Pink Ladies

I see this daily working on this show, and I think it's so fun! The best is when little kids come dressed up as Pink Ladies and Greasers. This was in Boise, ID over the weekend!

Tabogganing

With all of the "holiday madness", I really wanted to just do something fun and different one day. I was talking to a girl on Christmas Eve at Gamekeepers, and she told me how she had just gone tobogganing with her family that week in the Metro Parks in Cleveland. I was like, how fun! BA's boyfriend was visiting from France and we thought it would be a fun thing to do.


We of course picked the nicest day of the week that was sunny and not totally freezing during Winter Break from school, so the place was pretty busy. It was kind of set up like a water park would be- you got a tag, waited in line for a sled, the carried it up 500 stairs to get to the top of the chute (or in our case, watched the guys carry it up the stairs). You can see the chutes in the first picture behind us, but I didn't really take any. It was about a ten second ride, but it was fun and worth it!

The Other Days Of Christmas

The rest of Christmas was really fun, and really crazy! Just LOTS of places to be- dinners, lunches, get-togethers, parties etc. We were ready to drop by the 27th! Some highlights were definitely my aunt Susan's house for Christmas (she decorates her house like a magazine), Melt for huge day after Christmas sandwiches with all of the cousins, and one more White Elephant gift exchange at a party, where Kevin got a Snuggie. He tried so hard to get rid of that during the exchange but got stuck with it. Guess who wore the Snuggie every day and night for the rest of the time we were off? "This is the best invention ever" might have been the words used when we got home later that night. :)

I got a gingerbread man that grew in water and Kevin got a polar bear so we had a contest for a week. My gingerbread totally won. They started out like a quarter inch tall.

My cousin Heather and her two adorable kids on Christmas.

A little game playing on Christmas.

MELT! Huge, huge grilled cheese heaven!

Heidi's party with our White Elephant gifts. And giant turkey legs.

Christmas Eve

Christmas in Cleveland was SO GREAT and totally busy and insane. I had two weeks off from the tour and was able to be home for all of the holidays. It made such a difference knowing I was going home after three pretty tough weeks on the road.


Christmas Eve day Kevin and I were busy prepping the 15 pounds of standing rib roast we were eating that night, and making sides. We went over to my mom's house for gifts with my stepsister Alisa that involved a little champagne, and lots of food!


We headed to Poppy's house in the afternoon to start cooking the roast, and I was SO NERVOUS! I had never cooked a piece of meat that expensive before! I'm a chicken turkey cooker, so red meat was a new feat for me. Thankfully it turned out amazing. We did one half with a horseradish crust and the other half with a maple syrup Dijon mustard glaze. I can't believe my family ate all of it, but they did!


We do a white elephant exchange on Christmas Eve with my dad's side of the fam, but not with crummy gifts we don't want. We do a $25 exchange, and I requested that no one do gift cards this year. It was so much fun! We had a deep fryer, deli meat from Corky and Lenny's, a toaster, and the famous Shake Weight! We thought that doing Christmas Eve at Poppy's house might be hard after everything we recently went through, but it was really the only place that would fit our growing family. It turned out to be so much FUN! Just a great day in general with fabulous food and company. :)

A little Christmas cheer at my mom's in the afternoon.

That roast was HEAVY!

Bethanne was NOT comfortable getting the Shake Weight

Lima, OH

Since 2006, I have been waiting to pass through Lima, OH again. I fell in love with a burger joint there called Kewpee's and have been wanting it again for like four years. Their fries oddly taste like Wendy's and their burgers are just amazing. It might have something to do with the Miracle Whip they put on them (I'm a big fan).

Sure enough, Grease took me back a few weeks ago to the creepy diner with the larger than life naked doll outside. YUMMMMMM!

Pittsburgh, PA

We had a cancelled show in Springfield, IL last week, so we were re-routed to Pittsburgh for two days and two nights off. Incredible! That never, ever happens.


People wanted to go to the famous Primanti Bros. for lunch, so we hopped in the shuttle and off we went. We went to the original one that is in a warehouse district area. It was fun, but I really wasn't too impressed. Maybe because I'm an idiot and ordered turkey instead of something like corned beef, but I don't know if that would have really mattered. I don't think I like cole slaw and fries on my sandwiches. But other people loved it, and Kevin and the guys each took down two of these things. And then a pizza about three hours later.

After Primani Bros. we enjoyed the rest of our day off going to an Italian market, a pizza place for pitchers, naps, then out to a local dive bar. The second day off we went to go see Love And Other Drugs, which was really good. Anne Hathaway is up for a few awards for it. Warning if you see it- she is naked a LOT. Then Kevin and I had date night + company manager at a great restaurant downtown.

I was so not looking forward to the drives in and out of Springfield, so this was a nice little surprise!

Touring On A Budget

It can be difficult not spending a lot of money while touring. You have to eat every meal out, and if you don't go out after the show, you are just sitting in your hotel room without any of the comforts of home. We also stop at malls/shopping centers almost every day for lunch. It's easier to not spend when we are on one-nighters, but much more difficult when we are in a city for a week or a few days. Especially with Kevin, because we really like to eat well and have fun when we are together!

A few things I do to help my wallet stay fat:

I use googlemaps to try and figure out public transportation rather than taking taxis if I am being tourist-y.

I have Netflix and have them sent to the company. We get our mail every Thursday. This makes going back to a hotel room instead of going out a little more bearable because I have something to watch that I have picked out.

I check coupon sites and print out coupons at the hotels for things I may need.

While I never eat at "chain" restaurants at home, it just can't be helped when traveling. I am signed up for most of their emails and receive deals in my inbox. For example, this week I received coupons for a free appetizer at Chili's, and coupons for Bob Evans and Quizno's. While I can't always use them because we don't run into them, I love having them on hand.

I have every frequent shopper card known to man. Panera surprises you sometimes when you go in- I got a free bagel and cream cheese the other day!

I eat continental breakfast at every hotel that offers it.

I keep a few cans of soup with me and can warm that up at the theatre if I wasn't able to find dinner close by.

I buy gift cards that offer "bonus bucks". For instance, buy a $25 gift card at Friday's and receive an extra $5 for free. Then I use them to buy food for myself.

When Kevin and I are together (never one one nighters, which stinks), we use restaurant.com discounts so we can go out to a nicer dinner for a lower price.

Kevin and I buy wine and apps for the room on days off, rather than going out before dinner.

This may sound like I'm being cheap, but in reality, it's the little things like this every day that let me do things like buy the pair of new shoes I want, go on fun little trips, and pay off my house faster!