The One With Blood.

Tonight while Jeff was working, working, WORKING I took off and met the theatre crowd to see IMP’s ‘Sweeney Todd’.

I love that crowd. Fo’ real.

Anyway, it was a great production. Complete tech, PHENOMENAL chorus, and Sweeney, Lovett, Beadle(but I’m biased), and Toby were wonderful.

Go see for yourself:www

Now following up that with this week’s episode of ‘True Blood’. Vampires+Louisiana=ME HAPPY.

My hubby has most of the day free tomorrow. Finally! Our lives have been crazy this month; we would not have survived with our sanity without the NOLA trip. Tomorrow we’ll grab the kids and spend the bulk of the day sitting by Uncle Harry’s pool, and the day at the lake Sunday, and Dad’s fireworks that night. And next week summer slows down, a lot.

Friday, Bloody Friday…

The One Where It’s Almost Friday

Long week.
Good week.

We’ve hosted 25 10-12 year olds at our annual arts camp this week. Theatre, music, dance, visual art, and photography.

Long week.
Good week.

My responsibility for camp? Theatre. Basics, with a focus on theatre/musical theatre in the 60s.

And we wrote two plays. SHORT plays. Which we will present tomorrow morning in the Far Out Finale.

Long week.
Good week.
VERY good week.

The One In NOLA.

Ok. I’m not actually in New Orleans anymore.

But I was. And it was absolutely wonderful.

As Jake said when we got back, everything seems bland now.

I’ll post pics on Flickr soon and link here, although most of you followed us on Twitter throughout the trip too and I put up a lot of Twitpics.

*****
Since NOLA, we’ve been swamped. Well, I should say, Jeff’s been swamped. Business is GREAT which means his life is booked to the minute.

Tuesday night he shot headshots for a local production and got home around 10:40. I was already in bed and he climbed in with me and as he does every night put his hand on my belly. And WHAM…solid baby kick! They continued for a few more seconds with both of us in awe. It was the first definite movement I’ve felt. Ever since then the little one kicks at pretty opportune times; he or she definitely does not enjoy bad performances, rain, or Indian food so far. We’ll see what else there’s a reaction to!

*****

My heart is still in NOLA.

The One Where It’s TOMORROW.

Tomorrow, after work, Jeff and the kids and I shall pack into his CR-V and start the 7 hour trek to New Orleans. In Birmingham, we’ll meet Shelli and Hali. In Mississippi, we’ll stop for a Coke Icee and snacks.

We’ll arrive and check in at the Dauphine Orleans, our hotel.

On Thursday, we’ll rise early to eat waffles and hit the aquarium. After lunch, the new insectarium. Jake and Cindy arrive that afternoon and dinner at Port Of Call happens early with Cafe du Monde and a nighttime carriage ride after.

Friday means a morning swim, a trip to the zoo, a relaxing afternoon. Dinner at Coop’s Place, a night out without the kids (they’ll hang with Hali), a trip to Harrah’s and down Bourbon.

Saturday is OUT OF THE QUARTER. Museum of Art, City Park, Parkway Bakery, St. Charles streetcar, Magazine St. shopping.

And Sunday is the dreaded day…home. Home to our busy lives, getting ready for baby, Shocco, another Panoply.

But for now I’ll continue to dream of the Big Easy, and tomorrow night my dream will come true.

The One Where I’m 18 Weeks.

I’ve been seriously nesting tonight. Made chocolate chip squares for Jeff. Discovered that my version of nesting is making a zillion lists, drawing up building plans (I cannot draw to save my life, so this was a task that took a while), cleaning a clean kitchen, and designing timelines for random projects.

Weird.

Anyway, we had a blast in NYC. Left Monday morning on a 6:30 flight. Were in Midtown and checked in at our hotel by 1:00pm. Came home Wednesday on a 11:25am flight. Arrived back at the house at 3pm. Short trip…here’s what happened:

Where we stayed: www.mayfairnewyork.com
What we saw: My sister as Helena/Peter Quince/Mustardseed in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at www.circlesquare.org
Where we went: www.centralparknyc.org, www.guggenheim.org, www.nypl.org, www.daveandbusters.com, www.timessquare.com, www.icp.org, and www.hm.com/us.
What we ate: www.oflahertysnyc.com, www.getcosi.com, www.heartlandbrewery.com, www.blockheads.com

We leave for New Orleans in 5 days. I am ecstatic; it’ll be our first trip there with the kids and we’re introducing one of my best friends and her sister to the city, plus Jake and Cindy are coming.

How’d I get so lucky?

The One Where It’s Another Show.

I have a new shirt on today which should make me feel very summery. It’s kind of “hippie”, a bright red with embroidery in yellows and whites. But instead of that warm, everything-is-awesome-because-it’s-MAY feeling I’m just pooped. The weather is yuck, I’m hungry and nauseous all at once, and it is FREEZING in my office.

You know, a year ago RIGHT NOW we were headed to New Orleans to celebrate my birthday and our engagement. Am I the only one who thinks it’s pretty dern cool that we got married, moved in together, and pregnant in a year? Besides those personal things, we’ve been in four shows together and I’ve produced a full season, spent three months as the big group teachers for our kid’s ministry at church, doubled Jeff’s business and had a huge year at my job.

No wonder I’m pooped!

So my birthday is around again this Saturday, and after the weekend craziness we are SLOWING DOWN. No more acting until December for me; producing and directing only. Taking a break from some other stresses in our lives. Streamlining Jeff’s workload and probably hiring an assistant. SLOWING DOWN.

And kicking off our slow period with a trip to New York City…

oh, the irony.

The One That I Need to Write.

I have a lot to say
Very much
Tons

Is this the right place, though,
all out,
here?

The WORLD WIDE WEB.

Where ANYONE CAN SEE.

Have you learned that yet? It’s a hard lesson.

 

 

 

 

i’ll just keep it to myself, thanks.

The One Where I Say Stuff.

Can’t sleep.

To the woman who commented on the blog about HHA buying up apartment complexes in SE Huntsville…I’m sorry you don’t want “young black males with baggy pants and gold chains” walking up and down a main thoroughfare near your house, but your viewpoint is exactly why people assume the worst about Alabama/the South.

Couple of years ago an older lady hit my driver’s side in the parking lot at the church where I grew up. She didn’t have insurance. I did what I thought was the right thing, and therefore have been driving an awesome car with a banged up door ever since. I don’t mind. Why do you?

To the dude in the rather large van in front of me on my way to work this morning…either your signals are broken or you are the worst driver ever. I assumed the former this morning; I hoped I guessed right.

My favorite thing about being pregnant so far? Everyone touching my belly! My bump appeared by a week ago and while it bothers some women, the touching is sweet and connecting to me. Of course the exclamations of how I’m glowing, what a cute preggo I am, etc. have helped the situation.

NEW YORK. A WEEK FROM MONDAY. Katie, Blockhead’s, the subway, the crowds.

NEW ORLEANS. JUNE 10. Shelli, Hali, the best food in the South, introducing the kids to the Crescent City.

To the cast of Sex, Drugs, & Rock and Roll, you are so talented and funny. I love that wonderful directors and actors are so willing to work with us at RT, and I’m proud to be a small part of the equation. Although I will admit that Bogosian’s pieces make me want to be a better writer, as compared to actor. That’s been a cool feeling.

My husband is beyond description. So I won’t try. But I’m so blessed that no matter how insane our lives get he makes time to talk to me throughout the day, take out the trash, and cuddle with me that extra few minutes each morning. He has worked harder in the past 3 weeks than I’ve ever known him to work; business is CRAZY right now. We’re so blessed!

Now I can go to bed. Hopefully.

The One Where I Shouldn’t.

Monthly OB appointment today.

I’m always nervous before we go to the doctor. Just because I feel pregnant and my heart tells me everything is OK, there’s always this devil on my shoulder whispering into my head. What if there’s a problem? What if everything isn’t OK?

Jeff is such a good listener, taking the time to listen to me worry and then rationally talking about it with me. And then praying for me, always. Such a good listener.

But everyone worries, right? And it is totally OK that I do. And if something IS wrong, that’s alright, we’ll learn from it and keep going and growing.

I hope.

The One Where I Take Limes.

We subscribe to The New Yorker and LOVE it. Amazing articles, reviews, and calendars of what’s happening in the Big Apple so I can sound edumacated when I talk to KLB about life up there.

Last week’s issue had a cartoon in it with the caption, “They say when life hands you lemons you make lemonade. I say let me show you the 37 ways to kill a man with a lemon”. Well, we got a good hearty laugh out of that, but it started a conversation about being positive.

I’ve never been a super-optimist, but I married one. The more time I spend with Jeff the more I learn about having a “sunny-side-of-life” attitude.

But, I’m a “blogger” and therefore have heard I need to share what’s really going on in my life, not just the lemonade:

I’m tired. All the time. Which causes me to actually fall asleep at a reasonable hour and follow with a blissful 8-10 hours a night. Horror of horrors.

I have vomited more in the past nine weeks than in my entire life combined…and know more about my body now than I ever would’ve otherwise.

My jeans are becoming uncomfortable, which has caused my sweet husband to take me shopping for NEW CLOTHES. On multiple occasions. Even though I have plenty of my “own” money to go shopping with. Oh, sad day.

Our house, which was becoming quite cozy and functional, now looks totally disorganized and DISfunctional to me. So for once I’m actually enjoying the cleaning, straightening, throwing out…

When I get home from work around 5:15 (if I’m lucky), I have to immediately sit down on the couch and be pampered for about half an hour. Yeah, it’s horrible getting all that love from the kids and wonderful snacks (including ice cold limeade, which I heart) from my hubby. Man, it sucks.

Being preggo at the same time as one of my dear friends has caused us to reconnect. That just stinks. I was really enjoying my life without her (NOTNOTNOTNOTNOT).

Walking into a room chock full of theatre people I haven’t seen in two months and having them exclaim over my belly and touch it and get all teary-eyed was AWFUL. I HATE feeling loved.

I weighed myself and I’ve gained 4 pounds. ACK! Oh, wait…that’s a good thing…

Guess life is alllllll in how you look at it!