Sunday, January 30, 2011

Pirates of Penzance

January 30, 2011

Our good friend Jeffrey Lee played Samuel in a production of the operetta Pirates of Penzance this past weekend, so a big group of us all went to go support him and enjoy the show. We made a whole day of it by meeting up for drinks first, and then heading out to dinner together afterward. Wonderful show, wonderful friends, wonderful day!Pat, Jimmy, Jennifer, Rosa, Jeffrey, me, Doug, and Michele

Fifty and Fabulous

January 30, 2011

It is a thing of beauty when a surprise party comes off without a hitch--when the surprisee is truly surprised and caught off guard. Doug's sister Lisa just celebrated her 50th birthday this past weekend, and Estelle (Doug's mom) decided she wanted to commemorate this big and important milestone by having a dinner party at Luna's for family and friends Saturday night. That, in and of itself, would not be such a feat. However, Lisa is known by all as having an uncanny knack for knowing about all the happenings--good, bad, trivial or monumental--of all of her friends and family. She knows everyone, and every one loves her. She genuinely and sincerely wants to know what's happening in the lives of her friends. The fact that she didn't ferret out from any of those friends what they were doing with their Saturday night or try to orchestrate a little gathering of her own is suprising. The fact that not one of her friends let it slip is almost unbelievable. But the cat was kept contentedly in the bag, and Lisa was stopped dead in her tracks when Larry brought her into the restaurant and she was faced with lots of loved ones, all assembled to celebrate her big day. Lisa was truly speechless--a rare occasion, I can assure you!

Courtney made this adorable cake.



Fresno Indoor Frogs

January 30, 2011

Danielle and I were thrilled to find out there was a local indoor soccer league she could join in the off-season. My good friend owns an indoor soccer place, and she let me know they had a house team in search of a goalie for Danielle's age group. Since Danielle is really interested in trying out for the junior high team next year, we both thought this would be a fun way to keep her momentum going before next year's tryouts start up.

Doug really wanted to take her out and get her a goalie jersey, and she was very excited to go shopping with him. They went to a couple of soccer shops and looked at jerseys and goalie gloves, and talked about strategies and skills--they both really enjoyed their bonding time. Ultimately, she settled on this light blue jersey with navy accents, which looks cool and brings out her blue eyes.




Skinned knees, which she wears as a badge of honor. That girl will dive for a ball!

Fresno Indoor Soccer Frogs in action.


To Be, Or Not To Be...

January 29, 2011

That is the question, no? For Bree, it was To Be Or Not To Be in our school's production of Hamlet. She wasn't thrilled about it; her interest falls much more in line with the musical theater variety of drama. There's not much singing or dancing or gallivanting about in Hamlet. Not much cavorting either, unless you count Ophelia's mad scene, which kind of doesn't count, because she doesn't even realize she cavorting. There's a lot of sadness and betrayal, some daddy issues and some self-esteem issues, and a pretty impressive body count by the end. Bree's like her mom--more likely to want to surround herself with puppies and kittens and rainbows. Happy ending sort of stuff, you know, where the guy gets the girl at the end, and they sing a song and live happily ever after. Anti-Hamlet, if you will.

But still, she found herself somewhat obliged (by virtue of her inclusion in the drama class), to be in the show. It was *ahem* suggested that she should be in it. To her chagrin, she learned that suddenly her after school free time became her after school rehearsal time, all for an opportunity to stand on stage and be A Lady In Waiting. And a lovely Lady In Waiting she was. And she found that as she rehearsed, as she waited, being in the play wasn't as bad as she thought it might be. Sure, it was time-consuming, but she got to hang out with lots of her good friends--likeminded theater arts kinds of folks--so waiting wasn't just waiting. It was spending time with people she loves. When I went to opening night last Thursday and met up with her after the show, she was positively glowing, absolutely in her element and floating on the comraderie and sense of family that grows among cast members of a show.

Bree, Austin, Berto, Aaron, Lena, Alyssa, and Marlo after the show.
Bree and Marlo
Bree and Austin
Bree and Skye

Monday, January 24, 2011

I'm a Groupie for the Band

January 24, 2011

I love it when Doug's band gets together to play, especially when I'm able to get away to join him. All of the guys in the band are very cool dudes--genuine and sweet. And they rock! Last weekend, all the girlfriends and wives were out at practice, too, so the guys had a full-on groupie audience dancing for them. We had a great time, as always.

Scenes From My Second Home

January 24, 2011

Girls' Night In

January 24, 2011

My girlfriend Lisa (Alicia) texted a few of us last week letting us know it was high time for a girls' night in. We all have kids and it's not always easy to get away all at the same time, so we decided we'd bring the kids with us to hang out and entertain each other at Lisa's house, and we'd get a little chance to indulge in some girly chattiness. We each brought something to contribute to a taco bar for dinner (super easy, so no one had to stress out about cooking), and let the kids play on the Wii while we sat around the table to do some much-needed catching up. We're all smart girls, so I can't for the life of me figure out why we've never done this before, but we had such a great time that we've decided to make it a monthly event. We all went to high school together, so it's really pretty cool that all of our kids are friends now. Here's to old-school, long-time girlfriends!