Ice skating and "The Elliot Trilogy"

Happy Sunday! It's a beautiful 32 degrees in New York City and a great day to be out and about. Sure, it's a little chilly but warmer than the past week.

Whitney and I went adventuring today to Bryant Park. I went ice skating! For those of you who don't know me extremely well, I ADORE ice skating. I can really only skate in circles, use my toe pick, and attempt to skate backwards. I think I will need to watch Ice Princess a few more times or befriend Michelle Trachtenberg and hope she remembers a few moves from the movie to get any better. But nevertheless, skating is a lovely pastime of mine.

I love it so much that I am lucky enough to own my own pair of pretty skates and lucky enough that my dad let me bring them on our road trip to NYC! Before arriving, I had done a little research. While it might be every girl's dream to skate at Rockefeller Plaza, not only is it a tad pricey (even if I brought my own skates) but the rink is also VERY tiny (kind of incredible how small it is). So I continued looking. I've been told by native New Yorkers and my relatives that Central Park has a lovely rink but once again, there is a small cost to use the ice. The best option I found (aka it's FREE) is skating at Bryant Park.

It's a reasonable size rink (although not as big as the rink in Mt. Horeb) and it wasn't too busy. There were lots of families there so I had to keep alert as to not run into anyone. The ice was also a little rough but regardless, I throughly enjoyed myself.

From there, Whitney and I walked a few blocks to 2nd Stage Theater. We saw a special reading of part one of "The Elliot Trilogy" by Quiara Alegria Hudes. We saw the second part of this trilogy, Water by the Spoonful, on Thursday night and were invited back today to see the first and third parts. The first part, Elliot, A Soldier's Fugue was fantastic. This part premiered at Page 73 Productions in 2006. For this reading, they were able to bring back the original cast.  Although it was only a reading, it was still moving and allowed the audience to imagine what the set would look like.

Once the reading was over, we had lunch at the nearby Shake Shack. It's a popular chain, which started off as a hot dog stand in Madison Square Park. The place was packed but luckily we were able to snag a few seats.

Now I'm back, catching up on some journal entries. Later tonight, we'll head back to 2nd Stage Theater to see the final part of "The Elliot Trilogy" The Happiest Song Plays Last. Then it's another week in the city. Can't wait!