Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!
from jeff & rhiannon

Greetings to our friends and family! We wish you a very happy holiday season and all the best in 2008. As we travel across the country this holiday season, we want to let you know that you are all in our thoughts. We thank you for your continued love and support.

Top Ten
of 2007

10) We finally got our customized trailer!

9) Jeff began learning mandolin, Rhiannon began the violin

8) Fantastic trip to western Europe!

7) Block party, Rosstoberfest, Murder Mystery, all parties with the 85 stoners (our neighbors)

6) Cruises with family and friends

5) New additions to the world: Leo Helfrich (Jeff's nephew); Kylie Mitchell (neighbor); Owen Kruse (Rhiannon's 2nd cousin)

4) Exploring Alaskan ice caves, glaciers, animals, and beer

3) Red Sox win the World Series!

2) Beginning a new career as headliners on cruise ships

1) We got engaged!!

Microsoft Holiday Party

December 8th, we performed at our first Microsoft party this holiday season. It was for one of the marketing divisions. We had a blast! It was at the new (beautiful!) Pan Pacific Hotel downtown Seattle. We had the busiest room by far with everyone singing and dancing for over 4 hours! We hope that this is the beginning of a great relationship with the Microsoft company.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

The Northwest has been slammed by a terrible winter storm the last couple of days. No, not snow, just rain. In fact so much rain that it is causing major flooding, closing of roads and bridges, and evacuation of businesses and buildings. Yesterday was the second rainiest day in Seattle's history. I-5 (the main interstate on the west coast) is closed between Seattle and Portland. They are rerouting traffic through different roads and highways. What is normally a 3 hour drive has turned into a 7 hour trek. We got stuck in the first part of the weather storm. We had a gig in Sacramento, CA this weekend and drove up to Seattle on Sunday. We ran into a snow storm near Mt. Shasta, then it was just heavy rain the rest of the way home. Thankfully, we made it back before it was too late. I've attached some pictures taken by different local folk who have encountered these last two crazy days.

First Class

We fly a lot. Correction, we fly all the time. Generally, our flight experiences are pretty run of the mill. Overcrowded planes, crying babies, delays on the tarmac...the usual. Fortunately, we are MVP Gold members of Alaska Airlines (meaning we fly so much we get extra benefits). However, since we have been working with Holland America we have been flying Delta a lot. No offense to anyone who works for the company or has friends or family who are Delta employees, but our experience has been less than pleasurable with Delta. We've had luggage lost several times, rude employees, lost reservations...the list goes on.

However, yesterday (the busiest travel day of the year) we flew first class. No the cruise line did not pay for a first class ticket (ha!). No we didn't cash in miles to upgrade. No we didn't pose as Britney and K-Fed to sneak up front. It was actually because Delta screwed up. We got to JFK airport and low and behold, there was something wrong with our reservation. After 45 minutes of talking to the agent (and being told we had to buy a new ticket) the problem was solved. Now here is where it pays to be patient and nice. We didn't lose our temper. We didn't complain and yell. We didn't threaten anyone's job. We were just nice. And boy did that niceness pay off. We were bumped up to first class seats on a nonstop from New York to Seattle. If flying can be enjoyable, this is it. It's not our first time in first class, but it was definitely the best. If you have the means I highly recommend doing it. It is so choice.

New York City

We just finished up a cruise ship contract out of NYC. The ship is the ms Noordam, the newest and prettiest of the Holland America Line. As shown in the pictures, the ship is immaculate and the theater was fantastic. The pier was literally right downtown so sail away went through the harbor with the most gorgeous view of the city.

The ship went to the southern Caribbean and we actually got to go to some ports we had never been to. The itinerary was Road Town, Tortolla; St. Thomas; Barbados; St. Martin; and San Juan, Puerto Rico. We had a fantastic day in St. Martin. Neither of us had been there since our Disney days, so it was a blast from the past. We spent the majority of the day on the French side of the island enjoying fantastic French food and wine....the new Beaujolais!

Post-cruise ship contract, we went to Boston for Thanksgiving and came back to NYC for the night. Unfortunately, due to the Broadway stagehand strike, our original plan of taking in a show was not able to happen. It's weird to walk around the theater district, see all the theaters and know nothing is happening inside. There were protesters outside each theater (see above picture). Although we 100% support their strike it sucks for us and all of the thousands of other people who vacationed in NY just to take in some theater.

The Most Amazing Concert

Last night we had a religious experience with our idol Billy Joel. We attended a concert of his recent tour and were absolutely blown away. Now, we all know that Billy isn't a spring chicken anymore. In fact his opening line was "Hi, I'm Billy Joel's dad. Billy couldn't make it tonight so he asked me to perform for you." Regardless of his age (58 years young), Billy rocked Key Arena harder than many younger acts could have imagined. His voice was spot on- I mean... spot on. He sounded like he did 30 years ago. Like I said- blown away.

He opened the show with 'Angry Young Man.' What a beginning! He sang a lot of his radio hits: 'Big Shot,' 'My Life,' 'Only the Good Die Young,' 'We Didn't Start the Fire,' and 'New York State of Mind' to name a few. However, intermixed with the hits were some of his more obscure tunes (these were our favorites). 'Zanzibar', 'The Entertainer,' and 'Everybody Loves you Now' . He brought the house down with his instrumental 'Root Beer Rag.' A-Maz-Ing. He graced our presence on the piano (of course), with his vocals, and also guitar. He celebrated his stay in Seattle by playing some of Jimi Hendrix 'Purple Haze.' He, of course, ended with 'Piano Man' as a 3rd encore. The audience sang the entire song. The highlight for us was his performance of 'Innocent Man.' Yes my friends, he hit every note and then some. Something he hasn't been able to do in years. It was unbelievable.

I could go on and on about the phenomenon that is Billy Joel. If you have any opportunity to see him live...DO IT! It was both inspiring and, as an entertainer, humbling.

One Minute with Dave

This is a video Jeff & I made last year. It's with one of our cruise ship entertainer friends, David Aiken (aka the Checkerboard Guy). He does these "One Minute with Dave" episodes wherever he goes. They are just random videos from his life and experiences. We had a lot of fun making it. It's too bad it could only be a minute...we had to omit a lot of footage from the "piano nazi."

ms Zuiderdam in the Caribbean

We are currently on Holland America's ms Zuiderdam in the Caribbean. It is a beautiful ship with an amazing theater (see pictures). We had a great show with an amazing audience! You can't see it from the photo, but there is a lift on the front of the stage which we came up on at the beginning of the show. Very dramatic, very fun. The theater seats just under 1000 and we had two packed shows. The staff here is so accommodating and really made us feel at home. The orchestras on these ships continue to amaze us with their talent and abilities. The day of our show we get one rehearsal with the musicians. They basically have to sight read through our charts and make it sound like we've been playing together for years. And we manage to do all that in only one hour. Oh, and Jeff announced our recent engagement during our show. So now all the older ladies are coming up to me and asking to see my ring. Very sweet.

The other pictures are from a couple of our Caribbean ports. The first picture is of Road Town, Tortola. It's a very pretty port, but not a lot to do there. We enjoyed a tropical lunch by the pier...and all the chickens roaming the streets. The second picture is from one of our favorite ports, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. It's been 4 years since we've been here when we worked on Disney Cruise Line. Ironically, we are here with the Disney ship today. It's such a beautiful ship...though we don't exactly miss working there!

We did miss one of our ports, Grand Turk, due to the tropical storm Noel. The first two sea days were very rough. A lot of sick guests. The weather is now beautiful and very hot. Well, hot for us Seattlites! It's sunny, mid 80's out and very humid. Overall, we are having a ball here.

Sox go to the World Series!!

World Series here we come! Another exciting comeback by the incredible Red Sox team. After facing elimination by the Indians, the Red Sox rallied to gain a ticket to the fall classic. They will be facing the red hot Rockies on Wednesday night. We never stopped believing. Let's go Red Sox!

Engaged!

It's official! We are engaged! After six years together we have taken the plunge. Here are some pictures of the beautiful ring that Jeff designed himself. Notice the initials made into the ring's design. Absolutely breathtaking. Thank you all for your love and support!

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street : Trailer!

Here is the trailer for the upcoming Sweeney Todd movie. It looks like it will be fantastic!

Let's go Red Sox!

The post season is well underway and we are basking in the glory that is the Red Sox. It has been amazing to be able to watch the last couple games...and what games! The Sox are dominating. And just for some icing on the cake, the Yankees are losing. Life couldn't get much better.

We are heading to Boston next week to visit Jeff's family. It will be very exciting to be there during the ALCS. Oh, and of course to see Jeff's new nephew, Leo. Here we go Red Sox, here we go!!

Billy Joel

We got tickets to the Billy Joel concert in November! Jeff has seen him in concert but I have not seen him live. Though, as many know, I have met him in person. It was in Milan, Italy while I was on tour with Up with People. I was walking through the "mall" in Milan with my friend, Jaime. She pointed out that we had just passed Billy Joel. I didn't believe her at first. However, Jaime convinced me to follow the man into a CD store. We walked straight up to him and Jaime said, "excuse me sir, but by any chance is your name Billy Joel?" The man replied in a heavy Italian accent "no speaka englese!" He walked off. Being the people Jaime and I are, we proceeded to follow him. We found the man looking at the Billy Joel section of the CD store. We then began to tell him that just in case he was Billy Joel, we wanted to let him know that his music has inspired us, etc, etc. He finally said, "Okay, it's me." We then had a good 20 minute conversation with him. It was absolutely amazing. He was so cool and down to earth. It was definitely one of the highlights of my life.

So the question is...should I try to stalk him again when he comes to Seattle? I wonder if he would remember our run in. Regardless, we are very excited to see his concert!

Show Pics

Our sound tech, Selina, took these photos of our show from the sound booth.

Alaska Animals

These are our favorite animals from the Alaskan area. Sea otters, humpback whales, and, of course, the Siberian huskies!

Ice Caves!

We took this amazing (and hard!) hike in Juneau where we walked on a glacier and hiked inside an actual ice cave. Amazing.

Glacier Bay, Alaska... Wow!

Alaskan Summer

We are just finishing up our last couple weeks on the ms Amsterdam up to Alaska. This summer has been absolutely amazing! We have been lucky enough to take advantage of everything that Alaska has to offer. We have done many great (and challenging) hikes; we've seen every type of wildlife from bears to eagles to sea otters and whales; we have enjoyed the local seafood; we have walked on, and underneath, glaciers; we have tasted the local breweries; and, of course, taken more pictures than we thought possible!

Our show is going very well. After adjusting to the different clientèle that is Holland America, we have thoroughly been enjoying performing once a week. Our headline show is everything we imagined and more!

We are definitely sad that these are the last days of Alaska, but we look forward to hopefully coming back again next year.