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Dream Vacation Itinerary: Broadway On the High Seas
Michael and I celebrate our 20th anniversary in September and are ready to leave on our dream vacation to celebrate. I didn’t know anything about it until March. Michael wanted it to be a surprise but knew (or thought) we’d have to be sure I could take off work to go on the trip. Well, that’s not a problem now… and we’re all packed, extremely excited and ready to go.
By the time this posts, we should already be in Stockholm where we’ll have some time to sightsee before boarding our Baltic cruise on the Regent Seven Seas cruise line. This is a special sold out cruise (only 700 on board!), half of the passengers signed on for the Broadway On the High Seas tour which will feature special activities and performances by Broadway greats Patti LuPone (Evita, Anything Goes, Sweeney Todd, Gypsy), Howard McGillin (Broadway’s longest- running Phantom), Norm Lewis (Porgy and Bess) and all things NYC and Broadway– Seth Rudetsky.
Due to data rate and internet costs, I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to post or share while we’re overseas but I wanted to share a little advance taste of our next two weeks.
Here’s our itinerary:
CRUISE ITINERARY
SUN 04AUG13 Stockholm, Sweden 06:00 PM
MON 05AUG13 Turku, Finland 09:00 AM 05:00 PM
TUE 06AUG13 Helsinki, Finland 08:00 AM 06:00 PM
WED 07AUG13 St. Petersburg, Russia 08:00 AM
THU 08AUG13 St. Petersburg, Russia
FRI 09AUG13 St. Petersburg, Russia 06:00 PM
SAT 10AUG13 Tallinn, Estonia 08:00 AM 03:00 PM
SUN 11AUG13 Klaipeda (Memel), Lithuania 12:00 PM 08:00 PM
MON 12AUG13 Gdansk (Gdynia), Poland 07:00 AM 02:00 PM
TUE 13AUG13 Berlin (Warnemunde), Germany 08:00 AM 10:00 PM
WED 14AUG13 Copenhagen, Denmark 06:00 AM
OUR TOURS
Turku Castle, Naantali & Ruissalo 05AUG2013 Turku, Finland 10:00 AM
Walking Tour Of Helsinki 06AUG2013 Helsinki, Finland 09:15 AM
Classical St. Petersburg 07AUG2013 St. Petersburg, Russia 08:30 AM
An Evening Of Russian Ballet 07AUG2013 St. Petersburg, Russia 06:45 PM
Peter The Great’s Grand Palace – Peterhof 08AUG2013 St. Petersburg, Russia 07:45 AM
St. Petersburg Cathedrals 08AUG2013 St. Petersburg, Russia 02:00 PM
The Hermitage, A Wealth Of Art And History 09AUG2013 St. Petersburg, Russia 09:00 AM
Canal Cruise And Shopping 09AUG2013 St. Petersburg, Russia 02:00 PM
Upper Town And Rocca Al Mare With Folk Show 10AUG2013 Tallinn, Estonia 08:45 AM
Fairy Tales & Legends Of The Witches Hill And Amber Bay 11AUG2013 Klaipeda (Memel), Lithuania 01:30 PM
Private Tour Stutthoff Concentration Camp 12AUG2013 Gdansk (Gdynia), Poland 09:00 AM
Echoes Of The Past – Jewish Heritage 13AUG2013 Berlin (Warnemunde), Germany 07:30 AM
Whether I can post while we’re gone or have to wait until we get back, I’ll have plenty of pictures and stories to share!
Starbucks: Tarnished Gold
If you asked my opinion of what I considered to be one of the best (or best branded) companies in America my answer would be easy : Starbucks.
I jumped on the Starbucks bandwagon long after the craze started but quickly became addicted to everything that Starbucks represents. It has such a positive vibe. I love the company’s philosophies and community involvement… not to mention great coffee and amazing baristas.
They have a solid brand and business model, a quality product line — and create a friendly, laid back, in-store atmosphere that feels like home. What could be better than that?
How about a rewards programs for frequent customers?
Sounds good, doesn’t it?
I’ve been a Gold Card Rewards member since October of 2011. The kids at school seldom saw me without a cup of joe in my hand.
30 stars (purchases) and you’re a gold card holder. Then every 12 you get a free drink or food item. Beautiful!
So imagine my dismay when early last May, they swiped my card and it came up ACCOUNT DOESN’T EXIST! Imagine the confusion and embarrassment! Especially, since I had just reloaded my card the day before.
What’s the deal Starbucks?
It seems that all that glitters, isn’t gold. Or at least in my case, the gold was somehow tarnished. My account was frozen… and so was my cash. So what was the deal?
As it turns out, when you sign the agreement for terms of service on the rewards account, you are also agreeing to not purchase any cards or e-certificates from third party vendors. But what exactly does that mean? (They don’t consider Facebook, Target or other retail stores third party!)
Well, after several months and a half dozen calls to customer service, I still don’t have a clear answer. The best I could gather is that if you buy a card or certificate from anyone but Starbucks– you risk having your account frozen. I was merging cards and certificates (even ones purchased directly from Starbucks) and somehow my account was flagged and frozen.
And it’s still not resolved.
The last customer service rep I spoke with (for over an hour), did their best to explain what might have happened. I guess their accounting, card and tracking systems aren’t advanced enough to know whether cards are accurate and purchased legally, so this is their attempt at preventing fraud. But isn’t freezing my money that they let me load on the card a form of fraud in itself?
So here I was, gold card frozen and my faith in one of the current, great companies in America: TARNISHED. It took me some time to process it and decide if I should stop frequenting Starbucks. I really had to look at the situation from both sides.
I had purchased a few cards online from gift card sites that sold them at a small discount. We all want to save money, right? Bottom line is that Starbucks can’t seem to tell whether these cards are legally purchased, fraudulent, or stolen.
Luckily, I was able to get my money back from the website I purchased the cards from– but here it is over three months later and Starbucks still has not resolved the issue and their fraud department has not completed their investigation.
I have repeatedly offered to help in any way I can but they tell me there is nothing I can do and I probably will not see any restitution or reinstatement of my gold card. Not very good customer service.
After my last call, I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt for the time being, and start a new account from scratch and I just achieved gold status on my new account a few days ago.
What angers me about this is that I can’t understand why a company of this size would treat one of their elite reward members like this. They have made no effort to contact me in anyway regarding any type of resolution, nor did any of the customer service reps apologize for the inconvenience or assure me that I was a valued customer.
On the other hand, the baristas and store managers I have spoken with have been absolutely wonderful. They’ve given me free drinks, apologized for the inconvenience and asked me for updates.
So I’ve decided to give it a little more time but corporate really needs to get their act together on this or I will stop supporting them with my patronage.
In the meantime, I’m cutting back and grinding more beans on my own.
‘GYPSY’ 20 Years Later: Celebrating Strong Women
Twenty years ago, I had the pleasure of directing the Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents musical, GYPSY for Elgin Summer Theatre at Hemmens Auditorium in Elgin, Illinois. It was the combined effort of the City of Elgin, Independent Players and the Elgin Theatre Company (then, Elgin Community Theatre). It was a big, colorful spectacle that I’ll always hold close to my heart as one of my most important professional accomplishments that had a huge lasting impact on my personal life.
For those of you not that familiar with the show– it coined the phrase, “Sing out, Louise” and introduced the legendary “mother of all mothers” — the biggest stage mom of them all, Mama Rose. The character was originated by stage icon, Ethel Merman, in 1959 and later portrayed on film by Rosalind Russell. There have been many famous Mama Roses over the years including Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Bernadette Peters and most recently: the sensational Patti LuPone.
In the story, single mom Rose foregoes all hopes of a normal life for her two daughters, pushing them in the dying vaudeville circuit, only to have her eldest (her star) leave her. In one last-ditch effort, Rose forces her younger, less talented daughter Louise to become a stripper. That stripper became perhaps the most famous of all time, Gypsy Rose Lee. Rose was blinded by stardom. If not for her, then for her daughters, no matter what the cost.
I’ve had this blog post mulling around in my head for a couple months now. i just wasn’t completely sure how I wanted to approach it… until last night.
Last night, I was reunited with a very good friend I hadn’t seen in almost thirty years. When our friendship began all those years ago– I remember her being a strong, level-headed influence in my life. Of course we reminisced about the old days, last night but more importantly, we started to get caught up on our lives since. Tara is indeed, still the strong, intelligent woman I remembered (and missed) from so many years ago.
I’ve been blessed to know many strong women over the years– which brings me back to our production of Gypsy and start of probably the greatest friendship of my life.
Peggy and I met working on a previous show but didn’t connect on a personal level until production of Gypsy started. She was (and is) my Mama Rose. I was still living in Chicago at the time and Peggy offered to drive me to the train station after rehearsals each night, giving us extra time to talk about her role and quickly establishing a tight bond that went far beyond a typical actress-director relationship. We just clicked.
I can’t even begin to go in to all the adventures we’ve shared over the the years but her family is my extended family. I think I’ve probably shared as many, if not more holidays and special occasions with them than with my own immediate family.
Our friendship and the relationship with her family, to me, is an example of what life is all about.
Gypsy also brought at least four other strong women into my life that have made a lasting impact on me. Two are brilliant single moms that single handedly raised amazing children; one is the most positive cheerleader I’ve ever known; and a wonderful performer, now teacher, that I was fortunate enough to reconnect with recently and is doing incredible work training future young artists. All strong women… all with unique challenges and circumstances… all important role models in my life.
All of us take our connections and circumstances for granted at some point in our lives. We seldom know what relationships or events are going to have the biggest, lasting impact on us at that time. This is why it is so important to cherish the moments, the people and the opportunities while they are happening. I’ve been reminded time and time again over the past few weeks exactly how important those experiences are in making me who I am today.
May I Return To The Beginning?
It’s three in the morning. The birds are chirping like crazy, there’s the sound of a train in the distance and across the street the meter man is ticketing cars parked on the wrong side of the street. I guess it’s just some of the benefits of sitting on my front porch and living in my little acre “forest in the city” I’ve created. Mostly tranquil, it’s a great place to relax and reflect.
I love my yard, loosely landscaped– some parts manicured, others untamed. It’s a lot of work to maintain but I love working outside and getting my hands dirty. It gives me time to reflect on life and dream of the future as my mind unwinds all the knotted and pent up thoughts stored away from the stressful activities of everyday life.
This is a year of milestones. I turned 50 in December, Michael and I celebrate our 20th anniversary in September and my career is taking an unexpected turn that has yet to be determined.
At school, the colleagues I’d worked with for fourteen years all retired. Together, we’d built a musical program that I’m extremely proud of. For the past year though, it was hard to watch this beautiful thing come to an end. I just didn’t know how final it was for me. Now, all of us are gone and the future of the program is completely unknown. It’s a bittersweet ending to a very stressful but extremely rewarding chapter in my life.
Over the years, the musicals have taken us from back alleys to exotic lands. We conjured up hope and laughter, tears and sorrow– celebrating the joys of life and the difficult challenges of the human condition. Live theatre is like nothing else.
There were some years we knew exactly what musical we wanted to do next but more times than naught, it was an organic process that just felt right. This year, we did Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat — and perhaps not so coincidentally, it was the 30th anniversary (for me), directing it as my very first show in 1983.
The final number in the show, Any Dream Will Do, asks the question, “May I return to the beginning?” I got it– a milestone and the end of a collaboration. It was a time for reflection and of celebration.
This the 7th time I’d directed the show– each one, somewhat unique. I’ve never tried to duplicate a previous production but it has always been important to me that one element remain: the magic.
That 1983 production was magical. Nearly every person involved in that show went on to have, or had a career in the visual and performing arts. The right group of people brought together at the right time, in the right place can make magic and somehow we did. We were all novices then– unseasoned thespians full of passion and youth.
That was my beginning.
In 1995, I directed a production that was inspired by the Donny Osmond version that had become wildly popular. Every kid out there knew about Joseph, had seen it or been in it. This year was totally different. None of the students knew the show or were necessarily excited about doing it, so it was my challenge to bring that excitement to life.
After so many productions, you’d have thought this one would be easy. Yet, time and time again I found myself second guessing my choices and vision and tried to keep the overall focus, while allowing elements of the show to evolve naturally as rehearsals progressed. It was a true collaboration of thoughts and ideas that really made the show work for me. Being such an ensemble show, it was fun seeing the cast’s excitement build and all their hard work and determination pay off in the end.
Then it was over.
The show, a fourteen year collaboration of an amazing creative team –and as it turned out, the end of my time at Bartlett High School.
All bittersweet.
May I return to the beginning?
I’ve learned a lot over the years about the importance of reflection. Though I don’t feel like I live in the past or want to actually re-live the past, the lessons learned only move us forward. I’ve had the privilege to work with, and learn from, many wonderful people. Teachers, parents and most of all– the students, have inspired me and taught me in so many different ways.
Do I actually want to return to the beginning? No. It was a marvelous, wild ride while it lasted. I wouldn’t change a minute of it. Now it’s time to move on.
I think it’s a huge mistake to live in the past, yet there is so much to be learned from it. It’s nice to look back from time to time at where I’ve been. It often helps put today in perspective and helps guide my tomorrow.
I’m on my second pot of coffee now, the sun is coming up and sounds of distant trains and chirping birds is slowly being over taken by that of garbage trucks beeping and other people starting their day.
A new beginning.
One Year Healthier
It’s been a year since I completely changed my diet. I’m 70 pounds lighter and I’m happy to report that I’ve been able to stick to it and it’s now just a way of life. I visited the doctor this week and received a clean bill of health. All my numbers checked out… so for those of you who buy the false claims that a low carb, high protein diet is unhealthy — think again.
Now that I have more free time, I’m back to working out and hope to at least tone up, if not build a little muscle mass. I still have some sagging skin from the weight loss and hope working out will help eliminate that too. I’m cautiously optimistic as I know I can’t completely fight the aging process.
I can’t even begin to describe how much better I feel– and even more important, how much better I feel about myself. I accomplished an important goal and feel good about my ability to stick with it.
I introduced a few more carbs in to my diet without any weight change but I’m still avoiding any regular consumption of bread and potatoes.
I don’t deprive myself of anything, just really careful to limited my intake or large amounts of carbs. It’s all about moderation. A binge is even okay as long as it doesn’t lead to daily abuse of the rules.
A few months ago I got a Fitbit One, a little monitoring device that can measure your steps, stairs, calories and sleep pattern. I absolutely love it! Even though I’m not measuring my calorie consumption, it does help monitoring my calorie expenditure combined with my daily activity (steps) and stairs climbed. You can sync it with the phone app or your computer to monitor your progress and it’s all stored online for free.
One huge difference I’ve noticed is that since losing my job (and the stress), my sleep pattern has greatly improved. My boss had made things so miserable for me, I was waking up an average of 11 times a night! That has dropped down now to 3 times a night. A huge improvement! Just goes to show you how stress can have a negative impact on your health.
I feel good now and have so much more energy than I did before. I sleep less, waking up naturally without that groggy morning feeling I used to get. All in all, it has been one of the best decisions in my life.
I still get so many people asking me how I lost the weight and if it was hard. It really wasn’t… and it’s not that hard to maintain either. You just have to make the commitment… to yourself and to your health. Excuses will never equal results.
Anyone… and I mean ANYONE can do it!
Photo Essay: ‘Living the High Life’ on the Norwegian Jewel
Room 10504. The Pink Diamond Suite on the Norwegian Jewel. Our 7 day home away from home on my 50th birthday cruise. Here’s a quick photo tour of our room. I’ll post more pictures of the ship in a later blog post.
Photo Essay: Sailing From New York City
Here are some photos I shot from my balcony on NCL’s Norwegian Jewel, December 30, 2012. We sailed out of Pier 88 on the Hudson River just after 4 PM. The view was simply breathtaking.















































