Update from Indianapolis, Indiana

I'm sitting in the breakfast nook of a Super 8 in Indianapolis right now... I had the most lovely night last night with Alyson Ahrns! It was so beyond wonderful to see someone I adore! She picked me up at this hotel, we drove to dinner at a magical wine tasting restaurant called "Tasting." This place should expand and come to NYC and Irvine. Seriously- wonderful. There's all of these wines all over the restaurant/bar-lounge and you fill a card with money, walk around and pick (prices listed above), you press a button and get a tasting (1/4 glass or so), and do that until you're done. We also had delicious pesto artichoke-goodness flatbread pizza and little crostinis with goat cheese and tomato. Delicious!
After the restaurant we rush over to the Clowes Theater where 101 Dalmations was playing- Alyson got comps to it. It was definitely... interesting to see? The best part by far was Sarah Gettelfinger as 'Cruella DeVille.' She was a powerhouse actress and singer, but I definitely think she's doing it for the money, 'cause at curtain call when they all do a little dance-sing number as the curtain goes down she was completely herself and appeared to be doing what she needed to do- and hey! fine by me- whatever works! And, she's fantastically talented- she deserves more!
Then we headed back to her adorable home and watched some Millionaire Matchmaker and discussed our girl-crushes on Tina Fey and 30 Rock. And now, this morning I am back at the Super 8 updating you all as I wait the next 2 hours for my castmates to actually get up and we leave for an 11 am call. Alyson had work so I had to be dropped off early- but it's all good 'cause I am youtubing it and updating this.

Aside from last night, I had another lovely day recently! On March 7th we had a day off in St. Charles, Illinois and we drove in to Chicago! Chicago is like a cleaner, wider, bigger, NYC (minus thee Broadway). But, it's truly lovely- and I got to see my friend, Becky, there! I hadn't seen her in years now. After a trip to the Shedd Aquarium with Larissa, she and I headed to Lincoln Park to meet Becky and her cool girlfriend, Kensey, for brunch. We ate at a spectacular little place called Orange, where they had vegetarian eggs benedict in a caprese style and Fruishi, fruit sushi! The special fruishi of the day was banana wrapped in raspberry rice and another, pineapple rice with melon atop, all splashed with some yummy fruit sauces. Good stuff!


The Shedd Aquarium:









Chicago:




We went to Robert Walker's Pancake House (can't recall where at the moment) and I had a baked apple and pecan pancake. Little did I know it would mean this ginormous souffle of a thing that lasted for 2 days and that I could not eat on my own. It was a group effort:


Chicago-style pizza. Crazy big. Insanely delicious:



A STUNNING theater called The Rialto in Joliet, Illinois that we performed at yesterday. It's from the 1920's, a vaudeville house where the likes of Houdini performed! There are even metal plates in the wings that have animal holders for when the circus animals were used. Kept so beautifully in the middle of nowhere of the U.S.









The Marquee:


Alyson and I:


PS, as I wrote this entire blog a Japanese Choir has entered and started rehearsing in the breakfast nook of this hotel, and they're loud. Anyone can ask Chris Giordano who was video chatting with me while it was occurring.