Matt and Ashley Faus

Sigh. That’s all there is to say about that. I just haven’t been on here in forever, and I’ve left my other two blog projects out in the cold as well. So, that said, EPIC FAIL: BLOG POSTING.

I failed to post about Cinderella. It opened (and closed) way back in October, complete with a family visit, singing and dancing The magic came to life in Lyric Theatre’s presentation of the old classic, and we sold out several performances. I also wrote a few posts on TheCreativeCap, and I need to get the pictures from my mom. I enjoyed this show a lot more than “Yeomen” because it was more upbeat, and I made some friends. I’m currently in the middle of “The Christmas Mouse”, an original play based on the music of Linda Arnold. I am basically playing the same role that I played in “Fisherman and His Wife”, the Storyteller for this children’s show. I also auditioned for Lyric’s “Kismet”, which opens in March. I will hopefully have positive results to share in the next few weeks

We made a fast and furious trip home for Thanksgiving, and we managed to see a lot of friends. I really enjoyed spending this holiday with my family, and we had a great time stuffing our faces. We went down to my Uncle Alan’s house on Thursday to celebrate with my mom’s side of the family, and headed down to my Aunt Beth’s house on Saturday to celebrate with my dad’s side of the family. My family is huge on both sides, so it’s always fun to catch up with all my relatives. We’ll be spending Christmas in Wisconsin with Matt’s family this year, so I am sure I’ll have some fun stories from that.

Ok, so quickest and wimpiest recap ever, but that’s what you get when you’ve been negligent in posting. I’m in Christmas decoration mode, so I should have some fun pictures up soon!

Matt and I enjoyed a wonderful Labor Day weekend with a 2-night camping trip at Big Sur! We’ve had reservations for a few months, and we were really excited to head out. We’ve both been going a mile a minute with work, church, and rehearsals, so a weekend in the middle of nowhere sounded AWESOME!

We took a leisurely drive down to Big Sur, and stopped to take pictures on the INCREDIBLE view on Highway 1. Highway 1 runs along the coast, so you can see mountains on one side and the ocean on the other. We are always astounded by the beauty of the scenery, and it makes for much more enjoyable driving conditions

We picked out the perfect campsite online, and were pleasantly surprised to find that it was large and mostly secluded. Unlike Yosemite, where the campsites are literally on top of each, Big Sur had quite a bit of separation and trees between each site. We decided to be really high-maintenance and bring our blow-up mattress to sleep on… and I have to say, why haven’t we been doing this for all of our camping trips? It’s AMAZING, and it’s not like we’re having to carry our gear on our backs, so why not? Matt also cooked wonderful steaks, chicken and potatoes for dinner. We used most of the chicken to make sandwiches to take on our hike the next day.

We had a lazy breakfast of bacon, eggs, and coffee, and then headed out the see the falls. BIG disappointment! After you’ve seen the falls at Yosemite, a little 20 ft. drizzle of water is not impressive. However, the weather was nice, and it was a good warm up for the day We decided to hike up to Buzzard’s Roost after lunch, and enjoyed a great view at the top. You could see the moutains all around, and there was no one at the top. Both trails were pretty empty during the day, so it was really fun to spend some alone time together. We put our feet in the stream on the way back, and the cold water was so refreshing on our tired feet Matt made pork for dinner, and we roasted marshmallows by the fire.

We debated going on an 8 mile hike during our fireside conversation, but made the final decision on the way to the park down the road. The hike began with a 1 mile route to the beach, which was surrounded by huge hills… that we realized we would be climbing on the next leg of the hike. We started up the hill at a strong pace, and made it to the half-way point in about 2 hours. Make no mistake, this “hill” was at a pretty steep angle, with plenty of wind and sun to beat us up However, the scenery was well worth it, and the view from the top was all the gratification we needed We thought it would be easier to head down, but we found out that the other side of the trail was only about 1 foot wide, with brush and grass on either side. We each slipped a few times, but managed to make it down in one piece We realized that we are a bit out of shape for our spring Half-Dome trip, but hiking is such a fun past-time. We topped off our strenuous exercise with the utterly healthy Round Table pizza. Bad choice, to say the least!

Big Sur was a great weekend, wait ’til you see the top of the hikes…. you’ll be jealous!

Hi all, sorry I have been neglecting the blog! We’ve been busy with friends, shows, work, etc. so here’s a quick update of life lately.

I just finished opening weekend for “The Fisherman and His Wife” with the Santa Clara Players. I am playing the Storyteller in this children’s show. I am narrating and facilitating audience participation, so it’s been interesting trying to get the kids (and adults) to interact. I’ve enjoyed the role, as it’s different than other roles I’ve had in the past. If you’re in the Bay area, come check it out! I’ve also started rehearsals for “Cinderella” with Lyric Theater. I know, I know, double shows is a little crazy, but it’s fun! I’m in the chorus for “Cinderella”, and we will open in October. Check back for more details on that one!

I’ve started two new blog projects, one for Marketing and one for creativity. Musing Marketing is a blog about Marketing, with my thoughts on my profession. The Creative Cap is a blog about creativity, with scrapbooking ideas and updates about my adventures in the performing arts. Please take a look and make comments… it makes me happy to share things with you!

Well, quick update, but we’re havin’ fun!

I just finished the opening weekend of “Yeomen of the Guard”, complete with the ultimate Fan Club… that Howard clan!

My parents, grandparents, grandmother, sister, brother, and brother’s girlfriend arrived around 4:30 on Friday evening. I was in the process of preparing spaghetti and meatballs for 10 when they knocked on the door! I had already made a batch of my Granny’s homemade rolls, with two more pans ready to go in the oven. I had about 4 trays of meatballs, and two pots for the spaghetti. For appetizers, I had made an Olive Salad and Caesar salad, so my starving family started munching immediately. My family was pretty impressed with my cooking skills, so it looks like the Thanksgiving and Christmas practice paid off! We finished up dinner with a Kentucky Derby Pie and coffee. The adults headed to their hotel, I headed to Praise Team practice at BVC, and the kids watched some TV while their food was digesting. By special request from my brother and sister, the kids decided to head to Sky High after my rehearsal. Our jump time started at 10:30 pm… and it was interesting! Matt perfected his back flip (courtesy of Jay’s… we’ll call it coaching, but I use that term VERY loosely), Erin and Brianna raced in and out of the foam pit, and tried to teach Brianna my special seat drop/turn around combination. After a tiring hour of bouncing off the walls (literally), we decided to get some Dippin’ Dots from the concession stand. Matt kicked my butt at DDR before we headed home for the night. Of course, by this time, we were all riled up, with no bed time in sight. We decided to teach Erin how to play poker, and she ended up coming in 2nd place! To be fair, you know it’s bed time when I start pushing ALL IN on EVERY hand I’m dealt….

On Saturday, we headed to downtown San Francisco for the traditional tourist day! We had lunch had Crab House, which was AMAZING. Matt, Brianna and I split a whole crab, filet mignon, and shrimp. We’ll post pictures in the gallery with our lovely crab bibs We meandered around Pier 39, drove down Lombard Street, and made a quick crossing of the Golden Gate Bridge. After the San Francisco adventure, we all decided to take naps before show time. My family ate at Il Fornaio in downtown San Jose, and I checked in at the theatre to prepare for the show. The curtain was at 8 for opening night of “Yeomen of the Guard”! We had a full house with a live crowd, and the energy was high. Apparently, in the middle of intermission, someone in the orchestra had a medical emergency. The paramedics had to come and take them away, but they are doing better now. After holding the curtain for about 10 minutes, we finished Act II with a bang! My family loved the show, and we took several pictures with me in costume.

On Sunday, my family attended Berryessa Valley Church with us. I had to head out early for the matinee show, so the men played a round of glof at Shorelinks Golf Course, while the women shopped at Santana Row. We had everyone over for dinner after the girl time/guy time. I had homemade guacamole, chips and salsa, and leftover rolls and olive salad for appetizers. Matt did an outstanding job grilling burgers, two kinds of chicken and a pork loin! It was a great meal with good conversation, followed by a rousing (if random) performance by the Howard kids of favorites from Wicked, Josh Groban, The Secret Garden and Idol winner Kris Allen.

My family left for Texas on Monday morning, and I prepared for an audition that evening. It was GREAT to have my family in town for my California debut, and I can’t wait for this weekend’s “Yeomen” performances!

Matt and I just returned from Dallas, where we spent a lot of family time celebrating high school graduation for my cousin and my sister! Brianna graduated from Hebron, and Joni graduated from Valley View. Bri has been accepted into the Occupational Therapy program at Belmont University, in Nashville, TN. Joni will be attending Clarendon College, doing her basics and preparing to transfer to major in Animal Science. I’m so proud of both of them… they have grown up to be AWESOME girls! It was great to see both sides of the family as well. We also took Matt’s parents out for his dad’s birthday… Happy 50th Bryan! We went to Mastergrill, a Brazilian-style steakhouse in Frisco.

Matt and I spent the entire trip running around to parties and outings with friends and family. I’m always so proud of my friends when we get to catch up, as they all continue to make great strides in their lives. I even headed down to Austin to catch up with a friend for the day, and it was great to see her! Matt should be posting a map of our trip, as we also took a day trip down to Mt. Pleasant, TX. Matt proposed to me in Mt. Pleasant a little over a year and a half ago, so we made the trip to celebrate our one year anniversary. We took the top of our wedding cake (yes, it was a year old), and Matt proposed with a fork! Of course, I accepted, and we had a slice of the traditional one-year wedding cake. Surprisingly, the cake tasted really good, and wasn’t terribly stale or disgusting. We took some pictures and headed home, glad to be traveling down memory lane once more!

Dallas was fast and furious, but I got my Chic-fil-a fix, my Garcia Brother’s fix, my girl time fix, and my family time fix… so it was well worth it! Again, congrats to the class of 2009… we’re proud of you!

Matt and I have been married for one year! We have enjoyed married life, and highly recommend it to anyone that’s found the person they are meant to be with!

We started the weekend with an ice cream date and reminiscing about our dating relationship. On Saturday, I kicked Matt out of the house for a few hours to prepare a feast from scratch. He really likes lasagna, but I never make it for him. I found an amazing recipe for Ultimate Lasagna, completed with beef, sausage, ricotta and parmesan cheese, carrots, celery, tomatoes and several kinds of spices. I cut the recipe in half, and it was still overflowing the 9 x 13 inch pan! I also decided to make some brownies layered with cream cheese from scratch. I stumbled onto the site bakeorbreak.com recently, and let me tell you, I think I’m going to get addicted. The brownie recipe is listed on the site, and it is AMAZING. To be fair, anything with four baker’s squares of chocolate, two sticks of butter, two cups of sugar, and 16 oz. of cream cheese is sure to taste good. Also, to be fair, normal kitchens are NOT set up to make entire meals from scratch! I used all of our mixing bowls and mixing spoons, and I had to rinse them off in the process… and my wimpy hand-mixer almost stopped when I tried to whip the cream cheese! But, fear not, I did eventually get all the components into their respective pots and pans to complete the cooking process. As a side dish, I made fried mozzarella from scratch, which was really tasty. Top that off with ceasar salad and two kinds of bread, and we had a feast! Matt LOVED the meal, which made me very happy. It was a great second day of anniversary weekend

On Sunday, we were up early to enjoy Matt’s anniversary gift. He surprised me with “Man of La Mancha” tickets. The tickets were special, as the musical was to be performed at an amphitheater on top of Mt. Tamalpais. We had breakfast at a cute diner in San Francisco, and caught the 9:00 am shuttle up the mountain. It was foggy all the way up the mountain, but just before we reached our destination the sun burst through the clouds! We later determined that WE had actually burst through the clouds, and that we were above the fog! Matt had packed blankets and a cooler for the day, complete with garlic stuffed olives for me We set up on the stone seats, and headed out for a hike. We hiked to West Point Inn before the show, which was 1.5 miles each way! The show was EXCELLENT, and we enjoyed the view of the bay behind the scenery. We ended up going to bed ridiculously early… it had been a long weekend!

We thoroughly enjoyed celebrating our first year of marriage, and I can’t wait for the next 50 or 60 years with Matt!

Well, Matt and I have officially experienced a home invasion, less than a year into our marriage. Apparently, it’s a normal part of adulthood, a right of passage that lots of people have experienced… we had a mouse in our house! And, good news/bad news, we discovered that it was actually TWO mice YUCK. Fortunately, the mice have been gone for about one week, but it was NOT pleasant experience.

About two weeks ago, we were standing in the kitchen before bed, and we heard some weird noises coming from our walls. Matt mentioned that he thought we had something in the walls, but I said surely not. A day or two later, Matt mentioned that he hated to inform me, but we might need to put out some mouse traps, as he thought he’d seen something scurry across the floor the previous evening. Again, I said surely not (note that I was totally grossed out and we put our food away at night and clean the kitchen regularly, so I wasn’t willing to entertain the possibility). A day or two after that, I went to grab some bread from the top of the fridge. I’d just bought the bread, so it hadn’t even been opened… but it the wrapper was chewed through, and half a piece of bread had been eaten! By this point, I was finally ready to accept the obvious. My acceptance resulted in banning myself from the kitchen for two days.

While buying glue traps at Wal-Mart, another lady told me about her face-to-face encounter with mice in their home. She also told me not to worry, we’d get rid of them. I mentioned the issue to my Mom, and she laughed, and said that they used to get mice when she was little because there was a large field behind their house. This is where I draw the conclusion that mice are apparently a rather normal problem. However, I was sheltered from it as a child. I assume that if my Dad found a mouse, he was smart enough not to tell my Mom about it. And, if my Mom found a mouse, she was DEFINITELY smart enough not to mention it to us kids. Sadly, this time around, there was no one between me and the mice

Note to anyone who has mice in the future: GLUE TRAPS DON’T WORK. Buy the old-fashioned ones. I arrived home from the gym and peered into the kitchen leerily. I saw just enough to jet out of the house and call Matt! But when he arrived a half hour later… the mouse had escaped. In the end, we bought the snap traps and caught two mice. Unfortunately, Matt had to kill both of them, as the traps hadn’t actually killed them.

Well, I’m sorry you all had to read such a disturbing post, but I felt that if we had to brave it, then the least you could do was offer a sympathetic, “Ewww….. I hope that doesn’t happen to us!” I too hope that you never have to experience the terror that is home invasion. But, as several people with similar experiences have told me, “It doesn’t really matter if you clean or put away the food. Once they get in, you just have to get rid of them.”

I’ve been pretty busy lately with rehearsals and job transitions, but I’ve got some time to blog about the recent activities!

I’ve been enjoying rehearsals for “Yeomen of the Gaurd”. The music is really fast and really wordy, but it’s been a fun challenge to work on. I’ve met some cool people, most who do music and theatre as a hobby. We started blocking rehearsals this week, so we’re starting to see how everything will come together. I think the show will be great, and I highly recommend it for anyone in the Bay Area in June!

I’m making a transition from Marketing Manager at Solar Designs, Inc., to a contractor position with UserTesting.com.  UserTesting.com offers remote testing services for businesses and website owners. They use a unique recording software to allow audio and visual feedback from a user while browsing a site. They have not previously had an active marketing strategy, so I am excited to help out with this aspect of their business. I would also recommend that you apply to become a tester if you have some spare time! UserTesting.com pays each tester $10 per test, and you can do the jobs at your leisure. If you meet the requirements for the test (age, expertise, etc), you receive an e-mail notifying you about the job. You can choose to accept and complete the job, and pass on jobs that you do not wish to complete. It’s a great source for a little extra income when you have time to complete a test. It’s also a great option if you need quality testing, with a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

I’m also preparing for Matt’s birthday and our anniversary! We’re coming up on 1 year as a married couple, so we’re excited to celebrate and reflect on the awesomeness that is life together!

I had my first Yeomen rehearsal last night, and it was fast and furious! The finale of Act 1 features a song that clicks along at 140 beats per minute… using eighth notes…. in cut time! For non-musicians, that’s the equivalent of running up and down a flight of stairs while chewing gum and saying the ABCs backwards. The words are pretty clever, but it’s difficult to get them out in an articulate manner. Everyone did a pretty decent job of reading and singing the music, so our director was happy.

All the cast members seem to be pretty talented as well, so the rehearsals are much more productive. I’ll keep you posted on the rehearsal status, but it’s going to be one fast-paced adventure until the end of June!

I took a last minute trip to Dallas this past weekend to celebrate my sister’s 18th birthday and Prom weekend! It was a wonderful girls’ weekend, with some much-needed chill time.

I arrived on Thursday afternoon, just in time for a haircut. Matt makes fun of me for being particular, but curly hair is difficult to cut! I scheduled a trim with the lady who has done an excellent job on my hair for the last 10 years… as the saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” I had dinner with a friend at Carino’s, a staple we’re missing here in California.

Friday was a busy day, starting with breakfast with my friend that just had a baby. I saw the new addition to the family, a healthy baby boy. We were able to chat for the morning, and he only cried a little! I had Chic-Fil-A for lunch, another chain we’re missing (seeing a pattern?). I picked up the cookie cakes for my sister’s party, and headed home to help cook. Due to rain, her party was moved from a Lake Lewisville party boat to my parents’ living room. My uncle came over to make food, including an AMAZING shrimp and avacado dish! About 30 of Brianna’s closest friends showed up to celebrate her 18th birthday. One of her friends turned it into a dance party… and of course, being the cool big sister, I HAD to participate. My sister, my cousin, and myself performed the Howard girls’ rendition of N*Sync’s “Bye Bye Bye”. If I do say so myself, we were much better than the Howard boys at my wedding The night went well, and Brianna was a great hostess!

The actual birthday morning/prom morning started with breakfast at Mimi’s with my sister. Again, some good cookin’ that is absent from California. We met our mom at The Nail Place for manicures and pedicures. Brianna went crazy with her nails, matching them to her dress via orange stripes and a black star! She looked so cute in her prom dress, complete with zebra-design necklace, clutch, and bracelet. We took a few sister-sister pictures before heading to meet her date and her friends for pictures. I finished up the night with a family dinner at Mr. Gatti’s pizza, and two episodes of “The Closer”. My mom was so excited to figure out that I’m old… crashing before midnight!

On Sunday, I sang in the church choir at FBCC, and attened the Nearly/Newlywed class. It’s always fun to see everyone at my old church, and I really enjoyed my morning in the choir. Finally, lunch at Jinbeh and off to the airport to fly home! Matt didn’t come down with me, so I was pretty excited to get back to him. We haven’t spent this many days apart since we got married, so we were ready for some quality time together. He took me out to dinner at La Paloma, and brought me home to a sparkling clean car and organized apartment… best husband in the world Also, a perfect end to a great weekend with lots of sister-sister time!