1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
Started a job at a theatre totally unaffiliated with CNU and my lovely professors.
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I made a bunch and kept a few. I always make a bunch of resolutions.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My sister's friend Jenn...and if theres' someone else I forgot, then I apologize for being the worst friend ever
4. Did anyone close to you die?
My sweet Beauregard :(
5. What countries did you visit?
Just this one, alas.
6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
More peace. I mean personal peace. World peace would be nice too. But I realize that's reaching pretty far.
7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Christmas, for as many bad reasons as good. My birthday in the most beautiful city in the world with the most beautiful girl in the world. Freaking ELECTION DAY. August 26, the day I finally took the plunge and moved into FST. June 18, the opening of TRR. January 1st, one of the absolute best New Years' I've ever had - also in the most beautiful city in the world.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Keeping up my running (for the most part - things got a little dicey during TRR). Running my first race and my first 10K with my big sister. And getting this job. And surviving TRR.
9. What was your biggest failure?
I guess one of them would be regressing back into old habits when I moved to this new environment here. Stupid choices made out of loneliness or vulnerability or stupidity.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Just the usual. And freaking SHINSPLINTS.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
A plane ticket to NYC and a ticket to Lisa's first off-Broadway show. Also my 10 class pass or whatever it was to Zenya Yoga. How I miss that place!
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
My big sister. She's balls-out this year.
13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
Well, that's not the kind of thing I"m going to answer on a public blog.
14. Where did most of your money go?
God knows. Probably groceries, because I can't control myself when I'm in Trader Joe's or Whole Foods. Or even Publix.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
TRR, the election, and New York.
16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
Oh god, there are so many. Let's say Bob Dylan's "Simple Twist of Fate"
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Sadder.
b) thinner or fatter? Good question - I'm actually not sure. I feel about the same, I guess. Maybe a little thinner.
c) richer or poorer? Poorer, but strangely enough with less credit card debt.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Sleep.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
I'm not sure. Daydreaming, probably.
20. How did you spend Christmas?
Putting our poor sweet beautiful dog to sleep. Then helping my sister make a beautiful dinner and spending time with her, my mom, and my grandma.
21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
Next please!
22. What was your favorite TV program?
The Office. Though I fell madly in love with Jon & Kate Plus 8 this year, even though I don't get TLC in Sarasota.
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
That's a strong word. I'm not sure.
24. What was the best book you read?
Eat, Pray, Love. Hands down. I'm reading it now for the third time (and hoping some of it sinks in this time)
25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Blood on the Tracks, Avenue Q, Want One
26. What did you want and get?
An external hard drive! Good running shoes and a good running bra (which is possibly even more important than the shoes). I got to go to NYC twice this year.
27. What did you want and not get?
Oh so much.
28. What was your favorite film of this year?
This is a cruel question. I'll say a tie between The Dark Knight and Milk
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 24. I went to brunch with little Lisa and my *amazing* cousin Blair, we went to Yoga for the People on St. Marks (where they freaking played two Jeff Buckley songs, one of which was a version of "I Shall Be Released" I hadn't heard him do before), got delicious Thai takeout for dinner, had Christmas cookies and egg nog, saw her amazing show, met some wonderful actors and general awesome NYC theatre people, saw my wonderful gay boyfriend Mike Raymond and the beautiful and amazing Lara Maerz. It was a pretty awesome day.
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
A couple things.
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Improved!
32. What kept you sane?
Running, yoga, Gold's Gym (how I miss it!), family, and old friends (how I miss them)
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Barack Obama :)
34. What political issue stirred you the most?
Gay marriage. What is WRONG with our country???
35. Who did you miss?
My family. My old CNU friends.
36. Who was the best new person you met?
Patty Pizza.
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
Devastating personal setbacks are an unfortunate but necessary inevitability.
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
It's not a song lyric, it's a quote from Proof - but I can't think of anything more appropriate:
"Life changes fast in your early twenties and it shakes you up."
Friday, January 02, 2009
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Funny story...
Remember when I considered doing NaBloPoMo?
My amazing friend Timmy, who's in North Carolina for a couple weeks. We miss him and want him back!
One of my two bosses, Rob Thomas (yes, that's his real name). He is amazing and the sweetest guy ever!
The aforementioned Cabaret actors that I'm in love with, Alison Foster (long lost sister) and Ryan Flanigan. This was taken on one of our bowling nights!
Me with darling Patrick Pizzolorusso. Also known as Patty Pizza.
Emily, my phenomenal roommate, came up with that little nickname. I don't think he likes it.
Emily!!! BFF.
The cool kids.
Interns gotta stick together.
Fosters enjoy chocolate covered strawberries. Thank you, Rob.
Ryan's a sweetheart.
REJECTED!
Halloween! Alison was Your Mom, Ryan was Borat, I was a slutty ballerina (god help me), Timmy was a gay barfly, Emily went as Ryan, who is a Phillies fan to say the least, the lovely blonde is Aimee, who was a desperate housewife, DPotts behind her was a pirate, and Patty Pizza was Aldous Snow. Good times.
I love Emily/Ryan.
That was funny.
I really should update this, more. Not that anyone reads it. But I'd like to get in the habit of writing in it once a week, for myself if nothing else. Oh, this narcissistic age we live in!
Today is my day off, and it is/will be amazing for many reasons. First of all, it started raining right after I woke up this morning. It hasn't rained in AGES, and it was such a nice, peaceful, lazy way to wake up. The theme of laziness continued until I finally got my butt out of the house about an hour ago and I walked to the post office and chatted with my awesome sister on the phone (until it died. sorry.) and went to Whole Foods. I should have gone to Publix, but I'm weak. And now there's a new season of Top Chef, so I'm probably going to spend all of my money on food more than usual. Sigh.
As soon as I finish this, I'm going to run to the beach! I've run over the big bridge that leads to the beach before, but I've never actually run *to* the beach. So that should be exciting. At 6:00 I'm going to go see our Cabaret show again, because I'm desperately in love with the actors and the stage manager, who is my amazing roommate. Then it's off to the beach again with my wonderful friend Patrick, who is leaving us soon to go home to New York and needs to get in some last minute beach time. Then Andy Paterson, who is an actor in our mainstage production and one of the nicest people I have ever met in my life, is throwing a party for the interns tonight.
So...that was an exciting paragraph. I hope it at least made you jealous.
Finally, here are some of my FST BFF's. Enjoy. If you're reading this and you're not in Sarasota right now, chances are, I miss you terribly. So you should call me. Or at least comment on my sweet pictures. Especially because I forgot what a pain in the ass it is to upload pictures onto blogger. Good lord!
My amazing friend Timmy, who's in North Carolina for a couple weeks. We miss him and want him back!
One of my two bosses, Rob Thomas (yes, that's his real name). He is amazing and the sweetest guy ever!
The aforementioned Cabaret actors that I'm in love with, Alison Foster (long lost sister) and Ryan Flanigan. This was taken on one of our bowling nights!
Me with darling Patrick Pizzolorusso. Also known as Patty Pizza.
Emily, my phenomenal roommate, came up with that little nickname. I don't think he likes it.
Emily!!! BFF.
The cool kids.
Interns gotta stick together.
Fosters enjoy chocolate covered strawberries. Thank you, Rob.
Ryan's a sweetheart.
REJECTED!
Halloween! Alison was Your Mom, Ryan was Borat, I was a slutty ballerina (god help me), Timmy was a gay barfly, Emily went as Ryan, who is a Phillies fan to say the least, the lovely blonde is Aimee, who was a desperate housewife, DPotts behind her was a pirate, and Patty Pizza was Aldous Snow. Good times.
I love Emily/Ryan.Oh, and finally...Yay for President Elect Obama!!! :) Virginia, Florida, and North Carolina did me so proud.
Monday, November 03, 2008
Election jitters
I'm really starting to feel anxiety about the election.
Not necessarily in a bad way! I think I've had my guard up, partly because I was terrified I wouldn't be able to vote.
The City of Newport News and I have been having some major issues about me getting my absentee ballot. It was getting seriously down to the wire, and so because I was repressing my deep dark fears about "What if I don't get to vote in the most important election of my life?"I was also slightly emotionally removing myself from the election itself.
But today...FINALLY...at the last possible second...my absentee ballot arrived in the mail.
I promptly cast my vote for Barack as well as the other fine Democrats on the ballot for District 1 of Virginia and overnighted it like it was my job back to good ol' VA.
So now that I've cast my vote and done everything I can and it's out of my hands...
I'm a nervous wreck.
I believe we're going to win. But I don't want to jinx it. (I'm very irrationally paranoid that way) I'm excited, I'm hopeful, and I'm a nervous wreck.
Also, hello! I have been absolutely HORRIBLE about updating this thing. However, ironically, the day I finally decide to update again, what do I realize? It's November...aka NaBloPoMo!
I'm really tempted to set the goal of writing a post for every day of November. I just think it would be hilarious considering I haven't updated in months.
Let's see if this goes anywhere!
Oh, and one last thing...a very happy birthday to my wonderful brother-in-law Joe and my dear Granddaddy, who would be 93 today. Wow.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Three weeks in
So tomorrow will mark the 21st day of living in Sarasota...it doesn't feel that long! I almost titled this entry "two weeks in" before I double checked myself. Weird.
I like it a lot so far, and I'm adjusting to being away from my wonderful next of Newport News better than I thought I would. Of course I miss all my darlings and my mentors, and I had a wonderful phone conversation with the beautiful Lauren Angwin yesterday that probably gave me my biggest pang of homesickness for my CNU loves that I've had so far...but as I have gotten in the habit of saying, it's never goodbye, it's just until next time.
I live incredible close to the beach and have taken advantage of that as often as possible. My fellow interns are very cool, and the actors that I had the privilege of picking up from the airport and welcoming to Sarasota last week are just wonderful. My supervisors are great, and I look forward to opening the first show and having all the other millions of activities and shows that go on at FST going full throttle...though having lazy weekends like this one are oh so nice.
I watched Platoon yesterday. It's one of those movies that I know is brilliant and classic that I had just never seen, and thanks to the magic of Netflix I can correct all of my cinematic ignorance with ease. The last couple months I've been in a very masculine, violent movie mood. I watched Pulp Fiction and Natural Born Killers a lot this summer, rewatched Reservoir Dogs with my Billy Harley for the first time since I'd first seen it at an age too young to appreciate its genius. I also saw Dog Day Afternoon for the first time, thanks to Netflix, last month when I was house sitting at Denise's.
Platoon was absolutely traumatizing. It was amazing, phenomenal, beautiful, horrific, nightmarish...just...yeah. If you've seen it, you know. It's one of those movies that completely affects how you are for the rest of the day. And I want to watch it again before I mail it back because apparently I'm a masochist.
Next up - Hard Candy! Let me explain.
I took time out of my ultra macho, violent movie phase to introduce one of my new dear friends, Zakk, to the magic and splendor of Angels in America, which every theatre artist must be familiar with - especially someone born and raised just south of Salt Lake City, which he was. So we're continuing with our love affair with Patrick Wilson with Hard Candy, a film he's seen but I haven't also featuring the beautiful Ellen Page.
When did this suddenly become a movie blog? I'm insane.
Big real-life news...my mom, who just celebrated her 57th year on this earth on September 6th, ran in her first 5K race with my big sister yesterday! She placed 4th in her age group and made an awesome time, AND - the best part - she and my sister were selected as judges to a bloody mary contest that took place right after the race! And they got to eat tons of free barbecue for a barbecue contest of some kind. AND my brother-in-law made them dinner last night, which probably makes me the most jealous of all of those things. It was so cool, and since everyone in my family is pretty financially strapped right now I was so glad that my mom was able to have some kind of celebration for her birthday that we wouldn't really be able to afford to give her.
Hope the few of you who read this are well!
Monday, August 25, 2008
Steamy Sarasota
I'm here in Sarasota! I'm alive! And I'm really, really hot. Luckily, I got to choose the bedroom with its own tiny window unit, but it's a struggling little thing. The real test will come tonight...my ideal sleeping conditions involve a freezing room with me buried under blankets. Needless to say, this will be a bit of an adjustment!
One of my supervisors, Rob Thomas, seems very nice and very cool...I got a tour of the theatre, which reminds me a little bit of Mad Cow if they had some extra buildings. That's a good and charming thing!
I'm at Whole Foods (yay!) using their Internets with one of my three roommates (the other two are due to arrive next week), Kathy from LA. She seems very cool and laid back - a true Californian.
I don't have much else to report...I spent a delightful afternoon unpacking and organizing my life (and wondering why the hell I have so many *clothes*) and putting my pictures up...I was vaguely reminded of my first day of college when I plastered my room with pictures of my high school family. Oh, changes.
Should go so we can grocery shop and then meet two of the other interns who were already here - hope everyone is well!
One of my supervisors, Rob Thomas, seems very nice and very cool...I got a tour of the theatre, which reminds me a little bit of Mad Cow if they had some extra buildings. That's a good and charming thing!
I'm at Whole Foods (yay!) using their Internets with one of my three roommates (the other two are due to arrive next week), Kathy from LA. She seems very cool and laid back - a true Californian.
I don't have much else to report...I spent a delightful afternoon unpacking and organizing my life (and wondering why the hell I have so many *clothes*) and putting my pictures up...I was vaguely reminded of my first day of college when I plastered my room with pictures of my high school family. Oh, changes.
Should go so we can grocery shop and then meet two of the other interns who were already here - hope everyone is well!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Fly away, Fay!
I'm sitting here watching my DREAM Project Runway!!! Chris March, my love, is back and they're designing for drag queens. God bless America.
However, I am not enjoying it as much as I might otherwise because I am SO SICK OF SITTING INSIDE WATCHING TV AND READING!!! This dang tropical storm needs to get the hell out of town. I'm thankful that there's no serious damage or flooding for us, but I'm starved for sunshine! Grandma and I are just going stir crazy.
On the bright side (ha), I'm reminded of just how stunningly gorgeous White Oleander is. It's a good book to read for me at this turning point in my life - all about independence and survival! Whoo! Of course, my cushy internship isn't quite the same as a foster girl going from one traumatic and beautiful adventure to the other...but nevermind. Next up - Eat, Pray, Love. I absolutely devoured that book like nobody's business the first time I read it back in March, so I'm going to try to absorb it a little better this time.
In a few short days, I'll be making the drive from Grandma's to Sarasota - which will hopefully be a mere 3 hours. I'm nervous, very excited, and very frightened by the idea that I might not have air conditioning in my bedoom (!). I can't count how many times in my life I have uttered the sentence, "Air conditioning is my favorite invention!" or "I need to be cold to fall asleep." Oh, universe. Always looking for ways to make me grow up and build character. Damn you.
Gotta run. This is going to be the most fabulous runway show in history...
However, I am not enjoying it as much as I might otherwise because I am SO SICK OF SITTING INSIDE WATCHING TV AND READING!!! This dang tropical storm needs to get the hell out of town. I'm thankful that there's no serious damage or flooding for us, but I'm starved for sunshine! Grandma and I are just going stir crazy.
On the bright side (ha), I'm reminded of just how stunningly gorgeous White Oleander is. It's a good book to read for me at this turning point in my life - all about independence and survival! Whoo! Of course, my cushy internship isn't quite the same as a foster girl going from one traumatic and beautiful adventure to the other...but nevermind. Next up - Eat, Pray, Love. I absolutely devoured that book like nobody's business the first time I read it back in March, so I'm going to try to absorb it a little better this time.
In a few short days, I'll be making the drive from Grandma's to Sarasota - which will hopefully be a mere 3 hours. I'm nervous, very excited, and very frightened by the idea that I might not have air conditioning in my bedoom (!). I can't count how many times in my life I have uttered the sentence, "Air conditioning is my favorite invention!" or "I need to be cold to fall asleep." Oh, universe. Always looking for ways to make me grow up and build character. Damn you.
Gotta run. This is going to be the most fabulous runway show in history...
Saturday, August 09, 2008
One week
A week from now, I'll be on the road, leaving my beautiful Virginia for who knows how long!
Plus I want to watch the Olympics as much as possible. I'm totally excited about them this year. I can't yet tell if I'm going to get to watch a lot of them because I'm not working or hardly any of them because I'm moving. And, y'know, when I'm at my Grandma's next week I'll want to do some swimming and being outside of my own!
I've already said a good amount of goodbyes to some incredibly important people in my life, and I have more lined up for this week, but I'm really doing well. One of the things I love the most about theatre (and let's face it, technology!) is that there are no real goodbyes. It's all just until next time. I love this place, and I've spent half my life in Virginia, but I'm starting to get antsy for what's next.
But for now, I have to get going if I want to be back at Denise's in time to watch swimming this afternoon! Aaah!
Friday, July 18, 2008
Useless
So I'm sitting here in Steven's office, all alone because E is out with a migraine and he isn't in (hopefully he's laying around in his PJ's doing nothing and relaxing), I'm barely recovered from seeing The Dark Knight last night, and I'm trying desperately to figure out how to be useful. So naturally, I'm revisiting my blog that I have completely abandoned for the last month.
The few of you who read this...hi! I'm not dead. I've just had my life and energy sucked into the vortex that is TRR, and I'm just now starting to come up for air. We closed Of Mice and Men this past Saturday night and opened The Foreigner on Wednesday. It feels like a ghost town without the Mice&Men boys and girl around, which makes me very sad. It was a phenomenal show and an amazing group of people.
The Foreigner has been going so well, though - getting it up was an extreme challenge (damn the night shifts and two day turnarounds!) but the rewards have been great. I'm so glad we have a comedy for our last show of the season - it's so rewarding to hear the amazing audience response.
And I hate to even bring it up, but in less than a month now (holy moly) I'm leaving for Florida. I leave the nest on August 16, spend the night with my sister and Joe, and then spend a week-ish at my Grandma's before trekking to Sarasota, FL. Yikes. I'm excited, but I'm too busy being nervous and sad at leaving my people here to feel excited lately. And too busy being busy as well.
I've been too busy to do any kind of organizing of my life, and now that things are winding down and I have a bit more time, I don't even know where to begin. Whenever I get a few hours here or there I wind up laying down on my living room floor in front of the TV like a zombie. I have lots of rest to catch up on, and lots of energy to conserve to tackle my internship this year.
The few of you who read this...hi! I'm not dead. I've just had my life and energy sucked into the vortex that is TRR, and I'm just now starting to come up for air. We closed Of Mice and Men this past Saturday night and opened The Foreigner on Wednesday. It feels like a ghost town without the Mice&Men boys and girl around, which makes me very sad. It was a phenomenal show and an amazing group of people.
The Foreigner has been going so well, though - getting it up was an extreme challenge (damn the night shifts and two day turnarounds!) but the rewards have been great. I'm so glad we have a comedy for our last show of the season - it's so rewarding to hear the amazing audience response.
And I hate to even bring it up, but in less than a month now (holy moly) I'm leaving for Florida. I leave the nest on August 16, spend the night with my sister and Joe, and then spend a week-ish at my Grandma's before trekking to Sarasota, FL. Yikes. I'm excited, but I'm too busy being nervous and sad at leaving my people here to feel excited lately. And too busy being busy as well.
I've been too busy to do any kind of organizing of my life, and now that things are winding down and I have a bit more time, I don't even know where to begin. Whenever I get a few hours here or there I wind up laying down on my living room floor in front of the TV like a zombie. I have lots of rest to catch up on, and lots of energy to conserve to tackle my internship this year.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Holy moly!
Where does the time keep going? How are we already in the double digits of June? HOW IS THAT QUILTERS OPENS THIS TIME NEXT WEEK? It's madness.
At the same time, things sometimes feel agonizingly slow...like waiting for our coverage in the Daily Press on Sunday. We keep wondering where it's going to be and how big it's going to be and we're just crossing our fingers and praying to our gods and waiting for Sunday's paper...and then waiting for the anticipated boom in ticket sales caused by Sunday's paper. It's intense.
And dammit, I want to sit in the audience and watch Quilters! As an audience member I'm going nuts with anticipation. I've seen bits and pieces of the show from sitting in on the occasional rehearsal, and it's going to be awesome. These women are fantastic!!!
So in case you hadn't noticed, my life is pretty much all TRR all the time. Every second of every day. It's intense and wonderful. I love working with Steven and Miss E more than words can possibly express.
Speaking of things that words cannot possibly express...KENDRA COX IS VISITING VIRGINIA IN JULY! I AM SO HAPPY THAT I CAN BARELY TYPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The only thing this summer is missing (aside from, as I call it, not having any prospects) is the BEACH. I never have time to go to the damn beach and it looks like I don't get any days off until The Foreigner opens. That's how it feels at the moment, anyway. I need me some ocean!
And on a final and semi-unrelated note, I love my mom. She came into town on Sunday and came with me to a mall event that we did for Quilters that was cool - it was so good to have her there supporting me and I loved that she got to hear some of the amazing women sing. We did some shopping and then went to Schooners and she hung out for awhile for a little bit of Mice & Men rehearsal. And Steven talked later about how good it was to see her and how she was so pretty and loves me a lot. It was a very warm & fuzzy day :) My mom's the greatest.
Finally...some pictures of the summer so far :)
My beautiful fat little godson!!! Tobi's wheel is just a leeeeeettle too small for him.
I wish he could be in Of Mice & Men but I don't think Lisa or Jordan would appreciate that.
Tall Tom can pick me up with one arm. He is the strongest man in the world.
We laugh a lot here at TRR - as demonstrated by Locklyn Brooks, our sexy costume designer, Caity Schmidt, our brilliant props princess, and Ferrier, our beast of a technical director.
Ferrier looks like he's crying, which makes me laugh harder.
It was Locklyn's birthday a couple weeks ago and Lisa made a cake! Yay!
The girls saw Sex & the City, and my fellow awesome AD Stacey celebrated with cosmos as beautiful sound designer Jess Ashby looks on.
FRIEEEEEND! I am so in love with Lara Maerz I could die. She is a stage manager extraordinaire.
At the same time, things sometimes feel agonizingly slow...like waiting for our coverage in the Daily Press on Sunday. We keep wondering where it's going to be and how big it's going to be and we're just crossing our fingers and praying to our gods and waiting for Sunday's paper...and then waiting for the anticipated boom in ticket sales caused by Sunday's paper. It's intense.
And dammit, I want to sit in the audience and watch Quilters! As an audience member I'm going nuts with anticipation. I've seen bits and pieces of the show from sitting in on the occasional rehearsal, and it's going to be awesome. These women are fantastic!!!
So in case you hadn't noticed, my life is pretty much all TRR all the time. Every second of every day. It's intense and wonderful. I love working with Steven and Miss E more than words can possibly express.
Speaking of things that words cannot possibly express...KENDRA COX IS VISITING VIRGINIA IN JULY! I AM SO HAPPY THAT I CAN BARELY TYPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The only thing this summer is missing (aside from, as I call it, not having any prospects) is the BEACH. I never have time to go to the damn beach and it looks like I don't get any days off until The Foreigner opens. That's how it feels at the moment, anyway. I need me some ocean!
And on a final and semi-unrelated note, I love my mom. She came into town on Sunday and came with me to a mall event that we did for Quilters that was cool - it was so good to have her there supporting me and I loved that she got to hear some of the amazing women sing. We did some shopping and then went to Schooners and she hung out for awhile for a little bit of Mice & Men rehearsal. And Steven talked later about how good it was to see her and how she was so pretty and loves me a lot. It was a very warm & fuzzy day :) My mom's the greatest.
Finally...some pictures of the summer so far :)
My beautiful fat little godson!!! Tobi's wheel is just a leeeeeettle too small for him.
I wish he could be in Of Mice & Men but I don't think Lisa or Jordan would appreciate that.
Tall Tom can pick me up with one arm. He is the strongest man in the world.
We laugh a lot here at TRR - as demonstrated by Locklyn Brooks, our sexy costume designer, Caity Schmidt, our brilliant props princess, and Ferrier, our beast of a technical director.
Ferrier looks like he's crying, which makes me laugh harder.
It was Locklyn's birthday a couple weeks ago and Lisa made a cake! Yay!
The girls saw Sex & the City, and my fellow awesome AD Stacey celebrated with cosmos as beautiful sound designer Jess Ashby looks on.
FRIEEEEEND! I am so in love with Lara Maerz I could die. She is a stage manager extraordinaire.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
I'm not dead!
Due to effective peer pressure on the part of Mr. Aaron Page, I'm updating my blog!
It has been an insane, wonderful month and it has FLOWN by!
I was sick at the beginning of the month, which sucked, but after a couple weeks I finally got better - though I think excessive smoke inhalation at the awesome TRR barbecue last night is giving me another cough. Oh well. Totally worth it.
I am having so much fun. So many TRR people are here already, and next week the Of Mice and Men men (and lady) arrive. There's always a party going on at Barclay! Lara Maerz, our stage manager for Quilters and The Foreigner, and Locklyn, our fabulous costume designer, appear to be nesting, and as a result are constantly making us awesome food. They're definitely two of my new favorite people.
Unfortunately I've had to say some goodbye's already...my Jamie and my Michmouse have left to do their own summer stock gigs, and after this weekend I'll have said goodbye to my Peter
and my Lauren. I'm looking forward to playing and making dinner together on Saturday, but I'm definitely not looking forward to the goodbye. But they all need to come see me in Sarasota on their spring break next year, so it's not goodbye forever. And with facebook, you're just a click away from stalking your friends, so it's easy to keep in touch.
And Aaron Page is moving to Chicago!!! He has a blog all about his adventures, and he's the greatest person ever so you should read it.
There's also another blog you should read for a little theatre company called Tidewater Rep. Go to the website. Read the blog. BE A SEASON SUBSCRIBER!! And ignore the fact that I haven't updated the blog yet this week! Aaah!
Gotta go...time to get ready for the production meeting :)
It has been an insane, wonderful month and it has FLOWN by!
I was sick at the beginning of the month, which sucked, but after a couple weeks I finally got better - though I think excessive smoke inhalation at the awesome TRR barbecue last night is giving me another cough. Oh well. Totally worth it.
I am having so much fun. So many TRR people are here already, and next week the Of Mice and Men men (and lady) arrive. There's always a party going on at Barclay! Lara Maerz, our stage manager for Quilters and The Foreigner, and Locklyn, our fabulous costume designer, appear to be nesting, and as a result are constantly making us awesome food. They're definitely two of my new favorite people.
Unfortunately I've had to say some goodbye's already...my Jamie and my Michmouse have left to do their own summer stock gigs, and after this weekend I'll have said goodbye to my Peter
and my Lauren. I'm looking forward to playing and making dinner together on Saturday, but I'm definitely not looking forward to the goodbye. But they all need to come see me in Sarasota on their spring break next year, so it's not goodbye forever. And with facebook, you're just a click away from stalking your friends, so it's easy to keep in touch.
And Aaron Page is moving to Chicago!!! He has a blog all about his adventures, and he's the greatest person ever so you should read it.
There's also another blog you should read for a little theatre company called Tidewater Rep. Go to the website. Read the blog. BE A SEASON SUBSCRIBER!! And ignore the fact that I haven't updated the blog yet this week! Aaah!
Gotta go...time to get ready for the production meeting :)
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Adventures in Ferg
Oh man alive, this job is an emotional rollercoaster! I am completely in love with every moment of it, though...even the more-than-slightly-frustrating ones! But I think considering this is TRR's first season, we're doing a damn good job trying to pull all the official stuff together so we can get PLAYING!
Speaking of playing...tonight is the directing class's Directing Showcase. I love love love this show. It's something I've gone to every single year since freshman year and it's always so much fun. It's so student driven and there's always so much excitement and love and LOTS of laughter. And to make it even better...Aaron Page will be in town to see it! (And he also started a darling blog!) I can't wait to see him and see the scenes. There are a lot that we did two years ago in my first directing class - including the very first thing I ever directed, Women of Manhattan, scene 4. So it'll be fun to see new actors with familiar characters and the new directors' creations!
Well, that's pretty much all the time I have...this was a fairly useless update, I guess, but considering how stupidly busy I continue to become, I just wanted to update to say that I'm alive!! :)
Speaking of playing...tonight is the directing class's Directing Showcase. I love love love this show. It's something I've gone to every single year since freshman year and it's always so much fun. It's so student driven and there's always so much excitement and love and LOTS of laughter. And to make it even better...Aaron Page will be in town to see it! (And he also started a darling blog!) I can't wait to see him and see the scenes. There are a lot that we did two years ago in my first directing class - including the very first thing I ever directed, Women of Manhattan, scene 4. So it'll be fun to see new actors with familiar characters and the new directors' creations!
Well, that's pretty much all the time I have...this was a fairly useless update, I guess, but considering how stupidly busy I continue to become, I just wanted to update to say that I'm alive!! :)
Monday, April 28, 2008
Theatre girl again
So I've been meaning to write for the last four days, and it's just been entirely too insane to get a moment to do it!
But now I'm kind of back to my standard Monday ritual of the past two and a half months...sleepy and quiet after bedtime yoga, plopped in front of the tv geekily anticipating a new Jon & Kate Plus 8 (best show ever) and drinking a decadent strawberry and chocolate smoothie. Thrilling, thrilling stuff!
Friday was my last day as a temp...possibly ever! Probably not. But you never know, I suppose! This job was absolutely a godsend and a blessing and the best thing I could've asked for. The super early mornings were really tough, but I think it was really good for me (even though it never got any easier!) because now sleeping in until 7:15ish feels like lazy heaven! And I feel up to going for a run in the morning, which is awesome. But yeah - the people I worked with, particularly the ladies, were just wonderful. I hope to see them all at the Yoder this summer!
Friday evening I went straight from work to Zenya Yoga Studio in Port Warwick, a tiny and gorgeous and peaceful yoga studio, where I took a free Hot Yoga class. Oh my lord. I sweated more than I ever have in my whole life, and it felt phenomenal. Most of the poses felt easier because my muscles were so freaking *hot*! And it was so easy to focus because...it was kind of impossible *not* to focus in that environment. And the instructor was great, and I just can't rave about it enough. The second the class was over I bought a 10 class pass, so I plan to sweat my life away every Friday night right up until Of Mice & Men rehearsal kicks in. And my beautiful wonderful Peter wants to try it with me this week! So I'm giving him a crash course in basic yoga poses on Thursday night (and it's possible there will be alcohol involved, so that'll be interesting) and then he'll come with me on Friday. Hopefully hot yoga for a yoga newbie isn't a horrible idea.
Saturday was awesome - I did my standard morning workout (running the Noland and then BodyPump at 10 with badass Lynn) and then drove to Richmond to go to a wine tasting festival with my mommy! It was my first one ever, and it was SO much fun. Even though Lisa was going to be joining us and then couldn't, Mom and I provided plenty of our own silly giggling just-barely-tipsy fun. Good times.
Then in the evening I came back for the first ever CNU student performances in the Yoder Barn! Beautiful little Natalie's senior thesis which was selected scenes from Sweet Charity, and Rabbit Rabbit, a BRILLIANT sketch comedy group comprised of four gorgeous young men, Chris Blake, Johnny O'Malley, Jake Mills, and Andrew Bentley. It was a freaking amazing night. Natalie melted all of our hearts (and I loved that Mich and Lauren got to duet together as trashy hookers with hearts of gold) and Rabbit Rabbit made us pee our pants. And seriously, I'm not just saying this because these boys are my friends and I love them to bits and think they're great, but Rabbit Rabbit is truly *brilliant.* A million times funnier than anything on TV today. And there wasn't a single "inside" TheaterCNU joke - it was all totally universal, original, brilliant humor. I can't believe how talented my friends are. It's overwhelming sometimes!
Then Sunday I spent the day with Carol's beautiful mom and her Jim (both of our moms have Jims. weird!) and her man and little Lisa. We had brunch where I ate at least four pigs' worth of bacon, then headed over to Ferg to see Blast which was great, and then we went to Panera where we switched out Mom and Jim for Pops and M&M (in Lisa's words). So four of Carol's parents in one day! A truly special occasion. It was a poopy day, though, like today. So we all kept talking about how, even though we were having a lovely time, we all kind of just wanted to be in bed doing nothing.
And then this morning, after getting up at the shockingly late hour of 7am to run and shower, I reported for duty as Miss E's temporary fill-in. And also just starting my jobs of Assistant to the Artistic Director and Associate Company Manager full time. It was a bit chaotic at first...and of course there's always an element of chaos that runs throughout the day when you're at Ferguson. So it was great. I saw some of my darlings and it's so wonderful to be around all the professors. They're such great fun.
So, I'm completely ready and excited for the summer. It feels like it's already here, and I am all about it :)
But now I'm kind of back to my standard Monday ritual of the past two and a half months...sleepy and quiet after bedtime yoga, plopped in front of the tv geekily anticipating a new Jon & Kate Plus 8 (best show ever) and drinking a decadent strawberry and chocolate smoothie. Thrilling, thrilling stuff!
Friday was my last day as a temp...possibly ever! Probably not. But you never know, I suppose! This job was absolutely a godsend and a blessing and the best thing I could've asked for. The super early mornings were really tough, but I think it was really good for me (even though it never got any easier!) because now sleeping in until 7:15ish feels like lazy heaven! And I feel up to going for a run in the morning, which is awesome. But yeah - the people I worked with, particularly the ladies, were just wonderful. I hope to see them all at the Yoder this summer!
Friday evening I went straight from work to Zenya Yoga Studio in Port Warwick, a tiny and gorgeous and peaceful yoga studio, where I took a free Hot Yoga class. Oh my lord. I sweated more than I ever have in my whole life, and it felt phenomenal. Most of the poses felt easier because my muscles were so freaking *hot*! And it was so easy to focus because...it was kind of impossible *not* to focus in that environment. And the instructor was great, and I just can't rave about it enough. The second the class was over I bought a 10 class pass, so I plan to sweat my life away every Friday night right up until Of Mice & Men rehearsal kicks in. And my beautiful wonderful Peter wants to try it with me this week! So I'm giving him a crash course in basic yoga poses on Thursday night (and it's possible there will be alcohol involved, so that'll be interesting) and then he'll come with me on Friday. Hopefully hot yoga for a yoga newbie isn't a horrible idea.
Saturday was awesome - I did my standard morning workout (running the Noland and then BodyPump at 10 with badass Lynn) and then drove to Richmond to go to a wine tasting festival with my mommy! It was my first one ever, and it was SO much fun. Even though Lisa was going to be joining us and then couldn't, Mom and I provided plenty of our own silly giggling just-barely-tipsy fun. Good times.
Then in the evening I came back for the first ever CNU student performances in the Yoder Barn! Beautiful little Natalie's senior thesis which was selected scenes from Sweet Charity, and Rabbit Rabbit, a BRILLIANT sketch comedy group comprised of four gorgeous young men, Chris Blake, Johnny O'Malley, Jake Mills, and Andrew Bentley. It was a freaking amazing night. Natalie melted all of our hearts (and I loved that Mich and Lauren got to duet together as trashy hookers with hearts of gold) and Rabbit Rabbit made us pee our pants. And seriously, I'm not just saying this because these boys are my friends and I love them to bits and think they're great, but Rabbit Rabbit is truly *brilliant.* A million times funnier than anything on TV today. And there wasn't a single "inside" TheaterCNU joke - it was all totally universal, original, brilliant humor. I can't believe how talented my friends are. It's overwhelming sometimes!
Then Sunday I spent the day with Carol's beautiful mom and her Jim (both of our moms have Jims. weird!) and her man and little Lisa. We had brunch where I ate at least four pigs' worth of bacon, then headed over to Ferg to see Blast which was great, and then we went to Panera where we switched out Mom and Jim for Pops and M&M (in Lisa's words). So four of Carol's parents in one day! A truly special occasion. It was a poopy day, though, like today. So we all kept talking about how, even though we were having a lovely time, we all kind of just wanted to be in bed doing nothing.
And then this morning, after getting up at the shockingly late hour of 7am to run and shower, I reported for duty as Miss E's temporary fill-in. And also just starting my jobs of Assistant to the Artistic Director and Associate Company Manager full time. It was a bit chaotic at first...and of course there's always an element of chaos that runs throughout the day when you're at Ferguson. So it was great. I saw some of my darlings and it's so wonderful to be around all the professors. They're such great fun.
So, I'm completely ready and excited for the summer. It feels like it's already here, and I am all about it :)
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Weird bumper stickers.
Twice now I've gotten behind this one guy when driving home...and I swear to god, I am not making this up - this is what his bumper sticker says:
"I'm driving fast because I have to poop."
Seriously! Where do you GET that???
I was also behind a car that had a George W. Bush sticker from '04 AND the Human Rights Campaign's Equal Sign. Y'know. Equality for gay people. Something W abhors. It made me want to pull them over and figure out just what the hell was going on in that car.
In other non-random and insane news, I have seven more days of work - seven more days of being up before the sun! Next Friday I bid my godsend of a temp job adieu and finally start full time for Steven. It's kind of hard to believe. Theatre hasn't been my full time job since July. Or, let's just say August, since I pretty much just spent that month running to Williamsburg to see What the Butler Saw and then traipsing around New York City seeing theatre. So I don't know if I'm just going to fall back into it like I never left or...well, I don't really know what the alternative to that is.
Speaking of theatre, I saw Great Men of Science finally finally finally this weekend!!! It was so glorious. My babies were incredible, and my little brother makes the best transvestite EVER. I absolutely love that play...one critic described Glen Berger as an American Tom Stoppard, and while I don't think that's a totally accurate comparison - I'd say the American Tom Stoppard who is obsessed with farce and jokes about poop. Then on Saturday night I saw an opera by OperaCNU whose name I cannot remember for the life of me because I'm a terrible person - but I loved it because hearing Jake Mills sing makes my heart happy.
And last night I stayed up past my bedtime to see my darlings Katie, Chris, Mich, and Jake (two of my favorite couples!) in a staged reading by Chris Ross, the King of Staged Readings, of Closer. It was so intense. What a gorgeous play. (And I think the Mike Nichols film totally does it justice. I'm not always the biggest Julia Roberts fan, but she does a fine Anna. Maybe not as fine as Katie Parker. But we can't all be Katie Parker.)
Anyway...some highlights of my lovely weekend.
My wonderful, talented, successful Little, Mr. Billy Harley. With some remnants of his fantastic French crossdressing makeup. He looks good in eyeliner.
Peter and Lauren, BFF.
I love Peter!
See?
Okay. I'm being distracted by America's Next Top Model. Pure class, baby.
"I'm driving fast because I have to poop."
Seriously! Where do you GET that???
I was also behind a car that had a George W. Bush sticker from '04 AND the Human Rights Campaign's Equal Sign. Y'know. Equality for gay people. Something W abhors. It made me want to pull them over and figure out just what the hell was going on in that car.
In other non-random and insane news, I have seven more days of work - seven more days of being up before the sun! Next Friday I bid my godsend of a temp job adieu and finally start full time for Steven. It's kind of hard to believe. Theatre hasn't been my full time job since July. Or, let's just say August, since I pretty much just spent that month running to Williamsburg to see What the Butler Saw and then traipsing around New York City seeing theatre. So I don't know if I'm just going to fall back into it like I never left or...well, I don't really know what the alternative to that is.
Speaking of theatre, I saw Great Men of Science finally finally finally this weekend!!! It was so glorious. My babies were incredible, and my little brother makes the best transvestite EVER. I absolutely love that play...one critic described Glen Berger as an American Tom Stoppard, and while I don't think that's a totally accurate comparison - I'd say the American Tom Stoppard who is obsessed with farce and jokes about poop. Then on Saturday night I saw an opera by OperaCNU whose name I cannot remember for the life of me because I'm a terrible person - but I loved it because hearing Jake Mills sing makes my heart happy.
And last night I stayed up past my bedtime to see my darlings Katie, Chris, Mich, and Jake (two of my favorite couples!) in a staged reading by Chris Ross, the King of Staged Readings, of Closer. It was so intense. What a gorgeous play. (And I think the Mike Nichols film totally does it justice. I'm not always the biggest Julia Roberts fan, but she does a fine Anna. Maybe not as fine as Katie Parker. But we can't all be Katie Parker.)
Anyway...some highlights of my lovely weekend.
My wonderful, talented, successful Little, Mr. Billy Harley. With some remnants of his fantastic French crossdressing makeup. He looks good in eyeliner.
Peter and Lauren, BFF.
I love Peter!
See?Okay. I'm being distracted by America's Next Top Model. Pure class, baby.
Monday, April 07, 2008
The big weekend
So, first of all...I'm totally exhausted and I'd pretty much rather be asleep in bed than doing anything else. But alas, I should write about this weekend and DEFINITELY should go to freaking yoga tonight to help my legs heal (I'm actually not that sore today, but...the memories of yesterday and Saturday! shudder!)...and so I'm not going to go to bed quite yet. Also, pretty Lisa might be coming over later, AND Jon & Kate Plus 8 is new tonight. I'm a nerd.
I left bright & early on Friday and stopped at Panera to have an emotional reunion with their Chocolate Chip Bagel. I used to get one at least once a week until they got cold-heartedly got rid of them, and I'm so happy to have them back. The drive down to Meg's wasn't bad at all. I really don't mind long drives most of the time - I relish the opportunity to sing and pretend I'm Sherie Rene Scott or Idina Menzel. It's pretty embarrassing.
Picked Meg up and we went to Dean & Deluca to say hey to Joe and to get the most amazing sandwiches EVER. We had a great ride down together and it went by fast, I thought. We arrived at our rather fleabag-ish hotel that smelled like generations since the Pilgrims had been smoking in the room at about 5 or so and then we went out to hit the gorgeous, gorgeous town!
We picked up our race numbers and chips and such, and I bought myself the only two things I allowed myself to get (aside from insane amounts of food) on the trip - a cool little belt-y thing that has a stretchy pouch to hold your keys, phone, camera, etc. while you're running and you can't even feel it. Crazy. And I got a really badass Cooper River Bridge Run shirt made out of the stuff that's not cotton that you're supposed to wear when you run. I don't know what it's called. But it wicks sweat. Whatever that means.
Dinner that night (I think the only food I didn't take a picture of) was at Bocci's, Megan's favorite Italian place in the city. We waited about an hour or so for a table, but the weather was just fine and it was well worth the wait. We each had just one glass of wine (shocking) and insanely good meals...I got cheesy shrimp tortellini with procuitto and tomatoes and other yummy goodness that I can't remember, and Megan got a seafood pasta with vegetable marinara. YUM. We actually bonded over politics (it's weird talking to someone in my family about Obama and agreeing with them!) and had a great, great time.
The next morning we both had various alarm mishaps, but thankfully we both woke up naturally at 5:40, the time we had set to get up. Sneaky universe. We kind of puttered nervously around the room eating cornbread and Luna bars and making but not eating cream of wheat and fussing with our race numbers and Granddaddy things.
We walked about 2 miles to the start line, which was really fun because there was this whole mass exodus of runners headed that way and it just got bigger and bigger and bigger until there was this whole ungodly SWARM of people. It was awesome. And it was hilarious - there was a line of, I swear, at least twenty-five port-a-potties and loooong lines in front of every one. It felt kind of absurd for some reason.
They attempted to organize the runners by their category (elite, 40-60 minute, 60 minute, run/walk kind of thing - I don't remember how many categories), which was denoted by the colors on our number thingies, but there were seriously so many people that I physically could not get to my little color group. So when the gun went off the volunteer that was trying to tell me where to go just gave up and said, "Oh, just go on," so I went past the min-chain link fence and joined the freaking MOB in the street. We did a slow, slow, slow shuffle to the start line that actually got me nervous that it would be so crowded that the running part would never really happen. Luckily, it did. Kind of.
The first half of the race was really weird. It was all kind of overwhelming and there was a very bizarre feeling that wasn't exactly adrenaline, but I can't think of what else I would call it. And it was HUMID AS HELL. And I can't even remember the last time I ran in humidity, if ever. I thought I was going to die, even after I took off my paper-thin yellow shirt (with the help of a kindly, and not creepy, old man). So between all that and the steep freaking bridge, I did a lot more walking than I had hoped to. On my long runs I try to run for 15 minutes and then take a walk break, but it was just not happening for me on Saturday. So I was getting kind of frustrated. Plus it was so crowded that sometimes when I did have a good pace going, I had to dodge people all over the place to even maintain it. It was nuts.
The second half was better. Partly because we actually got to go downhill on the bridge, and I started noticing more of the runners in wacky wacky costumes. And I ran the last mile and a quarter/mile and a half, I'm not sure how long it was. But it was really hard and wonderful and kind of emotional. And god bless my iPod for playing the perfect songs. Seriously, right after I told myself that I couldn't walk anymore until I passed the finish line, the Rocky theme song started. How perfect is that?
I found Megan pretty soon after crossing the finish line - and she ran the the whole time! She is such a badass. We found out our times last night - I was 1.14.08 and she was I think 1.07.something.
And as you can see from the pictures below, we ate ourselves into oblivion after that. Though our breakfast (and ice cream, not pictured) was actually burned off by that afternoon - we took a bus back to the starting line...only it dropped us off about 2 miles BEHIND the starting line. So after our 5K and walking around Charleston to get breakfast and the best ice cream in town...we walked FOUR MILES back to our hotel on sore, sore, sore feet and legs. Needless to say, we did some soaking in our disgusting tub and laying on our beds for the next few hours before venturing out for the best Thai food ever. We were also treated to a pretty magnificent thunderstorm...considering they were calling for rain that morning and it turned out to be gorgeous, I think this was the weather just evening itself out.
After our amazing dinner we went next door to Basil's sister restaurant, Chai Lounge. We sat on their covered porch and drank white wine (me) and beer (her) and had a phenomenal creme brulee. Phenomenal. Then we walked it all off to meet her absolutely adorable friend Wendy who was also in town with some of her friends. She was completely lovely, I want to hang out with her all the time.
We were pretty exhausted by about 10 (I was probably pretty exhausted at about 9) and we crashed...though I didn't sleep quite so well, strangely enough. It was probably all the wine. The next morning we woke up, were lazy, and then went to breakfast at Poogan's Porch, where we ate the morning of her wedding. Because I wanted to eat at least one thing that I'd had that wonderful weekend, I had the Sunrise Shrimp & Grits, with blue crab gravy. Again...yum. That's probably the most oft-repeated word in this entry.
We drove home after breakfast, and we were pretty well spent. That first three or so hours back to Charlotte were probably the most exhausting of the drive (except for maybe the last hour on 64 to Newport News), but at the end I got to meet her hilarious new kitty cat Moses. I have another nephew! And he's just as goofy as Lou, in his own unique way. I love those kitties.
And then...home.
It was a pretty unbelievable weekend. I still can't believe we did it. This was something we were casually saying, "What if?" about in our pajamas stuffed with Thanksgiving turkey and foie gras last November, and we actually did it.
In conclusion, I am sore and I love my sister :)
And congrats to beautiful beautiful Gemma on her 10K in Richmond! Woo 10K weekend!
I left bright & early on Friday and stopped at Panera to have an emotional reunion with their Chocolate Chip Bagel. I used to get one at least once a week until they got cold-heartedly got rid of them, and I'm so happy to have them back. The drive down to Meg's wasn't bad at all. I really don't mind long drives most of the time - I relish the opportunity to sing and pretend I'm Sherie Rene Scott or Idina Menzel. It's pretty embarrassing.
Picked Meg up and we went to Dean & Deluca to say hey to Joe and to get the most amazing sandwiches EVER. We had a great ride down together and it went by fast, I thought. We arrived at our rather fleabag-ish hotel that smelled like generations since the Pilgrims had been smoking in the room at about 5 or so and then we went out to hit the gorgeous, gorgeous town!
We picked up our race numbers and chips and such, and I bought myself the only two things I allowed myself to get (aside from insane amounts of food) on the trip - a cool little belt-y thing that has a stretchy pouch to hold your keys, phone, camera, etc. while you're running and you can't even feel it. Crazy. And I got a really badass Cooper River Bridge Run shirt made out of the stuff that's not cotton that you're supposed to wear when you run. I don't know what it's called. But it wicks sweat. Whatever that means.
Dinner that night (I think the only food I didn't take a picture of) was at Bocci's, Megan's favorite Italian place in the city. We waited about an hour or so for a table, but the weather was just fine and it was well worth the wait. We each had just one glass of wine (shocking) and insanely good meals...I got cheesy shrimp tortellini with procuitto and tomatoes and other yummy goodness that I can't remember, and Megan got a seafood pasta with vegetable marinara. YUM. We actually bonded over politics (it's weird talking to someone in my family about Obama and agreeing with them!) and had a great, great time.
The next morning we both had various alarm mishaps, but thankfully we both woke up naturally at 5:40, the time we had set to get up. Sneaky universe. We kind of puttered nervously around the room eating cornbread and Luna bars and making but not eating cream of wheat and fussing with our race numbers and Granddaddy things.
We walked about 2 miles to the start line, which was really fun because there was this whole mass exodus of runners headed that way and it just got bigger and bigger and bigger until there was this whole ungodly SWARM of people. It was awesome. And it was hilarious - there was a line of, I swear, at least twenty-five port-a-potties and loooong lines in front of every one. It felt kind of absurd for some reason.
They attempted to organize the runners by their category (elite, 40-60 minute, 60 minute, run/walk kind of thing - I don't remember how many categories), which was denoted by the colors on our number thingies, but there were seriously so many people that I physically could not get to my little color group. So when the gun went off the volunteer that was trying to tell me where to go just gave up and said, "Oh, just go on," so I went past the min-chain link fence and joined the freaking MOB in the street. We did a slow, slow, slow shuffle to the start line that actually got me nervous that it would be so crowded that the running part would never really happen. Luckily, it did. Kind of.
The first half of the race was really weird. It was all kind of overwhelming and there was a very bizarre feeling that wasn't exactly adrenaline, but I can't think of what else I would call it. And it was HUMID AS HELL. And I can't even remember the last time I ran in humidity, if ever. I thought I was going to die, even after I took off my paper-thin yellow shirt (with the help of a kindly, and not creepy, old man). So between all that and the steep freaking bridge, I did a lot more walking than I had hoped to. On my long runs I try to run for 15 minutes and then take a walk break, but it was just not happening for me on Saturday. So I was getting kind of frustrated. Plus it was so crowded that sometimes when I did have a good pace going, I had to dodge people all over the place to even maintain it. It was nuts.
The second half was better. Partly because we actually got to go downhill on the bridge, and I started noticing more of the runners in wacky wacky costumes. And I ran the last mile and a quarter/mile and a half, I'm not sure how long it was. But it was really hard and wonderful and kind of emotional. And god bless my iPod for playing the perfect songs. Seriously, right after I told myself that I couldn't walk anymore until I passed the finish line, the Rocky theme song started. How perfect is that?
I found Megan pretty soon after crossing the finish line - and she ran the the whole time! She is such a badass. We found out our times last night - I was 1.14.08 and she was I think 1.07.something.
And as you can see from the pictures below, we ate ourselves into oblivion after that. Though our breakfast (and ice cream, not pictured) was actually burned off by that afternoon - we took a bus back to the starting line...only it dropped us off about 2 miles BEHIND the starting line. So after our 5K and walking around Charleston to get breakfast and the best ice cream in town...we walked FOUR MILES back to our hotel on sore, sore, sore feet and legs. Needless to say, we did some soaking in our disgusting tub and laying on our beds for the next few hours before venturing out for the best Thai food ever. We were also treated to a pretty magnificent thunderstorm...considering they were calling for rain that morning and it turned out to be gorgeous, I think this was the weather just evening itself out.
After our amazing dinner we went next door to Basil's sister restaurant, Chai Lounge. We sat on their covered porch and drank white wine (me) and beer (her) and had a phenomenal creme brulee. Phenomenal. Then we walked it all off to meet her absolutely adorable friend Wendy who was also in town with some of her friends. She was completely lovely, I want to hang out with her all the time.
We were pretty exhausted by about 10 (I was probably pretty exhausted at about 9) and we crashed...though I didn't sleep quite so well, strangely enough. It was probably all the wine. The next morning we woke up, were lazy, and then went to breakfast at Poogan's Porch, where we ate the morning of her wedding. Because I wanted to eat at least one thing that I'd had that wonderful weekend, I had the Sunrise Shrimp & Grits, with blue crab gravy. Again...yum. That's probably the most oft-repeated word in this entry.
We drove home after breakfast, and we were pretty well spent. That first three or so hours back to Charlotte were probably the most exhausting of the drive (except for maybe the last hour on 64 to Newport News), but at the end I got to meet her hilarious new kitty cat Moses. I have another nephew! And he's just as goofy as Lou, in his own unique way. I love those kitties.
And then...home.
It was a pretty unbelievable weekend. I still can't believe we did it. This was something we were casually saying, "What if?" about in our pajamas stuffed with Thanksgiving turkey and foie gras last November, and we actually did it.
In conclusion, I am sore and I love my sister :)
And congrats to beautiful beautiful Gemma on her 10K in Richmond! Woo 10K weekend!
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