This is not a big earth shattering post...I burned the side of my hand this morning while cooking up some omelets for us...but it was a very hot skillet and I got the side of my thumb pretty good (bad).  And what did I do?  I went old school and went straight out to the porch and cut me a stem off my aloe vera plant.  

First let me say, if you don't have a pot of this growing in your home then go out and buy one ASAP.  They are happy little plants that are hearty and easy to grow.  And they multiply like crazy.  This little guy in the lower right of the picture was left out in the sunshine for too long and we just knew he was done for!  Not true!  We brought him inside for a couple weeks...watered him and put him close to some of our other healthy plants and look how healthy he is now!  (Look I don't have kids or pets due to our nomadic lifestyle...I love plants.  Don't judge...)

So if your grandmother never showed you how to use aloe straight from the plant, it goes like this.  The old wives tale is -- the plant will tell you which stem it is offering.  Never take the biggest one or the smallest one.  Take a moment to look and you will see which one to take.  With sharp scissors make a clean cut on your plant.  At this point you want to make sure the area for application on your skin is clean and dry.  You need to open up the stem and get the "goodie" out.  We always just use our nails to open the plant up. Working from the small part of the stem downward to our cut, just open it up. I flatten the stem out flat - sort of creating a surface with the gel exposed and apply the gel right on to the affected area.  Some people sort of squish it out of the stem like a tube of toothpaste.  Whatever works for you.  The goal is just to get a good amount of gel on the burn. It is going to be runny and sort of gross but just go with it.  It is worth it.  Viola'! 

So what is so special about aloe?  Well turns out it was given as a burial gift the Egyptian Pharaohs  and was referred to as the plant of immortality...many people even drink the stuff for weight loss and other health benies.  Depending on what you read it is either really good for you or could cause cancer...This is why we need to teach critical thinking in school....You decide for yourself...You can learn more about that here or read this  interesting article here.  Drinking it is not for me...boogers... 
#stayhealthy #healthyactors #aleoiloveyou

Three days ago I had what I was sure was a sinus infection/ear infection. It was affecting the left side of my head -- behind my left eye.  I stayed home from work the following day.  Yesterday morning I was feeling right as rain jumped out of bed, headed to work early to prep for a meeting and then met a friend for coffee to talk about an upcoming project.  The late afternoon rain poured and I mean POURED as I walked to my car several blocks away.  It was oddly refreshing and freeing to not care that I was totally soaked.  I was only driving back home after all.  My husband was out last night teaching his acting class for kids on the autism spectrum -- last night's lesson plan included mask work.  I arrived home, put on my pj's and watched the rain for a bit.  My sinus problem was back and was really uncomfortable but had traveled to my right eye.  And this headache that was coming on...slow down now.  I boiled a stock pot full of water, added lemon, peppermint, & thieves, draped a towel over my head and listened to Shark Tank on the TV.  Didn't really help this time...I busied myself with some research for this upcoming project and came back to earth when the phone rang...it was now dark out.  I looked at the clock and realized I hadn't eaten yet.  And really didn't have a proper lunch either.  And this headache...just dull and unmoving. And while I am reading my laptop I seem to notice a flashing of the screen.  Why is this laptop flashing at me?    

Let's flash forward to the climax of the scene--  It is now closing in on midnight.  I have retired to the bedroom, salt lamp on, diffuser with oils on, and have put peppermint oil around my sinuses.  Suddenly/gradually (who knows) a searing pain is white hot behind my right eye.  Damn it all, I know this all too well... and I fear what is coming. The smell from the diffuser that I normally find comfort in is making me ill...I turn it off.  I have to get out of this room.  I stumble my way to the shower.  I turn on the water and get in.  The window is open so a cool breeze is gently coming through as I stand in the hot water flowing around my body.  I put my head under the water-- hesitating for half a second while thinking about my ears that have been aching - but who cares at this point if it will shut my brain down.  Unplug.  Disconnect.  This searing pain. The water covers my head and closes up my ears.  I hear that swirling sound - like what I imagine to be the sound of inside the womb.  Liquid nothingness.  I want to stay here for as long as I possibly can.  The sensation of the water distracts some of the pain.  And the sound is incredibly soothing.  But after a while I decide I can't stay in there forever as much as I want to... Off the water goes.  I realize I never turned on the lights.  The only light is coming from a nightlight above the sink.  It is beautiful but in the same moment terrible and distorted...I find myself on the couch with my head in my hands.  My hair is soaking or at least that is what I hear from a voice somewhere in the room.  It is thankfully dark.  Aside from another blue night light.  Now my head is cracking open.  It feels like white light is pouring out of the cracks starting at my eye and moving back across my skull.  I am being asked questions but somehow my mouth is not really working.  Even breathing...am I breathing?  Have I been holding my breathe?  Now I can feel tears on my face and I have the sensation that I might vomit.  I need to go outside.  I leave my towel behind somewhere and I walk out into the open air on the dock.  It is very dark and no one is around. The air is calm and cool and beautiful.  And soothing.  I look up into the night sky and see thousands of little twinkling lights looking down at me.  At us.  Brendan is standing beside me.  I breathe.  I stretch.  I cry. I breathe.  I can feel my feet on the wet boards of the dock.  I am in my body again. I need some water.  I drink 2 glasses full and feel like puking again.  I sit?  Do I sit?  Somehow I am in my bed.  I am laying on my husband's chest, his hand if firmly on my brain which has backed off.  Then is it back again?  Backing off...I am breathing. Just breathing.  

Ok so migraines!  Who gets 'em?  What are the hell are they?  Why do we get them???  So it turns out even the scientists can't really tell us that.  I haven't had one of these bad boys in YEARS...and suddenly here we are.  What?  Seriously?  So I have spent some time this morning trying to learn a little more.  I was prescribed some meds many, many years ago when I was dealing with them on a regular basis.  I stopped taking them pretty quickly ...Have you seen the possible side effects?  No thank you!  Not scripts for me...So here is what I learned:  

What are migraines?  Ok, so technically a migraine is a severe, painful headache.  Yep, thanks Captain Obvious. "Scientists believed that migraines were linked to the expanding (dilation) and constriction (narrowing) of blood vessels on the brain’s surface. However, it is now believed that migraine is caused by inherited abnormalities in certain areas of the brain."-- Cleveland Clinic  Oh great...abnormalities. That's never good...More from Cleveland Clinic -- "There is a migraine 'pain center' or generator in the mid-brain area. A migraine begins when hyperactive nerve cells send out impulses to the blood vessels leading to the dilation of these vessels and the release of prostaglandins, serotonin and other inflammatory substances that cause the pulsation to be painful."

What are the triggers? So obviously different people have different triggers...weather (barometric changes), emotional stress, sensitivity to food preservatives or chemicals, caffeine, tension, periods, missing meals, excessive fatigue, and/or family history.  Great.  My paternal grandmother.  They suggest to keep a journal for this...I seriously can't imagine myself doing that.  

What are Auras? Ok, here is where it gets a little woo woo for you.  This is science, y'all.  So no judgement.  These are signs that a migraine is coming.  They could include:  ringing in the ears (maybe); a change in your sense of smell (yes), taste or touch.  Visual auras could include:  distorted vision, flashing lights (!), bright spots or lights (yes), wavy or jagged lines (yes) or temporary vision loss.  These usually last under an hour and could occur before, during or after the pain.   If they last more than an hour, you may be tripping...and then it gets really weird...

Weirder symptoms? 

1. Olfactory hallucinations (smelling smells that aren’t there)
2. Lilliputian hallucinations (seeing little people)
3. Increased creativity
4. Macrosomatognosia (feeling like part/all of your body is larger than it really is)
5. Aphasia (trouble speaking/writing or expressing language)
6. Increased energy
7. Increased urination
8. Excessive Yawning
9. Out of body experiences
10. Teleopsia (objects seem farther away than they are)

I hesitate to admit to any of these but may or may not have experienced most of them at some time...

What to do once a migraine starts? Hang on for dear life?...Well, I wish I knew a sure fire way for relief but I always start here... try cold compresses, warm compresses, lots of pillows in a cold, dark, quiet room, pressure on my head, showers, Excedrine for Migraines,  sleep if possible and now newly added to the list - standing outside naked under the stars...

What creative minds are migraine sufferers?  Vincent Van Gogh, Thomas Jefferson, Claude Monet, Albert Einstein, John F. Kennedy, Charles Darwin, Virginia Woolfe, George Eliot, Sigmund Freud, Friedrich Nietzsche, Elvis Presley, Elizabeth Taylor, Elle MacPherson,  Carly Simon, Loretta Lynn, Whoopie Goldburg, Hugh Jackman...

Do you have migraines fellow artists?  What do you do?  #stayhealthy #healthyactors

It can be exhausting being an imaginator...  You are getting ready for your day ahead, you are in the shower and you start to imagine a scenario of a meeting or a telephone call that may or may not happen later in the day.  Your mind begins to go and then suddenly your body is on auto-pilot performing whatever mindless duty is at hand while you begin to play all the roles involved in your pretend scenario.  You play out the whole scene in your mind, and even start to get really invested in why the "person" you are "talking" with just "responded" in a way that was not what you "hoped."  ...Do all actors do this?  Do normal folks?  Is this going to get me locked up?  I'll tell you right now I am not taking the meds...

Ok so how about this one...You are driving in your car or say you are riding the bus or the subway.  Suddenly you get short of breathe and for one brief moment you have a flash of real terror because you imagine that an accident is about to take place.  The driver in the car next to you is wanting to get over, you can just feel it...or the car next to the bus is just a little too close to your lane and that driver isn't even aware of it...or that girl on the subway is just about to snap (you can see it in her eyes) because she has had a really terrible day at her temp job where she puts labels on coffeemakers out in Yonkers but what she really wants to do is be a dancer but she has to have this temp job to pay for her crappy apartment where she lives with 2 room-mates who....  You can see it all play out in your mind in a nano-second.  

So we were traveling this weekend.  My husband and I are not seated together on the way home.  I get to my row and an older man is in my seat. "18E?" " Yep, 18E."  A very helpful steward (is that right? I can still say that?) comes over and suggests I sit down in the empty seat adjacent to the man while the rest of the plane boards while he gets the passenger manifesto. I learn that there are 4 dup's (the steward is laying down the lingo for me -- duplicates) on this flight...Ok.  I think, hm that's strange and unusual.  He asks if I am me.  I say I think so.  He looks at me, I say yes.  He reseats the man to his real seat according to his print out...at the back of the plane.  I ask another steward, "Does this happen often?"  I guess it does.  But generally not this many on one plane.  "How does this happen?"  Some glitch in the system she tells me -- but the real problem is when they print off the passenger list too early then that is not "right" either...They work out my situation just in time before another issue arises...Another pair of travelers are double booked with seats.  The one in the aisle is traveling with her mother and insists on sitting with her.  Oy.  We wait.  The woman from the ticket counter inside the terminal comes on board.  Neither woman is budging and the passenger that is seated can not find her boarding pass...Seriously?  Now she is saying that the ticket clerk took her ticket.  "I am the ticket clerk, m'am."  Oh lord...what is happening.  I feel my mind starting to go...who is this person?  She is a business woman by the looks of her.  Very nice handbag.  Expensive. On comes the newly printed passenger list. They work it out, just in the nick of time before the passengers around them start to get antsy and before I convince myself that she is not a business woman by an international spy...Somehow the nice steward works a miracle and my husband is sitting next to me now...I notice this guy two rows up...how do I know him?  Was he on our outbound flight?  Hm.  He looks so familiar to me...As Brendan sits down he asks me to casually look in the row behind us.  There is a VERY chatty red-head.  He swears I know who she is...I do?  She has on a houndstooth scarf.  Is she from Alabama?  She is clearly drunk.  And as I over hear her conversation...(oh please don't act like you don't do it too...) I learn that not only is she from Alabama, she is from Birmingham, we went to the same university, her parents now live in a town on the other side of the state where I did a show last season and she is in the high end real estate market.  I dare not look back again. Bren is convinced we know her.  I am convinced otherwise.  But who is that guy in in 16F?  I DO know him...I think I know him...

 As we sat on the tarmac waiting for take-off, the captain comes over the airwaves.  "So ladies and gentlemen, this is the captain speaking.  In my 20 years of flying, this is a first.  Our brakes appear to have lock-up on us..." AAAaaaaannddd we're off, there my brain goes...Something is not right here.  They are bringing a crane or something to pull us back to the terminal but I have stopped listening to the captain.  I am having a full-blown Shirley MacLaine moment.  Out on a Limb.  The camera in my mind is zooming in and pulling back at the same time.  I should text my family.  I think this may be it for us.  Why do we know these people?  Maybe this IS why the guy in 16 looks so familiar to me and why the woman behind is someone Bren has seen before.  Do I know her?  We are on the brink here  of having a major life (death) event so we must intuitively know some of this, all of this...Everyone is very calm on the plane.  The atmosphere is very positive.  Is that a sign? Why is everyone so happy?  I can see exactly how it goes down.  Various scenarios play out in my mind while I am looking and nodding and smiling as my husband is saying something to me that I just can't quite hear. My mind is filled with dialogue & scenarios of the tragic future events playing out in the movie in my mind...We are back at the terminal.  We change planes.  After snacks are purchased and bathrooms are used, we all load onto another plane.  How is it that they just happen to have another plane sitting there?  Conspiracy minds at work...Here we go again...Now they are handing out free cocktails.  Oh no.  They know.  They are just trying to make us comfortable.  I  successfully distract myself with a book. Someone else's story.  And suddenly I am fully engaged in Gloria Vanderbilt's childhood...Before I knew it we had touched down to earth once again...

But my god.  Imaginators busy at work...Please tell me that this is the unfortunate side effect of the creative brain...#actorproblems 

ps. I don't know who you are jennifer nicole lee but that image rocks and you have disappeared off the interweb...

Have you ever read a subject line and had a sudden intake of breathe due to excitement only to exhale in disgust upon opening the actual email...Yep.  It was one of those.  From a casting director.  Until dudes are asked to show their junk on a very regular basis...Actress friends, this is for you~

There are times when I am so over this industry.  I mean really over it.  We are bombarded with images  throughout our day thanks to technology.  And if you are a woman, much of the information being directed at us is about how we are not pretty enough (remind me to tell you the story from a college interview), not thin enough (remind me to tell you the story of a wardrobe fitting for a national) and not young enough (remind me to tell you about this season).  Not enough of a sexual object.  Or too much of a sexual object if you dare to be confident in your sexuality... You're a hootchie. Or worse , you're a slut.  Or you look too "smart." Seriously...  ugh...OVER IT!!!!   I know it is  just part of what we signed up for.  So you can either learn to deal or just drop off the key, Lee and get yourself free...

 I don't care what they told you.  Looks matter.  If they told you otherwise, somebody has lied to you.  Love it, hate it, let it drive you to drinking... they matter.  A lot.  So much so that even if you work out for hours a day and are a super model, they are still going to photoshop your ass.  Photoshop has become a verb and everyone now knows exactly what it means.  The great irony in the face of all of this is that women are banding together via social media to speak their truths while still spending ridiculous amounts of time perfecting our selfies...  There must be 100,000 different memes shouting "I am woman hear me roar".  Our latest collective feminine mantra is "we are enough."  But the mere fact that we have this as  our mantra means that we don't really own it yet.  ABRACADABRA-- CREATE AS YOU SPEAK...but actresses seem to stay pretty quiet on this.  At least I think we do.  Why?  

I'm not even getting into equal pay, reproduction rights,  equality in the workplace, domestic violence  in this piece today.  Those are issues that are really important so I don't really want to clump those together with looks.  However, here I am writing about this stupid shit.   Because looks matter in our world and in America and they are hugely important in the entertainment field -- even if I personally think it is incredibly shallow, stupid and silly... But I can tell you I spend more of my time worried about it than I truly care to admit. Which frankly pisses me off.   Because after all that is what we are dealing with a large majority of the time in this industry -- particularly for on-camera work.  Does she "look" like this role?  Is she tall enough?  Thin enough?  (And god knows on camera those chicks are RAIL THIN...) How will she "look" on camera?  How will she "look" with the star?  Does she look enough like (fill in the blank of some A lister from a few years back who will probably ultimately end up booking)?  I would love to believe that acting chops still count for something  -- anything -- but I am seriously beginning to doubt that --especially for certain things in certain regions.  Looks are important.   If you are a shorty size 4/6, you are too thick for the recurring roles.  Truth.  Deal with it.  So I either slim down or eat a milkshake once a week and start auditioning for the fat friend.  Truth.  ** Casting Directors/Directors who are reading, PLEASE feel free to prove me wrong and cast me.  

I get it.  I am WELL AWARE that we are putting it out there to be judged and criticized and critiqued.  But sweet baby jesus, it is not for the faint of heart, I am telling you... All of this to say:  

"They" want to see me for a topless role in a SAG feature.  NEXT!   I don't even think this role has lines...lol... No, it does have lines.  It's a principal.  I just looked again to double check.  But really?  REALLY?  Look, I have gone topless on stage.  Hell,  I have gone bottomless on stage -- twice.  More than twice.  Twice in one show.   But it was ALL about the story.  For me it is always about the story...Give me a great reason why this woman has to do this that moves the story & the characters forward in way that can not be done otherwise and yep, I will take it off.  If the story is one worth telling.  But I am going to be real honest here.  I don't have the confidence after a rather tough summer to go in for this shit right now.  For all I know, it is a role  of some random chick showing her jugs for 30 seconds in the background and that is all she wrote... Who is this woman?  What is her journey?  Could I read the script?  HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  Now that's a laugh. Who am I to ask to read the script?   NEXT!!!  I am sure they will easily book the role with someone cuter, younger and thinner...  NEXT!!! Let's just be clear:  the breakdown doesn't say,  " Woman 30's to 40's blah blah about her character and the arc of the story..."  It says  "Woman - Topless." Seriously?  Yep.   I just laughed out loud as I wrote this.  Nothing about the movie, the commitment, the character, the creative team.  "Woman- Topless."  And the funny thing is -- or the sad thing is --  I bet you good money that all of the audition times are booked solid.  "Woman - Topless."  It might as well have read "We need a pair of boobs."  That about sums it up here, folks.  And also funny enough -- sad enough --  I bet this blog gets more hits than my others just because of the title.   NEXT!!!!!

OK so I feel like I have to do a disclaimer here right off the bat...I am not a scientist.  Surprise!  Ha!  I maybe could have been, I was in the explorers at the Southern Research Institute as a kid, and it is most likely coded in my DNA that I might be in a parallel universe.  Maybe.  But alas and alack, I am an actor not a scientist in this lifetime.  As many of you know and to the chagrin of my scientist friends, I have a real fascination with what folks call the pseudo-sciences...Which leads me to this post.  I swear I OD'd on EMFs.  Let me explain...

Backstory: so I have had migraines for most of my adult life.  Don't know what that is about but there you go.  I recently have gone a really long time without a single "hell fire behind my eyes. "  Also I have a terrible habit of scratching when I get really nervous or if I feel particularly on edge.  It is a visceral reaction...my skin actually gets itchy.  Mostly on my chest, face or arms but sometimes my legs...So there is your background.   Coincidentally these are also signs of electormagnetic hyper-sensitivity...Articles on hyper-sensitivity that can be found from the far-out publications  of Science 2.0 to the not-quite-so- crazy-sounding electrical pollution solution site.   The symptoms may include:  
headaches, dizziness, nausea, difficulty concentrating, memory loss, irritability, depression, anxiety, insomnia, fatigue, weakness, tremors, muscle spasms, numbness, tingling, altered reflexes, muscle and joint pain, leg/foot pain, "Flu-like" symptoms and fever.  hmmmm....

So my sweet husband is  good buddies with a true health nut -- even more than we are.  I mean a HEALTH NUT.  He eats raw food only, no alcohol, no additives, no nothing.  Just plants.  And water.  And sole'.  What's sole' you ask?  Well long story short it is a water mixture with Himalayan Pink Salt.  Here are the gory details...  One would drink this concoction in an effort to balance and harmonize the body from the inside out.   You drink only a tiny teaspoon of the mixture in a full glass of water first thing in the morning.  Bren has been at it for several days.  And I figured why not add another concoction to my long list...I already drink Super Greens, Ningxia Red and occasionally an apple cider weirdo thing so what the hell?  Why not?  So on Saturday morning I figured I would give it a go.  On an empty stomach I made my glass of water adding just a few droppers full of sole'.  Within minutes I got a killer and I mean killer headache.  Bren was busy writing on his computer, I was working on a project on my laptop too, we had our cellphones on right next to us and I believe we had the TV on watching football. Yeah.  And did I mention we live RIGHT on a river?  Conductivity...(this is where all the scientists burst into flames...).  So electronics emit electromagnetic waves right?  Right.  And some people believe that their are people predisposed to having a sensitivity to certain vibrations in the electromagnetic field.   So what happens when one of these sensitive people then in essence become a conductor by drinking a saline solution?  Their brain taps out or at least that is what happened in my case.  I did everything I could think of to keep my head from combusting (save drill a hole in it...)  -- cold compress, warm compress, peppermint oil, valor, panaway, thieves, a nap, chocolate ice cream...I mean I tried all my tricks.  And then I took a cold shower.  And for those few brief minutes my head stopped being a jackhammer and was just the container for my brain again...But as soon as I turned off the water and got out of the shower, it turned  right back on.  My night was short.  And lame.  

So needless to say -- I don't think the sole' is for me...Brendan however is loving it!  The signs are telling me I should step away from the laptop, FB, twitter, basecamp, ... have any of you felt this kooky feeling too? Too much EMF'ing.  #stayhealthy 

We passed a tiny house on the road this evening!  Right here in SWFL.  We honked at the young couple as we passed, hollered out the window our appreciation of their handywork and gave them a thumbs up.  So as many of you savvy readers know there is a huge trend happening for tiny houses right here in 'Meruca! That makes me smile.  More and more people are tuning in and turning off...Yeah, man!  I dig!  There are docs popular on NetFlix (TINY), there are shows devoted to it on HGTV (Tumbleweed) and there are tons of blogs discussing different plans, designs and decor ideas devoted to living small and off the grid.  I mean this is what we do, right, actors???  We go into company housing for months at a time with our suitcases and maybe a box or two of our belongings.  Our little boxes contain a favorite mixing bowl, our best knives, a special skillet, a potholder made by a sweet friend, a fringed table cloth given by a props master years ago, candles, yoga mats and meditation pillows, perhaps a blanket, framed pics of your sweetheart -- the few little creature comforts that make a house (or apartment or hotel room) a home... so tiny houses are a natural fit for actors!!!  This got me thinking...What would it look like if there were a whole farm of tiny houses complete with a central garden and hang out area preferably by a body of water?  Is that too much like a commune?  Could it be an artist colony?  Are there still artist colonies like this?  There should be!  Is there a grant for this?  Perhaps under a sustainability umbrella?  I bet there is a place like this.  If you know of it, please comment and let me know.  Or what if we think about it from a producer's standpoint...Are you more likely to get the gig if you can provide your own housing?  Just give me a little plot of land or a driveway or out front of your house.  It is like the cool version of Cousin Eddie.  ("Shitter's full")!  I know there are the apartments and how the set up is at Flat Rock Playhouse -- I am looking for true TINY HOUSES...A girl can dream... #Stayhealthy

So I have a couple necklaces that I have worn all summer, through sweat, blood and tears.  Well really mostly sweat...One is a fabulous little wishbone necklace that my sweet honey gave me several summers ago.  We were up in Ogunquit, Maine for the summer and he bought this cute silver necklace for me just because.  And I RARELY take it off...the other necklace is a long funky chain with a rustic crystal pendant that I bought myself when I was out shopping in Birmingham, AL with my mom.  There is a really cool shop where artists sell their goodies and it very cool jewelry artist has some one of a kinds there...  And now I wear that mostly everyday too...SO...And now they are  too funky (and not in the cute way) after this summer and have turned.  I was just about to go out and by some silver cleaner but I really didn't want all those chemicals especially since I wear these little babies everyday.  So I am trying this little recipe I found on-line.  Baking soda+Salt+ Water+ Aluminum Foil+ Time. So I am giving it some time -- overnight.  I will keep you posted.  I have my fingers crossed...Say no to chemicals!  Here goes...#stayhealthy

****UPDATE Ok so I tried this twice.  Once with room temp water overnight - the results were not so great.  There was a little less tarnish on the silver but the necklaces were not clean.  I tried again by putting a kettle of water on.  This time using boiling water with the baking soda, salt and aluminum foil, I let the necklaces sit for several hours.  Better but still not sparkling clean like what I was looking for. Significantly better than the before pic...but you can see the back part of the long necklace is still not sparkling...Any tricks you know of?  

What is it like to be married to an actor?  Well I will say it is a hell of a lot easier if you yourself are an actor too!  We have had the good fortune to not only share this journey together as performing artists but we are often cast in the same show and this summer we have had the unique experience of playing in 2 2-handers together!  The show is 3 one acts and we are in 2 & 3. As we embark upon closing weekend, here are the highlights of this most special experience! 

1) Memorizing lines in our PJ's
2) Coming into the rehearsal space surrounded by art easels complete with classical music playing in the background (the space doubles as an art studio!)
3) Sushi lunch breaks &  AEA HEALTH WEEKS
4) Snuggled up on the antique loveseat (old set dressing) backstage running lines before we go on (gross I know)
5) Backstage Blue Light dancing to no music
6) Quick kiss & "see ya on the ice" before lights up.
7) FIRSTS -- I left my sweet husband on stage ALONE on final dress (invited audience) while I dealt with a costume malfunction - think "Ms. Jackson if your nasty..." LOL
8) British/Cockney dialects and quick changes
9) Doorknobs, olives, biscuits, break away wedding dress, coffee on wedding dress, ripped suit jackets, umbrellas, Tammy Faye Baker mascara...
10) Laughing audiences!  

2 more performances!  Thanks #TheatreConspiracy  We have had a grand ole time!  xo

So much to talk about...but I have been testing out Neal's Yard Remedies Wild Rose Beauty Balm and Rose Facial Oil so I gotta tell ya what I think...

Both products smell amazingly beautiful.  Like a dressing room filled with fresh roses -- not the stinky musty kind that your lame dressing room-mates "forget" to throw out until closing weekend.  I digress...

The Wild Rose Beauty Balm is the winner for me.  I hear that this product is a customer favorite and I can certainly see why.  It is a thick balm that can be used in a variety of ways:  as a "rich cleanser, gentle exfoliant or deeply nourishing balm."  This wonderful product is heavy on the rose hip oil along with geranium, starflower, hemp and rosemary oil.  It is awesome.  I used it as a cleanser several nights after a full face of make-up and my skin practically said thank you with a rosy glow.  I also used it for a nourishing balm on some problem spots and it seemed to aid in the healing time.  I would order this for myself no question.    Now for the Rose Facial Oil.  It smells like a dream.  Seriously romantic.  It was just a little too much for my skin, I think.  A dab will do you...and even then I think with full face and street face and cleansing in between my skin was one toke over the line sweet Jesus on this one.  BUTTTTTTTTTT....I will say that this stuff was A.Maz.Ing for one very special use...Ok.  So I live in Florida right?  South Florida.  I am in the sun alot or I like to be.  There is one place on a lady that the sun is especially unfriendly and that is the décolleté area.  Sorry but it is the TRUTH.  Nothing gives away your age quite like that area right there...especially down here.  But this little product seems to be the Fountain of Youth and you can see results VERY quickly.  At least I did.  I would also buy this product even if I only ever used it for this very specific purpose.  Get yours here at:  us.nyrorganic.com/shop/mandyhays
 #Healthyactors
#whatsonourdressingtable

So here is one that I did not expect to be writing anytime soon but here it is...Spider Veins...

So I was pleased to learn while reading SpiderVein.org (like ya do) that this a problem for not only for Kim Kardashian but for many women, as early as in their 20's -- especially woman who are on their feet a lot and wear heels.  OK so that about sums it up, actors!  Spider veins heading your way.  Watch out Neal Patrick, you may not only be walking away from Hedwig with a Tony but with some spider veins.  Of course heredity, age, hormones, medication all that good stuff goes into as well.  But I like to think it is the heels and the cement rehearsal room floors.  

Spider Veins are not something that I have given a second thought to honesty until about a week ago.  I woke up one morning and my knees were hurting.  Specifically behind my right knee.  Granted I am rehearsing right now & in heels.  But I woke up and was like, "Hm, what the hell?"  So I look in the mirror and sure enough behind my right knee I see the faint traces of some blue/purple lines.  Not cute.  And not fun. So I pulled out my oils.  Lemon & Lemongrass.

Lemon essential oil is a tonic for circulatory issues and since spider veins are a result of dilated veins.  Lemongrass is great oil for anti-inflammtory so I thought let's give it a try.  Long story short= I have been using 2-3 drops of each oil along with my coconut oil concentrating on the areas behind and the knee.  Sweet relief already!  I will keep you posted if those little babies start to disappear.  Some folks claim that use of the oils actually lessen the appearance...Stay tuned for that.  

Other folks have used these oils for spider veins/varicose veins:  Cypress, Lavender, Cedar, Frankincense, Geranium, Chamomile, Tea tree, Lemon, Lemongrass, Lime, Rosemary, Palmarosa, Marjoram, Ginger, Yarrow, Carrot seed, Juniper, Helichrysum, Black pepper, Birch

#stayhealthy y'all!