Motivated...with food

Ten days into phase one of the South beach diet and again I am seeing results. Four pounds down and none of my pants pinch uncomfortably when I sit. I have more energy. And the challenge of finding low glycemic substitutes for a lot of commercial products is actually a lot of fun.

South beach has never been a problem. I never found the early stages that restrictive. The problem stems from falling back on old habits...a few too many drinks on a night out, over indulging at a restaurant, snacking after nine pm...

Inevidably, those little fall backs turn into the bad habits I had cut months ago and the weight stagnates, or creeps back on. But this early, with the positive effects already so noticeable...it's so easy to stay motivated.

At times I can't help but wonder if some of my moodiness and stress may stem from a gluten allergy. Mild. But on a week without any flour products my attitude and energy has improved, my skin has cleared. It's worth looking into. We shall see what happens as I start adding baked goods back into my diet in a few weeks...

Another motivating factor to sticking with this diet (while food lifestyle really, but diet in its fundamental form refers to our overall eating habits...not just the weight loss regimes) has been my new blog Carpe Cibus. One of the few resolutions I made this year was to try out and document at least one hundred new recipes this year. Eight recipes in and the months not even over...not a bad start.

It's that sort of positive energy--a love and appreciation of food--that's really encouraging me. Your feedback there, on my foodie experiments keeps me all the more fueled. Please take a peek!

Under the Pile

The week of tech and dress rehearsals is often stressful. The final crunch has arrived and occasionally the shop finds itself just finishing up a project and getting it to the dressing room moments before wardrobe needs it.

Of course, all that rushing around is only done by the tech staff behind the scenes. Tech for the actors often means standing around in the wings, or sitting in the dressing room waiting for the next cue or transition...sometimes for hours.

For some reason this show was particularly straining on me, and I can't quite figure out why. The initial build was not that large. Granted, items were continually added, but that is par for the course. Perhaps the sheer scope of the show just hadn't quite sunk in. I do know I had several samples and mock up of my items finished well in time for fittings. Unfortunately, many of the costumes that were accessorized by the craft shop were a lower priority to the shop as a whole, as those accessorized costumes were rented or bought. Fittings for builds in house always take priority. So many of my questions waited...and waited...

Wigs too, works on a slightly later time frame. So despite the insane amount of time that goes into finishing a piece (hems, linings, trims...much of it hand sewing...) I may not actually see a lot of my work in a fitting on the actor until a week before tech. Maybe two if I'm lucky. And round about that time is when the shop is finishing up items to be distressed, painted or otherwise embellished. Work goes from minuscule to panic-inducing very, very quickly.

All in all information trickled in, or didn't come in at all, as was the case with my biggest headache of the week. A floral wreath of all things. Who would have thought a crown of flowers would cause wigs, the actor and myself such a nightmare...

It all boiled down to one stressful hell of a week, where I had far too much to accomplish with no help and too little time. And prioritizing becomes hard when most of the projects are in the first few scenes instead of evenly spaced throughout the entire show.

C'est la vie. Next week should be better. And then it's on to the next show. And this one is particularly exciting as the designer is a fellow Rutgers alumnus.

Of course that in and of itself has set me pining for a trip to the East coast again. Unfortunately with airfare what it is right now, it's actually cheaper to fly to London from here than NYC. Figure that one out. But, man is there many a friend and colleague out there I would love to see again. It's hard to fathom it's been almost four years since I've been out there.

And with things the way they often are, it looks to be several years before such a trip is likely to happen anyway. Wishful thinking...the mind of a jet setter stuck in the lower middle class demographic.

Someday.

Someday.

Shakespeare overload!

Tonight I have the joy of being transported back to London...at least temporarily. The National Theatre is sponsoring a series called NT Live! where they broadcast a live performance to various venues throughout the states. We are one of the lucky venues.

Tonight's treat: Hamlet



In addition to dwelling with the prince of Denmark, the last few weeks I have been completely surrounded by other things Shakespeare. We are neck deep in Winter's Tale (not my favorite by and means). Dress rehearsals start on Tuesday so we are in a bit of a mad dash. And on top of that, The Acting Company has returned with last year's Romeo and Juliet, along with a new production of Comedy of Errors. All week I've had the joy of hearing the matinees over the speakers.

What a privileged life, to be surrounded by so much...

Henna and Female Bonding

I am still incredibly enthralled with Middle Eastern dance. And the culture in general, even for all the crap that seems to rain upon that corner of the world.

A friend of mine indulged me and tagged along to the Jawaahir Dance Company's annual henna party. Part performance. Part fundraiser. Mostly women. We all gathered on the chilly Sunday afternoon in one of the room above an abandoned pharmacy that serves as the school's studio and classroom as well as the dance company's performance space. Pillows scattered the hard floor. We settled in small clusters to enjoy the show. Ensemble pieces, solo dances, a class exhibition, traditional and modern dance swirled across the bare stage. The audience clapping and cheering as the company shimmied, shook and twirled.
Mid-performance the raffle for henna by a professional mehndi artist as well as a full session of classes was announced. My friend's hesitation at having bought a raffle was dispersed as her number was called for one of the henna sessions. A few more dance pieces folloowed before the company began pulling the audience to their feet to share in the joy of movement.

The range of people, both attending as well as performing was astonishing...young as 6, mingled with those well on their way to retirement with a smattering of every group in between. Lithe girls undulated next to the more full figured apples of the group. And smiles were on every face.

And slowly the dance petered out as guests discovered edibles in the lobby and henna supplies in the next room over. Pillows and blankets sprawled everywhere. The two of us squeezed our way into a corner where I began to doodle with the tubes full of henna dye as she awaited her turn with the artist.It was fun, and relaxed. No pressures. And everyone in incredibly high and encompassing spirits. I recognized perhaps one or two others among the sea of strangers. But anyone of them could have been friends for all the communal joy we'd been sharing.

Rarely do conversations among perfect strangers flow so free for me. But there is something so accepting and welcoming about this community of dancers that seems to draw everyone out. I need that.

It's healing.

Shanghaied

So it turns out our New Year's Eve plans also ended up being the biggest debacle of the evening within the Twin Cities. Let me begin by reiterating that the organization was complete chaos and it was NOT the event that I had purchased tickets for. But despite that, we still had a great time. And knowing that Shanghaied is now synonymous with NYE debacles almost makes the fact we attended all the more exciting!

In the wake of the facebook comments, City Page articles and other negative feedback that had been circling around the event, I had emailed the ticket vendor, the promoters, and the generic event info email address my disappointment with how the event went down. The ticket vendor promptly replied with their agreement of the event's sub par execution...and offered a partial refund. Eventually I received a reply from the promoters and planners of the event...essentially laying most of the blame of the event's failure on the new location...

For those not in the know...Shanghaied was originally planned to be held at OM, an Indian fusion restaurant housed in a three story warehouse downtown. Several djs, as well as gogo dancers, geisha girls, gaming tables, premium open bars, a shibari performance, contortionists, acrobats, and a lot more was advertised...and advertised aggressively. In the eleventh hour the event needed to be moved. The promoters referred to fire code and capacity as the reason. And in the venue switch, most of the promoted entertainment got the axe.

So no. The event we attended was not the event we paid for. I pointed out my frustration to the promoter about his seemingly dismissive attitude about my complaint as well as his inability to accept responsiblity as the promoter for the event's failure. Several more emails were exchanged.

City Pages and the Star Tribune threw up blog posts and articles. News leaked of OM's immediate closure. And many guests were still cranky and in the dark.

As more facts came to light, it appears Shanghaied by OM and Thrifty Hipster will go down in the chronicles of poor planning and execution:

The owner of OM apparently owns the entire three story building and granted permission to thrifty hipster to host the huge NYE event throughout the entire premises. A lot of hours of preparation and planning followed. Fliers and poster were distributed. And during that time no one thought to contact the city to ask about permits for the owned, but unused space. The city caught wind when a flier for the event crossed their desk. To their credit, they immediately mailed a letter along with the permit application to the owner of OM. That letter was not received until Dec 17. OM did not return the application for an expansion of premises permit until Dec 28. The fire department arrived to do a safety walk through on Dec 29th. With the absence of an elevator and limited number of exits, they deemed the use of the entire building safe for a crowd of no more than 50 people (the restaurant which was up to fire code, excluded). The permit was denied. So with two days to go before the event was to happen, a new venue was to be secured, and the overall integrity greatly suffered.

Whose fault is it? I don't really know, nor do I care. But the promoter regularly claimed when all of the information came to light (as he promised to reveal by Friday, January 7th), we would see thrifty hipster was not to blame. He also repeatedly insisted ALL entertain had been present (though when sent a bullet by bullet email he did finally concede that most had in fact been canceled...)

Well...it's now Saturday and we have yet to hear back from the promoters about the result of all of their meetings this week...as well as their promise to "do right by you"

All in all...this adds up to an even more entertaining and dramatic NYE than we originally planned!

(But don't tell the promoters that...I still want them held accountable for their part in this play)

NYE with the crazies

I wouldn't expect anything less than drunken crazies, price gouching and insane crowds when celebrating New Year's Eve downtown, but the level or madness some people ring in the the new year with still astounds me.

Yet Ross and I still had an amazing evening!

We opted for one of the more publicized events this year...always a crap shoot as high publicity often leads to crowd control issues (a la Zombie Pub Crawl back in October). The theme of the event was what drew us in...Shanghiaed...an Asian speakeasy. A Indian fusion restaurant was working as a "front" for an underground club on the lower levels...VIP karaoke lounges, gambling tables, several DJs, premium open bar, go-go dancers, Javanese shadow puppets, human marionettes, and a shibari performance...

A lot to see, do and take in besides your customary drinking and dancing.

Our suspicion of the over marketing of the event was confirmed when the coordinators oversold and had to move the event for the restaurant to the event center of the nearby Grave 601 hotel. A beautiful hotel, but little can be done to a conference center to cover up the boxy, opened spaced feeling, when the original ambiance was closer, plastered in ornate Indian and Southeast Asian and divided into several distinct rooms throughout the restaurant.

At the hotel, instead of a restaurant with three distinct spaces serving different intentions and music tastes we were offered one large ballroom with one portion roped off for VIPs with the karaoke lounge somewhere down the hall passed the elevators. Orginally three dj's were booked for three different rooms within the restaurant, they ended up using one all night in large ballroom space. The bars were poorly planned with too few bartender to keep up with demand. The half hour waits for a drink were exasperated by VIPs not content to wait in their own VIP lines felt free to cut to the front of every other line...as far too many privileges were sold to really maintain the coveted VIP status. About half of the entertainment canceled with the venue shift. And they ran out of most liquor and beer by 12:30.

But you know what? I still had a blast.

The worst of the night for me was the tediousness of standing in line for a drink.

But the crowd mentality and joy of the evening was contagious. Most of the night was we spent tearing up the dance floor among the throngs of other human bodies. The music thrummed. The lights throbbed. Everyone was dressed to impress.

The highlight for me personally was the shibari performance and the subsequent conversation with a stranger of the male persuasion about what was going on, if it hurt, if women were really into that sort of thing and what had happened to 'normal' sex. I answered what I could, as straight faced as I could (yes...I have indulged in Japanese rope bondage before) and ended the conversation by asking if it looked like the performers were doing doing anything on the stage that remotely even resembled sex. He blushed and moved on.

Sometimes the knot work is just beautiful...

We barely got a drink in hand before the New Year and with little warning the countdown began. A toast, a kiss and the New Year upon us, we danced with even more vigor and the crowd of crazies became even more inebriated, and began to thin out as the new year tolled on.

One perk to a conference center setting many a drunken woman discovered later in the evening as several propped themselves up pathetically, shoes kicked off, waiting for their man to return from coat check.

Upon exited the hotel, coats, hats, and scarfs snugly engulfing us, we were bombarded with not only the cold, but also the intoxicated Midwestern stupidity of cocktail dresses and high heels scurrying across busy streets with nary a coat or glove in sight.

We barley managed to hail a cab, but upon learning he wanted to charge $25 for our 5-6 block commute, but decided to hoof it instead, and leave the warmth of the vehicle to the more scantily clad of the evening's revelers and carousers.

Being in the thick of the celebration, despite my aversion to crowds and people in general, was truly incredible. And a raucous way to start of what should be a very, very good year.