What do these two things have in common? Just me. I could have made them two separate posts, but I had no idea what to put for the improv photo. So you get to see these dolls!
For our last photo outing, Kristin and I were not brave enough to risk the cold temperatures outside, so we took this opportunity to practice our indoor photo taking at the Russian Museum of Art. It was nice and warm, but I found out that Russian art is really not my favorite (at least not the current collections). The lower level was full of Matryoshka dolls. I think the woman who took our money said that there were 160 dolls in the collection. Which sounded like a lot, but I think that they counted every single nested doll. And some of the dolls were smaller than a pinky fingernail. So it took up much less space than what I was expecting. For the most part, the dolls all looked very similar, but there were some originals that were fun to look at (such as the photo above. Cat themed!).
The next floor was Russian Sacred Art. I really did not enjoy this art at all, but I found it interesting that everything was painted on wood. I guess I expected at least a little variation. I liked the use of gold leaf and the ornate metal covers that were made to go over your painting to protect it.
The upper level was the Vladimir School of Painting. These were all impressionistic. It was unfortunate the way that the upper level is laid out with a gap looking down to the level below. I felt that it would have been nice to see the painting close up, then move back to see it from a distance, and then move close up again. Unfortunately, with this layout, that was not easily achieved. Oh well. Afterwards, we stopped at the Salty Tart for a delicious post-photo-taking treat, and it was amazingly delicious!
And now onto Improv! Last Friday was my first show, and it was fun! I was so nervous though. Nick and some friends decided to show up and surprise me, which was nice, but it made me even more nervous knowing that I knew people in the crowd. Luckily, I didn’t vomit, and some people even told me I was funny, so score! And, even though I was having a really hard time keeping my hands from shaking violently, I was told by multiple people that they had no idea I was nervous at all. And in practice, I’m constantly told to speak up, but at the show, my fellow Zingers said they could easily hear me, even in the back. Phew! Hopefully now things will get easier from here, and I can get over my nerves and have things pop into my head a little quicker. Wish me luck! I now have two shows a month until April!
Melonie Lavely 
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