Turkish Delight!

Have you ever actually eaten Turkish Delight??? I have and I wouldn't recommend it! Not that it is that bad it just cannot in any way ever lead up to the magical delicious powers that it possesses in the classic CS Lewis story The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. That book is one of my absolute favorites. Not only the book but any and ALL movie adaptations. I actually like the small budget BBC version the best. Maybe because I watched it every year of my life, that I can remember of course. When I was in 8th grade at Hand Middle School for our dance performance we did a ballet version of the classic tale. I was Father Christmas. It was fantastic I had a solo and got to dance with some of my best friends! Speaking of Father Christmas I want to give a little shout out to this guy:

Black Santa. One of my coworkers at work has this guy on her door. He is my favorite. When I was a kid my dad would give us black Santa Christmas cards, it doesn't really have anything to do with race, it was just another one of his ways of showing us that things are not always the way people think. Open you mind a little more and accept the concept that if there IS a Santa, he might be black...who are we to put a color on his skin. So I have adopted this notion and love it more every year.

Christmas time is a lot different this year. First of all I cannot believe that it is the 6th of December already. I mean whoa time sloooow down. I do love this time of year though. I mean I am the brokest of the broke so it is forcing me to get creative with my Christmas presents this year. I am going to make some wreaths and other decorations as gifts. Making stuff n general is just so much nicer than buying something. I mean hey I love to be bought for but if you take time to think about me, and what I might really like and then you MAKE IT FOR ME...whoa. Awesome. My family hasn't decided what they are going to do for Christmas yet so it is kind of up in the air. Which is OK. No matter what it will be a world different than last year. In a gesture unmatched by any in my life my family showed me support by spending their Christmas Eve '09 on a plane. They boarded a plane and flew to China to be with me. Now it wasn't the smoothest trip, but honestly China isn't really one of those places you can just hop a plane and go vacay for a week. The language and the society are so different that it takes a lot more preparation. Unfortunately I was ill the week they arrived, not a surprise I was sick at least once a month. I also had only lived there a few months and so I was unprepared to show them around. I only knew a bit of the language and IT WAS FREAKING COLD!! But I will never forget that they got on that plane and came to see me all the way on the other side of the world.

One thing that I gained in China that I will continue to appreciate in my life is Indian food!! I mean I think Mexican food is #1 in my world but there is a serious lack of it in China. I didn't eat a taco for over a year...sad state of affairs! BUT almost as if the world was like sorry for taking away your favorite try this, and thus I was introduced to Delhi Darbar. It was a restaurant that after the first time I ate there I went to at least once a month and that was the bare minimum. It was the regular dinner spot for my roommate Lindsay and me. She, being from England, was well versed in the way of the curry. It never occurred to me that because we live next to Mexico that we would have more readily available Mexican food, where as England is closer to India and therefore they have more Indian food. Now I am not discounting that either country does not have varying degrees of each but between the two of us we just noticed that it worked out that way. and when Lindsay comes to the US she is going to get a major dose of Mexican deliciousness! Anywho back to Indian food. there were several occasions where David and I would start out to try a new restaurant and would just end up talking ourselves into Delhi Darbar. Well I fell in love, with the spices and the colors and the whole experience. Needless to say I have been craving since my return home. The other day on our ride home from work we were a bit out of the way and K pointed out an Indian food restaurant that he says is comparable to the greatness he enjoyed in Japan. So we decided that it was 100% necessary to have Ifood night, and we did. EG and I went to K&L's for dinner one night. K called in our order and brought it back for us. I ordered this:

Murgh (chicken) Tikka Masala, which was my favorite dish in China. We also had veggie samosas and lemon rice. We had some yummy red wine to wash it all down and I tell you what ladies and gentleman, I was one satisfied diner. K got us level 3 spice which was perfect although I think I will step it up to a level 4 next time. It needs to hurt a little bit right! One day I will go all out and get the vindaloo, hard core right.

Well since I have been talking about Indian cuisine I might as well tell you about a book that read while I was in China, a book that in some ways changed my life. Shantaram. Lindsay found this book in a hostel that we frequently went to to drink beer and play pool. She read it first, and I tell this girl could read, the book is roughly 1000 pages and she finished it in like a month (it took me 4 months). She would sit on the couch and read and laugh or read and cry and she would just say, wait till you read it then you will understand. And understand I did. the reason it took me 4 months to read the book is because it forced me to take it slowly. I began reading and was instantly mesmerized by the writing. It is really thick at first but once you start to appreciate it you are hooked. I found it brought out the lit. minor in me. I would read it with a pencil and a note pad underlining and writing in the margins. Taking notes on things that I needed to look up or ideas to cross reference. It is seriously a brilliant and intricately told story. The first half of the book is one that I can see myself reading over and over again. The second half is thrilling but it in no way compares to the beginning. It is philosophical and beautiful and tragic and terrifying. And it all takes place in India. A land that I have always had an interest in but is made even more magical after reading this story. I would suggest this book to anyone and even gave it to EG as a gift, although I don't think she has even picked it up. It is intimidating, but once you start you will be transported to another world entirely! You can check out some info about it here, and to tell you just seeing this cover makes my heart beat a little faster

Well if you check it out happy reading everyone!

What are you reading, or what have you read that has changed your world a little bit??

xox

Time to remember...

What a week what a week. Last week really was special. It also already feels like it was nine years ago! Time is flying by so quickly. It is already December! I am not quite sure what I think about that, I mean it is great go DECEMBER but in general I like to savor my time and it is hard to do that when you blink and a year has gone by. I have to go ahead throw some mad props out to my dear friends April and Andrew for hosting the most amazing Thanksgiving extravaganza I have ever had. They were gracious, the food was amazing, Andrew cooked the most delicious turkey I have EVER eaten EVER! I am not exaggerating! It was his first try and it was the best. April out did herself. She is already a phenomenal cook but the macaroni and cheese, soup, dressing and especially the homemade sweet potato pie were so delicious. Also she made an amazing turkey salad for sandwiches the next day that rivals any chicken salad I have ever had! Watch your back Gourmet Shop ;)

So thinking back on a couple of past Thanksgivings, last year I was in China. Obviously. At the time I was the only American in our program so it was really interesting being surrounded by so many people who just do NOT celebrate this super American holiday. I had to teach on the Thursday but I had no problem with that because I was at Huanghe the primary school where I taught 3rd grade. I had three classes each class had aprox. 50 students in each and they were my little rays of sunshine in smoggy Xi'an. I taught them from the first day of their 3rd grade year to the last day and I watch them grow and change so much. Their little sparkling personalities shining and changing and growing and melding. I could see some of the students really take a great interest in English. They would ask questions and really try to talk to me! Oh brilliant! Anywho, I took that Thanksgiving Thursday and veered away from my usual lesson plan to tell them about this special holiday. I gave them vocabulary words like pilgrims, native Americans, turkey, family, thanks, feast, harvest. I, along with my assistant teacher, explained the history of the tradition and then how it is celebrated to this day in our country. After telling them how it is spent with your family, eating and giving thanks they asked me if I was going to go and see my family and friends. I remember getting teary-eyed in class and telling them no, that it was too far for me to travel. They were sad, they didn't understand why I would move so far away from my family. They wanted me to be happy, and I told them that I was very happy because I was extremely thankful for them. Then we went around the room and they got to tell me in English what they were thankful for, which with their limited vocabulary was a lot of the same things. Family and food, but when you think about it isn't that usually what we are thankful for as well?! After being a bit emotional it was time to have some thankful fun. So I passed out plain sheets of paper and told them to get out their markers. Then I went to the chalk board and traced an outline of my hand...then drew a face on the thumb and some little red chin turkey dangles and stick legs. When I showed it to the kids they all cheered and were so excited. Although I can't remember the actual Chinese name for a turkey I know that the literal translation is fire bird, interesting considering we fire them up each year! Well each student took to drawing out their own turkey hands. I wrote  GOBBLE GOBBLE in big letters on the board and by the end of class everyone was gobble gobbling around the class. It was the most fun. By the end of class they handed in their pictures, and almost all of them had dedicated them to me. They wrote in English and Chinese Happy Thanksgiving Sumner we love you. They wrote me messages saying how thankful they were for me because I teach them my language and because I am beautiful and funny. It may have been the most amazing day of my life.

After finishing teaching I went home and met up with my roommate Lindsay and our friend/ coworker Rob. Both R and L are from England so they had no real commitment to this holiday but decided to share it with me. I am not sure if they will ever know how much that meant to me. Hotels in the city were pretty good about serving appropriate Western feasts. So we hopped in a cab and headed off to the west side of the city to the Sheraton, they were offering a Tgiving buffet with all you can drink wine and beer for $180 kuai which is about $30. I'll take it!!! We lived on the east side and just had to go straight through the city wall and out the other side to get to our dinner destination, but it still took an hour to get there. Traffic in China is the craziest!! Once at the hotel we were seated and served, we quickly hit the buffet where we saw some much missed delicacies, like SALAD and CHEESE. It was brilliant! I ate and drank and ate and drank...then ate some more. It was gluttonous for sure, and it may be a sin but I deserved it! The three of us had a great time. We made our way to the dessert table more than once. This was the first time we were introduced to some of the weird ice cream flavors they serve, mushroom and green tea and something purple but I can't remember what it was! After dinner I introduced Rob and Linz to the Thanksgiving waddle, what we all are used to, the trying to move after having eaten our weight in turkey in fixins. We took a cab to Oscar's to continue the festivities but I quickly headed home. I had had a gracious plenty and was stuffed and sleepy. The day had been beautiful but challenging. It was cold and I was so far from home. I was thankful to be there and for the opportunity to grow and experience the world in such a dramatically different way, but I was homesick.

It is a Thanksgiving that I will never forget!!!

Good Day Friends!!!

I am on my lunch break right now so this is going to have to be a pretty quick post...hahaha. Right. If I can get writing I am not going to stop myself. I would rather stay a little bit late at work to be able to finish my post. So what's been going on in your world? Not much or tons of stuff? For me it is a bit of both.

I want to start us out on a pleasant note so let me show you a picture I took yesterday.

We had an early afternoon rehearsal for Sealed for Freshness, and as I was walking into the building I saw this lovely picture...ah if I were to own a home I would have this painted on my bathroom ceiling! 

OK so let's back up a bit. I went to see the midnight Harry Potter showing last Thursday night/Friday morning...loved it, can't wait for the next one. Proceeded to be a lazy bum and sit around all day Friday just watching HP movies in reverse chronological order. It was nice, well except for the fact that my roommate and I don't have a couch so I had to spend the entire time on the floor...which I am generally OK with especially because it is a carpeted floor! I motivated myself to get up and ready to go meet with EG, B and MRJ. We had dinner at Hunter Gatherer. It was delicious and the place was packed so it is indeed a hot spot for a Friday night! Might be the whole they brew their own beer thing...too bad I am not a big beer drinker. After dinner we went to Workshop Theatre to see their production of A Few Good Men. It was well done. I mean there are always things that could be better in almost every show so of course it was by no means perfect but they did a great job with a hard script. Aaron Sorkin who is one of my favorite writers wrote the show as a stage play but looking back he must have had screen play aspirations in mind when he was pounding it out because it just screams film. Anywho it was nice...we had post-show drinks at Goatfeathers and I was home and in bed pretty early.

Why call it a night so early on Friday...well because my brother asked me to be a volunteer for the annual Shandon Turkey Trot. I may have mentioned it before. It was a lot of fun. I got up early and treated myself to some Starbucks coffee and went to my post. I was on the corner of Duncan and Holly. I just had to make sure that no cars tried to drive over any runners. I tell you what it was a total inspiration watching those runners out there doing their thing. It was chilly and early but they were there running it out. It really made me want to get out there and do it too! I just might. There were kids out there with their parents and I really cannot think of a better way to spend time with your kids then partaking in a community event like this one! You get involved and you are teaching them about health and fitness two of the most important things we can teach our kids.

After the last runner finished I headed over to my parent's house because my step-sister was in town with my two nephews. One of which I had not seen since my return from China. He is 11 now and it is absolutely amazing to see how much he has grown and changed...and matured. That boy is a rock. He has a great head on his shoulders...the term "well adjusted" pops into my head! My other nephew is 5. He is a nut case in the most brilliant of ways. He would own the show Kids Say the Darndest Things. He is constantly entertaining us with some funny story or joke...I mean he is five but he can get us rolling. He says things like "WHAT THE.." and "YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME.." adorable.

Well they were in town because we were all heading to Charleston for a celebration. OK follow along while I spell this out. My step-mom Anne's older brother Allen and his wife Sharon were celebrating their 50 wedding anniversary. 50 YEARS!!! Crazy talk!!! Anyway, Anne and Allen put together a surprise party getting a lot of the family together without Sharon knowing. It was held in Charleston, SC (one of the most interesting and beautiful cities in the world) at the Confederate Widows and Orphans home. They have a connection to this place but the details are a but fuzzy...I think someone told me while I was carrying boxes and trays into the room to set up...this place was absolutely majestic. It had a lush garden court yard area  and it had an old charm of hard wood floors giant spiraling staircases...and it is located right on Broad St. one of the oldest streets in the city. I snapped this picture as we were carrying in decorations at dusk:

That is a beautiful church that was right down the road and a Palmetto tree, many of which line the street. I love this town. I would love to go down there for a weekend and just walk around. There is so much to see, so much history and quirky little corners. You should definitely treat yourself to a trip there! The party was lovely and Sharon was surprised, but before you know it the weekend was over and I was on my way back to Columbia. I rode down and back with my dad, which was nice because I was able to ask him a whole host of questions.

The show I am doing (see above ;) is set in 1968 and my character would have been around 25-30 years old which is the same age range of my dad at that time! So I picked his brain a bit. Music, mindset, lifestyle...just some preliminary research. My father is a wealth of knowledge about so much stuff. I just love picking his brain!

After we returned to Columbia I went to the gym for some BodyFlow action, which I love. It is a mixture of yoga and taichi. I need that so much. I love the way stretching feels. But it hasn't done too much to help the piercing pain I feel in my back...constantly, like the muscles in between my shoulder blades are on fire. Not sure what to do about it, but something must be done!!

After the gym I rehearsed and went home to watch the AMAs which was fun. I haven;t seen an awards show in forever so it was entertaining. I loved some more than others but was just excited to see some fancy foot work and magical production. I would love to run a show like that, by run I mean stage manage! #Aspiration

Not it is Monday. I actually made it up this a.m. and went to the gym now I am plowing through my day. I am going to rehearse tonight then go grab a drink with a friend, JH. He is down from the District and I look forward to his entertaining with.

Other than that I am just making it through the week until...THANKSGIVING! I have so much to be thankful for...so I know you will get an ear/eye full of that on Thursday...unless I am in a food coma and it gets posted on Friday...

Well I look forward to talking with you again soon!

xoxox

PS a guy just walked by my office with some amazing cologne. The odor is splendiferous. I tell you what men's cologne can really get me. #blush

This is where the title goes!

Sometimes I look at the clock at 8:20 a.m. and think gah I'm ready for a nap! Well I have been awake for 3 hours and so it is kind of warranted. Even though in the 3 hours that I have been awake have not been very strenuous. I woke up, cooked a couple of eggs played on the net, showered and came to work...but man I am exhausted :)! So I am borrowing my friend K's car while he and his wife go to the beach for a week for the Tday holiday! It is going to be pretty exciting, going wherever I want whenever I want...I mean I get around (haha) enough to get things done but now with a car I can do things like spend an hour walking down the grocery aisles or strolling through 5 points. It is at my leisure. I would really love to live in a place where I could have that kind of autonomy naturally. In Columbia you need a car for life. It is like having a part time job when you don't have a car...I have to plan around rides and I know it frustrates people and I hate that, but it is a necessity. I can't afford a car. period. I mean buying a car, car insurance, gas...whoa it kind of makes my head hurt. AND when I have a car I spend more money. If I can't really get around I can't really by stuff. I am not an online shopper so I have to get there to buy. Which I am a bit nervous about having the car for a week but it actually doesn't matter...you have to have money to spend it and I sure don't have it!

Some say money can but happiness some say it can't...I believe both...I mean I don't have any money, honestly I am not just saying that I don't, and I am happy. I love fashion and clothes and shoes and things of that nature and I used to spend tons of money on it...all the time. But I can't do that now. You see I broke that habit cold turkey while I was in China. I mean I am a foot taller and twice as big as most of my Chinese female counterparts. So there is no market for big girls in China, so there was no product. I mean I could find the random shirt/sweater/shoe but it wasn't often. So that helped to break my clothes shopping habit. Also, you know not being able to speak the language was a bit of a deal breaker too...! So it used to be a new dress would bring me joy and it still does but I realize it isn't a need. I can be fine wearing the same clothes I always wear. I used to say that clothing is an extension of my personality, and since I am always changing so must my wardrobe. Well my clothes still express "me" but it is being able to find new ways to work what I already have creating a more accurate parallel!

On my list of things to do now that I have borrowed car...go to a place that serves coffee and read a book...if I was in China I wouldn't even think twice I would go to the Starbucks by the Bell Tower

and get a venti coffee and a blueberry scone and sit in a cozy chair for hours...and I mean hours. Whether I was with David or Kara we would write and read and research and enjoy the company and the familiar surroundings of the American company! But the Starbucks in Columbia are not set up for that kind of lounging. They want you in and out so they can turn that profit. I haven't found one yet that I would feel comfortable just hunkering down and reading! And since Adriana's (best Cola coffee shop ever) closed while I was in China, I feel like I have no where to go...help!!! Suggestions???

Well hopefully I will find somewhere...other plans include but are not limited to going to Big Lots just because...I have a couple of things I need and I have a list so that I can't over do it!!! I will most likely go back here:

The Asian market that my friend K found on his bit about town the other day!! See Kent lived in Japan before I lived in China so we have sort of an Asian connection. This place has a mixture of Korean, Japanese and Chinese products. I am pretty sure the family that owns it is Cantonese, from the Hong Kong-ish region of China. Meaning they are Chinese and speak the Chinese language but it is the Cantonese subset...like Mandarin is the primary language spoken in the large country, also Mandarin is the little bit of Chinese I learned, so unfortunately I won't be able to practice my mad skills with the family....but being able to walk into the store and for a brief moment reexpreience my life in the East is a little treasure in this town!

Tonight at Midnight I am going to see the Harry Potter movie. Ummm PUMPED. I have read all the books twice, I love them and think not only are they great stories but they are literary, layered and well written. I have seen all the movies and wasn't really happy with the last one but in general I wasn't really happy in life at that time...I was kind of a hater! So anywho I will be there tonight...and am thoroughly excited. I am sad that EG and B aren't coming...but they have grown up stuff to do tomorrow!

Other than that I am not really sure what I will do with all my spare time this weekend. I need to hang my art...can't believe I haven't done that...OH wait, duuuh! I am doing exciting things this weekend. On Saturday morning I am going to stand on a corner and make sure runners don't get hit by cars while they are partaking in the Shandon Turkey Trot!! After that I am going somewhere to do something but I just remembered that it is a surprise so I should not say...I mean I doubt that it will make a difference to you guys so if you read this don't get too excited!!! Well get excited about life, anytime!!!

Here is a picture of some of the delights from rehearsal the other night:

The script on the left. The wine on the right, where I like it...and a little tiny Delicious cupcake made by a fellow cast member. She said that she didn't mean for the icing on the tiny cake to match the script but I think she really did...and kudos for her!! It was Dewey our director's birthday...we don't usually drink at rehearsals...usually!

Last image for you...

FUN WITH MIRRORS!!!! There is a mirror on our side deck, great for getting natural light when you need to do things like pluck your eyebrows or check your makeup line...or just stand there and take pictures of yourself...whatevs.

Have a wonderful Thursday my dears and I will be talking to you!

xoxox

Jealous? You should be!!!!

My best friends April and Andrew are hosting Thanksgiving dinner for a few friends!!

This is the menu, I am bringing comfy pants and dessert port!!

Little bit of this and A LOT of that...

Hello there! So I woke up early this morning to get a head start on my writing because it has been a while since my last post...well my not so fantastic computer had other ideas about how it wanted to spend it's morning. Updating itself, slowly so so slow! It is quite frustrating but I can't get too mad I mean hey I have a computer. However, if I want to continue to up my regular writings I am going to need a new piece of equipment. I am going to hope and wish upon every star that I get one for Christmas because honestly I cannot afford one. I live meagerly, I make little and spend little and I am not in debt so I am lucky!

Well let's talk about things that have happened recently! My show at Trustus closed which is very sad indeed. The time spent with that cast and crew was some of the best. I have to send out big props to my friend Trey Hobbs who proposed to his girl friend this past Sunday. He told us about it during rehearsals so it was really nice to have that come to fruition while he was still in my daily! You see when you do a show with a group of people you create a bond. You really do, whether good or bad you bind yourself to these people for however long the process. There are always promises to keep in touch and for a reunion but that usually doesn't happen. I mean you become facebook friends you keep in touch by liking statuses and stalking pictures but you lose that closeness! There are many people that I have done shows with that I became super close to and now they are barely in my periphery! But that is kind of how life goes in general.

I have always been one of those people who has my set of constants, those close friends who know EVERYTHING about me and who can be counted on for anything. Then the rest of my world is filled with an ebb and flow of personalities. I love to give and get from each person that becomes a part of my life, and although people are in no way disposable you can get to a point with a person where you have gathered all you can and you move on. Hopefully there is no resentment and it isn't seen as an abandoning but an opening of other avenues. Does all that make sense? there have been many a friend that I will spend endless amounts of time with then one day it just kind of tapers off. Not so much as I get older but definitely in my youth! I will always count those dear souls as friends and am glad to have had them, they for sure left an imprint on me and an experience was gained. Oh dear how I digress!

Saturday was a relaxing, much needed, girl infusion with my friend April. She is part of the ADG and one of my best friends. She and I started off our day at The Gourmet Shop which has the most delicious EVERYTHING but they are famous for their chicken salad. It is so good I debated on capitalizing it like a proper noun! But I have to admit this was the main reason we were there:

It is the Mimosa Kit and it is only $11. That is totally BA!! After this delight April and I made our rounds around town different stores with different needs. One of our stops was Pier 1, oh I could spend hours in that store. I spent the majority of my money split between Target and The Dollar Tree...hey that is how I roll!

OK I know this:

is TOTALLY random, but on Friday B and I had a totally random run in with each other and sat outside Sbucks sipping coffee and enjoying the beautiful weather and relaxing conversation. As we were sitting down I noticed this little guy just chillin'. I have no idea who put him there or what he is there for but he is brilliant! HIGH FIVE!

So back to the Saturday happenings, show closed and GAMECOCKS WON!!! Hell yeah y'all! We beat Florida to take SEC EAST and will play Auburn in the SEC Championship game. I am so happy for my team. It has been a roller coaster ride in college football this year. It seems like every weekend something crazy is happening to the stats. I like it like that, it shouldn't always be predictable. You need a good season like this to shake things up.

Sunday was a day of Trustus gatherings. Although you would think that now that my show is over that my time at the theatre would decrease exponentially, and it will, but not on STRIKE day. The Sunday following the close of any show is strike and company meeting. Strike is what you do to tear down the set. It is bizarre walking into the theatre and seeing the stage that held so much creativity so many funny moments and tearful endings is being ripped to shreds! It is what has to happen though, I am sure I could tie this into my life somehow. Like actors and theatre people love new beginnings, love to create new things, they use each show to gain something to acquire experience and skill. Kind of like what I do in life. Hmmm, interesting.

So we proceed to tear down the set and clean up the theatre. Wiping down vacuuming up chatting enjoying the company. Then around noon everyone gets lunch. I walked across the parking lot to Publix, for the 3rd time that morning, to get lunch. It was yummy as always, thank you Publix Deli! Then we sit around and have company meeting. We talk about what is going on at the theatre, all the good and A LOT of the bad (money problems always) then we find out what is going on with everyone, how are the upcoming shows going, who is doing what around town. It is an opportunity to share what you need and hopefully to get support from a family type of grouping! Then we post-mortem the show that just closed. It was really great this time, everyone really seemed to enjoy the show! I kind of felt like some people were holding back because they didn't want to be negative which you know what every now and again just keeping it on the bright side can be a good thing. We tell people that we want to hear the things they didn't like as well as the things they did, which I understand we need the criticism to grow...BUT sometimes it is just nice to enjoy something and keep your dislikes to yourself.

My Trustus day is not over yet! Kay and Jim Thigpen co-founders of Trustus decided that they needed to throw a company party, and that they did. We drove out to their home out off Clemson Rd. and had hot dogs hamburgers yummy dips and delightful conversations. It was really nice. I spent most of the night in a big comfy recliner by the fire! It was so nice! People kept giving me a hard time about not moving from the chair but hello it was comfortable and it is in the living room so the conversation was constant, changing and entertaining. AND I had Becky's artichoke dip near by!! We called it a night pretty early, around 9 p.m., I mean it is Sunday night people don't really want to throw down on a Sunday night, especially when you have been up all day working, and you are coming off an intensely draining but fantastic show! I slept soundly that night!

My Monday was good! It consisted of a lot of this:

PAPERCLIPS!! I know not as exciting as you would think but hey I like to mix it up!! Let me tell you some of those paper clips have sparkles on them! But to go along with these paper clips would be tons of paper cuts...it is like a paper cut party on my hands. Which reminds me of a story my high school biology teacher told me about a guy who had a paper cut that was infected and he didn't treat it and they had to amputate his hand...good grief. I carried neosporen around for years. (and I know exactly where it is located at my office!)I love my job. It isn't too challenging just some of your typical administrative stuff but the company I work for does so much good on a daily basis that just being a part of that is truly inspiring!

The rest of my Monday was spent with fabulous friends at Village Idiot for $1 slice night! It was deliscious!

Tonight I will make my way to TACO TUESDAY at The Whig, shocker, then on to my 2nd dialect rehearsal for Freshness. It is our director Dewey Scott-Wiley's biday today so we shall have ourselves an extra special good time!!!!

Have a happy Tuesday out there folks!



LOVE and stuff!

Before I start this thing off right I want to throw a little something your way:

How about a little LOVE on a Thursday morning! This is my friend MRJ ring and she is letting me wear it for a while. (And by letting I mean I ganked that junk)
But today is Veterans Day so I am also sending this love out to all those that served, are serving or will serve. You are heroes, and brave beyond what anyone can truly imagine!

And now it is time for the show…

Yoooooooooooooooo! Today is totally one of those days, and what I mean by that is my head is somewhere else. I feel like a Pisces! I don’t mean anything negative by that, my best friend is a Pisces, what I mean is one of the delightful, but sometimes troubling, characteristics of this sign is forgetfulness. I call it living in the clouds, a perpetual dream land. I am kind of having one of those today in that I have forgotten stuff dropped stuff misplaced stuff all morning and it is only 8:30. It is going to be a long day. I have an excuse though; I am still getting over a head cold. I used a Netti Pot for the first time this morning, darn I should’ve taken a picture of it, and it has my face feeling all kinds of weird.

It is great really a nice holistic, natural, way to clean out your nose/sinus area. My friends swear by it! You just mix a little saline solution with warm water in this nifty little tea pot type deal and well honestly stuff it up your nose. Before you even know it you are rinsing out your face. I am all about the face so why not give it a good cleaning every now and again. I just wish I had one while I was in China, I am sure they do I just never found one, because the pollution that tainted my nostril was evil! Well with the Npot and the other all natural meds I am taking like this little packet of JOY:

EMERGEN-C What???!!!!!

I am going to get back on the full force wellness train before you know it! Which is a good thing because next week is going to be a jam-packed week of good times. I am going to go see a lot of theatre I hope, support the arts whoop! I am going to spend lots of time with friends, yeaaaaa!! And I am going to get stuff done…gah what a week! I can’t believe it is already hard into November. I am already trying to figure out what to do for NYE. I know I am going to stay in town for Thanksgiving, which will be great because I am pretty sure a LOT of people are coming into town that I am going to want to see…and ring their necks with hugs!

Christmas is still kind of up-in-the-air. I mean my parents totally teased me with a trip to Grove Park Inn in Asheville but that has been derailed! Boo! But hey I am just thankful that they are factoring me in on holiday plans at all. I mean they always do! Last year they flew to China to see me on Christmas; it doesn’t get much more factored in than that!

But NYE, I love New Year’s Eve. It has the possibility of AWESOMENESS, which means it also has the possibility of let down. Too much anticipation can be a bad thing…but I am not going to think about it that way! I am just going to be thankful for whatever it is that I do, and whomever I am with I will enjoy myself! Although I really hope it is super fun!!! What are you doing? I really wish I could spend NYE with my good buddy DCW but it is doubtful, him being up in Boston and all that. It will be weird without my Lindsay, my adorable roommate from China, but she lives in England. Oh how great would it be to fly over to England for NYE? Right after I win the lottery ;)

So anywho I am making plans. I enjoy making plans. You know what I also enjoy breakfast. And I get a yummy breakfast sandwich ever now and again from this little quaint cafeteria on the first floor of my building.

Some mornings, some special early mornings, the woman is baking fresh chocolate chip cookies to sell for the next couple of days. Today was one of those glorious days. The whole lobby of my building smells like warm surgery sweetness, and for that I thank her, and tip her kindly!

Tonight begins closing weekend for my show. I am not doubt going to get emotional…well honestly there isn’t much that doesn’t make me emotional, but this show will really be a sad one to close. I am going to miss the music and the lights, the actors exploring different choices each night. I am really going to miss the backstage entertainment in my life. But you know I have made a new little set of friends since this show began and for that I am extremely pleased. I think I will keep them!

I am nervous about the Gamecock football game this weekend and am almost glad that I won’t be able to watch it! We are gonna do it though, we are going to take the EAST!

A little addendum to yesterday, I never did get the TV working so I sat in front of the computer with two chairs creating sort of a lounge couch type deal, snuggled under my down comforter all day. I had some delicious soup for lunch and some shrimp and grits (YES) for dinner. I watched 5 episodes of Glee on HULU and completely freaked out and now I am going to have to HUNT down season 1 and watch them ALLLLLL. (I told you sometimes I freak out and go crazy on TV on DVD!)

I am going to get to it now, and by it I mean the work they pay me for!

But I want to leave you with this picture. It is one that my sister-in-law Tracy framed and gave to me one Christmas:

It just might be my favorite picture of all times.

There you see my brother smiling and staring out of frame, I know in my heart-of-hearts that he is smiling at my Nanny. He and my grandmother were best friends. Then there is me in the middle, what a mug. Oh my look at that face, I still make that face I am sure! But oh the true glory of this picture is on my left, no it isn’t the cake or the laughter, but it is my mother. In all her beauty. She is absolutely radiant and this is how I remember her. She had a smile that would knock your socks off and a wit that would slap you in the face. I miss her ever day for she was my best friend. I look at this picture every day and I smile and smile and smile! To see my brother’s laughter, my chagrin and my mother’s smile is a treasure. One that was captured here thankfully because it is a moment never to be regained but forever remembered!

xoxox

Cold Feet…literally!

Before I started typing this I said I need a blanket and a snack…done and done! I found a spare down comforter in my parent’s guest bedroom. My parent’s guest bedroom I hear you say…I thought you weren’t living with your parents. Have no fear; although I have recently had some minor financial setbacks I have not moved back home. I am sick, well I am not full-fledged under the weather…I am kind of coasting along side the sickness. And having the day off I figured the best way to try and prevent this from becoming a debilitating cold would be to have some serious rest and relaxation, and tons of food!

What better place to do that than your parent’s house? No where I tell you, no where. My dad and I might not see eye-to-eye on many things when it comes to family and well those pesky things like emotions and feelings but I tell you what, if I call him and tell him I am sick he goes into automatic dad mode. He picked me up and brought me over here. Yessss, I double checked to make sure that all the food in the house was available for eating…hey we have food reserves especially when it comes to leftovers. I hunkered down with the boxes of medicine that he bought for me, ah bless, and have been enjoying my day of hibernation.

Now let me tell you. I am not one for TV. I mean I LOVE TV…I really do but when I went to boarding school in high school we weren’t allowed to watch it on week nights, so I just fell out of the habit. Ever since then I haven’t really lived in a place that has regular access to cable. I never felt like it was worth paying for so I never had it at home. I find that when I do have it sucks me in and makes me lazy…I will watch it for HOURS and not do anything else. SO I usually just stick to movies. I will watch one every now and again. Sometimes I will get on a TV on DVD kick and go all out, like on West Wing and The Wire. But in general TV is not a big part of my life. HOWEVER, when I am sick there is really nothing more that I want than to lie in a comfy bed or on a comfy couch and watch TV. I love when there are good girlie movies on TV, or trashy television…or even better when the History Channel has a documentary about creepy stuff…I LOVE IT.

Unfortunately I am not very techno savvy with all these fancy button pushing remote having TV these days. Hell I have had my iPhone for almost 2 months and I still have barely any idea of how to use it! So after I successfully turned the TV on, in my parent’s family room, I pressed what I thought was the button to change the channel. Well FAIL is what the TV decided to do after that moment. That was 4 hours ago…I have yet to fix it. So I decided that I will watch a movie instead…well I can’t get the freaking DVD player to open….it is ON but won’t open…really…so I thought OK I will just watch it on the computer. Well put me in front of a computer and the last thing I am going to do is watch a movie…navigate all the methods of social media for hours, yes, pull myself away for two hours to watch a movie, probably not.

But I am going to type this and then watch some movies. I mean look at my set up:

That creepy Alice in Wonderland looks amazing. Which will be followed by an even creepier cartoon version of The World of Hans Christian Anderson. Other options include a digitally remasterd version of George C. Scott’s Jane Eyre or Elizabeth Taylor in The last Time I saw Paris. (There is a NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD possibility too)
My step mom finds these $1 movies and buys them in bulk…love it! Many of these will appear in this year’s Christmas stocking too!

In case you are wondering this is what I am snacking on:

Yum, all natural peanut butter with saltines and some pineapple with the juice separated to sip on…protein and vit. C do your magic!!

So let’s see, yesterday was taco night. Yumm as usual. I was totally spaced out the whole time:

Don’t be fooled by the dim lighting and the cool hat, I was in cold medicine lala land.
I would have just gone home and gone to bed after work but I had dialect rehearsal so I figured tacos would be a nice dinner. I had some spicy salsa to help open up my nose and stuff. Besides there are always a host of good-looking guys at The Whig, especially that one…oooh he is good looking. Hey I am single and I enjoy a good looking guy! There is no harm in that ;)

After that I went over to the Workshop rehearsal space which is just unfortunately located. I mean I think it is kind of neat but it is in such a bizarre location. It is literally under the I-26 overpass that heads out of town towards Harbison. It is the last stop on Elmwood right before a big cemetery. I mean I love creepy stuff so I think it is cool but it is in such a weird place. That is neither here nor there…well I guess it is there but oh nevermind!

We were having dialect rehearsal so we ladies gathered around and listened to some Midwestern dialect coaching. I think it is so much fun! I am going to just annoy the pants off of all my friends and coworkers. My character is from Steamboat Rock, Iowa so I get to play a little more with the dialect than the other women…yay! Fun!

Well that is about all she wrote for today. I am in the process of having my two tattoos on my back connected so it is going to be a big old wonderful piece of art on my back. I am super excited about it. As of right now I have a Tree of Life on my lower back and a butterfly on my right shoulder…we are going to connect them to make one flowing picture. I will post pics when I can get someone to take them for me.

Well I am going to get back to my get well plan, eat some more delicious food (food in someone else’s house is always yummier) and watch the creepy $1 Alice in Wonderland.

You guys are the best! I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday and try and keep away the colds!!

xoxox

Dear life,

Whoa. Seriously, whoa. What was last week all about? I mean I get it, you have to throw us some curve balls every now and again to keep us on our toes, but it was like I was standing in the batting cage of life with the ball machine stuck on high speed and the only thing I had to protect myself with was a Styrofoam bat. I mean I was able to use my feline instincts to move and tumble my way out of direct beating but it was a lot of work. I am so on my toes right now I need point shoes. It has me thinking, OK what did I do? Where did I misstep? I don’t think there is a direct point of reference but I can generalize and try and figure out what might have led to this downward spiral. Part of me really thinks that breaking that mirror a while back has seriously cursed me.

What do you think about superstitions and such? I don’t know where I stand. There are things that I will not do, like say Macbeth in a theatre. Seriously DON’T DO IT!! Here is the thing I broke a mirror when I was unpacking all my stuff at my new apartment. Since that happening things have been all topsy turvey. I am working through it though. Luckily I have a group of friends that are totally kick ass. Not only my friends but working on a show gives such a since of community. Seriously backstage each night before Reasons to be Pretty is some of the most entertaining moments of the whole show. I wish we could record it and play it for everyone, you would truly enjoy it. I think it is because, let’s be honest, theatre people are weird. And we are totally OK with that, wouldn’t have it any other way really! So having this cast and crew in my life makes laughing and smiling easy and for that I am thankful.

Let me see if I can pick out some stuff that happened this week that is worthy to talk about. Well two of my favorite people had birthdays. I think I told you about birthday taco Tuesday. Well here are a couple of pics from that night:

Michelle in her bday glory


Caitlin’s amazing confectionary talents with this smokin’ hot (seriously) cake.

It was a fun night that ended even more interestingly than it began. I am sad that I will miss tacos this week, but for good reason, dialect rehearsal!

The other exciting thing that happened this week was Nirdvana, the Nirvana tribute show. My dear dear friend Nate got together with some of his former coworkers and decided to put together a Nirvana Unplugged show. Because I am stage managing the mainstage show at Trustus I am responsible for the set and lights and such so I was asked to help out with the Nirdvana show and let me tell you I couldn’t have been more thrilled. I mean Nirvana and I go waaaaay back. One of my fondest memories is the 9 year-old Sumner and Virginia in my brother’s room BLASTING Smells Like Teen Spirit and head banging our little hearts out. We were so badass and no one could tell us differently! That album changed my life, as it did many others I’m sure.

Anywho here is a picture from the Nirdvana rehearsal.

Too bad I didn’t get a picture of the performance night. It was a truly magical show. The audience was right there with them the whole time. Nate spared no expense to make this show something special! He decorated the stage with candles and flowers and the band worked and practiced for months to get each detail down. And get it down they did, I think everyone in the house that night can appreciate the hard work that went into this production. I have to give a shout out to my friend Chris. We haven’t seen each other since I returned from China and getting to work on this show with him was a nice way to reconnect. He did an amazing job with his fancy finger work, that guitar was on fire Friday night!

After that we took to the town. I have to say that my favorite bar in Columbia is Art Bar on Park Street. It is eclectic and funky and you just never know who you will see or what you will get. BUT for some reason, the city of Columbia has decided to focus all of their attention on this bar. Nightly visits from the fire marshal chastising and fining them for being overcrowded. When you can go down to 5 points where in the past year shootings, robbings and overt disruption happen nightly and they take this one bar far away from 5 points to point the finger. It frustrates me because I want to scream discrimination, for this is a bar where you might order a drink next to a gay couple or a friendly tranny. You might spend an hour or two watching scantily clad women shaking their artistic bellies while a man down front plays with fire. Tattoos are the norm and skinny jeans seem like a dress code. It is where I want to go on a Friday night to dance and drink and say silly things and have the MOST fun. But it is becoming impossible. Because of this added attention they can no longer let people in as they feel. They have to restrict the entrance and it becomes a one person out one person in type deal. Meaning that there is a line that takes forever to get into, and once you are in you are never going to leave because you would be forced to wait in line. So on more than one occasion we have been turned away from my favorite bar because of the unsightly line. I give mad props to those of you who wait it out. I, however, have a short attention span when it comes to going out, so if it doesn’t happen quickly my comfy bed will start to call out my name and I will pout all the way home.

So needless to say Friday night we were unable to make it into Art Bar, so we headed down to CJ’s in 5 points. I have only been to this bar a couple of times but I had myself quite a good time. My friend Courtney works there on Friday nights so that was an added bonus. I spent a little bit of time drinking, grooving and chatting away. The whole night was filled with this bit of energy that I just don’t think I could describe. It was a mixture of nervousness and pure excitement with a shot of adrenaline! Crazy! The night ended with EG spilling an entire beer down my leg, which I was not mad about because she was so upset by it that it was actually funny. And seriously you really can’t get mad at EG for anything! She did buy me a Waffle House sandwich which totally makes up for it ;)

So that bizarre energy I was talking about, well that coupled with the unbelievable stresses from the week took their toll on my body and I slept like I have never slept before! Literally I did not get out of bed on Saturday until 5 o’clock in the afternoon. I read a bit and napped and slept and ate and slept some more. I feel like I was plugging myself into the outlet of life to recharge my batteries. Speaking of recharging batteries, one of the FML things that happened this week would have been my iphone being completely wiped out. I kid you not. It tried to update itself and by doing so completely crashed. IT was horrible! I tried everything to get it working but it was all in vain. Until trusty B. came to the rescue. He is like a ninja when it comes to all things computer, wires and all that stuff that I have really no clue about at all! Oh and let me tell you this is not the first time this week that B. has literally saved the show.

On Thursday night before the show we are all hanging out, preshow music playing away, when all of a sudden the music stops. The music doesn’t just stop….it explodes. The little box that changes music from digital to analog literally went up in smoke. Well this show is a great show but Chad’s artistic direction is so greatly accentuated by the music that it would be a crime against art for this show to have to be performed sans music! This would not be the first time B. has been compared to Batman but it is like we put up the single and he swooped in to save the day. He fixed the box and BAM! We had an awesome show. The show had an excited quality that just added to each actor’s performance!

Now it is a Monday morning, again. I am so happy to start a new week! I am going to do all that I can to appreciate the negatives that were handed down last week and mold them into positives for this week. I start rehearsals for Sealed for Freshness tonight and I couldn’t be more thrilled. This week has something special in store for me and I can’t wait to find it out!

Until next time, have a drink on me:

Margarita from Monterrey’s my Sunday night foray into happy hour drinking. I had two of these and slept like a queen!

xoxo

I am back baby!!!

Whoa I know it has been quite a while since our last chat but man I have been busy. Not only have I been busy but I have been kind of out of sorts lately too. I think it is because I haven’t had the time to just sit and think. I love to just sit in my room on my bed and listen to music and think about things. I have not been able to do that for quite awhile so I feel a bit scattered. AND I was literally scattered.

So I told you last week that I did something exciting but I couldn’t talk about it yet, not to be so cryptic but I moved into a new apartment and started moving stuff in a tad bit earlier than the 1st and didn’t want my landlord to ask for more money. I mean I work a lot but it is all at part time wage so….you know!

Anywho, I have never been so excited (and if you haven’t figured it out yet I over use this statement…a lot) about moving into a new place. I have moved in with my long-time friend Abbie J. She is super laid back and has a great dog named Ben! I was able to get all of my stuff out of storage, big props to E&T for letting me use their garage while I was in the big C. One thing that has returned since my big move is THIS…

YES, no more little pod coffee. It isn’t all the way back to my delicious French Press coffee process but we will get there. This is also the return of my pre-China favorite coffee cup curtousie of MRB!!

But in close competition with coffee is my art collection that is now unpacked, I haven’t been able to hang any of it yet, lacking proper utensils, but soon. Once I get them all in place I am going to take pictures and post them for you to see. I have some great stuff by great people. I think I will include my tattoos in that post too!

So last night, after the busiest few days ever, I was able to come home and just be. It feels so good to be on my own again. Not that I am not 100% thankful to have been able to stay at my parents house for that short stint (longest amount of time ever) but we have a better relationship when I am out and about and doing my own thing. Last night I was able to buy some groceries and go home to a room that smells like me, sit on my bed, do my laundry, cook my dinner and all the while I am in the presence of one of my best friends! Awesome! After laundry and dinner Abbie and I settled down to watch a flick…after pursuing through our library of movie selections Abbie reveled that she had never seen one of the best, most classic movies EVER…

RIGHT!!!!

A movie that has two of my favorite quotes delivered by the dashing Clark Gable/Rhett Butler:

“You should be kissed and often, and by someone who knows how.”
And

“With enough courage, you can do without a reputation.”

BRILLIANCE!!!

OK so that was my last night. My come down from a long weekend. Let me tell you a bit about all that. So Friday night I had a show…OBVIOUSLY! After that I went home, I know I know it is the Friday before When, but I just couldn’t do it! I knew I was going out Saturday night and more importantly I had to work all day at the toy store on Sat. day. Let’s put this in perspective…the day before Halloween at a toy shop…oh yeah pandemonium. Not just that but 5 points has a trick or treat fest for kids, so I needed to be on my game. So I went home Fri. night and played around with ideas for my face paint to go with my Peacock costume! SUCCESS!

Saturday started early with some breakfast and then getting CKTS ready for Halloween in 5 points…I of course needed to have a costume on but my peacock was prime time only so I color coordinated with some stuff that we sell at the shop and VIOLA:

Fairy Princess Time!!!

It was perfect too because I was the one who gave out the candy to the kids and so I was like the candy fairy Godmother. It was such a delight seeing all the children dressed up. Like this little angel:

It really doesn’t get much cuter than that!

OK here are some of the downer moments of the afternoon. First off I saw so many of the same costumes it was saddening. I mean let’s spark some creativity parents. I know it is tough to find the time to make stuff when you have kids but what a great opportunity to spend quality time with your kids than designing and orchestrating a Halloween costume?! Secondly, I gave away over 300 pieces of candy in the first 30 minutes and that was given 1 piece to 1 kid. After that I started to recognize repeat offenders WITH THEIR PARENTS. They were going around then going back to their cars dumping their stash and going for seconds…COME ON! And there were a lot of parents with their own bags for candy. REALY??? I was miffed but what can you do at that point, I was not about to incite a riot by say no candy for you! That about covers it.

So after that I dewinged myself and headed over to Trustus, where I happily surprised with a large crowd on the books for the night. We had 61 reservations which is the largest yet! Bring it on folks; let’s try to break that number! The show went well but I have to admit I was a little tuned out during Act II because I was using that time to put on my face paint. Don’t worry no cues were harmed in the application of this face paint! I had some before and after shots of the face but think they were accidentally erased. EG and I finished up the show then quickly changed into our costumes and headed home to pick up B. He and EG were unicorns…EG bright and sparkly, B. black emo-corn! LOVE it. Here is a pic before we headed to the PARTY:

WOOT!

So we went to the party. It was nice but we arrived a bit late and everyone was kind of game over. I did have some funny conversations though, and overall it was a good time. Sometimes I set my expectations for fun too high and they are easily let down. But I need to be thankful for the excitement that WAS had. I mean just wearing face paint is excitement in my book!

I spent all Sunday morning in bed. I wasn’t feeling ill from alcohol just tired and a bit run down. I think I need to stretch more, or so says my friend Rach. It will help me keep my muscles limber and not so easily tired. After I got up guess what I did, bet you will never guess…I went to Trustus. Gah I know you are shocked. We had a Sunday matinee which happened. I am sure it was fine, I am comfortable enough now with my cues that I can do some extracurricular reading whilst in the booth. Oh so you want to know what it looks like from my booth:

Here it is. This is a pretty crap picture but as you can see that is my cue sheet to the left. I try to have the script down well enough that I don’t actually need it by the time we open the show and I can just feel my way through it with my cue sheet. That is the light board, unseen to the right is the light board monitor and to the left is the computer I run the sound from, yes for this show I am running lights and sound…ninja. The audience is below me in the dark and that is the stage in all its glory!

So as if we had not had enough theatre this weekend EG and I decided to go see The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. A production I was in for 5 years running. It is at an out door amphitheatre which is an absolutely enchanting place to work. It is right on the river so the view at night is marvelous. The show is great for kids and a good laugh and there were moments where I found myself wishing I was down there dancing and Pshawing away. Here is a poorly snapped pic:

It was actual Halloween night so I thought it was a great way to spend the evening. It was chilly but they had yummy warm apple cider for a treat at intermission. We were outnumbered by couples and I was thankful to have a good couple of girlfriends to go with me. No date nights on this girls calendar as of yet!

So now that I have delighted you with my busy weekend and told you about my wonderfully stress-free Monday I need to get you all up-to-date on my Tuesday, TODAY, ELECTION DAY!!!

The smiley face in the bottom right hand corner is my own personal handiwork!!!

Well needless to say I voted as early as possible. My dad picked me up at 7:20 and we went to our precinct. There was a bit of a line but I will count that as a good thing. Midterm elections don’t bring ‘em out in hordes but it should! There was a woman standing outside the voting stating talking about some of the questions that were on the ballot this time around; about our penny tax increase. She is for the increase and was doing some polite encouraging. Now someone inside the station apparently not happy about this and reported her to the official inside. He grabbed his rule book and headed outside.

I had already voted and was waiting for my dad when all this was going down. I talked to her a bit and she said she had spoken to the election commission and they informed her that she was allowed to be within 200 feet as long as she was not carrying a sign and especially because she was not promoting a candidate. Well the official wasn’t sure of that and was trying to find out…we all know that you have to be 200 feet away from a voting station with any signage or candidate promotion. She was kind of special I thought and whether you vote for the penny increase or not I still think she deserves a little kudos for getting up early and standing out in the chilly air for something she believes!! Well done you, well done. If anyone knows whether or not she was allowed to stay let me know!

Well that about does it for today. Tonight is another yummy night of Taco Tuesday and we will be celebrating some fabulous birthdays Shout out to Michelle and Toft!

I will give you cupcake details tomorrow!

And hey on this election Tuesday I Voted:

How about you???

xoxox

One day...

So hello there. I missed you guys yesterday! For real! I was at home all morning and was going to write but then I realized that I left my computer power cord at work…fail. That wouldn’t be a problem for a normal computer BUT because mine is a PIECE it will not hold a charge at all. So I was all out of sorts. This has become so cathartic for me, and on top of that it is something that is really entertaining. I hope you think so too. I have so much fun writing to you!

So let me tell you a little bit about what has been going on. Well, Tuesday night (my first Tuesday night off in a month) we decided to take part in Taco Tuesday at The Whig…YUMMM! They have a $2 beer special and $0.50 tacos, oh yeah you heard me write, fifty cents tacos. Not only are they cheap THEY ARE DELICIOUS. Seriously my taste buds were going crazy. You can see them being made and you just know the ingredients are fresh.

I had my carpooling companion Kent drop me off at The Whig at 5ish, where I was panning to meet Toft, my ginger friend. Ginger is perfect for Toft because it is a match for his hair and his personality! Anywho, I arrive before T and grab a booth next to the wonderful Larry Hembree. Larry recently reviewed Reasons to be Pretty at Trustus and loved it…YAY! We chatted about the show, my life and the Nickelodeon Movie Theatre of which he is the executive director! He introduced me to Andy Smith festival director for the Indie Grits Film Fest. Soon after our who’s and ha’s Toft arrived and I switched gears.

Toft is a 2L at USC Law and is thinking of participating in the joint JD/MMC degree. Something that makes me salivate like those crazy dogs’s bell! See I graduated from the journalism school at Carolina with a BA in Public Relations. I graduated in ’07 and they were just in talks about the joint degree program. I have always thought of going to law school, I think in a lot of ways it would be a great journey for me. A true test and one I think I would be up to take. Being able to connect it with something I am so thoroughly interested in, mass communication, is just like icing on the cake. But these are just musings for now! We shall see…

Back to tacos. Toft’s beloved Caitlin joined us as well as EG, B and my girl Michelle. We had a couple of these before eating…

I have no idea what beer it is but it was pretty yummy and only $2.

I am usually not a beer drinker. I like wine and for a real night out it is liquor, but recently I have been enjoying the hopped up life. Ever since our trip to Asheville when I was introduced to their locally brewed White Zombie beer, I have found myself more inclined to the taste. This could be a good or baaaad thing!

After beers we saddled up to the bar for these scrumptious delights….

That would be 3 deluxe (beef and black bean) tacos that were so delectable I could have had a dozen more! I paired mine with some spicy salsa and a dollop of sour cream. I was about to devour my final taco when EG proclaimed how amazing the tacos were with BBQ sauce. Really, two things I absolutely adore do not always go together but hey I am trying new things these days…so I added a bit of the brown sauce and WHOA. Mind blown! You must try it!

To top it all off B treated each of us to one of these….

Chaco Taco anyone??? Oh baby it was good.

I think next time to keep and eye on my consumption I will have 1 beer, 3 tacos and no Chaco even though it was totally worth the calories. Next week we will be there again (I can see many more taco Tuesdays in my future) because Tuesday is Michelle’s Bday so we will do BIRTHDAY TACOS….YAYAYAYA! Best idea ever.

After all that we went back to EG’s house and watched the Rocky Horror Glee episode. Oh man I gotta start watching TV. See the thing is I am not really a big TV watcher at all. I like to watch TV in DVD but that is usually way after the fact. But I might have to stalk down the first season of Glee and lock myself in a room! Back to the show, I loved it! I stage managed Rocky at Trustus summer ’09 and it was the hardest thing I may have ever done. That show was cursed I tell you. It messed with my life on every level. It caused problems at my day job, in my relationship and just in general. I had nightmares about this show MONTHS after it happened. I would wake up in China and be terrified that I had to go back to that show again. Ugh. Overall some great things came out of that show and I was proud of the production but it was damned I tell you damned. So it was nice to watch Glee do such a stress free version of it for me to relax and enjoy.

Last night was very productive for me in that I finally figured out what I am going to be for Halloween. I will not tell you and it isn’t really anything super original but I think it is going to be cute. I will make sure to snap a picture or two!

So I have a feeling today is going to be a double posting kind of day, so I am going to go ahead and end it here….see you in a bit!

So what are YOU going to be for Halloween?

High Heeled Theatre-gasm

So I wore heels yesterday, and I am wearing heels again today. I am going to start making a habit out of this. Ya see what had happened was I moved to China. The first question that I am inevitably asked is "Were you the tallest person there?" or some variation of that sort. I mean yes I am tall but hell I am tall for America too. I am roughly 5'10" tall so no matter where I am I am looking at the tops of heads. Of course it was worse in China bc they are just smaller in general. Especially women, my girl friends were a good 5 inches shorter than me and almost half my size width wise. It was definitely an adjustment. It was really nice getting back to America where big girls are all around and appreciated. But anywho, while in China I only whore high heels 1 time, seriously. I wore them on Thanksgiving Day. I figured that is as American a day as I was going to get.

That was a funny day in general. I was the only American at my company so I ended up having Thanksgiving dinner at the Sheraton on the West side of the city with my friends Lindsay and Rob. So basically I had TDay with a couple of Brits in China. I imagine this year will be a lot different. It was tons of fun teaching my Chinese students about turkey day. I am pretty sure the only thing one of my students learned the whole year was that turkeys say GOBBLE GOBBLE. I had them draw the hand-print turkey thing. They loved it. I still have a stack of them that I brought back. While explaining the whole tradition about being with your family and such they were all so confused as to why I was not going to be with my family...which led to a time zone discussion which led to some serious Chinese mind-blowing!

Anyway, turkey day 2009 was the only day I wore heels. The country was too dirty and I was already too tall, so there you have it. Well I haven't had a chance to wear them much since I have been back. Working at the toy store isn’t the best place to wear them...BUT now that I am back at an office job, and really because I have retrieved them all out of storage, they are back in rotation.

There is another reason as to why I am wearing them, I found out last night that I was, indeed, cast in the show I auditioned for on Sunday night. I am absolutely elated. I have wanted to get back on stage for years...well there was an on-stage excursion in China where I sang and Oasis song in front of 100+ Chinese people at a factory grand opening but that is a horse of a different color! The last show I was on stage for was the satirical For Whom the Southern Bell Tolls a parody of The Glass Menagerie. It was fun. Other than that is has been about 4 years. I have been full force behind the scenes stage managing but I have always been a fan of the front.

I have been involved with theatre since age 8, well all my life really. I started dance classes at 3 with Betty Stockman. Oh bless how I loved those finale performances and the great costumes. Then when I was 8 my parents enrolled me in the youth theatre at Workshop on Bull Street. Oh my, I was absolutely in love. I used to perform for my grandmother, Nanny, all the time. I would totally ask her to sit in the kitchen while I would make commercials and would do dramatic readings etc. Well once I started those classes I never stopped. In middle school I was so involved I used to cut class to organize the costume closet. I was stage managing and assistant directing and sewing costumes and doing everything I could possibly get my hands on. I was in love.

In high school I had some wonderful opportunities. I was cast as Amelia Tilford in The Children's Hour in 10th grade with a smattering of other parts. When I was sent to boarding school-ohhh yeah- I was cast as Joann in our drama competition piece from Vanities. We did really well in the first round but then placed 5th overall. I was not really worried about that seeing as from the first round to the second round our school had taken a trip to Italy, awesome, where I was snitched on for drinking and was suspended, not awesome, for two weeks. Dean Booth let me compete before having to go home--umm my bad, it was Italy what can I say.

Anywho. When I returned to Dreher my senior year I opted on early dismissal instead of taking drama. My priorities were waaay out of whack back the- hindsight right! It wasn't until I started taking classes at Midlands Tech to transfer back to USC; there was an enrollment at USC then a not so proper self-unenrollement. I took a class from Christopher Cook. He was trying to start a new theatre company, High Voltage, in Columbia. His first project was for our class. He adapted a script of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and we performed it at MTC. It was amazing in all its simplicity!

Chris and I were soon inseparable when it came to theatre. After that show we worked on 6 shows back-to-back for the next year. I was in theatre heaven. He also adapted a version of Reservoir Dogs that I was in; still today one of my favorite shows ever. After that He cast me as Cavale from the Sam Shepard/Patti Smith crazy town combo Cowboy Mouth. It was the most neurotic script I had ever read and that was the strangest role I have ever had...part of me wants to do it again. What do you say Chris CBM version 2.0. HA

So I owe a lot to Chris for getting me back into theatre. Also while I was SM'ing, lighting, sounding and costuming the High Voltage show Sundance I was reintroduced to a couple of people, friends of friends casual acquaintances. Well one of those persons ended up being one of the most important people in my life to date, one Miss EG Heard. Yep, she was cast in that show along with my good friend Patrick Kelly, and another blog regular Madeleine. It was the beginning of so many beautiful friendships. From that led to my association with the youth theatre Armed Chair at Trustus, which led to my becoming a Trustus Company member, which led to my running the box office for a summer before becoming their publicity manager for a season or 2! Sheesh. Apparently I have dedicated most of my life to theatre. When people ask me why I didn't major in theatre I tell them that I already had, I majored in theatre every day of my life.

All that to say, I am wearing high heels these days because soon I will start rehearsing the role of 1960s housewife hottie Tracy Ann McClain. She is young and good looking and just a little bit on the flakey side...ah just how I like 'em! I am really excited. I am going to channel the looks of Christina Hendricks from Mad Men while toning up the body and down the smarts.

I will keep an ongoing update for you. So you get to take the journey with me and one day I will find you in the audience!

xoxox

As I am!

Ok so let’s talk about what happened this weekend. Well number 1 important thing being that Reasons to be Pretty FINALLY opened on Friday night. It went well, I think. And by that I mean post-show we dressed up and headed out! We went to Art Bar for Friday night dance party USA and to catch the end of Alternicirque’s last outdoor show of the season. And it was game on once we arrived. I have not had much of an opportunity to really go out and let loose since being home. I have relaxed at times for sure but on Friday I was throwing ‘em back and tearing down the dance floor! Yesssss. Upon leaving Baxter drove us back to Trustus so I could pick up the script, Sealed for Freshness I left there(more to come on this shortly). We some how (not surprised though) ended up jumping up on soap box 2010. We just let it all go. EG, B. and I (mainly me) got a whole bunch of frustration off our chests. I don’t remember a lot about what we talked about but all I know is at one point I was crying (good grief) and at another we were playing hide the inappropriately creepy McDonald’s happy meal toy.

Needless to say it was amazing.

Well I apparently was inspired by this recent rant and rave session and continued it when I got home….on the computer…NOT A GOOD IDEA. But not terrible either. I sent an email I probably should have sent a long time ago and defriended a bunch of people off of fbook that should have GONE a long time ago. Not really out of hatred but seriously it is silly when you see someone you are friends with on The Social Network in real life and don’t speak to them. So if you were one of those, or it in general took me longer than 5/10 seconds to figure out who you are DONE and DONE. Some innocents got caught in the crossfire and I had to send a couple of really embarrassing texts the next day asking to pardon the deletion and refriending! Oh Friday night….he like my friend PK said “Sometimes you just gotta let loose!” So I did, and I am. See I know I have a lot of stress built up because I can FEEL the manifestation of it in my back. From my shoulder blades up my neck it feels like I am Tik Tok from Return to Oz(best/creepiest movie ever) and someone is just turning a notch in my back…tighter and tighter. I am so wound up I am going to pop at any moment. I am counting down the days till I can afford to go get a massage…I wish (sings tune from favorite musical Into the Woods.

So I made some decisions on Friday night. I let some people go and we shall see how well that fairs. I am not good at letting people go especially when I care for them…it is the DOG in me….loyal to a fault. We all need to cut ties, even if they are just emotional ties, or maybe even mental ties…the ones that have lost all real emotion and it is now just a mental habit. Like when someone’s name is more than the sum of all their parts. There are a couple of people where if their name shows up anywhere, email, phone, fbook or where-have-you my, my blood pressure rises. Some not as bad as others but I am sure most of you know what I am talking about. If not I can’t really explain it. And the thing is most of those people don’t deserve that reaction from me. I am not saying they are bad people (weeeellll…) but I am saying there is no reason in my current life. They are in the past and will forever remain there and so I shall try now to let them go. Too bad though, in some cases!

But enough of that already. It was a beautiful day on Saturday. I worked all day then had a show that night. Went to Yesterdays, a local late-night post-theatrical excursion hangout. Then home again home again.

I did something super cool on Sunday morning but I can’t tell you about it yet. I will soon, though! It will be included in my post about my art. I have purchased or been given some amazing pieces over the years and want to put them on here so you can see what amazingness is on my walls that brightens my heart everyday!

As for Sunday night I went and audition for the show I mentioned earlier Sealed for Freshness. I haven’t auditioned for anything in a while so it felt good to “stretch the muscle” as EG says and I agree. The show is set in the ‘60s and is a Tupperware party. There are 5 women and one man (who is only briefly seen in the beginning and end). The great thing about this show is that it is such a good character piece for women. I auditioned for two roles and am not sure about the outcome yet, I will keep you posted for sure! It was just a nice audition to go to with all these extremely talented women around. Got a good girl vibe going from it!

So it is Monday and I am coming off a weekend that seems to have barely happened at all. I was so busy! I am working both jobs today on this rainy day but have the night off and I already know what I am going to do….NOTHING! Oh I am going to curl up and read a book in bed. Maybe I will try to have a phone call with a friend who doesn’t live here. That is always a nice thing to do on a night off.

I know this post is lacking pictures but I will make sure to make up for it in the future!

For those of you reading along I hope you have the opportunity to let loose whether it is on the dance floor or by reexamining some of those ties that might not be pulling your heart and mind in the right direction!

Until tomorrow here is a butterfly outside of Trustus that I watched flitter around for a full 10 minutes before walking inside to the dark theatre.

???!...!!

Hey hey hey! If you ever actually here me say that in person it is a hey hey hey in a little singsong. Today is Friday (like you weren't aware of that already). Oh Glory I had the morning off today, fabulous, and so I let myself indulge in an extra glass of wine last night. I have a friend who lives in another city and we stay in contact primarily through text and the occasional phone call. Well after a couple of glasses of wine he got himself a phone call last night! Ha! It wasn't a drunken dial per se because I wasn't drunk but I was tipsy so I wonder what that is called a tips dial perhaps?! I will have to say it was not the best message I have ever left. I am pretty proud of my voicemail ability. It is pretty unique but last night was very much the equivalent of "I carried a watermelon???!!!" from the classic scene in Dirty Dancing! Love that movie and if I actually watched TV I would watch Jennifer Grey on DWTS and vote for her a thousand times over! Anywho, after my failed attempts (lowers head in mock shame) I headed off to bed. We had a wonderful night at the theatre with our Family night preview audience. We ironed out all of the technical snafus from Wednesday night and shaved a total of about 20 minutes off of the show just by adjusting the pace. Good job actors, they are really blowing my mind!

I want to tell you a little bit about Family Night. I don't know the exact details but what I do know it this. Trustus has always been a forward thinking kind of theatre so when they opened up their doors in the 80's they want to make sure that everyone and I mean EVERYONE knew that when they came to see a show they would be appreciate for who they are and welcomed with open arms. This was a time where being openly gay, especially in South Carolina, wasn't necessarily something you were able to take out in the streets. I mean of course there were couple who were out there pushing the envelope but they knew that they were not welcomed every where. Well Trustus would have none of that. So they decided to start FN. It is the night before opening night of every show where GLT&B were welcomed to come and watch the show and in return were asked to give their honest critics of the show! They have become invaluable to our process at the theatre. They will tell us where things were great and are willing to say "I didn't like this or this could be fixed!" Now that it is more acceptable (encouraged) for same gender couples to go out and about on the town it still gives me chills to think that Jim and Kay were a foundation stepping stone to help with equality in Columbia. I am glad to see how far we have come but we sure haven't made it yet. Here's hoping! So let me give you a little visual of these greats...

Jim and Kay Thigpen, Co-Founders of Trustus Theater

They were going to a black tie gala last night hosted by The Cultural Council". Kay was honored for a grant she wrote. I would honor them with something everyday if I could. I have been so involved with Trustus for years now that I really think of them as parents, and for that I am so thankful! Cheers!

Ok Ok, so yesterday I did not take nearly as many pictures as I should have! I tell you I was in a mood. I was being Sassypants McGee. Sometimes everyone needs a little sass in their life. But at work I was introduced to this little treat

It is chocolate that is good for you?! I was skeptical. It doesn't taste like regular chocolate but it is definitely an appealing taste. You can find out more about them here.
I will definitely keep these in rotation! Something else delicious that I tried recently and am absolutely koo-koo for now is Greek yogurt! After picking it out of the fridge at work, I compared the back label to that of Activa and the Chobani just kicked the other yogurts butt in so many different areas, I went to my desk and promptly looked it up on the Interweb. My search led me to one of my new favorite sites Fit Sugar. They gave me a break down on the Greek Yogurt goods then I perused the site a little longer and knew that I had just stumbled upon a helpful tip for my up and coming goal of EGandSMB for a better life! This kid is pumped.

Our show opens tonight...WOOT....and so Monday starts our new and improved work out regime thanks to the classes I love at Golds. I used to go to the gym all the time before China and even while I was in China. Although I love taking classes and in China I wasn't really able to because of the language barrier (to read more about my China gym life check THIS out)! So I am really looking forward to the burn again, the burn of kicking my butt into shape. I tell you 28 has not been so good to my backside, well come to think about it to any of my sides. So with my new found Maddie based inspiration and with my best friend by my side we are going to start our own conversion! Hetero-Life-Mates for a longer, Lovelier Life!

Anywho I am off to finish my laundry read a bit in my book (ah bless) and head down to CKTS then off to the theatre for OPENING NIGHT!!! Love the butterflies when I think about it! I am still feeling a bit off center so I am not sure if I will be hitting the town for celebration after or heading home to cozy up with some delightful dullness! We shall see what may come of the night!

Oh and random fact of the day, I LOVE socks. All colors and sizes. Some of my favorites included a pair that I was given by my ex (and dear friend) Adam. They are thick white cozy socks, but another favorite pair would be these

"Given" to me by EG, they are a staple in my Fall/Winter wear! I have them on my tosies today because the hard wood is chilly and well it is much easier to slide around while dancing (which I will promptly do after posting this). So I hope you get the chance to enjoy a comfy pair of socks and/or dance/sliding around your home at some point today. (Hey doesn't have to be home I do it at the office alllll the time that might sound bad out of context!!)

xoxox