled our weekend to the fullest!!

Until next time Prince!

-Governors Island-

Lady Liberty

Friends in the city

On Thursday afternoon, Mom, Aunt Karen, and Taylor came to visit me for the weekend. We had a wonderful visit from seeing the Guggenheim to visiting the UN - we conquered New York. After I met them at the hotel, we visited Columbia and showed them my living situations. We then had dinner close to campus before going back to the hotel for an early night. On Friday, we hit the ground running and went to the United Nations for a tour - Did you know the UN has its own stamps?! We then headed to Times Square to check out the ticket situation for a broadway show. Instead of waiting in the 2 hour line for half-price tickets, we bought some from a man for Billy Elliot. We then proceeded down to where my "office" was in Chelsea. On the street where my building is, there are tons of antique stores. We wondered through these on our way through the area. We ended the tour in Madison Square Park, which is sandwiched between the Flat Iron Building and the Empire State Building. We enjoyed a coke and chocolate gelato while we took in the scenes, then headed back to our hotel to get ready for the show. All dolled up, we headed to see Billy Elliot. We realized our "sweet" tickets were actually not all together, so Taylor and I headed to one section and mom and aunt k to another. The show was incredible, yet interesting. Within the first minute of it starting, little Billy had already dropped 3 cuss words - slightly shocking, but hey it's New York - and the dancing was incredible! Who knew a 12 year-old could dance like that?! After the show we headed for a late dinner at Bond 45 - pricey but delicious.

On Saturday, we woke up and headed to the Guggenheim. Deciding we weren't too interested in the art inside the museum, we entered to see how much of the infamous dome and architecture we could see for free. Luckily, the main dome is in the area that general admittance can see. We took our tourists photos and headed out.



We then went to Central Park for some exploring - we saw the Jackie Onassis Reservoir and then ate lunch at the Loeb Boathouse. Definitely a highlight for me! The boathouse is GORGEOUS. We discovered that you can eat the cheap menu, but still sit inside - win win! We sat right next to the fancy dining room eating our $5 sandwiches and were happy as a clam.

Outside of the Loeb Boathouse

View from inside the Boathouse

After lunch, we wondered over to Imagine to pay tribute to John Lennon and show Tay The Dakota. After walking all over Central Park, we took the subway down to Times Square to get tickets. After getting off the subway, we saw that Broadway was closed off and markets filled the streets! We were ecstatic!!!! We asked an owner of one of the vendors, and she said they have this market ONCE A YEAR - can you believe the luck?! We found some great buys and headed to the ticket booth. This time since it was after 6 there was barely a line. We decided on Chicago with 3rd row seats! We went to a cute Italian restaurant across from the theater for a glass of wine while we waited for the show. This Chicago was really cute and different. It had more slapstick humor and was entertaining. After the show, we headed to Toloache for Mexican food :) It was delish! Nothing better than a margarita and some guacamole!

On Sunday, we went to see ground zero. Mom and I hadn't been since January of 2008, Aunt Karen had gone in December 2001, and Taylor had never been. It was definitely different from when we had been there 3 years ago. The new buildings are underway, and the designs are posted everywhere. First we visited the church St. Paul's chapel, which survived the 9/11 attack and is where George Washington ate dinner for his inauguration. It was literally right next to tower 2 and is truly remarkable that it survived. Inside the chapel is tons of memoirs including letters from people around the country and badges from volunteer firefighters from different states. There was a service at noon that the church, which it has everyday in remembrance of 9/11. It was really cool to see how the church still shows compassion for those who died 9 years ago. We walked down to the fire station to see if it still had a museum. It was closed, but there's now an official World Trade Center museum. The fire station still has the plaque of the 5 men its station lost as well as a poster of every NY firefighter that died. It has a huge plaque along the side of the building with the World Trade Centers being hit and the firefighters with hoses and running to the buildings. After walking around the grounds, we headed back to our hotel to freshen up for an early dinner at Buddakan.

We went early to Buddakan to have a drink at the bar and to enjoy the scenery. This restaurant was used in Sex and the City movie for Carrie and Big's rehearsal dinner. Everything from the grand dining room to the front door were shown in the film. The red room, where we ate dinner, was used in the New Years scene with Standford. Since this is a big Sex and the City landmark, I had to order a Cosmopolitan in honor of the fab four. After a great dinner, we wondered the streets and headed back to our hotel. It was a wonderful trip, and I was so glad I could share NY with them :)

The dining hall of Buddakan - the table in SATC movie

My Cosmo :) Bday compliments from Annabelle!!

FINALLY 2-1 :) WOOP WOOP

On the big day, I went to work at 10 and had breakfast with my new fellow co-workers. To start the day off, my "boss" Gabriel asked me if I was drunk already. I told him no, and he said he figured I would've started drinking at midnight. *tisk tisk* I finished writing my fashion blog for the Vox's website - which is in the process of being posted (yayyy) - and told Gabriel we were all going to lunch. Again, my boss hassled me about drinking. He asked me if I was going to have a "liquid lunch." I just laughed, and he responded with "Well we won't judge you." And with that we were off to lunch.

After picking up our food at "On-the-Go," one of the interns, Kurt, convinced me that I should go buy my first legal beer to drink with lunch. We headed off to Whole Foods to pick out which beer would be the epic first. We settled on Leffe - a Belgium beer - and headed back to the agency... After everyone stated the fact that it was my birthday, and I thought I had made it clear that I was turning 21, THEY ALL had to make a comment about drinking at 2:00 at work. Including Gabriel who had suggested it in the first place! The CEO of the company, whom I had met for the first time that day, teased me about drinking on the job... After all this harassment, the interns and Adolfo came around the corner with a piece of tiramisu and a candle (separately) singing happy birthday... They couldn't find any real candles, so a candle in a candle holder made do. It was a very eventful birthday at work and really fun.

Once I got off work and came home, my roomies had little gifts for me! Kate had bought me cupcakes from Magnola Bakery, which is famous because in an episode of Sex and the City the girls went there. She got me a red velvet cupcake - because she knows I adore red velvet cake, and a CARRIE BRADSHAW cupcake :) :) YES, a cupcake named after the fabulous character from SATC. It was the perfect gift! And then, Molly gave me a bouquet of gerbera daisies from her and Kate with a card for a pedicure. BEST BIRTHDAY EVER :) :)

THE CARRIE BRADSHAW CUPCAKE



After we were all fancied up, we headed to dinner to Gabriela's, a Mexican food restaurant close to our apartment, and had my first legal margarita. The food was absolutely delicious, and we were all completely stuffed. After asking for the check, the waiter brought out Mexican vanilla bean ice cream with a candle and the staff sang happy birthday :) It was the perfect ending to the perfect birthday.

Pictures from In the Heights

From left to right: Kate, me, Paulina, Megan, and Molly - outside of "IN THE HEIGHTS"


With Corbin Bleu :) :) He loved us for sure!

More Adventures in NYC

Over the past few days at work, I have been working on a fashion blog for Vox Collective's website. My boss asked me to write about the fall 2010 fashion must-haves, and what the essentials will be in Texas. I was in Heaven!!! My first "real" assignment, and my boss wants me to write about fashion?! I could see the envy in the other interns' faces as they had to write about the BP oil spill. I have thoroughly enjoyed my internship so far, and I'm excited as I begin to actually do some work.

On Friday, we worked for the first 30 minutes and then my really amazing boss told us to stop because the world cup was on. Adolpho - crazy Peruvian - bought Dunkin doughnuts and coffee for everyone, and we all watched Mexico vs. South Africa. Got to love Fridays!! After the game, I worked on my fashion article some more and then headed for some lunch.

After getting off work and taking a much needed nap, three of my roomies and I headed out for dinner at our new favorite restaurant - Toast. For the reality TV people, its the restaurant regularly shown on "The HIlls." I'm not sure if it has made an appearance on "The City," but it has become our new favorite place.


This is my roommate Molly and me going to Toast.

Today, Saturday, we slept in and catch up on my TV shows while Kate had to go in to work at Fox. We met her at Times Square when she got off and went to purchase tickets for a broadway show. "In The Heights" had 5 seats together with a good view, so we snatched them up. We grabbed dinner at Famigilia - another one of our favorites - and headed to the show. A-MAZING!!! Besides the fact that it has Corbin Bleu from all the High School Musical movies, it was truly wonderful. We thoroughly enjoyed the singing and the dancing. After the show, we decided to hang around and stalk the cast. We got a picture with Christopher Jackson - one of the main guys and was on Gossip Girl - and a picture with Corbin Bleu - of course! As we were leaving, Molly touches Corbin's arm and says in her adorable Southern accent, "I just have to tell you that you're precious." Corbin reaches back to her and was very appreciative. We laughed so hard. Only Molly would do something like that. We've now decided that we will stalk the cast after every show we see. Definitely worth it!!!! Pictures with Christopher and Corbin coming soon :) :)

Another Day at the Vox

Today wasn't fairly uneventful... During the morning, the two other account service interns and I had nothing to do other than try to think of ways to decorate our hideaway in the back. We were missing our partner in crime - Brenda - who is the finance gooroo at Vox. I ended up watching an episode of The Office instead.

By late afternoon, Emilio - one of the Senior Account Executives - invited us to listen in on the pre-production meeting for the Vonage commercial their shooting on Friday. He warned us these meetings can last up to 2 hours long. Apparently in these meetings the entire team goes over every little detail that will be in the commercial. We double checked every single line the actors say, the actual casting, the clothes, the location, EVERYTHING. We sat in for a good 2 hours and then decided to leave around 6. It was a great experience to see what an AE actually does for a commercial. Emilio described to us in full detail the process of developing a commercial or any advertisement.

Hopefully I will continue to have experiences like these :) It's awesome just to observe what I hope to be doing someday!

NYC is FREEZING and raining - It has been in the 50's here!!!!! Definitely was NOT expecting this kind of weather. Hoping for some sunshine tomorrow :)


^view of the Empire State Building from the "small" conference room right by my desk... not too shabby!

First Day of Work :)

So I had my first official day of work today! I knew it was going to be good whenever I stepped off the elevators and instantly saw a "giant-sized" book of Andy Warhol sitting on the coffee table. They had modern-style rocker chairs and a low black leather sofa and a blown-up picture from a recent campaign in Italy for a fashion designer. I was so excited to see the rest.


The infamous Jackie Brown, who had interviewed me and who has been emailing me for the past 2 months, came out and greeted us waiting in the lobby. She took us back into one of the conference rooms and went over the basics. We then went on a tour of the agency. It's small, but so awesome inside!! It has beautiful hardwood floors with gorgeous sites of the city through every window. Through the window in our conference room, I had a clear shot of the Empire State Building. INCREDIBLE. It is a very open layout and has a kitchen in the far corner.

I'm with the Client Services team, which is the liaison between the agency and the client. We keep everyone happy :) My computer is in the back of the building where the CEO, CCO, and CFO sit. I absolutely love the atmosphere, and the people are just as great. The two men who are head of my department are Emilio and Gabriel. They are hilarious! I will not have a problem working with them. I was working on my computer and Gabriel walked up to go use the "lounge" room for a conference call. I said "Hola" to him, and he said "I hope that's not the only Spanish word you know." I gave him a gasp look, and he laughed and said they had another blonde who is fluent in Spanish in the agency, who they love to tease.

I didn't do a lot of actual work today. Gabriel emailed us PowerPoints about the agency and about Hispanic markets. We also started to do some research on Macy's. Emilio came back to our area towards the end of the day and said he would try to get us some more work tomorrow. He said we would hopefully be sitting in on a conference call tomorrow for Vonage - a cell phone company - and we would help write the creative brief for a new Facebook application. We will get to learn how Emilio and Gabriel write the creative briefs. We then will make a competitive deck for either Vonage or Fifth Third Bank (one of our other clients). This is where we analyze the competitors of our clients and analyze their markets.

Anyway - I love my agency, and I'm so excited to be working there :)

A few pics in NY!

First night in New York with Kate at Times Square


Flat Iron Building right by my work!


My new Theta friend, Rian, from TCU. We kited our new friend!

First Weekend in the Big Apple

So I know I've been failing at blogging - all 50 Facebook posts have reminded me of this. I will catch you up to speed on my new life in NY.

On my first day in the city, my new roommate Kate and I ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant close to Columbia. We both were exhausted from long days, so we headed down to Times Square for some wondering around time. After some much needed time in Sephora and a lipstick purchase, we headed to Junior's for some world famous cheesecake! We both got the delicious chocolate swirl cheesecake :) DELISH! After eating about half of it, we smuggled the other half into the theaters and went to see Killers. The movie was awesome!! We laughed and cried through the whole thing. Definitely didn't expect it to be that good.

Saturday was a very relaxing day - we slept in, then worked out. We had a wonderful late lunch at a restaurant down Broadway from Columbia. Then headed to Pinkberry's for some yogurt and explored a park nearby. After hanging out in the park and watching odd children play, we headed to a nearby market to pick up some groceries. After coming back to the apartment and taking a brief nap, we got dressed and headed to the Lower East Side to meet some friends. Kate has a friend, Megan, interning in NY that she knew at TCU. So we met up with Megan and her friend, Rian, also from TCU and checked out the nightlife. We had a very adventurous night and met a guy named Jared from New York. He told us to go meet his friends and so Rian and I got up to head that way. A girl asked us if we knew Jared and we said yes, so she showed us to three other guys - whom we assumed were Jared's friends. After 30 minutes or so, we finally asked our new friends how they knew Jared. With blank looks on their faces, they asked "Who's Jared?" They had no idea who that guy was, but we all laughed and continued to talk. It was a very eventful evening.


Our new friends that do NOT know Jared.

On Sunday, we slept in yet again and caught up on all the missed TV shows I didn't see while I was in Spain. I finally dragged myself out of bed and Kate, Molly (one of our roomies), and I met Rian and Megan at Union Square for some amazing pizza. After dinner, we all went to church at Apostles. The pastor is from Texas, so we felt a little at home. We then strolled home and got ready for bed.

Today, Monday, Molly and I mastered the subway for going to work. It will take me about 40 minutes to get from my apartment to the front door of Vox. There are 2 Starbucks and at least 2 bakeries between my subway stop and Vox - I think I will be fine :) The actual block where my building is has 3 antique stores!!!!! One of them had a beautiful pair of vintage Monolo Blahnik shoes shining in the window display :) The antique store that is in my building had a window display full of jewelry!! I will definitely love going to work! At the end of my street, if you look left up Broadway you can see the Empire State Building and if you look right down Broadway there is the Flat Iron Building. I am at 28 West 25th Street - which dead ends with Madison Square Park. I am in Heaven :) Molly and I went to explore the Madison Square Park area and found TONS of deli's everywhere! So for lunch, I can stroll half a block to MSP, pick up a sandwich, and go sit at one of the 30 tables and chairs set out in the park and either stare at the Flat Iron Building or the Empire State Building depending on which way I want to face. I AM A VERY HAPPY KID!

After all of our strolling around, we walked down to Union Square again for some much needed shoe shopping at DSW. We loved the entire area from where I work to walking down Broadway to Union Square. It is shopping paradise! Amongst these streets is the birthplace of Theodore Roosevelt, the 40/40 Night Club owned by Jay Z, and many other amazing things!

So I know I haven't posted since I arrived in NY - but I hoped this helped catch you up to speed! I'll try to be a better blogger!!

Off to the Big City!

This is a picture from Spring Break 2008, when I visited Columbia University for the first time. Tomorrow at 7:30 AM I will be leaving Texas to return to the Big Apple for the 4th time! I cannot wait to meet Kate's and my new suite-mates for the next 10 weeks! I will be starting work next Tuesday, June 8th :) Can't believe it's all finally happening!