The past two weeks have been filled with celebrity sightings, embarrassment, red carpet parties, and a ton of caffeine.
I guess I should start with Avenue Q. It was fabulous. Puppets sexing each other up onstage.
Okay, maybe I'll back up. Let me set the scene. Savannah Duncan. Melted chocolate bar. My dirty mind. And Morgan Freeman. Intrigued?
Morgan Freeman is performing in a play on Broadway called "The Country Girl." It is located next to Avenue Q and both places share a back stage door where the actors go in. Coincidentally, this door is located where they make Avenue Q goers wait in line before going into the theatre. There stood Sav and I. A constant theme I have noticed with Savannah is that she sneaks chocolate into every theatre we venture into. Chocolate has never been a problem for me before, in fact, as a woman I lump it in with some of my favorite things. John Mayer, Rock n Roll, shoes, Jesus, Chocolate...
Anxious for the show, Savannah decided to pull out her chocolate bar and eat it while we were waiting in line. It had melted in her purse. Upon seeing this fact, Sav shouts, "It's not hard anymore!"
....really??
I couldn't help it.
"That's what she said!" I shout.
Now let's rewind.
As Savannah is unwrapping her chocolate a man is walking toward us, as she exclaims her displeasure with the state of her food, the man squeezes by me, saying, "Excuse me." I look up as I shout, "That's what she said." It's Morgan Freeman. I said, "That's what she said" to Morgan Freakin' Freeman. Being the regal and talented man he is, Mr. Freeman kept his composure and continued to his stage door.
Like saying 'sex' to my grandpa.
I was mortified. It was as if I spit on the "Shawshank Redemption" and told him "The Bucket List" was the worst thing I'd ever seen.
On a less embarrassing note, I finally got to attend a red carpet event that I wasn't covering for a media outlet. It was purely leisure. In honor of the upcoming All-Star Games, MLB.com hosted a red carpet party at Club '33 on Broadway. I went with my friend, Nora, and her sister, Bella.
We were up to our chins in professional baseball players. I'm not complaining. Alyssa Milano was there promoting her new clothing line, and Jeter was also. I danced with a Diamondback. Grey Goose sponsored an open bar and they had Wii's set up with baseball games around the club. And the best part...I got swag. Free stuff from Milano's line, Grey Goose and MLB.
The coolest part was when Wyclef, the reggae rapper was inches from me. I'm totally name-dropping and I'm not apologizing for it. He performed for the event, but we stood next to him on the red carpet. It was awesome.
I pitched an idea I had to some people at NBC and it went really well. I might be talking to some West Coast people about it soon.
Today was ridiculous. We went to Billboard, The New York Times, Elle Magazine, and the New York Stock Exchange.
The Times just celebrated their year anniversary in their new building. It was definitely a cool place. Apparently, they have a constant problem with people climbing up the outside walls; something like 3 people have scaled it in the past few months. They are constructing barriers to keep people back now.
They have an art exhibit in the lobby that consists of computer screens that randomly have sentences and pictures that flitter on and off of them. They have two walls lined with these little screens. The cool thing is that the words and pictures are actually snippets from the New York Times database. So pieces of stories are randomly streaming over the screens.
I think it has been a small goal of mine to be in the newsroom of the New York Times. Standing there, I think I got a contact high of sorts. Great journalism by association.
We ate lunch in the cafeteria there. It puts NBC's caf to shame. Best. Sushi. Ever.
Elle Magazine was another highlight. I saw Nina Garcia's former office! We were forbidden to ask any questions regarding her...joblessness.
Elle Mag is a pretty fabulous place, but not to look at. They have the most boring white walls that actually look pretty dingy. Their fashion closet is nothing like the one in "The Devil Wears Prada." It's just filled with racks and racks of clothing. We saw all the clothes Anne Hathaway will be trying on for her upcoming shoot. Nora and I decided they were about a size 3 (she's almost normal-sized!).
The view is fabulous. You could see the Statue of Liberty. Everyone who worked there looked amazingly put together. I felt frumpy.
I wasn't very excited about the New York Stock Exchange at first. It was hot outside. They made us wait forever. But we saw the Closing Bell and watched everyone scatter and it was totally worth it.
Things I learned this week:
-Yelling dirty jokes in public is never a good idea.
-Baseball players are amazingly good-looking in AND out of those baseball pants.
-You can scale The Times, and I might if it means I climb up to the Sushi Bar on the 14th floor.
-Nora Barak is quite possibly one of the coolest people ever.
-Swag rocks, as do red carpet events.
-I have to find a way to stay in this city longer.
