Cleveland!

We were in Cleveland for tour on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday! We played the Palace Theater at Playhouse Square. It's was fun because that is where I have always gone to see shows, and now I was working one. Darrel and I had people coming to the shows every night, so I knew I was going to be busy, but quite honestly, I'm completely exhausted.

Wednesday night my mom and Ernie came, and we had a quick drink with them at the hotel after the show. Darrel and I rounded up a group to go to Prosperity Social Club in Tremont. It has turned into one of our favorite places to go in town. We unfortunately found it after a funeral in the area last year, but we have continued to go back. Wednesday night is Recession night, so all of their food is cheaper- isn't that a fun idea?! And it's not bar food- I got bowtie pasta with mussels, tomatoes and feta for $9.50. They also have a great juke box and games- we were addicted to Connect Four. Add all these up, and we were there until 2am.

Thursday night all of the Kubach's and my roommate Toni came to the show. So we of course had to go out with all of them after. Irish pub for dinner, a few bars, and once again, 2am.

Friday night, Darrel's parents came. We hit the Winking Lizard, and got on the bus to leave for Michigan at 3am.

I need sleep so bad it's not even funny! The good news is that we are in Flint, and we were told to not even walk around here. That puts me in the hotel room tonight with a movie, going to bed early!

Thanks to all of you who came to the Cleveland shows- I LOVED being home!!

Doing the Jig

Maybe too much information, but I just jogged down the hallway of my hotel (in Cleveland!) to ask the housekeeper for a pen, and I felt my backside jiggling around. What is THAT??!! I have never felt that before! I might have to go jiggle myself onto a treadmill.

Vegas Vacation

We had such a great time in Vegas! I won't get into my penny slot winnings. :)

Our friends Doc and Amelia picked us up from the airport on Monday night, and we went to the old downtown area. For some reason I really wanted to see the Golden Nugget and the whole big light show they do down there. There are 12 million lights! They knew of a place with $2 Corona's, so we grabbed a beer and checked some places out. The Golden Nugget just re-did their pool, and they have a water slide that actually goes THROUGH a shark tank! It was so cool. I had looked online to find affordable restaurants (there are none in Vegas- entrees literally start at $35) and saw there was a decent one in the Nugget called Groto, so we gave it a go. The food was so good! I ate all of my pasta with chicken, and about a loaf of bread. Maybe a loaf and a half.

Darrel and I were hell bent on making this an affordable vacation. We had checks from work for our travel expenses that covered our flights there and back, and I found an amazing deal at the Monte Carlo on kayak.com one day for our room. It was only $50 a night! We were also able to get tickets for KA, a Cirque show, for $55 a piece, rather than the full price of $140. Tuesday morning was all about finding more deals.

Doc gave us some coupon books and filled us in on some ways to get discounts. I went over and stood in line at Tix4Tonight, where you can purchase tickets at a discount the day of shows. The line took forever. When I finally got to the front, Blue Man Group only had obstructed view seats left. I of course didn't have my cell phone, so I made the decision to get us tickets for Penn & Teller, the magicians. I didn't know much about them, but Darrel had talked about wanting to see the show, and I knew that one of them was on Dancing With The Stars. The lady then asked me if I was interested in any of their dining discounts, and I wound up getting us a voucher for buy one get one free entrees at the steakhouse at the Paris hotel! Life was good. And discounted.

We enjoyed the rest of Tuesday walking around to different hotels, seeing the show, and meeting Doc and Amelia at Smith and Wollensky for dinner. After, we decided to gamble a little. (And I really mean a little). Darrel learned how to play craps, and might have gotten a little addicted that night. I went to bed at 4am, and he was out until 6:00 in the morning!!! That kind of made us get off to a late start on Wednesday, our last day.

Wednesday we wanted to go get a free buffet lunch at the (rundown) Riviera. You show them your plane ticket stub, they feed you. By the time we got the bus ticket and went up there, the damn buffet was closed. We wound up next door at a place called the Peppermill. The decor was hilarious! The place was totally stuck in 1975. But the food was incredible.

After lunch, we went over to Slots Of Fun. They had cheap Blackjack tables there Darrel wanted to check out, and well, I just love slots. I put $5 in a nickel machine, and the dumb thing shot out $5 worth of nickels! For those of you who have not been in a casino lately, you never actually SEE your coins in slots. They become electronic credits, and when you cash out, it gives you a ticket you turn in. But not here. So I start putting these nickels in, five at a time, literally just trying to get rid of them. The place kind of smelled, and we were ready to go. It kept paying me. Not big- just enough to make it so I had to keep sitting there putting the nickels in. Do you know how dirty those things are!? Darrel was calling me nickel fingers, and here's why:

Wednesday night was the best night. We saw KA (you should watch the video), and I can't even put it into words. Amazing. But get this- we were standing in line at the bar in the theatre, and their special drinks were $15 for a small. Well for $3 more, you get a huge one. So what do we do? Spend $36 on TWO DRINKS!! They did last us about two hours though. We then went over to Paris and went to a piano bar and excellent (half price) dinner. After dinner we went back to our hotel, I won the money on the Butterfly slots, and Darrel bet $5 chips at craps next to a man betting $500 chips. Awesome.

Lucky Butterfly Sevens

More to come on Vegas later, but I at least thought I would post these two videos of my new all time favorite game! They are only one cent and two cent machines, but STILL! Love it. I of course am kicking myself in the butt for not betting more and being cheap with my bets, but hey, gambling hindsight is never good.

Please excuse how many times I say "Butterfly Slots" in the video- I blame it on the free drinks they give you when you are playing!

West Point, NY

I just realized that I never posted that I was lucky enough to see West Point last Sunday! My cousins Jon and Pat both graduated from West Point, and I have been hearing about it for years. I am so proud of both of them and what they have accomplished, so it was amazing to see the campus they lived on, learned on, and trained on. I honestly had no idea what to expect.

We traveled overnight on the bus, as we usually do, to get there. The reason we travel overnight is because we have beds, so we fall asleep late at night and wake up in the next city. We had no idea that our hotel was actually on the West Point grounds until we arrived at the gate. The bus driver came and woke me up at 7am, explaining that we all needed to wake up and show our ID's to enter. I think most of us had been asleep for about four hours at that point in time.

I totally felt like I was at a border crossing. It was so intense! We drove through, missed our hotel entrance, and had to drive all the way around the campus to get back to it. I could not believe how beautiful it was. You can't even put it into words. I tried to take a few pictures to post, but it was so darn cold and windy, and we had to be at the theatre at 2:00. Take into account nap time, getting ready, and eating, and the day slipped away. So the only pics I have are of our hotel, the check point, and the view from our hotel.I was thrilled to look in my trusty book (1,000 Places to See Before You Die in the U.S. and Canada) and see that our hotel, The Thayer, was in there, and so was West Point. The hotel was so cool. I didn't love the room, but I loved the whole feel of the place. Historical, with so much character.

Regardless, I was so happy to see where Jon and Pat spent time- check another thing off my list!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you! My whole life, I have always been lucky enough to have a Valentine. Whether it was my Dad, Poppy, my Mom- I always had cards, flowers, and a celebration. This year, I'm lucky enough to have Darrel, who gave me the nicest card today. He wrote, "I love you year round, today I just tell you more". Am I lucky, or what?!

Darrel and I spent our first Valentine's Day at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, our second at the Phesant Plucker Pub in Hamilton, Ontario, and today we are in Madison, WI, which is a really cute town. We are going to dinner tonight after the show at a place called the Weary Traveler (at 11:00, real healthy), but are planning on REALLY celebrating this week, when we are on vacation in Vegas!!

Wabash, IN

Wabash, Indiana. Where you say? I don't even know myself. I do know that we had to drive here from South Bend on a two lane road that made your stomach go WHOA! every time you went over a bump.

While there seems to be nothing to do here rather than visit Wal-Mart or Dollar Tree, one thing did make my day. I realized this morning that I left my cell phone charger in a hotel somewhere. I have no idea where it is, since we have been in 10 cities in the last 14 days. I thought to myself, if I leave chargers in walls, other people do too. So when we checked into the Holiday Inn here, I asked if they happen to have a box of unclaimed chargers I could look through.

DID THEY EVER! They came out with a box of about 50 chargers, and I found one right away for my BlackBerry. Why go spent $30 when I can get one for free!? Maybe someone will be smart enough to ask for a box of them at what ever hotel I left mine at, so it will be like an equal trade.

First Time For Everything

Tonight I am in South Bend, IN. We heard during the show that power was going out all over the city, so we mentally prepared ourselves that it may happen. We were all SO happy when the show ended, everyone had taken their bows, and we still had lights. For about two minutes.

The power went out right after the show let out. (Funny, being the Jesus show and all that it stayed on through the whole thing). 2,231 people had to find their way out in the dark, and there was even an upper balcony. It was like a sea of lit up cell phones coming down the stairs. Why the theatre does not have a generator is beyond me.

I thought, welp, that's it for selling merchandise tonight. Oh no- they still swarmed me! I was selling black T's in the dark, and hoping the bills I had in my hand were what people were saying they were. Then I had to close up in the dark. People could not even see to sign their credit card receipts. SO NOT FUN!

I felt even worse for our crew. They have to load the whole show out in the dark! Thank god for head lamps- I saw about 30 of them when I popped my head in.

I am back at the hotel, with power, and got a nice little Notre Dame campus tour from the cab on the way home. Not a bad way to end a less than perfect night.

Baltimore, MD

We spent Friday and Saturday in Baltimore, and once again, LUCKED OUT with the weather. For some odd reason, we did not have a matinee show on Saturday. Since offices are not open, I didn't really have work to do, so that gave us the whole day free! I was hoping to catch up with a few of my relatives that live in the area, but they are on a two week cruise. Bummer for them, right?!

I spent time in Baltimore the first year of tour, so I had covered a lot of Baltimore ground already. But with the weather being so perfect, Darrel and I had to head out to the Inner Harbor again. There were so many kids and families out walking around- I never really have "Saturdays" anymore because I am always at a theater. It put a smile on my face to see them all running around!

The Inner Harbor just such a great area- lots of restaurants and shops, and it's right on the water. We had heard about this restaurant called The Rusty Scupper that you had to take a water taxi to. Forgetting it was the dead of winter thanks to the 60 degree weather, we went to get the taxi, only to find out it was closed for the season. Then we realized we could walk there in about ten minutes- I'm happy we didn't hop on the $9.00 boat!

Our friend Jayson is always up for exploring with us, so the three of us had a really good lunch, right on the water. The crab cakes were so good! Totally worth the $15.00 price tag. For one. :)

We were walking through a little shopping center on the way back to the hotel, and ran across a fudge store that was doing a little... well, I guess just watch. And at the end, we got a free sample. Just one more reason I love touring so much- you just never know what you are going to find around the next corner!

The Landmark Theatre- Syracuse, NY

The Rocky Steps- Philadelphia

As promised, here is a blog dedicated to Darrel and our friend Nick, running up the Rocky steps. Classic.

Our New Little Friend

Two days ago, I opened up a cupboard on the bus to get a plate, and let out a quiet little shriek. That's right- we have a mouse living ON our tour bus!

I called our driver to let him know, and he said he has heard of it before, but has never had one in his eight years of driving. We talked about the plan to get rid of it, and I told him I was not going to make it public bus knowledge. Some of my friends on there would totally freak out!

Today, we are pulling into Baltimore, and DaRon opens his food drawer. He pulls out a bag of Ritz, and looks at us with a puzzled look, wondering why they are open. I'm like, ut oh. Then he pulls a few more things out that are slightly open. They Darrel opens his drawer and discovers three bags of Cheetos that little guy apparently wanted for dinner.

The mouse was out of the bag- it was so funny! Everyone is pulling their food out to take in the hotel, freaking each other out with stories about where it has been sleeping, biting at toes in the middle of the night, etc.

I guess it does not matter WHO you are- no one likes mice, and they can make everyone scream like a girl and freak out!!

Philadelphia, PA

Wow, was Philly a welcoming surprise!

We had a five show weekend, which pretty much means we do not have a lot of free time. However, we were blessed with a Golden Day on Monday. A Golden Day is the term we use for a completely free day. No show, no travel. They are few and far between, let me tell you!

Philly is WONDERFUL!!! There is so much to do and see there. And tons of places to eat too! When we arrived, we of course had to go get a Philly Cheese Steak. With cheeze wiz (that is how you are supposed to eat them I guess) and onions. It was so good! However, one was just fine for me for the weekend.

Our theatre was called the Academy of Music, and it was built in the 1700's. It has of course been renovated. It used to be the home of the Symphony, but they moved next door. We were there for the weekend, and Rent came in on Tuesday for a six show run. We happened to all be staying in the same hotel on Monday night, which was fun for the cast members because a lot of them knew each other.

The shopping there is... wow. It's like a mini NYC or Chicago. Dangerous! I put myself on a budget because my New Year's resolution was to stop shopping. But is was Philly. I spent three times my budget, returned 1/3 of it the next day, and wound up two times over. Not bad, if I do say so myself. :)

The best part of the weekend was that a few old tour friends came to visit us from NYC on Sunday and Monday!!! Our really good friend Nick came Sunday afternoon, and stayed until we left on Tuesday, and our (quite a character) friend Jason came in on Sunday afternoon and left on Monday morning. Sunday night we went to a few bars Jason knew of, the second of which was a piano bar. Everyone had so much fun singing, and I enjoyed watching them all from my perch at the piano. I was perched at the piano due to my previous blog about my cute shoes that made me want to cut my feet off.

Monday (Golden Day), we decided to be full-blown tourists. My grandfather taught me that if you only have one day in a city, find a hop on hop off tour. And that's exactly what we did! We found a trolley tour of the whole city for $27. We actually only got off twice. To run the stairs at the Art Museum from Rocky (the video deserves its own blog), and to eat lunch in a funky little part of town. But we learned soooo much. There is so much history to Philly, I couldn't believe it. Some of their architecture blew me away.

At the end of our tour, we went and visited Freedom Hall, the Visitor's Center, and the Liberty Bell Center. Then we went to an Irish Pub for $2.00 beers. Then we went to a funky restaurant for dinner where we all shared little plates, and the chairs hung from the ceiling. What a day!

I would definitely recommend Philly to anyone for a long-weekend trip. You would enjoy it, and never get bored!

God Knew What He Was Doing

When he did not make me a Supermodel.

My (super gay) friend Jason was coming to visit us in Philly today, and I felt that I owed him a fabulous outfit. Thanks to my shopping yesterday, I had just the thing. So I got dressed at 11:00am this morning, all complete with brown heeled boots, American Apparel leggings, a great brown sweater, and the brick colored American Apparel (love it) circle scarf.

We do show one. I start to feel a bit of pain in the balls of the feet.

We meet with Jason and friend #2 (Nick) in between shows, and part of my feet are numb.

We do show two, and my awesome boots come off as soon as the show starts and no one can see me.

The show is over, and I limp back to my room to soak the balls of my feet, put on padded socks under the boots, and refuse to change the cute and acceptable gay loving outfit.

I decide to pay $6 to take a cab down the street to the piano bar, steal a seat from someone at the piano, have a great time, and pay $6 back to the hotel. Some of my friends might have walked faster than my cab, but not in these shoes!

Point being- how on EARTH do people wear heals every day of their lives without being miserable? Pedicure with foot massage... here I come!

Broken Promises

Well, I broke my promise to myself. My New Years resolution was to stop shopping. I made it 31 days (with a Steve Madden clutch from Marshall's thrown into the mix for $12)!

I arrive in Philadelphia on Friday. Wake up on the bus and check into the hotel. No clue what is around me. I get picked up with Ted to go do local TV. As we are being driven through the city to the station, I see it... shopping heaven.

I shopped the sales. I only shopped for things that went with leggings and boots (that was my goal). I got talked into buying an overpriced, yet on-sale dress at a boutique. I went to H&M, Anthropologie, Urban, Zara, Arden B, and a few others. Did some damage.

It must be an Aunt Susan thing. I brought it all back to the hotel room, sorted through it, and decided what was in the "keep" pile and the "return" pile. Looking just as forward to the returns and I did the buys.

The boutique dress is in the keeps.