Geraldine's Wedding

I don't know how I'm awake right now. I got up at 5am yesterday to take the Fung Wah Chinatown bus to Boston for my friend Geraldine's wedding. I didn't want to spend money on a hotel, so I took the bus back to NY after the reception at 11pm. Needless to say, I didn't get home and to sleep until about 4am. Yet somehow I woke up at 9am this morning...and I'm one of those people who needs my solid 8-9 hours a night. The trip was worth the lack of sleep, though!

Geraldine was the musical director of Songs For a New World, the musical I performed in last October (see "19 Days Until Take Off," written in July, for video...Geraldine is the little head at the front of the stage bobbing around while playing piano/directing). She came to the States from France to study piano performance at Western Michigan University, then received her doctorate in piano from Boston University. She is hands down the MOST talented pianist and musical director I've ever worked with. We really bonded when we did the show in 2010, but became even better friends after the show closed. Every week, we would use yelp.com to find a lunch spot in Virginia Beach where neither of us had been to. Her advice and support became a staple in my weekly life, so when she and Stuart (her hubby) moved to Rhode Island in April, I was so sad! I haven't seen her since then, so there was no way I could miss her wedding- even if it was following my first exhausting full week in NYC. She only had one bridesmaid, so I sort of became a pseudo-member of the wedding party and spent the whole day by her side! The amount of time we got to spend catching up was a pleasant surprise.

Unfortunately, as fun as the trip was, my feet were a real source of distraction. Those stupid blisters from last Tuesday have turned into the most painful sores EVER. Sorry if this picture is too gross for some of you, but I got bored and took a photo. They may not look that terrible, but I can't wear any sort of shoe that has a back, which is obnoxious considering I walk everywhere. I think the right one is infected, too, 'cause my whole heel feels like it's about to fall off whenever I take a step or apply any pressure on that foot. Thank goodness for Miss VA swimsuit shoes that can be positioned to have no strap on the back! They saved my life at the wedding.

A bad habit of mine came to light this weekend, too. I really need to stop giving out my number so freely. When guys ask, I feel guilty/awkward if I say no, so I give it to them and then ignore them the next day when they text and say "Hey it's so-and-so from last night." I got a text message from a random number last night saying "Hey Shannon! It's Brad! Sorry I didn't call you sooner- how was your first week in NYC?" Um, who's Brad? I haven't been given my number out in forever and he seemed to know me somewhat well. Thus, Adam (Geraldine's friend I hung out with the whole time at the wedding) and I decided I should play it cool and see if I could figure out Brad's identity through carefully worded questions. I eventually lost patience and still had no clue who this guy was, so I just fessed up and told him that I didn't remember him. Thank goodness he ended up not being anyone super important...just the bartender I met with Lindsay last Friday night who performs for Disney Cruise lines. I forgot I'd given him my number so that we could network with auditions and stuff. But I think he thought I was weird for carrying on a normal text convo for an hour before admitting that I don't know him. Oh well. Either way, I need to start only giving my numbers to people I find important enough to remember...

Tonight I'm heading to Jim and Lindsay's for pork chops and relaxation. Also, Brittany officially moves in at midnight! Let another week of madness begin.