Octover 28 - Canwest Cabaret & Brad's new job

In case you're looking for some AMAZING music and don't know where to go... check this out! Our friend, the incredibly talented and lovely and beautiful Suba Sankaran, shared this, and we wanted to spread the word:

"I'm happily all over the Canwest Cabaret (or what I affectionately call "CanCab") again this year, performing with my nearest and dearest bands Autorickshaw and Retrocity as well as directing/performing in the Joni Mitchell Songbook (with AMAZING guest artists Heather Bambrick, Dylan Bell, Bryan Humphreys, Ray Montford, David Sereda, Elizabeth Shepherd, Denzal Sinclaire).

The Canwest Cabaret Festival features Canada's most dynamic and exciting performers for a weekend-long festival bursting with songs, stories and ideas. The Young Centre for the Performing Arts is transformed into five intimate club venues. Experience these extraordinary artists up close while enjoying delicious food and drinks from the Young Centre café/bar."

Our beloved friend Heather Bambrick will also be gracing the stage; you absolutely have to go listen to her - if not for her incredible singing, then at least for the comedy routine that is her delivery!

If you've never seen Heather Bambrick or Suba and friends in Autorickshaw or Retrocity, your life is not complete. You have no idea. If you are already a fan, you know this is an opportunity not to be missed!

Canwest Cabaret arrives in 3 DAYS!!! - Suba Sankaran's MySpace Blog |
Canwest Cabaret website


In other news, Brad started his new job last night as an usher/bartender at Neptune Theatre. He was a smashing success, as always. Mel interviewed for the box office at Neptune yesterday morning, and after the interview was over, the interviewer told her assistant to cancel the rest of the interviews. The assistant reminded her they needed 2 new people. She paused. "Okay then... I guess we can see a couple more people..." Sounds pretty good. We'll see if the phone rings today.

Only one more week until.... home sweet Toronto. *sigh*

October 23 - NS Lung Association commercial

Yes. That IS Mel in the Lung Association commercial.





And for those of you with a slightly longer attention span... the 45 second version.

October 20

So instead of looking like a pumpkin, I now look like a pomegranate. What's with the food-coloured hair??

Within a day, the pumpkin had washed out to reveal a straw-like colour not unlike those kitchen cabinets we had in Greenfield as a kid. Fantastic. It looked like that time in undergrad when I tried to bleach my hair myself - Kathy can attest to the three boxes of "Blondissimo" we went through (the third I sent her for alone because I couldn't even go to Pharmaprix looking like that...) and wow. I learned three valuable lessons that day.

1) I am not, will never be, and should never attempt again to go blonde.
2) Blondissimo is one seriously flawed product.
3) Kathy Schneider-Jablonski-Waugh is one seriously great roommate.

So I went back to Aveda.

They coloured it again for free.

I'm not sure why I thought this would be "better"... So please, wish me luck today on my headshot photo shoot. Pray that the lighting is a little more forgiving, and that he suddenly breaks his colour camera and has to go with black and white.

No good can come from this.


In other notes, here are several reasons I've come up with this morning to justify why I've always believed having (our) cats is like having toddlers:

• you have to fish their toys out of the tub before you take a shower
• you have to keep the toilet lid closed or they will flush things and break it
• they cry for attention all night
• they throw up on the floor the minute you're heading out the door - and late for something
• they're fussy eaters
• they try to cram themselves - head first - between you in bed when it's obvious there's no room
• a hug fixes everything

Wish me luck out there today... it's going to be a long one.

October 16

My hair is orange. I look like a pumpkin.

I have a session on Tuesday to get new headshots done, so I figured it was time to update my hair. It was looking a LITTLE 1994. Yeesh. So I went in to a salon here in Halifax, brought my smashing old headshots (the ones I get all the compliments on because the colour is so fantastic) and said, "Make me look like... THIS."

The hairdresser paused.

"Wow. You look a LOT like that girl. This shouldn't be hard."

I paused.

"I hope not... it's me. In the photo." I held it up next to my face and pointed. "Me."

Pause.

"Ohhh..... OH!!! Oh. Okay. Okay! Okay! Let's go!"

Well, it's orange. Not "red", or "auburn", or "cinnamon" or whatever they call it on the hair colour boxes. It's ORANGE. Bright orange. So if you know a casting director who's looking for a live pumpkin, or maybe someone who looks like they're currently on fire, please send them in my direction. I'm looking forward to all the work I'm going to get as a stunt double for carrots.

October 13

Mel:

Well, it has been quite a week.

I got an offer from Dalhousie to start the speech pathology masters program four weeks after the rest of the class began. What an offer! Just when I thought it was time to start rallying support for next year's application, not only do I get handed an eleventh-hour reprieve, but an offer of unconditional acceptance, whether I want to start this year or defer until next year. More than that, if I defer until next year, I get a head start on my thesis, I can work towards applying for funding and maybe even publication; I get to spend the year performing, AND I get to start from day one with the class starting in 2010... But yet the pull of following up on such an incredible offer, of finishing a year earlier, being that person who succeeded against the odds, of getting on with the rest of my life after grad school sooner, of doing what we came here to do and getting this started now!... well, it's just about the hardest decision I've had to make in a long time.

And then - just when I think it can't get any crazier, I get a call. I get offered a show. I've been here a month and a half, and I've shot a commercial, nailed an audition, landed a show, and had an offer to do my masters. It's crazy!!

But you know what? I can't lose. I can't lose! No matter what I choose, I have a life I love with the man of my dreams. A life I've filled with plans; and for the first time since a dog tore my face open and shattered my entire perception of myself, I think I can do it. I can see the joy of looking forward instead of always looking back. I have plans! And I've already got both feet in the water! No matter what I choose right now, I've taken the first big step towards changing my life. I'm not looking back. I'm looking around me and I'm so incredibly blessed; and I'm looking forward, and I'm so incredibly excited.

Whatever I choose, I've got the man I love, friends I adore, family I cherish, a perspective I thrive on, work I love, support I am so thankful for, and goals that are within sight. And a bunch of cats that love me back. :)

THANK YOU for all your support!!! I can't say thanks enough. Thanks. I'll keep you all posted as I make big choices - decisions I couldn't make without the love and support I've been so blessed to have. So thanks again. And thanks for letting me share this with you.

October 6

Holy Crap!

So Mel just got accepted to Dalhousie's Speech Pathology program.

In October.

We've been waiting for ten months, and now that we finally said "well I guess that's that," they call.

They said they NEVER make offers like this, but someone dropped out, and they barely took any waiting list applicants this year, and Mel was at the top of the pile, and they wanted her. And they're convinced she'll have no problem catching up on a month's worth of neuroscience and language acquisition.

I am too. I'm so proud.

October 4 - a little bit later

We finally have furniture!!!

Grampa, Uncle Ron and Mom MacRae arrived yesterday morning with a truck full of goodies. We now own a really lovely striped loveseat ("one you'd actually consider buying if you saw in a store!" says Mom), three lamps, a television made in 1991, a box of confusing knick-knacks, a great set of plastic storage drawers, a bench made from the headboard of a bed, and a country-themed throw. It was a fabulous adventure!

And that adventure happened just an hour before Mel's audition for Halifax Feast. The artistic director, at the end of the audition, said "Melanie, my dear, you are the real deal!". Thank god - years of this "being fraudulent" business is starting to wear thin! But she must have impressed them; they invited both of us to be their guests at the show last night. After the show, the music director said that Mel's audition actually had her worried about her own job. Now that's a compliment! We'll see what happens when the "phone call" comes in...

In other news, Maeby seems to be settling in nicely. So is Brad. :)

October 4

So today was the day we were going to take a nice walk down to the waterfront, explore the shops downtown, spend the afternoon together, and generally have a nice time. But now its raining, so we're going to go rent a monster movie. And then maybe walk in the rain. Wish us luck.