The Great Move of Ought-Nine

Hello Blogger friends!

My blog is still active, (Albeit after a short 7 month period of inactivity, also known as SLACKING....) but has now moved to another blogging tool that seems a bit more efficient than Blogger. (No hard feelings, Blogger! Wow, I just apologized to a program...)

This new site is a Word Press site, and you can still leave me fun comments (which I love!) even if you're not a Word Press member, so it's all good!

So please, if you are linking to my blog to keep up-to-date on my and Levi's wild adventures, please update your links to:

www.selenaonthesea.wordpress.com

See? It's easy, you just have to replace the word "blogger" with "wordpress."

Wow, now this company is probably REALLY upset with me. I'll log off before they come after me through my computer screen or something.

Blog on!

Love,
Selena

What I've done for FUN!!! Part III - March 2, 2009

So, after surviving my sketchy night at a rest-stop motel (see last blog…) I continued on my solo journey to Arcosanti, an urban experiment in environmentally friendly architecture.





Coolest basketball court ever!

The place is really interesting (read: nerdy) and I really enjoyed it! (Read: nerd). After touring the buildings, I continued up the road to my ultimate destination, Sedona.

Welcome to Sedona!

Selena in Sedona!

Bell Rock

A cathedral carved out of the rock!

Sedona is an absolutely GOREGOUS area between Phoenix and Flagstaff that has all the orange and red bands of sand and cliffs of the Grand Canyon without the giant whole in the ground. I only had the day to tour around, so I drove to every rock formation I could find on the map, had my nails done in red-rock colors to commemorate my trip, and watched the sunset from the top of a ‘vortex’ mountain, which is a mountain where certain energies are concentrated… or something. Whatever it was, it was beautiful!









I went back “home” to the Four Points Sheraton in Tempe and had another week of rehearsals (this was the second week of January) before I had another day off for fun! I had another two days off because of the Obama inaguration on the 20th, so for my fun that week I went to visit Biosphere 2 with Kendra and her parents. (Warning: If you didn’t know I was a nerd, this will forevermore solidify the fact for you. So if you would rather just think of me as normal little Selena, skip this next paragraph… hehe)

How I saw the Inauguration!

The Election-Day Specials at the hotel! haha!

A scary sign I saw on the drive to Biosphere! Don't worry- I didn't even slow down! haha!



I remember studying about Biosphere in school when it opened, and of course the Pauly Shore classic “Biodome” was a middle school must-see, so it was a no-brainer when my dad mentioned that it was only 2 hours from Phoenix. I barely made the tour at 3, and actually had to be personally chauffeured in a little golf cart out to meet the group in the Biosphere, which was funny!



Kendra, Kendra's parents, and me at Biosphere 2!

The tour was really fun though; they took us through all of the biomes, from the rainforest to the desert to the savannah. We even saw their ocean, which I was most interested in. Basically I just geeked out the whole time, not believing I was actually inside the legendary Biosphere 2. We ended the fun day with an amazing Mexican dinner at a very authentic-feeling resturant, since apparently we were very near the Mexican border! (Ok, so I’m NOT a geography nerd apparently…)

Mexican and Mariachi! Yum!

The next day, I went to Taliesen, Frank Lloyd Wright’s school and home in Scottsdale, which is basically a suburb of Phoenix. I had just read “Loving Frank,” a story of his affair with a married woman from Chicago that ended with a murder and a fire (quite dramatic, I won’t give it away, but you should go read it!) so I was interested in Frank Lloyd Wright not only for his architecture, but for his interesting life in general. The facility is absolutely amazing- he truly was a visionary, and I hope to someday hire one of the many students that study there to design my mansion! (Yes, still planning on Levi getting that elusive record deal and getting us that dream mansion!) I LOVE how he used natural light- super energy efficient, even before it was trendy… and it is so interesting how some doorways and entryways are designed to be VERY small, so that you want to travel further into the room, which is his intention in the first place! Genius!



Inside a room where FLW still orders you to sit!

At the desk in the gift shop was a nice guy who revealed, once we started talking about my camera, that he was a photographer who taught at the school! He also invited me behind the scenes to see a display of his work in another part of the school, which was really cool, and then invited me to join him and a friend that night at the Phoenix Art Museum, which of course I readily accepted. (I’ve always talked to strangers, much to my parents collective horror…)

Before the Art Museum, I had a few hours to kill, so I went to Cosanti, which was also designed by Paolo Solari, the architect of Arcosanti which I had visited last week. Once again I was fascinated with the strange, beautiful and different architecture. I even got to SEE Paolo himself, now in his 90’s, shuffling around the facility, as it functions not only as a visitors center and bell shop, but his own home! It was so awesome to see him, even in passing, in person!

More classic Paolo Solari architecture!

Awesome gift shop dinosaur architecture!

That night Quincy, my friend from Taliesen, took me and another one of his friends, Sarah, to the museum, and it was so much like a movie I couldn’t help but love it. Apparently, he goes to this museum so often that every docent and security guard knows him by name! So ever display we went to calls of “Hey Quincy!” rang out around us. He was like a VIP, and he was giving US a tour! Hilarious. We got to see some amazing pieces, and I especially liked the work of a sculptor and large-installation artist (whose name escapes me, of course) who had a few pieces in the museum. Currently, though, he is working on a HUGE project, and when I say HUGE, it doesn’t even begin to do this project justice. He bought one of the huge craters out in the Arizona desert and is building a MASSIVE installation that will use the light of the sun to create different effects within the crater and the art center that he is building within (and below!) the crater itself. The sunlight, during certain times of the year, will bounce around this art center in the crater in certain ways that will create light shapes and formations around the art center. Amazing, right? Quincy was a great guide, and the night was so interesting, informative, and (my favorite) artistic! It was great!

Sarah making some art of her own

Sarah, Quincy and me being artistic!

What I have done for FUN! - Pt. II - February 12, 2009 ***Now with Pictures!***

How I have Fun, and my first day off.... continues here!

~ ~ ~

Now don't let my whining fool you, we DO have days off, and during my rehearsal period I was given quite a few extra days, thanks to various circumstances, such as the inauguration. (I was already happy that Obama was elected, but this sealed the deal- a day off thanks to him! wooo!) During these select days (usually Monday, but during rehearsal I sometimes had Tuesday too!) I would take the chance to TRAVEL! (Since once I started the show, I wouldn't be able to have more than one day off at a time any longer!)

My first Monday off I was invited to a lovely brunch with Kendra and her roommates, Ian and Michael. Trista was there as well as Electra and her mom and Kendra's parents too. It was SO nice- it felt like a really nice restaurant or hotel or something! We went out on the boat their rental house came with (a tiny little battery powered boat, which actually ran out of juice on the way back! We had to paddle back in! Classic...)

Yummy Brunch!

Kendra and her Dad

Kendra's mom, Michael and Trista

Electra and her mom

A toast!

Ian Cruising...

Me and Electra

Nice houses!

Duckies!

Paddling back!

Then I set off for my own adventure.

I decided to go up to Sedona and Arcosanti for the day and a half I had off. Arcosanti is a huge urban design experiment out here in the desert. Paolo Solari was a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, who has a school out here called Taliesen. Solari wanted to explore if humans could live harmoniously with nature, and is a pioneer in urban planning in that he wanted to have as many people living in as little a space as was comfortable, all the while still living in harmony with the land and utilizing it's natural resources in a responsible way.

The architecture itself is striking, and the purpose of the experiment is a vein of environmentalism that I regard very highly, so I was really looking forward to visiting this place. But since I had just had a lovely, lazy brunch followed by a boat ride, I got on the road a little later than expected and found myself outside of Arcosanti around 8 pm, well after they closed for tours, obviously! So I had to find somewhere to stay. (If I had gotten there earlier, I could have stayed in Arcosanti, which would have been fun, but it was not meant to be. Besides, it wouldn't make half as interesting a story as it was!)

So just outside the gates of Arcostanti is Cortes Junction, which basically consists of a truck stop-like gas station, as far as I could see. But I had spotted a motel among the Mac trucks, so I set off in my tiny rental to find it. It was behind the gas station, and the only way to get to it was a dirt road... but there was more than one. The first one I explored was the wrong one, and ended near an abandoned structure straight out of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Flustered, I turned around, headed down another steep, dusty road and found myself in front of a little motel.

I checked in with a skeptical motel manager ("Just you?" he said with one eyebrow raised…) and checked out my room. Fluorescent lighting and painted cinderblock walls greeted me in a room straight out of... well another horror movie that takes place in a motel. To make matters worse, there was no deadbolt on the door. So... I improvised. (I think MacGuiver would be proud.) I dragged the little fridge in front of the door, and then put a chair on top. Therefore, if anyone decided to 'check in' on me, the fridge would slow them down, and the chair balanced precariously on top would make some sort of alerting racket.

My High Tech Security System

(I know, when I told everyone this story they all had the same reaction you're probably having now. -As in "What were you THINKING??" haha. I'm used to it.)

~ ~ ~
Coming up, after these messages.... More blogs of FUN!

The final installment of "A (rehearsal) day in the life of Me!" AND "...for Fun, Pt. 1!"

So here’s the final part of my average day in rehearsals…. followed by what I've been doing for FUN!

~ ~ ~

7:30 pm- SHOWTIME! I catch a ride from my hotel shuttle to the show every night, since it’s already dark by then. Of course, I’ve talked to at the front desk and knew them all by first name by the second week! Haha! (Well I figure they’re kind of like roommates, they just ‘live’ in the lobby and answer to my every need! Great roomies!)

So my friend Patrick gives me a ride and I watch the show usually from the sound booth or somewhere interesting like that EVERY NIGHT. (I just recently found out I don’t even need to watch every night, but it is really such an amazing show, that even though I’ve seen it over 10 times now, I still see something new every time. I love it!)

I sometime watch from the audience, but I mostly sit in really interesting places most people can’t sit in. I really love sitting in the sound booth! Kevin, one of the sound guys, found out my music background (I was a DJ for three years in college and mixed lots of live sound.) so he lets me do little things like open the second act and close the second act. Oh, and the all-important act of rolling fabric over the sound boards after a show. (Really tough stuff, I know!)

By the end of my rehearsals I had sat in EVERY place there is to sit in the theater, for real! I watched the show from the sound booth, as mentioned, lighting booth, rigging platform (30 feet in the air!), the stage manager booth (also 30 feet in the air!), auto fly platform (a whopping 50 feet in the air!). Everyone teased me that soon I would have other jobs in the tech realm! Haha! But for those of you who know me, this is very typical. But I’m used to having 8 different jobs at home, so I really liked learning the show inside AND out! I learned SO much about how much goes into running this show. There are SO many people involved in making it run and run smoothly that you’ll never see. It’s truly amazing.

Everyone in the show should have to see all these people working as hard as they are behind the scenes. Dressers, makeup artists, stage techs, lighting techs, sound techs, puppet masters, electricians, stage managers… and that’s the short list! It really made me have such a respect for the immensity of the show and it’s sheer scale!

~ ~ ~

So now that you've been through the typical rehearsal day with me, I can finish updating you on the LIFE I've had OUTSIDE of work.

Oh wait.

I didn't really have one during rehearsal.

Four hours a day doesn't sound like a time-consuming beast, but combine that with the lack of a car (which meant lots of time hoofing it to and fro) and watching shows every night (which meant getting home and to bed sometimes north of midnight) you find yourself with little time FOR yourself or anyone else for that matter!

Everyone was really awesome my first few weeks though. And even though I whine (see paragraph above) I had SOME fun...

During my first week a few people were on their way out, such as one of our Hair ladies, Cheryl, who was making the move to Mary Poppins on Broadway, and Celise, our Dance Supervisor, who was making the move to Vegas, so we had some awesome going away parties. Cheryl's was kind of low key but emotional at a really nice hotel bar called Mission Palms. People made speeches, toasts were had- heck, it was my first week, I had JUST met the lady, and even I was in tears! (But those of you who know me know that it doesn't take much more than a Hallmark commercial to put me there... haha)

Celise's going away party was a much more raucous affair, complete with impromptu singing and all! We were at Bocca, a local wine bar, and we were having ourselves our usual good time, when suddenly you heard a beat.... a beat emanating from someone rapping on a turned-about chair. Then, rising out of the amazingly talented throats of the singers surrounding me, a chant/song, beautiful and rhythmic. Before I knew what was going on, people were on their feet, stomping, clapping, singing, dancing and generally having a fantastic time. It was like a scene out of a movie! It was amazing, pretty much my dream come true. I've always wanted to burst randomly into song and dance with a group of talented people!!!

(Needless to say after our scene died down people approached the table for autographs. I kid you not. It's pretty obvious after hearing these people sing that they knew what they were doing.... and with our theater not two blocks down the street, the people of Tempe were SO onto us...)

So during the week we would sporadically go out for drinks to celebrate someone's birthday, a going away party, and lately, my very first bachelorette party! (I would blog about that, but we were all sworn to the all-powerful "What Happens at the Bachelorette Party, STAYS at the Bachlorette Party" oath... sorry!) I will say it, and all the other times I've gotten to hang out with the cast, have been 100% fun!

~ ~ ~

As always, to be continued!!

Put in Rehearsal Day (YIKES!) & A day in the life of Selena on Tour! (Pt. 2) - January 30, 2009

Sooo... today is my BIG put-in rehearsal, (my opening day is February 3rd) which for you Disney kids is like our approval night, only I can't really be "disapproved," since they already moved me across the country and all....
Anywho, we do the ENTIRE show with JUST me in costume!!! Talk about some pressure!!

I'm SO nervous right now. I'm going to surprise everyone (I hope none of my new cast is reading this...) by getting them a spread of goodies from Costco, like fruit and bagels. =) I kinda feel bad they have to do the entire show today JUST for me, then do it again tonight for real! haha. Oh well, they all seem to think it's pretty normal, and it looks like I have two coming up for other new people in my very near future, so I'll get to put in my time too.

Everyone has been so sweet about it all though. When I thank them for doing a show just for me they all say they had one too, and it's normal. Oh, and they're getting paid for it, so whatever. Hahaha! I love this cast. =)

Oh! And Levi gets in tonight to visit for the weekend, so that's my big reward for getting through this process alive. Weee!!!

Well, I miss you guys a lot, but my stomach is doing more gymnastics than I physically can myself, so I'm gonna run. Here's the last part of that blog I started last week. Enjoy!

~ ~ ~

My Daily Routine, continued....

12:00-3:00 or 4:00 pm- Dance Dance Dance! Usually I’m sweating my little hiney off at this point of the day because we’ve been either learning the show, in my earlier weeks, or running the show over and over, which is the point where I am now. Learning the show kicked my butt! The choreography isn’t necessarily HARD, per se…. but it’s so different from what I’m used to, and utilizes such a different side of my technique from what I’m used to, that my body revolted a little. It’s Garth Fagan choreography, so a Garth Fagan dance recipe would look kinda like this:

Ingredients:
- 2 cups Modern dance
- 1 bushel African dance
- 2 cups Contemporary dance
- 3 tablespoons Acting
- 5 cups Technique
- 3 tablespoons Dynamics
- 2 oz Puppets

Take your base of modern dance, mix in the African dance and stir. As you’re stirring, mix in the contemporary dance. Put your mixture in a blender and while it’s on “whip,” add dynamics and acting quickly! Take the mixture out, and sprinkle with the 5 cups of technique, mixing to distribute it evenly. Garnish with puppets. Rehearse for four weeks. You should be sore for most of this time; that is natural. End product will entertain thousands, if not more.

So whenever anyone asks me how I’m doing in rehearsals, I just say “Sore…” It’s hard to gauge how I’m “doing” because I’m the only person joining the tour right now, so I couldn’t tell you if I’m doing well or not. I learned the show by the end of the second week, which I felt good about, but I think that’s normal… All I know is, I’m doing the best I can! It’s definitely making me grow as an artist and dancer. I’m not used to these dynamics, these techniques, and these styles, but they’re all a new challenge, and I’m always up for that!

The hardest part so far has been incorporating the puppets! I’ve been dancing for 20 years and I’ve never had really any props! (I was mostly in ballet growing up… not too many props there!) So putting these different puppets on throws off your balance more than you would really expect! Not to mention the acting! You’ve got to make these puppets look ALIVE by moving them a certain way, and then acting with YOUR face too! (they can see both, I keep reminding myself..) In the Lioness Chant, for example, we are KILLING a gazelle, not playing with it, not hanging out with it. We are HUNTING. So we have to be FEROCIOUS! It’s actually a lot harder than I thought it would be!


3:00/4:00-5:00 pm- THEN we have to SING on top of all of that too! During this late afternoon time I’m usually at vocal rehearsal with the associate conductor, Jason, or Angela when Jason was on vacation to Mexico. (Apparently it’s really close to here! Let’s hear it for my lack of geographical knowledge! Haha) I’m usually really nervous for this part, because I’m NOT a natural singer. Jason told me the first day that the track I’m learning wasn’t originally in the show, but was added later to supplement the vocal tracks, which is why I’m not in as many dance parts as the other girls. It’s because I’m mostly singing different harmonies and weird things that a singer would know what it means. (I don’t!) At one point in the show there’s only three people on stage hitting a certain harmony, and I’m one of them! Isn’t that the scariest thing you’ve ever heard?? Well, it is to me! I told Jason, “I don’t really know what I’m even doing here, my voice cracked in the audition!! Why in the world am I in this ‘singing’ track?!?!” haha!

Anyway, like I said earlier, these rehearsals are where I record my track vocal parts on a little tape recorder so that I can sing along with them later as I make my mini-trek to work each morning. (It’s funny, the kids walking around ASU totally think I’m insane, singing South African and Swahili as I walk by them in the morning. It’s hilarious) By practicing along with my tape, I can try to remember what note I’m supposed to be parked on while 50 other people around me are on another note entirely. For singer, this might be cake. For a self-professed-non-singer like me, it’s a nightmare. But I’m getting better every day. Like I said, all I can do is my best-est! haha


5:00-7:00 pm- After vocal rehearsal, I go back to the hotel and take get ready to go to the show that night and make dinner. Now, like I said earlier, I’m kind of living this quasi-college kid lifestyle here. There were no microwaves left when I came, because a lot of people from the cast are in this hotel and probably asked for them all right away. So I was lucky to get the little fridge I do have! But after the fridge came, I didn’t really know what to do to heat up food, so breakfast and lunch were taken care of, but unless I wanted yet another fake-meat baloney sandwich (I’m pescatarian, meaning the only meat I eat is fish!) for dinner, I was going to either eat out or starve.

UNTIL, that is, I pulled a little MacGyver thinking out of my back pocket! I thought about it and the ONLY thing I have in my room to heat things up with (besides my light bulbs, but that would be a little TOO ghetto..) is the in-room coffee maker! GENIUS! So now, I subsist solely on noodles that can be heated up with a coffee maker and various sauces, salads, and sandwiches. It’s not a lot, but I’m not dead yet from malnutrition, although my mother still insists that it’s just a matter of time…. Haha.

NEXT- 7:30 pm- SHOWTIME!! (*To be continued...*)

A day in the life of.... Selena on Tour! (Pt. I) - January 22, 2009

Well, it's been two entire weeks since I've started my tour-adventure and SO much has happened! (I've been a slacking blogger/friend... I knew I needed to update people when four people texted me in one day saying they needed updates!)

~ ~ ~

Before I joined the tour, I was NOT ashamed to admit that I had absolutely NO idea what I was getting myself into, and most of the first week of rehearsal was no exception.

My first week I mostly felt like I was either back in school and shuffling from class to class, or that I was being trained to be an assassin, like in the movie with Angelina Jolie called “Wanted.” The trainee assassin goes from specialty to specialty though out the day. To learn how to shoot, he goes to the gunsmith, to learn how to use knives he goes to the butcher, etc. I felt like I was being trained to be a Lion King assassin or something!

So the first week, I rehearsed for one day with the Dance Captain, Keisha, who is leaving to get married. Kendra, the girl I’m replacing, is moving up to take Keisha’s place. The rest of the first week I was with Celise, the Dance Supervisor. For all you dancers out there, this show isn’t run like other shows. The Dance Captain is a swing and helps teach and give notes, but above her is a Dance Supervisor, who is the end-all-be-all for these sorts of things.

Our Dance Supervisor, Celise, is awesome, but she’s leaving too, to open the new Lion King in Las Vegas. (In fact, lots of people are leaving to open Vegas, such as Jay, our conductor!) Celise was awesome to rehearse with though. She kicked my butt! She’s a tough cookie. If you get it REMOTELY wrong, she makes you do it again, immediately. But I love that ethic of work. Pound it out!

My first week was a blur, just shuffling from fitting to rehearsals and vocal practice, and by the end of it my body was really looking forward to a few days rest!

~ ~ ~

My daily routine that first week was (and pretty much still is), generally:

9:00 am- Get up, make breakfast from my little fridge from my hotel, usually PB&J or cereal (Thank goodness for my fridge!). They didn’t have any microwaves, so I’m living like a poor college student. (Probably worse, actually!) You’ll see what I’m talking about at dinner-time…


11:00 am- Walk to rehearsal studio or theater, depending on what I have scheduled for the day, usually singing along with my vocal rehearsal tape (see my 3:00/4:00-5:00 timeslot for an explanation of this.) I’m staying at the Four Points Sheraton about a half a mile away, which is a nice 15-20 minute walk. It’s not so bad, actually. I thought it would be torture, since I’m so used to my car, but since it’s a college campus, people are walking around all the time. (Well, my first two weeks they were still on break. Now they’re back. It was really cute to see the campus ‘wake up’ from break. I saw some freshman with their parents and siblings moving them back in, and friends reuniting after the long holiday break. I’m just glad they’re back because that means the Quizno’s on campus is finally going to be open! YES!)

My very FIRST day I had a wardrobe fitting at noon, and it was really exciting. (Everything was really exciting the first week, naturally!) Most of my costumes are being customized for me, since Kendra, the girl I’m replacing, is just moving up to become the Dance Captain/Swing, so she needs all of her costumes. Ever wonder what it is like to have something custom made for you? Well, all you need to do is stand in one place moving your arms up and down out of your ‘costumer’s’ way. (For your costumer you can use a friend, parent, or force a younger sibling to help) Now have them pin a piece of cloth to you with about 100 stick pins and/or safety pins. Now walk around and feel like a porcupine for a few minutes. Then spend the rest of the hour unpinning. There. That’s pretty much what getting a custom costume fitted to you feels like.

I also had a wig fitting the next day. I was fitted into something called my “bubble.” This is like a mold of my head, which is sent out to London, of all places, for all of my wigs and head puppets to be fit to! Now, to re-inact this for yourself, all you have to do is get some saran wrap and clear packing tape. (I kid you not!) Now, wrap your head just above your eyeballs and OVER your eyebrows all the way to the crown of your head. Now, tape the saran wrap all around your head really, REALLY tight. Draw your eyebrows and ears on to the clear tape, so the people molding your wigs to know where they are. Sit like this for around 20 minutes, until you’re feeling sufficiently disoriented from looking through wiggly saran wrap and a little claustrophobic. Cut a little slit up the back of the bubble and slip it off your head. Now, you have a clear bubble the exact shape of you head! Weird, huh?

~ ~ ~

Stay tuned for the second half of my average day, my first weekend off, and my second week of rehearsals!!

Christmas, Packing, Leaving on a Jet Plane, and Staring a New Life...

January 6, 2009

Well, here I am, my first "official" day "on tour."

Isn't that funny how I feel the need to put "on tour" in quotes? I feel that way because I haven't done a single thing today.

Ahhh, touring life.... (?!?!? right? I don't know yet!) haha.

Well, let's go back a little bit, to Christmas and the following weeks, which turned out to be, at the same time, the most fun and sad week of my life!

~ ~ ~

First of all, Christmas was a blast! Levi came back in town to celebrate with my family and I, and since he was all I wanted for Christmas, I was happy!

That is until I started to throw up.

ew.

Well, Christmas morning, I wake up as excited as a kid on Christmas... wait a minute... anyway, this year I was really good at getting everyone's presents early and I thought they were pretty good. (I LOVE giving gifts, even more than getting them, as cliche as that is. It's true!) I sit in bed a minute anticipating the contents of my stocking and what everyone's faces will look like when they open their presents when that awful feeling swept over me.

You know the one.

The feeling that a 300 pound person just sat on your stomach and is poking at your jugular.

Ew.

So I got sick. Then I went back to bed. I thought it was just a one time thing, a parting gift from the wine at my sister-in-law's dinner the night before. But after 3 more times of illness, I realized I was sick.
My family went over to my brother's house to watch my niece and nephew open presents, and I decided it was safer for me to not only stay home, but to lay down outside, where my sickness wouldn't offend the carpet's creme sensibilities.

EW!

Levi was so wonderful the whole time though, sitting with me (but not too close), trying to shield me from my crazy aunt (everyone's got one) who kept trying to give me a massage (?!?) and talking to me until my family got back.

When everyone got home, I laid down in front of the tree, planning on limpidly pawing at my presents until the wrapping paper eventually ripped. But then, a true Christmas miracle took place. As we opened presents, I gradually felt better and better, until the last present was opened, and I felt 100% better! I even ate a huge Christmas lunch with my family! I was so grateful for that one last Christmas present- being healthy enough to enjoy it with my family!

~ ~ ~

Quickly after lunch, we always pile in the car and drive up to Georgia to see my Nanny (my Dad's mom) and Uncle Phil's family and farm (Dad's brother) in Cuthbert, Georgia, where my Dad grew up. But this year was going to be special- Levi was coming for the first time!!!!

We had a great time all around. I LOVE Georgia and seeing everyone up there, and it was so great for my Nanny and family to meet Levi. The one most hilarious part of the trip, though, was where Levi and I stayed. Since Nanny's house was full, I booked us into one of the three hotels, excuse me, MO-tels in the town. (This is a town with exactly one stoplight, mind you...) When we pulled up, we both looked at each other and laughed. It looked just like that strip motel in that movie with Owen Wilson and Kate Beckensale where the people are trying to kill them. In short, it was a squat, 50's style motel that hadn't been renovated since then, complete with yellow lighting and peeling paint.

In short, it was AWESOME.

We also got to drive our family ping-pong table back home, which was fun and adventure in itself. Instead of a tying a rag to the end of the table, which hung off the end of the truck, we attached the only thing handy- a Tide box top. Hey, it's orange....

~ ~ ~

Levi left all too soon after that, and the preparations for me leaving had to begin. (Even though I was still deeply, DEEPLY in denial that I was leaving!

So instead of packing, I took a copious amount of head shots (see my previous blog) and am still editing those as I sit here... "on tour."

I did a lot of things "one last time.." Pearl Diving (with Daniel, which meant it was so fun!), Capone's (Where I did a line in a Chinese accent, much to my show director's dismay... I"It's just allergies, I'm not contagious or nothing!" turned into "eet jus alluhgy. I no contajous or noting." -Thanks to Angela for the spelling!), and of course, my last day at FoLK, where I didn't cry.... until my PITCH in the last show!!!!

My last day was January 3rd, and I had two shows with Patrick. We signed in my family and my friend Brian, who drove all the way from the Keys to see me! (He's a whole 'nother blog in himself... we met on my cruise ship two years ago maybe a total of 3 times, and have managed to keep in touch all these years! He happened to be in the Keys on a business trip, remembered that it was my last day, and decided on a whim to drive up!!! On a WHIM to drive 8 hours EACH WAY! Now that's my kind of friend!!)

I came in to everyone giving me hugs (I adore that stage and everyone there...), my FoLK poster all signed with goodbye wishes, my makeup station all decorated, and Gio's cake for my party, which is AMAZING and I will tell you about later!

The shows felt beautiful, since Patrick is just the most amazing partner, he managed to keep me together while I felt like an emotional and physical wreck! I was convinced the last shows would be a hot mess!
So the last show starts, and everyone is really hyped and full of energy. I loved shows like that. We had them often. Sometimes, it just feels like there's an electricity in the air. Every member of the cast feels it, players, puppets, singers and stilts. This was one of those shows. Everything is going ok, at least I'm not crying yet. But my body is getting away from me, I'm feeling that sinking loss of control feeling as I approach the flying portion of the show. Yet I still don't think I'm going to cry.

Then, I go up for the pitch... and the theater explodes. EVERYONE is cheering and clapping, I can hear every player, singer, stilt, even probably the puppets and crew! They are all soooo loving and supportive and I was just SO overwhelmed with their support I burst into tears IN THE PITCH!!! I was SO scared I was going to miss it! (If you haven't seen the show it's the part I go upside-down!) But I managed to make it, and came down with tears streaming down my face!

So we finished the show, I cried and cried as Patrick held me, and then, with on last deep breath, I left the stage for the last time.

~ ~ ~

But I had other things to focus on at the moment, so I tried to think of my Going Away Party that was taking place that night and all the preparations. As a surprise, I had decorated the entire house with pictures of everything I've ever done at Disney and Orlando for the last two years- Dream Along, FoLK, Capones, Pearl Diving, various gigs, as well as pictures of me growing up and dancing, recitals, trips to Disney, auditions. It ended up being over 200 pictures, and then as a party favor, the guests could take them home! I also had video of my first recital and other embarrassing videos projected on the wall!

The party was SO amazing and special. (the pictures can be found at www.selenamoshell.com/goingawayparty) Thank you to everyone who came and everyone who sent their regrets. (I know it was sooo far to drive!) Everyone was so funny- I had forgotten to tell them that we live on 10 acres of property in the swamp, so everyone would call as they were turning into my driveway, very unsure of where they were going to end up!

SO many people I love were there, and there was TONS of food! And the CAKES!! Let me tell you what- if you EVER need a cake, I know two amazing people who will HOOK YOU UP. Kristy and Gio made two of the most amazing cakes ever. Kristy made a gorgeous four layer cake with some spectacular colors and a beautiful quote and stars, and Gio made... well he made ME. I asked him to make a Lion King cake, and he did... he made ME at the Lion King. He swiped a picture from my dressing table of me in costume and made me into a cake. It was astounding. He showed it to me at work in a big 'reveal' kind of thing with everyone standing around and my face must have been priceless. (The one on my body. The one made of icing is priceless in a different way....)

But really, the cakes were just the icing on the... cake. Whatever. The people who were there made that night so special and unforgettable. I love you guys so much more than I could ever say. Thank you all for making my last night with my friends so special.

~ ~ ~

The next day, I finally had to face reality and start packing. My flight was at 5.30 the next day and my two big suitcases (generously given to me by my good friend Erin) were still gaping at me, empty. My friend Brian was still up from the Keys and didn't want to leave, and I didn't want him to leave because we were having so much fun, so I just leisurely packed and hung out with him all day. He left at 6 pm (I felt so bad, him driving all that way in the dark!) and then my family and I went to the new T-Rex Cafe for dinner.

I had given the dinner to my nephew as a Christmas present, but I don't think he understood. I had wrapped a menu hoping he would get it when he opened it, but when I reminded him of it later, he said "Oh yeah, didn't you just give me the menu?" Right. There's a dinner attached to that....
The place is really fun, even for non-dinosaur obsessed adults. My favorite part was my cotton candy martini (yum!) and then panning for fossils with the kids. (I got some trilobites or something...)

~ ~ ~

I stayed up until 2 am packing, and then Monday morning got up and rushed around like a chicken with some important part of her body chopped off getting stuff together for my flight. I moved my rabbit Dover to my brothers house, reviewed how to deal with Copeland to my Dad, and shipped off my remaining Christmas gifts. (Better late than later, right?)

Shannah, Justin, and Isabella volunteered to take me (for some reason my parent's didn't want to take me... maybe they would have cried?) and I got away with NOT crying as I said goodbye to my family. In fact, I didn't cry when I left Shannah and Justin either. I only started crying a little in the airport waiting to board the plane, talking to Levi. (People who know me that me crying this little is quite a feat!)

It just hit me as I was about to board, that this time, I'm really leaving home. I left home once for Canada for my first year of college, but this just felt different somehow. I think I had been in denial of everything for so long that the reality of the situation hit me all at once then.

Once I got on the plane, I wanted to cry again... but not for the same reason. The girl next to me (who had with her an adorable Shih-Tzu named Bella in her carry on!) commented that she didn't see any place for the overhead TV's to come out, and I noted that this was a brand new plane, so they had to have them. Their would be a riot otherwise, right? So the screens were probably just well concealed.

SO well concealed in fact.... they didn't exist.

That's right kids. US Airways doesn't offer movies OR MUSIC on their flights anymore. (Oh, except to Hawaii and Europe.)

WHAT??????????????????

Well, I was wrong about the riot, but Kim and I were about to start one ourselves.

~ ~ ~

Despite my lack of music or a TV, I got to Tempe ok.

I checked into my hotel, got my script and binder, and met up with my friend Kendra (who I'm replacing and who is becoming the dance captain) and her parents who were visiting from Canada. It was SO nice to talk to them my first night. As I was unpacking before I met up with them I was feeling jittery, nervous. Excited, but in an anxious sort of way. I just kept wondering if this was the right thing to do... leaving home, all of my friend and people I love, and my dream job at Festival.... but after talking to Kendra I felt SO much better. Yes, it was a hard decision to leave, and actually leaving was even harder than that, but we talked about what being on tour was like, all the places we're going to see together, all the sights we were going to visit together, and how fun the show itself is, and I felt better.

While I still miss home, and everyone there, I'm finally feeling a little bit more ok about being here.

The one pivotal moment when it all really HIT me though, was when I paged through my binder (with all sorts of cute letters that said "Hi Selena, welcome to the Gazelle tour!!") and found in my script binder the page that read "Disney Presents, The Lion King, The Broadway Show."

It really kind of took my breath away.

~ ~ ~

The next day I had the entire day off until my call time of 6.45 (which when my manager called to tell me the call time a few days ago, I responded "In the morning?!?!?" to which he laughed at me. Turns out not ONE of my call times this week for rehearsal is before 12) So I stayed in the hotel tending to some photo shoots on things I had to still edit from home and finished unpacking.

I went downstairs to have some breakfast buffet from the hotel, a $20 mistake I won't be making again. Wendy's across the street is calling to me now. I also made the mistake of calling it a buffet with a hard "T" like at Capones. It was so a part of my vocabulary that when I asked where the buffet was, I said BUFFETT and the guy looked at me funny. Whoops. Old lines die hard...

I walked around Arizona State University's camps, which is beautiful, scoped out my theater, the Gammage, which is a huge and really round, pretty building. The concrete on the outside around the windows are shaped like curtains, which is pretty. Then I went to the bookstore where I got some things I needed. It was really nice to walk into a University bookstore and NOT need to look at the textbooks. This time, since I've already graduated from college, I could just revel in the most fun department- OFFICE SUPPLIES!!!

I got back to my hotel in time to get ready to go to my first show and my friends Amaya and Kellen picked me up. They danced with me at Disney a few years ago before they got the call to join the tour from the last round of auditions that went through Orlando in 2006. I got to the theater and met about 1,000 people who I know I'm going to see again today and draw a blank on their names, but everyone tells me that's ok.

The managers were really cool and the cast was SO welcoming and sweet. Everyone kept saying "Welcome to the Family!" I guess being a part of the Lion King show, no matter what cast, brings you into this Lion King Family. One girl even has in her bio in the Playbill, "Yay, I'm in the LK Family!" I met the kids who are young Nala and Simba and they were JUST adorable! Precocious, talkative and intelligent, they were curious about me and where I was from. SO cute! I met lots of people that used to work at Disney that I was 'supposed to meet,' Dionne, Maia, Mauricia, and others, and they were all so sweet. Most had heard that I was coming through one way or another and gave me big hugs! I love these people already!

I watched the show through a wall of tears- I cried the whole time. (Not surprising, right?) The show is even more beautiful and spectacular that I remember. Even our 'scaled down' version for the sake of traveling on the tour has all the elements- Pride Rock doesn't rise out of the ground, but glides on stage majestically, the water in the drought still drains through the floor, the stampede gully is huge and overwhelming for Mufasa's death scene. I hope all of you can come see it!

After the show, I snuck backstage flashing my "All Access Pass" like the nerd that I am (You KNOW I'm keeping that!!!) and told everyone how amazing they all were. Kendra drove me back to my hotel (which is kind of like living "Zac and Cody's Suite Life," even though I've seen the show twice... I'm just guessing) and we had a drink and did some more catching up. I cannot overemphasize ENOUGH how grateful I am that she is here with me. She's like having a big sister built in. It was so nice to see her, Kellen and Amaya's friendly faces my first day.

~ ~ ~
January 7, 2009

So this morning, I'm running some quick errands before I start my first official day of work! I have a wardrobe fitting at 12, then dance rehearsal for a few hours, then my first vocal rehearsal. *gulp!* The dancing I'm not HALF as worried about as I am about the singing! (Reminder- my voice CRACKED in the audition! So hopefully they're not expecting much... hehe*

I'm also nervous because I'm the ONLY person joining the tour right now, meaning ALL of the rehearsals are just for ME. I almost feel bad about that- when I have my put-ins, everyone is going to have to get all dressed and do a whole show, just for little old me! And during rehearsals, there's not going to be someone else to run the scene as I take a water break. No no, just me. YIKES!!!!!

So I'll let you know how it goes, obviously. I really didn't mean for this post to be so long... but I never do. There's just so much to say!! The most important thing I want to say is that I miss all of you so much already. I have an awesome digital picture frame one of my best friends Jenni got me and I already have stocked it with soooo many pictures of everyone from home!!

So each and every one of you are all with me out here!!

Christmas, Packing, Leaving on a Jet Plane, and Staring a New Life...

January 6, 2009

Well, here I am, my first "official" day "on tour."

Isn't that funny how I feel the need to put "on tour" in quotes? I feel that way because I haven't done a single thing today.

Ahhh, touring life.... (?!?!? right? I don't know yet!) haha.

Well, let's go back a little bit, to Christmas and the following weeks, which turned out to be, at the same time, the most fun and sad week of my life!

~ ~ ~

First of all, Christmas was a blast! Levi came back in town to celebrate with my family and I, and since he was all I wanted for Christmas, I was happy!

That is until I started to throw up.

ew.

Well, Christmas morning, I wake up as excited as a kid on Christmas... wait a minute... anyway, this year I was really good at getting everyone's presents early and I thought they were pretty good. (I LOVE giving gifts, even more than getting them, as cliche as that is. It's true!) I sit in bed a minute anticipating the contents of my stocking and what everyone's faces will look like when they open their presents when that awful feeling swept over me.

You know the one.

The feeling that a 300 pound person just sat on your stomach and is poking at your jugular.

Ew.

So I got sick. Then I went back to bed. I thought it was just a one time thing, a parting gift from the wine at my sister-in-law's dinner the night before. But after 3 more times of illness, I realized I was sick.
My family went over to my brother's house to watch my niece and nephew open presents, and I decided it was safer for me to not only stay home, but to lay down outside, where my sickness wouldn't offend the carpet's creme sensibilities.

EW!

Levi was so wonderful the whole time though, sitting with me (but not too close), trying to shield me from my crazy aunt (everyone's got one) who kept trying to give me a massage (?!?) and talking to me until my family got back.

When everyone got home, I laid down in front of the tree, planning on limpidly pawing at my presents until the wrapping paper eventually ripped. But then, a true Christmas miracle took place. As we opened presents, I gradually felt better and better, until the last present was opened, and I felt 100% better! I even ate a huge Christmas lunch with my family! I was so grateful for that one last Christmas present- being healthy enough to enjoy it with my family!

~ ~ ~

Quickly after lunch, we always pile in the car and drive up to Georgia to see my Nanny (my Dad's mom) and Uncle Phil's family and farm (Dad's brother) in Cuthbert, Georgia, where my Dad grew up. But this year was going to be special- Levi was coming for the first time!!!!

We had a great time all around. I LOVE Georgia and seeing everyone up there, and it was so great for my Nanny and family to meet Levi. The one most hilarious part of the trip, though, was where Levi and I stayed. Since Nanny's house was full, I booked us into one of the three hotels, excuse me, MO-tels in the town. (This is a town with exactly one stoplight, mind you...) When we pulled up, we both looked at each other and laughed. It looked just like that strip motel in that movie with Owen Wilson and Kate Beckensale where the people are trying to kill them. In short, it was a squat, 50's style motel that hadn't been renovated since then, complete with yellow lighting and peeling paint.

In short, it was AWESOME.

We also got to drive our family ping-pong table back home, which was fun and adventure in itself. Instead of a tying a rag to the end of the table, which hung off the end of the truck, we attached the only thing handy- a Tide box top. Hey, it's orange....

~ ~ ~

Levi left all too soon after that, and the preparations for me leaving had to begin. (Even though I was still deeply, DEEPLY in denial that I was leaving!

So instead of packing, I took a copious amount of head shots (see my previous blog) and am still editing those as I sit here... "on tour."

I did a lot of things "one last time.." Pearl Diving (with Daniel, which meant it was so fun!), Capone's (Where I did a line in a Chinese accent, much to my show director's dismay... It's just allergies, I'm not contagious or no-ting!), and of course, my last day at FoLK, where I didn't cry.... until my PITCH in the last show!!!!

My last day was January 3rd, and I had two shows with Patrick. We signed in my family and my friend Brian, who drove all the way from the Keys to see me! (He's a whole 'nother blog in himself... we met on my cruise ship two years ago maybe a total of 3 times, and have managed to keep in touch all these years! He happened to be in the Keys on a business trip, remembered that it was my last day, and decided on a whim to drive up!!! On a WHIM to drive 8 hours EACH WAY! Now that's my kind of friend!!)

I came in to everyone giving me hugs (I adore that stage and everyone there...), my FoLK poster all signed with goodbye wishes, my makeup station all decorated, and Gio's cake for my party, which is AMAZING and I will tell you about later!

The shows felt beautiful, since Patrick is just the most amazing partner, he managed to keep me together while I felt like an emotional and physical wreck! I was convinced the last shows would be a hot mess!
So the last show starts, and everyone is really hyped and full of energy. I loved shows like that. We had them often. Sometimes, it just feels like there's an electricity in the air. Every member of the cast feels it, players, puppets, singers and stilts. This was one of those shows. Everything is going ok, at least I'm not crying yet. But my body is getting away from me, I'm feeling that sinking loss of control feeling as I approach the flying portion of the show. Yet I still don't think I'm going to cry.

Then, I go up for the pitch... and the theater explodes. EVERYONE is cheering and clapping, I can hear every player, singer, stilt, even probably the puppets and crew! They are all soooo loving and supportive and I was just SO overwhelmed with their support I burst into tears IN THE PITCH!!! I was SO scared I was going to miss it! (If you haven't seen the show it's the part I go upside-down!) But I managed to make it, and came down with tears streaming down my face!

So we finished the show, I cried and cried as Patrick held me, and then, with on last deep breath, I left the stage for the last time.

~ ~ ~

But I had other things to focus on at the moment, so I tried to think of my Going Away Party that was taking place that night and all the preparations. As a surprise, I had decorated the entire house with pictures of everything I've ever done at Disney and Orlando for the last two years- Dream Along, FoLK, Capones, Pearl Diving, various gigs, as well as pictures of me growing up and dancing, recitals, trips to Disney, auditions. It ended up being over 200 pictures, and then as a party favor, the guests could take them home! I also had video of my first recital and other embarrassing videos projected on the wall!

The party was SO amazing and special. (the pictures can be found at www.selenamoshell.com/goingawayparty) Thank you to everyone who came and everyone who sent their regrets. (I know it was sooo far to drive!) Everyone was so funny- I had forgotten to tell them that we live on 10 acres of property in the swamp, so everyone would call as they were turning into my driveway, very unsure of where they were going to end up!

SO many people I love were there, and there was TONS of food! And the CAKES!! Let me tell you what- if you EVER need a cake, I know two amazing people who will HOOK YOU UP. Kristy and Gio made two of the most amazing cakes ever. Kristy made a gorgeous four layer cake with some spectacular colors and a beautiful quote and stars, and Gio made... well he made ME. I asked him to make a Lion King cake, and he did... he made ME at the Lion King. He swiped a picture from my dressing table of me in costume and made me into a cake. It was astounding. He showed it to me at work in a big 'reveal' kind of thing with everyone standing around and my face must have been priceless. (The one on my body. The one made of icing is priceless in a different way....)

But really, the cakes were just the icing on the... cake. Whatever. The people who were there made that night so special and unforgettable. I love you guys so much more than I could ever say. Thank you all for making my last night with my friends so special.

~ ~ ~

The next day, I finally had to face reality and start packing. My flight was at 5.30 the next day and my two big suitcases (generously given to me by my good friend Erin) were still gaping at me, empty. My friend Brian was still up from the Keys and didn't want to leave, and I didn't want him to leave because we were having so much fun, so I just leisurely packed and hung out with him all day. He left at 6 pm (I felt so bad, him driving all that way in the dark!) and then my family and I went to the new T-Rex Cafe for dinner.

I had given the dinner to my nephew as a Christmas present, but I don't think he understood. I had wrapped a menu hoping he would get it when he opened it, but when I reminded him of it later, he said "Oh yeah, didn't you just give me the menu?" Right. There's a dinner attached to that....
The place is really fun, even for non-dinosaur obsessed adults. My favorite part was my cotton candy martini (yum!) and then panning for fossils with the kids. (I got some trilobites or something...)

~ ~ ~

I stayed up until 2 am packing, and then Monday morning got up and rushed around like a chicken with some important part of her body chopped off getting stuff together for my flight. I moved my rabbit Dover to my brothers house, reviewed how to deal with Copeland to my Dad, and shipped off my remaining Christmas gifts. (Better late than later, right?)

Shannah, Justin, and Isabella volunteered to take me (for some reason my parent's didn't want to take me... maybe they would have cried?) and I got away with NOT crying as I said goodbye to my family. In fact, I didn't cry when I left Shannah and Justin either. I only started crying a little in the airport waiting to board the plane, talking to Levi. (People who know me that me crying this little is quite a feat!)

It just hit me as I was about to board, that this time, I'm really leaving home. I left home once for Canada for my first year of college, but this just felt different somehow. I think I had been in denial of everything for so long that the reality of the situation hit me all at once then.

Once I got on the plane, I wanted to cry again... but not for the same reason. The girl next to me (who had with her an adorable Shih-Tzu named Bella in her carry on!) commented that she didn't see any place for the overhead TV's to come out, and I noted that this was a brand new plane, so they had to have them. Their would be a riot otherwise, right? So the screens were probably just well concealed.

SO well concealed in fact.... they didn't exist.

That's right kids. US Airways doesn't offer movies OR MUSIC on their flights anymore. (Oh, except to Hawaii and Europe.)

WHAT??????????????????

Well, I was wrong about the riot, but Kim and I were about to start one ourselves.

~ ~ ~

Despite my lack of music or a TV, I got to Tempe ok.

I checked into my hotel, got my script and binder, and met up with my friend Kendra (who I'm replacing and who is becoming the dance captain) and her parents who were visiting from Canada. It was SO nice to talk to them my first night. As I was unpacking before I met up with them I was feeling jittery, nervous. Excited, but in an anxious sort of way. I just kept wondering if this was the right thing to do... leaving home, all of my friend and people I love, and my dream job at Festival.... but after talking to Kendra I felt SO much better. Yes, it was a hard decision to leave, and actually leaving was even harder than that, but we talked about what being on tour was like, all the places we're going to see together, all the sights we were going to visit together, and how fun the show itself is, and I felt better.

While I still miss home, and everyone there, I'm finally feeling a little bit more ok about being here.

The one pivotal moment when it all really HIT me though, was when I paged through my binder (with all sorts of cute letters that said "Hi Selena, welcome to the Gazelle tour!!") and found in my script binder the page that read "Disney Presents, The Lion King, The Broadway Show."

It really kind of took my breath away.

~ ~ ~

The next day I had the entire day off until my call time of 6.45 (which when my manager called to tell me the call time a few days ago, I responded "In the morning?!?!?" to which he laughed at me. Turns out not ONE of my call times this week for rehearsal is before 12) So I stayed in the hotel tending to some photo shoots on things I had to still edit from home and finished unpacking.

I went downstairs to have some breakfast buffet from the hotel, a $20 mistake I won't be making again. Wendy's across the street is calling to me now. I also made the mistake of calling it a buffet with a hard "T" like at Capones. It was so a part of my vocabulary that when I asked where the buffet was, I said BUFFETT and the guy looked at me funny. Whoops. Old lines die hard...

I walked around Arizona State University's camps, which is beautiful, scoped out my theater, the Gammage, which is a huge and really round, pretty building. The concrete on the outside around the windows are shaped like curtains, which is pretty. Then I went to the bookstore where I got some things I needed. It was really nice to walk into a University bookstore and NOT need to look at the textbooks. This time, since I've already graduated from college, I could just revel in the most fun department- OFFICE SUPPLIES!!!

I got back to my hotel in time to get ready to go to my first show and my friends Amaya and Kellen picked me up. They danced with me at Disney a few years ago before they got the call to join the tour from the last round of auditions that went through Orlando in 2006. I got to the theater and met about 1,000 people who I know I'm going to see again today and draw a blank on their names, but everyone tells me that's ok.

The managers were really cool and the cast was SO welcoming and sweet. Everyone kept saying "Welcome to the Family!" I guess being a part of the Lion King show, no matter what cast, brings you into this Lion King Family. One girl even has in her bio in the Playbill, "Yay, I'm in the LK Family!" I met the kids who are young Nala and Simba and they were JUST adorable! Precocious, talkative and intelligent, they were curious about me and where I was from. SO cute! I met lots of people that used to work at Disney that I was 'supposed to meet,' Dionne, Maia, Mauricia, and others, and they were all so sweet. Most had heard that I was coming through one way or another and gave me big hugs! I love these people already!

I watched the show through a wall of tears- I cried the whole time. (Not surprising, right?) The show is even more beautiful and spectacular that I remember. Even our 'scaled down' version for the sake of traveling on the tour has all the elements- Pride Rock doesn't rise out of the ground, but glides on stage majestically, the water in the drought still drains through the floor, the stampede gully is huge and overwhelming for Mufasa's death scene. I hope all of you can come see it!

After the show, I snuck backstage flashing my "All Access Pass" like the nerd that I am (You KNOW I'm keeping that!!!) and told everyone how amazing they all were. Kendra drove me back to my hotel (which is kind of like living "Zac and Cody's Suite Life," even though I've seen the show twice... I'm just guessing) and we had a drink and did some more catching up. I cannot overemphasize ENOUGH how grateful I am that she is here with me. She's like having a big sister built in. It was so nice to see her, Kellen and Amaya's friendly faces my first day.

~ ~ ~
January 7, 2009

So this morning, I'm running some quick errands before I start my first official day of work! I have a wardrobe fitting at 12, then dance rehearsal for a few hours, then my first vocal rehearsal. *gulp!* The dancing I'm not HALF as worried about as I am about the singing! (Reminder- my voice CRACKED in the audition! So hopefully they're not expecting much... hehe*

I'm also nervous because I'm the ONLY person joining the tour right now, meaning ALL of the rehearsals are just for ME. I almost feel bad about that- when I have my put-ins, everyone is going to have to get all dressed and do a whole show, just for little old me! And during rehearsals, there's not going to be someone else to run the scene as I take a water break. No no, just me. YIKES!!!!!

So I'll let you know how it goes, obviously. I really didn't mean for this post to be so long... but I never do. There's just so much to say!! The most important thing I want to say is that I miss all of you so much already. I have an awesome digital picture frame one of my best friends Jenni got me and I already have stocked it with soooo many pictures of everyone from home!!

So each and every one of you are all with me out here!!