thankful in new york city

Forward: I intended to write this post a month ago. Or a year and a month ago, when my family came to spend Thanksgiving in New York City and I was going to share all the things you should do. The thing is, I got caught up doing them. And then it was Christmas, and there are so many Top 5 Lists of Best Things To Do fighting for 10 seconds of your eyeballs’ time all over the internet, and I didn’t know if the world neeeeeded another. So, of course, I planned to do it this year (since I knew all the things you should do), and I have alas failed again. Meg has been holding down the Lupine fort (I’m very grateful—even though she’s super busy) while I’ve been in a transition the past few months taking on some more clients and work projects. I’m thankful for the work and the opportunities, but when you work in social media and creating online content, I’ve been a little adverse to wanting to spend more time on the internet or in front of a screen in my downtime. I’ve had some Lupine adventures and many many thoughts (I have all the feelings), and I’m hoping to start sharing those again here over the next few months. Finding balance is key— and Lupine is a kind, peaceful, inspired sharing space— not our jobs. (maybe someday? #dreams) So for some catch up and that Thanksgiving post… 

This year I created my own Thanksgiving in New York City, deciding to see my family at Christmas. Last year we checked NYC Thanksgiving off our #FreemanAdventure bucket list and drank hot cider at the Macy’s Parade on the Upper Westside in the rain, saw the balloons being blown up the day before at the Museum of Natural History, gazed at all of the holiday windows on 5th Avenue, strolled the Christmas markets in Union Square, walked the Highline, ate at our favorite spots, and of course saw a few Broadway shows. (support live theatre people!!) Unfortunately it was cold and rainy most of the time, but we enjoyed it anyways…it’s hard for NYC to NOT be magical during the holidays.

A year later, of course the weather was unseasonably warm, and they are not here to do all of the things! Ha! Instead, I slept in, hopped to my couch at 9am to watch all of the Broadway performances at the top of the Macy’s parade in my pajamas. My boyfriend and I slowly got ourselves out of the house and biked/skated over a few avenues and caught the end of the parade as it headed down 6th Ave from Central Park. This is the way to do it— performances on TV at home, and then the last few balloons in person. Quite a few people who had probably been lined up since 6am were heading out by the time we rolled up around 10:45, and it was such a chill crowd. And 20 minutes later, Santa rolls by, and we have the streets to ourselves, so we decided to head up into Central Park.

The day couldn’t have been more perfect, what all of the tourists could only have imagined New York City to be in the Fall… the sun was out, the colors were vibrant, and the leaves were slowly floating down as we moved through the park. There wasn’t a person without a smile on. We cheered during “showtime” in front of the bandshell, laid in the grass and looked up into the sky, and grinned at the local sax player- he just makes my heart so happy. We picked up a few last minute ingredients on our way back home to make some family favorites, cooked the rest of the afternoon, watched holiday movies, had friends stop by, and of course ate way too much. (you HAVE to.) The day was so surprisingly calm and savory. Thanksgiving was different than last year, but I’m still grateful for both. Did I mention I woke up to a small real Christmas tree in my apartment my boyfriend threw in the back of an Uber with a Radio City Christmas Spectacular santa hat on top several nights before? 

Moral: Celebrate Thanksgiving? Eat food with those you love?

Today marks a year since a small/giant miracle happened. I’ve officially been in my own apartment that I won in the NYC Housing Lottery for an entire year…ahhhh. I think it took about 9 of those months for me to actually believe they weren’t going to call and say, “Ooops! We made a mistake!” or “You forgot to do XXX so unfortunately…” and kick me out. I started to settle in and create a new home and new season of life of my own. I finished off my year of being #twentyGREAT and turned #twentyFINE at the beginning of December. I met my boyfriend in the Village the night before my birthday and we went to a bar hidden on top of a Five Guys where my friends surprised me with jazz hands, smiling hearts, and pink cupcakes. I’ll tell you, it’s really awesome to have a group of friends that know you and love you. That’s what we all actually want— to be known. And loved. Really loved, because they actually know you. Not just love the idea of you or what you often pretend to be. It’s rare to find. And it’s a lot of work, and long nights, and desperate phone calls, and waiting rooms, and bottles of wine, but it’s oh so worth it. Your tribe is the best thing you can invest in. And I’m so thankful for this intimate community I have; it’s what makes my life rich. 

Each year I choose a word or a mantra to focus on - to heal, to be happy, to be free, to go do all of the things - and I’m thinking #twentyFINE will be a year of action. A year of creating and fulfilling all of these plans and dreams and wishes we keep talking about. I follow-through on ideas for my clients and work projects, and I’m working on building a creative lifestyle where I also have just as much (if not more) creative energy and focus to invest in my own work. I have too many ideas that I haven’t followed-through on; what am I waiting for? I’ve spent some time away from the dance community to hear my own thoughts instead of just following the herds. So, now that I’ve found some clarity and rejuvenation, it’s time to do something with it. #twentyFINE (like a glass of wine) = to CREATE. Create art, dances, stories, relationships, community, experiences, journeys that I believe in. Ones that matter. 

Andddd I just spent the last two weeks in the Swiss Alps and German Christmas Markets…so let the games begin! (don’t worry, you will be flooded with all of the german-austrian-swiss stories very soon. hint: it’s true, the hills ARE alive.)

Let's kick Christmas ass, shall we? 

And one last parting gift from the goddess Cheryl Strayed:

“Stop worrying about whether you’re fat. You’re not fat. Or, rather, you’re sometimes a little bit fat, but who gives a shit. There’s nothing more boring and fruitless and than a woman lamenting the fact that her stomach is round. Feed yourself. Literally. The sort of people worthy of your love will love you more for this.”

Happy Holidays!

summering

So... maybe we've taken a break from blogging over the past month? Don't get us wrong, it wasn't intentional. We were summering and adventuring and having such a good time that we forgot to write about it. Maybe that means we're doing it right?

It's looked a lot like this:

NAAATTTUUURRREEEE 🙌 #vacay #grandtetons #jacksonhole #nationalpark #thehillsarealive #imeanmountains #freemanadventure #slomo #soundofmusic #wanderlust #wyoming

A video posted by grace freeman (@graceefree) on Jul 3, 2015 at 8:01pm PDT

and this:

and this: 

When we weren't able to escape the NYC area, we found all the things we love about summer in the city to cope. Those things most always include sunsets, rooftops, beaches, and cupcakes. 

Perhaps we enjoyed the glass of wine on the roof or savored the last moment of the sun setting over the Hudson a little too much... as the last thing I've wanted to do is go to my computer and tell you about it at the end of the day. I rather soak up these moments than sit in front of a computer screen. Do you get me? Sometimes screens seem like the loneliest thing to me. I know cell phones and social media have connected our world in a way never imagined, but there is nothing sadder than watching someone taking a selfie on a sunset-lit pier to prove to all of these mythical followers of theirs that they're having a blast, when really they're alone and they want someone to share it with. So they share it with a screen. I wonder if all these bloggers and travel writers out there actually enjoy their present? It's hard to balance being where you are and trying to document and share it all the time. How do you balance? We're trying to experience our summer, our friends, and the places we wander and share what we find. Not plan out our photo shoot of a journey before we've even taken it. We don't want to go on such predictable journeys. That's not how we roll :) And I'm so thankful for it. But boy, do we have some stories to share! And we promise we're taking the time to start sharing them again here! Sorry for the delay, we were too busy summering. 

it's the little things, like dreams coming true

Last Friday night Meg and I had a very classic New York City evening of dinner and the theatre. It was an especially special treat...as we got to see one of my very best friends in his first Broadway show, Mr. Drew King. (Oh and the show is On the 20th Century starring the lovely Kristin Chenoweth and Peter Gallagher... even though Drew is our star!) 

Drew and his tap dancing quartet stole the show. I mean just look at them:

Can you tell I'm proud? Well, I'm certainly not the only one. I met Drew years ago in tap class. We performed one of our first big NYC gigs together, we became roommates and lived together, and we pounded the pavement together. We bonded over this love for dance, the heartbreak of the hundreds and thousands of hours we were putting into it but not necessarily feeling noticed or successful, and the hope that maybe we'll really get a chance to "make it" someday. We just wanted the opportunity to try. (We also bonded over our love of Bon Iver, red wine, kale, traveling, boy problems...and lots of other "human" things too.) We'd have this cycle of encouraging the other through the rejection of the business-  "You can't give up!" "Hard work will pay off!" "Work ethic and kindness don't go unnoticed!" "You're not fat!" "You're not too skinny!" "There will be more auditions!" "They don't hate you!" "YOU'RE being CRAZY!" "You ARE NOT crazy!" " I'm sure you didn't sound that bad!" "Here, have some wine." It goes on... And I'm not the only one who had this relationship with him.

For all you non-theatre-folks out there, we're all kind of in the trenches together. Or at least that's how I'd like to look at it. It's easy to feel isolated and discouraged when you're not caught up in a whirlwind of work opportunities, but if you look around you're in the same boat of a lot of people- the whole 300 people in the holding room at every audition are in that boat or they wouldn't need to be auditioning too. And you can either judge the other people down in that trench with you, compete against them, and give them all the side eye, or you can find a few comrades to survive it with. What do you have to lose in finding some trustworthy and encouraging friends to go through this season of life with? Make it a little less discouraging, a little more comical, and a LOT more joyful. 

I've been reading Cheryl Strayed's Tiny Beautiful Things lately, which ranges from advice letters on love, life, loss, relationships, and all things in between. In one letter, she is asked what to do when you're jealous of people who succeed at what you do even if you like them.

“It makes me sick that I don’t feel happy for them, especially when it comes to my close friends, but there it is. When I think of their successes, it only reminds me of what I don’t have.”

— Awful Jealous Person

Besides putting this lady in her place, Strayed taps into how someone else's success doesn't have to define yours.

“I know it’s not easy being an artist. I know the gulf between creation and commerce is so tremendously wide that it’s sometimes impossible not to feel annihilated by it. A lot of artists give up because it’s just too damn hard to go on making art in a culture that by and large does not support its artists. But the people who don’t give up are the people who find a way to believe in abundance rather than scarcity. They’ve taken into their hearts the idea that there is enough for all of us, that success will manifest itself in different ways for different sorts of artist, that keeping the faith is more important than cashing the check, that being genuinely happy for someone else who got something you hope to get makes you genuinely happier too.”

— Cheryl Strayed, aka BOSSSSSSS

When I read this after seeing Drew's show again last week, it made my heart smile. It's the little things. Like being able to be genuinely happy for someone else's success. That's not a little thing, it's actually a big thing. To be able to have joy for others, the ones you've spent years in the trenches with, and to be able to celebrate them. If that doesn't give you hope, I don't know what will. If you don't know Drew, he's one of the most encouraging friends you'll have- and he's got lots of them! He's always busy out supporting someone's show, celebrating a birthday, bringing over a bottle of wine on one of those nights where the extra large bottle of wine in needed, which is why his dream coming true has made so many people incredibly happy and proud. He got his chance! There was a collective gasp heard around the country as his friends far and wide gathered around their TVs to watch our own perform at the Tony Awards. And right at the top of the number, there he is!!! (0:15 below to be exact) 

I had the perfect view of the show that Friday night: I looked over Meg's lap to the aisle across from us where Drew's mom was sitting on the edge of her seat surrounded by his aunts and uncles who drove 5 hours that day to see him perform. She may have been beaming more in that seat than Drew was up on that stage on the other side of the orchestra pit tapping his face off. My heart grew three sizes as we all were so proud in that moment. That's joy. 

Don't you want to be part of a community like that? No matter what industry you're in? I don't know if my creative endeavors will ever make me millions, but this is the rich life. 

notes:

- see On The 20th Century through July 19th and cheer on those porters! 

- support theatre and the arts in general and give us jobs :) 

- if you want to learn how to tap dance, it will make your life happier and it's never too late to start a new hobby! we suggest BDC or STEPs if you're in NYC!

wanderlust wednesday: airport diaries

Walking through the airport, ever wonder what it would be like to hop on a different flight? Pull a whole Home Alone move? Scratch all your plans and wake up somewhere new? Go some place without expectation of what you "should" do and just chill out? I do it all the time. 

Playing with the idea of going anywhere at the snap of my fingers feels free. After spending a long weekend at home with my family, I had European thoughts on the brain. I'd love to go stroll around Paris or Croatia or Italy for several days. To be in a place where I didn't know the language- and therefore wouldn't be required to talk to lots of people- seems so relaxing. (I guess you could say I got plentyyyy of family time.) I could sleep when I wanted to, eat when I wanted to, stroll around for hours and get lost in a new place. I would love to spend hours sitting in a little outdoor cafe writing and day dreaming. With no stress of meeting a deadline. Oh, and I could wear sundresses the whole time. (Hey, it's my dream.) I wouldn't complain over island life in the Bahamas or off the coast of Nicaragua either... 

But alas, I hopped on my very delayed flight back to NYC, and we're back to reality this morning! But hey, this kid hit the jackpot when he hopped on the wrong flight and ended up in the city that never sleeps... so maybe we're in for our own surprises.