always an aggie

Here at Utah State it's Homecoming week, filled with traditions, and football, and excitement ... and street painting.

Aggie Bull-evard goes right through the middle of campus and each year it gets painted by the different clubs and organizations. Every club gets a 10x10 space to paint their logo and/or incorporate the Homecoming theme - which this year is "Celebrate! Once an Aggie, always an Aggie." The street painting is a contest so there's only a two hour time limit to paint. The winners are for best overall, best incorporated theme, best artistic, and best greek.

My husband reserved a spot for the Theatre Student Association and was in charge of the design. He spent a good amount of time on it last week. After bouncing ideas off of me and other students, he finalized his idea. So Saturday, we were out and about buying supplies. We stopped at Home Depot for paint and such and Wal-Mart for cardboard. My husband decided to make a cut-out of the design beforehand to save on time ... which ended up working really well ... except for it filled up our entire living room and lasted most of our Saturday.

Once we had the cardboard laid out, my husband measured and traced and cut. And I helped, of course. We spent quite few hours on it. To make the time pass, we watched the Utah State v. Colorado State football game ... which they won ... go Aggies!

The painting was going on Monday night. Also going on Monday night was Legally Blonde rehearsal, which takes a good hand full of the departments students. My husband tried to recruit people to come help paint via emails and texts, but no real commitment came from it ... except for mine. It was just going to be me and the street. I was nervous to take on the challenge, I'll admit. We got there just before 6pm to get settled in. And to my great surprise, a theatre student showed up. She is in Legally Blonde but said she'd help for ten minutes or so before rehearsal. So it was the three of us tracing the design in chalk on the street.

Once rehearsal time came along, our friend left. My husband called the director and asked if he could stay since I was the only one there. Thankfully, the director let him stay for an extra hour. Huge relief off of my shoulders. As we were painting, we found that we had to use lots of paint to fill the gaps, and paint does not dry quickly on the street when there's clumps of it. But it started looking really cool. People would pass by and say, "Oh, I get it. Theatre masks in the 'U'. That's cool."

Shortly after we started painting, we had two more students show up to help us. Awesome! It made the job go much more quickly. The four of us had some difficulty painting on top of wet paint, which we had to do because of the time limit, but we got the job done. It was a lot of fun.

The design is a clock with an 'A' in place of the numbers. It represents always being an Aggie. The finished product turned out great and we were pretty proud of it. Sadly, we didn't win anything.

Overall, the street painting was stressful and fun ... two things my husband and I seem to be pretty skillful at. :)

a hidden talent

Guess what everyone? I've written a play. A full, over an hour, one act play.

My husband's theatre-ness is finally rubbing off on me.

This wasn't out of the blue ... well, kind of. The Theatre Student Association (TSA) has a Halloween show every year as a fundraiser for the club. In the past they have done skits or student written shows with a Halloween theme. My husband, who's the president of the club, came home one night last week and was telling me that no one had shown interest in doing the show yet.

The next day, I was bored. So I put my fingers to the keyboard and started typing. All I knew was that it had to be a murder mystery of sorts and include dancing pumpkins, (it's a tradition thing.) And from there I couldn't stop. My mind just kept turning. After about two hours or so, I had seven characters, a location, a basic plot, and sixteen pages of script.

The next day ... fourteen more pages. I was so excited and hyped up that I just kept working on it. I would show pieces of it to my husband and he would get excited too. We would talk about the plot as it got more and more complicated. I would spend hours writing and re-writing as my husband was at rehearsal. I had another student look at it and give me pointers. I told my family about it and they all thought it was an interesting idea. I even had to cut a character out because my plot was getting too complicated. I kept working and typing and after about six days I had a finished play.

Before I finished it though, I had to submit it to TSA for consideration. And when I submitted it, I was the only play that had been submitted. But then I found out that a comedy group had asked TSA if they could perform for the Halloween show with a series of skits. And then the next day, another murder mystery show had been submitted that was shorter than mine and completed. I had competition.

My husband called me one night from rehearsal and said that the verdict was in ... the TSA presidency was going with both of the other shows. Even though I was a little heartbroken, I could understand why. The other shows were cheaper to produce, thus giving them more profit. Plus, the other shows would be easier to do in such a short amount of time. But still, it was hard to motivate myself to finish the show after that because I had written it specifically for Halloween. But I did; I finished it, and I am now in the process of perfecting it.

I'm going to resubmit my play in the spring and hopefully see it come to life on stage. In the meantime, I'm going to try my hand at writing another play, one without so many limits.

Who knows? Maybe I have a hidden theatre talent.

rehearsal schedule drama

Wonderful news everyone! My husband was cast as Emmett Forest in Legally Blonde the Musical!

Thank you, thank you.....yes, we are both extremely excited! We sang to the songs all the way to St. George and back in preparation for the audition. Not only was this the part he wanted, but it will be a good challenge for him. And as this is his last year at Utah State, this will also be his last performance for the school's main stage shows. What a great part to end on!

But wait....there's more news. There have been some changes made to the rehearsal schedule. My husband will now be rehearsing three and a half hours a day instead of three and six days a week instead of five.....Yea!

I hope at this point you are sensing the sarcasm in that last bit, because it really doesn't make me jump for joy. So they need the extra practice time. No big deal right? It'll all be over in two and a half months. I can handle that....I think.

I don't mean to make this a sob story but I just wanted to share some things that I go through as a theatre wife. I grew up in a home where we always sat down as a family to eat dinner. It was important to my parents and became important to me. So I struggle with the idea that my husband isn't home for dinner. Eat earlier, you say? Well we would if I wasn't working and he didn't have other responsibilities. Before rehearsals ended at 10pm, we would eat dinner when he got home around 9:30pm. Not too bad I guess. But eat dinner after 10pm? Crazy I say! My husband told me that he would not be offended if I ate dinner without him. Sad thought! Who wants to eat a lovely cooked meal all by themselves six nights a week? Not me.

And what happened to the deal that the theatre department has him during the week and I get him on the weekends? Who broke that deal, huh? I sure didn't. The weekends were for me and him to regroup and spend some quality time together. But no, you decided to take a part of my weekends away too. And what about our family that lives an hour and a half away that we usually drive down to see once a month? What about them? They won't be seeing him any time soon.

But it's only for two and a half months. It'll go by quickly. And for that time, I'll put on a happy face and be supportive. We'll have late night dinners and make the most of our weekends. Honestly, I am excited for him and I am willing to support him in this. It just stinks knowing that he's gone just a little bit longer and a little bit more than usual. However, it'll all be worth it when I see him up on that stage, acting and singing his heart out. He is great to watch on stage! Until he kisses the girl....

But for another time, another blog.

Oh the life of a theatre wife. :)

s'more-less

My husband and I decided to have one last vacation before school started. One of the many adventures of our two week vacation was to camp for a night in Zion's National Park. We were staying with my husband's grandparents for the week but took one night to camp in the great out doors.

We got to our site kinda late and decided to make s'mores and call it a night. But as we were setting up, my husband called out, "Honey, where are the marshmallows?" Pretty sure I had seen them as I was packing, I claimed that they were in our bag. However, as we continued to search all our stuff, no marshmallows turned up. So it was either stay put s'more-less or head back to the house to get them.

Seriously, who ever wants to be s'more-less?

We didn't bring our car into the park so we had to brainstorm on how to get back to his grandparents. I knew there was a shuttle that went into town that passed by his grandparent's house. We headed over to the Visitor's Center in hopes that it wasn't too late to catch one. We got to a shuttle station and asked the driver if he went into town. He kindly redirected us to the other shuttle station....the one that went into town and not up the canyon. So as it was getting darker, we headed to the other station.

Once we got to the station, we waited for the next available shuttle with a few other folks. It arrived and we asked how late the shuttles ran and if we would be able to get back into the park. The shuttle driver assured us that we would be fine....if we hurried. Determined to get our s'mores, we climbed aboard and enjoyed our ride through town.

The shuttle arrived at it's farthest destination. We described the house to the driver only to hear the words, "Oh the West's!" She not only knew them, but was kind enough to drop us off in front of their driveway. We thanked her and ran inside. And of course, once we were inside, there were the marshmallows, sitting on the bed, where I had left them, as I was packing.

Relieved to find them, we grabbed the marshmallows, headed out the door, and giggled all the way back to the shuttle stop where we waited patiently with a bat for the shuttle to pick us up....It almost missed us. The street light decided to go out leaving us in darkness. Thankfully we were seen last minute. We hopped on and enjoyed the ride back into the park.

Walking back to our campsite, we talked of yummy s'mores and how this tiny, fun adventure would all be worth it. We weren't allowed to have fires so we were using our camper stove to roast our 'mallows. We started setting up our camper stove and the ingredients. It was only then that I heard the devastating words:

"Honey, where is the propane tank?"

I gave up. Even though I searched the tent for at least five minutes, I just knew it was back at the house, sitting on the bed, where I had left it, as I was packing. I felt like I had failed; we were going to be s'more-less. And the shuttles would be done in less than a half hour....not enough time to run back again. My husband did the best he could to cheer me up with words but nothing worked. Finally, he sat me down, put a marshmallow on a stick, lit a match on his zipper (which I didn't even know was possible), and toasted it. Catching on and smiling a little, I pulled out the grahams and chocolate. We each had one and enjoyed our s'mores under the starlit night.

S'more-less no more.

one of my little adventures

The Bear Lake area is known for its famous raspberry shakes. And I've lived 45 minutes away for five years and never had one. With the thought of moving out of Utah in the next year, I've being thinking of all the things we haven't done that we need to do before we move. And getting a raspberry shake is one of them.

My husband is wonderful to put up with all my little adventures. (This raspberry shake thing wasn't the first and won't be the last.) He had Tuesday night off from performing so we jumped in the car and drive north through the canyon. It was actually great to sit in the car and spend some quality time with my husband just talking....and avoiding the cows crossing the road. 

I did a bit of research before we went on our journey. I typed "Bear Lake raspberry shakes" into the Google bar and discovered a blog. It's by a family that taste tests all the raspberry shakes in the Bear Lake area to see which has the best. So I took their advice and decided to go to with their most recent winner, Quick 'n' Tasty. 

When we pulled in to the Garden City, my husband turned to me and asked, "So, where are we going?" I had "forgot" to look up the address to the Quick 'n' Tasty because part of the adventure is to not know where you're going, right? But don't worry, we didn't have to look far. On the corner of the first intersection was the Quick 'n' Tasty with a sign outside that said 'Famous Raspberry Shakes' and a long line of hungry people.

Once we got out of the car and stood in line, I took a look down the street. There were at least three other restaurants with a raspberry shakes sign outside their shop. Good to know if we didn't find the Quick 'n' Tasty we'd still get a shake. Better to know we were at the best tasting one. 

Again, my husband is wonderful and made a date out of my adventure by buying us dinner. We got chicken strips, a double cheeseburger, home style fries, and of course, a large raspberry shake. We got our shake first and started nibbling at it. One word: YUM! The food came next and it was all delicious. We ate outside and enjoyed every bit!

So was it worth it? In big, bold letters....YES! The raspberry shake was amazing and I would make the drive for another one. Of course, sharing the adventure with my husband made the trip one hundred times better. 

my first opera experience

So I saw my first two operas this past week. I never thought I would see an opera. My parents never went to see operas and Tim Taylor from "Home Improvement" made them seem unbearable. So when my husband asked me if I would come see Faust, I wasn't thrilled about the idea. He told me a bit of the story line - a guy selling his soul to the devil to be young again - and I thought, "Hmm, that could be interesting." Another concern I had about going to an opera was the language barrier. My husband assured me this wouldn't be an issue since subtitles are projected for the audience. Still, I was worried that I would miss all the action on stage because my eyes would be glued to the words. So with some doubts and concerns, I made my way to the theater.

Upon walking in, I received a program. And to my lovely surprise, inside that program I found a synopsis of Faust - as well as all the other shows. I felt a sigh of relief wash over me. I could now read what the opera was about before it happened so that I wouldn't be completely distracted by the subtitles. I did have to pause for a moment however, and think, "Wouldn't reading the synopsis ruin the surprise of the show for me?" Then I thought to myself, "Self, it will be hard enough to read the subtitles and watch the show at the same time and try to keep up on the story line. Why not give yourself the advantage and read the synopsis?" Okay, but only one act at a time.

The show started and the subtitles were projected. Now weather or not this was a blonde moment for me, I had a huge revelation occur during the first five minutes of the show - I read faster than the actors sing. And of course this is obvious once you think about it. I was amazed to find that I could read the words then watch what they were doing on stage and not miss a beat. I also found that the English translations were like cliff notes and made the show much easier to understand. 


Now I don't know what I imaged the opera like, but it was probably something similar to a vocal performance - with a very poor story line. But to my amazement yet again, the opera has just as good of story lines as musical theatre.  Faust kept my attention the entire time. 


I caught up with my husband after the show and was happy to explain to him that I thoroughly enjoyed myself at the opera. It was very well done and I could read the show and watch it at the same time. He smiled, said "Oh good," and proceeded to tell me that we were going to see Tosca - the other opera - the following night. I was excited! My husband had also never seen an opera but I assured him that it would be great.


And it was great! I enjoyed Tosca more than Faust. The story line was about two lovers trying to save each other during the French revolution. Tosca felt more like a play in that their singing was presented as dialogue rather than a song to push the story along. Also, there was more interaction between characters. And it had its good share of funny moments. Although it was a tragic ending, it was a great story that kept my interest. (And no, I did not ruin it for those of you who are planning on seeing it because you can read all about it in the synopsis before the show starts. :)


I like the opera now and I can't wait to see my next one!


Kudos to all the performers, directors, and deisgners at the Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre Company. Tosca and Faust were incredible!


  

chain reaction

With my husband being in four shows and working for a professional theatre company, you can only imagine the commitment he has. Sadly, because of this, he had to stay in Logan while I made my way to Salt Lake City for my five year high school reunion. It was great to see old friends and I enjoyed hearing what everyone has been up to in the last five years. It got me thinking though...what have I been up to the last five years?.....

Well, the first big thing was I moved out of my parents' house and made my settlements in Logan. This lead me to....

Attend Utah State University. I was accepted into the Interior Design program with a Sales and Marketing emphasis. After my first year, I decided to move back into my parents' house for the summer. This lead me to....

Go to Nauvoo for a week. My cousin was a performing missionary for the summer so I tagged along to visit with my aunt and uncle. It was a fun trip and also lead me to....

Meeting my husband who was also a performing missionary. Yes, you are not suppose to check out missionaries because, well, they are missionaries. But we noticed each other. I wrote him a letter...he wrote me back...long story short....

We got married! About a year after the Nauvoo trip and seriously, it was one of the happiest days of my life. We honeymooned to Park City and then cruised off the coast of Mexico. When we got back, I was still attending USU so I dragged him up to Logan. He was going to go into business but after we talked about it and I did a little pushing to follow his passion, it lead him to....

Become a theatre major, and me a theatre wife. He's loving every minute of it, and I enjoy watching him perform. It was great to go to school together for two years. But the day finally came when I....

Graduated from college with my bachelor's degree. It's a great feeling to have accomplished all that work for a degree that I'll probably rarely use. But thankfully, after some looking around I was lead to....

A job at an elementary school. I am working as an instructional aid part-time and loving it. I'm even considering getting my teaching certificate. These are the big things, however.....

There are a few small things I've done in the past five years. Paid bills; got my first car loan; painted my apartment; worked at a hotel, a call center, and a switchboard; went on several family vacations; tried countless new recipes....

But most of all, one of the most fun things I've accomplished is that I've seen more plays in the last five years than I had in the first eighteen years of my life....

And I look forward to many, many more!

I'm excited to see what the next five years has in store for me.