Day...somethin' or other...

Iowa has been the pleasantest of surprises!

After reading for far too long last night I remembered I had agreed to attend an 8 AM yoga class in the morn.  That alarm slapped me awake, and I almost texted my portner (yes PORTner...it all started in California wine country ok?) to say I was staying put, but I decided that was lame, so I forced myself out of the bed.  We met in the hotel lobby at 7:15 (ew) and started the trek to Des Moines' East Village.  Its a funky little neck of the woods with vintage clothing stores, "green" beauty salons, and trendy little people walking around in tight pants.  We arrived at the studio around 7:15, but the door was locked.  "Oh no." I thought. "Did my portner misread the schedule? Did we really just hike all the way here at 7 AM for nothing?"  I was secretly hoping it was closed so I could go back to bed...  We decided to run in to a tea shop around the corner and check back closer to 8.  Apparently the instructor was just running a bit late, because when we went back the door was just swinging open.  Once inside we walked up some stairs that felt like they might cave in at the slightest pressure.  Whitewashed walls with exposed brick showing through in patches led us to the bright, open space of the studio.  Greta (our instructor) met us at the top of the stairs and welcomed us quietly.  She looked like she belonged on a beach somewhere...toe headed, tanned, eyes starting to wrinkle but in that attractive sort of way.  There were just three of us taking the class, excluding Greta, so we spread through the whiteness of Revive Studio.  Although I felt a little nauseous half-way through (again with the empty stomach and coffee...I need to quit that...) I left feeling...wait for it...REVIVED!  It was really lovely, and ended up being a great workout.  Greta gave us our first class (my first class ever!) for free, so we gave her a hearty "Namaste!" and walked down the block to find breakfast.  She had suggested a diner called "Baby Boomers".  I had a veggie omelet, fruit and wheat toast...all delish.  We then hoofed it back about 5 blocks to our hotel to get showered and ready for the rest of the day.  I have been wearing Tom's brand natural deodorant...its been working fine until I actually started sweating in yoga...I smelled like a stinky hippy. 

I cleaned up, then met the rest of my cast and crew in the lobby to head to our venue.  A puppet troupe from Nova Scotia was performing "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and we were invited to come see the show.  It was charming.  They used black light, so the book's illustrations really popped as the puppets.  The kiddos ate it up!  It had turned out to be a beautiful spring day, so after the show a couple of us walked back to the East Village for lunch.  We went to a new Lebanese place called "Open Sesame".  Again, delish.  Des Moines does not disappoint.  I had the vegetarian sampler, and had enough leftover to bring home and eat for dinner.  We decided to walk off our impending food coma and do some window shopping.  My window shopping turned into freaking buying...but it was well worth it.  This "justifying my purchases" thing is getting to be a problem...  The store was called Raygun.  It was a cross between American Apparel and Urban Outfitters, but all local.  Some hip, young guys owned the place and had their screen printing equipment in the back of the store where you could see the whole process.  I bought a yellow t that said "you had me at moustache"...its cute, I promise.  And if you could see my beau's current facial hair stylings you would understand.

I started to worry about my obviously loose wallet, and decided it was time to head back to the hotel for a little siesta.  My nap would have been perfect if it had not been infected with HORRIBLE dreams.  I woke up in a tizzy, and sort of nibbled on my leftover Lebanese food and stared out the window for a while.  Then I decided I needed to snap out of it and set to doing some work.  I have been researching some theatres that I would like to start a relationship with and sent some preliminary emails.  It felt good to cross that off my list...now if I could only motivate myself to do my taxes...maybe in Kansas?

We have two shows tomorrow then head out to KS.  I am secretly excited, because I plan to pretend to be Ms. Gale while we are there. 

Namaste.

XO.