Old Enough to Know Better, Young Enough to Not Care

My weekend was delightfully busy. I'm worn out from fun. Saturday after a few chores, I went to book club, and later raced over to West Campus to be an extra for a movie. I don't want to jinx anything, but the movie is feature-length and the crew is very professional and well-organized, so maybe the movie will get released and maybe my parts will make it into the final cut. I was part of a kickball team on Tuesday for this movie, and part of several party scenes for this movie Saturday night. My fellow-actors Saturday night ranged in age from 16 to 24. I did my best to blend in and not call attention to my advanced age. I wore a cute shirt from Alloy (one of those clothing catalogs aimed at teenage-girls) that the wardrobe person loved.

I let my extra/actor cohorts do most of the talking between takes on the movie set. I smiled and nodded and said "cool" and "awesome" to their cute, naive chatter. It was refreshing to hang out with the youngsters. I even got invited to a college party at the 21st Street Coop. Around 2:00 AM, one of the teenage girls had to call her mom to check-in and assure her mom that she was still safely on the movie set, and that no one was consuming alcohol. (No one was. The insurance policy for the film cast and crew doesn't allow any alcohol consumption. See? Very professional group.) One of the kids I had been talking to was a 22-year-old bartender for Chuy's and he started discussing fake IDs and policies regarding age and alcohol. Then he asked how old everyone was. I tried to shirk the question, but he was dogged about finding out my age. I finally confessed, "I'm 35." This was met with audible gasps and "no way"s. The group consensus was that they thought I was older, like 23 or 24, but had no idea I was 35. "You just blew my mind," said the 20-year-old who had been hitting on me earlier.

Thank you, teenage-girl clothing catalogs. Thank you, dim lighting. Thank you, sunscreen. Thank you, Monica at Maximum FX, for my youthful and flattering haircut. And thanks especially to my sweet husband who puts up with my youthful shenanigans, such as staying out half the night dancing in West Campus to be an extra in a movie.

Sunday was busy too with fun potluck brunch plans, an audition that went well, a trip to Deep Eddy Pool, a call to the AC service people (ugh), and lots of hand-watering of wilting plants.

Hooray (and thank goodness) for my lazy Monday.

5 Things I'm Loving Lately

1. The Mediterranean Mezza Salad from Central Market, although I pick off the dolmas (stinky, blech) and black olives (also stinky, blech). Is it weird to have a crush on a salad?

2. Matt & Nat Purses and Wallets, no animals harmed in the making of these fashionable accessories. My latest acquisition is being delivered soon!

3. Carolina Liar's song I'm Not Over, every time this song comes on the radio I turn up the volume and rock-out like the doofus I am.

4. Wearing a size 6. Yes, I've met my goal of breathing room in a size 6. Just 3 more pounds to hit my goal weight.

5. Buffalo Exchange for giving new life to my now-too-big clothes and giving me some spending money.

We're No Winos

Elsa with her daughters on the terrace at Villa San Andrea


Me in the nice, cool wine cellar at Villa San Andrea

Chad and I are not fine wine connoisseurs. Most wines just taste yucky to me, grape juice gone bad, except for the white sparkling variety such as champagne or prosecco, but even then I prefer my bubbly on the sweet/asti side. Chad likes some reds reasonably well, but he can't name a region or varietal or vintage preference. So why would we pay to go on a tour of two wineries in the Tuscan hills outside of Florence? Because we wanted to see the Tuscan countryside and get away from the bustle and shuffle of Florence. As the tour van wound through some parkland and hills, Florence looked more scenic from a distance.

Our first stop was Villa San Andrea. The lush landscape of the place sprawled gorgeously across 1300 acres. The old houses, church and wine cellar oozed charm. The air was so fresh and fragrant with lavender blossoms, that it almost tasted of relaxation. The various wines fermented in giant old oak barrels housed in a pleasantly cool subterranean chamber. I even liked some of the wines we tasted. When people speak of Tuscany, this is the happy place that my brain will reference. Aaaahhh...

A little too soon (I could have spent a week Villa San Andrea), we were off to our lunch destination down a dusty, bumpy, narrow dirt road. Our fearless tour leader, Elsa, assured us that the food would be well-worth the journey. Elsa never steered us wrong. The restaurant spilled out of a tiny old house to giant picnic tables under shady, vine-covered pergolas. I never thought I'd pine for pickled purple onions, but they were delicious! The roasted garlic was smooth and non-stinky, the perfect companion to the rustic bread and fresh tomatoes. The fresh-made fettuccine with walnut sauce made my eyes roll back. I said, "mmmmmmm" aloud as I tried the ricotta-filled ravioli with white truffle shavings. The big Tuscan broad beans with olive oil and sea-salt were simple, but scrumptious. All the above were vegetarian dishes, like me. You'll have to ask Chad how the meaty stuff was. Elsa told us that she waits for this meal all year. (She only visits the Florence/Tuscan region once a year.)

Our next stop was the Panzanello Winery. While the land for this winery dated back to the same family for over 400 years, the buildings were all new and had that new smell. I should disclose that I loathe new-house-smell and new-car-smell. That's why my house is old and my cars are always previously-owned. So I was a bit dissatisfied by the scent/bouquet of this winery from the get-go. The wine here doesn't soak in the giant old oak barrels. The wine here soaks in new, small barrels for just a few weeks. It also doesn't age as long in the bottle before shipping out to market. None of the wine here tasted good to my less-than-refined palette. However, the owners of the place were super-nice and the winery is a recognized organic farm. Don't let my opinion prevent you from buying their wine.

That was our last day in Italy. The next morning, we were at the Florence airport bright and early for our flight out. We got delayed in Frankfurt for an hour by an organized labor union slow-down, which isn't a full strike, but shows how the airport could quickly come to a stand-still should a full strike occur. Those uber-efficient Germans got it all out of their system and got the show on the road after just an hour! Eight hours later, we landed in Washington D.C. to find our next flight delayed by three hours. By the time we finally pulled into our driveway in Austin, we'd been awake for twenty-six hours. Yikes.

Florence/Firenze: Not My Favorite

On June 21, we departed lovely Positano with a collective wistful sigh. We spent six hours on the mini-bus with two stops at foul Autogrill locations along the way to arrive in Florence.

Our first stop was to check into the Jolly Hotel Carlton. Our awesome tour guide told us that the hotel was a four-star establishment, and that due to a fashion week event in Florence, it was the only semi-nice hotel with available rooms. Unfortunately, we caught the hotel in the midst of a major renovation. Chad and I were the only people out of the six-room-booking for the group that had both a functional air conditioner and hot water. However, our room was not yet renovated and still retained the old stained carpet, peeling wallpaper and leaking shower door. We opted to keep the room despite the flaws since there weren't any better options. Our awesome tour guide apologized profusely and swore that she'll never book rooms there again. The staff at the hotel did their best to hide from guests. When we could find them, they were reluctant to help us with anything from buying museum tickets, to giving directions, to taking our order in the restaurant for lunch. I'd be demoralized too if I worked there.

Anyway, after an hour to drop bags, grab a bite and take care of business, we met a local tour guide to see Florence. I'm sad to opine that Florence is overrun with mouth-breathing tourists. I don't think of Chad and myself as mouth-breathers, unless we're having bad allergies, but we were adding ourselves to the hot, sweaty, shuffling, teeming mass of tourists.

Florence feels like the wannabe, tacky cousin to Rome. Frankly I was disappointed when I saw all the "great art of Florence" in person. The scale on the various parts of the David statue are all wrong. I know that the figure of David is meant to be viewed from below with the statue up on a high pedestal, and that Michelangelo was reportedly trying to trick the eye with the weird proportions of David, but it just doesn't work. Yo, David, what's up with your giant hands and little body? Botticelli's Venus looked faded and crackly in person. I thought that the colors would be breathtakingly vibrant in this Venus painting, and maybe they once were, but have faded with time. The Duomo, with three different colors of marble on the overly wrought exterior looks a tad tacky and filthy from Florence's polluted air.

If Florence was a movie based on a book, I'd warn you to read the book, but to save your time and money, and skip the movie. By all means, study the art history and look at the lovely renditions in the history books, but skip the trip to Florence. The city is dirty, crowded and sad.

BUT, the Tuscan countryside outside of Florence was enchanting. More on that in the next post.

Positano - Positively Gorgeous

On June 18, we bid farewell to Rome, taking advantage of one last yummy, free hotel breakfast with the great cappuccino. The three-hour bus ride from Rome to Positano featured a stop at Autogrill. Autogrill, Europe's answer to Stuckey's (minus the charm), delivers dirty bathrooms with no seats on the toilets and $4.00 (in American money) Coca-Cola Lights (also known as Diet Cokes in America). Flat stretches of highway between Rome and Naples were punctuated by occasional hilly villages with pretty old buildings and one modern shopping mall. Naples (the city of Chad's birth) spilled over with many tall apartment buildings for as far as the eye could see. Then the terrain took on a hilly, curvy nature with narrow lanes and switchbacks. Hello, motion sickness! We started to see the Tyrrhenian Sea and lovely, ancient cottages stacked into the hillsides, blanketed by Bougainvilleas and other lush flowers and greenery. I forgot about my motion sickness, distracted by the beauty.

Hello Positano! Hello great hotel on the beach with lovely views and a private balcony for each room. Hello free welcome drink. Hello beach. Hello yummy pizza and gelato just downstairs. Yes, let's stay a few days.

On June 19 we ventured out on the tour bus to see a few sites: La Basilica del Crocisisso of Amalfi - a grandly adorned church, Gardens of Villa Cimbrone in Ravello - breathtaking views well worth the steep hike, and Pompeii. Honestly, I could have skipped Pompeii. It was hot and dusty. The same lava dust that buried everything, and possibly contributed to the suffocation of Pompeii's former residents, left a fine layer on me that day. Our tour guide (not our beloved Elsa, but a local guy) was a pompous jerk. The presence of lead pipes carrying water around Pompeii and the keystone arch architecture were impressive feats of technology for that time in history, but the "art" featured advertisements and bawdy scenes of erotica -- kind of like media today. Yes, very advanced civilization. Did I mention the heat and dust? We ran straight to the beach after our field trip to dunk in the cool sea water.

The Amalfi Coast region is known for its lemons, which vary in size from softball-sized to cantaloupe-sized. With this abundance of lemons, the locals cook up a strongly potent alcoholic beverage called limoncello. They package it in cute bottles and sell it as souvenirs. We tried limoncello one evening after dinner. Syrup-sweetness, tartness and high alcohol content yielded involuntary pucker-faces from both of us.

June 20, our last full day in Positano, Chad and I skipped the planned ferry trip to Capri in favor of enjoying the beach and the beauty that Positano offered. Aaaahhh... relaxing and refreshing.

Io amo Roma! (I love Rome!)

Rome radiates busy, beautiful, happy city vibes. The residents are, for the most part, very well dressed and stylish as they weave in and out of traffic on their scooters or in their tiny hatchback cars. The only thing about Rome that detracted from the ambient loveliness was the presence of way too many pushy street-vendors. As we stood at the Trevi Fountain, vendors buzzed about like aggressive bees trying to sell me roses, plastic dolls, fake Prada bags, photo-taking services, weird flying toys, cheap scarves and tacky posters. My mantra was, "no grazie" along with a shake of the head. These vendors sent their cousins over to the Coliseum and the Spanish Steps too. I wanted to soak in the beauty and history of these sites, but was distracted.

On Monday, June 16, Chad and I woke from a long night of good sleep for yummy, free hotel breakfast of rolls, cheese, fruit and the best cappuccino I've ever had the pleasure of drinking. Then we were off to the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. Guess what? No vendors! The Pope does not allow that foolishness! The Vatican Museum is like a crazy hodge-podge of antiquities with no clear rhyme or reason to the collections. The Sistine Chapel lives up to its reputation for sheer volume of painted surfaces and beauty. (If you've never seen the movie The Agony and the Ecstasy, I urge you to view it.) But my favorite thing in the Vatican City was St. Peter's Basilica. My description of the architecture, sculptures, mosaics and awe-inspiring aura simply can't do it justice, so I won't try.

Chad & I were both battling sensory overload after Vatican City, so we scurried back out the gates to Rome-proper and found a little sidewalk cafe for lunch. My margherita pizza was fine, but I expected big basil leaves and freshly sliced tomatoes, what I got was more like a school cafeteria pizza. Maybe lunch-lady Doris studied her pizza skills in Rome?

On Tuesday, June 17, we had a free day and chose to go to the Capuchin Crypt. We read about this place is Esquire magazine, and as luck would have it, the crypt was half a block from our hotel. When the Cappuccini monks ran out room in the burial chambers, they took the old skeletons and made elaborate decorations all over the walls and ceilings with bone fragments. The effect was both beautiful and chilling. The inscription on the floor in the last chamber reads "What you are, we were. What we are, you will be." After the Capuchin Crypt, the visit to the catacombs later in the day was anti-climatic.

Like all good tourists, Chad and I went to the Mouth of Truth and snapped photos of each other sticking our hands in the mouth. We both still have our hands, so I guess we're pretty honest.

Tune in tomorrow for tales from Positano and the Amalfi Coast region.

Roman Holiday Starts

June 14 and 15 marked my first trans-Atlantic flight. We flew through the night on Lufthansa to get to Italy. The sun was up the whole time, but the flight attendants had passengers close the window shades to create darkness for those who wanted to sleep. I think I got about 45 minutes of fitful sleep over the nine hours it took to get to Munich. The Munich airport had nice, modern architecture. The German passport control agents were very friendly. One joked that we should skip our flight to Italy and vacation in Germany instead. Next time, maybe.

On the flight from Munich to Rome, as I walked through the first-class section of the plane on my way to the cattle pen, I mean economy section, I saw Kristen Bell (star of Veronica Mars - one of my favorite TV shows and recent co-star of the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and Dax Shepard on our flight. They were arguing about Kristen's need for salad and Dax's insensitivity to her need for salad. Apparently, Kristen and Dax were on their way to Rome to shoot a movie titled "When in Rome". After our flight landed in Rome, Chad and I stood right by Kristen and Dax on the shuttle bus from the plane to the airport. Kristen and Dax were very quiet and clinging to each other, probably scared that someone would recognize them and try to chat. I played it cool and only talked to Chad, barely looking their way at all.

Chad and I spotted lots of errant luggage on the ground in Rome. The Rome airport was chaotic. No one asked to see our passport. No one checked our bags. When Chad and I were in the Cancun airport three years ago, they had better security than the Rome airport.

Rome itself was lovely and amazing though. After twenty hours with little sleep, we barely had time to check into the hotel before we had to meet a tour guide to see the Monuments of Rome: The Coliseum, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps and other historic spots.

Click here to check out our Italy photos on Flickr.com.

Check back tomorrow for tales from the next two days of our trip.

Sad

Yesterday one of my friends and fellow-actors passed away at his day-job workplace from a massive heart attack. Phil K. played my husband in two shows during the 2007 dinner theater season. I've been in many other shows with him since 2002. He was a talented actor, a creative writer and an accomplished director. He was too young for this ending. In my jet-lagged and sleep-deprived state, I am stunned at this news.

Friends, do something for me this week: I want all of you to eat healthy, get plenty of rest and exercise. Take care of yourselves, because I want you around for a long time.

On a happier note, Italy news and photos coming this evening.

No Place Like Home

After ten crazy days touring Italy, we are home. I'll be sharing much more about the trip soon, but after twenty-six sleepless hours of travel, I'm just so thankful and glad to be home!

Top 10 Things I Missed Most While Away:
our three funny cats, now clinging to me & Chad like purring Velcro
our sweet dog, now freshly bathed and home from Camp Four Paws
100% cotton bedding that is starch-free
the giant tankards of iced tea from the drive-thru
my own fridge full of cold drinks
my full-size bottles of grooming products
our washer and dryer (which I'll be spending much time with in the coming days)
our friends (who I can't wait to see)
my friends' blogs (of which I can't wait to catch up on the reading)
my gym, because stomping around cobblestone streets and lava road just isn't the same

More about the trip soon...

Friend-Making Machine

I got the following email with the subject line "Friend-Making Machine" from Chad this morning:

"I went through the Emerald City Press drive-though to check it out today. The girl that came out to take my order was happy to see Janie. And then when I paid for my order, I got a complementary doggy snack for "the puppy." They squealed with glee when she ate her treat, then we drove off."

Our dog, Janie, is a sweet, mellow girl. She's very popular at Chad's work. (He works at a place that allows employees to bring their well-mannered dogs to work.)

Later today I talked to Chad on the phone. A coworker sent a note out mid-morning that some dog left a oops-poop behind a plant under the stairwell. Chad went to investigate. He figured out that Janie was the only dog in that area at that time, so by process of elimination (pun intended) the poop must be hers. Chad cleaned up the mess. This is the first time that Janie pooped inside since we adopted her. It was probably an emergency, and with no thumbs to open the door for herself to go outside, the plant looked like the next best option.

Even popular kids mess up sometimes. Luckily Janie has forgiving parents (and coworkers) willing to clean up her messes.

Bought Swimsuits, Didn't Cry!

Men may not be able to relate to this post.

Ladies, I know you can relate/commiserate/empathize. Swimsuit shopping is hard. Bad lighting, partial nudity and full length mirrors can dent even the sturdiest of self-esteems. Typically, swimsuit shopping leaves me wanting to curl up into fetal position and cry for a few days in a quiet, dark corner. Okay, I exaggerate, but I usually leave without a new swimsuit, but with some new body image issues.

After losing thirty pounds and doing lots of regular exercise, I happily picked out two new swimsuits today. Yay! I am at peace with my shape and weight. The great selection and nice sales associate at Everything But Water helped the process for sure. And I wore cute three-inch-high heels while I tried on the suits. Hey, if it works for thousands of beauty pageant contestants, who am I to knock it?

I won't be posting any photos of myself in my new swimsuits. While I am at peace with my body, I'm not an exhibitionist or very good at Photoshop.

Haiku for My Phone

email, web access
full keypad, love your features;
clouds are kryptonite

If there is cloud cover, my T-Mobile Sidekick 3 doesn't make or receive calls. The text feature never worked. I can get texts, but I can not send, or reply to, texts. I'm not a big texter, but some of my friends are, and they get offended when I don't reply in kind. Sorry, it's not me, or you, it's my phone. The camera takes lousy photos. But I love the Sidekick's full keypad, email and web access.

During a recent visit to the T-Mobile store to look at the newer, cheaper and more useful Sidekick ID, the salesguy tried to convince me to upgrade to a much more expensive Blackberry/Crackberry. He said, "you and I are old enough that we don't need the silly looking Sidekick. That's what mom & dad buy for college kids. At our age, having a Sidekick is silly, like wearing a Hello Kitty backpack." I guess he didn't notice the Hello Kitty bandage on my hand. He went on to say that, "most mobile phones are only durable enough for eight to ten months of use." If this is true, why would I spend the money on a Blackberry?

It's almost enough to make me get a landline again.

Won't Somebody Please Have a Party?!

I love a good house party, because I love hanging out with friends in a relaxed atmosphere. I prefer house parties to gatherings out at a restaurant, because as a guest, you feel that there is no rush to claim your seat or table. No server hovers over you pointedly asking if they can get you anything else when what they really mean is, "please go away so I can seat someone else and make more money. I'm tired of looking at you." One of my friends needs to throw a house party soon. I'll bring a platter of food and bucket of chilled beverages. Please invite me.

Flowers & Food

I spent most of today covered in sweat and dirt, smelling and looking pretty gross, but loving the process of gardening. I like growing pretty flowers, smelly herbs and tomatoes: mmm... yummy, fresh, fragrant tomatoes. Chad and I are researching how to build raised growing beds right now. My friend, Kristen M., built ingenious raised veggie beds with tall chicken wire frames that had hinged doors for easy people-access but not so easy critter-access. I think we're going to copy her idea. I want to grow more of my own food, like eggplant, squash, zucchini and cucumbers, maybe some peppers.

Rainbow Hair

My four-year-old niece, Mary, has gorgeous red, curly hair. She notices and comments whenever she sees someone else with red hair. Other people's red hair is never as pretty as her red, curly hair though.

Mary informed me that I have rainbow hair like Christopher, her seven-year-old brother/my nephew. I think she was referring to his natural highlights. I am sporting a good six inches of natural hair color for the first time since eighth grade. My rainbow hair is natural, thank-you-very-much.

Among My People

Non-actor friends and family members, I love you. I really do. BUT, there's something about communing with other actors that validates me and my crazy creative drive to perform like nothing else. I've been participating in an acting and screenwriting workshop the past five Monday nights. Words can't express how grateful I am for this workshop. When I'm performing, it's like I'm extra-alive, it's exhilarating.

My friend, Daniel S., describes it well. "I'm really scared of heights, but I'm always the first to volunteer to climb the scaffolding. I like the rush of the fear and adrenaline. I think that's why I like acting." Dan and I were in a show together in January. He invited me into this invitation-only workshop that I love so much. Thank you, Dan!

The glowing comments I received from workshop last week: "Jennifer was back in form this week and she was another one that was shining, literally; that invisible cinematographer I mention below had lighted her perfectly. I have no idea how old Jennifer actually is (and, of course, would never ask) but she looked teenaged sitting across from David; it was if they matched up by osmosis. And it doesn’t take much more than this, folks, to show love; it was all in her eyes, punctuated nicely by every “Wait... What?”, without giving away that killer ending. This is definitely a Showcase scene for both of you and it’s odd that I have the least to say about it; no Adds, just praise which can be much more concise. Bravo."

I'm thirty-five. Praise from Caesar feels nice, ya'll... real nice.

Lose Four Pounds Fast!!!

Ask me how! Get food poisoning and you too can lose four pounds in just five days!

Blech. It was bad. Now I'm all better. I even went to the gym on Monday and Wednesday. Those four pounds are going to come right back once I rehydrate and actually retain some of the food I eat.

And, no, for the record, I'm NOT pregnant.

Harbinger of Illness

My terribly cranky Tuesday turned into tummy trouble. After 48 hours of yucky symptoms, I've used WebMD to diagnose myself with either food poisoning or gastroenteritis. If symptoms persist or worsen, I'll get myself over to the real doctor. For now, I'm just trying to stay hydrated and get enough rest.

I have zero appetite, but did manage to force down a chocolate chip cookie yesterday. Today's feasting has consisted of Propel fitness water, a small cube of cheese and a few multigrain crackers.

There's a line in the movie The Devil Wears Prada where the #1 assistant, Emily, boasts, "I'm just one stomach flu away from my goal weight". Trust me when I insist that this is not how I want to reach my goal weight!

I'm Feelin' Ya, Alexander

I liked this book when I was a kid. I remember that Alexander snaps out of his funk somehow, but I can't remember how.

It's muggy and hot outside. I am out of allergy meds. I have a headache. I'm hungry, but food is stupid. The dog is stinky and needs a bath. The dog is stinky and has gas. I got a sugar-coated, but still demoralizing email today. The refrigerator is making sounds like it's dying, and the pets find it very alarming. I have lots of laundry to do. It's a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Yet, I have so much for which I should be thankful. Not appreciating all the great stuff makes me feel even worse.

Off to get some allergy meds and coffee. Then I'll bathe the dog and finish the laundry. Maybe that will make me feel better?

Treating Myself Well

I decided that I needed to treat myself today after getting lots of projects done this week. I've gone four months without a haircut. Fate smiled on me this afternoon and I was able to get an appointment with my favorite stylist after she had a last-minute cancellation. I love what she did for my hair!

I usually wash and vacuum my car myself. Today, I got my car washed, vacuumed and hand dried at the full service Texaco car wash on Guadalupe at 32nd Street. They did a fantastic job! My car looks new again, and smells all yummy and citrusy.

As I drove home from my treats, I waited at a stop light. I looked around a bit as one does at a long stop light. The guy in the car next to me smiled at me and gave me the "how you doin'?" nod. He looked younger than I am, and pretty cute. Tee-hee...

I guess that the car and I were looking good.

Take time to treat yourself, or just to take care of yourself. Other people, sometimes complete strangers, will treat you well too.

Cosi cosi

Chad and I are taking Italian language classes for our upcoming trip to Rome, Florence and the Amalfi Coast. I'm very enthusiastic in trying to say things correctly in Italian, but I keep mixing in Spanish. Whoops. I do the homework each week for both (cheater!) Chad and I, yet Chad speaks Italian much better than I do. Not to sound like sour grapes, but Chad was born in Naples, Italy (navy brat) and spoke some of his first baby babble words in Italian. I think he has a distinct advantage.

So, um, do you like... stuff?

Today's blog title is a reference to a classic line from an episode of The Simpsons in which Lisa makes friends with some cool kids while on vacation. Chad and I say this line when we want to talk to each other, but don't know quite what to say. I've been feeling less than inspired to share info lately, but want to say hi. So, um, do you (gentle readers) like... stuff?

I just got home from my weekly acting workshop. The first week, I did well in my performance as a polygamist cult wife (one of three) who goes a little overboard with eBay purchasing. My instructor commented that I was off to a great start. Yay! Last week, I seamlessly went from smiling, joking trophy-wife to crying, shaking, crazy-with-grief-wife in my scene. My instructor commented that I knocked it out of the park and should be proud of my work. All the other actor-type-people wanted to be my best friend. Wooo-hooo! This week, I was supposed to play a faith-healer in a dramatic scene where I absorb a boy's cerebral palsy into my own body and heal him. The stage directions included liberal use of the word "convulsing". Ewww. I did not want to convulse on stage. Nope. My performance was not good. My instructor said, "Jennnnnn..." and shook his head. Boooo...

Lots of people I went to high school with have gone on to great things in the entertainment industry. Alan Tudyk has a thriving career acting in films. T.J. Thyne has been in films, commercials and now stars on the TV series Bones. Jeremy Schwartz has been in a few TV shows, some commercials and is now the announcer voice of Comedy Central.
Carl Greenblatt has voiced, written and animated cartoons such as SpongeBob Squarepants and is the main creator of Chowder on the Cartoon Network. These talented, fun people were once my peers. I am simultaneously inspired by, and completely demoralized by, their great national successes in comparison to my very modest local work. I'm sad that I waited this late in life to start my acting career in earnest.

Batgirl for Pay

We've all done things we're not terribly proud of to earn some money. Yesterday, I spent two hours dressed up as Batgirl walking up and down a four block area of 6th Street. Get your mind out of the gutter as I explain... I was one of the hired actors for an urban scavenger hunt called Go Game. Teams of contestants are set lose with a mobile phone tricked-out with GPS, email and text capabilities. They are also given a little lunchbox containing a digital camera and a few tools to help them with their scavenger hunt. Dressed as Batgirl, I was one of the people that contestants had to find. Their mission was to stage a tabloid photo with Batgirl caught doing unsuperhero-like activities. The teams were pretty creative and had me posing as a purse-snatcher, a bike thief, a mugger at an ATM, boozing it up at the shot bar (it was just cranberry juice!), getting caught in a (fake) surprise kiss, etc...

The game was lots of fun and the contestants were super-nice. The weird part of the day was waiting for teams to find me. Passing cars honked at me. Everyone who passed me on foot said, "hi Batgirl," or "hi Batwoman". Only a few people asked me why I was in costume. Several tourists (one couple all the way from Canada) took photos with me. Everyone felt like they could approach me and talk to me, which was kind of weird and different for me. My husband sums it up well, that I was "flying my freak flag" and thus a magnet for comments and interaction. No one (really, not one person) said anything rude to me.

Not that I will parade solo up and down 6th Street in racy costumes on a regular basis, but there are worse ways to earn paycheck.

Schmoozing Won't Land the Role

When asked for advice on how to make it in showbiz, Steve Martin likes to reply, "Be undeniably great."

I was very fortunate to attend a Q&A session with four of Austin's most prominent casting directors on Monday evening. When I first arrived, I felt intimidated as fellow-actors introduced themselves and asked which talent agent represents me. I sheepishly stammered that up to this point I've had no trouble booking my own work, thus no need for an agent. Then I became absolutely invisible to each one of those people as I watched them scan the auditorium for someone else to schmooze with, someone important, someone with one of the famous agents. I started to think that the evening was going to be a complete waste of my time, and would not yield anything useful.

Then the casting directors started their panel discussion. Every instinct I've ever had about professional acting was confirmed. These casting directors do NOT want gifts, birthday cards, holiday greetings or to be stalked. They want actors to show up on time to auditions, prepared with script pages, headshots (that actually look like you) and résumés in hand. They want actors to conduct themselves in a professional manner. They told us that if you're rude to the receptionist, that's points off, because no one wants to cast a diva. One casting director treated us to an anecdote about a certain producer who camps out in the waiting room incognito and observes how people conduct themselves.

Yes! Yay! Hooray! I'm so happy to hear all of this! I am professional, punctual, polite and prepared. I have zero interest in schmoozing or stalking.

I'm sending packets out to three talent agents this week to seek representation. While I don't need an agent for theatre/stage work anymore, I do need an agent if I ever hope to work in TV, films or commercials. Send happy thoughts my way.

Kenji's New Name

Kenji loves going outside when the weather is nice. She's only allowed out in the fenced backyard with parental supervision. She has to wear her collar with her city tag on it, just in case she sneaks out of the yard somehow. Her "necklace" and "pendant" match her blue Siamese eyes. Kenji wondered what her pendant said and I told her it said that she had her rabies vaccination and that it had a special number on it to help her get back home in case she gets lost. All this domesticity is a far-cry from Kenji's beginnings as a little streetwise kitten.

Kenji wants to keep it real. She's decided that her new name is Rabies, because it sounds tough. And it already says Rabies on her pendant.

Who Is That Middle-Aged Lady?

I've known since the 6th grade that I loved acting. When my dad passed away last year, the whole limited time on earth concept hit home in a hard way. I decided to lose weight and pursue acting in a more professional capacity. My big dream is land a role as a sitcom mom, work with a great cast for about five years and retire. After losing 28 pounds over the past year, today was the day I finally got my professional headshot photos taken.

I was excited to have a professional photographer take my photos. He did a great job, but I see wrinkles in my pictures. Ugh. When did I get old?

The upside is that I look old enough to be a sitcom mom now.

Flying High with Sean Penn / Karen's Wedding!

Hollywood bad-boy Sean Penn was on our flight from Santa Anna to Austin last night. He looks the same in person as he does on the big screen, only smaller.

We went west primarily for my friend Karen's wedding. I met Karen at freshman orientation at the University of Texas in the summer of 1991. She was cool. She knew about bands. She went to clubs. I didn't believe her when she said she would find me in the fall. She did! We were inseparable for two years until she took a break from school, and moved to New York City. We lost touch for a few years, then bumped into each other in Austin at the movies one Friday night. Boom -- fast friends again. We've stayed in touch ever since.

Chad and I arrived in LA Wednesday afternoon, staying at the lovely and eco-friendly Ambrose Hotel in Santa Monica. Karen waited tables at the restaurant Real Food Daily when she first moved out to LA ten years ago, so that's where we had dinner. It was fun to see where she worked, and the vegan menu was really/surprisingly yummy!

After dinner, we saw my favorite band, NadaSurf, with another good band, Sea Wolf, at The Music Box (a.k.a. Henry Fonda Theatre) on Hollywood Blvd. The Music Box features velvet curtains and a roomy, raised stage. The theatre has art nouveau touches like scrolly gold columns flanking box seats on either side of the stage. The venue lends a real sense of credible theatrical performance since the audience doesn't have to watch the band scramble to set-up and tune their instruments. The curtains come up with a sense of ceremony, and the band starts to play. Both bands delivered solid shows. Oddly, both bands featured cello players which added a real depth to the music. I did the silly bounce at the knees and bop your head dance to every song. I was that dorky girl that sang along.

Thursday we spent twelve hours at Disneyland. Bag on the Disney marketing machine all you want, but I grew up on the movies and the theme parks. I really enjoyed the trip down Childhood's Good Memory Lane. And I got to ride the Matterhorn roller coaster for the first time. Woooooo...

Friday's main event was Karen and Matthew's wedding. I'm so happy that Karen and Matthew found each other! Their wedding was gorgeous and fun, just like they are. The ceremony was outside under a perfect Malibu sky. I cried like a baby to see my longest-lasting, and delightfully wildest, friend joining her soul-mate in holy, monogamous matrimony. In short, the wedding was relaxed, joyful and perfect from a guest's perspective.

2 Quickies

First, I love hulu.com! This brilliant website is legal and free! Hulu.com has all sorts of new and old TV shows and movies for viewing with limited, quick commercial breaks.

I watched the first two episodes of The Return of Jezebel James starring Parker Posey and written by Amy Sherman Palladino of beloved Gilmore Girls fame. The show was okay: a little too quippy with recycled actors from Gilmore Girls and a plot premise that requires big suspension of disbelief. Maybe it will get better?

Second, I flew into the Palm Springs airport a few weekends ago for a girls' spa getaway with a pal from LA. So many people were packing pooches, literally carrying little cutie-dogs in glorified purses. I had a funny vision of myself trying to carry my forty-pound Janie-dog in a giant bag. I predict that bigger dogs will be the hot new fashion accessory! You'll get a good workout toting your furry friend.

TV Snob Embraces a Reality Show (It's British)

The writer's strike had me watching more shows on DVD or the internet, and reading books instead of watching the bad reality/competition show filler that the networks trotted out to fill the void. I typically don't like reality television. The editing and situations of reality television are mean and manipulative at best; and exploitative and potentially dangerous at worst. Oh, the humanity! (Sorry, Jenny. I know you like some of the reality shows.) Here's the big but, BUT I really like the BBC America show Last Restaurant Standing. This fancy-pants chef, Raymond Blanc, gives nine couples (some are romantic partners, but there are also sibling teams and one mother-son team) the chance to open a real restaurant with his backing. If you can catch a marathon of this on BBC America and catch up, or even just start viewing now, I highly recommend this show.

My top 3 picks for the teams/couples to win are:
Martin, a prison caterer, and his fiance Emma who works in a bingo hall.
Lloyd and Adwoa, an engaged couple who run market stalls selling food.
Sisters and children's entertainers, Jess and Laura.

On the subject of reality TV, I never watched Project Runway this season. I followed it last season, and liked it pretty well, but I wasn't into it this time around. I only have so much attention span to squander on TV.

Spring!

My first decade living in Austin, I hated the summer. The long seem-to-last-forever, hot record-breaking-temperatures, drain-my-life force summers were not my favorite (NMF). If you asked which was my favorite season, I'd answer fall, because it marked the longest amount of time until summer steamed back into town.

Now that I've lived here nearly seventeen years, I'm used to summer. I love going to Deep Eddy Pool and having Jim-Jim's water ices. I kinda like getting into my hot car after sitting in over-air-conditioned spaces. I see lots of movies. I've learned to slow my pace and constantly hydrate.

This year, I'm loving spring. Buds are bursting. Leaves are sprouting. Temperatures are rising and that lovely sun is shining. I'm okay with the impending summer; rather than viewing spring as the prettier harbinger of the long, hot season.

Chad and I raked, mowed, mulched and weeded this weekend in preparation for our spring yard. Janie sampled some of the fresh mulch and thought it was pretty tasty. She's learning the new command, "no! yucky!".

Getting to Know You

Janie did not go to work with Chad this week, because he was in New York, and she's not ready to fly just yet. Poor Janie was stuck at home with boring Mom (me) and the hissy kitties. Plus it rained two days this week. I've been trying to think up indoor activities such as tug-of-war and wrestling. We spend lots of time outside when it's dry enough.

I'm learning that Janie knows lots of cool commands and games. She totally knows:
sit
shake
her name
stay (when she's not too distracted)
go potty outside

If I pat my leg twice she knows that she needs to come with me, which is super-helpful when we go out for a midnight potty break, because I don't want to yell out her name to get her inside. She'll fetch her tennis ball and bring it back about three times before she decides she'd rather chew on the ball than give it back. We're working on the command "release" to have her give the ball back. Janie is learning "wait for it" when it comes to accepting a treat or a toy. She's always very gentle, but a bit clumsy.

Janie has been training me too. She'll take a piece of carrot for a treat once a day, but if I try this healthy treat option a second time in a day, it just sits on the floor uneaten. Janie sleeps in her crate through the night, and waits for me to come get her in the morning without barking or whining. Instead, she shakes her tags every few minutes when she's ready to get up and out, and that jingle-jangle noise makes me get out of bed. She knows that if she rests her head on my leg and looks super-sad, I put away the book/computer/project and pet her tummy. She lets me know she needs go out to potty by putting her two front feet on my knee or by giving a little bark and gesturing to the door with her head. My treats come in the form of happy prancing, tail-wagging and sweet, happy sighs from Janie.

Sweet Kitty Needs New Home

This cat, Hannah, was one of my Furry Godmother kitty-clients. I love her so much, and would adopt her myself if I didn't already have 3 cats and a new dog. Her person-mom is looking for a new home for Hannah due to a hectic travel and work schedule. She feels guilty for not having enough time to spend with Hannah. Email, comment or call me if you're interested in Hannah. I will then pass your contact info on to Hannah's current person-mom.

Here's what Hannah's person-mom says about her:
She's a lovable, playful, curious, spayed, Siamese-mix... very social, greets people at the door, curls up in strangers' laps, loves to be held, meows a lot (so she's not for people who need silence to concentrate at home)...doesn't have a mean bone in her body, has never even attempted to scratch or bite anyone, she's very healthy, except needs annual teeth cleanings. In the winter she likes to curl up on your lap a lot
and even get under the covers next to you.

She'd probably be very happy in a easy-going, lively household where people/kids wanted to play with her a lot, like letting her chase a laser pointer, or playing with a string. She also loves watching/stalking birds or squirrels at feeders and playing in cardboard boxes.

She'll be 13 soon, she was born around April 1995, and as you can tell from the photos,(taken this year) she still looks like a kitten. She has always been an indoor cat but still has her claws.

Mystery Comments

I was looking over old blog posts last night and saw some new comments I feel that I should address.

Ryan - I found Java furniture at Skandinavia Furniture (www.skandinaviatexas.com/) and Nest (www.nestmodern.com/).

Melissa - Sorry if I offended you or other Starbucks employees/fans. I think that Starbucks is a great company with good practices regarding sustainable farming and generous employee benefits. My sister worked at a Starbucks for a while, and only had nice things to say about the company. I was writing in hyperbole when I joked that Starbucks doesn't want people to know about the "short" size. Next time I'll put a wink emoticon so you get that I'm just being silly.

Mick - Thanks for the heads-up about Wildflours Bakery (wildfloursbakery.com). It's nice to find businesses that have a charitable aspect to them.

Janie, Our Sweet Dog

We're in love. Her name is Janie. She's slobbery, licky, sweet, funny and eager to please. As previously mentioned, Janie came from the awesome people at Blue Dog Rescue. Who knew that we'd fall in love with this forty-pound, Lab-Terrier-mystery-mix back when we were cruising the Wee Rescue (also a great group) website for a small dog? Our friend, Emily, got a Blue Dog Rescue friend and raved so much about Blue Dog that we decided to give them a try.

Janie nursed her three puppies in foster care, and was just the best little unwed, teen mother ever. Her puppies all got adopted, but she was still hanging out waiting for us to find her. Janie had hip surgery and eye surgery a few weeks ago to correct some mystery injuries. She's recovering nicely, though she still hops on three legs when she's in a hurry and her eye looks a little teary at the end of the day.

Janie goes to work with Chad. She made friends with another dog at work. Janie and Lupita love to wrestle and slobber on each other. They're BFF. I think I need to get Janie a collar to match Lupita's collar, kind of like the necklaces that say "Be fri" on one half and "st end" on the other half, so that you put the halves together to read "best friend".

Janie wants to make friends with our three kitties. Feline relations have been polite, if a little tentative. They're all much more comfortable if I'm in the room petting them or brushing them all at once. They'll sniff each other politely, but no cuddling or playing together just yet. Janie is a tiny bit scared of the kitties, whimpering a little on the few occasions that a kitty has hissed at her. Given her size-advantage, that's probably good.

Janie loves to chew on things, so we make sure to keep lots of Kong toys and Nylabones around, so that shoes don't look enticing. (Janie, I love you, but stay away from my shoes, please!) Janie loves to give people kisses on the chin or bare toes. She wants people to sit on the floor with her and pet her and rub her tummy. She loves, loves, loves going to Redbud Island dog park to play. She gets along great with other dogs. She gets in the water up to her chest, but hasn't done much swimming yet. She has webbed toes like her Labrador Retriever relatives, so she'd be a great swimmer if she wanted.

Janie knows her name and always comes when called. She is great at "sit" and we're working on "stay". She also knows "shake" but has a hard time balancing right now after her hip surgery. She walks very well on a leash without pulling or straining.

Yep, we won the awesome-dog lottery. More photos and anecdotes will follow, I'm sure.

Movies I Watch Repeatedly

Recent health issues have seen me spending more time on the couch than usual this month. I've been reading through back issues of Esquire, GQ, Wired and Texas Monthly. The September 2007 issue of GQ featured an interesting article on Barack Obama, and an unrelated quote from Chris Matthews stating that Rudy Giuliani would nab the Republican nomination--haha, he was wrong.

In addition to reading outdated publications, I've been watching movies. When I'm ill, watching familiar movies can be like a visit from an old, close friend. You know pretty much how it will go, with comfort in the familiarity, but you also are reminded of the qualities you like, and once in a while you discover some new detail. Here is my list of movies that I can watch again and again.

Enchanted April
Bridget Jones' Diary
Scoop
Match Point
The Devil Wears Prada
Singles
My Neighbor Totoro
Howl's Moving Castle
Spirited Away
Roman Holiday
To Catch a Thief
Bell, Book and Candle
Charade
Mystic Pizza
Groundhog Day
Cinema Paradiso (only in original Italian language with subtitles, the dubbed version is bad)

What are the movies you watch again & again? Maybe you'll find (like I did) that some of your favorite movies are not necessarily the same movies that you watch repeatedly.

Shrinking

I swear that I am eating. I am even eating cookies and chocolate on a daily basis. I lost another two pounds, which brings the total up to twenty-six pounds lost since March 2007. Just eight more pounds to lose! I'm so glad for the healthier lifestyle now, but all this weight loss makes getting dressed a chore. I went through four wardrobe changes this evening before heading out to see Skyrocket at Antone's. The first top I tried was too big, and it makes me a little sad. It was a Marc Jacobs wrap-shirt (see photo) scored from the bluefly.com clearance section just six months ago, now a little too big on me. The second wardrobe reject of the night was a pair of jeans purchased six weeks ago. They were tight when I bought them, but Chad says they're too big now. I would just return them, but I washed them and hemmed them. Sigh...

I donated four large shopping bags full of clothes to a charity just two months ago. Now it's time for another closet overhaul. When I hit my goal weight, I'm going to Hem to treat myself to two pair of designer jeans. The good news is that I saved most of my good skinny clothes from college that I liked, and they fit again!

Stylish Friends!

Mention of two friends caught my eye today as I perused the Style column of the Austin American-Statesman online. I'm proud to have such note-worthy friends who garner nice mentions in the newspaper. Yay for Maggie S. & John L.!

Click *here* for the full article.

Photo credit: Laura Skelding for the Austin American-Statesman

Janie Came A-Callin'

Monday evening our probably-dog, Janie, came for a home visit. Janie has been upgraded from maybe-dog status to probably-dog status as an outcome of this positive visit. Janie frolicked in our big backyard and made herself right at home by taking care of a little business back there. Then she came inside to demonstrate her superior doggy knowledge of the requests to sit, shake, high-five and down. She also showed us her belly for some rubs.

Janie politely sniffed each of the cats. Sonic and Marigold were so at ease with Janie that they took catnaps while she was here. Kenji, ever our nine-pound scrappy, bossy, queen-bee, bravely marched up to Janie and hissed to let her know who's boss around here. Janie gave a tiny whimper and ceded some space to the K-monster.

Janie has her hip surgery today. Send her happy thoughts as she recovers with her awesome foster-mom from Blue Dog Rescue. If all goes well, we could have Janie in our home in two to three weeks!

Political opinions fell by the wayside as I read this sad but sweet-ending story today about two dogs who came all the way from Iraq to find a home in the U.S.

Five Things

I enjoy reading the Design Notebook blog by Austin American-Statesman design columnist, Melanie Spencer. Her Monday Mood Lifter this week was a list of five things she loves about her home. She asked readers to share their own list of five things. So here is my list of five things I love about our current home and my list of five things I want to love at our next home.

Current home:

1. I love the layout of our house. The sleeping rooms are at one end of the house and the social rooms are at the other end. The house has a great flow.

2. I love our original hardwood floors. The floors are a gorgeous dark-honey color and no one will ever mistake them for veneer or laminate. We have a few area rugs, but I don't ever want a home with carpet again if possible.

3. I love that we have customized our home with paint colors we chose. No shiny white walls here. No concern about getting a deposit back. No reverence paid to resale value.

4. I love the deck. The weather here is nice most of the year, so I love having more area to entertain or lounge.

5. I love our driveway. The interlocking paver stone driveway has a quiet elegance to it. It makes the whole curb-appeal greater. The paver stones can shift without exposing unsightly cracks the way that concrete does. Our driveway is just wide enough for Chad and I to get our cars past each other, which means we don't have to move each other's cars to get in or out of the driveway.

Next home:

1. A fireplace -- Chad and I both miss the fireplace we had at our posh condo for the year that we lived there. On cold nights, we would make a fire and warm ourselves in its glow. We didn't like to leave the warm living room to trudge up the stairs to our not-as-warm bedroom.

2. Not located on a major road -- during our married life, Chad and I have always lived on major, high-traffic roads. Now we live at the corner of a major thoroughfare. Next house/condo must be tucked away on a quiet, lazy, low-traffic street.

3. At least two bathrooms -- we only have one bathroom now. It's not a hardship, but I really liked the two-and-a-half bathroom situation at our aforementioned posh condo. I had my own full bathroom in the hallway. I gave Chad the master bathroom. Guests had the half-bathroom down on the main floor/living level.

4. Lots of mature trees -- We have two good shade trees right now. We've planted three teenage trees and one baby tree. For me, nothing says "established home" like an abundance of mature shade trees.

5. Indoor laundry room -- The posh condo had an indoor laundry room just off the kitchen with a door you could close to hide the drying rack full of unmentionables. Our current house has a laundry closet at the end of the carport outside. The doors are big shed doors that in let in dirt, leaves, bugs, slugs, toads and other junk you don't associate with clean laundry. I want to be able to do the laundry in my jammies in our next home, and not have to constantly wipe dirt and grime off of our expensive high-efficiency washer and dryer.

You may wonder why we didn't buy the aforementioned posh condo when we had the chance. We agonized and flip-flopped over that decision for two months. The condo was offered at a great price. We loved the interior of the condo. We liked the wooded setting of the hillside on the west side of our building. The condo had a two-car garage with plenty of storage and big closets. However, the homeowner's association was in major turmoil with allegations of embezzlement by the property management company. The location was just outside of central Austin, on a road with notoriously bad traffic and dangerous curves and hills. The AC system needed to be completely replaced. Both garage doors and both garage door openers needed to be replaced. Ultimately, we decided we didn't want to jump into the homeowner's association fray and the location wasn't right for us. Our 1952 house in a more central location is the perfect starter home for us. We look forward to at least five more years here.

Like Summer Camp

I've finished my performances for another year of the Fronterafest theater festival. I am all at once tired, relieved, sad and wistful. The bonds forged during a Fronterafest theatrical production are like the bonds I formed at summer camp as a kid: emotional, fun, slightly sleep-deprived and most sweetly fleeting.

I am bone-tired and yet can't sleep. I am already thinking of the piece I want to write for next year's short-fringe (shows 25 minutes or less in length) and hoping that Max (my writer-director friend who has graciously cast me in five of his Fronterafest pieces) will cast me in his show next year.

I Can Go Too?

Chad has been traveling the past two weeks. I miss him when he's gone. Marigold tries to stowaway in his suitcase. I don't think she would enjoy riding in the luggage compartment.

Fortunately, Chad will stay in Austin for the next few weeks.

Been a Busy Bee!

It's not enough that I had to learn a new script and construct a giant squid, I decided to throw a bunch of other projects on the calendar to really amp up that anxiety-induced tight feeling in the middle of my chest.

We successfully refinanced our mortgage during that lovely low dip in interest rates last week thanks to Adam Stephens at Capstar Lending. He rocks!



The back yard fence that was leaning out into the street at an ever-more precarious angle has now been replaced. The new fence is beautiful. I had to contact five different fence builders before I got anyone to get back to me for a consultation. Capitol Fence did a gorgeous job. It was only five days from the initial contact to the completion of our new fence. Capitol Fence gets a gold star!

My car needed an oil change. The technician found an oil leak. The shop ordered the part needed and told me to come back a week later. A week later, the shop sent me off in a nice loaner car, but had to keep my car for two days to fix the first oil leak they found, and discover a second oil leak and fix that. Friday I picked up my car, got about ten miles down the road and watched in horror as EVERY warning light on my dashboard lit up in quick succession, followed by the car's transmission going into default emergency mode, making it near impossible to get the car's speed over 40 miles an hour. I made the U-turn right back to the shop. The shop put me in yet another lovely loaner car, kept my car another two days and put in a new alternator. In layman's terms, the alternator is like the heart of the car. It's vital to make the car go. It's also crazy-expensive to replace. Thank Goodness I bought the 3 year extended warranty on my car. All of the above craziness only cost me a cool $50 deductible.

I took on a new client for my freelance writing and popped out a press release for her. I like this new client. Her business goals and identity are clearly defined. She is organized. She loves what I wrote for her. Happy sigh.

A very important piece of paper that was sent to me by certified mail over a week ago is missing. The Postal Service website says that the piece of certified mail was returned to sender, because it was undeliverable as addressed. The sender assures me that this very important piece of mail has not arrived back yet. I am very much losing sleep over this mysterious mail disappearance.

I still have three performances of the Fronterafest show to go and a dinner theater show in two weeks. I have that tell-tale tickle at the back of my throat that says I'm getting sick. I am sucking down Emergen-C and willing myself to stay healthy.

I have a weird skin rash on my left foot that I get when I'm stressed out. One of my toes is red, angry-looking and painful as a result of the rash. Will you still be my friends if I only have nine toes? Going to the doctor for that tomorrow.

Somewhere in all of this excitement (okay, stress), I've lost another two pounds. Grand total of pounds lost: 24. I just have ten more pounds to lose to hit my goal.

Constructing the Giant Squid

I don't mean to give away any spoilers here, just in case you're planning on coming to my latest theatrical venture, but there was need for a giant squid for this show. Feeling ever-so-crafty, I volunteered to make the squid. The tentacles are 10 feet long each. I stuffed the tentacles with (two each) five-foot-long floating noodles, because they provide flexible structure, and padded with polyfoam. There are approximately a hundred suckers on each tentacle in four different sizes, crafted out of pink felt with a single tight stitch in the center of each to give a puckered effect. The budget for the squid was about $50.

No patterns here, I just winged it. I think the squid turned out pretty well if I do say so myself. I feel a call to start making props for movie and theatrical productions.


Mid-construction.


Marigold wants to know what kind of freaky pet we've adopted now.


Finished and headed for the show!

My Birthday is in 10 Months...

How cute is this necklace?!

Do I Need Botox?

In the two shows (Fronterafest and dinner theater) I'm acting in currently, I play women who are older than I am in real life. It's got me feeling a little self-conscious about how old/young I look. Losing 22 pounds over the past year has been great, but the one downside is that my chubby, youthful cheeks have sunk. The skin on my face feels and looks to me like it's not as taut as it was a year ago. I see lines in my forehead and around my eyes. I'd chalk it up to wisdom, but I don't feel any wiser than I did last year.

Today while I was getting my monthly microdermabrasion facial, the technician said that she got as close to my eyes as she could to concentrate "on the little, fine lines we get around our eyes". Sigh. The technician had skin the color of an oompa-loompa from too much tanning, but I wear SPF 65 on my face daily. So how do "we" have fine lines?!

I think I need botox, at least in my forehead. Slap me if I start pining for a face-lift.

Our Maybe Dog

We went to the Blue Dog Rescue meet-and-greet Sunday. We met two dogs that I'd had my eye on. One was a complete spaz. I won't name names about who the spazzy dog was, but the other dog was just right. She walked with us. She sat on command. She let us pet her tummy. She's very calm. She has a big head and a small body.


Meet Janie, our maybe dog. We put in an adoption application. She still has some health issues to clear up, but should be ready for her forever home in about a month.



Here's her Blue Dog description: Janie

About three months ago, a Blue Dog volunteer saw me and my newborn puppies at the shelter. I was so patient with my babies (and so trusting of the humans who were handling them) that she promised me she would try to find a place in foster care for my little family. Thank goodness, a space opened up just in time, and I did a great job raising my babies in a foster home. But they have now all found wonderful forever families, and I'm hoping one day soon, it will be my turn! My name is Janie. That would be as in "Plain Jane". Let me tell you, my exterior may be kinda nondescript, but I have a beautiful doggy soul! I'm very sweet with everyone and good with other dogs, too. We've been working on "sit" and leash walking. I would play with the cats in my foster home, but they don't seem to want to play with me. I'm heartworm negative, about 1.5 years old, up-to-date on vaccinations, and have been microchipped and spayed too! Best guess is a Lab mix, about 38 pounds.

Shameless Self-Promotion

Busy, busy! I should be learning lines right now (how many times have I said or typed that phrase?) but instead, I'm listing the dates and times for my next show. Unlike the dinner shows I perform in, which are usually private shows, this show is open to the public -- that's you! Part of the Fronterfest Long Fringe, the show runs about 70 minutes.

You're Happier Than You Think
by my old friend, Max Langert
All performances are at the Blue Theater at 916 Springdale Road.
Tuesday, January 22 at 9:00 PM
Thursday, January 31 at 9:15 PM
Saturday, February 2 at 6:15 PM
Sunday, February 3 at noon

For tickets, call 479-PLAY (7529) from 1-6pm Tues - Sat. or make reservations online at www.hydeparktheatre.org.

Yikes! That first show is fast approaching. Must study script. Must go to gym.

Is it Memorex?

People sometimes ask how I memorize entire scripts, or how I learn my lines for a show. I use the same tactics that many people use to study for a test.
• I look over the script in sections, or scenes, trying to become familiar with little bits at a time, kind of like studying one chapter of a textbook at a time.
• I look over my lines right before bed so that I think about my lines or dream about the script while I'm dozing. This really works for me, much like looking over material the night before a test.
• As I get more familiar with a script, I start using an extra sheet of paper over the script to hide the next line from myself, I say what I think the next line is aloud. If I get the lines right, I move on down the page, but if I miss a line, I repeat it aloud five times before moving down the page. This is similar to using flashcards to study material.
• I learn the whole script, not just my lines. You never know when you or a fellow actor will forget something. As actors, you have to know your own lines and other character's' lines in case you need to help each other get back on track, or throw out a reminder. When you're studying for a test, you review all the material, not just the words printed in bold lettering, because you don't know exactly what you'll be asked on a test.
• Practice, practice, practice.

I'm lucky that I have a good memory and pretty quick recall when it comes to things that I hear or read. It's obnoxious that I can "parrot", or imitate, people's voices and facial expressions, but it totally comes in handy on stage when I want to make quirky characters seem more real.

Crafty

My first quilt! Technically it's a quilted wall-hanging. I'm so proud! I took a four hour class at Craft-o-rama! that covered all the basics. I highly recommend the classes at Craft-o-rama!.

Why did I want to learn to quilt? Chad is afflicted with oddly long, some might say monkey-long, arms. He also has freakishly pointy elbows. He manages to rip the elbows of his very lovely dress shirts at the rate of about one per month. I have tried repairing the ripped elbows, but they split open again or rip in a new section, thus not worth fixing. I've saved all of his ripped shirts and plan to cut them down for quilt blocks. Those old shirts will make the prettiest quilt when I'm done with them. The shirt-quilt will likely feature some of the most expensive fabrics you've ever seen in a quilt. Check back in a few months for photos of the shirt-quilt.

Channeling My Inner Betty Crocker

Here it is, photographic evidence that I can cook. I'm just not inspired to turn the oven on when the temperature is above 85 degrees Fahrenheit outside. I made a pumpkin pie from scratch. I even made the crust from scratch. I substituted half-and-half for the heavy cream. It was delicious and a little less fattening.

I still stand by my decision to take art and theatre classes for my electives in middle school and high school. Who needs home-ec classes when you have the internet to help find recipes and cooking tips?

Friends

On cold days, the kitties are the very best of friends. Purr... share the body heat.