Welcome Aboard - that's me up front on the left. :)

Sam & Alberto
Georgia on my Mind
Playin' the girls like pianos!

Opening Costumes for Ballroom Fever~
See, Im' not REALLY blonde... :)
Yes - I have a blonde afro...

Elton John section...my only non-blonde wig for this show!

Well, not much to say right now. I'll update more later. I just wanted to add a few pictures while I was online! Hope you enjoy!!!

Let's see...where to begin for this week...Umm. I started out the week fine and dandy, but I did get a small case of what they call G.I. (basically it's a bad stomach virus) Wed. SO I was confined to my room for 48 hours while they tried to get me better, causing us to cancel and then reblock our show with a dancer in as ME! It was a mess, but I'm feeling much better now. OH AND - INSTALL IS OFFICIALLY OVER!!! That means no more 8 hr days rehearsing plus 2 shows at night! We had our first show without any choreagraphers in the audience taking notes and you could tell a HUGE difference in our performances...well at least for me - I was 100x more relaxed. We actually seemed to be having FUN on stage...can you believe it? haha

Other than that I'm realizing quickly that I'm going to have a lot more down time than I really thought I would. It's nice on port days though because hopefully I'll get to start doing some of the excursions here and there. So far I still haven't really had the chance to enjoy Seattle or Alaska much at all. I've been so busy during the day - and then I was confined last week...I do know that my favorite thing about Seattle thus far is the shopping, which could be good or bad! They have EVERYTHING you can imagine though and it's all within a 15 minute cab ride from where we are docked. It's really nice!

This week I'm hoping to actually see a whale or two, and maybe walk around the outskirts of Juneau or Skagway and see one of the BIG glaciers that I've yet to experience. Apparently it's all right there off the beaten path, you just have to make it a point to go and see them. :)

I have also decided that if none of you have seen "The Bucket List" then it should definitely be added to your "must see" list...I won't say it's the best movie I've seen in a while, but it's on up there and it definitely made me take a second look at all the blessings in my life that I take for granted so often. I also spent the afternoon crying because it made me miss my family and friends so much!!! BUT, sometimes everyone needs a good cry to feel alive I think. ;)

Well, I'm sorry I don't have more pictures to add, but we had a friend of ours take some at our shows tonight. I think he ended up with over 400! So, I'll have to go through them all and find the good ones to add to my next blog.

I can't believe it's been almost a full month! Some days it flies by, and then others I feel like I'll never see home again. But I still love what I'm doing and I don't think I could trade it right now. I mean, I'm getting paid to sing and see the world! Not bad if I say so myself. ~

Tryin' to keep warm,
Kris

My first glacier!
Piano Man Finale
Pure Country Opening
Pure Country Finale

Our gorgeous view 24/7.
Piano Man Opener
Did I say gorgeous? I mean wow...

Well, things are getting better everyday. We opened Pure Country last night and it went GREAT! One more show to go and install will be OVER!!! YES! I'm still exhausted, but we do get the day off in Seattle tomorrow, so I'm very thankful for that.

I get seasick about every couple of days now...which is better than all the time I guess. :) I just end up sleeping a lot which is definitely not a bad thing!

It looks like we'll be doing 3 shows a week once things get up and running. I'm kind of excited about that even though everyone else feels like that's too many for 7 day cruises because it will keep us busier and make the time pass quicker for me. I'm already missing everyone like CRAZY and I can't wait to come home...I guess I'd better not hold my breath huh! hahaha I'm still having fun, so don't let that sound discouraging. It's just very very different than what I'm used to...you know like cars, land, and a room bigger than a closet! hahahaha

I'm going to bed so I can get up early and head out. I'll write more when I get the chance. Please keep praying for me - I feel 'em! Thank you for them. :)

A thousand miles away,

Kristian

Finding my sea-legs...

Well I'm officially in the middle of the ocean and I have figured out that I do have internet access 95% of the time, my cell phone is working but it's roaming so I won't be using that until we get to Alaska tomorrow, and I have not yet found my equilibrium (is that right? haha). In other words I'm still REALLY nautious most of the time, which could be good or bad because it means that I'm not really hungry...so, I guess there's no chance of stuffing my face constantly and gaining weight...but I'm not sure if that would be an issue anyway because the Crew Mess food is questionable at best! haha
So far I've been in safety training most of the time, but we will go full force with rehearsals for the next 3 days in order to be ready to open with our first show Wed. night. Basically during "install" (which is approx. the first 3 weeks of our contract on board) we will be starting with one show this week and continuing to add shows until we have officially performed all 3 shows plus "Welcome Aboard" & "Farewell" shows. During this time guests are on the ship, but instead of seeing all of our shows the cruise director has filled in the gaps with comedians, magicians, or other musicians to headline until we are comfortable with our shows.
For those of you that will be coming aboard the ship at some point or another - news flash: Alaska is cold! hahaha :) The weather change is definitely a rude awakening, but the view pretty much makes it worth while.
We have some really good shopping on board, the guest areas are beautiful, and even though my room is a shoe box, it's cozy and I have managed to find a place to stick everything I own.
I can't post pictures today because I'm on the ships computer - the internet is much cheaper if I don't use my own laptop - but I promise that I will be adding some as soon as I get a chance. The view is incredible so I can't wait to show you what I see everytime I walk outside. I'm finally getting used to the time changes - we will be gaining and losing and hour every week depending on where we are in Alaska - that will be odd, but hopefully I can manage...

Oh, by the way - Mrs. Stricklin you are cracking me up!! hahaha I love everything you're telling me though so please don't stop!

Yes, I will be able to check everything I have on the internet - so facebook, myspace, email etc.
I can't remember the other questions right now, but hopefully I'll be able to answer them next time around. I'm off to another rehearsal, but hopefully this one will be short and sweet. I love and miss everyone, so please keep me posted with things on your end!!!

His,
Kristian

Seattle!

(The pictures above are of the Rhapsody singers and dancers as we prepare for our final run through on Wed. )

Well, I'm jet lagged and I still feel like it's 2 a.m. even though it's just 11:00 over here on this side of the country! We had a GREAT run of our country show on Wed. and got some wonderful comments from our directors, as well as many of the office workers that played a part in hiring us. I guess that was our final chance to prove to the office, directors, and other casts that we had in fact done our jobs and were ready to perform on the ship. I think we proved that and then some if you ask me!!

As most of you know, I am a bit of a procrastinator, so I spent all night Wed. packing and cleaning up. BUT in my defense I was not the only one - 1/2 the other girls were right there with me. So, none of us got to bed until around 2 a.m. and we had to be waiting outside to be taken to the airport by 4:30 a.m.!!!!!!!!! It was BRUTAL...but I got some sleep on the 5 1/2 hr. plane ride and managed to arrive in Seattle around lunch time their time.

We head toward the ship at 7:45 a.m. and will hopefully be on board by around 10 a.m. at the latest. Most of the next couple of days will be filled with orientation training and boat drills etc. and our ship should be leaving around 5 p.m. Friday.

We open with "Piano Man" the following WED!!! Please be praying for the whole cast during the next 3 weeks because we will be rehearsing constantly so that we can get comfortable working on an actual stage with props, costumes and everything....our days will go anywhere from 8 a.m.- 12 p.m. until all the shows have been successfully installed and we have all passed our ship safety tests. It's gonna be a lot of work, so keep us in your prayers!!

That's about all the updating I have for now. Thanks for all your wonderful comments...they really keep me going when I'm far away like this! KEEP THEM COMING!!!!

Blessings,

Kris