My life is something "Next to Normal".

Once again I fail at the weekly updates...I am truly sorry for those of you that check this on a regular basis.  A lot has happened in the last month of my life.  I honestly don't know how I am going to dictate it all out on blog so you can understand the happenings of my life, but I am sure going to try.

Shortly after Christmas my mom came down to Florida for the first time ever and visited her baby boy hard at work.  She was here for almost a full week and I tried to cram in everything Floridian possible so she could really get a taste of what I am doing and where I am calling home for the next months.  She saw all three shows that were playing in the theatres here, seeing my show Next to Normal twice, and even sitting in on a studio invited run of the next Cabaret show that opened the week after she left.  Tours of all the stage and studio spaces were taken and my favorite restaurants and hang outs were also visited.  Mom and I even enjoyed a beautiful candle lit sidewalk side dinner outside my favorite simple restaurant...that wouldn’t have happened at home for her in late December due to the cold factor.  The Saturday she was here we visited the weekly street market and bought some fresh produce for the dinner she made for my roomies later that evening.  The guys were stoked to have some good 'ol Mom cooking.  Mom and I shared New Years 2012 together sitting barefoot on the couch drinking a bottle of wine while flipping back and forth between the TV specials.  I couldn’t have asked for anything different in the moment.  Some times simple is best.  On my Monday off Mom and I had a busy day full of the Ringling Museum of Art on the Ringling estate, picking up shells together on both Lido beach and Siesta Key Beach, Lunch at Taiwan Flats (amazing taco place), Saint Armin’s Circle (shopping/craft store central...high scale and low scale), and a sun set dinner at the Salty Dog Restaurant (featured on the Food Network).

 
 
















 














 






















Mom's trip made me once again so grateful for the love that she and I share and I was so glad that she was able to meet the important people in my life in Florida.  While the trip was short, the memories that we had will never be forgotten.  Seeing her face light up with every adventure was my favorite part!

With the beginning of January came the prep and hype of getting ready to close Next to Normal that I and many others had been working on for over 3 months.  Where this time was full of amazing memories and gags causing much laughter, the time was also filled with knowing it was all coming to the end and our lives were about to be anything but normal again.  Trust me when I say I spent many nights the last weeks tearing up for no apparent reason.  The people in the cast had touched my life without me even knowing I am grateful for that. 

With all the packing and "last time" events that the cast and crew shared there was also some networking happening.  YAY!  The most impressive part of all this was that they were asking me for my information to share with others.  Stacia Fernandez (lady in the red dress I have talked about so much), took my resume home to Mama Mia and told me it would be on their wardrobe supervisors desk first thing when she got back to the office.  She also talked to be about how she would be going home and working but also looking for another big gig as a principle.  I was told to be ready because if she got a gig she would be negotiating in her contract that I would be her personal dresser and that I would be getting a call to move to the city and I would stay with her until we found me something.  YIKES!  Leo, the father in the show that I also dressed, also took my resume home and has already passed it on to two people.  Strangely enough, he is best friends with Bobby Pearce (Tony Award Nom. for his 2003 costume design on the Broadway musical Taboo).  Bobby came to see Leo the week before closing and I was told that they talked quite a bit about me and my dressing after the show.  Bobby asked for my information and also told Leo that he would be sending off my resume to the wardrobe supervisor in charge of the revival of Death of a Salesman (previews open in Feb.).  As I was stocked, I knew I wasn’t ready for that so soon and that I wanted to finish some things here in Florida.  Good to know my info is getting out there though and people are talking.  I also have made some great contacts that share my same business and stage morals and I am honored to have people like Scott Guthrie as a reference on my resume.  It was reassuring that I could actually do all this when EACH cast member told me to stay and touch and they would be listening for jobs for me.  It’s not everyday that you are offered a couch to sleep on until you find a place to live in NYC if that’s where you end up.

Good byes were rough and I think I spent closing weekend mostly in tears/a funk.  I was again reminded that theatre is amazing and brings people together unlike anything else can.  A friend mentioned to me at one point that in this profession we will have to say goodbye to more people in our lives/careers than any other profession, but we are also lucky because we will meet so many more amazing people too.  Wow, how true is that!?  Not only did I have to say goodbye to the cast recently, but I had to say goodbye two days later to one of my housemates/a best friends here.  Matt decided to go home as the internship had given him what he wanted and didn’t see much more coming from it.  I support his decision but let me tell you, it sucks on my end.  Life is not the same and the apartment just doesn't feel the same.  I am not good at byes to begin with so these last weeks have been extra rough.  In fact, I went to see a show the other night (since I now have my nights back again) and I should have been sad and crying during most of it.  I had nothing else to give and sat there stone faced but moved. 


Matt and I at the Sports Page Bar.

I have since gotten back to my 9am-6pm schedule in the Costume shop and am working on a couple cool projects.  I have started to learn the Russian dress making system that my boss learned at a NYC dress making school in the 70's.  I have drafted a body block for a size 6 model and will use that along with some learned draping to make three different dresses.  One, a 30's evening dress, another, a 40's cocktail dress, and lastly, a period corset dress.  Pictures of designs soon and pictures of the process as it continues.  I was also recently given my own show to work on.  I was given a long time revival for FST, Sophie Tucker – The Last of the Red Hot Mamas.  It is an inventory pull show for me but I am getting to do all the prep, paperwork, and work on the show.  Learning lots with it and finding that I am pretty good at it (small shoulder brush).

The best part of the show closing is that I get to come home and be a real person cooking dinner, I am getting to go see things at other theatres, and even catching some sporting events.  Tomorrow I will be going to get some $10.00 student rush tickets for Made in America at the Sarasota Ballet (performing at the Asolo Theatre).  ALSO THIS WEEK!!!!!!....I am going to my first NHL game!!!!!  I will be seeing the Tampa Bay Lighting vs. the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night in Tampa.  A friend got me tickets because she knew how much I missed going to hockey every week like I did all through college with the Spokane Chiefs.  SO STOKED!!!!

Life is anything but normal for me but I am learning slowly and in hard ways sometimes that that is okay.  I have learned through working on N2N that there is never a “normal” and something “next to normal” is okay.  It's about the process and living!  I have lunch with a woman that dressed in Broadway for over 10 years next week and I am trying to figure out life after FST.  At this point, I struggle with it all everyday but I try to remember to trust and know there is plan for me...if I could get a copy of that plan though I would be okay with that :)


Next to Normal Cast and Crew - Florida Studio Theatre 2011

I miss home still but am excited about the idea of getting to come home for a short period of time in July for the wedding of two amazing friends....and heck yes I will be sporting the Maid of Honor title (well not really but doing the duties that come with it).

Off to go play in the sun on this day off! :)