Is it just me or are the years going by faster and faster? I know I know, its just because I'm getting old and so time goes by quicker because a year is a smaller portion of my lifespan... blah blah blah.
The point is, its time for the YEAR REVIEW!!!
Lists of memories from this year:
BIG Things:
Angel and Mike tying the knot!
Newest nephew & Nevin-ite born - Koen Hale Nevin!
Parker baptized at age 8!
Trips:
Portland - for Ari's very special Wildwood birthday party!!!
Texas - just because I miss all my dear friends and family who live far away & I had to meet all their new babies I already love and adore!
California - where we rocked six flags and sunburns (okay it was just Julie on the sun burn thing)
Cedar City - Utah Shakespeare Festival for my first time! We saw 12 Angry Men and Peter & the Starcatcher. Both were amazing.
Shows worked on:
Rapunzel - first time I was back ON stage, probably since High School, for reals.
Harlem Shake - does this count as a show? haha In case you missed it:
The Box - a wonderful new piece by Christian Swenson, that I was dramaturg for (kinda.)
Hello Dolly - SM for the Jerry Elison
The Scarlet Pimpernel - SCERA Shell Summer show, again alongside Mr. E!
The Jerry Elison Scholarship Night - I was the emcee - which was scary. But I'd do anything for that man!
A Christmas Carol - 3rd year! It gets better every time! And of course, with Jerry!
Other Shining Moments:
Our beautiful new juicer!!
Being Cinderella for a day in the 4th of July parade!
Seeing Wicked for my 25th birthday
#uglypicturefacecontest
Andrew finished wheel of time series - an end of an era
Hiking up around Strawberry Lake & seeing wild beavers only a few feet in front of us
Attending the Beautiful Singing vocal camp at BYU with my Mommy!
Lincoln riding on 2 wheels
Halloween - biker duo
Anvil, thermos, axe collection grew and grew
Little camping trip
Witches Tea Convention
Andrew's axe from the Ukraine
And of course just stopping at every estate sale and antique shop we can! seriously.
Not-so shining moments:
Spraining my ankle jumping in puddles
Scout's eye infection and having to wear the miserable cone
My awful sunburn from Cali
Cracking my iPhone
My fantasy football team
.....wait why are these mostly about me?
Wasting too much time of our lives watching the Netflix original series Hemlock Grove.
Memorable Movies of 2013 (in no particular order):
Catching Fire, Ender's Game, Gravity, Monster University, Iron man 3, Life of Pi, Bridesmaids, Warm Bodies, OZ: Great and Powerful, The Great Gatsby, Silver Linings Playbook, Django, Les Mis
Burt Wonderstone, Saving Mr. Banks, Bernie, and The host.... just kidding about the last one. :)
Firsts that happened this year:
Pyrex! And so began my obsession.
Dirty Dr. Pepper (at Swig)
Men in Black
Acting performance on Utah stage
Bachelor and Bachelorette viewing
Andrew's Handmade knife
Utah Shakespeare Festival
What I wish I could say we did this year.... and is *maybe* going on our goal list for 2014:
Buy a house
Start my online vintage shop
See a Broadway show in NYC
Take lots of pictures on our amazing camera. (I mean I took some this year, just not enough!)
Camping camping camping (again we did go, just not as much as we'd like to have)
More swimming and hot tubbing!!!! (notice the amount of exclamation points - this is serious)
Grow a garden
More of 2014 goals to come. But for now....
here's a little photo flip review of twenty-thirteen!
I am up way too late, eating junk food & watching Grey's Anatomy.
These signs do not bode well for me living alone.
This is not to say that I haven't been productive, however. I have spent many hours trying to get my house into some kind of order, and have been working on projects, and the latest development:
A Christmas Carol.
I am very excited about this. We started rehearsals this week! I feel a little behind, but I think that is a given when I'm coming into this show that has been playing every year for the past 20 years, and most of the actors are coming back for their 4+ consecutive year! Anyway, I will just say that I will NOT object to listening to Christmas music for the next 2.5 months! (In fact I kinda melted in rehearsal when the cast started to sing "O, Come All Ye Faithful.") I am aware that it is still October. Don't judge.
Also, do not judge this blog post. Please. It is 3:53AM and I'm not sure any of this will make sense in the morning. I think this is more of a relaxation therapy for me. And I think it's workinggaglksjdisdfnieallllllllll
(lame joke...I'm so sorry. I would just delete it if I wasn't so tired.)
*And now I am singing West Side Story because my blog title*
1. Ate a LOT of Mexican food! (it was much needed)
2. Visited friends at their work places
3. Stayed up late talking with friends about not life, love, religion, and texting while driving.
(more on that some other time.)
4. Went to the Young Women's dessert auction at church!
5. Worked out at Curves with my Mommy!
6. Learned more about my late Granny & Papa, and more about my family's genealogy, in general, from my Daddy.
7. Lived with Holly in her cute grown-up apartment!
8. Went Frisbee Golfing with Holly's friend, Logan while she was at work.
9. Hot-tubbed & learned that cold hands are a result of stress, and the need for relaxation. Thank you, Holly.
10. Ate the best cupcake in the nation (according to Ellen Degeneres, whom I fully trust) at Society Bakery.
11. Went to school with my aunt. She teaches theater at an Arts Magnet High School in Dallas, Texas, so I got to sit in on her beginning playwrighting class!
12. Visited with Randy, Elly, David & Elana. We should really see them more often...
13. Watched a sailboat race (kinda)
14. Hugged & spent not nearly enough time with most all of my best friends!
{Andrea, Travis, and me}
{Candace!}
{Nikki & Matt}
{Holly!}
*and there were many more friends visited that are not pictured.
Today was our first day of Tech Week, which means that the show opens this Friday! I kinda feel like I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off...and it's only Monday!
To make matters even crazier, we are in the process of moving....well kinda. We should be in the process of moving, but there are really only two packed boxes to be found in our house. We have to be out of our place on Saturday, so that is when it is all going to go down! We are moving in with Andrew's brother Matt & his wife Andrea. We are renting out their basement to save up some money this next year. Yay!
But for now, things are crazy. I know I need to pack, but all I want to do is sleep, and not worry about it. Somehow I think that if I don't think about it, the packing will just do itself!
(Or maybe Andrew will do it all....wishful thinking!)
But anyway, back to the show: It is going to be pretty awesome! I have really been having so much fun working on this show! The cast & crew are awesome & I'm learning so much! Check out tickets here & here. And publicity photos here!
So I gratuated from BYU in April! Wahoo! Here are some pictures of the most wonderful people who have supported me all the way (and some of the way) through it!
It's amazing to think of all the countless papers I have written, tests I've taken, or all-nighters I have pulled!
(Because even after four years of college, I never really learned how to avoid procrastination!)
I had the greatest professors that inspired me to do my best and I learned so much that I will take with me for the rest of my life! (The social life was pretty awesome, too!)
Looking back, the only thing I would have done differently would have been to take more classes and be even more involved!
There are things I will miss, but somehow I think I will be able to move on!
I just can't believe it is all over. It all happened so fast; I don't really know what to do now! It's kinda overwhelming!
A few days ago I was asked to Stage Manage Annie Get Your Gun for the Scera! Like Funny Girl, it is a part of their outdoor season. The show runs end of July - mid August, then an additional run at BYU for Education Week! I'm pretty excited about this opportunity!
"Nervous, happy, scared, excited! You name it, I am it!"
However, me switching over to Annie Get Your Gun means that I am finished working with Funny Girl. It's so strange to leave the show now when they are about to begin tech rehearsals! I've been with it from the beginning; it's just so strange to put so much work into a show and not get to see it through...
But like I said this will be a very awesome opportunity for me: I am an official stage manager & the pay is better! Hopefully, I can continue working with the Scera on their upcoming season!
*It is our first night with a ticketed audience, but it is still considered a dress rehearsal, or preview night.*
I'm so excited!
I have many family members coming tonight and tomorrow! (But if you still need tickets, let me know!)
Here is a little sneak peak into the production! These pictures were taken by Mike Handley at last night's dress rehearsal. Just take a moment to take in the beautiful designs! The costumes, set and lighting are just so awesome!
(And even though they are not showcased in these pictures, the prop and sound designs are fabulous as well!)
I feel like I slept through February. Is it really the middle of March?!
Where to begin? Well I did read a couple books for fun recently. I finally got around to reading The Alchemist. It was pretty amazing. It reminds me that everything happens for a reason, and the choices we make hold greater purpose than we can see presently. You should read it.
Blood Wedding opened last week! I completed the lobby display just in time (kinda). I printed out a few Surreslist prints and put them up on the walls for people to enjoy. They look pretty swell, if I do say so. The other part of the lobby display is a video clip of a Flamenco dance version of Blood Wedding. But this part has been pretty much a nightmare to work out. There has been much miscommunication and just general mis-doing going on that has made this a crazy ordeal. But I figure it's only 2 more weeks, and I can handle it until the show closes. *But just so you know, it looks pretty awesome when it is all working correctly!*
Also, I recently received a pretty generous compliment on my study guide, which has kept me smiling for a while. (Not that I'm trying to pat myself on the back here or anything...) Speaking of, you can read my study guide here, if you are interested.
I am also working on As You Like It right now, and we are about to move in to Tech Week! (The exclamation point is an expression of excitement as well as anxiety.) The show is really coming along! I cannot wait to see it all in full swing, with lights, costumes, makeup!!! I pretty much love everyone in the cast! They are wonderful!
Again, if anyone wants some tickets to Blood Wedding or As You Like It, let me know!
Also, I'm GRADUATING this April!! So weird, but totally thrilling! I registered for my cap and gown last week! I feel so grown up & accomplished! I'm also hoping that by the time I graduate I will have a job, or an inkling of what I will be doing this summer. I'm still somewhat in the dark about what to do. I have some ideas and goals, but we shall see...
Andrew and I went to see this lovely movie this weekend.
I loved it. I love that Tim Burton makes quirky, beautiful movies that are so entertaining to watch! I just kept thinking how much fun it would have been to design the costumes, hair & makeup for this movie! Also, how much I would love to be a part of Tim Burton's production clique!
*However, I don't think my eyes agree with 3-D movies*
Afterwards, Andrew & I ran home to begin reading Lewis Carroll's original Alice in Wonderland!
Sorry this was a long post. Perhaps I should have split it up a bit.
So this semester I am only taking 8 credits, which is AMAZING! I've never taken less than 15 credits in a semester before now, so this is quite a treat! Also, as already mentioned, I love my classes! This semester I am taking:
Stage Management: I'm learning all about organizing and running a show! Also a part of this class requires me to assitant stage mange a mainstage show at BYU. So, I am one of the two ASMs (our technical term for "assistant stage manager") for As You Like It! It is so much fun! The cast is amazing and the show is going to be fabulous! It is pretty much going to consume all of my evenings from now until the beginning of April! If you are interested in seeing the show it runs March 17th - April 2. Let me know and I can get you some tix!(which is "tickets" in the theater biz)
Dramaturgy: I'm still working on my dramaturg work for Blood Wedding. Which means that I wrote the study guide inserted in the program, and I'm in charge of the lobby display! That show opens on March 3 and I'm so excited to see it! It will be so beautiful! Again, if you need tix, let me know!
Tap Dance: This is my "Yay! I'm a senior and I want to take a fun class" class! I have never tap danced before now, but I dare say, I am pretty dang good! And it is so much fun! I decided to take the class after I found a pair of perfect tap shoes at DI for $8! (by perfect I mean, look like they have never been worn & fit me like a glove!) Maybe I'll give a private recital sometime....haha
Contemporary Performance Practices: This is the class that I refered to previously where we performed our slam poetry! I'm really enjoying this class. We are learning about ....well....contemporary performance practices (hence the name)....I love it!!
Perhaps I should feel a little shamed when people scoff at my being a theater major. But I don't.
Because being a theater major totally rocks!
This week in my contemporary performance practices class, we learned about Hip Hop culture, Hip Hop theater, got down with the B Boy style, and Krumped it up! We created our own grafitte tags, and (secretly) posted them around the HFAC! And today, we held a Slam Poetry contest. Most of the material shared was original work, and it was awesome!
I have successfully finished directing my first play! It is a pretty good feeling, I'm not going to lie. The process was pretty exhausting both emotionally and time-wise. (hence why I haven't blogged in a month!) But through this process I have learned so much about myself as an artist and person, and how "...sometimes it's necessary to go a long distance out of the way in order to come back a short distance correctly."
After each show, there was a talk back session. As people told what they saw in the show and how it affected them I was so surprised at how different each person's experience was. (This is one of my greatest loves with art and theater: There is no one correct answer.) Listening to their thoughts and responses about the show, was when I really felt success. I hope that their exposure with the play has become a learning experience. I just want to share a quote from the playwright himself:
"One must let the play happen to one; one must let the mind loose to respond as it will, to receive impressions, to sense rather than know, to gather rather than immediately understand."
Let me just tell you that I love Halloween! I love dressing up. I love CANDY. I love spooky places. Scary movies. Crazy parties. To me this is Halloween. (Well that, and the Haunted House at the Playhouse!) Halloween in Utah is pretty awesome! Everyone gets pretty into it. There are haunted cornfields, mansions, and even forests by the dozen! People celebrate Halloween like crazy here. I love it.
So, this year, Andrew & I went with Shawn & Shawn, Kathleen & Levi, and Justin & his date to see Thriller. Now, for those of you who don't know, Thriller is a put on by the Odyssey Dance Company in Salt Lake and is pretty awesome. They use different types of dancing to personify zombies, mummies, bones, Frankenstein, etc. Um.. it is really cool. The only complaint I had was that it was the exact same performance I saw a couple years ago. I think they should think of some new acts; it needs a fresh start. But I still recommend going to see it if you never have. It is pretty awesome!
On Halloween, Andrew & I scrambled to get our costumes together (I know, so irresponsible, right?) before we headed to see a play of Frankenstein. It was very good and of course a great spooky treat for Halloween night! Then, we visited Andrew's family (you know, to show off our costumes...and to see Chloe). Then we rented and watched Drag me to Hell. It was pretty funny. Although, somewhat disappointing because I was expecting it to be really scary. Anyways, it was a great Halloween!
Since my last post, a lot has happened! I have officially decided that for my class, I'm going to direct the short play call The Zoo Story, written by Edward Albee. It's on the existential and absurd side of theater. I'm very excited to work on this play. I think it will be a great challenge for me, and hopefully equally rewarding.
*I have auditions in a couple weeks and I'm beginning to get a little nervous!*
Anyone who can and would like to, are welcome to come and watch! The play will be performed on Thursday December, 10th at 1:00PM, 2:00PM, and 4:00PM in the Nelke Theater.
I still have no idea what I am going to do with my life this summer.
I am still waiting to hear back about the American Theater Wing internship in NYC! I called them today and they said that they still haven't reached a decision. I really really really hope that I get this internship because it would be an amazing opportunity for me to gain experience in administration work, live in the city, and get acquainted with famous theaters and people! What's not to love?
What is the most difficult thing about i, is just not knowing. Even if the answer is no, I want to have an answer. It freaks me out that I don't have a plan. And I can't make a plan because I don't know anything.
So, I wait.....
In the meantime I am trying to plan my summer as if I will be in Utah. Here is my plan so far:
1. Work part time at the ticket office
2. Do an internship at the Covey Center or just get really involved in some shows
3. Work part time at Victoria's Secret
4. Take a few classes (but not full time)
5. Go to concerts: possible festivals include Sasquatch, Bumbershoot, Summerfest
6. ROADTRIP!
7. Lagoon
I have decided that even though I could graduate in December, if I stay in Utah for the Summer, I won't. I want to give myself a little off time from school, and I also want to make sure I get to take all the random elective classes I want to take before I graduate. Also, I hear it is harder to get a job right after Fall Semester, as opposed to after Winter semester. And I'm not quite ready to quit being a student just yet.
Everything in my school/work life is completely up in the air! I have NO idea how things are going to happen - which is scary. I'm going to map out my options, for my benefit, and for you because I'm just sure you care!
1. Go toNew Yorkfor a super awesome summer internship (that I haven't been offered, yet). Then take Fall and Winter classes at BYU, and graduate in April, as I have planned for the past few years.
2. Go to Dallas/Nashville for an internship for the Summertime. And proceed with school as planned - graduating in April.
3. Stay in Provo for the Summer. Take classes during the Spring, Summer, & Fall semesters, then go to New York for an internship during Winter semester. Still graduating in April, as previously planned.
4. Stay in Provo for the Summer, take classes during Spring, Summer & Fall semesters and graduate in December! Then later go to New York to live, work and play!
Problems:
*All of my plans are a little scary to me in different ways.
*Plan #4 would mean I would have to suddenly 'grow up.'
*Plan #4 would also mean that I would have to find a new job, because my schedule does not fit with the work schedule at the ticket office...not that getting a new job would be a bad idea...I could find a new job with better pay...if I could find a new job.
So for my directing class, we had to direct an original 2 minute scene. I decided to take my daily frustration from dealing with ridiculous people, and mold it into a scene! So the scene is a compilation of the most silly things people have said/done at the ticket office window. My group is totally fabulous and practically perfect! This is just a little amateur video of the scene. Everyone loved it (to say the least...)! And we have plans to perform the scene at our work meeting next week!
There is a new portrait of Shakespeare that has recently been authorized as the only portrait painted during Shakespeare's lifetime. The portrait was painted in 1610, when Shakespeare was 46. A man, Stanley Wells, has spent 3 years researching and testing the painting to make sure it was authentic. It was apparently discovered by the "Cobbe family, which inherited it when an ancestor married England's Earl of Southampton -- a friend of Shakespeare who likely commissioned its painting." You can read more about it here or here.
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