rent, rent, rent

since returning home from my little trip to la, life has been pretty normal. we got a few more fish for our tank, including one that has a mickey mouse outline on his tail, which is fun. we've both been working and living life as usual.

rumpleteazer is getting huge - his ears and tail are still proportionately large for his head and skinny little body. we celebrated two years of owning cricket before i left for the oscars and she turns three this month. enough of sounding like a crazy cat lady parent though.

it took two weeks to catch up on all the television i missed while i was gone.. i cantell you that we are love love loving parenthood, and the marriage ref is not living up to expectations. american idol is having a disappointing season and i cant wait til glee is back on the air. i am watching celebrity apprentice for the first time because i am mildly obsessed with bret michaels (not in a crush type of way!)

rent opened at the palace this past weekend and i have never been more excited about seeing a show. we went on saturday night and it was great. i managed to keep myself from singing along to any of the songs, although i may have mooed once or twice. the casting was great and the show is fantastic. yay palace! the full monty is our last professional show of the season and it opens at the end of april. jeremy is learning more about his job every day and hoping to move up in the company soon. there is a lot of turmoil at his branch (nothing that affects his job though) that may leave open positions. we will see where that leads.

oscar week pt 3: the show

thankfully i managed to make it all the way through oscar week this year without having an emotional breakdown like usually happens on friday or saturday as a result of stress and lack of sleep. this is especially good news since jeremy was not around to dry my tears.i even made it through richard's memorial service without crying. i know that if i would have let a single tear escape that it would have been all over. it was a beautiful service and i am amazed at the timing of his death that allowed me to be there for kim, ryan and kay.

the service was saturday morning so i didnt get a lot of sleep before saturday night. by the time i had to be dressed and ready for the red carpet on sunday afternoon i had had about 7.5 hours of sleep in the previus 48. being on the carpet is a high like nothing else though. the press, the celebrities, the energy... it was amazing and definitely kept me awake.

i saw most of the attendees walking the carpet. queen latifah looked incredible. she is totally my grush. ryan reynolds is very attractive, but it a normal sort of way (like the best looking kid inyour highschool class or something). other peoplelook ed less pretty in real life than theydo on scrren, but i dont want to name anynames. i watched the e! best and worst dressed when i got home and they were pretty much spot on there. what actually was the great part of the show was seeing all my press guide friends in the background of their coverage. look! its sandra bullock... and cesario! :) it was fun.

during the show i was in the interview room, which is a room with tons of media members with their computers and voice recorders. when the winners came backstage, they first stopped inthe photo room, where i have been for the last two years, and then came into the interview room where four or six people would get to ask them questions. it was great to see so many celebrities being natural and answering things off the cuff. sandra bullock was especially charming and her comments seem so sweet and kind in light of the massive scandal she is dealing with right now.

after the show i was insanely tired. lance and kris came and picked me up. i fell asleep almost as soon as we returned to their house. it was great to sleep for eight straight hours and while it was actually dark outside.

on monday, my last day in la, i was able to spend a couple hours with kim, drinking coffee and hanging out. i really miss my girls in la!!! she dropped me off at the flyaway and i was off to the races. my trip home to nh was rather uneventful and went quickly, although it was not fast enough for me to get home to jeremy and the kittehs!

oscar week pt 2 - the duby reunion

on tuesday ellen and cara came and picked me up and we went to dubnoff so i could see everyone. after saying hi to lots of people i really missed (and, if we are being honest, a couple i really didn't) it was time to go to the office. yes. is that not the best name for a bar ever? "hey i'll meet you at the office this afternoon." yep. brilliant. we had a drink or two, tons of french fries, and then it was time for me to head down to hollywood and highland for work. it was awesome to see all the girls again!

after another long cold lonely night, i got a few hours of sleep then walked over to IN'N'OUT (YES!!!) to meet the girls again for lunch. not only was i able to enjoy animal fries for the first time in months, it was great to see the girls again one more time while i was in la.

i miss you guys!

oscar week pt. 1

my trip to los angeles started badly. i slept through my alarm and barely made it to the airport in time for my 5:45am flight. if i could time it that perfectly without the heart pouinding excitement and with a shower next time, that would be great. i had a layover in atlanta, and someone took my gate-checked carryon. i wandered through the atlanta airport for huors until someone finally helped me get it back. (generally the united airlines customer service is AWFUL, although there were two notable exceptions to that rule. i am in the process of composing a lengthy letter to someone in charge over there to that effect.)



the flight to lax was fine. kris picked me up and we headed down the 405 towards the valley. it felt like i had never left the city. i didnt realize how much i missed little things about la. (not enough to move back and deal with the crap that made us leave in the first place though). as much as i have mised my friends there, when i saw then all again it was almost like i had never left. there was obviously tons of catching up to do, but none of that awkwardness that often comes after not seeing someone for a long time.

kris and lance were awesome and hosted a taco party at their house that evening. i got to see the stellers and the dronens. it was the first time i got to meet the littlest steller, and the first time i had seen owen since he started talking. he is so grown up! speaking of grown up, miss ashley was so tall too! she and owen played so cute with each other.

monday i took myself on a date to coffee bean (YUM) and started work that evening. i worked over night every night, but managed to make time to see almost everyone dring the days. the first night back at the oscars was cold - i realized that i hadnt packed nearly enough clothes for the trip. thankfully kris rescued me by pulling out their ski bag and loaning me some more layers. i forgot how cold it is in the desert at night, even when it is 70+ degrees during the day!

my little troublemaker

last night i made spaghetti for dinner. jeremy and i were sitting on the couch eating and watching tv. i heard a thud in the kitchen. jeremy went in because i was too scared to look. turns out that rumpalicious had climbed onto the stove and knocked the spoon out of the sauce onto the floor and wasw happily licking away.

he was reprimanded and i cleaned the rug and we resumed our activities. soon, we heard a crash. he had jumped onto the other counter and knocked a waterglass onto the floor. it had shattered and jeremy was worried about rump having glass in his paws. he checked him over while i swept up the glass. i thought i got it all, until this morning when i woke up extra early to go into work for our ticketing system upgrade and found out that there was a huge piece of glass on the bathroom floor. thankfully i didnt step on it. don't know how i didnt notice it last night when i was getting ready for bed.

i think he is going to be either a plumber or a dish washer when he grows up, considering his obsession with sinks, drains, and licking dishes.*

*don't worry - we arent crazy cat people. all of our dishes get washed with soap and water post-rumpy, pre-cabinet.

my birthday

these posts are waaay belated... sorry!

the morning of my birthday, jeremy and my mom woke me up with breakfast in bed. the cats joined us and they sang, i blew out a candle (it was a taper in a candlestick holder and not birthday candles), opened my cards and ate my heart shaped egg over medium. basically it was perfect.

sunday afternoon we had a show at the palace so i went into work for a couple hours. jeremy was also working. when we both got home, we all three got ready for birthday dinner at gauchos, a brazilian place downtown. there were twelve types of meat on giant skewers being served, as well as a salad bar and other sides. (beka: BEEEEEF!) basically, we gorged on delicious food. at the end of the meal, they sang happy birthday to me and jeremy in portuguese and we had our desserts. not sure how we had room for dessert but we did.

that's such a lie. i put my extra dessert where i always do. in my hollow leg. unfortuantely due to lack of exercise the hollow leg is all but filled up. hopefully i can rememdy that in the future, because i do like eating!