Back to blogging!

No really, I'm serious about it this time. Really truly serious and here is why: On Friday, December 7th I was sitting in Great Falls High coaching at a particularly chaotic tournament when I noticed I had missed a phone call. Upon retrieval of a voicemail message I learned that the Oregon Shakespeare Festival wanted to talk to me about my FAIR application (fellowships, assistantships, internships and residencies). Let me just say that one more time - the OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL wanted to talk to ME about MY application (an application I had submitted in May and prior to this phone call had heard nothing about). After almost deleting the message and the info inside it I managed to write down a telephone number and then broke the news to my colleagues. After much talk and excitement I wandered down a vacant hallway, found an abandoned staircase and called the number back having prepared the message I would leave as it was nearly 8pm Pacific Standard Time and surely whomever left the message wasn't still in their office. Lucky me! Someone answered the phone and my prepared message went right out the window and quickly turned into "yes! i'm still available and interested" and just like that I was offered an assistantship in stage management at OSF. I called my mom and dad and then I called everyone who would still be awake and know how excited I would be. I held off announcing the news on the blog for so long because it took a long-ish time to get all of the official paperwork and on the off-chance that it wasn't real, or something happened and I really didn't get the opportunity I didn't want to deal with the heartbreak of un-announcing the big news. Safe to say though I am all moved in to my "bungalow" and start tomorrow morning at 8 am.
I left clear blue skies in Montana on Saturday morning and drove to Portland where I stayed with my roommates from college and then drove the rest of the way to Ashland on Sunday. The weather has been coolish and it rained most of this morning but I am hopeful that things will start to warm up soon. The flowers and trees around here sure look like they would appreciate some warmer weather.
I promise I'll be better at blogging but for now here is photo I took on the way out of town. I love those Montana Mountains!