Pause

I'm feeling more than slightly overwhelmed right now.
I'm holding down the fort, fighting a messy house, studying for two exams, trying to prepare for two piano lessons this week...

But.
I'm pausing to remember God's Goodness.

I'm reading Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts, and I'm learning that thankfulness begets joy. It is a diligence I must practice. I get that, the whole practicing thing.
And there is much to be joyful about. Yesterday I attended a wedding, which was a beautiful reminder of God's love for His Bride, the Church.

The day's joys include:
1. Seeing my good friend, Haylee, and failing quite miserably together at the dinner games! Ha!
2. Seeing my good friend, Sierra (also the maid-of-honor), beaming so beautifully! You looked stunning, Sia!
3. Seeing Jesus on display at the ceremony.
4. Wearing a new dress that my friend, Amanda, made/gave to me! How sweet is that? (Side note: the fabric is from a vintage dress, and she used it to make this new dress!) This is my shameless plug. Amanda is amazing.
5. Taking two of my students to a piano concert. I love that they're excited to hear great music.
6. Running into Ms. Williams at the concert.
7. Ty sticking by me the whole day! What a man!
8. $1 hot fudge sundaes on the way home! :D
9. Coming home to an inhabited house - I'm so glad Carissa is staying with me. What a blessing!
10. Toots slept all night, and I woke up on my own this morning.

Now it's time to give thanks with my Church family. Have a wonderful Sabbath, friends.

---

Here are a couple pictures from yesterday, a visual reminder of God's gifts.

(Thanks for taking care of the shadows, Snyder!)

Firsts

First time...
...making meatloaf in the crock-pot

thawing ground beef in the micro
(That is okay, right??)

acting as a witness in a fender bender - in my neighborhood of all places!

keeping house for an extended period - harder than I thought!

having the majority of my immediate family halfway across the world

having my hair this long and still naturally curly

making it all the way through Poulenc's Concerto for Two Pianos today

figuring out an iPhone (my mom's :)

making a rice cake
(Completely irrelevant disclaimer: I was actually trying to make rice to go with last night's black beans.)

first Music History II test on Monday.
Yikes.

Looks like my Day of Rest will be spent studying. :( Saturday is already full! I'm helping with school auditions in the morning, attending a wedding in the afternoon, and taking some of my piano students to a concert in the evening. Oh, yeah. And practicing in there somewhere, too.

I'd like to say it's the first time I've cleaned up dog mess since I've been on Tootsie patrol...buuuuut that's already happened three times in the last 36 hours.

Change Is in the Air

My parents depart for S.E. Asia tomorrow to visit my sister. I am so excited for them...and just a wee bit envious! :) Carissa is bunking up with me while they're away. Papa's headed to my aunt and uncle's. We just received a call from Tsukasa informing us that she's accepted a job in town and will be moving back in with us!

And that's just the beginning!

Some photos to illustrate my point.

Papa turned 83 this month.

I whooped everyone at Monopoly. Heh, heh.

(And yes, that's Maggie with her mouth full of ice cream and looking so grown up!)

My church officially broke ground on our building site! Woohoo!

Ty and I broke character and took a spontaneous trip to visit his sister at school. Looking cool as always.

(Okay, so I'm the one who's never spontaneous, or cool-looking. Ha!)

I turned 21! I forgot to even have a glass of wine, though I do have some very nice wine glasses for the right occasion, thanks to Tali Rose. That is a delicious gluten-free chocolate cake, made purely out of bittersweet chocolate, eggs (12!), and sugar. Mmmm. Thanks, Mommy!

I promise my nephew likes me! :D

My birthday was a great excuse to see my childhood friend, Christi. :)

My brother and I. We missed you sorely, Julia!

Ty and me.

While many things are changing, the daily grind continues. Spring break in two weeks!

Spring break = recital memorization time.

Mozart Moanings

Whoever said Mozart was "light, easy, and simple"???

I'd like to give him an earful. (And maybe a hand slap or two!)

I'm working on the 9th Sonata - one of only two minor Sonatas written by Mozart; this one was composed right after Mozart's mother died. As you can imagine, the character of the piece is far from any of those adjectives Whoever has often used to describe the composer's works.

My piano lesson today was one of those lessons. You know, one of those where everything is wrong but you learn a lot. Not really an ego booster, but I don't go to school to boost my ego. If anything, I keep learning just how much I have to learn!

All that to say, I was a tad fed up with Wolfgang today. (Okay, so I was really fed up with myself more than anything or anyone!) Music history class is right after my lesson. You can imagine my great delight upon walking into class and catching a glimpse of the Power Point: Mozart's Piano Sonatas and Piano Concertos.

Really? Really?! It didn't help that Whoever was in the room talking about how "light" Mozart's piano music is. At least he mentioned that it's deceivingly difficult because every imperfection shows.

Oh, how I miss fugues. Sometimes there's safety in numbers...