Thankful Thursday

I was convinced today was Friday. No matter how many times I was reminded it was Thursday, some part of me really wanted it to be Friday. It's not like I didn't try my hardest to make that happen. Yesterday I scheduled an appointment with a student for today and today when that student showed up, I saw that I had put them on my calendar for Friday. Sigh...

Despite it not being Friday, I woke up this morning feeling just really good and thankful. Do you ever have a morning like that? Where you wake up and you just feel like you should be thanking someone for the morning? Today was that morning for me. In fact, so much that I texted my sister Kim, "Do you ever have a morning where you wake up so thankful and happy that you have to thank someone for it?" My youngest sister Kim, God bless her, is a person I know I can always go to with my impulsive emotional rants and feelings never having to censor myself. Sometimes she responds, depending on how long my rant is, with a "you're overwhelming me again" or sometimes, like this morning, she responds in the affirmative with a "yeah".  Victory! Whenever, Kim identifies with one of my random thoughts, it means I could be on to something. Anyway, yeah, I had no reason to be feeling all thankful this morning. I accidentally set my alarm too early (thinking it was a Friday when I had to go in at 9am instead of a Thursday when I have to go in at 10am). I snoozed my alarm no fewer than 3 times which meant none of my extra sleep really counted as quality. And I had A TON of work to do today.

BUT I am so thankful for each and every one of my students. I never dreamed I could be so happy doing something that isn't "counseling", but my students teach me things I don't know every day and they challenge me in ways I haven't yet been challenged. I am so thankful for the past 4 months in which I've slowly adapted to living in a city which is, honestly, something I never thought I would do.

Maybe Christmastime will do that to you....give you random thankful moments. I had the day off on Monday and I was wandering around Chinatown exploring the city, which I feel safe enough to do in the daytime. I was stopped by a guy with the UN Refugee Agency asking for monthly donations. Well, first he tried to help me figure out how to properly work my new iphone since I looked lost, but then I asked him to tell me about what he was doing there that day and he told me about all of the refugees fleeing war and famine in the world and I had heard about Syria, but what about Mali and Somalia and all of the other stories that aren't covered by our media?

There is this other side of thankfulness. It's the recognition that you are blessed and that you have the ability to bless others.

Breakfast

"Good friendships are like breakfast. You think you’re too busy to eat breakfast, but then you find yourself exhausted and cranky halfway through the day, and discover that your attempt to save time totally backfired. In the same way, you can try to go it alone because you don’t have time or because your house is too messy to have people over, or because making new friends is like the very worst parts of dating. But halfway through a hard day or a hard week, you’ll realize in a flash that you’re breathtakingly lonely, and that the Christmas cards aren’t much company. Get up, make a phone call, buy a cheap ticket, open your front door. Because there really is nothing like good friends, like the sounds of their laughter and the tones of their voices and the things they teach us in the quietest, smallest moments." -Shauna Niequist in "Bittersweet"

For me, the Christmas season always starts out with such anticipation. I can't wait to watch all the movies (I have a set lists of Musts), bake all the cookies (well and cupcakes and muffins), and do basically all of the things they do in the movie Elf. 

[For instance my Christmas bucket lists looks something like:

• All the movies: Elf, The Holiday, Love Actually, Muppet Christmas Carol, all of the old school Rudolphs and Frosties (except not the ones where they bring in baby new year or jack frost)
• Bake the classics: the peanut butter cookies with kisses in the middle, gingerbread, snickerdoodles, and just like all of the Christmas-decorated cupcakes I see on pinterest.
• Go look at Christmas lights!
• Find the best hot chocolate in the city! (or a really good one)
• Go see the big Christmas trees!
• Find an occasion to wear my Christmas sweater!]

Then comes the end-of-the-semester crunch. I should be used to the this by now. I've been in higher education (either as a student or now a young professional) for long enough to know that the time from Thanksgiving to Christmas is always just a blur. No, I don't have exams, but all of my students do....or they are trying to complete their theses papers in time to graduate. Thank goodness I no longer have to experience that kind of stress, but it is easy to get caught up in the stress of my students, the stress of the impending holidays (searching desperately for a way to squeeze Christmas present money from my budget), and the stress that comes with lots of traveling to see as many loved ones as possible in a short period of time. 

It's easy to let things slip by during this season: sleep, working out, breakfast, and friends to name a few things. And I can find lots of excuses. It's too dark/cold outside. I have too much to do. Too many Christmas parties to go to. Too much potluck food to cook. Too many things to pay for. However, in the midst of all of the parties and running around, I'm still stressed and still cranky and I don't know why because it's Christmas and you're supposed to be joyful and triumphant!

If there's one thing I know about myself, it's that whenever I'm really cranky it's probably because I'm hungry. (I need to snack at regular intervals for optimal functioning.) Well, I think that's why this passage from Shauna's book Bittersweet (Yes, I know I quote this author ALL the time and I'll probably never stop) has really stayed with me over the past week. Although I feel surrounded by festivity, parties, events, plans, and preparations for Christmas, I also feel a little cranky, a little irritable, a little hungry, maybe even a little lonely. I think this yearning is almost  inherent in the advent (also winter) season for me, but that it's also indicative of that I'm investing time into the wrong things. I may be spending lots of time with  people, but is it quality time? Am I being present? Christmas is not an excuse to stop being genuine, to stop investing in our family and friends because we're too concerned about what we're going to give them from Etsy or the DIY gift boards on Pinterest. We have an incredible gift to give others and ourselves already: just being present and pausing to really experience one of the most wonderful times of the year.

http://www.wearefoundingfarmers.com/tag/breakfast/

Fun Fact: Apparently Founding Farmers had their chicken and waffles with eggs named the Best Breakfast by Food Network a couple of years back. And now I am hungry.

Celebrate and Grow

 "When life is sweet, say thank you and celebrate. And when life is bitter, say thank you and grow."- Shauna Niequist

Besides the things I am thankful for every day: my health, my family, my friends, my job, a career where I feel fulfilled and very happy, I realized how grateful I am for a few other things I don't normally think of this past week.

1. Spare keys. I almost didn't make it home for Thanksgiving due to locking myself out of my apartment (typical, I know). While the story gets a little more complicated than that, the main point is that the incident really just led to more quality time with people before leaving for home.
2. RG3. The Redskins beat the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day. It was the best first half I've seen played the Redskins in a long time and, in spite of a rough season (as always), I've never been more proud and excited for the team.
3. Moms. My mom made the entire Thanksgiving meal for our entire family and sent me back home with tons of food. Mike's mom told me I didn't wreck Thanksgiving and was completely supportive when I had locked myself out of my apartment and delayed her departure for Thanksgiving. I'm so thankful for moms.
4. Constantine Maroulis. I also had the opportunity to see Constantine Maroulis in Jekyll and Hyde at the Kennedy Center and he was amazing! The rest of the show was a little ehh, but it made me feel like a person who actually goes to see shows a lot when I could critique it a little.
5. Music. Pandora Christmas station is all I listen to at work. All day. At night I listen to WASH FM's Christmas station and I listen to Delilah talk about love and stuff in her soothing voice and the callers all make my heart so warm. I've been listening to new Paper Route lately, too, and  Relient K's Let it Snow Baby, Let it Reindeer which is a holiday staple. I'm going to a gospel Christmas concert next week put on by my university's choir and am excited for that. There are no holidays without music.

I can't believe tomorrow is December! And this Sunday is the first day of Advent!

Oh-Oh-Oh … It’s Thanksgiving.

We-We-We are gonna have a good time.

If you haven't seen this yet, you need to. Because everyone needs to see a little girl sing horribly into a turkey leg once in their lives.

So today is my last day at work before Thanksgiving break and, I must say, it's lovely being able to go through the holiday season without stressing about papers or finals. WONDERFUL. So like, I just get to eat and have fun and not go to work and that's all?! There's nothing else I SHOULD or NEED to be doing, but won't and will beat myself up for it later? What is this.....

Sadly, I won't be gorging myself on as much Thanksgiving food as I normally do: it's normally just a day-long snack fest while watching football and movies with some napping in between to mix things up. (I do normally run in the morning though!) No, this Thanksgiving I will be a little more cautious as I had the stomach flu last week and have not been feeling 100% since. I pretty much have the world's most sensitive stomach on a good day, so Thursday I will probably enjoy cooking for others more than I will sampling everything-even-the-questionable-stuff.

This past week, my friend Adam's band also released the first single off their upcoming album, CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH! It is seriously amazing stuff. Adam is so talented and I can't wait until the whole album comes out next year, just in time for spring break road trip playslists!! YES! You should check out his song and then buy it on itunes. Support local artists, for realz. Audiostrobelight's facebook page and link to their latest single!

Sunday, I got to see Breaking Dawn with Steph (strange sense of closure!) and I've discovered my favorite snack and meal (thus far!) in Chinatown. The best snack ever is an Angel Food smoothie with no sugar from Smoothie King and the best dinner ever is an avocado, tomato, and swiss cheese crepe from the crepe place in Chinatown. (Though this is like the only crepe I've tried from there, I still think it's the best!) The guys who run the crepe stand are super sweet, too. Actually paella from La Tasca could probably rival the crepe, but anyway.......

My grand plans for Thanksgiving are as follows: Middle sis in in NYC and came down this past weekend to visit (leaving behind a lovely black bomber jacket accidentally) so she sadly won't be home:( Youngest sis will be house-sitting part of the time:(, but her and I have prioritized watching The Santa Clause together while she's home. Lauren (one of my best friends from elementary/middle/high school....we were cheer captains together) and I are going to watch Love Actually and catch up on all of the things that close friends catch up on when they haven't seen each other for a while. I also plan on watching the Redskins beat the Cowboys! Hopefully, I will be cooking with my mom all day learning her tricks of the trade since I realized I don't yet know how to make an apple pie from scratch and real apple pies are pretty crucial to my existence. I want to be self-sufficient and able to bake an apple pie should I find myself in a moment of need and/or desperation. Friday, I am going to the Kennedy Center with Mike's family so that should be fun and I'll let you know how that goes.

Expect a post of things I am thankful for in a few days because, ultimately, that's what Thanksgiving is about and my favorite part of the holiday.

Once We Were Perfect Strangers...

Show week was hard for me considering it was also student registration at work. I saw 3 of the 4 performances and helped usher all 4 nights. I was tired a lot, but every night would get a sympathetic rush of adrenaline for all of the actors and actresses in the show.

As promised, some pictures from the show!

"Mister John Jasper!!!" 

Never knew Noah could get so creepy. I hope this isn't what Davia has to put up with.

I heart Bazzard.

I also need to update some of my show superlatives after seeing the show two more times after I saw it with Mike's mother.

Favorite song in the show: Overtaking Perfect Strangers and Writing on the Wall is the dark horse of songs, the creepy "Moonfall". I tried not to listen to the lyrics of Moonfall since they creeped me out, but Moonfall's reprise and Jasper's Confession both had themes of the song. I thought the song was one of the most interesting and beautiful of the show.

Favorite lines of the show: Obviously, I'm biased. But I'm sure you would get similar findings if you polled the audience. Mike's/Bazzard's lines "The goose is cooked" and "Mister John Jasper!!!" were my favorite in the show. No matter how many times I saw it, I always lost it on those lines and the audience loved him! (No wonder Bazzard was voted Detective 3 out of 4 nights.) Other favorite lines, when Goo calls out the Chairman: "It's not normal, it doesn't happen to every guy, and it IS a BIG DEAL." Also Princess Puffer: "I had 'im when 'e was fourteen. You ain't 'ad better since, 'ave you? Oh...'e ain't 'ad any since."

Favorite moment of the show: Goo's dog, Nori, played a role in the show during one of Goo's lines and she was so adorable. Everyone loved her, well, them both.

Best method acting: Noah/John Jasper is a great actor and actually really creepy. He never missed any of his lines and managed to be funny despite his creepiness.

Best cockney accent: Princess Puffer/Meg has had me talking in a British accent still.

Favorite character: DURDLES as played by Josh. Most of the show for me was spent clapping, laughing, or shouting "Durdles!" very loudly and obnoxiously. Josh is the funniest ever.

Some of the best parts of the show were just being able to spend time with friends  and people visiting from out of town. Friday night, Mike's grandma and Brian came to the show and there was also a formal party I got dressed up for. I love having an excuse to dress up.

Mike and I all dress up for the formal party. Before the muttonchops went.

Saturday: The next morning I got breakfast with Mike's grandparents, Brian, and Mike. I ordered the crab eggs benedict while everyone else got the buffet. I'm such a rebel. Saturday Absi arrived and Josh and Brian and Mike and I got to hang out with her until the show. We went to the portrait gallery and got crepes/smoothies. (My avocado, swiss, and tomato crepe was ohmigawdsogood.) Then Absi and I went to meet Ben at the Gibson, a speakeasy in DC that had the ultimate ambience and was like a step back in time. The Gibson is truly an experience worth paying a little extra on drinks for. Absi and I both got champagne cocktails (Unicorn Tears and the Pampered Mousse). My Unicorn Tears had gin in it and I actually liked it! I had to leave early to usher at the show again and Kelly and Alex were waiting there to help me. I had begged them for some help ushering and both agreed instantly and were actually there before me. I have the best friends ever. After the show (the only in which Mike wasn't Detective, but was a Lover instead), the House manager Patrick gave me the sweetest card thanking me for ushering all 4 nights.....so thoughtful of him and I've now pledged my allegiance to house managing. The final party was at Josh and Steph's new place and it felt like junior prom with the lights and decorations, only with really awesome food (per usual anytime Steph is around).

Sunday: You would think the magic of the weekend would have ended after the show, but Sunday I spent a magical afternoon with Netflix and my bed and then Sunday evening  Mike and I also got to have dinner (beef stew and red wine) with Jessie and her boyfriend Duncan.

<3:

I'm mostly a stranger to the theater. The only theater and performance experience I have is from ballet when I was a young girl, church fine arts productions, The Princess Bride in high school, and working the box office one semester in college. I guess that is some experience, but performing is not my thing. I don't like being watched, I get horrible stage-fright, I'm introverted, and I get self-conscious in front of a group of people. But, I have decided that, despite not really being a theater person, theater people are my kind of people.


It is hard to believe that the last time Mike was in a show, I barely knew all of these people. Over the past 3 shows, I've gradually gotten to know everyone better and know my life just wouldn't be complete without them in it. Mike is often referred to (by himself and others) as a "gateway friend". He introduces people who get along wonderfully until the friendship is sustainable on its own without Mike needing to be the glue. I mean, we still let him hang around, though. I feel incredibly blessed to have been able to get closer to the people I've met over the past year. So thanks to everyone who welcomed me into their lives and then decided to keep me.

Heart full.

Opening Night

The Mystery of Edwin Drood opened last night at Georgetown University Law Center. Mike's mom was visiting so I rushed to meet up with her as soon as I got off work. Mike's mom and I reminisced and there was a very hilarious typical Kelsey moment when Leslie was telling me about her day and I mistook the word valet for ballet leading me to interpret a very different story from the one she was telling and to go off on a tangent about my own personal ballet experience. It had been a long day.

Anyway, I got pinned as an usher with my official usher badge and there was even free wine and beer for audience members. Last time I saw Mike and his friends in a play, I was just beginning to get to know them. Now that they are basically family, it made the show that much more amazing. I laughed throughout the entire show and so did everyone around me. Mike was voted the role of the detective and sang a solo (thanks to overwhelming audience favor due to his campaigning prior to the show), Jessie was voted as the murderer, and Emily and Meg were the lovers. I can't wait to see if the audience vote changes each night!

Favorites from the show:

• Hair/Makeup/Costumes! Sara did an awesome job on hair and makeup and anyone else involved did incredible work. 
• I love the songs Writing on the Wall and Perfect Strangers. 
• Josh Litten.
• The audience! The audience was great last night and the actors really help to put everyone at ease and make it a really awesome interactive experience.

I thought it would be do-able to usher and see the show every night/hang out with everyone after while also waking up to go to work each morning. It has proven very difficult. Every night of the show seems like such a rush of adrenaline, but this morning I was so tired I could cry. I don't know how the people who are actually in the show do it and all of them have full-time jobs or are in law school.

Anyway, if you're in the DC area, you can still get tickets for Thurs-Sat shows. All are at 8pm on the GULC campus. I will be ushering for all of them.

Link to tickets: http://www.goldstar.com/events/washington-dc/the-mystery-of-edwin-drood

Hopefully I'll have show pictures to add later!

Art, Argo, Lavagna

Friday night, I went to see Argo. I have not kept my dislike of Ben Affleck a secret, but people kept telling me the movie was awesome and a friend wanted to see it so I figured I'd give it a shot. It was amazing. One of those movies where you leave feeling really satisfied at the end. The movie is about the Iranian hostage crisis which, if you stopped paying attention in AP U.S. history after the Cold War like I did, was a huge deal. After the recent tragedy at the U.S. embassy in Libya, I think the movie was especially relevant too. Definitely worth going to see.

After Argo, I stopped by Georgetown's Gilbert and Sullivan Society rehearsal for Drood, getting there just in time to hear Mike sing. Mike sings well, but not really unless he's on stage or unless someone's playing a piano. Given my recent string of failures in getting him to sing White Christmas for me, this was a real treat. Also: the show's going to be awesome. It's a Choose-You-Own-Ending style musical based on the only unfinished novel by Charles Dickens. lots of Cockney accents, comedy, and fun.

After rehearsal, Mike and I also caught up on our new Netflix obsession: Legend of the Seeker. It is guilty pleasure FANTASY reminiscent of LOTR, but with really pretty people instead of hobbits. Much of the dialogue makes me laugh, but I'm unable to stop watching. So that has taken precedence over Doctor Who for the time being.

Saturday, I spent some time at the American Museum of Art/The National Portrait Gallery. This is my second favorite museum in the city, my first love being the National Gallery of Art, of course. Whenever I start to feel trapped or crowded by the city, I like to spend a few hours in a museum and remind myself that I am so lucky to have so much culture and history at my fingertips whenever I want and within walking distance. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from that outing.

My favorite statue in the American Museum of Art.

My favorit painting. It's huge and if I stand really close to it, I feel like I'm in Montana.

Third floor. 

There is a secret wing on the third floor where they have free tea and coffee Thurs-Sat 11am-3:30pm.  Free coffee attracts so many different kinds of people. 

One of my favorite pieces in the modern art wing.

Love this.

More modern art. So real.

After the art museum, I met up with Mike who had been hard at work in the library, and we made pesto chicken pasta for dinner. When we got back to his house he gave me some of his mail to open (because he had gotten some packages that I figured he was just too lazy to open). When I opened the first box, it was a DVD of The Santa Clause, which was only the movie I had been talking about/quoting every day for the past week! The second box was a yoga mat since the floor at my apartment is so hard I need two mats to do yoga comfortably. It's safe to say that Mike is the best present giver ever. However, anyone who will put up with watching The Santa Clause with me while I quote most of it knowing full well that me having the DVD will probably make this a regular occurrence, is a keeper.

On Sunday, Kelly and Alex invited us to Lavagna, one of up-and-coming brunch places in DC. Kelly read a Lavagna review on a blog and told me about their $10 bottomless mimosas and locally-sourced menu. I mean, she had me at bottomless mimosas, but I couldn't wait to try their food either. For some reason, Mike got a wine glass rather than a champagne flute for his mimosa and that led to mimosas twice the size of everyone else's. I can't take him anywhere.

Mike and his VIP treatment Mimosa.

Mike and Alex each got the Biscuit Egg Sausage Gravy with italian sausage. Meat is not my thing, but, trust me when I say that it's the best sausage gravy and biscuits you will ever have. And I'm from the South. Kelly got the Veggie Frittata which looked amazing. I got the Mascarpone Pancakes with honey nutella mascarpone. If you only get one thing there, it must be these pancakes. They tasted like warm buttery christmas in your mouth. The mimosas and coffee were delicious and so was the conversation. I threw out the idea of a Williamsburg reunion  for NYE sometime soon with much support. Alex and I talked about the football games later that day, and Mike chimed in with his analysis of the footballs and how "his team" the Panthers were going to beat the Redskins. Because the Panthers had a 1-6 record and the Redskins were OVERDUE for a win and I get super defensive of my team, I told Mike that the Panthers winning would put our relationship in jeopardy. Bad news: the Redskins were slaughtered and I'm not dealing with it well. Good news: Mike and I are trying to work things out.

All in all, a success of a weekend!

This week is not only election week, but registration week for my students so work will be crazy, but it is also crazy for a lot of my friends who work on Capitol Hill or who are starring in GGSS's The Mysterious Case of Edwin Drood which opens this week or who do both. Show weeks mean a little more stress, a ton of fun, and looking forward to the day when Mike finally gets to shave his muttonchops!

Happy election/show/registration week and GO VOTE!