Appreciation to my fellow bloggers!!!

       I decided to turn vegan after doing some research and realizing that veganism was the best way to keep my weight down, cleanse my body, and feel great about myself... all the while helping the environment and supporting my furry/feathery/fuzzy/scaley friends!

       Well everyone knows the fastest easiest way to get information is via internet. Whenever I would pop "Vegan"  into google, a gillion blogs would come up!! well I started to read these blogs... every day! They inspired me, and they let me know that I wasnt alone in all of this. There were "Crazy health freaks" out there just like me!!! They let me in on the "secrets" of being vegan, vegan products, vegan recipes, etc. I had never even attempted cooking or baking before turning vegan and I have learned that cooking/baking is truly a passion of mine!

       Well as I have said numerous times I have been super busy. Posting on blogs isnt always within my time frame. (Lets face it.. i wake up at 945, im out of my hotel room by 11, at rehearsal at 12... and am there until ATLEAST 10:30 pm!!!) With this sort of schedule it is almost impossible. But the first thing I do every morning, besides check my email, and my facebook (i cant help it) I check out a bunch of blogs! 

   As I was scoping out the daily posts of my fav bloggers I though "I wish I knew how inspiring they were to me". And you really all are. I've made friends, and learned sososso much about not only veganism but myself as well. Well.. the very first blogs I ever read were Fat Free Vegan Kitchen , Katie from Chocolate Covored Vegan, and Liz from Veggie Girl...so thank you to you three for jump starting my vegan life!!!

   And then I got to thinking, I am inspired each and every day by different people. My mother inspires me to reach my dreams, and to never give up. My boyfriend inspires me to be the very best at everything I do (my only competition is myself) my friend Jenna inspires me to not let ANYONE or ANYTHING get in my way, my Rockette friends inspire me to be the best performer that I can be.... I am inspired all the time... and I think that it is an important thing  to think about once in a while..What are YOU inspired by? And How can we become better people??

just some VEGAN food for thought :)

CATERING!!!!!

First I want to start off with saying I'm sorry for the LACK of pictures. I still kind of feel weird bringing out my camera and taking pictures of the food I eat with my new Radio City friends! I know its stupid.. they all know I'm vegan... but still.

ON THAT NOTE!!!!!!

So since we spend so much time at rehearsal (we're at the arena from 1-10:30pm... tech rehearsal for all of you theatre kids out there) We get catering! We actually have catering that travels with us on tour so that we are provided breakfast lunch and dinner every day!!! WOHOO!!!! Well our caterer... IS AMAZINGGGGGG. They said that they would provide vegan options for me, but I wasn't sure how "VEGAN" they would be. (For a non vegan... vegetables doused in butter sometimes qualify!) Well when I walked into the room yesterday for our first day of catering there were salads, fruits, and a vegan pastry topped with apricot and mango chutney!! YUMMM... also there were stuffed tomatoes with whole grain rice and cous cous and such.... SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!! well I have to go to rehearsal right now 

Hershey PA

This weekend was absolutely amazing. After rehearsal on Saturday, I heard a knock at my door and it was my boyfriend ANTHONY :)!!!! It was so wonderful to see him... I sometimes forget what its like to have someone that I love around.. its so refreshing.

We headed into the city to go out to dinner. OH MY GOODNESS I MISS THE CITY! Not only is it incredibly  beautiful (IM SORRY I THINK IT IS) but it is so much fun! We walked around, went out to get dinner, and just enjoyed each others company. 

After our city fun, we went back to my house (WHERE I SAW MY PUPPY CODY!!! god i missed him) 

Next day we got CHIPOTLE (I love their vegetarian salad... no cheese) and then headed back to CT. Although We didn't get much time together, it was amazing and I love spending time with Anthony. I am really lucky to have someone who cares so much about me, and would go out of his way to see me... even hen I happen to be far away. 

Well today we left early from CT to head to PA. We stopped about 4 hours into our trip for lunch. I was hoping they would stop at a service area where there are lots of options, but they just pulled off of the pkwy into a random area. There was nothing but fast food, and a Bob Evans. Ive never been there but some of the girls assured me it was decent. Well I ordered a vegetable stir fry. I was excited that I had found something I could eat even under those circumstances. It came out and was pretty much a huge plate of rice and a MINIMAL amount of vegetables. I was mad. I hate when restaurants advertise one thing and then present you with another!!! ROARRRRR

Then once we got here there wasnt much but a TGI FRIDAYS, so we went there. I asked if there were any vegetarian options and the jerky waiter replied "We dont really cater to vegetarians." That made me even more annoyed. I ended up getting a "Santa Fay Chicken salad" minus the chicken and cheese, vinaigrette on the side. Of course when it came it was doused in gross ranch dressing. I just couldn't win! They were so slow and rude... I HATE RESTAURANTS SOMETIMES!!!

Early morning post... and a confession :(

Well.. I've been living in Mystic CT for the past month rehearsing and all of that fun stuff.

Have any of you ever heard of the movie "Mystic Pizza"??? It's Julia Roberts first movie. Well that movie originated at a pizza place here! Last night for dinner we went out to the famous Mystic Pizza to taste a "Slice of Heaven". I LOVE pizza... and i miss eating pizza with cheese on it... so when i ordered I "Forgot" To say "NO CHEESE". When my pizza came, the gooey cheezey goodness was screaming "EAT ME!" and... I did. I felt so bad about it afterwards. I do believe in veganism and I want to hold fast to my morals and values. After eating this pizza I did get a tummy ache and decided thats enough cheese for me... but I felt bad about eating it... but I guess we all cant be perfect huh.

In other news, today is my last day in Mystic CT!!! IM very excited about it. I like it here just fine but im excited to go on to the next stage of my touring experience.. next stop... HERSHEY PENNSYLVANIA!  Were going to be rehearsing in an arena to get the feel of what the entire tour will be like.. and iM PUMPED!!! Anthony is also coming today to visit me... I haven't seen him in a MONTH so im really excited!!!!!

HORRAY FOR GOOD DAYS (and glad the bad tummy ache is over!)

LOTS OF LOVE :)

Hey SARAH PALIN!

Well... I know that there has been LOTS of buzz about the upcoming election. Although I am not an expert politician, I know what I believe in, and I know what policies effect me directly. I feel the Obama would be the best choice for me... which is why I really hope he wins!!! Not only do I think Mccain is too old fashioned and I dont think he is the type of president that America needs right now....

   Now lets take a look at his VP.... ummmmm..... not so sure she is the brightest crayon in the box. Not only is she a terrible speaker (Biden killed her in the debate!), but her views are absolutely ridiculous. 

I am not an advocate for abortion... but I think that in the correct circumstances it may be necessary. I was watching an interview where she was asked if a girl is raped by her FATHER should she be able to have an abortion. Sarah proceeded to answer that she thinks abortion is wrong in all circumstances and that girl should absolutely have that child. 

  As a vegan... I am very aware of animal rights and global warming. Even though she is from Alaska, a region directly effected by global warming, she believes that this warming is simply a result of a cyclical pattern in our environment and that humans dont have all that much to do with it.... hmmmmm shes a winner huh... she also thinks that Polar bears should be taken off of the endangered species list... she believes they should be able to be hunted..

I dunno.. I just dont see a woman who goes out and hunts Moose for dinner to be a good choice to help run our country... but thats just me.... but I mean Hey... she is a hockey mom.. so she must understand the American People!

If you havent noticed.. I think that she is an idiot... I am all for women in politics. I think that we are just as smart (If not smarter he he) than men... but this woman is an insult to us... But then again... thats just my opinion... 

If you share the same views as I do... please watch this video... its HYSTERICAL :)

( I couldnt get it to upload on this post.. but its below)

if you hate palin as much as I do... please watch this!!!

A Team!

So we've nick named our Line the "A-team". I mean we are pretty awesome.. so why the hell not be number one right!!! And I must say we truly are a team! Today we had to shoot a film that will be played during the show. Its going to look as though it's on a huge bill board behind us as we kick. It was actually really cool to shoot because they painted the entire studio blue. Like how they do it when the make movies like "The Golden Compas" and "Lord of the Rings". The only down side was that we were kicking on concrete. Each set of kicks we did had  32 kicks in all... we did that 15 times... thats 480 kicks... thats a lot of kicks in 2 hours!

   The fun part was that we were in full make up/ hair, and COSTUME!!! here are some fun pics from the shoot :) oh and we got free lunch.. and they made Ratatouille for the vegans! (all two of us) exciting!

Follow your dreams...

I'm a lucky girl. I have been able to follow my dreams and peruse a performance career. People actually pay me to do what I love... and it's awesome. Through out my life people have told me that this dream is unattainable. They have said that this career path is pointless, there are no financial rewards, and that I should choose a more sensible option. Well I never wanted to. I always knew this is what I would do, and that there is nothing else I would be happy doing. 

    For the second year, I will be doing my dream job. A Check off on my "To Do" list of life goals....and I never want to stop.. i absolutely love my job.. BUT MY GOD IS IT HARD!!!!!

Not only do we need to learn choreography, but we need to learn lines and depths. In the front of the stage there are numbers from 

0-26. In the center there is #0...and then on either side of 0 are numbers 1-26 (aka there are two 2's, two 4's etc). So not only do I have to know what number I am suposed to be dancing on at any given moment, but as rockettes we must be EXACTLY THE SAME.. therefore we have to be on the same "depths". So along with the numbers, there are different lines on the stage as well. There are lines of pluses, dashes, circles and solids. But of course we are not only just on the lines.. we could be toeing the line (toes on line) Heeling (heels on lines) Balling (balls of our feet on the lines) even arching (arches on the line) we also could be half way between two different lines (ex: 1/2 btwn circle solid). AKA That leaves lots of options for the places we can be on stage. 

   Not only do we just have a stage, but on this arena tour we also have a runway that juts out into the audience. On the runway there are a number of lines and also colored circles on the side of it to determine where we can be. AHH SO MANY POSSIBILITIES!!! (and people think dancers arent intelligent... i dare anyone to memorize all of this information!)

    So... all at once, we are singing, dancing, making sure our lines are PERFECTLY strait (and i mean PERFECT) making sure we are spaced correctly on our proper numbers...all the while trying to get through any sort of high intensity dance! (one of our numbers is about 12 minutes long) 

   The fun parts are the beautiful costumes, the little girls who are dying to give you a hug because when they grow up they want to be just like you... and when you look out into the audience you see all of the smiling faces and you know that you are bringing these people such pure joy... so although it's hard...and although rehearsals are 6 hours a day 6 days a week... 

(This is our rehearsal space) The circular space is where the ice skating rink is going to be.. leading onto the stage is the runway and then that long space in the back is the main stage :) )

although we have to be PERFECT and constantly alert and on our game... it's all worth it.. because in the end... its what I love... and whats better than that?

A Rockin Rockette!

Well...rehearsals have been CRAZY!!! as of tomorrow we will have learned the entire show!! thats 9 numbers of eye high kick goodness! Other than my body hurting and my brain full of numbers, travels, choreography of every kind, and christmas melodies, im having a great time! People ask me all the time if we all really get along... and the answer is USUALLY. Its hard with 34 girls together 24/7 but I really have made some life long friends. heres a pic of me and two new Rockettes.. I LOVE THEM!!!

I am super excited becuase our caterer (yes we have a caterer traveling with us as well to provide all of our meals!) has been notified that me and one other cast member are vegans.. and he has agreed to have options for us! HORRAYYY!!!! they also told me that they would be willing to hold onto my hemp protein and rice milk... ( since i dont do soy!) im sos os os os oso sos happy! im really glad that I have stayed true to myself through out this journey (so far) Its really important to stick to your morals and values. It's so easy to compromise.. BUT I DONT WANT TO!

:)