June is Busting Out All Over

It appears that we are one day away from JULY, and 2015 is already half-over. How did that happen?

The title of this post (a lyric from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel, but you already knew that) reminds me to tell you that a few weeks ago a Chicago radio station aired the Lyric Opera’s recent production of Carousel in its entirety, and I spent three hours of my afternoon glued to the broadcast. Steven Pasquale and Laura Osnes can do no wrong. And since I couldn’t get to the Windy City to see this production, I’m grateful someone thought to record it for radio.

As I compile photo highlights of the past month, I realize I’ve already shared the most exciting thing that happened — I worked on the 69th Annual Tony Awards. And it made my year.

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And yesterday I shared recaps of the eleven shows I saw this past month. Seeing this much theater makes me giddy.

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A few shots from my theater-going experiences this past month…

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While catching a matinee of Annie Baker’s Pulitzer winner The Flick at Barrow Street Theatre, I just HAD to stop around the corner at Big Gay Ice Cream. I splurged on the Mermaid Sundae, which features key lime curd and pie crumbs over vanilla soft serve, topped with whipped cream. SO GOOD.

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A gloomy Saturday walk on the High Line:

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A few days later I walked around New Haven with my mom. Yale University is so scenic.

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I had promised my mom a lunch out for Mother’s Day, so we celebrated belatedly at Thai Taste in New Haven.

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And here’s a family photo taken on Father’s Day:

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Some random breakfast photos… green smoothie with berries on the left, coffee and cereal on the right.

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A few more food photos… the next two images are Spicy Elvis Burgers that my mom and aunt Chris made on Cape Cod last weekend. One side has hot pepper jelly and the other has crunchy peanut butter and bacon — apparently this is a Guy Fieri recipe. I had to be talked into trying it, but the combination is surprisingly delicious.

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Two meals on the bottom are sushi lunch in New York City and the Monica special at Lido’s in Meriden, CT (veal in a creamy lobster sauce with sun dried tomatoes and spinach — insanely delicious).

Photos from a weekend walk around the Choate campus in Wallingford:

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Wallingford was hit with a major storm last week — the sky turned dark and in a very short period of time lots of trees came crashing down.

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On a happier note, my parents have all sorts of wildlife in their backyard. I spotted multiple deer and a family of foxes last week.

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We spent a lovely weekend on Cape Cod and visited with my aunt and uncle.

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We kayaked at Bell’s Neck in Harwich, MA — it’s a big lake with lots of shoreline areas to explore.

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This is purple loosestrife, an invasive species that is pretty to look at:

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On Sunday we walked around Chatham, hoping that gloomy skies would keep the crowds away.

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I took more photos but I might save them for a longer post — I’d like to get more images o Chatham when the weather’s a little better.

Oh, and a quick recap on the books and TV shows I’ve enjoyed lately… I just got through season 1 of the new series EMPIRE and loved it — there’s juicy drama, feisty characters, and a fascinating window into a world I know nothing about (the hip hop industry). This past weekend I plowed through all of HOMELAND season 4, a show that is on top of its game and masterfully plans its seasons. I don’t think I’ve ever been held in greater suspense than during the last few episodes. On a lighter note, the new series YOUNGER is delightfully hip and clever; I recently finished season 1. Oh, and I should’ve mentioned this when I saw it last month — I really dig the new Netflix series BLOODLINE about a family in the Florida keys. It’s a slow burn but 100% worth it once you get into the first few episodes. And over the past two months I’ve finally seen all of PLANET EARTH on Netflix, and it was just as engaging as I anticipated — the footage they captured of wildlife and distant landscapes is nothing short of remarkable. And last but not least, I read one book this past month — the family saga Some Luck by Pulitzer winner Jane Smiley. Critical praise gave me high hopes for an engrossing story, but it was more of a slog than a joy to get through. It’s the first of a trilogy that follows one large family through the bulk of the 1900s… I don’t expect I will continue reading to find out what happens to them. Oh well, you win some and you lose some.

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And that’s a wrap on June 2015!

Coming up this next month… a quick trip to Florida to visit my grandfather and then working at my old summer camp for a week teaching high school kids about video making. And of course more theater.

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