Alaska Update

Well, I've been in Alaska for about two weeks--I know, I didn't really have an official "I'm in Alaska now" post, but so goes life :)

This is what the first week consisted of: I arrived Thursday afternoon, Friday morning I woke up with a sore throat :) I was none to thrilled about this, and unfortunately it broke into a full out cold. On the positive side, it never got too horrible, and I had time to relax and try to get better. But still, I had come all the way to Alaska to see people, and I ended up spending a lot of time at home with the dogs :) But that has its plus sides too!

But just because I was sick does not mean that I did not jump right into things. As it happened, the weekend after my arrival was the one-page play festival. I had friends who were directing in it and offered me a couple roles. The title of the festival should be a clue in, but the night consisted of a bunch of one-page plays. It's kind of fun, because different directors can choose to do the same play, so sometimes the way a play is done is different, and it's interesting to see the various choices made. And they are all pretty short, so the night seems to fly by. We had two nights of performances, and I think that everyone did a great job--it was a pretty good evening of theater!

Here are a couple photos from shows I did--next post I'll get you some highlights of week two (and maybe week 3 the rate I'm going with blogging posts!):

From "Theodore Goodman" by Erin Mitchell (photos by Colin Lamar):


Photos from "The Note Left by the Man" by Dawson Moore (photos by Colin Lamar):

Ode to my father

On my dad's special day, commemorating when he was born, I just wanted to take a second to reflect on the person that he is. Granted, my perception is tinted by my vision of him as a father, but I also think that over the years we have grown to appreciate each other for the individuals that we are. So however biased I may be...

My father is the type of person who has:

* Been to my aid, when I have screamed, in two leaps and a bound (when he was on the other side of the house).

* Inserted my name in a song that I loved that he would play and sing me to sleep with.

* Worked hard at his job and never had the phrase "good enough" in his vocabulary.

* Loved my mother in a way that makes me not want to settle for anything less.

* Known the wisdom of the one nut.

* Worn his hair long, played electric guitar in a rock band, and owned a Harley.

* Let me see him cry.

* Always been there for me, even when I know he's exhausted.

* Made people laugh and feel at ease in stressful situations.

* Taken his dogs on long walks, even when it's really cold.

* Created the Arkabarkoo.

* Made our family run around the car on long road trips.

* Been a good, kind, and just man.

* And apparently... taken Snowzilla in a fight:

I Love You!!!

Winter Holiday

Well, it's been a little time since I updated my blog... I've been a bit busy :)

We're heading into the final weekend of "Steel Magnolias." If you're in the area and wanted to see the show, this weekend is your last chance! I've really enjoyed the character of Shelby, so it will be a little sad putting the show to rest. Not to mention that the cast members are all wonderful people! I'm glad this show afforded me the chance to get to know them all.

Next week is Thanksgiving in the United States. It's my first Thanksgiving since moving to the Midwest, but fortunately I have some family in the area! My cousin Khadijih and her husband Gino live in Madison, Wisconsin, which is about a 4-hour car drive from here. Shelly and I are going to drive over Wednesday night after work, stay the night, and then spend Thanksgiving Day with Khadijih and Gino, along with Lua and Hadi (Gino's sister and brother-in-law, who I know a little bit from serving at the Baha'i World Center in Israel). Then we'll drive back that day, early in the evening so that Shelly can work on Friday. It's a bit of a whirlwind, but we're both really excited! We have family to go spend Thanksgiving with--I'm certainly thankful for that :)

I'm also gearing up for a trip to Alaska! It seems like I just can't stay away :) But it will be so great to spend time with family and friends, and the timing was perfect! I'm finishing a temp job in the middle of December, so I can just hold off on starting a new one until I get back! And it's perfect timing, because at the end of the year people have more time off work around the holidays, so I'll get some good quality visiting time in. I'm so excited to see my immediate family, but also my cousins (and cousin's children!) and friends. And, to those non-pet people out there, this might not make sense, but I'm sooooo excited to see my dogs! Living in an apartment, along with my crazy schedule, doesn't allow me to have a dog down here... but I love my dogs in Alaska! And I'm really excited to see my brother's bulldog too--he was just a puppy when I was last up. Here's a photo of the two of us when I was visiting this summer--who wouldn't be excited to see that face?

Come see "Steel Magnolias"

Photo credits: Mark Jungmann

If you're in the area, come see "Steel Magnolias" out in Lakeville! We open tomorrow night, and Truvy's hair salon is the place to be!

Performances will be at the Lakeville Arts Center :

Nov. 3-4, 10-11, 17-18 ~ 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 12 & 19 ~ 2 p.m.

Tickets: $6 opening night, $12 adults / $9 students & seniors

For more information or to purchase tickets, call the Arts Center at (952) 985-4640.

Happy Halloween!!!

You can imagine a great picture inserted here from the costume party that I went to on Saturday night. I was Miss Alaska, and I got my photo taken with Borat, even before his movie comes out! But of course, I forgot to take the photo off of my camera, so that is not much help now. I'll be sure to add it to this post later on, but for now I wanted to say: HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

A bunch of my friends in Alaska are performing "The Mummy" today for school audiences during the day, and then some frightening performances in the evening. If you're in the Anchorage area, feel free to check it out! I just want to let them know how sad I am not to be able to see it, and I wish the whole cast a special scary final adieu to the production today.

Meanwhile, I think I'm going to dress up like Shelby in "Steel Magnolias" for my Halloween costume! We're in the final rehearsals before we open THIS FRIDAY! I've been remiss in my photo taking of rehearsals, but hopefully we'll have some promo shots or something soon that I'll be able to share.

***Here's the Halloween photo I promised--a day late, but so what?***

My morning routine

Well, even though I work as a temp, I have pretty much worked for the same corporation the entire time that I've been temping in Minnesota. I love it, because it still gives me flexibility, but it also allows me to get into a daily routine.

Along the way temping, I've made lots of friends, and there is a core of us (that keeps growing because we're so cool!) that goes for coffee every morning. I'm not someone that requires caffeine in the morning, and I often even get decaf, but I love having something hot to drink. I also love the morning routine of seeing everyone!

So I decided to document it in pictures:

Here we are, walking through the skyway to the Carribou Coffee (it's great, many of the buildings in downtown are connected by skyways, so you don't even have to go outside--mighty handy in the winter!):

Here's our lovely coffee spot:


Here are the spectacular Elizabeth and Melissa, two of my closest friends:


Here's Elizabeth getting her coffee:


Here is the happy bunch with coffee in hand:


Thrilling, isn't it? I know it's not high drama, but it's something I do every morning. Heck, not all of us even get coffee every morning, but all of us go for the walk! It's what gets me through the morning!

Mmm... mmm... good :)

Yarn treasure hunt?

Believe it or not, I actually went on a yarn treasure hunt a couple of weekends ago! My friend Sandra and I split it up over two days, since the shops were spread around the greater Twin Cities area... but let me explain :)

Basically, there were about 7 yarn shops that teamed together to have the first annual yarn treasure hunt. You had to go to each store to get your passport stamped, and once you had all of the stamps, you were entered in the grand prize drawing for $3,000 worth of knitting supplies! But not only were you getting your stamps, but each store had a clue that you had to solve. Once solved, you could then get a different charm in each place. It may not sound like it, but to anyone who loves knitting and/or crocheting, it was a great time! And the other cool part? Apart from the gas spent in driving to these places, it was free! And because I'm still fairly new, it afforded me a chance to see some different yarn places in the area. So I highly enjoyed it.

I meant to document our hunt through pictures, but I got lazy, so all I have is this one picture from the last yarn store we visited:

Snow?

Well, we certainly didn't get dumped on like Buffalo, New York, but I was not a happy camper when we officially had snow in Saint Paul before Anchorage! What the heck?



Of course, it didn't stick, and now we've just been having some rain, but there will be more snow in our near future... I guess I just have to become resigned...

Weekend training

Why hello! Rehearsals have started for Steel Magnolias, and it feels so good to get this show up on its feet! It's kind of funny though--the first scene I'm getting my hair done, so I practically sit the whole time (talk about tough blocking!). The group is fabulous, and I know that we'll probably part with tears at the end. So even though I end up being exhausted all the time (with work and then rehearsals), it's the satisfied kind of exhausted.

A couple of weeks back I attended a junior youth animator training (basically a course designed to be training for people who will end up working with Baha'i junior youth groups). It was the first weekend of a two weekend training, the next weekend to be October 20-22nd. There were actually quite a few of us, and some people drove quite a ways to be there. And it was great fun! I really enjoyed the course, and I'm looking forward to the second installment.

We, of course, took the requisite group photo, so I thought I would share!

Autumn in Minnesota

Fall has been well under way here in Minnesota, and it is truly beautiful here. What’s great is that, although it has gotten cooler, we are still having some warm days where you can just have a light sweater and you’re fine. And the colors of the leaves! So pretty! Last weekend I had a chance to go outside of the cities to a Baha’i convention, and the building that the convention took place in was surrounded by incredible nature. We were able to go on a bit of a nature walk, and I saw my first snake in the wild! Granted, it was a teeny thing that wasn’t poisonous, but I was excited all the same.

Another thing that I was able to do recently was to go to the Sever’s Corn Maze. This is where they take a big field of corn and create a maze that from an aerial view has a picture! How cool is that? Here’s what this year’s maze looks like from above:

I went with my friend Elizabeth and her daughters (her daughter Emma is the one in overalls and a red shirt--one of the cutest kids ever!). They were meeting up with people who are part of her mommy club, so it was really fun to go with all these kids. Not only did they have the maze, but they also had a pit of corn that you could play in, as evidenced below:

They had a petting zoo (with a kangaroo!):

And a hay ride too!



It was a perfect day, and as soon as we walked in you could hear the Dixie jazz band playing and smell the wares that the vendors were selling. I absolutely loved this afternoon in the beautiful Fall of Minnesota!

Photos from Cannibal!

Well, it's been a little while, but some photos were just recently posted on the Mechanical Division's website, the theater company that I did "Cannibal! The Musical" with. I think they're pretty darn funny, so feel free to check them all out!

As you may have guessed from lack of updates to my blog, life has been a little crazy! But I hope to put up some posts about recent activities sometime soon!

She's left meh!

Well, I just dropped Megan off at the airport--she's heading back up to Alaska! Oh, how I wanted to crawl into her suitcase (particularly this super swank one that she writes about on her own blog).

It kind of sucks that her last day here I had to be working. I timed out her trip to the airport on my lunch break, so at least we got a proper farewell. But of course I'm going to miss her! I had a great time with her sister Melanie as well (she had to leave this last Sunday). Thank goodness I have play rehearsals to look forward to, otherwise I would absolutely be dying.

So thank you Megan for visiting! I love you lots, and I can't wait for us to see each other again!

Muah! (that's me blowing a kiss in your general direction, which I think as I write this is the terminal where you're waiting to board your plane).

Cast in Steel Magnolias!

Hooray! I just got a call from the director--I've been cast as Shelby in Steel Magnolias! For those of you familiar with the movie version, the character I'm playing was the part Julia Roberts performed.

I'm SUPER excited to do this role, and I'm so very happy to get cast again in Minnesota--it wasn't just a one-time fluke!

Rehearsals start in the beginning of October for about 4 weeks, opening in November. I must admit I was unsure with how I did at auditions. I felt like I was in my head the whole time and didn't connect emotionally. But I'm grateful the director saw something there, and I'm really excited to sink my teeth into this role! Also, the entire cast is women, which I've never done before, so that's something unique.

And the best part? This means I don't have to audition for a while :) I'm enjoying the bliss of being cast... eventually the reality of how much work this will be will sink in, but that's another type of joy :)

Ciao for now,
Lindsay

Nickel Creek in concert

Megan, Melanie, and I went to see Nickel Creek in concert tonight at an outdoor music festival. I didn't take any photos of us, mostly because we were just too incredibly attractive all bundled up to see the show. I know the blogging world reading this just could not take it; it would have been too much for mortal man to handle.

It was actually quite chilly outside, but it was so worth it to go to the show. I just felt bad for them performing. I remember playing in fiddle contests at the State Fair in Alaska, and it always seemed to be rainy and cold on those days... my fingers would start to feel arthritic! They would get quite stiff. So it was to my amazement and respect that they played incredibly well--it was so much fun! It made it that much more fun to go with Megan and Melanie. This really was a blast. One highlight, besides hearing a bunch of their own incredible music, was a cover version of "Toxic" by Brittany Spears. Too funny, and actually quite good! If you've never heard Nickel Creek, then you absolutely must go and get one of their albums! ...at least one :)

Fun with the girls

I took the day off from work today. Megan's sister Melanie arrived today, and she took an all night flight, so we wanted to have a very relaxed day. We ended up going for brunch at a neighborhood restaurant and then going for manicures and pedicures, as evidenced below:


We met up with Megan and Melanie's cousin for dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. Their cousin actually works there, so we got a sweet discount on our meal! We also rented the first disc of season 2 of Lost, so we're watching another episode before going to bed. So goodnight for now!

The Megan has landed

My friend Megan from Alaska is here! She's visiting, and I'm thrilled! She just got in this afternoon, and I've already dragged her out to meet friends at Pasta Wednesday and out to get snacks for our candle party tomorrow night. After she flew all night :)

But it's so great to see her, and we're going to squeeze as much fun into the next couple weeks (around her trip to Wisconsin, that is).

Dramatic much?

I was looking over the last post that I made... gosh, I can be a little dramatic :) My first inclination is to delete the post, because it doesn't reflect how I feel at the moment--but it's how I felt then, so I'm keeping it.

Almost immediately after writing that post I felt better. It seemed like I was wallowing a little, and that post got the feelings out--and I was ready to move on. It doesn't mean that I'm not sad I didn't get a callback when I think about it, but it's not the center of my thought anymore--I've moved on :)

Actually last night at "Cannibal" I met one of the girls who is still in the callback process for the show I auditioned for. I was envious of her, but I was also happy for her. In some ways this opened the wound a little more, but in other ways it just closed it to. I knew I wasn't right for the role, so that was that!

On a completely different subject... my friend Megan is coming to town for a visit!!! Woo hoo! I'm so excited for her to be here, and we're going to do some of the fun things that I haven't taken advantage of since moving--we're hopefully going to the amusement park Valleyfair, we'll go to the Renaissance Fair they have here, we'll do the requisite shopping in Mall of America, and we're going to see Nickel Creek in concert at an outdoor music festival! My dad tipped me off on Nickel Creek coming to town, and I absolutely love their music, so I'm super thrilled to watch them live!

It will also be great fun to introduce Megan to friends I have made here--the two worlds will be united, the rift will be closed. Each side will have a reference point for stories that I'm telling :) I'm really looking forward to her (and her sister!) being here!

Ciao for now,
Lindsay

When the going gets tough...

Well, I've officially hit my "what the heck am I doing here?" part of my move :) It's that joyous time when I really start to ponder why I wanted to make my life more difficult.

I'm not writing this entry as a pity party for myself, but I just wanted to explore some of these feelings. I think they were launched by having two auditions this week that I didn't a callback or cast for. Boy that's rough, but it's also part of the lovely package of being an actor. What's interesting is that one audition I didn't really care about so it wasn't such a disappointment. The other, however, seemed like such a wonderful new play, and I was really holding out hope of being able to do it. So much of the character seemed to resonate with me. Even knowing full well that I didn't completely fit the part (the character was supposed to be at least 5'8", while I'm 5'6"), I still felt like I had a good audition. I hoped that it would be good enough to at least render a callback, where I would be able to see what the other prospects were and then understand if I didn't get cast. But alas, I live in the dark, because I don't know what my competition was.

This is the real world of acting, and I understand it's just part of the whole package, but I think it's particularly tough to take when I'm new. I have no idea if I just was plain awful or if there was someone on par with me that the director already knew. There are just so many different variables, but one major factor is being known. It just makes perfect sense that if you have the choice between two people of equal talent, then you're smart to go with the person you know, because you don't want to risk the unknown when you have the option of security. But at some point I hope that I can get a lucky break that helps me be known as the secure option, that makes me the person they choose.

But that takes time and patience, and at the moment I don't feel so patient. Don't get me wrong, this is not stopping me from doing what I came here to do. I'm still going to audition and audition, and more often than not I'll fail, but hopefully at some point I will start to be known--if for nothing else but as the girl that just keeps coming to auditions. And really, even auditioning helps me improve as an actor, so I'm not just wasting my time. But thank goodness I have solid relationships with my parents and friends, because each rejection is a blow to the self-esteem. Each no is a moment when you ask "am I just not good?". With prayer and people, I seem to sustain some semblance of normalcy :)

So again, this isn't a "feel sorry for Lindsay" entry. I'm putting myself in this position, and I'm very happy to be doing this. But I think it's interesting to explore this aspect of theater. For something that hardly pays monetarily, it still pays pretty high emotionally :)

My voiceover demo

One of the things I have been wanting to work on is voiceover work. Back in March, while I was up in Alaska, my cousin Ian generously helped me out by letting me use his home studio equipment to record some samples of voiceover work. Then, the incredible Randy Johnson was able to take my recordings, choose the best ones, add music to them, and edit together a 90-second sampler which I now share with you.

A HUGE thanks goes to both Ian and Randy for helping me out with this. I wouldn't have been able to do it without them!

To listen to the demo, click here!

Dates for Pilgrimage!

I've received dates to choose for my pilgrimage to Israel!

For those of you that don't know, Baha'is are able to apply for a 9-day pilgrimage where you have a chance to go to the Holy Land, visit places of significance in the Baha'i Faith, and pray in the Shrines. The wait list for going is quite long, and I've been on the list for quite some time (I think I applied in 2002, if my memory serves correctly). The dates I received range from October 2007 to March 2008, and I will send in my prioritized list in the near future.

Think about it: 9 days to focus on your spirituality. I was in Haifa for two-and-a-half years, and yet I was working. This is a chance for me to go on my pilgrimage. I was so thrilled to see the envelope in the mail.

To my friends in Haifa: While I'll of course be focusing on my pilgrimage activities, I would love to hear who may still be there when I come--it would be so wonderful to see friends again!

So my heart is very happy at the moment :)

Get on the bus!

Well, tomorrow will mark my two-week anniversary of riding the bus to work :) I don't know what took me so long! I love riding the bus to work. I don't have to pay for parking, I'm not paying for gas, and there's less wear on my car. And I can't explain why, but I just really enjoy it. Perhaps it goes back to my childhood years, when our family had one car that my dad used at work, so my primary mode of transportation with my mom was by bus. Perhaps it's because it's a bit of a social thing--I'm out with the community on the bus (I don't really talk to people much, so I don't know how much this can count, but I still in a strange way feel a part of the community, if that makes sense). Perhaps it's because I feel like I'm doing my small part to helping the environment. Who knows?

All I know is that I like it. The bus lets me off just across the street from work, and I have a little bit of a walk between my house and the bus, but that builds in my daily walk, which I had neglected when I got busy. I also often bring my iPod, so my life has a backing track for part of the day. Okay, so it's only been two weeks :) And it's summer, so I haven't had to walk in the cold yet. So we'll see how things go. All I know is that for the present I'm perfectly happy with riding the bus :)

Cannibal photos!

Here's a couple photos from the show that the fringe staff took (there are more on the fringe website from the Saturday evening slideshow).

The angle is not the most flattering, but it's the closest those of you who are afar will have to seeing the show!

The second photo is the "Hotchick Indian" Tribe :)

Bloglines is cool!

I love blogs. I absolutely love reading other people's blogs--a lot of you are great bloggers! It's gotten to the point where so many people I know have blogs, that it's almost a chore to keep up with them.

But then my friend Krisia turned me on to this website, Bloglines, where you can create a list of blogs that you are subscribed to. Then, when you go to the site and look at your list, it shows which blogs have new entries and you can click on them from there--how cool is that? You don't have to check each site, and you don't have to check each feed--just go to your list! Maybe everyone is already doing this, and I'm just behind the curve :) But I think it's quite useful!

For those of you that prefer getting an email when I post to my blog, I'll still continue sending messages (you can sign up to the mailing list on the left). But if you go with some other way of knowing that I've posted, you can always unsubscribe :)

Ciao for now!

So inspiring!

I recently read this story that was released in the Baha'i World News Service, and I was so inspired by it--this is a great example of people identifying a problem, and finding a way to address it in such a wonderful, systematic and simple way. I recommend reading the full article by clicking the link at the bottom to continue.
*****************************************************

Empowering Roma mothers to break the cycle of illiteracy

THE JASZSAG REGION, Hungary, 3 August 2006 (BWNS)

-- Before she started studying with the Mesed Project, Agi Racz was ashamed of the fact that she could not read -- and afraid to try to learn how.

"At first I had doubts, fears," said Ms. Racz, a mother of four and a member of the Roma ethnic minority.

But with the encouragement of the Mesed literacy project volunteers and other participants, she overcame her anxieties.

"I felt good with my friends, and it helped me to get over my feelings of shame," she said. "If someone couldn't read she got encouragement from the others. They said, 'Never mind, go on.' I realized that I can do it, that they won't laugh at me."

Ms. Racz is one of some 40 participants in the Mesed project, which was started by the Baha'i community of Hungary in 2003 with the goal of teaching reading and writing to disadvantaged Roma women.

Currently operating in eight towns and cities, the project is distinctive for its use of storytelling in the teaching of reading and writing. The word Mesed is an acronym for "Meselo Edes Anyak," which means "storytelling mothers."

The project aims to help Roma mothers to overcome their fears of reading by encouraging them to read and tell stories to their children -- thereby not only giving them encouragement in the path to literacy, but also to create a culture of reading at home -- and so help break the cycle of illiteracy between generations. ... FULL ARTICLE AND PICTURES

Thanks Alaskan Gang!

So this beautiful bouquet of flowers arrived for me, much to my surprise, as a break-a-leg present from some of my friends in Alaska. It was such a nice thing to do, and it made me so happy--thank you very much!

Cannibal! The Musical opens tonight--yipee!

Ode to my parents

Today is the anniversary of the first day my parents lived together in their married life (that's the pretty way of saying I missed posting on their actual anniversary yesterday!).

As my parents' wedding anniversary approached, I actually thought quite a lot about how wonderful their relationship is. They've been married for 32 years by my calculations (is that right?), and I was trying to figure out why they lasted and others didn't. Of course, there's no magical formula, and there are a million different factors, but the thing that came to mind was respect. My parents really respect each other and our family. I cannot recall a single time that they called each other names--they've argued, don't get me wrong, but as far as even calling each other stupid, I seriously can't even remember. So even when they were in conflict, they seemed to manage to keep a level of respect that I personally think is key to their marriage surviving.

Both me and my brother are out of the house now. As we left, they replaced each of us with dogs (seriously, it's a little scary how the timing matched up!), and now they're living it up! They just had a three week vacation (much deserved after no vacation last year), and do you know what they did? They went camping! Just the two of them! Well... and the dogs :) You definitely don't go camping together if you don't want to spend time together :)

So here is my ode to my parents. I love them deeply and am amazed by them daily. They love each other and our family very much. Here's to many more blissful (and as least challenging as possible) years of married life together!

Come see "Cannibal"!

For those of you in the Twin Cities area, come see this crazy show! You'll have a great time, and laugh a lot. I'm still laughing at every rehearsal, it's just too funny :)

Here are the details for the show:

Two, I say TWO, different opportunities to see the show--during the Fringe Festival in Minneapolis, and in an extended run in Saint Paul!

During the Fringe:
Performed at Mixed Blood Theatre at 11:30pm
August 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, and 12

In Saint Paul:
Performed at the Loading Dock Theatre
August 18 through September 3, 8:00pm Fridays and Saturdays, 7:00pm Sundays

So come if you can--you'll have a shpadoinkle time (if you don't know what that is, then you need to come see the show!).

-ciao!-

The Candle Conference

Hi everyone! I'm in the final week of rehearsals for Cannibal, so it's coming down to the wire! I'll put a separate post with the details for seeing the show for those of you in the MN area, but I wanted to share some photos from my trip to St. Louis!

On the first day I got a chance to go up to the top of the famous arch. You go up in one of these small, Star Trek-like pods:


And here are some views from the top: The old capitol building, the Cardinals stadium, and the hotel I stayed in (notice the pool on top, which I DID swim in!).




And then here's my artistic shot :)


Here are some of my fellow Minnesotans after visiting the company store:


And here is a picture from the stadium and one of Pam and I on the last night:


What a fun time!

-Lindsay-

I'm back in Minnesota

Well, I've certainly been remiss in my blogging duties! I'm back from the PartyLite conference in St. Louis, and I've jumped back into life here in the Twin Cities.

First of all, the conference was awesome! I learned tons of great stuff, got to meet some amazing people, and I got a lot of free products! How exciting is that? You should have seen the stadium of people when they were unveiling the new fall/winter catalog--they were showing us the new stuff, and then they would say, "and you're getting this for free"... the stadium would erupt into applause! I was right along with them! I'm so addicted to PartyLite :) I have a consultant website, which you can check out if you want :)

So now I'm back to work, and I've also started rehearsals for "Cannibal! The Musical". Sooooo much fun :) There's a crazy group of people doing it, and I love it. I'm so excited to be doing a show down here, I cannot even express it. It's a very short rehearsal period (we open Aug. 4), since most of the cast was part of the production that happened here in January. So a few of us have to catch up! But I'm not too worried, we have enough time :)

This is just a quick update, since I hadn't put anything on in a while :) I'll be sure to share some pictures from the PartyLite conference sometime soon.

Ciao for now,
Lindsay

It's a big arch!

Hey everyone! I made it safe and sound to St. Louis, and I'm just about to leave my hotel room to explore a little, but I wanted to let everyone know that the drive was nice and smooth. We only ran into a little road construction, but even that was only reduced speeds of 45 mph, so we had a good time!

Obviously I have internet access here, so I'll be sure to try and put some updates throughout the week--it just depends on how worn out I am at the end of the day!

Bye for now,
Lindsay

Meet Me in St. Louis!

I'm off to St. Louis in the morning for a PartyLite Candle conference. I've never been to St. Louis, and a group of us women from the Twin Cities are driving down together, so it should be a lot of fun! All of the consultants who have gone to conference before just rave about the experience, so I'm excited that I have the chance to go. I won free registration at one of my first regional trainings, so I've been looking forward to this for a while!

Of course, I'll try and take pictures and report in during the event. Hopefully I'll have internet access in my hotel :)

Of interesting note: Back in March when I went up to Alaska to do Pirate Tales, we sang a song called "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything." One of my lines in the song was "and I've never buried treasure in St. Louis or St. Paul"... Now I'll be able to sing this line with absolute truth...unless I decide to bury treasure...hmm...

It's a shpadoinkle day!

Ladies and gentlemen, I have officially been cast in my first play in Minnesota!!! I am so excited! I cannot express how excited I am! It just feels good to finally have some success :) I'm going to be performing in "Cannibal: the Musical" as part of the Fringe Festival that happens here in August, and we'll also have an extended run through part of September. The original is a movie that was Trey Parker's student film, and the movie is hilarious. I actually own a copy somewhere in storage :) It's a fun musical, and it will be great fun to do it--I have my first rehearsal on the 24th, so that's when I'll get to meet the whole cast. Hooray!

A funny episode

Last week I was invited to join my friend Melissa at her place for a BBQ. What was funny, was that this BBQ originally was going to be quite small--I was the 6th, and I was already an additional add-on to the party, originally set at 3 :) But then things quickly started to happen...

While we were preparing the food, there was a ring of the doorbell. Melissa was in the middle of something, and me thinking that it might be another guest, I went out to answer the door. It turned out to be a salesman for a security company. They were offering her a special deal, so I went and got Melissa. It turned out that she had already been thinking about getting an alarm, so she decided to go ahead and take advantage of the special. Which left the rest of us to get ready for the BBQ while she went through all the details with the salesman.

At some point we were just about ready to eat, and she was was STILL talking to the salesman, so someone went out to tell her we were ready, but that we didn't have butter for the corn on the cob. Here's where it gets funny: the salesman was going to be waiting around for the technician to come and install stuff anyway, so he volunteered if we gave him money to go get butter for us! Too funny! And that's what he did!

Of course, when he returned, we invited him to join us in our meal. There were 6 of us, now there were 7. At some point this salesman got a call from another salesman in the neighborhood, who was running into some sketchy situations, so we invited him to join as well--party grows to 8. Pretty soon the technician comes, and we invite him to eat as well. And so there were 9. It's a good thing we had so much food!

It was a great BBQ, and we were laughing the whole way through. The group that was there was kind of a hodgepodge of people that Melissa knew anyway, so we were all getting to know each other. All in all, it was a very fun night--and Melissa got an alarm system out of it too! You can check out Melissa's blog for more pictures and her description of the night if you want... just too too funny :)

TBA Theatre Presents...

During the Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Valdez, there are various evening presentations. One night of one-acts was produced by TBA Theatre, Inc., and it was a night of plays by Alaskan playwrights that had been part of the play lab in previous years.

Now, remember, I surprised all my friends coming up to Alaska. One of the things that I knew I would be sacrificing was the possibility of performing with my friends at the conference, but I thought that even if I did tell them I was coming, it would still be too short a time to expect them to wait for me to come up in order to prepare something. So it was to my delight when I found out that one of the plays had a role yet to be filled, owing to someone not being able attend, and that they had not started rehearsals yet, owing to the fact that they were busy doing other productions! So I gladly stepped into one of the roles! Hurray! I got to have my cake and eat it too--surprise my friends AND perform at the conference! It was just icing on the cake that I was able to take part in the overnighters once I got down there as well. So great... :)

So I wanted to share some photos from the shows. I also wanted to give credit for the photos to Gen Hasagawa. He is at every single evening performance, taking photos while the show is going on (with no flash, of course!). He never gets to sit back and enjoy the show. And he captures a lot of stuff! So I'm very grateful that he does it!

I'm including a picture from each show of the night, and you can click on that photo to see all the photos from that show. The entire night was a lot of fun, and I'm really impressed with how people did. And of course, I need to give a special shout-out to Matt's cooler, who was the star of the evening :) Enjoy the photos!

In a Red Sea by Dawson Moore

Asparagus by Schatzie Schaeffers

Equal Opportunity by Andrew Day

Out to Sea by Nancy Lord

The Miraculous Resurrection of Humpty Dumpty by P. Shane Mitchell

Mid-Fair Feast

Well, I'm playing catch-up on all the fun things that happened while I was in Alaska. My friend Dave Brown is a great photographer, and he documents all the events of the Renaissance Fair. He's got his own website with tons of pictures which you're more than welcome to check out, but I've included some of my favorites here :) There are actually pictures of the entire fair if you want to check them out. I'll be sure to put some of them on the blog later as well. Thanks Dave!

The Mid-Fair Feast is a fundraiser that happens the second Friday of the Fair, and people buy tickets for a meal and entertainment. As you may recall of you've read previous posts is that I surprised my friends by showing up right before this event. They proceeded to find some clothes for me to be in costume, and we went to the Feast and performed! It was great fun, and we were singing songs from "Pirate Tales", the show we did in March... which was appropriate, since it was a Pirate theme :) I had brought my violin, so I was even able to play while people were standing in line for their food. It's so funny to think that I had just showed up, and I was tossed right into the mix--I love it! Enjoy the pics (you can click on an image to see it larger)!