brendan is in the kitchen making french toast with leftover birthday party brioche. polly is lying on half of the computer/my hand which is making it tough to type this. mitch is most likely lazily curled up on grandpa's brown chair. there is snow outside and a tickle in my throat. i'm drinking orange juice.

like a bad little elf, i've not given much thought or feeling to the upcoming holiday. i've been preoccupied. however, i'd like to start to get excited about this week. so i've decided to allow that kooky holiday spirit to creep in.

we had our first big new york city snow yesterday (though it pales in comparison to the snow chicago's been having) and it was pretty lovely. i witnessed most of the storm while babysitting in a times square hotel. when i left the hotel, the snow had turned to sleet and rain and i felt certain that i'd be much happier watching it than being pummeled by it. i was happy when i made it home.




my folks are coming in this week to spend christmas in the city. my sister has meticulously planned each and every moment for their stay and i am so very thankful for that. she is a holiday spirit powerhouse. it's a natural fact.

it has been a bit of a slower week here in the little apartment that could. b and i have recovered from our turkey day travels (two trains; one to long island and one to connecticut) and headed into this our fifth week in new york. (paid) work was sparse this week; i spent time observing the preschool class i'm to teach this january, getting new headshots and meeting with a fancy commercial agent while b worked on making a fancy new reel to show casting folks. i mean, not at the moment that you see pictured above...in that moment he was very busy playing his wicked air guitar.

of course.

olive joon moayed
11.24.08

we had the chance to spend yesterday afternoon with a new friend on her very first day in the outside world. she is lovely, alert and content, soaking up her surroundings with great interest. this is the first time we've been lucky enough to meet a brandnewborn so soon after her arrival and i must say, it is extraordinary. congratulations and love to krissy and arian, two wonderfully caring people who are more than ready to start this journey together.

"temping." macy's parade warehouse. hoboken, nj. 11.18.08.

after a whopping 2 whole weeks in the big city, we decided it was time to get away from it all and go upstate. b's family was in town visiting and after a lunch and visit in the city, we all headed upstate to stay the night. we took the hudson river line an hour and a half north into dutchess county. i was taken on a wonderful narrated tour of the farm where b's grandparents lived and his mom grew up. also, i ate my weight in calamari fra diavolo. not a bad weekend.

the big top.

last friday evening, i was lucky enough to get to participate in the big apple circus's big fancy gala benefit. the big apple circus puts on a classic big top circus each year and the tent goes up right smack dab in the middle of lincoln center.

magical.

i wound my way around the tents and trailers trying to find the other clowns and our designated changing spot. turns out, it wasn't far from the circus horses (and pony!) who would later be performing their act to thunderous applause. i found the spot, changed and got into position with the rest of the clowns.

all of us clown care clowns were stationed at the entrance of the tent, greeting people as they entered. then, at the beginning of the show, we got to run around the ring like crazy fools. what fun! and after that, we got to go sit and watch the show! we ate a delectable boxed din-din and drank some wine (all in my lil' costume of course) and watched a real live circus.

i can't remember the last time i saw the circus. can you? i'll tell you, it's pretty awe-inspiring. jaw-dropping. beautiful.

especially the pony.

well, we made it. we did the impossible. we moved.

after our masterful negotiation of a 14 foot uhaul*, two cats and a crapload of belongings, we found ourselves on our new street in brooklyn. with the help of a small, but stellar moving crew*, we were able to put all the boxes we had so recently packed into our new apartment.

so, one week down. i can't say we've figured it all out yet, but we have been pounding the pavement in a few different ways. b's had some fancy meetings, i've had a couple of teachy interviews and we've both worked tirelessly to unpack all of said boxes.


the apartment is coming together and we're learning more and more about our neighborhood by the day. turns out you can get really cheap chinese food and incredibly delicious fresh mozzarella within a few blocks of our abode. exciting. there's also too many cute restaurants to count and a lady could do some real damage at les shoppes as well. alas, we're attempting to keep it frugal for a bit at least until we start making the big bucks.

*there's no real way to thank the folks who helped out in the box-carrying extravaganza both in chicago and new york. however i will say that a true friend is one who will help you move. either that or it's your sister. regardless, whether you helped move a box or just had a few nice words to say to us before we left, i thank you from the bottom of my lil' heart. you have made me so happy.

i'm sitting in a nearly empty apartment, watching as my cats wander aimlessly through each room. they seem remarkably calm considering ninety-nine percent of the things they usually like to sit on are now missing; maybe it's the cat sedatives they sampled today.

phew. what a day. with the help of some very generous friends, we loaded up the 14 foot u-haul with room to spare. we have a little more to throw in there, not too much, nothing compared to earlier this morning. so after a few more trips down to the truck, we'll be all set to go. we'll set out early tomorrow morning, making our way east toward the coast.

i will be saying farewell to a city that has brought me incredible joy as well as...well...let's call them "challenges." i've learned a lot, fallen in love and generally had a great time getting to know the most fabulous friends a gal can have. honestly, that is what i'm most nervous about; losing touch with the people who helped me understand myself during the last seven years. i'm going to do my best to avoid that happening.

there's no way to really thank these folks, but i'd like to try...and now, in classic lauren fashion, a list*:

joe b.
mary
gandy
paul b.
kate
shelly
jay
dean
halena
kasey
paulie d.
joe s.
geoff
jen
rachel
luke
oona
tai
kristie
mpt
mary winn
ryan
dina
michael c.
hillary
melissa
hubbell
katie
katy
bill b. (both of you)
jessica
kurt
lacy
lynda
maggie
erinn
ben
heidi
amanda
lisa
sharon
rani
kate
arnie
mack
alex
brennan
laura
ian
marc

thank you.

*if you don't see your name on this list, please, please understand that it is the fault of my tired, slippery brain which is looking forward to some thai food. i love you all.

checklist

☑ moving truck rented
☑ cat sedatives for 13 hour trip across the country
☑ moving boxes
☑ three trips to the brown elephant (and counting)
☑ change of address
☑ nervous and excited about the prospect of imminent change
☐ some serious packing still left
☐ bills set up in new city
☐ seven more days in current city
☐ last goodbyes

we're gonna live here.

yep. here is our new home. crazy.

we're going to live in a friendly little neighborhood in brooklyn. brownstones on all sides, yummy restaurants a few steps away and a city park just down the street.

i'm officially excited.

a dear friend suggested i take up my blogging again in order to stay close to people who might want to know what i'm up to. it warms my heart to think that there are those of you out there. i appreciate your pageviews and your kindness. i hope to get back into the swing of it as i prepare for a new and bold adventure taking me from the middle west to the east coast.

yikes!

on moving to ny.

Of all modes of transport, the train is perhaps the best aid to thought: the views have none of the potential monotony of those on a ship or a plane, they move fast enough for us not to get exasperated but slowly enough to allow us to identify objects. They offer us brief, inspiring glimpses into private domains, letting us see a woman at the moment when she takes a cup from a shelf in her kitchen, before carrying us on to a patio where a man is sleeping and then to a park where a child is catching a ball thrown by a figure we cannot see.

At the end of hours of train-dreaming, we may feel we have been returned to ourselves: that is, brought back into contact with emotions and ideas of importance to us. It is not necessarily at home that we best encounter our true selves. The furniture insists that we cannot change because it does not; the domestic setting keeps us tethered to the person we are in ordinary life, but who may not be who we essentially are.


- Alain de Botton, "On the Pleasures of Sadness"

i am sad (but it doesn't look like it).

we only have two more shows. jon says that because there is always a finite end to the run of a play that you really love, you want to keep doing it forever.

i do, i do.

but my hair does not.

this is my last show in chicago.

for now.

FAKE LAKE is open.

and this is something that happens in the play.
photo by erica dufour


p.s. turns out, i am softball.

an incomplete list of french phrases that, i believe, should be used with greater regularity. a photo taken from the window of our hotel in paris.

avec plaisir - my pleasure (lit. "with pleasure")

bete noire - a scary or unpopular person, idea, or thing, or the archetypical scary monster in a story; literally "black beast."

cri du coeur -"cry from the heart" : an impassioned outcry, as of entreaty or protest

dernier cri - the latest fashion; literally "last scream"

l'esprit de l'escalier - "wit of the stairs" : a concise, clever statement you don't think of until too late, e.g. on the stairs leaving the scene

fait accompli - something that has already happened and is thus unlikely to be reversed

gauche - tactless

je m'en fous - "I don't give a damn"

le mot juste - "the just word"; the right word at the right time

nom de plume - author's pseudonym, literally "pen name"

vive la difference! - "[long] live the difference"; originally referring to the difference between the sexes, the phrase may be used to celebrate the difference between any two groups of people (or simply the general diversity of individuals)

"FAKE LAKE"
the neofuturists @ the welles park pool
august 16 - september 20

i am helping to make a play. this play will take place in a pool. i am excited.

the play is centered around this beautiful place pictured here (thanks fellow flickr-photographer friend). this is lake powell, a devastatingly beautiful, yet totally man-made body of water found in utah/arizona.

the play is called fake lake.

"l.e.s. artistes" by santogold

summer is here*

*some selected summer snapshots from my shiny new camera.

i have a new camera.

i'm learning about it.

watch out world.

i am 30 years old today!

click it.

"We began, as artists, tens of thousands of years ago, by putting our hands to the walls of the caves and leaving a handprint: "I was here! This is what it was like! These arrows, these animals, this blood."

-Craig Lucas

why i make theater.

dean

ryan

laura, jay

ahhh, "picked up..." you make me happy.

i would like to send a huge, public "thank you" to these people (and sean and ian, of course) for making the past five months of my life entertaining, exhausting, fun and, most of all, full of cake.

a random list and a picture of polly & the fauxquarium.

what i should be doing:

• sitting on my bed
  
• tidying the house
  
• sweeping up beside the litterbox
  
• taking out the recycling
  
• doing a load of laundry
  
• washing the dishes...

what i am doing:

• sitting on my bed
  
• trolling facebook
  
• reading blogs
  
• checking out the "new york times" website
  
• watching my cats alternately fighting and sleeping
  
• listening to church bells toll in the distance
  
• thinking about what i should be doing...

we look crazy...and dean's not even wearing his wig.

ahhhh....hear that? that's the sound of utter relief and happiness that my episode of "picked up" is over. my cast performed three fantastic shows and each and every one got picked up! after months of work and two weeks of high-pressure preparation, it was amazing to see the fruits of our labor performed before my very eyes. i send big time thanks to all the super-neos and my fabulous cast.

rainstorm in paris, summer 2007

"picked up" opens this thursday...

new shoes.

"picked up"

i'm working on making a show with those crazy neo-futurists again. it's called "picked up." we wrote six original sitcom pilots and will be directing/performing in them starting april 10th. also, we made trailers for each of the pilots which will preview soon. here's a behind-the-scenes snapshot of the kind of shenanigans you can expect.

click here for l'information.

click it.

thanks tracy!

friday, march 7th.
redmoon's spectacle lunatique.
the terrifying princesses* make a party appearance. we are, in fact, so terrifying that we instantly scare the first partygoers and are sent away until much later after said partygoers have had a few spectacocktails.



*"the princess club"

here is where i spent the past weekend. a quaint little resort in massachusettes, complete with creepy mansion and free-roaming wild buffalo. this is where about 60 professional hospital clowns gathered to hone our skills and deepen our relationships with one another. being one of the brand-newest members of this estimable team, i was a bit overwhelmed by the whole shebang, but as the weekend progressed, i found myself feeling so lucky that i was able to spend my time with people who have devoted a major part of their lives to this honorable profession. i am so excited to get on the hospital floor and try out all of the things i've learned.

cocoa and clowning.

i spent last week in new york learning how to be the best hospital clown i can be. this spring, i'm starting an exciting new job as a member of the big apple circus clown care unit here in chicago. it's a great honor to join this team; it's chock full of incredibly talented and fun people. yesterday, i purchased my very first professional clown nose (see above).

in nyc, i also got to do the following things whilst hanging out with b, my sis and her boyfriend: see central park covered with snow, eat delicious soup dumplings in chinatown, indulge in the best homemade doughnuts i've ever had, drink a cup of hot melted chocolate and go to not one, but two $6 movies at the movie theatre.

fat tuesday.

breakfast at "valois" in hyde park, 8:00 a.m.

dinner at "gandy gras," lincoln square, 8:00 p.m.

treasures.

i bought a couple of pieces of pottery at the thrift store yesterday. the color of the two bowls was what initially sparked my interest. when i picked them up, i realized they were each handmarked underneath. one is marked "made in calif." the other was made in roseville, oh. i tried to research them a bit on the ol' internets. i knew that a lot of pottery from the mid-century was produced in california, but i found out that the piece from roseville was made by a company called "robinson-ransbottom pottery co." which has been producing since 1900. as i carried the two bowls around the brown elephant (our neighborhood thrift store), i wondered how much influence antiques roadshow has had on peoples' desire to buy items of potential value for cheap. i watched a few other customers milling about, eyes scanning the shelves, hunting for items of interest. i picked these up because i liked the way they looked. i like thinking of them in someone else's home and the journey they must've taken in order to land in my hands.

did i need them?
no.

did i want to own them because they are lovely?
yes.

sometimes objects can be quite satisfying.

enjoy.

...click here for some info regarding a reading of some fun-ness happening tomorrow night at the neo-futurarium. i'm on the writing team for a crazy show called "picked up" which will run this spring.

here is a photostitchproject that i made of brendan and me. i just like it.

we are in the middle of major life decisions and it is scary and scary and exciting.

we're not sure what to do.

we're trying to figure it out.

if you have any suggestions or tips on life, let me know.

oh, please come back...

soft-boiled.

within the last couple of years, i've been introduced to the deliciousness of the soft-boiled egg. all my life, i've been a fried or a scrambled kind of gal, but of late, my yolks of choice are decidedly more yolkier. i mean, you can't go wrong with an egg, i love them in a salad, on a pizza or by themselves. i love 'em sunny side up, over-easy and, as you can see, soft-boiled. there's something so fragile about eating an egg avec shell. it becomes a delicacy, a project, something of an art form. also, it's yummy.

new year. new desk.

...as promised.