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.