Roomie Dinner!!!

I had certainly missed my PLU gals. Jaina was so great and planned a whole evening for us! You Rock! We met for dinner down at the Oyester Bar and had a great meal and chance to catch up!

After dinner, the girls went to Starbucks as I rushed back to school to get ready for the our musical Seussical! They came and watched the show that night. It was so nice to see all of you guys and I am so glad we got a picture all togther. I can't wait to get together again!

Yesterday Carol, Natalie and I went to The Light in the Piazza. It was amazing! I was already enamoured with several of the songs before we went, namely the title song because my advanced women's choir (Bonne Chanteuse) is singing it, but now seeing the whole show it is all incredible!

Besides the show, it was so great to spend some time with Carol and Natalie outside of choir rehearsal. I am a lucky girl to have them in my life! Carol I hope Gary liked the pizza you brought home to share;) And Natalie as always, muchas gracias for the laughs!

In my choir room, I have on display about 15 musical posters, some from NY, others from Paramount shows, and some I have ordered online. I so was excited to get one for this show. During intermission they were selling nothing, so I was pretty disappointed. Then, at the end of the show they announced they would be selling fully signed posters with the proceeds going to Broadway Cares! Needless to say, Carol, Natalie and I bolted and picked up our fully signed posters! Woo Hoo! I can't wait for the next show!

A Few Florida Pictures!

Carol and I on Miami Beach!

I am so fortunate at THS to have amazing singers and just all around great kids to be around. Two of Seniors, Alica and Carolyn, made the National Honor Choir! There were only 6 other girls from the State of Washington who were accepted, so you can really see how awesome of an opportunity this was! They did such an amazing job and both were truly changed by the experience. I hope to have kids go to the next National Honor Choir which will be in Oklahoma in 2009!!!

This was taken right after the concert! These are my two students that went, Carolyn and Alicia!

Carol and I had a great time in Florida together! We spent lots of time walking around Miami, shopping, eating, and of course some time on the beach!

Carol and I ate at the Hard Rock Cafe while were there. The HRC is attached to a great outdoor mall. It was so nice to walk around there at night and they also had concerts every night!

We also had the chance to go to the Miami Seaquarium. I can't believe how great this shot turned out because it was on my camera phone:) But we had a great time...Oklahoma 2009 here we come!

Weekend in Pasco

Saturday morning we all got up to the smell of fresh cooked bacon. Patrick and Kin made bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns for breakfast! We piled into our vehicles and headed out to Pasco where Big Pat and Loreice now live. I had not seen the house yet so I was very excited to finally go. Big Pat picked up tickets for us to see the home opener of the Pasco Fever arena football team. It was a lot of fun, unfortunately the team lost .

The next day we headed out to a miniature golf course! It was a perfect day to out playing! Before we headed to the miniature Pat couldn't resist taking a swing or two! What great form:)

Here is Big Pat lining up a shot!

I caught this shot of Patrick after he his a hole in one! You will just have to imagine one of me leaping into the air after my TWO holes in one!!!!

Jamie and Aunt Lisa as they are getting ready to go! I will miss my wine buddy Lisa:)
On our was back home we decided to stop by a few wineries. We started at Oakwood Cellars. This shot is from the beautiful Terra Blanca and we ended with Blackwood Canyon! What an action packed week! Lots of great memories and fantastic pictures too!

Happy 50th Birthday Loreice!

This weekend we threw a surprise birthday bash for Loreice's birthday! We got her to our house by telling her that I was singing a Bach Cantata with our schools orchestra....(which will actually be happening sometime hopefully). Her mom and dad, as well as her brother Johnny and his family flew up from California!

I thought this was a fun shot of Patrick, Joe, and Danielle on the stakeout for mom's arrival:) The local family did the first surprise when she first walked in the door! Shortly after, everyone else who was hiding up in the loft popped out! She was blown away to see everyone there, it was a very special moment for all of us!

Here is a fun picture of Patrick, Bree and Kin!

Our gourmet chef in action! Kin made an incredible meal for all of us! From our prosciutto wrapped asparagus to the pork loin.....ummmm! Not only does it taste fantastic but always looks like a work of art! You rock Kin....we are so glad to have you back in WA.

Here is Aunt Lisa and Big Pat waiting for dinner!

Loreice eats many things I would probable never try.....so Pat and Kin decided to have almost like a fear factor set up for her of gourmet delicacies, if that's what you would call it! She had no qualms about trying anything! This is the one that did not taste good to her pallet (pigs blood!) She was brave and you can tell we all got into this event!

It was certainly a fun day and it was also so nice to see all the family from California!

Spring Break Getaway!

Patrick planned a fantastic trip for us over my Spring Break. We boarded the Victoria Clipper at 7am for a lovely 2 1/2 ride to Victoria. Here is a nice shot of Seattle as we headed off. That is about all I could take of the wind outside so we headed in and had a champagne breakfast! After our boat ride we immediately boarded a bus for a tour of the city and to head to the Buchart Gardens. I did learn quite a bit about Victoria from the tour but on the way back from the gardens all the guide talked about was hallucinogenic mushrooms??!!?? Here are some great shots from the Gardens which were so beautiful and full of amazing colors.

After the gardens, we checked into our amazing hotel, the Fairmount Empress! The hotel is incredibly old but regal with amazing woodwork and furnishings! Our hotel was virtually next to the Parliament building so we walked over there for some pictures and a tour!

We ended our evening with a great dinner at Pescatores and a walk around the city. Patrick was having a blast with our new camera...especially these night shots of the Parliament building and our hotel. Here is the Fairmount Empress.

On Thursday, we had tea in the Empress room. This was quite a lavish event. We were started with a lovely fruit cup while we selected our teas. Patrick chose the Jasmine Green Tea and I had the Berry Tea, both were excellent. Next a three tier platter was brought to our table. The bottom plate was covered with little finger sandwiches. The next plate had scones and a green tea and cream flavored pastry puff, and the top was desserts. Here is a picture we took right after the tea. This is the courtyard of our hotel. Our last sightseeing stop for the trip was to Craigdurrough Castle. The main entry was amazing. It was six stories tall and the woodwork was unbelievable!


And for Pat and I, nothing will stop us from our favorite place to eat if it is nearby. Our hotel was a mere one block away! Yes...the Old Spaghetti Factory. There is nothing like Mizithra! What a great way to finish off a wonderful trip!

Pizza Sole

Well Carol came down today to take me to a birthday lunch! It was so nice to spend some time with her...since the last time I had dinner with her was...let me see ....Monday:) She picked me up at school and we went to Casa Mia and had our favorite Pizza of all time Pizza Sole. It has red and yellow tomatoes, basil, balslamic vinegar, and several types of cheese. Yum! We also had piece of the richest chocolate cake possible! Carol you rock!!!

Chris and Kaysha are married!

Patrick, William, Bree and Joe!

Well this weekend Pat and I headed up to Bellingham for Chris's wedding. Pat was the best man and I sang in the wedding. Friday we spent all day decorating the reception hall and made it to the wedding rehearsal just in time! It was my first time rehearsing with the accompanist. I was quite nervous because he reads lead sheets and not classical music...but we made it work. I sure Franz Schubert was rolling around in his grave at the improvized nature of the accompaniment but it worked for the wedding and everyone loved it!

Pat looked very handsome in his tuxedo for the wedding......I think it has been since dances in high school since he has been dressed up in one:) I have some pictures on Pats phone that I will load when he gets home.

The reception was very nice. Billy played DJ and did a fantastic job. My least favorite part of every wedding is......the bouquet toss. TOO MUCH PRESSURE!!! So I as usual sauntered up with all the rest of the single girls and like usual the bouquet was launched over the entire group and probably landed as far away from me as possible. Then Pats turn was up for the garter toss. Chris turned his back to the group for the slingshot style approach. The white garter flew across the room. Pat sprung up and snached the garter!!!! We had a great time dancing and spending some good time together!

It was so nice to spend some more time with Chris and Kaysha, as well as some other friends from High School. I wish them all the best in their lives together:)

This week John and Shannon came down to see Beauty and the Beast and ended up staying through Sunday. Sunday we had a relaxing day driving around together. We first went to Yelm to that meat market and sampled lots of jerky, including ostrich and buffalo. The lamb was my personal favorite because it was moist and had great flavor. We purchased quite a variety to eat along the rest of our journey! We then headed to down to Centralia to McMenamins. We played three games of pool and thanks solely to Pat, we won all three games!:) Pat and I shared a great sandwich with shredded beef and we also got a beer sampler to try all of their brews..... And what day could be complete without some ice cream. Pat and John are huge fans of the Olympic Mountain Ice Cream which is served at Bayview Thriftway. We once again had many samples:) I went with the Pumpkin Praline Ice Cream, it was delicious. Pat had a scoop of that along with Malt Vanilla. It was a great day and so nice to spend some time with a fun couple!

Beauty and the Beast

Well it is hard to believe the show is over and done already!! It was an absolute joy to be onstage again! After that reminder I hope to start auditioning for shows in the area. Here are a few great pictures that have been sent my way. I am so excited to get the DVD. They are combining the best clips that they were able to get over the four nights!! How special to have that keepsake!

Thank you to all my friends, family and THS students and staff who came to the show!!! I was astonished to see so many people there!

I am so excited to be in a show again! I didn't realize how much I missed performing. I have directed, choreograhed, and musically directed about 15 shows in the last 5 years so I am enjoying this time while it lasts. I am musically directing Sussical this year not once but twice. Once at Tumwater High School and also at CTE this summer !

Beauty and the Beast is at Olympia High School

January 18th and 19th at 7pm
January 20th at 2pm and 7:30 pm

A Caroling We Will Go.....

Well December was a month filled with many concerts and caroling opportunities! This was such a blast with the kids! It is amazing how much they bond even if we are just traveling a block or two!!! Here are three of my girls at the Thurston Mason County Dental Society Christmas Party! This was our first peformance of the season. The venue was beautifully decorated but what made it even more special were are the friends that were there....Tyra and Josh, Don and Alice, Katie and Steve, Mrs. Hamilton !!!! It was pretty fun to have them there:) Another fun place to sing was the Clyde and Dale tree farm. We sang in the gift shop for about a half an hour and then we were pulled around through the tree farm and we sang to all the families as they cut down the trees. It was a blast! Many of the kids got their trees with their families right afterwards. What a great tradition!

Here is Bonne Chantuse! We sang at Top Foods. Unfortunatly our sweatshirts did not make it for the performance. So we attempted Holiday sweaters and scarves. I am in the front with phase one of becoming brunnette for Belle! It was an interesting venue because we were standing facing the salad bar! People would stop by for a song or two and then head off for their produce items. $100 was donated in our name to the Salvation Army so that was nice. They girls were real trooper learning all of the carols. There is so much to do at this time of the year but they are phenomonal musicans and dedicated students! By far my favorite place to go simpley because of the acousitcs is the L&I building. It has the most gigantic rotunda so the ring is unreal. I felt like I was back in some of the cathedrals in Russia and Latvia that I had the pleasure of visiting a few summers ago! The girls were blown away by the sound!

THS CHOIR CONCERT

December 14 2006

Well it has been a crazy couple of months around here! I had my first big choir concert at Tumwater! It was certainly one I will never forget! The concert was the night of December 14th....and if you can remember that day.....it was the night of the big storm. My princpal announced at the begining of the concert that if the power were to go out that we would all leave and sing "Silent Night" on the way out:) All started according to plan. My Women's Choir sounded wonderul on some very callenging literature then the THS Noteables were a delight as they sang "You Raise Me Up" made famous by Josh Groban, a THS standard Toomba and then "A Charlie Brown Christmas Medley"!!!! These are the new outfits for the Noteables! They are so gorgeous on stage. I especially like havingthe boys in black with their great green tie! It is really sharp! This was the last moment of normalcy at the concert. As I was talking after the THS Noteables ......the power went out!!! As I said before the plan was to head home but the audience was not about to leave. Flashlights were pulled out all around the auditorium, a headlamp was given to my amazing student accompanist, beams of light from flashlights now dimly lit the singers onstage. As they say.....The show must go on!!!!! The kids were amazing! It is amazing the feeling of community and support that was in that room. We could not have had such an amazing experience without that audience. The last half of the concert was in the dark! Bonne Chanteuse was the first choir in the dark. They were spectacular. I feel so blessed working with them. They are phenomonal singers and people! Concert Choir was the last choir onstage. They perormed one of my all time favorite pieces of choral literature, "Five Hebrrew Love Songs" by Eric Whitacre. Accompanied by piano and violin, the harmonies in this piece are increadable! Our final song is in memory of a student who lost her battle with cancer in 2000. We surounded the audience and sang as theylit there candles. They then hummed the tune again as they excited the PAC. It was a truly magical moment. The audience sat in awe for a moment and then erupted in applause!