Eventually.

This trip to the beach has been sooooo helpful for me.
I'm continuing the A-Z challenge with my 'E' word: Eventually.

It's so hard sometimes to be patient.  It's so hard to want things or circumstances and know that you are busting your tail (technical term) to achieve certain goals and yet they just never seem to ever happen.

I want to live near a beach so very badly.  Each time a wave lapped over my feet today I ached to be able to experience it more than only a few times a year.  I love my family and I don't dread going home, but it's like I do dread leaving the seaside behind.  Exchanging the ocean for the pine trees and the sand for the red clay is so painful to me.  Like a sad goodbye to a friend.

So here are some things that I want to have happen eventually.  (And let's hope the eventuality doesn't take another 'e' word, like "eternity" or "eons"!)

Eventually... I want to have my degree.  A BFA in Fine Arts would make me happy.  Specifically in Photography would rock.  With a minor in Costume Design would rock even more! :)

Eventually... I want my own shop.  A photography studio or a tea shop or a retail shop or a combination of some of these would be awesome.

Eventually... I want to live on the coast. Preferably the GA coast.  Jekyll or St. Simon's area.  But FL or SC would be considered too.  I NEED the beach!!!

Eventually... my babies will all be school age and I will have 7 hours of the day all to myself to get things done!!!

Eventually... I want to have our rooms finished out and decorated!

Eventually... I will have been to England! (2013, if all goes as planned.  For more on my Trip Across The Pond plans, read this post.)

Eventually... my blog will have over 100 followers and 10,000 page-views! (hey, as long as we're listing goals here...!) :)

And eventually, I will collapse of exhaustion if I don't stop this post where it is, and go to bed!
More gamboling around Destin all day tomorrow!

Discovering Destin

Today's A-Z challenge, D, is brought to you from Destin, Fl!

I'm going out in a few minutes to explore and take some photos, so I will update this post tonight before midnight.  Check back later and I'll have some good stuff posted for your A-Z Challenge enjoyment. :)

Edit: From Noon til about 3 pm, this is what I was looking at while I updated my journal and did my Bible devotional:

Two gulls that appeared to be in some sort of shore bird argument. "I'm not talking to you." "I'm not talking to you, either."

Definitely NOT the best photo of me, but I posted it anyway.  Feel loved.  It was windy and only about 60, so I had a sweater on and my pretty, floppy hat was doing funky things in the wind.

Marilyn's home and after I help her grade some student assignments, we'll go out and get into more mischief together; maybe visit a couple stores.  Then we'll order pizza for supper and I'll kick her rear at Mini Golf on the Wii! :)

Final Update/Edit:
We didn't go out after all, except to get the pizza and instead of playing the Wii game we watched the first part of the BBC period drama North and South.  But it's been a fantastic day and I plan on spending the day tomorrow out and about, walking to shops and then going back to the beach when she's home in the afternoon to take some pictures and fly kites!

Captivated by Costuming!

Unlike my last two A-Z Challenge posts, this one has to be short.  I have to get up at 5 a.m. to make my way down to Florida.  Well, I don't have to, but I don't like long car rides, so I want to get there asap and enjoy my week.

C is for Costuming!  Particularly 18th Century costumes.  I've been a Civil War Re-enactor (which could also have been my 'C' post) for just over a dozen years and while I still love it, I'm interested in trying out other eras of American history to sew dresses and get dressed up for.

In my internet travels last year, I found Lauren Reeser of American Duchess.  This woman is incredible!  She puts all of my sewing efforts to shame, and I'm not exactly a novice anymore, either!  I've made some undeniably beautiful pieces.  But her work is just... wow.  A "complete inspiration" is such an understatement!

Well, Lauren has worked with a shoe manufacturing company and designed PERFECT and GORGEOUS 18th Century shoes for re-enactors, costumers, thespians and lovers of historical fashion in general.  These are amazing. Want, WANT, WANT!

Sadly, I can't get any just now.  I've already set the budget for things that Jake and I are involved in and committed to, so there just isn't any extra for a pair of shoes that I don't have a costume made for (YET.) or a scheduled event to wear them to. (YET.)

However, as a re-enactor who must buy the things which I cannot make myself (mid 19th C work boots, for example), I am familiar with the general cost of such goodies and I can tell you that her asking price for these beautiful 18th C shoes is more than reasonable!  They are only $85 if you pre-order them before April 22.  I may not be able to get any at the moment, but I will shamelessly plug her designs with loving support and much gusto! :)

Here is the website where you can order your pair, guaranteed to fit and guaranteed accurate dye color.  A.Freaking.Mazing!

Belting Out Broadway Showtunes

A to Z challenge continues with B.

It'll have to be a short one since it's super late and I am falling on my face.  I am so tired.  I was going to wait until later today to post, but I know the kids will be up and running around and I have a house to clean, so I didn't want to miss it.

One of the things that really motivates me to do housework is to crank up my iTunes on a Broadway playlist and sing along.

Here are a few of my favorite Broadway shows and bits:

The Phantom of the Opera:
My husband took me to see this at Atlanta's Fox Theatre when I was 15 & 3/4 years old for my very first "date".  Did I mention that we had 5th row centre seats?  Yeah.  The only way for him to top that was to marry me.  So 8 years later... he did. :)  Last July we went and saw it at the Fox for the 4th and final time.  It's no longer on tour and the only way we can see it now is if we go to New York and see it on Broadway, or to London and see it at West End.  10th Anniversary Trip, anyone?!  That's the plan at any rate!  At the farewell show in July I cried from the first notes of the organ overture to the final curtain.  I. Love. This. Musical.  You can find "Think of Me", "Phantom Theme", "Music of the Night" and "All I Ask Of You" rotating through my iTunes regularly. (That last song was played at our wedding in '04)

At the end of '04, Joel Schumacher made a film of it that, while not as breathtaking as a live stage performance, continues to feed my insatiable appetite for all things PTO. :)




Les Miserables:
Celebrating it's 25th anniversary this year, Les Mis is a special musical to me because it was something that my dad and I shared less than 2 years before he died.  The score and the emotion of the entire thing gives me goosey pimples every time I hear it.  Long before Susan Boyle came on the scene, I was singing "I Dreamed A Dream" as though my heart would break.  And to be honest, singing it during times of real life heartache and pain is strangely therapeutic and healing.  "Bring Him Home" always made Dad cry.  "One Day More" makes me feel ready to take on the world.
Les Mis is coming back to the Fox next Spring.  Guess who's going to be there to see it? ;)

Here is "One Day More" sung at the 25th Anniversary Concert at the O2 in London by the entire cast and the original London cast:



While this is GORGEOUS, my favorite performance was this one of the same song at the 10th Anniversary Concert in 1995:




Wicked:
While I have not seen this musical in person, I am familiar with it's score and storyline.  Every time we have heard it was coming to Atlanta, it sold out before we could scrape up the money for tickets.  Not a fan of the original novel, I nonetheless ADORE the amazing vocals and orchestrations of the Broadway phenomenon.  I alternate singing the parts of Galinda ("Popular") and Elphaba ("Defying Gravity") as I can, and will sing "For Good" through twice, so I can cover both parts. :)
Wicked is coming to Atlanta again in September and for once I will be ready to snag tickets for my husband and me this time around!

Here is a trailer for the London show:




I love all of the other musicals too, of course.  I grew up with Cats, The King and I, The Sound of Music, West Side Story, The Lion King, Chicago, South Pacific, Oklahoma and many more.
My mom played Gertie in the Douglas County High School Class of 78 production of Oklahoma (obnoxious laugh and all!).

Three more videos for you, and I have to crash in the bed!

From The Music Man, here is Robert Preston as Professor Harold Hill, telling River City citizens all about their
"Trouble":



And Matthew Broderick and Kristen Chenoweth (who is in the original Wicked cast, btw!) in the Disney mid-2000s remake, singing "Til There Was You":



And finally, a musical that I have not yet seen, but find myself singing this number from on a regular basis.  Here is the opening number from the 1998 musical,
"Ragtime":



There you have it, my darlings.

So much for a short post, but Broadway is one of my deepest rooted passions and I'm happy to share it with you.  I'll be belting out these Broadway tunes and more tomorrow as I get ready to send us all on Spring Break next week!

Not to worry; I've got "C" ready and waiting to be written on Monday. :)

Affection for the Art of Animation

Here's my 'A' post of the A-Z challenge!

When I was in high school, I had a talent for recreating stills of animated movies.  I could pause a tape (yes, VHS tape!  No DVD player in 1994-1999!) and advance it frame by frame in slow motion until I found the image I wanted and then draw it.  The magic of a few lines on paper coming to life has always fascinated me.  The entire animation process, from storyboarding an idea to fine tuning the characters and recording the vocals that would later bring them to life, is completely enchanting and amazing to me.

I pursued animation as a career for some time, even majoring in Graphic Design in college and taking every animation class they had to offer.  But it was not to be.  I'm content to not have become an animator.  I would have had to leave GA for CA and as much as I enjoyed my visit to Los Angeles in 2001, I don't think I would ever want to live there.  (If you are reading this and you live in California, I'm not dissing it.  I just love Georgia and would miss it!) :)

I still love animation, though I'm not as much of a trivia nerd about it as I was some years ago.  I was actually banned from playing Disney Trivial Pursuit with my husband's family because not only did I know all of the answers, I actually found 2 mistakes. (One of them: "Name Cinderella's two ugly stepsisters." The answer printed on the card was "Anastasia and Cruella".  The answer is "Anastasia and Drizella". Cruella is the villainess in 101 Dalmatians.)  I know nearly every character from every Disney movie, from Snow White all the way up to The Princess and the Frog.  I can recite most lines and dialogue exchanges and sing ALL of the songs! :)  (Which proves, beyond any doubt, that I had entirely too much free time on my hands when I was a teenager and into my early 20s.  Just sayin'.)

Here are a few of my favorite animated Disney characters in no particular order:

Stitch of "Lilo and Stitch"

Dumbo

Frost Fairies from the original 1940s "Fantasia"

Sprite of Spring from "Fantasia 2000"

Tantor from "Tarzan"

Of course, not all of my favorite animation is by Disney.  I'm a huge fan of Chuck Jones' style of animation, namely Rikki Tikki Tavi, Mowgli's Brother's, The White Seal, and A Cricket in Times Square.

Chuck Jones also directed and influenced a number of Warner Bros Looney Tunes cartoons.  This is by far my favorite:



There are other animated shorts that I love.  This one is a beautiful example of "live line" animation, which means the rough sketch has been animated and the drawings appear to "wiggle" a little bit.



And then there is the entire other creature of computer animation.  I love traditional 2D, sketch animation the best, but there is a lot to be said for computer animation and the brilliance of such animators as the people at Pixar Animation Studios.  Partnering with Disney to create films = best corporate decision EVER!  Here's my favorite Pixar short:



And finally, here is one of my favorite computer animated shorts, which won the 2009 Best Animation Award.  Enjoy. :)