Weekend Wrap-Up: 6/8-6/9

June 10, 2013June 11, 2013 | leftylex

Hello good people ! I’m taking a quick break from the San Diego Indie Craft Market Highlights to do my usual Weekend Wrap-Up; and, just in time to touch on something very near and dear to my heart… the theatre!

On Saturday, I headed solo to the Old Globe’s White Theatre to watch Be A Good Little Widow. Yes, solo. I am a loner. I remember when I was a high schooler thinking, what kind of loser goes to the movies by herself? Let’s flash forward 11 years and I’m comfortable enough to attend the theatre solo. My how we change!

Once I found my seat in this rather small theatre, I took a look around at my fellow patrons. I noticed the same thing about this audience that I do about nearly every audience that I attend… I was practically the only person under age 50 and definitely the only non-Caucasian! Why, why, why young, non-white people do you not attend the theatre? I do not understand this! Husband and I generally attend the theatre with our favorite couple, the Lacortes, who happen to be Filipino and the 4 of us are generally among a very small handful of “minority” attendees. The only time that this was not the case was when we attended Allegiance which was a musical about Japanese Americans… so as you guessed, there were primarily Asian American attendees.

I’ll probably soapbox this topic in the future. I will leave with this thought however. Many people who follow this blog would be self-proclaimed “supporter of the arts”; we believe in living and/or supporting the handmade lifestyle. However, is the stage not an art form that is worthy of support? Are those actors not artists? If you’re an artist, then you’re an artist and I always leave the theatre feeling connected to the actors because what you are witnessing on stage is just another artist pursuing his or her craft… in front of hundreds of viewers. Enough semi-soapboxing!

Be A Good Little Widow was fabulous! I laughed, I cried, I laughed again, I had snot running down my nose, I laughed, I wiped away tears and more snot… you get the picture. While the cast consisted of only four actors, it was superb. The language was a little much, but the emotion that the story was able to evoke from you was amazing. If not for the fact that yesterday was the final performance, I would definitely recommend that you see it.

After the show was over, I waited by the stage door to congratulate and thank the cast. This is a practice that I like to do as frequently as I can… I’m such a creeper! I liken this to getting a positive feedback review on Etsy when you sell one of your most prized products; you want to know that the person receiving that item truly enjoyed it. Thus, I like to let the actors know just how much I enjoyed their performance(s).

(I love passing through the beautiful gardens of Balboa Park. Isn’t the photo above just divine?)

On the drive home, I listened to the soundtrack of Miss Saigon. This is a quite common occurrence for me, I always listen to musicals in the car; Wicked, Miss Saigon, Les Miserables, Sweeney Todd, etc. Yes, I’m a theatre geek! I get it and I’m not ashamed to say it. I dare you to listen to the entire soundtrack of Miss Saigon without breaking out with chicken skin (goose bumps) all over your body. Impossible! The magical voice of Lea Salonga (Kim, the female lead) is something that everyone should experience. Ah, I love her! And you do too… she’s the singing voice of Princess Jasmine and Mulan. See, I was right, you love her too!

(This. Happens. Every. Time.)

Sunday was largely uneventful. We attend church, visited the family, and…. watched the TONY AWARDS!!!! You know, the Tony’s? It’s the Oscar’s/Grammy’s for the Broadway world.

The Tony’s was wonderful. I live for this stuff. I now want to see Matilida the Musical and Pippin very badly! My thoughts on Kinky Boots? Eh, not sure. Cyndi Lauper is a little too out there for me. Has anyone seen it? What were your thoughts?

Have I thoroughly theatre-geeked you out yet? Oh well! Happy Monday, folks!

Weekend Wrap-Up: 5/18-19

May 21, 2013May 22, 2013 | leftylex

What a weekend! This was the first full, stitch-free weekend that I’ve had in months! I did not touch a single needle! Hmm, let’s reword that, I just made myself sound like a junky! I did not stitch one single stitch. There, that’s better.

Saturday was a full day. After teaching my aerobics class, I spent the day (almost exclusively) with my baby brother. I would like to mention that yesterday was his 16^th birthday and I am in utter shock that he is already this old! I love him so much and I am always so proud of him.

We went to the North Park Festival of the Arts to check out the North Park Craft Mafia.

but specifically, Kate of Small and Great Crochet!

Kate is an amazing crochet-ista (yup, that’s a word, just invented it). I fell head over heels in love with the cutest little colorful amigurumi bear. Guys, it is seriously the cutest thing ever. I am 29 and I honestly just wanted to hold it all day; it’s that cute.

Kate’s space was so inviting and cheery. It was quite worth fighting the beer garden mob just to check out her wares.

Kate actually dyes her own yarn! You should check out the rest of her amazing yarned-goods on her Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/smallandgreat

We walked around the fair for quite a bit checking out all of the eye candy. I even came across a fellow stitcher! She had quite a few Downton Anbbey inspired pieces, which I absolutely adored!

After the fair, my bro and I headed over to (my most beloved) Balboa Park for an Air Force Commissioning Ceremony. We had some time to kill prior to so we photographed a few soon-to-be-listed Lefty Lex products…

And then we toured the Rose Garden. The flowers smelt amazing! And we ran into about 137 couples taking pre-prom photographs. I know that I’m not a teen anymore, but I’m also not 52; so when exactly did it become common for high schoolers (or their parents) to hire professional photographers to do photo shoots pre-prom? Weird.

We then headed to the Spreckles Organ Pavillion where we watched the SDSU’s ROTC Class of 2013’s Commissioning Ceremony where our long-time family friend, JR, received his commission as Second Lieutenant! JR and his family have lived next door to my parents for at least 11 years, so I have seen this guy go from a pudgy little middle schooler to high school football player to college graduate/Air Force officer. I am immensely proud of him! Whether he knows it or not, he’s been a great example to my brother as he too wants to join the AF after college. I’ll truly miss him and wish him the best of luck as he heads overseas.

I love this kid!

Sunday was fabulously uneventful as Husband and I did nothing more than attend church, visit with my sisters for a bit, and shop. Just the wind-down needed after Saturday’s hustle and bustle. Hope you’re weekend was equally enjoyable!

Weekend Wrap-Up: Mother’s Day Edition

May 14, 2013May 14, 2013 | leftylex

I’m not gonna lie, I do not feel like blogging today. That being said, blog I must so here we go! Nothing out of the ordinary happened on Saturday. All the usual tasks: teaching my aerobics class, shopping, cleaning house. Nothing fancy.

For Mother’s Day my siblings and I decided to have a little family picnic at Balboa Park. Sisters Dee and Jeri were MIA for the day’s events, but Sisters Sam and Andi, Vince, Husband, Daddy Lex, Puppy Bosco, and yours truly were in attendance to celebrate Momma Lex. And. It. Was. Hot! Thank God, we were able to find some solace under a lovely tree while eating, but the heat was brutal in sunny San Diego this weekend! After chowing down, we spent about two hours walking around the park.

Post lunch we hit the International Cottages. If you’ve never been to Balboa Park, the International Cottages are exactly that: international cottages. They are little houses that represent various countries from all corners of the globe. I was holding the puppy at this particular time of the day, so I didn’t tour each house, but I did venture into the following: Spain, France, England, Puerto Rico, USA (which was ridiculously lame), Iran, Ukraine, and (my favorite) China!

China was especially awesome because there was a young girl inside who would write your name in Chinese characters for you. I briefly explained to her our plan to adopt a daughter (I tried to sneak that in without Husband rolling his eyes because he still wants to adopt a son) from China and that we want to name her Jia which means health and beauty. She was so genuinely happy to hear of our plan and quickly began writing but told me that she would translate Jia to mean “elegant” and “lucky”. Fabulous!

This is now one of my most treasured pieces of paper. I highly doubt that she will know how much I am going to study this. I absolutely love it! And best of all, she was left-handed too!

Can we pause for a moment to adore the cuteness of Husband? This is his cheesy smile and it is my favorite! Sister Sam got in on the action too. I think that even Bosco was trying his hand at Husband’s smile as well.

We purposely stumbled upon a flower show. Momma Lex is a giant gardener, so we figured that she would quite enjoy the work of fellow gardeners. Aren’t these amazing? I want to stitch them all!

Overall, I think that mom enjoyed her special day. And she deserves it. I know that even at the even though I am all grown and married, I can still count on my mom to be there whenever I need her. Love you, Mom… even though we all know that Bosco is your favorite child!

Weekend Wrap-Up: 4/13-4/14

April 15, 2013April 16, 2013 | leftylex

Double fair weekend preparation number two! This weekend was, of course, filled with will several trips to Joann and Michael’s as I attempted to restock all of my used up floss and to clear San Diego County out of all wooden embroidery hoops available. I would like to take this moment and platform to bring up a grievance that I have regarding what people call the store shown below. This fine chain of stores is called Joann Fabrics and Crafts; the acceptable shortened version of this being Joann. But nearly every single individual on the face of the planet calls it Joann’s! There is no “s” and it is not possessive, it’s not referring to the fabrics and crafts of dear Joann! It is just Joann (Fabrics and Crafts). Got it? Good! Thank you for letting me vent.

My primary shopping goal for the weekend was to gather the items needed for my Queen Bee Market display. That meaning that I needed many, many crates… to build a barricade! Yes, I felt very Les Miserables (and a tad bit Miss Saigon; however only extreme theatre geeks will get that reference). In total I was able to use several coupons and buy six crates at a fabulously discounted rate. What other store sends you 40-60% off coupons nearly weekly? None! I made the most of those coupons by using them on the $12 crates, woohoo!

As you can imagine, the rest of the weekend was spent sitting on my booty doing lots and lots of stitching. Oh, and sewing! I did actually use my machine quite a bit, just so that it knows that I still love it.

Sunday, as always, began with worship. We even witnessed the ordination of new elders and deacons.

Post worship, we headed to a nearby “health” store. I use the quotations because there is plenty of unhealthy crap that can be found here and I find that people think that everything found in stores like Sprouts and Trader Joe’s is healthy. Um, it’s not. Their food is generally a better alternative to the garbage found at most nation-wide chains, but you still have to look closely at what exactly your purchasing. Husband and I don’t eat any processed foods, dairy, sugar, or grains so there you go. I do, however, eat loads of almonds! Like an embarrassing amount; I’ll level with you and say that I can easily finish off 1.5 pounds by myself in a week. Nothing is more yummy than roasted, unsalted almonds. Yum yum!

And you’ll never guess what I found there… a barricade of crates! They were following me!

And to further bore you with the mundane details of my chores, we had to buy more food for Jackie cat! He too is on a strictly protein and fruit & veggie diet. But for some reason, this particular type of Ideal Balance Science Diet did contain brown rice. Oh well!

And is it not the worst thing in the world to see caged shelter dogs right in front of a pet store entrance?! I hate this because it makes me want to take them all home with me, only I have absolutely no space for any of them! Lord help me if I lived on a ranch!

Brownie baking (http://jenniskitchen.com/2012/01/23/grain-free-brownies/), stitching, and quality time with Husband consumed the remainder of the day.Oh, as well as my complete love with the color pallet below! I first came across this pallet here: http://laybabylay.com/quilt-giveaway-candy-apple-delight/ while playing on Pinterest one day. It was pretty much love at first sight! And the funny thing was that Husband actually like it too.

And I could not resist adding the Les Mis felties to the barricade for one final shot! Happy Monday, everyone!

Weekend Wrap-Up: 4/6-4/7

April 10, 2013April 10, 2013 | leftylex

I apologize for the delay in this post and I’ll also apologize in advance for even sharing the details of the most boring weekend ever with you! On Thursday an old college friend of mine told me that she heard about a craft fair at her church that was looking for vendors. Yay! Another fair, fabulous! All the details sounded lovely (particularly the $35 booth fee which is far, far less than most). I was getting very excited as I read all the information about the fair until I reached one key line, the date: May 4th… the same exact date and time as the Queen Bee Market. NOOO!!! Blast! I was looking forward to doing both shows and raising more funds for our adoptions, but alas I cannot be two places at once. As I began typing out my declining response which started like this: thanks for thinking of me, but I am already committed to a fair on the same date. Hmm, maybe I could clone myself… or talk one of my sisters in to hosting a booth for me. Wait a second, that’s not a bad idea!

If you recall, I have one million sisters…

…well, not quite one million but I do have 4! And at least two of them would be willing (I think) to help me out. The babies; Sam & Andi! These two…

Could this actually be a possibility? If two sisters were willing, and with Mom’s help of course, could I actually produce enough inventory to successfully pull off two shows? Yes, where there’s a will, there’s a way! Right, Mom?

I took the following day to make a list of each collection and items that I would ideally like to take to each fair. As the list took shape I decided that (if I buckled down and stayed driven) I could do it! I figured that I could ask Mom and Sister Sam to take the church craft fair since Mom already has one fair under her belt and Sam is extremely sociable and outgoing. I could then take Sister Andi with me to Queen Bee since she’s a good helper, but not so extroverted. I called all 3 the following day and to my happiness, they agreed! Hooray! Needless to say, I am now very, very busy and spent my weekend doing nothing but creating hoop art!

I only stepped out of the house to teach my aerobics class, take my mother-in-law to lunch for her birthday, mosey quickly through an art market, and go to church.

Outside of that, this chick was sitting in a chair with a hoop and floss! With Husband at work on Saturday afternoon and night, I decided to have a stitching and Disney cartoon marathon. I wanted to see exactly how many hoops and flicks I could get through within an 8 hour period. I actually quite enjoyed this stitch-a-thon.

This was the result… Mulan:

This was followed by Mulan 2 during which I made dinner, ate, and took a 30 minute power nap.

Ratatouille:

The Princess and the Frog:

Then came the giant clean-up. You’d be amazed at just how many places tiny little pieces of floss can find themselves! I apologize for all of these mundane details and for even having the nerve to blog about this most uneventful weekend, but I also didn’t want you to think that I fell of the face of the planet. Toodles and stitch on!

Weekend Wrap-Up: 3/30-3/31

April 2, 2013April 2, 2013 | leftylex

I hope you all had a very lovely Easter weekend.

I woke up at about 6AM on Saturday morning to the adorable (note the sarcasm) meow of Jack. God only knows what this cat wanted other than to ruin my sleep on the only day out of the week that I can actually sleep in until 8AM. Blasted little beast! I figured that since I was awake I might as well work on completing and packaging a few orders before I headed out to the YMCA to teach my aerobics class.

Here’s a snapshot of a 5-piece set that commissioned for a Dr. Suess themed nursery. This was my second commissioned order of the week which I think is pretty cool because commissioned pieces always seem to push you out of your regular little comfort box and allow (or force) you to create something you never would have otherwise. I rather like the finished product! (If you have a particular design or theme you’d like to have stitched, drop me a line and I’m sure that I can work something up!)

And just in case you ever wondered what my YMCA looks like…voila!

After I finished teaching my aerobics class I noticed that I received a text message from one of my dearest friends, Lorraine, that read: “Excited to watch A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder with you today! Hope it’s a good one.” What? Had I completely forgot that I was going to the theatre today? Apparently so! And thank God that Lorraine sent that reminder to me or I would have missed the show altogether! Now I had about an hour to drive home, shower, get dressed, and high-tail it over to the Old Globe! I was instructed by the theatre to pick-up my tickets at Will Call no less than an hour before the show began so I was under an extremely tight time crunch.

By the grace of God I was able to find parking easily! This absolutely never happens during the spring and summer months as the Old Globe is located in Balboa Park which is one of San Diego’s most visited tourist hot spots. Isn’t it lovely though? This has been my favorite place in all of San Diego since I was a little girl; it gives you the feeling that you’ve just been transported to Europe (with the luxury of SoCal weather!).

Once I picked up my tickets (early as instructed) I now had an hour to kill before the performance itself began. I decided to take a leisurely stroll through the Mingei International Museum gift shop. I love this gift shop because it shows that literally each culture that roams this big blue planet creates beautiful and unique art of its own. And I love the quote that appears immediately outside of the shop: Art Belongs to Everyone.

Once my hour to kill had expired, I met Lorraine and her lovely husband Ed for the performance. I was the third wheel at the particular event. Husband had work to do so he was not able to join us (boo!). I believe that this was the fifth theatrical performance that I had seen with E&L. We tend to be theatre junkies together; it’s always better with partner’s in crime! And fittingly enough, we were about to watch A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder.

The set was enchanting, the story engaging, the music inviting, and the performers divine! I had no knowledge of what the musical was going to be about, thus I had no expectations; however it was fabulous! One of the cast members, played a total of eight characters! He was genius, I absolutely adored him! I will not give away any of the details of the play other than it includes love and murder. Go see it!

Once the performance was over I headed home and the most wonderful news awaiting me in my email inbox…. I was selected as a vendor for the next Queen Bee Market! Woohoo! I was so, so, so excited to read “you have been accepted!!”. It felt like my senior year of high school all over again, just waiting to see if I had been selected to by my college of choice. Well, maybe not that exciting, but pretty exciting none the less. I immediately began doing the happy dance in my living room, giving Husband about one million excited hugs, and made a prompt call to Mom to let her know that her assistance would be much required for the next several weeks. How anyone can participate in a craft fair without the assistance of his/her mother is entirely beyond me. I would have died a terrible death at my last fair if it were not for my Mom! Seriously.

The rest of my day was spent taking inventory of my finished products and drafting up lists of things that need to be finished between now and the May 4th fair. It’s going to be a busy few weeks over here in Lefty Lex land! But a fun busy few weeks. I love this stuff! For more information on Queen Bee Market, click here: http://thequeenbeemarket.com/

Sunday was Easter, in case you didn’t know. So after church was over we headed over to my parents’ house for some good ole family fun. By the time I got there Sister Jeri had already left as she had to work, but being able to spend time with 4 out of my 5 siblings wasn’t too shabby. Now, you may find this funny (or ridiculous) but I think it’s awesome… Mom still makes all 6 of us Easter baskets every year! Yes, I am 29 and I still get an Easter basket! Actually, she makes 7 baskets, because Husband gets one too.

This year the highlight of the baskets were bottles of Middle Sister wine that accurately reflected each sister’s personality. They were as follows:

Mine: Goodie Two-Shoes. I found this funny that even my own mother would identify me as a goodie two-shoes. I am not an angel (well, not entirely) but of the five of us girls I am definitely the one who has most played by the rules my entire life and never really fought against my parents growing up. Let’s say this much: I attended a private Christian college immediately after high school, graduated four years later, was married seven weeks prior to graduation, subsequently went to grad school, etc., etc. I’m rather a homebody, I don’t really drink…I suppose you would call me goodie two-shoes!

Dee: Rebel Red. I found this one debateable I’m not quite sure that I would lable Dee a “rebel”. At this stage in her life she’s more along the lines of a free spirit. She’s just enjoying life according to herself. She’s definitely changed a bit over this past year, so perhaps that’s where the rebel is coming from.

Jeri: Forever Cool. Jeri is a musician; so by default she’s cool. This chick kills it on the electric guitar, how is that not cool?

Sam: Wild One. Well selected, Mom. Sam was definitely the devil to my angel growing up and we bumped heads like mad! I’m seven years older than Sam and we did not have a good relationship when we lived under the same roof, but we have become very close over the past two or three years. She is the only sister that I actually have 4 hour long FaceTime conversations with. Yes, out longest conversation was 4.5 hours!

Andi: Sweet & Sassy. Andi is definitely the quietest of the five of us and can definitely lost in the shuffle at times as a result of this. She’s our baby girl so, of course, she’s sweet but I’ve been told that she can have a bit of sass when it comes down to it. I don’t think I’ve seen that side of her, but the others have told me that it does exist.

(Mom was getting so mad that we would not take a serious picture!)

And we must not forget my brothers… Vince and puppy Bosco!

Hope your weekend was lovely too. That is all good people, go forth and conquer Monday!

Weekend Wrap Up 3/21-3/24

March 26, 2013 | leftylex

Wedding recap! I’m going to include Thursday and Friday in this week’s weekend because I took those days off so it felt like the weekend to me. Although, neither of these two days were anything close to being leisurely!

Thursday: Rehearsal time! After deciding on wearing my adorable red Hello Betty Bow (which can be purchased here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/hellobettybow, yes I am plugging this shop hard!) Husband and I headed downtown, to Hotel Solamar, for some wedding practice. The hotel was lovely and the view from the rooftop deck, where the wedding took place, was phenomenal It was merely a few blocks from Petco Park (our baseball stadium) which seemed only appropriate as the groom (my brother-in-law) played baseball and is a giant fan.

That’s Micah, Husband’s littlest cousin. He made the cutest “ring bearer” I call him this only loosely because he was actually a sign carrier as he did not truly bear any rings. Micah was only 8 months old when Husband and I were married and every time I see him I am always amazed at how much he has grown! Due to the giant age gap between him and the other cousins, he’s really more like a nephew than a cousin and I have adored him since the day he was born.

The rehearsal went off without any visible snags and we headed over to the rehearsal dinner before calling it a night. Once home, I attempted some stitching before falling asleep on the couch.

I woke up bright and early the next morning but the day quickly became caught in a whirlwind. I finished the Bride and Groom hoops, went for a run, dropped Husband off with the rest of the groomsmen (they had a fun bowling trip planned to release pre-wedding jitters), had my hair done, had my make-up done, came back home to get dressed and quickly booked it to the hotel to precisely meet my 4PM arrival deadline.

Now, I truly could kick myself because I did not charge my camera the night before! Subsequently, I had no camera to take with me to the wedding! Luckily (I suppose) I always carry my iPad with me, so I was able to snap a few shots, but the lighting in the reception area was very dim, making it very difficult to get good shots without my Nikon. The wedding was divine; full of loads of yellow and grey and fun personalized touches.

Most importantly of all, however, we gained a new sister-in-law and my bro-in-law became a very happy man!

Saturday morning began with teaching my aerobics class very quickly followed by a post-wedding family brunch at Bub’s.

We ate, chatted, and said our goodbyes to all of the friends and family who were flying back to their respective States later that day. But we figured that since we had already paid $10 for parking, we might as well get our money’s worth. So we began strolling the streets downtown. Husband was in need of new Pumas, so it appeared that some shopping was in order too.

We ventured to World Market where Husband fell in love with this couch and I found my much desired Hawaiian salt! More on this later on in the week, but let me tell you that I am salivating just thinking about what this salt will be used for!

We continued galavanting downtown and stumbled upon the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum. We thought we’d give it a visit and just so happened to arrive at the exact same time that they were opening a new exhibit. It was a little more than we had originally bargained for because before we knew it, we were ushered into an hour long presentation on Medical Missions in China from 1927-1949. It was interesting, but not what we were expecting. Post presentation we were allowed to wander freely among the exhibits. Some of of the items that the (two part) museum holds are truly amazing.

Sunday was, as usual, fabulously lazy. It was of course Palm Sunday; so a small stitch was in order. And after church and a much needed trip to Target, we spent the remainder of the day unwinding from the wedding ongoings. Our unwinding included some iPad reading (I finished a book called Honor Thy Daughters, which I recommend), eating a yummy dinner, and watching Mulan.

It’s the 15th anniversary of Mulan’s release so Disney let it out of the vault. Of course, my primary interest was to see if Lea Salonga’s lovely face and voice would appear in any of the behind the scenes footage. Lea appeared and she did not disappoint! If you’re new to my blog, then you don’t know about my crazy girl crush/theatrical obsession with Lea Salonga; but a browse through other posts will quickly enlighten you!

That’s it fine folks! I hope your weekend was just as enjoyable (and even more restful!). Onto another week!

Weekend Wrap Up 3/9-3/10

March 11, 2013March 12, 2013 | leftylex

Well, this weekend marked our 7th anniversary of being man and wife! SEVEN! Although those 7 years feel as if they went by in a blink of an eye, it also feels as if we’ve been married forever (not in a bad way)!

Let’s start out at the beginning. Saturday was pretty uneventful. I taught my aerobics class, as usual, did some household shopping, and tried to relax (as best I know how). All day Saturday I wore my Wicked jacket in protest of Oz the Great and Powerful; childish perhaps, but I felt that it was necessary. While in my protest garb I did some supply shopping at Joann/Michael’s and took a little stroll down the yarn aisle, which I haven’t done in quite some time. I absolutely fell in love with these skeins, the colors are adorable. I’m working on getting my 82 year old neighbor to crochet a cute little Afghan for me. We trade craft/bake projects every now and then. She is amazing and always downplays her skill but she is extremely talented.

I came home to the lovely sight of my husband preparing green chile. This is his art form. And just to fit in the theme of our anniversary weekend, he indulged me by creating a heart-shaped chile.

Yum, yum, yum!

I finished the day up with some celebratory stitching. What do you think? I actually had a lot of fun making these two. That photo on the left has to be one of my favorites from our wedding; we look so young! Two little babies who thought that they were all grown up!

Sunday marked our actual anniversary. We took a long drive up to the Welk Resort in Escondido where we saw a wonderful performance of South Pacific. This is the first time that either of us had ever seen South Pacific (on stage) and we know the gal who played Nellie (the female lead) so it was extra special!

Welk Theatre San Diego is an intimate theatre without a bad seat in the house. Unless, that is, you happened to have our seats. We sat immediately behind a group of six senior women who kept talking; the one on the end must have said ‘I don’t know what’s going on’ about 3 times. We sat to the right of a group of Japanese tourist who nearly took my toes off while walking to their seats. The woman behind us had the audacity to make not one but two phone calls in the middle of the performance! Notice that I said make, not take, she actually made two outgoing calls! Apparently theatre etiquette was beyond these people. The cast was great, but that was the worst audience that we have ever been a part of.

The star of the show was the lovely Hannah M. James. She was absolutely endearing as Nellie Forbush particularly in I’m Gonna Wash That Man. I would love to see Hannah play Ellen in Miss Saigon; I think that she would nail it! Her fellow cast member, Benjamin Lopez would also make a pretty good Chris but one production at a time, I suppose. South Pacific runs for one more week, so if you live in the SoCal area, I would highly recommend that you give it a visit.

Our theatrical outing was followed by a scrumptious dinner at Fleming’s downtown. Our food was phenomenal! We had sear ahi tuna and crab cakes appetizers which I could have easily eaten as a meal in and of themselves. Then I ordered the swordfish and Husband ordered a rib eye. Add in sauteed asparagus and mushrooms and we had the makings of two overly stuffed bellies.

We ended the night with a couple of cheesy photos and with our annual viewing of our wedding photo slideshow that my BFF’s husband made for us shortly after our wedding. I like this tradition; I think that it’s a good reminder of just how much we loved each other on our wedding day. But I honestly believe that we love each other much more now that we did those seven long years ago.

I am not going to sugarcoat our lives and say that every day for the past 7 years has been a magical unicorn ride full of hearts and sparkles. No, marriage is work. It’s give and take on both sides, it’s learning to live with and accept your partner’s quirks. It’s pressing through, not giving up, when things get tough. In our throwaway society, it’s easy just to walk out when it’s no longer convenient, but that is not what marriage is. Sure, Husband and I have had our moments, but we’ve made a lifelong commitment to each other to each other and we intend to uphold that commitment ’til death do us part. I feel so blessed to have had him as my #1 cheerleader for the past 7 years and I look forward to many more!