A Normal Day Off

This past Sunday we had a Golden Day. A Golden Day is something that rarely happens on tour, and when it does it's like someone gave you a million dollars. It means no show, no travel. We were in Normal, IL for the day at a hotel that looked like a castle. However, there was nothing European about it. Anyway, Kevin decided that he wanted to have a cook out, so that's what we did! He bought a grill from the theatre the day before for $20, went to Kroger, and in typical Kevin fashion- voila! Lunch and dinner for about 20 people. We literally just hung out in the parking lot and in the grass allllll day and night. We brought out chairs from the pool, moved some tables around, and enjoyed the sunny (but insanely windy) day. The night turned into quite the party, fake mustaches and all. I called it an early night after playing a game of Scrabble, but I hear that it later turned into a pool party, spin the bottle, and poker night. Crazy kids. :)

Where I Have Been

Over the two and a half weeks, I have been in:

Indy, Sarasota, Daytona Beach, Valdosta, Clearwater, Ft. Pierce, Toledo, Macomb, Green Bay, and Normal. Next week I will be in Henerson, Montgomery, Columbus (GA), Savannah, Augusta, and Columbia.

And that is whey I have not blogged! Indy was great because we were there for a week. Great food and fun. But since then, it's been bus ride after bus ride after hotel room after hotel room after theatre after theatre. I forgot my hotel room number tonight for the second time of my touring life. And I've been in hundreds of hotels. You just lose track.

The weather was beautiful when we were in Sarasota, and I did quite a number on myself. Our hotel was right on the beach, and I have NEVER burned like that in my life. It's been 10 days, and the itch finally stopped and the peel has started. I wasn't even the color of a human. So dumb.

I can't wait for this leg of the tour to be over!

The scene of the crime- Lido Beach

St. Patty's Day

I didn't realize when I decided to take a week off that it fell over St. Patrick's Day. But I was so happy when I discovered that it did! Cleveland rocks on St. Patty's Day. Unlike other cities, we actually celebrate on that day, not over the weekend. So 100,000 people take off work, skip school, and leave the kids home with the grandparents to go downtown and party!


I literally live right on the only tiny public transportation system in the city. It takes you from my door, to Public Square downtown. PERFECT for these rare party days! The rapid is pretty nasty on the way home though- a lot of the cars were closed due to garbage, beer spills, and god knows what else.


The greatest thing about the day was how many people I was able to see. Old family friends, past co-workers, family, babies, friends- it was such a fun day. I did call it early this year and headed home before it got dark. I stuck to a few beers during the fun daytime hours. I have learned that if I stay after the sun goes down, I don't want to get out of bed when the sun comes up the next day. :)

Chrissy and I. Or as Poppy would say, Rump Roast and I!

Krista and I at the parade. Which really kind of sucked.

An old friend from back in my restaurant days- Damon!

East 4th madness.

Not the best pic, but Brooke is all decked out for St. Patty's Day!

Orillia (Rama), Ontario

Last week was BORING on tour. I had never done this before, but we played a casino for the week. It's called Casino Rama, and oddly enough it's fairly close to our house in Ontario. But not close enough. There was nothing, and I mean nothing to do.


The casino itself is beautiful, and so was the 5,000 seat theatre they have there. Huge names in the entertainment world have played there. From Kenny Chesney to Cher and Kiss- the walls backstage were covered with photos and autographs. The way a casino show works is different than a regular venue. The casino "buys" the show from the the production company for the week and essentially gives away all of the tickets to patrons to get them to come to the casino and lose all of their money gambling. Genius. So even though we had audiences of over 4,000 people, not many of them had bought their tickets by choice. And oh my god- the bus tours with the old folks... wow.


We were pretty much either in the hotel (the fabulous Days Inn across the street), or at the casino for work and food. I only gambled $15, which I of course lost. One positive aspect of the week was that the casino gave us food vouchers to use during our stay, so it was a pretty cheap week. My biggest night of entertainment was playing cards with some bottles of wine and an iPod in the Days Inn breakfast room, if that tells you anything.


I had my car for the week, so I was able to get out of the hotel every so often to run people to the grocery store and liquor store (which is disgustingly expensive). Other than that, there really wasn't anywhere to go. A few friends and I took a bit of a drive to a town called Gravenhurst for lunch one afternoon, just to get away. We found a great little tea house right on the water (meaning ice) that we loved! What I didn't love was paying $6.00 a gallon for gas. Ouch.


I am home for over a week in Cleveland now, thank god. I took some paid and some unpaid time off. I just needed to come home for a while and see my family and friends. Some "me time" if you will. I have lots of plans for the week and weekend, which will hopefully make up for the lack of doing anything last week!

Grand Rapids, MI

Last week in Grand Rapids was great. Minus the horrible rainy snowy weather. My stepsister, Alisa, and her fiance live there, so I finally had something to look forward to!

Alisa came to pick me up on Wednesday just to hang out at her house, eat lunch, and do laundry. I had an entire suitcase of dirty clothes that had piled up. She lives in Ada, MI and it was SO CUTE there! There was a little town with old houses turned into shops and delis, parks, covered bridges, etc. I'm sure when it is not covered in 3000 feet of snow it is even cuter. And her dogs are hilarious. I am not a dog person. Not even a little. But they have a Pug and an Irish Bulldog, and they are seriously like having children. Pure entertainment.

I was excited about being able to hang out in a house rather than a hotel, but what was even better was that my mom and Ernie were coming to visit for the weekend! I have been having a really hard time on this tour lately and have just wanted to go home, so it was nice to have home come to me for a few days. I went grocery shopping (with no coupons, which was kind of a big deal for me) and Kevin and I took breakfast over to Alisa's house on Saturday morning. We got to use a real kitchen and eat real food that didn't come from a restaurant. It's the little things when you live like this that can make you so happy. Then my mom and Alisa came to see Grease while the boys went to Home Depot, and we all met for dinner on Saturday night. Of course Alisa's fiance knew about a cigar bar that was next door, so we dragged Ernie and my mom there until like 1am. I thought Ernie would for sure fall asleep on the big couch he was sitting on, but he made it. Rock stars.

Overall, Grand Rapids is a really fun town. And, I was able to see where Alisa and Pearson live. I'll be visiting again soon!!

Kansas City, MO

This week were were in Kansas City, MO. I have spent time here in the past, and it's a pretty cool place. Lots to do, tons of hotels, restaurants, jazz clubs, etc. Kevin and I decided to kind of take it easy, but I still got out and did a few things around town. However, I have become horrible at taking pictures, especially when it's just the two of us.


We went to a few GREAT places to eat that I actually found on restaurant.com. I spend a lot of time (because I have too much of it) looking up the restaurants on the website and then googlemapping them to see if we can walk to any that look decent. This week we went to an awesome old tavern-like place called The Majestic, and a place that only served local food that was a little hipster-ish, called The Westside Local. The Majestic had a Sunday Jazz Brunch we were planning on going back to, but that didn't happen. We had unreal prime rib at The Majestic and amazing steaks and burgers (and deviled eggs as an app?) at The Westside Local.


We stayed at the Hotel Phillips, which I have always liked. We actually got two connecting rooms at this hotel (which we call having an "apartment") and they were HUGE. The two of them together were literally almost the size of my condo. Let me tell you, it was really nice to have my own bathroom for a whole week. :)


On Wednesday, we decided to go to the famous BBQ joint called Arthur Bryant's. It's been on the Food Network, famous people have been there, etc. I had been there before, and I wasn't too impressed going back. It was just OK. Then we walked to the famous 18th and Vine area of the city and visited the American Jazz Museum and the Negro Baseball League Museum. Both for $10! What a deal. 19th and Vine was the area of Kansas City where jazz was "born". At one point in time, there were over 100 jazz clubs in this tiny section of town. Unfortunately now there are just a few, and most of the buildings are falling apart. I actually learned a lot that day, and enjoyed all of the interactive exhibits they had at the Jazz Museum. Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Cab Calloway... it was great. I wish I would have learned more about jazz from Poppy when he was around because I really enjoy it. I guess better late than never!

Worst picture of me ever, eating BBQ chicken at Arthur Bryant's

Seattle, WA

Unfortunately, we only had a few short days in Seattle, and five shows to work. So I tried to make the most of my time that I had. While I had been to the Market before (2007), I really wanted to go back just to hang out and look around. I was so bummed because the famous fish throwing place was closed! Booooo. But I had a great tuna melt at a restaurant there, AND went to the first Starbucks, opened in the 70's. I kid you not, there is a Starbucks on every corner in Seattle. I have no idea how many there actually are, but I'm convinced that you cannot live in Seattle if you don't drink coffee, or eat oysters.


I also went to a few local restaurants, bars, shopping areas, etc. But the highlight of Seattle is always the Market. :)