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!

The Princesses visit my Holladay Haven

For the last several months, my 5 year-old nieces have been intermittently asking to come to my house. They have various plans -- usually to watch a movie or have a sleepover. I finally invited them over last week for the first time. What followed was a hilarious, activity-filled night!

Lindsey and the G-unit dropped Breezy and Zonks off at my house along with a Little Cesars for dinner. Right off the bat, the girls were very interested to know if I owned everything behind "all the doors [in my apartment building], and Breezy ran around to check out my bedroom and such. While he was there, I loaned the G-unit my copy of Racso and the Rats of NIMH because he'd liked the copy of Mrs. Frisby I gave him for Christmas. Then Breezy asked if I got her and Zonks presents, too... I knew I forgot something! Breezy was more than satisfied with the loan of one of my tiaras, but Zonks declined the invitation, requesting we start a movie instead. I let her choose the first - Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (which I highly recommend) -- and they watched while I set up the dinner table, and while we ate... and a little after, too.

Dinner consisted of pizza and ice cream
(chocolate sauce for Zonks and sprinkles for Breezy).
I offered them sugar snap peas, but both said they didn't like them.
Not to worry: I like them enough for all of us!

It was funny to really pay attention to the way the girls eat. They are different in so many ways. Zoe ate with gusto and fairly tidily; she ate everything and was the first to finish. Breezy ate slowly and often forgot about spoonfuls on the way to her mouth. I had to laugh at one point when the ice cream dripped off the spoon, she tried to mop it up with her napkin (still watching the t.v.) and then realized that the rest of the contents of her spoon had splatted onto the table cloth. She apologized, but this is not my first rodeo, and I just giggled and helped her wipe up.

I got my only cuddle as we watched the second half of the film together on my couch. When it was over, Breezy wanted to choose the movie, and asked that we watch The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea*. We had a small makeover session where I put some glitter on their eyelids and some lipgloss on their mouths.

No eyeshadow, a different tiara than the one she wore for dinner, and pink lip gloss

Lavendar eye shadow and purple lipgloss

Breezy got a little bored about halfway through the second movie, and was disappointed that I don't have any toys. I had some dress-up things that fit her, and she was very curious about my jewelry. Then she spotted the photo I have of "Bring on the Men" from Jekyll and Hyde. She wanted to know about the play and my character. Have you ever tried to explain the story of Jekyll and Hyde to a 5 year old? I didn't want her to have nightmares so I downplayed the scary things as much as I could. Thank goodness I had a fairly extensive character sketch to draw from. She was disappointed I didn't get to keep my costume, and asked a lot of questions about why the hat had so many weird things on it. Breezy is spunky, and simultaneously girly and messy.

Zonks was fairly content to watch the movie, though she moved from location to location, and had some fun with my umbrella. She's such a little lady. She's stylish and blunt and logical and patient and she knows what she likes.

We had time to watch a third movie before their parents came to get them, and the girls picked Mulan 2. For this one, they wanted to dress up like Mulan, so I grabbed long cardigans and scarves and bound them up as well as I could. They thought the long sleeves were funny. I was thrilled they wanted to dress up as the butt-kicking princess! We ate popcorn and peanut-butter M&Ms and chips and salsa. At one point, Breezy asked for a piece of paper and wrote this for me:

"I love you Megin. Pllez hav uanuthur prte."
Translation: I love you, Megan. Please have another party.
Yeah, like I can say No to that!

Towards the end of the movie they were both getting restless. I was glad Adam and the G-unit came just as it ended, because neither girl was interested in a book, and as I said I don't have any toys. Well, I had a few Happy Meal toys from McDonald's. Breezy asked if she could take one home and I said OK. She knows she is more likely to get something if she asks for it (over and over) and she isn't shy about asking! Adam started to protest until I told him it was a Happy Meal toy, then he and the G-unit relaxed. When Breezy asked about one other thing a minute later, the G-unit said in exasperation, "You can't have any more of Megan's things!"

Oh, how I adore those kids!

According to their mom, Zonks and Breezy had glowing reviews for their night with Aunt Megan! That's so nice to hear. I loved having them over. I think that next time I'll take them and their brother on one-on-one dates so they get to do what they want to -- they don't often want to do the same things at the same time. Plus, even though the girls are twins, they shouldn't always have to do everything together. I'm going to get to work on that this summer.


*Fun fact: I mentioned this movie ONCE about a year ago, and she has never forgotten, so it was fun to finally watch with the two of them.

September tybbling*

Possibly my biggest accomplishment during the month of September was to watch the entire series of Battlestar Galactica before it was no longer available to stream on Netflix on October 1. Kind of a miracle considering I had little time between rehearsals, work, my birthday, and Salt Lake Comic Con. The sacrifice was worth it, though I still cannot believe that one of the characters survived until the end; I now consider myself a BSG fan. "So say we all!"

Labor Day was aptly named, as I spent most of the day cleaning my house. I LOVE bank holidays, especially when I'm in a show -- they're about the only time I have to get my home near the level of cleanliness and organization I prefer. Oh, who are we kidding? There's never enough time!

Clockwise from top left: laundry, paper shredding, swept the fireplace, healthy lunch and an episode of The Wonder Years, my first (and last) foray of the summer to my complex's pool, reading the source material for my show, playing with Victorian hairstyles, a lovely and clean apartment.

My darling home

My trusty humidifier died on Labor Day. It saw me through 7 autumns and winters.
So long, old friend.

I shot this photo on ward temple night. Isn't the Salt Lake Temple gorgeous?

I supported Next Stage Productions' (and my Robin Hood friends') first show: A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was set in 1969 which worked really well, especially in the hands of those talented folks. Wendy and I both loved it.

My siblings gifted me some wonderfully useful items for my birthday. I spent most of one Saturday cooking up meals in my new crock pot. Such a relief not to have to eat out during my last two weeks of rehearsals -- just cook up some chicken curry, stuffed peppers, and taco soup and I'm good to go for awhile. Thank goodness I can freeze these things. I love a little variety!

Spent some time in a recording studio with my female costars for Jekyll and Hyde.

My selfie skill is terrible.

Marcie Jacobsen: "I want you to scratch like a cat when you sing this part."
Done and done!

When the production team told us to plan on all day for our technical rehearsal, I had no idea it would go from 9am to 10:30pm! Fortunately, it didn't feel as long as it could have.

Early on, Holly Jo mentioned there were donuts in the green room. I thought there would be a box of donuts... I was thoroughly unprepared for this table of treats!
We ate most of it, but not all. Self-restraint for the win!

The board fed us pulled beef sandwiches and peach shortcake for lunch. YUMMMMMMMM!

Each cast ran through the show in the afternoon/evening.

Pizza for dinner!

Inevitably, we finished and published our latest software release at work during the final week of rehearsals (when I didn't get home until after midnight each night). Without fail, the releases always work out to be at the least convenient time for me. C'est la vie. The release went well. But, by Wednesday, this was the only expression I could muster at work:

Too tired to care if I look angry.

Sylinda and I briefly stopped by the new aquarium last weekend. It was crazy-crowded, either due to the rain and cold outside or it being Saturday afternoon or both, so we bailed in favor of going out for lunch instead. Barbecue on a rainy day is always welcome!

G'day, Bruce!

Cast members were allowed to invite a few people to see our final dress rehearsal. We stopped the show twice, but it felt really good over all. I am soooooooooooo ready to open!

Pre-show hair. The goal is to get it as big as possible.
Did I succeed?

Thank you, Drew, Luke, Nichole, and Larissa for coming!

The bulk of October will be filled with Jekyll and Hyde performances. CenterPoint Legacy Theater keeps saying they anticipate adding performances, so as of this moment I'm considering my Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday nights as booked through November 1. I have no idea if I'll have time to celebrate Halloween; I plan to decorate anyway. Guess we'll find out soon enough what other mischief I may get in to ;)

Do you have any Halloween traditions apart from jack-o-lantern carving and dressing up (yourself or your kids)? I'm not a fan of haunted houses, but is there anything else you consider a must do?

Enjoy October! Autumn is truly upon us now!

*Tybble: to babble through the written word, such as an e-mail or blog post.