goodbye, february

i truly can't believe today is the last day of february.  i'm not sure how the past two months flew by so quickly, and how we're entering the third month of 2019 already tomorrow!

it was a busy night last night teaching a introduction to theatre class for a group of middle school students at a local venue.  i'm starting to think i should make something out of this "field trip teaching gig."

love, laurie

please stop snowing!

uggg, i really can't take winter anymore and i am tired of the snow, especially on wednesdays which is the day i teach class.  if i have to revise this course calendar one more time i'm going to go crazy.  i'm very much in need of warm tropical weather before i lose my mind.

love, laurie

national pistachio day

i love pistachios and today is national pistachio day!  i actually have some pistachios on my salad for my lunch today at work.  here are some recipes i've made over the years that have pistachios in them . . .

- pistachio cake with pomegranate buttercream
- chocolate chunk cookies with pistachios
- dark chocolate chip cookies with pistachios
- lime bars with pistachio graham cracker crust
- chocolate pistachio granola bars
- honey pistachio cashew cranberry granola
- arugula, mint, and pistachio pesto

love, laurie

"let me play you a memory"

on saturday we had performer wade preston perform at the theatre in a solo concert show called "let me play you a memory: an evening of billy joel's greatest hits."  wade played in the hit broadway musical "movin' out" for the entire run of the show as well as the national tour.  we saw the show on broadway many years ago, so it was neat to see wade again in person playing so many of our favorite songs from the show.  the show went great and it was a huge success (and i'm totally exhausted)!

you can see the rest of my photos from the show on the theatre's facebook page here.

love, laurie

hosting a field trip in the theatre

yesterday wasn't a typical day in the theatre where i work.  i hosted a group of 9th through 12th graders from a local high school's drama program.  they had a day-long field trip at the theatre where we did workshops with them about technical theatre and performing.  i taught the technical portion of the day and a friend who i went to college with taught the performing portion of the day.  we taught the students what it takes to bring a show to the stage from both the technical and the talent perspectives.

being a college professor and being the chair of our local stage hand union's education committee, i love any opportunity to educate young folks on the performing arts.  outreach programs such as these provide such great opportunities to expand the next generation's knowledge and appreciation of the performing arts through small hands-on training sessions with industry professionals.  i'm happy to have had the chance to help organize this and can't wait to offer it again!  there are more photos (that my co-worker took) on the theatre's facebook page here.

have a great weekend, we have another show (what else is new?!)

love, laurie

spoiled kitten!

yesterday was national love your pet day . . . which, let's be honest, is everyday in our house!  this little guy got extra cuddles and love.  he was even spoiled with a snack in bed!  what a cutie!

love, laurie

cheesecake!

we ended up with the day off on sunday, so we finally got around to doing our taxes in the morning (which is not so exciting) and then took a trip to the cheesecake factory with my parents (which is way more exciting than taxes)!

all four of us had gift cards to the cheesecake factory and coupons for free slices of cheesecake, so we just couldn't let those go to waste!  we took a little trip out to the rockaway mall in new jersey and had a great meal at the cheesecake factory followed by yummy dessert.  (we all ended up taking home doggie bags of our meals and our cheesecakes because their portions are so huge!)

it's been over a year since the last time we were at the cheesecake factory, so it was nice to get to go back again!

love, laurie

the mac king comedy magic show

this saturday, the mac king comedy magic show came to our theatre.  mac king has been a las vegas headliner for nearly 20 years and has appeared on shows like penn + teller and david letterman.  it was really neat to meet him in person and to see his show.  we had a great turnout, and the audience loved it!  you can see the rest of my photos from the show on the theatre's facebook page here.

love, laurie

day off!

it's a holiday weekend and we're thrilled to have the day off today (especially since we had a show this weekend)!  we're looking forward to resting up a little, getting a few things off our to-do list, and spending lots of quality time with our kitten!

happy presidents day!

love, laurie

celebrating valentine's day

we're not used to being able to celebrate valentine's day since we usually have work, rehearsal, or a show.  last night we both got out of work at a reasonable hour so we decided to celebrate by going out for dinner.  we didn't want to go out to eat at a restaurant that was crowded and overpriced, so instead we went to a small restaurant that we have only been to once.  it was nice and we had a great dinner.  we came home, curled up on the couch, enjoyed some leftover valentine's cupcakes that i made for my co-workers, and watched some tv with leko.  it was a nice little valentine's day (and ryan's half birthday too)!

have a great weekend!

love, laurie

happy valentine's day!

i've mentioned before that leko loves a small plastic pink ball that we have.  by far, it is his favorite toy and he plays with it every day.  he has a routine where he likes to dunk it in his water bowl after he is done playing with it.  at the end of each night, we pluck the ball out of the water, dry it off, and reset it for him to do it all over again the next morning.

over the last few weeks, we've moved some furniture around in different rooms of our house just to change things up.  when we did that, leko stopped playing with his pink ball all of a sudden.  we were sad, because it was such a cute routine.  several weeks went by and pink ball didn't move at all.  it was odd.  this week, out of the blue, he decided to play with pink ball again.  i was elated to come home from work and find pink ball back in the water bowl.  i took a picture, showed it to ryan, and said "this is our valentine's day present from our little guy!"  what a cutie!

we're glad pinkie is back in action, we missed him!

happy valentine's day!

love, laurie

a sunday morning breakfast date!

on sunday morning, we had a little bit of free time early in the morning before we had to go to the theatre for the matinee performance of nunsense.  since we haven't done anything fun in a long time because of our work schedules, we decided to wake up early and go out for breakfast.  we went to our new favorite spot which we tried for the first time on the morning of my birthday.  the food is so good!  we shared muffin-tin frittatas, rosemary-dijon potatoes, a campfire-themed dutch baby pancake, and a cinnamon roll doughnut. 

everything was so good.  we knew we would have extra, so we were happy to be able to take our leftovers with us in a doggie bag and have them as a snack after the show!

it was a nice little sunday morning breakfast date!

love, laurie

one year!

today is my one year work anniversary of working as director of theatre operations at the theatre.  it's hard to believe that it has been an entire year since i started my new job on february 12th last year.  i mentioned to my boss yesterday that today marks one year since i started, and he said: "only one year?  it seems like you've been here for at least three years!"

i absolutely love my job, and i pinch myself every day that i get to go to work and do what i love.  sure, it gets aggravating at times, but i love it.  here's to many more years!

love, laurie

"nunsense"

it was a busy weekend in the theatre this weekend for our production of "nunsense."  it has been years since i have seen this show, so it was great to have it at the theatre.  it was very funny, the audience loved it, and we had a great turnout.  

below are some photos i snapped during the sunday performance.  (you can see the rest of my photos here on our theatre's facebook page.)

love, laurie

hoping for a better day today than yesterday

uhhh, yesterday was a very aggravating day.  nothing went according to plan and i ended the day beyond ticked off.  to make matters worse, i was hungry (which is a bad combination with angry) and had nothing in the house for dinner so we ate scrambled eggs for dinner. 

i'm glad yesterday is over and i'm keeping my fingers crossed for a smooth weekend since we have a weekend full of shows.  at least i have this cutie to come home to at the end of a long day.  i can't help but smile when he curls up on our laps to love us.

have a good weekend!

love, laurie

back on tv

i'm going back on our local tv station this afternoon for the "pa live" segment to promote an upcoming show at our theatre.  i'm starting to feel like a regular on there.  tune in between 4-5pm this afternoon to catch the segment!

love, laurie

just for fun

i've said before that i love the dumb buzzfeed quizzes.  i found this one this morning which picks your aura color based on how you like your pizza.  i got orange, which is totally accurate . . . and i like mushrooms on my pizza!

love, laurie

super bowl sunday 2019

we're both not football fans, but we do enjoy watching the super bowl every year (mainly for the food, the half-time show, and the commercials).  our favorite way to watch is at home in our pjs with leko. 

we curled up on sunday night in our pjs and used ryan's new hue lights to theme the room to match the team colors for the game.  we made some yummy food (vegetarian chicken nuggets, waffle fries, and guac), made some yummy dessert (individual skillet rocky-road brownies), and enjoyed the evening on the couch. 

i didn't mind the half-time show because i like maroon 5 (and because i thought it was admirable that adam levine donated his $500k earnings from playing the half-time show to a childrens' charity). 

can't forget the commercials too . . . my two favorite commercials were from t-mobile and amazon alexa.

love, laurie

punxsutawney leko 2019

on saturday morning, punxsutawney phil came out of his hole and did not see his shadow, predicting an early spring!  in keeping with tradition, leko also conducted his own groundhog day experiment.  he checked himself out near several different windows around the house.  he concluded his experiment determining that although there was a little bit of sunlight peaking through outside, he did not see his shadow.  i like these conclusions from both punxsutawney leko and puxsutawney phil!  i'm more than happy with an early spring because i'm sick of winter!

love, laurie

. . .

punxsutawney leko: 2016 / 2017 / 2018

fun links

happy friday!  after sub-zero temperatures this week, i'm very much looking forward to the warm-up that is forecasted for this weekend!  this weekend we're also looking forward to some sound board training on saturday and the super bowl on sunday (i'm in it for the commercials and the food, really).

here are a few fun links i found around the internet recently . . .

1. i love this dad of the year who photoshoped his daughter into dangerous situations just to freak out his relatives

2. cool photo coincidences on the streets of new york

3. pointless buttons all around us

4. uh, this hot cocoa cake looks awesome!

5. this simple soup recipe sounds great for the cold weather

6. a michigan pharmacist got creative and used a snowmobile to deliver prescriptions

7. keep kitties healthy for a long life

8. cute decor ideas if you're hosting a super bowl party this weekend

9. and this really made me laugh

have a great weekend!

love, laurie