What a difference a week makes.

7 days ago I was in West Hollywood, driving through the hills with windows down. This saturday, I was in nyc, snow on the ground, celebrating the birth of a dear friend from college. I love NY, the buildings, the energy, theater everywhere you turn. Hollywood's theater district was like a ghost town when I walked through during the week. I'm glad I got to experience both worlds within a week of each other, as it made me appreciate both more, and I hope one day I can afford to hop back and forth often!

In LA I realized I hadn't seen many Broadway shows- only Rent and Wicked. So I decided to take my free solo time yesterday and see a matinee- the first theater I passed was the one housing Mary Poppins, and i'll take any opportunity that allows you to be a kid again, so it was a no brainer! For someone who took tech theater and is not often fooled by stage tricks, I was blown away by the effects and such. I don't want to give much away, but *SPOILER ALERT*- there was a point where a chimney sweep tap danced around the proscenium and a part where Mary spread a sheet out and it turned into a bed that they could sit on instantly. Man oh man, if that doesn't turn you into a wide-eyed 5 year old again, I'm not sure anything will! It was a fun, inspiring show. One of my favorite quotes from "Anything Can Happen" was "stretch your mind beyond fantastic, dreams are made of strong elastic, take some advice and don't forget it, anything can happen if you let it." All in all, a great last minute decision! I still have a long list to get through (next up, probably Phantom and Fela), but it's only been a week since I set that goal, and already one more in the bag. See, anything can happen if happen if you let it!

The real reason behind my trip was to celebrate the lovely Joy Notoma's birthday! We were scheduled to go to Panna II in the east village, which was 1 of 3 competing Indian restaurants all decorated the same, with the same menus, all right next to each other. They were competing for business, so we got pulled into Royal Bangladesh instead. The food was awesome and cheap, the decorations consisted of tinsel, chili pepper and blinking snowflake lights hanging from the ceiling (not very conducive to the tall, sadly), and the company and conversation awesome. Lots of laughing. Full bellies. A girl wearing a headband with a tiny sparkly hat attached that inspired us to one day create a crazy headband line. Oh what a night!
My new favorite cupcake- sorry Magnolia!!


Now I'm leaving NY, inspired once again, ready to get going on Joy and I's project, excited to write with Andrea tomorrow, and with lots of other little goals to set and get goin on- namely, working on a ridiculous hidden talent that I must perfect soon, and may reveal to the world eventually...although that wouldn't make it much of hidden talent now, would it?

Alright blog-heads, until we meet again.