Better Than T.V.

It's Day Four for me here in El Falifax, and I leave tomorrow. It's been short, but incredibly sweet. Tracey flew back to Toronto this morning actually, but I'm glad I was able to swing one extra day here. I am going to make dinner for my friends here tonight. Brad has graciously offered up his place for this get-together, which I guess means Brad & I will be making dinner for my friends tonight. It shall be a lovely and perfect conclusion to a lovely and practically perfect trip.

I say "practically perfect" because I'm not gonna lie. Although our show last night was INCREDIBLE (and I mean that, it was probably the best show we've ever had!), and it made the stresses of the day totally worth it, my day yesterday was... stressful. I am well aware of how tacky it would be for me to elaborate and go into detail about this, so I absolutely will not. But suffice it to say that perhaps I was spoiled post-New York and had unfair expectations of what performance festival organisers and staff should be like... That being said, I shall never look a gift-horse in the mouth and act ungrateful for all the heaps of eleventh-hour hard work and hospitality that my friend Brad & his colleagues put in to making The Burning Bush show at the Chutzpah! Halifax Festival a smashing success! Mad props all around!!!

So, although the experience of our tech rehearsal earlier in the day left something to be desired, sheer determination on the part of all involved prevailed and the experience of the actual show was truly spectacular. Phenomenal. Exceptional. Inspirational. In short, TES and I loved every minute of it, and so did the audience. We also found out that our audiences in NYC loved us a lot as well. Today we got the news that The Burning Bush won the audience choice award for it's venue at the FRIGID Festival in NYC! Woo Hoo!

And as far as the rest of my life goes, that's been pretty great too. Though I'm starting to find myself thinking "yeah, what else is new?" everytime I make that statement! Yes, I am a lucky girl. And as I packed my suitcase yet again this morning, while watching some of my favorite episodes of Sex & The City on DVD, I was reminded of my oft-made statement that "My Real Life is Way Better Than T.V." And I truly believe that it is.

As I walked home from the bar last night, down the silent Monday night streets of Halifax's North End, I found myself once again "bargaining" with The Universe, and it went something like this...

I promise to keep giving...
to keep giving all that I have to give...
to people, to the world... whatever...
I promise to keep giving as much as I can...
If what I get in return, is this kind of greatness...

My life is pretty kind of great these days,
Pretty Kind of Great.

PRE-Post-Partum?

This time tomorrow morning I will be in LaGuardia Airport, likely waiting in a lineup to check my bags or go through airport security or something. And by tomorrow afternoon, I will be back "home" in Toronto.

I wasn't feeling too excited about that fact, until my friend Mark called me - just now - and we chatted for a bit about plans to meet up while he's travelling in Europe this Spring and I am working in South-Central France. And we also talked about my hopes and plans for moving to New York next year, and the busyness of my next few weeks before I go to France, when I will be doing one more leg of The Burning Bush's World Tour in Halifax (this weekend!!!) and taking a road-trip to Vermont with my high school friend Sarah... Oh, the future is so exciting!!

But most of all, I think I am feeling better after talking to Mark because even just hearing his voice, and talking for a few minutes, helped me to remember the fabulousness of my life in Toronto that awaits me, and most of all the people there that I love! I'm looking forward to a whirlwind few days of "home" before Halifax this weekend.

And speaking of whirlwind - these last few days sure have been! Agressive New York snowstorms arriving hot on the heels of springtime-like sunshine and morning walks through Central Park; Days of living with laughter and love, peppered with watching theatre and doing theatre and meeting theatre people and talking about theatre and raising our glasses to the theatre...

And New York City. The land of the Jews and the Irish, and realising that I might actually be a little bit of both - so of course I heart NY and loved stage managing the show about the stripping Rabbi on St Patrick's Day!

And solidifying fond new friendships, and falling in love, and always, working to the bone, and still loving...
Every Single Moment...

I get creative and installation-artsy on the snowy day of shabat


The loveable character of "Christy" - the opening act for The Burning Bush, with the most generous man in New York City and my new friend Joe "De la Heyman" (Uncle to my favorite NYC sketch comedy troupe, the super smart and funny 'Drop Six')


Tracey with Erez - Director of the NY FRIGID Festival, and one of my new best friends in New York City. He and his wife Laura are SO gonna be my peeps when I move here. Yeah!


Audiences wait in the crowded warmth of the lobby on a frigid St Patrick's Day... I think this is what success looks like, no?


Tracey, er, I mean Christy & Megs steal one last backstage moment together before the final NY FRIGID Fest performance of The Burning Bush. In case you're wondering, this is what Jewish bling looks like (Big Sis & Lil Sis versions, respectively)

And so we beat on, boats against the current... or something like that.

NAMASTE

The Morning After

Is it a bad thing when you wake up and before you even open your eyes, all you can think to do is exclaim "Oh no, oh no..." ?

In my own defense, I think I did it more for the laughs... 'Did what?' you may be asking. Well, I've had that thought myself, a few times this morning. I actually mean the waking up and yelling "Oh no" over and over again. I think I did it so that Tracey would be intrigued to hear more about how much fun I had after she went home last night.

So, last night was the FRIGID Festival party, complete with open bar and a Canadian girl who accidentally forgot to eat dinner... You can imagine what it was like.

Tracey has some photos on her camera that she is going to send me so that you can get a little glimpse of how much I love New York... But she's not sure yet which one she trusts me to have, for fear of what might end up on the internet, I think...

Are you intrigued yet?
Good.

PS - if I sound peppy and together, it's a total act.
I am remembering why I don't drink much anymore.
Hangovers suck.
(And to top it off, I'm meeting Jackie Mason today - for real!)