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!

January's project: Strawberry Balsamic Jam

I made this with a combination of recipes-- the Canning 101 recipes from Pioneer Woman, because they are for a simple strawberry jam...

I <3 Pioneer Woman

...and, the no-pectin strawberry balsamic jam from Savory Sweet Life:

Alice is cool too.

I was intrigued by the balsamic addition presented by Alice, but really wanted to make a jam I could give away if I wanted. Also, I'd made the plain strawberry jam from PW for Christmas gifts already.

The verdict?

It tasted just like the regular strawberry jam. I didn't have them side by side or anything, but it sure tasted like regular strawberry to me. And the color wasn't as pretty as when I made the plain. I wonder if it had to do with subbing in two tablespoons of balsamic for two of lemon juice, since the juice can help brighten the color? The world may never know. In any case, I have some tasty jam for toast in the morning, and that's a win.

Haiti sounds devastating

I donated $20 to disaster relief efforts in Haiti and encourage you to consider it as well. It's sad that our first donation of the year is to assist in such appalling circumstances. I can't imagine what it must be like to go through such a damaging earthquake-- or to be an aggrieved family member in the US with no word and no information other than what surfaces daily.

Mercy Corps
Doctors Without Borders

It is launched!

For the few Omahans who read this, I present to you the Metro Neighborhood News!

http://metroneighborhoodnews.com/

This new publication should have arrived in your mailbox yesterday or today, and features news, stories and events specific to your particular region of Omaha. You will receive this newspaper every month, along with approximately 255,000 other residents of Omaha and the surrounding areas.

I hope you'll spend some time with the paper and maybe click through the site a bit and check it out. You can read stories about your own neighborhood, leave comments, take polls, and register as a member of the site. If you are so inclined, you can also search for "Metro Neighborhood News" on Facebook and become a fan, or follow us on Twitter.

To see some brief TV news coverage of the paper, please go here and click the link entitled Women Matter: Newspaper Taps Work From Home Moms, at the top of the page. Or you could go to www.KPTM.com, then News Features, then Women Matter. The brunette lady with the adorable little boy is my editor, Summer Miller.

I am the copy-editor for the publication, which is super exciting since the OCD perfectionist grammar nerd in me has always wanted to be a real life copy-editor.  Hurrah! I'm thrilled to be involved with such a massive project in such an important way, and perhaps I'll even write a few stories of my own. I see great things for 2010!

A goal not written is but a wish.

These are my 2010 goals...Eric's to come. I do lots of musing at work but try not to bother Eric during the workday unless I'm sending him something funny.

1) Become pregnant. Oh, also stay pregnant for the requisite nine months and give birth to a healthy child-- just sayin, in case the universe feels like taking my initial wish literally and then playing a nasty trick.
2) Tone up! Um, not necessarily in this order. And if #1 is achieved, I reserve the right to stay undefined in the middle.
3) Knit and crochet passably by year-end. It would help if my fingers didn't turn into thumbs every time I picked up a crochet needle. And for knitting to become less hard. But regardless! Passably.
4) Can more often, one project per month. This month's is secret because it's for someone who reads this blog. :)

Ready, set, go!

Time speeds up in the fall.

The surprise arrival of our four-year anniversary has stopped me in my tracks and reminded me to take a breath. It is, after all, my most favorite ever time of year-- time for brisk, hay-scented fall breezes and light corduroy jackets; the trees flaunting their parting love affair with summer and making me yearn to learn real photography; freshly-fallen leaves crunching underfoot, though I know I should rake them before they turn to crumbs and elude all attempts to get them into a yard bag. Time for meeting new friends in new favorite bars with new favorite drinks, or sitting with old ones to plan tradition-honored festivities; time for cool nights of open windows and soft breaths of wind on my face in bed. It's fall, has so fully been fall that I have been eating up every day and leaving no appetite for blogging.

We kept busy in October with our friends' annual Hayrack Ride, pumpkin carving, the zombie walk, and our own Halloween party. This past weekend boasted a house packed to the hilt with pretty well everyone we know, a bigger party than any we've ever had before. Just for this one time a year, we embraced the chaos and added to it with an overly ambitious menu (many thanks to the Magnusons for saving us...again!) and probably too many drinks than was wise. We actually floated the keg before midnight.

Just this once....til next year.

New ink

Oktoberfest

The Omaha Fashion Show

Successful broiler pizzas

2nd annual Zombie Walk

Los Artes Día de los Muertos art show...

and the house band, The Prairie Gators. The guy in the middle, Buffalo, is something of an Omaha urban myth.

The Duggars and Johnny Depp enjoy our Halloween party.

A bar straight out of the Sopranos-- Josephine's.

Our wedding photographers' Halloween party

Interesting article about Fiji Water

I'm really glad we don't drink bottled water.

Read Fiji Water: Spin the Bottle, on Mother Jones here.