Some nice people in my office said they heard I made cakes and asked if I would make their daughter, Rylee's, 10th birthday cake. I didn't think before saying "Absolutely I will!" Then I thought for a moment and asked when they would need this cake and learned I had just two days to make a two tiered sheet cake.
Rylee loves pink and zebra print so they asked for a pink zebra cake. I showed them the cake this morning and they loved it. I cut everything (including the letters) out by hand except for the stars (I have star cutters). So anyways here it is!
Just the beginning of the zebra stripes (which I cut out by hand)
Zebra stripes = Completed
Second tier is on!
Yay! Completed! I cut out those letters by hand.
It was exhausting, but I think it turned out well. I am pleased and so is Rylee's mom!
I did it. I made lady bug fondant cupcakes. It took me a while and the fondant was annoying at first because I wasn't used to it. I did a little bit of research on the best tasting fondant and everything I found online said that Duff Goldman's line of butter cream fondant tastes the best. The last thing I wanted was to have disgusting, foul smelling fondant on my cupcakes. I tried a little and it tastes like candy corn! It must have been delicious because Lilly ate the entire lady bug off of her cupcake. This post will be mostly photos of my fondant lady bug cupcakes. So here they are... (I went a little Instagram crazy...)
These are just the fondant toppers before I placed them on the cupcakes
After Assembling the cupcakes
Cupcakes on display st the party
My cupcakes with the professional cake by wedding cake baker/designer Edith Hall in the background
Me posing with my delicious little masterpieces!
So I discovered I do like to work with fondant. This is good because yesterday I was asked to make a two tier pink and black zebra birthday cake for someone in my office. They need it tomorrow. I am freaking out a little bit, but I am also really excited! I hope it turns out OK. I'll post some photos after I finish which will probably be very late tonight...
(Ok, I want to start off by saying that I am very, truly, sorry that this may sound a little complain-y)
I am an ice cream snob. I have been searching for the perfect ice cream sundae in Columbia, Missouri for three years. Ice cream is very important to me as you shall learn as you continue to read... We have lots of fabulous ice cream places, but none that fit the demands I shall make now:
My perfect ice cream place will be a sit-down restaurant. They don’t have to sell ice cream and sweets exclusively. I’m not quite sure why, but I don’t want to watch you make my sundae. I want it to be a glorious mystery. I also like the relaxed feeling that I’m here to get my ice cream and stay. Not get it and bring it home, or eat it standing up outside your crowded establishment. For the sundae to really, truly be enjoyed I must be comfortable and relaxed. I think the atmosphere is very important and eating ice cream at home doesn't quite feel the same. Plus it melts on the way there and the consistency is very important to the taste of the ice cream. If I wanted cold liquid cream I’d buy cold liquid cream.
They will have a minimum of 25 flavors at any given time and choices of at least 15 toppings, both wet and dry. Flavors are important. I want to be wild and adventurous while not risking too much. Toppings are equally important. I want to create perfect pairings of sweet and salty, chocolate and fruit… The perfect pairing of ice cream flavors and toppings is an art and a science and should be treated as such.
They will not mix the ice cream and toppings together into a cold mush. If I wanted cold mush I’d let my 1 year old daughter make me an ice cream sundae. Yes, I admit, I used to love Cold Stone. I thought it was soooo great. But then, I realized all their ice cream has the weirdest consistency after they added the “Mix-ins” and it didn’t taste very good. I don’t want my ice cream played with. Or tasting like chemicals. P.S. Hot fudge should be just that, HOT. Chocolate syrup is NOT hot fudge. Chocolate syrup is that cheap stuff you buy to make chocolate milk with. It doesn’t belong in an ice cream sundae.
The toppings would be layered at least twice, meaning there would be ice cream, toppings, then ice cream again, then more toppings. That’s how you do it. This is just good sense.
They will have WARM brownies for their ice cream sundaes and WHOLE bananas for their banana splits. Part of the reason why a warm brownie tastes so good with an ice cream sundae is the contrast of the hot and cold. A brownie must be also be warm to really soak in the flavor of the ice cream. As far as bananas go, even in their off season they do not cost more than a dollar a piece. Charge me a little more if you have to, a banana split is not a banana split unless you split a WHOLE banana in two. I didn’t order a banana half. Geez, and I was trying to be healthy!
To be perfectly honest, I have only found a very select few places in my life in various locations that meet all of these requirements, so Columbia, Missouri is not alone here. The single greatest place I have ever had an ice cream sundae would probably be Serendipity. Well actually I also really enjoyed the “Everything But The Kitchen Sink” sundae at the PCH Grill at the Paradise Pier Hotel at Disneyland. It is served in a kitchen sink…
Famous, expensive, and wonderful, I have only been to Serendipity twice, but it was worth the trek to Manhattan from Long Island and the $15 bucks. One of my life goals is to try their Golden Opulence sundae, which at $1000.00 is a Guinness world record holder for most expensive Ice cream sundae in existence. It even has its own Wikipedia page. It freaking has REAL gold in it. And caviar. I don’t much like caviar, but for thousand bucks I’d lick that little caviar dish clean.
The “Everything But The Kitchen Sink” sundae at the PCH Grill has 10 scoops of ice cream, 2 candy bars, 2 cookies, 2 brownies, and a ton of amazing toppings served in a large bowl fashioned to look like a kitchen sink with a faucet and everything! Too bad hot fudge didn’t flow out of the faucet…That would be killer…We went there for my birthday in 2007. There were four of us, and even though we worked together, we couldn’t finish that sundae.
I do really love Sparky’s, it’s a local Columbia, MO ice cream shop and all the ice cream is homemade. They have very interesting and delicious flavors. Back in the spring when the cicada’s were plentiful, they were serving up chocolate covered cicada ice cream. But they also have some less bug filled flavors like a red wine and chocolate, honey lavender (one of my faves), and occasionally maple bacon. Though they don’t meet a few of my requirements, I would never pass up a trip to Sparky’s!
So in conclusion, I think I should open up a fancy schmancy high-end ice cream restaurant. I would hire my sister and her boyfriend, Mike, to help because they make their own ice cream that is super incredible (or so I hear). We would also serve pancakes. And Crepes. Maybe waffles.
What is your favorite ice cream flavor and who makes it? I need some new suggestions for new flavors to try! Do you know of any great places to get an incredible sundae that would meet my demands? Do tell! I’m willing to travel!
Above: Grand Opulence Sundae by Serendipity 3
Below: "Everything But The Kitchen Sink" Sundae by PCH Grill, Disneyland (you can't tell from the photo, but the bowl has a faucet to make it look like a kitchen sink! And this bowl is the size of my head. My whole head.)
Here are some photos from July 4th weekend. I am too lazy to post anymore than this right now, but I know what a treat it is for you all to view the family moments I capture on my iPhone, and I would never dream of depriving you of this joy. What did you do for the fourth?
Tie dye was on my list because it just looked like something neat I could do. Yup tie dye is neat. Actually, no, tie dye is very messy. It is three days later and my hands are still purple. Despite all the messiness, tie dye was really fun. Andy tie dyed with me which made it even more fun. We had to wait for the baby to go down for her nap because permanent dye and a toddler probably wouldn’t be the best idea and I didn’t want to try it and find out.
We began mid-morning on Saturday. The weather had cooled down from the previous week’s unbearable heat. It was quiet and calm outside and it made tie dying soooo relaxing!
So in case you are keeping track: Tie Dying= Relaxing. Yoga=I want to kill someone.
We mixed up about 8 colors. I had bought a couple of things to tie dye and we also ransacked our dresser drawers and closet looking for anything white we could add a little (I mean a lot) of color to. We don’t own a lot of white. We prefer black or dark colors. They are slimming. Tie dye is not slimming, but oh so fun!
Andy did an amazing job of tying up the shirts so it would create these really cool patterns. I just wrapped the heck out of my shirts hoping for the best…
The only thing that was a little frustrating for two people with ADHD who need instant gratification, is that you have to keep the shirts wrapped up for 6-8 hours before you can see the results. So Andy and I both went to try and fit in a nap before the baby woke up to pass some time. Then luckily, since my parents were visiting, we went out to lunch and did some shopping. By the time we got home we could see how our shirts turned out!
I learned a valuable lesson: Wear gloves when looking at the shirts you tie dyed 6 to 8 hours earlier. Or you hands will be purple FOR DAYS. Also, you can’t just open up the shirts and leave them to dry. You next have to rinse out all the extra die and wash them 1-3 times separately in the washing machine. OY, I didn’t realize this was such a complicated process. Good thing it was fun!
I would tie dye again. I definitely would. I would have lots of extra gloves on hand though. Hahaha… gloves on-hand…. Ok, sorry.
Above: Clothing prepared for Tie Dying
Below: Tie Dye Materials
Above: And now we play the waiting game...
Below: Shirt #1 Unwrapped...
Above: Shirt #2
Below: Shirt #3 (I am very proud of this one!)
Above: Andy's amazing Como Derby Dames shirt! He did an awesome job!
Below: The tub after we rinsed the shirts. This is why you might not want to try this at home... It is all cleaned up now though, incase you were wondering.
Below: My purple dyed hands...
Above & Below: The little one sporting her new tie dyed top!
Yesterday afternoon I accomplished another one of my goals. It was a total failure.
Andy took me to a yoga class at the gym. I was super excited to go. I thought it would be fun because I usually like the classes at the gym. My mom, Andy and I arrived at Wilson’s Fitness about 20 minutes before the class. The classroom looks amazing for yoga. It has floor to ceiling windows that make up one whole wall and look out over a beautiful wooded area. We got our mats and arranged them at one side of the room. I did a few stretches first with my mom.
At first yoga seemed nice. The exact turning point was when she had us do downward dog pose. You are on all fours but your legs are extended with your butt up in the air. My wrists began to hurt a lot. The instructor (or teacher…yoga master?) said that your hands and feet should equally be supporting your weight. Well that wasn’t happening. I kept trying to redistribute my weight more evenly but exactly how to go about doing that is still something I’d like to know. Really, I’d like to know. It got harder and harder and the combination of my very short limbs and torso with my enormous size triple D chest (yes, yes, I know. Leave me alone) did not help. I couldn’t stretch my arms out and touch the ground withoutmy boobs getting in the way. I didn’t even care all that much that I couldn't do the poses but, I was beginning to get stressed and angry and why that was, I am not even sure.
I have ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and I’ve always been told that yoga is great for those with ADHD which is sort of why I wanted to try it in the first place. It is supposed to help you learn how to train your brain to concentrate longer and harder (something that can prove nearly impossible for people with ADHD). Getting angry and frustrated did not help me concentrate. Wait no, it did. I concentrated on the clock and watched the minutes tick by very slowly. I usually have a rule for myself when I take classes at the gym, which is that I cannot look at the clock. This time I couldn’t help it.
The instructor kept saying “If you’d like to take a journey, try it this way…” and “Listen to your body”. I was listening to my body and it was saying “GAHHHH! SARA, WHAT THE EFF?!?! WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME? GET UP! LEAVE! GO!” So I was trying NOT to listen to my body. By this point only 15 minutes had gone by and my new goal had become making it through this stupid class.
I kept going. Sometimes doing my own variation of the poses the instructor showed us. I could feel myself getting angrier and angrier and feeling more and more stressed. I envisioned myself screaming a slew of horrible things at the teacher and punching her in her stupid face. I guess that was my journey. A lot of imaginary screaming and punching and little bit of imaginary kicking. I think at some point I even imaginary hit her over the head with an imaginary crow bar.
I am not usually by any means an angry person. I am rarely angry and when I am, “Angry Sara” doesn’t look all too different from “Happy Sara”, except in yoga apparently.
I did make it to the end of the class. But not before promising myself I would never ever put myself through that again. And then Andy said to me that he really enjoyed himself and that he would love to come back to yoga. This is the first class at the gym we have ever taken together that he enjoyed so I said “Well, I’ll come back and do it with you”. What? Really Sara? You’re going to put yourself through that unbearable torture AGAIN!?
Yes. Yes I will. Maybe I will get good at it. Maybe I will merely learn to tolerate it. But I guess I at least have to give it more than just one try.
If you have any advice on yoga, I'd LOVE to hear it! Comment here or on Facebook. Please! I need all the help I can get!
Oooh I am in such a bloggy mood right now. Let me tell you a little bit about why my husband is super awesome…
So ya know that play I auditioned for, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, as one of my goals? Well, Andy and I have been helping out. I am the Props Mistress (I love that title) and Andy is doing video. We also both acted as volunteer audience spellers for the dress rehearsals. It was SO much fun! I was an audience volunteer for both nights of dress rehearsal. The first night I got the word “Jihad” as my first word to spell. Although I can’t recall seeing the word spelled out on paper and had an intense internal struggle over whether is began with a “G” or a “J”, I spelled it correctly. I got out on the next word which was Gnocchi. I actually know how to spell that one, but had never heard it pronounced so I was confused. The definition confused me as well as apparently it’s actually an Italian dish made with potato, but I have all these years confused it with ganache and thought that it was a desert. So I idiotically spelled it “Nyioki”.
Anyway, when you get out, the whole cast sings this good bye song to you, the character of William Barfee (pronounced Bar-fay) literally kicks you off stage and Mitch, the comfort counselor, hands you a juice box. On the second night I got out on my first word. I spelled it horrendously incorrectly and cannot even remember what it was, as it was a word I’ve never heard before. As I made my way off stage Mitch handed me a little purple pouch and said “Here, Instead of juice box”. For a moment I thought it was a little pouch of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavoured Beans (the jelly beans made famous from the Harry Potter books). But then I read the words written in gold and it said “Disney Couture”. Andy had gotten me this gorgeous Snow White themed necklace I have been dying for! Snow White is my favorite Disney movie. She is also my favorite princess and the first movie I ever saw back in 1987 at the age of 3 when they brought it back into theaters for it’s 50th anniversary. It was such an amazing surprise!
Next, since neither of us had eaten Andy took me out for a late dinner and then to see Bridesmaids, which makes him a very good husband indeed. After that he took me to the store and had me pick out a tie dye kit so I can accomplish goal number twenty-four: Tye Dye Some Stuff. He also told me we will be taking a Yoga class this afternoon so I will also accomplish goal number one: Take A Yoga Class At The Gym. I will tell you how it goes since I know you are just dying to know.
If you live in the Columbia, Missouri area and are interested in seeing the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, click here for more info on dates and times. It’s a fabulous show! Very funny. The cast is incredible! It opens tomorrow night (Thursday, June 9th) and I’ll be in the audience with my whole family!
What does a nice Jewish, ex-vegetarian girl love to cook and eat more than anything else? Sausage rolls. The greatest breakfast known to the non-vegetarian non-Jewish man. I could live without meat. Challenge me. I’ll gladly accept. But, I don’t know if I could make it until I find a vegetarian sausage roll alternative. This has nothing to do with my goals, but people keep on asking me for the recipe, so I thought I’d be nice and share.
I learned how to make this Sausage Roll when someone brought one in to share at a morning sales meeting in my office. I took one bite and my eyes widened and my heart (and stomach) sang out with glee. I was like “WHAT THE HELL IS THIS AND HOW DO I MAKE ONE!?” It turned out to be really easy and a surefire crowd pleaser.
A few months later, I became mentally insane and offered to cater the feature film Andy was directing. I had to cook a hot meal for 50 people, every night for 3 weeks straight. I worked full time during the day, rushed home to feed the baby, cooked for the peoples, dropped the food off on set, fed the peoples, then went grocery shopping at One O’clock in the morning, organized the food for the following day, and was finally in bed by 2AM. Then up again at 7:30 AM for work. I did all the cooking in a normal, standard non-commercial kitchen. I’m telling you, it takes mental insanity to agree, wait no OFFER, to do something like that (free of charge no less). I did have a lot of help from my awesome mother-in-law and from a few of Andy’s students. Thanks awesome students and mother-in-law! You guys ROCK!
Wait, where was I going with all this? Oh yeah, on the first day of shooting I made the sausage roll. After that first day they renamed the sausage roll “Sawesome” because it’s so awesome and begged me to make it again. Like, got down on their knees, clasped their hands together and said in the whiniest voices possible “Please, please, PUH-LEEEEEASE!???!?”
No, that last part never happened. But they did ask me several times to make it for them again. So I did and everyone was happy. The end.
So, here is the recipe that will change your life and get you to quit keeping kosher and renounce your vegetarianism. You’re Welcome.
3. 12 oz of cream cheese (one and half packs) -OMG TRIPLE un-Kosher!
4. 2 packs of seamless Pillsbury crescent rolls (I have only found the seamless kind at the Rock Brige Hyvee- for those that live in Columbia- You can use regular crescent rolls, but you will have to piece them together because they are pre-cut into small squares and you need one big rectangle).
Leave the Cream cheese out to soften. Pre-heat the oven to 350. Brown both packages of sausage and combine in a bowl. While it is still warm, mix in the cream cheese. Mix until it is well blended and makes a gross gushing type sound when your stir. In a 9x13 glass casserole dish open up the first crescent roll pack and lay it out vertically on one side of the casserole dish. Put half of the sausage mixture on the crescent dough and the roll it up. I like to pinch off the extra dough on the ends because that dough makes it need more cooking time. Then open up the second crescent roll pack and do the same. They should fit next to each other in the casserole dish, but not have too much of the sides touching because other wise that part won’t bake. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes. The top of the “Sawesome” will be golden brown when it’s finished. I like to brush a little butter on top of each sausage roll when it’s still hot.
**The most important lesson we will take away from this post is that everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is better with cream cheese.**
Shopping (and eating- lets be clear about that!) locally. Why is this a goal? I have no idea. Well, no, actually I just want to help support the community and stuff, but also just cause I like to shop. And eat. There are so many places I'm sure I'd love if I just went and tried them out.
I had never set foot in a Wal-Mart until I was 20 years old. I had heard a little bit about them. People on my part of Long Island didn’t shop at Wal-Mart for one reason; We didn’t have one near us (oh, also we are a little bit snobby. Ok, a lot bit snobby). When I moved out to Santa Barbara I continued to remain in the dark about Wal-Mart. The people of Santa Barbara didn’t want a Wal-Mart poisoning their community. They didn't even have a Target.They did have a K-Mart though. Interesting.
Next I moved down to Ventura, CA. They had a Wal-Mart. A dirty, disorganized Wal-Mart. A Wal-Mart where I saw people being violently arrested on three separate occasions. A Wal-Mart where small children got into packages of razors and threw them at each other for fun and accidently cut an old mans leg. A Wal-Mart where I’d have to call Andy when I got there and when I was leaving so he knew I wasn’t dead. A Wal-Mart I only shopped at when I was convinced it was the only place I could get what I needed. Or when I was super short on funds. It wasn’t until I moved to Missouri, to a town where we have three, Yes, THREE clean, safe, Super Center Wal-Marts, that I began to regularly shop there…
And boy do I shop there. I am at Wal-Mart at least once a week. I buy all kinds of things I need plus other crap. It’s just so darn cheap! But now I’d really like to start eating and shopping locally whenever I can. We have so many neat places here, it’s time I give them a chance. However I will continue to buy diapers at Wal-Mart. I will never give up Target.
I am weird when it comes to local shops and restaurants. For some reason I feel like the owners and other patrons are judging me and thinking “What is SHE doing here? Get the hell out of here!” When in reality they are probably thinking “Oooo! business!”
It is a strange fear I am more than ready to get over. Local shops and restaurants have a lot to offer and are kind of awesome. It’s true, sometimes they cost a little more. But if there is ever an area you’d be willing to spend a few extra dollars, you should do it at one of your local shops. Or just send those few extra dollars to me. Jut kidding. No, really though, I’ll take em.
This particular goal will be on going, as it would be unrealistic to try to shop and eat at every local store and restaurant in one weekend. Unless you want to send me those dollars we talked about. Then I might be alble to make it happen...
Last week my friend KC took me out to dinner for my birthday to a local restaurant called Addison's. It was delish! We decided to start with an appetizer, but couldn't choose. We narrowed it down to four choices; Goat Cheese and Black Bean Quesadillas, Nachos Bianco, Something called "Red, White & Green" (Which I think was like Bruschetta), and Tempura Lobster Ravioli. To choose I implememted a decision making process using the four different sugar and sweetener packets we had at the table. I threw them up and assigned them to the appetizer they landed nearest. Then I put them in my hands and switched them around behind my back. There were two in each hand. KC chose a hand and then we did that one more time... Doesn't going out to dinner with me seem like tons of fun? TONS OF FUN!? Anyways the fates ended up choosing Goat Cheese and Black Bean Quesadillas for us. It was delicious and so filling that we even left one over.
For dinner I ordered the Diablo Shrimp Pasta which was shrimp Sauted in Spicy Diablo Butter. Tossed with a creamy marinara sauce, mushrooms, and penne pasta. I'm drooling just typing that up now! KC ordered the Baked Tortellin Pasta which was sauted artichokes, romas, scallions, and mushrooms, tossed with ricotta-stuffed tortellini in a pesto cream sauce. Topped with mozzarella & cheddar cheeses and baked to a golden brown. I tasted hers too and it was soooo good!
Supporting the community sure is delicious.
Addison's also has lots of amazing art on the walls by artist and bartender David Spear. The art definately made for a great atmosphere and other positive sounding critic-y type stuff.
This was a great start to shopping and eating locally. I can't wait to go eat and buy some more stuff!
Here is the film. It's only 2 minutes long so you should watch it first:
If I am going to live in the Midwest, I am pretty lucky to live in a town this large and with so much going on. Being a college graduate with a BA in Commercial film and Video Production, I am even luckier that Columbia has a large film community. We have two major film festivals, the Citizen Jane Film Festival and the True/False film Festival. True/False has this film competition called “Gimme Truth”. Each film submitted to Gimme Truth is a 2-minute-or-less profile of a Missourian that is 100% true or 100% false. Then there are three judges who guess if your submission is true or false.
I wanted to make a false film to submit. For some reason, the first thing that came to mind was a competitive musical chairs team. See, that is how my mind works. What is the stupidest more ridiculous thing I can think of? Oh musical chairs. A competitive team. Sure why not?
I had a lot of help with this film. I had tried to make one the year before and didn’t have any help. It did not work out. I actually tried on two separate occasions to make this one work. Both times I asked everyone to come help me, but then I didn’t have a location. The location is very important. Without a good location it wouldn’t be believable. On the third try, we got a location. Monica Senecal helped with this and therefore received the credit of Producer. She got us a space at the first Christian Church downtown. A very believable location for a competitive musical chairs team. What is more believable than a group of people that come together with a common interest at church?
Next, we needed to recruit team members. Matt Davis and Ben Poland, my two Assistant Directors, helped me get people there. We managed to convince some of our friends and family, Rob Bartel, Elaine Martin, Val Davis, Gabe Senecal, Jan Neitzert (my awesome mother-in-law), and Andy to come on down and be the participants by promising there would be cookies. It was important that we had people of varying ages to make it more believable. It was also important there were cookies. Several varieties of cookies. We actually didn’t have too many people, so we filled the negative space of most of the interview shots with people hanging out in the background to make it appear as though there were some more people there than there actually were.
It was very important to me to have the film look good. For this we would need a good cinematographer with a good camera. This is where Logan Lemmon came in. He is a fantastic cinematographer and luckily he is also a nice guy and agreed to help out. Side note: He will die if you feed him potatoes.
I had actually been working on the rules of competitive musical chairs for several weeks at that point. I did some research on how the game came to be and what some appropriate guidelines for a competitive team would be. After researching, it turns out there are no other competitive musicalchairs teams anywhere in the world (or at least that haven't had any info about them on the internet- if you're out there, let me know...). I explained all of the rules to our team members the day of filming. They did a great job considering they learned everything just 20 minutes before we began. And judging by their interviews, they are all pretty good liars. Actors. I mean actors.
After we finished shooting I spent the next two days editing down over an hour of footage into two minutes of pure mocumentary gold. Then, I tried to convince Andy to help me burn it to a disc so I could submit. Since he was pretty busy (he was teaching a film class at the university and gearing up to shoot a feature all while in the middle of shooting a short) we didn’t burn to a disc until late the night before it was due at the T/F office. This meant I would have to go over and find the offices downtown on my lunch hour. I mean lunch half hour.
By the time I found the offices and climbed all the stairs that lead up to them, I was sweaty and out of breath. Partly due to nervousness over having my film selected, but mostly because I am ridiculously out of shape and there were a lot of stairs.
I busted in to the office and exclaimed between loud obnoxious breaths “I…Have…a…film…for…uh…is… this…Gimmetruth!?” They were in the middle of a meeting and all looked up at me. I sure felt like a world class idiot. Until this one woman, the only one not at the table and sitting at a desk said sweetly “Do you have a Gimme Truth to turn in?”
“Um, uh huh”
“Oh great!” She said
I walked out of there thinking, I hope these people don’t remember who I am when they watch my film.
On the way back to my car (I had to park a block away before I climbed all the stairs, hence the sweat and heavy breathing) I decided to stop in to one of my favorite restaurants (Main Squeeze) for my favorite sandwich (The Grilled Cheese Deluxe) to congratulate myself on accomplishing goal number 5. After all, my goal was merely to enter a film into a festival. I had no idea I’d actually get IN!
The next few days I went back and forth thinking, I totally got in! How could I not have!? And, I didn’t get in. I just know it. I didn’t get in.
Finally, by Tuesday before the event was scheduled to take place, I got an e-mail with the subject “Congratulations Gimme Truth Finalists!” I got in! I got in!
I was so excited all week! My whole family and most of the friends in the film (and some who weren’t in the film) all came to support me. We went out to dinner first and then arrived at the theater early. I couldn’t have been more excited. They played my film first. Everyone laughed at all the right times. Afterwards I was called up on stage where each judge was allowed to ask me one question to help them decide whether my film was true or false. Two judges guessed “True”, and one guessed “False”. SUCKAS!
After all the films, they announced the winners. After they named the third place winner, I thought, I’m not gonna win. I know I’m not. They called second place and I didn’t hear my name. I thought for a second and was like, Wait! That’s the name of my film! I won second place? I won second place! Woo Hoo!!! The best part about it was that the entire time I was completely not expecting it. I walked around with my trophy glued to my hand for the rest of the night.
It was all definitely worth it to keep going even though things were not going my way for my first few attempts. I cannot wait to submit to next year’s festival. I am already thinking of some ideas…
Above: All dressed and ready to go to Gimme Truth!
Below: Andy and I at dinner before Gimme Truth. (Photo by Ben Hendrick)
Above: A Filmmaker on stage with the host, Johnny St. John, and the judges.
Below: Me with judge, Ameena Mathews, and our trophies after the films
Hair. How can I write about changing my hair and not make it boring? I can’t. Unless there are photos. Lots of photos.
Lets take a look back on all of my hair styles. From the age of 1 all the way until now, I only have four different styles. 1. Short, 2.short with bangs, 3. long, 4. long with bangs. BOOOOORING.
1986. Ok, what child didn’t have this hairstyle in 1986? I’m about two here. In the 80’s little boys and girls pretty much looked the same. We all had this stupid bowl haircut or a mullet. There was a shortage of pink and frilly baby clothes. I guess it was just the thing. This is how I remember the 80’s. Being ages 0-5 during the 80’s doesn’t really serve my memory too well. I’m probably right. I usually am.
1991. I’m pretty cute here. Though my bangs could use a trim.
1992. Between the 2ndand third grades I grew out my bangs. Then in a drastic style change, I got bangs again! WOW!
Between these two photos I got bangs again. I can't find a photo. Though I didn't really look either...
1997. GAHHH! What the…!? Yes, this is when I was a tweenage ogre. My nose had a growth spurt and my face still had to catch up. But the point here is I was growing out my “little kid” bangs. Again. And so began my long, stringy, style-less hair. Ew and here in the 7th grade it was also greasy. Yuck.
From ages 12 to 26 I had this boring hair style.
(with my friend, Jodi) I'm the one with the boring hair.
For years and years I kept my long, stringy, straight, boring hair. I was really pretty attached. Literally, attached to my hair. Hahaha…ha? Ok, sorry. That was not funny. Why is that we become so attached (mentally) to our hair? It grows. In a matter of months it will be right back to the way it was.
Getting my bangs cut was not just a matter of changing styles, but I see now it is just part of my natural hair progression. I keep going back and forth. It has been 14 years since I last had bangs and now, once again, it was time.
I was nervous when I went to get my bangs cut. Physically nervous. I also got highlights, which I was equally nervous about. But of course it all turned out just fine and I am happy with the way I look. I did however increase my prep time in the morning from 2 minutes to 6 minutes. But I can live with that. Barely.
Below: My new hair. It's difficult to see the highlights.
My next hair venture will be to dye it black. I decided to rock this style for a little while (that’s right, I’m rockin the bangs) and then in about 6 months or so, I’ll dye it black. Maybe layer it a bit, cut it short… whatever it is, it will be something different. These bangs and highlights have opened the door to my being adventurous, hair wise.
Ok. Sorry to bore you. This has to be, without a doubt, the most boring item on my list. I promise it only gets more interesting from here.
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