Hello Blogger, It's Been a Long Time

It has been almost four months since I've posted anything. I've been busy. It's not that I'm not interested in posting anymore or that I've not ahd anything to write about, rather I just chose sleep or food instead. But then I realized I was becoming one of those people whose blog no one checks anymore because they never post an update. I will try to do better, because there are so many exciting and interesting things happening in the lives of Nikki and me. To start, the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts opened. We who work there moved in at the beginning of June and the official opening was July 3rd. Since then, it has been locomotive. Multiple events every week and we are about to create our third in-house production this week with The Jungle Book. We spend many hours in that building- I'm glad I like the people that I work with. We laugh a lot through the fatigue.

But going back a bit, I wanted to make sure all the excitement was not going to be lost by me not keeping up them up on the blog. Plus, with Camila gone, I thought how will she keep up with the progress of productions. Sure, here family and friends will tell her, but they don't know the real truth... and I'll be honest about it. More on that later.

So our first in-house show was Aida. We had all waited to work on that show so many years. Still one of my favorites- not at all tired of the music and I don't think I will ever be. It was a beautiful show- I would have done so many things differently. We built that show blindly not in the building or know what the finished building would be like. Things changed once the rehearsals began on the actual stage as well as sets and lighting- some for the better, some not. I had originally planed to fly more scenery in, but we had a limited amount of battons due to the curtains and lighting above the stage. There was a large amount of scenery that was built, but never used. Now we are in the actual space, we can make a more specific plan knowing our limitations. It was a great time, but a tiring time. Pictures below-

The day after Aida closed, we began rehearsals for The Foreigner. We had two weeks to rehearse, build sets and make costumes. The actors were troupers and the crew worked very hard. It was great fun and the audience had a great time- lots of laughs.

Earlier, I wrote about Camila leaving. Many think that she went to international law school, but as you can see in the picture she is really attending terrorist training camp.

To get from one traing camp to another. she has talked about buying a bike because riding the metro is so dangerous (you know, bombs.) I promise not to tell where the photo came from, but I was able to obtain this picture of her on the way to a "make a projectile from tupperware" class.

Bye Camila, we miss you.

After two major shows and a line up of concerts, I found four days at the end of August where Nikki and I snuck away to one of our favorite play places. School was starting back that week, so hotel rates were great and parks were empty. Jolly good fun! We had a wonderful time sleeping and eating and playing and eating and riding rides and eating and seeing movies and eating. We've been to Disney World so many times that we take our time an do what we enjoy most... yes, eating.

We started our time at the studios. Rode the new Toy Story Mania (which is a bomb). The last two times we were at WDW, the lines were over two hours long and all the fast passes were gone. This time. we went there first. Everyone said it was a great ride, but not so. Completely uninteresting and not worth the time. The new American Idol experience was phenominal- a fun, energetic show. Must see it!

Took some time to allow the public see celebrities oout their feet in the cement footprints of people that are has beens. Nikki measures up to Audrey Hepburn.

From one genius to another- my hands are the same size of Jim Hensons.

Nikki testing her heels in the imprint left from Judy Garland's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz.

Magic Kingdom as beautiful as ever. We had our usual rides on Splash Mountain and dinner at the Liberty Tree Tavern.

Epcot was where we spent the least amount of time this go around. We need something new Epcot! Let me know if you need a creative consultant.

Not long after we returned, Disney announced they we buying Marvel. Too bad Wonder Woman belongs to DC- what a perfect marriage that would have been.

Is it time for another vacation? Right now we are rehearsing (and everything else that comes with a show) three shows at once. Am I crazy? Don't answer that.