Landie's Lovelies

Emerson Drive

2010-07-25T10:43:00.000-07:00

Like most people, I like music. Unlike most people, until yesterday, I had never been to a concert before. Symphony concerts, yes. Contemporary music concerts, no (Sort of weird for a person who was raised in the entertainment capitol of the world). For my birthday, my boyfriend, Adam, bought me tickets to go see the country group Emerson Drive. Last night we went to see the concert at the Scera Outdoor Shell in Orem. It was SO fun! The weather was good, the band was good, they played almost all of my favorite songs, and ended with a bang when they sang "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," and the fiddler outdid himself with unbelievably fast and ridiculously amazing fiddling.

Verdict: I like concerts. I like them a lot.

Emerson Drive during "Moments."

Adam and Me, sharing a non-photogenic moment in the pre-concert excitement.

The Curtain Rises...

2010-06-29T17:23:00.001-07:00

There comes a certain point in a production where an audience becomes necessary. If you have even been to a preview performance, or opening night of a show, you will understand. There is a level of heightened enthusiasm, the excitement and delight of the first laugh from an audience, the excited murmur from the audience prior to the performance, the hush that comes over the audience as the curtain rises or the lights go dim. Of all the exciting things in live theater, this is perhaps, my favorite. Last night, we at the Utah Shakespearean Festival, had our first preview for Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing. With a few small hiccups here and there in the costume department (I was sitting next to the designer, and was privy to all the dresser notes that were taken), the performance was enchanting! It is so gratifying to be see all of your hard work before you and presented in a full and fun manner. It is also completely delightful to see something that I made, onstage, at the Festival! After all, I have been coming to see shows at the festival since 1997... It is rather thrilling to have finally created some of the costumes!

Benedick, Claudio, Don Pedro & Leonato

Kym Mellen as Beatrice

True Love

2010-06-16T19:20:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen a sight so beautiful? I now own 4 pairs of shears, and 3 of them are Gingher... I LOVE Gingher shears... They make the most satisfying sound in the world when they cut fabric. You should try them sometime. They could possibly change your life.

Photo Call

2010-06-09T21:19:00.000-07:00

One of the most frightening and exciting parts of the costume design world is that at some point, everything has to be finished, or there is the possibility that actors can walk out without clothes, or at least clothing that fits. For many shows, it is for some sort of publicity photos. The Utah Shakespearean Festival is no different. On Friday, about half of our costumes for Much Ado about Nothing ( the show that I have been working one) have to be completely finished, down to the label being sewn in. On some costumes, this is not a big deal, because the alterations are minimal or simple. For others, however, it means clothing has to be built from scratch and completely finished by this date. Rather daunting, and yet there is something to completely fulfilling about building and finishing projects in such a short period of time. Here are a few samples of things that I have built that will be used in photo call.

Beatrice Bodice: Back view
Front View
Dogberry Jacket: Before
After:) Don't worry, none of the stains or anything is permanent. Any guesses how this was achieved? *As a side note, the designer who originally had this made walked over today to look at it, and was very sad to see that it was so dirty... I was rather thrilled that even he was fooled into thinking that it was permanent and that I had ruined his costume:) *

Another watch costume... I like the plastron (large center piece with the buttons)...

The costume shop at the Utah Shakespearean Festival

2010-05-22T18:33:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures of my new home. I spend about 9 hours a day here, and really love the work that goes on here. It can be challenging, stressful and busy, but overall, it has been an amazing experience. I have learned how to do all sorts of things and have now spend about 5 hours at the storage location with beautiful costumes. Life is good!This is the room that I work in with 4 other people. We are the 5 working on Much Ado about Nothing.

2010-05-14T19:33:00.000-07:00

Dear Cedar City,

I like you so much. You have nice big apartments with washing machines and private bathrooms. You have beautiful mountains. You have quaint little shops. You have the Utah Shakespearean Festival and a glorious costume shop. You have nice people who have come from all over the U.S. to make marvelous theater. You have beautiful places to go running. But best of all, you are only 3 hours from the people that I love most in the world.

sincerely,

Landen

Inspiration

2010-05-03T16:37:00.000-07:00

I have not talked about Costume Designing for a while, (perhaps a few of you appreciated that)but since my personal life is none too interesting right now, I want to return there for a few minutes. Like many professional fields, research plays a huge part in costume design. It tells you what time period you are dealing with, what happened, what influenced clothing, who the important people are, what clothing looked like for certain classes of people ect. In addition to that, the designer has to know what the show is going to look like overall, before the show ever goes up. I am designing an anachronistic (without a time period) show, but because of limited resources, it will probably have a futuristic/stylized contemporary feel... If I can get everything to work out right. But one of the exciting things that I get to do in the field of research, is look through hundreds of magazine images to find the images that will best convey my concept, and then show them to the director in order to be corrected on the points where my research doesn't match up with the feel that the she is creating. Here are a few samples of what I have been doing the past few days:

A Lazy Sunday

2010-05-02T18:09:00.001-07:00

My two sleepy companions on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Saying Goodbye...

2010-04-25T18:06:00.000-07:00

(me, Megan, Lisa, Katelyn, Tracy, Michele, Jessie)

I have never had trouble saying goodbye. At the end of High School, I was ready to leave, at the end of my marathon Church History trip after my senior year, I was ready to say goodbye, even the end of my freshman year I was ready to say goodbye. Every-time a romantic relationship ended, I have been able to walk away without too much regret... but not this time. On Wednesday, I said goodbye to all 6 of my roommates and best friends. We have been friends since my freshman year, and we have lived together, eaten together, studied together, gone to church together, confided in each other, played together, and been stressed together for last two years. That has now come to an end, as 2 of them leave for missions in the next two months, and 2 more of them are probably going on missions in the fall... It is a little weird and very sad to look back at those two wonderful years and know that they are over forever. Never again will we all live together, share food, and the same bathroom. Like anything, life moves on and I do as much as anyone. Goodbye Apt #208 and its wonderful memories! I will not forget you.

More Fancy-Shmancy Events

2010-04-11T16:18:00.001-07:00

My life at BYU is rarely this exciting with two big event posts in a row, however on Saturday, I went to Dining Out, the ROTC for the Airforce's big end of the year dinner and dance. It is a VERY formal event. All men are required to wear their uniforms, bring a date, give that date a corsage, as well as never leave that date unattended. At dinner they have a tradition of 'the grog.' This word strikes terror into the hearts of every cadet there because it is a toilet bowl filled with a revolting combination of things that they have to drink if they break a dining hall rule or have failed to dress correctly. Last night was a virtual grog fest. Apparently there were a lot of rule breakers who attended last night. Apparently some of the cadets were unaware of the 'white dress shirt for formal dinners rule...' At any rate, there was a lovely dinner, an excellent speaker and a very fun dance afterwards. There was also a sinfully delicious chocolate cake!

Me and my date, Jordan Holmes... too bad I am wearing 3 inch high heels and he is still almost a foot taller than me...

Table # 28 - the crowns were because they are all graduating this year... Yes, they did get grogged for breaking dress code:)

A Night at the Country Club

2010-04-08T06:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon I got a rather strange text message from one of my friends. It said, "I would like to cordially invite you to a formal high society meeting tonight at 10PM." I was not quite sure what this meant, so I asked him what this 'high society meeting' was all about. He replied that the society "is just a fraternity dedicated to the pursuit of excellence and the celebration of truth." How often do you get a text message like that? I was intrigued. So I accepted my invitation with honor and was prepared in my best country club attire at 9:55PM (please note that he would have called to invite me had he not been in class from 2 until 9PM).

He escorted me to his house where other couples in fancy dress were arriving. There were chocolate mint pirouette cigars, and wine goblets with pineapple juice and jackets were required. The official weekly meeting began and after introducing those of us who were new, the men sang the official high society song, written by my date. Then came general announcements and then we had a 10 minute or so discussion on what we give value in our society. Then, we danced. Not just ordinary dancing, but these boys knew how to dance. Swing dancing, waltzing, the foxtrot and more. The songs chosen included Bobby Darren, Frank Sinatra, and other famous old artists. It was a night full of class. And I felt sort of like this... but without the lace.

The Glass Menagerie

2010-02-25T15:31:00.001-08:00

The newest project that I am working on is Tennessee William's The Glass Menagerie. This is not a BYU production, but a community play in a little theater in Provo. Here are some of the publicity photos. You should all come, because it going to be awesome:) And because I designed the costumes. It opens March 12th and runs through March 27th at Provo Center Theater.

Charred Towel

2010-01-30T12:39:00.001-08:00

This morning I had a bunch of errands to run, and when one fell through, I had time to make lunch. Macaroni and cheese sounded like a good idea (Remember that I am a college student... I eat that kind of stuff). So I put the water filled pot on the stove and went to go get the butter from the fridge. After a moment, I glanced over at the stove to see the burner smoking like crazy! Literally, billowing off the stove. I rushed over to realize that I had turned on the wrong burner... A coil that had a dishtowel sitting on top of it, coincidentally. I am not sure why there was a towel on it, but because the towel was on fire, it was not the moment to figure that out. I quickly poured baking soda on it, and within a few seconds, the fire went out... Needless to say, it was a cooking adventure to remember. And I didn't burn down the apartment building.

Dressed to the Nine's

2010-01-21T16:14:00.001-08:00

I am giving a presentation this weekend on fashion between the time periods of the Renaissance until the 1700's. I decided to show some movie costumes to demonstrate the clothing I am talking about and some of the people who influenced fashion and wore them.

Are these not to DIE for! They are so gorgeous!

Enjoy!

The Duchess

The Other Boleyn Girl

Marie Antoinette

The Duchess

The Other Boleyn Girl

"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence in society" - Mark Twain

2010-01-14T22:06:00.000-08:00

Two Sundays ago, a good friend of mine asked me if I would be willing to go suit shopping with him. I had never been suit shopping, nor did I know very much about suits, but it sounded like fun and a good experience for a girl who should know things about suits. For instance, how was I to know if two-button or three-button jackets were in? Or if the pants should be cuffed or not? I was clueless. So Saturday rolled around and we drove off to the mall full of hope that we could find the perfect suit. He tried on about 8 or 10 at one store and sort of liked one of them. So we moved on to Macy's where there was NOTHING to choose from! (I am sure that Macy's has a plethora of qualities, but suits are not one of them) We decided to go to Nordstrom because everyone knows that Nordstrom sells awesome things. So after wandering, with the help of a salesman, through their men's suits, my friend found a suit that he wanted to try on. Navy blue with a blue on blue stripe, European cut. Into the dressing room walked my friend, out walked an Italian Model. From that moment on, I decided that if I had any doubts about what clothes can do for a person, my belief in their power has now been solidified. I have known this guy for a while, but until that moment, I had never been so overwhelmed by his presence. It was amazing. A little glowing moment of my Saturday. Too bad the suit was expensive, so we had to buy him a different suit. I was, however, pleased to hear him say, as we approached his car, "I am starting to understand why some people might enjoy clothing." It was like music to my ears.

Moral of the story: Don't underestimate the power of a good suit.

Glamourous

2010-01-09T08:02:00.000-08:00

Don't you wish you could have one day where you looked this spectacular! I know I do:) Happy Saturday!

Christmas Break

2010-01-05T05:23:00.000-08:00

Hopefully you all had a nice Christmas vacation. Based on the fact that I have not written in several weeks, you can guess that I did. It was quite lovely and now I am back to the grind, working hard and going to school.

The picture above probably needs some explanation. For several years when I was younger, my dad made something called a Buche de Noel. It is a French cake that looks like their traditional yule log. Because I took French this past semester, I had this strange desire to be a part of this and help him make it this year. So we did. I thought it turned out rather nicely, although I never want to eat a meringue mushroom again because I am almost an entire pan of them while we made this cake... just thinking about it makes me slightly queasy.

Some of the other fun things from break were the visit of two of my cousins, from either side of the family, as well both of my sisters and their husbands coming to spend some time with us, as well as sewing up a storm and learning to watercolor. Overall, a most satisfactory break.

Lions and Tigers and Library Sensors... Oh My!

2009-12-14T20:10:00.001-08:00

Okay, so the title is a little lame, as is the topic, but I was thinking about this earlier and wanted to vocalize it. Is there anything that you cringe doing? Like breaking up with someone, telling someone that their skirt is riding up because of their tights or backpack, or telling someone that they have a huge blob of something on their face right after eating? Such an awful feeling. That is the feeling that I get when I walk through the big, white, plastic book sensors at the library. Every time I walk in or out of the library I cringe just slightly, fearful that I will be the terrible soul to set the alarm off. A few weeks ago I had gotten some books and looked over them at home, and was going to use one of them while writing a paper in the library. As I walked through the sensors on my way in, the alarm went off. I wondered why it had gone off, so I took the book out and gave it to the security person at the front. He looked it up, and somehow I had gotten out of the library without checking it out. It wasn't really a problem, but I was so shocked that the sensor had not gone off when I had left. All the paranoia, and the one time when I actually didn't check the book out, the sensor didn't go off! It was an outrage!

So, today, I checked out another book and the sensor went off! I knew I had checked it out and began explaining quickly, while slightly embarrassed, to the girl that I was certain that I had checked it out. She checked and said, "That's fine," let me walk through again and I left... was that really so hard?

"It's all cold and snowy outside"

2009-12-06T15:36:00.000-08:00

This morning, I woke up and peaked out the window, and lo and behold, there was about 3 inches of the most beautiful and pure snow on everything. I don't always like the cold and the slush, but to be getting our first real snowfall on December 6th, I was thrilled! Now Christmas can come!

Actor problems

2009-11-21T15:39:00.000-08:00

Last night, I had the joy of completing 4 of my required 10 makeup class lab hours. This meant sitting and listening to 3 hours of Children of Eden, washing beard hair ( don't worry, it wasn't attached to anyone, it was in preparation for Makeup class on Monday when 20 girls will all have beards and mustaches), and watching tons of actors put makeup on. This was a rather interesting experience. I feel like I have fairly good grasp on actors mentalities and other things, but I definitely had a few new experiences last night.

First off, one guy in the cast refuses to wear anything but MAC makeup (Don't worry, only onstage)... I didn't know guys cared that much... apparently some guys in theater do. I also discovered that one girl in our cast sings just like Judy Garland. It was really quite awesome! Also I got sassed by a member of the cast, and I am finally learning to dish it out as quickly as it comes... Mostly because otherwise I feel like a doormat by the end of the night from all those jazz shoes trampling all over me.

However, the choice moment of the evening was this: we had an adjudicator come last night ( for those of you who have no idea what that is, lemme splain. An adjudicator is someone who is knowledgeable in the theater and observes the show and then gives criticism and encouragement on the design choices in lighting, costumes, sound, props and scenic.). We were talking to him about some of the costumes choices which were made and telling him how the biblical costumes were supposed to show their basic costumes underneath in order to remind the audience that the biblical costumes were just symbolic and that underneath, every member of the cast was equal and just like you and me. Then the adjudicator said, "Well that wasn't the only thing that was open on _________ ( actor's name and character are omitted). He had something open on the lower half too. " Turns out said actor forgot to zip up a certain necessity... I told the adjudicator that that was not a costume problem... that was an actor problem.

Warm and Fuzzy time of the year...

2009-11-16T11:18:00.000-08:00

It snowed this weekend. I am split in my opinion about snow. I love the first few times that it snows, and the lovely layer of perfect white that covers the grass and ground. There is something really lovely about the way that it falls past the window, and the way that it sticks to your eyelashes. On the other hand, I don't like the risk of slipping and falling. I don't like how the snow gets dirty and slushy when people drive on it. I don't like how your hands feel like they are going to fall off when you are outside for too long. But, I have found a marvelous solution for the cold: A heated blanket. Yes, you should all get one too... believe me, you won't regret it.

When it rains, it pours.

2009-11-07T16:44:00.000-08:00

Ain't it good - an amazing song by an amazing girl!
Eve
Finale of Act I
Eve, Adam, Abel
Rebellious Cain... I love this picture!
The naming of the animals. I love all the motion in this picture.
And the set.

The title of this post sums up my theater life at the moment. Perhaps you were wondering why I had not update my blog with more exciting pictures from Frankenstein, or stories of how the mother's skirt fell off onstage once, or perhaps the time when we bought a gorgeous hair extension for a character and it almost went flying into the audience during a fight scene... I could have told you many stories about the exciting things that happened during that show, however, like so many things in theater, I moved right onto the next show.

The last two weeks have been full of Children of Eden that BYU is putting on. I am the assistant costume designer (such an official title, it makes me sound like I am actually important...) We have been working on getting problems sorted out like making sure no one will have to go onstage in the buff. Thankfully we have fixed it so that no one has had to do that...

Anyway, we have had a great time working on a lot of amazing biblical costumes as well as the basics that everyone wears which include: khaki pants or shorts, a colored t-shirt and then a multicolored tank top. The best and most time consuming part of the show was, of course, an entire set of animal head masks that are on stage for about 7 minutes... too bad, because they look amazing. I could not get any clear pictures of them today, but I will try again on Tuesday.

The great thing about this show is that the more you hear it, the more you love it. The music is amazing and although much of the stories of Adam/Eve and Noah/Ark have been altered, and the entire play is full of incongruities with the Bible, there is an amazing spirit that comes from this performance! I look forward to going to their tech rehearsals every day and wish that I could come every night of the run!

Frankenstein Photos

2009-10-15T08:19:00.000-07:00

So, the preview performance of Frankenstein is tonight! Scary! I hope everything is ready and working! I still have a few last minute makeup kinds of things to get.

Here are some photos for your viewing enjoyment!

The Monster that is Chasing me

2009-10-07T05:38:00.000-07:00

But seriously! Frankenstein is right on my tail. It opens next weekend, and I am SO busy! On the upside I now have all these tools for distressing clothing and lots of quilt batting. On the downside, I now have all these tools for distressing clothing and lots of quilt battings. What am I going to do with all of it...? I don't know...

Frankenstein

2009-09-23T17:25:00.001-07:00

Me, preparing for fittings
This is the gypsy who has been in prison for a few months

A few months back, I got asked to design the costume for a Provo Production of Frankenstein. I said 'great', and have been working on it ever since! It has been quite the endeavor, because the place we are getting costumes doesn't have a whole lot to choose from... lame, however it has been adventurous trying to get clothing from other periods to look like it belongs in the 1850's! I have also had a fun time figuring out how to distress the creature's clothing in order that he looks like he has been running around in the woods for almost a year... So yesterday I went out and bought some black tea and fake moss, and am in the process of distressing polyester... it is SO much harder than you would think... Polyester is practically indestructible, so through the use of some sand paper and a sharp knife, I am starting to get somewhere. Here is the beginnings of what will be a disgusting shirt:) Dirt, and some black tea!

Fabric

2009-09-14T14:25:00.000-07:00

Oh how I love fabric, and love my job! Isn't this last thing the most gorgeous thing that you have ever seen? this is a special way of sewing to make the fabric look like it is woven. This was part of an old scrap too! I work in a costume shop for theatrical productions ( as you have perhaps known or noticed:) and this is one of the many reasons for loving my job!

... and sometimes I cook...

2009-09-02T19:22:00.000-07:00

challah Bread
Ratatouille
ratatouille for crepe filling
focaccia bread

When my cooking day roles around, nothing delights me more than kneading soft bread dough, or smelling vegetables cooking in the oven. Here are some of the recent things that I have made. Unfortunately, they look surprisingly similar. The reason behind that is that one of my roommates brought us a TON of summer squash and zucchini from her families garden and we have been trying to use it before it goes bad. Thankfully we all like it, but we have had quite a bit of it as of late. So here we have ratatouille, challah bread, focaccia bread and more ratatouille. Along with the second ratatouille, I also made a chicken pesto to fill the crepes.

2009-08-29T17:45:00.000-07:00

For four years I have owned a pair of silver/grey sandals. The shoes on the right were the first pair. After wearing them almost every day for two years, and cutting off most of the sole and leather on the bottom, I acquired a new pair: the second from the right. These beauties were $12 at Target in the little girls section. Then they broke too... After hot gluing them back together about 3 times, I decided it was time for a new pair. Unfortunately, you should not ever buy an expensive pair of sandals to take to a place where all they have is cobblestone... really not a good idea. Especially when the end of the shoe is a little too long and you trip every 3 steps. Literally. But I liked them, so I wore them out in London. But, after some convincing from my mom, I decided to invest in a new pair last week... Thus, the new pair on the left... The silver sandals live on!

For the Birds...

2009-08-25T13:47:00.000-07:00

We have two cats. Both of them are my responsibility when I come home for the summer, or even for a few days. I usually relish this job because they LOVE me. I brush them and feed them and I am their best friend. Unfortunately, with this responsibility comes the ick of reality. Cockroaches in their water bowl in the garage (there were 4 this morning... ew), cones around their heads from cat fight wounds and other things.

Regrettably today I was on my way out the door to a haircut when one of our cats ran into the house with a dead bird in his mouth... I can deal with throw up, roaches and litter, but I didn't think I could do dead birds. Can you just see me standing over the dead bird with a rake in hand in heels and dress ready to fling it into the open trash bag that my mom was holding....? Yes, that was me this morning. I am going to be so prepared for motherhood...

FREE!

2009-08-16T11:50:00.000-07:00

Have I ever told you how much I love gift cards? Well I do. When I graduated from High School, I received close to 10 gift cards of various kinds. One to Target, one to Walmart, and several to others that I have forgotten. They were glorious because unlike money that can be used anywhere, a gift card is free money to a particular store, so if you want to splurge a little, it didn't cost you a dime, and you don't feel nearly as guilty!

Until yesterday, I had held onto a gift card to Staples, because we don't have a Staples in Las Vegas, and until this summer, I didn't have a car, meaning that I never got over to one in Utah. Well, I was a little worried that they had started taking money off of it, or had canceled it, but two years after receiving it, I went to Staples and asked them how much was on the card still.... 25 free dollars... Oh the bliss! So I wandered around for close to an hour deciding how to spend this precious money. I finally settled on some black printer ink, and orange headphones. And I only paid $4.87 for them...mmmmm...

The Scarlet Pimpernel

2009-08-14T16:33:00.001-07:00

I decided that a series of the pictures that I have drawn would be a little more interesting than a variety! So here is my final for Costume Design 2 class. This was a crunch project that turned out quite well! The Scarlet Pimpernel has become one of my favorite shows(It already was a favorite book)... that I have never seen. But, the music is amazing and the movie was great because Jane Seymour, one of the classiest and most beautiful women of all times was in it... if you haven't seen it, you should. The acting is pretty good, it is very romantic, and the costumes are gorgeous! But here is my interpretation of it for the stage.

Fops are SO much fun!
The left hand corner of the bottom of this dress was a triumph! The face however was not, but in crunch time, you take what you can get (Which clearly isn't much...)
Percy... mmmm....
Not a favorite, but mostly because I did it so fast... like 15 minutes...
My favorite of the series. Notice his lovely pants. I love them.

Costume Renderings

2009-08-13T09:43:00.000-07:00

So, here are some costuming renderings. I can't really get the formatting quite right to add all of them, so here is a first batch, and in a few days I will give you another batch of stuff to look at.

The first, and most hideous drawing that I have ever done. I kept it so that I could see my progress. I did this when we first started drawing in my beginning Costume Design class.
I designed this costume for a short play I did in my Theater 101 class.
This was the final project for my beginning costume design class.
This was the fairy tale project that I worked on for my intermediate costuming class.
This one was a computer rendering that I did for my intermediate costuming class last winter.

There is SO much more that I could post, but there wasn't enough room... so here it is! I will keep posting my latest stuff.

2009-08-01T22:21:00.001-07:00

Perhaps you look at your google reader, or however you access my blog and think, "hmmm... I wonder what 'Landie's Lovelies' really are?" It is actually the name of a CD that one of my roommates gave me, however, it could also be a variety of things. I really like fashion and clothes and stuff, so I thought about talking a bit about that or showing pictures, but I am never sure if my outfits merit taking pictures of to post on the internet, so I quickly scratched that. Then I thought about my theater stuff... interesting, but I don't have anything recent because the shows I am working on are not that far along. SO.... here is the latest and greatest. I am taking a figure drawing class from the same school as my sister Merrick and this was what I drew last week. Enjoy.

2009-07-29T17:15:00.000-07:00

I keep feeling guilty whenever I look up at my bookmarks bar and think, "this time?" and then, "nope. Don't have time." Today I don't have time, but I figured it sounded better than homework for now, so here we go. Let me tell you a little about my vacations over the last few days, even though the people that actually look at this blog are, in fact, people who have been with me. Nevertheless, now is the time to press on because I am actually posting.

Nauvoo. A gorgeous place on a bend on the Mississippi. The highlights of that trip were: See the beautiful temple again! A trip to Carthage! Racing Crawford across the grass in front of the Visitors Center (A tradition that we HAD to keep!), and of course, the Pageant. The pageant was marvelous. Partially because it was well written and interesting, but mostly because I got to see two of my friends from BYU. It was delightful. Perhaps even tied to the greatness of the Pageant was the fudge.... mmmmhh. I LOVE the fudge from Nauvoo. Overall, a terrific trip with fantastic memories!

The Nauvoo Temple

On the Mississippi.
Me before the Pageant.

Cedar City. One of the most podunk cities in the US (only Meadow and Scipio surpassing it in podunkness), and yet with fantastic theater! We saw the musical version of the Secret Garden at the Utah Shakespearean Festival, along with Firefox (don't worry, I had never heard of it either) and Henry V! They were wonderful! It did make me miss London though....:( A little nostalgic for the National Theater.

Now I have two more weeks of school before two weeks off, and finals looming! Then before I know it, Fall will be here.

Getting Old.

2009-07-05T20:10:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had a weird experience where suddenly you realize you are getting old? Sometime I have these weird feelings where I realize that in the past 15 minutes I have just grown up. Well, in two days I turn 20 and I can officially feel old. I can back this feeling up too! I am now unable to stay up past 12 (ask my roommate, she can attest!) I would rather spend a quiet evening at home sewing or painting instead of partying with my friends... (Lame!) And I feel lazy if I sleep in past 7. Definitely old.

Mom's Trip to London

2009-06-20T06:46:00.000-07:00

I love this picture by St. Paul's
Mom by the Sovereign's Entrance. This is of course where she belongs.
Me inside of the London Eye.
Our two flat tires :( very sad.

So here is one last commemorating post about London. I know it has been a week since I got home, but it is hard to let such experiences fade into memories so fast, so here is a little bit about my last week when Mom flew over.

Saturday was excitement beyond compare. Seriously. 3 Friends and I all went to the airport to meet Mom to pick up a rental car and go to Bath. Seems pretty easy, right? Um... Well we get to the Enterprise, and we wait for about 40 minutes. No Mom. So finally I go ask the desk clerk if this was the only location in the Airport, ect. He tells me yes, and then proceeds to tell me that she had already gotten the car over an hour before, and at the North Terminal Enterprise. So there was another location. Lame. Anyway, so we run over to the other location, and the guy at the desk told us that she had just left to go get something to eat, but had not taken the car yet. So we wait and finally she shows back up and we leave for Bath. I forgot to mention that previously, I had the assignment of getting a map, one which I had though about often over the last few days, however in the rush, I had neglected to get one also because Mom had printed out some Google maps of how to get there. We jump on the freeway no problem, and Mom does great with the whole 'driving on the left side' thing. Well, we had been driving for maybe 30 minutes and we got talking about something and Mom missed the turn off we were supposed to take. So we just assumed that we could turn around at the next overpass sort of thing like the states. Too bad that is not at all how England works. It has the most complex freeway system I have ever seen. The next exit was not for about 25 miles and it was this little town. So we go to look for a map and gas (petrol in the UK) and we find a tavern to ask them where a gas station is. The nice bartender told us where to get both of these items. Well as we are driving down this road in the little town of Hemel Hempstead, mom got too close to the left side of the road and hit a monster curb, popping both, not one of the left side tires. Yes, both. It was a sad event. Anyway, so we try to decide to what to do after pulling up onto the sidewalk (which was not uncommon on this particular street), and finally call the emergency number on the rental car sheet at a pay phone. They tell us that a 'lorry' (or tow truck) will come and fetch us and that we should wait. We wait for over an hour, and finally the lorry shows up. Well, the driver didn't realize that there would be 5 of us, and he didn't have room, so he told us he would call and have them send a larger one and he promptly left. Great... so we wait for another hour before Mom finally went and called the number again and they told us to wait another 45 minutes. We did (of course. where else were we going to go?) and another lorry pulls up with a very nice driver, Mark. Mark didn't know Hemel Hempstead very well (who does?) and he called around until he found a place that was open, and that had the tires that we needed. He dropped the 3 other girls at the train station and Mom and I went with the rental car. The rental car got fixed ( although the guy who fixed it accidentally replaced the two front tires, much to our, and the other members of staff's amusement) and finally we were on our way... sort of. Back to Gatwick Airport anyway, so we drove back, without any mishaps (amazingly!) and got Mom to bed.

Well that is a post all on its own, but I will quickly mention a few other highlights of Mom's trip. We did the London Eye (super awesome, and pretty much a must-do in London cause it is so famous), saw 4 shows, including All's Well that Ends Well, Peter Pan, Les Mis, and Wicked. All were fantastic, and I think Mom got the theater buzz (although she loves theater almost as much as I do) and she commented several times how she would have loved to see a few more things. We also went and saw St. Paul's, the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery,the crown jewels at the Tower of London and many, many more things (especially considering the tubes were on strike so it was tough to get around on the buses because everyone and their mother, including me and mine, was using the buses). Anyway, it was so great to have her come and party a little with me. There were of course plenty of things we didn't get to, but like she said, it only gives her an excuse to come back.

Stratford... in detail

2009-06-16T06:43:00.001-07:00

The Avon in Stratford
Man-eating peacocks
Warwick Castle
Kennelworth Castle and Gardens

I have been trying to decide exactly what I should do for this blog, if I should keep it or just leave it to float out in bloggers universe where all un- updated blogs stay as a memory of my trip. I feel like I did short change it to some degree because my last two weeks were filled with a trip to Stratford upon Avon, studying for finals, a research project, and Mom's lovely visit. Not conducive to blog posting, as you might imagine. Anyway, so I was thinking about going back to chronicle several things (well quite a few actually) that didn't ever get mentioned.

Our Trip to Stratford seemed as good a place as any to start.

We had to be out to the bus by 6:45AM in order for us to reach the first destination on time. The bus ride was fairly uneventful except that I almost thought I had lost my camera (I found it in my bag stuffed into a far corner) and we reached Coventry Cathedral. This is the sad exterior of a beautiful cathedral that was bombed out during the war. It is now a sort of monument to the nation. Our next stop was Kennelworth Castle. This was also a big ruinous, but not from bombing. It was built by Sir Robert Dudley, the most famous of all of Queen Elizabeth I's suitors and is just in ruins from age. Anyway, this was pretty neat to go see. It is kind of in the middle of nowhere, but at least it is a lovely nowhere. Lots of fields and pretty little cottage type houses. It really is situated quite nicely. The last stop we made before Stratford was Warwick Castle. At this point I just have to take a moment to laugh. Warwick castle is this big historic castle that has been dressed up to be a theme park. And the shoe doesn't fit. It is such a beautiful castle, and they have a ridiculous disney type map showing all the attractions. They had archery, birds of prey, a horrific castle dungeon (where you have to pay extra. Why would anyone pay extra to see some people's toes get cut off and tongues cut out...? I have no idea), a sword in the stone among other things. Overall it is a little overdone. We went out to watch the catapult and the narrator was SO ridiculous. He was incredibly melodramatic and made every moment of the loading and 'firing' so overdone it was laughable. To add to that excitement, we also got attacked by some peacocks on the lawn. Anyway, the inside of Warwick castle was very Victorian, although certain sections had medieval armor and stuff in them, but compared to the outside of the castle, the inside didn't fit at all. It was very strange. Anyway, we spent about 4 hours there, and I could have reasonably done it in two. Then we trooped off to Stratford. Stratford is a positively charming town where pubs are 400 years old, and very little of the town has changed to accommodate the droves of people that come up every year to see the Royal Shakespearean company perform. There are quite a number of shops and lots of B&B's but overall, much of the town is still pretty sleepy with melting houses, and darling narrow streets. We went to see two productions at the RSC, and both were excellently done. I must give them credit for not sticking to 'traditional Shakespeare' just because they are the RSC. Their performances were magnificent with no expense spared. There is this fantastic part in one of the productions that we have seen, where two book cases collapse into each other and hundreds of books spill all over the floor, and a few moments later, a massive paper bear emerges from between the collapsed book cases to eat a man. It was pretty awesome! Outside of these productions, some of us rented little boats and rowed them down the river. It was a great place to visit and I will always have charming memories of it. On our way back to London two days later, we stopped in Oxford. I didn't know too much about the city, unfortunately, but what I did see was great. Among other things, I went to Christ's Church where parts of Harry Potter were filmed. It was really neat to see the college itself and places where actual footage had been shot! Anyway, a long trip back to the city, and we spent a night in the comfort of our flat finishing up research projects and such.

Stupendous Stratford... among other things)

2009-06-09T02:57:00.001-07:00

On the Avon (as in Stratford-upon-Avon)
In front of the Quidditch fields at Christ's Church
The basis for the Great Hall
At Warwick Castle pulling the sword out of the stone.

So sometimes I am slow in posting things... Mostly just when I have several finals, and Mom comes to London:)

Firstly, Stratford was amazing. Here are some pictures of me on a Boat on the Avon. There are also pictures of Christ's Church in Oxford ( where Harry Potter was filmed...:) Sorry this is short, I have to study for a final I am taking tomorrow! BTW, if you were wondering, I am flying home (to LV) on Friday and will get there around 8 PM.

Star Trek? Maybe Lord of the Rings? How about BOTH!

2009-05-31T11:13:00.001-07:00

Yes, it is true. On Wednesday I went to see Waiting for Godot. The two leads were... wait for it... Ian McKellan and Patrick Steward!!! And afterwards I saw them both and had them both sign my ticket! Are you jealous? You should be...:)

"Is there any felicity in the world superior to this!"

2009-05-30T00:23:00.001-07:00

I stepped into James Harriot's charmed life for just a moment on Thursday. The tiny towns, the big old churches, the one way streets, the steep hills, the kissing gates... ect. The English Countryside is magnificent. Vibrant green with yellow and white flowers dotting the hillsides and meadows. Winding paths through the woods, 800 year old churches, Roman ruins among other things. It was marvelous.

Paris

2009-05-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

I have heard so many things about Paris. "It was amazing!" "It didn't meet my expectations," and a variety of other things.

Well, it is probably the most beautiful city in the world! I loved Paris. It is such a magical city! There are some of the most amazing things to see. The Louvre, the Mona Lisa, the Eiffel Tower, The Arc du Triomphe are only a few things to do. My favorite part of it was the wandering around the city some of the hundreds of lovely things to see. I hope to be able to go back again and again and enjoy French people, food and the other amazing things that France has to offer!

I love Paris!

"Practically Perfect in Every Way"

2009-05-15T10:34:00.000-07:00

10 fantastic things about London

1) It is London. (aka: Pretty much the coolest city ever.)

2) There is always something to do (touring, shopping, museums, library, theater...ect)

3) They have the most amazing chocolate!

4) The tube goes EVERYWHERE (literally. Jump on it, and everything is just a few stops away)

5) They have gorgeous public parks with lakes, and statues and tons of lovely little walks. And, sometimes people ride horses through the park!

6) They have amazing history that is presented in free Museums all over the city. (Free has become one of my favorite words over here:)

7) They like to keep old things and make them work with technology ( you know, the old mixing with the new, and all that...)

8) So many people dress nicely here! There is very little 'jeans and a t-shirt' action going on over here! It is such a source of inspiration (slightly sarcastic and yet not)!

9) The theater here is really neat and very experimental! So many amazing productions here!

10) Anywhere downtown is filled with cool little streets, amazing sights (old and new).

11) The accents;)

It is an INCREDIBLE CITY!!!!

The Theater, The Theater...

2009-05-14T00:08:00.001-07:00

Monday:

Classes... as usual, except that Professor Fielding let us out of classes 1 hour early so that we could go visit this really brilliant display that was at the Victoria and Albert Museum! It was a theater display with about 25 costumes worn by many famous people, including Maggie Smith and Vivian Leigh! They were extremely elaborate and lots of fun to look at! They also had miniature scenic designs and... (this was really cool) the original flying harness from Peter Pan! Overall, a great exhibit! Unfortunately, because we stayed quite a while at that exhibit, and had a fireside that night, there was little opportunity to go out and do something else, so I did laundry and went grocery shopping. We had a really amazing Fireside for FHE from the former Stake President about the Blitz during WWII. He had quite a few memories, and a lot of information about the kinds of things that had gone on. It was quite remarkable to hear it first hand.

Tuesday:

I went for an amazing run in the morning, through Hyde Park and ran along the lake that is there. I also ran past the riding coral and saw several people ride by on white horses. It was incredibly lovely.

Later that morning, we went to a really amazing place called Middle Temple Hall. It is a place where lawyers become lawyers. It is a place of instruction and eating for barristers. Anyway, several really cool things about it. It is a great dining hall where the first performance of Twelfth Night took place. It also has a priceless picture of Charles II and because Sir Walter Reighley was an honorary member, he brought back his hatch cover and the lantern from his ship The Golden Hind (after Circumnavigating the globe) and were placed in this hall. The hatch cover was made into a table and the lantern hangs in the foyer( it is actually a replacement lantern because a bomb hit the road outside of Middle Temple Hall during the war and blew apart much of the foyer of the hall and almost completely destroyed the lantern, except the crown. So that was pretty amazing:)

That afternoon, we went to a production of Twelfth Night. It was a very interesting production. The production was designed for children, which made it interesting all on its own, because a lot of the script was cut. In addition, they only had 6 actors, so each actor had at least two roles, several had three. If you are at all familiar with the story, Viola and Sebastian were played by the same person, and a man. Very weird. But well done. The set design was quite amazing and incorporated all the elements (earth, fire, water and fog/wind).

I also made some bread later that night:) a little Challah bread. Unfortunately we don't have measuring cups, so I just did my best to measure correctly. I also put the bread in the oven to rise without realizing that the oven was on 200 Celsius. Whoops. Needless to say, it didn't rise. It baked, and only on the top, so I had to flip it over and cook the other side... Sort of like the pancake cooking principle.. Except not really. Oh well. It did taste pretty good though.

Wednesday:

Adventures all around! Class in the morning, then 3 friends and I ran off to Kensington Palace. It was SO cool! I think I took a LOT of pictures! Probably around a hundred. They had an entire Princess Diana display with about 20 of her dresses, then they had a huge and very fun Debutante Display with a ton of fantastic dresses from that and some very interesting commentary from former debutantes. (In this exhibit, we also learned how to curtsy properly:) Then we walked through actual Palace decorated rooms that were so beautiful! Lots of paintings and murals and tapestries, and beautiful views of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.

We then had to run off to the National Theater for Time and the Conways. We first went on a tour of the theater ( it is HUGE). It has three full sized theaters in it. One that seats over a thousand, on with about 800 seats, and the last one with seats between 200 and 400 depending on the configuration. It also has facilities to build sets, costumes, props and has rehearsal rooms that are the sizes of the two larger stages. It was remarkable! So then we went to the show. WOW. All I can say is WOW! The cast, first of all, was quite incredible. There are 10 characters 7 of them are mother and siblings. The mother was played by the weird stepmother in Wives and Daughters (she is also the very rich lady in Cranford), Kay, the focal daughter, was played by Elinor from the newest Sense and Sensibility, and the love interest of one of the other sisters was played by Major Gordon in Cranford. A good way to start, however, it is a very powerful play about time and this family's story, through time. It begins with the night of Kay's 21st birthday. Then the second act flashes to when she turns 40 and then the third act has her at 21 again. The interesting thing is, is that in the third act, you already know what has happened to the other characters and how their lives have played out, so seeing that, many of the lines are much more poignant as they talk about their future. The staging was amazing! Incredible use of lights, costume and stage space! Very compelling actors, and a really incredible message. I would have to describe it in person, but take it from me, that it was the best production I have ever seen.

Pretty much, London Rocks!

Weekend Frivolities!

2009-05-10T12:02:00.000-07:00

So, the Tate Museums are brilliant! (note: this is not a word I typically use, however it was the most British adjective I could think of.) Mostly just the Tate Britain, but I am biased because I like realist art more than modern art. Some people do not feel this way. For instance, while walking through the Tate Modern, I walked passed a massive blue painting with some red splootches on the bottom and a yellow jagged piece at the top. Totally meaningless, right? Or so I thought. This man and his wife were staring at it and he was getting SO excited. More excited than anyone really ought to get over a large primary colored painting, in my lame, artistically challenged opinion. So I hear him talking to his wife, growing more and more exhilarated by the minute as he describes how the other artistic modern paintings in the room were so dreary and yet this painting, this painting was full of life and color! I think I missed something... hmm... Maybe next time the primary colors will speak to me... Not likely ( sorry Merrick;).

Also, Camden Market is just about the craziest place I have ever been to! One of the guys on our trip had been telling me about how Gothic it was. I ought to have taken him more literally. As we neared the Camden Tube Stop, black leather and studs became more and more common as did piercings in every part of the face imaginable ( including the cheeks, which is something I have never seen before... ew) and ripped fishnets... Some of the shops and stalls had really neat things in them, but mostly they were filled with weird t-shirts, and combat boots... Not so much my style. However, it was a really exciting place:)

Harrods. Wow. Need I say more? Well, I will anyway. You walk up the street and a building that looks like it belongs in St. Petersburg, Russia rises out of nowhere. Huge, gold and AMAZING! Yes, it is Harrods. Pass the fur protesters and enter a shoppers paradise. Walk through the perfume, watch, jewel and purse sections. You reach the food court with amazing looking bakeries, gelato, Jelly beans and other fun. Continue on and get a little lost in the shoe section where you can find every kind you could possibly want from Chloe, to Dior. Next, wander aimlessly through the INCREDIBLE evening gown and wedding dress section where practically everything has a six digit numbered tag on it (yes, that is in pounds...). You continue on into a Mac heaven, then an antique section, an entire book store, a furniture and home decorating section that stretches as far as you can see, and to finish it off, you ride the escalators down past a life opera singer, singing "Time to Say Goodbye." Sound like fun? Oh it was:) And I was only in there for an hour!

Do I like London? Um, a resounding YES!!!

A Foggy Day in London Town

2009-05-08T02:41:00.001-07:00

I have been asked several times about starting a blog, so, to appease the masses, here it is!

Yes, I am in London right now!

Yesterday, I spend an hour or so at the House of Parliament... you know, just wandering around in a building that is several hundred years old... :) Prepare to be jealous. I got to hear Big Ben chime and then we headed off to St. Paul's singing "Feed the Birds." Yes, it was amazing!

And coolest (and perhaps silliest) of all, I saw the back of Taylor Swift's head outside of a restaurant by St. Paul's Cathedral! (yes, that is lame... but it was very exciting)

Lastly, a jaunt to the famous London Musical "Blood Brothers" (not my favorite, and certainly NOT as good as Wicked!) to complete a fantastic day in London!