Last year in review pt. 2

Ah yes, where did I leave off? I believe it was the end of my 1st tour, so that would land us in June. Though it brought the end of the Rat Pack, it brought the beginning of my working with Sweeney Todd and The Fantasticks, which were both crazy, but fun. I felt fancy being involved with both. I mean, I kid about The Fantasticks a lot, but it really is a sweet show, and the people there were fun to work with. It was just amazing to be anywhere near involved with Sweeney Todd. Yes, booking travel and writing checks isn't the most glamorous part of the business, but I still got to see a final run through sitting two seats away from Stephen Sondheim. FANCY.

So, let's just assume I spent a majority of my hours at the office this past summer and leave it at that.

On to the FUN stuff! My sister moved to NYC in July, which meant new fancy apartment! I finally accepted that life off the island of Manhattan wouldn't be so bad and made the big leap over the East River into Astoria. No longer squished in my wonderful but teeny Upper East Side apartment, our new apartment in Astoria has 2 real bedrooms, CLOSETS, laundry in the basement, and a back porch that we'll eventually be able to use. Brilliant. Emily furnished all the important things like furniture, plates, towels, shower curtains, silverware, napkin rings, etc. and I bought new tv. That sounds about right, doesn't it? At first my mom was worries that with Em supplying all the homey things, I might not feel like I was at home. That is, until she came to visit for Christmas and saw the shiny toast, the fancy microwave, my beloved HDTV, and TiVo. Then was was quick to recant that thought, stating it was very evident that I indeed had made myself at home in the ways that are important to me! Pics of the new place are here...it's been a process while Emily arranges all our furniture, but it sure makes my world a wonderful place when I come back from tour. Maybe I'll have Em take some pics of how it looks now, just so my Aunt Tori isn't reading this worried that it still looks barren. To this I say, no worries, Tori, I live with Emily now!

August saw the first of two fantastic family weddings. My cousin David was married to Meredith at a lovely ceremony in Green Bay. Complete with fantastic band and a firework display, and mini hamburgers when we left the reception! We all love Meredith! It was so nice saying goodbye knowing that we would all be together again in a short month! It should also be noted that very shortly after this wedding, my cousin Kristin welcomed baby #4 to the Cafferty clan. Here's a pic of baby Bridget. Seriously, she's even cuter than this!

In September, we reconvened in beautiful Door County, WI to celebrate the marriage of David's brother, Richard to Jamie. We are all so happy to welcome another fantastic girl to the mix! Richard and Jamie's wedding was complete with a Packers groom's cake and wonderful outside dance floor. Not to mention all the great shopping we were able to do! Fantastic!

The show's coming down now, and so I will post this now and leave my Rat Pack Tour adventures for another post!

First, an Overview pt. 1

Well, since I've gone ahead and gone through all the trouble of setting up a new blog, I feel I should give all you new readers (that is, those of you who aren't my mom) a little look into my 2007 before I begin this crazy journey.

A month-by-month recap should do the trick:

January

Places traveled: Chicago, IL; Green Bay, WI; DePere, WI; Racine, WI

2007 started off with an unbeatable deal on the newly routed NY/Chicago leg on Jet Blue, so I attempted to visit every relative I was able to. This included-1 grandmother, 2 aunts, 3 uncles, 8 cousins, 6 cousins-in law, and 9 second cousins. Not too bad for a 4 day trip. This also included my first lighthouse-free visit to downtown Chicago. Those of you not familiar with my father should know that EVERY time we were promised a trip to downtown Chicago and the Navy Pier, we would ultimately end up in Evanston, IL at the Grosse Point Lighthouse. SO not the same as Navy Pier. It was a busy, but wonderful trip. Should you be so curious, more pictures are posted here.

February

Places traveled: Nashville, TN; Minneapolis, MN

My Rat Packers reconvened for the second half of their first US Tour in lovely Nashville, TN. No one turned away from entry into the US, bars and live music on every corner, SONIC? All was right in the world of the Pack. The entire week we were in Nashville, the Minneapolis area was suffering through negative blizzard conditions. I wasn't too sure how my Brits would handle it, but in a unusual twist of fate, the sun came out just in time for our arrival bringing the temperature up to a balmy 16. With an aptly named "Brit's Pub" practically connected to our hotel, I knew we'd found a kindred spirit in Minneapolis. This city gave me a chance to escape as it is the hometown of my cousin Mark, who the day after I arrived, proposed to his adorable girlfriend Katherine! I had a great time spending the week celebrating with them and my aunt and uncle also joined us for a long weekend. Definitely two of the better weeks I had spent on tour. Look, more pics.

March

Places traveled: New Haven, CT; Newark, NJ

Yeah, not my favorite places on tour. It was hard explaining to my Brits that Newark really just has the airport, and that's all. I have random pics from New Haven here. I neglected to take any pictures of Newark, save for the one on the billboard en route to the theatre that said "Stop the Killings." Ridic. I of course feel the need to post that picture as my sole memory of Newark...

April

Places traveled: Grand Rapids, MI; Hershey, PA

These two week sort of went by in a blur. We were met with a late season blizzard in Grand Rapids. Some of my company decided to take a road trip out to Grand Haven, MI to check out Lake Michigan, which was very impressive to them. It was fun to see the other side of the "Lake Michigan Circle Tour" that I always see signs for when driving around Wisconsin. As always, photos here.

From lovely Michigan, we headed off to Hershey/Harrisburg, PA. For those of you who have never ventured out to the land of chocolate, the rumors are true. It smells like someone is making brownies every second of the day. Not to mention that our presenters at the Hershey Theatre greeted us with a gigantic bowl of all things chocolate when we arrived. Let's all be thankful for the fact that the company management office was on the 5th floor of the theatre and the elevator was so old and creepy, I ended up walking up most of the time. We took a side trip to Amish country (conveniently located next door to Target!) I was unimpressed. Or rather, I was horrified at the thought of life sans TiVo. And of course, no trip in April would have been complete without my making a Dad-like run to the Harrisburg Post Office to mail my taxes at 11:45pm on April 16th. Even the extra day couldn't give me enough time to finish before then. Insane. Pics here...

May

Place traveled: Cleveland, OH

The last stop on the Rat Pack 07-07 tour was Cleveland, OH. Our only 2 week stop of the trip, and was that a wonderful thing in and of itself! The company was able to do all sorts of fancy things camping, Cedar Point, and Indians game. And lots of shopping. Theatres (and therefore our hotels) are most often located in downtown areas, and can be rather hit of miss on the fun factor. Thankfully, Cleveland had just about everything we needed, so it was lovely. We had great crowds as well, which was very nice. All in all, it was a great way to wrap the tour up until the fall. Of course I have more photos!

So, there you have it, the second half of my first adventure as a touring company manager. More to come in my next installment. Please leave comments as I am posting this from Berlin and am tres homesick already.