Week Nine.

This wasn't a super crazy week. Mama Stone keeps saying I don't have to do a play by play of every day but I'm this far in and I just have to continue now! I'm not OCD...just enthusiastic about organization & chronologically logging events. Nerd alert.

By the way, the previous week the Hotel Director & Cruise director watched a dress rehearsal and liked the Christmas show so much that they canceled Shout & gave "A Holiday Wish" the two evening main stage time slots! Exciting!

December 16. Sunday.
Every few months the entire crew has to go through US Immigration. Since my last name is at the beginning of the alphabet I had to roll out of bed at 6:45am and report to one of the dining rooms. I proceeded to wait in a crowded line for over an hour until I finally made it to an immigration officer. Not a happy camper. By the way, out of the whole crew I have the cutest passport cover thanks to the Bouchard family. I finally made it through & ate breakfast in my super attractive sweatpants by the pool while talking to my mom. It was one of those "wow, I live on a cruise ship" moments.

Rosie, Martina, & I then made the trek over to Walmart. I bought two little Christmas trees! Usually I am not a Christmas fanatic but this year because we had to make the holiday great for ourselves, I loved getting in the spirit! Rosie's obsession with the holiday also helped. Anyways after shopping we waited for a taxi outside that never came & then the wonderful Kaci came to the rescue again and picked us up! We had todo some more shopping in the French Quarter and then went to lunch at a fabulous restaurant off canal street called The Ruby Slipper. I love shrimp and grits!

Kaci dropped Martina & I off near the port to wait for James & Rosie as they ran one final errand before we boarded the ship. We looked ridiculously comical sitting on a bench by the side of the road with all of our Walmart bags piled high around us. Basically we looked like weird hoarder homeless people.

Between the four of us we managed to get all the packages back to the ship & headed up to tech rehearsal. Everyone was happy to find out that our new cruise director Pedro had canceled Latin night so they didn't have to preform that bumper any longer. Apparently "South Beach Night" doesn't work with this Southern passenger demographic. & I was overjoyed to receive two big boxes full of Christmas goodies for myself and treats for the cast from Mama Stoney!

December 17. Monday.
Sea day. The usual activities occurred: shopping talk, art auction & Band On The Run. Things in the art world changed a little bit though because the auctioneer, Luke, left & a new art auctioneer started. His name is Urgan, he is from Austria, & really likes doing Terminator impressions. So original.

December 18. Tuesday.
Costa maya! James & Rosie finally got off the ship for the first time that month! I was so happy. The first thing James does when he gets to the hotel is order a giant Anthropologie style cup of coffee.

That night the Captain invited the three of us to dinner! We went to the steakhouse on the top floor of the ship, Cagney's. Amazing. I had a food hang-over the next day.

December 19. Wednesday.
Belize. J, R, & I got off for the first time! The water is too shallow for ships to dock there so they have to anchor out in the ocean & then smaller tender boats shuttle people to shore. We wandered around the city for a little while & then ended up at the good old Radisson hotel for lunch & wifi. That night the crew put on a Christmas talent show in the theater. There are no words to describe it. My favorite quote from the evening was when a guy walked out on stage with sheet music and Caleb exclaimed, "he's not even off book?!"

December 20. Thursday.
Roatan. I will never get used to being woken up by blaring sirens signaling that boat drill is to begin. But I guess that's the point. Sophie had to be a pretend casualty passenger. After standing in the heat while wearing life jackets for 45minutes, Sophie, Montana, Jess, & I headed to the freezing theater for an Entertainment department meeting. And thennnn we had to leave that meeting early so we'd make it to a new crew member orientation class. Um, it's been nine weeks. I may have grumbled a bit..

After class, Jess & I layed-out on the top deck to thaw our freezing bodies. Then right before the ship set sail we got in the crew jacuzzi in the bow of the ship. That's my favorite thing to do on Honduras day. It's absolutely gorgeous looking up at the rainforest mountains as we cruise away into the sunset. My life really is a roller coaster of one extreme to another.

That night we went out for sushi with James & Rosie. R and I devised a plan on how to resurrect the two Christmas trees we had been given to use for the show. And so began fixing the situation known as "Tree-Gate 2012." Stay tuned for the full story in my next post. Unfortunately it's not as dramatic as Flood-Gate, but it's still ridiculous.

December 21. Friday.
Cozumel. In perpetration for my family being on board the next week I didn't get off the ship and worked all day. I got so much work done so that I could spend as much time with my fam-jam as possible & wouldn't have to worry about anything. Then I blogged on the upper deck & went running.

When Rosie returned to the ship I helped her set up the trees on stage before the tech rehearsal. The trees looked great but needed a little extra touch so I snuck around the ship and "borrowed" two big poinsettia plants. It's all for the art, people! The Southern Living goddesses would have been proud of my final product. & Both shows went great that night!

December 22. Saturday.
Sea day. Art auction & Elements. Can you say Groundhog Day? So I let my girls do my make up really silly. Every color of the rainbow was on my face and I looked like a beautiful fairy princess. Obviously.

Never Never Land.

The day my family left the ship after cruising with me the week of Christmas I was very sad. Christmas was over and they were gone. We had such a fabulous time together & I've never been good at goodbyes. One time I read somewhere that I miss you" in English translates into "you are absent from me" in French. I don't know if that's grammatically correct, but it's true in my life.

Anyways, I just found this paragraph I'd written that day when I returned to the ship. I'll admit that at the time I was listening to Taylor swift and crying. Not dramatic at all.

December 31.
When I told the captain I was sad because my family was gone he replied with "you aren't a little girl anymore. You're a woman now." Wow. At first I was like, I guess he's right. They didn't drop me off at summer camp..this is my job and I need to get over it. Even though I don't feel like an adult and still don't really understand the whole 401K thing, I am a "grown up" now.

But then I decided that is total baloney. I accept that I have entered a new chapter of my life and I suppose I'm technically an adult but I will never let go of the little girl inside of me. I never want to grow out of the way my eyes get ginormous when I'm excited, or how I adore the Disney Princesses.

My mom will always be the most beautiful woman and my dad will always be my superhero. I'll never be too old to hold my granddaddys hand on a walk or to let my grandmother take me shopping. I'll absolutely never be to old for movie marathon sleepovers on the couch with my siblings.

I will never stop being amazed by the simple miracle of getting to live a life I adore for another day. And I hope I'll always be able to love the people I'm surrounded by so fiercely that I just can't help but cry when saying goodbye.

Flood-Gate.

This event occurred on December 15, 2012 & will forever be known as Flood-Gate.

Four days earlier water started appearing backstage stage left in the stairwell. I figured it would have been fixed by the time Elements day rolled around. I was wrong. And it had only gotten worse. Instead of a puddle it had grown into a full blown flood & none of the other tech people seemed to be concerned. I lost it. When I get mad it's really frightening. I kind of jut out my jaw like a bulldog and growl like an angry Soprano mob member when I speak. Super attractive. Most of the time I don't even realize I'm doing it. So when I charged into the theater where the cast was gathered for a meeting, everyone froze.

In a low chilling voice, much like Meryl Streep's in The Devil Wears Prada, I asked the production manager if she was aware a monsoon was occurring backstage. Not only would the mysterious pipe water hurt my already delicate costumes but it was a major safety hazard for all the performers. She replied that yes, she'd called the plumber again. Plumbers on ships are the same as plumbers on land. No one knows when they'll actually show up.

As you can correctly guess, I took action myself. I was always taught that if you want something done then you should make it happen and that true leaders are the first ones to pick up a broom. So collected as many towels as I could carry and ventured down into the newly formed lake.

*Side note: when you exit stage left you walk into the wings and then through a door onto a landing with one staircase leading up to the dressing rooms, one leading down to a small storage hallway that enters into the theater and one that is 3 flights tall and takes you down to the I-95.

I began to mop up the water and to my horror discovered it had stared spilling over the landing & down the stairs to the small hallway. As I was soaking up that water I was completely enraged to find the water had further flooded underneath the stairs and the landing. I retrieved a headlamp and maneuvered my way underneath the stairs to clean up that mess. This was a challenge not only because I was now in the dark but because 5 large ladders were being stored under there. I felt like one of those little Disney mice that looks adorable but is hanging out in the underground sewer system.

I finally finished drying the floor and lugging two baskets full of soaking towels up the stairs when sweet Elyse timidly informed me the flooding had started again. Fury. This was not my job and none of the stage techs had even offered much less tried to help me but I was going to fix this problem. And that's when I broke. I started crying and questioning my career choice as I knelt on the cold floor surrounded by wet towels. It was a sad, frustrating, & pathetic moment. The dancers were scared.

Finally the "plumbers" arrived. First they stared at the crime scene, they proceeded the investigation by knocking on a few pipes, one of them crawled into the wall, and then they talked to each other in another language. I didn't yell, but I sternly said that the show starts in 10 minutes and I will be kicking them out soon. Finally someone had the genius idea to turn off the water.

In conclusion, the show went fine and I would not let anyone put their costumes on the floor. I learned that not everyone is going to care about certain things as much as I do. Life is hard. & Sometimes you just have to strap a flashlight to your head and fix the problem yourself.

Week Eight.

This was a really crazy, busy, fun week. I worked 94 hours total. There is this saying that if you do what you love you'll never work a day in your life. I don't think that's really true..I mean, even a surf instructor is going to have hard days. I am blessed though that I'm passionate about what I'm working hard for.

December 9. Sunday.
James, Rosie, Jess, & I got off the ship early and got breakfast in the French quarter to kill time since the mall didn't open until 11. Then we went back to the port and waited for the crew bus to the mall instead of taking a cab. That was a mistake. It took forever. We finally made it to the mall at noon and discovered it opened at 9am for holiday shopping. Annoying. Our time is precious people! Anyways, we all got most of our Christmas shopping done in a few hours & took a cab back to the ship.

Kaci met us by the port to drop off some mail and packages that had been delivered for us that week. She's literally the sweetest. While the cast was in their tech rehearsal I had a fitting with the replacement singer that was sent to cover Jenna's spot in Shout. Her name is Jacqueline & she's a ship veteran. Lucky for me she fit into everything! & Later that night after all the performances I had fittings with the cast for the Christmas show. So many sequins!

December 10. Monday.
Sea day. Jess & I worked the shopping talk and then I went to the art auction. I've never worn heels this much in my life! That night we had two successful Band On The Run shows.

Earlier that day I complimented a passenger on his Big Bang Theory t-shirt. (Its a popular tv show) It turns out this mans name is Professor Tony & he has like a five hundred doctorate degrees. He is friends with the guy who invented the Butterfly Effect and Chaos Theory. Seriously. He is the most intelligent human I've ever encountered. I am the queen of ADD & I even had a hard time following his train of thought. After talking to him I felt like I'd been hit by a train. I just love making friends with strangers!

December 11. Tuesday.
Costa maya! It was a rainy day but Patty, Jacqueline, and I had fun on the beach at Forty Cannons. Some of our Second City friends were there too & through email I meet two of their famous friends! First, Megan told YouTube comedy sensation Brian, The Sassy Gay Friend, that I was a huge fan & he said I was cute and called my a stupid B! Don't worry, that's his tag line. I died. Then Brett emailed a dorky picture of me waving to his friend TJ, also known as the guy in the passenger seat of those funny Sonic commercials. Too funny.

My hilarious day just kept getting better. That evening I was going out to dinner with the captain! As in the guy who is in charge of our entire vessel. Unreal. A highlight was walking past the art gallery with him and watching all the silly art boys jaws drop. (Insert hair toss here.) He took me to the French restaurant La Bistro. Fantastic food and great conversation. Captain Kostas is from Athens, Greece, has been a captain for over 14 years, and adores traveling. He also thinks I'm hilarious, but who doesn't?

December 12. Wednesday.
Belize. I stayed on board because I had to be at the Shout tech rehearsal. Jacqueline, the new replacement, was doing the run in her costumes so she could practice the quick changes. Afterwards Jess & I worked on the Christmas costumes until show time. We put rhinestones on everything possible. It's my latest obsession.

December 13. Thursday.
Roatan. I slept in and worked for a little. Patrick & I went to the gym together that afternoon. He is so fun to do activities with.

That night James, Rosie, Martina & I made plans to dine at the Japanese steak house restaurant. I called the captain to invite him to join us but he declined. When the four of us arrived at our reservation time the hostess said there wasn't room for us. Right then the Captain showed up! He went up to the manager & suddenly there was room! We couldn't believe what was happening. Kostas didn't join us for dinner but he sent over a bottle of wine AND picked up the bill. Talk about feeling like Cinderella!

After our delicious dinner we wandered downstairs into Gatsby's lounge where the art guy were hanging out. James & Rosie went to bed but I stayed with the silly boys. Luke, the English auctioneer, gave me a hilarious compliment: "You're hair is looking like sleepy golden ribbons of awesomeness." Everything really is better with an accent.

December 14. Friday.
Cozumel. Patrick & I went to breakfast & then spent the rest of the day lounging in the sun at the No Name bar. After an hour we got bored and decided to take a walk. We stumbled upon a little park with a ton of strange woodland creature and disney character mannequins. It was so random. I wanted to steal a penguin but patty said he'd be mad if he had to bail me out of a Mexican jail.

Back on board we had the final dress rehearsal before the opening night of "A Holiday Wish". Both performances that night went great! I was backstage during the first one to work out any kinks with the quick changes & I watched the second show from the house with patty & Jess. & The Captain came and sat next to me in the front row. During Dana's number "Santa Baby" she came off stage and sat on his lap! He turned red. Too funny.

Everyone was so happy the show had opened successfully and James led a toast backstage. There wasn't much time for the cast to relax because everyone had to go get ready for the midnight Burlesque show. But the celebration continued in the Spinnaker Lounge afterwards, then made its way down to crew bar. At the end of the night a handful of us ended up in James & Rosie's cabin. Nothing bonds people like eating room service pizza and chicken fingers on the floor at 3 in the morning.

December 15. Saturday.
Sea day. I got to sleep in! I headed up to the art auction at noon. & I just love the passengers. There was this spunky 40 year old Baton Rouge lady named Kathy who was there with her mom & 6 year old son. They met me at the beginning of the week & greeted me with big smile and hug every day after that. They adored all of the costumes. I also met a lot of Alabama fans that week including a couple from Boaz! (I have family that lives near there.)

That afternoon I went to work & to the gym. I was calm and ready for Elements that night, but when I arrived in the theater all hell broke loose. Stay turned for the full story in my next post about Flood Gate 2012.

Week Seven.

December 2. Sunday.
This was the week everyone was sick. In the span of five days over 300 crew members went to see the doctor. Gross. On the bright side, that Sunday I finally got to be reunited with my college friend Kaci! She was a senior with a costume design emphasis at Samford when I transferred there and she took me under her wing. After graduation she moved back to New Orleans & we've stayed in touch!

The cruise line mail system isn't very efficient so Kaci graciously said that we could have costumes for the Christmas show shipped to her studio. So Kaci picked up James, Rosie, & I from the port with all of our boxes piled in the trunk of her little car. She took us to lunch at this amazing local artsy restaurant that I think was called Elizabeth's. Their specialty is candied praline bacon. And then I had a salmon and brie grilled cheese. Unbelievable. After brunch we wandered around some cool antique stores in that area of town. I can't remember the name of the neighborhood but everyone there looked like they only shop in vintage clothing stores and probably own record players.

During brunch a freaky discovery was made that two years ago while Kaci was interning with a costume designer in NYC that she helped construct the Elements costumes currently in my possession. Too crazy. I really have followed in her footsteps!

Kaci dropped us off back at the port and we headed straight to sound check. I was very upset because I had been waiting for two weeks for a box from my mom to arrive and after our third dress rehearsal, it did!! Jubilation!

December 3. Monday.
Everyone was sick. But Jess & I powered through and woke up to work the shopping talk and art auction. Getting paid to be friendly. We are troopers.

That night we had two Band On The Run performances. Being backstage during a show isn't glamorous. It's chaotic, a little scary, and hilarious. I'll explain...it's chaotic because the cast is running around from one side to the other to make their entrances on time. Sometimes a zipper will break or a costume will be forgotten and then I hear my name called out in a panic. Its scary because its so dark and everyone is running around having to dodge the giant magic illusions that are stored back there.

Backstage is hilarious because between dance numbers eight sweaty bodies run off stage full force with literally 60 seconds to change and costumes start flying everywhere. Modesty is not a word that can exist in our vocabulary. Quick changing a 6 foot tall English man from a white disco suit into a village people construction worker costume in under a minute while dancers dressed like 1950s pin up sailors are running around you will never not be funny.

December 4. Tuesday.
Costa maya! Martina, Jess, & I had lunch at Senor Frogs. I ate a burrito the size of a small dog. It was amazing and I regretted it. Martina went back to the ship & Jess and I were feeling so lazy that we collapsed in the closest beach chairs we could find. That night we dressed up and went out for dinner with Patrick & Jarrett at the French restaurant La Bistro.

December 5. Wednesday.
Belize. I worked on Elements and the Christmas show costumes all day. Everyone was in rehearsals for Christmas and we had a tech dress rehearsal for Burlesque.

December 6. Thursday.
Roatan. Shout was canceled because the girls were sick. It's an extremely vocally demanding show and they just couldn't do it.

December 7. Friday.
Cozumel. Sophie, Montana, Jess, & I decided to try out a new local restaurant James had found called "ile". The food was amazing & we had a relaxing day together just lounging on the balcony of the restaurant. & Later that night we had the White Hot party.

Jenna, one of the singers, had a family emergency so she flew home that day and returned two weeks later. We were all very concerned for her family and sad to lose her but luckily everything is ok now.

December 8. Saturday.

Sea day. I worked the art auction and spent the rest of the day getting everything ready for the show that night. Both Elements performances went well.

That show has been a true test of my character. I work so hard on restoring the costumes each week and then after they're used for two shows I have to fix everything all over again. It's easy to to your best on a single project that you walk away from when you're done. The challenge is in doing your best on a project, watching it get destroyed, and then doing your best all over again. I don't know if that made sense...but basically my sewing skills have improved through it all.