Thursday, December 31, 2009
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Banana Shpeel Will Slip Into NYC's Beacon Later Than Expected - Playbill.com
Banana Shpeel Will Slip Into NYC's Beacon Later Than Expected - Playbill.com
AKA they need this extra time to overhaul the show between Chicago and February. Run while you still can, New York
AKA they need this extra time to overhaul the show between Chicago and February. Run while you still can, New York
2009 - best of the rest
I really did give up on that challenge, didn't I? Oh well. I do like writing with prompts and sometimes they have wonderful results (like that English paper!). Whatever. As they say: It's New Year's Eve (Eve) and hopes are high, dance one year in, kiss one goodbye.
Here, in no particular order, are things I loved in 2009:
-VEGAS, baby! Even though I had stomach problems during the trip, rendering the all you can eat buffet at the Mirage COMPLETELY USELESS to me, I was at large in Sin City - rhinestones, the Beatles + Cirque du Soleil = magnifique!, Sigfried and Roy's Secret Garden (sounds just wrong somehow), dancing fountains, and (finally!) my gondola ride!
-2009 also saw several performances of my Favorite Broadway Diva, Patti Lu - in St. Louis with Mandy Patinkin, in Vegas (where she stopped the show!), and at Ravinia (accompanied at the end by Mr. Kauffman at the piano)
- Speaking of St. Louis, I asked myself that time honored question: What Would Patti LuPone do in St. Louis with some time to kill - and figured that, obviously, she would climb fearlessly to the top of the arch, so by god, I decided to do that too. Are you afraid of heights or confined places, the ticket guy asked me "Haha - I guess we'll find out!" I gaily replied. Never again. No matter what Patti tells me to do.
- Speaking of Ravinia, it was another great season, if a chilly one. I was at the Park and dancing in the aisles, with my glitter lantern and jelly ring(s) for the Arrival from Sweden concert (music of ABBA, baby!) and then again for Patti in the 7 Deadly Sins, Kelli O'Hara, and the Bill T. Jones dance commission Fondly do we hope...
- Jane the Fraudulent Bell Ringer
- U2 at Soldier Field
- U2 at Soldier Field
- U2 at Soldier Field
- U2 at Soldier Field
- Earl Grey Vanilla Creme tea lattes at Argo
- Albee the Holiday Elephant
- Lord Peter Wimsey
- Broadway in Chicago: particularly Spring Awakening, Legally Blonde, the Addams Family, In the Heights (am seeing that this weekend!) and eager anticipation of Billy Elliot, the return of August: Osage County
- the Live Bait vending machine (what the WHAT?), the book barn, and trying to start a fire in Green Lake, Wisconsin
- the Cheese Castle in Kenosha and their temptingly delicious array of cheese curds
- the song "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga
- Ballet! Particularly Carousel (A Dance) by Christopher Wheeldon, Lar Lubovitch's Othello, and Gerald Arpino's Waltz of the Flowers from The Nutcracker
- Glee!!!!!
- Lindt chocolates
- BOOTS!
- the color purple (no, literally, the color purple)
- the Viking Rumble (everybody...RUMBLE!)
- my new team, the Indianapolis Colts (even though they blew their perfect record last week. WTF?)
- Sugar Bliss spice cupcakes
- 30 Rock
- Flight of the Conchords
- Lill 1154 sample sales and my new Hadley bag
- Eric Northman, True Blood and all of the Sookieverse
- my free subscription to Time Out New York (I don't want you to end!!)
- the 6 foot nutcracker
- Karen, my Physical Therapist.
- my heating pad (I KNOW. OLD.)
Oh, there must be more. There must be. It was a pretty good year, all things considered. I still haven't learned to purl, but that's what resolutions are for, yes?
Here, in no particular order, are things I loved in 2009:
-VEGAS, baby! Even though I had stomach problems during the trip, rendering the all you can eat buffet at the Mirage COMPLETELY USELESS to me, I was at large in Sin City - rhinestones, the Beatles + Cirque du Soleil = magnifique!, Sigfried and Roy's Secret Garden (sounds just wrong somehow), dancing fountains, and (finally!) my gondola ride!
-2009 also saw several performances of my Favorite Broadway Diva, Patti Lu - in St. Louis with Mandy Patinkin, in Vegas (where she stopped the show!), and at Ravinia (accompanied at the end by Mr. Kauffman at the piano)
- Speaking of St. Louis, I asked myself that time honored question: What Would Patti LuPone do in St. Louis with some time to kill - and figured that, obviously, she would climb fearlessly to the top of the arch, so by god, I decided to do that too. Are you afraid of heights or confined places, the ticket guy asked me "Haha - I guess we'll find out!" I gaily replied. Never again. No matter what Patti tells me to do.
- Speaking of Ravinia, it was another great season, if a chilly one. I was at the Park and dancing in the aisles, with my glitter lantern and jelly ring(s) for the Arrival from Sweden concert (music of ABBA, baby!) and then again for Patti in the 7 Deadly Sins, Kelli O'Hara, and the Bill T. Jones dance commission Fondly do we hope...
- Jane the Fraudulent Bell Ringer
- U2 at Soldier Field
- U2 at Soldier Field
- U2 at Soldier Field
- U2 at Soldier Field
- Earl Grey Vanilla Creme tea lattes at Argo
- Albee the Holiday Elephant
- Lord Peter Wimsey
- Broadway in Chicago: particularly Spring Awakening, Legally Blonde, the Addams Family, In the Heights (am seeing that this weekend!) and eager anticipation of Billy Elliot, the return of August: Osage County
- the Live Bait vending machine (what the WHAT?), the book barn, and trying to start a fire in Green Lake, Wisconsin
- the Cheese Castle in Kenosha and their temptingly delicious array of cheese curds
- the song "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga
- Ballet! Particularly Carousel (A Dance) by Christopher Wheeldon, Lar Lubovitch's Othello, and Gerald Arpino's Waltz of the Flowers from The Nutcracker
- Glee!!!!!
- Lindt chocolates
- BOOTS!
- the color purple (no, literally, the color purple)
- the Viking Rumble (everybody...RUMBLE!)
- my new team, the Indianapolis Colts (even though they blew their perfect record last week. WTF?)
- Sugar Bliss spice cupcakes
- 30 Rock
- Flight of the Conchords
- Lill 1154 sample sales and my new Hadley bag
- Eric Northman, True Blood and all of the Sookieverse
- my free subscription to Time Out New York (I don't want you to end!!)
- the 6 foot nutcracker
- Karen, my Physical Therapist.
- my heating pad (I KNOW. OLD.)
Oh, there must be more. There must be. It was a pretty good year, all things considered. I still haven't learned to purl, but that's what resolutions are for, yes?
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Addams Family Therapy...
So the show needs a little work before heading out east - I think it has a lot of potential and I am planning to see the final show on January 10 - anyone wanna come? (PS Who died and made Chris Jones the king of Chicago theater critics? I don't usually read the Tribune and so had no idea he was considered "the city's most influential theater critic" I certainly am not that influenced by him...)
From Today's New York Times... December 29, 2009
Revisions for ‘Addams Family’ By PATRICK HEALY
The producers of “The Addams Family,” one of the major new musicals scheduled for Broadway this spring, announced on Monday that they have hired the Tony Award-winning director Jerry Zaks to take over the $16.5 million production and supervise significant changes.
Based on The New Yorker cartoons of Charles Addams, “The Addams Family” began its pre-Broadway tryout in Chicago this month and received several positive reviews from critics — but also a pointedly tough one full of criticism from that city’s most influential theater critic, Chris Jones of The Chicago Tribune, who concluded that the show “needs to be funnier and more visually spontaneous.”
Echoing parts of The Tribune review, the musical’s lead producers, Stuart Oken and Roy Furman, said that the plot needed to focus more tightly on the Addams family members and that all — starting with Gomez (played by Nathan Lane) and Morticia (Bebe Neuwirth) — needed their eccentric and subversive personalities clearly established in dialogue and song before the main action of the plot begins.
The feedback from critics, colleagues and friends, Mr. Oken said, “is that perhaps we were taking a little too much for granted assuming that the audience walks in with the relationship with the Addams family fully intact, and we didn’t appropriately reconnect the audience to the family members.”
No one on the creative team has left the show or been fired, Mr. Oken said, with Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch (both Broadway newcomers) still listed as the directors and production designers, and Mr. Zaks billed as creative consultant. But when asked who was running the show from here on, Mr. Oken replied, “Jerry, with Phelim and Julian having meaningful input.”
Mr. Zaks is close to Mr. Lane, having directed him in the long-running Broadway musical revivals of “Guys and Dolls” in 1992 and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” in 1996, for which Mr. Lane won the Tony Award for best actor in a musical. Mr. Oken and Mr. Furman said Mr. Lane neither demanded nor requested that Mr. Zaks or any other show doctor be hired.
Mr. Zaks was not available for comment on Monday, his assistant said, but relayed a prepared statement in an e-mail message, saying that he “enjoyed the show enormously” and that he was delighted to “take this original musical to the next level.”
Mr. Zaks had been scheduled to direct “All About Me,” another new musical on Broadway this spring, but Mr. Oken said that he and Mr. Zaks asked the lead producer of that show, Jeffrey Richards, to release Mr. Zaks, and that he had done so.
The two lead “Addams” producers were at pains in a telephone interview on Monday to emphasize that the show was not in trouble, with Mr. Furman volunteering three times that hiring Mr. Zaks was “not being done defensively or out of weakness.” But they acknowledged that the musical, which is capitalized at $16.5 million for Broadway, needs changes to improve its hopes for a long run and a potentially lucrative life as a touring production.
Broadway producers have a long history of using so-called show doctors to make fixes, from Jerome Robbins to Neil Simon to, most recently, the Tony Award-winning choreographer Rob Ashford, who assisted on “Shrek the Musical.”
Mr. Jones, the theater critic, as well as some theater producers who have seen “The Addams Family,” said the cast members were well matched to their parts, but that some lacked enough big numbers and charming moments. Mr. Jones also noted that Ms. Neuwirth “looks like she’s not having much fun,” a point that the two lead producers denied. They added that Ms. Neuwirth (a Tony Award winner for “Chicago” and “Sweet Charity”) did not ask that the musical’s directors be replaced by Mr. Zaks or someone else.
None of the cast members could be reached for comment on Monday.
From Today's New York Times... December 29, 2009
Revisions for ‘Addams Family’ By PATRICK HEALY
The producers of “The Addams Family,” one of the major new musicals scheduled for Broadway this spring, announced on Monday that they have hired the Tony Award-winning director Jerry Zaks to take over the $16.5 million production and supervise significant changes.
Based on The New Yorker cartoons of Charles Addams, “The Addams Family” began its pre-Broadway tryout in Chicago this month and received several positive reviews from critics — but also a pointedly tough one full of criticism from that city’s most influential theater critic, Chris Jones of The Chicago Tribune, who concluded that the show “needs to be funnier and more visually spontaneous.”
Echoing parts of The Tribune review, the musical’s lead producers, Stuart Oken and Roy Furman, said that the plot needed to focus more tightly on the Addams family members and that all — starting with Gomez (played by Nathan Lane) and Morticia (Bebe Neuwirth) — needed their eccentric and subversive personalities clearly established in dialogue and song before the main action of the plot begins.
The feedback from critics, colleagues and friends, Mr. Oken said, “is that perhaps we were taking a little too much for granted assuming that the audience walks in with the relationship with the Addams family fully intact, and we didn’t appropriately reconnect the audience to the family members.”
No one on the creative team has left the show or been fired, Mr. Oken said, with Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch (both Broadway newcomers) still listed as the directors and production designers, and Mr. Zaks billed as creative consultant. But when asked who was running the show from here on, Mr. Oken replied, “Jerry, with Phelim and Julian having meaningful input.”
Mr. Zaks is close to Mr. Lane, having directed him in the long-running Broadway musical revivals of “Guys and Dolls” in 1992 and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” in 1996, for which Mr. Lane won the Tony Award for best actor in a musical. Mr. Oken and Mr. Furman said Mr. Lane neither demanded nor requested that Mr. Zaks or any other show doctor be hired.
Mr. Zaks was not available for comment on Monday, his assistant said, but relayed a prepared statement in an e-mail message, saying that he “enjoyed the show enormously” and that he was delighted to “take this original musical to the next level.”
Mr. Zaks had been scheduled to direct “All About Me,” another new musical on Broadway this spring, but Mr. Oken said that he and Mr. Zaks asked the lead producer of that show, Jeffrey Richards, to release Mr. Zaks, and that he had done so.
The two lead “Addams” producers were at pains in a telephone interview on Monday to emphasize that the show was not in trouble, with Mr. Furman volunteering three times that hiring Mr. Zaks was “not being done defensively or out of weakness.” But they acknowledged that the musical, which is capitalized at $16.5 million for Broadway, needs changes to improve its hopes for a long run and a potentially lucrative life as a touring production.
Broadway producers have a long history of using so-called show doctors to make fixes, from Jerome Robbins to Neil Simon to, most recently, the Tony Award-winning choreographer Rob Ashford, who assisted on “Shrek the Musical.”
Mr. Jones, the theater critic, as well as some theater producers who have seen “The Addams Family,” said the cast members were well matched to their parts, but that some lacked enough big numbers and charming moments. Mr. Jones also noted that Ms. Neuwirth “looks like she’s not having much fun,” a point that the two lead producers denied. They added that Ms. Neuwirth (a Tony Award winner for “Chicago” and “Sweet Charity”) did not ask that the musical’s directors be replaced by Mr. Zaks or someone else.
None of the cast members could be reached for comment on Monday.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
it's christmas time in the city...
It's been a very eventful few days off - but the halls are decked, the presents are (finally) wrapped, a new pair of winter boots have been procured, the fruitcake has been sliced, so it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. I hope you've all been good!
Monday, December 21, 2009
candyland...
Today is our holiday lunch (!) and we were encouraged to bring a dessert (or, if we didn't want to bake, we were gently encouraged to get something delicious at Sweet Mandy B's). I baked some festive brownies (oh, stop. They have funfetti chips in them, not POT, although I suppose that would also be very festive...)
And I also really wanted to try the candy recipe below, which came from Tina Nordstrom's book, A Culinary Tour of Sweden and from the companion show on PBS,New Scandinavian Cooking.
The recipe is deceptively simple:
1/2 lb (250 g) nougat
1/4 lb. (125 g) dark chocolate
2 oz (50 g) flaked almonds
2 oz (50 g) chopped roasted hazelnuts 1.75 oz (50 g) raisins
2 oz (50 g) walnuts
Zest of 1 orange
This is how you do it:
Melt the nougat and chocolate in a saucepan over another saucepan with boiling water. When it is completely melted together, mix in the nuts.
Line a bread loaf tin with waxed paper. Pour in the mixture. Let it harden for a few hours in the fridge before removing it.
The major stumbling block here (any guesses?) is the first ingredient: nougat. I am not even officially sure what nougat actually IS, making it really hard to determine a possible substitute. Which we had to do, because I don't know if you know this? But it is nearly impossible to find nougat anywhere. Not at Dominick's, Jewel, Michael's (although they did have a variety of cake/candy making things), The Home Economist or Produce World. Rather than just chuck the whole affair, we decided eventually to substitute almond paste - either that or make our own nougat, which seemed more time consuming than the actual recipe.
So, ingredients decided, we started melting the chocolate and almond paste. Well, sort of. The paste didn't melt as such, but we mushed it up as best as we could. Added the nuts and zest and mushed the whole thing up some more. Then we dumped the whole thing into the wax paper lined bread loaf tin and threw it into the fridge to harden up.
Taste it (as Tina might say) - it was essentially chocolate covered almond goo. With nuts. Not bad, but I don't really think that's what they had in mind with the recipe. I didn't bring any of it to work today, though. Just the brownies.
You're welcome, co-workers. And Merry Christmas.
And I also really wanted to try the candy recipe below, which came from Tina Nordstrom's book, A Culinary Tour of Sweden and from the companion show on PBS,New Scandinavian Cooking.
The recipe is deceptively simple:
1/2 lb (250 g) nougat
1/4 lb. (125 g) dark chocolate
2 oz (50 g) flaked almonds
2 oz (50 g) chopped roasted hazelnuts 1.75 oz (50 g) raisins
2 oz (50 g) walnuts
Zest of 1 orange
This is how you do it:
Melt the nougat and chocolate in a saucepan over another saucepan with boiling water. When it is completely melted together, mix in the nuts.
Line a bread loaf tin with waxed paper. Pour in the mixture. Let it harden for a few hours in the fridge before removing it.
The major stumbling block here (any guesses?) is the first ingredient: nougat. I am not even officially sure what nougat actually IS, making it really hard to determine a possible substitute. Which we had to do, because I don't know if you know this? But it is nearly impossible to find nougat anywhere. Not at Dominick's, Jewel, Michael's (although they did have a variety of cake/candy making things), The Home Economist or Produce World. Rather than just chuck the whole affair, we decided eventually to substitute almond paste - either that or make our own nougat, which seemed more time consuming than the actual recipe.
So, ingredients decided, we started melting the chocolate and almond paste. Well, sort of. The paste didn't melt as such, but we mushed it up as best as we could. Added the nuts and zest and mushed the whole thing up some more. Then we dumped the whole thing into the wax paper lined bread loaf tin and threw it into the fridge to harden up.
Taste it (as Tina might say) - it was essentially chocolate covered almond goo. With nuts. Not bad, but I don't really think that's what they had in mind with the recipe. I didn't bring any of it to work today, though. Just the brownies.
You're welcome, co-workers. And Merry Christmas.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
things i've learned... from english class
For some reason, mom & I got to talking recently about topics for English class papers and I recalled my most favorite English-paper story I have. And, for no particular reason, I have decided to share it with all of you.
So, in 8th grade, I was assigned a paper wherein I had to describe a time where I was afraid. Oh, and it had to be true. I love to write and so I thought this would be a piece of cake, but when the time came to put pen to paper (this was 1993, after all!) I couldn't think of anything good enough to write. You don't want to go baring your soul to your English teacher, after all, to give them ammunition to use against you at a later date. So, I made something up. It was quite spectacularly made up, too, something about a lake house in Wisconsin, and a boat, and a bad storm and some made up cousins(fake! fake! fake! fake!). I turned it in and thought nothing of it. When my teacher, I will call her Miss Smith(that was her name) handed them back to us, she gave us all this HUGE lecture about how some of the papers were made up and that she was SO disappointed and she could totally TELL which ones were fact and which were fiction. I found myself sinking deeper and deeper into my seat. Crap I thought, for I was a goody two-shoes at heart and a teacher's pet besides and I hated the thought that I was about to get busted. Only... I didn't. When she handed back my paper, I had an A ++ (no really. She actually gave plus pluses) and I think but I don't exactly remember that I had to read it out to the class, as a shining example of how to write true experiences or something like that. She never found me out either, and my straight As in English happily continued.
Until... My freshman year. I was in honors English and had a cute little lady called Miss Nash as my teacher. It was not a great class, we had to read some tome called The King Must Die over the summer and it SUCKED. I didn't actually read it, as such, so I couldn't tell you what it was on about except the dude, in the end, killed the minotaur or some such thing. What more do you need to know? And Miss Nash HATED my writing. She gave me Bs. This was a stunning blow to me as I had, as you noted above, always done quite well in English class.
But then... she assigned a paper on - you guessed it - a time when you were afraid. It wasn't exactly the SAME topic, but close enough to haul out me old A++ chestnut, do a little revision, and hand it in to her too. It was the same thing, fictional cousins (named "Hank" and "Michaela" from my DQMW fangirl days. How she never caught on to that one, I will never know), a lake house, boat trip, bad storm - SO SCARED!
And yes, I got the highest grade I ever got from Miss Nash on that essay. She even suggested that I submit it to our literary magazine, as the shining example of scholarship it so clearly was. It pissed me off, actually, that I should work so hard on actual essays and they were apparently crap, and then I pull something totally out of the air, and not one, but TWO teachers really loved it.
The lesson I took from this was clearly not the plot of The King Must Die, but that my ability to bullshit was developed at a very early age, and the knack for making shit up has come in very handy not only in my school career, but also in my work as well!
So, in 8th grade, I was assigned a paper wherein I had to describe a time where I was afraid. Oh, and it had to be true. I love to write and so I thought this would be a piece of cake, but when the time came to put pen to paper (this was 1993, after all!) I couldn't think of anything good enough to write. You don't want to go baring your soul to your English teacher, after all, to give them ammunition to use against you at a later date. So, I made something up. It was quite spectacularly made up, too, something about a lake house in Wisconsin, and a boat, and a bad storm and some made up cousins(fake! fake! fake! fake!). I turned it in and thought nothing of it. When my teacher, I will call her Miss Smith(that was her name) handed them back to us, she gave us all this HUGE lecture about how some of the papers were made up and that she was SO disappointed and she could totally TELL which ones were fact and which were fiction. I found myself sinking deeper and deeper into my seat. Crap I thought, for I was a goody two-shoes at heart and a teacher's pet besides and I hated the thought that I was about to get busted. Only... I didn't. When she handed back my paper, I had an A ++ (no really. She actually gave plus pluses) and I think but I don't exactly remember that I had to read it out to the class, as a shining example of how to write true experiences or something like that. She never found me out either, and my straight As in English happily continued.
Until... My freshman year. I was in honors English and had a cute little lady called Miss Nash as my teacher. It was not a great class, we had to read some tome called The King Must Die over the summer and it SUCKED. I didn't actually read it, as such, so I couldn't tell you what it was on about except the dude, in the end, killed the minotaur or some such thing. What more do you need to know? And Miss Nash HATED my writing. She gave me Bs. This was a stunning blow to me as I had, as you noted above, always done quite well in English class.
But then... she assigned a paper on - you guessed it - a time when you were afraid. It wasn't exactly the SAME topic, but close enough to haul out me old A++ chestnut, do a little revision, and hand it in to her too. It was the same thing, fictional cousins (named "Hank" and "Michaela" from my DQMW fangirl days. How she never caught on to that one, I will never know), a lake house, boat trip, bad storm - SO SCARED!
And yes, I got the highest grade I ever got from Miss Nash on that essay. She even suggested that I submit it to our literary magazine, as the shining example of scholarship it so clearly was. It pissed me off, actually, that I should work so hard on actual essays and they were apparently crap, and then I pull something totally out of the air, and not one, but TWO teachers really loved it.
The lesson I took from this was clearly not the plot of The King Must Die, but that my ability to bullshit was developed at a very early age, and the knack for making shit up has come in very handy not only in my school career, but also in my work as well!
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
sometimes, winter IS my favorite season...
Especially when it's part of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, played by Nigel Kennedy...
teatime 2009
Today's challenge prompt - my favorite tea!
My dad was recently told by his doctor to start drinking tea and walking. He struck a deal with me - I will drink the tea and do the walking FOR him and he will reap the benefits vicariously. I don't mind a bit - I love tea! It started, funnily enough, when I was in high school, and took a trip to London with the drama department*. On the plane, I decided to do the thing right, and drink a cup of tea when the beverage trolley came around. I do drink coffee, but I am instantly comforted by a nice hot cup of tea and since my stomach is annoyed by coffee, I've switched to tea. I'm not right in the morning until I've had my tea. When I make it on my own here at the office, I like Tazo's Awake Tea. But since I work about a block from Argo Tea, I will sometimes, when I need a treat (like today!) pop over there and get an Earl Grey Vanilla Creme Tea Latte. Earl Grey tea (which I actually don't like on its own), vanilla, and steamed milk. I am drinking one now!
* Best.Trip.Ever. It was my first time away from home and out of the country, our chaperones buggered off to go drinking and so we were left to our own devices, despite promises made to our parents!! One of my classmates snuck out of our crazy hotel and took himself to see Buckles in Sunset Boulevard. I remember a particularly happy solo excursion as I wandered Piccadilly Circus - alone - shopping and puttering around. I wasn't worried at all, I felt perfectly safe. Plus, I knew how to get back to the hotel so who cared??
My dad was recently told by his doctor to start drinking tea and walking. He struck a deal with me - I will drink the tea and do the walking FOR him and he will reap the benefits vicariously. I don't mind a bit - I love tea! It started, funnily enough, when I was in high school, and took a trip to London with the drama department*. On the plane, I decided to do the thing right, and drink a cup of tea when the beverage trolley came around. I do drink coffee, but I am instantly comforted by a nice hot cup of tea and since my stomach is annoyed by coffee, I've switched to tea. I'm not right in the morning until I've had my tea. When I make it on my own here at the office, I like Tazo's Awake Tea. But since I work about a block from Argo Tea, I will sometimes, when I need a treat (like today!) pop over there and get an Earl Grey Vanilla Creme Tea Latte. Earl Grey tea (which I actually don't like on its own), vanilla, and steamed milk. I am drinking one now!
(Hot tea and a good book - is there anything better?
Unfortunately, I'm at work, so will not be reading until lunch!)
* Best.Trip.Ever. It was my first time away from home and out of the country, our chaperones buggered off to go drinking and so we were left to our own devices, despite promises made to our parents!! One of my classmates snuck out of our crazy hotel and took himself to see Buckles in Sunset Boulevard. I remember a particularly happy solo excursion as I wandered Piccadilly Circus - alone - shopping and puttering around. I wasn't worried at all, I felt perfectly safe. Plus, I knew how to get back to the hotel so who cared??
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
joy in a little round box...
Best packaging2009
Thought I’d forgotten about this, eh? Well, okay, I did. But I am putting forth an entry today – on my favorite packaging of 2009. I’m in the office, working to a deadline, of course, and a friend/colleague/consultant writes to me – what can I do? Bring chocolate? To which I responded, yes, please! Joking, but not. Who can say no to chocolate? Not I! And, in an act of true heroics, she came to the office bearing NOT bags of Hershey kisses (for which I would have been grateful!) but gorgeous boxes of Vosges chocolate.
The one I chose came in a darling little round purple box – like a mini hat box, with a little purple ribbon. See above. I consumed the candy and saved the box. I have jewelry in it now…
Monday, December 14, 2009
sidebar
Just so you don't think I've gone completely gaga, I played my holiday playlist on the way here and then I was stomping** through Daley Plaza listening to the "Cell Block Tango" from "Chicago" (with Bebe singing, of course!!!) So I haven't gone ALL Marshmallow World on you all...
** In my rain boots! Happy to report I have not fallen down since last week! A personal best, I should think!
** In my rain boots! Happy to report I have not fallen down since last week! A personal best, I should think!
it's the most wonderful time of the year (no, really!)
I feel much more in the Christmas spirit this year, for some reason. Last year, I felt merely as though I were going through the motions - everything was a chore, done mechanically, oh, must put up the tree, wrap the presents, work at the theater... but this year, happily, I have been restored to the spirit of the season (praise the lord and pass the mashed potatoes!!).
We put up our tree yesterday and it was so much fun to pull out the traditional decorations and put them up just so. And I've loved buying gifts for all those special people on my list this year (you know who you are) although I must stop with the commerce right now, for that sound? Is my checking account gently weeping. I have heard some rumor about an extra paycheck in 2009 - I sincerely hope this is true.
I have also had my annual injection of Sugar Plum delight, brought to me by The Nutcracker. This is my third year here, and thus my third year of working Nutcracker performances. Oh, it is joy unbounded all right (where is the "sarcasam" font on the computer anyway??) but it's all part of the season. Glitter and nutcrackers and the smell of slightly worn satin ballet slippers will forever equal Christmas to me.
I even made a holiday playlist for my ipod of all my favorite holiday songs and I have been listening to it on my morning commute. So here, for your listening pleasure, I am sure, is one of the songs on that rocking holiday playlist that I was listening to this morning, brought to you by the Three Tenors. If you think you've heard "Sleigh Ride" before, well, let me tell you. You ain't never heard it like this.
We put up our tree yesterday and it was so much fun to pull out the traditional decorations and put them up just so. And I've loved buying gifts for all those special people on my list this year (you know who you are) although I must stop with the commerce right now, for that sound? Is my checking account gently weeping. I have heard some rumor about an extra paycheck in 2009 - I sincerely hope this is true.
I have also had my annual injection of Sugar Plum delight, brought to me by The Nutcracker. This is my third year here, and thus my third year of working Nutcracker performances. Oh, it is joy unbounded all right (where is the "sarcasam" font on the computer anyway??) but it's all part of the season. Glitter and nutcrackers and the smell of slightly worn satin ballet slippers will forever equal Christmas to me.
I even made a holiday playlist for my ipod of all my favorite holiday songs and I have been listening to it on my morning commute. So here, for your listening pleasure, I am sure, is one of the songs on that rocking holiday playlist that I was listening to this morning, brought to you by the Three Tenors. If you think you've heard "Sleigh Ride" before, well, let me tell you. You ain't never heard it like this.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
music09
What's rocking my world these days, you ask? There's been lots of stuff - in 2009 I've been listening to Lily Allen, Lady Gaga, the Spring Awakening cast album, U2's No Line on the Horizon, Taylor Swift, Patti LuPone, The Beatles Love, Renee Fleming and probably more that I'm not even recalling now. I have my ipod with me always, it's my best friend on my daily commute - and now it's an extra sassy purple 5th generation one, pulsing with my favorite tunes!!! What's been on constant play lately though have been the Glee cast albums. Oh how I love that show and these albums! I love Matthew Morrison singing Kanye West's "Gold Digger" and duetting with Kristin Chenoweth on "Alone" (LOVE THAT ONE!) I love Lea Michele's voice singing anything. After a crappy day at work, nothing was better than to put on pjs and watch our friends in "New Directions" compete in sectionals - against all odds and stolen set lists, pulling two new songs out of their hats in an hour. Awesome. My inner choir nerd has been awakened. Not that she's ever been far. Glee, my life really would suck without you.
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Challenge 2009 Art Isn't Easy...
Today's task: describe something that really made you grow this year. That made you go to your edge and then some. What made it the best challenge of the year for you?
Based on this week I might say it's getting my hands on workable winter gear. I have lived in this danged city MY.WHOLE.LIFE and I still don't have a decent pair of winter boots. The Merrells I bought have these zippers that worked their way undone while I was walking to and from work. I would stop to zip them up and then I'd feel one of them coming loose again. FAIL, Merrell. FAIL.
No, okay, seriously. Wet feet and trying to walk to work without toppling headfirst into major intersections are not (surprisingly?) my greatest challenge this year.
I guess I would have to say that my job has really made me grow this year. We're a small department, and everyone has to hold their own. I feel like I've grown a lot and learned lots of new things, and I keep getting more responsibilities so I'm gonna keep growing! Pushed to the edge and then some? Oh, definitely. When one writes institutional grants for funding, there is the constant pressure of deadlines and making sure everything is just so. Managing these relationships so that people want to KEEP giving us funding. Finding NEW sources of funding and learning, first hand what everyone is talking about in terms of these "tough economic times" - major corporations losing money = no money (or less money) to give non-profits like mine. Stock market issues effect (or affect?) the portfolios of individuals AND foundations and so they have less money to give as well. It's gotta come from somewhere, right??
I love my job (usually) but it's been a challenge because after all... "Having just a vision's no solution, everything depends on execution... the art of making art, is putting it together."
Based on this week I might say it's getting my hands on workable winter gear. I have lived in this danged city MY.WHOLE.LIFE and I still don't have a decent pair of winter boots. The Merrells I bought have these zippers that worked their way undone while I was walking to and from work. I would stop to zip them up and then I'd feel one of them coming loose again. FAIL, Merrell. FAIL.
No, okay, seriously. Wet feet and trying to walk to work without toppling headfirst into major intersections are not (surprisingly?) my greatest challenge this year.
I guess I would have to say that my job has really made me grow this year. We're a small department, and everyone has to hold their own. I feel like I've grown a lot and learned lots of new things, and I keep getting more responsibilities so I'm gonna keep growing! Pushed to the edge and then some? Oh, definitely. When one writes institutional grants for funding, there is the constant pressure of deadlines and making sure everything is just so. Managing these relationships so that people want to KEEP giving us funding. Finding NEW sources of funding and learning, first hand what everyone is talking about in terms of these "tough economic times" - major corporations losing money = no money (or less money) to give non-profits like mine. Stock market issues effect (or affect?) the portfolios of individuals AND foundations and so they have less money to give as well. It's gotta come from somewhere, right??
I love my job (usually) but it's been a challenge because after all... "Having just a vision's no solution, everything depends on execution... the art of making art, is putting it together."
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
2009 moment of peace
If I was really cool, right here I could tell you how I achieve Zen by the art of meditation (on a noodle?) and extremely difficult yoga poses, drinking green tea and playing finger chimes. But I'm not cool like that. My most peaceful moments are those when I am completely relaxed, maybe reading a book while lying on my bed, with a warm kitty curled up by my side.
Monday, December 07, 2009
blog find of 09
Since I forgot to post yesterday, you get 2 of these for the price of one (good deal, yes?) so... I am a creature of habit, and I frequent the same blogs/websites on a daily basis. When a new one is introduced, I simply add it to the rotation. But something that is totally addictive that I just really started doing this year, is Facebook. I love reading updates from people I went to grade school with, for example, and keeping track of other friends that I don't get to see very often. So there you go. Not very exciting, but that's my "find" of the year. I wonder how long peope will stay interested in recording their movements so closely online, but as long as people want to do it, I will read and update my status too.
truly, a day that will live in infamy...
So I took the early train this morning, and am slip-sliding my way down the streets of Chicago. Get to Wacker and Washington, start to cross and fall FACE FIRST into Wacker Drive, hitting my chin on the way down and soaking myself in the process. Now my face kind of hurts.
Wlecome to Monday - is this the kind of week it's going tobe?
Wlecome to Monday - is this the kind of week it's going tobe?
Saturday, December 05, 2009
Conference 09: The ILCDP
December 6 Workshop or conference. Was there a conference or workshop you attended that was especially beneficial? Where was it? What did you learn?
This year, in my on-going quest to Become a Better Grant Writer, I visited both the Donors' Forum Library and attended several workshops hosted at the Chicago Cultural Center, including one centering around the development and implementation of the Illinois Cultural Data Project.
The arts sector is notoriously flaky - for the most part it's - "Business model? What business model? We're ARTISTS, man!" Which makes it very difficult to "benchmark" or track stats that other sectors do pretty naturally. Several years ago, The Pew Charitable Trusts in PA started a data collection system for non-profit arts groups. These organizations could use this online module, free of charge and input financials, admission info, ticket and marketing info, all kinds of great stuff. With the click of a mouse, all kinds of useful financial reports could be generated and submitted to funders as a part of their grant process, in a standardized way. Other organizations can also access some of this information to benchmark certain aspects of business. Funders and advocates can also access some of this information, like how large is the arts sector in Illinois? How much revenue does it generate? How many people are employed as part of this sector? all of which makes it WAY easier to appeal to state and national governments for arts funding.**
A group of corporate and foundation funders in Illinois adapted this model and have started implementing it here, hence the ILCDP training session I had to attend. It is internet-based, and requires A LOT of data entry. Naturally, the way they would like to see the information entered is totally different from the way we have it in our audited statements etc, and so despite the fact that we had an intern input FY2007 and FY2008 in the summer, we only just finished submitting this stuff to the CDP.
But I think it will (eventually) be really helpful in our grant process, especially with generating the specialized reports. Quick and easy are always good!!
** In case anyone in Illinois was wondering, our state arts budget was cut hugely this year, with grants coming in about 50% less than they were last year.
This year, in my on-going quest to Become a Better Grant Writer, I visited both the Donors' Forum Library and attended several workshops hosted at the Chicago Cultural Center, including one centering around the development and implementation of the Illinois Cultural Data Project.
The arts sector is notoriously flaky - for the most part it's - "Business model? What business model? We're ARTISTS, man!" Which makes it very difficult to "benchmark" or track stats that other sectors do pretty naturally. Several years ago, The Pew Charitable Trusts in PA started a data collection system for non-profit arts groups. These organizations could use this online module, free of charge and input financials, admission info, ticket and marketing info, all kinds of great stuff. With the click of a mouse, all kinds of useful financial reports could be generated and submitted to funders as a part of their grant process, in a standardized way. Other organizations can also access some of this information to benchmark certain aspects of business. Funders and advocates can also access some of this information, like how large is the arts sector in Illinois? How much revenue does it generate? How many people are employed as part of this sector? all of which makes it WAY easier to appeal to state and national governments for arts funding.**
A group of corporate and foundation funders in Illinois adapted this model and have started implementing it here, hence the ILCDP training session I had to attend. It is internet-based, and requires A LOT of data entry. Naturally, the way they would like to see the information entered is totally different from the way we have it in our audited statements etc, and so despite the fact that we had an intern input FY2007 and FY2008 in the summer, we only just finished submitting this stuff to the CDP.
But I think it will (eventually) be really helpful in our grant process, especially with generating the specialized reports. Quick and easy are always good!!
** In case anyone in Illinois was wondering, our state arts budget was cut hugely this year, with grants coming in about 50% less than they were last year.
Friday, December 04, 2009
2009 Best Night Out - Love & A Rocket Ship...
The best night out in 2009 was undoubtedly the U2 360 concert at Soldier Field. There are several outings I have had with my girls, Heidi & Jane, that qualify as Life's Most Perfect Moments - I would count Edwin's concert at Navy Pier, any of our rock boat trips, and, well, this evening (which is why - DUH - it qualifies as the Best Night Out of 2009.)On a gorgeous day, that was more summerlike than fall, we spent time at MSI, had dinner at Leona's and then... it was time to see THE BAND. Nobody else reduces me to a quivering jelly pile of fan girl like Bono, the Edge, Larry and Adam. As soon as we paid our $45 bucks for parking (!!!!) we were in - with thousands & thousands of our closest friends, who were tailgating in the parking lot, listening to U2 on their radios. Ah yes, girls, we're in the right place!
The evening was pure magic...Standing on our feet the whole time, singing along at the top of our lungs with everyone else...one of the best moments was when Bono asked the crowd to hold up their collective cell phones (because yes, we all had them, and yes, we all had them ON, to take photos, to leave a voicemail message for ourselves at work, etc etc etc) so he could see us all, like tiny stars in the blackness of the night... our own little constellation, he called us...
The giant crazy stage with its huge screens so that the band was constantly visible no matter where you were sitting. Larger than life, in every possible way.
Magnificent, indeed.
best book - 2009
Today's task:
December 4 Book. What book - fiction or non - touched you? Where were you when you read it? Have you bought and given away multiple copies?
Well, I don't know the Secret (but I have come close to discovering Victoria's Secret - ba dum bum!), what color my parachute is or even who moved my cheese. The book that moved me was A Lion Called Christian the true story of two Aussie blokes and their adopted pet... lion. They eventually set him free in Africa and when they visited him later on, he greeted them joyously. The reunion has been set to "I Will Always Love You" sung by Whitney Houston and posted on youtube. It's making me cry just sitting here typing about it. There is a kids book version of the story, which I spotted in Target last weekend and I was all a-blither just paging through it (I may or may not be receiving said kids picture book as a Christmas present).
What is it about this story? I loved reading about the bond forged between these guys and this lion, how they bought him from Harrods (of all places) and cared for him in the basement of an furniture shop in London. Then they had to teach him how to BE a lion when they brought him to Africa.
December 4 Book. What book - fiction or non - touched you? Where were you when you read it? Have you bought and given away multiple copies?
Well, I don't know the Secret (but I have come close to discovering Victoria's Secret - ba dum bum!), what color my parachute is or even who moved my cheese. The book that moved me was A Lion Called Christian the true story of two Aussie blokes and their adopted pet... lion. They eventually set him free in Africa and when they visited him later on, he greeted them joyously. The reunion has been set to "I Will Always Love You" sung by Whitney Houston and posted on youtube. It's making me cry just sitting here typing about it. There is a kids book version of the story, which I spotted in Target last weekend and I was all a-blither just paging through it (I may or may not be receiving said kids picture book as a Christmas present).
What is it about this story? I loved reading about the bond forged between these guys and this lion, how they bought him from Harrods (of all places) and cared for him in the basement of an furniture shop in London. Then they had to teach him how to BE a lion when they brought him to Africa.
Thursday, December 03, 2009
come for the food, stay for the...
Still playing catch up on the 2009 challenge - here's yesterday's prompt: Restaurant Moment Share the best restaurant experience you had this year. Who was there? What made it amazing? What taste stands out in your mind?
I would probably have to say Baker's Square wins this. We usually end up there after our usual dining decision making process which goes something like this:
What do you want for dinner?
I dunno. Food.... And it's (Heidi/Kristen/Jane/whoever)'s choice night!!
This goes on for quite a while, usually. Someone will put forth some suggestions and we will narrow them down OR sometimes we let fate decide. More often than not? Baker's Square. Obviously, this wins the category not because the food is so completely amazing (it's not. But the pie is!) but because it's our hangout. We've had some completely outrageous/hillarious conversations there.
And hey - Wednesday? Is free pie night.
I would probably have to say Baker's Square wins this. We usually end up there after our usual dining decision making process which goes something like this:
What do you want for dinner?
I dunno. Food.... And it's (Heidi/Kristen/Jane/whoever)'s choice night!!
This goes on for quite a while, usually. Someone will put forth some suggestions and we will narrow them down OR sometimes we let fate decide. More often than not? Baker's Square. Obviously, this wins the category not because the food is so completely amazing (it's not. But the pie is!) but because it's our hangout. We've had some completely outrageous/hillarious conversations there.
And hey - Wednesday? Is free pie night.
the best of 2009...
Ooh, goody, I love a challenge! And I'm already behind, so let's start with:
Best trip of 2009:
Well, that's a no-brainer -
Best trip of 2009:
Well, that's a no-brainer -
Yeah! Vegas, baby! Aside from the fact that it was pretty much the ONLY trip I took in 2009, it was, anyway, the best trip. It is CRAZY there - anything you want, you can get, any time you want it. Even for a traveler on her own who wasn't playing, there was much to do and see and look at. What a heady experience (or is that the oxygen they pump in?)! I saw my first Cirque show & Patti & walk up margarita stands & swim up bars & tacky souvenirs & lots of rhinestones & yards upon yards of 'yikes-my-retinas-are-burning-ugly-ass-carpet.'
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