Goodness, I have a whole week to report now!!

Thursday was a nice day of just wandering around and doing whatever my path took me to! I had lunch at Whole Foods, then went to my favorite place to get CHEESECAKE!! It was absolutely delicious :) It is called Carnegie Deli, and I make a point to visit there every time I'm in NY to have a gigantic slice of Strawberry Cheesecake. I love that stuff. Afterward, I wandered for a while and went into a cute art supply store that had all kinds of fun things. I made it out of there with only a pack of cool postcards, and was proud of myself! That evening I headed out to meet Savannah, and we watched The Office in one of her friends' cool apartments! I stayed the night with Savannah in Astoria, because she lives really close to the airport and I had an early flight the next day!

Got up eaaarly Friday morning and took the city bus to LaGuardia. No problems getting there, and all my flights were on time and good to go. I slept most of the way from NY to Dallas. Landed in OKC around 1 and Tucker picked me up :) It was so good to see him!!! We headed to mom and dad's house to pick up mom for lunch (who it was also so good to see!!)- went to Chili's and had a nice lunch. I was pretty out of it still, because of the motion sickness patches I have to use... so after lunch I was ready for a nap! That evening I went to Tucker's show with him. I was so happy to be with my fiance!!!!

Saturday- Audition Morning (yes, even in Oklahoma). I auditioned for Lyric at 11ish and they called me back to dance that afternoon at 2! I felt like it was one of the best singing auditions I've had in a while, so that made me very happy! Had lunch with Tucker, then headed back to their studio. The dancing... was Hip-Hop. I don't hiphop. I looked pretty stupid, but still had a fun time and enjoyed seeing a bunch of friends from home while I was there. After a day of auditioning, Tucker took me back to my parents' house to hang out until Katie and Joe's wedding!! The wedding was lovely! It was at the State Capitol in the Rotunda, and Katie looked beautiful and they both looked so happy! The reception was great fun- held at the OKC Zoo, complete with good food, wine, friends, a great band, and dancing! Tucker and I both had a fine time and enjoyed dancing and celebrating our friends' marriage :)

Sunday... I had every intention of going to church... but Mom still wasn't feeling well (she has had this horrible stomach bug) and the time changed making me oh-so-sleepy, so we decided to just lounge around the house and relax all morning. It was fun just lying on the couch chatting with my mom for a while- I have the best mom in the world! Tucker came and picked me up after running sound at a church, and we headed down to have lunch with his mom, Skye, and her husband, Terry. I'm glad we found some time on my short trip to get together for a bit!! It was great to see them! Headed back to my parents' house to hang out with the whole fam and go have some delicious Mexican food (which apparently doesn't exist in NY... well Tex-Mex at least doesn't). It was a good day!

Monday - back to the airport. It was one of those horrible days of flying where everything keeps being pushed back and cancelled. I made it to Dallas on time no problem... then my flight to NY was cancelled... and lets just say it took a long time to get back here. I sat at DFW all day and made it back around 10:30pm... I was originally supposed to be back around 5:45. It's all good though, I made it.

Tuesday - Audition day! I had an appointment for the Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre in Missouri. Appointments are wonderful things! I didn't have to be there til 10:30, and was in and out in nothing flat! I sang two songs, and the artistic director seemed to really enjoy them! We'll see if I hear anything from them... even if I don't, it was a good audition and I was happy with it! Afterwards I came home then went to the grocery store and got some food! It's kind of fun at the store because they have so many different kinds of things that we don't get in Oklahoma. Different brands, and almost everything says "Organic" on it. I had a fine time, and stayed in the rest of the evening afterwards.

Wednesday - More Auditions! I actually went to two auditions on this day, and was finished by 11:30! It helped that I got there super early to sign up, and they were both in the same building. First I went to a dance call (I know, crazy!) for 42nd Street at Jersey Shore. The combo (tap of course) wasn't actually that hard! It was really just a lot of time steps strung together. i didn't do it perfectly, by any means, but I was proud of myself for holding my own! After doing the combo in groups of 6, they had us do an Irish and some pullbacks individually. It was pretty nerve-wracking, but hey I know how to do those things! Yay! I was cut, but am so glad I went and auditioned. It was great fun to just tap my little heart out... I haven't tap danced since Steel Pier! After that one I headed over to a singing call for The Producers. Got to sing 32 bars, and the people in the room were super nice! He even said "that was terrific!" after I sang. That always makes you feel good! Of course, they didn't tell anyone anything about callbacks, so who knows what their plan is for that. After a full morning of auditioning I came home to rest, then headed back out to try and see a show! I entered the lottery for West Side Story, but didn't win :( I really want to see it, so I'll have to keep trying! I ended up walking down to the Shubert and getting student rush for Blithe Spirit, starring Rupert Everett, Christine Ebersole, and ANGELA LANSBURY!! I was on the 4th row center... my seat was perfect!!! I was so excited to see Angela Lansbury in person, and the show was hilarious! It was a fabulous evening, and I enjoyed myself very much. I stood at the stage door after the show and met all three mentioned above and took pictures with them :) Fun stuff!

Today I slept in and am obviously sitting here blogging! I got a confirmation e-mail this morning for Good Morning America... Tucker will be here and we are going to be in the studio audience on March 25th, so set your DVRs!! Ha, it's something I've never done, and we thought it would be fun for us and everyone at home! So, we'll see how that goes! I hope everyone is having a wonderful day- I hear it is snowy in Oklahoma... it is sunny and pleasant here. Stay warm everyone!

P.S. I finally added some snow pictures to my last post!

Hiiii! It has been a cold past few days! We got lots of snow (I really don't know exactly what the final inch count was... but it was pretty) Karen and I went to Central Park on Monday to enjoy it, and I took a bunch of pictures! Even though I wore several layers, the wind was still so cold! We went to a place called Whole Foods, too, and I love it! I wish we had one in OKC. I could seriously spend a lot of money in there buying organic and natural everything! Had dinner with Savannah, and enjoyed the snow! Tuesday I headed out early to audition for Carousel at the Barrington Stage Co. in MA. This audition moved super quick! I was in and out of that place by 11, which was great. The guys in the room were really laid back and I felt so comfortable singing for them. It was a good audition! They didn't seem to be giving anyone much feedback, so who knows how it really went. Savannah was there, so we went out to lunch and did some window shopping afterward. I feel like I really need to get one great outfit before I leave the city, so I'm working on that :) We all know that I don't really spend money very well... so we'll see if that actually happens. I headed home and had a great nap then went and grabbed some quick food and spent the evening in. It's hard to find motivation to get out when it is so cold!! Today I got up early again and headed down to Times Square to get a student rush ticket for Guys and Dolls. It was so cold (I know I keep mentioning this, but seriously... waaah!) I was first in line, and had no problem getting a ticket. I headed home, got ready, then went back down to midtown. Had a tasty pizza roll-up thingy at a little pizzeria, then on to the theatre! I had great seats! The show was ehhhh... it wasn't bad, but I didn't love it. They used projections instead of having a backdrop. That bothered me for some reason. The acting was a little weird too- they all seemed to be way overly enunciating every word. I did enjoy seeing Oliver Platt live on stage, and it was interesting seeing Lauren Graham from Gilmore Girls as Adelaide. I dunno, I just wasn't too impressed. Nicely-Nicely pretty much stole the show with "Sit Down You're Rockin' The Boat"- loved him! General Cartwright totally busted it out at the end of the number, which was hilarious as well. It was good to see a show-

Now here I am in my apartment about to go to sleep and start another day! Here are some snow pictures:

Hey hey hey! What a busy week! I have been up with the sun the last few days. Don't worry, I have taken several afternoon naps to make up for it :) You all know how much I love to sleep!

Thursday 2/26
I had a full day of nothing to do, so I decided to have an adventure! Karen and I went to the New York Public Library in midtown, and I got my library card! I'm pretty official now. The library is beautiful! I love the gigantic reading room and all of the art on the ceilings. After the library, we headed to Tiffany's to window shop! I somehow didn't realize that there are several floors of that store last time I went, so it was a great surprise to be able to explore all levels of the place! We looked at the gigantic Tiffany diamond, and I got a little over-excited when I read that Audrey Hepburn was one of the only two women who have ever worn it! It was a good day!
Wednesday 2/27
I got up at 5:30am and made it to Union Square by 7:00 for the annual "Running of the Brides." I don't know if you guys have heard of it, but it is a huge dress sale that happens in a store called Filene's Basement every year, and they sell designer gowns marked down to like $200 from thousands. I met my friend Parish there (who is also engaged). We were literally in a line that went down the street, around the corner, and down the next street of crazy women in wild outfits with noise makers and wigs and the full getup. It was pretty intense! It's called the running of the brides because it is compared to the running of the bulls... they open the doors and everyone runs into the store and grabs as many dresses as they can possibly hold. By the time my section of the line made it into the store, the racks were completely bare and there were women everywhere with huge piles of wedding gowns! Then the trading and bartering begins- everyone has signs and is walking around yelling out what size they need and what size they have to trade. It was a crazy zoo of brides and their helpers... I tried on like 4 dresses, and found one that I liked quite a bit, but none that I fell in love with. I don't think I'd be able to buy my wedding dress in that environment! It was really fun to be there and experience it, but pretty insane at the same time. I'm glad we went though :). After we had enough wedding dress shopping, Parish and I headed to the Lincoln Center to check out their Performing Arts Library. Oh my gosh- this place is so awesome! They have all the music you ever wanted, books, scripts, scores, recordings, videos- everything. There are also some galleries in the library, and we saw an exhibit of costumes, sketches, and scenic design models. It was great looking at the actual costumes that were worn in the original productions of some wonderful shows! I also got my "access card," which allows you to go watch archival videos of past productions on Broadway and elsewhere- which is super cool. I plan on spending some time there doing research and learning some shows! After the library, I headed home and met Karen and we went out to dinner. It was such a great day! I never knew I'd love a library so much. haha.
Saturday 2/28
Got up at 5:30 again for an audition. It was for Ogunquit Playhouse, which is somewhere in Maine. This audition was crazy, because they were not allowing people to sign up on an unofficial list... so I had to stand in another line that went all the way down the street until they opened the doors and let us all in to sign up. It was cold, and I was outside for an hour and 45 minutes waiting. Needless to say, it wasn't too fun. Met some nice girls in line though, so that was good! I'm glad I got there early, because I was finished with the audition by 11:00! It was pretty quick, and they didn't seem to be too interested in me- it's all good though. The great thing was that my friend Savannah was there, so we got to go have lunch after we finished auditioning! We went to a place called Bagel Stix, and they had a really good build-your-own salad. Pretty delicious! Savannah and I had a really nice chat, and it was good to talk with someone who's going through the same stuff as me right now! After lunch i headed home and took a 3 hour nap! I didn't mean to sleep that long, but I guess I needed it. That evening Savannah called me and I went and met her to hang out for a while with some of her friends from work, then headed home. Here's the weird thing that happened: Some guy on the subway decided to just start drawing me... so I'm sitting right next to him and he's sketching my face, and everyone is watching him and doesn't say anything. It was pretty awkward! When he finished he handed it to me and said something like "do you think I earned my coffee or soda?" I gave him 2 bucks for the picture. I figured, what the heck, he probably needed that 2 dollars... and in return I get a nicely done sketch that really looks nothing like me. Oh, New York.
and today is Sunday 3/1
Here I am! Jana picked me up for church this morning. She had to be there early, so I walked to a diner down the street from the church to kill the extra hour before the service started. Had some eggs and toast and 2 cups of tea in a pretty little teacup and saucer :) Have you noticed that I really like little diners? Something about them makes me so happy. The people were really nice in this one, too. I'll definitely go back there if I'm ever early to church again! The service was really good, once again. I really like their preacher! It was a nice Sunday morning... now I'm home and it is snowing outside and super cold, so I haven't decided yet what I will do today. We are supposed to get 5-8 inches of snow today, and then 3-5 more tomorrow! So, while it will be really cold, I hope it's at least pretty out!

Now for the news: I have decided that I will only be staying in New York until the end of March. I just feel like, while I am so glad that I came here, it is just not the right time for me to be doing this. My plan is to go home and keep auditioning (I can road trip to neighboring states for auditions, too!) and find a job locally, plan my wedding(!!!), and start life! It seems like everything is on hold while I am here, and it just doesn't feel right. I plan on coming to NYC many many more times for auditions, and spending months here every year in hopes of getting summer work each summer. I've just got to do what's best for me, and going back at the end of March seems to be it! So, there ya go :) In the meantime, I'll still be here going to as many auditions as possible- and maybe I'll get a summer job somewhere. Who knows! I'm just trusting my gut and living each day!

Much love- hope everyone is well!

Here are some pictures:

Here's that guy's sketch... what do you think?

a mountain of dresses, and hundreds of brides trying to get their hands on them.

Here's the view of the line that was down the next street... meaning we were behind 2 other streets worth of people.

more line views.

the Rose reading room at the NY Public Library

<--Jana's church and below, me enjoying NYC's diners!

Mid-week update!

Hello there! It's been a good week so far. My cold seems to be easing up a bit, so it's easier to breathe :) Monday I went and found Best Buy and purchased a webcam, then downloaded Skype on my computer. It is great to talk to my family and Tucker online while getting to see their faces at the same time!! It makes me happy! It was super cold and windy, so I decided to stay in for the evening and keep my ears and fingers intact. ha. Tuesday was another audition day! It was my first ever "legit singing" audition... it was for Camelot at Goodspeed in CT. This audition didn't start til 2:00, so I got to sleep a little later than other audition days, which was nice! They did typing again, and I was typed in again :) I waited forever and then sang 16 bars of Mr. Snow. I did not sound so good... but I guess it could have been worse. I can belt with a cold, but head voice just isn't my friend when I'm that congested. I felt accomplished for going to the call though! -and being typed in always feels nice. After the audition ended I headed over to have dinner with my friend Blake from high school. We ate at a place called California Pizza Kitchen, and I had a delicious Chicken Pesto pizza. Yum-o! Auditioning is exhausting (even if most of the day is spent sitting and waiting), so I went to bed early once again. OH. Also, that night when I was walking to my apartment 3 huge RATS ran past me on the street. Not even kidding. I was proud of myself for maintaining my composure, but it scared the crap out of me. Guh-rosssss! Just thought you needed to know that. Wednesday (Today)- it was warmer! Sunny and 40 degrees! I slept in, then Karen and I decided to head out to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the afternoon! On the way, we stopped at the cutest little corner diner called 3 Star. I had a delicious turkey wrap, and we enjoyed watching all the little old men come in and sit at the counter for their lunch. The museum was good... they have a "suggested" admission fee, so you get to pay whatever you want to get in :) I enjoyed looking at some great European paintings, and really loved the modern art. We only spent two hours there and barely made a dent in the place- it is so huge! It was nice and relaxing to just walk around and look at everything though, and we had a good time! Tonight Jana picked me up and we had dinner at a yummy Italian place together, then went to the Ash Wednesday service at her church. Overall it was a good day!

Tomorrow is another open day- so who knows what I'll do! Love you all-

My first week as a New Yorker

Hello world! I thought this might be the easiest way to document and share my experiences while I am away, and I hope to keep up with it- no promises though! Many of you have wondered how my first week in the City went, so here ya go:

TUESDAY, 2/17
I left OKC at 8:20 in the morning. Yes, there were tears, but I was proud of myself for keeping it under control :) we flew to DFW, where for some reason there was not a gate prepared for us, so we sat on the runway waiting forever! I was really nervous, because my layover was only 45 minutes, and I spent most of it sitting on the plane not being able to get off. We finally pulled up to a gate and I ran to my next flight (DFW is huge.) I was the last one on the plane- but I made it! My luggage, however, did not. I arrived at LaGuardia on time, then waited an hour for the next flight to come in from Dallas- luckily my luggage was on that one! It was a really long day full of waiting, because I then had to wait on a shuttle to pick me up and we had to go all over Manhattan before I made it to my apartment, but finally around 6:30 I arrived! My apartment is really cutely decorated, and my roommates are very nice and welcoming. I didn't do anything my first night but sleep- it was an exhausting day!!

WEDNESDAY, 2/18
I slept in a little bit, which was wonderful! My good friend Terren lives only a block away from my apartment, so I walked over there to hang out with him for a while. We went and bought my metrocard and headed to midtown to have lunch with anotherUCO friend, Savannah. Ate a tasty sandwich at a cute diner called Galaxy Diner. Later that day I went to the grocery store to get a few important things to have on hand (ramen, PB&J, bread...) then went to bed early again. By Wednesday I was starting to develop a cold, which is still very present but I am a little less stuffy today!

THURSDAY, 2/19 - Audition Day #1!
I got up at 6:45, showered and headed out to Nola Studios for an audition! Unfortunately, when I got on the subway nearest to my apartment, someone was sick in the train in front of us and they stopped running the trains! I had to walk pretty far to find another subway line, but I made it and got myself down to midtown. I felt like a big dork because I got completely confused in Columbus Circle (which is really cool, by the way) and walked around the circle for a while having no idea which way to go. I finally got to Nola at 8:45, and there were a ton of people there. I signed up on the list nad was number 317. Insane. The audition was for Merry Go Round Playhouse, which is in upstate New York and their season is: Full Monty, High School Musical, No No Nanette, A Chorus Line, Life of Tony Bennett, and A Buddy Holly show. I sat and waited for 8 and 1/2 hours to sing! Pretty crazy. I sang "I Can Cook Too," and they asked me to come back the next day to dance for them! I was pretty ecstatic to have a callback after my first audition, even though the day was extremely long and tiring. That night I came back to my apartment and rested by watching a movie with my roommate, Karen.

FRIDAY, 2/20 - Audition Day #2
Got up much earlier this day to head to auditions. My callback for Merry-Go-Round wasn't until 10:00, so I got up at 5:45 and went straight to Ripley-Grier Studios to sign up to audition for Thoroughly Modern Millie at the Media Theatre (Media, PA) This time I was signed up for #20, and headed home to get ready for the day. (We'll come back to this audition)
Callback: I arrived back at Nola at 8:45 to discover that they were not, indeed, having a separate dance callback for the singers from the prevoius day- they were seeing their called back singers in the open dance call. Now, I am a good mover, but when I see 300 dancer dancers in a small room and realize that I am being judged against them... well it was a little intimidating :) There were so many people there that I was asked to come at 1:45 to dance, so I went and did the audition that I will write about in a minute in the meantime. Fast forward to 1:45- We were seen in groups of 30, and they taught a High School Musical combination first. It really was pretty easy except for one turny jumpy to the floor part... he just taught it fast. I know that if I had a few more minutes to process the information I would have been much more successful, but I suppose that's just how dance calls go! I was in the first group of 4 that had to do it, so I literally learned it and went. I smiled a lot and had a good time- and it was really fun watching all of the great dancers that were in the room with me! Needless to say, they didn't ask me to stay and dance for A Chorus Line. haha.
Millie open call: So, as you know, I went to check out the callback before returning to the Millie call. Luckily, I made it back to Ripley-Grier just in time for typing! Woo! For those of you who don't know, sometimes when there are a ton of people at an audition and they know what body types they are looking for, the directors will bring you in to look at you and decide if they even want to hear you sing or not. It's really awkward, but I guess it saves everyone time in the long run. They brought us in 10 at a time, and asked us to step forward and say something when our name was called. It was really awkward, but I just tried to be as perky and relaxed as possible. I guess it worked, because i was typed-in and they asked me to stay and sing. I sang "I Can Cook, Too" again (Note: I have this cold, and at least I knew that those notes had come out the day before!) The accompanist was... less than wonderful... but I kept singing and got through it! They didn't ask many to stay and dance, and I was not one of the few. Good experience though! Once again, I got home that evening and crashed out.
Ohh a really fun thing from this day is that I made a new friend from Oklahoma! Her name is Parish and she went to OU. We met on the elevator and it was so funny how much we had in common! She also just got engaged, her fiance lives in Oklahoma, she is in town auditioning til May... pretty funny! We spent the day running back and forth together, and it was really nice to not have to go it alone.

SATURDAY, 2/21
I don't know about you, but 2 days of auditions made me tired. I think being in New York with a cold in general made me tired, too... so I had a very restful Saturday. I got out to the grocery store to get a few things and had some lunch, but other than that I stayed in and relaxed most of the day. In the early evening Karen took me to a nice little restaurant down the street called Cafe Largo for happy hour and we had a nice time just chatting and hanging out. Karen actually knows Tucker's family from church growing up- it's a small world! I went to bed early, once again.

SUNDAY, 2/22
My "aunt" Jana lives not too far away from me, and she offered to pick me up for church this morning! She goes to a Disciples church on the upper east side, so I was happy to join her. They have a beautiful sanctuary with Tiffany stained glass windows and a huge pipe organ. Everyone was so welcoming and nice, and there were a lot of Oklahoma people there! I really enjoyed the sermon and the music and the fellowship, and I am sure that I will be returning there. After church I headed to brunch with Karen and her friends that live near us. It was great to meet some new people! They are all dancers who went to school together in PA. After brunch was naptime, and then the Oscars! We had a full apartment of Oscar-watchers, and it was a really fun evening :) A great end to my first week in town!

I hope that wasn't too much of an information overload! I'm sure my posts won't always be this long, but I just had a lot to report! I already miss home, but am enjoying myself and am really happy that I finally made the leap. It doesn't quite feel real yet, but I'm sure everything will eventually settle.

It's going to be a fun few months! Love you and miss you all-