Thanksgiving

I can't believe it is already Thanksgiving! (Eeek! I have to go Christmas shopping!)

I can't believe I have almost been married one year!

wow.

Its crazy how quickly life goes by!

Battle of the Windows

Our apartment is a little sketchy. I enjoy the neighborhood, the amount of space is fine, and we have not only a bedroom door (which our last place was lacking) but also a washer/dryer right next to the TV. The guy who lives above us re-did the place himself. Its not bad for an amateur but it does have a few problems. The floors are not even, the front door was not framed out on the inside, we get a LOT of bugs and originally our toilet wasn't working correctly (he fixed that).

Currently our major problem is the windows in the bedroom. These windows leak like no ones business. They let in gusts of wind and bugs and dust. As it has gotten colder our bedroom has turned into an icebox. Last weekend when my parents were here my mom and I attempted to "block" some of this air. We cut large pieces of cardboard and shoved them into the window frames making the bedroom very dark and hopefully cutting off some of the drafts. After placing some curtains in front of the white cardboard it looks pretty nice, and it works ok. Not a decisive battle win but at least better than a draw.

Apparently it doesn't block spiders. I woke up last week with a HUGE spider bite on my face. We looked around the bed and found nothing. The next morning I had a HUGE spider bite on my hand (which is usually near my face when I am sleeping). That night we cleaned the entire bedroom, sprayed it down with bug poison and moved the bed to the other side of the tiny room.

So far I am spider bite free. Victory!

And the upside is we are further away from the windows.

A couple nights ago it got really cold and we could feel the wind falling in the windows (even past the cardboard) and pouring out of the electrical sockets. That night I went into battle with the windows again. I filled the big zip lock clothing storage bags with air, forced them into the window space and then put the cardboard blockers in front of that. After reinforcing this set up with our curtains the bedroom has stayed much warmer than before.

I'm declaring this one a tentative victory, for now.

Non-Profit Business Books

A few of the more "business minded" members of my fellowship are going to start a book club around non-profit management. Below are the choices we are considering but any other must reads would be helpful! I've read several of these books beforehand but a re-read is always important.

Theatre Management by David Conte

Drive by Daniel Pink

Switch by Chip and Dan Heath

Clearance and Copyright by Michael Donaldson

Sign-Up for Culture and Wired for Culture by Eugene Carr

Guerilla Publicity by J. Conrad Levinson

Secrets of Word of Mouth Marketing Silverman

Management and the Arts Byrnes

The Art of the Turnaround by Michael Kaiser

Theatre Management and Production in America Langley

Guerilla Marketing Levinson

Managing the Non-Profit Organization Drucker

Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty Mackay

Arts Marketing Insights Bernstein

Theater Law Chaikelson

The Economics of Arts & Culture Heilbrun

The Rise of the Creative Class Florida

Subscribe Now Newman

Word of Mouth Marketing Sernovitz

New Rules of Marketing and PR Scott

The Rights of Authors, Artists and Other Creative People Norwick and Chasen

The Tipping Point Gladwell

Standing Room Only: Strategies for Marketing the Performing Arts Kotler

(thanks to Chad for many books on this list!)

Family Time

Last weekend my parents flew in to visit. We had a great weekend trying out all the resturants in our neighborhood that are usually out of our price range, visiting Arena Stage, the National Zoo and the American History Museum. They stayed at a Bed and Basket we found through the New Columbia Heights Blog. It is just on the other side of Harriet Tubman from our apartment and was nice enough for them for the weekend. The only major issue they complained of was the noise from Wonderland.

Friday night we took a short tour of the neighborhood and then went for a delicious dinner and drinks at Meridian Pint.

Saturday we took in brunch at The Heights followed by a backstage tour of Arena Stage, a leisurely walk through SW to the National Mall and some museum hopping before dinner at Red Rocks Pizza.

Sunday we took the Circulator to the National Zoo, visited with the Asian Animals, the Birds and a few other creatures (including a brief look at the Panda) and then walked back to our apartment for football, dinner making and some small home repairs.

Monday morning we all grabbed some coffee at Sticky Fingers and then went our separate ways. It was really nice to see them and the weather that weekend was beautiful, I just wish they could have stayed longer.

(I don't have any pictures to post as my dad took them all on his fancy new camera.)

Fun Updates!

So some amazing things have happened lately.

My brother got a full time job as a DIRECTOR of news at a TV station in Madison WI.

My sister-in-law (brother's wife) was offered a post-doc position at a University in Kalamazoo MI. (How cool is it that I get to say she works in Kalamazoo??)

AND my other sister-in-law is having a baby in April. We are very excited for Button's arrival.

In conclusion, it is also FALL the greatest season in the world. Jackets, and wood burning stoves and pumpkin EVERYTHING, and holiday planning. I love fall!

Good things all around....

Rally for Sanity and/or Fear

On Saturday, the day before Halloween, my husband and I went to the Rally for Sanity and/or Fear with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. I was a little nervous as I do not enjoy large crowds or being squished and everywhere we turned in Columbia Heights people were discussing how excited they were to attend.

We got on the VERY crowded green line metro and then walked down from Gallery Place/Chinatown. The crowds grew and grew as we wandered down toward the National Mall. We managed to find a good place near the back of one of the audience "pens" and snuggled down to wait the start. At 10am they started videos and pre-show of past show clips discussing the rally.

The rally itself was pretty wild. Special guests Cat Stevens, the Mythbuster guys, The Roots, Sheryl Crow, Kid Rock, R2D2, Kareem Abdul Jabar, a huge Stephen Colbert puppet and video appearances by the flight attendant who popped the safety chute and others really rounded off a varied and very NON political rally.

The diversity in age and race and religious background was wonderful to see. Even the diversity in political beliefs was inspiring. Even though we had to walk all the way home, I left the day quite satisfied.

Pictures below...

Some of the Crowd

One of the MANY signs

Ryan and I after the Rally

Flags were waving during the song, "It's the greatest strongest country in the world.."

Our view of the Rally and the Capitol. Huge TV's were just off to the side.

Fellowship at Arena Stage

Wow. I am so bad at this blogging thing!

Since August 23rd I have been at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater in a fellowship in the Managing Director's office. I work with amazing people in a beautiful new building and I am learning so much about budgets and board relations.

On October 23rd we celebrated our Grand Opening with all day festivities including performances by Broadway stars, local talent, a few high school glee clubs, conversations with playwrights and a banjo dancer. This was followed on Monday by a high level amazing Gala featuring an amazing dinner and performances by Brian Stokes Mitchell, the Manzari Brothers and Alice Ripley.

One of the projects I was given when arrived at the theater was to assist in the planning and execution of the Alumni Brunch part of the Opening of our new building. We started opening day with over 300 of our Alumni spanning all of our past 60 years having brunch in the cafe terrace listening to amazing speeches from our past and present Artistic Directors. It was a beautiful moment.

Below are a few pictures my husband took of the day. More information can be found by googling "Arena Stage Homecoming" we have had tons of press so it should be fairly easy to find.

Kogod Cradle

Outside Stage

Inside View looking towards the Fichandler Stage

The Roof at Sunset

The Curvy Glass Wall