Time For a Change...Or is it??

I do not consider myself a very spontaneous person, and I am almost positive most people would agree with that. Every time I go to a restaurant I order the exact same thing. Trying to get me to try something new is like pulling teeth (ask Pete, he knows all about it). I figure out what I like and I stick with that...forever. I always wear my hair the exact same way. My makeup has looked the same since I started wearing makeup, when I was 14. I want to be on Broadway when I grow up, the same exact dream I have had since I was 2 years old. That's just how I have always been, there is comfort in repetition for me.

That being said, I have always admired spontaneous people. I often times try and pretend I am spontaneous only to fail miserably and fall right back into my normal habits. I think girls that change clothing styles once a month seem like they are having so much fun. I admire those who have 3 or 4 different majors during college, because they get to try so many different things and learn so much. And I imagine what it would feel like to be one of those girls that wake up one morning and decide its time for a change and before you know it they have cut off half of their hair and dye it blue. What would it be like...?

Well, today I became that girl...

I woke up this morning and I decided it was time for a change. I have had long hair my entire life and have never been bold enough to do anything about it. There have been many times I have gone to a salon with the intentions of walking out with short hair, but I always seem to chicken out at the last minute and just get it trimmed. But not this time. This time I was going to print off a picture of a girl with SHORT hair, take it into the salon, and close my eyes until it was over and done with. And that is exactly what I did. (See picture below):

That is what I wanted my hair to look like, but that is not what it looks like. It's definitely shorter, however, the guy cutting my hair (Vince was his name) told me he would not cut it as short as I wanted because since I was making such a drastic change I should test the waters first. He said once he cuts my hair, if I want it shorter, then I can come back next week and get it shorter, but for now he would not cut it as short as I wanted. Ok, I understand where he is coming from...but I want to be spontaneous! Though he had good intentions he completely stomped out all of my spontaneous fire. Sigh. It's not like I hate my hair or anything...it is alright...but its not what I wanted. I wanted more spunky, more short layers, more flippy (this is a terrible description) and what I got was just...shorter and kind of boring. I'm debating whether or not to go back and get it cut exactly the way I want or if spontaneity is just not ever going to be for me.

What do you think I should do?

The Tallest Monument in America--The Arch

After nearly a month and a half of living in St. Louis, Kortney and I finally managed to get around to doing that extremely iconic St. Louis-y must, we rode to the top of the Arch. It was awesome, and I mean awesome.

This was a special Saturday for me because Kortney actually drove out to Illinois to pick me up once I was done selling and so not only did I not have to wait around to be picked up by my manager, or wait for everyone else to be picked up too, but I also didn't have to wait an hour to drive home before getting to see my wonderful wife. Definitely the hardest part about selling is the ridiculous hours that we have to spend apart. We've definitely gotten better at making the most of our time together, but that doesn't make the time apart any easier. Today, it was less, and that was good.

So from Alton, IL, where I had spent the morning and early afternoon, we drove along the Mississippi, cutting through Granite City on our way to downtown St. Louis. As we crossed the bridge over to Missouri, the rain was just pouring down on us. It got so out of control that we decided to pull over and wait for it to cool down, I can handle driving in snow (I've spent every winter of my driving life in either Utah or Quebec) but driving in this rain is unreal! There were times when it would be coming down so hard that even with the windshield wipers going at full steam, the rain created an immediate, impenetrable curtain of water that made driving an unsettling experience, and that's not even mentioning the standing water.

We chilled at the side of the road for a while and were rewarded by not only arriving at our destination in safety, but also by this amazing rainbow. It seemed very artistic for God to give us this view right before we rode to the top of the Gateway Arch.

So we finally got into the parking garage and we braved the weather, which at this point had picked up again, and ran to the north base of the arch and underground into the Museum of Westward Expansion. It's a full service museum on the expansion of America into its Western frontier covering the years 1800 to 1900, suffice it to say, there is a lot of information. There are also two videos that they show and of course, the tram ride to the top of the Arch. At places like these, I am always all about having the complete experience, so we bought tickets to both movies and the tram, and just like that, the rest of our day was booked.

The first movie was about Lewis and Clark's Pacific Expedition. It was on their super screen and it was really amazing. I find their story so inspiring. The number of times that they were serendipitously saved is amazing. The movie was modern and very high quality. I am of the mind that Lewis and Clark definitely earned their place in US History and deserve to be considered heroes. Early on in our time in St. Louis we went to St. Charles which was their departure point for the journey. There was a reenactment society there that were in full Lewis and Clark garb and one of them talked to us at length about his experience as part of the 200 year commemoration where they reenacted their famous voyage. Since then, I have really appreciated what it is that they went through and did.

The second movie was about the actual making of the Arch. It was called A Monument to the Dream. The Dream being the dream of Westward Expansion and establishing a waterway that would cut through the continent. The Monument being the Arch. This movie was very fascinating. It showed some incredible footage of the building of the Arch. It was under construction for about 5 years and they simultaneously built both legs and then connected them at the top. That means that for years there were just these two huge columns of steel growing out of the ground over the Mississippi. It was so cool to see. The day that they put the last piece into the arch was seriously inspiring. The Arch is a feat. Looking at it is impressive, but seeing the engineering genius it took to get it actually built, one triangular piece at a time was even more inspiring. I think seeing the making of it made the experience of riding the tram to the top that much cooler. That said, it was really cool.

You can ride to the top from either leg of the arch in a train of eight cars that are shaped and colored like eggs. They periodically rotate as you travel up the leg so that you are always upright.

The Arch is awesome. A St. Louis MUST-see. You get an amazing view of the city to the west a bird's-eye view of the Mississippi River to the east. The pictures weren't that great since it was at night, but the view was amazing. Take our word for it.

No One Mourns the WICKED!

Let me begin by saying, once again, my husband is AMAZING!! =D Secondly, if you have not seen this show...it really is time to fix that.

This is the billboard I longingly looked at every time we drove by on the freeway. However, this time we were in stand still traffic as we passed it, on our way to the show! I didn't realize we were going the opening week, so the roads were packed and the show was sold out. When we finally snagged a parking place we shuffled along to the theatre surrounded by hundreds of other Wicked lovers with anticipated smiles plastered on their faces. Peter decided to try and run across the street when it wasn't his turn and almost got taken out by a car. Luckily he has cat-like reflexes and managed to jump out of the way, apparently he was little more excited than I thought.

A random woman outside the theater offered to take our picture. Ironically, the theatre I saw Wicked at, in Atlanta, was also called Fox Theatre. However, this theatre was unlike any theatre I have ever seen. It was absolutely gorgeous! As we walked in to take our seats we couldn't take our eyes off the walls and the ceilings, they were amazing. I wish I had some more pictures of the actual theatre. I took one (the one underneath this text) and forgot to turn off the flash. Immediately, a Nazi theatre woman came tromping up the stairs searching for the person who belonged to the flash she just saw. I quickly hid my camera. After her search failed miserably, I put away my camera just in case she came back. But if you look at the carving above the stage, this is what every inch of the theatre looked like. It might not look all that great here, but it was the most beautiful theatre I have ever seen, it made the experience that much more magical just because we were in that brilliant theatre!

The show was amazing, as to be expected, and Peter seemed to think it lived up to all the hoopla that comes along with it. The two other times I have seen the show there have been certain things or members of the cast that ended up disappointing me. For example, in the first show Glinda spoke almost all of her songs. It was quite obvious that she didn't have the voice for that part, even though her acting was phenomenal it was a bit disappointing. The second time I saw it Fiyero completely stole the show, and you might be asking why that would be a bad thing, but the rest of the leads seemed so untalented when compared to him. Don't get me wrong, both of those shows were amazing and I am definitely not complaining, but for you to understand just how satisfied I was with this performance, I have to bring out the little things I disliked about the others.

This cast was perfect. Every lead was absolutely amazing in their own way. The woman who played Glinda sounded almost exactly like Kristin Chenoweth and Elphaba was a power house. The dancers were gorgeous and the acting was flawless. The third time truly is the charm and I am so glad Peter decided to surprise me with such an amazing night. We had a blast and it was a wonderful 4 month anniversary. I think I will quit while I am ahead and make this the last time I pay money to see Wicked on stage. Maybe next time I will actually be in it... =D

UFO Sighting--in no way am I kidding

So, as it turns out, UFOs are real. I passionately wish I had a picture to include with this post.

We're down to five reps in our office so we all ride in the same car each day. Each day we vote on who had the coolest experience of the day, the winner receives recognition in the form of "Shark Points". Well today we had to resort to a tie-breaker because we all shared the coolest exorience of the summer. We spotted a UFO on the way home from selling.

Stop shaking your heads! I am not joking! I have four witnesses that will corroborate my story (that is, if the aliens haven't gotten to them already.)

So there we were, on the road between Nashville, IL (yes, IL) to St. Louis, MO, and right near Collinsville, the guys in the backseat start saying things like "what is that?" "is it a helicopter?" "it doesn't look like any helicopter I've ever seen." I turned around (I was in shotgun) and I was seriously SHOCKED.

The ship was above a field about 80 feet in the air. At this point we had passed it and I was looking at it from behind as we were driving away. It was iike a circular disc with four protrusions, each of them with exterior lights, each protrusion a different color. It was hovering, moving slowly, and rotating.
We quickly lost sight of it since we were on the freeway but before long it had crossed to the other side of the freeway and was once again visible to our left. Maintaining the same altitude, still rotating. We rounded a bend and it was out of view for good.

I'll always be sad that we didn't turn around and go investigate.

For the record, this thing was not big. It was thin looking and about as big around as an average backyard swimming pool. So now I, and you, will forever have to wonder, what was that?

4 Months and Still Going Strong!! =D

Peter and I have been married for 4 months today. I know, four months doesn't sound like very long, and honestly, it doesn't feel like very long either. I mean, sometimes I feel like I can't remember a time in my life where I wasn't married to him...or maybe I have just tried to forget those times. Most of the time, though, I am shocked we have been married as long as we have; time just flies.

WARNING: I am about to be a bit cheesy and mooshy. If you are not interested in this section of my post, feel free to skip down to the next paragraph.

These 4 months have seriously been heaven for me. I have always been the girl who vowed I would never get married until after I had performed on Broadway for 20 years. I always put a career before marriage in my mind and I promised myself that, that was never going to change. I was young and stupid then, because if I knew how wonderful marriage would be I would have made that my top priority. I definitely did not plan for Pete...even after we started dating it took me a long time before I let myself fall in love with him. Even after I fell in love there were so many times where I almost ran. Marriage terrified me and I wanted nothing to do with it. Thankfully, my heart conquered and overtook my head and here I am. I get to spend the rest of my life with my best friend and I am so grateful for that. Peter is amazing to me and I love him more than I could ever express. I am so happy! =D

All week Peter has been telling me to keep today completely open because he wanted to plan something special. I have thought about it a little and tried to guess what he was planning. Maybe dinner for two on one of the riverboat cruise ships. Maybe dinner and a movie or the drive in. Maybe we would just stay home and he would cook for me. I knew whatever it was I was going to love it. I am usually terrible when it comes to surprises because I don't like to be surprised. I like to know what is going on so I can plan and dress accordingly. However, this time I was going to let him have his surprise, I didn't mention it or try to get it out of him, not once. Well, it turns out he is just as terrible about surprises as I am. Last night, I was finishing up my work and Pete comes into the living room with an impatient smirk on his face. "Do you want to know what we are doing tomorrow?" he was almost giddy with excitement. I hesitated...but of course ended up saying yes. And let me tell you it was much more than I expected and one of the best surprises ever. Peter and I are going to see WICKED tonight!!

I have been talking about WICKED since the beginning of the summer. It is one of my favorite musicals and the touring Broadway cast is here in St. Louis through June and July. I have seen the show twice before, once in Atlanta and once in Chicago, but I really want to see it again. Plus, Peter has never seen it so I wanted him to experience this amazing musical with me. However, I decided it was just going to be too much money to spend on a show that I have already seen. So, I tried my best to dismiss the idea and stopped mentioning it. However, deep down I have still been longing to see it and every time we pass the huge WICKED billboards on the interstate my heart breaks a little. I guess Peter could sense my longing and decided to make all my dreams come true. Oh man, I am so excited and I know he is going to love it too! This is going to be the best 4 month anniversary ever.

I love him!

Rice Krispies Treats Cereal Treats

As some of you know, I perform stand-up comedy. The thing I miss most about being away this summer is Humor U. They recently performed their spring show and it was the first Humor U show that I wasn't in in nearly two years. I was in 12 straight shows.


So anyway, to keep me sane I've been writing some jokes for a glorious return in the fall. One has to do with cereal. When I told it to Kortney it took on a life of its own, and on Sunday, we reaped the rewards.

So it has to do with the wierd ideas for cereal that continually pop up on the supermarket shelves (muffin tops, cookie crisp, french toast crunch) and the wierdest idea of all, Rice Krispies Treats Cereal. Come again? A cereal based on a popular recipe that mainly uses a different cereal? Can it even work?

To me, the idea is preposterous, and I was first introduced to the cereal at Kortney's family home when I first visited them last July. I was surprised but I gave it a chance. I did not like it. I mean, just think about what it is. It basically tastes like regular rice krispies except you do not need to sweeten them at all. They are also a bit more chewy. But then, every once in a while you come across this hardened chunk that seriously feels like biting into a rock. It makes for an unpleasant experience. For some reason though, Kortney loves them.

So the joke revolves around the premise that Kellogg's is clearly not very creative with their product development and so it is likely that if people started making rice krispies treats using their newer Rice Krispies Treats Cereal (i.e. Rice Krispies Treats Cereal Treats) and it got popular enough, they would naturally come out with the newest Rice Krispies Treats Cereal Treats Cereal. And then we would really be able to make some delicious Rice Krispies Treats Cereal Treats Cereal Treats. Well, Kortney loved the idea and on Sunday we made our first Rice Krispies Treats Cereal Treats. I wasn't very hopeful but wouldn't you know it? They are delicious! I'm not being sarcastic at all, they are chewier and sweeter than normal rice krispy treats. I really think I'm on to something. Everyone should try these and then we'll contact Kellogg's about getting the cycle in motion. I see a future filled with ever worsening cereals matched with ever improving desserts.

Quick Shout-Out to Cool Parents

Just want to give some recognition to my awesome mother who has agreed to be a volunteer for our Red Rock Relay team. She agreed to giving up her weekend to man an aid station somewhere along the 180 mile route. Her compensation? A free T-shirt. Now that is motherly devotion.

My Dad is cool too. He rode in the reenactment of the Pony Express for the 150th anniversary of their first ride. Jealous? You should be.