NOTHING

is more awkward than when people end their sentences in a trail off so...
(specially when they have NO intention of finishing the sentence!!!)

for example:

"well, i just came home from work, so......"
or
"it was really fun to see you tonight, so......"
or
i don't know.... just don't do it, so....

i am not ashamed.....

brit brit's curious is in my regular scent lineup.

she may be a hot mess (thanks for the reminder, bff rosie) and i imagine she smells more like old coffee/cigarette/cheetoes breath, but she makes ME smell fantastic.

don't tell the fellas! shhhhhhhh!

up up and away...

so while i'm spectacularly skeeved out by hot air balloons
(remember how i was stalked by a fellow in a hot air balloon... revisit that story here), there is an adorable (non-hot air) balloon that will fly your act 30 stories into the air to look at central park from a birds eye view....

would be a sweet date, no?
but the lines are heavy... go early.
aeroballoon.

i love to eat pretty things....

whenever my gals and i have "a DAY," we usually opt for either bloomies (fro yo, natch) or bouchon bakery

grill the ham and cheese. yum.

maybe if ti-ti nugget is especially good one day, she'll get to try the fois gras dog biscuits.
spoiled nugget.

we tried ALL the killer macaroon flavors today (don't kill me~ dr's told me to eat sugar in small amounts.... the cookies are small...)
... my favorite was vanilla... which is SO unlike me.

it's just so lovely and peaceful to eat small pretty morsels while looking over columbus circle.

don't fret, west coasters..... bouchon has a bakery @ the venetian in vegas!

look at it this way....

i had a long overdue meltdown tonight over all of my failings....

long lost roomate/housguest raquel wisely stated:

"you can't compare today with yesterday or today with tomorrow and you can't get everything right. "


which roughly means:
think of what your life was like 6 months ago and check to see if you've made progress. then look back a year, or five years, or ten. are you better today? if not, fix it.
if you are, keep on keeping on.

also, you're NEVER going to get it ALL right.
right now, you're focusing on something in a more consuming way (family, education, health, career, relationships, church) and while you're multi-tasking, you can't always have 100% of your effort in ALL areas.
so relax.
do the best you can do with the multi-tasking, but don't expect to be perfect ... cause maybe in 6 months you'll be in a position to focus on another area....
so focus on what you're doing right--right now.

namaste*

nothing is more precious

than watching twin 3 yr olds play pretend (lots of wedding dress, meeting, and mom talk... they're city girls) on a rock in central park

while dishing with your bestie.

love finding bits of normalcy in this crazy city.

loved being with worthie , a, and l if even for a spell.

some friends

are so lovely.

b needed some retail therapy (yes, broadway stars have rough days too.....:)

so to make herself feel better, she bought a lovely ettika bracelet and to make her retail guilt feel better, she bought one for me. lucky me!

mine has a peace sign, electric blue leather, and 10 gold rings (for my ten wishes i made today).

i love it.

isn't this a creepy shot?.... ala asian nail salon.
orchids, mirrors, essie boathouse nail lacquer.


my bracelet is not on the website, but

this is. very fab. i want to layer.

but eeeeewww.... i just spotted jo de la rosa (from housewives and now date my ex) wearing the grecian coin version on tonights episode.....

let's just all wear it better!

thanks for spotting me!!

yay, blends (blog friends)! you were right!

guess Max, Laura and Saldivar's last show made msnbc's "celebrity sightings of the week"
i'm not usually standing behind LORax at this moment, but we'd just had a teary huddle and i was stuck there for the final pose.

that was a very sad day.

miss them dearly.

thanks for looking for me!! i'd never see these things were it not for you!

all i wanna do...

is love you.
and sugarland.

love love love the new album
it's my new summer soundtrack.

and this fab + very modern image.

i have a dreeeeeam. a song to siiiiiing.

after seeing the Mama Mia! film,
i have come to the following conclusions:

1. pierce brosnan probably shouldn't sing on film again.... especially while trying to look sexy.
2. i desperately need to move to greece.

with colin firth
aka. mr. mark darcy

where we will swaddle our everythings in
these textiles

3. i was incredibly drawn to the simplicity of the blue walls, bright textiles, white furniture, fresh flowers........ then i realized that the set was a grecian replica of my apartment... sans pricey textiles (mine are mix and match anthro, mostly) and colin.

a girl can dream.

thankfully she found the source of the killer prints-it was driving me nuts!!

sugar, sugar

i have an fb who gave the loveliest most thoughtful gifts in the history of fb's.
he may not be around to smell my deliciously clean bod, but everyone in nyc is grateful for his great taste in scents.

fresh soap in sugar

oh pioneer

started the pioneer day like this:

then chose to honor our "golden two" by wearing dad's t-shirt from the "ole studio days."
you should have seen the fans while i was signing autographs.
the went bizerk for donny and marie.

miss anna white won the grand prize: movie ticket (you know, most mormon dates include dinner, movie and ice cream. i gave her one of the triple play)
note she's eating both green fluff and the raspberry pretzel salad.
cast and crew went crazy for the jello...

but susan's entry , beautifully titled, "warren jeff's oldest wife"
was pretty genius, i think.

open the gates and seize the day.

dear christian,
i have loved you since newsies.

when you were christian-incarcerated, you should have used your one call to call ME.

why you gotta be married?!

i could reform you.
think about it.

xoxo. me.

the ice cream man

bff worthini and i happened upon the van leeuwen ice cream truck.
sadly, we'd just stuffed ourselves with grom gelato.

artisanal flavors, homemade hot fudge?!

next time....

days of glory

Happy Pioneer Day!

(ie. utah state holiday celebrating the mormon pioneers coming into the salt lake valley)

this year, i'm forcing the kids at grease to celebrate by:

eating
jana's green fluff
&
auntie vickie's raspberry/pretzel/jello salad
(jello is a state food of utah)

and
participating in a costume contest
(with very cool prizes)

greasers can either dress as:
1. a pioneer
2. a polygamist-lots of great hair options with this one
(so long as they PROMISE they KNOW that mormons are NOT polygamists)
3. a cowboy


i'd like to go as days of '47 royalty
(the rodeo variety---but, sadly, i am without a giant tiara/hat combo OR wranglers)

so i'll probably pull out a good 'ole pioneer.

wish i had a bonnet.

latina marty

will be greeting the new Sandy and Zuko,
DAshley, as we like to call them, for their first performances.

i will be marty on:

tuesday. july 22.
wednesday. july 23.
thursday. july 24 .
(pioneer day! and grease's preview-bday)

the end of an era...

"Don't be dismayed at good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends."
.Richard Bach.

goodbye, dear friends.
this year has flown.
you will be missed more than you know.

all photos taken exactly one year ago

thanks and evermore thanks

to daddy varela for learning a mormon song.
for singing it stunningly.
for charming the entire congregation.

to jacob ben widmar for learning aforementioned mormon song the day before.
for playing it tenderly.
for your infectious spirit and humor.

and thank you to all of my lovely friends who supported me as i spoke.
specially susan and oskaaah.

it was a beautiful meeting.

this just in....

it's confirmed: xanadu's own (hurrah!) jacob (little) ben widmar will be joining the
sacrament meeting bill.
(scroll down for more deets.. i'm to lazy to link)

he will be accompanying brother varela on terribly short notice.

he's lovely and talented and brilliant.
i'm blessed that he is my friend.

not our most flattering picture..... pretty sure there are fries in my mouth.

a lemon tree... continued.

how did you end up with a meyer lemon tree in a manhattan studio apartment?
good question.

i'll tell you.
while vacationing in utah, i ordered a lemon tree online for a v.v. cool mother's day gift for my chef mom.

when i returned to nyc, a half dead (it'd been there a long time) lemon tree (uh.. stick) greeted me on my door step.

silly me, i'd put her address as my own.

and at that point, the struggling lemon stick was in no condition to travel to utah....

so.

i kept her (gladys the meyer lemon tree)
and bought her sister for mom.

my tree doesn't exactly look like a tree..more like a spastic shrub.
maybe trees-like pets-resemble their owners?

buy your own meyer lemon tree here
they're inexpensive, low maintenance, pretty when the white flowers bloom, and harvest pretty yellow lemons (mine took a year to fruit.... be patient).

urinetown.

whilst lunching @ my beloved shake shack with 3 of my favorite people on this earth,

i had an urge to use the ladies.

outdoor shake shack = no powder room
and i said nay nay to the portas.

BUT, lucky for me, they have this space-age potty-pod.....

see, you pay your quarter (i had ONE solo quarter at the bottom of my purse... nearly panic-inducing) and you get 15 min of lav time.

the entire room is automatically hosed down tween bottoms so the seat is a bit soggy, but toilet paper is included (a rarity), SOAP was dispensed (another rarity) and it was virtually smell free....

and in nyc, i'd pay more than a quarter for THAT!

the littles were here!

growing up, the little sister dynamic was always,

"NatalieNicole" and "the little girls" (nina, kara, and ali)
natalieNicole got to do grown up things (cause, well, i'm 12 yrs older than al)
and the littles were just too little.

the youngest littles (keitch and al)+ surrogate-brother/cousin michaelboy
came for a 24 hr drive-by while on an intense church-group history tour.

serendipity- first stop. natch.

ethiopian food

is delicious.
which is confusing considering whenever i'm talking about someone who is too thin, i always say "she/he looks ethiopian"

must be the poor ethiopians.

cause the rich eat very well.

queen of sheba
10th ave
(45-46th streets)

i recommend the vegetarian sampler + rosemary chicken.
i like eating with my hands.
sensual.
but make sure your date is eating it too.... breath....

then wander down 10th for my favorite dessert...

nyc icy
10th ave
44-45

come one, come all!!!

i will be speaking in church (and leading the music... it's the natalie show!!)
this sunday.

11:30 am
(before your matinee, show people)
union square 3 rd ward
144 west 15th street (6-7) 4th floor
nyc . ny.


get directions here
what to expect @ sunday meetings here

i'll be speaking about
building a foundation in Christ thru service to the Lord.

and if THAT's not exciting enough,
this crazy looking dude

andrew varela,
will be graciously singing for me.
helps to have broadway star friends.

painting by minerva teichert

i found it!!!

i hope you're all as relieved as i am....
this is THE perfect silver polish

birthday babe
by O.P.I.

it's the festival of the lemon harvest.

long lost dearest erica (peaches) and i reunited for tween show lunch and decided it was time to harvest my ONE meyer lemon from my beautiful indoor lemon tree.

this was a significant event because it only took a measly YEAR for this lemon to come into fruition . pun intended.

to mark the occasion,
we

posed with the lemon,

caressed, sang and chanted to the lemon,

then sliced her.
she was perfect.

well, what do you do with ONE beautiful lemon?

put it in your ice water then find a metaphor for men and meyer lemons.

more on that later.