Jan1-Jan8 - Back To The City!

The first day of 2012 I got ready to go to Connecticut to visit my Grandma before going back to the city. I said bye to Mike and his family and then my Dad and I drove all day and arrived at night. Right when we got there we picked her up and went to Christy's where we always go to eat because it is so good. I had my huge eggplant parmesan dish that I always eat the whole thing. Later when we got back we gave my Grandma some Christmas presents and she was so thankful. I wrote her a poem called Grandma's House about how much I love going to visit her and she loved it! 

The next morning we headed to the city and I brought a whole trunk full of more stuff to move in since I still had extra room. My Dad and I went out to lunch which was nice and then he went back to CT to help my Grandma with some things before going back home. 

Later that night I went to go see the movie The Iron Lady with Sarah and her friend Steph because her friend was visiting in town and heard that the movie was only playing in NYC and LA so she wanted to see it. Meryl Streep did very well and it was interesting to learn about Britain's female Prime Minister. She was a women who stood up for herself and her beliefs and truly cared about the people. I looked it up afterwards and they did such a good job making Meryl look like her ->

 

The next day Miranda, one of my roomies from Singapore, was in the city and came to see me! I showed her our apartment and we talked and caught up for a couple of hours. It was so good to see her!

After hanging out with Miranda I headed to Maialino at Gramercy Park Hotel for an interview. It went well and Sarah interviewed for the same job. They were only hiring two more people for the position and later the next day we each found out that we both got the job!!

That weekend some of Sarah's friends, Lindsay and Mishi, were in town for interviews with ELLE and L'Oreal. The night before they left we went out to eat and the day that they were leaving we met up for a sweet lunch at Max Brenner!

Although we had an unhealthy lunch we did have plans the next day to go to yoga with Dennise so it was okay!...(slight humor ;p) The following night the three of us headed to candle-lit yoga at Yoga to the People which is a donations based group.

The class was amazing; it was easy to get used to yoga again and the class was enough of a challenge for me as well. I felt so stretched and relaxed afterward, I definitely want to continue to take yoga classes.

Later that night was the Miss California USA 2012 pageant that I watched live online. I was excited to watch the show because I love the Miss Universe Organization who owns the pageant and also the directors of the Miss California USA pageant, K2 Productions, are the new directors for Miss New York USA which I will be competing for next year! The winner was Natalie Pack who is a beautiful model who has been on America's Next Top Model in the past! 

(picture from MissCaliforniaUSA.com)

The show ended after 12am on the East Coast and I went right to bed when it was finished so that I could be ready for the week to come!

Dec19-Dec31 - Home for the Holidays!

The very next day after being home I did a quick shoot of video and stills with a local photographer working on a project. In one scene I wore my "DKB: Dancers Kick Butt" shirt and in the other scene I was a volleyball player.

That night I celebrated Christmas with my bestie Sarah since she was heading to Nashville to see her parents for the holidays. We had a festive night of playing Christmas movies, eating Christmas cookies and exchanging gifts!

December 20th at night Hanukkah began and I was at Mike's house to celebrate with his family. I have never celebrated Hanukkah before so I was excited to light the first candle for the first night.

On the 21st I got hired to do a catalogue shoot for Team Cheer magazine. The crew was really nice and the other models and I had fun. Fun fact: the studio that was shooting this catalogue was the same studio I got hired for my first modeling job ever which was for Hasbro Video Now portable DVD/game player. 

The next night my agency in Rochester, NY, Mary Therese Friel, LLC invited some of the models to ring the bell for Salvation Army at the mall. I participate every year so I was glad I was home to be a part of it. Some of my friends were there too and we all had fun singing carols and wishing everyone a happy holiday. The majority of people said that they just couldn't refuse and we got a lot of donations!

On the 23rd I celebrated Christmas with my best friend Liz by watching Jingle All The Way and drinking hot chocolate :-) Afterwards we got set up to have a big Hanukkah dinner with Mike's family which was really nice.

Christmas Eve and Christmas were amazing with my family! It is tradition every year for my cousin Amanda and I to get together on Christmas Eve so we hung out and got to catch up :-)

I told my parents I didn't want anything for Christmas but they got me an iPad so that I can use it for my modeling portfolio! Everything they gave me was so nice and Santa brought me a yoga mat and candy! I love just being home, relaxing and enjoying the holiday season.

All week Mike's family had dinners with friends and family and it was delicious. Mike's Uncle was in town and he gave a lecture on Edgar Cayce and how to heal certain things so my Dad came with us and it was a nice workshop. I recommend anyone who has physical ailments to look into it!

The next thing I new it was the last day of 2011! I spent the day with my parents and for lunch we ate at Aladdin's which we have eaten there since I was really young. Later for dinner we went to Bocaccinis Italian Bistro where I always get butternut squash raviolis. They had caramel creme brulee on the New Year's menu so I couldn't pass that up! Afterwards I went to Mike's Aunt's house to see him and we watched the performers on tv and rang in the new year! 

Dec11-Dec18 - Moving to NYC!

We got approved for the apartment that we really wanted! We read through the hundreds of pages of the lease (that they only give you 1 day to do) and signed for an apartment in Gramercy/East Village area!

On December 11th my parents, Mike, Brad, Sarah (my roomie) and I had a cargo van, a truck and a car loaded and ready to go to NYC!

We drove down and got to the apartment right before it was getting dark. Everyone started grabbing bags and boxes and brought everything into the apartment and made piles of luggage on the floor. It took a lot of effort but we finally got our sofa inside and we were all set to unpack!

We took a break and walked to get dinner at a really nice Italian restaurant. After we finished setting up the dining room table and unwrapping the sofa some of our friends from NYU came over to hang out for a little bit.

The next morning my parents left to go back home and Sarah and I walked around the apartment complex to see the ice skating rink, lounge, movie theatre, gym, and other buildings around the courtyard.

The rest of the week Sarah, Mike and I went out to places to eat, shopped, and hung out. We also got our apartment set up and a wall built to make another bedroom for our roommate Dennise who was moving in after Christmas. 

Since Sarah and I wanted to have consistent money coming in for rent we went out and applied for hostessing jobs. It was a little difficult because we were going to go home soon for the holidays but Maialino at Gramercy Park Hotel agreed to interview us after we got back. 

Before going home for the holidays we wanted to make sure to look around the city and see the tree at Rockefeller Center. We went into St. Patrick's Cathedral that I don't think I have seen in a long time and it was beautiful.

Then we went to go see the tree that I don't think I have ever seen in person before! It was very festive and I loved it!

On the 16th Sarah, Mike, our friend Dave, and I went to go see Mission Impossible at an IMAX theatre! Everyone was going crazy for the release of the preview of The Dark Night Rises and it was pretty intense. We all really liked the movie and I thought it had some cute humor too. 

The last night in the city before going home for the holidays Mike and I went to a Christmukkah party that his cousin and wife and Dennise were putting on. We went up to 242nd street for the party and their apartment was really nice! We had h'orderves and hung out then had dinner and did a white elephant gift exchange. It was funny because one couple each opened up Justin Bieber toothbrushes! The night ended with some dancing to LMFAO Party Rock Anthem and we headed back to catch our train in the morning.

In the morning we headed to Penn Station and took a train back to Rochester, NY. The train was really nice and comfortable and we spent some time in the booths eating by the snack counter. 

We finally made it back and I was ready for the holiday celebrations to begin!