LIFE // weekend update

Okay, guys, let's have a huge round of applause for hitting 800 followers! *confetti, bells, and whistles*

And also (squeak) I've been keeping this on the down-low (actually the whole blog's been on the down-low, because my Honors classes are running me ragged in school!) but our fall musical in drama club this year is — ready? — Grease.

I know. Flip-out time, right? I was totally pumped. My two favorite characters are Rizzo and Frenchy. I auditioned for Rizzo but I was hoping for Frenchy... partially because I love her, and partially because I do not love singing (and singing does not love me) and she doesn't have a solo song.

Our auditions were Tuesday and Wednesday... Cast list was posted Thursday... Our first rehearsal was today.

Oh, wait, my role... The ditzy blonde/pink/brunette/whatever-she-is herself, Frenchy. I pretty much had an aneurism in the hallway when I read the list. Major hugging of anyone who didn't run away from me ensued.

Shout-out to everyone else who auditioned: You were all amazing, all of you. ALL OF YOU. And Gabby, if you're reading this, your singing audition blew me away. Your voice is gorgeous.

So that was exciting...

And please vote...

Real content soon, I promise.

xoxo



PS: My design site got a facelift! Check it out. 

i can't believe it's over

As you may know, these past two months or so have been totally crammed for me because of our school's spring play. I was the only freshman to get into the spring play, which is really nerve-wracking since if something goes wrong everyone's going to blame it on the "frosh". (There is also a fall musical but everyone who auditions gets a part in that, however small... the spring play is NOT a musical and is VERY competitive.) We did the Greek tragedy Antigone, and I was one of the Muses/Fates/narrators/whatever. It's hard to describe. It was actually a big part — we had epic costumes and makeup and a lottt of lines.

Well, our three performances are now over.

My grandfather took this picture of me in costume and makeup after Thursday's opening night show with his iPhone...

 Try to imagine me not smiling, staring sketchily ahead, arms at my sides, and then multiply me by five... and that's Us. The Muses. The creepiest awesomest part of the whole play.

Thursday, opening night, everyone wore their cast t-shirts to advertise at school. I forget who did the art... one of our tecchies.

Bad camera phone photos coming up: everyone was relieved that the first show was over. (I've masked everyone even though I doubt they'd mind being on the blog.)

me and Duncan (he played the First Guard, Jonas)

Nick (he played Creon, the king, and was decked out in a very convincing fake beard and sprayed-grey hair)

Emily (Antigone herself, in an amazing dress)

doodles by yours truly. They're supposed to be from left to right Ismene, Antigone, the Page, and Creon.

Then came the Friday night show. There's a tradition that after this show everyone goes to a local pizzeria. Poor pizza people. We were there until like 1 AM. As usual.

tecchie Jon, Cora, Duncan again, and yours truly (I didn't bother taking off my makeup)

And then last night was our last show. I couldn't believe it. It was amazing, especially the monologue by the Messenger (shout-out to Ross if you're reading this). And afterwards? The cast party. Some people slept over; I left around midnight.

Duncan. Again. Don't worry, guys, that's Sprite in those cups. Promise. (And yes, I re-used my hat from the day before.)

And my outfit from yesterday... comfortable and good for cast-partying.

shirt: PacSun // jeans and tank: Abercrombie // shoes: Target

And now it's over. OVER. What am I going to do with my life now? I'd gotten used to having rehearsal until five every day, used to having to scrub my face for an hour to get off the greasepaint. Now I'm going to have time.

Weird.

By the way: Everyone who knew my graphic design business as Robin Blogs? It's been updated, renamed, and reopened. View here.

xoxo!

listening to: Price Tag - Jessie J

greasepaint

Anyone who has ever had anything to do with the stage, theatre, or even tech work knows the familiar stench of greasepaint... ahem, face makeup. Today the makeup and hair crew experimented on me and a few other fellow actors for our fast-looming (march24march24march24) production of Antigone. Anyone else reminded of Black Swan? It's supposed to be like a Greek mask, but I can't help thinking "Natalie Portman".

sweaterdress: Abercrombie // tights: American Eagle //                     boots: Lower East Side

(Edited these with my new Photoshop CS5 Extended! Yayayay. So much better than the previous Photoshop — it was just CS, didn't even have a number! — I had on my old computer. Blah. Now I have the whole Creative Suite for CS5... Fireworks, Soundbooth, Flash Builder, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Indesign, even Premiere Pro for movies, and so many more... whoopee! I am an Adobe fan.)

They crimped my hair, too. I'm not sure my hair likes being crimped...

The above photos are only about half the makeup, too. Here's how it looked initially... (bad webcam pic from our little makeup nook in the cafeteria...)

hobthrush

{what's a hobthrush? nothing more than an amusing word that conjures up a terribly interesting image.}

Well, here I am, waiting for my turn onstage at drama rehearsal, watching two of my fellow thespians struggle through the twentieth repetition of an incredibly awkward stage kiss.

skirt and hat: goodwill // tights: american eagle // boots: timberland
// shirt and sweater: abercrombie & fitch
{my outfit yesterday}

Here I am, half-doing my homework, annoyed at the world for making me go back to school.

I wore my mustache necklace for the first time today and I've lost count of how many people said "why do you have a mustache around your neck?" I mean, what do you say to that? Because I feel like it? Because I'm just that manly? Mainly I just raise it to my lip and ask why they were staring at me.

Here I am, aching and tired (I don't think my new mattress quite agrees with me), hating the Victorian people who invented badminton, the curse I now must perform in gym class, my makeup smudged from laughing so hard that I cried backstage.

Here I am, back at school after a week of vacation, my messenger bag heavy and my Converse squeaking on the floor wet with slush and melted snow. People say today ought to have been a snow day, it was snowing so hard, but now it's all turned to nasty rain.

Also from yesterday. Sigh. Come back, summer, please...

Here I am, counting the days until April vacation, and it isn't even March yet.

Here I am, about to get up and go recite my lines.

Here I am, looking forward to going home so I can install the new look for March.

Here I am.

{Oof. I just read through all that and wow, that is a big potato sack full of complain! What can I say? I was having a bad day. Maybe I should just stick to posting on happy days, haha... *wanders off glassy-eyed to turn off the radio* ...or on days when I am not quite so tired.}

Be Still, My Heart...

You know how someone will ask you, "what was the high point of your day today", and you can't think of an answer?

Yesterday there was a big old high point.

This dress.

1959-1960. Green. V-back.

Found among other crumpled vintage goodies in a big cardboard box in my basement.

Fabulous.

Okay, done with that little rant.

The occasion to which I shall wear this simply amazing garment (there I go again...) is to the final production of Les Miserables at a nearby high school. My dear friend Sally is in the pit orchestra and Isabella is on the stage as a beggar and a prostitute (mmkay then Bella).

Good luck, Isabella and Sally! I am sure you both will shine and there shall be much rejoicing at your cast party, because cast parties are simply the best.

Another thing I am rejoicing over... tape. Yes, tape. Specifically Japanese deco tape. I ordered two rolls from PrettyTape on Etsy (support handmade, rah rah!) and am simply in love. My tape is grey and blue and, indeed, very pretty tape. The best part? It's semi-reusable — easy to peel off and restick should you feel the need to go green with tape.

Ah, I almost forgot — my mind is scattered in little pieces over an area about the size of China right now. This is my midnight molskine. Literally, I woke up from a crazy dream and just had to put this in my ideabook. Photos from Teen Vogue. (And look at that, I used my pretty tape.)

It's hard to see the drawing since my scanner doesn't like light colors, but it's just a sketch of the outfit above. But with combat boots. Sigh. I need some combat boots.

"Remember Breathing? OK, Do That Now."

These words were said to me by a dear friend when I started hyperventilating today. No, I did not have a nervous breakdown — though if it is possible to have a happiness breakdown I think I might have done that. No, I was freaking out because the results of the auditions for our spring play, Antigone, were posted today and I got in. The only freshman. Just me. I am in the role of Chorus — and if you are familiar with Greek tragedies, you'll know that the Chorus does not sing and dance; they are rather the narrators and reactionaries to the play. It's actually a really big role, and I was completely flipping out with excitement and disbelief.

I was hugging people and texting people excitedly and chattering away a million miles a minute when my friend caught my arm and, a bemused smile on her face, said, "Olivia, remember breathing? OK, do that now. In, out. Repeat. Stop hyperventilating."

She was kidding, but thinking about it later and smiling to myself I realized why her words stuck with me. Remember my one word for 2011? That's right:  b r e a t h e .   My friend had no idea about my One Word, which makes this seem all the more like some sort of sign.

Remember breathing? OK, do that now.

I've been rushing around like mad these past few weeks. Between midterm exams (gah), auditions for the play (tremble), the start of a new semester (eep), and the unusually cold weather we've been having (shiver), I've been feeling pretty worn out. Lately I've just been wearing sweatpants, a t-shirt, and a nice warm hat all day when I don't need to go to school.

this is a serious crime of fashion, but I'm not particularly caring at the moment.

This week will be no exception. Tonight my mom and I have to attend a meeting for freshman interested in the IB program which lasts for two long hours. And then rehearsals for the play start on Thursday. Between that and schoolwork and managing my Etsy shop, I'm swamped.

So I was thinking about what I can do to make my life a little less hectic. I've started up yoga again, doing a 10-minute bedtime routine to unwind. (Did you know sleep actually makes you get in better shape? Never knew that. Thanks, free iTunes yoga video.) I'm reading this amazing book instead of surfing the internet, and trying to remember to turn off all my electronics before going to sleep (I read that it makes you sleep deeper and better). I'm continuing with my Spa Day Saturdays and that's a nice little release. (I got a volcanic mud facial mask... divine!)

And another thing I want to cut back on is screen time — yes, that means blogging. I know, IknowIknowIknow. How many times have I said, "I'm going to cut back on blogging"? Countless times. Really. But this time I truly do mean it. I have a ruler to slap myself on the palm with if I get too lax. (Kidding. Kind of.)

Anyway. I'm not going to disappear, I just might be a little more absent than usual. Will you guys still love me if I periodically abandon you for a few days at a time? I hope so. It's just too much stress for this little blogger to be constantly wondering "hmm, I wonder if my new post got any comments? Gah, I'll have to go check" and thinking "oooh this will make a great post on my blog" whenever I do something cool.

You know, it's weird. Some people decide to take blogging breaks or cut down because they can't find enough inspiration. I've got plenty of inspiration; I have a million and a half photos and experiences and thoughts just begging to be made into posts. My challenge is to squish them like little ants and actually do something productive.

I even installed the new look a couple days early so I could get that off my chest. Orange is supposed to be energizing, you know. I could use that.

This has turned into a very long post, and if you read all the way through, I salute you. If you haven't, just know this: I won't be blogging every day. I still love you guys. I just love the rest of my life as well, and it's been feeling a bit neglected lately.

PS- right after writing this post I looked at my dashboard and saw this post by carlotta. Whoops! carlotta, dear, I assure you I am not copying off your post — I dearly hate when people do that — I was just thinking the same things you were, I suppose.

Thespian Adventures

Thespian. Isn't that a cool word? I like using it in everyday speech just to confuse people.

thes·pi·an

adj.
1. Of or relating to drama; dramatic: thespian talents.
2. Thespian Of or relating to Thespis.

n.
An actor or actress

In case you didn't notice by the description, today's post will be about acting.

Ah, acting, acting! It makes me laugh, it makes me cry, it makes me consume large amounts of pizza (more on that later), it makes me go to sleep aching and banged up. But I love it.

Thursday night was opening night for our four-day performance of Fiddler on the Roof. This play is my first musical and I have to say, I like it a lot. Even though singing is not exactly my strong suit. *warbles some horrible off-key show tune*

I was cast as Shprintze, one if Tevye's daughters. Though Shprintze (or as I was nicknamed, Sprinkles [again, more on that later]) is not a main character, she does have lines. And apparently for a freshman to land a speaking role is close to legend in our drama club! I'm thankful that I was blessed with this role.

Fiddler on the Roof is all about traditions, but our drama club itself has a whole boatload of traditions! Shall I list them out?

1. The main characters are given interesting nicknames. Example: Tzeitel is Pretzel, Hodel is Wattles, Chava is Java, Shprintze is Sprinkles, Bielke is Binky. Interestingly, the real MC, Tevye, was not given a nickname. Golde, his wife and my mother, was but it includes a little profanity (jokingly) so I won't post it here.

2. Duct tape is a must. Who knows how this one got started? Before every show, every cast and crew member — all 78 of us — slaps on a few pieces of duct tape onto their bare skin. At the end of the show we rip it off. However much it hurts is how well the play went. (My skin's still red from Thursday, so I guess we did great!)
This is funny because our three stage managers, who are very serious and practical people, were equally serious and practical about the duct tape. Before the show they went around interrogating people as to whether or not they had duct tape on. Apparently if you don't wear duct tape and the show fails, the blame is put on you.
Yes, we are all quite crazy.

3. Pizza all around. On Friday after the production the entire cast and crew goes to a small local pizza place and consumes an alarming amount of carbohydrates. Sounds normal, yes? No.
We arrived at the pizza place at 11pm. I left at 12:45 or so; some people stayed until 3am.
But the pizza is SOOO good! Everyone at my table (Natalie [a Russian soldier; she got a mustache], Maya [a non-speaking daughter], Evan [the rabbi's son], LaRoux [yes that is her real name; a non-speaking mama], and I) pitched in our cash and bought five small pizzas, root beer, and an ice cream pie.
Imagine 78 loud teenagers in a small space. Imagine us periodically breaking into songs from the show and everybody joining in. Imagine chaos and delicious pizza.
The pizza people have probably come to hate out drama club over the years.

4. There is a huge cast party. Our Thanksgiving vacation begins on Wednesday, so on Tuesday night after the set has been cleaned up and dismantled, there is a huge party. All 78 of us (who are allowed; kudos to my mother and father for trusting me) go to someone's house and have a party. Most people sleep over, and the party goes all night.
Let's have a round of applause for the host's parents...

5. After the curtain falls, everybody screams. And hugs each other. At the end of the performance, after the curtain call, when we are sealed into blackness before the house lights come on, the audience is treated to us yelling and screaming with joy that the show didn't fail. I don't know who half the people that hugged me these past two nights are (faces are difficult to make out in darkness... a Captain Obvious statement...), but I don't particularly care. It sounds corny but we're all a big family, from little froshes like me to the seniors (*weeps for our dear seniors who are going off to college and will no longer be in drama club*).

Isn't it funny how drama clubbers are generally considered to be shy and kind of nerdy? That's not really the case in our club. We have people from all walks of life and very few of us are shy. In fact, we're kind of the opposite of shy.

Fun fact: I am taller than everybody in my family except for my oldest sister, who is my height, and my father, who is inordinately tall.
I am supposed to be ten to twelve years old.
Huh?


Photo time...
From left to right: Natalie (Russian soldier), Maya (daughter), me.

my tongue was green from candy...

Here's one of people building our set. This is an old photo but I wanted to share it with you.

From left to right: Stage Manager #1, Jocelyn (a techie), Emily (who plays Golde, my mama), and Coran (a
non-speaking daughter). I think they're framing a house in this picture.

The Thirty-Nine Steps

My Theatre Arts class went on a field trip to see a play called "The 39 Steps" yesterday. It was originally an Alfred Hitchcock film, but was adapted to play form and made into a comedy.

The whole play is a spy story, and quite dramatic (5 deaths total), yet incredibly funny. Lots of slapstick and wit.

But the best part? The play contains something like 50 characters, and only 4 actors are in the play. Crazy, I know! And incredibly difficult. One actor plays the main character, Richard Hannay, and another actress plays the 3 female roles. The two men left over play the rest of the characters, both male and female. It was interesting to see them switch roles, sometimes in midscene!

It was doubly awesome, of course, because I had an excused absence from most of my classes. Huzzah!

PLOT SUMMARY: Set in the 20s or 40s (I can't remember which, I suspect the 20s), the play follows a man named Richard Hannay through an insane and oft-hilarious journey to uncover the truth about "The 39 Steps" after the mysterious spy Annabella Shmidt is killed in his flat. On the run (being wanted for murder), Hannay picks up two more lady friends, gets shot, peeks into a party, becomes a finger puppet, and listens to an incredibly detailed story from Mr. Memory. Not necessarily in that order.

If your local theatre puts on this play, I recommend you attend. It was lovely. :)

Guaranteed to Make You LOL.

(Coincidentally, did you know that "LOL" is in the dictionary? It's in mine, anyways. The Mac on-computer dictionary. Very cool.)

LOL = Laugh Out Loud, for those of you who are unlearned of such abbreviations. And it is part of the HorseFeathers Customer Satisfaction Guarantee that you will do exactly that after watching this video. Or at least smile a little bit. :)

A little background: My friend Milo's Lane (of the Speedy Dancing video) and I are in the process of making a series of spoofs on popular songs. This was our very first one and the only one with an accompanying video.

I had written the lyrics back in June. The idea was to make a parody of Tik Tok... and make it as un-Ke$ha-y as possible. The result? Me wearing glasses, Delaney behind the camera, a very patient reference librarian, and three days total of filming and recording the new track. Disclaimer: We do not own the background music, only the lyrics. We also apologize if this comes across as offensive to anyone — I promise, it is all in good fun and we make fun of ourselves in it. Several times.

We had the video *almost* all ready to go, except for one clip: we needed a boy! We searched fruitlessly all summer long (and got some really weird looks from random guys while we were at it) and found no appropriate actor. So I dressed up like a boy.
Weirdly, I look exactly like a younger version of my dad. Like father, like son... er, daughter.

We opened our joint YouTube channel (please subscribe, O Lovely Friends) and have many videos to post next. We're called TheSKITzophrenia, because we do skits and the Greek root of "skitzophrenia" is "splitting of the mind"... aka, multiple personalities. (Yes, I know that MPD is an entirely different disorder. It's just the root.)

Finally, we came up with this as the final product...



Here are the lyrics: [(c) Olive Tree 2010]

Wake up in the morning at exactly seven
Grab my glasses, I pray to God, I’m going straight to Heaven
Before I leave, grab my books, I’m going to the library
And I eat dry Cheerios cuz I’m allergic to dairy...

I'm talking e = mc squared (squared)
Makin’ all the librarians scared (scared)
Boys sayin’ “she’s so weird” (weird)
I’m gonna be readin up a storm (storm)
Books make my heart feel warm (warm)
I had a book in hand when I was born

Steinbeck, make it pop
Einstein blows my whole head up
EB White’s my best friend
till it’s closing time again

Tick tock on the clock
The librarians force me out, oh
Whoa oh oh oh, whoa oh oh oh

Little Women makes me weep
Stephen King makes me lose sleep
Reading the Iliad
till it’s closing time again

Tick tock on the clock
The librarians force me out, oh
Whoa oh oh oh, whoa oh oh oh

I got a library card, and I’m ready to use it
It’s duct-taped to my leg so I am sure I won’t lose it
I got so many books out, I don’t know where they all are
I’m pretty sure I might have left one in my gramma’s car...

I'm talking Charles Dickens collected (ted
Oliver Twist is my new best friend (friend
Two Cities is over my head (my head

Now, now, I’ll read til they kick me out, out
And the library is shut down, down
Library is shut down, down
Library is shut down.

Steinbeck, make it pop
Einstein blows my whole head up
EB White’s my new best friend
till it’s closing time again

Tick tock on the clock
The librarians force me out, oh
Whoa oh oh oh, whoa oh oh oh

Little Women makes me weep
Stephen King makes me lose sleep
Reading the Iliad
till it’s closing time again

Tick tock on the clock
The librarians force me out, oh
Whoa oh oh oh, whoa oh oh oh

Homer, you build me up
You break me down
My heart, it pounds
Yeah, you got me
With my hands up
You got me now
You got that style
Yeah, you got me

Mark Twain, you build me up
You break me down
My heart, it pounds
Yeah, you got me
With my hands up
Put your hands up
Put your hands up

Now, when I get a book the whole world stops...


Steinbeck, make it pop
Einstein blows my whole head up
EB White’s my new best friend
till it’s closing time again

Tick tock on the clock
The librarians force me out, oh
Whoa oh oh oh, whoa oh oh oh

Little Women makes me weep
Stephen King makes me lose sleep
Reading the Iliad
till it’s closing time again

Tick tock on the clock
The librarians force me out, oh
Whoa oh oh oh, whoa oh oh oh
{laughter}

This video was incredibly fun to make. I'm doing the singing in it, too... ahh! Shield your ears!
As for the random, insane child who pops up at random times... that's Sidney, Delaney's little cousin. I've never met her... and I'm not sure I want to, she's crazy. Anyway. Enjoy!

Coming Soon...
"Pizza Face" (Lady Gaga's Poker Face)
"I Need an iThingy" (Taylor Swift's You Belong With Me)
... and more!

Runway and the Art of Being Musically Challenged

Three very important things happened recently.

Number one, Olive Tree just went runway. Yep. I got my very first straight-off-the-runway piece of clothing yesterday: a 100% wool, 100% adorable BCBG Max Azria vest. It has puffed sleeves, two pockets, and a beautifully tailored shape.

And the best part? In the store, it cost $200. At Goodwill (completely new, the tag not even off) it cost $30. You better believe I bought it! {I digress here: our local Goodwill features brand-new, big-name brand clothing... minimal Walmart/hobo clothes, since we live in an incredibly wealthy area. For $5 I can get a $45 new sweater from Abercrombie. Um, score!}

For a fashion-crazy person like me, this is akin to Cinderella's fairy godmother telling her she can go to the ball.

There's low light today so I could only get some ho-hum pictures... But this is the outfit I wore to school today.

jeans: Delia's. tank top: Abercrombie & Fitch. vest: BCBG Max Azria.

And here's the shop image (but in black, mine's a nice olive green).

So that was the first thing of note. The second, well...

Number Two, Olive Tree auditioned for a singing role... and failed. Our high school drama club (of which I am a proud member) is doing "Fiddler on the Roof" for our fall musical and I want to be Hodel. For those of you unfamiliar with this amazing play (and adorable 70's movie too), Hodel has to sing a solo song called "Far From the Home I Love". A very tricky song for my vocal range.

Our auditions are in two parts. Today was the musical auditions: singing. I am officially musically challenged... I'm betting on being cast as Villager #32 rather than Hodel. Other people say I did fine. I think I did awful!

Tomorrow is callbacks (to sing a different part if the director wants to see if you'd be better suited to another role, rather than the one you auditioned for) and the acting auditions. Wish me luck, dear friends!

I have a clever plan, mind you... if I *do* end up getting cast as Villager #32, I am allowed to do all backstage work, which means I could be doing Costume, Hair, and Makeup prep! This is terribly exciting for me, as I love all those three things, yet my friends don't trust me enough (and are often too busy) for me to give them makeovers (or, in some cases, makeunders) every day, if at all.

So pretty much, I can't lose. Even if I am musically challenged!

The cast list will be posted on Wednesday, and I will be sure to share it with y'all.

Number Three, Olive Tree is getting a cell phone. After much campaigning, I have finally convinced my parents to allow me a cell. (I think they finally got convinced after my mom searched for me for two hours before finally figuring out that I was at drama on Friday!) So yay that!

I'm sorry this has been such a rambling post — homework has been weighing me down lately!

A few more things...

(1) If you haven't already, head on over to Robin Blogs to check out the mega-sale going on right now!

(2) Have you entered the giveaway yet? If you haven't, you'd better hurry up... It ends on Thursday!