all that's past is prologue...

1.  Novi Most is doing some of the best theatre work in this town right now. I really mean it. Not just good work, but amazing, transformative work. 2.  This show is no exception. With a cast of Russian/American/MN/NY performers, it plays only one weekend (September 7-10, at the Southern) here, before going to New York. 3.  It's a world-premiere, so you can say you saw it first. 4.  Lisa Channer, as Isadora Duncan, is not to be missed. 5.  Patrick is on the Novi Most board, and they throw one hell of an opening night party. 6.  We'll likely be there every night because Beatrix got cast in the dance class scene! She is thrilled, and it would mean a lot to her if you came. For more information on the show, including ticketing, please see:  http://theatrenovimost.org

So, you all likely know I have been on the search for the perfect journalling method. I've tried an inspirational one that seemed too doing, and have bene using a plain notebook with a set of fancy pens my friend Mia gave me after Winston ate my original journal and pens. I've heard good things about Patel's items, so when I ordered up this one, I was hoping it was the perfect thing — but I am sorely disappointed. I likely should have started with her book and not this planner. The journal is in a blank book format, so you start in whatever month you want, mark that month, and then there are 5 weekly spreads to date as you want. At the front of each month is a lovely picture and quote (easily my favorite part!), with a small — too small — section for goals, another small section for important dates (I already know I have more important dates in a month than can be summarized in 10 lines), and a notes section. I also take issue with something I ALWAYS find to be a flaw in ...

"And though she be but little, she is fierce."    (William Shakespeare) This has been a summer of badass-ness for Beatrix. From a Wonder Woman theatre camp at CTC, to Girls Rock camp, to various outdoor camps and Girl Scout riding camp weekend, it's been all about her being an awesome young woman in charge of her surroundings. And it has me thinking a lot about what that means in our world right now, in a world that seems more and more bent on oppressing her based on race and gender. Race, for her, not as much just right now. In fact, she and I just had a discussion about how she had a pretty substantial fight based with a friend because B "isn't really black" because "just look at you!" Which is a topic I'll leave for another time, but is a different kind of identity oppression. I can identify with the gender element though. I don't remember girls of my generation being encouraged to be fierce — except by being smart, which is it...

I always try to stop at the Fine Arts building of the State Fair, but it's always so crowded and crazy! Though some years I do skip it, even on purpose, thinking back to the day when my friend Krista and several artists she knew were not accepted and joked about mounting the "It's Not Fair" alternate show at the Saints stadium. So I was blown away today to find out from my friend Lisa  that the opening of the show is totally open to the public! You can just drive on in and attend! After backpack shopping and cat-sitting, Beatrix and I headed on over. Only one gate was open, at the far north end, and you have to show your driver's license in order to get a "Screened" pass for your dashboard. We did, indeed, just drive on over and saunter in to the Fine Arts building. And though to was crowded, it was nothing like Fair crowded, and everyone was happy and excited to be there! We saw several people we knew, and great work by even more people we know, a...

We had not made it up to the family cabin on Lake Osakis yet this summer (as always, PROLIFIC THANKS to the Hanafins for letting us stay there!), but after a few false starts finally got there this last weekend! A few years back we had discovered "Vintage Village," a truly eclectic place in Osakis that Jerry Hittner has created. It's got a store, livery stable, blacksmith, and small house filled chockablock with antiques, a school he has restored, and a church he is restoring. But best of all to Beatrix, there's a full hobby farm with chickens, sheep, pigs, cows, horses, geese, a pony, dogs, and cats, including kittens! This year there was an adorable, 3-week long haired tortoiseshell that Beatrix immediately christened "Angelica" (after Hamilton , natch.) That did it. We spent almost 2 hours there on Saturday (stopped before we even got to the cabin), and went back yesterday and today. If B and I had our way, there would be another kitten here tonight.......

I picked this up because I am in search of The Perfect Journal, the one that mixes a creative, bullet-journal ability with longer posts, something that can be life changing. I liked the idea of graphics with pages, of leading questions, and especially of inspiring female role models. I love that it is a companion to  Rad American Women A-Z  and  Rad Women Worldwide, both of which I tend to pick up and thumb through often. (Google suggests downloading this as an e-book — can anyone explain the point of that to me?) The graphics are beautiful, the quotes inspiring, and there is plenty of room for doodling and inspiring. However, the question prompts don't quite do it for me — I don't think it's the book, I think it's me, that I am just too old for it. They are things like ""What kind of superhero would you be?" and "Use this page when you are having  dark moment." All in all, I wish I had had a journal like this when I was younger — and so I...

Tonight, after a Mental Health Minnesota meeting, I took my 9-year old date (and her stuffed dog, which looks real and surprised quite a few people) to downtown Minneapolis to attend the opening night of a client's show. (The show, by the way, is Rhythmically Speaking and it's pretty great — runs through Sunday, highly recommended.) The show was at the Illusion Theater, located on the 8th floor of Hennepin Center for the Arts. Which is a place I know inherently, in every fiber of my being, because it's where I started working in theatre over half a lifetime ago when it was the Cricket Theatre. It's the place where Jay taught me to add cinnamon to the coffee urn and to never chew ice over the intercom. Where Shirley and Camille had a bottle of champagne delivered to their dressing room on Sunday nights written into their contract, and where they taught me to appreciate it (I miss you, Camille). Where I hauled rapidly growing puppy TC from the Time and Chance set e...

I'm now 50. Still wasn't the easiest transition, but as I had joked, "It beats the alternative." And then a friend passed away of pancreatic cancer on Saturday morning, and I woke up to the news on Charlottesville,  and I realized it really DID beat the alternative. My birthday was lovely. My friend Jennifer's free fabric sale. Brunch at the Hewing and a truly lovely production of  Sunday in the Park with George at   the Guthrie with Patrick, while Beatrix hung out and learned how to train dogs from our friend Cheryl. A walk around Como Lake. A fantastic dinner for all 3 of us, including Beatrix in a tiara, at the Lex (I joked that between the matinee and the Lex Patrick picked places that made me feel younger). A 10pm Fringe show of the amazing Fourth Wall Ensemble with F ruit Flies Like a Banana . And the next day I got to celebrate with a volunteer event with some awesome people at Second Stork (more on that later). Great calls and texts and emails and FB mes...

It's the last night of my forties. It's a night remarkable for its ordinariness — Patrick is rigging at circus, we had a pool party, Beatrix is in bed, I am sitting in the dimly lit living room at Summit with Coya and a cocktail. Cicadas sound outside like every August night I can remember in this house. The upstairs hall light glows pink and I remember so clearly sitting on the rug up there in my shortie cat pajamas that my grandmother made me on a night so exactly like this that there is no way that it was 47 years ago. I've thought a lot about turning 50 and I am still not at all at peace with it. Almost all my earlier life I have been the young one doing things, remarkable for achieving things at an early age. Now I most definitely am not. I don't even know what to achieve next. I'm painfully ware that my mom was only 68 when she died. Patrick says, and rightly so, that that does not mean I will die at that age — I could go tomorrow, or at age 103. But never...

Things that mean summer (even if I have not done them all yet, hopefully I will get to them!) -  patio drinking -  swimming -  pool parties -  Open Eye Figure Theatre Driveway Tour shows -  Izzy's/(Grand Old Creamery) -  BBQs -  "Old Gladhills" (lemonade/vodka/St. Germaine — or just me) -  rhubarbaritas -  sangria -  gardening -  the cabin -  Grand Old Day/(Paws on Grand) -  various other street festivals -  walking the dog around the block at night -  sitting on the front porch -  neighborhood "Patio Nights" parties -  Songs of Hope -  Picnic Operetta -  Fringe -  Alexis Bailly Vineyard -  night markets -  National Night Out -  farmer's market -  outdoor concerts/movies -  girl scout camp -  taproom patios -  garage sales -  walking around a lake -  Circus Juventas summer show -  summer camps for B -  ...

In a given week, I may be at over a dozen clients. While it's great that I usually have a designated space at each one, it does mean that, between the clients and my home office, I'm often carrying around a lot of pieces of paper that need to get from one place to the next. That situation gets exacerbated depending on client capacity. Some clients don't have fax machines. Others don't have scan capability for me. At still others, I end up stalled because I don't have a file folder, or a window envelope, or a plain white envelope. Sometimes I need a stamp. Sometimes I need a power brick for my phone. Sometimes I need to file and there are no folders. Or I don't have a sharpie for labeling, or a pencil. Any of these things can stall me for a full work session, or throw off a schedule, or delay a check getting in the mail that day. It's incredibly frustrating. So today, I took an adorable hedgehog bag that Elaine Powell had gotten me for Christmas, and fill...

Since Patrick has been rigging every circus show, it means that evenings and weekends have been just me and Beatrix, like some kind of low-rent Thelma and Louise. This weekend alone, that meant Target, Noodles and Company, the Ramsey County Library, Whole Foods, Nordrsaga, brunch, Paws on Grand, an Open Eye Theatre puppet show at our friend Maggie and Stephen's, our friend Kevin's birthday party, a new donut shop, Izzy's, and a few other errands. In other words, a lot of time in the car discussing things. Some of the topics from this afternoon alone: -  Might all people have super powers like Wonder Woman and they just don't know it until they are tested? -  Seeing a woman whose hijab blew off and was she concerned people saw her hair, and what was the line between showing your tradition in dress and being sexists because girls have to wear traditional dress and boys don't. -  Who our secret Hamilton crushes are (don't tell anyone but hers is Leslie Odom ...

I'm in the process of signing up a few clients for Givelify (as an aside, download it and check it out; it's a great way to give to the places you support!) While researching it, though, I found several new ways to donate to various charities by phone, so I checked into them (Here's the link I started from). Going through the list, some ere easier than others: Donate a Photo is an app where you can "donate" one photo a day, and Johnson and Johnson donates $1 to a genre of organization you choose (I chose LGBTQ family rights, see the photo here .) It was  little fuzzy to set up, and I am not sure I'll remember every day, but worth a shot. I have not yet installed Tinbox  (it's slow to load), but it's a similar once-a-day donation. I'm not sure how much I'll remember to do it, but at least the option's there. I like the idea of Charity Miles , and the interface is super-easy to use. But I stopped part-way through sign-up, because it ...

Ok, so you've seen a hundred posts of mine on the magic of Circus Juventas . This is why this one is different. I've spent  a lot of time at circus this summer. A perfect storm of issues has led to extra time at my job. We headed out to Washington DC for the W onderland performances (Patrick rigged every one). Beatrix took four classes and circus camp. It's been a very circus-filled summer. But then an online friend was discussing how she wanted to have fun again. And I thought back to the last time I had the most surprising fun, which was actually seeing the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus (full disclosure, also a client) in DC. (again, I have had a lot of fun times this summer, but this was full-throttle unexpected fun!) So I went in to Nordrsaga tonight not watching from my office as I usually do, but sitting in real seats, totally giving in to just enjoying being at the circus. We ran into a friend on the way in, who was seeing CJ for the first time, and the pe...

I've never sat on a book review this long (though I've only bene reviewing for 18 months.) But I simply can't get through Shattered . The book itself is excellent. Factual, readable, breaks down the various decisions that led to the dramatic loss. But I sit down with it and it makes me mad. It makes me mad about the divisiveness within the Democratic party, that we don't seem able to solve. And yes, it makes me mad at Bernie Bros (sorry,, friends). It makes me mad at the system, at the GOP, at everyone who voted for Trump. It makes me sad for the future. And then I put it aside and read something more uplifting, like The Handmaid's Tale. Despite not being able to get through the book, I actually recommend it — but you'll need a thicker skin than me to get through it. (Book provided by Blogging For Books  in exchange for my opinion, but all thoughts are my own).