Friday, June 14, 2013

Summer style for divas and divos

Weak in the knees, yes I am!  Light gray with blue looks so fresh and cooling...guys, you'll make 'em swoon with this combo.  The Suit can be found for a great price here!




I am loving this affordable, body-conscious, summery, yet appropriate dress from ASOS-- it would be gorgeous with a fabulous, colorful, huge necklace, like this one from Baublebar.

The  truth is, of course, I could never afford this stunning dress from Lela Rose, but it's serious inspiration, no?
This airy confection would be splendid with a metallic belt and some chandelier earrings... 
I am loving this one too- worn by one of my favorite fashion bloggers at Pink Peonies!  The dress is available here for a song! 
Can we all please agree that a light linen suit on a gent is ridiculously elegant.  This picture is from MenStyleFashion blog, which is chock full of great ideas and inspiration.  Also, this gorgeous light natural linen suit at Macy's is on sale and totally dreamy. 

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

June is bustin' out all over!

I'm closer than ever before to getting the chance to sing one of my dream roles...callback next week.  It's a good day!

The other thing is that I'm wearing really brightly colored trousers today.  If you see me on the street, you just may have to put the sunglasses on.

Besides the callback, there is so much happening that feels really important next week.  Send me your good vibes!!!!!!!

Thursday, June 06, 2013

Opera's youngest super-bloggers

I think it's high time I call your attention to some blogs that have impressed me lately.  But then, you probably already know about Opera Teen and Il Dolce Suono and OperaRox! because, people, they're all over the interwebs, getting shout-outs from greats like Joyce DiDonato, publishing insightful reviews of productions they see, engaging in intelligent twitter convos with opera singers all over the globe (and if you're on Twitter, you know how truly rare that can be), and generally amping up the visibility among the younger crowd and creating a buzz for our fabulous art form.

You've heard me talk about OperaRox! before, since it's the brain child of my friend Kim, who is also an editor of the online opera magazine Opera21. She does weekly livestreams of operas and chats with people all over the world about the production.  She's a lovely mezzo as well, and I know she's going to do great things...wait...she already has!

I love Il Dolce Suono's hilarious anecdotes and conversational tone-- she also has an awesome video on the blog right now of the fabulous Ferrucio Furlanetto singing King Phillip's aria from Don Carlo (aka best opera ever)...watch it.

Opera Teen is getting a lot of attention these days for his operatic romps, read an article about him here on Operavore : "An Opera Teen Builds an Internet Fan Base" and indeed he has.  His Twitter feed is fun to follow, he reviews and writes articles on opera for The Huffington Post, he's been to LaScala (sigh!) and he's a regular at the Met.

This is the new guard of the opera-obsessed, giving me hope that, contrary to concerns of many in our field-- WE WILL HAVE AN AUDIENCE 20 YEARS!!! We will!

I am revived when I read these blogs!  The spirit and enthusiasm and fabulous videos they're posting-- love it.  It reminds me of why we're doing this-- opera is irresistibly fabulous, compelling, and actually kind of addictive-- we have to share the gospel of this super-human genre.  It's larger than life, and intimate at the same time.

Wednesday, June 05, 2013

Wednesday

Yesterday's audition was, well...a bit lackluster.  The circumstances probably didn't help, but to quote a friend, in this case I did not "set the world alight."  Nothing particularly bad about it, just not fabulous.

That being said, every time I have an audition, I feel like I learn something new about myself and my voice, which is one of the reasons I feel I enjoy auditioning so much.  It's really a rush.

On the way home a new and particularly stressful flavor of family drama began, with texts, calls, and eventually a total come-to-jesus with my mom.  Part of it went down while sitting at the pool (I'd gone straight there after my audition), which really made it only slightly better, and in some ways more stressful because I was staring down at my partially naked body in a swimsuit the whole time.  Add to that the fact that Joe keeps buying bags of chips and bringing them to the pool.  I can say with certainty I have no ability to control myself in the presence of potato chips, especially the kind pictured to the left.  They are the single most wonderful and most hated food in my life.  If and when I evolve into an all-powerful deity, the first thing I will do is create potato chips with no calories or cholesterol or anything.

I really should have been practicing, but after dinner, Joe and I decided to go out to thrift stores and find more fabulous artwork for our walls.  We were wholly unsuccessful, but we did end up with some watermelon and cantelope which I am hoping can now take the place of chips at pool-time.  Well...nothing could ever take the place of chips...but, you know what I mean.

Ahh life.  What a series of ups and downs it is.  But in the summer time and at Christmas it is really great.  And lots of times in between.




Monday, June 03, 2013

Weekend recap

It was a seamless and stress-free trip to NYC, and even more enjoyable because I am reading a fabulous book entitled Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.  It was recommended by friends who promised me it would be a page turner and indeed it is! 

I worked on some rep for an audition as well as my new bel canto stuff with my teacher and coach.  I had hoped to fit in a wonderfully cheap New York pedicure at my favorite place, Serenity Nails in Midtown, but there was no time!  My coach went over a bit with me (Lucky me!) and I had to high-tail it down town to catch the bus.  I did have just enough time to pick up two dark chocolate mousse-filled Ritter Sport bars on my way...mmm.  What a treat. 

The plan for yesterday after church was to spend the afternoon at the pool and then attend the concert, but I was feeling a bit under the weather, so it ended up being a very low key afternoon, especially since it rained!  So I made good use of the time by making bread and yogurt for the week.  I don't do very well with downtime...I have no idea what to do with myself.  I need to get help for that. :)

I've got that audition tomorrow!  Micaela, here I come.  Wish me luck!