Re-Cap: My 21st

Turning 21 is a magical thing. 

You can do all sorts of things you couldn't do before. 

And lucky me, I got to spend it in New York City. 

But, as my Fox photographer friend Mati told me, 

"Brenna. You're a Mormon. Turning 21 in New York City is completely wasted on you." 

True that Mati. 

But that doesn't mean I can't have fun! 

 Gorgeous Italian dinner Saturday night at Pisticci's! 

Don't worry - it's a virgin cocktail. 

Miriam, Rebecca, and I had a lovely conversation with the waitress about the best drinks to "virgin-ize."

She was a good sport, but I can just hear the conversation in the kitchen when she put in the order.

"Hey Luigi - I need two blueberry lemon vodkas with mint for table 5. Two girls are turning 21."

"Oh iz wonderful! I'll make it strong - just for 'zem!"

"Well that's the thing, they want it without the vodka."

"No vodka?! Zey're turning 21, no?"

"Yep. But they're not drinking." 

"Are zey already drunk?"

"Nope. I think they're Mormons."

We'll never know.

Cheers!

But all that rule-following was exhausting. 

So, to liven it up a little, we committed some federal crimes.*

*I am TOTALLY kidding. But it was fun to check out the Grant Tomb Memorial. After hours. 

What police barrier?

 

 And after a ramble in what was pretty much Neverland....

We ventured inside the Riverside Church....

also illegally. 

But we didn't know! 

There was a wedding going on downstairs. 

Oops. 

We left right away. 

But it was GORGEOUS. 

On our way to dessert at Kitchenett (ice cream & oatmeal cookie sandwich!), 

I snapped a photo of one of my birthday surprises.

 City rats are the best. 

The girls thought I was weird. 

But he's so cute!!

Maybe Luigi did put something extra in my cocktail....

Birthday morning~ 

I-house waffle, phone calls to family, and

JAPAN BLOCK FAIR!

Best street fair ever!

I used my (horribly poor) Japanese the entire time,

and made some new friends!

These two ladies and the one taking the photo helped me tie an obi. 

(I was a bit hopeless at it.)

They were such happy people!

Then church in Harlem...

with a little bit of fun in Relief Society...

Stick-on Glam-Bam nails.

(Glam-Bam is my branding. Can you believe those things?!)

Thanks Becca!

Then some more family phone calls - and dinner at Miriam's sister Leann's place!

Leann and her husband John were so kind and treated me to fettuccine on my 21st. 

 And some fun with balloons. 

 

 

The missionaries were there too. One that was just about to leave, and one fresh from the MTC. 

They had some great stories about being a missionary in NYC.

Like, when they walk anywhere near Times Square and people stop and ask what the special is on Book of Mormon Musical tickets. 

They think the elders are walking advertisements. 

They're like, no, we're real Mormon missionaries.
And the people either laugh awkwardly and walk away, 

or are honestly interested and start asking questions. 

So funny.

Dinner was lovely, as was the spiritual thought from the elders. 

Birthday dessert: ice cream cones!

And a belated candle. 

Thanks to everyone who helped make my day deliriously great!!

Including you, New York City!

Behind the camera at Fox News

Once or twice a week I head out of the air-conditioned halls of Fox News...

and hit the street on a story.

It's often rainy, cold, and long

but it's live TV. 

And it's real New York.

Recently I've been out at Yankee Stadium for the NYU Commenement 

(featuring Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor - 

the 3rd woman to hold that position and the first ever Hispanic. 

Was she going to talk politics? Mention health care, the 2012 election, women's rights?

Nah. 

But we had to be there just in case she did.) 

(Not my photo. See the media, down on the field? Yeah - I was down there. It was awesome.)

And I helped with a live shot for a story about the future of diesel cars (an electric car alternative?),

 

(Yes I know he's moving. It's a new app called Instagr.am. Cool huh?)

filmed Gregg Allman at the Sirius XM Studios, 

 

helped with a live shot downtown at the criminal justice building for the Etan Patz arraignment (spoke to defense lawyer as well. Terribly sad, but also a bit fishy. I don't think we'll be done with this story anytime soon.)

interviewed people at a NJ gas station about gas prices and the upcoming election (this one was just me and a photographer! Too fun!)

 helped with an interview with Congressman Pascrell on NJ (he was one half of a bitter incumbent vs incumbent election in NJ) and helped Eric Shawn set up a stand-up, 

 

and I also worked on a live shot at City Hall over Mayor Bloomberg's proposed ban on soda and sugar drinks over 16 oz in the city. 

(I got to shoot my own stand-up at this one. Thanks to Chris for jumping in as my still photographer!)

Fox has also sent me to field produce (all on my own!) at Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan.

We shot the parade of ships from all around the world sail up the Hudson River during Fleet Week (May 23-30). 

It's also the 100th anniversary of the war of 1812.

 

Tall Ships

 and

War Ships.

 

 That's the back of one of my favorite photographers, Mati. 

He's a real bona fide New Yorker.

You'd know it as soon as you met him.

and  last week I also shot the US Shuttle Enterprise as it was towed up the Hudson, on its way to the Intrepid. 

It was another gorgeous, slightly stormy day too. 

(more cool Enterprise pictures)

Both of those shoots were just me, a photographer, the LiveU,

(a satellite truck in a backpack - AMAZING)

and the responsibility of setting up a live shot that the Channel can cut to at any minute. 

Kinda intense.

especially when the LiveU is acting up,

or pedestrians get in my shot.

But it was a huge rush to finally be in charge of something. 

And if you've been on my Instagram (BrennaGD), you'll know that at the end of last week I also started making the rounds at the United Nations.

Kofi Annan, Ban Ki-moon?

Dream come true!

More on that soon!

There may not be palm trees in Palmyra...

...but WOW.



Palymra is beautiful.

The Harlem YSA ward went May 11-12, and lucky us...
we got to go with.



That's Miriam at the cozy Palmyra Inn.
The rooms had a queen bed and a mini kitchen.
Not to mention enough floor space to actually sit down.
I seriously considered re-locating.

The Palmyra Temple. 

Like something out of a church movie. 

Untouched. 

Spring flowers everywhere. 

Birds singing.

I half expected to find diamonds paved into the concrete. 

First Stop?

The Sacred Grove. 

Where God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith in 1820,

answering a prayer,

 and opening a new dispensation of time where the priesthood of Jesus Christ is on the earth

and where God reveals His will to prophets,

just like in the Old and New Testaments.

Miriam said it first, but I felt the same way. 

She said she kept thinking of the words Joseph Smith wrote after the First Vision. 

"For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it."

The tree in the above picture was standing in 1820.

They call it a "Witness Tree." 

One of six still standing in the grove.

Brother Robert Parrott helped me find it. 

He's the one Elder Jensen spoke about in his CES Fireside about the Sacred Grove last month. 

A really wonderful man. 

Needless to say, it's a beautiful place.

We also toured the EB Grandin Printing Press where the first copies of the Book of Mormon were printed. 

I got to fold my own printed page, too. 

That's where they would wash the ink blotters. 

Our tour guide said that wall has never been washed.

We couldn't have asked for a better trip. 

This is the statue on top of Hill Cumorah, where the gold plates the Book of Mormon was printed on were buried. 

And... this is Charlotte and I diving into a 5 pound calzone.

Delicious, and spiritually uplifting.

Can't stay in paradise too long.

Although it was a great vacation within a vacation.

Back home to the city!