Birthday Week in Review

Thanks to all of my wonderful friends and family I have had a helluva birthday week. So good, in fact, Weight Watchers sent me a postcard that says "we miss you" (oh yes they did!). Points schmoints... it's birthday week!!

On Monday, I took half the day off from work to hang out with Kate and Angela Apple over at Disneyland, because it's Disneyland and I need no excuse which was way too much fun. The kids are all back at school, so the parks are empty except for the stay-at-home moms who bring their kids there instead of to a playground or the library. (see that awful lady behind Kate in the picture? She was awful. Diddling on her iPhone while her toddler ran through the line inconveniencing everyone else, but I digress...) Non-existant crowds make for short lines, so we were finally able to get on the Toy Story Midway Mania ride, which is really super cute. I highly recommend it, but refuse to wait in a line longer than 20 minutes and you should too. It's a combo of ride and video game, which blurs the line of entertainment and straight-up pandering but it's FUN, so there.



We had an awesome time and great food and lots of fun, so it was all-around a fantastico kind of day in my book. Also, I found out that Angela is married to a Newsie! Remember that movie? "Gotta beat the press, gotta beat the press!!" Which I thought was sweet and cute until she said that girls were so crazy about him after the movie came out that they would find out where he lived just to catch a glimpse. So I guess it's not ALL glamour, but still, super cute!

On Wednesday night (my actual birthday - have you ever known anyone else born on Sept. 10th? Didn't think so!) we went to dinner with my family and I burned my WW postcard in effigy before powering through too much food and regretting it soundly. Eff the points, my stomach couldn't take it and I almost exploded.

Friday night I took the 'night off' which means that I did absolutely nothing. Nada. Zip. I'm supposed to be working on stuff for the upcoming craft fair but instead I watched a movie and then read a book and went to sleep early (for me, not by anyone else's standards). So that was actually kind of cool.

Saturday, I accompanied Kate as her hoity-toity Ovation voter guest (I wasn't hoity or toity - just the guest) to see Souvenir which is a touching play based on the true story of Florence Foster-Jenkins who was essentially a socialite who fancied herself an opera singer, only was completely (and unknown to herself) tone deaf and she became famous for her concerts which were so horrible that they were the hottest ticket in town. She recorded a few records at the insistence of others that she made as a souvenir to herself (listen here). The play itself is very sweet (and I didn't do any reading beforehand so I had no idea what it was about) and it's a simple-set 2 man show - just Madame Florence and her piano player, Cosme. The man playing Cosme did a great job as did Madame F., although it felt like Mdm. F. was overplayed. But I'll leave the criticism to the critics - calling Madame Kate! I had a lot of fun and after the show, we disbanded so that Kate could go to film a commercial in an abandoned, haunted hospital at midnight. No joke.

On Sunday, Ryan and I met up with Miss Bliss and Kate in Chinatown for some fun. We did a little shopping (Ryan got himself some sweet ass Roy Bans sunglasses) and then had a little lunch. We ate at one of the best spots that Chinatown has to offer - hands down. Kate had just come from filming a commercial for R.R.R.E.D. and was in her official President of the Burbank Chapter of R.R.R.E.D. outfit which is how Allison Janey spotted us so easily. She thought she'd just sneak in and sit right next to us and eavesdrop on our conversation. After her play refuses to acknowledge redheads at all even though there was one in the movie. Puh-lease. So we changed the conversation to grosser and more bizzare topics, so that all she'll have left to report to Ms. Parton is that redheads and their allies have an uncrackable code. Or maybe she'll decide that she's going to do mushrooms and dye her hair. Who knows?!

After all that food and shopping, we needed a little (more) laughter to banish the Sunday blues. So we headed over to the GTC theater to see R.R.R.E.D. which was so much fun - as always. Kate and Bliss hadn't seen the 'new' musical number and Ryan and I have been tripping over our tongues all week trying not to talk about it - easier said than done!! They both almost keeled over from the funny, which is to say that the new musical number landed and hard! I took some video and lots of pictures of the show. The videos will be on YouTube shortly. 'Til then you can glance through the stills and be confused as ever. There are only 2 weekends remaining for the show - so tell everyone you know to ACT NOW!! $20 tickets available online or $15 through Goldstar.com! I promise you won't regret it.

After the show, Katie and Patrick (the stars of the show) were supposed to be heading straight home to bed, because Katie was catching a plane to NY where someone was paying to fly her out for the day to sing for them (that is how amazing she is) early the next morning and Patrick had to work early. But instead we talked them into a side trip to BJ's Brewery with us and Adam (also in the show but no early morning obligations) where we had pizza and harrassed our waiter (but sang for our supper) and gorged on Pizzookie, which is a giant (20 inch!) cookie baked in a pizza pan then topped with a mound of ice cream. It's enough to kill a horse or entertain 7 people for an hour. Either way - a good call!! We had way too much fun. It was like one of those high school giggle sessions where you drink way too much Mountain Dew and can't stop talking and gossiping and it's just too much fun. MY KIND OF NIGHT.

I sincerely hope that everyone will tell you their stories, because they're SO much better at telling them, but suffice it to say my face aches with laughter. Even days after. Patrick told us about the time he got lost driving in LA and what should have taken 30 minutes took 12 hours and he ended up on the border to Mexico until a knight in a shining white Cadillac helped him out. We joked about who should be dating whom (how old is too old?) and got the giggles over Adam's magazine photo spread featuring... his neck. After he sacrificed blood, sweat, tears, and blood to get that noose picture just right, all that they ended up using was his NECK. Very cute, and flattering -- a good looking neck for sure. [You may or may not remember Adam's injuries during Comic Con resulting from this photoshoot. Don't ever think that being a noose-laden stand-in for Seth Rogen is easy. But look at the gorgeous photos!!]

A lot of dear people gave me some very lovely gifts. I think they have to be a separate post because 1) I need GOOD pictures of each one so that you can fall in love with them and 2) this new version of Internet Explorer is making me fidget and it's taken 2 hours to compose this so far and I need to go to bed. BUT THANK YOU LOVELY PEOPLE OF THE WORLD for giving me such a wonderful reason to be grateful to be here: you.

R.R.R.E.D.

This week the show officially opens and ho ho ho - what a site to see!! I'm telling you that there is no time better spent than listening to Katie Thompson belt it out from the stage. Hands-down. And fer realz, this could be the last time that you will get to see her in an intimate venue before Broadway snaps her up and makes her into one of those "I knew her when" people.

Besides, the show is a HELLUVA lot of fun. If you have means to get to LA (hey! We have an airport!) I highly recommend it. Discount tickets are available and I know people on the inside (hint hint!) that can save you even more -- but it's a steal at thrice the price.

If you don't love me enough to come all the way to Californiee, do it for the celebs, onstage and in the crowd. It's your chance to share a Coke with renowned redheads from the stage and screen and low-rung celebrity ranking lists (hint!).

a weak end to the weekend

I packed way too much awesome into a single weekend (yet again) so I have a lot of stuff to cram into a single post.

Thursday - The Taint played at Alex's Bar in Long Beach and they sounded great. Unfortunately, the small crowd was a mish-mash of people (who I am guessing were there to see a friend's band that was playing later, judging by the looks of obligation on their faces) who just weren't into being out. So it was kind of bad vibes and the Dudes took it kind of hard. But it was an okay show.

Friday - I took the day off of work and started out with a massage to help unkink the kink that is living in the middle of my back. I have this idiotic muscle spasm that is in one of those impossible-to-stretch places and it causes me grief now and then. Fortunately, massage helps. And if I can make a recommendation to everyone: waking up to a massage is one of the Best. Things. Ever. After that, I met my mom at the beach for some sunburning. The dolphins were swimming really close to shore and it was so cool to see them clearly, playing in the (small) waves. There must have been a school of fish, because they stayed and played directly in front of us for a long time. I blame them for the sunburn on my shins because, obviously, I would have remembered to put sunblock on my ankles if I wasn't laughing at dolphins. Obviously.

Ryan got slammed with a bunch of extra work, which was kinda sucky, and then I got in from the beach later than expected so we didn't make it to see R.R.R.E.D. that night. Which was a bummer. But to make it up to ourselves, we did take a late night excursion to the Dollar Discount Movies and saw Hancock. I didn't really want to see it, but Ryan did, and for $1.50 I figured 'what the hell' and gave in. And actually I really liked it. Much better than the ads/trailers made it seem. Very funny and OMG does Jason Bateman steal the show (and how!). Plus, there were more than a few Arrested Development jokes/homages thrown in. So that was hilarious.

Saturday - The Taint played again, but at Canter's in LA in the Kibitz Room. It's a pretty small bar space, but there was a decent sized audience crammed in. Lots of regulars and locals and a few friends. Zach's comedy buddies from UCB came out and it was fun. I forgot my camera at home and all I had was ye olde cell phone cam, so the pictures aren't great. Although I do really like the one of Mimi. All of the booths are covered in blacklights so she and I were glowing like nuclear waste. It was pretty hilarious.



Sunday - we had a pretty relaxed day and I am pretty sure that we slept until 2pm. Then we got up and got out and went out to Burbank to see R.R.R.E.D.. We got there early (first time ever! Make note of this date!) and the cast was still warming up and doing all that preparation stuff, so Ryan and I headed over to Downtown Burbank to toodle around a bit and kill some time. We had no trouble, seeing as how there is a conveniently located comic book shop (ahem) and - AND! - a book store where everything is $1. EVERYTHING IS ONE DOLLAR. So we loaded up on books and comics and books and comics. And then dragged our treasures back to the theater.

The show was AWESOME. And I don't say that because I like these people, or because the trip was sponsored by the Kate Danley Fan Club™ but sincerely because the show is great. It sounds like an underhanded compliment, but like I told them after the show, I was glad to see that it wasn't a giant theater where the vocals had to be miked, because my brain would have melted. Katie Thompson's voice is so powerful... and lovely... it gives me goosebumps just to hear it. If she had been amplified, I am 100% certain that my hair would have been standing on end. Totally. Completely. Amazing. Everything was top notch, start to finish. Patrick does a fantastic job at reprising his role as GJ Crockett who longs only to be her assistant. The testimonials were fabulous, including sweet Laura Silverman who made her stage debut that night, singing about unrequited love. I know! Of course, Kate was phenomenal. Adam gave a heart-wrenching testimonial as Levi, who just wants to find a way to tell you that he likes you. It breaks my heart every time. This show is SO fun and silly and sweet and it also cures herpes so you should totally see it. And tell all your friends to see it.

Use this link (click the logo) to buy your tickets and use the promo code "SPREAD" to save $10!



For more nerdishness, check out Ryan O'Connor's vlog in the recording studio (red hair starts at the 2 minute mark)