Halloween dancin'

I generally don't go to dances, or dancing, because I feel very uncomfortable in rooms full of strangers and I'm an awkward dancer when it isn't choreographed, but when Sylinda said she planned to go to the mid-singles (ages 30-46) Halloween dance last Friday, I resolved to go with her. I love Sylinda and I love dressing up in a costume. Win-win!

Since I recently lost a chunk of weight, I figured I'd be able to fit into the trusty Sleeping Beauty costume my mom made me in college. I had fun with sparkly makeup and crafted my hair around a tiara. Then I went to put on the dress... the dress wouldn't zip. Gah! No! Really?!! I threw a 10 second tantrum and then put on my Arwen costume. If I had been Sleeping Beauty, fewer people would have asked "what are you?" all night. I told most people I was just a princess. The tiara wasn't really Arwen-esque, but I didn't want to redo the hair. I was sad about Sleeping Beauty, but this was a satisfactory second choice.

The dance was fun! I got to do pretty much everything I wanted to!

Diana, Sylinda, and me

Danced a LOT

(BTW, "Thriller" is a great Halloween song, but awkward to dance to
since no one really knows the dance...)

Was asked to dance during two slow dances

Met two folks dressed like The Doctor from Doctor Who

Bow ties are cool!

Had my photo taken at the photo booth

Met two girls named Diana who were both dressed as lady bugs (technically,
one was Ladybug Girl and was thrilled when I knew who that was)

Ate a Dunford donut (this was important)

Gave a guy I like my phone number

All in all, I'd say the endeavor was a success. Hooray for doing something outside of my comfort zone, and for darling friends who make it worth it!!

Oh, and I tried zipping that Sleeping Beauty dress again when I got home and it DID zip up! Turns out, the secret is not to put the puffy petticoat on first. You live, you learn!

Check me out!

Larissa commented when she visited my ward/church congregation last week that the men in my ward aren't shy about checking a girl out. They tend to line the halls, looking up and down at the women that pass and making silent judgments or approvals. I hadn't really noticed -- or maybe I was just used to it -- until yesterday. I walked into the building and as I made my way to the Cultural Hall, I spotted at least one guy looking me over. He was not at all subtle :-P I knew I looked good, so I felt flattered!

Then, a funny thing happened: my Visiting Teacher gave me cookies and some Halloween candy. I wanted to save them until the evening (is there anything better than hot chocolate and cookies on a chilly autumn evening?) so I just carried them around with me for three hours.

For the rest of church, every person I walked by, or who walked by me, only had eyes for my cookies. I couldn't decide if it was funny or obnoxious and wanted to joke "Hey! My eyes are up here! Look at me!" Ha ha!

Now I know a very small portion of what moms with new babies feel...

Guess next time I'll have to bring something to share... or just make sure I look extra cute!

Happy Monday, my friends!

Hot Pocket!

For today's Happy Friday video, I present Jim Gaffigan's "Hot Pocket" routine:

I laugh every time he sings  ♪ Hot Pocket! ♫  

Every. Single. Time. 

(I don't relate to them causing intestinal issues, though. I have a high tolerance for junk food :-P)

Thanks to this routine, I have the tendency to need to sing that jingle whenever I walk past the store Hot Topic at a mall 'cause, you know, "topic" has all the same sounds as "pocket", only mixed up!

♪ Hot Topic! ♫
(Now you're going to do it, too -- Bwahahahaaha!)

I'm working on a "hot backup" feature at work (it's a software thing) and... you guessed it: I sing that to the jingle, too! Fortunately, I am able to restrain myself from actually vocalizing the music at work. I just sing it in my head. 

♪ Hot backup! ♫ 

Apparently, any time I am faced with a grouping of words where the first is "hot" and the second has two syllables, I'm going to sing this song in my head. It's a curse I think I can live with. Can you?

.

.

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♪ Hot Pocket! ♫

Okay, now I'm done :-D

Happy Friday!

My Top 10 favorite movies

I told my nephew last night that The Emperor's New Groove is one of my top 10 favorite movies. Predictably, he asked me what the other 9 were.

Kronk's conversations with his shoulder angel/devil is only one
example of why The Emperor's New Groove is so funny!!

....Uhhhhmmm...

This is something I've been thinking about for awhile. I love a lot of books and a lot of movies and television shows, but whenever someone asks me for my very favorite, I am stumped. They're all so very different! I am always able to find one to fit my mood, but even though I may love a movie it doesn't mean I want to watch it everyday.

Even so, I will attempt to make a list. In no particular order, here are the top 10 go-to movies I absolutely adore, don't get tired of, don't fast-forward through, and can quote with embarrassing accuracy:

• Love Actually*
• The Holiday
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (when are they going to make a sequel already?!!)
• Pride and Prejudice (the Colin Firth version)
• Disney's Sleeping Beauty
• Disney's The Emperor's New Groove
• A Knight's Tale
• Sense and Sensibility (the Emma Thompson version)
• White Christmas
• Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (I just found out there was a musical t.v. series with this premise in the 80's starring Richard Dean Anderson as Adam. Much as I love him as MacGyver, I'm going to need to find and watch this series. Did I mention that River Phoenix played the Gideon character?!!)

Close calls/Honorable mentions:

• The Princess Bride
• Disney's Robin Hood
• Singin' in the Rain
• Much Ado About Nothing
• Father of the Bride (the Steve Martin version)
• The Lord of the Rings trilogy
• The original Star Wars trilogy
• Star Trek: First Contact
• The Harry Potter movies, particularly 5, 6, and 8
• Emma (the Gwyneth Paltrow version)
• While You Were Sleeping
• The Patriot*
• Shakespeare in Love*
• Back to the Future Part III

Well, that was even more difficult than I expected. Pretty much any of the "Close calls" could rotate into the Top 10 at any time, and since I made this list off the top of my head, I'm sure I'll get home tonight and smack myself for forgetting some additional favorites!

What is interesting to me is that several of these movies have overlapping actors. I still have a crush on Heath Ledger, and I tend to want to give any movie starring Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Paul Bettany, or Colin Firth a once over. Not all of their movies are winners, but these actors are almost always good!

What are your favorite movies? Are any of mine on your Top 10 list, or even your Top 20?


*I generally avoid rated R movies 'cause I'm not a fan of explicit violence, sex or language. Fortunately, my brother Aaron found me edited versions of The Patriot and Love Actually, and I can skip the naked parts in Shakespeare in Love ;-) I've seen the unedited versions, and it's surprising how little I miss most of the stuff that was removed!

A Marvelous [Wonderettes] reunion!

I had a really cool opportunity last week to reprise another one of my roles. The South Valley Theater Association had an event to highlight some of the community theater in the area, and Midvale asked me and the other Wonderettes if we would be willing to perform a couple of numbers from our show. Of course, we jumped at the chance! We debated about which songs to perform and rehearsed our ten-minute set together just one evening before the tech rehearsal. We all admitted to being a little nervous about revisiting the show. Would we remember the harmony and choreography? Would we be able to find costumes that worked together, since our original costumes weren't available?

As luck would have it, the music and choreography had been so ingrained in our memories that all we needed was that brief refresher. We were also able to locate four poodle skirts of differing colors so we would look like we went together (thanks again for giving me your skirt, Mom)!

The event was well-organized and seemed to go fairly smoothly, barring some technical difficulties during our set. The other Councils said we were the only ones they could hear backstage, which might have more to do with the fact that we were one of the last acts so most of the others went into the audience to listen and there were fewer people backstage making noise. We had a TON of compliments afterwards. The audience members and people from all of the Councils (performers and producers) couldn't walk past any of us without telling us how fantastically we had sounded. I like to think we were one of the best acts, though there was a lot of talent there!

The lineup -- it went by quickly!

I was surprised that there hadn't been more advertising considering this was such a cool idea. Nine Arts Councils each brought something to share. A lot of us hung out backstage and listened to the others. I got to watch many during the one tech rehearsal. But even with the minimal advertisement, several of my friends came! I was so surprised and happy they made the effort! I just love this "showcase" idea. If they do it again next year, I'll be there, either as a performer (if invited) or an audience member.

One of the coolest things for me was seeing so many of my favorite theater people all in one place. I have performed with six out of the nine Councils represented and consequently knew quite a few of the people there. It's a weird truth that theater people can spend three months together, become really good friends... and then not see each other after the show ends... until the next show we do together! It makes me happy to have any excuse to see my friends in the interim. Even better when my friends from different shows get to know each other. The separate groups may not have done a lot of mingling during the show (we were pretty focused on our performances) but it was nice to be able to say "Hi" and support each other!

Long-time friend Theresa and her daughter

Toni taught my first "Theater School"
class nearly 20 years ago!

The Midvale crew at the SVTA tech rehearsal

My Into the Woods director, Wendy (she has already asked
me to audition for her show next summer -- woo-hoo!)

There have been so many productions that I loved doing so much I wished I could have a reunion, so this was a very cool opportunity. Unlike playing Amy in two different productions of Little Women, this time I reprised the same character with the very same cast! It was nice to have one last chance to work together and sing the songs we loved. Such a nice memory to cap a wonderful play!

With Paige, Melody, and Kristen one last time

Love you, my Wonderettes! Thank you for giving me one more chance to get it right! And thank you SVTA for organizing the whole thing!

Waaaaaaaah!

Megan story for the day:

See this photo?

That's my lunch... uneaten.

I peeled off the plastic cover for my t.v. dinner (lunch) and the tray slid off my desk and landed face-down in the garbage. Waaaaaaaah! I really didn't want to eat out today!

Now I'm eating homemade fudge someone brought and trying to decide if I'm going to go get actual food or frozen yogurt. It's a tough choice.

The saddest part is that I have a meeting in 15 minutes that will delay my availability to grab lunch for at least another 45 minutes to an hour.

My life is hard (you know I'm kidding, right?)  ;-P

At least this one didn't burn me before I dropped it in the trash!

Happy Friday!!

**Update: Kristen noticed that this accident happened two years TO THE DAY after the hand-burning incident. I checked last year and the post didn't say anything about a t.v. dinner fiasco... but next year I think I'll skip it on October 19th, just in case :-P