Hittin' the Open Road

We're taking off tomorrow for our trip cross country! I'm so so excited, but also keep getting nervous that I'll forget something.

Snacks we brought: goldfish, fruit snacks, applesauce, apples, bagels, mini cinnamon roles, twizzlers, 100 calorie packs of some cookie items, oreos, and this beautiful brownie/cookie/glorious creation I made today that layers chocolate chip cookies, oreos (I used golden), and brownies together to make an awesome chunk of goo.

Clothing preview:

From the Salem finale on Sunday wahh. For show makeup we just did simple lining an highlighting aka my usual daywear (if I put on makeup...)

My newest attempt at nail art

I'm also not bringing my laptop on the trip, so I'll be posting from my phone. Some mups will be had but the majority of pictures will come post-trip once I'm home!

Pintrosity

I joined Pinterest today. I don't know if I'm actually going to keep it up or not, but it's a nice way to waste time. I was very careful not to make a food board because I missed lunch again today :/

Last night I think we had our biggest crowd yet! The theatre was at least half full I would guess (and in a big space like the Rarig, that's pretty good). We've also gotten more reviews so hopefully for Sunday we'll have a big ol' crowd and maybe get the encore? Who knows?

After the show I met up with my friend Josh and his girlfriend Molly. They've been dating for 11 months and I had never met her before. Funny thing is, I was with Josh when his friend messaged him setting them up. We Facebook creeped. I approved. She's my age (Josh is a year younger- cougar status?) and goes to Carleton. She was really sweet, but it was a little jarring to have her there. I had to put on my oh-be-charming-meeting-someone-new face, and not just my with-an-old-friend face. It was good though. I got home around 8:45 and then skyped with Alex for a bit, WHILE I CLEANED MY ROOM. That's right. There are no more clothes on the floor. It's an August miracle!!! We didn't Dead Files though because Allie was being antsy about wanting to watch House, so we'll probs do that Monday.

Once again I'm pulling the casual Friday card and wearing yoga pants, mock-Italian-soccer-jersey-T-shirt, sweatshirt, flip flops. Sorz couldn't get out of bed this morning.

I'm going to Nat's after work to finish planning the road trip!! The past two days I've been planning, planning, planning at work, and got those AAA guidebooks yesterday to use while we're on the road. As of right now, our basic route looks like:

Day 1: MN to Omaha
Day 2: Omaha to almost Denver
Day 3: Spending the day around Denver
Day 4: Outside Denver to Mid Utah
Day 5: Zion National Park
Day 6: Zion to Las Vegas
Day 7: Las Vegas to Los Angeles

with lots of fun activities in between! I can't wait. We're leaving on Tuesday, which means I have a free day on Monday (took work off because I thought we were leaving then) to pack and prep! Gonna buy so many snacks...

Then tonight Als and I are getting Jimmy John's for dinner and probs making s'mores again whilst watching House. Originally, the movers were supposed to be coming today but they rescheduled to next week, and my parents are going out to a dinner tonight, so we have the house to ourselves. Maybe we'll throw a biker party, we'll see.

What Even is Sonic? Pass

Apparently I never look at my hands in the morning until I get to work, because today I found a cut that had clearly been bleeding on my left ring finger. Also the popcorn stain isn't completely gone even though I showered and scrubbed. Curses!

J. Crew sweater handed down from my sister, Paige jeans, shoes from Heartbreaker

Don't look at my toenails!!! I'm begging you!!

But yay shopping! Pretty good night last night, although I still haven't found the high waisted jorts that have eluded me all summer! I have a black pair but I want a blue denim, more loose fitting pair. There are some at American Apparel but I just can't justify spending $60 on a pair of shorts when I spend $40 on a pair of pants, and shorts are smaller than pants- therefore they should cost less. Right? This makes sense! Why should I spend more for less material? Also I don't wear shorts as much because 1) this summer I'm working in a freezing office and have to wear pants as often as possible because otherwise I'm shaking the whole day 2) it's cold most of the year, and during fall/winter skirts and dresses are still acceptable in my book because you can pair them with tights/boots to warm up, but it's harder with shorts unless you're going for a grunge-hipster look, in which case you add some flannel and bada-bing we're in business 3) they're smaller than pants!!! Come on!
I get pretty intense during shopping trips to MOA, which is why I usually do them on my own (because the last time I went with my mom and sister they were literally shocked at how I could go for so long and not get overwhelmed). For me, it's a matter of putting blinders on and taking each piece for what it's worth. Going with Natalie was fun but I think she, too, was exhausted by the end of the night.
My spoils from the trip were:
   H&M
      Denim shirt (I have a long chambray shirt, which I was wearing yesterday, but not a regular denim shirt that I could pair denim on denim, or over a dress or skirt)
      Burgundy open knit sweater
      3 crop tops in blue/white/burgundy (they were $4...!)
   Urban Outfitters
      Levi's high waisted cropped-leg jeans in a lighter blue color (not denim)
   Forever 21
      High waisted to the knee tight sweater skirt in navy
      White/black color block graphic dress
   Nordstrom Rack
      Paige jeans- peg skinny which I'm wearing today!
All for about $200- not bad, right? The jeans were by far my biggest purchase, but my other 2 pairs of designer jeans are my favorite pants, and the amount of times I wear them balances out the price in my opinion. We also went to regular Nordstrom so Natalie could get a pair of Tom's, and I just about died passing the St. Johns and Prada displays. Every time I go into that store I realize I need to just make a shitload of money so I can buy these things. Or work in fashion so I can get samples for free :)

After work today I'm gonna be scooting to AAA to pick up those guidebooks before getting downtown for Salem #4. Hopefully there's not a long line! But this also gives me an excuse to leave at 3:30-3:45. Yayayayay! I don't think I have any people I know coming tonight, which will be a little weird, but I'm just hoping we have a bigger crowd. We're at 5:30, which is the earliest slot for weeknights, and on Tuesday the group was mid-sized, comparable to opening night. People come to our show! Give us reviews! Then after the show I'm getting dinner with my friend Josh, who I haven't seen all summer and is leaving for his freshman year of college while I'm roadtripping/in LA, so this was our last chance to get together. In fact I should probably figure out where we're going so I can plan accordingly on my dismissal from Rarig. And now Alex is texting me to watch Dead Files after that so it looks like I have a full night planned! While watching Dead Files I WILL CLEAN MY ROOM. I really have to. And I'll work on trip planning. Maybs I'll do some of that now- werk.

Popcorn Stain

We had a major faux pas last night. I was at my aunt Meg's house and we always eat popcorn and watch movies etc. So I was going to make popcorn and she said "hit the popcorn button 3 times." I thought she meant, hit popcorn then start 3 consecutive times. Well let me tell you, I was very wrong. After the second time it looked pretty good to me, but she said 3 times so I did it again. about a minute later we got an intense burning smell and grabbed the popcorn out of the microwave. Steam exploded everywhere and stung your eyes and we rushed the popcorn into the trash in the garage. We opened windows and doors and luckily it was a nice temperature last night, but the smell pervaded through the entire house via A/C and refused to go away. We then made a good batch of popcorn, where I learned that you hit the button 3 times in a row, then click start. When I woke up this morning and was getting ready, I noticed a slight hint of the burnt popcorn smell on my hand from where I opened the bag, but I didn't look at it. It was only just now, hours later, that I discovered that my index finger on my left hand is discolored/stained by the popcorn. Embarrassing.

Other than that (even including that), last night was a pretty good night. After putting on my makeup in the office via photo booth and no one noticing, I headed to uptown to get myself a bubble tea, then to the Rarig to finish getting ready/for the show! I had forgotten my tights as I left that morning, but luckily my friend Sam had an extra pair. She's quite a bit shorter than me, though, so they were a little small/awkward fitting. I managed, perseverance! I also got an apron to add to my costume-ensemble. At our show either tomorrow or Sunday I'll get some sassy Salem pics taken. The show itself went pretty well, comparable to last Sunday's performance. Afterwards I went to dinner at Rojo with my mom and family friend Debbie who were at the show. It was awesome after not eating all day to mow on some chips, salsa, and tacos. Plus lemon cake dessert at aunt Meg's. Plus popcorn.

Today I'm rocking my ultimate lazy girl outfit and bun. This is one of my go-to's that I grabbed out of my clean clothes hamper (because obviously I haven't put away my clean clothes from a few weeks ago and they are all still sitting in my hamper while my dirty clothes are on the floor) for today because I didn't have time to pick out real clothes when I was packing yesterday morning. Just gotta get through work, and then this afternoon Nat and I are gonna hit up MOA for pre-trip-end-of-summer-fall-clothes shopping! I need to make a list of things that I need, which ideally would have me going through my closet and cleaning it out, but I think we'll be heading there right after work which eliminates that as a possibility. Things that come to mind right off the top of my head are: nice jeans (Nordstrom Rack is my best friend), nice leggings (I have 2 pairs of Hue leggings that I LOVE- I have like 3 or 4 crappy pairs from Target/H&M/hand-me-downs but they're just not as comfortable/opaque as I like), a camera case. Those are my specifics, but then I also have the more obscure ideas of what I want, like just more clothes that actually fit and fall trends (my favorites are military, leather, burgundy, mixed textures/patterns).

Also, I just got my first call of the day and it had almost been 2 hours since I got here- phwoar!

Update: it's now 12:01 pm and I just got to level 14 in bubble town for the second time ever!!! CELLY

Update 2: NOOOOO it's 2:27 and all of my webpages just reloaded for NO REASON and it sent me back to level 1.

Indoor Girls

I really need to paint my toenails. I managed to clip them the other day because one had broken at an awkward angle, but I'm still at the point where 3 nails have chippy paint on them and the other 2 are basically nonexistent. I suppose I could have done that last night, but instead I was choosing a cover photo (Facebook finally forced me to switch to timeline- curse you Zuckerberg) then watching House with Allie while making s'mores over a candle. Jolly good.

Having my hair straight is so nice. It's so much less of a hassle to deal with. Like, I don't have to put it up or braid it to go to sleep and can just brush it out in the morning and go. How easy! Alas, after the show tonight it'll be gone until this weekend when I blow-dry/straighten again (this will add up to one show tomorrow with an unruly bonnet). Our show has been getting really good reviews so far. We have a rating of 4.5/5 stars, and even the unfavorable reviews had specific things they didn't like (the dance...) while saying the talent is good (that's all that really matters to me). So I'm feeling pretty good about this show! Hopefully we'll have a bigger crowd tonight, but the theatre we're in is so large that filling up all of the seats would be a feat unto itself. Dare to dream?

After the show tonight, I'm staying over at my aunt Meg's house, since originally we had planned something for next week but with the road trip now imma be gone. We're most likely going to watch Lifetime's "The Pregnancy Pact" and eat popcorn. In haste this morning when I was packing up all my stuff for the show and overnight, and because I've been feeling like I've been eating too much lately and not working out because of my schedule, I didn't bring a lunch for today. Hopefully I won't get hungry, just have to fill up on coffee and water until dinner. Womp.

Gas prices can suck it. I was planning on filling up today, when I was driving to work yesterday/picking up lunch for Gerry, it was at $3.61-3.65. Then as I was leaving work, the usually cheap gas station that I drive by was at $3.85. What the what?? You can't just jump 20 cents in 3 hours! I checked my gas buddy finder thing, and saw one place was still at $3.63, so I headed there. I couldn't see their sign until I pulled into the parking lot, and by then it was too late! I was obligated! And I was afraid that it would go up more today. $3.83 per gallon. I'm really mad, I got cheated out of at least $2, with my total at $40 and some change. Ridiculous. I have a bug, not an SUV.

Drams on Drams on Drams

I am completely incompetent with technology. Maia just started a blog and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to follow it. When I looked it up in the googles, they said click on the following widget- however, that does not exist in her blog. And so I'm at a loss.

Bonnet shmonnet. Me and dis chick Sam at rehearsal on Friday.

Well this weekend was just as busy and drama-filled as I anticipated. The wake and funeral went as well as those things can go. After the funeral on Saturday I scooted home and had the perfect amount of time to shower, blow dry my hair, straighten it, eat some lunch quick, pack up my stuff, then run to dance. I was nervous about being late, especially when they had a lane closed on 394 and traffic backed up, but THEN I did something really clever: I was "that guy" who went in exit lane that bypasses traffic and then just got back on the highway. I'm not even a little bit sorry. I skipped the entire slowdown and made it to class on time.

I just went through a lot of trouble on google maps to try and figure out how to get a visual for this. Makes more sense? This isn't what the highway looks like anymore since they remodeled it like a year ago, but it's the same concept. 

That was one of my big triumphs of Saturday. I was living a little bit in struggle city at dance since I hadn't been there in two weeks and apparently they had learned a new combination the week before. So I had to learn the combination from last week plus the add on that we were learning this week. It wasn't pretty, is all I can say. But the class was small because a lot of regulars didn't show up, and so I had space to flail. I went to Natalie's house afterwards to avoid driving all the way home then back downtown, and so we chilled for a bit and looked up more road trip destinations before getting ready. We met up with my friend Sara and went to The Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner, because apparently it's 5 minutes away from the U and specifically the Rarig? I had no idea, I was shocked and dismayed when mapquest told me that. But it was true! Win #2 of the day: paid $1.50 for parking. WOOP. Ate a whole lotta pasta, which was probably not the best idea right before a show, but it sure was delicious. Then I scooted off to the theatre, got my costume, and got makeshift dressed and hair in the bathroom. Our entire cast had taken over the bathroom, and every time someone would come in they would make an exclamation like, "Oh look! All of the pilgrims have come to town!" or "Looks like I've entered Salem!" Clever, Minnesotans, clever. Opening night went pretty well, minus a couple mistakes in the dance (and by a couple mistakes, I mean my friends told me it was painful to watch and the girl was just not holding her own with the guy), and we were a little tight on time, but we made it! The house lights were not brought up on us! Afterwards I chatted with my parents and Nat and Sara, and it was decided that Natalie, Sara, and I were gonna stay over at Sara's lakehouse for a post-show celebration. They ran to Sara's house to pick up pj clothes, and I stayed with my parents, got changed into normal clothes, and left. Win #4: didn't have to pay for parking; as I was leaving the ramp, the blocker thing at the end of it was open and so I just drove on by. I'm feelin' pretty good about everything and here's where the drama starts:

A little backstory first, a few weeks ago I had posted in the Friends feed that my group of girl friends from high school has on Facebook just being like, oh my show opens in a few weeks! I would love if any of you could come! And then Natalie commented on it just saying, "Sara and I are going on Saturday the 4th! Come with us etc etc" Apparently then Natalie and Sara had sent a message to some of the girls who are in town just saying, hey we're going this night, maybe we could all get together and go to dinner, the show, and then hang out afterwards. It would be nice and Lizzy would really appreciate it. Then my friend Noelle had written like, my cousins leaving the next day so I can't go to the show that night, but would I still be able to hang out afterwards? And Sara said yes. Flashforward to Saturday. I pull up to Sara's lakehouse and they're not there yet, so I'm about to call them when 4 cars pull up behind me. I was really confused because I didn't think anyone was coming but me, Sara, and Natalie and they were driving together. Out piles 4 of my other friends, who had chosen not to come to the show but made it excruciatingly clear that they had nothing better to do and jumped at the chance to come to Sara's lakehouse. It all just felt like a big screw you aimed at me, and granted none of them are really into theatre, but it doesn't seem like that big of a sacrifice to waste 60 minutes of your life at what is actually a pretty good show. They did give me the courtesy of asking, "how'd it go?" Oh wow! You remembered! My show opened tonight that I've been rehearsing for 3+ hours everyday for 6 weeks and, while you couldn't get your ass out of bed to sit and watch it for 1 hour, you could ask me how it went. Thanks, friends, I really appreciate it. Once Natalie and Sara finally got there, I went in a different room and hung out with them. Noelle came too, and said she's planning on coming to the show another night with her mom, which made me happy. I stayed for a while, but then just decided to go home before midnight because I was crabby and exhausted after getting up at 7 for the funeral and running around all day. When I got home I complained and cried in bed with my mom, then passed out for over 12 hours.

After waking up yesterday at 1:40 in the afternoon, I felt a lot better. The thing about these girls is they can just be really bitchy. If you have somehow "wronged" them in any way, they will do their best to hurt you back. I've never really gotten along super well with 2 of them who were there, but the other 2 were really surprising to me. Apparently one was mad at me because I didn't talk to her enough when we all went to dinner at Chino Latino? The fact that she wasn't sitting next to me couldn't have anything to do with me not talking to her, of course. I don't know. I have 3-4 really good friends in that group, and honestly the rest I'm less attached to. I spent the afternoon watching lots of tv: chopped and then SVU. Got ready for show #2, which started at 7. When 6 o'clock came around, I was ready to go. Alas, my dad had called earlier and asked if I wanted a coffee, and I did. 6:10 comes around, still no dad. 6:15, still no dad. I call and he says he's in his car. 6:20, he pulls in after taking his sweet time with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth (blech) and I'm off like a bullet. Made it from Wayzata to the Rarig, what is normally a 25 minute drive, in 15 minutes. I was going between 80 and 90 mph most of the time. It was pretty exhilarating, if not stressful. I pulled into the parking lot and speed walked from my car, and yet who do I pass on my way but the Russell fam, aka our directors. I felt less bad about being late, then. My hair was already done and I was wearing my dress, so I just had to bonnet up and set the candles, but someone else had already done that for me. Phew. My friend Hunter had brought a flask with him (lawl) so we cheered to Salem and took a pre show swig. I think the show, and dance specifically, went better on night 2. The initial jitters were gone and people were more comfortable in the space/with their costumes. Home after the show, and then Allie got back from her weekend Bachelorette party trip. They went to a pole dancing class on Saturday, and she was so sore that she could barely move. Like, she literally walked like a 106-year-old woman. It was pretty hilarious. Took some melatonin and managed to fall asleep around 11-11:30.

Not my best today. I've been having major closet blues, just not enjoying my options. My mom always says, "You need clothes like you need a hole in the head." But I disagree. The majority, or maybe 50%, of my clothes are old and too big. I need to clean my room and my closet again to see what's really there! I did earlier in the summer but it would appear that another sweep is necessary. Missed the Anniversary Sale :(

DER. Managed to get my hair straighter than I have in a long while. I think it's because here I can used my mom's awesome Chi iron, and also we have this heat activated spray that has kept it straight and luscious (does that descriptor apply here? I don't know).

I just have to get through this week of work, and then I have a 2 week breather of the road trip/LA. I'm SO so excited. We might go to AAA today to get those guidebooks, but we already have some winning stops lined up. Apparently there's a Pretty Lights concert around when we'd be in Colorado, so we're thinking of going to that. Also we were looking at shows in Vegas, since we are under 21 and cannot gamble (I still think that's crap. We can gamble here in MN if we want! And vote! And get married! And join the military! Let me gamble in Vegas, dammit). We're thinking Cirque du Soleil or a magic show or Chippendales (lawl again) or some combination of the three. And zip lining. I just can't wait. I've done like nothing fun this summer and now we're gonna go all out. Plus I get to help organize her dorm room! I'm such a nerd but organizing is fun.

Stress and Comfort

Well well well lookie here, the end of the week has arrived! If only this weekend was actually a break and not a continuance of the busy/chaos. Yesterday was pretty rad because I got to leave work at 1:30 to go to lunch with my mom at OPH. Not only did I get an apple pancake, but I also got to leave sups early! Win-win. After that we both went home and semi-napped for a long while. Then I had to go to rehearsal, but we got out slightly early after finishing our two runs. SOLID. I got home in time to see the Lochte-Phelps 200 IM showdown, and the final floor routines of Gabby Douglas, Ali Raisman, and the Russian girls. Go team USA!! Right after the Olympics ended for the night, I rolled over on the couch and passed out until my mom woke me up and told me to go to bed. Average evening.

Now today/this weekend is anything but average. Today after work I will be scooting home to change into something nice, then heading to New Brighton for the wake of my step-grandma. She passed away earlier this week after never really recovering from a surgery she had a few months ago. She and my grandpa hadn't seen each other in a while, since he has been living in a home specializing in Alzheimer's care and she has been in recovery. I actually haven't seen either of them since Christmas, so this is all a very weird and surreal process. This weekend will be a lot of dealing with family I don't know (her kids and grandkids from her first marriage) without a lot of the buffer of my family. Both of my sisters are out of town this weekend on trips they planned months ago, and only 2 of my cousins will be there because the rest are also out of town. My mom's really stressed out about it all and is afraid that the other side of the family will be snotty that not everyone dropped their plans to come; we'll see how it goes... The funeral is tomorrow morning at early o'clock and is a full Catholic mass.
Not to mention this is opening weekend of Fringe/our show. I'll only be able to stay at the wake for about an hour before heading straight to our final rehearsal. Similar story tomorrow after the mass, I'll be running home to get ready before going to dance, and then a short break before our show! It's just a lot to take in at one time. It'll be a busy week, but a good one hopefully.

Then a week from Monday Natalie and I are leaving on our road trip! It really snuck up on us quickly. My dad's booking a flight home for me as we speak (or as I type...) I'm sooo excited to just travel around for a while, and to see Denver, Las Vegas, LA, and, of course, Omaha, Nebraska. Destination hotspots! My mom and I are going to go to AAA to get some guidebooks with more activities, but as of right now we'll be hitting up Minnesota's Largest Candy Store, The Roller Skate Museum, Zion National Park, the aforementioned cities, and all of da naturez in between. My plane ticket is now booked and the trip is a go! yayayayayay roadtripsummeradventures

Reaching hot mess status- running around so much has reduced me to ignore the fact that it is indeed summer and don my most comfy leggings and a t-shirt. Tonight I will most likely be in uncomfortable conservative clothes, and so I wanted to get the comfort factor out of my system (what? does that make sense? no)

I wore my most favorite Target maxi dress yesterday but I didn't take a picture, so instead here's a picture of me wearing it 4 years ago with Allie in Italy...

I feel like this guy right now (eeeee baby sloths!!!!)

Lunch Drams

Today has been a day of ups and downs so far: first, I was planning on having lunch with my mom at OPH today after she met the plumber at Allie's apartment. However, she got hung up there because she realized we had to take off all the tape and edge the bathroom, so she cancelled on me to work there today (we'll probs go tomorrow, so it's all good). BUT then, I hadn't prepared a lunch for today, as I was not expecting to need one! I had my PB&J that I brought yesterday, but didn't eat because of the gyro, but I had nothing to go with it because I ate my grapes yesterday! An old PB&J on its own would not be great. BUT NOW it's free lunch day! Even though it's not a Friday! I am still very confused and surprised but so please because it could not have come at a better time. Pulled chicken sandwich heading my way!
Phew that was a stressful experience. Work today couldn't be going by slower, unless I didn't have internet again. I read our latest MSP Magazine this morning, then started looking up pictures of our clearance stock on lighting websites. I've made it about halfway through my list of inventory, so I figure that's enough for today... gotta save some work for the rest of the week, right? So tomorrow I'll finish finding those pictures, and Friday I can finish the inventory that I need a ladder for and find those pictures. Solidly splitting up the work, holler.

Luna and I, just hangin' out

After work imma be heading over to Natalie's house so we can start planning the road trip! One stop that is a must: Minnesota's Largest Candy Store. How I never knew this place existed, just like 45 minutes south of the Twin Cities in Jordan, is a mystery. It looks INCREDIBLE. I just, I can't, too excited.
We'll plan our route and figure out which day I'm flying back, and then the stops we want to make along the way. This should be fun because I love planning...

It's our last day with Nugget :( I really don't want to give her back. Can't decide if it's a better idea to go home after work quick and snuggle her or just leave it- Nugget goodbyes are hard! Just look at that little face!

Rehearsal tonight at 7 until 10 again. Last night was fine, just long. It's a little weird because all of our set is in the space now, so we're like pantomiming benches and podiums and stuff that you think we would need in the last week of rehearsal? I don't know, it'll be fine, it's just strange. Still no word on when we'll get our costumes... I'm antsy, I just really want to see them! Most likely it'll be like a black and white dress, but who knows.

London 2012

The olympics are on! Too bad I missed the majority of the opening ceremonies due to rehearsal. It was sad but I still got to see the lighting of the torch and Paul McCartney! We've had the games on for the past few days, but it's hard to watch with my mom (especially swimming) because she gets really intense and yells at the TV.

Leotard. In love.

Desperately need to paint my toenails... to do this week

Anyway, this weekend was a blessing; last week was a muck of work/Salem/work/Nugget/work/House/work. It was exciting for me on Thursday when I got to leave work at 2:45... because I had a dentist appointment. That was my only outing/event week, minus when I was social for like two hours on Tuesday and went swimming at Natalie's house. Like, how sad of a person do you have to be when you look forward to the dentist? Mockery of a sham. I feel kinda like my whole summer has been this way, though. It's just work all day, and then in the evenings I either have rehearsal or am too tired to meet up with friends and fall asleep on my couch. The mess in my room has been piling up and I never have the time/energy/commitment to clean it. I've been okay about working out, but this week I haven't been doing every day like the weeks before and so the laziness is catching up to me. I did manage to go for a run on Friday, but as tonight is my only night this week without rehearsal (we open on Saturday!) I'll probably just nap when I get off of work. I also want to find new audition material, both monologues and songs, and try to master it this summer, but that hasn't happened yet. I haven't been on the lake yet or to a bonfire or made a s'more or done any of the usual Minnesota summer activities. Like, I say that I'll just do this stuff later, but then the next thing I know it'll be September and I'll be back in school thrown into what I know is going to be a challenging fall quarter. Maybe I'm just whining because this summer hasn't really been fun or exciting, but I feel like I haven't even accomplished anything either. Yes, I'm making a good amount of money at work, and I will be in a show, I've only missed two ballet classes (for rehearsal and then painting this weekend), but that doesn't seem like enough to me. I guess this summer is teaching me that what I find most important is professional fulfillment, and I'm just not getting that. There are plenty of people who would be happy to get paid for doing little to nothing at work, but it makes me think that I'm cheating the company out of money that they need, like they gave me this job as a favor to a family friend and while at certain times I'm useful- like when the phone's ringing- for the most part I'm a drain on resources. Also I'm mad at the government for taking almost $200 out of my last paycheck.

Okay, there's a rant that makes me sound like a really angry person, but I'm not really angry, it's more of a mild annoyance that's in the back of my mind. And I'm not thinking about my strugs this summer all of the time, just times like this when my mind is wandering. But the weekend was good! And there are still a lot of fun things to look forward to. This morning I made a chai tea in our Keurig, and it's actually surprisingly delicious. I didn't have any cavities at the dentist and the technician said she saw a huge improvement in my gum health. I'm on level 13 of Bubble Town for the third time and will get to 14 today if I have anything to say about it.

Awkward and taping

Nugget loves painting. And look at those edges! Works of art!

We spent this weekend painting my sister's new apartment, and it's starting to come together nicely. We finished the bedroom, and edged the main living room/kitchen. The bathroom will probably be edged today, and then we'll try to roll the big room sometime this week. Also, painting takes a long time. Or not even painting, but taping. I spent the entirety of Saturday just taping- what?? But we got King and I Thai for dinner on Friday because it is one block away from Allie's place (!!!!). It was so good. We got the cream cheese rolls and pad thai and feasted. And to celebrate our work for the day we got McFlurries for dessert because McDonald's is the only/closest ice cream place open at 10 o'clock. Sunday I spent edging, then peaked at 4:30 to go to our four hour tech rehearsal at the Rarig. The space is really nice, big, but our technicians were kind of rude. Understandable since some of our people in charge were not listening to their instructions, but still. It was nice to see our space and how lighting is going to work and everything, but just a draining, rough experience, as most tech rehearsals are. We were also a few minutes over the Fringe time requirement of 60 minutes, so this week we'll really need to tighten up timing because if you go over the time at all they bring up the house lights on you- not a great way to end your show. Chex mix and bars for dinner after the rest of my family had a delicious meal at our family friend's house of pork, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and fave buns. Whatever. The best news of all is that we get to keep Nugget for another couple of days because her owner is working late at the Twins games for the nest few nights! Yay!!!

                                    Living Room/Kitchen                                Bedroom

Bathroom

Goosebumps

What an exciting couple of days at Terradek! I have made two presentations/catalogs on powerpoint for Auroralight and Kichler, which took a surprising amount of time for both. Screen shot-ing, formatting and labeling, oh my! I just finished the second one about a half hour ago, and am just waiting to get another... in the meantime, I have been given 10 businesses to call and confirm that they received our purchase orders, which is my least favorite thing to do ever. I don't know why, but I just really dislike talking on the phone, especially to strangers. It just makes me uncomfortable to not see the person I'm talking to? Who knows, but I'm thinking of putting that off until after lunch. Thus procrastinating by writing this post.

ombre nails- my latest attempt to be good at nail art

Rehearsal has been going pretty well the past couple of nights. We finished blocking, and open in about a week and a half. It all looks/sounds good, except for this one song that just does not fit at all. It's called "It Ain't the Devil's Magic," and is sung by Bridget Bishop, the floozy harlot of Salem, right before she's convicted for being a witch. Issue #1: it's a hoochie-coochie jazzy strut-type song, so musically it just doesn't fit with the eerie legato line of the rest of the show. Issue #2: the men are in the background dancing and singing about how hot Bridget Bishop is, and the dance is just bad and tasteless. Issue #3: no one knows why this song is being sung! It doesn't make sense or fit with the story. Basically, it's not a good song and should be cut. Hopefully that won't be the only part of the show people remember...

I've been feeling the ultimate laze-fest recently. This morning I could not get out of bed, and grabbed the first maxi dress I could find. I still haven't really figured out how this drop waist fits on me, because my torso's a little too long for it to be a normal drop waist. Not like it matters here since I'm once again bundled in my huge sweater- my reign over the A/C has come to a close and I'm reminiscing about those 4 days when I didn't get goosebumps at my desk. Anyway I'm going through the whole work out vs. watch tv argument in my head. I have a little under 3 hours of free time after work and before rehearsal: I can spend about an hour working out, half an hour showering, and an hour plus relaxing and getting dinner, OR I can shower quick then pass out on the couch with Nugget right when I get home, which is really, really tempting. I also desperately need to clean my room, but that keeps going on the back burner. I just learned we only get to keep Nugget until August 1st because her owner finally got out of jail :(. We still don't know what he did... can you sue for custody of animals? I wish.

Quiche

What's shakin' bacon? As of Thursday afternoon, I have the whole office area to myself. Gerry was in LA this weekend with the fam to visit his daughter, who is working on the traveling company of War Horse. So Jon's in the warehouse and I'm in the office like a boss. I've had a very productive couple of days here of cleaning/dusting, and now playing Burger Shop 2. Good.

I came across this article in The Atlantic which I think is really worth a read. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/07/why-women-still-can-8217-t-have-it-all/9020/
It's by Anne-Marie Slaughter and titled, "Why Women Still Can't Have it All." She talks about her experience with having a high-power, high-stress career and how she has balanced, or not balanced, that with her family life. Granted, she is talking about a very specific group of women who are very powerful and talented, and generally wouldn't have to worry about money, however I think she touches on a number of important issues. Mainly, how unbalanced our society still is today when looking at careers of men versus those of women. Women are still expected to be more nurturing, and put family above all else, while men are put in the place of the breadwinner, who is more focused on duty. I have a lot to say on the matter but I think I'll save it for another time/place. Hillary and I were discussing this and thought it would make a really great documentary: looking at women from all walks of life and examine how they are able- or unable- to have it all. Possibly a new project for next year?

I got this BCBG paper bag waist skirt for like $15 at Nordstrom Rack aka one of the greatest stores on the planet. The earrings were a gift, and this Tiffany necklace was my 16th birthday present. Once the "e" charm fell down a sink drain at my friend's house and I spent hours trying to fish it out. Eventually I called my mom crying and she came and we were able to save it. Who knew that jewelry can be so sentimental?

Friday night after work I went to see All Shook Up at Minnetonka High School. My friend Nate is in it as Dennis, which he played when he was in high school (he's now in the MT program at CCM). This was my senior year musical, so it was fun to relive/compare. I went with Natalie and my great aunt Meg, who's friends with Nate's mom. It was a solid show with a lot of strong voices, but I couldn't help thinking that our Breck one had been funnier and better acted for the most part. I stayed over at my aunt's house that night and we were up until like 2 watching this movie "Gia" about the supermodel from the 80s. It had played on Lifetime, but since it had Angelina Jolie in it we guessed it wasn't conceived as a Lifetime movie. This girl basically shot to the top in the modeling world at 17, and was dead by 26. The next day, my aunt and I sat around talking for 4 hours before I had to go to our Salem CD recording. It was a little stressful because they were running late, so I won't be recorded on two ensemble songs since I had to leave right at 6 so I could get home and ready for the Beirut concert. I went with my sisters and Kate's boyfriend Blake. It was at the Cabooze and really lovely and relaxed. They had an accordion player as a part of the band, which ruled.

Yesterday was spent pretty lazily for the most part. I made this quiche for breakfast for my fam (actually, it was more like lunch since it wasn't done until 1:30ish...). Noms. Then Allie, my mom, and I went to Slumberland to look at beds for Allie's new condo. She's closing on it today! Ahh! Anyway we tried a lot of comfy beds, and I fell even more in love with Tempurpedics. Allie ended up picking a nice Beautyrest mattress set and wood bed frame with leather panelling. She ended up with a really good deal since they're having an Anniversary Sale right now. My mom has been thinking of getting rid of the California king sized bed that Allie has been using, and of my bedroom furniture and twin sized bed that I've had since I was 4, and getting me a new big girl bed and mattress. Maybe with a little convincing I'll be able to get that Tempupedic (it has a 25 year warranty!). After that we tried the new frozen yogurt place by our house, CherryBerry, which was real good. Jimmy John's for dinner with House and Nugget. I painted my nails and attempted to do ombre, and I think it worked but I have to get all the debris off of my fingers before I post a picture.

Nugget

We have a nugget staying with us until further notice! Her owner is in jail for an unidentifiable amount of time for an unidentified crime. Apparently he was in the car with a girl who got pulled over for a DUI, and there was a warrant out for his arrest. It's all very dramatic, but we get this little bundle for at least a couple weeks!

The past few days have kind of been a blur of work, nugget, rehearsal, and House. Saturday I managed to get out of the house for most of the day. Started with ballet, which I was really not wanting to go to because I was feeling so so lazy. Since I've been doing this eccentric workout plan for the past week my body has just kind of been aching all the time. I think it was also hurting in combination with the run I went on last Monday, which was probably the first run I had gone on outdoors ever; I'm more of an elliptical fan than treadmill/runs. So after that day I decided to stick to what I know and do Zumba for the cardio part of the workout. Overall, the eccentric strength training, where you hold each move for longer than you would normally to try and maximize results more quickly, has been working for me. I've lost about 3 pounds in one week, so I'd say that's pretty successful.  Hopefully by the end of this week I'll make it to my goal weight, or pretty close.
Anyway after ballet on Saturday I met up with my friend Sara, it was her birthday, Natalie, and Sara's boyfriend Lucas. This is the second time that he has visited but I didn't get to meet him before. He's about to be a junior at Dartmouth and is from Brazil. He's spending his sophomore summer at school, which is why he's able to visit relatively often. We got a coffee then Sara and Lucas had to run off to do other birthday festivities, so I went to Nat's house for a bit. We had a dinner planned at Chino Latino because my friend Noelle had 3 friends from school visiting, as well. I wore my Michael Kors heels for the first time and didn't hurt myself. It was super delicious, as always, and we didn't get a ticket after parking illegally in the Lund's parking lot. Pretty solid score of an evening. To top it off, we hit up Sebastian Joe's for some much needed oreo ice cream.

Work yesterday went surprisingly quickly up to about 2:30. I was making some fixtures in the morning until I ran out of washers. Then through the rest of the day I filled some boxes, did some inventory, organized some invoices, labelled some file folders, etc etc. After 2:30 though it was brutal. The last hour is always the slowest.

Nugget says "Hey"

Last night we had the Fringe-for-All instead of rehearsal. 30 shows get a 3 minute preview at the U of M Rarig Thrust, and for ours we sang the song "Evening Prayer" from our show. The thing is, each show can only have 10 people backstage, so what we did was have the 3 soloists on stage, and everyone else sat out in the audience. We flash mobbed, sort of, by just standing up from where we were sitting and singing. It worked out well, from what I could tell. We were all sitting in a clump on the side of the thrust so it looked like we could've been on stage. My mom was sitting in the center of the audience and said everything sounded good, which was a relief because last minute they said we couldn't use our CD and had to sing acapella. There were a few other gems that we saw, even though we left at intermission to get dinner. A few examples: a belly-dancer who had very clearly just started belly-dancing, a show about a young LA thirty-something getting cancer that was very poorly written and the woman's butt was falling out of her shorts the entire 3 minutes, and at one point some mermaids came running screaming onstage with blades for a show, cleverly enough, titled "Merblades." There were a few that I legitimately enjoyed, including "Class of 98," a time travel comedy, and "Rip," an adaptation of Rip Van Winkle. All in all, a very enjoyable evening.