by

¡Mary K estå tratando!

I really really am trying to blog more!  I swear!!!  I have had the busiest few days!

I’m about to run out the door to a meeting in 15 minutes, so I’ll tell you what I have been up to.

I blogged on Wednesday, so you know I spent the whole day with Melia.

Then, Thursday– oh my gosh, I can’t even remember what I did.  I have to look at the calendar… ugh, it just says CSA (our community farm share) so… aside from going to pick that up, I really have no clue what I did… besides yoga, of course.

The weeks aren’t always really busy for us, the weekend is when most of our work happens, so I do know that I was busy this weekend.

Friday, I had a meeting in the morning and then I spent the whole day catching up on school work.  (Well, “catching up”, I’m probably 2 weeks ahead in school work, but I developed this weird addiction to checking my email over the last few weeks and it was distracting me from doing much else… so I got myself back on track and “caught back up” to week 9– we’re in week 7 now.)  Then I cleaned the house for my monthly dinner party and cooked and hosted the party.  Jesse played a Gypsy on Law and Order SVU, so he missed the party.  :(  But we all still had a lot of fun and laughed a lot.

Saturday it snowed, so I caught up on laundry and cleaned while Jesse organized the office a little bit.  Then I babysat.  It was a long day, the snow just took it out of me.

Sunday I did my yoga measurement– 7 inches from forehead to knee – that was pretty exciting!  Especially because I had jeans on!!!!  Then we went to a musical about Martin Luther King Jr.  (It doesn’t sound really good, but it really was!)  We had an evening meeting and then headed up to have dinner with Drew for his birthday.

Monday was Halloween and I spent THE WHOLE DAY BABYSITTING!!!  I’m not even kidding, like 12 hours!  It was exhausting, but I had a glass of wine with the parents once the baby was asleep and that was pretty awesome!  :)  I dressed as a witch, Annabelle (4) was a really scary ghost, and Porter (10 months) was a monkey.  It was a fun day and I got to hand out candy, which I don’t get to do here because there are no kids in my building.  (Just Charlie the triceratops, my nephew-dog– his costume is AWESOME!)

Today I caught up on some things I needed to do for school and the last of the laundry and the dishes that were dirtied yesterday.  (Yes, I did say I was out ALL DAY yesterday… I wonder how those dishes got dirty… ;-p)

And now (yes, NOW, my alarm JUST went off) I need to head to a meeting with the puppet maker we may hire to make the puppets for “Prayer of the Condor”.

OH MY GOSH, SO MUCH!!!!  I really am trying!  Bare with me :)  I really have done yoga everyday, so that’s something :)

I have some photos, so if someone reads this and asks about them I will add :)  Have a great night all!

by

Mary K hearts Melia

Oh my gosh, I totally do!!!  Melia is the daughter of some of our friends, she’s 2-years-old and I have the best luck, because I babysit for her once a week!  I am so grateful to be able to get the chance to really get to know one of our extended nieces.

After she squeezed my face off :)

I’m with Melia today, so I thought it would be fun to give you a play-by-play.  This is what we did on Monday.  (We’re normally together every Monday, but I’m with another family next week so we’re together today as well.)

I get there at 9, and Melia greets me by saying, “My Mary’s here” as soon as I ring the doorbell.  We normally start our day with a hugging contest, with Melia squeezing the ever loving crap outta me… this mean’s she wins.  :-p

A Fall Tree and Pu-kin's, her current favorite word

Then, I basically follow her around the apartment trying to convince her to go to the playground because I’m trying to take advantage of the nice days we have while we have them.  On Monday, this ended in coloring a picture and playing with playdough before I could finally get her to come with me.  Don’t let her fool you, she knows exactly how to play me!  :)  It’s not like she doesn’t LOVE the park, because she absolutely does.  I think she just likes making me walk all over the apartment, lol.

"there's a really bad booboo on this one..."

Oh, the other thing we got into was the bandaids.  She loves bandaids, so her mother brilliantly asked for them from the family for her birthday.  She plays with them like stickers.  On Monday, I showed her the booboo on my finger (Jesse drilled into my thumb last week… I’ll survive) so she needed to give me a bandaid.  Then, she told me, “there’s a really bad booboo on this finger” on my forefinger… so that got bandaged as well.  :)

After all of this, we finally got to the park.  She’s so fun on the playground.  First, she is so funny in the sandbox, ok, I don’t need to go on and on about how cute she is, but this really is funny.  One time, when we were in the sandbox, somehow we started talking about how one bucket was full of dirty diapers.  It’s strange, because I don’t know how it started, but now every time she’s in there with me she’s either making chocolate cupcakes with blue sprinkles, or she is making poopy diapers.  LOL, oh geez, her parents must hear things we talk about and get so confused!

She’s also SUPER athletic and a total daredevil, so she plays on the part for 5-year-olds all the time.  She is fearless.  It’s great to be around.

almost in the clean plate club

Lunch time is always hilarious, because at this point I’m so tired and she never wants to eat for me.  Her mom has gotten to the point of just saying, “whatever you can get her to eat is fine by me.”  Although, hummus works every time.  I have never seen a little girl eat as much hummus as Melia!  She also likes to help in the kitchen.  I’ve learned that I can get her to eat a lot if I let her help make it.  She ate most of this while we were putting it on her plate in the kitchen.  YES!  I have found a way!  :)

pink pumpkin playdough

After her nap, we’re basically just on repeat.  Here is a playdough project we worked on.  We went down to the playroom on Monday, which was so fun, and I was on my phone for a bit, and she took it out of my hands and put it across the room and came and asked to build a house.  HAHA, it was so funny, but she got my undivided attention back.  Our house was so awesome!  And these other kids came in and messed it up and you should have seen her face… I could practically see the confusion mixed with the boiling blood… it was not cool of them and she definitely felt so.  But she’s so nice and calm with the other kids, especially the babies when they put sand on her at the playground… she’s way more calm than the other kids who start freaking out.  She’s more like, ‘um, why is there sand in my ear?  could we handle this please?’  Cool under pressure, that’s for sure!

Mary, "Is that so?"... Melia, "um HM."

As you can see from my long post, I am having a blast with her!  We’ve been together almost every week since May.  It’s so cool to watch her grow and change, get new words and develop opinions about life.  We are definitely bonding.  I posted this on Facebook on Monday, just as I was leaving…

Melia: I’m being silly. 

Sheree: haha, who taught you that? 

Melia: Mary taught me that.

Lol, so cute. Just another day with the adorable Miss. Murphy. :)

And it’s true.  Everyday, something more adorable than the last.  I’m a lucky chick to have all these fantastic little ladies around me.  And, I’m making it my mission to be a living example for them of a great human on this planet.

Probably the most adorable photo ever!

by

Mary K manages art

That’s right!  She does :)

Studying hard :)

So, I am in an Arts Management program at UMass Amherst.  I am getting my professional certificate in Arts Management.  At this very second, I am procrastinating doing my feedback of our week 6 assignments in my Strategic Planning class.  (Ok, I’m a go getter, I’ve already evaluated one persons, I just like to try to do 2 or 3.)  The problem is, although the feedback I receive is often “good work”, I like to give people 3 pages of ideas and feedback.  I LOVE when I get that kind of feedback, and, you know what they say, “treat others the way you want to be treated” :) .

School and DAT smushing together

Anyway.  I’m glad to be in this class and I’m REALLY EXCITED about creating the Strategic Plan for my final assignment.  My case study is Dramatic Adventure Theatre, of course, and it was so cool to begin this program right after our incredible retreat.  We gathered so much material and I am having a great time sifting through it all for my school work.

I’ve written a few value statements for us, which we included on the back of our Slovakia brochure.  (Did I mention we’re going to SLOVAKIA in January?  Well, you’ll just have to stay tuned for all the other cool stuff I need to fill you in on!)

Values/ Principles:

We strive to build bridges, connecting artists to artists all over the world.  We strive to create a family of artists and encourage artistic collaboration.  We strive to empower artists to step outside of their comfort zones and expand their horizons to become stronger artists and human beings.  

I’m also working on Procedures Manuals for all of our programs, but I’ve started with the Teaching Artist Residency, and it is so exciting already!  The group is going to flip when they see it.  I’ll keep you updated on my progress, and hopefully will be able to share the Strategic Plan by the end of the year.

Speaking at the Dramatic Adventure Theatre 5-year anniversary party

The big thing about this class and the program in general is to strengthen my confidence in what I’m doing.  Even though I’ve been doing this for 5 years, there are new challenges every day and it’s easy to get down on myself about not really feeling qualified to do it.  But, with each challenge comes an exciting, out-of-the-box solution.  This kind of daily creativity keeps life exciting, and now that we have a really strong group of capable and talented core company members, every day inspires a new adventure.  I’m only 6 weeks into my first class (8 classes total), but I have already been validated by the choices I’m making in my school work to know that I have chosen the right career!  That’s really encouraging!!  Grad school may come later, but this may be enough for me.  I’ll reevaluate in 2014.

Alright, as much as I’d like to keep talking about this, I need to finalize some Long-Term Goals and submit my assignment.  (hehe, it’s not due until NEXT Monday, but I’m an early bird, what can I say :) )

And- last thing, since this blog is sort of business-y, I’m on Linkedin so click on that and join my professional network!

by

Mary K blogged today!

Hi!  I really did!  Here is the BLOG… it’s on Being the Baxter’s, the blog I share with my husband (who hardly blogs, so it’s really my blog about OUR life as opposed to my blog about MY life).  LOL, but it’s really there, so check it out- this blog is about our visit with our nieces this weekend :)

And, I did AM yoga today, plus 30 minutes of stretching, and I’ll be doing another 30 minutes of stretching as soon as I post this!  WooHoo!  I’m doing it, y’all!

Keep on keeping me honest!

xo

Sweet Mary K

by

Mary K is stretching it out

“I’m a dancer,”  I tell people, “I come from a dance background.”  This is true.  However, she says with a sighing smile, I have not danced regularly in nearly ten years.

In college, I worked out… when I had time.  Normally it was when I was in a show or a class that required a lot of memorization time, I would go to the gym and ride the stationary bike and just review my script again and again.  I remember once my friend Aaron and I were talking, I don’t know how it began, but we must have been talking about my weight because I remember him saying, “yeah, but remember during Grease, you were in really good shape”… and I remember that was a time when I needed to memorize a new monologue for an auditioning class every other day and I had Grease and auditions for summer stock, and goodness knows what else.  I would probably go to the gym every night.  (I was also dating an athlete, I’m sure that helped.)

Anyway, all of this is coming up for me again because I worked as an extra on my friends web series yesterday as a “yogi.”  Oh my gosh, does my body hurt!!!  And, I was the “instructor”, so there may have been 5 of the 17 shots and angles that I wasn’t seen in, so I was in warrior pose for about 2.5 hours straight.  Oh my gosh… did I say my body hurts!?!  Because it does!  I used to be so flexible and proud of my body. :(

Halloween 2010- 10 years later

“How many crunches should we do?”, my pom captain would holler out.

“20, 15″, the other girls would grumble.

“50″, I’d scream!  YEAH!  Musical Theatre, Tap, Jazz, Modern, Dance Team, even Ballet, I was at the head of the group!  When we have the pleasure of taking a salsa class when we’re traveling, I am always the first one to sign up.

But, the truth is, I don’t challenge my body daily.  I eat right, and I walk everywhere (NYC lends itself to that), but I don’t stretch everyday and I am not excited to take a class with these “NYC dancers” because the truth is I can’t keep up… Just because I can FIT INTO my pom uniform from 10 years ago, doesn’t mean I can do the high kicks…

I am turning over a new leaf!

Oct 23rd- Head 10 inches from Knees

Starting yesterday, with my webisode yoga, I will be stretching and doing yoga everyday.  Already today, I stretched for 2 30-minute sessions, and I will be doing a PM yoga as well.  I want to implement AM and PM yoga into my daily life.  I also have a few yoga DVD’s (for abs, cardio) that I’ll begin using once my body is not so tight, probably by the end of this coming week.

On Sunday’s, I’m going to blog about my stretching and report on a measurement of my flexibility.  This is my pledge.  Today, the closest I could get in this position was Head to Knee- 10 inches.  Pathetic for a former kick line center, but I will get back up on that horse and I will make that girl proud.

AND, while I’m on the subject of turning over new leaves… I have another announcement:  I am going to blog more.  That’s right, I have let it slide, and there is no excuse.  I would love to journal, but I really don’t want my DEEPEST, DARKEST secrets put of paper for the world.

My life has been going through a huge transition recently, and, well we all know the saying, “Another F’ing Growth Opportunity”… change can be painful.  I don’t like to blog about things that are sad or depressing, so I feel like, if I commit to blogging daily, I will be forced to think about something positive that I want to share every day.  This makes perfect sense, right?

So that’s the plan, these are the big announcements.  Daily stretching and daily blogging.  Sometimes they will overlap, but probably only once a week.

Excited to hear about the new things going on?  Good, because I’m excited to share… but not until tomorrow, I’m not going to waste all of my good material tonight ;) .

Bath time, then PM yoga :)  If you have any good stretching videos or websites you can share, I would love to hear them.  OR, New Yorkers, if you’re a local yogi and want to meet up for a class, I would definitely be interested, so let me know!

Goodnight all.

by

Mary K Thanks the Pepsi Voters

Mary k thanks the pepsi voters

Hey y’all! Wow, was the month of April intense or what?? It feels like yesterday was April 1st, and today is JUNE!! (No, Father Time, not yet, May is a busy month too, and I need all that time, slow it down!)

I have finally seemed to catch back up with myself, so I want to take a mintue to say a big THANK YOU to all the people who were voting and explain what’s going on now… No, it’s not over yet!

1- First, and absolutely foremost— THANK YOU!!! YES, Y-O-U! We could no have made it to number 30 without you!! There is NO WAY! And, more than the voting, we appreciate the faith you have shown in the work we’re doing for young artists, professionals, and audiences alike.

Together, and only together, we can make amazing things happen.

Which brings me to…

2- Dorothy, we ain’t back in Kansas yet!
So… Here’s the scoop: Since we were in the top 100, we’ve been automatically re-entered for another chance to win the $50K. This voting thing is going to go on for the rest of the year. If we can get enough votes to stay in the top 100 until August or September, we could do another round of voting at that time.

So, if you’re up for it, shoot us a few votes over the summer. Keep in mind, the weekends are a lag time for schools and organizations who vote from work on the weekdays, so pumping in some weekend votes work overtime!

Again, I can’t thank you enough for all the support!

by

Mary K is a Playwright!

Run of the Mill Theater... it's anything but!

COME ON OUT TO THE FIRST READING OF…

THE VARIATIONS on BEAUTY SUBMISSIONS

FEATURING 28 NEW PLAYS GENERATED FROM THIS YEAR’S SOURCE MATERIAL

When:
SATURDAY MARCH 13th and SUNDAY MARCH 14th
10:00am Start (Both Days)– Mary K’s on SATURDAY

Where:
Load of Fun Studios
120 North Ave
Baltimore MD 21201

How Much:
FREE FREE FREE

Bring Good Energy, Bring Constructive Criticism!

See You There!

FEATURED PLAYWRIGHTS
Julie Lewis, J-F Bibeau, Rich Espey, Sharon Goldner, Chris Graybill, Mary K. Redington,
Rosemary Frisino Toohey, Dwight R.B. Cook, Ken Greller, Max Garner,
Louise Whalen Minton, Kathleen Barber, Susan Middaugh, Joe Dennison, Laronika Thomas, Victoria Natalia, Rebecca Wyrick, Robin Rouse, John J. Conley, Kayla Farrar, David Frey, Erin O’Shea, Dovile Markes, , Susan McCarty, Brent Englar, Jim Sheehan