Brows Time!

Eyebrows. Bigger means younger. I'm no longer young, but I don't really want to look it if I don't have to. 

When I lived in New York City a million years ago, I got my eyebrows waxed for the first time at Boom Broom Brow Bar. It was the thing that made me feel like a real, grown-up New Yorker. 

2009. I mean, not bad for a red-head.

I had my first baby in 2013. He's amazing. He has a little brother who is equally amazing, but becoming a mom didn't agree with me as I thought it would. He was a total surprise at 5 weeks early and then he was very sick for a month. That does a job on you, guys, and I needed something to make me feel like a person. I remembered how I felt about myself after getting my eyebrows done, and a friend posted that she had started working at an eyebrow threading place. Ok, ok. I should have known. But I was deep in the throws of postpartum and I didn't know anything. So, I went. "Keep it natural, just a clean up" apparently sounded like "make 'em skinny like it's the 90's." I was horrified. I already hated my new body, and now I got to hate my face, too. It was awful. 

This is 4 years later without a single pluck. The before.

Now, to my delight, I get to go back to NYC in October. I'm excited to see my friends, I'm excited to see shows, I'm excited to see the sights, but I'm most excited about Boom Boom. Enter Boom Boom Brow Job Growth Serum. $40 bucks and it will probably last me less than a month. Yes, I'm that desperate. Maximum effectiveness is at 4 months, which is exactly when I'll be back. So, let's journey together and see if this can be saved.

Cheers!

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I am the worst stage manager ever. Of all time.

Here I sit... blogging... in rehearsal.  We're "organic blocking" and this is the first time we've been though some of the scenes, so there is very little for me to do.  But blog.  I also have very little to say. 
Last week off, Christmas break, was very nice.  It was quiet, we slept a lot, very relaxing.  Also, a little frustrating with both of us being sick and a little frustrated with each other... just one of those being married things :)  And now I'm right into working all day, rehearsing all night, off to Minneapolis this weekend and then back to it all next week.  Honestly, I can't wait til it's all done!  But I always feel like that when a process starts and then miss it when it's done. 
Ah, well... enough of my rambling!

Another chapter...

Well, we're all moved!  Just to a bigger place just down the road, but I still felt a little bittersweet leaving the other apartment.  When Jared and I met, he'd just moved in, so we really fell in love in that apartment.  We kissed for the first time in that living room, we got ready to go to the judge to get married there, I lived though his deployment there. 
I'm always one to look back.  I like to analyze past events and to make sure I can keep precious memories fresh in my mind.  But, it's time to look forward!  We live in a real people's dwelling now.  Much more room, and office for Jared to do his school work, a guest room and everything.  I can cook dinner in the kitchen here and we can eat it at a table!  We're working on becoming real grown-ups and preparing for all that means.  It's exciting and I'm focusing on that!!

An old fashioned wife

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about what it means to be a wife, both in today's standards and in the way God intended us to be. 
My start as a wife was somewhat stunted, getting married and then having my husband leave so soon after.  But it, I have come to believe, has been stunted by Jared and I living together first.  It has made our start into married life far less climactic that perhaps it is supposed to be.  We are having to muddle out way though figuring out how our roles as married people, as opposed to dating people, have changed.  So, here we are struggling to figure out who is going to do the housework now that Jared is not the stay-at-home partner and who holds the responsibility for income and who holds responsibility for household things.  I would much rather it be the old-fashioned way.  But I don't think my husband entirely agrees.  So there is the conundrum.  I already feel like I'm supposed to do it all, and therefore I'm failing at all of it.  I think Jared feels like he is supposed to lead and earn income, but he just doesn't really want to.  And when he has less to do, he is less productive.  When I have more to do, I am less productive. 
Does anybody feel the same way?  Anybody think I'm crazy?  I feel stuck and need some help!

And we're married... still!

After more than 6 months, here is the update...

Jared returned from Afghanistan unscathed and we started to work out how to be married people. It was bumpy to begin with, as would be expected for newlyweds and just returned war vets. Then, in March, he and I were cast together in Camelot at La Crosse Community Theatre. I played Queen Guenevere and Jared played a knight, Bliant. He had a great time and it was really good for us. He got to see what doing theatre was like and we got to spend time together doing something constructive. It really helped get us though the rough patch.

And here we are on August 21st, two days after our one year anniversary and our finally getting to celebrate our wedding! We called it the "weddiversay" and we had an absolutely wonderful time! check out some of the first photos below, taken by my wonderful bridesmaid, Ali Close.

My reception shoes!  I love my Chucks!

Ceremony shoes from Kick in La Crosse!

My dress, from Bonnie's Wedding Center in Viroqua.

I wore the pearls that were my 16th birthday present from my  mom and dad.

The reception was held at Norskedalen in Coon Valley, decorations done by Caitlin Bures and my bridesmaids (this idea was Kelsey Taunts!)

My flowers from Old Oak Family Farm in Bangor, arranged by Caitlin.

Dancing with my daddy to Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole's Unforgettable.

Jared and I dancing to You and I by Michael Buble

Ugh...

Curse you Christmas commercials featurning children, hormones, and all of the baby madness in my group of friends... I do NOT want to have a baby!! Honest! At least not right now...
But they're so freakin' cute... and... then... I sorta do. CURSE YOU GENETIC NEED TO REPRODUCE!! CURSE YOU!!!!!!!

Clearly, I suck at blogging!

I just forget to update this thing! Right now, I'm 4 days into being Jared-less for the next 7 months. And boy is it lonely! I am busy working on She Loves Me at the Community Theatre as the stage manager. I'm glad to be finally using that part of my degree! I'm also waiting to interview for an Office Assistant position at the theatre... which it would be AMAZING to get! So, here's hoping! I'll update more later... hopefully before another five months!

This video is amazing and everyone should all watch it.

Everything is amazing and nobody's happy.

Back Home

Well, I'm back from Germany, have been for almost a week now. It's very strange to be home, with nothing concrete in front of me. No classes, no shows, no project deadlines. If you think that all of our young lives we live by the schedule of starts and stops of school and are told what comes next, it's no wonder that there's a whole generation of 20 something set adrift with no idea of how to direct ourselves. We're raised being told we can be anything we want to be! We can achieve our dreams! Then, adulthood is upon us and we have to ask, "what do I do if I don't know what I want to be and I don't know what dreams I want to achieve?" It's a very difficult place to be. Jamie Cullum has a song called TwentySomething that is about exactly that. Check it out... that, and Jamie Cullum is awesome.
So, here I am... cuddling with two needy bears (JareBear and MandaBear) every night and hanging out with my parents on the weekend (don't get me wrong, I love that!). I'll find something soon!

Deutchland, Deutchland über alles....

Well, here I sit at the O'Hare International Airport, sipping a chai latte, ready to begin my next adventure (which is part of the operation entitled "Flying Nacho"). The next stop on the path of vagrancy? Deutchland. Thanks to a boyfriend in the military, I'm continuing my globetrotting ways and following him to Germany. Now, I'm not moving (I wish I were!), but only visiting. We're going to have some time to tour around, hopefully get to see a castle or three, but mostly I'm just visiting Jared. Six months apart this fall/winter is sure going to be a challenge if it's only been three weeks and I'm itching to see him! Anyhow, I'm currently in the early stages of a six hour layover, so you may hear from me again! Or, we'll talk when I'm in Deutchland! Tschus!!

Clarity and Homecoming

I worry
I weigh three times my body
I worry
I throw my fear around

But this morning
There's a calm I can't explain
The rock candy's melted
Only diamonds now remain

By the time I recognize this moment
This moment will be gone
But I will bend the light pretending
That it somehow lingers on

And I will wait to find
If this will last forever
And I will pay no mind
When it won't and it won't cos it can't
It just can't
It's not supposed to

Was there a second of time I looked around
Should I sail though or drop my anchor down
Is anything enough to kiss the ground
And say I am here now and she is here now

So much waisted in the afternoon
So much sacred in the month of June
How bout you?

And I will wait to find
If this will last forever
And I will wait to find
That it won't and it won't and it won't
And I will pay no mind
Worry 'bout no rainy weather
And I will waste no time
We may not live our lives together


The above lyrics are from the song "Clarity" by John Mayer and it's my song of the moment. The same way that "Hey There Delilah" by the Plain White T's was my song of moving out to New York, "Clarity" is my song about going home. In case you haven't heard yet, I'm on my way home in less than 12 hours. Home to stay. I'm VERY excited about it! As excited, if not more so, than I was to move out here (because this time I know what to expect!).
It has taken me approximately three months of city life to realize it's not for me. I don't like the people, or the pace. Don't get me wrong, I still LOVE New York City and it will always be one of my favorite cities in the world, but I don't care for living here. Now, a lot of people have told me that I didn't give it a chance and that I'm just homesick. Maybe to an extent those things are true. But I know that out here, right now, I can't live the life I would like to have in this city. I can't have have the things I want or the kind of place I want. And right now, having a calm, stable life is what is important to me. I feel comfortable in this move that I'm not leaving in defeat, but in my own terms. I know I could have stayed and done well at American Girl, or at any number of jobs that I have looked into and had positive response for. I think that eventually I could have had enough money to afford a place that's nice (like Zach's is! Oh my goodness!) and been able to afford the perks of living in the city (like a MoMA pass, the BEST place ever!!!), and maybe I'm too impatient, but I want to be happy now. I want to feel comfortable with where I am in my life now and I know that is farther off here than in La Crosse. So, home I go, in time for Christmas and Midsummer Night's Dream. In time to spend time with Jared before he leaves for Germany and then the desert. In time to actually enjoy living instead of feeling like I'm on hold like I have in my time here.
Now, I just have to learn how to really kick start life in La Crosse. I need a real job, hopefully one that I can enjoy. I need a routine. That's what I'm going to work on when I get home!
So you all know, I plan to keep up the blog, just find a new title for it. And keep an eye out for TONS of Christmas pictures and touristy things I've done in the past few days!

I knew I'd have a hard time with this thing...

Hello, all! I always have a hard time keeping up with internet communications, so I knew a blog would be a challenge. So, here's the general update.

I'm finished with my job at Halloween Adventure and have moved on to The American Girl Place. I absolutely love it!! I get to play with little girls and their dolls all day, and you can't beat that! That, and they pay me more than 3 dollars an hour more than HA. I'm just seasonal now, but I'm hoping to stay after the season, and then hopefully work on the 2nd floor with the historical dolls.

Beyond that, I'm working on moving in the next few days onto Manhattan island! I'm excited, but to be honest, I'm going to miss Queens a little bit. But overall, it will be a really good move.

I've been having a really good time between working and hanging out with Kelsey and Jared a lot. It's been nice to spend quality time with them both!

Anyhow, that's the basic update, I'll hopefully have some pictures to post in the next few days!

Page Six is the place to be!!

Well, I didn't end up making the Post, but our store, my boss Stella and Jason Biggs did! Here's the article, I at least can say I was the cashier! Check out page 6! (Page 6 is the celebrity page and a BIG deal to make around here...)

I also discovered the big city sister to the Warehouse, the Knitting Factory. One of my favorite bands, Ludo, played there a couple of days ago and I was shocked to find how much like the Warehouse it is. It was nice and it felt like home.

Tonight I went to see my friend Reed (check out his band Shoeless Revolution) play with his friend at the Bitter End on Bleaker Street in Greenwich Village. The Bitter End has seen the likes of Arlo Guthrie and Bob Dylan play in their heyday, and it was neat to see that little piece of New York history. That, and it's just a really neat area. A little too 'hipster' for my tastes, though. I think I like the more suburban type lifestyle you can find in Queens or Brooklyn.

I also learned how to insert hyperlinks. It's awesome!

Random Thought of the Day

I wish the appropriate response to
"what do you want to be when you grow up?" were

"...happy."

Just a quick update on my day...

Today was a fun day,
I was photographed by the New York Post as Sarah Palin at work. You can't see my face since it's a mask, but I'll still know it's me!
Later, I sold that mask to Jason Biggs.
Yeah, it was pretty cool.

A Life You Can Hang Your Hat On; or, Listening to Country Music in an Urban Wasteland

I came to a realization the other day listening to Montgomery Gentry on the Subway... I am not, and never will be a New Yorker. I am a suburban creature, and no matter how long this love affair with the city lasts, it will never be me. It's too full, there's too much stimulation and it's not a place where I find that I can build a life. Sure, I can for a while and I'll enjoy it and I'll learn a lot from it, but I can't do it forever. I want security and safety. And, the way I'm looking at it, that's not a bad thing. Especially if I've tried the fast paced, unpredictable city life. My hope is that at 50 years old I will look back at this time and be so glad that I did it and so glad that I'm not doing it anymore.

Getting ready for Christmas outside of Macy's!

In other news, today is my one month anniversary with the city! It's an exciting milestone, but today was also the day Jared left (he's been here about 9 days). It was considerably harder saying goodbye to him today than when he left the first time. Then, I had a whole new adventure ahead of me and a world full of unknowns. Now, while still an exciting adventure, I know what I'm in for. And I know that it's more enjoyable and more comfortable with Jared. Either way, we had a great time. We saw An American Carol and Righteous Kill and just spent a lot of time wandering around and eating wonderful baked goods from Martha's Country Bakery (http://www.marthascountrybakery.com/). Just living a nice, leisurely life. It was wonderful!!

Now, on to the next month. I hope to find a new job, one that makes a good salary, has benefits... is a career. I want to see what that's like. And, if I can afford my iPhone, get Doughnut the puppy, and save up some money for the Farm, so be it :)

We're goobers.

But cute!!

Good Samaritan Day, or: paying someone else to do your laundry for you is the best idea ever

The view of Manhattan from Queensboro Plaza train stop. This picture doesn't do it justice, it's a breathtaking view at night!

Today was a really good day. I worked all day, for the most part (11 hours) which was fine, but it was just a day when I noticed New Yorkers doing nice things for each other. It's such a great thing to see, especially when the city because for it's size and pace can feel so cold. It's nice to be reminded that we're all just people jammed in this big city for mainly the same reason and to know that other people must realize that, too, when they go out of their way for each other and for guests to this fine city. It made me really fall in love with the place that much more.



What else has made me fall in love with this city? The cost is the same whether you do your own laundry or pay somebody else to do it for you. I dropped off three weeks worth of laundry, gave them 15 bucks and it came back like this...

Bagged. Folded. Sorted. In a beautiful square pile. And the best part, no effort on my part!



In other news, my job is going quite well. I was supposed to be head cashier, but I've prooven to be more useful on the floor and in merchandising, so that's where I usually find myself. I actually enjoy putting together the displays and organizing everything. Enjoy it so much that I usually find myself staying late to help out. But, hey, it means more money in the paycheck! And I can sure use it! And it's a lot of fun working with Al! We're quite the comic duo at times. But I'm very glad he'll be gone this next weekend, as he's spent almost every waking hour at the store, he needs a vacation, badly. And I need the money, so his vacation and my needing work equals two 10 am to 10 pm days for me next weekend. Jared will be in town (Starting Sunday night!!! YAY!!!!!!!) but I have most of the next week off in order to be with him. I have an interview at a car dealership in Manhattan either Monday or Tuesday (I'm not sure which yet). I doubt anything will come of it, but it could be a REAL job with REAL bennifits and REAL pay! It's fun to dream. And then I can afford my iPhone!



Well, thanks for reading and I hope you're all well!

The Adventure begins, Halloween style.

Well, it's been a long week for not having accomplished much until today. And, since it's one in the morning, this will be a fairly short post. Here's the quick update...

I started working today at the Times Square branch of Halloween Adventure. Today was a ten hour day (yeah overtime!), all of which was used to start getting the store ready, which should open on Sunday or Monday. Ten hours of sorting costumes is a lot for anybody! And I'm back at it again tomorrow morning! But the big news on that front is, I'm the head cashier! I've never been a cashier before, so the choice boggles me a bit, but I'll take it and enjoy it! I hope it comes with a higher pay, but even if it doesn't if I get to be in charge, I think I'll be happier.

After work I went to my cousin Zach's place for the first time and let me tell you, it's beautiful! I met some of his friends and got to watch the presidential debates which was actually rather interesting.

Anyhow, since it's now 1 and I need to be up around 7, I'll say goodnight!

The Week One Update

It's, as of late tonight, one week since I've been a resident of New York City. The first few days were like vacation, but since Jared's left (he's back home now) it's become real living. Here are some pictures from when Lindsay W and Jared were in town, hanging out with Sam and I!

Hanging out at McCann's

Jared and I at a little place in Midtown.

"Photo Op" with Trekie Monster from Avenue Q! Great show!

Here are some pictures from the awesome new place I live!!!

Bryant Park, where Jared and I liked to stop while wandering Midtown.

I just thought this was neat.

Theatre row.

Since hanging out alone is lame, I've been spending a fair amount of time haning out with Al, a friend who I met rather randomly in college. He's sort of my big brother in the city. He's an actor and knows a ton of people (he seems to be mister right place, right time). The other evening I met him after work and we hung out at his place in Spanish Harlem and cooked dinner (amazing, amazing stirfry) and the next night we went to see Gypsy with Patti LuPone. That show was the MOST amazing this I've ever seen. The three leads all won Tony awards for their roles and, let me tell you, it showed. It was astounding. Here's some pictures!

Al, the Mrs. Dash salesman.

Our tasty stirfry!

The insanity that was the crowds outside of Equuis. They're all waiting to see Daniel Radcliffe... aka, Harry Potter.

Tonight, I'm having a date with myself. I went to Martha's Country Bakery and got a really tasty cupcake and watched When Harry Met Sally alone in my room and enjoyed every second of it. Sometimes, I just need time to unwind and be alone. Tomorrow I'm going to go to the New York City Church in Times Square. I'm sure it'll be the first in a line of church shopping!

Overall, it's been a good week. Surreal, but good. So, now it's off to see what the next week holds!