Thriller!!

I've attended Odyssey Dance Theater's annual production of Thriller for the last two years (see 2009 and 2010), and was very excited to go again last weekend! My friends Chantryce, Carrie, and I dressed in costume and met up at Noodles & Company for some dinner before the show. We were fairly prepared and only slightly embarrassed by the people who stared as us crazy costume wearers, but such things are always more fun when you're with other crazies, right? One elderly lady offered to take and e-mail us a photo, since we looked so cute. I thought it was awesome she used a camera phone -- hooray for little old ladies and their new technology! (Note: her phone was much cooler and newer than mine.)

Goddess Chantryce, Funky batgirl Carrie, and Medieval me

In previous years, I attended the concert either Halloween night or the night before, but this year, we went about two weeks before Halloween. Turns out, people don't really dress up at the concert this far before Halloween, so my friends and I definitely stood out. Oops! Oh well. Not the first time I've felt like a weirdy in a public place!

The concert was wonderful, as always. I am amazed at some of the things those dancers can do with their strong, limber bodies. They recycle a lot of the numbers from year to year, which I very much like, because some have definitely become favorites. Neither of the two new dances resonated with me, and I think the Lorena Bobbitt joke is really dated (though her back-up dancers are insanely funny), but I could watch the Frankenstein pas de deux, Jason Jam, Chucky dance, and River Dance of Blood over and over and over again! I'm glad I've made this concert a yearly tradition.

I do wish that some audiences knew how to be good audience members though. When a dancer playing a kid onstage yelled "Hi, Mom!" to the audience, a person on my row (like, fifth from the back in the balcony), decided it would be funny to yell back, "Hi!" That person also responded to other rhetorical stuff throughout the night. Really, audience member? They can't hear you onstage from back there, so all you accomplished was to look like an idiot, distract from the show, and bug the polite patrons. Next time, keep your mouth shut! I DID tell one person to put their cell phone away, though they either didn't hear me, or figured it didn't matter to keep opening it up between EVERY SINGLE NUMBER to check the program for the next number's information. Gah! 

Whatever. Overall, I had a great time, and I already can't wait to go next year!

On the steps at Kingsbury Hall

Afterwards, Chantryce and Carrie and I went to Chili's for dessert. Again, we were the only ones dressed up, but it sparked some silly conversations with our server. I tried the red velvet volcano cake with cream cheese in the center... oohhhh! It was sooooo goooood! Oh, great, and now I want another one. RIGHT NOW. Maybe I'll pick one up tonight... or just find a piece of red velvet somewhere. It's not always chocolatey enough for me, but it's still darn good! 

In conclusion, I'm glad I got to go, and I'm glad that we dressed up. I figure, it's more acceptable to dress up during October (when people can assume I'm on my way to or from a party) rather than in April where I'd just be some weird girl walking down Main Street in a costume. Not that it would stop me. I have a lot of costumes and don't get to wear any of them nearly enough. But it's nice to have the excuse, and hang out with cool people in the process!

Who is Penny?

Once upon a time, when Jamba Juice was Zuka Juice and Zuka Juice was still fairly new and novel, I spent a lot of time with a friend who was also named Megan. We were both pretty active in the theater scene, and had started to get parts with names, so we thought it would be fun if, when asked for our name when ordering a smoothie, or at restaurants, or any place else it might be helpful to differentiate ourselves, we gave our character's name. Before long, it became a habit.

The first time I did Bye Bye Birdie, I played Penelope, and that name stuck. That production closed twelve years ago, but I continue to give my name as "Penny" (sometimes "Peggy"). After all, there are a lot of "Megans" out there, and sometimes people hear the name as "Becky" anyway.

Yesterday I stopped at the local KFC/Taco Bell for a 360 Calorie meal. The following conversation ensued:

Slightly Flirty Very Young Cashier (male): Welcome to KFC/Taco Bell. How are you today?

Me: I'm happy, how are you?

SFVYC: I'm happy, too! It's a good day. (Flashes smile at me.) May I take your order?

Me: I'd like the 360 Calorie Meal.

SFVYC: (Cheerfully and possibly joking) Would you like to order a slice of chocolate cake? It's only a dollar-fifty.

Me: (Cognizant of my just ordering the healthy meal option and all the Halloween candy I have at home) Oh, no, thanks.

SFVYC: Okay. (Takes my credit card and swipes it.) What name can I put on your order?

Me: Penny.

SFVYC: Penny? (Puts in order.) That's my aunt's name!

Me: (Smiling) I like it.

SFVYC: Me too. It rhymes with Jenny!

Me: And Denny!

SFVYC: And Lenny!

Me: And too many!

SFVYC: There aren't too many Pennys, though.

Me: Yeah, but it's kind of nice. That way there aren't six of me in a class. I've been in classes where there are four Megans. Glad that's not my name.

SFVYC: Yeah! (Laughs; obviously didn't notice the name on my credit card) Well, here's your order. Hope you have a great day!

Me: Thanks, you too!

I have a friend whose name is "Beth" but always orders as "Betty" because nobody ever gets her name right. I have another friend with the last name "Gyllenskog" who orders as "Kelly" for the same reason.

Have you ever given a false name when ordering food or making reservations? I'm not talking about a Date Night situation where you claim to be someone else to usurp their spot. Do you use a pseudonym to avoid confusion (or just as a fun private joke)? If so, what name and why?

Or, do you think I'm totally silly for telling people my name is Penny when it isn't?

Hello, my name is Clive Bixby. What's yours?

T.V. notes

• Between Parks and Recreation and The West Wing, I think I finally see why Rob Lowe is such a big deal. My crush on him grows with each episode of both, even though the two characters are so different. Every time his Parks and Rec character says "Anne Perkins" with that completely guile-less, wide-eyed smile, I melt. I'm not sure if I find him handsome, but he sure is cute!!

• I stumbled across this video the other day, and reveled in the nostalgia. Does anyone else miss the days when Friday night viewing was must-see television?

Warning: There's an photo included of an almost-naked lady wearing nothing but game controllers.

It's weird and a little creepy.

• Each week, I become more disenchanted with Glee. I still like some of the characters, but my suspension of disbelief finally died with this whole "audition for West Side Story" storyline. They had a callback for Maria, and didn't have the candidates sing a song from WSS? Did they really think that Mercedes had the tenderness and vulnerability for Maria? (Both of her songs were totally belty-belty, as usual.) Meanwhile, Quinn is suddenly a bad-girl who wants custody of the child she gave up over a year ago? They barely have enough people for one glee club, but now they are starting a second at the same school? The whole thing is bugging me. A lot.

• Every time I think I'm about done with The Office, something happens to pull me back in. This time, it's the Robert California/Dwight Schrute conversations. These men are both odd and completely deadpan and it's Just. Too. Funny. 

• However, Dancing with the Stars is not terrible this season, though at this point I think the professional dancers have more star quality than the touted "stars." I like JR Martinez*, David Arquette*, Rob Kardashian*, and Ricki Lake* (though I don't think she's quite as good as the judges do, but what do I know?). And, shockingly, Nancy Grace* isn't as awful as I'd expected. Makes for some entertaining television! Did I mention I cried when Julianne Hough guest-starred* last week? She and Apollo* were my favorite team ever. I miss the golden days.*Click the names to see my favorite of their dances.

• Lastly, I never watched Everybody Loves Raymond, but after stumbling over this clip, I might have to put it on my Netflix queue. I think, just before this clip, the parents have told the kids they're moving to a new house 85 minutes away:

Confession #1: Someday, I want to date a guy tall and strong enough to be able to sit me on top of the refrigerator. Or at least see someone else who is able to do it!  

Confession #2: I laughed so hard I almost snorted water through my nose. Then, when I tried to tell someone else about it, I laughed so hard I cried. CRIED!!

Happy Monday! 

Fergalicious booties

My go-to, adorable, brown flats have huge holes in the soles; holes big enough I can put my finger through. So, I went into the shoe store determined to buy either another pair of brown flats, or sensible comfy fall/winter appropriate shoes I could wear to work.

Instead, I bought these:

I can't believe I bought booties! I'm normally soooo anti-bootie! In my defense, they were actually more comfortable than any of the "sensible" shoes I tried on. I honestly tried to fall in love with other shoes.

Actually, I'm not sure these qualify as "booties." And to clarify, I'm not talking about this kind of booty:

My booty doesn't look quite like this :P

But, I digress.

Much as I love these Fergalicious shoes, I'm not sure they're quite... well, me. Let's be honest, a lot of my outfits have a soccer-mom quality (I mean no offense to my soccer mom friends!); most of the time I don't try very hard to be stylish, especially during the week. I can almost see myself wearing the booties, but most of the outfits where I imagine I might, I'm used to pairing with these:

 

The booties really are just about the cutest things I've seen in ages, and this is the first time in a long time I've bought any shoes on impulse. Well, it wasn't exactly impulse, I did enter the store with intent to buy (and my old shoes really do have holes in them). They weren't even all that expensive. I adore them, but should I have let my love override my initial plans? Whether I keep them or not, I'm still going to need a pair of flats...

Why yes, I do know these socks are pure awesome.

In writing this post, I'm pretty sure I've decided to keep them. Any and all deviations from my original intentions make me nervous, but these new shoes are so fun and legitimately comfortable.

I need help! Or validation! Should I bite the bullet, take them out of the box, and start wearing them? Do I have room in my wardrobe for this latest pair? Could they become my next pair of go-to shoes; the ones I wear with everything? Are they as cute as I think they are? Am I over-thinking this?

What do you think?

Family resemblance

My sister-in-law cheerfully acknowledges that her children look quite a bit more like my brother's side of the family than hers. They're all blond with snub noses, Breezy has curly hair, Zonks has chubby cheeks, and G-man and Breezy both inherited Grandpa Craven's ears (poor things).

Here's a photo of me with brothers Adam and Aaron.
G-man is practically Adam's twin, Breezy looks like
baby Aaron (with my hair), and I'm channelling
Zonks's sunny smile.

I have often wondered if, when out in public with my nephews and nieces, strangers would think that I was their mom.

Well, I don't have to wonder anymore!

To celebrate my nephew's first piano recital (which he totally ROCKED), my mom took my brothers Adam and David, Adam's kids, and me to dinner at Chili's. Lindsey, my sister-in-law, couldn't come. We ate dinner and entertained the kids. Zonks and I had some one-on-one bonding time. G-man showed me Angry Birds (which I have heard of but have never actually seen). It was a fun night.

While we were getting ready to leave, I was standing next to our table and playing with one of my nieces when a woman in the booth behind me told me how cute the girls were, and asked if they were twins. I responded in the affirmative, and Adam confirmed to this lady that they are fraternal. She said something like "I thought so. They're the same size. How old are they?"

In spite of the fact that Adam answered the previous question, the woman was still looking at me, the apparent mom. I looked at Adam before answering, "Um, two and a half."

Then, this stranger, in the middle of a busy restaurant, asked me: "Did you have IVF?"

Ex-cuse me? Did this person just ask me about my fertility at Chili's??!

Now, I knew the answer to all of these questions, and I probably could have played along as the mom and the nosy stranger would have been none the wiser, but since I didn't know how Adam would feel about me pretending to be the mother of his children and answering on his behalf I felt really uncomfortable answering. Cute as my nephew and nieces are, I really can't take any credit.

I looked at Adam again, and he jumped in and saved me from my embarrassment. "Oh, they're my kids. This is my sister. She has a pretty strong resemblance to them, don't you think?"

She agreed and asked again about how he managed to have twins. To my surprise, he answered and then they started chatting about how so many people nowadays are having fertility problems. I busied myself with other things at that point, still keeping my ear on the conversation, totally amused by how polite Adam was to this less-polite stranger. He told me later he figured he'd never see her again, so why not humor her? My favorite of her questions? "Do you think it has anything to do with pollution?"

Maybe if there's a next time I'm assumed to be the mom, I'll get to pretend I really am, or I'll be more gracious about clarifying that I'm the very proud aunt. I was just caught so off-guard this time neither of those options occurred to me!

I am super flattered to have been mistaken as the mother of such gorgeous, lively, smart children. Hopefully someday I'll have some that I'll get to honestly claim as my own!

I could've had a V8!

After the first time during this illness that I went to the doctor, I went to the grocery store to fill prescriptions and buy juice. My throat was too sore to consider eating any solid foods.

It was there that I rediscovered V8!

Many people think the veggie juice is yucky, but I don't. I was excited about the possibility of still getting veggies, especially since I am beyond over carrots. Bleh.

(Am I happy this commercial features Kathryn Joosten? Yes. Yes I am.)

Also awesome and rediscovered? Popsicles. I would never had stayed hydrated without those babies.

I pretty much lived off that stuff and soup and toast, the breakfast, lunch, and dinner of champions. Then again, I never need an excuse for soup and toast. My mom will probably vouch for the fact it was my favorite meal while growing up.

Rediscovering loved foods of my childhood. Just another side benefit to having been sooooo sick.