Waiting for my friend

My good friend, Melisa, will be here in 2 hours. I can't wait! We always have such fun together. She likes games. A lot. Just like me. She and her husband, Brad, and their 3 kids (Jaden - 5, Daven - 3, & Calet - 1) will be here until Sunday morning...they live about 4 hours away from us which is better than the 13 hours away that they were in OK. I'm getting ready for some serious game-playing and fine food - Melisa requested mint chocolate brownies & root beer floats....yummy! I'm going to make peasant soup tomorrow with rolls. It's going to be a great weekend. :o)

"Shake - it's music!"

This morning my alarm clock went off, which meant this song came on (Anna says it's her "favorite song"). The next thing I know, Anna is dancing on our bed exclaiming: "Daddy, SHAKE - it's music!" So cute.

I thought I'd let you all know that my brother, Evan (aka: pumpkin poo), is engaged to be married. My baby brother - a HUSBAND. Wow. I'm happy for him & his fiancè, Megan. They'll be sealed in the Jordan River Temple next May. Now, if only I can find some inexpensive flights there...any suggestions?

Tyler & I had the unpleasant task of addressing some poor behavior emitted by our darling girl to a girl, Jenn, in my ward. Jenn & I take turns carpooling (is that really a word?) our daughters (Laura & Anna) to their school - I take them to school and she brings them home. Well, they're not getting along with each other (the girls) but to make matters worse - Anna has been disrespectful to Jenn, which is unacceptable. It's never fun to hear that your child has been misbehaving. It's hard to imagine Anna smarting off to Jenn, but I can see the tendency in Anna to do so. So, Tyler & I had a long, emotional talk with Anna and then sent her to her room for the rest of the evening. We told her that any time in the future that she is disrespectful to Jenn, or Laura, that she would spend that evening in her room. I hope she learns her lesson. I'm sad that I can't play with my girl. Discipline is hard - and not just for the child.

Quarter-brained test

This is a personality test that determines which quarter of your brain that you use the most. Most people know whether or not they are right or left brained, but this more specifically shows the lower left or the upper left or the lower right or the upper right. My friend, Cherie, who is a nurse shared this with me. There are 16 work elements below. Select the 8 elements that you feel you do best.

Leave your results as a comment or email them to me at jilldpierce at yahoo dot com. I will then tell you which quarter of your brain that you use the most and then the 2nd most used part. I was really intrigued with my results and I think you will be too. Happy analyzing! :o)

Administration - Making sure that work or projects are completed on time and with quality.


Analytical - Breaking up things or ideas into parts and examining them to see how they fit together.

Conceptualizing - Able to conceive thoughts and ideas, to generalize abstract ideas from specific instances.

Expressing Ideas - The ability to communicate and make clear one's ideas and opinions.


Integration - The ability to combine pieces, parts and elements of ideas, concepts and situations into a unified whole.

Writing - Able to communicate clearly with the written word and enjoying it.


Technical Aspects - Able to understand and apply engineering and scientific knowledge; understanding how complicated and intricate things work and can be used.

Implementation - Able to carry out an activity and ensure fulfillment by concrete measures and results; following through and getting things done.

Planning - Formulating methods or means to achieve a desired end in advance of taking actions to implement; thinking ahead and using a system or method to proceed with an activity or project.

Interpersonal - Easily able to develop and maintain meaningful and pleasant relationships with many different kinds of people.

Problem Solving - Able to find solutions to difficult problems by reasoning.


Innovating - Able to introduce new or novel ideas, methods, or devices; doing or thinking of new things in new ways; coming up with new ideas.

Teaching/Training - Able to explain ideas and procedures in a way that people can understand and apply them; helping others to learn; tutoring.

Organization - Able to arrange people, concepts, objects, elements, etc. into coherent relationships with each other; arranging things in an orderly fashion.

Creative - Having unusual ideas and innovative thoughts. Able to put things together in new and imaginative ways.

Financial - Competent in monitoring and handling of quantitative issues related to costs, budgets and investments; dealing with money successfully.

Laundry Party

There's something magical about the word "party". What's amazing is that you can attach the word "party" to the word "laundry" and then it's something my baby girl gets excited about. I decided that Anna should learn how to put away her own clothes and this "party" is exactly that: we put away laundry. However, my daughter is quite competitive and this motivates her in ways you wouldn't believe. So, the game is: who can put away their laundry the fastest?? Anna always wins. Can you guess why?

I looked up my grades today. Would you believe it? In my eight (yes, EIGHT) classes that I took this past quarter - I earned all A's. That's a 4.0, my friends. I've never achieved this in my high school grades, much less college. This is a call for celebration! Any sugar-free candy out there?

So this morning I went on-base and walked for 20 minutes around the track, at which point my knee was acting up. Pity. I guess that's what happens when I take a hiatus from exercising. I presume that I'll have to ease back into exercising. I did some weights, though, which was nice.

Tyler & I were able to spend some time together today, which was wonderful. It's hard to feel close to your husband when you're doing different things throughout the day or days (or weeks or months). It was nice to spend that one-on-one time together - playing games & talking. How do you keep your marriage strong when life takes over??

So the diet went fairly well today - not perfect, but much better than the past week - that's for sure. I hope that I'll be 100% soon, but for now I'm pleased with my efforts. :o) Be sure to check out the new pictures I posted to the left.

Project BABY

Well, it's about time that I get serious about Project BABY (PB for short). When it all comes down to it - my main goal for right now in my life is to have another baby. Therefore, anything that prevents me from realizing this goal is less than important. I have prayed and I feel that when I reach the weight of 270, then we will stop preventing Pierce baby #2 from coming.

Thanksgiving sort of put a wrench in my maintenance of past weight loss. The lowest I ever got to was 306. I began at 330, so that was a loss of 24 pounds. However, for the past 3 weeks I have been at or around 312 for the most part. Then Thanksgiving hit. I had every intention of staying on SBD last thursday. I even made homemade pudding with splenda for dessert. Too bad it didn't taste good and I weakened and had some pie. Well, a lot of pie. Pie is good. I'm getting off-track here... Anyhow, the scale showed 316 this morning. Not such great news. Yesterday I had predetermined to begin SBD phase #1 today, which I did. It was hard because the kitchen is stocked full of non-SBD food items from our party last night. I managed to do very well on the diet until this evening, when I caved a little. Then I determined that the treats had. to. go. My dear friend, glittersmama, volunteered to take some treats off my hands. Hey, what are friends for, right? I appreciated it, especially since I gave her the rest of the mini-cheesecakes, which were especially causing my downfall. Anyhow, the only thing left is some fudge which I will need to get rid of asap, because it's tempting me as well. (fudge anyone?)

So, I'm going to return to the gym (on-base for now) and tomorrow begin anew to eat 100% SBD. I know that it's hard this time of year to avoid treats, but honestly the most important thing right now is PB and if I don't get serious about losing weight - PB won't ever be realized. Next quarter I'm going to take a YOGA class and I'm very excited about it. I think it will be a great tool in toning up my body. If anyone else is striving to be healthy this holiday season, let me know. I could use some support. :o)

Eukre

I love church. We had a great prelude number called COME UNTO CHRIST by Sally Deford. 3 men in our ward sang it and I could really feel the Spirit. I just wish it weren't so loud during prelude. Reverence is something I think we can improve on.

Today we had a little games/treats party at my house. We invited a few music students from the college to join us. We played Quelf, Pit, Quelf (again), Scattergories, & Eukre - a new game that I hadn't ever heard of until we moved here to OH. It's a fun game, but I need to play more to learn all the strategies. We had a nice time & plenty of food. I made ginger cookies, mini cheesecakes, shrimp dip, meatballs, fudge, pumpkin-banana bread, & hot chocolate. It was so tasty!

Here's a recent music video of Tyler, Anna, & I, click here.

Let the baking begin

After such a busy baking holiday like Thanksgiving, I am somehow still excited about holiday baking. Tomorrow I'm having a small games/treats night with some fellow music students at my house. Naturally I must have some homemade holiday treats at this occasion. Thus far I have made: mini cherry cheesecakes, pumpkin banana bread, fudge, & ginger cookies. I have yet to make crockpot meatballs, shrimp dip, & perhaps crockpot mint hot chocolate (if I can borrow a crockpot from someone...). One of the guys coming is going to bring homemade salsa & chips, so that will help even out all the sweets. I hope. It should be a fun evening. I think we'll have plenty of good food, at least. Food = fun, right?

In case I didn't mention this before - our Christmas tree is up & decorated. To be honest, it was put up before Thanksgiving. (don't tell anyone). Tyler put up our icicle lights yesterday. I love looking outside our windows and seeing beautiful lights. It makes me happy. What makes you happy this time of year?

Some off the wall thoughts: this is my 500th post on my blog. Who would have thought I'd ever change from your written journal to a blog online? (Thanks, Melisa!) Anna said that she wanted to go on a diet. When asked which kind of diet, she replied "a sugar diet". Many of us are currently on that diet as well...but trying not to be.

Here's some LDS humor for you:

Thanksgiving 2007

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. This was our second Thanksgiving away from dear family in Oklahoma. Last year we spent this holiday just us 3. This year we opted to reach out & share this wonderful holiday with dear friends here in OH. We went to glittersmama's house for the day and jessica & her family came as well. I brined a turkey and let me tell you - it was the best turkey I've ever eaten. I will definitely be brining my turkeys from now on. It was worth the $16 to buy the Williams-Sonoma Turkey Brine Apple & Spices jar to brine the turkey. Be sure to try it next year - you won't be sorry. We had all the fixin's for the meal and finished it with 6, yes 6 pies, including: berry, pumpkin, apple, coconut cream, chocolate cream, & banana cream (my personal favorite). We played quelf, pit, & carcassonne (my latest favorite). We had a wonderful time. You can check out the pictures to the left that I have added under flickr.

I am grateful for friends on this Thanksgiving. I love my family so much, but I feel like our friends here in OH are family. I could wax philosophical and state my belief that we are all children of God, therefore my friends technically are my family. So, I guess my family is always around me.

I am grateful for my daughter. She brings me such joy. She is such a happy little girl and constantly learning new things. She makes me feel like I'm a great Mom, even when I feel that I am lacking. She is so dear to my heart, it's not possible for me to express those feelings in words.

I am grateful for my dear husband. He is the perfect man for me. He brings me back to reality (which I need on a semi-regular basis). He teaches me many things from what the scriptures mean to complex scientific explanations (complete with graphs & charts). He has a solid testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and he leads my family with the priesthood. What more could a wife want? Oh, and he loves me. Enough said.

I am grateful for my Savior. I have a strong testimony of his love for me. I feel that I am just now getting to know him. I am grateful for all of the blessings that he has given me (mentioned above). On this Thanksgiving day (and every other day) I have been so very blessed and pray that I will be able to give as I have been given. Happy Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Eve

So, how did you celebrate Thanksgiving Eve? I spent almost the whole day brining a turkey, making a berry pie and 3 cream pies (chocolate, coconut, & banana). That's what I did today. It's satisfying work, but my poor feet are tired from standing the whole time.

Tyler is gearing up for the Turkey Bowl tomorrow with other non-football-playing LDS guys. It should be interesting, especially since it's supposed to snow tomorrow.

I enjoy Thanksgiving. We're going to spend it with some friends tomorrow which will be nice. What are your plans? Any fun Thanksgiving traditions??

Annie Waits

This is one of Anna's favorite songs...she associates it with her Aunt Rachel.

6 things

I guess I should follow Melisa & Philip's example by listing 6 things that you may or may not know about me. Here goes.

#1. I am afraid of being in water - dark water that I cannot see through. This stems from my watching JAWS at a very impressionable age. I have zero desire to overcome this fear. I have just accepted it about myself.

#2. I wear size 11 shoes. I like having big feet. Someone once told me that the bigger the feet you have - the more balance you have. I don't fall down a lot, so perhaps it's true.

#3. I have a total of 8 sisters and 6 brothers, not counting in-laws, however they are not from the same mother & father...

#4. When I was 14 I went to a Sunday School lesson that talked about trials. The teacher said that we don't ask for trials - we ask for life to be easier for us. I went home that night and prayed for a trial. The next morning (literally) I woke up with bells palsy. That experience strengthened my belief that there is a God.

#5. I have a goal of learning to speak 5 languages. So far I can speak English, a good deal of Spanish, some Chinese, and am currently learning Italian. Next year I'm planning to take German and then French. Someday I'd like to learn Norweigan, but I don't foresee how or when. I feel that I've been blessed with an ability to learn languages and I greatly enjoy them, which helps. :o)

#6. I can harmonize with music. I seem to be able to harmonize with a melody without reading a part for it. I think this is one - if not my only - skill that is more by ear than by sight. Typically I am a visual learner except in this case.

I now tag anyone who hasn't done this to write 6 things in their blog about themselves. If you don't have a blog, you're not getting out of this. (Nice try) Email me your 6 things at jilldpierce at yahoo dot com.

Leapster

Well, I have succumbed. I purchased a leapster today at Target. They were on sale (thanks, Sarah!) and so after some deliberation I bought it. I think that Anna is a visual learner like me, and she has greatly benefited from other various "games" so why not try this out? Plus, she can use it on the way to OK next month. We bought one game, cars, which is for kingergarten - 2nd grade. Anna was all excited to play it when we got home, but the mechanically adept one in the family was gone to school and I was held up simply attempting to open the battery case to load batteries. Guess it looks like she'll have to wait until tomorrow to play it.

I tried to hold off on another thing, which became fruitless today: Christmas decorations. I was appalled that wal-mart was playing Christmas music before Halloween and here I am putting up my Christmas tree before Thanksgiving. What has happened to my holiday ethics? Then, of course, I rationalize that there's nothing wrong with celebrating Christmas early - we should be celebrating Christ's birth yearround, right? Well, I could blame this early decorating party on my daughter, who noticed that our neighbors had already put up their christmas lights and then insisted that it "was time" for us to do the same. Yes, I could blame her, but I relish in the holiday decorations myself. Speaking of Christmas, I would like to have your recommendations of Christmas CDs. My collection is needing some new sounds to celebrate this year. What do you like?

Don't look unless you're hungry...

I made peanut butter kiss cookies today. I must say, they look rather tasty. I say "look" because I haven't even eaten ONE, which is amazing since they're delicious. They are such a pretty cookie, don't you think?
Today Leia came over to play with Anna. They helped me make these cookies, played princess game upon princess game, and had lots of girlie-style fun. Here are some photos (feel free to copy them to your blog, Sarah):
Apparantly, Leia enjoys the exact same silly pose as Anna.

I baked those PB cookies for a pre-deployment dinner on-base. It's basically a nice last meal with family before soldiers are deployed. I can't imagine what it would be like to say goodbye to my dear husband for 18 months or more. I have become more patriotic since Tyler has joined the military. Seeing others serve their country so unselfishly, it's very inspiring.

Stake Conference is this weekend. The older I become, the more I look forward to general & stake conferences. The adult meeting was quite soul searching for me. We discussed the idea of eternal potential, the fact that one day I will go before my Maker and answer to the life that I have lived here upon the earth. It's very sobering.

What do you do on friday nights?

Do you do this:



Or watch this:



Or sing along to this:



Normally we have our date night, which meant temple night tonight. We went with our friends, Valene & Trent, to the Columbus Temple. It was wonderful. We went out to Outback Steakhouse afterwards...also wonderful! I had grilled chicken with steamed veggies...YUM! Alejandra watched Anna so we could go. When Tyler picked her up, Anna was chatting it up with Alejandra in the car on the way over. Anna kept calling her "Sister" instead of Alejandra. Tyler told Anna that her name was "Alejandra" not "sister", to which Anna replied, "Oh, Ale...rea...". Pretty cute.

Today I did some more major cleaning. The house is looking SO GOOD. I just hope I can keep it this clean so I can allow myself some relaxation in scrapbooking.

I recommend herbal essences (HE) hairspray. I bought some HE shampoo, whatever the kind is in the orange bottles (I love orange, I didn't care what scent it was) and when I ran out of my other hairspray-I thought I'd try HE's hairspray. Holy cow-that stuff HOLDS! The first day I used some was a really windy day. But my hair didn't show it at all...you wouldn't even know it had been windy outside. Seriously. It's worth the $2.48.

Anna's kindergarten picture

It's a small smile and she's not exactly centered in the picture, but she's my girl and so, of course, she's gorgeous! She looks SO BIG now...here's her pre-k picture for comparison.

My baby is growing up so fast! One of her latest favorite things is "connecting the dots". She's so excited about connecting those dots...

Thanks for your input on Christmas gift ideas. I still couldn't decide what I wanted so I took advantage of modern technology and used TargetLists to make a list of several items which I wouldn't be unhappy to receive from Target. I may even send my hubby the link, since he can't view my blog at work...so, if anyone who reads this blog is intending on getting me something at Christmas (hint hint) then put in my name on TargetLists and click on "view list". I'm ready for packages! ;o)

I sang through GESU BAMBINO today. My throat is still sore, so it probably wasn't the best time to run through a challenging piece. This is how I felt when I sang:

Did you know that chocolate was invented by the Mayans?

This is what my daughter asked me tonight at dinner. I was wondering if she even knew who the mayans were...? Then my husband reminded me that this is a quote from Larry Boy and the Bad Apple movie....ah. Well, those Mayans must be very happy people...

This morning I had my sight singing final. I must admit-of all of my classes this quarter, I put the least amount of effort into this class. For one, it was relatively easy--it's sight singing and I appear to be somewhat capable in it. However, I struggle with rhythm, therefore I struggled on the rhythm part of the final. But I think I still have an A in that class...I hope...my voice jury went well, except for the fact that I woke up with a sore throat. My first sore throat of the whole stinkin' quarter--and I got it on my voice jury day. Such as it is-I sang rather well, I think. My accompanist encouraged me to sing Ma Rendi Pur Contento and I thought it would be a chance to sing it ON KEY versus SHARP, like last time. I think it went well. And what a relief to have it OVER! Now I have one more final, tomorrow, which is music theory--should be a snap. And after that? FREEDOM!!! First I'm going to clean my house from top to bottom and then I'm going to ENJOY myself by scrapbooking, cooking (SBD of course), and anything else I want to do.

I don't know how things work in your family, but my grandma asks to know exactly what we each want for Christmas and then she orders it. So there's no real surprise--but you don't get something you don't want, so I think it works rather well. However, this year I am struggling to decide what I'm going to ask for. I've compiled a list, though...care to see it? It's on the sidebar...what do you think I should ask for?? Of course, there is a $100 limit, so take that into consideration...

Sharp

To most people, being sharp is a good thing. Not so when you're a singer. I went in to see my voice teacher today for my last lesson this quarter. I asked him what he thought of my singing at the vocal rep class last monday. Having heard only very positive comments from everyone, it came as a surprise when he said nothing about my singing except that I was sharp for the last half of the song. I was confused because I had no idea that I was sharp, and if that was the case--then why were people complimenting me? It wouldn't have sounded GOOD if it were SHARP. It was hard news to take since I had thought that I sang very well at the class and now my voice teacher was pretty much saying I messed up. He didn't say anything positive about it. It was all I could do not to cry.

Does anyone know if you can still use outdated children's cough medicine? Does it really "go bad"? Do share.

I had my Italian final tonight. I didn't do ANY studying for it, so I was a bit worried about it. I shouldn't have been worried. It was a comprehensive exam, and since I had been paying attention from Day 1 - it was a breeze. I was the 3rd person done.

Shoe Shopping Spree

I feel like a real woman. I went on a shoe shopping spree (doctor's orders, no really!) with my fabulous shoe connoisseur friend, Sarah! We went to dsw and I found 5 pairs of shoes in my 11 size! I bought 4 pairs of dress shoes (2 brown & 2 black) and one pair of black casual shoes. And DSW even had a military discount. That store must be shoe heaven--they had so many styles of shoes! It was fun and I feel so feminine now that I own comfortable and STYLISH shoes. Thanks, Sarah!!!

I had the day off today (meaning no finals & no class). Of course tomorrow I have 2 finals and 2 more on wednesday. I can't seem to get myself to study today--I'm too excited about my 7 week break!!!

I love my country

Today I had HOLIDAYS IN THE HEARTLAND, a choral celebration of Thanksgiving, Christmas & July 4th. We sang some wonderful pieces of music--especially the patriotic songs. Both of my grandpas served in the Air Force and now my husband is currently serving. I'm so grateful to live in this country. As I come to know my Heavenly Father more & more, I appreciate our religious freedom more & more. Here is a song that we heard today by a string quartet, it is hauntingly beautiful: adagio. (sorry, I can't post the youtube itself, just click on the word "adagio")

I have been praying for an opportunity to share the gospel, and today when I was least expecting it--one happened, on my way to my car after the program. I was able to explain our beliefs including we believe in God and in his son, Jesus Christ, who died for us. I also shared that we have a prophet today and 12 apostles-this seemed to be very interesting to her, she kept coming back to that topic. :o) It was nice to be able to share some of my beliefs with someone.

Saturday is a special day...

Here's my little indian. I guess it means more because we found out last year that Tyler does, indeed, have some native american heritage. :o)

This turkey was a fun project sent home by Anna's teacher to do as a family. In case you're wondering who did the cyclops feather--that would be Tyler...I'm wondering what sorts of crafts he's done in his life up to this point...

One thing to know about me--whenever I buy a present for someone, it's really really really hard to resist giving it to them early. And since I like to buy most gifts very early and I'm a stickler for having gifts ON THE DAY this is a problem. I bought this Sleeping Beauty barbie doll at ALDI (for only $6!) and thought it would be great for a Christmas or birthday gift for Anna...yet, you can see how I couldn't wait until then to give it to her. She's so excited about it-she's been carrying it around all day long...look at that smile. :o)

Yesterday was my last day of classes for this quarter. I'm eager to find out my grades-it's possible for me to get straight a's, something I've never done on the college level. Today was lovely, I was in my jammies until 3pm. I did dishes, spent some time on the phone with my sister Heddy--talking about my new little niece, talked on the phone with Cherie and enjoyed time with Anna & Tyler. Tonight we went to Jeff & Margaret's house for a DIA DE LOS MUERTOS celebration. We made recipes from our family, shared family history stories, and Anna painted a picture of her great grandma, AnnaBelle, on a rock to remember her. It was a very well organized evening and a fun idea for a holiday to do genealogy.

Can't touch this

This morning I received an email from the stake choir director. He said that I'm a talented singer and wanted to know if I would be interested in singing a solo with the stake choir in the future. WOULD I?!? YESSSSS! That was a fun start to my day, let me tell you! That made all my stress from last choir practice worth it! (when I was put on the spot to sing)

Today was my last day of theory class & italian class for this quarter. Tomorrow I have one more class: Sight singing. I'm wholly unprepared for it--we have part of the final in class tomorrow. We have to write down notations: the professor plays 4 measures of a melody and we have to notate it on the staff, rhythm & notes = not so easy.

I've been ready for bed since 2pm today...I took Anna to the chamber orchestra's concert tonight, poor baby fell asleep! I enjoyed hearing 3 of the 4 voice faculty sing with the orchestra! I wonder if I will ever have the opportunity to sing with an orchestra...this one guy in my studio class is really nice to me and is always saying how "amazing" my voice is...this past week he said I was going to sing at the MET someday...I told him that I didn't think so...he asked why...and I'm not sure. I don't know if that is where God wants for me to be--& where he wants me to use the talent he gave me. I guess one day I'll know, & until then I'll just learn & develop my voice as much as I can.

Follow your leaders

Today's spiritual thought: While I was reading scriptures with Anna, I wondered at what the world will be like when Jesus comes again. I'm especially interested to see what sort of government will be established. It's an exciting thought--to be on the earth when Christ is here. Then I realized how important it is to follow the counsel of our beloved prophet, President Hinckley, his counselors, our local leaders, etc. Because they represent Christ until he is on the earth, and if we cannot follow their counsel--how do we expect to follow Christ when he returns?

I picked up Peggy today and drove her to school. She's my accompanist in my voice lessons and is here from Macao, China, on a piano scholarship. Why she chose the name "Peggy" I don't know...but the poor girl walks 20 minutes to the college everyday. When it's in the 30s, I don't think I'd want to be outside. I only wish I'd known her situation earlier in the quarter, seeing that this is the last week of classes.

I sang in a mock jury today--meaning I sang one of the 3 songs that I will be singing at my "jury", or final for vocal majors, for next week. I sang Le Violette--my least favorite of the 3 songs that I have learned this quarter. I'm eager to see which songs I will learn next quarter! My teacher also mentioned NATS, a solo competition for college students. I had completely forgotten about this competition, and now I'm excited to see how well I can do in it next April. :o)

Chili & Cornbread

Today was COLD. The high today was 40 degrees! On my way to Italian class, it was snowing. Seriously. VERY cold. I find that I greatly enjoy this time of year-but feel like my wardrobe isn't helping me to stay warm. I guess I need to beef up my wardrobe. I like warm socks. Tyler bought me a pair of cabin socks from Dick's sporting goods. They're super warm and have little rubber dots on the bottom (for friction maybe?) and they're so comfy. I wish I had a bunch of pairs...lol.

Music theory went well. I have noticed that when you concern yourself with learning the material--a good grade will follow. Where has THIS idea been my whole life?? This would have helped me through algebra, biology, & chemistry...well, maybe not chemistry--who understands that anyhow? I think I may actually pull all A's this quarter because I have worked hard to LEARN what the professors are teaching. It's an amazing concept.

Due to the cold weather, it just felt right to have chili & cornbread for dinner. It's so satisfying! I also thought it would be fun to have warm cookies waiting for both Tyler & Anna when they came home...Tyler was thrilled to have warm food waiting for him when it's so cold outside. He doesn't handle cold weather very well. Anna, on the other hand, can't wait for SNOW. A girl after my own heart!.

Vocal rep class

After my voice lesson, Tyler picked me up & we went home for lunch. It was so nice, we played carcassonne and spent some time together. I wish we had more time to do that.

At my vocal rep class I sang this. My heart was pounding in my throat as I began singing, but all went well. I haven't experienced this heart pounding before--it's a bit unnerving. Many people complimented me on the song, including one of the voice teachers who said it was "beautiful". Another guy said that I "rocked it". lol.

Right now I really want some chocolate chip oatmeal cookies (see sidebar for recipe) but I can't bring myself to make them...I'm actually making some granola because my hubby is wanting some since we ran out...if you remember, I didn't state my weight last monday. The reason being--I gained. Not just a little, but more than I thought it was possible to gain in one week. And the only thing I did was eat some candy on Halloween...and some brownies...but I gained 12 pounds. In one week. No joke. I kept moving the scale around the bathroom floor & re-weighing myself, thinking that there was an error with the location of the scale...not so. So I weighed again today, and it was 6 pounds lighter than last week...which is good, of course, but I'm still 6 pounds away from where I was 2 weeks ago...I have a couple of reasons why I think I gained so much (other than the candy/brownies): stress & lack of sleep. Now that the opera rehearsals/performances are over, the lack of sleep should discontinue, however, I am certain of stress being present until my finals are over at the end of next week. Stay tuned...until then, does anyone have a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie that they don't want?

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Final performance

I love fast sundays. Today I fasted about missionary work. I hope that I will be a good example of the gospel at school or wherever I am. Choir went well, we're singing Pilgrim's Hymn--such a lovely piece!

I had my final Opera Scenes performance this afternoon. I don't like having to do something school-related on Sundays. I refuse to meet for group projects or do homework or study at all on Sundays. I feel that the Lord blesses me for following his commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy. The performance went really well--I was even fasting and I still sang well!

Tonight I have stake choir. I'm tempted to stay home--because I haven't seen my family the past 2 weeks because of my opera class...

Update: I went to choir. Halfway through the choir practice, we sang "Beautiful Savior" which has a soprano solo in it. For some reason the soloist wasn't there today...the choir director asked for a volunteer to sing the solo...I was volunteered...I was completely thrown off guard...my heart was pounding so fast...yet after it was over, I was pleased with how I'd sung...and they clapped for me...which is always nice...but man, I'd rather know in advance that I would be doing something like that...

I'm blessed

This morning I woke up at 11am. My sweet husband had done a load of dishes, had the third load of laundry going plus he was making waffles. I am so blessed to have him. During the course of today he cleaned, did laundry, helped bring in groceries, just did anything that needed to be done. He's so wonderful. :o)

I had my second performance of Opera Scenes. It went well, I ran out of breath on my last word--but other than that, I am happy with it.

Dance with us!

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

Opening Night of Opera Scenes

Today was the day--our opening night of Opera Scenes. Nothing else really stands out from today but that. It went well. I didn't forget any of my lines, I didn't trip & fall down...it went well. Afterwards about 20 of us from Opera went to T.G.I.F. Friday's for "dinner". We were there for about 2 hours...the waitress wasn't so helpful...but we managed to have fun anyhow. Here are a couple of photos: Sarah, Megan, & Ashley H.
Ashley S. & me.

I told you that I could dance....

Here is a clip of Tyler & I dancing with Philip & Lauren...

Option B

I took some headshot photos for the Opera photo gallery in the music building. After three different sets of picture takes, I found one that would work. I'm so particular. :o) Once I get a copy I will scan it on here...

Because of Halloween this week--we didn't have a sitter for Anna tonight. So I was originally going to stay home from Italian while Tyler went to his MBA class...but somehow the idea of "Option B" came about: let's go out for dinner and then to the mall. And my honey bunny agreed! It was so wonderful to spend some time together as a family--I feel like I haven't seen my family at all because of my opera rehearsals and tonight was my one free night. We had a great time. We ate dinner at Chili's and then went to Lane Bryant. I was thrilled to find that I am now a size smaller in my shirt size. Tyler bought me three long-sleeved shirts in these fall colors: brown, orange, & olive green. I'm so excited to have SOMETHING that will fit right!!!

Then we went to Dick's sporting goods. There was a rock climbing wall in the middle of the store--Anna decided that she wanted to climb this enormous wall! Since she's always been part-monkey, we agreed. She made it up about halfway and then was "nervous" and wanted to come back down. I was so proud of her for 1. wanting to do it & 2. being so brave & 3. when she became nervous she calmly asked if she could come back down instead of freaking out and screaming, etc.

I'm a big fan of Option B. I hope we can choose that option again very soon...