June happenings

As you all know (if you were paying attention, and I don't blame you if you weren't), I didn't blog much during June. It isn't that nothing happened -- plenty did -- and there were definitely things I wanted to blog about but...

For once, I decided not to feel guilty and just enjoy my life without stressing about trying to document it all. 

Will I regret this later? Possibly. Did things happen last month that I still want to blog about? A few. Will I? We'll see.

For now, here's a recap of some of the stuff that kept me busy and happy:

A bonfire and s'mores with some hilarious people

Yes, this is photoshopped to mash two photos together.
I love their faces!

I saw 12 Angry Jurors at CenterPoint Legacy -- it was great!

I gave it a shout-out on Facebook, which was included
in a promotional e-mail  later that week.

My visiting teacher gave me some sweet "I'm thinking of you" gifts.
She's so nice (and knows me so well)!

 

This terrific kid had a birthday...

and was pretty excited about receiving new sports equipment :D

Went to the Salt Lake Temple on a really windy day

Saw Kristen, Larissa, and several other friends in Doo Wop Wed Widing Hood, which was completely adorable. My three dates and I all loved it.

About one minute after Larissa as the Fairy Godmother appeared
on stage, Zonks said to me, "She's just like you!"
Breezy commented that Kristen's Evil Queen was mean,
and Lindsey responded, "She was my favorite!"
(Note: It's almost impossible to get Breezy to sit still
for a photo. The one bottom left with Riss is what
happens when you tell her to strike a "Princess" pose.)

My brother Peter had a birthday, which included a new experience for the kids:

The G-child was pretty indignant when he realized
we purposely pulled the pinata out reach when he swung
at it, and then delighted to pull it away during Peter's turn.

The G-child created this card especially for Pete. Peter laughed so hard he started crying.
Birds of a feather!

I finished a huge, stressful, long-term, self-esteem-killing project at work (the main reason why I didn't blog during the day), at the end of which I wanted to do this:

And, of course, more Robin Hood rehearsals

Playing with puppets during a speed-through

Hanging out

Tech week last week
(Note that the stuffed goat is wearing a hood)

During this next month, I'll perform my show, catch up with a bunch of friends, celebrate two holidays, hopefully go to the Shakespearean Festival, see a bunch of movies and plays, sit by the pool, and... see what else is in store.

The year is now half over, but there's still so much to look forward to. Isn't life great?

Happy Monday!

Liebster Award Nominations

My sweet friend over at One Crazy Girl's Kitchen nominated my blog for a Liebster Award*! I don't know that there is an actual award; it kinda sounds like a gimmick to get our friends to branch out and try new blogs... and I'm totally on board with that ;D

The Fun Rules:

• The nominee must link back to the blogger who nominated them.
• The nominee must state 11 facts about themselves, and then answer the 11 questions provided for them by the person who nominated them.
• The nominee must then nominate bloggers with less than 200 followers, who they think deserve the recognition, and pose 11 new questions for them to answer.

Random facts about me:

1. I am very wary of the chicken in t.v. dinners, unless it's breaded or fried. Otherwise, it always looks like there's fat or sinew or something on it and it's so gross!! I'll eat it, but I have to gag it down.
2. I found Keebler alternatives for Samoas and Thin Mints that I can buy year-round, but I still buy Girl Scout cookies. They're for a good cause and they're cheaper. The knock-offs are pretty good in a pinch, though!
3. The next foreign country I want to visit is Italy, or maybe Croatia. Definitely someplace Mediterranean.
4. I'm only about 100 pages into Mansfield Park, but I identify more with Fanny Price than I care to admit.
5. My Spring allergies have already started to bug me.
6. My first community play was a musical version of The Wind in the Willows. I have had a fondness for the story ever since!
7. I have plenty of Easter candy at my house, but I was still tempted to stop for a cupcake today.
8. I have all my Barbie stuff in storage in case I have any daughters who want to play with them.
9. I own exactly one item of yellow clothing, and one of orange (not including pajamas). Obviously I don't think either is my color.
10. As a teenager, I wished I looked like Catherine Zeta-Jones.
11. Eureka just isn't the same since I went out with the a guy who, in hindsight, reminds me of Sheriff Carter.

Answers to One Crazy Girl's Kitchen's questions:

1. What is your favorite color and why?   This is hard, because I bounce between blue and purple. Right now I'll go with blue, because no matter the shade I always feel pretty when I wear it.
2. Who is your greatest inspiration?   It's cliche, but my inspiration is my mom. She can do almost anything with her hands, is nonjudgmental, kind, thoughtful, service-oriented, and always trying to better herself. I wish I were more like her.
3. What is the strangest thing you've ever eaten?   Rattlesnake. My dad caught one at Lake Powell and roasted it up for us. As I recall, it tasted like chicken ;)
4. What is one talent you wish you had?   I wish that I could stand up for myself during confrontations.
5. What is your favorite movie?   I've blogged about how difficult this question is for me, but I think at the moment it's The Holiday. 
6. What is your favorite vacation memory?   To no one's surprise, it involves Disneyland. I remember the first time I went on Star Tours -- the year it opened. When the little Wall-E robot asked if it was my first ride, I replied "Yes," and then I was amazed when he said it was his too! I've had a soft spot for that ride ever since. That place will always be magical for me!
7. What is one food you refuse to eat?   I won't eat seafood, especially lobsters, crab, crayfish. Nothing that eats sea-feces is going in my belly. Nope!
8. How long have you lived in your current home?   Just a little over four and-a-half years.
9. If you could live anywhere, where would it be?   I've always wanted to live in London, or nearby!
10. What is your biggest pet peeve?   Cell phones in movie theaters. I have no tolerance whatsoever.
11. What is one thing you couldn't live without for a day?   My mind is drawing a blank. The first thing that came to mind was access to a toilet. I'd accept a port-a-potty if that's what's available. Sorry if that's TMI.

Nominees (in alphabetical order):

All About Evey

Expressionism

Guy Smiley's Guts

Life Would Be Boring

Questions for nominees:

1. What was your favorite toy as a child?
2. What do you do when you are sad?
3. What did you want to be when you grew up?
4. Beavers or ducks?
5. What was the last book you read, and what did you think of it?
6. Which sports do you follow, if any?
7. What is your favorite food to pig out on?
8. If you could have a conversation with absolutely anyone -- living or dead -- who would it be?
9. What is one talent you wish you had?
10. Where is the most exotic place you've ever been? (The definition of "exotic" is up to you!)
11. Why did you start blogging?

*A quick google search turned up the following blog post about the Liebster Award's origins. I love this idea!

2012 in Review: goals and accomplishments

In the year 2012, I accomplished the following:

• Read in the Book of Mormon every day
• Read 25 (plus!) varying types of books
• Played three dream, very well-produced and well-received shows: The Importance of Being Earnest, The Marvelous Wonderettes, and Little Women the Musical
• Grew my existing relationships and relationship skills, and added to my circle of friends
• Attended the temple about 10 of the 12 months, including Salt Lake, Oquirrh Mountain, Jordan River, and Bountiful temples, and visited the grounds at the St. George temple :)
• Lost 25 pounds and am maintaining so far within 5 pounds :-D
• Visited St. George, Philadelphia, Bear Lake, Idaho Falls, and Disneyland
• Caught up on these friend-recommended television shows: Community, Sports Night, The West Wing, Dr. Who, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Gilmore Girls. Gave up on Portlandia and My So-Called Life -- not my taste right now. Started Battleship Galactica and Enterprise, but putting them on hold for now. Next up: Lie to Me
• Bought a smart phone -- getting closer to catching up to the twenty-first century!
• Was relatively successful in my Photo-a-day endeavor
• Wanted to blog 3 times a week (Monday/Tuesday, Wednesday/Thursday, Friday): didn't quite work out. Maybe next year?
• Continued working full-time and earned a well-deserved raise :)
• Experimented with new dating skills
• Prepared and taught 8 Relief Society lessons 
• Used the words "woot", "insane", "ridiculous", and "brilliant" a lot (and a lot of exclamation points)

I'm pretty satisfied with this year, and hope for good things this next. I also hope that I'll have few regrets, and that I'll see positive results to my hard work in dating, theater, and work.

The pegboard in my dining room, as it is right now

Thanks 2012. You were swell! Looking forward to whatever surprises are in store in 2013!

15 Common Grammar Mistakes (and the correct usage)

I saw this on Copyblogger and thought I'd pass it along. I'm pleased to say that I get these right most of the time (with the possible exception of affect/effect -- darn that first letter!!) Hope this is helpful to the rest of you... not that I'm pointing fingers. It's really just good general knowledge...


Like this infographic? Get more copywriting tips from Copyblogger.

How interested are you in Earnest rehearsals?

Sometimes I think it would be cool to have a blog where I talk about the creation of whatever play I'm doing.

Jan Davis teaches the
Monday/Wednesday/Friday
cast the blocking for to Act I

I'd chronicle everything, from auditions, to callbacks, to rehearsals, to performances, etc. I'd write about our goings-on, progress, and my personal musings about the whole thing. (Now that I write this idea down, I realize it sounds like the new t.v. show, Smash, except I'm nowhere near Broadway, and I had this idea before NBC started to advertise their show.)

The pro is that I'd have a really cool record of the whole thing. The con is that sometimes stuff goes on that other people don't need to know about (difficult directors, cast members who don't get along, etc) and my cast and production mates probably wouldn't appreciate me sharing with everyone.

But what if I were just to write two or three things about each rehearsal? Or even just each week (in which case, I wouldn't have to create a whole new blog that I'm stressed to keep up regularly)?

Would anyone be interested in something like that? For Earnest or for some other show I do in the future? Anything in particular you'd want to know about? Would you want to read about stuff that happens or learn more about backstage/theater stuff in general?

The Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday cast
waits for our turn to work the scene

Or would you get bored with the subject really quickly? I try not to dwell on the same thing too much on my blog. Theater doesn't encompass my WHOLE life, but it does take up a great deal of time, especially when actively rehearsing (and Earnest has been filling my mind an awful lot the last seven weeks). Also, some stories just aren't funny unless you were there or you understand the theater world...

Then again, when has potential incomprehensible-ness ever stopped me from posting anything before?

What do you think? Yay or nay?

Drum roll -- I mean, Blog roll, please!

Hello, my name is Megan, and I like to read blogs.

As addictions go, this one is fairly harmless, right?

I love to read people's stories, and look at photos of happy people, and read about people going through tough times that eventually end, and just see what's going on. Whenever I see that a friend of mine has a blog, I immediately spend far too much time reading back-posts and "catching up" as it were. I secretly follow many blogs of friends-of-friends and people I only sort of know. It's fun!

The next thing I do when I find a new blog is look through the blogger's own blog roll and other recommended links. And I expand my reading list and spend even more time learning stuff about people I may or may not know in person. It's a never-ending circle.

When I started using Google Reader (a year ago, maybe?), I deleted my own blog roll. It seemed redundant and unnecessary. I have recently decided that was a mistake, because it occurred to me lately that some of you might be interested in the goings-on of my friends, or other cool blogs that I love. What if you're like me and you want the chance to stalk some of the people I stalk?

So, without further ado... drum roll please...

I created a new blog roll!

The new blog roll is on the left-hand side of my page, and is called "I Recommend these Blogs." (Clever title, eh?) It's a sampling of my Google Reader list: there's a mixture of friends' blogs, photography blogs, a couple of "businesses" (like the official Disney Parks blog) and other goodies. Just for fun. Sadly, some of my faves are private blogs, but I think the list I created is enough to go on. So as not to bombard you with the awesomeness of the list, I have set it so you can just see the 10 most recently updated. Some post more often than others, but all are great.

Hope you find exploring these blogs as much fun as I do!

Meanwhile, I checked on my Google Reader feed, and discovered that I follow and subscribe to 134 blogs. Isn't that crazy?! Many are comic strips, and at least 10 haven't been updated in weeks if not months, and very few are updated every day (though some update multiple times a day), but I continue to hold on because I am attached to them. I must admit, it's a little sad that I rarely visit the actual blog sites anymore. This is a major reason why I don't post comments very often, though I read most as soon as they show up on the feed. I will try to be a better commenter.

In addition (I know, I know: MORE awesome time-devouring stuff??!!), I updated my "Megan's blog" play list at the bottom of my blog. It had been about a year since I last looked at it -- totally time for some new stuff. Take a listen, let me know if anything strikes your fancy.


Happy Tuesday!

555th post and Celebration Giveway!

This post is number 555!

I am very grateful for the last three-plus years, five-hundred and fifty-five posts, oodles of readers and friends, and a record of my growth and random musings.

So, I'm going to take a leaf out of Larissa's celebratory book:

I'm doing a giveaway!

In celebration of all of you who read, comment, and generally remind me how lucky I am to know you, I will give away a $25 gift card to Amazon to one lucky winner.

All you have to do is post a comment below, and tell me about a favorite summer memory. It can be a specific childhood event, fun tradition, a book you read and loved when you were 14, the summer you worked at Baskin Robbins... whatever you look back on fondly.

Next Friday afternoon (July 8th), I will print out all of your comments, fold them up and draw one out of a hat. I'll announce the lucky winner in a blog post that afternoon!

My favorite summer memory? For about 12 years, my family time-shared a houseboat at Lake Powell. So, one week every summer we'd spend a week sweltering in the heat, playing in the water (when we could get our speedboat to work), and sleeping on the roof under the stars (because it was waaaaay too hot inside the actual boat). I still remember the year my dad caught and killed a rattlesnake and let us eat the meat. It tasted like chicken ;-) Now that we're grown up, we don't have those kinds of family vacations to look forward to every year. It was a chance to cloister the whole family together, you know? I often miss those days.

Lake Powell, most likely 2002

Your turn!