Adventures in Beardland

Here it is, the long awaited follow up to my previous facial hair report.  I've been enjoying a thoroughly relaxing winter break after a stressed out end to my semester, complete with finals, student work to grade, a full weekend of A Christmas Carol, and the debut of my one man show Psalm 100:1.  Very stressful, but very rewarding.  But enough about that, that's not what you came for.  Here's what happened:

Here I am at Thanksgiving (with my Pop) the week before Christmas Carol opened, essentially the height of my beard.  That's basically 3 months of growth.  Got into our first dress rehearsal, Nov. 30, and this is what they had me do:

Shaved out the chin.  This look, by itself, is pretty Victorian.  Shannon started calling me Wolverine, though he didn't have a mustache.  Oh well.  We shaved out the chin so we could do this:

Glued on the beard with what they called "medical adhesive."  Whaddya think?  Close enough?  Our costume designer realized right before our second dress rehearsal that Dickens in fact never had chops with his beard.  We thought about it, but decided to keep them anyway.  I prefer to think we went with how Dickens wished he had looked (note that with me, his hairline isn't receding).  We did the show - ended Saturday evening, December 4 - and as Shannon requested, I shaved as soon as we got home.  And I had a little fun with it:

the redneck handlebar

70's trash 'stache

Some of you may be thinking, "Jared, this look isn't much different from the last one."  True, it's not much different.  But it's amazing how you can take away the sideburns and comb the hair straight back (as much as possible), and suddenly I'm my father circa the mid-1980's.  A little eerie, but part of me was happy about this.  But all good things must come to an end.

Shave and a haircut (two bits) and I'm back to neutral.  Shannon is much happier, and I don't blame her.  My head feels lighter and I'm not scary looking.  Though, I'm beginning to be of the opinion that when it comes to hair, I prefer to either be here at neutral or full-on mountain man.  Go big or go home.  Not sure I'll ever be allowed to get that way again, but who knows.

That's that.  Shannon and I are getting ready to head home to Louisville for a way-too-short Christmas weekend.  Totally worth it though, really looking forward to being with our families for the holiday, and if it all possible see our friends.  To our readers, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  Have a blessed holiday and we will catch up with you in 2011.

"Then the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.  For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." ~ Luke 2:10-11

A Hanlin/Heath/Coleman/Fox Thanksgiving

We weren't sure it was going to be possible, but after a 4 am alarm on Wednesday morning, 5:30 departure,  5 states and 12 hours in my faithful steed the Focus, Jared and I made it to Atlanta, Georgia for a short but wonderful Thanksgiving visit with the family.  Wanting to contribute to the meal, I searched my new Southern Living Desserts Cookbook for a fun and festive recipe, and landed on Pecan Pie Cookies.



<----  The picture looks good, right?  So Tuesday evening, I braved the crowds (who knew that everyone goes to Wal-Mart two days before Thanksgiving?  I might not have survived had I gone Wednesday!) and made it out with the ingredients.  A couple hours, some love and nurturing later, and we get this:








Not quite as pretty, but they went fast, so I choose to believe they were good.  I had bought some Cranberry Pecan rolls at Stone Mill Bakery earlier that day, so I felt pretty good about my food contributions.  The next morning we left, and the drive was long, but we made good time and got to Atlanta in time to see everyone and head out for a great dinner of greek pizza.  That night Jared and I got some much needed sleep, and were up and ready for some family time Thursday.

It's funny how months can go by without seeing family, but when you get back together, its like no time has passed at all.  All day Thursday we visited with family, and ate ate and ate some more.

Friday came faster than we wanted, but we spent some time in the morning hanging out with the fam a little more, and ate a few times (I swear I still haven't been able to muster up hunger yet).  On the way out of town, we drove past my Mema and Papa's old house as has become tradition for us, and it as always brought back so many memories from my childhood.  Twelve hours later and we pulled into Fayetteville to unpack and go to bed.  The car ride wasn't my favorite, but it was definitely worth it to spend time with our family, and we are so thankful for every one of them.

Fall in the Ozarks

So all of a sudden it was fall here in the Ozarks, and Jared and I wanted to get outside and do something fun to enjoy the beautiful weather.  I had the whole weekend off (which hadn't happened in almost a month) and we wanted to do something fun together.  I searched around online for something we could make a day trip out of, and midweek we bought tickets for a scenic train excursion through the mountains on the Arkansas and Missouri Railroad.  It sounded like a great chance to get out of the office and see the beautiful fall colors.  So, first thing Saturday morning we got up and drove about an hour to Van Buren.  Imagine a little downtown area lined with antique shops, an ice cream parlor, beautiful old historic buildings, and of course, a train station.

We park and wait to board the train with all the other senior citizens (apparently I can't pick age appropriate outings-only families with little kids at the pumpkin patch, and old people on the scenic train ride...oh well) and...we're off!  Poor Jared, he is so sweet to humor  me.  Anyway, I am tickled about our old people trip, taking tons of pictures, pointing out the adorable conductor who looks like he's at least 80 years old, and jabbering away like I tend to do.  I think Jared had fun too, but I don't think he'd tell me if he didn't.  After the ride we had lunch at a restaurant in the midst of downtown, and afterwards we walked around and checked out the little antique stores and other shops.  

So, I had fun, I hope Jared did too, but it was nice to spend all day together without work, school or rehearsals getting in the way. 

No-shave Semester

I have a beard, and Shannon can't stand it.  Most of the time, I'll shave once a week, once every couple of weeks, because my facial hair doesn't grow very fast or thick, and I'm actually very lazy.  But always, I know my wife prefers the feel of a close shave, so I will shave for her.  Unfortunately for her, I have been cast in A Christmas Carol this semester.  For those of you that don't know, I am an MFA acting student at the University of Arkansas (this is my second year now) and whenever I'm cast in a play here, I am told I cannot change anything about my appearance without the consent of the costume designer.  In A Christmas Carol, I am playing Charles Dickens - yes, THE Charles Dickens, acclaimed English author - who narrates the entire show.  The performances are set for Dec. 4 and 5, and I asked if I could cut my hair before rehearsals began.  The answer I got was a resounding No, fully supported with pictures like this:

So, like the rest of the cast I cannot shave or cut my hair until they say so (a double whammy for Shannon who prefers my hair short, and she's right to prefer it that way).  So that said, this is October 11 and this is where I'm at:

To tell the truth, I don't remember when I shaved last.  It was probably around Shannon's birthday, Sept. 2.  So lets say this is 5 weeks in.  There will be a follow up come December to document the final product, though I doubt it will look anything like the real Dickens.  In fact, Shannon is probably right.  She thinks they're going to decide at the last minute that they wanna use a fake beard.  So all her misery would be for naught.  I feel bad, but I have to admit, the beard does make me feel a little manlier.  Oh well.  As soon as the show is over, it's all getting chopped and shaved off because (in his best Heath Ledger Joker voice) I'm a man of my word.  And her being happy is far more important than me being too lazy or proud to pick up my razor.

~Jared

PS.  Meow-meow says hi from my lap.

Day of Rest

There is something to be said for observing Sunday as a day of rest.  We work (or go to school) all week, try to find time to make dinner, go to the gym, do homework, and hopefully go to bed at a relatively decent time, before we get up earlier than we want, to do it all over again.  By the time we get to the weekend, we try to pack those two little days with as many chores, errands, and fun as we can, knowing that we probably won't have time for any of these things again until the next weekend.  Saturdays we wake up ambitious; we plan out how to pack the most activities and errands in before dinner, which we occasionally spend in one of Fayetteville's wonderful local restaurants as a reward for making it through another week.  Saturday evenings are spent either with friends or at home, where we sometimes watch movies through our new Netflix subscription (love it!).  Sunday begins with a more relaxed tone than Saturday.  We usually go to church in the morning, but occasionally sleep in instead and make pancakes.  Next comes evaluating what chores can be checked off the list.  Laundry gets done, sometimes vacuuming, or deep cleaning the bathrooms.  But even though chores are no fun, spending time at home together sort of recharges us to take on another week.  Oh, and sometimes a nap doesn't hurt.  

(Bella helps with making the bed...or not)

The Art of Cooking

So, I'm hungry, and thinking about what to make for dinner.  Since Jared and I have been unable to mooch off of either of our parents' cooking/dinners out, we have been experimenting with dinner ideas and cooking in general.  I must say while not "skilled," our kitchen talents have been improving.  We have our "go-to" meals, like spaghetti, pork chops, grilled chicken, meat loaf, lasagna, etc, and we sprinkle in new ideas as we come across new recipes.  So, a call out to anyone who cares enough to respond, what is your favorite go-to meal?  Now accepting recipes!  We're always looking for new ideas.  And if you're lucky (and in the Fayetteville, Arkansas area) maybe we'll make it for you as our way of saying thanks.

Blog Numero Uno

Well, since I have so much fun checking out other people's blogs, I thought it might be fun to make one of our own.  It seems to be a pretty good way to keep up with whats going on in people's lives.  So, here goes!

I feel like we've finally settled in to our new apartment and our new status as being married.  The time is flying by, and I can't believe its already been almost 4 months since being home with our friends and family to celebrate our marriage.  We've now unpacked all the boxes, put away all the wedding gifts, and sent out all the thank you cards.  Whew!  Time to relax a little.

I've been working at Arvest Bank for exactly one year tomorrow (wow!) and am enjoying a 40hr/week paycheck.  Jared is already into his second year of grad school here at the University of Arkansas, and has started teaching an introductory class this semester.  He lets me help grade papers, and I really like it! Wonder if I'm in the wrong field? All I know is I have a crush on Professor Hanlin : )

So, there's some background on what we're doing now, I'll probably be more specific next time.