"Gateway City"

Yep The Backyardigans went to St. Louis!!!!!!!!! (Do you want to me meat me there? - sorry I couldn't resist, you know I love my Judy:)

We had quite a fun day... It started out with a photo shoot cause our hotel was Gorges!

I'm sure you all are so sick of the photo shoot pics ... but I'm tellin ya, we have nothing ells to do! It's not going to end, so embrace it... hahaha

Once we headed out the door we were stopped by this Kodak moment.

You know it's the car that they got for us to drive around the city in... HA that's funny!

Ok enough couture:) Our first thing on the agenda was the Arch! Here's another pic:

It's huge! We just had to go up in it... we paid the $12, and enjoyed a lovely video about it's purpose, who built it and all this really important stuff that I didn't really pay attention too. Finally, it was our turn... we got in this tinny elevator and prayed for our lives!

I was so nervous, I was sweating... Dorian must think he's in GQ or something... We finally got to the top looked out of the windows on both sides, and then we were like... ok time to go back down ... I mean once you're up there there's not really much to do! haha

here's a pic of one of the sides... the other side was of the dirty river and filth!

When we were waiting for the elevator to go back down I took this amazing pic!

I think with some photo shop and cropping these could be amazing head shots!

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By this time in the day we were starving!!! So we suck out some St. Louis Goodness! We ended up at an amazing place. They had $ on the wall... no joke:

It was rip off of Hooters I think ... I can't remember the name. But the food was really unhealthy and really good! Dorian was starving:

Yes that was all for him... He may be 4 foot 11 but let me tell you the boy can eat! So by this time in the afternoon we had had two Hurricanes and we were feeling pretty good...

lol... with our bellies full, we set off to explore. We first started walking around our hotel and quickly realized that there was nothing there so we asked some very nice girls what to do, without hesitation they said the Loop. So we, without hesitation hopped on the train and went there to check it out.

Aperently Christie is just way to buisy to get up on it! ...I had to lift Dorian up onto his... hahahahaha I have no clue why those are there? Just some sensible decoration for the street I guess:)

The loop was so cute! It was full of little boutics and shops there are a lot of really good resturants and amazing vintage stores! I got a really nice leather jacket:

We ate dinner at this really nice Tye place and then went home. we were kind of pooped from all the walking.

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So Christie, Creighton, Jiney and I are all doing this thing called the Perfect Cleans:

It's similer to the master cleanse exect with this one you can actually eat! It's not much but you can eat. In the morning you can have friut. For lunch, salads, vegies, nuts, tofu and white fish. Then for dinner, you take the first pill wait 30 mins, have some soup, wait another 30 mins drink and discusting shake that taste's like cardboard, then before you go to bed you take the last pill.

I did it partly cause it sounded like a good idea, and other people were doing it... but it's good to always do a little restart with your dygestive siystem. And it's broadened my palat! before I hated white fish, brokoly, vigies really... it's been really good for me! I'm on day 8. The first two days were horrible!!!! but after that it was doable! Now I feel really week and brittle, but other than that I highly suggest it:)

I love you all and will talk to you later:)

Chicago 2:)

2 city's ago we were in Chicago IL again:) The first time we were there just for the day but this time we actually performed! We played the Chicago Theater! It was stunning!

The Theater is so ornate and beautiful! The dressing room area is like a museum! Everyone that has performed at the theater since it's opening in 1926 has signed the wall! here's a small list of names that I found from the website: Allman Brothers Band, Arcade Fire, Blues Traveler, Kelly Clarkson, Harry Connick Jr, Ellen DeGeneres, Aretha Franklin, Kathy Griffin, , Gipsy Kings, Indigo Girls, Alicia Keys, David Letterman, Lyle Lovett, Oasis, Dolly Parton, Prince, Diana Ross, Van Morrison, Widespread Panic, Robin Williams, Julie Andrews, David Copperfield, Sammy Davis Jr., John Denver, Joel Grey, cast of The Family Guy, Dustin Hoffman, Tom Jones, Diana Krall, Annie Lennox, Dean Martin, Liza Minnelli, Bob Newhart, Olivia Newton-John, Conan O'Brien, Frank Sinatra and Neil Young! Oh and the Backyardigans!

And no I did not add the Backyardigans to the end of that list ;) I took a pic of some of the signatures...

Yes that is the spice girls... hahahaha I laughed so hard when I saw that! This next one if my favorate of all time! I almost died when I saw this... I can't even handle it!

IT'S LIZA!!! I have performed on the same stage as Liza Minnelli, Frank Sinatra, Julie Andrews and kelly Clarkson... hahahaha now if only I can be on that stage when they are on it... who knows? It could happen!

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We got to the windy city at like 1 AM on Friday. For some stupid reason I was still awake so I went to the room and then couldn't sleep, at 6 AM I decided to give up and just start my day. I opened the door to leave to find Christie fumbling with her room key, aperently she couldn't sleep aether so we enjoyed a lovely continental b-fast from the hotel. We didn't end up leaving until 10 ... yeah it took a while for us to get our buts in gear! And because our hotel was an hour away from the city via train we didn't get down town untill 11:( Our first stop was Starbucks!!! Then Millennium Park, were we found a ridiculous exhibit. It's called experience the future, heres the website: http://www.wirednextfest.com/ they had some amazing stuff: a car for 4 people that you drove Fred Flinstone style, and sheep lawn moeer:

One of the things Christie and I did was ride the car of the future. I don't know the name but it's pretty amazing / horrible at the same time!

This would totally replace the purpose of walking! It goes up 30 miles an hour I think ... you're going to have to get all the details from the website. But have you guys seen Wall-E? If this takes off in 100 years we're going to be just like all those people on the spaceship:

HUGE!!!!!!!!!! and lazy! I'm not about it! I will not spend the $10,000,000 for this little gagit! haha But for real go to the website and look at all the other stuff and then come back!

Amazing right! You know the brain game, I totally beat Christie! haha

So after that we got some food at this Italian place that was good but really expensive. Then we went up to Boys Town... witch if you're ever in the mood for some really good vintage shopping... go there! They have them all over the place! Eventually LaRaisha met up with us and we eat at this very swanky tie place. With Kareoke on our minds we went back down town to this place called the Blue Frog... it was 21 and over so we went to a movie instead... lol but on our way to the movie, witch we got so lost trying to find! We stumbled upton a very interesting McDanalds... they had these staues out front of the resturant, of course we just couldn't pass up the opertunitie:
I got really therstie from all the walking around that we did that day!

What, What is it Christie what do you see?

LaRaisha was just getting beat up, pickin fights with everyone! I was like really girl? Leave the little boy alone!
After our improptu photoshoot, feeling so jollie! we started singing Moon River while walking down the street. Oh, speeking of Moon River, how crazy is this: We were walking around the magnifisint mile, we came acrost Tiffanie's and had to go in for Christie, just for a look, on our way out we started remenicing about Breakfast at Tifanies. When we got to the subway a guy started singing Moon River! I'm not joking it was totally perfect!

Anyways with the help of a couple Chicagoights telling us witch way to go we finally found the movie Theater and saw:
It was really cute! However by the time the movie got out it was like 12 - 1ish and because the trains we all messed up, and our hotel was in East Egypt! We didn't get home until 4:00 in the AM kind of a frustrated end to a really good day...

We had a successful but long weekend of shows, it was Dorians first venue and he did wonderful! feeling ready to go out and still craving some Kareoke, we asked around for a place and ended going back up to Boys Town. Not realizing the time we opended the bar... haha

We each got a song in and then the people started showing up! Well the people happened to be the Chicago cast of Wicked! It was such a fun night!!!! Our new Wicked friends were amazing! They were so excited about us being there it was so funny! Towards the end of the night we came together and started doing some amazing stereotypical musical theater songs... lol LaRaisha did Summer Lovin with the Stage Manager:)

And Alicia, the dance captain and I did Sudenly Semore... hahahahaha

She was amazing! Just belting her face off!!! The night was so unexpectedly fun! If I couldn't have NY I would most definatly choose Chicago:)

Love you all! Talk to you later:)

Goodbye Walter :(

So yes it is true. Walter Kemp has left:( Just like the other too he's going on to bigger and better things! He booked Aida at a theater somewhere in middle America... I can't really remember were, I even made up middle America, I don't even know?

Creighton, Jarvise and Kandace are in morning right now. The 4 of them were inseparable!

However as we say in show biz "The show must go on" Dorian Shorts is Walters replacement... and that's what he is... SHORT!!!!

Hahahaha he's really good tho he did his first show in Chicago of all places!

Well Walter, know that you are loved and missed! I can't wait to be back in NY so we can all be fabulous together again!

Boredom and Fun:)

I know what you all were thinking! "God I just love his hair like that! I really hope that he did a photo shoot!" Well it is your lucky day! Walter, Jarvis and I had an impromptu photo shoot in the forest behind the theater one day when we were waiting for the bus to leave.

This is Walter and Jarvis's best pic:) lol - I consulted Tyra about it, she helped with the final decision:

Even Michele got in on it!

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That concluded our Boredom section of the Entry, Now we're onto the fun:) haha

The other day we were personally invited to come enjoy a sensible day at the Biltmore House by a representative from the Vanderbilt Family. I'm totally lying! We payed $40.00 to see about 1/4th of the house, well mansion!

It was absolutely stunning!!!! I wish I could show you some pics of the interior, but we weren't aloud to take pics inside and I couldn't find anything on line that did it justice. All the decor in the house is the original design. Some of the pieces have been there since the beginning in 1895. It's amazing! And all of the staff is so nice and knowledgeable, we opted out of getting the head phone things and found that it's more beneficial if you just ask the guards in every room... hahaha some interesting things that we found out were, it only took 6 years to build, in 1895 they only spent 6 million dollars (can you believe it!!!!????!!!) to be a maid, or someone on the staff was concidered hitting it big & they were very diverse, people from all over the world would come to work at the Biltomore house! Aparently they treated everyone with a lot of respect! The Wife had a school that she ran for servants... I know that not the right termanolgy but if you graduated from there you had an otomatic in to were ever you wanted to go! Here's the family... they're so busy!

Could you imagin waking up in the morning oppening up your blinds and seeing this:?

Just miles and miles of you're own land... Ok so now that you've fallen asleep from that little history lesson... I'll give you a downlow of what we did. When we arived we toured the house. It took like 2 hours. Then we walked around the little garden that was right next to the house:

Apparently there was another huge garden that we missed. But still as you can see it is Gorges!

After that we met up with everyone and took a shuttle over to the winery. FYI it was 5 miles away from the house. 5 MILES. They had this cute little gift shop were everything was over priced... but the pest part was the free wine tastings!!!
We each got to taste 5 different kinds of wine. I can't remember the one that I liked the best but it was fun. After that a couple of us did some Grape stomping... hahahaha I'm not kidding:

It felt so grose! But it's definatly something that I can mark off my list of stuff to do in my life time! lol The funny part is, when your done you dry your feet off then you step in some purple paint and then put your foot prints on a paper... here just have a look:

It says "I stomped Grapes at Biltmore Estate's Winery" and then they had us sign it for authanticity... lol it was so funny. Everything was stunning! The mansion, the landscaping. I hear that it's amazing in the winter. I kind of want to go back... I just don't want to pay the $40.00 bucks again.

Ok it's 2:30 am, I'm sure there's a rediculous about of spelling/grahmer problems, so just enjoy... I'll fix them later. Good night:)

Love you all, Talk to you later:)

Why not:)

So, I've been talking about cutting my hair for a very long time. It's gotten too the point were it's just way too long, It won't stay tucked into my costumes. While I was getting more and more frustrated, everyone around me was getting more and more annoyed... So I cut it...

And because we were wigs in the show, I'm not auditioning, and I'm defiantly not trying to impress anyone! I decided to do a Mo-Hauck:)

I take NO responsibility for my actions! Chris is the mastermind and action fullfiller for this little project.

Don't worry mom it's gone now. I cut it off. Now I look like my brother Jon! hahahaha The reason why I did it so quick was because people started treating me weird. This lady didn't want to serve me at a restaurant, because of my hair. I'm not at all surprised, The places that we are going to these days have not accepted the fact that it's 2008!

It's 2:30AM now so I'm going to go to bed. I love you all! Talk to you later:)

The show must go On!

It's out second show on our first day back, the first show went great. Shawn and I almost missed our entrance for flowers because Sally was telling us a riveting story about... I don't know really remember what about... But other than that it was almost perfect. We were all refreshed and rested it was nice.

So We're doing the second show it's going just swimmingly... Tyrone and Uniqua are on stage they just about to start the theme song of the show, "We're Night's That's Right" when all of a sudden everything shuts off! Yep mikes out, blackout! ...The scene from were I was standing was amazing! Christie and I were waiting for our entrance, messing around, at this point we were pretend slapping each other. Everything movie style shuts down, it even did the veeeruuum -- you know what i'm talking about? the sound does a decrisendo with a sliding scale down to a lower note... haha ANYWAYS it's pitch black, T&U just run off stage. We here a voice next to us say, just so casualy (with a southern acent) "Oh we must of got hit my lightning" I'm thinking "WHAT!?! Yeah that's great!!!" "Wait does that mean a snow day? What if they can't get it fixed will the show be canceled?" Then I start to here kids crying... then all the crew people are franticly running around, while Christie and I are trying to contole our church giggles. By this time the lights have come back up, Jinay has made an anouncement saying "Hello, (with here really soothing I'm talking to the audience voice) we will reconvien the show in 2 minutes" Phill starts playing some filler music and I see people start to leave. An agonizing minute and a half goes by and we just picked up were we left off. It was quite exciting.

Through out the show the lights kept flickering and we kept hereing poping noises from the speekers. One almost made Christie poop her pants on stage, She jumped so hi I laughed so hard... inside! It was amazing.

So we get done with all of the that drama ... so excited to just go to our new and lovely bus! I get out there and hank (our new bus driver) is there sitting watching TV ... I look up and see that the cealing is leaking... I say "hey did you a see this?" he's like "Yeah..." I was like (in my head) "Oh well should we do something out it? instead of just sitting there" I went and put my stuff in my bunk and when I came back he was stuffing Napkins up in the hole. It turns out theres 3 leaks in the ceiling. I guess water must come up from below cause the carpet is all wet, I can't wait for it to dry and smell like mildew! and the door to the garbage has fallen off it's hinges! ... hahahaha Welcome home:)

Love you all talk to you later:)