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!