A Little House Christmas
...is super-fun. We've been open for about a week now. The schedule is (disappointingly?) light so far, with usually only one show a day. Again, I could sing the praises of Main Street all day - how instead of just making do when the sound design computer crashed during tech, someone popped out during lunch and just bought a new one; how when one of the actors had a previous contract with another company for one of our performance days understudies were prepared well in advance; and the fabulous costume designs of Macy Perrone. I love working for a company that says that anything less is not good enough. In an ideal world every company would work like that, but that's not been my experience so far!
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| A Little House Christmas cast members: me, Lauren, Natalie, Chioke, Curtis and Scott |
The cast is large (ten) and fun, and we seem to be going out for lunch together most days. And there's that lovely feeling of being in a Jane Austen novel when you're dressing for a period show - the women's dressing room is all petticoats and lace and corsets (well, a corset).
Hope Stone
Our teen theater class has entered phase two of this year's plan - the Simplify Challenge. Inspired by this year's performance theme of "Simplify" every student and Leslie and I are giving ourselves the challenge to simplify our lives in some defined way for a defined period of time. Last night most of the kids gave their commitments to their challenges. We've got water-drinking, some restrictions on internet usage, a few variations on the theme of minding your own business, dog-walking, a few variations on meditation and intentional living, cleaning and organising stuff, being grateful, being positive, getting on top of schoolwork, and a couple of people trying to keep calm in their relationships (man, I remember being a teenager - that was hard). My challenge is to do yoga/meditate every morning, and to eat breakfast sitting down in a calm environment with no multitasking.
The Hope Stone blog continues to be a fun extra activity in my life, and I'm also beginning to think about pursuing other blogging opportunities as well. The new Hope website will be up soon, which will see me blogging with more regularity.
TMJ Syndrome
It was when I realised that I was avoiding eating because it hurt to open my mouth more than about a finger-width that I decided to do something about it. My chiropractor has beaten me up and wrangled my jaw a couple of times in the last few days and I'm going back again after the weekend. Other Little House cast members have been comparing their experiences of TMJ with mine, and I didn't think that mine was associated with any stress, as theirs was. But then the chiro said it was phenomenal amounts of neck and shoulder tension that were putting my jaw out, along with some pretty regular teeth-grinding, and asked me what I was stressed about. Then I got home and Lucas grabbed me by the shoulders, looked me in the eyes and asked me what I was stressed about, and I realised that maybe I am worried about a few things. Then the next day with my jaw loosened up by the chiro I realised that a tense jaw is my defense mechanism and I spent the whole day painfully aware of how I wanted to grind my teeth and clench my jaw and just generally tense up all the freaking time.
So I'm feeling pretty vulnerable (the chiro took away my defense!) and bruised (her assistant beats me up pretty good during those massages) and worried...she took away my coping mechanism! Another yoga cleanse is in order, I feel - I think I'm going to start that the day after Thanksgiving, along with my Simplify Challenge. More boring food and meditation and other slightly odd but awesome ayurvedic practices.
Awesome Friends
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| Ashley and Lindsay looking adorable |
Speaking of Thanksgiving, this year we are spending it at Nick's aunt and uncle's place with Nick and Bekah. They continue to be very dear friends to us, although this week is tech week for Bekah so we won't really see her til that's over! I also love teaching and doing life with Leslie (wish her a happy birthday!), and my regular walk-and-talks with Ashley, and hanging out at Ashley and Lindsay's apartment.
And an Awesome Husband
Leslie commented last night that it's an awesome marriage when he can look me in the eye and ask me what I'm stressed about and make me realise it. I am so grateful for Lucas! His field trip a couple of months ago made me realise just how much I need him around.
He continues to love his job, which is ramping up again for another lease sale early next year, and he's totally gotten me hooked on playing Magic, and he also was very excited that the new Halo is out. Although he's finished it already - I think that's an anticlimax but apparently it's not.
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