One Little Word

Boukie's door told of all the pianists taking their juries today. Earlier this month, we'd chosen times and penciled our names next to them.

My name was listed as such:

Jessie ________

Sophomore Review

After my jury this morning I grabbed a pencil and (while he wasn't looking) ;) made one little amendment.

Jessie ________
PASSED
Sophomore Review

I wonder if he'll notice. ;)

I am SO EXCITED to learn NEW music!

But about those bassoon and cello exams...

Light

Last night we went to dinner for Julia's birthday.

We took a lot of pictures (which I'll post later), but I'm dying to share these of Julia and Charlie.

I love that time of day when it's not quite night. Last night there was a lovely breeze, too.

There's something about the light and all of the colors that made me love these photos.

Enjoy!

I'd love to write, but I need to finish my last assignment of the semester!

Mix-up

I'm supposed to be pet sitting Lola, a chihuahua down the street, this weekend.
This afternoon I went over for my first visit.

To my surprise, Lola was not there. I double-checked the text message I received that gave instructions for Lola's care. Yes, I was supposed to be there. I did not have her owner's number saved in my phone, though, so I quickly memorized the number that had texted me.

The lady who answered had a thick Spanish accent, like Lola's mommy. There was a lot of background noise, so I had difficulty hearing her. As soon as I said, "I can't find Lola..." she responded saying that she would give me her mother's number.
Lola often stays with her grandma, who lives in our same neighborhood.

I was on board until she said something about Lola's number. I think she had been saying that all along, but I really couldn't hear her.

Finally I interrupted her and said, "I think I have the wrong number. Lola is a dog."

She just burst into laughter, "Lola is my sister!"

Turns out I switched the ending numbers. But seriously, what are the odds?

Too Interesting

Does this alarm anyone else? Okay, maybe I'm paranoid, but this is weird.

Just saying.

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful Daddy-O!
He told me last night that today he would be double numbers. I'll let you figure it out, but he's looking great for 33! ;)

Guess Who!

Look who came for a visit yesterday!

He's all smiles now!

Best thing to find upon arriving home!

Ehh.

Finishing up some of my last assignments of the semester! Woo!

Six days until my piano jury.

Nine days until summer break begins!

God is GOOD.

Believing Grace

Interesting school day today.

So thankful I came home and read this.

Oh, how debilitating fear is!
Today I'm choosing to believe the reality of Grace that has already been made mine.

Problem Two Solved!

I am now the proud owner of a road bike! Time to start training!

It's (obviously) incredibly light!

Now if only it had pedals...

A Taste of Summer

Is it summer yet? I've sure been acting like it is!

Got to push through these last two weeks! Fourteen days from today, I will officially be on summer break.

(And all the people rejoiced!)

I'm participating in a triathlon in early June, so I've been having a great time researching things on the internet, getting back into shape, etc. Before you get all excited, it's not an olympic triathlon or anything. It'll be .3 miles swimming, 15 miles biking, and 3.3 miles running. I know I can run 3.3 miles (just over a 5K) no problem. Sadly, I hadn't run that distance in months, but I ran it last night and this morning at just about 30 minutes. Hoping that gets faster and easier over the next couple weeks. 

But there are two hang-ups: I'm a weak swimmer, and I don't have a bike.

I swam three times over the last week. I find it relaxing and invigorating. Now if only I could swim in a straight line...

Perhaps some goggles might help that?

As to the bike, I'm looking for a good road bike to invest in. Nothing like purchasing an important triathlon element seven weeks before the race... :)

Yesterday my sister and Tali came over, and we set up a blog for my sister. Julia is officially going to a SE Asian county (that I can't name on my blog) for the next school year to teach English. We girls and my mom had fun brainstorming blog names and such. We stayed up late (10:30 is pushing it for me!), laughing and loving life! Makes me sad to think I'm sending my sister halfway across the world and my bestie clear across the continental U.S. :(

This morning I went running at 7:30 and then came home and swam. Now I'm enjoying a complete breakfast of yogurt, scrambled eggs, a muffin, and tea. :) I hope every summer morning is like this.

Triplets at Large!

On Saturday, my family went on an outing with Julia, Carissa, and the trips. The triplet's parents were off for the weekend, so Julia was helping out extra this week. I rarely get to see her/them during her weekly post, so this weekend day was a special treat!

As you can imagine, we were quite the spectacle.

Thankfully, we had plenty of helping hands. :)

Not much to say tonight; I just want to share some of my favorites from the day! I had fun playing photographer. One day I am going to take a photography class. Until then I'll just keep shooting till I like what I see. Good thing that's pretty easy with this crowd. ;)

If you're wondering where Will was, he was probably off with Carissa.

Just when you thought they were sitting so still...

Look out!

Annnnnd...that was the end of that photoshoot!

The Biggest Eater

My mom recently bought a couple exercise videos with the hostess from the Biggest Loser.
I like them because they're only twenty-minute workouts, fitting nicely with my tight schedule.

Now before you go thinking, "Twenty minutes can't do anything..." let me tell you that I thought the same.
I was dead wrong. I thought it'd be easy-peasy, so I selected level two without a moment's hesitation. After twenty minutes, I was drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. (Granted, I haven't been running recently. I'm LOVING the idea of running again this summer!)

Saturday I ran and swam.
Sunday I did the aforementioned video.
Today I did the video again (and swam for a short amount of time, hardly enough to mention).

What is the point of all this? The point is that I'm so incredibly hungry. I've always been a good eater, but today "all this exercising" has caught up with me.

Let's recap.

1 bowl of granola/whole grain cereal with milk
1 banana
1 ham/swiss/lettuce sandy (I busted it out at 9:30 am and finished it at 10:30!)
1 serving of strawberries
1 serving of carrots
Quite a bit of raisin/cranberry/walnut/pistachio mix
1 granola bar
1 glass of V8 juice
1 bowl of ice cream
1 cheese stick
1 piece of toast
1 apple
1 healthy-brand pop tart

...and dinner is yet to come!

Blogging Backlog

This post has lots of pictures.
You have been forewarned.

There is enough to cover many posts, but I've decided just to post it all at once. There's no telling when I'll have another free moment to sit, so here goes!

Ty, Kelly, and I went to the outlet malls on Saturday. We enjoyed half price slushies at Sonic. We did not enjoy the fact that my air isn't working all that well.

The triplets and their family came over for Easter lunch!

Charlie and his mommy.

Will hanging with me and eating cake.

Daddy with Katie (aka Goose)

Favorites of Will!

My aunt, uncle, and cousins (minus Katie) came over for lunch, too!

Mommy and Will

My sister (aka World's Best Nanny) looking cute in her green sweater.

I love this one of Goose and Carissa!

I offered to take some pictures of their family. It's harder than it looks.

Take Two.

With Julia, of course.

Carissa also lives at their house, so we took a house family picture, too.

Will got very distracted. Will loves Carissa more than anything.

See?

The feeling is mutual!

I love this!

More of the Easter photo shoot!

I'm trying to direct Papa where to stand. Please notice my 1960s original pillbox hat. I purchased it on eBay. It wasn't until Sunday morning that I looked inside the bottom and noticed it was 100% fur and made in Italy! Crazy, huh?

Papa with some of his lovely granddaughters

Uncle Ran and fam. (Again, minus Katie. She couldn't be with us this day.)

My family, minus James and Amanda. They couldn't be with us, either.

Ladies!

We were having fun!

I had to change the coloring on the photos of Kelly and me, because our colors don't look so great together. ;)

Another one of Ty and me. :)

I love the flowers in this coloring!

Too cute!

We stopped by Tali's and continued our amazing photo shoot. Tali and I had already transitioned into our casual outfits for the day.

Tyler and the ladies.

With two of my favorite people. :)

Later that evening, I went to the B's house with Ty's family. We had a a wonderful time!

The girls chillin' on the patio.

For some reason, I love this photo! It's so cool.

Glenna took this. Isn't it beautiful?

The W gang!

Cute!!

Tyler and his momma.

And his sisters.

And me.

(Don't know why the coloring is so strange! I think my outfit washed me out!)

And finally with our host and hostess, the Bs!

They were so kind to me, from the moment I stepped out of the car until the front door closed behind me. I really had a blast!

We girls did crafts with Mrs. B while the boys chatted.

Even though I'm smiling, I really don't like this tool. If Daddy's reading this, I know he's thinking, "It's cause she's a lefty..." Okay, okay, so that made it a little awkward.

We also had cake for Ty's birthday! Yum! I enjoyed that more than once this week. :)

Moving on...

Tuesday, Ty had some friends over. This is while waiting for their arrival. Ty was sad they were all late.

But they eventually showed their faces...

Next day!

Ben and Angela hung out with us.

(Correction: Ben and Tyler went fishing at my lake, and Angela and I talked baby the whole time.)

I held Logan for over an hour! He just slept like this on me. :D

Last night Ty, Tali, and I went to Olive Garden (courtesy of a Christmas present from Maggie-moo's family!) and enjoyed yummy food and fantastic conversation. Afterward we watched Lars and the Real Girl while munching on kettle corn with melted chocolate chips. Mmmm. Oh, and we finished off the evening with pet sitting. As usual.

I was trying to get ready to go when Tyler took this...

Okay, fine. I'll smile.

It's funny, but these two faces pretty much exemplify my week. I've LOVED having Ty home. Unfortunately, my spring break has come and gone long ago. School is getting insane, with only 3 1/2 weeks left! I felt a little more rested after hearing how little Angela is sleeping. ;)

This morning I went to a local middle school and shadowed a beginning orchestra class. I've never been stared down by so many middle school girls in my life. Quite intimidating!

Ty went fishing with Luke (Gabe and Soph's brother) on my lake. He didn't have a car, so I picked him up from the C's house after my class. I knocked. No answer. I could hear the squeals of delight and clearly see through the glass door. Gabe, Soph, and Ty were playing some sort of racing game on Wii.

Luke finally noticed me and let me in. The first thing Sophie said to me?

"Tyler's my friend."

Sure. I leave for two hours and come back to find they've gone fishing, eaten pancakes, played with Legos, played Wii, and become best friends in my absence. I see how it is. ;)

My heart was so glad to see the joy on their faces! And I still got my fill of hugs. :D

The Ws are coming over for dinner tonight, and I'm playing through my entire sophomore program (okay, minus one piece that's not quite memorized). This will be my first time to do that for an audience. Three and a half weeks till show time.

I had a great piano lesson last Wednesday, and I'm feeling fairly calm about all of this. I'm just really praying that I can keep a right perspective with finals coming up. This is a season, and it's not as monumental as it always seems to be in the moment.

This has been a lovely, restful time for me to sit and relax. I hope you enjoy the pictures, as well!