Once Upon a Time I Figured Out How to Succeed in Theatre Without Really Trying

This post isn't about theatre. Except at the end. So it's been a year. What reminded me that I hadn't posted anything in a while was that I had another successful pi day, but then I realized that the last thing I wrote about was pi day so maybe a little catch up?

Highlight from each month since last March:

April: Had another awesome birthday with a beer fest in Breckenridge and a dinner with a couple of unexpected tequila shots that seemed like an okay idea at the time (it was my birthday!). Lesson learned: binging on chips/queso is not sufficient alone. Also the bearded man's ginger roommate and my glittery coworker found (and currently are still in) love. A good birthday all around.

May: All I can remember is that this month was super busy, but not because I was doing all sorts of cool and awesome things. SKIPPED.

June: We had a few more fires. Let's not talk about it. So over fires and natural disasters in general so here's to hoping 2014 is the year of no threatening disaster near where I live!

July: The month I had been waiting for my entire life. I LEFT THE COUNTRY! Work friend and I went to Paris for a few days over her birthday and apparently they love birthdays in Paris as much as we do because everyone celebrated and they even put on a fireworks show at the Eiffel Tower for us. People called it "Bastille Day" celebrations which means I also learned that Bastille is french for Work Friend. This may be the only new french word I learned because the rest of the time I would find myself trying to communicate in english with a bad french accent as though the other person would suddenly understand.
     "When does the next train come?"
     "..."
     "[cue bad accent] Ummm...le train? [point to watch]"
     "..."
Also the french men love work friend. They tell her that her dress is beautiful but mine, "eh, it is ok" and since France is supposed to be high on the fashion totem I was feeling pretty good about being "ok" by their standards. Then we went to England to visit old neighbor and then I had to be in a wedding in a castle. My life is hard. And fancy sometimes. I was also the tall white girl in the wedding party which I never thought would ever happen but Europe is just magical like that.

August: A dinosaur joint birthday party (TyDANoSARAHus Rex party) and football season started...or the season where the bearded man doesn't understand passion for a team because Colorado hasn't been good since the 90s. He does wear his Carolina shirt we bought so we do respect him for that. It must feel good to be able to cheer for a winning team!

September: Finally made it for a visit to Cool-umbia! Wonderful people, wonderful tailgaiting, and it was great to be home to watch a Gamecock victory. I will admit that I thought the bearded man would come back a full-on converted Gamecock fan...but he still wears the shirt so I'm trying not to hold it against him.

October: Sister and niece came for an impromptu weekend visit and it was the best thing ever and I continue to cement my status as coolest aunt because I know what 4 year olds like. Took the bearded man to Great American Beer Festival for his birthday present since I know what that man likes. It was a fun afternoon that ended with his parents driving down to be our DD...

November: We told them to fear the thumb. Then we squashed them with it. And there was much rejoicing.

December: Christmas with the fam is always entertaining...even before my dad pulls out the fart machine and my blind uncle starts sharing drunk wisdom.

January: We're #4! We're #4! And there was much rejoicing. All of the pow! All of the pow! And there was much rejoicing on the mountains.

February: Celebrated 10 years with my college BFFs at another college friend's wedding. My first visit to TX was not totally awful but I'm guessing that's because it was to Austin and not anywhere else.

And that brings us to March. I just finished in a play "The Adventures of Peter Rabbit and  His Friends" which was a lot of fun. Work friend did just bring to my attention however that I was credited in the program as a "Hair/Make Up Assistant" and she asked how did that happen. I was/am equally confused and amused since despite doing one girl's hair every night, the only other thing I can think of is the one time I tried to take over curling another girl's hair and it took 10min of wondering why each curl was less curly than the last for me to figure out that the iron wasn't even on. However those on the outside likely assume I was a useful assistant and for that I think I might have discovered How to Succeed in Theatre Without Really Trying.

Once Upon a Time I Realized There Are Still Four Seasons

I grew up in Virginia. Virginia is a great state commonwealth. You have the mountains, beach, and four seasons that rotate on a pretty regular 3-month schedule for the most part. I knew this to be fact for the first 18 years of my life.

I went to school and worked for a bit in South Carolina. More specifically, Columbia. Home of my beloved Gamecocks in the fabulous south. About a year-ish before I left they changed the slogan to "Famously Hot" which everyone who has lived there or driven through in July/August knows is just a nice (southern) way of saying the "Armpit of the South" Sigh. That armpit was my home for 5 years and I loved it. Shorts/t-shirts until December, then sporatic for a couple months until March when they were back in season for good? Yes, please. I'm a warm weather gal and didn't miss fall/spring too much to be honest. There was beach season and the season-that-must-not-be-named in my book.

So 5 years later I up and move to Hawai'i to pursue my dream of weathergirl. After discovering there isn't much challenge to memorizing "Highs in the 80s and Lows in the 70s with a chance of some light scattered showers" all year so I moved on from that dream. Hawai'i weather was perfect year round except for the couple of winter months when I needed to make sure I brought a long sleeve tshirt with me because 70 degrees at night with a slight breeze can be chilly. Summer year round was also great on the wardrobe and budget since I knew my clothes would be in season all the time. No questions as to how warmly I needed to dress in the morning before work. Just sifting through the cleanest pile of clothes and hoping that I didn't wear the same outfit already that week although to be honest none of my coworkers would've noticed. Except one for sure. But she's great and would just laugh at me then tell me to sit down while she straightened my hair because we had a work function that evening and I needed to be presentable.

Well now I've been in Colorado for 10 months and this month (especially the past week or two) has confirmed something that had become more of a myth. Seasons are still here. All of them. This month I was shocked to discover that autumn/fall was still a "thing." By this point, I had just assumed that fall no longer existed and it was merely a "Starbucks (long) holiday" to give reason for bringing back the pumpkin spice latte (PSL because I'm hip) so everyone can post pictures to facebook/instagram/bathroom stalls of their Starbucks cup (allegedly) full of PSL or other fall specialty drink. Yes I love colorful leaves and pumpking anything as much as the next person (unless the next person doesn't like those things, then the next next person...unless that pers--you get the idea...I'm just glad I caught myself before it got out of control) but there are still things that I'm not the hugest fan of.

Autumn is just one giant Catch-22 for me it seems.

 

I love the colorful leaves and raking them into piles to jump in....but I don't love being itchy afterwards with a side of asthma.

 

I love being able to wear scarves and perhaps even a vest/cardigan...but I don't love how confused my wardrobe gets since I don't have room in my closet for all of my clothes and have to trade out based on seasons...cold in the morning, warm during the day, cold at night? Anyone who knows me knows what can happen to a perfectly cute matching outfit when I get it in my head that I know how to layer.

 

I love being toasty warm in my car because of the heat...but I don't love that I'M USING HEAT IN MY CAR IN SEPTEMBER.

 

I love pumpkin carving...but I don't love when someone looks at my lit up (amateur) carving of a Marcus Lattimore jersey and asks "what is that?"

 

I love pumpkin spice lattes...but I don't love how often it doesn't get stirred so it's all latte at the top and all the pumpkin is at the bottom and it's too sweet for me to even know where the spice comes in.

 

I love seeing the snow cap on Pike's Peak...but I don't love--oh shit. That means winter is next, isn't it? I just purchased my ski pass so I can learn what all this hype is about snow on mountains but it was also not cheap so I can't afford any Christmas gifts. Consider my learning to snowboard your gift because if all goes well it will mean less rides for me on the winter/snow complain-train.

 

 

Alrighty, time to suck it up Hudson. The weather is getting cold. You knew this would happen. You will become Colorado tough. Remember how last night it was in the 50s and you didn't put on your fleece pullover? That's because you're tough. You can survive what people say will be a make-up winter for the "mild" one you experienced last year.

 

Alright, put me in coach...into hibernation where I can snuggle up in my bed and not come out until spring.