Food coma and well deserved rest

This morning I began recovery from my Easter food orgy with a conservative bag of raisins and nuts for breakfast - yuck. It all started Friday night with a fried fish and chips feast and ended late last night on the porcelain throne. I actually think I exhibited vast restraint compared to previous years. Most significantly, because my two good friends - Chris and Dan - and I decided to temporarily suspend our annual Easter basket exchange. It was growing way out of hand, spending hundreds of dollars to try and out-top the baskets from the year before. How out of control can Easter baskets get, you may ask. Well, the first year the baskets were filled with assorted Hershey's and maybe an "extravagant" little box of Godiva. Last year somebody got an ipod. 'nuff said? So no fancy chocolates or electronic gadgets for me this year. Instead I’ll probably have to head to the drug store tonight to stock up on some half-priced peanut butter eggs and pastel foil-wrapped candy.

Even more noteworthy - NO REHEARSALS all weekend, Hooray! Well actually that’s not even true, since I did have a three hour Oklahoma rehearsal on Friday - we burned through pages of book scenes (I had forgotten how book heavy the show was) - and I had to get up early Sunday morning for a rehearsal and church job. No matter, it was nice to actually have a Saturday afternoon and evening off for a change. I only got up from the couch to pee and eat - bliss. We’ve all been working non-stop since last fall so Val joined me watching trashy TNT movies and vegging out all day. Unfortunately, Juan had to prepare for Easter Services and Trish had to cantor. Oh well, I felt a pang of guilt for about 10 seconds and then got over it.

I also finally got to see Enchanted during our Easter movie marathon, which also included Blades of Glory (the JFK/Marilyn routine is genius) and The Sound of Music. Now I see what all the fuss is over Amy Adams (faboo in Miss Pettigrew, by the way). She was like Maria in Sound of Music on crack! Awesome. The songs were pleasantly generic, but well-staged and filmed. Marsden and McDreamy were both hunky and who knew that Marsden (or Dempsey for that matter) could actually sing?! On a side note, did anybody catch the Live From Lincoln Center Madama Butterfly from NYCO Sunday afternoon? James Valenti as Pinkerton - hubba, hubba. I don't know if he can sing, but who cares?

Anyway, we had a pretty full house for Easter brunch in Jersey with the parents and a ton of Val’s Jersey relations all making the requisite stop for Easter ham and Filipino food. I did retreat to the upstairs bedroom for a food-induced coma mid-day. But fortunately I was able to keep my drowsy eyelids propped open long enough for the routine chit chat and family gossip. The parents were especially pleased that we had invited Father Ed, a catholic (Filipino) priest who appeared in a small role in our recent Madama Butterfly, to the Easter festivities. As a self-proclaimed heathen, I'll need all the help I can assemble to force my way through those pearly gates. Why not stack the decks in your favor, right? And who doesn't love a tequila drinking, George-Bush-joke-telling priest?!

Ho-hum, I'm back to the office grind today. But I'm actually going to have a full week without a rehearsal because everyone’s on Spring Break (except me, course) - Yippee! Maybe I can actually get some sleep this week. I should probably take this time to get my fat ass back to the gym. We’ll see if that happens.