Newsies

I missed the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this year, so I've been on YouTube catching up on the Broadway performances I missed.  Of course I love them all (even Spider-Man...go ahead and hate, haters) but ohmygosh, NEWSIES!  It was as good and better than I was expecting.  I seriously cannot wait for this to open.  I was sad that I didn't get to see it when it was at Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey, but now I don't have to be!  I'm a longtime fan of the movie musical and am so glad it's finally coming to Broadway.  What's better than fifty tap dancing teenage boys?  Nothing, that's what.  I'm going to need some children tap dancers in my life since Billy Elliot is closing, but I'll rant about that later...(Does that make me seem a little creepy?)...Anyway, I'm especially excited that they switched the reporter role from male to female.  The boys don't need all the good roles.

Of course, there's no singing Christian Bale in this production. 

I just felt the need to include this picture because, well...isn't it obvious?  Drool.

It's set to open on Broadway on March 15th at the Nederlander Theatre.  Right now it's only supposed to run through June 10th, but let's hope it's super popular and becomes an open ended run.

If you missed the parade, you should definitely check out the video.  And if you saw the parade, you'll probably want to check out the video again :)  So here it is!

The Temper Trap

Advertising definitely works on me...as soon as I see a commercial I like I feel the need to run out and make a purchase...probably not the best thing :/

Anyway, about a year ago I started seeing this amazing Diet Coke commercial.  The commercial is beautiful, and a bit inspiring to me.  I've always liked Diet Coke, so that's not really the part of the commercial that got to me.  I was obsessed with the song!  I shazam-ed it on my iPhone and discovered it was "Sweet Disposition" by The Temper Trap.  They are a relatively new Australian band, formed in 2005.  I ended up purchasing their debut album, Conditions, on iTunes and love it so much.  Every song is awesome, but I especially like "Sweet Disposition," "Love Lost," and "Down River."  "Sweet Disposition" is also featured in the film 500 Days of Summer.  And "Love Lost" plays at the end of No Strings Attached (a film I definitely don't recommend).  It's the kind of album that's great to listen to on your iPod as you're walking down the sidewalk...makes you feel kind of epic...even if you kind of aren't :)

Here's the commercial that started my obsession.  Enjoy!

Manicure Monday: Essie Fall 2011

Today I have two polishes from Essie's Fall 2011 collection, and one random Essie color.  The first two are from Essie's fall handbag inspired collection.  The third is just a pretty polish from Essie's retail collection that came out earlier this year (Spring, I think).  I love all three of these polishes so much!  Essie's formula is perfect and these are all easy to apply.  Even though they're easy to apply, I still managed to do a sloppy job.  These are not the greatest pictures, so sorry about that.

This is Carry On.  It's a very basic dark purple creme, but still super pretty.  I took this picture after I had already been wearing it for a few days, so it looks pretty scuffed up.

Very Structured is a creme that lives somewhere between burnt orange and brown.  In real life it isn't as orangey as it seems in the picture...I like this one a lot.

Master Plan is a beige/gray that looks almost lavender in some lights.  I love it and have been wearing it all fall.  One of my favorite polishes ever!



Fall Wreath

My darling friend Alicia got me hooked on Pinterest a few months back.  I saw this great idea for fall wreaths on the site, and decided to try and make my own. 

My favorite was this one, by blogger Craftberry Bush:

Here is the link to her post about this wreath: http://craftberrybush.blogspot.com/2011/09/moment-of-clarity.html



I decided I had to try and recreate this for my front door...but then my wreath hanger didn't fit on my front door...so it's on my dining room door instead.

She made hers from coffee filters dyed in coffee, but I just dyed mine in watered down brown paint.  It was pretty easy and super fun to make.  Mine didn't turn out nearly as cute as hers, but I still like it :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Sorry I didn't get to blog yesterday.  I spent most of the day getting ready to travel to Connecticut.  I left out of Grand Central station at 5pm and let me tell you, that place was a mad house!  And it's going to be a short one today, just wanted to say a little something about my Thanksgiving...

I am very blessed, because for the third year in a row Amber's family took me in for Thanksgiving.  We just finished eating, and I am stuffed.  Amber's mom went all out and I am in a delicious tryptophan coma.  

This year I have so much to be thankful for.  My family and friends are all happy and healthy, which is definitely the most important thing.  I am loving my life in the city, and feel like things are really starting to fall into place.  I am going to be in Texas in about 3 weeks, and that always makes me thankful :)  I have a job, a home, and plenty of food to eat.  Today I'm trying to think about all the people who aren't so fortunate.  Sometimes I don't realize how good I have it.

I hope you've all had a blessed year and a very happy Thanksgiving!

Tony Awards - In the Heights

Okay, I stayed up waaaay too late last night watching Tony Awards performances on YouTube.  I couldn't help it, it's impossible to just watch one. 

Anyway, I re-fell in love with "In the Heights."  It's the 2008 Best New Musical winner about my neighborhood, so obviously I love it for that reason...but mostly I just love it because it's awesome.  It opened in 2008 while I was still at Baylor, and I obsessively listened to the cast recording until I actually moved to the Heights in 2009.  When I finally saw it on Broadway, it didn't disappoint, and I think I saw it four times before it closed this past January.

It's a great story about acceptance and respect for others, and learning to love yourself and your life right where you are.  And the dancing and music are amazing.  Even though you can't see it on Broadway anymore, you can get a sense of how terrific it is through their Tony Award performance.  And don't worry, sometimes I wander around my neighborhood dancing and singing these songs, just to keep the spirit alive.  Just kidding...kind of :)

PS-The non-equity tour of "In the Heights" just started in October and I'm sure they are incredible.  They'll be performing in Tyler at the UTT Cowan Center on December 3rd.  All my east Texas people should go see it!!

http://www.intheheightsontour.com/

Manicure Monday: OPI Touring America

My nail polish obsession really took off with OPI's Spring 2011 collection, because the theme was "Texas."  So I was really excited to see the Fall 2011 line, "Touring America."  Unfortunately, it turned out to be my least favorite of all the fall collections.  I only ended up buying three of the shades because they all seemed kind of boring to me...They're still great colors and apply really well, but I guess I just like bright, summery colors more than the muddled, earthy fall colors.

Anyway, here are the three I ended up with! 

A-Taupe the Space Needle

-an earthy-looking brown creme

Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window

-an army green creme (with a disgusting but funny name)

Road House Blues

-a dark (almost black in some lights) navy blue creme.

Definitely my favorite of the collection.

Time Warner Center at Christmas

It really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas!  I was in the Time Warner Center last night and saw that they've already put up their enormous Christmas stars.  In my opinion, this is one of the most beautiful Christmas displays in the city, and there are a lot to choose from.  These stars hang in the middle of the shopping center and are synchronized to change colors with the Christmas music.  Definitely worth a stop if you are in the area during the holiday season!

ABC's of NYC

I wish I could take credit for this cute photo idea, but I can’t.  I saw a similar project in an issue of DIY magazine and decided to give it my own spin with the ABC’s of NYC.  I can’t seem to find the issue that has this particular craft, but if I find it I’ll update this post with that info…

I got a cheap black frame from Michael’s and cut a piece of white poster board to fit inside.  Then I took ABC stencils and spaced and cut them out evenly in the frame.  I thought of an iconic New York symbol to go with each letter and then found a black and white picture of each to go behind their respective letter.  There were a few letters that didn’t have a good picture, so I filled those in with red scrapbook paper.  I think it turned out pretty cute!

A-     is for apple (couldn’t find a normal looking picture!)

B-      is for bridge (in Central Park)

C-      is for Chinatown

D-     is for dance

E-      is for Empire State building

F-      is for ?

G-     is for Grand Central Station

H-     is for Hudson River

I-        is for I Heart NY

J-       is for jazz (that’s a picture of the Apollo Theatre in Harlem)

K-      is for ?

L-       is for Lady Liberty

M-   is for musicals (of course!)

N-     is for nighttime skyline

O-     is for Opera

P-      is for ?

Q-     is for Queensboro Bridge

R-      is for Radio City Music Hall

S-      is for subways

T-      is for Times Square

U-     is for Upper West Side (my favorite neighborhood)

V-     is for view

W-   is for Washington Heights (my neighborhood—that’s the George Washington Bridge)

X-      is for ?

Y-      is for yellow taxi cabs

Z-      is for Zabars

Meet Scooter!

WARNING:  This is a crazy cat lady-ish post.  Below are many pictures of my cat.  There's still time to turn back.  :)

In early July I was at the East Harlem Target (I’m pretty much obsessed and there every weekend…it’s so much nicer than the Bronx Target!) and decided to also go into PetSmart to look at the adoptable cats.  I immediately saw, and fell in love with Scooter.  He was the only orange cat, and I am a total sucker for orange kitties.  I really wanted to adopt him, but knew I had to wait because one of my roommates was allergic to cats.  So I snapped a picture for remembrance but basically tried to put him out of my mind.

Scooter in his PetSmart cage

In late August, my allergic roomie decided to move out.  I was sad (and still am) because we loved living with her, but since she left, I decided to go ahead and adopt a cat.  On a whim I checked the website of the adoption agency that Scooter was a part of, Anjellicle Cats Rescue.  I couldn’t believe it, but he was still available for adoption, and living in a foster home (all PetSmart animals were relocated during Hurricane Irene).  I put in my application, went to visit him, and a week later had him in my apartment!

His story is kind of sad and kind of amazing.  His owners of three years took him to Animal Care and Control (the NYC kill shelter) because they couldn’t afford to take care of him anymore.  He was put on the shelter’s kill list, and was supposed to be put to sleep on June 29^th.  For some reason, they skipped him, and he was rescheduled to be put down on June 30^th—and that’s the day Anjellicle Cats Rescue saved him!  Anjellicle Cats is an amazing organization.  They save cats from the euth list and are “no kill” which means all cats rescued by them stay with the organization until being adopted.  If you are in NYC and want to adopt a cat, I highly recommend going through them.  They are wonderful! 

It took Scooter a while to really trust me once he arrived, but he is doing so great.  He is so funny and has quite a strong personality.  If he thinks I’ve missed breakfast or dinner time, he lets the whole neighborhood know about it—he has a very powerful meow.  He is always sitting at the front door when I come home from work, and even though he hates being held, he’s usually so excited to see me that he’ll tolerate it for a few minutes :)  He is enormous—14 pounds, but not fat at all…it’s sort of like living with a little lion.

Caught him red handed

He watches Glee every Tuesday

If I'm trying to work on something, you can bet he'll be right in the middle of it

I just love him!  Thanks, Anjellicle Cats Rescue!



Christmas Decorations

Okay, okay, I know it isn’t even Thanksgiving yet…but I am in the Christmas spirit!  I can’t help it!

Christmas is definitely my favorite time of year.  1. I’m a Christian, so it obviously has spiritual significance to me.  2. There is no better time of year for knitting and crafting than Christmastime.  3. Christmas always means I get to go home and spend time with family and friends in Texas.  As much as I love New York, I think Texas will always feel like home.

This year I decided to make at least a small effort to decorate my apartment.  And since I’m going to Texas in less than five weeks (yay!), I wanted to go ahead and decorate super early so I could enjoy it as long as possible.

Amber and I went to Target last weekend and went a little Christmas crazy.  We got a tree, lights, ornaments, and garland.  Then we decorated while we watched Home Alone...gosh, I love that movie..."Look what you did, you little jerk."  Never gets old :)

This was the cheapest tree, only $20!  Of course, you get what you pay for...it's pretty scraggly.  The box said 6ft, but it's only just over 5ft.  We put it on an end table to make it a little bit taller.

Living room window garland

I even did a little decorating in my room!  This dainty jingle bell garland is also from Target.
I like it so much I might just leave it up year round.

Merry (very early) Christmas!

Voice Lessons

Voice lessons in NYC can run anywhere from $70-$250 an hour.  On my babysitting budget, that’s just not something I can do, but voice lessons are just something I need to do for my career.

I had been shopping around for a voice teacher for a long time, and kept ending up on the New York Vocal Coaching website.  Everything they talk about on the site was exciting to me, and I knew I wanted to study there.  There is a tiny part on the website that talks about scholarship opportunities for students with an extreme need and an extreme passion for singing.  After wrestling with it for a few days, I decided to go ahead and apply.  I wasn’t really expecting anything to come of it, so I was thrilled when I found out that I had been awarded a scholarship!

Yesterday was my first voice lesson, and it exceeded all my expectations.  My teacher is supportive, encouraging, and incredibly knowledgeable.  Our lesson was an hour long, and I feel like he presented me with enough challenges to keep me busy for ages!  I am so excited to see how I grow as a performer over the coming months.

Manicure Monday

I have recently turned into a bit of a nail polish fanatic.  Earlier this year I decided to start eating healthier, which meant cutting back on my candy intake.  I have a major sweet tooth and candy was my biggest weakness.  So I decided anytime I had the urge to buy candy at the store, I would use the money to buy a bottle of nail polish instead.  I like to think of it as non-fattening candy for my nails :)  Well, I guess I used to buy a lot of candy, because I have a huge (and growing) nail polish collection.

So I think I’ll use Mondays to show off my nails!

Since it is autumn for another month, I'll show you guys some of the Fall 2011 polish I've acquired...

Here are three polishes from Zoya’s Smoke and Mirrors collection:

  Zara is an olive green with tiny gold fleck glitter.  It's so pretty, and I think it is my favorite polish of the fall.

Neeka is a grayish-blueish-purple with the same gold glitter as Zara.

And last, but not least, Jem is a gorgeous, dark, jewel-toned purple.

Central Park

On Tuesday, I babysat all day long.  The boy I babysit (I’ll just call him “B” for the sake of privacy) and I went bird watching in Central Park.  His class is doing a unit on birds and he is obsessed with bird watching.  He is seven years old and extremely intelligent.  Animals are his area of expertise (along with chess, guitar playing, and The Beatles) and he is filled with bird trivia.  He always tells me animal facts that I doubt are true…and then I google them and find out that he is always right.  The other day he informed me that Peregrine Falcons are the fastest animal on the planet, reaching speeds above 200 mph when dive bombing their prey.  I mean, that sounds totally made up, right?  I argued with him, saying everyone knows that cheetahs are the fastest animals.  Long story short, he’s correct again.  I googled it, and in 2005, a man named Ken Franklin recorded a Peregrine Falcon diving at a top speed of 242 mph.

Anyway, we decided to head to Central Park to try and see some birds.  He wanted to go to the Ramble, a part of Central Park famous for bird watching, but it was closed.  So we settled on visiting Belvedere Castle, the Alice in Wonderland statue (we just watched the movie), and the sailboat pond.

Belvedere Castle
(image taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belvedere_Castle)

Belvedere Castle is cool and everything, but the statue and the boat pond were the highlight of my Tuesday. 

Alice in Wonderland statue
(image taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/ruthanddave/42257595/)

The Alice in Wonderland statue is located at East 74^th street, just inside the park, and it’s so cool!  It’s a must see if you have kids in the city.  It  includes many of the characters from the book; Alice, of course, along with Dinah, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, the dormouse, the Cheshire cat, and the caterpillar.  It’s huge and more like a playground than a statue.  Kids are allowed to climb all over it, and B had a lot of fun doing just that.

Sailboat Pond
Just to tie it back to bird watching, see the smaller building with three windows in between the two taller buildings?  There is a tiny dark spot on the arch of the top, middle window.  It's a Peregrine Falcon nest!

The sailboat pond is right beside the statue and it’s awesome too!  People of all ages come here to sail their toy boats through the pond.  We were sitting on the edge of the water, watching the sailboats, ducks, and falling leaves, when it happened.  I had one of those amazing New York moments, where I look around and realize how completely happy I am to live in such an interesting and beautiful place.

I Love Ray Bolger

Last night I watched The Harvey Girls for the first time.  I have always loved the music, but never seen the whole film.  It’s a 1946 movie musical about the Harvey House Restaurants that opened along the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe railroad line in the late 1800’s.  I won’t go on and on about the whole history of the Harvey restaurants, but it’s pretty interesting.  Basically, Fred Harvey began opening these restaurants in rugged, “wild West” towns so railway passengers heading west would have “civilized” places to eat.  And each restaurant was staffed by “Harvey girls.”  They had to be young, attractive women who committed to waitressing at these middle-of-nowhere restaurants for at least a year.

The film was cute, although the plot was a little slow.  But that doesn’t matter, because Judy Garland is the star!  I have always loved Judy Garland, and she is just as fabulous as ever in this movie.

But on to the best thing ever!  My favorite part of the movie, hands down, is Ray Bolger’s tap solo.  He is the absolute epitome of the saying “light on your feet.”  I was in love with him when I was little because he played the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz.  And watching The Harvey Girls made me love him all over again.  Actually, this dance reminds me of him as the Scarecrow.  It has the same type of characterizations.  Take a look!

My favorite part is 1:26 :)  Love him!!!

The (dreaded) Gym

I have today off so I had a nice, lazy morning.  And then I went to the gym.  Oh, the gym.  What can I say about the gym?  We have a love/hate relationship, that’s for sure.  I love it because it’s really cheap and has a lot of treadmills.  I hate it…because, well, it’s the gym.  After I’m finished working out I’m always so glad I went, but man, getting there is like pulling teeth.

Surprisingly, I’ve been going to the gym a lot this year.  One of my New Year’s resolutions was to run a 5K in under 30 minutes.  That probably sounds lame to my amazing (no sarcasm) runner friends, but it is so tough for me!  I’m getting closer to the pace I need to maintain, but I can’t hold it for the entire run.  I like to blame my slow running pace on my short legs (although I know it has more to do with my desire to sleep in instead of going to the gym).

Even though 2011 is almost over, I’m determined to accomplish this resolution!  I don’t even care if I have to reach this goal on a gym treadmill instead of in an actual race, I am going to do it!

So anyway, that’s that.  I felt like I just had to put it in writing in order to make sure I follow through. :/  Wish me luck!

Knitting

My Granny and Nana are knitters, and when I was little I used to ask them to teach me.  They tried, but I always got frustrated and gave up before I got the hang of it.  When I was at Baylor, I was supposed to learn how to knit for one of my costume classes.  It was still extremely frustrating, but I forced myself to keep practicing until I got better.  And now I actually love knitting!  I still knit, mostly to keep my hands busy while I’m watching TV or movies.

I would love to open up an Etsy shop and sell the stuff I make…but I always ending up giving whatever I knit as presents.  I really need to start building up some stock…

Anyway, a few weeks ago I was at Target and I saw these adorable red and gray striped scarves and wrist warmers.  I decided to try and make my own, but couldn’t find any red and gray yarn that I liked.  So, of course, I settled on teal and gray.  And here they are for you to see!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Please excuse the short post, I just got home from working for 11 hours and am pretty tired…

All I have to say today is that Michael Buble’s new Christmas album is AMAZING.  I had heard a lot of good things about it, but it really blew me away.  It sounds old fashioned and new at the same time.  He has that rat pack, crooner kind of voice so the songs sound classic.  And he finds quirky ways to update them so they sound fresh and new.

My favorite track is his take on the Bing Crosby/Andrews Sisters version of Jingle Bells.  It is just as fun as the original with a few surprises of its own.

If you only buy one Christmas album this year, it should be this one.  So go buy it.  Now!  :)

My Room

I love to be crafty and decorate things.  When I first moved into my apartment, it looked so depressing.  I love color and everything was white and empty.  I had a million decorating ideas for my bedroom but no extra money to make it happen.  So I started decorating a little bit a time, when I could afford it.  And two years later…I finally finished! Haha…

Here are some before shots.

Shudder.

A large, walk-in closet is just one of the luxuries of living in New York City...

Seriously, I can barely fit my winter coats in here.

And after!  Much cheerier, I think...

My favorite color is teal, can you tell?

I found the window pane mirror two years ago on the side of the road near Amber's house in Connecticut. Her mom was so nice and hauled it all the way to the city when they were here for a visit! One coat of white paint and it was good as new!

I kept this wall white so it doesn't feel like teal is taking over my life.

 It’s very bright, so you might hate it if you’re a person who doesn’t like so many patterns and colors.  I think I need the color, though.  It keeps my room from feeling monotonous.  I wanted a space that felt happy, fun, and comfortable, and I’m pretty pleased with the way it came out.

Welcome to my blog!

After much encouragement and harassment from family members and friends, I have decided to begin blogging.  I really need an outlet for some of my creative energy and I’d like to be better about keeping family members “in the loop” of my life.

In 2009 I moved from an incredibly tiny town in Texas to the largest town in the United States, New York City.  I came here in pursuit of my biggest dream, to become a well rounded and well respected actress on Broadway. Well that hasn’t happened (YET! I’m working on it!), but other interesting and exciting things have taken shape in my life since I arrived here.

I have the most incredible job, babysitting the BEST seven year old boy in the city.  My life is blessed every day because of my job and the people I work for.  It also affords me a lot of free time for my passions: crafting, singing, dancing, and auditioning (not exactly a passion, as it’s probably the most terrifying thing in life, but I try to make myself audition as much as I can).

I live in your typical Manhattan walk up building with one of my all time best friends, Amber.  We have been friends since kindergarten and are now 24 (how did that happen?!).  In third grade we started making plans to move to NYC together, and I’m so, so happy that we actually did it!  Oh yeah, and I also enjoy hanging out with the newest addition to my apartment, my cat Scooter.  He is quite a character…he thinks he owns me and the apartment…but I love having him around! 

Meeting Amber at Grand Central on our first day in the city

So anyway, here’s my blog!  I’m sure my posts will be a little random, but I’ll try to write often and keep it somewhat interesting :)

Thanks for stopping by!