Still here and busy as ever!

October 27, 2009 - I'm still here and busy as ever. I realize I haven't updated since August and for good reason, I swear.

• His name is Justin and he's awesome!

So, I met a new guy and he's wonderful. Very different from my normal type in that he's actually available (emotionally and literally), wants to spend time with me and thinks I'm the best thing since sliced bread. It's fantastic. He is also letting me help him redecorate his apartment, which is great because I'm out of projects in my own apartment and I was looking for some new stuff. He's hating the whole "theatre" thing because he doesn't understand it, but he's trying to be supportive and I give him big points for that.

• I went to ATL to visit my dad.

It was fun, I'm going back for the holidays, he's coming here to see my play in two weeks.

• I was asked to be in a play.

I didn't have to audition or anything. They heard I could speak the good English and that I looked good in a corset. It is called Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage and it is at The Heights Players. It opens November 6. I haven't been in a (non-musical) play in 10 or 12 years, so this has certainly been an interesting experience.

• Avon Breast Cancer Walk 2009

I came, I walked, I raised $2000 with the help of some wonderful friends, family and donors. Thank you to everyone who supported me and to Martha for walking with me! 39.3 miles which is over 40 by the time you factor in all the walking at the Wellness Village and the two blocks you have to walk to get your bag when the thing is over. When I finished, I went home, showered and put on boots with three inch heels to go out to dinner, so I'm feeling pretty proud of myself this year. No butt scoots up the stairs for me this year!

• Work has exploded all over every thing.

I swear I've worked through lunch and late almost every day for the last 5 weeks. Our CA office just opened, we're in the middle of doing 2010 forecasting and deciding where our next office will be. At least the NY office is not moving again until at least 2011 - 3 moves in one year was enough for me!

• I went to Maine for a long weekend.

Acadia National Park. We hiked/climbed precipice peak. We rock . It was freezing and Justin kept insisting we get up to watch the sunrise. I got to see some lovely fall color, though and there is a fantastic picture of the back of my head (my pic tails were darn near perfect that day), which I will post if he ever sends them to me. I did twist my ankle coming down the easy trail, though and that's been acting up but all in all, I'm still impressed with me.

My show opens next Friday, my dad is in town the following weekend, my mother is in town the weekend after that for Thanksgiving week, a week or so after that my friend Dallas comes back from her European travels and four days after that I'm in Atlanta for the holidays. Where is all this time going?!?

Pre-Holiday Update

November 20, 2008 – I just bought one of the more awesome things I have spent my money on in a while. For $10, I am now the proud owner of the Holiday Fire (which includes 10 Carols to “warm your toes”). I figured since I was hosting the holidays this year (mom is in town starting tomorrow for Thanksgiving and dad will be in town for Christmas), and my apartment is not equipped with a fireplace, we need an artificial fire. I have the option for “real” fire sounds, Christmas music, or a mixture of the two; and I can choose from a regular fireplace or a campfire. The novelty has not yet worn off in the office and I’ve been asked to bring it to work with me next week so we can keep it playing on a spare laptop to keep the holiday spirit alive.

In other news, my mother will be in town tomorrow and there is still a lot to do to get the apartment to make sure it is ready and she has a place to sleep and the bathtub doesn’t have a black ring because it stopped wanting to drain. Ah, the joys of houseguests. At least if something doesn’t get done, she’ll be really cool about – usually I don’t bother to clean at all when she comes, so the fact that I’m making the effort is proof that I’m growing as a person. Also, proof that I no longer have roommates.

My moment of bragging: holiday shopping is practically done. I made Dallas and Alicia’s gifts and both have minor finishing touches needed before I wrap them (in my hand stamped wrapping paper – seriously, I gave myself a blister stamping), mom’s gifts are all done and wrapped, Justin’s are done and wrapped, I made my own Christmas cards and I only have to get daddy and Bruce’s gifts (which are picked out, I’m just waiting to get paid).

Mom and I are putting up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving, so I’ll try and post some pictures once we get that done. I need to go pick up some colored lights to replace the white ones that Dallas and I had from our “designed” tree last year (I was out voted).

Hopefully this finds everyone out there happily getting ready to stuff their faces and not feeling the economic downturn too much (a girl can dream, can’t she?). Have a great day!

Long Time in Coming

Hello again from the craziness that is my life. The last few weeks have been crazy and strange and most of it in a not so great way. In my last post, I mentioned that my Grandmother had been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in her jaw. My Grandmother - Marie Hieser - died on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. My mother went up to IL to help her siblings make arrangements and do whatever it is people do when someone dies. I tried to get to IL for the funeral and ended up stuck in Detroit. Bruce managed to get to me in Detroit so I was at least not stuck alone, but it sucked a lot (I HATE DETROIT AND NORTHWEST AIRLINES) and I felt like I let my mom down. Somewhere around the second or third weeks of December (whatever two weeks ago was), Mom had surgery in Houston. It was going to be exploratory surgery but ended up being a hysterectomy. She was in the hospital for a couple of days and couldn't drive for a week. She came through it fantastically, however it was a little difficult for me. Times like this, I wish I had a sibling or two running around to help take care of some of this stuff. I did, however, get to reconnect with Pyam while I was home and that was fantastic. I was with Mom until she got out of the hospital and then I went to Atlanta where my dad met my boyfriend for the first time. I also got to go to the GA Aquarium (which was AWESOME!) where I got to touch a little shark.

I was really worried about my dad meeting Bruce for the first time. Bruce had no idea what Atlanta traffic was like, so he was actually like an hour late (of all the times to be late, right?!?) but in the end I think it worked out fairly well. My dad went from being adamantly against the whole thing to just wanting me to be happy and not get hurt. I especially loved the part where I was sent away for an hour like a child so they could have a man-to-man talk. I'm glad they seem to have come to some sort of understanding, but I'm really worried about my dad.

Come to think of it, I'm actually very worried about both of my parents. With mom's friend Tom moving to Africa, she doesn't have much of a close support group left and I worry about her. Daddy wants to be happy and doesn't know what it would take to be happy. They are so much more alike than they think they are. In case anyone wonders where I get that whole philosophy of "if you let people get close to you, they can hurt you" - it came from both of my parents.

The best things that happened since my last post if that the show opened and closed, I finally got to spend some time with my boyfriend in daylight, I got to see both of my parents and already got all my Christmas presents, and at my office people seem to have been handing out bottles of champagne like water. More on the Christmas presents to come in a few moments in a separate post.