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Friday, December 31, 2010

My Top Ten of 2010

Here we have a list of my Top Ten Favorite events/happening/accomplishments in 2010! Enjoy.

10. HOMICIDE TAKES A HOLIDAY


Performing professionally is always a pleasure. My lovely friend Jimmy Emmerson called to see if I would be interested in doing a murder mystery show in Edmonton, CA. I had been there in December of 2009 (Cold, anyone?) and was excited to go back. He told me they were looking for a leading man like my husband...so I said - why not just bring him? So DramaDad and I made the trek to Edmonton, CA in July of this year. Ok, it's really not that bad, only about a 4 hour flight. Anyway, we had loads of fun playing Lord Wardyworth, the broke English Lord and Cecily, the shy, abused assistant of the diva Dame Sainsbury (played by my amazing friend, Kellie Wright. LOVE HER!)

The whole cast!

It was a love story! Always fun to fall in love with your husband again!

And we had lots of fun - at the West Edmonton Mall. It's EPIC!

We also had fun, singing Karaoke. (That's Kellie to the right.)

All in all, it was the best situation...paid vacation with my hubby! Oh, thanks to my Grandma for flying in and staying with our kids the week we were gone. 

9. New Home!
After living with family for 2.5 years, we were blessed to be able to find a wonderful house to rent - and help out our landlords! The husband had moved to Santa Fe for a new job and the wife had stayed here with the home - for over a year! They didn't want to just leave it vacant and with the market the way it is, selling wasn't working out for them. Anyway, we were able to rent it from them so she could move to Santa Fe to be with her husband...and we have a spacious home to call our own! It's honestly my favorite home I've ever lived in and my husband has done a killer job decorating on a dime! We're so happy here. 





8. Kids say and do...

I have no quiet, shy children. They are all loud, outgoing and full of personality. Which makes for some really fun times, and very little quiet. But some really funny things. 

For example, this summer, DramaDad directed a production of DAMN YANKEES. 

The lead character in Damn Yankees is - LOLA! The same name as my baby girl. Now, I was the costumer on the show and one night the kids came with me to rehearsal to measure the cast. As we were leaving, one of the older one's asked "Who's playing Lola again?" We answered her. A moment later, my son - BuddyBoy - says "Who's playing me?" We all about died. Seriously, you can't make this stuff up.

On the night we took cast photos, little Lola couldn't resist joining big "Lola" -played to perfection by the dynamic Traci Kesisian - for a few photos. We did not pose her. She just mimic'd whatever Traci was doing.

Lola and Lola

SOOO Glamorous.

They truly formed a bond. SO adorable!

7. Damn Yankees - COSTUMES!
My day job is costumes and this summer, my good friend VALINDA and I went to TOWN on a huge show! Damn Yankees! We built dozens of costumes within 1.5 months...and lots of breaks for girls camp, drama camps, husband out of town...and so on. It was huge - but gorgeous. I was very proud of us.

You should definitely click on this photo to see it larger. We built all of the dresses and put together all of the men's clothes except the baseball uniforms. We also built Lola's costumes - corsets and robes and more!




5 & 6 - Shows with RagTag Entertainment

I was able to do several shows with RagTag Entertainment this year! Quite a few Cabaret shows, a concert version of Godspell and a small scale production of Jekyll & Hyde! Playing Emma in J&H has been one of my dream roles forever, so it was such a thrill to get to play it! RagTag has given me the opportunity to get out and perform smaller shows with less time commitment that allow me to do shows at all!

Our logo! Hand painted - I got to keep the portrait!

Me & Anne right after our big duet   Me in costume..ready to go on!

A still from the show "Take Me As I Am"

Performing "Strongest Suit" in a cabaret   Singing "In His Eyes" at the Liberace Museum

GODSPELL in Concert! at the Ovation in Green Valley Ranch

My Solo - Bless the Lord!

 With my girls!

Here's a video mashup/edit of my number...it starts with our first performance but then goes to the second show, which was at a church. Now, the second video's picture is awful, but the mix of voices and tempo were better, so I opted for vocals over visuals...that's the singer in me!



4. Smartypants!
Both girls made the A/B honor roll for the final quarter of their 2nd and 4th grade years. I was PROUD as could be, considering that Mowgli went into 4th grade barely passing math. 

3. The Final Liberace Concert
This was kinda a big deal...I was asked to perform in the final cabaret show at the Liberace museum. I was priveledged to perform with the likes of Peter Saide and Travis Cloer from Jersey Boys, Sarah Elizabeth Combs and Andrew Ragone from Phantom The Las Vegas Spectacular, Philip Fortenberry (Associate Conductor at Jersey Boys) and Niles Rivers from The Lion King. I was the only girl to do a solo - and I sang "Memory" from Cats as a special request. I was TOO nervous so I don't think I rocked it like I normally would. But it was a total honor. 

Performing at the Liberace Farewell Concert

2. Recording for a New Musical
One day one of my friends posted on Facebook that they were looking for some singers to come do a recording for a new musical. Normally I would probably ignore something like that, but for some reason, I decided to go!

To make a long story short, I ended up recording one of the roles! It's a musical called Eve of a New Dawn by Jack Kent Tillar. Jack is the sweetest, most wonderful man! He's old as can be, but full of life and energy. He worked in Hollywood for decade as a music editor and supervisor. Here's his imdb page! He's most well known for the song "Let's All Go to the Lobby!" and he worked on the original Willy Wonka movie. It was a really great experience and I just loved working with Jack. 

Here is one of the songs I recorded, called "To Do It All". I play the role of Rikardus, a medeivel nun under the supervision of visionary Hildegard of Bingen. I really, really like this song.


1. Cirque Du Soleil
I have no photos or video or anything fancy for this one. But it is something I am enormously proud of! Cirque Du Soleil held auditions for singers here in Las Vegas in February of this year. First, I was just giddy as a school girl when I was selected from my audition reel to attend the live auditions. On the first day of auditions, they allowed everyone who was invited to sing, they decided who to call back the second day to record their audition. I had a few other friends there and I was at the end of the 1st round, which means I waited for like 4 hours! That was stressful, especially when very few people were getting called back. Fortunately I found out that they seemed to be especially looking for sopranos, so that helped me solify my audition choice to a legit soprano piece.

I was SOOOOO nervous I could barely breath. It was NOT good. Fortunately, somehow, I was able to get out a good enough sound to get CALLED BACK!!! So exciting. SO AMAZING! I was beyond thrilled.

The next day, I was scheduled to come in around 3:30. Perfect! A great time to sing. And I told myself that I HAD to get control of my nerves. I focused on being calm and focused all day long. I let go of the nerves. And I had a FANTASTIC audition. That right there was enough. I was able to overcome my nerves and focus and show my best self. And then they told me that they would be adding me to their database of singers and that I would be perfect for a show like O or Mystere. So, in reality, nothing may ever come of it, but that was the whole point of the auditions, to add people to the database. And I made it!

I was also able to work with the local casting director in Jekyll & Hyde. But the icing on top was that my brother in law - who works for Cirque in the technical department, ended up having a conversation later that day with the bigwig lady who auditioned me and he mentioned that I had auditioned. She totally remembered me and went on and on about how much they liked me and thought I was great. THAT was pure awesomeness.


In Conclusion...

All in all, 2010 had plenty of downs, but it's ups were really, quite special. I feel like because of this year, I finally am starting to figure out who I am, what I want and how to get there. Hope that's not too existential for you.


I wish you all a wonderful and prosperous New Year!



Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Merry Phone-mas! aka, What's on DivaMommy's Phone!

EDITED TO ADD:

I'm always forgetting to give Jessica the credit for this awesome Tuesday tradition.


So, let me just tell you that I missed some great photos this week because my PHONE is stupid. I did a hard re-set and it seems to be working better. Humph!!!

Please check out my Christmas recordings on the LEFT/RIGHT hand side of the page! You've got me and my little munch kins singing some fun little tunes. :)

Let the captions do the 'splainin.


Lollies took this picture of me working on the computer.

 Lollies taking my 'order'. I love it when kids play restaurant.

The DivaMommy as a pirate for a little 1 year old's party.

Myself and Lollies enjoying a Sunday afternoon nap. Lollies sure worked her way into a lot of my photos. 

 A picture of a rather crummy looking top hat, but I needed to show the shape for a project I'm working on.


 Me showing of my cutsey self in my new Carina Dolce Cosmetics! I won a contest and I LOVE their products.
I can't wait to order more, but I have to because she's on vacay until the 27th.

DramaDad looking all serious at an Exploration Rehearsal for this super cool, pretty BIG FREAKING DEAL dance show we're working on.
It will be playing in NYC in July for DANCE WEEK! 

Finally, an amazing projection test - also at the exploration rehearsal for the dance show. 


Thanks for taking a peak at my crazy life! 
Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!!!



Sunday, December 19, 2010

What do YOU wear to work?

Today I was a pirate. Well, kinda. A really nice pirate who facepainted and danced and sang. Yes, that is my job. Well, my weekend job. I actually have a lot of jobs. I digress...

Argh!

The costume is mostly compliments of my friend Valinda.

I also went on a date with the DramaDad to celebrate his birthday (which is actually next Thursday but next week is kinda busy for us). It was fun, too.

And yesterday, while waiting for dad to teach his drama class, me and the kids hit up Ross and did a little damage.  Here's what the girls picked out.

Mowgli picked out a fun t-shirt and the awesome boots. Her style is very playful and she's starting to lean a little punk - so I was glad to find her some boots that were cute and she was happy with. Don't tell, but she does like to wear dresses and be girly sometimes, too. 

She's trying to copy dad's modeling suggestions. 

 But this I prefer her just having fun!

Then we have PrincessPrettyP, who totally lived up to her name and picked out a sassy white satin ruffle shirt, pinstriped dress pants and a boys fedora, which she totally and completely rocks. She is my little fashionista. Her poses are an homage to the King of Pop, Mr Michael Jackson who my children have developed quite an affinity for. In fact, in the car the other day, Young Micheal Jackson's "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" came on the radio and she says "Mom, you may not know the answer to this question, but who is going to be the new king of pop?" Precious.

Always Stylin'

And yes, she came up with these poses all by herself.

Rockstars. 


Friday, December 17, 2010

2 Down!

Remember my CHRISTMAS LIST?

Well, yesterday morning, I awoke to find out I'd won a CONTEST and that selected makeup products would be heading my way....FREE OF CHARGE!

I will receive the fabulous starry eyes primer, 10 samples and this yummy lip color (my choice)


Coolness! Thanks again, Carina Dolce Mineral Cosmetics! Great Christmas Sales going on!

Then I went to Target to finish up my Christmas shopping (really almost done, now) and found these little babies on clearance. Couldn't resist.



So, I got them. An early christmas gift if you will. I still want some grey heels and my black ones are a bit outdated, but I can't be too greedy. I need more clothes to go with them, too. LOL! I think maybe 1 day a week I'll start fashion blogging, just to see what happens. :)

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

It's TUESDAY! What's on the DIVAMOMMY's phone?

Well, I have a minute while my phone re-boots in the hopes that I will be able to get my photos off of it.

For those of you who loved my teal skirt, click here and scroll down. I took a closeup for ya.

And I now have 8 followers!  I have decided to do a cool giveaway...I'm not sure what yet, but I'm a woman of many talents. As soon as I get to lucky 13 followers, I'll do a giveaway that's only open to followers of my blog!

And now...for my phone.

Oh, wait...this coming week I'm setting a goal to take photos of my handsome DramaDad because he always looks so great, even if he's just running to the store or puttering around the house.

And now for my phone for reals.

First up, the kiddos brought me pictures they had drawn of me. Ahhhhh!

 This is from Lollies. She was so proud!

 And BuddyBoy said it was me as a spider. Ahhhh!


Then I made a lemon meringue pie. I took a picture, but strangely, my phone did not save it or something. Strange, huh?

 So...here is what was left of it. Mmmmmmmm.....

And here's our lovely Christmas tree. It's kinda got a mardi gras theme...DramaDad is very creative.

I was rehearsing for my cabaret last week, and Lollies just had to join in the fun. 

And here's DramaDad doing his best Bernadette Peters impression.

Oh, too much fun. Now I'm off to comment on ALL OF YOUR TUESDAY phone blogs.

This post is brought to you by The Lowe Family News, the letter T and the number10.



Monday, December 13, 2010

My Christmas List!

Guess which one I will actually probably get.

1. iPad

It's soooo beautiful!

Why? Aside from the obvious coolness, it would be a fabulous business tool....for costumes, what an easy and convenient way to store costume renderings, shopping lists, measurements. For parties, it could play a video showing all my awesomeness, useful in planning, organizing. It could even be an instant karaoke player. yeah. And it can turn into a piano. And it's an IPAD!

2. Pretty Boots
Or something like these...

But I can't decide if I want them in grey or brown or tan. Ok, I want them in all 3. Not necessarily this style, either. But similar.Or the same. Cool. Maybe like brown flats, grey & tan heels...

3. Recording Equipment
Really awesome recording package on Musicians Friend.

Or...


GARAGE BAND (on a MacBook Pro, which I do not own) & Snowball (I have the snowball, but it doesn't play nice with my PC)

This should be self explanatory. I just want to SING! And record it. For posterity.

4. Vacay
Oh, sweet, sweet Hawaii!

In the past 2 years, my husband has been to the eastern Carribean, Bermuda and Hawaii. I've been to Spokane, WA and Edmonton, CA. Ummm... I mean, they were fun and I'm totally grateful, but they really aren't tropical. I find myself jonesing for a tropical environment - even though I've never been. My friends are heading to the Carribean for Christmas, I have another friend (several, actually) who are cruising the world. Jealous? Yes, indeed.

5. These fabulous makeups!!

 

Mmmmm...just mmmmmm.

These are great! I actually already ordered the white ultra sparkly stuff, I'll let you know what I think about it. They could be really super cool for makeover parties! Find them here, on Etsy @ CarinaDolci 

I'd also love new cooking implements and dishes. I got some dishes right before Ryder was born, almost 5 years ago, but most are broken. Oh, and we only needed a set of 4 back then. Clothes are always great. DramaDad always used to get me clothes for Christmas - in fact, for our first Christmas....

***DIVAMOMMY FLASHBACK***

DramaDad and I met in June. We "hung out" while rehearsing for Fiddler On The Roof. We got engaged closing night, a week before Thanksgiving of that year. (1998 for those of you who care)

That year for Christmas, he literally bought me a whole new wardrobe. DramaDad is the coolest dresser ever.   He is like the king of clothes. In fact, next week - for Phone Photo Tuesday - I'm going to try to take pic's of him everyday to prove it. Anyway, he bought me like 7-8 pairs of jeans, a ton of tops, shoes...yeah. I was opening presents forever. Turns out he couldn't stand the way I dressed. And until Lollies altered my body forever and I can't just wear anything anymore, he got me clothes every year.  Now that my body shape is different and we have 4 kids and can't just go shopping together all the time, I've had to learn to shop for myself...hence - TEAL SKIRT!!! What? Want to see it close up???

***DIVAMOMMY TANGENT***

As requested, closeup photos of the awesomeness that is my teal skirt. I love the high waisted, pencilness of it. And the really cool belt that came with it. And the ruched panels down the side. Slimming, sexy, shiny. Oh, and I have it in black satin as well.

This skirt makes me smile.
Ok, well, what a lovely look towards my Christmas future (ok, maybe not so much...it's more a dream list than a wish list) and Christmas past. And my teal skirt.

Happy Holidays!!