2013 Wrap-Up!

It's the last day of the year!  Can you even believe it?  I can't.  It took me until about July to feel like 2013 wasn't a brand-new baby year, and I am still having trouble realizing that it's nearly over and we're onto 2014!  But, as December 31st is once again upon us, it's time to reflect on the past year.

First, books!  Again, the "books" list is not a comprehensive list of everything I've read this year.  You may notice that it appears that I read hardly anything at all once I started grad school (again), but of course, that's not true.  It's just that in grad school we read lots of articles, chapters, and parts of books, rather than books cover to cover.  And to count for my "Books, 2013" list, I needed to have read the book (or play) cover to cover.  Articles, no matter how good or influential, don't count for this list. So, Books 2013!

Persuasion, Jane Austen; The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, Catherynne M. Valente; The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There, Catherynne M. Valente; Sorcery and Cecilia, or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot, Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer; The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson; Bringing Up Bébé, Pamela Druckerman; Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel; The Pirates! In an Adventure with Communists, Gideon Defoe; Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman; A Walk with Jane Austen, Lori Smith; The Pirates! In an Adventure with Napoleon, Gideon Defoe; The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists, Gideon Defoe; Peter Pan, J.M Barrie; not merely because of the unknown that was stalking toward them, Jenny Boully; Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder; The Pirates! In an Adventure with Ahab, Gideon Defoe; A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway; Farmer Boy, Laura Ingalls Wilder; The Postman Always Rings Twice, James M. Cain; Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, Fannie Flagg; Cold Tangerines, Shauna Niequist; Colonial Virginia Cookery, Jane Carson; On the Banks of Plum Creek, Laura Ingalls Wilder; By the Shores of Silver Lake, Laura Ingalls Wilder; Divergent, Veronica Roth; Lady Susan, Jane Austen; The Long Winter, Laura Ingalls Wilder; Little Town on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder; The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith; The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera; These Happy Golden Years, Laura Ingalls Wilder; The First Four Years, Laura Ingalls Wilder; Deathless, Catherynne M. Valente; The Pirates! In an Adventure with Romantics, Gideon Defoe; Brida, Paulo Coelho; The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat, Edward Kelsey Moore; Insurgent, Veronica Roth; The French Revolution: A Very Short Introduction, William Doyle; Poems 1792, Anna Letitia Barbauld; Romanticism and Revolution, eds. Jon Mee and David Fallon; The Railway Children, E. Nesbit; Lyrical Ballads, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge; Lyrical Tales, Mary Robinson; The Tempest, William Shakespeare; Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder; Meet Kit, Valerie Tripp; A Cat on Stage Left, Lydia Adamson

I really like keeping a "books" list, because when I look back on what I've read I can remember what the year felt like.  I remember rereading my Valente "Fairyland" books early last year, and checking out Sorcery and Cecilia from the public library in Williamsburg.  I remember listening to Bringing Up Bébé as I drove up to Midlothian to meet Zan for movies early last year, when we were long-distance.  I remember reading my Pirates! books at the beach with my friends, and in Vegas.  And, despite thinking this would be the year of Jane Austen-- so promising at the beginning, and with the subsequent addiction to the webseries The Lizzie Bennett Diaries-- it turned into the year of Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I read every single Little House book this year, thanks in large part to inspiration from my Foodways job.  I remember late summer and crying so hard over The Supremes at Earl's All-You- Can-Eat, and starting Insurgent as I tried to pack for moving up to Arlington and Georgetown.  There were early days of reading The French Revolution outside while the weather was still nice, and after October midterms from hell, relaxing on the law center bus with The Railway Children as I headed to Cabaret rehearsal.  Then Thanksgiving as I formatted The Tempest script, and Foodways and Christmas again-- which always brings out The Little House in the Big Woods.  Plus, this year... I got a Kit Kittredge American Girl doll for Christmas!!!  She's so beautiful, with blue eyes and freckles and so of course, I just had to read the Meet Kit book that came with her.  Call me crazy, but I'm definitely back into the American Girl fold, at least for a bit.  Slightly obsessed.  I predict that this coming year might be the year of the American Girl books... in between reading for my classes.

Next, Movies 2013!  This is the first year I've done movies, and I've really enjoyed it.  I think recording the films I watch has inspired me to see more films than I would have otherwise.  There are always a million reasons not to watch a movie, even if I really want to, but feeling a kind of accountability on this blog motivated me to see things such as The Artist, Fargo, All About Eve, The African Queen, and Mud.  It's even gotten me into the theaters a few times this year!  Granted, a few of those times were meet-in-the-middle, long-distance dates with Zan in Midlothian, but it was still really fun to see the films and to add them to this list.  And, as with the books, this list reminds me of times and places, like visiting Kay in Philadelphia, or watching The Incredibles on Captiva with Zan and my mom in our little beach villa.

Les Miserables (2012), The Cabin in the Woods (2012), Gone with the Wind (1939), The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012), Silver Linings Playbook (2012), Fargo (1996), The Artist (2011), The Princess Bride (1987), Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013), Waking Sleeping Beauty (2009), The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), Wreck-It Ralph (2012), Chocolat (2000), Sense and Sensibility (1995), The Music Man (2003), Pride and Prejudice (1995), St. Ives (1998), How to Train Your Dragon (2010), Jurassic Park (1993), The Kids Are Alright (2011), All About Eve (1950), Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013), Life of Pi (2012), Princes et Princesses (2000), Monsters University (2013), Cars (2006), Tales of the Night (2011), 1776 (1972), Despicable Me (2010), Much Ado About Nothing (2012), Lilo and Stitch (2002), Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (1979), Mary Poppins (1964), The Incredibles (2004), The African Queen (1951), Mud (2012), Bridget Jones' Diary (2001), Practical Magic (1998), Halloweentown (1998), The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949); Hocus Pocus (1993), Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), Thor (2011), Thor: The Dark World (2013), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001), Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas (2004), The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), White Christmas (1954), Brave (2012), Frozen (2013), Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas (1999), The Santa Clause (1994), Love Actually (2003), A Muppet's Christmas: Letters to Santa (2008), The Year Without A Santa Claus (1974), Elf (2003), The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), American Hustle (2013)

I think a Movies widget was a successful experiment, and I look forward to Movies 2014!  I think I'll start with either the new Hobbit movie, or else Saving Mr. Banks.  

To be honest, I'm ending this year on a bit of a down note.  The past few days I've felt, as noted in my last post, a little blue.  I don't feel like I'm where I should be with my life-- still in school (for my fourth year of grad school, and I'm not in a PhD program), apartment-less, career-less (see, "still in school"), unsure of the future.  I know I'm working towards an M.A. that will be useful to me, but I can't help but feel like I'm treading water.  Working and working and getting absolutely no where at all.  I guess most of us feel this way in our 20s.  But it doesn't help to look around at friends building successful careers, marriages, families, and lives.  Or to look at Jennifer Lawrence, whom I adore, but who is younger than me and acting with Christian Bale-- a.k.a Laurie, from Little Women.  I mean, he was grown-up when I was a kid.  How am I old enough to play his wife, and yet, I'm not doing just that?  I'm treading water.  She has an Academy Award.  Zan always says I shouldn't compare myself to other people (granted, Jennifer Lawrence is not who I am usually comparing to; it's usually Kate Middleton.  JUST KIDDING!  It's really usually all of the people in my Facebook feed buying houses and posting about engagements and landing dream jobs; I'm so happy for them, but it makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong with my own life).  He has a point, but it's hard not to compare, especially when I feel so totally unsure all of the time.  It's not that I'm gunning for a ring, or that I know what city I want to settle in.  I don't even want kids-- ever!-- but I can't help feeling like I'm doing something wrong.  I feel so... behind.  And really, I feel like all I want right now is to get in the car and drive.  I want to go to the beach, to write and paint.  I want to cut across Tennessee and Texas.  I want to go to the other coast.  

But, 2013 has been a very good year, overall.  And 2014 is on its way in just a few short hours.  Here's to a new year, new adventures, new books, new movies.  Here's to old friends and new experiences.  Here's to letting go of stress and worry.  Here's to optimism.  Here's to opportunity.  Thanks for everything 2013!  Welcome, 2014!

A Little Blue

After Christmas always has a letting down period.  We build up, and build up, and build up.  Packages come in the mail everyday, and everyone scurries to hide presents in nooks, and more wrapped gifts appear under the tree.  We visit the post-office, full of joy as we send off loving bundles into the world.  We watch movies we only watch once a year, read books that only come out on Christmas eve.  We build gingerbread houses and bake cookies.  We look at all the lights. 

Then Christmas is gone and it's still winter.

This year my aunt came to visit all the way from Texas; we had a wonderful three days with her!  I was working most of the time, but we still had fun.  We ate at wonderful restaurants.  She came to visit me in the colonial kitchens.  Zan came down, too, to meet her.  But today they all left.

Today I also finished my job with Foodways, and the real world seems to be pressing down again harder than ever.  A glossary and actor packet to complete for The Tempest.  A dentist appointment tomorrow.  Returning my 18th-century clothing.  Planning for the next week as I prepare for New Years, then return to Georgetown and classes and dramaturging and stress.  Trying for another semester to find an affordable apartment.  Nothing I wanted to do over break seems to have been accomplished.  I didn't read the books I thought I would.  I got no cross-stitching done.  I haven't even spent as much time with the cats as I'd hoped.  And now it's about three quarters over.  

So, I'm a little blue. 

The Best Day of the Year

My refrain for most of the year, as Zan will attest, is "Christmas is coming!"  But Christmas isn't my favorite day of the year.  Today, Christmas Eve, is my favorite day of the year.  On Christmas Eve, all of the anticipation of Christmas is at its best.  On Christmas Eve we bake cookies for Santa.  On Christmas Eve all of the presents are under the tree, beautiful, full of promise, still waiting to be opened.  This Christmas Eve, we're watching "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (cartoon version, obviously), Elf, and probably The Year Without a Santa Claus.  Later tonight, we'll have ham and potatoes and we'll eat some of our freshly baked cookies.  We will listen as Linus tells us the story of the birth of Jesus in "A Charlie Brown Christmas."  Then, we'll pop popcorn, make hot chocolate, and, as we always do, watch The Muppet Christmas Carol.

(The sweetest present under the tree)

 (Baking for Santa!)

(My ballet bear ornament; I've had her since I was four)

Afterwards, I'll go upstairs and I'll read.  On Christmas Eve I bring out my favorite Christmas children's books to read, like Merry Christmas, Strega Nona!, The Polar Express, and Santa Calls.  There's something really special about reading these stories year after year, in the stillness of Christmas Eve.  The windows shine bright with candlelight as we await the Christ child.  The world holds its breath, anticipating Christmas morn.  There's something genuinely magical about this day.

It's the best day of the year. 

SnapChat Alert-- From the Elf!

The elf got crafty.

A few days ago, I received a SnapChat from the elf-- from Zan's phone!  I don't remember what it said, but it shook me up a little.  I wasn't expecting to receive a digital message from the elf.  I thought I had escaped left him behind when I returned home for the holidays.

Moreover, I couldn't believe the elf was using Zan's phone!  That meant that he was close to Zan, and Zan didn't even know!!!  Fearing for Zan's safety, I texted him: "The elf just sent me a SnapChat from your phone."  He replied simply, "Oh no!!!"

Thinking that was the end of the matter, I went about my day.  A few hours later, I received another SnapChat from Zan's phone.  But not from Zan: it was again from the elf.  A terrifying message.  A bone-chilling SnapChat.  I managed to screenshot this one, to prove to the world that the elf is all-knowing.  And also out to get me.

So beware!  Beware!  Physical distance will not stop the elf.  

There is no escaping from his watchful eye.

Or his creepy Kewpie-doll face.

(See the first Elf post here.
See this year's Return of the Elf here.

See how ever-watchful the Elf is here.)

Queen's Cake and Roasting Chestnuts On An Open Fire

On my second day back to work, I decided to make a Queen's Cake.  In full disclosure, I'm going through a bit of an American Girl phase at the moment.  Last week, my mom and I went through my Felicity collection, straightened it out, figured out what we owned, put it in the proper boxes, etc.  In her tea set, Felicity has a Queen's Cake.  So, it'd been on my mind.

(Mmm Queen's Cake!)

A Queen's Cake is your basic pound cake, except you add in cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, and currants.  My currants were soaked in a liberal amount of brandy, which also found its way into the cake itself.  For those who want to know: first, take a pound of butter.  Using your hands, work the butter until it's very soft and creamy.  This takes longer in a cold, cold kitchen than it will in your climate-controlled kitchen at home.  Once the butter has been creamed, add in a pound of sugar and work it into the butter.  Work and work until you can barely feel the grains of sugar in the butter anymore.  This also takes a while, but your hands get a nice butter-sugar scrub, so that's good.  Then, separate your eggs into two bowls-- one for yolks, one for whites.  Whip up your yolks good, then fold them into the butter-sugar mixture.  Next, whip up your whites really well, until they are starting to become like a solid froth.  Like bubbles in a bath tub.  The whites are your leavening in this cake, so the more whipped they become, the lighter the cake.  This will be a dense cake no matter what, so be sure to really, really whip those whites.  Fold them into the mixture.  Then add in your flour, get it to a batter, then add in your spices and currants.  Once you've worked it altogether, put it into a buttered/greased small cake pan (or bundt pan) and bake... at cake-heat until done.  If you recall from this summer, I really can't give you a better estimate than that.  Maybe 350 degrees for 45 minutes?  It will also depend on your cake pan; just keep an eye on it is all.  Then, enjoy!

I personally like a slice of Queen's Cake for breakfast.

Anyway, it was cold outside that day, so Barbara also decided that we should roast some chestnuts.  My goodness!  "Chestnuts roast[ed] on a open fire" are amazing!!!  They are kind of chewy and sweet and totally wonderful.  Years ago we had some very bad roasted chestnuts that totally put me off of them, but these!  These were amazing!  Plus, it's not often you can say "Oh, yes, I went to work and roasted chestnuts on an open fire."  What a perfect way to get into the Christmas spirit!

(Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)

Hog to Ham: 'Little House' Style

On Saturday, I helped butcher seven hogs.

So take warning, there be graphic photos ahead, mateys.  If you're squeamish, or don't want to see  pictures of a butchering, I suggest you stop here.  There are dismembered pig bodies and blood in these photos.

Yes, you read that right.  On Saturday, I returned to Foodways for the holiday season.  Once more, I put on my shift, layered up my petticoats, straightened my cap, and headed to the kitchens.  This time, I also wore some thermals under my eighteenth-century getup, and luckily the costume center gave me a pair of mitts and a winter weight kerchief.

And my first day back?  Our annual "Hog to Ham" program.  If you've ever read the butchering chapter in Laura Ingalls Wilder's The Little House in the Big Woods, you'll have a pretty clear sense of how my day went. We began the morning at eight, with the delivery of the hogs.  They were slaughtered and cleaned off-site at a professional slaughterhouse (bristles scraped; heart, liver, bladder, etc. removed; thank goodness); we just got the bodies.



We divided into rotating teams: I headed Team 4.  We had four stations: "Hog to Ham," Palace Kitchen, Larding and Salting, and Wrapping.  Team 4 started in the kitchen, which was quite a nice way to start the day-- and my first day back.  Since Butchering Day is a special day, we fixed a big lunch for everyone.  We roasted beef on the spit, made fried apples and fried potatoes, and grilled some (freshly butchered) porkchops on the grid-iron.  When the first pig head came off, I was very glad to be stirring the apples.

At the start of Hog 2, we went to wrapping, but we didn't have a lot of cuts to wrap at first (since we wrap as they bring us the cuts of meat from the butchering), so we helped carry all of the food to the break-room and took a minute to eat some of our goods-- including pre-prepared Chelsea Buns, Pears Stewed Portuguese, and bourbon balls!  Then for Hog 3 we switched to Larding and Salting.  I was in the Larding Room, rendering lard.  Basically, you cut up bits of fat from the freshly butchered pig, then put it in a pot over a not-too-hot fire, and strain the lard through cheesecloths into a big jar.  Once the pieces of lard have boiled down enough, they become cracklings, which are very tasty.







Then Hog 4.  We were at the "Hog to Ham" station.  We got the pig we dubbed Il Monstro. He weighed 210 dressed down, 250 when alive.  He had a nose ring.  I cut the head meat to the bone (basically, I cut off the head) and then another member of my team gave the head a twist to make it come off.  I'm very glad I wasn't the one to give the head a twist.  Then I scraped out the fat from the hog's side with my hands.  It was very, very difficult.  I felt a little shaky once all that was done.  Then I removed the kidney buried in the fat, and took the fat to the larding station.  Then we cut the pig down the spine both ways, to separate it into two sides.  We chopped the spine meat into three sections-- top chine, middle chine, and bottom chine.  I used the hatchet to chop out the bottom chine.  It wasn't easy work.  We also chopped the tail off-- another group in town wanted the tail for a program, so I didn't get to roast it like Laura, which was disappointing.




 



Then, we removed the ribs from one of the sides, then the shoulder and ham.  We repeated this with the second side.  We also cut off the trotters at the joint.  I took all four of the trotters over to the wrapping station. 



Once our pig was done, it had begun to rain.  Our next station was the kitchen.  We cleaned up what was left, and did the day's buckets.  Then off to wrapping-- and this time there was lots of work.  We wrapped, and labeled, and wrapped, and labeled for the rest of the afternoon-- the teams fell apart after the rain started, as those who were dry were told to stay dry, and those who were wet became soaked.  I did go back out for the last hog, and again cut the head to the bone (but didn't twist), and held the legs back while another woman cut down the spine of the hog.  Then back to wrapping and labeling until 3:30 or so.  Once all of the hogs were done, we adjourned to the kitchen until closing time, warming ourselves and steaming off by the cozy fire, as the rain came steadily down outside.

I wouldn't say it was something I would want to do regularly, but it was a very interesting day.  It gave me a lot to think about.  The meat is now being salted, then will be smoked.  Some of it has gone into modern freezers for use in later Foodways programs.  It will be very tasty, I assure all you omnivores out there.  Or carnivores.

And now, I'm back in Foodways!  Look out for more recipes!

Peter Rabbit is a Stupid Book

I don't really think Peter Rabbit is a stupid book.  But I really do compulsively listen to "The Book Report" from You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown when I'm running into difficulties with paper-writing.  And right now, I'm having difficulties with paper-writing.  Probably I'm just running dry.  I've written twenty-seven pages since Sunday.  I've only changed out of my flannel sleepy-time pants once.  I'm about 1,500 words from finishing the semester.  And my brain wants to shut off.

So, this song.  The best part is, the song is perfect for all stages of paper-writing.

First, I'm Charlie Brown: "If I start writing now when I'm not really rested it could upset my thinking which is no good at all, I'll get a fresh start tomorrow and it's not due to Wednesday, so I'll have all of Tuesday, I should start writing now." And "How can they expect us to write a book report of any quality in just two days?  How do they conspire to make life so miserable, and so effectively, in so many ways?"

Then I'm a mix of Schroeder and Linus, wanting to write about something fun that's only loosely connected to the topic I should write on ("It reminded me of Robin Hood!") or wanting to analyze the topic from a standpoint that I'm pretty sure my professor is not going to like so much and/or that will be very difficult to write about effectively ("I plan to discuss the sociological implications of family pressures so great as to drive an otherwise moral rabbit to commit acts of thievery which he consciously knew were against the law.").

Right now, though, I'm Lucy: "Peter Rabbit is a stupid book about a stupid rabbit who steals vegetables from other people's gardens. One-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight-nine-ten-eleven-twelve-thirteen-fourteen-fifteen-sixteen-seventeen.  Hmm. Eighty-three to go!"

Except, for the moment, put all of this in the context of the British 1790s, Lyrical Ballads, and Coleridge.

Many Things vs. Nothing

I think I have a problem; I think many of my friends and colleagues share this problem.  See if you can spot the problem in the story below.

On Wednesday, I woke up a bit late-- it was my first day after classes, after all!-- took a shower, and made tea.  We had no milk, so I MacGyver-ed a dollop of whipped cream into "milk" for my Earl Grey, and realized that I needed to hit up the grocery store.  While drinking my morning tea, I talked to my best friend online; we haven't had a chance to talk in awhile, so it was nice to catch up.  While we talked, I half-watched a couple of episodes of Phineas and Ferb, one of my favorite shows that I haven't watched in ages.  Then, I decided to make the trek to the big galleria nearby to go Christmas shopping for my niece.  I spent a little too long picking out things for my niece, then I found a few items in the store that I wanted, too, and indulged a little.  But not too very much, since this was a Christmas shopping trip for others.  After I left the shop, I put on my blinders as I walked through the rest of the mall, and was very good and didn't even look at any clothing or shoes or anything.  On my way home, I stopped at Trader Joe's for necessary foodstuffs-- like milk, butter, salad supplies.  Hooray for having food in the house again!  Then, I watched Brave, ate soup, drank more tea (now with milk in it, instead of whipped cream).  After Brave ended, I put away my clean laundry and organized my room-- it desperately needed it.  Around 7:45, I began to make revisions to my classroom sequence for my Approaches to Teaching Writing class, and a little after 8:30 I left to get a celebratory "end-of-classes" drink with two girls from Georgetown.  As all three of us gathered 'round our delectable skillet cornbread and apple fritters, I said with feeling, "I've done nothing today."  My friend replied, "Oh goodness, I know.  Me either!"

Do you see the problem? It's in the "nothing."  Shortly after saying it, I realized, that my "nothing" referred only to academic work.  I didn't write any papers or do any reading.  I spent only forty-five minutes doing anything academic at all.

But I had a lovely day.  I felt so relaxed and happy, doing many, many things.  I think it is this trick of language, this "nothing," that so often makes me feel my life is worthless.  I need to think of another word to signify that I did not write papers or read for class.  Academics are important, but they are not everything.  Taking a day off to recharge after a semester of intense classes does not mean my life consists of "nothing." Because if spending a day talking to friends, Christmas shopping for family, watching a good film, running necessary errands, and having a late dinner with people I care about is "nothing," how can I expect to have a fulfilling life?

the Great E[lf] is ever watchful

A normal day.  Just returned from Thanksgiving break.  I get out of a nice hot shower, and wrap myself in an oversized, downy robe.  Humming to myself, I walk to my room.  I begin to scan through my closet for an outfit to wear.  Then I freeze. 

I see it.  I see it.  Watching from the darkness, his evil concealed, but never sleeping.

The elf.  Hiding in a box by my bed.

My blood runs cold.

How long he has been there I know not.  I shudder thinking of the nights I might have fallen asleep with him but a foot away, waiting.  Watching.  Whispering.  Reporting my movements to Mordor the North Pole.  Were not there times I heard a scratching noise in the darkness, which I dismissed as the sounds of the city?  His gaze pierces through cloud, shadow, earth and flesh.


(See the first Elf post here.
See this year's Return of the Elf here.) 
 

Thankful for Books, Cats, and Christmas Trees

I haven't yet written about Thanksgiving day or my weekend at home yet, but it was lovely, so I don't want to forget it.  It sounds quite simple: I went home for a the long weekend.  I spent time with my beautiful cats (and my parents, of course).  We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and I took advantage of online sales to get most of my Christmas shopping done.  We ate delicious food, including two kinds of pie.  After dinner, we went for a walk down DoG Street; the air was cool and crisp and perfectly autumnal.

Over the weekend, my mom and I visited a rare bookstore, and I found quite a few goodies-- including a facsimile of the First Folio (Shakespeare)!!!  Merry Christmas to me!  I also got a lovely edition of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass from the 1940s-- hardcover and fully illustrated for just twelve dollars (!), a first edition of a book of poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay for eight dollars (!) and Princess Mary's Gift Book-- a book put together for Princess Mary during WWI (around 1918) with all proceeds going to the Queen's "Work for Women" fund (on sale for three dollars!).  It has in it a specially written Scarlet Pimpernel story by Baroness Orczy!  Oh I love bookstores full of old and interesting books!!!  Perhaps I should take this as a sign that I should get into the rare book business.  Such joy in books and bookstores!

After spending the afternoon in the bookshop, my mom and I finished decorating our Christmas tree.  We had started that morning with my dad before he returned north for work-- we hung our traditional first ornaments-- then that night, we put in Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas, popped popcorn, made hot chocolate, and finished decorating.  Decorating the tree just after Thanksgiving-- usually within a day or two-- is one of my favorite ways to usher in the Christmas season.  This year, we even put out this little Hallmark ornament set we got when I was very little called The Bearingtons of Victoria Circle.  Everything looks so festive and bright.  I just love Christmas time.

But as much as I loved the Thanksgiving food, the Christmas decorating, formatting The Tempest script for performance, and those gorgeous hours in a rare bookshop, my favorite moment of the weekend came Friday night.  All was still and quiet; a kind of drowsy, contented quietness.  I sat with my both of my kitties on my lap, the only light coming from the glow of the Christmas candles in the window, the only sounds the soft purrs and snores of Rhett and Felix.  Happiness.

Being transported and rapt in secret studies

Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, I officially donned by dramaturg hat!  I formatted and edited The Tempest for our GGSS production.  The directors sent me an HTML edition with their initial cuts.  I then went through and, cross-referencing the 2008 Norton Shakespeare edition, formatted to show shared lines, corrected spelling from the HTML edition, made additional cuts, and-- at times-- chose places to share lines differently from the choices made by the editors of the Norton Shakespeare.  I would have liked to use a facsimile First Folio, but at the time I didn't have one on hand...

I also had variable punctuation between the two versions-- and boy, does punctuation matter.  Figuring out how to punctuate was a beast, because it can make such a difference in how an actor interprets a line.  Additionally, since we have several women cast as male characters, and the directors want those characters to be women, I changed pronouns, "sirs," "fathers," "brothers," "lords," and "masters" to the feminine (while trying to maintain the meter).

Altogether, formatting and editing the script for performance took nearly ten hours, but I had so much fun working with the play that I didn't even notice the time passing.  I actually wished I had more time to work with it-- but alas, it needed to get sent to the directors for approval ASAP, and I had obligations for class to worry about over the break.  And, now that classes are over... I still have two major papers to write.  But all I want to do is research for the actor packets and compile the glossary!!!  ...I think I should take this as a sign that I need to find a way to throw myself back into researching and making early modern drama-- or making some kind of theater-- full force.

Small Milestone

I have completed my first semester of classes at Georgetown!  Stress on word classes; I haven't finished my final papers yet.  But, as of 6:00 PM tonight, I am finished with classes.  It's a strange, semi-liberating feeling.  I can't feel totally free, knowing how much I have left to write, but I have a little over a week before papers are due.  So, while I know the time will fly, and I need to buckle down and write... tonight I ordered Chinese food and watched White Christmas on Netflix.  It's the little things, you know?  I'm currently winding down the evening with some peppermint tea.

Happy December, everyone. 

Celebrity Sighting

On Saturday, while getting coffee with my friend Elizabeth at Aroma's, we saw Michael Cera.

I feel like there should be a bigger story here, that I should build it up, that it should be exciting... but really, we just saw Michael Cera.  He was getting lunch at Aroma's.  He sat sort of caddy-corner from us, and through a window.  One minute we were talking, and the next Elizabeth said, "Don't look now, but Michael Cera is just behind your right shoulder."  And so he was.  We played it cool.  We didn't stare, or ask for a photograph, or an autograph.  Suddenly we noticed that the music had changed to the Juno soundtrack.  Subtle, Aroma's, subtle.  I texted Zan, and he came to Aroma's for a coffee, and we all tried not to look too much.  Then Michael Cera finished lunch and left, and I swear half of the people in the coffeeshop left, too.  A lot of tension dissipated.  I hadn't realized there had been that much tension.  We finished our coffee, Elizabeth headed off to her afternoon plans, and Zan and I visited the Shoe Attic.  We talked to Brittany about how Michael Cera was in town trying to avoid being mobbed by people.  We joked that he should come to the Shoe Attic and hide in the dressing room.  As we left we passed him sitting on the street hiding in a big coat, and a few minutes later Brittany texted that Michael Cera was in the store.  Serendipitous!  He didn't hide in the dressing room, though.

And... that's the story.  But, it was pretty cool, even if nothing big and exciting happened.  It's not something one expects to happen in Williamsburg.  In Los Angeles, sure.  Not in Williamsburg.  Not on a random Saturday, when I just happened to feel like going home for the weekend to see my cats.

Maybe the moral of the story is, sometimes being a cat lady lover leads to neat experiences.

Or... actually, just pretend I didn't say that last bit. :)

Morning Movies

Yesterday, Zan and I decided to take full advantage of our very odd work/school schedules to go see a movie together!  Both of us have evening-heavy commitments-- his work schedule means that he arrives home around 9:30 PM, and my classes and rehearsals run until late in the evening.  Most nights this fall, we've finally gotten to see each other around 10:00 or 11:00 at night.  Thus, we haven't been making it to very many of the movies we've wanted to see.  The other day while pondering this sad fact we realized: we have our mornings!  Not every morning, mind you, what with schoolwork, theater obligations, teaching seminars, and his second job, but some!

So we made a plan.  And yesterday, we followed through on that plan!  We walked up to Bayou Bakery a little before 11:00 for an early lunch of root beers, bacon and blue mac n' cheese, and a cup of gumbo, before catching an 11:30 AM showing of Thor: The Dark World.  And what a perfect morning it was!  I just love the feeling of going to a theater to see a movie.  I always forget how much I love it, but when a movie is entertaining, it really is a 2-hour escape with flashing lights, pretty people (Chris Hemsworth's abs...), and cool special effects.  Not that I only like superhero movies packed with action, but yesterday, it was just what I needed to pump me up for my afternoon Apprenticeship Teacher seminar.  I think I'll be taking in some more Morning Movies in the very near future. 

Holding Off on the Holidays

Two weeks from today, I will have finished my first semester of classes at Georgetown.  Four weeks from today I will have turned in all of my final papers, and then I will let myself buy Georgetown swag.  Yes, my gift to myself for completing the semester will be a new hoodie proclaiming that I am a Hoya for real and certain.  It's nice motivation. 

But the last weeks are always the hardest.  I want so much to start letting myself get swept up in the holiday spirit.  My December issue of Southern Living arrived the other day, and I am finding so much inspiration, but I can't really let myself indulge yet.  Christmas movies will have to wait, and I don't anticipate anyone getting homemade gifts this year-- especially since I begin working my nine-to-five again before I've even turned in my last paper.  I just don't foresee  having the time to cross-stitch or play very much with clay.  But maybe.  Maybe I'll surprise myself. 

Not that I haven't been having fun. Besides the karaoke party I mentioned a few posts back, I went to a bona fide "Christmas" party, where I drank wonderful hot chocolate, cider with rum, ate kringle and homemade cookies and s'mores, and watched A Muppet Christmas Carol.  That really made me want to go all out with the holiday love, but not yet, not yet.  Over the weekend I had dinner with Shea, and the next night I got to see a couple of friends who were visiting from out-of-town.  Tomorrow I'm attending callbacks for The Tempest and I believe Friday is the first read-through; I'm really, really excited about working on this project and rejoining the craziness that is GG&SS.  I'm really trying to balance out a social life with grad school this time around. 

Still, part of me wants to do nothing but barricade myself in my room and read and write until I have it all completed.  Part of me can't let go of the idea that I must get all of my work done before I'm allowed to play.  Part of me has trouble seeing that anything other than school obligations are really worthwhile, including working on theater, spending time with friends, visiting museums and limited-engagement events in the city, and having conversations that lead to new ideas.  Part of me still struggles with this idea of balance.

Return of the Elf

Thump-THUMP.  Thump-THUMP.

I wake up.  Zan is still asleep, and I know the best way to get him out of bed is to make coffee.

Thump-THUMP.  Thump-THUMP.

I enter the kitchen.  Standing at the sink, I can see into the family room, but I notice nothing-- yet.  I'm focused on measuring the water, putting in just the right number of scoops of ground coffee into the coffee-maker.  I never drink coffee, so the process is new to me.  I want to get it right.  Once I have started the coffee-maker, I put on a kettle for my tea.

Thump-THUMP.  It waits.

I re-enter the bedroom, and gently shake Zan awake.  "I made coffee for you," I say.  He smiles, so warm and genuine.  He gives me a kiss, and consents to come to the kitchen for coffee.  We get out mugs; he fills his with the coffee, I pour the hot water over a pouch of Earl Grey.  I begin to head to the family room to turn on the television-- I stop short.  I let out a shriek.  My soul curdles with terror. "Where did he come from?!" I cry out in fearful dismay.  Zan only laughs.  As usual, he denies all knowledge of the provenance of this elf.  The nightmare has returned.  I will be on my guard until Christmas.

It smiles, a small, sly smile.  Christmas is Coming!

(For a complete account of my feelings on Elf on the Shelf, re-visit this post!)

A Little Busy Bee

I thought once Cabaret closed I would have an abundance of free time-- so much so that I would sit around watching movies and reading books for fun and sometimes just being downright bored in the most gleeful of ways.  This has, of course, proved untrue.  It sort of started that way: Sunday night after a long day at Cabaret strike, I decided to take time just for me.  So, I put on my PJS, then curled up in bed with tea and Netflix.  I spent a lovely night watching both Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Thor, neither of which I had ever seen.  Then Monday morning rolled in, and I have been going non-stop.

Between catching up on the workload of two seminars, beginning to think seriously about/research for my final papers, and attending Modernities Working Group and an Apprenticeship Teaching seminar, school is keeping me hopping.  End of the semester is right around the corner, and we're all feeling the crunch.  I need to go go go if I'm going to get everything done and done well.  The last few papers looming over my head have me feeling just an edge of anxiety already... in just four weeks, I need to have completed all of my work for this semester.  Right now, it's a chilling thought.

Then, additionally, I am happy to report that I will be dramaturging GG&SS's winter play The Tempest by William Shakespeare!  If you know me, or you've followed this blog for any length of time, you know how much I love Shakespeare and theater.  I'm so excited to be a part of this production, to get to research production history, to put together actor packets, to teach a little about scansion, and to uphold the vision of these two directors.  After our first meeting last night, I am very excited about this production-- the directors' concept is gorgeous and really well conceived.  And I get to research for it and to help the cast and crew put it all together!  This, of course, means a lot of work-- work I am very happy to undertake-- but still, something I need to direct a lot of energy and time towards if I'm going to do it right.

And, of course, I need to see my friends!  Last night I attended a most excellent karaoke party with my cohort.  It was so nice to see them again, after missing a lot during Cabaret.  We really bonded over the singing of mostly 1990s pop songs.  Then tonight is a "low-key" movie-watching party night with the cast/crew of Cabaret (with whom I want to keep in touch).

So, with school, The Tempest, and a social life hanging in the balance, I find that all of that time I supposed I would have for just me-- with tea and a book, or Netflix-- has totally gone out of the window.  But I think I'm okay with that.  Maybe Winter Break will be enough time to recharge... when I'm not cooking up eighteenth-century masterpieces with my Foodways friends, of course. :)

Life is a Cabaret

 (Cast and Production Team of Cabaret.  I'm on the left in menswear and a beret.  Very Marlene Dietrich.)

Tonight is closing night of Cabaret.  As my first experience with GGSS, it has been quite the ride.  I haven't written a lot about it-- mostly because I haven't written a lot at all-- but since September Cabaret has dominated my life.  I rehearsed two to four nights a week for nearly all of September and October, and when I wasn't at a wedding, a conference, or struggling to finish the massive amounts of reading and writing assigned to me for midterms, I spent my weekends at crew call.  Last Friday I spent from 9-5 helping with load-in: I helped hang the backdrop, moved heavy set pieces, made sparkly bow-ties, and used a sewing machine for the first time.  The next day I was back at the costume closet, sewing on snaps, reshaping hats, and hemming.  And Sunday was tech run-- as an ensemble member who rarely leaves the stage, I spent nearly ten hours sitting in the "cabaret" as lights were adjusted and set pieces were spiked.

Then, on Wednesday we opened.  Zan surprised me by coming to the show when I thought he couldn't make it, my friend Pete came to see me (and to see Mike J., Kelsey, and Josh, of course) and on Thursday some members of my cohort came out to see the show, too-- I can't express how moved I am that they came to see me, when I have such a very small part.  On Thursday night I attended a cast party (something I haven't gotten to do enough) and tonight I'm bringing goat cheese and crackers to our final cast party potluck celebration.  Tomorrow is strike, then it's over.

I'm not sure I've made the most of this experience.  I've met some really nice, interesting people, and I hope to continue to build some of these relationships in the coming weeks/months/years.  I've gotten to experience the joy of singing loudly to Kesha, Katy Perry, and Britney Spears as we all put on our costumes and make-up pre-show.  I've gotten to get up onstage to sing (just a tiny little bit) and dance (badly, because I'm me).  But somehow I feel like with all the other things I had going on, especially during the last two-thirds of October, I didn't become as invested as I wanted to become.  I didn't bond with the cast quite as much as I wished/hoped I would.  The long commute to the law center hasn't helped either, and why are parties so hard to get to these days?

But, there's always the next show...

(Which is The Tempest.  And I'm hoping to put on my dramaturgy hat.)

Bucket List Update

Sadly, I didn't make it through my entire bucket list, but luckily some of the things I missed can still be done equally well in November!  Still, given the conference, the midterm projects and papers, and the incredibly large time commitment of Cabaret, I think I did pretty well!

I managed to make a cream-cheese pumpkin pie (5), watch Practical Magic (4), drink a pumpkin latte (9), throw my annual Halloweentown party (2), watch The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (11), and watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (6).  Last night, although after Halloween, I watched Hocus Pocus (1) because I simply couldn't NOT watch it.  So, I completed seven of my twelve bucket list items.  I am a little sad about not managing to get a good costume together (Zan and I wanted to go as Parks and Rec's characters April and Andy's alteregos Brent Macklin and Janet Snakehole) and not getting to greet trick-or-treaters.  I'm also a bit bummed out about not making it to a pumpkin patch to pick out my pumpkin and not getting to carve a jack-o-lantern.  But, at least I got to have the Halloweentown party, and most of the food on the list will be made in November and will taste even better with the colder weather moving in this month. 

Plus, I got to drink about five thousand vanilla chai lattes from Coffee on the Corner during the Blackfriars Conference, and ain't nobody can argue with that.

(Look out soon for a blog post dedicated to my experience at the Blackfriars Conference!  I presented a paper and got to meet some real Shakespearean superstars!  And soon I'll have a blog post dedicated to Cabaret, too!)

I Can't, I Have Rehearsal

I guess you can tell from my radio silence for most of this month that I've been incredibly busy.  October ended up being far busier and more stressful than anticipated.  To be honest, I haven't really had a chance to catch my breath since my last blog post, and today, though I'm writing, isn't really an exception.  But I finished my last paper for a little while, so.

Things I've Done:
Attended the Blackfriars Conference
Presented at the Blackfriars Conference
Watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!"
Found a great crepe place to get lunch on my way to campus
Written a literacy narrative
Workshopped literacy narratives
Done all of my reading for my seminars
Written a short close reading exercise
Completed a massive midterm project
Completed the second paper for Brit Lit... even if it's not great...

And now I belong to Cabaret until November 10th.

The 6th Annual Halloweentown Party

Once more, I held a Halloweentown party.  I spent a bit longer than intended getting ready for the party-- I had a lot of work to finish this weekend, since I'm at a conference this week-- but because this is arguably my favorite night of the year, I decided to let myself be okay with that.

First, Zan and I visited our new Pier 1 Imports and took advantage of their Halloween clearance deals (already on clearance?!) and I got a spooky "top-hat" fascinator, little witches feet to put under doors to make it look like a house landed on her (or, a door, I guess), Halloween napkins, and an owl with a top-hat and a piercing gaze.  Actually, Zan got the owl.

Then we went to the grocery store for mini-pumpkin pies, pumpkin cookies, sugar cookies with orange icing and black sprinkles, popcorn, and lots and LOTS of candy.  We also got apple cider, which we heated up at the party, and let people choose whether or not to spike theirs with rum.  This was one of our favorite autumn drinks in Seattle.  One of the girls in my cohort is British, though, and she couldn't figure out why we were adding rum to cider-- she didn't realize that apple cider is a non-alcoholic beverage in the States.  "Isn't it just apple juice, then?" she asked. 

Once home we set up the food and decorations, and I dressed for the party, and then Zan and I realized we had no idea what to eat for dinner, so we decided to order a pizza, then thought, well, hey, the pizza place is running a good deal on pizzas let's just order for everyone!  So we ended up with pizza at the party, as well.

Right on time, people began to show up.  First, my friends Kelsey and Mike came-- Kelsey is a huge Halloweentown fan, too, and this was Mike's second Halloweentown party (he attended the first many, many moons ago).  Then people from my cohort came bearing gifts of beer and wine and cookies, and we all talked and ate and drank and then the main event: the film!  It's just as wonderful as ever to introduce a new group of people to this terrible, terrible, wonderful, amazing film.  It's such a masterpiece of Disney Original Cinema.  I love it.

All too soon the party ended, and now it's one more year 'til Halloweentown!

A Little Advice from the Eighteenth Century

"Let the [liberals] be moderate in their demands, the [conservatives] not pertinacious in opposing every reform, and government, strengthened by the accession of both parties to it as a center of union, will present to the world a compact body, firmly united to preserve an improving constitution, and to promote the publick happiness." 

"Whatever may be our fate with respect to foreign nations, peace and union are the greatest objects at home." 

"[If a few reforms are] put immediately into execution... the people seeing, that the house of commons, instead of indulging in so much personal altercation and frivolous panegyrick, is seriously occupied in promoting and improving the welfare of the state, will thankfully receive these presages of better times, and contentedly wait till a longer period shall have put an end to all their grievances."

-- William Frend, excerpts from Peace and Union, 1793

Somehow, William Frend seems really relevant today, as we go forward from the government shutdown with the clock ticking as we try to hammer out our new economic plan.  He's writing about England in the 1790s, but whether or not you agree with everything he says, or if you think any of it is relevant to the USA today (quite a bit isn't, actually, especially the bits about reforming rotten boroughs and game laws), the entire pamphlet is worth a read.  We can learn a lot from the past.

Especially about how our government should strive to promote the common good.

Missouri Wedding

This past weekend Zan and I attended a wedding in my hometown.  Since I moved in high school, I haven't revisited Jefferson City very often, so it was exciting to get to go and to take Zan.  For two whole days I felt completely relaxed, delving back into memories of childhood, sharing part of my past with Zan, and enjoying the charm of Missouri in October.

But this was no ordinary trip; this was a Very Special Occasion-- my childhood best friend was getting married!  I've known Maggie since we were in daycare at the Little Learner's Lodge.  We quoted the Care Bears together as toddlers, and though we went to different elementary schools, we continued our friendship thanks to some wonderful parents who drove us across town for play dates.  We played dress-up and dolls well into middle school, and growing up we spent every birthday and Halloween together.  We went to Disney World together, and Cardinals games, and The City Museum in St. Louis.  In high school, finally (!) we attended the same school and got to see each other every single day.  We went to homecoming together.  We were in The Wizard of Oz together, on the Speech and Debate team together, and we both worked on the freshman play-- Maggie choreographed and performed a beautiful solo dance.  We wrote to each other every day while I was at French camp and the first Christmas after I moved away Maggie came to visit.

And on Saturday I watched her walk down the aisle.  The weather was perfect: just the most beautiful October day Missouri has ever produced.  Sunny and cool, and all the leaves changing colors.  I've never cried at a wedding before, but when I saw Maggie in her wedding dress-- looking just like Belle, so absolutely gorgeous and radiant-- I suddenly couldn't help it.  I've known Maggie so long that I literally do not remember life before I knew her, and there she was, getting married.  I felt overwhelmed with love for her, and happiness for her, and a kind of sadness, too-- like Jo March or Anne Shirley, as Meg or Diana got married.  Everything changes, and while this is a joyous change, it does mean that we'll never be two little girls together again hosting the M&M talk show in my living room.  But that night at the reception I got to watch her dance a sweet, loving first dance with her new husband and a funny, lively dance with her father, and then later I danced with her and she led me in a swing-style dance and we laughed about our Dancer's Alley training, and she's still Maggie and I could not be more thrilled for her, or more grateful that I got to share a dance with her on her wedding day.

An October Pumpkin Pie

I have begun to check off my October Bucket List Items.  Or, well, I've tackled ONE item: "Make a cream-cheese pumpkin pie."  But that's one very important item, right?! 

A few weeks ago I attempted a Harry Potter-style pumpkin pasty recipe.  While mine tasted quite good and made a wonderfully unhealthy breakfast food, they kind of looked like one of those pictures on a Pinterest fail meme.  Let's a take a look, shall we?

(Oh noooo!!!  Compare to the beautiful ones linked above!)

Anyway, after making that recipe, I ended up having a lot of extra pumpkin that needed using up, so I decided to attempt my first ever pumpkin pie!  After looking through several recipes, I decided to riff on this one.  I used nearly all of a can of pumpkin (minus about 1/4th cup), probably 7 oz of cream cheese, and only two eggs instead of three.  I liberally added in spices (especially the cinnamon, and I added allspice), but moderated the sugar, putting in slightly less than the recipe recommends.  I also decided that for a fun visual Halloween-esque twist (black and orange!), and a nice flavor combination, I'd use a store-bought Oreo crust.  I ended up having to bake for about an hour instead of the recommended forty-minutes, but it turned out beautifully!



This one both tastes amazing AND looks amazing!  One bucket list item down, eleven to go!

October Bucket List

We're nearly a week into October, my favorite month, and I've barely gotten to enjoy it.  The pace at school and at rehearsal has amped up, so I find myself justifying not doing things that I might otherwise want to do this month.  So, I'm making myself an October bucket list and I am going to try my best to do all of these things.  Note: most of these are movies to watch or food to prepare.

1) Watch Hocus Pocus.
2) Throw my annual Halloweentown party.
3) Make apple-onion soup with cheese puff.
4) Watch Practical Magic.
5) Make a cream-cheese pumpkin pie.
6) Watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!
7) Make chicken chili and apple-cheddar hand-pies.
8) Watch at least one horror movie, even though normally I wouldn't.
9) Get a pumpkin latte from a coffee shop.
10) Dress up in some kind of costume for Halloween.
11) Watch Disney's The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.
12) Visit a pumpkin patch and make a Jack-O-Lantern!

I think all of this is essential and manageable.  I'd also like to make it down to Williamsburg-- there's no prettier month than October in Williamsburg-- for hot apple cider on DoG Street, and I'd like to visit Busch Gardens for Howl-O-Scream, or go through a hay-bale maze somewhere... but I don't think I'll have time this year, what with rehearsals and, you know, papers and midterm projects.  Nevertheless, I try not to forget that October comes but once a year, so I have to make the most of it now!  Luckily, some of these things are still good come November... :)

Wannabe Soup Addict

I love autumn.  I love the leaves, and the blue sky, and sweaters, and boots.  But do you know what I love most of all?  I love that it's chili/stew/soup season.  There is absolutely nothing like making a nice, bubbling stew or soup, warming up some crusty bread, and having a hot apple cider to round out the meal.  I loved last fall in Seattle, when Zan and I would sit on our balcony in the cool night air as the smell of the stew would waft out to us.  Ahhhhhhh.......

So this fall, I'm determined to make even more soups/stews/chilis.  The other day I made chili for the first time ever, using my mom's recipe.  It turned out pretty well, so I'm going to attempt it again tonight for my dad.  I have pinned several likely looking recipes on Pinterest, and I have bought some chicken broth in anticipation of the season.  Plus, my dad has some beef broth on hand that needs using up by mid-October, so obviously, soup.  I'm so excited to try my hand at all of these soups and stews!  I just hope that I have the patience to actually make these recipes, and that I don't let homework and rehearsal become excuses to run down to one of the nearby restaurants to grab a quick bite.  Eating out certainly has its place (and I do love to try new restaurants), but taking the time to make a real, hearty, home-cooked meal often has many more intangible rewards (and leftovers!).

Here's to an autumn of soups! 

... and maybe baked goods, but that's another post for another time.

If I Start Writing Now...

I end up getting nothing done when I have a paper due.  I stress and I stress about having to write it.  Especially little papers.  I have a little paper due.  Little papers are much worse than big papers, because they need to pack a whole lot of quality into a very small word count.  So, I make tea and I look at Pinterest, and I consider starting, and then I stress some more.

I meant to get a draft done yesterday, but that didn't happen.  I picked out the author I want to write on, and I think I found the exact sentence that I want to write on, but I didn't get a draft done.  I'm too intimidated to write a draft.  I'm still figuring it all out in my head.  I'm still wrapping my mind around what I actually need to accomplish with this paper.  So no draft. I ate Indian food, and I took a shower, and I checked e-mails.  I read for another class for a bit.  I looked at shoes online.  But I didn't write the draft.  It's a new way of reading, so alien to my background in history-- we read and write so differently.  How can I learn this new way of reading?  How can I understand the mechanisms that made this writing effective, instead of reading it for how it responds to its time, how it fits into the larger context of its period, what it illumines about its society and its author?  Such a useful skill to have; such a useful skill to add to my toolbox.  Knowing this, with what I know, will make me such a keen reader.  I want to learn.  So, it's still morning, there's still plenty of time today before my Apprenticeship Teacher workshop and my Cabaret rehearsal...

Maybe I'll make a cup of tea.

Charlie Brown Awareness

Did you all know that September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month?  My friend Megan knows, and has written an excellent post about how childhood cancer affects lives, although most people seem to want to ignore the issue because it's pretty depressing.

The thing is, childhood cancer is real, and until we start becoming aware of this and start doing something about it (like, researching ways to stop it), it will continue unabated.  As Megan points out in her post:  Childhood cancer patients and caregivers have no other support when we are quiet or we look away. They get almost no funding from drug companies. They get less than 4% of cancer funding from the government. They get less than 1% from general cancer charities like the American Cancer Society/ Relay for Life.

Perhaps part of the problem is that most of us (if we're lucky) have no concept of how this disease affects families and friends.  Fortunately for us, Charles M. Schulz, creator of the Peanuts Gang, made a Peanuts Special on this topic to educate us.  Please watch "Why, Charlie Brown, Why?" and then begin to agitate and advocate on behalf of Childhood Cancer Awareness!






(I do not own the copyright to "Why, Charlie Brown, Why?", and I am not trying to infringe on copyright law. 
If you own it and want me to take it down, please feel free to contact me and I will do so.
I make no money from this blog.  I just want to spread awareness!)

A Busy Day, A Busy Week

Days and weeks seem to fly by here at Georgetown.  I only have class two days a week, and Tuesday night as I cross the bridge back home I always feel so relieved, as if I have so much time to complete all of my work before Monday.  But my, how the time goes, and before I know it the week is nearly over and I still have so much to do before another Monday arrives.

Yesterday took the cake for busy.  I woke early, got to campus early, then went to my first workshop for the Apprenticeship Teacher program.  I think I'm really going to enjoy this program.  The workshop yesterday was especially fun since so many of my friends have decided to take part in the program, and they gave us free Panera bagels.  As a graduate student, I appreciate free food.

Immediately following my workshop, I headed to the English building for the first meeting of The Modernities Working Group.  The topic this year is archives, which-- with my history background-- is a very dear topic to me.  One of our readings even obliquely referenced Montaillou, and before I knew it I had written, "Hello Montaillou, my dear friend," in the margin.  Ah, I love French Annales.  The other readings were more abstract, and gave me something to really wrap my brain around.  The working group itself was comprised primarily of professors and librarians, and the discussion was very heady.  I think I'm going to like this group.

After the workshop, I read some Thomas Paine outside in the perfect, perfect weather, then visited two professors' office hours to become better acquainted with the department.  I think both meetings went well, though I was a bit nervous to just drop by uninvited (though, obviously, that's the point of office hours).  I finally arrived home after dark, but only just long enough to change shoes and grab a light coat, before I was off again for dinner with Zan and two old friends, one of whom is now in my M.A. program!  Zan gave me bad directions, but that got sorted, and on the way there someone threw a Jolly Rancher at me and that was weird, but otherwise the evening went very well!  We had a great pizza dinner in Chinatown, complete with a lovely pineapple rum/ginger drink to round out the evening.

My friend Rick has a thing he says: "Go to bed tired."  And I did.

Autumn Begins

A rainstorm blew through the other night and took with it the last of summer.  Muggy, sticky evenings appear to have left for the year, and cool autumn nights are rolling in.  The past two days the sky was bright, deep, blue-- the blue of fall, not the faded blue of a summer sky.

For most people, I suppose, autumn signals the beginning of the end: trees begin to lose their leaves, cold air wipes out flowers, harvest is ended.  But to me autumn signals a strange rebirth: the world wakes up from the lazy, over-hot days of summer.  We shake off a kind of daze and begin to feel and to taste more richly and deeply.  Autumn means long walks in crisp air, a bounty of spiced, flavorful food, and bursts of intense color as the year enjoys its final hurrah.  

Whirlwind

There's so much to do and to tell, and for once I don't mean reading and schoolwork!  Well, okay, I don't mean entirely reading and schoolwork.  There's still a lot of reading and schoolwork.   

But!  Now there's a play!  A musical, in fact!  I'm so excited to be a part of the ensemble for the Georgetown Law Center's Gilbert & Sullivan Society production of Cabaret!!!  Plus, my friend Mike J. will be in it!  We haven't been involved with a play together since, I think, Romeo and Juliet in 2006, and that's far, far, too long.  And while I've done tech work on a few plays in the past couple of years, I haven't actually been in a play since 2008!   I'm so excited to be in a production again.  I have a very, very bit role (which I'm going to chalk up to my horrible dancing-- seriously, they asked me to walk across the stage in time to the music, how do you imagine that went?), but it's a role and I think it's going to be an excellent production!  So glad to be involved!

But there's more!  I have an amazingly wonderful cohort.  I really, really love them.  Last night we had "Girl's Night Out" in Georgetown.  We went to a Mexican Restaurant for margaritas and gossip (about boys, obviously), and we discussed classes just a little bit, too.  It's a little intimidating how much socialization I'm doing.  I love it, don't get me wrong, but I'm used to holing up with my reading materials and never seeing the light of day.  Or the dark of night?  So this is new.  In a good way.  Plus, beforehand, I had happy hour drinks with Cara and Amanda-- it's complicated how we all know each other, but suffice it to say, we have lots of mutual friends, but I just met them.

And today, my friend Alicia is meeting me for lunch, I have a make-up class for British 1790s (which is why I spent all yesterday reading, and will spend the rest of this morning reading), a guy in my cohort invited everyone over for homemade pizza (seriously, when I said my cohort was wonderful, I meant it wholeheartedly), and my friend Pete is having a horror movie night at his place to celebrate Friday 13th.  Plus, I think I'm getting dinner with one of my best friends from undergrad tomorrow night.

Look at this happy whirlwind.  

Shorter

Apologies in advance for the slightly blurry selfies below, but I got a haircut!  My first haircut in over two years!  I cut off more than eleven inches to donate to Locks of Love.  My friend Shea did the cut and styling-- she has cut my hair several times since we were roomies in Bath and I always like how she makes my hair look.  I also like that she lets me drink a glass of sangria during/afterwards/as needed (cutting hair is a big deal).  We went with a slightly slanted bob this time, a la Posh Spice.

If you have long hair you should definitely considering donating to Locks of Love.  It's super easy to donate, and besides just loving my new length, I feel really great knowing that I'm helping someone out.  Thanks, Shea!

Certainty and Anxiety

School has started and brought with it those mixed emotions of excitement and anxiety.  I really love my courses so far; I can't explain it, really, but I think they will alter the way I perceive the world.  They are showing me new sides to things I thought I knew something about, fundamental things.  One of them, surprisingly, is more of a poetry class than anything, and as I haven't taken a course that focuses on any type of poetry since junior year of undergrad, I'm pretty excited.  The professors seem really wonderful, too, in that way that gets you pumped up about learning after just the first day.

But of course, being me, I manage to get overly anxious and to set myself impossible tasks before I've even started.  I have butterflies in my stomach and my breathe comes too fast.  I had forgotten what this kind of panic feels like.  It's been so long since I've woken up gasping for air, certain I've forgotten to do something or certain that I won't be able to finish everything I need to accomplish.  I will be able to accomplish it, of course I will, but the anxiety creeps in all the same.

I'm holding on to a feeling I had last week.  The day after orientation the second year students organized a scavenger hunt for the first year students.  We looked for things across campus, down M Street and in Dupont Circle, and took pictures of them.  We had to find things like the chapel on campus, someone in a Georgetown shirt or hoodie, at the canal, at the place that sells Chicken Madness.  We had to take a picture of us using public transportation, eating a cupcake, in Kramerbooks, and one of all of us jumping once we'd completed the scavenger hunt.  It was a really wonderful day.  It might have earned the distinction of my best day in D.C.  I walked across Key Bridge back into Virginia as the sun was setting.  The sky filled with pink and blue and yellow, and in the river below people kayaked and paddle-surfed, and the breeze blew cool across the bridge.  I had this feeling that everything was as it should be.  I experienced a kind of certainty about where I am and what I'm doing, and this overwhelming joy that I'm here.  And it's the certainty and joy that make it all-- even the anxiety-- worthwhile.

 (English grad student scavenger hunt!)

Images from a Wedding Weekend

Cramped fingers from tying together tiny booklets of poetry by Rumi.  The smell of lavender on my hands, permeating my clothing, the whole house.  Bits of blue ribbon on the tabletop and on the floor.  A homecooked meal out on the back porch.  The smell of citronella candles.  Glasses of wine, cups of coffee, tennis on the television, a house filling with people and love and laughter.  Voices in the kitchen, in the hall, steps on the stairs.  Hugs and handshakes.  Tent deliveries, hauling boxes of wine bottles and champagne out to the new tents in the pasture.  Purchasing a croquet set.

A birthday!  For Zan!  Donuts and a surprise breakfast party in the dining room, decorated with streamers and twenty-seven pictures of his face.  Then the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner.  The bride and groom both directors, and their parents, too, and their officiant.  Standing in the discovery space at the Blackfriars to page the curtain for the flower girls, then the bride.  The things kids say.  "I could use a little help out here, Iris" in a six-year-old's voice.  The beautiful, calming sound of a hammer dulcimer.  A drive up a steep hill to a lovely mock-Tudor with tables set up outside and twinkle lights.  More music, and singing, and dancing, and the bride and groom waltzing, and they look so happy, though she says her feet hurt from her spiky heels.

The wedding.  Entering the theater early, somehow I have much more to do than I thought I would.  An escape for my favorite chai vanilla latte, so smooth and sweet.  Helping locate pieces of video equipment, or at least the videographers.  Told to go down to the bride's dressing room, back up to the theater, where's the groom? There he is.  Is it time?  Is it time?  The house is filling and I watch through the little window in the side doors and Sarah says, "It's exciting to watch everyone coming in, this must be how the actors feel."  The flower girls located, the groom in place, he enters.  The groomsmen and bridesmaids process to the stage.  Then the bride appears, resplendent.  A vision in white and sparkles and feathers, and it's the perfect dress and she looks perfect.

"Absolutely."  "I do."

A dance party on stage.  Then to the tents for more dancing.  A game of croquet and a moon bounce.  Toasts, amazing toasts!  A roaring T-Rex toy that encapsulates the bride's goodness.  The groom speaks again, and his words are true and lovely, and as a lump forms in my throat he says, "So, my vows, this wedding-- today was just a rehearsal..." and the five-year-old ring-bearer shouts, "I thought yesterday was the rehearsal!" and everyone laughs.  Then food that brings tears of joy to my eyes, and catching up with old friends and new friends.  Blowing bubbles and learning to contra dance.

The defining image: a rainbow.  A promise.

(Zach and Lys with a Rainbow.  Photo by Krystal, a bridesmaid)

Grab your bag and grab your coat

It's funny how life comes full circle.  Ten years ago, almost to the day, we loaded up the car with our suitcases and boxes of things too precious for the moving company and our two cats-- at the time, Kelly and Sphinx-- and drove halfway across the country to Northern Virginia.  Everything was unfamiliar, too fast-paced for me, at first.  Then, slowly, I came to know the area.  I knew which roads led where, and I understood the sense of humor, and while the stress we put on ourselves was all-too-real I became a part of that culture, and by the time I left-- really left, after graduating from college when I no longer returned for summer vacations and winter breaks-- I even had a bit of love for the place.  It's fast-paced, yes, and there's definitely too much traffic, but it's charming in its way, and the closer into the city you are the better it becomes.

Three days ago, I loaded up the car.  I loaded it with clothes and books and DVDs and a few precious objects that I wanted to make my room feel homier.  I kissed our three cats goodbye-- still Sphinx, but now also Felix and Rhett-- and drove a few hours north along a now all-too-familiar highway.  I've moved in a bit closer to the city this time, but I still know which roads lead where, and I still have the stops of the Orange Line memorized.  Everything comes full circle.

But while this place is imbued with my past and memories of high school bleed through onto the streets and at the stops, I'm feeling so much more in the now than I have in a really long time.  Today I crossed Key Bridge into Georgetown, knowing which roads led where, until suddenly-- I didn't.  I crossed over into new territory where no past can bleed in and new memories wait to be made and for the first time in years I'm actually excited about doing something again.  Even though I'd never seen the campus before, it felt like home.  It felt like a place that I'd been waiting for since leaving my undergraduate program at William and Mary, like a weight lifted and finally a step in the right direction.  I met some really great people who seem just as excited as I am, and as we discussed places we want to explore and cupcake shops to visit, I realized that the past doesn't have to follow me here and I have so much more to discover in the next two years than I ever thought possible.

And though going home I knew where the roads would lead, even the familiar had a new cast to it. Everything already felt different and shining in the late-summer sunshine.