King Cake and Wine...Breakfast of Champions

I just don't care for the month of January.
The weather is usually unpleasant, and karmic-ally...things usually just don't go well in my track record.
Massive car accidents, massive colds, traumatic experiences abound.
This January has seemingly kept up with tradition.
I have been sickly for the better part of two weeks now.
It's terrible.
BUT--the good news is...I have quit smoking!
Like officially.
James Yeargain and myself started one day apart...and he's been going strong for 10 days, and I'm on my 9th official nicotine-free day!
(small applause is necessary, people)
We text each other back and forth all day with "SMOKING KILLS!" or "BLACK LUNG!!!"
Ya know...just friendly encouragement.
We are each putting five dollars a day in a jar, so that at the end of a month we can buy ourselves something fancy.
James will be getting video games...I will probably just buy things from Amazon...because I have a massive addiction.
Which, I am deeming as totally acceptable, since I have recently lost one of my favorite ones.

I like to believe that I am sickly, and cannot shake this horrible cough because I am no longer smoking and my body is very angry with me....and at the same time trying to get the black out of my lungs.
So, yeah...I guess it's worth it.

The only good thing about January is that it is the beginning of Carnival!
Hurray!
Kristin and I have successfully eaten king cake everyday since January 11.
She likes to think that if her diet consists of ONLY king cake..it's not entirely terrible for you.
Every night of Taste tech week and first weekend of performances we had a different flavor king cake.
Gabby brought this swanky, chocolate one from Whole Foods, I found the beloved Bavarian Cream, cream cheese filled, regular old cinnamon covered in white icing.
Oh, the thought is mouth watering.
The one we are all on the lookout for is the elusive Lemon King Cake. Yeargain has a special request for it, since he...nor anyone I've ever known, has ever tasted one.
My personal fave is the blueberry cream cheese filled...so decadent and unnecessary...just like me!

Speaking of TASTE!
The show is going so well. We had pretty awesome crowds all opening weekend, and everyone really seems to enjoy it!
I have a lot of fun cooking every night during pre-show, and watching the actual show never really gets old to me.
I find new things that are funny every night. The cast is stellar, and seeing Allegra with his haircut and mustache is totally worth the 20 bucks.
Not to mention, the food is quite tasty.
This is the final weekend to see it!
Tonight, Friday and Saturday at 8:30 and...
We are moving the show on Sunday, to a matinee on Saturday @ 2:30.
To accommodate our beloved Saints! WHO DAT!
If you haven't seen it....please join us!
And if you saw it last year...come see it again...its a pretty revised script, and the actor changes make it quite a different experience.

Speaking of the SAINTS!
Are we all looking forward to putting Brett Favre in the same nursing home we put Kurt Warner in?
I am.


School is going well, too.
I like all my teachers a lot...it's uber fun to have Santos and Marshall as two of my teachers.
And I don't completely hate being there, as of now...SUCCESS!
Everything is a bit busier adding school to the schedule, though.
But...we all know I'm happier when I'm busy...even though I bitch more.
It's a weird thing...I think the more I complain the happier I actually am.
It's when I get quiet--that's the time to start worrying.

We had the Southern Rep Bacchanal New Play Riots last night.
There are five short plays being staged and read.
I'm in one called 200 Feet and Counting, by Marco Ramirez.
Allegra directed it, and Jason Kirkpatrick plays my giant brother.
It's really swell, and everyone has liked it a lot. It's my favorite one out of the bunch.
During rehearsal Jason and I got a little teary-eyed at the end, to which AJ reacted...."Don't you dare cry! For christ sakes! This is a reading! Pull it together!"
Thanks, fearless director.

We have another performance of them all next Wednesday, January 27th at 8.
Tickets are 10...and its a delightful evening. Lot's of talented local people, and interesting scripts.

I think that's it for now.
Sorry this was all over the place...all the meds make me a little loopy!
So yeah.

Have a stellar weekend!
See a play, eat some king cake, cheer for the Saints!

...sigh....

Sometimes...I forget how awesome it is to be from this city.