March mayhem

March roared in like a lamb and out like a lion. Wait, is that the phrase? It doesn't matter. This was during the height of my post-NYC-feeling-sorry-for-myself-for-not-having-a-job funk. I took a break from life and interviews to attend all three days of FanX. And on the very last day of the month I was offered an amazing job with a surprisingly high salary. A Mercurial month indeed!

On the first day of the month, I joined Nichole as she fulfilled a wish: we saw the touring production of A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder. She was the one who first brought it to my attention, and seeing it with her was perfect symmetry. The musical was brilliant! Witty, and quick-paced, and very, very British. We laughed and laughed and marveled at the leading man's stamina (he rarely left the stage) and the other leading man's versatility and quick-changes. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for something silly and clever.

Mom and I drove to Provo to see the Provo City Temple during one of the final days of the open house. It is beautiful inside. I admired that they strove to keep as much of the original architecture and furnishing style as they could. I like the contrast between the dark wood and the bright and airy carpets and tapestries. It's a tiny building, but filled with everything necessary for a House of the Lord. I'm glad Mom wanted to go. I wouldn't have known what I was missing, and I'm glad I didn't miss it! Afterwards, we had uncommonly good pancakes at Penny Ann's. I love having one-on-one time with my mom. Our day trips were one of few good things about being out of work!

Liz and I intended to go to the Ogden Temple, but unluckily it was closed and neither of us had thought to check. So we drove a little further to the Brigham City Temple. It was smaller than I expected and really cute inside. One of the workers showed us around a few of the sealing rooms and explained that each of the temples pays homage to where it is located, so this one has a lot of peach blossom motifs (I didn't know before that Brigham City is known for its peaches. I'll have to check them out in the autumn). 

Aaron and Anna hosted a swimming and pizza party at Aaron's apartment complex. It was low-key and fun. He's a darling uncle and the kids love him. The adults do, too, come to think of it. It's hard not to love Aaron!

I saw Zootopia on opening night with a couple of friends. I liked it a lot! Pixar lately seems to have an agenda in these movies, but oddly it was one of the first couple of lines that really resonated with me. Judy as a tiny bunny tells her parents she wants to be a cop. Her parents know this is an unlikely career bath for a rabbit, so they tell her that sometimes you have dreams and you don't achieve them, and that's okay, too. Judy then goes on to achieve her dream of being a cop and solving a huge mystery and all that, but I appreciated the almost throwaway moment where her parents acknowledge that even though your life may not be what you dreamed it might be when you were young, it can still  be pretty darn awesome. Sometimes dreams change. Sometimes you change. I needed to hear that right then.

Later that night, I blew a tire, but that's another story.

I saw one of my oldest friends perform as a narrator in a delightful Stake production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamboat. Michelle hadn't done a play since we were in high school. She sparkled onstage -- she should do it more often!

I saw one of my oldest friends perform as a narrator in a delightful Stake production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Michelle hadn't done a play since we were in high school. She sparkled onstage -- she should do it more often. I sometimes complain that Joseph is performed too often, but it doesn't stop me from enjoying it every time I go. I love the music!

On Saint Patrick's Day, my mom invited me over for corned beef and cabbage, and her famous sugar cookies. I played with baby PJ in his new cardboard-box house. He's such a charming boy!

I saw the movie Brooklyn later that night. It felt appropriate to see a movie about an Irish girl who finds herself in New York, then goes home to see what might have been had she stayed. All those lovely accents and costumes. Highly recommended!

 Nichole and I supported Larissa in a darling production of Snoopy. It had similarities to You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, but not many. It was a lot of fun, though, and I liked a lot of the music. Talented people having a good time together. And Larissa was wonderful as always!

I auditioned for Big River at Hale, and to my surprise, I was called back, too! I wasn't cast, but I felt good about my work, and grateful they wanted to see me a second time. To celebrate, I ate a donut. The fluffy kind with chocolate frosting. YUMMY!!

Free pancake day at IHOP (I donated to charity, so it wasn't free, but I didn't mind giving money for a good cause AND good food). Then some time at the Salt Lake Temple. I tried to spend some time at a temple every week while I was unemployed. I didn't quite make it every week, but I got pretty close.

After my first job interview, I decided that I had to treat myself. McDonald's ice cream is only a couple hundred calories, so I thought it was a decent choice. I needed something after that interview. It was two hours long and it was harrowing!

Not my cutest outfit ever. If I ever interview for another new job, I'll have to buy something new.

After a few months' respite, we had snow near the end of the month. I got to wear the squashy purple coat and stylish boots I bought for New York City, so I didn't mind traipsing all over to do errands on a particularly snowy day.

Volunteered to judge a high school drama competition. It was hard work and I enjoyed it. The kids had worked hard. Some were better than others. But they were all supportive of each other and positive and the excitement was palpable. Trying to pick a first, second, and third place during the medals round was TOUGH! Everyone else by default tied for fourth place, but there were at least five kids who could have been in the top three. Made fifty dollars and had my faith in the future restored. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

This photo of my nieces makes me giggle. Zonks isn't paying attention, just walking away with her dessert, and Breezy is posing like a loon. They are such dear girls.

Lastly, on Easter Sunday I pulled this dress out of my closet. I bought it five years ago and it didn't quite fit back then. Now it fits perfectly. I had a lot of compliments on it. Adam said I look like Belle from Beauty and the Beast. And now I want to cosplay Belle. I feel pretty when I wear it. Not bad for a $6 find!

April is going to be big!

Low and, uh, less low

"It's always darkest before the dawn."

My dad said those well-meaning, totally cliche words to me on a dark night in Murray when I was the most stressed and depressed during my unemployment. I was running out of money and in the beginning stages of looking for work. My self-esteem was shot. Every bad piece of luck felt like a huge blow. In my unhappy state of mind, nothing was going my way.

And then I hit a curb on the way to get fries at Wendy's after a Friday-night movie, and one of my tires blew. I calmly pulled into a well-lit parking lot and called my dad for advice. He found me within minutes, and he and a generous passerby put my dad's spare tire on my car (our cars are close in make and model). My tires were less than a year old! They weren't supposed to give out so quickly! I couldn't afford another new tire right then! Dad gave me a huge hug and said those kind words while I cried. I could feel his love and his helplessness; his desire to do or say anything that would give comfort. I love that man.

He went home, and I decided to continue to Wendy's. They were out of fries. I asked how long ago they'd sold out, and it had been about half an hour. I would have been in time if I hadn't blown that tire.

I had to laugh.

And you know what? Dad was right. That was the very worst; the darkest day. After that, things seemed to pick up for me. Or maybe it was my attitude.

The next morning, I auditioned for Big River at Hale Centre Theatre in West Valley. I didn't end up being cast, but I belted "I'll Fly Away" and scored a callback where I know I did well and had a good time.

Later that same morning, I headed to a price club for tires and learned that since they were still under warranty all I had to pay for was installation. A brand-new tire for $17? Yes, please!

I stopped to eat a slice of pizza, and a buff, young guy ditched his friends to chat me up for about ten minutes before giving me his phone number. Based on the conversation and some other indicators, I ended up not calling him, but it's been so long since a man made a move on his own that I took that for a sign of good things to come. It's nice to feel admired and desired. A nice change.

The day was such a stark contrast to the night before, I knew that it had to be a tender mercy from God. He'd prompted Dad to say those words, encouraging me to look for the good and hope for the best. Life seemed to get better from then on, and it continues every day. I am grateful!

The next week, Dad bought me my own spare tire. When I went to the dealership to pick it up, the cashier joked that now I have one I'll probably never need it. I told her that would be just fine with me!

June, June, June!

The face of June.
I can't even begin to say how much I appreciated these folks smiling at me while I worked!

I didn't feel much like taking photos in June. For the most part, I just sat back and experienced things not behind a camera lense.

Even so, there were a few noteworthy -- and a couple of notorious -- moments.

Remember that blown tire from May 30? Well, buying new tires ended up being a lot of hassle and drama. Thankfully, I have new tires now (and they already facilitate better gas mileage -- woo-hoo!) and it gave me an excuse several nights in a row to go out to dinner with my mom after checking in with the tires people. It was during one of these excursions that we discovered the Cafe Rio by my mom's house had moved. Apparently it's been gone for a while. I didn't think it had been that long since I'd been there. Guess I was wrong!

On the plus side, this new restaurant is supposed to be delicious!

To celebrate the biggest raise I will probably ever in my life receive (retroactive to the beginning of the year and resulting in a bonus of sorts), I bought myself this fancy Vera Wang/Kohl's purse, and some Disney Vans. It's fun to celebrate! Yay me for being valuable to my company! Feels good to be appreciated.

I did not buy this, but I thought about it!

I'm pretty proud of my random trivia knowledge.

Carrie's summer visit home happened to coincide with FilmQuest's showing of Back to the Future. It's the 30th anniversary of the movie (my mind is blown) and she, Chantryce, and I had no desire to resist the opportunity to dress in our '80s best. 11 year-old Megan would be so pleased by my The Last Unicorn t-shirt and double-rolled socks. Oh, and I made that scrunchy myself a good 25 years ago. Carrie and Chantryce are so fun to go to these events with, and I always love this movie! Perfect storytelling and truly outrageous friends? Sounds like a rad night to me!

Had a particularly productive weekend. It's fun to check things off a list and get absolutely everything done.

I showed up to my first lesson in months and lo and behold, the student before me was my Kate! Such a treat to listen to that talented lady sing. Hope to be hearing more of her glorious voice in the coming months!

For some reason, my shortcuts never, ever work out. This was a photo I took while waiting 6 minutes for the police to take a photo of an intersection. I was trying to turn left. I would have been happy to turn right and try a different route. They let the person in front of me go, but never looked at me. So I waited. Lesson learned: it's okay to take the long way :P

And, of course, rehearsals for 1776!

"Sit down, John!"

John Hancock

Abigail Adams and Martha Jefferson

Debating the virtues and evils of separation from England

Tom and Martha reunited
(and it feels so good!)

Martha meets "the two greatest men in America", John Adams and Benjamin Franklin

July will be consumed with performing 1776 at the Empress Theatre, and supporting my friends in their productions. I wish I had the time and money to see all of them. It means a lot to me when my friends see my shows, so I try to do the same for them!

Marvelous May

Oh, May. You passed by quickly, during which time I went to Disneyland, auditioned for and was cast in 1776, and saw Avengers: Age of Ultron three times.

It was a good month!

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Please tell me you've seen this movie. Funny, though not as clever as the first, darker and still entertaining. Loved all of the group scenes; you can tell they had a great time making this film. James Spader is a brilliant villain even when you only hear his voice (though they did a good job making the robots look like him, down to the way he moves his mouth). Everyone had time to shine, and Captain America is still my favorite, but it was Hawkeye's movie. So good. Can't wait to see where the franchise goes from here. It may be time to start purchasing the DVDs.

Kristin, Scott, and I went the night the movie opened. I even bought a Black Widow t-shirt for the occasion.

Larissa, Nichole, Jamie, Ann and I went the next night. We intended to see Cinderella,
but it was sold out, so Avengers was the next logical choice.

Family Home Evening bonfire

Stephanie joined me for a bonfire with my Relief Society and our Elders Quorum. I met a few new people, shored up some other friendships, set all of my marshmallows on fire (as usual), and got to hug Steph a lot. I call that a good night.

Birthday princesses

My nieces had a birthday. Golly, I love those girls. Breezy asked me for an Elsa costume, and Zonks asked for fuzzy slippers. Happy to oblige!

My matching purple dress was a happy accident

Grammy made an Elsa costume for Breezy's doll, and an Anna costume for Zonk's doll (not pictured)

Love this one of Zonks and Aaron

Love watching Aunt Lindsey and Uncle Adam with baby PJ

Daddy and daughters

I also gifted the girls with some metallic temporary tattoos. This was difficult to remove, and now I feel guilty for making it difficult for the girls' dear mom.

Mother's Day

I missed Mother's Day dinner because I was driving to Disneyland. Of course, I called Mom that morning to give her the travel update and tell her how much I love her. When I got home, I took a day off from work to paint clocks with her, her sisters, and some of my cousins. The project ended up not being quite as difficult as I feared (my skill level is low), but even after 7 hours I was only about a quarter -- maybe a third -- of the way finished. Guess I'll need to spend some more time with my mom while I get it done :)

Sweet tooth

I read a blog not long ago about the 10 best places in Utah to buy donuts, and made a note to visit them when in their area. Foolish? Maybe. Delicious? Definitely!

The Cinnabomb at Art City Donuts. Those warm suckers melted in my mouth. I planned to only eat half, but ate the whole darn plate -- it was too good to leave until the next day! 

A samoa and a peanut butter cup donut from Sweet Country Store. They partner with Dunford Donuts and make them to order, so I requested a chocolate donut for the samoa. It was delicious, but I think the chocolate overpowered the delicate coconut taste, so next time I'll try it on a glazed donut instead. The peanut butter cups on the chocolate donut were GLORIOUS!

My "Waffle Love" (nutella, raspberries, and cream) from Waffle Love was really good, but I think I prefer syrup on my waffles, paired with bacon. Nutella seems like a crepe thing to me. Eating this for dinner felt like I was eating dessert, and I somehow felt let down. I realize this is crazy talk, especially since I went back last week for Biscoff and strawberries. Next time I'll eat dinner first. 

I don't remember the last time I ate at Nielsen's Frozen Custard. This is ridiculous, because it's up the street from my house. It was worth the wait: smooth, creamy, and sweet. Better than regular ice cream. I even had sort of an adventure while there. I had washed my car next door, so when I pulled into the drive-through line, I dried my care with a towel until the cars ahead moved forward. I'd jump in the driver's seat to move forward, and then I'd jump out and dry again until it was done. Took three moves. I'd have been embarrassed except the people behind me seemed entertained. When I finally got to the window, I said a few sentences before I realized I hadn't rolled down my clean window. Whoops! The girl taking the order laughed pretty hard when I sheepishly rolled the window down to give her my order. Fortunately, the chocolate malted almond cone was delicious, and "one scoop" was actually three!

Odds and Ends

Once upon a time, I used to draw my costumes to dress my gorgeous Peck-Gandre paper dolls in. I even assigned different dolls to my friends so they could all be Phantom of the Opera ballerinas or the friends from Anne of Green Gables together. My character was always the Cinderella doll, of course. I think I need to start this hobby up again.

Hand-drawn costumes clockwise from top left: A Christmas Carol, The Egyptian Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Little House on the Prairie, and Tom Sawyer.

Found a cool tutorial for waterproofing canvas shoes with beeswax. It took forever, but works great!

I get an allergy shot every month, and this time I took a photo of what my arm looks like for two days afterwards. So sore! Allergies stink...and itch and hurt! Good thing the shots seem to be helping.

My dentist's office is less than a block from my house. It was a lovely, sunny afternoon, so I walked over and didn't even take an umbrella. About 5 minutes in to my appointment, the clouds unloaded a crazy, short storm. It mostly cleared up during my walk home -- I only got a little damp. Of course, the sun came out again as soon as I got inside my house. May weather: three solid weeks of rain followed immediately by 85-90 degree heat. Crazy!

Memorial Day weekend

A clean house is a beautiful thing

I invited Adam, his kids, and Aaron to see Tomorrowland with me. I didn't like the movie as much as I'd hoped, though I thought the female characters were terrific. I was glad my nieces saw Athena's kick-butt preteen character -- even kids can fight for what they believe in. We need more positive female role models like her.

My mom cooks a great holiday dinner. I need more of that corn bread STAT.

Blown tire

The month ended with a BANG (punny chuckle) when one of my tires blew on the freeway. It was inconvenient, obviously, and buying new tires ended up being more dramatic than it needed to be, but, frankly, I'm thrilled to be rid of those stupid snow tires. I'm still mad that they ordered snow tires when I said I wanted all-weather, and since I didn't know they were snow I threw away my non-snow tires, and since snow tires are ridiculously expensive I couldn't afford non-snow. Anyway, the snow tires are gone, I have all-weather, and with ANY LUCK AT ALL I won't have to buy new tires again for awhile. Don't let me down, Lady Luck!

That's kind of a downer way to end the post. Sorry.

It's June! Summer is here! Time for rehearsals to get serious, time at the pool, more delicious food, and quality time with the people I care about the most.

Hooray for summer!