M-I-C-K-E-Y-M-O-U-S-E!

Well...I suppose that's not all, as my post a couple of months ago said!  I'll be leaving in March for two months of training in Toronto, Canada, before I embark on the Disney Magic cruise ship for seven months in the Mediterranean!  I never thought I'd be given this opportunity again when I turned down the Disney Dream contract in October.  I thought wrong!  I'm so glad I waited.  Not only to be able to have the past couple of months with my sister, Victoria, while she was in The States, but also for a much better cruise itinerary.  God always has a plan!

As Bugs Bunny would say, "That's All Folks!"

Across the street there...

I'm safe and sound at my new home in Greenville, North Carolina after an eventful end to my time in NYC.  The transition might take some 

                          getting used to...

across the street here.

Yep. That's my house. This is Greenville.

Until the next adventure! ...If this isn't one.

We Get Around

So the next chapter of our not-so-bad Hurricane Sandy story:

The George Washington Bridge. Only 3 miles to get out of the city from my apartment.

 










After the subways closed on Sunday at 7:00 pm, my mom and I waited at my apartment Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we decided to make a move.  Laguardia Airport was said to be scheduled to stay closed until Thursday morning at least.  Both of our flights were supposed to be Thursday afternoon.  We went with our gut and decided our flight would probably be canceled and rented a car to make the drive to North Carolina.  It turns out we got the last car for hours, and the place we got it from was also the only Hertz location open in all of NYC...and only 11 blocks from my apartment.  Blessed.  And the gas tank was full.  Blessed.

Our ironically beautiful drive through unaffected parts of New Jersey.

NY, NJ, DE, MD, VA, NC = $24 in tolls

Welcome to Maryland

Capitol Building view from the freeway.

With 2 1/2 hours of crawling traffic through D.C. rush hour, it was a very long day.  But we were blessed more than we even realized when we returned home where the was a TV to see the devastation across the Northeast Coast.  We had no idea just how bad it was while we were holed up in my apartment, safe in Washington Heights.  Thank goodness my mom was with me to rent a car since I'm not the legal car-renting-age of 25...or I might still be there waiting.

Yep, The Pentagon too

Oh Sandy...

Well as you might have guessed, my mom's trip ended up being extended due to the kind Hurricane Sandy.  Her flight was originally scheduled for Monday night, so she decided to play it safe and reschedule for Thursday.  This way we could go to the airport together too.  Here's how we spent the next few days at home while all public transit was down:

What can we say?  A girl's gotta have her chocolate chip cookies!

On Monday afternoon before the storm really hit, we attempted a trip to the store to satisfy our craving for chocolate chip cookies.  Needless to say, the storm was just getting worse and the store changed it's early close time from 6:00pm to 2:00pm.  Outta luck.

Instead we...

...did puzzles,

 

 

 

 

 

 

...read books

...and watched movies.

On Tuesday we decided to get some fresh air, go to the store, and check out the damage.

One of the trees down in the park across the street from my apartment.

That brick building across the street is my apartment.  Glad it didn't fall the other direction.

Another tree...

A spattering of leaves at my front door.

Thank you Jesus for keeping us safe.  Although we could hear the trees cracking across the street, Washington Heights did not even lose power.

A Weekend in Photos...

"Why don't we go to Sarabeths!?" - consult iphone and it is only a block away!

Fall on the Hudson

After a delicious brunch...a walk on the Esplanade of Batter Park City.

Pinot Noir and Thai chicken satay at the Marriott

After resting up at our hotel, these classy ladies stopped at the Marriott for wine and appetizers before the first Broadway musical of the weekend, "Nice Work If You Can Get It."

A new 1920's screwball comedy full of songs by George and Ira Gershwin

Coffee milkshakes, french fries, and sweet potato fries are a perfect prelude to a matinee performance of Newsies. Is my Momma beautiful or what?!

I won the ticket lottery AGAIN!!  The second time did not disappoint!

The end of day 2.  At Lincoln Center after another classy evening.

After a morning of logistics and planning due to Hurricane Sandy's untimely forecast, it's time for another show of course!  Yes, that is where our priorities lie.  

Ready for Hurricane Sandy, we hope!

The Mystery of Edwin Drood is a musical about a murder mystery novel by Charles Dickens that was never finished before his death.  So the ending is quite literally, a mystery all, including the cast.  The audience votes on "whodunit" and according to their votes, the cast produces that ending.  Broadway star Chita Rivera was sick and therefore not performing and thus, the director offered to give every ticket-holder another ticket for a performance of their choice!  What better show to see a second time than one which has a different ending every time!

Another spectacular show to add to the list!  And what an interesting concept this whole show is!

A Watched Pot Never Boils

So my absence has been due to the lack of content to write about.  I'll just say that I have been quite lonely here in this big city lately and am very ready to go back to North Carolina in just over a week.  I have yet to be able to call the place "home," although the people (my family) will definitely make it so.  But...this will not be one of those "sad girl blogs," so on to other things.

There have been so few auditions in the past two weeks, making me all the more ready to head out, but there have been a few:

• October 16th, Chicago - Currently running on Broadway, 10:00 dancer ECC
• I almost didn't go because I knew the whole city would show up for this audition because, well, as they say, "sex sells."  I arrived at 7:45am to sign in.  I waited until 11:45 when non-equity was "typed out" by resume and headshot because of the lack of time for the masses of women who showed up.  Well, my resume and headshot sell sweet and beautiful, not hot and sexy.

• October 16th, Miracle on 34th Street - Westchester Broadway Dinner Theater, NY, 2:00 singer ECC
• Headed over to another audition studio after waiting all morning for Chicago.  Signed in, went and got lunch, came back, changed into my dress and heels, returned to the holding room, told that there would not be time for non-equity.  Two for two.

• October 17th, Miracle on 34th Street - Westchester Broadway Dinner Theater, NY, singer open call
• Came back the next day when I found out there would be an open call.  Went in, sang my 16 bars, and went home.

• October 23rd, Silence! The Musical - Currently running Off Broadway, dancer ECC
• This call was DESERTED.  One group of Equity and one group of non.  Less than 50 women total.  I did not do my homework on this show and realized after I got there that this was not a show that I would want to be in.

So in my abundance of free time, what have I been doing?

- I have been taking class, after class, after class, and have not felt this strong in years.  Even though I am eager to go back to more of a permanent lifestyle, I will definitely miss all these classes being at my fingertips.

- I have begun and finished season 1 of Mad Men.

- I have spent a lot of time at Barnes and Noble.

- I have been applying to any and every online job application for Greenville, NC.

- I have probably stalked you on Facebook.

What is holding me over for the next week and a half?  My Mommy is coming to NY in 3 days!  It will be like old times when we lived in NJ and came to the city!  Only now I will take her around instead of her taking me around.  And we can drink wine together.

Audition Update:

• October 1st, Evita - Currently running on Broadway

• Disaster Audition.  I guess everyone has to have at least one.  This was definitely mine.  However, I'm sure it wasn't as bad as the slow-motion version in my head....

•  October 1st, Prather Entertainment Group Season Generals - Fort Myers, FL.  Lancaster, PA.  On Tour. 
• I had to sing to be able to attend the dance call-back.  I wasn't kept to strut my stuff, but it was still good to feel like I did a decent job singing.

• October 3rd, Big Fish, a new musical - Chicago preview run before heading to Broadway
• Non-Equity dismissed

• October 4th, Disney Character Performers - Disney Cruiseline 
•  Kept through the dancing first round for the animation second round.  Resume on file for 12 months.

• October 8th, Frog Kiss - Virginia Stage Company, Norfolk, VA
• Nothing special to report other than it would have been fun to perform so close to where I grew up.  Waited for hours, danced for minutes.

•  Ocober 10th, Carnival Cruiseline
•  Four grand battements and a double jazz pirouette, both right and left.  Chose people from there.  Clearly they had a look they were going for, because I definitely have those steps down.

TODAY - 6 1/2 hours of waiting and not seen at either call.  Ugh.

• October 11th, Tuck Everlasting, the musical - Broadway Across America (performing in Boston)
•  Non-Equity dismissed
• October 11th, Thoroughly Modern Millie - Maltz Jupiter Theater (Jupiter, FL) & Papermill Playhouse (Millburn, NJ)
• Non-Equity dismissed.  Better luck tomorrow at the open call for this one.  I was just hoping to get a head start.