December (and Christmas) 2010

Hi everybody! 

Hope you all had a GREAT holiday! We had a nice quiet Christmas Day here at the Inn (lots of food and a little napping!). We've also had a nice December overall, made better by some wonderful weather the second week of December (highs in the 80s), and our second annual Winter Yoga Retreat!

On December 17th, we welcomed back our great instructors, Ken Breniman, David Oliphant, and Tim Nguyen, for a reprise of their incredible Summer 2010 Retreat, and although we had some mighty strange weather during the retreat (can you say lots of rain!?!?!), I think everyone had a great time. Our own David (Scheide) took a bunch of the guys up to Joshua Tree for a hike (as we did last Summer), and from all reports, it was also a lot of fun!

I, of course, got to do no yoga this round, because I was producing a local holiday event for my clients at the Palm Springs Cultural Center - The Magic of Christmas, starring The Young Americans. It was an amazing show - three sold out nights - and everyone from the retreat got to come see the show on Saturday night! 

This project has been keeping me busy since this Summer - a major production, and enough to tell me that I don't ever want to get into the business of producing shows. What an undertaking! Whew!

I marched with The Young Americans in the Festival of Lights Parade this year as well (after a generator disaster in which not one, but two generators failed on us).

A quick Plan B got us into the parade, albeit a bit later than planned, and with a new, mostly undecorated truck (but with lights and sound for the performers).
I learned a lot about Fire Marshals during this process too - more than I probably ever wanted to know, but you live and learn, and now I know several things I never knew before! 

Stephen's been busy, as usual, with this year's Film Festival (which opens January 6th). It's been harder this year than ever, mostly because the film selections and information has been coming in so late. Stephen ended up working all through Christmas eve, Christmas Day, and is still tied to his desk even as I write! :)

My other December project (and Stephen's, since I have this tendency to volunteer him for things sometimes), was Coyote Stagecoach's production of A Tuna Christmas. It was also a lot of fun, and although not as commercially successful, was still a wonderful experience. 

The guys are great, and their goal of creating a new equity theatre in Palm Springs is to be lauded. It's tough to do in a small town, especially given our seasonality, but they are well on their way! (They also made the run a benefit for the Palm Springs Animal Shelter - a project which most of you know is near and dear to our hearts).

And, before I forget, there was another really BIG thing this December. Well, really things. David grew some of the BIGGEST sunflowers I think I've ever seen, and, of course, I had to capture them. 


It took some major coaxing (alright, begging), but I did finally get him to pose with one of the sunflowers just to give a perspective on how tall they actually grew. To say the boy has a green thumb is an understatement!

Lots more coming up as we move into the new year - 2011! 

Time definitely flies....