The Fun Factor

Last week was jam-packed! In the midst of planning my wedding and hitting auditions, I went go-kart racing with my office-mates from my support job...

I also had a presentation to do for Karen Kohlhaas' Advanced Monologue Workshop. I tell ya, studying with Karen has been so life-changing for me as an artist. The homework has been awesome!

This class focused on choosing monologues that got us out of our comfort-zone. Plus we looked at the business aspect of show business and had to come up with a game-plan for reaching daily/monthly/yearly and 2 year-goals.

I created a daily monologue and song workout and set monthly goals that included gym-time, nutritional goals, training, self-made-productions, and something I like to call The Fun Factor.

See, you have to have fun. Each and every day! Life's too short not to include Fun on the to-do list. Don't you think?

And actually, one of my best friends reminded me to incorporate this into my wedding planning as well. So I'll tell you what I've been doing that's been fun!

I loved trying on 10-20 dresses with my Mom in some little bridal boutique in CA. Imagine a tiny stucco shop in the desert - I think it was even near the railroad tracks - but they had absolutely beautiful dresses inside. Just goes to show: don't judge a book by its cover!

Mom and I had a blast looking through the gowns, which were all top-quality, but nothing really called to me as THE dress, so for fun we went to our favorite thrift store, The Assistance League. It's wonderfully clean and they always get great things in.

Well, don't you know they had a wedding dress and train that they had just received! It was pristine! Not a mark on it! In fact, my designer believes it was used as a prototype for other gowns because of how it was put together.

The gown fit really well in the bodice, and the rest could be easily tailored, and the price was beyond right, so my mom quickly snapped it up for me. Thanks, Mom!

And everyone in the little shop went wild with cheering that a bride had found her dress at their place. It was a really neat moment.

Then my sweetheart's co-worker, Annamarie Ferrando, offered to assist with altering the gown. She's a ballroom dancer, a la Strictly Ballroom, and she's been refashioning gowns for a long time! So she took on this project with glee and has absolutely transformed the dress! I hesitate to show too much of it here, because I want my honey to be surprised when I walk down the aisle. :)

Annamarie and I had a blast running all over midtown Manhattan this weekend in the misty rain. She took me to all the sewing shops, and we found almost everything we needed: gloves, veil; I bought shoes earlier in the week, and I really enjoyed going to places I'd never been to before, finding all sorts of beautiful treasures. I swear, Manhattan is magical, because just when you think you "know" this city, it opens up another door and says, "Look what else I can show you!"

The other fun stuff? The cake:

It's based on this design, and it's a TOTAL CHOCOLATE EXTRAVAGANZA!!! :) We met the cake-maker, Pam of PamKakes, whose shop is in McAdoo. I just love saying that! McAdoo! What a great little town. And Pam herself is lovely!

The other cool stuff: Rob being with me 100% of the way, showing such love and support and his usual sense of humor. We've laughed a lot, and that's been key. It's really kind of a testament to how well we work together.

So yeah! I'm having fun! :) Hope you are too!