recent wisdom

for those who don't know, i am currently touring the east coast of the US with ArtsPower's 'The Rainbow Fish'. It's a fun mini-musical based on the book by Marcus Pfeister aimed at Kindergarten - 2nd graders. I'm just starting my 3rd week on tour, and it's been pretty good so far, but i thought i'd share some pearls of wisdom i have picked up on the road:

* children under 7 years of age cannot clap in time with music. ever.
* long drives in a van can be passed pleasantly with a charged laptop and all 6 seasons of The West Wing
* Kentucky has several 'dry' counties - you should be aware of these before you plan your saturday night.
* if you're ever in Evansville, Indiana, you should go to Lic's Deli. It's like walking right into 1952.
* walmart is awesome
* parts of wisconsin are amazing. one day i want a house on lake michigan, and a street lined with trees. i'll only live there in the fall when the trees are glorious shades of orange and yellow.
* sometimes there's nothing better than curling up in a hotel bed with pencils and a Disney Princess coloring book
* 'touchdown jesus'/'drowning jesus' will haunt your dreams (google it - it's in ohio)
* you don't realize how awesome home cooking is until you've been eating nothing but cheap restaurant and fast food for 2 weeks - thank you Barry's parents!
* after 2 weeks on the road you do get much better and faster at building and deconstructing a set. however, the faster it goes, the more bruises and broken nails you're likely to get.
* haunted houses rock.

for those keeping track, in the last 2 weeks i've been in Manasquan, NJ; Winston-Salem, NC; Ashland, KY; Ashville, OH; Evansville, IN; Dayton, OH and Milwaukee, WI. tomorrow we go back to Ohio (Mansfield) for the third time. first, we couldn't seem to escape Kentucky (seeing as to get from ohio to indiana and back to ohio again we had to pass through kentucky twice), now we seem to be constantly returning to Ohio... why-o why-o why-o... why can't i ever leave ohio...

more to come on another day, from another state, and another timezone.
xx

Top 10 from the last week or so...

In no particular order - things that have made me smile:

* magnolia cupcakes in central park
* seeing 9 to 5 the musical with 2 of my favorite people
* getting a callback
* rooftop parties
* wine tasting in Union Square
* coming home to find my roomie bought me ice cream and chocolate, PLUS filled the fridge with diet coke
* sunshine
* sleep ins
* sweet vanilla and cinnamon candles
* facebook videos from friends in the wrong state

i really love books.

i love shopping for books. i love to go into barnes and noble 2 blocks away from my apartment and get lost in the fiction section, looking for familiar authors or titles that just pop out at me. i love pulling out the book that's at the very back, so you know it's brand new, and when you crack the spine for the first time and flip through the smooth unblemished pages you feel like the story was written just for you.

for my 21st birthday my beautiful sister gave me the most exquisite set of Frank L. Baum's original Oz stories. 3 volumes, bound in green leather with gold around the edge of the pages, and amazing illustrations. sad to say, 2 and a half years later, they remain on my bookshelf at my parent's house, unread.

now don't get me wrong, it's not like i didn't want to read them. i did! but books as gorgeous as these deserve a whole weekend on the couch with a furry blanket and endless cups of tea. phone turned off, lamp turned on, and the outside world tuned out, so i could get lost in Oz. however, in my 21st year, this dream weekend was far from possible. i was working full time, dealing with my first real relationship, which ultimately led to my first real heartbreak, doing back to back shows, auditioning for musical theatre colleges in different countries and planning my best friend's wedding. Mr Baum would have to wait.

but then of course within the year i was on my way to new york for school, and being terrified of the state of the dorms i was about to live in, i decided my precious volumes were best left at home. and there they remained. although i did just send my mother an email asking her to send them to me, and i promise, emma, they will be well looked after - as she told me on my birthday, these books have heirloom potential! if i have kids... being blessed with a chronic and irrational fear of doctors and hospitals, the idea of having another human being forcibly removed from my body does not appeal, so maybe they'll become heirlooms for whatever nieces and nephews i have. or maybe i'll be like angelina jolie and adopt half a country. and then my favorite kid can have the books.

i go on and on about how much i love books...although i have failed the basic 'Classics' test. i faked my way through The Hobbit in high school. I attempted to read the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, but made the mistake of seeing the movies first, so they were far too long and irritating. i read the da vinci code but could not keep interested in angels and demons.
i have never read a jane austen book...
let the beating begin!

i have however repeatedly read all the harry potters, all jodi picoult, lauren weisberger and nick hornby... and i go back to them again and again, and probably always will!

i'm about to dive into my second readings of The Lovely Bones, White Oleander, and my first reading of The Power Of One.
wish me luck,
hope you're all curled up somewhere with a good book.
xx