Another alterations morning. This time, though, I have my repaired Serger, Sewing Machine, and my new Blind Hemmer all at the same time. 390 pairs of pants later, I can finally hem them the way they're supposed to be hemmed!

My Mom is in town. I invited her in to see my new Costume Shop, and she agreed to stay for a few days to help me with fittings and embellishing the ballgowns. I've got another fantastic parent whose daughter is doing her first play, and wants Mama nearby, but not in the room. So I leave alterations and mending in a basket for her, and find the finished items in my office. I love having a crew!

I've been shopping on Ebay quite a bit recently, but my underwear collection is wearing out, and ebay is a great place to get nice new underwear for around $1 an item, plus shipping. The combined total is usually still less than I would pay for a similar item at a thrift store. (Though, I'll maybe buy a nice bra second hand, I won't buy panties - eeeew. Even my thrifting has limits).

I have the next three days off from waitressing, but I'll be in my costume shop for most of them!

I love my job!

Alan and I are proud to welcome our first child into our as-yet un-mutual home!!

Her name is Gem. She lives in the Philippines, and we've agreed to fund her education for the next few years so she can finish school (See Compassion sidebar below and to the right). Alan helped me go through the pages of older girls and find the perfect child for us...and her birthday is the day before mine!

My last child from India graduated from her double major this week, and we got to choose a new child!

I love these days!

A peaceful morning at home. I'm trying to get the easy alterations started - since I have to drop off at closing time tomorrow night. Khakis take almost no time at all, so I'm doing them first.

I spent a crazy number of hours this weekend costuming the biggest bulk of the SE Summer Camps. Alice in Wonderland, Grease, and Annie all have performances this Friday. I still haven't started on Midsummer Night's Dream, but we have lots of Fairy costumes, and in a pinch, I know the costumer at Greenstage - the Shakespear in the Park people!

I had three days off from my waitressing job, and intended to take them. Except for one small round of meetings yesterday to check in with the camps and walk them through their costume stock. When one director absolutely needed a pack of cards instead of just Hearts t-shirts that were already made, my quick meeting turned into 5 hours of errands as I scrambled to come up with Clubs, Spades and Diamonds out of thin air. (A bin of white tees, some iron on printer paper, and Google Images came to the rescue) As long as I was there, I also did show laundry for Peter Pan, made and labelled a bin of mending for a volunteer mother who sits through the Cinderella rehearsals, and cleaned up my office.

I haven't done much to costume Cinderella so far, but I have bought ballgowns like crazy. The chorus girls had a fitting last week to see who fits which costume before I start modifying 80's satin prom dresses into Storybook Ballgowns. We have tons of bright peasant costumes that I'm going to dye, and thanks to Storybook Theater, we have a zillion King and Queen options. This will be a bright and colorful show, once I'm done with summer camps and can concentrate on it.

Alan and I are having a day off today. I had an audition for Camelot last night. He's auditioning a few people tonight for Dracula who can't make it to the auditions next week, and then we're off to see two of our friends in a Winery Farce.

Annie!

For those of you who won't get to see it, here's a few rehearsal photos from Annie!

Whew!

I made it. After switching six jobs in five weeks, and opening Annie, I finally have time to sleep. And breathe. And eat!

So, now I'm waitressing a few days a week, working as a resident designer ten hours a week - getting the studio ready for the summer day camps, altering around twenty-five pairs of pants, and doing Annie for the next two weekends.

It's the time of year again to pay off the debts, and save money for next year. And now that the weather has turned again after a month of rain I've got time to be out in the long summer evenings!

Alan is off auditioning today, then off to a wedding. I'm running to the Studio to get ready for strike, doing a matinee of Annie, then back to the Studio to make sure everything gets done. A little altering tonight, and I'm free for a day or two!

It's my second day back at Pike's Place for the summer, and it's raining cats and dogs. I heard someone on the radio refer to the weather as "Junuary" and I can see why. Wednesday I worked a few hours to get back in the swing of things. Then I walked to the market and bought a packet of crumpets from a tea shoppe, and a $5 bouquet of Market flowers from a vendor. I'm ready for summer!

Summer is upon us!

Annie opens in a few weeks, Seussical closes in a few weeks, and I start waitressing this week. My first alterations check (43.80) dropped into my bank account, so there's hope the rest of the money will show up soon.

Next week is my first week as Resident designer at the performance training program on the East Side. I've also been offered two shows next season at a theater south of Seattle. More on that once its official. I just have to make sure that my opening days don't overlap for the mainstage shows of my resident job.

Alan and I are heading to Portland for two days this weekend to meet his parents. (Again, actually, since we went down to Powells and had dinner there sometime in the first month we were dating) And Alan's got a job interview today, which he's very excited about!

It's raining for the next 10 days. I want it to be summer already!

I'm busy. I'm tired. I'm stressed out to the max. Just one more week of this, and Seussical will open, Princess and the Pea will close, and I can breathe again.

A much needed day off.

All week I've been working hard to get things done so that yesterday I could take the day off and get somewhere without a Goodwill in sight.

Yesterday morning I woke up early to Alan calling, asking where I'd like to go. We decided to meet at the Ferry Terminal and run away to Bainbridge Island for the day. It was lovely; the first sunny day Seattle has seen in weeks. (Spring has been a long time coming this year - we've had storm after storm)

My bus ran late, so we missed the earlier Ferry, but we consoled ourselves at Ivars, then meandered into Ye Old Curiosity Shop. Then, just as the sun burned its way through, we stepped on the Tacoma to cross the Sound.

After disembarking, we decided to walk the three block downtown to see what we'd like to do. Meandering hand in hand, we passed kitchy shops, antique stores, Whole Food Markets, tiny restaurants, and finally, a fabric store, a bookstore, and a bead shop. Having mapped out a plan, we went back to eat Chicken Bacon Ranch pizza at That's A Some Pizza. Then I ran back to the beadstore, after first depositing Alan at the Bookshop, and bought the makings of a pair of earrings. Eventually we walked to the waterfront, admired the marina, then had a drink at the historic Harbour Public House. After availing ourselves of a wine tasting on our way back (and a quick stop at the thrift store - I couldn't resist!) we boarded the Ferry and enjoyed the view, and seagulls, and ever-increasing Seattle Skyline.

It was a lovely day, and a much-needed break.

Alan and Me!!!