I woke up early this morning, an ironic consequence of going to sleep very tired last night…
Not long after, Uncle called me upstairs (Oliver’s room is in the basement) to inform me of the day’s plans. If we were to go with him to Lizzie’s play then it’d be better to go to the earlier 11am showing…meaning we’d need to leave in thirty minutes because it’s a while away. Upon hearing this, I quickly got dressed and quietly woke up hubby who was sound asleep (I’m sure he was more tired then me because he had driven all day yesterday and accomplished all the groomsmen activities, all while taking care of his wife!). Cobalt agreed to come with us as soon as he showered.
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Fast forwarding to arriving at the location about an hour later, we pulled up to a family’s house who is all about organic agriculture and environmental consideration. Graciously, they had opened their backyard to host a group of kids who needed a venue to perform their play.
The kids group that Lizzie is a part of is called K.I.T.E. (Kids Interactive Theatre Ensemble). According to their facebook page,
KITE is “Theatre For Kids By Kids”: Our company members, aged 9 – 14, begin with the outline of 2 or 3 stories (folktales, fables, etc.) and then, through theatre games and improvisation, we create the characters, dialogue, scenes, sound effects, and music to build the stories into a full play. We even become most of the scenery and props ourselves! We perform our plays in beautiful professional theaters, and all ticket proceeds are donated to fund charitable healthcare initiatives.
It is true! The kids breached the fourth wall on more than one occasion. Father and daughter Mark and Hara Lewis — who created the ensemble — and a few other young adults helped with with the instrumental accompaniments (fiddle, guitar, sound effects, xylophone…). Mark and Hara even played several solos in between. They were such a charming addition to the kids’ stories!
Lizzie and her friends performed for about three hours with the additional musical numbers and with an intermission. Most of the skits were Aesop’s fables or moral-related stories. But as the description points out, the kids were really what made the play what it was.
After the play, Cobalt and I bought some food from the owner of the property, as she had a little organic stand set up by her front door. The grapefruit, kale, and tomatoes were all grown locally, a lovely treat!! I couldn’t help wondering what other farms were nearby. Uncle told me about the fruit and veggie box that they receive biweekly but this was the first farm stand I’d seen yet. Could this piece of knowledge be my caveat when moving to LA eventually? (For those who don’t know, I’m a Dietitian Major at UT Chattanooga, looking to work with local farms to provide community garden programs on school campuses, both college and grade school.)
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For lunch, Aunt and Uncle took Cobalt and I to Mi piace, a gourmet Italian cuisine. Of course hub and I have never been to such a fancy restaurant (even if this is probably the norm in LA), and I was a little disappointed we couldn’t enjoy it longer as we were on a schedule to go to a tour of the family Gamble House nearby. But I took in what I could, including the delicious food. Cobalt and I ordered a Panini, Aunt ordered melon and prosciutto, and Uncle greens and sliced meat.
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Next stop: The Gamble House, producers of the P&G products all over grocery store shelves. The house that we toured was one of their private houses but was ultimately donated to LA for reservation purposes. You can view their website for more details.
(And of course, until I can figure out why WordPress is doing this, the photo below uploaded landscape instead of portrait…my apologies!)
As you can see (which I realize is hard to because of the lens flares…..it was very sunny that day!!), the architecture is strangely modern even though the house is over a hundred years old. Most of the ideas are Japanese-esque, especially on the outside. The inside (which were weren’t allowed to take pictures of) was more plain and colorless, lacking frames on the wall and colorful accents in rooms. Still, the interior was impressive in ways that now-a-day houses could never compare to. For example, details were carried along as themes throughout each room that brought the house together.
Though I’d been to many an old house (there are several in Nashville/Franklin, TN), this one was one of my favorites, just because of all the thought that was put into the details, fixtures and foundation of the house. The tour guide told us that in the one hundred years that it’s been there, the house has never shifted. That’s some seriously good workmanship and detailed blueprinting!
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After the 20 minute tour, Cobalt and I tagged along with Uncle while Aunt picked up Lizzie from her second performance. Uncle looked through a furniture store while Cobalt and I walked up and down the street (this was in Pasadena, by the way). This was the first time Cobalt and I had alone together since the end of the wedding (alone meaning without responsibilities), so it was very relaxing. We walked through Urban Outfitters, appalled (as we thought we would be) by the expensive lack-of-clothing clothes but were purely there for inspiration. Then we browsed a cooking store, also mainly for observation purposes.
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In the evening we enjoyed a lovely family steak dinner with our ETSU friend Anna, who had come to LA for apartment searching. This was a great time of laughs and conversation as we showed her around my relative’s property — Lizzie’s treehouse, their backyard and their guest house. Dinner talk was also happy, accompanied by the glow of flickering candlelight….