Spring Thoughts

Remember how I lived in Michigan for a while?

Michigan has some CRAZY winters.
The season lasts from December until probably late May-ish
It's so cold.
And it's not really ever sunny.
And there is SO much snow.
And you feel like you might never really be warm again.
Or drive on streets without snow again.
Or wear anything but winter boots and scarves again.

But know what else?  Because of those never ending miserable winters, Springtime in Michigan is glorious!

Everyone is reminded of what sunshine looks like
Cute ballet flats and short sleeves are pulled out from the very back of the closet
Darling little flowers poke through the dirt
And long lost birds chirp before sunrise.

The world defrosts from the surface down to the soul.
And I loved it!!

This winter here in Utah has been a lot like a Michigan winter, wouldn't you say?
Yes on the boots and scarves
Yes on the lack of sun
Yes on the so much snow
Yes on the always cold
...and remember that inversion that gave us all respiratory infections?

Gross.

BUT!  I'm getting pretty excited.
Because inevitably after a wretched winter
must come a beautiful spring, don't you think?

Basically what I am saying here is that Winter has sure been long.
And it looks like it might last for a while longer.
But I'm feeling ok about it.
And anticipating one of the most beautiful springtimes we've seen in a while.

Happy end of Winter, everyone! Lets have a party when spring shows up.  :)

Man Cold

I'm a guest blogger on my friend Melissa Condie's awesome blog this week!  She has declared 2013 the year of stories, and has asked a bunch of friends to contribute stories to her blog.

If you want to read my story about Man Colds and Nathan and my first fight as a married couple, head over to http://tackygaloshes.blogspot.com.  And if you want to stay a while, read Melissa's other posts.  She's hilarious!!

Favorite Quotes from Music 1010-4 Week 1

I am a community college adjunct faculty member.  It's about the lowest job on the totem pole of jobs that actually make use of a Doctorate of Musical Art degree.  And I actually really like it.

I've been teaching cello lessons at SLCC for the past two years now, which has been all sorts of fun.  And I feel like I have the hang of how to do it- what to include in my syllabus, how much practice time to require, how to grade practice time and recital performances, how to schedule a student recital, etc.  I think I've got it down.

But this semester, after responding to the administration's desperate plea for adjunct professors to pick up additional classes, I started teaching a section of music 1010.  Section 4.  of introduction to music.  A fine arts general credit course full of 35 hoodlum community college students.  Most of whom are wonderful.

Just so that I don't forget how fun these guys are, I'm compiling a list of my favorite quotes, statements, questions, etc from this class.  Whether they are storming my desk after class, flooding my inbox all day, or interrupting the lecture with a raised hand, these are some of my favorites from my first week of class.

"I'm going to be 10 minutes late for every class, because I'm kind of a slow walker. is it ok if you don't mark me late?"

"I need to leave class 10 minutes early every Wednesday so that I can change clothes and be on time to institute choir, is that ok?"

"I don't think I can really afford to go to any of the required concerts for this course"
ME: "There is a list of free concert options on the syllabus"
"Well, just so you know, I'm not going to go to any concerts."

"Tubas sound like farting."

(while listening to the guitar solo from Hotel California): "Is this Ricky Martin??"

"I'm having trouble accessing the online text for the class.  Not that I'm ever going to read it, but I thought you should know."

"My financial aide hasn't come through yet, so I can't purchase the textbook yet."
(next day) My financial aide still hasn't come through yet..."
(next day) Still waiting on my financial aide to come through.  I still haven't read the textbook."

"Can I write my concert report in Spanish?  I don't know the words in English."

"I wanted to come up after class and let you know that I'm probably the only person in class who listens to One Republic.  Isn't that funny?  But it doesn't really make me weird, because they are actually my same age."

(male student) "I saw you in your concert on Sunday... wearing your cute little red sweater.  Did you see me?"

"I'm going to miss class all next week.  Can I still get attendance points?"

"... I think you mean Pachelbell Canon in D MINOR."

"The reason why the dry erase board looks so awful is because you used the cleaning spray.  You should never use the cleaning spray."
(After the next class period, this student tried to show me the proper way to erase the board.  It still looked awful.)

(while teaching them about tonality of music) "What did she just say, tonic??"
(other student) "Yeah, like gin and tonic."

"Can I use 'going to a rave' for a concert report?"
(other student) ".... um, raves are illegal"

Aren't these guys fun?  I get 'em for another 15 weeks.  :)

Things I Should Blog About:

Since my last post, we've been pretty busy!  Since we were both in school and working hard this past semester, we sort of went into social hiding, and didn't do much with friends and family.  So when we got a few weeks of freedom, we went a little bit crazy!  Here's what we've been up to: (each of these deserves it's own story, but I'm feeling blog-lazy)

Snow shoeing two more times.  Once at Alta with freezing cold snow and wind in our faces and once up by Laurie's cabin in Heber with a dead mouse on the floor at lunch time
Saw the lights at temple square
Once with Jeffery Hertig and his new lady-friend Heidi, whom we LOVE
and Once just by ourselves.
Both times we got hot drinks from Blue Lemon- mmm!
Visited the Zoo lights at Hogle Zoo which was also FREEZING cold, but a fun family tradition
Ashley and I ran a slow 5k for charity.  We're blaming our lame time on the freezing temps and multiple never-ending hills in Sugarhouse Park.
We also went antique shopping with the Archulettas that day.
Christmas happened with multiple family parties:
Christmas Saturday with Nathan's Dad's family
Dinner, presents, catch-phrase
Christmas Sunday in Price with the Morris-Kirk family
Dinner, presents, cracky-looking nail polish while the boys shot each other with BB guns
Christmas Eve with the Morris-Beck family
Dinner, Yankee Swap, minute-to-win-it, customary nativity scene acting
Christmas Morning with Nathan and my Dad
Presents, stockings, Kneaders overnight French Toast Casserole
Christmas Day with the Beckstroms
Dinner, Secret Sibs, Righty-Lefty, Don't Eat Pete and a special DVD of Mom memories
We hosted a Texas Party, which was just an excuse for Nathan to smoke a 15 lb brisket for fellow meat-loving friends
Plus baked beans, steak fries, Texas Toast, Texas sheet cake, Bang! and an episode of Community

We also hosted a last-minute thrown together New Years Party
Fancy Cheese and other tasty appetizers, Risk, burning of regrets, watching the ball drop on TV, sparklers and crackers and noise-maker dancing in the street at midnight, and hot chocolate for defrosting afterwards
I read Uglies and started Pretties
We watched the entire first season and most of the second season of Once Upon a Time
We saw Les Miserables
We put our new "jar o' dates" to use and had a Black Out Night- including banana grams by candle light and home made maple sugar cookies
I bought new teacher clothes with Christmas/Birthday money while Nathan walked Samson around City Creek
And tomorrow we start school and work all over again!
Nathan starts semester three of nursing school and a new work schedule including on-call weekend grave shifts
And I start my LAST SEMESTER EVER of DMA school, plus a new job- teaching a section of music 1010 at SLCC!  Woo hoo!  (Plus my SLCC private students and UofU prep division kids and my own private students) I've officially been a SLCC adjunct faculty for two years now.  I should probably feel like a grown up by now, right?

Sparklers and Noise Makers

Burning Regrets

Samson dressed and ready for the Texas Party

Stockings and Christmas decor

Presents

Zoo Lights

Zoo lights- carousel with cold kids 

Ashley and me at the Santa Hat Dash 5k

I just found out we took 61st and 62nd out of more than 150!  Not bad, eh? 

2 Years Awesome

Isn't it kind of crazy that this day happened two years ago?

It was easily my favorite day in my life so far.  I felt gorgeous.  My brand new husband looked SO handsome.  We were surrounded by only our most favorite people all day long.  We made amazing promises to each other.  We ate delicious food.  We danced.  We honeymooned.  

And two years later, we're still going strong! 

WOO HOO!

 Thanks to a generous Christmas quartet gig, we celebrated this year by staying at the charming Inn on the Hill in downtown Salt Lake.  

We ate a delicious dinner at Tucanos (thanks, Birthday Club!)

Picked up some deliciously aromatic bath bombs from Lush

Enjoyed the fancy bath tub (TMI?)

And watched The Holiday by the light of the fireplace.

After a wonderful sleep in the king-size four poster, 

we ate a delicious breakfast of 

French Omelets

Grapes and cantaloupe

Blueberry Muffins

and hot tea

The Inn was so cozy and decorated for the holidays.  I wish we would have taken the time to play pool in the billiard room.  Or read by the Christmas tree.  But I loved our stay at the Inn on the Hill.  

The next day, after a night of fresh snow fall, we headed up the canyon with our Idaho pals Lynsie and Steve for a snow shoeing adventure.  We hiked the fresh powder up to donut falls and made it all the way to the cave behind the water.  Inside the cave, we had some (luke-warm) cider and snacks before heading back down the mountain.  Bounding through the fluffy fresh snow was my favorite part.  We love snow shoeing, and we love adventures with Lynsie and Steve! 

What a great Anniversary celebration, huh?  

I have loved these past two years with Nathan!  He really is my best friend.  

This year in particular he has been really good at supporting me 

when I'm sad

or stressed out about big decisions

or when our house is messy

or if I want to go for a late-night run to Taco Bell.

I'm so proud of him

for doing so well in nursing school

for being a hard worker at the surgical center

for being a sweet "dad" to our dog Samson

and for everything he fixes, reaches, and sews (yes, sews!)  for me.

Together, we are more awesome than we are apart!

And now that it's been two years, we are twice as awesome as before.

Here's to year two 

And many (perhaps infinite) years to come! 

A Night with David Berkeley

There is an awesome guy named David Berkeley.

He writes awesome lyrics.
He sings beautiful songs.
He plays the guitar.
He writes blogs.
And cool books.
And takes a daily picture of the sky.

Before  Friday, November 16, I didn't know any of these things.  And then my awesome brother invited us to a private house concert for "the guy who opened for Guster" which sounded like an amazing idea to me.  

My brother said he invited us because we are like the music version of foodies... musies.  :)  I like that.

The concert surpassed all of my highest hopes of loveliness.  The living room of the beautifully cozy house had been turned into a makeshift concert space with a hodgepodge of chairs and couches and stools surrounding a single chair, an amp, and a warm fireplace.  David (I'll call him that, since he made us all feel like we were best friends from the first time he opened his mouth) sat in front of us all.  He sang his songs and told his stories.  For about two hours.  Nathan and I somehow got the best seat in the house- a comfy brown leather couch on the front row.  We ate delicious smoked pork, sweet popcorn, and carmelitas.  And basked in the world of David Berkeley.  What a beautiful place to be!

We bought his book (140 Goats and a Guitar) which tells the stories behind the songs he wrote while living in Corsica for a year.  His songs are awesome, but knowing the stories behind each one makes the emotional connection while listening to each one even deeper and more awesome.  

Have I said awesome enough in this post yet?  

I wish that all of my favorite artists would do private living room concerts just like this.  And that I could go to each one.  David Berkeley's music is exactly what my soul feels like listening to lately.  And he has found a place amongst my favorite singer/songwriters.  

Thanks for the invite, Adam.  This musie loved every minute! 

A Year Ago Today...

A year ago today was the last time I hung out with my mom.
I didn't go to school that day.
My mom was really sick and getting worse every day.
When I got to her house, I asked her if she knew who I was, and she said "Of course, Rachel!"
She thought I was her little sister.
I read a few chapters of Fabelhaven to her.  But she kept falling asleep.
The Lundbergs came to visit, and she wanted me to get them something to drink.
They helped me take down her bed.
The hospice people brought in a hospital bed for her to sleep in.
I wish I remembered more from that day.
She "wanted to touch a puppy" so we let Samson lay next to her in her bed.
She petted him, and I hope it made her feel better.
I didn't make her take any vitamins. Or herbs.  Or her daily smoothie.
She didn't want to keep the oxygen tube in her nose.
She had a terrible cough, and couldn't breathe very well.
She was in a lot of pain.
She definitely wasn't herself.
That night, the Thomases came to visit.
She got a blessing from my Dad.
A neighbor brought over a CD of church music that played quietly in her room all day.
I went to WalMart to buy a baby monitor for my Dad to listen to her in the night.
I kissed her forehead and told her I'd see her in the morning.
And then I went home.

In the early morning my phone rang.
Too early to be anyone but an emergency.
And without picking up, I knew that she was gone.

And that was a year ago today.