Random thoughts

Pretty Flowers

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After all the excitement of the holidays and getting married and writing about getting married…it seems mundane to go back to regular old blogging.  But if I’m going to keep this up (and I am) I must find things to write about that are less exciting than cruises and weddings.

My mom emailed a picture of the bouquet Leslie and I sent her for her birthday.

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Very pretty, right?  It’s kind of a tradition that we send flowers every year.  The first year we tried it (maybe 8 years ago?) we had a bit of a computer error (dial up) and the order ended up going through two times.  We quickly called the company to remedy the situation, but my mom still ended up getting TWO bouquets that year, from two different independent florists.  Two for the price of one!  Since then we’ve only sent one bouquet total, but I always think of that. 

I think that pile of logs outside the house must be from the other week when they got some trees cut down. (pictures from my Mom’s facebook page)

That is where I’ll be returning at the beginning of April!  And I got a beautiful dress to wear for the performance—Leslie and I are playing the Bach Double Concerto with the Presbyterian College Orchestra in our hometown of Clinton, South Carolina.

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The other night for the opera I thought I’d do something different with my hair.  It’s getting too long and is totally annoying me, so I did a little twist/pin thing, and I thought it turned out pretty well.  I should probably practice that sort of thing more often in case I want to do it for some fancier evenings. (Of which you know I have so many!)

In any case, I called to get a haircut—I was trying to make it till March since I’d spent so much money on my appearance in November and December.  I totally forgot my hairdresser was having a baby!  (She was quite pregnant even on my wedding day, so I don’t know how I forgot).  In fact, she was in labor at the time I called.  I can’t wait 8 weeks for her to get back though, so I’m getting my hair cut with a different hairdresser this week.

I had a workout this morning.  Lots of chest, back, and shoulders.  I was planning to run a bit afterwards but my stomach felt funny so I’ll postpone that until tomorrow.

Today is full of teaching.  I’d better stop writing and start getting ready for my day!  I have over 5 hours of students at the school. 

Random thoughts

Baby Shower!

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Saturday a few of us threw a baby shower for my friend Laura.

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We were all really excited because Laura is one of the first in our circle to be having a baby.  I was also excited to see everybody and to see Adrianne’s house for the first time. 

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Dana was hard at work arranging flowers Jen got from Trader Joe’s. 

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I was put in charge of making "Band Booster Punch."  In deference to the pregnant lady, there was no alcohol involved. 

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The goody table started coming together.  She’s having a boy, in case you couldn’t tell. 

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I got the cake from McArthur’s Bakery.  It was delicious and they were super easy to order from.  I don’t remember learning about them for wedding cakes, and I wish we had!  (Oh well, ours was good too.)

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"It’s a boy" Hershey Kisses and Blue M & Ms…brilliant idea by Jen

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Delicious cheese spread, courtesy of Melissa.  I personally liked the Brie and the Emmenthaler the best.

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Beautiful homemade card by Dana, what a talent she is!

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The guest of honor, Laura, with Elizabeth

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Vanessa and Jen.

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What is it about babies and elephants?

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After we figured most people were there, we cut the cake. 

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Then it was time for games.  We chose to do a game where we listed 25 personality traits/attributes and had to guess if Laura would prefer the baby got them from her or her husband Jon.  Some examples were eyes, hair, navigational skills, artistic ability, friendliness, dance skills, and temperament.  Whoever got the most the same as what Laura wrote won. 

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The other game was to guess how many M & Ms were in that little bottle.  Answer: 286.

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Time for presents!  So many!!  And yes, that is a whale bathtub.

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Laura had to work hard to open all the gifts. 

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Jon stopped by to say hello and enjoy some cake.  We made him play the game—he actually would have won as they only disagreed on a couple.  He was smart enough to leave "Driving Skills" blank!

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Another great piece of art from Dana.  I’m jealous!!

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This is the elephant mobile Chris and I gave her.  I also gave her "Pat the Bunny" and another book I love called "Moo, Baa, La-la-la."

All in all it was a fabulous success!!  Adrianne was a wonderful hostess, and the others did more than enough to throw off a wonderful party.  I think everybody had a good time, and most importantly, Laura walked away with a ton of stuff to help her be the wonderful mother I know she will be.  I can’t wait to meet little "Ray-Ray".

Weddings

Honeymoon Cruise, Final Days

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I’ve had this on my to-do list for awhile:  finish wrapping up the honeymoon on the blog!

Days 6 and 7 were days at sea, aka, the most awesome days ever.  Sleep in, do whatever all day, eat big fancy dinner, go to bed.  Repeat.

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Who’s that handsome man at the bar??

We made a point of exploring the whole ship during our sea days.  Usually I like to do that on the first day, but since I had been sick that threw a wrench in things.  We discovered this cool bar, "the Sunset Bar" that was on the top in the back (aft), and was surrounded by "The Lawn Club", an area with natural grass used for sunbathing, picnicking, bocce, and golf. 

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You can see the grass here.  Weird, right?

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We only got one towel animal all week, so I was really excited when we did!

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This was my dress for the second formal night.

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Chris looks very tan, tired, and probably incredibly full.

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We were in "Cellar Masters" to hear the string trio play before retiring for the night.  I believe we were in our stateroom by midnight every night.  There was a late night comedian who had shows each night, sometimes at 11, 11:30 or 12, and we just never made it.  We were too tired.  You know how old married folks get.

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Back at the Sunset Bar the next day, trying to get our money’s worth from the drink package.  I also got my nails done at the spa, had to get the fakes taken off so I could return home and be able to play the violin…Chris got a massage which he said was great too.

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And that’s the last picture I took.  Goodbye Honeymoon, Goodbye Cruise!

Would we sail Celebrity again?  Absolutely!!!  It was a fantastic experience and I am absolutely thrilled with our honeymoon experience.  Being in Aqua class was a wonderful choice, the service was phenomenal, our stateroom was great, and the balcony was amazing.  We loved almost everything about our honeymoon and wouldn’t change a thing.

And that’s that.  The wrap up of my wedding is done, can you believe it?  It’s been over two months, and yes, we’re still married, thanks for asking.  Things we haven’t finished yet include putting together our photo album, but that will happen soon…we have the album, and the pictures.  We also STILL want to get a few more things from Sarah Crowder, but we keep getting distracted by other stuff. 

(Here’s a post about all the vendors we used, all that jazz…)

I see things on the internet where people say, oh, I wish we had just eloped, the wedding was just too much stress.  I loved our wedding:  we were lucky to be able to have exactly the wedding we wanted, and to share it with the people we loved.  I wouldn’t change a thing about it.  It was stressful and expensive, but it was well worth the stress and expense to have a special day for us, a day full of memories that I hope we will remember forever! 

Thanks for reading my wedding story! 

Performing

La Boheme

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Local readers—come out and see Winter Opera St Louis perform La Boheme this Friday night at 8 pm, with a repeat performance Sunday at 2 pm.  It’s one of the most beautiful operas ever written.  I’ll be in the pit, so come say hello.

Home

It’s been a busy week with rehearsals going until 11 pm almost every night! 

I managed to get a great run in this morning with Jen.  My trainer told me to do 40 minutes of 4 minutes running (easy), 30 seconds of sprinting.  I programmed my Garmin (205) to beep at each change, and off we went.  I guess I ended up programming it for 45 minutes, but it was a great workout.  Really tough though, and we had to take a few walk breaks, but managed to do all the sprints.  At the end we were still about 2 miles from the car so we "yogged" the rest of the way.  It was my first run this week, and I felt great afterwards.

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Chris sent me this picture the other day. 

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Today I countered with an upside side down kitty.

Yeah…we lead pretty exciting lives!  That’s how we roll. 

Running

One Last Castlewood Cup Post

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(for previous post, click here)

They finally posted my pictures from the race—nothing from the finish line (which is FINE) but plenty of me running across that darned creek.  I almost enjoyed it.  Almost.

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What I like about these pictures is that I am most definitely running.  Not in a graceful, gazelle-like manner, but…most definitely running.

My calves are still sore from that darned race.

Oh, and Happy Leap Year Day!  On my way home from rehearsal last night I heard a bit on the BBC World News during which they interviewed a woman who was a “leap year baby” and only has an official birthday every four years.  I thought that sounded really neat.  My mom was born in a leap year, but on February 24…she should have waited five days…she’d be so much younger 😉

Food

Chocolate Covered Almonds

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It’s that time of month again…"Foodie Pen Pals" time!  I didn’t participate in January, so February was my first month back.  I actually got paired with a dud this month.  I sent my stuff to the lovely Crissy from near Las Vegas, who doesn’t have a blog.  I didn’t receive anything from the person I was supposed to, but Lindsay took pity on me and sent something my way!

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All kinds of good stuff, including the blog-world-famous chia seeds, granola, almond butter, and in the plastic bag…chocolate covered almonds.  Those are gone.  WAY gone.

Thanks Lindsay!  I was thrilled to get this package!!

Wanna be part of foodie pen pals next month?  Here are the rules:

-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month. 
-Foodie Penpals is open to US & Canadian residents.  Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We’ve determined things might get too slow and backed up if we’re trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa. So, I’m going to keep two separate lists and match US w/ US and Canada w/ Canada!

If you’re interested in participating for March, please send  an email to Lindsay at theleangreenbean@gmail.com and include the following information:
-Your full name
-Your email address
-Your blog name/address
-Your twitter handle (if applicable)
–WHETHER YOU ARE A US RESIDENT OR CANADIAN RESIDENT. – this is SUPER important so you get on the right list!

You must submit your information by March 4th as pairings will be emailed on March 5th!

***PLEASE NOTE: if you send an email, you WILL GET A RESPONSE within 48 hours. If you don”t….please re-send your email or contact Lindsay via Twitter (@LeanGrnBeanBlog). Last month we had a few emails get lost as spam so we’re trying to avoid that!

thoughts about violin, teaching, running, life.