free for all friday

As all great ideas do, this one started with Harry Potter. This past week as JB was purchasing tickets for the upcoming Potted Potter show at the Shakespeare Theatre Company, he saw an advert for their annual "Free for All" show. Hmm... free play? Yes, please.

Apparently since 1991, the STC has put on a free show for over 640,000 people (Shakespeare would be so proud). And it's obvious that this is a tradition well-loved by the community. Before our show began, the docent asked the audience how often they had participated in their Free for All, and the majority had seen at least 10 free performances, and some had even seen them all! Talk about dedication...

This year's play was Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, and it was simply superb. Feeling a bit rusty on the plot (since the last time I had visited it was high school), I was worried at first that it would take awhile to get into it. But the cast was so captivating, especially the two leads, Benedick & Beatrice, (both of which have been nominated for Tony Awards), that we were hooked within minutes of the play's start. It was such a fun night, and JB and I are still quoting some of the funnier lines to each other... Let's just say we can't wait for next year's performance.

 Hooray for winning lottery tickets so we didn't have to wait in the rain all afternoon! 

This was our view for awhile as we waited for the literal interpretation of "free for all" to begin: the mad scramble for seats. Thankfully our surroundings were fairly beautiful to admire ;)

The sneaky stage photo before the play began. I'm always amazed at how intricate a set can be: a spiral staircase, water in the fountain, a usable water pump in the corner. Such attention to detail!

The best place to grab a late night dinner: Gordon Biersch. And how lucky were they to inherit such beautiful interiors?

This clock just intrigues me. Beautiful & pseudo-precarious at the same time. It's a new term... just go with it.

my narnia-deprived childhood erased

Everyone has a streak of defiance built into their genetic code that comes out during their childhood & adolescence: disregarding the rules, breaking curfew, testing to see if the stove really is as hot as they (they being those parental people) say it is. You catch my drift. 

I was always an annoying stickler for the rules. I mean lame (still am, but I embrace it as part of my identity ;)). I never intentionally did anything wrong (other than that one time around the age of 7, I accidentally took a Lisa Frank heart stamp ring that probably cost $.50. But being too scared to tell my dad, I just coolly walked out of Montgomery Mall, looking back every other second to make sure security wasn't running after me. I never stole again. I petrified myself without needing the parental punishment, not that they ever knew it happened until probably now... But I've digressed). 

I was a boring kid.

My streak of defiance came in the things I read. Code word: nerd. I wore big ole Disney princess glasses & had a bob; there wasn't much else for me to go on. So when it came time for the cereal box panorama book report, about a third of the grade read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I just couldn't bear to be a part of such a popular movement. I had to be edgy. I read Gary Paulsen's The Haymeadow, mainly because my cool older brother suggested it, but in that pathetic moment of defiance, my entire childhood missed out on the wonder of C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia series.

So at the grand old age of 24, I finally read them. I could feel the 8-year-old me shaking her head in shame for waiting so long. While definitely children's stories, I loved the variety of plots and characters & the way that Lewis laid out Christian themes for his younger audience, especially in the last two he wrote, The Magician's Nephew and The Last Battle. (Side bar: without a doubt I fall on the side that favors reading the books in the order he wrote them rather than the chronological order of the story). Plus, no lie, I have often thought of God as a Lion, so getting attached to Aslan took all of a second. 

I finished TLB late Monday night, and now I feel I must graduate to C.S. Lewis for Adults (did I not mention that I have never read anything by him? It's a bit sad, I know), starting with Mere Christianity, per my husband's request, and then The Screwtape Letters. It's turning into a C.S. Lewis fan party over here, and I just can't help it.


A few semi-related book suggestions:

+ If you love Harry Potter & the stories of Narnia (& possibly LOTR? I've never read them but I could see the connection) and wouldn't mind discovering a similar magical world story but on the darker side, you should read Lev Grossman's The Magicians. You'll see a lot of similarities between the way the story is set up, but all-in-all it's a good read (& it'll quench your need for a new realm to explore). My dad sent it to me as a surprise when I was in college, and it quickly became Priority No. 1, which at the time wasn't so great for my course load, but should convince you of how captivating it can be. 

+ To make my reading list even longer, I noticed while linking Grossman's book above that he wrote another a year ago that totally flew under my radar and must be read. Thank you weirdly wired brain for connecting dots that only you care about.

+ I also recently inhaled J.K. Rowling/Robert Galbraith's The Cuckoo's Calling, and loved it. If you're the type of person who enjoys a good murder mystery (similar to Sherlock Holmes' style), then this is the contemporary version for you. Also, can we talk about how she continues to create wonderfully in-depth characters & stories? Just incredible. Can't wait for Galbraith to write the next one.

posing as DC tourists (without the matching hats or t-shirts)

Around these parts, the summer season is FULL of tourists. They're everywhere: wandering aimlessly along King Street, trying to blend in at farmer's markets & parks, but fooling no one when it comes to the escalators at metro stations (unless you're intending to continue climbing the stairs or wish to face the wrath of a commuter, it's an unspoken rule that you keep to the right to allow others to pass). It's a season that makes us really glad we live in Virginia rather than the District where everything is ten times worse. 

However, every now and then the tourist bug bites us, too, so we play the part & galavant about seeing things we haven't in seen in awhile/ever & eating at restaurants we've been meaning to try since we moved here for months. 

A couple of months ago, we went so far as to pen a mega list of everything we've been meaning to see so that we'll finally make the effort to go. Some of the things on our list: actually seeing all of the Smithsonians, instead of just the popular ones, because frankly we don't have the excuse of only visiting for a week; having a "Lost Symbol Day" because we embrace the facts that a) we're Dan Brown nerds and b) we love that the book was based in the DC area; embarking on a ghost tour of Old Town Alexandria, thanks to the recommendation of my good friend, Sarah (Enrichment Thursday: Ghost Edition!); & hitting up some lesser frequented places like Dumbarton Oaks and the Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Garden.

Basically we got a list as long as Santa's, so recently we began checking things off. This time around we hit up the Botanical Gardens to see the corpse flower (yes, it's a real thing), the National Zoo (somehow I had never been?), the Natural History Museum, & took a few walks all around the National Mall.

^^Meet the corpse flower, which at its most alluring really does smell like rotting flesh so as to attract pollinators from miles around. We caught it on its last day of being in bloom, and as a point of reference it stood at 5' 2"^^

^^Em & I decided we might fit in quite nicely at the zoo (our husbands probably agree)^^

^^this is what resulted when I got pinned with a tail & asked to make an elephant sound. I clearly lost character fast.^^

^^However upon comparison, this guy at the Natural History museum looks far more regal than I ever could, so I've since traded in my ears & tail^^

^^reminds me of a certain Boston Terrier back home... Perhaps a relative? ;)^^

^^While trekking it to Good Stuff Eatery post-museum visit, we stumbled upon a peaceful oasis that we never knew was there (part of the Botanical Gardens). It should be understood that if I worked near the Hill, this would be my refuge from all the hulabaloo^^

^^still daydreaming about that cinnamon sugar pop tart from Ted's Bulletin^^

^^it's possible that the Washington Monument looks better with all that industrial scaffolding on it. Definitely is prettier at night from our viewpoint across the Potomac^^

^^impromptu pizza & concrete night. Our Shake Shack order probably wouldn't have resembled Frosty the Snowman on the first day of Spring had the waiter not put it under the name "Gordo"... Lizzie McGuire flashbacks, anyone?^^

^^A stroll about the Mall just isn't complete without seeing something weird. Yes, those are fish fashioned out of fruits & veggies mounted on top of cars^^

^^Yet another cupcake place beats out Georgetown Cupcake. Red Velvet in Chinatown- yum! (Baked & Wired is still our fave, though)^^

^^We couldn't pass up trying new things in Old Town, too. Killer ESP had some pretty tasty chocolate birthday cake gelato, while Haute Dogs was just so yummy. Ten points for guessing which was mine ;) #plainjane4life ^^

project progression through the lens of a sometimes blurry phone

I realize that I'm a bit quirky, but late one night as I was starting this project (night owl tendencies & all that) I thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be cool to see how this thing comes along? At least at the end if it was a colossal failure, I would be able to find the good somewhere along the way before my amateur status really started to shine through..." 

So here it is, albeit a bit blurry at times (or at all times?) due to the fact that our living room has no overhead light & I must depend upon the trustworthiness of an IKEA lamp until I get a work lamp someday, as well as the fact that using a real camera every few hours seemed a bit tedious so I lazily used my phone... You know, just laying it out there honestly. 

Regardless I thought it kinda neat to see a project from start to finish & thought you might too! So without further ado, meet the beauty that is Westminster Theological Seminary, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania & current home to a sweet friend of mine who'll be using this as one of their Christmas cards (I hope).

dipping my toes into something new...

Love the simplicity & beauty of that statement.

It seems only fitting that since it's August I should be gearing up to learn new things. It's a season of life that I embarked on for 18 years & that seems habitual enough that it should stick for good, I think. 

I must admit, however, that since graduating college two years ago, this is the first August that I feel that way. Perhaps my mind + body + soul was going through that break-up period that you often hear about: it takes half the time you were committed to something before you can truly be over it. Well, I was in college for a grueling 4 years, and while they were the best years of school I ever had, by the time I graduated (as most feel I think) I was stretched pretty thin, had my planned-to-a-T future all stomped on, and left with a diploma & a giant hovering question mark regarding what to do from there (except to me it felt like an interrobang <-- There's your typography lesson of the day, folks. You're welcome).

It was just one of those times in life called "growing" and grow up, I certainly did. I got married to a pretty awesome guy. I moved away from the only place I've ever called home. I left all my friends & family half a day's drive away. And I started to figure out what this new season of life holds, and so far it is has blessed me greatly. 

I have learned that it's okay to not know what the future holds & that things change. That the idealistic dreams I cultivated at 18 aren't necessarily what I really want at 24. That the support of a loving spouse is all I really need to feel like I can do anything. That stress can really color a situation into one of fear & doubt. That taking the time to exercise & eat real food is better suited to my longevity than filling it with things that have no worth. That sometimes my type-A perfectionist personality is my biggest enemy. That happiness & success is measured in something other than namesake & dollar signs. That faith is always something you can cling to when you're not sure what's even going on.These past two years have taught me to be content with who I am & to really think outside the box. 

My entire life I've been cursed with good handwriting (I say cursed because once people found out I had it, I usually became the scribe of all group projects, note taking, & presentation boards), but that curse has evolved over the course of life into something that I love. So lately that curse/gift has led me to learn calligraphy, play with fonts & techniques, draw all sorts of things requested by friends... and eventually to start a business!

I'm in the final stages of getting it ready, but basically I'm just an open book as far as pen & ink designs & calligraphy go. So far I've done some custom shower invitations, wedding monograms & paper items, personalized stationery, & even dabbled in architectural drawings. And I've loved doing it all! Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll have nailed down the final details (finish a website/etsy, packaging materials, finding a trustworthy printer (the thorn in my side), etc.), but I'll let you know when it's finally done! Also for any artistic types out there, say a little prayer for me as I learn from scratch the inner workings of Illustrator (consider it my fall schedule).

So here's to new beginnings and an excuse to buy more pens, paper, & ink!

and then it was august...?

I secretly love to read aloud books to captive audiences, such as the whole Mickey Mouse family. Nowadays I can be found reading only to my husband (because otherwise it's embarrassing?), and usually it's Harry Potter.

Yikes. How did that happen?

As if it wasn't already apparent from both this summer & last, I tend to get a little flighty during the summer months & put off blogging as though it were the summer reading list of my childhood. Which is a little weird because I've always been an ultra nerd who LOVES reading (even all the way back to when I was little, as evidenced above), but without fail in middle & high school I procrastinated on my required reading until about 3 weeks before the start of school. And then the drudgery was unavoidable & I usually hated every book I read during that time (AP US History's Founding Fathers still comes to mind). 

And to make things slightly funny to all people older & wiser than my years (as all growing up does), during my absence these past few months husmate & I have been reading like bookworm fiends! In fact, we joined the local library & are now proud library card carriers. So I guess we've hit the stage where we actually want to learn new things? Just the other week, I was telling JB how I could never understand growing up why my dad would waste his free time reading such boring non-fiction/technical books when he could read captivating fiction stories... but now I know. Sorry, Dad ;)

Anyway I get flighty during the summer, but I'm back by popular demand! And scout's honor I'll be around a lot more. In fact, I'll see you next week- same time, same place?

I hope all of you had a wonderful summer & for all you teachers/students out there, many well wishes on the start of the school year!