Kristen's Adventures in Life

This month I decided to cross something off of my bucket list -- Mardi Gras in New Orleans. My friend, Andrea that I used to work with at Guest Relations in Walt Disney World moved to New Orleans in July so it was a perfect time to go visit her. Another friend of ours from Disney is only a five hour drive away, so he joined us as well. Such a fun reunion! The fun for me began Sunday with three parades. Krewe of Mid-City, Krewe of Thoth, and Krewe of Bacchus. Little did I know that the parades would be the most fun part of Mardi Gras. Floats go by and people throw beads and swag down at you. It's crazy! By the end of Krewe of Thoth I was ridiculously covered in beads, flowers, and boas. It was great!

On Monday (Lundi Gras) we walked around the French Quarter where I bought some things at a voodoo shop and ate crawfish complete with sucking the juice out of the head of it. It was gross and delicious at the same time. We also met up with another Guest Relations friend and had a big Disney reunion complete with delicious hand grenades. (a New Orleans staple drink) It was freezing, so we went home to warm up after that before heading out to see the Krewe of Orpheus parade. After the parade, my friend Kevin and I went to Bourbon Street to see what all the hype was about. We were getting beads flung at us at high velocity and had to run for cover because they were painful. I dragged him into Saints and Sinners to look for Channing Tatum, but sadly he wasn't there. Then we figured out how to get onto a balcony and I threw one of my beads off the balcony. We walked around a little bit more then headed to Cafe du Monde for some late night beignets before going home.

Tuesday morning we didn't wake up in time for the 8am parade, so we only went to the 10am parade which was the Krewe of Rex. At this point, not only was it freezing, but it was also raining. We were such troopers! We didn't get a lot of swag at this parade, but we still got some. After the parade, Kevin went home to Texas and Andrea and I went down to Frenchmen Street to see everyone's costumes. I didn't realize how much this holiday is like an extra Halloween! The rest of the day consisted of us watching Netflix because I was so worn out from the past two days and she was worn out from the past six! Mardi Gras really is a marathon, not a sprint. 

Wednesday I got my ashes and then we took a tour of a plantation about an hour away. This plantation is where the Brer Rabbit stories were written, so being the Disney nerds that we are we obviously knew it was fate that we stumbled upon it. I've said for years that all I want to do is live on a plantation in the south some day. Mainly like in the Notebook though - just a beautiful house in the Carolinas or Georgia without slaves. It was really interesting to finally see a real one. They even showed us the cabins that the owner's slaves lived in which was pretty surreal. We left that plantation and drove straight to the French Quarter where we had a ghost tour. Our tour guides for both tours were excellent which being a former tour guide myself, I know how much that can make or break a tour. Andrea and I think a ghost followed us home because her phone started opening up apps and music, as well as calling people by itself. It was the freakiest thing!

All in all my first trip to NOLA was great (minus the weather), and my first Mardi Gras was a blast. I can't wait to do it all again next year! :) 

Vacation #2 of 2014 is officially completed, and it was definitely full of adventure. One of my closest friends, Krysta got married up in Cooperstown this weekend and I made the four hour drive up there with three people I had never met before -- Jason, Andrew, and Lauren. 

It began bright and early when I met up with Krysta's old roommate, Jason and his friend Andrew at the rental car pickup location in midtown. We picked up the car and drove about 3 hours to Albany in the snowy weather and picked up Krysta's childhood friend, Lauren at the airport. From there we made the trek to the Ommegang Brewery in Cooperstown where we were supposed to have lunch. We noticed that the roads kept getting worse, but the GPS told us to go down this "highway" that turned out to be a downhill, snowy, windy, un-plowable dirt road. We were doing really well with driving on it until we were 12 minutes away from the brewery and we skidded into a snow bank. Luckily we were going slow so no one got hurt and the car was totally fine. The front passenger tire was completely buried in snow, so Lauren showed us her survival skills and pulled out the ice scraper that came with the car and started to dig us out. Then, like a guardian angel, a truck miraculously drove by us maybe two minutes later. The driver's name was Ron and he was our savior. Ron hooked up cables to our trunk and pulled us right out of the snow bank. It was really incredible timing, and we were really thankful to get out of there. He then told us to drive in neutral the rest of the way down the road -- you heard that correctly, drive in neutral. Who knew?

We finally made it to Ommegang and had some much needed drinks and a delicious lunch. We mingled with many other people that would be attending the wedding the next day, and then headed over to the next adventure on the agenda for the day. As we were leaving the Brewery, we once again got stuck in snow. This car is really fantastic. It took four guys to push us out, but we made it and we were off to my favorite part of the day -- National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Saying I'm a baseball fan is a bit of an understatement. I live and breathe New York Mets Baseball. Now, while I know we don't have a large presence in the hall of fame, it was still incredible to see all of the history that is in that building. Krysta's now husband, James is just as big of a baseball fan as I am (unfortunately he likes that other New York team.) He had never been to the hall of fame either, so experiencing it together was really awesome. When we walked in, he and I started to sing, "Batter up, hear that call, the time has come, for one and all, to play ball! We're the members of the all american league, we come from cities near and far..." from A League of Their Own. Then we just went exploring.

They had a section for the Women's All American Professional Baseball League, just like in the movie, and they had costumes and props from the movie as well. I very excitedly found the one tiny corner that is dedicated to Tom Seaver, and then found another small corner that had a few cool Mets pieces to look at. We weren't there long enough to really fully walk through and explore everything, but what I quickly walked through was really special to me. The whole town looks like Main Street, USA in Walt Disney World and all of the stores on the block that the Hall of Fame is on are all baseball themed. I'd like to go back when the weather is warmer to fully explore all Cooperstown has to offer.

After the Hall of Fame, it was time to check into the Otesaga Resort Hotel. A beautiful haunted resort just down the road from the hall of fame. (It's on an episode of Ghost Hunters) We had the rehearsal for the wedding and then a couple of the other bridesmaids and I went ghost hunting. Apparently the third and fifth floors are haunted by children that used to live in the hotel when it was a home for orphans. We walked up there to take pictures and look for unusual happenings. I think there were too many people around because we didn't find anything. Two of the girls think they experienced something the next day that was pretty freaky though.

The next morning was really exciting as we began the wedding festivities! The bride and her bridal party were all in a special room getting our hair and makeup done while we were surrounded by delicious snacks and most importantly, mimosas. Since the bridal party was from several different states, many of us just met that weekend so it was great to get to know all of the girls that are a special part of Krysta's life. We got Krysta into her beautiful gown, and then it was time for the wedding. The ceremony and reception were so beautiful. The ceremony was in a room surrounded by windows, and just as we began to walk down the aisle it started to snow outside and continued all night. What a beautiful backdrop for a beautiful day.

The reception was a blast. We all danced all night long, and took countless ridiculous pictures in the photo booth. It also had what I think is the smartest thing anyone can do at a wedding -- they had something called "Late Night Snack" which is served about an hour prior to the reception ending. Late Night Snack consists of greasy delicious food such as pizza, fries, sliders, etc. I had never been to a wedding that did that and I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. 

The next day it was time to head back to reality. The weekend was really wonderful and I learned a little bit more about myself, which is really the purpose of this whole adventure I'm going on this year. 

Last weekend I officially kicked off my Vacation a Month 2014 Challenge. I went to South Carolina to surprise one of my closest friends that I hadn't seen in over two years. The surprise was a success and the weekend was a blast!

It was nice to have a chill, relaxing weekend with friends...in the south. It felt like no time had gone by since the last time I was hanging out with them either. It was really great. We watched movies, had Sunday Funday, ate Bojangles and Publix Sandwiches, and they even dragged me to crossfit. My body is still sore from Monday's crossfit class. They're two of the sweetest people, so it was really great just spending quality time with them no matter what we were doing. We got sucked into a marathon of The Fosters on abcfamily all day Monday and had a blast.

I even had a Small World moment during the weekend. My bestie walked into the bar we were at on Saturday night. She lives in Connecticut. I live in NYC. We both happened to be in Columbia, South Carolina at the same time, in the same insanely crowded bar, and managed to bump into each other. It was really weird and amazing.

As the weekend came to a close, we said our goodbyes and they dropped me off at the airport early Tuesday morning. I had a flight from Columbia to Charlotte and then a connecting flight from Charlotte to NYC. My connecting flight kept getting delayed until they finally cancelled it (and all flights going to the northeast) at noon. All day I tried to figure out my game plan for how to get to NYC, how to get back to Columbia, or what to do in Charlotte without a place to stay. Finally, I was getting really frustrated, so I just decided to take a bus from Charlotte to Columbia and fly out of Columbia the next morning. As I'm sitting in the airport all day waiting for my 6:00pm bus to Columbia, I decided to explore the airport. The coolest thing about it is that there is a section in the middle of all the terminals that is lined with rocking chairs next to outlets to charge your phones, computer, etc. I got some Bojangles (my staple food when I'm in the south) and sat down on a rocking chair and relaxed while I charged my phone. It was so relaxing and wonderful. At about 5:30pm I got a phone call saying my flight the next morning had been cancelled. At this point, I have such a headache from trying to figure everything out, that I took a breather and talked to a friend of mine that happened to be in Myrtle Beach at the same time. He said since I couldn't fly out on Wednesday, for me to just book a flight out of Myrtle Beach on Thursday morning, rent a car, and drive down to Myrtle Beach for the day. That may have been the best decision I made in a long time. I spent all day Wednesday just hanging out and being given a tour of Myrtle Beach. It was really wonderful. Thursday morning I changed airlines and got a direct flight from Myrtle Beach to NYC. The flight was only an hour! It was fabulous. Unfortunately, I went from the picture below, to a foot of snow. That was not fabulous.

Having those extra two days down there really got me thinking about where I am in life, and the happiness level I'm at. I didn't realize how unhappy I was at my job until I was away from it for six days. It was a really weird feeling being so happy. I wasn't stressed out (except for Tuesday at the airport) and I wasn't dreading each day. I kept looking forward to what was to come, and I'm going to try to take that mentality with me as I look into what's next in my career. Life is too short to be so unhappy, especially when it gets to a point where you forget what being happy feels like. It really was the breakthrough I needed to get into gear and focus on what will make me truly happy.

Everything happens for a reason, and I know that God has a wonderful plan for me. It sounds silly, but I know he planned for my flights to be cancelled so I would be able to have this epiphany, and maybe even so I could be happy if only for two more days. Prayers work, y'all!

I've been thinking about what I want to do with my life a lot lately. It seems like ever since I left Walt Disney World and moved to New York, every job I've had isn't the right one for me. (Except for waitressing. I actually enjoy that.) Sometimes I wonder if I'm meant to work at all. Perhaps I was put here to be a housewife. Maybe instead of looking for a job, I should look for a husband that I can dote on.While I've been meditating on this I've come to realize that life is too short to worry about things that make you sad. Live your life and don't stress about what people think about you.

I think it's weeks like the one I just had that people tell me I need a blog. I was telling my friend Andrew how my week went and he told me I should have told it in reverse order, so that's precisely what I'll do here today.

One of the perks to my day job is that we produce the New York Comedy Festival, so I can go to any show that I'd like. I don't know a lot about comedians (ironic since I work at a Comedy Club), however I've been a hardcore Kathy Griffin supporter since I was in college. I was an avid watcher of "My Life on the D List", and my sister and I even went to see her at Madison Square Garden before I moved to Florida. Friday night, she headlined at Carnegie Hall and my boss told me I could go backstage for the show to meet her. I don't know what I was more excited about -- being backstage at the prestigious Carnegie Hall, or actually meeting Kathy Griffin. I'm standing in the wings of the stage the whole time thinking of all of the brilliant people that have stood exactly where I am. (Just this year I saw both Idina Menzel, and Megan Hilty there.) I was trying to take in their essence as I stood there and wondered what they were doing in that spot as I was in the crowd waiting for them to appear on stage. Kathy came into the wings and was shockingly enough very nice. I also feel like I saved the show at one point (okay, I'm exaggerating) but she asked us all what DiBlasio's wife's name was and no one knew. I quickly googled it and told her and she said, "CHIRLANE! YES! Thank you." 22 year old me was ecstatic inside. 

Thursday night was the kick off party for the NYCF, and I almost didn't go because I've been so worn down lately between working two jobs and volunteering for BC/EFA. I haven't had time for myself and thought I would take the night off. Everyone at work guilted me in to going though so I went, and I'm glad I did. There were a lot of comedians there that I knew, some well known and some that aren't as well known but are still hilarious and super sweet. One of the well known ones was Stephen Colbert. Now, I'm going to be honest, I don't watch his show often. I've maybe seen five episodes, and that sounds like a stretch, however I remember seeing the episode when he was trying to get his picture in the Smithsonian and thought that was hilarious. My best buddy, Mike and I were in DC 4 years ago and I told him we needed to make sure Colbert's picture was there. (Which it was and I was happy.) If you know me at all you know that I have no shame when it comes to celebrities. In May I told Nick Carter his engagement broke my heart and he just laughed at me. One of my friends really wanted a picture with Colbert so I said okay, come with me. I walked up to him and said, "Can I be that girl that asks for a picture with you?" and he said sure. I told him I made sure his picture was in the Smithsonian, and he laughed and thanked me and then we parted ways. Later on in the night I had had some liquid courage and when I saw Jay Pharoah I walked up to him and just shook his hand and told him he's been my favorite SNL cast member for the past three years and I think he's hilarious. He thanked me and I walked away. 

Okay, ready for the good stuff? Monday night I ran an event at work for the Scleroderma Research Foundation. The event was hosted by Bob Saget, and had guests such as John Stamos and Ashley Olsen. Just a small Full House reunion at my event. No Big Deal. (Getty Image Photos can be found here.) At one point John Stamos asked me "Do you know where Saget is?" I said he's in the green room and escorted him over. He asked my name and told me it was a pleasure to meet me. A little while later he and I were chatting and I said that we had a mutual friend. (My friend Aaron is his WDW Tour Guide) We started talking about Disney and then he said, "So you were a tour guide for three years and Princess Jasmine for how long?" SMOOTH TALKER! Most of my friends know that for my 7 years working at Walt Disney World my height (and body) preventing me from being friends with Princess Jasmine was heartbreaking for me, because I really think I would have been fantastic at it. The fact that John Stamos thought I was friends with Princess Jasmine was a huge compliment to me. 

I mentioned earlier that I volunteer for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, and I was collecting all week long. On Wednesday I was collecting at the Booth Theatre and out walks John Stamos. I said, "Hey long time no see!" and he put his arm around me and asked if I was signing Disney Autographs. I feel like I'm on the right track to start dating him, right?

On Saturday I celebrated my 28th Birthday. Instead of being down on the fact that I'm getting older and I'm still single while everyone around me is getting married, I decided to pamper myself all day and go out that night to celebrate how fabulous I am. 

I started with a fantastic stroll down to Macys in Herald Square to get my eyebrows done for free at Benefit Beauty's Brow Bar. It was fantastic, and I highly recommend it to anyone needing their brows done. 

Later on, I headed over to my favorite place in all of NYC -- The Drybar. I got a fantastic birthday blowout as I watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall and drank wine. I truly believe that The Drybar is my happy place. (Anyone that knows me well, knows my favorite thing in the world is having my hair played with. It's seriously the best thing ever.) The people at DB, including the owner Alli Webb, make me feel so special every time I'm there. Their customer service is one of the best I've encountered in New York as well. Last year I tweeted that my bestie, Jess was coming to town and we were sad that DB was booked for the day she would be here. Within an hour I received an e-mail from DB saying they'd love to squeeze us in. Incredible!

After I received my wonderful Southern Comfort Blowout, I went to Sephora to have my makeup done. My makeup artist was so sweet, and really took her time to make sure I looked gorgeous for my birthday. People in the store kept coming up to me to tell me how beautiful I looked. It really made me feel special. 

Finally, after coming home to beautiful flowers and a homemade cake from scratch from my roommates, we went down to Brother Jimmy's in Union Square to celebrate.

One of my first real friends I made when I moved to New York was Shannon. We met one night when she was bartending at 2nd Ave and have been friends ever since. She and Hunter work at USQ Friday and Saturday nights so obviously I plan my birthday celebrations around them. (The fact that Mike manages USQ now was a complete Bonus!) I have to give a special shout out to the three of them because they made it extra special for not only myself, but all of my friends that came out. Brother Jimmy's is truly one huge family that I'm so proud to be a part of. Y'all are the best! 

On my 19th birthday (19 on the 19th), 50 Cent's song "In da Club" had just become popular. Because of this, my good friend, Brie and I have a joke every year about how we "gonna sip Bacardi like it's our birthday." When Shannon heard this, she gave Brie and I each a shot of Bacardi and then had Mike play the song while I danced on the bar in 6 inch stilettos, with a bottle of Firefly. Of course Mike, who knows me so well, followed that song up with "Larger Than Life" and I did full choreography on the bar. 

The whole day from start to finish was really wonderful. Thank you to each and every one of you that came out to celebrate, or just simply wished me a Happy Birthday. Whether is was on Facebook, a text message, or a phone call, it was truly truly appreciated. I learned a lot this year, and especially on this day. You all helped me to realize how blessed and loved I am. It doesn't matter if I'm single or in a relationship, I have all of you so I'm the luckiest girl in the world :)

This may not have been a New York adventure, but it sure was an adventure regardless...

If you know me at all, you know that all I want is to eventually move to the Carolinas or Georgia and live on a plantation. I've been saying it for years. There is just something about the way of living in the south that fascinates me and simply makes me happy. Having said that, it should come as no surprise to you when I tell you I took a 52 hour trip to Georgia this past weekend. 

Day one in the south started off with delicious grits, moved on to purchasing peaches and boiled peanuts on the side of the road, and ended on Luke Bryan's tour bus dancing the night away. I sometimes wonder if this Jersey Girl was a Southern Belle in her past life, because I can work my charm like none other. (I got two foul balls at Mets games this season by doing just that). Saturday was no different as I put my charm face on and smooth talked my way backstage at the closing show of Luke Bryan's Farm Tour down in Valdosta, GA. There were even  conversations with Luke that I never thought I would ever have in a million years. Needless to say, the whole day was incredible. (By the way, if you're a fan of country music at all, I highly recommend going to his Farm Tour one year. The entire experience is a blast, and he puts on a great show from start to finish. All while drinking Moonshine and Miller Light!) 

The best part about the whole trip was spending time with my good friends that live in Savannah. We all met on the streets of NYC 12 years ago waiting to get into Live with Regis and Kelly and have been close ever since. We may only see each other once a year (if that) but each time it's like no time has passed.<3