St. Patty's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Last night was full of Black-and-Tan's, Corned Beef, Cabbage, Turnips-n-Carrots, and Soda Bread. Eric and John came over for an evening of Irish Drinking Songs.

Today I'm sitting in my bathrobe eating Lucky Charms.

Tonight I get to go with Miles and Becky to see Alice in Wonderland in 3-D.

Tomorrow, more work, then to Taproot to see Brooklyn Boys with Faith, after a quick dinner and production meeting for Seussical.

Have a great day!

Another week-end review.

I went to see Alan's show, Footlight Frenzy, again this weekend. Its tightened up a lot since the opening, which was very good - but the cast didn't have a large audience for the preview, so they were tentative on where the laughs would be. By the next week, it was crisp. The writer of the show came and loved it.

I've been offered the resident costume design job for the same people for whom I'm costuming Fiddler. I told them I'd like to very much. It would be about 10 hours of work a week pulling costumes for their day camps and school outreach plays, and then some stipended mainstage shows. It isn't set in stone yet. I still need to hear from Storybook how much they'll want me next year so I know how much money I'll need to cap off my income, but if it all pans out, I may be able to drop the day job next year. YAYYYYYYY!!!!

I'm filling in again for Emperor's New Clothes all weekend. I've decided I will understudy if they want me to, but I don't like doing it all that much. It's hard to learn a role that isn't yours, then come back to it everyone once in a while. It makes every performance feel like your first run, and since the main cast develops the show as it progresses, you're always coming back in and getting thrown by new schtick. But again, I won't turn the work down if that's what they want me for. Women in theater can't afford to be quite as choosy!

Alan's leaving for another five days. A family member in Vancouver hurt himself, and needs Alan to come and help him with his landscaping job for a few days. I'm going to miss him terribly. The Fiddler costume preview is on Sunday, so I'll have plenty of work to keep me occupied.

My sewing machine is in the shop for the time being. It's started developing a few quirks. I'll have it back again to the tune of $159.00 on Friday.

Yesterday after my shows Alan and I went antiquing in Kent to a place where Alan had found a really neat wall clock to replace the Batman one that committed suicide a few weeks ago. He took me to see it. Its an old French looking clock with an Art Deco ad for Turandot. I approved, and we made our first household purchase together. It works. That bodes well. Today we're borrowing his nephew and his truck to pick up Miles and Becky's old couch. Alan's is falling apart, and they want theirs moved. A great scenerio all around. And a free leather couch in the bargain.

Another manic week.

Alan's been out of town for three days, so I've been dutifully sewing away on some more "Lachellybelly" items to put on sale at Emma Jeans. I finished (or refurbished) ten items. Three dresses, two skirts, two blouses, one hat, one purse, and one belt. I'm just waiting for my labels to come in the mail from Canada, and I'll run them over. I'll try to post pictures before I take them to the store.

Last night was my night at the homeless shelter. A quiet night except for a woman who didn't wake up when we turned on the lights, nor when we made a "goodmorning, there's breakfast and coffee" announcement. Finally, at 6:20, my fellow overnighter woke her up with 10 minutes to spare. She was furious, and spent three of her ten minutes in the kitchen demanding to know why we hadn't woken her earlier.

I'm off to retail whore again for another day. Last week I was the top seller in the store, and so far this week, my sales-per-hour have been about $80 above my target goal. It's more fun at work now that I know how to check my productivity throughout the day.

Tonight I've been called in to do some extras work for a film that's been shooting in Seattle for the past few weeks. I'm a "passerby" - so mostly I'll sit at craft services and stuff my face, while occasionally getting called in to meander past the camera at intervals. This shoot will last most of the night.

Tomorrow I've got two production meetings back to back for Fiddler and Seussical. I'll stay the evening and do some more pulling for Fiddler before the cast shows up. Then, hopefully, I'll be able to grab my alterations to do over the weekend. I also have quite a lot of dying and tea-dying to do. I picked up a nifty book at the library called "The Dyer's Companion" to get some better tips.

Tomorrow is Alan and my official 6-month anniversary. I bought him bowling pin cuff links from a Vintage clothing store I love. (I'm not spilling the beans. I thought Monday was the 25th, had Alan over for the candlelight dinner - except I couldn't find a lighter, so it was a candlelight-less dinner - and gave him his present, and only after looked at my dayplanner and found out it was the 21st or something.)

Now I'm going to go back to sipping a latte and watching the rain fall on my beloved city.

FINALLY!

Here's the organization I was looking for when I found KIVA!

A microfinance organization that allows you to invest in microfinance while getting a return! I haven't tried it yet, but I'm going to soon!

Happy Valentines Day, Alan!

I managed by some alignment of the stars to get three days off in a row from work over Valentines weekend. I spent all day Thursday running around getting costumes for the dress rehearsal. Friday I woke up, went to yoga, met with Meredith to borrow costumes from Greenstage, then ran some errands and home to hem pants and make armbands for my two men.

That evening I got the actors into costume after a brief altercation with the ghost, and left to meet Alan, John and Eric to see opening night of Company. Saturday I spent the day at Alan's, watching Frasier and being domestic. We went to see Woman in Black last night.

Today is going to be another lazy day, I hope. Some more Frasier, then Valentines dinner after Alan gets finished with his show's tech rehearsal. Such is the life when two theater people date. These days I see 4-6 shows a month, mostly opening nights if we can.

This week is full of more work than I'd like (but that's great, actually, because Banana rewards good employees by working them more hours, and I have the most hours of anyone but one salesman who also gets lots of credit cards to his name). I've done my finances for the year, and realized that I'm actually finally making it on acting and costume designing - and a bit of a side job. My finances are in even better shape if I can waitress in the summer and have my credit cards paid off and a bit in savings to help me through the year if ever I'm coming up short. My summer waitressing job wants me back this year.

I'm off to forage for coffee!

Dress rehearsal tonight. The person who is renting me the Victorian Mourning dress is a no-show today. Now I've got to find a plan B, and I'm working until 5:30.

Oy.

Life is Hellish...but only in a good way.

I'm working retail. I'm understudying The Emperor's New Clothes of which I'm doing all the Saturday performances, and days when the Empress has weekday matinees of her other show. I've just been hired to costume design Fiddler on the Roof and Seussical for the student training part of my Children's Theater. I was called in with 8 days notice to costume Woman in Black for OCT. That opens Friday. Rehearsals for The Princess and the Pea begin in April.

On top of that I spend every waking second that I'm not in rehearsal, and neither is He (since His show goes into tech next week) driving south to spend quality time. There's lots of Lattes and Pepsi in my diet at the moment.

We were standing in the checkout line looking (I was looking, He was heroically offering support of my enthusiasm for decor) at the shabby chic and do-it-yourself design magazines. There was one beautiful living room, painted robin's egg blue with eclectic furniture, kitschy afghans, bookcases lining the walls, and a vase of flowers on the table. I showed Him, and He said, "yes, but if this were a house YOU lived in, there'd be a half empty Pepsi can here (pointing), a half drunk coffee here (pointing), shoes here and here, and whatever project you're currently working on taking up this chair. And every cabinet door open. I had to give him that one. Though I've been much better on the cabinet door front. And the lining my shoes up next to his on the doormat front. (They look very cute and tiny next to His) I'm still bad at the half-drunk Pepsi front, but that, we've decided, is his fault. Every time I open a Pepsi, he decides we need to spoon on the couch, and it's impossible to drink sideways from a can. Maybe we can invest in straws.

I've been working on new Emma Jeans items for the past month, but the construction is happening in fits and starts. When done, I should have a whole line of tie dresses, a coat, and a purse. I've ordered garment care labels bulk off eBay, so this round should look even more professional.

I'm off to sew!

Birthday Mishaps.

Last Sunday Alan, my sister, her boyfriend and myself toodled back to my hometown for my Dad's birthday. I loaded up the car with his birthday and the family's Christmas presents. Alan drove while I memorized lines in the passenger seat.

It was a great day. Opening presents. The semi-annual purging of my mother's closet. The presentation of my Manolo Blahniks my mother bought me at a thrift store for $1. Lunch at Miners. A bit of shopping. Then back over the pass because the rains were starting up again.

On the way home, Alan drilled me on lines. After a particularly nasty patch of fog, he reached up to turn on the reading light, and hit the sunroof button instead.

Those of you who know my car know what happened next. Those of you who don't, need an explanation. When I bought my car my sunroof worked beautifully. It was lovely on those hot sunny California days to open the roof and have the wind blow my hair as Andrea and I sang our way down the coastal highway (usually on the way to David's Bridal).

One day my best friend Wendy, her daughter, and myself were on our way home from eating Italian on the Paseo Nuevo in Santa Barbara, when a weird whacking sound from the roof of my car. The weather stripping had come loose and was being caught by the wind. Wendy, as a stopgap measure, cracked open the sunroof to see if she could push it back down. Her hand couldn't quite reach, so she pushed the button to open the roof further. The sunroof, obliging, closed on her hand. She had pushed the wrong arrow.

Picture this: me driving down the highway at 70mph, Wendy, her hand trapped, trying to push every button and threatening to kick out the sunroof if it won't open. Raquel screaming with laughter in the backseat. Eventually Wendy did get her hand out, but the sunroof was permanently damaged. Oh, it will open. But closing, now, it does in it's own timeframe. Which is fine when you live in a part of the country where rain is a freakish occurance. Then I moved to Seattle.

If you've made it this far, you should know that my sunroof has only been opened once since I moved here. One sunny stretch of endless summer days, I risked it. Three days later it finally would close, but luckily, the sun stayed. Later that year, I left town to visit a friend, and left my car behind for my roommate Kambria, and my friend Denise (who was in town house-sitting) to use. I got a frantic call three days into the trip. They'd accidentally pushed the button for the roof instead of the light. Now the roof was open. And it had started to snow. They covered the roof with plastic bags in desperation. By the time I returned home they'd managed to get it to close, but there was a new piece of paper taped to the ceiling of my car with these words: Do NOT touch this button!!!!

I kept the sign up for years. Recently, however, I took it down, feeling it lacked the elegance I was going for (Never mind the layers of dust and fast food bags littering my car - a sign would be too much).

So back to the original narrative. Alan, myself, my sister and her boyfriend, were driving down the highway at 60+mph, with an open sunroof, and a rainstorm. We pulled over after a few minutes of frantic pushing, pulling, tugging, and begging. I turned off the car and restarted it a few times - sometimes that works. After ten minutes we realized we needed to be getting home soon, and were going to be wet either way. So, in a braintrust moment, I fished under the passenger seat, brought out my pink Brighton umbrella with cherries on it, and passed it back. Allie and James, giggling, found a way to open the umbrella in the backseat, and we drove the remaining 40 miles home with the floor heat blasting, and occasional apologies to the frigid passengers in the back.

I took my car in for an oil change two days later, and begged them, please, to get it to close again. Not fix it, but CLOSE it.

Perhaps I should put the sign back up.

Yoga, 10,000 IUDs of Vitamin D and a rather expensive sunlamp. That's how to beat Seasonal Affective Disorder, I'm finding. It took my third winter in Seattle to figure it out, but now we know! Finally I can walk outside on a cloudy day and NOT feel the grey seeping into my pores!

Still retailing. In rehearsals for Emperor's New Clothes. Yesterday we learned a cha-cha. It's my favorite song in the show, and my favorite dance as well. I wish I was playing the swindler more than once, but that's the nature of understudying. I get to go on as the Empress half a dozen times, so I actually sat with the director and got a few character notes yesterday. The dancing plus last night's yoga class, every muscle in my body is a teeny bit satisfactorily sore today. Yay exercise!

Alan and I are going home this weekend for my Dad's birthday. And Christmas, since Mom and Dad didn't come to Seattle, and I worked the day before and after. I have a lovely pair of Manolos with my name on them. My mother found them at a second hand store and called me to see if I wanted them. IF I WANTED THEM???? Baby's first brand-name shoe!

I'm off to drink some coffee. Also vital to fighting S.A.D. Being an upper and all that!

Emperor's New Clothes has started rehearsing. I'm very excited to be back with another show, though sad not to be doing all the performances (I'm swinging two roles)

Still retail whoring for the time being, though working on getting a waitressing job. Tips make it so much faster to save money.

I'm down in Renton most of the time, which explains the lengthy absences. His birthday was last week, so most of the week was spent stretching out the actual day as long as possible. Since my birthday took up most of a week and a half, his had to at least last longer than the day itself.

My hair has gotten so long that my musical director asked if I was growing it out. I said no, just can't afford a haircut at the moment. She called in a favor from her daughter who owns a salon north of me and now I have a haircut. Hoorah. Though I already have bangs this week because Alan wanted to see what I look like with them. Very French. I think I may try a bob when I get my cut.

Favorite line from church today: "And what did King George say when the colonists announced they were leaving? 'Jolly Good. Have a nice time. Don't forget to drink tea.'?"