hallelujah

Did you know Jason Castro is on a movie soundtrack??
He recorded Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah for the soundtrack to the Mexican film Amar A Morir, while on the Idol tour this summer. The soundtrack is available for purchase. You can also check out clips of the songs from the soundtrack on the movie's website. Hallelujah is track #20. Check it out.


Click HERE for MixUp registration instructions in English.

life goes on

Today, my mom and I went to my cousin's house to spend time with her and her beautiful baby. Colbie will be one next month. She is the cutest thing. She would not let me take many pictures of her, so I decided to film her being silly.

Colbie - 11 months

There are more videos here, here and here.

Happy Birthday
Jason Rene Castro

new stuff

Last weekend, we stopped at a nursery out near my mom's house. We were over there helping her do some assorted chores and so we decided to stop on the way home. This nursery had just bought out another one and so they had tons of new stock. They were selling all their cacti at 50-75% off. Score!! I knew they had the sale and that is why I wanted to go. We are wanting to add some new cacti to the garden we are starting in the backyard. Right now we have two aloe plants, one huge and one medium size. They are both the medicinal aloe, btw. So... we bought a couple new cacti and saved over $100. We bought a prickly pear (the kind that actually fruits. they all bloom, but only one variety has fruit and that's what we got.) and a red torch. The red torch blooms right out the top and its called red torch, because the flowers are bright red. For now we are leaving them in the pots. The prickly pear needs a bigger pot, so we will re-pot that one. We will probably wait until its cooler to actually dig up the yard and plant them. But I wanted to get some nice cacti while they were at a smoken price. Here they are:


The other new stuff to come into our lives are these concrete planters:
One of our neighbors works where they make concrete things and told Chris that he had these planters that were made the wrong size and so they were super cheap. Chris decided to buy them from him and the neighbor brought them over last night. They are freaking heavy. I cannot even move one. He got both of them for $50. Planters like that are not cheap. We are very excited. If you look in the picture with the new cacti, you can see little baby cacti on the ledge. Right now, we have 4 little ones and we are gonna buy a few more and put them in one of the planters. It will be an awesome addition to the cactus garden. Not sure yet what we are gonna do with the other one, but still... pretty neat.

the playbill

I am finally getting around to posting this picture. This is the playbill signed by Adam Pascal. I honestly will be getting this framed. I have the playbill from the first time I saw RENT framed with the ticket. This will be a nice bookend to that one.
I still think of Wednesday night and smile.

happy 1st day of spring

i can die now

Twelve years ago, when a young 19 year girl bought the Original Broadway Cast Recording of RENT, she made a wish. One day, I wish I could see the original cast perform the show. The movie that came out eight years later was the closest she thought she would ever get. And she was ok with that.
She settled.
She settled until tonight!

OH MY GOD BECKY!!!

I had the honor and privilege of seeing Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal, the original Mark and Roger from RENT. I have seen many people portray these characters, but there is only one original. I cannot begin to explain what this meant to me. It probably seems extreme to many people, that I care so much. But RENT has been a huge part of my life for a very long time. I have seen it many times, in many forms, and it means so much to me. I know every word. Tonight, I resisted the urge to sing along and I just listened. I listened and I cried.

I began crying from the moment Adam walked on stage as Roger, in those plaid pants. Seeing him was it. I was done. Then Anthony came out as Mark and I screamed out loud.

^^^ not my picture!

I saw Adam and Anthony perform RENT!
I just like hearing that.
It was almost as if my ears and eyes were playing a trick on me. It was surreal. A dream come true. I would have given anything to see this and I did. I need someone to pinch me.
The entire show was amazing. The rest of the cast was the Broadway touring cast. I honestly haven't even looked at the playbill, so I don't know if I know anyone else in the cast. I was too excited to even open the playbill. Crazy I know.
Hearing the songs sung the way they are in my head was incredible. Their voices are the only ones that ever sound right. And it sounded sooooo right. It was perfect. I know I am blabbing.
Ok... details... If you don't know the show, you might wanna just skim this part.

Adam looks just as good in those plaid pants as he did 13 years ago!!

After looking at Anthony for a few minutes, I couldn't help but think of Adventures in Babysitting! Come on!! hehehe

Other than I'll Cover You reprise, I cried the most during Rent (the song, that is). I think it's because of the connection between Adam and Anthony. The are those people (yeah, yeah... I know that's not true, but whatever!) and seeing them sing together was like nothing I could have ever imagined.

The girl who played Mimi (I'll look for her name later) was actually quite good. That is a very hard character to pull off and she was great.

There was one mistake (but if you didn't know the show, you never would have noticed, cuz they are good actors). At the end of Tango Maureen, Joanne says into the microphone, "My Maureen" and it echos. The microphone didn't echo! Anthony Rapp then had to wing it. He said, "Try it again." She did and still no echo. He then went on with the rest of the song and they ended it like normal. It was hilarious. I love mess ups like that, because its unique. The got extra loud applause and I am sure its because many people knew it was a mistake.

Seeing Anthony Rapp perform La Vie Boheme was almost more than my little heart could handle. He puts his whole self into playing Mark and he is such a spazz. I love him. During intermission of the show I posted a twitter: Seeing Anthony Rapp sing La Vie Boheme live, makes my life complete. It was too much for me. More crying.

These boys mean so much to me. I keep saying that, but I mean it. I have had the hugest crush on Adam Pascal since I first heard him sing. And I want to be friends with Anthony Rapp. I just love them.

Ok.. I really am rambling. Lemme get to the extra good stuff! After the show, the cast members were standing at the exits collecting money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. I walked all around to see if maybe Adam and Anthony might come out. No such luck. So I just started to leave. When I got outside, I saw this huge crowd near the stage door. DUH! Why didn't I think of that! They have to come out sometime! So... I saw Anthony Rapp, but you know my main goal was to see Adam. The guards were not letting him take pictures with anyone, but he was signing autographs. So I got real close and asked him to sign my playbill!!! EEK! I was right next to him. He handed it back to me and I said, "Thank you Adam." He looked up from the next one he was signing and looked me in the eyes and said, "You're welcome." Ok. Yeah. I know it was not much, but holy crap! I just met Adam Pascal. I have loved him forever! After getting his autograph, I tried to follow him down the line to take pictures, but it was really tough. I got a couple decent ones:

He was moving so fast, it was hard to keep up with him, especially while I was freaking out just being that close to him.
I will photo the signed playbill tomorrow. That puppy is getting framed!

I am too excited to sleep, but I am exhausted. What an amazing night?!?!?!?

for the last time..

Wednesday, March 18th. 8th row center.

This will be my 6th and final time seeing RENT. I don't think anything will ever top this. Seeing the original Mark and Roger... Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal. This is honestly, my dream come true. I have loved RENT for 12 years. And I can guarantee you that I will be crying from the first note. I already decided I am not wearing makeup, because its not gonna last.

I am about to cry right now, just thinking about it.

top 13

I am sitting here watching the results show and resisting the urge to fast forward to the end. I have also resisted the urge to find out who got kicked off tonight. I don't think I am gonna blog the show anymore (but you never know). However, I do have many opinions that I need to share about last night's show.

BAD: The introduction of the judges - really? Is that necessary??

UNSURE: Speaking of the judges...I cannot decide how I feel about Kara as a judge. Sometimes I really like her and thank god she is there for a female perspective (cuz Paula is just a mess). But then she says crazy shit like the whole "what is it like to shop with you" thing and I get embarrassed to be a female. Jury is still out on her.

BAD: The swirling screen behind Ryan when they are on a tight shot of him. The swirling is distracting and gives me a headache.

GOOD: The new extended stage that goes all the way to the judges table. It keeps the sway bots out of the way.

BAD: Danny Gokey drives me crazy!! I have learned lots of things about the church he is involved in and it scares me. That's a conversation for another day. Let's just say American Idol Ministries does exist. And the glasses. OH LAWD... don't get me started on the glasses. Matching every outfit! Who has that many glasses?

GOOD: Michael Sarver. Totally surprised by his voice. He was actually really good.

GOOD: Adam Lambert cracked my shit up. I love him. I love that he is who he is. He is flaming and doesn't care. I laughed hysterically thru his whole performance. He is such a drama queen and the only thing entertaining about the show.

BAD: Matt Giruad is not authentic... he sounds just like Robin Thicke

GOOD: Megan is the cutest thing!! But is it a rule now that they have to have one chic with a sleeve tattoo each season.

GOOD FOR THEM: THEY GET A MANSION?? fer real? They lived in crappy little apartments last year.

My favorites from TOP 13 show: Allison & Adam.

<---- I need to own this!


Truer words were never spoken.

taxes

I finally got our 2008 taxes finished. It was a struggle because I never received my W2 in the mail from my old job. That is because I had signed up to receive it via a website instead of mail. Crappy thing was, I didn't know what the website was anymore. I had also deleted the HR phone number from my phone. So, I finally tracked down the number (its not widely given out the general public, since most of the non-employee communication is done via the website... anyway) and called. I got the website and managed to print my W2. This was yesterday. Last night I told myself that I would do the taxes today (and by today, I mean Tuesday). However, I slept pretty late into the afternoon and decided to do them another day. Then, I got mad at myself for putting them off again and just jumped in and started them. I use taxslayer.com to do mine. I have used them for 7 years now and really like it. Its all online and you don't have to download anything. It costs $9.95 and that includes e-filing for federal and state. I have never had a problem with them at all. So... I started them around 6pm and just finished about an hour ago. 5 hours. Not bad. What took the longest is that this year I had lots of medical expenses. In the past years, I hardly had any at all. So I had to figure all that out and I was not organized at all. I learned my lesson and I am gonna start keeping better records for 2009. But I did manage to find everything I needed. We are getting refunds from both state and federal. I haven't e-filed them yet, because I want to show them to Chris before I do. I am sure that will happen tomorrow. It is a huge relief to have them done, especially because we could use that money!

daily dose of hotness

I haven't posted one of these in a while. I've got two things, today!!
article: The Time Keeper


performing Frank Sinatra's Glad To Be Unhappy
with Chris Botti @ the Boston Pops

what happened to Skipper??

Happy Birthday to
Barbara Millicent Roberts
AKA Barbie

Barbie turns the big 5-0 today.
Can you believe that??

to my dear husband

two years ago today

This was me - March 2, 2007.
Princess Cays, Bahamas

new meaning

Have you ever had this happen to you? A song that you clearly associate with something or someone changes meaning on you? You used to think of it as a love song about a boy that got away, but you hear it one day and it suddenly has a whole new meaning. It's now about something you are currently going thru. This happened to me today.

And there's not enough room
In this world for my pain
Signals cross and love gets lost
And time passed makes it plain
Of all my demon spirits
I need you the most
I'm in love with your ghost
- Ghost by Indigo Girls

I cried in the shower.