Hair as yellow as corn

You might recall that a few months back I decided I needed a change in hair color. When I asked my current director if she'd prefer me as a redhead or blonde, she asked what I wanted to do. I didn't know, so she said, "How about strawberry-blonde?"

It wasn't until after she said it I knew I really wanted to be blonde again. So, I made an appointment, and finally, FINALLY, yesterday I had the red stripped out of my hair.

We did the treatment twice, and it wouldn't come completely out, but my hair was definitely blonder again! It did turn out strawberry-blonde, and we put blonde and red highlights in the 3 inches of regrowth.

Rapunzel/Jeanne and I joke about my t-shirt

I admit, I'm a little disappointed in the way it turned out. I've always been proud of the fact I'm a natural blonde, and I thought it was cool I looked like a natural redhead. But I feel like the color now doesn't look natural -- it looks like I dyed it and I LOATHE that! I want to love it, but I don't right now.

However, the director likes it, as do my other castmembers. That's comforting.

I guess I need to give myself some time to get used to it. Maybe after I wash it and style it the way I normally do... it's likely it'll take as much time to get used to being blonde again as it did after I dyed it red. So, about two months, at which point it'll be time to get a touch-up. I do want to get the red out next time if I can.

I think I need this today:

It tickles me that this little girl has hair like mine.

"I like my hair! I like my haircuts!"

Yes, the blonde is a little boring, but it was so much a part of my identity for so long. It's nice to have it back.

My eyebrows look so much darker now!

Signs I'm getting ready to open a show, or "the cow as white as milk..."

"...the cape as red as blood, the hair as yellow as corn, the slipper as pure as gold!"

Foxy, Sassy, and Rissy all created their lists, so I thought I'd follow suit:

Signs I'm getting ready to open a show

Red, Jack, and Cinderella making plans
for "Happy Ever After"

1. I live on fast food (I'm not ordering fries during this cycle!).
2. I reject almost all invitations by using some variation on the phrase, "I can't. I have rehearsal."
3. I start wishing I was a professional performer because rather than going to my full-time job, I just want to go to rehearsal all day. Doing both is exhausting.
4. My skin starts breaking out -- noticeably -- due to stress.
5. I start telling everyone I know that I'm in a play and they should see it.
   Note 1: YOU SHOULD COME SEE MY PLAY!!
6. I walk around town in curlers and full stage make-up sans false eyelashes like it's a perfectly normal thing to do.
7. I shop for groceries at 11pm or later.
8. I start hand-washing my stage-undergarments every night so I don't have to wear sweaty stuff the next day (sometimes I ask a stay-at-home-mom cast member to throw mine in the washing machine with hers).
   Note 2: Stage undergarments consist of tights, bike shorts and tank top.
   Note 3: I really, really need to get that washer and dryer installed...
9. I make lists with names like: To buy - show, To buy- groceries, To pack, To borrow ("To go to the festival!!")
10. I start praying that none of the tech/dress rehearsals or performances will be rained out.
    Note 4: PLEASE also pray for the above things.
11. The songs from the show run through my head over and over and over. Right now it's the "A Very Nice Prince" reprise, which is annoying, because I don't have the timing down yet. So, really, the song's just mocking me.
12. My voice grows stronger and I develop a wider singing range.
13. I plan my wardrobe for work around what might be comfortable at rehearsal, 'cause I don't want to have to wear and wash additional clothing (see Note 3).
14. Lyrics and lines from the show start cropping up in my daily conversations (see quote in parenthesis in #9). As previously stated, Into the Woods (and any Sondheim show, really) is particularly quotable.
15. I think about my as-yet-unwritten-down character sketch all the time! I really, really need to write it down, along with memories and things I want to remember.
    
    AND
    
16. I start wishing the experience would never end!

I am so happy with this play so far. I can't wait to start adding tech and props and costumes and running the whole show over and over (aside from the stressed and yelling people, I am one of the crazies who actually likes tech week). I am excited to perform for an audience and show off my fellow castmembers. I am hopeful for big, responsive audiences and cooperative weather.

Cat's out of the bag, or "You can talk to birds?"*

I've delayed telling anyone at work that I do theatre, for the simple reason that I have really, really enjoyed being in control of what they know about me, if not what they think about me. Sometimes people don't think well of theatre-folk (Richard jokingly called me a "carnie" when I told him), and everyone definitely makes assumptions. It's not always a compliment when people say, "I believe that you're an actress; you're so dramatic!"

But the silence is broken! I want as many people as possible to see Into the Woods as can, so I asked our darling receptionist, Richard, to put up a flyer for me in a likely spot. He asked if he could put something on it so people knew it was from me and would be more inclined to go and after some hemming and hawing I said Okay. I let him do his own thing. I knew he'd come up with something adorable -- something I'd like. This is what he came up with:

Haha! I love that guy.

Since yesterday morning, I've fielded several people's questions. I'm trying not to be embarrassed to admit that I'm playing Cinderella (I don't know why I'm embarrassed), though people who don't know the show still assume it's a lead role. It turns out, I'm not the only Thespian in our workplace. That's nice to hear :)  Makes me feel a little less silly!

I hope some work folks can come! Being vulnerable is scary. Wouldn't want to reveal such a huge part of myself without some small sort of payoff, you know? I guess just allowing them to be my friends and me to be their friend should be payoff enough. I still want them to come.

We open a week from tomorrow. Eeeeeeek!

*I feel like I should be taking advantage out of the fact that Into the Woods is so darn quotable! As such, I'm using lines from the play for alternative titles to all of the show-related blog posts. It just feels good!

So, do you, like, paint houses or something?

During my second-to-last year at BYU, I had a huge, huge, monster of a crush on my Home Teacher, Mike. He was handsome, tall, soft-spoken, and really nice. You know, one of those guys you can tell is a good guy but so shy he pretty much doesn't ever talk. So, I tried really hard to pick up on clues as to things we could chat about, so, you know, he could go ahead and start falling in love with me.

One day early in the school year, he showed up to my appointment a little sweaty and wearing paint-spattered shorts. He apologized for his appearance and said something about how he'd been painting all day. Not knowing anything about him, I asked something along the lines of "So, do you, like, paint houses or something?" I thought it was a fair question, and I didn't mean to be condescending. Two of my brothers and one of my cousins spent a couple summers painting apartment complexes to help pay for school.

But, Mike got this "You really don't know?" look on his face, laughed in a slightly embarrassed way and said, "Um, no. I'm painting a mural in the library."

This mural.

For a larger photo with better resolution, click here.

To say I was embarrassed would be an understatement. Granted, why would I know he was an art major, or was painting a mural in a section of the library I almost never visited? Still, as a young woman with a crush, I could have died. But I soldiered through the rest of the appointment and the rest of the year, saying "Hi" to him and when I passed him in the halls or at church, and wishing he weren't so shy.

The next year, Mike wasn't my Home Teacher, but he was still in my ward. I continued to pine for him, but since I was a chicken and he barely knew I existed (I would later understand he just wasn't "that into me"), nothing happened.

Until the Spring.

My cousin's wife called me for some reason or another. This was a little significant because it's the only time I can remember her doing so. But she wanted to set me up with her neighbor. She told me about how nice and good-looking he was, and how he was always willing to help her out when she asked. She said he was a BYU student and we might get along.

Then she said his name: Michael Lenhardt.

I laughed. "Really? He's in my ward! He was my home teacher last year!"

She laughed too, and we agreed it was a funny coincidence.

I took that as my sign to ask him out... I figured I had nothing to lose. I had a crush on him and was leaving school in a few months anyway. My roommate, Jennifer, and I planned a low-key date. I asked him and although he was surprised he politely said yes.

We went hiking and then got ice cream after. Like I said, low key. To keep the conversation going, I asked him every question I could think of, but I'm afraid none of them were very interesting. By the time we got to the ice cream parlor, I was pretty sure he hadn't managed to fall in love with me. But, I had a good time, and was glad that I tried.

Sometimes I wonder what happened to Mike. I tried to Google him, but apparently the name is pretty common (I nearly passed out when I saw he'd been in a car accident... then realized it was some other guy). I hope Mike found a gorgeous, intelligent, charming, and kind woman and fell head-over-heels in love. I hope he's doing amazing work somewhere, and coaching his five kids in soccer during the summers.

Mike was the first guy --outside of high school dances -- that I ever asked out, and I'll always have a soft spot for him for that reason. I'm glad that I don't have to ask "What if?" And I'm glad that, even if he wasn't interested, he was still so nice to me!

Ah, memories!

Camp fire photos

I love to watch a camp fire -- it's so beautiful and airy and elegant. During our Ward camping trip last month, one of the Bishopric members brought this table for fuel and it was so interesting to watch the way the wood warped and changed as it burned.

My camera may not be fancy, but I'm pretty proud of some of these shots. I'm glad I took a few moments to capture them and just watch the fire and meditate. It felt so peaceful and lovely on that chilly June evening!

 

 

I find that fourth photo particularly haunting. It's amazing how something so destructive can be so beautiful at the same time.

That's it -- I'm actually going to use my fireplace this winter. I've resisted because it's one more thing to clean and I hear horror stories about chimneys catching on fire, but I'm going to do it anyway because, really, there are few things so peaceful and comforting to me as watching flames in an as-controlled-as-can-be environment.

Nerds...

...are my current candy obsession. I blame Sarah for this. All she had to do was mention them and now I can't stop thinking about them (did you read her blog post? Did you see how minuscule the reference to Nerds was? And yet now I'm obsessed)! I buy the big boxes that have several flavors mixed together, and I'll eat, like, a third of the box between getting home from rehearsal and going to bed. If I take it to work, the box doesn't last the day. Sometimes I try to suck on the candy so it lasts longer and is therefore more satisfying, but most of the time I just chomp 'em down. Last night I stopped at the grocery store at quarter to eleven to buy three boxes 'cause I'd run out. I just can't stop.

If there was any doubt I'm a big science fiction nerd, I bought seasons 4 and 5 of these box sets this week for half off and I can't WAIT for them to arrive! I don't think I'll ever completely get over my crush on Worf.

Michael Dorn is a beautiful, beautiful man.

I just found this, and it KILLS me!! Ahahahahahaha!!

And since good things come in threes, even for nerds like me, I decided to share this goody as my Friday video. Enjoy!


Happy Friday!!

p.s. I am also wearing a t-shirt today with the Supergirl logo emblazoned on it. Yep, I'm a nerd!