Shout it from the rooftops!

Mama is coming to NYC for my birthday! I'm so excited.

Defying Inequality: The Afterparty

The after party was held at Touch which is a really cool place... Whenever you touch the bar, it lights up. As a result, Ashley and I spent a ridiculous amount of time hitting the counter/ bar. Here is a shot from one of the balconies.

Anna and her friend whose name I can't remember...

Ash~ Me ~ Patrick

~ Ashley ~ Patrick ~ Patrick's roommate~

Okay, so this picture is actually from the concert.
~Getting ready to collect letters for Senator Smith~

Defying Inequality: The Concert

Recently, I have been able to work with a Broadway charity organization called Broadway Impact. It's an organization that fights for equality and teaches people how to become politically involved. It's a great organization and since I am not really a politically-minded person, I have been learning a ton. Thank goodness I met Gavin Creel or I never would have heard about this awesome cause...

Anyway, BI made an appearance at the Defying Inequality benefit concert that was held at the Gershwin Theater last Monday. Anna, Ashley and I got to attend the concert and helped to collect letters written to New York Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, which thanked him for his support of equality.

The concert was amazing but reeeeaaally long. It was 4 hours long with only one 10 minute intermission. There were a lot of people there who are kind of a big deal. It was interesting to see the Wicked sets being used for things other than Wicked. I think my favorite part of the night was Gavin and the cast of Hair singing "Let the Sunshine In" but I may be biased. A close second to Billy Elliot's cast. They sang "Electricity."

The fabulous Cindy Lauper.

LET THE SUNSHINE IN!

Gavin (center, in white) doing what he does best... working the crowd at the Gershwin. This is the entire cast of the Hair revival... Also, notice Will Swenson right next to Gavin looking particularly hippie-ish. You may know him from excellent films such as
Singles Ward and Sons of Provo.

Here's a video of it:

Cast of Billy Elliot... I still get chills listening to this song. SO, so beautiful.

Stephen Schwartz singing "For Good" from Wicked.
He's the Wicked composer... incredibly talented.

Sometimes I have no words and lots of pictures...

Sometimes Ash and I take silly pictures...

Sometimes Rustin throws parties and we take a lot of pictures:

Sometimes I run into old friends. Sarah Most, AKA Queen Bee, remember this girl? Ilene!!!

Sometimes I make tiny little 5 layer cakes and people eat the decorations around them... I was proud of my skills... Also, sometimes I buy beaded red plates at Pottery Barn for $1

Sometimes we go to LL Cool J concerts... I am not a fan and only know a handful of his songs but we had free tickets. After the 10th song, they all started sounding the same. He then threw water on me and then some dollar bills, but I was looking elsewhere and didn't notice the money until a bunch of people dove for it. I got a dollar.

Sometimes I win the In the Heights lottery and then we ask people to take this ridiculous picture with us. Also, sometimes, I look extremely Asian.

Sometimes I get early birthday presents... Billy Elliot was amazing!

Sometimes we find the perfect apartment with a perfect kitchen.

Sometimes, Ash turns 22 on Superbowl Sunday. We took her out to eat (don't judge) and then went to watch the game.

Hello apartment on 67th and Columbus

We're MOVING. We got approved. Hooray!

Whatever happens is meant to be...

There are a few things in my life I really, really want to work out.

The apartment is one of them. The other one, well... I don't even know what to think about it right now...

BUT...OK. We walked around for nearly three hours tonight. I walked around for an hour and a half during my break. Add another hour for yesterday, another for Monday, two for Saturday and three more for the previous week. That's almost 12 hours of walking around in Manhattan looking for the perfect apartment.

And I think we might have found it. 67th Street and Columbus.


I believe Vanessa from In the Heights put it best when she says "Just a little credit check and I'm on that downtown train..."

We'll find out tomorrow if we got it for sure.


I'll update when I hear back.


Love,

Me

PS. HUGE kitchen= happy Alina

PSS. Barnes and Noble, MAC Cosmetics, AMC Theaters, Central Park, Lansky's, Magnolia Bakery and across the street from the Manhattan temple= very, very happy Alina.

Can you believe I carry ALL this stuff with me everywhere I go?

In my purse, you will find...

1. My pink Cariloha wallet

2. A checkbook

3. An old piece of paper from the Broadway impact meeting

4. Nancy the midget’s business card

5. Jana the midget’s business card

6. A button from my coat

7. A button for Broadway in South Africa

8. Camera

9. Little Costa Rica notepad made out of banana paper

10. Phone

11. I pod

12. Powder compact

13. A roll of Life Saver mints

14. A comb

15. keys

16. gloves

17. a metro card

18. A Zac Efron singing pen

19. A battery ???

20. Two cough drops

21. Six different kinds of lip gloss

22. Advil

23. Three bandaids

24. 9 bobby pins

25. The match to the earring I lost at Fuerza Bruta

26. Burt's Bees

27. Startle by his Furry Shorts Book (Georgia Nicolson Vol. 7)

The stuff that is bolded is the only stuff I actually use. Wow... my purse is not even that big...

What? No. I hate theater.

I broke my original record of 4 Broadway shows in one week... (OK...off Broadway counts too). Last Tuesday, Fahey and I got to go to the first night of previews of The Story of my Life which was just so sweet and tender. It stars Will Chase (Rent) and Malcolm Gets. I just really liked the way the show progressed. Basically, every song is a story about their childhood or teenage years or adult life. I LOVE it when people just tell me stories which is what this musical did. I liked that the set was so simple and I really loved the acting.

On Wednesday, I took the day off because Anna and I were going to go see In the Heights, but that ended up not working out, so I got on her Seat Filler account and saw matinee tickets for the Marvelous Wonderettes. Of course it was AMAZING. I think my favorite thing about it is that I already knew a lot of the songs. Not that I had ever listened to the recording, but all the songs were popular in the 50s and 60s, so naturally everyone knows them. If I was a good singer, that would definitely be the show I would want to be in...or Wicked, or Legally Blonde, or In the Heights... Oh...never mind.


Then, that night, Ash, Anna, Sara Borg and I went to see Hedda Gabler which was interesting... It was very well done but I didn't love it. It just wasn't my type of show. BUT...Mary Louise Parker was quite good in this show. I did like her acting...and her dresses. I want to buy them from her.

Then, as if three shows in one week weren't enough... We decided to try the 20 for 20 deal with Altar Boyz. Basically, 20 minutes before the show starts, they sell all remaining seats for $20. Jason Bond, Anna and Rustin went with me. I was laughing the entire time. First of all, Neil's character is SO dumb the entire time. That made me laugh a lot. Then there was the fact that I understood a lot of the jokes based on the fact that my family was previously Catholic. I would definitely see this show again. In fact...I think I will. Tomorrow. Or not. Dangit. I hate it when my theater budget runs out. But seriously though, this show was thebomb.com.

AND THEN...


We remembered that we are pathetically in love with In the Heights and Graffiti Pete and really wanted to go enter the lottery for Saturday matinee. Guess whose name got drawn second? MINE. So yes, we got to see this as well and you all know how much I love that show. Oh we laughed, we cried, we tried really really hard not to sing along... Anyway, the plus side was that we got to see Lin-Manuel before he leaves his role, we got to see new Vanessa (two thumbs way up for her) and I finally got to see Graffiti Pete who really really needs to teach me how to dance like him.

So, I really don't know why people keep asking me if I like theater. Of course I don't.

Sometimes I read other people's blogs and steal their posts. It's NOT called plagiarism if I say that.

I stole this from my friend's blog (I hope you don't mind, K.A). It is a beautiful poem if you speak French. If you don't, have fun translating it on Babel Fish.

Il a mis le café
Dans la tasse
Il a mis le lait
Dans la tasse de café
Il a mis le sucre
Dans le café au lait
Avec la petite cuiller
Il a tourné
Il a bu le café au lait
Et il a reposé la tasse
Sans me parler

Il a allumé
Une cigarette
Il a fait des ronds
Avec la fumée
Il a mis les cendres
Dans le cendrier
Sans me parler
Sans me regarder

Il s'est levé
Il a mis
Son chapeau sur sa tête
Il a mis son manteau de pluie
Parce qu'il pleuvait
Et il est parti
Sous la pluie
Sans une parole
Sans me regarder

Et moi j'ai pris
Ma tête dans ma main
Et j'ai pleuré

Creeper

OMG. What a freak. I love it. Despite the fact that he is a fabulous singer, I can't help laughing.

Here's a thought...

Why didn't they let Beyonce sing at the Halftime show and have Obama as her back up dancer? I'm just saying...that is a far more interesting choice than the current half time show.