Vegas, baby...Vegas.

I just printed my boarding pass for my first trip away from Sadie & Andrew. I am absolutely not ready to go, but I know I need to do it. I am doing it.
This little plan was hatched last September when we visited Meghan & Michael out in Colorado. I'll spare all of the details, but the stars seriously aligned for this to come together as it has. Here are just a few of the examples how:

• My mother-in-law is in town, so I'll have seamless and spectacular childcare for Sadie
• I'm only missing one night of rehearsal for the play that I unexpectedly got into last month
• Meghan's husband (an OB-GYN) has the entire weekend off to care for their boys
• By some magical 6th sense, Sadie has basically weaned herself perfectly for my departure*
  

The trip started out (in my mind) as a weekend getaway for some much needed "me time". Meghan informed me emphatically that two 2 nights was not enough for her and while I had my doubts that I could manage 3 full nights away from my family, I agreed to stay a 3rd night. After all, she has 2 kids and a couple of years' worth of mom experience on me. Plus, while I hemmed and hawed to anyone who would listen, the Future Me was loudly whispering in my head, "just do it, you pansy! Soon you'll be wishing you could be away for weeks at a time!" Well, 3 nights turned into 4 because for some reason it's over $100 cheaper to fly out on Monday morning versus Sunday night.
So here I am with a plane ticket, reservations at the Bellagio, and a long list of restaurants, bars, shows, shops and clubs to try to check out.

People have had very interesting reactions to the fact that my Mom Get Away Trip is to Las Vegas. "Las Vegas?" they say, with raised eyebrows/tilted heads/smirks/knowing smiles. As my hairdresser (who used to be a DJ and frequented the clubs there) said, "There are 3 types that go to Las Vegas: old people, families, and people who want to get f*****cked up."
Hmmmm. I don't fit into any of those categories, but I know he's right. I'll admit, there was a time when I might have been in Group 3, and I did have a gaggle of friends who went on Vegas weekend benders. But (in 20/20 hindsight) luckily that was many years ago when I lived in New York, so jetting off to Nevada for 48 hours was not an option for me. So - to all of you who looked at me sideways when I told you about my plans to visit Sin City, read on.

The things I want to do on this trip are:

• lay by the pool (it's supposed to be sunny and in the 70s)
  
• get dressed up (I used all of my Nordstrom gift cards for a fabulous top)
  
• go see a show (probably something by Cirque du Soleil)
  
• eat high quality food (too many places to choose from)
  
• have a spa treatment (body scrub? facial? or just hang out in there)
  
• window shop (gotta check out the Manolo Blahnik store)
• pull a few slot machine handles (I fail to see gambling as entertainment)
  
• people watch (my personal favorite)
  

I know it will be great for me to get away, relax, etc. but I also know that said relaxation won't come easily. I can see it now... I'll be lying by the pool atop a big soft hotel towel on a lovely, long lounge chair, hopefully with my iPod-if I can figure out how to work it by then-and I'll be wondering what Sadie had for breakfast and what she's doing that very minute. Missing me? Blissfully unaware that I'm not around? Giggling in that sweet, infectious way that she does? Having a delightful outdoor adventure with her Nana & Daddy? There's no doubt that she'll be expanding her vocabulary and will knock my socks off when I return. It will be so weird to have missed 3 and a half full days of her development, especially right now when she literally says something new every single day, usually multiple times a day. She's speaking 5 and 6 word sentences. It's crazy.

Anyway - blah, blah, blah. I'm going to Las Vegas. I hope I can enjoy myself. Correction: I will enjoy myself.


*originally, this was the biggest factor in whether I'd take this trip at all. The fact that I've breastfed Sadie this long is very special and important to me. There are a ton of reasons why, and let's just say that somehow, weaning her "so that Mama can go to Vegas" didn't exactly fit into my parenting schema. We got down to once a day in the morning and held that pattern for about a month. She got sick once, so she nursed through that. Then she started to only ask for it about every other day in the morning, and we held that pattern for about a month as well. That's where we are now. Seriously. Perfect.

The family that's silly together...

Sadie started this the other night when we went out for pizza with her cousins. I couldn't get those girls to stand still and smile for a picture, but our little ham was in full swing, so I snapped away.

Looking at these photos, I wonder why I ever claimed to have blue eyes. Andrew and Sadie have the market on that!

*hint to Nana, etc. - you can click on the photos to see them much, much larger.

Did ya hear?

Apparently Oprah's got a thing for "S" names for her cocker spaniels, and she has just announced that she named her newest addition "Sadie".
I wonder if she knows that it's not a unique name for a dog. It's been on the top 10 most popular list for years.
We keep thinking our little Sadie is a lucky lady, but let's be honest - this b*tch has it made.

well, well, well...

it seems that I have gotten myself cast in a play.

WHAT? (Yeah - that's about how I feel.)

Yes, my bachelor's degree is in Theater with an acting emphasis, but somehow "actor" has never rolled off the tongue when I'm describing myself. I didn't jet off to grad school for an MFA, I didn't move to L.A. and I was only a waitress for about a year (har, har). I did move to New York for about 18 months, but that's a whole 'nother story!

Sometime in the last few months I decided that I needed to act again before expanding our family. 2009 looked like a good year to set that kind of goal for myself. (I also need a car and we need a house, but hey - priorities!) I began my hunt for roles in local companies' upcoming shows and to make a long story short, I went to this particular audition merely to get the cobwebs out and get some juices flowing again. I'm honestly surprised that the director cast me, but I'm genuinely pleased as well.

I've been in about a half a dozen productions since my proud graduation day in June of 1997, when I wore a large hyena head hat (yes, you read that correctly) and was jubilantly silly with my fellow theater & dance majors. I remember that day well - I sat next to a friend who bounced his knee throughout the entire ceremony, quite literally bursting with excitement because he was getting on a plane for New York that very night to go start his career. I remember being floored by his courage and drive. (Incidentally, he has never left the big city - he's been dancing professionally for almost 12 years now and he began producing shows as well a few years ago. You go, Adam Z.!) Where was I? Oh yes - in case you didn't do the math, my average is 1 show every 2 years since I got my diploma. Not stellar.

Why so few acting gigs? Good question, and one I've definitely pondered yet never really answered over the years.
I suspect that I don't really have the ego of an actress. I kind of hate giving monologues for auditions, it weirds me out to own stacks of 8x10 pictures of my face, and I'd be lying if I didn't admit that occasionally a stereotypical "theater person" will annoy the bejesus out of me. I definitely don't have the thick, rejection-proof skin required. Oh, but I do love to be onstage. Over the years I've satisfied my theater itch by stage managing and house managing at my friends' theater company, as well as supporting my acting & directing friends as an enthusiastic audience member when possible.
I guess I never had "the bug" badly enough to attempt a career in the field - just enough to dedicate 3.5 years in college to studying and rehearsing living in the Theater Department - and enough to make me cry during Academy Award acceptance speeches.
In all seriousness, though - I think one of the things that has kept me from acting is my unique and neurotic form of perfectionism. The thing is, good theater - really, good theater - is utterly magical. If I'm going to do something that is meant as entertainment for other people, I need to do it extremely well. And the effort that requires - the commitment, the focus, the energy, is no small task.

I want to do this. I'm thrilled that I'm being given the opportunity.

And now the work begins.