Ashley Harrell

To say that I’m “excited” right now would be a bit of an understatement. I’m feeling so many things right now… excitement, nervous energy, fear, anticipation, EVERYTHING! At the time I’m writing this, I’m sitting on my flight between Oakland and Las Vegas. It was surprisingly simple to throw my things together this morning, after the most epic “Christmas” in September last night. It was not so simple to say goodbye to family and to Marcel (the obese cat). But our celebration yesterday made the transition a little smoother. We celebrated with a traditional holiday dinner, complete with a 21 pound organic turkey that we got for FREE from the amazing meat department at Whole Foods in Walnut Creek. Our ordered turkey wasn’t delivered, so they gave us a much larger, organic bird, on the house. Oma and Opa came in from Napa, Travis drove up from LA, Kyle and Amy braved the long journey from Berkeley, and even Gloria was able to make it from San Mateo. We had quite a night, and Santa even came early to me this year, delivering a brand new iPad! (He also said Happy Birthday for 2012.) What a fun night we had.

I definitely feel a great relief leaving Marcel safely in the able hands of Randy, Linda, and of course, Cal (the three month old golden retriever). But there is still an uneasy feeling in my stomach, a nice little character flaw I’ve maintained since childhood. Oh, thanks flight attendant, yes I would love pretzels and a ginger ale. Ah… That helps.

So upon my arrival in Sin City, I will be greeted by the people that hired me to sing aboard the Silver Wind for seven months. After being hired from my video submission, I hope that I make a decent first impression! I’m paired up to share a hotel room for the next month with a gal I’ve never met – it feels like I’m preparing to enter college dorm life again. I couldn’t help but make the comparison, especially with it being that time of year. Shout out to Hannah Strotman, locking it up as a new Gaucho at UCSB! We’re staying at an extended stay hotel off the strip, but somewhat near The Palms and The Rio. Not that I’m planning on doing any gambling (sorry, Dad).

Tomorrow we jump into music rehearsals. I don’t know what to expect, but I love learning and rehearsing new music, so I’m eager to get started. The company also asked me to play guitar on the ship, so I’ve got my guitar in tow and have been working to try and get those fingers calloused and back into shape. This is definitely going to be a musical boot camp for me. There are a few songs I’m interested in accompanying myself with the piano as well, so I’m looking forward to working with our musical director to come up with the best presentation we can achieve.

Peter gets in later tonight and I’m looking forward to having a celebratory glass of bubbly to mark this exciting career milestone for us. My vision of the future has changed drastically in the last two months. I would never have imagined myself in this place, it was a lucky happenstance. The right time, the right opportunity, the right people. This couldn’t be more perfect and I couldn’t be more grateful.