Missing In Action

Okay, so I've been a bit off the radar for a bit, I know.
But if you have been following me on Twitter then you would know, that I have been having a whole lot of fun!
I will do my best to keep you better informed, henceforth, but here's a few things you should be aware that you missed:

I am a Redhead! (Yes, I know, I've been one before, but this time is different!)

I spent a week in Hawaii, but only 24 hours of it with my dear BFF Jeshi!

Made Mommy spend lots of mula on making her house perdy!

Spent a weekend in a vacation rental with almost my entire immediate family! (There were noticable absences!)


Ate Meat Candy for the first time, and LOVED it!! (At the Pacific Grill in downtown Tacoma!)

And finally! I'm back in NYC and ramped up to get this show going!
We start previews February 25th, and open March 23rd! Get your tickets at CirqueduSoleil.com/NYC
Loving living and working at the Beacon! This is my room:

I have a 2 minute commute to work (3 minutes with elevator traffic at rush hour! :)

That should hold you over for now! I promise to give a full report soon!!

Happy New Year | Time for fun!

Happy 2010 everyone! I have had a great 2009, even with all of it's challenges and losses. But overall I feel so blessed!

I am looking forward to this new year, turning over a new leaf, and setting some ambitious goals.
And of course, having lots and lots of fun!
For Christmas, Mom is giving the whole family a snowy chalet vacation!
So we are hunting for vacation rentals within an hour from Seattle, close to ski lifts, but nice enough to just stay and relax. If you know of any, let me know!
So excited to get some playtime in the snow!!

And to all of you, I wish a very Happy New Year!

So, my sister. . . .

I'm sure you all are aware that I have a twin. A twin, seven years apart. But for the average person, those seven years go unnoticed, and we are commonly mistaken for eachother. . . the perfect example:

Two weeks ago when said twin came to visit me in Chicago with mom, Granny and Grampa, we took a little trip to the Apple store, where Grampa leaned into said twin's ear, thinking it was me and accidentally gave away his intended Christmas Gift Surprise for said twin. Several other times through out the trip, the same thing happened, leaving poor Grampa with the most confounded look on his face. Ahhh, our parent's narrow genetic pool has resulted in a fun little party trick!

Anyway, my beloved twin and I have a very distinguishable difference, only detected with audio sensory perception. She has the most lovely soprano voice, one that has had years of classical training that my voice severely lacks. She sent this beautiful track over and I am oohing over it's lusciousness!! And I thought the world needed to know. So here. . . please savor in the ooey gooey loveliness of my twin's rendition of "That's Him" by Kurt Weill. Yummy!
(you must click the link to listen)

PS- I am counting down the days til I see my crazy twin sis and family!
Here's the countdown clock to prove it!

MySpace-Countdown-Clocks

Opening Night Trinkets

On our opening night, I made a few little trinkets for the cast.

I had the loveliest help from Ron of International Beads, Inc. Based out of Chicago, he shared is wonderful story with me, inspired me, and got me the things I needed in the nick of time!

Thank you Ron, and here are some shots of the process and the product!

Check out his website for all your bead needs!

www.beadschicago.com

The supplies:

I loved the vintage feel of the black and gold letter beads. . . so perfect for our little vaudeville show!

A work in progress. . .

The finished products:

Necklaces for the boys.

Earrings for the girls!

Countdown Mania!!

As this year comes to a close, I have started to countdown.
No, not just the time left in 2009 (which is the first clock you'll see).

Countdown-Clocks

But also the time til I depart on my best friend Tropical Adventure with Jeshi.



And the time left until we open Banana Shpeel on Broadway!
Here's the clock til Previews:

Countdown Clocks, New Year Countdowns at WishAFriend.com
And a big opening night clock! Black tie Baby!

Countdown Clocks, New Year Countdowns at WishAFriend.com

So, synchronize you watched and let the tick tock begin! There is so much to look forward to!!

A View From the Top

Yes, I have a good situation. This is the view from my bedroom. Try not to be too jealous :)

Thanksgiving Moments

Thanksgiving day was a whirlwind for me this year. . .

It started at 5:45AM when I woke up and dashed to the Theatre.

After makeup and rehearsal, we performed in the McDonald's Thanksgiving Day parade live on TV for 5 million viewers at home.

It was raining and cold, but we had lots of fun.

I spent the rest of the day in a haze of cooking, organizing and enjoying our Thanksgiving Party.

I only grabbed my camera for a second, but these two shots captured my favorite moments of the day:

Cranberries on their way to become Cranberry sauce.

Isabella (0ur cast baby!) and Tuan Le.

Shelly Bort | 12 days of Christmas

Shelly Bort is funny.

No, Shelly Bort is hysterical.

Shelly Bort is my friend.

No, Shelly Bort is my virtual friend.

We have never met, but if maybe someday we did, she would make me a video like this for Christmas. Her faces are pricesless, as are her genius lyrics:

Five Chandlier Bings!

As my gift to you, I give you my Shelly.

ChiTown

I have barely had a moment to take my camera out. But I took a moment last week to snap some photos of my gorgeous historic theatre here in lovely Chi-town! I'm loving this sad, and sad to be leaving in 2 weeks! I hope someday I'll get a good excuse to come back!

Stunning Ceiling art at the historic Chicago Theatre!

The Ghost light is my favorite theatre tradition. . . it keeps away the unfriendly spirits, and keeps the theatre muse alighted!

Our sound station

Some of the famous performers to grace this stage:

The fountain Lady at house right conceals a secret passage way!!

Mommy in Montreal

As you may know, I spent about 3 months in Montreal during the creation process of Banana Shpeel. While I was there, I convinced my dear mommy to come out and visit. She and I took a lovely trip to Quebec City (thanks to Roby who let us use his darling condo there) and soaked up some culture. Here are some of my favorite shots from her trip!

First Self Portrait of the trip~ ain't we cute?

It's dangerous having this place so close by!

Quebec City!

She's one of my favorite subjects to photograph!

Mommy Headshot time!

The trees were confused.

I've started collecting manhole cover photos from the places I travel.

Momma takes great pictures, too!

This darling flower shop helped us find the perfect Thank you gift for Roby!

Back in Montreal. . . the view over the city, and the Olympic Stadium.

One last French Canadian Sunset!

All I Want for Christmas Is. . . .

Everyone always asks me around holidays and birthdays, "What do you want for _________?"(insert chosen holiday or birthday here)
And I always reply, "Nothing. Just something that makes you think of me."
Annoying, I know. So this year, I have finally decided to make a Wish List.
And, having been well received by my family, I have decided to send my wishes out into the universe! Should you be a sugar daddy or a generous benefactor, please feel free to pick from this list and expand upon it!
Merry Christmas!

Kat's 2009 Wish List!

By Boe Bow Necklace (also love the same earrings and the ring) (Gold or Silver, I like em both.)
http://www.byboe.com/jewelry/necklaces/reminder-bow-%28128%29-128.html


Or Pretty Much Anything from Here:
http://www.thevintagepearl.com/


Solar Quest Board Game, or other fun to play board games!


Special Keep-my-fingers-warm-while-I-use-my-iphone glove. . . Also known as the E-Tip Glove from Northface. Size Small
http://www.thenorthface.com


Comfy Cozy Toes! Anything comfy, cute, and fun is lovely!
http://www.joyofsocks.com/




A clever bag designed just for my camera's accessories:
http://shootsac.com/


Massager for my sad sore neck and back :)
http://www.brookstone.com/max-performance-percussion-massager.html


Grow my own Tomatoes and Herbs:
http://www.skymall.com/shopping/detail.htm


Pretty Hair Feathers or Fancy Hats and scarves
Like here: http://www.flocktogethernyc.com/ Or like Here: http://www.volang.com/


For the ultimate Self Portraits! Samsung DualView TL225 12.2 MP Digital Camera (Purple)

Yummy and Delicious Candle (clean burning only, please) in gorgeous containers like here:
http://www.illumecandles.com/ Or these guys from www.PotteryBarn.com


Custom Stationary or writing items.
http://www.thestationerystudio.com


I have also decided to start collecting old vintage cameras! So, if you dig around on ebay, in your neighbor's garage sale, or the local dumpster and you come across anything that might resemble anything like these, there's a good chance I'd be ecstatic!

You can get the blackbird (3 plastic ones on the right) here:
http://shopping.icp.org/store/product.html?product_id=31216


And then of course, there is my super-dream-big-giant-never-gonna-happen-fantasy-that-I-never-expect-to-get gift list:

iMac Computer or MacBook Pro from Apple.com


The Cintiq Waacom Tablet:
http://www.wacom.com/cintiq/cintiq-21ux.php


Camera Dream Items:
This Guy is the big Dream (Nikon D3). . . but this guy wouldn't leave me complaining either! (Nikon D300)


And of course a plethora of lenses and flash to work with these big daddies! (Low aperture is the priority!)


And a must have. . . Underwater housing for the big daddy Camera!


That's it!! Happy shopping y'all!! Love you!

Brenda and JP Engaged!

You may remember JP from this post and this post.

JP (aka my little bro) is an incredible R&B singer who I worked with in Japan last year. He and his beautiful Brenda (a talented singer and dancer) made time for an engagement shoot earlier this year. They were married this summer, and I am finally getting around to posting the shots from their very creative engagement shoot.

We met up at the campus of Fullerton College, where they met and fell in love in the music department. They decided to do a non-traditional shoot, and instead we used 4 different themes to play with.

Without further adieu, here is Mr. and Mr. Castillo:

AKA Mr. and Mrs. Smith

If eyebrows could kill :)

The Teacher and the Nerd!

The Piano Man and his Chantuese

The Doll and her Clown

Congratulations you two!!

Banana Shpeel Video #8

In this sneak peak at Vaudeville, they discuss costume and set design! It's in French, so be prepared for the subtitles, unless your parlez is up to par!
There are a few shots of me in this one, so prepare to be dazzled! ;)

ABC Covers Banana Shpeel

Beautiful, Pure, and Awe Inspiring

I've posted before about the incredible foundation for women that my dear friend Jessica Hoffman created early this year. Today, a wonderful article appeared that shares some of the beautiful work she does with Pure Beauty Ministries.

When Jessica and I became best friends in high school, one of the things that helped us to grow so close was our shared commitment to purity. I love that she has taken something so important and made it her mission in life to share that joy with the world.

She is a remarkable woman, and I am so proud to call her my best friend.

Her next event is November 19th. If you are in the Honolulu area, be sure to come out and support her! Tickets available online!

Click here to read the wonderful article!

I'm on the Radio. . . Again!

Tomorrow, Sunday, November 8th at 10:30am EST,
I return for my 2nd interview with Suko on The Matinee Show on Tameside Radio UK.
We'll chat all about my work thusfar with Cirque du Soleil, and spill some of the secrets behind our upcoming debut of Banana Shpeel!!
Though it's a UK radio station, you can listen too if you have an internet connection!
Just follow this link and click on LISTEN LIVE in the upper left corner!

Banana Shpeel Video #7

Sorry I haven't been doing much posting these days! We are in Chicago, and with just 2 weeks to our first public performance, and a lot of changes taking place, it's been a relentless schedule of rehearsals, fittings and fatigue!
But it's all for the love of this wonderful work we are creating, and here's a little snippet for you!
Here's the latest behind the scene's sneak peak!
Just before we left Montreal, we filmed the commercial which is running non-stop here in Chicago!!
And for the first time, you can actually see a few shots of me! As you watch the montage, you will see a close up of me putting on my eyelashes, and that pretty mouth putting on bright pink lipstick is me too!
If you're in the Chicago area, tune in a check out the commercial!
Enjoy!

Heather | Headshots

Heather and I worked together at Lululemon in New York for a brief period between performing jobs. She is a warm wonderful girl who I had so much fun with, who happens to have incredible legs!! Her gorgeous smile isn't half bad either. We played in and around my Riverside Drive apartment, working it at every turn.
This was nothing but fun!

Caitlin | Headshots

Caitlin is an incredible actress. . . during our shoot, I slyly tricked her into doing her audition monologues for me, and I nearly cried. She came to me hesitant to take photos after having a bad experience in the past. She had been scarred by poor makeup, and an uncomfortable setting, but I'm glad that she was willing to give it one more try.
I brought out my fabulous friend Dara Klein of DaraMascara.com, to work her magic. Dara brought out Caitlin's natural beauty, and gave her that comfort and warmth as only Dara can.
The rain held out just long enough for us to work it in the magical light!
Thanks Caitlin for an incredibly fun afternoon!

Suzie

Suzie has one of those infectious smiles that leave you giggling at every moment.