Lots of things are happening!

Well...like the title says, lots of things are happening! This is a pretty big update, so I'm excited. And you should be, too :)


First of all, tomorrow marks my 5 MONTH anniversary of moving to the big apple! I cannot believe how quickly the time has flown. Almost half a year! Nuts.


Ok. Here are the real updates:


1. AIDS Walk 2011


I'm officially walking in the AIDS Walk in NYC on Sunday, May 15! I'm really excited...it's such an important cause, and the team I'm walking with, Broadway Impact, has raised $40,000 so far. My goal is to raise $200, and right now I'm at $50...25%! I'd LOVE to reach my goal, so if you're able to donate, I would love the support! No amount is too big or too small!

Here's the link to my donation page!

2. Cabaret at Don't Tell Mama!


So, I've been performing in a bunch of these cabarets and it's been a blast! I have another one coming up, (on Tuesday, May 17 at 7pm if you're in town) and am pretty excited about it. It's really nice just to get up and sing, y'know? Once you graduate from school and aren't in voice lessons every week or singing every day or in shows, you sort of realize how lucky we were when we did get to do all that. So I'm super grateful to get the chance to perform...and DTM is a great space, too! I've got some great footage of me performing now, which has been one of my goals this year. If you didn't see the post before this, there's a video from one of the cabarets! I'll put some more up soon...

3. Concert at Lincoln Center Library!!


I literally JUST found this out today. My manager puts together a concert every year at Lincoln Center Library, and this year, I've been asked to perform! It's on May 22 at 2:30pm. I can't wait! It should be a really great concert. If you're in town, it's free of charge, and would be a really fun way to spend a sunday afternoon!


4. Work/Study at STEPS!


It's true. I got accepted into the work/study program at STEPS on Broadway, a really awesome dance studio on the upper west side. Basically, I work in the studio 10 hours/week, and in return I get super discounted classes. Currently we're in the process of figuring out when my shifts will be, but once I get on a regular schedule I'll be dancing my butt off. Juuuust in time for summer. :)


5. a little bird...Killer and Skips: master feather weave-ologists


So this is one of the most exciting little pieces of news. We're starting a biz! Yep. So, you may have seen in recent pictures that I've grown feathers out of my head. 

 

These are known as feather hair extensions, and I am now a proud feather weave-ologist! Meaning I have been trained in putting these things in other people's hair. I LOVE mine...I wash my hair and blow dry just like normal, and they've stayed put for about a month now. My fabulous friend Kelly (aka Killer) and I (aka Skips, as nicknamed by my boyfriend) have started taking clients, and already have a few booked for this coming week. They're super reasonably priced, too! If you're interested, let me know, and I'll hook you up. And if you're in CA? Good news! I'm coming to the west coast June 6-14, and can totally meet up with you and get you feathered. Just let me know! Start the trend in your neighborhood - join the flock!

Look. We even have business cards. It's official.

See? It's been a pretty busy couple weeks. Just when I thought things were going to slow down, things are picking riiiiight back up. But you know me...I like to stay busy!


NY is treating me reeeallly well. It's amazing to have so many friends out here...such a community. Honestly, I wish I could get the rest of my friends from CA to come out here because then nothing would be missing. Last night, I went to a cabaret to see three of my friends perform. Today I walked around NY in the sun and hung out at Kelly's. Tomorrow, I'm going to see RAIN (the Beatles tribute) with my boyfriend. Things. Are. GREAT.


I love you all soooo much. Just thought you should know. :)


love, love, LOVE.

3 months and counting...

Hey y'all!

So I've officially been living in NY over three months, and life is about as fabulous as it could be.

This is sort of a big update, since it's been a couple months since I've updated...oops!

There have been some pretty cool things going on lately...first of all, I've been singing at Don't Tell Mama cabaret, and it's been a blast. So far I've done two showcase cabarets, where I get to sing any two songs I want, and I've also done a concert cabaret for Seth Bisen-Hersh, where I sang his work. Here's a video from one of the showcase cabarets, where I sang Ryan Scott Oliver's Crayon Girl.

Eric and my apartment is definitely coming together...we painted the living room and hung up pictures...it's SO cozy! Lol it makes it hard to leave the house. My room is slowly coming together, too...today Eric and I painted my wall! It's what I call "Alice in Wonderland blue"Eric and I have developed a pretty effective painting system lol...he paints the top parts of the wall and I paint the bottom.

Check out pics of our living room!

And my room!

It's been a while since I've updated...I never told you about Winston! I decided a few months ago that I wanted to foster dogs. Here's how it works: Most of the time, rescue organizations don't have the physical space to home all of the dogs they rescue. So, that's where foster homes come in! I take care of the dog until he/she gets adopted, which can take anywhere from a week to a few months. So my very first foster dog is a sweet, goofy, long-haired dachshund that we named Sir Winston! He's SO cute. I'm a big fan. Eric's a bit attached. I mean, we both are. How could you not be??

In other news, the past couple weeks have been pretty busy. My Dad came to visit, then the UCI kids came in for showcase/satellite, then my sister Carly came in, and then one of by best friends Meri came to play! There have been a lot of visitors these past couple months...which we expected, but it's exhausting! I had SO much fun with everyone, though, especially with my Dad and my sister!

Coki and I at my fountain!

Me and Mei Mei :)

Other fun highlights of the past few weeks:

Kevin, Lital and I traveled out to see Frannie as Elmo in Sesame Street Live! Amazing.

I saw my wonderful friend Karl in his Broadway debut, La Cage!!

Spotted a huge group of puppies walking in Central Park!

The past few months have been really wonderful. I'm constantly reminded of how lucky I am to be surrounded by such incredible people in an amazing city. Between my incredible boyfriend, my family of friends in NY, and the support and love of my friends and family in California, I have a whole lot to be grateful for. Happy, happy, happy.

Love, love, love!

Day 6

So yesterday I went to the Disney auditions for Finding Nemo: the musical, at Disneyworld in Florida. I love auditioning for Disney...they're always super nice. The audition went really well, so if it's meant to be right now, it's meant to be...but I'm not stressing over it. More importantly, I had one of the CRAZIEST audition experiences EVER...which made the entire audition worth it, regardless of whether I book the show.

So some of you know, I sing this song called "I'm Not" ALL THE TIME. I've used it for a few years now, and it's been very good to me :). It's sort of my "go-to" song for anything fun, spunky, stefanie-like...lol. So of course, I planned on singing it for Nemo. At the start of the audition, the monitor told us who the accompanist in the room was, and I knew I recognized his name but couldn't place it...I figured he had accompanied me in some audition in the past, so I didn't think much of it. So I go into the audition room and give him my book, and show him my music, and he sort of smiles and nods and we're good to go. So I go to the center of the room, sing to the casting director, chat with them a bit, and then head back to the piano to get my book. When I get to the piano, this accompanist smiles and says "that was so great. Really really great. I loved it. Thank you so much...I wrote that song."

I sang MY audition song for THE GUY WHO WROTE IT. And he shook my hand and thanked me.

Welcome to New York.

love, love, love!

three bucks, two bags, one me

Well, ok, maybe a few more bucks, maybe a lot more bags (a total of 5, to be exact....with 6 boxes on the way), but there's definitely only one me here in

NEW YORK!

I moved out here on Tuesday. It feels like it was a week ago, though! So far, I've gotten settled at my sublet (way up in the heights), gone to see my new apartment in Astoria (ie: "Actoria," credit to Mo), run into an old high school friend randomly at a restaurant, ran around the city buying stuff for the place with Eric, and dragged my luggage (including the 52-pound GIANT pink suitcase that I can fit my whole body into) through the snow from Deidre's apt to our apt. It felt like being on the Oregon Trail...I'm pretty sure we lost an ox in the river and Eric died of cholera.

The rest of the week should be pretty fun...tomorrow we're getting our beds and setting them up, then maybe going and getting more stuff for the apartment! I can't wait to paint/decorate. The exposed brick walls are SO cool....I'll be sure to post pictures once it's set up!

In other news, a few days before I moved, I took headshots with the incredible Kevin McIntyre (www.kevinmcphotograph.com). I wanted some fun stuff, mostly, since I still use and LOVE my headshot I took with him a year ago. We got some really great shots! Take a look:

Fun, right? I'll post them on facebook soon...once I go through and pick some more favorites.

Well, there's my small update for now. Things are really wonderful.

love, love...

And I thought graduating meant free time...

So Limelight has closed (more on that soon), I'm back from New York (more on that later), and Arizona, (more on that after the others), and I finally have free time...so what do I do now?! ...update my blog, clearly!

LIMELIGHT

Limelight was amazing. Closing was super sad. I honestly can't remember ever being so sad to close a show that I wasn't actually IN. I met some amazing people and made some really wonderful friends (from both coasts). 

I mean, look: it's love.

Strike took THREE DAYS. It was honestly the most time-consuming strike I've ever been a part of....it was INSANE. We had to wash all 47 wigs, then let them dry overnight. I mean, imagine having to wash your hair 47 times...exhausting, right? Now, imagine you have the most tangled mess of hair EVER. And you have to brush it out. FORTY SEVEN TIMES. lol...see where I'm going with this? We also had to strike the multitudes of hats and the gratuitous amount of facial hair. 

Ew. Gross. Facial hair galore.

But it all got done, and Addy, my assistant really took the brunt of it because I had to leave on a jet plane to New York the Wednesday after Limelight closed!

NEW YORK

I stayed with my beautiful friend (and twin) Lital, who had just moved to the city a few months ago. Her apartment is so cute! It was so nice to get to catch up after a whole summer of not seeing each other...we had a lot to talk about!

I got to see a lot of people in NY this go-around, but I wish I could have seen more! Coordinating schedules in the city is tough, but it's something that is definitely do-able if you make the effort. I can't wait to be living out there...it'll make it so much easier to see everyone instead of trying to cram it into one week. But I am so grateful I got to see the people I did get to see! Only a couple more months and I'll be there fo' reals. 

While in NY, I got to see Deidre in Hairspray at Papermill with Andreas, Lital and Rachele. It was so fun! I was so proud of Deidre...it's a huge deal to work at this theatre, and she rocked it out. So, SO proud. 

Jersey is GORGEOUS this time of year, too! On the way to the theatre, Rachele, Andreas and I took a detour through the forest for a few pictures...

Clearly, we had a good time :).




HALLOWEEN


What would Halloween be without good ol' pumpkin carving? Thanks to Ditty and the Family Dass (um, ps. I think that should be their band name...like the Partridge Family, only cooler), I got to carve a pumpkin for the first time in a couple years!

This year, I was planning on staying in for Halloween....but what fun is that?! So Danny and I drove up to LA, met up with Kensie, Mo, and Anais, and went to the GIANT Halloween Parade in WeHo...it was pretty incredible. All those people!! All those costumes!! All those butts!!!! Seriously, though...SO MUCH NAKED. Incredible.

Antoine Dawson, The Color Purple, 1940s Pinup, Victorian Dead Girl, aaaaand Snooki!

ARIZONA

So a couple days after Halloween, my Dad calls and asks what my schedule is for the next couple days...since I was funemployed and done with school, I didn't have much going on...so he asked if I'd want to fly out to Arizona, he'd pick me up at the airport (he was out there visiting friends), and we could go to Sedona and the Grand Canyon then drive home!

So...I went! And it was such an awesome adventure...if you've never been to Sedona, AZ, make sure you get there before you die. It's BEAUTIFUL. I mean...look...

Pretty, right?

In Sedona, we went on a GPS-guided tour (yes, using our own car...you rent a GPS system and it takes you on a tour!! It was pretty neat), went on a hike or two up GIANT mountains, went shopping, had margaritas in the jacuzzi, and I had a psychic reading! I've never had one before, and I figured why not, since Sedona is known for being a huge spiritual tourist spot. My psychic was so cool....and the reading said some very, very exciting and interesting things! Lets just say the best is yet to come, my friends. 

After a few days in Sedona, we went to the Grand Canyon! It was HUGE. I had never been before, and neither had my Dad, so it was really fun to go together. 

On the way to the Grand Canyon!

At the Grand Canyon!

With Papi

All in all, it's been a pretty adventurous life post-college. I don't intend on it getting any less adventurous, either...Lots of work, lots of fun, lots of laughs. I can't wait to see what's in store!

love, love, love!

A sensible Wednesday blog

Well, I'm working 15 hour days. Yep. You heard me...generally speaking, my current schedule is...

Monday:

8am-4pm: Camp Counselor

Tuesday through Friday:

8am-4pm: Camp Counselor Extraordinaire

5, 6:30(ish)- midnight: Wig Mistress at La Jolla Playhouse for Midsummer Night's Dream

Saturday, Sunday:

11am(ish)-midnight(ish): two shows at the Playhouse!

The good news? I'm making bank...I'll have enough to afford moving to NY if I'm smart about my money after all this! :) And I'm definitely not bored.

The bad news? I'm exhausted. Waking up in the morning is the hardest part...once I get going, I'm alright, but getting started is awwwwful. And, I don't really have time to do fun things. Well, these are fun things, sort of, as long as I don't think of it as "work."

I am so grateful, though. Let's be real...finding ONE job nowadays is rough, and I've come across two well-paying jobs that don't involve sitting at a desk. I get to run around and teach kids about theatre, then come work in one of the best regional theatres in SD. I'm spending time around kids and artists...so I can't complain. And I get to be (sort of) artistic at the Playhouse...getting these weaves under control is for sure a new skill for me. It's my second time working with wigs, and I'm running a whole show myself! Sort of a big deal :) lol.

The wonderful Michael comes in everyday and does allllll of the maintenance (and believe me, for this show, there's a LOT of maintenance to be done). I come in an hour before curtain and make the last few wigs pretty, then start putting the lead wigs on at half hour. Then I run the show and do a few quick changes. At the end of the show, I get to put all the wigs back on their heads, then go home and tumble into bed.

Lather, rinse, repeat. For the next 3 weeks.

I do get a few days off, though...when Erick or Michael can cover for me...yesterday, for instance! I got the whole day off to go to Val and Geoff's beautiful wedding! It was essentially a MET reunion...so many wonderful people that I haven't seen in FOREVER. It made me miss being able to play in Neverland with these kids.

the (in)famous stefamatina

at the beach after the ceremony!

the gang with the happy couple!

Seth made this AMAZING cake!!

Val and Geoff are two of the most wonderful people in the world. I was humbled when they asked me to sing their song at their ceremony ("Always" by Atlantic Starr), and "I'll Cover You (Reprise)" with two of our friends, Egbert and Michael. It was a blast, and I'm glad I was able to be a part of their special day! I wish them a beautiful marriage and a bright, happy future!

The wedding was also amazing because I was reunited with some of the best people in the world. I guess it was one of those "you don't realize how much you miss it until you don't have it" things...I didn't realize how much I missed being with everyone until I was back together with them. It'd been almost 10 months since I'd seen Ash and Seth...NOT ok. I don't even remember the last time I had seen Ryan, either. It made me so happy to see them again, and to get the Walnuts back in the same room...or at least most of us :). It's nice to know, though, that no matter how far we roam, we'll always be able to jump back into each other's lives.

This very moment, I'm sitting in Starbucks in La Jolla, relaxing for a moment between camp and the show. Only 2 and a half more weeks to go...

starbucks in one hand, hairpins in the other, I'm conquering this summer!

remember: love, love, LOVE.

NYC 2010, Part One: Showcase.

Wow. Well, it's been a week since I got back from NY, and I've been thoroughly ignoring the blog! I guess I feel like there's SO much to update on...and until right now, I didn't really have the time to sit and write. I think the best way to do this is to post a couple installments...Sooo here's the first one!

I got to New York the Friday of finals week, with the wonderful Courtney aka "Shmooples." We met Eric and Deidre at Deidre's place, then we walked to Eric's, where I spent the next few days.

So the latest news, my best friend Eric got hired as a singer on a cruise ship!! Really awesome news, minus the fact that it meant we only got to see each other for a few days before he had to leave for Florida. I spent the first few nights at his place, and got to play with his roommates Brian and Sarah (yay new friends!). Eric and I got to catch up a lot, and he even talked me into buying my very first lululemon hoodie! Anyway, the whole gang got together to throw Eric a goodbye/birthday party...and it was wonderful.

Back to business...Showcase was just incredible. Stressful? Yes. Exciting? Yes. Successful? YES. The actual day of the showcase felt like Groundhog Day. We got to the theatre at noon, tag-teamed the Kent kids (who are all wonderful amazing fun people and our new friends), and started tech. We re-spaced the whole showcase to fit the Beechman stage, then walked to Myrona's apartment. All 11 of us (including Dennis, Myrona and Gary), took over the whole apartment and the getting ready process began! Then there was the fabulous girl taxi adventure (if you were there, you know lol). We finally got to the theatre, and started the showcase extravaganza! We did the show three times...while the Kent Showcase was happening, we hung out in the "clubhouse"...which was basically a tiny little room curtained off...filled with EVERYONE'S stuff. Here's a look at us trying to take pictures in the clubhouse...

The last show of the night, family, friends, and alumni were invited to come, in addition to agents/managers/casting directors. It turned out to be just as wonderful and supportive as when we performed at UCI...it was AMAZING to see so many of our friends in one place again...not to mention how cool it was to have so many UCI MT generations in the same room at the same time!! Just another reminder as to how big and beautiful our UCI family is...I feel like when I move to NY, I'll be moving home, to a community of supportive, exciting, and loving friends! Here are some pictures from the after party!

Andreas, Courtney and I...totem pole?

Cayce and I...yes...he's in a boy band.

Frannie, Me, Kayla and Lital

Megan and I!

There were some other very important guests at the 8pm show...my Dad, my Aunt, and my cousins! Dad flew in from California, spent a few days at my Aunt's place, and they all came down to see showcase. I'm so blessed to have had my family there...I wish I had taken a picture of us all together!! My Dad stayed a couple more days...stories to follow.

If there's one thing I came to value (even more than I already did), it's my friends. There were multiple moments during these past few weeks where I looked around and realized that these are the people that I'm going to be friends with for a very, very long time...and I couldn't be happier. Thank you for being there when I need you, when I don't need you, and when I don't think I need you (but I do). You guys are the greatest, and I'm so blessed to have you all in my life! Here are some more highlights from the trip...

Danny, Me, and Kev in Times Square

Lisha and I went to screme!

At Vynl for Kev's birthday! (no, they're not all ours)

Kayla, Kev, Me and David in Central Park

That's all I got for now...installment number one complete. The next one? I'll talk about post showcase and the shows I saw! Until then...keep on truckin.

And remember, love, LOVE, ...

here we go again!

So I'm currently in my living room, laying on the floor, in the middle of piles of clothing, shoes and other things that need to be put into suitcases. And what am I doing instead? Writing a blog lol.

This week was finals week at school, which meant BFA Showcase performance at UCI!

I think performing for an audience was EXACTLY what we needed. Well, what I needed, for sure. I felt SO good about the show....everything that I was unsure of fell away and it was honestly the most supportive audience EVER. I can't explain how wonderful it felt to have so many people and so much positive energy in that theatre! Here's the video my cousin took...he had limited space so he only taped my songs (and one of Skye's got in there as well l0l) but check it out! Just a lil' preview to what we'll be bringing to NY...

It's so funny to think that almost exactly a year ago, I was doing the same thing...packing to go to NY, but for the Satellite

program! Even though I'm packing for half the time, it's still just as hard to decide what to pack! I made lists and everything,

but it's just not that easy. Oy.

I guess I should actually go TRY to physically put things in suitcases now. I hope everyone is well...Next you hear from me,

I'll be in NYC! :)

love, love, love.