pies, puppets, & projects

So, last weekend I had the great fortune of attending the Nomadic Theater Company's Cotillion and Pie fight. Yep, a fancy dance and pie fight (c'mon, they're clowns, remember?). It was a fundraiser to take their show, Running into Walls, to the NYC Clown Festival, and it was a smashing (hehe) success. I baked my first pie (for the eating part of the festivities, not the throwing), and surprisingly it actually turned out really well. It was a fruits of the forest pie (strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, rubarb, and apple; my personal favorite), and the top crust had a face cut out of it with bottle caps. (Pictures to come.) It is so rare that I have an undertaking that turns out exactly how I picture it in my head. This one did, and it was super satisfying. I was talking to mom as I baked it and told her that it incorporated all the things she'd ever taught me. How to follow directions. Being patient, and persistent. Being hopeful. Believing in myself. Being creative and silly and sharing with others without reservation. I unfortunately got a little lost on the way there, but ended up there in time to help with some of the last minute set up and be photographer for the event (my camera is broken, so I had to use Sarah's camera. Now I've got to get copies of those pics from her! Ahhhhh, I just need to suck it up and buy a new camera). 

Sunday night, despite a driving and chilly rain, Anna, her man Bryan, Avery and I went to the Avett Brothers concert at the Zoo. Anna had scored free tickets from one of her contacts at Wend (the magazine where she works) and we were the lucky benefactors of her generosity. It was a great show, and I had surprisingly existential reflections on it. You see the Avett Brothers are from North Carolina, and for all of my running to get away from the South, it really is my home. And sometimes I miss it. And I might (probably) move back someday, and that's okay. I think it's a really important difference though that if/when I ever move back it would be a conscious choice, not just the easy choice. Moving away has been really important to know that I could. And I love living in Portland (LOVE), and as much as I feel at home here, I don't know if it will ever be my home. 

This past week was my second as a professional puppeteer. Our schedule is roughly to rehearse from 9-2, hour lunch, then workshop of some sort from 3-5. I was driving for about the first week and a half, and then Tuesday driving home in traffic, I remembered how much I hate driving. So Wednesday I started biking. It took me about three days to find a good route (thanks Amy!), but now that I have it's great! I'm getting exercise, and happy chemicals in my brain, and it's absolutely the best way to wake up in the morning. I keep joking that with 5 hours of puppet rehearsals and an hour of biking everyday, I'm going to start looking like a monkey (strong arms and legs with a little belly). I've actually started having to do some pilates at home because if I don't strengthen my core, I could really hurt my back from the puppetry. Speaking of, Thursday of the first week we actually started working through all the blocking with the puppets, and last Wednesday we actually had a run through! (minus the shadow puppets). Phew! I can't believe we're moving so fast! Since Wednesday we have added in all the shadow puppet scenes, light, and sound cues. This leaves us a good three weeks to just work through every little piece of the show (which we started doing on Friday). I am totally exhausted when I get home from work, but really happy. 

Lastly, Avery and I are finally learning how to balance together time and apart time. This, I think is a super-important part of any relationship, and I'm so glad that we can communicate about what we need so easily. So, this week we didn't see each other until Thursday (and had a lovely date night including him seeing my work, dinner, beer, Last Thursday on Alberta, and bike riding), which has given me time to pursue all the little projects around the house I've been meaning to get to for Forever. For instance, organizing the office nook upstairs. We have this lovely little nook upstairs, and when Sarah was working from home she built a desk in the closet-ish space. I since inherited lots of office stuff from LJ's big move and finally organized it into a workable space. I have decided to no more have my computer in my room and ONLY use it in the office. I think this delegation of space will be good for my time management skills as well as self-control. (i.e. being able to actually turn the computer off). Then, yesterday, I completed project of projects that has been hanging over my head since I moved back to this house in late June: hanging curtains. The best part of my room is the windows. I have three big windows on the front of the house that are just lovely. Unfortunately, they are also situated in such a way that if I have my blinds open, I am right on sight level for the sidewalk or street when I am laying on my bed. Not exactly private. Then, Friday, Anna had the wonderful idea to do half curtains for privacy. I got to work yesterday morning, and the result is amazing! I can have my blinds open, and still have privacy, not to mention they're beautiful and make my entire room feel bigger and just gosh darn prettier. Again, pictures to com when I can get my hands on a camera...

Phew, the downside of me updating this thing irregularly is longer posts, but I figure those who really care can shuffle through. I'm having a fantastic Labor Day weekend at home. I had planned to be away, but since my travels are starting SOON, I could think of no better way to relax than in my own home. Love to all!

alright, alright, I'll update already.

The PlayWrite workshop was a smashing success. I'm still learning how to be a good coach, but it is a life changing experience every time. It is amazing how kids who are systematically marginalized, can be such eager and expressive artists. Also, Avery got to come to the performance, which I was really excited about. 

A couple of weekends ago, I got to go camping with Avery and his tribe of folks he's grown up with (like his allofus on steroids). They've all gone camping in Steamboat (Oregon, not Colorado) for the past 25 years (read: before Avery was even in the picture). It was beautiful, very relaxing, and a good bit of fun. It was very special to be able to share in a place and with people that mean so much to him. 

I started Tears of Joy on Monday and am still having to pinch myself to believe that I'm actually getting paid to do this. We've been rehearsing and getting oriented which entails such hard work as hearing stories about the company sleuthing out stolen puppets and hotwired vans as well as playing theater games and making sure we know how to drive a cargo van. The only thing that feels like actual work at this point is that it is physically demanding. Our show is pretty traditional stick and rod puppetry. The puppets are pretty big (5-10 lbs a piece) and will have to be held over our heads the entire show. I'm starting my conditioning doing what I call puppet reps. I'll hold the puppets up for intervals of 1 minute at a time. Phew. It is HARD. But, if that's the only thing I have to complain about, my life is pretty good.

I threw Laura Jean and Dave a farewell dinner party at my house Tuesday night. It was  one of those days where nothing was really going right (I got out of work late, Avery had a minor bike accident), but with my roommate's help (Anna and Elsie were rock stars!) as well as some sous-chefing from Avery, I pulled it off without a hitch. In attendance were the illustrious LJ and Dave, Laura Jean's rommie Carole, Goose and Amy, and Don Miller even stopped in in time for dessert. All in all it was a lovely evening. 

wedding pics!

the actual wedding pictures.

gearing up

Okay, since no one probably had the patience to read the last (epic) post, I'll sum it up here: Dave and Laura Jean got hitched and it was happy to the nth. All things went smoothly and delightfully, partying with friends and family was a highlight. Good. Now no one has to feel guilty.

I spent basically the entire week in bed recovering from Long/Moore Wedding Extravaganza 2k8 and gathering my strength for the intensity of the next stage of my summer, which is a two week PlayWrite workshop at St. Mary's Home for Boys. Since I only participated in the second half of the last workshop, I got some much needed last minute training this morning. It's also going to be a bit more intensive as we will only have two 4 day weeks of 3 hour workshops (including a performance) instead of two five day weeks of 4 hour workshops plus an entire day for performances. If that didn't make any sense, basically the total number of workshop hours is cut by roughly a third. Did I mention that St. Mary's is a level 5 facility, which means that all of the boys we will be working with have either killed or raped someone? And they're between the ages of 10 and 17. Yeah, this is going to be intense. I am excited though. I know they have stories. I am excited to listen to them. To show them that someone thinks their stories are worth hearing. 

Also, this weekend I got to host an old friend/acquaintance from Athens who was visiting before he started a domestic (study abroad-esque) program in the Pacific Northwest. We did the sky tram up to OHSU (so cool), Powell's, the waterfront, biked the springwater, went to a movie at the Laurelhurst, and hiked in Forest Park. All in all, it was lovely sharing my love of Portland with a friend, and I love getting an excuse to do tourist-y things in my own city. Also! we randomly ran across Sojourn doing a rehearsal for Ten Tiny Dances on the South Waterfront and I finally got to say hi to Michael in person! (we've been playing email tag off and on for months). I am continued to be amazed by the serendipity of running into people here and how small Portland can feel.