Sunday of Lesley: Welcome

Awake the Voice, Awake the String!

I sit here in my little house, watching the sun go down and Christmas Eve beginning. It brings to mind a line…"Bob Cratchit immediately began that most pleasant of activities – the celebration of Christmas."

I spent part of the day delivering presents to friends, dropping them off on doormats and creeping away. Only once did someone catch me! It was quite fun.

I spent another part of the day at the church. It was dark and quiet inside, and the air seemed filled with an energy, as if the church is just waiting for the services tonight. I spent some time decorating, checking candles and luminaries, and wondering where the Advent wreath disappeared to (Michael…?).

It has been such a crazy few months, I never seem to be able to update here because every time I do, I realize there’s just been too much happening for a short update. Theatre, theatre, and more theatre, mostly.

My Christmas season has been filled with plays, concerts, parties, dinners, and friends. (Oh, and did I mention I filmed a movie this month, too?) And music! The best music has played through my Christmas season…this month has been filled to the brim with the contradictions of John Rutter and John Adams…Bach and Paulus…Tosca and Men Alive.

It’s been a month in which I discovered some new and very good friends, which took me by surprise and delighted me.

It’s also been a month of goodbyes. Mary. Bob. Hal…

This late afternoon hour is the last time I have to sit quietly, or to finish any last-minute detail. Because soon I have to get ready for the service, and then my life becomes a lovely whirlwind of singing, friends, candles, luminaries, stars, early rising, stockings, mince-pies-sausage-rolls-coffee, presents, cooking, eating, long-distance calls. I remember Fred always began the candlelight service by saying, “Whatever is not done by now, will have to remain undone. Take a deep breath…and let it go.” Great peace in those words.

I wish that tonight and tomorrow you may walk upon the winds with the Spirit of Christmas Present, and know him better.

Road Trippin' for Opera

I’ve been excited for ages about John Adams’ new opera, “Dr. Atomic”; I think I first heard about it a couple of years ago. I’m a huge fan of John Adams, but his operas aren’t performed all that much in Southern California, and in any case, his most recent opera was “Death of Klinghoffer”...20 years ago!!

It never occurred to me that I’d actually be able to see “Dr. Atomic” when it opened, but fate and luck smiled on me, and I have in my possession a ticket. An opening night ticket.

Yes, tomorrow night I will be at the world premiere of John Adams’ new opera. I will be in the first audience ever to see this piece, and I’m beside myself with excitement! Being at the world premiere of an opera is exciting enough, but the fact that it’s John Adams, whose work I just love...I can’t even tell you how excited I am.

I have a beautiful dress to wear and am really eager to see how the War Memorial Opera House puts on an opera premiere! I’ve been reading about it on the Internet and dropping in on music forums, and the buzz is that it’s this year’s biggest event in classical music.

So, you know, that was worth a road trip to me!

Of course, I’ve been enjoying San Francisco for the last couple of days. I’m staying very near the opera house and have been running around town with friends, eating a TON of good food, and attending some other theatre.

Which reminds me...I have to run and gussy up...the symphony tonight!

Light The Night

I have a ton of things to catch up with on this site, but I’ll start with yesterday’s event!

Through work, I became involved with the Light the Night Walk, an annual event to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

I’d been fundraising, which I’m not terribly good at, but people were very generous. And to be perfectly honest, I received more money from perfect strangers than people I knew. To raise a bit more money, Karen, Maggie and I held a bake sale last week that turned into a big event. The only downside was spending the hottest weekend of the summer in a sweltering hot kitchen...but we earned a lot of money, so it was well worth it.

The walk took place yesterday at Angel Stadium, and it was quite an event! I took some photos for work, which I’ll share here. (Though there are no photos of me; the one picture someone took of me, the sun is shining directly behind me and I look like Santa Lucia or someone.)

There was sort of a fair in front of the stadium, before the walk began, and these are some of the booths that were set up. Companies were selling food items, raffle tickets for various things, t-shirts, etc. (And of course, all the money was donated!)

This is Karen with one of the banners. The Angels and UC Riverside were the two big sponsors...ah, but look, there’s our logo as well, nice and big! Yes, we were a major sponsor.

Another view of the booths. There were bounce houses, portable bowling alleys, etc. as well. All kinds of fun!

It’s a bit hard to tell, but everyone had on a Light the Night t-shirt or their team t-shirt. There was a real sense of community. You kind of felt like you knew everyone. A lot of the teams were “Team Michelle” or “Team Andrew” or the like, where a family was walking in memory of someone with cancer. Usually a child...it was terribly sad but uplifting that their memories were being honored like that.

Maggie and Karen with their balloons. Everyone was given a balloon...white for survivors, red for supporters. The balloons had a light inside, with a wire running down to a battery...very ingenious!

At dusk, everyone gathered in their groups and headed to the start line. The dj (oh yes, there was a grandstand with music and a dj, and opening and closing ceremonies) read off the team names as they began the walk. It went alphabetically, so we were exactly halfway down the line. (That “imagine” shirt is a teammate.)

These two made our banner. Ok, it wasn’t professional, but it was charming. The paint was glittery. And that logo is hard to draw; I’ve tried!

These UCI and Wells Fargo folks weren’t in a hurry to leave their tents...being alphabetical, they were at the very end of the line!

Our team. It was kind of a chilly evening, and the t-shirts were getting covered up by jackets pretty quickly. The walk went around the parking lot, then wend around through the inside of the stadium. A couple miles, all told.

This was part of the line behind us.

This is a blurry shot (I think I was trying to do it without a flash), but you can see the hundreds and hundreds of people in the line in front of us. And...did I mention my team was only halfway down the line?

This is a perfectly awful shot, but it’s of the line behind us. They’re stretching back all the way to the stadium, and I’m at the front of the parking lot, at this point.

Ok, this is taken from across the parking lot...and the line is still stretching back to the stadium. And imagine, there are just as many people in the line in FRONT of me! What an amazing turnout. The local high schools had sent bands and cheerleaders, and all along the route, the bands were playing and the cheerleaders were doing cheers and handing out water. Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts were running around handing out water too, and the Anaheim Fire Department was driving their trucks around the parking lot, blaring their sirens and cheering us on, as well.

There’s a chain link fence behind Maggie and Karen in this picture, and all along the way, people had hung big photos of friends and family members that they were walking in memory of.

And under the Big A. You can see the lights in the balloons.

Once we were inside the stadium, the balloons looked even better. Oh, and surprise! The scoreboards were showing photos that had been taken earlier in the evening, and there my team and I were, larger than a bus!

After the walk, the party continued with raffles, music, and a closing ceremony. The light in my balloon lasted through the whole evening, and finally went out as I walking to my car.

And of course, it wouldn’t be a big charity event without Disney. When I worked at the park I loved being one of the VoluntEars, Disney cast members that would volunteer at events. I had a feeling they’d be there...and they sure were! They greeted us at the finish line. I got into a conversation with a couple of Storybook girls, which was great fun (they loved hearing about “the old days”), and even ran into a couple of friends who still work there! Anyway, I wore one of their lighted necklaces on the walk. The VoluntEars are great.

So that was the walk. I don’t know how much money they ended up raising, but I’ll post it here when I find out. A very fun evening. A very good cause.

If you’d like more information, their website is: lightthenight.org.

Maundy Monday

It’s been a while since I updated, but there are so many things that have been happening since the beginning of the year…a LOT of things!

This is the first Monday night in almost three months that I haven’t been at South Coast Rep – that’s right, SCR, baby! I’m having the time of my life over there and am meeting some of the greatest people. This is my week off, and then next week the ride all begins again! I can’t wait.

It’s a good thing I had tonight off, since Maundy Thursday is this week and I’m a bit unprepared for it. It’s been kind of a bummer putting it together this year without Fred, since we’d done it for so many years, but change is good, etc., etc.

I’m in the beginning stages of selling my condo, and it’s been an awfully difficult decision to make! It was prompted by ever-increasing association assessments (including a ginormous one that passed at a homeowner’s meeting tonight…several thousand dollars due by each homeowner!), and the amount of work and money I’ve had to put into my condo. I’ve enjoyed fixing it up, but it’s getting to the point where enough is enough. I never meant to completely renovate it and grow old here! The crime is getting pretty bad in the area and I’m not happy with a few other things in the complex, so it seems like time to move on. As well, prices have started coming down and now would be a much more profitable time to sell than a year from now.

So I’ll walk away with some nice equity (which I’ll invest), and spend perhaps a year in an apartment while I figure out where to go from here (i.e., out of Southern California). It all makes good financial sense, but man…it’s my home! It’s not easy to leave it.

Anyway, I seriously need to get back to my Maundy Thursday script!

I’ll leave you with some proof that my cat is, indeed, living the life of Riley.

*yes, that pillow really is velvet*

The Lullaby of Broadway

"What was that word you just said? Allentown? I'm offering you a chance to star in the biggest musical Broadway's seen in twenty years, and you say...Allentown?"

I enjoyed Jerry Orbach on the big screen, the small screen, and of course, the Broadway stage.

He was classy and talented and will be missed.

It's Time For Holly Jollies

I hope everyone out there had a lovely Christmas!

I'm rather tired this morning...I had a very busy (and marvelous!) Boxing Day, and that 5:00 alarm came around EARLY this morning. I love leaving my house when it's still dark, but this morning it seemed like I was truly the only creature awake. There were no cars on the road, and when I pulled into Starbucks mine was the only car in the lot.

So here I am, wearing a FANTASTIC pink, fluffy scarf that Joyce made for me (which I love; I can't even tell you how pretty it is on this grey, rainy morning), in a very quiet, empty office. I wish I could have taken this week off (with the rest of America, it seems), but I suppose it would be kind of a waste of precious vacation time, since I don't really have anywhere to go or be. And sitting home watching television would be restful, I suppose, but not really my thing. So here I am!

BUT...once the work day is over...I'm going SHOPPING! Yes, I'm going to be joining the heaving mass of consumerism at the mall. I rarely buy clothes for myself...I think nothing of spending money on housewares, but I don't spend money on pretty "non-necessities" for myself - clothes, shoes, jewelry, that kind of thing. And for the last few years (I suppose since I bought my house), gifts tend to be houseware items. So I'm going to hit the huge after-Christmas sales...and I'm not spending ANY money on housewares, only on pretty things! Perhaps a new sweater or dress? A Paul Frank item? A piece of jewelry, perhaps a little ring or bracelet? Earrings?

I sound absolutely terrible, I know. But I'm redeemed by the fact that I'm quite certain I'll spend 3 hours at the mall looking around, and never buy anything! I don't know; I can't ever seem to justify spending money on that kind of stuff for myself. I did get some beautiful clothes from Mum and Lisa, including a magnificent sweater that I wore to nearly every holiday party this year, and a pink jacket that has gotten compliments every single place I've worn it! Oh, and pink shoes. Gotta love pink shoes. (Are you sensing a pink theme this year?)

Ok, I've now talked myself out of buying anything. Well, I'll still GO to the mall. Just to check it out!

*sigh* My coffee cup is now empty...it's going to be a long day. But I did get a BUNCH of coffees and accoutrements for Christmas, so that'll keep me going for a while!

Enjoy a quite Monday in the office, if you're working; if you're off work today, why are you sitting on the computer?? Go out and enjoy the winter world!

It's Time For Wonderful Wonders

I hope everyone has been having a wonderful holiday season! According to my Starbucks cup this morning, "It's time for wonderful wonders," dontcha know.

The choir party last week was marvelous...a huge amount of people showed up, which was funny because not everybody is ever in choir at the same time, so it was odd to see that many people in the same place at the same time. The gift exchange was a lot of fun; it's a nice twist to try to give the most appropriate gift to your person, instead of a gag gift. I thought for two weeks about what to get Brian, and ended up with a Williams Sonoma cookbook, which he loved. My gift was "The Encyclopedia of Opera," from Jane. It's a beautiful book and I'm sure Ricardo will want to borrow it when I'm finished! I'm blessed to sing with, and be friends with, such an extraordinary group of people.

I don't have many photos, but I'll post them as soon as I have a moment to take them off my camera!

The following night was my office party, which was held at a nice little restaurant. It was quite a kick. An open bar combined with very young coworkers equals VERY interesting stories to tell around the water cooler on Monday! I had wine but not enough to lose my senses...and I was very much alone in that! By the end of the night almost every person was completely blitzed! It was the funniest thing. Actually, the FUNNIEST thing were the whispered conversations on Monday morning..."Did I hit on you? Did I get on the table and sing? Did I cry? I have no idea..."

I've been through a LOT of open-bar office parties and have seen too many people get crazy and really regret it later. As far as I'm concerned, it's WAY more fun to stay sober and know the real truth about what everybody did...!

I have lots of photos from that party, but sadly most of them probably need to be tossed out; they're too embarrassing for the people involved. At any rate, they're most certainly not going to be posted here!

This weekend I had my Christmas brunch, which turned out very well. I got up at the crack o' dawn on Saturday (and BOY am I glad I didn't drink enough at the office party to have a crippling hangover!), and baked my little heart out. Afterwards, I made up plates of leftovers and took them around to the neighbors. Well, they have to listen to opera year-round; it's really the least I can do.

Saturday night I spent the evening sailing around Newport Harbor (and Balboa? I don't really know) on a friend's boat...great fun, but nobody had thought to bring any food, so we ended pretty early and went to an oyster bar. Excuse me while I shudder at the thought of oyster meat sliding down my throat...barrrrrrf...but I had some lovely scallops.

I have this evening off...phew!...and then tomorrow is the best part of Christmas, "Christmas Carol" at SCR. I won tickets to "Les Mis" this week, which I'm thrilled about, also.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to mull some wine and watch "Charlie Brown Christmas."

It's Time For Making Merry

"It's time for making merry. Let's get a tree. Let's dress it up with our favorite ornaments. Let's invite the family. Let's invite our friends. Let's invite some people we don't even know. Let's get jolly under the holly."

So sayeth my Starbucks cup this morning! Ah, words of wisdom from the two-tailed siren.

The cocktail party last night was beautiful! Man, the Four Seasons at Christmastime is quite something to behold...all the lights and the unbelievable lobby displays are amazing. Lots of nice drinks, yummy food, good music, and dancing! The whole evening was very snazzy and classy (read: no one got completely pie-eyed and humiliated themselves). No chicken dance at THAT party!

I can't wait for the party tonight...it's always one of the best of the year. Tons of friends and tons of fun. And it gets a little crazy; last year...you know what, I don't think I should even tell that story on my web site! Taken out of context, it could be very misconstrued (well, it kind of was a tiny bit illegal...a tiny bit...). What happens in choir, stays in choir!

Oh, and the sleeve on my Starbucks cup says: "It's time for mistletoe kisses." Yahoo!! Although, since I'm going to a choir party tonight and an office party tomorrow, I'm not foreseeing getting all mistletoe-kissy in the near future.

Christmas Time Is Here...

Hello, and happy December!

I never seem to find time to post…my schedule has been go-go-go for the last two months. Every day I spend at work, and every evening I spend at a rehearsal or a meeting or a show or a dinner party. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?

Well, it is fun!

Let me fill you in.

Turandot ended a few weeks ago, and I jumped into Christmas prep at the church and lots of rehearsing for my Christmas concert. The concert was two weeks ago, and it was fantastic. Every seat was filled and they seemed to really enjoy it.

The funny thing is, we spent ages and ages rehearsing difficult classical pieces (including Vaughan Williams' “Fantasia on Christmas Carols”), at which the audience clapped politely. But they went absolutely CRAZY for…yeah, “Little Drummer Boy.” And “Let It Snow.” Hmm. Still, it was fun to get glitzed up; the women all try to wear the sparkliest, shiniest dress they can find. (Pretty funny to hear Rob say, “Oh good, Ann’s brought the bling.”) I wore a rather staid outfit, comparatively, a beautiful blue velvet dress. I thought it was sexy; Martha said I looked rather like the Victorian pictures of the Virgin Mary.

Anyway.

Once that concert ended, my stress level went way down and the Christmas season officially kicked into high gear. Last week I went ice-skating with friends, went to a tamale party at Ricardo’s (which was incredible), went to a dinner party at Fashion Island and did the whole holiday shindig there, spent an evening at Disneyland (except the Electrical Parade hasn’t started yet, so I’ll have to go back), and had some friends over to enjoy my Christmas decorating (and help with it, frankly). Oh, and I also saw “Polar Express” last night, and loved it!

On Saturday I hosted my very first family holiday turkey dinner! And you know I don’t put anything on the table that isn’t homemade…which is very conscientious of me, but also kept me cooking for two days straight. I was exhausted by the end of the night, but it all went really well, and I got some lovely presents.

On Sunday I went to a holiday lunch at Las Brisas, which was brilliant! I really love that restaurant. Fantastic food on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean…it doesn’t get much better than that.

I am on my way out the door in a moment to attend a cocktail party at the Four Seasons. Yes, that’s correct, the Four Seasons. Pardon me while I polish up the Mercedes.

I get to wear a red cocktail dress and feel all grown-up. I’m going solo, as the invite said I could bring my spouse, fiancée, or domestic partner. Rather politically correct, aren’t they??

Tomorrow night is my choir Christmas party, and I spent SO LONG trying to decide on a present for my Secret Santa. (Actually, I guess I’m the Secret Santa; he’d be the, what, Secret Recipient?) I hope he likes it. I’m debating on whether a gift receipt is tacky with a Secret Santa gift…

Friday night is my department party, and Saturday I’m having a Christmas brunch. Phew!

And then there’s next week…!

So much Christmas joy! So much Christmas activity! This has really been an outstanding year for having fun in the Christmas season. The past couple of years I’ve been, I don’t know, too busy or something.

Still with me after that long narration of how I spent my Christmas? Look, I’ll give you a photo of the cake I made for my family party. It was dark chocolate and Kaluha.

I thought about posting the picture of me sitting on Santa’s lap…but nah!

A Little Needling

Oh, I forgot to tell you how the dreaded blood-letting went last week!

If you recall, I was apprehensive about getting blood drawn because of my eensy-beensy-aren't-they-adorable-and-petite veins.

When the nurse saw all the prick marks on my arms and hands she said, "Hmm...work or recreation?" Heh heh. I wanted to shoot back, "Incompetent nurses, actually," but she was holding a needle and I didn't feel that was perhaps very wise.

I warned her that I have difficult and uncooperative veins (I always warn them; they never listen), and she said that I was in luck because she had a new kind of needle that had been created for children and older people with bad veins. It's called a butterfly needle, and it's tiny and has some mechanism that allows you to keep it under the skin and move it around to try to hit a vein (rather than pulling it out and rejabbing. Over and over and over.). Which, as it turns out, was great because it took her a couple of tries to get a vein. I TOLD HER SO!

But anyway, she used what I like to refer to as The Miracle Needle on me, and I NEVER FELT A THING. No exaggeration! She took 8 vials of blood, and normally it stings like the dickens when the blood is being pulled through the vein, but no joke, I didn't feel it at all. Yay new needle! Yay advances in medicine!

I got the results back and met with my doctor. He said that my cholesterol is fine (yay! oatmeal and nonfat mochas! See, I do my part), and my blood sugar and blah blah blah is all fine, but my blood pressure is high. Not as high as it was, certainly, but he said he'd put me on some medication for a couple of months and we'd see where we are then. There's nothing in my lifestyle that would warrant high blood pressure, so it may just be hereditary. Bummer.

He put me on a beta blocker and I'm not enjoying it so much. It's making me very tired...I go home after work and fall asleep on the couch! Plus it's slowwwwwwed me down. Working out is difficult because I can't get my pulse up very quickly, so I kind of run out of steam.

And oh! The dreams! Crazy, vivid dreams and nightmares! Fun!

But he said that this should only last a week or two. I hope so; I have rehearsals every day starting next week, and I'd like to be all settled in with my drugs by then.

Isn't being a grownup fun?

Ooooops...

I walked into the office this morning, happy with my venti mocha valencia, and the very first person I run into says, "Hey! You wore your jammies to work!"

I thought, how weird; what would make them say that?

Within an hour, two more people had commented on me wearing pajamas to work. I am NOT wearing pajamas at work, I insisted. I'm wearing a very cute top from Old Navy, that is fashionable and WITH IT, and they need to get out a bit more and see the fashion trends on the street. Pajamas, indeed.

After ANOTHER person made a comment about my "cute jammies," I decided I needed to prove my innocence to my fashion-ignorant co-workers, so I jumped onto the Old Navy web site.

Oh dear.

I WORE PAJAMAS TO WORK!!

Labor Day Weekend

Ok, it's the first day of my "I'm not doing anything at all for three days straight!" Labor Day weekend, and already by noon I've done more than I meant to do all weekend!

I met up with Adam, Karen, and Mike for breakfast pretty early this morning. I love being up early on a Saturday...the freeway is deserted, the streets by the mall are all deserted, and my complex is quiet. Unusual and very nice.

It was great to see my friends and catch up a bit. During the conversation, the subject of the Sawdust Festival came up, and they mentioned that they had gone last night. I thought it had closed last week with the other Laguna festivals, and was excited to realize that I still had a chance to go. There's an artist that's been out there for years, Ron Rodecker, and I've bought a few of his pieces over the years. There was an article in the Orange County Register last week about him, and about how this is his last year at the Sawdust Festival because he's moving to Northern California. I thought I'd missed out on the opportunity to buy one last piece, but no!

So of course I jumped in my car and headed down to Laguna. I was early enough to get a parking spot right in front, and the Festival was just opening as I arrived. As I was walking up to the ticket window, a nice older lady offered me an extra ticket that her group happened to have. I thanked her sincerely and she beamed. "Well, you look like a sweetheart," she said. "I'm glad to give it to you."

All righty! I took my free ticket and headed in.

The first thing I did, actually, was run into an old friend from high school. "Brian!! I can't believe it! I haven't seen you in years and years! You look exactly the same!" He looked at me, not with recognition, but with, I don't know...trepidation, maybe. And then his wife walked up. "Brian, who is this? How do you know her?" She was kinda annoyed. "Brian, don't you remember me?" I said. "You asked me to prom, for heaven's sake!" Silence. His wife glared at him, then at me. "Well...I did turn him down..." I said weakly.

And then, I'm ashamed to say, I waved goodbye, turned and ran.

End of happy high school reunion.

Anyway, I found Ron Rodecker's booth and chatted with him for a while. He's kind and interesting, and I'll miss him at the Sawdust Festival. But he said he's very much looking forward to moving. I told him how much I enjoy his paintings, and he said the greatest compliment is someone hanging his art on their walls. Perhaps, he suggested, I could someday move it into a baby's room!

I bought two pictures...I was only going to buy one, but felt kind of sad that this was my last chance, so I splurged out a bit. He very kindly signed them for me! And then, most exciting of all, he handed me a piece of paper he had been drawing on. "Here," he said, "I drew this for you." I thanked him profusely and he said, "Well, thank you for standing in my booth and brightening it up for a few minutes."

Awww...I'm really going to miss him!

I walked around the Festival for a bit. The weather was cool and clear, and the grounds were pretty deserted. A few locals strolling about with their coffee, and most of the artists were in their booths (with their coffee!). I chatted with several of them. I've always enjoyed the Sawdust Festival more than the other art festivals; everyone there is very friendly.

After I left the festival (and my prime parking spot!) I went to the Tustin library for a few books. Since I haven't used the library in aeons, I needed to get a new card. As I was signing up for it I chatted with the clerk about my time at Heritage Park, and he waived the new card fee! "Charge a former library employee? Nah, we take care of our own."

Cool deal! Who knew that I'd still be reaping County benefits.

So after a very full morning, I"m back home. And as I walked through the door, Cosette immediately reminded me that in my very full morning, I forgot to buy her food.

So back out I go!

And THEN I'm relaxing. No, really.

Dizzy Cat

Not that the Internet needs another cute cat picture, but...

Car Incident #4

I had to take my car in to the shop this week...poor thing, after the accident and the vandalism, it needed a little trip to the spa. Surprisingly, the shop guy said it would take two or three weeks to fix!!

Yikes. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it'll be ready for my trip!

So I went to the conveniently-located car rental place, and realized that I'll practically have to take a second mortgage to pay for the car rental and insurance deductible! Still, what can you do. When the girl at the rental desk smiled brightly and asked if I wanted the extra insurance, I said yes, definitely! With the way my luck has been going lately, I can't be too careful.

She took me outside to inspect the car - a blue Mazda something-or-other - and as she's inspecting it, another customer pulls out of their parking space and smashes into it.

Yeah, it's true.

Of course, it had nothing to do with me since technically she hadn't yet handed the keys over, so she dealt with the bad driver while I went back inside to get a different car. The nice man at the desk told me they had two cars left - a smaller car than the one I had originally asked for, and a minivan. "Wouldn't you rather have the minivan?", he asked. No, I most certainly would not! Do I look like the sort of person who would like a minivan? Geez, I didn't even get a Saturn sedan because I thought they were too frumpy. So I ended up with a Dodge something-or-other.

It's not so bad, and I'd forgotten about that odd rental-car smell. Sort of a mix of new car, cleaning products, and heavy air freshener. It reminds me of all the car trips in my youth. Eating dolly mix while driving through the Yorkshire Dales. Listening to my sister's Spandau Ballet tape.

In other news, I'm not as ecstatic today as I was last Friday. I think I'm just too darn tired. I do, however, have tomorrow off, which is unexpected and a little unnerving. I haven't had a full day off in I don't know how long, and I'm not sure what to do with myself! I instantly thought of spending the day at the Huntington, but I decided it might be better to stay home and do some errands, since the next two weeks are completely devoid of free time, and my vacation is coming up.

I need to go shoe shopping for my vacation! I know, that's a girly thing. But I'm realizing that none of my current shoes are comfortable enough to walk all day in. My tennis shoes, for some reason, are not all that comfortable for walking. The only shoes I would want to walk great distances in are a pair of boots and (surprisingly) two-inch high heels, neither of which I particularly want to wear every day. Much less climb around Hearst Castle in. So I may go out tomorrow and see what I can find. I can't really afford it, so I might just have to make do, but we'll see. I am a great bargain shopper.

I also want to stay home and clean, clean, clean! My house gets a bit neglected during a show and while it never quite becomes a dump, I need tidiness in my life.

I'm thinking brunch at Las Brisas sounds spectacular tomorrow. Anyone up for it? Or maybe afternoon tea...

Or maybe I'll just throw it all to the wind and go to the Huntington.