a pretty great day

So, this Wednesday turned out to be unexpectedly and delightfully full of family and Broadway.  I started off the morning driving to Glendale to meet up with mom, Brooke, my Aunt Betsy and her daughter and a bunch of other lovely ladies to nibble on fruits and pastries and listen to a group of very talented women sing Broadway and Christmas tunes.  Now, don't be thinking these are just a couple ladies plunking out a melody, no, some of these ladies have had leading roles on Broadway or worked in Hollywood.  It was really a treat.  So you can see how incredibly intimidating it would be when our hostess comes to the front and impromptu asks all the sisters in the room (of which our group contains the only ones) to come up and sing Sisters from White Christmas (little did she know that we all love that 1940's Christmas classic and had all just watched it on Sunday, but still!)  To get up and sing in front of all those crazy talented women?!  Well, it was fun - and we all decided that we would have sounded much better if we'd remembered our huge, blue boa fans.  Next time...

After brunch mom, Brooke, and I poked around my mom's old stomping grounds, stopped by shops my Nana used to love, splurged on Christmas decor, perused cute neighborhoods, and ate a yummy lunch.  It's so fun to spend girl time together like that and I really kept them up north much longer than I should have, but can you blame me?

I got home around 4:00 and figured on this "brisk" (hey it was in the 50's) December night I'd put on some thick socks, make a cuppa tea and curl up on the couch with a good book.  Then I got a call from my mom that my aunt was going to the Ahmanson Theatre that night to perhaps get into a FREE showing of Peter & the Star Catcher...and, well, that sounded pretty awesome to me.  So instead of putting on PJ's, I called Dave and we made plans to run down to the theatre when he got home to see if maybe we could get in.  Dave got home by 6:15, we were out the door by 6:25, and to the theatre by 7:20 - we won't comment on how fast we drove...and then we ended up getting FREE orchestra seats!  FREE TICKETS!  To a completely great production.

It was worth it.

So, it turned out to be a pretty great Wednesday - topped off with a HUGE, fluffy, white Christmas tree outside the theatre with ornaments almost as big as my head.  What more could you want out of your weekday night?  Not much my friends, not much.

weekending

So, we had a pretty fun weekend.   What with having David around for a whole week, and then playing for another week with my family, this past week as been a little boring...so it was my goal to jazz up our weekend as much as possible.

Friday night was our Stake Temple Day, and, to be honest, I don't think Dave and I have ever actually gone to the temple on a designated ward or stake day...it's always just so much easier to go when we plan it.  But it worked out this Friday night.  I grabbed Dave from work, fed him some mac n' cheese via tupperware (fancy stuff), and we went with everyone.  It was so much fun to be surrounded by some familiar faces, and we had a lovely peaceful night.
       And P.S. the LA Temple is so ridiculous beautiful.  It is always such a treat to come see it.

Saturday turned into lesson planning day because both David and I were teaching classes in church this Sunday - and, actually, David was teaching TWO!  So we were in prep-mode.  But later in the afternoon we called it good and headed down to Griffith Park for some Shakespeare in the Park.  More accurately, it was Oliver Goldsmith in the park this weekend as they preformed She Stoops to Conquer (don't worry, we'll go back for some Shakespeare this week).  I'd never heard of this show until now, but it was tons of fun, and, besides, it's just so enjoyable to be outside on a summer's night enjoying good entertainment (for FREE!).  We gave it two thumbs way up.

And that was that.  We wrapped up the whole weekend (drum roll please), eating pie a la mode and playing dominoes on the living room floor Sunday night.  Quite the crescendo to a fun few days.

the not so miserables

In an effort to make our 1st anniversary celebrations last into September, my wonderful parents gave us tickets to see LES MISERABLES for last Saturday night and, honestly, I was living all last week for Saturday . . . and it took for. ev. er. to get there.  

Longest.  Week.  Ever.

But it was worth it because we had the best time.

First we Yelped and found a place to eat before the show, which turned out to be a wiener, I mean a winner.  We ate at Garage Dogs, which had more hotdog options than I've ever been confronted with, the yummiest strawberry milkshakes, and some killer sweet potato fries.  Sadly, any hotdog joint makes me crave a Jdawg, but this one held its own and was so yummy.  Five stars.  Recommended.  Go try it if you're in Venture County.

Due to my over-excitement we left for Thousand Oaks an hour earlier than we needed to.  (What if we were late?  I wasn't going to risk it.)  So we ate, we found the theatre, we walked around some darling shopping centers - seriously, really cute shopping centers, with tons of restaurants and outdoors seating around a little lake - and then we sat outside the theatre enjoying the warm evening, watching the clouds turn pink and the hills turn purple (and playing a bit of Angry Birds too).

Again, the show was totally worth the wait.  It was fabulous!  And since David had never seen it before it was extra fun to be there with him for his first time.  Les Mis is one of my all time favorites and a soundtrack that I grew up listening to around the house.  I've got a soft spot for it and a love for the story and its characters.  Luckily David loved it too (as if he really had a choice) and we left the theatre arm in arm humming all the songs.

It was the best night and one I'd love to do again, and again . . . and again.  (So please feel free to give us theatre tickets whenever you want.  We'll make sure to free up our schedule.)

Thanks again Mom & Dad!  We love you!

early presents

My plan didn't exactly line up with the 14th so we had to improvise.

1) A 'romantic' crock-pot dinner was planned and prepared and eaten.

A little taste of home-style cookin' (thanks to a recipe book full of my momma's best) and do you like our little Hawaii magnet?  It is seriously the only thing we brought back from our honeymoon.  I had such plans to collect some serious tangible memories...turns out stuff is more expensive in the middle of the Pacific ocean (and I didn't need a hula boy for my dashboard).

And then off to the main event.

2) Tickets to The 39 Steps at the Hale Center Theatre in Orem
Last time I saw this play I was on another lovely island toward the east:

The plane flight wasn't quite so long to the theatre Thursday night, but the show was just as good.

p.s. have you ever been to the Hale Center Theatre, my dear Utah friends?  It's kind of adorable - and to be honest we were among the youngest folks in the audience.  It was awesome.

All in all a great date night.  We just pretended it was the 14th ;)

radio.

I've always kinda had a soft spot for good, old fashioned radio programs.

I think it must have come from listening to the Drama Hour on long road-trips late into the night when I was growing up.  

Stories full of mysteries, detectives and cowboys all playing front and center right there in the back seat of the suburban.

Pretty great.

That's why Mortal Fools production of 

DRACULA

was such a treat.

It was what I'm going to call "radio theatre,"

and it was an adaptation of Orson Welles 1938 radio broadcast of Bram Stroker's original novel.

Lets start with the local:

Creepy castle up on the hill.

Behind an actual mental institution.

Late at night.

Check.

Inside the venue:

Dark, 

drafty

and intimate.

Check.

They were pretty fabulous,

but the troop's foley-artists were by far my favorite:

How do I get that job??

(yes, she's clapping coconut shells together to sound like horse's hooves and he's blowing across the top of a glass jug to sound like the wind)

P.S. They're doing a production of The Glass Menagerie in the spring.

I pretty sure I remember hating that book in middle school, but if it's this good...I might just have to go see it anyways.

frankie, bobby, nikki & tommy

Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons

Who knew these guys were so great?

Oh What A Night

Can't Take My Eyes Off of You

Beggin'
Sherry
My Eyes Adore You
C'Mon Marianne

At the rate I'm listening to these boys they'll make it to the top of my 25 most played list in no time.

the theatre the theatre

how to see shows in  
{London}

1. be a student
2. go to the box office an hour before the show
3. get a huge discount on great seats
4. enjoy productions like these:

Les Miserables

A Midsummer Night's Dream at Shakespeare's Globe

Phantom of the Opera

Macbeth at Shakespeare's Globe

Peter Pan

Wicked

Sister Act

War Horse

Oliver

Legally Blonde

 

a little bit of pixie dust

if you're thinking this wasn't your normal, average production of peter pan...you'd be right.
it was better.
i won't give you an in depth enough low-down of the play, but this review does.
basically my favorite parts were:
a. their scottish accents
b. tinkerbell was a ball of fire
c. the coolest lighting effect to make peter look like he was underwater that was kind of the best thing ever
and d. 10 pound tickets

lost boys forever!

the scottish play

think Knots Scary Farm meets Shakespeare with a bit more gore and Scottish accents and you've got the basic framework for The Globe's production of Macbeth.  fabulously acted and interestingly portrayed, we as groundlings got the full effect being 2 feet away from the stage and sticking our heads through a tarp to keep most some of the blood off.

yes a tarp.

we were heads in hell.

all in all it was pretty great.

or maybe Macbeth and Malcolm were just ridiculously good looking.
who knows.

Eurydice

Eurydice at the Young Vic.  

think Greek tragedy meets modern contemporary set to some soulful jazz.  i liked it, some didn't, but i'm pretty sure we all had a good time quoting it on the tube ride home.
check out a review here

oh dear...

really?  am i so hair brained here that i didn't blog about st. pauls or les miserables? i'm a little embaressed.

ok here are my 5 best things about st. pauls:

#1 - it's HUGE, and had they let me take pictures inside i would have snapped a shot of the inside of the dome for you, it makes you feel like an ant.

#2 - you won't have to exercise the day you visit the cathedral because, no joke, it is a whopping 1060 steps to get to the top, i promise you'll get some cardio.

 this your progress halfway to top

see those black specks?

those are people

#3 - you don't have to do your hair the day you visit st. pauls either because once you get to the top no one will be able to tell if you did or not anyway.

#4 - the VIEW from the top is absolutely fantastic, highly recommended and definitely worth the ridiculous amounts of stairs

and #5 - if you feel so inclined you can definitely pull a Mary Poppins and feed the birds on the steps of st. pauls, this is not only appropriate, but encouraged

and 5 tips for the best london les miserables experience :

1. get there an hour early and buy fabulous student seats for under 30 pounds

2. wonder about the theatre district and perhaps accidentally come across china town

3. sit next to the most darling elderly Australian couple that asks you after every act, 'now isn't this just fabulous?'

4. have the most amazing actor play jean valjean and hang on his every word


and 5. come out after the play to buckets of rain, but don't care because you're in london and you just saw les mis and your still stupidly happy about it

a midspring play production

{disclaimer for all posts made while i am abroad}
blogging is done in between classes, before bed and whenever other times i can find to squeeze in a post or two, so i apologize upfront for posts of events and goings on being out of chronological order

with that said...

we went to Shakespeare's Globe a bit ago (two weeks ago) and saw A Midsummer Night's Dream and it was fabulous, highly recommended, and if you get groundling tickets get there early and please, for goodness sake, wear good shoes