Back in the Swing of Things

On Sunday (the day I actually typed most of this post) Ben and I enjoyed a romp through YouTube introducing one another to various choral and orchestral music that we each either grew up with or discovered at some and really enjoyed. It's a nice Sunday tradition that I would love to keep. It all started with Rene Clausen's "Magnificat." Our lesson at church this morning was in part about Mary's response to the angel who announced that she would birth Christ so I felt compelled this evening to find a performance of this song, which I sang with my high school choir. It is a gorgeous song, that I highly recommend listening to at some point.

This week was a LOT of work for both Ben and me. The Utah Opera opens Pearl Fishers next Saturday so they asked me to put in a few hours extra to help get everything finished. I'm assisting in crafts, which generally isn't my forte but I've really enjoyed it. I've made all the turbans for the chorus and two male leads, and gotten to do some jewelry things, which I've never done before. It has been a great learning experience. 

I'm also doing part time work at Hale Center Theatre and, while at the Opera things are getting a little crazy, Hale just opened a show (the show in which Ben is cast as the lead and wears a dress I made for him!) so things have been a little slower there this week; mostly cleaning and organizing. Next week is my last week working both jobs since the opera is opening and they won't need me to work overhire. While I'm sad to say goodbye to the opera (for now), it will be nice to have one job during the day and getting some time to work on other side projects I have going on.

Sewing a ruffle onto Ben's costume.

Watch the Is He Dead preview video here and see Ben in 1840s drag!

As I mentioned, Ben opened Is He Dead, and I was able to attend the opening night performance on New Year's Eve. It was such a blast because Hale has a tradition of serving dinner at intermission, having live music before the show, and stopping the show mid-performance at midnight to drop balloons and let the cast go kiss their significant others. When the performance picks up again after the celebration, they have to proceed with the stage covered in balloons. They dealt with it very well, working the balloons into lines and bits, making it all the funnier.

Ben is in the dress to the far right of the image.

We also enjoyed some culinary treats this week (I mean, did you expect anything less?)

For our date night we went to Crown Burger, which is apparently a Utah staple. The burgers are to die for. They have pastrami on them! Delicious, think cuts of pastrami. They had fry sauce, which is also a Utah staple I had yet to try. It's basically the sauce they serve at In-N-Out and it's very good. Utahns go crazy for it.

Ben's brother Josh and his family got a cotton candy maker for Christmas and tonight we made cotton candy! You can take almost any hard candy, put it in the spinner, and it melts the candy and spins it into gourmet cotton candy! All of us agreed that Wurthers made the best batch. Ben was a PRO at spinning the sugar onto the cone. In fact, we're thinking of starting a Gourmet Cotton Candy business if this whole theatre thing doesn't pan out ;)

 

Finally, I leave you with a hilarious excerpt from the pregnancy book I'm reading called The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy. It was sent to me by my dear friend, Amanda (who has an awesome blog of her own), who warned me that it could be really dated at times (it was published in the 90's). It wasn't too bad until the chapter about maternity clothing.

Since dressing to be perceived as a competent professional person has often involved copying traditional men's fashion to a certain extent, we suggest once again that you borrow some clothes from your husband's closet. My Girlfriend Maryann recently showed up at a birthday luncheon in a pair of her husband's trousers over a bodysuit, held in place with suspenders. It really was a cute look. ... Another great look [was employed by my Girlfriend, Maria] - her husband's French-cuffed dress shirt untucked over his jeans and topped off with his vest.... Keep in mind that the whole idea behind this approach is to look like a girl who is wearing her father's clothes.

The author also recommends long, unfitted blazers that come mid-thigh, and stirrup pants.

Now that we are all armed with that excellent fashion advice, I wish you all an excellent week!