My Week With Matthew - Miami!

I am very lucky to be able to say that I have the most amazing boyfriend. I believe I've mentioned him before in previous blog posts but I'm not sure if I've introduced you properly! His name is Matthew but is frequently called MJ, Mudge, Mango and an array of other nicknames too :)

He has family in New York and while he was over visiting them in August he took the time to pop down to Hollywood to see me for a few days :) We stayed in a great suite at a Ramada hotel not far from my rehearsal studios - was a nice change of scenery from the apartments!

I wanted to share what we got up to during our time together here! 

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On our first evening together we took a cab to Hollywood Beach for a stroll and some food... 

The moon was HUGE and looked beautiful against the clouds and sea! I wish my camera could have caught it in all it's glory but you get the idea from the above photo! 

After dipping our toes in the Atlantic we found a mexican restaurant called Mamacitas and decided to order food and cocktails! As often happens with me, I got serious cocktail envy after I realised that MJ's tasted much nicer than mine but my food was awesome...

I ordered enchiladas with rice and refried beans! Yum! 

I have to say that I was rather tipsy after my cocktail (that thing was strong!) and I did end up demonstrating some of the Jellicle Ball to MJ on the beach... My balance wasn't great and I am pretty sure I looked a right sight as my silly brain was attempting to remember and execute the steps! No doubt MJ found it all hilarious... oops!

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On our second evening we took a trip to Aventura Mall for a spot of shopping and to grab ourselves some more scrummy food... I am a food fiend! Yikes. 

So the reason that MJ was over in the States was to celebrate his niece's Christening so we had ourselves a bit of a shopping mission to accomplish in the hour and a half of opening hours that were available to us! We had to find a suit for MJ and a Christening gift for his niece, especially seeing as he was to become her godparent :) very exciting! 

Suit shopping was fun! We spent a long time in Calvin Klein finding the correct sizes and matching up suits with shirts and ties etc before MJ settled on the combination he preferred and which looked great :) One thing down, one to go! Neither of us had a certain idea of what gift to buy for his niece; but after a bit of thought we decided that a piece of jewellery to remind her of the day would be a lovely keepsake and will hopefully last as she grows up! We opted for a teeny tiny silver Pandora bracelet with a cross pendant charm, so pretty! Mission accomplished :D 

After our shopping spree we sat down to eat at The Cheesecake Factory where yet again the food was just delicious :) as was the Oreo Cheesecake that we took back to the hotel for dessert (an obvious choice for us as we are both addicted to Oreos!)

I ordered a lovely fruity Mango cocktail to accompany my food! 

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It seems that my week with MJ is turning into another food blog... oops! That might be partly due to the fact that mealtimes were my only free times during the week where I wasn't prancing around as a Cat, but probably also due to the fact that we love our food!

We got up early one morning and had breakfast at ihop! Of all the times I have been to America, ihop was one restaurant chain that I had never experienced so I was excited to see what all the fuss is about!

I went for a Chocolate Milk to make my brother jealous, it's one of our favourite breakfast beverages over here!

And we both went for a big breakfast that offered eggs, bacon, sausages, hash browns with a side of pancakes each to top it off! So worth the wait, I felt more than ready for a day of rehearsals after this :) 

MJ likes surprises. No wait... Correction! He likes to organise surprises! Not so much on the receiving them ;) So after being told to dress up, being given a beautiful silver Swarovski star pendant necklace (so beautiful, thank you again!), hopping in a taxi with no idea where I was going while being told that where we were headed came highly recommended I knew he was up to his usual tricks!

Where we ended up was GG's Bar and Grill near Hollywood Beach, but situated adjacent to a stunning lake. His brother had dined there before and suggested we gave it a try too! We had a table outside right next to the lake (you can kind of see in the picture below!) and it was so beautiful!

The mojitos we ordered were gorgeous, the food we ordered (steak with garlic and herb mash for me, tuna with some fancy accompaniments for MJ) was soooooo beyond delicious and the whole evening was just wonderful :) I think I can speak for both of us when I say that we both thoroughly enjoyed our evening!  

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So that pretty much sums up our time together in Miami! MJ flew up to New York the following morning and I followed him up there after my week of rehearsals had finished for the Christening! Will tell you all about my time in New York in my next post, coming very soon! 

Until then, meow! xx

Rum Tum Tucker #1

As promised, this is the first of my food segments featuring foods that I hope will make you very hungry while reading :) Credit for the genius Cats-related naming of this little post idea goes to my clever mum Julie, thanks Mutti! Get ready to have those tastebuds tingling...

Bit of background required for this one! My mum, sister and I had gotten into the habit of making and eating a caesar salad for lunch at home so on my first day of rehearsals I visited a local cafe/restaurant and ordered myself one! It came very much American sized and was super scrummy!

Chicken Caesar Salad

On one of my first shopping trips I came across the Oreo section of the supermarket and was overwhelmed by the choices on offer! I will work my way through the varieties they have here and not at home and let you know my opinion! The first variety I decided to try was the Heads or Tails Double Stuff Oreos :)

They taste amazing as usual but also a bit more fun than the standard! Definitely recommended!





Also on this shopping trip I came across the brand which has meant that my Cats character name has been changed from Jemima to Syllabub! The name change was due to racism surrounding the advertising and branding for Aunt Jemima baking products...

As I mentioned, last Thursday it was a cast members birthday and he ordered in some amazingly beautiful and delectable treats from Cold Stone Creamery... We don't have these delicacies available in the UK so I was very excited to try these....

Ice cream cupcakes - wonderfully decorated and yummy! 

Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches with sprinkles!

Me enjoying an Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich 

And the centrepiece - Red Velvet Ice Cream Cake - cannot tell you how glorious this was... layers of red velvet cake with creamy vanilla ice cream, icing with sprinkles and added chunks of Kit Kat for good measure! Can't go wrong really! 

For dessert after our cast meal out at the Aventura Mall, a few friends and I decided to treat ourselves to a slice of cheesecake from the infamous Cheesecake Factory! I opted for the Oreo Dream Cheesecake (or something like that!) One slice was $8.75 which may seem a little steep but the slices are generous and the taste more than makes up for it :) I took quite a few pictures of this little delight!

My heavenly slice of Oreo Dream Cheescake

Yes the whipped cream has more Oreo chunks sprinkled over the top! 

Tucking in - soooooo good! 

So that concludes my first week of yummy American food :) am very excited to continue trying new things and letting you know all about them! Hope I didn't make you too jealous ;) 

Meow!

Week #1 in Miami!

Helloooo! So this week has been a complete whirlwind; so much to take in and get my head around but a rather amazing week nonetheless! Will do a brief round up of my first week at Royal Caribbean and in Miami...will just write things of significance or things that I can remember! My head has taken on so much information this week that this could be interesting... here goes!

*****

Sunday 20th July
Following my last post I eventually made it to Florida and dashed around Orlando airport, found my next boarding gate and hopped on a much smaller plane down to Miami International. Unfortunately when waiting for my suitcase at baggage claim it seemed my suitcase had not followed suit... ha! Sorry, couldn't resist. Thankfully, the kind man who was to drive me and some more of my cast to our apartments was very helpful and we managed to arrange for my luggage to be delivered to me the next day! Was feeling rather lost without it :(

After meeting three lovely cast mates of mine we drove to the Royal Caribbean studios to pick up our keycards for our new apartments and then ended up at Park Colony which we now call home. I am sharing an apartment with the other female dancers in my cast. We had to stay in a temporary apartment for a night while our permanent one was being cleaned, and after a quick trip to Target for essentials, I collapsed into bed after what felt like the longest day EVER!


Monday 21st July
Today was the day! The first day of rehearsals...arrrrrgh! The walk to the studios from our apartments takes roughly 30mins but what I wasn't prepared for was the heat!!! Very humid and literally hits you as you leave the beautifully air conditioned apartments...definitely was not used to this! Arrived at the studios and everyone was so welcoming and friendly. The studios themselves are a great environment to work in, colourful decorations, show posters lining the walls and stage sets along the hallways. Had a shoe fitting first and then was very excited to try on our Cats costumes... :D at this stage most of our catsuits were still white lycra and unfinished. Everyone had their costumes pinned so they would fit us like a glove. Cannot WAIT until they are finished and we can try them on again! Next was orientation followed by an afternoon rehearsal where we met our rehearsal choreographer and got straight to work with a number from our other show 'Come Fly With Me.'

Thankfully my suitcase also found it's way back to my side, was not impressed at having to literally drag the thing all the way back to the apartments in sweltering heat (that'll teach me for buying cheap luggage!) but was so glad to have my belongings! I felt like me again :)

Moved into our new apartment tonight and quickly personalised the place to our liking...

Wednesday 23rd July 

Today was the day I had kind of been dreading for a while... the day of my medical exam. Royal Caribbean require it's dancers to go through rather an extensive medical before we can be signed off to work for them on board. So me and 7 other kittens heading into Miami for a very long morning/afternoon of tests! I had a general physical exam, a chest x-ray, vision test (20/20 vision for me - woop woop!) and I also had my first ever blood test! This is what was freaking me out but I am pleased to report that it wasn't as bad as I had anticipated and only had a little bruise and achy arm to show for it! Fingers crossed all my results come back alright and I'm allowed to continue rehearsing! 

In other news, this rather crazy object turned up outside our apartment today... it's a gigantic flip flop! Looking at the picture now, I realise that it actually just looks normal sized but believe me it is not! We have no idea where it came from or why it even exists, it's a mystery left to be solved... will try and get a picture with me next to it so you can fully appreciate it's henchness! 

Thursday 24th July 

Today was the first body conditioning session for the Oasis cast! Now, I'm not going to lie, I am a bit of a weakling and find it hard to build muscular strength so these sessions, although strenuous and painful, will hopefully give me a bikini body in no time! During our session we learned how to climb a rope Royal Caribbean style, am pleased to say that I got pretty much halfway up :) hooray! Following this were more rehearsals; my body was starting to hate me by this point in the week, very sore muscles, but had to keep pushing through!

It was a fellow kitten's birthday today so after rehearsals we had a bit of a pool party! :) The birthday boy in question is quite the master of games so we played a few in the pool, very hilarious and great to learn some new american games! It was a great night, thoroughly enjoyed myself and think everybody else did too! 

My kittens having fun in the pool! 

Friday 25th and Saturday 26th July 

More rehearsals on these two days! Very impressed at the speed at which we were learning numbers and piecing them together with our super talented singers! By this point we had learnt all of our choreographed numbers bar the finale so as you can well imagine my brain was a tad fried... Nonetheless, most of the choreography was starting to sink in by now and was really starting to enjoy the numbers more and more. Did our first staggered run through of 'Come Fly With Me' and realised that I need to get some serious stamina by the time I get myself on the Oasis... will build it up gradually day by day hopefully!

These little signs are placed outside our rehearsal studio every day and just tell you a bit more about the ship, cast, and creative team who are rehearsing inside! 

Sunday 27th July
Our first day off and my goodness did I need it! My body hurt and ached pretty much however I moved; sitting up in bed, sitting on the couch, walking up/down stairs, walking in general! My legs didn't feel like they were mine because they were so jellylike! Ouch! It was a beautiful sunny day which unfortunately was ruined by the loudest, most grim and ghastly fire alarm noise I have ever heard in my life! I had just successfully (after a few attempts!) made my first ham and cheese omelette and had just started tucking in when we had a power cut and then the dreaded noise started and didn't shut up for far too long! Our power was off for roughly seven hours.

Luckily, because it was such a glorious day outside...

...it wasn't hard to have a relaxing afternoon sunning myself and floating around in the pool! Am very pleased to say that my tan has officially been started today and I fully intend to be golden by the time I leave Miami! 

We decided to visit the local Aventura Mall and have our first cast dinner out together! We dined at an Italian restaurant and the food was scrummy and the mall was amazing! Cannot wait to get back there for a little shopping spree perhaps :) one shop I will definitely be revisiting will be...

Most amazing bath store ever! So many beautifully scented body sprays, shower gels, candles etc!

*****

So that just about concludes my first week in Miami and at Royal Caribbean! That was rather an epically long post, will try to keep my ramblings more concise next week :) 

All in all, it's been a roller coaster of a week! Met my lovely, crazy, super talented new cast; my family for the next 9 months! Starting to settle into Miami and exploring Hollywood too! My brain has been totally fried with all the new information and choreography but it's a great challenge and one  I fully intend on passing with flying colours :) 

Until next time, meow! 

p.s. I will be writing intermittent posts telling you all about the crazy amazing food I am discovering and enjoying while I am over here in the USA! I am completely obsessed with food, I love it, and fully intend on making you all jealous! Keep a look out :)