Just checking in on you. Hows the job going these days? Are you able to get some time for runs in? I know with a new career and young children, running sometimes end up being the first thing to get cut with a busy schedule. Are you running any of the races during marathon weekend? I hope all is well and look forward to hearing back from you.
Time has literally been flying by, and it's been a challenge juggling everything. The job has calmed down, and is now routine. G had her summer plays again, and the theater was doing Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland. I participated in a fuller capacity this time around, to try and elevate our costume game. So I started planning out costumes in Feb/March, and then we had a costume meeting in mid-April for Wizard and mid-May for Alice. Starting in mid-April through about mid-August, it was costumes, costumes, costumes for my life. Without exaggeration, I probably only took 4-5 days off during that entire 4 month period of time from costume making. Almost every weekday was a routine of wake at 5:30am, go to work, get home at 5:30pm, then costumes from 6-11pm (unless I ran which ate into this time), then sleep. Weekends it was wakeup and work on costumes from 10am to 11pm. It was a lot, probably too much if we're being honest. But the costumes I was able to put together were far better than anything we would have put on stage otherwise.
For Wizard of Oz I made:
Dorthy (x2 - Kansas and Oz)
Tin Man
Lion
Mayor of Munchkin
Poppies (x13)
Ozians (x13)
Crows (x4)
Trees (x7)
Jitterbugs (x9)
So 51 costumes in total.
For Alice in Wonderland I made:
White Rabbit
March Hare
Mad Hatter
Queen of Hearts
King of Hearts
Alice (x3)
Cheshire Cat (x3)
Dodo Bird
Caterpillar
Butterfly
Flowers (x5)
So 19 costumes in total.
Multiple of the costumes blew away the spectators. I heard multiple people were trying to figure out how I pulled off the transition from caterpillar to butterfly.
The Dodo bird was a nice check-in moment, because it mirrored the Monsters Inc. costumes I made as my first sewing costume 2 years ago. While the Monster's costumes took months, I was done with the Dodo bird in about a week. Having been through the process with Monsters, but more so just having so much more experience with sewing in general since then allowed me to alter the creation process to make it significantly easier. And accomplishable for a single person to do, whereas the Monster's costumes required a second set of hands during the actual sewing part.
Now I've since started on our Halloween costumes for
MNSSHP. In 2023, I started in June, and in 2024 I started in March. In 2025, I started in mid-August, so I've been working furiously to finish in time. Any guesses as to what I'm making?
As for running, it's been a struggle for competing time. I've not been consistent, and my fitness is near baseline without training at all. I'm really hoping to wrap things up so I can get back in a routine. But I've already had two other costume requests, so we'll see. The University Bookstore wants me to make them a new Bookie costume, and a co-worker really wants a Kirby costume. But those will probably be completed in short time. I've said it a few times already, but hopefully things can calm down more now that theater season is done and I'm making good progress on MNSSHP costumes. I haven't touched video games, tv shows, and movies in months. I'm so behind in so many aspects.
Overall, I remain busy, but I'm surviving. Thanks for asking!
