fun links

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

1. interesting (and some surprising) food facts

2. secrets of disney park employment

3. why does this even exist?

4. can we please leave everyone's fashion alone, this internet battle is getting old (wear what you want!)

5. a look back at old nyc

6. big difference before and after photos

7. a behind-the-scenes peek

8. i would have never thought to put ravioli on a salad

9. ha!

enjoy the weekend

love, laurie

kitten cuddles

after a long day of working at the theatre, teaching at the university, and teaching dance, all i want to do is curl up with ryan and leko in our pjs and cuddle.  it's the best thing to look forward to at the end of the day!

love, laurie

my little helper

i recently tackled the project of relabeling all of the files in our home office file cabinet.  it was quite the undertaking but i'm in love with how neat and organized it all looks now.  of course i had a furry little helper who supervised and judged my labeling ability.  so cute!

love, laurie

ghost tours

i mentioned last week that our theatre was going to host ghost tours.  we held the events on friday and saturday nights and they went great!  we started out with small groups since this was our first time offering this type of event, and we're looking forward to doing it again in the future with larger groups.  such a unique type of event for our theatre!

love, laurie

a kitten tail hat

ryan laid his head down on the pillow the other day and leko jumped up on the pillow and wrapped his tail on ryan's head.  it was so cute, i couldn't resist snapping a photo.  what a cutie!

love, laurie

hunting ghosts

our theater is hosting a unique event this weekend . . . a ghost tour!  we have been planning this for such a long time now and it has been postponed over and over because of the pandemic.  we were finally able to reschedule the tours for this weekend with small (socially-distanced) groups and we're really excited about it.  we've teamed up with a local paranormal company that specializes in this and we can't wait to see how it goes!  we'll be giving the audience a history lesson about the building, teaching them about the types of paranormal equipment used, and then guiding them on tours of our century-old building.

here are a few photos we've used as promo shots . . .

love, laurie

my work from home co-worker

there have been several days so far this winter when i have had to work from home due to the crazy weather we've had this season.  between the snow storms and the ice, i'm grateful to have the opportunity to be able to still work remotely from home when travel is too dangerous.  one big advantage of working from home is my furry co-worker.  he keeps a close eye on me and is always nearby to make sure i'm staying on task.  

over valentine's weekend, we gave our home office a little refresh by adding a new rug, changing our file cabinet, and moving the position of our desk.  it's amazing how a few little changes can make such a big difference.  my co-worker definitely approves of the new layout.

the other day, i stepped out of the office for a second and when i returned, he was so cute that i couldn't help snapping a photo to text to ryan!  

being home means a lot of zoom meetings . . . my furry co-worker really hates those!  i was on a zoom the other day and looked down next to me to find him using one of his cat nip toys as a pillow.  poor guy, the noise of the meeting was keeping him awake!  

love, laurie

valentine's day 2021

our work schedules have been odd lately and we haven't had a chance to spend much time together because we're always running from one thing to another.  we both had the day off on sunday on valentine's day and the weather was forecasted to be less than great, so it was a good reason to spend the whole day at home.

we were both exhausted and never even made it out of our pjs all day.  really, it was great!  leko kicked off his valentine's celebrations for lunch by opening up a valentine's day treat from grandma and grandpa.  he was so excited to see new cans of seafood cat food!  

for dinner we made some lobster ravioli, lemon broccoli, and scallops.  leko joined us and got particularly excited for more seafood (his favorite)!  for dessert, we made a mini one-layer 6-inch red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting covered in chocolate ganache and sprinkles.  it was tasty!  

it was so nice to have a quiet day at home in our pjs resting up before another week of crazy schedules that keep us apart.

love, laurie

happy mardi gras!

happy mardi gras / happy fat tuesday / happy fasnacht day!  no matter what you call it, it's a great excuse to eat a doughnut today.

here are some of my favorite homemade doughnut recipes from over the years:
- baked mocha cake doughnuts with coffee cream cheese glaze
- baked strawberry cake doughnuts with strawberry glaze
- baked pumpkin doughnuts with brown butter and apple cider glaze topped with pecans
- baked apple cider doughnuts

i also like these doughnut-inspired recipes too:
- apple cider doughnut pancakes
- gingerbread doughnut muffins

love, laurie

alumni love stories

i mentioned recently that our university's alumni association is holding an alumni pet contest for the month of february and we entered leko.  they are also spreading the love during the month of february by sharing stories of alumni couples.

our alumni love story was one of the stories featured on their facebook page last week just in time for valentine's day.

love, laurie

three years!

today is my three year work anniversary of running the theatre and it definitely feels like i've been here longer than three years.  

in the past year live entertainment as we know it has been completely altered and my role has changed more than ever.  among other things, i became a pro at cancelling and postponing events (which is not a good thing in our industry).  although there were plenty of disappointments this past year with missing so many shows, a huge positive of this past year was being promoted from director of theatre operations to vice president of theatre operations!  i do love my job and i'm grateful to be able to do it.  

celebrating an anniversary like this makes me reflect on those in our industry who are out of work because of the pandemic.  so many of my live entertainment colleagues are completely out of work and so many venues have permanently closed their doors.  so in honor of my theatre work anniversary, join me in supporting the save our stages campaign.  on a local level, help out your local theatre anyway you can (purchase tickets to a show or you can even purchase a gift certificate to use at a later date for a show).

love, laurie

. . .

one year anniversary / two year anniversary

morning cuddles

this guy loves cuddling in bed.  he is especially funny when the alarm goes off in the morning and he gives me this face because he doesn't want to get out of bed!

love, laurie

snapshots of life lately . . .

a few photos of . . . the cutest little tail tucked between the cutest little back feet, a breakfast date with my parents, a quick weeknight dinner of falafel with mediterranean rice and green beans, winter sunbathing on the kitchen floor, a grapefruit paper face mask with some zip, and vegetarian pot stickers with veggie fried rice for a quick weekend dinner.

love, laurie

super bowl 2021 instant parody

you've heard of instant replays in sports . . . how about an instant parody video?!

the holderness family has been entertaining us for quite some time now.  they really deserve credit for whipping up a super bowl parody song during the actual super bowl and having the whole video written, shot, edited, and posted all by the end of the night last night!  wow!  i would like half of the energy that penn holderness has in a day!

love, laurie

super bowl sunday 2021

even though we're not sports fans, we do enjoy sitting down each year to watch the super bowl.  granted, it's mainly for the food, the commercials, and the half-time show.

we like to watch the game from home in our pjs cuddled up on the couch with leko.  we made some vegetarian chicken wings, cauliflower wings, jalapeno poppers, and guacamole to eat during the game.  we had some oreo brownies for dessert too.

we stayed awake for most of the game.  the half-time show was so-so in my opinion and i didn't love most of the commercials either.  if i had to pick one, the best commercial was probably the amazon alexa commercial.

love, laurie

a man-made ice carousel

a man in michigan got creative with all of the ice on frozen spring lake and made an ice carousel for local residents.  pretty cool (ha, get it?  cool . . . that's a dad joke!)

happy friday!

love, laurie

ryan's back!

oh boy, i am so happy to see this guy for the first time in several days.  ryan was snowed in at work for the past several days because of the huge winter storm.  his other co-workers couldn't get in, and he couldn't get out, so he was there by himself running a huge event in the conference center by himself.  

leko and i are both so, so, so happy to have him back!!!

love, laurie

baby, it's cold outside!

burrrr, it's been so cold and snowy outside lately!  let's be honest, it's not a winter wonderland, it's more like the tundra!  leko knows how to keep warm cuddled up on our laps!

love, laurie

punxsutawney leko

who knows if punxsutawney phil will see his shadow or not today, but punxsutawney leko is sure hoping for an early spring.  he wants the cold weather to go away so that he can enjoy his screened-in porch again.  in the meantime he's been enjoying this pink pipe cleaner which he recently used as a pillow!

love, laurie

filming the new york tenors virtual charity concert

on friday the new york tenors came to our theatre to film their virtual charity concert.  we had a fun time listening to the music and ryan did an awesome job with the lighting!  the concert will stream online march 12th, 13th, and 14th to raise money for hope house ministries charity.

love, laurie