Adventures of Closing & Moving, Fueled with Plenty of Wine

David and I closed on our condo August 13, and moved a week later on August 20.

Closing day -- after the whole business with various lawyers and signing piles and piles of papers and handing over a big chunk of money we never knew we had -- was an euphoric experience for us.  After we closed, we made our way to Park Slope and set foot in our condo as official OWNERS for the first time.  We took with us a bottle of champagne and fancy glasses, and had a blast frolicking about.

Perrier Jouet on our very own balcony terrace!  It was a hot sunny day, perfect for celebrating in the bright apartment.

It's a good idea to stretch before frolicking...

... and turning around along the long living room....

... Oh, look!   There's a Vegemite by our Viking range!  

... And TimTam's in our brand new fridge!

(We thought it would be funny to take some Aussie specialties as first items in our new apartment.  Items courtesy of Craig and Maria Wood.)

Following the closing and the celebrating, we had to buckle down to reality and finish packing up our Manhattan apartment.  The week leading up to the move was quite exhausting.  Packing, packing, packing, all day and night, followed by wine, repeat.  Who knew we had so many dishes and glasses?  And so much STUFF in general?!  Where did they all come from?!

David became an expert bubble-wrapper of fragile breakables.  These are snapshots of our final packing efforts in our now old apartment in Hell's Kitchen...

And then we were off to Brooklyn!

Goodbye Manhattan, hello Brooklyn!  (View onto Manhattan -- with downtown Brooklyn on the right and Jersey City on the left -- from our Park Slope balcony.)

The movers were fantastic, and the move itself went very smoothly.  We arrived in Park Slope with all of our belongings (as far as we know, anyway) -- except for our plant, which somehow never made it across the borough.  I don't know if it died in transit (the movers warned us that they don't usually take plants because they could die in the truck due to the heat), or it jumped off the truck because it was so deeply a Manhattanite plant and did not want to come to Brooklyn.  Anyway, although we mourn its disappearance, David and I have concluded that it did not want to move to Park Slope with us.

Here are the boxes neatly moved into our new condo (not all belongings shown).

A big thanks to Robin, who helped us on the moving day and has been a stellar friend in this process -- because of David's knee situation, it would've been very difficult without his help.

These boxes are ALL kitchen-related items.  And not even pots and pans, which are in bigger boxes and not shown here.  We have a lot of kitchen stuff.  (Moby our whale is very happy with the bigger floor space.)

Sunset multi-city view... we can see the subways going by... all very beautiful.  We love the kinetic, full-of-motion view.

Sunset over the harbor, the other view from our balcony.  Just stunning.

We have a lot of unpacking to do, along with organizing, sorting, and making sure items on our punch-list are taken care of and fixed by the construction crew.  Everyone has been very nice so far.  Although there are bound to be teething problems in a new condo like ours, we are so grateful for the space and the VIEW.  We step out onto the balcony as often as possible.  It's our very own sanctuary.

And even though I worry that I will forever live amongst boxes and bubble wrap, these moments of fear are fleeting and manageable, given some good cheer, a GREAT partner, and a lot of wine.

It got chilly the last couple of days, but that hasn't stopped us from bundling up and sitting outside to eat our take-away dinner looking at the city.

Here we are, Brooklyn-style!

Photo tour of the whole place, soon!!! xoxo

Condo Owners!

View from our balcony -- an amazing view of Manhattan, New Jersey, Staten Island, and Brooklyn... and yes, that is Lady Liberty right in the middle.  Gorgeous.

David and I closed on our Park Slope condo on Friday.  We are officially condo owners!  We hadn't written a peep about it here, for fear of jinxing some kind of property-purchase fortune.

We are so so happy with our new apartment.  We move next Friday, and we can't wait!

More details soon...!

A Hair Cut & Fried Chicken

Today, David got his hair cut.  It does not sound like news, but it is for us, since it has been about 5 months since he last got it cut.  Because of his knee brace/crutches situation, we hadn't been able to muster the energy and need to get his hair cut until today.  And the hair cut today was inspired by the fact that he needs to process his US passport and he did not want to take a passport photo without a hair cut.

I must say I really liked David's shaggy hair look, as did our friends.  Our doorman even said that he was sporting a "rock star" look.  David would not normally follow my opinion of his look/do/fashion purely on its own (ever suspect that my perception has been dulled/blinded by love), but the overwhelming public consensus for his look hair has been very positive.  And so, when he finally went for a hair cut today, he asked his hair dresser to keep it on the long side.  Here are some BEFORE and AFTER photos:

Long curly-ish locks, side-view

Long locks, front-view.  The topless-ness is due to the heat-wave in New York.

Brand new hair cut.  He looks 10 years younger!  Still adorable.

I think he looks great!

In other news, I made buttermilk oven-fried chicken again -- this time with stronger spicing, and the chickens came out DELICIOUS.  We love this recipe!  Who needs KFC when you have this at home?!

Best Thoughtful Present EVER

Ever since we've had a very domestic period due to David's injury/recovery, I have been amazed at just how much vacuuming I must do on a regular basis.  Our apartment seems to get dusty and full of random crumbs at rapid pace.  I feel as though I am always vacuuming -- to the point that David must convince me that I could wait until tomorrow to do so, I've just cleaned yesterday.   I blame this vacuuming-compulsion in part to the construction happening nearby -- there is a high-rise apartment building going up a block away, and this can't help the air-quality and floor-cleanliness.  In another part, I know that the shock of the vacuum-needy-state of our apartment is heavy on the fact that we are, simply, not used to being home so much, ALL THE TIME (and we eat in front on the TV, on our couch).  Today, I was received the most considerate birthday present, given our domestic-state/requirement of things: an iRobot Roomba.  It is a robotic vacuum.  It cleans, and it is very clever.  I can't believe I didn't think to own one before.  It is AMAZING.  I am charging it now.  I can't wait to unleash it onto our apartment tomorrow.  Hooray!!!  No more defeated pulling out of the vacuum cleaner for I-think-I-better-vacuum-yet-again moments!  I shall now unleash a robot onto my floor to do the job.  MOST AWESOME DOMESTIC MACHINE EVER.  Thank you, Robin!

New Title

Today I received a draft copy of the new West End Dirty Dancing brochure.  In this new cycle of Dirty Dancing, I've been given a new title -- International Associate Producer.  Same photo, same biog, different title.  It's very nice to be acknowledged in this way, although it sometimes feels like "playing house."  One day one role, another day, a different role.  Not much has changed in real life (so far), but it looks cool on paper in any case.

time goes quickly when in production... (sometimes)

(The facade of the Theater Am Potsdamer Platz, where Dirty Dancing Berlin will open is a few weeks' time)

February came and went, and now we're in March and in tech! The cast went on stage the end of last week and so began tech. It's great to be in the theater finally, working days and evenings, and being able to walk to work. It makes all the difference in our sleep quantity and quality.

Tech has gone fairly well, the theater is great and the cast looks wonderful. David is excited to be working with the dancers on stage, he truly thrives on this process and it is beautiful to see. We've had a quiet time mostly - unlike Chicago, which was full of parties and from where we barely survived with our livers in tact. We have had a couple of cast parties sponsored by the production, which have been great fun. Last weekend there was a big welcome party at the theater, and that was excellent good times - the older actors got onto the dance floor along with the dancers and dirty danced the night away, quite literally. We even witnessed Mr. and Mrs. Schumacher (the old characters) gyrating away, killing it on the dance floor. Incredible. All in all, though, David and I have remained sensible in our partying. We've opted for time lounging at home when we can, or going to the movies (we live near the Sony Center, which has a beautiful cinema that shows films in English, not dubbed or subtitled), or watching DVDs. "Normal" things we don't often get to do. We love our Berlin apartment, so our apartment has been an oasis for us away from the occasional chaos and stresss of work.

On Sunday I leave for London for 2 weeks of prelimiary casting. THIS, will surely be chaos, as we will do two days of open dance auditions, which expect 600 girls and 400 boys. A zoo. And then I will see a series of actors, singers, the usual. David and I haven't been apart in a while so 2 weeks seems like a extraordinarily long time in the middle of tech - but I shall be back in Berlin in time for previews.

For now, here are some recent snapshots from Berlin:

(Close up of the fancy Opening Night invitations - and there we are! Me and David on the invites - we have come a long way since we last did the show in Germany...)

(Dirty Dancing seems all over Berlin... even on back of taxi receipts!)

[At the welcome party at the theater... FROM LEFT: David, me, James (director), Claudia (who plays "Lisa") and Michael C. (our production stage manager)]

(John O'Connell - aka Cha Cha - came through Berlin and we had drinks with him - we had not seen him since the Sydney DD opening, so that was a nice catch up, especially for David)

US PLAYBILL

Finally, after all the years of working on the show, here it is: a U.S. Playbill! With the classic yellow "PLAYBILL" above the logo. It's happening -- our U.S. premiere.

And inside the Playbill, a very cool thing for us. David and I both get title page billing. Right next to each other!

We've worked hard for this acknowledgment, and have done it together, so this Playbill is very special to us.

What We're Up To, What We've Been Doing...

Just a few things yet to be thoroughly updated on this blog.... here goes:

David's Green Card Re-application: As we approach our third anniversary, we must petition to have the "conditional" status of David's permanent residency removed. Yet another process in the many hurdles of our international marriage. Lots of paperwork involved, trying to prove that we are a LEGITIMATE couple. Very strange and upsetting in many ways, that a marriage simply can't BE. It's a stressful and elaborate process, especially difficult to go through while putting on a show, but we are plodding along......... crossing fingers!

My new role -- International Casting/Creative Associate: A little over a month ago, my new title within Dirty Dancing Worldwide was announced to the international team. This title had been in discussion for some time now, and I have yet to finalize "the deal," but, for all intents and purposes, I was officially given this title and my work began with a BANG. The bang being (1) completing the Toronto casting (done!), (2) finishing up the London casting process (big task, but somehow I finished it), (3) beginning the Berlin casting, and (4) continuing to deal with on-going... changes... within the US Tour company. It's been a challenging role, but a role I had been doing in many ways unofficially already -- so it is nice to have the acknowledgment and title to go along with it. I go back to Germany for almost a week in October to move along the preliminary stages of the Berlin production casting, which should be interesting, if perhaps daunting, as it will be my first venture out ON MY OWN to begin the casting process with solely the local team.

CHICAGO: The Windy City continues to treat us well and charm us with all its energy, activities and fabulous restaurants. It's very easy-going living in Chicago, and David and I are enjoying the city and our life here. Our apartment is spacious and comfortable, and since many members of the company are also staying in the same building, there is a nice community/dormitory-feel to the whole stay. We have gone to a variety of fantastic restaurants..... and we promise to be more detailed soon (photos included). While we miss New York, Chicago has been a very easy city in which to live.

REHEARSALS: Today was our last day in the rehearsal space. We have a long weekend this weekend, and when we come back together on Wednesday, we will be at the theater to kick off the tech. The show is looking terrific, we have a fantastic company, and it will be good to finally get on stage and put the show together in the environment.

MINI-BREAK!: David and I fly out to California early tomorrow morning. We have booked ourselves a little weekend getaway to Carmel Valley, which is a couple of hours' drive south of San Francisco. We will be staying at Bernardus Lodge, which is a spa/lodge in a vineyard. We will be hiring a car in San Francisco, then driving down the scenic drive along the coast, through Monterey, and onto Carmel Valley. David is looking forward to driving (a convertible, of course), and I am looking forward to the wine and relaxation!

And so we are hastily packing now... and we shall post photos of our weekend trip when we return!

On the Title Page

Normally, Associate Choreographers of a major theatrical production do not get billing in the title page along with the core creative team. David, however, has defied this norm and have been given a billing along with the heads of various artistic departments and the producers. This distinction has been given to David as a way for the producers and the production to recognize his significant creative and artistic input to show. This means his name will appear on the title page of the Playbill, the souvenir brochure, posters and ads, as well as the front of houses of the theaters in which we play.

David's name became included in the title page in this way in Toronto - and it's a wonderful and well-deserved inclusion. But because David himself is still a bit shy about it all (although very pleased), I thought I would share it here.

Congratulations!

P.S. > At the Amsterdam Schipol Airport, we had an extra suitcase between us, for which we had to pay excess. When we went to the excess baggage payment counter to pay our due, the woman helping us noticed that David was wearing a DD hoodie. They asked if we worked on the show, we said "yes." This caused a slight commotion behind the glass window, as a group of middle aged Dutch women working at the excess baggage payment counter huddled around to get a look at David. It was as if they were seeing "Johnny" before them... it was funny and the first of such response we have gotten traveling through airports, often with DD gear. Helped, of course, by some excellent reviews we'd gotten from reputable Dutch newspapers.

David, of course, was quite pleased... although bashful.