This is week two at the box office. Luckily I have more of an idea of how to do my job. I still ask a lot of questions, but that's just me. I'm really looking forward to doing stuff with the gift shop. We're out of like... everything. And *I* want to get some new t-shirts or something. The "baby doll" tees are too short unless you get a large or extra large and then they're too boxy.

I've had to wake up at 8am almost every day. Those of you who know me know that this is.... not my favorite thing to do. I better get used to it, though. I went to bed at 11:30pm last night and still woke up tired. I'm one of those creepy night people who get everything done at night (even exercise) and now I CAN'T. Oh well.

I saw Measure for Measure last Thursday and I was so surprised by... everything. I saw this play at Kent in 2002 but I didn't care then and had no idea what happened other than someone fell in love with a nun. I REALLY liked it here! The scene where Angelo was threatening Isabella and trying to BE with her was AWESOME! I was so proud of Rene and Sarah... I mean, it's not every day when you turn to your fiance next to you and say, "this scene is AMAZING!" while it's going on. Or maybe YOU do. I don't know. What I DO know is that I really ended up liking the play a lot. It's really messed up. I mean, it's like the most messed up play ever. The messed up-ness makes it really interesting, though. It's funny and WEIRD and still relates to very current issues. Good job, Shakespeare. Good job making your plays relevant FOREVER.

Yesterday the cable man came and now we have TV AND INTERNET!!!! It's so exciting! We were going to get Verizon but the satellite couldn't be installed because of the trees across the street. We called comcast that day and they came the next. Verizon was going to take over a WEEK to install everything. Hooray comcast... although I've heard they suck in other areas. We will see. Actually, I'm SURE they're going to suck all the time but at least they came to install the stuff really fast.

Chris and I went to Daniel's house on Monday and visited his new dog, GOBBO (awwwww!) and also did laundry. I miss Daniel. I miss everyone. I uploaded my pictures from the last two days, you can view them at flickr.com/photos/alisaledyard. Here's a pretty one...

Well, our contract is over and I am SO SAD! Our last week was weird. Along with moving out and closing the shows we had a lunch with Brent and a reception on Friday afternoon. On Thursday I was supposed to give a tour for a local news channel but they didn't want to go on a REAL tour, they just wanted to pretend they were going on a tour and interview some people. Chris was asked to go also but he got to stay with the camera crew and give the interview while I had to give the rest of the tour to the people who had paid for a tour. I was sooooo irritated. It wasn't Chris's fault but I was really excited about being on TV and now I don't even know if I was. Oh well. They missed a GREAT tour. We had a lot of fun.

Today is my second real day in the box office and right now every single person in the company is in a meet and greet with the new troupe except for ME. It's kind of sad but mostly I still have no idea what I am doing so I am more scared. Example: I just took a phone call and had to tell the guy I'd call him back if the information I told him was wrong because I just don't have any idea how to find out and Jen, my boss, is in the meeting. Last night I was house manager training for Twelth Night qhich was fine but there is a lot to learn. I don't like to get things wrong so I ask a million questions and double and triple check everything I do. I won't have to house manage on my own for a while but right NOW the job seems daunting.

Our final performances were great. During Henry it was really hard to keep it together at the end and I started to cry during "Non Nobis" (which is not good to do while singing---I sounded so shaky). Merchant was even worse. We ALL cried like babies after it was over. It was soooooo sad. It was the true emotional ending. On Sunday Shrew was just great. It was a great audience, we had four curtain calls and then the moment we stepped off the stage everyone (except Raffi, who is afraid to show emotion) stood backstage and cried and hugged each other. I started to cry during Kate's final speech but I HAD to hold it together, not just because I had to sing briefly, but because I knew if Ginna saw me crying SHE would start to cry. I couldn't help but be emotional. I looked at the ten other people's faces and thought about how we'd been doing that scene for a year and how we had done it soooo many times. I thought about how much we'd been through together and how, even though some people hated others for a little while, we WERE still friends and probably a lot closer than most of the troupes that spent that much time together. It was so sad. It's still sad. Chris told me that both Josh and Ginna got choked up while talking about our troupe at the meet and greet. I really do love them all. It was such a good time and one of the best years of my life.

Something that probably shouldn't have been that hard but was was when Chris and I checked out of our room at the actor housing. Chris had said the night before, "This has been a good room. I got engaged in this room." Suddenly it wasn't a room it was our LIFE. We cried SO MUCH right before I left. We were just standing there, hugging and crying because we were going to miss our ROOM. Ohhhh, God. And then Raffi left and we cried more. Well, actually, Chris cried, I went with Dan, Alex and Raffi to drop him (and Alex) off at the airport. THEN I cried.

After Dan and I dropped them off we went to IKEA. Dan bought a bed and a couple bookshelves and had to strap them to the roof of his car because the delivery charges were so high. We spent about half an hour in the loudest noise you could possibly imagine because the straps were pulled so tightly the wind was making them vibrate. It literally sounded like there was a jackhammer on the roof. We laughed a LOT but I was also afraid we were going to go deaf. We pulled into the parking lot of an Outback Steakhouse (which is only funny because Dan is from Australia) and he fixed them. We didn't get home until 10pm but we had good conversation and, after the straps were fixed and our ears didn't explode, a good time.

I was a little worried about moving my bed down here because it's been in storage, on its side, since the spring 2006. I just got worried that it would be all out of shape but it's been great so far. We're getting close to being unpacked. We don't have a ton of storage space so finding a place for all of our crates and plastic containers has been hard. We're hoping to be getting CABLE sometime soon!!! I haven't had real TV outside of my parent's house and hotel rooms (and kind of grandma's house, but she only had like 20 channels) since I lived in California! I just know without anyone else around to talk to (ie, because Raffi is gone and we moved) if we didn't have internet and TV we'd go crazy. I'D go crazy. Plus, you know, Chris likes TV. I just really miss Animal Planet and TLC.

It's been crazy hot the last couple of days. We are under a heat advisory, have been all day, and will be until tomorrow at 8pm. After that the temperature is going back to normal, apparently. We bought a big fan for the kitchen since there's no AC in there and it's on the third floor. It doesn't really help but I like the white noise.

Last night the resident troupe threw us a big goodbye Luau party next door. It was so much fun. They bought a swimming pool and a slip and slide! I always wanted to slip and slide but never had the opportunity. I was watching for a while because I had just eaten ice cream and didn't want to get sick and then I ran up to my room to change into a bathing suit because I realized this was probably my last chance. I did it twice and it was GREAT but there is a big reason adults are not supposed to use a slip and slide. We are all in so much pain today. My pecs and abs hurt soooo bad. They feel like I did a thousand sit ups and a thousand push ups. Raffi got a big cut on his knee and everyone had SOME kind of slide burn. When I was about to do it I freaked out a little bit because I couldn't grasp the fact that I was just supposed to run and then fall face-first onto the ground. HOW IS THAT A GOOD IDEA? I mean, no wonder we're all so sore. It was funny, though. Scot's daugher, Ella, who is five, was the only one smart enough to not fall onto her face--she slid on her knees. This, of course, works for a five year old, but not for a 23 year old which is why Raffi cut his knee. I was EXHAUSTED after my second slide. I felt like I had run a 5k. It was so weird but also, totally fun and I'm glad I got a chance to do it once.

I ALSO had the chance to get a migraine last night, but thanks to my new, prescribed medicine, it went away pretty fast. It made the rest of my head feel really weird, though. I tried to descibe to Chris this morning how it felt but I couldn't. It was just really strange.

I decorated my Dr. Pepper bottle with a mini-umbrella to feel more like it was a tropical drink.

Today we moved some stuff into our future apartment (which we officially move into in a week) and began packing up our room. This will take all week because it is a MESS. I'm lucky I have off tomorrow so I can make up for the fact that the rest of the week will be very busy. We went to Target, Lowe's and Walmart to get some storage containers (and other things) because we are so transient. The rest of this week I have more box office training on Wednesday, a tour, a lunch and a meeting on Thursday, a goodbye party on Friday, two shows on Saturday and a Sunday matinee followed by strike. I know strike won't be too bad---it's not like we have a set to dismantle or anything---but it will still take up time, especially for the prop master for the final, most prop-heavy show (me).

God. I just can't believe this contract is almost over. It's really sad. The ONLY thing I'm looking forward to is having our own place. I'm going to miss everyone who is leaving a lot.

We may have had our best Merchant ever on Friday night. It was SO GOOD.. I felt so proud of everyone. 

Alanis Morissette's new album is out today. I just downloaded it on itunes and am having my first listen... OH GOD, I FEEL SO BAD FOR ALANIS. I really like it... it's just so obviously her break up album. She's so good at expressing her feelings and so good at making everyone else remember when they've felt as sad. Oh, Alanis. People ARE going to make fun of me for saying this, but her lyrics are so Shakespearean in depth and detail. She's wordy as hell but GOD do I GET her.

Aimee Mann's new album came out last week, which I also bought at, like, midnight. I love EVERYTHING about Aimee Mann. All her songs sound the same but I don't care. I love her. Coldplay's album comes out next week and I hope we have the internet so I can download THAT, too. :)

King's Dominion was a lot of fun. It ranks lower than the Disney Parks, Cedar Point and MAYBE Busch Gardens (although, it's been so long since I've been there... my memory could be skewed) but higher than Geagua Lake, ALL Six Flags parks (including Magic Mountain... I was VERY disappointed in that lame park) and Kennywood. Chris and I didn't go on every ride but we did play in the water park for a long time which was great. We rode this thing called "the Tornado" in there three times and we rode the roller coaster "The Volcano" twice. THAT is a fun ride. We didn't ride the new ride "The Dominator" because we didn't care. PLUS, it looked like the EXACT SAME TRACK as "The Mantis" at Cedar Point except the people don't stand up. Cedar Fair owns King's Dominion so it wouldn't be shocking if it was, essentially, the same ride... it's just funny because Mantis came out in the 90s sometime. This place is really far behind!

Yesterday morning as we were about to leave I came outside and Johnston and his girlfriend Lindsey were getting in to their car. He told me to come over there and as I was walking he said, "We've got something in common" and Lindsey held out her hand to display her new engagement ring. I screamed "OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" at the top of my lungs in the middle of the street at 8:30am and ran to her and hugged her for what seemed like an inappropriate amount of time for someone I don't REALLY know that well, all the time screaming in her ear about how happy I was. You see, that morning in the shower I was thinking about the two of them and how I loved how happy she made him. It's not like Johnston was some depressed, emo freak before but there has definitely been a change in him since he's met her. She seems like she's completely awesome and I was thinking slyly in the shower about how I should ask him if he had any plans to propose. And yet, he already had an hour earlier. HOW DID I KNOW??? Amazing. I was SO thrilled, and I still am. I kept texting Johnston to reiterate how happy I was all day. So CONGRATULATIONS to them.YAY!

Now more than half of our troupe is either married or engaged. That's weird for a bunch of actory types.

I am going to start training tomorrow morning in the box office. I'm excited. I also have to give a big tour at 11am that I volunteered to do. I gave the first Elderhostel tour for our season. It was my first tour ever and I was terrified to do it (and complained about how unfair it was for days) but it was fine and since then I've come to kind of enjoy giving tours (I feel like we're all friends at the end of them) so I volunteered for this one. All that crying about not being ready and how scared I was and now I'm like, "SEND THEM TO ME!" I hope this one isn't a complete disaster. Chris is actually giving the group a welcome speech (it's usually done by the executive director but he's on vacation. CHRIS is the next logical choice??) so I hope he tells them I'm really nice and even if I appear to be in a bad mood, I'm NOT! I have this unfortunate wrinkle right between my eyebrows that I got from the years of singing in my mask. Carly Smithson on AI had a similar wrinkle. ANYWAY, it seems that if I relax my face too much this wrinkle is there and people think I'm mad when I'm not.

Man.... I don't want to get botox. I'm only 25! Stupid correct singing. STUPID YEARS OF VOCAL HEALTH! :(

The theatre in Canton where I did Rocky Horror for two years is doing a bunch of shows that I want to be in during their next season. Too bad I don't live there anymore.

OH! So, I saw the SATC movie. !!!!!!SOME SPOILERS!!!!!

 

 

 

 

I LOVED it. It was the best representation of true break up emotions and process that I've ever seen. I cried so much and laughed so much. One thing, though... Steve. I don't think Steve would do that. I'm glad Miranda forgave him in the end but I just don't think that character would do it in the first place. I know he's not real but that situation actually SCARED me. I was like, "Oh my God. If STEVE could do that ANYONE could do that." Oh man. STEVE. Anyway, I just really loved it and I want to see it again because... I dunno... I just do. It changed me a little. And, I guess, by "changed" I mean "scared me into not throwing an out of hand wedding or being emotionally unavailable."

I went to the doctor on Tuesday and it turns out I had STREP!! I couldn't believe it. I actually went in there and explained, "I don't think it's strep because....." He put me on a z-pak and I'm fine. Actually, I was FINE when I went in there. I felt better on Tuesday than I had in over a week except for my migraine. He gave me prescriptions for them, too. I mean, HOPEFULLY I won't have many more migraines... but if I do now I have some better ammo than Excedrin. He actually gave me a shot for my migraine that day. It was weird. I hate shots. As soon as I realized the sample he was giving me was a shot my heart started racing. A shot and strep throat in one day. BLEAH.

The z-pak made me feel really weird during performances. I felt VERY... aware... of everything. I was having a continuous battle with my brain during Merchant because I was simply unable to feel anything except how I had done everything before. It was weird and bad but at least I don't have strep anymore.

Aaron sent out our schedule for next week. I almost cried when I read it. He always has the schedule go Tuesday - our day off. We have the Tuesday of our last week off so it obviously said "June 10." JUNE TENTH. Oh my God. Sunday is June and in two weeks we will be closing these shows. It's impossible to think of this date because I have been living this life for so long. I have been at this job for a year and been excited about starting it for five months before that.  I am sure that some people are more than ready for it to be over, I'm just not one of them. I am SAD and as we approach that date I am just going to get more sad.

I had an actor's nightmare this morning where Josh blamed me for him missing a cue. In my dream the conversation went, "Hey, about the Pedant scene today....", "Yeah, were you just not paying attention or what???", "YOU DIDN'T GIVE ME MY CUE!!!" I told him about it later and we laughed a lot. 

It was 88 degrees today and Chris and I walked to the park again. We were going to walk AROUND the park but we were so sweaty by the time we got there that we just sat in the shade and watched people walk their dogs. 

I am a really big fan of spring/summer. I tend to stop eating, though, which can be a problem. I just don't want to eat anything heavier than a turkey sandwich. Food seems like more of a hindrance in the heat. HOWEVER, when I do want to eat I know exactly what I want (that is not the case in winter. I'm all "I don't know, what do you want?"). Also, do not worry, I still eat three meals a day, it's just kind of against my will. 

My tonsils have been swollen for a week. I stare at my throat for several minutes a day (I like to be aware of what is going on in there) and there is a significant amount of swelling in that whole... tonsilish region. I think I'm going to go to the doctor on Tuesday. I hope I don't have to have them removed. That can't be free. Everyone I've known who has gotten their tonsils removed has said it's improved their singing voice so I guess it can't hurt. Unless something goes terribly wrong and they accidentally (or maybe on PURPOSE??? to SABOTAGE ME??) like... cut my vocal chords. If that's even possible. That'd be my big fear.

And maybe the doctors will just give me medicine to stop the swelling and get all the gunk out of them. It really feels like my tonsils are FILLED WITH GOO. It's awful. 

Today Chris and I went on a walk around the park. We brought a whole bunch of nickles to feed the ducks but right when we got to the duck pond we saw a dead duck being... defiled... by another duck. Ohhhh God. It was the most disturbing thing I've seen in real life. We were going to stop but we just walked away in fear and disgust and left the park altogether. I was so freaked out. I hate those ducks, now. Some of them were really shady to begin with but this just takes the cake. A few of these ducks would hang out with these big, ugly geese and they always looked mean. Today their meanness has been proven. On the walk home we saw a male and a female duck a couple blocks away just walking around in someone's yard. I yelled to them, "Don't ever go back there, ducks!! RUN!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!!!!" I hope they did.

Tomorrow it's supposed to be 85! I finally decided it was a good idea to open the kitchen window. It's been closed since... well, since we went on tour for the first leg, I guess (September). Wow, what an interesting paragraph this was. The weather and how we opened a window. MY LIFE RULES.

My friend Rob Walter has a tumor in his brain the size of a ping pong ball. He's being operated on on Wednesday at the Cleveland Clinic. Rob went to Kent but we also did Godspell together in 2000. He's only a couple of days older than me and he's such a great guy and I am really hoping everything goes okay. Apparently they don't THINK it's cancer since he's so young and he takes better care of himself than anyone, ever, but still. It's completely crazy. The only reason they even found out about it was because he started taking gymnastics again and all the flipping in mid-air caused him to have a seizure after like, the 10th flip. I am just STUNNED that you can have a tumor in your BRAIN for long enough to let it grow to the size of a ping pong ball and have NO IDEA. That's terrifying. He's in really good spirits. I just hope it's not cancer and that they get it out and that everything is okay.

Well, Happy Memorial Day to everyone...

I seem to only refer to my blog as my "blargh" anymore. No one ever updates THEIR blarghs (perhaps for the same reason mine are only once a week now: I'm too busy) but I feel an obligation to blogging. It's because I was one of the first bloggers ever. Seriously. I was blogging before there was such a word, back in 1997. However, if some equally clever shortening would have come out of my weB LOG, it would have been liFE UPdates. "Feup" probably doesn't sound as good right NOW but I sure remember thinking "blog" was the stupidest thing I had ever heard, too.

So, hoory for everyone because David Cook won AI!!! I was so happy. I didn't get to see the show (we haven't seen ANY result shows because of performances) but as soon as Shrew was over I ran to the computer to try and find out. When someone finally updated a live update blog I just inhaled, walked into the dressing room, threw my hands up, and straining to find the right words yelled "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!" I do admit that Archuleta performed better than he has EVER performend on this show on Tuesday. And, actually, until I saw the dial idol results I kind figured that he would win. But, yay, he didn't, and now I don't have to eat my hat.

I take a lot of credit for David Cook winning because I urged the audiences at Merchant "[they] might as well turn off their cell phones anyway because they need to save power to vote all night long for David Cook on AI on Tuesdays." Now I gotta come up with something else to say.

On Sunday Chris and I drove with Ginna to Ohio. We spent the night at her house and on Monday picked up a Budget truck to move stuff from Sandusky and/or Kent to Staunton. We didn't have to leave until Wednesday morning and it was really nice being home for a little while. My kitty is great and I got to see my dad's new hotel which should be partially opening tomorrow. It's gonna be great. The water park looks awesome and I told him if I were checking in to that hotel I would have said "oh my GOD!!!" upon entering the rooms.

Something that was not awesome was waking up at 5:30am on Wednesday to drive back. We made REALLY good time and, after a long stop to get furniture out of storage and 4 shorter stops, got home around 3:30. I didn't start to crash until we were already on 81 and only like 20 miles outside of Harrisonburg. I can't fall asleep when Chris is driving because it makes him tired but I did (I couldn't help it) and we had to stop shortly after. A pop machine stole my money and I had given it a DOLLAR SEVENTY-FIVE! God. I was so mad. After we got back here we split our belongings to store in three different locations and performed Shrew at 7:30. Oh man. We were soooo wiped out when we went to bed.

Even though I got about 8 hours of sleep last night I still feel like I need a nap before Merchant tonight. I don't like to do that show sleepy. Shrew will wake me up but Merchant is not as high energy.

Today I had a JOB INTERVIEW at the AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE CENTER!!! Have you heard of it?? I kept hoping Jen would ask me questions about how I heard about the company and what my experience with Shakespeare was or something, but she didn't. When I decided that I was going to stay here for a while and try to make a more financially sound life for myself, one of the first places I was hoping to get a job was at the place I already worked at. One day I found out the box office would be needing people and I applied... and today I was offered the job. It's full time so I can keep my health insurance. WHAT!?!?!?! I am going to have health insurance for more than a year????? Has a democrat become president??? WHAT IS GOING ON???? I was THRILLED and said that it was the best day of my life which MAY have been an exaggeration since the day of day we got engaged and the day we told everyone we were engaged were... you know... probably better. Also, I think 6 of the 7 days in Florida were pretty good. And that time I went to Disney World. And when I attended the taping of AI in 2005. And when I saw U2 in concert. AND when I went to Old Navy and there was one coat left that I liked and it was in my size, on sale and I had a gift card. But besides those things... this is awesome. I am so happy to have a job still and a job that I can walk to and a job that I will not hate. Yay. REALLY!!!! YAYAYAYAY!!!!!

I forgot to take my makeup off from the matinee today and my remover wipes are at the theatre. If I take a nap Jessica is gonna be looking ROUGH from the mascara stains on her face...

First thing's first: I started an engagement blog for me and Chris. You can read it at:

http://seilard.blogspot.com

"Seilard" is our celebrity name. It's like "bennifer."

Second, I called my grandma yesterday to tell her happy birthday and she asked if Chris and I were still engaged... I said yes... she said she couldn't wait until "that day comes" and I told her how it probably wouldn't be for another year and a half... and she said, "Oh. I might not make it, then." WHAT!?!?!??! GRANDMA!!!!! You don't say things like that! Not to me! I can't handle it!! Then at 3:30 in the morning I started crying hysterically because once you start thinking about one person dying you think about EVERYONE dying. I woke Chris up and cried for like a hour saying how "it's not fair. WHY DO PEOPLE HAVE TO DIE??????" and other crazy, dramatic things. It was just horrible. I still had puffy eyes when I was putting on makeup for the show today.

So, I didn't think this was real but I guess it is. It's like when ING opened and they gave you a $25 sign-on bonus. As I ALWAYS ALWAYS need money if you click on this link before May 15th and sign up I get $10 and you get $25. I didn't get hacked. I read an article from the washington post. THE washington post!!!

Go get your free money via this link so I get more free money. ;)

Montjoy forgot a line today. Actually, Montjoy DIDN'T forget a line, he just said the wrong line at the wrong time. The first two Montjoy scenes end with "I shall deliver so...." and "I shall, King Harry...." This is the SECOND TIME I ended the second scene with the ending of the first scene. It doesn't REALLY matter except today I tried to save it. I said "I shall deliver so. Thanks to you highness. AND------" and then patted Henry on the arm and walked away. I was so lucky I stopped myself after I said "and...." because what I WANTED to say was "and tell him [something something]" which would have made NO SENSE WHATSOEVER. Tell WHO??? I would have started speaking gibberish like that time I spoke gibberish in Guys and Dolls except WAY WORSE because that was a huge theatre. In THIS theatre the audience would have been able to hear every nonsense word that came out of my mouth. 

Anyway, it was fine. We all had a good laugh later and the scene moved on so it didn't matter. I just thought it was really funny that Montjoy ended the scene with a conjunction.

BY THE WAY---- June is going to be the greatest music month ever. Well, at least in terms of artists I like releasing new albums. First Aimee Mann then Alanis Morissette and then Coldplay!!! I didn't even know Coldplay was working on a new album!! YAY! 

Last night Rene and I decided it would be the best idea ever to stage a 2 person production of My Fair Lady featuring us and perform it in the living room. I mainly just wanted to do my "cockney accent" (I say that in quotations because it is nothing resembling a cockney accent) and scream "HERE ARE YOUR SLIPPERS!!!!! AND HERE!!!!" Hahahaha, oh man. That would have been so great. It turned out that we did NOT perform this, although I do not think the idea has been completely thrown out the window. Then we talked briefly about Sunday in the Park With George and I went home to watch it and make Chris watch it. He liked it a lot. I cried as per usual. Today we went to the library and rented the original broadway cast production of Sweeney Todd on VHS. I can't believe I had never seen this musical. It was great. I guessed the thing about the beggar woman early but I did NOT foresee what ended up happening to her. I just love that Stephen Sondheim so much. After the wonderful day when I will finally get to be in L5Y I hope I can just say, "Ok, it's Shakespeare and Sondheim only from here on out!"

Our staged reading on Tuesday went really well. The play is actually pretty good and we all had a good time and I think the audience did, too. The biggest problem for me was that reading in candlelight gave me a really bad headache. I don't think anyone else in our cast had this problem but for me... man... it was bad.

The shows were pretty okay last week, I believe. I am honestly finding it hard to believe that last week wasn't a million years ago so it's kind of hard to remember. Let's see. We had our last non-Shrew HS matinee... oh! This weekend Aaron went on for Evan as Biondello and Gratiano. We knew Evan was going to be gone this weekend (his brother got married) since the first day so the fact that this actually happened... actually, it's kind of sad. Our time together has gone very fast. Anyway, Aaron did GREAT and I wanted to stop the show and tell him that in the middle of the courtroom scene of Merchant. He was also very funny and I laughed a lot.

Tomorrow the theatre is hosting an ice cream social at this new(ish) little gelato/ice cream place in town. Chris has suggested we get ice cream like 3 times since Friday and every time I keep telling him to wait.... we will get it soon enough. And for FREE.

So, my favorite girl, Brooke, was voted off AI. I never thought she'd win so I was never expecting that... I just hope she keeps making music. I ALSO hope that she opens the door for others of her musical type on the show (like Chris Daughtry has done for David Cook) because her type is great. Also, if David Cook doesn't win I will eat my hat. He just HAS to. Syesha is great but we've seen her type a million times on this show. Jason is, seriously... I mean, Jason is FINE. But look. Jason is high. That's his thing: being stoned. Jason can go be stoned and sing decently somewhere else. David Archuleta is embarrassing to watch. I never liked his voice but I REALLY do not like how he makes everything sound exactly the same. If for some horrible reason there is a finale of David Archuleta and Jason I will probably not vote. If it is anyone verses David Cook he gets my vote... but if it's Syesha verses David Archuleta or Jason I will vote for her. (Also, Brooke's website went back up the night she got voted off. BrookeWhite.com You can listen to and/or buy her 2006 album if you want to. I might buy "Free.")

I really started to miss the Keys over the weekend. I kept asking, "Remember when we went to Florida? That was so great." I miss the water. There is no water in Staunton. I mean, there's a pond and running tap water... but the ocean is 3.5 hours away and there are no big lakes anywhere close. Most of us are in the middle of a 2-2.5 day weekend (I guess it is the weekend for us) and I was lamenting over the fact that there is nothing FUN to do anywhere here. I wanted to go to Busch Gardens but it's only open on the REAL weekend (as is King's Dominion). Battlefields and Monticello may be interesting or... you know... just something to DO but not only have I been to every historical place in Virginia already but they are a FAR CRY from fun. I haven't even been able to find a miniature golf course. I told Chris if we were in Sandusky we could go to Marblehead or the African Wildlife Safari or mini golf or race cars or bumper boats or even an indoor waterpark... or AT LEAST just sit by Lake Erie and look at birds, boats and waves. Those things are all FUN. That is why Sandusky is called  The Fun Coast and Staunton is called "The Birthplace of  The Council Manager Form of Government."

I guess I don't know for a fact that that is the SLOGAN of Staunton, but it's what the website says. I am just getting cranky from lack of inexpensive things to do. Staunton is fine. Really.

It's just no FUN COAST.

I think I'm homesick.

Tomorrow I am going to start a hella extensive process of exfoliating my skin.