We Did a Bad Thing

You guys.... we did a bad thing tonight. Everyone knows that if you get a Christmas present, you don't use it until after Christmas. It's like wedding gifts. Don't use it until after you're married. It jinxes it! (It totally doesn't but it made sense in my head before I got married)

But my mother in law got us this popcorn maker for Christmas. Oh man, do we love us some popcorn. Before the Scrooge rehearsal and performance madness, we would have popcorn almost every night. But the thing is, our microwave is small. Tiny. And our bags of popcorn wouldn't turn. And they would burn. And burnt popcorn is not good, people. (Ohhhhh us and our first-world problems!)

So we asked for this popcorn maker and so we could honestly tell her that we use it when she asks us on our visit next week.... we tried it out!

First, measure out the oil.


Then measure out the popcorn.


Trial and error, we'll definitely use less next time.


Pour popcorn into the bottom of the popper.


Snap on the lid (that's also a bowl!) and wait in eager anticipation.


Watch it heat up in there and the bar spinning the kernels around.


Get impatient.


Then it gets good... it was like a mini fireworks show!


A minute later, it looks like this...


Flip it over, careful, it's hot!


And enjoy!


Verdict: It's great! Only a few burnt kernels but I think it's because we used too much popcorn on our first time out. I can't wait to get different kinds of popcorn and seasonings. It tasted more like movie popcorn, which I love. Thanks to MIL for the fun present. Now we can actually say we've tried it.

Oh Where Oh Where?

I haven't seen my husband in about two weeks. We live in the same house, mind you, and he's not traveling and neither am I. We've both been so busy, we're just ships passing in the night.

I see him in the morning, where I jump into the shower first since he is a 20-minute-long-showerer. Yikes. I can't even be in a shower for more than 5 minutes. I'm always thinking of what else I need to be doing.

As I'm drying my hair, he is downstairs making his lunch and while I'm putting on my make up, he's brushing his teeth. A quick kiss and he's gone.

Off to work I go from 9-6pm where at that point I rush straight to rehearsal, running across the street from the theater to the Baker's. Baker's made bank off of all of us this week, btw. Man, I love those fries.

Rehearsal/show... show nights are great because we're out of there by 9:30pm. Rehearsals were more like 10:30. Run home, shower, say a few words then hop into bed and rest up for the next day.

Lather, rinse, repeat for 14 days. Tonight is no exception. I'm off to a cast party straight after work. He's got stuff tomorrow evening, I've got a salad to make.

We're a little like that this weekend too. He has a gig, I have church stuff and bridesmaid responsibilities.

But we're ok. We're both doing things we love (I think me more so in this case, as I'm performing and he's just rehearsing). But it makes me think how lucky that we "get" what each other does. He doesn't get annoyed that he hasn't seen me in two weeks, that our kitchen is bare because we don't have time to shop, that the house looks like we just let twenty 4-year-olds loose in it.

We're both musicians and we appreciate it when the other one understands our "thing". My "thing" is musicals, his "thing" is horn gigs. Or Civil War bands, or whatever floats our boat. I come home happier than anything else when I've been to a good rehearsal.

How lucky am I that he says "go on, have fun!" when I'm off to rehearsal right after work? That he comes to my shows and tells me (honestly) how he liked it. If he wanted me to come to one of his concerts, I would. We get that this is us, this is what we love to do and we support each other in our extracurricular activities.

What could be better than that?

Deep Breath

I am so so sorry everyone! It seems like I have had barely any time to breath, much less blog!


To catch up, I have been in rehearsals every night for "Scrooge" and last week I came down with something awful. It was all in my throat and nose but man was it obnoxious. After rehearsing the show for 6 weeks, I couldn't even sing! I just had to make due with mouthing the words and killing it on choreography.


Last night was the last show which was bittersweet. I will love getting my nights back but I will miss being on stage and miss the cast. We've had a great time and I wouldn't have minded if this was a longer run. But there will be other shows in the future and I love this theater company. Plus, we just found out that this company will be doing the show at the Bowl next year... so there's that to look forward to (if I do it. Which I'm still on the fence about.).

Here's a fun picture from the show. I'm second from the left. (Thanks Judi for the great picture!)



I can't believe Christmas is in a week and a half. I'm ready but not. I'm excited to spend time with family but if I'm really honest I just want to spend my days off curled up in my bed, watching trashy shows. Maybe it's because my weekends have been insane lately and I haven't really gotten a break.

But I can't complain about being busy because it's all doing something I love. The children's pageant came off great this last weekend, for which we're so grateful. It was fun to watch the kids' faces when they would get reactions from the audience. I loved that the first question out of the kids' mouths was "What's the spring pageant going to be?" LOVE it!

But for now, I'm getting ready for the holiday break, finishing up work, cast party tonight, friend party tomorrow night, another party Saturday night and choir singing twice in church on Sunday. THEN I'll be able to stop and chill.

Sneak Peek

Our kids after Andre Rieu... it was such an amazing experience and I can't wait to write about it!

And it Begins

So, if you can't me for the next couple of weeks... here's why:

1. Dec. 2 Andre Rieu concert - pray for us.
2. Rehearsal every night from here until Scrooge which runs from December 11 - December 15.
3. Rehearsals for the pageant on December 5, 11 and 12.
4. Work conference in Newport from December 8-10.
5. 2 showings of Scrooge on Dec 11, 3 showings on Dec 12 and one a night on the 13th, 14th and 15th.
6. Working full time.

See you all on the flip side!