THE GRAVEYARD BOOK

Neil Gaiman's new book has come out. I've finished it - and it is wonderful, as all his books are. However as a special treat, on his book tour Neil has been reading a chapter a night! If you have not listened to one of his audio books, he is a fantabulous reader. His voice is crisp, with a nice British accent, he does the voices, but not absurdly. And with these videos you can see his mannerisms, which is always fun.

The videos are at mousecircus, I haven't found any downloadable audio yet (besides the one you have to pay for - totally worth it probably), but when I do - i'll let you know!

Jury Duty

I was supposed to have Jury Duty today, but they didn't need me to show. I have to call again tonight to see if I'm needed. 

BUT, that gives me a day to do things I haven't done since we've moved: food shopping (we still have a fridge full of condiments), dropping stuff off at goodwill (it's been living in my car for a week and a half), going to the bank, laundry, and the continuous task of unpacking. 

I know that I've been tooting his horn, but now that jason no longer possesses my TiVo - have you noticed how much more often I've been posting than he has? And I almost always include pretty pictures, and he NEVER does? 

but we're both way better at it than Grant

Here is a photo of a sign in the works I am  making for Doug's Halloween extravaganza. It's actually in a more peeling state now. And it has gold trim.

It will be an old sign for a tavern called The Occupied Sarcophagus. 

It just so happened that he wanted a sign with colors that matched the set we're painting right now.  I found some old scraps of wood and presto.

TECH WEEK

The Talley's build is really coming together - here's a shot of the set almost done. I'm planning on taking my nice camera sometime tomorrow and getting some shots with an actual camera. 

Good news - everyone not building or painting the show seems to be very impressed. It's definitely the prettiest set I've ever painted at McCarter. We're just putting finishing touches on. Tonight is the first onstage rehearsal, so hopefully the actors can stay on the deck.

Grant's been spending his days attaching greenage to the set. EVERYWHERE. Apparently John Lee Beatty gave them a detailed list of greenery, so they initially bought triple what he asked for. Today, they are going out to buy some more.

Today was grant's first day at McCarter. It was also the first day of tech week. So instead of having a two hour introduction, he got a quick walk around, signed a bunch of papers, got some keys and parking permits with almost no explanation, and was quickly ushered into the theatre to work a ten hour day, helping with things he knew nothing about.  AND his department was having a foliage emergency.

But being the stalwart soul that he is, he jumped right in, and really loved it! He's so thrilled to be working in a theatre again that he didn't even mind that he was hanging fake foliage around the set all day!

The photo is of Grant talking to Chris ( the Technical Director who is precariously hanging a giant pulley) and Michelle (the new boss) while John Lee Beatty (Mr. Designer Man) looks on.

IN OTHER NEWS - we finally have our cable and internet hooked up. Grant was able to get the TiVo back from the incredibly gracious care of the glorious home of the splendiferous Nixons. Those illustrious folks also benevolently minded Grant while I was waiting for, and assisting the cable technician.

So our TiVo is hooked up, our wireless internet is functioning, and the hula girl on my Chumby is dancing happily.

goodnight world. 

The Haircut

Here it is! Not quite as short, but still cute!

My mom doesn't want me to get rid of the red, so i might be doing black chunks soon. we'll see.

The apartment is coming together. We made our first ikea run - we needed more shelves (obviously) and some kitchen solutions because there are only itty bitty cabinets and almost no counter space. 

We also got one of those magnetic kitchen knife racks - I've always wanted one!

Helpful, but lousy Photoshopping

This is a really crappy Photo-shopping job, but I think it gets the idea across.

 So NOW what do you think about me in the hairdo?

Shout outs

shout out to everyone 

but especially anyone who happens to be taking rockstar care of my tivo, which i do say I am missing badly. 

However I am probably getting more done by carrying my laptop (from now on to be called by her name - Quinn) around with me. Almost done Buffy season 2. Angel is bad, Oz is a werewolf, Miss Calendar is dead, and things are about to get crazy!

caffiene is my friend

or is  it the wine?

Today we finished up the very last bits of emptying and cleaning the condo. I removed the last of the junk, and Grant was amazing and cleaned the carpets. HOWEVER a shout out goes out to my mom and dad for helping, nay championing the final push yesterday - Dad helped Grant carry out all the final miscellaneous boxes and crap out of the condo, and into the apartment, and Mom helped me scrub down the bathrooms, kitchen, carpet and walls (and by help, I mean did EVERYTHING because she's wonderful) .

Meanwhile, I've definitely made a dent in the mountain of boxes currently dominating our new abode. The kitchen is almost entirely set up, which is surprising, considering I thought we would have no where near enough cabinet space for all of our stuff. But alas, I have room to spare - which most definitely assists my outlook on the rest of the apartment. 

By putting all of the kitchen items in their places, I emptied quite a lot of space in the dining room. Perhaps, tomorrow I will make the living room more of a room, and less of a hallway lined in boxes. 

goodnight.

Fun times with the Grant and the Sue

Fun times with the Grant and the Sue. Moving day was largely uneventful, except for this priceless moment. In case you didn't see him - that's Grant under the couch trying to see if the hinges of the front door of our new apartment were removable. They weren't, but we (and by we I mean the guys) were able to twist it at just the right angle that it barely slid in. 

Luckily I had made a basic floorplan, roughly to scale, so most of the furniture is where it will be, with boxes piled around them. That way I just unpack boxes, not try to rearrange and unpack as I go.

There are still a few piles of things here at the old place. Right now I am sitting on the carpet, which is jones-ing for a hardcore cleaning, waiting for the dryer load to be done, so we can have clean sheets at our new place tonight. 

The rain held out almost the entire time. Just a light misting when they were unloading the last books. 

moving sucks

I can barely stand to be in my place of residence right now - boxes everywhere, things in piles waiting to be packed. I'm not a neat freak, but I do like things to have some semblance of order. 

Tomorrow we get the keys, and Saturday is moving day. We're going to move most of the big stuff then. Hopefully it won't be pouring - we have a pretty big box truck and everything will be wrapped, so that shouldn't be a big issue. Anything left over we'll move on Sunday.

possible 'do

How do we feel about this look?

on the move

we've spent all day packing - all the walls are bare, which makes me sad. I'm a big fan of color, and as we take everything down, the rooms all return to their neutral state. Icky.

BUT, despite my love of color, I'm considering going semi-goth - not creepy goth, but dark hair, dark color clothing. I just thing that if I'm ever going to do it, I should do it now, before I get to old to pull it off. I am going to try non-permanent hair color first, to see if I like it.

Arrr Matey!

It's National Talk Like a pirate day! Look it up!

Can you paint the sky?

Sorry for the small hiatus. Been a little busy. 

I thought you'd like to see the 

backdrop that we just finished for Talley's Folly. Isn't it pretty? It took us 4 days, from stapling it down and starching to fire retarding it. That's actually about a medium amount of time for a drop. Many drops only take 2 or 3 days.

And if you look over on the left edge you can see the top of the gazebo. 

The drop is massive - 54' x 30something. It barely fits on our deck.

Hmm -  it's hard to find something that will put it in perspective... 

okay - along the wall, right in the middle there is an unpainted door. Does that put it into scale any more for you?

The clouds were done by Carrie with an assortment of sprayers and a few pieced of torn cardboard to define the edges. The leaves were done mostly with giant stamps that we made and a few painted in to break ups some edges. Rather backbreaking I must say.

I don't know how much you know about how painters do drops or pretty much anything on the floor. We actually paint standing up and using bamboo.

Now THESE PICTURE ARE NOT US - but I don't have a picture of us painting with bamboo. I found these on google to use as an example. But we do paint in our socks or bare feet, so we don't track little footprints around. 

Maybe I'll get some good pictures of our crackling technique today to show.

I'll miss you Disney

Back from another wonderful Disney trip. I think Indiana Jones is still ranking up there as my favorite, closely followed by Fantasmic, but obviously everything was wonderful.

Changes: Spaceship Earth is now narrated by Dame Judi Dench and has interactive computers in each seat.

There was also a new Toy Story Ride at the Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM). I didn't go on it - the line was always freakishly long, but Dad and Lui did. It's a lot like the Buzz Lightyear ride, but everything is 3-D - including the things that you fire!

The hotel we stayed in had a hallway that looked like it could have been featured in The Shining. Every time we walked out into it we expected to see creepy twins.

I did the Behind the Seeds tour behind the Land ride. Totally worth it! All the hydroponics were explained, I got to see several unusual plants, I released ladybugs into the greenhouses and fed tilapia, and I was stared at by the people passing by in the boats!

 I also got a look at several awesome props. Davy Jone's Pipe organ, the Black Pearl's Figurehead, and some costumes from Pirates, a bunch of the props and costumes from the Narnia movies, and some costumes from Enchanted.

All in all, a fabulous vacation. And seeing how it was with my family, we now have a bunch more inside jokes!

PS: if you are looking for cheap(er) alcohol in Disney - go to Morocco!