Birthday time!

I turned 28 on the 14th. It was a lovely Thursday! A bunch of family and friends met Eric and me at the Crescent Moon for dinner and beers, then we went with the friends to Sullivan's for some karaoke and more beers. It was kind of a late night (as in, the-bar-closed-late), but surprisingly, I had no trouble getting to work in the morning. I still got it! :D

I didn't manage to take any pictures, but Melissa did. Here's one of me, Eric and our friend Anne:


Two more years til the big Dirty Thirty. Eeesh!

Sara's husband-to-be...

had a bachelor party.

Here's the happy couple:


And here's a picture of Dustin on the big night:


The lucky lady is Fatty Patty, and she sure knows how to have a good time!

A recital

The day after graduation, Melissa held an encore performance of her senior recital for our family, who had flown in from Ohio to help celebrate her accomplishment. She was, as per usual, stunning in her performance, showing her degree was well and studiously (ha!) earned. She has a pristine, delicate voice that sounds like it could shatter, but it never, ever does. It's quite the edgy experience. I only wish I could post a video!

Her ensemble consisted of her preferred theme: fascination with death. Pieces included David Del Tredici's Lament on the Death of a Bullfighter, John Adams' This is Prophetic!, Igor Stravinsky's No Word From Tom, some others I can't recall, and my personal favorites...songs from Apparition, by George Crumb. This involved amplified piano Particularly striking and possibly the creepiest song in the entire world was Dark Mother Always Gliding Near with Soft Feet. All of the Crumb songs were fantastically chilling, and very spooky; I think my other favorite was called Death Carol, in which Melissa hooted and called like some ominous nightbird. Gorgeous.

As a special surprise to our parents, I joined Melissa at the piano after her main performance and we sang a duet that thoroughly trumped her death theme....The Flower Song, from the opera Lakmé. I think everyone was pleased and surprised, and it was nice to share that experience with my seester!

Cheers to the graduate!

So my seester Melissa finally finished her degree, and ahead of me too! (Well, the whole population's ahead of me.) She is now a distinguished recipient of the University of Nebraska at Omaha's degree in Vocal Performance. I'm so proud of her! College is hard.

May 8 was the big day, and a beautiful, sunny day at that. Graduation took place at the Civic Center downtown. Here is the Accomplished One with our parents:


And here's one of we siblings:


And here I am ruining the picture, the only one of Meliseester and me with our husbands:


After graduation, we had dinner at Vincenzo's downtown, which was incredible. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of that event because I was too busy worshipping my baked sea scallops and asparagus with cherry risotto. OMG. It was a good day!

battiness, sheer battiness

You'll hopefully forgive the pun, in just a moment. Life has been cuh-rraaaaazzzzyyy! I finally completed testing for a license for work (Series 4, w00t!), finished the semester at UNO, my sister graduated and then had a recital, we replaced our countertops.....pictures of all of which are soon to come. For now, please to enjoy the following photos of Nebraska Wildlife Rehab's annual bat release, executed in late April. All the overwintered, nicely fattened bats make an escape into the warm April evening, to stretch their long-dormant wings, feast upon tasty bugs (after a months-long diet of exclusively mealworms), and again taste sweet, sweet freedom.



Here I am with Rebecca, who was really eager to release a homesick bat.



Here, hoping to entice said bat onto her white!! sleeve. (I just re-read this and realized I am ALSO wearing white so I can't talk! It was an old shirt.) That bat ended up being kinda scared and depressed, which sometimes happens after prolonged captivity, so he was whisked back to a caregiver's home for a little more rehab before trying a release again.

All in all, we released over 200 bats cared-for over the winter, and wish them the very best their batty lives can bring.