Back to work!

Happy Tuesday everyone!!!

Good lord - Blogger is kind of pissing me off. I can't seem to get the 'New Post' screen to look the same from day to day. No matter what I try, it's never the same two days in a row and it's REALLY irritating.
For example, today the option to post pictures doesn't seem to exist - nor does spell check - but if I switch to the 'old' format - something else will be all screwed up.
Irritating.

Anyway, I'm going to try and update my blog in the mornings again.
Apparently, some of my readers depend on it as reading material to go along with their morning coffee, and who am I to force them to change their morning rituals??

This past weekend was quite fun. Friday night's rehearsal was very productive. We sang a bit and then staged one of the more complicated 'production numbers' with LOTS of stuff happening all at once. By the time we were done, it was all coming together quite nicely and it was very exciting...and yes, it sounds pretty damn awesome.

On Saturday morning, Jim and I got up early so that he could bring me to my surprise, early birthday present. As it turns out, he signed us both up for the "Die, Vampire, Die" workshop that was being held at SpeakEasy Stage in Boston.
I can't really describe it, but this is the email 'blurb' that was written about the event in order to let people know it was happening:

I am writing to let you know of a very special workshop that SpeakEasy Stage will be hosting on Saturday, Feb. 6, run by Broadway actress Susan Blackwell, one of the original cast members of [title of show].

The workshop is inspired by the popular song “Die, Vampire, Die’ from [title of show] and focuses on ways to free-up one’s creativity and self-expression by getting rid of vampires, which are defined as “any persons, thoughts or feelings that stand between you and your creative self-expression.”

In addition to writers and performers, ideal participants will be creative challenge-seekers looking for a fun, safe environment to try something new and individuals seeking satisfaction through self-expression and confidence in communication.

Themes of the workshop include Establishing a Safe Creative Space, Contributing to a Collaborative Process, Identifying and Taking Creative Risks, Tapping into Creative Freedom and Developing Clear Self-Expression.


It's difficult to explain via blog - but it was such a great experience. In spite of the fact that I was a big bag of nerves going in, I am so glad I did it and THANK YOU again to Jim for not only setting it up for me to attend, but attending it with me. It was great having him be a part of it as well.

On Saturday night we had dinner with a couple of church friends. They invited Jim, Charles and I over to dinner and they had a few other friends over as well. The food was great, their house is beautiful, and their friends were SO much fun. Hopefully we'll all get together again soon.

On Sunday, Jim and I made our choir debut at church. It also happened to be our farewell performance. :-)
It's just WAY too much time for us to deal with. It takes up enough of our day to be at church on Sundays as it is, but to add on an addition hour each week, is just way too much for one day. Everyone was very understanding, and we were happy to have at least tried it out.
The rest of the day was spent grocery shopping, catching up on our DVR'd shows and then I was flipping back and forth between the Super Bowl and God only knows what else.
I was very excited to see the Saints win, and while I'm not a huge football fan, it was a very fun game to watch.

Because of my new schedule at work, I now have every other Monday off.
AWESOMENESS.
To be perfectly honest, my schedule isn't changing at all, I'm just now getting the official benefit of the days off. I've apparently been putting in the extra hours all along but I'm only now 'reaping the benefits' so it's very fun. I spent the day yesterday cleaning and doing laundry so it wasn't the most exciting day - but it was great to have all that stuff done and out of the way, so we can spend some time relaxing this week.
I'm hearing talk of a snow storm coming this week, so I think I'm going to do a little research and see what THAT'S all about....

I hope you all had fantastic weekends and you're all doing well. :-)