After leaving the studio on Friday, I had (count them) TEN things on my planner.
As always, let's start with the theatre I saw. On Saturday, I saw Newsies at Artistry in Bloomington. It was so well done and I got choked up a couple of times because the cast was so young and watching youths accomplish art brings tears to my eyes.
I also saw Girlhood: A Half-Baked Jukebox Cabaret for Nostalgic Millennials at the Hive Collective in St. Paul. It was cute, but half the cast were definitely Gen Z, so at times I felt old. Fully nostalgic though, and I got to go onstage briefly to dance to Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield.
On Friday, I went to the Minnesota Yacht Club music festival with my friend Lexi. It was super crowded and I got to see the end of Gwen Stefani's act from super far away, but we got to squeeze our way up to the front for Alanis Morissette. She was phenomenal. We scream sang to You Oughta Know.
Saturday morning, I volunteered with the Minneapolis Parks Board and pulled weeds in the garden behind my apartment building. I weeded for two hours and met the woman who lives in the apartment above me!
After gardening, I went to a pool party with a bunch of improv people I kind of know. Felt awkward for the most part since most of them were acquaintances or strangers, but I did have some good conversation with people and I can't remember any of their names.
Then I went to a housewarming party for one of my Speech colleagues and he was the only person I knew there. I brought toilet paper and eventually found the cat to keep me company. One woman asked if it was my cat. Apparently I looked pathetic enough to bring my cat with me to someone else's housewarming party.
I went to Newsies with my friend Phil, who I rarely get to see. Phil is great at gossip and we got shushed before the show by the old man sitting next to us.
On Sunday morning, I went to lunch with my friend Katie, who I've known since middle school. She just moved back to Minnesota after teaching for 12 years in Montana. I'm excited to have another friend in the cities! We went to Cafe Racer and the food was delish.
I was planning on going home after breakfast but I ended up squeezing in extra friend time with my improv group, Danylo, Kai, and Pat. Kai and I got coffee at Mayday Coffee and we all played the games Skulls and Play on Words.
I also helped my friend Janelle with her Fringe show, I'm kind of a makeshift director for her and I designed her show postcard, but forgot to take photographic proof of my work with her. Danylo (mentioned above) also has a Fringe show!
And believe it or not, I did squeeze in two singular episodes of The Bear this weekend, and my cat was adorable as per usual.