Just a quick update...

I had an amazing Thanksgiving. Here are the highlights/interesting stories:

1. My sister and I walked past the actor who plays Georg in Spring Awakening on Wednesday evening. I couldn't remember where I knew him from at first. I should have befriended him. (Or "boyfriended" him, as a friend suggested via text.)
2. Patti LuPone is craaaazy.
3. We decided against getting up at 4:00, fighting the crowd and standing in the cold to see the parade in favor of watching it on TV while eating breakfast from The Bagel Mill. We would have missed the Rick Roll if we hadn't! Besides, we'd done it in person before.
4. Thanksgiving dinner. No explanation necessary.
5. We saw the Rockettes on Friday afternoon. I will never be too old to love that.
6. Christmas windows! My favorites were at Bergdorf's.
7. I decorated for Christmas. It's not quite the spectacle I usually do, but we have a tiny apartment, so I do what I can.
8. My sister and I got last minute tickets to Equus. Insert Harry Potter/magic wand joke here.
9. We also ran like fugitives from the theater so they wouldn't accost us for taking illegal photographs in the theater. It was just during the BC/EFA auction.
10. Saturday was filled with shopping. I got some great hats, which I will bust out this week, so you just get ready.
11. Mom really wanted to eat in Little Italy, because it's amazing and they have great sangria. However, we still had wine left over when we were leaving, but the waiter insisted that we take it with us rather than letting it go to waste. So they gave us the glass, and we finished it as we walked down the streets of Manhattan. Classy.
12. I loved, loved, loved spending family time, and I was so sad to see them go.

That's it for now! I'm so excited that Christmas season is here, so more to come on that topic soon.

Thankful.

Today's one of those days when I love living in New York City.

I rolled out of bed at 8:00, thankful for not having to do a long commute this morning. Don't get me wrong, I usually enjoy my time to sit and read/listen to my iPod/people watch/just mentally prepare for the day. It's just that it's nice to not have to worry about the process of getting ready and traveling before even starting the bulk of my day.

I threw on some sweats that I had to dig out of a box where they'd been waiting for a chill in the air to prompt their need, thankful to my mom for sending warm clothes my way. Then I plugged in my computer, synched up to the network and got started.

I'm thankful that there's an amazing bagel shop just around the corner, because that's where I went to take a break this morning. Normally my refuel break consists of chatting with the girls in the chute next to mine, or maybe even venturing down to Dunkin Donuts. But today, I got to hang out with my buddies at The Bagel Mill. I am also thankful that the one day I need to purchase a dozen bagels, they are the special for the day!

Now, this might prompt ridicule, but in the spirit of full-disclosure I'm going to go ahead and throw it out there. I am thankful for decaf coffee. I gave up caffeine for all intents and purposes a few months ago, but I was a little saddened by the thought of no Peppermint Mochas all Christmas, especially with a Starbucks such a short walk away from my apartment. However, a friendly barista gave me a friendly reminder that decaf coffee exists. So, problem solved. Now I have that warm minty goodness cheering me up while I work.

Also cheering me up is the amazing Christmas music mix. I'm thankful that God gave the artists such talent so I could enjoy the beautiful sounds of the season. If you haven't gotten your copy of this year's Carols for a Cure, you should. If you don't live in NYC and want one, let me know.

Finally, what I'm most thankful for this morning is the fact that my family will be here soon! We're going to have a great little Thanksgiving in the city - complete with the Macy's Parade, the Rockettes, lots of shopping, Christmas window displays, a Broadway show (Gypsy tonight, with Patty!), and who knows what else.

Happy Thanksgiving, ya'll, in case I don't get to the blog tomorrow.

P.S. On a slightly off-topic note, what is, in your opinion, the best place to get a Christmas-y smelling candle?

Boomer Effin' Sooner

As if the amazing win over Texas Tech wasn't enough, my football watching experience was made complete by the following event:

My friend Lauren and I met up at the Press Box, where the OU Club of NY gathers to watch Sooner football games. This just so happened to be the biggest game of the year, so the fans were out in full force. The game was the sole focus of everyone's attention, except for one guy.

He decided that he would like to further entertain the crowd and took it upon himself to break into song. We discovered this when we hear a drunken refrain of Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up" being belted from the group down the bar from us.

Unfortunately, the bartender was no fan. (He was also a fun-hater, but that's another story.) He informs our little virtuoso that "You can audition for American Idol down the street," but that he had to stop singing there.

The singer was classy enough to cut it off there rather than causing an altercation, but once the bartender had meandered on, he shared his thoughts with his friends, and everyone else within earshot. His opinion? "He's a ho-mo. He's doing homo things. All I'm saying is that's a great song."

Fantastic. Nearly as fantastic as the final score: 65-21.

Oh, and apparently I'm heartless. Not content to simply beat Tech, we needed to demolish and embarrass them. I think I caught Lauren's friend who met up with us off-guard when I announced that "I want to see a child cry." Oops. I mean, OU fans go big or go home, right?

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Also, on an unrelated note:

On the Town

I saw On the Town tonight at the New York City Center Encores. This may not seem like something momentous, because I go to shows all the time. But it is.

On the Town just so happens to be one of my favorite musicals. (Boiled down, it's about three sailors who have 24 hours leave to spend in New York City.) However, I only knew it from the music and the old movie with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra. Regardless, it has held a dear place in my heart for years now. I'm not even exactly sure how I discovered it, but no matter. I even have a snowglobe that plays the iconic "New York, New York, a helluva town..." refrain.

It was put on as part of the Bernstein festival, honoring the music of Leonard Bernstein, with a limited 6-performance engagement. I'm so glad I got to see it done live, and done well. The music is great, the story is fun, the ballets are lovely, and I would simply adore to sing Hildy's part. (Hear that, Mr. Producer? Cast me now, please.)

That's all, really. I just thought you should know, because this little piece of excitement made me a very happy camper.

Tomorrow I'll do my own version, along with some of the girls from the office. We're going to do a whirlwind touristy day in New York for ourselves, starting with brunch at Sarabeth's. Yum.

(Also yum... singing, dancing sailors. That's all I have to say about that.)

Pictures are worth a thousand girl talks...

There's going to be a massive Facebook picture post going on this week. Hopefully it'll get done later tonight. For now, here's a preview:

"With my by myself..."

Terrific Tuesday

I promise that I will post an update about the amazing weekend I just had as soon as I find adequate time. I'm only posting at all because I need to document for posterity how amazing today is going to be:

1. Wall-E comes out on DVD. It's only the best movie ever. I actually doubt that I will even be near somewhere to buy it, but just knowing it's out there makes me happy.
2. The Gossip Girl Daily Intel comes out. That happens every Tuesday, but I still get excited weekly.
3. Third Eye Blind releases a new EP. Yeah, seriously, it's for real this time. My obsession level will definitely be kicking back up.
4. I have a project at work I'm pumped about getting started.
5. I'm going to a GIRL TALK concert with three of my fabulous ladyfriends.

I think that's enough wonderful for one day. Get excited, y'all.

P.S. Speaking of Gossip Girl, I really wish Vanessa would die in a fire. Seriously?!

Lincoln Park After Dark

**Note: I wrote and thought I posted this on Friday around 10 a.m. However, it apparently didn't work. I thought I'd post it now, so as not to deprive you. ;)

I'm sitting in an apartment in Lincoln Park in Chicago right now, being extremely jealous of the space and the price. I'm also jealous of the fact that there's a Lush and a Benefit about a block away, and a disco ball in the living room, along with a DJ booth. You know, whatever.

Let me tell you a little bit about my totally random weekend:
We're in the windy city for an RT conference. More about that later, maybe. The highlights were getting to interact with my RD in person, see everyone in my cohort, and stay at a swanky hotel of course. Not to mention making a lot of progress in planning for our campaign. And MSCI, which is too classified to go into details about on here.

Then a small group of us hung around for the evening, staying at one of the girls' friends' apartments, and having a grand ole time. We are in the cutest little semi-yuppie neighborhood - Lincoln Park. Great food, cheap wine, card games and great music make for a good time. Not to mention an 8-person slumber party. Best quote from last evening: "I want to terrorize Chicago right now. I mean burn it to the ground."

Now I'm enjoying sitting here, pausing between creating action plans to play FIFA on the Xbox, grab breakfast from the Chicago Bagel Authority, and watch a few SNL skits on YouTube. Our next move will be to catch a bus to Madison, Wisconsin, where mayhem is certain to ensue.

Don't worry, you'll get a full report.

xoxo--

P.S. 10 points for you if you know the reference for my blog post title.

Not ready for my close-up

Yesterday, at work, they were shooting a documentary on the organization. Specifically, it was focused on an interview with our founder.

However, I guess they wanted some footage of other people within the organization, because they came by my chute and asked Julie (my neighbor) and I if we minded them shooting video of us. We said it would be fine and went about our business.

I didn't sign up to be interviewed; however, that's what happened. So my little speal on what the Recruitment Team does is potentially going to be on some documentary somewhere. Awesome. I think I managed to sound intelligent, hopefully. Then they got around to shooting the B-roll, just footage of us at our computers working. This was super awkward. Luckily, I had enough windows open on my monitors to conceal the desktop picture of Zac Efron's Rolling Stone cover. :)

Now, you should know that I spend most of my time at work with headphones on. I'll listen to iTunes, AccuRadio, Pandora, Z100, even KJ103, depending on my mood. It helps me tune out other things going on and concentrate while also not going crazy when things get mind-numbing. Anyway, on occasion I will also listen to the OU radio station, the Wire, especially when people I know have shows.

So that's what I was doing when this awkward video shoot took place. "Friday Talkternoons" was on, and I was typing away listening to them interview a band and talk about random things, as usual. It was quite unfortunate timing, however, that they switched topics right as the camera was in my face. I barely managed to keep a straight face when Kolt started telling a story about body waxing. In order to keep my composure, I hit the mute button on my computer.

All in a day's work.

The election's not even officially decided...

and I'm already sick of everyone's reactions to the election posted on Facebook.

Vote today.

"Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today." - Barack Obama






























If nothing else, do it for the free Ben & Jerry's, Starbucks, and Krispy Kremes. But you should do it because the future of our country depends on it.

And if that doesn't convince you, then maybe Zac Efron can.














"We need men who can dream of things that never were." - JFK