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!!