Life Well-Lived, Vol. 13

I can't believe this is WEEK 13!  Crazy! Let's get to it!

So, what is Life Well Lived?  It's very simply a celebration of the things (big or small) that enrich our everyday lives.  So let's talk about today's things that, I feel, make my life WELL LIVED.
(Don't forget to follow @MyLifeWellLived on Twitter!  Blog, or just tweet about what makes your #LifeWellLived (don't forget the hashtag) and join in the fun!)

Today I wanna talk about how my life is well lived because I am surrounded by talented people in my life. There is NO WAY I am gonna be able to mention every single talented person in my life in this post, so PLEASE don't get hurt/offended/butthurt about it! I just wanna call attention to a few:

Right now, some of my friends in Sundown Collaborative Theatre are performing their show Happily Ever After (written and directed by Cody Lucas, who is also performing in the production) at the FringeNYC Festival in New York, NY.  They have been relentlessly rehearsing this show for four months...in garages (in stifling triple-digit temperatures, mind you) in dance studios, wherever they can find a place.  And on Monday night?  They performed it at the festival.

Photo by Tiffany Hillan

Yesterday, my friend Tashina (pictured below as a creepy-as-hell Rapunzel) posted on her Twitter that their performance was reviewed and that she was pretty much overwhelmed (in a good way!) by how well they were received.  Check out their amazing review here. 

Photo by Tiffany Hillan

Also, Tashina and Travis (pictured below, left) (that's Zane on the right) have posted trip diaries on TheaterJones.com.  You can read those here and here.  I will admit that I got a little verklempt reading both the trip diaries and the review.  I'm VERY proud of my friends.  Proud of them for their accomplishment, and proud that they are representing little ol' Denton, Texas in New York City as well as they are. Also? I cannot WAIT to work with them on their next production, Cafe des Artistes, in November (Tashina is directing it, and it's gonna be awesome).

Photo by Tiffany Hillan

Also, even though I talked about this yesterday already, I'm SUPER proud of my friends in Manic Bloom for making their very first (awesome) music video.  It's so awesome to see the product of your friends' labor when they are so passionate about what they do, and I couldn't help but smile the entire time I watched their video. 

Finally, I just wanna share some YouTube videos of some of my friends' performances.  The first one is my AMAZING husband in a production of Pirates of Penzance:

My friend Andrew Tinker's official music video...he's like Jason Mraz, only cuter!

My good friend Max, (whom I mayyyyyy have a teeny tiny little talent crush on) singing "This is the Moment" and just generally being awesome:

And FINALLY, one of my favorite videos I've ever uploaded -- my friends dancing in a producion we did of Crazy For You back in 2009.

I LOVE TAPPING!  I wish I could do it!

ANYWHO, not bad for just a VERY SMALL SAMPLING of the talented people in my life, huh?  Seriously, I could devote an entire blog to the talent pool of my friends and this Dallas/Ft. Worth community, but for now, I'll just stick with this post.

So there you have it!  Another week of praising what things make my life WELL LIVED!  I encourage you to play along and write your own post!  Happy Wednesday!