Anatomy of a Day in the Life of a Lady of Leisure

I'm currently entering my third week of non-day-employment, and am finally settling into a groove. I keep remarking to myself how uncanny it is the amount of things I can get accomplished when my mornings and afternoons aren't spent parked behind a desk. Slowly but surely, my body, house, personal relationships, and music career are getting the attention they deserve. My dry-cleaning lady and I are on a first-name basis and I can finally walk in my bedroom without stumping my toes on some sort of clutter. I have, by no means, gotten everything done, but I finally feel like items get crossed off my to-do list instead of staying parked there for weeks at a time finally to be addressed in haphazard fashion. I'm enjoying what others think may be mundane because I finally have the leisure to get those types of things done. I'm also getting a taste of what domestic life feels like. Rather than just taking care of myself, I'm practicing taking care of a household (which my darling mother keeps reminding me I'm not quite equipped to do right this second).

So what does a typical day look like in my life of leisure? It's not all track suits and soap operas, I assure you. I'm getting my condo ready to put on the market, planning the wedding of the century, and soliciting work so that I don't... you know... starve.

The biggest difference is my waking time. My internal body clock has still been waking me up at 7 am, but now I get to stay in bed and watch West Wing re-runs on Bravo. I get up when I feel prepared to get out of bed rather than over-sleeping and rushing to get into the office on time. I try to do something around the house whether it's purging junk from the loft or scrubbing down the balcony, cleaning out my closet or meeting with a contractor. I go to coffee with a girlfriend or drive down to Chevy Chase and take an aerobics class in the afternoon. I run errands like grocery shopping or picking up dry cleaning or getting my oil changed. When evening falls, it's time to go to work, and I make sure that I'm doing something music-related even if I'm not teaching or leading a rehearsal. If class or a lesson is cancelled or I don't have a scheduled rehearsal, I go to a quiet place and spend time preparing scores or planning a rehearsal. And once all of that is done and the Maestro is finished with his rehearsal, we spend some time with one another so that we don't forget what the other looks like.

My work may be evenings and weekends, but above all, I finally feel rested and un-rushed. I've become a priority in my life again, and the change of pace is a breath of fresh air. I surely don't expect it to last forever, or even for much longer, but for now, my life of leisure is a fantastic shift in pace.

How to be a (non-starving) artist

Part of my new full-time job is convincing my mother that I won't starve from being a professional musician before I become Mrs. Maestro next October. I admit the thought of it is a little daunting, but possible nonetheless. The most notable change will be in the way I get paid. About the only thing that I'll miss about former-hateful-day-job-that-shall-remain-nameless is the income direct-deposited into my checking account every other Friday. Instead, I'll get paid in large chunks by contract for each gig I complete. I'll get some mad money to supplement that income from teaching private voice, and hopefully that will amount to about half of the green that I use to... you know... not starve. I just have to practice pacing my spending so that I can make those large chunks of cash last until the next one appears. And to survive, I just have to close a show every 4-6 weeks and teach between 20 and 30 hours a month.

So how close am I to making that happen?

Well, I already had existing contracts for gigs ending in December and January, so I have no worries until then. I've booked contracts for gigs ending in March, May, June, and July, so I'm out of the woods for 6 out of the 11 months before the Maestro makes an honest woman out of me. I'm working on a contract for a gig I really want for February and haven't quite figured April out yet. I'm continuing to hustle, and am about halfway there to not allowing my mother's worst fears come to life.

I'll keep you updated on how it goes.

Until then, I'll leave you with a video that reflects my daily sentiments...

Hello? ::pats microphone:: Is this thing on?

I know, I know... it's been a long time. I'm not even sure if anyone's still subscribed to this bad boy of a blog I started eight thousand years ago. It wasn't my intent to drop off the face of the planet, but life ran away with me. I was working 70 hour weeks and had all sorts of other crazy things going on. And while my life isn't so much slowing down but taking a new direction, I feel myself having "unfrivolous" and interesting things to share and actually having the time to share them.

So without further ado, I'm going to give you the quickest update of my life since February 1st, 2009*:
-I started teaching children and liked it! It's the perfect balance of instructing the youth of America and not-being-in-a-classroom to suit my delicate proclivities. I've music directed The Wiz, Godspell, and now Fame with this awesome group of advanced teenagers and love it more than I ever thought possible.
-I also music directed The Full Monty with an awesome group of guys in Baltimore and the Maryland/DC non-union premiere of RENT.
-I worked my last day at hateful day job this past Friday and have never felt happier in my life. I'm slightly afraid that I might starve, but I'm trying to make a go of music directing theatre and teaching voice full time.

...and... finally, the cream of the crop of updates...

-I'm engaged! The Maestro asked me to marry him in August and we're in the process of planning our big Baltimore wedding for next fall.



So what do I have to say? Why'd I come back to this wild and crazy blogging world, you may ask?

Since I'm finally living the life that is in line with my creative objective for this corner of the 'net, I'm running with it. I want to document my time attempting to make a go of being a professional musician in Charm City and provide insight to anyone else who might be trying to do the same. Also, in the process of planning our upcoming nuptials, I've been stalking bridal blogs along with all of yours, so I want to have an opportunity to share pretty things with you guys. I don't think I'll be attempting to be a bridal blogger. I think that there are plenty of people who already have that job on lockdown, but I'd love to share pretty things that I come across never-the-less.

Also, I never stopped trying out new libations, so I'll also be resuming Wino Wednesdays

So there you go, folks. What has everyone been up to since I've been on blogger sabbatical?

*The deplorably long-ago last time that I stopped past this little corner of the Internet.

Easing on down another road

'Cause there maybe times
When you think you lost your mind
And the steps you're takin'
Leave you three, four steps behind
But the road you're walking
Might be long sometimes
You just keep on steppin'
And youll just be fine

For the past couple of months, I've been doing some soul searching and serious thinking as to what direction I should be heading professionally in the creative realm. I've been playing with some folks down on the other beltway... learning how to teach music that literally just finished being written and laughing my butt off.

Today, I start teaching children how to sing The Wiz. Generally, a day doesn't go by where I don't find myself at least once saying some variant of, "I hate children." The Maestro says I do it for shock value. Sometimes I'm not so sure.

But, I truly am excited to have been given the opportunity to try something new, and to work with a completely unfamiliar group of people. I think that I'll need this concentration of youth and innocence before I start working with naked men in April.



Don't you carry nothin' that might be a load. Come on, ease on down the road...

A long overdue home improvement post

I've had my head spinning and my body going in five million different directions for the past week for tech, but not that we've opened, my life will slowly get back to normal, and hopefully the posts a little more regular.

As I mentioned before, my condo was kind of unapologetically out of control and un-lived-in, and I'd gotten tired of it. Last weekend, I had an unexpected day off from rehearsal, my mother was in town, and she helped me clean house and shop for the new place.

One of the first priorities for us was getting the porch in order. Some barn swallows have been nesting in my porch above the sprinkler head for three seasons in a row. While I love nature, the bird droppings and inability to sit out on my porch have gotten super-old. Not particularly wanting to rip a bird's nest down (don't worry: all the eggs have hatched and no birds were harmed in the process of cleaning my deck), my lovely mother hired someone to do it for us. The woman did a thorough job, and also scrubbed down the siding and patio furniture. Once all remnants of bird were gone, I went to Home Depot and bought a hammer and some thumb tacks (yes, I know... it's appalling that I didn't own a hammer. I'll give you a moment to get over it). We tacked up this magical netting called Bird Block to prevent our feathered creatures from coming back. I've had these great Japanese fish bowls sitting out on the deck that I inherited from one of my mother's recent relocations, but I've had no occasion to use them. We lined the edge of the porch with those fish bowls filled with azaleas and some other plant whose leaves look like elephant ears. Throw some lanterns out there and VOILA! New and improved porch!





We christened the new porch by inviting some neighbors over for wine and cheese that night. Our neighbor from across the hall brought some incense to stick in one of the flower pots to keep the mosquitos at bay. I never knew that worked, but I'm going out to a hippie store to buy some now. I went to Trader Joe's and bought some pita bread, a box of mixed cocktail crackers, some 3-layer hummus, aged gouda, dill havarti, and blackberries and black cherries. Here are the results of my impromptu entertaining:



I opened a bottle of Blue Jean, a California blend that is actually a pretty good value for it's money (it retails for $7.99 and is quite yummy).

All in all, it was a good way to start pulling my place into shape. A week later, the plants are still thriving. I've bought a Dyson and discovered a newfound love of vacuuming. I've cleaned my room and re-decorated the master bath. My mother re-decorated the guest bath and powder rooms. I'll leave all of that for another post, but I'm well on my way into making Chez Downbeats a home!

More goals

The fire has been lit under my feet. I'm still on this kick where I'm making some changes in my life for the better. Next up: to live a less cluttered life. I really do get consumed with work. By the time I get home in the middle of the night, I'm too exhausted to do anything other than crawl into bed. And since I started permanently living alone last October, my condo has simply fallen into a ridiculous state of disarray. It has always been a battle for me to keep my room clean. One of my first memories is of my father, fed up with the sad state of my bedroom circa age 4, banishing me to the dining room while he took on my bedroom with a trash bag and vacuum cleaner. My room isn't much better two decades later, but at least the common areas in my place are passable. I still don't vacuum enough.

The fact of the matter is simply that I haven't really taken ownership of my place even though I moved in three years ago. I don't entertain company Chez Downbeats, and now that I live alone, I've had little motivation to make my place "homey." Madre Downbeats and my Nana are up from Florida and staying with me for a little bit right now. When my mother called me the other day to let me know that she had arrived safely and that I had left some frozen calzones out on the counter, my stomach started doing flip flops at the notion of my mother even coming close to opening my bedroom door.

That was the last straw. I have decided that the next time that my mother comes into town, I would like for her to be able to say, "Wow, the place looks great" instead of having to bite her tongue. How am I going to find the time? I have no clue... spend more time at home? In between production of Tommy an A Chorus Line, hopefully I'll get all of my boxes unpacked, my room cleaned and organized, and the place decorated. Stuff at the windows, etc. And when it all gets done, I'm going to throw a bangin' cocktail party.

Got any tips for cleaning up/decorating? Bring them on!

Making some changes

I'm not a New Years resolution kinda gal. I get the point, but how effective are they really? Occasionally someone actually quits smoking or goes to the gym a little more for a few weeks, but generally these good intentions fizzle out into a cloud of disappointment, defeat, and self-deprecation. Also, I don't particularly believe that one should wait until a particular date to make needed changes in their lives. If you want to make change, start NOW!

So at any rate, all that said, I was inspired by this little thing that this cool chick named Amy is doing over at her equally cool website, Rocketwife. She made a list of 101 goals she wants to accomplish in 1001 days. She put them all up on her website, and she's kicking butt and taking names while she crosses each one of them out.

See, that's very industrious of her. I'm inspired, but not enough to make a list of 101 things. I can barely tie my shoes in the morning. I'm all about acknowledging some goals that I need to set and documenting the act of holding myself accountable, however. And that's exactly what I intend to do on this here little patch of the blogosphere (I kind of hate that word, but it captures the essence of geography that I'm trying to convey).

So first goal: to familiarize myself with two new shows a month for a year. It's not particularly a secret that I'm a bad musical theatre artist. I've said it before and I'll keep saying it until that statement becomes a false one. There are a few different ways one can introduce themselves to new work:

*Performing/producing a show
*Going to see a live performance
*Buying the soundtrack

I music direct between 3 and 5 shows in a year (by year's end I will have music directed 4 shows... hopefully I'll pick up the pace again in 2009), and sometimes those are shows with which I'm already familiar. Needless to say, I'm not going to learn 24 new (to me) shows by June of 2009 just by showing up to rehearsal. And I often don't have the time to see even most of the stuff out there in live performance. That means I'm going to have to start building up my iTunes library with some musical theatre.

I've already started! A friend of mine told me about a year ago how much I would love this piece comprised of four people, four stools, and a piano called [Title of Show]. I kind of dismissed it, until a few days ago after I had seen enough e-mails pop into my inbox about this piece that my curiosity was whetted. And I did just see Candide the other day, so by all accounts I appear to be on track. As far as [...Show] is concerned, I'll let you know what I think... and keep you updated on my quest to become a more knowledgeable musical theatre artist.

And please, feel free... indebted... whatever... to send me suggestions if you see/hear of shows you think I should know about.

E-mail me at underwood.tiffany [at] gmail [dot] com.