Our Christmas Day Traditions

People have been asking me what we'll be doing on Christmas day.

"Opening presents and eating dinner..." I answer.

"Yeah," they say, "but what about after that?"

"Uhh..."

See, we Lindleys don't plan out our holidays hour by hour. We don't like too. So on Christmas day, instead of getting up early, opening presents for an hour, eating, then moving on to the next planned activity, we stay flexible!

Take this morning for instance. We got up whenever we all woke up, which happened to be around 8am. The stockings were cut down from the banister and we pulled everything out!

After our yearly dose of chocolate and candy was revealed, Dad passed out everything from under the tree. We came out good this year! To name a few things - Mom got a couple new scarves, Dad got his traditional boxes of chocolate, Emma got the Guinness Book of World Records 2014 and an iPod Nano, and I got a cover for my Nook and a few new picture frames.

Oh yeah, and for movies... Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, Iron Man 2, and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. WHAT!!! :D

After we open presents, there's no big plan. Lunch will be at about 1pm, but Mom doesn't want us all in the kitchen in her way, so we get to decide what we want to do. 

It always depends on what we just got. If we got a game, we'd play that. If it was a book, reading session! This year, we watched Percy Jackson since Dad hadn't seen it yet.

Did you catch the Firefly reference in that movie? Yes, it's in there :)

Lunch was DELICIOUS! And after we figured out and used our new Sodastream machine (thank you Gramma!), we all split off to our different areas for a few hours. I claimed a spot on the couch with my nook and a bag of Gardetto's and chilled for a few hours.

And here I sit! Watching Alaska: The Last Frontier with Mom and enjoying our vacation.

Day 30 of our vacation to be exact....

Merry Christmas :)

What are your Christmas day traditions?

Stripping a Pre-Lighted Tree

My hands are white from dust.

I have bits of fake pine needles in my hair.

The garbage can is FULL.

Yes. We took the lights off our pre-lighted Christmas tree.

 

Why?

Because we plugged it in today and three feet of the colored lights came on and two feet of white lights came on. Total.


Why not buy a new tree?

It's cheaper to just buy new lights? And we'd already dug this one out of the garage and set it up... It's a perfect tree accept for the lights.


Well it couldn't have taken you that long...

56 minutes. Thank you for asking!


You just had to pull on them, right? They couldn't have been on there that hard.

Almost every single little branch had the light strand wrapped three times around it. Have you ever counted the branches on a Christmas tree? There's a ton! And there was almost no pattern of where the string of lights would go next... it always went in a circle but sometimes it decided to move up two levels.


What are you going to do for lights now?

We'll get some LED ones tomorrow and CAREFULLY lay them on the tree...

Now you don't ever have strip your pre-lighted tree of lights.

 

I've done it for you.

Stuck with a Bunch of Truckers

This past week, my family and I were on vacation at Disneyland Resort. After five days of utter bliss, we set out for home yesterday.

We were trying to beat the storm moving down from the north.

...we lost the race.

Now here I am, sitting in a hotel in Corning, California. We spent the night here last night, thinking that the roads home would be clear of snow in the morning and we'd be able to get home.

Well, no such luck.


Have you ever spent a whole day at a hotel in the middle of nowhere?


You haven't? Well, I don't recommend it. 

At least I have internet connection, right? Even if it's spotty at best, it's something...

This morning I spent four hours downstairs in the breakfast area eating biscuits, drinking apple juice, and going to every social media site I'm on while listening to the football game and the truckers in the background.

It turns out that our path home AND the grapevine (the main road to LA) are both snowed out and closed. Which is ironic because out my window is a perfectly blue sky with not a single cloud... but I digress.

What else is there to do though? There's a Subway in the truck stop across the street... nah. I could always upload some pictures or videos from our trip, or watch videos here, or watch videos there, or...

Or listen to Emma and Mom have a debate on what kind of coffee is better.

Wait... now they're on to which fast food restaurant has the best soda.

ANYWAY, while we and a bunch of truckers are stuck here in Corning, ya'll are stuck back at home with an early white Christmas.

Take a picture for me. :)

So How's Your Week Been?

A week has passed since the show closed.

A WEEK.

Weird, huh? One of the busiest weeks of the year and then after... nothing.

But I have to admit, for the showing being over, my week was still pretty awesome and "Journey-filled" :)


The court scene in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

At this time last week, I had just closed the show, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. With ten shows under my belt, it's hard to just pick one but... I think this might be my favorite show I've done :) Everything about it was great; rehearsals were a blast, the show turned out amazing, and I became much better friends with my cast mates than I was before.


 Then last Thursday was the end of term showcase for our Journey classes. The drama and musical theater classes were really good, Improv class was hilarious, and dance (my class) rocked it!

Friday was the pirate themed Director's Event. About 18 kids from cast, plus almost our whole Artistic Team got together to eat a BBQ dinner, play a hilarious round of Mad Libs, and watch the show. I can't stop thinking about how fun that night was :D

Saturday, the TREK (Teens Reaching out to Expand the Kingdom) leadership team went bowling to celebrate the end of a sucessful term of serving the community. We had led a diaper/underwear/sock drive to help out Northwest Children's Outreach, a local organization that provides clothes and toiletries to the needy.


And now, I am getting ready to leave for Disneyland on Thanksgiving. It seems crazy that I'll be out of state just two weeks after I closed my latest show... sounds like a packed out schedule! But I guess it's not as crazy sounding as leaving the country after just a week (like someone I know... :P)

Well, enough blogging. Time to get back to... packing? Nah... burning DVDs of showcase for people that bought them last Thursday.

I've always got Journey on the brain.

And I like it that way :)

It's Go Time!

If you were to see me right now -- listening to Taylor Swift, writing for NaNoWriMo, and waiting for Agents of SHIELD to come on -- you'd never think that the next week will be the busiest week of the year for me and my family.

Well... it is. :)

Tomorrow starts 13 days of Journey in a row. Journey being Journey Theater Arts Group.

Every day for the next 13 days, I will be doing something relating to Journey; whether it be going to a show, visiting a school for a docent speech, performing my own show, and working with my fellow TREK members to donate items to Northwest Children's Outreach.

Here's an overview of what I'll be doing over the next 13 days.

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Day 1: Wednesday, November 6th. Mom, Emma, and I will be going to see the 11:45am showing of The Phantom Tollbooth performed by Journey Vancouver in Fort Vancouver High School. I read the book a while ago and enjoyed it and it's also  one of Emma's favorite books. I can't wait to see it performed on stage! After that, we're coming back down here to Hillsboro and we're going to go around to fast food restaurants and nail down what the artistic team of our show will be eating for their dinners every day of show week. I love behind the scene work like that!!

Day 2: Thursday, November 7th. Emma and I will be taking an early step into character by donning our costumes and makeup and going to Life Christian School with our mom to tell the 3rd grade class about The Adventures of Tom Sawyer! Whenever we visit schools in costume, we show the class(es) that we visit a little sneak peak of a song or dance from the show. This time, we've decided to sing the very opening of the show... 20 seconds of "Ain't Life Fine" in harmony! We've had this job for seven shows, including this one. Oh, also Thursday night we have our Journey classes... Emma's in Improv and I'm in Dancing Through the Decades!

Day 3: Friday, November 8th. Before rehearsal, I have a TREK meeting with Rachel and Andee to put together our schedule for the next day's meeting with everyone. After that... Full Show Run Through! The show is coming along GREAT!

Day 4: Saturday, November 9th. Our last rehearsal! Exciting, yet... sad. That means that we only have one week left, then Journey will practically be over and we won't get to see each other again until the new year.

Day 5: Sunday, November 10th. MOVE IN!!!! The day we finally get to see everything put together! Sets, props, costumes, lighting, and of course the actors all come together on one stage at the same time. This is when we start noticing the little things that we didn't know were a problem until we get in the theater. Long skirts and lots of stairs... hope no one trips this week!

Day 6: Monday, November 11th. Our first official dress rehearsal, even though we should have gotten through most of the show yesterday. Should be a clean-ish run with minimal stopping to fix anything.

Day 7: Tuesday, November 12th. Running the show again; trying to get all the light changes and music cues perfect. There's a ton of background music in this show!

Day 8: Wednesday, November 13th. Hopefully, this day will feel like just a formality because we'll have the show down perfectly! And when we leave rehearsal, it's straight to bed for....

Day 9: Thursday, November 14th. School shows!! We have two; one at 9:30 and the other at 11:45. Hopefully, since the show is only 90 minutes, we won't have to cut anything for school day shows. That's always stressful, trying to remember what we did and didn't cut. After that is group pictures and then home to rest.

Day 10: Friday, November 15th. It's Opening Night!! The day has finally come! All the hard work that we've put in for the past six weeks has all come down to this... our performance weekend! After the show at seven, we'll head to Burgerville for our opening night party. Always a blast!

Day 11: Saturday, November 16th. Two shows today. Two!! One at three o'clock then we have a dinner break until our next show at seven p.m. that night. Only one more to go!

Day 12: Sunday, November 17th. A happy, yet very depressing day. It's our last show. It's about time to say good bye to the people we almost call family. At least, good bye for now. There's always the next show... which I am definitely auditioning for! But it doesn't matter how many shows there are in the future... this is the last time you'll perform this show with these people. So even though it's almost time for the strike party, don't forget to be the best you can be in this last performance. You don't want to look back later and think, "if only I'd done a little better. Then I'd be happy with it." Our last event with cast and crew is the Strike Party, following the show and cleanup of the theater.

Day 13: Monday, November 18th. Usually the day after a show closes, I crash on the couch and sleep for 24 hours. This time though, I have the opportunity to serve alongside my fellow TREK members (or TREKkies, if you're that kind of awesome person). We will be taking the new packages of underwear, socks, and diapers that we collected last Thursday to Northwest Children's Outreach. I bet we'll have a lot to give them!!

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So that's what's happening to me in the next week.

And I gotta say... I'm pretty darn excited!

November is a Month without Weekends

Usually on the weekends you get to chill at home, go to church, maybe clean the house, and relax after a packed and stressful week.

But for me, November will be a month without relaxation on the weekends.

And (contrary to popular belief) I'm not complaining!

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This month I have two major things going on. And one awesome thing that leads into December :)


1. National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)

November is National Novel Writing Month (as well as no-shave-November and NaBloPoMo, but I won't go into those...)

Starting November 1st (today!!), people all over the world write as fast as they can and try to reach the 50k words goal before the end of the month.

I tried it last year... and failed miserably. Then this past July (for CampNaNoWriMo) I teamed up with my sister and friend and we acted as each other accountability partners. We checked in with and encouraged each other everyday. Whenever one of us got stuck in our story, the other two gave suggestions until we were back on our feet and writing again. By July 31st, we had all completed our novels!

There are some little prizes you can win for reaching 50k in November, but the real prize is setting a big goal for yourself and knowing that YOU finished it!

This November, I'll be writing a sequel (Stranger Tides) to the book I wrote in July (The Quest). I have a rough outline of the plot, a little head start on the story, and all the twists and dramatic changes mapped out. I'm good to go! :)


2. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

This is a big deal guys! Even though this is my tenth show with Journey, the commitment is still just as big. By November 10th, the day we move into the theater, we've had six week of preparation.

4 hours Friday nights, 4 hours Saturday mornings... that's only 48 hours of rehearsal before we get to the theater!

This may seem crazy, but we do it! Like everyone on cast, I spend a lot of time at home practicing songs, memorizing lines, and running dances. We all have to work as a team to make this show the best it can be.

Even though there are only kids on stage, parents put a LOT of work into this as well. Props, sets, costumes... all of these things have been in making (or finding) since the first rehearsal. Parents are assigned to committees and they find everything we need for the show! So when you come to see it (which you will! Buy tickets here.) remember that you're not only applauding for the cast and crew, but for all the parents that made this amazing show possible.


3. Disneyland - Trip Six!
Yep :)

Ok, maybe this isn't an after-school or extra-curricular activity, but it's spending time with family which is just as important.

Here's a recap of our first five trips to Disneyland, in case you were wondering :)

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So as you can see, in November I don't have a lot of time to relax.

But gosh, now that I look it... this IS how I relax! I write, I perform, I create, and I spend time with my awesome family :)


Have a great November!!

Seattle Trip with the Theater Peeps!

I've only been to Seattle a few times, once to head on a cruise to Alaska, once on our way to Victotia, Canada, and several times as part of the Schools on Trains program with Amtrack. 

We usually go up and hang out with some of our homeschool friends, but this time was a little different...

 

Photo cred: Andee Zomerman

Theater geeks/homeschoolers unite! Here you see about one forth of the cast of Journey Theater's upcoming production of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer! :)

From left to right: Mrs. Sprague, Johnny Miller, Faith Harper, Widow Douglas (me!), Ben Rogers, and Mrs. Harper (and Narrator).



The train left at 8:00am for the four and a bit hour trip up to Seattle. We managed to grab the cool seats on the train: instead of four rows of two chairs all facing the same way, two of our rows faced the back of the train so we could sit in groups of four facing each other and talk.

We talked about Journey, Disney, Comic Con, and what we would do in Seattle that day.  The Lindleys, Hardmans, and Zomermans decided to hang as a group. We finally chose to walk down to Pike Place Market, find some lunch, then on the way back to the train we'd stop by the library.

Or course, as soon as we got to Seattle and started walking through town, it started to sprinkle.

Then rain.

Then POUR.

It felt like we walked for miles! It was really just about half a mile, but you try walking through the pouring rain in a town you don't know well.


Anyway, we hid under our hoods, stuck together, and managed to survive the down pour :)







We finally made it to Pike Place Market, but we decided to eat lunch at a sit down restaurant rather than walk around the market and try to find random things to eat.

I wanted to go to Red Robin, but everyone kept shouting me down. Can't imagine why... something about there being one in Oregon so it's not as cool? :)

We ran once more through the rain over to Hard Rock Café. All of us kids order off the kids menu because it was just easier to read then the adult one. I ordered the fried chicken wings with fries and ranch for dipping sauce.

By the time we finished lunch, it had finally stopped raining! We walked back over to Pike Place Market. We browsed the different stands, watched them throw fish across the room, and generally tried not to lose each other in the crowds.

Around 2:30 we popped out by the original Starbucks. You can't go to Seattle without visiting it, so we stopped by and each order a drink. I got a small Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuccino. Mmmm, so good!



By the way, did you know that the Starbucks logo is actually a mermaid with two tails?

Yeah, I didn't know that either until this trip...

I also didn't know why it's called Pike Place Market. But, you know, that's just me being me.


We wander around the market area for while. We found this guy that could play the accordion really well and it made me want to dance! Oh, we also went to see the gum wall.

I'm sorry, but that place is just disgusting...

And the smell? Yeah, ok... let's just not talk about it.


We started to head back for the train station at 3:30. On our way back, we stopped by the library for something I was really looking forward to! The four of us (Lindley girls and Zomerman girls) ran around the children's section and found all the books that go with all the Journey shows we've been in!



Photo cred: Andee Zomerman

It was awesome! Charlotte's Web through Tom Sawyer... we found them all! We even found a stuffed Cat in the Hat and Horton to go along with our Seuss books!

We made it back to the train station with half an hour to spare before we left! We passed the time by singing the cup song and making up harmonies on the spot. I guess that's what happens when you get theater geeks together :)

We boarded the Amtrak train at five and were soon on our way home. It was a long four hours, but we passed the time by visiting the dining car, keeping the younger ones of the party awake, and talking about Journey (or course!!).


The train pulled in early at 8:30pm, we said goodbye to our friends, and we were home by nine!

Definitely a wonderful, action packed day! :D