Memes that make me giggle: A cow's opinion

You'd be surprised how often I think this about people I don't agree with.

They're all just "moo."

Today is the 20th anniversary of the day the Friends pilot first aired. Even now, it's one of my favorite shows. I find ways to insert quotes into my daily life, and I maintain that I learned my brilliant comedic timing from Matthew Perry's Chandler. In college, I had a major conflict with some roommates who didn't approve of the show and wouldn't let me watch it in our apartment. During my first job, I bonded with another girl over our love for it. I was very upset with my mom for not keeping me posted on character developments while I was on my mission -- she promised to tell me if Monica and Chandler got engaged or married (which they did). Friends was weirdly important for me during my young adult years. Watching those fictional characters make mistakes as they tried to figure out their lives gave me permission to not know what I was doing, too. Like them, my life did not go according to plan, but it somehow turned out okay. I needed that validation back then. I still do, sometimes.

Happy birthday, Friends. Thanks for being there for me "when the rain starts to pour." Still hoping to find my own lobster!

Happy birthday to me!!

I think  you should be a child for as long as you can. I have been successful for 74 years being able to do that.

- Bob Newhart

Another birthday has come and gone. It wasn't a big, fancy, exciting day; just a good day. Frankly, after two days at Salt Lake Comic Con 2014, I was thrilled to celebrate my birth with more subdued activities.

My birthday was on a Sunday, and I was thrilled when I realized that instead of regular church I got to go to Regional Conference at the Conference Center. Sure, it involved getting out of bed several hours earlier than I would have liked, but it was worth it to listen to the church's leadership in that gorgeous location... and also be done with church at 11:30 (my regular ward meets from 1:45 to 4:25 every week -- I love sleeping in, but I end up feeling like I spent the entire day at church). I had a really good seat somewhat near the speakers. Elder Hales and Elder Oaks spoke about families and missionary work. Afterwards, I wandered around Temple Square and thought about how I lived with Heavenly Father not all that long ago. Such a peaceful way to being the day!

The Salt Lake Temple

The LDS Conference Center

Next, I met some beloved friends for lunch at The Original Pancake House. I wanted waffles, and I was grateful they were willing to join me, even on a Sunday. Special ladies on a special occasion. It was especially great to have Carrie with us during her short stay in SLC. We miss her!

From left: Liz, Chantryce, me, Carrie, and Kati

After lunch, I went home and took a lovely, lovely nap. Birthday naps are just the best, aren't they?

Then I skipped over to my parents' house for a family dinner. Fettuccine alfredo, german chocolate cake, yoga equipment, and a new crock pot. What could be better?

Cousins bonding. One of the best things ever.

This t-shirt was a gift from Liz. She gave it to me at lunch :)

First year in awhile I've managed to blow out all the candles
and I forgot to make a wish. Whoops!

Dave is by far the best gift wrapper
(Isn't his penmanship lovely?)

The G-unit has recently shown an interest in Doctor Who, so we watched the latest episode together. It happened to include Robin Hood; I thought it was nice that G's first full episode was a mostly family-friendly one. I'm sure his parents were relieved -- so many of the best DW episodes are the scary ones!

If you know me at all, you know that I like to stretch my birthday into "birthday weeks," and since this birthday was on a Sunday, I cheated a little and celebrated for two!

My grandmother (not pictured per her preference) treated my mom and I to dinner at The Olive Garden before our season ticket-holder date to see She Loves Me at Hale Centre Theatre. The play was darling, and the set amazing. I loved all the different chandeliers hanging from the ceiling!

Cutie Gina insisted on taking me to lunch, and we both enjoyed huge meals plus cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory!

Lastly, and far from leastly, my best friends and I went out to dinner at Romano's Macaroni Grill and saw Magic in the Moonlight. Cute movie! Colin Firth is still handsome, and I adore Emma Stone. Even better to spend the time with women I think of as my sisters.

Nichole, Larissa, me, and Kate.
Finally got them all together in one place.
Totally worth the wait :)

That's it for this year. It's been a perfect kick-off for this coming year. I have a few ideas about what is to come, and I hope there are a lot of fun surprises, too. I am a lucky and blessed girl!

My year in theatre

Last year at about this time, Larissa gifted me A Theater Goer's Journal. The idea is that there is a page for each show where I can paste in the ticket, record details about the show such as cast members and who I saw it with, rate the elements such as direction and set design, and write reviews. It's been a fun project and I've enjoyed keeping up with it.

The first play I recorded in the journal was Peter and the Starcatcher at the Utah Shakespeare Festival (USF) on September 20 last year.

I have seen 45 plays since then.

Yes, I have attended 46 plays in the last 52 weeks.

I'll give you a moment to let that sink in.


Granted, my idea of a fun vacation is to pop down to USF for the weekend, or head to New York City to see as many Broadway shows as possible, and I did both last year (multiple times in the case of USF). And granted, I buy season tickets to Hale Centre Theatre every year and have earned free tickets to CenterPoint Legacy Theatre the past few seasons. But, wow, how in the world did I manage to see so many plays in such a short period of time?

There is a place in the book to record ticket prices, so I did the math: I spent over $1100 on theatre tickets this year. A good chunk of it was spent on community-produced plays, most of which involved my friends in one capacity or another. I am lucky that I was given complimentary tickets to 13 of the plays or I'd have to add another $200 or so to my total.

Never let it be said that I don't support community theatre!

I've filled nearly 2/3 of the journal already.

So... I think it's time I pull back a little on my patronage. Since I have been involved in local theatre for 20 years, I've made a LOT of friends in the theatre community. Many do several productions a year. For a long time, I felt guilty if I missed a show, but I've come to notice that although most of them are thrilled to see me and genuinely grateful that I support them, very few feel the need to reciprocate. I understand that life gets busy, but if one of those friends hasn't seen me in a play in the last two years or so, I feel ok about missing theirs. Even worse are the friends who go out of their way to assure me they'll come to my show... and then miss it and never say anything about it; I think they hope I don't notice, but after they fuss they made, I definitely notice and it irks me. It's sad that our busy schedules mean I won't see most of those people otherwise... until we do another show together, of course ;) That's what Facebook is for, I suppose.

I've veered off topic, haven't I?

I love live theatre. I love that six productions of any given play will be different (Steel Magnolias and Shrek are popular this summer, aren't they?) as will six performances from any one production. I've seen plays here in Salt Lake City that were every bit as well-done and entertaining -- if not more -- as anything I've seen in New York. There is so much to explore and enjoy.

Utah Shakespeare Festival Summer 2014.
#fourplaystwodays

There is also real life to enjoy, and I think I need to spend a little more time and money on that. Of course I still want to support my dearest, most supportive friends and fans, but if I'm not able to make it once in awhile, please cut me some slack. $1100 in one year really is excessive.

Let's see if I can stretch this journal through the next 52 weeks, at least!

Personal Trainer Food, part two

As promised, here is the follow-up on the Personal Trainer Food program. I followed the diet for 25 days and I am very pleased with the results!

Remember my "before" shot in this dress?

I can barely pinch the fabric on the left side.

Here is the after:

It's a three inch difference! Hooraaaaaaaaaaay! I weighed myself at Larissa's house and asked her to take this photo. She was so excited about the difference that she suggested I try on one of her dresses:

This dress is a size four.
I'm shocked that Larissa was able to zip me into it without any
problems, especially since our body types are so different!

I did not weigh myself before I started the diet; I did weigh myself on the last day. I am guessing I lost about 10 pounds. I was a little disappointed by the number on the scale, but that's the reason I didn't replace the batteries in my own scale -- I wanted to be encouraged and not discouraged by my hard work.

The happy result is that my clothes fit MUCH better now. I was even able to wear my Sleeping Beauty costume to Salt Lake Comic Con (my mom made that dress for me when I was 20 and had a 20 year-old's metabolism). No, I don't fit into my skinniest jeans, and no, I don't mind all that much.

The food, for the most part, was tasty and satisfying. I definitely liked some of the frozen entrees more than others, but I always liked the vegetables. I ate some combination of eggs, bacon, and cheese for breakfast, and cheese, nuts, and apples for snacks. I never felt like I was starving. The program allowed for variety and decent portion sizes as long as it was the right kinds of food. The frozen meals saved me -- I never could have made it as long as I did if I'd been required to prepare my own meals during the first few weeks of rehearsals for Jekyll and Hyde.

The main drawback was my timing. I tried to fit the program in between my trip to Cedar City and Salt Lake Comic Con/my birthday, so I shorted my diet three days: 25 instead of the full 28 days. I also got sick (due to allergies and the weather change) during the third week, so I wasn't able to exercise as much as I would have liked, and I slept through a couple of lunches. I'm trying not to think "what if?" I had been able to complete the entire program without interruption.

I cannot pretend that my cravings for sugar and carb-loaded food went away entirely. After the first two weeks, I dreamed almost nightly that I accidentally cheated and ate something chocolatey: cookies, pudding, frosting, brownies, you name it. I will say that it was tough ending the diet. I felt major anxiety at that first day of Comic Con when I had eaten all my snacks, needed a meal, and bought a pulled pork sandwich (I cannot bear to buy a salad when out to eat). The sandwich and Sun chips were delicious -- everything I wanted them to be. By the end of the second day I had eaten a Snickers, a Wachamacallit, a cheeseburger, fries, peaches, and ice cream. At that point, I missed vegetables and wanted to go back to being strict again!

My mom says that Weight Watchers has a saying: "The day you end your diet is the day you begin gaining the weight back." Isn't that awful? It's probably true, but I don't want to be afraid of food. If I eat healthy most of the time, I don't want to beat myself up if I eat a Snickers, too. I tend to go a little overboard and am either all in or all out. This is why I don't feel too sorry for myself when I am with people who are eating foods that I'm abstaining from (I did smell a lot of desserts, to the amusement and exasperation of my friends) -- I'm all in the diet and I'm okay with my choice. In the future, I'm determined to strike a healthy balance so I can enjoy life.

My goal now is to maintain my weight loss and strengthen and tone my body. I started getting up early to run again yesterday, and I did yoga this morning. I still have four days worth (well, three now) of frozen meals to eat which should get me through this work/rehearsal week. Happily, some of my family members gave me a crock pot for my birthday, so I should be able to cook up some healthy and delicious meals this weekend to get me through next week, too. It IS possible to eat healthy when I'm busy, and I am determined to do it :D CONSTANT VIGILANCE!!

In conclusion, I hope I can keep this up. I honestly enjoyed the food choices and am considering purchasing the program for another 28 days in the near future. I don't particularly need to lose more weight, but I like the food and I really like feeling in control of my cravings!

And I LOVE looking better in my clothes!!

Memes that make me giggle: Procrastination

August Adventures

Another month where I didn't take many photos, August flew by! Once I was cast in Jekyll and Hyde, my nights filled up. Fortunately, I squeezed in one more vacation and a few more adventures with friends before the weather started to turn fall-ish. This is in addition to spending most of the month doing the Personal Trainer Food diet!

I ate this creme brule when my coworkers went out to lunch to celebrate our latest product release. Yummmmmmm!

The Utah Shakespeare Festival: Four Plays in Two Days

I took a two-day trip to Cedar City to see four new plays. Well, technically Shakespeare's plays aren't new, but I had never seen them before ;) We saw The Comedy of Errors, Measure for Measure, Sense and Sensibility, and Henry IV part I. I couldn't pick a favorite or least favorite. They were all excellent, and very different from each other. I'm hoping to skip down sometime this fall to catch Twelfth Night before it closes. I've never seen it, either! 

Companions Allison and Janae with Mr. Shakespeare himself

We took a detour to tour Cove Fort on the way home. Such a neat place, and so much history!

Coming home and returning to work was anticlimactic. Fortunately, my desk is rather cozy :)

Sandy City's Footloose

The first time I tried to watch Sandy's Footloose, the clouds parted and drenched the audience during "Somebody's Eyes." Fortunately, the council offered everyone tickets to another night, so I was able to return with Theresa and see how the play ended. My friends were terrific, particularly Larissa in her first role playing a grown up!

Miscellaneous

A surprise unbirthday party for Steph! Her birthday is in February, so it WAS a surprise. It was fun to hang out with that group of girls. It's been a while.

The condo complex had new carpet installed in my building. It's much nicer than that in my condo. Now I want new carpet. That'll be the next big remodel project after finishing up my light fixtures.

Rehearsals for Jekyll and Hyde

We learned all of the music and choreography, and most of the blocking in three weeks. This show is going to be so good. The pro team and technical experts have very cool ideas, and the actors are terrific! Get tickets sooner rather than later; we open September 29.

My cast was called out for the Ice Bucket Challenge, so these brave souls complied. The Peter Pan cast and crew was only too happy to dump the ice on my castmates one at a time.

Our director, Scott, calls out the Centerville City Council, Davis Arts Council, the touring company of Wicked (which was in Salt Lake City at the time), music director Marcie, and composer Frank Wildhorn

September is here, and fall has fallen, complete with an allergy-related cold that is two weeks old and going strong. Aw, Autumn. Hope you have some nice surprises for me, in addition to my birthday, Salt Lake Comic Con, and opening night of my play!