Like you do....

I am pretty much the opposite of a stranger to weird occurrences and incidents of bizarre coincidence. I'm the only person I know who went to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular at the Fox in Atlanta and left the building as a dancer in a Reese Witherspoon movie. Okay, so it wasn't like I was in the audience and some talent scout just walked up and said, "You look to be a fabulous dancer." and I was cast. What actually happened was that one of the friends who was in the group knew the choreographer for Sweet Home Alabama and he hooked me up with her for the gig. There was also the time I moved to New Jersey and at the first rehearsal for the first community theater show I did here, I met my friend, Beverly. Meeting Bev wasn't weird. What was so odd was that after a few minutes of conversation we realize that her first cousin was one of my sorority sisters at the University of Alabama. And I mean we were there at the same time and knew each other and everything.

Bringing me to this past Thursday. Now, one of the things you need to know about me is that about a year ago, my friend, Judi, who does the lighting design at a lot of the shows at the theater where I perform, asked me if I was up to run the follow-spot for a production of Camelot. I figured, "Why not?". My dear friend, Katie, was in the show. And I had never worked with this particular theater group so it was a good chance to meet people. Since then, I've run follow-spot for two other shows and last weekend and this, I had agreed to run it for a production of Pippin. The other part of the story is that I was incredible busy last Thursday. There was the regular grocery and odds and ends stuff, plus three trips to put together two packages to take to FedEx AND I measured, cut, pinned and ironed a set of light-blocking curtains that were too long (which sounds easier than it is. The fabric is an absolutely enraging combo of heavy and slippery.). I also had an appointment with our frozen food delivery guy (which I'm trying to taper out of because I'm really moving away from processed food as much as I can and that stuff is practically concocted in a lab) and to facilitate that, I completely defrosted and cleaned the BIG basement deep freeze. And in the midst of that, had my voice lesson.

But I was excited, because I was the only one home on Thursday night. Which meant that I didn't have to cook anything and, if I so chose, could go to Wawa for dinner. And then I get a binging that someone is Facebook messaging me. And it's Judi. Because she is running lights for a concert that night and would I be interested in running follow-spot FOR 60s POP ICON AND FORMER MONKEE PETER TORK??!?!?

Y'all. It is official. I am now an assistant lighting engineer for a rock star.

Dressed to Kill--Seasons Change--October 11, 2011I

I am pretty sure that I have some sort of fashion-related Season Affective Disorder. I'm not depressed or anything like that. I actually feel pretty great. It's just that with the whole summer-to-fall change, I have as usual, undergone this bizarre about face in my overall fashion outlook. I know that pretty much everyone has to change out their wardrobe to some degree. I mean, unless you live in San Diego where it's 80 degrees pretty much every day of the year, it's going to get colder. Even in a place like Florida where it stays relatively warm for most of the year, there is an appreciable difference between July and January (or in Florida's case, late September and January. Because when I was there a couple of weeks ago, it may well have been the hottest I've ever been in my life and that includes the summer I sold churros while wearing a prairie costume at the Magic Kingdom). Anyway, sometime in the fall, usually in October, I have a metamorphosis. I spend the months of April through September in gingham and seersucker. Lilly Pulitzer and Vineyard Vines. Pastels and florals. It's uber-preppy and uber-girly. And then October happens. And it's not like I suddenly stop caring what I wear or that what I'm wearing is any less girly. It's that it's all of a sudden dark colors. Lush fabrics. And definitely a noticeable shift from Extreme Prep to Bohemian. It's all flowy tops and wide-legged pants. Tights and ankle boots. Heavy wools and slouchy sweaters. For example:



Actually, for me, in the Fall/Winter? This is pretty light. I'm even wearing a super-colorful necklace! I got it back in the spring when Anthropologie put a bunch of the jewelry from last winter in the sale room. I always worry about wearing it because I'm pretty short and the necklace is pretty big. I've just figured out that if I'm gonna wear it, then I need to do so with minimal other jewelry. In this case, I wore a pair of square turquoise studs, also from Anthropologie and from the same massive jewelry sale. They have turned out to be one of those purchases that were at the time a thing where I said, "This is a pretty good deal and I'll probably get some use out of them." and have turned into something I wear all the time. Ditto on the shoes which are (it's hard to see) gold ballet flats from Gap. I actually love these shoes so much that I try to parcel out when I wear them because I'm afraid that I'll wear them out and then won't be able to find a comparable pair to replace them. I bought the shirt at H&M on a whim on the morning of a Bama Girls' Brunch. I was waiting at the store for my friend, Ally, and fell in love with two TOTALLY affordable shirts. The best part is that while they were ultra-budget friendly, they are also two shirts that I almost always get compliments on when I wear them (there are three pieces at H&M now that I have the same feelings about and they would be under $100 total, so I'm debating whether I want to make that my purchase for next weekend.)!!! Okay so maybe "always complimented" is the SECOND best kind of clothing. My jeans may be the best kind. They're Paige (which is a brand you should check out if you haven't already), but that's not why they're awesome. They're awesome because they are hand-me-downs! Miss E bought them then found a pair that fit her better/were more comfortable, so she passed these on to me. And they're super-comfortable on me! SCORE!!!

In other weird news, the clothing change almost always comes with a strange music change. Which means that the old high school/college playlist moves to the forefront of the iPod. It's really cool music, so it makes me seem much cooler than I usually am.