Gigi on Broadway starring Vanessa Hudgens: Full Review

Good morning beautiful,

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Happy Saturday! So, as promised on yesterday's blog post I am here to offer a full review of the Broadway show GiGi which I had the privilege of seeing with my mom this past week. The show was scheduled for 7pm and the theater is somewhere in midtown so I had to rush after work to pick up my mom and off we went!

So anyways, let me back track to how I got the tickets. A few weeks ago I decided to request 1/2 day off from work in order to be part of  The View- one of my favorite shows since I was in college! Vanessa Hudgens (the main character) was a guest that day and the entire audience won tickets to the Broadway show. Thank you, abc TV networks, or whoever paid for this ;).

Now, let me just say I had no clue what GiGi is or was based on. I just remember hearing is a re-make of a very famous show that has been around for decades (pardon my ignorance). I was just excited for the free tickets.

If you have been following the blog for some time you may already know that France is my absolute favorite country in the world. Mind you, I have only been there once in my life. However, for some reason I've always had an affinity with the place and see myself going back several times over during my life time. So anyways, you can imagine my excitement when I realized the whole story takes place in France:

In a nutshell (without giving too much away) Gigi is about a girl from France, coming of age as she is being raised by her grandmother --  who she sweetly refers to as 'grandmama'. The grandmother goes out of her way to make sure Gigi grows up to be a proper lady and tries to teach her the ropes. Meanwhile, Gigi thinks all the luxuries and ambition for money in France is silly and understands from a young age there are more important things in life. She is happy being a simple girl. 

As the story develops, she eventually finds herself, falls in love, and grows up to be a beautiful, 'well polished', young lady. Every single character in the performance does a phenomenal job. I also found a new found respect for Vanessa Hudgens. I always wondered why or how these Disney celebrities become so famous. Seeing Vanessa in live action made me realize this girl actually has some freaking solid talent. At the end of the performance, everyone gave her a standing ovation. Congrats to her! I really enjoyed the whole experience.

....And specially getting to share that with me dear mom:

Please disregard my tired eyes. It was a long day at work.

The show runs for over 2 hours. As good as it was, I felt like we were there forever. To be quite honest-- my mom and I were about to leave at one point during intermission (we thought it was over). Luckily we noticed no one was leaving the place and then we realized there was more to come so we immediately sat back down. Pretty funny situation.

During and after the show we were both starving! We grabbed a pizza at Sbarro afterwards. I hate that place. I just kept wondering, how are they still in business?! Anyways, we were hungry.

And that's all folks. Had an awesome time in Manhattan with my mom. Looking forward to having those dates more often.

Tell me, have you seen a Broadway show before or wish to see one? which one? 

I was not compensated for this post other than getting the free tickers from the View. I was not asked to make a review either. I did this because I really enjoyed my time and wanted to share it on the blog.

Fortunate Friday {May first Edition}

Hello everyone!

How was your week? Mine was great and busy with zero complaints. Week came with its challenges because obviously that is life, however, nothing I couldn't handle.

I may not be very consistent with my daily posts (*embarrassed*) but at least I can keep up with these Fortunate Friday posts. I was thinking to myself "I don't even know what I am thankful for this week. nothing really exciting happened". And then, as I opened my mind to the question, it started shooting at me several things that definitely deserve a shout out in today's post. With that said, here what I feel fortunate for this week:

1. My health- This is more than a given. Health is wealth and such an incredible blessing that sometimes we take for granted or 'forget about'. No matter what may be going on in our lives-- personal issues, life drama, work drama, and the list goes on; we should be thankful that we are able to get out of bed each morning and tackle the day and whatever it may bring. We should be thankful that we are able to open our eyes, move, breathe, and care for ourselves. That's kind of a big deal.

2. The strong instinct/reassurance that everything will be more than okay- My life is not perfect but I do my best to remain optimistic in the face of challenges. One of my favorite mantras is "this too shall pass". Something inside of me tells me that whatever is not going "my way" at this point in my life is only meant for my good in the long term. If I can weather the storm I can look forward to the sun.

3. My sister and my best friend-- not much to say about this other than they are both such incredible support systems and people I can count on no matter what.

My sister and I (circa 2013- ish)

My bestie and I in New Orleans (circa ~2011 ish)

4. My home- also known as my sanctuary, my office, my space away from the hectic world. A true blessing.

5. My faith, which keeps me sane-- I cant tell you how many times a day my brain goes completely ballistic worrying about this or that or the other-- fear, uncertainty, regret, sadness-- things that try to attack me from time to time. Thankfully holding on to my faith keeps me away from that and reassures me I will be more than okay (see #2).

6. Bonus: a very consistent month when it comes to fitness-- Check this out:

I worked out pretty much every single scheduled day this month. A combination of the gym, Zumba classes and strengthen training with my dear Jillian Michaels. Looking forward to keeping this up in May. Shout out to my Ipad that keeps me entertained at the gym :).

Tip: A visual calendar to keep track of daily workouts is an awesome motivational tool.

...and that's all folks! Thanks for reading. Have a phenomenal weekend.

Love,
Mabelle

Fortunate Fridays {Consistency Edition}

Hello ladies (and gents?)!

How was everyone's week? hope you all had a successful and productive one. If not, there is no reason to feel down about it. Tomorrow is another day.

You may have noticed I've been a bit quiet on the blog this past week. Work has been super busy (in a good way) so I'd like to apologize. Thankfully I've been able to keep up with the Fortunate Fridays posts. I feel gratitude is so important and taking the time to acknowledge the good things in our lives is always worthwhile.

Without further 'ado, here is what I felt fortunate for this past week:

1. Tickets to a super fun comedy show in the city this past Saturday. Felix and I were able to attend a show at StandUpNY for the first time and absolutely loved it. Had a great time there and had a super fun conversation with a very talented comedian (Hi Tom!)

2. Attending The Chew with my sister and being part of the "live studio audience". I was surprised with some free tickets and so I made my way to the show. Yes, I was on TV and no I am not ashamed. Super fun crew.

3. Work and staying busy! This may sound weird but I am actually so incredibly grateful for all the work I have been getting and for the blessing to pursue my passion. Slow and steady wins the race. Thank.you.God.

4. Being able to keep up with the gym: consistency is the key my friends-- My eating may not necessarily have been perfect lately to say the least (i.e: A bit too much junk food, specially in the evenings a few times this week). However, I've been committed and faithful with hitting the gym and completing my Jillian Michaels strength training workouts. Something that motivates me to hit the gym is my Ipad (i.e: reading magazines and/or the paper while I am working out). I feel like time just flies by. Highly recommend!

5. Having people that love me and care for me and whom I can reach out to--- because of the nature of my work I spend too much time on my own. I work from home now so I don't have the "luxury" of having people around and chit chatting throughout the day. As much as I love it, it can get lonely sometimes! I have to remind myself that I am blessed with a circle of amazing friends and family and a special someone that I can reach out to when necessary. That in itself is a blessing and I am so grateful for it. Whats the benefit of having everything you want in life if you have no one to share it with? :)

Here is another inspiring meme I came across this week, thought I'd share:

And that's all folks!

Shameless Selfie 

What do you have planned for the weekend? It's supposed to be "semi-nice" here in NYC (meaning sunny but a bit cold). So I plan to make my way to Brooklyn to visit one of my friends that moved there recently and just spend quality time with people I love in general.

Tell me, have you ever been a member of a studio audience? How was it? If not, what show would u love to attend?

Love,

Mabelle

Fortunate Fridays {If you believe in something, never give up- Edition}

Hello Loves!

Can you believe is Friday again?! Not only that but April is half way through. Ugh! lets not even think about that.

This week was busy. Super busy. So busy I wasn't even able to post my MWM (Mid Week Motivation) post this past Wednesday so please accept my apologies for that. I will do my best so that it doesn't happen again, at least for next week.

Regardless of how busy we may get, there is always time to express gratitude. So, without further ado, I leave you with some of the many things I felt fortunate for this week:

1. Having access to a Library card and being able to read pretty much any book I can think of, for free. Below are a couple of books i've been meaning to read for quite some time and I finally got a hold of them! 

2. Family time with the kiddos at Chucky Cheese! I may or may not have been hanging out at my local CC's with family this past Friday. I also may or may not have eaten a piece of the chocolate cake that was served which was pretty delicious.

3. Hanging out with the two kids that bring the most joy to my heart

4. Quality time with one of my favorite cousins from the Dominican Republic. I grew up with him and although we haven't lived in the same country for years, our strong bond remains.

5. The feeling, internal confirmation, and manifestation of my dreams being possible. I'll talk more about this in the future. Just know one thing: never, ever, ever give up on your dreams. Ever. 

6. Bonus: The inspiration, energy, and motivation to make myself some pretty delicious dinners a few times this week. Sometimes I impress myself.

Oh! and by the way-- I had the privilege of going to the NYC International auto show this past Saturday. Fun times. Fancy cars. And everything in between. I even randomly signed myself up for a Mercedes Benz test drive. A girl can dream ;)

And that's all folks. Wishing you a phenomenal weekend!

Its supposed to be nice and sunny here in NYC on Saturday. Looking forward to that.

Tell me, have you ever attended the NYC auto show? are cars your thing? 

Love,
Mabelle

My Best Friend's Wedding in Punta Cana (Part II)

Hello ladies and gents,

Here I am with part II of my short but phenomenal 4 day vacation a couple of weeks ago. Check out Part I if you missed it.

Today I am sharing the pics of the days prior to the wedding-- including a fun night clubbing (our first night at the resort) and bridal shower the day after (when we moved to the nicer resort). And here you have it.

First day shenanigans-

Getting our first drink at the bar:

Picture by the beach at night (before getting ready for dinner + partying):

Getting "warmed up":

Cheers!

Asked the bartender to take this picture before all 'hell' broke loose (kidding):

The next day I woke up as early as possible to enjoy the day. Had some breakfast and then went for a nice walk by the beach. These pics dont do it justice. Day was absolutely gorgeous:

Finally we packed our bags and moved over to the other hotel where the wedding was taking place (if you are wondering why we switched hotels, we were able to get a better deal by breaking it up between two places):

We then proceeded to attend the bridal shower (soooo much fun):

Lejla (the bride) made these lip scrubs for all the girls. Loved it.

Table filled with delicious cookies made by the maid of honor (Lejla's sisiter) and some blue M&Ms. My sweet tooth was doing back flips it was so happy. 

The bride and I.

Lets just say she got lingerie to last her until her 20th wedding anniversary.

Here is a sneak peak- the most "decent" item she got. Ha! :) (everything was so beautiful and delicate):

More pictures with the girls:

Now all I need is the fiance (universe, are you listening? :)...)

After the bridal shower we went over to check out our new room. I fell in love! The decor was super cute and everything felt so fancy and nice (huge difference from the first resort, however, this place was also a lot more expensive). This was at NOW Larimar:

After we relaxed and rested for a bit, it was time to head over to the rehearsal dinner.

The wedding activities took place in about 2 days so everything was kind of back to back. We didn't mind thought. All activities fell perfectly in to place.

Random selfies on our way to the dinner:

The gorgeous bride:

If you ever go to the Dominican Republic make sure you try Mama Juana. You're welcome.

Couple of pictures after the delicious dinner (sorry no food photos. Was too busy getting to know the other guest but i believe I had a ymmy salmon dish):

After the dinner we all lounged near one of the bars and had some drinks with some nice music in the background. Shortly after midnight we all agreed to go back to our rooms and relax for the next day-- the wedding day!!!

To be continued...

Tell me, have you ever tried Mama Juana? can you take a wild guess of what it is? :)

Love,

Mabelle