235: The Waterpark Episode
Lulu recently took the advice from one of our fabulous 10K Baes, Laurie Brown Kindred, host & creator of the important podcast, Bad Right Breast, and went to the Gardner Museum. It was there that she fell in love with the beautiful painting of El Jaleo by John Singer Sargent. She’s obsessed with the lighting and how you can almost hear the music!
Alison is so obsessed with the new Netflix show, All American, that she even watches it while she’s doing the dishes. She loves the incredibly talented and attractive diverse cast.
Lulu is wishing for an easy DIY solution for a portable VO (Voice Over) booth as she is traveling on tour. Click on the link for one DIY option. I mean, I told her she could duct tape a bunch of sponges inside a bucket, but no dice!
Feeling the $ squeeze at the gas pump, Alison wishes she would’ve entered the Free Gas for a Year contest at Circle K when she had the chance. Although she has a smaller car with good gas mileage, it still smarts! We feel ya, sister!
Lulu traveled to Sitges, Spain this week. And we sometimes come along cities in this beautiful world that we can’t pronounce, so this one is pronounced Sitges. Click on the name for a short video that explains how it would be pronounced if it were in regular Spanish as well as how it is pronounced as it is in (Spain Catalonia) Barcelona. Now, if you watched the Whiskey, Water & Wine segment that Alison and Lulu did with Becky Roper at Pilars Martini in Winter Garden, FL, you’d know just how much they love Cava! Cava is sparkling wine that comes from Spain. And it isssss TASTY!
Knowing how much they both love it, Lulu decided to bring Alison on this 10K Dollar Day! They stayed at Cava and Hotel Mastinell where they enjoyed separate rooms, dinner which is a ‘combination to discover the flavors of the ecological land and km 0 of our garden.’ It also includes 7 dishes paired with their own winery’s wines and Cavas. Breakfast has organic sausages, jams, artisan cheeses, homemade yogurts, fresh orange juice, free-range eggs and paired with our Cava. These folks know how to roll!
They also visited the winery to find out some of their secrets and taste more Cavas! Never one to pass up a good massage or spa treatment, they enjoyed the ‘Gran Reserva Mastinell, a treatment extracted from the grape, wrapped in a magical, relaxing environment, exclusively for you and ending with a tasting for 2 with our Royal Brut Cava.’ With all that Cava flowing, who cares what part of the grape is getting smeared on your body, right?
Sitges is a coastal town in the Catalonia region of Spain, southwest of Barcelona, flanked by the mountainous Parc Natural del Garraf. It’s known for its beautiful Mediterranean beaches lined with grandiose mansions, quaint shops & restaurants in the village and plenty of gay bars and nightclubs! Sitges is actually one of the gay capitals of Europe with Gay pride in June and Bear Week in September.
As Lulu is a big art lover, most of her days include some sort of amazing art and she noticed they also have The Maricel Museum and Cau Ferrat Museum that showcases Catalan and other Spanish art. One form of art you can also find in Sitges is the Corpus Christie Festival where they have ornate flower carpets. “The first record of this beautiful tradition dates from 1887, and today around 360,000 carnations are used in its preparation, in addition to other types of flowers.”
Lunch was at La Paradeta where they lapped up some fresh seafood, canteen-style along with a nice bottle of…wait for it…CAVA! Inspired by Gay Pride and all the stunning bright flower carpets made of carnations, she purchased some Trendy colorful acrylic vases in rainbow colors. She got one set for herself and the other for the winner of a fashion contest of flowers she decided she would put on. The winner would also walk away with the prize of a Pearlized Marcel Boucher carnation brooch to commemorate this momentous win.
Passing on all the nude and gay beaches they decided to visit L’Aquatic Paradis an abandoned waterpark that only lasted 2 seasons before becoming popular with graffiti artists, skaters, music videos & fashion shows. And since she brought her resident ‘soup to nuts’ film writer, camera woman, editor and director/producer extraordinaire (Alison), Lulu had her create and film a short film at the park! She got her Final Draft software for writing it and let her work her magic with her iPhone 13.
Finished with their own art, they naturally went to Queenz Dinner Show for the late show receiving a complimentary glass of Cava. (But, of course!) “The starter is a selection of 4 tapas dishes, followed by your choice of a main course, and to finish a tasty homemade dessert.” Dinner is prepared by their chef, Veronica Jover, with years of experience in French and Mediterranean cuisine. And you couldn’t get a finer recommendation that this one from the infamous performer & gay icon, Liza Minelli!
“Once dinner is finished the show will start. Let yourself be indulged by the electrifying atmosphere, the fast-paced show, the fantastic costumes, the iconic songs of disco and the exciting dance performances. Art director, Daniel Busato, along with his partner, Sebastián Daltolo and his team have been working for months to develop this spectacular show. It is a mix of drag, theatre and playback, with lots of humour. The show approximately lasts 50 minutes and ends at midnight.
— Liza Minelli
Lulu and Alison closed out the night at El Piano, a cute little cabaret bar, but they bent the time continuum in the way only a 10K Dollar Day could be bent…they decided to buy tickets when their friend, Christina Bianco will actually be performing there! So, if you find yourself in Sitges, Spain on Aug. 16/17, 2022, get your tickets while you can!! And since she loves Elderflower liqueur, they imbibed some Rose Rabbit Elderflower Liqueur while enjoying her show! What a great 10K Day!!
Since this week’s Magic Word was inspired by her very own daughter, Hannah, Alison just knew she needed to bring her whole family on this 10K Day! So, she took them to New Braunfels, Texas to enjoy Schlitterbahn! Now, before you can say, “What did you call me??” this is a world-class waterpark that features more than 50 slides and attractions. Having to house herself, her husband and 2 daughters, she chose the The Treehaus Luxury Suites, which has old world charm and modern conveniences. Plus, the waterpark is right outside! There are The Falls, The Boogie Bahn Surfing Ride, and the Boogie Bay Heated Pool and the entire East Section of Schlitterbahn is within a short walk of the Treehaus Suites.
Alison budgeted for some food at the waterpark and then treated the family to a good ol’ family movie at Stars & Stripes Drive-in Theatre. And since her oldest is more than capable of staying with Hannah, it gave Alison and Chris time to go ‘antiquing’ at The Downtown Antique Mall. Best part of that is when her bestie, Lulu calls her out for not even being into antiques! Undaunted, she gave herself and Chris a $1000 each budget before she left him to join the girls for shampoo, blowout & style at Blow Dry Haus before their fancy family dinner at Myron’s Prime Steakhouse. They do their best to know you by name at Myron’s and proudly serve you the finest Midwestern corn fed USDA Prime Beef which is the top 2% of the nation’s total beef production.
To close out this fun family 10K Dollar Day, she bought two sets of Meta Quest Virtual Reality headset kits and they played video games into the night safely as they wrapped up all their surroundings in a bulk amount of bubble wrap!
Alison is just so happy to be directing the fun show of Nunsense: A-men at the Straz Theatre in St. Petersburg, FL. Get your tickets now!
Lulu is so happy she got to spend the important holiday of Juneteenth with her amazing cast of 1776 where The Roundabout Theatre recognized this important federal holiday by not having a show. So they had a wonderful picnic celebration and enjoyed each other’s company.
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