"We can't all come and go by BUBBLE!"

For their 37th wedding anniversary (so proud of them!) I bought my parents tickets to WICKED at Gammage. I had already seen it in London, and while I have always loved the music, I wasn't too thrilled by the production. It was fun -- but I guess after years of listening to the soundtrack without having seen the show, my imagination went wild and the production I created in my head exceeded the real-life one.

Well, it is SO much better the second time around. It was kind of like the Twilight movie -- I had such high hopes for the film because I so thoroughly enjoyed the book and the imagery and scenes that were created in my head from reading the words of the book that nothing would EVER compare. However, the second time around I was able to not take it so seriously and just enjoy it for what it was.

Same with WICKED. Loved it. Laughed, cried, said "Ohhhhhhhhhhh" when Glinda verbally burns Elphaba...it was great.

My parents sat in the 14th row and I sat in the very last row of the balcony! :) I knew my mom would just have to be close enough to check out all the costumes (she already has an idea for new flowers costumes from Glinda's first dress) and on-stage technical workings (after learning about flying after doing Peter Pan, she loved watching all of the little tricks and cues when people flew onstage).

Of course, my dad had many, many questions about the characters and their relationship to the musical and the movie so the ride home pretty much consisted of me explaining those things. :)

I am in the middle of a five-day weekend (YAY!) and am just so happy and relaxed. Most of this vacation has been spent working on my marketing plan for Nutcracker so it's not a TOTAL vacation, but at least I'm able to get this all done during the day instead of at night when I get home from work which is usually what happens.

Can't believe it's already time to prep for auditions. Company auds are Aug. 29 and Nut auds are Sept. 12. Then it begins allllllll over again.

The Symphony's Season starts Sept. 11 so -- yeah -- I'm tired just thinking about the next six months.

What a wild and fabulous ride my life is.

Currently listening to: Knock 'Em Out, Lily Allen