Sunday, June 27

*Just catching up on NYC, will post pictures later

We got to sleep in just a little bit, waking up around 11 am (please note, that’s still 8 am California time). We met up with an old friend of my mom’s, Ricky Nickel and her daughter, Izzy. Izzy is going to be a senior in high school, so I was able to share all my godforsaken experience and tips for the journey of the college application process. (I’m just kidding, my application process was actually pretty easy/okay…I did all my applications over the summer and got accepted to Pitzer Early Decision so my stress was over in December. If anyone out there is applying to schools, I can give you some advice, but my main one is write your essays and applications over the summer. Trust me, you’ll thank me later. Doing that is what allowed me to be on tech for my school’s fall musical and really be able to experience my first semester of Senior year.) We went for brunch at an adorable place called Alice’s Tea Cup (if you don’t know, I am currently obsessed with Alice in Wonderland, so this was a real treat for me). 

Brunch was delicious, then we walked a little bit and my mom showed us this cupcake ATM. It’s made by Sprinkles, and dispenses cupcakes 24 hours a day. Shayna pointed out that it should really be called a cupcake vending machine, which I don’t disagree with, but I guess “ATM” has a cooler ring to it.

            We then had to catch the matinee for If/Then, the new Broadway show starring Idina Menzel. It was fabulous, amazing, fantastic. I loved it; I heard some people, including my family, found it hard to follow, but I was okay. (Tip if you go to see it: “Liz” wears glasses, “Beth” does not. That’s the easiest way to tell them apart.) It was written by the writers/composers (something like that) of Next to Normal—a show I’ve also been meaning to see. (My parents refused to take me to see it since it had a lot of triggering themes when I was struggling with my bipolar misdiagnosis and overmedication. They encouraged me to see it now, though of course it’s not playing anywhere currently).

            I’m also going to post a link here of Idina singing “Always Starting Over” from the show, If/Then, on the Tony Awards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmFrXC-uGsc.

            Our day wrapped up pretty quickly after that; we went for a nice dinner with Uncle Paul and Aunt Susan (I think they’re my great-uncle and great-aunt; Paul is my grandfather (Poppy’s) brother). I order this nice dish of fish that came whole (head and everything), which I then struggled to debone and get over the sheer grossness of the fact that I may have seen the fish’s brain. *Shudders*

Here is a picture of Shayna doing her fishy face: