February!

Oh, February, historically my least favorite month of the year due to illness (thanks allergies), and general cabin fever. Thank goodness I found ways to amuse myself, and others once in awhile. It helps I had a great trip to New York City to look forward to and then muse upon after I returned home!

Food!

I'm trying to photograph less of my food (it's more difficult than I would have thought), but here are a few things:

I've been making good use of the waffle maker I received for my birthday. Here it is topped with Nutella AND Biscoff cookie butter. Try it. You'll like it!

On a particularly rough Sunday, I had an interview with a member of the Stake Presidency to renew my temple recommend. After a short conversation and commiserating over my unemployed status, he offered me as many Jelly Bellies as I liked -- pear and sour apple. Weirdly, they cheered me up. It's the little things!

CPT's Hats Off party

Since I wasn't in any of the plays at CenterPoint Legacy last year (though I did sing at the Fairytale Festival), Chantryce was sweet enough to invite me as her date for the Hats Off "Thank You" party. Even better, Larissa and Jamie gifted me a new/vintage dress that fit me perfectly, so I'd have something new to wear. I felt so pretty, and I enjoyed spending time with a ton of dear friends. I hope to do a show there sometime this year.

Before

After.
The hair didn't work out the way I'd hoped, but it was nice to try something new.
I had a ton of compliments on both the dress and the hair. My friends are the sweetest.

It cracks me up that my hair looks pink in this light. I wish!

Natalie got to wear her gown from The King and I when she sang at the party.
The dress rightly had its own applause -- it's spectacular! 

Jason and me

A few crazies

A small group at Chili's after the party

Galentine's Day

Kate had the brilliant idea to commandeer Parks and Recreations' "Galentine's Day" party idea, and celebrate the women she loves most (or as many as she can gather together on a busy Saturday). I was honored to be included. Kate invited us all to Auntie Annie's Dessert Island, and made sure we all got to talk with one another, and play some fun get-to-know-you-better games, and my peach tart and "Princess Milk" was delicious. Kate's friends are my friends and I adore them all. It was wonderful having them all in one place. I'm already looking forward to next year!

These women are amazing

Valentine's Day

Since I had no official sweetheart this year, my Valentine's Day weekend was low-key. I liked it -- no sour grapes, I promise :)

One of my girlfriends hand-drew her own cards, and thoughtfully sent one to me.
It's the coolest Valentine I've ever received.
It now lives on my bookshelf; I display it proudly.

Valentine's Day was on a Sunday, and I spent it with my parents and little PJ. My nephew is my most adorable Valentine ever. I love this happy little boy!

Here he is squirting himself in the face with a water gun. He enjoys it so much. Almost as much as getting squirted by me - bwahahahaha!

My parents gifted me two lovely and warm sweaters. I wore them both in NYC :)

A belated Valentine's gift from Theresa. I can't imagine why she thought I'd like it.

Fun fact: I LOVE IT!

Evenings out

My friends continued to invite me out to try to cheer me up with the whole job loss thing. It's nice to be thought of. It's even nicer that they took action. I have such generous friends.  They love me for who I am and support me no matter what. I am grateful for every one and sorry that I don't have more photos!

I was lucky to win two free tickets to see one of the "Best of the Best" movies at the Sundance Film Festival. Gina and I didn't know until we arrived that we'd been viewing  Birth of a Nation, based on the true story of Nat Turner, a slave who lead a revolt against white slavers in the early 1800s. It was a beautiful, heartbreaking film. The distribution rights were sold for the highest bid in Sundance history. I'll be very disappointed if it doesn't receive a Best Actor (for Nate Parker) and Best Film nomination at the Oscars next year.

Liz and I happened to go to the Jordan River Temple on the anniversary of my endowment.
The temple was closed the next week so they could start renovating it. I'm sad they're going to make changes -- I was fond of it the way it was -- and looking forward to attending again next year when it's ready.

Chantryce invited the four of us to see a play at Weber State. Afterwards we had dinner at Chili's. These people make me think and they make me laugh.

Aaron called me up out of the blue and asked to take me out to dinner. Have I mentioned how much I adore this man? It's not very often I get him all to myself for a few hours. He gives terrific advice and is one of the people I trust most. Plus, he goes out of his way to have fun and it's fun to watch and play along. I'm lucky that one of my best friends is my brother.

Solitary entertainment

In the last year, I have had no less than four young men recommend The Way of Kings to me. I finally had a break in my ridiculously-full reading list and picked it up. I'm about a third of the way through now and it's awesome!

I have quite the collection of bookmarks. It seems wrong to use a bookmark that doesn't match whatever genre of book I'm reading.

I finally finished my book of Florida adventures. I did some heavy editing on my blog posts and finessed the text into the photo book. I'm quite proud of the result. It won't be the last such memory book I create.

To celebrate the 60th anniversary and donate to charity, Disney sponsored a "Show Your Ears" campaign, encouraging Disney fans to Instagram photos wearing mouse ears. I own many tiaras, but no ears, so I had to dig around to find this from my trip in 2010.

After months and months, I finally finished watching all 10 seasons of Supernatural on Netflix. I plan to watch the first 10 episodes of season 11 on Amazon, then finish up on Hulu. I'm so excited to be caught up!
To celebrate finishing season 10, I watched The Hillywood Show's spoof. I'm glad I waited, since it's basically the plot of season 10.

*SPOILERS*


And there you have it. Now that I've returned from New York, I need to focus on the job search. Hopefully there's some fun in there, too. Guess we'll see.

CenterPoint Legacy's Fairytale Festival

"Beauty and the Beast"
The sun was in my eyes, but the emotion is there ;)

My voice teacher asked if I'd be interested in singing a few songs at CenterPoint Legacy Theatre's Fairytale Festival. That is not something I'm usually comfortable with -- I love to perform in character, but I feel really vulnerable otherwise -- but after a few weeks I decided to go for it. I asked if I needed to dress up and she said it was optional. Then she said, "You should see if you can borrow the dress fro 1776.! You looked dazzling!" Since I own the dress and I had her blessing, I wore it. Nobody knew who I was, but that's ok. I felt pretty and I needed some confidence to help me overcome my nerves!

It was the 3rd annual Festival, but I hadn't been to the previous two, so I was unprepared for how massive and detailed and well-organized it was. I immediately found some friends dressed in costume, and others who had volunteered in other ways. There were food trucks, souvenir vendors, face-painting and hair-styling, story-tellers, princess and prince photo ops, arts and crafts, knights training, archery, pirate adventures, a Daddy/Daughter ball, and even a bouncing castle. The best part was that most of it was free.


I sang twice in an hour. I had prepared two songs, but the first time I just sang one song -- "Beauty and the Beast." The second time, the DJ asked me to sing both that I had prepared, so the second time I sang it again and the "Beyond My Wildest Dreams" from The Little Mermaid the Musical, too. I mentally rolled my eyes when I started to sing Dreams, because I thought, "Oh, gosh, it's so obvious that I love to sing this song WAY MORE than "Beauty and the Beast." Ah, well, I felt good about my performance, and I was flattered that several of my friends came to hear me sing, too.

Maybe next year I'll volunteer to do something a little more strenuous. If it involves dressing up again, I think I'll do it at the theatre instead of at a nearby Target (there was a miscommunication about whether I could dress at the theatre). It was fun, and such a cool way to be involved in the community. I also want to make sure my nieces and nephew know about it ahead of time. I think they'd enjoy it. I know I did.

Snow White and The Queen of Hearts

Rapunzel and Flynn (married in real life; they are so cute)

Queen Elsa

Laura D -- a friend from High School -- brought her kids to support me

Shilene came specifically to support me, too

This photo just makes me giggle.
Can't be perfect all the time!

February Fun

To no one's surprise, the shortest calendar month of the year went by really fast. It was mostly filled by rehearsals for Noises Off, but there were other great events. For once, I didn't spend the whole month feeling depressed -- maybe it was the Spring-like weather? I don't know, but I hope next February feels as optimistic!

CenterPoint Legacy Theatre's "Hats Off" Thank You Party

Remember when I won this necklace at the party last year? I love it!

CenterPoint kindly and lavishly threw another bash to celebrate the people who volunteered and worked at CenterPoint in some capacity last year. Since I was in two plays, I was invited twice! I truly enjoyed the opportunity to wear a cocktail dress and heels and chat with some of my favorite people. It's a shame that at parties like this, a "chat" is all the conversation I get with most of them. However, the 2014 production-themed food and show-centric entertainment was delightful. I hope that somehow I am invited again next year!

I love this purple dress. I received a lot of compliments that night.

The contents of my tiny clutch

Program-viewing buddies Seth, Natalie, and Josh

Liz and Summer (a mini Little Women reunion)

Chantryce

Jackie

My Maurie

Amy and Jason

Todd

Jekyll costars Dan, Wendi, Amanda, Angie, Jared, and Madison

Valentine's Day

Another year with no official Valentine date, and yet Valentine's Day was a good day. Not spectacular, but good. 

I made strawberry and chocolate-strawberry fudge for my friends for Noises Off rehearsal in the morning -- it tasted all right but wasn't anything to write home about. One of the women did say: "You make homemade fudge? How are you still single?!" 

After rehearsal, I drove to my mom's house, but she wasn't there, so I left a little container of fudge in the fridge for her and dad. When I arrived home, I found she had left me a plate of cookies. Mom's sugar cookies ARE worth writing home about, or at least writing HERE about! Just sweet enough and the frosting is so smooth. Plus, they're pretty! I was delighted by the thoughtful gift.

Five is just enough. I would happily eat more, but I probably shouldn't!

I spent the early afternoon with my grandmother, talking about whatever one of us might think of. I don't make the time to visit her very often, so she was surprised to see me on her doorstep. She's such a neat lady, and she loves her family so much. I'm glad I took the time. I'm glad she had the time!

The rest of the day was spent eating waffles at IHOP (which is empty at 3 in the afternoon on Valentine's Day), and saw Big Eyes alone. The movie was good, though I was in the mood for something a little more upbeat. Terrific acting is always welcome.

Dinner at Potbelly

Remember how much I raved about Potbelly's sandwiches when I visited NYC and Washington D.C. last year? There's a store in Sugarhouse now! I had to stop by for dinner one Monday before rehearsal. The Italian sandwich and berry shake were perfect compliments to each other (I requested jalapenos for the sandwich, so I NEEDED the ice cream). Everybody go now so they know they are welcome and establish more locations nearby!

"Joy in sandwich form. Welcome to Salt Lake, and get in my belly, Potbelly!"
#yummm #itsthelittlethings

Allergies

Since winter in Utah was weird this year, we had nearly 60 degree weather for most of the month. This, of course, wreaked havoc on my allergies. I continue to have monthly allergy shots. Hope to be fully inoculated in about three more years.

We did finally see some snow during the last week. Not a lot, but I'll take what I can get.

The allergies finally got the best of me and blew up into a full-blown cold just in time for an all-day tech rehearsal. It's been about two weeks now and I feel mostly better, but not all the way. That's life. At least I no longer sound like Lauren Bacall.

Noises Off preview performance and opening night

We were asked to invite a few friends to preview our last dress rehearsal. It was such a comfort to hear Chantryce and Mandi laugh from the audience. It gave the cast hope that the show might be pretty good!

Opening night was better than any of us could have imagined. The seats were mostly full, and nobody held back their laughter. Because we could tell they were having fun, we on stage were able to relax and have fun, too. The next night was a little crazy and a LOT of things went wrong, but the audience was just as appreciative. I am relieved that our hard work is paying off!

Noises Off is open, and in a few days it will be over. I plan to wait a few months before my next audition. I'm excited to spend more time with my friends, eat out, and see several plays and the new Cinderella movie. Hoping that March is equal parts fun and relaxing. It will help once we finish up this current software release at work :)