What might be? What might have been?

I've got this amazing friend that comes to New York two or three times a year. Whenever Tali is in town, my life gets a lot less boring. Her birthday is tomorrow so she decided to make a weekend of it. When she called last month to let me know, I mentioned that I was interested in this new musical called If/Then.

A few days later I got this text.

This is a new musical starring Idina Menzel that opened LAST WEEK. No big deal. (Very big deal.)

So the show was today, and I was blown away. Obviously Idina was incredible, but I also just loved the concept.

If/Then is about a woman in her late 30's who gets out of a bad 10 year marriage and moves to New York City to start over. In the first scene she is confronted with a choice, which seems incredibly insignificant (hang out in the park vs go meet up with some friends). The show follows the two different paths of her life based on which choice she made.

I believe that our personal experiences and emotions bring out the beauty of the art we see, and I know that's what happened to me during this show. I'm this single woman living in New York City pursuing a career that sometimes seems pointless. I'm faced with choices all the time that feel like they are life altering.

Where would I be if I hadn't chosen theatre? Who would I be if I'd stayed in Utah and never gotten the travel bug? What would I have if I didn't know what it was like to have nothing?

"Some other me is homeless. Some other me is queen. Some other me has seen things that no other me has seen. If I met her, I would ask her that one question we both fear. Some other me, how'd you end up here?"

I just can't stop thinking about this show and what you can draw from it. Nothing good comes from what-ifs and we need to live and love now with what we have. This show is also a love letter to New York, this city that I've been really falling for these past few months.

The whole show touched me. I was reminded why I love this city, why I love theatre, and how important it is to love the people in my life.

More Quotes:

• You've always had the right dream.
• Deep down I'm a coward afraid to let you in, but the only thing more frightening is to say, "what might have been?"
• Love doesn't make us perfect, it just makes us want to be.
• I won't be sorry that you said to leap and I leapt.
• Am I always starting over in a brand new story? Am I always stuck at 1 after all I've done. Because I've earned all of my riches and learned every last lesson too. So how can I start new?

I honestly can't pick a favorite song, but here are a few that I'll have on repeat for a while.

(Anthony Rapp, who you may recognize from Rent)

Song starts at 1:25

"You learn to stand alone at last. So brave and bold and strong and stout. You learn somehow to like the dark and even love the doubt. You learn to hold your life inside you and never let it out. You learn to live and die and then to live. You learn to live without."

This Is New York.

For those of you that don't know (I can't imagine how you wouldn't know), I get to be an Auntie to these three cuties.

They know that I live in New York.  Audrey uses "New York" as an example of a place really far away.  "We should go home soon or they'll think we went all the way to New York."

I was noticing though, that they didn't really understand what New York was.  Even adults don't really understand.  Heck, sometimes I don't even understand.  So I considered it a sign when I stumbled across this book called This Is New York.

It's a cute little children's book that explains what New York is.  Obviously I bought it and gave it to the kids for Christmas.

We then decided to make a game of it.  The kids would choose one of the places that the book talks about, and I would go there.  The first place they decided to send me:

 That's why I went to Rockefeller Center as soon as I had the time and means.  I took a lot of pictures while I was there (See my post New York Day. On A Tuesday.) and sent them to the kids.

And while I was out and about I grabbed a couple of t-shirts for them.

Don't judge me. That size was the only size on sale.

I'm having fun!  Next stop: Museum of Natural History.

Good Friends Just Make Life Happier

Last fall two of my favorite people, Melanie and Stephanie, joined me on the East Coast when they moved to Washington DC.  I visited them in August.  They came up to New York in October.  We saw each other in Utah for Christmas.  Then, it was my turn.   So I packed a bag and left for DC with no definite plans on how long I'd be staying.

The trip ended up being 6 days of laughing, walking, Olympics, pictures, movies, and a LOT of food. 

We just had the best time.

I worked on a few shows in DC for 2 months in the summer of 2011.  There is something just so wonderful about that city.  It's big, and busy, and a place where important things happen.  Yet, somehow, it still has a small town feel.

Don't get me wrong.  New York is definitely a small town.  I'm reminded of that daily.  I think DC just feels more...quaint.  Maybe I should give up trying to explain how I feel.  I just love it.  So I'm so glad they live there now. 

We went and saw the monuments, and ate food.  Then we went to Mount Vernon, and ate food.  Then we went on a walking tour, and ate a lot of dessert.

George Washington had an amazing view from his house.

There were a lot of festivities happening at Mount Vernon for President's Day.

Old Town Alexandria.

When Stephanie and Melanie had to get back to their lives, I had the opportunity to head over to George Washington University where I'd rehearsed 3 years ago.  Quite coincidentally, 2 of the actors I worked with that summer were also in town.  One lives in NYC now, and the other in Chicago.  All three of us stopped by the school to visit with our old friends.  

Isn't this life wonderful?  There is something just so great about having friends all over the country.

We then went on a tour of Georgetown.  That is a cute part of town.  We walked around on campus and snuck in to this library.  Nobody stopped us or seemed to care.  Actually...nobody was really around.  Still, cool library right?

We bought so many treats while on our walking tour.  The cupcake craze started in DC, so obviously we had to partake.

I'd been here before (lived here actually), but hadn't gotten a picture of the "Welcome To" sign.  With this picture, I officially have 41 out of the 50.  I'm getting there!

I just love these girls.  We had a great time, but we also talked about our lives.  I am so lucky to have friends that understand who I am and what I want, and are able to give me advice based on that information.

I can't wait until they come up to New York again.  Tag, you're it!

New York Day. On a Tuesday.

Yesterday I had a meeting in Union Square, down on 15th street.  When I walked out of the meeting I thought, "it's a crisp clear day so perhaps I'll go for a walk."  As I started walking, I stepped in to a bakery and bought a cookie (obviously).

Side note - Last week I bought and ate the most disappointing chocolate chip cookie ever.  I'm not kidding.  I put it in my bag and when I pulled it out it was broken.  So anyway, the one I got yesterday was way better.

About 20 blocks later I grabbed a slice of pizza.  And kept walking.

The sun was shining. It was really quite lovely.

Check out all these flags. I don't know if they are here all the time or if it's because of the Olympics. I'm never really on 5th Avenue, so what do I know?

A little project I'm doing with Robbie, Audrey, and Casper led me to Rockefeller Center.

And, as you may recall from my 30 Years of Wisdom post, I'm trying to take better advantage of the city.

So I went skating!!

I thought it would be pretty fun.  I was wrong. 

It was SO MUCH FUN.  They had music playing, the ice was pretty smooth, and it wasn't crowded.  

I did have to go back once and trade my skates in for a bigger size.  Once I did that, I felt like I could skate for hours.

It was actually affordable as well.  It is usually $27 to skate and $12 to rent skates.  BUT, for $40 you get the package of skating, skates, and entrance to the Top of the Rock (top of Rockefeller Center, normally $27). So obviously I did that.  Once my session was over I walked through the empty hallways where there are lines throughout the rest of the year and rode to the top.

I got there around 4:30, and the sun was supposed to set at 5:30.  So I stuck around for a while.  It also wasn't very crowded (until the sunset), but boy it was cold up there.

The only down side to this spur of the moment day was that I wasn't really prepared.  I didn't have my camera or my Zagg Sparq.  So I just took pictures with my phone until it died. 

I then walked up to 59th street and went home. 

It was a lovely New York Day.

Super Bowl Boulevard

Some time in November I had a friend post on Facebook about the opportunity to work for the Super Bowl at the end of January.  I was already lined up to work the Macy's Parade for the second time, and I just figure that most of these opportunities won't come knocking again.  So...count me in!

New York and New Jersey co-hosted the Super Bowl this year.  The game itself was in Jersey, but most of the festivities were in New York.  They shut down 34th-47th street and turned it into a huge NFL carnival.  There just isn't a way for me to express to you how many people there were.  I was just happy I was behind the police barricades because of the massive crowds.  Nuts.

The first day was SO COLD.  This is a picture of me on training day.  It was fun how everywhere you looked it was NFL themed.

This was the main attraction.  A huge slide in the middle of Times Square.  It was $5 (all proceeds to planting trees in the city) and probably 5 seconds long, but people were waiting in line for hours and it actually sold out.  I didn't get to ride it, but I hear that the night shift did.  Whatever.

We had to wear these hideous "green" vests so that we stood out.  I guess it's better than having hideous coats though, because we got to keep our coats.

Along with our coats, we also got scarves, a shirt, ear muffs, gloves, and unlimited hot chocolate. The hot chocolate was the best.

For a few days I was stationed at the Roman Numerals, which also had a concert stage.  The cast of Rock of Ages came to perform a selection of songs.  Unfortunately Blogger won't let me upload it.  Annoying.  

The majority of the four days I worked on the Boulevard, I was distributing the Boulevard Badges and helping people register on a tablet (Windows Surface. In case you were curious.)  Basically I was inputing names, birthdays, home town, and favorite team.  

Of the hundreds of people I interviewed here are some stats:

• I'd estimate that 90% told me their favorite team was the Giants.
• Occasionally someone would tell me their favorite was the Jets.
• There were more Seahawks fans than Broncos Fans.
• 1 person said the Cleveland Browns.
• One woman asked me if I was from England because of my accent.  Either there actually is such thing as a Utah accent, or my face was too frozen and I was having a hard time speaking.  I'm pretty sure it was from the cold.
• I met 1 person from Utah. He was an older man from Lehi.
• I found people with the same birthday as Dad, Katie, and AJ, but no Amanda.
• 2 people had my birthday. We high fived and said we were the luckiest.
• I was literally the ONLY person the entire week that said "in line."  Everybody else would say "on line." As in, "just get on this line right here." Or, "Do we have to wait on line for those?"  It's definitely an East Coast thing.  I accidentally said on line once, but the rest of the time I embraced my weirdness.  What do you say?  "Stand in line." Or "stand on line."

I'm happy that I did it.  It was a once in a lifetime opportunity.  As happens with most of these gigs, I met a lot of fun people and had cool conversations.  I didn't win any Super Bowl tickets, but I guess that's for the best since it was the most boring game I've ever watched.

Night Life

I went to a concert this week.  This makes me feel pretty cool.

Oddly, though I obviously love anything in the entertainment industry and am a huge fan of live plays and musicals, I've never really been a fan of concerts.  The crowd annoys me, and I can never really hear the lyrics.  So I've only ever paid for a few concerts in my life, with the exception of Colors. (my friends and I were obsessed in High School.)

Anyway.  A few years ago I started following this band called Walk Off The Earth.  They are super interesting.  You may have seen one of the first of their videos to go viral.  It was this cover of Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye:

This was the first video of theirs that I saw and I've since seen every video they've made.  I really like their style.  They all sing, but Sarah and Marshall's voices just suck me in.  The thing I love the most though?  They make making music look like so much fun.  Watch any of their videos.  They are trying to find new ways to use the instruments we've all seen, make random things instruments, or play multiple instruments at once.

They have a massive YouTube following (check out their channel HERE) that started mostly from their covers, but they've started to release their own albums.  Red Hands is the best video I've ever seen.  I challenge you to find a better one (post it in the comments, I love music videos).

So, I went to their concert.  I had to stand for 3 hours and by the time they came onstage everybody around me was drunk, but I had an amazing spot and loved every second.  Their concert was just like their videos.  They were running all over, playing tons of instruments, throwing them across the stage, and having a great time.

This is all part of my effort to be better this year.  (See my post 30 Years of Wisdom.)  I guess going to a last minute concert falls under "take advantage of this city."

If had had to pick a song that best describes Walk Off The Earth, I'd go with Gang of Rhythm. Let's just sit in a room, sing a song, and be happy.

Now Listening to: