Family Rules!

I'm home in Salt Lake for the day. The mountains and the lake were incredible driving in. I was completely overwhelmed. We just left Reno which was such a dive. The only redeeming moment was the short trip to Tahoe I took when I was there. I had brunch by the lake with Deborah and some of her friends that lived in the area. I have never seen water so clear before and the scenery was spectacular. There were a myriad of skiers and snowboarders slope bound and I was jealous, but the short getaway was just what I needed. Tonight all the girls from the show came to my house and had dinner. It was so wonderful to have everyone there together. Dad made chicken enchiladas and a yummy salad and Mom made a chocolate Texas sheet cake for desert. We all ended up entertaining eachother and had a great time. Christel gave us all a belly dancing lesson after we watched one of her videos. My soul has been fed and I think today was just what I needed to feel better about everything that's been going on lately. I hope I haven't been too much of a psycho. Thanks to all my friends near and far for standing by me and putting up with my crap. I love you all.

Reno...hmmm

Here I am in Reno. I've been very introspective the last couple of days and have had a few moments of self-realization. It's always a bit painful but liberating to discover a truth about yourself. Maybe it stemmed from being in the "Biggest Little City in the World", but I had one of the biggest little realizations here. I just have to say I treasure the small friendships and long lasting real friendships I have. It's never easy to discover that you really don't mean that much to some people, especially when you feel that you had some kind of relationship. But sometimes when you stop relying on others to feed your soul, you discover other things that fill it. Although I'm not sure what life has in store for me, I know what kind of a person I want to be. I hope that I will be able to share that with those who are willing to accept it. If not, I'm not going to let it get me down. All I can do is just go on being me. I can't wait to get out of Reno. I see my family in two days when we travel to Salt Lake. They feed my soul...nothing like unconditional love and support.

1/25 Short and to the point

I don't really have anything new to say today except I had a wonderful day in Olympia. I spent the day with Melissa and Sarah. We took a yoga class, ate at a little tea bistro, did a little shopping, did a little show, hit a brewery and had a wonderful non-alcoholic ginger honey brew, finished it off with some karaoke and here I am. Good Food - Good Friends - Good Times Sums it up. I found a fabulous quote today as I was walking around town and it really hit me... Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end. ---Unknown So there it is, and for me...it's not the end, so I'm not going to worry. Since I'm in a crunchy town - love and peace to all.

City of Subdued Excitement

I've been a thinker today. I'm in Olympia, WA and it's beautiful. The air is so clean and crisp and it feels great just to walk around and take it all in. We just came from Bellingham which turned out to be one of the best experiences yet on tour. After our matinee on Sunday I went out with Sarah, Angie, Melissa, Sabrina, Kirsten and Matt. We planned on just going to dinner and then back to the hotel, but as the night progressed the evening turned into a whirlwind tour of the entire city. A couple of the crew guys, Ed and Robert took us to some of the best local hot spots. We started at a little brewery called Boundary Bay. The food was delish and I had myself a tasty homemade rootbeer. After that we hit a local ice cream place where they make everything in house, also delish. My flavor of choice was mandarin chocolate chip. It reminded me of the chocolate orange freeze shakes that my dad makes me...yum. Per Ed and Robert's suggestion, we hit the Wild Buffalo for some live music. It happened to be swing night. The band was the Fab 4+1. The music was amazing and we were cuttin' it up on the dance floor. There was a cute little guy with white hair and a beard wearing a tropical shirt who kept asking us to dance. He looked like Santa. He was very sweet and a gentleman, Don was his name. He told me the story of how his mom made him learn how to dance when he was in the 7th grade and he's been dancing ever since. Ed and Robert were incredible dancers as well. I never would have expected it from hardcore tattooed boys. They kept teasing us because we were having so much fun and acting like it was the first time we had ever been out. What can I say, we're just a happy crew who loves to have fun. Robert, very poetic, said there is a party in every town and all you need to do is find it. He told us we should break a heart in every city. He also said we brought life to the city of subdued excitement. I liked that. After the Wild Buffalo closed we headed over to the Ranch House for a couple of games of pool and we still weren't done. We finished our night at a fourth bar that I don't know the name of, ate french fries, took over the juke box and threw dollar bills on the ceiling with tacks in them to leave our mark on Bellingham. This morning I woke up to the most spectacular sunrise. The clouds covered the sky and were so fluffy and bright. They looked like orange cotton candy and I wanted to dive right into them. I took a walk and found a darling tea house called the Spice Hut. It almost finished off my perfect stay (wish I wasn't alone). But it made me feel glad I'm here. I haven't felt this confident and grounded in a long time. I love my friends. I love my job. I love my life. Happy.

On the road...again

So it was back on the bus today, squished in a seat, with a pillow and blanket. Good thing I had my new iPod to keep me company. Here's the update 'till now in a very large nutshell. We started our tour again in Cerritos, CA. The theater was amazing and was very hospitable (food, nice dressing rooms, etc) We were there for four days and the weather was incredible, we laid out by the pool and soaked up sun whenever we got the chance. Tank tops and shorts in January, can't beat that. The experience was too good to be true, right? Yep, you're right. Our hotel was another story. The rooms themselves weren't bad. In fact, Deborah and I had a suite with a living room, two bathrooms and a bedroom that was separated by french doors. Sigh...could have been ideal. Our neighbors were the problem, we called them 'lil Compton. The first night, at midnight, they started bumping their gangsta rap. We tolerated for a while until they began free stylin' along. Called the front desk several times and it just went on and on until 3. Mind you, we were still on East coast time. Then around 7:30 am the music started again. Four and a half hours is all we received. Most of the cast had the same problem. There was another huge group in the hotel called the "Doers" I guess because they do stuff. Apparently they are the kids who sell books, cutco knives, fake cologne, etc. in malls and parking lots. Yeah for us. They party all night and then wake up at the crack of dawn to work. That's okay, we retaliated with musical theater songs at the top of our lungs when they had finally settled down. Maybe a little tap dancing on the walls. Whatever we could think of. If it weren't for the wonderful theater Cerritos would have been a terrible experience. Well, the theater and Mom and Dad Barton bringing me a ton of gifts on Sunday. On to Lancaster... Lancaster was fine, the hotel was shady...it had an adjoining bar and Indian restaurant. How random, so we sang karaoke with a grandma and grandson team leading us and ate chicken tika masala. Laid out by the pool again and that was that. Oh yeah, during the show we had to stop because a sweet little old lady fell coming back from intermission and broke her arm. Poor thing. I almost forgot about the picture taking fiasco before the show. The Kodak theater people were there to do a commercial, take pictures for billboards and promo shots for a program. It was awful. We had to get in full make-up and costumes and then stand there like cattle while they picked out the people they wanted to take pictures of. I have to say, it's the first time I actually felt like a whore on this tour. I can't even really talk about it, just know it was awful. Up to speed, I'm in Sac-town now and enjoying being able to blog and catch up on email. Everybody is going out tonight to party, but I just don't feel up to watching people get drunk tonight, so I'm taking a little alone time to relax on my white down comforter bed. Maybe I'll watch a little TV, read a book...I don't know...I don't know if I'll have time. I may go to the Home Depot, maybe have a lovely dinner at Olive Garden... ...and I'm out. ~Ro

Leaving Home

I leave on tour tomorrow. I couldn't figure out how to put down in words what I'm feeling right now, but since I may not be able to blog for a while I felt like I should write something. So, I'm using Tony Kushner's words. This is one of my favorite monologues, and it seemed strangely appropriate. It's from Angels in America. "Night flight to San Francisco. Chase the moon across America... When we hit 35,000 feet, we'll have hit the tropopause. The great belt of calm air. As close as I'll ever get to the ozone. I dreamed we were there. The plane leapt the tropopause, the safe air, and attained the outer rim, the ozone, which was ragged and torn, patches of it thread bare as old cheesecloth, and that was frightening… But I saw something only I could see, because of my astonishing ability to see such things: Souls were rising, from the earth far below, souls of the dead, of people who had perished, from famine, from war, from the plague, and they floated up, like skydivers in reverse, limbs all akimbo, wheeling and spinning. And the souls of these departed joined hands, clasped ankles, and formed a web, a great net of souls, and the souls were three-atom oxygen molecules, of the stuff of ozone, and the outer rim absorbed them, and was repaired. Nothing's lost forever. In this world, there is a kind of painful progress. Longing for what we've left behind, and dreaming ahead. At least I think that's so." I love those words, they give me hope when there's not much of it to go around. I love you all and leave you in peace, Rochelle

Sleeps with Butterflies

It just gets better and better everyday for me. Tori released her first single from her new album, Sleeps with Butterflies. Hmmm...I think she's singing about me. You can hear the song on toriamos.com Every word fits so perfectly for me right now. "you say the word you know I will find you or if you need some time I don't mind I don't hold onto the tail of your kite how I like the girls that you've known, but I believe I'm worth coming home to" This girl is off to sleep with butterflies right now. Nighty night, Rochelle P.S. If I were a faerie, this is what I'd be HASH(0x8c9fbb4)
You are the tree-loving faerie. The Earth Faerie.
Nature is your friend, all the little animals
are cute and cuddly, even those that bite. You
are a strong friend, people have a tendancy to
go to you when they are feeling sad. You have a
motherly instinct and always want to kiss away
the tears.

What's your inner Faerie?

1/8 Dinosaurs RULE

Today I took a little jaunt into the city to visit the dinosaurs. Very cool. It was the first time I've been to the museum since I moved to NY. What a madhouse, but once you get past all the tourists it's not so bad. I decided to add some pictures to give a better idea of my experience. I wish I had a picture of the giant turtle, it was as big as a mini cooper, reminded me of the big turtle on Never Ending Story. I'm such a nerd, I love this stuff. DINOSAURS RULE!!!

Ahhh...the comforts of home

I'm back in NY and it feels great to be home. It's strange when you can call a city so far from everyone 'home', but that's what it's become. I have my own bed, shower, closet and Tyler...deep breath...sigh. I think my shoes missed me. I had to assure them I hadn't forgotten about them and introduce them to their new siblings. They were happy I came home. I haven't really accepted the fact that I'm only here another week before I leave for almost three months. I don't want to think about it. I'll be doing what I love, but at what cost? How much longer do I have to 'pay my dues'? I hate that statement. I'm not going to get down, just keep working. Now, it's off to be domestic...laundry beckons and the shower is screaming for Tilex. Later, Rochelle

No more pampering

I'm just chillin' here with my brother watching rsn on Park City TV. These guys are crazy, I would never have the guts to do some of this stuff. They are showing all the wipe-outs. I can't handle it...broken bones and balls...aaahhh! So, my time of being pampered and spoiled by my family is nearing it's end. Back to reality and the grind. That's okay, I think I'm ready to go home. I miss my things and my space, and I'm tired of switching between the couch and the air mattress. One last day of hittin' up my parental units for stuff. We're hitting the Victoria's Secret sale and Nordstrom before I'll be deprived for many months. I've been such a slug lately. I've watched Edward Scissorhands twice in the last two days, but one was with commentary by Tim Burton so I had to watch it again. Then I watched Romy and Michelle's HS Reunion and freaked out because that's me this year, frightening. I go back on tour in 10 days. That's not very far away. Then my life will be a whirlwind again. Okay, this is getting random so I'm going to bed. Bye, Rochelle