merry holidays

i have a new desk.

we just carried it home, just down the street from the resale shop in our neighborhood. i love it and i'll take a picture and post it when i get it all set up.

more importantly, i hope everyone's holidays were lovely; mine included a nice trip home and some good family times. it was great to be back for a bit, and even nicer to get some quality time in with my sister.

holidayshows.

for fun, i think you should come see the barrel of monkeys' holiday show! there's something special in it for everyone and it would be a shame for you to miss hearing this line: "shiny ball, tiny ball, christmas ball, i'll eat you all."

monday nights. 8pm. one saturday matinee on 12/29. 1pm.

also, if you enjoy the monkeys and want to do us good, you can use a very special search engine when shopping online for now and forever. visit goodsearch.com and select barrel of monkeys as your charity of choice--this is right below the actual search bar. it's a super-easy way to send some money to our lil' non-profit and help out in a small but mighty way.

do it.

a list.

good day, all.

i hope all is well in your worlds.

due to a very weird day yesterday and a surreal day today (due to a lack o' sleep), i am breaking my blog silence. yes, it's true, i'm still alive and i exist outside the pictures i post on my blog. let's face it, its been a really busy fall and i'm just not around a computer long enough to get inspired to blog.

what's a gal to do?

anyhow, i'm blogging at the end of this strange day, yes it's true, and i'm thinking of a few things. here they are (in no particular order):

i really want new boots.
did i drink enough water today?
i'm tired.
i have no money.
children are hilarious.
my neck is messed up.
people are nice.
making things is fun.
trident "original flavor" is delicious.
it's getting colder outside.
i know what it's like to do something you really love.
i just saw her and now she's gone.
it's 5:43pm and dark outside.

i'm not sure what all this means, or why i'm bloggin' 'bout it, but i encourage you to make a list and see where it takes you.

we went to tennessee.

just two more weekends to see "the princess club"...do it!

(p.s. in case you care, i will not be in the show the weekend of the 18th-20th, i have to be in an awesome wedding out of town.)

princess preview...

click!

retreat!

this past weekend, the "barrel of monkeys" had our annual company retreat at a camp in wisconsin. we spent the day attending various awesome workshops (i even helped lead one myself!), eating sweet corn and repeatedly dousing ourselves in "deep woods" bug spray (which kinda helped).



after a long day which included all the aforementioned activities along with an epic battle (pictured here), we took up our flashlights and walked along "county o" road to "fred's wagon wheel," the local bar. at one point during our rather long night, a non-monkey patron of "fred's wagon wheel" decided it would be a good idea to remove the taxidermy from the log-cabin-walls of the bar and present it to various people.


that's right. that's my friend alex trying to reason with the deer.



we made our way home after closing "the wheel" and quietly climbed into our bunks (after a few rounds of four-square, of course). as i lay in my top bunk listening to the sounds of about 10-12 of my cabin-mates sleeping like babies, i smiled to myself and felt so very grateful to be part of this group of smelly, bug spray-ridden, wonderful people.

...just the usual saturday night.

tiny tomatoes, sweet and delicious...

next!

so it's onto the next show! i'm in my second week of rehearsals for "princess club" at redmoon. two weeks of ! it should be a pretty interesting show, full of dolls, wigs, puppets and fairy tales...very different than anything i've done before. i'll keep you posted.

summer in chicago is in full swing...i went to the first night of "movies in the park" last week. me, my friends and a few hundred other people watched "young frankenstein" in grant park. 'twas fun.

also, attended my second wedding of the summer last weekend. a very fun, very late night...the wedding took place in louisville and many of the guests were staying at a chic hotel downtown, complete with high-concept video installation near the elevators. a camera and projector shot your image back at you as letters fell from the top of the screen, sometimes spelling words and always bouncing off your image. later we bought an abandoned pizza.

i miss you already.

also, roustabout, roustabout, ROUSTABOUT!!

free cotton candy!

england & france

stafford
















paris


















strasbourg
















st. rémy-de-provence



*if you'd like to see all two hundred and fifty two photos, let me know and i'll send you the link. :)

b and i leave tomorrow for a two week european journey and i must say, trying to leave the continent is very stressful! i suppose as you get older and have a place that you live with cats and plants, it takes more than just a hastily packed bag and a plane ticket in order to leave the country. so needless to say, this week has been an insane flurry of activity and change. on monday, i knew exactly what i was doing for the rest of the summer. on tuesday all that changed. my life (or the life i need to live in order to pursue my artistic endeavors) seems to have no real basis in normalcy.

i think i need to make peace with the chaos.

remember when i said i was trying to do some "life-planning?" well, it looks as if that's just not in the cards. not my cards at least. my cards are weirdly shaped and impossible to hold. they're pink and green with polka dots and you can't fan them out in your hand nicely. nope. no life plan here. only england, france, a show and another show.

and i turn almost thirty on monday.

wish me luck.

theatre on the lake of michigan!

it's official!

"roustabout: the great circus train wreck!" will remount at chicago park district's theatre on the lake this summer!

hula hoops, ribbons, dead clowns! one week only! july 11th through the 15th!

i strongly advise that you purchase your tickets now. this show will sell out because it's just that awesome.

xo!

omg.

work

i'm writing to you all from temporary work purgatory; the land of nice people, monotonous work, the occasional phone call and almost absolute silence. every so often, someone will walk by with a "hello" or "how you doin'" but mostly, it's just quiet. there's just me and my myspace.

do you work in an office?

how do you do it?! i mean, it's only my third day and i'm already starting to lose it. and from the conversations i've had with friends who work in these weird environments, i've learned that it's all about paper shuffling and appearing to be doing actual work. strange.

i suppose it's just hard for me to get used to. i come from the land of diapers, chalk drawing and unintelligable screams of joy. a place where there is no such thing as silence and the "work" you do generally doesn't seem like work at all. i miss it.

good luck out there.

take a lookie at our latest otis video. it's got a couple of choice words in it, so it's not safe for the workplace...or children...but you can enjoy it! go ahead!

garden start.

tomatoes, peppers, herbs, oh my!

as we come to the end of the (pre)school year, the kids in my class have really started to up the cuteness quotient. it seems like they continue to act kinder and sweeter to one another with each passing day. they've started helping each other walk down the hall, giving spontaneous hugs and kisses, and randomly exclaiming each other's names throughout the day.

we have only two classes left and my heart is a little melty over the fact that i won't get to see these small people twice a week. hrmph! looking back on my first year as a "teacher," i can honestly say that it was more rewarding than i thought possible. i will miss their faces.

ed

likes:
the garfield park conservatory, barcelona, "the mighty boosh"

dislikes:
"garden state," water chestnuts, carlos mencia

little dress

spring break...take 2.

our pre-spring break (or as we called it "spring break 2007"...see pizza pic below) consisted of a trip to nyc to visit my darling sister and many other fabulous friends. we ate a lot of pizza, drank unbelievable cocktails and most importantly, spent time with people i love. it was a great spring break.

spring break part 2 has been a bit less jet-setty (i like to make up words). i've been filling my emptyish (see how i make 'em up!), non-work-scheduled (again, i know) days with babysitting, substitute teaching and a bit of life-planning. for example, yesterday i had the pleasure of spending the day with about 20 grade school kids who were off school for a teacher inservice day. we ran around in a gym, played board games, went bowling and ate brownie sundaes. not only was i able to brush up on my yahtzee skills, but i was also able to witness the sheer delight of watching a 6 lb. bowling ball hug the side of the gutter guard (put up for the kids) while the tiny bowler shakes her booty to cyndi lauper's "girls just wanna have fun."

amazing.

i've made two trips to the children's museum this week and have enjoyed them both. currently the museum has an exhibit called "all about me" which includes a photo booth which takes killer color photos. you can decorate and add them to a huge magnetic mural filled with hundreds of colored paper pieces and photos. my little friend really dug the photo booth and we ended up taking three sets of pics.

as for the "life-planning" part of my spring break, well...i'm still working on it.

i am taking suggestions if you have any.

spring break. 2007.

otis. 2002-2007

RIP, otis at io. 2002-2007.

your spirit will live on in every offended audience member...in every group lift into the sky...in every self-made rush of mystical wind...your spirit will also live on as an improv team who isn't truly breaking up since theaters don't own people. phew!

now you can really live. fly, otis...FLY!



come see our last show at io. tomorrow night. 10:30pm.

otis, i love you.

14, 23, 82...HUT!

well hello there and good morning!

it is i! the long, lost ME writing to say "I AM INDEED ALIVE!"

the past couple of weeks have been extremely busy and full of self-imposed scheduling snares and i am more than ready for a break of some sort. while working with children is rewarding and fun and funny and interesting, it can wear a person right out. i've been feeling a bit exhausted, but my energy was revived yesterday by an amazing kid who was participating in a "barrel of monkeys" after school program for which i'm teaching. in the middle of writing a group story, this little guy turned to me and said,

"i like this."

"oh yeah?," i replied, "like what part of it?"

"all of it," he said, gesturing around the room with his hands, his eyes wide and happy.

"i'm so glad."


p.s. i'm in "that's weird grandma" for two more weeks. if you've never seen the monkeys, i command you to come. the show is splendidly hilarious. click on the "barrel of monkeys" link to the right for more info. please.

nora

likes: dance parties, curly fries, laughing until a snort is inevitable

dislikes: rats*, cold/wet socks, the coconut filling in "mounds" bars


*also one of my greatest fears
p.s. ...nora and i also share another like: free doughnuts.

polly & the piano

gandy gras 2007

ahhh, gandy gras...an otis tradition for five years now! what can i say that hasn't already been said? we came, we saw, we celebrated the fattest tuesday i've seen in a while.

-mardi party beads...check
-jumbalaya and muffaletta sandwichs...check
-rotel and velveeta dip with chips...check
-crab dip...check
-ritz crackers heralding that (in the words of jeff gandy) "comp'ny's comin'"...check
-king cake with "baby"...check
-merriment...check
-insanely long and silly drinking game during which we exhaust the beer supply...check

blood oranges in winter

happy valentine's day.

a sweet valentine's day treat. peach and blackberry french toast sprinkled with cinnamon granola and soaked in vanilla mascarpone cream (devoured at "m. henry" restaurant in our neighborhood). we had the morning off, so b and i trekked out into the drifts to procure a valentine's brunch. it is beautiful out there today and the snowflakes keep a-fallin'...

the snowy day.

when i was small(er), one of my very favorite books was (and continues to be) ezra jack keats's "the snowy day." the colors are vivid, the illustrations look like beautiful pressed paper artwork and the story is simple: a boy and his snowball going out into the "deep, deep snow."

nowadays, i get the opportunity to read this story to little people who i imagine love it just as much as i did. they are magnetized as i read about peter and his many snow adventures, and i always point out my favorite page to them (peter taking a bath in a hot pink bathtub after playing outside in the snow). i'm happy to pass it on.

here is a short moving picture of what is happening outside our kitchen window. snow drifting, wind a-blowin' and nothing but the ever deepening snow...

mary

likes: cassoulet, used book stores, forgiveness

dislikes: sink grime, haters, nails; when i'm biting them.

to procure a bit more of mary, click on the link to the right, or here...

or here.

i heart otis.

...here's the latest from my fellow teammates who are holdin' down the improv fort while i'm away doing a play.

brilliant.

not cool, chicago...not cool.

as if it wasn't bad enough that we lost the super bowl yesterday, this morning i woke to a -9˚ temperature. noooooo! why, chicago!? why's it gotta be like that?! it's been quite frigid here of late as you might've guessed and it's not scheduled to let up until tomorrow, if you call "letting up" 18˚. i can't wait...to feel my toes.

i'd be supremely happy if all i had to do today was stay in my pjs and watch dvds. i would eat a brownie for breakfast, pizza for lunch and sushi for dinner.

a dream day!

ahhh, well...a gal can dream can't she?

oona*

likes: salt, to-do lists, and good theatre

dislikes: aloofness, being cold, and bad theatre





*as part of my ongoing attempt to find inspiration in the everyday (not in a martha stewart kind of way, just in a way that means something to me), i'm going to begin a bit of a project. it's called "likes and dislikes." this is the first installment and i hope to post more just as soon as i can track down (and snap digipix of) more of my friends.

temping.

during my first few months in chicago (and like most recent transplants to the city), i worked various jobs for a temp agency. one job was at a real estate office, another simply consisted of me stuffing envelopes while sitting in a herman miller chair...the most interesting assignment was a one-night stint at a plastic surgery convention hosted by a michigan avenue hotel. upon my arrival at the inter-continental, i was informed that i would be stationed in a conference room filled with tv/vcr sets in which the visiting docs would check out and watch instructional videos featuring in-depth, discovery channel-style surgeries. as i sat down to start my shift, i realized that i had (stupidly) forgotten anything to read...or do. i had brought a notebook with me and i recorded my experiences there in detail.

here you go:

july 2001

"i am now temping at a plastic surgery convention. i am the greeter/'video theater engineer.' the doctors enter and check out the video they would like to view. the videos are of plastic surgery. so far, i've only glanced at one rhinoplasty! i think it was a nose that i was looking at...i'm not positive. oh god. i accidentally saw a tube being put into someone's face. it's almost, almost as gross as those horrible hairless rats they have at the lincoln park zoo. i hate them.

there is absolutely no reason for me to be here.

whoops! i just looked at a giant silver needle being inserted into the nose. i know there's worse stuff happening on screen now, but i refuse to look. refuse.

i wish i had a book. nobody's coming in here.

there's a wedding reception going on in the ballroom next door. i just saw a bride and groom being whisked into the room by an operative barking commands into a walkie-talkie. once safely inside, the employee locked the door behind the happy couple. i suppose they needed some privacy.

oh! another doctor is here! checked out a video on something called a "mastopexy." he has food. his dinner i think. i am way too dressed up. the doctors are wearing polos. no fair.

did i mention that i desperately want a book? or a magazine? anything... i'm trying not to look at the doctor's dinner...ooh. what's that? mmm. brownie...not that that's what he's actually eating, i'm just thinking of my dream brownie again. whoops! looked at a screen again. don't DO that.

now i'm hearing sounds coming from inside the doctor's headphones. it sounds like a drilling of some sort. or a scraping. yuck. it's no good. wait a minute. i hear suctioning, definite suctioning.

i just had to get up and tell some of the little kids from the wedding to pipe down. then i stole a couple of mini-jams from a nearby table. i'm starving. uh-oh. a loose bridesmaid and now i can hear the music from the reception. i need a drink.

god, it's hard not to look. don't look! i'm strangely hungry, though...i'm thinking of eating my stolen jellies.

alright...it's nearing the end of the evening...i've been watching a "laser resurfacing." the outside of her face is wrapped in foil and --- wow! what a vibrant red! ok. look away. need to take a break...laser resurfacing is pretty cool as far as i can tell.

i'm getting less witty, more wilty and wishing i was next door at the wedding. there's a nice jazz band playing.

oh no. not another rhinoplasty...think i'm gonna puke.

i gotta sign off..."


hey. people out there, please feel free to share any temp stories you might have. i'd love to read them... :)

mitch

icey-land.

1.23.07

"blithe spirit" is open. we are jeff recommended. :)

happy birthday, dad.

for the end of your friday:

if you are feeling that end of the week slump, please click on this video immediately. i am of the opinion that it should be played on a loop alongside some ambient brian eno music. now, if you feel like it's getting a bit long, i urge you to press on until around 0:57. it'll all be worth it.

enjoy.

...from home.

for the past two hours, i've been cleaning...furiously. misery, thy name is cat hair.

for the past two hours, i've been moving various furniture items out of place, vacuuming, dusting, wiping, swiffering, moving various furniture items back into place...then i did the dishes.

i just discovered a crumb on the top of my lip.

hmmm...i wonder how long it's been there.

new shoes.

i bought some red shoes last week.

i bought them to wear to a wedding.

this is my second pair of red shoes (currently).

back to school...

from today's chicago tribune:

"Best Chicago group of the future:

Even a truncated version of Sketchcore's show from the fall ("Deep Inside Your Box") knocked it out of the park, largely because the group understands how to create a seamless universe for their non-sequiturs, including the declaration: "Rainbows aren't just for gay people. I'm taking back rainbows" — which led into a truly hilarious Public Enemy-style rap about the manliness of rainbows: "Roy G. Biv is how we live." Yeah, boyeee." -Nina Metz

thanks for coming to sketch fest, friends! we really appreciate it.

information station!

here are some upcoming events that you might want to think about attending. i'm not going to be pushy or beg you to come, but if you are interested, read on!

CHICAGO SKETCHFEST!
sketchcore will be performing this saturday, january 6th at 10pm. you can find out more about this super fun event by clicking either link. this show will sell out. i encourage you to buy tickets now, dudes.

"BLITHE SPIRIT" at the gift theatre! ghosts! british people! ghosts haunting british people! come see me in a little maid outfit!

"THE WOODEN BREEKS" at lookingglass! scottish people! coffins! other things! brendan is in this fancy show and i know it will be awesome.

need more info? send me a comment and i'll get back to you with the information you desire!

hurrah!

1/1/07 2:48 AM