July 2025 (it only let me tag 20!)
Cubs & friends & pool hang for celebrating birthdays and summer with the greatest crew.
Going on a day trip w @mandy_b619 & @danchez55 and getting way more drinks than anticipated lol we had so much fun.
Continuing to heal myself in regards to being in a relationship. Us continuing to work through a lotttt. But having a lot of fun along the way.
Working out consistently.
More private wedding clients
More rehearsals and final shows for Wedding Singer!! Truly such a fum show and everyone CRUSHED THE DANCING. This production team ROCKED. I still need to upload an Act 2 choreo video.
Sooooo much bonding time with Ozzy bear. Vito & I were only together 12 days this whole month..
Pooooooool & beach days galore.
Salsa/bachata class session 1! W the greatest people.
Thinking a lot about how fragile life is.
More Long healing walks w kelly
More sweet beach and pool hangs w Cam
Dog sitting Ozzy's bff Benny.
Pickle ball w dana & joe
A 4th of July to remember... bodily malfunctions and watching poop cruise before going to Milwaukee to celebrate zoe & pat AND dancing the night away w @madmagz ! Wedding #3 for Vito and I
Like 5 different brand deals. Red light therapy being my favoriteee.
Driving out 22 hrs to el Paso & running into a bachata class in kansas city and seeing my nephew and sister & brother in law again. So many cuddles before driving off to Colorado for the month of August.
A lot of fun was had. There really is nothing like summer in Chicago.
June 2025
6/12 recap collages to reflect on before the new year!
June was full of tears. It was probably the hardest month of the year, now looking back. Though you'd never be able to tell from the pictures, there was still a lot of beauty.
It was also full of surrender.
And full of reminders that I was in the right place at the right time and that I made an impact on a lot of people's lives throughout my career.
It started with the processing and releasing of May's news. Talking to all my friends, reflecting on what I could do better/spiraling into deep sadness for like 1.5 weeks but at least I was in the most beautiful house for the start. Grateful for both Vito and Bridget who came by to keep me company.
Then a magic show to celebrate the end of a school year.
Then we picked ourselves up and got on a plane to Seattle to visit my brother. Relationship troubles arose. It was a big learning curve. Doubt filled my mind. But we managed through. Beyond grateful for my brother.
Then went to wedding #2, ironically so close to my old house sit.
Had another sleepover hang w arella and got to see the rosnick kiddos before they moved to Michigan.
Girl time with @dpauloo
Park hangs with the girliesss.
Trivia with the crew
Long releasing and healing walks with @nickgrafanz
Beach vent and hang sess w @mstrcpp
Seeing @michaeloldham show! Truly magicalllllll.
The most fun at the Kane county cougars game with @kellylamich
& Austin
Sarah was in town and we went dancinnn
Saying goodbye to Logan and helping Vito start moving to his new place. Tarot sessions. New restaurants.
A LOT of choreo taught for Wedding Singer. Playing with fun flips and partner tricks.
A LOT of journaling and writing and meeting some really cool people who made me feel like everything really was happening for a reason, as tough as it all felt.
Uncertainties. Up the wazooo with jobs. Stability. Relationship. Politics. Friendships. I'm grateful for the tools I had to move through it all, but I don't want that energy again. Lol
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Life reflections. Mindful living. Mindfulness.
May 2025
May was the best until the very last day.
It started with final performances of Legally Blonde. This is the last of Lb for 2025, but as you know- I took this show & job as seriously as I've taken my professional theater company jobs. In full transparency, this show made up 1/3 of my annual income so of course I worked on it somehow for 6+ months even though we only rehearsed 9.5 weeks!
I just watched the show again via video & I just can't believe how incredible it turned out. Clean vocals. Clean choreo. Clean quick changes. Set changes. Etc. It was seriously magical. This group of students was talented & so much fun to work with. I laughed at every single rehearsal. Students- I mean it when I say- that I'm in your life cheering you on from afar FOREVER. Y'all are stuck w Ms. Brenda as your Tia.
So many pictures. So many tears on closing. So much pink paint to have to paint over black.
I spent a lot of time with Ozzy in May.
I got to cheer on my friends and their work on Annie at Lemont.
Attended banquets for my schools.
Went to Florida to celebrate another semester of success and to visit mi hermanaaa Raquel & hermano Sebastian!
Vito woke up one day really itching to go to Michigan so we did :)
Saw my bestie Breena girl conduct her Choirs
Really aced trivia w kell and kevin. :)
Reunited w ginger!
& at the very end of the month. I got that email on slide 10. From someone I've never met. After 10 years of dealing with A LOT at Metea from people in charge & reinventing our musical environment, they just tell me they've hired new people w/o me knowing they were opening my position. I share this bc this was a pivotal point in my year & bc those people really should be ashamed. Not the students or my old team, but the people who never took the time to sit down with me to explain anything. I'm not ashamed to share this. I poured everything I had into those students bc how could you not? Bc as an artist & educator- duh. I wanted them to have a better experience than when I was there. & that's something I'm so proud of.
I loved deeply. We created kick ass art. And I'm not looking back
Wedding Singer auditions helped heal the hurt & off we went!
March was a wild ride.
I turned 31 with my best friends by my side. I rented out an aerial yoga studio with my gals and then had Mexican food and played fishbowl with my homies. A wild wildly different feeling from my last birthday. There was a lightness about life that came back to me. 30 was really intense. It was a jolt. Reaching 31 felt better.
Sweeney Todd had its final shows. Grateful for ALL the humans in the cast but really grateful for my specialty dancers just making my choreo come to life/death.
Charlie brown was ON ITS WAY. So many dances learned and my duties as AD were underway, specifically costuming. What a silly sweet show.
I blocked and taught all 2.5 hrs of Legally Blonde and we had a stumble through before spring break. We had our dog auditions. It was A LOT. But they rose up to the occasion. As per usuallll. My brain- creatively was fried. But they brought my insane ideas to life.
But throughout the month- I had homemade pho by none other than @kelly_kjr An insane massage by the magical hands of @mrsweems111
Took Vito to @kingspa for the first time. And he took me to the greatest place for my birthday. More memories had with him and Ozzy.
Found out one of my best girls was PREGNANT
Saw @stone in Carrie! Incredible. Insane. All the words.
Caught up with my favorite humannnn @whoaitsmichaelo
Caught up with my favorite Texas girlllll @baylees_irish_cream
And got to hang with my besties @ngraffanz@kelly
Flew to see my COLORADO FAM before Texas & Got to see my nephew, sister, and momma again.
Created the audition choreo for Wedding Singer. :)
It was a special month. It was a busy month. It is the month I was born, and I was grateful to be celebrating my life which was completely the opposite from last birthday. And for that- I'm in the deepest gratitude to God and all the powers that be andddd my own will power and my community. 🙏🏼
It takes a motherf***** village.
Franz Bares All...Again #podcast #niccage #movie #comedy #nicolascage #film #cityofangels #cagedmen
I have a sneaking suspicion that this City of Angels scene was in Dennis' contract.
Join myself and my friends at the Book Cellar as us local artists host an annual Handmade Holiday Art & Craft Market! 🧶🪡🧵🎄🎨🫧
When: Thursday, Dec 11, 5 to 8 pm
Where: the Book Cellar in Lincoln Square, Chicago
🧶🪡🧵🎄🎨🫧
Looking for gifts with a special touch? Want that cozy handmade feel but don’t want to pay for Etsy shipping fees? Eager to see awesome art? Come on down to the Book Cellar in Lincoln Square to fulfill all your needs, and say hi to some of our local creators.
#Crafting #Handmade #ShopLocalChicago #crochet #watercolorart
Poster art by the incredible @sadieposting !!
Kill It Keep It Live was a success!
Here is a collection of photos and videos featuring stage combat, puppet fights, and scenery from the production.
CAST:
Josephine Fettuccine
Player: Sophie Hernando Kofman (@cotton.candy.fluff.va )
Fighter: Sturge (@emisturges )
Marshall Harrison
Player: Blake Hood (@bhooodie )
Fighter: Christopher Wilson (@the_cjwilson )
Barrel Jablonski
Player: Cameron Petti (@mstrcpp )
Fighter: Logan Blake (@logsbunny )
DM
Max Dinerstein
Vampire
Aiyanna Wade (@awesomeaiyanna )
Skeleton
Samuel Weatherbee (@bearensteinw_2.0 )
Grim Rea-feree
Diego Bruno (@gmdiegobruno )
Tip Swindler
Sonja Lynn Nelson (@sonjalynnnelson )
Scenery/Props/Puppets:
Dugan Kenaz-Mara
Stage
Piven (@piventheatreworkshop )
Kill It Keep It Live with Piven, Fall 2025
Friends, I gotta say. September kicked my ass. I continually feel cognitive dissonance at the world around us while I rehearse my silly little play and agonize over art making (which truly has been a lifeline and also still doesn’t feel like it’s enough). I haven’t journaled or meditated in months without getting distracted by my phone. My workload has increased and the environment has gotten more corporate. My ADHD is poppin’ off on the reg. I dropped my Harvard class. I’m tired. Probably a lil burnt out. Probably waist deep in existential dread. Sometimes I stare at my closet for what feels like hours and then change my outfit three times. I’ve been neglecting working out and reaching out and I’ve been seeking out soft, quiet spaces.
I miss so many of you and would love to come see your shows and also I have no idea what I’m doing rn and am trying to strategize my way back to alignment.
Please reach out. Please send a GCal.
Sending love + good vibes. 💕✨🌀
Y’ALL!! 🔥🔥🔥 We have such amazing artists lined up for the ✨last ✨Newness✨of✨2025!!!✨
Bring your friends, bring your grandma, bring your lovers, bring yourselves and be in art, community, and good vibes. 🌀🌀🌀
See you next week! 💕
#chicago #andersonville #andersonvillechicagoevents #livelit #poetry #storytelling #chicagoarts #thingstodo #comedy
