Wisconsin: Cold Cheese...and not much else.

Hey everybody~

It's been a week since I last wrote a long blog and first I want to say, happy valentine's day to all! I hope you experienced all different kinds of love today and spent time with those who you love and those who love you. I got my love in the form of texts (from my Auntie and Mom), a brief call from my mommy and a longer talk with my little girl (my niece Haven Paige) and my stepmomma last night. After a load in and a show today, my cast mates and I had a nice dinner out and my roomie was kind enough to get us all v-day cupcakes. So it's been a good day overall.

What's happened since I last posted??? Well, I got sicker...then I got better. We left the warmer Pacific Northwest for the much colder Great Lakes region.

A few notes on the following states: Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota. 1. They are cold. 2. They are barren. 3. They are empty. These statements pretty much describe both the terrain in these states and the people. Now I know that I'm not giving them a fair chance, I was only here for a couple of days, blah blah blah. But seriously. It takes a different kind of person to live out in the middle of nowhere with nothing around you where it's completely frigid for several months at a time. I will be coming back through Wisconsin in April, so perhaps a temperature change will equal an attitude change for me. Stay tuned.

I did spend two nights in Minneapolis, MN. It was the exception to the rule. The Mall of America was an INSANE testimonial to American capitalism. Hundreds of stores, two food courts, an aquarium, over 20 restaurants and an amusement part in the middle. I went to H & M and Urban Outfitters and ate at a Rainforest Cafe (yay!) I also rode some super fun roller coasters and shot at some ghosts in a spook house. Not bad for a day's work.

I also had an audition for one of the biggest Equity children's theatres in the country. I saw the Associate Artistic Director at The Children's Theatre Company. It went REALLY well. I was expecting a 15 minute, 2 monologues-2 songs, in and out job. Instead I was there for an hour, 3 monologues, extra songs and lots of workshopping. It was really enjoyable working with my auditioner. She wants me to meet with the Artistic Director of the theatre!!! YAY! Could mean great things or it could mean nothing...but I'm trying to put myself out there as much as possible and use this tour to network and get exposure in the field. So keep your fingers crossed.

After Minnesota we headed into La Crosse, Wisconsin followed by Whitewater, Wisconsin. Experiences: Cheese curds (what's skimmed off the top of milk when you're making cheese, when you eat them fresh they're salty and they make farting noises. When they're fried they are insanely good.), the world's largest six pack (seen at a brewery), the Wolfman film (NOT my favorite ever) and pants afire (seriously, I put my work pants near the make up lights in the dressing room and they burned a hole in them during the show. I'm lucky I didn't burn the place down. Lesson learned).

Tomorrow after two performances, I leave Wisconsin and travel to Iowa City, IA. The next day I get into Hays, Kansas!!!! I can't wait. Why am I so excited about a trip to Kansas you ask??? Well, I get to see my family. Dad, Linda and Dan are coming to Hays on Wednesday and I get to see them for two whole days. Then Linda's sister Kim is coming on Thursday. It makes me want to do a happy dance all over the place.

So that's enough for tonight. Need to get some sleep before the two shows early tomorrow. Will post more later.

Smooches.

More Washington

Backstage in Washington. Me as Clown, Anthony as Teddy Bear, Kirsten as Red Dress Doll and Jeff as the Trains.

One last shot of Washington State. I LOVE IT!

Washington State Pics

Champagne and seafood in Port Orchard (nice face Al) and Kirsten's birthday dinner (that's me with Al & Jonathan) in Kent.

Puget Sound at dusk and a bay in Port Orchard

Where the hell am I?????

Good morning everybody. It's currently 8:11am, Pacific Time, on Super Bowl Sunday, February 7. I am in Moses Lake, WA. Yes, it is a real town. No, you DO NOT ever want to come here.

I am feeling a little blue (and under the weather, but more on that in a second) that we are going to be leaving the Pacific Northwest today. Every time I come here I am reminded again how much I love this region. It is so lush and temperate. And the SEAFOOD!!! Can't get over it. I ate clam chowder every day that I was here.

We started out driving from California up the coast from Redding, CA through Portland, OR and finally to our destination in Tacoma, WA. That's what the pics from my last post are from. Gorgeous!!! I loved it. I just kept oohing and aahing. Tacoma is UBER close to Seattle, but not nearly as cool of a city, in my opinion. We played at the supposedly famous Pantages Theatre there. In this case, famous translated into a union stage crew that acted like jerks all day. Fun.

From Tacoma we went to Port Orchard, WA. OUR HOTEL WAS AMAZING. It was right on the ocean and SO beautiful. You could hear the buoys and the gulls in the morning and I fell asleep to the sound of seals barking at night. Port Orchard was one of those towns where you could walk anywhere, everyone was really friendly and the seafood was plentiful and FRESH. I tried calamari, peel and eat shrimp, clam chowder, crab cakes, etc. I think I already mentioned that one of my tourmates, Anthony, is well on his way to becoming a sommelier and will be opening his own wine distribution company in the near future??? So, of course, he was in hog heaven and had to sample many wines as research for his business. And OF COURSE I had to help him, because that's just the kind of friend that I am. It was so fun and unique to sample wines that were bottled so near to where we were. And we had some really good ones. Reds and whites.

The venue where we performed in Port Orchard was actually across the way in Bremerton, WA. The quickest way to get there was by ferry, which wasn't an option for us because of the truck. We were right on Puget Sound and I ate happy hour salmon sliders watching the sound and the aircraft carriers right outside the window. Bliss. Needless to say, I didn't want to leave Port Orchard. Pics are coming.

We then moved to Kent, WA and stayed in the most GORGEOUS Best Western ever. It was Kirsten's 35th birthday on Friday, yay! So we went to a nice seafood restaurant (again:) and celebrated with her.

We were supposed to stay in the same hotel last night, but we as a group decided that we wanted to watch the Super Bowl and so we shifted things around and drove last night to this hole that they call "Moses Lake". The hotel is mistakenly identified as a "Super" 8. SCARY. SO ready to leave.

Today we are headed to Butte, Montana (and another Super 8, pray for us) to watch the Super Bowl. Tomorrow we have 9 1/2 hours to Rapid City, ND. Tuesday is another 9 hour day into MINNEAPOLIS! Free day in Minneapolis on Wednesday and I have an audition scheduled with the National Theatre for Children. I am little worried because I am SICK.

Two of the guys on the tour had a cold that began roughly 3 weeks ago and 1 week ago, respectively. I now have it. My voice is crappy and I have a lot of chest congestion. I am loaded up on Vitamin C, hot tea, Tylenol Cold (both day and night) and Mucinex. So I am fighting the good fight. I just want to be better by Wednesday, so keep me in your thoughts if you do that sort of thing.

Well, I need to go eat some free Continental breakfast and hit the road. I will blog more later in the week. Enjoy your Super Bowl Sunday. I have decided to root for the Saints today, so WHO DAT?

Laters.

Drive into Pacific Northwest (Northern Cali, Oregon and Washington State)

Last of LA

View on Hollywood Boulevard and the famed Roosevelt Hotel

Grauman's Chinese Theater

Some LA shots

The famed In-N-Out Burger and Beverly Hills.

Out in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard. These imprints are Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

California: Swimming Pools and Movie Stars...and TRAFFIC

Hello everyone!

It's 11:41am and I am currently in Tacoma, Washington getting ready to load in our set at the Pantages Theatre. We have two shows tomorrow, load out and a quick drive to Bremerton, Washington. I'm here in Washington until Saturday night. We're playing 3 venues that surround Seattle in a triangle. I think we're going to try to head in to Seattle on Thursday. Most of my castmates haven't been there and they want to see the Space Needle and stuff, which should be fun. I really like Seattle. I've been there twice with Mom and had a blast both times.

So the last week I was in California. The weather was lovely, natch. Between 60 and 70 degrees the entire time.

We played our first shows in Lancaster, which is about an hour outside of LA. The venue and the crew were terrific. Unfortunately several of our set pieces were damaged on the drive out here, so we (and by we, I mean mostly our poor technical director Jonathan) spent 4 hours trying to get everything repaired. It was not fun. Several of my cast members and I decided to make it more fun by taking pics, which can be seen at the top of the post. We finally got everything repaired and rewarded ourselves with In-N-Out Burger for dinner. It was good, but it wasn't perfect until I found out about the secret menu and ordered my burger "Animal" style on my return.

Two great shows in Lancaster, load out, on to Glendora. First night we had an amazing dinner at an Italian restaurant. The next day we went into Los Angeles. We started out with a great lunch at Sushi Mac based on a recommendation from my friend David who lives in LA. All rolls were $3! Then we hit up Hollywood Boulevard and Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Pictures will follow. I also got my shop on at H & M. Two super cute and cheap tees later, it was time to hit up Rodeo Drive. CRAZY!!! (More pics later) We had a happy hour drink and app at 208 Rodeo. Anthony and I split the truffled fries. AMAZING!

Then we left for our dinner reservation at Bar Brix, a tapas bar in West Hollywood. We got the recommendation on Lonely Planet and it was RIGHT ON. (I just wanna say how happy I am that I am on tour with two people who like to plan and eat good food as much as I. Love you Tony and Kirsten).

So according to our GPS, the restaurant was 8 miles away. IT TOOK US AN HOUR AND A HALF. We had to keep pushing back our reservation and calling Anthony's friend who we were meeting for dinner and telling them that we were running late.

So when we finally got there we were all ready for wine and food. Anthony, the resident sommelier, recommended Lambrusco. It was yummy. We ate crostini with butternut squash, marinated olives, sea bass with cream sauce and couscous, arancini, grilled skirt steak, maine sea scallops with a dill yogurt sauce, charcuterie, cheese, burrata, etc, etc, etc. IT WAS AMAZING. We all just kept moaning and sitting back in our chairs.

Right before we left I went to the restroom, which was a one-seater with a huge line. An older woman behind me went in to the men's restroom after her husband came out and told me to watch the door. The husband asked me if I liked the restaurant. I said that I did, until now, waiting for the bathroom, but that we all loved the food and wine and were blissfully happy. He informed me that his daughter was the owner, it had only been open for a short time and he and his wife were visiting her from their home in Baltimore. I brought them over to the table and everyone started talking and laughing and we ended up exchanging email addresses and inviting them to our shows in Maryland. They invited us to their house for dinner! Life is weird.

Anyway, that was LA. More posts and pics later.

Love you guys!