T&L

So, at January 16th, I’d say I’m way late on the 2012 recap that most bloggers had slammed out, oh, around December 20th. I wasn’t planning to do one at all this year. But here we are. Fate? Motivation? Sentimentalism?

Who knows. But it’s here. There may even be a few surprises along the way ;)

January

Ted and I went ice skating in downtown Cincy on New Year’s Day and my friend Allyson and I discovered the ultimate comfort food goodness that is Tom & Chee and their grilled cheese donut. Yeah, I felt my arteries collapsing too. But it was pretty stinking delicious. For a grilled cheese on a donut? Collapse away!

February

We drove to Chicago for my Grandpa’s memorial service. It was a beautiful mass to honor his life and it was great to see family I hadn’t seen in quite a while – some since I was only a child. I started teaching prelude theatre classes at the Academy of World Languages, which I concluded was the most amazing school in existence because they fed students a different exotic fruit or vegetable from around the world every single day and offered like seven languages for the kids to immerse themselves in (do you smell the jealousy?), and I tried my hand at making pho for the first time. Clearly, I also neglected to take any photos this month.

March

Those jerks tore down the BoarsHead Theatre in Lansing MI, where I got my start in professional theatre and met Ted, to build a parking lot – obviously I was pissed. We roadtripped to Columbus and Cleveland for a weekend to see family and cousin Michaela light her high school’s production of Cinderella. The beautiful spring flowers sprung, we had a full day of tornadoes when Mother Nature threw an epic hissy fit, and we brought home our sweet Maverick!

April

Friend Allyson won us tickets to see the oddly fantastic musical Thunder Knocking on the Door at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Ted and I were the youngest people by about 40 years to attend an organ concert at the Cincinnati Museum Center. We saw the great film “To the Arctic” at the Omnimax, ran two 5k races including the one with the epic killer hill, we went on the “Bosses, Breweries, and Burials” historical tour of downtown Cincinnati, and Ted saved a sweet old toad’s life.

May

We lost our sweet Mav, and it was absolutely heartbreaking. But a day later the eggs she had laid hatched and we welcomed the arrival of 16 healthy cray babies! I finished up my year teaching musical theatre at Hartwell School. We went on the “Bikes, Barons, and Biergartens” and “Newport Gangster” historical tours in Newport, KY and the “Cincinnati’s Abandoned Subway” tour, which was a rare and amazing treat! We explored Findlay Market and my girlfriends and I went on fun girl dates to Bakersfield and the 1215 Vine wine bar.

June

I ASM’d Next to Normal at the Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati and earned the last four EMC points I needed to join Actor’s Equity! Our craybies grew so fast and we had to take twelve of them to the pet store to find new homes while two joined my sister in Chicago, leaving us with Ace and Gigi. We played around and at a few summer festivals and saw a bunch of double features at the drive-in theatre in Amelia beneath the stars, with the best cheeseburgers ever. Priorities, people.

July

I quit working at the museum, ended my time working with the wonderful dance company Pones Inc., and my internship at Ensemble Theatre ended. I grew tasty tomato plants, found a beach to lay out and swim at in Cincinnati, enjoyed 4th of July, went blueberry and blackberry picking, discovered we now had a pet snail who stowed away on one of the plants we brought home for the crays from the pet store, and I left Cincinnati for Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp on the shores of Lake Michigan for six weeks where I would serve as Acting & Musical Theatre faculty (beaches! cabins! bonfires! friends! Shakespeare! dance!). I flew to NY for an interview at a fantastic theatre, and drove home from Blue Lake for a “Weekend of Ted” that consisted of his parents coming for a surprise visit, a roller derby game, a visit to the aquarium, a tour of the the Louisville Slugger factory and museum, and Ted taking an awesome NASCAR driving lesson at the Kentucky Speedway, driving ten laps at 150+ mph – a surprise I’d been planning for months.

August

I spent four more glorious beach/camping/theatre weeks at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, finally got to see Friday the camp Rooster in all his glory (a.k.a. hiding out under one of the girls cabins crowing at 5 a.m….the rooster, not me. Just to clarify.), and spent a few days with my parents, my sister and her family, Ted, my Aunt Penny, and our family friend Martha relaxing at her lake house in Muskegon. We toured an old wartime submarine, checked out a bunch of lighthouses, and went for bike rides on the beach. During the day at camp my new friends and I would teach, enriching young lives with an intensive of beautiful art, and by night we’d cook our food over an open fire, then head to the beach for a swim and to enjoy a bunch of late night beach bonfires where we’d ate way too many s’mores and enjoy a cup of red wine, and then we’d head back to the campsite, crash in our cabins in the woods, try to ignore the spiders, and wake up the next morning to do it all over again. When I arrived home in Cincinnati Ted and I celebrated our birthdays at Kings Island roller coaster and water park, we went to the Packers v. Bengals game with our friends Patti and Todd, went wine tasting and cooked our own steaks at Valley Vineyard, and I was offered and accepted the job in NY! The decision was made…I was moving in less than two weeks; Ted would be staying behind. (Oh, you didn’t know that? Surprise! More on that later.)

September

I said goodbye to my wonderful Cincinnati and Ted and I took a road trip to move me up to New York over Labor Day weekend. I started my job and it was (and still is) amazing! The next weekend I flew to Michigan for our annual Wisconsin trip. We took the historic SS Badger cruise across Lake Michigan to Wisconsin, went to the Packer home opener at Lambeau Field, rode the Zippin Pippin (Elvis’ favorite roller coaster) at Bay Beach Amusement Park, and went to Door Country to celebrate our two year anniversary a little early. Back in New York I learned the ropes at my new job, adjusted to a new state, life without Ted and living in actor housing, volunteered for and saw a bunch of shows for the first Rochester Fringe Festival, met new friends, took up running, discovered the Farmer’s Market, saw Bandaloop and comedian Patton Oswalt perform live, visited the zoo and a few museums, and celebrated the theatre’s 40 anniversary with a fancy gala and opening night!

October

I enjoyed a real, beautiful fall in NY, donated blood for the first time, started volunteering for the soup kitchen, attended a great fall fest/pumpkin carving party at a friend’s place, immersed myself in the pumpkin patch and corn maze, toured and tasted the world’s best ice wine (no, really. That was the award it won) at a fantastic local winery, continued running a few times a week and exploring a new park or set of trails each time, hung out with new friends, braved the mini wrath of super-storm Sandy, ran in the photo finish 5k race and got my best time ever, and volunteered for a neat fundraiser for a super sweet little boy with SMA. Freud’s Last Session played at the theatre with lots of talkbacks moderated by yours truly, Ted and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary long-distance, I moved out of actor housing and into my new shared apartment with a great roommate and her husband while Ted moved out of our old apartment and into his new apartment, and I drove for 18 hours all the way to Cincinnati and back to visit Ted for one day.

November

I flew to Texas for my niece Jenn’s wedding. In Texas I ate my body weight in tex-mex and Blue Bell ice cream, hung out with the family – all of whom had flown in for the occasion, took epic southwest family portraits, enjoyed the beautiful wedding, met up with some old friends for girl talk and grub, loved on my cat, and had a late night bonfire beneath the stars with the family. A few weeks later Ted came to visit for Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful time together and went to a Christmas tree farm. At the theatre we opened A Christmas Carol and Ted and I saw the show with my roommate and her husband.

December

I started the Christmas season with the It’s a Wonderful Life in the Southwedge festival and fireworks display, took on a cupcake challenge, and wore an ugly Christmas sweater to the theatre’s holiday party where I did a blazing firebowl. We contributed to a fundraiser for our beautiful friend Kristine. Ted came to Rochester to spend Christmas and New Year’s with me. We braved a blizzard that dropped over 14″ of snow, spent Christmas Eve at the Mountain Horse Farm Bed and Breakfast, went ice skating and sledding, saw the Geva Comedy Improv show on New Years Eve, rung in the New Year with by ingesting an insane amount of pizza, and on New Year’s Day dined at The Melting Pot, saw Sue the T-Rex at the museum, and relaxed with Les Mis.

So, last year I put a lot of thought into my resolutions. And I did really well. Making and keeping these resolutions is actually something I really look forward to! And I hope this year will turn out to be just as wonderful and successful and fun as last year did. So, without further ado, this is what I have in mind for 2013:

Professional Resolutions

– Get the initiation fee money together to claim the Actor’s Equity status I so proudly achieved last year. This is the year I finally go equity (I hope)!

– New headshots. Mine from 2008 just aren’t cutting it anymore. Go figure.

– Get my actor/director/educator website up and running. Finally. I think I’m the last theatre artist in existence without a website.

– Actually perform in a show this year. What a novel concept. Rightly so I’ve been focusing more on arts ed, which I love, for the past several years, but I’ll always enjoy acting too! So, I’ll be gutsy and aim for two – a play and a musical. Best of both worlds – education and acting.

– Continue lovin’ my job and working hard!

House & Home Resolutions

– I’d really like to live with my husband for more than 5 months this year. I think that’s a fair request. So, I’m aiming for at least six months this year….crazy, right!?

– Get a new living room furniture set, floor and desk lamps, and a new bedding set. It’s way past time for some upgrades from all our hand-me-downs.

– Build something together for our place – a pantry/armoire , new bookshelves to replace our old ones, an apartment patio garden – anything that gets us measuring and sawing and drilling and staining together again.

– Craft something cute and useful out of the 15 birch stumps I so desperately needed to have as table number holders for our wedding two years ago and have been carting across the country ever since. Surely I can, and should, make something awesome out of them.

Financial Resolutions

– Invest in, maintain, and grow a stock that is slated to do well in 2013 – better to risk and invest and play while you’re still young and can (kind of but not really) afford to do so, right?

– Add a certain amount of money to our 6-month emergency living expenses savings account.

– Save all our loose change for a full year and do something super awesome with it at the end of the year.

– Now that jobs and locations have changed we need to re-create a new, solid budget that allows us to have some dependable financial structure, live within our means, save money, and still afford the things we need and want to.

– Get our legal documents in order – wills, powers of attorney….all that difficult stuff.

Personal Resolutions

– Revamp this blog!! Really. Seriously. And for real.

– Start dancing again – tap, jazz, ballet…..all of it. But especially tap. I miss it.

– Volunteer for something once a month.

– Make our Cincinnati photo book on Blurb.

– Make an effort to stick to a regular exercise regimen regardless of the weather and how miserably cold and/or snowy it is outside. Oh, and drink more water.

– Read at least three scripts or books a month. At least.

– Practice makes perfect. I want to feel more comfortable driving in the snow and parallel parking, neither of which basically ever had to occur in Texas. Ever.

Travel Resolutions

– Take two in-state or near-state cheap and fun weekends of exploration/adventure, the likes of Niagara Falls, the Adirondacks, and NYC/Philly.

– Go to the Stratford Festival and Shaw Festival (both theatre festivals) in upstate NY and Canada! I’m so excited about this!!

– Scrape together the money and time to take one out-of-state vacation. On the top of my list are Palm Springs, Las Vegas, California for some girl time with my friend Rachel, and the Arizona desert! Decisions, decisions.

– Spend time with both sets of parents. We need to go to them, or they can come to see us. But either way, quality time with the parents is, as it always is, a priority.

– See one family cluster or family member we don’t usually see, like visiting my great aunt and uncle at their cabin in Wisconsin, or visiting my brother and his family in Virginia, or seeing Ted’s family in Jersey.

But, really…

– I want to go try more great food, drink more wine, go dancing more, read more books, see more theatre, dress up more, go on more dates with my husband, spend more time with my friends, and laugh more. I want to have more fun and appreciate this life and everything wonderful it offers!  So this year I resolve to HAVE MORE FUN.

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So, there you have it! Resolutions. Let’s do this, 2013!!!

So, it’s about that time again. The time where we think back on our past twelve months. We take stock of the good times we had, the memories we made, and what we were thankful for. We consider what we did, what we didn’t do, what we did well, and what we can improve upon. The time of year when we start thinking of our new resolutions for next year.

So, how did my 2012 shape up according to my resolutions? As you may definitely may not remember, my key words for 2012 were play, save, give, strive, and achieve. Each one of my 12 resolutions fit in with one of those action words. With that in mind, let’s find out how I did!

Resolution 1: Secure a good, full-time artistic and education centered job with a livable salary and benefits at a professinal regional theatre (and not four part-time jobs, Dear God, please!) – BIG check! – I officially clocked out of the four part-time job hullabaloo in June (though three of the four jobs were theatre/dance/education jobs, so even then, I really can’t complain) and spent six glorious weeks of full-time employment as acting & musical theatre faculty at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp on the shores of Lake Michigan. But in September I officially achieved my long-awaited and prayed for resolution of an amazing, full-time position that was both artistic and education centered at a professional regional theatre. I am so grateful!!!

Resolution 2: Get the last of my EMC points and go equity – Kinda – I did work hard and earn the last of my 50 equity membership candidacy (EMC) points at the end of June and was invited to apply for my actor’s equity union status (!!!!! which was a huge part of this resolution!), but I still need to scrape together the initiation fee and I’d like a  little more recent experience still before I take the leap of filling out that paperwork (hopefully in 2013).

Resolution 3: Design and launch my professional website and portfolio, and get new headshots taken – Strike – Even with the best of intentions, I couldn’t get around to everything this year. Besides, I think these things will serve me best once I accept my equity status. Another resolution on the horizon for 2013.

Resolution 4: Perform in at least one play and one musical – Kinda – I did attend several auditions this year, received an unexpected callback for a role which I could not take due to scheduling conflicts, and I did perform some Shakespeare several times during the summer and did a lot of musical theatre singing and dancing all while at Blue Lake. But I have higher hopes of attaining some stage time in an actual run of a show in 2013.

Resolution 5: Get back into dance – Kinda – I took a handful of ballet and rhythm & motion classes at Cincinnati Ballet this year before I shipped off to Blue Lake, and I taught two dance classes every day for six weeks plus choreographed several musical theatre dance numbers, but I was really hoping to take some tap, jazz, and ballet on the regular.

Resolution 6: Design a Blurb photo album book to commemorate our time in Cincinnati – Strike – I started working on it at the end of November, but have made so little progress that it hardly counts.

Resolution 7: Revamp the blog – Strike – Obviously, you’ve been looking at the same background since 2010. Sorry folks, hopefully next year. Lots has changed so it’s definitely time for an upgrade!

Resolution 8: Journal five things I am thankful for every day – Check! – I’ve done this every single day for 350 days so far and I’ve felt a marked difference in my life. I’ve noticed that I am more patient, compassionate, and grateful. I no longer desire “better” or “more” quite as often and I am, in general, less grumpy and more appreciative of all the wonderful things this life has to offer. This has become a nightly tradition I have grown to love.

Resolution 9: Volunteer or donate at least six times this year – Check! – These acts of good will mostly took place in the past four months, but regardless, I’ve gotten off my butt and have contributed to the good of society in the form of volunteering or donating at least eight times lately. Another resolution I hope to continue well into the new year.

Resolution 10: Stop being a recluse and get out with my friends a few times a month – Check! – I love my husband, and the newlywed tendency is to want to hang out with him all. the. time. when I wasn’t at any one of my four jobs, job hunting, or sleeping. But my social life was suffering and I missed my friends. I’m pleased to report that I did a much better job of making socializing and fun-seeking a priority. I hung out with pals in Cincy on the regular, went on campfire and beach adventures with new friends every single day and night for six weeks at Blue Lake (best summer ever!), and have been successful with making a nice group of new friends and hanging out at least once a month with each of my said new friends since September.

Resolution 11: Take some trips! To see my family, Ted’s family, and somewhere for just the two of us – Check! – We saw some of my family that we hadn’t had the opportunity to see in quite some time (some who had never even met Ted) back in February for my grandfather’s memorial service in Chicago, then again when some of us met up at the beach house on the shores of Lake Michigan while I was up there for the summer. And, thankfully, my niece and her husband got married in November in Texas and my entire family flew in for the occasion so a Bidus family reunion was easy-peasy. In September we saw Ted’s family for a long weekend at the Packers home opener game, and Ted & I got in our little mini getaway weekend in Door County for just the two of us back in September as well. Hopefully more trips to come in 2013!

Resolution 12: Get our affairs in order. This includes wills, powers of attorney, medical forms, retirement accounts, insurances, and a growing savings account for emergencies – Kinda – I got some initial research done on the wills, powers of attorney, and medical forms, but unfortunately we never got much further than that, though I had really hoped to have all that taken care of by now. We did finally get all our various insurances (medical, dental, life, auto, renters, etc.) figured out and the last of them set up this month. I set up and started contributing to my first official retirement account back in October, and we’ve actually done semi-okay with savings in the past month or so, despite all the financial inconsistency we faced up until September of this year. There’s still a ways to go, but it’s definitely a start.

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So, that’s 5 check’s, 4 kinda’s, and 3 strikes. All in all, not too bad I think, especially since some of my resolutions were pretty big deal things! And I made considerable progress, if not outright success, on at least 9 of the 12 resolutions. I’m already working on my 2013 resolutions.

Do you make resolutions? Do you consciously try to keep them throughout the year? Do you check in with yourself at the year’s end? How have you done this year?

Alternatively titled “The Weekend In Which I Came Home to Texas and Ate Three Times My Own Body Weight.”

That wasn’t even a joke. It was four days of truly horrifying quantities of non-stop food consumption.

In other words, it was glorious!

Kind of hard not to partake when a literal tub of sangria awaits your arrival as soon as you walk in the door. I knew I always liked these people.

There was – of course – the wedding feast to celebrate the marriage of my niece Jenn to her fiance Caleb, the mimosa bar stocked with champagne and flavored juices, the chocolate fondue fountain with assorted delicious dippers, the Mexican fiesta rehearsal dinner, guacamole (this is a food group in and of itself), three days of cake (bridal shower, groom’s cake for the rehearsal dinner, and wedding cake), a full pint of Blue Bell Moollennium Crunch ice cream…uh, for breakfast (oops?), multiple mugs of homemade sangria, fried chicken and mashed potatoes, cheesy tex-mex enchiladas complete with rice and beans, sushi, a mountain of the best mac n’ cheese in the state, s’mores and jumbo marshmallows enjoyed fireside, petit fours (4 cakes and counting), breakfast tacos, cheesecake with strawberries and more champagne (five cakes!), several hazelnut cappuccinos with biscotti, and continual nibbles from meat and cheese and fruit and veggie platters. In conclusion, if it was edible and within a twenty-five mile radius, I beasted it.

My jeans are screaming.

I’m pretty psyched to eat broccoli for the next month.

But let’s not dwell on that when there are so many other uniquely Texas things to dwell on…

Like the requisite sketchy-looking brown hairy spider that remained perched on the stone wall of our entryway for a good day and a half – haunting my dreams every time I passed by him, or the coral snake that slithered across the rock garden in our yard that entranced the kids into fits of joy, or the massive beetle thing adorning yet another outer wall of our house, or even the praying mantis – captured Sunday morning for my nieces and nephews to investigate before he was released, unharmed, back into the wilds of the great outdoors.

Freaky bugs are a Texas requirement.

No trip to Texas is complete without a plethora of nasty bug sightings.

But no scorpions this time, so we’ll consider that a huge “welcome home!” bonus.

Though the mantis was kind of adorable.

“Can I come out now?”

The spider, beetle, and snake? No thanks.

I landed in Ol’ San Antone (as our captain repeatedly referred to it as) on Friday morning, walked outside the airport terminal, and promptly peeled off several layers of sweater tights and cozy wool wraps when I realized it was a balmy 75 degrees out (and not the 25 degrees I left in) and, furthermore, that I was dramatically dying of heat stroke. I took a moment to question what kind of Texan thinks 75 degrees is too hot, silently mourned the loss of my supreme heat tolerance (and pride), and bellowed something along the lines of “what happened to me!?” and “who have I become!?” whilst I sweated buckets in the Texas cold front.

Once I got over myself, I enjoyed an afternoon with the family shopping for the wedding feast eats, ironing and folding tablecloths, and setting up tables, decorations, food, and favor baggies at the reception venue.

I may have also imbibed in some sangria and relaxation, enjoying the southwest-esque styled backyard I adore and have missed so dearly. There’s nothing quite like the Texas hill country.

It’s good to be home.

Friday night we all gathered for a Mexican fiesta rehearsal dinner catered by my favorite Boerne restaurant (epic mac n’ cheese and guacamole, I kid you not), complete with pinatas!

Brightly colored glitter-and-candy-filled pinatas should be a part of every celebration.

That is, in fact, a three-tiered Star Wars cheesecake, lovingly and awesomely made by my sister-in-law (and the bride’s mom) Tracy.

Saturday morning was all about the most epic 19-person Texas landscape family photo shoot in existence. The whole entire Bidus clan only gets together once every few years (Thank God for family weddings) so when we do, we make the most of it. An hour-and-a-half, a trillion pictures in every conceivable combination, and about two-hundred immature fart jokes later, I sure hope there are some funny outtakes to show for it.

Also, because Ted couldn’t make it this weekend because of his work schedule, I was the only Bidus kid without a spouse to take an immediate family-unit photo with. There are two ways I could have taken this disappointing news. You bet your buns I gleefully turned this into an opportunity to take professional pictures with my cat.

Pictures forthcoming. You’re welcome.

Maybe next time my husband will show up at family gatherings. (Love you, dude!)

After the photo shoot we all hauled off in our own directions to prepare for the wedding, and then came together to set up and make it happen!

Jenn and Caleb’s wedding was at Ring Mountain, a sweet and totally gorgeous brand new southwest chic little event venue perfectly situated at the top of a tall hill overlooking some of the finest views in the Texas Hill Country. Hills, lakes, and longhorns on a sunny day in November are the perfect fixings for a breathtaking Texas wedding.

God, I love this state.

My niece and nephew served as ring bearer and flower girl. Adorable.

Perhaps we should have clarified that the flower petals go on the aisle, not directly under the flower girl?

So gorgeous I can hardly stand it.

Yesssssss.

This was the cake service set used 46 years ago by my parents at their wedding, over 20 years ago by my brother Brent and his wife Tracy at their wedding, and now by their daughter Jenn and her shiny new husband Caleb at their wedding.

My brother Brent’s family. Fine looking folks!

With mom and dad, in our natural habitat.

The wild west Texas wind, blowing me away…again.

  You simply cannot resist the corny country song lyrics when you’re in Texas. You just can’t. It had to be said.

That’s better.

Girls in white dresses. And bubbles!

Halle Grace is not amused.

My youngest nieces and nephews.

Another fantastic cake (not to mention that super sweet cake topper!) made by my sister-in-law, and Jenn’s mom, Tracy. So pretty!

Sunset over the hill country. Stunning.

Sunday was about family, friends, relaxing, and eating (duh).

I met two of my closest girl friends Kelley and Katie for a classic tex-mex lunch of cheese enchiladas. It was to die for. We sat for three and a half hours. I miss them so much and feel so lucky to have such great friends.

Dinner was sushi with my friend Michelle. We’ve been friends since second grade – 19 years. And I still love her to pieces.

Isn’t it ridiculous that I have pictures of the food, but not of me with these three incredible ladies? Major fail! Next time I’ll have to be much better about this! Perhaps next time should also come sooner rather than later!

Sunday night after I talked for hours upon hours on end with my girlfriends, we had a family bonfire out back of the house. Dad built up a fantastic fire pit, totally enormous with all these great logs to sit on, circled around the fire. We roasted jumbo marshmallows, drank mugs of homemade sangria, cooked up some s’mores for each other, star gazed without all the interference of city lights, and enjoyed our time together – adults and kids alike, about 15 of us. It was heaven. One of those experiences you remember forever.

This trip didn’t feature my usual Texas must-haves – the snow cone stand, or the San Antonio riverwalk at night, the visit to the Alamo, or many of the other things I have grown to love and miss about this part of the country. But this time it had my whole family, which was even better!

And just in case you forgot where we really are…

…there’s always this sign on the door of the restaurant where we celebrated my brother Brent’s retirement from the air force on Monday afternoon to remind you what Texas is all about.

‘Til next time.

God bless Texas.

November 4, 2012

Dear Diary,

Today was the first snowfall of the season. Not to be melodramatic, but my life is over.

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We have, apparently, reached that time of year when I can no longer go to the mall, the grocery store, the post office, or any other place of consumer business because, as of November 3, the wreaths and trees were up, the fake snow was sprinkled, the reindeer were flying from the rafters, the halls were decked, the Christmas music was in full swing ’round these parts, and my Thanksgiving-loving Grinch had heart shrunk two sizes.

Must be time for my annual PSA:

IT’S NOVEMBER. You know, autumn, Thanksgiving, turkeys, cornucopias, leaves, pumpkins, pecans, open fires, family, thankfulness, brown and red and yellow and orange, etc. (i.e. – NOT CHRISTMAS). That goes for you too, snowfall. Back off! I still have 26 more days of – what I hope to be – uninterrupted autumn goodness coming my way, and I do not want it impeded by 2.5 months of premature holiday cheer, so cool your damn jets, you over zealous Christmas fiends.

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And when the cold weather strikes and is here to stay, I know it’s also about time for my other favorite PSA:

As always, friends…leggings are not pants. Tights are not pants. Micro dresses are not pants. Tunics are not pants. Underwear are not pants.

Only pants are pants.

I’ve even attached a handy-dandy flow chart to help you on your quest in sporting appropriate public attire, for all you pantsless creatures out there (and there are, unfortunately, a good number of you), should you be confused and need a little push in the right direction.

You’re welcome.

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Friday’s workday consisted of fun-size Snickers and Crunch bars leftover from Halloween, chocolate cake, and two mugs of hot chocolate, while Friday evening was all about ginger seaweed salad, sushi, and a show for my girls’ night with a great new friend.

All Fridays should be so wonderful!

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This weekend I saw my first show featuring a cast of deaf actors. Opposite of a sign interpreted production, the hearing/speaking actors stood off to the side and vocalized the text, while the deaf/signing actors took to the stage, performed the show, and did all the physical acting while signing the words. The concept was pretty fantastic!

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I am thankful for fleece-lined tights (which are not pants, but I am aware of this, so I wear them beneath a skirt. If you are confused, please see flow chart above), hand warmers, ear muffs, gloves, hand cream, lip balm, winter coats, and snow boots. They just might save my life this winter. I smell money well-spent in my future.

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Dark at 5 p.m.? Not a fan. Bring back the sunshine!

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Texas = 4 days.

BBQ = 4 days

Tex-Mex = 4 days

Family = 4 days

Hill country, cactus, sunsets, and 75 degrees = 4 days

Sancho = 4 days

YES.

BRING IT.

At the risk of humiliating myself even more than I already have on this blog (not likely), here we have a fine sampling from Halloweens past…

And that brings us to this year. If I hadn’t been otherwise occupied with theatre-related events on Halloween night, I was all psyched up to be…

For future Halloweens, I’m thinking…

Backup plan for when Ted refuses to be the Bert to my Mary Poppins? Gargoyle. Oh, yes. I would make an excellent gargoyle. I have the face down solid. I’m also thinking I’ll wind up as the crocodile from Peter Pan one of these years. He’s my hero! I’ve also mastered his facial expressions and mannerisms, pretty impeccably too, if I do say so myself. My impression of that croc is wicked.

What are you going to be this year?

What was your favorite costume from your Halloweens past?

Pictures and stories welcome – do share!

Have a Spooktacular Halloween, friends! Hope it’s full of bumps in the night, sugary candy, blood red punch, fancy costumes, amazing decorations, spooky music, and lots of Hocus Pocus!