Dreamgirls at the Apollo

Joy and I went to see the musical Dreamgirls at the Apollo one night last week.  I was SO excited as I'd been hearing great things about the musical and I had always wanted to go see something at the Apollo.  Since we were heading to Harlem, we decided to stop at Amy Ruth's for some good soul food.  We split salmon, collard greens, grits, and a piece of Rum cake.  It was all good, but I loved the collard greens!

Dreamgirls was great.  Good costumes, great features, amazing singing, fun dancing, etc...  I really enjoyed it and am glad I finally made it up to see it.

The theatre was so pretty!

There were chandeliers lining the lobby

and this big one inside.  Loved them!

A great show!

Another night last week I decided to stop by after work to watch the lighting of the big star on 5th Avenue that is there every year for the Christmas season.  Lucy Liu was there to light it.  There were not too many people there, so I basically had a front row spot on the red carpet.  Lucy spoke briefly about Unicef, which supports the star.

These kids sang Christmas Carols - they're in a group

called B'way Kids Care.  They've all been in Broadway

shows at some time and they were excellent singers!

The pretty star!

On the way home, I passed Columbus Circle

which was also already lit for the Holidays

I also had Mindy's birthday party last week.  We went to a Mexican restaurant near her apartment - I had really good chicken!  Afterwards, we all went to her place where we had cake bites and champagne that I brought.  It was my first time to make triple chocolate cake bites (per Mindy's request) and they were amazing!!

On Saturday, I got to help pass out Thanksgiving boxes to the families of the Kids Club program I do on Saturday mornings a couple times a month.  It was a really neat experience.  It is the only time we actually go in the kids' homes.  I have never been inside government housing before and really didn't know what to expect.  I had heard horror stories about the filth some of these kids live in.  I went with another volunteer to deliver 5 boxes.  We only really got to go in 2 of the 5 homes as others weren't there and we just left the boxes.  The first home we went in was a super sweet family.  They have 3 kids who are very regular at Kids Club and they are so sweet.  Their mom was sweet, too.  They apartment was well kept and they even had nice furniture.  I was happy to see these three kids live in a home that seemed clean and loving.  The other home was of 2 boys who are semi-regular on Saturdays.  Their apartment was fine, too.  Their mom was really great to talk to.  One of the boys read us a prayer he had written and it was amazing!  It was a really fun afternoon...I love getting to know these kids!