Dracula



Once again another theatrical journey has come to a close. I am back to having free evenings and weekends (you know, when I am not working) and wondering what to do with all the extra brain space that used to be reserved for copious amounts of lines. Dracula was a fun show and different from the other shows I've done here in Eastern North Carolina. Firstly, we had a very large cast, 14 people plus a larger than usual crew... that nearly doubles some of our previous shows! I was also pretty sick for a good week or two leading up to the show, which was panic inducing for sure. Plus Ryan doing his school for his B-Billet... let's just say it has been a crazy few weeks.

 

Up on the ladder during tech, one of my favorite places to be during tech... hanging lights!

But we made it. This fantastic cast, some I've worked with before, some brand new, all came together for a wonderful production. There were fake fangs, blood, hissing, crucifixes (crucifi?), stakings and everything else you'd expect you'd need for a production of Dracula. I was Professor Sarah Van Helsing... yes Van Helsing is usually a male (Abraham) but we went in a different direction! I got to do stage combat again for the first time in years including slaps, punches and a pretty painful looking head smack that got a collective OOOH one night from an audience!

 

The full cast

Van Helsing in costume... honestly it was all mine minus the scarf!

 

The above picture was taken during our tech rehearsal since I loved how I managed to do my make up, but my mom mentioned you could tell I had been sick. How did she oh so delicately put it? Oh yes, I had a scrawny neck! Most of the weight has come back by now but at this point I was down a good ten pounds and living off of saltines and ice pops.

My best friend Donna and I

Below are some stills from the production captured by the campus photographer I believe. I borrowed them from a friend's facebook page.

Confronting Vampire Mina

 

Renfield was about as crazy as her hair!

 

Post fight, after I butted heads with a vampire.

We made it through four shows unscathed. My husband came twice, my parents once and a former coworker of mine even showed, which was awesome since not many people I invited could make it. It was Halloween weekend, I  know, but it is always extra motivating when you know someone in the audience. After our last show we took up five massive tables at Chili's for dinner before we parted ways. There is another show in the Spring but I probably will not be auditioning. With my work schedule it has been just too difficult. :( I will always have a special place in my heart for these amazing people though.

 

 

 

Paraprofessional Library Conference

Last week (ish) I was lucky enough to attend the Paraprofessional Library Conference at ECU with some of my coworkers. I was pretty excited, it was the first conference of any kind I have been sent to for work and my inner book nerd was very antsy. We had some awful weather on our two hour drive up there, but luckily once we hit campus it cleared up nicely. It was great to attend the workshops and bond a bit more with my coworkers outside the library.

The main thing about a paraprofessional conference is that it is geared towards people like me.... people who work in libraries that are not necessarily librarians. To be called a librarian you need to have your MLS (Master of Library Sciences), which I obviously do not have, hence the reason I am a Library Technician. I did four different workshops that I found pretty interesting. The first was about salvaging old photographs that can get damaged in your facility due to flooding/storms/leaks/etc. We do live in Eastern North Carolina, it isn't that far fetched! They showed us techniques that can save a good number of photographs that are important to our collection if we are able to do so. They even showed us some before and afters from libraries in New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy and what they were able to salvage.

My next workshop was about Murder Mystery Theatre... something another library a county over does once a year for the community. I really enjoyed their presentation. For practically no budget they manage to pull off some really entertaining performances! Theatre and Libraries combined? You know I am SO there! I know MCCS here at Lejeune does something similar, but it is dinner theatre and not as interactive as the one we learned about nor is it solely a library production. But something to consider for sure!

After lunch I attended a basic photography workshop that had me riveted the whole time... other people maybe not so much. I am a total geek for this stuff and I want to learn to take better pictures so I really enjoyed it. It made me really itch for a DSLR too!

My last workshop was about stress relieving work outs you can do at work. Mainly it was stretching and focusing energies on certain tension spots but I did learn one or two I could do behind the reference desk and not look like a total spaz!

Overall I had a really great time. As one of my coworkers said during one of our breaks as we lounged in the sunny courtyard, "I imagine this is what it would have been like to go to college with y'all... it's kind of scary." The campus was definitely beautiful, and I naturally ran through the ECU musical arches a few times before we had to drive back!

 

Lately... In Pictures

(Um, so, awkward... this was supposed to be published two weeks ago but I must have saved it as a draft by mistake. Oops. So excuse the double postings today.)

Things have been pretty average around these parts lately. Just normal day to day things. I did get a promotion at work (yay!) so I'm now an NF-2 working in reference as of this week. Couple that with a raise and full time hours and I'm a happy camper. It will still be an adjustment, my schedule is not set 7:30-4 anymore but anytime open to close, but we will make it work. 

Last week an old coworker of mine visited with her five month old daughter. She was cute and this text with my husband happened. Snuggle was supposed to be snuggly but my autocorrect didn't like it. Ryan thought it was hilarious.  

Lots of new restaurants are opening around here and doing FREE trials! One was Noodles & Company, which I loved in DC, so my friend Donna and I got a free entree, drink and dessert sampler! I love their pad Thai!

 

Ryan surprised me further last Friday when he remembered it was Military Spouse Appreciation Day. I came home to a six pack of ciders he built me, flowers and Reese's. That man knows the way to my heart for sure!

That night some friends of mine were in a performance of Who Killed the Kilt and I nearly died when my friends spotted Ryan and dragged him onstage to be in a part with audience participation. He was a good sport! Of course he blames me but I knew nothing about it! ;)

So things are moving along here. We're waiting to hear if Ryan's package for his SDA/B-Billet will be approved but it may be months before we know for sure. Fingers crossed and prayers please if you can spare them!

Show Time

One of my favorite things in the world is having the opportunity to act and be on stage. It is definitely one of my life's passions and thankfully my husband is patient enough to deal with me being gone at night for months at a time and knowing the week pre show is a time we barely cross paths! As soon as we returned from our trip I jumped right into rehearsals fro A Doll's House where I was playing Mrs. Kristine Linde... a fun role pretty different from my usual ones  but I liked it a lot!

And no, I wasn't a brunette for the show, but our stage manager had some fun wigs for us to play with! Maybe one day if I am brave enough I will get bangs... or dye my hair again!

It is also a time to wear a lot, a lot, of make up! Luckily we had someone on make up this time because I am pretty terrible at it!

Our cast and crew were incredible... I loved getting to work with old friends and meet some new ones too! We tried to make Ibsen not so insufferable or stuffy so we actually set it in Barbie's Dream House. Nora constantly talks about being a doll, hence the title, so we played on it and went with it. We were also judged twice by adjudicators from the AC KCTF (American College Kennedy Center Theatre Festival) where students can be picked for scholarship opportunities and the show could go on to perform at the festival itself. I am not eligible obviously since I am not a student but it is still cool to get feedback from professionals!

The originals! Donna and Mel and I worked on The Mousetrap together two years ago!

Below are my costumes from Act I, Act II and Act III. The jewelry and shoes were mine as was the Act III dress but our designer said I could keep everything for once! Our costume designer was, er, wealthy and basically ignored her given budget and insisted we keep anything we wanted. Totally new experience for me!

Curtain Call

I wasn't in the paper like I was with the Mousetrap but I did make the online article version they posted! I am just in the background but it's still neat.

After the last show our costume designer insisted on taking everyone to Marrakesh for dinner. It was delicious! I was starving so I ate everything on my plate. We had flatbread and dips first then I had the three meat special with Shwarma, chicken kebobs, beef kebobs, rice and cucumber salad. Oh YUM.

For dessert I could not say no to baklava either.... fluffy, sweet and so delicious!

My parents came Saturday night and Ryan came both Friday and Saturday. The beautiful flowers they both gave me are sitting next to me as I type. Saturday night was our best audience and biggest.... 75 kids from the high school on base came and were such a wonderful audience. They laughed, gasped, and even clapped after a scene Felix and I had at the top of act III. It blew me away. Our judge even said if you can engage that many high schoolers you did something right.

I had this week to relax, no gym or rehearsal or anything else but work and time with Ryan. It's been really really nice. The library is open again too, construction complete. And the weather is finally back on track too, hello 80 degrees (to be fair I wrote this all Friday for publishing Monday so that may not last)!! I will take it! Hopefully now I can blog more regularly too. Whew.

The Day of the Show

I know, I know, I have one more trip entry to write! Our journey through Naples/Pompeii and the long awaited pizza is coming along... all the photos are added in a draft, I just have to find the time to write it. The reason my time has been nonexistent? A show of course!

I am so happy to be back and doing theatre. Even a year long hiatus can feel way too long. I am currently in a production of Ibsen's A Doll's House playing Kristine Linde. Tonight is opening night, so the past six weeks have been rehearsals nearly every weeknight on top of a pretty full work schedule. The time I do have free has been basically spent with the hubs since it has been few and far between. He gets cranky sometimes during these rehearsal runs, as do I, as we really enjoy being together... and sadly we haven't had a whole lot of that lately. We get home from work and within in an hour I am at rehearsal until 10-11pm. When I get home I collapse into bed and try and not wake him (doesn't usually work).

But tonight is Opening Night!! It has gone quickly and I know I will miss it when it is over, but that is the way the cookie crumbles folks! If you're local come see us tonight, Friday and Saturday at 8 and Sunday at 3 at CCCC. My family is coming Saturday night, and we already have 125 reservations for that night, so if you want to come maybe try and do the weeknights or Sunday. I will return to blogging soon!



Our lovely cast and crew (:

Europe - Toulon

Next stop: Toulon! Part of Provence, France. Also known as the French Riviera.

The morning we were in Toulon I woke up not feeling very well. I get seasick so I was wearing a prescription strength patch that lasted three days before I had to put on another one. The rested right below my ear near my jaw and you could barely see it. Well, I didn't ever need to wear them longer than three days before so I didn't realize you needed to switch sides when you added a new patch. I didn't do that. So I woke up and ate breakfast that we got via room service and realized I couldn't see. My vision blurred so badly I could barely read the menu! Then breakfast came back up. Ryan mentioned me going to "sick bay" which I prompty shut down.

The cruise our ship did before ours had a huge norovirus outbreak. Half the ship was quarantined to their rooms. So they were big on if you had stomach problems locking them down. I knew mine were patch related (since 1, I had norovirus before, you don't forget what it feels like and 2, Ryan would have had symptoms too since it is severely contagious) so no sick bay for me. Our room was small, an interior, and the idea of not being able to leave for days made me claustrophobic, I felt better getting on deck for sure. I felt nauseous but it was doable. Plus we only had a day in each port, if I stayed in bed there was a chance I'd never see that place again! So I now knew next time to change my patch at night AND to switch sides. Sigh.

Getting air on deck before heading to shore. I stood there with Ryan for awhile getting my bearings back.

Toulon was one of the few places that provided free transport into the town. We got on a small boat that zoomed us across the river into the main port.

Once we got on shore we saw a large market taking place and decided to head straight there to walk around a bit. There was a church off to the left, St Francois de Paule, that we stopped in first.

After walking around a bit we decided to try and find somewhere to have lunch. We didn't have a map and just kind of wandered around anyplace that looked interesting. Ryan engaged himself in a very interesting conversation with some locals... :P

Near the French Navy Base

We finally stopped by a theatre for a photo and noticed a bistro nearby that seemed good for lunch. I was feeling better at this point so we stopped to peek at the menu. The waiter came out and started speaking to us in semi decent English and we really appreciated the effort! Bistrot de Cesar wins!

Ryan asked the waiter what the best thing to order was and ended up with a Hangar Steak with pepper sauce that was so unbelievably tender and delicious. I remembered being in France (about 12 years ago!) and ordering a Croque Monsieur and it changing my life, so I got it again. Oh man. Say what you want about french food but Ryan and I agreed this was probably the best meal of our entire trip.

Especially when we added dessert. Naturally Ryan had an espresso but we shared a banana nutella crepe with real whipped cream and chocolate sauce. Even between the two of us and how delicious it was we couldn't finish it. Travesty.

 

Ryan also quickly learned he was very lucky we were already married. I took pictures of basically every wedding dress shop we passed. They were so fabulous, how could I resist??

After lunch we climbed the steps of the theatre and sat in the warm sunlight digesting our food. The blue chairs in the picture below are where we ate lunch, so it wasn't far. The wedding dress shop is just behind the cafe. But after awhile we decided to get back on our feet and explore some more.

We journeyed upwards, away from the harbor and found some fun side streets, a train station and saw some pretty rolling hills and mountains in the distance.

Eventually we started to wander back and we found a pretty little park nestled in the city. We took our time strolling through there, observing locals walking dogs, lunching and picnicking.

The park also had a stunning war memorial.

After the park we walked near the Marine Museum and I persuaded Ryan to take a picture there for me. My husband is a patient man for tolerating my puns. Cause he's a Marine, get it??

Yes, I know I am obnoxious.

Sadly at this point I started not feeling well again. We found a small cafe at the harbor and as you can tell from our drink choices I was back to icky. I was hoping to bounce back but once we got on the little boat back to the ship I just felt worse. I am a terrible sick person so I sadly went back to our room and slept on and off the rest of the night. No bar hopping, clubs or dinner for me.

Next stop: Barcelona, Spain!




You can follow along with all of the entries from our trip here!