And so it begins...

Hi all!

I'm Diannah, and I've finally decided to join the blog-a-sphere.

Why, you ask?  I love to write. My job and hobbies raise tons of questions any time they come up. And I'm getting ready to take what could be an amazing vacation. But mostly, because I find that I learn best from my life experiences when I look at them from outside of myself. From a third person viewpoint.

And that's what blogging - public journaling, basically - forces me to do. If I'm just journaling, that's strictly personal. And I find myself avoiding looking at certain emotions and experiences from that very valuable third person viewpoint. If I'm writing knowing that others will be reading it, I tend to be more honest with what I say, and therefore more honest with myself.

I make no promises that this blog will even be interesting, much less a valuable read. But I can promise that it will be honest.

A little about myself:

I'm 48, married with a 16 (soon to be 17) year old daughter. I'm originally from Shreveport, Louisiana, but have lived in some part of the Twin Cities in Minnesota since 1985. I currently work as a Dog Training Instructor (DTI) and Mentor for a large chain pet supply store. DTI means I spend a good chunk of my time at work teaching pet parents how to help their canine family members learn manners and appropriate behaviors. Mentor means I train other trainers to do the same thing. I love that part of my job. I've been with this company almost 15 years at this point. There have been things I love, and things I hate. Just as with any job, I suppose. Even now, there are things I love and things I'd just as soon not to have to deal with.

The title of this blog has many layers of meaning. The simplest of which refers to my current obsession - uh, I mean hobby.  I'm a community theatre actress. In the past 3 years I've performed in 11 different shows with 7 different community theatres and 6 different directors. I just completed a show this past weekend (Grease) and will be auditioning for another (Footloose) this Thursday. It's my thought that this blog will likely spend a lot of time on my theatre experiences. If you know nothing about community theatre, or are interested in getting started, hopefully you'll find this interesting and helpful.

What does this have to do with the title of this blog? Well, as a rule, a theatre production occurs on a stage, and the area on either side of the stage, where actors wait to enter, change scene and sometimes even change clothes, is called the Wings of the stage. Thus, the production primarily takes place between those wings.

Get it now?

There are other reasons for the name, that may or may not be explained later on. We shall see.... Angels figure into the picture.

So what prompted me to start this blog now? 

In 6 days, the three of us leave for our first true family vacation in over 7 years. We will be cruising Alaska's Inside Passage on the Disney Wonder. I'm hoping to blog as we go.

So welcome to my Life Between the Wings. I hope you enjoy this peek behind the curtain. Please let me know what you think, and if there's anything I can do to make this a better blog. I can't promise regular updates, but hopefully I'll keep as up-to-date as possible.

Tomorrow I'll (hopefully) be finishing off most of the pre-cruise details and getting an idea of what my finished packing will be like. Thursday I work, then have a voice lesson/warm up with one of the best actresses/voice coach/people I know, then off to auditions with my daughter. I'm hoping to blog a little about my prep and my experiences. This will be a special audition for me. More details to come.     :-)