Ahhh - huge sigh of relief. I just got back from our Princess Ida concert. It went extremely well - thank you all for your kind words and support. It was actually fun to perform this afternoon, despite our incessant heat and threats of rain (it really let loose on the way home!). My first real lead after grad school too. A nice confidence booster with which to head into fall auditions. Check one off the goals list from last week!!

I did slack off a bit on everything TAW wise, but what I did was helpful, as always. I’ll be picking up with things again this week, of course. Everything was so focused on the performance today that I really only took moments here and there for mini Artist’s Dates (nothing as spectacular as last week). No huge insights for me with Cameron’s Vein of Gold yet, but eventually, I'm sure there'll be something. At least the autobiography project has been interesting, to say the least!

Goals:
1. Get back in gear with Arist’s Way and FlyLady (a group kind of like AW, but only deals with decluttering and making housework more efficient)

2. Audition package - coachings

3. Recital program - schedule lesson with teacher now that she’s back in town.

4. Keep working on the weight. (total of 9 pounds so far - the new dress really looked pretty good today!)

5. Begin polishing Papagena and thinking about Boheme chorus for the fall.

I had the most delicious Artist’s Date this weekend. My aunt and uncle had their 50th wedding anniversary up at a camp the *whole* family goes to in the Adirondacks every summer since I was about 5 yrs. old. I haven’t been since ‘95 when my last ex (boyfriend) dumped me and I took a weekend and went up. I used to go with my folks for the week, but we realized that I haven’t done that due to day camp counseling and summer stock since 1986. Boy, was I long overdue for this Artist’s Date!! I was thinking about not going up with the show coming up this weekend, but wound up going back with my father who had to bring back one of the dogs for an emergency visit to the vet (the closest one might as well have been here, so they just came back home). She ended up with a small infection and was well enough to go back up(the seperation from the other dog wasn’t doing her much good!) so I rode up with them. I had one glorious night and a fabulous morning up there - I, ME, was actually up at 6 am without an alarm clock and on the main dock writing my morning pages by 6:30 and thinking of you all. I walked around the camp, out to the point by the leanto where we had campfires when I was little and did my tai chi am routine right there at the water’s edge facing the morning sun and the mist rising off the lake and the loons calling back and forth. I’m actually crying thinking about it. I even had time to go canoeing for the first time in ages, back up in North Bay where there’s noone but you and the mountains. Sigh. My goal for next year is to save up enough money that I can go for a week by myself after whatever YAP I get is overwith. And to do that every year for the rest of my life.

Morning pages other than that were ok - but it’s amazing how much I got done out on that dock - like 6 pages or something. (why can’t I get up that early at home and get things done?)

Issues: see the Artist’s Date report.

Goals:
1. Get through Princess Ida this coming Sunday
2. prep material for a masterclass that our wonderful AD suggested I do - he is so supportive
3. work on audition material for YAPs

Goals for the week:

1. polish Princess Ida
2. coaching and voice lesson
3. keep working towards a healthy weight (no cow milk and avoid chocolate)
4. keep up with morning pages, Artist’s Date and exercises.
5. keep decluttering

I’ve got the perfect opportunity (again!) for an Extended Artist’s Date - my parents are out of town and I’m taking care of the house for them. Access to the piano whenever I want it, so I don’t have to try and carefully sing through a marathon practice session. My mom has misunderstood my complaining - she thinks I need the house all to myself (she’s been working on the local history room at the library as much as possible so I have quiet) when all I want is to be able to get at the piano and practice without people coming downstairs and trying to talk to me or turning on the television in the same room. (Aarrgghh!)

Enough rant. Things have been going pretty well as far as TAW is going. 7/7 morning pages, several mini artist’s dates including babysitting my 3 year old cousin for an afternoon that I’m including because I’ve never come away from something so open to practice. I know, I know, it should be alone, but I had the best practice session of the last few months that night, so I’m counting it.

Issues: our first full rehearsal (for me) for Princess Ida didn’t go so well in my case. I got nervous, wound up, had a bad practice session and was so convinced I was going to fail that I blew passages I never though I would before. I was so mad at myself. However - two days later (and the day after my baby sitting session!), a friend called to let me know that our recent Richard Rodgers performance made it to the public access channel (we’ve been on about 50 times since the beginning of the year - talk about exposure!). I figured I’d turn it on and evaluate the performance (prepared to rip myself to shreds, of course), but I didn’t. I really like the way my top and middle are beginning to sound, and I didn’t dip into too much of my “bad theater belt” voice as I have in the past. So I’ve been feeling better about me in general.

Speaking of feeling better - *I LOST 6 MORE POUNDS!!!* (sorry for the shouting - I’m so happy!!) Now to keep it off as well! While my folks are gone, I’m going to do a detox week and eat (mostly) raw fruits and veggies. No cow milk and no chocolate either. I was going to ditch dairy totally, but there are certain foods I just don’t want to be without. In fact, after this, I’m headed to the grocery store for some fun shopping in the organic foods and produce

My one big thing from TAW that I played catch up with: building the “Artist’s Sacred Spot” (I can’t think of the right name now, but it’s toward the end of the book) which helped in my quest to declutter.

This week has been nuts. We start full rehearsals for Princess Ida, as well as my running an acting workshop for the local library with 4th through 8th grades. I finally finished the handouts this afternoon.

Morning pages: pretty good. I’ve been more diligent about doing them, less whining, more stream of consciousness. Still mostly at night, but the total of actual morning pages is better. And longer.

Artist’s Date: not really, unless you count the time I spent by myself practicing the acting games and other activities for the week. (It was fun!) I did do little nice things for me each day, too. And the organization is coming along nicely - I even cleaned up what was on each computer disk and organized that filing system, thanks to the workshop! (5 copies of the Practice Tips is just too much wasted space!)

Issues/Exercises: the acting class has brought that part of the career into focus, so I’m really looking forward to this week and delving into the acting end of things. The best opera workshop performance was the semester I took Intro to Acting. I need this for me as much as the kids need it for them.

I’m picking up the exercises that I didn’t do on the last go around. I finally got around to buying a nice sturdy posterboard and gluing my remaining ideal images to it. I even found a picture of the house where I grew up - I want to be financially stable enough to buy it back. I miss it - the high ceilings that were so wonderful to sing in, places where you could be alone, and especially the gardens. I bought myself an African violet to compensate - my grandmothers’ favorite flower.

Goals:
1. Princess Ida
2. Acting workshop (I’m going to put aside work on my monologues for now and let this be my acting focus for the week.)
3. Get a massage
4. Daily practice on recital music and arias package.
5. Walk each day (to the workshop!)