OCTA/Weekly Update

Last night was the OCTA Awards Banquet. We had a blast. Let me regale you with tales of the evening...

I arrived at the Sharonville Holiday Inn around 5:45 to our room on the 8th floor. Great view of town for miles and miles. I was sharing a room with Julie, Sarah and Megan, although M hadn't arrived yet. So the three of us girls ate chips and salsa (my homemade, of course) and drank drank drank. We made ourselves beautiful and headed downstairs to the banquet hall. It looked so lovely down there. Lots of tables, low lighting/candlelit room. I felt so happy walking in there. It really made me realize just how far I've come in the last four years. Walking in that room, I knew so many people and was so elated to give them hugs and kisses. Theatre friends old and new were there, including my old friends from Children's Theatre of Mason, Brahm and Becky!

Julie, Sarah, Meg and me.

With a flask of wine concealed in my purse, the three of us girls proceeded to get more and more drunk as we waited for dinner to begin. I don't remember much from beginning of dinner until the end, but I do remember eating a variety of dishes like glazed carrots, rolls, and some chicken thing. Oooo, and chocolate cake. Yummy. We shared a table with fellow CMT'ers Greg Emmer and his family, Lauren Sprague (darling who played Peggy in 42nd Street) and Samantha Toberman and her hubby. After dinner, us girls still quite intoxicated, they began the awards ceremony. It wasn't nearly as bad as I had been warned, but still a lengthy 90 minutes. It was then when many of the actors in the community showed up- Kenny, Derek and Chris, Megan and Dave Zlatic, Babs. 42nd Street swept many of the awards (good for them!), with Chess not winning many. Although, a few of us won for our performances! I won four awards last night, two for Excellence in Vocal Performance for both Chess and Putting it together, and two for Excellence in Acting in both shows as well. All in all, a great night to be recognized!

After the awards, the DJ arrived and we commenced the par-tay. We had a blast! Lots of booze, lots of dancing. The DJ played 80's music the majority of the evening, and threw in some good dance songs like Electric Slide. Thankfully, no Hokey Pokey or Chicken Dance was heard. Derek and I shared a hot dance to Paradise by the dashboard light (thanks honey!). Then Brian Anderson got a hold of me for some fun swing dancing. I was very drunk, and trying my best with this amazing dancer when he finally asked if he should let me lead! I relaxed a bit, and by then, we were Fred and Ginger (at least in my mind).

Derek and me- so cute!

We danced until 1am, when it was finally time for this girl to turn into a pumpkin. I drank a bottle and a half of wine by myself last night, but I drank a lot of water and danced so much that I avoided any evilness that amount of alcohol could have brought. I don't remember much about the rest of the evening. Julie and I tried to crash a party full of bikers at one point, made our way to the hospitality room filled with actors. Meg and I bonded in the corner over choc. chip cookies and sour cream potato chips. We changed into our jammies, Dave ordered pizza and we crashed around 2am.

It was a rough morning, of course. Had brunch with Chuck and his gang today at Arthurs in Hyde Park, then spent the majority of the day on the couch. Well deserved.

Tuesday is the big day. Come and see me perform!!!