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!

make it write.

So, before I get into my post, it needs to be said that momma came down for the weekend and we had a totally stellar weekend. Really a superb visit all around. We stayed busy doing a lot of stuff for the wedding and throwing Laura Jean a lingerie shower (I got totally trashed on cosmos and would be delighted to never see another in my life) and today we saw Barack Obama speak (along with about 75,000 of our closest friends). Beautiful (HOT) weather, perfect weekend. 

Okay, so last week I got a call from Sarah from the Nomadic Theater saying that she'd been working all week with an organization called PlayWrite. Basically, it is an organization that teaches playwriting to at-risk kids, as an outlet for creative expression, validation, and healing. Awesome, right? Then she told me that she'd been working with them last week primarily because one of the students they were working with was Deaf (she signs too), but that she could only work for half of the workshop because she had another commitment. So, she had given them my name and number! More Awesome! So, last week I asked off for the days and times of the workshop, and my boss actually agreed (more awesome). Tonight, I met with Lindsay, one of the founders, to go over logistics, details and their process. In short, I AM TOTALLY STOKED. And?!?! I'm going to get paid. Like $300, which is more than I normally make in a week. So, instead of taking a pay cut for this week because I thought this was a volunteer gig and could only figure out how to get about 15 hours at the clinic, I'm making more money, and doing something totally amazing and important and super fun. My life is freaking rad. 

puppet

*edit: Pictures from Running into walls!!!

Anyone who knows me well enough to know my name, probably knows that I have three main interests:

1) puppets

2) sign-language

3) trapeze

Since arriving in Portland I have found a sign-language conversation partner via craigslist, and taken 

trapeze at DoJump (a Christmas gift from my mother that I was sad to see run out. I'm currently calculating how long it would take me to blow through my savings if I were to start spending it on trapeze...) But, alas my puppet longings were unsatisfied. 

Then I met the good folks at the Nomadic Theater Company, and by meet I mean I sent them an email saying I would lick stamps and build sets and sweep floors and do whatever they needed done. They were happy about this email, and welcomed me heartily. I've been helping them with their current production, Running into Walls, a clown show. I helped build sets, attended rehearsals, etc. 

Then one day I got an email from Sarah asking me to build puppets for their show! There's one short s

cene where their characters are climbing up the empire state building. Since it's a rather low-budge production, they thought it would be rad to have puppet versions of themselves climb the sides of the flat with the empire state building painted on it. Now, I love puppets but I'm pretty new to this interest. Case in point: I'd never built a puppet before. I take that back, I built a really cool puppet in the 4th grade with wire glasses... but that's beside the point. So, anyway I built the puppets (cut out of cardboard, covered in paper mache, and painted). And you want to know the amazing thing? They turned out great! Michael, Heather, and Sarah all loved them and I was pretty excited about it myself. 

And if that weren't enough, through these fine folks, I met the artistic director of the local puppetry theater Tears of Joy, and after sending her my resume on Friday, she emailed back yesterday, and I now have an interview/audition with them on May 7th! Other than the fact that I'm pretty out of practice in the audition department, I am COMPLETELY STOKED about this, especially the possibility that I may be able to pay my rent by playing with puppets instead of paper clips. 

In other news, I am ready for the rain to go away. And, I really don't like to wake up to the house swaying because my room mates are having sex with each other. But that, is an entirely different post altogether.

Hope y'all had a great earth day!