Farewell Waccamaw.

Today marks the completion of phase one of Operation Christmas Across America. Our last day in Myrtle Turtle. Road boxes are packed, Ragdoll blocks are painted...Hershey, here we come! It's curious, I feel like we only just got here & at the same time feel like we've already been rehearsing forever. This is my last entry coming from the corner of my tiny bed, with a giant bottle of orange Gatorade sitting on the windowsill beside me in Keltie & my cute little condo. Farewell Plantation Station. It's been real. Thanks for the daily internet fiasco & the stinky fridge.

The last two days of rehearsal may have made Radio City history for me. I've never had the first three studio run throughs go as well as they did. I've never seen Julie happier with a cast. It's been INCREDIBLE. A-Team = cast of the century. I can only hope once we get to Hershey, Linda is equally as impressed with our work. So far (knock on wood) we've managed to push further & further without taking a single step backwards. I know the first time on the stage in a giant arena causes a bit of vertigo & a lot of nervous energy but I will just have to focus super hard. Teching a brand new show is a tedious process, especially when I have a sneaking suspicion Linda is going to change a ton of stuff once

she sees it from further away. Yikes.

During our second & final run of the show today we had some guests from other casts (in company management & stage management) watching. I had almost forgotten how much more fun it is to preform for people. (other than the ones with the eagle eyes watching for our every mistake ;) I was lucky to have some very good friends sitting & watching right on my line-up number. So, despite my tired legs & achy back, I was dancing for my life. It felt soooooo good. I love my job. I'm starting to embrace the pieces of choreography in the show that a couple weeks ago I found tedious & more challenging, the parts of the show where I can breathe deeply & gather energy (it's amazing how easy it is to forget to breathe....not good) & those brilliant little pieces of choreography I just live in. The ones I look forward to all show. I'm finding more of them every day. Julie told us today that one of our J.O.B. requirements is to have fun!!!! Amazing.

I know the next few weeks, before we open, are going to be jam packed with hard work & maybe some minorly unpleasant situations. (It's never fun when we're just standing on the stage lighting a number for 2 hours then have to run it top to bottom with cold muscles) But it's my j.o.b. I'm ready for it & I'm really excited for the next step in the process. It's not all bad...considering the arena is next to a theme park! (We're going on Halloween...which reminds me...Kelt, we need to figure out what we're going to wear for Halloween.) These next few days have been incredibly inspiring, how could I not be madly in love with life?

On that note, Myrtle Turtle Beach...I bid you adieu.