Just type, Kari!

So then when I finally DID “land” after Christmas, I got sick. Bleh! Nothing that sent me to Drs. or confined me to bed, thank goodness, but there has been just enough miserable-ness to waste my time and annoy the heck out of me. *kicks stuff*

This is going to be one of those non-writerly, get ‘er done entries. Because.

Today I felt at least good enough to join my young costume designer friend Adrienne, who is home on break from Boston Tech, for breakfast and show and tell. She is sky-rocketing with enthusiasm and new experiences, and we talked until we were hoarse. She actually brought me to tears of pride for her when she showed me photos of her work so far, and a stunning opera costume that she’s working on. I cannot express how thrilled I am for her.

I’m going to back up a couple months and show some photos from “Once Upon a Mattress”-a production which consumed me up until Thanksgiving. This is a show I’ve always wanted to costume just for the princess-and-the-pea fairytale fun of it. We had zero budget, so we took on the challenge of cutting up drapery, sheets, awful 80’s prom dresses and unfortunate bridesmaid gowns and re-making them into (somewhat) believable 14th century costumes. My costume crew has reached record numbers now, so I divided them into teams and assigned each group to be responsible for 4 or 5 actors. This worked out great, as some of the crew is wonderfully visionary, some can sew and others are more artistic. Each small group presented their concepts, dress and color combinations to the large group—and then everyone shared ideas and thoughts for improvement or total approval. It turned out to be a great team effort…kind of a Project Runway without the cat-fights…and all were winners.

A few Ladies in Waiting comforting a disappointed Prince.

We had lots of fun with pipe-cleaners—the queen’s crown and “lacework” collar were all woven with those handy little wires.

More pipe cleaners decorate the king’s crown…and the apple green tunic on the Minstrel is a cleverly folded and trimmed clerical robe. His striped pants and hat are stretchy t-shirt sheets.

Our Winnifred was personally willing to dye her naturally blonde hair red—but at the last minute, her mother panicked at the thought and paid for a great wig!

Princess Winnifred the Woebegone and Prince Dauntless the Drab.

I love this shot, even if I do say so myself, because this beauty is such a Renaissance painters dream.

Lady Larkin and Sir Harry

The Swamp Dancers had lily pads with Beanie Baby frogs as headpieces. Genius idea from one of the costumers!

The crew put their hearts and souls into this production—and there was literally jump-up-and-down excitement every day when someone would come up with yet another brilliant “something from nothing” idea. It was truly a team effort and I give these talented kids the credit. I set the standard, but they did the rest. The show was very light-hearted and fun, and the cast had a blast…but what made the costume crew beam with pride was when people poured out of the theatre saying “The play was just great! But can you believe those incredible COSTUMES!!!!!!”

The following week was mostly a blur–preparing for craft shows and Thanksgiving. Charlie was home for a few days—so we drove to Denver to do the very fun family gathering thing…a relief, as it was too exhausting to imagine hosting, cooking, cleaning and organizing a Thanksgiving gathering at our house. Whew!

Charlie had me help him with costuming (fruits and vegetables!) that he needed for a film project at school. We spent a whole day together shopping and laughing and coming up with ideas—which was just fabulous. Our relationship as step son and step mom has been evolving over the years—and has now culminated into a warm and gratifying friendship. I spent the following days making elaborate headpieces for an apple, banana, milk, fish, eggs, salad, pasta, and carrot. Very fun…but I had no time to take photos before we rushed Charlie back to the airport– dang it!

I was not at ALL ready for my “Artsy Stuff” craft show the second and third weekends in December. I worked day and night to get as many “Itti-Bitties” done before leaving to take 30 kids to the state Thespian conference the first of December. Fun time, great kids and more wins—which means Internationals again this summer

Back at home, we moved furniture and personal décor out of three rooms, painted the kitchen floor (which is in transition to whole new design), cleaned, put up the tree, brought out Christmas decorations, set up tables for my 10 talented vendors, and dealt with a thousand details. People ask how I can open up my house like this–but it has always been a very fun and profitable time. I would rather do this than haul my stuff around to other shows. This way it’s just a great continuous party with talented artists and enthusiastic customers-and we all love it. The sale was a great success for everyone over two weekends—despite a major snowstorm and other conflicting popular holiday events.

Christmas was warm and wonderful—as we had all our boys home with us. Ian and Trevor drove from DC, picking Charlie up inArkansas along the way. They traveled right into bad weather–and got the very last hotel room in blizzard-bound Blackwell, OK, adding an extra night to their travels. But they’re young and considered it all a big adventure. (I think it aged US a few years!) They totally enjoyed their road trip as brothers and got here safe and sound.

I happily made my way around giant shoes and duffel bags and never did get over the thrill of one boy or another grinning at me from the sofa or the computer or over the refrigerator door.

Trevor cooked his specialty this year (Chicken Picata) for a party of eight of us on New Years Eve. Ian was his comic assistant. There was something very parentally satisfying for me as I curled up on the couch in front of the fire, and watched my sons cook in the kitchen!

I think I must have done something right. 🙂

Below Don tries to convince Trevor that his seen-on-TV “rock and chop Chef Tony knives” are comparable to Trevor’s state of the art and meticulously cared for tools. Trevor said, “Um…no.”

Despite colds we had a self-timed family portrait done. Charlie, Don, me, Chloe, Ian and Trevor.

All is well in our little world.

Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, Warm Holidays and Happy New Year!

:)xo

Adagio