Stuff I Did

Life has been a little crazy lately. My to-do lists have been falling to the wayside. Isn't that always the way? Blame it on summer. Blame it on a hectic schedule. Well, I can blame it on one thing, but I can't tell you about that. Not yet.

And, no, it's probably not what you're thinking.

Anyway, lest I tease you more, dear reader, why don't we get to the stuff I have done the past week. Or two? Geez, I'm losing track of everything!

I suppose the first thing you might enjoy is an update from my 5K last week. How did it go? Well...

I told you I'm cursed with 5ks, right? We talked about that? I think it still holds true. I can't lie. I didn't really want to go that day. I was tired, I was lazy, I hadn't been keeping up with my running and I was worried I wouldn't keep up with my friends. Excuses, excuses. I kept waiting on one of them to bail so I had a really good excuse not to go. That didn't happen and, in any event, writing about it on here kind of was a failsafe that I'd have to go. I know I can't slip anything by my readers' watchful eyes. So, Tom, Molly and myself went and met Kelly there.

Look how excited we are!

It started drizzling on our way there. Now, I don't really like running in the rain. Ok, ok, I don't really like RUNNING all the time. If the weather isn't perfect, I'm not feeling it and would rather go to the gym and do other workouts. So, I voiced my dislike of the rain and was told to suck it up. Hey, I was just saying. Molly, the little one in the middle, was there running with a broken rib (yikes!) so I really had no good excuse not to participate. Barely making it to the starting line on time, we threw on our bibs, had Tom photograph our "Before" picture and then the race started.

It wasn't bad. Molly runs a little faster than me, but I was keeping up. The course wasn't too bad, either. Not flat, but not hilly, and a pretty neighborhood and park. Even the drizzling wasn't so bad. I was feeling alright.

And then the sky opened up. First the drizzle turned to rain. Then the rain turned to a monsoon, sideways, in-your-face downpour. I voiced my opinion, again, on the rain and Tom told me if my feet were dry I was fine. About two minutes later, that was no longer the case. I would say it was less than five minutes from the weather changing from a drizzle to a downpour, for us to get from basically totally dry to irrevocably totally drenched. This was about a quarter mile or so into the race.

It was supposed to be three laps of a one mile course. We left after the first mile.

Soaking wet car selfie

Now, I know that I could have finished technically. I could have run through the downpour. But, I didn't. I couldn't see through the rain (not an exaggeration). My feet (and the rest of me) was totally soaked. It was cold. I was not prepared for that.

Kelly finished. Good for her! A teensy part of me wishes I had finished. But most of me is quite content with our decision. It's not like we walked off the track and the sun came out and the rain was over. We finished a mile, ran to the car (a few blocks away), sat in the car for a good fifteen minutes, drove to the bar where we were promised free beer and it was STILL coming down. The rest of the race would have been completed in a downpour and I am just not down for that. I didn't sign up for a Tough Mudder. Also, to justify the decision more, Molly realized that running a 5k with a broken rib was not a good idea since she was hurting after a mile. Imagine if we had finished! She could have re-injured herself.

Dry from the waist up thanks to Molly's
extra hoodie. Good enough for me.

So, that is the tale of my third cursed 5k. Perhaps that will be the last time I have a problem with one. Things come in threes, right? Good and bad. The cursed cycle of 5ks can safely be put behind me now. Perhaps I should sign up for one in the fall to test my theory. Either way, this doesn't seem to affect distance running so we are still on for the half-marathon in November.

Now, the other stuff I did this week.

We celebrated our good friend Eric and his new wife, Rachael's, wedding! I don't have any pictures of them, but I do have a few pictures from the day we had at the wedding.

Enjoy these pictures and I will post again soon.






Driving a convertible in style

Church selfie in my floppy hat



Beautiful ceremony

Skipping stones during cocktail hour

Awesome pamphlets. Anthony took a copy of
Dealing With Your Electronic Addiction. The first step
is acceptance.

   

The crew

Tom looking casual cool

I'm Running a 5K Today. TODAY?!

I'm running a 5K tonight. Ah, crap.

Is it midsummer already?

I kind of totally forgot that it was this week. A few friends from work signed up to do the Midsummer Night Run series in Bryn Mawr. Series because there were three of them. I wanted to do it with them, but the first run fell on the day I got back from my honeymoon and after a full day of traveling there was no way that was happening. So I put the whole thing in the back of my mind because I was busy, you know, getting married and honeymooning in Europe.

Honeymoon!

Walking through parks in Spain > running 5Ks

When I got back and asked how their run went, they all kind of rolled their eyes. These are three people who sorta-kinda-run-but-not-really. Kind of like me! Apparently the other runners in this race are NOT kind of like me or my friends at work. They are, like, SERIOUS runners.

So serious are these runners that they felt the need to yell at my friends for going too slow. Well, I suppose they were yelling at them to move over to the side more if they were going to run slow. Still. Try yelling at me, runners, see what happens. Probably I'll just tell you to stop yelling and then maybe stay in front of you and slow down. Kind of like when someone on the highway is tailgating me.

Carry me to glory, or at least not humiliation, New Balances

One of my co-workers found this experience so unpleasant that he opted out of the rest of the running series. I don't blame him. People that take things too seriously are no fun and a 5K should be a fun thing. It's just a little runner's club race! Lighten up, right?

A week or two ago, I offhandedly said maybe I should run in his place for this third and final run of the series. One of the girls thought that was a great idea and would not let me forget that I said it. Oh, you mean the race is this week? Aw, shucks, I totally forgot! Nope, none of that. Not only has she reminded me all week, she offered to go down early and pick up all the race packet stuff and try to even get me a t-shirt. How can you say no to such enthusiasm?

I guess that means tonight will be my first 5K. That's right, my first. I know I ran the 10-mile Broad Street Run just a few months ago, but that was my first race ever. I had been signed up for two 5Ks in the past, but didn't go to either. I wanted to! The Donor Dash in 2013 was supposed to be my first race, but then I got the chance to go to China, so I did that instead. I think I made the right choice. Then, in July of the same year, I was supposed to do the Electric Run. I was so excited! I got there early and was hanging out with my friends watching them set up the course. We queued at the starting line, waiting for them to let us go. Waiting. And waiting. And watching a storm roll in. And then, ironically, they cancelled the race due to lightning. Lightning. Cancelled the ELECTRIC Run. The fates were against me that year.

The Electric Run has nothing on China

Tonight the weather seems like it should be perfect. I haven't run three miles since, well, I guess since the Broad Street Run! But I have done two miles recently and if I can do two, I can do three. Maybe not fast enough for those serious runners, but who gives a damn about them? I'm running my own race here, and I don't mind staying in the slow lane.

This is all for the better anyway, as I do have that pesky half marathon coming up in just over three months. Today should be a good litmus test for how much work I have yet to do. I'm going to guess... a lot.

Wish me luck! And, as always, share your experiences with us! I'm not the only one doing stuff. Anyone else doing any races this year? Or already done some? Or tell us how you would never do that not in a million years running sucks forget it! That's what I would have said a year or two ago. That's still what I say most days. But, I'll do the race anyway because if I can run my mouth I suppose I can run with my legs. Or collapse trying.

Running To-do:

- run a 5k!
- get a second pair of running sneakers so I can alternate
- make a running schedule and start pushing my long runs to be...longer
- research training tips for the half marathon
- make a running date with some of my runner friends who might be able to push me harder than I push myself
- eat healthier so I can fuel my runs better
- get a better headband to control my crazy frizzy hair
- stretch!

My very green breakfast smoothie

Stuff I Did This Week

Happy Thursday! For most of you today is a good day because tomorrow is... Friday! For me, I am on about Tuesday of my work week, but nonetheless it feels like a good day. I know you're all dying to know what I've been up to, so here we go. Stuff I did this week...

- As a spur of the moment decision last week, we stopped at the grocery store on the way home from work and bought a whole chicken to roast. Because roasting chicken is easy, right? Well, sort of, if you don't mind not eating until ten o'clock at night (because we still had to go to the gym first to EARN a large roast chicken dinner). No matter, it was delicious and we've now been eating chicken salad for a week. Not complaining.



Eight pounds might have been a little more than we needed

Money shot

It was a big but amazing dinner

- Got some important paperwork done

Or not...

- Drove my car! For the first time in almost 8 months! (more on this next week)

After Brian gave it a good test drive

- Tested out our new pizza stone! Pizza enthusiasts that we are, this was exciting stuff. We actually tested it again last night to better results. I suppose we will just have to keep experimenting until we get it just right. Oh bother...



The beautiful BEFORE



And the slightly burned AFTER. Still tasted good!

- Went tubing with Kira and Andrew. No pictures of actual tubing because I'm not dumb enough to take my phone into a very watery situation. Rest assured, it was a lovely relaxing float down the Brandywine. I highly suggest taking a day (and a floating cooler) to just go mosy along the water. With LOTS of sunscreen.
Here is the place we went through: http://northbrookcanoe.com/index.php



The Big Bobber floating cooler. People
were jealous of its awesomeness

Kira offered me an aloe plant but I forgot to take one! Luckily,
unlike last time I went tubing, I didn't get sunburn and didn't need
the aloe right away.











- Tom and I continued on our beginning training phases for the half-marathon. I say beginning because I am still working up to run the way I was running for the Broad Street Run. Procrastinator that I am, without the pressure of the race being TOO close, it's tough to always feel motivated to get out as often as I should. This week and last, though, I've been picking up the pace a bit. Maybe I will pick it up a bit more.

 





Feeling fierce after a workout

Tom feeling... fierce?

 

 

 

All in all, a pretty typical week. What did you do this week? Anything fun or interesting? Start a new project? Finish a project? Share your to-dones with us!

 

 

My To-do List:

 

- get new running shoes

- renew my car registration

- stretch more

- plan dinners before we're hungry

- ice my knee (going to do that one right now!)

- get up at the same time every day

- less Facebook in the morning

 

Hope you all have a productive and exciting end (or beginning) to your week! 

 



Stuff I Did and Stuff I'm Doing

It's Tuesday again! My favorite day of the week because it means I at least have every intention of getting everything done I ever hoped to. And since I woke up later than I had planned today (more on that later), let's keep this post short and sweet so I can get back to my ever-mounting to-do list.

Here's some stuff I did the past few days:

- Worked ALLLLLL day Saturday. Started early, didn't take a break, got out later than expected. But, it's ok because my first customer of the day was a professional CLOWN and made my co-workers and me BALLOON ANIMALS.

 

You made my day, sir

Bear with balloons, Harley motorcycle
and a wiener dog with a meatball in his belly

Crystal was pleased as well

 

 

- Sunday was a more productive day than I prefer my day of rest to be. So, I finished the day with a Spa Sunday relax session. Did my nails, put on a face mask and did that thing with the cucumbers over your eyes. What does that do anyway?

 

Tom was excited to photograph this moment



 

 

- After yesterday's work, Tom and I went for a very nice, but very windy run at the Farm Park. It's pretty this time of year with all the corn grown in. It's like a corn maze, although, as Tom pointed out, one that is difficult to get lost it. I don't know about that...

 

Days like this make running bearable



 

- After our run and a relaxing evening of dinner and reading, we watched Outsourced, at the recommendation of our good friends, Ric and Mirabai. A pretty entertaining fish out of water story, we are always reeled in by stories about Americans bumbling around in Asia. As with most romantic comedies, the love story was the least interesting part, but we will forgive it.

 

Whoever could have predicted this unlikely romance
between two attractive, intelligent and witty main characters?

 

 

 

- And, finally, last night I stayed up until one in the morning finishing The Fault in Our Stars, that Amber so graciously leant me. It was a fun read, or as fun as you can get when talking about teenagers with terminal cancer. Since Tom had just finished 100 Years of Solitude last night, I was eager to have the same thrill of finishing a book so I sacrificed some beauty rest to fulfill my desires. The extra sleep came out of this morning's productivity time, but what can you do? 

Thanks again for the book, Amber!

 

Now, at only 10 o'clock in the morning, I am ready to tackle the day's to-dos. What's on the agenda today?

 

- enjoy a leisurely cup of coffee (in progress)

- research how to build a website

- read the next essay in the philosophy anthology

- start reading 100 Years of Solitude so Tom and I can have lively literature discussions

- send out some resumes

- stalk e-lance

- meet up with Josh to do some dinner eating and nature walking

- first, find a good nearby park for nature walking

- go for a run

- clean my apartment? if there's time...

 

As always, I will leave you with one item to add to your to-do list. Tell me, what is your "productive" day. I mean, hopefully most days are pretty productive, but what day of the week is your I'm-going-to-get-so-much-stuff-done-today day? Do you to-do list? How much of your list ever gets done? I aim for about 75%.

 

Until next time, faithful readers and to-do-listers, I will leave you with a picture of my morning coffee. Perhaps the idea of the caffeine contained within the pages of the interweb will get you amped and ready for the day ahead.

 

Zooooooooom!!!!!

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Great Bookshelf Challenge and Other Bookworm Problems

This is my book shelf. It was purchased at Office Max or one of those office supply stores that I love so much. It's cheap, portable and I've had it since high school. I would say it holds roughly a tenth of my books. Maybe. I have a lot of books.

I love to read! I've spent nearly the last ten years of my life paying West Chester University thousands of dollars for two pieces of paper that show the world just how much I love reading and writing and analyzing reading and writing.

And yet, I get into reading slumps occasionally. I don't know what it is, but I just get distracted. I'm not into the books I try to read. I set them down and forget about them. I read magazines with too many pictures. I watch TV. The horror!


Well, no more of that. I genuinely enjoy reading far too much to not make a concentrated effort to do more of it. Not to mention, it does go hand in hand with writing. A few summers ago, Tom and I went to see one of my favorite authors, Junot Diaz, speak at a book festival in Washington, D.C. Very entertaining speaker as well as writer, if you ever have the chance to see him or read any of his stuff. Anyway, he fielded some questions from the audience and a budding young writer of about twelve asked him what to do when faced with writer's block. His answer? Go read ten books. If you have no ideas what to write about after reading ten books, read ten more. This may have sounded a little daunting to her, but it sounds like sage advice to me.

Back to the bookshelf. The books on there are quite a mishmash of subjects and genres. This is because when choosing what books to put on there (as I said, I have a lot more than that little thing will hold) I decided to mainly stock it with books I haven't yet read. And a few that I have, but just like having around. I later entered myself in a contest of my own design: The Great Bookshelf Challenge. You can guess the parameters. Read ALL the books. That's why I put them there, right?

I started this close to a year ago. The first book I read from the shelf was On Liberty by John Stuart Mill. Just a little light reading to get me started. (That's sarcasm in case you aren't familiar with the dense and wordy essay) I've knocked a few books off the list, but I can't say I've been diligent with it. One problem is that most of the books are not novels. They are text books or other non-fiction type books. I like those, but I need some fiction in there to give my creative mind a chance to relax, too.

Here are a few books from my bookshelf I am currently reading.

Another light read

The revolutionary before he was a revolutionary.
Just a kid on a bike.



Not actually part of the challenge,
 but recently added to the bookshelf anyway.
Because why not?

 

I will list my bookshelf challenge at the bottom of this post. It's long, about 54 books / magazines. I had read a few of them before the challenge started, but they are listed on there anyway. One of the most fun things of any to-do list is the things that are either super easy to do and check off OR, even better, a few things you already did and get to check off at the outset. You may call that cheating, but I don't. I call it motivation.

 

In addition to trying to get through some of my bookshelf, I am reading a few other books. But to be honest, they just aren't doing it for me. They are good, don't get me wrong. I'm just not as absorbed in the stories as I'd like to be.

 



A wedding gift from my in-laws.
Red-hatted ladies and wedding drama.
Definitely a new genre for me



Best nerd magazine ever.



If you are looking for some uplifting short stories,
do not read Hemingway



When I read a really great book, I lose sleep. I lose valuable time in my day because I can't put the thing down. Yet, I also try to slow myself down. Because I know how sad I am going to be when I get to the end. And I will re-read books. My copy of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (by Junot Diaz, who we discussed earlier) is literally falling apart from me reading it, and insisting others read it, so much. I now have it signed by Mr. Diaz and have therefore contemplated buying a new copy to read and lend out, thereby preserving what little integrity is left in that poor binding. This is how you know you are a book nerd.

Excited to start reading The Fault in Our Stars.
More excited than Amber was about having her picture taken.

So, here's where you come in. Since I know you, reader, have at least some appreciation for the written word, I am assuming you have some favorite books. What are they? What should I read? What books moved you? What books made you laugh out loud? Or cry? Or get angry? Anything that draws out that kind of emotional response I consider a successful piece of writing in one way or another.

I love recommending books to people. Feel free to ask. I didn't want to turn this into a book review, but I'm always happy to lend and recommend and discuss books. Way happier than I probably should be. But I want recommendations, too.

Thanks again for joining in to my ever growing to-do list. One of these days I will get to start reporting on stuff I've gotten done. Eventually.


The Bookshelf Challenge: (in no particular order)

- Life of Pi by Yann Martel
- The River of Doubt by Candice Millard
- Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard
- Be the Man by Chris Easter
- One by Richard Bach *
- This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami *
- The World's Religions by Huston Smith *
- This is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz *
- The Cider House Rules by John Irving *
- Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami *
- Discipline and Punishment by Michel Foucault
- The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker
- How to Avoid Lawyers by Edward Siegel (kind of a joke, this is actually a hollowed out book, which we used to carry our wedding rings in for our ceremony!)
- The Road by Cormac McCarthy
- Journey to Ixtlan by Carlos Castaneda *
- If They Give You Lined Paper, Write Sideways by Daniel Quinn
- A Million Little Pieces by James Frey *
- Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr *
- Modoc by Ralph Helfer
- Short Novels of the Masters ed. Charles Neider
- Foundations of Capitalism (another hollowed out book)
- The Living Sky by Ray A. Williamson
- What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Me Through Fire by Charles Bukowski
- Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling *
- Comfort Me With Apples by Ruth Reichl *
- Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut *
- On Liberty by John Stuart Mill *
- The Stranger by Albert Camus *
- Gross Limericks by Julius Alvin
- Siddartha by Herman Hesse *
- The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto Che Guevara
- Great Dialogues of Plato tr. W.H.D. Rouse
- The Story of My Experiments With Truth by Mohandis Ghandi
- Western Philosophy: An Anthology ed. John Cottingham
- On Writing by Stephen King *
- Teach Yourself Calculus (that's a bold statement for someone who barely got out of Algebra 2 unscathed)
- The Cannabis Companion by Steven Wishnia *
- The Journal of Economic Perspectives Spring '93
- Cross-talk In Comp Theory ed. Victor Villanueva
- Writer's Market 2011
- Incognito by David Eagleman
- Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
- Falling Into Theory by David H. Richter
- Structuralism and Post-Structuralism for Beginners by Donald D. Palmer * (bonus section on Deconstruction! Score!)
- The Postmodern Turn by Steven Best and Douglas Kelner
- Waiting for Superman ed. Karl Weber
- National Geographic - August / September 2012 and June / July 2012
- Pizza Today 2012 (May, July, August, October, December) *
- The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism 2nd Edition
- The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet
- Nutrition for Dummies by Carol Ann Rinzler

Titles with an * have been read in their entirety.

There you have it, The Great Bookshelf Challenge. Daunting, but I like it. The hardest parts are those anthologies of Literary theory and criticism. They are NOT quick reads, not for me anyway. But, they are some of the ones I am most interested in reading. Or rather, finish reading as they are mainly from college and grad school, so I have read sections of them in the past.

I will keep you all updated as I check off books. Now with my blog for some accountability maybe I will feel more motivated to work harder on this. Maybe.

 

 



Stuff I Did Over the Weekend: Dim sum and drag queens and midtown, oh my!

Waiting (im)patiently for Hedwig

Ahh, New York. I don't visit as often as I should. I'm not super romantic about the city and it's history and culture and this and that. Still, I always have such a good time when I visit.

This visit in particular was pretty epic. Not only did we get to have our first NYC dim sum experience and visit friends that we don't get to see so often, but I saw my first Broadway musical. Starring Neil Patrick Harris. In drag. So epic.

Anyway, let me recount for you the stuff I did over the weekend.


- before getting to leave for New York, I wrote my entry for the 24-Hour Short Story Contest. It would have been nice to actually use the whole twenty four hours to edit it, but at only 900 words, I think I cranked out a decent little piece. We shall see how the judges feel in roughly six weeks.



Green smoothie + laptop = getting stuff done

- after a long day at work, two hours of trying to get showered, eat a measly dinner, write a short story and stop at my parent's house, we were on our way to New York! The good thing about driving into the city later than you want to is that there was no traffic.

Carrying precious cargo to Justin and Ava; some delicious treat from Talluto's Italian Market

- luckily, when we arrived at Justin and Ava's Washington Heights apartment, they treated us to some amazing Caribbean spiced rotisserie chicken and mashed potatoes from a local restaurant. I was too busy devouring said food to remember to take a picture of it, but I did get this photo of someone else's take-out... avocado?




Your guess is as good as mine

- after our lovely dinner and relaxing conversation, Justin played us sweet lullabies on the banjo

He was a bluegrass player in another lifetime, I'm sure

- once it was time for bed, Tom and I stayed up just a little longer, regaling each other with tales from Justin's Izakaya cookbook (Japanese tapas, sort of). We had to put it away because the delicious pictures were making us hungry.

Just some light bedtime reading

- the next day we met with Ric and Mirabai, this time on their turf! Actually, we met them in Chinatown for dim sum at Jing Fong, a traditional Chinese dim sum hall that promises delicious food stuff and... long waits. We waited over forty minutes and lost Ava in the process as she had to get to a reading. Le sigh.

Part of the line waiting for Jing Fong

And more of the line...

Luckily, we got Ava a little "wife cake" to hold her over

- FINALLY, we were called to take our place in the massive dining hall upstairs. Seriously, this place was HUGE. It makes you wonder how there could possibly be such a long line when the room the meal is served in has to hold upwards of 200 people.

For those who don't know the foodgasmness that is dim sum, it consists of small plates of food, ranging from a wide array of dumplings, to interestingly pickled and steamed vegetables and jello-y dessert things, to other completely unrecognizable food (to me, anyway). The novelty of dim sum at a place like Jing Fong is the abundance of carts being wheeled around, delivering the food to you. A little lady comes up with carts teeming with steamer baskets and plates of food and starts shoving them under your nose until you can't resist the delicious smells and sights any more and just start taking everything she offers you. Well, that's what we did any way. It was excessive and heavenly.


So hungry. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into



Escalator to heaven



Only just the beginning

Slowing down, but we made a valiant effort on all the food

 

 

 

- After brunch it was time to wander tourist-style around Times Square while we waited for our Broadway debut. Also, time for a photo shoot in my very Hedwig appropriate outfit.

 

Trying to look cool and uninterested. Failing.

Obligatory Times Square picture



Finally!

Just hanging out on the stoop like a real New Yorker



 - once in line, it was clear that I was the only one in the theater who took the time to ask myself WWHW? What Would Hedwig Wear? Naturally, I looked fabulous and I know NPH would have been proud, but I did receive some interesting looks from the more "conservatively" dressed folks in the audience. Maybe it would have gone over better at the night show.

My souvenir: The Shroud of Hedwig

Obligatory bathroom selfie

Looking smug and fabulous

 - the show was completely awe-inspiring. Essentially a one man (woman) act, Neil Patrick Harris as Hedwig regales us with tales of him growing up as a boy in East Berlin, being courted by an older American military sergeant, suffering a botched sex change surgery, being left again and again by the men she loves and touring with her band named for the remnants of her past, The Angry Inch. It was funny, entertaining and even a little heart wrenching. What more could you ask for? There was even a sing along! Of course, I wasn't allowed to take pictures, but I snuck one anyway.

The stage, not that you can tell anything from this picture

The amazing Hedwig! (picture not taken by me)

 

 

- to top off an amazing show, our friend Justin just happened to be working the sound mixing that day and gave us a backstage tour! We got to go on the stage that NPH had just finished spitting and grinding on, walk around where they get ready and where Justin works, making sure all the sound for the show is perfect (an important job, I would think, for a musical) and getting to stand somewhat next to NPH's dressing room. We even saw a couple of the "band" members! Naturally instead of telling them what a fabulous job they did on stage, Tom and I just grinned in their direction, completely mute by the awe of seeing Broadway actors right next to us. They smiled back at us, though, so I will take that.

 

We also got to exit through the stage door, where fans were gathered in hopes of getting an autograph or picture with the actors. I regret now not bursting through the doors with a flourish and taking a bow, but even so someone in the crowd applauded and shouted to us "I love your work!" For my Broadway debut, I would call it a success.

 



Justin's Office

 - although we would have loved to stay in New York for longer than a single day, it was, alas, time to head home. Luckily, we didn't hit any bad traffic and got home just in time to collapse, exhausted but fulfilled, in bed and start this new week fresh. New York with friends, dim sum and Broadway? This is the stuff Sundays are made for.

Driving home music in honor of Justin's new favorite musical



Leaving NY via the George Washington bridge



 

 

 

Today's To-Do List is short. Just hanging out, writing, researching writing and maybe sending out a resume or two.

 

Your to-do list item this week, tell me about your favorite Broadway (or off-Broadway) show! Although I don't see how anything could compare to the fabulousness of Hedwig, I just might be a convert to the theater crowd. So, what should be on my list of must-sees?

 

 

This might make the list...

Until next time, strange rock n' rollers, just know you're doing alright!