Oh Wait, I have to Unpack this Pecan Pie from my Suitcase First

Oh la readers. It's my first Christmas to be celebrated with my family in two years, and I am so excited. This evening found me returning from work to my mom waiting in my apartment with apple cider, wine, cheese, and cookies. Is there anything better?

Oh yes: you may have heard about this. Keep your fingers crossed that your favorite ACM on the great Off-Broadway scene will soon be making a leap to the Brooks Atkinson theatre with her favorite 80s musical. It's worth saying that ALL THREE of my Off-Broadway CM jobs will be eligible for Tony Awards this year. I'm requiring a golden pony on my new Broadway deal.

I finally headed to the doctor this morning for this ridiculous cough that has been plaguing me for the last umpteen weeks. What promted this visit to the insanly lovely Hirschfeld Clinic (aka beautiful, wonderful doctors that treat my broke, uninsured self for free)? I finally had a coughing fit so awful the other morning that I pulled all of the muscles in my lower back. Ugh. Thankfully, the doctor said that would start feeling better once I stopped coughing. Thanks doc. I'm now on a cocktail of Sudafed, Claritin, Benedryl, and Advil. Oh, and wine. All seem to be helping. Let's hope that insane dose of antihistimines knocks this thing out for once and for all.

Did I mention I can't believe it's already 2 days before Christmas? I apologize to all family and friends for the fact that I haven't realized that. Especially to my 6 year-old goddaughter Kate, who's gift will be late. Thankfully, I haven't set the bar on timeliness very high, so I doubt she's expecting any less.

I think the Benedryl is kicking in, so I'm going to wrap up this entry. Stay warm everyone. It's chilly out there!

Lazy Saturdays

Word. I love Saturday mornings. Being of the theatrical variety, my weekends are full of house seats and box office statements, but Saturday mornings can be spent lazily wandering about the apartment aimlessly cleaning, flipping through J Crew catalogs, paying attention to my beloved (but often pushed aside) TiVo, thinking about what my new apartment design theme will be (this is usually caused by my channel surfing landing on HGTV). It's such a peaceful time, and gives me a nice break to recharge and get ready to face the long weekends.

Advice?

Hi readers. I'm writing tonight to ask a little. I'm facing a problem in my life. Let's call it the theatrical red tape. I don't know how to get through it. Or around it. Or to cut it. Or to find another path not blocked from it. You are all super successful, smart, wonderful people. Any words of wisdom?

Though, I think I've unwound myself from this particular piece of red tape, I'm sure it won't be the last time I face it in my theatrically marvelous career. I'd still love all of your brilliant advice!

Blogging for the sake of a new entry

Oh, I don't really have much to chat about today, but I thought writing beats doing house seat orders. I'm sitting here in the office with Jason, and the Young Frankenstein CM and the Hairspray ACM (soon to be rockin' it over on the Rock of Ages!). We're all just busy doing our things. I'm trying to beat a level of this insane balloon game I found via Stumble. (Aside: I'm addicted to Stumble).

I still have it open on my computer from like 5 weeks ago when I started this entry. My New Year's Resolution is to write more, so I'm going back through my blog entries that I've started, but not finished and sending them out into the world. Hit me up in the comments if you found this one, since I post-dated them! Sneaky!

Still Being Thankful

Hello dear readers. I hope this finds you all returning back to your normal lives from a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving weekend. I have been pondering Thankgiving a lot as I sit here in my empty apartment on this cold rainy morning surrounded by umpteen empty tea cups, 2 boxes of Kleenex, and Noname the Giraffe that Emily left behind to keep me company while she was in San Francisco this weekend. So, I decided to pop my favorite Christmas movie, The Muppets Christmas Carol into the VCR (that's right, it's old school) and do a little blogging for the things I am thankful for in my life.

*An aside before I start my list. I began to ready myself for blogging, you know, tea making, toast buttering, video cassette searching. And I found The Muppet's Christmas Carol right where I left it, at the bottom of the massive Ikea bag I dragged over to Kelly's for Thanksgiving dinner. I arranged everything in my room, popped open another box of Kleenex and some more Tylenol SEVERE Cold and stood up to push play (alas, my tv remote is broken). And imagine my surprise to find Return to Me. Seriosuly, who still owns TWO movies on VHS? Anyone? Now, I love Return to Me more than anything, but that isn't the holiday Muppets musical I was looking for, so I went on a quest for the missing tape. I headed over to the drawer on the tv stand that holds all our DVDs and dug through until I found it. Inside the case for When Harry Met Sally. Now, where When Harry Met Sally is, I have no idea, but I have that on DVD now, so I don't care. Anyway-- now that you know that my movie viewing habits obviously revolve around only three movies, let's get on with the list, shall we?

• I can order a Dominos pizza through my TiVo. Do you know how awesome that is? I don't know why I would ever need to do this, but the fact that I CAN makes me so happy. Thankfully, though my tv remote is broken, my TiVo remote is my best friend, and now that it can order Domino's while keping me chock full of 30 Rock, How I Met Your Mother and random episodes of Dawson's Creek that it thinks I might like, well, I don't know what more to say than, I love you TiVo.
• I am thankful for online shopping. I didn't brave the tourist crowds here in NYC this weekend, but I did order some serious gifts online. Why doesn't everyone do this! I love it.
• Just a little shoutout for one of the stores I did some shopping at: The Container Store. I bought all my holiday wrapping supplies in one place and they are super cute! Plus, I saved shipping costs by telling them I'll pick it all up in the store on Thursday. No doubt part of their ploy to get me in the door to spend another $100, which I will do, and gladly, but it's all a brilliant thing anyway.
• I am very thankful to be employed. Let's face it, in this sucky time of shows posting closing notices seemingly everyday, I am beyond thankful to be working on a show with a steady paycheck. But more than that, I am so thankful for the opportunity to be working on THIS show. Rock of Ages has been such a great job. It has introduced me to to all sorts of wonderful people. Everyone involved in this show from our production crew to the box office staff to the 95 person marketing machine behind the show to the billions of actors to our kick ass producers (kick ass because they send us emails that say things like, "Thanks for being so kick ass.") has been so much fun and have really made this a great experience to me.
• But most importantly (worthy of their own bullet point) has been working with my management partners in crime. It has been so great working with this team. Nay, a team in general. It's amazing how much less stressful life can be when you have people to bounce stress off of. It's been a lot of fun, and now that 2/3 of my killer team are leaving, it's made me feel even more bittersweetly for how great it has been.
• Friends and family in general. Old friends, new friends, theatre friends, church friends, elementary school friends, husbands and wives of those friends, friends I don't talk to as much as I should but think about all the time, cousins that listen to me laugh and cry as I wander down this insane career path, a sister who brings me Cocas when I'm feeling down, a soon-to-be brother-in-law who knows just the right time to stop by with beer and Wii Tennis, a mom that knows that all I need in life to be happy are wine and cheese. I'm seriosuly thankful every day that I am lucky enough to be surrounded by an army of support.
• And, least I get too sentimental, I'm thankful for my Blackberry and it's happy little red light of communication. I love being attached to the world through it's little tiny screen.
• Finally, just a list in general of small things I'm thankful for: chai lattes, iTunes 1-touch purchasing, BlackBerry Messenger, new striped socks, binder clips, calendars that sync to each other, Facebook status updates, Apples to Apples, my MacBook Pro, Harry Connick, Jr., singing the harmony to anything, singing in general, good subway kharma, walking into craft stores thinking "I CAN DO THAT!", chips and salsa, air conditioners with remotes, and Skype.
  

And, I think that's all for this blog entry, as I'm now sitting at my office trying to wrap this up for my readers that harass me that I don't write enough. It's not that I don't want to, but I often feel that my entries need to be perfect, and I stress out over them for way longer than necessary. So, out to the void with this belated entry of thanks. I'd love to hear what your thankful lists are this year. Leave them in the comments!

Are You Watching This Show Yet?

Seriously, y'all. I loves my tv. But, since going on tour, I've learned to reduce my ocd tendencies down to manageable few shows that I could download on iTunes from the company management office in whatever city I happen to be in. As a result of that, I now have a top three list of tv shows that I can't miss. Period. It's hard to get into the list these days, but every now and then, a gem slips in there. I'm not ranking these because I love them all equally for many different reasons:

• The Office - I've blogged here before about my love of Jim from this show. Plus moments like this:

• 30 Rock - You all know that Tina Fey is my total hero. I used to have her Amex print ad as the desktop on my computer, and fully love the fact that we both keep notes on random post-it notes all over the place.

• How I Met Your Mother - Neil Patrick Harris is enough reason to turn on this show, but the clever writing and quick with will keep you tuned in. Don't believe me? Check out what you could be missing:

Is that not the most amazing thing you've ever seen? I can watch it a million times and never grow tired of it. What shows do you think I should try out readers? I obviously value shows that are quick witted and smart (Arrested Development was once on this list). If they have that kind of writing and can throw in a tall, dorky, lovable guy into the mix, all the better. Add in characters that have the possibility of breaking out into showtunes, and I'm won over for life. (I really feel that is possible on any and all of the above shows.)

An aside for my readers. Want to know how this blog got posted? I'm currently awake at 2:44am watching reruns of Will and Grace while NOT packing for Texas. My flight does leave at 11:05am, so I still feel I have plenty of time, but why is it that I, a seasoned traveler, feel it necessary to put off packing for so long. I know it will just end up stressing me into another sleepless night. I blame my father for this ritual. Mr. Last Minute Post Office himself. If I think about it that way, then it isn't so bad. So, I'll let the dryer finish up on the clothes I am trying to pack for tomorrow, and get a few minutes of sleep dreaming of the 79 degree weather I'm about to enjoy!

Catching up on the Blog

Well, well, well blogfans. I've been called out by at least 4 people (my entire readership?) for not updating this blog in three weeks, so here I am, back online to share what's going on in the world since ROA opened and [tos] closed. Currently, I'm sitting on the couch with my sister watching Smallville and helping pick out china patterns. I'm planning on just having Em register for two of everything, so she can share any duplicates with me. Or, do they have a maid of honor registry? Things I need to look in on for sure. What would I register for? Maybe a speaker system for tv. He needs some friends out here in the living room. I think that the Wii is still keeping him company, but everyone loves shiny new electronics!!

Anyway, last week, the Cafferty clan visited NYC because Pat was running in the marathon. The trip came complete with supernanny cousin Susan along for the flight. It was a great way to spend my first weekend off since ROA opened. What's that you say? You'd like to see some pictures. Of course! I'm always happy to oblige! Sus and I took our standard "Susan sandwich" picture skills to a new level by involving the Empire State Building into the mix. We then met up with another one of Sus' cousins for a night out on the town. The next morning, Kristin, Jack, and Bridget stopped by Astoria for a look at the new apartment, wedding planning, real Astoria diner experience, and then to Manhattan to catch Pat's finish in the marathon. We then hit a bar up on the UWS with a million other marathon runners (trust me, the only way I would celebrate running a marathon). We then bid farewell to the fam (in too short of a visit to be sure!)

What else? Did y'all hear the news about our new president?! How exciting is that? I decided to catch the results at Rockefeller Center. You know anywhere that they are painting an ice skating rink as returns come in is where I want to be. It was a great decision, as it was electric to be surrounded by so many people! You could feel the current of energy for hours, and I was glad I decided to fight the crowds to be there for the momentous event.

Coming up next on my social agenda - a week long visit to Texas for my best friend Amber's wedding next Saturday, a visit by my company to Late Night with Conan O'Brien (watch it Friday, Nov. 14!!), bridesmaid dress shopping with Em, and today - covering the matinee, then off to see Aaron and Amy and the US Naval Academy's Men's Glee Club Concert. Fun times!!

I'm totally famous!

Did you really think I wouldn't be blogging about this?

Sigh. You knew this was coming blogfans. October 12th, the day my beloved [title of show] posted its closing notice and took its final bow on the Great White Way at the Lyceum Theatre.

Though I am indeed sad to see my little show-that-could close, and I'm sure my kids over at the Lyceum had a bittersweet day, I think they can end this chapter of [tos] feeling incredibly proud of the journey they have taken, and the passengers they've picked up along the way.

So tonight, I just wanted to shout one final shout-out to Hunter, Jeff, Susan, Heidi, Larry, Michael and company for leaving their footprint on Broadway. I'm sure by now, you've learned you're far more than nine people's favorite thing.

Am I Still Awake?

sooooo tired. It's hard to rock as hard as I rocked at the show last night and keep that energy going through a 3 hour marketing meeting the next day. I am SO tired. Thankfully, though I was suffering the second performance blues, ROA did NOT. It continued to rock in its new and improved 2 hour 24 min run time. Of course, starting on time and not having a 30 min intermission for producers and marketing people to schmooze helps.

I skipped out on most of the performance today, but made it back in time for the finale and the production meeting that followed. It was nice to get a little break. Now, I'm off to bed for real; looonnnngg day tomorrow.

PS Much love to Dennis who let me bail on him for dinner for the second week in a row. I hope this blog shout out shows that I still love you. :)

Rock-tober

Y'all, I'm not joking. Tonight was an awesome night. By some miracle of the theatrical gods, and with a little help from my friends (I like to call them, the theatre industry) we had a full house for our very first preview, and it was AWESOME. Yes, the show ran an 2 hours and 45 min long, but it's still a work in progress folks, that's why they are called previews!! It'll get cut and trimmed and the pacing will pick up and all will be totally ever MORE awesome.

To finally see this show take shape was really fun. I feel like it's important for me to get behind whatever project I'm working on; otherwise, what's the point, right? But, it's great when it's so much fun.

Seriously, y'all. Get a ticket, get your group of friends together, grab a few drinks (it helps you sing along better) and get down to New World. You'll find me in the back behind the light board dancing along to "Here I Am Again on my Own."

You want to know what else made my night tonight? I completely felt like the part of the team. I was able to talk to marketing teams, ad people, box office treasurers, theatre managers, potential investors, and a slew of producers without batting an eyelash. I was able to joke around and laugh and dance around like the sleep deprived girl I am, and it all just fit together. Any of you who are faithful readers of this blog (are you out there?) will know that I am always looking to to be "part of it all" as my dear [tos]sers have so well described it, and every experience I have that gives me the feelings I had tonight, make me feel so happy and fortunate to have a career that allow me to experience it over and over again.

I'm heading to bed now, for I'm home before 1 am for the first time in a week, and we've got a long week ahead of us. Keep posted to the blog for more updates. I've added a bonus pic of the set for you. Trust me. It rocks so much harder than this picture from tech can show! Good night Astoria!!

Live Action Blogging

What's up world? I'm coming at you live from the back row of New World Stages, Theatre #1, aka my home from the past week. We're an hour and 15 min short of wrapping day #4 of tech. We added wardrobe and wigs today, and I must say, the show looks fantastic! Don't you want to come on down to NWS and rock out this week?!

Em and I went on a cleaning whirl this weekend. In under 3 hours, we had our living room, kitchen, bathroom, and my bedroom closet sparkling clean! Who knew. My room has been rocking the "I've been on tour" motif for about 6 months too long. Slowly but surely it's starting to take some sort of shape. It's about time, right? Not much else going on outside of that. It's been sleep, eat, breathe theatre, and naturally, I love all of that. We're currently teching "I Hate Myself for Loving You." It's amazing, sans doute.

PS Bernadette Peters signed the petition to get [title of show] on ELLEN. Have you?!

Teching

So, my rocking show fully moves into the theatre today as we enter what is lovingly known in the industry as "hell week." My next 6 days will consist of paperwork in the office during the day, then to the theatre until 1am for hours of "is this light too blue? Shouldn't he be holding a beer, not a mixed drink? Are the sounds on the 4th beat of every word of the intro sharp enough?" All decisions which I couldn't make if you held a gun to my head (unless one of the questions happens to be, "for the love of God, can't SOMEONE get a marketing code around here!"), but I am finding this process amazing. It's helping me very much to see the collabrative nature of this field, and is another reminder of why I do what I do and love it so much.

Moving on from my dorky techy blogging, I sent out an email begging everyone on the planet to sign the petition to get [tos] on Ellen (you know, this petition), and I'm amazed at the response. Way to go friends and family. Extra bonus points if you actually clicked on the link to my blog. Welcome.

I'm off to shower and drag myself to work. Much love from Astoria!

Look! I'm a Handyman! Wait, no I'm not!

What is it about being in a Home Depot that makes me think I could completely redesign my entire (rented) apartment? Seriously, I was in there today and thought, "You know. I could put a dimmer on my light switch." What?! No I can't! We have to bring Nick in to hang things in here, and I turn into a hateful person when putting Ikea furniture together. The last thing I need is to add electricity to the mix. SO I bought my "rope that could be used as horse reins or a lasso" that I needed for the video shoot today and got the heck out of there before I did something extreme like buy a new faucet for my kitchen sink just because it was pretty (this thought crossed my mind more times than I'd like to admit).

Random video shoot shopping aside, all's well on the ROA front. We head into tech on Thursday, so that is going to be too much work to finish in 5 days fun. This weekend I covered STOMP and finally had the mani/pedi that's been on my to-do list since June. My feet are happy.

Did you see the premiere of How I Met Your Mother? You need to watch this show. It's hilarious. Neil Patrick Harris alone is a reason to jump on board this train. And what else are you watching Monday night? Heroes? Please. So get to catching up on that.

Closing?

So I headed to the Lyceum last night with Em, Nick, and Nick's brother and mom. This show never ceases to amaze me in the way that people relate to it. Last night, they posted a blog entry on their wickedly funny blog (way funnier than mine!). Please take a few seconds to read it and keep posted for updates.

http://www.titleofshow.com/blog/index.php?itemid=1393

A Part of Dreading the Day They Post the Closing Notice

Just a note to say my beloved [title of show] posted their closing notice tonight. So, please, do yourselves a favor and get out to the Lyceum Theatre before October 12 and see the show before they close. You will love every second of those crazy kids.

sigh.

I Won, I Won!

Oh my gosh, y'all. I'm so tired. But I had to pause for a moment to say, I just ran 2.32 miles and I am now super tired with really sore legs, but that's my farthest run ever so I'm psyched.

Also, today, when I bought a Coke in the Coke machine, 2 Cokes came out. Thus proving that there is a God, and he loves me the best.

How Much is That Doggie in the Window? Will he mind that I won't be debt free until 2014?

What's up blogfans? Do you think of yourselves as blogfans? I'm glad you do. And I like that this is an interactive experience for all, for example, last week, I got this advice about my blog:

You should take your blog and turn it into a book. Then you should turn that book into a musical. Then you should take that musical and make it a movie. Then that movie should have Lauren Graham starring as you.

This came to me by way of a really smart relative of mine (thanks Sus!) who thinks Lauren Graham and I share the gift of speedy talking and quick witted humor. This is what I mean, people. The blog is about all of you creating ideas. Great ideas. About me.

Anyway, today was a fairly good day. Rock of Ages continued to provide us with good material in the office. Never a dull moment. After work, I headed down to Stomp where I'm filling in a bit this weekend. Why would I agree to take on CM duties at another show? Well, first of all, I love the Stomp people. Those are some good people. And second of all...who doesn't need the money?

This leads me to what I have just spent the last 2 hours doing. And that is trying to find a way to pull myself out of debt. With the aggressive new budget I just made for myself...it could happen by May 2010. Ugh! Who needs that?! But, it must happen. I'm glad that the first cc will be paid in full in January, followed by number two in August. Then it's just that stubborn Amex card that remains. Of course, after spending two hours sorting my expenses into categories on my bank's website so I could better create a reasonable/livable budget, I thought it would be funny to throw my grad school loans into my net worth calculator. Bad news folks. If you were planning to put a hit out on me and take all my worldly assets. I'm afraid you'd be left with Tivo, the Wii, my pretty blue Ikea dresser, my best friend - tv, and an oceanful of payments expected by the Brazos County Branch of US National Bank until August 2014.

Of course, it goes without saying that after 2014, I will totally be worth taking a hit out on.

Also noted in spinning through 12+ months of receipts. I've been to Starbucks in no fewer than 19 states, Canada, and 5 cities in England. Is that a problem? Or just an addicition? In any case, that's a lot of lattes (latta lattes?)

Alright, it's beyond past my bedtime, and I have a big day tomorrow. 30 minute run (well, 20 min walk/10 min run), then I'm catching up with my super successful grad school classmates (a lot of the reason the debt is worth it!) Sleep well out there everyone. Get to casting my romantic lead in the movie. Reference the entry below for the description. :)

PS Forgot to add a super shout-out to my [tos]sers who conquered all sorts of vampires and rocked it out at Broadway on Broadway this past Sunday. It was well worth sweltering in the middle of 7th Avenue to hear my cute show fully orchestrated. Have I mentioned I love those guys?

Why isn't this MY reality tv?

Okay, I know that tv isn't real, but seriously, where is this man in my life? Can we discuss? I mean, I may have just watched four back-to-back episodes of The Office, every one in which I said outloud at least one, "Ahhh, I love him!!" Who's with me here?

In other, more realistic news (yawn), today I saw the Act 1 run through of ROCK OF AGES, and I can't lie, I loved it. It's gonna be a fun show people, have you bought your tickets yet? Starting Oct. 1, I'm always up for pre-show margaritas...

Also, I made a friend connection happen for my cousin Susan and my former co-worker Mary in Chicago. Sus lives just around the corner from the Briar Street Theatre, where Mary is serving as Business Manager for Blue Man Group-Chicago. I'm happy they are meeting, but so wish I could be there!! My social life of late has been reduced to hermitude. It is a choice I have concisously made, and I can't lie, I love it. I know that in three weeks, I head back to the late-night theatre world I've grown so accustomed to, but I have to say for now, I'm glad to have my evenings to myself. Have you been keeping an eye on the Nike meter on the right side of my page?! I've been keeping up with my running program, and although my farthest distance is only 2.15 miles, I'm feeling pretty good just getting out there and doing SOMETHING every night. It helps me unwind from the day, and I think I sleep better too. All good things.

I'm off to do some more organizing of my room. I mean, I've lived here over a year and nothing has really happened. Next year when I'm faced with living on my own, I'm very excited, but I'm also very nervous about putting everything together. Anyone have any ideas? Mostly, I'm planning on counting on my two interior designer cousins (that means you Sus and Maura). They both have amazing senses of style and I can't wait to see what they do to the place. :) Night all.

Have you Ever Thought About...

Readers. Have you ever thought about how many people it takes to make a musical? Oh. My. Lord. Today I was at a production meeting, and the following were in attendance:

• Director/Assistant Director
• Choreographer/Assistant Choreographer
• Production Stage Manager/Stage Manager/Production Assistant
• Scenic Designer/Assistant Scenic Designer
• Lighting Designer/Assistant Lighting Designer
• Props Master
• Wardrobe Assistant
• Assistant Sound Designer
  
• Production Manager/Assistant Production Manager
• Video Projectionist Designer
• Music Contractor/Orchestrator/Director
• General Manager (2)/Company Manager/Assistant Company Manager/Management Intern
• and finally two producers

Y'all, that's a lot of people. That's not taking in count the 17 actors that were on lunch break during our meeting or the people that were assembling the deck at New World Stages while we were in our meeting or my box office staff that were frantically processing codes for me. Tomorrow we meet with no fewer than 3 marketing firms, a press agent, a pr person, more producers and any other random people that I've missed off this list.

I can't even say how amazed I am at all that goes into getting a show to its opening night. I know, I know, I've been part of plenty show openings and what have you, but as I've mentioned before, this is the first time I've seen all of this "production" craziness, and it completely blows my mind. But as it's blowing my mind, its also sending chills up my spine. Every single one of those people will work their tails off come hell or high water to make the best production possible be on that stage come October 16, and they will fight for what they need to make that happen. Who says theatre is dead? It's an incredible thing to be in a room full of people so passionate about their jobs. I'm loving every crazy, ridiculous second of it.

In news outside my job (yes, I have a life). Wii Fit admonished my sister for telling it that she didn't think I looked in any better shape this week. It was amazing. That's news right? I'm not a total loser, am I? Whatever, I love that Wii Fit. TiVo is adjusting well to the newest addition. Also, I keep them in separate rooms, so that helps. Can you tell I've cut back on the social agenda lately? It seems that my bank account finally figured out that I spent many weeks this summer unemployed. It's finally recovering, but gave me quite a scare towards the end of August. Ugh. Can't I just win the lottery already? At least the health insurance lottery? Anyone? No one?

Last thought before I head to bed, I love the new iTunes. I love that Apple keeps making me want to upgrade my iPod even though I have absolutely NO reason to do it. I love that if I want to find twenty-five songs on my iPod that sound like Miley Cyrus' "7 Things" that I can do it, and my iPod won't judge me like all my friends do. Life is good. I'm out. Good night.

Oh - and Happy Birthday shout-outs to my cousin Mary, my college roommate Erica (who both turned 30 on Tuesday), my Pajama Gaming touring Thomas and my sole remaining swim team friend Eric. The first week of September is huge for me birthday wise! I hope all of you celebrated fully and will be blessed with the best year yet!

I've got a headache T-H-I-S big...

I know there are people out there that don't suffer from headaches, and for those of you, just know that I hate you all a little bit.

I got knocked OUT today by the worst headache I've had in quite sometime. Like, can't sit up, turn on lights, listen to any sound headache. Completely incapacitating. Thankfully, we also had torrential downpour here in NYC (thanks Hurricane Hanna), so at least I had a peaceful background to my misery.

Thankfully, it finally seems to be subsiding, and has allowed me to turn on the tv at least. I'm currently watching a show on The Food Network about kitchen gadgets of the future. It's like my tv knew I was feeling awful and put my favorite kind of tv show on just for me. Lord knows I don't cook, but I'm sure those that know me well know that if it's gadget-y, I want it. Right now, they're showing me an oven that you just push a button, put your meat/fish/pizza in, and hit go. It autmatically adjusts temperature and time for you. I love it.

Work is going really well. The show went into rehearsals on Tuesday and is actually pretty funny. Sitting in on production meetings and read-throughs are still pretty new to me, so I'm really enjoying watching just how much freakin' work it is to put a show up. We even have a team just for internet marketing (I don't think they ever sleep!). All in all, I'm very happy to be back in production mode. We start moving the set into the theatre on Tuesday. Whoooo!

Ok, I feel like I'm pressing my luck on the headache front, so I'm going to end it here. Good night from rainy, headachy Astoria.

Sad the Summer is Over

Hope y'all had a happy Labor Day Weekend! I sure did! I headed back to beautiful, relaxing Sag Harbor thanks to my pal Gail (holla!) It was a wonderful way to wind up Summer '08. My sister was able to ditch the city as well and come out East for some poolside time, so that was fun!

Things I learned:

• I don't make enough money to even look at houses in the Hamptons.
• I want these Coach sunglasses (in burgandy)! But I didn't buy them, because I have to pay rent.
• Along those lines, being responsible is overrated.
• There are a lot of good places to sit and watch college football in East Hampton on a Saturday.
• There is no limit to how many fried shrimp I will eat.
• If given the opportunity, I can spend 3 days straight in my swimsuit cover-up.
• Fancy drinks taste fancier the farther east you travel! In Montauk, they even put cucumbers in the water. Amazing!
  

In other news. our Rock of Ages Meet and Greet is tomorrow morning! I love meet and greets! It's so fun to look around the room and see so many different types of people all working to get the show up. Cool. Last week, I walked through Stage 1 at New World with Jason, our SM, our Asst PM, and two of the NWS ops people for my first sightline conversation. It never ceases to amaze me how many things need to be thought about before opening! Of course we have to cut those three seats in the balcony, otherwise, someone will be sharing their lap with our spot op.

Ok, I'm off to bed now I think. Big day tomorrow, as our Rader Family Fantasy Football draft is in the morning. I love football season!

Sing, Sing a Song

Tonight found me up on the UWS singing my little heart out to the score of Carmina Burana. It was a lot of fun, even though I went in knowing only this part:



But really, for me, the fun is seeing how that many voices can blend together to create such an amazing sound. I know I'm late on jumping on the choral bandwagon, but seriously, there isn't much more that makes me happier.

Added bonus of hanging out with a good friend. Thanks for helping me scalp tickets outside Symphony Space this morning and for "Secreting" good ideas! It was such a good time! If only we didn't have to wait until next summer for more singing!

Life back at the office is a lot of fun. It's great being part of a team. Much more laughing and a lot less stressful nights make for a fun place to be. I know as we get closer to opening, it will be more stressful, of course, but I'm glad these past few days have helped build a great working relationship to get through that part.

I probably have more to say, but my browser is doing a weird lag thing and it's driving me crazy, so I'll close with an aside to my friend on the Pajama Game tour: Seriously, you've been gone since Sunday and there's been no blogging from you. I'm calling you out. Time to get writing, or my blog will totally win hands down in our cage match of blogs.

It's a nice thing!

I'm not sure how it happened, but somewhere down the line, I found the greatest friends here in NYC. I mean, I do have [title of show] to thank mostly, but seriously, I am a lucky girl.

Nessa, Nessa, I have something to confess - a reason why...

Alright kids. The meeting went well. Many props to my former employer at MCC who gave me a nice recommendation, it would seem. That makes me happy. The wheels may finally be starting to turn, for which I am eternally grateful. I'll be heading back in September to meet with the other GMs, and we'll see what what the theatre ghosts have in store for me.

I would like to mention, that the "gravity" of this meeting did not go unnoticed. As I walked down the hall toward the door marked Wicked , I was like, holy hell. I AM a part of it all.

Wish Me Luck...

I have a meeting with fancy Broadway people this morning. Think good thoughts!

I'm not the only funny one in the family...

I recently asked my mom who she thought the vice-presidential candidates would end up being, as she's a Fox News junkie and is usually way more up-to-date on those sort of things than I am. She just looked at me and said,

"I think it will be Rhianna."

AMAZING!

How my mom managed to remember the name of Paris Hilton's choice for VP, I have no idea. But, it provided about 10 minutes of solid laughter from me. The video response from Paris Hilton to John McCain was pretty hilarious. I know I'm about 2 weeks behind on this, but well, with all the Olympic swimming I've had to watch I've been slow in my viral video watching. Enjoy!!

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

UNBELIEVABLE!

Every 4 years, swimming gets to be the center of attention, and this is why! Please watch the Men's 4 x 100 free relay for one of the most exciting races I've EVER seen!

Exclusive Summer Olympics news & widgets at NBC Olympics.com!

Cozy Saturdays

What is it about rainy Saturdays that reminds me of all the things I need to accomplish, but only gives me enough energy to curl up on the couch and watch Smallville? I'm going to put some laundry in before I forget how the washing machine works.

----------------
Now playing: Various Artists - Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18: Unspecified excerpt(s)
via FoxyTunes

Gratuitious Picture of my Adorable Cousins

Just humor me here and let me post some pics of my adorable cousins. You won't be able to handle it, just a warning:

Bridget Ellen -



And so my wonderful goddaughter Kate doesn't feel neglected, some pics of her too. Please note in these pics, she's making her summer musical theatre camp debut. I could die of happiness! I know she's a little far away here, but in the pic on the bottom, she's doing her solo!!

Kathryn Mary -



And just in case you want to see how cute she is up close...



Many thanks to my cousin Susan who is playing Supernanny to these children this week for documenting her day via her fancy new iPhone. I hope you all realize how technically saavy I'm forcing my family to become.

I have more cute pics to develop from my trip to Green Bay as soon as I find my camera cable. Get excited!

All Shook Up

Wow! My sister just texted me from LA where she was just in an earthquake. According to CNN, it was a 5.8! She said it felt like being on a floating dock. That's the daughter of sailors for you. All is fine, I just thought it was exciting.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-quake30-2008jul30,0,5345096.story

Much more exciting that the biggest earthquake to hit the UK in 25 years, which I slept through when I was on tour in Dartford this past February. Lame.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7266136.stm

Did I mention the Olympics start in 11 days?

Ok, this needs to be posted, because Athens was a LONG time ago, and we need to start seeing some Olympic swimming here on the blog.

I'm sure even those of you who didn't spend your formative years in a pool can appreciate this ridiculously amazing photo of Micheal Phelps. What sort of crazy upper body strength do you need to position yourself in the water like this? omg. I love the Olympics!

Fancy Times

Um, I hope you guys checked out my comments on my last post. That's right, there are fancy, fancy people reading this blog. In my last entry, I talked about my new favorite theatre blog columnist (blogumnist?) Ken Davenport and how he posted about a comment I made. Then, Friday night, he posted a comment and that entry!! It pretty much made my week! Thanks Ken Davenport for giving me something to brag about in this entry!

Anyway, I'll plug his blog again, just because. Go. Read. It.

In other news, had a pretty low-key weekend. Which was nice and much needed. It won't be long until I lose my 2 day weekend again, so I'm trying to live them up while I can! Saturday, I had dinner with Mikey, my box office treasurer from the Lortel. We walked around the UES, hit Bed Bath and Beyond, and generally had a lovely time. Sunday, Gail and I headed to Long Beach in an attempt to beat the rain. We made it for an hour in the sun/cloudy mix before the lightening decided to make an apperance. No worries, we headed to brunch and Starbucks before calling it a day on the beach. Then, I watched The Incredibles and called it a night. That's right, my life is super glamourous. Don't be too jealous.

I should get back to this giant pile of bills. Nothing has really changed here at the Blue Man. Still can't get ahead of the game, but of course, the difference being that now I have a blog to distract me! Wahoo! All I can say, is that Bank of America will be super happy when Thursday rolls around. It knows I've got some bills to pay and that stimulus check can't even cover my rent. Ugh.

Tonight I'm headed with Thomas and Rachel out to Splash for what is sure to be a randomly hilarious time. [tos] is making an apperance there tonight, and you know I'll do just about anything to support my peeps there. If you're lucky, I'll remember to take some photos.

PS Just as I was finishing this entry, my cousins called me on the phone. I won't bore you with details of the converstaion, but I love talking on the phone to them. Max (4) and Molly (6). So adorable!

I know, I know

I'm way behind on my blogging. Between closing reasons to be pretty and spending 11 days in Green Bay, Wisconsin loving how adorable my goddaughter has become, I just had to but the blog on the back burner. But, never fear! I'm back!

And what better way to start off my return than by directing you to ANOTHER blog that posted a message about a comment I left. Those of you who haven't heard me rambling on about how much I love Ken Daveneport's blog haven't been paying me much attention, for I find myself quoting from it all the time and constantly asking people if they've been reading it.

For those of you who DON'T know (or who have been tuning me out), he's the producer of Altar Boyz, and Awesome 80s Prom, and the new Jason Robert Brown musical Thirteen (or is it 13? I can't remember). Anyway, here's his complete bio. You should really all go and read his blog (the link is also on my sidebar) and embrace all the fun and interesting entries. Seriously, I'll be trying to engage you in conversation about it soon. Seriously.

Anyway, if you read today's entry, you'll see a shoutout to me (though anonymous) as his favorite suggestion about what to write about. That's right! That was MY comment! I feel famous and smart. And nerdy.

Ok, I hope this finds all of you well. For those of you following the Susan job path: I finished my last day of training at MCC today and headed down to Blue Man Group to recapture the feeling of being 23. More on this later, but I'm temping down there until my new job starts next month. But, I'm temping doing a/p, which was my very first job out of college. It is super strange to be back there, but they're good people, so it's been fun. Finally, I was just hired as the Assistant Company Manager on the new Off-Broadway show Rock of Ages that opens at New World Stages in September. I heart being employed, and although my work path has taken me through Blue Man, [title of show], Rat Pack, The Fantasticks and reasons to be pretty, this will be my very first show to be involved with from production. Yay!

I'm off to bed now, being mentioned all over the blogosphere can wear a girl out.

PS omg you guys, did y'all watch Legally Blonde? How wrong is it that I now want to head to the Palace Theatre and check her out? I have to say, I really loved the finale, and actually found myself nervous for those girls!

Happy Opening Y'all

Just a moment to send a shout-out to the show that forever changed my path in theatre (and thereby, though it sounds dramatic, my life) and taught me what happens when you dream big!

Happy opening night [title of show]!!!! It's time!

A Manhattan McGyver

Y'all. I'm a genius. I hate to brag about this, but it must be said. Today, I was doing some shopping in the Apple Store on 5th Ave, and some random non-English speaking tourist stepped on my left foot and broke my sandal. Like completly pulled the flip out of my flop (I just made that up, see? Brilliant.) Anyway, as much as I would have enjoyed stopping by Bergdorff Goodman just across the street, you may notice this blog is titled the "Non-Profit Edition." As in, I have no profit from my job, so that was going to be out of the question.

If I could just make it down to the J Crew at Rockefeller Center, I could grab a new pair of flip flops. But that's about 10 blocks away! How am I going to get there? I honestly could not keep my shoe on my foot. So, I dig through my purse and find: dental floss! So, I tied my shoe to my left foot with about 3 feet of minty dental floss, and slowly, but surely walked my way down to 47th Street. I was very proud of myself and my resourceful New York thinking.

My new flip flops are super cute pink with white polka dots. They set me back a small fortune (as things at J Crew tend to do), but I just thought about it as a reward to myself for being just on my game.

PS Susan Sarandon was at my show last night. When she came to my window to pick up her tickets, I was beside myself. Holy cow! Then, when I came home, Dead Man Walking was on tv. Crazy coincidence. People named Susan are amazing. That is the conclusion of this entry. (Hi cousin Susan, I mean you too!)

Night from Astoria, I'm exhausted from being so awesome.

What? Oh, yes, I am fancy!

Big news blog fan(s?). My ridiculously amazing Off-Broadway show is off to the Great White Way! Read these fancy articles from Variety and The New York Times. Impressive isn't it? What does this hold for your favorite company manager? Oh nothing, really. Just another successful Off-Broadway show managed so amazingly that it's heading off to Broadway. :) Ok, so maybe the writing, directing, and acting has something to do with it, but I like to think that I helped...a little. I mean, I am the house seat gatekeeper!

In any case, many congrats to all involved in our little MCC show. Exciting!

I pray that Jesus Christ will help you get to Broadway

Seriously, y'all. Look how cute my [tos]sers are with their fancy Broadway internet ads. I just love them. I can't believe it's been two years since I was a baby company manager in charge of these kids. Awww. I'm so proud of them and can't wait to see the big show at the Lyceum. Who's in with me!

PS You may be wondering why I'm posting this at 3:25 in the morning, but a random flu-like bug knocked me right out Sunday night, and I slept for a good 16 hours yesterday. So, of course, now I'm completely awake. LAME. Here's hoping I can get some sleep soon!

I'm told that on my sunniest of days, I'm not that fun to be around.

Y'all. I'm only going to say this once, but there was television royalty in my theatre tonight. Anyone keeping tabs on that, already knows that we've been visited by:


Ashley Olsen


Joan Allen


Julianna Margulies (bonus shot here, as she's standing with our director Terry Kinney!)


Kieran Culkin


Okay, so of this entire picture, only Timothy Busfield has visited (so far) but I think we all know how much I LOVED this show!

But tonight, tonight, Mikey (my wonderful box office treasurer) and I looked up through our tiny box office windows at the Lortel and saw THIS MAN standing in line!!!



TOBY ZIEGLER!!

Oh my goodness! I thought we might both pass out! As two of the dorkiest West Wing fans alive, we franctically tried to push our waiting customers out of our way to race for the opportunity to help him first! I lost, sadly, and was forced to suffer through another 8 random non-West Wing people while Mikey spent hours and hours of quality time with him trying to find his tickets in the STAR system. Oh, we were both so very happy. I can only hope that our pure joy broke through the bulletproof glass to the wonderful Richard Schiff for making the evening of two random box office New Yorkers who love him!

I'm up too late. I hate that Conan O'Brien comes on at 12:35 here on the East Coast. Back in Texas, it starts at 11:35, and is so much easier to handle. reasons to be pretty's own Piper Perabo was visiting my favorite late night talk show host to brag about our amazing show. Fun times! Okay, for real, time for bed! Good night from Astoria.

So many thoughts!

I have had the wonderful fortune of having the best weekend ever. Leaving out that it has been a stiffling 95+ here in NYC this weekend, I couldn't ask for more.

To start with, my sister Emily, and her boyfriend Nick got engaged last night at the Empire State Building. Amazing. I have pretty much been crying since I knew it was happening. Tears of happiness of course. We all know I'm a crier, happy/sad, it doesn't matter. Just thinking about it makes me tear up. I'm so very, very, very happy for them!!! Em was completely surprised, and it was totally amazing! It's still a little surreal to me, so I can't imagine what the two of them must be thinking, but wow! I'm getting a brother-in-law. And a tenor, no less. At least I'll never be in need of someone to harmonize with, and let's face it, harmony is v important in my life.

Secondly this weekend, I was surrounded by a zillion great friends. It's just so nice to spend time with people who know you and love you for who you are. I know it sounds a little lame, but seriously, is there anything better in the world than just laughing for hours on end of ridiculous things? I love that despite my random theatrical schedule, that my life still contains such fun times at Blockheads or at the social after Mass. (Go ahead and knock it, but they serve wine and mini-hotdogs, and it's a FANTASTIC way for me to catch up with my choral friends. :) )

Ok, I'm heading to bed now before a well-deserved day-off. We're opening the balcony at reasons to be pretty this weekend because we're doing so well! Holla! It's amazing news for a well-deserved play, but I've been doing house seat orders in my sleep, so I'm looking forward to a day off.

Peace out y'all!

We Do Not Belong Together!

Please take some time today to enjoy this video. It's from this year's Easter Bonnet Competition, and it's so funny, that it actually brought me to tears. Having some basic idea of what Sunday in the Park with George is about helpful, but I think the hilarity is still there even if you aren't familiar with it.

Enjoy!

Another Opening, Another Show

I'm not going to lie, I adore opening nights! Sure, it's completely crazy leading up to it, getting all the press reservations in, keeping everyone calm about how many people are in the theatre, making sure your cast has no idea when the Times is going to be there, but at the end of it all, when you're watching the curtain call. That's one of my favorite moments in theatre.

reasons to be pretty had a pretty fantastic opening night, and a great review in the Times to top it all off. Em and Nick joined me for the show and the party, which made for wonderful company and a great time.

It's time for me to head to bed now, but I just had to post that. Tomorrow's my day off, which I am so looking forward to! I'm still trying to shake this ridiculous cough, and I have lots of TiVo to catch up on!

Where God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window...

Well, not even the pinkest, sparkliest, most magical wish can trump the unfairness that is the "office loyalty" card. Person #2 is walking away with my so coveted ACM position on the Legally Blonde tour. I can't really fault anyone here, except the stupid theatrical hierarchy, but someday it will work in my favor, so I'm finding it hard to even fault that. The CM called today, and was very lovely and diplomatic about the whole thing, saying that we were really neck-and-neck, and the only thing stopping them from choosing me is my lack of experience in that particular office. He said that everything about me was great and perfect, and I needn't change anything, and that he would send my resume around with his highest recommendation. So, see, I can't even pinpoint my sadness on him. He was really very nice. In my theatrically-inclined mind, I've decided that he wanted to hire me, and that the powers-that-be chose otherwise. It'll help me get through it anyway.

Anyway, so thankfully, I was surrounded by wonderfully supportive people to get me through, so to those people, I say thank you for the drink invitations, for telling me I was too good for that tour anyway, for promising me that not getting that job meant Broadway was waiting for me, and for just being there to say it sucks, but that I will no doubt come out on top, thank you. For your favorite Pisces girl, this day has been ridiculously tear-free. Amazing.

The Waiting Game

Oh la la. I'm not a particularly patient person. In fact, instant gratification is something I have a very close relationship to. So, these past few weeks since my big interview with the Legally Blonde crew have been SO crazy. Thankfully, I have the great people down at MCC and the Lortel to help me pass the time, and I was actually content with knowing the Legally Blonde decision would be made "sometime around June 1." Fooling myself into putting something out of my mind is a concept I'm getting a little better at.

Of course, the problem with that is that usually life has other plans for your mind. This kink in my plan came in the way of a voicemail I was checking while waiting for my latte to be brewed at the Starbucks on 43rd and 8th. It was the CM from the LB tour telling me that they haven't decided yet, but will have a final decision by Tuesday. Oh, and it's down to me and one other person. My insides flipped upside down with sudden nervousness. Why did that happen? I was just fine living in my little oblivious world, and now suddenly, I have a constant countdown running in my head. Yikes. So anyway, I have told myself that if they don't choose me, it will be from some random external thing that is so far out of my control, but let's face it...can anyone else imagine this other person being better suited for the job? Me and all my pink, sparkly clothing say no.

It is weird thinking that somewhere out in the NYC void, there is someone else going through their Memorial Day weekend waiting for the same decision to come through on Tuesday. Life is random.

Anyway, besides that, life is going just fine. I'm still trying to kick this obnoxious cold. I may have pushed it a little too far this week, what with the midnight showing of Indy, followed by a late night on Friday with my boys, but what can I say? I'm not turning down those great times out with my friends just because of a stupid cold.

Alright, it's time for me to get ready for work, then choir. Peace out from Astoria on this beautiful Sunday afternoon.

Don't Call me Junior!

Just home from Indy 4!  I loved it!  I loved watching it in a crazy crowd at the Ziegfeld when every time the theme came on people applauded!  And I loved that Harrison Ford completely embodies this character.  Very fun night.  More coherent thoughts after some sleep! 

How to Make me Laugh for at least 10 minutes.

Ok folks, I made it back safely from the MTC Gala.  The only thing that was horrifying was watching 4 people usurp my taxis on the corner of 6th Ave and 55th Street.  Come on!  You can't just run across the street and into a cab when someone is waiting there.  I finally gave up and walked my cold, tired, and sick self down to 5th Ave, where people were a lot less rude.  (I did look awesome though, thanks to my sister trying to make me look a little bit less like the walking dead.)  Also, many thanks to her for insisting I take 2 wraps with me.  She's a smart little cookie that Emily.

And onto my most hilarious moment of the day.  I say this much, it all started with this little bottle of Afrin.  Around 1:00 this morning, as I was opening up my third box of Kleenex, my nose said to me, "Please, please, please...no more sneezing!"  I have to say, I agreed, and as I looked at my face in the mirror, the poor thing was all red.  So, I opened my medicine cabinet for my last weapon against my stupid cold.  Afrin.  Now, I bought this to use a good six months ago, but was so scared of it, I never opened the box.  Today was the day I was going to conquer my fear.  Or so I thought.

I stood in my kitchen making my 4th cup of tea, and thought, I'll just "ready, go" as I wait for the water to boil.  What followed was a good 10 minutes of me trying to get up the courage to spray this stuff up my nose.  Eeeek!  So creepy.  Seriously, I would try to spray, and my nose would just be working in complete opposition to me the entire time.  This was making me laugh so much, which in turn, made it harder to do.  Every time I would barely spray, I'd end up pulling at least 90% of the bottle away from my face, and Afrin would drip all over my kitchen counter.  I'm proud to say that after 10 minutes of chasing myself around the kitchen, I think I managed to get at least .25mL into my actual sinuses.  I'm hoping it's enough to completely cure me, since Lord knows I can't do it again.

Any tips or tricks of the trade to help with this?  I was reminded of that Friends episode when Rachel has to put those eye drops in.  We would be good friends in real life.

Now that I've finished typing this, it occurs to me that this story is probably much funnier to me than it will be to my reading audience.  But seriously, if you're ever having a bad day, you should ask me to do this with the Afrin.  It will make you laugh.

Can someone pick me up some Kleenex?

Well, it was bound to happen, I suppose.  After spending my weekend in the teeny, tiny box office down at the Lortel with my box office treasurer, who I love, but who was also sporting a fever all weekend, I'm spending my treasured day off in bed with a stupid cold.  I'm supposed to be volunteering at the MTC Gala tonight, so I'm hoping I can pull it together by then.  

I'm mostly blaming this insane weather NYC has been having lately.  60 on Monday, 45 on Tuesday, 80 on Wednesday, sun, rain, snow.  (ok, no snow, but I needed a third weather element to balance out my list).  I am so over walking around in the freezing rain though.  Gross.  Good think I bought cute new pink rainboots.  They do make it a little easier to cope.

All is well down at the theatre.  The show seems to be in great shape.  I haven't stayed to watch the whole thing yet, and they are still making cuts and adjustments and things, but what I have seen looks tres good.  It's a fun group down at the Lortel, which makes all the difference.  I've been lucky to have really fantastic FOH (front of house) staffs in all my theatres here in New York.  It can be really boring spending your entire weekend inside a theatre, so a great camaraderie is a wonderful thing.

I'm going to see if I can pull myself together for the show tonight.  An update to follow later on whether or not I pass out into my chicken dinner.

"Don't talk of love lasting through time, make me no undying vow. Show me now!"

I just finished reading Julie Andrews' memoir, Home.  Seriously, as if I haven't been enamored with her my entire life, now upon reading the story of how she became what she became is truly amazing.  When I think of the short list of people who have influenced my life beyond words, I'm fairly certain that Julie Andrews is at the top of it.  I can remember sitting in front of our tv for hours and hours a day watching The Sound of Music over and over and over again.  I would spin around my living room pretending to be whichever particular VonTrapp family member I felt like at the moment.  When I reached college, I actually broke the tape on the VCR tape copy of that movie from watching it over and over again as I was getting over that freshman homesickness that inevitably comes from leaving home and needing something familiar to comfort you.

My neighbors across the street from me growing up were named Banks, and Mr. Banks was actually from England, and for a good five years of my life, I fully believed they were related to the Banks family from Mary Poppins.  They would travel to England and send me postcards from her.  (and you wonder why I live in such a fantasy world now...)

Anyway, reading this book did nothing but reinforce my belief that the influence Julie Andrews had over me as a child, silently and without my knowing, pushed me into the person I am in the career I'm in.  Without a doubt, every time "Edelweiss" or "Feed the Birds" pops up on my iTunes, my eyes start to tear up at the sheer beauty of her voice and the complete love that I have always had for her.

Does anyone else out there in the void feel that someone you've never met helped you become the person you are today?  Feel free to post in the comments.  I'd love to hear what you have to say.

Julie Andrews as the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio

Julie Andrews as the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio
Originally uploaded by Travel Weekly Gallery

I mean, seriously, doesn't everyone's heart completely melt upon seeing this picture? I just love her.  I just finished reading her memoir this evening, so expect a long reflection post on how much I heart Julie Andrews tomorrow.

Heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to work we go!

Wow, what a difference a few weeks makes.  After way to many Top Chef marathons, I am now back among the employed people of the New York theatre scene.  I received a few emails from some of my theatre friends (how nice is it to know there are people looking out for you!) leading me to my new position as the company manager for Neil LaBute's play reasons to be pretty.  

I just watched the first run though on Friday, and it's great.  They are teching done at the Lortel now, and we get underway on Wednesday night.

I love starting a new job.  Knowing that when I pack up for the day, knowing that everything on my list is accomplished.  How rare a feeling is that?  I can honestly say that I don't remember the last time I felt that way.  So, that's cool.  The new people at my office are great, and I ended up having a million connections to the theatre that I never knew about.  I love becoming a part of this world!  I finally feel that I've been working long enough to be like, "oh right, I know them!"  Seriously, a giant shoutout to my people at the Vineyard and MTC for being those connections that brought me to this job!  I am so grateful to have such amazing people watching my back.  It's moments like this when I realize just how cool of an industry I work in.

Oh Universe. Your constant need to be in balance is so obnoxious sometimes.

You know that feeling you get when everything is going freaking amazingly and all your friends are happy and life is good and birds are singing and the sky is blue etc, but then God and the universe are like, "Um, nope, not that happy" and slams you with an slap back to reality?  That happened to me today.

For the sake of not sharing all my friend's lives for the world to see, I shall change their names to characters from Thoroughly Modern Millie.  That way if my friends aren't ready to share their stories, they don't have to, and I get to hum songs from Millie throughout my typing this part of the blog.  Win-win.

So anyway, last night, I got a call from "Millie" that she was engaged!  Words can't describe how excited I am!!  Her finance "Jimmy" was very nice to spare her for the 30 minutes it took for us to adequately squeal and laugh and cry and reminisce.  Needless to say, I was completely floored, and my friend is happier than I've ever seen her, and for that I am overwhelmingly excited for the two of them.  Once the story is told, and her Facebook profile is updated, I shall share that story because it's awesome.

Then, another friend of mine this morning "Trevor Graydon" informs me that he has been cast in a kick-ass musical in a starring role.  Totally amazing!  I am so happy for him!  He deserves all the success that is coming his way, for he is truly one of the most talented people I've had the pleasure of meeting since starting my New York adventures.  More to come on this later as well. 

Anyway, I had brunch with Em and Nick this morning (no need to hide those names, right?), and afterwards I was on Cloud 9.  Seriously, walking on air.  Completely thinking that the universe had some amazing positive fancy energy out there, I was looking forward to becoming a part of that.  I was humming along just thinking about my good friends' great fortunes.  And just being happy.  I know I've said that a lot, but I really was.  

Anyway, I called my mom to talk about a great meeting I had on Saturday afternoon (another reason I was happy!) and she interrupted my gushing to tell me, "I'm really sorry to have to bring you down from this, but Katherine's father passed away unexpectedly this morning."  (Katherine is my cousin Mark's fiancée, and they are getting married in August.)  I know a lot of people would read the paragraphs above this and say, "well, naturally something bad was bound to happen!" but that's not really how I roll.  I'm not a person who holds back very much emotionally speaking, so when my spirits are high, I'm literally flying; and therefore, when the bottom drops out, I'm completely crushed.  I was literally walking up 2nd Avenue practically skipping at the start of the phone call with my mom, and within seconds of hearing the news, I was crying and heartbroken.  For the next few hours, every time I would think of Katherine having to prepare for her wedding without her dad, I would dissolve into a crying mess.  At Barnes and Noble, at Starbucks, at work.  I'm sure on a deeper level it's because when my wedding comes, I won't have my dad around, and that sucks and all that jazz, but on the surface, I think that I just find myself Quantum Leaping* into people's emotions.  I suppose life would be a lot easier if I could distance myself even a little bit, but then I guess I wouldn't be the person I am now.  So, I guess I'll just try to keep my personal emotional roller coaster on the track and realize that without the high highs and the low lows, life would just be a series of that really flat part of the roller coaster when the ride is over and you're just coasting back to the start.  Look at me and my metaphor skills.  

I suppose I'll end this somber post for the night.  In the end, I suppose I don't really mind the intense feelings my little Pisces mind conjures up.  I am genuinely thrilled to be able to share in my friends' exciting adventures and accomplishments when they are overjoyed.  And, though usually, it's not an easy thing to do, sharing the tears and disappointments matters just as much.  Maybe more?  I guess it's just my way of trying to reach my own equilibrium with the universe.

*Disclaimer: I never actually watched Quantum Leap because it came on at the same time as Lois and Clark.  And I think we all know which show won my loyalty...