Decision, decisions....

Lately, the fates have smiled on me.
I have avoided financial meltdown, and the RTP board decided to let me direct a summer show AND the regularly scheduled childrens' show.
Hizzah.
That means I have the daunting task of figuring out TWO productions in one year's time.
Luckily, the summer show is one that won't too heavy of a workload.
Double hizzah.
I've already decided that the rehearsals will be Monday- Wednesday, 4:30 to 6:30, since it is the summertime.
That way, everyone still has some sort of evening.
After making this decision, I also realized this could open up evenings for me to do Midsummer Night's Dream, with Rosebriar...
The auditions are the 17th and 19th, so the decision must be made quickly, as to whether or not to actually go audition.
I am torn.
Junia says she may want to audition, so I'll probably take her to do so.
I may wait and see if they will need anyone once the auditions are said and done.
That'll help determine whether or not it should be so...
Hmmmm....

This weekend will consist of my working this morning, taking a break (which will be me, traveling 45 minutes to get last minute Mother's Day gifts), then Bartending tonight.
Tomorrow, at 7 am, I will be at the high school for the Drama Club's Yardsale, for which I'm not completely prepared.
ARGH.
After that, I'll breath for an hour, then whisk over to Circleville High School for Tech Rehearsal for B and B.
THEN, it's up to Josh's to celebrate Mother's Day with Josh and his darling parents.
SUNDAY, we're going to the Amish Country, apparently, which is always a blast and a half.
And it's what mom wants.
lol
Somewhere amongst all of that crazy, I need to eat, sleep, shower, and breath several times...
Ugh.

Does anyone have a paper bag?????????

Easter is in a few days.
It's weird, because I'm not really in an Easter mood.
I mean, I guess it probably has something to do with my not being church, but I almost completely forgot it was coming up when I was so engulfed with Treasure Island.
(I never thought I'd ever reach the moment where all references to Treasure Island include the word "was," as if it has past....)
Luckily, mom has seen it fit to inform all of us that we are going to church with the grandparents on Sunday, to which I say, "Okay."
I've been wanting to go back to church for some time now.
Actually, in lew of recent events, both Josh and I agree that he and I need to find a new church to attend.
This makes me smile because it's something he and I will do together, and it's something that is important to us both.
And I can't help but to think this is something that will bring us closer to each other and God.
It's a win- win situation.
I was kinda sad I hadn't been able to take part in any easter activities like painting eggs or shopping for baskets for the girls, etc, until Rhonda and Josh invited me to a family function this Saturday where, lo and behold, there will be both small children and egg painting whatnot.
SCORE!
All week I've been pumped with the idea of meeting some family and being a kid again.
THEN, Josh drops a hilarious bomb on me last night.
See, in my mind, I assumed (stupid of me, I know) that we were going to go over and I was going to meet a couple of people and their kids and it was going to be a small family thing.
NOT.
During our conversation last night, Josh proceeded to break down exactly who I was going to meet on Saturday, which is totally fine.
THEN, he goes on to list about 30 people, parents and children alike, and their relation to he and his parents.
AUGH!
I told him, "That's not a family gathering to paint eggs. That's Christmas!"
I love meeting new people, but the idea of meeting a bunch of family members AT ONCE is a bit daunting.
Originally my plan was to dress nice enough and put on a smile and be my charming self.
Not hard.
"Throwing me to the Lions," as Josh put it, is not part of that plan.
More people means more charm and more effort to be fabulous.
AGH!
I'm sure it will go well, but I hung up the phone last night feeling a bit more nervous.
Maybe I'm just over thinking it....
Josh said they'd be nice to me and I'd be okay, which I totally believe.
However, because it IS his family, and because I'm his first girlfriend AND "the one," I know I will be under a certain amount of scrutiny, and that is terrifying.
My plan for now is to stick with my original plan, and just smile, charm, and pray I don't get egg coloring on my clothes.
lol

Quilting memories OR capturing a miracle... of sorts...

Over a year ago, I presented this overstuffed canvas bag to my poor grandmother.
Inside this bag was a zillion T-shirts I had collected over the years and no longer wanted to use in my wardrobe.
My idea?
To cut them up and make a quilt.
Ha!
Unfortunately, LIFE took over and it wasn't until last week that we both thought about it again.
SO, a couple of days ago, I went over with a smaller pile of MORE T-shirts and got to work.
We've now got several squares cut up and we started arranging them on the floor, trying to decide how we want the final look to be.
It's a work in process...

I decided to start a blog for Treasure Island.
http://rtptreasureisland.blogspot.com/
Another creative step.
I've been meaning to post this pic forever.
I took it on my phone back in August.
I couldn't believe there was a pirate ship cloud in the sky.
Mom and I stood in the parking lot for a solid two minutes, just marvelling...



If you notice the pointy turret in between the buildings....
That's the uppermost front turret of Memorial Hall, home of Roundtown Players...
It's fate.

2009= 2008 + more...

Wow.
after 360-some odd days, it's hard to believe there are less than 6 hours left in the year 2008.
It's also interesting to think that I am not the only person thinking about it right now...
Here in the final hours of 2008, I find comfort in the fact that I am not alone in this universe...
That millions of others are also speculating what 2009 will bring, and what 2008 presented....
for me, I can sum up my 2008 in a few words...
FREEDOM.
-I stopped working for Wal-mart at the beginning of the year.
-I turned 21. HA!
FAMILY
-Junia started her senior year....
AGH!!!!
-Mike, Tammy, and the girls moved down to our neck of the woods.
-Madison started Kindergarten.
AGH!
-Nevaeh turned a year old.
AGH!
-My goofy cousin Eric got married!
So sad I was sick and couldn't go...
But it still happened...
FRIENDSHIP.
-I started working at the Tuscan Table and found soooo many new folks with whom I could cavort.
-I also found several new amigos with the cast of Lear.... Fabulous, fabulous!
-I feel I have renewed my friendship with Tyler....
It's almost a co-dependent relationship now...
lol
LOVE.
(I hate that word sometimes...)
-Though Stephen and I are still friends, our relationship ended in May.
TOTALLY for the best.
-Ray remarried...
4th times a charm. ;-)
-I watched Junia agonize through three relationships over the course of the year, all of which ended with her tears....
-All of our friends rejoiced when Sam finally dropped Cole.
SO happy that is over....
Except for the whole baby part of it.
That will be exciting.
-Sam is having a baby girl!!!!
That is one more special person for us to love.
-I fell more in love with Shakespeare.
Big surprise...
-I was finally successful in kicking an agonizing crush to the curb, so to speak.
I finally had a moment of "This is never going to go anywhere..."
A moment of clarity, if you will.
And that is all it took.
Hizzah!
(That could actually go under the freedom category as well....)
-I realized a love interest or two that I didn't recognize before...
Potential, anyone???
THEATRE.
(Surprise, surprise...)
-I got to work with some super cool people at Wagnalls family Theatre with their children's production of Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe.
-I was the assistant director for Pinocchio at RTP, which was A-mazing.
-I became the musical theatre instructor for the Charmion Performing Arts Center in Circleville...
Totally WOOOT!
-I got an audience appreciation award for Mad Woman of Challiot with RTP.
-The board at RTP voted Treasure Island for the children's production for the 2008-2009 season, meaning I get to direct!!!
-I fell in love with another amazing production by that crazy Bard, Willie S., and I got to really stretch my wing in the deliciously malicious role of Regan.
-I fell in love with another deliciously amazing cast with King Lear.
-I finally got to see a live production of RHPS...
Hated it, but I got to see it...
-I helped with TVHS' production of MacBeth...
Totally B.A.

2008 was an active and productive year for lil Miss Tahrea, I must say.
And what of 2009?
I wonder what it holds...
I can expect several blunders of various sorts.
Theatrical happenings.
Many more friends and acquaintances...
More anger.
More laughter.
Maybe more love, which will more than likely result in more despite if I choose the wrong person.
Again.

I guess...
2009 will be more of the same...
and more.

AGH... CHRISTMAS EVE

As today is the 22nd of December, I feel it is only neccessary to point out that Christmas is 3 days away...
2 if you count Christmas Eve.
Which I do.
See, every Christmas Eve, my dad's side of the family gets together at my grandparent's house.
This means my parents, sister, my grandparents, my uncle Laris and Aunt Linda, my cousin Tiara and her Husband Joe, My cousin Tiffany and her Husband Taren, their kids Kaylin and baby Wyatt, and my cousin Eric, and my great-uncle Bud and his wife Lorraine.
As of the past couple of years, my mother's parents have also joined in with the Christmas Eve Festivities, which is always fabulous.
Another new addition to the Eve fest has been the White Elephant gift game, for which I purchased a strange looking Elf-Fairy dude.
He resembles that of a yard gnome in that he's plump and looks as if he has rosacea, but he has these stubby little wings that made me lose it in the middle of TJ Maxx when I first saw him amongst the random Christmas Decorations.
A while back, we decided to change the regular "get EVERYONE a gift" idea, and do a Secret Santa Gift exchange instead, which has gone fairly well.
We still get the little ones gifts, and Grandma and Grandpa NEVER abide by the rules and always get everyone a gift, but it's still fun.
LOL.
For the past two years, I drew Taren's name from the bowl.
The first year I was totally clueless as to what to get this guy.
Then I remembered the constant back-and-forth ribbing we give each other, and the evil smile crept upon my face.
When he opened his gift that Christmas Eve, the family was in an uproar of laughter as he pulled out a T-shirt with the words "I'M WITH STUPID" sprawled acrossed it chest.
The amusing part was that the words were crowned with an arrow pointing up to the collar of the shirt, calling the wearer stupid, instead of the usual arrow pointing to side, which would put into question the intelligence of one who would stand next to the wearer of the shirt.
LUCKY me, I drew his name again for last Christmas Eve.
OH BOY.
How to top the shirt, was the question.
For now, it was no longer a gift of neccessity or want, but a gift of what could get the biggest laughs.
Christmas Eve had now melded with April Fools Day.
The deliciously Evil idea crept into my mind one day last fall....
One that was to the highest degree of evil that my mother nearly wet herself from laughter at the thought.
LAST CHRISTMAS EVE, I made sure Taren was the last member to open his gift.
I made a big show of it, if you can imagine.
Not that it wasn't a show already.
The box itself was as tall as I am, but only 9 inches wide all around.
Obnoxious enough, I also took the liberty of fashioning a tag out of a scrapbook page.
In big bold letters I put the TO: TAREN, FROM:TAHREA.
As he opened the box of obnoxiousness, there were several chuckles and titters.
He pulled out the packing paper I stuffed into the box.
Then the Tinstle.
More Tinstle....
AND MORE.
Then Tissue Paper.
THEN some more packing paper.
Tinstle.
THEN, a small bag of rocks.
The other bag of rocks.
FINALLY, a small gift bag taped up.
After a few minutes of dealing with the bag, he opened it and pulled out an altoids box.
Opening the box, he pulled out seven different gift cards, and turned to me.
The chuckles and tittering had morphed into uproars...
With my deliciously evil grin, I said, "Taren, you have before you seven gift cards, ranging in denominations of a penny to $20, and it's... your job to figure out which is which!"
More uproars.
This gift really went over a lot better than I had imagined.
After cleaning up the mess, Taren made a show of wanting MY name for this year's Christmas....
lol...
I wonder what deliciously evil gift he has for me...
I've been told he is VERY excited about it....
hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....

Christmas is a week away. Just thought I'd share that...

Guess who got her Christmas shopping done!!!
WOOT!
Well, I have a couple of minor things still to get, BUT, for the most part, I'm done!!!!
AUGH!
Thank God!
Okay, overload of exclamation marks.
I'm so glad I got my gifts...
This year, I just got stuff for mom, dad, Junia, Madison, Grace, Nevaeh, and my cousin Tiara, since I drew her name in the family secret santa thing this year.
Kim and I went to Easton today.
That was fun.
We ate at Brio and Starbucks, and walked around, looking at the lights.
And I got the second part of my gift for Tiara and mom's gifts.
AH....
Success.
Then, I came home and did one of my favorite things...
I WRAPPED them.
I LOVE wrapping gifts.
Now I have to get a gift for our family's White Elephant gift game and some stuff for the girls, and I am set, and with 8 days to spare.
Well, 7 since I'll be giving Tiara's gift to her on Christmas Eve.
In any case, I'll be getting the final gifts on Saturday, since that's my next free day.
Technically, I won't be FREE since I'll be babysitting Nevaeh....
BUT, I'll take her shopping with me....
Not like she has a choice, being a baby and all...

I can't believe Christmas is a week away.
Seriously.
a WEEK away.
That's 7 days!
AGH.
Crazy.
I'm off Christmas Eve and Day, which means I'll be baking and cooking my pattootie off with mommy dearest while simultaneously keeping her from taking that final step over the brink of insanity.
AGAIN.
At least she doesn't drink.
YET.