It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Beach season!!!! This is the time of the year when I get my hot pink beach chair out of the closet, put on my swimsuit and head to the water. I’ve been several times so far and love every minute. Nothing like the sound of waves, seagulls chirping, salt in the air, and a good book on my Kindle.
Me and Jeff were up early so we went on to the beach. Still a bit foggy but it made for a cool photo.
Sometimes photos aren’t that artistic but they have a great story behind them. Those of you who know me, know that I have a, shall we say, slapstick sense of humor. That is, I often laugh at the physical mishaps of others (i.e. falling, tripping, slipping, etc… as long as they don’t hurt themselves badly). I know, terrible…but keep reading. I think it is so funny to watch people chase umbrellas down the beach. It’s happen to all of us, we’ve all seen it, and we’ve all laughed. Well, this is a photo of Jeff after chasing his umbrella…the second time of the day.
P.S. I’ve added NEW photos to my photos page.
(Photo courtesy of Adrienne Gray )
For the last few weeks, up until last Tuesday, Mobile has been celebrating Mardi Gras…aka The Boom Boom. Our city has been celebrating Mardi Gras since 1831. Locals and tourist come by the thousands to watch the parades and catch beads, or as some call them “Throws”. Traditionally, Mardi Gras is a Catholic celebration beginning 40 days before the Lenten season. The most happening day is Fat Tuesday. This is a day filled with eating rich, yummy, fatty foods before the ritual of fasting for lent which begins Ash Wednesday (the day after), hence the name FAT Tuesday. Let me tell ya, it’s quite a celebration. The photo above was taken during a parade on Fat Tuesday. Lots of people, eh? Here are some more of my favorite photos that myself or Jeff took.
Amanda came to her first Fat Tuesday
You can’t have Mardi Gras without the bands!!
Thanks to our Police Officers for keeping the crowd controlled.
And that’s my tribute to Mardi Gras 2011. Hope you enjoyed!!! See you at Mardi Gras…let the good times roll!!
Cello again!
I know, I know it has been over a month since my last post. I’ve been quite busy, so I thought I would sum up my crazy month in one post. Ready, set, GO!
- Celebrated Evan, Vanessa, Natalie, and The Mama’s birthday (see I’m nice, I didn’t tell you their ages!)
- Had three BASCO (Bay Area Strings Community Orchestra) rehearsals
- Celebrated Valentine’s Day —I got chocolate and sunflowers; these are a few of my favorite things
- Went to the dentist
- Lead a flute sectional
- Got talked in to running a half-marathon with my sister, Leslie (more on that later)
- Visited with my Aunt Carolyn from Arkansas
- Took care of a sick niece…who is much better!
- Contemplated on whether or not to keep blogging. Don’t worry, I’ve decided to keep with it…I wouldn’t want to deprive you of this joy. *Smiles*
- Went to a christening for a sweet baby boy of some good friends of ours.
- Read the entire Twilight Saga…on purpose. If you are sitting on the edge of your seat wondering which team I would be on, I would have to say Team Edward.
- Started going to the gym at 5:30 a.m.
- Thanks to a Netflix subscription, I watched a lot of movies
Talk to you soon, and in less than a month.
Cello again!
I know, I know it has been almost two and a half weeks since my last post. I’ve taken vacationing to the extreme…doing absolutely nothing! Anyway, back to the daily grind.
I hope you all had a very nice Christmas and New Years’! I sure did…more on that in later posts.
I wanted to share something that means Christmas to me (besides Jesus’ birth, of course). A children’s Christmas music. The musicals can be very education as well as amusing. I was in quite a few Christmas musicals in my younger years. No, I will not show you pictures. I always love to see the church nicely decorated.
I love the mass chaos.
I love that the audience always loves the performance no matter how bad the performers thought they did, like messing up on a speaking part or cracking in a solo. This particular program was neat because they all got to sing and sing tradition Christmas songs. Bravo!!!
No, this post has nothing to do with cello, music, or books but I thought I would share some cupcakes I made. We all have a sweet-tooth, right? I made these for my day job department Christmas party.
This were made from my easiest recipe…The Box.
Hungry yet?
Rolling out the fondant wasn’t an option this time so these are the ingredients used for my cream-cheese icing. Thanks to The Mama, I no longer buy the fluffy icing from the round can…so sorry Betty Crocker. And to my critical readers, the silver metal things go to the hand mixer used to blend the ingredients, you don’t eat those.
I tried coming up with something easy, but not sprinkles, so I chose to use candy bars.
And voila! Candy Bar cupcakes!
Cello again!
This past week I took the entire week off from my day job and did a few things out of the ordinary. So thanks to Thanksgiving I…
- Spent four days and five nights with my parents in my hometown.
- Went to the community Thanksgiving dinner in my hometown.
- Drove The Mama around for groceries and whatnots in the hometown.
- Practiced my cello (upper register notes are not my friend, yet) for our upcoming Christmas concert while I was in the hometown.
- Went to visit family and friends in the hometown.
- Jeff and I spent our first Thanksgiving together (just the two of us), where we live now, not in the hometown. (Gotcha!)
- I made my first homemade dressing, with the help from The Mama
- We also had turkey (I picked that up from Winn-Dixie as well as the pumpkin pie!)
- Me and Jeff ventured off on our first Black Friday shopping experience together. We left at 5:00 a.m. Yes, it was successful!
- Went to a baby shower for my cousin. Her little boy will be entering the world at the beginning of January.
- Put up Christmas tree.
- And finally, relaxed on the couch.
Yes, it has been a while since my last post. I’ve been really busy that I haven’t stopped to blog about it. I’ve been practicing, had three rehearsals and a concert since my last post. We had our annual Veterans’ Day concert of the Mobile Pops. One of my favs. Now in the Pops, we’ve started practicing for our Christmas concert.
Fun Fact: I’ve played Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride” for 12 consecutive years…
Dear Military Veterans and those currently serving,
THANK YOU!
Happy Veterans’ Day!
I didn’t have this blog last year so here’s a photo of mine and Jeff’s costume.
I was a Mac, he was a PC. *Smiles*
This year we didn’t have much going on for Halloween so we decided to carve pumpkins. Believe it or not, I’ve never carved a pumpkin all myself. 
Willow kept guard (I guess?!?) while we carved.
Since it was my first time at it, I used a template. The name of what it’s suppose to look like is “hootin’ owl”.
And complete with lighting.
First of all, I have to say I love blogging at Starbucks drinking a Pumpkin Spice Latte. Yum…
As I mentioned in my last post, I went to the October Concerts for the Coast. The first concert artist was Bon Jovi, the second artist was Brad Paisley! Again, there were so many people there but it was still a lot of fun!!!
A beautiful sunset
In the picture with me and Jeff is our near and dear friend, Natalie, who is always adventurous.
A self-portrait of me and Jeff.
The opening act from Brad Paisley was Little Big Town
And then (drum roll, please) Brad Paisley! Look at how close we were, sweet!
We had our picture taken with Brad *smiles*
This is a picture of the crowd on the big screen. We are some where…
If you can’t tell, we had a fantastic weekend!! Thanks Natalie for coming up with the idea and talking Jeff into it!!
P.S. I would like to send a very special Happy 33rd Birthday to my favorite brother. Happy Birthday Justin!