Today I stopped by a bookstore on my way home from teaching and ended up picking up a few wedding magazines and a wedding book.  I was a little embarrassed to buy them, but it ended up being okay…as I am wearing an engagement ring.  After all, NOW is the time I actually can legitimately buy these things and not feel weird or creepy.

I haven’t spent much time thinking about my wedding in the past—I have never been one of those women who dreamed of her perfect wedding.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  I have thought about my wedding, but primarily I have thought about it while I was playing at other ceremonies and thinking about what I didn’t like about those ceremonies.  So I have lots of ideas of things that I definitely don’t want (and I won’t say here as I don’t want to insult people who might love those things!) but not as many ideas of things that I DO want.  Hence the books and magazines…I need to brainstorm. 

That’s me tonight…

By the way, evidently Friday’s performance of La Traviata is sold out, but Sunday is still available.  It’s going to be a great show!

I’m tired.  I’m definitely going to bed early tonight.

I had an exhausting (though very exciting) weekend.  For those of you who are behind on my blog (or living under a rock), I got engaged!

I’ve had 9 hours of opera rehearsal so far.  La Traviata is going well.  The St. Louis Woman’s Club is a lovely venue.  Perhaps a good place to get married? 

I didn’t do too many (none, actually) workouts over the weekend so it was great to get back to the gym today and run then workout with Mike.  He was girlishly excited that I had gotten engaged.  I feel silly getting so much attention…but I guess it’s nice…and well-deserved?

I made a new recipe tonight—Spicy Sweet Potato Wedges.  They were tasty, but I don’t think I cooked them as long as I should have.  The 500 degree temperature frightened me.  I do like sweet potatoes though.

I had lunch at a new (to me) restaurant today—Nora’s in Dogtown.  It was great—I had a pork/applesauce/brie sandwich (“For Pete’s Sake”)with tomato basil bisque soup.  Delicious.

Now to watch a show or two on tv and then rest up for a long day of teaching and more opera tomorrow. 

(Last note:  the students loved their Valentine’s cookies yesterday.)

Well, I didn’t get a blog post in yesterday because there was a lot of excitement.  I also didn’t make it to my race this morning…

That’s because yesterday I got engaged!  Chris proposed before dinner—I was so surprised.

We are going ring shopping this afternoon.  I’m hoping to have a picture of the ring soon. 

As a few of my posts lately have been negative, I wanted to post something more positive…

How about a list of things I am thankful for?  That always cheers me up.

I’m thankful for:

a warm house that I can make warmer if I want

a warm snuggly kitty

adorable students

my LEFT wrist doesn’t bother me

St. Louis Bread Company (that’s Panera to most of you) and their awesome “you pick two” combo

my kindle, chock full of awesome books (currently reading “The Year of Magical Thinking” by Joan Didion)

a loving boyfriend

being gainfully employed, from a variety of employers…

my awesome trainer who never fails to cheer me up AND kick my butt twice a week

getting to run outside in a race on Saturday..and supposedly it will be much warmer!

getting to play La Traviata next week

being able to email my thoughts to npr on their stories (yes, I did this today!)

Last but not least:  I’m thankful that February is nearly half over, which means March is nearby!!  And spring!!

I have been in a crabby mood lately.  As you might have guessed based on my short, crabby blog entries.  I couldn’t figure out WHY exactly—

I finally figured it out—it’s the weather.  I’m SICK of the ice, snow, and cold…the ice that simply PILES up on the streets and doesn’t go anywhere due to the COLD.  I want to be able to freely move outside, and I can’t for risk of falling (and I do tend to fall a lot).  I want sun, and warmth, and sandals.

But this is winter, after all, and I don’t want to live in Florida or Arizona (I really don’t.)  So I need to just live with it.  And as far as all the students that are annoying me probably because they are also feeling crabby…for the same reasons that I am—I need to cut them some slack.  We are all in the same icy cold boat here.  I remember in the fall (and the beginning of January!) I was full of patience and hope…I need to try to regain that rather than simply counting down the days until summer. 

Do you experience the winter doldrums as well?  Do you have any suggestions for me?