The theater, the theater...

(Can you finish the above lyric, from a popular Holiday movie?)


I had my first rehearsal last night for my new show Black Comedy. (For those of you wondering, I got the part of Carol. She is described as quacking...still figuring that out.)

It was my first time reading through the script and...I never leave the stage. Ever. ::freakingout:: Tim pointed out that, at least, I don't have any costume or hair changes. That's a plus!

IN OTHER NEWS:
Most of our days have been filled with work. Tim is working 7 days a week, so our adventures have been very, very limited. This is my excuse for such a lackluster blog. There hasn't been a whole lot I'd like to remember!

I guess my only story is a cute anecdote from this Sunday...

We have season tickets to the 5th for the evening performance. I love this time, because after the show, members of the cast come out and do a "talkback" with anyone who wants to stick around. It's a good chance to ask questions about the show, their career, etc.

The show playing now is Cinderella by Rogers & Hammerstein. There were a lot of kids in the audience, which is pretty much the norm during the holiday season. However, I wasn't expecting too many of those kids to stick around the talkback, I mean it started at 9:00pm! But they did stick around, and they were so funny.

There was one boy, probably 7 or 8, who was literally jumping off his seat to ask questions. His first question was about how the Fairy Godmother changed Cinderella's dress into the ball gown. The emcee/artistic director of the 5th told him "I can't tell you that, it's magic!" Well, lucky for this little boy, the Fairy Godmother came out! Again, he jumped off his seat and he was called on to ask a second question. This time, he went straight to the source and asked the FG how she magically appeared on stage. The actress started going into a long, detailed description of pyrotechnics and stage safety, while the little boy started sinking farther and farther back into his seat. The actress finished her explanation, but sensing that the boy wasn't so into this answer, she ended it with "Never mind, that's all wrong, it's magic!"

Of course, all of the adults started laughing and the little boy perked up at that response. It was probably more of a "the adults are all laughing, so I'm going to smile" situation, but he seemed much happier afterwards. :-)

Can you believe it's only 10 days to Christmas?!

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Oh, Christmas Tree.

Welcome back! It was a good (and much needed) weekend off for the blog.

I thought I'd post some pictures of our super sweet christmas tree. 

Daytime...

Night time...

I found a tutorial online for taking pictures of christmas trees and it was all good and dandy, but you couldn't see Santa. At. All. So I made Tim pose for a picture with a candle. You can imagine how exciting that was for him...

Of course, no tree is complete without a little mickey mouse. :-)

And, just because it's awesome, here's our Hershey, PA nativity scene...

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Finally.

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Jingle Bell Card Display.

I love receiving Christmas cards.

But I've struggled for a long time on how to display them. Not this year.

This year I had a plan.

I google searched and I found the BEST idea.

Jingle Bells.

The inspiration...

From Centsationalgirl.com

My supplies...

I wrapped the green bead garland around the silver garland to give the bells something to "hang on" to, so that they wouldn't slide around. Plus, it was a pretty cheap silver garland, so the green adds just the right amount of pizzazz!

Laying it all out...

Our carpet is covered in glitter. As it should be.

The finished product...

 I made the wreath last year from some leftover ribbon and felt. Not too shabby. 

When Tim and I tried the bells the first time, the cards slid right out. It might have been because of the size of the bells (or the cheapness), but I made it work. 

It turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself! And the best part, is that I can disassemble everything at the end of the season and either re-use it or change it up. I think I might try a lighted garland next time...or maybe a holly garland...or maybe different color ribbon...the possibilities are ENDLESS! :-)

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Mark Your Calendar!

I just got word that I've been cast in a production...

*This is a poster I found online*

The show runs every weekend in February, so I hope to see lots of friends and family members in the audience! 

For more information about the show, you can read the wikipedia entry for it by clicking on this link. 

Can you guess which character I'm playing, based on the above poster?

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Trim it up.

Before

After

Tim's story: After much deliberation, Tim decided that he didn't want longer hair anymore.

Arianna's story: After trying to trim his hair by himself, Tim had to go to a barber to get it fixed. :-)

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Turkey Dance Party.

Entertainment courtesy of Just Dance 3. :-)

How did you spend your Thanksgiving?

P.S. Perfect sibling picture...

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Seattle Snapshots.

Today was the perfect day for a quick jaunt across the water to Seattle. I was headed here, but that meant I had to catch the ferry...

and walk to here...

It took a long time and it was pretty cold, but I was greeted by these guys...

and that was worth it.

I passed this on my way to and from the exhibition hall...

and there were kids playing in it. Both times.

While waiting for the monorail to go back downtown, I snapped this picture...

and was so happy that I got the golden elevator in there.

By the time I got back downtown, I had to briskly walk back to the waterfront...

where I caught the ferry and headed home.

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Book Worm.

I've spent the last two days teasing you with "Before" photos of our home decor projects and, well, you'll have to wait a little longer for the "After." We're obviously still waiting for the couch and the chair kind of goes with that...so, um, I'm changing the subject. 

With some extra time on my hands during the weekends, I'm finally able to catch up on reading. Two years ago, while living in Japan, it wasn't uncommon for me to read between 2-4 books a week. 

It was heavenly. :-)

Coming back to the real world, getting a job, and completing all of those little tasks that seem to take up any extra time has made that level of reading virtually impossible. 

Recently, a friend and I started a book club with a few other ladies. It's been so nice and I'm hoping that as time goes on, the group will continue to grow. 

Since I just finished our current book selection, I thought I would share it with all of you!

This book was especially interesting because it takes place, quite literally, across the water from us. It's a non-fiction crime drama about a woman named Dr. Linda Hazzard, who ran a sanitarium in Olalla and practiced the fasting diet. 

It was pretty morbid, in my opinion, until around the middle when the story shifted its focus more on Hazzard's trials and tribulations.

I would say that my favorite part of the whole book was whenever a small little anarchist colony that existed during that time (early 1900s) was mentioned. They were big believers in Hazzard and her fasting diet. This is the same small community where I spent many summers during my childhood. 

It makes me wonder what my great-great grandparents were up to when they moved there...

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Ode to a Couch

The perfect place to watch TV on a Sunday morning...

 and comfy enough for a mid-afternoon nap.

We've had a lot of good memories. Enjoy your new home.

In case you can't tell, we've sold our couch and the new owner is coming tomorrow morning to haul it away. Our new one is going to be a BIG change, but we're excited! Of course there's also a lot of trepidation...we ordered it back in SEPTEMBER. (I think the last time I waited this long for something was with my wedding dress!)

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Bad Habits. (And The Perfect Chair)

A long time ago I had a piano teacher that told me it took 21 days to break a bad habit. At the time, it was not practicing the piano. I think my almost complete lack of skills in playing piano is a testament to how much that conversation impacted the 12-year old me...

Now we're talking about a bad blogging habits.

Tim and I spending the holidays with family overseas and it is my goal to break this bad habit before then. That means that I ::crossyourfingers:: should have a post up everyday until our trip. WISH ME LUCK!

Day 1: The Perfect Chair

For a while now we've been talking about converting a little nook in our living room into a desk area. I set Tim with the task of making the desk happen and while he did that, I scoured the internet for a chair. I was aiming for something like this...

That wasn't, you know, almost $700. 

So, we began searching our local thrift stores and craigslist.  (Oh, Dear Lord. There are some oo-gly pieces of furniture out there!)

Then one day, Tim dragged me to the local Goodwill to search for a random computer cable (side note: Goodwill is the best place to find inexpensive and random computer cords). I was very casually looking through the doors to the collection area when...there it was. The chair.

I grabbed the first person to come out and practically hounded him with information about when it would be put on the floor. At first he looked at me with an "are you kidding?" face (you'll see why in a minute) and then turned around and went to ask about it. When he came back out, he informed me that the chair would not be sold. Here's the gist of the conversation that followed:

Me: Why?

Clerk: Sorry, the chair is broken. We don't sell broken furniture.

Me: What will happen to it?

Clerk: We usually throw them out.

Me: WHAT!? Can you please check? What's wrong with it? Maybe I can fix it!

Clerk: Fine, let me go ask.

Me: Wait impatiently while clerk talks to collection area manager.

Clerk: (Comes out with chair in hand) It looks like the legs are loose.

Me: TIMMY! COME HERE! Can you fix this?!?!?

Timmy: (Rambles over and looks at it) Um, yeah?

Me: (To clerk) Can we buy it? Please? (Smile real cute.)

Clerk: Sure, you can have it for $2.50.

$2.50

Shoppers were literally staring at us as Tim carried it over to pay. I think it was because they were jealous of our sweet chair! Or blinded...either one.

Yes. It is orange. And velvet.

The sad part...it actually didn't look too bad in our room. AND it's not too far off from what I was originally looking for in a chair. 

After finding our little gem, it was time to de-velvetize. Unfortunately, we didn't get many pictures of this infuriating process. But I can't promise any of them would have been appropriate either. Those little bast...I mean...staples are a pain to get out.

After stripping it down, Tim was able to fix the legs without too much trouble. We sanded it down, painted it a pearlescent white, and add a new seat cushion.

Of course, now we had to find fabric. The chair probably sat like this for a few weeks while we debated fabric swatches and contemplated special ordering something. Our biggest challenge was bringing in some color to match the slate tiles surrounding our fireplace. Things were either too blue or too red or too gray or on and on and on...

I was browsing our local Joann's one day when I decided to check out the upholstery clearance section. (I have had some excellent luck searching clearance before.) And there it was. A brand new bolt of fabric, just waiting for me.

I brought a sample home to Tim and he agreed, we had found it! And it was on CLEARANCE! Hallelujah!

Too bad that's when we entered, what I dubbed, Upholstery Hell. Really, it was only hell for me. I think Tim actually enjoyed it, once we agreed that I would never try to help him again. I do not have the patience to do upholstery. Give me a screwdriver and some pliers and I'll rip the stuff off like a pro, but as soon as you ask me to start making patterns or checking for symmetry, I'm outta there!

At the end of the day (or months), Tim did a fantastic job putting it all together, but you'll have to stay tuned for our finished product...

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More bread...STAT!

For our last day of summer, I wanted to surprise Tim with a day on the Oly peninsula. A few months ago he found a brochure for the Olympic Game Farm on the ferry and has literally been asking to go on every free weekend. So we headed NW towards Sequim with a loaf of bread and no idea what we were getting ourselves into...

The farm was used exclusively by Walt Disney Studios for many of their nature-themed movies, including Grizzly Adams and The Bear (a movie that scared Tim so much as a child that he had to leave the theater)! In the 70's, the owners finally started opening it up to the public to meet the animal actors and see the grounds. You can click on the next picture for some more history...

STAY IN THE CAR! 

 The animals hang out in the middle of the road...to make sure you stop and feed them.  They are very crafty like that.

 Tim was hesitant at first...

But the people in front of us were more than happy to let the llamas into their car for a meal...

 There were some animals in pens that you couldn't feed, but just admire from the comfort of your vehicle.

 And then more animals would stand in your way to get food...

 They expect you to feed them and will follow the car for several feet until you do.

 And then we got to the bears...

 (See I was there!)

 This was a massive Kodiak bear that came right to the fence to see us. I swear he knew I was taking pictures (I have quite a few) and was ready and willing to pose. I love animal actors. :-)

 This guy was hanging out in the shade...

 And this one was cooling off in the pond...

 We rolled up the windows to avoid getting wet...

 And then we headed into the predator area, which was the home of all the big cats and wolves...

 Once we made it through those, it was back into the plains...this is what a Bison Kiss looks like:

 The deer were pretty cute...

 And this raccoon was so funny...he saw me taking pictures and got into this little pose for a good minute while I snapped away! Animal Actors = Best Poses Ever.

 After our driving tour was over, we headed into the mini-walking tour area and saw the petting zoo...

 and more raccoons.  Um, I want a raccoon.

 These little guys were brought to the game farm after being abandoned by their mother. The man who was playing with them had raised them from 2 weeks old, so they were going crazy playing around. These little guys were about 6 months old and will likely live at the game farm forever, because in WA state, it is illegal to return animals raised in captivity to the wild.

 And then it was time for a tour of the studio barn.  This is the imprint of one of their most famous Kodiak bears...it was used to create the wall in the petting area (see above), by leading the bear on a walk through this plaster with a twinkie attached to a fishing pole. 

 There were some small sets in the barn and a lot of little props from the different things they had done there.

 They also had these skulls...can you guess what happened?

 These two animals had died when they locked their horns together during a fight and couldn't get untangled. They still can't get them untangled!

Like I said before, 95% of the Grizzly Adams movie & series was filmed at the game farm. He even pointed out where Grizzly's cabin had been located (right outside the barn).

 And I have to include the movie poster for Tim's favorite childhood memory... :-)

 And when we walked out of the barn, they had brought out one the little raccoons to meet the kids. It was, seriously, on the cutest things ever. (Warning: Do not try this at home!)

I later asked if they still train these animals for a life in the movies and I guess they recently hired out their bear and wolf team for a recent movie (we don't remember which) and Nissan hired one of their bears for a commercial not too long ago. He said that the use of CGI technology has greatly decreased the need for live animals.

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