Gleeks in Training

Lucy is a senior in high school this year. We've been talking about college options for a while now. But our conversations began in earnest at the beginning of this year. She's already taken a few courses at the community college level, but what did she want to do? Where would she be interested in going? What schools best provided what she wanted?

The questions were coming fast and furiously.

Obviously, because we homeschool, we're very proactive about our kids' education. So together we began our research.

Lucy's high school experience to date has been through the Orange County Department of Education. The high school provides online classes and supportive classroom instruction as well as varied programs and clubs that meet on campus.

They have a yearbook (which she worked on last year) and they host a prom each year. There is a wonderful full drama program, which we've enjoyed immensely.

But now both Lucy and Jonathan began to want more.

As much as I love homeschooling and as much as I think people who have the temperament for it should do it, I am not "militant" about homeschooling.

Like I've said before, my highest goal has always been to raise decent human beings who have "learned how to learn." Homeschooling has been one of the richest, most rewarding experiences of my life. It's been the best educational choice for our family.

So, what to do with homeschooled kids who are curious and talented and ambitious?

In January both of them applied to the Orange County High School of the Arts. (OCHSA - pronounced "OH-SHA").  Think "Fame" but without the hoodlums. =D

Their best friends (and beloved neighbors) also put in their applications.

From January to March there was a lot of waiting and fretting and hand-wringing while we waited to hear back from the school about audition dates.

Beginning of March ALL FOUR OF THEM (!) received auditions for their respective conservatories.

Final decisions were made and letters of acceptance received in May. Again, ALL FOUR OF THEM got accepted. (A lot of happy dancing ensued, as you can imagine, but that's not important right now.)

Lucy, Jon, Tessia & Tori waiting for the train on the first day of school.

I've homeschooled both Lucy and Jonathan for most of their formative school years. (Read about our homeschooling exploits here.) And while I was happy for them and so proud, I went through a weird sort of grieving.

I just realized that I had worked myself out of my own job. But, I think this was a very good thing. ;-)

As of this week, Lucy is commencing her senior year of high school and Jonathan is a freshman at the Orange County High School of the Arts. (<--I can't believe I just wrote that. I know. Shut up.)

They get to take the train to school each day, along with their best friends, and take creative classes. They are out-of-their-skin excited. (Eric and I are out-of-our-skin proud.)

[Fun Fact: Famous OCHSA alum, Matthew Morrison plays Will Schuester on the hit tv show, Glee.]

So, I'm technically very happily "unemployed" now.

As we went through the new student orientation on the campus, I giddily kept hearing Irene Cara singing "Fame" in a loop in my head. All the kids were so happy to be there. They had worked hard for admission and were excited to start school.

To my everlasting delight, one of the veteran parents actually said to me, "You should come down at lunch sometime. It's like 'Fame' but without the drugs and the dancing on the cars."

What am I going to do with myself? Well, for now, I've suddenly become a "Lady who lunches." This pleases me.

As for Lucy and Jonathan Darby....all I'm saying is.... remember their names. ;-)

 

Seventeen

She is completely present when she speaks to you. That is, unless she's spacing out.

She has lots of great ideas. But isn't always willing to share them.

She is beautifully feminine. And yet, she holds her own with the big boys.

She wants to do everything, go everywhere, experience it all! Except for when she just wants to be left alone, thankyouverymuch.

She plays the piano beautifully and with incredible ease. Unless she chooses to rock out on the electric guitar.

She's smart and completely driven. But sometimes she is not sure exactly what she wants.

She's articulate and a brilliant communicator. Yet is just as comfortable and fluent in Lolcat speak. ("I can has cheez burger?"  ;-)

This amazingly enigmatic creature is seventeen years old today.

 

And I feel completely lucky to have a front row seat to The Lucy Show.

Happy Birthday, Loop!

Seventeen becomes you.

Hasta La Vista, Baby!

We've been talking about this for weeks (maybe months) so the actual day came as no surprise. Adam has been planning to move to Redding, California. (There's a girl up there....of course.)

Adam's 24 and has moved out (and come back home) a few times already, but he's never gone quite this far.

Redding is 592 miles from Mission Viejo. Not an easy day trip, by any means.

 

Yesterday was the day.

He packed up all his worldly possessions onto his little truck.

 

Stephanie (The Girl) flew down to accompany him on the drive up.

Blogosphere, meet Stephanie. Stephanie, blogosphere.

 

And off they went.

 

But not before I had the chance to remind him of a few dozen things, including:

• Text me. But don't text while you're driving.
• Go slow. There's no hurry.
• Hydrate! Take lots of water bottles.
• Don't forget to floss.
• Call your mother!
• Make good choices.

 

God bless you, my son. I'll miss you terribly. Godspeed.

Little Lucy Goose in Washington D.C. - Episode 4

If you have been following along, you know that my Lucy has been in Washington, D.C. for the Young America's Foundation conference and that I have not been able to focus on much else.

She is finally home safe, but she enjoyed sending me emails so much (and having them posted on the blog) that she continued writing to me as if she were still 3,000 miles away instead of just upstairs in her room. =D

Here, see for yourself:

----------------------------------

Written at 12:22 (Monday, June 28th)

Wednesday, June 23rd

Little Goose to Mothership (and the blogosphere):

Oh hi. It's been awhile. I'll try to summarize the next 4 days as promptly as I can. So, so much happened. I hope I can remember it all. As you might have guessed, I was too busy to write to you every night (a horrible conundrum, to be sure.) I have been using pictures to replace my words, so at least I can still recall what I saw, who I met, and what I learned.

*opens up iPhoto to review*

Let's see, let's see... Ah yes! Gettysburg! The students who arrived a day early were treated to a special tour of the battlefield. Go figure. Long, beautiful, scenic bus ride to Pennsylvania.

I saw cows, mom. Real cows.

As soon as we stepped off the bus, the humidity slapped us in the face. Repeatedly. Kirby Wilbur was our tour guide. Awesome guy. And he knows his history like nobody's business. Much walking, much listening, much learning, many pictures... back on the bus we go.

We stopped at McDonald's for lunch. It was a comfort to know that even 3,000 miles away from home, one can always find some really fantastic and familiar fries.

Arrived back at the conference center, hot and sweaty. I went back to my room to change for the dinner banquet and-- oh, hello roomies!

Genevieve, from Minnesota. Rachel, from Massachusetts.  And Haley, from Kentucky. My close friends (literally) for the next three days. A quick change into something nice (yes, I wore a dress and yes, I wore my hair down.) and we were headed downstairs to the dinner banquet. Formal introductions were announced and we ate.

I realized that Gettysburg makes me hungrier than usual. Put that in the log.

Congressman Jim Jordan, from Ohio, spoke to us about "Defending Freedom in Congress." I forgot to take notes (I know, I know. Shush.) but he was extremely charismatic and I enjoyed listening to him.

That was just the beginning of how much listening I would be doing over the next couple of days.

Tales of The Traveling Goose - Part 3. Things Get Hectic

My Lucy is 3,000 miles away in Chevy Chase, Maryland. She's at a Young America's Foundation conference for high school students and is busy making new friends and learning about the conservative principles that have made this country great.

I'm delighted she's getting this opportunity, but as her mother, well....I'm pretty much focused on "Lucy is 3,000 miles away..."

So I'm posting her emails and photos and sharing her trip here on my blog, because 1) hey...it's my blog and 2) it's difficult for me to focus on much else while she's gone and 3) she's quite the entertaining writer.

Here's part 3....where she arrives in Washington D.C. and starts meeting people....

11:06pm (ending Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010)

Little Goose to Mothership:

Everything became quite hectic as soon as I got off the phone with you. I sat down and waited around for Evan (the guy I was supposed to meet). I took a few pictures and tried to get online to finally send you those e-mails (was interrupted by a poor girl who needed to find out some flight information, but we couldn't get connected. Seriously. Airport wifi fail.)

Then I got a phone call from a number I didn't recognize:

Me: Hello?

Voice: Hi, is this Lucy?

Me: Yes?

Voice: Hi, I'm with the Young America's Foundation.

Me: Oh hello! I'm sitting where I'm supposed to, looking around for you guys...

Voice: Yeah, we just got here and I'm walking towards that area right now...

Me: Uh okay, should I get up? Where am I going?

Voice: No, no, no, you'll see me in a minute. I'm wearing a blue blazer, I'm carrying a little cardboard sign... you should see me pretty soon. What are you wearing?

Me: Uh, brown sweater, jeans rolled up... sitting down. Should I stand up?

Voice: Still walking, looking, loo-- OH I SEE YOU!

Phones were put away and I met Kiana Dunn, an intern at the Young America's foundation. She had, seriously, just graduated high school. She offered to take my suitcase and grabbed hold of it, which your camera, unfortunately, was currently balanced upon...

*gasp*

The battery flew out when it landed. Don't worry, don't worry, all is good. She was appalled and she apologized profusely, but I told her not to worry about it. Camera still works fine.

Went outside, looked for the van. Evan had to drive around in a circle yet again cause they wouldn't let him park. Sad story. Pleasant conversation was made: why she was involved, what I'd be expecting, how awesome the whole event would be, etc.

Couple of phone calls later, we walk all the way down to baggage claim #12 (we were standing at #1) to find Katlin, the other girl who had arranged for pickup that day. Her flight had been delayed and her baggage was late.

Amid all this, Kiana gets a call from Evan, telling her to look outside.

- - DOWNPOUR - -

Swear to ya. California clouds don't do rain like that. I'm not sure if you understand. Couldn't see the other side of the road.

But by the time we found the girl's suitcase, the rain had pretty much stopped. Apparently, it does that a lot here. Joy.

Found the van, loaded up luggage, hopped in, met a very surly Evan (he had been driving to and from Maryland ALL DAY), and proceeded to listen to Kiana's stories and opinions about people, politics, and current issues of today (Funny stuff).

Realized we were all hungry. But all potential food stops were closed. So was the cafeteria. Kiana said she'd order us a pizza after we got checked in. So, Katlin (who is lovely, polite, funny, etc.) and I found our room keys and got settled. Right now, at this moment, I have the room to myself. So I can take a shower and relax without any bother. PHEW.

I'm unloading my stuff and I hear Katlin greet someone she knows outside in the hall. As per her request, I exit the room and meet David, whom she had recognized from last year's conference.

And then we met Carolyn. And then Alyssa. And then Rachel. And then Maddie.

None of us knew each other. We bonded over some banana bread Carolyn had brought. Spent the next half hour just chatting, getting introduced, when Giovanni called (not really sure who this was, but he said we had pizza.) Sprinted downstairs to the lounge (pictures of this will come tomorrow) and devoured four slices.

Spikkin' of which, I'm awful thirsty now, so I'm gonna find some water...

Meh, I'll just finish this. You won't get this message until tomorrow, though. Shame.

After we finished our pizza, we talked about colleges and school and found out where everyone was from. Colorado, Arizona, New Jersey, Missouri, etc.

Heard mention that curfew for the lounge was at 11. By this time, it was already 10:30. I got up, said I needed to upload some pictures and e-mail my mother. David escorted me back to the room. This place is huge (again. pictures to come) and we ended up getting lost anyway.

However, we found a piano in the lobby of one of the buildings.

So I played. And some of the students who were walking by started singing along.

Ah. Yes. Photos. Lounge.

Uploaded photos from today, checked Facebook, friended (<---verb?) all the people I had just met, and that's when the lights turned off, so I hiked back to my room and sat to write you this.

You will be getting a follow up e-mail with pictures. Or I'll just post these "letters" to my blog with the corresponding pics.

Tomorrow morning: Gettysburg.
Oh boy.

TTFN,

Double-O-Goose: ready for anything.

Miss Lucy Goes to Washington - Part Deux

Lucy is in Washington D.C. for the week (see earlier post). This entry describes the 2nd leg of her flight from Houston to D.C.

DISCLAIMER: I am completely aware that the following post may only be of interest to me (as her mom) but I am really enjoying the description of her adventures and wanted to share.

NOTE: For better understanding of what you're about to read, know that we call her Lucy Goose.

(Did I mention this girl wants to be a writer?) Enjoy.

3:10pm

Little Goose to Mothership:

I'm gonna take a gander (HA) at the time in the real world and assume that it's a little bit past noon? Too bad there's no--

Aha! Little clock widget... It's about 1:10 in Los Angeles. Cool.

We landed safely and a bit early (like 1:43 instead of 2:05?) and Sleepy Woman #1 (the one on my right) welcomed me to Houston and wished me luck on my connection to my next flight.

After waiting a good ten minutes for everyone to move forward, I got up, grabbed my laptop bag and coat and looked up at the baggage areas above us. I had put my suitcase in the one above the seats several rows back, for lack of space. What to do... what to do...

Luckily, sometimes people are nice. The gentleman sitting behind me grabbed it for me. Thanks, Stranger.

Got off the plane, realized that I was in Texas (Hot. Humid. Kinda nice.) and scampered over to the big Arrival/Departure screen to check to see if my gate stayed the same. Sure enough: Gate C33...

*looks around*

Oh. It's RIGHT NEXT TO ME.

Sweet.

Sat down, promptly got up again, went to bathroom, came back and settled into a seat with my laptop.

Note to self: airport Wi-Fi sorta kinda sucks. I got online and chatted with Amy for a few seconds. Then it stopped working. Tried getting on Gmail, Twitter, and my blog to see if any of my posts had gone up...

I dunno if I'll be able to send you these until we reach the conference center . *sigh* Oh well. This gives me something to do for awhile. Besides trying to take some photobooth photos.

Two girls sitting to my right. (I get the aisle seat. This pleases me.) I feel my IQ dropping just by listening to them. Uh oh... I feel a snippet coming on!

- - -

"So, like, I knew this girl in, like, way back when in high school? So, like, one day, when I was, like, 'Hey, what's goin' on,' ya know? She was like, 'oh hi' like, I barely know you, kinda? *laughter* But, no, seriously, there was this one time when, like, I had bought this pickle? Ya know? Like, as a snack? Cause I mean, like sure! *laughter* But yeah, I was so excited for my snack, you know? So I brought it home and then, when I got back, it was gone! So I was like... who could've eaten it? There are only two people here... and I didn't eat it. *laughter* But yeah. Totally weird."

...

That's a keeper. (Then I stopped listening.)

Great Glory and Splendor! Food cart is coming my way right now. AHHH. So pleased. It smells pleasant. Not really sure what's we're getting...

Oh look. The cutest little turkey sandwich ever. With chips. Yay!

*nom nom nom*

*moves chips out of the way* Chocolate? 

I am now well-fed, not too tired, entertained, and looking forward to the rest of the day. There are TV screens everywhere, but one must swipe a credit card to get a movie. Never mind. I have movies to watch. So there.

Old Man With Foodcart (in a suh-thun accent:) "Watch those elbows... watch those elbows... move it or lose it, hun. Watch it... watch it..."

Hehe. On a separate note, I have tons of charge on my battery still, so I should start my movie pretty soon. Or I could read for a bit... or take pictures of my little setup...

*gets out camera, snaps pictures, puts camera away*

I'll try uploading tonight. And sending you a couple. Or blogging about each one. I dunno. Whatever I FEEL like. Goshdarnit!

Right. Still miss you, although I'm having a relatively pleasant time.

Little Goose, goin' radio silent. *salutes*

*****************************************

[Marta here: The waiting continues, until she finally lands. *mom & dad sigh a collective sigh of relief*]

6:22pm

Little Goose to Mothership:

And so I wait. The flight was fine. Got a little turbulent--

*is found by Kiana, YAF Intern*

*finds other girl in airport*

*gets into van with Evan, another YAF person*

*travels to Maryland, to conference center*

*checks in*

*makes a dozen new friends*

*eats pizza*

*is uploading photos in the student lounge*

Love you!

"My daughter. Been studying abroad. Been flying for eleven hours. I'm not wild about her being in the air. You got kids, Juan. You understand. It's better when they're on the ground."

                                        ~ Steve Martin, Father of the Bride

Miss Lucy Goes to Washington - Part 1

My Lucy (Lucy Goose to you) is in Washington D.C. this week for a conference sponsored by Young America's Foundation. We're excited she was able to participate and I believe it will be a wonderful experience for her.

What I was NOT prepared for was my own reaction as the realization hit me that she was going to be traveling ALONE.  I mean....alone alone.

So I helped her choose conservative outfits for the events and banquets (which, let me tell you, was no easy task in 2010. Apparently clothes for young ladies make it appear that they are grooming to become hookers these days, but that's not important right now) and helped her pack her bag.

I reminded her a dozen times to take chargers and toothbrush and....well, you know the drill.

"Call me! Text me when you get a layover! Make good choices!" And then she was on her own.

She's sending me updates which are amusing enough to share, so I'm doing so for your blogging entertainment. (And because it will be difficult for me to focus on much of anything else while she's gone.)

Eric dropped her at the airport which is where her narrative begins.

11:02am

Little Goose to Mothership:

Left the house at approximately 7:17am.
Security Line: 7:44am. No hassle there. Dad asked one of the airplane-security-faces if he could stand in line with me, even though he wasn't traveling.

He then struck up a conversation with one of the women in line. Because she was holding a pillow:

"That's smart. *laugh* You know, George Bush always takes his pillow with him when he flies. So does my wife."

*meanwhile, Lucy pretends to busy self with cell phone*

Texted the paternal unit and assured him that I had made it through alive (they accepted an old student ID, so no worries there). Then proceeded to sit around for a good, oh, 10 minutes by my gate and took a few pictures. Boarded without any trouble whatsoever. (St. Christopher. Yup.) 

[Marta here: I gave her a St. Christopher medal last year and explained that he was the patron saint of travelers. From Wikipedia: "He holds patronage of things related to travel and travelers: against lightning; against pestilence; archers; bachelors; boatmen; bookbinders; epilepsy; floods; fruit dealers; fullers; gardeners; for a holy death; mariners; market carriers; motorists and drivers; sailors; storms; surfers^[8]; toothache; and transportation workers. - I'm not taking any chances, okay?]

Back to Miss Lucy...

I found my seat, put my suitcase on the overhead rack and my coat and laptop bag are resting on my feet.

Yes, I remembered my toothbrush. Yes, I remembered my phone charger. Yes, I remembered my makeup. Yes, I remembered my perfume.

I'm currently sitting in between two older women. The one on my right (who has taken control of the window) likes to chat. Her mother lives in Houston, but she grew up in Huntington, so she was visiting for a few days and she has a niece who wants to go to Santa Cruz to study psychology, but she doesn't think the girl's mother will let her (insert light chuckling here).

I put in my headphones soon after this conversation.

About... oh, 5 minutes ago, "How To Train Your Dragon" finished playing. I watched it... but my headphones refused to cooperate with the system. I enjoyed it, as one can only enjoy a movie when you can't hear it.

Just looked up at the little screen. Not a clue what's playing right now.

Oh hey! We got complimentary drinks and breakfast... sorta. Cornflakes. I passed. No worries, I ate before I left and I have snack stuff with me. Considering buying a light lunch when we stop in Houston.

Let's see... anything else... hmm...
I could take about the clouds, I guess...
*looks out window*
Yup. Clouds. They're there.

I texted Bryant when I was waiting for the security check and told him I would try to stay out of trouble (yes, I identified myself.)

Ooh, what a horrible conundrum. Woman to my left is sleeping... but I just drank a whole Coke. What to do, what to do... I think we're going to land soon.
Actually, I don't have a clue about our time situation at the moment. The captain doesn't like to talk to us (mildly unsettling).

Haven't taken any pictures of myself with the real camera. Just some basic travel shots. My gate, walking down the accordion thing, the view from my seat, my Coke, the window... A few photobooth ones. I'll send 'em to you. And blog tonight.

Two babies (I think the term "little people" is far more appropriate) have taken turns screaming.

OH MY. TOY STORY CLOUDS. I'd take a photobooth picture... If she would just fall back asleep again.

I suppose I could finish this up and read a bit... or nudge my way to the "lavatory."

Ad--

He's talking to us! "Nice weather. We're going down. Put on your seatbelts. Now."

Or something--

Woaaaaah descending. Ears. Pressure. Stomach. Ahhhhhhhh.

I should pack up my laptop now. I'll send this during the layover.

Love you, miss you, mean it,

Little Goose, over and out.

[Stay tuned for the next installment of 'Miss Lucy Goes to Washington' later today. Meanwhile Mama Marta breathes a sigh of relief and takes another tranquilizer. Shut up. I know. ;-) ]

How To Throw a Virtual Birthday Party

My daughter, Amy Kikita, spends a lot of time online.

Today is her birthday (27) and I wanted to do something special to celebrate. "No time," she said. "I have a ton of work to catch up on."

Fair enough. I guess it's good that she has a work ethic at all....

But I also know that in between uploading and downloading and keywords and doing the online internet marketing stuff she does, she also checks her Facebook Page.

*insert lightbulb over head here*

I got excited when her other Facebook friends agreed to play along. 

So, this is an example of what she found when she logged on this morning.

 

I think we made history today. This is the Very First Virtual Birthday Party I've ever thrown.

Thanks everyone for participating (I will keep loading photos through the day if you want to send them to me or post on Facebook).

So, Happy Birthday, Amy Kikita! Enjoy your party!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
  

 
 
  

For the record, I'd like to mention that the clean-up after this party is a snap! =D

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMY!!

Demanding Equal Time

I have four offspring. And although they don't come right out and say it, there's still a fair amount of sibling-rivalry-mom-always-liked-you-best moments.

So, my son, Jonathan was complaining. Not too loudly, but still...

The last few months have been all about Lucy and Russian Jews and Fiddling on the Roof.

"Mom," he protested, "you wrote about me in just one number of my production and you showed me dancing in a red, sparkly dress. I think I deserve at least a blog post where I'm looking more like a manly-man." (Yes, he did use the term "manly-man," but that's not important right now.)

I can't argue with that logic.

So let me present Jonathan dressed to the nines, along with his friend, Andrew, in their show-stopping number: Puttin' on the Ritz from Young Frankenstein (The Musical, of course). Jon plays....the Monster. Not at all surprising, right? 

For me, Jon is always such a delight to watch on stage. He gives himself so completely to his character. He becomes The Monster. (Reminds me a lot of the Terrible Twos. =D)

Enjoy.

(Sorry, Jon! You know you're my favorite. Shh! I tell them all the same thing, but that's not important right now. =D)

My life has been as crazy as a fiddler on a roof

I know I haven't been blogging much lately. It takes a certain amount of creativity to write. (A lot, actually!) And sadly, all my creative energy has gone into another area of my life....

Let me explain....

Specifically, I have been acting as "hero support" for my daughter, Lucy's high school production of Fiddler on the Roof.

I have spent lots of hours over the past weeks and months designing backdrops, brainstorming over set pieces, watching rehearsals, choosing costumes, and collaborating with amazingly talented parents, teachers, and students to get this production from script to stage.

In other words, for the past five months, I have been eating, sleeping, and breathing Russian Jews. ;-)

(Oh, yeah, I went to Miami for a week, too, but that's not important right now. =D)

 

I love, love, love seeing their characters come to life as they put on their costumes and make-up.

Speaking of makeup...My friend, Leesa, who shall henceforth be known as the Golden Goddess of Stage Makeup made these kids into characters. Notice the faux facial hair on the guys above.

And the aging frown lines on the matchmaker, Yente...

 

...and the scary ghost-ness of Grandma Tzeitel. Just brilliant. I love it!

I love when set pieces that we've agonized over work beautifully.

For example, I really, really wanted Fruma Sarah - who is a tiny little thing in real life - to have a larger-than-life-and-other-worldly look for when she comes back to haunt Tevye in the dream sequence. We brainstormed for weeks and months about how to make this happen. Our friends, Ray & Rechelle came up with the concept of a high, rolling chair, which they built and it was a wonderful stroke of genius, (Thanks, guys!) but what would that look like on stage?

The day of the first performance (I know. Shut up.) I decided to just shred tons of fabric to cover the girl and the chair, making it look like a floaty dress. *insert heavy sigh of relief here* (Can you say procrastination?)

But, isn't this the coolest thing ever??

I love to watch the story unfold on stage. Even though I have spent months watching them rehearse, there's something so magical about everything coming together so beautifully. 

I love when concepts that we sketched and argued over on paper look effortless during the performance.

(FYI: The bottle dance was done with empty, plastic Perrier bottles, weighted with rice, and painted black, with a metal disk glued to the bottoms, and heavy duty magnets sewn into the hats.)

And it looked awesome. And I loved that the audience made the appropriate ooh and aah sounds during the dance.

 

I love how, with each passing show under their belts, the actors became more and more comfortable in their collective skins and it totally showed in their performances.

I had a love-hate relationship with the backdrop. Eric and I painted the 15 by 26 foot backdrop in our driveway. Actually, HE painted the broad strokes of the sky and I detailed the "shtetl" known as Anatevka. (We were attempting to make it Chagall-esque, but it ended up looking a lot more Van Gogh-Starry-Night-ish. Not that that was a bad thing.)

 

So that's where all my creativity has been going these past months. It's gone into costumes, and sets, and backdrops, and researching Russian Jews.

They performed last weekend, and I finally got to sit in the dark theater and take photos and applaud.

And genuinely, I do love doing it all. I love the brainstorming and the running around and the collaboration. When the details of a show like this comes together, a certain kind of magic happens.

But making this magic happen has metaphorically emptied my creative pockets. ;-)