A month later...

I realize it's been a ridiculously long time since I've posted, so I suppose this will be a ridiculously long post. In actuality, I do not have too many updates! I'm still in callbacks for a few fun projects, and am remaining hopeful. I'm auditioning a lot, though the auditions do slow down a bit in the spring. It's nice to have a morning to myself every now and then.

I have two more weeks of work with the nanny family before the leave for the Hamptons. I will be staying in the city this summer, and working as a hostess at a very nice 5th Avenue Restaurant called Brasserie 8 1/2 . In addition to the restaurant job, I will be babysitting as much as possible, auditioning, and going to lots of dance classes.

Some highlights from the past month:

** Taking Anna to watch Glee being filmed, and we saw some of the cast!

 **Seeing Kim Faure in the amazing production of "Anything Goes." She was fabulous, and this was one of the best productions I've seen this year.

**Seeing my former ballet teacher, Laurie, when she and her daughter came to the city. Our visit was too brief, but seeing her was such a treat!

 **Celebrating Cinco de Mayo with some of my UNC friends at Blockheads... margaritas at noon. Can't beat that!

**Attending the NC Society Annual Barbeque. I expected jean-clad southerners spewing "y'alls" with live music, a pig pickin, kids running around barefoot, and lemonade. Instead it was yet another uppity New York event with a bunch of people dressed in all black, and an open wine/beer bar. Despite the New Yorkiness of the whole thing, and the lack of bluegrass music, I was happy to spend time with my good friend Fran and other North Carolinians. 

**Watching beautiful Shannon KELLER get married, and spending the weekend with some of my favorite North Carolina girls. Shannon and Adam were so happy, the beach was beautiful, and I love my friends.

**Spending Mother's Day Sunday in NC with my awesome family, and giving her Tina Fey's "Bossypants," with a personal note to her in the front cover.

**Rosa Mexicana with William, Geoffrey, Dayna, Cam, Katie, Sara and Sean for Dayna's Birthday!

**Babysitting sweet little 11-week-old Henry Martin. He is so cuddly, he makes the best faces, and he absolutely loves me. I literally got to lie on the couch and watch The View all morning while he snuggled up on my chest and slept. Yes Dad, I did change his diaper...four times. And I'm a pro at it.

*FINALLY catching up with sweet Jake. We had scones at Alice's Tea Cup, and it was lovely to see him and hear about all the exciting things happening in his life!

**Chris McHenry's spring visit! We did the rowboats! John Marsland would be proud of Chris' exceptional rowing skills. We only got stuck when i was rowing...

**Attending a celebration of the arts at the UNC, held in NYC at the University Club. It was great to hear all the fabulous things happening in Chapel Hill, meet some successful Tarheels in the arts, and catch up with former professors, such as Dr. Terry Rhodes.

**The start of The Bachelorette! My girls and I are doing a bracket for this season and I could not be more excited. 

So overall, it's been a pretty awesome month. I promise to be better about staying up-to-date on this blog over the summer! Hopefully I will have some interesting updates! :)

Easter Sunday

I must admit I was a little sad about having to spend Easter in New York instead of in North Carolina. Ever since I can remember, Easter means hearing Pastor Rick Clayton and enjoying the grand tympani at Hayes Barton United Methodist Church, taking the annual picture in front of the flowered cross outside, enjoying a big Easter meal with my family, and doing fun stuff with the neighborhood kids (or just hanging out with Jennifer post Easter Egg Hunt Age). New York surprised me though!

I went to a lovely service at St. Thomas Episcopal with Will and friends. The choir had hundreds of members, and the service was absolutely beautiful. The Easter Bonnet Parade that took over Fifth Ave was really neat too! On top of those things, the gorgeous spring weather just made for a truly awesome first Easter in New York.

On another note, I got the best nanny ever award on Monday when I picked Anna up from school and surprised her by rushing her to Times Square so we could watch the Glee Cast film. It was pretty exciting for her, and for me too!

Springtime

I thought I had left the spring allergies back in NC, but it seems they've followed me to NY. It's a small price to pay for the lovely weather we've been having though! I have never been in the city for spring, and I really like it! School pickups are so much better when the weather is lovely! NY has been fun recently! I've gotten some really awesome audition appointments (my lips are sealed for now), and am oh so hopeful, and keeping my fingers crossed for one of these awesome opportunities to work out!

Ash and me at South Street Seaport

same side dinner at Dos Caminos

I thoroughly enjoyed having Ashley in town for a night last week! She was here for less than 24 hours, but OF COURSE we had a weekend's worth of fun! :)

















I've had a blast going on walks downtown with Melissa and Henry these past few weeks! Henry is her six week old baby, and he is just the cutest! When I don't have an audition and the weather is nice, it is SO fun to walk along the water with the stroller. I'm so glad Melissa is in the city!


I was bummed last weekend, because I had to cancel my plan to go to DC for Jennifer's birthday. I had been so excited, but an awesome audition opportunity came up, and I had to go to Connecticut for the day on Saturday to audition for this stellar theatre company. It went really well, thankfully, and I had a fun weekend in NY, so that helped. I really missed getting to see my DC friends though, and I hated missing Jenn's bday.

Over the weekend, some of my girlfriends and I celebrated Amanda's upcoming wedding! We had a Bachelorette party with lingerie, sangria, and all things girly!

On Sunday, I went to see Matty and Sherrie sing in a Stevie Wonder cover band. I had no idea how much I liked Stevie Wonder! They were fantastic!

love the shades

unc friends after sherry and matty's concert!

I made crepes and Anna said,
"Wow I feel like I'm living in France!"

I've been working a lot as usual, and the kids have had good days and bad days...nothing too new there. One day Marguerite hates me, the next I'm the best ever. It's hard to tell what's going on in that little head of hers.

Candid shot of Marguerite looking especially
cute one morning on the way to ballet. She stopped
to look at the flowers on Park Ave.

The past few days, I've been reminded of how fortunate I am to have such excellent coaches/teachers/mentors in the city. I frantically texted Melissa about one audition, and ended up working on music with her for three hours on Saturday afternoon. How many people care enough to pound out notes with me on a SATURDAY?! On Monday, I got a bunch of material in my email for another audition, and within two hours, set up a coaching with my accompanist Dan, and my acting teacher Erin. Erin stayed in the city late to work with me on a script, and Dan changed his plans to meet with me for half an hour and record accompaniment. I feel so lucky to have such generous people in my life.

home sweet home

I had a lovely trip home this past weekend! It was wonderful to catch up with my family, and see a few friends, but as always I wasn't home for long enough! By the time I took care of all of the not-so fun things like Verizon and a dentist appointment, it didn't leave enough time for relaxing!

Beautiful Old Well. Hark the Sound!

Cydney and me after her show!

It was great to be home and enjoy the NC weather though! Highlights of the weekend included seeing "All Shook Up" at UNC, going out with my Pauper friends, seeing Kenan and Nick for dinner, mani/pedis with Mom, and spending time with each of my grandmothers.

Alex and me at The Station

Nick, Kenan and me at Maggiano's

Now I'm back in the city and auditioning like crazy! It's so much colder here! I can't wait for spring!

work hard, play hard

This past week was another busy week of auditioning (9 auditions), and I had to work 40 hours at the nanny job. The kids had two weeks of spring break, and with four kids home all day every day last week, I had to put in some extra time. I also had to make enough money to survive while they went on a 9 day vacation this week. Luckily they're on the vacation now, so I am LIVING THE DREAM, but last week was a hard week. Despite all the working, I managed to have some fun! :)

my girls at Lindsay's going away party!

girl cousins at Dos Caminos

Anne, Lily, Sebastien, Laura, Emmanuel, Claire, and Sophie were all in town, so we had some quality family time. Dinner at Dos Caminos Saturday, Burgers at the Parker Meridien Sunday, followed by a trip to the park made last weekend absolutely awesome. I got to spend some additional time with Anne and the kids, and meet their friend Fanny this past week. It was wonderful having family in town!








I went to the Metropolitan Opera with Will, and sat in orchestra seats for "Romeo et Juliette," a French opera in five acts. It was my first experience at the Met, and I loved it! The unbelievable talent combined with the lavish costumes made it a beautiful spectacle. I also went to a benefit for the Young Patrons of Lincoln Center, which was awesome!







I've had a reasonably relaxing weekend, which consisted of manicures, margaritas, and a viewing of Legally Blonde the musical at my apartment.  I'm looking forward to going home on Thursday, but I have two weeks of audition work to cram into three days between now and then.

St. Patrick is my BFF

St. Patrick’s Day was just one of those days where everything was awesome. I had a great audition, and was incredibly productive before work. I checked my mail on my way to work, only to find a VERY nice treat waiting for me from Ima. Thanks Ima! I also had an awesome package at the post office to pick up from my family. I felt so loved! Work was great on St. Patrick’s Day because I got to see some of the parade! (St. Patrick’s Day in NY is sort of like Halloween in Chapel Hill.) There was everything from men wearing to kilts, to men wearing tutus. As Amy, my co-nanny said,"I saw someone wearing only a thong and a tutu. Apparently you can wear whatever you want on St. Patrick's Day as long as it's green."  I walked with Marguerite and Tatum across the park to tap class on the West Side, and I got to spend some quality time with Tatum’s mother Kathryn, whom I admire so much.

St. Patrick’s Night was even better! Some girlfriends and I went down to Stone Street in the Financial District. It was possibly the best night out I’ve had in New York. It’s basically a giant frat party for grownups. The street is closed down, and all of the bars have tents and picnic tables. It was such a fun celebration.

St. Patrick’s Day is officially my favorite New York holiday! 

Glimpses of Spring

"It's springtime Emily, things happen in the spring!" - Will

My good friend Will and I were riding the subway on Sunday, and this is what he said to me. I'm not sure if it's true or not, but the past couple of couple of weeks have been reasonably eventful.

I spent a morning walking around the Upper West Side with a tranny named Dallas... If you want more details regarding how this interesting situation came to be, feel free to ask.  In the meantime, just picture me bopping along in my Gap jeans and hot pink cardigan with my blue converse, while he/she strolled next to me in fur and Chanel. We were a sight. After that adventure, Aunt Laura took me to lunch at Eately! WOW...new favorite lunch place in the city! It was great to see Laura too!

everyone needs at
$25,000 Barbie
Foosball Table

Last week, I had the privilege of attending the Sloan-Kettering Bunny Hop. This is a huge benefit in FAO Schwartz, where the majority of the people are dressed "preppily" in Lily Pullitzer etc. The former nanny sarcastically told me it was a "dream come true," and I quickly found that to be truth. The store is closed down, and hundreds of kids come out for face-painting, dancing, a magic show, toys etc. Hundreds of parents come out for an open bar, and some of the best catering I've ever tasted. Marguerite and I had a blast walking around and enjoying the festival with friends like Tina Fey and Kelly Rutherford. My friend Kelly was playing Dorothy for the evening, so it was funny to see her!

Dorothy, Marguerite and me

cute kiddies at the Bunny Hop!

http://mskcc.convio.net/site/PageServer?pagename=soc_events_bunny_hop




Kenan and Nick came to visit for the latter part of last week! On Thursday, I took them to the reservoir, and gave them a brief tour of my neighborhood. After a delicious lunch at Bella Cucina, they came to work with me! They even got to see an exciting day of crazy school pickups, and Marguerite deemed them "her favorites." On Saturday, we watched the end of the Carolina game together and then ventured to the Chelsea Highline with their cousins, Joel and Lystra. We had SO much fun! Seeing them was such a treat!

I had a fun weekend, despite Carolina's loss on Sunday, and enjoyed quality time with good friends. Sherrie, Sarah and I had girl's night on Saturday and saw No Strings Attached. I can honestly say that was the funniest movie I've seen in years! We laughed so hard we cried. The writers also write for SNL, so obviously the one-liners were hysterical.  William and I spent the afternoon together on Sunday, and that was equally wonderful!

This week is an absolute whirlwind. I didn't realize until Sunday, when I was looking at my auditions for the week, that there are so many I've been waiting for finally happening. I'm currently in Boston auditioning for North Shore (their season includes Legally Blonde!!!) and later this week I have an appointment for Shelby in "Steel Magnolias." Those are just two of many big auditions this week that I'm really excited about! :) In non-audition news, I was recently invited to join the North Carolina Society of New York. It's a social club here in the city, and my first official event will be a NC Barbeque with real BBQ that they drive up from Wilson, NC. I'm so excited! I'm also really happy because if all goes as planned, this Thursday will mark my 100th audition since moving to New York in August! It falls right on St. Patrick's day so the celebration will be epic!

I've never spent spring in the city, but there's already so much to look forward to!