Our new apartment!!!!

Hi everyone!

Since our last entry, everything has been falling into place ever so nicely! We just signed a 1-year lease yesterday for this beautiful apartment in Astoria, Queens. When I say beautiful, I really mean it. It has 3 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms, mongo kitchen/dining room, beautiful living room, baby balcony, permanent air conditioning units, and to finish it all of we have this cute little Indian/Arab landlord that feeds us fruit every time we see him. We will be moving in sometime within the next week or so!

And on top of all that our furniture worries were dispelled by my wonderful family who are bringing out all my furniture and accessories from college when they come out for vacation.

So right now things are pretty good!

The first week we'll only have 2 air mattresses in the entire apartment but I told Lys that I think it would be fun to have a slumber party in every room!!

ALSO we are allowed to paint! So interior decorator Stefanie will be going crazy once we have some money. And I'm sure Karli will make us some beautiful decorations as well since she's pretty artsy fartsy.

We are pretty excited for move in day. Some of our friends are going to help us and we are literally just going to roll things over in our suitcases and we are going to invest in a laundry cart.

We will be accepting house warming gifts when we move in... hint hint. :) 

Let us know via email or facebook if you'd like our address to at least send us some fun mail! 

Love you all!

Stefanie

Officially Roomies!!

Herrro Readers,

A lot has happened since our last post...that's right, Stef and I are officially living together!!!

Now, before you get too excited, let me explain. I have now officially lugged one of my 2 suitcases of all my personal possessions to Stef's sublet because mine was up, and I did not want to sleep in the cockroach infested basement of my sublet any longer. Stef and I now share a cozy 10X12 ft room with a twin bed and an air mattress. Talk about love. So far it has worked out pretty nicely. Stef has been working her 2 stage managing jobs, and I have been auditioning, cooking dinner, and trying to find us a more permanent spot (more on that in a bit).

Two weekends ago Ian, one of my best friends from Miami, visited, and this weekend Nick, Stef's best friend from high school visited. So we've been happily exploring more of the city! Ian and I went to a bunch of street fairs which were super fun! Stef and I came very close to buying a puppy at Broadway Barks adoption fundraiser (Dont worry, we didn't. We had no where to put it). But our favorite spot we found was an Indian Restaurant called Panna II...it's FULL/COVERED/COATED in as many Christmas lights imaginable. They kept giving us free stuff and it was a trippy, fun experience. (Side note: As a recent grad the word "free" is among the best in the english language) Stef and Nick also explored the Brooklyn Bridge and said it was stunning!

I had my first day as an ASM (Well, SM cause the stage manager won't be there the first week). I must say, I was a wonderful actor...I acted exactly as if I knew how to be a SM and they bought it! I also got to be a corpse on a gurney for the photo shoot, which was really fun, and the company seems wonderful to work with, so I'm excited! Stef loves her job as well, despite the exhaustion--she comes home and has the songs stuck in her head! This week she is attempting to battle both rehearsals at the same time--god bless her.

Now comes the not so happy part of the post. You see, starting August 15th, we will be homeless. No, this is not a joke. We have yet to find a permanent rental in Astoria and going through a broker is proving to be the worst idea ever because it's super expensive. I have spent most of the past few days walking up and down every street in Astoria trying to find signs that say "For Sale by Owner" and Stef is on craiglists every two seconds calling places that are "No Fee" It's proving to be a lot more difficult than expected. Hopefully something falls into our laps, or we may just be in a sublet for a month or two longer until we can find the right spot. So Dear Reader, if you know of a 3 bedroom apartment in Astoria that is cheap and not through a broker please do email, call, knock on our door, or scream it in our faces! (Oh and it's a 3 bedroom because the lovely Karli will be joining us at the end of August, which we are thrilled about!!!) But other than this minor stressor, we are still loving life in this fantastic city!

P.S Stef has gotten me addicted to 30 Rock. If you don't watch it, you should. If you do, make sure you read Tina Fey's book BossyPants, I am now super obsessed with her. Also, I am the exact reincarnation of a younger version of Liz Lemon, which I think is why I am in love with the show.

Happy Hopeful and Homeless,
Lys

Our 1 month anniversary with NYC!

Hello Fam, Friends, Fans, and Bored People! It has been awhile since an update because Stef and I have been busy making NYC home! That's right, we have officially been here over a month!
 
This past weekend Joseph and John came to visit, which was extremely fun! It was wonderful to have friends from "home" visit and feel like a pretty good tour guide. We did a lot including exploring Central Park, Rockafellar Center, MET, The Highline, Serendipity, The Fireworks, grand central, drama bookstore, FAO Swartz, the sex museum, saw Jerusalem (and they each saw another show) and had a cookout. You guys should definitely check out the pics on facebook! If you don't know what some of the things I mentioned above are...YOU should come visit us too! Needless to say it was an adventure filled weekend, and I miss the boys already. 
 
Now, to eleborate on one event I'm sure you are all wondering about--the fireworks over the Hudson on July 4th...There are like 6 displays, they last awhile, are absolutely beautiful, and a super fun experience BUT (and this is a big but) it makes New York SO packed and it took like an hour to get to the subway afterwards. It's a once in a lifetime experience (literally, only do it once in your life). I am glad I got to see them with Joseph and John though! 

**This is Stefanie… Lys told me to add to the post so here I go. I also really enjoyed having the guys here this weekend. But I have now vowed to never be in the city for Fourth of July EVER AGAIN! Just being in Times Square drove me absolutely crazy. I think Lys being from Atlanta can deal with crowds better than me. I will admit though the fireworks absolutely blew my mind. I went to a cookout with the York people and they were all saying that it’s not worth it (and they are probably right) but I’m glad I did it once. I think more than anything it felt weird not being at CityFolk for the fourth. I’ve literally been either watching or working at that festival for the past 6 years. I got a little homesick texting Monika (my boss) about it. But it was definitely fun being here… Maybe next year I’ll just go home and work CityFolk? Haha! **
 
This week I am temping as a receptionist...I hate it. How do people do this for a living?!? I answer maybe 20 calls a day and sign for packages and that's it! What a boring job!  Thank goodness it is only temp work, but I definitely need to find a more permanet job (which, since I spend all day doing nothing on the computer, I have time to look!) (P.S Yes, I am writing this blog at work). Also got exciting news that Ian is coming to visit this weekend! Last minute and it made me SO happy to have more friends coming into town! 

**Stefanie again… I have spent my week detoxing from crowds in Manhattan. Yesterday I sat around and then went to Central Park in which I found a secluded area surrounded by nature and was actually able to breath. And today I am running little errands in Astoria. Also my friend Nick is coming here next week with family and I could not be more excited!!! We’re going to have so much fun. I don’t even care what we do, I just am glad he’s going to be here! **
 
I also signed on to help a friend out at the Fringe Festival because the Stage Manager will be gone for the first week of rehearsals, so I am going to do that (Yes, I am taking lessons from Stef since I haven't done it since high school!) But it should be fun and a good way to meet people! HOWEVER the biggest news in our household is that Stef got a SMing job with Broadway actors!!!!!! It's super professional and pays well! It is a huge deal, and we are so happy and excited and thrilled for her!!! I am sure she will update you and tell you the specifics, but it's just really awesome all the jobs she is getting!! 

**Guess who!? Ok so yes I’m sure many of you have read on twitter and facebook about my new jobs! Well I was actually offered 3 different gigs and I had to turn one down because there was just no way to work around the conflicts. So I’m working on one called “Mistress Ilsa” which is being performed in the Midtown International Theatre Festival. And then I just accepted another last night, which is called “Pearl’s Gone Blue” which is in FringeNYC. As many of you remember I was signed on to be a PA for Fringe so I ended up telling them that I was offered a paid gig and they were very understanding and excited for me! If any of you want to check out the links here they are:
http://www.mergatroyd.org/mistressilsa/

http://pearlsgoneblue.com/ (check out the music on this one… it’s pretty awesome)

They are both really interesting shows! And I’m definitely excited to be working on both of them!! I had my first rehearsal for “Mistress Ilsa” this past Saturday and I really enjoyed the people and it looks like it’s going to be a very fun show. My first rehearsal for the second one is on July 12!

It really feels good to be getting jobs because it’s kind of pushing away any doubts I had about making it in NYC. 

(Also I need to give a little shout-out to Sarah Butke... I honestly don't know what I'd do without her right now. For those of you who don't know, she helped me get the internship at the York and has been mentoring me and advising me since way before I even got here. She's amazing!)**
 
So those are the continuing adventures of Stef and I...also since the equality bill passed we have been joking that we are going to get married, so beware we may refer to each other as life partners (we are kind of inseperable) :D 

**It’s not a joke?**

Love and miss you all,

Lys and Stef