Christmas Magic: The Nutcracker

I have found a love and deep appreciation of the one of the oldest and most iconic Christmas traditions: The Nutcracker ballet. Tonight was opening night of the Louisville Ballet's Nutcracker. It's been running for 50 years in Louisville; this is the second year of the new, localized production. It's in someways different from the traditional ballet version of the Nutcracker, but apparently closer to the original book version. The main character is Marie not Clara; she's older, not a little girl. There were changes in choreography, staging, sets, etc. I've never seen the original version, so I really don't have anything to compare it to, unless you count a very, good cartoon movie version.

I never saw the Nutcracker as a kid and as I got older, I always associated it with being aimed towards younger kids. Working at the theatre though, I was taken aback by how many grown people love the Nutcracker. It's one of those shows that appeal to everyone, even people who aren't particularly artsy folk. One of my co-workers told me she went last year for the first time; she spontaneously bought a cheap ticket. She said she had so much fun and sitting next to a little girl who was completely into the show made it more so. I decided I had to go see the show at least once in my life. This week, we got an opportunity to get staff comps.

I took my friend Matt Tobbe with me because he really enjoyed the last ballet we saw, Giselle. Matt and I are almost always late for everything. We both left work late. The weather was awful; it snowed/rained--slushed--all day, and traffic was terrible. Matt and I both take forever to get ready to go anywhere nice. We were both convinced we were going to be late. WE ARRIVED AT THE THEATRE EARLY! In spite of everything, I was on time picking Matt up, and we got to the theatre exactly one hour early. Obviously to celebrate our achievement and not the ballet's opening night, there was a fancy reception with hors d'oeuvres and drinks. Matt got to smoke extra cigarettes, and I had snack and chill time.

I loved Nutcracker for all the magic and sparkles.The show was seriously magical. There were so many amazing tricks like turning a small wooden nutcracker into a life sized moving nutcracker. I think my favorite trick was when the life sized "dolls" of the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier were pulled from seemingly small boxes, perfectly poised. I thought the best part of the whole performance was the Snow Pas De Deux/Waltz of the Snowflakes! That musical number is my favorite of the entire ballet, and the scene was the most beautiful one I'd ever seen! To top it all off, at the end it snowed in the audience as well as on stage! Matt's favorite part was the Russian Caviar; the dancers did flips and awesome spins. We both loved the dance between the Sugar Plum Fairy and Cavalier. There was a large number of children in the production. They were all students at the Louisville Ballet School. I was impressed by how good all of them were! Uber cuteness was not the only factor in their being cast. The kids made the show twenty times more fun. Again, Matt and I thought the show was simply amazing and wonderful!

Something weird and funny also happened. I took of my high heel shoes when I sat down because I usually pull my feet up into my seat. At intermission, Matt went out to smoke, and I wanted to get a drink of water. I reached down and grabbed one shoe, but couldn't find the other. I thought maybe it had fallen down in the row in front; not there. I looked to see if it had been kicked over a few seats in my row, I checked my tote bag, and the row behind me. I was baffled as to what could have happened to my one shoe. Could someone have found it and taken it to lost and found? Why just one shoe?

When the lady and guy sitting next to me returned to their seats, I asked her if she had found or kicked a shoe. She said, "Yeah, I found a shoe and put it in my bag." What normal person, finds a single shoe, and puts it in their bag?! I am pretty sure she was a combination of toasted and weird based on her following comments. "I found the shoe and put it in my bag. I thought it might be one of my shoes. (really, just one shoe randomly laying around on the floor?) I have really small feet (note: she was quite big--not obese, but big; she did say it with a joking tone)." She proceeds to pin this giant sparkly flower on her shirt, then show me & the guy in-between us (who she came with) the new nutcracker she had purchased. "This is the new nutcracker. It's different from last year's; it's sparkly." The guy asked her if she collected all of them; she answered, "So what if I do?" Then she turns to me and says, "This is my brother NOT my lover. Just so you know." Needless to say, conversation was very awkward, in spite of the humor. 

Matt thought the lady was nice. He said we should go see Nutcracker again drunk and act like that lady and steal people's shoes and put them in my bag. I really hope I win the Nutcracker ticket sales contest so I can get a $50 Bristol Bar & Grill gift certificate and four tickets to see Nutcracker; I'd settle for second place and getting two free tickets. I know I'll definitely be making plans and saving to see the show next December! Oh and also, as I was driving Matt home we saw FIREWORKS! It's because we were early for the first time in forever! Matt and I realized tonight we never got to eat strawberries and see fireworks in the same day before because we were always late. Well tonight changed all that! Tomorrow we'll be back to our normal, tardy selves. 

Best Day EVAR x100: Janelle Monae

Today was the start of the Idea Festival in Louisville and one of the busiest weeks at the center, since we ticket the events which also take place in our building. Janelle Monae was part of one of the events and giving a concert today. I got to work about 2 PM, and one of my coworkers told me he and another co-worker saw Janelle walk through the center up to our small theatre. I was a little jealous and excited.

I'm so glad I worked the counter today. I figured Janelle would be walking through the lobby again, so I'd get the chance to see her sometime that day. Sure enough, I saw her dancers and then her. She was sporting her awesome pompadour hairstyle. She looked directly at me, I smiled, and she smiled back! I was so excited! Later, I got to hear her rehearse; her music and voice carried from the theatre out to the lobby.

After my shift, I planned to peek into the theatre and watch a number or two. We actually had some people return tickets they weren't using; we couldn't resell them, so my supervisor saved one for me because she knew I wanted to see the show. I had to wait a half hour after the concert started because my shift didn't end til then. As soon as I clocked out, I bolted up the steps into the theatre. I had a fantastic house seat, and got to watch the rest of the show.

The concert was AMAZING! Words cannot express how AWESOME Janelle Monae is! She's wildly energetic, eccentric, and talented! Her music is catchy and inspiring. She's all about challenging the norm, pushing the border, but not to the point where she alienates people. She's all about changing the world! Her music shifts genres. Basically Janelle Monae is just GD COOL! No other way to express it! I hadn't heard of her before I started working at the center. I heard my coworkers gush about her; I looked up a couple of her songs on YouTube and liked them. However, seeing her perform live just sealed the deal making me a committed fan for life!

Reason 1,000,001 why I love my job.

Finally A JOB!

Last week I went on an interview with the KY Center for the Arts. I found the job via Craigslist and immediately sent an email reply. Then I placed a call to my good friend Cassie who works there. She sent in a recommendation to the manager, and I got a quick response. I was one of the first people interviewed, and I was told it'd be at least a week and a half to two weeks before I'd get a call/email back. I was told by Cassie, it would definitely take that long because the people tend to be really pokey about this sort of thing.

Today, I got on Craigslist scanning for more jobs. I went to my email to send a reply to one of the ads when I saw an email from the KY Center. It said my background check had cleared and they would love to offer me the job! I took it right away, and now I'm scheduled to come in Tuesday from 12-4 PM for training and paperwork!

It's still a twenty-something job that pays a little above minimum wage ($7.55). However, it's a place where I won't hate going to work. It actually comes with benefits I'd use and care about: comp tickets and advance ticket sales to concerts/plays/broadway shows. It's involved with the ARTS; the people I work with are cultured and appreciate all the arts. There's no crappy music pop/rap/r&b/new country to listen to anymore at work. I don't have to wear an ugly/bland uniform. I'm so excited and happy about this job.

It's been a loooong dry spell, and my savings are pretty much gone from paying rent for the past 6 months. I was getting quite desperate. I had to ask my parents for money to help me out this month. I was raiding through my closet and belongings trying to figure out what I could sell to help pay rent. I've been without work for about 7 1/2 months!!! I am so relieved to finally have a job and one that I actually want! Everyone but me has been able to got a job somewhere I wanted. No more retail or food service or warehouse (netflix)!

St. James Art Fair & Fashionable Reading

So I went to the St. James Art Fair this weekend. I think it's like Louisville's own holiday considering how massive it is, the renown, the huge number of people; they close down like 3rd and 4th street for the whole weekend and some schools even get out for it. It's held in St. James Court--the nice, historic part of Old Louisville. In addition to artists from Louisville, there's tons of artists from all over the nation. There's a variety of artwork from paintings, photographs, sculptures, metal work, jewelry, clothes, and other accessories. Just about everything imaginable. You get to walk by all the beautiful, historic mansions--including my favorite, the pink house--it's haunted too!


The past two years, I've bought prints from artist Vincent Flemming. He paints gorgeous fantasy images in oil. Most of them include fairies, unicorns, and dragons and books.

This year though, I discovered and had to have a book purse! I spotted the Twilight purse hanging up from a distance. I thought, "oooh that looks pretty, let's see what else is in that booth" (note: I dislike the book, but the purse was beautiful). I poked my head in and lo and behold, I saw a purple Shakespeare purse! Then I saw a Wicked (the musical) purse! I was squeeing like a little kid and babbling excitedly to Dustin.

The artist is Karla Staley and here's a link to her site. She makes purses out of playbills, book covers, record albums, game boards and magazine covers. Her Harry Potter purses are actually touring with the Magic of Harry Potter exhibit that was in the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry! The purses normally sell for around $52 dollars, the museum gift shop was selling them for $100!

She's really nice; I talked to her about how the purses were made, and she told me she was stickler for quality. She uses real book covers, though that means she has to take the pages out of them. She promised if I had any problems with the purse to contact her and she'd repair it. She also does custom purses! I bought the purple Shakespeare sonnet purse. As you can see it has a gorgeous double, beaded handle, and is an "open clasp" style. I can adjust the "string" part to allow for expansion. It's pretty awesome! I'm asking for another purse for my birthday. I'm also looking for a copy of one of Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness books that's big enough to be made into a purse.

St. James is so fantastic; it's a place to find and buy unique stuff no one else has. I love seeing and drooling over all the gorgeous artwork! If only, I was loaded and had a huge house. One of my favorite events of the year! Already, I've received so many compliments of my purse! Plus, it's a great way of expressing my personality as a reader and English major. I was telling the artist I should create a collection of classic literature purses; and she was like, "Please do!" :)