Hey! Look at me, actually blogging. Weird, right? There has been so much going on these past few weeks that blogging, unfortunately, just hasn’t been on my radar. I am blissfully looking forward to my first full weekend off in a month! So much has happened – Audio description training, Summer Academy auditions, Odd Couple prep, a ton of projects at work, and so many shows. In the past two weeks I’ve seen productions of Meet Me in St. Louis, Legally Blonde, Anything Goes (twice), Spamalot (seeing tomorrow night), Informed Consent (seeing with friends on Friday night), and Once the Musical touring at The Auditorium Theatre (many thanks to my awesome friend Kelly who invited me with the tickets she scored from a sweet lady who is an understudy on the tour and used to work at Geva). Ted did the sound design for Anything Goes (and did a truly fantastic job), so that’s been taking up a lot of his time, as well as researching and learning and experimenting with all the settings on his new theatre/business DSLR camera that he uses to take show photos.
We got smacked with another 8 or so inches of heavy, wet, blizzardy snow late last Saturday night that blessed us with a 1.5 hour commute home after Anything Goes (normally a 10 minute drive). And just yesterday it was nearly 60 glorious, sunny degrees out after work, so Ted and I took a long walk around our neighborhood to finally get some exercise and enjoy the beautiful weather. It was so perfect! On Monday we re-signed another 1-year lease on our townhouse, which we still love, and for re-signing early we got a nice bonus – a $25 gift card to Wegmans, which we are planning to use to treat ourselves to a rarity that we haven’t been able to afford in quite a long time – wine and beer! We’re probably more excited about this than have any right to be. Oh, how I’ve missed a good glass of petite sirah or sweet moscato! Over the weekend I had summer cravings (it’s been a long, cold 5 months) so I made a delicious strawberry rhubarb smoothie with some of the amazing rhubarb that I buy like a pack rat at the farmers market during the summer and then freeze for use throughout the year (you should see our freezer, there’s an embarrassing – or incredible, depending on how you look at it – amount of rhubarb in there!). The smoothie was so good and so summery – and then we were instantly bombarded by tons of snow. But after yesterday, I have hope that warmer weather may finally be on the horizon for good! I am eagerly awaiting long walks among the blooming lilac trees in Highland Park, runs around the Cobb’s Hill Reservoir, chirping birds and baby animals, picnics at the park, Saturday morning farmers market and breakfast outings, Red Wings games with the Geva season tickets, walks along the beach and Erie canal, lawn games, grilling out, and not wearing snow boots or 7,894 layers of clothing. Also, a brand new Frozen Yogurt bar just opened less than 2 miles from our house (with a grand opening ‘buy one get one free’ deal last Sunday, which was amazing!)….so I’m simultaneously thrilled to no end about this because I love good frozen yogurt, and concerned because now I’m going to crave it all the time. Ah, the double-edged sword of FroYo love.
We’re also thinking of designing, building, and staining ourselves some beautiful end tables for our living room this month as a DIY project we can do together…and because we need end tables. And hey, we’re crafty (well, Ted’s crafty – I’m helpful) and I see no logical reason to spend hundreds of dollars on end tables when we are perfectly capable of making ourselves some fantastic furniture for a fraction of the price. And I think it will be fun – I love doing projects with Ted. He’s so crazy talented and I always learn so much from him and feel so much pride in making something great together rather than just buying it.
At work we had our March potluck – obviously St. Patrick’s Day themed – so all contributions either needed to be Irish, green, or contain beer as an ingredient. I made a butter braised cabbage that was actually really delicious and enjoyed plenty of other tasty food and great company from my wonderful coworkers. Our April potluck theme will be ‘4 ingredients’ – every dish or beverage brought in must contain 4 ingredients – no more, no less. I’m really looking forward to getting creative with this one!
When we haven’t been working, it’s been really, really tempting to just veg. Which we’ve done…a lot. Between our free movie tickets to The Little Theatre every Monday-Thursday night, Amazon Prime Instant on our TV, and free Redbox rental codes that just keep coming our way every week for some reason (not that I’m complaining) we’ve seen some great flicks lately. I’d highly recommend In A World, Free Birds, The Internship, About Time, and Delivery Man if you’re on the prowl for some weekend movies. Tonight we’re going to see The Grand Budapest Hotel, which I’ve been wanting to see for months now! And if you’re looking for a great big family oriented Netflix or Amazon Instant TV series to sink yourself into, we’re into season 3 of Parenthood and I’m so involved in this show! It’s great! I also tried a new recipe for a spicy cheesy sausage pasta that I made a few weeks ago and LOVED. It’s not the healthiest meal I’ve ever made, though I do usually add lots of extra veggies in, but it’s so good and I can’t wait to make it again. I’m also planning a cheesy grits with shrimp and sausage that I’ve been yearning to make for weeks now, a pan of roasted lemon garlic parmesan cauliflower (which is like manna from Heaven), my amazing shaved asparagus and boursin cheese pizza, and maybe a loaf of freshly baked bread (which I’ve, surprisingly, never attempted before). I’m so excited to get my hands on that farmers market again and start cooking when all this great produce is in season.
I think I’m fairly well caught up on everything now. I hope to have more exciting blogs (with more pictures! and less boring stuff!) to share with you in the future.
