Enough with the rain....

It has been raining here non-stop since Saturday morning.
Add to that the fact that we 'lost' an hour this weekend, and that makes for one ROUGH morning. When the alarm went off this morning (at 5:15) I was convinced that it was a mistake. :-)

That being said, the weekend was fun and super-productive. I spent it alone (poor me) because Jim took a last minute trip to Provincetown with a couple of our friends.
I haven't caught up with him yet to get the details, but I'm pretty sure he had fun. ;-)

On Friday night I had rehearsal, followed by a lil' post-rehearsal b-day celebration for a mutual theatre friend/boyfriend of one of the RENT cast members. It was a nice way to end the week and a chance to wind down after what was a VERY good rehearsal.

On Saturday morning, I got up early with Scooter, relaxed on the couch for a bit, and then headed to B & K's place for an 'emergency head shot photo shoot'.
You see, at the theatre, they put all the actor's head shots up on a board out in the lobby and the one they have on file for me is WAY outdated. It's a great picture, but it looks nothing like the 'current' me. Since they needed a more recent head shot, I checked in with B to see if she had a free moment on Saturday to help me out and take a quick shot or two. Thankfully, she had the morning free and was able to squeeze me in.
It turned out to be super fast and SO much fun....of course.

Here are some pictures from the day....all credit going to B, naturally.

I brought munchkins, which I LOVE!!!



And I'm not the only one....



This is the one that I decided to use for the lobby...



This is the one that B liked a lot...



This was just for fun.



After my photo shoot, I headed home, changed, and then headed into Boston to go see the 4pm show of 'Adding Machine: A Musical' at SpeakEasy Stage Company. It was very good. I had no idea what to expect, but I really enjoyed it. I've listened to the original cast recording before (of COURSE I have...theatre dork), but to be honest, I was NOT a fan. It's not exactly my cup of tea, and it's not really the most 'tuneful' musical I've ever heard. However, that was one of the reasons that I wanted to see it so badly. I was hoping that seeing it would make me change my mind, and it really has. I'm not saying that I'm going to throw the CD on and listen to it every day, but I am going to give it another listen. Now that I 'get' what's going on in the show, I have a feeling that it will be easier to listen to. Don't get me wrong...when I listened to the CD for the first time, I was able to figure out the story, and what was going on, but I want to give it another listen now that I've seen the show.
I loved the set, loved the cast, and I thought the staging was SOOO cool. It was a really interesting show, visually. It's not going to be everyone's 'thing' - but it was certainly well done.
If you're reading this, and you go see it...let me know what you think.

After the show, I made it home in record time, let Scooter out, fed him his supper, and then met up with a bunch of friends for dinner at Johnny Macaroni's, one of my FAVORITE local restaurants which I've mentioned here before.
Thankfully, it's close to home or I would have been super late. Dinner was SOOO good and we had a great time chatting and laughing.
After dinner, I stopped by our friend's house (in the next town over) for a quick visit. They were having a 'Beatles Rock Band' (on X-Box) party, and I said I would stop by. Since it was fairly early (10-ish) I decided to stop in, but I only stayed for a little while. I was tired and had a long Sunday ahead of me....not to mention the fact that we had to turn our clocks ahead, so I was going to lose an hour no matter what time I got home. Boo!

I got up on Sunday, played with Scooter as much as possible (he had a LOT of pent-up energy, poor thing - damn rainy days) and then headed out for my 'Super Sunday' rehearsal.
Rehearsal went well. I'm still not 100% sure about what I'm wearing at all times, but a lot of that will get sorted out tonight....I hope. We ran through the show and got as far as we could before it was time for dinner break.
After dinner, the cast gathered on the stage with the band for a sing-through.
That's always one of my favorite rehearsals, and last night was no exception. It was great to hear the band, and it was so much fun to be able to just stand there and sing without having to deal with all the 'technical' stuff...like moving. :-)
The day ended around 10pm which made for a long day, but it was super-productive, and a nice end to a very busy weekend.

I didn't get to talk to Jim at all because he was in bed when I got home, but I'm pretty sure he had a great time in P-Town. When I got in last night I noticed that he'd folded the laundry, prepped the coffee machine for this morning, and made my lunch...so I was able to just go right to bed when I got home.
Thank you Jim!!! xoxo :-)

OK everyone, I'm ready for a nap - but unfortunately my day is just beginning.
I hope you have a great day, and if the sun is shining where you are - PLEASE enjoy a little of it for me.

One More Week!!!

Before I get to the topic at hand, I want to let you know that I will DEFINITELY be finishing my antibiotic. I didn't mean to imply that I was going to stop taking it...just that I was totally 'over' it.
I'll be done on Sunday, so it's only a few more days.
Thanks for your concern. ;-)

Also - the show will not be videotaped. However, in the past, the theatre has compiled a 'commercial' of sorts for promotional purposes and those are usually available for posting. I know that a lot of my 'not-so-local' readers would LOVE to see a clip or two, so if those should become available, you can bet that they'll be posted here. Keep your eyes peeled!!

Anyway....the rumors are true.
RENT opens one week from today.
Yikes.

I can't even believe that it's here already. Boy, that went by fast!!
Starting on Sunday at 1pm, I am going to be taking up partial residency at the theatre. :-)
Every day next week I'll pretty much be coming to work, stopping at home to change, heading out the door to rehearsal, and then going home to bed.
It'll be a whirlwind of activity, but I'm SURE it'll be a great time.
Yes...we've got a ways to go before we're ready for an audience, but I'm guessing that by.....Tuesday or Wednesday all the big things will be sorted out and we'll have a couple of decent (and flawless) run-throughs before opening night arrives.
I'll certainly keep you posted if that changes. :-)

OK folks...off I go to training.

It's Friday!!! Do something fun and Friday-like.
xoxo

Thursday, Thursday, Thursday

Good Day!!

It's another beautiful day in the neighborhood!
Well, it's not exactly beautiful, but at least it wasn't freezing out this morning...and the sun is shining!

As much as I despise losing an hour of sleep this weekend because of Daylight Savings Time, I love that it'll be lighter out when I arrive at work, and still be light out when I leave.

Hmmmm....let's see....my training classes have been going well. The application I'm learning is HUGE, but it's not too difficult to understand. It does a lot of 'stuff', but thankfully the app itself is fairly user-friendly. That always makes things a lot easier. As far as the classes are concerned, they're interesting and if nothing else, they've made the days go by quickly.

I'm on day 7 of my antibiotic and I'm SO over it. When I first started taking it, my stomach was feeling all crazy, but I think I'm finally used to it. I'm going back to the gym today which will be nice. I just hope it's not too crowded. I like my space. :-)

Can I just tell you that last week they removed all the toasters from our building's 'kitchenettes' because they're apparently considered a 'safety hazard'?!?!? It doesn't affect me in the least, because I never once used it, but I find it a little bit crazy that after God only knows how many years of having toasters in office buildings, they're suddenly too dangerous to keep around. As far as I know, there wasn't any specific incident that led to the 'Great Toaster Ban of 2010', but now it's a non-issue.
No toasters = no safety incidents.

I just hope they don't decide that the microwaves are too dangerous to have around as well...that would cause an UPROAR!!!

OK my peeps....I'm getting back to work. I got some stuff to bang out before I go to class.

Have a GREAT day!!!

PS - I didn't even mention that the final visit with our case worker went VERY well. She needs the hear back from all our references and write up the official home study document for our approval. Once those two things are completed, we're officially DONE - and the real waiting begins. Yikes.

Tonight's the night.....

Well, tonight is our FINAL homestudy visit. I think I may have said that last Tuesday was our final visit, but after I said that, I found out that our case worker was sick and couldn't make it - so we rescheduled.
I can't remember if that's old news or not and I'm too damn lazy to go back and search.
Either way...tonight is the final visit - and I'm very excited. :-)

Last night's rehearsal was VERY good. We had the E-N-T-I-R-E cast there for the first time in what felt like a really long time and even though there were some things that clearly need to be cleaned, polished, or in some cases, scrubbed ;-) we're on our way to making it a pretty damn good show. I can't wait to put everything together.

I have to sit my ass down before Friday and plot out 'my show'. I know I'm going to have a bunch of costume changes and I don't want them to take me by surprise when the actual costumes arrive. I need to plot out all my scenes to be sure that I know where I'm supposed to exit, where I need to end up for my next entrance...and more importantly, who I'm entering as!

From what I can tell, I should have at LEAST five different costumes and I go back and forth between them throughout the show. Thankfully, there are two of them that I only wear once, and I should have plenty of time to get in and out of those two one without having to rush.
We shal see!

Enough of this RENT talk...I need to get some coffee before today's training marathon gets under way!!!

Happy Tuesday!!

Strep-a-licious!!!

It's a banner day here in the world of my blog!
For some reason, my old settings have returned, so I'm taking full advantage.
That means you're getting a fun and picture filled post for today, before something bad happens!!

Quickly though - there's some 'talky stuff' to get through.

I found out on Thursday evening that I had strep throat. All morning I was feeling a little yucky and as the day went on, I was getting worse. I called my doctor, and while he had no appointments available, he said that I should come to the 'urgent care clinic' that night in the office. As it turns out - it was a very good thing I did. I had a fever of 102.3 as well as strep throat.
Yikes.
The good thing is (as many of you know, I'm sure) that when you get strep, you usually start feeling better very soon after you start taking your antibiotics.
Thankfully, he had called in a prescription for me, so I was able to start taking it that night. I got home from the doctor, called my boss to let him know that I wasn't going to be in on Friday and then called the RENT choreographer to let her know that I was going to miss rehearsal on Friday night as well, since that would still be within my 'contagious' period. I ended up going to bed early on Thursday night and spent the majority of the day on Friday, couch-bound.
Scooter was thrilled to have me home with him. :-)

By Saturday morning/early afternoon I was feeling a LOT better and it was a beautiful day out....YAHOO! By the time Saturday night rolled around, I was not only 'officially' no longer contagious, but I felt well enough to keep my plans for that night, which was to go see Varla Jean Merman and The Gold Dust Orphans in their production of 'The Phantom of the Oprah'.
I'm not going to go into a ton of detail about it, but I will say that if you're in the Boston area - you should really go and see this show. Really.
Not only is Varla Jean Merman an absolute RIOT in the show, but the entire thing was incredibly funny and so well done. I'm a big fan of The Orphans anyway, but adding Varla Jean Merman into the mix made it even better. They usually have a show of some sort going on down in P-Town during the summer, so if you can't get to Boston anytime soon, look for them down there...it'll be a guaranteed great time.
Check out their website for details.

Sunday morning, Jim and I went to church and then I headed off to an all day/night rehearsal for RENT. We're working on the actual stage now, so that's fun....and while we still have a lot of work to do, it's all very exciting and the show is going to be GREAT. We had a sing-through of sorts with the band last night (it was really their rehearsal and we were there to sing along) and that was super exciting. It was their first time playing together as a group - and they were beyond good.
I can't wait to hear them again on Sunday, when we begin our tech week.

OK - so it's Monday and I'm going to be in training from 9-1, so I gots to get my ass in gear. The one class I've been to (we started on Thursday, and I was out sick on Friday) was really good - so I'm having high hopes for this process...I think it's going to be OK. :-)

First, I'm going to show some pictures of the latest updates to the nursery. For those of you on facebook, they may be old news and they were taken with my iPhone, so they may not be the clearest pictures ever, but you'll get the idea.
Also, they were taken at night, so you can't tell how bright the room can get. Trust me, it's much nicer when the sun is shining in.

Second, I'm going to throw in a couple of pictures that Barrie took from the rehearsal last night, so you can see the RENT set....which is a work in progress...not completed...so no criticisms. ;-)

Happy Monday!!!











This is a baby blanket that one of my best friends from college made for us....it's awesome.



RENT set





Oh - this my new headset at work. :-)
I only use it for conference calls, but it makes me feel important.

Change is good....right??

I have to keep telling myself that....even though changes make me crabby. :-)

I think I mentioned this before, but I’m going to be training on a new system here at work. (It's s new system to me, not new to the company.)
I was told about this a few weeks ago, so I began sitting through several pre-recorded training presentations. Well, as it turns out, the ‘powers that be’ decided that they're going to begin another round of LIVE training sessions - so I'll be a part of that training.

The good news is that I won't have to sit through a bunch of pre-recorded sessions.
The bad news is I'll be in training EVERY DAY from 10-1 for the entire month of March.
Awesome.

I have no idea how it's going to affect my new schedule or if I'll still be able to take every other Monday off for the month of March, but I've asked my manager to let me know. I do know that it's going to keep me from attending my weekly committee meetings, as well as force me to eat lunch alone. :-(
Oh well...it's only for a month, and hopefully after the training, I'll eventually be doing all sorts of fun and exciting new things!!

Speaking of work stuff, I have some good news to share!!
I found out yesterday that I'm getting a bonus and a raise this year!
I can't remember the last time I got a raise, and while this one is miniscule, I'm not at all complaining. It's certainly better than nothing!!
The bonus however, was a HUGE surprise for me. I had a feeling I'd be getting one, but the dollar amount was what surprised me.
Grateful, grateful, grateful....

I hope you're all doing well and like me, counting down the days until Spring arrives.
The tulips that Jim planted last year are already popping up through the ground in HUGE numbers. It's kind of crazy.
Our front garden is going to look like something direct from Holland...and I can't wait!!

I have a few pictures to share, but for some reason I can't post them.
Oh well. It's better than yesterday, when I couldn’t post anything!
I'll take what I can get. :-)

xoxo

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

HELLO!!!

I can't apologize enough for my absence, but I was on vacation all last week. :-)
I know, I totally disappeared without any notice, but hopefully I didn't lose any readers because of it.
Please, as if. ;-)

How is everyone?!?!
Jim and I had a great week at home, doing all sorts of stuff around the house (finally finishing the nursery) but managing to enjoy the time away from work as well.

During the week we each met individually with our case worker and both of our meetings went VERY well. She told us that our family profile (that 63 page thing I MAY have mentioned once or twice?!?!?) was the best profile she's ever received (not to mention the longest) and as a result, our meetings with her were super-quick and a complete breeze to get through. She was amazed at how well-written it was and at one point she said to us "You can tell that you guys are really in love." How nice was that?!?!?

We're meeting with her tomorrow night for our final visit. At that point, we'll go over the final 'safety check' of the house, discuss the list of characteristics (what we're 'looking for' in a child), and give her our final list of references. Once that meeting is completed, we just wait for our references to do their job (they have a one page form that needs to be completed) and for our case worker to complete the home study document.
She'll write it up and once we approve it, it's sent to her boss for approval. Once her boss approves it, we are officially "in the system" and could get a call at any moment.
I got my 'official' clearance at work, so once we get the call, all I have to do is talk to HR and let them know when my time off will begin.
We're so close to the end of the process it's crazy. I keep reminding myself that just because we're getting to the end of the 'official' business part (paper work, meetings, etc.) it doesn't mean that we're handed a child as soon as everything is signed and dated. Yes, we certainly COULD be placed right away, but we could also be in for a long wait.
We'll just have to wait and see....and be ready for anything. :-)

On a totally different note - RENT rehearsals are going very well. We've touched on everything in the show (musically) and we just have to put it on it's feet. I think it's going to be really great. Even though there will be a few rough patches along the way, it'll be excellent.
It's always craziness the first time you try and move around on stage and sing at the same time. Everything sounds amazing when we're sitting down and singing, but take away the scripts and ask us to move and sing at the same time? We suddenly turn into bumbling idiots with who can't remember a single thing. However, it all comes back eventually and that's when things REALLY get exciting.
We've still got about two weeks of rehearsal and then we're into tech week, so that is PLENTY of time.
I'll be sure you keep you all posted.

Well, my friends...it's time for me to catch up on all your blogs....and I can't WAIT!!

Happy Monday!!

xoxo