It's What You Wear From Ear to Ear...

Tonight was my 5th free thing of the year, & in the 5th week of the year no less. I'm tellin' you, I'm onna roll. Next week I'll have another since the show at work's opening & I don't gotta pay for those.

Tonight was Annie at OCPAC. I got the tickets so I could take Lydia. She's new to theatre. She braved through Pippin with me but Annie'd be right up her alley. Alas, Lydia is a sickie like me, only worse, so she couldn't make it. So sad. I wish she was well. Not just for theatre, don't get me wrong, but I wish she was well enough to have joined me. She would have loved it. I took Mom instead. She never minds being my back-up theatre buddy.

It was neat seeing the show with Mom. Back in the day, Annie was my first live performance I ever saw. It was at the Pantages. It was cold outside while waiting to go in & it was magic inside. I guess one could say that Annie's the show that planted the bug of theatre into my little world. It's so great. A happy show with 30's clothes, fun songs & a great little story. What would a Broadway musical be without a little cheese, right?

If you haven't seen the movie, rent it. Keep in mind my above statement about Broadway musicals but, come on, Carol Burnett play Miss Higgins. That's worth the rental fee right there.

Snot Face

I'm sick. It's yucky. Snot everywhere. I'm sure you loved reading that but there it is. Worst part is I can't call in sick at work since I'm really the only one working on my show.

It was really fun having swollen sinuses at an elevation of a mile high in the mountains this weekend. Not much sleep to be had when one can't breathe is there? Lack of sleep never expediates the healing process.

I was so desperate at work today I walked to CVS & bought nasal spray. Good news: I could NEVER be a cocaine addict since after snorting stupid medicine I thought I was going to die for about 2 hours due to the horrible pain. Bad news: I thought I was going to die for about 2 hours due to the horrible pain. That stuff's terrible! How can anyone use that crap? Let alone put anything else up there?! I'm hoping that the abundance of snot means this cold's on it's way out.

I'll close with an appropriate quote from Drop Dead Fred:

Fred: Morning. Who's for snot flicking?

Who Needs Money?

Like I said before, 2007 is gonna be a great year. Here we are into the 4th week of the year & I'm about to take part in my 4th freebie. First was "Pippin", then was "Cavalia". Last week I got a couple last minute comps to see "Don Giovanni". Gorgeous music, weirdo set, and while each individual costume piece was nice, they were completely random when put together. My favorite (not so much) was looking at the bright fuchsia dress in front of the ALL red stage.

ANYWAY. My fourth freebie. This weekend Kaisara & I are heading up to a marriage retreat at Forest Home. Someone at our church sponsored us for this event. Super generous & I've been praying for whomever provided it to be blessed right out of their socks. We'll have a private cabin & a private bathroom. Awesome.

I'm a little leary though. We don't really know anyone else whose going & any time I've been to a marriage thing-y so much of it seemed to revolve around having of the kids. Hello. Does not apply. I'm hoping that's not the case this weekend.

Regardless, Kaisara & I always have a great time together. How bad could a private cabin in the mountains for a weekend be right?

Know of a Buyer?

The desk top is 42" x 30" and has a 6 1/2" x 30" tray on the side for pens, pencils & the like. The removable mat is white on one side & green on the other & is the same size as the desk top. The desk can be angled or flat. At its highest it's 36" tall & at its lowest is 26" tall. It can also be folded flat to only about 6" thick. The chair lowers to 22" and raised to 32".



Kaisara & I are looking to sell his drafting table, mat & chair. Do you know anyone who may be interested?


We're looking to sell it for about $65. obo.

A One Time Thing

We went to Barona Casino yesterday & Daryl joined us. I got a detail a little confused though. The 2 hour thing. You have to play for at least 2 hours not up to 2 hours. Duh, that makes sense. Why would I think they'd want you to stop. So you've gotta make your $200 last for 2 hours or else you've gotta put more money in that they won't cover if you loose it. In the end we lost all of our money but it only cost us the atm fee (we didn't stop to get cash & their atm has a $3 fee). We had lunch in the food court (delicious burgers & pizza), parking was free & every employee we spoke to was super nice & courteous.

We did have to laugh at ourselves because once we got all set up with our cards we all sat down & had no idea how to work the stupid things. What dorks. Of course the boys weren't gonna ask so I flagged down a cashier lady and said with a laugh in my voice, "Hi, I'm new. How do I work this thing?" What a lame-o. She explained it, I got it & explained it to the boys. They had a harder time grasping the bet 1-20 lines & bet each line 1-5 times.

2 hours on a slot machine is alot like playing scratchers for 2 hours so it got a little old but we had to have 2 hours on our card so we kept pushing the buttons. I'm glad we did it for something different, even more glad we didn't actually loose $400 but since that's only a first time visitor thing, we probably won't go back.

Good to know that I could never get hooked. It was hard for me to play it all even though I knew I'd get it back. What can I say, I'm a cheap-o.

Kenny Sold Us

So Kaisara & I are trying something different this weekend. We're going down to Barona Casino to play the slots. They've got this thing going 'til April that they'll cover your losses on the slots for 2 hours up to $200 and they'll double your winnings for 2 hours up to $200. So worst case scenario, if you don't put in more than $200, you break even. Best case scenario, your $200 grows to $400. Of course they count on you losing more than your $200 and that you'll drop more money in their casino, restaurants & the like. But they don't know us. We're driving down. Gonna have some lunch (a cheap one) & see if we can't leave with 400 of their dollars (200 for me, 200 for Kaisara). Mostly it's a good excuse for some time together & do something different.

Anyone wanting to join us, give me a call. Just remember, "you gotta know when to fold 'em."

Sew What

A reflecting post that might go long and/or be boring to most of you.

I hold a sewing class/group at my house once a month called Sew What. It's usually the 3rd Saturday of the month but I had to move it up a week this month so it was today. The ladies just left & I'm putting the living room back together while thinking how blessed I am to know these ladies & to have a home to open to them.

Sew What was born out of Sewing Circle. My once-a-month group of ladies that usually meet at Cal Poly's costume shop. While it is often a two hour drive for me to be there for an hour and a half & then a 45 minute drive home, I only miss it when absolutely necessary. Sewing Circle includes former classmates of mine, other alum, & faculty (past & present). We've been meeting for eight years with people coming and going. Sewing Circle has awakened me to how meaningful "community" is for us, especially women. We're just wired for it. Even when I'm dreading the drive to or I'm too swamped & shouldn't go because there's too much to do, I go. I always, every single time, leave feeling refreshed, uplifted, encouraged, totally blessed & ready to face the world for another month before we get together again. It's priceless for me & I know for several other members of the group.

That's why I started Sew What. I wanted other ladies to have & feel what I have at Sewing Circle. I had several friends wanting to learn to sew, I offered to teach them. They've mended clothes for themselves & their families. They've made gifts for others. They've made things for their homes & blankets for babies. My prayer is that they leave feeling the way I do after Sewing Circle, "always, every single time, feeling refreshed, uplifted, encouraged, totally blessed & ready to face the world for another month before we get together again". I guess it's not really fair, I've now got two groups of community that make me feel that way.

Getting things done isn't even the point. More times than not, many of us are packing up our things realizing we haven't finished two stitches but have spent the time chatting, laughing, show-&-telling and even sometimes crying. That's the point. Community. Sharing our lives with others. In this "I'm fine. How are you?" "Fine" society we have GOT to make a consious effort in being part of a community.

At both Sewing Circle & Sew What people come, people go, people invite others, people invite themselves. That's awesome & how it should be. When as kids did we loose the ability to ask, "can I play with you guys?" and as adults just wait for an invitation that may or maynot arrive. When does that happen? Why does that happen?

Thank you Sewing Circle ladies for what you do for me.

Thank you Sew What ladies for what you you do for me.

A sense of community is so meaningful & priceless it should be sought out if you don't not have one (or in my case 2!). What can I say, I'm a blessed girl.

Birthday Girl!

Happy Birthday Melissa! I'm wishing for no birthday snow for you! I hope your day is a happy one. Thanks for being my friend. You're a great one!

Amazing & Awesome

Cavalia is a show that should not be missed. Think Cirque Du Soleil with horses & less bizzare.

Given, I'm a horse person. Always have been, always will be. But you don't need to be to enjoy this show. As a theatre "techie", this show is amazing. But you don't need to be a techie to enjoy this show either. This show has so much to offer everyone. The horses were awesome, beautiful & such gentle giants even when racing acroos the stage flat out. The human cast members were amazing in their tricks & athletic ability. The musical score (performed live) was moving & perfectly fitting. There wasn't anything I didn't love about this show. What a magical thing to witness & as an audience member, be a part of.

I was a little wary of going. Oh, I was going all right. But how would it affect me? Often thinking of my horseback years & all of the great memories saddens me (a fact that frustrates Kaisara to no end). But this show didn't. Watching the performers & because of sense memory, I knew exactly what those performers were feeling on & in their bodies. Horses are magical.

In Melissa fashion I will close with a quote:

"There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man." --Winston Churchill

Bring on the Freebies!

If the first week of the year is any indication, 2007 is gonna be a year full of theatre. Free theatre too!

I found out on the last Friday of 2006 that a friend of mine is now the graphic designer for OCPAC. Cool! I was so pleased that he got what I would think to be a great gig. When I told him we should go out to lunch sometime since I'm literally right across the street he asked me if I liked shows & would I ever be interested in his comps that he doesn't use. HELLO?!?!?! I laughed & of course said yes to both questions. Seven days later he calls & wants to know if I'm interested in seeing Pippin that night. Sure! All I know is that's it's a Broadway musical. That's it, but hey, it's free.

I took my mom & Lydia with me. I'm glad I went but I have mixed feelings about the show. Overall I guess I'd say I didn't like it. I could have DEFINITELY done without the dance-y orgy scene. It was five minutes that didn't add anything to the story & was just too seedy for me. The actor playing the title role was rather pitchy & not a very good dancer. (How do these people get these gigs?) I would have loved to see William Katt do the role which apparently he did many moons ago. On the other hand the Leading Player was, in a word...AMAZING! What a voice, what moves, what a fun character. His costume was amazing too. The role was originally played by Ben Vereen & I would LOVED to have seen that but given that was in 1972, alas, it would have been impossible. Pippin tells a story in the same fashion as Chicago. It glamorizes immoral behavior while telling you "this isn't how this should be". So the moral of Pippin's story (or what I got from it) is good it just leads you to that point by making some bad stuff look like the good. It's conflicting for me & I still haven't processed it all.

So today John, our prop master at work, came in to our shop to see if anyone wanted to see Cavalia tomorrow night. OH MY GRACIOUS!!! YES!! I said I wanted it & how much, can I bring you the money tomorrow. No, it's free. I'm SO excited! I can't wait. A friend of mine at Pageant saw it a few years ago & couldn't even talk about it without getting choked up, she thought it so wonderful. Did I mention I get to go for free! I don't even need to pay for parking. It's at Verizon Wireless Ampitheatre so Kaisara's gonna drop me off after work & pick me up after the show (he's rad).

Movies

I hadn't seen a movine since July when we saw Superman Returns. I really liked it & have seen it again since on DVD. It's very exciting, as I find most comic book movies. Of course it didn't hurt that Brandon Routh isn't hard to look at. I'm looking forward to more Superman movies.

After a six month hiatus of not seeing any movies I've now seen two within a couple weeks. The Nativity Story & Night at the Museum.








I really really liked The Nativity Story. I thought it was very well done & a beautiful movie to look at. I thought Keisha Castly-Hughes did a great job as Mary but I enjoyed Oscar Isaac's performance as Joseph even more. He always had just the right look in his eyes. I thought he was amazing. I was also relieved that the intense parts of the movie were very short. Herod's masacre of the young boys & Mary in the river after falling off of the donkey were very short. The scenes were there but didn't take a whole lot of screen time. Which was a pleasant suprise. I feel Hollywood often dwells too long at an intense moment forgetting that that scene is not what the movie is about. Well done.

More recently we saw Night at the Museum. A fun & entertaining movie. Not a work of art but I'm a firm believer that not all movies & theatre should try to be. Entertaining for the sake of entertaining is important to me. The movie was what Daryl called, "an easy paycheck for Ben Stiller" but that's o.k. It was a cute film & I'm glad I saw it. It was fun to see good ol' Mickey Rooney back at it. I have an afinity for him since falling in love with The Black Stallion, another beautiful movie to look at. The first half of the movie has hardly any dialog but tells a wonderful story. Mickey Rooney is great in it.

Oh Yeah, I Can Post This Now

Now that it's been delivered to the mother-to-be, here's a photo of the 3rd baby quilt of 2006. The two print fabrics in the pinwheels are scraps from Bunnicula, a children's book that's been adapted to a play & SCR put on I think last fall. I'd never done pinwheels before but have always loved them. They're so happy. The striped fabric that I used for the sashing & the back matches 1 of the 2 fabrics on big brother's quilt.

Happy Baby Geoff & Melissa. And you know the rules... if he likes it & if it's not wore out & stained up by the time he hits kindergarten, you're toast.

My Favorite Photos of 2006

Happy New Year everyone. I was looking over old posts & decided to make a 2nd annual post of photos for the year. In no particular order here are my favorite photos of 2006:

A self portrait of Kaisara & I at Kyle & Lydia's wedding.










On a boulder in Boulder, CO while visiting Geoff, Melissa & Elijah.






Taking in a movie with the cutest godson that's ever been.







Our newest nephew, Savelio, checking out Zelda on Christmas day.






Driving from Winkler to Winnipeg, Manatoba with Brody, Amy & Daryl.






A group shot at Cat's suprise 30th Birthday party. Dani, me, Cat, Kathy & Shera.






Elijah's sunny smile.










Kaisara & our nephew Jet.







Walking around Assinboine Park in Winnipeg, Manatoba.









Another shot in Assinboine Park.










A man in front of me in the Race for the Cure.










Me in Cat's birthday wig.











2006 was a good year with lots of ups & downs. I'm ready for you 2007! Show me what ya' got!