Sunday Blog Post

“Rubber 🦆 Ducky Chicken 🐔 Society (my improv troupe) be performing alongside “Eaten by Locusts” at Improvocation tonite

 This week has been full of exciting milestones and a little bit of holiday energy, making it feel like life is moving all at once.

(Made an Uber delivery to Edina Mall)

Zulfi’s First Concert 🎶
The biggest highlight was my son Zulfi performing in his first concert—and he even had a speaking role! 🗣️ Watching him step on stage with confidence and share his part with the audience was such a proud moment. All the practice, nerves, and preparation felt completely worth it, and it reminded me how special these “firsts” can be. It’s moments like this that make me stop and appreciate the little victories in our everyday lives.

Improv Prep & Upcoming Performance 🎭
On the creative side, I’ve been planning for our next improv shows. We’ll be performing Improv-A-Go-Go at Strike in January 🎉, which has me excited and busy sketching sets, running through games, and thinking about how the audience will react. Preparing for live performance is always a thrill, and I love the challenge of bringing something spontaneous to life on stage.

We’ll be performing alongside this group tonite at Improvocation.

Piano Lessons for My Son 🎹

. I’ve been planning Zulfi’s piano lessons this week, giving him the space to explore music more intentionally. Seeing him light up while learning and creating brings a steady, quiet joy to the week. Balancing creativity, practice, and family time is a challenge, but moments like this make it all feel worthwhile.

Books I’m reading

Holiday Plans & Shopping 🎁
Of course, the holiday season is weaving through everything. I’ve been making gift lists ✅, checking off presents, and thinking about ways to make celebrations feel meaningful. Between shopping, planning, and soaking up the little festive moments, I’m trying to enjoy the season without letting it feel overwhelming.just a whole lot of gift cards and ornaments.

Sunday Blog Post

 

On Thursday, I went to Phoenix to perform improv with Saturday practice group. On Friday, I was busy. I picked up my son from school, played a bit of video games, and then I went to Eagles 34, aka American Legion, for the 6pm Soda Pop improv event.

 Later that evening, I picked up a friend, and she came with me to see me perform improv at the residency at Bryant Lake Bowl alongside the troupe, Doctabrothamista. It was a very exhilarating performance, one that was both tense and had amazing reactions from the audience. Seeing the little tiki candles on the tables made the ambience so nice.

Behind the scenes, Bryant Lake Bowl has one of the steepest staircases, and we went down to the basement to rehearse. We literally go through montage scenes so we feel connected when we go on stage. Leading up to the week, I would dance every day to the Fitness Marshall choreographed videos to get energized and amped up for performance.

These last few weeks of performing improv have completely pushed me out of my comfort zone. I started to really see some of the struggles actors go through when trying to pull a group together to perform. I definitely made some major taboos in an effort to be seen, and I want to be mindful of that going forward. It’s not easy to admit the mistakes I made, and it’s humbled me a lot. At the same time, it’s also made me realize my own potential when I put my mind to something.

Sunday blog post

Last Sunday morning, 10 AM, I found myself at Hives Theater in Saint Paul for my first ever musical improv session there. It was early, but I liked it because it allowed me to still wind into the rest of the day. The session was filled with glittery, giggly laughter 😄, and somehow that made us feel closer as a group as we explored the music and scenes together.

Musical improv at Hives theater

My son

Earlier this week, I had an upper endoscopy, and while the results were inconclusive, I finally feel like I have a better handle on what’s going on. I think allergies or asthma have been triggering reactions because I started reading up on how gerd can initiate asthma and breathing issues, I started nedi pots and it helped, this could also explain why eating certain foods has been so challenging lately as my throat will completely close up (or at least the feeeling of it)  A short round of Prednisone 💊 seems to be helping, and I’m slowly stepping out of that months-long period of discomfort.

On the health front, I also met with my orthopedic doctor, and we’re moving forward with reinstating my disability parking sticker 🅿️. Somehow, my old one had disappeared, so it feels like a nice little bonus to get it back.

Minnesota has been buried in snow lately ❄️, but surprisingly, I didn’t run into too many issues. Well… except for a classic Minnesota road rage moment 😬. Apparently, if you drive even slightly slower than someone’s ideal 50 mph on snowy roads, they’ll find a way around you, often crossing two yellow lines, just to fishtail past.

As the week winds down, I’ve been diving into some new reads 📚. I picked up Booked for Murder, part of the Juniper series, which reminded me of How to Solve Your Own Murder with its clever, slow-burn mystery and humor. I’ve also been exploring TJ Nelson’s mischievous mysteries, and revisiting The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, which is sardonic and energetic and continues to be captivating.

Info on my Upcomping Improv performance” rubber ducky, chicken society upcoming performance, December 21, Sunday at 8 PM at Phoenix theater