Spooky Little Girl

When Josh and I were dating for awhile, we started reading together. We have differing accounts about how this happened and which book was first, but we would read books by Laurie Notaro and laugh so hard we nearly peed. It is one of my many fun memories from before we were married. She is most well-known for her Idiot Girl's books, which are essays about her life.

Tonight we got to go to a book reading for Laurie Notaro's most recent book Spooky Little Girl, which I haven't read yet, but am looking forward to. I didn't get to see her on her last book tour, for there's a (slight) chance i might be going to hell, which was her first work of fiction and strongly influenced by her move to Eugene from Phoenix, because I was really sick, but Josh and I made sure to be at Powell's for this book tour (the last stop!)

Here I am waiting for the whole thing to start (we were apparently 30 minutes early):

Things filled up later. Josh remarked that it was a lot like the time when we went to a taping of "The Ellen Show"-- a lot of ladies out on the town. A lot of saving seats with purses, talking about how many seats needed to be saved, shouting across the room at each other, and cacklaughing. Also, a lot of back tattoos.

As predicted, Laurie Notaro was hilarious. She read a bit from Spooky Little Girl and something from her not-yet-published book about how she and a friend dressed up like characters from Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? for Halloween and she "saved" her friend from "choking." I can't recreate it, but it was funny stuff.

My only complaint is that, though we were in the second row, we somehow ended up toward the back of the book-signing line. There were a fair amount of people there, and Laurie Notaro talked to everyone, so it took awhile. Josh and I got a little nuts.

Here we are standing in line:

As time wore on, we started goofing around/reading books.

Our devil pictures:

There were some other pictures, which I've decided not to share. 

An interesting thing, and if you've been to readings at Powell's you may have already been aware of this, is that the lectern for readings looks like a stack of books. 

The books in the top part are actual books by writer Bret Harte. I found that interesting.

Finally we got to the front and got to talk with Laurie Notaro (Josh invited her to Hoodoo, and I just rolled my eyes), and we got to take a couple pictures.

The first one was the result of the woman taking the picture telling us to "say menopause!"

So we had to take another:

Totally worth it! If you're looking for a funny book to read, Laurie Notaro has now published 8 of them, so you have a lot to choose from.

Also, Josh bought this pin for me, which I'm going to wear to my next book club meeting:

It's MY Turn!

This past week, I introduced Josh to the glory that is "My Turn on Earth," the wildly popular LDS musical. He had never seen it, though I periodically break into songs from the show, so I made him watch it. We have a long-standing argument in our house about whether "My Turn on Earth" or "Saturday's Warrior" is better, and I think I finally may have tipped him to my side.

However, Josh is still adamant that the production value on the "Saturday's Warrior" film is much better, but I don't think it's fair when "My Turn on Earth" was filmed as a stage play in 1986.

Watching the movie again, I was reminded of how many times I've seen it before. It's been years since I've listened to the music, but I still remember nearly every word of every song (and a lot of the choreography too. . . did I mention I used to re-enact it?)

What do YOU think? "My Turn on Earth" or "Saturday's Warrior"?

And then THIS happened

Josh and I have been in California visiting my brother and, because they were also visiting my brother, one of my sisters and her family. Unfortunately, my brother hasn't been feeling well, so Josh and I went to Disneyland on Tuesday on our own. Supposedly Disneyland in April on a Tuesday is supposed to be next-to-empty, and while that wasn't exactly the case (we did still have to wait for 20 minutes to ride Space Mountain), we were able to have THIS experience:

We rode Splash Mountain 4 times in a row, and the third time the cast member asked us whether we just wanted to go through again (and the ShepAlders never say no to not standing in a line). The couple sitting in front of us were apparently done, and got out after a little fight, but Josh and I were able to get a picture with just us, ShepAldering it up on Splash Mountain. Awesome,

Also awesome? Josh and I are totally in the picture of some family who also mugged it up for the camera. We saw them buying the picture, so we are now a part of their everlasting memories, Josh making an "O" and me waving my arms around, smiling while simultaneously trying to avoid getting water on my face.

I'm in love with a dress

I love this dress:

And I'm thinking of buying it, except that I'm currently on a diet and hoping to be a bit smaller in a few months. So do I buy a smaller size and hope? I'm thinking this dress might be my prize for losing weight. 

Another question: t-shirt underneath or sweater over? Sometimes t-shirts bunch up and make me look middle-heavy (though, in all fairness, I can look pretty middle-heavy on my own), though sometimes it's too hot for a sweater (and sweaters don't always cover the scoopneck).

Our Last Day in NYC

We had a lot of fun, shared a few laughs, but, like all things, our trip finally had to come to an end. On our final day we had all sorts of plans, some of which fell through, which made room for new plans. When life gives you lemons, you eat those lemons with ice cream.

First plan of the day, to visit the Empire State Building:

From the ground, that's the Empire State Building

You know you're at a truly touristy place when people just stand around trying to hijack you with their little brochures and promises of city tours. It's the downside to doing touristy things, which is why I haven't been back to the ESB since 1997. In the meantime they have stepped up their security measures (just like everywhere in NYC after 9/11 it seems), so I was surprised by all the security measures. 

The lobby (and me!)

The view from the top

Sadly, a few days after Josh and I were there, a Yale student somehow hurled himself from the top. (I'm so glad we weren't there for that). 

What they sell in the gift shop

Everything was crowded, but it helped that we (Josh) bought our tickets ahead of time, so we could skip the huge line. We were in and out in less than an hour. Then we went back to the hotel, packed our bags, put them in storage, and went out on the town. Josh really wanted to take a tour of Rockefeller Center, where Conan O'Brien used to have his studio.

Of all the places we went, it was the least likely that Rockefeller Center tours would be sold out. They shuffle people through there every 15 minutes. However, when we finally found the tour counter (apparently we took the wrong entrance), we discovered that the tours were all sold out for the day (BLARGH!) Josh was sad, but I assured him that we could come back a different time, so we took pictures:

Josh chills at 30 Rock

Atlas

Then we went out on the town to see other things that we hadn't thought of seeing but for which we now had time. For instance:

Radio City Music Hall 

Trump Tower (Josh tells me, "You're fired!" for making fun of his desire for this picture)

Josh really wanted to get a picture of the inside of Trump Tower, and this fountain

Serendipity III

I suggested to Josh that we eat at Serendipity, since we had the time. Seriously, the wait was almost 2 hours because they only have, like, 15 tables. In the meantime we walked to Central Park and sat on a bench because Josh's feet finally started hurting (after walking nearly all day every day for almost a week). But, finally, we got a table, and gorged on sugar coma-inducing banana split:

Sadly, my eyes were bigger than my stomach, and we didn't finish it, but not without making a serious attempt

We figured the ice cream was okay (even though I'm supposed to be on a diet), since we did such a ridiculous amount of walking, which looked a lot like this:

Finally we saw the one thing I had wanted to see but hadn't made the time for:

The New York Public Library!

I'm such a nerd, right? I was disappointed that the exterior was being refurbished, but we had just enough time to swing through.

Public Library Lions

Unfortunately, the pictures from the inside were kind of blurry, but there was this:

Moses and the Ten Commandments

We took the Megabus back to Boston, then flew back to Portland the next day, thus ending our wonderful (and exhausting) Spring Break adventure.

Settle an Argument

Josh thinks that Lady Liberty's face resembles that of actor Jeff Goldblum. What do you think?

Date Night in NYC

Josh was excited about our whole trip, but the thing he talked about the most, and the thing he bragged the most about to other people was taking me to a Broadway show starring my favorite actress:

My favorite story about my love for Angela Lansbury, and the story Josh kept referring to whenever he told people about why we were going to see her on Broadway, is something that took place when I was a senior in high school. My friends (affectionately known as "The Girls") and I were hanging out with what I guess might have been the male equivalent of our group. These guys were in several of our classes (a couple of them sat in front of us during AP Bio, and next to me during Calculus). One of the guys worked at Berg's Ski Shop and was the lone guy from our high school on the ski team, so we had a little bit in common. We must have had the same free period, because he invited me over to his house for some reason I can't remember now. It absolutely never occurred to me that it was because he liked me, because after a few minutes of hanging out I realized that I was missing "Murder, She Wrote," which was replayed on A&E at the time, made an excuse, and went home to watch it. A week or so later the same guy called me and asked me to prom. So now I get to tell people that I once walked out on what was apparently a date-type situation in order to watch "Murder, She Wrote." It was totally worth it, too. (Not that the guy wasn't nice and not that we didn't continue to date throughout the summer, but I was so clueless about the whole situation it wasn't until we broke up that I realized I was his girlfriend in the first place).

Anyway. . . this brings us to present day. Before going to NYC, Josh and I talked a lot about which Broadway show to see. One day, after coming home from school, Josh said, "We absolutely have to see 'A Little Night Music.'" I was a little wishy-washy about it since I absolutely hate the song "Send in the Clowns." But then he told me that Angela Lansbury was starring in it. So we had to go.

It also starred Catherine Zeta-Jones, who was magnificent.

This is a billboard in Times Square

I think that, as time went on, Josh was more excited about it than even I was (though when Angela Lansbury came over the loudspeaker before the performance to remind us to turn off our cellphones and unwrap our candies, I got a little teary-eyed). The whole experience was excellent (but you kind of expect that of a Broadway show), and Josh wants to buy the soundtrack (afterward he said he had Catherine Zeta-Jones' version of "Send in the Clowns" stuck in his head). We bought a poster and then carefully transported it back to Boston, then back to NYC (by plane) then all the way back to Portland. 

The show was at the Walter Kerr Theater (we came back later for more pictures):

One more picture:

It's nice to have a husband who indulges my eccentricities. And now I have seen Angela Lansbury in person!