Mom...my mom. I love her.

She says I make fun of her on this blog.  That is not true.  I rejoice in her personality, and I just want to share the wonders of Naomi.  Besides, she knows full well I am doing this post.  So here goes.  With her permission.

I like to call Mom a child of the Depression.  She was born in the latter years of it (sorry I just outed you Mom), and was raised as the youngest member of a Depression era family.  So, she is a child of the Depression.  Grandma Lucille's favorite expression?  I don't actually know, but one was, "waste not, want not."

So Mom has always been very frugal and anti-waste, for the sake of money and the environment.  Always one to take advantage of a sale; but she can also resurrect nasty fruit in the fridge to make the best fruit salad you have ever seen.  She has a true talent for making the most of her resources.  I still remember the day when I was a small bairn, and my dad finally told her that he made enough money; it was time to stop using powdered milk.  Yes, that was in my lifetime.

As I have gotten older, I have been thoroughly entertained when she shows her true colors.  On my last trip home, I was not disappointed.  During Sunday dinner, my dad and I were sitting at the table when Mom brought napkins.  She then proceeded to tear one in half, and place one half at my plate, and one half at Dad's, with the air of, "here you are.  A napkin.  Enjoy." 

Apparently, she didn't think the environment needed so many napkins.  Bless her beautiful hide. 

PS- Mom's influence has not passed me by.  As much as I tease her about washing out Ziploc bags to re-use, I have had a few moments in the last few years where I have done the same.  Yikers. 

Obsessed with Spring, Pippin Opening, and the Most Mind-blowing Cookie.

It has been a month since my last update, and what a month it has been.  I am not even going to try and fit it all into one post.  So I will just start and hopefully within a few posts will be caught up.

I am still obsessed with Spring, and taking pictures of the trees and loveliness!  It even smells good outside, which it kind of an accomplishment for New York.  The weekend before I went home, my friend Melanie told me about a Cherry Blossom Festival over on Randall's Island.  Since we want to hit every island in the area this summer anyway, we figured Randall's Island was a good place to start.

We didn't know that the Cherry Blossom Festival consisted of a couple of trees next to a construction site. Oh well.  It was kind of cute, there were some booths up, and Mel and I wrote our names in Japanese.  Or we were told that is what we were doing.  For all I know, I painted the words of "I Am Cheese."

It was chilly morning on Randall's Island, but an adventure, and that is what we were looking for.

This is a cookie from Levain Bakery.  I almost can't talk about it.  It kind of changed my life.

And, Pippin opened.  It was a fun night.  It is exciting to be part of the opening of a Broadway show.  It is just that next time, I want to be actually on the stage, OK?  Thanks.

All the other Broadway shows send well wishes, which is a fun show of community.

The day after opening, I was off to Utah for two weeks.  I was so ready for a break from auditioning, I couldn't even handle myself.  A break from auditioning I got, but a break in general?  Not even close.  More on that in another post.

Spring Has Sprung (Finally)!

Spring!  I love Spring.  I am so happy it is finally coming around, and it has really just happened in the last week.  I love the parks here.  They seem like a small oasis in the middle of the city.  Especially Central Park.  I also love that as I am in the middle of some great park, I can still see buildings in the distance.  Kind of like two worlds coming together. 

So I just needed to share my joy of the new Spring with a few pics from the last week.  Most of these are from Central Park on my ramblings, but I have one from Bryant Park too.

Bryant Park, 6th Ave/42 St.

 Central Park last Monday, and below, Central Park yesterday while out with my friend Melanie.

 I went on a walk today back to Central Park, but to a different area closer to midtown.  I was not the only one with such a brilliant idea.

 I feel like I have seen this bridge in so many movies.  Geeked out a little bit.

Yep, with today being so beautiful in the park, it was the kind of day that makes me wish I had a boyfriend to enjoy it with, or that my parents were here so I could show them, or both. 

Mormon Super Bowl Weekend, Or Should I Say, General Conference

Last weekend was General Conference.  I always love that weekend for so many reasons.  Not only do we get to hear great talks from the leaders of my church, but it kind of feels like a holiday weekend to me.  No formal church, getting together with family or friends, and of course, the food.  Oh, the FOOD!  My roommate Abby called it the Mormon Super Bowl, and how right she is.

I spent the weekend with some of my favorite people in the city.  I have great friends.  We play together, eat together, take walks together, plank together.....
 
And, as a side note, I met my first hairless cat at Carolyn's house, which belongs to her roommate.  Who knew these creatures existed?  I didn't, and I am not sure how I feel about it now that I know.  Just saying.

Anyway, it was great.  This morning I reread one of my favorite talks, the one by Elaine S. Dalton about being daughters of God.  Last weekend as I listened I just felt really empowered as a woman.  Today was no different, but since I was reading, I could take a little more time and develop some specific thoughts.  Here are some of my favorite quotes:

"As daughters of God we are each unique and different in our circumstances and experiences. And yet our part matters—because we matter."

I love this so much.  We ARE all different, but we all contribute to this world, and we MATTER.  I matter.

"Again I renew the call for a return to virtue. Virtue is the strength and power of daughters of God. What would the world be like if virtue—a pattern of thought and behavior based on high moral standards, including chastity—were reinstated in our society as a most highly prized value? If immorality, pornography, and abuse decreased, would there be fewer broken marriages, broken lives, and broken hearts? Would media ennoble and enable rather than objectify and degrade God’s precious daughters? If all humanity really understood the importance of the statement “We are daughters of our Heavenly Father,” how would women be regarded and treated?"

I do wonder what the world would be like if virtue were revered as it should be.  I really can't even imagine it.  But it would be a beautiful place.  I don't have a lot that is profound to say about this passage, but I just like it.

"In a morally desensitizing world, young women need women and men to “stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places.” Never before has this been more important than now. Young women need mothers and mentors who exemplify virtuous womanhood. Mothers, your relationship with your daughter is of paramount importance, and so is your example. How you love and honor her father, his priesthood, and his divine role will be reflected and perhaps amplified in your daughter’s attitudes and behavior."

This was my favorite passage.  First of all, young women do need women AND men to stand as witnesses of God.  They need women in order to know what to aspire to as a woman; they need men in order to know what to look for in a partner.  I just liked how Sister Dalton did not let anyone off the hook with that statement; we are all accountable to lead the youth.  Also, she nails women to the wall on how much affect their relationship with the father of their children will have on their daughters.  We hear a lot about that principle from the male perspective on how they should be treating us.  But the principle goes both ways, and we women could stand to hear it.  Sister Dalton is not saying be submissive to the head of the household; she is saying love, honor, respect your spouse/baby daddy.  Show your daughters what that looks like.  Ideally, both spouses are doing it for each other.

But the phrase that really stuck out to me was "Young women need mothers and mentors who exemplify virtuous womanhood."

As a single woman in my church, I notice how often people refer to women mostly in the context of being mothers. It even happens in this talk a lot as well, and I can understand why, since we do believe that is our divine purpose as women, to be mothers.  I not offended, per se; they are probably speaking to the majority.  But I just don't relate to it, since I have no children, and sometimes there is a little part of me that feels left out, maybe.  Like whoever is speaking is unaware of me, and others in my situation, childless, for so many different reasons.  And, I am sorry, but it feels like such a consolation prize when people say that "we are all mothers," whether it is because we are actual mothers, or aunts, or friends, etc.  Like being invited to a party as an afterthought because someone felt sorry for me. NOT THE SAME.

However, I can really get behind the idea of being a mentor.  As a mentor, I can contribute to the well-being of a youth in my sphere of influence and feel like I am in my element, and not trying to be someone I am not. I am not trying to nose my way in to being something to someone I have no desire to be; their mother, or second mother, or whatever.  But I can mentor.

Maybe it is just a question of word choice for me.  But the thought of being a mentor fills me with the desire to follow through on that call to action, to be an example of a virtuous woman to whomever is watching.  It spoke to me in a way that being a figurative "mother" has not.  It gave a legitimate name to the contribution I can make, that I would love to make. 

I think of my nieces, and I want to be that person for them.  The type of woman they can emulate, should they choose to.  I think of my nephews, and I want to be that person for them.  The type of woman they can use as a gauge for when they are dating and looking for marriage, should they choose to.

I just loved this talk.  There are others I loved, but this made me think a lot today, and I really felt empowered, ennobled, and enabled to work harder to be that virtuous woman, so that I can contribute my part to this world as best I can.

Since I lack a really graceful ending to my thoughts, I will leave you with a picture of my first foray into Coronet's Pizza last Saturday between sessions.  And Deb's photo bomb.  
 

Happy Easter!

My weekend started beautifully with my friend Joseph Ogden, who had hired me for the gig I did on Thursday.  He took me to brunch at Norma's, a really nice restaurant at the Parker Meridian Hotel.  So yummy, and then we walked the Highline for a bit before he had to leave town.

Last night I got to do a little Easter celebrating with dying eggs with some lovely friends.  Yippee!

Tonight I am going to my first Easter Mass at St. Paul's Church in Lower Manhattan.  I am really looking forward to it.

As I was reading in the scriptures this morning about Christ rising on the third day, one thought struck me, that is not new, so much, but really hit me somehow today.  Christ appeared to Mary Magdalene first.  A woman.  To me, that says so much about His regard not only for her, but for women in general.  And not in a "women are so much better than men" kind of way at all.  But I just really believe that Christ loves women, so much, and holds us in reverence, respect and regard.

Lately I have heard and therefore thought a lot about peoples' ideas with the Church and women, the Priesthood and other perceived or real gender inequalities.  Those issues may or may not be a big deal to some.  They are to others.  And I am not saying our society in the Church is perfect and doesn't have things they can improve on as far as gender goes.  I don't know.  But I do know that Jesus Christ loves women.  So much.  If it wasn't so, he would not have spent the time speaking to Mary Magdalene first, of all people.  Maybe he would have gone to John the Beloved.  That would have made sense.  But he first went to Mary.

So,  I know my place as a woman in the eyes of Jesus Christ, and I know I am loved, respected, and revered.  Those were my thoughts today, and I just love my Savior. 

Happy Easter!

 

The Gig, The Train and the Tranny.

On Thursday I had a singing gig in New Canaan, CT.  My friend Joseph, who works in External Relations for the Marriott School of Business Management at BYU, was planning an event with their National Advisory Council and hired me to come out and sing at it.  So I grabbed my friend/accompanist Ryan and off we went on the Metro-North Train to New Canaan.  It was my first time taking a train out of the City, so it was kind of exciting.  That little detail is important.  Remember that.

It was a really fun night.  We ate yummy food (of course, always the food), and Ryan and I were a big hit, and I hope they raised lots of money for the school.  New Canaan is gorgeous.  I love living in NYC (obvi), but every time I leave it and go to a suburb I wonder why I live in the City.  Anyway, it was really fun; I was so glad to be asked.

So Ryan and I get on the train about 9:30pm to come back.  The train ride is supposed to be a little over an hour long, and we have a stop in Stamford in the middle of it.  We were both pretty tired, but just chatting with each other and anxious to get home.  During the stop in Stamford, we just stayed on the train.  Why not?  Eventually, the train started.  And we started going backward.

Back the way we came.

Back to New Canaan.

It wasn't until then that we realized we were supposed to transfer at Stamford, not just sit on the train and wait to get going again.

Wooooppppsssss.....

The best part was, we had watched a guy get on the train and ask if it was the train going to NYC.  Another man shook his head "no."  WE WATCHED THIS.  And we still thought, that's crazy.  Of course this is the train going back.  Where else would it be going?  Well, it was going back to New Canaan, that's where.  By this time it was about 10:30, and we wanted to die.

Anyway....we got all the way back to New Canaan, and all the way back to Stamford, and sure did get off the train to transfer.  When our train finally came, we got our reward for the whole painful experience in the form of the largest cross dresser I have ever seen. 

This tranny was huge.  Like, 6'10".  No joke.  And broad as a linebacker.  By unspoken agreement, Ryan and I found two seats just facing her so we could watch as she chatted, very loudly, about her life to anyone who would listen.  I even got a few pictures, but they aren't very good.  You have to look at her shoes!   At one point, she took off her wig to reveal a completely bald head, brushed out the wig, and put it back on.  Her outfit was amazing; all hot pink mesh.  She did not leave a whole lot to the imagination, if you know what I mean. 

*I mean no disrespect to transsexuals, transgender individuals, drag queens, transvestites, etc.  I am actually kind of fascinated, and would love to meet someone someday that could give me insight into the world of gender-bending, to put it generally.  It just seems to be that whenever I run into a tranny, she happens to be one who is so outlandish in her dress and demeanor that I can't help but be entertained.  And I seem to run into them a lot.  I do live in New York City.*

We got home after midnight, tired but in one piece.  And don't think I didn't already have this blog post formulating in my mind....

Happy Birthday To Me Week!

Last week was my birthday!  I am so lucky to have great friends to celebrate it with.  I kind of celebrated all week, at least in the way I ate....I totally have food hangover today.  It all started with a burger and a shake at Shake Shack late Tuesday night, and hasn't really stopped because, well, it was the weekend.  Just wanted to share a few pics of the Italian restaurant we went to on Wednesday (the actual day), and the party Abby and Deb threw for me Friday night. 

 

Shake Shack.  Mmmm...


Italian with some of my people. 

Rance, Chelsea and me.

Melanie, Stephen and Abby

Jeff and Matt

Deb has found in moving out here that people are obssessed with her hair....so I did a study in her hair: 






Let's be honest, I have hair envy.  I am not ashamed to admit it.  We decided we needed to create a Facebook fan page for Deb's hair.  It will be complete with a cut out of her hair that you can insert your own face into.  Like so:


Stay tuned for that.

And, me and my crazy friends at my birthday party.

 Let's not talk about the poster.  It was not my idea.  Or the (fully clothed) lap dance I got from Seth.  Not my idea either, but really, REALLY funny.  And slightly uncomfortable.  But mostly funny. 

After a Saturday of work, and opening up Pippin,
 
Sunday night found us breaking the fast with eachother, as we have done so many times in the last few months.  I like my friends a lot.  They seriously are the best. 

However, it is time to get back on the wagon.  I have a huge food hangover.