One year wiser

.Work is going really well. I just wanted to start with that because I’ve been working a lot but I’m really liking my job. I guess about as much as you can enjoy your job. I’ve been working to put a system in place to make the company’s product turnaround run smoother. It’s keeping me really busy so the days are flying by. The office is a beautiful townhouse on the Upper East Side and I even have my own desk!
In my first week on the job one of my coworkers in charge of outfitting the staff took me to Talbot’s and Anne Taylor on 5th Avenue. She bought me all sorts of work clothes so I don’t have to worry about anything. Because it’s a small business, instead of ordering uniforms for everybody they just send all new employees out with a personal shopper. It was awesome. I’ve never done anything like that, and I hardly even go clothes shopping for myself so I had to get over feeling a little awkward. It was kinda funny watching all the employees at the stores we went to (who get paid on commission) come scrambling to help me out when they saw that I had a personal shopper. It was like a scene from Pretty Woman. Only not. haha. Well, I made out like a bandit I got a bunch of work clothes that I get to just leave at work and change into every day when I get there. It’s really working out nicely.
Some of my favorite tasks at work so far have been gathering items for photo shoots. Magazine editors get a hold of me and tell me what products they want to feature in their magazines and I send it to them. I’ve been emailing with all sorts of big wig editors from all sorts of magazines. It’s kind of a scary responsibility but fun to know that I can read Vogue next month and see the desk set I picked out of the store in a full page spread.
Another thing I’ve enjoyed doing is helping prep for design meetings. Whenever the boss and her design posse have a meeting to discuss new stuff I get to help put together all their ideas (in a little more organized fashion). I get to see all the pretty ideas they have before they make it passed the drawing board. It’s a lot of fun. I’ve really gotten to know the color copier in our office. Haha. Not to mention I’ve gotten to speak with the boss a little bit and she’s a really interesting lady.
Outside of work I’ve been going to Community Group and having fun as always. We’ve been discussing our most recent sermon series on Jesus’ “I am” statements. It’s really fascinating how Jesus used metaphors so perfectly to paint a very clear picture of what he meant to the world. I’ve been learning a lot and I’m so thankful to have a good group of people to learn with.
On March 15th I had another “Sopranos” dinner theater show. This one was in New Jersey at a place I’ve done a show at before. (Now I know I’ve been doing this a while.) It was at a hotel in a huge conference center. There were about 350 people there and boy were they rowdy. I have to admit that I’d be hard pressed to find a more hilarious way to spend my Saturday night than performing with this troop of craziness for an even crazier batch of New Jersey’s finest. Never in a million years did I think I’d been doing something like this for a living. I mean, I basically dance the “electric slide” all night dressed up as an old lady. Does it get any funnier?
Sunday the 16th, after the PM church service, I met up with the people from my first Community Group. We went out for coffee in Union Square at a cozy little café and got all caught up. I really missed those guys. A lot has been happening in our lives so it was really nice to meet up again. We closed the place down and resolved to meet there again sometime. I’m so glad I’ve made those lasting friendships; I’m very lucky.
Lately, as you may have noticed, I’ve been doing some traveling. My most recent adventure was in the form of a surprise visit to Evansville, Indiana to see some of my favorite kiddos perform in a production of Sondheim’s “Company.” I didn’t tell anyone I was coming and I flew down on St. Patrick’s Day (which is hilarious in NYC by the way). I went for a quick dinner at my favorite Greek restaurant, the Acropolis, when I got to town. Then I went to the school and surprised everyone in the cast and saw the show. Some of my good friends (who are now seniors) directed it and some others were in it. It was a great production. I was so proud of all the hard work my friends did. They really put together a tight show. I’m so glad I was able to see it!
I got to visit with friends, old professors, and other random people from my UE days (like the lunch lady who remembered me haha). I really miss all of them and I’m excited because a bunch of them will be moving to NYC upon graduating.
The Tuesday I was there was actually kinda funny because it rained a record amount in Evansville and the city even made national news. I was scared I wasn’t gonna be able to fly out, but the rain cleared up. There were, however, some crazy puddles to dodge so I spent a lot of my trip soaked head to toe.
While there, I got to see the show twice, I sat in and watched some of my other friends perform in directing scenes, and even I pulled an “all nighter” with my friends who are seniors and working on their thesis papers. I got the real college experience. It was like I never left.
I was only there until Wednesday morning (3/19) but it was a great trip. It was totally worth it to see everyone’s reactions when they saw me. I must’ve heard “are you really here or am I hallucinating?” about three times. If you get a chance to pay someone a surprise visit, I highly recommend it. It made my heart swell.
The next big event in recent times was Holy Week. I went to Good Friday service after work on the 21st. It was a nice service and not too somber. On Sunday I went to Easter service in the morning. It was really beautiful. The band sounded particularly lovely that day.
After church I went to my friend Ilyse’s house for brunch. She lives out in Brooklyn in the second story of a house. A real house! You don’t see actual houses in NY all that often so it was kinda homey there. Hehe. She invited a lot of friends over. I knew some of them from church but mostly I got to meet a lot of new people. It was a great time. We stayed and visited for several hours before I headed back to Queens.
On Easter, I also got to drink some Diet Coke for the first time since the beginning of Lent. I gave up soda for Lent this year. It was quite a challenge and I really am glad I followed through with it. You learn a lot about your faith when you give something up for Lent.
The day after Easter was my Dad’s birthday. Awww, Dad.
Wednesday after work I went to Ryan’s Irish Pub on the Lower East Side to celebrate my friend Adam’s birthday. I got to meet a bunch of new people and discovered a fun place to go out and grab a drink at. Adam’s exactly one day older than me.
Thursday I became one year wiser. I’m 24 years old. I had to work during the day but I kept getting phone messages from friends and the parentals who showed the love. I was also surprised when they got a cake at work to help celebrate. Everyone took time out of their day to come have a slice (of course).
It was a “Coconut Cloud Cake” from Caroline’s Bakery. I’m not usually nuts for coconuts, if you know what I mean, but it was really tasty!
After work on the 3rd anniversary of my 21st birthday, my friends from Community Group took me out to dinner. We went to La Vineria in midtown for some authentic Italian food. It was kinda fancy, the kind of place you need a reservation. My friends took care of that earlier in the month so I felt pretty special.
This place was awesome! I felt like I was in Italy. The wait staff was definitely straight outta Ital-land. I had some tasty red wine and even tastier lasagna. Whoa it was good. Definitely something to write home about or at least in a blog.
We were there for about 3 hours (hehe) and about half way through the evening the power went out in the restaurant. It got pitch black and everybody in the crowded restaurant was about to get rowdy when I saw a little flicker of light in one corner of the joint. It was the candle on my birthday flan. Soon the whole place was singing “Happy Birthday” to me. Aww! It was so cool! I felt so special! The custardy flan creation was really tasty too! The power hadn’t gone out after all.

Valentine's Day thru the end of February

Whoa, life’s been runnin’ away from me. I’ve been so busy lately that I’ve hardly remembered to keep this updated. Oops!
I believe I left off on Valentine’s Day! I think I’d like to call it Singles’ Awareness Day or Oregon’s Birthday. Those are much more colorful and, at this point in my life, more meaningful names for February 14th.
I went to work on Valentine’s Day and dealt with the usual crazy crowd of makeup buyers for far too long. After that I had a Community Group Meeting. It was nice to meet up with friends on V-Day. My friend Ilyse bought us all cupcakes from a famous cupcake bakery in Manhattan. Of course, the name escapes me now but they were very tasty nonetheless. After a great discussion on the past Sunday’s sermon I went home feeling like V-Day was not a total bust. Thank God for my Community Group.
I hung out with my roommates Kelly and Lebeka on Friday night. We made dinner together and chillaxed. Saturday I had a performance with the dinner theatre again. This time we were in Massapequa Long Island. I get to travel to all these random cities around here and meet the locals. It’s a trip in more ways than one.
Sunday I had a busy day at church with reading the Benediction and being a part of the Load Out team. After church I met up with my friend Drea from UET. We ate some dinner at the Panera by my apartment in Queens. We missed Panera from Evansville. Drea’s doing well in the city as a costume stitcher. You may have seen some of her work on Broadway or on Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to name a few. Can you tell I’m proud of her? We worked together in the costume shop at UE. I’m glad she’s here too!
Monday was President’s Day. Pretty much all of NY had the day off and didn’t know why; oddly enough. I met up with my friend Ilyse and we went to Central Park to go ice skating. It was an unusually warm day so the rink was covered in massive puddles. We decided against the skating because we saw that everyone who left the rink was soaked from head to toe. No thanks.
Ilyse and I walked around the 5th avenue are near Central Park then went to a friend’s for dinner. We prepared a huge feast and I got to meet a ton of people who go to Redeemer Church which is a huge church in Manhattan.
Tuesday I went to a discussion on the Columbia University campus called “Veritas.” It was sponsored by a student group at Columbia and had famous Christian pastor Tim Keller (of Redeemer Church) as the keynote speaker. It was a rather general question and answer period on the subject of the Christian faith with a famous BBC news anchor and a student leader from Columbia asking Pastor Keller questions for about two straight hours.
The evening was very enlightening and I learned so much. I’m really happy with how Pastor Keller handled some more difficult questions. I’m really hoping those present at the forum learned a lot too.
Wednesday I painted and cleaned my apartment for my guests Thursday!
On Thursday morning my friend Megan and her friend Tessa came to visit NYC for the day. We had a huge day.
First we ate lunch at a place the girls wanted to check out because they’d heard about it on Oprah. It was a mac n cheese place near Madison Square Garden that turned out to be pretty yummy. Oprah’s friend Gayle made us go. Haha.
After that we checked out the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa). It was lovely as usual. Always love seeing Van Gogh’s Starry Night up close.
Then we went to the Neue Gallery (Noy-Uh) where they have a Gustav Klimt exhibit up for a while. It was really great. I learned just about everything I ever wanted to know about Klimt. Including that he was a little bit of a pervert but an extremely talented artist.
Next up was the famous Pinkberry. The yummy frozen yogurt can only be found in NY and LA so we had to get some. Then we ate dinner at Justin Timberlake’s restaurant “Southern Hospitality” on the Upper East Side. It was surprisingly good. I’ve never had sweet tea. But my southern guests insisted I try some and boy was it sweeeeeet. Once is enough for my veins.
After dinner I went to my Community Group and Megan and Tessa went to check out Times Square.
I met up with them afterward and we walked around a bit more. They wanted to check out the giant Sephora in Times Square so we did. It was pretty cold by then so we headed out to Queens and called it a day. The girls had to get on the road early Friday morning.
To be continued (soon I promise!)

Eat, Sleep, Audition, Eat, Sleep, Audition...

Tuesday the 5th I painted my apartment all day. I got to hang out with my friend Adam at night though. We went to a bar in midtown. It was the tiniest little bar and was so cramped. They really were trying to take advantage of all their real estate. We watched the “Super Tuesday” results. I don’t really know what it all means at this point in the game; I’m just hoping America makes the right choice.
Ash Wednesday, I went to an audition for a Cruise line. I ran into two friends from the dinner theatre. It was so fun hanging out with them in the waiting room. It helps pass the time and take your mind off auditioning. Not to mention the two ladies crack me up. They both were born and raised in Long Island and the Bronx so they have strong personalities and accents to boot. One of them just recently got back from competing in the game show “Don’t Forget the Lyrics” in LA. She had some great stories. She can’t tell us how much she won but I know she won something. Her episode will be on some Thursday night in February so watch for it. Her name’s Deb (or Deborah) she has dark curly hair and she’s hilarious. I can’t wait to see her on TV!
The audition ended up being a bust because I didn’t even get seen. They were only seeing people until 5pm and they just ran out of time. Boo. Oh well, there are many cruise lines if I really wanna try out my sea legs.
I left the studio where the audition was and took a cross town bus to my church’s office. We had a small Ash Wednesday service in the office. It was really important to me to start off Lent the right way. The service really helped to get my head in the right place for the season.
After the service I walked across town (again) to Madison Square Garden to see the Knicks & Pacers game. Yep, Uncle Dan was back in town with the Pacers and he set aside a ticket for me to see the game. It was a great game. The Pacers ended up winning, which was fine by me. They did something kinda cool during the game; a bunch of the recent Super bowl champs were at the game so they honored them. During the fourth quarter they had the Giant’s players come up on the court and the fans went nuts. The cheered fifty times louder than they ever did for the stinkin’ Knicks. It was kinda sad. You could tell the Giants had stolen the Knick’s thunder. (For whatever that’s worth.) It was a pretty cool moment to be a part of though. The stadium got pretty loud for a minute there.
Thursday was another busy day. I had another first. I auditioned for extra work in a new film. The movie is called “Duplicity” and it’s gonna have Julia Roberts and Clive Owen in it. There were hundreds of people in line to audition. I was about number 75 in line. We had to stand out in the cold before they let us in to audition. When we got let into the audition space, (which was the basement of a church on the Upper West Side), we all sat in a giant rec room and got talked to by the casting director. She was pretty cool. She also cast “The Devil Wears Prada” which I loved so I was excited to possibly be a part of this project. All we had to do was get our picture taken, and fill out a little information sheet. They took our headshots and resumes and she basically said that they were probably going to use all of us in some capacity during filming. When we get to the actual days of filming they’ll decide on the set if we get to do more on film than just background work. Either way I think it’ll be fun to be part of a movie.
After my major motion picture audition (haha) I went down to Union Square to check out a snowboarding exhibition. It was a promotional event with all sorts of sponsors and all the biggest names in snowboarding. They set up a mini snow park at one end of the park and there were tons of people there to catch a glimpse of the action. I went to check it out for my lil bro Kyle who’s a big time boarder. I got him some free boarding stuff and took a bunch of pictures. It was really fun. I was telling Kyle that I got a new perspective on what exactly he does on Mt. Hood. I’m pretty proud of him; that boardin’ stuff looks hard and there are a lot of people who are wannabes. I saw so many greasy haired pushy little punks and would be willing to bet that they couldn’t even get down the hill on a snowboard.
After the boarding event I went to the first meeting of my new Community Group! We had a great first meeting and discussed the sermon from the previous Sunday. I am really gonna like this group of people. I’m also having fun as an apprentice leader in the group already.
On Friday and Saturday I had performances with the dinner theatre and so that pretty much ate up my life. In a good way though. I can’t say it enough; I just love the people I work with. I’m having so much fun.
On Sunday I was on set up crew at church, then usher crew as well. So I was a little busy at church but I still got a lot out of the sermon.
After church I got lunch with a few friends from church. We ate at a little French café near church. It was really tasty. I’m really glad to be making such good friends at church.
The rest of Sunday I pretty much ran some errands and got mentally prepared to go back to Sephora on Monday.
So on Monday I went back to work at Sephora. I was at work for 9 hours. Eww. It’s definitely gonna be better than the holidays around there though. It was nice to be welcomed back by my friends there.
Tuesday I had an audition for an international casting company that went really well. I had applied for an audition time with them a couple weeks ago and they granted me one so that was pretty cool. I sang a couple songs for them and I felt good about how I performed. I’ll let you know what comes of that.
It’s cold and snowy here and I feel like winter in NYC has finally reared its ugly head. Tomorrow I audition for a touring production of Cinderella. Gotta try it all!