happy 2010!

here are some of my favorite pictures

from Christmas (at home!)

and ringing in the New Year (on tour!)

the tree at my house

my momma & baby cyrus

me and baby ryan (who isn't such a baby anymore! eek!)

celebrating the New Year in Toronto with my cast

the week before Christmas, my company and i decided to play 'Secret Santa'

and i was plagued as to who kept leaving me such fantastic presents.

i could not for the life of me figure out who it was

until the very last day when it finally hit me

and i made my very best guess...

and i was right!

my secret santa was my new papa in the show

harvey!

he did such a great job and i was so happy.

like i said in my last post,

it was strange to not go through the normal festivites during the season. i didn't bake anything at all and barely decorated. plus, i've never flown on Christmas Eve nor left my family to fly back

the day after Christmas.

however, like lots of things with this tour,

it felt completely normal.

like this is how i should have been spending every holiday.

for whatever reason, and TRUST ME,

i do not know what the reason is,

i am made to do this.

made to be in this business.

and anyone who's in this business will tell you:

you gotta be just the right amount of crazy

and you have to not be able to choose to do anything else.

sure, you may possess skills worthy of other careers

but it doesn't matter.

acting, singing, performing and things like it

are compulsions. if you have to, you have to.

no way around it.

and if that means lots of airplanes, bring it on.

here's hoping your holidays were merry and bright.

xo

greetings from canada.

i'm back on the road after an all too quick break.

i split my time between NYC

and, of course, home sweet home

it's pretty strange to not be home for the holiday season and do the normal decorating, setting up the tree (and by setting up i mean watching other people set up the tree), listening to christmas albums, wrap gifts, watch 'to grandmother's house we go', etc.

i tried to make my apartment here as festive as possible without spending a ton of money and i was pretty excited to finally have an excuse to buy this tree at urban outfitters that i've had my eye on since the beginning of college. the box says "this tree needs you" but i think they got it backward since i needed this tree. it may be tiny but it was good enough for charlie brown and it's good enough for me this year :o)

"I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It's not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love."

Linus knew what was up.

it's always interesting to me to see how new friends celebrate the holidays. what their traditions are, where they go, who they spend them with and how they feel about it all.

i was especially aware of hanukkah this year

(finally learned how to spell it)

due to the show i'm on and the people i spend most of my time with. i was fascinated to learn that it is not the biggest holiday for the jewish faith and while it's fun to share the stories and eat yummy latkes and applesauce, it is not a super huge deal.

once i return from my superfastwaytooquick time at home, i'm going to do my best to explore toronto. anyone have any ideas?

i stumbled on to eye weekly today and was having a grand time reading articles before i realized it's a toronto based publication.

there's so much art and culture and things to do in this city so i best do some adventuring. i was thinking about how i would feel if a friend of mine had the opportunity to travel a large part of north america and wasn't making the most of it because she was anti-cold weather. i feel as though i'd probably laugh at her and tell her to get her butt out of her apartment and find some fun.

so, kerry, after christmas, get your butt out of your apartment and find some fun. after all, who knows when i'll travel this way again?

however, for the time being, the cold weather did indeed defeat me and cause a case of the sickies to happen so i'm certainly not exploring any time soon. the only things i plan to do are lay in bed and watch movies and get through my shows this week.

and then, i get to go home.

til next time,

xo

most people get hangovers the next day, i get self realizations.

last night, i went out with a friend

who, oddly enough, i've only ever seen in person twice

yet knows practically everything about me.

one of those people you just connect with, you know?

he threw another one of his friends into the mix and the three of us went off,

galavanting out into the night .. into the strangest place i've ever been to.

normally, i would have never found myself in the company of such interesting, fascinating characters. i would have never ventured into this venue or that far downtown, for that matter.

i would have never seen the performances (and performances?) that i saw.

and i realized how closed off i've been lately.

how much i've been playing it safe.

how sheltered my life and i have become.

i remember a very recent time when i felt so open to the whole world.

inviting and accepting everything around me and 

trusting the universe to take me where i need to be

and give me what i need.

somewhere along my recent journey, i've lost my trust in that

and my belief in the joy and excitement of the world around me.

i think it's time to work on getting that back.

now i just have to remember how to do that.

there's no place like ..

.. your second home. 

that isn't even technically your home. 

but is, in fact, the home of your relatives.

the view from the back of the house ain't so bad either:

i only have a week left at home and i'm gonna do my best to get there

to think a little, sun a little and revive a little.

fresh air and family are cures to almost anything.

taking a moment to smell the ...

this morning i woke up to these!

being sent these beautiful roses - pink and white, which happen to be my fav - made my day and helped me feel much better than i have lately. it got me thinking that i should send flowers to someone that i care about and i know just the person! now all i have to do is figure out a good place to send flowers from... hmm... some googling is in order! it seems kind of strange that i've never actually sent anyone flowers but i guess i can blame it on thinking it's more of a boy thing to do? clearly i should alter that thinking. 

one day, i want a garden filled with bright and beautiful flowers.

... and a lovely gardener to tend them for me ;o)

xo

some tasty goodness.

two of the things i like best in the world are

1. COOKIES

2. giving back

so you can imagine my delight at finding this in a recent DailyCandy

Baking for Good is a sweet little company that creates yummy treats for people to order and then allows their customers to choose a not-for-profit or charity of their choice and donates 15% of the purchase to that charity.

how cool is that? the company benefits, the charity benefits 

and the person receiving the baked goods sure as heck benefits :)

win-win-win. i like it!

AND, as if this couldn't get better, they have gluten-free and VEGAN options.

(okay, i only found one vegan option but i either wasn't looking carefully enough or they will surely add some more)

so, add health conscious to the list of pro's.

quite the sweet treat.

image via paperwhite (thanks!)

i fell in love today.

this is Bell. she is purdy. if i can make some magic work 

and she hasn't been adopted by anyone else yet.

she shall be mine. 

if she has then so be it and another wonderful little

baby will find her way into my life.

it's probably entirely unreasonable for me to bring a dog on tour..

but do you know how many people do it and how sane it will keep me?!

sometimes (mostly) i get along better with dogs than people.

plus i finally thought of the BEST NAME tonight. 

cross your fingers!

and check out Petfinder to find yourself a new pal. 

adopt don't buy!

photo via Petfinder (thanks!)

xo