Nails, Weather, and Weddings

First of all, I'm currently wearing a nail polish color called Wham, Bam, Glam.  I thoroughly enjoy this fact.

Secondly, I'm loving this Fall weather -- even though I'm a little scared that we're either heading for another hot spell or instant Winter.  But right now?  Perfect.  So I'm choosing to live for right now.

And finally, the real point of this post.  A few of my old students have recently become engaged, and it's so crazy to me that we're all going through this experience at the same time.  It's just so interesting to me the way that life works out -- I never, ever could have imagined getting married before this point in my life.  I've experienced enough to fill a lifetime:  had two successful careers, lived on two coasts, traveled & worked abroad, and on and on.  But that's not the interesting part.  The interesting part is that in their lives, this is the right time for my students as well, and whatever experiences they've had up to this point have left them feeling prepared and ready to take this next step.

I don't think I'm being quite as eloquent as I could be here, but what I mean to say is this:  Life has a way of putting you where you need to be when you need to be there, if you're living right.  All of my love and congrats go out to my sweet students for this exciting time, and I'm so glad that we're all right where we need to be.

xoxo

www.lovelyindeed.com

Fall, Japan, and Ingesting Things I Shouldn't.

I always forget that Fall is one of my favorite seaons. There's something so clean and new about it -- I alays feel that way, even though Spring is supposed to be the season of rebirth and blah blah blah. I feel like the sky is clearer in Fall. It makes me miss California. :)

Soooo we've been in China for a little over a month now, and I'm ashamed to say that I've explored next to nothing. I use the excuse that we've been in rehearsal all day and night, but really I just haven't been into it yet. But now that the show is open (details of which I'll not post here, for fear of getting fired), we have all day free -- which basically feels like a vacation with a trip to the theatre every evening. So that's pretty nice.

Most of the exploring we've done is culinary... And by that, I mean finding things that are familiar and edible. Don't get me wrong -- the Chinese food is cheap, plenty, and delicious. But after rice and noodles so many times a week, this California girl needs her staples. Among our favorite finds: Mexican food Wednesdays at a sports bar, two-for-one burgers and all day breakfast at a 24-hour diner, and 15 RMB sub-of-the-day at Subway. I could live on that alone for a good while.

More excitement: some of us are heading to Japan for our first 10-day break from the show. We're staying in Tokyo for about a week, and are just going to see what adventures find us! It's opportunities like this one that make me stop, take stock, and be grateful for where I am and what I'm doing. Just the ability to explore the world in this way, travel, and experience all of these things while we're actually working and performing is a crazy blessing. Pretty amazing.

In other news, China's been celebrating their Fall Festival, which involves the eating of lots of little pastries called mooncakes, in honor of Chang E, the mythical moon Goddess of Immortality. They package them in the stores in these little plastic baggies in the stores. The other day I was eating one, trying to be all adventurous, and in the little baggie was a separate small package of what I supposed was extra flavoring for the mooncake. So I ripped it open and started to taste it before I realized that it said on the package "Do Not Eat. Oxygen Absorber."

Awesome.
xoxo