JULY  
  For the Fourth of July, Joyce made her annual trek to her dad's for his big block party fireworks spectacular.  Janet went off to her annual white water rafting excursion near the California-Oregon border.  And Gwen made plans to be with family, which meant Ana and Nana were alone together for the whole weekend. One activity they've come to enjoy .... Nana has reading as one of her rehab therapies, but it gets very tiresome very quickly since her brain injury. Since she loves reading so much, Ana found that audiobooks could be a short-term solution until her reading endurance increases. Some of the books they've enjoyed have been: Barbara Walters' autobiography Audition, Dave Barry's Money Matters, Charles Osgood's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the White House, and the histerical Marley & Me, which will soon be a movie. On the more serious side, and it's seriously long too, they are wading through A Legacy of Ashes, the telling portrait of the CIA. Whew! The gals can only listen to so much of that at one time.

Pre-production meetings started for the next Junior Production that Ana & Joyce will co-produce. Their young performers will be staging the musical Once on This Island in Feb/Mar of 2009. It may seem a long ways away, but it will be here sooner than we blink!  

Shows and movies we've seen with or featuring our friends: the stage musical Grease which had many of our friends in the cast - always a fun and enjoyable score, made even more fun by watching their favorite "characters" playing beloved characters; the movie WALL-E which was extremely adorable;  and the much anticipated and not over-rated Mamma Mia. We caught the midnight show of that, and were able to stay awake and cheer and laugh and cry for all of it! While Joyce was visiting Disneyland with friends (without Mom!) Ana went to see several of their friends in Pajama Game which she absolutely loves, despite the fact they worked the show once and have seen it more than a dozen times. They also caught one of only two performances of a little review called Out of My Trunk, Out of My Mind by a local artist and friend of theirs. As well as knowing the composer/lyricist, the gals also knew most of the performers.  What a wonderful show!

     
  AUGUST  
  Joyce followed in her mom's footsteps and volunteered at their theatre to be the Props Mistress for Seussical ... wasn't it just 4 years ago that her mom did the exact same thing?  They also provided backstage costume attendant services at an opera premier at the lovely Villa Montalvo garden theatre called Divide Light. This is the scene "backstage" where the costumes were assembled each night on the performers. 
 

Also, here is a view of the lawn, and some of the architecture at this historical home.
  Ana sang more background vocals with her friends Steve and Terri. Steve even arranged another song just for her. Of course, Ana had to provide her own backup vocal track for her own song too.  So much fun!  Ana also took a class in voice-over in San Francisco.  This could potentially lead to jobs doing commercials, audiobooks, video games .... who knows?!

Ana and Janet got to participate in a focus group discussion at their football team's local headquarters. Since they signed non-disclosure agreements, they can't reveal what was discussed. Suffice it to say their team takes their long-time loyal fans' opinions seriously, and the gals were proud to be a part of future decisions. You'll just have to wait and see......  At the end of the month Ana & Joyce went to their first home game. Pre-season, but so far, they're looking good.
 
 

The girls got to see the country band Lonestar perform at a local nightclub. That was a lot of fun! They went with their dear friend George who helped push them right up to stage-side to watch most of the concert. This was a view from the back of the room. 

Ana squeezed rehearsals for a show in between her work and her caring for her mom.

  The show will be the delightful and funny How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying with her alumni troupe the Glue Factory, with whom she performed 42nd Street three years ago. Performances in October.
 
 

And on the last day of the month, the girls trekked to their favorite aquarium where they saw the latest rescued white shark making temporary residence in the Outer Bay tank.
 
     
  SEPTEMBER  
  The HP Choir taped the music for the Winter Concert Season, and Ana joined them, this season singing Alto.  Joyce and Ana worked backstage on a couple of the Seussical performances. This is always an adorable show with quite singable tunes. Ana had a light rehearsal schedule for Succeed.  Ana served beer on a shift of booth duty at a local Art & Wine festival, on behalf of HP. Joyce swung by to window-shop at the festival. There was another party at work; one of Ana's long-time co-workers and friends retired after 26 years with the company.

Other shows they've seen with or starring friends: Ana ushered at a performance of The Odd Couple with a female cast, performed by a few of the Glue Factory cast members at her High School. 

 

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