January	Ana spent New Years in one of her favorite pursuits, singing Karaoke. The nice thing about New Years is you get to dress up! She squeezed into her Mrs. Robinson dress (from her last scene, performing in The Christmas Mouse) and she went out to her favorite place and had a wonderful night of singing and partying.   Sadly, the new year brought news of the passing of old friends. Ana and Joyce knew two lovely ladies for over a decade - one, the mom of a dear friend, and the other, the most favorite cafeteria lady at Ana's work. Neither passing was expected, and therefore all the more saddening at this time of year. Always always let your loved ones know how much they are loved. They got to watch Spectre while Janet was on holiday. Two weeks with their favorite pooch! Yay!!   The gals caught a few movies, namely True Grit, Yogi Bear, The King's Speech, and The Dilemma.
February	Ana has a new project going at their theatre. She will be costuming the latest production, Cabaret. She attended the audition call-backs to begin the process of measuring the folks who will be cast, so she can start right in on pulling costumes from the Shop, and building what isn't there already. And for the Junior Show Annie - the first one she hasn't been a producer on in 6 years - she helped her friend the Technical Director by scenic designing a reproduction of the Roxy Theatre sign from photos from the 1930's.  Several of "her kids" from previous Junior Productions were in this show, and were greeting her backstage as she was painting the Roxy sign.   The gals were happy when the NFC Champs, the Green Bay Packers, won the Superbowl!!
	Shows we saw with or starring friends: Ana saw several of their friends in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum. She also house managed the usher staff for one of the opening weekend performances of Annie.
March	The gals went to an autograph session at a local restaurant to see their favorite hockey players.  They stood in line for 90 mins. and got autographs from three players, one broadcaster, and one Sharkie!! See the pictures.   Ana's friend David, who asked her to sing tenor on The Winter Rose at Christmas-time, asked her to sing alto for a few weeks while he's short on singers in his regular Sunday worship services. She had to double up at Temple as well, since one of the other singers was injured when she was hit by a motorcycle. And for Purim, she read Nana's original stageplay - doing all the voices of course - of the shpiel she wrote for the kids.   Ana house managed three more performances for Annie.  She also began in earnest on the costumes for Cabaret.
	And for spring break, the gals took the week off and did some stay-cation activities, in Monterey, Capitola and San Francisco. [pictures]
April	Cabaret costumes consumed Ana's non-working, non-sleeping hours.   After being rained out in March, the gals finally got to their birthday portrait session outdoors in one of their local parks. They were dressed in evening finery, to mark the extravagance of their October celebration, but it was very cold that April morning, so they followed up with a warm breakfast to take the chill off. They were the best dressed women in the bistro.     While Joyce vacationed in Southern California, Ana came down with a horrible virus, with temps of up to 104 over 9 days. Several tests couldn't identify what it was, but on the tenth day her temp returned to normal, and stayed there. Crazy.  Sadly, the illness lasted through opening weekend of Cabaret, so she missed all the gala festivities.    At the end of the month, Ana joined with 2+billion people in watching the Royal Wedding on the telly. What a joyful celebration. Birthday Portrait
May	For Mothers Days ... Ana spent all day Saturday with her mom, going to lunch and watching a very thrilling Kentucky Derby, making her supper, then watching The King's Speech, that marvelous Oscar-winning movie. On Sunday, Joyce treated her mom to homemade breakfast, and flowers - flamingo-colored tulips. So special!   Ana house managed and ushered a few times, and then gathered up all the costumes when Cabaret closed mid-month.  It's always bittersweet to have to say goodbye.   Memorial Day weekend brought the usual race-viewing activities, this the 100th anniversary of the Indy 500 (did they really hold the 75th running during her wedding? Yes they did!)  And on May 31st, Ana finally got to see the fourth installment of the Pirates movie when friends Rob and Woody came to town. Joyce had to see it later, since she was working the only night the guys were available. This was the first time Joyce and Ana didn't see it on the opening-Thursday-Midnight-showing. But it was worth the wait!
	Shows we've seen with or starring friends: Ana saw her friends Steve and Doug in Squabbles at the theatre where she last performed (in Idiots and Mouse).
June	At the June Board meeting of their theatre group, Ana was voted in as president! And to think it all started with their auditions for Wizard of Oz back in 2000.   And just when she thought that she'd put her producing days behind her, Ana was talked into producing The 1940's Radio Hour in the Fall. Auditions were held at the end of the month.   Shows we've seen with or starring friends: Ana saw several of their friends in a rarely performed theatre gem, Mack & Mabel. What great music! And then her "beau" from Assassins presented a cabaret show with more of her friends and cast-mates, with songs showcasing Three Little Words.
July	In an effort to improve her chances at winning auditions - plus it's great exercise! - Ana started taking dance lessons at the local Fred Astaire dance school. She also took several zumba classes just to get more flexibility and shed pounds.   Shows we've seen with or starring friends: several of their friends were in Sound of Music, and the nuns' songs were exquisite!
August	Well there weren't enough musicians available to do the Radio production, so Ana and her staff changed shows to the Charlie Brown sequel, Snoopy!  More auditions were held and they finally rounded out the cast by the end of the month. Rehearsals start mid-September. Joyce took their camping gear and headed into the Sierras with some friends to have an end-of-summer Camping Excursion. During one of Ana's dance lessons, an Elvis impersonator stopped by and sang and shimmied a little; Ana did her best Elvis fan impersonation as well.
September	Joyce and a friend went to the opening game for our fave football team - and the old quarterback and the new coach had an awesome game! Good to see that this could be the year that the Niner Faithful are fulfilled.   Oliver opened and rehearsals started for Snoopy.   And Joyce had a conflict but Ana took advantage of free movie passes (provided by her company) to attend the preview of an upcoming robot movie, opening in two weeks. There was a photo-booth set up in the theatre lobby to take commemorative photos.   One of their dearest friends - Joyce's adopted "brother" Angel from Joseph....Dreamcoat - got married when he was home on leave from the Middle East. Ahh, they grow up so quickly! Joyce and Ana wish the very best to Katie and Angel <3
October	For their birthday, Ana & Joyce booked a cruise on the San Francisco Belle to watch the Blue Angels perform their Fleet Week air show over San Francisco Bay. What an exciting way to watch a show they've seen many times before. The following day, they had tickets to watch their football team defeat yet another opponent! [See the pictures.] With this blow-out they are now 4 and 1!!   Snoopy opened at the end of the month to very appreciative, and young, crowds. Shows they've seen with or starring friends: Ana caught a performance of Crazy for You at a local high school featuring one of her kids she's produced and has performed with in previous musicals. She also got a chance to attend a concert by Randy Stonehill, a home-grown Christian musician she followed in her youth! He's still playing, and playing very well.
November	Ana took time off to take a trip south to Simi Valley, where she finally got to see what she and Joyce contributed to so many years ago. That's right, they made a donation to the Air Force One Pavilion when Joyce was young.  Joyce was busy with school and work, so couldn't join her mom for the luncheon and tour celebrating the 100th birthday of the president whose library hosts the display. [See the pictures.]   Then, because they've sold the last three games, the game against the Giants was their last home game they would get to see in the 'Stick this year (until playoffs - hopefully!) They soundly defeated their opponent and went up 8-and-1 for the first time in many years!! [See the pictures.] Snoopy closed and was packed away. On to the holidays and then the next show goes into rehearsals after the new year.
	For Thanksgiving, Joyce and Ana joined Nana and Gwen for dinner at a local restaurant - because no one wants to spend all day cooking, and then have to wash dishes - more fun to be waited on. The gals then watched their football team fall to 9-and-2 as Jim was defeated by older brother John in a real brawl. Some questionable referreeing dampened the spirit of the game as well.  For the first time in 20+ years, At the end of the month, Ana is now unemployed. She was put onto a workforce reduction list, and separated from HP with just over 18 years. As we all know, when God closes a door, He opens a window, so she knows that there is another wonderful opportunity out there just waiting for her!
December	Janet's 50th birthday was this year, so the family threw a surprise party for her. She also appeared playing her trumpet in a band concert, in which they played among other things Christmas music, a march, and Pirates music as well. Ana and her mom went to see another concert in which 5 French Horns played Christmas music. Ana went to the final performance of Decembrance, an original production, with music and lyrics by her Snoopy director, and performances by many of her friends. She also went to the opening night of the new Sherlock Holmes movie with one of her theatre friends, then saw it again with another friend. Joyce and Ana went our caroling too, joining many of their theatre friends strolling a pleasantly lit neighborhood, and serenading them with sounds of the season. Ana caught a performance of the amazing a capella men's choir Chanticleer when they performed at Santa Clara University. And at Temple, the annual Chanukah Party and Talent Show occurred on Christmas Day; Ana sang one of the songs from Decembrance, the Chanukah song of course! If these festive opportunities don't get you in the spirit of the season, nothing will! And to round out the year, a tough year, Joyce spent New Years Eve snuggled in her jammies, enjoying a quiet celebration at home (still recuperating from pre-holiday wisdom tooth extraction surgery), and Ana went out singing karaoke, the same way she rang in the year 2011.
	We wish blessings of the season to all of our beloved family & friends.  May God bless you, and keep you, and make His face shine upon you, and be gracious unto you.  You are loved! JOYCE & ANA
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