NYC Tapings: The Daily Show with John Stewart

On ourfirst full day in New York we went to The Daily Show with John Stewart. They start handing out tickets to people who've already reserved tickets at 2:30. We showed up at about 1:30 and there was already quite a line ofF ople which made me pretty nervous. As I mentioned in my previous post, they overbooked these tapings, so I was a little worried that we might not get tickets. Luckily, the line of people behind us started to grow and made  me feel a little more at ease. A little after 2:30 they started handing out tickets and we were probably in the last group of 10-15 people they had tickets for. *whew*

After successfully obtaining our tickets we were told to return to the studio by 4:30. We took that time to hightail it to the TKTS booth in Times Square to try to snag some show tickets for after the taping. We were in luck, and were able to get tickets to an off-Broadway production of Avenue Q (more on that later).

We headed back to The Daily Show studio and were lined up in order of our ticket numbers. Before letting us into the studio a hipster looking girl made a few announcements about what we should expect as we headed in. We were to use the restrooms before entering the studio as once we were seated we would not be allowed to get up. Once we had relieved ourselves we were to proceed through security which was comprised of a bag check and metal detector. We were told that food, drinks, cameras, and mace/pepper spray wouldn't be allowed into the studio and would need to be left with security and picked up after the show. Hipster girl went on to say that before the show John would come out and answer a few audience questions. We were specifically told not to ask for autographs/pictures or ask creepy questions (ie: will you marry me?)

Once inside the studio we were allowed to take pictures of the studio with our phones. Of course we took an obligatory selfie with the Daily Show desk in the background. After what seems like hours but is probably more like 45 minutes a comedian came out to warm the audience up. He taught us how to cheer and laugh loudly which is very important for us to do since "there is no laugh track" and we were it. We were then instructed to put our phones away and keep them there for the remainder of the taping.

As hipster girl promised, John came out be for the show started and answered a few audience questions...none of which were interesting enough for me to remember. He then took his seat behind his desk and they started the show. Everything runs amazingly smoothly and quickly with very minimal pauses for the commercial breaks. Our guest was NY Yankee, Mariano Rivera which made for some fun banter between the two of them since John is a NY Mets fan.

Once the taping was over we were told to keep our phones away and were quickly ushered out of the studio. We were out of there by about 5:30 or 6. Just enough time for us to grab a quick bite to eat and hurry over to Avenue Q.

Check out my blog on our NYC preparations to see how we got in on this taping.

NYC Musicals: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella

On our first day in NYC hubs and I started our day with a traditional upper west side brunch at Good Enough to Eat. After we'd had our fill we made our way back to Times Square so we could check out what was available for a matinee at the TKTS booth. Hubs was so excited to see that tickets were available for Cinderella since it's featuring Carly Rae Jepsen and Fran Drescher for a limited time. I, on the other hand, was a bit apprehensive about sa musical with Carly Rae Jepsen as the primary actress.  Don't get me wrong, I get all teeny bopper when Call Me Maybe comes on the radio, I was just a little concerned with how her singing would be sans studio post-production and even more concerned with her acting abilities. Never the less, tickets were 50% off original matinee prices so I figured even if it was terrible at least it'd be cheap.

 I've never actually read the original Cinderella story and only know Disney's Cinderella story from the movie so I'm not sure how close the musical was too the original story, but it was quite different from Disney's version. Because the plot was so different from what I know the story to be it was a lot more interesting to me.  As much as I've enjoyed Disney's adaptations of Beauty and the Beast or Mary Poppins as musicals there's always a little bit of excitement missing for me since I already know what's going to happen.

Unfortunately, Fran Drescher wasn't performing at our show. Even though the actress playing the evil stepmother was great I think that it would've been awesome to see Fran Drescher do it. But I must say I was surprised at how good Carly Rae Jepsen's performance as Cinderella was. She did a great job singing and her acting didn't induce cringing like I thought it would. I must say I have a lot more respect for her as s singer now... if only she would sing some songs with substance in them.

Overall,  I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this musical and would definitely recommend it to people who were looking to see something fun and light to watch.

NYC Preparations

Hello from NYC, loves! Hubs and I are waiting in line for a table for dinner right now. If you follow me on fb or instagram you've seen all the fun we've been up to the past couple of days. I've been getting a lot of questions about how to get in on the show tapings we've been to so far so I thought it'd be a good idea to blog about all the hard prep work hubs did to get our trip to NYC full of fun times.

Attractions:
Yesterday we took a great boat tour around half of Manhattan Island with Circle Line Sightseeing. We booked that a day ahead with no problems. We went on a weekday, so I'm not sure if that would change for the weekends.
We also went to the top of Rockefeller Center yesterday morning and night. We bought our tickets online the day before. This is not necessary, but it ensured that we got to skip the line to buy tickets and get right in line to get up to the top of the Rock.
We haven't been there yet but before heading to NYC we looked into seeing the Statue of Liberty. Depending on how high up you want to get up in Lady Liberty determines how early you need to get tickets. If you want to get up to the torch...sorry bub, you're SOL. No one has been up there in like a hundred years. If you want to get up to her crown you should look into getting tickets 2-3 months in advanced. Unfortunately for us we hadn't even decided to go to New York early enough to even feasible get tickets for that. We got our tickets to the pedestal about a week before leaving for our trip. However, hubs mentioned that when he looked tickets were still available for the following day; so buying tickets the day before should probably be okay for this too.
We also haven't been to the 9/11 Memorial yet either, but we made our reservations about a week before we left for New York. Making reservations ahead of time is most likely not necessary, but it should save us some time from having to stand in line the day of.
Check out my post on all the spots we visited

Tapings:
Yesterday we went to a taping of the Daily Show with John Stewart. Hubs doesn't quite remember how we came across these...we think mostly by sheer luck we looked at the website and sign up for tickets was available. For really good detailed info about how to get in on the Daily Show you should check out this super helpful website (the article is almost a year old, but still relevant).
Today we went to a taping of the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Signing up for this taping was significantly more difficult. Hubs ended up coding a program to text and email the both of us when tickets became available. If this isn't an option for you I'd suggest liking the Tonight Show facebook page because they make announcements on when tickets become available on there. In general we found that they released tickets a month at a time at the beginning of the prior month. For example if you want to go anytime in August you should be getting ready to sign up for your tickets in the beginning of July. You have to be on your A game here since we found that sign ups filled up within about the first 5-10 minutes.
A couple of notes on signing up for these tapings before we move on. First off, just because you've signed up for the taping it does not...I repeat, DOES NOT...guarantee you a seat at the taping. These tapings are all overbooked to make sure there's a full audience so pay attention to what time you need to be where to claim your actual tickets to the tapings. Secondly, when you sign up for these tapings you never know who the guests are going to be. Since we didn't know who the guests were going to be or what our schedule was going to be like we signed up for a couple of days for each show. They don't let you sign up for more then one taping per show, but we made reservations under hub's name one day and my name the next day. I'm sure this is probably frowned upon, but it gave us a little loop hole to have some extra flexibility during our trip.
Check out my Daily Show and Tonight Show experiences.

Broadway/Off-Broadway:
At least a month before leaving we purchased our tickets for Hedwig and the Angry Inch and A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder. While in New York we've been able to score discount tickets to Cinderella and Avenue Q. If you want to see popular shows (ie: Wicked or the two shows we purchased tickets in advanced for) best buy your tickets at full price ahead of time. Those shows rarely make it to the TKTS discount ticket booth...in fact I overheard them saying that they NEVER get Wicked tickets. Otherwise it has been easy for us to get good seats from TKTS to the shows we've wanted without even having to stand in line before the booth opens.
Check out my reviews on Cinderella, Avenue Q, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder and Rocky

Anyway, I hope this was helpful for all of you guys planning upcoming trips to NYC.

Love Letters

A couple weeks ago, one of my favorite bloggers, Cup of Jo, posted some excerpts from an interesting article about the lost art of the unsent angry letter. At the end of her post she briefly mentioned an equally intriguing idea of writing a love letter to a current, past, or future love. I'd have to say my relationships with my first boyfriend has probably had the most profound effects on shaping my understanding of a romantic relationship. Looking back it feels like I've really come full circle to the amazing type of relationship I didn't recognize in my first boyfriend but never doubted in my husband. So without further ado I thought I'd share my love letter to my first boyfriend and of course my wonderful husband.

To my first boyfriend,
First and foremost I want to apologize for the way I treated you while we were together. I was too young and stupid to have an inkling of appreciation for all that you did for me. I fell for you at first because I thought you were a bad boy through and through down to your outrageously saggy jeans (thank god that tend is over!) But once we were "official"...well as official as sixth graders can be...you turned into a nice guy. In fact you were a really nice guy. You treated me like a princess and showered me with gifts of flowers and poems of love. You were smart and always offered to help me with my math homework when I struggled. And in return for your kindness I pushed you away. This wasn't what I signed up for. I didn't want a nice guy...where is that bad boy I thought was so cute?
Feeling smothered by your attention I broke it off. We remained friends and you were always still there being that nice guy for me. You switched schools and we lost touch. I dated my share of real bad boys who probably never cared for me half as much as you did. Sometimes I felt like a bad ass rebel dating without a cause. But as I started getting older I realized how stupid I had been to let someone like you go so unappreciated. I began to wonder if I would ever find someone as good as you to spend the rest of my life with. I started to think that maybe I just didn't deserve a guy like you anyway.
And then I met my husband, a smart, kind, and generous guy. And because of you I knew. I knew that this was a good thing. I knew that I should appreciate all the things he did for me like taking 2 semesters of chemistry to help me study even though it wasn't a requirement for his major or surprising me with a giant teddy bear in my dorm room.
So I'd like to thank you. Thank you for setting the bar even when I didn't know you were doing it. At least partially thanks to you I have an amazing life with my wonderful husband who treats me like a princess. I know that you're also married and I hope that you're both very happy and I hope you treat her as wonderfully as you treated me.

To my husband,
Life has been kind to me for bringing someone like you into my life. You've stuck by my side and have held my hand through some challenging times and always believed in me, even when I didn't believe in myself. You're the most unselfish person when it comes to loving me, always putting me ahead of yourself. You're always thoughtful, anticipating my needs before I even think about them. You've been endlessly patient with me even when I haven't deserved it. You're amazingly generous and always spoiling me with lavish gifts.
I love you with my every being. And everyday I strive to show you how much I love you and how much I appreciate everything you do for me. You're an amazing man and we've had an amazing 10 years together. I look forward to whatever life has in store for the two of us. I know that with you the joys that life brings will be more joyful and that the challenges we may face will be more manageable.
Forever yours,
Mrs. Honda

Venus in Fur: A Review

I can't believe it's been over 2 months since my last post. I can't even honestly say my mini hiatus has been because we've been crazy busy or anything. I think it's mostly because we've been going through a little bit of a challenging situation on the home front which has left my mind preoccupied with other things besides blogging. Hopefully getting back into blogging will help keep my mind off of things outside of my control.

A couple weekends ago hubs and I went to see Venus in Fur, which was a nominee for best play at the 2013 Tony Awards. It was our first non-musical play and we were a little aprehensive that we might not enjoy it as much as a musical. Luckily the Tony's have yet to steer us wrong.

Venus in Fur is a play made up soley of 2 actors. The premise of the play is a playwright/director who is trying to cast the lead female in his play based on the famous book Venus in Furs by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. If his last name sounds a little familiar it's because the term sadomasochism was derived from this guys name. If that doesn't give you a hint about what this play is like take a look above at the play's banner and hopefully you'll get it. As if the sensuality of the play weren't riveting enough there are plot twists throughout the play that keep the audience on the edge of their seats.

This was the first time we had seen anything in the American Conservatory Theater and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this theater. We've only been in the theaters that feature musicals (Golden Gate Theatere, Curran Theatere, and Orpheum Theatere), but the ACT is much smaller then those. It was definitely a much more intimate feel which I enjoyed. And even though the theater itself is much smaller they have a large open lower level with a bar and lots of seating which was a nice change from the cramped standing room only bar areas of the other theaters we've been to.

Overall I'd definitely recommend this play to first timers or newbies. I think it was a great way of dipping our toes into plays without drowning in something that would surely be over our heads like Macbeth. However, I must warn (as if it isn't obvious enough) this play is not for the prudish at heart. The play is oozing with sensuality and even a bit of gender play. But if you go into it with an open mind I'm sure you'll find it just as enjoyable as we did.

Succulent Succulents at Succulence

Check out that awesome alliteration. My 2nd grade English teacher would be so proud (not really).

This past weekend I met up with a coworker to take a terrarium making class at this super cute little shop in Bernal Heights, Succulence.  Anyone who isn't living under a rock knows that succulents are so in right now and this store was like hipster heaven.  They have a nice selection of books on gardening, preserving foods, etc; as well as promenade terrarium and all the things you'd need to make a terrarium of your own.

L to R: starting with succulents in their pots, terrarium with my drainage layer and succulents waiting for their
 new home

The class was run by the owner,  Ken, who is crazy about succulents. We started off with us choosing 3-5 small succulents... but being the rebel that I am, I started with 6. I just couldn't choose! There were too many pretty ones to choose from.  Once we had all chosen our plants we sat down and Ken broke down the different components of a good terrarium and their importance; as well as how to care for our soon to be made terrariums. Then we took a tour of the shop to get some design ideas before getting started on our own terrariums.

L to R: succulents in place with decorative moss bits, adding the final touch of a blue ninja

Not to toot my own horn, but I was really impressed with my end product. Usually my DIY adventures end up incomplete or as a disappointment so I was really pleased with my terrarium. Even hubs was surprised at how well my terrarium turned out...so much so that he was gladly willing to give my terrarium a home in his new office. Now that's the true mark of a successful DIY project!

I can't wait to make my next terrarium and even want to try their vertical gardening class.

New Year in Hawaii

First post of the new year almost half way through the January...please excuse my absence. As anyone in my field knows things can get pretty crazy around the holiday season and when I'd get home all I wanted to do was feed my face and fall into bed. Thank goodness we had a trip to Hawaii planned right after Christmas...I definitely needed a break from all the craziness at work.

The cost of flights to Hawaii were seriously out of control when we bought our tickets. So in an attempt to save a little bit of money we made the switch from Hawaiian Airlines to Alaska Airlines. But after 2 flights with poor service by the cabin crew of Alaska we decided that we'll be sticking with Hawaiian. On the flight to Hawaii my entire row was skipped over and wasn't offered any drinks. When I noticed they had skipped me I politely turned around to ask for a drink and was greeted with a completely annoyed stewardess. And while we were experiencing a relatively long duration of light turbulence quite a few people were hitting their call buttons...they were answered by an irritated announcement over the speaker system telling people to stop pressing the call buttons unless it was an emergency. On our flight back to California it seemed like the entire cabin crew staff had a stick up their ass or a major case of "resting bitch face." I even overheard the passengers behind us complain about the cabin crew member who rudely removed the digi-player from the passengers hand as she tried to turn it off before handing it over. Needless to say we definitely missed the warm aloha spirit of Hawaiian and will not be returning to Alaska any time soon. end rant.

group photo of the c/o 2003

Conveniently we were in Hawaii during the same time as my high school 10 year reunion...damn I'm getting old. The reunion was held at Stage Restaurant with good people and pretty good food. It was a nice chance to get together and catch up with a lot of people that I hadn't really kept in touch with. It's amazing to see how people have and haven't changed in 10 years.

The next day we hiked Pill Boxes with someone I used to ice skate with and her little brother. I am nothing close to an outdoorsy girl so it was the first time I hiked anything besides Diamond Head in Hawaii. It was a pretty easy hike even for a newb like me. Probably the toughest part of the hike is going back down since there's a lot of loose gravel which makes for a slipper trip.

my favorite ladies

That night we met up with the usual suspects at MW Restaurant. Of course the food was delicious, our culinary friends were the ones who chose the place. I'm pretty sure we should always let them choose our dinner spot since they always know someone in the kitchen and we get extra special service. Even though we had just seen them the night before at the reunion it was so nice to get to catch up in a more intimate setting. With one of them newly engaged and the other with a wedding coming up in summer there was definitely a lot to talk about. It makes me so happy to see that my friends have found such good guys to spend the rest of their lives with.

The main reason for our trip to Hawaii was to ring in the New Year with my family...especially since it was my parent's year to host the big New Year celebration at their house. It was really nice getting to see a lot of my family and celebrate with them since we don't get to see them too often. After growing up on an island with my family so close, living on the mainland and being so far away is a little bit tough for me especially during the holidays. I'm so glad we got to spend New Years in Hawaii with my family this year.

Before we left Hawaii and returned to our lives in California we made a trip to North Shore to check out the winter swells and to eat our favorite garlic shrimp at Giovanni's. Lastly we met up with a couple of friends from pharmacy school for dinner at Shokudo. It was great to catch up with them over some delicious honey toast.

Although our trip was short it was great to get away and see some of my family and friends that we don't get to see very often. Already looking forward to our next trip back for my friend's wedding.