celebrity encounter

OK, so I will once again mention that I don't write about work on here, but I will say that I was in New York for the past couple of days for a work conference, and at one of the functions I met Hunter Bell from what is probably my second-favorite show of all time, [title of show]. He was super-nice and I must say, it was pretty exciting for this theater nerd. I will now, AGAIN, urge you to get your fannies out to the store and buy the soundtrack to their show, because you will not only enjoy the music, you will laugh and laugh. Or check out their really funny blog on their website.

In other news, I'm just happy to be home now. I'm exhausted and thrilled that it's almost the weekend. If you have no plans and want to check out some local theater fun, I'll be hanging out at SCT this weekend for our production of Grease. And since, as we all know, Rizzo turns out not to be pregnant at the end, I am not actually in the show. But I'll be working house and helping out as much as my swollen and tired feet will allow (by the way, I was not complaining about pregnancy there - I was being descriptive!). I am also very happy that the weather is finally supposed to be nice this weekend. The 70s! Holy crap! It hasn't been that warm since....January.

you know what? I take it back

In re-reading my last post, I just want to smack myself. You see, I promised myself that I wouldn't be one of those pregnant ladies who complain about the whole thing all the time. And in real life, I've really tried not to. But putting it out there on the internets is the same thing. There are so many women who try so hard to get pregnant, and go through painful fertility treatments, sometimes for years at a time and with no luck, and I have had it relatively easy in comparison. There have been some scares throughout, and I feel like I have a right to complain about those things (which I have not really done on the internets) but I can't bear to listen to/read myself complain about stuff like leg cramps and bloating. Because, geez. It's not like I didn't expect these things. So I take it back.

PS: Re:Melissa and Lisa's comments on my last post - having a little rump on your bladder is the CRAZIEST feeling ever. You feel like you're going to pee right there on the spot! I'm not complaining - I'm just sayin'. It's nuts!

complainy mcwhineypants

This has been such a crraaazy couple of weeks in my life. I feel like I never went on vacation - any zen-like effects of spending time in the sun are completely gone. Most days I feel like I'm running around in 20 different directions and nothing is getting done quite right. I can divide up my problems into three categories: work, pregnancy, impending parenthood.

As for work, well, I don't talk about work here. Suffice to say there is a lot going on right now, and with 15 weeks to go (at most) until maternity leave, I've got a ton of stuff that has to be completed before then. 15 weeks may seem like a long time, but time has a tendency of flying by in a very inconvenient way.

As for pregnancy, well, I'm now 25 weeks pregnant, and winding up the second trimester. I feel very physically different than I did even a couple of weeks ago - I'm bigger, the baby is moving around a lot more, the sciatica is absolutely excruciating at some times. I feel like I'm short of breath at some points, I have some pretty spectacular heartburn episodes, there's numbness in my leg on occasion, and I'm overall just feeling really tired and slow. Which, when you have a lot to accomplish in your regular life, doesn't really work. Anyway, blah diddy blah blah blah. It's just the same crap you hear from any pregnant lady (and believe me, I'm eliminating some of the really distasteful issues that have cropped up), and I'm sure no one wants to hear it.

As for impending parenthood, well, holy shit. And that's all I can really say about that.

Now, aren't you so glad you read this post?

weekend update

This is a picture of the sunset in San Diego the last night we were there.

Lisa said she missed my weekend updates. So here you go, Lisa, this one's for you:

Friday: Today I have to continue cleaning my house, because we are hosting Easter and my family will be descending on Sunday and I'd prefer they didn't think I live in a pigsty. It's actually not to bad as it is right now, but there is still plenty of work to do, and I tend to get obsessive-compulsive about it. Hey, looking back at the beginning of my blogging career here at Blogger, I was talking about the same stuff. Easter. Getting the house ready. Cooking. Life doesn't change much sometimes. Anyway, today is also my mother's birthday, so I will swing by there later, and then tonight, we are going out for Greg's birthday (which is tomorrow) with his parents.

Saturday: Although Saturday is Greg's birthday, we will be going out to breakfast with my mother and brother to celebrate her birthday. Then I have to do a ton of grocery shopping and start some of the cooking aspects of Easter, like making the desserts. I also have to try not to stress out at Greg about everything that has to be done, because, after all, it's his birthday. Too bad, because I'm really good at freaking out the day before people are supposed to come over.

Sunday: Easter. Hopefully we will eat, drink, and be merry, but I'm not sure how merry I'm going to be while trying to cook a meal, since I am total crap at cooking. Frankly, I feel sorry for my guests.

Somewhere in the middle of all of that I have to finish up work on the Grease playbill. Not sure when that's going to happen.

aaand..she's back

This is a picture of some seals (or sea lions?) in La Jolla.

As expected, San Diego was awesome. The weather was perfect every day, and we had a lot of fun. Every day, we did something touristy in the morning/early afternoon - went to the Gaslamp District, Coronado Island, San Diego Zoo, La Jolla, and the Midway Navy boat (huge ass boat that fought in WWII) - and then in the late afternoon we hung by the pool. I did a lot more walking around than I expected, but it's good for me. I was extremely sad to come home - seriously, I had tears in my eyes when I was going to work this morning - but I guess that's all a sign of a good vacation. It was really good for Greg and I to spend some quality alone time together. Things have been so stressful lately and it was a good break. And now that we're back in CT, we wonder - why the hell do we live here? If it wasn't for our families and friends, we'd definitely be on the West coast, or at least in warmer weather on the East coast. I can't stand this cold crap anymore.

Now I am going headfirst into an extremely crazy week - Greg's birthday, my mom's birthday, production stuff for Grease and we're hosting Easter. Arrrrghh!

FYI Tomorrow is my one year anniversary on this blog. Whoo hoo! Hasn't it been sooooo interesting? And enlightening? And what not?

my weekend at the thea-tah

This was a pretty theatrical weekend for me. Friday night I went to see Wit at Hole in the Wall, starring my friends and fellow thespians, Todd and Alan. It's a play about a woman who is dying of ovarian cancer - you know, a show that's just begging to make you laugh. I jest- but actually, there were a decent number of humorous moments, as promised. The woman playing the lead character was excellent - so many lines to memorize and so many emotions to cover - I definitely don't think I'm ready for that level of performing yet. In fact, I know it. Todd and Alan were very good, although Todd's character was kind of a jerk. Well, maybe not a jerk -just obsessed with his career. Anywho, there are a couple of weekends left, so go see it.

Yesterday my mother and I took our annual trip to New York City to see a show. This year we went to see The Drowsy Chaperone. It's about a man who loves old-time Broadway musicals, and while listening to a recording of one of his favorites, it comes to life in his living room. It's very clever, especially the parts that poke fun at theater itself. The first line made me laugh - "I hate theater." A great way to start a show! The weather was good for our trip, which was a miracle, because usually it pours. My mother bought the impending baby a little Yankees outfit, which is sure to enrage all of the Red Sox fans in my life.

Today I've been cleaning like a madwoman and trying to get ready for our trip. We have a couple of different people staying at our house and it really needs a cleaning. Tonight I have to stop by Grease rehearsal to drop some stuff off (thereby completing my theatrical weekend). We leave on Tuesday, so if I don't blog before then, have a spectacular week!

holy freaking crap

I just signed up for a childbirth class.

do you know the way to San....Diego?

I think we're all about done looking at that picture of my gut, huh?

Once again, I've been remiss in my blogging. I've been busy planning a couple of trips. The first comes on Saturday when my mother and I take our annual trip to NYC to see a show. We're going to see the musical The Drowsy Chaperone, which is supposed to be pretty good. Of course, and as it happens every year, it looks like it's going to be a rainy day. I'm curious to see how I fare in New York with my need to find a bathroom every 15 minutes (more glories of being pregnant). I'm sure we'll have fun.

Next week, Greg and I leave for a week in San Diego. We were there a couple of years ago and really found it to be the best place on Earth. It's nice that we agree about how much we both love it too. I'm nervous about being so far away (because I'm pregnant, not because I'm going to get homesick - although I will miss the dogs) but I look forward to getting away. It's been a pretty stressful few months.

Not to compete with Alan's high level of nerdiness on his blog lately, but I was very excited to see that one of my all-time favorite websites, weather.com, has switched from their winter picture to a nice floral picture, reminding me that today is the first day of spring. Happy spring, everyone!

remember me?

Remember me? Yeah, I'm the one who writes this here blog. I'm sorry I've been so absent - basically, I feel very boring lately and I don't want to put people to sleep with my blog entries.

For those of you who don't get to see me much, you can see by the picture here that I'm actually starting to look pregnant. For a while there I was riding that fine line of "do I look fat or pregnant?" but now I think I've rounded the corner to where strangers will think I'm pregnant. Not that I have anything against being fat, because, well, I've been fat before too, but I've been growing this baby for 21 weeks now, and I want something to show for it! Plus I hear people are nice to pregnant ladies.

You know who wasn't very nice to me? The jackhole who stole all of my CDs out of my car last night. Because I'm an idiot, I didn't lock my car doors. Well, maybe it's the daylight savings time or maybe it's the fact that it was very warm yesterday, but the local morons were obviously out in full force last night. Not only did they steal about 15 CDs, they also stole the box of Frosted Flakes I bought after work to bring into work today (I often like to eat cereal for lunch, mainly because it doesn't make me sick). I lived in not-so-nice sections of New Britain and Hartford, and no one ever touched my car. I move to lovely suburban central Connecticut and this is the second time someone has helped themselves to what was inside.

Can you see Junior in the background of that picture of me, looking so excited about his impending little sister? Don't let his casual stance fool you. While writing this blog entry, I heard him and Jimmy arguing over something in the living room. I went out there and sure enough, they were fighting over an Atomic Fire Ball that Junior took off the kitchen counter, got out of its wrapper, and was proceeding to eat. Luckily I was able to pry it out of his mouth before he really was able to eat much of it, because I can't imagine how one of those candies would feel as it was traveling down the gullet of a Great Dane. Or how that agony would most likely manifest itself all over the rug.

CCSU is playing tonight in the NCAA tournament! Whoo hoo - go, alma mater! I mean, there's not a chance in hell that they'll win, but still. We CCSU alumni have been standing in the shadows of UConn for long enough. And where's the UConn men's team now? Huh? Huh? Yeah, sitting home and watching TiVo like the rest of us, I bet.

Have fun in the snow tomorrow!

it's freezing out there, and all I see is pink

I know my title doesn't make much sense, but I swear, the sub-zero temps hasn't frozen my brain. It's just that the two topics occupying my brain right now is the cold and something pink-related.

First off- dang, it's cold! I am so glad that spring is almost here. If it were December or January, this weather would be much more depressing. But I think we can tough out some cold if we know we'll be wearing flip-flops and capris soon - oh God, I can't wait.

The other thing is - as most of my beloved readers know - I had an ultrasound on Monday and found out that I'm having a girl - which I totally 100% suspected anyway, but at least I know my girl-vibes were valid. I have been asked why I am not blogging more about the whole baby/pregnancy thing, and mostly it's because a lot of it is personal stuff I'd rather not put out on the Internets - we've had some issues, we continue to have issues, but things looked good yesterday and she's moving around like a maniac! It's crazy to feel this alien being inside me squirming around. What a nut. We have a name picked out but it's top secret until July.

That's all for now. Off to go try to find some pants that fit.

my Hollywood boyfriend does it again

Last night we went to see Zodiac, starring my Hollywood boyfriend, Mark Ruffalo (and some other people, like Jake Gyllen-whatever and Robert Downey Jr). It was really really good. Although the movie was well over two hours, I never got bored. It was based on the real life story of the Zodiac killer, who was a serial killer in California in the late 60s-early 70s. They never completely solved the mystery of who it was, so it's not like the movie has a nicely wrapped-up ending. But still, it was really interesting. And although Mark Ruffalo had terrible sideburns and an even worse wardrobe, he was still great. And the other people were good too. Go see it!

remember these guys?

It's been a while since I posted any pics of the pups. Enjoy!

kick me baby one more time

(Did you get my Britney reference with the title up there? I'm still feeling sorry for her. I have Britney on the brain.)

So here I am, in week 18 of pregnancy, i.e., the most stressful time of my life. We are still in the midst of some stressful testing, and ugh ugh ugh, anyone who tells you it's a glowy, happy, smiley time, is, well, luckier than me. But it's had its moments, don't get me wrong. This week, I believe I have finally felt some movement that is not gas-related (and if you are saying ewww, stop right here, because everything related to pregnancy is gross, and has at least some "ew" factor to it). Anywho, you know if you have gas, you can feel some sort of "bubbles" in your stomach? Well, that's a lot of what it's like to feel a baby move around at first. You sit there and contemplate every single sensation that you feel, and think, "is this it?" "is this it?" until at some point, you realize that if you actually did have that much gas, you'd probably just explode.

So I believe The Troublemaker (that is what it is being called this week, in my nicer moments) is making its move. Communication from the other side is strange. I guess it turns out I'm not just getting fat!

random

Here are my thoughts at the moment:

I feel badly for Britney Spears. She's such a mess, and never in my life did I ever think I would look at K-Fed as more put together than she is. But such is the case, right now. I hope that girl gets serious help, although ditching rehab twice in one week doesn't bode well. I feel like she's about five seconds from overdosing or something. What a mess.

My show with Alan, Love Letters, was great. We got lots of very nice compliments and it was fun to see everyone there. Probably the hardest part of this show for me was holding my face straight when people were laughing. We got a lot of loud laughs at certain parts, and for some reason I really had to control my face not to break out into a smile. Anyway, that was my last performance for a while.

I can't fit into my pants. Really, that's all I can say about that.

Why is there no good TV on Wednesday night? I know Lost is on at 10, but I'll be asleep by then. My TiVo is empty of anything good, so I think I'm just going to hit the sack early. What a winner.

last hurrah

So, tonight is Love Letters. This has been a really hellacious week for me personally (never get pregnant unless you are prepared to deal with stress you never imagined possible - and believe me, I'm a professional stresser) but today I need to shut off my brain and focus on the show tonight. I'm excited about it, because I enjoy this show so much, and I'm thrilled to be able to do it again, with my friend and fellow blogger, Alan. Even though it's a "staged reading," I feel there's a lot more to it than just reading a script. If you do it right, you go through that script many times, so you've got it half memorized, and so you can really dig deep into the emotional aspects of the characters. My character really takes a downward spiral, and it's a lot of fun to play, if not completely emotionally draining. I hope I can do it justice tonight, after a particularly emotionally-draining week.

The other kinda weird thing about tonight is, this is my last hurrah as far as performing goes for a while. It's not like I'm retiring from my little community theater side-career, but I don't think I will be this actively involved in a show again for at least a couple of years, what with the new production at home in five months. Community theater has been such an enormous part of my life for the past 15 years or so, and I've really found another family among the many amazing, fun, talented, funny, exceptional people I've worked with on dozens of shows. It's not like I won't be "behind the scenes" still - I'm still on the board of directors in Southington, and I'll help as much as I can, but it's going to have to take a backseat to whoever will be occupying the carseat.

Thanks to everyone who is coming tonight.

let it...snow? ice? what is this?

So the big snow storm the weather peeps have been getting their panties in a twist over for the past few days (pardon the expression - a friend of mine says it and I think it's funny) has turned out to deliver about an inch of snow in my area and now all kinds of ice. I'm working from home today - although I guess I don't have to, because today was just declared a "snow day" - wahoo! So reminicent of my school days, when I just begged that they would read "Southington" on the school cancellation lists on the radio. Now it's easier to find out - you can just log online and hear whether you have to go to school. No waiting for them to push through most of the alphabet before they got to "S". So, I'm spending Valentine's Day with my actual valentine, instead of my work peeps and my show peeps (we were supposed to have rehearsal for Love Letters tonight, but that was canceled too).

Sorry I haven't been blogging a lot. Life has been pretty crazy, and not with stuff I want to blog about at the moment.

Happy Valentine's Day!

entertainment bits

I'm still shocked by Anna Nicole Smith's sudden death. I'm sure it will turn out to be an overdose of some sort, but her life, especially lately, has been tragically sad.

I just watched last night's episode of "Lost." It was interesting, but it wasn't awesome as had been suggested by just about every media outlet. I'll still watch, but my interest level has waaay dropped.

Don't forget! Next Saturday night is my and Alan's performance of Love Letters. It's going to be my last performance for a while, so you're not going to want to miss it.

can you spell this?

I just finished watching the movie Akeelah and the Bee. Super cute. I loved it.

some random television thoughts

What is UP with "Studio 60"? When this show debuted, I really liked it, but the more I watch it, the more it's really starting to annoy me. The language - the way people speak - is just sooooo...contrived. And everyone seems so self-righteous. I swear, if Greg didn't like this show, I wouldn't watch it at all. I still watch it because it's one of the few things we enjoy(ed) together. But seriously, Aaron Sorkin, get over yourself.

The big "Top Chef" finale is on tonight. Because the webmasters over at Food and Wine magazine obviously can't handle themselves, they accidentally managed to post an article about the winner (one of the prizes is a feature about the winner in that magazine) online for about 15 minutes the other day before they realized their mistake and took it down. So, yeah, I now know who wins. I will not comment on that, but I will comment on how disappointed I am with the cast this year - the only reason I'm happy Marcel made it to the end is because the rest of the cast just basically acted like douchebags the whole time. Focus on the food, people. So, once again, I get to the finale of a show and ultimately don't really care what happens. But I'll watch, of course, however probably not until tomorrow, since I already know who wins.

This is perhaps the most painful of my TV thoughts - I don't really care about the return of "Lost" next week. It's so crazy because I basically lived for this show two years ago, and now...meh. I'll watch it, sure, but I recently read an interview with one of the creators who said that they are going to focus much more on the relationships now, and less about the mysteries on the island. They think everyone cares much more about whether Kate is in loooooove with Jack or Sawyer. Ohmigod, I so totally don't care. Give me mystery! Give me action! Give me adventure! Give me Locke! Not some stupid drippy love story between three people that clearly have emotional problems anyway. Bah.

Luckily, my old standby "Survivor" starts up next week, and "Amazing Race All Stars" soon thereafter. Wahoo!

two words

So I was just driving home from work and I heard someone on the radio talking about a survey that asks people to give two words that described them in high school and two words that describe them now. I thought that was interesting, and came up with my words right away (actually they are not single words, but whatever).

High school:
*drama geek
*rocker chick

Now:
*theater geek
*in transition

OK, now it's your turn!

Because Lisa told me I have to

Lisa told me that I have to blog more, so here I am. Good Lord I am tired today. I have had two nights in a row of rehearsal for Fake, a staged reading I am doing at Thomaston Opera House tonight. Thomaston is about a half hour away, so it's been a loooong week of driving and late nights. I know two nights in a row isn't a lot, but I'm out of practice for my "rehearsal schedule" life, so it's been tiring.

Why is it so cold? I ask this rhetorically, because obviously, the answer is because it's winter and we live in Connecticut. But man oh man, I got used to having spring-like temps smack dab in the middle of winter. I suppose I shouldn't complain - in just a couple of months, it will be real spring, and not global warming spring.

I'm looking forward to a relatively quiet weekend, I hope. I have the reading tonight, and tomorrow night I'm going to a party at my friend Deb's house to reunite with my Simsbury theater peeps, but other than that, I am praying it will be low key.

I hope you all have enjoyed this incredibly boring post. See Lisa, that's why I don't post!

United 93

United 93 is one of those movies that I've been wanting to see, but I've never really been in the mood for. When are you in the mood to see a movie about one of the worst days you can ever remember? Last night we watched it, and I'm glad we did. While it was incredibly depressing, it was also oddly inspiring - that these ordinary people, people who could have just as easily been you or me, managed to overcome the terrorists on the plane and take it down before it made it to Washington. It is not a movie for the faint-of-heart, but it will remind you and amaze you about the regular people who became heroes on 9/11.

one night only!

I think everyone must be very excited about the opportunity to see Love Letters starring myself and Alan - I mean, seriously, when you get the chance to see two of your favorite bloggers LIVE ON STAGE? Together? Rarely, I would think. The only thing that would be better would be if we were reading our blog entries out loud.

Tonight we had our first rehearsal. It does figure that most nights I can be found sitting on my arse on the couch, but when I actually have to go out somewhere, winter decides to kick in and it starts to snow. Ah well. It was fun. I really do like this show a lot. I did it about four years ago and it's interesting to do it with another director and (very talented) actor (and hopefully without the bronchitis I had last time).

So if you want to see me and Alan get romantic - and who would want to miss that?? - don't miss our big performance on February 17. You have to get tickets in advance! Let me know if you want to come.

Grease is the word

So, I'm helping out with auditions for Grease in Southington. Anytime I watch auditions for a musical, I realize how much I lack the cojones to sing and dance in front of other people. Do a straight show? Sure, no problem at all. I love it. But I really can't sing (like, not even "Happy Birthday") and my dancing skillz are even worse. When I was watching the auditionees up there learning the dance combination, all I thought to myself was, "If I had a month to learn that, I couldn't." Yet these 16-year-old girls were getting it down in two seconds. I guess we all have our talents, and when it comes to musicals, mine come everywhere else but on stage (unless it's doing a set change during a blackout).

if it's too loud, you're too old

So Greg's band, KERMIT THE BAND, played out last night at Center Street Pub in Southington. (That's funny - when I typed "pub" the first time, I typed "pup" instead - guess you can tell what I'm usually writing about.) Anyway, it was fun -they had a decent crowd, although the room itself was kind of strange. They've gotten so much better over the past year or so, but I am still strongly encouraging them to learn more big '80's songs, because people love that sh*t. Next gig is at La Boca restaurant in Middletown (great salsa!) (the condiment, not the music) on February 2. I strongly recommend you put it on your calendar! I'll even share my salsa (maybe).

baby got back

I know, I know, I went from being the most frequent blogger ever to the least frequent blogger ever. It's been an achy-breaky week for me. On Sunday night, I coughed, and subsequently pulled what seems to be a pretty major muscle in my back. Having had back problems before, I decided to use some of my sick time so as not to make it worse and end up in the ER. I took off Monday and Tuesday, and finally went back to work Wednesday. Today, I have somehow pulled another muscle in my leg that is making the front of my leg hurt and it's kind of shooting up to my abdomen. Is this even possible? So, yes, I haven't been blogging. But as you can see, I would just have been complaining. And who wants to listen to that?

Al Gore is so full of it

It's a good thing there is no such thing as global warming, otherwise I'd think it would be odd to have a 72-degree day on January 6 in Connecticut.

Oh, Top Chef, how you torment me

So, the thing I'm loving about "Top Chef" this season, is that they've got this character (oh wait, I guess he's not a character, he's a real person) Marcel, and he's kind of a d**k, in an immature, socially retarded way, and all season everyone's really been hating on him. He's got this chick Betty just about ready to kill him since episode one, and since then, it seems like everyone else has turned against him, including the relatively benign Sam and Ilan, both of whom threw big fat hissy fits at him during last night's episode. But the thing is, everyone is being so horrible to him at the point - what with Ilan trash-talking his dish to the judges during the actual competition and what not - that now I actually feel sorry for him. That is, until he goes and does something d**kish again, which, inevitably, is five seconds later. By the very end, I really was rooting for either Ilan or Betty to get booted, because I really just felt bad for Marcel. Happily, the screechy Betty is gone. But Marcel? Lay off the foams.

It just makes me happy because usually there is a clear "good guy" and "bad guy," but in this case, I just can figure out who is who. Bravo really has some kick-ass reality TV shows.

(This blog entry won't make sense to anyone except Melissa, but I really felt like I had to get it off my chest. Perhaps you'd like me to blog about the TiVo'ed marathon of "America's Next Top Model" that I've been watching? I thought not.)

Happy New Year, y'all

Hope it's a great one for everyone.

In the meantime, I'm still sick, glued to my couch watching a marathon of "Ugly Betty" that I TiVo'ed yesterday. What a great show!

Saddam Hussein hanged

Guess that means the war in Iraq is all done now, right? Mission accomplished?

Junior is world-famous!

OK, so, several months ago I noticed how the Hartford Courant was running pictures of people's pets online every Saturday. So, of course, I entered Junior's picture with a little description. I checked back for several weeks and I never saw it, so I thought it got lost in the shuffle (of course - otherwise, why wouldn't they run it? It's Junior!). This morning, my mother called me to say that Junior is in the Courant today on page F4 (I think, I haven't gotten an actual hard copy yet) - apparently they also run pictures every Saturday in the actual paper too! She said that Junior's picture is the biggest. So I went online to the Life section of Courant.com, and there is Junior's mug right on the homepage of the Life section (you have to scroll down a bit). Then when you click on the Pets section, he's the first story - "125 Pounds of Style" - that's my pup! Check it out! He makes a mother proud.

sniff

Well, I've been hit by a festive holiday cold this week. I feel like complete crap, which is why I haven't been blogging - not much to say, except I'm just trying to get rid of this thing before I go back to work next week. I did go to see one movie, The Holiday - it was a fairly good chick flick, but it's definitely rentable. No need to rush out to the movie theaters. We tried to see The Good Shepherd as well, but didn't make it to the movie theater on time.

I can't believe it's already Friday. I've been off of work for a week (save a few hours I worked yesterday) and it doesn't feel that way at all. Feels like I just left! I could definitely use another week off.

Well, back to the TiVo. Just wanted to check in.

aaand...it's over!

So the festive Christmas season is over. We had a very nice time with my family on Christmas Eve and Greg's family on Christmas. I got lots of cool new toys, including an automatic car starter (tres luxurious!) and a new cell phone from Greg. Overall it was pretty hectic but a good time. You can see Tweedledee and Tweedledum, despite having each received tons of new toys, agreed that this present from my mother for Junior was the best.

christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat

Well, knowing me and my posting regularity, I think this'll be the last post before Christmas. Today is Christmas Eve, which I love. This year, we will be at my mother's, which is always fun. We go to church at 4, and then come back and have lasagna and play board games. Scattergories, to be more specific. I love that game. One of my sisters and her family will be there, as well as my brother. Tomorrow we will be off to my mother's first thing in the morning to do gifts, and then down to Greg's parents' house for the afternoon.

So, to all of my blogger buds, have yourselves a merry little Christmas! Hope Santa is good to you! See ya on the flip side.

O Christmas tree

So, Greg surprised my bah-humbuggy self with a Christmas tree today! Up until today, we hadn't gotten one, and I figured we just wouldn't end up getting one this year. But when I came home from work, there was one up and decorated in our living room! It's kinda Charlie Brown Christmas tree-esque, but still. It was a very nice thing of him to do.

I've been wrapping presents all afternoon. Have I mentioned that I hate wrapping presents? This has nothing to do with having Christmas spirit or not. This is just a matter of I have no skills wrapping gifts, whether it be for Christmas, birthday, Groundhog Day, what have you. I used to hate it when I worked at Barnes and Noble and someone would ask me to wrap their books (it was a service we offered for free). Hey, they got what they paid for!

bah humbug

Well, I'm now 99% done with my Christmas shopping. Just have to get some stocking stuff for Greg and a present for a kid - which always proves difficult for me - I'm not good at shopping for little kids, because I don't know what they want, or what they have. I didn't have the strength to hit Toys R Us today, because the mall drained me of my soul enough as it is. I was about to lose my mind in there.

I guess, in the end, I just don't have a whole lot of Christmas spirit this year. We never had the time to get a tree, so although we have some decorations up, we definitely didn't go all out. I do like receiving the Christmas cards in the mail, but other than that, it's just not doing it for me this year.

That's OK. I really am looking forward to having most of next week off from work - I haven't taken a week off since the first week in July - so I am definitely celebrating something!

hello? is this thing on?

Wow, ever since I quit the great blog-off of ought-six, I am MIA around here, huh? Well, it was a busy weekend. Friday, I attempted to do more Christmas shopping. Saturday, we went to another holiday party. Sunday, we took a break from the holiday partying to do some birthday partying, and celebrated the birthdays of my niece and nephew. My niece is 11; my nephew is 20. 20! Good Lord, I feel old. But then again, I was a very young aunt when I was 13. Still. It ain't right.

Last night was also the season finale of "Survivor." I've watched every episode of all 13 seasons of this show, and I must say, I really did enjoy this season. I was enraged at first, when they divided up the tribes by race, but it was a moot point after about one episode, and the rest of the season was really entertaining. I was happy that Yul won, although I would have been happier if Ozzy won. I know none of you watch or care, but still, I like to weigh my opinion in on the internets.

My TiVo is basically empty right now! It's barely recording any shows for me this week either. Am I going to have to go start reading books now?

yeah, I'm here

Alan is disappointed with me because I didn't write about our Secret Santa festivities at work. But Alan should know that I don't write about work on this blog (it can only backfire, as far as I'm concerned) so all I will say is, Secret Santa was fun, and I got some nice stuff.

I took today off of work, because I had remaining vacation time that I had to use before the end of the year, or I would lose it. So far it's been really exciting. I watched a "Daily Show" from this week and started to watch "The Office," but Greg got all upset because he wants to watch it with me, and he had to go do some work stuff, so I suppose we will watch it later.

I have a lot I have to do this weekend, including mailing my Christmas cards, finishing my shopping, going to a holiday party tomorrow, and going to a birthday party on Sunday. December is not a time for the lazy and tired, that's for sure. Too bad I'm lazy and tired!

Did anyone see "The Biggest Loser" finale on Wednesday? It was awesome. This is one of my all-time favorite shows. I find it so inspirational and emotional. I really like how these people commit to spending several months away from their families so they can focus on losing weight and getting healthy. Sure, there is a prize at the end for "The Biggest Loser," but you can tell for most of them, it becomes about the lifestyle change and the emotional journey of losing a lot of weight. Because if you do it through diet and exercise - really, the only proven way to do it and keep it off - it's incredibly difficult. Back in the day, I was overweight, and during '99-'00, I lost over 70 lbs. That's nothing compared to what some of these people on the show lose - one guy lost over 50% of his body weight! - but it was hard for me, and keeping it off is even harder. It's very easy for me to gain weight, and to stay where I am now requires a lifetime effort.

Well, that's enough of that. Have a great weekend, y'all!

back in the game

I think it's safe to say that I took a significant break from theater. As Alan reported, he and I were cast in Love Letters in Southington - it's a two-person show about a man and woman who write letters back and forth throughout their lives - you see how their relationship develops from childhood through middle age. It's pretty intense.

ANYWAY, we won't start rehearsals until after January 1, which means I will have taken a full two months off of doing a show. PLUS, we will only have to rehearse a few times. PLUS we are doing one performance out of four (there are three other pairs doing the other performances - people do this a lot with Love Letters). SO, I think it's safe to say that I fulfilled my promise of taking a break.

I was in Love Letters before at the Warner Studio in Torrington, almost three years ago. When we did our performances, I had bronchitis and my partner had walking pneumonia. It was scary stuff. Even so, we were reviewed by a local theater critic and she had only good things to say about us.

I am looking forward to doing a show with Alan again - I've been friends with Todd and Alan since we were all in a production of All in the Timing together at Hole in the Wall in 2001, but I haven't done a show with either one of them since! I told Alan at auditions that the letters in this show are much more interesting than if a show was written based on our emails back and forth during the work day, which would go something like this:

Alan: So, what are you having for lunch?

Amanda: I'm not sure. But I'm starving! And it's only 10:00.

Riveting stuff.

shopping update

I managed to get even more shopping done at the mall after work yesterday. Even though I left work at 1, the mall was still super-packed. I got some stuff for Greg, presents for Connor and Cole (Heather's twins), some Secret Santa stuff, my SCT board meeting/Christmas party grab bag, and....uhhh...that's it. But it's progress!

Today we have to get Greg's grab bag for the family party tomorrow (his side). I already have my grab bag. We also need to come up with some sort of appetizer. I have to run to my sister's now and drop off my super-duper new-fangled cupcake holder that my mother got me for my birthday. I love that thing!

uncle, uncle!

As I told Alan tonight, I am quitting the blogging-every-day business. My posts have been barely interesting - seriously, I'm putting myself to sleep with them - and I've only been doing it in the spirit of competition. So, as Wheezer says, I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me? (Was it Wheezer? I think it was. Or some other similarly angst-ridden band from the '90s.)

It's been fun, y'all! I'll be back when I have something interesting (at least to me) to say.

ETA: It was Beck. Not Wheezer. I am ashamed of myself.

and we're off

Well, I finally did it. I started my Christmas shopping. I did some Amazon shopping for my niece, started my Secret Santa shopping, and bought five more gifts at the mall tonight. So, while I am not overcome with Christmas spirit, I am happy that I finally got off my arse and started checking things off of my "To Do" list.

Tonight is a big night - the finale of "America's Next Top Model" - I know that you may think I'm completely lame for watching this show but I don't care. I'm an addict and I love it. That said, I don't have a real favorite to win, except I'd rather Melrose didn't win. Which means she will. Because I never get my way, reality TV show winner-wise.

ETA: Caridee won! Yay! For once I wasn't wrong.

deck the halls

Despite the fact that it's only 21 days until Christmas, despite the fact that I live near the mall and therefore cannot escape the holiday madness, despite the fact that I've been hearing Christmas music everywhere since before Thanksgiving, despite the fact that I've burned up several batteries for my digital camera working on a Christmas card picture of my dogs, and despite the fact that I've already gone to two Christmas parties, I am really not feeling the holiday spirit yet. I'm kind of there, but not there as much as I should be, considering.

However, tomorrow I receive my Secret Santa recipient at work, and I loooooove Secret Santa, so hopefully that will be the thing that kickstarts my Christmas cheer.

And with that - another Christmas card reject.

Someday I will do a real post again

In the meantime, enjoy some of this year's Christmas card rejects.

testing picture posting

I think it's working now..

Is anyone else having trouble posting pictures?

Because I keep getting this little box with a red x in it. Boo.

five inches

That's how much hair I had cut off yesterday. My hair hasn't been this short since before I got engaged over three years ago. I'm still getting used to it, but I think I like it.

World AIDS Day

Go here and light a candle to help raise money for the fight against AIDS. It's free and it'll take you a second. Thanks Flannery for telling me about the site.

ideas

So tonight, I was thisclose to calling the whole "blog-off" thing, well, off. I couldn't think of a single thing to write about, because I'm in a very boring phase right now where all I do is come home and watch TV. Well, I went to Target after work, but who the hell wants to hear about that? But then I remembered that Alan had sent me this website that gives you all kinds of ideas for blog and writing topics. Check it out. It's pretty cool. This is the topic it gave me tonight, which I will try to answer:

What age were you most inspired?

It's funny, because I think the age I was the most inspired was the age I was most confused, and that would have to be age 22. I had just graduated college with a BA in English and a concentration in Journalism, and I knew I wanted to be a writer, but breaking into newspapers is really hard to do. I was freelancing at a newspaper, as well as working at a youth theater program, along with working full-time at Barnes & Noble so I could have health insurance. I worked about 70-80 hours a week during those days, and I was never home. I went months without a day off. But when I did have a spare moment, I came up with all kinds of lists and ideas about what I was going to do with my life. I was tied down to nowhere and no one, and I scheduled my life out in a million different directions. Soon after, I did get a full-time job at a newspaper, and life became much more settled (or as settled as it could be as a reporter). But it was that year after college that, because I had no clue where my life was headed, I planned it heading everywhere and doing everything.

another exciting night at our house

freakin' Bachelor

First of all, let me just say that I am thoroughly ashamed that I watch "The Bachelor." It is such a stupid show - between the rose ceremonies and group dates and fantasy suites and what not, it is truly the cheesiest of all shows that I watch. Even for a reality TV fan like myself, it is humiliating to admit that this is on my list of shows to TiVo.

Nevertheless, there I was last night, watching the big two-hour finale. Going in, I knew I had picked the wrong girl. I always do. The Bachelors never pick the girl I want them to, so last night, I knew that it would be Jen who would get the final rose, not Sadie. And sure enough, I was right.

Why Jen, Lorenzo? Why Jen? Although she is a teacher, she really seemed kind of empty in the head, ya know? I had hopes for you, Lorenzo. You didn't seem like a total loser. You seemed to kind of hate the whole awkward Bachelor experience. I thought maybe YOU would be the one to choose the girl that I liked. But, alas for Sadie and me, Jen was the one you chose to be your princess.

Whatever.

Junior the dastardly dog

Well, in an interesting turn of events, Junior was the bad dog tonight. Jimmy has held that title pretty much since he got here. Tonight, Greg made up some chicken, and had cut it up, mixed it up with some stuff and was making some improvised chicken tacos. He left the chicken in a bowl on the kitchen counter and was with me in the living room when we heard Junior trying to get to something. Now, sure, he's a big dog and he can sometimes lick things off the counter, but when we walked in, he had both front paws up on the counter and he was eating directly out of the bowl. I swear, up on his hind legs he's taller than me! And to top it all off, he pulled the same stunt a while later when I left a bowl of pasta on the counter (much further back) (obviously I should have learned my lesson).

It seems Junior's learned himself a fine new trick. Bad dog!

fullness

Today we went to brunch at Avon Old Farms with my in-laws, my mother and my aunt who is in town from Illinois. It was fun but I ate waaay too much and I still feel like I'm about to explode!

I also attempted to take Junior and Jimmy's picture for the Christmas card this year, but it didn't go as well as I'd hoped. I got a couple of decent shots but I'm still hoping for something better.

I took Jimmy to my mother's house tonight, and he proceeded to fart up the whole joint - Stinky McPooperpants really wore out his welcome.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was Sunday. Oh, I started watched my Netflixed "Weeds" - that Showtime show about a woman who lives in suburbia and deals pot for a living - but I haven't totally formulated my opinion about it yet. It's interesting though.

dear blog

I am hoping that Todd and Alan laugh at the title of this entry. Anywho, last night we had a very nice time with them - had some pizza and ice cream and general good times. For some reason, Alan thinks he's ahead of me in the great blog-off - after this I am going to have to go count and see how many entries he's done in a row, to see if he is really beating me.

I just watched my TiVo'ed "Survivor" - Todd insisted that it was a very exciting episode - to me, the most exciting part was not the immunity challenge, but the fact that Aitu managed to flip Jonathan once again and get rid of Nate! Yeah! I didn't hate Nate or anything but I always love to see the underdogs win. Ultimately I'd really like to see Yul win, and if he takes Jonathan to the final two, it would be incredibly smart, because everyone hates Jonathan! Hee.

Greg is busy helping his father with a project today, so I'm flying solo for the afternoon. I might head out to do some shopping - we'll see - and then tonight we have Heather's birthday party. Yup, I'm livin' like a rock star.

black friday

Well, we had a very nice Thanksgiving. Once of the nicest things about it was the fact I won $66 in a dice game called LCR. It's awesome, because it involves no skill, everyone gets really excited and into it, and well, I won two games. Otherwise, it was nice to see everyone, and, as usual, my sister cooks up a mean feast.

Today is the dreaded Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, the day where the malls and my general area of living becomes choked with people celebrating the season by maxing out their credit cards. I kind of forgot about it until we hit the intersection that brings us from our residential area to the main atery of chaos -near the mall and across from Corbins Corner - and I saw all of the traffic. Instead of dealing with that, we took the dogs to West Hartford Center for a walk, got lunch at Cosi, and now I'm watching an America's Next Top Model marathon on VH-1. Yeah, I'm a dork, but I'm really tired today, so I'm going to try not to feel too guilty.

Tonight we are going out to dinner with Todd and Alan, so it is sure to be a fabulous night. We are going to a restaurant in Southington that I've never been to. God, I hope I don't see anyone from high school.

oh, the weather outside is frightful

Oh, wait, that song is for another holiday, huh? Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Wow, the weather sucks, huh? All this rain might make my Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade a little soggy. I love the parade - only 40 minutes to go! I know it's totally cheesy but I don't think there has been one Thanksgiving when I haven't watched at least part of it. This year, we don't have to be at my sister's house until nearly 2, so I can watch all of it, plus a decent chunk of the dog show after.

TV - I am so thankful for you.

Also, for my family, health, friends, pups, home, clothes, food, and all of the good things I have. I am a very lucky person.

Have a great, relaxing day, everyone, and enjoy your turkey!

zombie pt 2

I could not be more thrilled that I am only working a half day today, because I have been awake for hours....I don't know why I can't sleep this week but at least it's the last day of work before Thanksgiving - yay!

ETA - I noticed that my friend Alan was blogging at the exact same time this morning - but his entry is longer and more interesting. He must've actually slept last night.

not funny

WTF is up with Michael Richards and his racist rant at a couple of hecklers last week?

And now he's apologizing on Letterman, saying he's not a racist and he doesn't know where his rage came from. I believe he's not a racist as much as I believe Mel Gibson really does like Jews.

What an ass. His career is done, not that it really wasn't already. I'm really shocked by this.

monday, monday

Well, I am continuing my blogging-every-day thing, but I'm sad to report that anyone who reads today's entry will be supremely bored, because I don't have a whole lot to say. I am extremely excited about the fact that it's Thanksgiving week, because that means only a two-and-a-half day work week for me - as long as I can get everything done by midday on Wednesday. I haven't really been able to take any significant time off this year, except for a week in July, so even a long weekend is really exciting.

I am so exhausted right now. I think it's because it's dark now. Why is it that when it's dark at 4:30, our bodies just say, "well, that's it for me. I'm done!" Yet if it was July, there would be no way I'd be dressed for bed at 5:25, like I am now.

OK, time to go watch my TiVo'ed Amazing Race and do some laundry. See? I told you it would be boring.

Taye Diggs is delicious

I just watched the season premiere of that new show Daybreak starring Taye Diggs. I have, of course, loved Mr. Diggs since I saw him in RENT in 1997. Anyway, it's a pretty good show. Every day, his character wakes up and it's the same morning, a la Groundhog Day. Except this isn't a lame Bill Murray comedy - it's full of action and mystery and shooting people and stuff like that. I'm already confused but apparently all of the mysteries will be solved in 11 weeks. I wonder if it's picked up again if they will have him wake up to an all-new mystery next year? I just hope it doesn't drag on, season to season, without any solution (are you listening to me, LOST????).

the daily show

Alan and I decided that we were going to try to write every day for the next couple of weeks. Let's see who keeps up with it, eh?

Last night I went to Simmer Grille in West Hartford. It was pretty good, but a tiny bit too expensive for the food, I think. I had onion soup with blistered cheeses (I heart cheese), and salt and herb-crusted French cut chicken with mashed potatoes. It was good - I think I will be going back at some point.

Over the past couple of days, Greg and I have been watching "The Comeback," which we Netflixed. It was an HBO show about a woman (played by Lisa Kudrow) who is a former big TV star, who is making her comeback via a reality show and a small part on a cheesy sitcom. It's super-uncomfortable to watch (kind of like "The Office") but I think she does a great job and I am enjoying it.

I now have to get ready so I can meet up with my friend Deb for dinner and The Pajama Game. Talk to you tomorrow! : )

zombie

Remember that Cranberries song, "Zombie"? Now it's going to be stuck in my head all day. I've been awake since 430 a.m., so I also think it's going to be the theme song of my day.

Anyway, not to sound too cliche, but thank God it's Friday. This has been a super-busy week, work-wise, and I still haven't kicked this cold, so I am ready for some good down time. Here's what's up:

Today: Work. Leave work early, maybe go shopping for bday present for Heather. Tonight we are going to dinner at Simmer with Matt and Cathy. Hope it's good - the menu sure looks tasty!

Saturday: Tomorrow is the first Saturday I haven't had plans during the day in over a month. I'm psyched. I'm sure Greg and I will just do our routine - get some lunch, read some magazines, go look at some puppies. Saturday night I am going to see some of my old Rumors peeps in The Pajama Game in Simsbury. Meeting up with my friend Deb before for dinner.

Sunday: We are going to a baptism for the baby of a couple of friends of ours. I wonder if there will be cake? : )

Have a good one!

boring Monday night

Self portraits with the pups

yet another sign I'm getting old

The most exciting thing that has happened this weekend is the fact that I cleaned the hell out of my house. It is now actually presentable - someone could come over, right now, and I wouldn't be humiliated or have to make excuses for the mess. Of course, a lot of the mess around here is due to the dogs, but when I'm involved with a show, the first thing that suffers is the general cleanliness of my life - my house, my car, my brain. So today, at least the house got the scrub-down it needed.

However, it seems that the most exciting thing that has happened to Greg this weekend is the fact that the Jets just won over the Patriots, because he's screaming all over the house.

Did I mention we're old?

weekend update

Haven't done one of these in a while...and this one will be fairly lame.

Friday: Yesterday I went to work, and went to lunch with the fabulous BBCS. After work, I went home and- you guessed it! - sat on the couch. Greg and I managed to go out and get dinner at Mayor Mike's (never have the chicken sandwich - it's dullsville). Then we went home, watched TV, and I went to sleep at 9:30. Have I mentioned I'm sick?

Saturday: So far today I've made cookies. We're going to a chili cook-off at a friend's house this afternoon, and while I have no skills in chili making, I can make dessert. Anyway, we'll soon be heading down there. Not sure if anything is brewing for tonight. Considering my lame-ass self, I doubt it.

Sunday: This is where things get really exciting, because I have nothing planned. I should clean the house and do some laundry. We'll see how that goes. I'll go see my mom. Yeah - that's about it.

Please feel free to leave a comment with your much more exciting weekend plans.

Votey McVoterson

Oh and PS, go and vote if you haven't already. Hurry! You only have 52 minutes left. I live by the rule that my mother beat into my brain (well, not literally) when I was young - if you don't vote, you can't complain (I'm sure she didn't mean that if you're Canadian and can't vote, Alan. So complain away). And since I complain a whole lot about how this country is run under the current administration, I got my sick arse down to the voting booth today. I almost couldn't shut the damn thing and thought I was going to need help, but I finally managed. Yup, it's people like me who help determine the course of this country. People who can't close a voting booth. USA! USA!

As a special bonus for election day, The Daily Show and Colbert Report are live tonight. I hope I can stay awake that late!

giving you what you want

Even though you've already seen this, Flannery and Alan, here is what my hair looked like last week. Specifically on Halloween, when I was dressed as Amanda of '89. This was at the end of the day, so my hair wasn't achieving as much height as the beginning of the day.

In other news, Britney is divorcing K-Fed! This is the first smart thing she's done since, well, since she met the guy. For some reason, I don't want her life to end up in the toilet. There is something about her that doesn't scream pure evil, which is unusual for Hollywood.

and......scene.

So that about wraps up that for Life with Father. I have to finish up some ad budget stuff and pass that over to the producer, but the show is DONE. Thank God. After Friday's drama with the almost passing out, I was kinda scared on Saturday, because the cold had only progressed. I did have a bit of a coughing fit at the beginning, but nothing too bad. We did the show, struck the set, had the cast party, and I was home by 2 a.m. Sunday I woke up feeling like total and utter hell, as the cold had taken up residence in my sinuses, which is where it remains today. I went into work this morning, but came home early because I think Beth and Flannery had just about had it with my coughing and sniffling. Not that I blame them, because, seriously....gross.

I am proud to report that after three days on the couch (minus show time) I have officially caught up on all of my TiVo. It makes me a little sad, because now I will have to watch TV like regular people. Weird.

Anywho, here's a pic from my show. This is one of my castmates Regina who very nicely helped me pin up my pre-wig hair for the show. The thing that I am holding is my wig cap, although it strongly resembles a knee-high stocking. And that's precisely what it felt like. I will be happy if I never have to put another wig on my head again.

Stage fright

Last night I had one of the most terrifying moments ever on stage. As y'all know, I have a cold/cough that's steadily gotten worse the past few days. Last night while doing the show, I felt a cough brewing in my throat while I was onstage. I didn't have any speaking parts at that moment - I was just serving breakfast to the family. I let out a couple of minor coughs, but I really could tell I have a huge coughing fit on deck. I held it back, and all of the sudden I felt like my chest was going to explode, my eyes filled up with tears, and the room started spinning. I thought there was about a 90% chance I was going to pass out, so I hightailed it outta there before I was done with all of my "business" (filling cups with coffee, clearing bowls, stuff like that). I went outside and coughed and coughed until I almost threw up (I know this is gross, but I'm trying to get across how horrible it was). Then I flew back onstage (about two seconds past my cue) and continued with the show, all the while my hands shaking and my head spinning. I felt better after a bit, but holy shit, scary! Can't wait to see what tonight brings, as I only feel worse today. My arse has been firmly planted on my couch for two days (minus the show stuff) so I'm doing what I can do to get better. I'm even drinking tea, for God's sakes! (that's a shout out to Miss Flannery).

I was very happy to have my pals and theater compadres Alan and Todd there last night to witness the whole thing - not just the show, but the shenanigans afterwards at the restaurant. : ) Thanks for coming, guys!

It's (cough) show (hack) time (wheeze)

Well, the show opened last night, after a very long hell week. The minor cold I've had for the past month blew up a couple of days ago, so by the time last night rolled around, I was a full-fledged cough drop addict, just hoping for the best. At one point on stage I got the much-dreaded throat tickle that threatened to turn into a major coughing fit, but it wasn't too bad - and the people I talked to yesterday after the show told me they thought the coughing was a character thing. okaaaay.....

I took today off of work because I needed some down time in a big way, but now it's just pretty much a sick day. Tonight ought to be interesting....

Sorry for this extremely boring post. I feel extremely boring. My life = work, show, work, show, work, show....I got nothin' else.

what fresh hell is this?

So, today begins Hell Week for my show. It actually began yesterday, when the set build started at the school where we are having the show. I couldn't be there because I was babysitting Heather's kids, so she could go to her grandmother's funeral. I always go to set build, so I didn't feel too bad about missing it this time. However, I will be there today, probably around noon, until 8 p.m. Our rehearsal begins around 4, and before that I imagine I will be painting a lot of stuff. We have rehearsal every night this week, and have lots of stuff to figure out before we open on Thursday (primarily, how to work on our actual set, costume changes, working with the props, stuff like that. My major concerns are my costume changes and working with all of the props, because even though I have a wee part, I still do a lot of both).

So I don't think you'll hear much from me this week, dear readers (all four of you). But just know that I'm in hell.

I'm too tired to come up with a title for this entry

Wow, this has been a long week.

For various reasons, but primarily show-related, this week has been..what has it been? Horrible? Disastrous? Dramatic? Long? Silly? Stupid? It has been many things. But now it is almost over, and for that, I rejoice.

I love show biz.

two years ago today, part deux

We were headed for Hawaii.

I needed a reminder of much nicer things during this horrendous week (nothing really bad, just show/work stuff).

two years ago today.

One of the best decisions I'll ever make.

it's Monday already

Well, no, not really. In real life, it's Thursday night. I just got home from rehearsal and it's been a incredibly long day. From the time I left work (4:30) until now (11:23) I have been doing show stuff. It's becoming more consuming than I ever anticipated.

I am heading into one of those weekends where it feels like it's already Monday morning. There is so much to do that in what seems like a moment I will be sitting at my desk again, at the start of the week. Saturday morning we have to get up very early, head down to the train station in New Haven, take a four hour train ride to Wilmington, go visit Greg's friends in PA for the day on Saturday, overnight into Sunday, get the train in Wilmington midday on Sunday, take a four hour train ride to New Haven, drive home, immediately drive to rehearsal, rehearse, come home, collapse, get up for work on Monday.

Happy Monday, everyone.

UConn Huskies spreading Rumors at the Lapin Agile

Well, it was a busy weekend.

Friday night I went to see the play Rumors in Goshen. My friend Donna directed it and my friend Tony was in it. For those of you who follow my theatrical happenings (and I know you all do, with baited breath, no less) you know I was in a production of Rumors this past spring. It was funny to watch the show knowing every single line, and seeing all the differences in their production from ours. It was really good though. But seriously, what's up with Goshen? It seems like there is absolutely nothing going on in that town. Deb and I got there early, so we stopped at an ice cream place down the road from the theater...it was basically the only thing open, and I had a strong feeling we were going to be murdered by a serial killer. The whole desolate small town thing was completely freaking me out. We went to a little cast party after the show in Litchfield. I was completely exhausted when I got home.

Saturday Greg and I went to the UConn Huskies football game. I wasn't too psyched about it, but it was a beautiful day out. In fact, it was so beautiful and sunny that I fell asleep during the game. What a dork! The real fun of Saturday was Saturday night, of course, because that's when I got to see my friend Alan in his final performance as Picasso in Picasso at the Lapin Agile at Hole in the Wall. The play was very sensual, and his accent was not at all Transylvanian. I could explain that last sentence, but he'll know what I mean. I would tell you all to go see it, but alas, it's over. In fact, I can guarantee that Alan is suffering some post-show letdown today. It's always super-depressing when a great theater experience is over. Great job, Alan!

And speaking of the thea-tah, I am supposed to be working on my lines for my show right now. I have such a small part that I've devoted no time whatsoever to getting off book, and I kinda really need to do it today and tomorrow, since we're supposed to be completely off book by Tuesday. Plus, I'm going to be running rehearsals this week because the director can't be there, so I won't be able to use my spare time at rehearsals to learn my lines. I don't know why I am being so lazy with this show. I think it's because I need a theater break. Hmmm...how many times have we heard that one? Anyway, I'm off to rehearsal soon.

Number one pup of all time

Here's Junior, after a busy day of terrorizing the neighbors.

the joys of dog ownership (or, why I am $600 less wealthy today)

So, it all started last Friday. I came home from work and was just trying to chill out in front of the TV for a little bit before I had to go to a very difficult funeral. I heard some shouting out in the front yard, and realized that my two elderly neighbors from down the road had pulled over in their car and were yelling at my dogs. I believe I heard the man say "Bad dog - I will punch you in the nose." So, I came out and said, "What's going on here?" The man tried to pretend nothing much was going on, but the wife then reamed me out. Apparently she was walking by our house a few days ago with her granddaughters and the dogs (Junior, primarily) freaked them out. We have an invisible fence, and she told me that her son also has an invisible fence, and his Great Dane jumped the fence (this makes no sense, but bear with me). So I say, look, they have never broken through before, these fences are legal, etc, and then she said, "We'll let the dog warden decide" and concluded with "You can take your dog and shove it." Nice.

Fast forward to this morning. Now, the story takes a different turn here, so just try to follow me. I swear, everything ties together in the end. So I get up this morning at 6:20. Greg had already gotten up - he gets up early on Wednesday mornings for a networking meeting - and since he was up, Jimmy was up too. I rolled over and went to grab for my glasses. This is where I will mention that I am legally blind without my glasses, seriously. I can't see my hand in front of my face. I remember that in the middle of the night, I got up to pee and I think I remember knocking my glasses off my nightstand. So I'm looking on the floor, and can't find them there either. I called Greg to help me find the glasses. Oh, he found them all right. He found them in the middle of the living room floor in a mangled mess. MANGLED in such a way it looked like they were run over by a car. A car with teeth. I immediately start crying because, people, I am BLIND without them. Greg had to leave and I realized that I would have to wait until at least 10 a.m. to see anything because that's when LensCrafters opens.

Now, a few weeks ago, I got fitted for contacts. I don't wear contacts well - I can wear them only for a few hours at best and they are uncomfortable to the point of wanting to scratch my eyes out at about the 6 hour mark, sometimes earlier. However, I bought a supply because they are good to have for shows, outdoor activities, stuff like that. They had called me on Monday to say they were in, so I would be able to pick them up today. But how would I be able to see after I inevitably had to take them out?

I finally remembered that I had an old pair of glasses, and found them, but yeesh. The prescription was bad, the glasses were bad, but at least I could see somewhat - I was a million times better off than I was when I woke up. I got ready for work, and at 10, I was heading out the door to LensCrafters to pick up my new contacts and order new glasses. I was checking my email for the last time before I left, and who do you think I see pulling up to the house? Animal Control.

Oh, oh, wait, I forgot about the part where, throughout the morning, Jimmy also destroyed one of my black shoes (of the only pair of nice black shoes that I have) and he brought in a dead bird. But I digress.

So, anyway, yup, my &*(!&^*^!&*^ neighbors called Animal Control. The lady was very nice to us - asked us some questions about the fence, asked us if we ever let the dogs outside when we aren't home (never), etc, etc, and then asked us to see their dog licenses. Ummm...yeah. As it turns out, they don't have dog licenses. It was one of those things we thought was taken care of, and, um, wasn't. So she gave a citation for that (and only for one dog, when she could have given us citations for both) and went on her merry way. Basically, we aren't doing anything wrong, and she was going to assure our neighbors that we don't let the dogs out when we're not home. (&&*!^&*! neighbors.

So, after that excitement, I went to LensCrafters, got my new contacts, got my new glasses (I got the exact same frames, different color, so they were able to pop in my somewhat-chewed-but-not-bad-lenses in while I wait for the new lenses to arrive in two weeks) and went to work.

New glasses: $439
Black shoes: $60
Dog warden citation: $60

Being Junior and Jimmy's mom: Priceless

Truthiness

Sorry I've been a little absent from blogland lately. I just had a really depressing week and I didn't want to write about it.

However, yesterday I did, in fact, do something fun. Greg and I went down to NYC to see a taping of "The Colbert Report." We are HUGE fans and proud members of Colbert Nation, and we watch it every single night (well, technically, we watch it usually in a huge chunk on the weekend, courtesy of TiVo). So I signed up online a few months ago to see if we could be part of the studio audience. Lo and behold, I received an email back in July saying that we could come on October 9. I thought it was a joke - seriously, I thought it was spam - but then I got a confirmation email in September and finally believed that it was real.

We took the train down in the early afternoon, got lunch, and headed to his studio on West 54th. We got there at 3:30 (they let you in at 6, and strongly suggest you get there at least an hour and a half earlier than that, so I thought two and a half hours was even better). Sure enough, we were the first ones in line, but not by much - within a half hour there were probably 50 people in line. The studio only holds 100. Around 6 they let us into a little holding room (which had a bathroom, thank God), and announced they would be seating people based on the number that was on the ticket they gave you when you came in - and, because we RULE, we were numbers 1 and 2. So we were right in the front row when we finally got into the studio (which is tiny, incidentally). We couldn't have been more than 10 feet away from his desk!

A stand-up comedian came out to warm the crowd up, then the stage manager went over all of the rules (clap loud, laugh hard, have fun) and then Stephen Colbert came out to say hi and answer some questions before taping started. He seemed really cool and it was just fun to see how everything worked from a behind-the-scenes perspective. Then it was on with the show!

The guest was musician Randy Newman (he has written music for lots of movies), and when they were filming him playing a song, they also got me and Greg (and others who were sitting around us) on tape, and you can totally see us on TV. We look like big goobers, but we sure do look like we're having fun too! Stephen's brother was sitting behind us, and when they were done with the show, Stephen came over and hugged his brother and said, "I have to leave immediately. It's my anniversary!" I thought that was funny.

The whole thing only took an hour - less than that, really - so I'm not sure if I will ever devote that much time to going to a taping of a TV show again, but we had a great time and it was definitely the best part of the last week.

And that's The Word.

sad

I'm not about to air another family's grief on my blog, but I just want to note how incredibly sad I am about the death of someone I know very well, and how much my heart is with her family right now. Sometimes, life plain sucks. This is one of those times.

bad, LOST fan...bad!

I'm a bad LOST fan. The show has its third season premiere this week, and I'm not very excited about it. This time last year, I was practically peeing in my pants, I was so giddy that this, my favorite show, was about to start again. But for some reason, I'm not losing any sleep over it this year. I'm wondering if this is the year where they completely lose me - where I have no idea what is going on to the point of not caring anymore.

I know - this is shocking, especially to anyone who knows what a rabid fan I've been in the past. And I still am, I promise - but I think this year they are going to have to really win me over in the first few episodes, because things got a little dull there during season two. I mean, I liked the season finale - but it was one of only a few episodes last season that really gripped me, unlike the first season, when every single episode was awesome.

And don't worry, Josh Holloway, you are still my television boyfriend, no matter how I feel about the show itself.

In other news, do you think Flannery will ever update her blog again? Rumor has it some big-time things have happened since she last updated on September 12.

everybody loves a parade

So, the parade that I was supposed to be in today - the world-famous Apple Harvest Festival Parade in Southington - was postponed until next week because of the rain. Southington Community Theatre has been in this parade for the past couple of years. We have a little float and everything. I know I'm a bad person and everything but I was kind of relieved, because I just wasn't in the mood to sit and wave to strangers all afternoon. As much as I love being on stage, I really feel awkward and strange being in a parade. Because, like, why should these people care about me? It's not like I'm the Apple Harvest Queen or anything fancy like that.

But today also brought some good Southington-based news. My mother was telling me about a new dog park they have in town, so I took a drive by on my way home from my mother's. It's just a smallish fenced-in area, but it's oh-so-popular amongst the dog owners in Southington! It was great to see all the dogs running around, unleashed and having a fun, carefree time. I cannot wait to bring Junior and Jimmy down there.

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.