Joyeux anniversaire

One year ago on Thanksgiving day, my family so kindly helped Rebecca and me cram our things into the van and our car, and endure a long drive from Charlotte to Chicago to move us into Chateau Byron!

2010

2011

Haha--not that much has changed in our living room..but it's still fun to look back at old photos.


It's shocking to think that it's December already. It's also shocking that it's December and we've only gotten a couple days of snow and it didn't even stick. I was bracing myself for blizzards every single day when November hit. That's what happens in Chicago, right? On our first day of the snow that didn't stick, I squealed like a 5 year old and threw on my coat to take a walk through the beautiful flakes, when the Midwesterners around me grumbled.

\A highlight of the past few weeks was my Thanksgiving break back home with my family. Due to the airline prices, I almost took a solo 15 hour road trip to NC, but thankfully I was able to get cheap flight on Priceline the day before I was supposed to leave. Everything worked out perfectly--from my friend Jill covering for me as a nanny for a couple of days, to pickup arrangements. Some things accomplished were lots of turkey and stuffing consumption, viewing the new Muppets movie the day it came out (Thanksgiving), hitting my favorite restaurants of my southern life (such as El Valle, Cracker Barrel, Bojangles...don't laugh...), trying a couple of new places, 1/2 off day at my favorite thrift store, and just all around family time including re-bonding time with the family pets.

The weekend before Thanksgiving, I held an Improv class party, which turned out to be so much fun. It was a potluck, and I made a huge crockpot full of Chili, and a crockpot with hot apple cider. Everyone brought delicious food and games for us all to play, and in one particular game which was basically "20 Questions", we all learned so much info on each other that I never would have imagined we would find out. That definitely makes for some great jokes and scenes in the future, haha.

We only have one week left of level B! Yesterday we did serious scenes during the first half of class, which turned out to all be amazing scenes, but so intense. As I was watching my classmates' scenes as well as improvising in my own scene, I was tapping into a couple of different personal emotional wounds, and it was extremely hard to switch out of that mindset when we began the non-serious funny scenes. That has always been the case when I've acted, but I didn't normally have to instantly switch characters like that. It's definitely something I need to ponder on more and work on.
In January we begin Level C, and from that level on we start class performances! So exciting!

Towards the beginning of November, I auditioned for Disney once again but this time it was a Princess look-a-like audition. This audition was another example of how much taking ballet has helped me in dance calls. I still need to gain a lot of dance experience, but routines are coming much more easily to me now. In this audition I got the farthest along in the process than I've ever been in a Disney audition. I made the cut from about 80 girls down to about 12 after we all learned a dance routine that resembled what you would see in a parade. After that, they went down the line asking each of us a few questions then giving us a good look over. I didn't make the cut past that, and I have a feeling it's due to my height, since most of their female characters average at 5'4"-5'6", but I'm definitely going to keep on trying.

I have a new roommate! Since my sister, Rebecca, hasn't returned to Chicago yet, her room became available after Jacquie moved to NYC. My lovely friend Jill moved in, and it's about time that she did since she has basically already been my roommate! One of the fun things has been our piano playing/singing together times. We keep on joking that we're going to have a Jill and Rachelyn concert at Chateau Byron and invite all of our friends to hear us.

This past weekend I was ecstatic to be able to see the actual Jerry Lee Lewis in concert at the beautiful Congress Theatre here in Chicago. I didn't know much about him until my friend was cast as an understudy for the role of Jerry Lee in the national tour of Million Dollar Quartet. The entire time I could not believe I was watching this man...this legend. His fingers could still fly, and he was adorable. He was also such a divo, but he has every right to be one. After the first band played, we waited over an hour after he was supposed to enter for him to begin his set. One man towards the front got so mad at the wait, he stood up angrily, chucked his chair onto the stage, and stormed off. The most embarrassing part for him in the scene he made was the fact that Jerry Lee's band came out 2 seconds after he turned around to storm off.

Lastly, I'm excited to be working with the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company as a chorus member in The Gondoliers. Rehearsals start in January, just like the past two shows I've done with them. Auditions were way earlier this year than the past years, but it was so good to see dear faces again, as always!

we GRADUATED

This past Tuesday was my last class of Level A Improv at Second City, and most of our class is sticking together and moving on to Level B. We're all so proud of ourselves for graduating on. :)  "Yes, and..." is something that was taught to us in our very first class, and I need constant reminder of it. During our second class of scene work, that principal completely left my brain, and I was over thinking and not just listening and letting it happen. "Yes, and..." means that whatever happens (no matter how awful you think it may be) is correct, and you just keep on going. This past class of scene work was definitely much better! Also, our lovely teacher Kimmie reminded us last week that there is "no room for egos". People are going to learn at different paces, keep them as part of your family and help them out. I'm excited for Level B! 

Our class!

     On Monday, I auditioned for Full-time character positions for Disney World, and I haven't been as proud of my other 3 auditions for Disney as I was with this one. No singing was involved, because it was strictly a character audition, but lots of dancing was. I still need LOTS of improvement in routine memorization, but ballet classes have definitely helped my drastically, since it wasn't an absolute flop like some of my dance auditions have been. Disney auditions are always inspiration for me, since I love them so much and it's one of my dreams to work for them, but this one just felt even more inspirational. Haha, some of the people in the audition room were complaining or being negative at times and I just wanted to turn to them and say, "Umm, have you done research on Disney expecations? They don't hire Mr. Grumpy Pants..."
At the end of the audition, they thanked us all for coming and told us that they will keep our scores on file for 6 months and call us as positions open up for our height range if we are wanted. Of course, there is loads of competition, because they audition weekly in Orlando, and they are also touring the U.S. holding auditions. We'll see! I'm definitely not going to ever give up on them, though! ;)


       Recently my dear friends Jill, Kristin, and I enjoyed a trip to Six Flags Great America. It was an unusually beautiful day (for October) with a high in the 80s, which made it perfect for roller coaster riding. Due to everyone else feeling the same way about the day, we were only able to ride 2 roller coasters, since the lines were so long, but it was fantastic catching up on eachother's lives, getting to ride our 2 favorite rides, splitting a funnel cake, and friend in a show there that was in the cast of Man of La Mancha with us. 
        

          Last weekend was filled with family, Carolina sun, wedding music, Chick-fil-a, and Bojangles Boberry biscuits, after I hopped on a flight down south for my cousin Greg and his lady Keily's wedding. I was happy to be a part by singing "The Prayer" with Greg's best man, and "For Always" while my brother Matthew and our friend Juliana collaborated on viola and piano. It was such a surprise to discover that Juliana was the pianist for the wedding, and it was magnificent to see her again. I know her from college, and she also attended the summer conservatory the same summer that I did. We became friends that summer and also got to collaborate together then!
Seeing family was lovely, especially since it has been at least a year since I've seen most of them.
       
       Denyce Graves gave a  masterclass at the Belk Theatre in North Carolina that weekend, and I got to attend!  I was 10 feet away from her, and soaked in every single piece of wisdom that she gave. She says, "Voila." in the place of "there you go" a lot, and it's adorable. She's gorgeous.

      Something that I wish I would have started a while ago is making it a point to go to open mics consistently. The past couple of weeks, I have attended one particular one with Jill (and this week Kristin!), and have had such a great time. It gives motivation to learn new material, it's great for meeting new people who are fellow music lovers, aside from the fact that it's great experience!

Here's a few smiles: 

Caramel Apples and Baked Pumpkin seeds!

Carved with my nanny kids!

Fall

Ever since I tasted my first pumpkin spice latte pre-autumn, I haven't been able to get apples, pumpkins, and leaves out of my mind. Although rainy, this past weekend seemed to be the perfect start to fall. It was a curl up with your favorite blanket, candles, coffee, and book/laptop/music, weekend. The goodbye to summer dresses and beach time was sad for a moment, but fall has so much charm making it greatly welcomed.

One of my desired activities to accomplish this fall is follow in my family's tradition of going apple picking. A temporary cooling of that desire was the idea of an Apple Fest in Lincoln square which is a neighborhood north of mine. Roommate Jacquie, my friend Jill, and I made an alternate plan of eating mexican food when the rain didn't look like it was going to stop, but the sun ended up popping out and the sky cleared. We were able to enjoy a little walk through of the festival, get inspired to bake apple pie, and I bought these little pumpkins and gourds!

Afterwards Jacquie and I went to mine and Rebecca's favorite thrift store, and I found 2 amazing candles to add to the Rebecca and Rach "candles that moms don't like to burn and burn them" collection. Here is one of them:

              

I was able to skype with my family Sunday evening (so lovely, too), and I was tormented by their enjoyment of my mom's delicious freshly baked Apple Crisp. So what did I do? Asked mom for the recipe, bought the ingredients, invited Jill to help, baked it, and enjoyed it with Jacquie and the neighbor Tom! We made WAY more of the crisp part than the recipe calls for, because it's the best part. Here's the delicious result:

 The next day I told Alexander about my fun evening, and I promised that we'd make apple crisp together sometime this week. I made sure to stick to the recipe so that they wouldn't get as unhealthy of an apple crisp as we made last time. ;) He was such a great helper!

   

For the performance side of life, there's a couple of exciting auditions coming up. One is this Monday and the other one is the Monday after I return from a weekend in the Carolinas (for 2 weddings!) October 14-16. 

I'm still madly in love with my ballet class as well as improv class. It's fun to see our improv class grow closer each week, and I'm glad that's happening. Most of us signed up for the next level which begins at the end of October. The goal is to keep on signing up for classes and become an ensemble together. 

Chateau Byron news: My dear roommate Jacquie, who has been subletting my sister's room since January, recently took an internship with a photographer in NYC, and she left our lovely Chateau Byron Tuesday night. I'm so proud of her in taking that gigantic move and jealous of the fact that she will be there during the BEST season to be in NYC.

Lastly, all week I've been thinking about the beautiful rainbow that appeared for a bit of time Monday morning. Alexander spotted it first on our way to taking him to school, and it instantly brightened up both of our days. Later when I got home, Jacquie mentioned that she saw it, and it was exactly what she needed, too. Here's the rainbow that brought lots of smiles!

                   

twenty-three

In spite of Hurricane Irene's scare of tearing up NYC, my sister and I arrived early this past Friday morning for a birthday celebration/fun weekend. We met up with our friend Will, went to my beloved Shake Shack (waited in line 40 minutes for that delightfulness..), and our brother Matthew arrived at our yummy lunch after taking a train in from CT to spend the day with us! For my birthday evening just before we went to Catch Me if You Can the musical, our friend Will brought out a cheesecake with "Happy Birthday Rach" written on it that he had made himself! The three of us got dressed up, felt fancy by splurging to take a cab to the theatre, and enjoyed the show immensely!

The next day was crazy, because they shut down all mass transit in the city and hardly any stores were open. On our way to enjoy brunch at a cute French restaurant, we laughed as Will wrote off all of the restaurants that weren't open, because "they weren't true New Yorkers". haha. Later, we found an open Walgreens and stocked up on water, snacks, and spongebob floaties, just in case it was a disasterous storm. The next morning we scoped out Irene's damage, which was thankfully not too much in the areas we were at, but there were so many people that were complaining that Irene hardly did anything and that everyone (including the mayor) was making way too big of a deal out of the storm. Becca and I couldn't understand their non-thankfulness. We totally would rather play it safer than sorry!

Sunday evening Becca and I enojoyed bonding time through walking to Union Square, stopping in a bookshop, and chatting over coffee at a diner called the Coffee Shop. We ordered coffee and chocolate layer cake, but the server guy brought back something that wasn't even cold but tasted like ovaltine instead of our much wanted cake, so she and I competed over who would get the guts to tell him that isn't what we ordered. She did it, and we finally got the cake! It was so good to have time to be together and just talk again since it's been pretty much since January since we've REALLY gotten to have bonding time.

She departed Monday morning, but my flight got cancelled til Monday night, so I had an extra day to spend there, and it was such a beautiful day for exploration. I got to hit most of my favorite spots! After I hugged her good-bye, I took a train up to the Met. I was all proud of myself for my decision to go there, then I got there and they said it's always closed on Mondays, but it ended up being a good thing, because I took a lovely stroll through central park over to the American Museum of Natural History (which was my place of employment when I lived there), saw my boyfriend Dum-Dum (the easter island statue featured in Night at the Museum), went to my favorite exhibits, and saw a couple of dear old coworkers. Next, my thoughts of hunger instantly brought me to the location of Shake Shack that I used to visit the most. It's right next to the museum at 77th and Columbus. After my chocolate desire was satisfied, I walked down to the Lincoln Center, felt instant inspiration, went into the Library of the peforming arts and was even more inspired by all of the music and theatre books, and I picked up a book on the Lincoln Center, and an opera score. I read and read, then went over to the Met Opera shop and felt more happiness inside as I walked into the Met Opera House. The moment I laid my eyes on a Met Opera Diva mug, I had to buy it, and as I was checking out I had a nice little chat with the cashier guy who thought I lived in New York. That's always a great feeling :).

After that I decided to walk many more blocks down to Times Square, stopped in the Disney store, and down to the Drama Book Shop at 40th. Soon after I went back and packed my things, had a quick smoothie with a friend I haven't seen in a year, then hopped on a bus to the airport! I even made a new friend from Germany who is visiting the states for 3 weeks while in the airport.

It was such a great trip and definitely wonderful to experience NYC again after not being there since October. One day Becca and I will return to live there. One day. :)

Since Man of La Mancha has closed, I've had time to have a bit more of a social life, since I withdrew from the show with the Savoyaires in Evanston. I was supposed to start rehearsals August 15, but I felt the need to take a break since I felt like I was spreading myself way too thin the past few months. It hit me when I got really sick a month ago. I'm so happy with the decision to withdraw, since I've had time to further myself now--for example--ballet and improv classes!

Ballet classes were on my to-do list for this self furthing time, but it was my friend Tiffany that got me started the very first class. She asked me if I wanted to join her in going to a modern dance class, but once I got to the studio I chickened out when I saw that it was Modern I-II, and the dancers in the class looked way more experienced, so I went to the Beginning Ballet class. I instantly fell in love. It amazed me the different muscles that we were working that I had never felt before. I was doing well until about 3/4 through the class when everything started getting more difficult, because I don't know any of the terminology yet. The teacher was impressed and recommended that I take her other class Fundamentals of Ballet in addition to this class so that I can learn the positions. I think I'm going to switch studios do to the distance, but I'll start back up again this week! I bought my very first leotard and ballet shoes, and I was so excited about them I wore them around my apartment for a while afterwards, haha.
 
Improv classes at Second City started up last week! I was very nervous the whole day about it, but was quickly put at ease when I got into the classroom, was amused highly by our teacher, and realized how fun it was going to be. I had no idea that the improv world was mainly men! There's way more guys than girls in my class, and that's the case for all of the classes. This is definitely going to be a fun industry to try to get into ;). I know I'm most likely going to be addicted to improv after this course. We get discounted and free tickets to shows happening at Second City, and our class is going to go together each Tuesday after class to a show. We're already becoming a family. How cute. :)

Can you believe it's already September?! There's a feeling of Autumn in the air on this labor day..it's a mixture of emotional feelings...more so about my wardrobe than anything else. Haha. I'm going to miss summer dresses, but fall clothes are fun, too! 

"Original" Primm kids togther again in NYC :)

"He's a madman!"

Jill as Aldonza, Lindsay as Fermina, and Me in my prisoner costume:

With Lane and Jill!

A description of last week: Exhausting, yet exciting.
Last week was full of being at work by 8am, leaving work at 5 to carpool to the theatre and arrive by 6, rehearse until 11pm, drive home, try to wind down and sleep, then do it all over again the next day. It was cool to see the show progress throughout the week until we opened on Friday evening. Friday evening was decent, Saturday was apparently not as decent, but Sunday was our best one so far minus the senior citizen man accepting a phone call and speaking for a while during an intense moment...haha.

I didn't fully develop my prisoner character until halfway through the week when we began to spend time working on our pre-show which was to happen for 30 minutes when the house opens. At that moment I had LOTS of time to think about it. I wanted the character to match the hairstyle that I chose to do. I teased, sprayed a ton of hairspray, and made my hair "nappy" for the whole weekend. It took quite a long time getting the tangles out Sunday evening in the shower, but I can't imagine how long someone with naturally curly would have to spend on their hair if it got into the state mine was in! Here's a closer look of one the days:

Mine and Rebecca's dear from Will flew in from New York City on Friday! We were able to really hang out on Saturday since I was so busy on Friday, and we enjoyed one of my favorite restaurants called Crepes a latte, gelato, then chatting and taking in the views of boats on the lake and the Chicago skyline at Montrose Harbor which is one of my favorite places to go. It was so much fun having him here! After the Saturday show (which he and my friend Denise went to), we went to one of my favorite Mexican restaurants here called Garcias which is in Lincoln Square. YUM. Hanging out with him flooded my mind with NYC memories from last Summer and our October visit when we thought that we were going to move back.

Will!

 Speaking of NYC, Rebecca and I are scheming a weekend visit on my birthday coming up...August 26...and I CAN'T wait. It has been almost a year since I've experienced the smells, sights, and Shake Shack (just one of the places that's a must do when we're there).

Cute story:
Last Friday, Alexander was going to have his first Tae Kwon Do belt testing. His parents had to fill out a form that described his home behavior, and a threat in getting a mark on his Tae Kwon Do form so that he couldn't get his yellow belt was what was used all week when he wasn't listening right away. Towards the end of the week, Alexander didn't like something that I said, and he said, "I'm going to tell your rehearsals and give you a mark, so then you can't be in your show and be on stage!"

6 months!

Monday I celebrated my 6 month anniversary nannying Sofia and Alexander! The family and I had a special lunch Friday to celebrate it after Alexander had a special program for theatre camp this week (which was adorable..so happy he got to go). I am still constantly thankful that I get to work for/with their family. It's so cute to look back and think of how much they have grown these past few months.

I know I'm basically being a mom, but I can't resist sharing this adorable Sofia video...

One more nanny related thing (Alexander's drawing I noticed one morning)...you know you've officially won a child over when you see this:

"Rahlen. I lev u." and if you need a translation: Rachelyn. I love you. 

Heart melting.

         
                     
This past week I was reminded how much I take good health for granted and what amazing family/friends I have.  I can't really remember the last time before this past week that I was too sick to even leave my bed. Last Friday I woke up with a splitting headache, but continued on to my nannying job. I was too excited for my weekend full of plans to really be bothered by the constant dizziness I had been feeling that afternoon. I got home after work to quickly get ready for "girls night" with my friends Jill and Tiffany, when I realized something was really up. I took my temperature, had a fever, called my mom, and she convinced me that I needed to stay home and rest.
My temperature had gotten much worse throughout the night, and I was extremely weak and achy, so I thought it was the flu. I knew I needed soup and gatorade to not get dehydrated, but I was too weak to go to the store by myself, but I didn't know who to ask or bother someone, so I prayed for someone to help. My friend Jill so kindly texted me about an hour later and asked if there was anything she could do, I told her my need, and she stopped by the store for me! Such a lovely answer to prayer.
Saturday morning's beach plans had to be cancelled, but I tried to rest up in order to survive going to my friend Matthew's birthday party since I REALLY wanted to go. I did go with Jill and survived, and I met a girl from Raleigh, NC who went to a Christian school that rivaled my school! So cool. I crashed into my bed the moment I got home, though, and my fever went way up that night. Because of my strange sore throat (sorry it's graphic--white/green mucous on my left tonsil, plus it killed to talk/swallow), splitting headache, and fever not going away, I decided to go to the target clinic, who sent me to the urgent care, because it turned out to be a really bad infection on my left tonsil. I was given strong antibiotics, a painkiller, I rested the next day, tried to take it easy the next few but got sick, and I didn't start feeling semi-normal again until Wednesday afternoon. Now I'm feeling much more like myself, and it's AMAZING.
I'm so thankful for my family who spent lots of time on the phone helping me and encouraging me, and my friends who checked on me and cared. My friend Tiffany even made me her special chicken and rice soup!
Now I'm REALLY set on cutting the chances of getting sick, I'm determined to take my vitamins and get into an exercising routine. :)

This week is tech/dress rehearsal/opening week of Man of La Mancha! Last week we began rehearsals with the pit, and it sounds so wonderful already. They're such great musicians, and our music director's ideas are perfect. We did a costumed run today, the set is almost finished, and everything is really starting to come together. This week is going to be crazy busy, but hopefully we all survive and kill it opening night :). Ticket info can be found here!  Here's the poster that Austin, (also our music director) designed:

Mine and Rebecca's dear New York City friend Will is going to be flying in Friday through Sunday and will get to see the show! I haven't seen him since October, and CAN'T WAIT to share Chicago with him. He is such a fun friend, and is one of the many reasons I miss NYC. Another dear friend, Adam, is visiting closing weekend of Man of La Mancha, which might be the last time I get to see him before he hopefully goes to Korea for 2 years to teach. So excited. I have such dedicated fans.. ;)...haha or maybe such wonderful friends. :)

Just a bit ago I got back from taking my nanny children to the beach, and it was a glorious time. Every time I go, whether with friends or the kids, I feel like I am escaping to the Bahamas for a couple of hours, and it's instant happiness. I guess it's because 99% of my beach encounters within the past 3 years have been my family and me happily walking off of a cruise ship and feeling the sand of either the Bahamas or the Caribbean in between our toes. I may have stated this before, but Chicagoans are right. The torturous winters are definitely worth the incredible summers. All of the outdoor seating at delicious restaurants, beach and downtown excursions, outdoor concerts, and cookouts are definitely making it fun. Speaking of cookouts, I felt like a grownup this past Saturday...my roommate Jacquie and my friend Denise got inspired to grill out, so I called up a dear friend for his amazing burger recipe, Jacquie and I stopped by the grocery store for needed items (one of them was charcoal...I had NO idea what kind to get...but the kind I got worked!), we borrowed the neighbor's Weber grill, and hosted our very first cookout. On the menu were burgers, grilled corn, potato salad, and baked beans. It was delicious!

Man of La Mancha opens in THREE weeks, and I can hardly believe how fast time is flying. I have great news from my previous update on my role in the show. I was originally cast into the ensemble, but since then have been given the role of Maria, the innkeeper's wife. I was ecstatic that not only I would finally have a Chicago credit with a named role, but also be able to gain more experience. The innkeeper is Chris Skyles who was in the past two shows with me, so it has been fun getting to be a shrewish lady towards him. ;)

Two days after Man of La Mancha closes, I will begin rehearsals for another show! I was cast into the chorus of the Savoyaires' (Gilbert and Sullivan troupe of Evanston--just north of Chicago) production of The Zoo and Eyes and No Eyes. Performances will be at the end of September through mid-October I think. It has been such a blessing to have been booked with shows since the beginning of the year! We'll see if another one comes a long after this one to make 2011 be an entire year filled with shows!