Somerset’s Mom

So you ask…what else happened this week?

It was very busy at work, starting off with a session with Julie Taymor.  She was in a pretty terrific mood as she recently returned from South Africa, where they produced The Lion King for the first time.  Took ten years, but she says it was worth it.  She also had the most amazing picture taken in the desert where a meerkat climbed up on her head and was just chilling looking down the road.

At the end of the week, I did two days on a new project that will start at the Pasadena Playhouse and then come to Broadway.  It’s called Ray Charles Live, and it was pretty terrific to hear all those great singers sing his music.

It all went pretty well, but in general, still have a lot to do.  Right now, I’m working on about four or five different projects at once and somedays, my head just spins.

blah blah blah

it’s fun really….just boring to describe.

I’m having the most delightful morning.  Woke up before the alarm.  No comments about setting the alarm on the weekend.  I know.

Took the doggies for a walk after making a simple breakfast of teriyaki ginger chicken sausage and a glutenfree wildberry waffle.  Ran into the weird guy who always wants to ‘join me’ on my walk and after about five minutes launches into the ‘life is so different now that I’m divorced’ speech.  Today I just kept the ipod in the ears and did the hey, great to see you, goodbye! smile.  It worked.

Anyway, a good week.  I had hardly any plans in the evening, unlike the last three weeks where I had plans every waking moment.  It was delightful.  I did yoga twice and walked my little toesies off.

Last night, I had a girls night and es and I had a lovely dinner at Cafe Luxemborg and then saw Evan Almighty.  Despite the terrible reviews, I thought it fulfilled my expectations.  I think that Steve Carell is hilarious and I LOVE wanda sykes.  Her one-liners all delivered.

More later.

What a gorgeous weekend.  Started it off right by coming straight home on Friday night after work.  I hadn’t had a single night home all week, so this really felt like a treat.  Took the doggles on a lovely walk through the park….weather was pretty terrific.

Saturday was a very special day as Jack happened to have the day off too.  He leaves Tuesday for Shreveport, LA to do some stunts for “The Great Debaters” which is a film with Denzel and Forrest Whitaker.  We spent much of the morning doing chores and feeling good about it.  It always amazes me how housework feels so much better when you don’t let the house get into a state.

My delightful friend Louise and her terrific boyfriend Aaron are visiting from Liverpool and we had plans to meet them for dinner.  It was a great, albeit expensive dinner at one of my favorite uptown restaurants: Mama Mexico.  Then we headed downtown and went to a party that Christy’s show was throwing.  She is on Broadway in “Talk Radio” and that night the star was out and Michael Laurence went on in the role of Barry Champlain.  The producers threw him a little party at a tiny but adorable pub right next to the theater.  It had a private upstairs and outside deck and we just had a wonderful time there.  I think Louise’s boyfriend was excited to see Eric Bogosian.  I was just so happy that Eric came and saw Michael go on and apparently, Eric went backstage after the show and opened up a bottle of champagne and poured it all over Michael in celebration!  The cast was ecstatic and though the show’s limited run ends next Sunday, you could tell that these people were probably friends for life.

Sunday….brunch uptown and at long last, I went to the Cloisters with my cousin Taylor.  It is very cool.

So, that was my weekend.  It was delightful, but turns out to be a pretty boring blog!  Sorry!

Okay, this whole Paris thing is unbelievable! You can’t write TV this good!

On the other hand, had a pretty spectacular week in New York. Initially, thought it would be terrible as it was very busy and I was coming in from the west coast midweek on the red eye…usually a recipe for disaster.

Wednesday….supposed to go to the theater and luckily pushed that off. Had a meeting with a potential board member. She isn’t really what we are looking for but is a really cool person. Solidified that Todd and I are pretty good at selling the whole ‘join our theater company’ thing. Felt good, though ultimately, disappointing. Still trying to find our magical board.

Thursday was fantastic. Really busy day at work so it flew by. Blue Man Group session that was quite successful. After work, producer of musical reading that I’m working on came by to play me the new music that had been written in dublin. Ummm…it was amazing. I am a major fan of this particular Irish band, and to hear rough demos with the lead singer singing the role of our favorite New York hero! !!!!!! Ummmm….it was FREAKIN AMAZING.

Then I went to dinner with a business person from the west coast. We went to the world famous Da Silvano restaurant. It was pretty nice. She is from LA, so of course, is beyond picky with her food. There are so many limitations that there is no wonder that she is wafer thin. I tried to listen to all the explanations of all the allergies, etc, so that I could be inspired. I luckily ordered the soft shell crabs, which I have no idea how to eat. I think she was impressed by the way I picked at my food. little did she know that I could eat a horse, but was only picking out of ignorance.

Next, a party for the opening of an off-broadway play. It was down in Soho at the Tommy Hilfiger store and damn it! It was awesome! I drank too much champagne and made some social errors via text message but everything seems okay. It is so weird to have butlered drinks among the racks of clothing. But it was awesome. There were some celebs as Ron Livingston is in the play and some fames are on the board of directors of that theater company. Jack and I had a blast.

As much as we love Sacramento, there are just never nights like that in Sac. I really wish all my friends would move to NYC and we could be having all the adventures. Oh well.

In general, feeling fantastic and motivated to move on from the terrible depression that has haunted my spring. I have been seriously acting crazy and feeling at the mercy of emotion. For some time, I have felt that it is important to have ‘feelings’ and follow them and trust them and be open to the truths that they might reveal. Yes, I have a one true love. But he doesn’t feel the same way. That is no excuse to give in and let emotions fuel my behavior.

In acting school, I was always treated as ‘less than’ because I made decisions with my head, rather than my heart. For years I have been trying to at least find a balance, if not completely allow my heart to rule. It is only now that I am feeling more confident that route is not for me. It’s not who I really am.

Yes, I’m capable of acting crazy and shouting to the rooftops that I am in love. But you know what? It feels wrong. I am not in love. I may know who I would like to love, but it isn’t happening. So, sister! Move on!

No!  Don’t be crazy.  It just FEELS like I have stomach cancer.

I am at the airport ready to fly back to home sweet metropolis.

Fun experience in Sacratomato and the bay area.

Jack and my flight from New York to Oakland was highly delayed so we arrived in Oakland around 1:30am, 4:30am our time.  Needless to say, we were exhausted.  Jack woke up quite early to play golf with our dad and I slept to a relatively normal 10am west coast time.  But then I was awake, in our dad’s house and no one was home and there was no car and nothing cool to walk to.  Basically I was stranded.  I tried to sleep more, then read then took a bath and basically wasted time.

That night was my step-mother’s retirement party.  It was pretty great.  I thought maybe I only felt it was cool because of the extreme uncool wasted day, but on reflection, it was pretty damn cool.  Very emotional.  Most fun, was the DJ.  He was sticking to the old favorites: YMCA, We are Family, Celebration….all the wedding faves.  So occasionally Jack and I would request songs like “Golddigger” and “Sexy Back.”  It was fun to hear him mix those in.

The next day, Jack played Golf AGAIN.  I went to Brisbane (no, not Australia!) with my step-mother Linda to visit my friend Leanne at her house.  Bayliss Camp and his boyfriend Drew came down from Sacto also.  We had a lovely brunch in Leanne and Sharon’s very eclectic cool home.  It was downright delightful.

Then the journey to Sacramento.  It was fun.  Saturday night, I ended up going over to Guinness’s house and playing the Wii.  I was supposed to meet up with some other friends and go out, but they flaked.  (This is standard with the Sacramento friends.  Flaking is definitely part and parcel of the visitation process.)  It was good though, because I ended up having a blast and getting to hold Guinness’s very cute baby.

Next day, we had an impromptu and very successful barbecue at Kevin’s house.  Chanell, Dave and Baz came over on their way back from Stonyford.  That Baz is freakin cute!  We all got very drunk and were very lucky that that toddler didn’t end up at the bottom of the pool.  Then Chanell, Libby and I went over to Guin’s and continued to drink.  FUN!

Monday, was nice too….a bit of pool action and then we went and saw “Knocked Up.”  It was pretty great.  Then a nice tapas type dinner at a new Wine Bar in midtown.

That’s when the nightmare began.  My stomach started to hurt with pains that I’ve never felt before.  It was horrible.  I couldn’t sleep a wink all night.  Yuck.

Therefore Tuesday was pretty tense, and tired.  Without much sleep and little appetite, I wasn’t sure what the day would hold.  Megan made some delicious sandwiches that gave me hope that whatever stomach pains that I had were not permanent.  I scarfed the sandwich.  Then I went downtown and ran into my old friend Jordan and we went for coffee.  I had previously planned on avoiding him but it’s sort of like my sweet tooth.  No freakin will power.  But instead of being devastating like last time, it was nice.  And he is kind enough to forgive me for acting like a jerk in the past.  All in all, it was quite fortuitous to run into each other like that!

Then, dinner and drinking with friends.  That’s how I like to do Sacramento: partying right up until the end!