Gotta Keep Going

Well, that was a hiatus I wasn't expecting. As I'm sure everyone who actually reads this knows, the last two weeks have hands down been the worst of my life. I don't really need to elaborate, but I do have say this. The past two weeks have shown me a pain I never knew existed, and words like hurt or grieving or lost don't do that pain justice. But with that pain, I've received more compassion and love than I thought was possible. My family will go on only because of the amazing help and strength of our friends, neighbors, boyfriends, cousins, and everyone else who brought food, texted me or just have given me a hug these past two weeks. So, after much deliberation I decided coming back to NYC and moving forward is the best way to honor my mom and start the healing process. So here I am, back where I started but with a whole new look on things, and I already have a lot to say about the past two days.

Yesterday was my flight back, and I think after flying 3 times in the past 3 weeks, my unfounded fear is slowly disappearing. After I landed in Islip, my aunt and uncle were nice enough to take me to a little piece of heaven- Stanley's Bakery. I kid you not when I tell you I literally daydream about those pastries, so naturally I got a whole box to last me this week. It only took about 45 minutes to drive into the city and then I was finally back! It is really strange and deja-vu ish to be back in my room when it looks like I never left. I was greeted by all 3 of my wonderful roomies and they had a surprise planned for me- a night at Lady Chengs! For all non- New Yorkers, Lady Chengs is a combo asian restaurant and drag show- obviously perfect for me. We got all dressed up and headed over. To be honest, I was excited and nervous that I was gonna get dragged on stage and molested in front of everyone. We were seated by a lovely he-she named Japanese Fucking Bitch, and then met our waitress, an oddly gorgeous and tall London. The food was decent but once the show started, it was well worth the $32 a person price tag. A human being has never made me laugh so hard as Paulina, a 40-something trannie in a Beyonce single ladies leotard and red sequin bra. Nothing was off limits, including the endless black and asian jokes aimed at 2 certain tables. There was a model walk-off with audience volunteers and just general debauchery. Needless to say, I laughed my ass off and would highly recommend going there with a big/brave group of people.

After that eventful night, I had my first day of work today! FINALLY. Not like I've been anticipating it or anything. So I got there about 15 minutes early (hear me Dad? EARLY!) but the other three interns had just gotten there so they let me in. The office looks like a total theater nerds dream- really cute and comfy, with posters and memorabilia covering every available inch of wall space. There are random show hoodies, cups, playbills and pictures everywhere, and I couldn't love it more. I got assigned to work with Alyssa and Leslie as their team's intern, and they represent American Idiot, Rock of Ages, Cirque de Soleil and West Side Story. They gave me free cast recordings of all the shows AND I get 2 free tickets to every show we represent!!!!! Pure joy does not cover how I feel about that. The morning was just general get to know the office stuff. I met everyone, got the lay of the land and experienced press clipping for the first time. All I have to say is that I better brush up n my kindergarten cutting and pasting skills. Since its Monday and we have to go through every newspaper and magazine imaginable since Friday, clippings took most of the morning. We get an hour for lunch (awesome) so I went with Allison and Rachel, my two fellow super sweet interns, to a sandwich place across the street. After we ate, we still had a lot of our hour left, so we decided to check out the brand new Forever 21 that just opened this weekend right next to our office. HOLY.SHIT. It is like 5 jumbo floors of cheap, amazing clothes, purses, jewelry, everything! I have never seen anything like it. It is the biggest Forever 21 in New York, and it is about to become my best friend/worst enemy. Damn you proximity and my shopping gene. Anyways, after lunch I worked on a project pretty much until we had to leave at 6. We are trying to pitch our shows to every reality show I've ever heard of so that the stars can come see shows when they're being filmed, in turn giving Broadway some good press. I had to look up the contact information for a billion reality tv producers, but it was all good. The interns (there are 4 of us full timers and 1 part timer I've yet to meet) all get to sit in a conference-y room together, and they are all theater dorks like me, so passing the time is pretty easy. I got off work at 6, ordered some chinese and chowed down, and now I am sitting here blogging so I don't have to tell the story of my first day 3409764502865320 times to different people :) All in all, I think I am going to love my job. It was kind of slow today, but the other interns said today was an anomaly. I think tomorrow I get to go to a radio interview that Constantine, the lead of Rock of Ages, is doing, and apparently we get to run errands and go to events really often. I am so happy to be back here and starting this internship. I feel like myself more and more and I know my mom would be really proud of me today.

Back in Action

My fever has finally broken and I am rejoining the living world! Last night I decided I didn't give a shit if I was sick, I wasn't gonna miss out on my first weekend in the city. About 10 girls from the program decided to get all dressed up and head to this really trendy restaurant in the Meat Packing District for drinks and a late dinner. The place was incredible! It was so funky- the lamps were made out of hangers, the seats were cushioned halves of bathtubs, some bar seats were made out of Do Not Walk signs. I didn't drink (thanks Sudafed) but the girls ordered this $100 huge punch bowl of alcohol for the table, and everyone seemed to let loose and have a great time. The food was really good and not too expensive, and the table of Real Housewives of NYC behind us celebrating a 50th birthday provided endless entertainment. They told us that we would be them in 20 years, and minus the botox but keep the money and diamonds, I sure as hell wouldn't mind. After dinner, a few of us headed back to the dorm because we were underage/ I wasn't feeling so hot but the other girls checked out some bars and said we all have to go back another time.

This morning we had the double decker bus tour of the city. I wasn't expecting too much, but I really enjoyed it. Our tour guide pointed out some off-the-beaten-path restaurants and museums that I'd like to check out, and just seeing the city in the beautiful 70 degree weather was great. After the tour, we all had lunch on UofDreams at the Hard Rock in Times Square. It was ehh food in a cool restaurant. We couldn't come to a consensus of what to do after lunch, so me and a bunch of girls just walked around for a little bit, tried to go on the NBC Studio Tour but it was sold out, and then just headed back to 23rd. Tonight I'm meeting up with my aunt, uncle and cousins for dinner and then who knows!

Sick in the City

Well, I wish I could sit here and tell all about my fabulous last few days in the city that never sleeps...but pretty much all I've done is slept thanks to a fever and some sort of virus. However, I did leave my cave once in a while to see some family, so why not share what I did in my few hours of drug-induced freedom.

On Wednesday, I got myself out of bed to enter the lottery for Wicked tickets. Unfortunately, that was a big fail but the day got better when I had lunch in the financial district with my cousin Jacquie (must go back, the most amazing lobster sandwich ever!) and it was great just catching up. I got to meet her adorable puppy and I was pretty darn proud of myself for making it from Times Square to Rector Street without stopping in any other boroughs. By Thursday, the fever was upon me but I still got to meet up with my cousin Justin for lunch and a trip to Century 21 downtown. I wish I felt better and could have spent the rest of the day with him, but by 3 I was ready to pass out..which I proceeded to do immediately when I got home. After a nice 3 hour nap, I grabbed dinner with Ricki, took some Advil PM and slept another 10.

Which brings me to today. I decided sitting in bed watching movies was just as unproductive as going to see a movie, so I found the closest theater and finally saw Sex and the City 2. Definitely not as good as the first and a little long, but still entertaining. I'm praying that chugging EmergenC and doing all of this resting will have me back to health by the time I have to start working next week/possibly in time for me not to miss out on this entire weekend. Maybe if the NYC weather wasn't having a bipolar meltdown of going from 95 degrees to 65, I wouldn't be in this achy mess.

Solo in the City

I can't believe I've only been here for 2 and a half days; my 6 weeks in Boca already seem like a lifetime ago, but in a good way. The first night I was here, we had a standardly lame welcome reception followed by such a fun and unexpected night. Me, Kristin and Katherine (my other awesome roommates), Ricki, and Michelle and Lexi went to a pub right by our dorm just to get to know eachother and have a drink. Turns out we picked the pub that a beer kickball league likes to frequent after games. We met Danny, who was from LA and looked like an American Apparel store threw up on him, and he invited us to play flip cup with his kickball friends. After a few more beers than we all had planned on having, we went for some late night NYC pizza and ended a solid first night.

Yesterday was UofDreams orientation ALL day. After sitting through all the rules of the program, we went on practice runs to our work. Mine is a nice schlep of a walk from my dorm, but atleast when I step off the subway station in Times Square my office is not even a block away. The subway station I use is actually right across from Madison Square Park (Shake Shack!) so it's really adorable. My office, on the other hand, is smack in the middle of Times Square, right near the TKTS booth. It is awesome/really exciting right now but I'm sure the mobs of tourists on the sidewalk and in the subway every day will get old quick. Afterwards, we had a quick dinner and a not so quick walk to a meeting about the course credit we are getting for completing our internship. I was in class with my 2 friends and we decided to do a little shopping afterwards since we were so close to Soho. The designer resale stores are mind-boggling amazing and although totally out of my price range, looking around was so much fun. They had the most beautiful purses, shoes and clothes by designers that I've never been able to afford to even look at. I definitely want to head back to Soho soon and shop in some more college budget-friendly stores

So that brings me to today, which was everyone else in the programs first day of work, but my first day of..well, nothing. My internship pushed my start date back until next week because they are so swamped with the Tonys, so I am on my own this whole week. Turns out entertaining yourself in NYC is no problem. I had to run a couple apartment errands and replace my completely messed up phone(new Droid!), but I managed to squeeze in some shopping, too. The Forever 21 in Union Square is basically my heaven on earth. It is 2 enormous floors of perfectly organized racks, something I've never seen in another Forever 21 store. Union Square in general is so adorable, I could hang out there all day. So my first day solo in the city went well, and luckily I have some cousins to entertain me for the next 2 days.

Everyone I've met in the program so far has been great and NYC is already passing my expectations. I'm a little anxious about having so much time to myself before work and losing a week of interning that everyone else has, but who can complain about having too much time in NYC?

As the wise Kevin Rudolf once said..I MADE IT

I am finally moved into NYU and ready to start this insane summer! I've actually been in NYC since Friday, so i'll do a little flashback for you.

I flew in Friday morning with Josh (and by with Josh, I mean with me crushing Josh's hand/ panic attack-ing into his shoulder) and we checked into our beautiful hotel. We walked around China town so I could find Em her perfect faux- Louis Vuitton. Luckily, Larry the sketch Louis dealer came through and gave me his personal cell number if me or any of my girls ever need his "services." Josh and I being the Magellans that we are, one sweaty hour in China Town turned into another accidental sweaty hour in Little Italy. This mistake was actually awesome though, because we found the best cannolis ever (you can't walk around Little Italy and not immediately get hungry). We ended up spontaneously (me? weird I know) buying tickets to HAIR and obviously, I loved it. Well, loved everything except the entire population of Nassau County middle school sitting directly in front of us. Saturday we checked out where my dorm was and walked to Union Square. The farmers market was great to walk around in and even better for freak watching. Thank god I'm not living in Union Square this summer, or I would be broke in two weeks. We changed and went to eat at the infamous Carmines for dinner, which was delicious but is better enjoyed with bigger parties than two because of the Fat Bastard- sized portions. We saw Next to Normal afterwards, which is definitely now in my top 5 favorite shows. We saw Alice Ripley and Brian D'Arcy James and ended up moving from our shit nose bleed seats to third row mezzanine aisle seats. I will absolutely be seeing N2N again before I leave NYC, hopefully this time with free tickets though (fingers crossed).

So, this morning Josh helped me move into my NYU dorm, which is ridiculously luxurious for New York. We have all stainless steel appliances, a huge bathroom and my bedroom is way bigger than my Broward or Aephi house rooms. My roomie Ricki doesn't suck either :) Tonight we have a welcome dinner and some beginnings of orientation, which will continue for like nine hours tomorrow. I have yet to hear if I am still supposed to just roam around NYC until June 15th when my internship wants me to start or if they convinced them to train me during Tony's week. Let's hope it's the latter so I'm not flat broke in one week from shopping and eating cupcakes for lunch every day.

I am so incredibly excited for this summer to finally kick off and to see where it takes me.