Vacation Coming Up...

I canNOT wait for my vacation. Last Christmas, after spending it in Indianapolis on tour, Adam and I promised each other we'd be home for Christmas 2011. I put in for two weeks of vacation over Christmas back in May and vividly remember doing a happy dance in the Spokane botanical garden when I got a phone call saying that it was granted.

It's funny how things work out. My amazingly talented Hubby booked A Christmas Carol, The Musical at Arkansas Rep as Bob Cratchit, so we'll be celebrating in Little Rock this year! Oh the life of an actor. :-)

But I am really looking forward to being a housewife for two weeks! I want to cook meals and bake for Adam and his cast. I want to wear an apron. I want to send him to the theater with cookies to share. I've even started collecting recipes on Pinterest (which, btw, is fantastic and I'm sad it wasn't around when we were wedding planning... although I feel like it could have made it hard to make decisions, seeing all of the good ideas out there) for the Holidays. I hope to relax and chill and cuddle and see A Christmas Carol and watch holiday movies and go look at Christmas lights... sigh.

Surprise Visitor!

So our tour is in Richmond, VA right now and Thursday night, there was a strange knock on our door around midnight. Surprise, surprise it was Adam! He really wanted to give me a huge hug and then he realized he COULD! He hopped in our car and drove down to Virginia after he got off work! Luckily I had a free afternoon on Friday so we could have a lazy Friday morning/afternoon. It was amazing. I am such a lucky wife to have someone who loves me that much.

First Meal in the Our First Place

I'm a little behind, but two weeks ago we did some serious unpacking and I finally got to open our wedding gifts! It was wonderful :-). I've been looking forward to that day for over a year and a half!

Organizing our kitchen:

 Bedroom with the curtains and pillow that I made:

Curtains and Pillow in Living Room:

 Then we had our first meal with our wedding presents:

More crafty-ness

We had extra fabric from our bedroom curtains so I sent them back to NJ with Adam and asked him to do this:

Thrilled at how it came out!

Here are some pics of the curtains I just finished for our living room and also a pillow for either the couch or a chair:

Our First Place!

We officially have our own place! We've been married for a year and a half and can finally start to open and use our wedding gifts. They have been sitting in their boxes in our storage room in NJ since the wedding.

Since I have still been on the road, we decided it was more financially responsible for him to stay where he was with roommates instead of paying to live by himself. We were able to save a lot in rent money for the last two years since I've been traveling, but opportunity knocked and we decided it was time. Our friends Jesse and Megan were looking for someone to rent the ground level one bedroom apartment in their house. WITH a parking spot, dishwasher, and room for a washer/dryer. Too good to be true.

Adam and Jesse (and also Adam's Dad when he was in town) have surprised me with how handy they are! In order to have the washer and dryer where we want it, they had to expand the living room closet. I can't believe they know how to do that. It looks professionally done.

I've been doing my own part to make our place special. I'm attempting to be Suzie Homemaker. One of the hidden luxuries of being a part of a show is the use of the sewing machines. And the access to people who can teach you to use them. :-) So far I have made curtains for the bedroom and a pillow to match.

Now I'm working on curtains for the living room. I finished one panel yesterday and hopefully will finish the other today and also a pillow for the sofa!

Communication Traps and Emotional Scraps

Just wanted to share more insights from the book I'm reading, "Creating an Intimate Marriage" by Jim Burns. It dawned on me today that most people who would chose to read a book like this are in an unhappy marriage and possibly contemplating divorce or something. That's not us. Not AT ALL. I am madly in love with him and couldn't imagine my life without him. I just think that most of the challenges that we have with being apart are problems that are addressed in this type of book. We are already facing difficulties that are unlike most couples in the first few years of their marriage. Well, let's face it, most of them live together. They can hug and hold hands and cook dinner for each other, etc. This book stresses the importance of a weekly date night. Hmm... that could be hard to do.
One of the biggest hurdles that this book addresses is communication, which is the hardest thing to do from long distance. It talks about reasons we give each other emotional scraps. Being tired and over committed is one of the biggest culprits. That's definitely a factor for me. At the end of the day or after rehearsal when I am drained, it's such a challenge not to give him emotional scraps.
A phrase that really stuck out to me is "if we want a healthy relationship we have to put in the training and do what it takes to make it work." "Too many of us work on trying to be better instead of training to be." I have to strive to give Adam more than emotional scraps when I'm drained to make it easier in the long run.
According to Jim Burns, a relationship is like a bank account. We make deposits into each others' emotional well being by showing affection, warmth, and encouragement so that when we need to make a withdrawal by complaining or venting, we don't leave the other empty. I want to always leave him full.
Communication is going to be a challenge when we head to Canada for the summer. In three days. I'm in denial and REALLY don't want to go but it's happening and I need to get on board.
Luckily Adam will be there for a few days when I arrive! I can't wait! It's been a long month without him...

New Reading Material

I started a new book on my kindle (which I love but that's another topic) yesterday called "Creating an Intimate Marriage" by Jim Burns. He was a guest speaker at Saddleback, which is a church in Orange County that has an online campus. Makes it easy to tune in on tour, which I've started doing since Easter. Anyways, he was easy to listen to and mentioned he has a book on intimacy in marriage, one thing that is pretty darn hard to hold on to when in different time zones.

The book first mentioned one of the biggest challenges of marriages is being under-connected and over-committed. HELLO! He just described being on tour. It's so easy to slip into our separate routines, his in NJ and mine in wherever the heck I am, and lose our connection. Occasionally, I am so used to our 'audio relationship' of talking on the phone that it takes a minute to adjust when we are actually in the same place. I shouldn't have to adjust to being with my husband, but it happens. It doesn't mean we don't love each other more than anything in the world, it just means we're human. Jim Burns wrote, "Marriage is a humbling journey." And it is.

I have to keep my priorities in check. I can't put my job before my husband, even though at times I feel that's what I'm doing by being out here. That's not the case, but I need to make more of an effort to let my husband know he is more important than any job, as amazing a job as it is and as thankful I am for it. He's my soul mate.

Family Matters

I know I haven't written in a long time. I get concerned that sometimes by sharing our story, it makes me dwell too much on what we don't have and how much we are missing out on by being so far away from each other. But in hopes that this inspires at least someone out there...

Lately I've been really missing my family. On my vacation in March, I was so lucky to spend time with my hubby's side of the family (his parents, his sister and her husband and their three adorable girls) at Disney World and my side of the family (my parents, sister, and future brother-in-law) at St. Simons Island (where we were married).

 Almost a year before this photo, we took our vows here.

 My sweet parents had a surprise for us...

 They saved flowers from our wedding cake and had a 'top layer' for us! They also had a 'top layer' of the grooms' peanut butter/ chocolate cake, which neither of us got a piece of. It was so popular, there was none leftover. It was so thoughtful! I hope to always be that thoughtful of others.

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After the departure of one of my closest friends on tour, I've really taken a good look at my life and my priorities. It's so easy to get caught up in the Wicked bubble, where the world revolves around this show and the cities we go to and the audiences and who goes on for whom, etc. But when Lauren was getting ready to say her goodbyes, I figuratively tried on her shoes, and there is a huge world out there. This is an amazing, wonderful job, which I am so thankful for, but it's a job. Family and relationships are what matters. I'm been working on my self and my own happiness and self worth. 

It kills me to not be a part of my family's life. My sister is graduating from law school on Saturday and I'm in Spokane. It was a big ordeal to just get the days off to go to her wedding. My sister's wedding.  My niece just turned 10 and I would have loved to celebrate her birthday in person, not just over the phone.

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And now I'm off to Canada in two weeks, for pretty much all summer. This is going to be interesting. My phone is going to just be my phone again. No texting, no data (unless there is wifi). It's like 10 years ago, when we had phones to talk. It's going to be a great exercise in being a little less accessible and connected... ;-)

Our anniversary in Dana Point, CA

It's been a while...

I haven't really posted much lately because it's been busy and we had five weeks apart. But Adam just came to visit me in Albuquerque (and just left this morning) and I thought I'd share some pictures...

We took a day trip to Santa Fe on Monday and saw the oldest church in the United States, from around 1610.

There was also a bell from 1356 inside, which we got to ring!

Then we went into the Loretto Chapel, which has this crazy spiral staircase that was created without any nails, just wooden pegs. It also has no center support but yet makes two complete 360 degree spirals.

We then visited the railyards and Adam climbed on the trains (which I didn't because I'm convinced that's tresspassing).

Finally we took the scenic route home...

Next we are looking forward to our Disney vacation in two and a half weeks! Cannot WAIT!!!

My Sweet Best Friend

After an extra five days with me, Adam left today for New York. I said goodbye in passing as I was walking home from the theater and he was getting into his cab outside. Once I got upstairs I found this...

Isn't he the cutest?

I had an epiphany while he was here... I am slightly needy when he is around. At first I felt a little ashamed at that realization, because I am normally a strong, independent individual. But when he's around me, all I want to do is hug him and kiss him and hold his hand. It's nothing inappropriate, I just need to physically be in contact with him. I think it's because that is what we don't get. We can talk on the phone and see each other's face on Skye, but nothing can even come close to giving him a big hug. 

Anyways, I get to see him tomorrow when I go to NYC between cities. We're getting quite spoiled...

Happy New Year!