The Union Square Greenmarket

Question: What is the best way to cure the ohmygodwhythehellisn'titspringyet blues?

Answer: Pretty things at the Union Square Greenmarket!

Shopping at this outdoor farmers' market has become one of my new favorite mornings out in the past year or so. There is everything your heart could desire -- fresh breads, pastries, vegetables with the dirt still on 'em, cheeses, plants, cut flowers, fresh meat -- you name it!

I've always been a sucker for the produce (hello, spaghetti squash that they don't sell in my grocery store!) and pastries (I think you all know about my pastry obsession by now), but today my name was called by none other than my favorite flower: ranunculus.

You see, last year was our first summer with a balcony, and I made a plan to try my hand at container gardening. But I only really followed through half-heartedly with some pretty generic potted flowers and a bit of climbing ivy (which is doing very well, I might add). It wasn't all that motivating to shop for gardening supplies at our local teeny tiny home depot gardening section, and I was a little too insecure in my gardening knowledge to attempt shopping in the flower district.

But ohhhhh, was I lured in by the table overflowing with ruffly ranunculus goodness today. I bought two pots of them to start with, because I'm terrified of killing them. Plus, I was inspired to buy two little potted herbs -- basil and thyme, my most frequently used in the kitchen -- to nurture indoors until it gets just a little warmer and I can move them outside. I'm looking forward to buying some lavender, too, at some point, to see if I can overwhelm the city smell and make our balcony's scent a relaxing one!

Then, of course, we had to wrap things up by buying some pastries...Dan couldn't resist a "breakfast" cookie, and I got an enormous apple turnover. We enjoyed ourselves so much and were so tempted by so many delicious and healthy-looking foods, that I resolved to try spending our entire bi-weekly grocery budget at the market at least once this summer, just to see how well I can feed us with all fresh goods on the same money we usually spend at the grocery store. Because I cook so much from scratch, I think we spend a remarkably small amount on food as it is, so it'll be a challenge. But I think we're up to it.

At any rate, wandering around the market together is something we really love to do as a couple. And that's worth a lot by itself.

Do you shop at farmers' markets? What is your favorite buy there?

The Bejeweled Penis

Yesterday, as I was in one of my favorite hole-in-the-wall Garment District trim stores, pawing through piles of beaded embellishments to find the perfect piece to use for my latest Redheaded Actress Etsy Shop custom order, I stumbled across what can only be described as a bejeweled penis:

I mean, I'm not just being dirty, right? That can't be anything other than a penis shape, can it? And if it can't be anything else, then what possible use could one have for a bejeweled penis embellishment?? Wait...don't answer that.

I'm all about taking groceries home on the subway, but...

Call me a germophobe, but I wouldn't eat that broccoli sitting sans protective bag inside the granny cart caked in grime...

Eww.

Have you ever seen a dog with a faux hawk?

...you have now!!

What is the strangest hairstyle you've ever seen on a dog before? Or is this another "only in New York" kinda thing??

Following the Yellow Brick Road...

...has brought me from being this girl at 12 years old:

To being this woman at 24:

This weekend, I get to perform at the Gershwin theatre for 1600 girl scouts and get another teeny tiny taste of what it's like to work on Broadway. I've found that every time I do the Wicked workshop that I'm a part of, it gets harder and harder to walk away from that world and go back to being on the other side of a Broadway stage. It's wonderful, though, to get a little kick in the ass and remind me what I'm working so hard for.

This is my dream and I will get there.

2010 Twitter Retrospective

So it's a new year, huh, folks? Funny how fast that happened, isn't it?

I get very contemplative and analytical around this time every year, much like many people do. And I've always thought that keeping one of those "one line a day, every day of the year" kind of journals would be so cool and manageable (and perfect to read on December 31st!), yet I've never been able to get one going.

But then I realized, "hey, I do kinda keep a one or two line a day public journal -- Twitter!" So I spent some time combing through the good ol' archives from 2010 and picked a few of the tweets from each month that best encapsulated my experiences to bring to you: The 2010 Twitter Retrospective!

January:

14 - Gah, I cry every time I write a wedding recap, watch the wedding video, or listen to music from our ceremony. I am suuuch a sap.

27 - Very proud that my little fledgling businesses have inspired one of my friends to create his own -- stick it to the man, my friends!

30 - Just rocked The Gershwin. Hope it's not the last time The Gershwin and I meet.

February:

15 - Spending the afternoon crafting up a storm and re-vamping monologues, while surrounded by snoozing puppies. This is the good life.

17 - Hey fellow actors -- it does absolutely NO good to be cold, snarky, or standoffish in the waiting room. We're all in this together, yo.

24 - Welcoming my husband's fledgling NYC casting agency, @HatsOffCasting, to Twitter!

Just another dose of producer crazy ;)

If you follow me on Twitter, then you may have seen my tweets last week about the silliness I encountered when dealing with producers and auditions:

1. The guy who wouldn't give me an audition slot until I told him how many people I would bring to see the show, then when I politely declined an audition, wrote me back a terse email completely devoid of capitalization or punctuation informing me that 300+ other actors would be attending his call (**implication: you snotty actress, you**).

2. The very kind and accommodating producers who were otherwise nothing but wonderful, minus the fact that they sent me my audition slot in military time. Nothing wrong with that, just a first that caught me off guard!

Today I got a casting notice that actually made me laugh out loud. These guys want actors to do background work on a music video for them for the following compensation:

"No pay but Free Brunch and Four Loko"

That's the kind of favor you ask a friend to do you, not a group of professional actors looking to work and advance their careers. At any rate, I may start asking for my checks to be made out in increments of Four Loko.

One (very over-sized) dose of holiday cheer, coming up!

We were in Jack's 99 cent store last night looking for cheap ornaments to fill up the cheap vase I bought from TJMaxx. We did find those and create this (I think) decidedly non-cheap-looking Christmas centerpiece:

But what this post is really about would be this lovely holiday decoration:

The LARGEST CHRISTMAS TREE ORNAMENT KNOWN TO MAN! Dan and I kept trying to figure out what this could possibly be used for. The only thing that comes to me would be something like decorating the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, but come on...you know they don't use dollar store ornaments at Rockefeller Center.

Any ideas?

Thanksgiving Brunch -- Realized!

I know we're all starting to get into the Christmas spirit (at least I know I seriously am!), but I just wanted to share with you how our little Thanksgiving Brunch turned out, since I teased you with a little inspiration board already.

Here was the spread, pre-devouring (also, no one had shown up yet, so a fruit salad and some more muffins were added after this picture was taken):

I loved the tablecloth and how cute Martha's pumpkins looked. Also, there's something so fun and fancy about whatever you've cooked/baked when it's served from either a footed cake plate or on a cool platter. Thank you, wedding gifts! 

A close-up of the Pumpkin Cream Cheese muffins, the Blueberry Cheesecake muffins, and the Coffee Cake. Plus, the little orange tented signs I made the night before so everyone would know what they were eating!

Please do yourself a serious favor (and your waistline a serious disservice) and run, don't walk, to your nearest grocery store to get the ingredients to make these Pumpkin Whoopie Pies. They may be the best thing I've ever baked, and I bake a LOT.

Yummy from-scratch Cinnamon Buns that taste so much better than store-bought. And they're on the pretty platter my Mom bought me for my bridal shower! :)

Dan insisted of getting a picture of me in front of my masterpiece after watching me work so hard to get it all together. It took me the entire day before Thanksgiving to bake everything and almost three hours that morning to do last-minute prep and assembly! Totally worth it, though!

We had some seriously yummy things to munch on while loving that view.

And just in case you wondered if everyone else enjoyed themselves, too...

After the parade, we went to a friend of a friend's house and had a delicious and entertaining Thanksgiving dinner with new friends. All in all, an absolutely lovely Thanksgiving, if a bit a-typical!

How was your Thanksgiving? What did YOU make (or eat?!)?

File this fashion statement under, "Thanks, But No Thanks"

The only possible use I can think of for this hat would be if your occupational hazards including "freezing to death" and your work address is "#1 North Pole":



Just thought you could use a laugh on this dreary weather day :)