Get a Klew: August 2014

It was awesome. A lot of people were actually pretty surprised I even came home. I kind of am too.

I went with two of my friends Jesse and Lauren. Jesse's company has a corporate apartment in Hell's Kitchen that we were able to stay in for FREE. Yes. Free. Zero dollars a night. It was such a game changer. We spent less than $300 on the entire trip (not counting flights), which is AWESOME considering how much stuff we did.

I've written posts for each of the days, and posted retroactively:

Thursday: Jimmy Fallon and Cinderella
Friday: Sayville and A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Saturday: Brooklyn Bridge and Chinatown
Sunday: Aladdin and Central Park

I love NYC you guys. I love it so much.

Favorite things I did in NYC

I recently took the most kickass trip to New York City. You can read all about it (I encourage you to read all about it), but here's a list of the Highlights:

23. Lunch in Chinatown
22. Walking around SoHo
21. A Frrrozen Hot Chocolate from Serendipity 3
20. A Chocolate Milkshake from Juniors
19. Sailing in Sayville
18. Lighting a Candle in St. Patrick's Cathedral
17. 5th Avenue
16. PIZZA
15. A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
14. Schmackary's
13. Meeting Kyle and Shannon out on Friday night
12. The view at 230 Fifth
11. Having lunch at 5 Napkin Burger with my fam
10. The Library Bar at the NoMad Hotel
9. Watching the sunset in Central Park
8. The Brooklyn Bridge
7. Broadway in Bryant Park
6. Sayville Chocolatier
5. Rooftop drinking at Kyle & Shannon's apartment in TriBeCa
4. Cinderella
3. High fived Jimmy Fallon
2. Sat in the front row at Jimmy Fallon
1. Aladdin

Gimme A Doggie Bag, I'm Takin' it Home!

Sunday was probably my second favorite day of our trip (because Thursday already took the cake as one of the greatest days of my life).

We woke up at our own leisure and just spent the morning killing time until it was time to meet Kerry, Kyle, Shannon, Kyle and Annie at 5 Napkin Burger for lunch. We had pizza and smoothies for breakfast because we make the rules, and we ate on the stoop of a cute apartment. We were all about feeling like we lived there lol. We tried to use the CitiBikes but we kind of failed miserably.

We also got to go to Schmackary's. It's a cookie place that literally shared a building with the restaurant where we were supposed to have lunch. It is adorable, and the cookies are DELICIOUS. I had a smores cookie. I was the happiest camper because you know how much I love cookies. Also fun fact about Schmackary's: you can go on their website and send cookies to broadway shows. They have a lot of ties with the Broadway community and all of the actors have "favorite cookies." They also team up with Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS to raise money and the stars of various shows will come in and work in the shop to raise money. It was cool to see a place that I hear so many people talk about! Also I love cookies so....

We had Lunch at 5 Napkin Burger in Hell's Kitchen. I thought it was absolutely delicious. We met Kyle, Kerry, Shannon and Annie too. It was awesome to be able to spend the day with them. We finished up with lunch and headed over to the New Amsterdam Theater to see the matinee of Aladdin on Broadway.

You guys, IT WAS THE MOST AMAZING THING I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. I can't say enough good things about this show. I always love to see musicals that are based on movies I love. It's cool seeing characters come to life and feel like you're transported into the movie, but this was unlike anything I've ever seen. Especially since I grew up watching movies like The Little Mermaid and Aladdin with Kerry and Ky, and I got to sit and watch the musical with them. It was a little bit different than the movie, but in the best way. We were all in AWE the entire time. The actors were so insanely talented and the production value was AMAZING. Have I said the word amazing too many times yet?

There were more than 300 costumes in the production. The number "Prince Ali" ALONE had 80 different costumes. Different groups of people just KEPT ON MARCHING out onto the stage, and after like three or four groups I realized it was the same 15 people changing their costumes! Each costume was made with beautiful rich fabrics and TONS of sparkles. During "A Whole New World" the entire stage is covered with sparkling stars. The entire thing was a visual TREAT.

The cave of wonders literally rose out of the sand. The carpet flies freely across the stage. I have no idea how they did it, but it was magical. I had goosebumps practically the entire time, and tears in my eyes more than once.

We got to see James Monroe Iglehart as the Genie, a role he recently won a TONY award for. MAN OH MAN DID HE DESERVE IT. He was INCREDIBLE. He stole the show for sure. "Friend Like Me" is like 10 minutes long and he DOESN'T. STOP. MOVING. for the entire number. I watched the entire thing with tears in my eyes because it was so filled with joy. I never wanted it to stop. How lucky he must feel to be able to bring that much happiness to people every single day. I heard my aunt audibly gasp when tap dancers came out, and there was a 5 minute long standing ovation at the end of the number. I have never heard an audience cheer that loud in a Broadway show. It was delightful.

I never wanted it to end. RUN don't walk to see this show.

After the show was over we stuck around and met some of the actors outside the stage door. That. Was. Awesome. Courtney Reed (Jasmine) told me she liked my phone case. Lauren got a selfie with James Monroe Iglehart (Genie). The entire thing was just so cool.

After Aladdin we had tickets to see Assssscat3000, but we skipped it. I was kind of bummed, but we still hadn't seen Central Park. I decided it was more important for Jesse and Lauren to see Central Park, and they agreed. We walked down 5th avenue on a high from that amazing production and watched the sunset in Central Park. It was like a dream. Also I felt very Mindy as we were walking through Central Park, because that place is like land of the romantic comedy.

We finished off our evening at the Library Bar in the NoMad hotel. It was a bar that Jimmy Fallon once spoke of on his show, so naturally we wanted to try it. It had sort of a speakeasy vibe and had really cool gourmet drinks. It was the perfect end to a perfect trip.

I'm so lucky I was able to take this trip, and I will remember it for the rest of my life. So much amazing culture and food and people. My heart is full.

The Brooklyn Bridge is really cool

Today we had nothing planned, so we decided to do the Brooklyn Bridge. It was top of Lauren's list of things to do, and I had never been. We took the subway to Brooklyn and then walked the bridge back to Manhattan.

The views on the bridge were AMAZING. Amazing amazing amazing. You can see literally everything.

I loved to see the Freedom Tower and all that, but I will always love the view of the Empire State Building best. It's just so...New York. Not that the Freedom Tower isn't, but I like looking over toward the Empire State Building. Also super bummed we didn't go to the 9/11 memorial because I've heard it's absolutely breathtaking.

After our trip across the Bridge we had lunch in Chinatown. We ate at a place with a B in the window. I know, I KNOW, you're not supposed to do that. But whatevs. We did it. Nobody died. It was delicious. We shopped around SoHo for a while, and then we were in need of a fat nap. All three of us crashed on our couch for a solid two hours. I wonder how many miles we walked during this trip.

Once we woke up from our nap we headed back into midtown to eat Juniors for dinner. If you know me you know I wasn't about to leave NYC without a milkshake from this place. Juniors, you're too good to me.

We also got to go see Kyle and Shannon's apartment tonight. They live in a GORGEOUS studio apartment in TriBeCa. We just hung out and had drinks on their rooftop, which has a view just as gorgeous as the ones from the Brooklyn Bridge. It was also awesome to get to spend time with the fam. This was the second time I got to hang out with Ky and Shannon THIS SUMMER. That's so rare and it's a lucky thing.

New York City, you look so good on us.

Our Day Trip to Sayville

Of course, we took a day trip to my hometown of Sayville, NY. I think we kind of needed the relaxation after we walked SO MUCH yesterday. We took the train to Sayville in the morning and stayed all day long.

We went sailing with Jay and Deb. It was really fun to see them and to try to go out on the water. I got a little bit seasick because it was SO WINDY on the water. We had to come back in early because of how windy it was. We spent the rest of the day chilling in their new hot tub and walking around downtown Sayville. Of course we made a visit to Sayville Chocolatier

Jay and Deb fed us some authentic NY Pizza because Lauren still hadn't had any at that point and we got back on the train to get back to the city in time for our show.

We saw A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder tonight. It won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Musical, and I can definitely see why. It was very well-written and the actors were INSANELY talented. It's the story of a guy named Monty, who realizes after his mother has died that he's the heir to a large fortune, with 8 people ahead of him. He spends the entire show trying to kill all 8 of them off, and all 8 family members are played by the same guy. The part of the family members is usually played by Jefferson Mays, but we saw his understudy. It wasn't really my cup of tea, but I still love any chance I get to see a Broadway production. It was one of those ones where they sing a LOT of their lines and in thick British accents so you had to pay really close attention to what they were saying or you could miss major plot points. Plus I had a girl sitting in front of me who was like laying on the balcony railing and I couldn't really see that well behind her. Whatever.

I think Bryce Pinkham, the actor who plays the lead role Monty, looks kind of like Jack Wellner from where we were sitting. That was entertaining.

After the show we went out for a drink at a bar called 230 Fifth. It's called that because the address is 230 Fifth Ave. Clever, I know, but the view is STUNNING. You can clearly see the Empire State Building right in front of your face, which I think is so cool. We had a drink there and then went to meet up with my cousin Kyle and his friends at a bar called the Windsor. I think it was in SoHo? I'm not sure. I just told the cab driver to take us to the address.

The Windsor was kind of like a NYC Hawk, so we felt right at home.

The Best Day of Klew's life

Okay so, if you know anything about me you know I love to ask people about their favorite things (as does Hoven. I think that's why we started to become friends). Also, you know I have some pretty solid things that are my "favorites:"

Cheerleading
The Color Blue
Broadway Musicals
Disney Princesses, especially Cinderella
Cinderella on Broadway
Jimmy Fallon
Pizza
Sweets
New York City

Today I got to do basically every single one of my favorite things in one day.

We woke up and had NYC bagels in Times Square for breakfast. We sat in the middle of Times Square and enjoyed a perfectly authentic Bagel with schmear. It was also delightfully empty in Times Square that morning so that rocked. Usually that place is a pain in the ass because it's the capital of "oh, let's just stop walking in the middle of the sidewalk and pose for a photo with our iPad" and I have NO PATIENCE for that.

We walked around Midtown and I got to see all of the Broadway Theaters. I love walking past them and seeing them RIGHT THERE. I think that's so cool.

I took this picture of the Jersey Boys theater to send to Dan. He loves Jersey Boys.

For lunch we ate at Pronto Pizza, which is my favorite pizza place in the city. I burned my tongue but who cares. Nothing could get me down on the best day of my life. We hung out in Bryant Park (which is my favorite park in NYC. I like it even better than Central Park. Yeah. I said it.) and there was a free concert of Broadway musicals in the middle of the park. We got to watch the casts of Matilda and Motown sing songs from their shows, as well as a preview of On The Town, which is a new one that's coming soon. I think that one is going to be really cool.

Broadway in Bryant Park

After we did the Bryant Park thing it was time for Jimmy Fallon. We headed over to the NBC Experience Store at 30 Rock to check in with our tickets. We waited in line for about 30 minutes and were given wristbands and tickets with a letter E on the back. They told us to come back to another location in 30 rock at 3:50. We spent the hour or so we had to kill eating cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery, my favorite cupcake ever. We came back to the designated area and they lined us up in alphabetical order. It seemed to me that each group of people gets its own letter, because we were the only ones with "E." They filed us all into the studio and we sat IN THE VERY FRONT ROW. I'm not kidding you. It was really just dumb luck, but we could've reached out and touched Tariq from The Roots. The Roots came out and played for us for a little bit before the show started, and then Jimmy came out. The three of us were all grinning like idiots. You can probably see it on the TV. Jimmy waved at us and did his monologue literally 10 feet from us. I'm not kidding. He was so close. It was amazing.

It was kind of the lamest Jimmy Fallon episode ever (he didn't play any games and there wasn't a musical guest), but we didn't care. It was awesome to just watch how the show is made. It was like being in a dream because everything looks exactly like it does when you watch it on TV. At the end of the show Jimmy runs up and down the aisles of the audience. We were the very first ones so not only are we on TV, we got to high five him as he ran by. It was amazing. Like I said, we were grinning like idiots.

Here's the screenshot from Hulu.

After Jimmy was over we marched our happy asses right over to The Broadway Theater for Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella. Hoven met us, and we had AWESOME seats. It was my second time seeing the show, but nobody else had seen it. I was stoked to see a different princess than I had originally seen. We saw Paige Faure as Cinderella and she did not dissappoint. I mean, I think Laura Osnes will always have a commanding hold on that role, but I loved Paige too. It was cool to see how two different women portray the same character, and they both put different spins on it. The music was beautiful as always, and the costume changes still blow my mind. Cinderella was delightful, and it will always have a special place in my heart. It will always fill me with joy. I felt really lucky to sit there and watch it, and to get to share it with some of my dearest friends.

Finally, we had dessert at Serendipity3, one of my favorites in the City. It was a perfect ending to a perfect day. I had a zillion second long snap story. So basically I woke up, had NYC pizza for lunch, hung out in Bryant Park, saw/touched Jimmy Fallon, ate a Magnolia Bakery cupcake, saw Cinderella and ate my favorite dessert. It was perfect.

I just don't see how you're gonna top this day, dudes. I just don't see.

"...and I like it so well that for all I can tell I may never come down again."

Shades of Blue I like

Okay fine. I love all shades of blue. I even have a pinterest board just dedicated to blue stuff. Whatever. I'm really bored and have realized I haven't made a list in a while, so I figured I'd do this. Gives me an excuse to look at blue things on the internet.

8. Navy

I like navy better than I like black. I would say that navy IS my black. To me it just seems to be a more friendly version of black. Plus when you pair it with gold? I love that. I also love when navy is used for nautical-inspired things. I feel like when you pair black with another color it can be very harsh, but when you pair it with navy it is much more inviting.

7. Blue so light it's almost grey

I'm going to have a wedding dress like this. I think it's so ethereal and cool. Don't try to talk me out of it. Also future husband, you're going to have to deal with it.

Photo Credit: frenchweddingstyle.com

6. Mint

So maybe this is more in the "green" family, but I love it. I love to pair it with gold.

5. Aqua

Aqua is different than sky blue in that it has a bit more power to it. Like aqua punches you in the face while sky blue just kind of gives you a nice little slap.

4. Sky Blue

You know what I'm talking about. That bright, happy blue. I'd also probably call this powder blue? It's just so pure.

Photo Credit: katespade.com

3. Blue Ombre

I'm so glad that ombre became stylish recently, because I would say it's my favorite "pattern." I am dying to get my own place so I can try a blue ombre wall. A zillion shades of blue that all fade into one another like a sunset, only blue? Yes please.

Photo Credit: babble.com

2. Royal Blue

Royal blue is just so strikingly beautiful. When most girls want to wear a "shocking" color they pick neon yellow or hot pink, I pick Royal Blue. I wore this amazing royal blue dress to graduation. I just love it so much. It can be so clean cut and pure, but when you do it right it can also be so striking and bold. My fingernails are literally always royal blue (Butler Please by Essie. Try not to fall in love. I dare you.)

Photo Credit: Beautopia

1. Klew Blue

I'm lucky enough to have my own version of blue. I mean, I guess all of these colors have been referred to as "klew blue" at some point or another, but for graduation Jesse gave me a poster that he made into my own Pantone Color. It's the color of the sparkle in Cinderella's ball gown, and when the sky is the sunniest and at its most beautiful, it is klew blue. Water is klew blue when the sun hits it so that it sparkles, and cotton candy that you buy at baseball games is klew blue. It guess it's not so much a color, but more of an overall attitude. It's my personality all encompassed into one color. I think it's so cool that you can describe me using a color. I think that is such a bright and positive thing, because color is what gives this world life and vibrance.

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