Boston, MA- THE END

Well, I'm done. No more touring for me! But more on that later.


I ended my touring career last week in Boston. What a great, wonderful, exciting city to call my last stop. And thanks to Spring starting, we had really decent weather and I was able to cover a lot of ground.


I visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum on my own one afternoon. It's an art museum like none other I have ever been to. A very wealthy woman turned her home into a museum and displayed her collection to her liking. When she died, it became a public museum, but the way that she set things out cannot be changed. It was a pretty cool place.


I did a little bit of shopping, and a lot of eating. Kevin went to Boston University, so he had his favorite spots that we had to hit up in town. The North End (Little Italy) is one of my favorite areas. So many restaurants to choose from. But, I keep going back to the same one because it's his favorite. :) I bought a cookbook from the area so I can try things at home- can't wait!


Our BIG tourist day was the day that we decided to walk the entire Freedom Trail. It's a 2.5 mile self-guided trail that takes you through many neighborhoods, and connects 16 important sites. From the Paul Revere House to Faneuil Hall to the USS Constitution- it's all on the red line that runs through the city. We literally started at the very beginning, and wandered through the city to the very end. Along the way, we ate at Ye Olde Union Oyster House which is the country's oldest restaurant in continuous service. So yummy!


My feet hurt like nobody's business at the end of that trail, and we were all exhausted. So we took a cab back to the hotel.


I am really, really going to miss traveling. But, I have literally seen every town and city the U.S. and Canada has to offer, often times more than once. I estimate that I have visited over 300 places since 2006 thanks to touring. For the most part, I loved the experience. And now, it's over.

I love this picture- The Public Garden

Ben Franklin just hangin' out

Us with Paul Revere and his horse

Savannah, GA

Savannah, GA is known as "America's Best Walking City". It is the largest National Historical Landmark District with over 2,300 colonial and Victorian homes. It was the first planned city in the country, laid out in 1733 on a perfect grid that holds over 20 little acre parks to enjoy throughout. Oh, and did I mention how much FUN it is?!


Savannah is and always has been one of my favorites. I decided to rent a car for the week of shows in Georgia and South Carolina. They were short trips, and I really wanted to be able to enjoy my time down there and spend it as I chose, rather than having to get on a bus at a specific time every day. I definitely made the most of my time in Savannah!


My friend Kelly stuck around with me on Saturday afternoon. We had a show that night a few hours away in Augusta and waited until the last possible minute to leave Savannah.


We started out day out eating at The Lady & Sons, Paula Deen's restaurant. Thanks to it being so famous, when we went to put our names on the list for lunch at 11:30am, they were taking names for dinner at 9pm. ???!!! Crazy. Luckily it was just the two of us so we were able to wait in line for seats in the bar.


I decided to order off the menu rather than do the lunch buffet. The buffet was very Southern- fried chicken, collared greens, black eyed peas, etc. I pretty much wanted everything on the menu so I did soup (made with lots of butter), salad and a chicken salad sandwich. Kelly got an awesome asparagus sandwich, and I got Kevin pulled pork, biscuits, mac and cheese and cole slaw to go. Yuuummmmmm!!!!

The Sons of the Lady

Along the river downtown- sooooo pretty!

The beautiful Spanish Moss on the trees

And P.S.- Kevin turned 30 in Savannah. :) We went out after the show on Friday night and celebrated a little with some friends. While it stunk to have his birthday on a one-nighter, at least it was in Savannah, and not a place like Lima or Redding.

My Tuesday Deals

I MISS coupon shopping. I really do. It's a game to me, and I love it. Last night when I got home, I took about a half hour to go through my coupons and the weekly store ads, and came up with some great deals. I used to follow a website for deals but after a few years, I have caught onto it myself.

Today I bought the following at CVS, Walgreens and Giant Eagle:

2 Aveeno shampoos
2 Aveeno lotions
1 Shick Intuition razor blade refill (3 in package)
2 full size Hellman's mayo
2 Kleenex packages
1 package of office dividers
1 CVS brand Swiffer cloths
1 Shick Quattro razor pack (3 in package)
2 Colgate toothbrushes
1 case of water
1 pack of Orbit gum
1 Texas Toast garlic bread
2 Zatarian rice mixes
1 Viva paper towel
3 boxes of Green Giant veggies

My total before my savings? $130.99

My total after my savings? $53.72

Considering how expensive Aveeno and razors are, I am really happy with my shopping today.

While I am no where near the psycho hoarders on that TLC show, I realize how addictive this can be. The hardest thing to me is to STOP the coupon shopping. I could literally do this every week, but I hardly need more than two extra bottles of shampoo sitting around the house. So I have promised myself that I will not shop for the above items again until I am almost out.

Rightttt.............

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!