Thankful!

Things I am thankful for this season! brought to you by the abc's. (this idea/format is being totally stolen from the great sarah beth guthrie.)

Z

Zorro.

Even though we have done this show more times than I can count and I'm not crazy about load ins/outs, I am still thankful to be employed with a great theatre company with people who treat us well and the opportunity to act every single day, and for kids who have never been exposed to live theatre.

Y

youth.

I am thankful to be young and having so many adventures! I am in the grownup world now but I am still young enough to run around and have some fun in between work and sleep!

X

eXits.

This is two fold. I am 1. thankful for my hardly justified but super appreciated exit out of scene 5 in Zorro. It is my least favorite scene and is only in the play so Zorro can have a costume change. The scene revolves around rice pudding if that helps anyone reading this understand how horribly boring this scene is. Thank you exit stage left. 2. I am also super thankful for an exit when we are on the road. This means stretching our legs, diet coke, potty break for myself and the rest of the cast. Our minivan we travel in is not nap shaped.

W

winter coat.

I got a new winter coat. but not like a " I live in alabama so I got this pea coat cause its cute coat. I got a long warm I'm moving to NYC coat. For this and the warmth it will provide in a month, I am THANKFUL!

V

Van./Voldemort

1.even though the minivan for zorro is not nap shaped, at least its more comfortable than a 15 passenger van that could also include the set. So woop woop for our minivan with electric doors and some rockin neon lights. 2. Voldemort is the greatest bad guy ever. Thanks for giving us HP fans some major conflict Voldy.

U

clean undies.

hey. i live out of a suitcase for a living. this is something to for sure be thankful for.

T

turkey. /Taleeda besties

duh. x2. I have turkey once a year but I am lucky enough to have 1.nat 2.suz 3. jess 4.molly 5.krisp 6.laura every minute of every day as best friends.

S

subways./ scrabble

I am so excited to move to a city soon that has public transpo. I know I'm not God's gift to driving so it will be bliss to relinquish that responsibility in NYC.

I am so obsessed with scrabble! I am like an old woman. I asked for it for christmas. If you are reading this and have an iphone you better be playing me in words with friends.

R

rest.

The Zorro cast has gotten a chunk of time off for thanksgiving and I cannot explain how needed and appreciated this has been. We work between 55-70 hours a week. I have gotten to sleep past 8:00am everyday this week and I feel like I am in heaven. I have gotten to watch most of my tv shows which is the ultimate form of resting and relaxing for me. House

Q

quarterback love.

Cam Newton. need I say more about the man I love so dearly?

P

Potter./paychecks

I have grown up with Harry. I have read his story and watched his movies as I was experiencing the same life events ( minus the magic and epic battle with a Dark Lord). I adore the Harry Potter series and I am thankful for the joy it brings !!! ( yes this shout out shows my geek really hard.) I also appreciate bringing home a paycheck that allows me to be ( barely) financially independent.

O

o line./orange toms

thanks Lee Zimba and others for protecting cam newton and his beautiful self from getting sacked and allowing our team to ROCK!

I wear my orange toms every saturday to cheer on my auburn tigers!

N

Natalie!

she is going to travel the whole world in a few months and I am so proud and thankful for her!

M

mason.

the best and tallest brother ever.

L

L.Dubbs.

I am always thankful for laura williams.

K

Kat/Kara/ KrispiLizzard

3/4 girls I shared 2 years of BFA with, the other a taleeda roommie. these 4 girls i have shared trillions of heart to hearts, and highs and lows with. I have so much love in my heart for these 4 ladies and I am proud of their successes, hard work and sacrifices they have made since we graduated. I respect and love these 4 more than I could possibly say!

J

january 4.

The day of the epic move to NEW YORK CITY!!!!!!

I

iphone

I know there are so many other more important things to be thankful for but the I was begging me to acknowledge my intense love for my iphone. It rules. sorry this was a cheap materialistic shallow thing to be thankful for but it really does rule.

H

home cooked meals./hotels (clean ones)

1.on the road we eat out every stinkin meal. a break from fast food is alwayssssssss a good thing! 2. as soon as christina and I get our hotel room for tour we always have a little celebration if it is a clean one! ( you have to understand we arent high maintenance, we just got a face rash/pink eye from a grosser hotel)

G

good load in/out venues.

I love it when we can load in/out in a space w a regulation sized loading dock that leads straight to the stage which is level to the loading dock. we have been very fortunate in some places and others we have had to buck up some early morning good attitudes and get really creative.

F

family.

me mom dad and mas. we make a good team.

E

edgars strawberry cupcakes.

need I say more?

D

diploma.

I am thankful that despite how much class I skipped my senior year of college that I still got my diploma!

C

christina johnson.

i think i would die on tour without the only other girl. i love the boys but I am so glad I have my kindred spirit/sister/daughter/friend on tour with me.

B

Briarwood.

I am so thankful for my church home. I have always loved briarwood since my first day as the intern but now, not even being employed there, and unable to come as consistently as I would like because of traveling for Zorro I have never loved and appreciated Briarwood like I do now. So grateful to belong to the body of Christ.

A

Auburn.

I have been so thankful to get to go back and visit all my roommates over this semester while they are still students. I think I love and appreciate Auburn and how wonderful my college experience was, now as an alumni more than ever.

goals for the days off.

i have been on tour for the last month but we just did an over night leg for two weeks. this is a different hotel room every night, new venue everyday, new audiences, new regions, new contacts, ha sometimes it feels like a new show. I am loving almost every minute of touring. and though I really adore my cast, Im going to soak up a few things on my days off in bham.

I am going to:

sleep in my own bed.

be the only person in my room.

ride in a car alone. ( not the minivan )

sleep in.

eat not a continental breakfast.

do laundry.

watch movies.

catch up on tv shows

play with my dog and cat.

try to find job leads in NYC ( bc i move there in 8 weeks friendos.)

shop for winter clothes.

listen to an abundance of Christmas music ( which is not always well received this early in the van)

go to church.

eat a meal that I make at home.

not speak in a spanish dialect.

ps tour really has been a blast. this is sort of a GREAT job. photos and updates on tour coming soon!

tour week 2: DROCK/big bob gibson

this week the Zorro tour hollered at Decatur Alabama (d'rock its called by its natives) and the Princess Theatre. This was a cool space. Load in was a breeze ( THANK YOU JESUS ) and we were there for a couple of days so all we had to do was show up perform eat and go home. The venue was sweet and the people who ran it were super accommodating. I've been told this is one of our nicer stops so yay for a couple of nice days at the Princess.

Nikki, our in house stage manager, is a Drock native and so she graced us with her presence for this leg of the tour! She was eager to introduce us to one of her favorite restaurants called Big Bob Gibson World's Best Barbecue.

By the pic you can tell shes pretty proud of her home town.

We ate one of our many many meals together after a very speedy run of Zorro ( we purposely did an almost italian run of the show to shave off a few minutes and it was a blast. just what we needed for having done the show 30ish times by now. ) then we found out that our second show was cancelled because of the tornado warnings so we took our time eating.

Alex(tour manager/hero) and Christina(rosa ) showin some love.

touring week 1.

tour has begun. its fun/physically taxing/ a good thing im extraverted or id die from the amount of quality time you get with the cast.

but so far its only been to Tuscaloosa. Don't worry we travel in a sweet white minivan. It has space doors and a space trunk that open and shut themselves. and glows neon blue at night on the inside. its like a little tiny rave on wheels.

i have my first tour wound. i kinda had a piece of the set fall on me. its epic. and i'm positive there are more to come.

good news is this weekend we are back in bham which means no load out until sunday! woot!

latest going ons

there has been so much going on lately.

1. I finished my internship at Briarwood and then stayed for another month and a half to be the admin assistant which is hilarious.

2. I started rehearsal, then tech and now the in house run performances of Zorro! The cast and crew are fun pleasant people which is wonderful bc i am going to be living with most of them in a van and hotel rooms for weeks on end coming soon.

3. I have been doing more temp work than I know what to do with. The list goes as follows: character at a birthday party, over night babysitting, and most IRONICALLY a housekeeper. Which if any of you ever saw my car or closet in college ( or lets be real ever in my life ) you will appreciate that some sap hired me as a housekeeper. Surprisingly I am getting pretty good at it. ( but i absolutely do not enjoy it. though it does pay for my gas for the month. )

4. kristi moved out. depressing for me but so wonderful for her! Kristi and Liz are both moved in their gorgeous apartment in NYC and are both just being fabulous.

5. Payne visited which was wonderful to play with my old friend and chat about the good ole days ( midsummer and deadwood ) and encourage each other in whats going on now! He was so supportive and encouraging about Zorro and I know he's doing so well in his rep of shows right now! I cant wait til we live in Richmond at the same time. What a treat to be in the same town and be working for the same company as one of my BFA classmates.

6. Kara also visited and that was wonderfullllllllllllllllll! She got to come see Zorro which was cool because she is the only person I know who has come to see it! We had lunch ( funny how everyone including me craves mexican food after Zorro) walked around the mall and ate ice cream at yogurt mountain! It was a wonderful and much needed afternoon of great company. I love Kara very much!

7. I am buying an obscene amount of auburn looking fall wear. this is stupid because i do not go to school there anymore but i cant stop myself. blue and white striped sweater, orange toms, orange scarf that matches virtually nothing in my closet. i have a disease. i love auburn too much. and i have a crush on cam newton. for real. o and Laura hooked me up with a tour of the stadium. so jazzed.

8. mason came home for fall break and that was fun to have my 6'5'' buddy in town! He's a peach.

9. I have gotten to see some fun shows lately. I saw the Birthday Party in auburn and really enjoyed it. I also saw Hairy Gary Ard in Cabaret at Red Mountain. I will see Drowsy Chaperone featuring two of my Zorro cast mates tomorrow night and The Fantastiks in Auburn this weekend.

10. I am going to Auburn this weekend for several important things. 1. Suzanne's bday, 2. Claire's bday, 3. THE PARENTS TAILGATE! we have all ( we as in the taleeda court gang) invited our parents to come tailgate with us this weekend. Dave and Gi are pumped. Mom is fussing over food and DAd is fussing over tickets so they are clearly in their happy places. Im pumped to be on the plains this weekend. Lets just hope I have the maturity not to yell, stay away from smoke, and allergies so I keep my voice! War Eagle my friends!

discontentment.

so i am going to be real with you blogger world. the last four months i've had a parasite just living off of me. and thats parasite's name is discontentment.

during my senior year of college i would say i was pretty content. i was

-living with my 6 best friends,

-in a theatre department that while was imperfect was still comfortable and easily navigated.

- i was surrounded by a loving community and in a city that feels like a big hug when you enter the city limits.

-i was single and had never been more thrilled about it and the opportunities that were on my horizon inspired and excited me.

-i auditioned all over thrilled about getting to take such control in my career and i accepted two acting jobs that were projects that were exciting and challenging.

-throw in a plan to move to new york city

-an invaluable internship at Bwood

this is a pretty packed, exciting, and creative year. and all of these good things were brought about in the perfect timing and blessings of the Lord.

so why now as i am living in it why am i so constantly discontent? bc i am fallen,selfish, foolish and ungrateful for all the gifts the Lord's put in my path. and yet in his goodness he loves me still.

-im discontent living with my parents ( even though im not paying rent and they're great. )

-i'm discontent living in b'ham ( even thought there are cool parts that im just now discovering )

-i'm discontent being single (even though im about to tour for the next 6 months and actually don't want to settle down quite yet )

-i'm discontent to leave briarwood bc it makes me feel like ill matter less as a volunteer than as a staff member ( even though i know this is the season of my life i am supposed to be an actor )

this blog i promise is called counting my blessings for a reason. give me a second to explain.

on my last day at briarwood i was feeling the biggest rush of discontentment/anxiety i have ever felt. i was walking up the stairs back to the office just praying "why Lord do i feel this way when i know nothing bad is happening its just not beyond great.? why do i feel so selfish and ungrateful when i know what i want for my life is to follow where You take me and i KNOW you've directed my paths completely over the next year?"

and the minute i got upstairs my sweet friend Lindsay had put a book on my desk that she bought me as a gift. its called " calm my anxious heart: a woman's guide to finding contentment"

boom.

i open it up and the excerpt i read on pg 13 gave me chills of conviction.

the author is describing two of her friends. one is a suburban woman who has EVERYTHING and is constantly discontent ( this sounded a heck of a lot like me ) and another friend who was a missionary in africa who barely had the necessities and lived a life of intentional contentment. when the author asked the second woman her method to being content this was her answer ( which made me cry just reading it )

"Ella's prescription for contentment"

*never allow yourself to complain about anything- not even the weather

*never picture yourself in any other circumstances or someplace else.

*never compare your lot with another's

*never allow yourself to wish that this or that had been otherwise.

*never dwell on tomorrow- remember that tomorrow is God's not ours.

my quality of life would be so much greater if i lived like this. and it is my intention to try.

so i am counting my blessings.

"a soul sufficiency, a peace separate from my circumstances."

"contentment is a state of the heart not a state of affairs"

this author also quotes shakespeare and that kind of endeared her to me early in this book. i will leave you with what william shakespeare wrote about contentment. i hope this encourages you as it has me this week!

king henry iv

"my crown is in my heart, not on my head.

not decked with diamonds and indian stones.

nor to be seen; my crown call'd content

a crown it is that seldom kings enjoy"

amen.

GUESS WHO MOVES IN WITH ME TOMORROW!!!!!!

THIS GIRL!

mas face goes back to school

My little bro went back to college this weekend. This is so terribly exciting for him and a little bit of a bummer for me because I've never lived in this house without him. I'll survive because I know he's so pumped to be back at Spring Hill and in Mobile with his beloved Wendy's and Taco Bell (which according to him these restaurants are better at his exit than anywhere in the world.) My parents used this move in as an excuse for the four of us to take a really short family vacation. I don't think the four of us have been on a vacation together since about 1997.

us getting close to mobile (mas at this point is about to pee his pants)

(ps no one car sings as violently as this kid. he's taking a breather here but ten seconds earlier he was belting Elvis Presley like his life depended on it!)

This is where we stayed for two nights at the beach for our mini vacation! It was so nice!

Spring Hill College was BEAUTIFUL! I had never been before and Mason happily (and sweatily) gave me a campus tour.

this is Mason's dorm

boys move in so much less stuff its amazing. this is his room.

this is Spring Hill's equivalent of Auburn's Haley Center. This is muuuuch prettier than the Haley Center.

the famous field where he pitches it up.

in the corner of this picture you can see a wall. This is tradition for all the fans to sit on this wall during games. There arent even bleachers. The Wall has been a Spring Hill tradition for forever and I hope this season I can find a way to come to a game and sit on the wall and cheer for Mason.

this is the church on campus. It was gorgeous. That little blue dot is me waving!

I love my big little brother and I am so proud of him. This summer has really taught/ is teaching him a lot of things and I am proud of the man he is becoming (even tho to me he will always be this little person).

But as several people have shared with me lately "He's a man, mallory, let GO! so this post is a tribute to Mas Face and the man is is in route to becoming. Mas, if you read this by chance(doubltful), I hope it has severely embarrassed you and I hope you have an AWESOME! sophomore year. I am praying for you every single day that the Lord draws you closer unto himself, directs your paths, and gives you every joy hope and peace imaginable.

congrats the the bwood-now AU girls!

yay! my senior bwood girls are now all officially college girls! Congrats! a bunch of them went thru rush and I am so proud of their determination not to let it define them and that they allowed it to be such a positive experience of growth! It was fun to go to bid day and see some of my fav aopizzle friends and see laura molly and coop! Here are some pics from our bid day adventure!

and a special WOOT WOOT to my new aopizzle buddies: Kit Kath and Molly!

IMPACT

SO as you know I have been working at Briarwood Presbyterian Church all summer as the intern for the Youth ministry. This has been my third summer to work at Bwood and so I have come to feel pretty comfortable not only with the office and the people and how things run but even the events. But there is one event I have never taken part of... and that is Impact Weekend.

Impact weekend is a 3 day in town retreat for 200 of Bwood's high school students to get together and stay in host homes, listen to an awesome band and speakers, play silly games, and worship before they run off back to school.

yes I said 200 high school students. My responsibilities for this weekend included decorating the Mountain View Building, helping with a skit and... o yea figure out how to feed 200 high school students for 3 days on a budget. No big deal. The Sam's Club run we made for this event was more epic than words could describe so I'll let pictures explain it. And the picture with the drinks are just 1/10 of the drinks we consumed this weekend.

The building got decorated with the help of tons of the rising ninth grade girls I've gotten so attached to all summer! This banner we made was hung in a back room and was under black light. We let students sign it and it wound up being a very cool part of the weekend.

I stayed in a host home with the sweet nineth grade girls! i love them so much! we had great discussion and spent a lot of fun time together! Im really going to miss them!

The building got decorated, the kids got fed and the speaker and band were great. All worked out great bc of the Lord's goodness, faithfulness and perfect provision.

¹I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.