Christmas morning, sleepy dogs, and curly hair

Merry AFTER Christmas everyone!!! Oh my word. I can't believe how longs it's been since I've posted! Insane.

As I do every year, my parents and I drove down to Columbus OH to spend Christmas with Aunts, Uncles, and cousins..........

We opened presents in the morning :)

Which tired the dogs right out :)

Yup. That's me! Erin, Queen of the dogs!

Sweet Sophie :) My cousin's puppy. She was so tired, she fell asleep in the usual puppy fashion.....wherever she happened to be at the moment, which was right on top of Kody's head :) So cute!!!

I curled my hair with the spiral curling iron I got for Christmas from my mommy and Daddy! Yay!! I love it :) ♥

Merry Christmas everyone, and a happy new year to all the world!

Christmas Carol 2011

In September, I auditions for "A Christmas Carol" as usual. This year, I sang "On my own" from Les mis(love that song!!!!)

No surprises there, until I got a call back, and they asked me to be Martha Cratchet!!!!!! WHAT'S UP! Yay!!!!!! I was so excited, I'm still a little excited, actually :).

My mom auditioned, too, and she got a part in the Chorus, which is exactly what she wanted. She's going to wear the blue dress I made two years ago, and she looks great in it :)

~Erin ♥

PS
I have yet to bring my camera to a rehearsal....I believe it's time for a change, don't you?

First outfit of the new year....

Yeah, yeah, I know. This is a late post. Cut me some slack, will ya?

Red Cardigan-Elder Beerman
Skirt-Kohls
Burgandy tights-Kohls
Shoes-Kohls
Watch pendant-Forever21
Pearl earrings-Helzburg

Merry Christmas!!!

How was everyone's holiday? Was it great? did you get together with family? did you get what you wanted for Christmas? I did! I actually got a lot! I was not expecting to get nearly as much as I received.

A really fluffy robe and slippers{I have always wanted a robe, but this is my first one, and it just so happens to match my room colors!!!}

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies{Actually, I got a Barnes and Noble gift card, and then bought this book with it. It's really great so far. I'm still trying to convince some of my P and P friends that it's not sacreligious, but it's basically Pride and Prejudice, with zombies in it.}

Two cardigans{The black one is from a Kohls card I got as a present}

These amazing shoes from Kohls, via the gift card

Converse{I have been wanting real converse for a long time, and my wannabes were literally falling apart before my eyes......And they're BLUE!!!}

Two pairs of tights{The teal ones via the kohls gift card}

APPLES TO APPLES!!!!!!

Two skinny belts

I got a few other things, like scrapbooking supplies, and candy as well.
I hope everyone had a great Christmas and I want to wish you all a happy new year!

~Erin

PS
We drove to Columbus for Christmas{My Aunt lives there} and I drove!!!!!!!

Just in time for Christmas!

Hello, everyone! Merry Christmas eve!!! I hope everyone is enjoying themselves.

I just wanted to share a video I made on how to make these really great chocolate topped pretzels that are perfect for the holidays. I know it's cutting it a bit short, but it takes only ten minutes to make, and it tastes really good. Please try it!

Christmas Karaoke

Here are two songs I made into karaokes for your holiday enjoyment:

"Welcome to our World"

"It came upon a midnight clear"

Merry Christmas!!!

Here they are!

So, I FINALLY have the Christmas Carol pictures!!!!!!!

Before the show

My costume
{I made it and wore it last year. It was hot in the theatre, so when not on stage, I had my sleeves rolled up. The belt and the watch are new, you may remember seeing them in my birthday stash}

Me and Alana
{A girl I knew from last year, but only this year got to know}

In the Dressing room

Maddie and I

And the show begins!

Bob Cratchit introducing the audience to the upcoming performance

The orchestra

ALE!!!!!!

"What right have you to be merry, you're poor enough!"
{Scrooge talking to his Nephew, Fred}

Alana and I buying something from Nell's cart.

"Veni, veni, Emanuel"
{Oh com, oh come, Emanuel}

As I am writing this post, I realize that I didn't get nearly as many pictures as I thought I had. I suppose if you want more pictures, you're just going to have to look at Allison's and Hannah's blogs, if they ever decide to post any.......

I hope everyone is have a great winter so far, and Merry Christmas!!!

~Erin

Christmas Carol update..........

I had my first show yesterday{and my birthday, but I'll get to that later} It was for the school kids, and a couple homeschoolers that I know came, and they all, including my mom, somehow got front row seats!!!{Which is pretty amazing, considering most of them didn't buy tickets until Wednesday} My mom took a picture of a little girl that I babysit, who came to the show with her mom and her brother. She's about 3, and my mom swears she didn't move from her spot depicted below the entire hour{the regular show is two hours, but they shorten it for the school kinds}

Look at that. Isn't that the cutest thing ever? My mom actually asked me "Could you feel Hannah Staring at you? Because she had laser beams coming out of her eyes!!" That made me feel really good, that she enjoyed it so much.

Tech week

It's nearly the end of tech week for Christmas Carol!!! I'm so excited! Tomorrow is not only the first show, it's also MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!! Woot woot!!

Anywho, I thought I'd share a couple pictures from the past couple days of rehearsals.{For more, visit Allison's blog}

I'm going to start off with my stage makeup transformation. It's pretty gaudy.

I suppose you can't see MUCH of a difference, but I think the eyes, definitely look strange!!!{BTB, my hair in the before shot, AMAZING!}

Hannah and her little sister, Heidi

Ah, Maddie. She's such a ham!

Allison's costume

That's all I have for now, but I'll be sure to take more tonight, and on the show nights, as well! Until I write again!

~Erin

A hat

So, Christmas Carol is only a few short days away! Six days, to be exact.{Let's pause while the author goes off by herself and happy dances to "Party in the USA"}

O.K. I'm back. Anywho, so the hat that the theatre provided for me was, well, atrocious. To put it lightly. It had a purple sparkly pointsetta, for crying out loud!!!!! So, knowing me, the only thing to do was to make my own!!!! And, to my utter surprise, it WORKED!!!!{Can I get a woot, woot?!....Andybody?...........Bueler?} But, back on track.........I took TONS of pictures, and decided to make a picture tutorial as a way to show my hat, AND, you'll get to make one, too!! How SWEET is that?!?!?!

You ready to get started? Well, O.K. then! {If you don't care about making an 1840's bonnet, and just want to see the finished product, scroll down to the end. But why would you want to do that?}

Supplies:
Straw Hat
Ribbon{At least enough to tie around your neck}
Hot glue gun
~optional~
Trim
Fabric

This is the pretty trim I used

We are attempting to achieve this general design.

Step 1: Draw the desired shape onto the outside of your hat. Then cut.
{tip: put the hat on your head, figure out where your ears are with it on, and start your line from there}

Step 2: Now, determine how big you want your brim to be, and then cut it down to size. {My brim is slightly smaller than I would probably have made it otherwise, but, because I'll be on stage, I don't want it to shadow my face.}

Your hat should look something like this, if you have followed the steps up until now.

Step 3: optional Cover your hat with some kind of fabric. I used red velvet, but it really doesn't matter what kind you use. Hot glue your fabric in place.

Step 4: Optional Hot glue trim around the head part of your hat, or wherever you want it. {Another good place is on the edge.}

Step 5: Optional Make 8 little bows out of your ribbon, leaving enough for the fastening ribbon around your neck. Hot glue six of them around the inside rim of your hat.
Now, if you want your hat to look like mine, you're going to need roughly 3 yards of ribbon{length varies on amount of bows/size of hat}

Step 6: Optional Take the last two little bows, and hot glue them in the outside corners of your hat. {They should hid the ends of your trim, if you put any on}

Step 7: Take your remaining ribbon and cut it into two even strips. Then, hot glue the ends so that they won't fray. Sew them to the edge of your bonnet, or hot glue them, if you don't sew.

And voila! You have a SUPER cute 1840's bonnet!!!!!! And you made it all yourself!!!!

Experiment with different shapes of straw hats, or styles of bonnets, and send me the pictures, or links to your blog posts about them! I would simply LOVE to see your creativity!!!

Happy Saturday!

~Erin

Christmas Carol update..........

Greetings, everyone!!! I fear I have not updated my readers nearly as often as I should on Christmas Carol rehearsals. I hope to do better with the few remaining weeks left to me. You see, the first show is in 2 weeks and 1 day!!! Oh, it's so close!

but, down to business. Last week sometime, I brought my camera to a practice, and got a video of a couple of the songs in the show. I hope you enjoy it!!





~Erin

I need a silent night.

Sorry, you're gonna have to wait a little bit longer for those photos. What I do have is my first ever karaoke!!! I was really bored after school today, and I had this accompaniment track on my computer from having sung it in church last December, so I thought I would have some fun with it!

Have you ever heard the song "I need a silent night" by Amy Grant? It's really pretty, and super easy to sing! Don't believe me? Click this link and see for yourself! Yeah, I know. It's a Christmas song, and it's barely November, but, what can I say?(actually, it's the only instrumental song on my computer :)

In case you've never heard the song before, you can listen to it right now!! I'm telling you, I love this song!!!



Enjoy!!!

~Erin

Christmas Carol update.......

efore I continue, you can all let your breath out. I haven't been called back (yet). What I do have is a video of my audition, as well as Allison's and her mom's. We auditioned at the same time, and my mom brought the camera. The picture is a little shaky and grainy at parts, and, because the room was so big and echo-y, the sounds of our voices have been known to disappear on film, but, if you want to watch it anyway, here it is!

~Erin

Counting down to Christmas Carol auditions.....

his will most likely be my last Christmas carol( or C.C. as it will be referred to from now on) because auditions are tomorrow!!!!!! I am totally psyched!!!

For my last countdown, I thought I'd show some pictures from last year! Enjoy!

Jake introducing the audience to the story

My costume. I made it myself. Isn't it great?! (If I do say so myself)

A picture of the house from the stage(and this doesn't include the wings or the balcony)

Part of the set(The toy store, and a house)


The ever beautiful "White Waltz" dance number. It's the party that Scrooge's nephew is having that Scrooge visits while with Christmas present


A slightly blurry picture of mingling townspeople. I am on the right end of that crowd, giving some money to a poor person(Actually, it was Allison)


This is the best shot of the entire stage that I could find. It doesn't really show the set at its full potential, but you get the idea. You can come and go from any shop, house, and even the pub, as well as walk across the bridge, though, I wouldn't recommend it, the stairs are MUCH too unstable for my comfort.

Well, I think that's all the time I have for now, but I will hopefully get some new pictures soon!(That is, if I get in, of course!!) Wish me luck everyone!!! And stop by Allison's and Hannah's blogs, and wish them luck as well. They will be auditioning as well.

~Erin