Movies 101 : The Escapist

We had a bonus session on Sunday morning and I got to take a friend so Lucy went with me. We saw "The Escapist", a British film starring Joseph Fiennes. It was a rough movie about men who escape from prison. It was a pretty good movie, but I didn't love it. It has been to a lot of International Film Festivals and will be opening later this week here in the US, but I think it'll be a pretty limited release. The director was there to be interviewed afterwards. It wasn't the best interview in class. Although, I thought it was interesting to hear him describe things he had learned about prisons and details on what it's like to film in a prison and the specific prison they used. He also talked about how most of the extras in the movie were ex-convicts - he had some funny stories to tell about those guys. It was a good way to start off my Sunday. I also did a little bit of shopping on my way home and then went to church later that night.

On Saturday night, Mindy and I met up to get some comfort food....we went to Chik-fil-A in the NYU dorms. It was soooo good! We also picked up cupcakes at Billy's Bakery (they were amazing!!) and took them with us to the movies. We went to see "Sunshine Cleaning" with Amy Adams. Cute movie.

Would you like a Rent Reduction??

Um, yes, please! So, my lease isn't up until the end of July, but I've already been thinking about how I need to ask my landlord for a decrease in my rent. It's always been more than I want to pay, but, also, rent in NYC has been dropping with all this recession stuff and I knew I could move out and find something similar for cheaper. My theory was that they could keep a good, reliable tenant and wouldn't have to clean-up and paint for a new tenant who would end up paying less than me anyway because they'd have to rent it at a rate comparable to everything else. The problem is that I'm just not good at these type of negotiation conversations. Yesterday, I got a lease renewal letter in the mail. I was first confused to be getting a renewal letter 4 months before my lease expires (that's 1/3 of the term of my lease!), but I guess they're just really on the ball over there. Then, I noticed the rent price they had listed - they had already lowered it!! Awesome. It's about a 7% decrease....not bad. So, I have a nice landlord who doesn't make his tenants ask to be at the market rate, but just goes ahead and does it. Now, my next question is if I press the issue and see if I can get him to drop even lower. I'd really like a 15% decrease in rent, but do I press my luck?? I probably need to do some research and see what market rate is. I don't want to pay more than that for sure. I'm definitely not moving now, though...7% is great!

Movies 101 : Bart Got a Room

Last night, we watched the movie “Bart Got a Room”. It was quirky little Indie film that reminded me of movies like Napolean Dynamite. It premiered at Tribeca last year and I assume it’s been doing the Indie Festival circuit for the past year. It is coming to mainstream theatres in a couple of weeks. I liked the movie okay, but definitely didn’t love it. It’s not a movie I would choose to see and I was kind of surprised it was chosen for this class because most people in the class are older than me and it just seemed kind of like an immature film. But, people seemed to really enjoy it and sure laughed harder than I did throughout the showing.

Afterwards, the lead actor and actress were interviewed. I did really like them – they were so cute!! The actress is Alia Shawkat and she has been in several movies and TV shows, but seems best known for her role on Arrested Development. She was so cute and a really great speaker and only 19-years-old. It was nice to hear from an actress who is still so humble and excited about what she does. She went into great detail about what it’s like to audition, work on a set, the difference between working on a big film and an Indie film and what it’s like to be on set with someone as big as George Clooney. She was a fun interview! The actor, Steven Kaplan, is also young and this was his first movie. He’s more into theatre and is currently finishing up the theatre program at NYU. He was cute as well, but needs to work on his speaking skills a bit more!

Baylor Comes to Broadway

Or that’s actually something like off-off-off-Broadway. But, yes, Baylor brought a play to NYC this month. It’s actually some faculty members of Baylor who are directing and acting in the play. They premiered it in Dallas and then brought it up here for the month of March. I went on Saturday night with 2 of my Baylor friends, Mindy & Shannon, and Lucy came along, too.

We started out with dinner in the West Village at Risotteria, a restaurant serving, you guessed it….Risotto! I have discovered that I love Risotto. They had all different kinds. I got one that had sausage and spinach in it. It was a good place and I just love the West Village and really need to spend more time down there!

From dinner, we walked over to the Cherry Lane Theatre….it must be the cutest theatre in the city! It was small, but really nice and on a cute, quiet street. I had very low-expectations for the play. I knew it was low-budget, had a dark story-line, and as far as I know, Baylor isn’t exactly known for their theatre department. Plus, there’s my whole aversion to plays in general. I was, however, pleasantly surprised. It was a good show. It engaged me and the acting was really good. It wasn’t a happy story, but it was interesting.

The play lasted only 90-minutes, so Lucy, Mindy, and I walked around the Village for a while afterwards and found a cute little place to get dessert. I had a red-velvet cupcake and champagne….yum! It was a fun night!

Book Club @ La Esquina

Last Wednesday, after Jury Duty, I had book club. We read the book “The Piano Teacher” this month and had dinner at La Esquina to discuss it. I did not really like the book. It was okay, but it didn’t really engage me and I felt like the plot wasn’t strong enough. The other girls in my group seemed to like it, however. La Esquina was great fun!! It is actually 3 restaurants in 1. There is a very casual taco stand next to a slightly nicer café. Finally, there’s the fancy restaurant in the basement, which is where we ate. All 3 parts of the restaurant supposedly have similar menus. I’ve wanted to eat at any of the 3 for ages! Eating at the nice restaurant was a lot of fun, though. It’s not easy to get reservations, but one of the girls was able to get us 6:15 reservations on a Wednesday night. We never meet that early, but figured we could pull it off once. When you get to the restaurant, you enter through the taco stand and have to give a bouncer the reservation name. You then go through an Employees Only door, down some stairs, around a few corners, through the kitchen, and finally enter a very cute, dark, fun bar and restaurant. The food was good – we opted to get a bunch of their “small plates” and share. They are known for their corn and it was amazing! The tacos, tostadas and other things we got were good too. The restaurant also brought us a couple of complimentary treats, and we have no idea why we got them. First, they bought a pre-dinner drink…apple cider w/ tequila - it was really good!! Later, they brought us pineapple with chili powder that was so good, too! It was a fun book club meeting!

Cut to the Chace...

Crawford, that is!! Those who know me well, know that there are three C's that I love in life....my Church, my City, and Celebrities. Combine those things with another C, Chace Crawford, and you have a pretty ideal Sunday night for me. Yes, it's true, Chace sat just 2 rows in front of me at church tonight. What a hottie! For those who are still asking, "who's Chace Crawford??", he's a huge celeb right now (in my opinion)....he's the cute guy on Gossip Girl and he's the guy who used to date Carrie Underwood. He was at church with his mom and dad and they were adorable. I sat through church staring at his profile thinking "I swear that's Chace!" I also noticed how well-dressed the 3 of them were and knew that since they are from Texas, the chances of them coming to my Texas-rooted church were somewhat possible. When the service was over and I saw him head-on, I knew for sure it was him. Three of the young guys who are pretty involved in church went up to them afterwards and hugged him and his mom - clearly know the family. I assume Chace probably went to high school with them or something...Chace went to Trinity Christian Academy, which is a great Christian school in Dallas, just up the road from my mom & dad's house. I'm sure I'll hear more details later. After the service ended, his family actually hung around for a while chatting with people - pretty cool. I, of course, watched them and took mental notes throughout the evening! Chace looked pretty uninterested during the sermon, but his mom and dad looked very into it and they all seemed into the music. They all took communion and all 3 sat with heads bowed in individual prayer while they waited for everyone else to take communion. As soon as the service was over, I saw his mom slip him his baseball cap and sunglasses....I assume so that he could remain incognito, if desired, but he never put the glasses on and enough people had already spotted him. Lots of whispering going on! Anyway, it was pretty exciting to have someone like that in my church! And it was a great sermon that I hope Chace was able to take a little bit from.

Movies 101 : Duplicity

Thursday night was ROUGH. I was so sick, but there was no way I was going to miss class. I don't want to miss ANY of my classes, but certainly not one where I had hopes of Julia Roberts showing up. I was also looking forward to seeing this movie for a few reasons...1) it looked like my kind of flick and 2) I know 2 girls from church who were extras in the movie and couldn't wait to spot them and 3) it's filmed in NYC and I love spotting the places I know and love in movies. I totally saw my friend Kira in one of the scenes -- so cool!! I didn't see Chris, but I didn't know which scenes to look for her. Kira had told me which scene she was in. I think I liked the movie, but found it confusing and probably need to see it again. There is one scene where Clive Owen is sitting on a bench on the outskirts of Central Park (it's a scene that's being used in a lot of the previews, too)...anyway, I walk by that bench every time I walk home from work....which is a lot lately.

Unfortunately, Julia wasn't at class and neither was Clive Owen :( They have both been to the class before for other movies, but didn't come for this. Instead, we saw interviews with the Film Editor and Cinematographer. It was interesting, but I felt awful and left early. I went home and slept for 14 hours...skipped work on Friday. By 1:00pm on Friday, I had slept 18 of the previous 24 hours!

Jury Duty in NYC

I love the idea of Jury Duty. I like my job right now, but I also like variety and a day sitting in a room at the courthouse with a book sounds almost like a forced vacation to me. I was elated when I got a Jury Summons back in January. I'd wondered for a while if they would know I was here, so that I could be a potential juror. Of course, I file NYC taxes and then last year I registered to vote, so of course they know I'm here! Something about having the jury duty experience in NYC seemed even more exciting. I went this past Wednesday, and while I can't say it was more exciting than the time I went in Dallas, I enjoyed it and am slightly sad that I won't get called back for 6 more years! I've always thought it would be fun to be picked to serve on a jury, but things at work have picked-up lately and I knew this wasn't a good time, so I was hoping it wouldn't happen now. Wednesday was such a relaxing day. It went something like this:

-- 8:45....arrive at courthouse, wait in line to go through security

-- 9:00...enter the waiting room I've been assigned to - probably a couple hundred people are there

-- 9:15ish....strange lady begins explaining the process, then we submit our summons to prove we've shown up

-- 10:00...we begin receiving hourly updates which go something like this..."we have no updates. things are really slow today. we'll let you know in an hour what the status is."

-- 12:20...things are slow, so we're released for lunch 40 minutes early. The courthouse is located between Tribeca and Chinatown and just south of SoHo and Little Italy. So many fun options for lunch! I opted to go to a restaurant in Chinatown I had read about. I almost changed my mind when I realized it was right around the corner from Joe's Shanghai...love that place! But, I went with the new and also ordered the menu item I'd read about...Congee. I had no idea what it was until I got there, but it was Rice Porridge with whatever meat you choose - I chose chicken. It was alright. Next time, I'd go to Joe's! After lunch, I got Peach Bubble Tea at Ren Ten and then walked around Canal street to make sure I didn't see a purse or bag I just had to have.

-- 2:00...back to the room, hourly updates commence

-- 3:30...we're told, once again, that things are just really slow and they let us go home for the day!!

I had to go back on Thursday morning to be in the pool again. I woke up feeling very nauseous, but knew I had to go because if I didn't, I would have to start over in 2 months and I just am not sure I'd be able to go then. So, I toughed-it-out and went. I threw up while I was there in the public restroom, fun times!! Luckily, in addition to the couple hundred of us that were in that room on Wednesday, they'd added a bunch more on Thursday. We literally couldn't fit in the room, so around 11:40, they let the Wednesday people go. I went home and slept all afternoon!!

Movies 101 : The Great Buck Howard

We had a bonus screening this morning for The Great Buck Howard, starring Colin Hanks, Tom Hanks' son. I wasn't a fan of the movie, but it seemed like others really enjoyed it. I personally thought it was a dumb story. After the movie, our teacher interviewed Colin. It was fantastic. All the interviews I've seen last about an hour, much longer than the interviews you see on TV shows such as Letterman. So, it gives you an opportunity to really see their personalities and get to know more about their lives, the film, etc.... Colin has a great personality and is really funny. He could've just sat up there by himself and talked and it would have been entertaining. I think he has a bright future ahead of him. He is currently in a play on Broadway, 33 Variations.

Britney

I saw Britney Spears in concert last night! Is it not so hilarious that I go to all these concerts now?? I would never pay to go to any of these concerts, but when I can go for free, I can't pass it up! Brtiney's tour isn't stopping at Madison Square, but she was at Prudential Center in Newark and we have a suite over there as well. It's pretty simple to take the train over there. I actually like that arena better anyway, it's new so it's fresh and clean and the suites are much lower and closer to the stage than at MSG. Anyway, it was a great show!! The Pussycat Dolls opened and they were pretty entertaining, but I'm not really impressed by those girls. Britney's tour is called Circus, so during the break between the opener and Britney, they had people on the stage doing acrobatic type acts. It was actually pretty cool stuff! Then, Britney came on. I have never heard an audience screaming as loud as they did in the minutes leading up to her appearance on stage. It was insane! Her show was great - I'm fairly certain she did not sing a word throughout it, but I really don't expect her to sing, just dance and put on a show! She had a ton of dancers, lights, fire, props, etc.... It was very entertaining and fun. My friend, Mindy, went with me. We had bad camera luck....hers was broken and I left my memory card at home, so we got no pictures!

Mindy and I also had fun keeping up with the Baylor game while we were in the suite. There are a couple of huge flat screens in there, but I couldn't get them to turn on this time, so we couldn't watch the games. But, I did find a smaller flat screen that kept all sports scores updated on it, so I was constantly refreshing that - it was such a close game and miraculously the Bears pulled through! The won 3 games, 3 nights in a row last week that they should not have won - amazing! I couldn't believe that it came down to them and Mizzou for the Championship game. I never thought I'd be cheering for anyone but Mizzou! I got to watch the Saturday night game, but had trouble getting into it because I didn't care too much who won. However, it would have been great for Baylor to seal a ticket to the Big Dance since it was clear that Mizzou was already going. I wasn't bummed when they lost, though. I'm excited for the tournament to start!

This morning, Danise had one of her brunches. She is starting to do them once a month and include a Bible Study time. Today we discussed beauty tips and then studied Esther. It was a great time!

Movies 101 : Cake Eaters

I had my first Movies 101 class tonight - so fun!! To start, there was a slight introduction to the class and we then watched the movie, Cake Eaters. This film is Mary Stuart Masterson's directing debut and also stars Kristen Stewart (who has recently become a household name due to her lead role in Twilight). The movie is an Indie film that was actually filmed 3 years ago and had its world premiere at the 2007 Tribeca Film festival. My aunt & cousins happened to be in town that spring and we went down to Tribeca in hopes of seeing a celebrity and of all people, we ran into Mary Stuart Masterson! I love when thing come full-circle like that. So, for the past 2 years, the film has been doing the Indie festival circuit and now, this weekend, it will be opening at a theatre near you! I imagine they are taking an opportunity to bank on Kristen's current popularity. I have to admit, she was very good in this movie and she was only 15-years-old when it was filmed. I liked the movie - not loved, but definitely was entertained and thought it was well made.

After the movie, our teacher introduced Mary Stuart to the class. I was so excited. She is absolutely adorable!! The interview was really interesting - hearing about how different parts of the movie came together, how directing works, what a day on the set is like, etc.... It was very fun - I loved it!!

Next week, we are watching Duplicity and the teacher says there WILL be guests. For those that don't know, Julia Roberts is in this movie...I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but definitely have my fingers crossed!

Unexpected Guest

I had a surprise visitor this weekend!! Brooke found out last Tuesday that she was coming up for a conference on Friday & Saturday. We got to play on Friday night and then she came and stayed with me Saturday night to Sunday. It was great to see her and I was glad I didn't have much planned so we could hang out. On Friday night, we went and got Italian food at Pietressanta. I remembered she really liked it last time she came, so we went back there. I hadn't been in a long time and it was delicious!! Afterwards, we walked around Times Square/Rockefeller Center for a while so she could take in the excitement. We got a kick out of this Jamaican dude and his light-up ice skates at Rock Center.On Saturday, I volunteered for a ministry called Kids Club. It was started by a Baylor Alum and I heard through the alumni group that she was looking for more help, so I went to check it out. It was great and I'm excited to go back in a couple of weeks. The kids live in the projects in Chelsea and we went and played with them for a while, had a story and memory verse, did a craft, and had snacks. The kids were a lot of fun and really sweet. Helping the girls jump rope was a blast and a group game of dodge ball was fun, too. We talked about prayer and who they could pray for and I asked a few boys if they knew anyone who was sick or sad and one boy said, "what about the poor people? we could pray for the poor people!" How sweet is that? The girl who started this organization, Shelley, was two years ahead of me at Baylor. And the fact that she's made this such a success is impressive to me. She also holds a Friday night Bible Study for the mothers of the kids who come to Kids Club. Her plan is to eventually make this ministry her full-time job and add more services for the people there. Her hopes and plans are pretty cool!

That night, I met back up with Brooke. We went to see Guys and Dolls on Broadway starring Lauren Graham and Oliver Platt.

Neither of us loved it, but it was okay. They did one or two amazing dance scenes and really should have done more!! Afterwards, we went to get dinner at Rachels, a restaurant I've been to and liked. We both got salads that were good.

On Sunday, we woke up and went to church and then walked through the Upper East Side to go to lunch at Serendipity. Brooke had never been and wanted to and I hadn't been in ages and always think it is so good. We both had yummy sandwiches and then split the Peanut Butter Frrrozen Hot Chocolate. We spent the afternoon doing some shopping and taking a long walk through Central Park.

The weather this weekend was amazing...on Saturday it was in the upper 60's and I was hot playing outside with the kids. Sunday was a little cooler, but also nice! Today, it's back to cold, but not frigid. I'm ready for spring!!

Happy Texas Independence Day, Y'all!

Did you know March 2nd is Texas Independence Day? After all those years of living in Texas, I had no idea until this year. I bet my friend, Worley, has a holiday from work tomorrow since she seems to get off for every holiday I've never heard of before. Apparently there are big celebrations in NYC every year and this year was the 1st Annual Texas Independence Day Concert. It was a night of Texas country music - Robert Earl Keen, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Charlie Robinson, etc.... A lot of people I know were going, so I went too! It was one of those moments where NYC suddenly seems really small...like the times when I run into people I know on the street. I met a couple of girls from my Community Group there and also a group from my Book Club. There were also some people from the Baylor alum group there who I saw scattered about. It was a fun night!

Robyn from CG & I

Robyn, Sarah & ISarah's friend kept popping into our pics

Random boy who went to the bar and bought

a bunch of beer for his friends. They left left

before he came back with it. We thought this was hilarious so we had to

take a pic of us with all his extra beersLynn, Rosella, and I from book club...Christina

was there, too, but didn't get her pic!

Lynn w/ her husband Trent. His birthday is March

1st, so this was his NYC birthday celebration.

On Saturday, I also went to cook dinner again for the ladies at the Bowery Mission Women's Center. Such a neat place!! I met a great group of girls from church at the grocery store at 3:30 to buy all our ingredients and then we headed over to the home to cook in the awesome kitchen! We made Mexican food again....enchiladas, home made salsa, black bean dip, Fiesta Salad, and awesome brownies for dessert. For some reason, things were really chaotic this time -- nothing seemed to go right, but we got everything made and on the tables...just had to postpone their dinner 30 minutes! I got the chance to chat with a few ladies in the home - they are so interesting! Most of them are in the 1st phase where they are rarely allowed to leave the house, and never alone. One lady I talked to is at the phase where she is able to have a job. They are all so sweet and excited about what the future holds for them.

Last week I had a busy week again...too busy. I have kind of made a decision to keep my week nights a little more open in March, hopefully I can stick with it! Tuesday was Community Group and it was GREAT! I've really been praying for our group the past few weeks. I've been meeting with these girls for over two years and I think that they are so fun and love their commitment and consistency to the group. But, I've felt for a while now that something is missing. We just don't go as deep as I'd like to go...in our relationships with each other or encouraging our relationships with God. I've been wondering if I needed a change. But, the last 2 times I've gone, I've really enjoyed it and seen a different side of some of the girls - really opening up!! Our church is doing 40 days of Prayer during Lent. They are sending daily emails and we are all praying for the same things every day during the Lenten Season. I think prayer can be so powerful and am excited to see how it affects our church, its people, and our city. We are also focusing on prayer in our small groups during this time and it was really neat to see the girls in my group excited to pray together and we had a really good discussion about what prayer looks like to us and what it should look like. Last week, there were only 4 of us and it happened to be the 4 who are currently not dating anyone. We added a commitment to pray that each of us has one date during the 40 days - ha!

Wednesday night we had our Ash Wednesday service at church. There were a lot of people there, which was great! And it was good to remember what Lent should look like for us and begin to focus on recalibrating our hearts back to Jesus. I am very excited about this Lenton Season and am looking to put to death some things in my life that have taken to much control and re-awaken some areas in my relationship with Christ that I have let lay dormant for far too long.

On Thursday night, I took Rosella, Christina, and Lynn to a hockey game. Ros & Chris have been wanting to go for a while and I got an extra, so we got Lynn to join us. I forget how crazy hockey fans are. At the Knicks game the week before, no one really got excited and started making noise until the last few minutes of the game. At the hockey game, there is noise from the first minute on. They are really into it! It was a fun night. I haven't gone to many games myself this year, but have enjoyed sharing my perks with others. I have sent the guys on the staff at my church to a game, then the 2 girls on staff went with 2 other girls from church to another game - it was one of the girl's birthdays and she is a huge hockey fan! I also sent one of the girls who is on my S.S. teaching roster to a game with her boyfriend. And our ticket guy has gotten better about alerting me when our 4 Dallas tickets aren't being used, so it's been fun to let my friends down there go to games! I don't care that much about hockey, so I really enjoy letting other people go more than I enjoy going myself!

Friday night, I went to see the movie The Wrestler. I don't know why I thought I would like that movie. I really hated the wrestling scenes - it was so painful to watch!! Luckily, I was sitting next to a random guy who thought it was hilarious, so after a while his laughter spread to me and I got over being disgusted by it and found it kind of funny. I didn't really like that movie though.

Now all y'all make sure to where your cowboy boots tomorrow to celebrate Texas!!