Do I wake or sleep?

I miss London. How can you miss a place you've visited (really visited--I've been in and out of it before on flights) only once? Well when I went there in '09 I said it felt like coming home. I need to start planning another visit except that I have to go to Oslo first! My brother and his family are posted there--they moved last summer and will be there for three years. I have never been to any part of Scandinavia and we have Scandinavia ancestry so I'm excited. The Norwegians always seem so happy. Plus the land of Ibsen must have a great theater scene.

The Mardi Gras party went *very* well this year--we had quite a decent turnout, including a bunch of people who said things like "I've been hearing about this party for years, I have to come." It's definitely a handicap having a party on a Tuesday but after all it's Mardi Gras, not Samedi Gras :) I made a new item, a Cajun dip that FLEW off the shelves, as it were. I'd had the idea that I could make a Cajun version of a nine-layer dip--I could make it ahead of time and put it in the refrigerator (a lot of the stuff I make for the party has to be made then and there, like the red beans and rice). Mom went online and found a recipe for a hot Cajun dip you could make in the slow cooker. It's trayf as all hell, with shrimp and bacon and all sorts of things. I made it during the day on Tuesday (I realized I'd never cooked bacon before--I was going to go online to see how to do it, then I realized "maybe the directions are on the package" and they were! So now I know how to cook bacon :) As I was making it I had a feeling it would be a hit so I doubled the recipe--excellent idea! I barely got any at all, it was a such a hit. Next year I'll triple the recipe.

Had a lot of soccer teammates there--Zach and Lindsay's BF won the babies and posed adorably with them. LOT of former roommates there, including Lori, Anya and Mickey! (Missing just one HINT HINT ;) Mickey brought Kim, his new wife--she is a total sweetheart and was raving about "what a good idea this is for a party!" Hopefully they will be able to come next year. Lori was so cute and protective--I'd barely had anything to eat or drink so she made a plate for me.

Peter came and seemed to have a good time. Griffin was kind of...hostile about him. He was *really* drunk by the end of the night and drunkenly told me he thought Peter was sleazy or something. Ah, Griffin, ever the soul of tact! He always gets grumpy around any guy who has better game than he does. Peter is a little...forward but that's what I love about him :) He was talking to me and Lori and someone else about his daughters and how beautiful they were and he said "they look like these two" (meaning Lori and me)--isn't that sweet! He does give the nicest compliments. It was a little funny, I was agreeing with him about how beautiful they are (his daughters really are lovely, with huge Amanda-Seyfried eyes) and somehow the subject of his ex-wife came up. He said something to me about her, clearly soliciting my agreement and I said "I barely remember her, we met only once at the Annie Get Your Gun opening night party at Tavern on the Green." Peter, you really need to keep the women in your life straight! Anyway, he was proud of me for nabbing this beautiful apartment.

The party ended kind of early, around 12:30 (some years it goes to 2 or later). This was fine by me, as I was exhausted by that time. Jonny (Anya's roommate and a friend of mine), his BF and Anya left last. The apartment is still bedecked with balloons and garland, I am waiting to take them down until my friend Katie comes over. She didn't come to the party because she was feeling depressed that night so I want her to come visit for a mini-Mardi Gras (I still have hurricane mix left over). I was exhausted pretty much all of last week--after our soccer game Saturday morning I came back and took a FOUR HOUR nap. Sunday I slept most of the day. I actually feel okay today--fully rested for once. It's a Lenten miracle!

I'm apartment-hunting these days, hoping to find a place that's 1) $1000 or under, 2) has much more closet space (and is generally bigger--I'm feeling awfully cramped with my two tabby terrors chasing each other around the apartment, and 3) not run by my current property manager. What this means is I'll probably have to live much more uptown--I really hate to leave Hell's Kitchen but unless a miracle apartment drops into my lap, I'm going to have to. So I'm looking at a place in Sugar Hill tonight and came across this entry in Wikipedia: Astor Row in Harlem. This is where I lived with Tracy and Ryan--Ryan still lives here. He'd told me when I first moved in that there was an Astor connection, but this entry is interesting--I didn't realize most of those homes (including the one where we lived, I assume) had been declared historical landmarks. Peter used to visit me between shows when I lived there, and we ate at Sylvia's which is nearby. I loved walking down the sidewalk to our apartment, seeing all the improvements owners had made to their places.

Last night, after getting back from the game, I found an email from Peter, asking about the show and what time it gets out. Something like "I really want to see tomorrow's show but I need to know..." I replied, "You'll be out by 7:00." I checked this morning and he'd sent another one saying he'd gotten a commercial gig with some NBA guy (Tim ?--for San Antonio? Do they have an NBA team?) and he couldn't come see the show, unfortunately. I'll reply tonight and push for the Shakespeare showcase in January.

A show tonight. I must say, it's been very nice having two days and three nights off. I got to go to the gym Monday night and last night and it felt great.

Krista is coming in a few weeks. Can. Not. Wait. I'm starting a list of cool things to do--it occurred to me last night we could see Peter in 42nd Street and possibly meet Tom Wopat. And we have to go to Serendipity--it's been a few months since I've had a Frrrrozen Hot Chocolate.

I think I want to do As You Like It this summer, or early fall, rather than next year.

Sorry, honey. I liked it. And you were great (and hot).

Peter's back in town, and he called and left a typically long meandering message about himself and his life. Just when he got to the good part ("I...uh...loved your pictures and looked at them all the time...") the space on the mailbox ran out, naturally. I called him back and just feel all gooey after having talked to him. He's just so dreamy...

I just love to hear his voice. I love it that he takes voting as seriously as I do (even if he's on the other side of the political spectrum, as I suspect--he won't discuss politics). I love it that he liked my pictures. I love it that he's in a show just two blocks down the street from me (because, you know, Annie Get Your Gun wasn't convenient enough, being two blocks down and two blocks over). I love it that he takes what I do seriously.

Mmm...