Keep it positive... I'm trying!

Frustration abounds!  I always try to be positive, seize the carp, live to flow in the age, etc. and most of the time I'm successful... I think I deserve a break to vent about how frustrating stupid endometriosis is.  It's stupid.  For reals.  I've been feeling pretty good lately... meds are working and keeping the pain at bay while actually hopefully reversing some of the issues... I'm taking steps to make myself an overall healthier person and it has been going very well.  All good things and 99% of the time I feel pretty darn good.... twinges of pain now and then but completely manageable.  Been working like mad, at play practice when I'm not working and out riding my bike when I'm not doing the other two and it's been really good.... holding out hope that maybe my body will actually cooperate with me.  Then today, I'm about half way thru my shift I am just standing there and I hear a loud pop in both my back and my hip accompanied with terrible pain and the left side of my body going numb.  This has happened before.... sometimes it lasts an hour, sometimes it lasts a month and the theory is that the endometrial cells have become fond of hanging out on my sciatic nerve.  I got used to it before and I can do it again, I just really thought I was done with all of this.

Rant over.  Now it's time to channel my brain waves into some positivity!

 I spend ALL of last week with the one and only Heater and it was fantastic as per usual.  We only get to see each other once a year, but every time we rendezvous at the airport it feels like its been mere weeks since our last parting.  Amazing!  She's always said she will visit me wherever I am and I know it's true since she used her frequent flier miles to come to little ole Little Rock!  So much fun... I took her on a bicycle tour of the city to hit all of the touristy hot spots (basically our Historic Neighborhoods Tour... but customized for my favorite client), went to play practice (where she was mistaken for Natalie Portman), visited the Clinton Presidential Library (and were THIS close to meeting the Clintons!), did a 23 mile road bike ride on the Arkansas River Trail (my favorite way to show people my newly adopted city), partook in no more than one beer per sitting (we are old), enjoyed Steel Magnolias at movies in the park right on the river and got free tickets to the Travelers game since I was singing the National Anthem.  We packed in a lot of good stuff (plus lots of chill girl time) but the time was still just waaaaaay to short!  After a weekend in NWA with a stopover at the ropes course/zip line in Mountain View I had to send her to NYC and send myself back to work.  I wonder where in the world we will meet up next?  Hong Kong? Guatamala? Fiji? Who knows!  Viva la aventura!

Can't Stop the Beat!

That's right... I landed the role of Velma von Tussle in the CTLR Production of Hairspray! I went into the audition not expecting much because since the age ranges for the parts are either teenagers or mothers of teenagers, I fall right in the middle.  It went the opposite way I thought it would (especially since the music director thought I was 18) and I got cast in a mom role... but not just any mom role... the villain!  I must admit it made me feel very old (especially after I found out that the girl playing my daughter is actually older than me!), but we are both embracing our inner biyatch and the von Tussle girls are going to be the awesome!  I've got big shoes to fill considering Michelle Pfeiffer and Debbie Harry played Velma in the movie versions, but I'm pretty stoked to belt out 'Ms. Baltimore Crabs'.  We only have a month of rehearsals before Opening Night on July 12 so I will be a very busy girl this summer!