Montgolfiers... I try to speak French

Even though my knee was hurting on Friday, I knew with my new brace I could hit the town. Triana had been dying to hit up a billiards place by the ExtendedStay, so we took off post-show to hit the pool tables.

We grabbed people along the way, and soon a group of us (Janice, Emily, and Greg) were there. Janice and I made friends with the bartenders, and even invented our own drink. Eventually a table opened up and we were playing pool. I've never pretended to be very good, but I do have a lot of fun fooling around on a pool table. Every once in a while I have a stroke of good luck, and I am awesome for about five minutes. Most of the time though, I'm pretty bad, and it's all in good fun. The four of us played for a few hours, but eventually had to call it quits. We had so much fun though, that we decided to make a date for the next week to do the same thing!

We had to go to bed on Friday because the weekend was another rush of shows. It was broken up by some yummy meals, including the introduction of myself to the famous Canadian "Beaver Tails". Beaver Tails are these dessert things that Canadians eat. They basically consist of a pastry like bottom... it's not as fried as a funnel cake, but it's not really bread either. They say that it's wheat dough, "float cooked", which apparently means dropped in oil. Hmmmm. The dough is about ten inches long and five inches wide, which apparently is the shape of a beaver tail. Then you put something on the dough, which in my case was cream cheese icing and heath bar bits - it's called something like 'The Mountainater'. It all leads to something incredibly delicious that will probably make you a little sick. Yum, Canada.


On Sunday night after the show a bunch of us went out for drinks to welcome our newest cast member to the show. If you remember, Sal retired, so Michael Scott Harris has come to take his place! MSH seems great so far, although probably a little stressed out with all his rehearsal. Since he's a swing, he has to learn more than five tracks! Swinging is definitely the hardest thing to do in a show, and he's been acing it so far. We met his lovely girlfriend, and we all got to know him a little better in a relaxed environment with some mojitos. Eventually we all hit the hay, because we had a busy Monday planned!

On Monday Tri, Emily, Janice and I decided to head to Gatineau, Quebec. It's only about 35 minutes from Toronto by bus, but it's a whole different world. There was a fantastic Hot Air Balloon Festival taking place (the Montgolfiers de Gatineau), so we spent hours figuring out the complicated bus schedules (two different bus lines for the two different provinces) and finally decided to take the risk and head into French country! We waited forever for the right bus, not really knowing if it would come. Then when we boarded, we just had to cross our fingers, because everyone on the bus only spoke French! Luckily we eavesdropped, listening for "montgolfiers" and found some people who were going, and we sneakily followed them. We ended up at a bus depot, changed buses, and were there! As we paid our entrance fee (and I spoke only French - merci, oui, etc) we headed up the entrance hill, and heard music playing. We had stumbled into the middle of a dance concert! Since Tri and Janice are dancers, and I love watching middle schoolers dance, we stayed and watched - it was fabulous! It reminded me of when I was little, wearing hilarious costumes and blue eye shadow. We saw a few different age groups, in various lime green costumes, before it was time for the finale. All the girls (and occasional boy) crowded onstage, and imagine our delight when the club remix of Phantom came over the loudspeaker! We doubled over laughing as the kids danced to our theme song! What a small world!


When the show ended, we started to walk around and see what the festival held for us. We grabbed typical snacks that you'd find at any fair, and walked by all the creepy carnival rides that looked like they would break any minute. We debated playing bingo, but none of us knew all the numbers in French! We wandered, and shopped at little stalls that were set up, and even petted some animals in the tiny petting zoo. We got to see the balloons lying on the ground, waiting to be blown up, and we ran into a few groups of friends of ours, all doing the same things. After a few hours we were getting tired, and the balloons were supposed to go up, so we grabbed a picnic table and some snacks, and settled in to people watch. Honestly this was some of the best people watching ever!

I don't know if it was just this festival, but Gatineau seemed to be full of crazy people. I guess at any kind of rural state fair you find funny people, but in Quebec it was different. In general people are a little more punky, a little more European. They wear a lot more black than in the US, and they try a lot more trendy fashions than you'd expect... although not exactly successfully. We saw half naked people, people with giant tattoos, people wearing ridiculous heels in the dirt, and much more. We even saw people get reprimanded by the police for wearing skimpy outfits! It was great entertainment. Occasionally we would see a balloon start to inflate, and then deflate a few minutes later. In the end we watched for over an hour, and the balloons never left the ground! Apparently the wind was risky, and everyone was thinking about the big balloon explosion a week before. Since it was dark, and the festival was quickly turning into some kind of alternative rock concert, we decided to call it a night. We headed back to Ottawa, where we happened upon the light show at Parliament again!!

After watching the lights we all headed back to my room, where we ordered up the movie 'Knocked Up' and spent the night in. It was great fun, and an Awesome Monday!

Rain and a Haircut - Half Price!

After my Sal-liscious weekend, I was ready for a sleepy day off. On Monday I rested and cleaned, and then met up with Triana to hang out.

First we found our new favorite place in Ottawa. We had passed by several times over the past few weeks, but had never been inside. It was tempting, but the time just didn't seem right. This time though, we were ready. We headed straight down the street, only a few blocks from our hotel, and landed at paradise... Sugar Mountain. That's the real name! It's basically an amazing candy store filled with goodies. Not only do they have the largest pic-a-mix selection I've ever seen (except that it's called something like 'choose your snackies'), they also specialize in candy from around the world. There are candy bars there that I haven't seen in years! Since it's dangerous to head into someplace like this with no reason, we were only going in with a mission. We were heading to a movie later, so we knew we'd need some snacks. We chose wisely, and a few minutes later I left with two bags, one chocolate and one gummy. Yummy!

Before we could snack, we had to eat dinner, so we headed to our local Mayflower Pub to grab some comfort food. We made friends with some funny locals, and I fulfilled my daily craving for meat before we headed to the movies. We snuck in our snacks with no problem, and totally enjoyed 'Superbad' - highly recommended and really fun. My week continued until Wednesday, when I decided to use my Phantom 50% discount at an Aveda salon to get some work done! I headed to the Saab Salon & Spa downtown for a haircut and a pedicure, and stepped into luxury. It only took 2 1/2 hours to transform me into a much cleaner person, with softer feet and sparkly coral toenails. My bangs are back, and my blow-dry took half an hour. As I emerged from underground I was ready to greet the world looking fabulous. Instead, I found a thunderous rainstorm!

In the morning it had been hot as balls, but by 5pm it was horrendous!! Torrential downpour as far as the eye can see, and me with a new haircut. Not to mention my wet toenails, flip flops, and NO UMBRELLA. I sat and drank tea for a few minutes in hopes that it would stop, and eventually, miraculously, it did. I headed out for the 15 minute walk home but had only gone two blocks when the skies opened up. I ran for an awning and got my bearings while I hoped for it to clear again. Unfortunately this time I was going to have no luck. It rained and rained and was only getting worse. I knew that I had to have dry hair to put up in pin curls, and that if the rain didn't stop soon I wouldn't have time to go home and dry it before I had to get to the theatre, so I got a little nervous. I made some friends under the awning, and we chatted, but eventually I knew I had to go. I took off running and was on my way!

Unfortunately people in Canada get severely pissed off when you jaywalk, so I would run, and then have to stop and wait for a lovely blinking white hand to go. But after about five minutes I stopped running, since I was soaked to the bone. Luckily it was warm, so I started to enjoy the beautiful rain and lovely city. Canadians are so sweet, and I actually had two offers from fellow pedestrians to walk me home. Cute! I eventually arrived, dripping wet, with no idea what my new haircut looked like. I had time to dry before I headed to work though, so my week continued uneventfully.

I couldn't stay out late after the show on Wednesday because I had to get up early Thursday to take a class at the gym! 'Body Jam' had been popular with some of our ballerinas a week earlier, so I was convinced to join them for a "fun and fabulous" work out. Of course I planned to get there early and stretch, but since I ended up jogging to the gym while eating yogurt, I arrived pretty warm anyway. The class also ended up being a lot of fun! Polly, Janice, Triana, and I got to salsa, merengue, club, and jazzercize to our heart's delight! We also ran into some of our fellow cast members, who unfortunately watched us through the windows part of the time. No fair! After I worked out I hit the gym for some more cardio and a little lifting. I'm hardcore! Unfortunately I was probably a little too hardcore, because all that crazy activity re-awoke my bad knee, and it's been in a little brace since then. What a pain! Literally!

On Friday I had to take it easy, so in between knee icings, Janice and I headed out to see 'The Nanny Diaries'. Although I hate Scarlett Johanssen, the movie was pretty good. Not nearly as good as the book, but Chris Evans looks hot. Janice and I went for salads for dinner afterwards, because we knew there was a big treat waiting for us at the theatre. It was Friday's bake-a-thon!! Who knew that so many people who spend their lives on the road, living in hotels... love to BAKE! Since we have so many avid bakers onboard, we decided to celebrate their talents with a whole lot of food. After I bought my contribution (milk and silverware - Katherine's the baking talent in my family, and Sloan baked for my in NY!) I headed to the theatre, where a feast awaited.

We're talking three kinds of brownies, five types of cookies, lemon cheesecake, fig bars, blueberry cornbread, jalapeno cornbread, confetti cake, apple pie, chocolate pie, sausage and dill biscuits, caramel bread pudding, almond bread, mexican wedding cookies, banana bread, coconut cupcakes, pecan tartlets, granola cake, and many many more. I was shocked at the choices, amount of food, and how good it all was!! Of course I ate until I could eat no more, and then more desserts showed up, so I was doomed. All it means is that I have to get back to the gym, WITH my knee brace. Sign me up for more Body Jamming!