Day 151 – Decisions, decisions… (a.k.a. choose my outfit for me!)

The longer I work for the Ottawa Fringe, the more I realise how decision-heavy my job is. I don’t do much of the work, but I do make plenty of decisions on what work needs to be done. And I’m also pretty good at deciding if I like something or not.

My brain has been so overloaded that I’m finding making the simplest daily decisions such a hurdle. What should I cook for dinner? Shower or bath? Lip gloss or lipstick? Seriously, these are the things that clutter my brain.

I did realise today that I am very lucky, because I have choices. Some people don’t eat three meals a day. Some people don’t have clean water. Some people don’t own beauty products, let alone many of them to choose from.

Still, I have a decision to make and I’m having difficulty. My whole Ottawa Fringe media launch outfit will be based on shoes. Help me pick the shoes, and the outfit will fall into place.

Day 148-150 – Blossoming

Day 148: A seed of an idea was planted last year and it is finally coming to fruition. I don’t want to give too much away for those who aren’t in the know already, but I will talk more about it after the Ottawa Fringe media launch on Tuesday June 1st.

I do have to say that this small idea has grown into much more than I ever thought it would be and that’s thanks, in part, to two people who are donating their time, skill set and passion for the Fringe. Aside from the fact that this idea (these many ideas?) have great business potential, the work is motivated because that they care.

Refreshing.

Day 149-150: It’s been a busy past couple of days in my front and back garden. One day, I was sad that none of the flowers I planted from seed has bloomed yet. Then I took a moment to look at the back garden and noticed how lucky I am that my neighbour’s lilacs decide to come on over for a visit.

The next day, one single flower appeared in my front garden. It looks kinda sad and lonely, but I still think it’s beautiful. I made something grow!

Day 147 – The Language of Love

Or more aptly put, the title should probably be “The Language I Love”.  Listening to what my two tiny children come up with as they learn to speak brings me so much joy every day.

Bea’s recent words:

-Na-na (Translation: Banana)

– Me-Me-Me (Translation:  I would like that for myself please.)

– Juice (Translation: To mean any beverage)

– “Plaît” (Short form for s.v.p.)

– Peas (Her version of Please)

– No! (Translation:  No way no how!)

– Tank coo (Translation: Thank you)

– Yah (Translation: Yes)

AJ’s recent words/phrases:

– Wiccup (Better known as  hiccup)

– Tastas (Better known as pasta)

– Mec (a combination of the french “bec” and the sound a kiss makes, mwah)

– Mec me in (Translation: tuck me in)

– hurr (Translation: Hair)

– My don’t want to! (Which is still her favorite thing to say.)

Day 146 – I have a clean drawer…

…but nothing to wear! (I’m such a girl sometimes.)

Day 143-145 – HOT

Day 143 – I still log on to Facebook, but I must admit it is quickly becoming less and less appealing to me.  It’s because of the multitude of privacy issues, but mainly I’m bored with it.  It takes up precious family time and there’s not much information that I can’t get from other sources.  However, there are some exceptions.  With the summer Fringe tour season fast approaching, old Fringe friends are coming out of the woodwork to say hello.  A “poke” here.  A quick chat there.  Rehearsals photos posted.  Panicky status updates.  All beautiful to me.

Day 144 – My weight and body shape has see-sawed ridiculously over the past three years, thanks to my lovely children.  I think I’m finally down to my “normal” weight (though I’m still completely out of shape!)  I can hear the taunting cries of mothers everywhere screaming “I hate you!” but that doesn’t stop me from being frustrated because no matter how thin I am, I don’t have any summer clothes that fit.   I dragged out the box of clothes I have stashed away and found, to my surprise, my favorite jean capris that I haven’t been able to wear in almost 4 years.  And they fit!

Now if only I could find a shirt that doesn’t have baby spit-up stains on it.

Day 145 – Since I’ve tried to pay attention to little beauties around me, I’ve noticed how my surrounding affect my memory more.  Thanks to a lovely friend of mine, I got the opportunity to go out to the movies with my husband and a good friend.  When I stepped out of the theatre, just one whiff of warm air brought me back to my Fringe touring days… carefree, adventurous, playful, just plain fun.  Strange how one breath of smoggy city air can do that.

Day 141-142 – Treasures

Day 141 – One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, so they say. My husband has a saying as well: “There’s good wood in there.” I hear this often as we drive by left-over broken furniture on the side of the road. He has quite a history of saving left-for-dead pieces and giving them new life (or leaving them in the basement indefinitely.) Sometimes, it drives me batty. Other times, it’s pretty amazing.

Our neighbour two doors down noticed that Stewart grabbed a crappy old desk she left out to rot a few weeks ago. So when she’s spotted him outside yesterday, she offered him a piece of furniture that she doesn’t have room for anymore.

The desk he grabbed a while back was ick. But this… I’m ok with this.

Day 142 – Simple, warm, strangely comforting.

Day 140 – R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I’ve said it many times before that a huge part of a theatre director’s job is casting.  If it’s good, then the show is usually good too.  Well I’m finally getting a taste of what that’s like in the business world too.

I don’t want to jinx myself, though I’m afraid I probably already have, but I must say that I am super impressed with the Ottawa Fringe staff.  I’m still working three jobs right now, on top of being a mom and wife, but I’m not worried.  I’m not worried because I can trust my staff.  They respect me and I give them room to play in return.

Is everything perfect and exactly as I’d like it to be?  No.  Do I feel confident enough to leave for a day to take my kid to the doctor’s and know that the train will keep moving forward without me.  YES.  Which means I can breathe.  And breathing is a good thing.