While the Merry Bells Keep Ringing

It's officially the holiday season.

Did you know that I love this time of year? Because I do. I started listening to Christmas music on Halloween night as we drove home from celebrating at my parents' house. I have close to 2000 Christmas songs on my iPod now, and I'm almost through them all. This is awesome, because I'll still have time to go back and listen to all of my favorites again before the season is over. Thank goodness for commute time and long flights.

We just finished decorating for our second year in our house. Our main floor is basically one big room, and when you first walk in the door, you can see around 20 Christmas trees. Some are just little foil things, some are Charlie Brown trees, but two are actual 6 1/2' lit-up extravaganzas. One is the fun tree, which has a lot of Disney stuff, Batman, Christmas Story, Gremlins, etc. The other is our "adult tree" (say it out loud), which is more classy (hehe). We tried to keep the front half of the room (the more formal space) a little less character-driven and more classic. The other half is all fun and games, though. And our big shelving unit/room divider from Ikea is bursting with fun Christmas things.

On the outside of the house, we bought two new strands of lights this year, so it's brighter than last. We still have our big Mickey wreath over our garage, but we didn't put out the deer that my mom loaned us last year. They led to too much deer fornication for my taste. Poor Rudolph.

We've already put a good dent in our Christmas movie collection as well. And with Thanksgiving out of the way, we've already started the holiday cooking/baking season.

We spent Thanksgiving at my parents' house, and it was great. Very calm, lots of good food, and family. I made stuffing from homemade focaccia with Italian sausage. It may have been the best stuffing ever, even though I accidentally put in too much broth and it was a little mushy (stupid test-run was too dry).

Just over a week ago, I had to go on a last-minute work trip to New York, and while I was there, I had one night to go see a show. I decided to see A Christmas Story: The Musical, because why not? Also, I love being there at Christmas and seeing limited shows that aren't necessarily going to be there the next time I go. Unless the show is Elf. I NEVER want to see Elf. Not The Grinch, either. But White Christmas was amazing, so I hoped for the same in A Christmas Story. It didn't disappoint. I had a hard time getting into the adaptation at first, but by the end, I was loving it. I felt like a kid again, seeing the story for the first time. And the dad from The Wonder Years was in it, so I REALLY felt like a kid again. Even though I got my ticket only a couple days before I went, I was able to score the best seat in the house. Row H (that's the 8th row) and dead center. I could see the spit flying from the actors' mouths. I could see every bead of sweat on the Old Man's face as he danced with a chorus of leg lamps.  It was fantastic. I bought the soundtrack while I was sitting in JFK, waiting for my flight home, and I've already listened to it a handful of times.

I was also able to get some new Hanukkah decorations in New York. They're hard to find in Utah, but not so much in New York.

We started a tradition a couple years ago of going to the Festival of Lights in Spanish Fork with Teri and Bristol. We haven't planned our outing for this year yet, but I'm excited. I can't imagine the holidays without them. They've also been our Walking Dead buddies lately. Well, Teri has been. Bristol comes sometimes and plays his DS the whole time as he slyly peeks at the screen until he gets too scared. I love that show, and having others that yell at the TV with me is pretty fun. Stupid winter hiatus. Fun fact: by the time the season resumes after this Sunday's mid-season finale, we'll have a baby. Unless she's really late. But she won't be.

We also have a tradition of having an annual Christmas Piano Party. This year is going to be great, because we'll have an ACTUAL PIANO. Well, that is if the movers get it to us in time. It was supposed to arrive last night, and the mover was late to pick it up from the shop, so nobody was there. It will now supposedly be delivered later this week. I'll be on another short business trip, so I'll hopefully come home to a piano. It's an antique - from 1929. That's older than BOTH my parents. I had it completely refurbished. The insides are all fixed up, all new keys (the old ones were all chipped and some were missing), the pedals will work better...it'll be like new but will have the great sound of the antique soundboard. Nothing beats old pianos. Someday, I'll get the woodwork restored as well. It was black at one point, but a previous owner painted an ugly oak color over it. It needs to be black again.

In prep for getting the piano, we finally painted over the hideous brown wall on our main floor. That thing was awful. The previous homeowners sponged it themselves (pretty sure) and they didn't tape off around the edges, so it was really messy. There are still traces of brown all around the edges. Blech. But it's now a nice, calming gray. A black piano would look really good next to it.

The next home improvement project we have, which will need to be done during the holiday season, is prepping the nursery. We've already refinished an old dresser that my sister gave us, so now we need to paint the walls and do some decorations. Little girls need Batman posters, right?

We have just over 2 months left. Possibly less, if she's as early as I expect. This is our last Christmas without kids. We're already making a stocking for the baby, because we're making new ones for ourselves this year, and we figured it would be a waste to not just get it done now. The dorkies need stockings, too. They're like kids, but they're not KIDS. It's going to be really fun/crazy/awesome to actually have a little human to celebrate with next holiday season. She'll be almost a year old at that time. She'll hopefully be walking. We're going to have to put gates up around the trees, because she's going to try to play with the ornaments. Hopefully she's as good at listening as the dogs are. So far, they've been pretty good about it.

In case I don't blog again before Christmas, which I won't, merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Have the best Boxing Day! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving, an amazing Halloween, and I hope your New Year is full of awesome resolutions that you don't intend to keep!

Happy holiday to you!

Random List on an Overcast Spring Friday

I get it. The Hunger Games in movie form is as big as the second coming of Christ itself. You can stop reaffirming that on Facebook.

I don't get to go to London next week after all, and that SUCKS.

I DO, however get more time to spend with my wife and puppies.

And I'm probably going to take a PTO day because I deserve it.

The song "What About Love" from The Color Purple sounds like the bastard love child of "I Swear" and "Reunited." And now that I've made that connection, I can't listen to the song anymore, which is unfortunate.

I've got three shows in rehearsals right now, and it's fascinating how different three shows can be. It's REALLY fascinating how different three directors can be. And it's mind-boggling how different three casts can be.

I'm starting to get really excited to direct The Wizard of Oz. Initially, I was hesitant, but I'm really starting to figure out a way to make it "my" version and still keep the masses happy who want a carbon copy of the movie. Spoiler: it won't even be close to the movie, but hopefully they'll like it...

I got to have a one-on-one session with one of the kids in The Secret Garden last night, and it made me miss teaching.

TV is starting to bore me.

I still really like my new ward, but there are some people in it that are fully grown children. And other people who enable/empower those people to act like children. And that's frustrating.

It's been a really rough week, but I have nothing to rehearse or work on tomorrow, and it's Lauren's birthday. I get to spend an entire day at home, hopefully catching up on some projects, making birthday cake, watching Mad Men (Lauren's THIS close to getting hooked...), hanging all of our Disney pictures, making food, putting together a Wizard of Oz concept book, and relaxing. I can't wait.

The Color Purple is almost done recording the audio, so I guess I better get back to work now...

Think and Wonder and Dream

Yesterday, we were having a bit of a down day.

I hadn’t fallen asleep until around 5 AM, and I was up at 8, so I was exhausted all day. I’m still recovering from my latest cold, too, so I just felt kind of blah.

Lauren was having a rough day, too, so in the afternoon, we decided to go shopping for a little while to try and cheer ourselves up.

We went with my mom to a kitchen store, because she needed a new Bosch mixer. While we were there, we found a pasta-drying rack. I LOVE making homemade pasta, but drying it is always an issue. So, my mom bought us the rack because she loves us that much.

Then, we went to Target, where we found a deep fryer that we’ve been eyeing ON SALE. I bought it as a reward for how hard I’ve been working lately. We’re very excited for all of the amazingly fatty foods we’re going to be cooking now. (It balances out the love of our George Foreman grill, though, so that’s good.)

Then, as if the day couldn’t get any better, we got to spend the night with fun friends. Sidenote: did you know that my friend Wendy can tell how much any hole is dilated with JUST HER FINGERS?! She can. And she’s practicing, so you may not want to get too close to her…

THEN! Today, we went to Church. I still hate our ward with a passion. Primary was AWFUL. None of the leaders or teachers expect respect from the kids, and therefore, they don’t get any. By the end, I had given up on trying to keep our class quiet. I decided it wasn’t fair to make them follow the rules when the leaders weren’t expecting them to do so.

Oh, and the best news of all (yes, even better than a pasta-drying rack, a deep fryer, and great friends)…

Remember that time that I auditioned for Seussical about 6 1/2 years ago, and I was told that I just wasn’t talented at acting and singing, and I needed to just stick with music directing?

Well, I decided to audition for the same show at a different theater. It went against my usual practice of only auditioning for shows when I’m pretty sure I can be cast. I really didn’t have much hope. I didn’t even think I’d get a callback. But I did. And even though I didn’t have much of a voice, and I was running on three hours of sleep, I felt pretty good about my callback.

Thank heavens the Hale and Dave Tinney have lower standards than other theaters! I was cast as Horton, which is one of my dream roles.

I have a lot of work ahead of me. I haven’t been able to sing all winter because of how thrashed my throat has been with cold after cold after sinus infection after cold. But, it’s getting much better, and I’m going to work my butt off and be the best darn Horton I can possibly be.

Oh, and the audition was one of the things I referred to in my last blog that I couldn’t talk about yet. I hate jinxing auditions by talking about them much. But there’s still other stuff that I should be blogging about soon that may be even cooler than being cast in Seussical…

Clean Up Batter on a Team That Ain’t a Winner

I had a big birthday this year. I’m officially old.

I remember being around 19 and having friends through theatre who were as old as I am now, and thinking they were SO old.

I remember when my oldest sister was this old and thinking how weird it was to have such an old sibling.

If you bought clothes as old as me, they’re vintage.

If you bought furniture as old as me, it’s antique.

But, you know what? It was a GOOD BIRTHDAY.

Last year sucked, and I’m hoping it had something to do with having a bad birthday (stuck in rehearsal all day, then supervising a school dance all night).

The only sucky things about my birthday this year were having to go to church and then having to go help out with ward choir practice.

Other than that, my birthday was great.

Lauren made me white chocolate blueberry cheesecake, and it was INCREDIBLE.

We had a family dinner and my mom made Mexican food.

We had a Lost marathon.

Two episodes of To Catch a Predator!!!

I was given gifts like these:

And best of all, I got to see lots of people who I love, and I got TONS of birthday wishes through the mail, phone calls, texts, and Facebook.

2011 is going to be a good year.

PS – This is the best song about turning 30 EVER WRITTEN. (I’m not sure if there are any others, but still…) There’s an f word in it, though, so if that bothers you, don’t listen.

LOVE THIS SONG.

Productivity Gets Its Trash Kicked

fI had THE MOST PRODUCTIVE weekend. Scratch that, WE had the most productive weekend. Lauren did as much as me, if not more.

Yesterday, we cleaned the crap out of our apartment. I also did a lot of reorganizing, gathering trash, etc. AND! My project of getting the pictures all hung on the wall? DONE.

After working our tails off all day, we sat down to watch Lost with our nephews.

Today, we had our first week of early church. BLECH. Have I mentioned lately how much I dislike my ward? Well, it’s not any better 4 hours earlier. It was a pretty rotten block today.

But when we came home…we cooked a great Italian dinner to break the fast, played the snot out of Lego Indiana Jones, completely overhauled my iTunes files and settings, spent a lot of time with more nephews and a niece… And Lauren finally saw the movie Clue for the first time (and she squeezed a nap in, too).

I feel like tomorrow, we should take a break from our labors (heh) and just relax. In actuality, we’ll probably just play more Lego games (I also introduced Lauren to Lego Star Wars tonight), and clean/reorganize our craft and office supply drawers.

Tuesday, I go back to recording and trying to actually do “real” work. But dang, this weekend felt good.

Sidenote: I don’t like the direction my blog is taking lately. I need to figure out how to change it.

On a Happier Note…

I should have posted that last post on my secret blog. Oops. Oh, well. Everyone needs some self-righteous, preachy person to remind them that lying is bad, right?

I realized that I haven’t really blogged about much lately. Since my blog is the only way I can keep track of life events (I can’t do journals, because writing takes too long and frustrates me that I’m wasting time), I should probably remind myself of important things that have happened since the last time I really blogged.

• I realized that I shouldn’t ever do a show just for the money. And then I made the mistake of doing ANOTHER show just for the money.
• Lauren and I got our apartment all put together. Okay, that’s a lie. There’s still random junk piles all over, but we deal with it. (It’s mostly just things that don’t have a home anywhere.)
• I’ve learned that some regular recipes can be cooked pretty well in a Crock Pot.
• I finished my first full year as a teacher, and by the end of the school year, I had a much more healthy outlook at my job.
• I did a couple of amazing shows.
• I worked on three shows at school. 1 was miserable, 1 was really fun, 1 was somewhere in between.
• I was invited to participate in a summer youth theatre camp, which I’ve loved every minute of, so far.
• I lost lots of blog traffic because I stopped posting.
• I’ve seen 3, yes, 3 movies in the theater this year: Alice in Wonderland, The A-Team, and Toy Story 3. I loved the 2 latter, hated the first. Never had such a splitting headache from 3d.
• I spent several months on a sourdough kick, and was making it at least once a week.
• I’ve had a younger family member go on a mission for the first time.
• I’ve proven that I CAN be even worse at writing a missionary than I was with Heather.
• I’ve gained a new-found love for sound editing.
• After almost a solid year of not playing Rock Band/Guitar Hero, I found my way back to them and started sharing them with my wife.
• I almost cried at the end of Lost, as well as the end of Toy Story 3.
• I learned that I can’t go into Costco just to pick up bottled water and a gift for Lauren. I end up buying Muppet Show and NewsRadio dvds.
• I learned that I’ve always looked the brilliance of Hamlet just because it’s too common.
• I’m coming close to making a decision about whether or not I want to pursue an MFA.
• I’ve learned that my writing skills are deteriorating the less I blog (not that they were good before, just worse now).
• I’ve realized that I’m too dang old to vent on blogs late at night when I have to get up early to go teach a vocal class.

Random Photo Memories

Remember that one summer, when my hair was mysteriously turning blonde, and then I later found out that it was being bleached by a nasty face wash? And then remember how I got to meet Jim Brickman and hang out with him backstage because of the fact that we have a mutual good friend named Diane? And then remember how months later, I remembered to ask Diane for a copy of the pictures she took of me with him, and suddenly I remembered the awful blonde hair fiasco? UGH.

And then remember that one time how Stephanie took awesome engagement photos of Lauren and me, and Matt was our special guest for the shoot?

And then remember that one time that we took Nick to the Haunted Forest for his 16th birthday and I had glowing gum? And how Nick & Phil were a little scared?

How about the time that I took my awesome friend, Shane, to Little Shop of Horrors, and he loved it? And how he said he even loved it as much as High School Musical – which is a LOT for Shane.

Or when I FINALLY got to hold my new niece after a month of being busy/sick, and I naturally tried to see if I could eat her?

Or! Or! When David and I went spider-hunting and captured/killed one to protect our womenfolk?!

Remember how I used to make food all the time, and was really good at making sorbet? And how everyone who ever tried it loved it (except for when I tried making chocolate sorbet & lemon sorbet – stupid Martha Stewart)?

Do you remember how Amesily got married, and Julie, Heidi, Kyle, Chase, Janessa and I were the most fun people at the whole event?

Yep. I remember all those things, too.

We Thank Thee, O God

Back in February, I was accompanied my friend Wendy and her sisters for a concert. It was a great concert. If you ever want to hear the recording of it, let me know. Wendy’s brother-in-law recorded it, and it’s pretty good quality.

You may not have known about this, because my life was so consumed by student teaching at that point that I rarely blogged about anything else. Although, I looked it up, and I *did* blog about my future sitcom life the night of the concert.

Anyway, after the concert, Wendy’s sister, Laura, bumped into a man who had been at the concert. He told her he was organizing a banquet for President Monson, and asked her if she and her sisters would sing. They said yes, because of COURSE you say yes to the opportunity to perform for the man you believe to be the living prophet on Earth. They asked me to accompany them.

At first, I was hesitant. It was the same night as You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown’s opening. There was also the annual TAG awards banquet the same night, but I’ve always missed that because they ALWAYS schedule that during youth theatre shows. ALWAYS. Could I bail on the kids for the opportunity to play a couple songs on the piano?

Turns out I could.

We rehearsed a couple times, and then showed up tonight to perform. I didn’t know all of the details. I just knew President Monson would be there. When I walked in, Wendy’s sister-in-law, Laurel, was calling me to see if I wanted salmon or chicken. I didn’t even realize we were going to be eating. Turns out it was a dinner honoring people for their contributions through print. They inducted President Monson and a handful of dead guys into the “printing hall of fame.”

We went through our songs, and then sat down. The dinner was supposed to start at 7, and we were supposed to be there at 6. They placed us at a table in the corner of the large hall, with a sign alerting everyone that we were musicians. We lived up to the stereotype of being unruly and crude, because we dug into our salads WAY before 7. We were literally the only people in the entire room eating. I blame the pregnant girls. They started it, and everyone else followed. Wendy’s brother, Dave, and I were the last ones to give in and eat.

After we finished our salad, and Laura apologized to the servers for eating so early (hehe!), President Monson arrived. He’s not as tall as I thought he’d be, and he looks older in person than he does on Conference in HD. They brought out our dinner, which looked like this:

I sure do love good salmon, and this was GOOOOOOOOOOOD.

As we ate, lots of old men (and a couple younger ones) talked about the history of printing. Then we were brought dessert, which looked like this:

It was no salmon, but I didn’t mind it. I didn’t eat all of it, though.

After the food, we performed. It was fantastic. The girls were AMAZING. Wendy and Laura sang “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again” from The Phantom of the Opera, Julia and Laurel sang “Goodnight, My Someone” from The Music Man, and then all four sang “Pie Jesu” from Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s Requiem. President Monson likes showtunes, and he seemed pleased with the selections.

After hearing lots of people talk for what seemed like an eternity, President Monson spoke, which from our white trash table in the corner, looked like this:

He said a lot of cool things relating to printing, and then he talked about musicals. (Gosh, I love that man.) He talked about how he goes to all the musicals that come through town and he writes down what he believes to be the “key line” in each show on his Playbill. He shared a few examples. He also talked about how gorgeous Laurel’s high note at the end of “Pie Jesu” was and had her stand up. He then clapped for her, which made the rest of the room applaud. It was very classy and yet fun. He also mentioned A Christmas Carol and told us that the original manuscripts for that book are in the Church’s vault. Cool, eh?!

After he spoke, there was a beautiful number by a women’s acapella group from BYU (except I HATE the stereotypical breathy/80s pop “Mormon sound” – someday, I shall lead an LDS music revolution) and a closing prayer. Then we were asked to stay seated until President Monson had left. The second he was out of the room, we were up. I went out to the lobby, and saw him talking to some people. I TOTALLY could have gotten close enough to talk to him, but instead, I went to get the ladies to come and talk to him. By the time I was back, there were more people, and even though we followed him out to his car, we never got to talk to him. I was bummed.

On the way home, I stopped and got myself a vanilla Frosty, because dangit! I deserved it. I wasn’t able to finish it, but it was good until I was so full that I wanted to puke.

As a memento of tonight, I stole the card from my seat that let the servers know that I wanted the salmon. Is it wrong to steal when the Prophet is in the room? Crap. Maybe THAT’S why he didn’t come and talk to us. I ruined it for everyone. Oh, well. We’ll meet again, President Monson. Oh, yes. We’ll meet again…

Happiness Is…

Downloading multiple covers of “Holiday Road.” I was looking for Lindsay Buckingham’s version, but instead found 4 completely different but equally interesting ones.

Having a good final dress rehearsal for Charlie Brown. The tech this year is already better after one day than it was after the entire week last year.

Seeing Heidi and Holly this weekend for a few minutes.

Glenn’s homemade burritos. Even though they cause HORRIBLE gas. TMI, maybe?

Dum-Dums!

Uncle Buck on DVD.

John Hughes movies in general.

Another tentative job interview is scheduled. I should be hearing back about the last one any day now.

GRADUATION IS A WEEK AND A HALF AWAY!!!

Blargh!

This may make absolutely no sense. It's another really tired/stream of consciousness post.

Sometimes, I think I'm really clever and post a year in review blog, and then find out that Chris Clark beat me to the punch. And now it looks like I stole his idea, and I'm one of the many other groupies that do everything to be just like him. At least I know that I started writing mine last week in Word, and if anyone questions me, I have the file to prove it.

I'm watching Run, Fatboy, Run and I'm pleasantly surprised. I think that's what happens when I have really low expectations. Also, Simon Pegg is one funny man. Because of him, I might actually see the new Star Trek. I'd see it for J.J. Abrams, but I'm still angry at him over Fringe.

For Christmas, Teri gave me a gift card to Build-a-Bear and a Batman costume for a bear. Today, we went to build my bear. His name is Bruce, and he growls like a tiger. You may think that a tiger growl coming out of a panda bear is a little ridiculous, but it's really no more ridiculous than Christian Bale's Batman voice.

I really like my new phone. Especially the camera part. It takes AWESOME pictures. It drains the battery to take such awesome pictures, though. I don't like that part so much.

I sure do like How I Met Your Mother. I think it was Entertainment Weekly that I was reading where a critic said that it was as good as Friends. I don't agree, and I think he was just saying that because it was a cool thing to say. However, I rather enjoy that show. And I may or may not have a small crush on Cobie Smulders. Mostly when she's dressed as Robin Sparkles, though. Speaking of Robin Sparkles, I introduced Bristol to "Let's Go To the Mall" today. He rather enjoyed it, so I promised him we could watch the music video the next time he comes over.

My nephew Traven is a crazy dancer. I was at his house for a minute the other night, and his dad put on Little Einsteins, which is apparently like American Bandstand for toddlers. He was freaking out like Sarah Jessica Parker and Helen Hunt in Girls Just Want to Have Fun. And his dance moves are getting quite advanced. He was doing a kind of pelvic thrust while his left hand was waving up and down, and his right hand was turning in the air like he was lassooing. I bet he can dance better than any other 1 year old, and if I were his parent, I'd totally be pimping that on some kind of reality show.

I have a huge internet crush right now. It's not like a creepy one, like where I have to worry that she's really a 50 year old man named Harold or anything. I've spent time with her in person, and while I thought she was cute and fun, it's her web persona that really gets me. It's kind of Shop Around the Cornerish. Except instead of letters, we use the internet. Someone should make a movie about that. And Edith Bunker can be her cute old surrogate mother.

Do people with other accents dislike their native accent as much as I do? I hate the way people in Utah talk. HATE.

The seafood enchilada I had for dinner made a big deal on the menu about how it had "real" crab meat. This leads me to be suspicious that it was not, in fact, "real". Also, the fact that I keep burping up the taste of pollock. That's pretty much strike three against that restaurant. I highly DON'T recommend Mi Ranchito on State Street in Sandy.

I finally found a copy of Lemony Snicket's A Lump of Coal today. I'm going to read it before bed. I actually found a few of them, so Teri bought one, too. Had I just found one, I would have kept it for myself. I'm very selfish that way.

I really want to go see The Spirit again. If I get time to see the other movies I wanted to see this week, I just might. Wanna come?