catch up time!

So the 16th I was swatching for a wedding and they wanted blues and purples for table cloths, ties and wraps for the bridesmaids... the dress was gorgeous.. a full Chantilly white lace dress, strapless and cost 10,000
the 17th i worked a bit and then we headed to see a good friend of my mothers, Susan and her husband Rick.. We went to their home in Nyack.. It was so wonderful, The gardens we great and the outside deck looked out to this beautiful pool, stone walls, and great flowers, made me feel like I was in Italy. Susan is an Exec Producer at Food Network, so we had the best food! Dinner was great lamb burgers in pita with fresh veggies.. then Sunday afternoon we had a great chicken style salad with these rice paper summer rolls.. SOOO DELICIOUS. Then that night we had home made pizza!! It was the best weekend! Oh and Susan lives across from Ellen Burysten.. :)
We came back into the city with Susan and the 19th and had a tour of Chelsea market and food network! then off to work I went got items and swatched for Chicago..
the 20st I went to the Picture Library by Bryant Park... so much fun!
the 21nd swatched for Leap of Faith.. but very specific fabrics and swatched for Chicago as well.. constant swatching!
the 22nd did more research for Henry VIII and packed some boxes.. dont remeber what else.
the 23 got up EARLY to go to Iron Chef America's live taping at Food Network.. It was awesome.. my mom and I went and watched Bobby Flay compete with a Challenger and she was good.. it was interesting to see how long it takes to tape and then when you watch the show.. WOW.. it is usually around 4 hours but I left around 1 so that I could get to Queens t get some shoes. My mom stayed till around 3 ish.. But I got some shoes in Queens, for and actress who is super picky about what she wears... SO then I went to Capezio and got some different style Dance shoes for Leap Of Faith.. so some shows wont work, so I will be returning quite a bit tomorrow.
This weekend!! (24- 25th ) We went to the Brooklyn Museum yesterday and spent about 4 hours there.. there was an exhibit I wanted to see about American Fashion.. so images are on my fb page.. that I have to rotate.. so it can be seen better! Then we walked around Brooklyn and saw some cool sites..
Today we had a lazy Sunday.. woke up around 7:40 and then went back to sleep and woke up at 9.. then went to Battery Park and sat in the sun and then in the shade.. we got a bit of lunch at this great little store/bodega/deli... Very tasty! then sat in the park and headed back to our apt when the skies opened so we caught the bus to seaport and walked to our loft!
Tomorrow is an all new day!

hi all

sorry there hasn't been many reports ... im writting things down, so i dont forget and I will update all early one morning maybe saturday.. we will see.. SORRY.. xooxoxoxox

WOW today is my ugly fat day in the city and with my luck i get two FORD HOT male models with me... One right next to me and the other accross...

Had a great weekend and will update everyone about the rest of last week, the weekend and tomorrow, tomorrow night !! I have had a blast! Work tomorrow!

hello hello

day 10 - Saturday!
we had a great day! We went to El Museo del Barrio; and had Dominican food in Spanish Harlem. Oh and A good friend Concetta and her boyfriend Gabe came and spent the night at our apt.. we had a great time, went again on the Staten Island ferry, and then went to Chelsea to see some of her brothers work.. we drank at this super cool bar with AWESOME lights and atmospheric chairs and tables. if I remembered the name I would tell you , but I don't. I do however want the really cool light fixtures they had made out of hangers, cups, straws, oh and pill bottles. If you know the name of the place please post it! Then we ate at a Vietnamese place in Chinatown, MAN my HOT and SOUR soup was HHOOTTT! but was really good!
day 11 - Sunday!
Concetta and Gabe left at 5 am.. said good bye and went back to bed till 10 am...Last day in our apt.. :( all is good! We went to Century 21 and bought flip flops! we went to see Jimmy Cliff in Central Park, we couldn't actually get in to watch, so we sat outside and enjoyed the music, while laying on leaves and people watching.. the guy in front of us was funny he was in his 60-70's and smoking pot right in front of us in Central park. Guys were playing soccer behind us and knocking it our way most of the time. We did see something super cool... there were guys walking around with bicycles and big black bags with items in them.. well people payed and out came the mint, vodka, ice and everything needed for a Mojito! we figured where is the blender and how to plug it in... well it was battery operated! and all ingredients went in and blended drink came out. Anyway, after the concert we headed back had a great farewell leftovers dinner and put finishing touches on packing to move to new place!
day 12- Monday
WOW, weekend not long enough! all was great sent out today to look for a black lace shawl! I am on a specific focus, and it is a hard thing to find. I am also looking for white dresses that can be bought for the Dreamgirls understudies. So all actors look polished.. I got to about 20 places, find lots of white dresses and tired of getting asked if I'm getting married. Well I find, document and get prices.. so i have all my info and now on a mission for a black lace shawl, with fringe... I have been searching since 40th street, all around 7, 6, Broadway and 5th.. well no luck and I went all the way to 27th... back to studio. :( 1st night in apt! great places, I love it even more, Way more homey and colorful!!
day 13 - Tuesday-
well sent out again to find this damn shawl.. I give up.. on the f*cking thing. Oh and the clouds decided to part and rain/ or POUR. I was SOAKED.. so then I bought an umbrella! So I go back to studio around 5 and told to sort some racks for fittings... then my boss got angry and stated yelling so when he calmed down I said I couldn't find the shawl and he wasn't angry, I asked him if we could find it online and he said YES! so my search began as the day ended..

**tomorrow I will finish the rest I PROMISE!!

SORRY

there will be a new blog going up tomorrow evening I PROMISE.... i have been so exhausted when I get home, just don't want to type, but it will be updated tomorrow! I go see Chicago tonight!!

day 7,8,9

sorry i combined them all but I have been so busy and my body has been in such pain that i chose to go to bed really early every night. I discovered I have a nickle size blister on the ball of my foot.. and it hurts.
day 7 -
so i did quite a bit that day... I know that I will be putting heat rhinestones onto something for Joan Rivers! She cancelled on her fitting with William, due to Heat exhaustion. Oh now I recall every I thing that day.. i delivered packages around NYC.. all around NYC no joke.. Libby and I walked almost 4-5 hours straight.. I delivered a package to the headquarters of Victoria Secret. Unfortunately I couldn't get passed security.. they were dumb.. I was told to hand deliver all the packages.. so security told me to take it to mail room.. I was told NOT to so i objected, and they called up and the woman came downstairs to the lobby to pick it up. Oh and my cousin Erica, came in from Denmark.. she has hopefully been having a blast.

day 8-
well to day started with dumpster diving today. Libby, Adrianne and I along with Brian from the studio, all found that there was a store about 4 blocks away throwing out hangers (wooden hangers). So we went with trash bags in hand to get as many as we could.. we got there and had 4 bags full and a box or two.. we all made it back to the studio with many stops along the way. Brian and I then went back for all the clear plastic tarps.. to pack costumes in when shipped.. then we did things around the studio.. boxed all the hangers into boxes.. set up racks for the following days clothing delivery.. I then was told to deliver a package so Cathy Parrott could meet me.. I met her, Landi(her second asst) and Becki ( her main asst).. I then quickly realize that Emilio Sosa (project runway season 7 contestant) was the designer.. I knew he was DOMINICAN.. on the way out Cathy and Emilio, were saying good bye.. I just said it in Spanish and his jaw dropped. I told him I was Dominican and he ran to me and SQUEEZED me.. it was AMAZING.. i told him that he was the only Dominican costume designer that I knew of and he said he was the ONLY one; I said hold one moment.. I'm the other one! and he and I giggled.. I hope to be able to meet with him for dinner and pick his brain!

day 9-
today! man.. so Donald came back from the school (a Massachusetts School that houses all the costumes that William has designed.) so he asked when we were swatching (Tuesday) to get black on black Jacquard's so that this morning we could choose one for the lining of Mama Morton's coat for Chicago. well we didn't have all the samples in the city.. so my job was to get as many as I could .. well I had done some research that helped me get some more stores, we didn't think about.. so I was on a million sent out at 12:45.. went to 6 stores (Mood, Eastern Silk, Beckenstein, Paron, B & J, and NY Elegant).. I was supposed to be back by 3:30 - latest.. i was back at 2 with all samples, labeled (where I got it and how much a yard) William chose a fabric and at 2:45 I was sent out to get 8 yrds, then asked to take it to the shop replacing the lining.. Donnie told the owner of the sewing shop that I'd be there in an hour, well I got the fabric took it to the shop and returned to the studio all in 1 hour. Then all three of us got items together for the students coming in on Monday from Elon..
** on the train headed back (around 1:45) to the studio from the 1st swatch trip.. there were two guys from England in the same car, who were cute, they got off before I did (bye / or so I thought) After William chose the fabric and I was sent on the mission.. I got on the R train and they got on too, same car, and train as before.. one of the guys turned to me and said "didn't we just see you on the last train", I said "yes, it must be a rare occurrence that strangers keep meeting." THEN he asks if I'm getting off at 34th, because he'd like to buy me a beer.. I said " I would love to but I have a special job, and I'm on a mission, and that I was getting off at 42nd." They got off and said goodbye.. I NOW have realized I should have given them my number.. BUT I'm sure we will meet again, after all we met twice in a span of 45 min in NYC. ** hold out hope**

NIGHT ALL!
xoxo

OH im going to see Chicago for FREE, with the girls next wednesday!

***

I will update about yesterday and today, tonight.. there is a lot! I didn't have time last night, and wanted to do it this morning but I woke up and realized I have a blister the size of a nickle on the ball of my foot... HURTS SOOOO BAD.

day 6 NYC

the day was a hit! so woke up early and ad breakfast! i was to meet at the studio at 10! so i arrived 15-10 min early! It was great! rand the doorbell and William answered.. he is doing well and looks great as can be! i meet the other two girls. Libby (she goes to school in London!) and Adrianne (lives and goes to school in NC) So we get some run downs of computer things, where stuff is, packing supplies, cleaning supplies, etc! we then had a mission... go to fabric stores and swatch for Leap of Faith and Chicago. We got what we were supposed to look for and headed on our way! we had a blast! Libby and I went to 4 stores... that we spent some time in at least! We went to one store called Le Lame (i think.. will get card again and fabric prices tomorrow) there were 4 guys... they were funny. then we hit the road again and went to B & J, Rosen and Chadick, and New York Elegance fabrics.. in all the stores we met the owners! *** we can swatch anywhere and any fabrics, because we say we are William Ivey Long Assistants; we are swatching for his shows!***
we then had a quick bit around 2:45 is we sat in a Starbucks and ate our packed lunches.. we were going to buy a drink but the line kept getting longer and longer out the door, so we decided to forget about the drink.
We then stopped at small little stores that wouldn't let us swatch, and we told them where we were from.. so we walked out.
Then it was MOOD!! what can I say; we walked in the the elevator, surrounded by models heading to higher floors and getting off that elevator was paradise.. we introduced ourselves to the shop keeper at the front and asked if we could swatch.. she said to wait and she would ask the owner.. well she complained that the line to talk to him was to long, so she made us stand there and wait. so we waited and his associate asked us what we needed and we simply said "we are from William Ivey Long studio, can we please swatch" the owner looked up and said "anything you would like to, please do"... so I was in HEAVEN! well in there we got down maybe 1 aisle or 2.. so we will be back tomorrow! and we saw the cutest mini husky.. made me want one. we got back on the elevator, surrounded by gorgeous models who were a quarter of my body and 1 1/2 of me.. i felt i was the house in the Little house in the city.. because in the book the small country house moves to the city and is surrounded by sky scrapers.. well i felt that way.
On our way we went back to the studio early to get some receipt lessons, copy lessons and scan lessons.. oh and I cant forget Fed EX lessons.. We have a full day again tomorrow.. lots of errands!
good Night
xoxoox

day 5 NYC

well! today has been a fun day! got up around 9, had breakfast, left around 10 ish.. went to Greenwich village to see where my parents are doing pottery. We looked around and explored around there, but in the direction of Union square. We saw the greatest farmers market and got some chickpeas for dinner. From there we went to the Strand Bookstore to look for my Rome class books.. only found 1, unfortunately but a HUGE fashion and textile section, made me want all of them. Then we walked around and then decided to get back on the subway and head to spring street to go to little Italy.... well we started exploring and we found this great well known restaurant called Lombardi's.. man we were there for about 30-40 min for the wait so we had some beers, talked to some busboys who happened to be..DOMINICAN!! so we started talking and they were super nice and had fab smiles(that is how we knew they were Dominican).. the pizza was to DIE FOR; then down the street we found little Italy (very much like an Italian disney world) ... we then ended up in Chinatown which was cool and saw great food/ fresh groceries. we found a great park full of people playing some Chinese game, I was trying to take pictures when some older Chinese lady started yelling at me.. the other ladies seemed ok. So I asked if I could take a pic and she started yelling again.. so I walked away. we then heard music that we know from Zumba and man it made me miss it. We sat down for a while and talked on the telephone and then I got a bloody nose so we took care of it and then headed back to our apt.. found some great restaurants close by and have been sitting in our apartment, watching Law and order, which makes me sad, because my dream acting job was to by a dead body, but now that the show has been taken off the air, my acting plans wont happen.. :(
xoxo
1st day of work is TOMORROW!!

day 4 NYC

oh man.. long day.
so we got up, and headed to see and get instructions for our next apt! we love it.. more our style and smaller then this place.. plus it has color on the walls! We then headed down water and found a street fair.. got some free show laces at Puma City in Seaport. Then came back home, had some breakfast/lunch and then got ready to go to the concert at Governors Island, or so we thought. We got the the ferry port and the line was 1.5 miles long (no joke). So we decided to go back to the street fair again.. we each chose something to eat and then shared it amongst the three of us! my dad chose a Gyro, I chose an Arepa and my mom chose to go to a bar and have some beers! So we had a great day, full of surprises... and that isn't all. We took some detours into the financial district and sat at Manhattans Secret spot (elevated Acre).. saw the BULL or the people surrounding the bull i should say. We then took a stroll through Battery park and saw some entertainment.. tried to stay in the shade.. it was a pretty hot day. We drank probably 10 - 12 bottles of water. we then walked all the way back to the Yacht club area (that is where we had beers) then we walked home, had dinner, and chose to leave to see the FAMOUS MACY'S 4th JULY FIREWORKS... so we took the C train to 25th and went. We got there around 7:45 and the show was supposed to start at 9.. well it started at 9:20ish.. We sat on the West side highway in the middle of the road waiting... well when time came, it was so hot, mom thought she was going to faint so we got to the side walk to watch.. it was nice, and she felt better away from some people... we then decided to get a head start leaving and man that was CRAZY... the show ended and it was MASS EXODUS.. we for some reason couldn't get to the station on 25th and 8th ao we walked to 14th and 8th and took the train home... man am I happy to be back home! my feet are up and i was so thirsty so now drinking a beer!
much love
xoxo

Work starts Tuesday!

NYC day 3

We have had an eventful day! i was lazy this morning, because my room has no windows, so it is like a cave and I cant tell what time of day it is, so I just sleep. So i woke up at 10, had some yummy breakfast and coffee; took a nice warm shower. Then we got on the road and got a library card! So I can do some grad school research and more Gadot research. We went to whole foods, grabbed some small lunch fixings, for a picnic tomorrow for Governors Island and the Zoe Deschanel concert. So we had a great low calorie lunch today and will have a great one tomorrow!
We then headed to our friends home from the Dominican Republic, who now live in Yonkers.. so we took the 1 train all the way to the end 242st, in the Bronx, she came and picked us up. But while waiting, man did it make me miss the DR and how everyone lives outside.. it was a blast to watch. People just parking in the middle of the street to unload there car, then taking their barbecues to the park to cook food. The smells made me soo hungry and made me crave Dominican Food like no other.
Cathy came and picked us up, and drove us to this great little home that no lie looks like a Hansel and Gretel house with a beautiful garden full of flowers, lettuce, fruit and so much more. I wish I had taken pictures of the house and garden. It almost felt out of place in the United States and that it should be in the English countryside. Then on the inside it was full of color and vibrancy with lots of love. Pictures were a must. They have two sons and the youngest woke up and we went out to the garden and pick fresh raspberries. I'm not a huge fan of raspberries but man, these were incredible! I could have eaten them all day, everyday. So tasty..we had fun in the garden! and then dinner was served and it was an aromatic, home cooked, Indian food feast. Oh man I was in heaven. The tastes were so great and full of love.

Then we played games and looked at pictures of old times and of a newly bought home in Kenya, which needs work but when complete, it will be great. Saw some completed homes and they were my style for sure!
We then got back on the 1 and came back home. We are in our apartment, full of wonderful food and watching Iron Chef America - Garden Challenge.
Night all and let you know how tomorrow goes!
xoxo

day 2 NYC

well we have had a very long day. We woke up, had a some yogurt and muesli and blueberries, then went to the farmers market by City Hall. We came back and did some computer work before having a great bite of lunch ( collard greens, canelli beans and some cracker with Greek yogurt cheese) (VERY GOOD)
then we decided to hit the road.. we started heading toward Water street (where we will be living soon) we saw Pace University, and all of Water street; really cool and relaxing. We went into some stores and out of all of them empty handed. We then decided to walk up and down some streets.. we saw some filming happening.. don't know what for. We then walked into Wall Street.. saw some hot guys, in blue shirts (weird). then we went to the BEST KEPT SECRET in Manhattan and will stay a secret on this blog! actually it is a garden( but super nice and in the middle of sky scrapers) We also saw the helipad that many go one.. we then kept walking saw a bazillion cop cars all in one area, but didn't look like anything, we got on the Staten Island Ferry and took the trip over there... super cool views of the city, Ellis island and statue of liberty. Staten Island.... i felt was not so cool, but that is me, we stopped there to see what it was like and had a beer and a small sandwich.. nice people in the bar.
Got back on and headed back to the city.. or camera battery had died, otherwise we would taken pictures... we saw Governors Island where I think we will be for fourth of July for a concert.. we r going to see Zoe Deschanel and her band.. for free.. very cool.

we then started walking all down along the water and through Battery Park and then kept going, through small little parks it was relaxing... but my feet had major blisters since we started this morning.. and let me tell you.. nothing seems to fully work; but on the ferry i realized I had socks and let me tell you that was a good thing I found them.

We are getting a public library card.. because i would like to see some books. Then went back towards home and now we are home, our feet are up, and ice are on them.

Oh we found out today I don't have work on Monday, they are taking a day off.. so I start Tuesday at 10!!

have a great night!
xoxo

day 1 in NYC

so today we woke up at 6 to come into the city at 7:30, we have so much luggage that we didn't take the train we came in by car. which was nice. We moved into a great apartment about 4 blocks from the World Trade center and a few blocks from the Hudson, which is beautiful. The apartment is quite big, but we are only here for about a week or so. We went to see where I will be working, which is a cute Green building and I start work on Monday. We have been exploring a bit, buying groceries, and going to fresh food markets, which we will be going to quite a bit. walking around the financial district I noticed that men wear a large amount of blue button downs, I don't know if it supposed to make people want to deal with them more, or that people feel more comfortable when a man wears a blue shirt, but it was strange. what do you all think?? My dad and I walked by a small park and there was a HUGE man who looked important (don't have a clue who he was) but he had two body guards and a private car. it was interesting, I smiled as we passed and he smiled back.
It has been a beautiful day here in the city 75 degrees, breezy and nice. It is a great change from Florida or Iowa.
Oh we went by the Yacht club in NYC, and saw some HUGE boats.. we were in whole foods and I recognized one of the names from the boats on a guys shirt while we were shopping and he said he wanted 3 dozen duck eggs, so I smiled and he smiled as well... i saw that he had filled two shopping carts full and that there were two more on the way...

We have found awesome parks so close the the apt. Oh and by the Hudson we saw the statue of liberty and Ellis Island.

Day isn't over, but i will update if anything else happens
Amanda