Thursday

It couldn't have come at a better time. I LOVE snowstorms. Because there is no school today, I am checking email from home and teaching my stalwart Thursday private lesson student because she is unafraid of snow!

This morning I made biscuits and sausage gravy and watched old episodes of Parks and Recreation and laughed a lot. I have a much more ready giggle when I have the day off. :)

Other projects today include making focaccia, practicing, doing crafts, drinking, and watching Sex and the City intermittently with Anne of Green Gables so that I can be totally morally, socially, and historically confused. It would also be an excellent day for shopping, but I am broke. It's so depressing that at my age that still happens, but hey. I am technically supposed to be studying a great deal of music, and so I will try to be good with that too. But in any case, I intend to take advantage of today altogether.

Tuesday, part the second

Do you ever look down at your hands and think, good God, I haven't had a proper manicure since 1992. I could wrap my cuticles around my wrists. And then I think, what am I coming to? What has the world come to. I used to be so delightfully high-maintenance and "fancy." As the song says. I don't even have fake blonde hair any more, I don't eat lean cuisines at every meal, and I don't burn myself to a crisp on tanning beds or slather in smelly fake tanner! I must be letting myself go.

These are such random thoughts. I often wonder why I am writing them down for all the ether to read. But then I think, why the hell not.

After dealing with major dramas, sometimes you need to focus on insignificant minutia. And go home and make jambalaya and drink shiraz with it.

Tuesday

When you are eating your english muffin and drinking your coffee, the day somehow looks so much brighter than when you get to your office and the phone is ringing off the hook and everyone has a problem. Probably because I was watching the Piers Morgan interview with Oprah (I DVR'd it! Best invention EVER) this morning over breakfast. Everyone has such strong opinions about Oprah, I know. But I happen to think she is really swell and inspiring.

So, he asks her: "What is your brand?"
She says: "My brand is love."

And while part of my brain wants to snicker, in my current jaded state of mind, the other part is like YES. YES. My brand is love.

I want my brand to be love.

And of course, a very fierce singing voice.

Friday

Didn't sleep last night, not really. Hoping to look outside and see snow. Somehow snow is so soothing.

But today is so much quieter and I am feeling like I can cope! :) Also, I discovered last night after a great practice session that assured me that voce divina did not go AWOL, since for a few frantic days there it was almost like I could FEEL it shriveling up inside my throat.

Which of course makes no sense at all. I am a crazy person.

Tuesday

First day of school. DYING. So much to do. Methinks it is time for my Malbec IV. Can I get a drip going?

And my voice? I have no idea where it is or how I am planning on getting it back today...all I can think about is it going away and never coming back.

Thursday

Knee deep in Micaela and Messiah, of all things, and a new piece by a great new composer. Fun, fun, fun. Also, I'm looking for a "fast and furious" audition piece to add to all of my other arias which fit into the categories "dying of consumption and love-lorn," "scared of wolves in the forest and love-lorn,"and "silly and crazed." I think I may have found one...

Wednesday

I am hereby declaring today Hug a Cat Day. In honor of one very special cat named Gally, who we lost last night.

If I were to begin to rhapsodize about cats, and to tell you everything I think and believe about them, you would all get together and commit me to an asylum. However, sufficed to say: I would have done very well in ancient Egypt where they were considered deities.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of my own sweet children, Pete and Mimi. It seems whenever anything is the matter with me, they are the first to know, and come, purring, to my rescue.

Monday

Another week is beginning. And I can't believe I am as optimistic as I am! I think it had a lot to do with all the fun I had this weekend with lots of great people and some fantastic music at a friend's wedding.

No one could deny that I have some really remarkably skilled singers as friends, and this weekend I feel like I had the chance to really revel in their fabulousness. I love singing with talented people-- one of the major reasons why opera is such a rush in the first place! All of that balls-to-the-wall wailing really turns me on...ooh ahh.

I felt great about my own collaboration with Joe and it seemed well-received. I guess, to sum it up, it was just one of those experiences that reminds one why we chose singing in the first place: Because, despite the stress of preparing a performance to suit my rather high standards for my self, it is so damn fun, and I absolutely love it.

Thursday

Yesterday I was sure I had pneumonia, because, well, it hurt to breathe. And then I realized it was just my first day back to work.

Sigh.

However, I still have all of this phlegm swirling around in there that is really scaring me especially since I have quite the singing extravaganza this weekend...yesterday, while rehearsing, I broke into a spasm of coughing. Never my favorite thing to have happen, since, basically, I freak out that it could happen in the performance.

Then I think, well, what is the worst thing that could come of it? I would stop, take a sip of water, and start over. No one would die, no one would go to jail. It's not really that big of deal...right?

Wednesday

News Flash:

I got the Pioneer Woman Cookbook for Christmas, after being obsessed with her fabulous website for a long time.

So far I've made two of the recipes from the book (although I have cooked many from the website) and they both turned out smashingly. EVERYTHING she makes is home food-- nothing hoity-toity. Which, I maintain, is usually the way to go around our house. If I'm in the mood for a fancy meal, I'll probably go to a fancy restaurant where a well-trained chef can make it for me.

But, in a rare moment of non-singing bloggery, cook something off this website and you will be glad you did. Among my favorites include the unreal steak salad with fried onions, the mozzerella sticks, the sherried tomato soup, pasta with pancetta and leeks, the pot roast, a fabulous pots de creme and next on my list is her cajun chicken pasta!

Run, don't walk!

Tuesday

I just got back with having drinks with Miss Bohemus...as Pierce used to say. Wow did we have a great time.

Oh my, all our friends are having babies... and twins, yet. It is so perplexing. And yet, I suppose, if I were having a baby in general, I would choose to have twins because it is more efficient.

I don't know. I would miss wine and coffee a great deal.

And sharing Joe with anyone, even a seven pound child, would not be my idea of fun.

But I do love babies. And I make an excellent Auntie/Godmother. I am great at present-giving and holding/calming/diaper-changing/baby-sitting.

I have heard others say that it is vital to have children because you need someone to take care of you when you are old. This is sensible, really. But I suspect that something beyond sense is important when making these types of decisions. You need to WANT to do it. I'm not there yet. Maybe someday I will be.

Monday

Today is the day I get down to real brass tacks with this music.

It is also the day I make a pot roast with carrots and potatoes.

AND this morning, when I was supposed to be dropping things off at Goodwill, I went in, and found a fabulous picture, that just needs a litle paint on the frame. So I went to Walmart (yes, Walmart) and bought paint and now I have a fun craft project.

Oh there are so many potential distractions when one is off from work.

Lovely.