Stress Therapy Haiku

Work is too busy
Which means no life at all
And also no blogging

No cooking or fun
No seeing of husbands and
Friends are forgotten

Husband is stranger
(as in: unknown, not weird/scary)
Who sleeps in my bed

Twelve-hour days suck
Make me sick and unable
To deal. Or to care.

I don't want to work
This weekend. Last weekend was
enough, thank you much.

I've now caught a cold.
Even my poetry sucks
Mom-sorry I said "sucks".

May run away and
Join the circus instead of
this. Show-biz = B.S.

If I stay absent
you will know why - lion tamers don't
use the internet.

Streetscenes: Southwest of Union Square, Monday 10am

Pain Update

It's better.

It's still there, but the Crunchy Man said he saw visible improvement in my lower back as soon as he looked at it today. And I could feel it was a bit better too. And not just 'cause of the vicodin that I took for the first time today. Though that sure helps in its own way too.

So I'm not out of the woods yet, and I don't want to speak too soon, but certainly better. And I will take what I can get.

And I am now a fan of chiropractors. Who knew?

Pain, Pain, Go Away

Last Monday night I was washing dishes after dinner and felt my lower back kind of twinge and tighten up. It wasn't too terribly bad and it had happened a time or two before and usually went away fairly quickly. I didn't think much of it. It was a little worse on Tuesday morning. Ok, by "a little worse" I mean i couldn't stand up straight without feeling like I was going to puke or pass out, so I took my time getting to work. By Tuesday afternoon I was walking around like I was 8 months pregnant. By Wednesday, I was walking around like I was 90 years old. I couldn't stand up straight. At all. I wasn't sleeping well. There was constant pain, especially when getting up/sitting down and walking. Which basically covers your whole day. Sometimes it shot down my leg. But mostly I could tell that the rest of the muscles in my back were getting even more wacked out by trying to compensate for the lower back pain.

So on Thursday I took the advice of a friend and called his chiropractor. I was nervous as I'd never been to one before. But this guy came highly recomended and I was beyond desperate. He ended up being very reassuring (even when I cried while telling him I was nervous about the whole thing) and the treatment was very helpful. He said he thought it was a pinched nerve, and that the natural response of your spine was to bend away from the thing that hurts - hence my semi hunchback state. By the time he was done I was nearly standing up straight again. But then I had to go straight to an opening night at the theatre and sit for two hours (apparently the worst thing for me) and then stand in heels for another two. Which I can imagine isn't a ton better.

Friday morning I was almost back to where I'd been two days before. The chiropractor wasn't as helpful as he'd been the previous night and the whole day was pretty painful. I tried to go back and see "the crunchy man" (as mom had taken to calling him) Friday night (as he is not open on the weekends) but work prevented me from getting there before he left for the evening. I cried in the middle of 7th Avenue when I found this out. Out of frustration, pain and just general exhaustion. But I went home on Friday night and tried to make the best of it. There may or may not have been wine involved. Purely for pain management purposes, of course.

The weekend was spent alternating ice and heat and sleeping with two pillows under my knees. Wasting the gorgeous fall weather due to my invalid status. And figuring out that the mornings were far more painful that the evenings. Taking two walks a day, incorporating some great stretches and marveling at how back pain affects not only your body, your sleep habits and your social life, but even your ability to carry on an interesting conversation. Or any conversation at all that doesn't involve your current pain. So I felt a bit sorry for Geoff. And we both spent a good deal of effort trying to avoid thinking about Monday. For him, it meant jury duty. For me, a full day of auditions and a three hour class to teach.

Monday dawned early for us both and regardless of the extra time I spent trying to warm up my back (hot shower, heating pad, stretches), it was a painful commute and very difficult morning. Geoff did get released from jury duty and auditions didn't go too badly. But my body didn't feel any better until nearly 5pm. Not sure why it likes the evenings better, but I suppose I cant blame it too much. I will also choose not to dwell on the fact that in addition to the all day pain, my "fat" jeans were tighter than I would have liked this morning. I am moving on from that. Well, I'm not really, but there are bigger fish to fry at the moment.

So here we are exactly a week after I felt that first twinge at the sink last Monday. I go back to the chiropractor tomorrow and he and I are gonna have a bit of a chat. Get a game plan and get me fixed. Cause here's what - Im over this whole not being able to walk/sit/stand/sleep thing. I have a feeling at a ton of it is stress related. But work will be madness until Thanksgiving, so that stress isn't going anywhere. We'll just have to find a way to handle it better I guess. I'm thinking wine, massages and puppies might be the perfect prescription. But we'll see what the Crunchy Man has to say about it.

Streetscenes: 42nd & Broadway - 46th & 6th

Scenes from my walk to the theatre last night.

In the breezeway of the newly christened Stephen Sondheim Theatre


43rd Street


44th Street


6th Ave


46th & 6th

Brunch in Brooklyn

A few Sundays ago, Alison hosted a girls brunch at her place in Brooklyn. And being the Little Miss Martha Stewart that she is, it was absolutely fabulous. I got there a bit early and helped with last minute prep; making coffee and whipping up a salad dressing for the CSA greens that were to be part of the meal.


Is it weird that I really like making homemade salad dressing? Like, kind of a lot? A mustard shallot vinaigrette is my new favorite I think ....


Alison made this fabulous quiche.


Then the girls arrived and we had a feast...



Amanda brought Miss Laura of course and she was QUITE the life of the party.


She's about seven and half months and at that I-must-be-Bouncing-at-all-times stage. Her legs are always moving. She also needs to know where Mom is at all times. But eventually she relaxed and got really into the rest of us. Particularly Alison's dog Rupert, as he is just her size.

Here they are really sizing each other up.



We don't all get together nearly often enough. Truly. Life gets hectic for all of us, I know - shows and jobs and babies and husbands and all that. But it is lovely to get together when we can. We should probably just put a quarterly brunch on the calendar, so we know it at least happens 4 times a year. Maybe we could make it happen more often than that if we remember that Alison will likely make us something like this.


Yep, that should do it.

The Ultimate Challenge

Marshmallow Test from Mission HS on Vimeo.

By the Seat of My Pants

That's how I'm operating these days. It's been really busy. Like......since the day after Labor Day. That's when it all exploded. Zillions of weddings, ZILLIONS of casting things. Last week was absolute MADNESS at the office and we shot a wedding both days this weekend. I won't be home before 11pm any night this week, we have a wedding in Hartford all day Saturday and I have an opening for work Sunday night. Which I think I haven't even told Geoff about. Then theatre and classes all next week and 2 weddings on the 9th. So my next day off is October 10.

And all I want to do is cook.

I want to be able to be at home and make stuff with the poor CSA vegetables that are being woefully neglected in my fridge. I want to get creative in the kitchen. I want to make homemade everything. Bread, pies, pizza, soups, salads, things made with squash, everything. Not quite sure where this is all coming from. But its what I want to do. Maybe because I never get to? And if I got to all the time, I'd be glad to eat out?

But there are 6 openings for work in the next 7 weeks. And at least 5 weddings to shoot. So I fear there will far too much takeout in my life in the weeks to come. This is very, very sad. But I guess I'll be flying around by the aforementioned seat of my pants far too fast to notice.

Can't decide if glancing at my favorite food blogs, here, here and here, while I'm too crazed to do anything myself will make it better or worse.

I'm guessing worse.

My First Headshots

On the way home from brunch last weekend, Megan and I had an impromptu photo shoot in our neighborhood. She needed some headshots for a couple interviews/auditions and we just snapped a couple real quick. I didn't have the best lens with me and I truly don't know what I'm doing, but I thought they turned out ok, all things considered.

I think this one is my favorite.


My favorite kind of photography is the kind where I hide in the background with a long lens and catch a great moment when the subject doesn't actually know they are being photographed. I'm not super comfortable "directing" people yet. I think I need some practice in that department.

Like, for example, I told Megan to maybe give me a little half smile/smirk and jokingly said "you know, like you have a secret." This was her response.


Rightly so.

So I need a ton more practice (right, in all my free time), but it was fun. Thanks for being a patient subject, Megs!

Niece Number 3

Emma Brook Bashawaty, our third niece was born just over a week ago. The hair runs in the family. She couldn't be cuter. Or smaller really. I mean she was 8 pounds, but here's what - that's small.

Here she meets her brother and two sisters.... (L-R: Kayla, Maya & Khal). This picture is pretty stinkin' awesome.


We got the chance to meet her briefly on Saturday morning before a wedding shoot. She is teeny. And surprisingly alert. And she only puked on me twice. So she's pretty impressive.