100 Things: 11-15

Five more completely fascinating entries in my list of 100 random facts about myself:

11) I have watched every episode of every single season of "Survivor." When they said that last season was the TWENTIETH season, I practically choked - that's a lot of life hours I've dedicated to that show.

12) I have worn glasses since I was 10 years old. I have absolutely horrendous vision, and am really jealous that Greg had Lasik this past weekend. I am afraid to go get evaluated for the surgery because I don't want them to tell me I'm ineligible. I just want to hold on to the dream of life without glasses before someone crushes it for me.

13) A boy broke up with me in high school with a note that started like this: "Hi Amanda. What's up? Not much here. Anyway, I like you as a sister, not as a girlfriend." Ouchie.

14) I made sure I did the breaking up from then on.

15) I couldn't imagine having kids until I was about 31. All through my 20s I proudly told people I was never having kids. And I meant it. In my case, the biological clock thing was quite true.

on second thought...

Eff this heat. I could barely sleep last night, and the fan was blowing something in last night that is making my eyes burn like crazy. We're probably sleeping at the boat tonight.

(is that better, Shane?)

hot, but currently not bothered.

Our central air conditioning decided to up and die during a very hot week here in CT. I have a ton of work to do at my house to prepare for some upcoming parties, and combined with my newly-diagnosed allergies (that's for a whole other post. Did I mention I went to the ER last week? And for a minute there it looked like they were going to give me a spinal tap to test for meningitis? And by a "minute" I mean "a lonely hour where they mentioned meningitis and then left me there alone with my hypochondriatic mind"? Yeah, that was fun.) the heat really killed me yesterday. My head hurt so much I could barely lift it by 8 p.m. I let Jane sleep in bed with me because I couldn't bear the endless back and forth routine that now makes up bedtime for hours on end.

Aaaanyway, today we escaped down to the shore, where it was only 85 degrees instead of 90, and had a lovely day. Just now, back at home, it started to pour, and I watched Jane dance around in the puddles while I enjoyed the FINALLY cooler air (although it's still 80+ in our house). I've been so spoiled with air conditioning all my life that I rarely really appreciate a nice cool breeze, and I've never let Jane run around in a rainstorm, and tonight I did both. And it was really, really nice.

Did you do anything nice this weekend?

100 Things: 6-10

And the list continues – five more absolutely fascinating things about me, as part of my list of 100 Things:


6) I haven’t had a consecutive 8 hours of sleep in at least four years.

7) I am completely obsessed with reading. No matter how busy my life is, I polish off a book at least once every two weeks, and more often, once a week. I am currently reading a book called “Living Oprah” – a memoir from a woman who decided to follow all of Oprah’s advice for one year. Typically I read fiction, and am currently in two awesome book clubs.

8) I majored in English and minored in Journalism in college. So I can read really well and fast and write a decent sentence every once in a while (but rarely on this blog).

9) My first major celebrity crush was Johnny Depp, in his 21 Jump Street days. Oh my God, you guys, I was IN LOVE WITH HIM. I seriously believed we could one day be together, even though I was 13 and he was 23 and he lived in LA and I lived in CT. Seriously – our age difference and locations were the only impediments to our love that I could see. And hey –t here are far more embarrassing celebrity crushes, because that guy STILL GOT IT.

10) I have known my best friends for 30 (THIRTY!) years. They grew up across the street from me and we have somehow all stayed in the same area and stayed really close. They are my other family. Like, I actually forget I am not really related to them.

100 things: 1-5

On a lot of blogs, I see that people have come up with a list of 100 things about themselves. Just random facts of real or no significance that make up who they are as people. Because I’m short on time lately (have I mentioned that?), but I do want to keep this blog active, I’ve decided that I am going to come up with 100 things about myself. Here and there I will post five tidbits about me, and hopefully someday I will have 100. Hold on to your hats – it’s CLEARLY going to get VERY exciting around here.


1) My fingers are double-jointed.

2) I have hazel eyes, but my father thought they were brown until I was about 12.

3) I wore orthodontia from fifth grade through tenth grade. This included two permanent retainers, full braces, a mouth guard, and two removable retainers. One word: sexy.

4) I want to lose 5-8 pounds. Not 58 pounds. Five to eight. Five is what I absolutely need to lose; eight would make me happy.

5) I had no middle name until I got married, when I took my maiden name as my middle name.



Now you do it!

call the whambulance

You know what people can't stand listening to? Me. Me complaining about how tired/stressed out I am doing a show. "Here she goes again," they say. "Why does she keep doing these shows?" Perhaps you are one of these people. In fact, I know you are. Well, to that I say, here I go again.

You guys! I am sooooo tired! But as you know, this has been overall a shitty year for me, feeling-good-wise. I actually have a physical this Thursday (first one in nine years) (shut up). Boy, my doctor is going to rue the day he was born! Because I plan on typing up a list of all of my ailments and everything. Lucky him! And he has to listen to me, because my insurance tells him he has to! (Oh, my insurance is going up 80% next year. I know, I know, I AM happy to have it, but yeesh.)

Anyway, so Chicago rehearsals are rolling along. However, this time around, we are rehearsing four nights a week. This is the first time I've rehearsed so much on a regular basis (hell week doesn't count). It's rush rush rush all the time, and it's hard. It amazes me that that I used to do this non-stop, show after show, but things are different with Jane. Now basically being home only to sleep isn't so cool anymore.

But, dudes, I think this is going to be a really good show. I love co-directing. It means I can use my strengths (character work, blocking scenes) and not have to worry about my weaknesses (CHOREOGRAPHY) damaging the show. I can't wait to see this thing go up.

In other news, Father's Day weekend was nice. We were at the boat both days. Took a ride out with my in-laws and brother yesterday, and we were at the pool on Saturday. Jane got a sunburn, despite my constant attempts to keep her covered in sunblock (BAD MOMMY). Had our book club meeting at Alan's house on Saturday night, which was awesomeness.

Also, have I mentioned that I'm tired?

the story of my life.

So, yesterday, I had rehearsal at 7, which is typical for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights. After work I took Jane to DQ for a treat, got back around 6, and headed out around 6:30. I walked to my car and realized I didn't have enough gas, so went back into the house to tell Greg I was taking his car. I got into his car and realized I needed to switch sets of keys. I went back into the house and got his keys, and left mine, in case he needed my car. I got back into his car and realized I forgot the Chicago soundtrack in my car (we needed it because we were choreographing and our MD wasn't there last night). I got out of the car, got the soundtrack, got back into Greg's car, and drove to Southington. I pulled into the theater hall's parking lot with eight minutes to spare - pretty good for me these days - and realized that the keys I left on the counter included the key to the hall. I told the two girls who I was working with to get started working on one of the numbers in the parking lot with a scary rain-threatening sky above and drove BACK home (a 20-minute drive), got my keys, got my car because I had now used up all of Greg's gas, and finally got to rehearsal around 7:30 (I think my car was running on hope and dreams at this point, and a few drops of gas fumes). Luckily I only had two extremely understanding cast members there last night, who indeed worked out a whole song while I was driving to and fro.

I am such a scatterbrained ass sometimes.

please excuse this pity party

When chatting with another mother at daycare today who has a daughter Jane's age, I realized that Jane will be moving up to the preschool room (UPSTAIRS OMG) (versus, you know, downstairs, where she has been thus far) (SHUT UP, it's a big deal) in July when she turns three, rather than in September, like I thought.

Why is this making me so sad? Why did I have to fight the lump in my throat when the mom was telling me this (her daughter is a month older than Jane, so she is moving upstairs next week). These room transitions have been such a big deal for Jane - and the most recent one last fall was super-traumatic for her, and thus, for us all - and I am hoping hoping triple hoping that this next move is easier and more positive for her. Apparently the kids get really excited about going upstairs - but my mind is all cluttered with thoughts of her friends are in her current room and it's what she knows and she loooooves Miss Sharon and they only have one teacher per 10 students up there and what if she needs help and what if she gets lost in the crowd and what if, what if, what if.

Of course I know she will be fine. She's such a big girl now. Yes, we are still having trouble with potty training and the bedtime routine, but she looks different. She talks. so. much. She's losing her baby fat (not all of it, thank God). She loves Dora and birthdays and grapes and school buses and singing her ABCs. She's such a....kid. So why am I so sad?

I am still the number one person in her life. She loves me the most (and Greg too, of course). She wants to be with me the most. She still screams "MOMMY!!!!" when she sees me come in to pick her up at the end of the day. She holds my ear to comfort her. How much time do I have left of this? A year? Two, absolutely tops?

How is this happening so fast?

friday, finally

What a week. Nothing like a truly hectic schedule to smack you in the face after a relaxing vacation. It was a really busy (and unsettling) work week, and I also had three nights of rehearsal for Chicago. Still trying to get into the schedule of staying out until 10:30 and not getting more than 5ish hours of sleep a night. On top of that, I had pink eye this week, and on top of THAT, my eyes (both of them) have been horribly burny and uncomfortable this week, and I'm not sure why.

Oh my God - I feel like this blog is being written by a 90-year-old. Oh, woe is me, I have to stay out past 10! And my eyes hurt! What time is the early bird special again?

Speaking of early bird special, I have also been horribly hungry all week, because I unfortunately weighed myself after vacation and dudes, I have some weight to lose. This sucks. I really NEED to lose about 6 pounds and I would PREFER to lose 9. As each year creeps by, it gets harder and harder to do this. Freakin' A. And that's all there really is to say about that.

But look! We got new granite counters in the kitchen! Aren't we fancy?

Have a great weekend!

back to life, back to reality

So I'm back in the world of the non-vacationers. I got a crash course in reality on Sunday when I ended up at the eye doctor with an eye infection. Then I proceeded to Target (where I had already been that morning) to pick up my eye drops - only to show up 20 minutes before the pharmacy re-opened after lunch break. THEN I had to wait another 20 minutes for the drops. Also I was really hungry and lightheaded at the time. Why, you ask? Oh, because I have to lose 10 pounds, seriously. I went on a wild eating spree on vacation, and that added to the already several lbs I had to lose.

Sidenote: WTF? Why do I keep getting eye infections? The doctor said parents with toddlers get them all the time, except JANE isn't getting them, I am. Is she just passing the germs on to me without getting anything herself? Madness, I tell you.

Then last night I had my first rehearsal for Chicago. It went pretty well and I am excited, but boy, I am not used to those late-night rehearsals (by late-night, I mean 10 p.m.). We are rehearsing A LOT for this show - Sunday, Tuesday, some Wednesdays, and Thursday evenings.

In addition, this is a particularly busy week at work.

So, hi! I'm back. And cranky, as usual.

vacation, all I ever wanted

Is there anything more depressing than the evening before the day you have to go home from vacation? I am sitting here in the cottage we have been staying at since last Friday, the sky is blue, there is a lovely breeze, we spent the morning at the beach, Jane is currently napping, and I have a HUGE lump in my throat and heart, thinking that it's all over in a few hours.

This has been a GREAT vacation. Sure, there have been bumps in the road (turns out, Jane refuses to sleep in her cottage bed. So she's been with us. Every night. Yeah.). And I could give you the itinerary of every day here. But I'm not going to do all of that. Bulletpoints are as follows:

*beach every day but Tuesday
*didn't go to beach on Tuesday because we went to Mystic Seaport and Aquarium
*lots of good food (seriously, my shorts are tight. this is not good, people.)
*sunshine every single day
*visiting friends

Yada, yada yada. Here's the most important thing. The reason that this is one of the most special vacations in my life is that this was our very first family vacation. This is the first non-staycation I've had in 3.5 years. Introducing Jane to nearly the exact same kind of vacation I used have growing up has meant so much more to me than I ever imagined. See her go in the water, make sandcastles, collect shells - all the stuff I did when I was her age, when I was at the beach with my parents - well, it's huge for me. It has been so meaningful to truly step away from our lives for the first time since she was born and just hang out together as a family.

I cannot wait to do this again.

quickly (before I fall asleep)

1) Chicago is cast. That is, assuming everyone accepts the lovely parts we are offering them. Phenomenal cast, I would say. Can't wait to work with them, but not before....

2) Vacation. Yes, my 10 (TEN!) days off of work (in a row, even!) starts now. And of course I'm exhausted and seem to have an especially lungy-sounding cough now, but still. I haven't had any time off since Christmas, but I plan to more than make up for it with 3 (THREE!) planned weeks off between now and mid-August. But vacation isn't really relaxing so far, because after not being in my house for the past three nights due to auditions, it's time for me to start thinking about...

3) Packing. I have to pack everything we own, pretty much, to get us through the week at the cottage. But first, I really have to....

4) Sleep.

Goodnight!

Don't wanna be an American Idiot

Greetings!

Chaotic is a good word to describe this past week. Like I mentioned earlier, I went to New York last week for a conference. And although I could complain that it was exhausting (which is was) and there were many aspects that weren’t glamorous (very true), I did get to do some cool stuff. Like get to meet Billie Joe Armstrong. You know. From Green Day. Yeah. Him. He was at a post-show party sponsored by American Idiot (the new Broadway show based on the music of, well, Green Day). And I spoke with him. Yes, it was for, like, 10 seconds, BUT STILL. (Also – American Idiot rocked bigbigbigtime.LOVED it. But you have to like Green Day to like this show, because the music is the best part. Also – very very loud.)

Did I mention that there were some celebrity sightings in the audience at that show? Like, half the cast of Glee and George “Norm from Cheers” Wendt? Yeah, that too.

Other highlights – seeing Denzel Washington and Kelsey Grammar speak at two different panel discussions, getting to see Hair and West Side Story, and basically being paid to be in my favorite city in the world.

Lowlights – Jane came down with a double ear infection and (probable) strep throat in my absence. I came home, picked her up at our friends’ house, and had to rush her off to the walk-in clinic because I just knew she had something beyond a cold. Sure enough, after begging my way in (they weren’t talking anymore patients), she got the diagnosis. We actually ended up bringing her to her regular doctor on Friday, because her cough was just getting worse, and they put her on a different antibiotic and steroid for her inflamed throat. Poor bean. Of course now I’m catching whatever she had….but we knew that was going to happen.

We had the first night of auditions for Chicago (the show I am co-directing this summer) last night. Very nice group of talent – and more to come tonight. This one is going to be incredibly tough to cast- but hey, I’ll take an abundance of talent over no talent at all! It looks like we will most likely be rehearsing four nights a week –so things are about to get even busier ‘round these parts.

Luckily, we have a vacation coming up next week. That’s right – we are actually taking our first away-from-home vacation in over three years! Wahoo! We’re only going down to the Connecticut shoreline, but frankly, that’s as exciting as going to Hawaii to me at this point. Even better, because we don’t have to get on a plane. And I am really tiring of the word “staycation.” (Although I think taking a vacation within your own state still qualifies as a “staycation,” but I’m ignoring that.)

Toodles!

busy bee

Another busy weekend gone by. We were at the boat almost the whole time (we slept at home, but that's about it). Finally took it out for its maiden voyage this year today. Very nice day on the water. I was nervous because we were out with Jane during her naptime, so I figured she would be total hell to be around, but she just fell asleep in my arms about halfway through the trip, and managed to stay asleep as she was carried down a ladder and put on a couch. It was super lucky because she stayed asleep while we were docking, and since I always suck at my docking duties (why can't I tie complicated knots?!) it was good to not have her screaming for me from the boat.

This is a busy week, as I'm off to NYC for a conference. I get to see three shows, American Idiot, West Side Story and Hair, so I'm pretty excited about that. But still, it seems I'm expected to stay up past my normal bedtime of 9:30. I feel like one of the big kids now!

PS Jane got her first pair of sunglasses and now she is way cooler than me.

mothers (day) and babies (the movie)

After my massive blogging bonanza last week, I obviously had to take a blog break. That was simply exhausting, posting those YouTube videos and everything. Anyway, I’m back. Did you have a nice Mother’s Day? Mine was pretty good. Overall it was a really busy weekend – we had friends over on Friday night, Saturday we did chores and took the whole fan-damily to West Hartford Center for a walk – yes, including the dogs – and then I had book club on Saturday night.

Of course we made a scene on our family walk. Whenever Junior comes out with us, it’s like a circus. It's like walking around with Lady Gaga or something. He's a celebrity. Everyone wants to see him, pet him, ask how much he eats...of course, he was in heaven. Plus Jane wanted to “walk” the dogs, so it was basically Greg holding the double-leash, Jane holding the end of the leash, and me doing nothing but walking behind them. Awesome!

On Saturday we also went to lunch at Rainforest Café. Holy shit, that place is loud. I don’t know if you’ve ever been there, but inside the décor is rainforest-style, and the animals (birds, gorillas, elephants, etc) all come to “life” every 15 minutes, and then every 30 minutes there is a big “storm” – I am shocked it didn’t scar Jane for life, because it sure did me. I think I’ll avoid that place for the rest of my life a couple more years.

On Sunday we went to my mom’s for brunch and Jane chose that day to basically reject me and be in a terrible mood. She was all like, “Happy Mother’s Day, beeeyotch.” So that was fun. Nothing like having a 2.5-year-old throw a massive fit every five minutes to help you celebrate your motherhood.



Last night I finally got to see the movie Babies! I went with Lisa and I really liked it a lot. You really have to be interested in just sort of being a fly on the wall, watching these four babies from around the globe go through their first year - there is no narration or explanation of anything - no subtitles, nothing. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed seeing how, really, it doesn't matter whether you are raised in a little hut in Africa or in a big-city like Tokyo - babies are generally the same. (I wasn't a huge fan of the hippy-dippy San Francisco parents. I can't even really put my finger on why. I just liked them least out of all of the parents.) Anyway, Lora at Fever interviewed the director of the movie, and they came to the conclusion that what babies and children and parents need most is love given and time spent. It doesn't really matter what else you give them - what they need and want above all is love and time. And it's true true true, despite the fact that it sometimes seems so hard to accomplish. (Not the love part. The time part.) Anyway, check her post out.

come on babe, why don't we paint the town

FINALLY found out today that the summer theater program I work with got the rights to do Chicago this summer. It was looking a little hairy because originally we were supposed to do The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (awesome awesome show, love it) but some professional group is apparently putting it up somewhere near us so they yanked the rights (this happens to community groups if a professional company wants to do the same show). Anywho, we decided then that we wanted to do Chicago but it was taking FOREVER to get the rights- and we're supposed to have auditions in two weeks - so it was starting to look like we might do Rent instead (which we also secured the rights to), and, well, here's the thing.

Rent is my all-time fave. You know that. But boy, when I get my hands on Rent to direct, I need to really, really be able to focus. Like, abandon my life for 8 weeks. With Chicago it's easier. First off, I'm co-directing with someone who has already done the show before, so that's great. Plus our music director has already done the show. So this summer (quite unlike last summer with Children of Eden) I would like to not develop major stomach issues because of stress over the show. I want to - how you say - have - oh what's the word? - oh yeah - fun. I want to have fun with this one. And Rent means ever so much to me - I'm afraid I would become completely and totally obsessed. And who knows? Maybe that will happen with Chicago. But I absolutely know it would happen with Rent. I want to put it in my back pocket for a while.

Auditions are in two weeks. Here we go....

chick flicks

I want to see these two movies SO BAD. (OK, I know I already posted the Babies trailer at some point, but too bad. It's delicious. It makes me teary every time! And I LOVE the song in the background. What is that? Must Google.) Happy weekend!

staring at the ceiling

As you know, Jane's bedtime routine these days is less than desirable. Since she got her big girl bed, she needs me to lay next to her bed until she falls asleep. If I leave her room, she follows me out, over and over. She will not stay in that bed for anything - unless I'm next to her.

I often hate this. I hate the fact that I hate this. I am trying not to. It's just that I'm just there, on the floor, staring at the ceiling, thinking about the precious moments of Amanda Time that are being used up by....nothing. This part of the night often takes at least a half hour, never mind the fact that I've moved her bedtime from 7 to 8. So while I used to have a good couple of hours of free time until I went to bed, now I'm down to maybe an hour. Often less. So I get frustrated. And angry, sometimes, that she won't just. fall. asleep. And then I get mad at myself.

See, the time of Jane's life when she's going to want me so close, all the time, is fleeting. According to some friends of mine, she could start hating me as early as four years from now. Mother-daughter relationships are often tough, especially during those horrfying puberty years, which, from what I understand, start at about 10 years old now. I worshipped my mother as a child - but we definitely ran into tough territory when I was a teenager.

So I am trying. Trying to realize that, all too soon, I will desperately miss the days that all I had to do to make Jane happy was to lay down next to her, and watch her drift to sleep.

I may not be great at this parenthood thing, but I guess I'm not new anymore.

Just changed my little profile over there to the right, and removed the "I'm a new mom" part. Even though I still don't know what I'm doing on a daily basis, I guess I'm not exactly new anymore. So what's my excuse now?

more weekend, please.

Well we had a pretty awesome weekend, thankyouverymuch.

The weather this weekend was perfect, in my opinion. This is just what I have been waiting for. Okaaay…maybe it was a little bit hot yesterday (I think it was in the low 90s) but I kept saying, over and over, I HATE WINTER - just knowing how much better I feel in this weather just defines how much I hate the cold shit. Yeah, yeah, I know my last blog post covered that.

Anywaaay….on Saturday we went down to Mystic. We didn’t go to the Seaport or Aquarium (although I love both of those places) - instead we just went downtown, where they have a lot of cute shops and a waterfront. Well, turns out there was a big May Day family fest thing going on, so it was really busy but there was lots of fun stuff for Jane to do, like a Maypole, bubbles, a bouncy tunnel thing, music, etc. We all got sunburned unfortunately but other than that it was a really fun day. Jane was completely wiped and fell asleep on the way home – mission accomplished!

On Sunday we went down to the boat – this is the last time we’ll head down to the marina in Chester, because Greg plans to move it to its summer home in Old Saybrook this week (we keep it in Chester during the winter). The Chester marina is really calm and quiet and lovely – but I do like Old Saybrook better. I like being near the bridge and the more party-like atmosphere of the marina – not that we are big partiers these days- but someday.

Aside from Jimmy’s middle-of-the-night ear infection drama on Friday night (yes, Greg was off to the vet at midnight to get Jimmy some drops – he’s fine, no worries) it was as perfect a weekend as we’ve had in a long, long time. Hope you had a good one too.