Ralph

I went for a long walk this morning because yesterday, after our bike ride I spent 9 hours making Ralph. He ended up being very labor intensive because I decided he should have bumps on his back, like a dragon but not quite.

On my walk I picked up a ton of supplies from the local cheapie stores. I really like working with plush socks but the 99 cents stores are running out of their supplies - being springtime and all. If I hadn't had to pee so badly, I probably would have purchased more. I'll have to go back on Sunday to this one store that had a substantial inventory of cheap plush socks.

Anyway - this is Ralph. And if you're interested in making Ralph part of your family, visit my etsy site here.

First Spring Bike Ride

Jon and I went our first bike ride of the spring. It was beautiful this morning but a little cool. I started out wearing a sweater and a hat. Jon smartly wore shorts and a t-shirt. I ended up getting so warm, I stripped down to my t-shirt. The ride was tough. There is this hill at 23rd Avenue and 91st street in Queens that gets me every time. I am constantly struggling to ride up that hill. Today I almost threw up when I got to the top of it. It took me about 10 minutes to recover but recover I did and I made it home in one piece. We rode a little over 10 miles today.

Trip Photos

We've been back home long enough that I no longer have it in me to write about our trip. We basically went on a lot of hikes, swam in the Pacific, walked and relaxed on the beach and went on a day trip on a catamaran. So. If you're interested, I've managed to get our pictures up on my Flickr site. You're welcome to look at them here.

Jon and Valerie's Costa Rican adventure

Bright Eyes

If you're interested in purchasing Bright Eyes, visit my etsy site. here.

A New Monster

We went to Costa Rica and every day we were there I thought about making monsters. Don't ask. Anyway. I've made several little creatures since we've been back but I'm particularly fond of this one because he's got a tail. His name is Sam. If you're interested in purchasing Sam, visit my etsy site here.

Costa Rica - The Arenal Volcano

The first real attraction we saw was the Arenal Volcano. When we arrived the volcano was perfectly clear. We had a perfect view from our room.


Most of our activities involved hiking hear or looking at the volcano.

It was as cool as you can imagine.

Feeling Better

Finally, I'm feeling better. I saw the doctor yesterday who diagnosed me with something I don't want to name and prescribed a strong antibiotic. The antibiotic made me feel sicker causing dizziness and nausea.

I went for a 10 minute walk this afternoon that wiped me out if you can believe it. I bought some more polyester fiberfill for monster making.

Tomorrow, I'll start posting pictures.

I hope you like sunsets.

We're Still Here

I'm still here. I've been playing catchup with our lives. I did a major food shopping yesterday and then I had some plumbing problems both literally and figuratively that needed to be resolved.

Our building super helped resolve our literal plumbing problem. And I have to visit the doctor for my figurative plumbing problem - a little leftover from our vacation. I may do laundry today depending on the weather. I still have to sort through over 500 pictures to see what anyone would care to see from our trip. There are some good shots but believe me when I tell you they are not all gems.

I will start with our trip to the Arenal volcano and go from there.

Back in the USA

We're home.

Pout.

Yay!!

Catamaran

We're going on a 5 hour cruise on a catamaran in the Pacific Ocean. That's our last big Costa Rican outing before we head back tomorrow.

I've been eating lots of mahi-mahi. I haven't had any red meat in 9 days - mostly red snapper and mahi-mahi.

My brain moves slower at the beach, otherwise I would write more.

Costa Rica Adventure Continues

We are now in Tamarindo where we'll be for the rest of our trip. We're staying at a beach hotel called Cabines La Palapa.

Before this we stayed at the Hotel Sugar Beach, also in the Guanacaste Province but way, way more isolated than the place we're in now. It was amazing. There were iguanas everywhere. The climate is so dry, cactus grows wild.

Dogs are the wildlife you see roaming freely in Costa Rica. They aren't stray dogs. They are the pets of people who let them run free every day. There are several that I recognize now, almost as mascots of the beach where you can find our hotel. The owners reside nearby. And the owners seem to be Belgians. I dont know if they are ex-patriots or not. I have not yet screwed up the courage to speak with them.

Costa Rica is a nice place to visit.

Costa Rican Vacation

We arrived in Costa Rica on Sunday the 23rd and stayed one night at Grano de Oro in San Jose. I couldn´t tell you what San Jose looks like because I stayed in the hotel the whole night. I was tired from traveling. And we had an early pickup for our next hotel the following morning.

On Monday, our bus picked us up for our journey to Volcano Lodge where we are now staying. Every room in the hotel has a view of the Arenal Volcano. Before 1968 it was known as Arenal Peak. Guess what happened that year. That´s right. It erupted. Costa Ricans living in the area believed it to be just another mountain. 87 people in the two nearest villages died.

Anyways, yesterday afternoon we went on a nature hike in a secondary forest near Arenal volcano in a private park called El Silencio. Some of the trees are so tall already you´d think they´d been growing for 200 years, but no. The forest is only 40 years old. The hike was slightly challenging but wow. Pretty amazing. We heard howler monkeys in the distance and saw all types of beautiful birds, most notably a chestnut mandibled toucan and a montezuma oropendola. The second part of our hike involved lava spotting. We travelled by bus to a vantage point where many had gathered to watch the active side of Arenal erupt gently. And sure enough we saw beautiful lava flows from a safe distance. Yesterday's excursion ended with a visit to Tabacon Hot Springs where we also had dinner.

Today we´re scheduled for canopy tours. Jon is going to use the zip lines to make his way out of the canopy. I have a reservation for the funicular in both directions. From the safety of the tram, I´ll be able to see Lake Arenal on one side and the volcano on the other.

Tomorrow, we´re going to the north Pacific coast. Wahoo!!

Blog Lite

Blogging will be light if not scarce the next week or so.

I´ll tell you why next week.

Clothes Shopping

The last couple of days, I've been clothes shopping and I enjoyed myself for the first time since I can't even remember. Why? Because I'm two sizes smaller than I was the last time I went shopping.

I bought clothes at The Gap of all places. I haven't been able to wear their clothes in forever. I didn't even buy my clothes in the largest size available. I was able to buy the second largest size. Hopefully, pretty soon, the word LARGE won't even be part of my clothing vernacular.

It was an exciting day!!

Excellent Commercial

Do you remember this commercial from the Super Bowl? It's still the best one that debuted that evening.

Another New Monster

If I don't make at least one doll a day, I feel incomplete. There is a method to my madness. I recently launched a shop at ETSY.COM to sell my wares. My shop is called Vexillia. And you can get to it by clicking here. Anyway. I'm happy to introduce you to Duckbill Monsterpus who will most likely be a gift for my niece.

American Idol - Not

I'm not watching American Idol this season. I have no idea at all what's happening on the show.

A Clean House

After two weeks of obsessive monster and bunny creating, I had let the housework go a little too long. So yesterday, after I finished my softly horned monster, I decided to clean the bathroom. I focused on the bathroom with the intensity of a thousand suns. And now it's really clean. But I didn't stop there. I was getting such a nice rush from cleaning that I ended up cleaning the whole apartment. It took three intense hours. But it was well worth it. The sad thing is there's still more to do, mostly involving throwing out and filing various items made of paper.

Unfortunately, I worked myself into such a frenzy that I forget about the plans I made to attend my friend trivia's night at Dempsey's. Duh. It wasn't until after I was done cleaning that I remembered I was supposed to that. Sorry friend. I was planning on coming.

I was so tired that I slept through the whole night, which is an accomplishment for me. I suffer from occassional and unpredictable bouts of insomnia. And that's something I've been experiencing the last couple of weeks. Nothing cures insomnia for me like utter and complete exhaustion.

I think I'll make another animal.

My Latest Creations

Year One of the Empire et al

Year One of The Empire
My blog has been a little bit DOLL obsessed since I started making dolls a couple of weeks ago. But I have been doing other things besides obsessively making two dolls a day. For example on Sunday, Jon and I went to see Year One Of The Empire at the Metropolitan Playhouse in the East Village. It's a three act play about America's occupation of the Phillipines at the turn of the 20th Century and it's a very good play. The venue is very intimate. The theater is one room with bleacher seating on three walls. My friend JM is in the show. I wanted to support her. And I felt comfortable doing so because the NY Times gave the show a good review. That doesn't happen often when going to shows to support friends. Oft times, whatever your friend is doing is JUST awful, unless of course you're friends with Harold Pinter or Beyonce for example. But you know what I mean. I recommend this play but hurry up and see it because it ends March 30. I still made a doll in case you were wondering.

Manicure/Pedicure
I went Athena's Nails yesterday and got a manicure/pedicure from a sweet but sickly woman named Marisol who kept coughing on my toes. If you're a regular reader of this blog, you may recall previous rants against Athena's. As much as I hate some of their practices, they still provide the best manicures and pedicures in the neighborhood. My complaints have always involved their poor customer relations and long waiting times. But if you go early enough in the day you can avoid these problems. While my nails were drying, I took a couple of pictures of their nail tip samples. They are both strange and wonderful.


I still managed to make two dolls yesterday. I also made a chicken soup and roasted an delicious chicken.

Crane Collapses Killing Four

Did you hear about this? While I was nestled comfortably in the basement of the Broadhurst theater stitching a new monster, a crane collapsed on the east side of New York destroying a building and killing at least four people.

It happened around 2:30 this afternoon. And from what I read it was a horrifying experience.

NY Times
Crane Topples in Manhattan, Killing at Least Four People

Cat On A Hot Tin Roof

This week, I've been working at the Broadhurst Theater where they are showing Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. Debbie Allen directed this production which stars Felicia Rashad and James Earl Jones. I still haven't watched it and I don't think I'm going to. I just haven't been in the mood this week to watch a three hour drama.

I've been making dolls to keep myself busy and to pass the incredibly slow moving time that I have to wait between acts.

Two intermissions. Three acts. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Here are some reviews
NY Times
NY Post
Newsday
Talkin' Broadway

Celebrity Rehab wtih Dr. Drew - Reunion Show

Yesterday VH1 aired the reunion show for Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. I'll just sum up quickly how each person is doing.

Joanie Laurer (Chyna Doll)
She still denies she's an addict but she does attend therapy. She still drinks. She brought her counselor with her. She's seriously gotten back into fitness.

Brigitte Neilsen
Still sober. Brought her husband with her. She also quit smoking. She gained 45 pounds. She looked happy.

Seth Binzer
Was doing well until he went on tour without his sobriety sponsor and ended up using but feeling incredibly about it. He looked healthier than he did in the first episode of Celebrity Rehab.

Rico Rodriguez
He went to AA 90 days in a row and he's still sober. He still has to deal with the courts. I'm not sure what's happening with his custody issues.

Mary Carey
She quit porn but still does "featured dancing" to earn money. She is taking care of her mother because her mother couldn't get federal assistance. You might recall he mother is quite mentally ill and needs to be institutionalized. She has wine from time to time, but apparently is doing much better in terms of managing her life. She also seemed happy.

Jamie Foxworth
Apparently she smoked pot for a month after getting out of rehab, but she admits to smoking a lot less than she used to. She still smokes it though. She never seemed as out of control as everybody else. She'll be okay.

Jeff Conaway
He takes lots of oxycotton because of his back. He's had four surgeries and claims that he still needs it to manage his pain. Dr. Drew spoke with his neurologists who apparently agreed that Jeff should stop the junk. He'll soon be going in for a fifth operation.

Jessica Sierra
Poor thing had to leave the Sober Living program for some court appearances in Florida. While there she fell hard off the wagon and was almost sent to prison for 10 years. Fortunately Dr. Drew was able to get her into a solid year of rehab by negotiating with the judge in charge of sentencing. But if she gets into trouble with drugs again after that year, she'll have to go to prison.

Daniel Baldwin
He didn't show up. I'm not sure why. Dr. Drew was nice and offered him continuous support and excused his behavior by explaining how difficult a time he was having with his own sobriety. The other rehabbers applauded but you could tell they still have hostile feelings toward Daniel for his inappropriate behavior with Mary.

That's the bones of what I learned about the contestants when I watched the reunion special.

Another Monster

Please don't hate me because I keep posting pictures of my little dolls, but I feel like I'm starting to get somewhat good at making them and I wanted to share my latest.

Baseball Monster

I really like how this monster looks. I tried to give him an eyebrow but it ended up looking like the brim of a cap. His arms and that band across his chest ended up looking like a shirt.

Jon commented that this particular monster looked like he was going to a baseball game, so . . . well you know the rest.

Half Birthday

Today is my half birthday, meaning I am 40 and six months.

Happy half birthday to me.

Black and White Sock Monster

This is my third sock monster and as you can see, he wasn't made from perfectly clean socks. I'm using our old socks to try out different ideas. I have some great new materials that I'll use once I've established a few different patterns I like using.

Blue Bunny

I can't help it. I just can't stop making these cute little dolls. I'm happier with this bunny than others. Embroidering their faces is getting easier and I'm happier with the head shape.

Spitzer Resigned

Governor Eliot Spitzer resigned this morning, three days after the NY Times broke a story about his involvement with prostitutes. He said that he resigned at the request of Lt. Governor David Paterson.

As of March 17, Lieutenant Governor Paterson will move up the ladder to become the state's first blind governor. He'll also be the first African American governor of New York State, if I'm not mistaken.

I watched quite a few interviews with fans of Lt. Gov. Paterson. He's well loved. The talking heads on television predict that he'll do well as our new Governor. I've heard him described as a 'mensch' and an all around decent person.

We'll see.

Pastels and Monsters

I improved on the dog doll but am still having trouble with attaching the heads.


I even made my first monkey. His body came out great but I had trouble embroidering his face.



But after a week of making sweet pastel kittens, puppies and bunnies, I've switched to making monsters. Here are my first two.

Spitzer Screwed

New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has been implicated in a high end prostitution sting. He allegedly invited a stripper from the tri-state area to a hotel in Washington D.C. Apparently, when you invite someone to have paid sex in a different state than where that person lives, you're violating the Mann Act(no pun intended).

It's not surprising that a government official was caught using the services of a prostitute, because that's not a new offense. What's surprising about this case, is that Spitzer hasn't resigned yet.

And while I'm not surprised that our governor was with a prostitute, I am disappointed in him. I'm sure his family is also disappointed.

Good luck Mrs. Spitzer. I hope you and your three teenage daughters come out of this scandal unscathed.

Read about the Spitzer case:
NY Times
NY Post
Daily News
Newsday

I made two more dolls. And finally, my dolls are starting to look like dolls.

Gypsy - Patti Lupone

Previews for Gypsy starring Patti Lupone started this week at the St. James Theater. I've been working it all week. I missed the Monday night performance starting my week on Tuesday night.

I am so excited to finally see a production of Gypsy. I have wanted to see it on stage since I saw the movie 20 or so years ago that stars Rosaline Russell and Natalie Wood. I have a recording by the original Broadway cast which includes Ethel Merman. It's one of the best musicals of all time.

I missed the Tyne Daly production long, long ago in the 90's. I missed the Bernadette Peters production back in 2003. Finally, I get to see the show and it's starring the amazing Patti Lupone. She's truly amazing. And not just because she's a great singer.

Wednesday night something out of the ordinary happened at the opening of Act II. Act II opens with Rose, Louise and a troop of girls camped out in the dessert. They're rehearsing the new act for Louise. Just as the curtain opened a lightbulb fell center stage. That wasn't supposed to happen. Patti Lupone didn't miss a beat. She continued with the scene. As she was saying her lines, she went back stage and got a broom and started sweeping debris off the stage from side to side. Laura Benanti as Louise practiced her baton twirling and the girls backed her up. All the while Patti Lupone was cleaning up and performing. When she was done sweeping with one broom, she went back stage and got another to push the debris off stage because the first broom didn't work so well. It was seamless. The way she did it, you'd think it was written in the script that a lightbulb should fall from the sky.

Last night something else extraordinary happened. And this will tell you how amazing is Laura Benanti as Gypsy Rose Lee. There's a moment in the show that's referred to as "THE MOMENT". It's when Louise, getting ready to perform her first strip tease is standing back stage in a gown, looking in the mirror. It's when she discovers her own beauty and she says, "I'm pretty. I'm a pretty girl, Mamma." Just as she said it last night, a curtain mistakenly came down practically on top of her. The curtain covered half of the mirror. Laura Benanti pulled the curtain aside and pushed her head through to say her line. When the curtain came up again, the back drop for a future scene had mistakenly and mysteriously moved into place.

There was no recovering from that. Laura Benanti finally had to say "stop the show". And they did. An announcement was made informing the audience of technical difficulties. The audience applauded. And they sat there in the dark whispering to each other for 10 minutes. Nobody got up, well a couple of people did but mostly people remained in their seats. After 10 minutes. the curtain came up again and they'd reset everything so Gypsy could have her "moment". The show continued. And we all got out late, after 11 pm.

Gypsy is a long show. Add technical difficulties and forget about it. I didn't get home until after midnight last night. My last headset was finally returned when the theater was almost empty of patrons. Then I had to wait half an hour for an N train. Ugh.

Anyhoo. You should go see Gypsy. It's great. I don't know if anyone will ever be as great as Ethel Merman. But Patti Lupone comes darn close.

And she's amazing.

Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew - Finale

The show is over. Three of the seven celebrities decided to go to Sober Living, to continue their treatment - Jessica Sierra, Mary Ellen and Seth Binzer. Four decided to go it on their own and swore to Dr. Drew they would fight to stay sober - Jamie Foxworthy, Joanie Laurer, Brigitte Nielson and Rico Rodriguez.

The ceremony was emotional and very serious.

This show is a departure from VH1's regular "Celebreality" programming. There was nothing to make fun of and I don't have anything witty or clever to say about any part of it really. When the celebs behaved badly, they evoked sympathy from me. And when they behaved well, I felt proud of them.

The show was a success for me.

I'm looking forward to the reunion show, to see how everyone is doing.

Softies

Since I made that first pink bunny, I found out that there is a whole community of people making these sock and glove dolls. The name for these dolls - Softies. I haven't officially joined the community but I have made some dolls and I wanted to share them with you. You've already seen my VERY pink bunny which I posted a few days ago. Since then I've made this very sad looking dog out of an old pair of Jon's tube socks.

As you can see from the expression on his face, he knows that he's not quite right. This has to be the ugliest doll in creation. He basically looks like a stuffed sock with sewn-on buttons.

But I did not lose hope. In fact, I bought some new materials and started over again.

I decided to try another bunny. I used a soft, terry cloth, pastel pink pair of gloves. He came out pretty cute, although, I had some trouble with his neck. The bunny is very soft. I'm much happier with his appearance, although his ears are rather lopsided. I embroidered a mouth under his nose, to give him a smiley appearance. It gives the doll a little more personality. It took me a little over an hour yesterday to make him.

Today, I decided to revisit the dog. Instead of a sock, I followed the instructions for how to make a dog out of a glove. I embroidered the face because potentially, I'd like to give the doll to my niece who is still very small and going through that phase where children explore the world with their mouths. Buttons would probably be a choking hazard. Anyway, here it is.

I'm fairly happy with the result. The arms on all the dolls have been giving me problems. The patterns I'm following show the arms as lying flat against the sides of whatever creature you create, but mine stick out. It could be stuffing, it could be stitching. I'm still trying to work that one out. But I think the face is really cute. And even though it looks like a lamb, I'm still calling it a dog.

Pink Bunny

I picked up the supplies at Michaels on Northern Blvd. I chose to make a bunny first. And I followed a pattern from the book Sock and Glove. I made my bunny out of a pair of cheap pink gloves bought at the local 99 cent store.



The bunny did not come out as cute as I would have liked but I'll give myself some credit for getting started. I can't expect the first toy I make to be perfect. I watched Martha Stewart make a perfect bunny in 10 minutes on her show so I really thought it was going to be very, very easy.
I'll keep practicing until I get better. I've already started work on the dog pattern, using an old pair of Jon's socks.

Historical Society of Princeton

On Thursday night, Jon participated in a panel discussion on crime in the 1930's with a focus on the Lindbergh kidnapping. The event was hosted by the Historical Society of Princeton and the event was called The Great Crime Wave of the 1930's. Jon's fellow panelists were Lloyd Gardner, author of "The Case That Never Dies" and John F. Fox Jr., FBI Historian.


Lloyd Gardner started by setting the scene. He wrote a book called The Case That Never Dies which discusses the Lindbergh case in great detail. He's pretty impressive. He teaches at Rutgers and he seems to put out a book a year. He was animated and engaging and pitched his book beautifully and obviously. He wasn't even subtle about it, but he was so charming that his presentation wasn't effected by his book mentions.

Jon was next and he discussed three interesting characters involved in the case but not directly; Ellis Parker, a celebrity detective of the time; governor Harold Hoffman and gangster Longie Zwillman. All three wanted to make an impact on history but ultimately had no real effect on the outcome. For a variety of reasons, Hoffman thought the man convicted of the crime, Bruno Hauptman was innocent. Ellis Parker worked for Hoffman in trying to prove his theory by beating up a false suspect until he confessed. This resulted in a temporary stay of execution for Hauptman. (If you want to learn more about it read Jon's book, Notorious New Jersey.) Longie Zwillman claims to have offered his services to the Lindberghs, to try to find their kidnapped baby, because, Longie Zwillman longed to trade in his criminal reputation for a one that was more reputable.

John Fox spoke about crime in general and explained how FBI and forensic sciences were in their infancy. He also explained a lot about jurisdiction, which I thought was very interesting.

It was a nice event that was very well attended.

Sock Shirt

My doll making books came in the mail yesterday. And I got started right away. From the book Sock and Glove, I decided to make a shirt for a monkey doll we brought back from our trip to Barbados. I made the shirt out of an old sock. Is that just the cutest thing?

Today I'm going to pick up some supplies so I can start making dolls.

!!!! Happy~Leap~Year !!!!

Curliest Hair EVER

Last night, I set my hair in curlers in preparation for an event Jon and I are attending later in the day. I kept the curlers in my hair for 12 hours. This is the result.



It looks fairly ridiculous, like a bad 80's perm - which I managed to avoid getting in the 80's. But don't worry. In a few hours, the curls will die down and my hair will look wavy and pretty. Jon and I had a good laugh.

Guess Who

Super Fine Day

I had two productive days yesterday and today. One day was socially productive and the other was housework productive.

Yesterday, I had two friends over. One friend came over while the sun was out. Together we prepared some food and hung out until the sun went down. It was really nice time spent with a really good friend. Then last night, my friend and neighbor joined me for the Oscars. Jon came home from work about hour or so later. Basically I wasn't alone the whole day. I can't remember the last time I've spent whole a day exclusively with friends and loved ones. Even on days that I visit with family it's for five hours at the most.

Excellent day. Excellent day.

Today. Well. Today was laundry day. Jon and I were in and out of the laundromat in an hour. And we spent $16.00 total doing it ourselves. The cost to have had it done would have been at least $36 or $37. But I did end up spending over an hour folding it at home. The cool part about that is I was able to watch some mind numbingly entertaining television. Have you ever watched Judge Joe Brown? He's like the Shaft of TV judges. Very cool. Very laid back. Very entertaining. I also watched 10 minutes of Ellen after which my mind went blank. But at the end of that hour or of television watching, my laundry was folded.

Today was an excellent food day. My weight dropped a few more pounds, so I decided to eat something naughty. I ordered a wrap with french fries. Our local diner makes this Mexican style chicken wrap with avocado and salsa and it's deliciously sinful. It's also extremely filling. I'm still full from my 4pm lunch. I haven't eaten dinner. Tomorrow, I'll get back on track.

And tonight, Jon and I watched next week's episode of The Wire, which is in its last season. HBO on Demand has this nice feature where you can watch some of their shows in advance. We've been taking full advantage of this for The Wire. It's an excellent show. Consistently, the writing is great, the acting is brilliant and the cinematography is meaningful.

I would write about it but I wouldn't know where to begin. The show is so intricately tied to everything that's happened in the past, I'd have to begin with the first season to bring you up to speed on this one. The show has everything - witty dialogue, sophisticated cultural references, gritty realism - and the people making the show leave a piece of themselves in every episode.

That pretty much brings me up to date. Maybe if I'm feeling frisky tomorrow, I'll tell you about working at the Walter Kerr Theater for the last two weeks of A Bronx Tale, which closed yesterday.

Crafting

You don't know this about me but I love crafts. I haven't made in anything in a while but I have a book shelf dedicated to crafting books I bought during my last manic phase of creativity. Back then, I loved doing cross stitch.

I just ordered three books on crafting stuffed animals. I'll let you know how they are and might even post photographs of my little crafting projects. I'm so happy I DIDN'T throw away all the orphan socks I just pulled out of our drawers. I knew I was saving them for a reason.

Yay!!!

Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew- Four Days Left

FOUR MORE DAYS
At the group therapy session at the top of the episode, Dr. Drew asked his patients to make predictions about everybody's future sobriety. Jeff Conaway said something nice to start. He predicted that Jamie Foxworth would be the most successful because she seemed the most stable. I have to agree with him, although outside of a few outbursts, we didn't really get to know her. And that's fine by me. I don't need to know anything about her personal life to wish her well. With that said, Jamie predicts that Jeff will not succeed because of Vicki who is his enabler. The group pretty much agrees that in order for Jeff to succeed he's going to have to stay away from Vicki. Jessica pokes at Rico and accuses him of holding back, not opening up to the group. She predicts that unless he starts opening up about his past, that he'll revert back to old behaviors. She's probably right about that. He used to gamble, lose and rely on his muscles to get himself out of trouble. He gambled away a small fortune and lost custody of his kid. This segment ultimately leads to footage of a one on one session between Dr. Drew and Rico where he tries to find out what else exactly is in Rico's past that he's ashamed of. Turns out he's a criminal and doesn't want to discuss anything in detail because he's scared of the repercussions.

Four days left of treatment and our celebrities don't seem ready to leave. Dr. Drew is proud of the progress his patients have been making so he has them visit a "dry" coffee house to put on a talent show. Dr. Drew schedules these outings to give them a taste of a life with drugs and alcohol. My only other experience with rehab is a movie that Sandra Bullock made called 28 days, in which a young woman goes to rehab to sober up or goes to jail. I recall that the patients in that movie also went on an outing or two. So maybe the outing thing is legitimate. To tell you the truth, I hope to never find out whether or not that fact is true. Truly.

SOBER LIVING
Anyway, it's nice that the celebs have the talent show to look forward to because most of them are freaking out about what comes next. Dr. Drew suggested to the patients that they move on to a facility called sober living which sounds like a halfway house for recovering addicts. Apparently, it's a safe environment where they can learn how to make a sober transition back into their lives. Sober Living scares them. And some of the celebs are shown talking themselves out of going and making excuses why they can't afford it. For some of the celebrities this is a real problem. Jessica Sierra from American Idol, doesn't really have money and she doesn't have a job. All she has is one hit single that may or may not be providing her with an income. And on top of that, her whole life is in Florida, while the Sober Living facility is in California. Seth Binzer doesn't sound like he really wants to go to the facility either. And while his isn't a money concern, his interest level just isn't high enough. So what does he do? He agrees to move into an apartment with Rico the Ultimate Fighter/Cage Fighter/Real Man Fighter and together they will get tattoos and remain clean and sober. Hopefully Seth Binzer will see what a bad decision that would be for him. Rico is in no position to help anybody. His life is a bigger mess than Seth's. But I do appreciate that they honestly want to help each other out and believe they could prop each other up during the tougher days ahead. My wish for Seth Binzer is that he moves back in with his lovely wife and potentially chemically imbalanced child. (And I say that because Seth's DNA might have been effected by the crack he was inhaling when he conceived Halo.)

THERAPEUTIC OUTINGS
Long after group, everybody got dressed up and headed out to the sober cafe. Rico did stand up, Jessica sang a song, Seth Binzer spoke rapidly into the mike and everybody else supported them. It was nice to see the celebs relaxing a bit outside of the center. And it seems like everybody had a good time. Since that trip went so well that Dr. Drew thought he would challenge his charges with a trip to Catalina. I think Catalina was a boat because everything we saw from there took place on a boat. Jessica led a couple of the girls in a rousing chorus of 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall and Rico jumped off the boat into the engine churned waters, in spite of warnings from the crew that Harbor Patrol would arrest him for doing so. That trip didn't go as well as the outing to the coffee house. Rico almost did get arrested were it not for the slick talking of Dr. Drew and his crew. But Rico wasn't the only one to act out. The show ended with Seth Binzer and Jessica Sierra participating in a food fight which really messed up the common area outside by the pool. But I guess it's normal for people to act out when they're scared and Seth and Jessica are good examples of that. Both fear leaving and both are acting out. I'm guessing they have to act out because they don't know how to process their emotions without drugs and alcohol. They're like children who haven't yet learn NOT to hit another child when he's angry.

JEFF CONAWAY LEFT
Jeff Conaway left the facility. I assumed it was because he wanted to get back to his drug seeking life style. But I found out after reading an interview with Dr. Drew about the episode that Dr. Drew advised Jeff to see a neurosurgeon for a back operation. He said that after watching a sober Conaway walking around he observed that something was wrong with how his body was moving. Turns out he was right. Jeff Conaway had an operation and Dr. Drew is still hopeful that he'll be able to recover from his varying addictions. If Jeff Conaway hadn't been sober, doctors wouldn't have been able to see that there was a problem.

Winter? What's That?

We've been having been such mild weather lately that I almost forgot it is winter. Today I was sadly reminded how cold it can get in New York in February. It's always a surprise when it snows, isn't it? The last time it snowed like this, Jon and I flew to Iceland - after 6 hours of sitting on the icy runway. Fortunately, we are not travelling today except for in and out of Manhatten.

February is our worst month for cold weather and snow. And February is almost finished. The weather will be warming up soon and outdoor exercise can recommence.

Happy Couple

Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew - Friends and Family

The Jeff Conaway Show
For 10 minutes at the top of the episode, I thought that this was going to be yet another episode where Jeff Conaway dominates. He started complaining again about the imposed limitations and restrictions of rehab and he sucked everyone into a hugely upsetting discussion where he tried to hurt everyone with his words. But eventually he settled down and Dr. Drew convinced him to stay one more night.

Friends and Family
Friends and Family was about the family members of the residents of Dr. Drew's rehab center participating in individual and group therapy. Dr. Drew managed to get everyone to invite at least one member of their family but he was concerned that Joanie "Chyna Doll" Laurer didn't seem to have anyone to call. He wanted her to call her sister and repair their relationship about which we know nothing. But Joanie's adamant refusal to call her was very telling.

The whole idea behind counseling friends and family is to make sure everyone in rehab has a support system in place when they go home. We met everyone's families.

We were privy to a private counselling session between Seth Binzer and his wife. She seemed very stable when she expressed her wished to divorce Seth if he couldn't clean up his act. For all his tattooes and strange hair and general gruff exterior he seemed very fragile in that session. You could see he loved his wife and that her opinion means the world to him. Apparently living with him is very scary especially when he's stoned or looking to buy some drugs. He wants to clean up his act for his son - it was nice to see Seth swimming in the pool with his kid. He looked like a big kid himself. Their son's name is Halo. No comment.

We also met Mary Carrey's mother who survived jumping off a building. Turns out her mother is mentally ill. Mary explained how she made a deal with God to get well if her mother survived her injuries and they shared a warm hug. Her mother expressed great pride and joy in Mary's efforts and Dr. Drew admired Mary for being so patient and caring with her mom. Mary is now my favorite personality on the show.

Outside by the pool, Dr. Drew and a family therapist participated in a huge group meeting with all interested parties.

Brigitte Neilsen's husband and sons came to visit. She had to translate everything they said from Italian to English. Turns out the boys knew all along about their mother's drinking problem and were collectively glad that she was receiving help for her problems. Her husband was lovely and supportive and explained to the group in broken English how much he loves Brigitte and how he hopes she'll be okay in the long run.

With the support of her father, Jessica Sierra's sister told her and the group how scary life was when Jessica lived with her and her son. And with the group's support, Barry Williams told Chyna how embarrassed he was the one time she ran up on stage with him while he was performing. Barry Williams showed up out of nowhere. With no explanation he started speaking to and about Chyna. Very weird. We have no idea at all why he was there.

We also got to see that Jaimee Foxworth has a lot of family ready, willing and able to help her with her problem. But the show still hasn't focused on her too much. Except for when she's told off Jeff Conaway. As I mentioned ealier, at the top of the show, Jeff Conaway was blathering on again about how he wants to leave rehab and he started lashing out at everyone around him. She stood up to him and told him off in the nicest way possible. She's a likeable lady and I hope she gets over her long term pot addiction very soon. I'm guessing, she'll be one of the more successful rehabbers judging by how much family showed up.

At the end of the group meeting, Jeff Conaway's girlfriend Vicki showed up. He mentioned in their session that Vicki brought vodka into rehab and she responded with "You told me too." She then went on to explain that Jeff wanted her to be drunk when she visited so Dr. Drew could invite her to live at the rehab center so he wouldn't be so lonely. He must have because he responded that he was only kidding when he said that.

But Dr. Drew learned that Vicki might really have a drinking problem and may be in need of rehab herself. Apparently, she needs to drink just to get by sometimes and on occassion drinks to help her migraines. She seems to think that keeping alcohol in the house won't be a problem after Jeff comes home. Because for her, his problem is drug related and not alcohol related. Dr. Drew made it clear that all alcohol and drugs must be removed from their house. But I don't think his message got through. As long as Jeff stays with Vicki, he'll never get better. From everything I've seen, she's just absolutely the worst, most enabling person he could have in his life. She a psycho sycophant.

Family Dinner
The episode ended at a restaurant where our rehabbers prepared and served dinner for their friends and family. According to Dr. Drew, there is some therapeutic value in serving others. I'm not exactly clear what it is, although I can see how the rehabbers might find it enabling to know they can care for themselves as well as others. Maybe that's what Dr. Drew meant.

Brigitte Neilsen had a hard time because the restaurant had a full bar and she got deeply depressed but she pulled herself out of it. Jeff Conaway fell asleep cutting tomatoes. Everyone seemed to thrive in the environment and it seemed like everybody had a good time.

La Vie En Rose

Jon and I just watched the French movie about Edith Piaf. I can't believe this movie wasn't nominated for Best Foreign Language film. I'll be rooting for Marion Cotillard to win best actress. The movie was unbelievably good. I cried from beginning to end. Edith Piaf's life was so tragic, it was hard not to cry.

Buy a box of tissues and watch this movie.

Xanadu

I'm working at Xanadu this weekend which is now playing at the Helen Hayes theater. I was happy to see that Cheyenne Jackson is still in the lead. He may have actually gotten better looking in the months since I've worked the show. But not only is he good looking, he's a super great singer as well. It's almost unfair that he is both that good looking and that talented but he's so likeable as a performer it's impossible to hate him. Kerry Butler continues to amaze as the muse Clio. Talk about great singers, she has the prettiest voice. And she's funny and campy and delightful to watch. Cheyenne and Kerry have a great romantic chemistry on stage that seems to have gotten even better. They work well together and they're adorable of course. As a whole, there have been subtle but apparent improvements in the show. The humor seems to flow more naturally and everybody's timing is a lot tighter.

See a Broadway Show
This time of year is slow for Broadway. If you're thinking about seeing Xanadu and in you're in the local area, now is the time to see the show. Today's matinee was only 70% full. The same holds true for many Broadway shows. If the show you want to see was sold out over the holidays, you may be able to get a decent seat in February.

Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew - Baldwin Quits

Episodes 1 - 3
The story lines were pretty much the same. We met the celebrities and learned why they were there. The strongest narrative came from Jeff Conaway, who suffered greatly during his first few days of withdrawal. Everyone at the rehab facility seemed very concerned for him and behaved very supportively. Daniel Baldwin was the most supportive. After Conaway returned from the hospital, Daniel Baldwin called Conaway out for having drugs in his pants pocket. Daniel found this a threat to his sobriety. He upset Conaway so much, that he rose out of his wheelchair long enough to deliver a physical threat against Baldwin before falling down again in pain. Even after that incident, Baldwin's support continued. He helped talk Conaway OUT of quitting the rehab facility which he so obviously needed.

He not only gave support to Jeff Conaway but to other members of the group as well. For Jessica Sierra, fallen American Idol contestant, he served as a surrogate father. And for the group, he always had helpful words because he came into the situation already sober and wanting to help those who had not yet seen the light. He seemed earnest in his belief that his presence among the broken celebrities would not only serve to strengthen his own sobriety but he himself would bring to the group, the wisdom that comes with age and experience.

Episode 4
Daniel Baldwin quit therapy, citing a BBQ as the reason. Earlier in the episode, we learned that Daniel and Mary were sending text messages back and forth. And we saw him telling her before group one morning, to destroy those messages. But back to his excuse for quitting. Dr. Drew allowed his patients a BBQ with friends and family as a reward for their hard work. At the BBQ, Seth Binzer's girlfriend/wife/baby's momma jumped into the pool with Jessica and Mary. When their t-shirts got wet, this proved too tittilating for Baldwin. He retreated to his room and promptly called his wife to tell her the temptation was weakening him. And then he called his sponsor and his agent so they could get him out of a situation that was "no longer condusive to his sobriety."

At 1 am, Drew Pinsky called a group meeting so Daniel Baldwin could explain to the group why he was leaving. He left a trail of disappointed friends in his wake. Jessica Sierra felt abandoned by her surrogate father, and to tell you the truth, I'm not really sure how the others felt. I'm only guessing they were disappointed. It's entirely possible that they were relieved that he left because in the end, it was starting to become ALL ABOUT him instead of all about everybody else.

Episode 5
Dr. Pinsky had to deal with the fallout of Daniel's leaving. He knew something wasn't right about what happened.

Mary Carey
Dr. Drew learned from Mary Carey, in a private session with him and a therapist that deals with former porn stars in recovery, that Daniel was communicating inappropriately with Mary. She felt guilty about Daniel leaving because she felt responsible for his sexual feelings towards her. Dr. Pinksy complimented her for her insight into Daniel's behavior. He also noticed that her outward appearance had changed over night. While Daniel was there, she was dressing in a more suggestive, sexy manner. But starting with the morning after, she was wearing a dowdy sweatshirt that covered up her enormous boobs. In that therapy session, Dr. Pinksy told Mary that he signed her up for a ballet class, because before going into porn, she was going to be a ballerina.

Before group, at breakfast, everybody learned about Daniel's messages and Mary received a lot of support. And everybody reacted differently. Generally, everyone felt that Daniel took advantage of the much younger porn star. Everyone that is except ultimate fighting champion Ricco Rodriguez, who believes that both should share the blame for the irresponsible communications. While everyone else in group therapy demonized Daniel Baldwin, Ricco took a more objective approach, reminding the group that Mary is almost thirty years old and not a child easily taken advantage of. Later in the episode, Mary took a break from all the drama at the facility. This segment made me cry a little bit. Mary expressed to the teacher and ultimately to the cameras, how much dancing meant to her. And I could see it as I watched her. If it hadn't been for that extra bone in her ankle, she probably could have been a very good dancer.

Jeff Conaway
Jeff Conaway's girlfriend brought an alcohol laden drink into rehab. He kicked her out and then called her later to yell at her. How she could do that to him was the jist of the call. He yelled at her for bringing alcohol into his treatment center because he is afterall an alcoholic that is trying to get better. The whole incident seemed a little staged to me. According to the coming attractions for next week's show, we'll learn more about what happened. If it wasn't staged, we should all be proud of him for owning his sobriety like that. And if it wasn't staged, there could be hope for him.

Golf Outing
Episode 5 ended on a golf course somewhere in California, where our broken celebrities spent the afternoon having fun and bonding. Dr. Drew provided exploding golf balls as part of the afternoons festivities, which led to light hearted antics and good natured goofing about their more serious drug problems. At the end of the outing, Jeff Conaway presented everyone with a big golf trophy that the members of the group will pass to each other every time they meet for lunch.

I can't wait to see what happens next.