The New pots and pans....are great! Joe volunteered to cook up a drool-worthy feast while my mom and I did a little shopping up in the city. It consisted a bed of spinach pasta, covered with a pancetta, portobello mushroom, onion and sweet pea cream sauce. Hory mory it was delicious. Props to my kitchen savy fiance!
Joe and I had an early Christmas with his parents last evening. It was an evening filled with great food and stories of old. Joe's dad had us all laughing with stories of when his parents' visited Italy for their vacation. One included a fiasco with a taxi driver, ending up with punches being thrown and the ladies doing their best to hold back their testosterone driven men.
New in the kitchen, a 10-piece cookware set!! No more evenings of recycling one pot and one pan throughout the preparation of one meal. No sir-eee! Next on the menu....Pumpkin and Roasted Corn Soup.
A picture, not too interesting or sophisticated of my four foot pre-lit Indiana Spruce. Not to forget....in my very own newly cozied-in apartment. :-)
Coco is seen here scarfing down his own plate of Thanksgiving goodness. A small helping of turkey, green bean casserole, sweet potato, and even stuffing was enjoyed by this furry little monster. Of course, a nap soon follwed this gravy of a feast.
My Chaco-tanned feet on the rocky beaches of Riva del Garda, Italy. Oh, how I miss having a nice shade of color to my epidermis.
Just want to thank Lacey, for making me send in a DVD last year for the Youth Orchestra of the Americas. I was hesitant and unsure of myself sending that audition tape in....but lo and behold, it's led to a multitude of incredible experiences. Thanks Unchi.
I got an email yesterday from Youth Orchestra of the Americas, inviting me to tour with them for the summer of 2007. Incredible. I'm so blessed to be presented with such opportunity. I miss Europe and was hoping I'd get to go back again someday....but little did I realize my return is just around the corner.
I've conjured up a map of the places YOA will be touring this summer (July 1st-August 22nd). We will be performing in the Concertgebouw Hall in Amsterdam, the Vienna Konzerthaus, Malta (a small island republic, located south of Italy), Montpelier France, Riva del Garda (Italy), Venice, THE Vatican, and Pompeii. How fantastic.
I can't wait.
Lacey, Jesse, Antonio and I crawled into Fulvio's trusty Fiat this summer for three consecutive days of Italian backroads adventure. We even made it to an Italian McDonald's one of the days. Here's a clip of us crusing in the Italian Alps, with Anotnio and Fulvio enchanting us with Italian tunes.
Myself along with approximately 50 others have been spending our evenings this past week in the orchestral pit of Holmberg Hall. Because of Mozart's generousity in deciding to write sparsely for trumpet, I've had much time to do government homework, sudoku puzzles, read, pick my nose and take pictures during my week long pit residency. These are just a few from....I think Monday.
Went to the new Super Target with a gift card in hand. Joe and I were on a mission...we headed straight to the bakery section knowing exactly what we wanted. But, unfortunately the raspberry chocolate cake we had been looking forward to was sold out. *sigh* So we bought a pound of roughly 15 different flavored Jelly Bellies instead.
We went back to Target a couple of days later to run errands, this time with something else on the mind to buy. Wandering around the health and beauty section we found what we were looking for. With a nice set of hair clippers in hand, we walked to the cash registers to redeem the rest of the gift card.
After doing some research online and reading a couple of articles, Joe and I put the clippers to the test Saturday afternoon. After about an hour of slow and steady clipping and scissoring, I must admit, Joe's hair came out a great success! Hail to gift cards, internet search engines and a trusting fiance. :-)
Took a press pic for Three Legged Dog the past weekend. If you know anyone who'd like a blues band, contact these fine gentlemen!
Coco turned from teddy bear to....rat-like creature this past week. Poor guy.
So, the ever exciting and long awaited for OKC Bridal Expo was cancelled this weekend. *sigh* Joe and I had been looking forward to eating food samples of decadent design, getting coupons for tux rentals and being lured by fancy florists. But, alas, we had to come up with a spontaneous evening for ourselves. Joe worked on building his electronic drum kit, I pretended to ride down the highway in a motorcycle that can go in reverse. We then made a trip to Rusty's and drowned our evening disappointment in custard. Yummmmm.
Soon to be...
Had the opportunity of watching the famous "Changing of the Guard" in front of Buckingham Palace. Sadly, a once daily event, the Guard only changes every other day. Neato factoid of the day: The large hats the bandsmen wear are called "Bearskins," some are over a hundred years old and passed down through family.
A couple more pics from Germany, all from Berlin.
Liquid cheesecake...A favorite German dessert amongst the orchestra members.
We were on our way to Menton, France....when a sign appeared for the Piacenza turn off. That's where Joe was born!
A view of Riva del Garda on our way to Limone, Italy.
Found this bike in Riva...propped up against a wall next to a local restaurant near the concert hall. Where the wind comes sweeping down the plains.
The main 'courtyard' in Riva.
Italian trumpeters, Antonio and Fulvio.
5 trumpet players crammed into Fulvio's trusty "Panda" for a couple of afternoon leisure drives. Notice how much the car sags in the next photo after we all squished in...
YOA trumpet section with a few of the Italian trumpet players who were attending the local conservatory's summer institute. The one in the purple shirt is Vincent....aka "Porco" = "Pig", named this by the students for the way he thinks of women. Lacey's got a story about Porco...I'm sure she'd be delighted to tell you.
