Best. Birthday. Ever.

So good, in fact, that it's taken me an entire week to write about it (cut me some slack, will you—it's been a completely insane week at work and my computer is dying a slow, painful death). Now, I've had a lot of amazing birthdays. The Bossy Folks are unparalleled in birthday-party throwing. When I was a kid, every year we had a treasure hunt for the gift bags, complete with rhyming clues and clever puns. Mama Bossy always made my birthday cake from scratch, even ice cream cake. There were musical chairs, pumpkin carving, and fashion shows galore. Since childhood there have been some other pretty memorable ones, too, but this year's definitely took the (birthday) cake.

The birthday weekend started with a decadent dinner in the restaurant of a hotel I'm completely obsessed with. Heirloom tomato salad, pork tenderloin, white cheddar truffle mac & cheese, molten chocolate cake…yum. From my seat at the table I looked right out at the Mecom Fountains all lit up against the dark sky. Add to that a red rose, my new LBD, and killer (seriously) high heels and you've got a practically perfect night.

You could do a lot worse than working in opera on your birthday. Sure, you probably definitely won't have the day off, despite it being a Saturday. On the other hand, though, there's nothing quite like hearing "Happy birthday" sung to you by the incredible HGO Chorus and other assorted glitterati to make you glad you came to work on your birthday.

And then there was my present from CameraMan: a treetop canopy zipline tour!! This is pretty much an untoppable, bar-raising, gauntlet-throwing present. I've been talking about doing this for about 2 years, ever since I read about it in the Times, and the real thing was everything I'd hoped for and more. Zipping from tree to tree was exhilarating and lung-opening and just a teensy bit scary, and I loved every minute of it. Before the tour we even got a chance to eat delicious migas for breakfast and see a little of the Texas capitol building. Which was mainly exciting because, ummm…there were cannons there.

We zoomed back to Houston just in time to throw a joint birthday party (CM's big day was Friday). Practically everyone we know came (including The Wise Soprano who happened to be in town for a visit!) and almost all of them brought cheese, so you know it was a kick-a** party. I felt loved, happy, and safe all weekend (yes, even during when I was 50 feet above the ground). I got lovely birthday wishes, hugs, presents…and I got myself a little something, too.




Plus, I get to cross another item off my list. It's about time, huh?

20. Take a tree-top canopy zipline tour.

5 down, 95 to go.

TGI my birthday weekend

Little Ms. Hardcore teases me that I always wind up with the "easy" shows. I'm never on the show with the crazy director who tries to fire me, or the insanely complicated set that requires stagehands in every rehearsal, or (ahem) the set piece that's so tall it takes off a sprinkler head in the theatre, pouring thousands of gallons of water onto the stage. Instead, I get the good-guy directors, the 2-hour running times (that's short in the world of opera, you know), and the early rehearsal endings.

Beatrice and Benedict is no exception, which is how I've hit the jackpot with two days off this weekend. It couldn't come at a more perfect time, since this is my birthday weekend! No rehearsal today, so I've been relaxing and cleaning. Tonight I'm being taken out to a nice dinner—I don't know where, just that I need to be ready at 7:45 wearing my new dress. I love surprises. I have rehearsal all day tomorrow (my actual birthday), but as soon as rehearsal's over at 10pm CameraMan and I are driving to my birthday present. I've guessed where we're going (and it's really really awesome), but I don't know for sure. The present will take most of the day Sunday, and then we'll drive back to Houston in time to throw a joint birthday party (CM's b-day is 10/17, in case you were wondering). I'm so excited for the whole weekend.

It's impossible for me not to compare this birthday to last year's. Although I had lots of fun with my friends at my party, everything is so much better this year. Last fall was such a difficult time for me, and the whole time I felt like I was struggling to stay afloat. Now, on the other hand, I am so happy. Happy at work, happy in my personal life, happy happy happy.

I think it's going to be a happy birthday.

I've got moves

I've been tap dancing on the sly. Our newest ASM, Wiener Lover (so named because he loves his mini dachshund, obvs), shares my fascination for the time step, and we've been happily tapping away on breaks. He's taught me some new moves, and I've shared a few of my faves with him.

He taught me one new step earlier this week that applies to my daily life a bit more than your average buck-and-wing: it goes by several names, including the "Sarasota Swivel" and the "Santa Fe Twist." It's so simple I picked it up right away—just an easy turn of the head, first left and then right…to make sure the person you're getting ready to talk about it is not in your immediate vicinity.

Unfortunately, he taught it to me about 10 minutes too late, after I had already done a pretty complicated routine of my own involving my foot and my mouth.

I like to call it the "Houston Humiliation."

Playing catch-up

It's been so long since I posted here that I can hardly even call myself a blogger anymore. And while I'd love to break out my pithiest, wittiest writing, it seems that first it's time for a good old-fashioned catch-up post.

So, what's been going on the past few weeks? Here goes, in no particular order...

• My life has pretty much returned to normal since Ike. All my friends except one have power now, the gym reopened, and almost all the street lights are working. Just in time for the Houston drivers to finally figure out what a blinking red light means.


• My temp job ended, but not until I had made myself so indispensable that 2 days a week turned into 5. What can I say, I'm that good.


• My real job started (yay!). I just finished up the first week of rehearsals for Beatrice & Benedict. After a summer off, being in the rehearsal room is just exactly what the doctor ordered. I'm a whole new girl.


• I tried to move into my new apartment, only to discover that it looked like this:




• To make up for it, I am now being housed in an apartment that looks like this:
  
  Seems fair to me.




• I'm assisting an Englishman with a cast that includes a Scot and an Irish woman. I may not be practicing my foreign languages, but I am learning lots of fun British phrases.


• I started a new diet/experiment: not eating crap. Except on Sundays. It's going very well so far.


• It became my birthday month! My birthday is in exactly a week. Please feel free to buy me presents.

I'm behind on everything internet-related, but all that's about to change. Look out, readers, Little Ms. Bossy is back and looking forward to sharing her life with you again. Stay tuned...