Kansas City BBQ

We were in Kansas City last week for a few days, and I knew going into it that it was going to be a BBQ week. Darrel has been talking about it since the tour started! Men and their food...

We went to Arthur Bryant's for lunch one day, and WOW was that good food! It is absolutely nothing to look at. Just a stone building in the middle of nothing. The interior is very simple, and I'm pretty sure it has not been worked on since it opened in the 1920's. Old tables, red and white checkered floor, run down chairs. They had pictures of famous people eating there all over the walls- Sarah Palin and John McCain were the two most recent shots. I guess it's "the" place to go in KC for BBQ!

It is set up like a cafeteria. You get in line, grab a tray, and tell the guys in the kitchen what you want. They literally throw it on a plate for you, and you slide down to the cashier to pay and get your drink. Enjoy the pics!

San Antonio, TX

I never would have thought that San Antonio is as great as it is, unless I was on tour. I can't think of any reason I would go there otherwise- you don't think of it as a "vacation spot", and I don't know anyone who lives around there.

I LOVED IT!!! First off, our theatre was amazing. Sometimes we luck out and perform in really old, restored theatres that have so much character. This was no exception. The only strange part about it was that I had to set up merchandise for the show IN the actual theatre. There was no lobby. We were super busy there, and it was hard to work in the dark once the show started. Our props girl gave me a super cool headlamp that I wore to count money. I felt like I was going down into the mines or something.

San Antonio is best known for two things: the Alamo, and the Riverwalk. I had this whole Riverwalk pictured in my head before we got there. It would be a large river with barges on it and stores up and down a sidewalk. I could not have been more wrong! It was this quaint three mile beautifully landscaped shallow river that flows through the city. Darrel, myself and our friend Jayson took a Riverwalk Cruise on Sunday morning. I won't bore you with the history of the river, but we learned so much, and then enjoyed a nice brunch at one of the many restaurants that line the river.

The Alamo was a disappointment. It is super small, and doesn't seem to be run very well. The area around it has turned "Niagara"- Ripley's Believe it or Not, Guinness Book of Records Museum, and a bunch of other junk. I'm not really into the Westerns, but everyone said that it looks about five times bigger on the silver screen than it does in real life. My closest relationship with the Alamo is Pee-Wee Herman, so I was not too disturbed by this.


The last night, a few of us went to this Mexican place I read about in my trustworthy 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. It's been open 24/7 since 1941! Their prices were great (the Riverwalk is a tourist trap and expensive), their decorations were over the top, and it was in an area of town we had not seen yet. I forgot my camera, but here is the website: Mi Tierra.

If I ever have the chance to go back, I will be there in a heartbeat!

Scotch Eggs

I forgot to post that I ate my first Scotch Eggs while in Austin. We were in a pub (we always are, because they are usually the only places that sell food after we get out of work) and I just decided to go for it. I think Darrel was shocked! It is a hard boiled egg taken out of the shell, wrapped in a sausage mixture of some sort, then deep fried with breadcrumbs and served with mustard.

I was proud of myself for trying something different, but I think I'll stick with a burger next time.

The Lone Star State

Isn't that what it's called? Anyway, we are in Texas!

I had heard that Austin was a REALLY fun town, but could not have imagined what I saw when we went there. The place to go out there is Sixth Street. Some friends of ours were coming to spend Wednesday and Thursday with us, and they have been out on Sixth Street before.

I am not exaggerating when I say that there are over 60 bars on this street. It was unreal. And they ALL had people in them on a Thursday night!

Downtown Austin

This one's for you Mom!!

I can't believe what happened to us though. Some of us were out, and we got a call that our friend JT was going to meet up with us. The next thing we know, we get a call from him saying they won't let him in because he has on "baggy pants". It didn't look to me like there was a dress code of any type in this place. Some people tried to talk to the bouncer to get him in, but they just weren't having it. So you know what we did? We all put down our drinks, and walked out. Trust me, they lost quite a bit of business because of "baggy pants".

Enjoying some bubbly with Zack and JT.

Does it look like we had fun!?

That town was so full of life, and there was SO much to do there. I would go back in a second!

The Glamourous Life of Show Business

To start this blog off, I would like to admit that just had to sing the Fergie song out loud in my hotel room to be able to spell glamourous. So sad.

I thought I would give you all a look behind the scenes of the show I have done like 500 times. I remember when I first started, I was facinated by being backstage. I used to love to watch the show from the wings (side of the stage) and hang with everyone while the show was going on. Now I'm more opt to turn down the monitors, listen to my iPod while reading US magazine, and go on the internet. But I still love the show, and my job. :)

New Years Eve- Finally!

New Year's Eve was SO MUCH FUN!! We were in Tucson, and had the night off, so being the party people we are, a really great night was planned.

As a company, we had a Secret Santa exchange. Unfortunately, we got our act together so late that we didn't feel we had enough time to reveal ourselves before our Christmas break, so we decided to do our final gifts on New Years Eve. The company gave us a budget for a party, and Darrel, myself, and some others got to work. We ordered party trays from the grocery store, went to Trader Joe's for wine, and some massive liquor store for huge amounts of beer. The hotel had a tent set up outside, and a few people spent a lot of time decorating it and cleaning it up, to give it a "party feel".

The way we did Secret Santa was that you had to give at least two $5.00 gifts leading up to the big party, and then a $20 gift as the final. Once you opened your final gift at the party, you had two guesses as to who had you. It was so fun, and I would say about half of us got our person right. The person who had me for Secret Santa was great! She gave me lots of fun things, and a purple purse that you will surely see me using (which I had to go on a kissing of the cheek scavenger hunt for)! I was lucky and picked my friend Amber's name (who happens to be from Cleveland). The only bad thing about it was that every time I bought her something, I wanted to buy a duplicate for myself!

Darrel and Ray with our small amount of beer for the party.

Matthew showing off his creative Wal Mart decorating skills.

Amber and I under the beautiful chandelier (I had her for Secret Santa)!

Our Secret Santa gift table- there was some good stuff in there!

Everyone happy drinking, eating and opening gifts.

We had our party early, because someone found a great party for us to all go to at the Hotel Congress, just a mile or so up the street. They had a circus themed night. We didn't know what the heck that meant, but after talking to some local people, we found out this was the place to go for the night, so we didn't really care. It was about $15 to get in (we pre-bought tickets) and they had at least six or seven different bars, and outside tent with a band, a DJ in another room... it was awesome. There were probably a couple thousand people there. It was just a huge space.

The ad for the party we went to at Hotel Congress

At midnight, they had a champagne table set up outside, and had a huge ball drop from the top of the hotel. After celebrating at our party since 6:30 with an open bar, you can imagine the spirits the 30 of us were in!

Happy 2009!!

The weird Cirque-type people hanging from the hotel at the party.


Ras and I after a few glasses of champagne!
**Yes, Darrel and I were out together, but the only picture of the two of us from the night is blurry! Bummer!

Quick Health Update

First off, thanks to ALL of you who left me messages and sent me emails after you read I was not feeling well! You are the best friends and family in the world. :)

The good news is that I am feeling almost back at 100%. Pretty much everyone told me that when they have vertigo of some sort, it has lasted three to four days. Right on the money.

After doing some research, I am pretty sure I had Peripheral Vestibular Disorder. This can LEAD to vertigo, which is probably why the doctor used that word, but I was not dizzy.

In other news, my poor mom has SHINGLES!!! Please think of her as she gets over this- I know it is far from enjoyable to have.

Now that I'm feeling better, I'll work on making this blog a fun place to visit again!!!

Cupertino, CA Day Two, Plus Two More Days

It has taken me a few days to update about day two, because it wound up being just horrible. I went to Benehana for lunch with some friends, got some work done, and went to the theatre. I got there super early, so I set up merchandise, and made a few phone calls.

Around 6:30, I started to feel funny. I felt like the inside of my face was going numb, and I had a slight headache. I thought- on god. The sushi. Then my vision started to become really strange. I could not focus on things. It wasn't blurry, but I felt like if I looked at something, my eyes would twitter back and forth for a second before I could focus on it. Then I started to get scared. I was trying to sell merchandise for the show, but could barely get through it. Darrel came up, and when I saw him I tried to cover up the fact that I had started to freak out and cry. My legs were also going a little numb.

I decided that I should go to the hospital. Darrel and the people from the theatre helped me close up merchandise, and I did my report. That is when I really knew something was off. I have done the same report probably over 250 times, and I could NOT put the right numbers in the right columns, or remember what I had just looked at. They were nice enough to read them out loud for me and help me through it.

To cut this short, I had diagnosed myself with either an allergic reaction to something, or a migraine. After talking to two of the nicest emergency room doctors in the world and running a bunch of tests (just physical tests, not blood or with machines) they told me I had a form of vertigo! I did some research online yesterday because I associate vertigo with being dizzy, which I am not. There is a disorder that causes vertigo, and I have seven of the ten symptoms. Inability to concentrate both visually and mentally, headache (just HORRIBLE), sensitivity to light, forgetfulness, fatigue, just to name a few. The vision part is the worst.

My legs sometimes turn to jello, and my body involuntarily twitches as well. Just to add a few more fun symptoms.

They gave me an Rx that is just a relaxer, and told me that it is related to my neck and upper back muscles, and stress. These of course connect to your ears and eyes, which causes this.

I went to a wonderful massage therapist yesterday at 9am, per the doctor's suggestion. She worked on my problem areas, but two hours later, I was right back where I started.

I missed work here in Sacramento for the second time in two and a half years on Friday night. I wanted to just die. I suffered through both shows on Saturday, laying in the dark during my free time. The patrons are probably wondering what the heck is wrong with me, because I know I am not acting normal.

The hardest part about this is being on tour while it is happening. I have no choice but to move around, and see doctors in different cities, if necessary. There is no constant. So I have decided to keep a record of every single thing that has happened, in case I have to give it to my doctor at home, with hospital names, doctor names, pills I have taken, what time of day I felt what, etc.

I think I am just getting used to the vision thing, but the headaches are terrible. I read that it will take 3-4 days to go away, so I am just keeping my fingers crossed. Please do the same!!

**Writing this blog was a little challenging. I can't read fluent sentences- I kind of have to read one word at a time because my eyes are rolling around!

My Dream House

Was sold to someone with a BMW and pretty Christmas lights for $230,000. That was the ASKING PRICE people! Who pays the asking price now-a-days? Maybe they won't like living there and will put it on the market when I am ready to buy again next year.

At least I know I lost it by like 50K, rather than a thousand dollars. That would have hurt much worse!

Cupertino, CA Day One

Cupertino was not exactly 100% peaceful for me. It's right outside of San Jose, where we were last year, so I have been to this area before. The BEST part about this city was that Darrel's brother, Dusty, lives here with his girlfriend Laura.

I worked all day on Wednesday, and noticed there was a washer and dryer down the hall from my room. Score! Laundry right around the corner. So I gather up all of my workout clothes and dark stuff, and throw it in with a top full of liquid soap. I push the money in, and the machine does not start. What?! The front desk comes, tells me it can be "temperamental" and gets it started. I come back 15 minutes later to dump my Downy in, and all looks fine in laundry land. I come back 15 minutes later to switch my clothes to the dryer, lift the lid, and see this:

It had decided to break during the rinse cycle, with all of my clothes sitting in hot water and Downy. The front desk tells me they can have housekeeping do it for me, but they use automatic washers that distribute bleach and no softener. And I can't access the dryer to pull things out so they don't shrink. No thanks. So they give me a bucket, I pull all of my dripping wet clothes out of the washer, and Darrel and I walk over to the Marriott (with little tears in my eyes) so I can re-do the whole thing. Usually this would be fine, but I had timed it so that I could take a shower and get to work on time. Darrel wound up getting my stuff out of the Marriott dryer as I dried my hair and put mascara on at the same time. I DID get a free bottle of wine as an apology from the hotel.

All of my clothes in the bucket on the way to The Marriott

After the show (nothing to write about there), we went to a Scottish pub with Dusty and Laura. It was so much fun! Darrel has only seen his brother twice in two years because he used to live in Hawaii, so we decided to celebrate. I don't even know how this happened, but the bar tab for the four of us was $198.00. What!? I guess the Patron and Wild Turkey they were drinking was a bit on the expensive side. It was worth it though- it was so fun to see them!

Being 30

I'm telling you, since I turned 30, I have become aware of a few things. They were probably there when I was 29, but I think I just notice them more now. I don't necessarily MIND these things, but I roll my eyes about them.

1. I have more bathroom products now than ever. The "bathroom backpack" I have on tour just keeps growing. I used to literally use whatever body lotion I had for my face. Now I have a night lotion, and a day lotion. I used to just wash my face with anything. Now I have eye makeup remover, and two different face washes. Geez.

2. I have veins. In my legs. At this rate, by the time I an 40, I will never be able to wear a dress or shorts again without offending people.

3. If I go out partying with friends, it takes me like a day and a half to feel OK again. I remember when I was in my early 20's, and we would all go out, EVERY Thursday night until the bars kicked us out. Then I would wake up and go to work the next morning. Nope- now I have to sleep until lunch time, suffer through the day, and go to bed early.

4. I cannot stand loud, busy bars. If someone bumps into me, I feel like hittng them, rather than doing a shot with them like I would have done 5 years ago.

5. I cannot eat what ever I want anymore. Instead of it disappearing into thin air, it now turns into fat.

6. I am getting these strange brown spots on my hands. I think they are age spots. Sick.

7. I have to color my hair, because greys pop through if I don't. It's really bad when I stand under the unflattering lights of a hotel bathroom.

All of this being said, 30 has been fun so far. Really, it has. :)

New Year's Promises

I really wanted to post about New Year's Eve today, but the internet at our hotel in San Bernardino stinks, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for better internet in San Luis Obispo tomorrow (when I get to meet Dennis Miller- woo hoo!). I want to post photos, but it's just not going to happen here.

Anyway, I have one New Year's resolution. To stop shopping. No more clothes. I have way too many, and it's almost just an addictive habit, especially when things are on sale. Just thinking about the money I will save is motivation enough!

People Magazine- The Best of 2008

OK, like I have said before, I stay away from politics on my blog. But politics or not, this just killed me when I read it last night in PEOPLE magazine.

George Bush had his final year-end portrait and interview on November 29th. And I quote, in big bold writing on page 61, "Throwing out that pitch at the World Series... I never felt that anxious any other time during my Presidency, curiously enough". Really!? I can think of a few things over the last eight years that he should have been a bit anxious about.

The other moment he visits most often is meeting families of fallen soldiers.

I can't wait for January 20th.

Looks Good From The Outside

Here are some pictures of our hotel in Tucson, The Riverpark Inn.

First of all, there are no rivers here. We are in the desert. Second of all, this is not what I would consider to be an "Inn".

I will say that the lobby is really nice, and the pool looks nice. However, here are a few little things about this hotel that you would not know from looking at the photos:

1. Half of the stuff around here does not work. My fridge and lamp have had to be replaced. The ice machine in my building is out of order. The hot tub looks nice, but is broken. The pool looks great, but it feels like someone melted a large amount of ice cubes into it. Can't use either one.

2. There is construction right out of my sliding glass door. They are building these massive tents for some gem convention. Between the noise and the mass amount of male workers, my room is not exactly relaxing, and I have not used my patio other than to dry some clothes I washed.

3. We have to walk through dirt to get to the theatre, and the downtown area. Try lugging your rolling briefcase through that!

4. The doors slam so hard here that it shakes the walls.

All of that being said, it has been sunny and in the 70's all week, which almost makes up for the other things. OH! And my friend Craig was doing laundry, and while his load was in the washer, they came in and put an "out of order" sign on the dryer! They actually told him he should go to a laundry mat to finish it rather than offering up their housekeeping dryer.

Christmas In Ohio

I had a week off over Christmas, which was awesome. Reason being it was awesome is because for the last two years, I have had to fork over some hefty amounts of cash to fly home for a few days from tour. This year, the company paid for it. Nice.

I had so much fun being home, and staying at my mom's house. My sister was home from France, and Darrel stayed with us for a few days, so we had a full house. I knew before I went home that it was going to be a hectic week, and it was. I had plans for six out of the seven nights. I spent time with my dad's side of the family, Ernie's family, my mom's side of the family, and Darrel's family. All in two days. Lets just say by the time I got to my mom's on Christmas afternoon, I was a little stressed out I just cried.

Our family has a tradition of going to Gamekeeper's in Chagrin Falls on Christmas Eve afternoon. It's a restaurant/bar that I have been going to since I was an infant, and it's kind of like our Cheers. We know almost everyone who goes there. When I was little, it was a big to-do. My grandfather would play with his band in the afternoon, and the place was packed. As time has gone on, we don't spend as long there, and not as many people go. However, I DID get to see my cousin Jen for a brief hour in time. We had a few cocktails with Poppy before heading to our dinners. I always love to see her!

Of course the whole Christmas thing was fun, but to be honest, my favorite time of the week was Saturday afternoon. I wanted to go to Melt in Lakewood for lunch, because I love it. I called and texted around, and the next thing you know, we have 12 people! My cousins Heather and Kelly and Jeff, my sis and bro and his girlfriend, Darrel and myself, and a few friends. It was so fun! It turned into a three hour event that included great sandwiches and ever better beer. :)



I have to remind myself next year that there are only so many hours in a day. But it was worth all of the running around to do all of the fun things we had planned.

Merry Belated Christmas!