Initiation #1 & Moustaches.

The Bucket List began to take on written form a week ago. 

First one to be crossed off the list was a visit to "Sticky Rice", the popular Richmond sushi restaurant. (Part of its appeal comes from the fact that you get an entire bucket of Tater Tots to share whilst you wait on your order.) 
  It's a small place, so often crowded, constantly busy & usually with people standing around waiting on the next available table. (Marks & Sparks £5 "To Go" this is not.)
So that was Friday night. 

 

The first initiation of my Weekend started here.

Cool Whip. 

I've put off employing this product so far despite my previous endeavours into cheesecake creation territory. I couldn't quite grasp how something came out of the freezer, was thawed & la! became a topping. On this occasion however, I had my pie crust ready to go. I'd found the above Jar of Deliciousness in the way of Peanut Butter. My quest for a recipe brought me here: easiest ever. I did have a Dalek to also be crafting on with, after all.

I still felt somewhat of a cheat & slightly corrupted though. You know when you know that something is bad for you but you're not quite sure why? Exactly. It's a very North American product, after all. (I think the main bone of contention may pehaps come from Mom's Public Enemy #1: High Fructose Corn Syrup.) 
   But it's pure convenience in a tub, as light as air, for just 99c.  Wired Magazine sure has something to say about that one:

Consumers are paying 41 cents per ounce for mostly water and air:
twice the cost of homemade whipped cream.

"Cake Bowl" Mix ... Finger-lickin' good.

No matter; I have no photos to show of the finished pie (with sprinkles!) because it was gone in the space of half an hour. Turns out Cool Whip, Peanut Butter & Cream Cheese works out pretty well as being pretty tasty. Even the Birthday Girl missed her chance for a slice. Mainly because she was already in bed by half eleven. But we partied on in her honour, stopping to light cupcakes & sing at midnight. Then Jenna came, bringing moustaches & pizza. Excellent gifts!

The unpeeling process was fairly intense:

 

 

But the Wearing Of
was awesome.

(I was Einstein.)

  Afterwards we decorated the apartment with surprises for Emily on her birthday:

The front door's looking mighty fine at present.

More affirming messages for our bathroom as left by The Manly Man.   :)

Salad pot, yoghurt pot, egg carton, tin foil, cellophane wrap
leads to...
the aforementioned, work-in-progress Birthday Dalek.

Midweek. (The Bucket List Begins.)

So we pre-Gala'd on Saturday & it was Good. The mannequins behaved, got dressed quickly & didn't answer back. Perhaps our new, far quieter, potential clients?  ;) 

A far swankier photo taken later on into the evening: 

http://robynoneill.com/

The Hat from The Wedding

 


The tables were decorated with hats & headpieces from previous productions as well. 
   

Made me laugh to notice this one, used in a scene for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. ^

Oh & some Local History for you which I skipped over the last time: 

There's a lot of 'gators in the Jefferson's hotel shop. Reason being that following a grand re-opening in 1907, alligators were present in the marble pools of the Palm Court & the lobby ~  just swimmin'.... 
Alligators were a feature at the hotel up until 1948, when Old Pompey, the last alligator died.

__________

I've been privy to a lot of theatre this week:

Sunday night, I crossed the bridge to Manchester. (Yes, I know.) Destination: "The Shop" to see BC's staged reading of "Osama The Hero". Kinda odd to see a bunch of Americans take on a play from Saath Landaan, set on a housing estate. 
  We talked it over afterwards & agreed to agree that it doesn't entirely work. Some of the vocabulary was swapped around: sneakers for trainers; a bag of potato chips for a packet of crisps - but not all. So notably, at least to my ears, there was mention of Tesco's & Sainsbury's and a catalogue of British newspaper names. It's a tricky line to navigate. 

IDR: "Invited Dress Rehearsal". As the Tours begin to leave town, I'm being dispatched to watch dress rehearsals & take final notes for costume tweaking. That which doesn't quite sit right or stay put.

3) The Mysteries of Ancient Egypt
2) Sweet Chariot
1) Hugs & Kisses

"Sweet Charioty" sounded just beautiful. (Everyone keeps calling it by the Musical's name so I've quit with trying to refer to it properly.) Lovely voices, the three of them. 

A sneak peek at their set. It's cleverly done on flats. Simple but effective.
 
Easy to turn around for a "reveal" at the end,
easy to load in & load out amongst the tour actors at each venue.

Just the one errant flying hat. For the first time ever in rehearsal but still,
I stitched a haircomb in nonetheless to anchor it & prevent a repeat of any additional drama.

Today I got to see "Hugs & Kisses" - the music is frustratingly catchy & often repetitive but in terms of the work that particular cast will do over the coming season, that's the most significant part. Here's why. Theatre IV/the Rep are understandably proud of & quick to promote their signature TiE show. 

     I've been working on Thumbelina tour alterations ... I've been making a butterfly.  :)

Happy Fabric!

 I've been making the Richmond robots famous too! 

The weather... my goodness, the weather!

From  snow to summer heat to wild winds, I'm only just keeping up.

 Yesterday hit 74F (24C) & we've been down in the thirties for weeks. 

(I rather enjoyed people talking about things freezing at THIRTEEN degrees. How? What?!)

So I grabbed my pink summer jacket & I grabbed Billy-Christopher & we headed for the Canal Walk. There's something incredibly empowering about introducing someone to something in their own town. Yup, back at my favourite spot in the evening light. Lovely.
 

River Reflections

 

I did it! I braved it! ...

Scene from inside the Penny Lane.

Oh yes.

It wasn't so bad on the inside. Rather friendly & cosy in fact.

Over a shared English pint, we started compiling my Bucket List
with help from the helpful Liverpudlian barman.
 
.... I have things yet to achieve, places to visit here before I leave!

The Viewing of the Dress.

On Wednesday, come over & see the original dress...

So read our invitation from Colleen Callahan, regarding her project for the Maryland Historical Society. We were invited to see the original dress from c.1805, of sheer muslin, which belonged to "Betsy" Patterson Bonaparte.
   Betsy's dress had a long train & a very interesting cut in the lower skirt to help keep the train to the back. Colleen was working on a replica slip for use once a realistic form had been made in NY for the "scandalous" dress.
   There was also a silk brocade dress from the late 1780s that belonged to Betsy's mother, being mounted for display in the same exhibition.

So exciting to see these historic garments, up close & be able to look at them straight on!

Braw.

January 25th = Burns' Night. The morning began with an online exchange over possible ways in which to celebrate it &/or to capture a veggie haggis.

1) Drive 45mins to Chesterfield County to Haggis Drive. Just because.
2) Stop by Scottish Inns for a wee dram of Whisky. [Grasping at straws.]
3) Resort to McCormack's in Shockoe Bottom in hope of cross-Celticness. [Quickly vetoed.] 
4) Stop by Richmond's #1 Whisk(e)y "Grill & Smokehouse" in hope.
5) Veggie Haggis D.I.Y! The winner!


....  My theory being that if I waved a tantalising-enough recipe challenge under The Manly Man's nose, he'd take the bait. Mission swiftly accomplished:
 

TMM: " I have to warn Doug about the haggis invasion."  

As it happened, Doug wasnae bothered & was in fact well up for cuisine a l'Écosse. Hurrah! 

First things first, amidst the shallow mid-winter snow,

a stop by: 

I remembered seeing Scottish labels from our previous visit.

... Memory proved right! 

A Most Handsome Line-up.
Finding BrewDog was an absolute coup!
The Traquair was tasty too, hoppy. 

Three's Company.

It had to be Haggis, Neeps & Tatties. I wasnae cutting any corners whatsoever on this yin.

Introducing Mr. Swede, better known as "Rutabaga".

Doug & I chopped & ground & opened cans & bottles. TMM shouted requests from the stove.

- Doug Logic: "We're all wearing slippers so it's going to be a success!" -  

And so it came together, bit by bit: 

Skillet.

Carrots.
Onion. 

Kidney beans.
Lentils. 

Oatmeal. 

Mushrooms.
Celery. 

Vegetable broth.
Egg. 

Ground hazelnuts. 

Chopped peanuts. 

All spice.
Cayenne pepper. 

Lemon juice.
Soy sauce. 

Salt & Pepper. 

The Manly Man: "I feel like I'm cooking for a [...] army."

As we waited for the oven to do its thing, there was whisky (Canadian) & dancing (Scottish) - Gay Gordon which left me breathless, laughing & on the floor. Favourite ceilidh dance ever. And the three of us going all out on a freestyle 500 Hundred Miles around the living room.
It was turning out to be Burns' Night with a definite twist but the best traditions still upheld.

We did it by the book:

(Well, via an iPhone & the internet.)

The Selkirk Grace; The Ode to a Haggis. 

A most awesome alternative Burns' Night night.   :D

Yay-gis!

The Week In Pictures

Monday.

The Great Carpet Shift started in getting that old carpet shifted & out. Still, if I'd been walked all over since 1986, I reckon I'd be looking a bit grubby by now too.

Word of the Week:  

The base boards were all replaced.
(Still prefer skirting board. 

It indicates the flow & fall better.)

@ "Triviaoke"
(An event usually better known separately
as a "Pub Quiz" then followed by Karaoke.)

Tuesday.

Hey Mum!  They were at the dry-cleaner's! I was right!
Looks like I'll be staying through 'til May after all!

The Great Carpet Shift meant we got to move from Top Floor to the stock floor over at 110 ('One Ten') next door. It was a bit like camping, I just kept forgetting the S'mores. We weren't left wanting for company though.... 

Six of them stood round in a circle. Looking a wee bit creepy.
The thought of Stone Angels happened to flash through my head a few times....

Wednesday.

Board Game night at Sarah's! Or more properly, the Princess Party. These PINK! pretzels totally fitted the bill. (It's a cherry yoghurt topping. Mmm-mm!)

Look at all that Shiny!

BC was "totes the ho'" in scoring the black ring. He could no longer be a Pretty Pretty Princess.  
    Despite my best & bravest attempt - being ahead by collecting more jewellery early on, managing to put a break in the tiara to try & delay his catching-up with me - 

The Manly Man still turned out to be the Prettiest of us all. Hmph.

Thursday.

Shoeworld. Slave hats. School report (the Mid-term Evaluation I have to submit) with all straight As from Sue. Yeah!
 
"Huck n' Tom" tour alterations (often rephrased somewhat by rhyming slang in the moments when we don't care so much for that particular show...  ;) )
______

Take that last Thursday! 

This Thursday we Achieved! 

Fine wine, fine company &...

....  Nice.

(I got kinda excited by the cleverly state-shaped
logo of this guy sat in front.)

Friday.

It's a snowy & white Burns' Night as I type!  (Burns' Night insofar as I can celebrate this annual event - stranger in a strange land - there's no wee bags from Scotmid to help me out on this one. I'm thinking it'll be a D.I.Y. affair this year. Needs must!) 

Word of the Week II:  

It comes down to a toss-up between a D & a G. 

The Yanks happen to think they're right. Sledding vs. Sledging. And then there's also sleigh. Hm.

The last of the tour fittings was crossed off today. My Sweet Chariot tour is packed up & ready to go out on the road. Just a few re-fits remaining.

It looks so spacious when it's so empty!

The new carpet is in!
We get to move back over next week.

 














I've been trying out some Smoked Elk.
(Steady on Parentals, the meat-eating's not taken off that far.) 
That is to say,

in distressing up a Plantation Hat with that shade of spray.

And now for the Weekend. Yay! Tomorrow's Anything Goes fundraising Gala is All Go.

Shoeworld.

"... & some shall be banishéd."

I spent the day in the 'tropics' at the highest balcony in the November. 
Sorting, sorting, sorting.

in "Shoeworld"

Last week's being the Restocking Queen involved Hefty ziplock bags aplenty.
This week is not so quite straight forward as merely size, colour & shape. This week's about style too. Historic periods et al. I'm hoping my History of Costume will save me otherwise the shoes ain't gonna be sorted anything like ship-shape (nor shoe-shape).

In other news: 

It's Martin Luther King day! 

It's 'God Bless America ~ Mr. Obama officially doesn't have to move house' day. 
(He's been inaug-ed again. A far more pleasant & celebratory affair than the verb suggests.) 

It's 'Spend Seven Hours in Shoeworld' day! 

(It was not however, so much of a 'Jolly Holiday with Mary'. Parasols stand easy.)