Oh la la.

Today I got to show Adrienne all the cool places in Paris! Hahha I showed her the area where I stayed this past summer. I love that area because it feels so quaint and non-touristy. We walked by the school and stopped in at the boulangerie I frequented most days. My favorite little man who worked there was not there though and he was there every single day in July so that was quite peculiar. We walked through Jardin du Luxembourg which had a different feel this time of year. In general it has been weird for me seeing Paris not overcrowded with people. There was still people in the parc but no where near as many as in the summer. There were more people running though and that brought a smile to my face but I missed the little kids playing with their little sail boats. After that we walked down St. Michel and I showed her the Latin Quarter and then we walked along St. Germain. After our day of walked we also stopped by the jardin at the Roudin Museum to see the Thinker.

Le Queen.

On the hour, le Tour Eiffel glitters and it is fabulous!

We visited yet another gay club but when Alex is planning the night’s festivities it is a given that is where we will be headed. This place is supposed to be one of the best places on Thursday though. It was located on the Champs Elysees right nearby the Louis Vuitton store and other designer houses. Tons of Disney people went out tonight and that always makes it more fun.

They had two dancers up on a high platform that were wearing ridiculously heinous outfit and were also horrible dancers. They were slightly amusing because of how bad they were. It was a girl and a guy. The guy was wearing hot pants, boots, tight white tops and then had some fur arm bands and collars!?!?! I can’t even put into words describing their dancing but all I can say is they should not be paid to dance.

Mauricio, Adrienne, and I were playing the guess who is straight and who is gay game which was fun. We kept disagreeing on everyone. Mauricio is so fun to go out with!

Le Zenith est tres petit.

Written on Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Today was opening day. It was also a three show day. How crazy! It actually whizzed by though! The Zenith is ridiculously small. The ice is 5 headers here which is less than half of the normal size we play! But hardly any of the numbers were motified so there is just a crammed over-abundance of people on the ice. We also hardly move. I am skating at a snail pace compared to what I usually do. I feel bad for the audience because it is no where near as cool as when we are skating fast.

The first show was pretty crappy esp. thanks to this massive crater of a hole that developed. We were all warned to watch out for it but then you are skating a number and it slips your mind until you fall in and find yourself splattered on the ice. I tripped in it during monkeys but stayed vertical but soooo many people fell in it including Evegeny who I was skating with in Ghost.

Second show Evegeny fell again and this may have been the highlight of my day! We had to take out the spirals because of the ice size so instead we just do this one foot glide presenting our arms. When he let go of me he turned to skate away and crashed right into the candelabra and went down. He didn’t get hurt so that was good and we were laughing the whole rest of the number about it.

Good old ED.

Written on Tuesday, November 27, 2007

We went grocery shopping today at good old Ed. That is where I shopped when I was here this summer so it was quite nostalgic. I bought the same strawberry juice and cereal I used to always get as well as other things. This was quite the experience for Adrienne; it was hilarious watching her deal with all the french and what not. She kept cringing her face and was just so beside herself with what to do. It was highly amusing!

Then we went to Notre Dame along with Mauricio, Brittany, Jarrod, and Galen. What a difference it makes not being here in July. In the summer I never got the chance to go inside Notre Dame because of the crowds of people and the long, long line but today we just waltzed right in. I really liked the stain glass inside because it was more of designs that pictorial scenes. After that we walked along Rue du Rivoli and ate some baguettes. I love how familiar I am with navigating around. Don’t get me wrong I love discovering all the new places, but being back in Paris feels nice as if I am more at home since I know my way around. Later we went back out to see Moulin Rouge at night. And then we went to a bar for a drink and THEN made a stop at a crepe stand. I got my favorite gaffres sucrees avec de la confiture which is a sugar coated waffle that was strawberry jam on top. Right at the end of July I discovered that I enjoyed this much more than the standard crepes.

J’adore Paris!

Written on Monday, November 26, 2007

I am really excited to be back in Paris! I really wish my French was better and I wish I had been practicing more since I went in July but I did try using some today and had some successes. One, I asked where I could find an ATM and then we went to a restaurant and I used a little and the waiter told me I had good French. He may have just been humoring me. Then this group of Asian girls came over to me to ask where the elevator was. They hardly knew French and were trying to speak French to me while French isn’t even my language. It was such a funny situation. I figured out with they wanted and pointed them in the right direction.

Today I ventured out with Adrienne, Brittany, Mauricio, and Norman, a guy from consessions who is Dutch. We went to the Arc du Triomphe and walked along the Champs Elysees. They had just put up light on all the trees and it looked pretty awesome. They have these awesome lights that look like a rain drop falling down the tree! We had perfect timing because when we were up on the Arc the Eiffel Tower was glittering. We ate dinner at this chain called Hippopotamus and even though I know that the French are known for drawing meals out I am just so not accustomed to it. It felt like the longest meal ever!

My life has music again.

Written on Saturday, November 24, 2007

Today I went running……….with music, for the first time in over 6 months! It was different. I had grown so used to not using music I don’t feel like I will be as realiable on it anymore. It was quite thrilling.

My new ipod came in the mail yesterday and it got delivered during our first show. I was walking by in my monkey costume and saw the package and was jumping with joy. Our sound guy, Jamie was casually looking at the mail and I think I freaked him out. I got a black one this time so it looks nothing like my forgotten one. I need to get to work on making playlists so I can use it now!

Sticky Toffee Pudding.

Written on Friday, November 23, 2007

I went on a date today with Adrienne, Joelle, and Brittany Drury to try sticky toffee pudding. Joelle had found out that they served it at the restaurant in the Holiday Inn just down the road and where we can use the gym for this week! Now this is no ordinary Holiday Inn; it is actually called Royal Victoria Holiday Inn and is in this super nice historic looking building. It is so classy looking and like no other Holiday Inn I’ve ever seen. Brittany had been talking about trying this English dessert forever now and I figured I should give it a try to before I left the UK.

So we get there and the restaurant is empty. We got the menu and turns out it cost 7 pounds! EEK I was expecting 4 or 5 but I was still going to get it anyways and just have dessert. Joelle wanted savory food as well so she inquired about this buffet that was set up and how much a slice of quiche would be. The waitress replied telling her she could just have a piece. Turns out it was food for a conference they were just going to get rid of so she said we could help ourselves! This made the price seem way much better! There were dessert at the buffet and I have no idea why but I ate other dessert on top of my sticky toffee pudding. I have quite the sweet tooth but in the instant I had an overdose of sugar. There are not many times when I feel that way so this was pretty hardcore. I think there is something about the toffee/caramel taste that can be sickeningly sweet if you have too much. Anyways, the pudding was really good! The name made me skeptical but it really isn’t a pudding. It was a cake that was covered in this toffee flavored sauce. It was not actually sticky more oozey. I would definitely recommend people who visit England to try some!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Written on Thursday, November 22, 2007

I had to work today. It is really weird not being home for holidays. It didn’t even feel like Thanksgiving. I kept forgetting it was even today. After the shows we had a dinner…..at 11 pm at night! I was skeptical because it was at our hotel’s restaurant and our hotel is not the nicest of an establishment but it turned out to be decent. It was no home-cooking but they tried to make it feel a little like home by the way they served us. They gave us our plate with turkey on it and then put out the rest of the fixing on the table to help yourself. It was a nice touch to make it feel more like we were at home and not at a restaurant.

I need more mazes in my life.

Written on Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Chatsworth House is a great place! It is where the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire resides and they are nice enough to let tourist prance about their 1000 acres of property. It was maybe the most lavish and fancy places I have seen! It is slightly newer than some of the castle I have been visiting so everything was in mint condition! It was also decorated for Christmas which made me so happy!

When we first got there and were approaching the front door we saw this massive sculpture of a naked pregnant women. It was so out of place first off and slightly distasteful, in my opinion. Oh and as we got to the front of the statue we learned that half of it was showing the insides including bones and muscle and even the baby. It was really dumb and I think need to be removed immediately from this beautiful property!

The house was awesome but the real reason for this visit was the maze! I had been longing to visit a hedge maze so I did some research and found out about this place. I had been looking forward to this for quite some time and it measured up to everything I was hoping for. The shrubs were about 10 feet tall. I literally ran in when I saw it out of pure excitement. I made a turn and right away I found myself at a dead end. I was giddy like a small child running through this. Adrienne and I had split up and gone different ways. We ended up finding each other and then stuck together in our hunt to find the center. It was a lot harder then I was expected and this pleased me thoroughly. We kept ending up at places we had already been. We finally succeeded in making it to the middle!

Then to top off my excitement we stopped in at the restaurant and I had a piece of cake……………It was AMAZING. It was actually not frosted on the top but had such a good amount in the middle layer that is was a-ok in my book It also had strawberry jam in the middle too. The frosting was mighty good!

Good Day!

Pikelets: Good substitution for Crumpets!

Written on Monday, November 19, 2007

Today Joelle and I went to York. We visited York Minster which is known for having the best stain glass collection around. I am a huge fan of stain glass so I enjoyed seeing that. This maintenance man pointed out these statues that looked like they were holding symbols in different ways. He gave us a key and told us we could try to decode a message. We figured it out: Christ is here. The funny guy told us if we went to the police desk they would give us a candy bar for decoding it. We both got really excited and were about to go and then he told us he was just kidding. Hahaha

After our visit to the Minster and not getting candy we walked around all the cute little pedestrian streets and found this place called Little Betty’s Cafe. I was hoping they would have crumpets because I have actually yet to try one since I have been in the UK and my time is running out! They didn’t have crumpets but they did have pikelets which I was told was similar just flat like a pancake. It was real good! It was covered in butter and the nooks and crannies soaked it all up. We actually enjoyed them so much we ordered seconds!!

Sumo Wrestling!

Someone organized for us to be able to get in for free at this place called the Leadmill where this band called Captain was playing and then after it was just a DJ. A lot of people came so it was really fun. We danced a lot but the highlight of the night was my debut as a sumo wrestler. So this bar the a pen where you could thrown this big marshmallow sumo outfit and challenge a friend. It was so absurd and amazing all at once. Adrienne and I of course had to take part. I knocked down Adrienne four times but they guy kept making us play. He finally informed me that in order to win you didn’t just need to knock them down but also get them out of the ring. Silly me for not knowing sumo wrestling rules! Adrienne then knocked me down and I was out of the ring and she was declared the winner. I was quite peeved over this! I totally should have won!

Every little girls dream.............

So today, what every little girl dreams about came true for me........................I got to be princess! My debut was not on the ice but it was still oh so thrilling! Meredith had asked me to help dress people for this meet and greet. The girl who was suppose to be Snow White didn't show so they were like you put it on. Man was it fun!

I also got one more chance to see Dick today. He was flying out of Glasgow today and wasn't sure if he would be back in time to see me at my break so we left it up in the air. As proven in London with the whole Colby fiasco, my cellphone SUCKS and today it let me down again. Dick had tried calling me several times and was unsuccessful at getting a hold of me. But this didn't stop him. He found a security guard who then called backstage and the word traveled all the way to me in my makeup room that someone was looking for me! I went out and found Dick waiting for me! We got to have lunch which was awesome and Dick got to see me with my super posh sunglasses look. I think every meal I ate with Dick I had a chicken sandwich which is pretty hilarious. He may think that I have moved on from grilled cheese but now that is all I will eat. HAHAHA

He brought me a present too which was hilarious! It is a book called Wild, Wild World of Animals: Monkeys and Apes. He said I could read up and study for my portrayal of being a monkey. HAAAAAAAA After I am done I will have to pass it on to the rest of my monkey friends!

I don't know Gaelic.

Last night Dick watched the show and I think he enjoyed it thoroughly. He was most impressed with my portrayal of Dale and thought my head movements were quite good and better than my brothers! Ha Ha! After the show we had dinner with Adrienne and her mom. They were enjoying all the stories he had to tell. The bartender who took our order was from Braintree! Small world! I told her how I used to work at the plaza and we bonded! This Saturday there is a huge football match between Scotland and Italy that is happening around here so people are getting so hyped up for it. There are Scottish flags up in every window. The bar had three up in the window near where we were sitting. These kids tried to sneakily rip them down and bee-line for the door with them. One made it out but the second got stopped not by someone who worked there but by another customer who was enraged by this. He made the kid give it back. It was quite the scene! Today I accompanied Dick on some business. He had to meet with this man at the RSAMD, Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Dance to talk about his festival coming up in January. They were talking in Scots Gaelic so I had no idea what they were saying. Then Dick bumped into the drummer who accompanied him the time he did his performance on the dart board. He raved to both of them about what a great performance my show was so that was nice! After listening to Gaelic for quite some time we went to an Irish pub, Molly Mallones and got some food. We also attempted to check out the McLennan Gallery but it was pretty lame and we took a peak at this Piping Museum. After we knew it, it was time for me to head to the arena so we said our goodbyes. It was great having a visitor! Hopefully I will have some more to keep me sane!

Edinburgh Castle...The best yet!

Today I paid Edinburgh another visit with Adrienne, her mom, and Meredith. This time we did the castle and I’m really glad we decided to. It was my favorite of all the castles I have seen. I thought it was really cool how it was built right in to the natural rock. It is up on a hill so we didn’t have to climb any stairs really; it was just slight inclines. It dates back to some 3000 years ago which is crazy and way back when there was actually a volcano where it stands. We got to see the crown jewels of Scotland which weren’t quite as impressive as England’s but they were still jewels so I can’t complain! And we saw this exhibit on the Prisoners of War which had these 3 wooden doors that came off of ship for the 1800s that had all these carvings in them. You could make out names and dates and there were three carvings of ships that were pretty cool.














After that we checked out this tartan textile mill exhibition which was quite dumb and suck in comparison to the mill I visited in the summer in Ireland. BUT then I purchased some of the world’s greatest fudge as Jim Garrahy’s fudge kitchen claims to be. I got peanut butter which is going to have to fill my peanut butter void right now because last week my stock of Jif I brought with me ran out and I am quite distraught over it.

Next we saw the Parliament building which has caused quite a controversy. It is very modern looking so it looks slightly odd and out of place. People were mad about it also because it ended up being way over budget and took month longer than they had said. I wasn’t too thrilled with it myself.

After that we visited the Palace of Hollyrood where Queen Mary resided. We did an audio tour which I’m not usually a fan of even though they are informative, I just find them annoying and would rather read or be told by an actual person. Anyways, some of the stories were quite intriguing so I am glad I did it. One story was that, Mary’s second husband Donley was found strangled in his garden; they think it was her mistress who killed him and maybe she even had something to do with it! How scandalous! Then there is Queen Elizabeth, her cousin, who put her in jail for 19 years! Pretty Crazy!

Oban, Tartans, and Shortbread with Dick!

My uncle Dick got in yesterday! How exciting! We ate some pretty tasty pub food and then went on a search for this Park Bar but after walking a few blocks we gave up. We woke up early today and journeyed to Oban. The train ride was through the mountains and was really pretty. It was so green and felt kind of like we were in the Rocky Mountains. We ate traditional Scottish shortbread cookies to pass the time. Oban, used to be a huge Sea Port and is where you would go to get to all the Islands off the coast of Scotland. Part of the train was being worked on so we had to transfer to a bus and it took a little bit longer leaving us not too much time to look around. There was this Coliseum looking structure called Craig’s Tower that this man was building but never got to finish after he passed away.

Dick really had wanted to take me up further to Fort Williams where my great great great ancestors were from: the Chisholm’s and Mackintosh’s. But that would have been an even longer journey. They left in 1803 and settled in Nova Scotia. He bought me this map that shows where the clans had been in Scotland and all the different tartans. We also saw samples of the plaids and each family’s plaid also had a hunting version that was the same stripes but made of green and brown colors. It was kind of a camouflage version which amused me.

"I'm so excited to be at Disneyland!"

So yesterday I got to be in Opening for the first time! It was so much fun. That number basically is Disneyland's grand opening. There are popcorn sellers, balloon sellers, little kids, families etc. Oh and it takes place in the 1960s so the costumes are hilarious. I got to be the Mom who wear a yellow and brown striped dress with full skirt, as well as blue gloves, a hat, and a red wig. She pushes a baby carriage for part of it. It is really fun because a lot of the time you are just skating around acting your part. Adrienne is the popcorn lady and wears a orange wig that has a super funny up-do. I skated over to her and said, "I'm so excited to be hear at Disneyland! You're hair looks lovely!" I got such a kick out of it. I got all the steps to so I was pretty pleased. What I was most scared for was the quick change into Monkeys. I was acting like a spaz trying to change so fast and made it with time to spare so I don't know what I was so worried about. Being Mom made my show!

Looks like this is a job for: THE INCREDIBLES!

So yesterday I arrived at work and found out that I was going to be watching! Over the year everyone gets one show off so they can watch and my turn came early! Boy was it thrilling! I guess I am a biased opinion but I thought it was amazing! I thought it was just great and so amusing. Brittany Drury and I have this thing we always do where we stroke underneath our chins. She was doing my Dale and did our thing the whole time! It was so funny.

I think I’d have to say my favorite part was Haunted Mansion but there are so many good parts! I was cracking up and cheering the whole time. The Alice segment is also amazing. Our White Rabbit and Mad Hatter skate like maniac; they have so much energy and are so hilarious. The tweedles could just stand there and make me laugh. I’m pretty sure the people around me thought I was a wack job. This little boy sitting directly in front of me, turned around and stared me down when I was cracking up. At the end, Frozone and the Incredibles tell the audience to stand up and clap and sing “Mickey, Minnie, Mickey, Minnie…..” I was disappointed that not more of the audience participated. I was one of the only people in my section that did it! After the show, I was beaming and couldn’t stop smiling because it was just that awesome!

Poppies are everywhere.

So you know how big the Livestrong bracelets got to be? Well over here there is a poppy craze going on. They are everywhere! Almost everyone has one pinned to their jacket or shirt and all the buildings and lampposts here in Birmingham have giant size poppies adorning them. I hadn’t a clue what they represented so I asked a random guy in a café who was sporting one. He informed me that they are to honor war victims, specifically WWII. When we went to Warwick Castle, Todd, our financial controller bought me and everyone else one. So I now fit in and have a poppy on my coat!

To Stratford or not to Stratford. That is the question.

So today we got on the right train headed to Stratford-Upon-Avon for the attempt number 2 and actually made it; yay for us! I went with Adrienne, Brittany, and Liz joined us as well.

The town was so cute. It was one of my favorite places I have visited. We started at Shakespeare’s birthplace and got to see a museum and the house he grew up in. His house was really nice. I was impressed with the size of all the houses we went in. They must have been pretty wealthy cause for the time period they had lots of room. Their beds were really short! They explained to us that they used to sleep sitting up with pillow propping them up. They felt it helped them to breathe better and also had superstitions that if you were lay flat, the devil could come and take your soul, but if you were propped upright you’d be ok.

They also only took one shower a year. They thought it would wash away all their immunities which is wicked amusing because today we shower on a daily basis and find being clean to keep us healthy.

While today status symbols include cars, jewelry, etc., back in Shakespeare’s time, beds were a way to show your wealth. A typical salary was 100 pounds a year and a good bed could cost as much as 50 pounds! They would have their best bed downstairs in the living room so any visitor would see it and it could also be viewed from the window.

We only ended up having time to visit four of the five houses. We saw Nash’s house, Hall’s Croft, and Anne Hathaway’s cottage. We also went to Holy Trinity Church where Shakespeare and other members of his family were buried. Anne’s house was about a mile walk away from the center of town. As we walked, we kept seeing thatched roof cottages and thinking that they were it. It was quite a long walk but it was such a cute little cottage and I’m glad we made the journey. All the houses had beautiful gardens. Here, they had this bird scarer in the garden that was a potato with feathers stuck in them. I find this quite amusing and I am curious if it actually works!

Mary Arden’s House was the furthest away, so time didn’t allow for us to go. When we were trekking back to the train station we weren’t exactly sure if we were going in the right direction. Liz asked, “Do we know where we are?” as we were passing some high school aged boys. One of them being smart answered, “Stratford!” HA! We were going the right way though and made it in time to ride the train with a whole slew of school kids!

Remember, Remember the 5th of November

Written on Monday, November 05, 2007

Today is Guy Fawkes Day which is supposedly similar to 4^th of July where they have fireworks and bonfires but unlike celebrating independence it is celebrating an attempt at burning down Parliament. So we were really excited for the festivities until we were informed that they had all already happened over the weekend and there was nothing going on, on the actual holiday! Quite the bummer!

Today was just in general an anticlimactic day. Adrienne, Brittany, and I were going to go to Stratford Upon Avon. We were gabbing away, boarded the train only to find about a half into our journey we were on the wrong train! We turned around and headed back to Birmingham and the guy at the station was super nice and got us ticket so we can go tomorrow even though it was totally our own stupid faults. I can’t believe we did that. It was so funny. We rode a train and went absolutely nowhere! We did have a lovely conversation aboard the train and got to gaze at some fields and sheep so it wasn’t totally a worthless adventure!

So while the city itself didn't have any festivities there were some fireworks we caught from our 16th floor hotel window. We counted 8 different firework displays. They appeared really low to the buildings and small from the distance but it was better than nothing. I went out for a nice dinner with Adrienne, Joelle, Brittany, and Mauricio. It was Mauricio's birthday dinner. He wanted to go to Wagamama's, a chain Japanese place, with his bitches as he said! HA I got the Yaki Soba and really liked it. I was skeptical if I would like what I ordered but it was quite delicious!

Happy Birthday Mauricio!

Written on Sunday, November 4, 2007

So for Mauricio’s Birthday a huge group of people went out! Even Meredith and Nikki came which was awesome. They wanted to go to this place called DV8. We had to take a cab to get there which I found so silly considering how many places were right outside the door of our hotel. But it was Mauricio’s birthday so it was his decision. So we get there and being Sunday night there was nobody inside! BUT the bouncer wanted us to all pay 5 pounds cover. HOW ABSURD! We tried to reason with them that they weren’t making any money but if they let us in there would be like 20 people buying drinks. They wouldn’t drop the cover charge, so we moved on. We ended up at the super gay bar called Glamorous. There was a live singer belting out tunes such as “Son of a Preacher” and “I’m every Woman” It was pretty hilarious but we didn’t stay there for too long. It really was not such a glamorous place. Mauricio said it himself Posh Spice wouldn’t be caught dead here! We ended up taxiing back to the hotel and went to Walkabouts which is a few spots down. When we arrived there was a band playing “Since You’ve Been Gone” so we knew it was a winner. There was a group of English boys with shaggy hair hanging out right in front of the stage who decided a bar was perfect place to work on their physique. There was four of them were doing planks for the duration of a song and then they weren’t done; the moved on to side planks. I really don’t know why they were doing this but I was highly amused so I’m glad they did!

Cadbury World: AMAZING!

Today I was in heaven! I have been anxiously waiting my visit to Birmingham this whole tour because of one reason: Cadbury World! Factory tours are one of my passions in life, seriously! Adrienne, Tasha, KG, and Meredith accompanied me on this great excursion. It was really awesome. We didn’t get to see all of the factory but we did catch some glimpses. They had one vat full of chocolate stirring away that we could gaze at. The chocolate was a lot thicker than I would have expected. We didn’t get to see much as far as the production part but we did get to see the packaging part. I just find this kind of stuff so mesmerizing. I was literally wide eyed, pressed against the glass watching the conveyor belts! They can wrap 300 bars a minute which is ¾ million a day! As we walked through this part there was a corridor where they had boxes and boxes of candy stacked up creating a wall so we couldn’t see what was going on, on the other side. I was so intrigued; I attempted jumping but was just too short to see. Along the way, they made sure to give you candy to hold you over and at the end we got to make our own creation. I had shortbread pieces and marshmallow. They poured melted chocolate on top and we got to eat it with a spoon………………………..It was awesome!

Halloween........not the biggest scream.

So this year I was not in the Halloween spirit. I was not so excited about my costume which causes me to not be quite as excited for the holiday. I went at Where’s Waldo or Where’s Wally as they call it over here in the UK. Who knew they had their own name for Waldo? I sure didn’t. Anyways, the company had a party for us at a bar called Sugar Suite. The best costume of the night was Tasha’s. She went as Golem from Lord of the Rings. She acted the part as well and was carrying a ring. I attempted to take the ring from her and she bit me! It was hilarious!