It's on and popping!

Having my last and final casting call this Saturday, July 30, 2011@ Delaware Avenue Branch of the Albany Public Library from 1:30-4:00pm.  met with a fabulous young lady who is going to assist me with my advertisement for the play.  And I have a new email specifically for my casting call and my play updates.  I can be contacted at peytonjharrisonproductions@gmail.com.  You can also read about the casting call on Craig's List as as event i the Albany, NY area.  I have a meeting with my musician for the play on Thursday and a meeting today with owner of a theater troupe here in Albany who may be able to give me valuable information for my next performance and possibly actors who may be willing to perform as well. 

Needless to say, this is a very exciting week for me.  Rehearsals start on next Tuesday, August 2, 2011 @ 6:00pm-8:30pm.  This play is very special and personal to me as I have added bits and pieces of my own life intertwined within this play.  Praying that everyone who sees it will enjoy it but more importantly leave with  valuable lessons to live by.  Peyton J. Harrison Productions:  Spiritual growth through theater.

Miracles and blessings to you all,

Peyton

On a journey

Still working on this weightloss and health journey I am still on my journey.  My clothes are getting looser and looser.  I had on skirt fall off of me and I  have a vew more that very soon will no longer fit(right now my stomach is holding them up.  I've got to do more crunches).  But I have been on a mission to consciously think about what I eat.  I make time to prepare my lunch and dinner and breakfast.  I slip up some days but for the most part I make a conscious effort to eat healthier.  I bought a pair of walking sneakers and I have been walking.  The weather has been so beautiful that I just can't resist being outside.  I usually walk between 7:00pm and 9:00pm.  It's usually cooler and it's a great way to end my day.  Yesterday, I challenged myself: I decided that I was going to try and walk around the lake.  I wasn't sure if I could do it.  Mainly because of my asthma and because this has been a very bad allergy season for me.  I'm allergic to everything outside: The trees, the grass, the pollen, the mold.  So, I have been having some extra sinus pressure and balance problems, too.  Been visiting my allergy doctor about it.  Then of course my right knee tries to ache and stiffen up on a regular.  But you know what?  I have not let any of it stop me!!!  If I am not feeling my best on a particular day, I rest or I turn on the air conditioner and exercise at home.  I am committed to living a healthier lifestyle.  I just want to be healthier.  Plain and simple.  Some days when my asthma is bothering me, I think about Jackie Joyner-Kersee.  She was an Olympian and a heptathalon winner.  A heptathlon is a series of track and field events( 100 hurdles, high jump,shot put, 200 milimeter, long jump, javelin, and 800 milimeter run).  She completed this event and won and she has suffered with asthma all of her life.  I was just recntly diagnosed 2 years ago, so this is new for me.  But doggoneit if she can complete a heptathlon then I can walk and lift weights!  Yesterday, I decided to walk around the lake. I didn't think I could do it but I did!   I made it around once and then decided to walk around again.  I challenged myself and I completed my challenge.  Praying that by my next birthday that I will have lost 70 pounds.  I pray that with God's help I can do this.  But in the meantime I will continue to work on me.  had another facial this month and I hope to have another one in August.  Keep me in prayer as I endeavor to lose weight and lead a heathier life but also as I prepare to direct another play. Peace, love and smooches!! Peyton

Casting Call for the play, "Does Your House Have Lions'?

What:  Casting Call for the play "Does Your House Have Lions"?
When: July 11, 2011 5:00-7:30pm and July 30, 2011 1:30-4:00pm
Where: Delaware Avenue Branch of  the Albany Public Library

Contact: Peyton J. Harrison @ 518-894-4516

8 Female roles
5 Male roles
Small choir part
Musicians
Stage crew

I just waana be loved

Don't feel no pity for me
Cause I'm going through a couple of things
 Life means change that's the way it goes, goes.
All my life, I had a constant burning, a strong deep, desire
An aching, ambiguous
Yearning, yearning, yearning
For something better,
For something bigger,
For something wider,
For something higher 
 And lots of regrets
I ain't seem to found it yet. 
I've been searching around the world
Never knowing what to expect. 
I get sad sometimes, Yes, I be mad sometimes.
Cause I'm out here on the grind
Making mine
And I still can't seem to find what I've been looking for. 
Opened so many doors.
For real yo: I just wanna be loved
I just wanna be loved
Like everybody else does
I just wanna be loved
I just wanna be loved

My Body is a Temple

I have been on a self-care journey.  I joined a gym and I have been exercising and consciously watching what I eat.  I actually think about what I eat and how it may be effecting my body. I make a concerted effort to make my own breakfast and lunch(no more fast food every day). Not only are my meals healthier but my pocketbook is healthier, too.  Not wasting money eating out as much.  So, I guess I can say that my waist isn't the only thing that I have a total body workout that one of the personal trainers created for me and I have been doing since March 15, 2011.  On this Friday, I have been working out for a month and I have worked out about 16 times!!  My body is sore all of the time(at least it seems that way some days)  but I do see some progress.  My clothes are fitting looser, my thighs look smaller and my belly looks like it went down, too.  I have lost about 9lbs and I am still counting.  I have a long way to go but I am committed to being strong, confident and most of all healthy.  I just want to feel good.  I want to be able walk up steps and not not be winded.  I want to be able to walk 3, 5, 7, 10 miles and want to be able to hike, jump rope and be flexible.  My first goal is to lose 20 lbs, then another 20 lbs, then another 20lbs and so on.  I am also trying to carve out some pamper time, too.  I had a facial in February and I am planning to have another one on April 30th, too.  Hopefully, if finances get better, I will be able to carve out a massage or two in there.  I have got to be committed to taking care of this temple that God gave me.  I have been taking it for granted for far too long.  Your health is your wealth.  I have to remember that when I am working out today and I feel like I can't go any further. 

Along the way, I have discovered some wonderful weight loss tools via websites that are assisting me on this journey.  Check out Black Women Do Workout on Facebook, SistahStrong, the Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss, PrayFit and SELF Drop 10 Challenge.  Each of these sites are giving me the strength, motivation and stamina to keep going.  There are so many days when I just want to give up and eat a big plate of macaroni and cheese with some good ole fashioned fried chicken.  But for now, I cannot do that.  I have to eat those foods in moderation or make a low fat version of the original and be thankful for the wisdom.  So, I am on a weight loss journey as well as a spiritual journey.  I am taking God with me on this journey and I believe that he is guiding me to what is right for me.  I am praying before I work out and I am praying when I finish a workout.  It is only His doing that enables me to finish each time.  So, I will keep you posted on my progress as times goes on.  I hope to get down 2 or three dress sizes by the summer.  I'm even thinking about buying me a new bathing suit.

Maya Angelou on Love

"I am grateful to have been loved,
to be loved now
and to be able to love. 
Because love liberates. 
It doesn't just hold- that's ego. 
Love liberates. 
It doesn't bind. 
I love you, if you are in China,
I love you, if you are across town,
I love you, if you are in Harlem.
I love you. 
I would love to be near you,
I'd love to have your arms around me,
I'd love to have your voice in my ear but that's not possible now.
But I love you.  Go".

Another Peyton J. Harrison Production 
 "Does Your House Have Lions"? October 2011
Sweet Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church
2-4 Clinton Avenue(Reverend Willis F. Bruton Square)
Albany, New York 12210
Reverend Elgin Joseph Taylor, Sr. Pastor