My Obsession

I had a friend tell me once that I was obsessed with New York City. I couldn't deny it. But I have to say, my love of NYC isn't so much the city itself (although it is fantastically fun!), but my sick obsession with theater.

And where is the best place in the world to experience theater: Broadway.

As a child, my mom used to sing me to sleep many times. Most of the songs she sang to me were from musicals. In among the "Rock-a-Bye Baby" were songs like "I Feel Pretty", "Do-Re-Mi", and "My Favorite Things".

In high school, I took drama, which consisted of performing in a couple of really lame plays. But it was so much fun for me. I never had to audition for the plays in high school, so when it came time to go to college, I could never muster up the courage to try out for any plays on my own.

But, I had been bitten by the bug.

On my senior trip in high school, my class went to Washington, D.C., Hershey, PA, and NYC. While we were in New York, we got to see a Broadway show. You're a Good Man Charlie Brown. I don't remember a lot about that show. But I do remember running into Charlie on the street after the show. I was too shocked to speak to him and he was on a cell phone at the time. But I had no idea who he was, really. In reality, he was Anthony Rapp. Original Broadway Cast member of Rent.

As I look back on it now, I also realize that Kristin Chenoweth was in that show. Kristin won a Tony for her role. And later went on to originate the role of Galinda/Glinda in Wicked.
And B.D. Wong was also in the show. He now has a recurring role on Law & Order: SVU, which is a favorite show of mine.

That show made me want to go back to NYC. It would be 6 years before I made it back to New York. In 2005, I was able to go back to New York. The play I chose to see was Steel Magnolias (all my diabetic readers...wait, that's ALL my readers. Don't hate me. I love the movie.). My mother hates the movie. She says it morbid. I am inclined to agree that the movie is morbid. But I've aways loved it. And I wanted to see it on Broadway. Delta Burke, Christine Ebersole, and Rebecca Gayheart were some of the talents that I was able to see in that show.

Again in 2007, I went to New York. This time I saw Mary Poppins. In fact, the picture on my profile was taken after the show when my friend and I went to dinner. (side note: my blood sugar was over 400. I had MAJORLY overcorrected a low right before the show)

Then, just this past May, I returned. I was able to see two plays on this trip. Next to Normal (thanks a million times over to Allison, who went with me!), and The Little Mermaid (that I went to see w/ my traveling buddy, Amanda).
Next to Normal was a fantastic show. I'm putting a clip of one of my favorite songs/scenes in the show if you guys would like to watch it. Alice Ripley won a Tony for her role in this show. It's a truly moving show about the effect of a mother's bi-polar disorder on her family.



That same vacation I also saw Rent on tour in Washington, D.C. This show had two original cast members, Anthony Rapp (who I saw in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown 10 years ago!) and Adam Pascal. This is the last tour for Rent and it closed on Broadway last September. I felt blessed to get to go to this show. (oh, another side note: the director of Rent is the same director of Next to Normal.)

At this point the ball is rolling wide open.

1st play = 1999
2nd = 2005
3rd = 2007
4th, 5th, and 6th = May of 2009

When I got back home in May, tickets for Wicked: The Musical were going on sale for the September tour stop in Nashville. I, of course, bought them (only 48 more days!!!!).

But, before September could get here, Legally Blonde: The Musical made a stop in Nashville. I had no plans to go see this one, but Laura Bell Bundy, who originated the role of Elle on Broadway, stepped in to reprise her role for the week. She is currently living in Nashville, recording a country album (HOW COOL!). When I found out that she would be stepping in, I got tickets as soon as I could. My seats were crap, but it was opening night and very fun. As I put it in a Tweet, it was 2 hours of pink, sparkly goodness. Oh, and Laura Bell also originated the role of Amber VonTussle in Hairspray, which I would have loved to have seen on Broadway, but never got the chance.

7th show = June 2009

8th show = (projected, of course) September 2009.

So, as you can see, it official. I am obsessed. None of my friends really understand it. And that's okay. I just have to find a willing soul to drag along with me. :)

My perfect life: winning the lotto (oh wait, I don't play) and buying a place in NYC where I could just watch plays all the time.

A Cool Encounter

Since I've been gone from blogging so long, I have a few cool diabetic stories to tell you guys about. Here's the first one:

I was out a few weeks ago to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I'm a totally Harry Potter fan. I actually read the first book as a pre-American release because my mother worked at a library. They get advanced copies of everything! So it's safe to say I've been a fan from almost the beginning.

I usually go see the movies when they come to the theater. So far, I've only missed seeing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in the theater.

This time around, I had a friend who wanted to go see it at a local drive-in. I'd not been to this drive in before, but I was up for seeing the movie, so off we went. We got there really early to get a good spot, so we were eating our food, sitting in our chairs in front of the car.

*side note: anyone who's not ever been to a drive-in should totally go. It's a blast!*

As I was walking by the vehicle next to us to throw out my trash, someone says to me "What type of insulin pump do you have?"

I turned, a little surprised (I keep my pump clipped to my pocket, pump side in) and started to answer, when the woman who was with the gentleman who asked me said "It's a MiniMed!".

I laughed and said, "Okay, who's the diabetic?"

Turns out the guy was a diabetic and on the OmniPod system. We all chatted for a little while and I even got some suggestions on finding a new doctor, since I'm looking for a new one now.

It was a nice conversation. I shared with them about the online community and about some of the great people I've met in the D-OC.

It's amazing to me how diabetes can pull complete strangers together. We may have nothing in common, other that diabetes, but it's enough to have hours worth of conversation. Because, as we all know, there's nothing like diabetes to get people talking.

I believe that's the first time I've ever had a random stranger comment on my pump. And it was nice to meet some new people with diabetes.

Telemarketers....they are too good.

Most of the time I'm the type of girl who doesn't talk to telemarketers. I try my best not to be mean to them, but mostly, I just tell them no thanks and hang up.

Ninety -nine percent of the time I'm just not interested in whatever it is they are trying to sell.

But, tonight they got me.

Seriously.

It was someone calling on behalf of American Diabetes Association to renew my membership. I think it ran out last month. I was just going to let it expire. I read Forecast magazine. But I've been trying my best to be smarter with my money lately. And that included letting some subscriptions go.

My membership to ADA and to JDRF were some of those things.

(Please don't stone me for it!)

But, the lady was just so nice. And I fell for it, hook, line, and sinker. And I'm a proud member of ADA for another 2 years.



Oh, and she also made a comment about my accent. LOL

Those of you that have met me....am I really that hard to understand??

A Promised Post

As most of you can tell, I've been on a blogging hiatus. I've been reading very few blogs and have kind of dropped off the face of the D-OC planet. In fact, if it weren't for Twitter and Facebook, I'd not know what was going on with anyone in the diabetic community. It's sad, but I just felt like I needed a breather. Not to mention the fact that I had no inspiration to write.

However, (thanks to Twitter) Karen from over at Bitter-Sweet Diabetes were taking about our lack of posting (though she's been way more faithful than me) and challenged each other to post this weekend. She posted Friday, and I am posting today. Right under the wire, but I did it Karen! :)

My lack of posting hasn't been due to anything major, but more little things that kept distracting me. Diabetes has once again taken a smaller role in my life. My health is still good, and I'm still taking care of myself, but I've been concentrating on other areas of my life more lately.

Due to this, and my desire to stay a part of this great community, I am going to take a page out of Allison's book and branch out a little in my blogging. Sometimes it might be about diabetes, but don't be surprised to hear about my hobbies, books, movies, theater, or my cakes.

Tonight, at the request of Karen, I am going to post a few pictures of some of the cakes I've made recently. A total addiction of a hobby that I have. I love it. I'm not nearly as good as I'd like to be, but they say practice makes perfect. So, practice I do. My co-workers love it. :)

So, without further ado, here are some of my cakes:

Beach themed cupcakes. Little beach towels and sunglasses and cute little paper umbrellas. Since I didn't get to take a trip to the beach this year, I made up for it w/ this.

These to were for the dedication of a Catholic Church in my town. For years, they had met in the basement of a Presbyterian church and they finally got their own building earlier this year. So it was pretty special. However, these cakes were HUGE! And my lovely friend "D" helped me out. My original plan was to make a 3-D church out of Royal icing (which dried hard). It started well. But the latter part of the week, it got really humid here in Tennessee and the last pieces never did dry correctly. They just broke to pieces. Thankfully "D" occasionally does cake stuff too, and helped me out by making the Bible, the cross, and the lilies. I just put the bookmark on the Bible, put the lilies together, and put the cloth on the cross. She totally saved me. Love you "D"!