Suspension Bridge Photo Shoot

The suspension bridge is a pretty popular place to go to when there's nothing better to do.  It's picturesque and fun to climb on.  My freshmen year, I saw pictures that a friend took at the suspension bridge before a formal.  It's been in the back of my mind since then to follow her lead.  I finally put an event together and five of us went out on Monday.  The shoot was an absolute success: fun to participate in and fun to see the results.  Most of my pictures are of the four seniors that were there.  Here are some of the best ones:

Treehugging on Earth Day

Actually, the first holiday of the week was Dia del Ernie on Wednesday.  Dia del Ernie is the day we celebrate one of our theatre staff members by wearing plaid (his standard uniform) and having a cookout, a highlight of every spring.  Here are a couple of shots from that day:

See?  Plaid and food.  
Here's a full group shot (Ernie's the one with the impressive white beard):

Thursday was Diadeloso ("Day of the Bear") which is a school wide holiday for the sole purpose of canceling a day of Tuesday/Thursday classes.  This year it happened to fall on Earth Day.  Dia is a prime time for tech rehearsals which means we've been teching instead of playing on that holiday every other year.  Seniors don't work on the last show, so we were able to celebrate our first Dia since coming to Baylor.  We went to the festivities around 11:00am, before most of the booths were even up and running.  Lame.  So we quickly moved onto our picnic lunch that we shared with one of our professors and her daughter.  Lunch was a raucus good time that was followed by a good bit of tree climbing.  There is an area of Baylor that has several very climbable trees (with convienent handholds), so we took one over.  We had one of the best afternoons of our time at college without participating in a single Dia event!  The rest I will tell with pictures:

End of Semester 7

Hello.  Well, it seems that the longer I'm in school, the longer the days get, so I haven't been able to organize my thoughts in a while.  The end of my next-to-last-semester hit like a whirlwind, but there were some great times too.

In five days, I went to four Christmas parties, participated in strike, pulled an all nighter, and had a read-thru for The Seagull.

The Seagull is the next show I'm stage managing and will be my last at Baylor.  We just had the one rehearsal before the break then will hit it hard when we come back so that we'll be ready to open February 9.  The all-nighter was the result of my final sound project and happened (unfortunately) right before our theatre banquet.  

The banquet itself was pretty lame, but the company was good as always.

We stopped by my apartment to lounge for a bit before the after-banquet festivities began.  Anna went paparazzi for a while, then we tried taking pictures together.  We failed several times and ended with this one; not the most elegant, but somewhat picturesque and a pretty good

representation of our friendship :)

Not long after banquet the finals hit, which for me meant two days of essays and projects right on top of each other, then three days off before my last and favorite final.  This was my favorite test for two reasons.  1) I did the math and discovered that I needed a 35 on the test in order to make and A in the class and an 85 to make a 100 for the semester.  Let's just say I didn't lose any sleep over it.  2) The last question on the test was this:

One of Mr. Farris' [our professor's] favorite composers is...
A) Haydn

What more can you ask for?  So with that excruciating test out of the way, I spent the rest of the week cleaning, lounging, hanging out, shopping, and all around spending some rare quality time with the roommate until this past Saturday.  But that's a whole different story.

Black Friday

I have never intentionally participated in a Black Friday and certainly not in the madness waking up at 4am to shove my way through too many people in too small a space.  But midnight--that's a different matter.

This Thanksgiving we heard of a nearby outlet mall that was opening at 12am (actually, some stores opened as early as 10pm).  My sister, Rachel, and sister-in-law, Snow, and I tossed it around for so long that it finally became absolutely necessary for us to check it out.  If it was awful we could leave without putting much of a dent in our schedule and say to each other "remember that time we tried Black Friday and it was a bad idea..." which is of course preferable to that nagging question of "what if?"  We left just before 4am.  

We didn't cover a lot of ground, we didn't buy a whole lot, but we walked out quite pleased with ourselves.  We each left with a few useful purchases and a few indulgances and many laughs over the ridiculous situation and some outrageous merchandise.  One of the best laughs came from our photo booth experience.  Rachel and I had never used one, so we decided that it was high-time we did.  We barely managed to squeeze in -- Snow actually poked her head in from outside the booth -- and took our awkward pictures.  Then we used my camera to take a picture of us outside the booth and it turned out to be more epic than the one inside the booth.  Oh well.  It was still an extremely worthwhile first photo booth experience.

So...remember that time we tried Black Friday and it was legendary?  

A snapshot of our photo booth pictures.

Post-photo booth snapshot.

Leaving.  My camera unfortunately only has a date stamp, not a time stamp, but notice that it is the day after Thanksgiving.  Also, notice that Rachel and I are sporting hats that were not in the previous pictures.

   

'That Was Wild!'

Do you ever have those days when you're shopping where you want to find the most outrageous things and try them on? I picked up the bug yesterday while I was in Target with my sister-in-law and ended up spending more time embarassing her than helping her. However, I think you will agree that the fabulous pictures I obtained was worth it. And as Shery declared, "That was wild!" I thought this was a fair assessment since most of the items were animal themed.

The hat that started it all. Adorable!

How can you resist when you're looking into those eyes?

Best. Sweater. Ever.

Isn't this the most fabulous purse? From the sleek length, classy coloring, and subtly decorated clasp it is certainly a keeper!

In this picture, the camera tried to protect us from the true color of the lining. Instead of a complimentary blue, it was a perfect purple -- quite an atrocious match. :/

A New Den for the Salazars

First day in the new home (please forgive the backlighting):

Miguel found for himself a nice place to lounge...and roar.

In such a crazy day, David kept finding things to hug.  As he told me, Guanabana was his "secondary huggie" and Coke Bear was his "firstendary huggie"

"I'm not even tired!"

Alex found a quarter and wanted to play with it, so he asked for "Heads or Iowas"

We went to Texas Roadhouse for Andres' birthday and, no, we didn't make him sit on the saddle and have it yelled out to the restaurant that he was turning 25.  What we did have was Rachel drawing on a box.  You decide for yourself which is more entertaining, but I think we know where the boys stand.

A Simple Truth

When my brother and sister-in-law returned from their two week sabbatical, they brought me this from a decorative glass place.  They were with my sister's family at the time and apparently they all agreed that it was perfect for me.  I agree.

Blood Wedding Documentation

Finally got the pictures narrowed down. A quick plot synopsis:

The Mother has lost both her husband and oldest son, each murdered by a member of the Felix family. Her youngest son, the Bridegroom, wants to marry the Bride. The Mother is hesitant but agrees. The Bride lives four hours away from the town with only her Father and Maid. No one really knows much about her mother nor about her previous engagement to Leonardo of the Felix family.

As it turns out, Leonardo and the Bride were unable to get married because he was too poor and he married the Bride’s cousin (the Wife) and they live with Leonardo’s Mother-in-Law. They have one child with another on the way.

The wedding goes as planned, but at the reception the Bride’s nerve fails and she runs away with Leonardo. The Bridegroom chases them into the woods where the rules are different. The woods are ruled by the lonely Moon and three Spirits that do his bidding. Death appears and leads the Bridegroom to Leonardo and the Bride. There are screams as Death and the Moon celebrate but it is unclear who has died.

The last scene consists mostly of sobbing women as the Bride seeks out the Mother to accept responsibility for the deaths of the Bridegroom and Leonardo and to explain that she could not have made any other choice.



Unfortunately, the slideshow window is as big as it can get. If you want to see larger pictures, hover over the bottom left corner and click where it says "Bodas de Sangre." Then click "Slideshow" at the top left. Either way, enjoy!

The Evolution of Decay

Okay. Depressing title. But it's worth it, I promise. The other day, a friend gave me a rose that she purloined from the library. I placed it in a roll of tape to elevate it and struck by its vibrancy, I took a picture of it. The next day, the flower was still on its throne, its petals half dried, half curled. I took another picture because it was somehow even more beautiful than it had been. The third day, the rose had shrivled up completely and I took yet another picture which turned out to be the most striking of all. I have no real philosophical implications for this event other than the fascination of natural progression of things.

Unexpected Events

I know that I never get the chance to write until Saturday, but my first story happened last Monday. We were in rehearsal and between working scenes, music, and dance, there were actors rehearsing in four different areas of the theatre. The music rehearsal was in the front lobby right outside the main theatre where we were running a scene and I could hear them dimly singing. I was glad to hear that they were working, but after a little bit, I heard loud screams. I rushed out of the theatre, ready to reprimand them for not paying attention and as soon as I opened the door someone (or several someones) shrieked, "Close the door, there's a bat!" Sure enough, there was a leathery winged creature swooping around above our heads. We tried encouraging the bat to leave the building, but it flew away from the theatre toward the art side and rehearsal continued as, well, normal.


The second event was perhaps less rare, but substantially more embarrassing. I was walking out of our dance studio and was on a mission to go upstairs. In my concentration, I turned too early and walked directly into the row of lockers that are outside. I didn't even know what I hit, until I had bounced off. Not a single soul was in the hallway to witness my humiliation, but a friend wanted a reenactment and we did a quick photo shoot:

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

The older I get the harder it is to get out, but I had the opportunity last weekend to go to a softball game from the beginning to the end (ooo...ahhh...) Our girls played a solid game, but in the last few innings, the other team had some good plays and we lost 2-1. Still, it was nice to be in the open air and to spend some time under the bright, yellow thing in the sky. A friend of mine plays catcher for Baylor, and I got some great action shots of her to share.

The Big Dipper

Project after project, week after week, and I have been fortunate enough to whittle it down to one all-nighter per week (actually: none for this week!). Last week's all-nighter also happened to be my favorite project all semester. The assignment was to build a model based on a haiku that we found online for my scene design class. Here's what came of the assignment:

Many night thoughts

the big dipper tilts

spilling over

The "big dipper" is made with ladders that the actors can climb on and the stars laying on the floor are also platforms that are to be used. The actors can interact with the curtain pieces as well. This model was done in 1/4" scale so the star below is 8' across on its longest axis. (A full toothpick is 10'6")

Time For a Change

Last month, I took a bold step and upgraded my phone from a ghetto, spike-taped masterpiece to a sleek and more highly developed cell. This month, I decided that the next essential upgrade in my life was my hair. I have worn it board straight for practically my entire life and it's generally in a pony tail. Boring! Luckily, there are several people in my major that have random skills including playing the accordian, welding, flamenco dancing, and among them, hair cutting. I finally took the step today to get a styled haircut. Oh, and I threw in a twist.

Yep. That's blue. Dying hair is also included in the list of our department's random skills.

Post cut :) I've never been happier with my hair!

Taking a Break

This weekend I was accused of doing too much without taking a break. This was followed by a concession that I probably do take time for myself, but I never talk about it. Chances are that the first statement is more true, but my answer was that the times of rest or everything-has-gone-according-to-plan are not as interesting to talk about.

Indeed, I have been sitting here for 15 mins trying to figure out how to talk about the first part of Spring Break that I spent bumming around at my sister's house. I had a blast and we had lots of laughs and I have over 100 pictures (only 3 days worth) to prove it, but not a lot of words.

Tradition is well established. There is at least one trip to Kroger, one to Target, a lunch at Chick Fil A, some backyard baseball, and a late night trip "out" that my sister and I take after the kids have gone to bed. The first words I hear each morning tend to be "Aunt Sarah, do you want to play Sequence with me?" (the variation being "Trouble" or "Connect Four" instead of "Sequence"). Oh and I always take 4+ hours to be completely inaccessible while reading one of Rachel's books. These are the things that make my permanent address home and the ideal place for vacations (or weekends, but I tend to think of those as synonyms).

Here are some of the highlights from my sabbatical:


Alex's first T-ball game and the first game I have been able to attend. This is his big contribution on the last play of the game.












David had the foresight to wear his T-shirt that repeats "just one more level..." on the day I took this picture.










Miguel can do anything his brothers can do. Please note that he is missing a shoe.














A night "out" on the town culminated in girly indulgence.

Tag, I'm It!

I'm the last in the family to post so here it is:

1. Go to the 4th picture folder on your computer.
2.Post the 4th picture in that folder.
3. Explain the picture.
4. Tag 4 more bloggers.



The fourth folder is 2005 which is essentially my mission trip to Peru. This is from a time when our boys started playing futbol with the Peruvian kids.

Since 3 of 4 bloggers that read this have already participated, all I have left to say is "Raz, you're it!"

A Natural Phenomenon

I was walking on campus the other day with a friend and the strangest thing happened. First, we had trouble seeing. There was an overwhelming, omnipresent brightness that appeared to come from a single source in the sky. Once our vision recovered from the brilliance, we noticed that the sky had turned a peculiar color. I am not sure what is happening, but it is quite unbelievable. Here is evidence of the sky that day:

Remarkable, isn't it?

One Chilly Morning

I left for class to find these icicles. I really like that they were sitting on the ground.

This one feels very ironic to me...

Bella

I never thought I would be a rodent person, but Bella has won my heart. In fact, my emotions on Friday started with confusion, moved to infatuation, then anxiety. The addition of a pet does not upset me, but I was having difficulty understanding the reasoning. On Friday, all I could fabricate are as follows.

Plausible reason #1: Christina had an impluse buy.

Plausible reason #2: Christina's bio-pre-med major required her to take care of a mouse before some lab experiment.

Finally, late in the evening I was able to ask Christina and was happy to learn that Bella was a semi-impromtu present and very definately NOT a lab experiment. I never had much admiration for rodents, including the sterotypical hamster or gerbil, but I am absolutely smitten. It's love at the first sight of her goofy looking spotted clumsiness.