the 19th grade

This year is no joke.  Mission statements.  Teaching and design philosophies.  Portfolio and website.  Conferences.  Thesis.  Tailoring.  Masks.  Anatomy for the Artist (fancy phrase for figure drawing).  Job hunting.  Being a human.  I don't know if I'm ready for it all, but I am feeling hopeful.

Meanwhile, Ben is doing really exciting stuff, including writing a new play!  Have I mentioned how cool he is?  I really like him :)

Cool things from around the web:

Check out my friend, Denise's blog about her "love/hate relationship with art."  She somehow finds time between her toddler and newborn to get some amazing work done.  I am so proud of her!

Also, check out this great series on motherhood around the world.

Summer Round-up: Play

We have had some really lovely gatherings this summer.  There was our friend, Jeff's, unbirthday, Ben's birthday, our Nation's birthday, a few girls' nights, and then just some altogether uneventful but lovely evenings (and some mornings) with food, friends, and great conversation.

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have what they call "Family Home Evening" (or FHE) on Monday nights.  It consists of a lesson, activity, and snack.  Seeing as how Ben and I are a family of two, we find it hard to motivate ourselves to do it on our own, so we started doing it with friends.  One night, our activity was croquet!  Our friends, the Lyons, taught us to play.  Mara rocked it, but Jeff turned into poison and took everyone out.  My personal lesson that night was to stop being a poor loser and have fun.  Our snack was probably watermelon because it's summer and why not?

Summer Round-up: Work

"Summer break" as an adult is rarely the same as Summer break as a kid.  At least, it doesn't resemble what I remember Summer being like; although my memory is almost certainly skewed by images of what Summer break looks like in the movies and on TV.  I was on swim team for as long as I can remember and played water polo a couple summers in high school; otherwise, I babysat here and there and read bucket loads of books.  I would spend lots of time at my aunt's pool with my best friend (thank you, Rachel, for helping me remember...) Sometimes there was church camp. Lots of frappes from Juice 'n' Java before Starbucks shut it down.  Then lots of frappes from Starbucks.  Otherwise, armfulls of free time, I suppose.

Cincinnati Part Two: The City

We LOVED Cincinnati.  I mean, yes, we loved the Fringe, but we also got a great taste of the city itself and we did not find it wanting.

We loved the people of Cincinnati!  Part of it certainly has to do with the Fringe atmosphere.  I mean, when you're focused on promoting a project and specifically trying to inspire people to go see a random theatrical performance in a cafeteria-turned-theatre, you get used to discussing topics beyond the weather with complete strangers.

Or maybe the people of Cincinnati are just that darn approachable.

For example I was taking this picture:

Another great thing about Cincy are the hilarious street names - it's a little dark, but this alley-street is Wilkymacky.

Summer!

Okay, so technically, we are six weeks into summer.  But we aren't counting these first five weeks as summer because the first three were spent preparing for the Cincy Fringe and the following two were spent performing at the Cincy Fringe (although, to be fair, we did get a good deal of vacationing done in those two weeks in Cincy).  Now we're back and rearing to go!

Some exciting things to start with:
- We got bikes!  This will help keep us healthy and our costs down!
- We'll be house-sitting a beautiful house that is basically out in the woods, so it'll be like we're camping with amenities!
- I've taken over cooking.  My favorite so far: Watermelon & Feta salad, a recipe from a book Ive been reading, Bread and Wine by Shauna Niequist - a book I highly recommend.
- Our mint has somehow miraculously started regrowing from nothing and it has inspired me to start an herb garden.
As far as what we'll specifically be doing...

Cincinnati Part One: The Fringe Festival

A fringe festival is a lot like summer camp.  Specifically (and strangely) church camp.  I don't know if you, dear reader, have ever been to church camp but if you have then you basically know what a fringe festival is like.  Just replace the spiritual classes and lessons with theatrical performances, songs around the campfire with socializing around the bar, and that feverish desire to replicate the spiritual high at home in your daily life (which eventually returns to your usual routine of being spiritual on Sunday) with an inspiration to create... anything! everything! (which eventually is overcome by the need to make ends meet and create on your one day off)  Unfortunately, like church camp, the fervor of devotion and participation just can't be maintained for too extended a time, and, much to the chagrin of the artist, the show must end.  We exchange email and twitter with plans to keep in touch, and hope that we can apply what we've learned to the next project so we can return again the following year.

We even have a camp photo!

Six Months Later...

... and our lives are basically completely different from when we last checked in.  For one, I'm the now the cook.  At least for the summer, while Ben is the busy one and I have oodles of time (relatively)  A lot has happened and, honestly, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with the task of trying to catch up.  Then again, I'm generally feeling a little overwhelmed today - you should have seen me cook pizza.  Don't get me wrong, it was delicious, but let's just say I'm glad no one was there to witness it's creation...

I'm also a little ashamed because I was doing so well last year blogging once a week and here it is May and we haven't made a peep.  So somehow I must find a simple way to bite the bullet and give a concise and interesting review so that we can start fresh.