Burrow North

Things to do!

2011-07-28T14:34:00.002-04:00

Jamie and Rachel moving here has been invaluable for us as far as finding kids' activities in the neighborhood. One of the things Jamie found is this playtime up at a church 3 blocks away every Tuesday and Thursday morning. There's a guy with a guitar that sings a bunch of kid's songs for a couple hours. Audrie loves him. I'm pretty sure she thinks she's part of the show.
They also open up the yard of the church and set up a bunch of sprinklers, kiddie pools, and slip and slides.
The "arkie" girls love it! It gives them a chance to feel the grass on their feet like back home. And with the hot days we've been having up here, the water is a great relief! Baby Annie has been dubbed the "hamburglar" by Jason as she is constantly taking all of the other kids' sippie cups and snacks from their diaper bags. It's so funny to watch!

And while Baby "Sammy-o" is still a little too young to appreciate everything, it's so nice to know where to go to get some of these social activities. He does LOVE LOVE LOVE the music!

This has become one our favorite things in the week! Thanks, Jamie! Keep the events coming!

4 months...

2011-07-24T20:56:00.005-04:00

We're back in New York but I thought I'd post a few pictures from our last days in Arkansas. We can't express how nice it was to be home for such an extended amount of time. We haven't gotten to go home for Christmas in 2 years and if we DO get time to get away and see family, it's never for long. I thought the boys looked pretty cute in this picture. I didn't pose this, by the way.

Sam's doctor told us to fatten him up while we were away...and I think we succeeded. We weighed him and I'm pretty sure he weighed in at about 15 pounds before we left. But wait til you see him now! I'll post some more recent shots soon. I'm just SURE he's 18 or so! HUGE!

While we were in Rogers with Jim and Emily, we wanted to make sure we got all 3 boys in a picture together. The best part of this photo is really what's going on in the mirror in the background....
And the whole clan...

While we were in Fort Smith with my family (and the pool) we had Rachel come down with the girls to help them beat the Arkansas heat.
Audrie practiced all of the skills she was learning in swim class. She was AWESOME at jumping in the pool (as long as someone was there to catch her, of course).
Annie just preferred a simple dunking every once in a while.
I absolutely love watching Jason with kids. Audrie told him he was her best friend. Is it just me or is there really nothing sexier than a man playing with little kids?!
The pool was an absolute saving grace while we were home. It's always one of my favorite parts of visiting Fort Smith. Thanks, Mom and Dad!!!

One of the biggest changes for us here in the city is that Jamie and Rachel and the girls have moved to New York City!! Old news by now but we are still in shock and loving it! Rachel got a job teaching at a charter school up in Washington Heights and we couldn't be prouder of our dear friends for doing this incredibly brave thing! We know how big of a change it is to live here and how scary it can seem. They are living 5 blocks from us and it takes about 5 minutes to walk to their place. We LOVE it!! I hope it's not too selfish to love having them so close to us. The girls seem to be adjusting so well, too!! We all took a trip to Brooklyn this weekend to checkout the Brooklyn Flea Market. Since it was such a long trip on the train, they let the girls walk around a little bit outside of the stroller. Audrie loved the poles (as so many 3-year olds do) to swing and dance around. Annie was just happy to covet this advertisement for Ben and Jerry's ice cream.
Of course I didn't get ANY shots of the Flea Market but it was really cool. Jamie is going to have a booth on August 20 selling his lamps. Let's just hope it's a little cooler than it was this weekend! Whew it was warm!!

First solid food!!

2011-07-04T00:12:00.004-04:00

We started the boy on some solid food this week. Yay! So friggin' exciting!

We started with sweet potatoes. Gran was nice enough to buy us a "Baby Bullet" blender system. The same people who make "The Bullet" blender you see on TV make a cutesie version for babies. We started with boiling down our sweet potatoes to be REALLY mushy...

then spooned them into the big blender bowl...

then just 1...2...3...and....
sweet potato milkshake!!!!
Then we spooned the mush into the adorable little serving size containers and either stored them in the fridge or freezer.
Look how sweet! I love the idea of my food smiling at me from the refrigerator.

We got him all bibbed up and ready to go.

First bite! Success...loves it!

We sort of have to keep our hands over his arms and hands so he won't sabotage the spoon as it heads toward his mouth.

But I think he enjoys it! Huh?!

We went "up the hill" to visit Jim and Emily and their new baby boy Noel. We took some food with us and made mashed avacados while we were there. Aunt Emily always has an avacado on hand:). Cousin Ben wanted to "help" but proved to be more of a delightful distraction than anything. Haha!

Sam was mesmerized by him....

He kept trying to touch Ben with his sweet potato-y hands.

We've since added avocado and squash. Next up---peas, zucchini, and bananas!
We are loving this next step. We actually love all of the steps!

Late Update

2011-07-03T19:47:00.004-04:00

So my camera decided to go on the fritz a few weeks back and it's not worth getting it fixed until we get back to NYC this week so I'm a bit behind on our Arkansas visit...apologies as always...
Just a few pointless pictures for this post. I'll try and put up a few posts this week. Nothing much going on down here. Just a lot of baby time and grandparent time. Before we left, the pediatrician told us that Samuel was a little on the small side for his age. He's very long and we were just having a hard time keeping up with his height. But I think Arkansas has been good for his weight gain.

He's looking fatter/healthier every day! And so grown up sometimes!
And thank goodness there's a piano down here! Jason has been playing for Sam almost daily. I guess I shouldn't be astounded at how the boy responds to music but I always get so excited when I watch him listen to Jason sing and play for him.

Is 5 months too young to start piano lessons....????

Jason has been working so hard on his show down here and we finally got to get away for an extended evening for the opening night of "Joseph...." It was a great excuse to get all gussied up and leave the baby with the grands for the night! We had a great time and the show was FANTASTIC!!! I am so proud of Jason and the work he does. I love love love watching him in the pit...seeing his hand give a cutoff every once and again....watching the top of his head bob up and down in the spotlight during the overture, etc.

All is well down here. We're wrapping up our much needed family time and getting sad to leave. It's been amazing and I'll put up some more posts this week before we go!

Home again, home again, jiggity jog!

2011-05-23T13:51:00.008-04:00

Jason and I are home in Arkansas for 6 weeks for a job that Jason got at the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre. He's musically directing "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" and he's having a great time! So the blogging purposes have switched. For the next 6 weeks, we will blog for the benefit of our New York family, as our Arkansas family is all around us!

Last weekend, we traveled up to Fayetteville for cousin Ben's 3rd birthday. The weather was "iffy" all weekend. These are some shots of the clouds rolling around in the hills as we came up the mountain.

I forget how easy it is to watch the weather down here. There aren't any skyscrapers to get in the way!

The clouds look close enough to touch...

Ben had a pirate party! What a cutie!
He was so great all weekend with Sam. He seemed so concerned when Sam would cry and he would ask what was wrong.
And Aunt Emily was such a sport letting us try out all of the new toys she has for baby Noel (coming to a Burrow near you in June!)

Gran and Grandad got Ben his very own "ipad." His new Ixl was a hit! He can color, and read stories, and play games, and so much more!!
And the piece de resistance of the weekend.....a power wheels john deere tractor!!
I was so impressed at how well he drove this thing! An expert, really...

Samuel did great! He loved being outdoors (another thing that is quite different than in New York.) We have parks, of course- but it takes a little travel to get to them. Here, they're right outside in your backyard!!
It was such a great weekend with family! We loved every minute.

3 months!

2011-05-17T22:22:00.007-04:00

Last week, I took Samuel to the botanical gardens in Brooklyn. They have a cherry blossom orchard and the blooms were at their peak. I've been wanting to go since we moved to New York I finally did!

The website for the gardens has a map that shows you when the blooms are at their peak. I saw that all of the trees were at their peak bloom, so I panicked and thought we HAVE TO get out there! I was right...beautiful!
If we had waited one more week, the blooms would have been gone. I think Samuel was a little over the whole thing though.
The botanical gardens are great. And there was plenty to see besides the cherry blossoms.

Sam "standing" in a tree. I'm excited for when he can do this without helpful hands from behind...

I can't believe it has only been 3 months since Samuel came into the world. I honestly feel like we've had him for a few years now! It's a comfort really. Any time I feel like "I should really have this figured out by now!!" I just step back and say "Wait...it's only been 3 months!!"
Jason loves when I take pictures of Sam, Joe, and Alice. He thinks they look like little hams in a deli case. Pretty darn cute hams I say!
This is Joe and his mom, Amy.
We went to Boston for Mother's Day weekend to see Uncle Josh and Aunt Juli. We had an awesome time, even though the weather was a little yucky. It was so nice to get out of the city for a little while; I felt like we were gone for 3 or 4 days when we were really gone for less than 2.

We love having Juli and Josh so close. We even drove! We rented our first zipcar for the trip! We got a Prius and while I was happy driving such an environmentally friendly car, I was so uncomfortable! It was TEENY TINY!! We laughed the whole time because of how small the car was and how huge we felt being in it!!

Josh and Juli took us to a lovely Mother's Day brunch where Sam just couldn't resist dipping into the Sangria.

Happy Mother's Day! My 1st!

And these are just a few pictures I grabbed during some of his happier times last week.

He's starting to look like such a little boy!!!

Catching up

2011-05-01T20:00:00.010-04:00

Hello all!!! Sorry we've been a little M.I.A. lately. No excuses really. Just seasons changing and life adjusting. I'm getting my running started again (that marathon isn't going to run itself, now is it?!?!) and I've started working again. I'm doing 2 days a week of day work at a new Broadway show called "Baby, It's You." It's a show about the girl group "The Shirelles"---very jukebox musical---very fun!

And as always....baby Sam continues to grow...

I can't express how much more fun he is now that he can recognize Jason and me and smile at the sound of our voices and the sight of our faces. As soon as he can laugh, it's all over. I will be acting like a complete fool. I am prepared do anything to make him laugh...ANYTHING!!
A few weeks ago, we went to a wedding shower for our friends Drew and Danis. We met Drew and Danis in college during our last year while we were doing "Sweeney Todd."
The shower was plenty of fun and it's always nice to see a bunch of our friends from Arkansas. We played a few shower games and had a lovely time! Samuel inspired a nap from Jason (not really, just posed for the picture)...

and continued sleeping through the party. What an awesome New York baby. He sleeps better with loud noises!
In January, Jason and I took a childbirth class. We were both a little skeptical before the first session but it ended up being an amazing experience. It was a very intimate group; there were only 3 couples in the class. We all had a great time getting to know each other and learning about the intense experience we were all about to go through. By the end of the 3 sessions, we were all joking about keeping in touch and having reunions once we all had our babies. I was due first on Feb.1, followed by Amy on Feb. 23, and Leslie on April 2.

We have now all had our babies and are still keeping in touch and meeting up to support each other and talk and laugh and commiserate. The other day, we all met up at Leslie's apartment to meet the newest addition to our club...Baby Alice

And here's Amy's little boy, Joseph. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why I couldn't get this photo to rotate. I tried 3 times!!

And of course, little boy Burrow.

And all 3 together!
I'm so excited to have other new moms to talk to and be friends with. I never thought that I would really bond with women in this way but I really enjoy their company and hope we can stay in each others lives. Can't you see these two being buds later?????

Gosh I hope his eyes stay this color!!

Samuel has reached the 13 pound mark which means we can start using our Baby Bjorn carrier!! We took it for a test run on Easter and I think he loves it! He falls asleep in it just as easy as my sling.

After church, we met up with some friends for Easter brunch where Sam received his first bunny ears!
And of course, an Easter portrait!
I've been really excited about getting to watch Samuel listen to Jason play and sing and the other night, I got my first taste.
Here he is playing his first note EVER!! The first of many.
Jason sang and played with him for a good 30 minutes and he just smiled up at him and tried to sing along a little. He loved it! And it warmed my heart a little...well a lot!

Visits and Vaccinations

2011-03-27T23:06:00.003-04:00

Last week, Jason's brother, Jim, and his wife, Emily, came up to visit. Emily is expecting their second child in June so they used the trip as a "babymoon" and to visit baby Sam.

Jason and Jim look very similar and I think, by the look of this picture, Samuel was pretty comfortable on Uncle Jim's chest.

Emily had this onesie (along with a burpcloth and a little green hat) custom made for Sam. I put him in it the very next day because I loved it so much!

Burrow males...
We had quite the busy week. I discovered places to breastfeed all over the city!! I thought this statue in the Metropolitan Museum of Art was an appropriate tribute to the afternoon I spent with Sam in a quiet handicapped bathroom stall.
Jim and Em saw 2 shows: "Spiderman" and "Phantom of the Opera." We visited Grand Central Terminal, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and an Italian market called "Eataly." We went to Chinatown and had some amazing hand pulled noodles that we heard about on the Food Network. We had brunch in the middle of the week and made a stop at the maternity store for Emily. But mostly, we talked and spent time with Samuel.

He spent most of the week in his sling but here he is making an "appearance" at dinner one night; or at least his fingers are.

We are so lucky to have such wonderful family who will come visit us. I guess it helps that the city we live in is such a hot ticket item!
Here's one for the grandparents' mantle! Thank goodness New York City is such a "small" town; we ran into a friend, Shannon, outside Central Park and she snapped this shot of all 5 of us. Thanks for the visit, guys!
Our friends Neil and Michelle came by last weekend with their daughter, Tabitha. She's 18 months and completely adorable. She made sure all of Samuel's toys were suitable by going through all of them and playing with them. And when Sam finally made an appearance, she really enjoyed lightly tugging on his little tufts of hair. He didn't even notice...
Vaccinations!! Samuel got his first set this week. I thought I'd be a little more torn up watching him go through this but I was actually ok. Poor little guy.
It's ok!! It's all for good; I promise!
And here are some more "angelic" shots I took one day while he lounged on his changing table. He loves that thing! He could spend the whole day there if I would let him.

Grandparent pictures

2011-03-19T22:58:00.006-04:00

The following are all pictures taken with someone else's camera. Both of my parents have been here in the past month and these are some of the shots they got with their camera.

This was taken right as they took Samuel out of the operating room to the nursery to get all cleaned up. So fresh!!

And here we all are leaving the hospital. Notice my camera around my neck. I'm pretty sure I didn't take any more pictures after this moment. I was too busy walking slowly down the hall because of my c-section scar.

Thank goodness my mom was there to take pictures of all the important moments!

Jason's sister, Juli, and her husband Josh were kind enough to help us home in their car. It was so nice to not worry about a cab with all the car seat drama.
This is a present I made for Jason to give to him at the hospital. It's a sling I designed and made especially for him. It's wool pinstripe suit fabric on the outside and a blue plaid shirting fabric on the inside- very manly.
I spent most of my downtime like this once I got home. And our cat, Gypsy, was just so unsure of the new screaming meatloaf we had brought home, she tended to stay close to me to feel safer.
Do all babies look like old men at first?

So after my mom left in February, we had to start talking about when we could get my dad up here to meet Samuel. He came up in mid-march to spend a long weekend meeting his grandson.
We got out and about a lot! Samuel's firsts are very exciting. Baby's first park avenue visit!
I got a sling for me to "wear" Samuel in. He pretty much loves it. I only wear it if I'm going to be out a pretty short time and the stroller really isn't feasible.
Peek-a-boo!!
And Jason can wear it too! Sam really loves it. He just snuggles down and passes out.
Baby's first NYC subway ride! This isn't really his first but oh well. He's definitely used to it.

Our friend, Caroline, had a birthday while my dad was here so we all went down to have brunch with her and a bunch of friends. Samuel was a hit...and fairly well behaved.

We're very grateful that Samuel has met both sets of his grandparents. Love you guys!!

Happy 1-month!

2011-03-09T18:59:00.007-05:00

Our friend, Bobby, has been out of town since last summer and recently returned. He came over tonight with our other friend, Aaron, to meet Samuel so I got Aaron to snap a few shots of the great "meeting".

This one looks like Sam's singing to him. HA!

Nice to meet you, Aunt Bobby!!
And my dear friend, Jenni, came to visit last week. We have such amazing friends here who have been and continue to be so supportive. We are completely blessed and so thankful for all of them.

Last weekend our friend, Jamie, surprised Jason by flying up for a quick weekend in the city. His boss down in Arkansas sent him up here for a conference. I knew about it all week and had to keep it secret from Jason. He was soooo surprised. Well done, Jamie!

More supportive friends: This is Caroline, another friend from the barn. She has been amazing during this whole process. She was our unofficial "doula" the last few weeks of my pregnancy. She would go for walks with me and talk with me about the birth process.

She's great with babies so we will probably be calling her ALL THE TIME to babysit. We love you Caroline!!
And now, the main attraction. I snapped a few shots today to commemorate the 1-month birthday. They're a little rough but he's still pretty good looking. Pay no attention to the slight face rash. Silly newborn rash...it disappears as fast as it appears.

I kept some of the little white shirts the hospital put him in. I think they make him look like Obi Wan Kenobi. The force is strong with this one.

This is a sweater that our friend Louie's mom made for Samuel. I've never met Louie's mother and I almost cried when he brought it over. I thought it was so sweet that she made us something when we've never met her.

And...cloth diapers!! I'm pretty excited about this venture. There's a service here in New York that drops off clean diapers and picks up dirty ones every week. You pay a weekly fee and they basically take care of the rest.

Every monday night, we put out the dirty diapers from the week. Sometime between 9pm and 4am, someone comes to our apartment door and takes our dirty diapers and drops off clean ones for the next week. Very exciting. I remember using cloth diapers with my baby brother, Grant, and I loved feeling like I was doing a little something to help the environment.

Marymount's show this year is "Hairspray". I took Samuel to rehearsal a few saturdays ago and he was a hit!! He was such a good baby. I wore my sling and he just slept all day, even through most of the big group numbers!

These kids are so awesome. They're very well-adjusted and so mature! They feel more like friends, than highschool students.

Aren't these two cute?! They're dating off stage. Who doesn't love a good show-mance?!

Not a care in the world!

2011-02-26T21:13:00.001-05:00

This is us on the train coming home from Buy Buy Baby today. He wasn't phased in the least. Yay!

Week 2- stir crazy and Grandparents and Carnegie, oh my!

2011-02-26T19:43:00.007-05:00

I am really enjoying being a mom and all that it entails but I've been going a little stir crazy sitting around my apartment while Jason works 12-14 hours a day 7 days a week. I have wonderful friends who come to visit but Jason and I work so well as a couple that there really isn't a substitute. I've been trying to find little things to do outside the apartment. My 1st trip was to the grocery store 7 blocks away. We needed cat food so I bundled Sam up in his new carseat and stroller and off we went. The rain canopy is really meant for the stroller without the carseat attached but I made do.We were gone for all of an hour but it felt really nice to be out in the sunshine and wind. Sam slept the entire way-cars and ambulance sirens blaring and all. What a New York baby! We have also been to the UPS store. I felt I had to go introduce him to the people who had been caring for all his presents these last few months.

And here are a few pictures of Samuel in his bouncy seat. He's still a little small for it so we don't sit in it very long but I think he's really going to like it eventually. I can't believe he's 2 1/2 weeks old already!
I love these pants! Baby gap...
Today, we met Jason down in Chelsea to buy a few things at Buy Buy Baby. This was our longest outing so far. It went fairly well. We rode the subway all the way down to 14th street where we met Jason after a rehearsal and then walked up to 25th street. We shopped and he slept. He also got two diaper changes whilst in the store. It has felt great to get out and make sure the world is still happening.
While I was pregnant, I thought of how cute it was going to be for Samuel to sleep on Jason. I was right:)

Last week, Gran and Grandad came up from Arkansas to visit for the weekend and meet baby Sam. We had a wonderful time doing absolutely nothing except cuddling with the baby all day and sitting around in our pajamas and cooking. Thanks for traveling so far Gran and Grandad!! We miss you already!

Jason played at Carnegie Hall last weekend and his parents got to go watch. He was the accompanist for a 150 piece children's choir.

He even got his own dressing room with his name on the door and everything!!

And a piano in the dressing room in case he needed to run through a few last minute parts of the music. Very exciting! Congrats, Jason/Dad!!

Jason snapped this photo the other night right as he walked in the door from work. What a little old man!
That's all for now, folks. Stay tuned...

Burrow North

2011-02-21T21:40:00.002-05:00

I feel the new name to our blog needs a moment of explanation. We are all from Arkansas, obviously, and now we live in the big bad city. Side-note: what do people think goes on here?! Real people live here and lead very normal lives. We had one Arkansan ask how we were getting him home from the hospital with all of the snow in Central Park. What was plan A? Drag him by the foot through the snow?!!! We took a car! Moving on...
My sister and brother-in-law live in Boston and have for a few years and whenever we all get together we call it a meeting of Burrow North. We are really thankful to have family so close. That's all for now. Sam is feeding the Muel and it's my turn to burp so I must run.
Jason

A few more first pictures and.....The First Bath!!!

2011-02-20T11:34:00.009-05:00

Just a few more pictures from the hospital...pay no attention to the mother...she just had major surgery! Pay more attention to the cute baby!
We have so many good friends up here that we consider our "New York family." This is Aaron, whom we've known since 2007 when we all worked together in New Hampshire at a summer stock theater.
Aaron works at a cupcake bakery called Crumbs. He stopped on his way to the hospital and asked his colleagues to whip up a couple of custom cupcakes with writing for us...
And this is Brittany, another close friend from our summers in New Hampshire. We're so lucky to have such good caring friends/babysitters who are as excited as we are about this new little adventure!
And of course, the grandma (go-ma) on my side. I was incredibly thankful to have my mother here for the week or so before Samuel came and for a couple days after to help me get situated at home. We miss you Go-ma!!
And another of many family photos....
I made the outfit Samuel came home from the hospital in. A little blue flannel onesie with feet and a matching hat. It was a little bit big but I definitely didn't care; I worked so hard on it-he was going to wear it no matter what.
And aunt Juli knitted some little baby red mittens for him...too cute!
I bought these little blue sweatpants a few weeks ago and have been so excited to put them on him ever since. I finally got the chance and he was ADORABLE!! And they're reversible! They're grey and navy blue striped on the other side. So if he doesn't pee through them in the first 20 minutes he wears them, we can get double use out of them.
Okay...the first bath. We don't have any pictures of it because it was such a momentous occasion. These bath pictures are from the 2nd bath. I will tell the story of the 1st bath though so you can all get a kick out of us.

We decided to have a go at a bath in our kitchen sink. So we got all set up and got the hot water going...check. He cried, of course, as all newborns are wont to do during baths for a while-no biggie. When we were ready to rinse him, we put our hands back in the water and it had gone cold and was not making any moves back towards warm. Who loves NYC apartment living?!?! So I bolted to the bathroom and got the tub hot water going...check...hot water in the bathroom. I yelled to Jason, who picked up the entire bath set-up with the crying child in it and ran to the bathroom. We made a mad dash at rinsing him off and noticed that his hands and feet were a tiny bit blue. Nothing to worry too much about, but definitely enough to cause concern for two 1st time parents. We wrapped him really well in a big fluffy towel and went to our bedroom where Jason sat in front of the radiator and rubbed on his little feet and hands to help warm him. As we started to calm down and he stopped crying, he let go of the biggest, healthiest poop of his 1 week life all over the clean towel in Jason's hands. We both died laughing! He was completely content. We wiped him off and got him dressed for bed and off to sleep he went. Perfect. The second bath went much better. We started in the bathtub this time and we were much quicker about getting him clean. Bathtime...check.
Just a few more pictures of the "Muel" at 6 days. Quite a difference from what I saw peeking over that c-section curtain!
This is some razorback gear from Aunt Em and Uncle Jim. He wore it for one nap and promptly peed all over it during the diaper change following the nap. I thought it would be good to snap a picture of it before all of that.
On February 14, we took Sam to the pediatrician for his check-up. I completely forgot it was Valentine's day until the receptionist entered in the date and talked about it out loud. I immediately burst into postpartum tears because I had forgotten all about it. I was promptly reassured by amazing husband that I had nothing to worry about and he would handle everything. Later that day, I was surprised by tulips being delivered to my door and when Jason got home from work, he ordered a pizza and we watched a movie on the couch all together. My 2 valentines and me.
Stay tuned. There will be more. Aren't I doing well?

Welcome, Samuel!!

2011-02-17T16:30:00.009-05:00

Well, folks...he's here...finally!! Welcome to the world, Samuel Edwin Burrow.
Here are a few pictures from right after birth. Most were taken by our phones so forgive the quality. There are better ones further down...so keep reading.

Our first family photo...taken by my anesthesiologist.

These are just a few taken in the hospital.
Here I am the night before we went to the hospital....Feb. 8 2011

I will now pepper in the birth story between all of these wonderful 1 week pictures (taken by our dear friend, Aaron)

We were scheduled for an induction/water breaking at 6 am on February 9. I was a week over due and so we headed to the hospital at 5 that morning. Even with all of our "plans" to labor at home for the most part, it was nice to just go to the hospital and get it started.
We got checked into the hospital and set up in our labor and delivery room and were ready to go by about 7. The doctor came in and broke my water and 20 minutes later I felt my 1st contraction. About 45 minutes after that, I was IN IT!! Contractions were pretty active and about 5-10 minutes apart. My doctor checked in before she went to do her office hours around 9 and asked me to try and not have the baby before she was done at 1:).
Contractions progressed pretty quickly after that and I was on my exercise ball but they couldn't keep a good read on his heartbeat so I had to get into the bed....not my favorite...
So Jason was a champ and helped me into the bed and got me through a couple more hours of really hard contractions. All of this is with no drugs, by the way. Not bragging, just wanted to experience everything that God intended...
So I stayed in the bed and got to the point where I really wanted to push. My doctor was back by this point so they found her and I gave him a good push. He didn't budge so I pushed through a couple more contractions and she found he was just too high up. She suggested I stand for a while and see if I could get him to drop down before we pushed again.
I labored on my feet for about an hour and we gave it another go. He had dropped a little but not enough that I could push him down. Throughout all of the pushing his heart-rate was dropping dramatically and not recovering quickly.
She said I could get back up on my feet and labor a while longer or we could talk about a c-section. I really didn't want that to be an option so I started to get out of the bed. She watched one more contraction and was so unhappy with his heart-rate, she came up to my head of the bed and said, "Honey, we're done..."
She recommended a c-section and quickly. Jason and I had a quick cry but decided we trusted our doctor implicitly and it was the right thing to do. She was amazing the entire time.
Things moved pretty quickly from there. I got as comfortable as I could in the bed (just because you agree to a c-section doesn't mean they turn the contractions OFF!!). They wheeled me into the operating room on the same floor just around the corner while Jason changed into his scrub suit and mask and gathered our things to take to my mom in the hallway.
The operating room was an interesting adventure without Jason to get me through some really hard contractions. My doctor held on to me and helped me breathe through them so they could get the drugs into my back. Once that was done, I was an entirely different person. I even found myself wondering why I hadn't chosen this route in the first place......
The pain was gone and I was about to meet the little mess that had been kicking me from the inside for 9 months!!! I cried a lot while they got started and Jason came in. I just really hadn't wanted it to come to a c-section and I was worried about everything I had heard about him being a different sort of baby....so silly....
The c-section experience was actually remarkable. Kind of neat to feel the weight of him come directly out of the center of me. Jason left my head to go see him and watch them weigh and clean him. I listened to him cry from across the room and Jason kept yelling updates in my direction. He was completely fine and perfect. The rest of the recovery was fairly normal.
I was in recovery for a little while so the feeling could come back to my legs and then they moved me to my postpartum room for the next 3 nights. The staff at the hospital was absolutely incredible. I was taken such good care of and cannot say enough nice things about St. Luke's Roosevelt hospital. I sort of wish I could go back...:)

So that's the story and I hope it wasn't too much information. I tried to keep it tame enough for the world wide web. I promise promise promise I will be better about the blogging. I have all this time off, I have nothing else to do...

Welcome welcome welcome, little monkey!!

Has it really been 10 years?!?!

2010-08-22T22:00:00.005-04:00

I went home last week for my 10-year high school reunion. I can't believe it has been 10 years!!

It was fun to see a few of my favorite friends from high school. This is Holly (right) and Courtney (middle). Courtney has been my best friend since we were about 12 and Holly lived down the street from me from 5th grade on and we were dear friends as soon as we met in elementary school.
Both are awesome women today and we still keep in touch! On Saturday morning we took a tour of the high school to see all of the changes that have been made since we walked the halls. Courtney and Holly and I made sure to take pictures next to all of the grizzlies (our mascot) on the campus.

On Saturday night there was a banquet downtown in one of the nice hotels. It was a very small turn out but it was still a good time. This is Terry, a friend who has not changed ONE BIT! Neither has Kelsey! And she has a 12 week old. She was always this gorgeous...I promise...

And of course the Cravens twins. This is Jennie. Kate took the picture.

I have to say...the food left something to be desired. This is the "ribeye" steak we were served. I've never had a ribeye smothered in mushroom gravy...have you? Haha!! Hysterical.And some quality time with family was had all weekend. Here's me with my 16-year old brother, Grant. Can you believe he's 16?! He drives and everything. Sometimes I wish he was still wearing diapers.
I don't know how to describe what happened my last night home. I invited a couple of old band geek friends over for some pancakes for dinner (because that's what we did in high school) and one of them actually brought a few people I NEVER hung out with in high school. It was sort of surreal to have them in my house drinking beer with my family. After a while, they noticed we owned "rockband" on Wii and so we all played...for about 2 hours.
The two on the left are 2 guys that never hung out in my circle of friends in high school. We always knew who each other were but we just didn't socialize. I think I had a silly crush on Dustin (baseball cap) since about 3rd grade. But I'm pretty sure every girl in high school did too. Sooo silly.

So that was the trip home. I drove our car down to Arkansas with Valarie, whose parents live in Fayetteville. It was really hard to leave the Blazer. Jason had it when we met and it's been ours for years. We went on our first date in that car, fell in love in that car, moved to Ohio as newlyweds in that car, and moved to New York in that car. We have so many dear memories with it and it will be missed. :(

Now back in NYC in our new apartment, which is slowly but surely coming together, we embarked on a project: making a headboard for our bed.

HEADBOARD!! Our first headboard. And we made it ourselves!! This is the two pieces of plywood bracketed together and covered in foam and batting.
Then we found this awesome Donna Karan fabric that we got WAY on sale and covered the foam and stapled it down. Sew a few buttons on and...VOILA! In one day!

We're pretty proud of it!We should go on one of those design shows! We are a pretty great team.

We are in full baby freak out mode (looking at strollers...counting change...turning off all the lights in the house to save money...the usual) and having fun finding out what people buy for babies in NYC. More on that later...:)

2010-08-01T23:25:00.005-04:00

Hello again from NYC! It's been awhile!
A couple of things have come up since our last post:

First- we moved!! As in last tuesday. We now live on the isle of Manhattan. "Even farther than Harlem to northern Manhattan and maintain. Get off at 181st and take the escalator..." We are now in Washington Heights on Fort Washington Ave. Our new apartment is GORGEOUS and we couldn't be happier! There's so much more space than our last apartment. We sort of don't know how to handle it. We've been here for almost a week and are still feeling so grateful and kind of decadent.

Here's a couple of views of the living room:

The bathroom. Completely new everything. No more moldy blue shower!! All of the tiling is new too!! And there's a little shelf at the back of the shower that the cats like to sit on.

This is our bedroom. We painted the walls a nice light grey (copied directly from Mrs. Juli Goss' new bedroom color).

This is the extra bedroom (much bigger than the extra bedroom at our last apartment). There are also closets in every room!! This is a HUGE thing! We had 2 closets total in our last place and neither of them was in our bedroom. There are 5 closets in this apt!

This is part of the entry hallway, viewed from the front door, standing next to the kitchen. Living room on the left, our bedroom straight ahead.

Here is the kitchen. We put all of our dishes away and found out there was EXTRA cabinet space. We can't believe it!!

And here is the entry hallway viewed standing next to the living room. That's the front door of the apartment. It leads out to the elevator. We're on the 5th floor.

Second-here is the reason for the elevator, bigger extra bedroom, and new apartment...

Yup...we're expecting our first baby!!!!!!! We found out at the end of May. I'm due Feb. 1 and we're beyond excited.

We couldn't believe it at first so we took 7 pregnancy tests. That's right...7. All were positive. Jason called Jim and had this conversation:

Jason: So how reliable are home pregnancy tests?

Jim:

Jason: STOP IT!

Jim: (louder)

Jason: (Silence)

Guess it's really happening!!

We are so thankful that this is happening to us. We also have no idea how we are going to do it. But God shows us every day that he has got us covered. We are sure this is all in His plan. We are blessed to have family supporting us from afar and friends, who have become family, supporting us closer to home. This is going to be a great ride and we would greatly appreciate your prayers.

We are signing off for now but we'll be back soon. Cyber-space needs to know every detail of our lives, after all!:)

Sam and Jason

Not dead yet.

2010-06-09T23:32:00.002-04:00

Hello world. We are not dead yet. Still very much alive and kicking. A lot has happened since our last post in November and we'll get to that in due time. Right now we are in Arkansas visiting family that we haven't see for too long. We are having a great time and trying to relax as much as possible. No pics this time since we are away. Stay tuned and we will try to keep up better. Take care all!
Jason (and Sam)

Opening Night!!!

2009-11-17T11:22:00.010-05:00

I opened my very first Broadway show on Sunday night. It was an experience I hope to never forget. It was sort of like a wedding day or prom. You know when the day starts so early and there never seems to be a chance to stop and relax? I got 1 free ticket for a guest and 2 party passes (obviously Jason took that one). But our friends Caroline and BJ wanted to attend so I found a way for them to purchase tickets as well (they each came with a party pass too so they were with us for the whole event). It's good to have friends with you at parties that are as big as this one was going to be.

I started my day at 6:30 in the morning, waking up to get ready for a day work call at another show ("In the Heights"). I started working there at 8:30 (just pressing and ironing clothes) and left around 11:30. I then went to my own theatre to do the exact same thing. The other 14 dressers were there with me. It was a very exciting time. We made all of our clothes look absolutely perfect for opening night from 12-4. Then I had 1 hour to go and get my hair blown out and set before I had to be back at the show to get the actors ready.

When I got back to the theatre at 5, the magic started. There were sooo many gifts everywhere. From our supervisors, from the producers, from the actors, from eachother.....it was incredible. It was like Christmas morning only broadway style. And it just kept going.

These were the gifts from our supervisors. We each got a bottle of wine (our choice-red or white) with specially designed Ragtime labels on them and all of our names listed. I never want to drink it. We also each got an apron with the logo on it. I know you're thinking 'What's so great about an apron?'. But believe me when I say that an apron is my best friend when I work backstage. It holds everything I need in an emergency quick change situation.

And this was the gift from the producers. They are glacier technology zip up snow jacket/windbreaker things. They're waterproof and 3 season appropriate. Really awesome. And they have the logo on the sleeve!!

The show started at 6:30 and it went incredibly well. When the curtain went up, the applause lasted for about 2 minutes. The actors were having a great time and so was the crew. We all proceeded to get ready in little bits at a time during our breaks while the show went on. By the end of the show, all I had to do was get dressed and organize my clutch.

When the show finished, the actors rushed back to their dressing rooms to let us help them get undressed. They all started getting dressed and we, the wardrobe crew, went ahead and got the heck out of dodge. We proceeded to the site of the party, Tavern on the Green. The party was open-bar and there were numerous bars and food tables scattered throughout the restaurant. Celebrities were everywhere. It was amazing. Of course I had to snap a picture with Mo Rocca!!

Sort of fairy-tale like....
I dress 3 girls in the womens' ensemble. This is me, Yleana, and Arlene. They are two other dressers on the crew. Yleana dresses with me in the womens' ensemble while Arlene is with the male ensemble. 2 of my favorite new people.

This is Catherine, one of my 3 ladies.

Valisia, another....

And Sumayya completes my trio.

These ladies are some of the best in the room of 11 female ensemble members and I couldn't be happier or feel more blessed to be working with them. They constantly make me laugh and I have a great time with them.

This is Bryonha. I don't dress her but I love laughing with her. She's hysterical. She has an incredible voice and sings a big solo at the end of Act 1. She'll be famous some day so I had to grab her for a picture. It was a wonderful evening. I wish I could open a show every 3 months or so. So happy.

New Job and a small catch up

2009-10-12T17:45:00.009-04:00

I got a new job!!! I am now working on the wardrobe crew for the revival of "Ragtime" on broadway. And I've decided to try to make mondays (which will be my new day off) my blog days. I don't see why not right? We'll see how long it will last....Not much to tell yet though. I started last tuesday and we're just doing alterations and setting up the backstage spaces. The people are nice so far and we start tech rehearsals on tuesday. The first preview for an audience is October 23 and we open the show on November 15!! I'm very excited about it. There will be more to come hopefully...

Our friends Jamie and Rachel were here again this weekend and we decided to do something we've always wanted to do- take a night-time bus tour!! It was pretty awesome. We started out in times square and headed down through the financial district and we even went over the bridge to brooklyn before we headed back to times square to finish. It lasted about 2 hours and our tour guide was excruciating. We tuned her out after the first 15 minutes or so and had our own little good time in the back of the bus. It was amazing how different New York City looked from just 15 extra feet in the air. It's fun to have friends visit. It allows us to do tourist-y things we might not do on our own.

A few weeks ago, we made a trip to Boston to see Juli and Josh. They introduced us to candle pin bowling. All of the rules of regular bowling apply but the balls and pins are different. All of the bowling balls are the same size and weight. About the size of a small cantaloupe. And the pins are not shaped like bowling pins. They're like big thick candles. The game is played the same though and we had a lot of fun.

I've been running home from midtown. I'll try and get some better pictures but here's one from my iphone. This is a view from the bridge as I run across the Queensborough Bridge. Kind of cool.

At the end of the summer Jason and I went out to the Hamptons. It's one of those things that we want to be able to say we did while we lived here so we just piled in the car and drove out. We went out to the very tip of the island and saw the ocean and ate some seafood at a roadside diner. Then we bought some of our own scallops to cook at home. Delicious!!

It's been too long.

2009-08-13T12:49:00.003-04:00

Hello everyone! This is Jason. Sam is back at work and super busy so I thought I would give a little update as to what's going on. It will definitely not be as good as Sam's but it will have the info!

I see her last post was in May so let me fill you in as to what has been going on since then. As you probably know, Sam got laid off from her job at Tricorne because of the economy so we were both looking for some work over the summer. We found it at Marymount Drama Camp. It is at Marymount High School where I have been musically directing for the past two years. The camp lasted five weeks and we had a blast. I played for the little kids, ages 7-9, and Sam taught costumes/art to everyone, ages 7-9 and 10-13. She was also the camp photographer. The little kids did a 45 min version of Cinderella and the big kids did an hour and 15 min version of Beauty and the Beast. They were really good! (Sam will have to come in later and plug in some pictures:))

Then we went home to visit some family in AR for a week at the beginning of this month. We went to Gaston's fishing resort with my family and ate way too much and played way too many games of Trivial Pursuit. Then we went to Fort Smith to see Sam's family and ate way too much and played in their pool a lot! It was a much needed vacation. We only get to see our families at Christmas and maybe one other time in the year so it was very special to us.

Good news! Sam got her job back this week! She started back at Tricorne this last Monday and informed me that she had been away from the shop four months to the day. She is having to adjust to how the shop is structured now and how she fits into it. I love those Harpers but they don't like change! :)

I am writing this because I am home not spending money. NYU doesn't start classes again until Sep. 8 and I am laying low and teaching a few voice lessons until then. I'm also constantly trying to network and get on Broadway. I feel like I am always sending out some email or resume to some Musical Director or Conductor. It is so much like asking someone out on a date it is scary! You want to be assertive but not pushy. And you want them to remember you but not get a restraining order against you. Blarg!

I'm going so crazy in the house today that I'm taking myself to the Museum of Modern Art. Sam doesn't love the museum thing and especially not the modern art thing so I think it will be fun and she won't mind not being there. I have cleaned and cooked my fill for this week, although I really do enjoying being the house husband-shhh!

That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

-JB

PS-Go see Julie & Julia, the movie about Julia Child. We loved it!

OK, just one picture. This is my section of the Drama Camp when we went to see Shrek on Broadway. It really isn't that hard to keep up with 18 kids in NY. Makes you look at those tourists that are afraid of losing each other and smile...cause we used to be them!!

Everyone meet Gus- and other happenings from NYC

2009-05-19T18:32:00.009-04:00

I know its been a while and this is the biggest news I guess- we got another cat. Everyone meet Gus.

I found him in Brooklyn one Sunday afternoon while helping a friend move into her new apartment. Jason, of course, thinks the whole story sounds sketchy but we've moved on and we're keeping him. He's very sweet and has an AWESOME purr. He's also still a kitten and loves to bite anything and everything he can get his little teeth around. We think that will eventually fade away and he'll be wonderful.

He likes people (which is a big deal for us- as most of you who know, since our other one doesn't) and he LOVES Gypsy (the Devil). And actually, she kind of likes him too. She may act like she doesn't but we can tell....

Lets see...lets see...well also, I have been unemployed for a little over a month now. Tricorne had to make some cut backs because there just wasn't enough work coming in to keep everyone employed. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the economy has struck Broadway as well. If you take a look, you'll notice that there aren't very many "huge" shows up right now. Lots of cheaper ways of doing things now-a-days.

I'm doing ok though. I'm remaining positive. I was a little restless at work anyway. I kept thinking I was ready for the next thing but didn't know what it might be- promotion? wardrobe job? photography business? So this was God's way of showing me what the next thing was.

I have someone building me a photography website and I'm pursuing wardrobe jobs more actively. My friend/boss at "In the Heights" (the tony award winning broadway musical from 2008) is taking care of me and creating work for me. I have had a few days a week of work there and I'm collecting unemployment some weeks, which is also good.

I went to Boston a few weeks ago and got to see the family. Took a few pictures of the babe for the website. Hope you don't mind Emily! He's just too adorable- I have to use him to get me some business!!

We cooked lobster one night. It was amazing. I asked to not be involved with the actual placing of the lobster into the boiling water but was happy to take pictures after the act was over.

And more pictures of Ben and Emily

And now on to the running. With all of my new free time, I've made sure to keep running. I ran a 4-mile for R-baby in Central Park on Mother's Day. R-baby is actually a pretty cool organization. They raise money for hospital emergency rooms to provide better care for babies.

It was a beautiful day in the park for a little jog. It was actually my first race to run the whole time (except at the water stations along the way, which I only walked for about 15 steps while I got a quick cup of water). It was a great accomplishment for me.

And then came my first 10K last weekend. This was the longest I have ever run: 6.2 miles. I was hurting pretty bad by the end but I did it. I had to walk a little more often than the 4 mile but I figured it was fine since it was the first time my body was going to have to run that distance all at once.

It was a little rainy (another first) but it cleared after the 1st mile and I was fine with being a little damp. It kept me cooler. I signed up for another 10K in June that ends at a public pool in the park and I'll get to jump in. I'm really looking forward to it. Marathon, here I come! Jason still runs with me whenever we are together and we are running a 5 mile on Father's Day together to support prostate cancer research.

I will try to keep up the blogging but I don't think games of skip-bo with my unemployed (in between jobs) husband are very blogworthy. :)

I have no excuse...

2009-03-02T19:30:00.007-05:00

I know, I know, I know...don't even say it...we're still alive...so don't worry.

Let's see...

It was November when we last posted. What happened since then...

My brother got married in Michigan...gorgeous. Jason and I flew up to Michigan a week before Christmas and helped with preparations and participated in the wedding. Jason played the music and I was merely the beautiful sister of the groom. We love love love our new sister-in-law Elise!! No pictures...sorry. I only have time to upload so many. If you would like to see some pictures of the wedding, let me know and I'll put a few up. Maybe I will anyway in a later post this month. Or check them out on Jason's facebook page.

We had christmas in Arkansas as always. We spent a few days with my family in Fort Smith and then headed down to Searcy to be with Jason's family. There were plenty of pictures from that too but as you may have noticed, this post has a theme. If you hadn't notice yet, notice now!

We had a superbowl party with our friends here at our house. This was the 2nd annual and now I think it will have to be a yearly tradition-so much fun!!!

So now...the running. As many of you know, I've decided I want to run a marathon. I'm aiming for 2010. I've joined the New York Road Runners, the group that organizes the marathon. If you are a member and run 9 of their other races during the year prior to the marathon (and volunteer at one), you are automatically qualified. I thought this was brilliant since I will probably not be able to run a qualifying time:)

I started running last fall and it's pretty slow going. I'm training with a friend of mine, Neal. He's a personal trainer at a gym and is very busy. Combine this with my schedule and you get a trainer and his trainee who don't get to see each other very often. Still, it's going well. I do the work outs he gives me until we can meet again, which is sometimes not for a month.

I ran my first race in December-the holiday 4-mile. I was extremely nervous but once I got there, I started to loosen up. It was in Central Park and it was 13 degrees. I had to do some jumping jacks and some pushups to warm myself up. We ran a loop around the reservoir in the middle of the park (this is where Charlotte runs in "Sex in the City") When you sign in at the race, you are given a little yellow chip to attach to your shoe. This is a computerized chip that starts your own personal clock when you cross the start line and stops it automatically when you cross the finish. Then you go home and go to a website that tells you your results that same day; pretty cool I think.

I finished in 54 minutes and 9 seconds in 4,703rd place. My pace was about a 15 minute mile. There were LOTS of children in my time corral. A couple of public schools and young kids teams. It was good to see that it wasn't about finishing first (the people who did win finished in about 19 minutes) but about finishing at all for your own goals and having a good time.

This is me at the beginning making my way to the starting line.

And me coming across the finish

Yay!! I did it and didn't collapse!!

Jason was there to take pictures and be my cheerleader (which he did quite well!) Then he took me out for a big breakfast and a double feature at a movie theatre down the street from our house (after a nap of course).

It was really early in the morning. I thanked him over and over for coming out with me. Doesn't he look like he's having fun?!?! This was approximately 7:15AM and 13 degrees.
Last weekend I ran my 2nd race-a 5K in Washington Heights. It was a little warmer-30 degrees and a light snow was falling. This was the Coogan's: Salsa, Blues, and Shamrocks run. There were live bands and performance groups scattered along the route to keep the runners entertained. I had a good time and didn't need to listen to my ipod. The neighborhood was quite nice too.

Coming up on these races can tend to look a little like street fair. There are lots of port-o-potties and street vendors and balloons and street barricades. Its a very festive environment.

This time I finished 3.1 miles in a little under 40 minutes. I came in 4,496th and I bettered my mile pace to about 13 1/2 minutes. Jason came again to be my support and we had a nice big breakfast again afterwards. We went and saw a movie again too. I'm thinking this will become a tradition. Big breakfasts and movies!! Nothing better!!

I'm running another race in a couple of weeks in Central Park again. This one is for Colon Cancer, a 4-mile, and this time I'm not running alone. Jason will be with me along with our friends, Jamie and Rachel who are coming to visit from Arkansas. I couldn't be more excited to have people to run with me. It's going to be awesome and then we can ALL enjoy a big breakfast and a movie!!! And a nap!!

I'll post again soon I promise. I just wanted to share about the running because I'm pretty proud of it.

new lifestyle?

2008-11-04T20:26:00.021-05:00

I want to run a marathon. This is going to take some training. The ING New York City marathon happened this weekend and I couldn't bear to watch it from my television at home. So I got up and went to the park to watch. It was one of the most amazing experiences I've had while living here.

From the second I got off the subway, I could hear all of the cheering. I followed the sound of the crowd and snaked my way around Columbus circle to the park entrance. This afforded me a view of the runners on the street along the south side of the park. At that point in the race, they have about a 1/2 mile left.

As I continued following, I started seeing people in these funny aluminum foil "shawls". I knew that I was heading the right direction. These are something the runners get when they're finished with the race to help them cool down without hurting their muscles.

I kept following the course of the marathon and wound up at the finish line right next to "Tavern on the Green". I stood on the bleachers for almost 2 hours watching people come through the last 100 yards. It was incredible.

The crowd around me was yelling for anyone who ran by. Even if they didn't know them. People wrote their names on their shirts so that they could be cheered on by strangers. It was really cool to watch people slowing down as they got to the 100 yard mark and then sprint in to the finish as people cheered them on.

I loved this image of these two people holding hands as they crossed the finish line. There were lots of couples who did this at the end. Kind of symbolic don't you think? Maybe Jason will run it with me!

I knew that watching would either make me never want to do this or make me want to do it more than anything. I'm happy to say it was the 2nd thing. I'm so motivated now. I can't wait to be able to do it. It's such a goal unlike anything else in my life!!

This picture should serve as a before picture. Here I am 2008, watching the marathon. Let's see what this picture looks like in 2 years when I have run one.

This is towards the end. The clock above the finish line says somewhere in hour 7. 39,000 people ran in the marathon this year.
I've joined a gym and I am working with a friend of ours, Neal, on training. I can run a little over half a mile without stopping. Only 25 1/2 more to go!! It seems like I'll never get there but I know with time it has to get easier...right?

And how could I not snap some of the pretty "Central Park in the fall" shots. It was a beautiful day for a marathon!

Jason and I have also recently discovered yoga. We found a place called Yoga to the people. Its a donation based group. There's no fee or charge for classes. They charge $2 for mat rental and then you can donate whatever you want at the end of class. If you can't give anything, it's fine.

Its truly awesome. I've never sweat so much doing anything in my life. Even my ankles sweat...gross. Jason and I are exhausted after an hour of class. See?

In the Heights, marathon, and Boston...oh my

2008-10-17T23:37:00.029-04:00

Here's a quick catch up...I know...no such thing. But this should give all of you (including you, Jamie Cornett) enough to savor until our next posting, which I'm sure will be too far away.

I recently got a call to do some swing wardrobe work at "In the Heights," the Tony Award winning musical this year. I knew about the show back when it opened in March because I made some of the costumes at Tricorne and I've been wanting to work on it ever since. It's amazing and I love all the people I get to work with. I don't work all the time, just when one of the other dressers is out for something (vacation, sick, personal time, etc.). So I'm kind of a substitute.

Jason was recently cast in a reading of a new musical called "Joshua". It's a christian based musical trying to get its feet off the ground. Here are a few pictures of him with the full company during one of the big group numbers.

A couple of weekends ago, we both had a little extra free time and we decided we should get out of the city and see a little nature. Who knew we could find any of that around New York City. We found a state park called Bear Mountain. There are a number of different trails and we started out with a moderate one. It was a lovely day to be out of the city.

I saw these crazy mushrooms sticking out of a tree and had to take a few pictures. Crazy! Made me think of "Fern Gully."
Next: I don't know how many of you out there know this...but I decided before the summer that I wanted to run a marathon. My goal is the New York City marathon in 2010. My small goal is to run a 5K in December. I've started training with my friend/personal trainer Neal and its actually going really well. I started out on my first day of running back in early September only being able to go 300 meters without stopping. I can now go 700 meters without stopping (800 meters is half a mile). I'm having a great time figuring out my new hobby and all of its new pains. Neal says that I have had the two most common beginning runner overuse pains: shin splints, and pain in my sciatic nerve. I know it's weird to feel good about overuse injuries but it makes me feel like I'm doing something good for me. So that's the marathon update. I'll see if I can take some artistic pictures of me running.

We saw Equus 2 weeks ago. The show stars "Harry Potter's" Daniel Radcliffe and Richard Griffiths. It was really fun to see Harry Potter on stage 50 feet in front of us. And.....he gets naked for about 10 minutes. Very exciting. We didn't stick around to get a picture or autograph after. There was a HUGE crowd!! Sorry to all you fans back home.

Last weekend we went to Boston to see Jason's brother and sister and their spouses. It was really fun. It was an interesting step for all of us. Jim and Emily have a baby boy, Benjamin. Josh and Juli have recently moved to Boston so Josh can work at Harvard. Jason and I live and work fairly successfully in New York City. We all have big grown up lives and it was nice to experience all of that for the first time. It just feels like the next logical thing I guess. I took HUNDREDS of pictures, mostly of our new nephew.

The foliage was magnificent as we drove to pick apples just outside of Boston. I love the fall in New England.

Here's Jason eating kettle corn. They popped it fresh at the kitchen at the orchard.

Emily and Benjamin. This is the newest member of the Burrow clan. He and Emily let me snap a few shots while we waited for everyone else to bring us some lunch.

Here he is with aunt Juli.

Oh that's right...we also picked a bushel of apples. I just ate the last one of ours 2 days ago. More baby!! As my friend Jenni says, "Nothing cuter than a baby in a pumpkin patch." She was right.
Except for maybe two goofy brothers in a pumpkin patch.

Goodbye Ben!! See you at Christmas! We had a great time with everyone and can't wait to be together again!!

This one's for you, mom and dad. I don't know if you can read the writing on that 2nd window from the bottom but it has the name of a very familiar law firm on it. These are the offices of Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe. Car Talk!! While we were in Boston, we went to Harvard Square for Octoberfest and saw where they record the show.
And a bicycle made for 6!

Our friend, Caroline, was in a production of "Cabaret" at NYU. We went with a few friends to see her performance. It was quite racy but fun! We love you Caroline!

Caroline is the one on the bottom right with all the eye make up on!! Not an everyday look for her...don't worry.

And as always, the cat...whom we lovingly refer to as "The Devil." She's wonderful. She's always been obsessed with the bathroom-the sink, the tub, anything with running water. Here are a few boudoir shots of her in our tiny blue bathroom.

That's all for now. More to come soon? Love to all of our friends and family who are keeping us with us via the blog.

Family in New England!! Yay!!!

2008-09-09T22:23:00.015-04:00

Jason's sister Juli and her husband Josh recently moved to Boston. That means we have family less than 24 hours away. Actually it's only about 4 hours. We couldn't be happier.

They came to visit us this weekend because Josh has never been to New York City. It was really rainy their first day here but we made the best of it. I had to work overtime on Saturday morning so they did the Staten Island Ferry and then met up with me after lunch. We stood in line for theater tickets and got a little wet in the rain. We got 50% off tickets to "The Little Mermaid". Juli has been dying to see it since she was here last fall and I worked on the costumes and still hadn't been able to see it. Then we walked down the block to meet Jason at a Starbucks to dry off and refresh a bit.

And to Carmine's for dinner after that. I forgot to take off my close-up lens before the day began so all of my pictures are a little weird. I can't zoom in or out and the focus can be a little weird. Sorry!

After the show (which was great!!) we went for a bite of cheesecake at Junior's. We sat outside and the wind was blowing like crazy (we had gotten the Hurricane Hanna leftovers that afternoon). Juli and I could barely eat our dessert because our hair was all over the place!

Jason was loving it of course.

And what trip to New York City is complete without a late night stroll through Times Square to see all the bright lights?! Jason and I call it the happiest place on earth...except when we're in a hurry and all there seem to be are tourists who are trying to get in our way.

I've started taking headshots (kind of a new side business) and this is the lens I use. That's why it takes great shots of people up close.

The next day we went down to one of our favorite brunch places in the village.

On the subway ride, we encountered one of our favorite subway personalities: "guy who looks at subway map behind you for uncomfortably long time".

After brunch, we walked through the "oh so chic" west village and got cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery. We enjoyed them in a delightful little park across the street...with lots of pigeons.

Its great to have family so close. We're going to spend Thanksgiving with them in Boston and we're going to see them lots before then!!

We're Back!!

2008-08-24T00:07:00.012-04:00

New York City, we have returned!!

I never thought that I would actually reach the point when I would think of New York City as home...but I have. It feels so good to be back here, even though I actually watched the color of the sky change as we got closer to the city. It went from the brightest blue color to a smoggy, greyish blue. GROSS!! But I love it! Here are a few pictures of us returning and playing a little.

We had a few friends come back from New Hampshire with us. On the left is Curtis, our new roommate for a while. He just moved to the city and will be with us until he finds another place or gets tired of us-whichever comes first. The other two are our friends Brittany and Sean. They are both visiting with us until they go back to their "real" lives. Brittany works with a traveling childrens' theater company and Sean runs a wine bar in the British Virgin Islands. They are really great friends that we have known for years and we are so thankful for them.
This is Curtis next to a poster advertising the revival of Godspell coming up, or not-we shall see. The lighting was horrible. Sorry you can't see him...oops.

Now, don't anybody get jealous...but we have other guitar hero friends. This is Scott Guthrie. He worked with us this summer and lives down the street. He and his wife Lindsie had us over for dinner and some board games...and a little guitar hero.

And more Curtis in Times Square. It is the happiest place on earth.

I thought I'd just throw in a few more pictures of what were doing all summer. These are a few pictures of "Anything Goes." It was the next to last show of the season.

That's it for now. Everyone take care and be thankful-for everything!!!

Summer Theater

2008-07-21T12:42:00.016-04:00

Alright....so we've been a little busy. Jason and I spent 2 months in New Hampshire working at a summer stock theater called The Summer Theatre in Meredith Village. It was the first season for the theater and it was never dull!!! Sorry we've been so bad about the updating but I'm sure it'll get better now that we're back. What else is there to do in NYC?!

Before we left for the summer, we took a short trip to Arkansas to visit the new babies in our lives. This is Audrie Cornett, daughter of Jamie and Rachel. She was about 3 months old when we met her in May.

This was an artistic shot that Jason got of her when the sun was pouring through a window.

And this is Ben Burrow. He was born about 2 days before we got there. He is Jim and Emily's first child and our first nephew!!! We are already proud and planning the spoiling.

And now the summer. We were in Meredith, New Hampshire. It was situated on the west side of Lake Winnipesaukee. Such a beautiful backdrop for the summer. If it ever got hectic, and it often did, we could just look up and take in all that was before us. A great testimony.

This is one of the bed and breakfasts that overlooks the lake. Beautiful...gorgeous....wish you were here...

We had every other monday off and on our first one, we went to Boston for the day. These are our friends: Scott, Brittany, and Curtis. Brittany lived in Boston while she was at Emerson College and she introduced us to many of Boston's treasures including Indian Pudding. Delicious.

And of course, we had to have clam chowder (chowduh) in Boston....duh!

Here we are at one of the many sing alongs we would do late at night after shows were over. Jason plays the piano and everyone takes turns singing solos and duets. Some good, some very ridiculous. A great outlet!

The cast parties for all the shows were at a bar called "The Mug". Every time we were there it was Karaoke night and of course, we were all over it! Someone even put Jason's name in once and he had to sing. Jason doesn't do the Karaoke-haha!

Here's the cast for "Always...Patsy Cline", the first show of the season. It is a two person show but the band is onstage so they get to be in costume. Jason played the piano and sang onstage and Sam worked backstage.

And...the best part of the season. We did "Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story". Jason played the Big Bopper and sang "Chantilly Lace". I snapped hundreds of pictures of course. Here are a couple of my favorites.

Stay tuned! More to follow!

2008-05-18T10:19:00.018-04:00

I know our blog doesn't seem organized but I guess our life isn't either. We work, go out with friends, work, sit at home, work, and go out with friends some more. The 2 of us are our family and we absolutely love it. We can't wait to go home this week and see our extended family and best friends in the world!

Last weekend we went shopping a little. We went to Macy's at Herald Square and found some adorable stuff for me. I bought a dress and a black and white print skirt. I was sooo excited to wear my skirt on friday and I was feeling G-O-O-D when I put it on and trotted myself to work. When I sat down on the train, I noticed that my skirt made a funny sound against the plastic seat. I looked down and what did I see? The magnetic tag that they're supposed to remove when you purchase the garment. Boy oh boy did they get a kick out of me at work. Jason came and brought me some jeans and he went and took care of it. It's because we bought it at the make-up counter and they don't have one of those stupid things that removes the tags.

While Jason was getting it removed, I thought "Hmm, I'll bet they didn't take it off the dress I bought either." And sure enough, when I came home and looked at it, there it was....staring at me and grinning. That stupid magnetic tag attached to the left side of the dress!!!

So here's the dress. It really is adorable. I haven't bought a dress in years.

And here's the tag...still attached. Argh!!

We have a roommate right now. His name is Ryan. He moved in with us until he leaves for the summer to go to a theatre. His birthday was this week so we all went out to celebrate at one of his favorite Mexican restaurants. He worked at the Barn with us last summer so we used this celebration as an excuse to get all the kids from the company out and have a little reunion.

When you have a birthday at this place, they bring out a piece of chocolate cake with a big sparkler in it, turn on the disco ball, pump up the music and play a random medley of birthday songs mixed with La Bamba. They also bring a shot of tequila and a sombrero for the birthday person to wear. Its crazy but hilarious, as you can see from my face...

These are some of our friends from the summer. This is Colleen and Bobby.

This is our friend Caroline.

This is actually a picture we took several weeks ago. We were walking somewhere on the upper west side and we came up on this restaurant that looked really familiar. It's the restaurant from "You've Got Mail" that Tom Hanks stands outside of while Meg Ryan is waiting inside to meet her secret email crush. We love this movie so we had to have our picture in front of it.

And then I made Jason try and re-enact Tom Hanks standing at the gate in front. He just wouldn't get into it though. Ah well....this will have to do.

Here are more pictures from work. This is one of the girls I work with. Her name is Mariela. She and the girl in the background (Stephanie) work with the draper next to me. This is a boa for Wicked. Its H-U-G-E!!!! The feathers are dyed specially and then the whole thing is put together by someone outside our shop. Its not even for a neck. Its a sleeve. The girls couldn't resist playing around with it when it was delivered.

This is Steph wearing it like it will be worn eventually.

We've been working a lot of overtime lately because we're shipping out Wicked Australia soon. My shop works on all of Glinda's costumes and all of the Emerald City costumes. Hence all the green things. My team makes 4 or 5 different costumes. This is a collar that I worked on. I wrapped the wires in fabric, gluing every once in a while to ensure it wouldn't unravel...

and then I covered it in fabric. Then a bunch of trim is applied.

Here's something really exciting. Shrek is coming to broadway. My shop is working on Shrek, Fiona, and some other random characters. The team next to me is doing Shrek so I snapped a couple of shots from my table of the fat suit they're working on. She's using a bunch of different materials to create different looks for padding. The new material that is all the rage right now is micro-beads. People are discovering all kinds of things to do with them.

The bottom of the belly is accomplished using the micro-beads shoved into long tubes and stitched in the u-pattern you see.

And of course, what post would be complete without our crazy feline friend, the Devil. I've been working like a mad woman to finish a couple of quilts to take home to the new babies in Arkansas and for some reason, every time I leave one of them unattended, the cat finds the spare batting hanging out and curls up on it. Its really weird. I think we're just going to buy her some so we don't have to wash all of the quilts 4 and 5 times.

no clue

2008-05-08T22:08:00.015-04:00

We'll be better about posting this month......we hope. I kind of wanted to post a bunch of pictures. I love taking photos. I've actually started taking headshots as a side business venture...because I don't have enough to do.

Here is the upper east side on a cloudy spring day. All up and down park avenue they have these tulip beds on the boulevard in the middle of the street. I guess its New York's way of showing off nature.

Heres the reason for us to EVER even be on the east side. The Marymount High School. Its an all girls private school that Jason got hooked up with doing Les Miserables. The kids are fantastic so we hope to stay involved with them.

Here are the Sisters P. Rita and Laura Pietropinto. Rita is on the right and Laura is on the left. They run the theatre department at the high school and are both proud graduates from the High School. Laura directed Les Miserables and Rita produced it. Rita's husband is a musical composer and musical director. She's working on getting Jason in contact with her husband to see if they can work together in the future.

This is our friend Marco. He's from London and worked at the barn last summer. He's fantastic. He was in town for a visit to audition for AMDA (a theatre conservatory in the city) and he stayed on our couch. This is us drinking my favorite drink in the world! A black flower. Its frozen margarita and sangria mixed together. Its probably a good thing the rest of this evening wasn't documented...

We saw this guy on the street. He has a cane made of a clarinet. It was awesome. We asked if we could take his picture and he happily obliged. He was really quirky. Probably been living in his apartment on 26th st. in Manhattan since the 60s or something. I love New York!

This is our friend Nic. Another barnie. He's actually my gay boyfriend. He's the one who started getting Jason students down at NYU. We love him.

Theres a place called Red Mango. They make frozen yogurt. But not what you normally think of as frozen yogurt. Its not ice cream. Its actually yogurt frozen. Like the soured milk yogurt. Its definitely an acquired taste. You order your flavor and then your toppings. I enjoy vanilla yogurt with strawberries and granola. Jason had vanilla with pineapple and dark chocolate. Yumm!

More pictures soon...I promise!

Broadway!

2008-04-08T22:25:00.007-04:00

EEEEEK!! It's been forever since we posted anything. We must be pretty busy.

So I work at a broadway costume shop...right? This may sound glamorous but most days its just the same ol' same ol'. My technical job title is "assistant". I'm a draper's assistant. The next step up would be a draper, which is pretty much as far as I could go unless I tried to own the shop...which I definitely don't want to do. I would love to be a draper some day just not any time soon. I'm still learning too much every day. My day starts at 6:30 every day when I wake up. I spend the morning alone usually because Jason doesn't have to be up as early. I leave the house by 7:40 to walk to the train (sometimes I can catch a bus down to the train station but most mornings I just walk). I get off the train station at times square and walk down to work and I'm usually there by 8:25. Just enough time to prepare a cup of tea and get myself settled in for the day. Then, depending on whats happening in the shop at that time of the year, I get started with my projects. Lately I've been doing a lot of different stuff.

This is a dress I worked on recently for a touring show in China. Its for Disney...yes its the Cinderella ball gown. I worked on this project for about 3 weeks. I know you can't tell but there's a very sheer layer of light blue net that is the outside layer of the skirt. There are small glued on jewels all around this piece of net. I put each one on individually. It took me 4 days. Heres a more detailed picture.

I also work on The Little Mermaid. Again, I put a lot of heat set jewels on the wedding dress for the end of the show. These are just process shots. I actually have to ask permission because its Disney. So this post could disappear. We'll see.

I also work on Wicked and Mamma Mia alot. I've been doing some work on some dance pieces too for the Mark Morris Dance Group in Brooklyn. I actually got to go to Brooklyn for the fittings. This was a very big deal for me.

There are actually a lot of people we know up here. Friends from both schools we've attended live and work here. So this is our friend Betsy Jilka. We went to school with her in Arkansas and she now lives here with her husband Milan. We met up with a bunch of old friends from Arkansas about a week ago just to catch up. This is at a bar in Little Korea on the top of the LaQuinta Inn. Of course it is. Leave it to the Arkies to find the bar in a hotel to hang out in. It was actually very nice. The Empire State building was right next to us.

Jason at Marymount

2008-04-03T22:12:00.006-04:00

Jason has recently started working with the Marymount Girl's Highschool on the upper east side with their production of Les Miserables (school edition). He's been having a great time and has been really great with the kids. I got to go to the school today and take a few pictures with him and the kids. They really love him...its kind of amazing.

The students sang the finale of the show today and they sounded great!! Jason worked with them for about 15 minutes and they sounded ready for broadway! Incredible.

Then we all had to drink about it. This is our dear friend Ryan. Jason made margaritas and fajitas and we all had to partake.

2008-04-02T19:05:00.004-04:00

I had my 1st ritzy New York City salon experience yesterday. I went to Devachan Hair Salon. Thanks mom!! Its a salon that specializes in curly hair. Of course it is. I paid a ridiculous amount of money for a guy to basically tell me how to do my own hair. It was amazing though. I finally know how to make my hair curly all over and not frizzy. Yay!!

So it might not look a lot different to everybody but I'm kind of obsessed with it.

I've NEVER been able to make my hair curl this evenly all around. Its amazing to me. I know I must sound NUTS!

"new" apartment

2008-04-01T21:10:00.005-04:00

So I know we've technically lived in this space since January, but I figured it was new to all of you so I thought I'd put up some pictures to show our lovely hovel. We really love it. We're slowly working on acquiring things like lamps and bookshelves and things. Its enough for us that we have our HUGE king size bed.

Jason had to tell our cat, Gypsy (lovingly referred to as "the Devil") to stay quiet in the new apartment so that noone would know she was living here.

So this is our bedroom. Please disregard the mess. This is the night after we moved all of our stuff in. So thats why there are bins and things all over the floor.

The apartment is a "railroad" style apartment. So its really long. This is the living room, which is connected to the bedroom. The front door is on the right. Again, pardon the bins...and tiny TV. You can see into the next room which is...

KITCHEN!! This is the view from the other side of the kitchen into the living room. Again...mess.

So this is what we're calling "the red room". Its like an office and will eventually have some form of a piano in it. This picture is taken from the kitchen.

This is the final room of the place. Its the spare bedroom/costume studio/closet/office, etc. So when all of you come to see us, this is where you'll stay. One more time...pardon the bins.

And of course, the bathroom. This is the only picture I could find of our bathroom. Just imagine more blue and tiny, tiny, tiny. But isn't SHE cute?!

First Post!!

2008-03-30T20:35:00.000-04:00

There is some major blog envy going on so here we are inter-web!!! The Burrows have arrived. To be honest, we don't think we are interesting enough to have a blog but we shall see. Maybe if no one visits or if people visit and fall asleep then we will destroy it-or something. Don't know what else to write on this first one. Maybe we can put some up soon about our jobs and stuff. Stay tuned-this should be interesting-or not...see above.