Holiday Expo!

Yes, I'm a bit of a slacker and didn't post yesterday. But, I broke my NaBloPoMo streak a while back, and am therefore excused from subsequent absences and skips. Anyway, yesterday was pretty busy. Well, the past week and a half has been pretty busy. But yesterday we hosted our first annual Holiday Expo! Let me tell you, if you didn't make it, you missed out. We had displays set up of different products and gift ideas, the house was decked out for Christmas, and we had Bing Crosby's Christmas album playing in the background. Quite a few people came, and we had a great time. We had brownies, snack bars, hot cocoa, and various fruity drinks. A good time was had by all. The rest of you who didn't make it, you'll just have to wait until next year to have such a great time with us. Sorry. The holiday season only comes once a year.

Early to Bed...

Early to rise. Very true in this case. I'm taking our friends Patrick and Allison to the airport in the morning and will be picking them up at 5:40. Going to bed early isn't so bad, since Michael and I are still pretty wiped out from our recent travels. Michael fell asleep on the couch a little while ago, and I woke him up and made him come to bed. Tomorrow is going to be another busy day, so off to sleep I go as well.

We're Back

I think that says it all. We made it. We're tired. I'm going to bed now.

I had a clever title in mind but can't remember it now.

The audition didn't go so well. There were places that were less than solid while practicing, and those are the spots that always get you when playing under pressure. But, now I have a better idea of how to prepare for next time. Despite my disappointing performance, we had a really good day. We went to Craidarroch Castle, which was really cool. I'll post some photos of that later. The lesson yesterday at UVic went really well. I met with Sharon Stanis, and she had a lot of great tips. I'm still considering whether or not to apply, but I have a bit of time before I have to make that decision. I know everyone is going to be disappointed for me about the audition, but it's really unnecessary. I know what went wrong and why, and I'm really good with the outcome. I'm just glad it's over, at this point.

Victoria

We made it. We drove to Port Angeles, which took about 7 hours. We weren't sure how long it would actually take with the weather on Snoqualmie Pass and Seattle's propensity for traffic. But we made good time and didn't have any problems. It did snow on the pass, but the road was just wet and clear. The snow covered trees were pretty. We got to Port Angeles around 11:30, bought our ferry tickets, then got some lunch. We boarded the ferry a little before 2:00 an crossed the water to Victoria. Going through customs went smoothly, and we walked to our hotel. It's not far from the inner harbour, where the ferry comes in. We have a great view of the harbour from our suite. I'll post pictures later. We spent last night in because we were all so tires. Allison brought a bunch of food and made us burritos for dinner. I practiced a bunch and Michael and I went to bed around 9:00. Today will include practicing, a lesson with a violin professor at UVic, and possibly some exploration of the city.

Off to Canada

It is 3:41 am and Michael is loading the suitcase in the car. Patrick and Allison should be here any minute. Then we're off!


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Weddings and Things

I played for a small wedding and reception this morning. It was probably the most fun I've had at someone else's wedding, and I was working. It was a very small guest list and an intimate ceremony and reception. Michael came with me and we both had a great time. They made us feel like part of the family.

I've been practicing as much as possible the last couple of days. I have a lot more practicing to do before Tuesday morning. At this point, I'm just hoping to make it past the first round. Michael will be mad at me if he reads this for not being super positive, but I don't feel super positive right now. I wish there were more time. Like another week. Or four. But, here we are. Not getting to practice for several days while I was sick did nothing to help. But, all I can do is the best I can do. Wish me luck, my friends. We leave at 4:00 in the morning. I am looking forward to my lesson with one of the UVic professors on Monday afternoon.

Failure, of sorts

So, yesterday was November 5, day 5 of NaBloPoMo, I did not post. I completely forgot. To be fair, I am preparing for an audition in four days. That takes precedence. Yesterday I taught two 5th grade strings classes, started sewing a sleeve on Katrina's sweater, practiced, drove to Spokane and took a lesson, came home and had dinner with Michael, practiced, emptied the suitcases my grandparents gave us last summer, found some more music for my gig tomorrow, practiced, watched a show with Michael while working on a sock (I only got three rows done), then went to bed. While, technically, there was time to blog, I just wasn't thinking about it. So now, the question is, do I keep going as if nothing ever happened, or just call it quits and go back to my (ir)regular blogging schedule? Care to chime in, anyone? Today's schedule will be just as busy, and will include packing and going to church. I have another lesson with my teacher this afternoon, which is good. My preparation schedule for this audition has been very different than ever before. We've been working a lot more on technique, rather than the actual audition material. But, the technique is necessary in order to play the audition material. I've been under orders to practice the audition material at half tempo or so to be able to focus on intonation. Now I have to get them up to tempo by Tuesday. All 14 excerpts. So...this will be interesting. Lots of practice today. There's no time tomorrow. I'll have to practice on Sunday when we get to Victoria (sorry, guys...that's why we're going). And on Monday. Hopefully it's enough time.

Finishing

I've finished knitting the separate parts of my sweater. I'm currently weaving in the ends. Then I'm going to wash the pieces, then sew them together. After that I have to pick up and knit the stitches for the collar. This will be interesting because the longest cable of my interchangeable set of circular knitting needles broke. It broke while I was working on the ruffle collar of Katrina's sweater. When pushing the stitches down along the needle, the part that screws into the needle head sheared clean off, leaving the majority of the connection inside the head of the needle, meaning that I'm without a long cable, and without a size 5 knitting needle head. I can buy replacement parts, and they're not terribly expensive, but I have to order them by mail. You can't order them online....really, what's that about? Don't they realize we're in the 21st century? Anyway....we'll see how it goes. Katrina's sweater is nearly done still. I have to sew the sleeve seams and attach them to the body of the sweater, then weave in the last few ends. Soon...I'll finish it soon.

Tuesday

1. Today was Election Day and I didn't vote. I'm not even sure what we were supposed to vote for. City Council and Mayor I think....what else is anyone's guess. The school I teach 5th grade strings at on Tuesday mornings is a polling place. They took over the gym, where I normally teach my class. We got moved to another classroom, and the kids, who are normally pretty chatty anyway, where extra chatty today.

2. Michael stayed home from work sick today. He's exhibiting meningitis symptoms. He started taking the medication for it and called the doctor's office. He has an appointment for two weeks from today. Hopefully it clears up soon and he's feeling better in time for our trip to Victoria.

3. I'm officially all caught up on the lessons I canceled while I was sick a couple weeks ago. Tuesday afternoons/evenings have become quite busy. I teach from 3-6:30 (tonight I went to 7:00).

4. My forearms have been sore all day from shredding the chicken with two forks yesterday. Anyone know a better way to achieve shredded meat?

5. Things are really starting to click in the audition material. That's good since the audition will be over by this time next week.

Time for bed...

Productive Day

Today has been fairly productive. I got some things done that had been hanging over my head for a bit, and also put in two hours of practicing. I realized today that I haven't given an update on my adventures in baking and such. Last week I made apple butter in my crockpot. I bought a five pound bag of apples, sliced and peeled them, then put them in the crockpot. It takes about 12 hours to make apple butter that way, but it turned out really well. I made a loaf of Oatmeal Whole Wheat Quick Bread to eat it with. I liked the bread fairly well. It is pretty dense, though, and Michael isn't a big fan of dense breads, so I probably won't make it again. I also made a batch of Cafe Mocha Mini Muffins. I thought these were yummy. The coffee flavor is barely detectable, but the recipe could easily be altered to leave out the coffee, if one were so inclined. The pumpkin bread is now all gone, and I think I'll have to make some more. Michael doesn't really like pumpkin bread, so I get the whole loaf to myself. I made Michael the Honey Crystal Almonds, which he enjoyed. Tonight I made shredded barbeque chicken, which was really easy. I put a bunch of chicken breasts (5 or 6 I think) in the crock pot on high for about 2 1/2 or 3 hours with a bottle of barbeque sauce, took it out and shredded it with two forks, put it back in for a while, then served it on hamburger buns. It was tasty.

NaBloPoMo

I've decided to participate in National Blog Posting Month this year. I'll be in Canada for a few days next week, so that should make things interesting. I believe my friend Patrick is bringing a wireless router with us, so perhaps I will have Internet access. So, here goes nothing.