theatre news...

--First a foremost, a HUGE Congrats! to DB alum Norbert Leo Butz, who has earned a Tony nomination for his role in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels"! (Norbert co-stars with John Lithgow, who was also nominated for a Tony.)
--Ewan McGregor is set to make his West End musical debut as Sky Masterson in "Guys and Dolls". Along with him is Tony Award winning Jane Krakowski as Miss Adelaide. Having heard McGregor sing in "Moulin Rouge", Sky should fit him well.
--Another Congrats! to Christina Applegate (yes, some know her as 'Kelly Bundy') who has also earned a Tony nomination for her role in "Sweet Charity". (Who knew 'Kelly Bundy' would grow up to be a Broadway star? Awesome.)

Now for local...
--Benefit concert for Bob Mulch (and to raise money for the Cancer Society) was held May 14 (?), 2005. Here's what was to be said about it (I missed it as I was on my honeymoon): "It went very well. There were some wonderful songs, a few were tear jerkers, some funny. The tributes were very touching and light-hearted....You know Bob, he really keeps on chugging! He's even still working! I don't know how much was raised for the Cancer Society, but I think they did well..."
--Will get around to posting some community theatre shows as soon as I find out dates, times, and locations!

Chi-Town

"Mini-Honeymoon" in Chicago this past weekend--and wedding was on May 7! I'd never been to Chicago, so here's some of the things we did while we were there: (pictures shown here aren't mine, but pulled from websites)

Friday night: we were put up in the Palmer House Hilton (thank you SOOOO much!!!)

Visited the Sears Tower, walked along Lake Michigan, walked around downtown Chicago taking tourist-y pictures (ok, so I was the one taking the pix; Dustin was just laughing at me...), swam at the Hilton and ate some hors dourves, also. Strolled through Millennium Park, where we got some neat pictures of all the structures, etc. There was also a Cancer Survivors' Garden, which was honestly one of the coolest things I saw while we were in Chicago--really struck a chord with me. Ate dinner at Ed Debevic's--LOVE that place; it's soooo cool! It is a 50's-esque diner where the waiters and waitresses are purposely rude to you, and they sing and dance and wear some pretty fun "uniforms". (Like the waiter who was wearing little bitty running shorts, sweatbands, Chucks, and knee high socks.) Had to visit the 7-floor Sports Authority, also--got me some Chucks...for cheap! Headed back to the hotel to chill for a bit...we were going to head back out to check out some bars, but I ended up falling asleep--HARD--and couldn't be woken up. (At 10:30 p.m., nonetheless. Nice.)

Saturday: drove around looking for another hotel to stay in--that would accept cash. (So weird to me that none of them would take cash for a night's stay, but whatever.) Ended up at the
Holiday Inn Chicago City Centre--for wayyyy more than I would EVER consider paying for a one-night stay in a hotel room, but it was the honeymoon...
Spent much of the day at Navy Pier, after having lunch at the ESPN Sports Zone restaurant. Nifty nifty place also--the entire second floor is an arcade, with a section for dining, and a bar. The dining area we sat in had a HUGE screen TV on the wall, and you could eat your meals while sitting in a leather Lazy-Boy. Sweeet. Discovered two of Dustin's completely illogical fears while we were at Navy Pier, but I won't go into detail for fear of embarrassing him...and having it come back at me tenfold!!! (And, in all fairness, I guess I can't call his fears illogical, considering I have a couple phobias of my own...) Took a cab to Wrigley Field and did some shopping around that area--really cool store I highly recommend to anyone planning on visiting Chi-Town is Strange Cargo. Nifty nifty stuff in there...
Came back to the hotel and swam, then we both ended up falling asleep for a couple hours. Got up and got ready, went downstairs to the sports bar / grille, Winner's Lounge, in the hotel for dinner. After dinner, we took a nice 'stroll' for several blocks, just talking the entire time--a very rarely enjoyed "couple" moment for the two of us. Watched "Goodfellas" back in the hotel room, then went to bed around 3 a.m.

Had (free!) breakfast buffet Sunday morning at East 300, the nice restaurant in the hotel, then packed up and headed for home. Visited both families on the way back to the apartment, then we just kinda chilled out for the night.
It was a GREAT vacation, and the first that we've taken alone together in the nearly 5 years we've been together. I want to go back this summer for a weekend!!! HINT HINT!!!

and so it begins...

First actual "rehearsal" for 42nd Street was last night at DB. All we did was go over some basic info for the show--cast list (which, by the way, has my "maiden" name in parentheses and my new last name on there! Weird to see in print, but even weirder to see when you're new last name is HORRIBLY misspelled. LOL Eh, shit happens though, right?), rehearsal schedule, got copies of the script, etc.--and start learning some of the chorus numbers. We pretty well zipped through them, stopping only to focus on our problem areas. It's hard for me to do it that way, since I can't (and never have been able to) read music, but as long as I can hear the altos around me, I'm alright. (I end up singing the guys' parts half the time anyway bc some of the gals' parts get too damn high!) On the flip side, it is a good way to learn the music bc at least we know what we're in for, and we can focus more on one song at a time once we get really into rehearsals.

Headed up to Sports Zone after rehearsal w/ Bob, Ade, Teri, and Christian. I think we have ourselves the party crowd from last year once again... Bob was bumming bc he had to be at work at 11:30 p.m., so he couldn't even have a beer. Eh, what can you do? The 5 of us just sat around BS-ing, telling jokes, talking about the show, and just enjoying each other's company. They're such a fun group of people, and I can tell already that this summer is going to be a HELL of a trip!!!

almost here...

I can't believe the biggest day of my life is in 4 days. I just read Carly's blog in which she "gushed" (sorry, Carly! lol) over her guy and I realized I don't think I've ever really done that about Dustin on here. So, please excuse my general sappiness--I've been doing that a lot here lately--and if you get too mushed out, stop reading...

So Dustin and I had been arguing for the past couple days--over something which was a big deal to me, but seemed pretty insignificant to him. (Dustin don't get mad at me for putting this on here, either. NO DETAILS, I promise.) It doesn't matter now what it was or why we started an argument in the first place, but looking back I realize that it was to an extent pretty frivolous and pointless. Both of us over reacted (yea, babe, I'm admitting that I did, too :P ) and it made things worse. But after talking to a very good friend of mine, I realized something: Dustin and I have made it through and gotten over stuff that was much worse than what we just argued about. That made me feel so much better. I finally kicked myself in the ass, swallowed my pride, and realized that we're getting married in 4 days; why should we be acting like this toward each other? So we talked last night and things are better--I bawled my eyes out, of course. (Been doing a lot of that lately, too...)

I've also realized just how nervous I really am. It's more of an excited nervous, bc I can't wait for our wedding, but there's a little bit of fear in there, too. And I know--after talking to some people--that that is not a bad thing. It's totally normal, and all this time I've been hiding my fear bc I thought it was bad that I was scared and nervous. But this is a HUGE deal. And I have no doubt whatsoever in my mind. This is what I want and have wanted since the day I met Dustin.

I offended him Sunday. When we were arguing, before he got out of the truck, he said something to me that just stunned me into silence. He said, "When are you going to realize that I am in love with you, I'm marrying you in 6 days, and you are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen?" I bitch bc he rarely says stuff like that to me, and when he said all that, I had no clue what to say. I just sat there, stunned, in silence. I have NEVER in my life had anyone say something like that to me. AND MEAN IT. That's when it really hit me: this man is so in love with me that he would do anything for me, and I feel completely the same way about him. I mean I've known it all along, but it really slapped me in the face Sunday. I know we have our bad moments--sad, screaming, arguing, fighting, etc...but we also have our good moments--laughing, acting like little kids, just being together. We have made it through every one of our problems and issues, and I feel like the strongest person in the world for it all. He and I have put each other through hell and back, we have been through things together that I don't think either of us would wish on any other couple. And we have made it out together, maybe bruised and scarred, but stronger bc of it all.
I have never in my life felt this way about anyone, nor have I ever felt that I am making the best--and right--decision of my life. I have a guy that, although we have our problems (everyone does), would do and does anything for me and I have seen such a GOOD, POSITIVE change in him over the past 5 years that sometimes I can't believe he has "grown up" so much. (For lack of better terms.)

Dustin I know you don't like when I air our personal stuff on here, but this is one that had to get out and I had to post it. Thank you for everything. I can't even think of where to begin. But like the card said, I love you more each day, and I don't always show it the best, but know that I'm always here. I love you.