I'm going to be an auntie!

So this has been on the super downlow for awhile, but now Melissa's showing so it's pretty much pointless to try to deny it. Can you imagine how that conversation would go?


"Hey! I didn't know you were pregnant, congrats! When are you due?"
"I'm not pregnant. You dillhole."
"...but you have a baby bump. Like right there."
"THAT is my STOMACH, you JERK. What, are you calling me chubby? You think it's cool to assume? OW!"
*bump moves*
"What was that?"
"The ba....my lunch kic....I have gas."

Awwkwaarrd. So now that that's settled, Meliseester had an ultrasound this morning where the sex of the baby was revealed!

TA DA!

If you'll look carefully at the picture, you'll see IT'S A BOT! Just what I've always wanted!! I have lots of knitting to do...gotta keep those steely joints warm. :D

UNO's voice of George Crumb

He sounds remarkably like my sister....





That's me taking pictures up front. I always get the best seats. :)

An evening with George Crumb

Well, only part of an evening. And, an evening that was actually about a flautist earning her Master's degree. Whom I had never met.

Melisser and Daddo drove the 13-hours from Columbus so that she could make a guest appearance tonight at a friend's graduate recital, lending her signature avant garde George Crumb awesomeness to accompany said friend's (frankly) spectacular flute-playing. I'm so proud of my preetty seester and her beautiful, crystalline voice!

 

Honestly, I never thought flute would be so entertaining! Not only did Sara play lightning-fast, she also trilled her tongue while playing in some parts of the music, or buzzed the flute like a kazoo WHILE pulling a melody out of it. Insane. I actually started giggling with mirth and amazement at the kazoo part because I am eternally inappropriate and love it when people think I am being disrespectful. Speaking of disrespectful, there was SOME girl in the southwest corner of the room who kept making odd "mmm! hmm!" sounds only during the performance....I was so confused and annoyed at her interruption of the flute-nirvana that in trying to figure out what the hell it was, I actually convinced myself it must just be a woman breastfeeding and the baby was making satisfied grunting noises. Yes, THAT is how I made this strange noise acceptable to myself.

 

Very impressive. I talked to Sara afterward about how much I'd liked her recital, and she said she and Melissa have tentative plans to put together another performance sometime in the future. Yay!

 

Scene change. On Friday night, Meliseester and I went to see Marriage of Figaro at the Orpheum. It was gorgeous! I love the opera. I wish I could remember how many I've seen. This one in particular I kind of had to strain to see, because a dude with the widest head in existence sat in front of me. You never would guess from his narrow face either. Maybe it was just the hair at the back of his head. So I got to invade some personal space on either side of my seat, at least until I figured out I could sit on my coat. There was also a group of students that came in late, traipsed in front of a whole row of people, and then half of then decided they had to go to the bathroom or something....twice. To end the night, here is a conversation I had with Melisser:

Me: "Where's the 'Fiiiigaro, Figaro, Figaro, Fi-ga-ro!' ?"

Melissa: "Actually, that's Barber of Seville."

Captain Obvious: "...but this opera has 'Figaro" in the title."

More Knowledgeable Opera Buff: "Indeed, but the part you're talking about is in Barber of Seville."

Argumentative: "Are you sure? I don't remember any Figaro in that one."

Singer with Operatic Range: "Did you see Barber of Seville?"

Me: "...no."

She: *raises brows*

But despite all this silliness, I had a wonderful time with my beautiful seester!

Thanks Give!

Happy Thanksgiving! We flew to Columbus, Ohio today to visit my parents, brother and family friends for a fine food coma.

In addition to the Lawsons, in attendence were: the Fays (new San Diego transplants aunt Nenette, uncle Jeff, cousins Jessica and Andrew, and Andrew's girlfriend Jen), the Monahans (family friends Dan, Rachel, Nichole and Kat), some new people we've never met, a guy named Marvin here on TDY for the Air Force (not sure what TDY means, temporary something) and family friends the Mauricios, Gina and Johnny. Fun times and lots of food!

It's also my brother Alex's 16th birthday tomorrow! Wine-besotted, I must've asked three times who was turning sixteen before the cake was set down in front of none other than my blushing brother. Aww.

After the delectable lemon cake, my dad and I gorged ourselves on the dessert table.

We also played a new game called Partini (lots of instructions to read) and sang extremely, extremely Filipino song choices in karaoke (Total Eclipse of the Heart, A Whole New World, Careless Whispers, etcetera), an extremely Filipino choice of celebration (albeit really fun), but I forgot to take pictures of that because did I mention I've been wine-besotted most of the evening? Now we're playing Fable II, which is so completely awesome I can't even describe it. Also played with Loki Loks!

So, happy Thanksgiving! We hope it was all you were wishing for, with plenty of warm and tasty traditional favorites (especially sides, yessss), relatively pleasant conversations and more than slightly riveting entertainment, safety, laughs and sleepiness. LOVE!