Happy Valentines Day to me!

It's been a while since I posted - well, a whole 2 days and I promised Julie I'd post at least once a day. :) Sorry, Jules!
It's been a LONG and LATE week! The next night of rehearsal was even later and I returned home and crawled straight into bed at 4:45AM! An hour later my alarm went off for Geoff to get up for work and I just plain refused to get up. He had sweetheart prayers kneeling next to me lying in bed. Poor guy but was understanding. :) He left and instead of staying up to get breakfast and my chores done - I slept until 7am when I finally woke up the kids. They headed out the door to school at 8am and I was back in bed immediately following the door being shut. Had to wake up to teach a few lessons and head back yet again to the theatre but the adrenaline kicked and all the caffeine I'd sucked down helped too, I'm sure. I could own stock in Diet Coke this week! I was concerned about the weight I'd put on with all the soda but yahoo - I weighed myself this morning and the stress must have caught up with me. I lost 6 pounds since Saturday morning!! Let's hope I can keep it off and continue with it.
Preview night was magical and the house (term for audience) was great! They were even fine with having to wait 20 minutes for the house to open and wait for the curtain which was 20 minutes late. It was so worth the exhaustion and fear when you hear the audience gasp and oo/ah over the rain, and the humming along to the overature with the familiar tunes and the laughter, smiles and applause. My fav moment of the night was in the scene where Don Lockwood is swooning Kathy Seldon for the first true moment. He has 'set up' the scene to sing "You Were Meant For Me" to her. He began the song and just as they started to dance in the style of Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse I looked around the audience. Just below the balcony, I saw the cutest elderly couple cuddled together and she looked up into her sweethearts eyes with tears streaming down her cheeks and just smiled. He squeezed her shoulder and kissed her on the forehead. Tugged at my heart and made me smile! The audiences are eating it up and makes me happy! Worth the late nights and hard work? OH YEAH!! This is why I love the arts!!! Music truly is a language of love and speaks to the soul on so many levels!

Last night was preview and I thought we'd be out early but tech stuff kept us again 'til after 1:30AM. I came home again to a dark house and sleeping family. Geoff tries to stay up - worries about me out late - but he has to work so we've gone back to the old standby: calls before he goes to bed and I kiss him when I get home. He seems to remember the kisses on his cheek more than if I tell him I'm home. :) What a sweetie! I had a hard time getting up this morning again. Kylee had all the kids up and dressed when I was woken up by her at 7:22AM. I was worried they wouldn't make it to school on time but they did. After they left I went back to bed, yet again, leaving breakfast dishes and other chores to wait. As I headed back to bed, I went to the front room to watch the kids head out down the street on their bikes and I found this waiting for me:




Geoff and the kids picked them out for me! The girls chose the flowers and the boys the bear and chocolates! Geoff was the 'supervisor'. What a sweetie! I love getting flowers and chocolate and gifts but I hate knowing how much it costs. Geoff warned me before I did banking today that instead of using cash as he usually does, he used the debit card and not to freak when I saw how much he spent. UM . . . holy cow! Those flowers are made of pure gold! :) My sweeties take such good care of me!
Tonight was opening night and Geoff went with me. He enjoyed the show and got roped into working the show with me each night starting next weekend. He and I will work backstage and be in charge of the rain deck. Will be nice extra money and 1 1/2 hours of working together 3 nights a week. Can't pass over $1500 extra a month!?!?! Especially for only 12 hours a week. :)

Well, I have laundry to finish, floors to mop and our bed to strip in the morning and wash before we head out of town for our weekend. Better hit the hay! Oh, and grocery shopping for the house this weekend. UG! Less than 12 hours away and I'll be relaxing away!! Have a great weekend and I'll see you all back next week!

Enjoy your sweeties - even after the holiday!!

I just couldn't resist!

It's now 2:45AM and I just got home about 20 minutes ago from the theatre -
LONG and frustrating rehearsal!
I couldn't sleep on account of:
too many things to do, worried about the show, fear of forgetting something, and lastly: excitement from the rain scene tonight! I took a few pics on my camera. Not the greatest quality but just had to share!
Hard to tell with the stage lights but those are not just beams of light - that's RAIN coming down on him! It was AWESOME!!!




Adam (who plays our Don Lockwood) is dreamy to look at and wonderful to hear! It's quite the spectacle!! You MUST come see this!! The tix are already sold out for the first 4 weeks - only 3 left!!

Takin' it 1 day at a time. . .

It's Monday. Ug! I'm feelin' it today, too. I was up 'til 2:45AM working on tracks for the show. Luckily, the guy doing the technical end for me (I'm JUST the music director - I just tell him what I want and he does it!:)) was willing to come to me. We sat in my family room on the couch for 5 hours and worked on it. Only 1 more track to fix and then we're ready. He left with the info from me he needed and said he'd work on it this afternoon. Hopefully he'll work on it and contact me soon! My job is almost done! Whew! As soon the music is edited, recorded and loaded in the computer, SFX is loaded - my job is done! I just need to give cast vocal notes tonight and tomorrow and we Preview on Wednesday night and Open on Thursday! YAHOO!!! They are frantically working on set, movie filming and installing the "rain" today! It's going to be nuts down there with costumes, wigs and makeup tonight too! First time for the "rain floor" to be worked in and the "rain"! It is amazing what they are doing though! They have mist, rain (heated water none the less for the actors), a separate 'street' floor that rolls in (with a 30 sec scene change mind you!) and a draining system so that it doesn't puddle on the floor!! You MUST get tix for this!! It's at Hale Centre Theatre in Gilbert, AZ. Runs Thurs, Fri, Sat evenings at 7:30pm and Sat. matinees at 3pm until Mar. 29th. Tix are $22 and $24. Going to be well-worth it!! You have my guarantee! Call 480-497-1181 today!!

Only 4 days to go til my weekend away! Geoff found out he has to work on Friday, which really sucks but I will just do my "Sister's Friday" and then have them drop me off at the hotel afterwards. He will drive straight there from work. I'll pack the night before as planned and put them in the van so I won't have to deal with bags. I'll walk the mall for a couple of hours alone - hit the stores I know Geoff won't want to. Then I'll check in and relax while he arrives and showers. We'll start our weekend with dinner somewhere nice. :) I just can't tell you how nice this will be! I know I've mentioned it before but NEVER more than 1 (one) night away without kids in over 12 years! Crazy!! We deserve this!!! I have to get the show open, get groceries, type up the itinerary for my niece who is babysitting, change the sheets on the bed, laundry caught up and house cleaned all before then too! Is it worth it for a weekend away?!?!? YES!!!
I wish I could take all of you with me, well - not really! But I wish you all the same relaxing weekend. I can't wait to sleep late, watch what I want on tv, not hear arguing in the background, eat out (not mac n cheese or pizza) and not ask for kids menus and go somewhere I want to eat at! Shop a little, relax in the jacuzzi a little, read my book a little, talk a lot with my hubby and just enjoy some time alone with him! To cuddle watching tv without hearing my oldest say "Ew! You two are gross!" I miss him and can't wait for some time alone!