Drive-by Homecoming

David and I flew home to New York late Tuesday night... and tomorrow (Saturday) we head out to Germany for 3 weeks. Yikes! Fastest turn-around we've had to do so far. As I face our collection of suitcases on the floor, I get confused as to whether I am unpacking or packing... only to realize I am doing BOTH.

Opening Night in Chicago was FANTASTIC. The show was great -- possibly the best opening night performance we have had -- and we had good times all around. Photos shall be posted as soon as we are in one place long enough to have some serious computer/internet/down-time moment.

Until then... we're packing and sorting out normal home-life details before we fly out tomorrow! (Hamburg first, then we train to Berlin.)

xoxo

Me, London; David, Chicago

I "moved" with my things to Chicago Friday night and joined David in the Windy City. As I unpacked in our Chicago apartment (very nice and spacious), I had to simultaneously re-pack as I flew out to London Sunday for nearly a week. I arrived in London this morning.

My time in Chicago was brief, but it was good to see David before my week in London and Hamburg. I got to see the Baby's, Johnny's and Penny's (the leads and their respective understudies). Everyone seemed to be in good, positive spirits. It was surreal to be in a room full of Baby dopplegangers, Johnny dopplegangers, and Penny dopplegangers. It's like being in a room full of genetically enhanced attractive people.

Their dancing already looks great. As usual, David is doing a terrific job! :)

Chicago seems like a fun city to live for a few months. I suppose it's a nice city in the summer. It was hot -- and I hear the Chicago summers are hot -- but it was less oppressive hot than New York has been, so it felt fresh to me.

But now I am back in London! Just hanging out in the hotel today, laying low. Walked around Covent Garden and tried to get a massage, but everywhere was booked. I walked over to the Sanctuary, which is a "ladies only day spa"... the idea being that women spent half the day there relaxing and being pampered. I didn't want to spend half the day there, only get a massage, but was willing to pay for the entrance fee if that was what I needed to do as I was desperate for a massage. But I encountered a fat, repulsive and rude lady at the desk, who insisted on calling me "Darling" as she emphatically and dramatically told me it was impossible for me to get a massage. She repeatedly emphasized the impossibility in a near panic-stricken and overly loud tone, as if my inquiring about a massage availability was an outrageously inappropriate question. A simple, "I'm sorry, we're fully booked" would have sufficed, it seemed to me, but she was nastily melodramatic and offensively unattractive. It was too much for me to handle having just flown in from Chicago without much sleep, with an aching back. I grumbled, "I understand that you don't have any openings but you don't have to be rude about it" and walked out. There's nothing "Sanctuary"-like about a place that is overseen by a hideous, rude, stressed-out and grotesque lady.

Luckily, I found a nicer, more elegant and certainly more peaceful spa at the One Aldwych hotel, where I booked a massage for Wednesday night.

Casting continues tomorrow, and on Friday I will fly to Hamburg. I hope the week will go by quickly... although I suppose I will also need to hope there will be enough time to complete what we need to complete.

And so it goes... I will miss David this week, but he will have a busy week in Chicago -- ensemble dance week -- so I shall take the positive outlook that we are both working very hard and making contributions to make our show better.

Where We Are...

David is now in Chicago, working through the first dance week of Baby/Johnny/Penny. He rang me from a bus en route to rehearsals on the first morning, and it was very funny to imagine him in Chicago on a bus-full of Baby/Johnny/Penny's... a very peculiar circus of attractive performers!

I am still in NYC, although I will leave for Chicago Thursday. Then it looks like I will fly to London on Sunday for 5-ish days, then onto Hamburg, Germany, for a day, and then back to Chicago.

This means I need to get my NYC life together by Thursday to relocate!

I don't know if I will ever get used to the packing/traveling/moving house.......

Aaaand, we're BACK... for a wee bit

David and I are back in New York City after a FANTASTIC holiday in the Caribbean.

Now we're running around in our usual kind-of-manic style, trying to get ourselves organized for our next installation DD... this time in Chicago! David heads out to Chicago this Sunday. I will join him (looks like, but yet to be confirmed) on Thursday, but only for a couple of days, as I will head out to London for a few days, do a day in Germany, and then back to London for a couple of days........then back to Chicago. It's a whirlwind, as ever. But at least this time we will be working in the US and kind of close(r) to home? It's kind of exciting, living in a different US city for a change...

More to come soon....

packing, packing, and, yes, more packing

David and I fly to London this Saturday, and will be there for 4 weeks. We kicked off our packing process yesterday: we got out the suitcases, and David did the laundry while I piled clothes on the bed. Then, overwhelmed as to the next step, we went to the gym.

The packing process never gets any easier, it continues to seem. It's difficult to know, for instance, what the weather in London will be for the next 4 weeks. Apparently it has been beautiful and warm recently, but this isn't to say it won't suddenly become dreary and abysmally wet -- it is London, after all. This means selection of clothing is like guesswork. We say, "take layers" or clothing that can be "layered" -- which sounds great, but, let's face it, there's only so much "layering" that can be done when a person tends to have "outfits."

There are certain elements to the process we have learned to do along the way such as:
- Make lists (obvious, but one can get too cocky and not do so when traveling so often... this has lead to grave regret)
- Get hair cuts (because haircuts abroad can lead to trauma)
- If staying in an apartment with a kitchen (i.e. longer than 2 weeks/not staying in a hotel), pack our own knife, Microplane, peeler (this is an essential for David), and Tupperware (very useful to bring snacks to long days at auditions)
- Get out our European electronics kit (if going to UK/EU) -- hairdryer, plugs, electronic toothbrush, etc. I feel like they are our special gadgets for when we live like secret agents abroad... like 007...
- Take a bathing suit -- you never know, a magical long weekend may suddenly appear for a mini-break (this is usually wishful thinking)

The most difficult part of packing is gearing up to pack ourselves together to leave. After having been back in New York for a good chunk of time, it's hard to leave home again. We still haven't seen our New York friends enough, we haven't seen all the shows we'd wanted to see. Having said this, we are also looking forward to going to London for 4 weeks, which means we will get to see friends in London. It's nice that we pass through London frequently enough, we have the privilege and comfort of knowing that we will see our friends there in the not too distant future.

In some ways, I suppose we have gotten better at packing...we have developed our unique method, as it were. What we can't seem to do is pack lightly. I don't expect we ever will, really. I think we are inclined to always try to take as much of our "home" stuff with us as possible, so that we can plunk down at our next destination and make it as homey as possible.

And this time,... the Netherlands!

We are leaving for Amsterdam tomorrow afternoon. We are still not packed... been a hectic period with Christmas and all (photos to be uploaded). Today was spent running around Manhattan getting necessary items for our travels. Simon and Shannon are in town, so, remarkably or stupidly, we are going out to dinner tonight ourselves for a bit of romantic "New York dinner before we leave New York again," then going to Cielo Club with the Aussies.........

(praying we don't regret it too severely tomorrow... get those Advils ready.)

Holiday Sun Protection

No, no, it's not the Blue Spider-Man. It's David Scotchford, in his sun-protection gear.

In preparation for our holiday in Mustique, where we hope to spend much of our week swimming and snorkeling, David and I have purchased sun-protective clothing. Snorkeling exposes one's body, particularly our backs, our necks, basically, our back-sides, to sun exposure (and sun reflection on the water). As David is sun sensitive, we must go to the Caribbean and approach our water activities with caution. Enter Solumbra, a company that specializes in 30+ SPF Sun Protective Clothing and Accessories.

Here, David models the Solumbra water jacket as well as trousers (or, perhaps more accurately, leggings), as well as a balaclava and hat. The wrap-around sunglasses were a free gift. I only purchased the water jacket, as I don't need the full gear, only a good bottle of sun block (being more tan-efficient than Aussie David).

**David will wear his swim trunks OVER these leggings, in case you were wondering.

I think I shall call David in his Solumbra gear the sombrero-wearing snorkeling super-hero, SOLUMBRERO.

Here David models a sun protective shirt as he looks for crime above and beyond Central Park South.

And here are his sun-protective trousers... basically, civilian wear for Solumbrero.

(He sort of slightly looks like a bee keeper, also.)