Thanks A Lot (that's a Raffi Song)

Oh the blogs are getting scarcer and scarcer.

Here is my list of things to be thankful for:

1. Whitworth: I'm constantly reminded of the excellent education I received during my four years in college.  I got to spend my freshman year in the Best Place on Earth, my sophomore year with the greatest leadership team of all time, my junior year preparing for and experiencing Chile, and my final year with the 7 most wonderful young women I know.

2. Spring: I've never been a fan of this season until last weekend.  The sun came out and the highs were in the 60s. I went running by the river, hiked up Badger Mountain, and played "Here Comes the Sun" on my back porch.

3. Friends: The past three weeks have brought more social interaction into my world than I can believe. A visit from 5 of the Corner House girls in Kennewick, spending Thursday nights watching 30 Rock with my girlfriends from high school (Shivyon, Holly, and Dana), and a trip to Spokane to look forward to this coming weekend.

4. God: I thought about rearranging this and putting God first but that's just not how I did it originally. Sorry. I've had a lot of God-you-are-so-awesome-can-you-just-rapture-us-already? moments lately.  I'm so thankful to be spiritually fulfilled right now and aware of His presence and I'm so excited for the day when I feel like this forever!

5. Time: Oh how sweet these moments are! Hours and hours to spend without an impending rehearsal. Friday and Saturday nights to watch movies with my family.  This season in my life is so carefree. I'm young and unanchored and free to create and work and play. Hallelujah!

On Stage

At 6 o'clock on Friday I headed up the narrow staircase of the Richland Players Theater toward the old green room.  It was the opening night of Almost Maine and all of the cast was milling about mumbling lines under their breath and getting out their makeup cases.  We had two hours before the show started and everybody was on edge.  After two months of memorizing lines, stage decorating, and rehearsals in the ancient theater, we were as ready as we'd ever be.

We put on makeup, did hair, and made sure our costumes were laid out for changes between scenes as we listened to the audio feed from the theater.  As the clock approached 8, the crowd got louder and louder and the whole crew gathered in the green room for one last "Hurrah!" before the show. 

I crept down the old rickety stairs that led down to the stage before my first scene. Two other actors and I sat in darkness backstage listening to our friends deliver lines that we all knew by heart.  As I sat behind the curtain, listening to the crowd laugh and sigh, I thanked God for the excitement I felt.  I prayed that I wouldn't blank out on stage but conceded that if I did, life would go on and the world wouldn't end. 

As it turned out, we had a hell of a show. There weren't any huge mishaps to speak of, and nobody drowned in that foreboding pool of stagefright.  My two scenes were in the first Act, and so I got to relax until the final bow.  After the show, the cast, crew and directors went out for drinks and appetizers at Applebees.  We smeared our lipstick on glasses of beer and shared deep fried everything in celebration of a fabulous opening night.

Putting on make up.

Sexy sexy...before make up and costume.



All done up as Villian the waitress.



Someone's got a case of the Mondays

Okay, so I started this post Monday morning and finished after my guitar lesson in the afternoon.  Please observe how fickle my outlook on life can be!

Monday morning:

Ugh...what a day. I don't know what my deal is but every fiber or my being is anti-today. It's my day off and I should be relaxing and enjoying the free time but I get anxious almost every Monday. I worry about my guitar lesson and not being prepared, I dread going to rehearsal at 5:30, and even the little things that should be enjoyable--like going to lunch with my cousins--seem like chores. The good news is that even though my Monday mornings usually start off funkified, after the guitar lesson the day looks a little brighter.

I'm thinking of tutoring in the ESL classroom starting next week. Somebody keep me accountable for that okay? Just ask how it went, cause I'm sure if I just get out of the house in the morning things will look up.

Monday afternoon (Reflection on Saturday):


On Saturday, Shivyon and I decided to be spontaneous and drive to Walla Walla after work for some wine tasting.  The drive was beautiful and we arrived in the cute little downtown district around 4:30.  Sadly, most of the tasting rooms closed right about that time and reopened for music at 8.  After about half an hour of walking around we finally found a little tasting room that was open.  The "Sleight of Hand" wine was abysmal but the girl with dreads (dreds?) serving us was nice and said we didn't need to pay the usual $5 tasting fee.  We walked to the Millhouse Brewery for a well balanced meal of spiced wine, buttered rum, and pot stickers.  We finished dinner and were ready for some good music but when we looked at the clock it wasn't even 6.

Me and my spiced wine at the Millhouse Brewery.

After that we headed to a beautiful cafe/restaurant/wine bar called Olive and got huge glasses of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.  We setttled down in comfy leather chairs and chatted for over an hour as we waited for the band to start at Sapolil.  Pleasantly tipsy, we paid the $3 cover charge and sang along with the 3 man band as middle-aged couples awkwardly danced and made me happy that older people could still hold on to that can't-take-my-eyes-off-of-you romance.

I sobered up and we drove home to the T.C.  I was exhausted from the week and wine but glad to have done something out of hum-drum Kennewick routine.  Next trip planned: Spokane!

Hello 2011

Hooray for a new year! I always get excited about new beginnings but I shyed (shied?) away from making huge New Year's resolutions.  As I told most of the Corner House during Sunday's conference call, I'm trying to do little things more regularly--wearing my retainers, putting my shoes away, making my bed in the morning etc. I should put up reminders to keep that up because it's really not hard and doesn't take a ton of time.  It's just getting in the habit I guess.

I have good news about my heart! I think that I might be over Oscar (knock on wood).  It took long enough, geez.  Some of you know that over the past few weeks I've been desperately lonely--missing my Whitworth community and wanting a guy as well.  In my miserableness, almost any guy that crossed my path became a possibility.  Sure, boy craziness is not the most positive place to be but I realized that I'm not reverting to Oscar.  I'm looking for someone new and that makes me so happy even if I have to be a little lonely until I find him.

My sister and I went to Crossview (the church whose pastor is a Whitworth grad) on Saturday and Pastor Josh came up to us afterward and introduced us to a whole slew of people. He invited me to his small group on Wednesday so I might check it out.  It would be so nice to have a quality group of people to spend time with.  However, the play is going to take over my life here pretty soon. Next week we'll have rehearsal every night in costume! I'll be glad when it's over. I have to keep reminding myself that I CHOSE to be part of this.  I like it when I'm reahearsing, it's just so far away and inconvenient. Ok well enough about me. On to reading your blogs. Love.

I hope you haven't completely given up on me and blogging. We went through a rough patch, it's true, but we're committed and we're going to make it work!

The truth of the matter is that I haven't felt like my life is very blog-worthy lately.  This is a recurring theme and I just need to get over it and write about the day-to-dayness no matter how mundane it seems. 

I do have good news: I'm running again! I hope and pray that I'll be able to keep it up without my weird ankle injury, but only time will tell. I got a membership at one of those 24-hour gyms and I can always bike and do Zumba if my body decides not to cooperate.  But once again, visions of Bloomsday and half-marathons dance in my head and my body feels fabulously fatigued.  I'm so happy for this moment of physical freedom, even if it's brief.

My sister and I have been hanging out quite a bit since she's been home on break.  Yesterday our friend Kelsie Butts came over and we made cards, prepped a pizza dough, did a Zumba class, came back home to top our pizza, listened to "That's Amore," drank wine and ate. Alison will be leaving for her Central America Study Tour adventure in about a week and I'm going to miss her so much.  However, I'm  excited to hear about her travels and see the changes that life in the third world makes in her.

Ok. Time to grab a cup of coffee (I'm two cups a day addicted again) and read through everyone's blogs!

Hmm…it seems that this blog has slipped into the realm of biweekly things.  I’ll try to correct that in the coming weeks.  Thanksgiving was practically perfect in every way, just like Mary Poppins.  My grandpa (Mom’s dad) had another little stroke though.  Please say a little prayer for him and thank God for this time in our lives—we’re young, healthy, happy, and have so much ahead of us! As for the present…here is a pictorial representation of November 2010:

 This is my hero-mentor-friend informally known as "Smith."  She was my high school Spanish teacher and track coach.  I work out with her on Mondays when we put on our thiz faces (seen above), do cleans, speak Spanglish and dance.

This is my friend Heidi.  We met when she was volunteering at Habitat and she invited me over for dinner the other night.  We're going to lunch this week and I'm going to try Pho' for the first time.

Ali and Cameron paving the way for our sled and snowboards in the Horse Heaven Hills.  We were very adventurous and discovered this little run the day before Thanksgiving.

 On Thanksgiving morning over 3000 people braved the snow and ice to participate in the Turkey Trot along the Columbia River.  My family finished the 5K holding hands. My dad's wearing his mom's hat in her honor--she spent last Thanksgiving with us and died earlier this year so this was a tough holiday for him.

Zach and Corrie were in the Tri over break and we celebrated Shivyon's birthday with cake, drinks, dancing, more drinks, and drinking games. I suppose it's good to let loose every once in a while!

According to Johnston family tradition we headed to the Blue Mountains to cut down our 15' Christmas tree.  This is by far the most beautiful one we've ever had.  I was in charge of documenting everything on account of an injured back, but Mike Jones and Ginny enjoyed frolicking in the snow.

Almost, Maine

Last week's post left me less than enthused about my everyday adventures in Kennewick.  I'm a single twenty something with lots of time on my hands and zero excuses to not be exploring every inch of the youth I have left. So, when I pulled out the "Around Town" section of the local paper on Friday and saw that there were auditions for a play at a local theater, I dared myself to try out.

Honestly, I've always loved acting.  If I could be anything--regardless of talent, fortune, and bone structure--I'd be Scarlett Johansson. So I was really excited to try out for Almost, Maine at the Richland Players Theater. I showed up for audtions on Monday night without having read the script or having any idea about what I might have to pull off on stage--was I going to have to disrobe to my skivvies? speak with a Boston accent? play a mime? I had no clue, but they shoved a little blue tablet in my hand, put me on stage with a guy I'd never met, and told me to start reading on page 35.

Auditions lasted for two hours and I had such a blast.  The play is composed of short vignettes starring a couple working through the tougher issues that arise when love goes sour.  Each scene evoked memories of past boyfriends and the guy on stage with me morphed into Mitch, Elijah, or Oscar accordingly. At the end of the audition I was so jazzed it was hard to get to sleep. I couldn't care less if I got a part because the try out itself was so much fun.

Be that as it may, I did get a "We're happy to offer you a part..." call the next day. My excitement waned ever so slightly as the voice on the phone explained Monday through Thursday night rehearsals starting this and mandatory "tech week."  I checked my calendar, accepted the offer, and braced myself for the busy months that are headed my way.

Play dates: January 14, 15, 21, 22, 23, 28, 29