Vegas BABY!

Me

The desert!!!

Arizona and Nevada:

This is Utah:

These are the Rockies:

On the road!

Hey everybody~

I am writing to you from my uber-comfortable bed at the Comfort Inn in Lancaster, CA. We have almost all of today off, which is good, since the past three days we have spent driving over 10 hours each day.

Recap: On Sunday morning I was up at 6:15am. We loaded out at the house where we were living in Omaha and met at the Rose Theatre at 7:45am. We then drove to Denver...when we crossed into Colorado we were stopped at a weigh in station and we found out that our truck drivers were missing a key piece of paper enabling them to drive the truck. We were stopped waiting for them for two hours. AWESOME! But I felt much better after seeing Kim and Dave (step-momma's sister and bro-in-law) at Bar Louis. We had Bloody Mary's and watched the end of the Saints-Vikings game. It was nice. I wished I had more time with them in Denver. Then I crashed hardcore.

On Monday morning we loaded up at 8:45am and began driving through the Rocky Mountains. It was BEAUTIFUL! I am posting pics in a sec.

We stopped for Chinese food in Newcastle, CO for lunch. The waiter/owner was adorable and hilarious. Example: I said to him, "This food is really good." His reply, "Yes, it is very good." He then refused to take a picture with my castmates and said "Maybe next time when we aren't so busy." There were five people in the restaurant.

Everything was going smoothly until we crossed into Utah and the truck stopped at another weigh station. It turns out that one of my castmates, Al, had not filled in his log book correctly. So we stopped to wait for them for another hour and a half at a scenic vista spot right across the Utah border. Pics of this area forthwith. We all needed to pee. Luckily they had a bathroom, aka hole in the ground. LITERALLY. It was a hole that went down about 10 feet into the earth. GROSS.

When we were finally able to resume driving after lots of yelling and threats to cancel our tour from our company manager we were trying to make it to Richfield, UT. It was dark, mountainous and treacherous. One of my castmates insisted on stopping again to use the facilities (I believe the exact quote was: "We have to stop. I'm already prairie-dogging.")

We finally made it and we all needed a drink. BAD. So we asked around and used our GPS (which I love, a Garmin, everyone should get one) and discovered a place called Detour which had food and a full bar. After our technical director and truck driver, who had to drive all day because the other truck driver hadn't filled out his paperwork, showered, we left for the restaurant. We found it. It was terrifying. The word dive doesn't really cover it. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot people began saying that if it was smoky they would not be staying. Great. So I volunteered to go in and find out if it was smoky and if so, get a recommendation for another place.

So I go in. It is not only smoky but scary. Lots of tattooed people leering at me, with the most memorable being a scary lesbian woman with an enormous neck tattoo and an angry sneer on her face. So I'm standing by the bar waiting and waiting for someone to help me. Finally a bartender approaches. I say: "Hi. I have some super hungry and thirsty people who are picky and really want a place with no smoking. Do you know of anywhere we could go?" Her reply: "Well, technically we aren't supposed to be smoking in here, so I can go around and make everyone stop right now." I quickly glance at all the already hostile faces and assure her that won't be necessary. She then says that there are two options. The chinese restaurant and the wings place both serve beer. Ok. She keeps talking to me and I keep edging my way towards the door repeatedly assuring her that she did not need to make everyone stop smoking so we could eat there. Finally I exited and we made it to the wings place. The food was decent, the beer was only available to those ordering food and wanting to pay $5.00 for one yucky glass. So naturally, I ordered one.

All of these experiences led me to this conclusion: Utah sucks. It really does. It's desolate and weird and full of Mormons. I can't say that I actually had any experiences with any Mormons...but I know they were there with their judging eyes and multiple wives. And I didn't like it. The happiest part of Utah was seeing it in my rear view mirror as we drove away from it.

The next morning we slept in and left at 10am, California bound. Our route took us briefly through the Arizona desert. Gorgeous and awe-inspiring.

And then through Vegas around lunch. Never been to Vegas, neither had many of my fellow tour-mates so we decided after much discussion to partake of the cheap and exciting lunch buffet at Circus, Circus after a drive down the strip.

Vegas is awesome and overwhelming. We saw tons of fighter jets doing their training and that was cool. We saw the old strip and the trashiness and that was fun. Then we hit the strip. WOW. The Bellagio, the Mirage, Treasure Island, Mandalay Bay, Paris, etc. It was so cool to see all those places that you see in movies.

After lunch in Circus, Circus, typical buffet-style, but cool. We decided to gamble a bit and walk the strip. Anthony, our gay bear and amazing tour-mate, had been to Vegas a bunch and is a seasoned gambler, so he gave us some pointers. I spent $6 on a Monopoly slot machine and lost it all in about 4 minutes. I was going to be done, but I found video poker and Anthony and I decided to spend $10 MAX and play for a bit. I only had a $20, so I put it in and decided to cash out after losing $10.

Anthony showed me the smart way to play: for 5 cents and maximum bet each time. I had a few wins, a few losses and then the BEST: I hit four of a kind!!!! I couldn't believe it. I ended up with $50.25! I almost doubled my money. I never win anything. A happy dance and cashing out were in order.

Walking the Strip made me feel like I wasn't going to get to do anything that I saw and made me want to come back to Vegas immediately. I did get to go to Margaritaville and buy my folks some koozies and have a margarita...natch. So it wasn't a total wash and I got to see stuff and take pictures and realize how much I have been missing out on all these years.

Then we started the LOOOOOOOONG 3 and a half hour drive to Lancaster. It seemed to take forever. I slept on and off and listened to music and sang with Anthony in the back seat. It was rainy. FIIIINALLLLLY we made it to the nice hotel. Everyone who had been to Cali insisted that In-N-Out Burger was the only option for dinner.

So we got ready and waited for the truck drivers to arrive. We arranged for them to park in the corner of the lot alone. They got in and we directed them to the parking lot. Al let Fries pull it in and got out to 'help'. Basically he got directly behind the truck and started directing it to back in. He started out with a calm backing gesture but as the truck continued to back and Al ended up completely flat against a brick wall it turned to a panicked arm flail. The four van riders were all standing in one spot looking on. Our responses to this situation were some variance of this: "stop. Stop. STOP STOP HOLY GOD NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" I couldn't say words. I tried but all that came out was "AAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLL!" Fries opened the truck door looking like an angry muppet with a bright purple face and yelled: "HEY! Yelling does not help anything!" Everyone was really tense and scared. Al maintained that the van was REALLY far from him and he was never in danger.

At dinner, we asked Fries what happened. In turn, he asked us where Al was. We said directly behind the truck. He said he had NO idea that he was back there. We then asked him what made him stop. He replied the screaming banshees saying "NOOOOOOO!" So in reality, our nonsensical screaming saved a life. So just remember that the next time, ok?

In-N-Out was decent, but it didn't change my life like I was expecting. I think I was really tired and ready for bed. I slept really hard last night and woke up ready to blog and enjoy the weather. This evening we have our first load in at a theatre and tomorrow we have our first two shows. Super exciting. I'll update later in the week.

Good luck to everyone in Oklahoma. Sorry about the ice. Stay safe and warm.

Hugs.

Omaha final

Sushi restaurant in Old Market in Omaha. Can you tell that I had been rehearsing all day???

The girls: Kirsten (she is playing the Red Dress Doll) and I. Kirsten is originally from Massachusetts and is now living right outside NYC.
Tour mates: Kirsten, Fries (pronounced Freeze) our technical director/stage manager from Georgia and Anthony (Teddy Bear) who is from Omaha.
Rockin' it with a teddy bear.

More Omaha

This is a restaurant that I discovered on Food Network-Guy Fieri visited here on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. It has amazing soul food. Kirsten and I are here with the owner, Big Mama herself.

The two pictures above are Old Market. It's a super cool area in Omaha with lots of shops and restaurants.

To the left is where I lived while I was in Omaha. It's an old house on a community college campus. Pretty nice.

Omaha pics

Here are some Omaha pictures. I don't think that I am finding the best way to post pictures on here, but it's the best that I can do right now. Sorry.

This is our set:

This is the stage at the Rose
This is the floor. It used to be an old vaudeville house. It's gorgeous.
This is the lobby.
More lobby:

This would only let me post a few pictures per blog. I'm posting more pictures in another blog.

Peace out Omaha!

Last night in Omaha.

Things that I will miss: Having my own room, not driving all day, having a kitchen to cook in, not having to load in and load out the set.

Things that I will not miss: THE WEATHER!, the crazy sounds that this house makes (radiators are nuts), the irregularity of the temperatures in the house, the dryness in the air.

I can't believe that I have already been gone for three weeks and my time in Omaha is up. It's been super fun here. I really do love my cast and have had a great experience working at the Rose.

The show is absolutely ready for the road. We had a final dress/preview on Friday and the theatre brought in about 150 kindergarteners from nearby schools to see it and give us an idea of what to expect from an audience. It was a blast. The kids loved it and were very vocal throughout the show. It really made me want my little Haven Paige to get to come. She would love the show...but she would certainly have a hard time not yelling out to Auntie Jenny every five seconds.

But Auntie Jenny doesn't look like Auntie Jenny. She is dressed in a yellow wool/muslin clown suit with clown makeup and a bright yellow wig. She is also sweating her buns off.

Literally.

On Friday I was sweating so much that all my mic tape fell off and I wasn't heard during the last song. I actually had one of my castmates comment on my sweatiness the other day at lunch. "Wow. The clown sure sweats alot during the show. It's really noticable. Ew."

AWESOME. I am sweating more in this show than I did during outdoor Shakespeare. It's disgusting.

My mantra: "The kids are loving this. It's all for your art. The kids are loving this. Don't get sweat in your eye and blind yourself."

So...tomorrow, DENVER! Going to try and grab dinner with Kim and David, my stepmomma's sister and brother-in-law. It will be good to see them.

Then to Richfield, Utah on Monday and we're coasting in to sunny California on Tuesday evening.

On Wednesday we will load in the set and Thursday will be our first performances out on 'the road'. I'll definitely blog this week and let everyone know how things are going in Cali.

I'm pretty much in the west coast for the next two weeks, so I'll try to take lots of pictures and update as much as possible.

If you're reading this blog it means I love and miss you lots, so know that.

(Special pregnant best friend shout out: Leah, I am SO excited about our new little girl and I love the name you guys picked.)

Night all.

Day(s) off

It's 8:59 am on Tuesday morning and I am still snug as a bug, lying in my bed. It can only mean one thing, DAY OFF! Our lovely director gave all us Engineers 3 DAYS OFF this week because we were so on top of our show at our last rehearsal (also because one of our castmates had to go out of town, but I like to say it's because we're kicking butt and taking names with the show).

So on Sunday it was grocery store and Target and football. GO COWBOYS!!!! First playoff victory since 96'. Vikings next weekend had better get ready.

Yesterday was a big sleep in and movie/dinner with my housemates. Before I say what movies I saw I want to preface to try and avoid judgements. I wanted to go see Up In The Air. I love George Clooney and it's exactly the kind of movie that I normally love to see. But honestly, I couldn't make myself see something that might potentially make me depressed or cry. After the fall that I've had, I just wanted something mindless and entertaining. SO...I saw Sherlock Holmes (and then snuck in and watched Daybreakers for free). I definitely got my wish on the mindless part.

Sherlock Holmes was not a bad movie, but I didn't love it. I love Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law and Rachel McAdams. I usually love Guy Ritchie. But I found myself looking at the time over and over again while the movie was going. NEVER a good sign. The costumes were lovely and I love the time period the film was set in. My dad used to read Sherlock Holmes to us, so I really like him as a character. I don't know...something was just missing. I guess that after seeing Star Trek over the summer and being completely blown away by it, it became the gold standard for all 'those' type of movies and this one just didn't measure up. Too bad.

Now onto Daybreakers. Interesting concept. Vampires are the majority, humans the minority, almost out of human blood. Everyone works at night and sleeps in the day. I enjoyed the random vampire adds for teeth whitening and the "Subwalk" so they can walk around in the day. And it was nice to see Ethan Hawke again, long time no see buddy. IT WAS ONE OF THE MOST VIOLENT FILMS I HAVE EVER SEEN. Everything and everyone was blowing up, splatter sounds galore, blood covering everyone. I started out being a little grossed out, but then it became funny and I started laughing. The sound was up SO loud (Damn kids with their loud music...I am old) that it was giving me a headache. Not helped by the fact that I think the kids in the projection booth were smoking pot during the movie.

So...two movies and I didn't love either. Maybe it was my choices (probably), maybe it was my mood (also probable) but hopefully I will have better luck next time.

On a happier note, the pinball machine in the lobby gave us 4 free games. SCORE!

WOW. Super long blog. Sorry guys.

Later today we are exploring Old Market (shopping and fun area in Omaha) and possibly going to eat at a soul food restaurant that was featured on Food Network. More on that tomorrow.

Loves!

Sorry

Hello everyone~

I wanted to apologize for not posting for awhile.

I am in Omaha. I am in rehearsals. I am very busy, and it is VERY cold. Apparently the coldest day in Omaha history. So I have not really been exploring the town or taking a bunch of pictures. It is just too darn cold.

It is supposed to reach upper 20's in a few days. So I am going to be taking a lot of pictures and exploring the town in the coming days.

The people on my tour are great and the theatre where I'm working is beautiful.

Will update more soon.

7 hours and counting...

Finished packing. After about 20 minutes my stepmom and I realized the fallacy of the whole "one suitcase" plan. We then proceeded to fill two huge suitcases with all my stuff...And I still know I'm forgetting something, probably many somethings.

Flight leaves in under nine hours. Weather in Omaha for Sunday, January 3: High temp 9 degrees, snow flurries. Umm, yeah.

Hello.

Hello world (aka the handful of people who actually read this). This is my first blog post ever and I am feeling unsure of what to post. (I am also unsure of how to do anything with my blog, so please be patient as I try to figure things out.)

Why am I here?

I have joined the world of bloggers because my bff (Leah Michelle) has insisted that I chronicle my first national tour with the musical "The Little Engine That Could". And I always do what Leah says...because she knows more than I do. Also I figured it would be a great way to keep in contact with my loved ones as I tour and it's much more efficient and cost-effective than telling each individual person about each individual place I go to-hey, I'm an actress and we're not known for making big bucks, so gotta watch those cell phone bills.

What will I post here?

Tour stories/info about the different locales that I journey to/pictures of what I see. I will also more than likely post rants about how one of my tour mates (who I haven't met yet, so this is totally arbitrary and unfair) has really stinky feet and insists on taking off their shoes while we drive .

How often will I post?

Not sure. I am making it a goal to post at least one entry for each location that I perform in and provide pictures for each entry. I will have to play this by ear as I go though...it may be more, it may be less. So I guess you'll just have to stay tuned!

So here I am. It's January 2, 2010. I am rapidly approaching my 10 year high school reunion. I have a MFA in a field that will more than likely never make me enough money to live on, much less buy a home, support children, basically be a grown-up at all. I am sitting in my parents' living room on my last day in Oklahoma before I leave for Omaha, NE (where the high temperature is 6 degrees. Seriously) to rehearse before I go on my first national tour.

Oh, won't you join me on this wild adventure?