Thanksgiving, Peter and the Wolf, and my mother makes everything beautiful

So, Thanksgiving:

Picked mom up at the airport around 6, lots of fast talking and giggling on the ride home. Trying to fall back asleep, which resulted in more fast talking and giggling. Walked my precious doggie. Found a treasure to make my house beautiful. Went to meeting. Came home and cooked and ate the un-Thanksgiving meal. Halibut (that mom, herself, caught and filleted!), brussel sprouts, delicata squash, and quinoia. Yum! A few glasses of wine and one tired fight later, we had a lovely evening in front of a beautiful fire. Watched a movie and went to bed. Friday we had AWESOME breakfast at Genie's, including best waitress ever and mom forgetting her wallet. Te-he. Then we did shop, but at Goodwill, and since it was my birth month, we saved 25%! LOVE Goodwill. Came home and organized our treasures. Got a call from a F/friend, who joined us for dinner, IKEA (in and out in 28 minutes!), Puppetz vs. People (Improv comedy + TOJ puppets + comedy sports people= AWESOME), Portland City Grill for drinks, then Voodoo for doughnuts (apple fritter the size of your face), then (because we had absolutely no self-control) the Roxy for onion rings and hash-browns. Phew. Epic Portland evening. The next morning, I suffered from what I can only assume was a sugar hang-over. Grumpy and unfocused, Saturday was a challenge in life, much less being a pleasant hostess. Mom dutifully made the curtains I promised we'd make together, and by the time we'd hung them, everything was happy. I dropped her at the airport, thankful that I have the most resilient, focused, generous, and loving (albeit stubborn) mother alive. Getting to know her as an adult has been one of the most rewarding challenges of the past few years and continues as we redefine our understandings of one another. Kudos momma for making everything better, even when it's hard and most other people would give up.

So, in the two days leading up to Thanksgiving, Jonathan and I very quickly learned Peter and the Wolf. This week was supposed to be set aside for rehearsals all week, but as nothing ever happens as planned over at TOJ, we had to run over to Astoria and do a couple of shows on Wednesday. Now, at first I was cranky, because I've really enjoyed my two weeks home and was not pleased to have that interrupted by having to take a day trip to the coast (I know that sounds bitchy, but I was also worried about Peter rehearsals). Anyway, as everything with this job that I at first dread, it ended up kicking some major ass. Astoria just turns out to be the cutest town ever, and all without being kitchsy or pretentious. We performed at this BEAUTIFUL old vaudeville theater built in 1924. It was in short, awesome. I was informed after returning home that Astoria is where they filmed the Goonies (THE GOONIES!). I'm moving there. End of story. 

So, we pulled it off. Last night was our first of two performances of Peter and the Wolf and it was so much fun! I was nervous because I had never done Bonraku-style stuff before (puppeteers visible but dressed completely in black including henchmen-esque hoods and gloves), and I had to wear these ridiculous Spice-girl boots (like 6-inch platforms) because I wasn't tall enough. But it went great! Performing with live music was just about one of the coolest things I've ever gotten to do, and I got to meet Jonathan's parents (super adorable), and I had a bunch of friends come! All around great. And in case you were wondering I was the cat (difficult), the duck (my favorite), Peter's feet, a hunter, and alternately the bird and grandpa. Have I mentioned lately that I love my job?

So, today I have a long list of things that's been building for a while and I am so very excited to tackle it. It includes making a face for the Sasquach puppet that I'm building. Oh, yeah. 

Aaaaand it's sunny. For like the third day in a row. It feels amazingly decadent.