MacArthur Park

Hello loves! Look- it's February and my last post was in January. AWESOME. So this is going to be a catch up on my life/ review!

- I got the job at Georgetown Cupcake! More on that later...
- Marie Claire is crazy, but it's awesome. It's good to always be busy, which we are. My eating habits are all out of wack (I mean, lunch at 5 pm?)
- School is school... I mean- I'm keeping up and just ready for Spring Break already.
- I'm heading home next weekend- I'm so thrilled to have a weekend of relaxation and chilling. :)
- Oh, and in case you didn't get the Musical Theater reference- it is "Priscilla: Queen of the Desert" in which there are dancing cupcakes surrounding Will Swenson. Appropriate, no? (I did go back this month and official was introduced to Nick Adams- so sweet and nice!)

A bit about Georgetown Cupcake- I love it there. The atmosphere is so fun and everyone is so happy to get cupcakes. Many don't even make it out the door! ;)

I've tried quite a few cupcakes, so I figured I'd do a review of some of them:

Vanilla Squared: Vanilla cake with a cream cheese frosting- my go to cupcake. My grandma always bakes cupcakes for our birthdays and uses a cream cheese frosting, so I always pick this frosting when I have a choice. The cake is nice and moist and the icing isn't too sweet.

Vanilla Birthday: Vanilla cake with Buttercream icing and of course, sprinkles. This seems to be a very popular one, but I like our cream cheese better than our buttercream. It's a little too sweet for me, but my sister likes it better than our Vanilla Squared. 

Red Velvet: A Classic. It has my perfect cream cheese frosting, so it's a winner. The little bit of chocolate in the red cake is just a perfect amount. We sell a crazy amount of these every day- so a best seller!

Salted Caramel: My second favorite! And only on Tuesdays and Saturdays. There isn't a ton of salt, but it's a good amount. It doesn't over power the caramel. Maybe a little bit on top would make it perfect. I like the caramel star on top of the icing. 

Mint Cookies and Cream: A new one that I tried today. I wasn't sure how I would like it-- mint oreo? Not really feeling it. However- it is mint chocolate chip ice cream in cupcake form. YUM! Will totally give other flavors a try also and grab this again next Saturday.


These are the only ones I've tried so far- I'm not a big fan of chocolate cake, but I figure I have to try them eventually. Too bad I missed January's flavor of the month of s'mores! I also want to try the Mint Chocolate one to compare it to mint cookies & cream and cinnamon.


Come visit me in the Georgetown Cupcake in SoHo at 111 Mercer Street- or one of their two locations in Washington, DC. Or the final option is shipping- they do it nation wide and they come shipped perfectly- we've ordered from them 3 or 4 times and they've always been perfect. But nothing beats a fresh cupcake! :)

Enjoy your evening everyone! <3
Dria

This World Will Remember Me

So, I didn't do as good of a job at posting more in 2011, so hopefully 2012 will be better. But seeing as how busy I will be, it will be a miracle if I can eat, shower, and do homework every day.

Let's see:
- I am taking 16 credits with an internship so it will be a full 18 credits.
      - I am taking my 16 credits just two days a week- Tuesdays and Thursdays. I'll be at Pace from 9 am- 8:45 pm, so it will be crazy plus an internship at Marie Claire (yes, the magazine) on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

- I'm trying to get a job with Georgetown Cupcake for weekends for their NYC SOHO location. I've gotten through my first round of interviews and now am setting up my second one. This one will be with the owners, Sophie and Katherine! My favorite cupcakes from there? Vanilla Squared and Salted Caramel. You can order them online through their website & they freeze super well!

- Bonnie & Clyde closed on Dec. 30th. It was sad, but I was so glad to have been there. I wound up loving the show so much more than I ever thought I was! The cast was fabulous and it was always a treat. The four main leads (pictured above) always gave 110% no matter what. I'm thrilled to have seen it. Keep a look out for the cast recording coming out this spring. My title came from a song in Act 1 that Clyde sang to Bonnie after he first meet her. Jeremy Jordan will be staring in Newsies, so I will be checking him out in that.

- Christmas was a fun time- full of shoes, family, and then everyone getting sick. The last part wasn't fun, but did cause me to loose 3 pounds, so that was fine. ;) Presents are below- all gotten on sale at Bergdorf Goodman before leaving NYC or Saks Fifth Avenue after Christmas sale here in Pittsburgh.

Christmas 2011 by dp4horses featuring leather shoes

TOMS leather shoes
$140 - toms.com

Repetto round toe shoes
$235 - stylebop.com

Roger Vivier block heels
$485 - bluefly.com

Rebecca minkoff bag
$215 - rebeccaminkoff.com






I hope to see more musicals this semester (of course), so I can see the Tony award winners before the Tonys. And finally see The Book of Mormon. 24 times lottoing so far, so hopefully 25 will be my lucky number. I'm enjoying my time off here at home- just relaxing, eating food, baking (since I don't have a kitchen), watching TV, etc. It's a nice break since I know once I get back to the city, it will be crazy! Hopefully you had a wonderful holiday and enjoy the rest of Christmas break (I know some Pittsburgh colleges are starting classes again today-- haha, Not fun for them. I don't go back until January 17th.)

Colour My World

I swear, I need to start posting on my blog more regularly. Its a place where I like to vent and just get my feelings and thoughts out. It's great, so I'm going to try and make it a weekly thing.

So, in the month I haven't posted-

• I went to several shows (including Anything Goes, Wicked, Priscilla (again), and Godspell)
• I found out my shoe sales associate from Nordstrom (I've been working with her exclusively since the beginning of 2011) got a job at Louis Vuitton. I'm proud of her and know where to go if I ever need LV, but now I need a new shoe person and its not like I'm going to Nordys every week like I used to. Luckily Nordys is great with costumer service, so I have a $50 gift card coming my way and they'll set me up with a new sales person. I'm picky, so hopefully they find someone good for me, my mom, and sister. ;) 
• My mom & sister visited! I never understood the appeal of parents visiting, but now I do. It was a great weekend of shopping, seeing shows, and eating out for a solid weekend. 
• I gave up on doing my own laundry and found a nice wash & fold place. I love NYC. 
• I'm attempting to cross places off my Urbanspoon wish list- I currently have 45 different restaurants/bakeries I want to try on it. 
• I got an A on my first English Comp class in a long time (like, since 1st semester freshman year).

Currently listening to Priscilla: Queen of the Desert. I'm kind of obsessed with Nick Adams and want to be best friends with him. 

I mean-- Hello. With that smile, talent, and body, who wouldn't want to be friends with him? (He works for his body- he was going to the gym between shows on a Saturday. That's dedication. Wanna be my trainer?) Plus, he seems to be super sweet!

Classes are going well. I'm itching to schedule for next semester so I can start applying for internships for next semester. They all want my availability and 2-3 days a week. So, I need to schedule myself around the internship because that's really important. I also have to take a full course load (18 credits) so I can make sure to graduate on time. 

Some things I feel like I need now that this semester is going well and I'm settled include some more friends and some arm candy. I have a few "classroom" friends, but I feel like I need some more friends that I can hang out at night or go to lunch or dinner with. Typically my meals are just eaten by myself in my room or out with friends that go to different schools. I've eaten in the cafeteria once- of course, my little organic salads or Amy's mac & cheese is so much better than that food. But I still have like $80 for this semester that I need to use. I've been pretty good about using my printing money, so I have to use this. If worst comes to worse, I'll just start buying like 10 bottles of water every week. That can't go bad and that's what I spent most of my money on freshman year. I just wish they had the expensive bottles of water (most people on campus drink Glaceau Smartwater-- which is my pick when I buy a bottle on my weekly Tuesday grocery shopping trips but the school only sells Aquafina water (same as my old school))-- also, it would use up more of my money! Maybe if they partnered up with local restaurants, it would work better. As for the guy- its been awhile. However, finding a guy is a bit harder than expected- of course, the getting hit on part isn't hard. That happens on like a daily basis, but not with the right guy. Now that I'm putting this out on the internet/ blogging sphere, maybe it will happen? I want a nice, wealthy, cute boy. Is that too much to ask for? ;) Maybe I need to start hanging out at the Starbucks closer to Wall Street? Will look into that for my Wednesday Caramel Skinny Macchiato. I can't make it through my Wednesdays without it; I'd die in my 8 am class. 

Off to get my clothes in my laundry bag to head off to the cleaners tomorrow. I need a bigger/ cuter laundry bag! I'm looking at this one in the brown & purple: 

They look nice and big (since I have a lot of clothes and would rather not totally stuff it!) I might have to e-mail my mom about it since it's on sale. 

~ Glitter & Boas 

Dria

PS- I was in this. Such a fun day in the rehearsal studio and in Times Square. It was also cool thing to check off of my bucket list!

Live In Living Color

Living in NYC is everything I imagined it to be. It's amazing to finally be in the city that I've dreamed about living in for years. All doubts have vanished.

I live in the St. George Dorm in Brooklyn Heights. It's an amazing area. I'm close to several subway lines, especially the 2/3 which I take every day. It's about 20 minutes to Times Square (I love living on the express line!). A few blocks over is the Brooklyn Promenade, which offers beautiful views of NYC.

                                                   The view from the Promenade on 9/11
                                                                  (photo taken by me)

A few blocks the other way offers Montague Street, where there is a Crumbs Bakeshop (my favorite cupcakes), UPS, 5 Guys, Starbucks, etc. Pretty much anything that you could really need. I do my grocery shopping up at Whole Foods in Columbus Circle-- I've cut out snacking and am trying to go to close to an all organic diet. At first it was a little bit of an adjustment, but Whole Foods has made it easy with all their yummy choices. I love Amy's frozen meals- so easy and tasty!

(photo outside of Laduree, taken by me)

I've been venturing and exploring the city as much as possible. One Saturday, I ventured up to the Upper East Side and found myself waiting in line for Laduree's macarons. I had heard of them before (thus, why I actually got in line to buy myself these little gems). I've been a fan of macarons ever since I had them at The Plaza Food Hall and then Macaron Cafe (59th between Madison & Park). The wait time wound up being around an hour and I walked out with my little purple box filled with 3 Vanilla  and 3 Caramel macarons nestled into the light green bag. I was thrilled and practically skipped down Madison Avenue (while hearing some "Oh! She waited and got Laduree!"). 

(also taken by me)

I took my delicious treats and tried my first one in Central Park-- it was delicious and worth the wait. 

What Else Have I been Doing? 

- I saw "Catch Me If You Can"'s closing night, which was the most amazing last performance I've ever been to. Aaron's last "Goodbye" earned him a standing ovation and not a dry eye in the house. It was magical. I of course miss it and have walked past the Neil Simon just to see the pictures. 

- I saw "Hair" again before it headed down to Dallas, TX. I seriously love this cast & show. I had quite a few female understudies on, and loved each and every one of them. Pairs Remillard (Claude) played with my hair during the title song, which made my goodbye even better. I always wanted my hair played with, and it didn't happen until this time. It was great to dance on stage at the St. James one last time. <3 

- I saw a new show-- "Priscilla: Queen of the Desert" It wasn't my favorite show I've ever seen, but it made me smile and laugh, which is exactly what I had needed after all the tears from the first two shows. Kyle Brown was in it, and my sister became friends with him through "Legally Blonde". He was just as sweet as ever. :) I did hear a comment from the girl next to me saying if understudies go on, they should just cancel the performance. I got really upset by this & tweeted about it (which several of my friends retweeted, I'm glad they feel the same way as I do. :) ). I love understudies. I've seen plenty go on and love them. I was thrilled when I got to see Lucas Wells & Perry Sherman go on for Melchior in Spring Awakening in Pittsburgh. I went downtown after working just to see Act 2 of Perry Sherman's Henry in Next to Normal. If you don't like that-- go and exchange your ticket and leave. I'll still always support understudies and love them. 

I plan on doing rush for "Anything Goes" on Thursday since I don't have class for the Jewish Holiday. Also, I need the laughs and smiles that I'm guessing will come from a night at the theater. 

It's been a hard past week--- my grandfather passed away and I went home for a long weekend (left Thursday afternoon and then came back Sunday early evening), but it didn't seem like long enough to spend at home & with my family. I know Thanksgiving is coming up, so I'm looking forward to that. My mom and sister might come up next month, which would be awesome. I keep telling them to come up & visit me. Just spending time with them (& seeing shows and shopping of course!) would be awesome after a long week of classes. 

Au Revoir! I'm headed off to catch the subway to head to French class!

What You Want

So, the time has come. I'm changing my location on Facebook to Brooklyn Height, NY. I leave tomorrow for NYC and won't be back in the 'Burgh until Thanksgiving. My mom and dad are moving me up, and hopefully we'll have enough room in the car for their suitcases. I have 4 packed with just clothes and shoes. Oops. With that done, I'm just spending the day putting my sheets and towels into space bags and packing those away with my notebooks, pens, and pencils.

                                   A view of Manhattan from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade

I do have 2 roommates, which will be interesting. I've only ever had a single room, so it will be a new experience for me. One is from New York City (Washington Heights) and then the other is from China. It's kind of interesting that they put 3 random women together, totally different majors (English Literature, Nursing, and then something Business). We've only had a couple of emails, but come Sunday, we'll be living together for the rest of the year. It's supposed to rain for move in, so my fingers are crossed that it doesn't. I'm also seeing the closing performance of Catch Me if You Can that afternoon with the two girls that I'm getting an apartment with next year. I'm thrilled that I'll finally be able to be there for exciting things instead of being 8 hours away. I'm also going to finally experience Fashion's Night Out, the Broadway Flea Market, and just living the city in general.

I can't wait to live and work in New York City. What I Want (from Legally Blonde, of course) is finally coming true!

I Believe...

So, several months later and its happening... I'm moving here:

I took the plunge and it worked. I'm moving to New York City. I'm transferring to Pace University and could not be more thrilled to move here. I've started gathering things for my new room and hopefully will know exactly where I'm living (I'm hoping for here: http://www.studenthousing.org/residences/st-george-clark ) and who my roommate is by tomorrow. I'm slightly nervous as I've only had single rooms and never had a roommate before, but I'm sure it will work out. It has to. 

I've started cleaning out my closet, working a lot (though, I'm done after this week until I'm up in NYC! :) ), and just trying to spend as much time with my family before I leave. I'm thrilled to be making this exciting move now. 

I'm ready for you New York. Are you ready for me?

There Be Light....

Walking around New York City while in the city visiting colleges in 2009, there was down time that was spent seeing shows (duh...). Only winning two tickets to In The Heights (my sister won and took my dad), left me in search for tickets for the evening. I went over to Billy Elliot (this was before the Tony awards that year) to see if they had any tickets left for the evening. They did- $140. Um, no thanks. So, I wandered over to another theatre on the street- The Booth where Next to Normal was in previews. My one friend had seen it, so I figured I would like it. I went to the box office- $37 for partial view in the orchestra. Sounds MUCH better than the $140.

I went into the show knowing nothing besides the fact that my friend, Jackie, had seen the show before in previews. I was totally blown away by the show. I laughed, I cried, I had chills. The show was amazing. I ran out to the lobby at intermission. The only had a couple things you could buy- the poster (which I bought), pre-order the CD, and one t-shirt.

Fast forward to the summer of 2010- I hadn't seen the show for over a year, but I saw it four times, all with different casts (last weekend for Bobby Spencer, with Brian D'Arcy James, the new cast with Brian Justin Crum as Henry, and then the full new cast). I fell in love with the show again. I loved the story, every song, and every actor/actress. Of course I had to come and see the tour when it was in Pittsburgh.

There was a talkback on Wednesday night, so I convinced my sister to go with me. Pearl Sun was on for Alice and the talkback included her and all the "kids"- Curt Hanson, Emma Hunton, Preston Sadleir, Caitlin Kinnunen, and Perry Sherman. I was familiar with three of the cast members (Emma, Caitlin, and Perry) because of Spring Awakening. The talkback was informative and I was happy to see Perry again (after a year of trying to find him on campus- he went to CMU for drama). They are all super talented, but for sure the real stand out was Emma Hunton. She was the reason I went 4 times during the 8 shows it was here.

Oh, and that .5 of seeing the show?
I decided if I heard that Perry Sherman (I got to see him go on for Melchior twice while it was in Pittsburgh) was going on, I'd do everything possible to make it happen. It did.... I found out on Saturday evening for sure by Perry himself--he was going on Sunday night. I worked until close and didn't know what time we were closing--anywhere from 7 pm to 9 pm. The show was at 6:30. Lucky for me, we were slow and I was out at my car and changing in the parking lot of the mall and then downtown in the parking garage. I ran to the box office and asked to buy a ticket- anywhere. They GAVE me a ticket and get this- it was in the pit. Row CC. So, I got to see Perry go on for Henry (act 2) for free in the third row of the theater. (Pearl was also on again- so I saw Pearl 2.5 times and Alice twice... Poor thing needs to take a good year off to rest her voice). I couldn't have been happier- Birthday magic had worked out for me again (My birthday was the following Tuesday--last year it was that I could go up to Detroit for the day to see the Spring Awakening tour one last time before the end). I had gotten into the theater just as "A Light In The Dark" was finishing up. Showed them my (FREE) ticket and went to the restroom before the mad dash of women. I got to my seat and couldn't stop grinning as Perry was dragged onto the stage by Emma at the beginning of Act 2 to start "Wish I Were Here".
By the time when the screens went up in "Light" to reveal the purple lighting, I was bawling my eyes out as if it was the last performance (not like I didn't cry every other time I saw the show... I have every single time. Even when I saw it twice in 1 day--which is totally not recommended. I was emotionally drained after that and the whole week of seeing it so much). The second act of the show had been perfect. I couldn't have asked for better timing or anything (well, besides to have been there for the whole performance ;) ).

Next to Normal is continuing its tour around the country and I'm sure I'll see it again this summer (potential for Cleveland, Philly, and DC--- all of which happen in a row... :) ). To see where they're going this summer and more info- visit nexttonormal.com