Summer Cool

Today was chilly for summer, 64 degrees in Lansing, MI. It was actually a welcome reprieve, not to mention not nearly as many mosquitos! Here are some photos that have a crisp and cool sense to them, whether in style, color, or feel.










(sorry this last photo is a bit big, click to see more than just feet!)


“Break, break, break, On thy cold gray stones, O sea! And I would that my tongue could utter The thoughts that arise in me”
Alfred, Lord Tennyson

“The color of truth is gray.”
Andre Gide

Thoughts on a rainy day

I love the rain. As a little girl, I would go outside, fully outfitted with raincoat and umbrella (Beauty and the Beast on both) boots optional, and just sit in the driveway. Or if it was sunny outside and I wanted rain, I'd climb under the dining room table with my umbrella and pretend that it was raining.

Hope you enjoy your rainy day!

"Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby."
~Langston Hughes

"The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain."
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"The best kind of rain, of course, is a cozy rain. This is the kind the anonymous medieval poet makes me remember, the rain that falls on a day when you'd just as soon stay in bed a little longer, write letters or read a good book by the fire, take early tea with hot scones and jam and look out the streaked window with complacency."
~Susan Allen Toth, England For All Seasons

Happy June Day!

April 1st gets April Fools Day, May 1st gets May Day, so I'm making June 1st unofficial June Day. Its an official celebration of one of my favorites, white linen.



Welcome to summer everyone!

"Its a beautiful day!"

This is what Baby Elizabeth said every morning, rain or shine. I'd stand on my little changing table, look out the window and exclaim (as loud as possible) "Its a beautiful day!"

Today it really is though, even grown-up Elizabeth can say the same. :)




Hope you're enjoying this lovely weather!

Audition weekend

Greetings from Indianapolis!

I am on my way to Bloomington to audition for some operas for IU in the fall. That's right folks, the final tally is in and I am attending Indiana Jacob's School of Music!! I am in no way going to be a Hoosier (what even is that?) but I am excited about the fall!

So anyway, we'll see how the audition goes, at least then they'll know what I look/sound like for the fall auditions.

Wishing you a happy weekend full of sunshine, I know its going to be a bit colder, but it'll still be sunny!!

Happy April

And so it is, friends, that on this sunny spring morning, I finally say HAPPY APRIL!!!

What, its only 14 days late?!?

Life has been hectic lately, I can't wait to be done with school, not that I have senior-itis, but I just want to be home. Lolling in the garden, cleaning my room, enjoying the sunshine. And with graduation comes a myriad of things that need to be done, invitations, senior recital (some music still not memorized, ahh!), dinner plans, etc. Yes, this will be me in less than a month!! About 24 days from now. Then I will have earned my B.M. And that's Bachelor of Music, not the other abbreviation.



Well, in my blogging absence, Spring has gone and snuck right up on us! Its so beautiful out, still a bit nippy, but the campus is simply breathtaking. There's Daffodils, Tulips (I wonder if there are threelips, ha ha), Dogwoods, the Magnolias are peeping and the weeping cherry.



This one looks like it could be MSU, there's even some Asians there!

Among other things, Easter came and went, I hope you all had a lovely Easter. I'm still eating A LOT of candy, which is bad news because the season for ice cream is also upon us. Well, technically there is no "season" for ice cream, I'm a year-round eater, but its true that it is most useful in the warmer seasons. Honestly, I could eat this everyday, especially because its so pretty!! :)



Happy Wednesday!!

Breakfast

I'll say it again because I can't get tired of it...I love breakfast.



I especially like eggs for breakfast, not quite this many eggs, but still...

And I like pancakes for breakfast, and look at that fruit!:



And most importantly, we can't forget the coffee (and the delicious shortbread):



And I'm not the only one who feels this way about this all-important meal...

“He that but looketh on a plate of ham and eggs to lust after it hath already committed breakfast with it in his heart”
C.S. Lewis quotes

"All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast."
John Gunther

"Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper."
Francis Bacon (haha, I wonder if he eats bacon for breakfast!)

"I myself prefer my New Zealand eggs for breakfast."
Elizabeth II

And one of my favorites that recently had a starring role in the new "Alice in Wonderland" movie...

"Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
Lewis Carroll

Happy Thursday and happy breakfasting!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Wall-E has a St. Patrick's present for you.



Yesterday, I made the extremely delicious "Spring Risotto with Peas and Zucchini" for dinner. It was soooo good! And I loved the taste of the zucchini. I've never made Risotto before, and I will admit that Carlos is throughly better at making it, but I had to try. And it was partly green, perfect for St. Pat's day!



This is the picture of what it looks like from my Martha Stewart cookbook.

I hope you have a great St. Patrick's day full of many things Irish. Remember to wear green!

I so happy!

Thats what I used to say as a little girl when I was feelin` good (nowadays I usually try to add the "am" in there for good grammar). There were also other fun catch phrases like "no" and "I do it." Those were from the more stubborn side of my childhood and sometimes I still find myself saying them, but again, with better grammar. Oh children, how we love them.

But the reason "I so happy" today is because its Spring!! I know its not officially March 21st, and that we'll probably have a another bout of cold before it officially arrives, but today the high is 58 and sunny, tomorrow 60, and Thursday 59. We won't mention the weekend, because its still unaware of spring being here, but that's okay, soon all the days will catch on.

Soon we'll be seeing these little guys popping up everywhere!



To celebrate the season, yesterday I officially looked in the spring section of my recipe book (Martha Stewart's "Great Food Fast") and bought the ingredients for " Spring Risotto with Peas and Zuccini." I actually had a whole outing yesterday including shopping at Marshall's (found measuring cups and microfiber towels) and Meijer. the grocery store took forever because all the students (including myself) were coming back from Spring Break and found no food on their shelves. So we all flocked to Meijer to leave their shelves empty and fill our own. As my mother would say "it was a zoo." :)

And one of the best parts was that God totally provided a ride home! I know it sounds silly, but as I was grocery shopping and amassing large quantities of food in my cart I'm thinking to myself "how am I going to get all this home on the bus?" But thankfully I ran into a choral conducting friend of mine who offered me a ride home!

Hope your Tuesday is sunny wherever you are!

I'm dreaming of visiting a market like this...

Happy March?

Whoops, its only about two weeks late!

Well, officially welcome to March everyone. That month of transitions, expectations and hopefully, warmer weather. The above picture is NOT what Michigan looks like in March (I don't think it ever looks like that actually) but thats what spring break is for!!!

Carlos and I drove to Destin, FL for spring break, and whilst it didn't look quite this picture perfect, it was certainly close! It was a wonderful break and included a visit to my brother and seester-in-law, Brian and Natalie to se their new house. It was a very welcome escape from school and auditions (which are finally over) AND opera. Its been a little nuts. Personally though, I'm actually glad to get my "normal" life here at school back. Get settled into my room once again (they finally opened the kitchen back up so I can cook!) and focus on the music. Hopefully I'll be hearing from some Graduate schools this week. I was already accepted into Indiana and hope to get into all the schools I auditioned for. We'll see what God has planned, I'm sure things will work out just the way they're supposed to. :)


Hope you enjoy this new week coming your way. Since its overcast in Michigan, make sure you make your own sunshine today!

Oh Winter..

You sly little bugger.



The nice little bit about spring yesterday? Apparently Winter read it and thought "well I'll show her whats up." Hence the buckets of snow, overcast skies and 27 degree temps. Oh well, welcome to Michigan! But when Spring does come, its here! For a change of pace, here is a lovely wintery white room I found whilst browsing. Since I would like to have dogs, three white couches probably isn't an option (unless I have only white dogs, but then, slobber) but it is fun to look at.




Well, I can still look forward to spring, so I thought I'd share some of my summer goals. Plus, if I write them down, here I'm probably more likely to accomplish them!

-Learn to oilpaint/watercolor
-Have a garden/can vegetables from it
-Take a sailing class
-Print off/scrapbook pictures from Europe trip
-Clean out under my bed

There's a few for now. Spring, I'm ready for you!

Spring is almost here!

Join me in a universal "awwwww!" It is that cute.

I was walking home from the music building around 5:27 and the sky was still bright! And the sun was out and a little bird was singing. The whole scene was such a joy. It is comforting to know that the start of a new cycle is right around the corner. Gotta love spring!

Enjoy these spring-y quotes and make sure you take time to see the little signs of the coming season this week!

"Awake, thou wintry earth -
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness!"
~Thomas Blackburn, "An Easter Hymn"

"Spring shows what God can do with a drab and dirty world." ~Virgil A. Kraft

And for the comically minded (but how true it is!):

"Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush." ~Doug Larson



"No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow." ~Proverb

On the past and present reading list:

"Confessions of a Shopaholic" by Sophie Kinsella

I must confess that this is the first book that I have stayed up until 4am finishing since Harry Potter. It was a lot better than I suspected it would be. A friend allowed me to borrow it whilst I was perusing her shelves, knowing that it was popular enough for a movie to be based on it, I decided to give it a try. And enjoyed. It is really humorous, I like the fact that she is British, it makes for a lot of fun references. The main character actually learns something and you find yourself rooting for her even thought she's terribly irresponsible with her money. All in all, I give it a "good-for-the-beach" rating.

And now I have learned that I am awful at writing book reviews.

After this came "I'm a Stranger Here Myself" by Bill Bryson.


This is a collection of essays that he wrote about America after living in Britain for 20 years. They're hilarious. I found myself laughing out loud in public and reading paragraphs to my mom whenever she would ask what I was laughing about. This is a great book, and since its written in a short story format, (4-5 pages per article) its easy to put it down and come back when ever you want a laugh. I loved this book and give it a "read-anytime-except-for-when-you-feel-depressed" rating (or aybe you should especially read it then!)

There, that was a little better review, I'm improving here.

On the reading list at present is "French Lessons - Adventures with fork, knife, and corkscrew" by Peter Mayle

I haven't even finished the first chapter, but it looks like its going to be a treat. I'm already loving the witty way he presents his story. Looking forward to more, J'adore!

Happy Tuesday, wear argyle today!

I love it when...

Good things happen when you're not expecting them.



Last night I was kind of down. I needed to shower (what else is new)(just kidding) but was so tired I wanted to just go to bed. But then Carlos called, which made me feel infinitely better. So I got my act together, showered, and read a bit before bed. (and the shower heads in my hall don't look anything like the one above) And presto, felt instantly better this morning. I have a little to-do list so I can get stuff done without getting overwhelmed, still took a little time to watch the ice dancing from last night and am now writing about all the things I've accomplished!

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving"
Albert Einstein

Paahkin` my caahr by the haahbaahr

If you can read the title, then you'll know that I am in Boston. Not only that I'm in Boston, but I happen to love it. Sooo much!! How can you not love a city with little ducklings in their public gardens?

Yesterday was audition number 2 at New England Conservatory. I think it went pretty well, its always hard to tell, especially when you don't really know the people that are listening to you, but I felt good about it, so we'll just have to wait and see. I can't write too much now, how much can you really focus on creating a memorable blog entry in the hotel lobby? :P I will post some pictures soon!

I wish I lived in the 1940s

Then I could wear fabulous dresses like this.

Just imagine the positive effect it would have on food as well.
No microwaves
No refrigerators
No processed junk
No nutrition facts
No unrecognizable ingredients
No pesticides

I could go on, but then again, I realize I am greatly romanticizing this era and those that come before it. Without all the modern convinces of today we would truly have better food, but would also have to work for it.

Just a small thought for today. Otherwise I'm a bit sad. Droll? Morose? No, just sad. My boyfriend has to go away for work for a week and a half. And I miss him. And in other words, don't have a life. It is not fun to cook for one, no way.

However, I am watching some "Emma" from PBS masterpiece theatre. Its fantastic, I love it! More on that later, Happy Tuesday!

As promised-Food!

So starting last Thursday night first. Carlos and I made "Chicken au champagne", recipe courtesy of French women don't get fat. It was delicious, and so easy. You season the underside of the chicken breasts, insert onion into a small slit, and pour champagne over them (which is fun because it fizzes!) Then broil both sides, reduce heat and bake for 30 minutes, basting twice. Here's a shot of Carlos trying his hand at basting for the first time.


I got the baster from my mom, thinking "when in the heck am I going to use this?" good thing I had it! Not to mention its really fun, I could imagine great wars in the kitchen being fought with basters!
The recipe recommended that you serve the chicken on a bed of rice, but I don't have any rice so we improved some pasta instead, seasoning it with the same herb used on the chicken (thyme).
Then I had a head lettuce so we cut that into wedges, but then I realized I didn't have any sort of salad dressing or anything to make a vinaigrette. So what to do? Improvise! I whipped together (she stated casually) some yougurt, lemon juice, milk, cheese and thyme to make a dressing. It sounds odd but turned out pretty good, here is the finished product, with great presentation of course...


I can just hear the restaurant description now: "This evening our special is poulet au champagne, a classic french preparation served over thyme infused penne, with a wedge of head lettuce grown in our own garden, garnished with a yougurt lemon sauce with thyme, the thread of seasoning that runs throughout this dish. This is served on a bed of fresh spring greens.

Here's a slightly better picture, sorry the lighting is so terrible in the kitchen. I don't think anything can look really good under florescent lights.


And that was dinner, the best part of it is that you get to drink the rest of the champagne with the chicken! And the chicken also fizzes when you cut it open, that was fun too. Happy Thursday, coming soon, the egg with chicken dinner (it still doesn't have a name!)

And I just have to mention...

That yesterday I could no longer stand only wearing boots, so I wore pink flats!! With grey socks houndstooth socks. It was great, no they weren't as lovely as these, (because I don't own anything from Prada), but these are great eye candy!

New blog and great outfit

So here is this fantastic blog that I found via my loverly sister-in-law. (and the picture doesn't have to do with anything, just a fun prep for Valentine's day!)

http://dressdesigndecor.blogspot.com/

Its magical.

And also, I remembered that I was wearing a great outfit both yesterday and thought I would describe them. For those interested, if not, you can just sign off now.

Today: Whitish matchstick jeans from the Crew, a grey shirt with velvet printed bow layered over balck cami, the amazing sparklish earrings (from Vera Wangs line at Kohls) , bright yellow sport watch, and chunky metal necklace worn as bracelet. I felt pretty fabulous. then 60s cat liner and peach lips with side bangs and bun. Hope that gives you a visual.

Yesterday: I tried to channel my inner J. Crew lover. Red/white striped (my mom called me a candy cane the first time I wore it) collar button-down (fully buttoned up) layered under grey tee, with pearl and chunky metal necklace and jeans. And....bright red lipstick! We were teaching in conducting class, so I thought this might be "teacher-ish" and I thought it was fun, maybe I'm wrong, but who cares! Its just clothes. :)

"Its my future!"

This is what I used to say when filling out Graduate school applications, and now that I have had my first audition, it has finally come upon me! Last weekend was at Indiana University, in Bloomington. And we had to drive there in an awful snow storm going 45 mph the whole way and it took over 7 hours when its only supposed to take 5! It was quite stressful, but before that there was....

First, the dreaded "shopping for the perfect audition dress." (For any non-music people, just fill in audition with; interview, first date, presentation, first client, etc.) Which is awful because you have this idea of what they somehow want, but it doesn't fit into your personality. Too short, too drapy, too much arm, too tight, too artsy, too unstructured, too casual, too anything! Then you end up compromising when you really would have rather worn something else! Well this kind of happened to me, except that I was fortunate enough to find a really basic Evan Picone knit-below-the-knee-covering-the-winter-arms dress. It was a nice color, kind of a gem tone teal and at the uh-mazing price of only $25 (thank you Younker's and they're coupons!) it fit all the criteria. Except that I might not be ready to wear it until I turned 35. But after a little fun accessorizing (aka-refusing to wear black with it, like EVERYONE ELSE) it became a lot more personal and I felt very good in it. I wore it with silver side-cutout pumps, the coolest sparklish earrings, and stacked silver bracelets. And thankfully right before my audition, one of the grad students working at the check-in table said that she loved my silver shoes and that "you are rockin` the whole audition ensemble!" Which was an appreciated confidence booster.

But the most important part of the audition went VERY well, I felt like I was in great voice and I think that the faculty positively responded to it. That night, we went to see one of the SIX operas they do there each year (thats a lot of operas!) It was Lucia di Lammermoor, a personal favorite and of course the production was amazing, and the lead soprano did such a fantastic job! Ah, I love that opera, I did a presentation on it, in powerpoint. Below is one of my favorite pictures of the lovely and talented Diane Damrau in the title role, love the way she uses her hands! But back to the subject, Indiana really is a great school, especially for voice.



Then this week has completely flown by, I can't believe it is wednesday already! And almost Thursday, whoa! Well, tomorrow will probably be an all food post, because I have left you out of some fabulous, and fabulously presented food! Coming up, chicken au champagne with iceberg wedges, and some odd compilation that I thought up involving eggs, toast and cheese, (it doesn't have a name) and more!

Darn it!

Man, only 3 posts in eight days!?! Well, I guess 4 with this one.

I hate to be disappointing, but this is going to be a short one as well until tomorrow when you will get the update on the first audition weekend!! But for now, (and to temporarily distract from my neglect) here is an adorable picture of babies! With a special appearance by the baby Jesus doll that we get out at Christmas tide.


Until tomorrow, or as the the French would say "a demain," or as the Italian would say "a domani."

Oh J. Crew...

How I love and sometimes question you.

I just finished looking (rather pouring over) the new spring lookbook, and all I can say is same old same old. I don't pretend to be an expert in the field of fashion (but my friends tell I me I have quite the eye... Emma quote anyone?) but the catalogs have looked pretty similar in the last 3 years. I know this because I keep all my catalogs, yes I am that nerdy about J. Crew. I feel better about this semi-addiction though because I have discovered other bloggers who feel the same way, there are even some blogs devoted entirely to J. Crew!

Anyway, what I want to know is, who can actually get away with wearing some of these combos? I mean really?


(thanks to Jcrewafecionada for the pic)

When will the "I already wore these jeans since I was a teenager" look finally wear out too? I mean, why are we paying more money to have machines "wear out" our clothes for us? It just doesn't make sense to me. And of course now I'm ranting. And while I'm at it, it looks like some tulle flowers threw up all over her shirt. But, if I have to be honest, if they gave me that shirt, I would probably wear it.



Another gripe, why does the men's stylist think that anyone but gay men wear things like that? Why are the men's pants always too short? Do any straight guys you know wear their jeans that tight? (especially guys that are outside the arts world) Maybe its just because I live in East Lansing. Maybe straight men do wear that sort of thing in New York or Chicago, who knows. Thankfully the model is this catalog actually looks pretty good, meaning realistic. In a sort of emo-twilight way. He's got that brooding air to him. (thats not him in the picture, just so you know)

J. Crew had also recently gotten rid of their student discount on anything but full priced items, which I also think is stupid. It just seems like they're cutting corners all over the place and now I can't barely afford to shop there anymore. :(

On the plus side of things, the lookbook location was lovely! It seems the traveling bug has bitten me again. I find myself searching for cheap flights online now, I must be turning into my father! Well, now Portugal is on the list of places to visit, along with many others. (sidenote- I found student fares to Paris over spring break for only $450! I reaaaally want to go)

Coming soon: this evening the menu is chicken au champagne, but I also need to pack for my first graduate audition this weekend, so you'll probably get another post soon!

I feel like I could've killed people.....

...With deadly garlic breath.

How was that for a hook? I thought that was pretty epic, and why yes, I have taken creative writing courses!

So the menu de jour for yesterdays dinner was bruschetta (not pronounced the American way "broo-shet-uh") but then we thought we'd liven it up and just go for a whole Tapas themed dinner. By the way, one of my favorite puns is saying "topless" instead of "tapas", I don't know why, it just makes me laugh every time. Hehe, topless...

Well, it was actually fake tapas because we aren't in Spain, we didn't have wine (unheard of!) and there was just a lot of not authentic touches. Example: instead of a long wood table with little dishes, we were in the floor kitchen with the food on my plastic cutting board, but hey the imagination is working! This is what real tapas looks like...



There weren't quite enough tomatos, so I made the most garlic-y bruschetta ever. Then we also toasted some additional bread in the oven and topped it with some cheese. Meanwhile, Carlos-the-amazing, fried potatoes, cooked spinach and onion, and browned some turkey (leftover lunchmeat, are we creative or what?). I will say that the presentation was quite nice, I wish I had taken a picture.

I arranged the bruschetta on one side of the cutting board, with all the tops of the bread facing the same way, then the other side was the bread with cheese, then Carlos arranged all the toppings (tapas, topless?) on another plate in neat-yet-carefree piles, complete with a couple spoons. Everything tasted soooo good! And we both ended up with the strongest garlic breath ever, but thats okay, its always worth it for good food. :)

Happy February!!

As today is the first, I thought I would officially welcome you to the shortest (but a day longer this year), most romantic (sometimes), and second ugliest (weather-wise) month of the year!

HAPPY FEBRUARY!

Even though Michigan February weather is atrocious, for some reason I don't mind this month as much. Its March that really gets to me, nothing really exciting is happening, the weather can't make up its mind, and one word - slush. But the magical month of pink and red is for some reason okay. Maybe because its short and sweet? Who knows, and also, there's Valentine's to look forward to and then after that, the month is already half done!

Well anyway, here is a URL to some instructions for making an origami heart, incase you feel like sprucing up your place with some paper! Notice that they are from the UK, therefore they must be cool. Note: parts of these instructions may be difficult for children, please secure your own mask first then help those around you...wait, wrong instructions! :)

http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/Origami%20Heart.pdf

Happy folding!

What is this place?

The title is a random quote that my mom said when we were traveling in Northern England looking for our hotel. It is now a great family inside joke, when ever we don't understand something, we just have to say "what is this place?" with a somewhat bewildered air and everyone laughs.

But often I wish in life that I could say that. When I look around and nothing seems familiar and I don't know how I got to where I am, "what is this place?" covers the feelings more eloquently than any ranting on stages of life. And yes, I am no longer talking about strict location.

Today I learned an important lesson, pay attention, its vital to life.

Anger is poisinous.

Like a sucking, parasitic life force, it kills joy and love and leaves destruction and hurt in its wreckage. That seems a bit extreme but I saw the true ravages of this in person. It begins with something that seems innocent, "I'm upset" you think, something small has upset me, but its not a big deal, I can get over it. But you don't. It festers, and then the next day, the surface gets thinner, the things that upset you get smaller and smaller until you could blow up at anything. A single word, a different way of saying things can set you off. And its not like this happens overnight, it takes at least a wekk to accumulate until you're system is infiltrated with this bitterness.

Allowing ourselves the succumb to the earliest sign is where we go wrong. We must force ourselves to not give into the "upset" stage. Because upset is just a nicer way of saying "angry." Don't give yourself the opportunity to fester, because in the end ALWAYS leads to unhappiness.

And what to replace it with? Love. The once word that is more wonderful than all other combined. Root out the anger, replace it with love and allow it to blossom without shoving on the "upset."

Morning Rituals

Oh this week, so far it has been....interesting. Like what we say when we want to describe someone we know and don't want to blatantly call them weird. Just as I don't want to call this week bad, just not necessarily good. And part of the reason that I realized that it isn't good (so far, I'm working on changing that!) is because I have had to skip my morning rituals.

These little everyday traditions that we program ourselves to enjoy, that make everyday special and give rhythm to our lives. A flowery sentence, but one that is true nonetheless!

Some of the morning rituals I have missed the last few days:

-Getting ready for the day, especially getting rid of that awful morning taste in the mouth
-Coffee or tea in the morning with breakfast
-Devotions
-Planning, writing down goals and projects
-Breakfast!
-and of course, sharing my life via blog

All this reminds me of reading a book by Alexandra Stoddard entitled "Living a beautiful life." Its a bit dated now, but the ideas are timeless and necessary in todays hectic world. She talks about the importance of carving out time for the little things that make us and others happy. Taking time to mail a short note, polish your nails, cook a nice dinner, tell your family you love them. I'm all about this, I've especially realized this recently, in this semester when I have no classes, I still feel the pull to always be doing something "useful." Whatever that means, useful to who? It is a struggle, but I find myself more peaceful when I don't get sucked into using my time the way other people think I should be. After all, its important to take time to do things like this:


Thats my adorable nephew Andrew, he likes music, I think he and his sister, Maria, are going to need some piano lessons in the future. :) And of course, that takes time and it might not be necessarily useful, but its more important than all the accomplishments that could otherwise be achieved.

Oh the romantic comedy...

I like a good romantic comedy as much as the next person, although I prefer the ones that are a bit more well balanced, like a good meal. Not too much sap, not totally unrealistic, and just enjoyable fun. Take some of the classics, Notting Hill, any Meg Ryan/Tom Hanks, Love Actually (if that is under this genre) These are all hits, but its true, romantic comedies are often predictable misses, and when they miss, they miss bad. We're talking not even on the dartboard bad, like one of those chicks that makes a hold in their boyfriends wall whilst trying to shoot darts, bad. Take the following example that I painfully subjected myself to...

So, last night I watched "Under the Tuscan Sun." Maybe I should retitle it under the "Under the tuscan barf." It was by far one of the worst movies I have ever seen. One of those movies where you're asking yourself as you're watching it, "why am I wasting my time? My life is better than this movie!" But somehow its like watching a car crash, even though its awful, you just can't stop. The only other instance I can think of this happening is when "Phat Girlz" (thats right, its spelled with a "z") was on TV and I clearly was procrastinating. Yes, I did just admit to having seen phat girlz, but I also admitted that it was a stupid idea.

So anyway this movie, sappy, over-coincidental, oozing "follow your heart messages" (thank you Disney Pocahontas), stupid, pointless, the list could go on. I feel like I could be one of those movie critics with great sharp phrases to follow up on these films. Anyway, after the first five minutes, I kept on going "what? what?", circumstances were too coincidental to work in real life, the plot was seeming totally unrelated, mere tableaux where random events occurred, and the entire movie was just so far removed from anything remotely real that it was difficult to believe what happened next. And the cheese, and the stereotypes, it goes on and on. The stereotypes were actually remotely offensive, especially to one who has lived in Italy for a bit. No, not all Italian men are skirt-chasing cads, no, not all little old ladies are amazing cooks that say "mamma mia!" all the time, and no, it is not possible to obtain a house in Italy without citizenship in a day, let alone years! And while the scenery was beautiful, they didn't show nearly enough of it to make up for even the bad acting. I guess I'm just wasting my typing continuing to bash this movie, if you've seen it and like it, thats fine, if not, please, at least don't pay money for the torture of viewing. (now I really feel like one of those writers!)

My New Potential

So I have fully realized my potential as a writer. Not the kind of writer that actually makes money for writing, but as a person that just enjoys turning out a work that fully expresses exactly what was meant to be expressed in just the words for the job.

And no, it wasn't in this blog, although this certainly is both a help and motivation. No, I wrote a letter to a committee for an endowed prize for outstanding senior-ness. I was nominated for this prize and had to write either an essay or letter saying how I fulfilled the selection requirements. As I got into writing the letter, the more I found that writing really is amazing.

Writing is one of those things I save for special occasions. Awkward birthday cards, bad essays, unfinished papers, meaningless letters, boring newsletters, you name it, I've probably shamefully written it. Its not like I don't know the power of the well written word, I'm an avid reader of great literature and enjoy a well turned phrase as well as any other Jane Austen lover, but it was always unattainable for me. I could enjoy someone else's work and not be able to produce my own. But now, writing is a lot more accessible. It doesn't have to be perfect, I'm not going to write a novel (although I tried once, that was interesting) or a classic poem, but I can write in a meaningful way. I can write in a personal way, I can write in a fulfilling way. I can write narratives, essays, research papers, prose, stories and documents. To those that educate me it shows what I know, to those that know me it shows how I think, and to those that love me it shows who I am. I decided today that I like writing because it can show someone that I might never meet a part of myself that they would not otherwise see. It can move them, or make them laugh, or think. Hopefully today, its just enough so that the committee can see not just "Senior Elizabeth the music major with a pretty good GPA", but the person that I want to be, the person that I am going to become.


And again, I have to give due credit to both Carlos who extensively helped with editing and revision and my Dad, who also helped with finalizing.

Happy Tuesday to all!

“Write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow...”
Lawrence Clark Powell

Neglect

Like a sad puppy....its all a bit tragic really.

I have been busy this weekend, not busy like doing a lot of stuff, but busy as in, things have interfered with my life and daily routine. Friday ended up being more full than expected, but no opera rehearsal so that was nice. The boyfriend conducted a lovely Bach cantata that my friend sang in an all baroque program. After that, we watched "Holes", which I used to like a lot, then when I rewatched it, I realized how dated it was and it is now infinitely less cool than when I was in high school.

Saturday= Opera rehearsal, lunch, Barnes & Noble, Dinner, and Symphony concert. Thats it. I'll admit, I expect a little more out of my Saturdays, especially when I have an essay due on Tuesday, but no, it was frivoled away. And then I made a big fashion mistake for going to the concert and that put me in a very foul mood. I tried not to be too bad, but that was too hard. And unfortunately, as is always the case, those closest suffer. I am very blessed with a very very patient boyfriend and understand mother, and my dad was kind of oblivious (or probably just didn't want to get involved!), but thats also because I'm better at hiding those sorts of things from him. Well, the evening started awful, but thanks to the transformative power of Mendelssohn, Strauss and Brahms, it ended a lot better than it started. Brahms` double concerto, Strauss` Don Juan and A Midsummer Night's dream better than it started.

The same thing happened today, except not with music but people. I don't mind the dreary weather, but when I don't feel good, then the day is shot (although I try not to let it) and church was long and uncomfortable. But when I was done, I walk out of the sanctuary and there is Carlos, with a pink rose (it was even from Colombia!) and a hug for me. And my friend Liz that sings in choir with me was nice to talk to and eased the morn. When I got home, I did get to take an hour and forty minute nap, which greatly helped to improve my spirits! Then Carlos made a great wrap for lunch and I tried out my new coffee grinder! (the increased usage of exclamation points shows my growing happiness!) Nothing like some fresh ground colombian suprimo beans to make you feel better, and now my whole room smells like coffee, its great. :)
Then I got some concentrated work done on my essay, cleaned the room and cooked for my friend Courtney who came over for dinner. It was great to see her and we talked for at least two hours after dinner.

The menu for the evening was homemade macaroni and cheese, and fudgy pie. It ended up being a great choice and perfect comfort from the unseasonable rainy weather. (it should just snow again!) Now I am catching up all you who read into my inner soul through the interweb. Now I must away to bed and just finish by saying that although it wasn't the most ideal of weekends (and this isn't the most ideal of posts, kind of scatterbrained) everything is still alright. I am so blessed by the people and music in my life and now ready to start a new week! :)

Spaghetti Carbonara

I actually looked up the word "cabonara" because I was curious of what it really meant. Most sites just said that it means pasta with bacon, eggs and parmesan, but then one site mentioned that it came from the word coal (like carbon!) I thought that was interesting, I wonder if that comes from how it used to be cooked.

Well, I only mention this delicious pasta because I forgot to give due credit to my wonderful boyfriend who made it for me on Tuesday. I had to do loads of dishes (they add up fast when you don't have a dishwasher or a sink in your room!) so he volunteered to make dinner, we had been wanting to try this recipe from a cookbook I got for Christmas, so we (well, more he) gave it a go!

The book by the way, is a great book from the Martha Stewart collection called "Great Food Fast." The title sounds a little "velveeta and canned vegetables", but the book is fantastic. The photography is great and the recipes are fast only because they rely on so few- but still high quality-ingredients. And the recipes are divided by season so you can switch your palate and reipes with what is available. I give this book two dough-covered thumbs up.

Anyway, so whilst I scrubbed at the dishes, he made this delicious pasta. It has a great saltiness, provided by the bacon and cheese, but also a smoothness, provided by the eggs. And, the eggs cook on the pasta because its still hot from being boiled, how efficient is that?! No wonder the italians have a great place in the culinary world!

Well, I just wanted to briefly give credit where it was due and tell about this great pasta. I am off for now to write down my goals for the semester, summer and beyond. I feel like Buzz Lightyear, "to infinity and beyond!!!"