the nutcracker has kept us very busy lately. my wonderful mama came to the rescue again this year and made us so many yummy meals that we could just heat up and run during tech, rehearsals, and the show. mama's kitchen was a godsent and totally saved us. she really went out of her way this year to deal with our pain-in-the-neck dietary restrictions too.
THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH, MAMA!
love, laurie
well, we made it through the shows of the nutcracker, but we still have a couple of days of load out to go. we survived, but with several broken body parts. this was a rough one this year and we're extremely worn out.
the ballet director gave me this rose after the final show.
fingers crossed that we can get this show packed up quickly over the next two days and then move right onto the next show.
just keep swimming, just keep swimming . . .
love, laurie
we had a lovely thanksgiving yesterday with our family at my parents' house. my mama went all out cooking a delicious feast. we stuffed ourselves and have leftovers to look forward to for days! believe it or not, i didn't take a single photo all day, luckily ryan snapped this one of everyone before dinner!
love, laurie
. . .
past thanksgivings: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
it was cute to find the dance studio entrance doors decorated for thanksgiving this week with everyone's names in the studio. cute little turkeys!
we're looking forward to vegetating today because today is our first day off work in months!
have a lovely thanksgiving holiday!
the dance studio where i teach was invited to dance at the annual times-tribune tower lighting event downtown this afternoon. boy were we thrilled to be asked to dance, but boy are we nervous that we're going to freeze our tutus off! ha!
we'll be ushering in the holiday season with two rockette-style dances that we just threw together in no time at all! wish us luck!
you know what time of year it is . . . all i have to say is pray for us!
love, laurie
in addition to the wild amount of craziness going on right now, the past few weeks we've been up at a nearby high school trying to pull some resemblance of a miracle on the lighting for their wacky-o-la production which is this weekend . . . "i live in a pineapple under the sea . . ."
never watched the tv show and what i've seen of the rehearsals so far looks looney.
we won't be involved in the actual run of the show since we've been tied up for the past several days straight with the nutcracker at our theatre. still unclear which would have been worse. will report back soon.
the students at the university where we work did a little black box production of "twisted theatre" last week and ryan helped them out by setting up the room, audio, and lights for them. the student newspaper wrote an article about the show and gave ryan a little shout out! they gave him an "A+" to be exact! that sure made us both chuckle! (you can read the article here.)
love, laurie
even though the first nutcracker of our season doesn't officially start until today, we have been working on the nutcracker for several days. earlier this week we had to rent a large lift-gate truck to move a bunch of scenery, props, wardrobe, etc.
someone snapped this photo of us unloading the base of the christmas tree. that thing sure is a beast and good gracious it was freezing cold that day!
wish us luck as we gather the crew together bright and early this morning for the official start of the nutcracker!
love, laurie
ryan sat down in bed the other day for just a few seconds and leko jumped right up and plopped down on his slipper. it couldn't have been comfortable, but it was funny!
love, laurie
on saturday we had a peter, paul, and mary tribute at our theatre called "leavin' on a jet plane." this was our last show that was postponed from last year and it felt good to finally get it live on stage. it was a great show to end the fall bought show season before heading into all of the christmas shows. you can see more of my photos from the show on the theatre's facebook album here.
on thursday we had a film screening event at our theatre. the warren miller company returned to our stage for their 72nd annual skiing/snowboarding themed film screening. this year's film was called "winter starts now" and i have to say i'm not ready for winter to start now or any time soon. however, it was fascinating watching the footage of the athletes going down the mountains!
walked into the bedroom the other morning to find this guy sunbathing in the purr-fect sun spot!
gearing up for a power-packed weekend with multiple shows and rehearsals . . . here we go! (would rather be back in bed with this guy!)
love, laurie
on saturday afternoon, my parents came up to usher the matinee of the buddy holly show. after, we went to one of our favorite thai restaurants for dinner and then came back to our house for dessert. since it was just the four of us, we make a tiny little 6-inch cake (vanilla cake with chocolate in the middle, covered with vanilla buttercream and decorated with leaf sprinkles). it was a fun afternoon.
happy birthday, papa!
this weekend we worked the broadway tour of "buddy - the buddy holly story" when it came through town. i didn't know much about this show prior to this weekend. i worked on both lighting and the set, and overall it was a pretty easy show to work. we got the chance to see it on saturday afternoon. i'll admit it wasn't my favorite, but i'm always happy to see any show!
we put the nutcracker statues up in front of the building this week and the banner out front on the fence. that means nuctracker season is almost upon us . . . t-minus 9 days and counting. pray for us.
i rounded the corner in the hallway yesterday at work to find the cat statues dressed up for halloween! i didn't even think to look to see if they were dressed this past week for halloween. i'm glad i caught them in their cute costumes with their cute little candy-filled pumpkins before they get changed into their next costumes!
when it gets chilly outside this guy loves to cuddle and there's nothing better the cuddling up in fleece blankets with him!
love, laurie
halloween 2021 was a fun one! ryan decorated the house with lots of his fun colored lights and we put out all of our pumpkin decorations around the house. we got dressed up this year as bob ross and his "happy tree" painting which we thought was absolutely hilarious.
our parents came up to celebrate too. we all enjoyed some calzones for dinner and a chocolate chip cookie cake for dessert.
we handed out candy to the trick-or-treaters who came to our door. all together we had 117 trick-or-treaters this year! it was a fun halloween.
after the last trick-or-treater left we went up to bed and leko passed out with us. we must have worn him out from all of the excitement!
