I Want To Be At The Top Of Your Blog Roll

OK...so, obviously my "newest" post which was started several weeks ago still shows up at the bottom of everyone's blog roll. Hence, this post to put me at the top! Yes, I still owe you all posts on Mexico and Puerto Rico. I can do Mexico here as that's primarily photos.

Check out Excellence Playa Mujeres. We visited November 27-December 2. We had a day added onto our trip when US Airways canceled our outbound flight...thanks! They put us up in a nice Courtyard Mariott, but it was not an Excellence Resort.

After emailing the hotel prior to our visit that this would be our 4th stay at an Excellence property, they upgraded us to the Excellence Club upon arrival. Note that no matter what time of year we visit, I always say we're celebrating our anniversary. Only once have we been given the proper anniversary treatment (banner, flowers, etc.). The upgrade was nice in some ways (all the alcohol in the room, proximity to the Excellence Club Lounge, and the use of the Lounge-the picture with the peach rose was us eating snacks in the Lounge. They have the BEST mocha coffees there, too!). However, if you stay in the Excellence Club at Playa Mujeres you can hear the construction noise next door.

I'm HUGELY noise adverse, and the construction noise was heard from our patio and it was a minus in my book. It wasn't a deal breaker...like the one night people were talking in the hot tub below our room....now THAT was annoying! For the most part, I could ignore the construction. We spent every day laying out at the beach away from that part of the property.

You could see Isla Mujeres in the distance.

Overall, it's a close tie between Excellence Playa Mujeres and Excellence Riviera Cancun. EPM is newer which I love. But the drive to ERC is a shorter drive with less traffic. The beaches are about the same at both properties, however, we did have the clearest day at EPM....so clear we could see fish as we walked through the water.

We thought the day and night entertainment was better at ERC. The dinners overall were better at ERC as well. The service was better at EPM. Josh said we won't return to either property because he wants to go somewhere that has big ocean waves. We may be checking out Excellence Punta Cana next year in the Dominican Republic.

This is our traditional departing Cancun snapshot. 5th time we've taken it. Except after taking the photo this time, we found out our flight was canceled and that we'd have to stay in Cancun one more night. Now, I would have been ok with this if Josh decided to splurge and stay at an Excellence resort. As it was, we went with what was provided for free-the Courtyard Marriott Airport Hotel. Josh was introduced to the "all inclusive bracelet" that most hotels in Cancun make you wear...that's why we stay at places that DON'T make you wear one.

No matter where we are in the world, you will always find a picture like this where Josh is watching tv.

This was THE MOST GARRISH, BRASH. and FLASHY wreath ever! I should have videoed it. Anyway, although it was just a Marriott, I decided to treat the night right and got dressed up before heading downstairs for the included dinner. The dinner was not so good and I got complain-y before Josh reminded me that so many people in the world would be thankful for the meal that we were eating that night.

Now, normally, I might roll my eyes at that concept. "Yes, clean your plate because there are starving people in China." But that night, when he said that, it really struck a chord. Although it was far from the best food, at least it was food and I wasn't going hungry.

The next day, I spent the morning trying to send a fax to the office in Phoenix. We ate some breakfast, caught our transfer to the airport, and fortunately were able to fly out of Cancun without incident. Rather than flying direct (as we had when we arrived) we had to connect in Dallas. We finally made it back to Phoenix (visiting the wrong parking garage before finding our car). It was back to work the next day (Thursday) and I flew out to Puerto Rico on Saturday night!

Mom's Visit (November 6-12)

I'm back....after what can only be described as the world's longest blogging hiatus....ok....not the longest, but still, it's been awhile. Let's recap the mad-life that's been Janell's life for the last 6 weeks or so....

My mom came to visit Phoenix November 6-12. The fact that she flew out here is an amazing testament to the power of.........A FREE TICKET! No, her love for me would not make her fly out here, however, when her boss gave her a free, roundtrip ticket, she could not refuse - Thanks Dale!

The last time my mom flew was 5 years ago to visit Josh and I in New Mexico. She has TMJ and experienced such excruciating pain that she said she would never fly again...hence, why she didn't visit us in New Zealand last year. Well, a free ticket and a direct flight from Tulsa to Phoenix convinced her to come out west.

As her smile indicates, she flew pain free and we all were very happy about that! It means there is hope for her to visit us again in the future! We shared the strangest interaction in the elevator in the parking deck. I was speaking to my mom and she was just staring at me like she couldn't hear me. We'd only not seen each other for 3.5 months but it was like she was seeing me for the first time.

After dinner at Carrabba's were I splashed some sauce on my white shirt bought in China (thank goodness for Tide sticks) we just spent that night at home and on Friday, Josh and I had to go to work. That meant mom got to enjoy our house by herself. She turned the fountain on, watched the golfers, ironed her clothes, and took it easy. We'd built in this "do nothing" day so that if she did experience pain flying, she would have a day to recover. Friday after work (I got off a little bit early) I drove back home to pick up my mom (wow, the house seemed so alive even just having one other person in it), called the Yard House to put our name on the list, and drove to "Tailgators" to pick Josh up from his Happy Hour event.

Good thing we'd called ahead for the Yard House, too. When we showed up, the line was out the door and there was a wait of over an hour! We were like VIPs as we walked up and were immediately seated. It was so crowded because there was a Carrie Underwood concert going on that night in Jobing Arena which is part of the whole Westgate complex.

Dinner was good but my mom had a killer migraine for most of the meal. She felt better after dinner and it was so funny to watch her beckon the stilt walker guy over to her by curling her index finger in a come hither movement. Too funny!

After people watching for awhile (there was some karaoke going on) we headed home. The next morning, we were up and heading North to Sedona and the Grand Canyon. Josh wasn't paying attention while he was driving and he missed the Sedona exit. It took awhile to find an (illegal) place to turn around. Fortunately, our turn around site didn't have a cop in it....that would have been bad!

Onto Sedona, but first we pulled off the road to view the Red Rocks. This place was AWESOMELY BEAUTIFUL and easily accessible. My mom bought a couple of souvenirs and she bought me something that I would not buy myself because I don't usually buy "things." It is a leaf that has been covered in clay and cooked in a kiln and glazed. It's turquoise blue. I love it. Plus, we decided that if she bought it for me, it would have more significance. My mom and I talked to the cashier lady. I love my mom.

Next, we went to find some lunch. It was at this point Josh and I my mom began to make fun of the "planner" in me because both my number 1 and number 2 choices for restaurants in Sedona were only open for dinner. Nice. So, as we head into town, we see this cute cafe, Cafe Jose, and we decide to check it out.

The food was GREAT! We all had burgers and fries. Okay, my burger could have had a bit more seasoning if it was going to be perfect, BUT, nevertheless, the food was really good and affordable. Oh my goodness, this might be a "you had to be there story," but as we were all talking about how good everything was, my mom said, "You know the only thing that would make this place better was if I wasn't distracted by that guy cooking outside."

We were like, "What, who's cooking outside?" and we looked out the window that my mom was looking out of. Turns out, she was watching the guys in the kitchen being REFLECTED in the restaurant window and thought that there were people cooking outside :) Oh my gosh...that story CRACKS ME UP! I wish I had a picture of the reflection but the laptop that I uploaded those photos to is currently DEAD :(

We left lunch in a hurry to make it to the Grand Canyon in time for sunset. We made a few stops for pictures as we headed north. We did make it to the Grand Canyon in time to catch the sunset...but not before I asked the park ranger at the entrance about this "secret best place" to view the sunset I'd read about online. The park ranger was like, why don't you just go where everybody else is going? And again, my travel notes were scoffed at!

Nevertheless, we found a pretty quiet and isolated place to view the sunset...and we must have looked like we knew where we were going because one guy was following my mom and I until we told him we didn't know where we were going. Here are some pictures from sunset.
I never liked the Grand Canyon the two other times I visited. Once was to the North Rim and once was to the South Rim. This time was better because it wasn't quite as cold on the South Rim as last time. Plus, it was nice to share it with my mom as it was her first time to visit.

After the Grand Canyon, we went to check in at the Holiday Express in town. If you don't already know, I am VERY PICKY about which hotel room I stay in. I want to be on the top floor, away from the elevator and street noise....basically, I'm noise adverse. I figure, you're paying the same price for the room no matter what, you might as well get the best room you can.

We booked two rooms at the Holiday Inn. One for my mom and one for Josh and I. The hotel had no occupancy either. The first room (my mom's) was uber nice and had been remodeled. The (first) room they gave to Josh and I was located next to the Housekeeping Laundry Room and it STUNK!

That would not cut it. So, back downstairs I went to change the room. The second room still wasn't remodeled like my mom's room, however, at least it didn't smell bad. In a way, I felt bad because it seems kinda bitchy, but at the same time why not?

So, rooms settled (I would be staying with my mom that night because her two queen beds were pillowtop, unlike the other room) it was time to figure out dinner. We decided we wanted to stay in rather than going out to eat. We had heard that the Pizza Hut in town wasn't good (perhaps a ploy from the front desk staff to support the local pizzeria rather than the chain....but it worked). That meant we were going to eat at the local place called "We Cook Pizza."

Josh and I called ahead, however, we still waited over 20 minutes before I went up to the girl and asked about our food. She found it (and that it had been sitting there for about 20 minutes as well). I asked if there was a manager because we had to wait when our food was already done and they gave us a free salad for our trouble. I must admit it was pretty cool waiting around in the pizza place though because it was such an international hang out. So many different nationalities were there to visit the Grand Canyon...too cool.

The pizza was really good and after we had dinner it was off to bed because we were going to get an early start the next day to catch the sunrise. Here's my thought on getting up for sunrise at the world's best known touristy locations.....it's ALWAYS worth it. No matter what.

Yes, it's early. Yes, it goes against my everyday rule that getting up while it's still DARK is just wrong. However, I've never been disappointed when I've awoken before dawn to see the sunrise whether it was over the temples at Angkor Wat or at the Grand Canyon. Of all the pictures that I've taken all over the world, quite possibly my favorite are those below of my mom and I watching the Grand Canyon sunrise (thanks to Josh for catching it on film). My mom was so cute wearing her flip flops and my borrowed coat in the cold.

After sunrise (which turned out to be the brightest part of the morning as the rest of the day was gray and cloudy), we tried to leave the park but got turned around and ended up finding where they house all the mules for those rides down into the canyon. I got a hoot out of seeing the mules tied up next to the vehicles (so much so that my mom and Josh were waiting in the car for about 10-15 minutes while I found the perfect shot).

We returned to the hotel to eat breakfast (really good food but very crowded breakfast room). After breakfast, we loaded up and headed out to Vegas. 4 hours later we arrived at our destination and parked the car at the Flamingo Hotel. The line for check in was short (miracle) but the first two rooms they gave us (while conveniently located) were not properly cleaned. Another episode of Janell-as-the-never-satisfied-hotel-guest ensued and we were given two new rooms in the boonies.

Well, we had tickets to watch Cirque's "O" that night, so Josh and I ran over to the Bellagio to pick up the tickets from Will Call. When we returned to the hotel, we decided to eat at the Flamingo Buffet since each room came with at $30 credit for booking through orbitz.

The buffet was average and although we tried to tell my mom about making a small plate with lots of different samples on it....her eyes were bigger than her stomach for her first plate. Our favorite buffet is the Wynn buffet (and that's where we were slated to eat the following evening). Oh, I must note that the waitress first tried to seat us by the kitchen (hello, does she know who she's dealing with) but that ultimately, we ended up with seats facing the waterfall, flamingos, and ducks.

After dinner, my mom and I headed out before Josh so we could stop at Bill's Gamblin Hall and Saloon next door to the Flamingo. My mom bought a $3 bottle of water (outrageous) before proceeding to win $8 on her first slot machine....lucky girl.

Onto watching "O." I know I don't have kids and don't plan to, however, watching my mom experience "O" might be the closest thing I ever experience that is like having a child. Just watching her reaction to the show and being able to share that with her was so cool! I felt bad that it was my fourth Cirque show in less than a year and while everyone says "O" is the best Cirque show, it might very well be my least favorite. I'll never forget my mom leaning over as the curtain went up and her saying, "Awesome."

After the show, we walked around the Bellagio and viewed the Conservatory.

That night I suffered my "pains." I've felt these EXCRUCIATING pains off and on for the last 4 years or so. It's like an alien is eating through my middle abdomen. The last time I felt it on a severe level was in Hong Kong last November during our Asia travels. This night, I could hardly sleep due to the pain and contemplated a visit to the E.R. but I didn't want anything to detract from my mom's visit and when I don't feel the pain (which comes in waves) I'm fine.

The next day, I called my brother who has had an ulcer before to see if my symptoms match his. His response, "I'm not a doctor. Ask a doctor." True, so I bought some Tums and tried to make due. I wondered if it's my gall bladder because my mom had her's removed in her early 30's.

I was mostly fine throughout the day as we visited various sites on the Strip. Josh and I were a little out-of-sync today and I don't know why. We got back on track in time to eat dinner (at lunch prices) at the Wynn buffet. Because of my intense pains earlier in the day (which sporadically hit me) I didn't get to enjoy dinner at the Wynn as much as I'd like. I did eat shrimp, sushi, and 8 creme brulees as per usual though. It was wonderful to share GREAT food with my mom.

After dinner at the Wynn, it was onto Phantom of the Opera at the Venitian. Great show although I agree with the tripadvisor reviews that say the speed of the songs was a bit hyped up as compared to the original. My mom, who's never seen the show before, had no complaints.

We departed the following day, and I didn't want to leave. In part, I didn't want to leave Vegas and in part, I think I knew it meant the end of my mom's visit and the end of my vacation and a return to work. Before we left though, we went to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe. Our waitress was awesome (it was her first day) and she gave us all hugs when we left.

We made the 5 hour drive back to Phoenix and my mom washed clothes before packing up for the return trip home. The following morning, Josh and I showed my mom around the West campus before Josh took her to the airport that morning. Ugh....I was sooooooooo bummed out that she left!!!!

She made the flight back to Oklahoma without pain....we're a go on future plane rides I think. The only bad thing was that she had a lot of turbulance on that flight. Man, I miss my mom.

Halloween and Camping

So, I've been away for awhile...with good reason! In addition to work keeping us super busy, our social calendar has also been full. I'll start with the weekend of Halloween, October 31-November 2. I dressed up in a 80's prom dress I'd got at a Fayetteville yard sale...one trash bag full of clothes for $5...this dress included....a wild deal! I always wanted to wear it but never had the occasion...Halloween was the perfect excuse and I got to wear my dress at work all day. I loved that!

After work that night, Josh and I went to Walmart to buy Halloween candy. Josh said that people in his office said that they always had tons of trick-or-treaters, so we had better be prepared. Well, this was our first Halloween as homeowners and we went all out. We figured what we didn't hand out, we could return to Walmart.

Around 7, the doorbell rang and I gave a little ninja boy 3 pieces of candy (he was probably 2 or 3 years old, he didn't say a word, and his mom was at the end of the driveway trying to prompt him to say, "Trick or Treat." He opened his pillowcase for the candy and left as I waved to his mom.

About 15 minutes later, we could hear people outside, so Josh opened the door and no one was there but we could see kids walking down the street. The kids went to other houses but not ours. I said Josh must have scared the kids away! That, or because our house wasn't decorated people didn't come by...we did have our lights on though.

Later that night, on the local news, we heard pedophiles/registered sex offenders are not allowed to decorate their houses for Halloween....uh, next year we WILL be decorating and hoping for more kiddos to drop by...we still haven't got around to returning ALL the Halloween candy yet either.

We also started loading up the car on Halloween night, because we were driving to Joshua Tree National Park the following day to go camping with Ryan and Lisa. Ryan is our friend from high school who currently lives in San Diego with Lisa, his girlfriend of two years.

On Saturday morning, Josh and I finished loading up the car and we were headed out by 9:30. It was about a 5 hour drive to Joshua Tree...or so we thought. As it turned out, when we reached the park, and went into the information center to see where the campsite that Ryan and Lisa had reserved for us was located, it was an additional 2 hour drive north!!!

You should have seen Josh interacting with the park ranger as she took out the park map to explain our location to us. The first time she told Josh that our campsite was 2 hours away, he was like, "2 hours?!?!" Yes. Then, as we were leaving, Josh asked if it was a 2 hour drive to the campsite. I told him, no matter how many times you ask, it will still be 2 hours away!

We drove through the park, driving past some large boulders that reminded me of the Flintstones as there were RVs parked next to the rocks.

We finally reached the campsite and met with Ryan and Lisa. It was my first time in seeing Ryan since our wedding 4 years ago and my first time to meet Lisa. Everything was easy going and not awkward. I really love when that happens with people. It's just natural and not weird.

We set up our tent and ate some snacks before realizing we'd need more firewood and items for making smores. As I mentioned on facebook, Ryan and Lisa don't shop at Walmart, so when Lisa and I made a run for supplies, we stopped at a small Mexican grocery store to get firewood, marshmellows, and graham crackers.

Personally, I cannot understand the concept of not shopping at Walmart because it has questionable employment practices and uses outsourcing. I mean, who's to say that the mom and pop store you're shopping at doesn't use similar tactics in order to save money? But, I still shopped at the local store. It begs the question though, when one is in a similar situation, who should bend to accomodate the other person? Why was I willing to go to the local shop but Lisa didn't go to Walmart? Was it determined by the driver, who, in this case was Lisa? Just a thought.

After the shopping excursion, we roasted hot dogs and the infamous smores were not that great and went mostly uneaten. The hot dogs, however, were fabulous. We played Whoonu and Taboo in our tent. Oh my goodness, I had some BIG BELLY LAUGHS that night. It was so much fun and I hope we can make some Phoenix friends in order to play games and laugh like that again.

Just to remember, and some of you may find this totally inappropriate, but man I laughed so hard I just don't want to forget. Throughout the night the wind had blown so hard (and even rained lightly) that Ryan and Lisa had accidently knocked over two cans of soda in the tent at different times...getting our pillow soaking wet and the blankets wet, etc. The second time it happened, as I put the used, wet towel to dry on the picnic table outside the tent, I could hear Lisa saying, oh, I'm so sorry you guys, etc. I popped my head into the tent and said, "That's okay, I just took a dump in your tent, so we're even."

To end the night, we played Taboo. Ryan and I were on a team. We were down by 10 points, or 5 cards, and we had to get all the points to win.

The first word for the final round that Ryan pulled up was "Mistake." Ryan gave me the clue, "We cannot make a ...." AND HE GOT BUZZED by Josh for using the word "MAKE." It was just a pefect way to end a losing game! I hope the funniness of that story translates in the blog and it's not one of those, "you had to be there" moments.

Despite my fears of staying in a campsite that was so close to other sites (I hate noise), I think we ended up being the last to go to bed that night around 1:30 or 2 am. You should have seen the stars that night. The stars were amazing in their clarity even though we weren't too far from a town (one of the plusses-firewood and supplies-and minuses-it felt like we were cheating "camping" so close to civilization). The only time stars were clearer was when we camped in the Australian Outback....I don't even think the stars in Palmerston North were as abundant as we were right in the middle of town there.

As Josh and I lay in the tent, I was very snug and comfortable laying on the air mattress in my sleeping bag, the wind began to kick up even more. I could not sleep with the flapping noises of the tent, so eventually, I went to sleep in the car, sleeping on the driver's side because the seat leaned back further. A couple of hours later, Josh joined me and made me scooch over to the passenger's side....thanks!

Around 8 am, everyone was awake and although we'd brought things to make breakfast, we just took down camp and drove into town to eat at a restaurant there. The food took forever to arrive but we had a good chat and when we did eat our food, it was great.

When we left, Ryan gave us a great compliment by saying that we were still the same down-to-earth people he remembered and Lisa said that we were the best of Ryan's friends that she's met. I did my happy dance in the middle of the parking lot when I heard that :)

As we left Joshua Tree a different way than we arrived, we saw some awesome mountains and it all made sense why it had been so freaking windy at night as we saw the massive windmills generating energy. The final picture below is of a mountain we saw during our long drive back home. Just to end - I love Phoenix.

I Got The Part!!!

Oh my goodness-I just found out I get to be in the Vagina Monologues! Plus, I get to do "My Vagina Was My Village" and "The Vagina Workshop" pieces. Yay! I'm so excited I want to tell the world...my first performance!

I totally missed the phone call when it came because we were watching Charlie Wilson's War at home. I had the phone close by, however, I totally did not hear it vibrate. So, I checked my voicemail about an hour after the message was sent. First rehearsal is November 15th.

I'm so happy I get to perform My Village. It's so emotional and heavy and real. I really feel honored that I get to tell that story for those women impacted by rape as a tactic of war.

Audition

I went to my very first audition yesterday. I've always wanted to try acting but have been too nervous to try out. Remember, how I said I'd get to the door and not walk through. Well, yesterday, I walked through the door.

I started off on Saturday morning getting up around 8:30. My mind was giving me a list of reasons why I shouldn't go: Tempe is too far away, I don't want to commit to a time consuming project, blah, blah. I really didn't want to go, however, I told myself that if I say I am going to do something, then I need to follow through with it.

I went to Walgreens to make a copy of a picture of myself to submit with my audition application. That didn't take too long and I came back to the house to eat some breakfast and watch examples of the Vagina Monologues on youtube to familiarize myself with some of the material (I'd read the play a couple of weeks ago).

Josh had to run up to the West campus from 10:30-11:30 to check on how his event that he helped organize was going. Josh needed to be back at 11:30 exactly so I could make it on time to my 1:00 audition in Tempe (I actually needed to arrive a bit earlier than that so I could familiarize myself with the material).

At 11:45 Josh pulled into the driveway and we did a quick switch of drivers. I was off to Tempe following directions from Mapquest. Oh the joys and perils of living in a big city. T-R-A-F-F-I-C on a Saturday afternoon was killer and my Mapquest direction did not indicate the access to Interstate 10 East would be completely BLOCKED OFF! Seriously?!?! I took I-10 West and turned around on the first overpass I came to (again, mucho traffico).

Despite all the set backs, I was determined to continue trying to make it to the audition. Would you believe that when I got close to the ASU campus, I saw that it was parents' weekend AND the day of a football game? Incredible! Where in the world would I park and where in the heck in Memorial Union (student union)?

As luck would have it, I did find a meter spot that was good for a total of ONE HOUR. It was 12:35 and I needed to be in the MU by 1:00. $1.50 later, I was walking through a sea of parents and college kids, stopping to ask a complete stranger where the MU was located and being told, "Over there, ma'am." Hmm...I'm getting the "ma'am" now.

Into the MU, into the bathroom for a quick hair check and self pep talk. Onto the audition room and I'm not feeling too nervous. Just a little hands/knees shaking, buzzing in my ear sound, as I try to focus on what I'm being told regarding selecting two dramatic pieces and three comedic pieces to read and pick my favorite to present to the director/producer.

I was happy to see that my favorite piece, "My Vagina Was My Village," was an option for the dramatic piece and I decided that this was the monologue I would perform. Here is the poem:

My vagina was green, water soft pink fields, cow mooing, sun resting, sweet boyfriend touching lightly with soft piece of blonde straw.

There is something between my legs. I do not know what it is. I do not know where it is. I do not touch. Not now. Not anymore. Not since.

My vagina was chatty, can’t wait, so much, so much saying words talking, can’t quit trying, can’t quit saying, oh yes, oh yes.

Not since I dream there’s a dead animal sewn in down there with thick black fishing line. And the bad dead animal smell cannot be removed. And its throat is slit and it bleeds through all my summer dresses.

My vagina singing all girl songs, all goat bell ringing songs, all wild autumn field songs, vagina songs, vagina home songs.

Not since the soldiers put a long thick rifle inside me. So cold, the steel rod cancelling my heart. Don’t know whether they’re going to fire it or shove it through my spinning brain. Six of them, monstrous doctors with black masks shoving bottles up me too. There were sticks and the end of a broom.

My vagina swimming river water, clean spilling water over sun-baked stones, over stone clit, clit stones over and over.

Not since I heard the skin tear and made lemon screeching sounds, not since a piece of my vagina came off in my hand, a part of the lip, now one side of the lip is completely gone.

My vagina. A live wet water village. My vagina my hometown.

Not since they took turns for seven days smelling like feces and smoked meat, they left their dirty sperm inside me. I became a river of poison and puss and all the crops died, and the fish.

My vagina a live wet water village.

They invaded it. Butchered it. And burned it down.

I do not touch now.

Do not visit.

I live some place else now. I don’t know where that is.

This poem is so powerful to me that I cry/tear up every time I read it. To get me over my nerves, I started talking to one of the girls in the room while I waited. I wasn't feeling nervous when my name was called to go into the audition room.

I walked across the hallway, it felt like slow motion, I'll never forget opening the door into the room knowing that THIS IS IT. I smiled and introduced myself to the two ladies sitting at the table eating their Quizno's lunch. I took my place standing in front of them holding my script in hand.

They asked me some questions about how comfortable I was talking about vaginas, etc. And they asked why did I want to be in this show. I told them, "Honestly, I wanted to audition/act for a long time and I wasn't go to let myself back out of it anymore. I said I was determined to walk through that door today. My second motivation was to be in the show because it was about women."

When I started to read, I was so FREAKING NERVOUS. Like, my knees were shaking and my voice was wavering. Nervous like I haven't felt since giving a presentation in high school or college.

Then, it was over. They told me that they would be making call backs between 4-8 that night. I headed back to the parking lot and called Josh and my mom...trying not to cry as I walked in front of all the students and their parents again.

When I got in the car, I just cried and cried driving home. I was so emotional. I guess it was from all the adrenaline of giving the performance and being so nervous and knowing I could have done better if I had calmed myself down.

After crying, I felt very relieved and at peace. I was very proud of myself for following through and trying something new that I always wanted to do. Regardless of the outcome, I did it!

As I reached the driveway of the house, I thought about something Josh and I had talked to Nate and Laura about at Taste of Thai right before we moved to Phoenix. We were talking about whether moving to a new place would make you grow as a person. I thought it would because you would develop more flexibility and adaptability. However, now I think that while that is true, you also have to keep challenging yourself with new experiences if you want to grow as a person. I'm growing!

I was a bit drained after that experience so I laid down to take a nap. Around 6:00 the phone rang and it was Alissa, the director, calling to invite me to a call back on Sunday. Yay! I must not have been too terrible! That phone call gave me some confidence to bring into the audition today.

So, since my call back was at 10:50 on Sunday, Josh and I decided to go to the Saturday service at CCV that began at 6:15. We ended up being 15 minutes late but were able to hear the entire service. The church campus is BEAUTIFUL at night. Normally, Josh and I go to the Alternative Service building, however, on Saturday night, only the Contemporary Service hall is open. It's all very nice, new, and BIG.

After the service we walked around for a bit...there's a cafeteria on site, an outdoor grill area where they serve hot dogs and hamburgers, a really nice outdoor fireplace area, and all the palm trees are lit and festive looking.

We came home and we picked up the house a bit before watching SNL and going to bed.

This morning, I woke up at 8:30 and got ready to drive to Tempe again. The drive wasn't so bad...until I got close to the ASU campus and saw that the ARIZONA IRON MAN competition was going on!!! What the freak-how am I supposed to get to campus, let alone park?!?

Fortunately, time was on my side (for the most part). After following the orange cones of part of the competition course (an obstacle course for drivers while bicyclists and runners are passing me in my vehicle), I made a huge loop and parked in the football stadium parking lot. The stadium is a good 1 to 1.5 mile trek to the MU and all I knew was that from where I was located, the MU was SOUTH so that's the direction I started walking.

I just typed walking, however, I was RUNNING. I had 20 minutes before my assigned time and I wanted to be able to view the material before reading again. Eventually, I reached the MU and had time to wipe the sweat off my brow in the bathroom before entering the audition room.

This time, there were a bunch of girls in there and lots of different script selections. Alissa told me I would be reading "My Vagina Was My Village" and "The Vagina Workshop" as part of an ensemble cast. I read the new material for about 5 minutes before being called into another room with 4 other ladies to read.

We each had different sections to read and it was fun to see others perform and to perform myself. I was not nervous like yesterday at all. I liked it.

That piece done, I returned to the waiting area and reviewed the other piece. Soon enough, one other girl and I were called in to read the Village piece. Alissa told us that this piece is very "bi-polar" as it shifts from happy to sad and that she thought about two people speaking during this piece but we each would perform the entire piece independently.

Honestly, I thought the other girl, who read first, was flat and lacked energy. Not saying that my acting ability was Wowie or anything but I did do more than just stand there a read without inflection.

My turn again...not nervous...I love that poem.

I thought that was all for me but when I went into the waiting room, they asked me to review and read one more piece. I familiarized myself with it and then spent time talking to a girl who has traveled heaps all over the world. I went in and read my last piece, not so connected to the material but still having a good time.

Alissa said that they will call by 9:00 tonight with their selections. Sure, it would be GREAT to be validated by being selected (and, I would really like to perform the Village poem), however, I feel like I kinda already have been validated at this point AND I wouldn't have to drive to TEMPE again :)

Now, I know I can audition and no one can take that away from me. I did something I've always wanted to do. Now, I'll just look for auditions in Glendale and the West campus :)

Birthday Pictures

Melting Pot fondue dinner October 17, 2008

I liked how we had pink and blue utensils.

I need wine if I'm going to be cooking my own food, ya'll.

Best dessert I've had in awhile-the chocolate fondue had melted marshmellows in it.

I wish I could remember what was so funny! We always love to crack jokes though.

Josh working on the water pipes at the front of the house all weekend.

Birthday cupcakes....worth the calorie splurge.

So much to do before the big 3-0 next year.

Flowers and candy corn from Josh on my birthday. We'd spent two separate shopping trips to Walmart looking for candy corn without success. Josh went to the grocery store to buy me some for my birthday. He also gave me money to use at a spa during our travels. Oh, but I'll never do a couples massage with Josh again after our experience in Queenstown, New Zealand last year-think Josh's bed creaking as the girl is really working him over and I'm trying to relax to that atrocious noise!

29th Birthday!

So, my birthday celebrations started on Friday, October 17th. On Friday night, Josh and I made a 9:00 reservation for the Melting Pot (fondue restaurant) in Scottsdale. Scottsdale is 45 minutes from Glendale. We arrived to the restaurant at 8:15 or so...so, we had to wait.

Around 9, we began the whole fondue experience. We started with cheese fondue with bread and veggies to dip (just okay). Then, we had a very ordinary tasting Ceaser salad. Then, the meats came out (salmon, filet mignon, tenderloin, chicken, and shrimp). Each meat had a different dipping sauce to try. At this point, I felt like I was going to puke. I don't think the human body is designed to eat/digest various types of meat products at the same time. Not to mention the fact that you're paying top dollar for the experience of cooking your own food, and, in our case it was about 11:00 at night and we were the only people left in the restaurant.

That said, we had to get dessert (because we had a free coupon and who doesn't want to eat chocolate fondue?). Dessert was by far the best part of our dining experience. We won't be going back to the Melting Pot ever again (too far away and pricey), however, if you go, I recommend only getting dessert there.

On Saturday, Josh and I mainly stayed at home and watched videos. Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day is the best movie we've watched in awhile. We've seen some real stupid videos lately like Speed Racer, Choking Man, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and Wristcutters (well, Wristcutters was okay...somewhat interesting and I really liked the ending).

On Sunday, we went to church although we were running behind schedule. Josh had been dealing with a small water leak on the outdoor pipes on the front of the house (the ones that give water to all our plants in the front yard). At church, we had to sit at the very front row and our view was looking straight up at the screens (just like you want to avoid when you go to the movies). CCV is doing a series on money and finances. It's really good and interesting.

Josh and I ate some lunch out from Pick Up Stix (oh my goodness, the Pad Thai was horrible!). We did some grocery shopping at Walmart after that. It was at Walmart, standing in line at the bakery, where I had an interesting conversation with a stranger.

I was trying to decide between cupcakes or a small birthday cake for myself. This slightly overweight, middle age lady looks at me and says, "You shouldn't eat that if you want to keep your nice figure." I'm thinking, "Hello! It's my birthday!" The lady proceeded to tell me that she used to weigh 108 pounds before having 3 kids and gaining 60 pounds. Now, she's on Weight Watchers and counting her points.

She then told Josh that he, and other guys, can pull off the extra weight that they carry around. By the end of the conversation, I was really wondering whether or not I wanted to buy myself any dessert. However, I came to my senses, and noted that I would just eat cupcakes rather than having kids, and I'll be able to keep my figure that way :)

That evening, Josh and I went to watch W. at the movie theater. I thought the acting was good and it was an interesting story. When the movie ended, however, the older couple sitting behind us were pretty vocal about how they thought the movie was a bunch of crap. I don't know the reasons why they thought it was crap, but apparently, they didn't like it. I couldn't believe it cost almost $20 for two movie tickets...now that, is crap!

We did get free popcorn, however, since Josh told the girl that tomorrow was my birthday. I swear I felt like a teenage girl about to die from embarrassment when he said that...but, the popcorn with cheddar cheese flakes that you can dump on it from a canister, was delicious.

On Monday, my actual birthday, Josh had a crazy work day so we didn't see each other but in passing throughout the day. My day start off by getting lots of facebook messages and e-cards from friends which was super nice. Then, later in the day at work, my coworkers completely surprised me with a card, balloon, and brownies. The birthday card was PERFECT, too. Something about me being a strawberry in a bowl full of peas. The notes written inside were really nice and thoughtful, too. Later in the day, just before work ended, two of my tutors brought me cookies they'd bought from the cafeteria downstairs. That was just too sweet of them!

I ended up staying at work until 9:45 because Josh was still running his event i.e. taking people out to eat dinner at an Italian restaurant. I was able to get work done at least, however, even working an extra three hours that night left 11 things on my to do list.

Speaking of to do list, you know that you're either stressed, crazy, or both when you start waking up from your dreams in the middle of the night (almost every night) thinking that there was something SO IMPORTANT that you forgot to do. In my case, I keep waking up thinking that there is someone I was supposed to interview or hire for the tutoring job that I forgot about.

In reality, I don't think I've forgotten to do anything major for my job...except to pay a tutor one week but that got worked out and I learned from the experience :), and yet, it feels SO REAL that there is a situation that I am missing the boat on. Like, I'm seriously racking my brain in the daytime hours about what is keeping me up at night. I almost wonder if there will be an event that happens in the future and all this stuff I've been thinking about will have been a foreshadowing of it...okay, I'm crazy.

That's my life in a nutshell. I'm still working on the teaching idea...there may be a way to teach middle school Social Studies that I'm looking into. This weekend, I think Josh and I are just going to relax and continue to try to put the house in order. We made some progress with the office earlier this week. Whoa, I just had a thought that it's practically Thursday already. I've NEVER worked somewhere that time went by so fast!!! We have plans to go camping with a high school friend who is living in San Diego pretty soon, my mom's coming to visit, and then we get to go to Mexico.

I'll post pictures later...our computer/camera is having issues.