Surprise!

I am usually such a stickler for saving all things Christmas until after Thanksgiving. So when my mom asked if I'd rather have an early Christmas 'surprise' or wait until Christmas Day and unwrap something from a box, I didn't really have an answer for her. What was this surprise? And why did it have to take place before Thanksgiving? I was really in the dark about the whole thing. I had no clue what my surprise was going to be, but I guess that's the point of a surprise, right?
My mom told me what to wear, and that we were leaving about half an hour after I got home from work on Friday. We drove to Fresno and arrived at the theatre where we had seen Wicked about a year and a half ago. But there weren't any signs outside the theatre. By the time Mom gave the tickets to the guy at the door...I still had no idea what was going on. It wasn't until we walked past a Merch table selling copies of Some Lessons Learned and Let Yourself Go that I realized that we were at a KRISTIN CHENOWETH CONCERT!!! At that point I started crying a little bit. How is it possible that a) I didn't know that Cheno was performing in Fresno, and b) I would be seeing Ms. Chenoweth perform live for the second time!!
Everything about the concert was amazing. She sang a little bit of everything, a couple of her Glee songs, some country, some jazzy, vocally stuff, Popular from Wicked (in English, Japanese and German), of course she did Taylor, the Latte Boy...and then she blew the roof off the theatre with Bring Him Home from Les Miserables...and I cried for the second time that night. She encored with I Will Always Love You, and I never wanted her to stop singing!

Boys and Girls Together

Day 14-Favorite male character, well I would have to go with Ned/The Piemaker here.
He is just so gawkily adorable. He is too cute, too sweet, and can bake a mean triple berry pie (which just happens to be my favorite). He is just so swoon-worthy it's ridiculous!! I can't help it, he pretty much embodies 'my type' to a T. I mean, he's played by Lee Pace who, like Matt Thiessen and John Krasinski, is tall, kinda skinny, and kinda nerdy...and I kinda like that!
Day 15-Favorite female character, since I can't seem to shake the PD bug, I have to go with Olive Snook. Not only is she played by the fabulous Kristin Chenoweth, but Olive is sass and sweetness all rolled into one. She says the thing that everyone else is thinking. She is a 4'11" powerhouse and is so much like the actress who plays her, it gets hard to separate the two. She is the perfect feisty sidekick for the unflappable Emerson Cod!


I really miss this show...

Two at a Time

...it goes a lot faster this way. Besides, with most of my answers relating to Pushing Daisies, it just makes sense. As hard as I try, when dealing with the TeeVees, I just can't NOT mention that show.
Day 08-A show everyone should watch-Suprise
Day 09-Best scene ever-This one:

Favorite 'Olive Moment' of the entire series!!

Day 02 - A show that you wish more people were watching

This is tough...since I feel like the current shows I watch are pretty darn popular (Glee, L&O:SVU, Desperate Housewives-don't judge-, 30 Rock and The Office)
Two years ago I would have had the perfect answer for this...Pushing Daisies, of course.
Even though it's canceled, I still think more people should watch it. Seriously, I can't say enough amazing things about this show, it is my absolute favorite ever ever EVER!!The cast and characters are just so much fun!
Lee Pace is Ned, the piemaker with the ability to bring people back to life with a single touch.
Anna Friel is Charlotte 'Chuck' Charles, the alive-again girlfriend of the piemaker.
Kristin Chenoweth is Olive Snook, a waitress at the Pie Hole who is in love with Ned
Chi McBride is Emerson Cod, a detective who uses Ned's 'gift' to solve murder cases
Swoozie Kurtz and Ellen Greene are Aunt Lily and Aunt Vivian, formerly the synchronized swimming duo 'Darling Mermaid Darlings'; currently agoraphobic...

Okay, I promise I'll lay off PD for a while, or at least I'll try...

Day 01- A show that should have never been canceled

I bet you were expecting me to say Pushing Daisies. I kind of expected myself to say that too, after all, it's the most creative, whimsical show that has ever existed. The wonderfully quirky characters on this show were delightful, and the writing was genius. A 'forensic fairy tale'...it's so novel and innovative. The show was bright, colorful and witty and I do miss it a lot. However, if Pushing Daisies had never been canceled, Kristin Chenoweth wouldn't have been able to do Promises, Promises which means a)I wouldn't have been able to cross 'seeing Kristin Chenoweth on Broadway' off my 'things to do before I die' list; and b)I wouldn't have gone to New York for my birthday. That 36 hour trip was probably one of the craziest things I've ever done...and it was fantastic.
I also could've gone with Ugly Betty, because it too, was an endearingly cute show that probably could've gone longer...but for this category I choose the short-lived FOX show Reunion.
It came on after The OC my Sophomore year of college. This show followed the lives of 6 friends and the things that they have gone through in the twenty years since they graduated from High School. What we find out in the first episode, is that one of them has been recently murdered and (presumably) another one of them did it. The show flashed back and forth between present day (2006) and a different year each episode (the first ep was 1986/2006; the second, 1987/2006 and so on)...but NOT so on, because the show was canceled after 9 episodes, and it took us the first 6 just to find out which friend was murdered. Most of what bugs me about this is that we never find out who did it and why. Yes, the acting was terrible. And the make-up crew had their hands full trying to get these twentysomething actors to bounce between high school/college aged students to their present day 38 year old selves...
I don't even know of anyone besides me and my college roommates that even remembers this show, much less watched it.

There's nothing like a show on Broadway

internet was MIA this weekend...and consequently so was I.
Never fear...here is a mug shots mega-post to fill you in on a weekend's worth of coffee mugs!
My Playbill mug and my Sardi's mug both remind me about how much I love musicals...you really can't beat live theatre. It's so unpredictable!!

Sardi's is this totally cool theatre-goers dream come true restaurant right in Schubert Alley in the theatre district of NYC!!
It's where I had my birthday dinner before I saw:
which was AWESOME. I got to check 'seeing Kristin Chenoweth on Broadway' off my bucket list, and meet her, Sean Hayes, and Tony-Winner Katie Finneran after the show!!
AH-MAZ-ING!!

Happiness is...

When I was growing up, I kinda looked forward to the Saturday paper. Because of the comics. Saturday morning comics were so much better than weekday comics, they were bigger, better and IN COLOR!! I still enjoy reading the comics when I can. There are some comic strips that you can't help but cut out and put up on the fridge. Family Circus certainly has it's 'awwww' moments, as does the now syndicated 'For Better or For Worse'...but one of the most endearing comic strips of ALL TIME (and I dare you to argue) is Peanuts. Charlie Brown is one of those characters that everyone can identify with. He just wants to be nice to everyone and to be liked...who can't relate to that? And of all the comic strips you can think of, how many have spawned TV specials, theme parks and even a Broadway musical?? Yeah...that's what I thought!

When I bought this mug (another brilliant Target dollar section purchase), I was in a major 'You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown' phase. I listened to that soundtrack in my car for two whole weeks. I still can't get enough of K-Chen belting out 'My New Philosophy'...seriously...my goodness!

He loves me not

The Promises, Promises website has this cute little ap that allows one to click petals off of a cyber daisy to determine if the one you love loves you back (a tried and true test that is always accurate)
Things were off to a great start:

Then I got to the final petal and...well:

I suppose I could 'try again' like the clickable at the bottom suggests...but the daisy has spoken, and confirmed what I've known all along.
Well, not that 'Jon' doesn't love me...just not in that way
It's like in one of my favorite episodes of 'Pushing Daisies'(Window Dressed to Kill) Olive & Ned are 'playing fiances', then Ned tells Olive she's been fun to 'try on' and she responds with the best Olive Moment of the series:
"Try On? You try on a sweater at the mall. You try on your best friend's bra and you smile on the inside cause yours are bigger and better. You don't TRY ON a person" She then makes the announcement that Ned never loved her to which he replies "I love you Olive, as a friend"...yep, that seems about right.

On a different note: almost every awesome person I know right now is at camp, and I'm bummed because I have to be a grown-up. Some people run away to join the circus, well camp is definitely the kind of circus I would love to run off an join. I'm so homesick for Jeffery pine trees and a place where I can wear my quirks on my sleeve.

Play by Playlists

I got to see 'Jon' a few days ago, and I'm not gonna lie...it was nice. He could get an Olympic gold medal in hugging, he literally picks me up off the ground.
Which is nice (I'm a bit of a hug connoisseur), but it makes things difficult. I'm trying to decide if pining over Jon is worth it, or if I need to just get over it. Which is why I have developed two iTunes playlists; one is called 'pining', the other: 'over it'
I will share them now

Pining:
Accidentally in Love (Counting Crows)
Alone (Glee Cast Version)
Being in Love (The Music Man)
Clumsy (Fergie)
Eternal Flame (The Bangles)
Gimme, Gimme (Thoroughly Modern Millie)
Goodnight, My Someone (The Music Man)
Holding Out for a Hero (Bonnie Tyler)
Hopelessly Devoted to You (Kristin Chenoweth via the Pushing Daisies soundtrack)
I Can Hear the Bells (Hairspray)
I Know it's Today (Shrek: The Musical)
I Want to Hold Your Hand (from Across the Universe)
I Want You to Want Me (Letters to Cleo)
It's About Time (Jamie Cullum)
Mamma Mia (Mamma Mia)
Maybe This Time (Cabaret)
My Junk (Spring Awakening)
The One I'm Waiting For (Relient K)
Somebody to Love (Queen)
Someday my Prince Will Come (Snow White)
Taylor, the Latte Boy (K-Chen)
Vanilla Twilight (Owl City)
You Don't Know Me (Michael Buble)

Over It:
Adelaide's Lament (Guys & Dolls)
Bowling Ball (Superchic[k])
Bust Your Windows (Glee Cast version)
Devastation and Reform (Relient K)
Don't Rain on My Parade (Funny Girl)
Down With Love (Michael Buble & Holly Palmer)
Gives You Hell (All American Rejects)
Gotta Go My Own Way (High School Musical)
I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair (South Pacific)
I'm Not That Girl (Wicked)
I Don't Need a Soul (Relient K)
I Hate Men (Kiss Me, Kate)
I Will Survive (Gloria Gaynor)
If You Had, But You Didn't (K-Chen)
The Middle (Jimmy Eat World)
Over It (Relient K)
Princes & Frogs (Superchic[k])
There's a Fine, Fine Line (Avenue Q)
These Boots Are Made for Walking (Nancy Sinatra)
What Did I Ever See in Him (Bye Bye Birdie)
You're So Vain (Carly Simon)


I didn't make these playlists specifically for Jon, they were the result of the previous Mr. Monet (a particularly Monet-ish mistake)-though I added a few songs specifically for Jon (I think Michael Buble's You Don't Know Me is pretty perfect for 'us'...if there was an us, which there's not. Just a me and a him...but hey, a girl can dream!)

Mr. Monet

Carrie had Mr. Big, I have Mr. Monet*...(in the wise words of Cher Horowitz, "from far away, it's OK, but up close, it's a big old mess"). There have been many incarnations of Mr. Monet over the years, and they have all been pretty much the same. Handsome, charming (tallish, brunette--I have a type)...but lean in a little closer, and underneath that flirty exterior is kinda a jerky guy.
The current Mr. Monet (we'll call him 'Jon') is not as Monet-ish...which is step in the right direction for me, I guess more of a Mr. Degas (still impressionistic, but a little less messy). Jon is guy I used to work with, he is handsome and charming, funny, goofy and sweet--and he has his moments of pure Monet-ism. Sometimes, though, I see him as a photograph as opposed to a painting. A clear snap-shot of his true personality will come through from time to time. Maybe I'm blinded by my feelings for him, but I think the 'Monet' IS the exterior in Jon's case...
or maybe I'm just being silly

*I should point out, though, that my Mr. Monets have never made it past the 'crush' stage (less Carrie & Big, more Olive & Ned)

Waiting...

it may seem a little over enthusiastic to be posting again less than 24 hours since my original post...but I'm kinda excited about what I will refer to as a 'blah-g'.
Maybe I'll be the next Julie from 'Julie & Julia' or Betty Suarez from 'Ugly Betty'--maybe this blah-g will be stumbled upon by someone with the power to change my life. Someone who might make a movie about this, launch a sitcom, get me a book deal--who knows? But for that to happen, I think I would have to write about something exciting, and for THAT to happen, I need to DO something exciting.
It has been almost a month since my last great adventure (a two day trip to NYC to see 'Promises, Promises'), and I'm not sure when my next one will happen. So now I'm waiting. Waiting for an adventure. To what? Come find me? Adventures don't come knocking on your door...
I need to figure out a way to make adventures happen for myself. I tried yesterday.
I was going to go the beach, I had a bag packed with beach essentials-hummus and pita chips, spf 45 sunblock, 'A Little Bit Wicked' (K-Chen's bio-a perfect beach read), the People Puzzler (celeb based crosswords...yes, please!) and a floppy hat! I braved an hour long drive down the twisty, turn-y Kanan canyon, actually SAW the ocean for the first time in months (can we say 'worst Californian ever'?) and then promptly made a u-ie and headed back home. The beach was full. No parking, no adventure.

I'm working on it