Little Miss Sunshine

I finally saw this movie. It was really cute. Kind of depressing in parts, but laugh out loud funny in others. The little girl in the movie reminds me of myself at that age - kinda odd with big, nerdy glasses. Steve Carrell was especially awesome. Very different from his "The Office" character. Anywho, go see it, or, at the very least, rent it (especially you Beth, now that you've got that fancy-dancy DVD player!).

work it, pups

Is it strange that every week when I'm watching "America's Next Top Model" I conduct an elaborate "America's Next Top Puppy" competition between Junior and Jimmy? And that I always make both of them win because I don't want one of them to feel bad?

Best not to answer that, I think.

the birds and me

So, as you know, I'm trying to be more mindful of my exercise lately. I've been getting up at the ass-crack of dawn to do my running/walking routine, which I hate with the power of a thousand suns, particularly because I've really incorporated a lot more running into it. I am not the kind of person who gets that endorphins rush that makes me all happy when I'm exercising. I'm more the kind of person who cannot wait until it is all over, so I can immediately begin dreading going the next day. But, well, it's good for me, etc. etc., so I'm making an effort.

My friend Alan thinks I should get some sort of spiritual joy out of starting my day off just as the birds start tweeting and the world is just waking up. He thinks I should be happy that I have the opportunity to commune with nature before the day's natural hustle and bustle takes over. As nice as that all sounds, the only thing that keeps me out there on my 51-minute jaunt is my iPod.

So, you can imagine how thrilled I was this morning when the battery died about 25 minutes into the whole thing. So it was just me and the birds this morning.

Please don't fail me tomorrow, iPod.

check me out

I was really sick of the pink, so I changed my template. I have to update my links, but I'm falling asleep at the keyboard (it's just exhausting picking a new template).

weekend review

Well, the rest of my birthday weekend was fairly busy and rife with sickness. Saturday Greg felt like complete crap, so he did not go to my cousin's party. Luckily, he felt good enough earlier in the week to go shopping for my birthday, so I got to unwrap some lovely gifts from him, including some sweet new brown boots, new Nikes (needed them really badly), a nice gigantic new sweatshirt, and a gift certificate to the mall. Later, we went to dinner at Tinker's in Hartford (good seafood, no-frills restaurant/fish market).

Sunday started bright and early at about 12:30 a.m. when Greg woke me up to say he was going to the ER because he ear was killing him so badly. I was in complete REM 4 sleep when he woke me up, so he was out the door before I could go with him. I felt really badly. He came home an hour later to report that he had a ruptured eardrum. They gave him some eardrops and told him he'd feel better in about five days. He's still on the mend.

The rest of Sunday featured clean-up day at SCT Hall, which totally sucked but we got a lot done. Then Sunday night I had rehearsal and helped paint the marquee for our Apple Harvest Festival parade float for next weekend. Yup, kids, I'm in a parade next weekend.

It's not still officially the weekend anymore, but I'm happy to report I went and spent some of my gift certificate at the mall and bought a cool, rust-colored courderoy skirt from the Gap that I'd been eyeing for a few weeks. I had wanted to buy a new purse but I didn't find anything, so I'll still be lugging around that *&!&!^&* pink polka-dotted thing for a while longer.

Also, at one point during the weekend I watched the movie The Family Stone. It's worth seeing, even if it's a little sad.

you know, that's how old Jesus was when he died

Yup, that's what Greg said to me when I said I couldn't believe I was turning 33. I can't say that it made me feel any better.

So, today is my birthday. It started 12 minutes ago. I just got home from a Rumors reunion - the cast from that show that I did in Simsbury back in March got together tonight to watch the video. We had a great time, despite that fact that I had to watch myself on a huge-screen TV.

Anyway, back to the big day. I can almost guarantee that this will be one of my less-exciting birthdays. We are going to my cousin's kids' birthday party, which will be good in the sense that there will be cake and I'll get to see my family. Other than that, I'm really not quite sure what the day will bring. Greg is super sick, so I don't think he's going to be much up for partying hard. And to be honest, neither am I. It's been a long week and I'm thinking the nicest way I could spend the day would be catching up on my TiVo and magazines and of course opening up the little pile of presents that are waiting for me on the dining room table. (Oh, who am I fooling - that will be the first thing I do when I wake up.)

Turning 33 is kind of boring, in the sense that it's not a landmark birthday. At the same time, I can't believe I'm 33, because it feels like I was just 25, or 19, or 12. Where does all the time go? Any way you look at it, I'm an adult. I'm not even sure if I'm a young adult anymore. I think I'm just a regular adult. Yet I'm wearing a Gap sweatshirt and flip-flops with ice cream cones on them. I could have been wearing this same outfit on any of the aforementioned birthdays. Have I grown up at all? I have all the trappings of an adult - the marriage, the house, the 2.5 dogs - but inside, most of the time, I don't feel very grown up. Maybe it's because I still get giddy at the thought of cake. Of course, on my 21st birthday, I don't think I would have been satisfied with just catching up on TV shows I missed that week. Frankly, I don't even think I watched TV at that point in my life. There were too many bars to go to.

OK, OK, I get it. Getting older=watching more TV. Hmmmm....I think I like this getting older after all!

Time for bed.

Imagine if you had a friend whose show opened this weekend

And imagine if this friend updated his blog so we could find out how it went? Wouldn't that be really great and informative and everything? Rumor has it he has a pretty big part, and he's been pretty stressed out about it, and since he decided to slack off and take today off from work, I didn't receive an email ALL DAY telling me how it went, and, you know, I'm just wondering how it went, since, you know, he's a big star and all. Or maybe he doesn't want to talk to the little people anymore.

I'm just sayin'.

dudes, I'm tired!

Well, this was a busy weekend.

Saturday was a nice day. It was beautiful out, and I felt like I really had to take advantage of what was probably one of the last nice Saturdays this year (sigh). I did one of my favorite things - sat out on my back deck and read. Then I felt guilty so I cleaned up the house and did some chores. At night, we went to dinner with some friends at Burton's Grill at Evergreen Walk - this was the first time I'd been to both the shopping center and the restaurant. The food was really good, and I really wanted to check out the shops, but we were going to a movie so there was no time.

We went to see The Last Kiss -that's the movie starring Zach "I am so overrated" Braff. I really didn't like it. It was semi-depressing and was about several relationships that had major problems, and it left me feeling icky and mad at Greg (why is it when I see a movie where someone cheats on someone I get mad at Greg? It's kind of funny). Anyway, unless you want to feel all angsty, don't go see it.

Sunday we headed off to Portsmouth, RI, to young Flannery's wedding. She had a lovely day and we had a lot of fun. She looked beautiful (I must say her co-workers can really help pick out a dress!), but I don't have any good pictures so maybe the lovely Lisa will post some? However, because I am a lame loser who cannot handle my drink anymore, I felt sick on the way home and had to pull over. I only had two and a half glasses of wine!! Who does this? What self-respecting 32 (almost 33!) year old has to pull over on route 9 in Middletown so her stomach can settle? I am getting old, people. An old lady who can't handle her liquor. There was a time in my life when nine drinks wouldn't have that effect. LAME. Anywho, lucky Flannery and Nate are off to Mexico for a week at an all-inclusive resort! Congratulations once again to the newlyweds.

And now I need to go find some Tums.

for your consideration

I am completely obsessing over two CDs right now. They are battling each other for my affection while I'm driving, and so far, there is no clear winner. They are: the soundtrack to [title of show] and Barenaked Ladies are Me, the new BNL CD that came out this week. They are completely different from each other, yet I am desperately in love with both. Thank God I have to do a lot of driving these days, or I'd feel like I was neglecting one. Anyway, go buy these CDs!

but we were on a break!!

So, today I found out that I got a part in a play called Life with Father, that goes up in November. This is another SCT production. Should be fun/interesting - fun, because it's theater, and interesting, because I'm actually playing four different parts. In this show (which is very charming and old-school - it was written in the 1930s, I believe, and takes place in the 1890s), there are four different maids that come and go throughout the show. As a way to make these little parts more appealing to someone who is auditioning, the director decided that he was going to have one person play all four roles, develop four different personas, accents, movements, etc. So, what was four small parts becomes one medium-sized part that is actually quite challenging. I've never done anything like this, morphing from one character to the next in one show. So it should be quite the experience! Rehearsals start Thursday night, but I will only be able to make the tail end because I have to work Thursday night.

The reason I titled this entry the way I did is because I've already gotten flack from my friends who told me that I promised I would go on a theater hiatus for a while after Into the Woods. To those people I say - hey, what was the last month for? That was the break! Oh, you were expecting something longer? Do you know me at all?

In other news, I have a cold. Did I already complain about this? I can't remember.

aaaand....I'm back

So, I'm back from Cape Cod. We had the best trip. Ate a lot, sat in the sun a lot, and laughed a lot harder than I have in a really long time. You know - the kind of laughing where you think you're going to throw up. It was pretty awesome, and the weather was great. But, now back to reality and a very busy week. Bah humbug. Plus, it really feels like summer is over, now that our trip is done. Boo.

I'm outta here

So tomorrow we leave for what is, so far, my big vacation of the year. We're going to Cape Cod for four days with Greg's extended family (parents, aunt, uncle, various cousins and their children). It's sort of a resort place that we've gone to before, and it's a good time. I'm really looking forward to it, probably too much. This week has sucked the life out of me, today in particular, and I'm just psyched to flop myself down on the beach for a couple of days. Crap. I just realized I don't have enough reading material for the trip. Better make a stop at Border's before we leave tomorrow!

See y'all on the rebound.

crikey!

For some reason, I still can't get over the fact that Steve Irwin died. That's messed up. Why I'm surprised, I have no idea. This guy put himself in dangerous situations on a very regular basis. But why would he continue doing it when he had two kids? Not to talk badly about the dead, but that's lame and egotistical.

see this show (or, what I did this weekend)

This weekend, Greg and I thought it would be super-fun to drive straight into the hurricane-like weather, so we headed to New York to see our friend Dimitry and his new bride-to-be. Despite the fact that it was hella windy and rainy, we still had a good time. And how could we not? New York is the greatest city in the world, despite the two giganto rats I saw on the street last night. We went to see a show I had been reading a lot about called [title of show], and it was awesome. One of the best, most original shows I've seen in a long time. It's about two guys who have three weeks to write a musical to enter into a theater festival. It was written by two guys who had three weeks to write a musical to enter into a theater festival. It's just basically a really hilarious (and kinda inspiring) story about what it takes to put a musical together. If you're a theater nerd (Alan, I'm talking to you), then all the better, because there are a million little inside jokes going on throughout the show. But even if you're not so much into theater, you'll still love it. In fact, Greg was the one who started the standing ovation! It's playing Off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre. It just got extended to October 1, so go see it.