"The Girls" .... and the Big White Dress

I'm going to apologize in advance for being a sucky blogger this week. I'm positive this post will be the only one I write because I just took a look at my planner and realized I'll barely have time to throw together a turkey sandwich for dinner these next few nights. Why so busy this week, you ask? Well, because I'm flying home to Minnesota on Thursday to attend the wedding of the year......

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For some reason or another, God (and Santa) never fulfilled my childhood wish of having a sister. However, growing up I had something even better: two cousins (one a year older than me, and one a year younger). We were, and still are, "The Girls."

Kristin, Me, Ashlan

I was privileged enough to grow up with these two. My sister-cousins. 

We did everything together as kids: took family trips to the cabin, DisneyWorld and Oregon; arabesque-ed in dance classes; wore the same 1st Communion dress 3 years consecutively; pretended we were horses named Strawberry, Vanilla and Chocolate who lived in a "stable" behind our Grandma's living room chair; had sleepovers in our matching sleeping bags; played with our Littlest Pet Shop sets; watched "The Land Before Time" on repeat; occasionally fought and made each other cry (what kids don't?) and did everything we could together.

We shared the "fun" and gawky adolescent years: helped each other survive the halls of middle school and high school (I was always thankful Ashlan was a year older than me -- it meant she had to do all of the scary stuff first and then was obligated to get me through it when it was my turn); played sports together (for awhile, until I smartly realized sports just weren't my thing and switched to choir and drama); watched "The First Wives Club" until we had all of the choreography down for the "You Don't Own Me" dance at the end; had Humanities classes together; received Christmas presents from our Grandma that were all the same thing but in either a different color or different scent for each of us. 

And of course, we all grew up, graduated high school and went our respective ways for college, one right after the other. We've shared clothes, apartments (I was lucky enough to be roommates with Ash for a couple of great years), secrets, laughs, tears and life changes. 

We've gotten through many hard times - break-ups, disappointment, the death of our Grandma Irene and perhaps the toughest, the passing of Ashlan and Kristin's dad, and my uncle, Tom exactly two years ago to this day.

Miss you, Uncle Tom.

We've been through the thick and thin, and now........

 ASHLAN IS GETTING MARRIED SATURDAY!!!

"The Girls" + Matt (left, Ash's fiance) and Grant (right, Kristin's fiance)

Three months ago while still living together in Roseville we couldn't get over how drastically our lives had changed within a year. We had been two single girls, living in the city, working hard and, occasionally, playing hard. Within a year, Ash was engaged and had bought a house and I was moving to New York City. It still seems crazy to me.

So, Thursday night, I sprint home from Singing Technique class, hail a cab at 8th Avenue and arrive back in Cannon Falls 4 hours later. Friday and Saturday will be filled with pretty dresses, hair appointments, singing (I'm honored to sing "The Prayer" at the ceremony), champagne, photos, family, laughs and tears (funny how those go hand-in-hand) and L-O-V-E.

I'm so excited.

Here's to you Ashy. The best cousin-sister/roommate/bestie/shoulder-to-cry-on/inspiration a girl could ask for. 

Love you. 

~B.

So, it's still "2nd Circle of Hell" hot in the city:

But, really, I can't complain. 

Six months ago I was pathetically attempting to dig my car out of a snowbank (for the 3rd time that day) using an ice scraper.......  I'll take this sweltering heat over record snowfall (and an unexpected stay at the MicroTel) ANY day.

Today my friend and I are heading to Central Park with beach towels, magazines and salt & vinegar potato chips. Main goal: Get a tan and fool people into thinking we did more this summer than spend our days in a window-less theater. And, try to avoid getting hit in the face with a stray football.....

Happy Weekend!

xo,

B.

You live, You learn

So, before I launch into my "formal" post, let me pose a question:

Is it HOT where you are? 

I'm willing to bet my frozen yogurt allowance your answer is YES. And, similarly, yes, it's hotter than Hell here in Hell's Kitchen, too (pun intended). I may have mentioned in a past blog post that I had sweat more on that day than I had in my entire life. Well, I was a liar and I'm shamefully retracting that. I'm confident I've sweat more this past week than I ever will again in my life. Period. End of story.
And, to make matters worse, my sole surviving roommate/goldfish, Lola? She decided to kick the bucket (or take her Swan Dive, diva she was) yesterday so as not to endure the 100 DEGREE high they are forecasting for Friday. So, it's just me and the AC in apartment 5B.

Anyways..... I digress. I learned a few things in the past week and I'd like to share:

• Playing a drunk who is trying to pass for sober is no easy task. Especially in heels and especially when I'm asked to follow that scene up by reciting my monologue while doing a "primitive tribal dance." Add that to the growing list of "Crazy F-ing Things I've Done On This Journey to Becoming An 'Actress'." Oy.

• Tap dancing DOES get easier if you actually practice!! (Who knew!?) Special gratuitous shout-out to my downstairs neighbors for not strangling me yet.

• The establishments out here called "Blockheads" are not cheesy/skeezy comedy joints like they are back home. Instead, they are great Mexican restaurants with even greater lunchtime drink specials. And dontcha know, they have a location conveniently located a block from our school! "Cheers to the ladies who lunch. I'll drink to that." ;)

• NEVER give your number to a guy named Fernando who you meet on the Subway at 3:30am. He will text you three times the following morning and refer to you as "sweetie." UGH. (Thought I learned this lesson yeeeeeeears ago. Apparently not.)

• "Anything Goes" is an absolutely fantastic musical and totally deserved the Tony Award this year. Getting up early on Friday and rushing for $30 tickets is totally worth it. Especially when you score box seats!! (Oh, and Sutton Foster is a belting alien. She's not human.)

Chelsea and I waiting in line, hoping to get out rush tickets!

My super-sneaky, illegal picture. If my blog is shut down tomorrow, you'll know why.

• I have the most amazing classmates EVER. (I've known this for awhile, but it was re-iterated this week.) I'm so lucky to get to work/hang out/experience New York with such a caring, trusting, encouraging and (insanely) TALENTED group of people. We have a very unique group as compared the other musical theater sections in that we range in age from 50 to 15, and all bring varying backgrounds, ideas and strengths to the table. I'm biased, but Group D is "the top" (to be cliche and quote from "Anything Goes.") :) Here are a few of us on our outing to a hookah bar Saturday night:

• The McDonald's here are STILL serving Shamrock Shakes. There should be some law against this sacrilege. As much as I love these, having them available year-round lessens my sense of  anticipation and excitementwhen they "magically" appear on the menus around St. Patrick's Day. 

• My new-found favorite person, AKA the little lady down on 46th who is tailoring my dress, is the best thing to happen to my self-esteem since I discovered Spanx. 

• My cousin-sister's wedding is 10 DAYS AWAY which means I must start mentally preparing myself for the party of the year. It'll also be my first trip back to Minnesota since I moved out here. I'm pretty excited to see everyone again :)

• Today marked the half-way point of my Circle in the Square training. Bittersweet. Speaking of, we're going to Crumbs Bake Shop tomorrow for a  "comfort" cupcake..... I'll report back on what flavored-miracle I experience later ;)

ALSO - many congrats and much love to Laura and Karl Boleen for their exciting news :) xoxoxoxo

-B

How Sweet It Is

Well, the good news is I have successfully survived one of my most stressed about weeks in NYC to date. The better news? A bajillion things made me really happy this week. So, I'll share them with you, my dear readers:

~CRUMBS BAKE SHOP~

Holy hell. Best cupcakes ever.  Magnolia Bakery (except for their Banana Pudding) can't hold a flame to what I experienced Tuesday: 

I had the "Baba Booey" cupcake and although the name is a complete mystery to me, the cupcake was chocolate cake filled with peanut butter cream cheese filling, covered in chocolate and peanut butter icing. And, I had a bite of one called the "Good Guy" that was a concoction of Funfetti cake, butter cream cream/cream cheese filling, vanilla icing and sprinkles. A-maz-ing.

~ HUDSON GREENWAY~

When Melissa visited over the 4th of July weekend, she took me down the Hudson Greenway, which is a really awesome pedestrian/bike path along the Hudson River. A few notables along my new favorite walking route include H&H Bagels, the USS Intrepid, the Pier and the general vicinity in which Capt. "Sully" successfully landed the downed US Airways flight. On my walk last night, I noticed storm clouds rolling in from Jersey and attempted to RUN home (if you know me well you know I don't run....) to no avail. Thus, I was caught in my first torrential NYC downpour (right outside "The Little Pie Shop"..... I practiced great self control). It was fun!

Storm rolling in over the Intrepid

Sunset over Jersey (post-typhoon)

Le city

~ A COMPLIMENT? NO? OK, WELL THANKS ANYWAYS. ~

Now, last week I had mentioned that I had my "judgment day" with our 90-year-old/still-kicking-ass-and-taking names Acting Technique instructor. I fared relatively well, as she said I looked good, sounded good and was sincere. She then said that I have "something running through me" that she couldn't put her finger on. Was that "something" good? Bad? God only knows. But, I felt good afterwards. 

Also, my partner Chelsea and I  did our "Dolores" scene and when all was said and done, we considered it successful. Our  instructor is a man of few (but, terrifyingly insightful) words and after we had finished our screaming-match of a scene, he calmly looked at us and asked, "So, how's your work going?" Minutes of justifying ourselves followed, until he finally said, "Well, you're both good actresses, but you could be great actresses if you made it more personal. I'm not sure if that's a compliment or not."

So...... we're still trying to make sense of that. But, in true Alan Langdon style, I'm sure we'll figure out what he meant in about 3 weeks. I felt really good about how we did. The scene and circumstances were no walk in the park. And, my black eye looked convincing, so I'll give myself an A in make-up special effects if nothing else.

~ 1,000 READERS! ~

My little blog celebrated its one-month birthday yesterday, and its 1,000 reader on Sunday! I'm aware this is peanuts in the grand scheme of the blogosphere, but it made me so happy. I thank each and every one of you who check in on me :) I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

~ THE (miscellaneous) LITTLE THINGS ~

- Our Shakespeare instructor blowing a whistle, jumping around and punching us in the backs to get us revved-up for our King Lear reading. She reminded me of a boxing coach. Hysterical, and one of my most favorite Sybil Lines moments....

- Our Speech instructor's advice on how how to use accents: 

"First, do it the director's way. Then do it the casting director's way. Then, after one or two bottles of wine, do it YOUR way."

I think this applies to more in life than just accents.....

-And finally.... this lovely sign, posted on the dressing room door of our dance studio:

The guy who runs our dance studio is an..... interesting individual...... who thinks we "hoodlums" only understand things written in Radio-DJ-Ebonics. 

Message received, sir.

Have a lovely weekend, all.

xoxo,

Brooke

To Be A Performer

August 12th will mark the end of my summer-long musical theater "bootcamp." I really can't believe I'm already starting my 3rd week at Circle in the Square. Time has flown. Anyways, August 11th is our Cabaret showcase. At said Cabaret, my classmates and I will each sing a solo, do a dance number, and begin and end the evening with a group rendition of Cy Coleman's "To Be A Performer." I had never heard the song until we were all given copies of the music. I love it. Here's a good line:

"To be a performer, get ready to suffer a chronic condition the rest of your life."

This past week has presented me with a substantial challenge in this whole journey "to be a performer." My first scene in our "scene study" class has me portraying Dolores, a 30-year-old (ok, that's not too far of a stretch for me), emotionally, physically and psychologically abused woman who finally snaps and shoots her third husband. The point of this class is to tap into emotions and situations from your own past and use that raw, gut-reaction to help tell the story of the scene. NO EASY TASK. I've been battling Dolores for the past week, trying to understand her and her lot in life. I just couldn't find any situation in my life that was remotely similar and was starting to get really frustrated (my FIRST scene and I'm having such a hell of a time?? Ugh.....) However, thanks to a good "talk it out" session via SKYPE with a trusted "advisor," I now feel I'm moving closer to the truth of the scene - even though it leaves me feeling like a total head case, and a bit nauseous (I call this the "Dolores Effect"). But, even in feeling a little "unhinged" myself, I get this butterflies-in-my-stomach feeling after reading the scene now, and feel real emotions based on my real-life situations. Not to sound totally lame, but it's such an exciting feeling! "Light bulb" moments are the best, aren't they? Still, you'll all hear me breath a sigh of relief after I present the scene and send Dolores packing on Tuesday afternoon....

My point being, Cy Coleman's lyrics were spot-on:

"To make that uphill climb, to make it pay a dime, you're gonna have a time. Yes, you'll have a time - the best time of your life."

Yes, it's hard. Yes, it's exhausting. Yes, it'll make you crazy. But, sometimes you find that "crazy" is what makes you thrive.

IN OTHER NEWS:

- I have my "judgment day" in front of our 90-year-old psychic/ Acting Technique instructor tomorrow. To say I'm dreading that is an understatement........

- Some of us girls went out in Greenwich Village last night and had a great time that included a flaming "Scorpion" drink...

- I start my weekly tap classes tonight at Broadway Dance Center..... No better way to get rid of the "Dolores Effect" than clicking around in 2-inch tap heels for an hour and a half :) Oh, and this helped, too:

Until next time,

~B

A Fourth of July for the Books

When I first moved to New York, I knew I would never be overly homesick. I've lived abroad before and have never really been the type to miss home all too much . However, I realized there might be ONE day this summer when the home-sickness just may creep in:

The Fourth of July. 

Our small town of Cannon Falls hosts the quintessential Independence Day bash. The parade that goes on for an eternity, the fair, the Bears baseball game, the fireworks, running into practically everyone you've ever known, etc.  In all of my 25 years, I'd only missed one Cannon Falls Fourth. So, I was emotionally gearing myself up for a "Ugh, I miss home" kind of holiday weekend. Instead, my weekend turned into one of those times in life you wish you could rewind and watch over and over again.

My "house guest" for the long weekend was my very great friend and voice teacher. She's done the whole NYC/Broadway show thing, has an unbelievably impressive resume and is a phenomenal teacher. Melissa, along with her equally as wonderful husband Jerry, has been instrumental in helping me find the guts to chase my dream and made it very evident that it was the right time in my life to make this necessary move. Additionally, she is someone who provides me with invaluable support, as she traveled a similar road years ago.

Dinner at Joe Allen's, pictured with Melissa's "Georgy" poster. The show was considered a "flop," but she garnered a Tony Award nomination for it ;)

So, what did our weekend consist of? Everything.

~Great dinners ~ shopping (and finding perfect outfits for my end-of-summer Cabaret and for my cousin Ashlan's rehearsal dinner!) ~ breakfasts of (percolated!) coffee (I feel so domestic now) and babka (my first introduction to this tasty treat) ~ a walk down Hudson Parkway ~ a voice lesson (just like the old days, but instead at a fancy NY rehearsal studio) ~ a visit to the South Street Sea Port Street Fair (we both have a dangerous addiction to scarfs) ~ watching the fireworks on TV over cups of decaf and a plate of cheesecake (because we were both too exhausted from buying scarfs to walk down to the river ;) ~ and countless strolls throughout the neighborhood that used to be home to Melissa and her husband, but is now home to me.

I also tagged along for a coaching she had scheduled in preparation for an audition. I met a long-time friend of hers and was able to learn a ton (including how to properly cut and paste a 32-bar sheet music cut). Melissa sang a snippet of "I've Got the Sun in the Morning and the Moon at Night" from Annie Get Your Gun. Though I've sung that song a thousand times before, in hearing it in that moment, I found new meaning. Funny how that happens sometimes...

Among everything, my most favorite things about this weekend were our wonderful conversations.  Some kept us up far too late, others ended in core-strengthening exercises (ha!) and one concluded by declaring curling irons superior to straighteners; but every one meant the world to me. It's not often that someone can spend four days with someone they admire so much on a weekend when their head and heart are back home, and feel entirely comforted. So, in the words of Annie Oakley:

"Got no diamonds, got no pearls, still I think I'm a lucky girl.... And with the sun in the morning, and the moon in the evening, I'm alright." 

Thanks for everything, MH.

~B

"Scene on the Streets"

Advertising with calorie counts? Yeah, nothing makes me want McGriddles more..........

Think I'll stick with the 400-calorie vanilla shake for breakfast.

(The complete rundown of my fantastic Fourth of July weekend will be coming in the next day or so!)

-B