So... I thought I would take my blog in a new direction tonight. I titled it dance, love, and NYC with the intention of writing about all three, since all three are incredibly prominent in my life. I know what you are thinking, NO I did not try to steal the Joe's Crab Shack catch phrase for the sake of a witty blog title. (Although that is something I would do.) Honestly I don't blame you for thinking this, I have done my fair share of blogging about the city and dancing in the city, but have yet to blog about love.
Its a Saturday night on Halloween Weekend, and I decided to stay in and watch a documentary. Lame, I know, but I love documentaries. I also think that Halloween is one of those holidays that doesn't need to be stretched into an entire weekend. One day is plenty. Anyways, I decided on a Nat Geo Documentary titled "The Lost Girls of China".
The documentary was about the effort in China to control the population and the law prohibiting families to have more than one child. This law, in combination with their cultural standard of male supremacy is leading to thousands of little girls being abandoned or even killed. My heart broke for the wives threatened to be divorced if they do not have a boy, and even more for the mother's who were forced to abandon their baby girls because of a cultural standard. I started crying about five minutes into the film and kept crying the remainder of the show. My tears shifted from heartbroken tears to tears of joy when they interviewed a woman who courageously paid thousands in fines and faced discrimination in her neighborhood in order to keep her baby girl as a second child. Then they followed American couples to China, as they went to adopt these baby girls after years of waiting and anticipation. The look in the parent's eyes as they first see their child is incredible. The grown men were crying and the women were trembling. I felt as though I got a glimpse into a sacred moment. A joy that great shouldn't be shared with just anyone. It is too special. I felt honored.
I couldn't help but think that my emotional out pour is God preparing my heart to adopt a little girl from China one day. I sent my fiance a text message during the movie that said, "I want to adopt a little girl from China." He responded, "OK. Two?" (Yes, ladies, I have a keeper.) Sure, it may sound as though I just got caught up in my emotions, but I know I wasn't. God has big things planned for Miguel and myself. I can't wait.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
I couldn't make this up.
My life never fails to amaze me. You can never tell what is going to happen when you wake up. This Friday was filled with particularly crazy events. Here is a play by play. Once again, I couldn't make this stuff up.
- On our commute to class, we walk out of W 4th Street stop. A man starts asking us if we would like to donate to someone.. it was to early to comprehend. Then he asked for a group hug. I'm not sure if we were still sleep walking, or if he was incredibly persuasive, but our Friday began in a 7 person group hug on 6th Ave. Then he asked my friend Alyssa out on a date.
- Our ballet teacher decided it would be beneficial for us to skip with a partner, hand in hand, for our grand allegro. Screw technique we all needed a good laugh on a Friday
- We left early from school to go to a Modern dance company audition. On our way our we talked two more girls to come with us. The 7 of us headed out. We arrive at the audition to fill out paperwork. The first question on the list "have you ever belly danced before?" At the same time the choreographer pulls out heels and a belly dancing skirt from her bag. WHAT?? WE ARE AT THE WRONG AUDITION. The 7 of us panic silently. Stay or go? Stay or go? The only experience I have belly dancing is from the Fit TV shows, that I did once, as a joke. We all collectively decided to stick it out, have fun with it. I mean we skipped school for it, why not?
- Myself and 4 others were hired that Friday as professional belly dancers.
- On the way back to school, I managed to walk directly into a support beam on the subway platform. Face First.
- I went home to watch the Rangers beat the Yankees. The Rangers, who have sucked since I was alive, are now going to the World Series.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
P.Diddy must have needed an adjustment
Hi friends,Wednesday is over! Wednesday is by far our hardest day of the week, and we made it through! Smooth sailing from here on out for the week! Classes this week have been good, except for the fact that my body is rebelling against me.
For some reason, this week feels like the first week of classes. Sore, all the time! On top of that issue, I am in desperate need of some chiropractic help. Yeah, that is one of the fun parts to doing this whole "dancer" thing. You get to join the senior citizens at the chiropractor's office. I just happen to be super picky when it comes to chiropractors, so yesterday I went on an online hunt for a legit guy. I ran across someone's website with a quote from P. Diddy, "I would have never been able to run the NYC Marathon without your help". Hmmmm, if he is good enough for P.Diddy, he is good enough for me.
I called yesterday to see if my insurance is covered. She said she would call me back today. Its almost 6 o'clock, and my phone has yet to ring. Did I mention I can't rotate my back to the right? and my left big toe has been numb for weeks? ok, yeah.. no big deal... maybe they got busy... P.Diddy must have needed an adjustment.
Ashley
Sunday, October 17, 2010
budget cuts and french fries
Ahhh, Happy Sunday everyone!
This has been quite the week of ups and downs.
Last Saturday we began rehearsals for a new piece that will eventually be added to the rep of the new company. The movement is incredible, and our director, Dorrell, is a joy and a half to work with. He is so invested in the piece (in the entire program really), which makes all the dancers willing to invest themselves at the same level. We became open to repeat things over an over again, or throw our bodies against the floor repeatedly til everything is just right. Its a combination that will create something beautiful, and I can't wait to continue.
Wednesday, Dorrell informed us that there is a financial issue in the upper levels of the school. It will result in a cut of our weekly classes. We are a brand new program that has existed for an entire 5 weeks. We all were a little put off that past budgeting issues would impact our new program. Our director was put off, we were put off, so we decided our plan of action would be to email the man responsible our concerns. Now, I promise this will not be a blog of moaning and complaints so I will get to the point. Our emails failed miserably, and it became very clear that the only people really invested in us, was Dorrell. Our classes this Saturday were immediately cut and we had a meeting to decided which classes were less beneficial.
At the end of the week, I guess you could say that our first big battle as a program failed. On the flip side, I am actually grateful we experienced this drama. At the end of the day we all came together to fight for something we all believed in. It brought us all together as a group, maybe it feels more like a family now.
Friday night, I met up with an old friend for a drink in the Theater District. She has been living and dancing in the city for about a year now, and its been just about that long since I have seen her. It was so wonderful to see her and catch up. On my way home that night I realized how blessed I was to have a friend who was a few years ahead of me in the city.
Saturday night, I met up with a girlfriend of mine from Kansas City. She was working a dance camp at Columbia University, to my benefit. Some of the girls told her about a french fry place in west village, so we decided that sounds like a wonderful place for dinner. It is on 2nd Ave, right off of St. Marks. Its a hole in the wall, and all they serve are fries... and 30 different dipping sauces. Go big or go home right? We got the large sized fries and 3 different dipping sauces (and ketchup just in case they all sucked).
They didn't suck, it was greatness. After eating an entire meal of french fries, we decided to finish our night up with Pinkberry and Magnolia Bakery. It was like a carbohydrate tour of Manhattan, and it was fabulous.
I love New York City. the end.
This has been quite the week of ups and downs.
Last Saturday we began rehearsals for a new piece that will eventually be added to the rep of the new company. The movement is incredible, and our director, Dorrell, is a joy and a half to work with. He is so invested in the piece (in the entire program really), which makes all the dancers willing to invest themselves at the same level. We became open to repeat things over an over again, or throw our bodies against the floor repeatedly til everything is just right. Its a combination that will create something beautiful, and I can't wait to continue.
Wednesday, Dorrell informed us that there is a financial issue in the upper levels of the school. It will result in a cut of our weekly classes. We are a brand new program that has existed for an entire 5 weeks. We all were a little put off that past budgeting issues would impact our new program. Our director was put off, we were put off, so we decided our plan of action would be to email the man responsible our concerns. Now, I promise this will not be a blog of moaning and complaints so I will get to the point. Our emails failed miserably, and it became very clear that the only people really invested in us, was Dorrell. Our classes this Saturday were immediately cut and we had a meeting to decided which classes were less beneficial.
At the end of the week, I guess you could say that our first big battle as a program failed. On the flip side, I am actually grateful we experienced this drama. At the end of the day we all came together to fight for something we all believed in. It brought us all together as a group, maybe it feels more like a family now.
Friday night, I met up with an old friend for a drink in the Theater District. She has been living and dancing in the city for about a year now, and its been just about that long since I have seen her. It was so wonderful to see her and catch up. On my way home that night I realized how blessed I was to have a friend who was a few years ahead of me in the city.
Saturday night, I met up with a girlfriend of mine from Kansas City. She was working a dance camp at Columbia University, to my benefit. Some of the girls told her about a french fry place in west village, so we decided that sounds like a wonderful place for dinner. It is on 2nd Ave, right off of St. Marks. Its a hole in the wall, and all they serve are fries... and 30 different dipping sauces. Go big or go home right? We got the large sized fries and 3 different dipping sauces (and ketchup just in case they all sucked).
I love New York City. the end.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Carnival Fail
I am blogging overtime this weekend because I need to get caught up on my life AND I conveniently have tomorrow off of school for Columbus Day. Which completely boggles my mind. I have never in my life been off on this day, and I don't really see the need to make a holiday to celebrate "Christopher Mass-Murderer Columbus" anyways.. I digress
This week started off pretty rough due to my post-wedding depression, kind of like the first day of school after break. You just want time to move backwards, but onwards I went. Thursday, me and the girls decided to go audition for Carnival Cruise Line. They were holding a free audition, so we were all over it. Now after going on a Carnival Cruise this summer, I have seen their shows AND their dancers. My sister and I spent hours making fun of a dance number including a very white man rapping robed in tradition Indian costuming, covered in rhinestones. Sooo, I knew going into the audition that this would not be a job for me, but I am infamously bad at auditioning. Nerves get the best of me. Unfortunately, auditions are how you get a job (so you can see the urgency for me to get better at this process).
Thursday morning, I actually put make up on, braided my hair, threw on a bright teal leotard and off I went. The four of us walk into the the holding studio into a cloud of smoke.. no not smoke.. hairspray. I had never been to a real commercial, showy audition before, only subdued serious, hair in a bun auditions. I immediately regretted not on putting on my dance team big shiny earrings and had an overwhelming desire to tease my hair.
The choreography began. The lyrics to the chorus of the song were "Gimme that Soul! (Soul) With a Capital S! (With a Capital S)".. Yep, it was bad. Then the choreographer showed us a combo containing an ungodly amount of jazz hands and pelvic thrusts. Just by looking around I knew I was technically much more trained than the other girls, but they all had really good jazz hands and pelvic thrusts too. Sadly the only chance to stand out and show off my technique were a few double turns. Now for you non-dance people, most high school dance teams require you to have mastered double turns, so I was pretty disappointed I couldn't show off more.
Then the auditions came around. The adrenaline came on strong. I'm nervous. I don't know why, I am one of the best trained dancers in the room. Why on earth would I get nervous? I didn't even plan on taking the job!? Then he calls my group out. I don't even remember what happened, but within 30 seconds our group was finished and he only asked one girl to stay. Just like that, I was cut from the Carnival Cruise audition. fail.
Sure it was disappointing, but I wasn't really invested to begin with. It was a great learning experience, moral of the story: Sure you can have great technique and training, but sometimes your have to depend on your jazz hands and cheesy grin to get you the job.
This week started off pretty rough due to my post-wedding depression, kind of like the first day of school after break. You just want time to move backwards, but onwards I went. Thursday, me and the girls decided to go audition for Carnival Cruise Line. They were holding a free audition, so we were all over it. Now after going on a Carnival Cruise this summer, I have seen their shows AND their dancers. My sister and I spent hours making fun of a dance number including a very white man rapping robed in tradition Indian costuming, covered in rhinestones. Sooo, I knew going into the audition that this would not be a job for me, but I am infamously bad at auditioning. Nerves get the best of me. Unfortunately, auditions are how you get a job (so you can see the urgency for me to get better at this process).
Thursday morning, I actually put make up on, braided my hair, threw on a bright teal leotard and off I went. The four of us walk into the the holding studio into a cloud of smoke.. no not smoke.. hairspray. I had never been to a real commercial, showy audition before, only subdued serious, hair in a bun auditions. I immediately regretted not on putting on my dance team big shiny earrings and had an overwhelming desire to tease my hair.
The choreography began. The lyrics to the chorus of the song were "Gimme that Soul! (Soul) With a Capital S! (With a Capital S)".. Yep, it was bad. Then the choreographer showed us a combo containing an ungodly amount of jazz hands and pelvic thrusts. Just by looking around I knew I was technically much more trained than the other girls, but they all had really good jazz hands and pelvic thrusts too. Sadly the only chance to stand out and show off my technique were a few double turns. Now for you non-dance people, most high school dance teams require you to have mastered double turns, so I was pretty disappointed I couldn't show off more.
Then the auditions came around. The adrenaline came on strong. I'm nervous. I don't know why, I am one of the best trained dancers in the room. Why on earth would I get nervous? I didn't even plan on taking the job!? Then he calls my group out. I don't even remember what happened, but within 30 seconds our group was finished and he only asked one girl to stay. Just like that, I was cut from the Carnival Cruise audition. fail.
Sure it was disappointing, but I wasn't really invested to begin with. It was a great learning experience, moral of the story: Sure you can have great technique and training, but sometimes your have to depend on your jazz hands and cheesy grin to get you the job.
An Epic Girl's Night Out
Part 3:
So while we were at the reception for the Today Show wedding, we became good friends with the bartenders and owner of Hudson Terrace. According to them, the Terrace transforms into a totally different place on a Friday night than what we saw with the Today Show set up. It just happened that my friend Amie and Anna's last night in the city was Friday, convenient Huh? Well, long story short... we ended up with a dinner reservation for the three of us at the owner's tapas bar in the Flatiron District. We had our evening planned out for us, compliments of the owner of Hudson Terrace, Michael, starting at the tapas bar and ending at Hudson Terrace.
As we got ready, we came to the conclusion that tonight could be turn into one of two things: 1. a tragic disaster, and we would likely be the next Dateline story: Dumb Midwestern girls trust a stranger with their evening plans in NYC or.... 2. the best night of our lives
After we got all dolled up, I packed my police strength mace in my clutch and we were off to our dinner reservations... hopefully. Sure enough we walk into the front door of the tapas bar, greeted by name and ushered to our table. (sweet!) Then the manager brings by glasses of wine, on the house. (super sweet!) We ordered our wonderful meal and began to enjoy ourselves. After being waited on hand and foot, we politely asked for our bill to be informed that "we don't need to worry about it, its been taken care of" (SERIOUSLY??) Then we were handed drink tickets ( which I gathered were kind of like food stamps for alcoholic beverages) for the bar next door (also owned by our new generous friend.) Let the party continue
Before we headed next door, in walks the owner. We all head next door together. We walked in, and to my right is a sign on a table saying "Reserved for Amie" .. yeah, we are "Amie" .. that's us. Anna and I secretly just wanted to sit at our super cool reserved table, but we were too cool for even that. We were all hanging out in the back part of the bar.
A little while later, I was then tapped on the shoulder. I turn around and there are 2 Australian men staring at me. One man finally speaks, in his accent, "Don't you know who my friend is? Don't you recognize him?" ummm... "No, Should I?" Apparently my response was offensive to both, but neither would reveal there apparent celebrity status names to me. Maybe I met an Australian celeb that night, but odds are, most likely not.
Before we could head to Hudson Terrace, we had to make two more stops to two more bars that he owned and wanted to show us. (Great....more water please??) Both places were pretty cool, and we were treated like celebrities everywhere we went. Amie even had a security guard walk her to the bathroom. That just doesn't happen everyday.
Finally we made it to Hudson Terrace. The quiet street we were on the day before was now lined with people waiting to get in. We (of course) walked right up were let in.... Ok, so maybe Michael walked us up and let us in.. minor detail. We all got in the elevator to see the cute elevator man, who worked the wedding, recognized us and greeted us like old friends. The door opens and MAYHEM. The bartenders were not kidding. This place was crazy. We followed Michael to his corner and at the table were bottles of champagne and Vision Vodka. THIS ladies and gentlemen is how you do a night out in New York City. I think the phrase "Is this really happening?" came up multiple times in the evening. Anna and I worked our way to the other side of the club to use the restroom and saw our bartender friends from the Today show wedding. When they saw us they flipped out. "I can't believe you came back" "OMG how are you?" like we had been long lost friends... Nope, I uh met you yesterday, but sweet. The night continued to just be incredible, at one point in time we were all three behind the bar with the bartenders, just hanging out because we were such great friends.. ha ha ha. and I don't really think that the 36 people wanting drinks from them appreciated it. When we decided that we were done for the night, we had our body guards take us out the VIP exit, hail us a cab and the night was over.
"Did that really happen?" was repeated about 57 times the next morning and the answer was yes.. yes it did.. and all we paid for was a taxi.
And that ladies and gentlemen was the most incredible week of my NYC adventures to date. I couldn't make this stuff up, I sware.
So while we were at the reception for the Today Show wedding, we became good friends with the bartenders and owner of Hudson Terrace. According to them, the Terrace transforms into a totally different place on a Friday night than what we saw with the Today Show set up. It just happened that my friend Amie and Anna's last night in the city was Friday, convenient Huh? Well, long story short... we ended up with a dinner reservation for the three of us at the owner's tapas bar in the Flatiron District. We had our evening planned out for us, compliments of the owner of Hudson Terrace, Michael, starting at the tapas bar and ending at Hudson Terrace.
As we got ready, we came to the conclusion that tonight could be turn into one of two things: 1. a tragic disaster, and we would likely be the next Dateline story: Dumb Midwestern girls trust a stranger with their evening plans in NYC or.... 2. the best night of our lives
After we got all dolled up, I packed my police strength mace in my clutch and we were off to our dinner reservations... hopefully. Sure enough we walk into the front door of the tapas bar, greeted by name and ushered to our table. (sweet!) Then the manager brings by glasses of wine, on the house. (super sweet!) We ordered our wonderful meal and began to enjoy ourselves. After being waited on hand and foot, we politely asked for our bill to be informed that "we don't need to worry about it, its been taken care of" (SERIOUSLY??) Then we were handed drink tickets ( which I gathered were kind of like food stamps for alcoholic beverages) for the bar next door (also owned by our new generous friend.) Let the party continue
Before we headed next door, in walks the owner. We all head next door together. We walked in, and to my right is a sign on a table saying "Reserved for Amie" .. yeah, we are "Amie" .. that's us. Anna and I secretly just wanted to sit at our super cool reserved table, but we were too cool for even that. We were all hanging out in the back part of the bar.
A little while later, I was then tapped on the shoulder. I turn around and there are 2 Australian men staring at me. One man finally speaks, in his accent, "Don't you know who my friend is? Don't you recognize him?" ummm... "No, Should I?" Apparently my response was offensive to both, but neither would reveal there apparent celebrity status names to me. Maybe I met an Australian celeb that night, but odds are, most likely not.
Before we could head to Hudson Terrace, we had to make two more stops to two more bars that he owned and wanted to show us. (Great....more water please??) Both places were pretty cool, and we were treated like celebrities everywhere we went. Amie even had a security guard walk her to the bathroom. That just doesn't happen everyday.
Finally we made it to Hudson Terrace. The quiet street we were on the day before was now lined with people waiting to get in. We (of course) walked right up were let in.... Ok, so maybe Michael walked us up and let us in.. minor detail. We all got in the elevator to see the cute elevator man, who worked the wedding, recognized us and greeted us like old friends. The door opens and MAYHEM. The bartenders were not kidding. This place was crazy. We followed Michael to his corner and at the table were bottles of champagne and Vision Vodka. THIS ladies and gentlemen is how you do a night out in New York City. I think the phrase "Is this really happening?" came up multiple times in the evening. Anna and I worked our way to the other side of the club to use the restroom and saw our bartender friends from the Today show wedding. When they saw us they flipped out. "I can't believe you came back" "OMG how are you?" like we had been long lost friends... Nope, I uh met you yesterday, but sweet. The night continued to just be incredible, at one point in time we were all three behind the bar with the bartenders, just hanging out because we were such great friends.. ha ha ha. and I don't really think that the 36 people wanting drinks from them appreciated it. When we decided that we were done for the night, we had our body guards take us out the VIP exit, hail us a cab and the night was over.
"Did that really happen?" was repeated about 57 times the next morning and the answer was yes.. yes it did.. and all we paid for was a taxi.
And that ladies and gentlemen was the most incredible week of my NYC adventures to date. I couldn't make this stuff up, I sware.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
The Today Show Wedding
Alright guys. Congrats. We have all made it to the wedding day! enjoy.
The guests were to arrive at Rockefeller Plaza at 6:30 that morning. We woke up at the tender hour of 4:30 to pouring down rain. No, not rain, a monsoon. We turn on the local news and all there is to talk about is the storm of the century currently taking place. If looking good for national television at 4:30 in the morning isn't challenging enough, try adding rain to the mix. Greatness. Needless to say we assembled in the lobby all dolled up to head over to the ceremony.
We were ushered past all the typical Today Show spectators with their "hi mom" signs and into the building for breakfast. While we were lingering around our donuts, a Today show producer approached us. She commented on how lively we were for the morning and asked us if we could sing around a piano for the TV cut-ins. Our response. Heck Yes. Its Game Time. We walked into the ceremony site and all huddled around Jerry, the pianist, and his white baby grand piano. Our first cut-in was us singing to "Sweet Caroline". It was super cheesy, but its national TV baby. Who would have thought that years and years of dance training and my national TV debut is me singing. Go figure?
The ceremony was absolutely incredible. I cried like a little baby. Melissa looked incredible. (By the way, good job America for voting in the best looking couple. I'm sure it made better TV. I mean what dress wouldn't look good on Melissa?!) I actually forgot about the TV cameras for a brief second. That is until I looked to the right and saw a guy soaking wet holding a sign that read, "We woke up at 4 am for this." Us too buddy, Us too.
Onto the reception! It was held at the Hudson Terrace. We grabbed out name cards and headed up the elevator. (I may have debated whether to steal Al Roker's name card for a keepsake.) We walked into the first room and there he was. Joshua Radin. He's my favorite singer/songwriter of all time. No big deal. Unfortunately this is when the Today Show was too much to handle. The guests and the Today Show Crew and their huge cameras simply did not fit in the room, and they were doing their segments about the food and cocktails. Finally I got some chocolate mouse, champagne, and settled into a spot with a view of Joshua (and the couple). This ladies and gentlemen is heaven. The first dance was gorgeous, but they ushered us up to the rooftop for the meal. But I didn't get to met Joshua!!!
I was quickly distracted by about 3 different cocktails shoved in my face and the digital camera left in my seat as a wedding favor. Did I mention it was 9 am on a Thursday!? This simply does not happen. The rest of the reception was incredible. It was so much fun, and even more fun after the Today Show left! After the food we headed back downstairs for some quality dancing. We were kicked out finally at 1:30.
Oh yeah, we are supposed to check out of our rooms by 2. We hobbled down the street with our sore feet shoved into our heels and cocktail dresses to hail a cab. Thank goodness our cab driver was baller. He floored it to the Palace Hotel (as best he could in NYC). While stuck in traffic in Times Square, we even had a heart to heart about his frustrations of being a cab driver. Apparently he likes to drive fast or "fly" as he kept repeating but people here always get in the way. That may or may not have been a confession to hitting a pedestrian, but who cares, we have 10 minutes!!!
I can only imagine what the people in the lobby thought. 2 o clock on the Thursday and 5 slightly intoxicated females in dresses come running through the lobby. We successfully crammed all of our stuff in bags and left the Palace. Sadly I only had time to put on flip flops, so I was forced to take the train back to Brooklyn in my dress with random things hanging out of my bag. I guess I have seen worse.
Yes, there is still another installment to this wedding. The photo below was taken with the owner of the reception venue. We all became dear friends at the reception. He offered to take us back out on Friday, which was my friend Amie and Anna's last night in the city. We took him up on that offer...
(yet again) To Be Continued.....
The guests were to arrive at Rockefeller Plaza at 6:30 that morning. We woke up at the tender hour of 4:30 to pouring down rain. No, not rain, a monsoon. We turn on the local news and all there is to talk about is the storm of the century currently taking place. If looking good for national television at 4:30 in the morning isn't challenging enough, try adding rain to the mix. Greatness. Needless to say we assembled in the lobby all dolled up to head over to the ceremony.We were ushered past all the typical Today Show spectators with their "hi mom" signs and into the building for breakfast. While we were lingering around our donuts, a Today show producer approached us. She commented on how lively we were for the morning and asked us if we could sing around a piano for the TV cut-ins. Our response. Heck Yes. Its Game Time. We walked into the ceremony site and all huddled around Jerry, the pianist, and his white baby grand piano. Our first cut-in was us singing to "Sweet Caroline". It was super cheesy, but its national TV baby. Who would have thought that years and years of dance training and my national TV debut is me singing. Go figure?
Onto the reception! It was held at the Hudson Terrace. We grabbed out name cards and headed up the elevator. (I may have debated whether to steal Al Roker's name card for a keepsake.) We walked into the first room and there he was. Joshua Radin. He's my favorite singer/songwriter of all time. No big deal. Unfortunately this is when the Today Show was too much to handle. The guests and the Today Show Crew and their huge cameras simply did not fit in the room, and they were doing their segments about the food and cocktails. Finally I got some chocolate mouse, champagne, and settled into a spot with a view of Joshua (and the couple). This ladies and gentlemen is heaven. The first dance was gorgeous, but they ushered us up to the rooftop for the meal. But I didn't get to met Joshua!!!
I was quickly distracted by about 3 different cocktails shoved in my face and the digital camera left in my seat as a wedding favor. Did I mention it was 9 am on a Thursday!? This simply does not happen. The rest of the reception was incredible. It was so much fun, and even more fun after the Today Show left! After the food we headed back downstairs for some quality dancing. We were kicked out finally at 1:30.
Oh yeah, we are supposed to check out of our rooms by 2. We hobbled down the street with our sore feet shoved into our heels and cocktail dresses to hail a cab. Thank goodness our cab driver was baller. He floored it to the Palace Hotel (as best he could in NYC). While stuck in traffic in Times Square, we even had a heart to heart about his frustrations of being a cab driver. Apparently he likes to drive fast or "fly" as he kept repeating but people here always get in the way. That may or may not have been a confession to hitting a pedestrian, but who cares, we have 10 minutes!!!I can only imagine what the people in the lobby thought. 2 o clock on the Thursday and 5 slightly intoxicated females in dresses come running through the lobby. We successfully crammed all of our stuff in bags and left the Palace. Sadly I only had time to put on flip flops, so I was forced to take the train back to Brooklyn in my dress with random things hanging out of my bag. I guess I have seen worse.
Yes, there is still another installment to this wedding. The photo below was taken with the owner of the reception venue. We all became dear friends at the reception. He offered to take us back out on Friday, which was my friend Amie and Anna's last night in the city. We took him up on that offer...
(yet again) To Be Continued.....
Monday, October 4, 2010
The Today (pre)Show Wedding.
This past week was so surreal that:
One of my best friends, Caitlin, was a bridesmaid, and flew in Tuesday night. I of course packed up my bags in Brooklyn and shamelessly hopped on the train to Manhattan to play pretend and take advantage of the free hotel room. There I was with the address, backpack, and sneakers walking past St. Patrick's. As I turned the corner, I saw a gorgeous building with twinkle lights in the trees. Yes, this is the Palace Hotel. My new residence for the next few days. Dang, I should have rethought my shoe selection.
I may have screamed like a school girl when I got to the room, and may have jumped on the bed. Maybe.
Wednesday morning I had to go to school, but this commute was so much more fun with all the men in suits and suitcases! After class, the rest of my girlfriends arrived. I met up with them at Crumbs. The four of us each picked out a cupcake, each a different flavor. We sat down had two bites of our cupcakes and then passed our cupcake to the girl on the right. We repeated this process until we were completely grossed out by our disregard of any kind of personal health code, but they all tasted so good! Totally worth it.
We then met up with the wedding party at Serendipity! First time at Serendipity, so I was particularly excited. My friend Tova is completely obsessed with the frozen hot chocolate, so we all got some to experience first hand how legit her obsession is.
Final stop of the night. Back at the hotel... ehhemmm I mean the Palace. We all went down to the bar to sip some fancy cocktails and soak in the fabulous-ness surrounding us. We walk into the bar and are immediately surrounded by a sea of older "corporate looking" men. Even worse, no room for the fabulous wanna-be's. Then things took a turn for the better. A server pulled us over to a very public table that had previously had a "RESERVED" sign on it. Yessssssss. Sure we knew that the only reason we were sitting at this table was due to the overwhelming male to female ratio in the bar that night, but who cares. We had a blast sipping our cocktails, then soon realized that being fabulous was very very expensive (20 bucks a drink expensive) we decided to call it a night. . . Tomorrow is the wedding day and we have to be up in 4 hours. greatness.
To be Continued
- It is impossible to put my experiences into one post. Thus it will be brought to you in installments. I know. lame. But all great literary works are written in long installments, so you are going to have to deal with it.
- You aren't going to believe a single thing that I write, which is fine. I don't really believe it happened either.
One of my best friends, Caitlin, was a bridesmaid, and flew in Tuesday night. I of course packed up my bags in Brooklyn and shamelessly hopped on the train to Manhattan to play pretend and take advantage of the free hotel room. There I was with the address, backpack, and sneakers walking past St. Patrick's. As I turned the corner, I saw a gorgeous building with twinkle lights in the trees. Yes, this is the Palace Hotel. My new residence for the next few days. Dang, I should have rethought my shoe selection.
Wednesday morning I had to go to school, but this commute was so much more fun with all the men in suits and suitcases! After class, the rest of my girlfriends arrived. I met up with them at Crumbs. The four of us each picked out a cupcake, each a different flavor. We sat down had two bites of our cupcakes and then passed our cupcake to the girl on the right. We repeated this process until we were completely grossed out by our disregard of any kind of personal health code, but they all tasted so good! Totally worth it.
We then met up with the wedding party at Serendipity! First time at Serendipity, so I was particularly excited. My friend Tova is completely obsessed with the frozen hot chocolate, so we all got some to experience first hand how legit her obsession is.
Final stop of the night. Back at the hotel... ehhemmm I mean the Palace. We all went down to the bar to sip some fancy cocktails and soak in the fabulous-ness surrounding us. We walk into the bar and are immediately surrounded by a sea of older "corporate looking" men. Even worse, no room for the fabulous wanna-be's. Then things took a turn for the better. A server pulled us over to a very public table that had previously had a "RESERVED" sign on it. Yessssssss. Sure we knew that the only reason we were sitting at this table was due to the overwhelming male to female ratio in the bar that night, but who cares. We had a blast sipping our cocktails, then soon realized that being fabulous was very very expensive (20 bucks a drink expensive) we decided to call it a night. . . Tomorrow is the wedding day and we have to be up in 4 hours. greatness.
To be Continued
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