Three's Company

Also, can I just add that I have now seen each of the three Billy Elliot boys on separate occasions walking down 8th ave. See "Random Sightings List"
I still need to see the show though...

I Got Life, Mother

Guess how many times I've entered the Hair Lottery.....twice! Guess how many times I've won the Hair Lottery.....TWICE!! I saw it for the first time today, though (remember, I gave my previously winning tickets to Nick...) Anyway, the show was awesome! Everyone was amazing. They where all so talented and great singers. The entire show was just fun! I danced in my chair the whole time. Oh, and lets talk about how me and Sally went on stage during the encore! I'm going to consider it my Broadway debut! We were rocking out to "Let The Sun Shine In" with the cast. How cool is that?! Then at the stage door, I reintroduced my self to Will (he's one of our clients at BRS) and he was all, "Amanda, right?" I am amazed at how free and uninhibited he is on stage, yet how soft spoken and contained he is in person. Every time he comes to the office, he comes in, takes care of what he has to, and leaves. Not like some of our clients, *ahem* Billy Magnussun, who makes themselves at home,  cracking jokes, and takes over my desk to eat his lunch (not that I don't love you, Billy! If you ever read this!) Even at the stage door, Will was very reserved and just went down the line signing Playbills. But he dances around naked in a loins cloth and shoves his junk into audience members' faces. Go figure!

Me and Sally got the most awkward picture ever with Gavin Creel.
I almost didn't want to post it, but its worth taking a moment to appreciate his prettiness. Despite that awful wig and his lack of interest in women, I still fawn over him, especially when he opens his mouth to sing. That boy can sing his face off! (Not literally, please though)
Oh, and let me just mention, by the way, I have seen more naked people since I moved to NY than I have in my entire life! First it was the Suspicious Package concert, that happened to be a burlesque show. Basically, the only criteria for performing in the Tits and Skits was that you couldn't wear a shirt. Then at Kellie's Avaunt-Gard-Arama there were a couple naked acts, then tonight at Hair. Let's just say there were a lot of naked hippies. I'm pretty sure I'd never seen anyone get naked on stage before I moved here either. Well, now its off to bed to dream about my real Broadway debut, or maybe naked hippies....

To Shop Or Not To Shop

So I ended up not going to see Jude Law's Hamlet. It was a hard decision as I have vowed to jump at every opportunity to see theatre, but it was $35 and 3 hours of Hamlet. Plus I would have had to get up at 8 am on sat to rush it, and I was up till 4 on Friday...so, yeah.
Instead, me and Lindsay went to Greenwich. We started out at the Brooklyn Bagel and Coffee shop on 8th and 25th, which if you haven't been, you should go. They have really good bagels and like 12 different kinds of cream cheese. I had a poppy seed bagel with strawberry. My fav! OO, I'm getting hungry thinking about it. Anyway, I knew there was some sort of street fair/farmer's market in the West Village, so we went looking for it. We found the coolest shop on Bowery Street (next to the Bowery Poetry Club) that had the funkiest clothes and jewelery. We vowed to go back once we got paid! We then got heckled by a lisping hair stylist who wanted to give us a wash, dry, cut, manicure, massage and wine for $60. Sounds like a great deal, but I was uneasy about shelling out $60 up front. Plus he was making me uncomfortable because he kept asking Lindsay if he could try on her rings and glasses...awkward. After about 15 mins of him trying to convince us (he even cut the price in half) he got the hint that we didn't want his services. He snatched the brochures out of our hands and then huffily shooed us away! Seriously! Lindsay and my feeling's weren't hurt too bad, and forgot all about it when we saw some really awesome vintage jewelery in a booth down the street. I tried to convince Lindsay to get a really cool turquoise owl necklace, but she has more willpower than I do (I need to get some though, because Manhattan is expensive!) Anyway, we then made our way to Washington Square
where a really awesome band was playing. We listened to them for a while, and even got  a free CD. We then decided to catch the subway at Union Square to go to the Manhattan Library. We walked through the Union Square flea market, and I saw some really awesome paintings and tee shirts. (I can't wait till I'm rich enough just to but art!) I need to go back soon to spend a more thorough time there. Anyway, we got to the library, only to find out they close at 6 on the weekends. We got there at 5:45 and they wouldn't let us in. Seriously, what's up with everywhere in Manhattan closing 10 mins early?!
I then got home and went to dinner with Kevin, Sally, Kellie, and Danielle. When I got home, I was all ready to have a quite Sat night, but, Rudy convinced me to go out with a group of 305'ers. We went to a bar and shared some $10 pitchers of beer, and ended up staying up until almost 4 am (AGAIN!) It is seriously so hard to get some sleep in the city that never does! At least I have Monday off, hopefully I can recoup then (I shouldn't get my hopes up, though!)
Sunday, I had a lazy morning, plus it was raining and crappy. I hate when it rains in the city, I feel so gross. It's so muggy and I feel like the rain has washed all the dirt from the high rise buildings down to the streets below. The subways may as well be the sewers! Anyway, that afternoon I went to the Broadway Flea Market. This is a fundraiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids (BC/EFA.) Basically all the theaters cleaned out their closets and were selling old playbills, posters, props costumes, lost and found, etc. I should have gone a little earlier because when I got there, there where so many people, the fire marshal wouldn't let people in until others left. It was overwhelming and we didn't stay long, though, Nick had a successful trip. He came home with some loot and pictures of Audra McDonald who had made some baked goods for the event.
Sun afternoon resulted with a trip down the river. Kevin's theater company produces a series of 1 acts and it's called Going To The River I was really impressed, I hadn't heard great things, but I enjoyed most of the scenes a lot. It was the best Off-Broadway show I've seen! (Ie: Race Music, Avaunte Garde-Arama...)
Sally and I then ventured down to the Trader Joe's in SoHo. It was great (I love TJ's) but apparently so does the rest of the city. The check out line wrapped around the entire store (no joke!) I guess the trick is to do Line Shopping. Just get in line when you first get there, and grab things as you stand in line making your way through the store! (Or, I guess, go on a Tuesday....)
So, all in all, it was a very successful weekend despite the lack of Jude. But it's not over yet! I have Monday off,  and Lindsay and I are going to go to the Capezio store in my building and try to make our way over to the Library. Wish us luck!

A Far From Normal Evening

Crazy afternoon! No joke. So, I was going to go to the Met (the grocery store, not the museum) when Nick said, "I'm going to the Library" and I said, 'Oh, my gosh! I want to go! I need a library card!" But first Nick wanted to put his name in the Hair lottery. So I said I would too so he would have a better chance of winning. For those of you who follow Nick's blog (http://newyorkstateofmind09.blogspot.com/) you would know he has lost the lotto 4 times. So, being the 5th time, he didn't have his hopes up, but there weren't that many people there, and long story short: my name got called! I was just excited that I won, I rarely win anything! after purchasing the $25 tickets, we headed over to the library, past the Next to Normal theater. Leaving the theater, were Adam Chanler-Berat and Kyle Dean Massey (see my Random Sightings list for bios). I got really excited, I acted like a 12 year old girl meeting Miley for the first time. I didn't have enough composure to actually approach them with out completely embarrassing myself, so I let them walk past, trying to act cool, but I'm sure I reeked of awkwardness. I turned to Nick and just as I announced that I had more people to add to my Random Sightings list, I looked over and locked eyes with Louis, my roommate from California! I was more shocked to see Louis than the gorgeous Broadway stars and quickly forgot about them. Not that Louis isn't a gorgeous Broadway star... ;)
Anyway, we played a little catch up but then he had to go, since he was seeing the evening performance of N2N.
Now, to top it all off, I'm watching the 2 hours season premier of Gray's Anatomy! (which I forgot was on, so that was another surprise!) Then I have to get ready for my headshots that I'm taking in the morning.
I'm excited for the weekend. We're seeing Jude Law's Hamlet, so I'm sure there will be a lot to report after that!

Random Sightings

I've added a side bar to list all the celebrity sightings. These do not include people I've sought out (ie, going to the stage door, stalking Chase Crawford at the Gossip Girl set, etc.) Most of these happen as I walk down 8th on my way to work.

39 Steps

NYAP with the cast of 39 Steps (the four in the front, right are the cast) Lets just take a moment to appreciate how pretty Sean Mahon is (black jacket)

A Steady Rain

The Wolverine Vs. James Bond! UGH! Today, thanks to Nick (who spent is precious Sat morning sitting in line for tickets) I went to see A Steady Rain. SO GOOD! It was directed by John Crowley who also directed Pillowman so I had high expectations, though, I was a little worried about Australian and British actors doing Chicago accents. But they pulled the whole thing off seamlessly. There were moments I almost would have cried, if I were capable of crying at a show. The minor line flubs were excusable considering they were in previews. The set was simple yet creative and beguiling. I loved it. And despite the fact we were in the back row, I could still see the definition in Hugh's abs and chest through his shirt! Honestly, it didn't really matter what else he was doing! He could have been reading the phone book and I would have still been enthralled!

During the second encore, we raced out to the stage door in hopes of prime viewing. Only to find at least 100 people already lined up. These were people off the streets or patrons from God Of Carnage who had wandered over to see Hugh and Daniel, which was very annoying for those of us who actually saw the show and hoped for the chance to complement the actors. Fortunately, I'm an expert at squeezing my way to the front of the line, so I managed to get about 2 people away from the barricade, and I didn't care if I had to stick someone's head in my armpit to get my playbill in front of the actors. It was quite annoying to listen to the lady who had snaked her way in from GoC complain about "people pushing" her. No one was actually pushing her, yet her 5'2" frame got the brunt of people leaning forward to get their playbills signed. In her obnoxious Jersey accent she kept squealing, "OW! YOUR HURTING ME! QUIT PUSHING ME! I'VE JUST RECOVERED FROM 3 WEEKS OF PHYSICAL THERAPY!" Well, you know what I say? "GOOD!" That's what happens when you try to go to the stage door to see Wolverine and James Bond! You deserve it for taking up space from an actual paying patron! Also annoying was the woman who sketched Hugh and Daniel's face (not that well I must add) on a massive canvas board and then knocked people in the head as she tried to get them to sign it. Hugh was very charming, though. He signed a girl's shirt that said, "I heart Hugh" and posed for pictures. And look at that ass!

Where Are My Keys? I Lost My Phone.

First week of work was pretty good. I basically do bitch work and I feel like Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada but Mark Redanty is the sweetest person ever, and the best boss I've ever had. So no major complaints. Plus on Friday I met Will Swenson and read with Marc Kudisch for an audition they put him on tape for. So I'm doing what I came here to do: network. That weekend I went to Vegas and it was a little bit of a debauchery. It all started Friday night. We went to see Race Music, which gave me a boost of confidence; if that's considered Off-Broadway theatre, then I should have no problem finding a job. That's the nicest thing I can say about it. A group of us then went to the Chelsea Square Restaurant where I got my waffle craving satisfied. Since I had to leave the house at 6am and it was already midnight and I hadn't packed, I figured the logical thing to do would be to pull an all-nighter. Which was fun until about 5 am. Thank god for a one hour subway ride followed by a 6 hour plane ride. Except that the E train, which is the one that's supposed to go from Penn to JFK, was closed for construction so I had to catch a bus at Port Authority. That's where I had a minor panic attack due to the fact I thought I was going to miss my flight. My poor dad got the brunt of my frustration as I frantically texted him using a string of curse words, even though it was 2am on the west coast. Anyway, I made it with just a few minutes to spare. That was when I realized I hadn't eaten since my waffle and I wasn't going to eat until I landed in NV. Luckily I slept through my hunger pains. After eating and taking a nap (in the 900 square foot suite, with a hot tub and his and hers bathroom, I got upgraded to), my family and I went to Margaritaville. Then to a $1 margarita bar and 4 margaritas later I was having a grand ol' time! Anyway, after a really crappy pirate show at Treasure Island; bad sushi; and my dad loosing my sister, and then my sister loosing her husband, it was time for bed. Except remember, those $1 frozen strawberry margaritas? Yeah, well my dad was afraid that "free upgrade" was going to cost him $10,000 to replace the carpet. Luckily the cleaning lady got the red dye out for free. Woo! That's what you get for waking up in Vegas! Huh, Katie?

I know A Great Mexican Restaurant. They have the Best Margaritas!

Sept 7th: Labor Day, our first house meeting and my 21st bday! I had made plans with my friends who already live in the City to get together and invited who ever wanted to go from the house. We showed up at a little mexican restraunt in Chelsea and asked for a table of 25. I felt bad, but no one else was there, so the staff was happy for some business. They where really friendly, and one of the servers got lucky when Caitlin thanked him with a kiss. I had a great time. I was so excited that 18 of my new roommates came out to celebrate, plus I got to see Natasha, Caitlin, Scott, Anna, Tony and Samara, all of whom I hadn't seen since Santa Fe. Tony brought me roses and when I got home I couldn't find a vase, so I put them in the blender! I then proceeded to leave a note which in my inebriated state said, "Amanda's. Plz don't blend :)" which made Sober Manda giggle in the morning.

It sure beat my 20th bday which I spent sitting the the Las Vegas airport. It was definitely one of the nicest bdays I've had in a long time. I'll take that as a sign that my move to NYC will improve my life drastically.

A Sight To See

Kevin and I had a few days to ourselves in the city. We made a trip up to Central Park and I wanted to see the John Lennon Memorial. We walked towards Strawberry Fields and spent over an hour walking in circles and still never found the famous "IMAGINE" mosaic, though I'm sure we passed it seven times. That night we decided to go dancing. We had to find an 18+ club since I still had a few days till my 21st. We decided upon a gay, Latino club. After standing around watching awkward go-go dancers (that's a story I wont be posting on the internet) Kevin and I made our way on to the dance floor where we pretended we could Salsa/Cha Cha/Rumba. It involved a lot of flailing body limbs. The DJ finally played a 45 second montage of "Just Dance" and "Circus" in which we rushed the stage while everyone else took water/bathroom breaks (could we be any whiter?) We called it a night early because I had walked all over Central Park in boots and was now wearing FMP's so my feet were screaming in pain. Seriously! I don't know how those New Yorkers do it! I am in desperate need of shoes that are comfortable yet cute enough to wear with skirts. That was basically the height of excitement for the week. I just had RA training and waited for residents to trickle in so I could check them in.

From Coast to Coast

I'm hopping on this Blog Bandwagon a little late, but I'm here nonetheless. Ok, so catchup. Lets start at the very beginning, a very good place to start...(sorry). Anyway, for reals, flying from Santa Barbara to Newark was what Kevin would call “A Shitstorm”. It was mostly due to the fact that I had two massive roller board suitcases that weighed over 80lbs ($150 to check) not to mention the 40lb carry-on and my “personal item” (which, lets face it, was a stretch considering it was a 30lb duffle bag.) After picking all my luggage up at the baggage claim, I began my trek to Manhattan. I was carrying almost 1.5 times my weight in clothes, shoes and scores. At one point, I had to take a down escalator. I imagined my death as 230 lbs of luggage pushed me forward towards the sharp, jagged stairs that gleamed at me like teeth. (EW? Did I just write that?! I'm working on my blogging skills!) I finally made my way to the airtrain that would connect me to the Jersey Transit. The JT was the worst. It was packed, and I kinda had to plop all my crap down, blocking the isle. A few people tried to get around me, but I didn't have the strength, nor the room to move. A poor, unknowing girl offered me the seat next to her. I took it to get out of the way, but felt very awkward as my suitcase barricaded us into the compartment. We finally got to Pennsylvania Station where, Kevin (bless his heart) was meeting me to help me carry all my crap the 4 blocks to the 305. I poured out of the train and tried to make my way up to the ground level. After twenty minutes of getting lost and feeling like my arms where going to fall off, a man in a business suit remarked, “Wow, you sure do have your hands full!” Since I was too exhausted to come up with a witty response, I just said, “Yeah. I just moved here from California and I didn't know what to bring, so I brought it all!” He then pointed me in the right direction to 7^th ave. where Kevin was waiting for me. I finally found Kevin and he helped me get home and then up the four flights of stairs to my 20 square foot room. I wanted to buy Kevin dinner for his troubles, but in the flurry to get out of the house and explore Manhattan, I forgot my wallet. He had to foot the bill. I'm a jackass.