Tour #1: SLO City

Yes, they call San Luis Obispo, CA SLO City. 

We weren't there long enough to learn if there was any truth to the acronym.  After the delays from Chicago (and Phoenix for half the company) we spent a total of 18 hours in SLO, including a show at CalPoly and a trip to IHOP.  Then it was back on the plane to Phoenix and Chicago. 

I'm sad we didn't get to see more of the city.  It looked pretty once the clouds cleared. 

 In the small window of time we had in Phoenix, I shopped the magazine store (someone called it that and made me laugh...Ross?...someone) and acquiesced to a copy of Bride Magazine.  Edgar seemed slightly more excited than I was to look at it. 

After about an hour and half delayed on the runway, we finally took off for Chicago and had a rather uneventful flight (except for Kyle and I inadvertantly making fun of a girl's thong).  It was ridiculously wonderful to be home.  And having seen California and Bride Magazine, I have honeymoon destinations to consider. 

AAaaaaaaaaaaaAAAaaaAAAAhhhhhhhhhh

I'm getting married!!!!!

This guy

gave me this ring.

He came to pick me up for dinner and instead of getting into his car like usual, I was caught at my door and offered a ring.  I said yes (spoiler?) and we had a great dinner.  While he proposed, a car alarm went off.  It was very appropriate.  One thing - we never got to giggle and scream about it...we had to be in front of people for a couple hours and then make phone calls.  We got a little giddy here and there.  But I have a lot left in me.  Good thing we have time.

We are very happy and really excited to share our wedding with as many people as we can reasonably afford. 

Christmas, New Year, New Blog

We did it, 2009!  Here were are.  Everything got real today.  But I'm ahead of myself.  Christmas was...

Mom, dad, Matt and me at the Stratosphere.

A Vegas staple: the Elvis stocking.

Pretty great.  We saw a few shows, lost some money, but gained pictures and presents.  I'm not mad that I get to go to Vegas to visit my parents.  Although it is mildly exhausting.  Don't people go "home" over the holidays and watch movies and do crossword puzzles? 

I wish I could say New Year's was as exciting. We rang it in in the van on the way back from my last show as an understudy for a while.  Happy New Year, seven friends I just did a show with!  Now go find your party!  My party was Cheers reruns on Matt's TV.  And I was very happy with that.

So, Natalie, what's with the new blog?  Well.  It's about to get interesting.  (Also I love puns.)  I need to have some subject matter upon which to focus this old thing, so I'm turning my attention to my impending touring.  Get ready to see some sweet pictures of hilarious bar names and all manner of theatre venue. 

Before I get bogged down in the mire of travel and work and whatnot, I do want to say how excited and grateful I am to have a job I love.  I would've never planned for this or imagined it before I got here, but I figured out what I wanted pretty quickly.  In January of 2004 I walked into Second City to audition for the Conservatory Program.  Today I walked in for my first Touring Company rehearsal.  The last six years have been, in all sincerity, awesome. 

2009

This has not been the biggest blog year for me, but it's been one of the best years of all 29 of them. And I promise to share more in 2010. Why, Natalie, why would you do that? Well, in 2010, I will begin touring with Second City's RedCo. After two short years of understudying, I am finally going on the road. There are many emotions wrapped up in this...I am of course very happy and excited...but my sometime-aversion to travel is popping up a little, as is my separation anxiety from Chicago and from Matt. But my attention defecit really lends itself to being on the road, and for that I am grateful and excited to be doing something that may really suit me. Also, who isn't excited to be doing a few shows in Iowa City??? Anyway, this is what I moved to Chicago to do and I feel very blessed to be given the opportunity. And you're welcome, blog audience. My travels will be documented here beginning January 22. FUN!

What else? Well it's been a wonderful holiday. Matt and I spent Thanksgiving in Decatur, IL with no less than his entire family. It's a different experience than my family for sure, considering I have less than a third of the family he has. But I've always liked our small gatherings. Which we will have over Christmas in Vegas! Matt's coming with me, and we already have a full entertainment schedule.

Oh, I haven't said a thing about my 29th birthday. Well...

It was fun.

I hope everyone is having a great holiday.

Thanks

I feel like I've been waiting for the holidays since January of this year. I am incredibly happy they made it. Tomorrow, very early, I will be on my way to Decatur, IL to celebrate Thanksgiving and other various milestones with Matt's family. His whole family. Virtually every single member. No big deal.

I am also 3 days from my 29th birthday. As Amy so rhetorically reminded me, it is in fact the last year of my 20s. I have to say I'm pretty ok with that. Aside from this annoying biological clock, I'm pretty excited to get the hell out of this decade. My 20s have been fun and interesting and important...but they're also pretty overrated. There's a humorous, but humbling, comfort in looking back on things I did 7, 5, even one year ago and think, "Oh yikes, I would never do that again." So here's to being older and having more life to carry with me.

Think of things you're thankful for. And EAT!!

Slow Blog Year

I'm going to say it's because of all the exciting things I've been doing. Or it's because I'm ashamed to blog about sitting in my apartment. It's a little of both. But either way I've come back like I always do. What have we missed?

Girls Night Out! Great show, great cast, and I'm sad it's over. But we will continue to hold reunions at douchebag bars.

More girls, but the CSz kind. Ladiez Cook and Clean at TNo's place with a good percentage of CSz women represented. We got serious and made pasta. Serious pasta.

Halloween! Matt and I both went the cartoon route (ugh, I get it, the Flash is a comic not a carto-zzzzzzzzzzzzzz). Regardless here we are, The Flash and Jem!

Other things to report...I was thisclose to being in a commercial for the first time in my life. That was an exciting four days of jumping whenever my phone rang. But really, it was. Despite my lack of funds and the adjustment to rejection, I manage to remind myself how happy I am to be in the position to get that phone call.

And speaking of life progress, I'm fully embracing the fact that I can't live without TV. Maybe some elitist "readers" or "outdoor enthusiasts" will look down their noses at me, but I'm not afraid to admit it anymore. A few weeks ago for financial reasons I decided to go without cable for the first time in my life. Without a digital converter, I've had nothing but DVDs, radio and buffering internet video. Until today. The digital box I borrowed from a friend at work finally decided to cooperate with my TV and like magic, network television appeared. I had never been so happy to see Two and a Half Men. TV is just a fixture. I had all these aspirations of silence and work and self discovery. But instead I would just take too much time to locate my desired Buffy episode on DVD so I could have something on while I stood in the kitchen doing dishes. When you live alone, the TV is your roommate. And if my roommate can't passively talk to me, I'm not ok. So I said it. I need my TV.

And now I have to go and fall asleep watching the Home Shopping Network. Or telenovelas.

Stuff I'm Currently Not Doing

Here's what's going on in my apartment that I've been meaning to address for...5 years. I keep moving the same crap over and over and thinking I'll get rid of it "next time." So let's take a look.

Top Shelf: Coke stuff. Ok, fine, no issue there. What you don't see sitting in front of the truck's front wheel is my severed Lollapalooza bracelet from this year. Fine to keep, but it needs to go into my oft-idealized, never realized scrap book. In the cup there you may noticed some braided palms from Palm Sunday this year. Again, great to have, but I forget that I never properly disposed of the ones from last year. Sorry, JC.

First shelf: lots of books. Too many. Several of them could stand to go to a nice open space where they can run and play with other books.

Second shelf: Eesh. This shelf is broken. So I've balanced a bunch of light crap there that I don't have any other space for. Stapler, tape, pens, sewing kit my aunt gave me when I went to college....great. Glittler glue pens from an art project for my Sunday school class in 2005?? I'm a mess.

Bottom shelf: Tools. Three hole punch. Mini-speakers for my computer. Giant binder containing my Second City understudy packet. Notepads from a gift set and a two-pack of Silly Putty from my mom's Easter package this year. Come on, Sullivan.

So what have we learned? Well, I've taken the time to share this assessment on my blog while drinking coffee and watching Price is Right rather than actually doing something about it. But maybe the accountability will catch up with me. You know, before I go back to the office next week.