first day at work

morgana's first chore early monday morning was to go out in search of a job. by 8 am she was out the door and knocking on restaurant doors. every place she stopped at required a resume (and experience). her last stop was wallsé, where korrina got her first kitchen job (downstairs, learning how to make pastry with the pastry chef). morgana landed a job upstairs and she started this afternoon (after we went shopping for black pants and black shoes). so far she loves it and enjoyed speaking german today with the young woman who is the restaurant's sommelier. the manager is austrian, as is kurt the owner, so she is right at home! wallsé is one of the few restaurants (morgana says it's the only restaurant!) that serves schnitzel in the city, and so this is the most popular item on the menu. today she polished silver and folded napkins and began to learn about the different dishes. 

oh, and my yarn winder went kaput. the company, knitpicks, is sending me a new one. i hope that one works!!

lunch with greg

 while chanda was busy with a twelfth night rehearsal, morgana and i walked downtown to have lunch with greg.

 it was a really nice day for a walk since it wasn't too hot.

 time inc. used to be situated in midtown, but they just recently completed a move to brookdale place in tribeca; battery park city. his new building overlooks the river and he likes the layout and the big windows. i didn't think the lunch room was quite as nice as the old building, but the food was the same.

 he's right across the street from the french fry tower.

 along the way home, morgana and i stopped to look at black pants in j. crew for her new job tomorrow. she's supposed to wear a black button down shirt (which they will give her), black pants and black shoes with black trouser socks.

 the j. crew in brookdale place had two pairs of pants that were a possibility, but we decided to look in at the soho j. crew to see if they had a better size.

 we stopped at duane park patisserie on the way.

 i had a slice of cheese cake, but morgana had thin butter cookies with chocolate icing.

one of our favorite streets just off duane park: staple street.

peonies

my friend gave the girls peonies this weekend. i don't know how i could forget how beautiful peonies are. they were wrapped in plain brown paper and inside were five stems. nothing else. they're most beautiful plain, with nothing else.

breakfast with morgana

 morgana brought home special jasmine leaf tea. the leaves are packed in small balls that expand in  your teapot. we also have flower tea which we haven't steeped yet.

 what's really funny is that the postcards she mailed from milano on may 9th only just arrived yesterday also! so much for the italian post!

 greg made the omelettes for us . . 

quelle une surprise!!

 someone covered my eyes with their hands during the show's intermission and said "guess who." i could have killed her and my friend elsa said she could have given me a heart attack. elsa was sitting right next to me and couldn't get over the shock on my face.

 well, she was back from thailand in time for chanda's dance in ellen's show!

 it was wonderful and special and very exciting. 

we all had lots of energy and couldn't stop talking . . 

 oh no . . not more gelato and espresso . . 

 we couldn't resist surprising korrina at work . . 

 we had fun crashing the morimoto "scene." we hadn't been in the restaurant before. it's very nice! we stayed only a few minutes as it was late and she was cleaning up.

 a standard post-show pic . . we walked our friend deychen home and picked up morgana's suitcase. deychen had been in on the whole plan, and even my friend janet knew. 

her welcome back to tyrol gift.

what does she think of it all . . 

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by the way, chanda's class danced so incredibly well. their group piece was fun and exciting to watch, and all their solos were especially moving and lovely. they have all really grown so much. chanda danced beautifully and received words of praise from her teacher for having a strong presence on stage and for opening up to the audience. she's been working on this for years, so it was nice to hear.

getting ready for the modern dance recital

 madeline watched us hurry around this morning getting ready for the concert tonight. chanda had to finish her poster for her solo dance while i cut out letters for a poster for the group piece. ellen lost the poster she usually uses and asked chanda to make a new one . . but i stepped in to help with cutting out letters.

 we were interrupted by a new toy that came in the mail!

 a nice and squishy ball, not like the hard ones i usually wind on my own . . 

working on the card for her teacher . . 

 we interrupted our chores again to visit korrina and brian at chelsea market before they went to work.

gelato and uno espresso doppio!

heading off to our different tasks  . . 

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we came home and chanda did a little more sewing on the silk costumes again and then got ready to go. i also got ready to go out to get flowers for her teacher and chocolates for the lighting designer and the stage managers and joan, who does everyone's hair . . (!) and then i met my friend janet for an iced hibiscus tea at cafe grumpy. it felt nice to sit quietly and talk. i felt proud of myself for getting everything done in time for a chat with a friend. i'm usually running around right up until the show starts.

waiting for the president to pass by

yesterday, when returning from the east village, i ran into a roadblock at lafayette street. supposedly obama was up the block at the public theatre and would be leaving soon . . so we all had to wait for him to go by in order to get across. (here's 2012's episode.)

he was in one of those black cars . . i'm assuming it was one of the ones with flags waving on the hood. i followed the first car with the phone camera but it looked empty. maybe he was in the second car. you can never see him . . the windows are so dark and they go by in seconds.

solo tech

blue into green, music by shadowfax

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(rehearsal run: