hosting a field trip in the theatre

yesterday wasn't a typical day in the theatre where i work.  i hosted a group of 9th through 12th graders from a local high school's drama program.  they had a day-long field trip at the theatre where we did workshops with them about technical theatre and performing.  i taught the technical portion of the day and a friend who i went to college with taught the performing portion of the day.  we taught the students what it takes to bring a show to the stage from both the technical and the talent perspectives.

being a college professor and being the chair of our local stage hand union's education committee, i love any opportunity to educate young folks on the performing arts.  outreach programs such as these provide such great opportunities to expand the next generation's knowledge and appreciation of the performing arts through small hands-on training sessions with industry professionals.  i'm happy to have had the chance to help organize this and can't wait to offer it again!  there are more photos (that my co-worker took) on the theatre's facebook page here.

have a great weekend, we have another show (what else is new?!)

love, laurie

spoiled kitten!

yesterday was national love your pet day . . . which, let's be honest, is everyday in our house!  this little guy got extra cuddles and love.  he was even spoiled with a snack in bed!  what a cutie!

love, laurie

cheesecake!

we ended up with the day off on sunday, so we finally got around to doing our taxes in the morning (which is not so exciting) and then took a trip to the cheesecake factory with my parents (which is way more exciting than taxes)!

all four of us had gift cards to the cheesecake factory and coupons for free slices of cheesecake, so we just couldn't let those go to waste!  we took a little trip out to the rockaway mall in new jersey and had a great meal at the cheesecake factory followed by yummy dessert.  (we all ended up taking home doggie bags of our meals and our cheesecakes because their portions are so huge!)

it's been over a year since the last time we were at the cheesecake factory, so it was nice to get to go back again!

love, laurie

the mac king comedy magic show

this saturday, the mac king comedy magic show came to our theatre.  mac king has been a las vegas headliner for nearly 20 years and has appeared on shows like penn + teller and david letterman.  it was really neat to meet him in person and to see his show.  we had a great turnout, and the audience loved it!  you can see the rest of my photos from the show on the theatre's facebook page here.

love, laurie

day off!

it's a holiday weekend and we're thrilled to have the day off today (especially since we had a show this weekend)!  we're looking forward to resting up a little, getting a few things off our to-do list, and spending lots of quality time with our kitten!

happy presidents day!

love, laurie

celebrating valentine's day

we're not used to being able to celebrate valentine's day since we usually have work, rehearsal, or a show.  last night we both got out of work at a reasonable hour so we decided to celebrate by going out for dinner.  we didn't want to go out to eat at a restaurant that was crowded and overpriced, so instead we went to a small restaurant that we have only been to once.  it was nice and we had a great dinner.  we came home, curled up on the couch, enjoyed some leftover valentine's cupcakes that i made for my co-workers, and watched some tv with leko.  it was a nice little valentine's day (and ryan's half birthday too)!

have a great weekend!

love, laurie

happy valentine's day!

i've mentioned before that leko loves a small plastic pink ball that we have.  by far, it is his favorite toy and he plays with it every day.  he has a routine where he likes to dunk it in his water bowl after he is done playing with it.  at the end of each night, we pluck the ball out of the water, dry it off, and reset it for him to do it all over again the next morning.

over the last few weeks, we've moved some furniture around in different rooms of our house just to change things up.  when we did that, leko stopped playing with his pink ball all of a sudden.  we were sad, because it was such a cute routine.  several weeks went by and pink ball didn't move at all.  it was odd.  this week, out of the blue, he decided to play with pink ball again.  i was elated to come home from work and find pink ball back in the water bowl.  i took a picture, showed it to ryan, and said "this is our valentine's day present from our little guy!"  what a cutie!

we're glad pinkie is back in action, we missed him!

happy valentine's day!

love, laurie

a sunday morning breakfast date!

on sunday morning, we had a little bit of free time early in the morning before we had to go to the theatre for the matinee performance of nunsense.  since we haven't done anything fun in a long time because of our work schedules, we decided to wake up early and go out for breakfast.  we went to our new favorite spot which we tried for the first time on the morning of my birthday.  the food is so good!  we shared muffin-tin frittatas, rosemary-dijon potatoes, a campfire-themed dutch baby pancake, and a cinnamon roll doughnut. 

everything was so good.  we knew we would have extra, so we were happy to be able to take our leftovers with us in a doggie bag and have them as a snack after the show!

it was a nice little sunday morning breakfast date!

love, laurie

one year!

today is my one year work anniversary of working as director of theatre operations at the theatre.  it's hard to believe that it has been an entire year since i started my new job on february 12th last year.  i mentioned to my boss yesterday that today marks one year since i started, and he said: "only one year?  it seems like you've been here for at least three years!"

i absolutely love my job, and i pinch myself every day that i get to go to work and do what i love.  sure, it gets aggravating at times, but i love it.  here's to many more years!

love, laurie

"nunsense"

it was a busy weekend in the theatre this weekend for our production of "nunsense."  it has been years since i have seen this show, so it was great to have it at the theatre.  it was very funny, the audience loved it, and we had a great turnout.  

below are some photos i snapped during the sunday performance.  (you can see the rest of my photos here on our theatre's facebook page.)

love, laurie