The Beatles said it best...

"You say it's your birthday
It's my birthday too, yeah
They say it's your birthday
We're gonna have a good time
I'm glad it's your birthday
Happy birthday to you.

Yes we're going to a party party..."

Today is April 23, my 23rd birthday, which means it's my GOLDEN BIRTHDAY!



Actually, I'm not even playing hookey. I'm in the office right now, finishing up a few things before my vacation, and the festivities, begin at 11:30. Already today has been wonderful - I played the awesome new playlist I made while getting ready and when I walked out my bedroom door, there were gifts on the coffee table from my wonderful roommate. She gave me a bunch of pretty little daffodils, a Brooklyn blackout brownie from my favorite bakery and a cute card.

I got to the office early to get things done and because I always get an early start on my birthday, and so when my friends rolled in, they greeted me with big smiles, hugs and gifts! Sarah gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a really sweet card, and Rena gave me a cute little change purse from Bendel's, which she says is so I can keep up with my Metrocard. She also sneakily bought the beautiful Papyrus card we ogled last week.

I'm sure there will be more to update you on later, with all the excitement coming up:

• Lunch with my girlfriends at Burgers & Cupcakes
• Broadway Show League opening day at Central Park
• My parents arriving this afternoon
• Choosing some swanky restaurant in Hell's Kitchen
• HAIR HAIR HAIRHAIRHAIR HAIR HAIR HAIR

I hope you all have a wonderful day, too. :)
loVe!

The sun is shining, it's a lovely day...

The beauty of my job is its flexibility. I always have a ton to do, and generally work pretty long hours, but there are some nice perks. For one, I can take a little bit longer of a lunch break than usual, if I put in the extra time to get things done later in the day.

And that was absolutely necessary on a day like today. The weather is gorgeous and it feels like the city's finally waking up to spring. At lunchtime, I ventured over to Central Park to soak in some sunshine. I also got to watch a bit of softball with the Broadway Show League. My favorites from HAIR were playing 9 to 5, along with matchups pitting the casts of shows against one another in a little friendly ballgame.

Coincidentally, it's also the first game in the new Yankee Stadium today. I missed out on that one, but I'll be at a Yankees game soon, I assure you.

Nothing like watching softball in the sunshine Central Park on your lunch break to pep up the day. And shout-out to Tommar and Jay for being ballers.

Dig it, people. It was about time to let the sun shine in, for real.

And this weekend is supposed to be gorgeous, too!

I can't believe I forgot to tell you this!

Guess who I met on Tuesday night? Go on, guess.

Ok, clearly you can already tell since there's a picture right here, but I'm excited to tell you that it was THIS GUY:

My friend and I won HAIR lotto because we wanted to see Jay go on for the Tribe (with the surprise bonus of Paris as Woof!), so we were in the right box. During one song, Tribe members pull people from the audience to dance with them in the aisles. I looked down and said to Mandee, "That guy dancing with Jackie looks just like Tom Hanks." To which she replied, "That's because it is Tom Hanks."

He didn't go dance on stage at the end, sadly. However, I did, of course, and Caissie pulled me up to the front to dance/sing with her for the Let the Sun Shine encore, and there was Tom dancing and smiling and sharing the loVe from his seat.

Afterwards, we were waiting at the stage door to congratulate Jay and Paris and chat with the cast, when who comes out first but Mr. Hanks himself. He didn't hang around for long, but he did stop to tell us all that he enjoyed the show. I complemented his dance moves, which he just kind of laughed at and said, "Thanks." Then some rando shouted "Bosom Buddies!" to which he replied, "Yeah... I was in that." And then he got into his car and away he went.

The cast was all star-struck when they came out. I think my favorite was John announcing that he must be infinitely more talented now that Tom Hanks had touched him. Ain't that the truth? ;)

In brief...

I don't have the energy for an update in prose, so we'll resort to the bullet-point format:

• I found out for certain that I will be returning to TFA next year on the recruitment team.
• I'll be working with schools in Dallas and Louisiana (most likely, it's about 90% set).
• Hooray for Iowa for embracing equality.
• Great quote of Friday: "You can get married in Iowa now, but just not to him."
• This guy has a great voice. And he's not hard to look at, either.
• No matter how many times I say that I need to get some rest, I can't make myself go to sleep before 1 a.m.
  
• I made new theatre-loving friends this weekend, which is always fun.
• Apparently, singing "Oh Great God of Lotto" works.
  
• I saw Josh and Chasten make their Broadway debuts!
• This girl is still my favorite ever.
• Our inappropriate lunch-bunch had an inappropriate brunch instead. No wonder they put us in the back room by ourselves.
  
• Free mimosas are wonderful.
• Justin went back to the land of cheese and it makes me sad!
• Only 17 days until my GOLDEN BIRTHDAY!
  

Life is around you and in you.

Since I was too wrapped up in dancing onstage to get my camera out during the dance party at the end, I'll let BroadwayWorld.com's photo coverage show you what the scene was like.

Down to the gutter, up to the glitter

Oh, and just so you don't miss it, my BroadwayWorld.com debut:
























I feel like the title of this blog post, a lyric from The Flesh Failures/Let the Sunshine In (which ends the show) perfectly describes this image.