fun little Q&A

Benedict Cumberbatch answered this questionaire from The Gaurdian almost exactly a year ago. His answers are just too much. Love him to death! So here are my answers.

When were you happiest? 
Working on Peter Pan, being creative and having the answers.

What is your greatest fear? 
Pregnancy complications

What is your earliest memory? 
The station wagon overheating and getting water from a pond.

Which living person do you most admire, and why? 
The women of the BYU theatre department, they’re successful, spiritual, intelligent working mothers.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? 
Fixation on things I can’t change.

What is the trait you most deplore in others? 
Apathy

What was your most embarrassing moment? 
I don’t really get embarrassed. Uncomfortable? Acting class.

What makes you unhappy? 

What the world’s coming to.

What do you most dislike about your appearance? 
How wide and angular my hips are.

What is your guiltiest pleasure? 
Midnight chocolate chips.

What is your most unappealing habit? 
Talking fast and about nothing when I’m nervous.

What would be your fancy dress costume of choice? 
Don’t care as long as it’s glamorous, I’m in a corset, and someone else made it.

What is the worst thing anyone's ever said to you? 
“ I can’t believe you’re single!”…many are guilty, and welcome to the club. 

What was the best kiss of your life? 

My last first kiss.


Which words or phrases do you most overuse? 
Um

What has been your biggest disappointment? 
I’m not further in my career. I compare myself to those who’ve already accomplished what I want, not helpful.

If you could edit your past, what would you change? 
I would have tried to model before my hips came in and I got too old.

What is the closest you've come to death? 
Panic attack landing in Denver? at least it felt like it.

What single thing would improve the quality of your life? 
Industrial iron.

What do you consider your greatest achievement? 
Winning KCACTF Regionals. My NAPAT award was great, but Regionals was more of a trial for me.

What keeps you awake at night? 
Worrying about things I can’t change or control.

What song would you like played at your funeral? 

I Know That My Redeemer Lives

How would you like to be remembered? 
Loving mother and wife, and successful designer.

Tell us a secret 
I never think I've done my best.

Watson Face

My study abroad group saw Taking Steps by Alan Ayckbourn at the Orange Tree Theatre in London 2010. We first read it and Martha and I ate it up. Gosh, we still quote it ("I'm a dancer, Mark!"). Our favorite character in the play and the production was Tristram Watson. He's inarticulate and unassuming and adorable. He inadvertently causes most of the hubbub, and he has a GREAT face. The character has a great face. You can't not see a wonderfully lovely face when you read him. Matthew Cottle, as Watson in the Orange Tree production was perfect.

a much younger Matthew Cottle than we saw,
but you get the idea.

Martha and I started referring to this type of unassuming lovability in a man's face as being "Watson", i.e. "he's such a Watson" or "he has a Watson face". The unspoken sign of a Watson face is putting your wrists together and framing your face at the chin, smiling and squinting, like it's too much to handle.

Martin Freeman, such a Watson

It just so happens that Martin Freeman as John Watson in Sherlock also has a Watson face, absolutely appropriate, but the name derives from Taking Steps. Other Watson faces? Rory Williams from Doctor Who, Martha says Mark Ruffalo, which I partly agree with and William from Series 1&2 of Downton. 

Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams

William from Downton (Thomas Howes)

Amy from Doctor Who sums up the Watson face very well :
"You know when sometimes you meet someone so beautiful - and then you actually talk to them and five minutes later they're as dull as a brick; but then there's other people. And you meet them and you think, 'Not bad, they're okay,' and when you get to know them ... their face just, sort of, becomes them, like their personality's written all over it, and they just - they turn into something so beautiful. Rory's the most beautiful man I've ever met."


I know very few Watson faces in real life, but I know some and I love them. They're wonderful.

My friends are hilarious.

I love puns. So does Tess. We are hilarious.

Downton Abbey 3:1

Where to begin?! Kind of surreal to be watching new Downton!  and on a real TV too! Two hours is quite a lot to respond to! I thought about writing notes as I went, but that's like only looking through your viewfinder at the Eiffel Tower.

the turbans, feathers, and fur were astounding. 

:::Still dislike cousin Isobel.
:::Still love cousin Violet.
:::Alfred is so tall!
:::You can tell Shirley MacLaine's maid is British. Note to American accent attempters: Learn to say your R's, then pull back!
:::Poor Brendan Coyle has to film in that jail all the time!
:::Thomas and O'Brien's relationship has been more of a roller coaster than any other pair in the whole series I think. Disagree, I dare you.
:::Branson is still a twerp. Wah wah wah, I'm Irish. You might not like your in-laws, but at least be polite.
:::SO glad the visiting duke or whomever got so mad at his son for roofy-ing Branson. One of the highlights of the episode.
:::Teared up when Mary came down in her wedding gown, almost as much as when Kate Middleton got out of her town car. I'm such a cry baby about wedding dresses.
:::YES! They got married! And now Mary can ruin everything by being a pill! I get her side, I get his side. I don't know whom I side with, but I'm usually on Matthew's side.
:::Dan Stevens gained back any weight he took off for season 2, schade. And I was getting so accustomed to his jawline.
:::At first before we knew they'd lost all the money I thought Lord Grantham was still mixed up in that nasty maid affair. BOO!
:::Isis (the dog) is such a great character.
:::Matthew needs a haircut. Is it just me, or has he reverted back to the season one doughy/disheveled Matthew?
:::I don't know what I think of Alfred. I want him to get along well, but I don't like the American maid, so does that mean I don't like that they're together? I dunno, haven't decided...but Shirley's leaving so maid will be gone soon.
:::I don't know what I want for Daisy.
:::I'm not sure how I feel about a lot of things from this episode. I think I'll get more and more upset at Mary for harping on Matthew. I think that ginger maid from last season is going to upset me. I think Bates might get in trouble with his cellmate. Finally showing some guts.
:::So many pretty 1920s things.
:::Just let Edith get married and be done with it! Gutsy though to have all the youngsters married.
:::I can't put my finger on what's still missing from these episodes that series one had, and I don't know if we'll get it back. It might just be the loveliness of a new world that is now familiar. Perhaps a move away from the big house will be something like a new world.
:::Please please please make all the handsome well dressed men hold Sybil's baby when it comes!

And with that, I just want to put a plug in for the "Secrets of Great British Homes" or something like that...it's a series they're showing the hour before Downton about the great houses of Great Britain and their "secrets". Of course the premiere was Highclere Castle which was very interesting. Hampton Court and Chatsworth will be featured. I'm excited!

How To Catch A Wedding Bouquet

1) Be tall.
2) Wear heels. Being about 6'2" is ideal when all is said and done.
3) Go to the back. Most brides are worried they won't throw it hard enough and so over compensate and send the flowers sailing over all the anxiously awaiting single lasses. Usually just being tall and in the back is going to clinch it for ya.
4) Don't want to catch it. I've caught 4 or 5, or 6? After the second I was over it, but they kept coming. At this point I try not to participate but inevitably get shoved into the group, and put in the back bc the shorter girls figure that's a handicap. See #3.
5) Snatch it. Just reach up and get it. It's there, it's coming right at you, no one else has a chance. Just take it.
6) Pose with the bride.

The end.

I've caught almost every bouquet since puberty and am pretty sure all the girls that didn't catch it at all of those weddings are married by now, so obviously it works wonders :P

2013 Resolutions

I guess I didn't make any resolutions for 2012. I planned to, I have a journal entry saying "I'll write resolutions tomorrow" but I didn't, ever. Usually I write a journal entry reviewing the previous year's resolutions and make new ones. I don't have that this year, lame. My bad.

Looking at past years is encouraging and hilarious. I actually exercised this year which was a resolution for 2011 that I failed. I made another resolution for 2011 that I didn't accomplish until this year. Better late than never? I remember thinking that if I could get married in 2010 I'd've been 21 which I thought was a good age and 2010 is a good year for easy anniversary math. Obvs that didn't happen and I can't tell you how relieved I am by that! No relationship resolutions will I make for this year. They don't work and I'm not a big believer in setting myself up for failure.

I will also not make any new resolutions about the number of dresses or projects I want to accomplish and when. I always do this and it never works. I complete what I complete and am happy bc I didn't kill myself over it.

What else can I not make resolutions about?

My actual resolutions that I'm choosing to share with y'all:

-Read The Lord of the Rings books. That's pretty easy right? A whole year for 4 books is not hard, but I never finished Little Women this summer so...
-Try to go to grad school in the fall. Yes, try. If my current plan doesn't turn out to be the right plan then I reserve the right to not go to grad school and move to New York or Boston or some such place.
-Exercise. No specifics for this one. Hopefully I will find a way to be active before I join the gym again in Cedar, and will hopefully find a way to keep it up after I leave Cedar. I have no specific exercise goal, I just know that I'm firmer, happier, more energetic, have less head aches, am less stressed,  and have better skin when I exercise.
-Rock USF this summer. I'ma kill it. Take it how you will, but I'ma murder my third season.
-Complete the three dresses I said I'd make thus far: Striped dress, Merlot and Lace, and OND'13.
-Get real good at selling wedding dresses real fast. This if just for the beginning of the year. I know goals are supposed to be specific and blah blah, but I'm not exactly sure what's realistic and how that's measured right now.
-Make new friends, and keep the old. Cheeseballs yes, but I realized more than ever this year, especially since I'm not in a permanent place in my life, that my friends are very important to me and I want to keep them. I also made amazing new friends this year and believe you can never have too many. Will I be bestie best friends with everyone? No, but I can collect more people I like being around and that like being around me.
-Obviously this was the best year for my blog as it was the first year I regularly wrote. I will have on and off times for this little beauty, but I resolve to give all my faithful visitors something to read or see. It does take me quite some time to compose the more substantial, and usually more popular entries, so be patient! You've all been wonderful thus far.
-Learn one song on the ukulele.
-Don't be dumb.

Now, I want to know, what was your favorite entry/entries from 2012?

2012

Oh 2012.

2012 was unlike any year of my life. It was sweet, it was bitter, it had highs it had lows. I guess you can say that about most years, but this one was especially prolific in life experiences.

January I met and got to know an amazing group of performers and artists with the USF Education Tour.
February I competed at KCACTF Regionals and got to spend some quality time with my BYU friends and lived with my sister Ashley.
March was a month of travel. I went home for a time, and to Boise and caught up with the dear dear VDGs.
April I went to DC for KCACTF Nationals and won a prize and met amazing peers and saw the town with bestie Sarah and had quality time with sister Whitney.
May I moved back to Cedar and had a great build for Les Mis. I learned how to whip out a vest back, I got reacquainted with costumers from last year and made them my good friends. May was all about the costume shop.
June was much like May, except at the end I met the amazing actors I would work with for the summer and fall.
July was one of my favorite months. The Festival cools down once the builds are over and the shows are up and you really get to know people. I had the immense pleasure of getting to know the Scapin cast in July and will cherish my time with them always.
August was strange as the shows continued but the work doubled as build started and personal challenges came to a head. August darkened as the wonderful Summer company neared the end of its sojourn with us. It was the best, and worst of times for this year.
September was an odd month. I felt the loss of the Summer company deeply and the oddity of only running Les Mis while still building for fall. September was great however because with the loss of the Summer friends I really got to know my Les Mis cast and stronger bonds were formed.
October was lovely. I ran Stones and Les Mis and while the contract was coming to an end it certainly was starting to feel like it was time to move on.
November. Oh November. November was a stand still. I was home but waiting to go to Korea. Korea was a life experience I will love forever. I had wonderful experiences and met lovely people I now consider friends. After Korea I got into a rather nasty funk as I started to miss USF bad, and realized I was living in Nebraska for five months while it seemed like so many of my friends were onto much bigger and better things. The job hunt was also not going well.
December started much the same as November, but I eventually got a job and started making friends at church and things are moving in better directions. A friend coming through town, having Caitlin around for Christmas, and my bestie being home for the holidays has really picked me up.

So that was 2012. Sometimes lovely, sometimes rather bleak, always a learning experience. I'm still formulating what I hope to get from 2013 so that'll come later.