Week 13: St. Louis, MO

Merry Christmas! Somehow the weather was beautiful all week. Too bad we had a crazy, hectic schedule, even with just seven shows. One show Tuesday, two Wednesday, one Thursday with a rehearsal, two Friday, and one Christmas Eve morning. No rest for the weary. Christmas definitely snuck up on me and there were a few last minute present purchases.

Secret Santas were revealed at the morning show…Dane, our Beast, had me! I got socks the first round, Blue Moon and Junior Mints round two, and a lavender themed good basket on the reveal: yarn, yummy soap, lotion, and a bath bomb. Gotta love a useful gift. I had Amanda, our green Silly Girl. Over the course of the month I got her a pumpkin soy candle, made a Christmas CD, made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, red rose earrings, and a Nook gift certificate. It’s funny how a month can go by and everyone is still surprised.

A group of us stayed at a bed and breakfast so that we had access to a kitchen, which was really nice over the holiday. Here we are! Alan, Lauren, Amanda, me, Kolby, and Jess. 

Two full sized suitcases and carry-ons per person in a minivan equals a pretty squishy situation. We were up to the gills with our bags but we made it in one piece!

The walls of the Fabulous Fox in St Louis have murals of most of the shows that have come through town, and the cast and crew sign each one. There TONS of famous signatures; musicians, actors, you name it. Here is Audra McDonald- an amazing musical theatre actress, who came through St. Louis in the first Secret Garden tour.

Rehearsing our fan kicks on stage.

The girls of the cast at our opening night reception at the Fabulous Fox. We do love getting dressed up.

Alan, me, and Lauren decorating cookies at our house...which we did three times.

My beautiful cookies! I'm so glad we did this because we do it every year at home. Made it feel like Christmas was still coming, even though I wasn't in San Antone.

My mini Christmas tree in our dressing room. We did have a big tree at the house, too. 

Jessica's boyfriend Kevin surprised her and showed up in town for Christmas!! She thought they wouldn't see one another for several more months, but he kept it a secret all the way up to arriving at the house. It was so amazing, he's a great guy and we loved having him.

Here's OUR mural at the Fox, painted by our costume mistress Laci Bradshaw! Some of them are enormous, taking up entire walls...but obviously as time goes on, they are running out of space. I signed just above 2011: Caroline Kittrell "Sausage Curl Girl".

Christmas eve morning we had a show, but we spent the rest of the day cooking, watching White Christmas, and went to a midnight mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, an enormous, gorgeous  church. I'm used to spending almost half the day at church, so I was glad we heard a few carols and the Christmas message. Being far away really kicked in on the 24th, as it's one of my favorite days.

Here I am with the big tree in my Christmas dress, a Black Friday find at Anthropologie.

The ladies of the house on the way to mass in our Christmas best. Don't worry, we all had shawls on our shoulders :)

Christmas morning the company hosted a brunch at the hotel, which was lovely. A few of us wore our pajamas...like Mandy and me. Being Jewish, it was her first Christmas and we were all delighted to show her the ropes. I also Skyped my family while my babies were opening their presents....one of the best inventions making use of the Internet.

My mom gave me a package in Austin with little presents for the twelve days of Christmas. I contemplated opening them one each day, and would've had I not been on the go, but I decided on Christmas morning I needed to know what was in each one before we headed off to Canada ;) Pretty good excuse to open them all!

Our house group did a White Elephant, which was pretty quick with just seven of us. It was nice exchanging presents for all of us though. Lots of candy, Starbucks, and iTunes all around. 

Christmas at the Kreup's!! Andrew- our LeFou- is from the St. Louis area, and his parents were very eager to have anyone who remained in town for the holidays over to their house on Christmas day. So sweet! Most of us got all dressed up and managed to be merry, even so far from home.

The longest dinner table I've ever been at, around 30 people!! Andrew's parents cooked up a FEAST: ham, scalloped potatoes, green salad, sweet potato casserole, bacon wrapped green beans, macaroni and cheese...and that doesn't include appetizers and dessert! After dinner we played darts, dance dance revolution, We also played a fun white elephant game that included dice, and most presents included a pair of gloves. :)

All in all, it was a very busy week leading up to Christmas, which made it a little easier to get through. I was terribly homesick after the Kreup's party, missing my family and home. Christmas has always been my favorite holiday for many reasons, but especially for our ritualistic traditions. Only last year, our first without Dad, did things change drastically. On a whole I am much better than last winter, but that day it was very hard to be so far away. I was grateful to be surrounded by my supportive, loving cast mates who were all determined to keep the Christmas spirit.

No rest for the weary though. We headed off to Calgary, Alberta, Canada on the 26th! 

Week 12: Austin, TX!!!

So wonderful to be (practically) home! The week could've been triply long and it wouldn't have been enough time.

I spent the week with my friend Adam, out of the hotel. Saved a few pennies, got to bake cookies for my Secret Santa (which she ADORED! I love gift giving), and have a little break time from the grind. It’s funny what a difference a house makes.

On Tuesday I had the priviledge of going home to San Antonio and having dinner with my WHOLE family! Trust me, it's a feat to get us all together. I called it my "mini" Christmas, as it would be my first time away from home. Here's the sibling pic. L to R: Carrie, me, Daniel, Carla, and Catherine.

My beautiful Mom and me at home. She is my everything. 

All my babies! I don't think I could brag enough about all of them. L to R: Owen (2), Berkley (7 months) in my lap, Blake (9), Rylee (8), and Ella (3). 

Our lovely tree. Daniel helped my mom get it all set up.

Austin is Food Truck central these days. East Side King is super popular, a fusion Asian truck with a few locations. Adam and I had fried beets, brussels sprouts salad, and pork belly tacos? I could probably eat there on a weekly basis if I lived in Austin.

One of my oldest friends Marie Louise happened to be celebrating her birthday on the 15th, so I got her a present. She's a big fan of Dia de los Muertos skeletons. I found these cameo earrings on Etsy, and almost kept them for myself. So cool!!

Berkeley's seven month picture. She is getting so big, sitting up on her own! She's got these beautiful deep blue eyes and light hair. What a sweetie pie.

It was really hard to leave home, as usual. Even being in Austin, which isn't technically "home" really put me at ease, made me feel close enough to have access to my family, the slower pace of life, open space, old friends... But the show must go on. Christmas week we celebrated in St. Louis, Missouri!

Week 11: Madison, WI

LOVED LOVED LOVED Madison, Wisconsin! It was freezing (10 degrees one day, not including wind chill!?) but so much fun. Very walkable, gorgeous theatre, membership at an excellent gym for the week, college town, state street shopping. What more could you ask for?

Somehow, I have very few pictures here. Time flies when you're having fun...and too cold to take out a camera!!

Shopping on State Street lead me to some funky, unique stores. I hope to one day feel this way about someone...and own the plate to boot. :)

There was a hilarious movement of purchasing cold weather clothes we dubbed "Arctic Panic". I myself bought a sweater, gloves, 2 pairs of boot socks, a scarf, and a hat. Practically an entire winter outfit! To be fair it was very cold. Here Carly models her new hat, and the general sentiment.

Being a goofball, modeling a funny moose hat at a very cool sports store that made a fortune off our cast.

We celebrated my lovely roommates birthday at a piano bar, where the pianist stepped aside and let Alan and our entire cast take over. I sang "There's a Small Hotel" from On Your Toes, my first musical at my high school. I also lent my book out to two other people to sing....my sheet music got more action in one night than in the last 6 months!!

Lots of understudy performances here! Christie went on for Babette for the first time (Chandon, who usually plays here is also our dance captain, so she swings out regularly to note the show). Logan was also out with an injury, so Carter (pictured here) and Jeff rotated playing the role. Always exciting when something is different!

Next stop is the long awaited: Austin, TEXAS!!!

Week 10: Portsmouth, OH, Springfield, IL, South Bend, IN, and Richmond, KY

This was our last split week for a while, and thank goodness because it was a doozy! Even a few actors who've been on the tour since the get-go said this was the worst week to date. But we made it out alive.


Portsmouth, OH- can't say I remember much about Portsmouth. Probably a flaw of my being so behind, but also this week flew by and most of it was travel.


Springfield, IL- Where Abraham went from Senator to President Elect. Cute little town, wish we'd had more time to explore the museum and Abe's tomb. Perils of working while traveling. 

Lincoln's family home. This house started as a one story and Abe built on into a gorgeous two story, four bedroom household. There were even a few original pieces- a bonnet of Mary's, few lamps and furniture. Very cool.

Playing around with some street art...the boy is actually tipping his hat to a life size Lincoln and his family.

South Bend, IN: home of Notre Dame University! What a cute little city to spend a few days. The Chicago Seven (the group of actors I came in to the show with) celebrated our 100th show here!! Crazy to think we've been here that long- I still feel new often enough! There was also an adorable Chocolate Cafe, which had hot chocolate that definitely rivaled City Bakery- super famous in NYC. I won't lie, I went there twice in three days.

I wrote on my mirror in lipstick on our big day!

Notre Dame's admissions main building. What a gorgeous campus!

Notre Dame's grotto. A few students stopped to say a prayer on their run- what a unique feature at a school!

Richmond, KY- Again, here for a day...can't remember much. I did start Christmas shopping in my mind here.

The rainbow floor in Richmond. Felt like we were in a disco.

On the longest bus day (THIRTEEN hours!) Lauren and I found survival in Naked Juice Green Machine, Kindles, and Snuggies. We made it through the day in one piece, and much colder, in...

 Madison, Wisconsin!!

Week 8-9: Fort Lauderdale, FL

One place for two weeks? Unbelievably good for the soul! The beach didn't hurt either :) We played the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, a lovely Union house, and stayed at the Sheraton Beach Front Hotel. It was only a little cooler than it is in the summer, sunshine all the time, a really nice blessing after some cold...and approaching a very long winter season.

The lovely beachside pool in Fort Lauderdale!

Same setting from the ocean. 

Lauren and I got pedicures right away in beachy bright hues.

We had a goodbye breakfast for Ben (R), our Cogsworth, as he departs this contract and goes straight in to Scrooge. We will miss this wise little Brit greatly!

Preeeeety excited about the day to come, even standing in line in the heat.

A group of us went to Universal Studios in Orlando on our Monday off, and our first stop was- of course- The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  

Getting Butterbeers at the Three Broomsticks! Left to right: Jen, Mandy, Emily, me and Amanda.

A little Butterbeer mustache. It was so delicious, I regretted only getting one.

Seeing Hogwarts for the first time...enchanted all around.

Lauren and me out on the town in Fort Lauderdale.

Lots of significant others visited over Thanksgiving, including but not limited to the ones pictured here (I think there were 8 total?!) So nice to see people from home!

Thanksgiving morning my roommate Jen, Dane, and I went over to Emily's condo to watch the parade and make breakfast, as all her roommates were elsewhere for the holiday. We also cooked a few things to supplement our dinner later on in the night. 

A little beach volleyball on Turkey day. Definitely a different kind of November holiday, thank you good ol' Florida.

Saying what we are Thankful for at our dinner at the hotel...a few tears here.

Our catered feast. Emily's sweet potato casserole, Jen's deviled eggs, and my macaroni and cheese (dominating the top left quarter) were all made that morning, so we felt like we contributed.

A lot of the girls have gotten in to the Shellac trend- those of your unfamiliar, a different kind of nail polish which is thicker, less likely to chip, and lasts longer. They sell a kit at Ulta, several of which were procured, and now the entire chorus has lovely homemade manicures.

Our final Sunday we only had a matinee, so a few of us went to a casino nearby. I'm REALLY not a gambler, but wanted to see what it's all about. After ten minutes and $15 lost, I was over it, but 

I had so many guests come to see the show here these two weeks, but failed to take pictures with anyone! My friends Phil, Justin, and Erin who I worked with last summer happen to be back at Broward Stage Door, and brought three more along on their day off. My mom's cousin Janet, her husband Eric, and daughter Lauren came the day after Thanksgiving. And our closing Sunday my sweet friend Laura Berg from home happens to be living in South Florida, and came up just to see the show. What a lucky girl I am to have so many visitors!!

Also, a little fun fact: I've had 12 weeks of performances thus far, which is 96 shows. It's crazy how quickly time passes, the group of us who came in together still feel so new to it all. 

Another split week coming up next: Portsmouth, OH, Springfield, IL, South Bend, IN, and Richmond, KY. Back to the midwest!