'S Wonderful!

Ok...I know I said I had a million ideas for blog posts, and that is true.  I just don't really have time to post them.  Actually, its just that it isn't at the top of my priority list when I do get the time.  I'd rather bake or watch netflix with Jordan.  Oh well.  I guess I'll never be a professional blogger.  Good thing it was never a dream of mine.

What was a dream of mine, however, was to be a professional performer.  Happily, that has come true. This week I'll be opening a Gershwin review called 'S Wonderful.  Its super cute and has so much music and dancing in it!! You should come see it.  Bring a date.  Its romantic :)

More fun pictures to come!!!

Get tickets and information at Phoenix Theatre's website.

Weird Realizations

Okay so I noticed something about myself the other day.  I love it when I open a tub/carton/container of something new and get to be the first one to dip into it.  Particularly if that thing is paste-like in consistency.  For example, peanut butter.  I love opening it and getting to put a knife in it first.  Or a new tub of I Can't Believe its Not Butter.  Or ice cream.  I can't explain why.  I just do.  And when I get to do it, I make the first mark slowly...like I am creating some incredible piece of art.  Weird.

Also...I MUST clap, snap, or otherwise make noise in time with the beat when the Friends theme comes on.  I don't want to, I have to.

Trips to Nowhere

Well, I have just been hit with a literal BARRAGE of ideas for my blog, so maybe that will translate into more than one post a month.  Keep your fingers crossed.

This one, however is documenting two trips that happened in the Bluth family over the last month.  First, my husband decided to spend his hard earned boys weekend with his brothers and brothers-in-law for a "knife only" wilderness outing up in Flagstaff.  Now, this sounds more like an over-eager ward preparedness specialist activity gone horribly wrong to me, but those guys needed to let their inner man roar, I guess.  Whatevs.  I didn't have to go.  Jordan came back after two days a little stiff, but happy.  I don't think he thought it was worth the money to have the instructor, because he is already an Eagle Scout and knows the basics of survival already.  However, he did have to make his own shelter for the night and slept right through the coyotes that were prowling around.  No freaking way.  I would have Katniss Everdeen-ed it and hiked my hiney up some tree for the night.  I am not paying money to get attacked by a coyote.  Forget it.

Here are some picks of my manly man:

That's a pretty spacious shelter, baby!

Jordan and the bros

 Now, the day after Jordan got home, I had to do an outreach performance up in Pinetop (beware the speed trap in Star Valley, people.  It SUCKS).  Then, I drove back the same night and flew to see my brother, Ryan, who was doing summerstock theatre in Nebraska.  But not just anywhere in Nebraska.  Nowhere in Nebraska.  Seriously.  Crawford.  A town 20 miles outside of Chadron.  Still haven't heard the name of a town you recognize?  Me too.

Some stats:

Population: 997 (it seemed like maybe 100)
Land area: 1.14 square miles

For comparison:

Mesa AZ population:  439,041
Land Area: 125 square miles

So.  Yeah.  I was super stoked to see Ryan though.  I got to ride in a TINY airplane with roughly 15 seats in it and board it from the runway.  If I tried hard, I could imagine I was doing that because I was very, very fabulous and famous.  The airport was in the neighboring town of Chadron (pop. 5,851) and it was a single family home that had been turned into an airport.  Made security a breeze though.  I was only there for 2 days, and I saw three shows.  He was great in all of them.  Good thing we had so much theatre to see, because I could only make calls from the theatre, check the internet from the theatre or the library, and there was no TV.  We did watch movies on his laptop and tried not to scare ourselves too much with his TRULY haunted basement.  Seriously.  Pretty sure some bad things happened down there.  A photo tour for you:

My plane.  Pretty sure that laptop should be off.  And also, NOT sure that electronics don't mess with a tiny plane's navigation equipment.  Just sayin'.

A refuel in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.

I LOVED the point of view I got of this storm.  Beautiful.

The Buttes.

Lunchtime.  Yep.  The name of the restaurant is "DJeet Yet?"  Say it over and over until you get it.  Like Mad Gabs.

D Jeet Yet

Lunch with Ryan.  Those specks in the distance are long horned cattle.

Really old trees.

Crazy store called The Junk Store.  Every aisle was like this.  I swear, there were decades old tubs of Noxema and dried and cracked nail polish for sale here.  But I did find a treasure--a gorgeous pedestal to put decorations on for my house.  8 bucks.

Post Playhouse, where Ryan performed all summer.

Kenicke and his Greased Lightnin'.  Maybe the props budget can be upped next year...

Outside the theatre.

Me with Curly!!  Ryan did such a great job in "Oklahoma!"

Ryan's house for 12 weeks.

I was afraid to take pictures any farther down in the basement.  You know, that's when freaky crap shows up in the prints.  

Nebraska.

The airport.  By the way, that building is NOT that far away.

Anyway, so it was an ADVENTURE to say the least.  I have never been so happy to see a fast food restaurant.  You never realize what you have til its gone.

In other news, I hope you all voted yesterday and that you are looking forward to September as much as I am (for more on how awesome September is, see this post.  See you soon!  Great posts in the works, people!!

Wonderland

So, I just closed up the last production at Mesa's Broadway Palm West Dinner Theatre.  The theatre sold the space to a new company, so the children's show "Alice in Wonderland" was the last one.  I am not going to lie, it was a little bittersweet, given that my first professional show was at Broadway Palm years ago, when I did "The Sound of Music."  Back then, I had just finished my freshman year of college.  Geesh.  Since then, I have had the privilege of working there many times, with a special place in my heart for the children's theatre.  A look back at a few kids shows from the past at Bway Palm:

"Cinderella"

"The Nutcracker"

"Aladdin"

"Sleeping Beauty"

As you can see, there is a certain Disney fairy-tale theme present.  So, it only made sense to end it with another Disney, Jr. show, "Alice in Wonderland."  While not my favorite Disney movie, it ended up being extremely fun and I had a great time acting like a little girl with a big imagination :)

In autograph line, a little girl dressed up as "Alice!"

My dad, the Mad Hatter, with Cullen Law and my niece, Paige.

Jordan and I :)

So...there was that time when the AC started leaking onstage left...

Children's show wall in the green room

the other side of the kids' shows

Anthony Chavez, Me, Liz Millea, Paul Thomson, Mark Kleinman, Catherine Wong, Cullen Law, Allison Houston, Skyler Bean, and Rudy Ramirez

Thanks, Broadway Palm!  Its been fun!!!!!

Blurgh.

This will be a shorty, but I just have to say it.  I know the whole point here is agency and free choice, but sometimes I just really don't like making decisions.  So, I am going to get some ice cream and settle in for a night of decision-free Buffy after a performance of "Alice."  So there.

PS-  These amazing GIFs are from the funniest blog I have read in awhile:  What Should Theatre Call Me.  Check it out.  Its HILARIOUS.  Trust me.

Happenings and Happy Fourth!!

SO...I have found that there is a REASON that Jordan and I have gone to Logan for the last few years every summer.  You might be thinking--"Isn't it to perform with a great opera and musical theatre company?"  or "Don't you get to eat some of the best gnocchi outside of Italy there?"  The answer to both of those is a resounding yes, but we are forgetting that we go because it is TOO HOT HERE.  Yep.  I haven't experienced an Arizona summer in years, and let me tell you, it has been a rude awakening.  I do prefer the heat to the cold, and dryness to humidity, but I think the snowbirds have the right idea.  I mean, they ARE the product of years of wisdom.  If I had the opportunity to have two houses and skip this stifling heat, I would.  Utah Festival Opera:  PLEASE, hire us back next year!!  I am wasting away without your sensible 92 degree summers!!!

At any rate, I have managed to stay cool (for the most part--excluding this afternoon, as I write this blog) so far this summer by doing a few super fun things.

As many of you know, pie is one of my favorite things.  I LOVE pie.  So, I make it whenever there is a  semi-legitimate reason to do so.  Like, Father's Day.  We had two family gatherings--and three "dads" (I count Jordan anyway, as a future dad).  When you do the math, that equals THREE PIES!! YAY!!!!!

Clockwise from the top left: Cherry Streusel, Apple Streusel, and Frozen Key Lime.

This one takes forever, but its Jordan's fave, so I can suck it up :)

Jordan and I also got to spend a blessed weekend in Newport Beach, California.  Ah.  The beach.  It was a perfect 75 or so the whole time we were there and I was happy as a clam.

Then, it was July.  The fourth of July, to be exact.  The weather decided to celebrate the Independence of our wonderful country by being the MOST BEAUTIFUL DAY A PHOENIX JULY HAS EVER SEEN.  I'm serious.  We woke up to an overcast morning, where we joined Jordan's family for a fantastic breakfast outside.  Did I mention that it was about 77 degrees?? Just as we finished cleaning up breakfast, it rained.  Serious joy.  Then, we ate BBQ at my parents house and took a nap with the rainy day light flooding my bedroom.  Was the rain going to ruin the fireworks, you ask??  No, silly.  It cleared up before the Diamondbacks game, which we went to with my family.  My mom and sister Jocey made a rad sign that made it on the Jumbotron, the tv broadcast, AND Mark Grace read the sign on air and commented.  It was super fun, and we got amazing views of some fireworks right outside the ballpark.  Also, the firework setting on the camera worked like a champ.  Bam.

Oh yeah.  And there was more pie :)