Size 8 Struggle

Beach!!!

2011-03-28T04:32:00.000-07:00

So, here I sit in the internet cafe in Cuba. I have 44 minutes left on my time card and I wanted to come in and let you all know that my video camera is quickly filling up with fun blog vids of mine and Bryan's vacay. Bryan had never been on a plane before, nor had he ever been on a horse before! I have video! I also have tons of pics!!! With that said, I am going to sign off for now, we get back this Thursday. Blog will follow shortly!! Ciao, amigos!

My mother told me to.

2011-03-16T00:44:00.000-07:00

So here I sit. It is 3:46am on March 16th. I have just got home from work. I have been planning this blog post for months. Literally. Somewhere in between finishing the show in Niagara and doing another musical in Barrie and moving in with my boyfriend Bryan etc etc etc, I planned a blog. I did. And I know that none of you, if you are still looking for new posts and haven't given up on me, want excuses... and I offer none.

I wanted to come to you all fabulous with audio and video clips, which I have and my laptop won't let me upload... EVIL TECHNOLOGY. Tomorrow, I plan on stealing a half hours time with Katie's MAC and uploading all sorts of fun. I SERIOUSLY PROMISE...

Until then, here is a synopsis of what has been going on with me:
December 2010, moved in with the boy. It was an... adjustment. As of right now, we are AWESOME... as an aside, he proposed that I do a mini-blog-within-a-blog titled 'Grade8struggle' about the perils of dating a man in his mid-20's when you are in your mid 30's! Let me know what you think. Next week we go to Cuba for our one year anniversary. Can't wait. Boyfriend. Beach. Booze. Amazing.
January 2011, agent went into overtime and booked me for EVERY COMMERCIAL AUDITION POSSIBLE.
March 2010, finally booked one. For a french company called Fleury Michon. Check out their website. People, let it be said that the french have an amazing sense of humour. The entire day that I spent on set was filled with laughter. It is going to be a great spot, aired in France on TV and in the Cinema and as soon as I have a copy (i.e. it has gone to broadcast) I will youtube it and post it here.
Present: Katie and I are deep in rehearsals for our next show... in May... if the venue EVER calls me back. Also, we are hitting the studio on April 6th to record our fan faves CD! We have spent some time revamping our website so check it out and join our mailing list!!! (top left)

So, I will post again with fun vids, and for real, I am back. For real. Seriously. Back. I know, you don't believe me.

for real.

Closing and Mini-cations!!!

2010-10-22T05:06:00.001-07:00

Who doesn't love a big kiss?!!! Right?! Heh heh. That pic was taken outside of the Hershey store in downtown Niagara Falls Canada! I was lucky, while doing the show, I had a fair amount of time to explore Niagara Falls and these are my observations: there are far too many mini-putts, wax museums, and tourist traps!! With that said, when Bryan came to visit and see the show, we went to a mini-putt, an arcade and Ripley's Believe it or not!!! Bwah hahahahaha... where I, of course, had to get my fortune told by Zoltar. I didn't turn into a 12 year-old, don't worry!!

Then, the next weekend, Mom and Auntie Florence came to visit and see the show, and we did the Butterfly Conservatory, which was spectacular! If you are ever in Niagara Falls, please go to the conservatory. It was totally worth it!

We also got super touristy and took the Maid-of-the-Mist! This was actually very very very fun and very very very wet! But look at how cute all of us are in our lovely blue ponchos:

So... the show has closed. I bid my character a sad farewell... This was, by far, the longest running show that I have ever done (barring the ships, of course) and my character became a part of me! Despite all the drama with this company, I will miss going to Niagara. I became quite close with the family that housed me. The dog, Gabby, was finally starting to take me seriously. I did try to record Lucy's meowing for you but it never came out clear enough to post!!

Anyhoo, last year, through the steak house that I work at, we had a company-wide incentive and our location came out on top. I was on the organizational team. I had no clue at the time about the benefits of being on that team until we won, and I personally won a fully-paid 2-night accommodation at the Westin Trillium House at Blue Mountain. It also included dinner for 2 at Oliver & Bonacini one of the nights. I have never been to Blue Mountain before and didn't know until we arrived on Monday morning just how fantastic this place is. First of all, the hotel is spectacular. Here is a pic of it from the little village:

I mean, COME ON. Lovely.

Bryan & I shortly after we arrived:

Being an Ottawa girl, and upon finding the Beavertail booth, I had to introduce him to a treat I have been enjoying for about 35 years!!! For those not in the know, a Beavertail is a whole wheat pastry treat. It is deep fried and served traditionally with sugar and cinnamon. I like to add fresh lemon juice to mine (called a Kilaloe Sunrise)... Bryan added apple pie filling to his.

And then, people... we went to the spa. This place is phenomenal. Called La Scandinave, they have a series of hot pools, eucalyptus steam rooms and a sauna. All of the treatments include all day access to the facilities, so I booked our massage in the afternoon so we could spend the morning tubbing and enjoying the grounds. It is all outdoor and at this time of year when the air is crisp, it was heaven.

So, I am getting a little choked up with sadness that I am no longer up north, and have worked 2 doubles in a row since I have been back in the city. Our very first away-trip together was fantastic. You know how traveling tells you a lot about someone, and considering that we are moving in together it was good to learn a little more about him.

Today, we are driving even further up north and I am meeting HIS ENTIRE FAMILY. eep. Will blog about that this week!!!

Good News & Bad News...

2010-10-10T14:15:00.000-07:00

So, what do you want first, the good news or the bad news?!

*insert jeopardy theme music here*

Okay, the bad news first. After a thrilling 22 days, we have lost Bernadette Waters. She is survived by her friend and colleague Barbra Streiswim who continues to eat bubbles despite her obvious grieving. I had finally put them both in the same bowl, and Barbra ate all the food leaving Bernadette to perish. Prayers were said and the burial was a quick one, attended by one mr. Bryan.

Now the good news.... are you ready people? I don't know if you are ready...

Bryan and I are moving in together!!! Eeep! (that was a squeal of excitement)
The place we have found is spectacular and we go to meet with the super on Tuesday to drop off our letters of employment and the deposit... I can tell you this much, it has a fireplace, hardwood floors, dishwasher, two bedrooms, one with an ensuite bathroom and central air and heating. Rent is inclusive and there is laundry in the building. Of course, the moving-in-together discussion has brought about some relatively funny conversations... this being the most recent one:

Me: So, um, I get to decorate, right?
B: Maybe... why?
Me: Because I want to live in a grown-up apartment...
B: What is wrong with my stuff?
Me: Welllllll, your foam evil-dead-the-musical axe doesn't really go with my original pieces of artwork.
B: Do I get any space to decorate?
Me: Sure, you can have man-land (i.e. the spare bedroom, i.e. the video gaming room)

Bryan wants me to tell you all that I have also given him restrictions on man-land. i.e. I have told him he can't paint it black with glow-in-the-dark nebulas and black lighting. I am not being un-reasonable, am I?!!

So there you have it... after 10 years of single-dom and living alone, I am shacking up with my boyfriend. I am very excited about it!!

In other news, the show in Niagara is ending this coming weekend the 14th-16th of October. I have very much enjoyed doing the show, and will miss my character very much.

Let's see... I will be posting again on Wednesday with WW results...

Hmmm... I think that is about all for now...

Shows shows shows!!!

2010-09-26T07:53:00.000-07:00

I know I have started all my posts with "So much has been going on"... but really, seriously, so much has been going on...

Let's start with Niagara. So, after 7 full-day rehearsals, we successfully mounted the show. I continue to drop lines. I actually made the comment this week, that I have done the show completely word-perfect, but never all in one show!! One of these weekends, I will do it... I have faith in my memory! One of the main problems is that our audiences have been dismally small. As in anywhere from 5-8 people small. Which hurts my heart. It is hard to get up there and leave your heart on the stage when you have 5 people out there who aren't laughing or clapping after every song... alas. 3 weeks left, we can only hope for some bigger audiences! I would like to add on that going into this contract, I was angry and feeling unprepared, and I am really enjoying doing the show. It is a great show and a great role. The music director is an awesome, very talented man who has written some fantastic songs for the show, and the other guy in the show who plays both of my exes has been a treat to work with. I look forward to being on stage with the both of them every night. With that said, there are some major problems with the head honcho that I am dealing with on my own.

Okay, 2Divine, on the flipside, was the complete opposite. We had something like 93 people out to the show and they were very rowdy and fun. I even have pics and vids!! Look:

This is probably us doing our opening number: "One Night Only" from Dreamgirls with our fabu accompanist Aaron Eyre!!

This is us doing Journey's "Don't Stop Believing' with my friend Tim Beuckelare on guitar!
And because I was totally lax with the teaser videos, here are a couple of my fave videos from the show:

There are many more, so please feel free to watch them all!!!

Also, total bonus... I got a couple of crazy fish out of it!! Last year, we made these pink pouffie things to decorate the stage with, and we couldn't think of how to decorate the stage this year... Katie had a brilliant idea to have goldfish. One for her side table, one for mine and one for Aaron's piano. We named them Ste-fin Sondheim, Bernadette Waters, and Barbra Streiswim. We donated Ste-fin Sondheim to one of my friend's 12-year olds, and I adopted Bernadette and Barbra since miss Katie has a cat. I haven't owned a fish before, and I have to tell you, they are a little crazy. Bernadette tries to escape from her bowl, and she eats bubbles. When you put the bowls together they swim right up to each other trying to figure out why they can't touch. (Don't stress out, I am buying a bigger bowl for the both of them to fit in together!) Here they are, the one on the left is Bernadette and the one on the right is Barbra:

Then there was the JDRF Benefit Gala for the Steakhouse. It was a very successful evening. We raised a significant amount of money for Juvenile Diabetes and the event itself was really fun. A lot of great talent was showcased and I am happy to have been a part of not only the organizational team but the performance squad as well! Whoo!

This is me and one of my co-organizers, Jenn:

I suppose that has been my last 3 weeks. Add on a cold and a seriously strained voice and that about wraps it all up in a nutshell.

In Weight Watchers land, I actually stayed exactly the same for the entire rehearsal process despite the fact that I was eating out and eating fake frozen food, and not having much time to actually grocery shop. Not bad. I'll take it!

Feeling Screwed... and not in a good way....

2010-09-08T07:10:00.000-07:00

So... I did not weigh in this morning... because I am currently on a megabus to Niagara Falls to start rehearsals for that show...

Let me tell you a little bit about what has been going on. I got this show. It is very exciting, as I will be playing a lead role and it is a significant contract: 6 weeks. So, about 4 weeks ago, I emailed the director asking all sorts of questions... where will I be staying, when do we get paid (weekly, bi-weekly, end of contract,) How am I getting down there to Niagara... you get the idea. There were emails back but not all of my questions were being answered. As most of you know, I like to know what is going on... not that I don't love a good surprise, but you know what I am saying. As of 2 days ago, they still didn't have a place for me to stay. Keep in mind that rehearsals start today. I had a panic attack on Sunday at rehearsal for Katie and my cabaret show (which is the 19th, plug plug plug). I have had to take 2 weeks off both jobs to go to Niagara to rehearse and mount this show (we open next Thursday) and they had nowhere for me to sleep? Last night at 8pm I got a phone call telling me that they have a house for me to stay in.... and it is going to cost me $75 a week. Maybe someone should have mentioned that to me. Maybe I would have been prepared if I had had notice that I was going to have to cover my own room and board.Why hold auditions in Toronto for a show in Niagara if you are not prepared to house your actors? I get that this is a non-union gig, but I am getting paid not a lot of money to do this show, and I am booking significant amounts of time off of 2 jobs to do it. I was livid when I got off the phone. Bryan did a pretty good job of cheering me up, but this morning, I am leaving to Niagara with a shitty taste in my mouth. This is not how I should be starting this gig. I should be excited. Am I being unreasonable? Seriously, someone tell me if I am being unreasonable....

Anyhoo, that is where I am now. On a Megabus to Niagara which I am not being re-imbursed for.

Crazy Town...

2010-09-03T05:24:00.000-07:00

My life has been a crazy town.

Okay, let's rewind... I had a birthday. Usually, I have been very pro-my birthday!! I love birthdays in general, EVERYONE's birthday. And mine is no different... I love my birthday. This year, Bryan and I went to the Science Centre for the Harry Potter exhibit, which was actually pretty good. I wished that there had been a little more interactive stuff, but it was neat to be so close to some of the coolest props! And really, who doesn't love the Science Centre?!

Then, we went for a quiet little dinner, and I was caught off guard by some birthday blues. The 35-years old and still waiting tables thing. I thought I would be somewhere completely different by the time I hit 35, and here I am, and not much has changed in the last few years. I know that I am completely responsible for this. I have made decisions that have brought me here, and not been as pro-active as I could have been... Anyhoo, after dinner, Katie and her boyfriend Ben came over and the four of us whooped it up with some serious Wii fun!!

Then, I had a doctor's appointment. The usual annual check-up, no biggie... except this year, she made an odd "hmmm" when she was feeling my neck. I don't like odd "hmmm"'s. When she told me that my thyroid is palpable, I had no clue what she was saying. And let me tell you, when you are googling 'swollen thyroid', there is WAY too much information and not any of it helpful. Basically, it was all 'you could gain wait, you could lose weight, you could be tired, you could have cancer, blah blah blah'. So, she gave me a requisition for an ultrasound which happened last Friday. The ultrasound technician said it is a definite nodule on the right side of my thyroid gland, which happens to be wrapped around my vocal chords. I have noticed some exhaust in my voice, and I have been very tired physically. Whether this is my thyroid thing or just working two jobs and rehearsing for the cabaret and spending time with my script for 'Angie', I don't know... now we just sit and wait for the blood test and ultrasound results!

Speaking of rehearsing with Katie... I know I have promised some video... I have been technically waylayed. My video camera isn't working. I captured two vids, and then when I got home, the battery died, so I changed it out, and now it won't turn on. So, I have had to improvise for the sake of my blog. I have used one of my rehearsal audio recordings. You have to forgive it, it was sitting beside my face, so you mostly just hear me, (sorry Katie!) and it was our first time through on this particular song, but here tis:

So, now I know how to do this iphone thing, I will try to record some video and more audio in our next rehearsal and see how it goes!!! Oh technology, how I love and hate you.

I start rehearsals for the Niagara show on Monday, and to be honest, I have no clue where I am going or what time I should be there. I hope that I hear something soon, but as of right at this very second, I haven't heard anything. Kinda frustrating. From an obsessive compulsive viewpoint, having been raised in an extremely organized house, I have (sometimes un-real) expectations.

Oh, and then there was my actual birthday party!!! This year's theme was '35 and still alive' and it was a 1970's theme. Here are some pics:

So, I guess that about rounds it up. I am down another .5 this week, which is good, considering my crazy town life. I'll take it. Blarg.

Chills...

2010-07-24T21:19:00.000-07:00

So, I had this great audition. And by 'great audition', I mean one of THOSE auditions, where you connect with the audition panel and they love you, and your voice is perfect, and you connect with the songs and all works out brilliantly. Where you walk out of the room and think "I totally booked that show".

Strangely enough, it was my former agent that sent me the info. She emailed me with the music director's email address, I emailed him, he sent me the audition info and show info, and I thought "why the hell not". So I went.

The audition info he gave me was "prepare your most comfortable musical theatre song". Ballad, up-tempo, contemporary, classic, whatever. I love that. So, I prepared A Way Back to Then. When I finished, I looked over and the musical director was flipping through my book and asked if I could do a little bit of Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered. So, I did, and then they thanked me and I thanked them and left. THEN, when I was on my way out the building, the musical director came running out and yelling "Sarah, Sarah, come back"... very exciting. He asked me if I had a comedic monologue, which I didn't, but I had a funny song. SOOOOO, I went back into the room, did my comedy song, and then they asked if I knew 'Cry Me A River'. No, not the Justin Timberlake song, the old-school torch song, which (of course) I do. So, he says to me "okay, go to the back of the room, and start with your back to us. Then, on the first line, turn around, and slowly walk to us, and give us everything you've got." And I did. All of it.

So, I got the email today... I booked the show. It is a show about an old lounge singer, and I am playing the lead role... I am very excited!!

In other news, I am down 2.6 lbs this week!

And, I can't call the boy 'the boy' anymore. He doesn't like it. He doesn't realize that that is just something I call him and it has nothing to do with his age but is a shortened form of the boyfriend. So, he will be known as Bryan from now on!!!

Katie and I officially started rehearsals this past week, and you know what that means, now that music is photocopied and we are singing every Wednesday afternoon, there will be teaser videos afoot!!! Woo! Be on the lookout!

No Excuses...

2010-07-18T06:09:00.000-07:00

So, it has been a month. And I know that everyone in my day to day life has been very patient about the lack of blogs this past month... until this week. 3 people have brought it to my attention that I haven't been around. I can't even explain why I haven't been here... But here I am.

Surprisingly little has been going on of late. Working tons (to pay off Hawaii!!)... going back to work after a vacation is always hard.... I had a few days adjusting to the fact that I wasn't in Hawaii anymore, and had to bring people stuff again. Damn waiting tables!!!

So, let's see... a month... well, we left off at the Tattoo studio. I had to keep it on the down low since she wanted it to be a surprise for her boyfriend and familiy, so I didn't mention it in my last blog, but Katie also got a tattoo!! Fun stuff. The last couple of days were lovely, of course, and leaving was hard. Our last night, during one of our two 8-hour layovers, we tooled around a part of Oahu that we hadn't seen the last time, and then had dinner at our fave restaurant. In fact, I have one last vacation video for you!!!

The trip home was 28 hours!!! I know, you can't feel too bad for me!!! We spent our second 8 hour layover sleeping in the San Francisco airport!! Funny stuff!!

So, let's see... after I got back...

well, the boy taught me how to skateboard. It was an adventure to say the least. I am very sad that I don't have video for all of you!! Imagine, if you will, me in full kneepads, elbow pads, slide gloves, and helmet. Trying to channel my inner surfer and yoga my way through not falling off this piece of wood on wheels. I only fell twice. I am pretty impressed with myself for not falling more!! Also, I managed to play the 'oh baby, you just go ahead, I feel like I'm holding you back' card so the boy completely missed both of my complete bails.

What else... I have been to see a couple of concerts of bands I knew nothing about before Bryan. Coheed & Cambria and the Silversun Pickups. Both absolutely fantastic. I recommend youtubing them. (As an aside, I appreciate the fact that the word 'youtube' can now be turned into a verb!)

Here's some cool concert pics I took:

Coheed & Cambria (I especially love the guy rocking out)

And Silversun:

Katie and I have had our first meeting with the incomparable Aaron Eyre, musical director extraordinaire, to hash out a songlist for the next 2Divine cabaret. It was brilliant. We have some fantastic mash-ups, so keep your eyes peeled for the teaser vids!!

Speaking of the next 2Divine show, I mentioned a couple of posts ago that Helen Tansey was going to do our promo shots. Well, we had the photo shoot, and let me tell you... this woman is amazing. She is down to earth and sweet and funny, confident behind her camera and very easy to be around. I am, to be honest, a little in love with her. Maybe I just want to be her. Anyhoo, enough gushing, and on to a few choice pics, 'cause I know you wanna see them!!!

These are a few of my fave ones:

She took about 140 pics, and these are just 4 of the ones I LOVE!!! Choosing is going to be difficult, but I am pretty sure Katie and I are up to the task!

Hmmm... I feel like that is all that has been going on... You know, aside from my 35th birthday that is looming.... at least my 25 year-old boyfriend is making me feel way younger than I am...

I apologize for not blogging, I hope you all haven't felt let down...

Getting inked up and dining out...

2010-06-13T11:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a very exciting day in the world of Mom & I... we got matchy tattoos!!! I took her to get her first one the last time we were in Hawaii, and this time, it was actually her idea to get her second (and my fourth)!!!

This is her getting hers...

And then it was my turn...

And the finished product. Mom and I are very 'hi' type people, and HI is also Hawaii's state abbreviation, and of course a little plumeria...

Last night, was, unfortunately, Katie's last night, and we all went out for a nice dinner. The place was marvelous. A little place in Kapa'a called the Lemongrass Seafood Grill. Seriously some of the best crab cakes I have ever had in my life. I had the Macademia nut encrusted Sea Bass that was done perfectly with a sweet chili sauce to top... my mom had bok choi for the first time ever and loved it, and they had a few vegetarian options to choose from for Katie!!!

And of course, since you all knew that I was going to have to video it... my ukulele debut:

Mom and I are on our last night in Kauai tonight, it is a sad occasion reaching the end of ones vacation... Tomorrow we spend the day in Honolulu, dinner at our fave restaurant 'The House Without a Key' in the Halukelani Hotel, and then the red-eye to San Francisco, for an 8 hour layover to check out the city and then back on a plane for Toronto. Let's hope for sleep on the red-eye, shall we?

Last Minute Kayak Tours...

2010-06-12T10:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Katie and I decided last minute to go on a kayak adventure! So, in the morning, we bombed down to the little shack outside the safeway that sells tours, hoping that they would have two spots available for a tour yesterday!!! AND THEY DID!!

It was a very cool tour! 2 miles kayaking into the woods along the Wailua River. Followed by a 1 mile hike into these spectacular secret waterfalls, where we could swim and frolic under the falls, lunch (provided) and then hike out and kayak back. All in all a 5 hour tour!! What we learned is that the only way in to see these falls is by kayak, and the only way you can kayak along the Wailua is to take a tour. You can go and rent your own kayak and do it up anywhere else on the island, but the Wailua is strictly a tour circuit. Weird. Any way you slice it, it was an AWESOME day. Not to mention that our guide was sexy. In a geeky-knowlegable-about-nature-spends-his-days-being-one-with-his-kayak way.

Here we are in the kayak:

And here we are by the falls:

It was a great day!!! Yay!!!

Waimea...

2010-06-10T23:28:00.000-07:00

Today was a very long but very good day! Today, we hit Waimea Canyon!!!

The drive from Kapa'a is a little bit of a journey along the south shore, through Lihu'e past Koloa and Po'ipu, past Hanapepe, all the way up the main road to the twisty turny, nausea inducing, highway 550 up to the Waimea Canyon. The Canyon itself is 1 mile wide, 10 miles long, and more than 36oo feet deep. The tippy top is a 4000 foot elevation, and my ears were popping all the way up. We stopped at mile marker 10 (of 18) for a lookout picture stop, a quick bathroom break and a little bite to eat!

Mom & Katie:

So then we hit the windy, seriously unpaved-ish, potholed road up to the tippy top, just past mile marker 18 which is called the Pu'u O Kila Lookout. Needless to say that all of my pics are not going to do this site justice. This canyon is stunning. Green, and lush, the view is spectacular. Katie and I took a hike along a trail to see even better views, and of course, I brought my video camera!!!

Funny shit. As another aside, there was a restaurant at mile marker 15, that advertised cocktails. Please, have a cocktail and then attempt these seriously stressful twisty roads.

There you have it. A very full day!!!

Biking and Hiking and Secret Waterfalls...

2010-06-09T19:45:00.000-07:00

Wow, I haven't posted since Katie has been here... oopsie.

Okay, here is what has been going on for the last few days:

Saturday, mom and I didn't do too much of anything, I was really sore from the surfing, and we both were a little spaced out!!

Sunday, mom and I hit up this very cool place... the Moku'ae'ae Island Bird Sanctuary. It is by the Kilauea Lighthouse, which is at the northernmost point of the main Hawaiian Islands.

Where we saw these fantastic huge birds called Great Frigate birds, who have a wing span of 7 feet. We learned that the only way they eat is by stealing food from the more adept birds who can dive and fish. This is your educational moment, the Great Frigate birds produce less oil in their wings than any other bird, so if they hit the water, they can't fly and they drown

Katie arrived on Sunday late evening, and was obviously too pooped to pop, after her 16 hour travel day. Alas, Monday was a little bit of a write-off for her as well, because she was adjusting to the time change and jet-lag crap. But, we did groceries and drank wine and hung out and just relaxed, which I am sure was much needed for her!!!

Tuesday, yesterday, was fun! Katie & I got up early and ran 3km, down the beachfront path, it was lovely. Then, yesterday afternoon, we hit up Ke'e Beach, which falls right at the tip of the Na'Pali Coast. This beach was the perfect blend of sand and shady spots (always a good thing in my books), and it is written up as the best beach for snorkeling. I think the reason for this is that it is in a little bit of a cove, so the big waves stay out beyond the reef! Katie got some good underwater shots (she says), so as soon as I have some, I will post them!

Tuesday evening, I went to Weight Watchers, and I stayed exactly the same. Again, I will take it. I am happy to not be gaining on this holiday, and I attribute that to having some sort of control over what I am eating because I am cooking my own breakfasts and dinners!!! With that said, we didn't feel like cooking after our long day, so we hit up 'the Best Pizza on the Island'. It was quite good, actually, fairly thin crust, but it was whole wheat crust!!!

Which brings us right to today!!! This morning, Katie & I got up and biked, uphill (which we didn't know until we were on the bikes) 4 km to this hiking path that leads to these secret waterfalls. They are called the Ho'opi'i falls. Apparently no one, except the locals, knew about them until the authors of our guidebook wrote about them and told people how to get there. It was stunning. And then we biked the 4 km home... eep.

Katie with her 'spider stick' (a stick that is used to destroy whatever web is in the path ahead!!):

Me, on the very cool trail in to the falls:

Me, at the very tippy top of the falls:

This afternoon, we hit the Coconut Marketplace... which I am sure at some point used to be booming with fun shoppies, but is now mostly run-down and closed, and most of the shoppies sell the same touristy stuff... however, it is the only place on the island of Kauai that has the Dole Pineapple Whip, which is a dairy-free (yay Katie) frozen delight that mom and I discovered on our last trip to Hawai'i!!!

Then, I bought a ukulele. Because I have wanted one since our last trip here, and because I think it might be fun to add a cute ukulele element to our 2Divine show that is upcoming this summer.

Katie just got back from the beach and said that she wants all of you to know that she saw 4 sea turtles who all popped up their heads from playing to say 'hello'... She got pics, so when they are uploaded, I will share them with you!!!

So there you have it! Stay tuned for our trip up to Waimea Canyon (Hawaii's version of the Grand Canyon)... We are thinking of tomorrow or the next day!!!

Also, stay tuned for our journey to the Tattoo studio... I will be bringing my video camera!!!

Hanging 10...

2010-06-04T18:22:00.000-07:00

Okay, people... I surfed. And let me tell you, surfing is HARD!!! As I type this, my whole entire upper body is sore! But, man, I had fun. And there is video. Yes, I decided to omit tries 1 and 2, as they were sad and pathetic. So, without further ado...

Hope you all laughed as hard as my mom was laughing at me!!!

It's a jungle out there...

2010-06-03T22:46:00.001-07:00

As I sit here, writing this post, the sun is setting and the creatures are slowly going to sleep. It is 7:45pm Kauai time. I am taking a minute to write about what my mother has started lovingly referring to as the Jungle Creatures of Kauai.

First, we have the roosters.

Apparently, cock-fighting was huge on the island back in the day, and although now illegal, it is still prevalent. Well, during one of the massive hurricanes of the last decade, all the roosters got loose, and instead of dying off, they procreated and now there are literally THOUSANDS of wild roosters running about the island. I must add that there are no coyotes or any other major threat to them, so the rooster population just keeps growing. In fact, they sell plush roosters and call them the island mascot in many of the tourist shops!! Let me tell you, they wake up early, and they crow all day long. While cute with their chicks...

They are annoying at best. I will say this, I am growing accustomed to the sound, but I am also lucky to have 2 full weeks here!!! Should you ever visit Kauai, bring earplugs if you like to sleep-in.

Next up are the birds. Beyond the roosters, I mean. There are Myna-birds, and these little ones that I love called Java Sparrows. They have what sounds like an endless conversation. Tonight, mom and I discovered that they love to perch on the eves trough next door and they do this cute little shuffle. I will try to video it for all of you. They look like little penguin-birds. The house that we are staying in has a little bird house and since I have started putting seeds in it, I have noticed a huge upswing in bird population. Here they are sitting at the 'bar':

In the neighbourhood that we are staying, there are 3 dogs next door who don't ever stop barking. Maybe it is because we are new and they do not recognize us, but holy cow... I don't have a pic. Just know that they are small dogs. And truly, nothing against small dogs, but they do tend to make big noises.

Last but definitely the best, are the 2 feral cats. Kalani and her baby, Kama. They have been adopted by the family that owns the house, and this is definitely their 'safe place'. They are so cute... while slightly apprehensive of us at first, they have quickly warmed and the mother let me pet her tonight. This is of the two of them watching me cut up their scraps from our Mahi-Mahi dinner last night...

And this is cute little Kama smelling the delish fish and getting a little daring...

As an aside, about Kama, she is very brave and will take-down any gecko or large bug that even dares come close to the lanai. She is an excellent bug-taker-downer. It is very amusing to watch her pulverize and play with and then finally devour the aforementioned geckos and other prey that cross her playful path.

So here's how it goes. 4:00ish-am. The roosters start, which wakes up the dogs, which makes the roosters crow louder, which wakes up all the birdies in the trees who add in their song, and it makes for quite a morning cacophony. Whew. I am positive that I will miss it all when I am home and listening to the crazy people across the street with their house music at 9am.

Hawaii Cacophony beats Toronto Cacophony any day of the week. Guess what my mom's fave new word is? Here's a clue, I said it 3 times in this post!!!

Adventuring...

2010-06-02T22:10:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a couple days, my mom and I have been toodling around the island. And by toodling, I mean lots and lots of driving and stopping, and picturing etc. On Monday, we drove all along the North Shore until we quite literally couldn't drive anymore. The road ends at apparently the best beach on the island, (Ke'e Beach) which has some killer snorkling. We are going to wait until Katie gets here to do the snorkling, so be on the lookout for cool underwater fish shots!! What we did see, that were very cool, were caves. The legend goes that the caves were dug by the fire goddess Pele. She dug them for her lover, but left them when they became filled with water. They are, indeed, very spooky. Despite the 'danger, falling rocks, don't linger' sign,

I went all the way into the wet cave,

and it was so quiet, it was almost disturbing. Very spooky. Mom went ALL the way into the dry cave.

Unfortunately, Monday was Memorial Day in the U.S. and us silly Canadians didn't realize it, so most of the parks and beaches were PACKED with people, and all of the state parks and touristy things were closed. Lucky for us, we are here for a little while, so we added some things to the list to go back to. Like the Moku'ae'ae Island Bird Sanctuary, for example.

Tuesday, we both were weary from our previous day of journeying, so we stuck close to the house. We went into Kapa'a town and booked our tattoo appointments with one very sexy tattoo artist Garrett at Kapu Tattoo, for the Saturday before we depart the island. That's right, people, I have gotten my mother addicted to ink. Very exciting stuff. Tuesday evening was my weight watchers meeting. The leader is very bubbly and they had pretty cool new products that I am excited to try!! (Pam, if you are reading, I grabbed you one!) Just as an aside, I stayed the same. Which I will take considering I am on vacation. I am hoping to be down next week with all of the activities I have planned for this coming week!!

Today, we were going to hit the beach, but it was strangely chilly and a little windy and not beachy weather. So, we went shopping. SURPRISE!!! I bought a bag of mixed feelings. These cute things are oddly the big rage right now, and honestly, they were too cute, I couldn't leave them in the store. They are called Kimochis. You are supposed to buy the big doll which comes with 3 feelings, that they keep in their various pockets, and it is a tool used to teach kids about emotions. You can buy extra feelings to give to your Kimochi dolls. I bypassed the doll and went straight for the bag of mixed feelings. Funny stuff.

Anyhoo, that is all for now... we have more adventures lined up, so stay tuned!!!

Absolutely nothing...

2010-05-30T20:57:00.000-07:00

Today, people, we did nothing. Not one thing. Okay, maybe I did a little laundry, and maybe we went to get groceries, and went out for brunch, but other than that, we did nothing. We sat out on the lanai and read and drank our coffee and tea. I chatted with the BF online for a bit, and right now I am making dinner.

What I did do today, was make a little video of the house that we are staying in for our trip for all of you!!!
Here 'tis:

So there you have it, friends... day 3. Tomorrow is Memorial Day in the U.S. and therefore things will be closed, and the beaches will probably be a mass of people all day, so mom and I are planning on doing a little driving-slash-exploring the east coast of the island.

Aloha!

Airports, line-ups, and screaming babies...

2010-05-29T23:53:00.000-07:00

Day one of travel. Well, technically, day 2... okay, let me backtrack... day one was the longest travel day EVER in the history of travel days. Mom and I were in a cab at 7am to the Toronto International Airport. 18 hours later, we had gin & tonics in hand in our Honolulu hotel room. We had decided to stay the night in Honolulu instead of continuing on in one day to Kauai (our final destination) in the hopes of lessening the travelness of the trip. However, as I am about to tell you, it didn't. Boo.

It turns out that my mom has swiss cheese in place of her brain. I mean that lovingly, as I come by this swiss-cheese brain genetically... She got so excited about getting to Kauai, that she mistakenly booked our flight out of Honolulu for YESTERDAY morning, before we even got there. So, when we got to the check-in counter, we did not exist. They had no bookings for us. It was very confusing. In fact, when my mom put her credit card into the self-check-in computer, it spit out a boarding pass for an Arthur Watson. WHAT? So, two lines later, we were in a line-up to purchase tickets for ANOTHER flight to Kauai. You have to understand that there was only 2 EMPLOYEES servicing 16 frickin' desks. Seriously, running back and forth like little Hawaiian Air chickens. Screaming babies, annoyed tourists, a southern woman with a story worse than ours who miraculously was still smiling, and 3 line-ups later, we had tickets in hand (first-class I might add, for a 37 minute flight)

Here is a pic of me typing the beginning of this blog posting at the Airport Starbucks, where we loitered for many hours before the bar opened. Before we could officially check-in (read: line-up numbers 4 & 5).

Yay for Frappaccinos and Chai Lattes and ridiculously long book-club books.

Also yay for 2 airport bars where we had our first frothy bevvies of our vacay and greatly over-stayed our welcome

Then the 8 minute trip from the airport to the house we are staying in, took an hour, because we were driving in the dark and had no clue where we were going, and got a little lost. *sigh*. We are here in the house now. The vacation has officially started. I anticipate the next blog posting to be far more 'sunshine, lollipops and rainbows' possibly gin-induced-euphoria... and far less aggravation, bad customer-service, and long line-ups.

Awesome

2010-05-26T07:34:00.000-07:00

My life is really awesome right now, and unfortunately for all of you, that has translated into no blogging.
I leave for Hawaii in 2 sleeps, and I am bringing my mom's laptop, so will be blogging about my surfing escapades complete with video and pictures!!! I also found a Weight Watchers meeting right down the block from where we are staying in Kauai, so I will also be weighing in on vacay!!!
STAND BY!!!

Stuff...

2010-05-06T18:03:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone.

I know I haven't been around, and it is purely because there is some stuff going on that I have been debating whether or not to blog about....

Someone extremely close to me has been diagnosed with Breast Cancer, and I have been feeling very sad and very useless about it. Not being able to get home to Ottawa to see her and hug her has been very difficult. However, the latest news is that the tumor is hormone based. I am going to quote my cousin here:

"Cancer that is hormone-sensitive is slightly slower growing and has a better chance of responding to hormone-suppression treatment, than cancer that is hormone receptor negative. This is probably why you are in stage 0. Even though it is agressive (grade 3), it is growing SLOWER ! The cancer should respond well to hormone suppression treatments.

Treatment : Anti-estrogen therapy works by blocking the hormone receptors, so they can't signal cancer cells to grow.

Hormone suppression medicines can help prevent a recurrence (return) of breast cancer, if the cancer was growing in response to estrogen and/or progesterone. A score of ER+ and PR+ will respond well to hormone suppression treatment, such as tamoxifen. These kinds of breast cancer can be treated with medicines that lower the estrogen in your body, as well as medicine that blocks estrogen from getting into the hormone receptors of your body’s cells."

So there it is. I am feeling really optimistic about the treatments and am sending many many many good healing vibes her way.

In other news, I met another one of my heroes. They are just coming out of the woodwork. Helen Tansey, one of Toronto's top photographers sat in my section in the pub. Her and her friends were hysterical, and I wished that I was sitting at their table with them instead of waiting on them. Anyhoo, as with most tables, the conversation came around to me being more than just a waitress, and bottom line is that she is going to shoot Katie and my promo shots for our next cabaret!!! This is very exciting stuff!!!

Let's see, what else is new...
Hmmm... well, I will be in Hawaii in 22 short sleeps...
Things with the boy are going very well...

I didn't weigh in this week, but I have a really good reason: my fridge broke. I have no clue when or how, but I was doing some spring cleaning and felt like having a skinny cow caramel ice cream cone that I had just bought. So, to the freezer I went. And it was skinny cow caramel soup. The light was on in the fridge, but the motor had stopped working. Wednesday morning, my landlady called to say that the new fridge was going to be arriving in roughly 5 minutes, and could I empty my fridge immediately. Rush rush rush, empty empty empty, et voila new fridge. And then I was off to go pick up my new bed. Getting this queen sized bed up my staircase was an adventure I wished I had videoed purely for this blog. Talk about a workout!!! Hahahaha. Anyhoo, sorry about the lack of WW this week, I had a lot going on on Wednesday!!!

Meeting and Greeting...

2010-04-21T08:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I met my favourite author. An absolute comedic genius, Mr. Christopher Moore. This man is brilliant. Kookie, but brilliant. The line-up to get our books signed was extremely long, but it was worth the wait.
For example, while standing in line, I saw books like this:

I don't know who this woman is, but she gives good advice. I like cookies AND shoes!!!

When I got up there, I asked him if he would sign my boob, totally rockstar style and he said his wife would cut off his hand if he did it. So, alas, no boob-signing.

And there Katie and I are with Mr. Moore himself. Katie said he looked a little like Steven Spielberg, and I didn't see it until yesterday, but she's not too far off.

In other news, I have some news. I have been seeing someone, very casually... And, it turns out that I really like this guy. He is 10 years younger than me, which has been a struggle to get over. I tend to spend my life living 6 months in the future... perhaps because I am so worried about turning 35 and my life isn't where I thought it would be by now... With B, I am living and enjoying every day, and not stressing about where we are going to be in 6 months. This is a first. I haven't done that since Rusty and I broke up almost 9 years ago. I know this seems completely out of the blue, and trust me, B totally surprised me... I've known him for awhile, we work together at the steakhouse, and I never would have given him a second-look... until I did.

Also, I met with the bride and we hashed out quite a few details and things that she is looking for. This is going to be fun to plan. I'm excited about it, which is really cool.

So, that is my last week in a nutshell.

Planning & Reducing...

2010-04-14T09:30:00.001-07:00

As an aside to last week's post, here is an article posted in yesterday's Toronto Star!!

Okay, so we have some regulars at the pub... I don't know how to accurately describe these two. They are... made for each other. They met at the pub where I work, and have become quite the inseparable couple. Recently, they got engaged. Guess who is planning their wedding... One guess. That's right: ME!!! I sing, I act, I bake cakes, I wait tables... I plan weddings?!!! Bwah ahhahahah. You know, I think that all my years working private events in NYC, and having 14 years of waiting under my belt is going to prove to be very handy in this endeavor. I am actually really excited about it... and not just because I would really like to be planning my own wedding *sigh* but because I have often thought that if this whole make-a-living-at-my-art thing doesn't pan out, I would love to be a corporate event planner!!!

In other exciting news, I shaved 4 minutes off of my 5K time. Again, thank you Tammy for suggesting the musical theatre running mix. I will say that I am sure I look like a big goofball running peppily at the gym (yes, I did just make up a word!) clapping my hands and mouthing the words to "My Body" from The Life. My goal is, of course, to run (jog) the whole 5K... and I have been working hard to minimize my walk breaks. Of the 43 minutes that I ran on Tuesday, I only walked (briskly) for 10 of those minutes. I am very proud of myself. Next week I plan to take it to the sidewalks and see how it goes. Dana, time for shoe shopping.

Anyhoo, I suppose that is all the exciting news for this week... I am down 1.8lbs from last week, which makes being out of the 70's really close...

Until later, friends...

Baking cakes, breaking up and tipping out... not necessarily in that order...

2010-04-10T06:50:00.000-07:00

There is so much going on!!!

Okay, I'm going to bitch first before we get to the sweet stuff! At the pub where I work, they have implemented a new policy of tipping out the house. There has been much debate amongst all the pubs in the company about whether this is legal and why the company has decided to do this. Needless to say, when you do the math and it looks like the house is going to be getting an average of $8000 a year from every single employee, that is hard to swallow. Everyone has their own opinions about this whole thing, and everyone has really good points. Bottom line, $8000 times over 700 employees. You do the math. That is roughly A KAJILLION DOLLARS more than I will ever see in a year. And that is on top of all the revenue that is coming in from all the pubs. le Sigh. Like my wise friend Skye said: We can bitch and moan all we like, but it is now company policy and it isn't going anywhere, so we can suck it up or quit.

The boy and I broke up. I am not going to get into any detail about it, except to tell you all that I am very happy to still have him in my life and that our friendship is important for me to preserve.

Exciting stuff: I got commissioned to bake a cake. And get paid for it. It was for a 1-year old girl's birthday. Originally, they wanted a Cinderella theme, and since she is only 1, I figured I could get away with doing a concept cake. Baby blue, 2-tier, fondant tiara topper, little glass slipper on the second tier. Then they told me that they wanted a Tinkerbell themed cake. Hmmm, I thought... a little harder to pull off a Tinkerbell concept cake. So, I sat down with a piece of paper and designed. I had never done a 2-tier cake, nor had I done a three-dimensional figure in fondant before. So, after work the other night, I sat down and made a three-dimensional Tinkerbell out of fondant. This is what she looked like:

Bwah hahahahahha. Kind of a full-figured, cracked-out, psychotic version of Tinkerbell. So, I trashed her. And tried again. This time, taking Katie's advice and painting her face on instead of making it out of icing... Here is the final product, my very first 2-tier cake that someone paid for:

I'm not going to lie, I'm very proud of myself. I have taught myself how to decorate with fondant through trial and error. I really should take some sort of course... hmmm, a new goal, perhaps?!!

Now, I am going to have to excuse myself and go lie down, this decorating thing is exhausting!!

Reflecting...

2010-03-31T10:14:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, it's been two weeks...

I didn't go to weigh in last week, as I was sitting in a dentist's chair for a couple hours. Let me tell you, I am extremely lucky to have found a dentist that I love. Dr. Haji is amazing. Calm, sweet, fantastic bedside manner, gentle!! I had a filling done when I was very little (one of many), and as with all of those mercury fillings, they are starting to chip and fall off and I don't know what that says about my childhood dentist and/or the advancements in technology, but I am having to get those fillings removed, and the cavities underneath re-filled. Blech. At least they are now white, so they blend in more, and there is far less of that awful screechy drill sound! I spent the better part of the day frozen, trying to eat soup with a straw. Funny stuff.

I also had a meeting with my agent to go over my new headshots!! Very exciting! She laid them all out on her desk, arranged by colour of top that I was wearing, and then we started weeding. We were left with 9. And of that 9, there are two that were difficult to choose from... Here they are:
We talked it over, and the top one is the one that we decided was THE ONE!!! I like that they totally look like me. This is the one I've been using:

Which is a good picture, but I'm wearing fake eyelashes, so you can't really see my eyes, and it's about connecting with the casting director when my picture hits his/her desk. Right?!

Okay, moving on. I weighed in this week and am down another 1.8lbs! Very exciting stuff. The training continues for the upcoming 5k in July! I took my friend Tammy's advice and made a running mix for my ipod of musical theatre songs that are upbeat and peppy. I know, not the mix for everyone, but totally the mix for me. I am excited about the weather getting nicer so that I can start running outside and see the difference. From what running friends tell me, apparently the world doesn't propel you to run like the treadmill does, who knew?! Hahahaha.

I have spent the better part of this last week doing a lot of reflecting. What, exactly, do I want from my life, as a whole? And I don't know that I even have an answer to what I want from today. I suppose it is because my 35th birthday is looming. I had so many ideas of what my life was going to be like by the time I hit 35, and I am not living ANY of those ideas. I had decided, around my 32nd birthday that if I hadn't met anyone or was married by the time I hit 35, I was going to have a baby by myself. It seemed like the logical move. I want to have a baby, and I don't want to be 41 when I'm doing it. Yet, here I am in my 35th year, and I am re-thinking this strategy. I suppose I spent the better part of my early 30's, already planning my late 30's, and that is a very silly way to live your life.

So, I leave you with this question: how do YOU live in the moment?

St. Paddy's...

2010-03-21T07:09:00.000-07:00

Wow, this has been a week!! Another St. Paddy's Day down. This year wasn't as bad as years past, I didn't have any walk-outs, no one puked, no fights. A bunch of my peeps from Job #2 showed up which made my night!! I mean, it's still St. Paddy's day, which is my least fave day to work, but at the end of the day (the very long 12 1/2 hour day), I did walk away with some moolah! Sure, it cost me two days to recover, which is why I haven't posted... this week has been so exhausting!!

I will allow for a small pat on the back, however. Management always orders pizza for us on St. Paddy's. I know, it sounds funny ordering in pizza to a pub, but we aren't allowed to order food from the kitchen because it's just too busy. Last year, I scarfed 3 pieces of extra-cheese-meat-lovers-supreme in about 2 minutes. I didn't even taste them. It was the first real pizza I had eaten in FOREVER, and I didn't even enjoy it. My whole day's allotment of points in 2 minutes. This year, I promised myself to stay away from the pizza altogether. So, after a very successful weigh-in (down 2.8lbs), I stopped at Subway and got myself a turkey and veg 6" on 9-grain whole wheat with no sauce (so it wouldn't get soggy), I brought a container of raw veggies, and some trail mix. I didn't go over points, I didn't fill my body with crap, I fueled!! Yay me.

Anyhoo, I know it's not a very exciting post, but I have to start getting ready for the baby shower I am attending this afternoon! Yay babies.

Hugs...

2010-03-10T23:14:00.000-08:00

You know what a hug is? It is your heart, touching someone else's. You should be hugging someone SO CLOSE that you can feel their heart beat. Isn't that the point of a hug? I really needed a serious hug today. Dana gave me one. Thanx for that!!!

I got my new headshots done this week, and let me tell you... any Toronto people who need new headshots or headshots in general, you need to go to this guy. John Rait. He was fantastic. Super sweet, charismatic. Easy. We totally clicked. We shot out on his back deck (a record 14 degrees celcius on March 8th) and he still shoots 35mm, no digital, which warmed my heart a little. No pictures I have ever taken on my digital have measured up to the ones I have taken with my 35mm. I am excited to see the results. I get the disc on Sunday, and I will post my faves and ask for opinions, so be prepared to weigh-in...

Speaking of weighing-in... as per norm. I'm up. Like 3 pounds. Which makes no sense. I ate my points, I worked out like a crazy person, I had 3 (maybe 4) people tell me I look skinny, and I'm up? I call bullshit. But I cried at the meeting. So, Pam (who is the BEST WW meeting leader EVER) sat down with me before the meeting and we went through my tracker and talked about food intake + working out, and it turns out I'm not eating enough... WHAT? Apparently, food is fuel, and when you work out, you need to eat protein, blah blah blah blah, I should eat my activity points. And then she says to me "where are you in your cycle". I say "I have no clue" which I should know, as a responsible adult female. So I look it up, and sure enough, I should be "cycling" right now. Not that it's an excuse, just one of the reasons I could be up, despite the great week... So there you go, I'm not going to stress out, I'm going to up my protein and eat all good stuff (food is fuel, not emotion) and keep to my good habits and get proudly on the scale next Wednesday and not be stressed out about it.

The meeting this week was really good, actually. I really needed it. I honestly don't know how people do WW online and don't go to meetings. It is the best part of being on WW. We talked a lot about Weight Loss as a prison and Weight Watchers as an AA type dealio, and how to deal with it as a lifestyle adjustment. I really needed (this time around) to get it in my heart and soul that I will have a bad relationship with food for the rest of my life. One day at a time. I eat to fill holes in my life. I haven't identified what the holes represent yet, and I'm sure the holes differ the older I get, but I am closer with every day to figuring them out. To quote one of the girls in my meeting: "I am one cookie away from being the person I used to be". I know that sitting on my living room floor and eating an entire extra-thick-crust-extra-cheese-meat-lovers-pizza is a bad decision, and I haven't done it in almost 10 years, but I still make bad decisions and I need to know that I am still going to be okay tomorrow. I will be okay tomorrow. I will make my goal weight and I will maintain it. I look good, I feel good, I like working out, I like who I am becoming, I have very little in the way of regrets.

As an aside, and one that touches me deeply, today, we lost Corey Haim. My 16 year old self mourns. As I have a little touch of insomnia, following one of the worst migraines I have ever had, I am going to toss 'The Lost Boys' in the DVD player (yes, I own it on DVD) and say a little prayer.

Rain...

2010-03-04T18:10:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, my mom was in town. She had gotten tickets for us to see a show called 'Rain, a Beatles Tribute'. I had gotten it into my head that it was going to be like 'Jersey Boys', but with the 'Beatles', the story of their rise to fame in musical-theatre-type scripty-bits with their songs interspersed. But it wasn't... it was a full-on Beatles Concert. These 4 guys have been touring the world as the Beatles, and let me tell you, they were FANTASTIC. I couldn't keep my eyes off the guy playing 'Paul'. He was bang-on... his mannerisms, his look, his VOICE was eerily creepily like Paul McCartney. Amazing.

Now, to rewind a bit, we went to the show on Sunday February 28th. The day that Canada took gold in the Men's Hockey Olympic Finals. The day that Canada broke records!! For those of you not living in Canada, it is hard to adequately describe an energy. But being out in the street after the game and seeing strangers high-fiving, and hugging, banging on restaurant windows and getting a thumbs up response from the diners inside. It was amazing to be out there.

Also, I am back on the WWWagon... I had gotten a little distracted this week, with various events, and yesterday I re-committed. I went to a dance class last night. I hit the gym tomorrow with my gym buddy. Weight-lifting class on Saturday. Yoga on Sunday. Super-Cardio on Monday. That is the plan. July 11th is my 5K and I have to get back into full swing if I am going to make it. Now, despite the distraction this week, I am still down. Not by a whole lot, (a measly 0.2 lbs), but in the right direction, so I'll take it.

Ooooh, and for those of you in Toronto and looking for something to do on Sunday March 7th, it is the Oscars and that means the annual Oscar Party... We will be having it at the Rhino on Queen West (right across from the Cadillac Lounge), festivities start at 7pm. There are ballots if you want in to the pool ($10 a pop, most correct answers takes the pot)... Dress up!!

Anyhoo, I suppose that is all... next week, I'll post some Oscar party pics!!

A show!

2010-02-25T12:08:00.001-08:00

So, the show on Saturday went well, besides some MAJOR SOUND ISSUES! It was a little bit of a variety show, with performances from some of Belleville's Youth Group, a local celebrity and then the three of us girls! It was not a crazy large audience, but, there was an Artistic Director for a professional theatre company in the audience, so let's hope I made a good impression!!

Other than that, my life has been a little bit of a crazy place with work this past week. Thank god Canadians love to come to the pub to watch Hockey, and that our teams (both Men and Women's) are kicking some serious butt!! I will say this about Team Canada, I am enjoying every single event. I am feeling very patriotic this Olympics... and hands down, my fave Olympic moment was Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir winning the gold. She couldn't stop moving on the podium, she was so excited, and he was so cute when he fell off!!

For those of you that missed it, here is a clip!

In other news, I am down 1.2lbs this week!! Very exciting stuff.

I suppose that is all there is to report... I know, so very boring.

I will leave you today with a video that a friend emailed me to put in the WTF file. Enjoy.

OCD...

2010-02-19T06:39:00.001-08:00

So, if you have been reading my blog for awhile, you know that I have a slight problem with OCD... heh heh, and you know about me that I freak out internally, when things go awry... I was starting to freak out about this concert I have coming up on Saturday evening in Belleville. Mostly because I hadn't met the other girls yet, or rehearsed with the pianist, and I don't like the feeling of being unprepared.

Yesterday, all of that washed away. We had rehearsal in Brockville... and it was super smooth. The pianist is ridiculously awesome. He picked up songs that he didn't know and played them through the first time seeing them, as if he himself had written them. Amazing. The other two women, Julie Kevan and Amanda Struthmann are extremely talented, it is going to be wonderful to be on stage with both of them...

Needless to say, my stress level has depleted somewhat since Wednesday. Just thought you should know!!!

So, if you are interested in coming to this show, click here for information! It is going to be a great show, singing, dancing, stand-up...

Geez...

2010-02-17T10:00:00.000-08:00

So busy...
My newest problem: I have been saying a lot of 'yes' these past few weeks. "Yes, of course I'll do this concert thingie in Belleville", "Yes, of course I'll sing at your benefit gala", "Yes, of course I'll work your lunch shift"... which has led to me being a little on the over-tired, under-slept, tad stressed out side of life. Which has also led to me getting a cold sore the size of Toronto on my lower lip, which has led to me postponing my headshot photo shoot... Which is also stressing me out. On the good side of things, I haven't been eating my stress, I am actually down, which is great.

So, let me rewind... I have been trying to get ahold of this photographer for my new headshots since the beginning of January. We played phone tag, and then he sprained his wrist. The wrist of his camera hand. Boo. Then, he felt better and we played some more phone tag, finally securing a date for the shoot, and I got all prettied up, and went down there to the studio with my freshly ironed shirts, to stand outside in the cold for about a half hour. When I was freezing, I managed to push aside the gate, and find a doorbell, he came downstairs and had been passed out due to a major case of bronchitis meds! So, we rescheduled for yesterday, and over the weekend, I developed the cold sore from hell. So, we reschedule AGAIN. Quelle process!

Also, I have been a little on the, ahem, frustrated side of things with the new boy. Which was resolved last night in quite a conversation, that all ended very well. But, over the last couple of weeks has been stressing me out...

Frustration seems to be running a little high with me lately, so I'm sorry if this post is a little on the negative side. I have issues with disorganization, and have been faced head-on with some serious disorganization and have been dealing with it the best way I know how, deep-breaths and painted-on smiles.... I know I haven't posted in a couple weeks, mostly out of busy, but a little on the unmotivated to write side too...

Anyhoo, bottom line, I will be happy to see February gone in two weeks. On to March... where I will try my hardest to not say so much 'Yes'. Well, you know what I mean... not get myself into such a stress place. I know I do this to myself, and somehow can't seem to realize that I'm doing it until I am right in the heart of it. I suppose this is my biggest challenge in life.

Growing up...

2010-02-02T20:27:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I am back in rehearsals for the Showtune Showdown!! It has been a ton of fun over the last couple years, but this year, we are back to the core Zucchini group. Shaun Toohey, Kris Joseph, Nicole Milne, Wendy Berkelaar (musical director, extraordinaire) and myself. And our song choices are amazing. Our first rehearsal was seamless. We fell right in, and it was comfortable and easy... I love that feeling.

In other news, I met with one of the 'Cannibal' guys to talk about this project, that I mentioned in my last post. Turns out he has his own theatre company and asked if I would be interested in joining a trio of women to do cabarets all across Ontario, sporadically, over the next year. I said 'obvi'. So, our first concert is on the 20th in Belleville. I'm a little excited about it. I'm excited to meet these other women and get on stage and do my thing, know what I mean?!

Okay... so my friend Dana is a runner. That's her on the left with the big number on her chest.

And by 'runner' I mean she runs half-marathons. She hasn't always been a runner, but over the last couple years, she has really embraced it and found herself. I have had some envy over her self-discipline and ability to just go and run a marathon like I bake cakes, easy peasy. I was one of those kids who got stitches in her side and complained about running around the school grounds on Canada Fitness Day. (As an aside, do they still do that?) I got the bronze patch every year for CFD for 'effort'. And the more I have been going to the gym and really enjoying the treadmill and my interval training, the more I get into it. Last week, Dana mentioned the possibility of me running a 5K. I laughed inside thinking 'yeah, right'. But it knawed at me. I wondered if I could do it. I mean, I run 2.5 miles on the treadmill, what is just over a half a mile more? So, in my mom's condo gym on Monday morning, I did it. 3.2 miles. 5K. And it was okay. I mean, I was a little bit of a mess, but I did it. And I have been thinking about it since then. Dana has inspired me to face it and achieve it. So, I decided that I am going to work toward doing an actual 5K on a road with a million other people in the spring. It feels a little lofty at the moment, but I'm really excited about it. Anyone wanna join me?!! I'm serious. Message me if you are interested.

You know what else I did today? I bought RSP's. For real. When I was 22, and fresh out of living the life of an on-board cruise-ship showgirl, I had a ton of money and a mom who kept nudging me to invest said aforementioned ton of money. I didn't. I spent it all. On many trips to various places to visit all the people that I had just spent the better part of a year with. I was 22 and this was my money that I had earned and I was going to spend it if I wanted to... gawldarnit. I know my mom is reading this and cringing with the memory of her daughter wasting thousands of dollars on clothes I haven't worn in over a decade!!! (Sorry mom) So, here I am at 34 years old and I finally have a Mutual Fund Portfolio. It all sounds very grown up doesn't it? Now, if you ask me what exactly it is, I couldn't tell you...

So there we go. I am posting at 6am. I am headed to WW in a couple hours and will try to post those results. The steakhouse that I work for has a 'drunk festival'... I mean, ski and airband competition with other locations at a ski hill just north of the city. Well, everyone is there, and therefore it is bare bones staff at work, which means I am going into day 2 of 4 doubles in a row. Not fun. I might want to hurt people by the end of my day on Friday... boo. Happy thoughts, friends, happy thoughts.

Dumbing down and being surprised...

2010-01-28T08:05:00.000-08:00

So, first of all, I had to work at the Steakhouse yesterday, and therefore didn't have any time to make it up to weigh in, sorry!

But here's what has been going on with me: (and this might be a little TMI, so sorry!) I have had two cycles this month. Two. Which is a lot of blood to lose in one month. There aren't enough bananas in Toronto to help. So, needless to say I have been pretty tired lately. Still making it to the gym, but finding it hard to get out of bed... boo.

In other news, my new agent has been sending me out all over the place. I had a commercial audition last week for vitamins, where I had to dumb-down my singing voice and sound like 'every woman' while singing a very fast version of the Can-Can about all the busy stuff I was doing. Also a commercial audition on Tuesday for cleaning spray, where I had to be a 'surprised mom-type'. Funny stuff. I had to learn VERY FAST what auditioning on-camera is all about.

Katie and I got together yesterday to do a preliminary cabaret discussion, and it is going to be a great show. Even better than the last. Exciting.

Anyhoo, I suppose I will go and have some tea. I have a little meeting this afternoon with one of the guys I did 'Cannibal' with about a project he is interested in having me do! Will keep you all posted...

Book Club Realities...

2010-01-22T22:34:00.000-08:00

Because I have so much time on my hands (haha), I belong to 2 book clubs. Seriously? Yup. 2. One with the Irish Pub and one with the Steakhouse.

Tonight was my bookclub meeting with the Steakhouse group. The book we read this past month was 'A Thousand Splendid Suns'.

Please. Read. This. Book.

It was beautifully written, and a stunning story. Heartbreaking, and eye-opening. It is written by Khaled Hosseini (of 'Kite Runner' fame). I can't even begin to describe the plot to you without ruining the point of the book. But, beyond the actual plot, it describes the dawning of the Taliban and women going from having freedom to having to wear Burkas and not being able to go out in public without a man to escort her. It opened my eyes to all sorts of things that I didn't know about. All I knew about the middle east was the Taliban. I live a somewhat sheltered Canadian life. I work two jobs, I pay my rent, I go to Vegas with my girlfriends on a whim. I have COMPLETE freedom. I don't know what it is to live a life where there is no such thing. This book was AMAZING.

Please. Read. This. Book.

In the wake of what is going on in Haiti, this book club meeting actually moved a lot of us to tears, and our discussion centered around our blessed lives. We don't know what it is to have our city in ruins. Just like we don't live in fear of the whistling sound of incoming bombs. We don't live in the fear of our villages being overtaken by warlords. But the reality is that there is so much going on in the world that I can't even begin to understand. Lives lived that I can't imagine living.

One of the girls tonight talked about a story that she watched on the news this morning whilst working-out on the treadmill in her condo gym. It centered around a man who had been pacing for 6 days and nights beside a pile of rubble, convinced that his wife was buried underneath it. She said the news crew interviewed him and he had said that he could hear her screaming for help, even though no one else could hear it, which is why he continued to stay there and pace. Not sleeping, not ever leaving the rubble. The more he paced, the more they removed bits and pieces from the pile. Finally, they found his wife, ALIVE, a little worse for wear with a broken rib and a few broken fingers, scratches on her face... but, ALIVE. She said she looked around her gym and everyone working out was glued to the TV, some crying, watching this man on the news break down..........

I don't really know where I'm going with this post. I feel... humbled... by this last book. This is what I love about reading. The many places you can go with just your eyes and your heart. I am sorry if this post seemed random and kind of all over the place, it's just how I am feeling right now... all over the place.

My thoughts go to everyone pacing and hoping for their loved ones in Haiti.

So much...

2010-01-20T09:27:00.000-08:00

The thing about going on vacation with 7 of your closest friends, is that when you get back, reality is a little hard to swallow. Work has been a little painful this week, which is brutal since I need the money!! Also, trying to get my body back on a regular schedule has been a struggle. I made a conscious effort to get back to my regular gym schedule, but it's been a tough week all around! With that said and done, considering, I'm only up a little halfer. Not too bad. I'm sure I undid a lot of damage this past week back!

So, here's all the girls:From left: Julie, June, Gules, Kerri, Christine, Christie, Skye, and myself!

This is June "The Cardshark" Kuniyoshi, in the airport, instructing the girls on the ins and outs of Blackjack:She is a gambler, and walked away with the most money of all of us. I lost. I was up, a good amount, but then as I was saying the phrase "I think I'm just going to cash out now", these two yahoos from Texas started calling me a wimp. Of course, these two guys were playing with $500 chips and had stacks of 'em on the rail. So me and my little $5 chips played... and lost. Boo.

The weekend started out with a very cute border guard. June's car went through first, and then our car. He looked in and said "Where you ladies off to?" We said "Vegas, with those girls" (pointing to June's car) He said "Are all you ladies single as well?" With a big smirk on his face. We said "Um, yeah". So, a million hours on planes later, we arrive. Immediately upon getting into the hotel and dropping our bags, we headed down to get a bevvie. Out of nowhere, this ridiculously tall guy stops us and the following conversation ensued:

Tall guy: Are you ladies partying?
Us: Yeah.
TG: Okay, here's the thing, I was here for a competition and am down about 200 grand. I am leaving today, but have a room full of booze if you want it.
Us: (looking warily at each other) Uh, okay....
4 of us go up to his "room", otherwise known as the BIGGEST HOTEL ROOM I HAVE EVER SEEN. It had a dining room, for pete's sake. It was bigger than 2 of my apartments (including the back deck) combined. Please know that if we had been intoxicated, we probably wouldn't have gone up with him... Anyhoo, he hands us unopened bottles of Patron Tequila, Ciroc Vodka, Champagne, orange juice, cranberry juice, redbull and water... in fact, here's a pic:

Seriously, only in Vegas.

The rest of the weekend went a little like this: Casino, drinking, eating, dancing, drinking, jell-o shots, casino, eating, jell-o shots, dancing, drinking, barely sleeping. Then, back on a plane. I wish I had gotten a pic of the first plane out of Vegas. We had the entire back row of the plane and all of us passed out. It would have been a brilliant pic. Instead, I have this one:

I did manage to squeeze in a little time with some very old friends who live in Vegas. Both of them are girls I used to work on the ship with back in the day. Wyndee now has 2 extremely beautiful boys, and a bun in the oven with her hubbie, a man she, in fact, met on the ship. Dani is currently dancing in Bette Midler's show. Very cool. Here we are:

I will leave you with a couple teasers...

1) Katie and I are planning another 2Divine show, so be ready for more fun rehearsal videos.
2) I am getting my new headshots done next week.
3) I met someone...

Vacation?!

2010-01-14T22:35:00.000-08:00

Las Freaking Vegas. Four flights in 43 hours. I kid you not. We left at 7am on Sunday, and got back at 2am on Wednesday. It was AWESOME. And ridiculous. 8 girls. A day and a half in Las Vegas. I am still recovering. Which is crazy. Albeit, I have been working non-stop, both jobs since I got back, so, no rest for the wicked, right?

Needless to say, this is going to be a short post, because I'm a little headachey, and under-slept, and a little bruised, and right now, I don't really have the energy to even post a pic or two. I will do that on Saturday. I promise. Seriously.

Las. Freaking. Vegas.

Looking back. And looking forward...

2010-01-06T12:28:00.001-08:00

I did something today, that I very rarely do... I went back and re-read last year's beginning post. It is funny to read something that I wrote and realize that I could have written the exact same post today. Except for one thing... I have a genuine hope for this coming year. I don't think I felt that last year. I mean, what am I trying to say... I obviously felt hope last year, I do tend to at the beginning of every year, that hope is what led me to this blog, to putting it out there and needing the support of people in cyberspace to help me along my journey. And what I have learned about myself these past 12 months has been monumental. I learned that I actually like the gym. I learned to not take myself so seriously (eyebrow, anyone?) I learned that I can do many things I didn't think I could. I enter into my 2010 with renewed faith in myself. This year already feels different. Yes, I did say MY 2010, as I do feel like I am coming into my own. I should hope everyone would refer to it as THEIRS. I will own my year, and all the many ways I can make this year a better year than last.

When I signed with my new agent, she gave me a goal setting sheet to fill out. Goals for this month and goals for the year. I think that is a fantastic thing for everyone to do. It was a neat exercise for me, and I took mine beyond acting. I have a goal to make waiting tables my hobby instead of the other way around. I have a goal to up my work-outs by one a week, making it 4 total. I have a goal to make one of those work-outs a dance class. I have quite a few goals that are for my heart, and I am choosing to not share those with you, Sorry!! Keep in mind that these are not 'Resolutions', but little changes that I can accommodate slowly over the year.

I did some small mathematics today. I have roughly just under 30 lbs to lose. I am going to do it this year, and this is how: 30 lbs divided by 12 months is 2.5 lbs a month. Which is 0.6 lbs a week. Which sounds way more achievable than 30 lbs. Small steps, people, small steps.

This is what happens when you post something on Facebook...

2009-12-29T06:18:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or whatever it is that you celebrate! I had a great Christmas! My mom came here to Toronto, because I was still having to work some shifts here and there! On Christmas Eve, my dad and his wife came over for dinner. Her brother-in-law owns this kick-ass Portuguese restaurant, and they gave Dad a whole bunch of deliciousness to bring over! It was a really nice evening! I did the cooking on Christmas Day, and did something a little different. I went with Cornish Game Hen. They were so cute sitting in the pan, like little mini turkeys. I have this cheese compliment fig and pear compote, so I made a little bit of a glaze from that, and made little individual versions of the veggie bake thing! It was delish, if I do say so myself! And, I might add, super easy. The cornish hens cook in about an hour, and so does the veggie bake thing, so it all went in the oven at the same time!

Now, a little while ago, I made my Facebook status something like "Sarah is starting her Christmas wish list early" and added a link to this fantastic website! With all the baking I do, I should have an apron, right?! And a really cute apron, at that! My mom has trained me well over the years, where when I see something that I like and go to buy it, I hear her voice in my head saying: "Sarah, put it down, it's Christmas soon" and then I put it down and don't buy it. But I have been coveting aprons. I have been coveting aprons all over Toronto. I have been coveting my friend Katie's apron that I bought her for her birthday. Now, I knew that mom wasn't going to buy me an apron, because she had commented on my Facebook status with something like "so sad, too bad, I'm done your shopping"! However, when I opened my gifts, she was super sneaky and got me this apron:Come on, like the cutest apron! I actually squealed when I opened the box!! Cupcakes and little pink bows!! But wait! Then, I opened one of the gifts from Dad & Carol, and it was a box of aprons. I kid you not! Look:

A Christmas apron!

A New Year's apron!

A Valentine's Day apron!

An apron with poodles on it!

Polka-Dots!!! And embroidery! *swoon*

And finally, check out the scalloped edges and more embroidery!

Carol made all of these aprons!! Seriously. I think I am super lucky to be the proud owner of a sick amount of very fabulous aprons, and now will have to bake more!! So, to everyone that I work with that reads this, you are in for a sweet 2010!!

Speaking of 2010, New Year's Eve is fast approaching. I don't, generally, make resolutions. I think I went through that spiel last year, so I will keep it to myself! I did decide to make some promises to myself, however, and the first one is to make 2010 the best year ever. I will be 35 in the new year. I have a new agent, and I am filled with Industry hope for the new year. I will also hit my goal weight in 2010. Mark my words. I have decided to use the money I make on New Year's Eve to pay for my new headshots. Break the work-curse by using it for what I want to do with my life. Et voila.

I did weigh in last week, and in all the midst of the Christmas hullabaloo, forgot to post. Oopsie. But, I am down 1.8 lbs!! There is no weigh-in this week for Weight Watchers, so I will have to wait until next week!

Happy New Year, peeps. I wish for all of you a 2010 that is filled with making your dreams a reality. A 2010 filled with love and laughs and perhaps some cookies from me!

p.s. This happens to be my 100th post!! Whoo hoo!

It's Christmas, a time of forgiving...

2009-12-17T06:12:00.001-08:00

And therefore you should forgive me for being blog-delinquent. Right? I have had so much going on that I don't even know where to start. Okay, rewind my life 2ish weeks....

The show:
Okay. This was one of the best theatrical experiences I have had in my life. And not in a crazy way, but being surrounded by a team of ridiculously funny, talented, cute boys for two weeks is not necessarily in my list of things NOT to do... these boys humbled me with their ability to just be funny, which is not easy if you aren't of an improv background. They all knew each other from shows past and therefore knew each others funny limits. I was thrown in to a pack of funny wolves, and I survived. And maybe was a little funny myself! The producers and writers have gotten some really good feedback from quite a few sources, and I believe are writing some more songs and re-writing some scripty bits. I look forward to the musical that is shaping and taking-form, and I look forward to being a part of something ridiculously awesome. Where audiences walk away saying 'man, I have no clue what that was, but I loved it'. AWESOME.

Then,
I went away. This trip was the source of much stress. First it started out as a trip to Vegas. Amazing. I have very good friends in Vegas, and had found a very cheap flight, it was going to be great. Then it changed to the Bahamas. Let me rewind. This was my step-sister's 40'th surprise Birthday Trip. Which, when changed to the Bahamas, was un-realistic for me, financially, 3 weeks before Christmas. In fact, I stressed about it so much, that I lost sleep and was nauseous for most of November. However, in the long run, I had a great time. Let me emphasize GREAT. There were 17 of us. 17. That is one hell of a birthday trip. I hope, to God, and I am not a religious person, but I hope, that when I turn 40, 17 people who love me, put together a trip like this. She had no clue, until she got to the airport and saw all of us with our 'Leigh's Birthday Trip' t-shirts, that all of us were going. She didn't even know, until she checked in, where she was going. Amazing. Props to Meghan for not only keeping it a secret, but getting everything organized and making Leigh's 40th, a birthday a trip to remember.

So, back to work after my trip away. Serious reality. Back into the grind after 4 days of lounging by the pool and drinking pina coladas. Harsh. And it was, thrown into the vortex of serving hell: December. November is notoriously slow. People are saving money, it's starting to get cold out, they are kind of thinking of Christmas shopping, but not seriously... November. December is a whole different monster. Today, in fact, I finished my Christmas shopping. Officially. And I had my annual 'bite and a bevvie' celebration dinner at the restaurant right around the corner from the Eaton Centre. While I was eating, this guy walks in the door:

One of the Olympic torch flame carriers. Sorry it is so blurry, my phone doesn't take the best of pictures when it is under pressure!! But seriously, how cool is that?!

Anyhoo, the craziness is all leading up to New Years Eve. About 10 years ago, a friend told me that what you are doing on New Years, dictates how the next year will go. At the time, I laughed it off and thought to myself 'whatever. New Years is great money'. And I have worked every New Years. And every New Year's at midnight, I have spent alone, not singing, waiting tables. And the year that has followed, I have been alone, not singing, waiting tables. This year, I asked my GM if I could have it off, and he promptly scheduled me. Which is frustrating and disheartening. I have to believe that 2010 is going to be the year that I make the Entertainment Industry my career, and not waiting tables. Which is why I made a very stressful decision, and left my agent for another agent. I have felt very frustrated with her. Like she didn't want to take me on in the first place, which has led to me feeling like I was in the dark regarding auditions. And I wasn't being sent out on any auditions... isn't that the point of having an agent? Anyhoo, the other night, Tuesday, I barely slept. I think I slept maybe an hour the whole night. I was nauseous (although, that could do with all the new menu food I was putting into my body on the late night staff meetings on Monday and Tuesday night...) I couldn't stop thinking about how frustrated and upset I was. I hate that feeling. Wednesday, I met with another agent. She is very excited to have me, and made me feel special. I am looking to 2010 to be a great year. And I am excited to have someone who is excited to have me.

So there you have it, folks, my last two weeks in a nutshell. I know I have been off the map, but it has been a bit stressful in my world, and blogging wasn't on my list. Not to say that all of you aren't important to me, because you are, but I needed some time for my crazy life to take over!!! So, please forgive my lack of blogging over the last couple weeks!!

Off the map...

2009-12-11T05:15:00.000-08:00

No, friends, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth... I was, in fact, away. And I plan on writing a big ole blog to tell you all about it... but not right now. Right now, I have to get ready for work. Which I have been doing a lot of since I got back. Boo work.

So, I promise to blog tomorrow. Is that acceptable?

Emotionally driven...

2009-11-25T10:44:00.000-08:00

A lot of people at WW talk about how much they dislike the show 'The Biggest Loser'. They claim that it is weight lost unhealthily, and that it is giving people the wrong idea about weight loss. I disagree wholeheartedly. They are training like athletes. If I was in the gym for 5 hours a day, on a ranch where I wasn't surrounded by work and stress and life-crap, where the food around me was healthy all the time... I, too, could lose 6-8 pounds a week. I think these people are inspiring. They are changing their lives. What I love most about the show is that they spend a fair amount of time figuring out where it all started. I mean, you are a foodie or you're not. There is very little in the way of gray area. But figuring out where it went from enjoying a meal to scarfing down scary amounts of food, is key to any weight loss journey.

Over the last week, where stress has been ruling my life, I have been trying to do just that. Figure it out. I have always been an emotional eater. Happy? I eat. Sad? I eat. Angry? Frustrated? Elated? Eat, eat, eat. Stress is a bad one, because I stop thinking about what is going in my body. I eat to fill holes in my life. I know this about myself. My years at WW have brought me to this conclusion. But where did it all start? I haven't figured that out yet. I want to say that it started when I was living in New York. I felt so out of control in New York, I wasn't singing, I was working too much, I was lonely. Food is what I could control. And I controlled a lot of food. I didn't even see myself get big until I was huge. It was a 'can you see me now?' thing.

This past week, I ate a lot of stress.

I have had phone calls over the last week in response to my last blog posting from friends who were worried about me. Please don't be worried. I am okay. I am dealing with the stress. I know that next week, I am going to be fine. And surprisingly enough, although I WAS up at the scale, it was only by a half-pound. Which is nothing.

Thank you all for your concern and friendship. It means a lot to me to know that I have that support out there.

In other news, the first rehearsal with all the boys was AWESOME!! What a hysterical, ridiculously talented group of men. I was humbled being in that room with all of them. Tonight, we put the show on it's feet, and I am so excited to get to rehearsal!!!

Stay tuned!

Not a whole lot...

2009-11-21T06:50:00.000-08:00

Hey there!

So, last night, my friend Dana was at the pub that I work at, and she says to me: "Hey, I think you should go home and blog". Funny. So, here I am blogging. Happy, Dana?!!!

I don't have anything to really talk about, I've not been feeling like myself this last week. I am a little stressed out, and trying really hard not to eat my stress. Which is becoming a daily task. One day at a time.

I have had a couple rehearsals with Aaron, and the songs are really great. I meet all the boys tomorrow, and am really looking forward to it.

I didn't weigh in this week, mostly because I was holed up in my apartment with my music and script and working on memorizing both. The show goes up in a week and a half... eep.

And there is this other thing going on. I can't talk about it much, as I don't know who reads this and who doesn't, but it is the source of most of my stress. I am trying hard to focus on breathing.

So, that is about it... I will have more stories once I meet the boys, and have our first real rehearsal!

Another week...

2009-11-12T12:07:00.000-08:00

Again, this is a short one, as I am in between shifts, and with so much blogging this week, I don't really have much to tell you all...
EXCEPT: I am down another pound!!! Woot Woot.
This brings me to 172.4 lbs.

Very exciting stuff!

The Wedding...

2009-11-09T06:21:00.000-08:00

Hello friends!!!

Okay, last night was Tammy's wedding, and I promised to come online and blog about it, so here I am! It was spectacular. It was quite intimate, maybe 50 people, at a restaurant down in the distillery district called 'Archeo'. Exposed brick, and wooden beams, candlelight behind the bar area, which is where they did the ceremony. She was positively glowing. Here:

The ceremony itself was very unique. Instead of the officiant doing the 'Do you, Tammy, take Jamie to be blah blah blah...', they had their friends ask questions. Jamie's college buddy asked Tammy if she would take Jamie even though he makes her watch the Star Wars movies all the way to the end... etc. It was a ceremony filled with tons of laughter, which is very Tammy. You could just feel all the outpouring of love in the room!

Her 'something blue' were her shoes!!!

The centerpieces were little photo trees, and the photos adorning it were ones taken from ages ago. There was a quiz, which I apparently scored very badly on!!!

And the little take-aways were little bags with cute little movie ticket stubs on them:

Inside are some of the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever had, made by the lovely miss Tammy herself. Talent, I tell ya. On top of all of that, there were people that I hadn't seen in a decade. High school friends, and old friends from college. It was so nice to re-connect with them and catch up. And of course, there was dancing. So much dancing. Air guitar even.

What a fabulous night. Tammy, I wish you a loving future filled with a lifetime of laughing. xoxo.

What the...

2009-11-08T06:17:00.000-08:00

Hello friends!

This is about to get exciting, so grab a cup of tea (or reasonable substitute), and read on...

Is everyone aware of the brilliance of 'Evil Dead: the Musical'?!! If not, go here and check it out, before continuing on. So, my friend Aaron (2Divine's musical director), who was the musical director of 'Evil Dead', approached me this week and asked me if I would be interested in auditioning for a role in a workshop of a new musical that the guys who did 'Evil Dead' are doing. Called 'Cannibal: The Musical', it was written by Trey Parker a million years ago, and Aaron and his boys have written some more songs and revamped the script, and are workshopping it in the hopes of getting financial backing so they can mount it. AND I GOT IT!!! I am so excited, I could scream. In fact, I did scream, a lot. It is going to be a lot of work in the next month, as the workshop is the end of November, but I am 150% committed. Very very exciting.

Also, I am an idiot.

Here is how the last few days have gone:
Thursday, I worked from 11am until 10:30pm. Friday, I got up early, went to Aaron's place for the audition at 9:30am, then worked from 11:30am until 2:30am, and then got up to work brunch yesterday from 9:30am until 4:30pm. I got up yesterday morning, before my brunch shift, with about 4 hours of sleep, and decided that it would be a good idea to grab my little mini-electric razor and do some eyebrow shaping. I don't really know what happened, but I shaved off half of my eyebrow. Seriously?! I stood there in the bathroom, in absolute hysterics, thinking 'What is wrong with me?' I have never drawn on eyebrows before, I had no clue how to make one, but I did, and not one person yesterday was any the wiser!!!

Today is my friend Tammy's wedding. I am very excited for her and can't wait to see how lovely she looks in her beautiful gown. I have known Tammy since grade 9. Just shy of 20 years. And she is marrying an amazing man, kind and generous, and completely perfect for her. I will post pics tomorrow!

Until tomorrow, my eyebrowed friends...

Will power...

2009-11-04T12:28:00.000-08:00

So, this is a quick one as I am on my way out the door to go to work...

2 things: I was very good this week. I upped my veggies, my water, and my exercise, I had some good will power moments, and it showed, I am down 2.6 lbs.

AND, my lovely friend Alexis has a blog: www.loveandwaterinternational.com. You should go to this blog for SO MANY REASONS, and I will let you go to find out what it is all about. She has been featuring and interviewing people who have blogs that she likes, etc, and this week she is featuring ME! Woot Woot. So, please visit her blog and have a lookie loo.

Cheerio peeps.

If at first you don't succeed...

2009-11-01T15:34:00.000-08:00

So, I have been super busy... which is why I haven't had a second to blog, so sorry!!!

Let's see, what has been going on... well, I got sick, remember? Getting better has been a process, I am still left with a sore throat and a cough. Boo. Also, the week that I was sick led into the week after I was sick. I was finding it hard to get up and go to the gym. I was finding it hard to be inspired. I had some bad habits that resurfaced. And therefore, I am up again, scale-wise. Now, what it did this week was kick me in the ass to get re-inspired. So, after my meeting, I walked to Aaron's place for a small rehearsal that I will talk about in a sec, which is a very long walk. It took me just over an hour and a half to do, which is great. And I went grocery shopping and have been messing around with this veggie bake thing that I am a little obsessed with. I actually have one in the oven as I type this, and my apartment smells divine.

I didn't get the Leafs gig. Disappointing, really. They were very nice when they called, saying that it had nothing to do with my vocal abilities, and that they wanted to keep my info on file, but that they had decided to go a different way. I don't know what that means, but hey, what are you going to do? You win some, you lose some. I did have an audition for this show on Thursday of last week, hence the small rehearsal at Aaron's. Going over my audition choices... the audition process is not one of my favourite things in the world. It is a lot of nerves and waiting around for your chance to get into the room to sing for the big wigs and hope that your 45 second audition impresses someone enough that they want to see more of you. Gah, I hope I get a call-back. I should know this week sometime. Happy thoughts, people, happy thoughts. The best part of this particular audition was looking around and seeing everyone decked out 1980's style. Amazing. Which brings me to this past weekend...

Halloween is my fave! As I have mentioned in other posts, I have a thing for dressing up. And this year, I worked both Friday and Saturday nights. So, I had to have 2 costumes. On Friday, we were allowed to wear whatever we wanted, and I really didn't want to buy anything this year, so I sat in my room and went through my closet, and tried to decide what to be. It was a process to say the least. First, I was going to wear my friend's wedding dress and be 'Bride of Frankenstein'. Except that my friend whose dress I was going to wear, is really tall, so I would have had to wear heels, and waiting tables in heels and a wedding dress is not my idea of a good time. So, I thought, I'll stick with the wedding theme, and be 'Always a Bridesmaid'. Wear one of my bridesmaids dresses, slit my wrists, have tear stained mascara running down my cheeks, it'll be funny. And then I couldn't find the one I wanted to wear. So, then I thought "I'll be Lucille Ball". I have done it before and have all the costume accoutrements, but the wig is one that one of my male managers wore for my work Christmas party last year, so that costume was out. I thought I could go as a fairy. It is a costume I have worn many times before and it is lovely. And then I thought to myself that if working in a wedding dress was going to be a nightmare, working with wings on would be hellacious. I thought I could go all 1930's, since I have the dress from my birthday party, but it would have meant getting up at 6am to put my hair up in fingerwaves, and then work a double. Ew. At a loss, I was then literally pulling things out of my closet and throwing them around the room, when I came upon a dress I haven't seen in ages. A plain black dress with a little bolero jacket thing that matches. And a big black hat. Voila. Audrey Hepburn. Or Jackie O. Take your pick. In fact, here's a pic:

Now, Saturday night, we all had to conform to the 'theme', which was 'Gothic Formal'. I decided on starting with the Dita Von Teese look, and adding a little flair:

This is the all the girlies who worked on Saturday in all of our 'Goth-y' glory! Here is a close-up of my face, so you can see the detail:

I did it with liquid eyeliner, but it kept smudging off, so finally I had my friend Lillian (a fabulous artist) go over it, and add to it, with pen and sharpie. Which you can get rid of with rubbing alcohol. Fun.

Oh, I went out with that guy from the agency. He is lovely. Nice, and sweet, and kind. Geeky in a good way, and kinda shy. We had a great time and I am going out with him again... so we shall see!!!

So there you have it. My week in a nutshell!!!
Hope everyone had a great halloween, and didn't eat too much candy...
This weeks challenge: NOT buying sale chocolate.

Number 16!

2009-10-22T13:12:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday was my callback for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Very exciting stuff. There was quite a group of people there, even though there was only 20 people auditioning, people brought their friends and family. Also, quite a range of people, varying in age from 7 (who was the cutest little singer EVER), to 80-something (who was fantastic). I was number 16, and I think it went very well. It was a very cool feeling to be standing out there singing in that space. Even though it was an empty arena, still very cool, and a little strange to be hearing myself through the sound system!!!

And this is what I wore:

I should hear soon on whether or not I got it, and they said they would call regardless!

Incidentally, that is one of my pics from the photo shoot that I mentioned a little while ago. Do we like it?!!

And tonight, I have a date!! My new referral from the Matchmaking agency, so we shall see. He seems very sweet and nice, so let's keep our fingers crossed.

I didn't weigh in this week. No particular reason, except that I was asleep through the whole thing, but the scale at the gym says I'm down a pound, so we are going to go with that!!

I suppose that is all for now, I'll keep you posted on all fronts!

cough cough

2009-10-15T13:56:00.000-07:00

I hate being sick. I am usually a fairly high-energy person, and being sick and having no energy makes me feel useless. I spent the better part of last week sleeping. I would get the tinge to go to the gym, for at least a walk and a steam, and then when I would get up to go, I would hack up a lung and that would be the end of the gym discussion with myself. Boo. Double boo. At least it is now instead of next week for the Leafs audition. Right?!

I know, I failed miserably at posting last week, and I apologize for it. In actuality, I didn't weigh in, as I was at a Photo Shoot. It was part of the package of the matchmaking agency. It was a lot of fun, actually. The photographer was great, he had a lot of charisma and was very fun to 'hang out' with for the day. And he got some great pics. I should have the disc and hard copies by the end of next week, so I will post the ones we picked for the agencies profile.

Speaking of the matchmaking thing... I never met the first 'referral'. First of all, we had our 'phone date' and he was nice, but seemed a little pre-occupied. So, then we made plans to meet in person, and I can't remember what happened, but we had to postpone. The day that we had postponed for, was the day that I woke up feeling like a truck had parked on my head, but I wasn't about to bail, so I texted him with a meet-up plan and time. He didn't text me back until 7pm. At that point, all I wanted was my flannels and a Neo-Citran, but I thought "I'll go for one glass of wine, come home and go to bed." He texted back that he was tied up and wouldn't be able to meet up til after 9pm. And then at 8:30pm, he texted back that something had come up and he wasn't going to be able to meet up at all. Allllriiiighty then. So, I called the agency and told them what happened and had them put me on the 'Active' list again. And they called with another match today!

So there you have it. My week in a nutshell: sleeping, coughing, not-dating.
I weighed in and I am still up, no loss. Back to the gym for me!!!

Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match...

2009-10-02T12:51:00.001-07:00

Hello!!

I am so sorry for the delay... I have just been SO busy!!

First, there was the ride for Juvenile Diabetes! Last year, the whole Ontario-wide steakhouse corporation raised $14, 000. This year, our location ALONE raised $7, 000!!! Yay for us. The bike ride itself was a lot of fun. It was a huge tent set up in Nathan Phillips Square filled with hundreds of stationary bikes. Every team got a bike, and every member got 8 minutes to bike as fast as they could, and there were speedometers on each bike. Super fun.

Yes, that is me, sweating up a storm. 10 km in 8 minutes, thank you very much!

Then, it was Dana's wedding! Now, the ceremony itself was closed to family, but the reception was open, and let me tell you... she looked stunning. White dress? NO WAY!!! Check this babe out:Green, crushed silk, look at the detail around the neckline... *swoon*, here it is from the back:

Just gorgeous. So her. I wish I had a pic of her engagement ring and band to show you. Designed by our mutual friend Carla, who is a spectacularly talented jeweller, they are SO unique.

Then, I had an audition for the Toronto Maple Leafs. No, I'm not going to be their new defense!! If was for the anthems. They held an open call and a million people showed up. Okay, maybe not a million, but quite a few. I even was on the news!! (notice my subtle Leafs colours?!!) And I got a callback! Yippee! The callback is on the 21st, so keep your fingers crossed. From the 20 people being called back, they are picking 5-10... so I have a 50% shot! Very exciting stuff!

Okay, so let me tell you a little about what has been going on with me. The boy and I broke up. About 2 months ago. I was sad for about a day. I gave myself a day to be sad and mourn the loss of our friendship and what our "relationship" was. I knew that he was never going to be the man that I was going to spend the rest of my life with, and had accepted that it was going to be as good as it was going to be for as long as it was going to be. We built a great friendship and had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs, it was THAT that I was mourning. However, I have felt very lonely over the last couple weeks. Needing some sort of human contact, you know? Not necessarily sex, but cuddling up with someone on the couch... I don't know how to explain it. A couple of friends suggested I try going back online, which I wasn't overly keen on. I never had much luck online, and trust me, I have run the gamut of online dating!!! I have met some great guys... who could totally be my brother!!

So, at Katie's suggestion, I started researching Matchmaking Agencies. Leave it all in someone else's hands perhaps. What's the worst that could happen? I found one that I liked, and spoke with someone on the phone for awhile, to see if it was something that could work for me. Then, I made an appointment and went down to the office and met with one of the 'matchmakers'. She was very nice, and really straight forward, and I liked her immediately. Anyhoo, I was in the office for a few hours, filling out profile forms and interviewing... they do a full background check, which is nice. At least I won't be meeting crazies! The kicker is that it isn't that much more expensive than eharmony. So, I joined. What do I have to lose? They called me Wednesday with a match. We spoke briefly on the phone yesterday, and have a phone date for tonight. Go from there, see if we want to meet...

So that's all there is, except, you know, the usual...

I weighed in and am up a pound. I hate stress.

Water weight be gone!

2009-09-23T12:21:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

This is going to be a short one, as I have to head out to work in a few minutes! I just wanted to come on and tell you the stats! I do have a fun little thing to tell you all, that I will post tomorrow or friday (yay, something to look forward to!)

So, last week I was up. I was actually up 4.6 lbs. I gasped audibly when I stepped upon the scale. However, I did as I promised: I upped my water, worked out 3 times, I walked 3 miles to Katie's place to feed the cat, was relatively diligent on what I was eating, and it worked. Water weight be gone!

Current Weight: 171.4 lbs.
Goal Weight: 145 lbs.
Weight Lost This Week: 5.4 lbs. (I will say in technicality that I am actually down 0.8 lbs, not counting the water weight from last week!)
Total Weight Lost: 10.6 lbs. Whoo Hoo, over 10!

Stay tuned for exciting stuff!

Life happens...

2009-09-16T11:05:00.000-07:00

This past week felt really crazy. Mom and I got a lot accomplished, but I didn't make it to the gym at all, and my sleeping was all off. Add to that my "special girlie week" , and you have the makings of not a good time on the scale. But I went. And I'm up. Not a lot, the woman at WW said that "Girlie Week" can sometimes add 5 lbs... 5 lbs?!!! Seriously? So, I immediately went to the gym after the meeting this morning, and burned some serious calories, and the plan is to drink tons of water this week and be very diligent about the program this week!!!

Now, I can't remember if I updated you all on the JDRF gala... but we managed to raise $3300!!! Very Exciting. Again, if you would like to pledge me (and every dollar helps) you can do so here. The bike ride is next Friday the 25th, and I would like to be at my goal by then!

Another very exciting event happened this week!! My friend Gules' dad and his partner bought the old Bishop's Mansion in London, Ontario about a year ago. They gutted the place, and have been doing some serious renovations, and have made it into 4 condos. This past weekend was the Grand Opening/Showing of the mansion, fully renovated. It is STUNNING. I took some pics, but they don't do the place any justice. Anyhoo, they asked me if I would sing at the opening, and I said 'Absolutely'. So, I did an hour-long set on the verandah! It was very fun. Here, some pics:

That would be the house. Um... STUNNING.

And that would be me, singing on the verandah.

So there you have it. Back to real life...

Paintapalooza #2

2009-09-10T12:37:00.001-07:00

Okay, folks, the painting is complete, and I have put stuff back on walls... so here are some pics:

This is my bedroom wall above my bed. I showed you these flowers in a previous post, but now they really pop on the 'Heavenly Blue'!!!

This is the corner of my bedroom... I just LOVE this colour!

This is the corner of my living room... it's a little blurry, but I have changed some stuff around and this might be my new fave place!!! It is a green called 'Apple Grove'. Fun stuff. Here's a couple of close-ups:

So there you have it!!!

Paintapalooza!

2009-09-10T08:55:00.000-07:00

So, my mom is here, visiting, to help me FINALLY paint my apartment. It was a job that started forever ago with a dream of colour to add to my already rad living space. Painting is hard work. I haven't painted in years!!! *wiping sweat from brows*!!!

We started Tuesday night with washing walls, and putting up tape around windows, moving all the furniture into the centre of both rooms. Yesterday, we began early, in the living room, as it was the more difficult room of the two, with slanty walls and weird circular window nooks. Needless to say, I didn't weigh in yesterday, purely because we had too much work to do. Sorry. But just think of all the bonus calories being burned this week!!! Today, has been all bedroom thus far, I started at 9am this morning, and it still isn't done.

The plan being to finish my bedroom and then start putting stuff back on the walls of the living room this afternoon!!

I will post pics when all is done!

stuff...

2009-09-03T14:26:00.000-07:00

So here is what is going on with me right now. I previously mentioned a benefit gala that I was helping to organize... let me tell you a little about it!

Every year, the steakhouse that I work for, does fundraising for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. I wasn't working there last year when they did the event, but this year, we are doing a variety show and silent auction. It is going to be a lot of fun. We have a stand-up comedian, an improv troupe, a rock-band, some opera... Katie and I are doing a segment from our show, all people that work at our restaurant! It is going to be great. The show is on Monday night at 8pm (doors and silent auction start at 7pm), tickets are $30, but 100% of the proceeds go to JDRF. It is at Bread & Circus in Kensington Market, please come down if you want to see a great show. I am also doing fundraising of my own, and if you would like to sponsor me, you can do so here. Our team is doing a bike ride for JDRF at the end of September.

Anyhoo, I didn't forget to post yesterday, but I was super duper busy and didn't feel like posting... but all good things come to those who wait:

Current Weight: 172.2 lbs.
Goal Weight: 145 lbs.
Weight Lost this Week: 1.4 lbs.
Total Weight Lost: 9.8 lbs. (so close to 10!!!!)

Dance call...

2009-08-31T10:46:00.001-07:00

There is a funny story about my very first audition in NYC, many years ago, where I unknowingly walked into a dance call. For those of you not in the industry, a dance call is my worst nightmare. It is for people who have been dancing since they were in diapers, people who think a triple pirouette is as easy as making toast, people who can touch their knee to their nose upon waking up in the morning. I am not one of these people. I was lucky to get out of remedial dance class alive every day while at Sheridan. I am not a dancer, by any stretch of the imagination. I am a 'Singer-who-moves well'!!

My lovely and talented friend Nicole, passed my name on to some people with the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, as they are doing a concert version of 'Guys & Dolls' in their NAC Opera Pops Series in February. They contacted me and invited me to audition, I said 'Yes, yes, yes'. I got an email confirming my audition time for the 'dance call' starting at 10am this morning. Dance call? Hmmm. I wondered if they meant DANCE CALL, or if they meant Singers-Who-Move-Well-Dance-Call. It was the former. They were auditioning for the 'Hot Box Girls'. There were only 12 of us in the room, all of them 7-foot-tall leggy girls stretching out their dancing limbs while I stressed out in the corner. Then the audition commenced. The choreographer was not messing around, straight in 5-6-7-8 and go. I was re-living the NYC audition all over again. Funny stuff. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

The first number we learned was the chicken-one that leads into 'Bushel & A Peck'. Here is an idea of the kind of stuff I attempted this morning:

Bwahahahahahahha. I tried my hardest, and that is all that matters. I'm sure it looked like one of those bad-audition-montages. Anyhoo, we finish that, and then start in learning another number. The 'Take Back Your Mink' dance break. I looked all over Youtube for a good clip, and this is the best one I could find. It's in Japanese, but you get the picture. The actual dance break starts at 2:53, and again, it isn't exact choreography, but similar-ish:

So, I pretty much thought my day was done, I was for sure cut... and then they asked us all to learn a little 16 bar clip of 'Take Back Your Mink' in that girlie-flibbertygibbet voice, which we then went in and did one at a time. I was second last. After I did my little bit, I went to leave the room, and Jack Everly says "Don't leave, what else do you have?". I tell him what I brought, and we agree on 'Gimme Gimme', which I put everything I had into. Then he says "Great, what else do you have that shows your upper register?" So, I bust out "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered". Then he had me go over to the piano and do some slides and some scales and vocalizations, and I am dying a little. I thought after the dance-debacle that I was done-for. Then, they hand me a scripty bit to read. The part is NOT a Hot Box Girl (whew), but the General. (She comes in at 3:26)

So, that was my morning. I'm a little exhausted, and now I wait... I don't know what to expect. Anyhoo... I suppose it's good to throw an audition like this in the mix every now and then, keeps me on my toes, and reminds me why I should never go to dance calls!!!

Another day, another dollar!

2009-08-26T13:14:00.001-07:00

I have been working so much, I feel a little like a zombie... never a good thing. Well, sometimes zombies are a good thing. Singing zombies are a great thing, for example... but I digress.

My brain has been swiss cheese, and consequently, today's blog is going to suffer.

I stayed exactly the same. After two-weeks of working out and eating relatively well, I was expecting a little loss, but I am happy that I didn't gain. So there you have it.

I promise to try to work less and blog more this week!

Events...

2009-08-20T06:31:00.000-07:00

Hello Peeps!

Whew, it has been a busy couple of days. My birthday party was on Sunday evening... unfortunately, only Katie, her boyfriend Ben and I dressed up... Oh well, what can you do?! It was a fairly quiet night, people popping in for a bit and then others would show and then the crew thinned out!!

And Tuesday night was awesome. My friend Gules is moving to Budapest to go back to school. She is going to be a Dentist, which is amazing! The day started with a girlie trip to Body Blitz for the pool circuit, then we dispersed to have naps and get ready for the night out. Dinner at Terroni (a little Italian place), after dinner drinks at Pravda (a vodka bar). It is always great when the whole crew get together, it happens so rarely! She is going to be very much missed in our group!

(sorry the pic is blurry, it was the only one I took of the whole gang!)

Needless to say, Tuesday night went very late, and I couldn't get up to weigh in. I know, I promised, so it is with apologies. I did weigh myself at the gym this morning, however, and according to the GoodLife scale, I am at 172 lbs. Which is down 1.6 lbs from last weigh-in.

I apologize for being a little delinquent this week with the blogging... I have been going through some stuff, stuff that is a little too personal for the blog, and I have just not been up to posting. Sorry! Give me a day or two and I'll be back to being me!!

Late night groceries...

2009-08-15T00:39:00.001-07:00

Why is it so hard to heal your heart?

I had to do groceries for the party today. It was a very very very long day. I worked at the steakhouse for lunch and then the pub for dinner. From 11am to 3am. Ouchie on my knees... and I am crazy, because I worked out this morning at 7am... WTF was I thinking?!!! Anyhoo, I didn't do groceries yesterday, and I figured that I would just go tonight after work... which is what I did. I love grocery shopping at 3am. Anyhoo, so there I am at the self-service checkout, chatting with my friend June (who came with me grocery shopping at 3am!) about this benefit gala that I am helping to organize (which I will discuss in detail in another posting) and I hear my name. I turn to find Dave right behind me. My heart was in my throat.

In my life of dating and relationships, I have had two 'men-who-got-away'. The first was my first love, Scott. And he didn't 'get away' so much as we were really stupid young and trying to have a grown-up relationship. I will always love Scott. He is the man to whom all men will forever be compared, which sucks for every man that I have dated and will date! I can't put him on too high of a pedestal, however, as our breakup was fairly epic, and VERY 19-year-old drama.

Dave is the other man. Dave was out-of-the-blue wonderful. Kind, sweet, attentive, funny. I liked him. A lot. And he wasn't ready for me. His heart was also damaged, and he was having trouble mending it. When we broke up, I was very zen about the whole thing, even though he broke my heart a little. He was honest and straight-forward, and genuine and I truly believed that he really didn't want to hurt me. Our break-up was EXACTLY a year ago.

Seeing him was hard tonight. I'm struggling a little. Which is totally catching me off-guard.

Gah.

Themes...

2009-08-12T09:42:00.000-07:00

I am a woman who likes a good theme party. I love Halloween, I love dressing up. Must be the actress deep down inside me (hahahah). It was my 31st birthday that I started throwing theme parties for myself. I searched for a picture, but I couldn't find one anywhere. (It was pre-facebook, and pre-me owning a digital camera, sorry!). The theme was 'cougar birthday' because I was officially out of my 20's, and we ended the night at Croc rock which is a crazy cougar bar! I'm not sure how it added into the theme, but I bought a 1950's house dress and went all out with my hair 1950's style. The highlight of the whole night was when some guy on the dance floor asked me why I was dressed like the queen.

My 32nd birthday was 'Prom', as I was Sweet 16 (x 2). We had dinner at Red Lobster, as that is what you do on prom night, and I built a balloon prom arch for prime prom pictures. Everyone dressed up in full-on prom wear, it was awesome.

See? Awesome!!

My 33rd birthday was a Jesus Themed birthday. (As HE was 33 when he was crucified) I made everyone wear togas (in the roman robe style) and I served nothing but bread and wine and fish. Most everyone showed in togas, proving that my friends like a good theme party just like I do!!!

How cute are we in our togas?!!!

This year, I was having trouble coming up with a theme. I have already planned my 35th theme birthday, but what do you do for 34? So, I put it out there that I was short a theme, and I had quite a few suggestions, but two suggestions that I really liked. I was torn between:
Miracle on 34th Birthday (where I could put up my Christmas tree on the back deck, and play Christmas music, it also would have followed up my Jesus-Birthday nicely...)
OR
1934.
I chose the latter. This way I'm not forcing people to wear winter wear in the (hopefully) +30 degree weather, and I can get seriously dolled up 1930's style. I have been practicing my finger waves and seriously dramatic eye-makeup! The party is this coming Sunday night, so be expecting some fun pics next week.

Okay, it is Wednesday, and I know you are tuning in for this week's stats. Put the pitchforks away, I am running into a church and yelling out 'Sanctuary' really loud. I didn't go to WW today. I just didn't feel like it. Is that a crime? I did, however, go to the gym this morning instead. I feel that is an equal trade. I promise to weigh in next week. I promise.

Until next week, or unless something really exciting happens that I absolutely HAVE to blog about, I bid adieu.

So close...

2009-08-05T11:52:00.000-07:00

I am nearing my 34th birthday. In fact, it is this coming Saturday. Every year around my birthday, I start to reflect on what I thought my life would be like at the age I am turning vs what it actually has become. Sometimes I am happy with the discussion I have in my head. Sometimes I am not. This year, I am very happy. I feel like I am finally coming into my own. I like where this venture with Katie is leading, I see a very viable end to waiting tables and my career is on the near horizon. I feel almost content. I think being a little discontent as this stage in the game is healthy. Am I wrong? I feel good being in my mid-thirties, and I am proud to say that I don't think I look the way I thought '34' would look. Granted, I am just coming home from the salon where I got all my 'natural blonde' hairs covered up with a lush chestnut brown.

With that said,
Current Weight: 173.6 lbs
Goal Weight: 145 lbs
Weight Lost this Week: 2.2 (Woo Hoo, on vacation even!)
Total Weight Lost: 8.4

One thousand, nine hundred and ninety one kilometres...

2009-08-03T06:26:00.000-07:00

Well, hello friends...

I promised a big 'ol blog, and I am here to deliver on my promise!

So, the boy and I decided that we were going to take our time getting to my friend Erin's wedding. Mapquest said it was going to take about 9 hours and 53 minutes to drive straight there, but since we decided to leave on Wednesday afternoon, and I didn't have to be in Doylestown til Friday afternoon, we thought a little detour might be fun!

Let me take a moment to veer off story for a sec. The boy borrowed his friend's GPS. We named it Martha. This thing is the best thing since sliced cheese. Seriously. Martha never steered us wrong, in fact, instead of main roads, sometimes she took us through back country roads and small towns... which we never would have seen if it weren't for her!!!

Now, there are two places that I have to go to EVERY TIME I am in the States: Ann Taylor Loft (preferably an outlet store) and Target. So, the decision was made that the HUMONGOUS Outlet Mall in Grove City, PA was going to be the first stop on Wednesday night. We got in around 8-ish, had some dinner, and found a hotel, (yay Super 8!). This is where we stopped for dinner. So very fancy:

The next morning was Outlet Day!!! Man, I love shopping. And the Ann Taylor Loft Outlet store delivered in spades! We gave it a few hours and then headed to... are you ready for this... HERSHEY, PA!!! The land of chocolate! You know that I couldn't go all the way to Pennsylvania and NOT go to Hershey!! Right?! I had booked the two of us a little surprise, a couples massage at the Hotel Hershey. Check out this place:

And that is just a piece of the front of the building. It was very fancy shmancy. For the massage, I chose the cocoa oil (of course) as smelling like a big chocolate bar seemed like it would be my cup of tea! We got in a little early, and because we had booked a spa treatment, we had access to all the facilities, like the fantastic pool and sauna and stuff. So, we hung out in the pool, then had our massages. The waiting room for the treatments was beautiful, with Hershey's kisses in crystal bowls, hot cocoa, you get the picture. I didn't bring my camera with me so you don't get pics of us in our lush Hotel Hershey robes, sorry.

The next morning, it was time to hit Chocolate World... *sigh*

They have chocolate smell pumped through the air vents, so the whole place just reeks of chocolate. We took a silly little ride through the 'factory' to learn about the making of Hershey's Chocolate, and it finishes in the biggest store of Hershey chocolates and paraphernalia.

Like 5lb chocolate bars for example. Which I didn't buy!!! I actually went in search of the low-cal stuff and the quest was successful, I got a box of 100 calorie chocolate bars filled with whipped vanilla nougat. They are delectable.

As an aside, the boy likes to drive fast, and I was afraid that we were going to get pulled over by the State Troopers who aren't the kindest. Horror stories about them escorting Canadian Tourists to bank machines to pay the hefty speeding fines. Well, he was doing really good with the speed limits for the entire time, until we got pulled over.

But the cop was really cool and we weren't THAT much over the speed limit, he let us off with a warning!!! "I would like to think that if I was visiting Canada and missed a sign or two, your cops would let me off too!!!"

After Chocolate World, it was time to head to Doylestown for the wedding rehearsal. I haven't seen Erin in just over a year, so it was really nice to see her and meet all of her family.

The next day was Saturday. Wedding Day.

Very exciting stuff. Okay, the whole wedding took place at Fonthill Museum. This place is stunning. The ceremony was very cool, with elements of both of their upbringing. Erin is Irish Catholic, Keith is half Korean, half Jewish. So, the ceremony itself was traditional, with the vows and the exchanging of rings, they had the "Chupah", which symbolizes that the bride and groom are creating a home together. They did the breaking of the glass to symbolize that the hope and happiness of the couple will be as plentiful as the shards of glass, and they did a Bowing to Parents, which is a Korean tradition to pay respect to their parents, before walking down the aisle as husband and wife. It was all lovely.

She made a beautiful bride, vibrant and wonderful as she is.

I sang 'Takes My Breath Away' and 'Heaven Down Here' both by Tuck & Patti. As well as 'The Way I Am' by Ingrid Michaelson.

This is the Chupah that I was talking about.

At the reception, instead of table numbers, they had centerpieces that were large wine bottles with 2 labels on them. The front label had a city name on it. The boy and I were assigned to 'Georgetown'. On the back label was a story about Erin & Keith, that had to do with that city. For example, there was a table labeled 'Las Vegas', which is where Erin & Keith got engaged, so the story was the engagement story. At the end of each story, was a little sentence, leading you to another city to learn more about them. A way to encourage the guests to mingle with other tables and meet new people. Very cool idea.

Yesterday was the drive home. Martha told us, when we left at 10:30am-ish, that we should be arriving in Toronto at 7:30pm. Not too bad. But then the skies opened and the rainfall was torrential, to say the least. These pics don't really do it justice, but there was flooding on the road, and the rain was so thick and heavy...

So, we lost a little time there. And then we hit the border, and traffic had completely stopped. It took us two hours to drive 2 km's to customs. So, by the time we stopped for dinner and got into Toronto, the whole drive ended up being 12 hours. Needless to say that I feel a little droopy today, and totally back to reality! I am going to the gym and then grocery shopping, followed by an exciting night of laundry!

I have to be honest, I was a little stressed about the trip, from an eating view point. First of all, vacation mindset can be dangerous, and I tried not to let myself get too far in to 'who cares, I'm on vacation'!! Second, a road trip through the states doesn't exactly scream out 'healthy', not to mention the rehearsal dinner and wedding reception where I had no control over what I was eating... but all in all, I think I made some pretty good choices, and I feel very little guilt. We shall see how it all pans out on Wednesday!!!

VACATION!!!

2009-07-29T11:50:00.001-07:00

Hey there peeps!

This, too, is going to be a short one, as I am currently running around doing last minute packing... and the boy is picking me up in 12 minutes!!! I promise to post a big 'ol blog when I return from Pennsylvania, and I will tell stories of the road trip and the wedding and all that other good stuff!
In the meantime, here's today's stats:

Current Weight: 175.2 lbs.
Weight Lost this week: 0.2 lbs (not as much as I was hoping, but it is in the right direction!)
Total weight lost: 6.2 lbs.

Something's coming, something good...

2009-07-24T15:52:00.001-07:00

This is a short one, as I am on my way out the door for GAMES NIGHT with Katie and Benz and Aaron... very exciting!!! I am such a geek for board games. Anyhoo, I wanted to share what Katie and I did the other day. We made a demo. To get it done somewhere was looking to be very expensive and we were very specific about which clips we wanted in the demo and what we wanted it to look like etc.

So, here it is:

What do you guys think?!

So, now that everything is in place, we start submitting to the ships. *insert squeal of excitement here*

YES!

2009-07-22T13:18:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

So, quite a few years ago, when I was living in New York City, I decided to get my second tattoo. I had been trying to decide what I was going to get inked on my body, and where I was going to get it. I had pretty much decided that I wanted some Japanese characters, but what did I want them to say?! I thought about 'Pursue Your Dreams'... except that I hope to not always be pursuing my dreams, eventually I would like to be living them. Then, my mom gave me a beautiful piece of artwork and there it was... the Japanese symbol for 'be'. I thought 'how perfect'. BE true to yourself. BE alive. BE your art. So, I got it. On my right ankle.

A couple weeks ago, at work, I was in the back of the kitchen and I happened to be still in my civvies, and one of the line cooks, who is Japanese, says to me: "Sarah, why do you have the word 'yes' on your ankle?" I said "um, what?". He laughed and said "That symbol is the symbol for 'yes'. Hmmm. Well, at least it isn't 'no'. Or 'screw you'. So, I made a joke about it to Katie, about how I should be adding more 'yes' to my life, and she pointed me towards this post. I read it, and nearly cried. Please take the time to read it, it is beautifully written.

I am going to aspire to add more YES to my life, in good, positive ways.

Today's Stats: (as it is Wed, I didn't forget!)
Current Weight: 176 lbs. I am up 0.2 lb, but not stressed about it, it was period week, and so I probably actually am down without all the bloaty stuff. Boo period week.
Total weight lost: 6 lbs.

Learning curve...

2009-07-20T13:16:00.001-07:00

I have learned two things about myself this week.

1) That I actually have it inside myself to push myself really hard at the gym, even when I am alone. This is a pretty big deal. I have always held the gym in not-so-high regards. I don't know what it is exactly that I don't like about it, but I just don't like it. Does that make sense? And yet, since I joined the gym, I am really enjoying it. And pushing myself to really work while I am there, not just sloughing it off!!

2) (and this is a sad one) I can't eat cherries anymore. :(
I am obsessed with cherries. Cherry season is my fave, usually buying a bag at least once a week. This year, I bought my first bag of cherries, and consumed them all within two days. Immediately, my body responded, and not in a kind way. So, I tried NOT eating them. And all was well. So, I re-introduced them to myself, and again, not good things. So, alas, I raise the white flag. The cherries have won. I shed a tear for the loss of cherries in my life.

In other news, my friend Erin's wedding quickly approaches, and I am very excited for her and Keith. I am also excited at the road trip that the boy and I are making through Pennsylvania to get to Erin's wedding. I, of course, have pushed to stay the night in Hershey, PA, as all things chocolate should get recognition in my world!!! Am I right?!!

Represented!

2009-07-16T05:53:00.001-07:00

Let me apologize for being a day late on posting my Wednesday Stats... you see, I was way too busy yesterday GETTING AN AGENT, that I ran out of time before having to go to work!!! Yes, indeedy, Katie and I scored an agent yesterday. This is very exciting stuff. I would like to thank her friend Joseph who came to see our show and who set up the meeting for Katie, and I would like to thank Katie who let me join her at the meeting.

In other news, Katie & I finally have a working website! Also, very exciting stuff. Check it out. My friend Anthony is to thank for that one, he did an amazing job.

Okay, to the good stuff:
Current Weight: 175.8 lbs
Goal Weight: 145 lbs
Weight Lost this Week: 0.2 lbs. (I figured that the number wouldn't be as big this week, due to my dropping a large number last week. At least it is in the right direction!)
Total Weight Lost: 6.2 lbs.

It's Wednesday...

2009-07-08T11:29:00.000-07:00

Hello!!

So, today is Wednesday, and we all know what that means: WEIGH-IN DAY!!! *cue scary music*. I was actually pretty excited to get on the scale today. I had a fantastic week, upped my water intake, barely touched my free points, really pushed myself at the gym, worked out while at home in Ottawa in my mom's condo "gym", even went swimming. And I feel great. I look in the mirror and can see my collar bones again. Very exciting.

So here's the stats:
Current Weight: 176.0 lbs.
Goal Weight: 145 lbs.
Weight Lost this week: 3.2 lbs!!!

p.s. Because of another bully comment, I have had to put a security measure on my blog, where I have to approve your comment before it gets posted. Sorry.

Judgmental jerks not welcome...

2009-07-02T12:00:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is a little bit of an angry post, so I apologize in advance.

Someone posted a comment on my last blog posting. Don't go looking for it, as I have trashed it. It's my blog and I retain the right to delete any comment that I don't like, for whatever reason I deem appropriate. It was a bully of a comment, mean and judgmental.

This is for you, Anonymous, if you are reading this:

I don't write this blog for people like you, unsupportive, and heartless. I struggle with many things, that I don't blog about, and I deal with the issues that I have, in my own time. For you to write what you did, shows a lack of sensitivity and I hope that I don't actually know you. You obviously have your own issues if you didn't even step up to claim your posting with a name. You are not welcome here, in this space, in my space. Please don't visit my blog again.

Canada Day!

2009-07-02T02:57:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

Let me tell you something, this working out thing is pretty decent. And now, I have a workout buddy, so it makes it easier to get up and go, knowing that he is waiting for me at the gym. I was actually excited to get on the scale yesterday morning to see the progress that I have made thus far. I cut back on my wine intake last week, and threw myself into the gym, ate fairly healthily... but, it was Canada Day, and there was no meeting, according to the 1-800# that I called to check with, so I'm afraid you all will have to be patient for one more week.

Last night, I spent with the lovely miss Katie and her boy Ben and the lovely miss Shannon. We had dinner at this fantastic little restaurant called Grapefruit Moon, where I had something called 'Rudy's Wrapped Burger'. My friend Dana had been talking about this burger and so I went in with some fairly high expectations. Let me tell you, this was a seriously amazing burger. Organic beef patty, with spinach and roasted red peppers, topped with brie and then wrapped in a flour tortilla and grilled. Awesome. After dinner, we walked to Dutch Dreams (which doesn't actually have a website, shame.) For those of you not living in Toronto, DD is this ice cream parlour that specializes in some serious ice cream.

On a hot evening in August, the lineup is down the block, literally, and the wait to get your ice cream is at least 45 minutes. Once you actually get inside the building, ordering is kind of an adventure. I chose the oreo cookie frozen yogourt. It was uber delish. So, that was my Canada Day. Dinner and Ice Cream with good friends. Love it.

I will actually be weighing in in Ottawa next Wed. My cousin is moving to Tanzania to study primates for a year and I want to see her before she goes, so I am going home for a few days. Read that last sentence again, how cool is my cousin?!!

Chat soon, peeps.

Is it in the water?

2009-06-27T23:38:00.000-07:00

I heard two funny stories tonight at work, and had to share them with you all. And by 'funny', I mean WTF?!

One of our regulars was sitting at the bar tonight, and he told us all that his girlfriend went to see a psychic who told her that he was not the one. So she broke up with him. Seriously? A $10 psychic with a neon light in the window? Hmmm.

Also, one of the girls in my section was telling this story to her friend, and I eavesdropped because it sounded a little too crazy to not listen. This girl that she works with who is in her early twenties read the 'Twilight' series, and decided that if there was that kind of love in the world, that she had to go out and find it, and promptly broke up with her live-in long-term boyfriend. For those of you who haven't heard of the series, it is about a girl and her unhealthy obsession and infatuation with a vampire who is unhealthily obsessed and infatuated with her.

Are people taking crazy pills?

This time, I really mean it...

2009-06-25T13:30:00.000-07:00

This has been my week:
Monday, I forgot to go to work. Okay, really, I didn't write down my schedule properly and at 12:30pm, I got a phone call saying that I should have been at work for 11:45am. Oops. Needless to say, I went in on Tuesday with pen in hand ready to sign my write-up. 13 years waiting tables, I think I have only done that one other time, and this was my first write-up. EVER. Now, what I did on Monday, instead of going to work, was join a gym. A real gym. Not that Curves isn't a real gym, but it's not really a real gym. I got very tired of Curves, and when they closed and gave me the option of canceling my membership or transferring it to another location, I figured the choice was made for me. So, I have joined GoodLife. I have mentioned it before, with the fun classes, but this is actually joining. I am on a 'limited' membership, meaning I can only work-out on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. Since I have made a promise to myself to work out three times a week, I can't procrastinate if I am only allowed in the gym three times a week. Know what I mean, jellybean? And, please put your hands together, I jogged 2 miles on Monday. Thank you very much. It nearly killed me, and I was almost puking in the corner, but I pushed myself, and I'm very proud.

Tuesday: I worked, and then it was girls' night out. We went for dinner at the steakhouse that I work at. I went with a plan, knowing that it was the night before weigh in... I did some online research and pointed out my meal before going to dinner. And then the shots started coming and then I was drunk, and then I passed out.

Wednesday: I woke up very late, and very sick. Didn't weigh-in, as I could barely even walk farther than my bathroom. BAD BAD BAD. It was a very bad day. What am I, 16?! Shots. Evil.

Today: I am having a light dinner right now, and then I am going to the gym... do a little cardio and then hit the Yoga-type class at 6:30pm. Exciting.

So there you have it. On a quest to undo the damage I did last week. To undo the damage that I have done to myself over the last couple of months. To undo the damage entirely.

Bad customer service makes me mad...

2009-06-19T11:54:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I know you all have been checking to see if I weighed in this week... and I did... and I haven't posted because I don't really know how to tell you all. Frankly, I'm fairly disgusted with myself and am very embarrassed about the whole thing. I'm in the midst of a lot of self-loathing today, so, I'm deciding not to give you the stats. I'll give them next wed, when I have hopefully undone some of the damage that I did to myself last week.

Here is what happened to me this week. My lovely friend Christie, has designed some fabulous press packets for Katie and I. So, this week, I shopped prices at places to get the packets printed up. I went to Fed/Ex-Kinko's. It was good, but pricey. The Printing House, where the guy was nice and very helpful, but also a little pricey. Staples, where I had the best customer service guy EVER, doing math, giving me helpful hints on how to save $$, giving me coupons, he was awesome. After I left there, I went to Grand & Toy. When I walked in the door, there were 2 guys shredding papers. I waited for one of them to acknowledge me. After about a minute, one of them looks up and says 'yeah?'. Here is how the conversation went:

Guy: yeah?

Me: Hi, I'm looking to have a project printed up and was looking for information. Can you help me? (here is where I explain the project in detail, which I have omitted for you. Know that he had a blank look on his face the entire time, like he couldn't wait to get back to shredding papers)

Guy: Well, that paper costs .49c a page, and it costs *blah blah blah* (throwing numbers at me)

Me: Um, sorry, back up, can I borrow a calculator? Can we sit down and talk?

Guy: *audible sigh of discontent* 'yeah'.

*we sit*
he takes a paper and starts making all sorts of notes on it, doing long division.
Me: Can I see paper samples or something?

he pushes the book of paper samples at me.

I pick one that I like and show him.

he continues to be in his own world, not asking questions or showing any interest in my business whatsoever.
Guy: Okay, that's going to be, like, $400. Plus tax. Unless you are a member.

Me: I'm not a member.

*here is where he could have said "Well, if you become a member today, you'll automatically get 10% off your order, and since it is a bigger order, we'll knock off another 10$ for you' instead, he just looked at me expectantly.*

Me: Well, that is a little on the pricier side of things, so I guess I will not be using you guys for my project. In fact, I probably won't be coming here again. For anything.
And since I am a woman of my word, I will NEVER be going to Grand & Toy ever again. If I run out of paper, or #2 pencils, I will make the trek to Staples. In fact, I say "A Pox on Grand & Toy's house."

Sigh.

Blah blah blah...

2009-06-14T10:05:00.000-07:00

This week I stopped caring. A little. This is not a good sign, I'm afraid. Every summer, I say to myself: "Sarah, this summer, you are going to be smart and make good decisions. This summer, you are going to not drink so much, you can be social without spending a kajillion dollars on alcohol." My life revolves around alcohol as I am in the bar industry, so all my friends are bar people. It is hard to get to the end of a shift when people are hanging out and not have a bevvie. Or two. And then all my resolve disappears with that first vodka soda. Boo.

I can totally do this. I can totally do this. I can totally do this.

Today, I am going to play frisbee in the park with my business partner Katie and her boyfriend Ben. We are going to eat healthy turkey burgers on my back deck... and I am going to weigh in this week. I am going to care this week.

I didn't weigh in last week, as I'm sure you have all figured out by the lack of a blog posting. I got an offer I couldn't refuse from a friend who owns a salon who asked me if I wanted to be a 'secret shopper' of sorts for her estheticians, and it involved a free wax. (whoo hoo!) And the appointment was for the same time as my weight watchers meeting. Free wax v.s. Getting on a scale. Hmmmm. Which decision would YOU have made?!

Domesticity...

2009-06-09T07:01:00.000-07:00

You know what I did this week? I baked bread. Seriously delish, low point, good-for-you bread, and it is awesome. One of the ladies in my meeting gave our leader the recipe and she tried it and came back and gave all of us the recipe. I baked it last week as well, and it was really good, but I honed it this week and this week's bread is awesome.

Want the recipe? I know you dooooo (sing-song-y voice)... Okay, here it is:

2 cups wholewheat flour
1 1/2 cups oatbran
1/3 cups oats
1/4 cup of bran (I used original, v.s. buds)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup raisins
2 cups buttermilk
I also added about 2 tsp of crushed macadamia nuts, cuz I still have some left from Hawaii!
Mix all the dry stuff together and then slowly add the buttermilk and the raisins, when it gets gooey, throw it all in a greased 5"x whatever" loaf pan at 400* for 50 mins.
It is really dense, but toasted with a little margarine and I have been adding about a tsp of no-sugar added jam, it is the bomb. Seriously, one point per slice.

Okay, I will stop extolling the virtues of my fabulous bread.

What else did I do this week... Hmmm... a smashing bbq with friends Steven & James, a fabulous birthday party for my step-sister, a 2Divine business meeting with my friend Christie, working working working, learning songs for my friend Erin's august wedding, whew. So social. And hopefully all within points!!! LOL. We shall see tomorrow morning! I am determined to not be up despite the fact that I was a little more social this week than I was last week, and alcohol is never a good thing where the scale is concerned! My plan is to hit a class at the gym today, and have a good healthy dinner!

À demain, mes amies!

Woot Woot!!

2009-06-04T13:33:00.000-07:00

This, I'm afraid, is going to be a short one... as I am prepping the back patio for a little soirée with the boy this evening. He brought back more parmigiana reggiano and some wine from Rome, so I got us a couple steaks from work and we are going to grill some veggies and enjoy the weather!!! However, I wanted to check in with you all and tell you that I weighed in this week, and *drum roll please* ....

I AM DOWN 2 POUNDS. I finally made it past the 5lb hump!!! Whoo ho!!!

Current Weight: 176.4 lbs.
Goal Weight: 145 lbs.
Weight Lost this week: 2 lbs.
Total Weight Lost: 5.6 lbs. (yeah, baby!)

Homecoming...

2009-05-31T10:44:00.001-07:00

It was a surreal feeling to be driving to my high school yesterday. I felt all butterflies in my tummy and memories of things I haven't thought about since I left the school. It is always like this for me whenever I have gone back to visit CHS. Realistically speaking, I only graduated 15 years ago, but there remains that feeling that it was another lifetime ago. Being around my old teachers, especially the ones that had a serious impact on my life (Mr. Palmai), makes me feel 16 years old again. Walking the halls, I am always bombarded by memories of Drakkar Noir and knowing that Duane Keogh was just in the hallway, memories of hearing faint singing coming from the practice rooms or actors practicing monologues in the halls, memories of making out with Jason Harper between math and science class. My high school experience was different than most peoples' as I went to an Arts high school... so the jocks hung out with the artsies and mostly everyone got along. Now, there was a fair share of drama, as I'm sure you can imagine... you can't put that many pubescent performers under one roof and not expect some level of drama. Oh, the tears that were shed in that building!!! There is also a sense of wanting to be acknowledged and the need for approval from said aforementioned teachers. "Hey, look at me, all grown up and still doing what you taught me to do". So, all of these feelings were going through me all day yesterday. I was slightly apprehensive about the whole reunion thing, for so many reasons...

And it was awesome. The show last night was called 'The Best Damn Assembly'... back in high school, our assemblies were not like other schools, of course. In between all the usual 'the caf is closing at 3pm' -ish announcements, we had visual artists get up and paint pictures, or drama students doing scenes, vocal students playing guitar and doing songs, creative writing students reading poetry, dance students doing some really neat modern choreo, and the rock star BOFA Canterbury Improv team doing sketches. You get the idea. It was a really cool monthly thing that NO ONE MISSED EVER. So, last night, they had CHS grads doing an assembly. There was an aerial gymnast doing fabulous things with silks, very Cirque du Soleil. There was a guy and his teen daughter who did a couple of acoustic guitar duets. Matthew Godfrey did his trademark closing monologue from 'Midsummer Night's Dream'. So many acts to mention. There were some acts that deserved a lot of applause, and some acts that were questionable (just like in high school!) I was happy to see a lot of familiar faces, who strangely enough haven't aged (Taryn & Koryn Rodney, I would like some of the water that you have been drinking these past 15 years). I was happy to get genuine hugs from people that I was genuinely happy to see. I was flirted with by someone completely unexpected who was a total rock star in high school. (check me out, I grew up hot!) All in all, a really good time. My performance went very well, I got a great many compliments from people that I moved, which is a great feeling!

On the way home from the Reunion Assembly, I passed by a parking lot, where a bunch of high school students were hanging out with their truck stereos blasting, dancing and drinking beer out of the tall boy cans. Which capped my high school weekend off nicely.

Today, I hung out with a very old friend. Skye and I go back 20 years, we became friends in grade 9. Our friendship has been tested quite a few times in the last 20 years, but we have reached a really neat place and our friendship continues to grow. She has 5 kids, all boys (dear god) and she told me a funny story today that I told her I needed to share with all of you, as it made me laugh. Her youngest is 6 years old, and was sitting on the couch, a couple months ago, playing with himself. Skye's friend, who was sitting next to him, says: "Hey Bryn, what are you doing there buddy?" To which Bryn replied "Well, it feels better when it's up". Hmmm. Men are so transparent.

My wrists are out and waiting on a slap!

2009-05-28T13:40:00.001-07:00

So, I didn't go to weigh in yesterday. I was afraid of the scale. So, I opted out. Which was easy to do considering I closed the bar on Tuesday night and ignored my alarm entirely when it went off at Weight Watchers time.

Okay, so I have a funny story to tell which will bring me back into your good graces! Sometimes, when I am feeling especially tired in the morning, I trade 30 extra minutes in bed for a $10 cab ride to work. I know, it is uber lazy of me, but sometimes it is a necessity. Anyhoo, the other day was one of those mornings... I slept in, left late, got a cab. I had the BEST CABBIE EVER. He starts off by telling me that he has entered a Philippino Karaoke Competition. When I asked him what song he was planning on singing, he starts to hum it, and asks me if I know it... which I do, so I sing the next line. He says "Wow, you should come with me and we will do duets", and then he starts singing a disney duet, and encouraging me to sing with him. It was "A Whole New World", which we did a marvelous version of on the way to work. It made my day.

I am going home to Ottawa this weekend for my High School Reunion. I think they are calling it the Homecoming, as it is 40 years of graduates, versus your standard 10 year/15 year/miscellaneous year reunion. They have asked me to sing at the assembly on Saturday night, and so I go to do my part!!! I was contemplating going to the dance, except that it is a High School Dance, and I had my fair share of those when I went to High School in the first place. Not to mention that there will be no liquor there, as it is a High School Dance... And, well, I don't know if my High School crush is going to the 'Homecoming', so the dance really isn't worth going to. *read: I don't want to pay $60 to go to a dance*... So, I think I will have my own High School Dance in my mom's condo living room with my mom and a gin and diet tonic. You excited mom? I'm making you wear something really formal!!!

Okay, I think that is it for now, I promise promise PROMISE to be good this week. I promise.
S

More Show!!!

2009-05-24T16:56:00.000-07:00

Here are some more fabulous songs from our show!!!

Fun stuff!

SHOW!!!

2009-05-22T19:42:00.000-07:00

Clips as promised:

So there you have it.
xxx
S

Like I'm gonna say no.

2009-05-22T13:56:00.000-07:00

Hey there peeps...

I got a text from a friend today asking if I had weighed in this week, so here I am blogging. I haven't blogged about my weigh in yet, because I am a little frustrated. I can't seem to get past 5 pounds. I know it is self-sabotage, but I can't stop myself. I actually had a great week, food wise. I was a little more social than I have been, but it was all within my points. I even only ate half of my free points. And I'm up a pound. GAH. Now, I spent some time with the boy on Tuesday night, and he brought back fresh pasta and fresh parmagiana reggiano from Rome. Read that last sentence again. From Rome. "Hmmm, pasta and cheese from Rome... uh, no, sorry honey, I am just going to have some steamed veggies!" So, we made a lovely little pasta dinner, kept it simple with a little rosemary olive oil, sauteed cherry tomatoes, arugula, turkey, vidalia onion and garlic... all within my points for the day. However, I ate dinner at 8:30pm, which was probably an error of judgement on my part. Even my leader said that this was probably the cause of the weight gain. We shall see how it pans out next Wed, as I am determined to be down this week.

In other parts of my world, I have been contemplating what to put above my bed. I bought these large cork board things with really neat ornate frames, and I had some of my pictures from Hawaii enlarged. However, it wasn't working for me. And then it happened... I saw these. Katie has them over her bed. I fell in love... and then inspiration hit. So, last night, Katie and I cut the cork out of the frames. Today, I mounted them above my bed and then put the flower things 'blowing' through the empty frames. Hmmm... wait a minute, I'm going to go and take a picture to show you....

*insert elevator music here*

This is it from front view... It is going to look much cooler when I finally paint my walls.

Side view. 3D wall art. Love it.

Hmmm, okay most of you are my friends on Facebook, but some of you aren't... so here are some pictures from the show on Saturday night:

I am told that there should be video by the end of the weekend... so I promise clips soon!!!

THE SHOW!!!!

2009-05-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

It started thunderstorming at 5:42am on Saturday morning. You wanna know how I know that? Because I was WIDE AWAKE, making lists and running lyrics in my head. Gah.

Anyhoo, Katie and I started the day at about 10am, with a trip to Body Blitz. This place is amazing. First of all, it is a spa, but they have something called 'Thearapeutic Waters', which is a bathing circuit. You start in the Dead Sea Salt pool, for about 10 mins, and then go to the Eucalyptus Steam Room for 5 mins, then plunge into a freezing cold bath for 1 minute, then to the Infrared Sauna for 5 mins, then the cold plunge again, and then the Green Tea Bath for 10 mins, and then you start all over again. AMAZING way to start the day. Opening our pores, for glowy skin, and opening our vocal chords with the steam room, totally destressing before the hectic.

Then, we headed back to my place, where her parents picked us up with all the set pieces, and we headed over to Aaron's place to get him and the keyboard. We then all went over to the theatre for our sound check.

Okay, the show itself:
The theatre seats about 120 people, and we had pretty much a full house with 90 people. They all laughed in the right places, they cheered very loudly, they genuinely had a great night. Katie & I were great, the show went very well, and I think we have a really fantastic product that is going to sell. Which is a really neat feeling. We had some lyric drama, but nothing that was crazy noticable by the audience, the usual nerves. Our accompanist, Aaron, was a total god-send. He was the perfect musical director!! Katie's boyfriend's brother filmed the whole thing, even plugging it right into the sound board for a direct feed, and last night Katie and I sat and watched it. It is very good quality. Her father is compressing some stuff for me, so as soon as I have it, I will be posting some show clips. Stay tuned!!

Last night, while Katie and I were watching the video, she introduced me to Tim Tams. Anyone know what these are? They are this chocolaty biscuit thing from Australia. You dip it into tea or whatever other hot bevvie of choice and sip your drink through the cookie. I kid you not. Here's a video:

They are the devil.
So, I guess that is it for now. I will be posting again on Wed with my weight stats, and hopefully by then I'll have a show clip or two for you!!!

3 sleeps...

2009-05-13T19:05:00.000-07:00

So, three sleeps til Katie & I debut our show!!! Are you excited? You should be.

Another "teaser"!!! LOL.

If you wanna see anymore, you have to be at the show. So there.

In other news, I weighed in this week. Seriously. Here's the stats... and yes, I know this is a cop-out of a blog post, but I'm tired... and well, spending time with my man and well, I don't feel like writing anymore. I swear, I will post a lot next week all about the show and stuff going on in my life. I promise.

Goal Weight: 145lbs.
Current Weight: 177.0
Total Weight Lost: 5 !!! (whoo hoo, back up to 5!)

Delinquent Blogger.

2009-05-08T06:28:00.000-07:00

I have been so ridiculously busy. Two jobs, rehearsals, a music competition in Ottawa this weekend that I have been studying lyrics for, etc... That when I did have a minute to myself, my brain was all Swiss-cheesy and therefore no blog. Forgive me.

And I didn't weigh in this week. I am so bad. Not that I felt that I was going to be up, I actually had a great eating week, just that I didn't feel like getting out of bed on Wednesday morning. My plan is to hit a meeting in Ottawa this weekend.

So, to get you back in my good graces, here are two more little snippets from rehearsal:

I do solemnly swear to be more diligent with blogging when the show is done. Just give me a week of craziness and then I will fill all of you in on what has been going on in my little corner of the universe.

Another Vid...

2009-04-30T06:34:00.000-07:00

I don't have a whole lot to talk about today... so, I'm gonna go straight to the Video!!! (since I know that is what you all were hoping for!!!

So there you have it...
Will post more after the weekend! (we have another rehearsal on Friday AND on Sunday!)

Foiled again...

2009-04-28T15:46:00.000-07:00

So, I went to Shoppers today. I needed toilet paper, kleenex, and a new toothbrush. I made a list. And then I wandered. It was a different Shoppers from the one on the corner... it was bigger and better than my Shoppers. It was huge. Anyhoo, on my travels through these foreign aisles, I came upon the candy aisle. My arms were full, I thought it was safe, so I ventured down the aisle. I found Lindt dark chocolate 75% cacao, all for only 3 points. I paid for my stuff, got home, was putting it all away, and lo and behold, my new chocolate bar was not in the bag. I paid for a chocolate treat that I don't get to eat... GAH!!! Karma is, indeed, a bitch. I gave away free chocolate and paid for more chocolate that Jade at the Shoppers is going to enjoy with her glass of wine tonight after her shift. Lesson learned.

Packages...

2009-04-27T22:10:00.000-07:00

So, this is my week thus far:

I avoided Shoppers Drug Mart even though I desperately needed shampoo, all in a quest to seriously avoid 'On-Sale' Easter chocolate. On Friday, I received a parcel in the mail... an Easter parcel... in said parcel was a giant milk chocolate egg filled with Purdy's truffles *gasp* AND a super duper ginormous SOLID dark chocolate rabbit *double gasp*. Within one day, I had downed the entire egg, and all the truffles, and hating myself so much for having zero will-power. So, I took the rabbit, hammered the &*#$ out of it, put all the bitties into a ziploc, and dropped it off at the pub on a day when I wasn't working. (sorry, dad) So, I get a 'shame on you' and a 'good for you' award.

In other news, we had a killer rehearsal on Sunday, touched EVERY song, and I'm really, really starting to get freakin' excited about it. So excited, in fact, that I have 4 teasers for y'all. That's right, 4!!

(this one's for you, Bea...)

(I had never heard this song before this very second!)

(check it out, we even have french content!)

Oh, by the by, I probably won't be weighing in on Wed. I got scheduled to work at Restaurant 1 on Wednesday (even though I told them in my interview that I can never work Wednesdays) , with an earlier start time than usual, which gives me no time to get all the way uptown to the meeting and then all the way back downtown to work. I will try to find a meeting on Thursday...

Anyhoo, folks, enjoy the vids, I shall be posting more on Wed...

insert drum roll here

2009-04-22T18:26:00.000-07:00

Wednesday. Weigh-in day. It has been two weeks since my last weigh-in... but I'll get to that in a sec. (bwah hahahahahah... must. keep. reading.) Know that I did really well over the last couple of weeks, upping my water, integrating milk into my diet, lowering my wine intake, not eating all my free points... really, really good...

Today, Katie and I bought our Act 2 shoes. They are fan-freaking-tastic. I was going to post pics, but I really REALLY want them to be a surprise. We didn't have rehearsal today, as our accompanist was busy accompanying other people in need of fabulous him. But cry not, fair blog readers, we have rehearsal on Sunday, and I will be posting more teasers on Sunday eve.

In the quest for our shoes, I did buy something completely frivolous and un-necessary. Giant wall stickers. Seriously. Here's a pic:

Yeah, that's right. A giant fork and spoon for my wall. And I'm not going to lie, I kind of love them a little. You have to see them to get the full effect, really, they are fabulous.
~
Okay, I am about to talk about something strange, and for those of you who don't know me, you might think that I am crazy, but I am not telling any lies...

I have these, experiences, which can only be explained by saying that they are supernatural in nature. Spirits come to me while I sleep and it is a heaviness on my body. I can't really breathe, and have very vivid visions of the spirits. I feel arms wrapped around my torso, I feel bodies laying beside me, I feel the weight of another human being beside me in the bed. I have felt these things for years. Especially in my apartment in New York. It was a really old building and it used to happen fairly often. I don't know if anyone else has had supernatural experiences like this, but this is how they come to me, and I am open to it, so maybe this is just how it happens for me. Anyhoo, in November of 2007, one of my closest friends took her life in a fairly violent way. I hadn't had any of these nights since I moved into my place, but since I lost her, I have had them fairly often. I hope it is her. Wrapping her arms around me to let me know that she is okay. Last night was one of those nights. Consequently, I barely slept, because every time I went to talk to her, I woke myself up. I am only telling you these things, because at 4am this morning, I downed a 560 calorie belgian chocolate duck that Katie gave me.

With that said:
Current Weight: 178.0
Goal Weight: 145.0
Weight lost this week: 1 POUND!!! (I want to say that it would have been more had I not had the duck.)
Total weight lost: 4lbs. (getting there.)

Sicky McSickster...

2009-04-18T20:38:00.001-07:00

I know, I know, I said I was going to weigh in on Friday... and I didn't. I woke up feeling like a truck ran over my head. And then backed up over it again. Not a great feeling. I have been popping echinacea, vitamin C, and Cold FX like it is my job. I was fortunate enough to have not been called in to work on Thursday evening, and I had all day yesterday to get myself better. So much sleep. So much sleep, in fact, that the Neo-Citran backfired and I barely slept last night. Boo.

In other news, we got our postcards for the show!!!
They look like this:
How cute are we?!!!

Also, my Act 2 dress arrived, and it fits like a glove. Aaaannnndddd, we had rehearsal today and I have more (insert sing-songy-voice here) video teasers!!!

I just want to say a quick something... I have gotten a couple of comments from people I don't know who found my blog by accident and have continued to follow it. I heart the internet. To Sarah, who enquired about the point value of a Cadbury Cream Egg. 4 points. Not as bad as your standard Mars Bar, but not as good as a 100 calorie Aero Bar. So there y0u have it.

Time for bed. *sniffle, cough*

All sorts of bad news... okay, maybe not ALL bad!

2009-04-16T12:01:00.000-07:00

First of all, let me apologize for not blogging, it has been a crazy couple of days.

My mom was here for the weekend, and we made a big trip to IKEA to get some new stuff for the apt. I love love love love IKEA. More than is acceptable. And then we spent Easter Monday building and organizing and cleaning... It was very fun. (my new, very organized living room. There are going to be baskets in all those little cubby holes so you won't see all the books.)
(my new, very organized bedroom. After a year of living in this space, I am finally completely unpacked. I have a grown-up apartment. Who knew!)

Then I worked, and worked some more. And here it is, confession time... I didn't weigh in this week. My plan is to hit a meeting tomorrow morning at 9:30am. I am anxious to get on the scale, actually, as I have had a really good couple of weeks, and last week was so *period* disappointing *period* as I didn't lose *period* as much as I was *period* anticipating.

The other part of bad news is that we didn't have rehearsal on Wed, so no teaser video... until Saturday, so be on the lookout for one!!! However, to tide you over, I have included a couple of the photos from mine and Katie's photo shoot that we had!!!

I have been avoiding Shoppers Drug Mart. Nothing good can come of 'on-sale' Easter Chocolate. My leader at WW was so funny last week. She says 'okay, you can go and buy the big bag of Cadbury Eggs for $1.48, but keep in mind that Weight Watchers is $17/week. Do the math.' She also said something that really stuck with me this week. She said that we have to stop talking about 'losing' weight. Because we, especially women, are very good at finding lost things. She said we should start talking about it in terms of 'taking this weight off my body' or 'getting rid of unwanted weight'. So that is my thing now. I'm no longer going to talk about losing weight, because I don't want to find any more of it!!!

Easter Awakening!!!

2009-04-12T05:54:00.000-07:00

Last night, Mom and I went to see 'Spring Awakening'. It was amazing. We had seats ON the stage, so talk about being right there for every moment. We saw and experienced things that you normally wouldn't by just being in the audience... like when the cast are sitting right next to to you and rocking out, it moves the whole stage, or like seeing the tears in Moritz's eyes when he is pleading with his father. We also missed a lot of stuff, as the show is directed at the audience (of course) and we were to the side and back... They do this audience members on stage thing to break down the barriers of the traditional idea of the fourth wall. For those of you not in theatre, the 'fourth wall' is the front of the stage. As actors, you direct everything out, but still pretending that you are encased in a box and that the audience doesn't exist!!! Whew. It was a spectacular show. It was more intense than I thought it was going to be... I knew it was a coming-of-age story, I just didn't know it was going to touch on other harsher subjects. Please go see it. It is playing at the Canon Theatre until April 19th. You have one week.

In other news, Mom is here!!! We are having a small dinner gathering this evening to celebrate the resurrection of Christ with wine and ham and Cranium. Maybe some gin. After the Jesus-themed birthday party I had last year, I know that I am already going to hell, so eating pork on Easter Sunday is just par for the course. In fact, here is a little cartoon:

Well, friends, Happy Easter, Joyeux Paques, and all that good stuff. Go eat a bunny.

Today...

2009-04-08T16:26:00.001-07:00

Today is Wednesday. Which makes it weigh-in day. I was really really good this week. I upped my water intake. I stayed on-program, only ate half of my free points. I cut down significantly on my wine intake. And I lost weight. But ONLY 0.2 lb. WHAT?

I mean, granted, I started my monthly annoyance today, so that should add some sort of bloatation level, but really. *SIGH*. Okay, so stay in the lines all this week and I technically should see some sort of improvement in this number next week.
(please click on it and see what they are saying!!!)

Okay, today was also rehearsal day and we had a FANTASTIC rehearsal. Worked on duo stuff, and I took videeoooo... (sing song-y tone of voice!!)
So, here are two little teasers... and by little teasers, I mean little... I mean, I can't post too much, or else you will see too much and possibly feel like you have seen everything and possibly not come to the show...

So there you have it!
Current Weight: 179.0 lbs.
Goal Weight: 145 lbs.
Weight Lost this Week: 0.2 lbs. (I know, I know, it's the right direction...)
Total Weight Lost. In a million weeks back on the program... 3. GAH.

Addendum: Or this one...

2009-04-07T21:42:00.001-07:00

Or this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uwuLxrv8jY

Possibly the best one.

Stuff.

2009-04-07T21:30:00.000-07:00

I, um, don't really have much to say... I was REALLY really good this week, so hopefully that translates tomorrow on the scale.

In other news, my friend Lindsay is visiting from Ottawa on an 'Adventure around The Big Toe', and she has opened my eyes to the glories of these ridiculous videos on youtube where they have re-cut famous movies and made them into trailers for the reverse of what they are. Hmmm. I know, read that sentence again.

Here's one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T5_0AGdFic

Or this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf7h6o3I8yw

I tried to embed them but youtube hates me.

Okay, goodnight... will post tomorrow with weight stuff and rehearsal vids and um, stuff.

Rain, and other things... like photo shoots!!!

2009-04-05T16:59:00.000-07:00

My intention was to write on Friday. But then it rained. And when it rains, all I want to do is lie in bed, or hang out in my pj's and listen to 'Godspell'* ad nauseum. Alas, I didn't get to do any of those things, as I had to work both jobs on Friday. Then it was Saturday, and it was nice-ish outside, and I wanted to write, but I ended up being needed for a million hours at the pub, and when I got home, I didn't want to write anymore. Now, today is the most exciting of all days... today, K8EB and I had our photo shoot. A photo shoot for the postcards, and Facebook Event invite, for our website and for the press packets that we will be sending the cruise ship people. It was AWESOME. No wait, I take that back. It was SUPER-DUPER TERRIFIC AWESOME.

We started out at the Make-up artist's place, where we got all dolled up... then we went down to the St. Lawrence Market, met up with the photographer, and did some casual brick wall shots. Very fun. Then to the Flatiron building for some stair shots, then to the entertainment district for some surprise graffiti-wall-in-fancy-clothes shots. It was a long day, but I think we got some seriously amazing shots and I am very excited about all of it. Or couldn't you tell?!!!

Here are some silly shots of us getting photographed:

*as an aside, I went to youtube to see if I could hyperlink a videoclip of one of my fave songs from 'Godspell', and to my serious disappointment EVERY single videoclip has been removed from the site. VERY disappointing. *sigh*

Hungry...

2009-04-01T09:08:00.000-07:00

Hello friends...

Well, first of all, there will be no rehearsal today as our accompanist is feeling a little under the weather, so you all will have to wait until next week for another teaser video!!! (It is actually a ploy to keep you reading!!!) I see it as a little bit of a blessing in disguise, as I am seriously delinquent in my book club reading. Our next meeting is on the 17th, and I am barely a quarter of the way into the book... eep. Which is totally crazy since I am actually really enjoying the book, it is beautifully written and I love the main character... So, I am getting on it today... seriously... after I watch last night's The Biggest Loser. Man, I love that show.

Today was also Weight Watchers Day. I walked in to the meeting and to my gleeful surprise they have started selling plush versions of 'Hungry'. Is everyone familiar with 'Hungry'? I love him. He is the little orange guy trying to tempt people into eating bad things in the WW ads. He makes me laugh every time.
Here he is:

And I bought one. I'm such a sucker for that. I am a marketing person's dream. And speaking of WW, I stayed the same this week. Which is good in the non-gaining part, and bad in the non-losing part. *sigh*. I am setting a short week-long goal. I am going to try really hard not to eat my 35 free points. I am also going to try to cut down on my socializing. Let's see how it goes!!! Okay, off to have a little lunchie...

Current Weight: 179.2 lbs.
Goal Weight: 145 lbs.
Weight Lost: 0 (I wish a zero didn't look so much like a doughnut)

Hangin' Tough!!

2009-03-31T11:52:00.000-07:00

The concert was a blast!! Well, it wasn't as good as the first time around, but it was great. The first time around, there was a bigger group of us, and we were WASTED, and feeling seriously sentimental about our early teen years. This time around, we knew what songs they were going to sing, so it was a little less magical! But our seats were better this time!!! Also, it is a little bit of a curse being a singer, because I hear stuff that other people don't. Like Joey was seriously flat during 'Please Don't Go Girl', and Jordan was having trouble with his falsetto all night!! Fun stuff.
All the girlies: I love this pic!
This would be me, rocking out to NKOTB!!

Can we talk about how close we were to them? *sigh*

The four of us drove to London in the afternoon, and had a little dinner. They ordered nachos and chicken wings and pizza that all looked divine. I ordered a warm spinach salad with grilled chicken and dressing on the side. Aren't you proud of me? Also, I stuck to vodka with soda, as a shot of vodka is only 50 calories and therefore only 1 point.

Anyhoo, tomorrow is another fun rehearsal, so be looking forward to another fun video. Oh, and it's weigh-in day too. *sigh again*

Super Cheezy!

2009-03-29T06:52:00.000-07:00

Today, I am headed to London (ontario) with all the girlies to see New Kids On The Block. For the second time!!! The whole group of us went to see them in Toronto last year, and we had such a good time. We all wore original 1989 concert tees, provided by my friend Christie. I went all crazy and did my hair all teased up and to the side like the old days!!! I plan on wearing normal clothes this time around!!!

Anyhoo, I know this post is short, but I have to get all dolled up so that Jordan Knight notices me and asks me to marry him.

Rehearsal teaser...

2009-03-26T19:50:00.001-07:00

So, K8EB and I had our first real play-it-through rehearsal with our fantabulous accompanist... and here is the video as promised...

Keep in mind that this is our FIRST REHEARSAL and we don't know these songs yet...

Our rehearsals are going to be every week, probably on Wednesdays and I am planning on posting little teaser videos up until the show...

Anyhoo, ciao for now...

Short.

2009-03-26T07:47:00.000-07:00

This post is short. I am tired of saying it, and I know you guys are tired of reading it: I gained a pound this week. Well, technically, I gained a pound over the last two weeks since I didn't weigh in last week. I know exactly what it was that added to the gain, it was the wine consumption over the last couple weeks... it's been a little, shall we say, social...

Okay, I'm going to sign off now... K8EB and I have our very first rehearsal this afternoon and I'm very excited about it... I'm bringing my video camera to capture some good stuff which I will be posting tomorrow... something to look forward to...

Current Weight: 179.2 lbs.
Goal Weight: 145 lbs. It feels a little impossible today.

Was there supposed to be cheese?

2009-03-22T13:53:00.001-07:00

Last night was my 'adventure' with MMA. Fun times!!! I will say this, not only am I probably not going to book another adventure for reasons I will get into in a second, I am VERY happy I went with my friend!

Okay, the night started out at Canyon Creek. A lovely restaurant on Front St. I have never dined there before, but they provided us with appetizers, and if they are any indication, then the entrees must be fantastic! There was about 40 women, and 4 men. Seriously. I think they should have a thing on their site for each event as to how many men vs women have signed up for the event. Ilana and I were the two youngest girls there. And the men, well, not really my type.

So, we hopped on to a yellow school bus

and took the trip out to the International Centre by the airport.
On the bus, we did an ice-breaker game of 'say your name and your favourite wine', like we were camp kids. I expected the 'camp-counsellors' to break out into song.

The wine and cheese show itself was great. It was $1 for a 1 oz pour of wine (sometimes it was more depending on the wine) and there was a LOT of food... but very little in the way of cheese. As a cheese-fiend, I was slightly disappointed... until I had a small plate of shrimp penne in an asiago sauce, and that was enough to quell the disappointment. Ilana and I had made a friend on the bus so he pretty much followed us around while I gave him wine pointers.

Now, here is my one point with the W&C show... I tried a few wines that I LOVED that not only were not available for purchase at the show, but also not available for purchase at the LCBO... they were only available if you bought a case and had it shipped to you. For a lot of money. Bad...

After the show, we all hopped back on the yellow school bus and headed down to Crocodile Rock. It was totally cougarific. And definitely entertaining. I left shortly thereafter.
(I don't know who this woman is, but her tanktop made me laugh)

Et voila. My event. Fun times.