oh mary!

my favorite part of new york city? tie between the museums and broadway. there is something to be said for getting all dolled up and feeling like you own the town. broadway was amazing. there is a reason those tickets cost a small fortuen. the production quality is unlike anything i've ever seen. from the time the curtain went up, i was mesmerized. i felt like a little kid, leaning forward in my chair in anticipation, my eyes wide with excitement, and a huge grin on my face the entire time. we saw mary poppins. spectacular. the sets, the costumes, the coreography and the orchestra. enchanting. the show started at 7, and we didnt leave until after 11 o'clock, but those four hours went by so quickly. ms. poppins flew a couple of times, flying through the crowd for the grand finale. bert had a song where he walked around the frame of the stage. walking up one side of the stage, then upsidedown on the top of the frame, and coming down the other side - all while singing a song - but what else would you expect from broadway?

here's laura and i after a long night of drinking:
or actually, we were just waiting for the subway on the way to the show. hee hee.

we couldnt get a picture of me all wide-eyed, but here's the next best thing:


bravo mary poppins, bravo.

multi

so most days nothing of interest happens in my life - but it seems like the last month has been chalk full of excitement. i havent had much time to update this little blog of mine. so instead of trying to get everything out in one breath (especially since i'm still a little jet lagged) i'm going to do multiple posts over the next few days. here are some of the topics im going to cover:

family in town
graduation
new york city baby!!!
cincinnati (its no NYC, but someone's gotta do it)

tonight: the Faridnia/Shiraz clan descends upon Portland, part one.

familia

i graduated two weekends ago. graduated. it is finally over. i have been working on that degree for soo long, and now it is done. this hasnt really sunk in yet. more about the graduation later. my family came up for the weekend to celebrate with me. it was good to see them and show them around portland a bit.

i just realized that i dont have any pictures of me with everyone (mom, dad, brother & brother's girlfriend) - so i'll just put up a few pictures and try to include everyone.

i love having a big brother. and i'm trying to work on getting him and his girlfriend to move to portland so i can enjoy the benefits of a big brother more often. my car stereo and clock have been out of commission for quite some time. probably over six months. it was only a broken fuse and i know that is a really easy fix, but i couldnt figure out how to get the darn cover off the fuse boxes (either of them) and so i lived with no music or no timepiece in my car for entirely too long. but while kevin was here he was kind enough to spend some time on my car and fixed it in a jiffy. seriously, like 10 minutes and it was done. it's like having a brand new car. i can play cd's and listen to my ipod again. and now i know what time it is. did i mention that i love that man? its such a small thing, but it really makes me feel loved when someone does something like that without even a blink of the eye. he just took my keys and took care of it. beautiful. so thank you kevin, you are a blessing to me. now just move to portland so i dont have to pay to get my oil changed. hee hee.

my favorite brother and future sister-in-law (?? :)

a new york minute

i just found this in my draft folder....

i just got back from NYC late last night. there is so much to say. the trip was AMAZING, i love that city. it was such a busy week, and there is still more to explore. i am still on east coast time so i'm a bit jet lagged - but i will try and get some thoughts down for now.

i could have spent the whole week in the museums. we went to the Met, the Guggenheim, and MoMA. ahh. museum overload - but i wanted to soak it all up. this trip made me realize how much i love picasso. and while i understand that it's the trendy thing to be all "Picasso is my favorite, i like his blue period best" - i cant deny the fact that his paintings have a serious effect on me. here's me and picasso:


which brings me to another thing: they let you take pictures INSIDE THE MUSEUM. whha? when did that become the norm? another reason i love New York. either the Portland Art Museum has never impressed me to the point of photography, or they arent so welcoming of the flash. hmm.

ok - i am exhausted, but i will try and write more soon. this is just part one of my love for NYC. we've still got to talk about the food, the subway, central park, broadway, top of the rock, shopping, brooklyn, staten island ferry, greenwich village, soho, and the hotel. so much left to say.

sara

the next time i find myself in a new situation - i'm going to go by sara. see how it fits. i think its too late to try this out at home community.

scented

sometimes, if i'm lucky, the air smells like doughnuts when i get off the bus on my way home from work. a happy consequence of living near voodoo doughnuts. and then on other days when i'm driving home from school late at night the air smells of fresh baked bread. how did i get so lucky?

One to go

last week i found out that my LOMA courses transferred in as more credits than i thought they would. because of this, i was able to drop one of my last classes. i only have ONE more class. how crazy is that?! and i'll be done with school at the beginning of April now, instead of the end of April like i had planned. Graduation is May 9th. mark your calendars. hee hee!!