A Christmas Story: In Pictures

Christmas Eve we went to church and then came home and ate cookies and played the cheap, Wal-Mart version of Jenga.

Sorry for the blur. It took me a while to figure out that my camera lens had been switched from automatic to manual.

Amidst the blur, you may notice some unfamiliar faces. Meet Ming (left) and Yang (right), the Chinese couple who spent their first-ever Christmas with us.

Papa on Christmas morning. :)

Yang and Ming opening their first Christmas gifts!

What a great first gift from our family! Ha ha!

Modeling a few of my gifts. ;)

Julia got this cool ice cream/sorbet maker. The strawberry sorbet turned out great, but the lemon needs some adjusting.

The gang on Christmas morning. Notice my new jammie pants; I love them!

We thought it'd be easiest if we went to Papa instead of having him move. ;)

JP came over later. Of course there was a football involved.

And talk of football.

And #15, Tim Tebow.

Amanda was working, but both dogs joined us. Max was good and actually relaxed, but almost-three-year-old Rex was so crazy he was penned up.

Christmas night Yang and Ming decided to try on their shirts. They look great! I'm seriously considering purchasing one for myself; I've outgrown all mine.

Ty came over in the evening and we hung out a bit.

(Don't ask me about the Perfect Pushup box in the background. It belongs to my brother.)

It was a very quiet Christmas this year, but I enjoyed it. Ming and Yang were fun to be with, and I especially loved the time spent with my sister. We finally made my favorite meringue cookies! I've been begging to make them for the last several years, but there has always been some reason why we "couldn't." This year, Julia and I made it happen! I only wished we'd have doubled the recipe.

Perfect Day

You know how beauty pageants always ask the contestants to describe their ideas of a perfect date?

Whatever I would have said before wouldn't have been as good as my day today.

This morning began early (for vacation, not school days) and with a couple hours of practice.
Tyler was fishing at my park, so I made a trip down to the dock and gave him some freshly brewed coffee.
After practicing and fishing, Ty and I made pancakes for breakfast.
Then we played Battleship. (I won, best out of three. :)
Next we listened as my mom read three of Poe's short stories aloud to us.

We then devised a plan to go biking, and after packing lunches and doing three pet sitting jobs, we headed out. There's this very nice trail not too far from my house. Actually, it's a lot farther when you're self-propelled.
Overall, we biked about 20 miles today! Phew! I'm wiped out. Thankfully, we had a nice "lunch" break before heading back home. I loved our biking adventure! My friend, Erin, is really into biking, and after today I understand the draw. It was so fun!

This evening we went with my family to an open house at my high school piano teacher's house. It was great getting to see her and one of the girls from my high school quartet! How I miss those practices where we'd goof off and Ms. W would "yell" at us. :D

We closed off the evening by watching 9 by a crackling fire (courtesy of my dad).

Break has been awesome so far, but this day surpasses all of the previous ones.

Update

This evening I powered my computer for the first time since Friday.

It let out a soft moan, like a child being wakened from a long sleep.

I've been a very bad chronicler during my stay; I've taken zero pictures of people and journaled only while sitting in the Nashville airport.

Just because I haven't documented or photographed my time doesn't mean it hasn't been wonderful. On the contrary, I've been so caught up in living life that I've forgotten to do those things.

How about a quick recap? At least I'll have this to help me remember details when I go back and journal. :)

Saturday:

Arrived 9am Central Time on 5 hours of sleep and with only a few pages left in Dracula. Followed the crowd to the baggage area. Tried to read, send text messages, and wait for my luggage all at the same time. Failed. Found my luggage. Made for the closest seating area to sit and read. Finished Dracula. Realized how much I love Dracula. Decided to find a non-metal seat. Located a nice leather chair upstairs. Moved in with all my luggage. Got picked up by Ty around 11. Sat at Goodyear for nearly 4 hours. Read To Kill a Mockingbird until my eyes hurt. Browsed a magazine. Watched CNN until I wanted to regurgitate the lunch I hadn't yet eaten. Drove to Ty's apartment. Met roommates. Tried to understand them, but failed. Devoured a wrap from my favorite chicken place. Drove around a lot. Waited for Jeff and Mandi (my host and hostess) to get home. Looked at all the lights in their neighborhood. Met Jeff and Mandi; knew at once that I would have a comfortable stay! Hit the hay.

Phew! That was lengthy. And you're probably sick of reading fragments. Saturday was a long day, since I'd been up since 5:15 EST. I'll try to be more concise. Should be easier since Sunday and Monday weren't as crazy.

(Note: after re-reading Saturday's summary, I realize it has a very pessimistic tone. Really, it was a good day.)

Sunday:

I awoke after a fantastic night's sleep. Jeff and Mandi made a delicious breakfast and then the three of us headed off to church. We met Ty there and all attended a probing class on Gospel-centered counseling. After that we enjoyed an encouraging worship service. We met a lot of nice folks! For lunch we hit up a nearby Publix and snagged some picnic essentials. It was so cold, however, that we enjoyed our picnic from the warmth of Tyler's truck. While eating pitas, we watched some guys fly model (and some trick!) planes. It was so neat!

We also saw Astroboy at the dollar-fifty theatre (woohoo!). Neither of us went into it with high expectations, so it was surprisingly fun. Most of our day was spent driving around. We laughed about being homeless, because we practically lived out of Tyler's truck all day. Jeff and Mandi were with family Sunday afternoon, and Tyler's apartment really isn't an option (do his roommates have nowhere to be besides all of the living room furniture all at the same time all the time? :). As the evening drew to a close we headed to the airport to watch the planes land. Actually, it was about 7:30. Ty, we'd might as well own up to being an old couple. It's okay; I like us just the way we are. :-P More than anything, we just enjoyed good conversation and lots of laughter! We made it back to Jeff and Mandi's and chatted with Jeff awhile (Mandi was experiencing some second-trimester sickness). I called my mommy and then called it a night.

Monday:

My alarm scared me half to death this morning, so I turned it off, lay back down, and phoned Tali Rose. After making myself presentable, I headed downstairs and enjoyed a delicious breakfast of granola and peach yogurt. Mandi and I hit up some stores so she could do some last-minute shopping, and then came back and had lunch with Jeff. We had chicken nuggets, grapes, and applesauce (the last being my meager contribution), laughing about how we felt like elementary students or something. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Jeff and Mandi?! They are incredible! First of all, they welcomed me - a stranger - into their home. Additionally, they treat me wonderfully and take an interest in mine and Tyler's lives. I've had wonderful conversations with them from classic literature to coupon-shopping to travels to theology. They are an incredibly hospitable, genuine, well-rounded couple. I'm so blessed to be under their roof!

That brings me to this evening. After Ty got out of school, he drove over this direction. We decided not to drive around a lot today, so just stayed put. We found a fun (and cold!) nature trail in Jeff and Mandi's neighborhood and enjoyed that. Then we thawed out and helped get ready for dinner. Jeff and Mandi fed us a delicious meal and then gave us the gift of their fine company for the evening. We played Apples to Apples and Mexican Train Dominoes all the while listening to/showing each other music. I feel so encouraged by our evening and am actually sad to leave them so soon.

Now I should hit the hay for the last night here before our long drive home tomorrow afternoon.

Oh, another thing that makes this day wonderful:

Happy year and a half, Ty. :)

One-Track Mind

It's been way too long since I've been in the middle of an excellent book.

I'd forgotten how it consumes my time and energy, and how much I love that!

Instead of practicing piano early this morning, I curled up on the couch and read the early pages of Dracula. I'm still shy of a hundred pages in, but I must say I'm completely enthralled.

Goal: finish by the time I see Tyler on Saturday. The last thing I want to do is be almost finished with a good book when I'm just arriving! 

Books are an addiction. When school started up, I quit cold turkey. Now that I've returned, my attachment is fiercer than ever.

Last year during spring break when my dad and I went to NC, I read A Tale of Two Cities during our drive around the state. I was so close to the end (if you've read that book, you know how suspenseful and emotional the ending is!) when the car suddenly came to a stop. We'd made an extra stop at a battlefield. Don't get me wrong; I enjoy historical detours. But imagine my horror when watching a documentary film on the Civil War knowing the pages on the French Revolution were shut tightly and locked in the parking lot!

This is why I must finish my book before my trip "starts" (meaning I can read on the plane and in the airport).

Off to bake cookies! Then it's a hair taming at the salon. Tali stays over tonight, and I just have to fit in a few hours of piano practice.

Excuse me, friends and family, if I appear dazed and my conversation veers to vampires and moonlit nights.

Please tell me you relate, that I'm not entirely crazed?

Make Up Your Mind, Weather!

Three semesters down, five more to go.
Hooray!
After two hours of dissecting my brain, I turned in my music history final.
The very lengthy packet consisted of two essays written by yours truly, a packet of five unknown scores, two extra-credit scores, my analysis of said scores, and a listening exam (which I decided to drop and so turned in blank).
Whew!

Tali and I enjoyed a delicious lunch at Cracker Barrel. Apparently she'd been craving their french toast with blackberry sauce since July. She enjoyed it very much. I chose a "vegetable" plate with green beens, macaroni and cheese, fried apples, and cornbread dressing (which I tried for the first time). Four hours later I'm still stuffed. Yes, this coming from the girl who is starving every two hours!

I got back to practicing this afternoon.
This past week I've had the hardest time practicing, not because of a lack of motivation, but because my piano sounds bad! I had it tuned just two months ago, and it should not be out of tune the way it is. I'm not scheduled for another tuning until February. Ahh! It's driving me so crazy that I had to stop practicing and come blog about it. Ha ha!
Even the dissonances of Prokofiev sound beyond dissonant.

I called my faithful piano tuner for answers. No, I'm not going crazy and no, my piano isn't dying.
Evidently, it's the weather.
Florida can't make up its mind. All this hot/cold/hot/cold, AC/no AC thing has taken its toll on my poor baby. I'm about ready to throttle the weather if only I knew how. Or I'd just send him the bill. After all, piano tunings aren't inexpensive.

Ghosts of Christmases Past

Some traditions and festivities for your amusement, cited chronologically.

2006

Straight hair days and we-still-love-the-dogs days (I still love Blue.)

(Notice the Gator something-or-other behind me. That's a tradition.)

Toothless days?

Ah, a real tradition. Here my cousin, Kelly, is holding Raisin, a giant, stuffed (believe it or not) raisin. If I'm getting the story correct, my uncle won him at something years ago. Somehow my brother ended up with Raisin. I remember growing up with them (James and Raisin) and always wanting to play with Raisin. James would make special deals with me so I could play with Raisin. Realizing that I liked Raisin more than he did (and also that he could use this to his advantage), James gave Raisin to me for Christmas one year.

And the next year.

And the year after that.

And the following year.

He's usually the grand finale gift. (Meaning that after all the presents are opened, James goes back to my closet and then makes a grand re-entrance with Raisin.)

Raisin sits in my closet as I type. Naturally, I assume he'll resurface on the 25th.

2007

I'm so heartbroken Tsu won't be spending Christmas with us this year!

:)

Ahh, the days of choice white elephant gifts!

The artificial Christmas tree is a yearly tradition >_<

Thankfully, the bow is not.

Amanda and Rex joined the festivities this year. We like Rex and all (look at that devil face!), but Amanda's the real keeper.

Julia and I became a little more fashionable this year.

2008

Displaying gator gear/memorabilia, and BCS tickets! Sadly, there'll be none of those this year. :(

(Rest assured, though. There will still be Gator attire, talk of Tebow, and season reruns.)

Bed-head and polka-dotted leggings. Now there's a tradition for you!

Another pug was also brought into our family in 2008.

Fun trips in the cool weather. :)

My, my, we just keep getting more and more fashionable as time passes. What's more fashionable than downtown WP?

Tyler and his family became a more important part of my life in 2008, so we partied with them, too.

And thiiiiis

is just a M male tradition at any event.

Yes!

I'm finished with math! (Hopefully until I have to teach simple arithmetic to my own children.)
Okay, besides the everyday uses. But I'll just get out my abacus for those times when I've not enough fingers.

My stats final was this morning. I studied all week, printed out the correct tables, made my formula sheet, etc. I was all set!
While heading over to take our final, my classmate asked if I'd seen my "pre-final" grade. I'd calculated my grade on my own, but I didn't know there was an official calculation posted by our teacher. Since we were ahead of schedule, I decided to backtrack to the library and check my grade...just in case. Heaven forbid, by some chance, I take one more math exam than required.

Low and behold! My grade was higher than I thought.
I'm sure you can predict my course of action.

Yes, I opted out of the optional final.

:D

Happy dance!

Now to tackle music history.
I'm listening to vocal music that was composed around 1100 while reading about/writing an essay on instrumental music in the Baroque. Now that's not a bit confusing!

We're All Decked Out For Christmas!

We had a party at my house last night for my parents' Bible study. The house looked so pretty that I just had to take pictures!

Wait! Is that...?

An accordion? Yes! Look at the big smile it brought to Papa's face!

In fact, we had a whole band set up! That's Bridgett on keyboard, Fred on accordion, and Matt on the zen drum. They were so much fun! They'd never practiced as a group before, but still sounded wonderful! I especially loved their version of O Little Town of Bethlehem in triple meter. So jazzy!

Just getting back to practicing my flute (E flat major scale stinks on that thing!). Half way through finals! Unfortunately, I've caught some icky bug that makes me just sick enough to feel bad but not sick enough to skip anything. (Unlike last year when I had the stomach flu during juries! Ew!)
By God's grace, I made it through my sight-reading jury, my piano jury, my written theory final, my ear training final, and my sight-singing final all while feeling under the weather. Thankfully I have today and tomorrow to rest and STUDY at home before my last four finals Friday and Monday. (Monday is the music history biggie!)

I'm enjoying this respite so much! Hope you're able to rest in the busyness of the season, too.
That's all, folks!

Solutions

On difficult days when you just want to stay home and not see anybody, the best thing to do is usually just the opposite. (I'm talking days when you have a meltdown over a curling iron not doing what you want it to do.)

Of course, it helps when your best friend is among the company. (And when you have the option of a hat.)

That makes everything alright.

Love you, Tali.

Simplicity

This morning I sit home alone.
Outside the rain drizzles quietly.

I'm bundled warmly in my jammies, a sweater, and a pair of slippers, enjoying a cup of hot tea and a deliciously cooked grapefruit.
The only inside noises are the dripping of the faucet and the hum of the refrigerator.

I turn on my recordings of early music. I need to review the gregorian chants for an upcoming final.
But as I sit and listen, the simplicity draws me in. A single line, unaccompanied, singing words in a dead language. Words that will never be obsolete.
They bring rest and comfort, solace from the accompaniment of life. And they remind that this season is not about getting through finals and passing classes.

It is about Advent: the God-man entering into the frenzy of life on earth and offering peace for our souls.


A boy is born to us,
and a Son is given to us;
whose government is upon His shoulder
and His name shall be called
the Angel of great counsel.

Sing ye to the Lord a new song,
because He hath done wonderful things.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.

-Puer natus est nobis (translation)

Motivation!

With a capital M!

Something got into me today and I've been sitting at the keys more than usual.
It could be that juries are just around the corner. But no, I was finished with jury preparation at the 2-hour mark.

Sophomore review.
*Insert ominous music*

Sophomore review is a proficiency exam that all piano majors must take to be "promoted" to junior status.
My repertoire list is as follows:
1. Prelude and Fugue no 18 (WTC book 1) by Bach
2. Beethoven Sonata op. 10 no. 1 (all three movements)
3. Rondo Capriccioso by Mendelssohn
4. Chopin Etude op. 25 no. 1 (Or maybe op. 25 no. 5?)
5. Scriabin Etude op. 2 no. 1
6. Sonata no. 2 (1st movement) by Prokofiev
7. Finally, a contemporary piece that I have yet to be assigned

I copied this list and put it up next to the door in my music room. So now every time I leave the room, I mentally ask myself, "Are you sure you don't want to put in some more time?"

Five-hour mark. Done!

Here's the audio to the 4-Hand Sonata by Poulenc that my duet partner and I performed a couple weeks ago. The video should be up this weekend, and I'll post that then. I can't wait to see it, because the piano moved during our performance! So scary! It felt like it moved a whole two feet, so I'd like to see if the shift is visible in the video. Anyway, enjoy!

Oh, and congratulations to my friend, Erin, who was just accepted into our piano studio! Woohoo! I'm so looking forward to having her in the studio next semester! :D