End of November!

Well, it's the last day of November! What a lot of great things I've had to be grateful for :-D Here's the final round:

November 26 - South Philly LOVES Christmas!

November 27 - I love Christmas too! I've decorated my new office with a Christmas corner :-)

 November 28 - Christmas time is getting close and my presents are arriving!

November 29 - An early Christmas gift to ME!

November 30 - Performing in 7 DIFFERENT shows, vocal performances or readings in the next 10 days!

Thanksgiving Thankfuls!

November 21 - Delicious Indian Food Lunch Celebrations!

November 22 - Thanksgiving! But even more, Dad's Birthday (on a boat)!

November 23 - Being in Washington, DC for Thanksgiving weekend!

November 24 - Visits with wonderful friends who are still friends after YEARS!

November 25 - A beautiful holiday display at the US Botanical Gardens.

It's almost Thanksgiving!

November 18 - Upcoming projects I can shamelessly promote :-D

November 19 - These fierce ladies. South Pacific does A Chorus Line.

November 20 - Coworkers you care enough about to be sad they're leaving. Sad enough to bake.

More thanks!

November 15 - Cold Remedies that WORK!

 November 16 - Back to Alice in Wonderland!

 November 17 - My snuggle kitty who helps me feel better when I'm sick :-)

Continued Gratitude

November 14 - I am grateful for 2 show days that make up for the rest of my day being an epic fail!

Seriously Grateful.

My last  post was started as a light-hearted "things that have made me smile today" blog. However, I want to extend love and gratitude to all of my friends and family, people I have been blessed to work with and share the stage with. I am so blessed to be living this life, in this city, with all of you wonderful people. The Philadelphia Theatre Community was shaken by the loss of a very talented young man today and even for those of us (like myself) who only had the opportunity to meet him a few times after seeing his work, Reuben Mitchell left his mark on our community.

Here's a bonus gratitude photo, I am grateful to the boys who have made 833 more than a house, but a home. <3

Bonus Photo #2 - The most tan, talented, whitest teethed and non-catty ladies I have had the pleasure to share the stage with:

Things to be thankful for!

So a lot of people I know are doing the "30 days of Thanksgiving" or "40 days of Thanksgiving" and I've been trying to take one photo a day of something I'm thankful for. My goal was to post one every day but I haven't gotten there yet . . . so here are my first days of Thanksgiving!

November 1 - Pumpkin Beer

November 2 - Knitting

 November 3 - The opportunity to perform a new character!

November 4 - The 833 Happy Belated Halloween Party!

 November 5 - My Soda Maker

November 6 - Election night with the roommates

November 7 - Funny memes that ring true. 

   

November 8 - This

November 9 - Post-Show drink specials!

November 10 - The fact that Rehoboth Beach was not devastated by Hurricane Sandy so I could still play Dorothy for adorable children

November 11 - Getting ready for Christmas time with Caroling Rehearsal (No I didn't take this at rehearsal but it . . . oh well)!

November 12 - Planning Thanksgiving for family!

November 13 - Audio books read by their author like this one:

Bonus Quote: "Day by day I was learning the most basic hardship of the acting profession: Getting rejected by people of no consequence." - John Lithgow

Zucchini is AWESOME

Sorry I'm still bad at blogging y'all! However, I have joined Pinterest and WOW! I love all of the awesome recipes I'm discovering! Some of my favorite recipes thus far are below. Mostly I've found that zucchini is way underrated. I have NOT used it enough in my life up until now. I'm loving that I'm using it more! I don't know if this matters to ANYONE but I'm really excited about it :-D

<3 Sarah

 

I like things that are new and shiny

This week I got some new things:

- Headshots
- Website "Look"
- Keurig coffee Maker
- Keurig coffee k-cups
- Eat, Pray, Love on my Kindle Fire

It's been a pretty great week. I really like new things, it's part of why I've always been a great bargain shopper, I don't care if it's super fancy or expensive, I am just excited to have something I've never had before. This also leads to what has the great potential to become hoarding. I know, but I'm still kind of OK with it.

My new headshots are some of the first photos I've seen of me as a blonde and I must say, I like it. It's different and it's interesting to see myself in a new light, sometimes you just need a change. That's what this blonde hair is all about really.

My new website "look" is pretty snazzy, it's still a work in progress but I'm excited to put a new image of myself out into the universe. I've always been a bit of a chameleon which is why I've always loved acting, I had a tendency growing up to find aspects of my friends, latch on and take on those qualities. It's probably why I went through a phase where I legitimately thought I should shop at "Hot Topic." I should not. So, long story short, I'm excited to have a shiny new website and it helps me feel shiny and new.

My new Keurig and K-cups are probably the best convenience I've spent the money to have in my home ever. I love coffee, it is one of my favorite things. I also like all different flavors of coffee. I also like sleeping. Thus, I rarely wake up in time to make myself coffee before I leave the house. With my new keurig I turn it on, go blowdry my hair, push the brew button, get my purse and keys, come back and grab my coffee. It's like, the best thing in the world. Also, there are SO many flavors. I have caramel, hazelnut, french vanilla and cinnamon bun, as well as Dark Magic which is more for Carl than myself. This keurig has quickly improved my mornings.

Eat, Pray, Love is already helping me look at life differently and assess the possibilities of what's out there. I think if you are facing a time of struggle in your personal, professional or spiritual life it is a positive option. While I am only about 20% into the book (thanks for the info Kindle) I really am enjoying it, it's a fast, positive, very real book.

So, there you have it. New, shiny things. I guess I didn't technically talk about my theatre ventures but check out the Current Projects page on my shiny new website and you'll get the idea.

<3 Sarah

I'm a bad blogger.

I'll be honest, most of the time I have plenty of opinions on things, thoughts I feel merit sharing, etc. However, I just . . . don't necessarily consider myself a "blogger." I just don't have the instinct "Oh, I should blog about this!" which probably isn't necessarily a bad thing. However, I'm trying to challenge myself so I'm going to try to be better at maintaining this blog so . . . if you care . . . AWESOME! If not, that's ok I'm not offended.

So, what have I been thinking about lately? Here goes:

I truly love theatre, there is nothing that makes me feel the way I do when I walk into a theatre to see a performance. I love the magic of the lights dimming, I love the sounds of the candy wrappers and cell phones shutting off during the curtain speech, I love watching powerful performances and I love watching a "great try" in performance. There is just something about this art that I love and I want to make sure I remind myself of how lucky I am to have found something I love that much. Some people don't have that and I am blessed.

However, as I apparently was thinking in October, this business is anything but easy. So often talent gets passed over for someone who fits in the costume or someone who knows someone who knows someone, so often people are hurtful and forget that humanity is what makes art magical. It's so easy to let not being cast make you feel like your worthless, it's so easy to grow resentful of someone you know and love because they happen to have a lucky streak directly correlating with your unlucky streak. Why on Earth would we ever do this to ourselves? I don't know for sure but I am positive that every time I see a moving or inspiring performance I am energized to go out an "do that!" I want to move people like I was just moved. I want to rip off all of the layers and expose humanity, I want to make magic. This week I was inspired by The Outgoing Tide at Philadelphia Theatre Company. Not to mention the gorgeous set and lighting, the performances in this show were devastatingly human, the writing by Philadelphia playwright Bruce Graham was so human it was terrifying. I was pushed as an audience member and I am so grateful to have witnessed this performance.

I have been inspired by the classes I was blessed to take at the Walnut Street Theatre this spring, a musical theatre auditioning class that challenged me to push my own limits that I had set for myself, I was inspired to see my fellow students break down personal barriers and it was exciting to risk failure as it was to succeed. I danced in front of people every week for 10 weeks as part of the new Dance Call class and while I still don't skip with joy into a dance call, I know that if I just put the same attitude towards that as I do singing or acting I might stop being so terrified of making a mistake and actually start to enjoy dancing! I feel extremely blessed right now.

I am working with two wonderful actresses in Vanities with Quince Productions through April 21 and we have a wonderful time turning back the clock every night and visiting Texas in 1963, 1968 and 1973. I am inspired by these ladies and am so proud of this show.

And so, I am going to make a concerted effort to get on here and do this "blogging" thing more often . . . we'll see what happens :)

Love,
Sarah