Gone Retail

Lucky Zelda has gone retail. South Coast Repertory, a regional theatre in Costa Mesa, California now offers several Lucky Zelda purses in their gift shop. As I work as South Coast Repertory's costume cutter/draper, Lucky Zelda occasioanlly uses scrap fabrics from productions to create purses. Audience members & customers alike can now take a piece of a favorite production with them.

Salt Vessels

A Taste of Wisdom
A yogi grew tired of his apprentice complaining, and so one morning, sent him for some salt. When the apprentice returned, the mater instructed the unhappy young man to put a handful of salt in a glass of water and then to drink it. “How does it taste?” the master asked. “Bitter,” spit the apprentice. The master chuckled & then asked the young man to take the same handful of salt & put it in the lake. The two walked in silence to the nearby lake, & once the apprentice swirled his handful of salt in the water, the old man said, “Now drink form the lake.” As the water dripped down the young man’s chin, the master asked, “How does it taste?” “Fresh,” remarked the apprentice. “Do you taste the salt?” asked the master. “No,” said the young man. At this, the master sat beside this serious young man, who so reminded him of himself, & took his hands, offering: “The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount of pain in life remains exactly the same. However, the amount of bitterness we taste depends on the container we put the pain in. So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things. Stop being a glass. Become a lake.

While listening to this parable being read aloud during my yoga class's closing Savasana I smiled (a perfect ending to a great class by the way). As a follower of Jesus, this parable spoke to my faith. Perhaps because I have ones precious to my heart that are currently in pain. That of course pains me. I realized that I, we, are the glass. But we have no need to become the lake, something we don't have the ability to be. By allowing Jesus to be the lake He desires to be in our lives our salt will be surrounded & washed away by His freshness.

"Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." Luke 4:13b

If They Have No Bread To Eat...

They should come to my house! You see, I got a hankering for a bread machine. I found one cheap on Craigslist not too far from home (I love me some Craigslist). Pictured here is the maiden loaf. Pretty, huh? I opted for your basic white bread thinking that'd be the easiest. Sure 'nough! It's tasty!

I informed Kaisara that said breadmaker was not purchased to increase our bread intake. His response was, "Why not? We'll just put alot of butter on it & less meat." While I would be more than happy to acquiesce to such direction, I don't think it's healthful. My hope is for a healthier product due to the absence of preservatives & ick in my bread. My theory is that making my own bread (or having my machine do it for me) will be a healthier & delicious choice for Kaisara & I all the while being a greener choice for my environment.

Did I mention it has a timer so I can have fresh bread waiting for me when I get home from work? It's hard being me.

Ooops! It's Been A While

Wow. November. Really? It's been that long? I blame Facebook for my lack of blogging. Not that I spend alot of time there but apparently it's more time than here. So, if you're out there & are interested, here's an update of the life of Cate:

I'm only 4 shows away from finishing my 1st season as staff cutter/draper at the theatre. I was a little leary going in, you know, without my safety net of the staff cutter that I had as over-hire. Now I'M the safety net. Yikes! Turns out, I think I'm doing pretty well. Given, this has been a pretty easy season. No big builds. No really complicated periods. But still, parts of my job have been challenging & I think I'm succeeding at my new post. I'm fired for the summer the 1st week of June & am looking forward to summer break.

Summer break. Aaahhhhh. I love that I still get summer break as an adult. Not many of us do. Theatre folk & teachers. Anyone else? And that's only if you don't teach summer school or do summer stock (Did it once. That's enough. At least it taught me about cherry lime-aid. Thanks Cat!). My 1st day off Kaisara & I are heading up to North Hollywood for a wedding & are planning on staying up there for the night. Who needs that drive that late? The following weekend is our church's camping trip that I'm planning. It scares me that I need to be doing that now. Oy.

Kaisara & I are once again turning over a new leaf in our life-style as it concerns our chub-ness. Things have gotta change. AND THEY WILL!! We're eating better, moving more & have been enjoying it. Though we'd enjoy chips & cookies more. But alas, it's not to be. Sigh. I find it interesting that I loathe exercise when I think about doing it. But during & after the fact, I love it. I love it more than clicking away at solitaire or FB & yet, those things usually beat exercise out. Why is that? So, it's been about a week. Progress will be slow. But it will be.

We took our 1st advanced level Lindy Hop class. We decided we needed to do it. In the intermediate classes we haven't been challenged & while the intermediate/advanced class was more fun, it seemed to be review. We've got a laundry list of moves that we can do & do well. In class. It's on the dance floor as a lead & follow that we sort of loose our finesse. Our instructors told us that the advanced class would help. It's less about moves & more about dancing. Sweet. We liked it & are planning on going back.

So that's what I've got for now. I'll try to do better at the posting. Cheers!