Well it’s official.  My job is complete.  We finished our run of shows today.

Now all that’s left is to go shopping tomorrow and catch our flight!

Another three shows at the ASB Showgrounds today, and to speak honestly it was a hard one for me.  As much as this tour is a blessing it’s not always easy being on the road.  I had a lot of emotions, fears, and insecurities come up for me today, alongside menstrual cramps and tampon changes almost as often as my costumes.

I would literally be wiping the tears from my false eyelashes as I walked onstage or jumped out of a box in front of thousands of cheering audience members.

I love dancing and performing so much, and have been fortunate up until this point to not have such a hard time tapping into my joy as today.  Today was more of a challenge… and definitely a learning experience.

How can I keep my stamina, performance, and energy up for all of these amazing and deserving people today?

Well if I couldn’t tap into a feeling of excitement right away, I could however, channel gratitude. Grateful for this experience, for this tour, for my legs that allow me to dance, for my friend’s I’ve made here, for getting to do what I love everyday, for the ability to complete my day even if I don’t feel my best.

Yes Gratitude.

This morning when I woke up and was feeling blue, I started scrolling on Instagram and saw a quote by Oprah that stuck with me:

Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more.  

If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.

Wow. I’ve experienced both sides of this coin.

Not even 2 hours later at the venue, Mark delivered a pair of supermarket nylons he bought for me to wear in the show.  I unwrapped them and out falls a card that says:

Ok Oprah! I’m listening!  Magic I tell you!  Magic that literally fell in my lap.

This card sat on my makeup station throughout the rest of the day as a reminder.  And it definitely got me through the day…even with some joy!

I was able to connect and perform from this sense of gratitude, and I think it will end up making me a better performer.  After all we are all human…messy, complicated, beautiful humans! The performers, the audience, the crew, and yes even the magic assistants.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

We had three shows today at the ASB Showgrounds in Auckland.  An area that can hold up to 5000 people each show.

It’s always fun to play here because there are a lot of friendly faces in the audience.  This is where International Entertainment (the company that puts on this big Festival) is located).  They are such a warm and fun group.  Thank you Rosemarie, Judy, Tarsh, San, and Christa for your support! Also was great to see Alan and Michele too! I really enjoy that I have a kiwi family over here.  As much as I’m excited to go home, I’m really going to miss them!

Today seemed to be the day I bumped, bruised, and pinched a lot of things on my body.

Pro tip! Makeup wipes are a quick and easy way to get blood off of your fishnets while you’re still wearing them and have to run back onstage.

Only 3 more shows to go tomorrow! Then we fly home the next day!

Signing autographs for the kids after the show.  One of my favorite parts!

(Thanks Alan for the photo!)

This song has been stuck in my head all month because the most popular supermarket out here is named Countdown.

But it’s true.  Today we head into our final venue The ASB Showgrounds arena in Auckland for our last 6 shows.  It’s a tiring run, and bittersweet since it is nearing the end of the tour.

We only have 3 more nights left (4 if you count the redeye).

I never know if I will be back again next year, so I’m trying to soak up all of the greenery, fresh air, and kiwi friends that I have made.

Here is my little altar I made to soak up all the lovely spirituality that New Zealand has to offer to bring back home with me 🙂

My next mission is to fit everything into my (hopefully) underweight suitcase.

Now that’s going to take some magic!

I’m currently sitting backstage during our show.  I can hear the audience laughing at Mark’s act over the loud speaker.

We only have 6 shows after tonight and one more venue.  We drive to Auckland tonight after the show, and then have 6 shows over the weekend before we fly home.

As tired as I am and homesick, I’m savoring every moment, every sparkle, and every smile.  This is honestly the best job in the world and combines all my favorite things!

Pretty costumes, dancing, hide and seek, and performing!  I’m the luckiest gal around.

Well that’s my cue! I have to bring the swords out so Sheena can get cut in half now!

Always lovely to start the day off with a big bubble bath and jacuzzi jets!

Chuck and Mark dropped us off at the redwood forest while they went to a cafe.  It was one of our favorite places from last year- so we made a point to go back.  I had a big headache (maybe from lack of sleep- maybe from the severe sulfur scent), but after a 45 minute walk through the forest, I felt very refreshed.

These trees grow super fast in this climate, so they can’t be used for building – and thus there is this beautiful forest.

There was a really beautiful slice of tree that was unfortunately taken down by dynamite in the 1950s. They were able to count the rings to determine how old it was…dating back to 4BC.   A time line marked big moments in history like when Christ was born, when the Magna Carta was signed, World War I, etc.

I got a chance to charge my Greenstones too. And I was able to present Sheena with hers.  She gave me one last year, so we had a sweet fairy moment amongst the trees ❤

Then came the drive that never ends.  Rotorua to Whangarei (pronounced FUN-GAR-RAY).  We were in the car, start to stop, from 11:30am to 7pm.  I tried to nap as much as possible.

We finally arrived and went straight to the hot tub.

Looks like I started and finished my day with bubbles!

8 shows and 5 days to go!

Woke up after a good nights rest in Taupo. I had read that the first 20 minutes of your morning are the most important and sets the tone of your entire day. I usually start the day with yoga, but because there was a beautiful lake right across the street, I threw on my boots and sweater and went to sit out there.

Lake Taupo is very special because it’s the largest lake by surface area in New Zealand, and was created by 28 volcanic eruptions, allowing the water to sit in a big crater bowl.  And just 10km below it sits molten rock.  It’s like the thin crust pizza of lakes.

We got to take our time in town today.  Have a nice breakfast, do some window shopping, and walk by the lake.

 

They have a big bathroom called the SuperLoo.  It’s a fancy public restroom that costs $0.50 to use.

We had a short drive to Rotorua.

And on the way we stopped at one of our favorite spots, Huka Falls.

Rotorua’s most noticeable characteristic is its overwhelming scent of sulfur- and there’s no escaping it.  This smell comes from all its natural hot springs.

We got home from a successful show and decided to work on a secret project that involved doing this to the room….

If any of my bosses are reading this, don’t worry it’s nice and clean again!

Woke up in New Plymouth..nightmare free!

I set my alarm for 6am so I could be sure to make it down to beach.  I remembered the pathway from 2 years ago, but I had forgotten how scary and feisty the ducks were along the way.

Do not make eye contact.  Do not make eye contact.

The view was worth it and I got to charge my greenstone in the water.

We headed to Taupo for a 6pm show.

Stopping a couple times on the way

We had a really nice venue today in Taupo.  The Great Lake Centre in the middle of town .

It was lovely to have a huge dressing room to spread out in.

We also had a very large stage so we could pack up the show as we went along hahaha!  The real magic happens behind the curtain- it’s almost beyond belief how fast we can get things packed up and then walk casually onstage like we weren’t just running to make our cue 🙂

Taupo is a cool city and I’ll make sure to share more about it in tomorrow’s post!

Sweet Dreams! One week left!

The drive today was just a tiny 5 hour drive to New Plymouth so naturally we had to get going pretty early.  I’m on day 24 of my 30 day yoga challenge- and it seems like the long yoga videos tend to happen on the days we have to leave early. Today’s was 47 minutes and entitled “practice patient” which I definitely did as my internet went in and out.

I’m not sure if it’s because we just had a long vacation, or because we are getting close to the end, but the car ride felt especially cramped today.  Patience.

We stopped in Wanganui and had lunch.  It’s Sofiane’s birthday today and we wanted to do something special, so we picked up a cake for him and some cute champagne bottle candles to present to him after the show.  He is always so generous and shares with everyone-so I wanted to make sure we celebrated him today.  He just had a baby and I could tell he was missing his wife and son very much today.

We had one show at 6pm. We’ve pretty much got it down to a 4.5 hour process including setting up, doing the show, and breaking down. Everything went well! I’m monitoring Chuck’s use of water bottles since he likes to open and not finish any.  I write his name with sharpie on them now.

On the drive we passed a beautiful volcano called Mt. Taranaki standing at 8261 ft.  We weren’t able to see it last year because of the foggy weather, but today it was crystal clear.  This “stratovolcano” is one of the most symmetrical volcanic cones in the world and therefore is the quintessential looking background for movies like The Last Samurai.

We checked into our motel for the evening. It’s the place where we filmed the indoor part of our music video last year.  If you’ve never seen it – give it a look! Watch Music Video Here

As soon as I walked in my room for the evening, I remembered having an intense nightmare here last year that woke me out of my sleep.  I had dreamt Sheena did a high kick in our dance and fell off a very tall stage, breaking her entire leg.  This dream stemmed from some things she and I were going through last year, and I felt like this town of New Plymouth was a real turning point for us last year.  I’ve been really happy with how our friendship keeps growing and developing.  We are totally mirrors for each other (since we have a lot of similarities and often get booked in the same roles), and while that is not always comfortable…we definitely get a lot of growth work done while being able to keep our friendship.  Also how amazing is it to tour with one of my closest friends!

I barely took any pictures today! It was a 3 show day which means we loaded in at 10am and loaded out at 8:30pm.

The shows went really well despite Chuck saying the forbidden word over and over just because he saw a poster.  Luckily we weren’t cursed.

We’re on the final leg of the tour which means there are going to be a lot of long drives and showdays.  But we got this!

Here are some photos of our backstage area today

I really like the posters that the schools out here have.  They all seem to have positive principles…or is it principals. Well either one works in this case!

Tomorrow we have a 5 hour drive and then a show!