Just Because...

I thought Divine was dead! Shows what I know...

New Cake - Pumpkin

I'm sure this picture doesn't represent the size of the cake at all, but it is pretty huge. It was originally going to be a jack-o-lantern cake but it came out so realistic-looking that we decided to just keep it simple. A jack-o-lantern cake will be coming soon...

New Cake - Witch Hat

I was worried that the pictures wouldn't do justice to this cake due to the great dark purple, but they seem to have turned out OK.

Shepherdstown, WV

We recently took a quick jaunt to Shepherdstown. It's very pretty in the fall, not that it was fall-like at all. Here are Skip and Blossom enjoying each other's company a little bit too much, perhaps?

Gaston Update

You may remember that Gaston is getting some acupuncture for his old, old hips. Well he is doing much better. He even prances sometimes like he used to do all the time. We're very happy with his progress so far...

Broadway week wrap-up

I recently wrote about how much I loved The Color Purple but I saw two other shows.

Cyrano de Bergerac was great too. Jennifer Garner, Kevin Kline and the lead from Take Me Out starred. The sets were amazing. It was a very tall theatre and they didn't skimp on using the space. As wonderful as the show was, I was very cramped in my seat and ended up leaving at half time because my knee was kiling me.

Xanadu has been called the gayest show on Broadway and I don't know how you can get much gayer than that show. Drag queens, Olivia Newton-John songs, gay jokes, roller skates, the gay lead (Cheyanne Jackson) in short, short, short roller disco shorts, a humungous disco ball, gay, gay gay! I felt like I was one of the few first-timers there. It was a very fun time and luckily they are recording the Cast Recording next Monday. The lead is the original Penny Pingleton from Hairspray!

Sleepy Dog

Blossom has taken to sleeping on her back in my arms in the car. That's Skip driving!

Target is very progressive!

Shop Suey!

from a great Chinese/Thai/Japanese restaurant near us...

I got tickets!

It's early Sunday morning and I woke up to an email from the Spice Girls saying more dates had been added. Skip and I are seeing them in February! Oh my goodness I am so excited. We have seats off the floor right in front of the stage. I hope I hope I hope they each get to sing a solo hit or two. Which ones?

Mel C - Never Be The Same Again & Turn To You
Emma B - Free Me & No Sign Of Life
Victoria B - Let Your Head Go
Geri - Ride It & Look At Me
Mel B - I Want You Back

In other news, Blossom has a cough we don't like but we haven't been to a vet here in Maryland yet. Anyone have a suggestion?

What a difference four stars can make

You may remember I walked out of the musical The Color Purple it was so bad. Well I saw it again! Fantasia is currently starring and believe it or not, star is the right word. Or stars to be exact. Four of them. This production left me amazed and extremely confused. Last time I saw it the emotional connections were missing (no one was afraid of Mister, Celie and Nettie didn't seem close, etc.) but this time ALL of the connections were there. I couldn't tell you the last time I cried at a Broadway show (Ok, it was probably Doubt) but I cried last night. Multiple times. And I was certainly not the only one. When poor Nettie and Celie were being separated by Mister I prayed they were both wearing kneepads.

Shug Avery just blew everything away. Even now I'm sitting here wishing I could have the version of "Push the Button" she sang last night. I listened to the preview of the song on iTunes from the original cast and it's nowhere near as good. Since when is the second cast of a musical better than the first?

I dreaded seeing poor Sophia after she was beat up for not wanting to be the mayor's wife's maid. I dreaded it because I was afraid it would be just as heartwrenching as in the movie. Well it was and more. Although they didn't actually show the scene where Sophia is surrounded by all the white men (there were no white people in this production) and beaten, it still was extremely powerful.

Oh Nettie. Nettie was eerie because she seemed to have been channeled right from the movie, looks, voice and all. But that was an amazing thing and it was an amazing performance.

And Fantasia. How can I forget Fantasia? I can honestly say I don't think I've ever clung to every word out of a performer's mouth like the last drops of air. I BELIEVED she was a little girl of 14 and dealing with the loss of her second child in the hands of her baby daddy (her real daddy). I BELIEVED she loved her some Shug Avery (even if she was partly a Nettie substitute). And I BELIEVED she was finally a self-actualized older woman. Maybe this is the only role that Fantasia can convincingly play in her whole life but oh my god every line was perfect. And her singing! I understood every word she sang and although she Fantasiaized it (like that word?) she made it convincing and part of her character.

Until she leaves the production in early January, it is my favorite show on Broadway. If you have any inkling to go to New York between now and then don't miss her.

Broadway week

It's been a while since I've been in NYC for 5 days straight but here I am. I wanted to finally see Fantasia in The Color Purple but they don't have a show on Tuesday night so I got a ticket for Wednesday night. Then I thought, "Why don't I go see the gayest show on Broadway?" It's Xanadu, of course. A bad movie but evidently an amazing show. Well for whatever reason Xanadu started at 7 pm so I got tickets for Thursday night. So I was walking around looking for dinner and there was Cyrano De Bergerac starring Kevin Kline and one of my favorites, Jennifer Garner. I got an aisle seat close to the stage and she was just wonderful.

Hopefully next week I'll see Young Frankenstein.

Topsy Turvy

Here's Skip's latest, a Topsy Turvy made for my sister's birthday. This cake will be on his new business cards.

The Republican Convention Logo

I didn't like it when I saw it, but this analysis of exactly what was wrong with it is just very funny to me.

Presenting Princess Blossom

Only a few weeks in, Blossom has already won Doggie of the Week at Day Care! I've decided that for her own protection, everyone coming to the house to visit her must have a proper security screening. Get your ducks in a row!

Stuff

Sorry posting has been light lately.

I'm getting as big as a house. My knee pain doesn't let me get much sleep or work out. Even when I don't do legs or cardio my knees still hurt at the gym, go figure. The insurance company is taking it's sweet time getting my referral number so I can get this fixed. Oy.

In other news, Skippy has an order for a great cake due Thursday night. If everything goes as planned, it will be the cake featured on his new business cards. Of course I'll post a picture here so you all can have a sugar-coma just looking at it! We ran to Michael's last night and got him a cake sprayer which Skippy claims will make the cake 50% more awesome. His new web site is coming soon, also, as soon as I finish it.

I see that The Bionic Woman had a 30% drop in the ratings in it's second week. Coincidentally, it's the same week that Isaiah Washington joined the cast. If there is any justice, ratings will spike back up after his guest stint (5 episodes) is over.

Hassle or Harassment. You decide!

Ah, we are getting it from both ends. The management company for our Colorado house is claiming that they were never told we were leaving (we have the note and they scheduled a showing while we were still there), they never got the keys and the house was a mess (we hired a professional cleaner who left the keys right where we told her and will testify to the fact), want to charge us a $850 late fee for missing September's rent (documentation states we'll be out by September 1 per our lease) and want to charge us a $400 return check fee for a check he won't describe (we know of no returned check). The upshot is that instead of returning our security deposit they say we owe more than $2500 OVER our security deposit. They will be getting a not-so-nice letter from our lawyer today.

Meanwhile the management company at our new house has us call the maintenance guy to schedule a repair, we schedule it for four days in the future and the guy shows up on the same day the appointment was made. We get calls from the management company complaining about our grass length (well within Baltimore County guidelines), questions about why do we have three cars in the driveway??? and other sundry petty issues. We've talked to the owners of the house, they are very nice people. They also claim they don't know why we are being asked these silly things, they could care less how many cars we have in the driveway.

Welcome to Baltimore!