I am back safe and sound from Chicago. I had thee most amazing time with all of my clients and with Kari and Steve (my step-sister and brother-in-law). Chicago is such a fun place to hang out. It looks like I'm going to be traveling there a whole lot more than I expected. They want me to plan on another trip before the end of the year. It's a good thing I signed up for frequent flyer miles!
I got back in just enough time to give Jon a hug before he headed off to New York, eat some food, take a nap, and go shopping for a Halloween costume. I found a really funny blonde wig and a cheerleader costume. Check this out! :o)
What are you dressed as today?
Checked into the gorgeous hotel The Sutton Place Hotel.... got dressed up and headed over to the Chicago office. It's only like a quarter of a mile but I took a cab because I had no idea where I was going! Just getting some quick work done before going to meet FTD.com for sushi! :) Should be fun.
P.S. It is about 40 degrees!
So, here I am… at LAX airport… on my way to Chicago. The red van that picked me up this morning was on time… 5:00 AM. It was still dark outside…weird.
I met two women inside the van. They were on their way to Dallas Ft. Worth. I didn’t get their names but had some great conversation. The two women didn’t know each other prior to this shared ride. One of them was pretty quiet… seemed lonely. The only thing she really said was that with the time change, it was difficult because she’s alone. She said her husband used to always be the one to change all the clocks and now that he was gone, she has to do it herself. I’m figuring he must’ve died recently.
The other woman was the more talkative. I asked her why she was going to Dallas. She said that it wasn’t her final destination. She was on her way to Arkansas for a training session. She worked for the Red Cross in disaster care for children. Totally admirable. Apparently, she travels frequently to disaster areas to help provide emotional and spiritual care for children as well as day care. These children either lost their parents, their home, or their parents are working and their schools are closed so they need a place to go while their parents are at work. She seemed incredibly passionate about what she does. She found it ironic that Southern California is close to a disaster mode right now due to all of the fires….and here she is going out of town for training. 800 homes have been destroyed so far from all of these fires. I guess she will be brought back here if things get worse.
The drive was easy… no traffic. We made it here in about 40 minutes. I’m glad I got here early because it was insanely busy. A lot of flights were cancelled last night because of the fires. Not many planes were able to fly into LAX. I got a call last night that my flight was cancelled. I had a 7:00 AM nonstop flight arriving in Chicago at 1:00 PM. They rescheduled me on an 8:00 AM flight that gets in at 2:00 PM. Not bad….I won’t have as much time to relax at the hotel now but that is ok.
I met another cool person waiting in the huge line to check in. I couldn’t quite figure out at first if it was a man or a woman… but the more we spoke, I knew it was a man. I felt bad after the skycap said “Here is your boarding pass Mam.”
He was short… about my height….with dreads….no facial hair, of course. He had jeans and a pink long sleeve shirt on, a pretty feminine face, a voice that was more on the female sounding side, and earrings. He was standing behind me outside when I was checking my luggage. He was carrying the latest Harry Potter book… so I struck up conversation. What part are you at? Do you like it? etc….
Next thing I knew, he was standing behind me at the line inside as well. There was small talk… wow, look at this line. It’s super busy here this morning. They need more people behind the counter.. blah blah blah.
…and then he recognized another guy in line. The guy called him Elan. Not sure about the spelling but that is what it sounds like. They talked for a while… he said he had a gig to go to in St. Louis. After they were done talking and it was silent, I decided to ask about the gig. He said he had a show to do. SEE! I knew it.
What show?
5 Guys Named Moe.
Oh, I love that show! I saw it years ago at La Mirada Civic Light Opera. It was probably about ten years ago!
It was nine… and you saw me do it.
Hee hee heeeee. How random is that?
I’m sure you can guess what ensued after that.
How long have you been performing? Oh, you lived in NY too? I hated auditioning too… it was always nice when someone called you up to do a show you’ve done before. Oh, you know her? Did you see her do that show…. Yah, I know I look like the girl in Mamma Mia…
It was pretty funny. Definitely helped pass the time. Now, I’m sitting here, plugged into my laptop… listening to Lizz Wright, my favorite new jazz artist. She is amazing. Go get her cd, Salt. It is flawless.
Need to take my drugs soon. I don’t really enjoy flying. I get all freaked out. I like getting on a plane, closing my eyes, and opening them when I’m there! That is a good flight. It’s 7:01 now. I’ll probably be boarding in a half hour or so.
Wish me good flying thoughts!
Guess who is exhausted?
Guess who was at work at 6:45 AM yesterday and then went to Jury duty for 2 hours and then went back to work and stayed at work until 8:30 PM?
Guess who didn't sleep well last night?
Guess who can't wait to leave work today?
Guess who needs another massage?
Guess who'll be in San Diego this weekend and then in Chicago on Monday?
I'm pooped....
Having a good birthday so far. We were just acquired by Yahoo today so I now work for Yahoo! Pretty exciting stuff. They have music playing, ice cream, and popcorn! I just pretend they are doing it for my birthday. *smile*
Taking off now... going out for sushi tonight! Can't wait to grub down.
Thank you for all the wonderful birthday messages. It's nice to feel loved!
I just got THEE most beautiful flowers delivered to me at work by my amazing brother! Thank you, Derek! They look gorgeous on my desk! *smile*
The funny thing is I was walking by the front desk to get another package that had been delivered for me from my friend, James (which is an awesome book, thank you!) and I saw these beautiful flowers! I always joke with Andrew, the receptionist when I see flowers. I always say "aw... for me?" or "you shouldn't have".... you know, trying to be funny. So today... I said "those are for me, right?"
AND HE SAID YES
which I totally wasn't expecting.
So stoked.... thank you!
Happy Birthday to me,
Happy Birthday to me,
Happy Birthday to Jennnnnnyyyyyy....
Happy Birthday to me! :o)
We had such a good time at my Mom's house for Yom Kippur dinner last night. We had 14 people over! And tons-o-food. I have to say, all of the food (including my Matzah ball soup) was awesome! My Mom made this stuffed cabbage dish that was to die for.
We finally got done putting away all of the left overs and cleaning up the dishes around 10:30. Boy, I was pooped.
This morning, I went over to my Dad's house and went to Temple with him. That was really nice as well. We went to the Temple down at the Claremont Colleges. They have a woman Rabbi and a woman Cantor with a beautiful voice. I enjoyed listening to her.
Now, I'm back in Pasadena.... staring at the clock... and starving. I finally broke down and had a glass of water. I was so thirsty. I know that really isn't ok but in my book, I haven't eaten any foods yet so I'm doing ok. I usually only make it until around 1:00 so this is really good for me!
Jon comes home in an hour... we're going to dive into the left overs! :)
Yesterday, I drove all the way out to the Camarillo Outlets. Yes, I was on crack. I have been looking for navy blue shoes. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I have been to 4 different malls, Payless, Cheapy Shoes R'Us, and have not been able to find a nice pair of navy shoes that are stylish. I found old lady looking shoes, but not cool looking ones. With my new job, I have to travel once a quarter to Chicago to meet with clients. I bought this kick ass navy suit. It isn't plain navy.. it's got this really small pattern that you can't really see but it is so cool.
The plan was to head over to the outlets, shop around a bit, and then come home. Not an all day excursion. But, I was determined to find the shoes.
I looked up directions on MapQuest, which I really must stop doing because they have led me astray before. MapQuest said it was around 50 miles and would take me around an hour to get there. Not even thinking there would be LA traffic on a Saturday, I decided I would leave at 9:00 since the stores opened at 10:00. That way I could avoid tons of shopping idiots. But at 8:45, there was a knock on my door.....
now, I was still in my pj's... looked like a crack whore.... went to answer the door and saw it was my friends Danny and Christina. YAY! They wanted to take me out to breakfast. I couldn't refuse that... so there goes over an hour....
I get back around 11, get ready to go shopping, find some good cds to listen to on the way, and head off around 11:30. There was traffic the ENTIRE way. It took me almost two hours to get there. I was not the happiest camper.
I did a whole lot of shopping.... didn't leave there until 3:30. The good news is I FOUND A PAIR OF COOL NAVY SHOES! I was so stoked. They are perfect and will look awesome with the suit. The funny thing is I went into this store that had everything for under 10 bucks. This is before I found the shoes and was getting frustrated... I thought... I'll stop in here....maybe I could find some cool shirts or something. I went to the back of the store and saw these really fun pants. They were like work out, dance/rehearsal pants. When I looked up, I saw they had 10 matching shirts for each color of pants. And every single shirt had a huge 23 on it, glittering in the light!! Seriously! 23 is my all time lucky number. I started laughing so hard out loud. It was truly a sign.
The next store I went into was Nine West.... where I found the shoes. Now, if that wasn't fate.... I don't know what is.
I had such an amazing time last night. My friend, Nicole and I, went to Fray Day LA. We even signed up for the open mic section. I know.... scary! I hadn't written out what I was going to talk about but I had some sort of idea.
I haven't gotten that nervous in a long time! Give me a song to sing or a combination to dance and I won't even think twice.... but make me stand up in front of people and talk.. that is totally new! But yesterday was a day of new beginnings. It started with having Indian food for lunch. No, I'd never had Indian food before. I always thought it would be way too spicy for my sensitive tummy. But, a lot of folks on the sales team were going... and I thought it would be good to network and show my face. I ordered an eggplant dish that came with rice, a cucumber, onion, and tomato salad, and some other yellow stuff that I think was lentils or something. It was actually really good!
I digress.... so, last night was the first time I've ever gotten up in front of people, without a script, and told a story. Now, I tell stories all of the time. Especially at work. I'll walk up to friends and go into a whole drama about the weekend or the previous night or something.... but never in a "staged" setting.
So, I was the second to last person to go on. After hearing some amazing performers, I knew I had a lot to live up to. When the Emcee introduced me, he said I was "royalty because I was Derek's sister". How frickin cool is that? After he said that, I kind of blanked on anything else he said because I was stuck on the whole... hmmm... I'm royalty... thing.
It was the strangest feeling. I was so nervous right before.... but as soon as I got up there, I felt so good. I even opened up with a joke about how friends call me Jenn... or lately, J.Po. ha ha ha. They laughed eventually. :)
I told them I would not be telling stories about Derek, or about our crazy childhood. (Because many of them seemed interested on getting the skinny on what he was like). I said we came from a long line of story tellers and it was kind of engrained in our jeans...er... genes. I talked about how my current job is as an account manager for an internet company but that in my previous life, I was a performer... did a lot of shows, etc. My favorite story is when I was doing my first professional show, Gypsy. There were some theatre folks in the audience so they all nodded their heads in support of that show. Funny... so, I set the scene... I was 12 years old.... JoAnne Worley was playing Mamma Rose. Who was absolutely brilliant, by the way.
Anyway, I'm not going to retell the experience verbatum, but I shared how one night, we had a 35 second quick change and my zipper was stuck. I had to go on stage with only velcro holding my pants on... for a TAP DANCE. What ended up happening, I'm sure you can imagine... was that my pants fell down right at my solo section. 12 years old... pretty embarrassing. Yet so funny.
It was invigorating to perform like that. It didn't make me want to be a stand up comic or even do this regularly. But it did make me realize that there is still this vibrant creative energy inside of me that I need to find ways daily to use. That I feel more connected and fulfilled when I'm involved like that. It truly was an amazing experience. I even called my brother from there to share the experience with him since he is the man behind this whole event! It felt good to share something like that with him.
The other cool thing about last night was I finally got to meet a friend of mine that I have been IM'ing with for over a year now... I think. We have lived such parallel lives... from what I know about him so far. Many similarities.... both Jewish.... lived about 5 blocks from each other in Astoria, NY..... rode the same train, daily... ate at the same favorite restaurants in our hood... know some of the same people... went to the same movie theatres.... probably sat right next to each other on the train and never knew it. How karmic is that? So, he showed up at the coffee house last night... got to hear Nicole and I do our thang.... and then the three of us went out for drinks. I can't even explain what a GREAT time was had. We all talked about theatre and movies and experiences..... so cool.
It's extremely hard to meet new friends when you get older. Once you are taken out of the youth groups and college setting... all of the things in your life where you see the same people continuously and already have some commonality with. How do people meet these days if not through friends or through the internet? I've been extremely fortunate with the people I have met through this web site. I can thank my brother for first introducing me to personal blogs and creating this for me. Thank you, Derek!
I got home last night around 2:20 AM. I know.... I am hardly ever up that late. I brushed my teeth and washed my face.... got into bed.... and just sat there thinking.... and being so thankful for such an amazing evening. I opened my eyes to look at the clock (something I do every night before I go to sleep for some reason), and it was 2:37. For anyone that does not know, my two lucky numbers are 23 and 7. It was definitely karmic.
I went to sleep .... smiling.
Who is going to Fray Day LA tonight? I am! I am! I am! It's in Studio City at Jennifer's Coffee House. If you are in the LA area, you totally should go.
Who else is going tonight?