A Whirlwind of a Week

This has been a busy, somewhat tiring week.

Saturday I enjoyed a spa day, complete with a lovely and tasty buffet, massages, yoga class, and a whole program built around the word: Revive. We were also given a handmade Lemon Sugar Hand Scrub as a keepsake.

Afterwards, a bunch of us headed to Max Brenner’s which has amazing decadent & delectable chocolate desserts. Since I had tried many of the desserts before, I chose the steak panini with peppers, asaigo cheese crisps and waffle fries. Definitely delicious.

I convinced some friends to go see The Cabin in the Woods, which by the trailer looked campy and stupid but it was actually about something larger than it appears. It was really quite good, crazy, intense, scary! It actually gave me nightmares later that night…

Sunday I had an outdoor photo shoot in Weehawken, NJ which is just across the Hudson. Before heading there I had my makeup done by the MUA at Terre d’OC. She was really sweet and used a teal-brown blend on my eyes, along with black liquid liner on the top lid & a brown liner on the bottom. The shoot started at the Harbor Marina with lots of blue and white, then we moved to the park area at the waterfront and the Manhattan Skyline across the way. It was beautiful views on one of the few sunny days we’ve had.

Monday night I had another photo shoot- This time indoors and more of a glamour style. Glitter, lacy high heels, masks and fabrics. We used different fabrics and strategically wrapped them around my body so that they looked like gowns. One in red, the other in black and a pretty midnight blue kimono with cool gold designs.

Tuesday was Asian Persuasion speed dating for Asian women and the men who love them. It was actually a pretty good mix of men with decent jobs in business, finance, law and the conversations were not as awkward as I expected.

Wednesday I had a photo shoot with Done at Riverside Park. I picked up 2 new shirts for total of only $25: One was pretty pink with a bow on top and cut out designs on the bottom, while the other was a flowery dark blue/purple tiered tank. I wore the pink one and the photographer picked a lovely, idyllic spot overlooking a lake, trees and flowers.

Afterwards, I met up with a friend to see The Avengers. Even though I’m not that big on action super-hero type movies, I was looking forward to this. I really enjoyed it- The storyline, characters, dialogue, fighting scenes were all pretty good. And it helped that some of the characters were very good looking, my favorites being Captain America (Chris Evans), of course with his blue, blue eyes  & deep intellect, and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) with that charm & sparkling wit.

Finally, tonight I had free tickets to the play, Brontë: A Portrait of Charlotte. As a Lit major, this was right up my alley and I rate Jane Eyre as one of my favorite books. I have yet to read the other books by the Brontë sisters, but they are on my list. Brontë was a one-woman play without a lot of frills, but was still quite well done. The actress (Maxine Linehan) really held her own. She truly commanded the stage, as well as our attention. The set was simple but created a mood- Dark, gloomy, lonely home and grounds of Haworth.

The play gave us a view into the Brontë sisters lives, from their childhood, to literary endeavors, and really transports us back to that time. Brontë is dressed in a wonderful well-fitted garnet colored gown, gathered at the waist and full skirted. And the writing is poetic, emotional and beautiful.

In her rambling discourse, Charlotte picks up toys and other items from the Brontë childhood and recalls their significance, fusses over furnishings, writes to her friend Nell, calls loudly to the deaf and silent maid, and waits seemingly in vain for her one last gentleman caller, her father’s curate, whom she may have to marry out of desperation.

Overall, it was an evocative, powerful and haunting story, filled with meaning and peppered with moments of lightness.