LEGALLY BLONDE & THE GUGGENHEIM

I love Legally Blonde the Musical. Ever since I saw Wicked the summer of 2005, there hasn't been a play that I have loved quite as much as Wicked, but Legally Blonde comes pretty dang close. About 8 of us bought student rush tickets for $26.50 and ended up with front row seats right behind the orchestra. It was almost awkwardly close, but still great. I've never seen the movie Legally Blonde all the way through, but I think the play followed it pretty closely. It was very funny, very blonde, and very pop culture. It wasn't anything deeply inspiring or thought provoking like other plays - it was what it is - Legally Blonde, but very well done. At intermission, I was smiling and laughing, and so excited for the last half of the play. Maybe I just related well to the blonde who wants to go to Harvard Law and loves pink, ha! So, that was our adventure Friday night. Stephen, Rachel and I decided to take the long way home. We walked from 47th, where the play was, all the way to 86th, only because it was a beautiful night. I love taking in the city at night.
Today, the Guggenheim called our name. I think that it is my favorite museum thus far. The meseum is renovating, so about 1/3 of the galleries were closed, but what was left open was just enough to take in. For some reason, the times I've been to art museums here, in D.C., or even at the MOA in Provo, they often turn into spiritual experiences. The first time I saw Starry Starry Night by Van Gough at the MOMA, it gave me chills. It's gorgeous in real life. The Guggenheim had other works by Van Gough, Monet's, Picasso, and others, but I decided that I always love to see Van Gough. The piece that caught my attention this time was Mountains at Saint Remy (I'll put a picture below). The museum was featuing Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang. I hadn't ever heard of him, but apparently he's really well known in China. He had some really neat installation pieces. I'd try to describe them, but I think it would just sound wierd if I tried. The hanging, lighting cars (up top) is one of his. It's called, I Want to Believe. Anyway, quite the mix of culture this weekend, but that's the latest!

VIRGINIA BEACH

Well, I spent the long Memorial Day weekend in Virginia Beach to visit Jeff, and since I'm writing a week late, I'll just give the synopsis. I had a blast! I flew in Friday night on a very quick flight, and then flew out early early Tuesday morning. While Jeff worked, I spent my time with "the wives" at the pool, the Norfolk Botanical Gardens which are beautiful , shopping, and working on my portfolio. All of the time with these younger wives taught me a lot, ha! I learned a lot about budgetting, and spending as little money as possible, and what your husband does when you spend more than you should. Jennie, Jeff's sister and Emily, another wife are both pregnant. So, besdies exposure to issues of early married life, I helped decide on a pair of maternity jeans, and familiarized myself with the different aches and pains that come with pregnancy. For example, leg cramps in the middle of the night, random stretching feelings across your tummy, inability to sleep, and the excitement of a miracle growing inside you. Wife time was definitely educational, but I really did enjoy it. Sunday, thought, was probably my favorite day, probably because Jeff didn't have to work. After church at 9, we made a full loaf of French toast. A while ago for Sunday dinner, Jeff and his family introduced me to putting hot applesauce and syrup on top of French toast. It sounds a little wierd, but it is so good! Especially when Jeff's little brother makes homemade cinnamon syrup. So, we had French toast with all of the toppings. Sunday night, Chris and Jennie (Jeff's sister and brother-in-law) had us over for dinner - very yummy. Jeff and I then spent the rest of our night at the beach. We rented bikes, (yes... broke the Sabbath) and rode along the walkway, walked to the water waded in the cold ocean. We rode the ferris wheel on the beach and began to fill out this book I got for us at Urban Outfitters. It's called "The Two of Us", and it asks a bunch of random questions. I'll have to dedicate a whole post to the book later. Anyway, we ended the night with oreos and milk at Jeff's. It was a wonderful day, and the goodbye wasn't too bad, ha! I'm heading back for the 4th of July, so that will be fun. Here's some pics from the weekend. Jeff took pictures of us while we were riding bikes, and on our way out to the beach, we saw a Statue of Liberty, ha! We had to take a picture, since Jeff can't come to NY, this will be good enough, ha ha!

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MORE OF ME

Here's a taste of life as it stands. . . Brother on a mission, Jeff in Virginia Beach, Family at home, and me and my friends in New York. There's a little bit of the past year in here too.

BRINGING IT UP TO SPEED

So, now I'll catch up on the past 3 weeks that I've been here, and give you a little taste of my New Yorkness, ha! I live in a very small NY room on the Upper-West Side, north of Colombia, and almost to Harlem. I take the subway to work every morning, with only transfer. I get off at Grand Central station and walk a few blocks to about 40th and 3rd avenue where I work at McCann Erickson (An advertising agency, if you didn't already know) on the 23rd floor. Matt Miller, my partner, and I have been spending our days working on Verizon, brainstorming and creating campaigns. Lately we (the 3 other McCann interns and I) love eating at this little street cart for lunch. It's called Rafiqi's, and it's Halal food. Halal food, is that right? Well, it's spicy and yummy, and not too expensive, which is great. I've been keeping our nights full. Last Monday, Randi, V, and I took a random trip out to Queens searching for this little shop that I'll tell you about as soon as I can. . . ha! Randi and I went to Little Mermaid Tuesday. I can't quite remember what we did with Wednesday, Thursday. . . We went to the Museum of Natural History on Saturday where I met Thumbelina, the world's smallest horse. She weights 57 lbs, and is 17.5 inches tall, crazy! I'll even attach a picture to prove it.

Saturday night we saw a Julliard dance concert, and then discovered this little Italian place called Pisticci's not even a block away from the Ihouse, where we live. I've met a lot of fun people here. I live on the 7th floor, which just happens to be a social one. The Sunday trend has been to walk through Central Park before or after church and just enjoy it. Well, that's a pretty quick summary. Hopefully I'll keep pretty on top of it from now on.

THE BEGINNING OF MY BIG APPLE ADVENTURES

So what better time to become a regular blogger than while I'm spending the summer in New York City? It's a perfect time, I know. So between my brainstorming and campaign-creating at McCann Erickson, I have some fun. Let me fill you in. I'll start with today's adventure at Good Morning America.

My alarm went off at 5:00 A.M., hit the snooze 5 times, up at 5:25, shower, get ready, and out of the door by 6:05 to catch the subway to 42nd street. Then off the train, walk a few blocks and we arrived at Bryant Park and started our hour and a half wait in a big line to watch Josh. I feel like I was close enough to him that we can be on first name basis, ha! Yes, Josh Groban. He is just as good live as he is on each of his CD's, but he was also very nice, and very funny. Oh, and did I mention the rain? Nope, not yet. There was a nice rain, then mist, then rain that showered us all morning, but it only added to the experience. Overall, it was definitely a blast. I just might be back next week for Counting Crows, we'll see.

(That's Billy, Vanessa, Me, Randi & Stephen up top, then V and I again down below.)