T-Ball

I had the chance to support a little fella at a T-ball game the other day, then also be with him at a Salt Lake Bees game.

The most precious thing was when his mother asked him what he thought about T-ball and he said, "I thought it was a tea party with a ball."  Apparently he realized what it really was at the first game.

Too precious.

Damn Yankees: Utah Cultural Celebration Center

Damn Yankees - if you love dance, you must go see this production at Utah Cultural Celebration Center in West Valley City.  By far some of the best community theater choreography I have ever seen is on this stage.  Leah Hasset as Lola will have all of the young girls wanting to learn to dance and all of us older girls wanting to go back to dance.  She gives Gwen Verdon, original Broadway star, a run (or dance?) for her money. 

Now that I have that out of the way, let me tell you about the Utah Cultural Celebration Center.  This is probably the best venue you have never been to.  I did not know it existed, neither did my friend whose condo you can literally see from the amphitheater.  The backdrop is the Wasatch mountain range, the ceiling is the setting sun transforming into the twinkling of the stars, all while being surrounded with a pristinely new arts facility.  In fact, I'd recommend arriving a few minutes early to explore all this venue has to offer.  Keep your eyes open for free events throughout the summer.  The volunteer ushers, box office workers, and cast were the tops in politeness and customer service - including passing out candy to audience members as we departed.

So what is Damn Yankees about?  The storyline of Damn Yankees does no favors to the remarkable cast and talent on any stage and will most assuredly be the weakest point of most productions.  If you want a full assessment (aka the cold, hard truth) from a former cast member, read here.  This is your typical "sell your soul to the devil so your baseball team can win" story.  Basically, Joe Boyd (Brandon Rufener) ignores his wife, Meg (Brittany Carroll), six months out of every year for the love of the baseball game.  He offhandedly remarks that he would do anything for his beloved Senators to win the pennant.  Cue the entrance of the devil (Johnny Hebda) willing to barter Joe's soul for a chance to help the Senators win.  Joe agrees, plays for the team as young Joe Hardy (Austin Smith) whilst battling off skeptical reporter Gloria Thorpe (Megan Winegar) and the advances of the devil's temptress Lola (Leah Hassett!).  Meanwhile, Meg is at home, entertained with her crazy friends Sister (Jessica McCowin) and Doris (Carla Kirk).  Will the devil win Joe's soul?  Or will Joe's true love for Meg conquer all?

Meg Boyd is the one casting decision that confused me, but not for lack of talent.  She looked a good ten - fifteen years younger than her romantic counterpart and I sensed a much greater chemistry between her and young Joe Hardy than with her husband.  I heard several similar comments amongst audience members.  In spite of this, Brittany Carroll does a fine job - her voice is very reminiscent of the sweet, classic sounds of the 1940s, she played her character with utmost tenderness, and she oozed class and compassion.

Both Joe Boyd (old Joe) and Joe Hardy (young joe) have crystal clear voices.  The transformation scene made me giggle because young Joe emerged in old Joe's huge shirt, but his pants were skin-tight - I'd have expected the pants to be loose as well.

Now that Applegate (the devil) has made Joe into a prodigy of a ballplayer, enter the Washington Senators and their see-through pants.  More giggles.  The sad thing is that their pants were much less see-through (you see their striped shirts tucked in through their pants -nothing even near vulgar, just funny) than in the production I was a part of.  You stop noticing after about the first couple minutes, especially when distracted with their goofball antics and pleasing harmonizing of the quartet on "Heart."

Even with the crazy plot, Damn Yankees has a special place in my heart because I was privileged enough to perform the role of reporter Gloria Thorpe for six weeks a few years ago.  I was pleasantly surprised with the performance of Megan Winegar.  She gave Gloria a flair of Dottie Henson (bold, yet ladylike), Gina Davis' character in A League of Their Own, especially when she grabbed a baseball mitt to join in the rousing celebration with the boys in "Shoeless Joe."  Ever want to see ball players frolic and dance?  Here's your chance - and it is amusingly delightful, truth be told.  Back to Winegar - she has everything she needs - vocal chops, dance skills, and unwavering conviction...nothing about her character makes you question her credibility in any way.

I forgot to mention the comic relief characters of Sister and Doris - Jessica McCowin and Carla Kirk.  Sister is off-the-wall bonkers, unrelentingly flirtatious, and an absolute treasure to the show.  She'll make you laugh for sure.  Doris is her straight-man and adorable in her own right.

Now to my favorite, whom I've already mentioned - Leah Hasset as Lola.  Folks, you won't find a treasure like her on many community theater stages.  If your little girls love dancing, please take them to watch her and show them what they can become.  Lola is mainly a dancing role, in my opinion, although she has several songs, which Hasset is more than vocally adequate performing - not even running out of breath as she twists, spins, and contorts her body into positions only yoga-enthusiasts know.  Her facial expressions will amuse you, along with her acting, first as a temptress in employ of the devil, then as a lonely young woman rooting for Joe and his love for Meg - very tender.  Hasset alone is worth your $5 to go see - I promise.  Based on my research, she only graduated from high school last year - definitely keep your eyes on this one.

With all this mention of the devil Applegate, I have yet to address Johnny Hebda's performance.  He's got the young, attractive, charismatic appeal that you would want from a schmoozing salesman.  I have a hard time seeing past the inherent flaws written into the script for this character - he seems too weak to be the Lord of Darkness, but Hebda performs the role with pinache.  I wanted a little more gusto, or umph as some people call it, on the big notes at the end of, "Those Were the Good Ole Days," but that is just a personal preference - Hebda has a technically correct and crisp voice to carry off his number with ease.

As I mentioned before, if you love dancing, you need to see this show.  Choreographer Michael Hernandez has won me completely.  I think I'm in love.  Okay, not really, but you get the point.  He's on tour with Disney right now, rumor has it, if that tells you anything.  Every cast member could dance their tails off - some quite unexpectedly.  During, "Whose Got the Pain," featured dancer Corbin Schmidt - wow - you will not see a man move this way on any other community stage and I was entirely shocked.  Other ensemble members are dressed in rather unfitted dresses, giving you the impression they perhaps wouldn't be dancers, and then - bam - high kicks, splits, pirouettes,  leaps, you name it. 

Each director tries to add their own flair to the show - adding "finishing touches" here and there, cutting music to be longer or shorter, making duets chorale numbers, etc.  Director Julie Waite began this production with the singing of the National Anthem - very beautifully done.  During the benefit show portion just prior to intermission, the cast members came out to the audience to watch, as they naturally would for a benefit.  I typically hate audience mingling, but this was done just right and added to the atmosphere. 

So, the all-important question:  Should you see the show?  If you are a lover of dance, yes, Yes, YES!  If you are someone who is easily distracted by a weak, slow storyline, then this may not be for you, again, not through any fault of the performers.  I assure you, every character on stage is strong and skilled in the triple-threat arena of music dance theater.  This is well worth your $5 for an entertaining, unique experience under the stars with West Valley Utah Cultural Celebration Center and the cast of Damn Yankees.

The show runs at 8pm and closes on Saturday night June 30th at 1355 West 3100 South, West Valley City, UT 84119.  Admission cost is $5.  Only three chances left - don't strike out on this one!  Grab your baseball mitt and go have a ball!

Video of "Whose Got the Pain?" here.

Physical Beauty

“When you start to know someone, all their physical characteristics start to disappear. You begin to dwell in their energy, recognize the scent of their skin. You see only the essence of the person, not the shell. That’s why you can’t fall in love with beauty. You can lust after it, be infatuated by it, want to own it. You can love it with your eyes and your body but not your heart. And that’s why, when you really connect with a person’s inner self, any physical imperfections disappear, become irrelevant.”

— Lisa Unger, Beautiful Lies

Photo Evidence, or a Lack Thereof

I love having photos - I think they are a great personal history while being fun at the same time.  Nothing makes you giggle quite like an amazingly terrible photo.   Nothing makes your heart melt quite like seeing the smiling faces of friends and family you love.

I would think that most folks would naturally want to have a few photos with the people they have dated regularly.  I had this thought because I realized a strange phenomenon in my dating life.

I only have photos with one of the last six men I have dated.  In fact, I've straight-up asked for photos before only to repeatedly be rejected.  Is that strange?  I think it is strange.  A little suspicious/curious if you ask me...

Dating Stinks

I've long had the nose of a bloodhound.

As a child, I would come home from elementary school, open the front door, and pause for just a moment before boldly asking my mom, "Where's the chocolate?"

You see, she would buy bulk chocolate and cut it up into pieces and hide it from us, occasionally bringing out pieces.  The only problem was that I thwarted her masterplan because I could smell from a mile away - just the mere fact that she'd had chocolate in the house perked my little sniffer right up.

Chocolate brings me to another of life's greatest treats...men.

Both can be sweet or bitter, desired or avoided, but the similarity I am going for right now is smell.

I've dated, or come close to dating, some guys who just were not up to snuff...or sniff, as it were.  I've often asked questions of my friends like:
Is it just me, or does that guy smell like wet cotton and clothes that have been hanging in the closet too long?
Have you smelled that guy's breath?  I can't get within a foot of him!  No?  Just me?
That guy rocks at frisbee, but probably because no one ever guards him because he smells like BO.  What?  You've never smelled it when you guard him?  Weird.

Then there is the converse:
Did you smell him?  I thought he was totally unattractive until I caught a whiff of how good he smells!
Don't you love it when you kiss and his smell lingers with you?
 
I have never been shy about hooking men up with cologne when I think it will help their cause, or politely handing someone a piece of gum.  Lucky for me, I give people gum all the time and nine times out of ten, it is not a necessity, but a nicety.

I cannot think of one relationship where smell did not play some factor in my decisions.  Crazy, right?  Or not...

I've recently stumbled upon quite a few articles and research backing up my olfactory omniscience.


This article states: 
Dating has long been associated with masquerade. It is well known that the codes and signals women employ to attract a mate - provocative dress, coy and flirtatious behavior (driven by sexual fantasy) - are deeply rooted in evolutionary biology. Often unrecognized, however, is the role that the sense of smell plays in the evolutionary system of attraction. We each produce a chemical aura as unique as our fingerprints. Starting at puberty, feasts of aromatic chemicals that make up our individual "odor-prints" communicate our sexual compatibility. This continues through our fertile lives and is perceived by others on an unconscious level...
One way in which humans communicate with each other is through the senses of smell and taste. Attraction is quite literally about chemistry; our noses have receptors for scent molecules, some so fine-tuned that even consciously imperceptible chemicals are apprehended and processed by the brain on an unconscious level. The majority of the aromatic information that we receive from other humans is apprehended in this way.
Evolutionary biologists had long hypothesized that humans pick mates by smelling them, but this was only proven in 1995 by biologist Claus Wedekind in a groundbreaking initial study while at the University of Bern...read more here.


Another article states:
What’s the most important factor in choosing a lover – is it eyes, smile, wealth, ambition, personality, or outward appearance? Not surprisingly, friendliness is the most important factor for both men and women, and if you’re a woman at Brown University, the second most important thing to you is how your potential lover smells. Think this is weird? Rachel Herz of Brown University’s Department of Psychology and Michael Inzlicht of New York University’s Department of Applied Psychology conducted a study to quantify how important smell is to men and women when it comes to choosing their lovers...
Herz and Inzlicht’s research debunks previous theories of mate selection. For example, according to Buss’s 1989 study, men have stereotypically been charged with seeking women with “good looks,” whereas women look for men of “high social status and wealth.” Herz and Inzlicht expand on such previous experiments by investigating the relationship between attraction and the sense of smell. This factor is relevant because a pleasing natural smell may indicate that the potential lover has a healthy immune system...
So why do you like that average looking fellow? How come that ordinary lady in your writing class looks good to you? You can’t figure out for the life of you why you keep thinking about him. Could it be because you caught a whiff of his natural scent? The take-home message of this study is that women should look their best and be pleasant, and that men should smell nice and treat their women well.   Read more here.

Glamour Magazine recently published some research that shows that those with a keen sense of smell are happier because their communication levels are higher as are their cues to social propriety. 

Did you know that there are even Pheromone Parties?  And dating websites catering towards matching people based on smell?  This is kinda creepy, but, hey, if it works...

I feel a little relieved to know that science is backing up my decisions when I can't bring myself to date a guy because his smell rubs me the wrong way.

Have you had any interesting experiences involving dating and smells?

Beauty Comes With a Price

Grandma Betty always told me, "You must suffer to be beautiful."

There is still some truth echoing in the abandoned halls of that archaic phrase.  After taking a look at the below photo, however, I am wondering who is doing the suffering - me or the people looking at me?

Don't be afraid, it it all turns out alright in the end.

I love having my hair highlighted, but haven't done so in about 8 or 9 months to keep my locks healthy and long.  But the summer sunshine kept teasing my inner blonde and I could refuse her sun-kisses no longer.  I feel radiant, even without makeup (no makeup in these photos and I maybe forgot this morning too).

I may regret the decision to post these silly photos from joking around with Leah, but oh well - here ya go!

Weighty Butterflies

I've been a little stressed the past few weeks - that kind of stress you don't realize you are feeling, let alone the severity of it, until you find yourself practically collapse into tears at the kitchen counter while attempting to make cookies.  Then you re-enact scenes from every chick flick ever and shove a spoonful of cookie dough in your mouth whilst ugly-crying.  Yep.  Sounds about right.

I wasn't eating more calories than usual and I kept up my six-days-per-week dates with Gym, but the stress was all, "Hey, Larissa's body!  Let's add five pounds of insulation to protect her from her hurt."  Gee, what a nice gift...you shouldn't have.

Then my stresses melted away.

Last night, I was out with a particularly nice fella and said, "I don't know how, but I've mysteriously lost three pounds in less than a week!"

The particularly nice fella let a smile sneak upon his lips and replied, "That's because you got rid of all of the butterflies in your stomach." 

Sometimes I wish I weren't a sappy, easily-amused girl.  Alas, I am.  And that was adorable.

And now you all know how to lose weight.  

So What's the Take-Away?

This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to attend the premiere of a new movie with my darling friend Lucas.  He is in the film industry, therefore is blessed with/suffers from a keen eye for the artistry of film.

As we left the theater, he asked me, "So what was the take-away?  What did you get from that movie?" 

Since that conversation, I've thought about this question as it applies to life.

In every situation, what is my take-away?  Did I learn anything?  Did the experience have any value?  Or was it a big waste of my time?

Something to think about.

Fashion Trends: Colored Jeans

I cannot, for the life of me, pull off colored jeans.

Look at them!  Aren't they cute?

Alas, we've all seen the "People of Walmart" trying to pull them off - emphasis on trying because it definitely ain't happenin.'  They emphasize dimples (not the cute ones) and make short/muscular legs look even bulkier.

And as much as I love them on other people, I can't help but think they are one of those trends that we will look back on in twenty years and think, "What on earth were we thinking?  Who let us wear those?!"

What do you guys think?

Fashion Trends: Leggings

I know some of you out there probably love the crop-leggings.  I will admit, I've seen one of you wearing them and you look fantastic.

But generally speaking?

I hate them.

I feel as if they chop legs off half-way down.  And isn't the point of  fashion to make the legs appear as long and svelte as possible? 

My biggest beef has been that, in the LDS culture, a lot of girls wear them to pull off wearing skirts that are not of "modest" length instead of wearing them because they are the right style for the look they are trying to pull off.  This can be a little tacky and unflattering in my opinion...it's like those girls who buy the strapless dresses and just wear t-shirts under everything.  Umm...darling, that doesn't look good - have you ever heard of a cardigan?  Anyway. 

Leave it to the short girl to be overly-sensitive to any leg-chopping fashion...I gotta elongate where I can!