for you

Merry Christmas

(Note to Moms: click on the link :))

Remember Me?

If you don't, I don't blame you. What can I say? I took a hiatus:). However, I have so many wonderful pictures and one of a kind memories to share, I figured I'd make an appearance.

Sooooo, update...
Europe is good. Hubby is good. Career is good. God is AWESOME. That is the short version.

Here's the long:

I have been singing a lot of galas and concerts lately. Here's one that I did at the Kehrwieder Theater in Hamburg. (I'm the one that looks like me.)

Here I am giving my first live interview in German!! It went great, praise God:D. I have several videos of the different songs from this performance. I'll tack them on at the end of this blog post.

Next up is probably my favorite gala so far. It was in Lübeck, not far from Hamburg. I got to premiere music from a Faaaaaabulous new musical. Can you guess which one?

How 'bout now?

Yes!! I had the privilege of performing "Raise Your Voice" from the hit musical "Sister Act" with a bunch of lovely ladies

Backstage with the girls!

My dear friend Evelyn and me clad in head-to-toe sequins. You wouldn't BELIEVE how heavy!

It was FABULOUS! So grateful for the opportunity:)

Just last week, got to sing a Christmas Gala with a great old friend-- Birgit!

Getting ready for the show!

(Birgit and I shared a dressing room at "Buddy Holly," remember?)

I'm sorta, kinda rethinking the whole "long black hair with a long black dress" thing

Here's the whole crew: Annika, Michael, Birgit, and Morticia Addams (also known as "me")

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Moving right along: THANKSGIVING!!!

This is our friend, Nina. She likes Thanksgiving:).

This is our friend, Stefan. Enough said.

We invited the whole academy over for our 2nd annual Turkey Day in Deutschland. Most, of course, had never, ever celebrated Thanksgiving before.

We stuffed about 25 hungry students into our apartment and had a GREAT time eating, laughing and sharing what we're grateful for.

Just in case you're wondering... Yes, the vegans DID make a real turkey. We had to show the kiddies how it's really done. Tofurkey for Thanksgiving jus' ain't right.

Sweet friends bringing food over for the celebration

Relaxing post dinner

Good times:).

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And lastly...VIENNA

You might recall that last year I had a couple of auditions that took place in Vienna, Austria and had a glorious time. Well, this year we both did! What a gorgeous city!! So far, the most beautiful place I have been at Christmastime.

Christmas market City Hall

Vienna City Hall. Looks like a storybook castle doesn't it?

People shopping at the 100s of stands filled with handmade candies, ornaments, jewelry, clothing, toys and more!

:)

My favorite book from my favorite stand. "You Are Special" by Max Lucado.

For my Musical Theatre nerds:). Obviously the best cafe in Austria!

We also went to a Christmas Market in the courtyard of Schönbrunn Palace

Outside the gates of the palace

And inside!


Pia met us there!

Pia is another one of my wonderful colleagues from "Buddy Holly"

Closer look at Schönbrunn and its massive Christmas tree

A couple of the craft stands: Carved wooden ornaments

Handpainted Christmas ornaments

As we were leaving

We took many, many more pictures. For more beautiful shots check out hubby's blog.

The auditions in Vienna went tremendously well, by the way! Would love to give you an update on work and new contracts but I (legally) have to wait just a liiiittle bit longer. For now, here are those gala performance clips I told you about. Enjoy!

Hound Dog
True Love Ways
Sister Act
Fabulous Baby (Fabelhaft Baby)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!!

FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS

Lately...

Hi!

Happy almost Spring (hopefully)! All is well here in the land of sausage and beer. It's still rather chilly but I could almost swear I saw the sun today. That's a good sign:).

I figure it's time for another good ole fashioned pictorial tour. Whadddya say? (I'll assume you said "yes.")

Julie came to visit me in January. Here's proof! Julie + My Kitchen in Essen!

Further proof: Julie + Me + My leftover stage makeup from the show

We got bored with Germany so we hopped a plane to London.

Thank you, Ryanair, for the dirt cheap tickets. (4 Euro each way. I KNOW, RIGHT?!!!)

Pretty hotel pillow in our pretty hotel

On our way to see the London Eye

The London Eye! It's the biggest Ferris wheel in the world and overlooks Buckingham Palace and Big Ben

Our view of London from the ferris wheel

More of pretty London

Sid and Jules inside the London Eye.

That's Big Ben in the background!

Julie also came to see my show & I had to show her my cool little poster-type-thing in the city

That's meeeeeeeee:)

Don't hurt your neck. I don't know how to fix this yet.

NEXT UP: HAMBURG!! I got to go back to Hamburg for the first time since I left the conservatory there. I had missed everyone sooo much. I came right in time for exams...which, I found, are so much more fun when you're just watching!

Tap exam starring some of my very favorite people! (Don't worry. I said, some :))

The gals

My boys! Just so you know these are the students that were in my semester last year. I heart them.

fuzzy art.

Bad photography with good friends. Marco the great!

On to Valentine's Day! My Valentine is on tour this year so we celebrated Vday a little early because he happened to be in town. I love him so!

Gettin' ready for my hot date

He met me at the train station:)

We went to Karawane, the Arabian restaurant that we love so much

The ceiling at Karawane

DELICIOUS. I'm hungry just thinking about it. When you come visit I have to take you to this restaurant.

Ryan agrees.

I told you it was good.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Back in Hamburg for an audition. I was there three times in a matter of four weeks attending various auditions. It feels like I'm there so often that I might as well move there...:)

Saw this sign in the bathroom at one of my auditions and laughed myself into a coughing fit.

Bear with me. It's worth it.

Great Theatre in Hamburg. Hoping to work there next year!

Made a pit stop to visit my favorite Hamburg-er, Lili! She's getting so big!

This photo captures our relationship perfectly.

Visitors from afar!! Some awesome friends of mine are backpacking through Europe for two glorious months. I haven't verified this with them but I'm sure that Essen, Germany was the highlight of their trip:). Check out Rachel and Katie's wild and crazy adventures at

http://thewoodmeregang.blogspot.com/

I just realized that I don't actually have pictures of Rachel and Katie. Boo. But in my defense I was ill and swamped and having too much fun to remember to document the goings on.

Here's their nifty welcome packet!

There's a lot of fun German candy and handmade arts-and-crap waiting for you too. That is, if you visit:).

Last up: Promos:)

Promos are essentially very short concert versions of our show. A live commercial if you will. This particular promo was at a very large department store downtown. It was packed. I was sick as a dog. Good times.

Just before we started. I'm on the poster somewhere. Can you find me?

There was a ginormous cake afterwards. The sign says, "The cake will be cut by the stars of the musical Buddy"

This is Dominik H. He's my Buddy. (Man, am I punny!)

All of these photos were posted online by fans, and boy am I grateful. I didn't think to take out my camera until after the performance

Sid and Ursula doo-woppin' the morning away

Tulle makes the world go round.

Lewin and Dominik S. in the background

Lalala

If you look at my eyes in this one you can see that I'm just a big sicky-poo covered in glitter.

I think we're singing "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" at this point

"Saturday night and I just got paid...."♪♪♫

Take a bow and head back to the theatre

But not before collecting our obscenely large bouquets

After this I went back to work and, by the grace of God alone, did two shows.

It's been two weeks since that promo. I feel a thousand times better and even did another triple show Saturday last week. And as sleepy as I am, I can't help but mention how blessed I feel to do what I love. I wrote my moms the other day to tell them how absurd it is that I get a standing ovation everyday just for doing my job. It's a dream and I give God all the glory.

And with that, I bid you all goodnight. Sleep well knowing that I am diligently performing my duty here in Germany and, of course, taking myself very seriously.

All my love,

s i d.