What's Black and White and RRRED all over?

Well besides that fantastic camo they sport in the show?

Black: The night. Cold and empty streets welcomed us to California as well as back home in Utah as we rolled in around 3am after the long drive each way. This was, of course, a product of the Emmons disease known as "always overestimating how much time you have and therefore always being late".
White: My face as I stood poised and ready to launch into my solo there on stage in L.A. following the phenomenal performances of Katie and Patrick...my voice would pale (another white reference)in comparison.
RRRED: The entire weekend! If we weren't watching the show, hanging out at the theater, or eating red-colored candy and snacks from the concession stand (well, I was just ogling them), we were listening to Katie and Patrick run lines in the car as we navigated LA's traffic-ridden streets or excitedly reading another great review of their little musical that could.

This past weekend my sister Jamie and I drove down to California (sans David and the boys...my first time) to visit with my old high school friends and see RRRED, said friends' uproariously funny and satirical glimpse into the Real Redheaded Revolutionary Evolutionary Defiance movement moonlighting as a musical showcased in a quaint little L.A. theater.
Though the trip was short and consisted of way too much car time including two of our four day trip driving to and from the golden state and hours on end spent fighting LA traffic where rush hour never ends, we had a blast. Especially me since these are some of my oldest and dearest friends and we had a great time reminiscing and watching old high school plays that somehow Adam had preserved just for our entertainment. Everyone looked so young and energetic...except for me who looks exactly the same 13 years later (but minus the embarrassing waist-high jeans cuffed at the bottom and paired with black dress flats). I think that I have looked like a thirty year old woman since I turned 14 and honestly my friends would back me up on that.
It has taken me a few days to get to this post, because I wasn't sure I could do it justice. Oh, and the fact that a four-day detour has left me breathless trying to keep up with backed up work, household chores and "quality family time". But I am very proud to say that David held up very well while I was gone. In fact, I even came home to a clean house and....wait for it....a clean bathroom. Maybe I need to go away more often? (Just kidding honey, I know you had something to prove and your point has been well made and I love you for it).
So the following is a pictorial review of our California adventures:
Our first morning there we hit our favorite trendy cafe on Sunset Blvd called The Griddle. It's a tradition.





Patrick has trouble waiting for the actual picture to be taken...

Then we drove a really long time to this private beach that was actually very beautiful. And who really minds long drives along the Pacific Coast Highway?
We even saw some dolphins playing around this close to the shore. Incredible.

We all played in the huge waves and I even took my shorts off. I guess after 15 years of friendship, a few kids for some of us and over a decade of adulthood to mold our self-confidence, we all just threw caution to the wind and didn't care anymore. And Katie supervised from the shore....

That night Jamie took to the stage for her testimonial in song. It is kind of hard to explain how these guest spots fit into the show if you haven't seen it, but sufficed to say that they work and they have a new person every night so you never know what is going to happen. Like Jamie losing her voice one hour before the show and having to belt out her song in a muted tone. But it still worked and she looked great.

Like the wig? It looked pretty good on her, but wait until you see me in that thing. It is also difficult to explain why the testimonials wear wigs in the show if you haven't seen it, the basic premise is that the redheads are meeting incognito to keep the movement (the Real Redheaded Revolutionary Evolutionary Defiance) safe from being infiltrated by traitor blondes and brunettes who have their own agendas.
And remember the aforementioned "all red" concession stand. Take a look:

(...brought to you by Adam and his stylish chocolate-colored toupee)


This is how the set looks...







And this is how Patrick looks when trying on a Swiss Miss wig backstage...

Breathtaking I know. I'm sure it's pictures like this that make his wife Lindsay (who is back at their home in New York) just miss him that much more, right?
The next day we went to this really great outside shopping center called The Grove that is what the Gateway and Riverwoods wish they could be. When you have a Farmer's Market alongside American Doll and upscale clothes stores like Anthropologie you can't go wrong. Throw in a Cheesecake Factory and I believe I could actually live on this block for the rest of my life.

Though I do believe Gateway can claim the best water fountain prize if anyone cared.
Then it was my turn to don the wig and sing my guts out. Not one to miss out, Joanie decided she was going to wear Katie's look-alike wig all night and she actually looked pretty good as a pseudo red head and I even named my character in honor of her, "Joan". But I, on the other hand, aged about twenty years in my wig and look shockingly like my mother...well, you be the judge:

My sister Jamie affectionately told me that not only was not a "hat person", but I definitely couldn't pull off a short hairdo and to never try it. This time, I would have to agree.
My performance, however, turned out pretty well I think. I always have trouble really hitting my mark in rehearsal, but put me in front of an audience that responds and I can come alive. So, it was fun. It felt good to be up on stage after so long and made me miss my avid theater days. But I suppose that season will come again at a later time when my children aren't so young and dependant.
The next day we had another great breakfast (let me tell you, California knows how to do the most important meal of the day) and after some browsing on Melrose we loaded in the car and headed home.

So as far as tourist attractions, the trip wasn't very eventful and I did miss my boys back home very much. But I am completely honored to have been a part of this incREDible (sorry) show with my amazingly talented friends who wrote, produced and starred in it. It received so much critical praise and I hope they take it all the way to the Broadway stage (this is already its third run in a smaller theater), but not before I force them to make one brief stop in Utah first.

SPREAD THE RED!!!!

(P.S. I hope my extended blogging absence didn't lose any of you. I'm sure Ashton's Star Wars party was such a great read you kept coming back to read it over and over, right? I promise to get back to commenting on all of your lovely blogs soon)