Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

I love this port! I wasn’t too crazy about Mexico at first because of the heat and demanding street vendors. Would you like you hair braided lady? Newlyweds? Would you like tattoo? painted shell? sunglasses? massage for you? chiclets? fruit on a stick? tequila?

Yeah, I can’t take it. But my trip to Tulum last spring and ports like Puerto Vallarta definitely have changed my mind about Me-hico. Puerto Vallarta is so clean, and quaint, and the weather was beautiful. We ate a delicious and super cheap Mexican brunch and walked around the city. Our cruise officially ended today and I am really sad so I am going to back it up and describe our adventures over the next couple of days on the blogedy blog to make me feel better.;)

Charleston South Carolina

Jason and I discovered Charleston on tour last year and we really fell in love with it.

We had a beautiful day there eating at a restaurant called Magnolia and shopping on King street. 


That night we went on a ghost tour of the most haunted jail in America. As we left one of the rooms on the tour I quickly snapped a picture of the cell that a mass murderer was held until her hanging. SHE killed her victims with tea she served at her bed and breakfast outside of Charleston and if she didn’t finish them off, her husband would hack them to bits with an axe. Ok, enough of that, point being she is said to roam about this room and steal things from people...nothing of ours was stolen, but something weird did happen. When I loaded my pictures into iphoto that night the picture I took of the room turned out fine, kinda blurry, but you could make out the room’s structure and it’s contents. The next day I went to look for the picture and it was GONE. This was in it’s place:

I pulled up the exposure and the room came back into focus and the light green blob that you see here in the window appeared where there wasn’t anything before:

Who you gonna call???? GHOSTBUSTERS!!!!!

Quebec City Part Deux

Oh my, when you fall in love with a city it can be like falling for a man. Instant attraction, desire, and then...lust. Sacre bleu!! Dear Quebec City I have fallen for you hard. My bestie Camilla and our super fun production manager John and I went for a good walk around town that started with brunch and ended with moules et frites.  DIVINE. Pumpkin patches, black cats, pumpkin chai, swiss hot chocolate, french toast with buttery cinnamon apple toppings, and giant witches were all present for my greatest fall day 2010.

French Canada-ooh la la

I love French Canada. Why? Because it feels like Europe, they speak French as a first language, the architecture is amazing, and well, poutine.  I finished off the perfect French afternoon with a purchase of a blinged out beret. LA VIE, LA VIE, C'EST BON!!!

The Campbell Nest

Did I mention that I have the greatest husband in the world? Not only does he live up to this title with the various positive human attributes that I gush about daily to anyone who will listen, he is lately uncovering his abilities with a hammer, nails and a fresh coat of paint since the purchase of our condo. Here is the before and after of the main dining/living room. The only reason the "after" pictures look darker is because the room has brightened up so much that I had to pull down the exposure in my iphoto!

He stripped the paint off of the fireplace door that he found in an antiques junkyard to reveal a beautiful Victorian scene etched in metal. It was originally made in 1874 and is very Pride and Prejudice. And we all know how I feel about that.  I can go no longer without saying how ardently I admire and love you fireplace!  I am such a nerd. The rustic coffee table he made for a mere $100 out of planks from the renovated Coney Island boardwalk. I know, I know, he's cool!

I had the BEST time with him in NYC as always. We took a walk to Hoboken along the water and it is just gorgeous. I am falling more in love with this neighborhood the more we explore it!

Here is a picture of me trying to point out my ship from the New Jersey view:

Re-affirming...Again

There was a time when I would look around at my world as a performer: the crazy schedules, the vagabond lifestyle, the constant live out a suitcase-where is my suitcase-how much does it cost to bring a suitcase?, travel ordeals, and high drama, and I would think to myself, is this worth it??? I want more. I need more. More in a way that is less. This is too HARD. I need simplicity, and stability, and this isn’t fulfilling me in the way that I had imagined when I was a dreamy 18 year old musical theater student.  I left the business. I became a full time make up artist, working in sales and worrying about keeping my health insurance and watching a meager 401k build. I became, for lack of a better word, miserable. So I took the plunge back into the cold waters of the NYC audition scene. 


Fast forward four years and three contracts later, I now can officially declare with no hesitation that performing truly is the the thing that brings me the most happiness. Now if and when the little ones come along and I may have to shift back to the white picket fence on a NYC rooftop and a "normal" job, I will be happy with that life too. But it is really gratifying to have reawakened the passion that made me go into this crazy world to begin with. My shows these past couple of weeks were far from perfect in my perfectionist world, but it is beyond satisfying to put that tight grip on “perfect” aside to LIVE, LAUGH, and LOVE on stage to a gracious audience. 


I say gracious because at the end of the cruise I had a guest take my hands, look me in the eyes and tell me I was spectacular. I am truly not saying this to brag...I was honestly completely shocked! I felt like such a fish out of water most of the time that to have this word (normally used to describe the Macy’s Day parade) flattering and humbling. The other biggest compliment I got was from a crew member who told me she was feeling depressed here until recently, and she credited our friendship as one of the main causes for her shift towards happy. (I just made that up. Shift towards HAPPY. Do it. The word is elusive but just shift towards it and see what happens-I dare you.) There are such wonderful people here, and I love getting to know them all every day in such close environment. 

Here are the few costume pics I could shoot quickly before they were torn off for the next number. I am normally used to one or two fast changes per production show. Here, if it’s NOT a quick change, I wonder if I are doing something wrong....and as you can see these are not your average costumes!

Glorious Quebec City

More of the wonderful Quebec City. It is like fairy land. Europe in Canada. Je t'aime Quebec. C'est bon la vie!!!!!