Ode to Shakespeare

 Welcome to Shakespeare's BlackFriar Theater. Well a recreation of the theater in Staunton, VA but still it's pretty legit. We took a tour of the theater which I have to add to my bucket list as a first since I have never toured a theater stage before. I also had never been to a show at this theater so the whole trip was a first for me. The day was perfect almost like a mid summer nights dream.

 The theater was so quant inside. The atmosphere really felt like I had stepped back in time to the Elizabethan era.

 Taking a tour of the backstage we came across the prop room where we found a dead body with a decapitated head. Wonder what play that's from?

 Here we have the men and women's dressing rooms. Normally Shakespeare would have been performed by all men playing both the male and female parts I'm glad that today we try to keep more with the correct gender playing their role. Even so, they still have more men than women performers so the mens dressing room (left) is much more crowded than the women's (right). But considering how women's dressings tend to have big hoop skirts I think the space is pretty even.

 In trying to keep with the atmosphere they have chandeliers with candles for lighting which look amazing. They also perform with the lights on. (yes you can take your mind there).

 The whole gang. Rachel, Annie, Chelsey, Mandy, Diana, Kara, Jessica, Whitney, Austin, Emma and AnnaLisa. We made our grand entrance through the Discovery curtain.

After our tour we had a fabulous potluck lunch at Gypsy Park before returning back to the theater to see the Merchant of Venice. I had never really heard the story so I had no idea what it was about. Surprisingly, or not so surprising, I really liked it. I tend to like most things. It was a story about justice and mercy. Of course you have a love story mixed in as well with a lesson about looking at the beauty within and keeping your vows, aka. don't give away a gift from your lover.

It was a very pleasant day with great company and a cultured experience. I'm so blessed to have great friends of cultural influence in my life.

Swing Batter Batter Batter

I enjoy going to baseball games. It's a great sport to watch and have conversations with your friends at. Baseball also means that it's summer time and I find it truly refreshing to be outside at a sporting event on a hot summer day.

But lets face it ladies, baseball butts are pretty nice too ;) 

This year the Nats are doing pretty well. We have a good pitcher in Strausburg. And what single LDS girl in the DC area doesn't like to watch up and coming Bryce Harper play. My favorite thing about Bryce Harper, his at bat song was "Boyfriend" by Justin Bieber.

Baseball is truly an American sport that everyone can get behind. Everytime I go I get inspired to watch great baseball classic movies. i.e. Rookie of the Year, Angels in the Outfield, The Sandlot, Field of Dreams, the Rookie, A League of Their Own. All fun baseball movies I watched growing up. So please, on a summer day, "Take me out to the ballgame. Take me out to the crowd. Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks. I don't care if I ever get back for its root, root, root for the Nationals! If they don't win its ashame (unless they are playing the Cardinals in which case Go Cards!). For it's 1, 2, 3 strikes your out at the old ball game.

Mr. and Mrs. Shillig

So admittedly I am a little envious that my younger sister was able to get married before me. But, I am very excited for her as she embarks on this new adventure in her life. I flew home a few days before the wedding to help decorate the cultural hall for the reception. Kayla is such a fun loving girl that she needed a reception that would reflect her personality. So we brought in lots of colors and flowers. Kayla chose gerber daisies as her flowers which come in many different colors. we brought out all of the flower colors into the decorating of the room. We hung these huge paper flowers from the ceiling. Each table had a different color clothe with a green flower platter and a vase full of colored flowers. It was a lot of work decorating. I glued spent a fair amount of time gluing flowers to branches for added color in the room.

It was an wonderful treat to be with my sister in the St. Louis temple as she went through to take out her endowments. I also went through the St. Louis temple when I took out my endowments so I had a lot of deja vu moments being there with her. The temple is an amazing place and being able to go to the temple helps me to stay true to the gospel.

For a bachelorette party we didn't have much time to go out and be wild (after all she's only 20 so not much could be done). We opted to go to the grooms home where is step mom, sister and few of her friends joined us for mani/pedi's and Shirley Temples. Cheers! The girls all had fun and Kayla was able to get relax a little and let us pamper her.

 The day of the wedding was HOT! We were able to make it to temple on time and the sealing was lovely. I thought it was quite funny that as Sam and Kayla were sitting on the bench they had there hands to themselves and were sitting somewhat far apart from each other. I motioned to them to hold hands. At first Sam shook is head no but eventually they both dropped their hands next to each other on the seat. Oh young love. I hope they know what they're doing. 

We had a ton of fun outside after the ceremony taking pictures even with the 100 degree weather. We tried to keep the bride and groom hydrated as well. They do make a cute couple and truth be told I knew when Sam's family first moved into our ward so many years ago that he was going to be my brother in law. I pray that they are happy together and treat each other well.

I love my sister but it's really weird seeing calling her Kayla Shilig. I guess I will get have to get used to it.

Fun in the Sun

I so needed a day at the beach. This summer has been HOT!!!! and I have been working way to many hours. Plus, my dear friend had a terrible time at the Relief Society Sailing trip so we needed to redeem this experience for her. I honestly can think of no better place to go on a sweltering hot day when we are under a heat advisory than at the beach. It was heavenly. I've not been one to love going to the beach (mainly because I don't like wearing a swim suit) but every once in a while I just don't care and I will go out and let my hair down as they say and enjoy the sand, sun and ocean waves.


Hat Ladies



I had a mavelous time with a few of my girlfriends traveling the 3 hours to Ocean City, MD. The company was delightful. I feel so blest to have such great friends who are willing to wake up on a Saturday morning at 6:00am to spend a long car ride with me.



Beautiful Beach Babes



Even though we were under a heat advisory as it was 108 degrees outside we really couldn't tell because of the ocean sea breeze and being able to jump in to the waves to cool down. It was quite a pleasant day actually. We stayed fully hydrated. The only thing was the suns affects on my pale white skin that hadn't seen the light of day in a year. No amount of sun block was going to prevent me from turning tomato red. But it gave me a chance to use this amazing aftersun lotion that smells like I'm on a tropical island so I don't mind the burn.

Having a laugh

Thanks dear friends for a memorable day at the beach.





Modest is Hottest



Mel the Watermelon

I was trying to be all sorts of cute for a dinner last night and look what I came up with thanks to some inspiration from my roommate. I named her Mel. She brings mouthwatering goodness to any summer table.