Spoonfuls and Showers

Hi All!

It was a busy weekend!

On Saturday the musical "Mary Poppins" was the order of the day along with a trip to the State Fair. The two - a musical and the State Fair - always go together since the venue for the musicals is actually in Fair Park. One nice perk is that with a ticket to the musical you get into the fair for free! So - you go early and walk around the fair and get junk food to eat and then you see the musical. A nice day!

The musical organizers always try to save a popular musical to run during the State Fair and this year was no exception! The house was sold out for the entire run of the musical. Many young children came with their parents to see the show but there were also a number of childless people there as well. Generally speaking, it was a good mix.

While different from the popular movie of the same name in several ways, this musical stayed close enough to the familiar story line to make it feel comfortable. A family who is having relationship troubles due to the father's work-a-holic ways and his overly stern attitude towards children meets with a magical nanny - Mary Poppins - who helps them discover the importance of family.

Mary Poppins introduces the children - and the household - to many magical things during her tenure in the household and takes the audience along with her. The normally drab park becomes a virtual wonderland of bright colors and magical statues who come to life and dance with Mary Poppins. A rooftop becomes a dance floor to a bevy of be-smudged chimney sweeps. Mary's friend, Bert, joins in on many of the adventures and also acts as a sort of narrator for the tale of the family.

Filled with fun, up-beat songs and lively choreography this production was fun to watch. The scenery was well done and, judging from the reactions from the children sitting around me, enchanting. Various rooms of the family's house opened up like a dollhouse under Bert's gentle touch and other rooms magically float down from the sky. Bright costumes and special effects sprinkled amongst the action just rounds out the entire experience.

If you get the chance, I would recommend that you check out this fun musical - even if you don't have any young ones to take with you!

After the musical on Saturday, Sunday was the wedding shower.

On Saturday night I sewed my black towel into a nice little bag and wrapped the gifts in the black and white striped towels to tuck inside. It took me a bit longer to figure out how to close the entire thing. I attempted to make handles like on a "normal" gift bag but, the towel bag was too floppy for that to work. So - I did some more yarn work and ended up using the grosgrain ribbon to lace up the top. It ended up looking neat. Certainly different from any other packages!

Then, there was the question of the card! Not one to do the "usual" thing, I put on my thinking cap and came up with a fun solution. Chelle, the bride, designed a logo for the wedding which is a fedora hat with a strand of pearls draped over it. I took that idea and ran with it.

Using my card program, I made a card which was a big fedora. I cut the card out to the shape of the hat and left only a bit on the top joined to make the fold of the card. Inside, I used font that looked similar to what Chelle had used on her invitations. Then - the coup de grace - I made a strand of fake pearl beads and attached it to the card so it looked like it was draping over the fedora.

It did turn out quite cute - if I must say so myself!

The card ended up being the hit of the shower and Chelle was really thrilled with it. In fact, she made sure that her mother took a picture of her with the card!

The shower itself was very nice. Chelle's sister was the hostess and had everything decorated quite nicely! She had a scrumptious spread of food and an adorable cupcake cake which looked like a wedding cake! There weren't a whole lot of people at the shower but, we did have fun! It was a good afternoon!

Trisha

Voice Update: Doing pretty well. I am working on the exercises that Susan gave me to work on those hard words and hopefully, they will work!