ANA Annual 2014

I recently had a fun opportunity with work - helping with production of the ANA's 2014 Annual Conference. Erica and I thought it would be fun to share a little bit about the experience.

I was put in charge of the scripts for the conference, and spent a good deal of time before writing the comments for the main "MC," the head of the ANA, and a few other individuals. On-site, I worked with the teleprompter operator (she more put up with me and taught me), to keep us on track.

I got to the hotel (after my first work-related airplane ride) and received an upgrade to a suite. I wound up calling back downstairs to make sure it was indeed a free upgrade (they were trying to fill the hotel completely). This is a panorama of the room - pretty huge!

The thing was I didn't get to spend much time there - we were on shift for 16-17 hours each day. Tiresome work, but the show went really well and I wound up meeting most of the speakers as I collected interesting facts about them to be shared on Twitter.

This is a view going into the conference area.

I forgot to get a picture of what the stage looked like but this is a rendering - I sat back behind the main screen.

 Which looked like this from behind.

 This was the view from my room - didn't get to really see it until the day we left though because I was never there during daylight!

 Cheezy...

 A few cool shots of the hotel...

It was a really great experience - and if it works out, maybe I'll go again next year!

Chase & Mom's Day Out

Since Marcus has been out of town at a client conference, Chase and I had a fun day out.  We, well I, decided to go to one of our favorite places: Gantry Park.  It is supposed to rain a lot this week, so we had one last day of fun in the sun before fall hits.  It did sprinkle for a few minutes, but we ignored it and kept playing.

Then Chase had his picnic lunch on a bench.  You can see why it's one of my favorite places if you look in the background :)

Guess it was a good sandwich :)

 And of course some more stomping around.

The moody clouds kept rolling in, so we decided to go home... via the Italian Ice shop.  The owner was super nice and let Chase play with a plate of sprinkles while she got his Oreo flavored Italian Ice.

yum yum yum

We had a great day out -- but we do miss Marcus :)

Chase was obviously super tired after our fun day out because then he went right down for bed.  He was just in a diaper because his clothes were a little damp from the rain.  

A few minutes later, I went in to check on him...

This is MY blackmail picture.  :)
You can smile or laugh, but no stealing this!

It's been a great and MEMORABLE day.  Haha.

Two Year Old Pictures

I swear, one of these years, we're going to catch his adorable toothy grin, but apparently this is not the year.  The pictures are still pretty cute.  The photographers at JCPenneys really do a great job.  We actually had the same photographer as last year, and I think is fantastic at capturing Chase's personality.  So impressive given he's a crazy two year old :)

Yay, I'm 2!

Playing with the balloon helped his tears go away

Chase and Peanut :)
BFFs for life!

The best smile we got...
He's watching Puss in Boots on the phone :)

I seriously can't believe he's two!  Love that little munchkin face.

❤

Chase is TWO

Chase is a fantastic two-year-old.  He loves to run in circles, pull out every toy he owns, rip apart papers, make a lot of noise...  Seriously, he is great at being two!  And he loved turning two and getting to celebrate.

Lucky for him, we had several days of birthday.  We had opened the kitchen a few days early so really extend the excitement of the gifts.  He still loves it.  Apparently all he ever makes is "coooookies."  Can't blame him :)

Playing with the Kitchen

Chase was pretty sick all week, so his sleeping schedule was completely crazy.  He fell asleep right before dinner the day before his birthday and woke up at 10:00 PM ready for the day.  Since that would obviously throw off his birthday morning, we decided to give him his presents then.  It was practically midnight anyway :)  

Marcus and I had bought him some pants, which he's been wearing all week, and a Buzz Lightyear.  Chase is really into Toy Story right now.  He would watch any of those movies every single day if I'd let him.  He has a Woody doll, but he didn't have Buzz yet.  Marcus was especially excited about that gift.  He took it out early to inspect it and make sure it was in proper working order.

Marcus and Buzz

Chase finding his Buzz

Chase really understands this whole unwrapping gifts thing.  He loves to open everything.  It makes me excited for Christmas and more wrapping paper :)

Opening a present

Chase really loves getting cards in the mail.  (He must think more birthday cards are coming because now he opens bills left on the table too.)  He will carry the cards around and "read" them multiple times.  It's super cute.  He has a paper bag from Magnolia Bakery where he keeps his cards and carries them around the apartment.  It's really fun.

Re-reading birthday cards

This was a little late, but it was technically a birthday gift too.  We'd been talking about getting a rug to put in the bedroom by Chase's bed but hadn't.  Finally we had the idea to get a fun rug that could also be played with.  It's working out great.  Chase loves to line up his cars on it, and it's great to have something on the cold floor when we get Chase in the morning.

City Rug

We also went to the park on Friday and met up with some of his buddies.  I asked Chase if he wanted to bring cookies or cake.  Obviously he said cookies :)  I don't have any pictures from that, but we all had a great time.  It was a low key yet fun birthday.

A thank you from Chase...

Chef Chase

Chase turns TWO on Wednesday.  Isn't that crazy?  Seems like he should still be little, but no.  He's huge.  Anyway, we decided to open part of his birthday gifts early because Wednesdays are tricky here.  Basically, none of us are home at the same time.  So to fully enjoy the wonderful gift from his grandparents, we set up his new kitchen during his nap.  This is a video of him coming into the room and seeing his kitchen, which he LOVES.   

"Pank you.  ... cook!"  

Love, Chase

Chase Videos

Every once in awhile, I realize that I have several fun videos on my phone that need to be shared.  So here's a blog post of videos that have been stored up for awhile.  Sorry...

Chase has been a huge fan of swings since he could barely fit into a swing.  That's all he wanted to do at the park, and he'd be happy to stay there for hours.  He had been scared of the big, curly slide.  Well, our big Almost-Two-Year-Old (gasp!) has no fears anymore!

Chase's vocabulary really isn't that big yet.  He does copy words and occasionally (and very randomly) count to five.  My favorite word he says right now is "octopus."  He loves to read his ocean book and look at all the pictures, including one of an octopus.  I probe him a lot to say it in this video, but he finally says octopus at the end.

Chase got in trouble this week for intentionally throwing food across the room and then squishing it.  He knows he's not supposed to do that, so he got a Time Out.  We really didn't think it would be effective, but it totally was.  He must have been super tired or something.  I didn't want to use his bed or stroller, so I moved his chair by the door.  He cried for awhile and then just talked to himself until he was calm.  It was really funny and super cute. :)

Well that's it for now -- I am positive there will be more soon!

LES MISÉRABLES BROADWAY

About once a year Erica and I pay our way to see a show - usually during broadway week. This year we caught the new production of Les Misérables. It was fantastic. While the staging and selection of actors were different than productions past, we thoroughly enjoyed it.

In particular, we enjoyed the production's lead, Ramin Karimloo (Rah-meen) as Jean Valjean, Kyle Scatliffe as Enjolras, and the terrific Earl Carptenter as Javert. The whole show, while a little different than we'd either seen it before was fantastic and as powerful and tear jerking as ever. Mr. Karimloo's rendition of Valjean, in particular, was exciting and heart-pulling. There was a constant sensation/tension as he built up to the high points of the performance of "here it comes, he's going to nail it," - and every time, he killed it. Just killed it.

He also has an interesting backstory as told by the NY Times: Flexing His Might as Newest Valjean

Also, I apparently have a man-crush. Seriously though. Listen to this man sing:

Anyhow, we had a fantastic time and would highly, highly recommend the show to anyone searching for something to see on Broadway. Even if you've seen it before, it makes for a wonderful night. It certainly didn't feel like it was three hours long and I've never seen a Broadway theater that excited, about almost every single cast member at the end of the show.

Just for fun, here is one final video: