Our Story Begins
After five incredible weeks of ‘artistic bloodsucking’ and devotion to the craft, our summer conservatory program concluded on Saturday with a brilliant celebration of the power of theatre – a showcase by our young artists.
My mind, heart, and soul are full, but I. am. exhausted.
Without a shadow of a doubt, this program is absolutely one of the best professional training programs for young actors in the nation. And I am so proud to be a part of it, along with the rest of the phenomenal faculty. I wish every young artist considering a career in professional theatre could experience a journey like the one we took this summer. Can you even imagine what the future of this industry could be…and how much more we, as an artistic profession on the whole, could affect our society and change our world if every young actor participated in a program like this and then branched out into the community as inspired, passionate, and generous as these young people are? It’s mindblowing! What a beautiful summer!
{via – photo by Ken Huth of Huth Photo – click the “via” link to check out more awesome pro shots by Ken of our young artists in action from Saturday’s showcase performance photo call}
{The faculty, staff, and apprenti – minus Skip and Shawnda – celebrating a wonderful Academy with a cast party of our own at The Distillery post-showcase}
{Playing our objectives}
{A few of the flowers and thank you notes I received from the students, brightening up our home with love and happy memories}
{And a butterscotch martini to celebrate}
And the best part is (to borrow a line from one of the showcase scenes and Peter and the Starcatcher) “Eveything ends. And so our story begins!”
Just as it does now for our newest Academy alumni, and as it will for the rest of us too. This isn’t an end. In fact, it’s just beginning!
Perspective
We’re finishing out tech week for summer conservatory today and tomorrow, so my posts might be a little light (or altogether absent, we’ll see). But in the meantime…
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Now there’s some perspective for your Thursday morning. Ted and I actually bought a Powerball ticket last Sunday – a first for us and, obviously, just for fun. So, of course, we cracked open the conversation about what we’d do with the money if we ever won any sizable amount worth writing home about (which, for us, would be anything more than the $2 we paid for the ticket). Odds are certainly looking slim because we don’t actually play the lottery more than once every five years, so I guess that’s step one, but it’s fun to at least consider what one might do with $400+ million smackaroos.
If I won the lottery, here are my top 5 things I’d do with the money (in no particular order):
1. Pay off anything we owe anybody (which is minimal, but still…)
2. Save and invest – we’d rest easy knowing that we’d have access to money if or when it was ever really needed. We could actually retire comfortably when the time came, and know that we will always be to – even now – pay our rent and utilities, cover all our medical expenses every month, afford car repairs when they are needed, and – in the future somewhere down the line – maybe even build the modest but beautiful house Ted designed.
3. Do good, help those in need, support important causes, and leave the world a better place than I found it
4. Take one epic trip across the world to experience all the food, cultures, people, animals, landscapes, art, history, ways of life, and amazing adventures that make the world such a beautiful and incredible place to call home (this would be my one splurge)
5. Spend more time with my long-distance family and friends
I know what I would do, but I also know what I wouldn’t do. I wouldn’t quit my job, want to live outside the current salary I earn, buy a new car(s), move to a large fancy house, hire service people, buy lots of new clothes or other material things, live extravagantly, become an unrecognizable person, change my priorities, or even tell anybody beyond immediate family that anything was different. I wouldn’t allow it to affect my work ethic, my passion for what I do, my relationships, marriage, or sense of self. I would hope only to continue living the wonderful life we do now (only with less finanical concern), soak in more great life experiences, and help make the world a better place and change other people’s lives.
What 5 things would you do if you won $425 million?
All-American
Champagne, s’mores, bocce ball, beer, bonfire, puppy loves, friends, rain storm, bath, book, bed, market, park, breeze, sun, Frisbee, lake, relax, washers, swingset, hotdog, Icee, friends, baseball game, grand slam, fireworks, bed, homemade breakfast, garage sales, tacos, more park, lawn darts, movie, pizza, board game.
Our all-American weekend in 45 words. I think I could get used to a whopping handful of gorgeous, sunny, breezy, 70-degree weekends of total unwind and fun relaxation every summer…just add a sprinkler, a carnival, and a cookout and my summer is complete!
Moments in Pictures
{Amazing coconut ice cream with almonds and chocolate at Pittsford Dairy on a date with my friend Kristin last Monday}
{Our CSA share has been good to us lately!}
{Sweet “just because” surprises from my awesome husband after a rough day – a set of my very own darts and the “useless” salad spinner he swore we’d never waste good money on – so he used free rewards points on it instead :) }
{Words of inspiration for our conservatory students}
Book Thieves Strike Again: The Night Circus
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I’m not here to tell you about this book. Mostly because my description cannot do it justice; it is something you need to experience for yourself. All I’m going to say is if you haven’t read The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, it is one of the most magical and engaging books I have read in years. This book, in addition to bringing enchanting wondrous whimsy to the forefront of my mind, is full of gorgeous imagery and beautiful language. You should probably pick up a copy of it. Immediately.
So with that haunting intro behind us, and knowing full well that I have no intention of discussing the actual book right now, typing up a lengthy snooze-worthy synopsis for you, or spoiling any of this novel’s delectable secrets, let’s move on to the merriment that was our Book Thieves book club’s first meeting (parts I & II of the book) for The Night Circus.
{strawberries photo courtesy of Tate DeCaro}
A dozen of us convened in our customary cozy quarters at Writers & Books to discuss the book’s big pictures and gritty details between bouts of digressed off-topic conversations and mouthfuls of cotton candy, butter, cheese, caramel, and salted pretzel chocolate popcorn, chocolate strawberries, brownies, crackers and cheese, frocia bread, apples and gjetost (a Norwegian caramel-flavored cheese), apple cider, black lemonade, and white and black dark chocolate Klondike ice cream bars. It was divine.
{photo courtesy of Chris Fanning}
We may or may not be planning a fantastical Midnight Dinner for our second meeting of this excellent piece of literature and there were also talks of a night at the circus when it’s in town in October, as well. While we all agree that we adore the book, the jury is still out about if we think we’d like this magical masterpiece to be translated to the big screen or if we want the wonder of Le Cirque des Reves to live only in our imaginations. One thing’s for sure: this book is going to give rise to a devoted following of reveurs and some seriously enchanting and festive parties. And to that I say, bring it on!
Have you read The Night Circus? What did you think? What is your book club reading right now?
R&R
First off, let me say how much I adore Summer Academy. I sincerely do. But working 10+ hour days for four weeks now with occasional 12.5 hours days also thrown in there for casting sessions, parent workshops, dry tech, etc. (you know, like normal theatre professionals do every single day) has taken its toll (read: see my lack of cooking, 9:30 bedtime, and bags under my eyes) . Since it is, in fact, summer, I’ve been trying to make my weekends strictly for relaxing whenever possible.
Friday after work Ted and I headed over to the Public Market for the their free concert series – Bands on the Bricks. We sat in the cool breeze, on the bricks and beneath the shade, and listened to a few folksy bands with a great collection of instruments before heading off to split “the world’s greatest cheeseburgers” and curly fries at Bill Gray’s – a New York burger legend that I needed to introduce Ted to, and then I spent a few hours at my friend Shawnda’s house enjoying some wine and good company. A perfect, relaxing Friday night. Saturday Ted and I made breakfast tacos, hit up the public market again for some farm-fresh produce, scoped out a bunch of garage sales and a dance studio sale (to no avail but it was fun and low-key) before attending a Saturday evening church service and the Red Wings baseball game at Frontier Field (in the pouring rain…all in good fun!) with a friend/co-worker and his girlfriend. The Red Wings won (yay!) and we split fried pickles, a pulled pork sandwich, dippin’ dots ice cream, and a blueberry ale along with some baseball, the cowboy monkey rodeo (yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like – monkeys riding dogs chasing sheep into a pen…and it’s fabulous), good company, lots of rain, and a fireworks show to finish it off. Also awesome. Sunday we slept in, hit up the market yet again (for the third day in a row – apparently, we’re regulars) for their Sunday garage sale where we scooped up three insanely cheap DVDs for movie night, then met another friend/co-worker at one of our favorite waterfront pubs right on the bay for lunch, some Ace’s pear hard cider, and talk of Packer game tickets. The rest of the day we took it easy – finishing up a few tasks around the house, a walk around the neighborhood, and a movie and game night at home.
Are you ready for the weekend? I sure am!
Have a great one!
Before & After
Pantry before: Tall, deep, and spacious but there was a lot of good vertical space being wasted and I hated how everything would get lost in the back, covered up, or rearranged every time something else needed to be pulled from the back.
Pantry after: Many thanks to Ted for being awesome and building and installing three extra half-depth shelves! :) The pictures are awful and I kind of can’t believe I’m blogging about a pantry, but I honestly love that I can keep it all organized and know exactly what we have and where to find it. Nice matching spice jars and a spice system of organization hopefully coming soon! It’s the little things in life, you know?
Produce before: I cannot get over how grateful I am to have access to such beautiful farm-fresh produce! This week at the market we picked up green beans, pickling cucumbers, shirow plumbs (a sweet blush mini plumb from the upstate NY area), sweet peaches, and blackberries – all homegrown and local.
Produce after: Gone :)