I Love NY!

Julia and I had an amazing time in NYC!

The main event was a Broadway workshop for Girl Scouts. Saturday morning, we arrived at the theater bright and early. "Teaching Artists" led the girls though sing-alongs, games and dances.

The highlight for us was the talk by Susan Hilferty, Tony Award winning costume designer for Wicked. She was awesome! She told us about her creative process in general, and specifically how she came up with the costumes for Wicked. I wish you could see how stunning her jacket is.

Glinda's gown is completely hand made and takes 11 weeks to create. Susan explained how she looked to the Edwardian period for inspiration, since the Wizard of Oz was written in 1911. But since Glinda was princess-like, she started looking at princess ball gowns from the 40's and 50's. She mentioned a Dior gown that we think we found. (Take a look. Scroll down to the 3rd photo.)

It is so gorgeous up close. All hand-beaded and perfectly tailored for the actress. I was happy that Susan talked about the craftsmen who work on productions like this- seamstresses, beaders, embroiderers, cobblers(!), wig and hat makers.

Twenty lucky Girl Scouts were called up on stage to dance with two of the ensemble actors. See Aaron on the right? That's how close we were to the stage!

Here we are in row DD with our friends Leslie & Robin. Our best seats for a show ever!

After the workshop, we went to lunch and had some time to hang around. Julia was pulled into a street performance! The guy in green had just flipped over the 5 unsuspecting volunteers!
I missed the shot. : (

Back to the theater for the show. Incredible! Being so close, were could see every detail of the costumes that Susan had told us about earlier.

With some time to kill before leaving for home, we walked over to Rockefeller Center

The Lego store has a recreation of the Prometheus statue!

Julia and I are small town girls who have never seen an Anthropologie store before. The windows were amazing! Hand-dyed paper, hangers and tape measures. Oh, my!

And there was that lamp that everyone is talking about!

We went into a music store near Time Square to look for something for Bill or Pete, but came out with this poster for Julia instead. She has been wanting one for a long time. And when we arrived home, my eQuilter purchase was waiting with this fabulous fabric. Rosie is holding a rotary cutter!

After so many years away from NY, I'm hoping to return again soon. A guild friend is taking a bus down for the big Red & White exhibits in March. If you are anywhere in the Northeast, you must try to make it to this exhibition!
And maybe I'll see you there!

If we can make it there...

Julia and I are leaving this behind

and heading here

to see

with thousands of our closest Girl Scout friends!!!

Oh, dear. That blog post has a double meaning.
I was thinking about the song lyrics to New York, New York...
"If we can make it there, we'll make it anywhere."

But with all the snow, I hope we can get there!
I'm sure the highways are fine and the main streets in NYC are fine.
There are plenty of people hanging around outside the Today show, so I think we'll be fine!

Yay!

Wicked Winter

We got a little bit of snow yesterday! Winter is really here.

I went out early to start digging out my car. Then the big guns arrived!
Julia and I were on a mission. We had to get out and make it to Providence for Wicked!

Our street is out there somewhere.
Just one lane was plowed, and not very well.
Our biggest challenge was my mother's street and driveway to her apartment building. Julia was a trooper! I'd get stuck, she'd dig, we'd go a little farther, she'd jump out and dig some more.

Leaving my mother's building, we had to go uphill! We powered through with Julia's expert digging, but I had to leave her behind for fear of getting stuck. I didn't stop to pick her up until I was on clear, level ground. It reminded us of this old family story.

Christmas of 1966, my grandparents insisted on attending midnight Mass. My father and brothers gathered them up and off they went. During Mass, a foot of snow fell! The car would get stuck at every intersection, so my brothers would get out to push. Knowing he'd get stuck again, my father just kept driving, with my brothers running behind, ready to push at the next corner! When they reached the dead end street where the Other Grandma lived, there was no way Dad was going down there. So my brothers dragged Grandma to her house on a sled!

We made it!
It was a harrowing drive, but we took it slow. I learned to drive in upstate New York and took my driving test after a big snowstorm. I was confident in my abilities (so was Bill!), but always worry about other drivers.

On the way, I instructed my mother that at the end of the performance, she was to announce that this was the best show ever and well worth the drive. Right on cue, she recited her lines with a big smile on her face.

Wicked really was the best show we've seen (up there with Lion King). But we'll remember it more because of what we went through to get there. At least we didn't need to pull Grandma on a sled!