California sunshine

Alright, this is my first blog, so please bear with me.

Well, I made it to Los Angeles in one piece! The lovely parents drove me to Midway and made sure I got my bags all checked, and then I flew to Minnesota and waited around 3 hours for my next flight to LA. That flight seemed to last forever, even though I reviewed all of my music and slept a bit. However, a passenger a few seats up was watching "Stomp the Yard" on his computer, so that made my flight much more enjoyable, as I am in love with Columbus Short (as Heather knows). So I arrived and waited forever to get my bags and to be picked up by my very nice production manager, who welcomed me with a friendly hug, and also brought his DOG in the car! I couldn't have been happier. At this point it was about 12:30am, which really feels like 3:30am Indiana time, but I was too excited to be exhausted just yet. He gave me my set of keys for the apartment, and I was greeted by my 3 fellow singing castmates (how nice of them to wait up for me!). Just the 4 of us are living in the apartment this week, and then all 10 cast members will be living in this 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment. I have never seen so many mirrors in one living space--the closet in each room has sliding doors made with mirrors, a closet in the hallway has the same thing, and then there is a huge door-sized mirror just hanging out in the family room, and there are bathroom mirrors of course. There are also 2 refrigerators, which is probably necessary for 10 people. I feel like I should be on an episode of The Real World; it should be fun!

Since it was so late, I didn't really have time to unpack anything--I just found my toothbrush, facewash, and pjs and then went to bed. By this point it felt like 4:30am Indiana time, and I had to wake up at 8:30am Cali time the next morning. I finally got to see LA in daylight, since I didn't really know what was around the area late at night in the dark in a car. The roommates and I all headed to the studio for our first rehearsal of singing all day long! It's a decent 15-minute walk from our apartment, so that's not too bad. We met some people from other cruise ship casts rehearsing there, and it was cool to see some of the different shows in the rehearsal process. So we basically sang our hearts out all day, taking breaks for water and lunch. And you better believe I'm only gonna eat salads at rehearsal. There were some dancers walking around in cut-off shirts with 6-pack abs like it was just the usual. Props to them, I'd show off my abs too if I had a 6-pack! At the end of the day we sang for some head honchos of the studio (and the production manager's dog! I'm so excited to get to see a dog everyday), so that was a little scary, but they were all very friendly and supportive. Then the 4 of us headed back, and I found a Trader Joe's and did some necessary grocery shopping. I'm so glad it's nearby, because I looooove Trader Joe's!

All in all, it was a pretty busy day, and we were worn out by the end of it. Everyone is very friendly, though, and it's exciting to be a part of it all. We're rehearsing for 6 days in a row, so it's gonna be a long and exhausting week, but I'm glad to finally be here, working on the shows and meeting everyone...and I'm glad for this unlocked wireless internet at the apartment :)

Now everyone check out this awesome link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apEZpYnN_1g

Neil Patrick Harris has been on my mind a lot lately because I've been watching "How I Met Your Mother" like it's my job. In any case, that link is a fabulous video.

Miss you all!