July was filled with vacationand rehearsal, and I still managed to stuff in just a few other outings.
Another "sister" reunion, this time from Seven Brides: It was awesome seeing Erin play Penny in Hairspray. Goodness, she was funny! Best I've seen yet. And now that she's back in town, she, Nichole, and I need to hang out more.
We had a big meeting at work, after which they brought in several food trucks. Finally got to try Cupbop, which was DELICIOUS! And it was freebee!
On a particularly crappy day when I was feeling like a failure, I wrote up a "Did-do" list.
It helped -- I felt less defeated. I should make a habit of this.
"I blued myself!" I'd had this sucker for ages. It didn't disappoint.
Aaron is growing his lovely, thick hair out. I think I've
convinced him to stop calling this a "man bun" ;)
Speaking of flowing locks, here's another handsome boy and his gorgeous mom.
How cute are these girls?
They marched in a parade with their ward for the 24th of July
To celebrate Harry Potter's birthday on July 31, I read my gorgeous illustrated version of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Every illustration is breathtaking. I could do with fewer spiders, but everything else makes me smile. I first read the book exactly 15 years ago, and it never ceases to be magical!
Sunday evenings continue to be my favorite time of the week
I bought my tickets to Newsies nearly a year ago. I am so excited I finally got to see it for the second time. Loved seeing how much my friends enjoyed it, even if none of us had seats next to each other.
From left: Theresa, Nichole, me, Jamie, and Larissa
I live on the third floor, so I asked mom my if she'd help me wash my windows. She proceeded to just come over while I was at work and wash them for me. So, basically, my mom's a saint.
I am so grateful!
I had one chip in my windshield for 9 months with no problem. A second one meant the windshield was toast. Thank goodness Safelight is willing to come to my workplace.
My brother Adam turned the big 4-0. How weird is that? But he will always be young at heart.
And effortlessly cool.
Dave, Mom and Dad at Adam's party
My last chance to say good-bye to Laura before she married a doctor and moved to Virginia.
I'll miss our birthday lunches with Janette.
My friends keep getting married and moving out of my ward, as they should.
Larissa and Rob threw a party for the 2016 Tony Awards. They had a costume contest, so I wore my 1776 costume (and won), though Jamie's Alexander Hamilton costume was brilliant. I love Larissa's parties. She invites the best people, and her food is beyond tasty.
Jamie is not giving away her shot!
I cannot see enough of Amy!
Liz and I drove down to Manti one Friday to do a session at the temple, and see the 50th Anniversary of the Mormon Miracle Pageant. That temple is splendid. So much history and the architecture is gorgeous. The pageant was more entertaining and insightful than I remembered (and just as cheesy).
The G-unit was ordained a deacon on the same day his brother was blessed.
Big day. Great kids. Lots of family.
Brothers!
Jordyn, PJ, and Peter
Father's Day is always hilarious. The men in my family are the best.
Papa and Angel baby
I adore this little face!
Finding Dory was darling
I always seize upon every chance for a mini Little Women reunion. Jillian and Summer were wonderful in West Side Story at CenterPoint Legacy Theater. I'd never seen the play or movie all the way through, and I was surprised at how funny and affecting it was. And the dancing was incredible. Could become a new favorite, even if there isn't a role for me in it anywhere ;)
This is me trying to avoid road rage (I was stopped at a light at the time):
I won this computer monitor in another contest at work. Woo-hoo!
Peter also had a birthday. I love seeing him and PJ together.
I always knew Pete would be a terrific dad, and he absolutely is.
The second day at FanX was the first in a long time when I didn't dress up. I just wore a t-shirt with Supergirl, Wonder Woman, and Batgirl on it. It was kinda nice going incognito after having had so much attention the day before.
Theresa was dressed up as Agent Scully from The X-Files and she looked great. It was an X-Files-themed day, as the first two panels were Gillian Anderson, and Mitch Pileggi and William B. Davis. I'd watched the 2016 episodes, but was otherwise a bit lost. The best part was watching how happy Theresa was. She cried when Gillian came on stage! We laughed when Gillian said she liked being a blonde, because she stood out too much as a redhead and she didn't like the attention. "Oh, so THAT'S why I like the red hair" Theresa whispered jokingly. Gillian auctioned off the t-shirt was was wearing for something ridiculous like $1,000 (she had another on underneath), but it was for charity, so we all cheered and it was great. The two men had a great team panel. A lot of questions were asked of each, and they seemed to have a good time. Gillian was adorably awkward -- it's tough for an introvert to be the center of attention with multi-thousands of fans cheering for her. That's brave.
I decided to be brave and get in line to ask Alan Tudyk a question at his panel. I was 18th in line, so my chances were not great, but I got lucky and actually got to ask "In A Knight's Tale, your character is constantly telling people he is going 'to fong' them. What does that mean?" His answer was hilarious, but he basically didn't know. According to Urban dictionary, it means, "To kick" but the only reference it has is A Knight's Tale, so it's possible that's made up.
Top left: The passport photo Alan signed and gave to me. I think it's brilliant that he likes to give question askers random gifts from his "bag of sh!&." I was only mildly disappointed he didn't invite us onstage like he did two years ago. I was nervous enough as it was.
I learned a couple of things about asking questions at Salt Lake Comic Con/FanX:
They go over the rules with you at least three times (Don't tell personal stories. Don't ask for favors. Et cetera.) It's ridiculous that as many people break them as do.
They ask you ahead of time what question you're planning to ask to help avoid duplications and wasting time.
The sound system and view suck from the side of the stage. It's the worst "seat" in the panel.
The reverb in the microphone is crazy distracting. I'm proud that I managed to spit my question out.
View of the audience from the front of the room
My question is at 34:57. You can see the back of my head when he gives me a gift at the end :)
Summer Glau was full-on delightful. She was soft-spoken and humble and sweet. The moderator asked her what it was like being cheered by so many people, and she put her face in her hands and peeked out between her fingers. It was the cutest thing. She talked about how she got started in acting because she got injured and couldn't dance professionally. She wasn't supposed to tell anyone she was a dancer, but she got jobs because of her dance skills. Go figure. She had nothing but gratitude for her Firefly experience and the opportunities she's had since.
Right after Summer's panel, we skiddadled over to the photo booths for our Firefly combo photo with Alan and Summer. As luck would have it, we ran into a friend of Theresa's working at the booth, and he took us to the front of the line! We got the third photo, after a few "Ultra-VIP" folks. It was dang awesome.
We aim to misbehave
The Browncoats were doing a raffle, and to enter you had post a photo on Instagram each day in front of the booth's backdrop with hashtags "Utahbrowncoats" and "Fanx15." I never won, but I had fun taking photos!
Thrilled that I found Jason. The man gives a great hug and looks great in his Captain America sweatshirt.
The Browncoats were doing a raffle, and to enter you had post a photo on Instagram each day in front of the booth's backdrop with hashtags "Utahbrowncoats" and "Fanx15." I never won, but I had fun taking photos!
I adore actor Jason Isaacs. I've had a crush on him since Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (his Lucius Malfoy is deliciously evil and super hot), and I admire his acting choices. He always seems to disappear into whatever character he plays. He's so good! I decided that I actually wanted to meet him. No expensive photo op where I don't get to talk to him. I wanted to go to his table, get an autograph, and exchange a few words. There was a notice posted by his table with his schedule on it, so I hurried over a little before 4pm when he was scheduled for signing. I was the first person in the VIP line. After about 20 minutes, the lines started to fill up, but there was no sign of Jason. We were told his photo op session was going long. Then 30 minutes passed, and 45. I passed the time chatting with the lady sitting behind his table. She was a friend of the men who produce the con, and told me several behind-the-scenes scoops, like the fact that the Salt Palace gouges them on the price, even charging for each individual chairs. And they don't make much money, because each star is given a garuntee for how much money they'll make, and if they don't reach it, the con pays them the difference. Apparently they lost a lot of money on Carrie Fisher because she didn't feel well and didn't spend very much time doing autographs.
Paul Blackthorne
I waited for about an hour and a half for Jason to arrive. People behind me got really crabby, but how could I be upset when I was sandwiched between Summer Glau's table and Paul Blackthorne? I was there so long that nobody noticed that I snuck a few photos. I was about four feet away from Summer, and she was the most gracious woman you could imagine. Oh my goodness, I loved watching her with the fans. So genuine and lovely. At one point, her husband brought her maybe 10-month old daughter over -- such a cute little blonde baby! Summer apologized profusely while she ducked out to feed the baby for a few minutes. And then returned. Couldn't have hung out in a better place.
Summer Glau
When Jason finally arrived, he admitted that he sat down "for a second" after the photo ops, and fell asleep. He told me he was doing night shoots in New York and wasn't able to sleep during the day. I told him that as long as he kept producing quality work, I forgave him. He looked up at me with those piercing blue eyes and smiled and said, "Thank you" and signed the headshot from The Patriot I'd picked out. He has a lot of excellent roles, but that's the movie I watch when I'm having a bad day, so it was a no-brainer. It was a quick interaction, and worth every moment of waiting. HE IS AMAZING!!
"To Megan, Love and Luck, Jason Isaacs"
That night, Laura, Theresa and I had second-row seats for the Doctor Who panel. Peter Davison (the 5th Doctor), Sylvester McCoy (the 7th Doctor), Matt Smith (11th Doctor), and Alex Kingston (River Song) gave a very funny and entertaining panel. Matt and Alex still have terrific chemistry, and David and Sylvester had awesome stories about their time on the show, particularly the awful special effects. Matt's dancing caused a standing ovation, but Alex told a few stories that brought the house down. Between her crazy, moving cat ear headband and stories of trying to get Christian Slater to laugh during a production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, she pretty much won the night. Oh, Doctor Who. I'm so glad I found you!
From left: Dan Farr, Matt Smith, Sylvester McCoy, Peter Davison, Alex Kingston, Bryan Brandenburg
My view during the photo above. SECOND ROW, BABY!
Matt Smith demonstrates the "Drunk Giraffe" a dance move he made up because he figured the Doctor would be a completely mental dancer.
Can't think of a better way to end our second day.
