Tours

You know, those double-decker bus tours are kinda fun. My family came in this weekend and they wanted to do the uptown tour in New York, which we did. They're long and they're kind of nice to just sit and take pictures and get an idea of where things are. I wish we had gone on the night tour or the Brooklyn tour more, but it was what my grandparents wanted.


It was nice that my mom was able to come up so that when my grandparents got too tired, they could go back to the hotel and we were still able to walk around the city and talk and play. I wish they would come up again every weekend I'm here until finals, but not only is that unrealistic, it isn't going to help much when it comes time to write these stupid papers. I also got my mom hooked on Sprinkles, which is reassuring that they are really good cupcakes, since this is the woman who swears she's not that impressed with cupcakes in general.


The thing is, most New Yorkers never want to be hokey. They avoid Times Square like the plague and try to avoid anything mainstream and chains. Yeah, there are times that I get frustrated when I'm trying to walk somewhere and I'm behind people who are stopping to look at everything or who are clearly tourists, however, some of those things are fun. It's nice to take a walk through Central Park in fall and take pictures of the changing leaves. It's fun to sometimes get on a tour bus and be driven around the city, especially when so many people seldom leave their own neighborhoods. Sometimes, it's nice to just go to Times Square and shop up there instead of near your apartment (though, this is the least important one). The thing is that everyone is a little cliche, and by trying sooo hard to not be cliche, you're fulfilling one of the biggest cliches of all and you're being annoying. I'm never going to like slow walkers, but I will make it a point to get to Central Park every fall to see the leaves.


In other news, I'm trying to think of places that my friends and I can live, but it is so nerve-wracking and I'm just scared we're going to end up someplace shady - which I know with Laura, we won't. It's just the first time I'm living in an apartment, paying my own rent without my family and that just feels so final. This could be the last summer that I spend in Pittsburgh for the entire summer and I can't handle that thought. I love New York and I'm so sad to have to start thinking about leaving and heading home for the summer, but it's weird to be thinking about completely changing my life for real.


It's finals time. I really need to just sit down and start pounding out papers, especially my Genre Meets Gender paper because that class feels as though it is a colossal waste of time and I need to just be finished with it all. My goal is to finish it by the end of the weekend (fingers crossed). Clearly, Adrienne and I are going to not be allowed to talk or see each other this weekend or neither of us are getting anything done.


One last thing, before I go to watch Glee and start thinking about my final papers - vote for my friend Kaitlyn? Her book blog, Kaitlyn in Bookland is a fantastic blog, if you haven't checked it out already and it would mean the world to me if you clicked this link and gave her some love: http://www.goodreads.com/book_blogger_award/entry/318


Thanks!!!


xx

The Semester in Review

It's the end of the semester. I'm getting ready to go home for Christmas on Monday. And you know what? I've had a very good semester. 


It was kind of boring until Halloween and even that was kind of boring (it was so crazy it was hard to do/see anything), but after How to Succeed in Business, things really picked up. After that, I saw Billy Elliot after unsuccessfully getting tickets to Wicked. It was amazing. It's probably my favorite show that I've seen on Broadway so far. It was really spectacular. I cried, I laughed, the music is fantastic. I'm really sad that it's closing in January. If you have a chance to see it, you should. It's touring right now, so you should definitely try and see it. Pittsburgh friends, it'll be in town at the end of January/early February. I was a little skeptical about it, because I love the movie, but I wasn't sure how that would adapt to the stage, but they really did a great job and remained true to the film as much as they possibly could. I love the song "Solidarity," it was probably the minute I realized I loved the show.


Thursday, I saw Bonnie and Clyde, which was also amazing. It is unfortunately closing WAY too soon (December 30th). I really hope there is a cast recording, because it's such a great show and it's great music. It's really bloody (duh, it's about Bonnie and Clyde), but it was kind of awesome. Jeremy Jordan was a PHENOMENAL Clyde. He's completed my trifecta of modern male stage stars that I love based purely on their talent, joining Norbert Leo Butz and Raul Esparza. Laura Osnes is Bonnie and that girl can belt like it's her job. She was amazing and I hope she bounces back quickly because she is too talented to not be the next Sherie Rene Scott. They have amazing chemistry and it was a fantastic show. If you're in New York and you can see it before it closes, you really should. I hope they release a cast recording :(


I also watched people arrive for Blair Waldorf's wedding, which was spectacular. I did not see Leighton Meester, Blake Lively, or Ed Westwick, but I did see Penn Badgley, Chace Crawford, Matthew Settle, Kelly Rutherford, Margaret Colin, Wallace Shawn, and Michelle flipping Trachtenberg!!! It was beautiful and everyone looked fantastic (except Michelle, but you know Georgie's up to no good). I wish I had been able to be there the day Leighton was spotted in the streets in her wedding dress, but I probably (unfortunately) had class. Next semester, I am all about creeping around on them in my spare time. 


I don't know how much spare time I'll have, because I got an internship with the Wendy Williams show! I don't know much about it yet, except that I got it and I am so excited! I went to her show one day with Laura and she was like "You need to work here," and I applied and got a call for an interview the next day. I'm so excited, you all know how much I love the show and I think I'm really going to learn SO MUCH. It's going to be great. Because of that, I don't know how much time I'm going to be spending in Pittsburgh for break (WAH), but hopefully I get more details soon so I can figure out my flight and my time home and such. 


HOME ON MONDAY! I'm so excited. I can't wait. I miss Pittsburgh so much :)