That's Just Wrong!

Jeremy was walking along 110th street near Park Ave. the other day, and he saw a man wearing a Cleveland Indians jacket. He asked the man, "Indians fan?" The man replied, "No. I just like the jacket. I'm a Yankees fan."

WHAT?!?!?!

If it had been me, I would have told the guy, "Sorry sir. You're going to have to hand over that jacket."

Speaking of the Indians, I am excited to see Sandy Alomar Jr. return to Cleveland. I must make it a point to get back there in the summer to see some games.




And speaking of Ohio sports...Ohio State vs Michigan today. Go Bucks!

I've Been Newly Inspired!

My mom is here for the week, her first trip to New York City since she and I visited the city with my aunt when I was a teenager. So far, we've taken her for some New York pizza, shown her Grand Central Station, Times Square, the UN, you know...usual touristy stuff. During my acting class this morning, she explored midtown Manhattan armed only with her camera and a couple maps. She witnessed the raising of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, and one of the workers lifting and anchoring it in place gave her a piece of branch from the tree! (No joke!)

Since my mother has never seen a Broadway show, we decided to catch a matinee yesterday. Lots of shows on Broadway hold what is called a ticket lottery outside the box office before each show. Patrons show up 90 minutes to 2 hours before curtain and write their names on an index card. Box office staff will then place all the index cards into a hat or drum and draw out several at random. If your name is drawn, you can purchase up to 2 tickets at a deeply discounted price.

Anyway, of all the available Wednesday matinee ticket lotteries, Wicked was mom's top pick. Wicked being a VERY popular show, I worried that the number of lottery participants would greatly reduce our chances of getting picked. Still, we showed up at the box office at 11:30 a.m. and both put our names in the drum. There were probably at least 100 people there, not very good odds. Still, wouldn't you know it, they drew my name! We were able to buy 2 front row tickets for $26.25 each! (Regular price orchestra tickets were going for around $110.)

I must admit...I did not have a huge desire to see Wicked. The show had been so hot for so long, and nearly every musical theater friend I know RAVED about it. Teenage girls obsessed over it. At nearly every recital I participated in as a voice student of my brother-in-law, one of his other students was singing a song from it. I sometimes have a tendancy to shy away from the latest big thing that everybody else loves. (I did not start reading Harry Potter until the last book had been published, if that tells you anything.)

So imagine my surprise. I loved it! It was clever. It was fun and engaging, humorous and touching. The sets and effects were incredibly impressive. The music was great. Most of all, I was blown away by the vocal talent. The actresses playing Glinda and Elphaba were both amazing singers...technical prowess, beautiful tone color, precision and freedom of expression all at once. I can't even think of any more words to describe it. Wow!

The whole experience was inspiring. I had been feeling a little lost lately. Not doubting my dream or second guessing my ability...just feeling a little out of place among my classmates on a social level. I'm the oldest student in class (as far as I know), the only one married and just in a different place in my non-acting life than the rest of my classmates. Don't get me wrong, my classmates are all very nice. I had just been feeling like I don't fit in.

Wicked lifted me up. It reminded me why I am really here. I'm not here to make 20 new best friends. (Again, not a personal attack on my wonderful and talented classmates.) I'm here to grow as an artist. I'm here to go after the dream. I'm here to do this for myself, to feel like I am accomplishing something, getting one step closer to contributing to my and Jeremy's livelihood by doing something I love, feeling happier with myself, which can only make me a better wife, daughter and friend to the ones I alreday have and cherish. After telling myself that and finally believeing it, I went to class this morning and for the first time actually did feel like I belonged, like I had a place in the group.

So, thanks Wicked! Thanks for giving me a little kick in the ass. I needed that.

Now...I need to find a NY voice teacher and get back to work! I have a new dream role!

We keep encountering people from Ohio!

New York City truly is a melting pot if ever there was one...people of every race, culture, walk of life, all inhabiting this crazy, bustling city. In my acting class alone, there are students from Texas, Kentucky, Virginia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, France, England, Denmark, etc...and one "born and bred" New Yorker. I love being surrounded by so much diversity. It's one of the things that makes the city so vibrant and alive, and it's something that I thrive on. However, I can't help but giggle over what a small world we really live in, as evidenced by the number of people Jeremy and I have encountered here who are originally from Ohio.

For starters, there is another young woman in my acting class who is from Ohio, Cincinnati to be exact. We met a man at a church we've been visiting who is from Beaver Creek, OH, which is where all 3 of Jeremy's college roommates are from. (We haven't had a chance to ask him if he knows any Knuths, Hamiltons or Schwartzs.) Our neighbors upstairs, well the wife anyway, is from the Youngstown area. She talks about wanting to make a trip back home to visit Austintown...the same Youngstown suburb where my moms live!

Then, there are all the other Cleveland natives. We have one neighbor in our building who is from Shaker Heights and spent some time living in Lakewood. Jeremy met a fellow Cleveland transplant while watching a Browns game in an upper west side bar. Last week, we wandered into a wine shop in our neighborhood and struck up a conversation with the young man working there. Turns out he is from Cleveland Heights and knows our favorite wine bar back home. In fact, Bill Esper (the founder of the studio where I am studying and the husband of my acting teacher Suzanne) is originally from Cleveland.

What is it about this city that draws so many people from Ohio? Or, what is it about Ohio that make so many people want to move to New York? :)

I'm not knocking Ohio, Cleveland especially. While New York has always been my dream, I will always consider Cleveland my hometown. I miss it sometimes. So, running into other former "Buckeyes" is comforting. It makes me feel all the more certain that right now New York is home.

One last thing...Jeremy and I saw a man wearing a Cleveland Indians sweatshirt in Central Park this afternoon. (sigh) There's always next year!

Pink Pedicures, Public Arguments and Whitney Houston

After a week in Ohio for Labor Day visits with family and cabaret work, I am back in the city. I arrived on Friday night, and it has been a busy few days...or at least interesting, if not packed with activity.

I ran Race for the Cure NYC on Sunday morning. The race was in Central Park and it was HUGE! The official numbers say a little over 25,000 people officially participated, but between family, friends and supporters there had to be a lot more than that gathered in the park. It was inspirational and overwhelming at the same time. The run in the park was beautiful, and it gave me a chance to clear my head and be thankful for all the blessings in my life...not the least of which is my clean diagnosis from my own breast biopsy earlier this year. I beat my time from lasat year's race in Cleveland by about a minute. I might have been even faster, but with so many people, I had to dodge a fair amount of walking. At any rate, I was pleased with the outcome.

To treat myself after the race, I went and got a pedicure on Monday...a pink pedicure. It was heaven! In general, I'm not a frequent "spa treatment" kind of gal. I'm particular about who I let cut and style my hair. A massage once in a blue moon, maybe. I'm just not one to jump at a weekend spa retreat with the works...unless someone else is footing the bill. :) Still, pedicures are something I like to treat myself to regularly, if I can. Sure, I have a little foot spa at home and I can do them myself (and I do, don't get me wrong). However, professionals are always so much better at it than I am, particularly when it comes to applying the nail polish. So, now I have perfectly filed and painted pink toenails.

In the several days that I have been back from Ohio, I have noticed quite a number of private arguments unfolding rather publicly right before my eyes. In my first three days home, I witnessed just as many quarrels. I couldn't tell you what all of them were about. The only one I remember distinctly was the most recent. A couple on the subway was arguing about whether or not they should have spent money on the the 32-inch LCD television that was now sitting at their feet. As their heated debate went on, I sat across from them trying to remain in my own world, not pay too much attention. It got me thinking. In this city, you can have complete anonymity and a complete lack of privacy all at the same time. Why not have it out right there on the subway? In a city of over 8 million people, where are you going to go to be alone? Even if you scream and yell in the "privacy" of your own apartment, at the very least the neighbors are probably going to hear you. Yet, at the same time, it's New York City. Nobody cares! Everyone else on that subway got off at their appropriate stop and went about their business, most likely never to see that arguing couple again.

Speaking of the neighbors hearing things...yesterday Jeremy and I were working in our spare bedroom office, and we overheard someone in an adjacent building singing Whitney Houston's version of "I Will Always Love You" at the top of their lungs...a capella. (They may have actually had the recording on in their apartment, but we certainly didn't hear it.) I'm talking belt-your-face-off singing at the top of their lungs, and not very well. It was like listening to an Americal Idol audition, only without Simon there to put a stop to it. We had to giggle. It was the funniest thing we heard all day. We have no idea who it was, and we haven't heard her singing since. That's New York!

This time, I promise to be better at updating...

Well, we made the move. Jeremy and I are in New York City! I was able to complete most of the things on my Cleveland "to do" list before we left, but not all. I'm sure we'll be back from time to time, so I will still have a chance to cross those items off.

A few people back home have asked me if I intend to keep my blog updated after the move. I actually never even meant to fall off the wagon in the first place, but life got really full and busy when I came home from New York last fall and it really never let up. The blog faded into the background. I was in Ohio, surrounded by friends and family. I guess subconsciously I figured why write about my life now? A lot of the people who read my blog are close by, experiencing it with me.

Anyway, I do enjoy writing, and since a lot of family and friends are further away again, I promise to keep the blog going this time.

What's new? We moved. Living in New York City has been a dream of mine for...well, practically forever. I can't tell you how excited I am to be finally doing it. I still have to pinch myself every so often and remind myself it's really true. I live in New York! There's no getting on a plane or a train in a few weeks and going back to a home someplace else. It's thrilling and still a little bit unreal.

Moving, on the other hand...not fun. Packing. Figuring out what to downsize. Living on an air mattress for an unspecified amount of time. Living out of boxes and suitcases for an unspecified amount of time. Unpacking. Figuring out where to put everything in a MUCH smaller residence that the one we left. UGH! I'll spare you all the gory details.

It took about a week and a half, but we are pretty much settled in to our new apartment. Most of the boxes are unpacked and gone. It looks and feels like a home. Harley and Cosmo have adjusted well. In fact, Harley has (so far) not retaliated and left us a "gift" outside his litter box even once! We're shocked, to say the least. Cosmo has discovered the joy (his, not ours) of sniffing out anything and everything edible that has been discarded on the street and eating it himself. And Jeremy and I are learning that as far as storage goes, vertical space is valuable space.

Pictures to come soon...as well as more blog entries. I promise!

Back to New York...a "to do" list

So, it's 2009. It seems like my summer in New York just ended yesterday, but now Jeremy and I need to start thinking seriously about getting ourselves back to the city.

The plan is for both of us to move this summer, so I can go back to the Esper Studio full-time in the fall. Luckily, Jer works from home, so a move is not all that unreasonable...provided we can rent our house here in Cleveland. (That's a worry for a whole different blog entry.) Aside from getting the house on the rental market, we're starting to research NYC neighborhoods, getting a head start on downsizing our stuff, ponder and prioritize the multitude of family/friend's weddings, football games and other big events we've been invited to here in Ohio between August and October...whew! It's a lot to undertake!

However, what's really on my mind right now is saying goodbye to Cleveland. I've lived here for 10 years, and so much has happened to me during that time. I met my husband, made some amazing friends, attended a lot of baseball games, finally made the decision to stop running from my dream and pursue it fully. Cleveland has been good to me, and I will always consider it my hometown.

Yet, there are so many "Cleveland" things I've been meaning to do and haven't done yet...and just as many Cleveland experiences that I have cherished and want to keep appreciating while we're still here.

Things to do before we leave:
* Neither Jeremy nor I have been to Lakeview Cemetary...Garfield Monument, Rockefeller Monument, Wade Chapel and (so we've been told) some of the best views of the city. We really should make it a point to visit.
* I've lived here for 10 years and have never been to Parade the Circle. Shame on me!
* I've never been to Whiskey Island. In fact, as much as I am embarrased to admit, I'm not even quite sure where it is. I know it's on the lake, west side, Edgewater Park vicinity. I live near there, drive past there often, but can't see it/can't quite figure out where it's supposed to be.
* I've yet to have Mamma Santa's pizza in Little Italy. In my defense, I lived most of my 10 years in Cleveland as a west-sider, and west-siders know the best pizza to be had in Cleveland is Angelo's!
* Speaking of Little Italy, I've never eaten at La Dolce Vita on a Monday night with the live opera music. That sounds like such fun!
* I've never eaten at Pier W to enjoy the fresh seafood and beautiful view of the city.
* I've never made it to polka happy hour at the Happy Dog. Although, the last time I talked to my friend Doug about it, he said it does not happen as often as it used to.

Things I will miss most about Cleveland:
* Indians games!!!!!
* La Cave du Vin (or affectionately referred to as simply, the wine bar.) Jer and I consider this "our place." When he and I first started dating, his roommate tended bar there. We're friends with the bar manager and have befriended several bartenders there over the last several years. We love the atmosphere there. It's the place where everyone knows our name...and our taste in wine, Belgian beer and really yummy cheese!
* The West Side Market
* The Diner on Clifton...especially the vegetarian pasta bake with goat cheese!
* Flower Child, the best vintage store ever! In my 6 weeks in NYC last summer, I did not find a single vintage store that I loved as much as I love this place. Flower Child has EVERYTHING! From deco to 1980's...great clothes, furniture, decor, jewelry, kitsch, toys...you could get lost in there for hours!
* Westlake United Methodist Church...especially our friends in the choir!

Of course, we'll miss family and friends as well, too numerous to mention. However, we're hoping that since we'll be living someplace as exciting as the Big Apple, many of them will want to come visit us!