Just Getting Started

As you may be aware, we have gotten a ton of snow lately. This has resulted in at least one snow day a week for the past month (I went back to work today after 5 days off, between the snow days, the weekend, and Presidents Day). I never thought I’d say this, but I’m thoroughly sick of snow! SO SICK OF IT. At least in Ohio I could hide in a nice warm car…in the city it’s all ice slicks and puddles and sand-snow-slush. I like winter, but I’ve decided that February is a pointless month. It should just go home so we can all go outside again!

The plus side to all the snow (besides the snow days) is that I’ve finally forced myself to sit down and write a blog post! January was quite a month. 2014 has certainly gotten off to a great start.  In addition to 50-something inches of snow, there’s been a birthday, some good news, and some adventures.

The birthday was quite the extravaganza. I had some extra vacation days from 2013 that I had to use by the end of February, so I decided to take a four-day weekend for my 24th. I celebrated with some excellent mac and cheese and even better company Friday night. If nothing else comes from New York, at least it’s introduced me to this wonderful, crazy bunch of people. I continued my revelry on Saturday with a a birthday visit to Sleep No More with Rayna and her sister. It was another excellent show. I really love that each visit brings me deeper into the story and helps me solve some of the mysteries. I think Rayna and her sister enjoyed the show; it was their first trip to the McKittrick. I’m hoping I can lure them back another time because there’s still so much to discover! While at the McKittrick, I finally met up with some of the Sleep No More fans I follow on Tumblr. They were very friendly, and I’m hoping we can meet again soon to compare stores!

So, other adventures. In January, I got tickets to see Birdy perform at the McKittrick. It was a lovely, intimate little show, and I really enjoyed it. From what I overheard in the elevator, it was mostly a show for music industry people, so the crowd was really chill. I quite enjoyed myself, and Birdy herself was amazing. What a voice! Later in the month we braved the Super Bowl crowds to ride the toboggan in/near Times Square. It was an hour and a half wait (after you got the tickets), but it was fun! After all, how many times can you say that you rode a giant slide down Broadway?

So far, February has been just as busy. We returned to school at the end of January and I’m loving my Children’s Publishing class. Finance is finance, but not the worst thing I’ve ever taken. On the fun side, I managed to snag a pair of tickets to see the Colbert Report, which was a blast. If you see the February 4 episode (Pussy Riot was the guest), you might be able to spot Sari and me in the crowd (though I hope not; I was completely unprepared to go to a taping of a show; I was wearing a I-need-to-do-laundry sweater from the back of my closet and my hair was…well, my hair. But spontaneity, right?). Later that same week I went to another comedy taping for Steve Byrne. He was…semi-funny. If you run out of things on Netflix and watch his comedy hour on Netfilx, you might see me and Rayna looking vastly uncomfortable in the fifth row. But even if the comedy wasn’t super funny (it was sort of funny), I enjoyed watching how they set up for a comedy taping like that. Plus, the opening comedian was the guy taking over for Seth Meyers on SNL, so that was cool (Note: He was much funnier than Steve Byrne). And I got to have Eggs Benedict for dinner.

Now, finally, for the big news: I’m going to London with NYU! NYU is organizing a trip to London to volunteer at the London Book Fair, and I was one of the students selected to go! I’m so excited; I love going to BEA, and I can’t wait to see what a more internationally-focused book fair is like. Plus, my friend from Brazil, Marilia, will be there on business, so I will get to celebrate her birthday with her! We don’t have many details yet, but I can barely wait until April!

2014 has been a success so far! I’ve always felt more comfortable with even years, so I hope there’s more to come. I’m looking forward to seeing what the rest of the year brings!