Alright.. we all survived another Wednesday! The rest of the week will be downhill from here! Speaking of weather (Teri) its was strange here. I walked to choir this morning, and it was clear and cool and sunny -- but by the time I'd gotten out of the class, it was overcast and threatening to rain. Strange how quickly it changed. I love cool weather! I have tons of winter clothes (being from the North). An another interesting thing...why is it that I'm always cold when the weather is warm, but as soon as it drops below 65 I'm all toasty. Northerners do know how to dress for the element -- and how to do it so you aren't too bulky to be comfortable. Here are some tricks, as long as the weather stays this nice:

1.Wear nylons/hose underneath your jeans (old ski trick)

2.Wear silk -- a thin knit silk shirt is twice as warm as a cotton sweater

3. LAYER -- its much easier to take stuff off if you're too warm!

4.Two pairs of socks...closed toe shoes.

5.Wear a hat...you lose more than half of your body head through your head...

So, I guess I'll go to sleep now that I've sent the rest of you there with this diatribe! Happy cold weather everyone!

Alright, so back to wine people. After a 6 course wine tasting meal with a glass of wine for each course, they all decide to come up and tell me how wonderfully I sang. And then they add the one that makes every legitimate singer cringe.."you sound every bit as good as Charlotte Church" (or Sarah Brightman -- or for guys I assume Andrea Boccelli). And you try to remember that its a compliment. At one point I too loved Sarah Brightman. And fought for the right to call Phantom a TRUE opera. And now I am older and wiser. I realise that Phantom is not an Opera because they use mics. And there is no way that Sarah Brightman could be heard singing those lovely falsetto high notes over the sound of the falling chandelier. But I digress.....It was lovely of them to compliment me. But the same lady who was so nice....five seconds later was complimenting the bus boys...and the pianist...and the winemaker...and I think I even heard her thank the table....

drunk people -- there's no telling

I made it back from california. Why are wine people nuts? Californians are nuts to begin with (excuse me ... does that salad have legumes? I'm allergic. Could you give me some tofu instead?) The question on my mind is...isn't tofu made of soybeans? And aren't soybeans by definition a legume? I mean really people.

Here I am in California! Yay! Not in Waco this weekend. I sing this evening...right now I'm up and recovering from the flight. It was a long flight. One little girl that is every traveller's nightmare -- she talked and screamed and yelled and protested and whined all three hours of the first flight. I was far enough away that she didn't bother me too much -- but I could feel the people around her cringing at ever "but mommmmmyyyyyyy!" They took my sewing scissors. I should have known, but I figured it was worth a shot so that I could sew a bit on the plane, but no -- they decided that my little gold handled scissors are the perfect way to cause damage on an airplane. Lots of people complain about these little confiscations -- but I figure, as long as I'm getting searched, surely people that need to be searched are having their TNT confiscated too. I hope someone's wife enjoys my sewing scissors.

Wonder of Wonders! Miracle of Miracles! Donald Swann wrote an opera based on C.S. Lewis' book "Perelandra." Is that cool or what!?! Must find a copy...must find a copy!

I'm searching for music for my recital next semester. What to do -- I didn't even know where to look for anything (quite honestly I could care less about art song.) So I did my usual trick of meandering through the art song book section of the library and picking out anything that looked interesting. I just happened to see an orange book with interesting decorations...so I picked it up -- the title:The road goes ever on. "Intriguing" I thought to myself, "isn't that a song from Lord of the Rings?" And it turned out that the book is a collaboration between Tolkien himself...and a composer that wanted to put his words to song. Some of the melodies were actually hummed by tolkien and transcribed to music! YAY!!!! So excited...except for the epic poems which are long, wordy and strophic.... Come to my recital everyone! I'll be singing Tolkien....now if only someone has set CS Lewis to music!!!!

Interesting incident today. I went shopping yesterday, and as a gag I bought a vintage 70's dress. It's brown gingham, empire waist, with plenty of crochet lace and last but not least a little built-on apron -- very popular in the peasant vintage look. So I was in a bookstore this evening attempting to find books 4 and 5 of the Chronicles of Narnia that I've somehow misplaced. So I was meandering around the humor section on the way back from the ladies room, and a man stops me and asks if I'm part of a religious order. He wasn't speaking english too well, so I thought He was asking about my cross necklace. I have this great moment of "God is sending me someone to witness to!" and then he finished his sentence with, "your dress, it is so...unusual." He thought I was a part of a group that rides in wagons, and lights candles for actual illumination...and grows wheat for their on consumption. Yeah. It was great! I think next time I'll make up a story -- bring out a shawl and drape it over my head....then say that I'm a nun in the order of who-knows-what. Mary Beth seems to think I should just play it like a hippie commune leftover -- talk about the sisterhood of daisies or something. I'll have something worked up! Anyway -- try explaining to a foreigner that I wore that dress for fun!

So, fall break is 2/3 over, and I haven't accomplished much on my list. But, my friend's quilt is coming along nicely. She's doing all of the sewing -- I'm doing the pinning. I hate pinning...but its the most crucial part of this whole process...so I think its coming along nicely. My house looks like a fabric shop puked all over my living room. Ah well...I think we'll all be happy when we put all of the zillions of squares together and hand quilt the thing. For a first quilt it isn't turning out too badly! Anyway = I'm off to bed. Church come before you know it

The apartment is clean -- with the exception of the kitchen floor and counters which will get done tomorrow. Sleep will be accomplished shortly..and I am currently reading "So I send you/Workmen of God" by Oswald Chambers. Oh, and I went to Hobby Lobby today, and they were having a half-off of flowering bushes today, so I bought one to keep in my pitcher in my bedroom. So, 4 down! We'll see how tomorrow goes. Maybe I'll even get cracking on my research paper!

Top Ten Things To Do While On Fall "Break"

1. Clean apartment -- if nothing else gets done, this one must.

2.Sleep

3.Keep sewing Jen's recital dress

4.Bake actual food-not involving Ramen, Soup or Pasta

5.Read....something

6.Memorize Little Red Riding Hood for November Performances

7.Hobby Lobby!

8.Write research paper due in November because you know you won't have time to write it the day before.

9.Learn Pieces for Wine Party gig next weekend.

10.Relax -- oh wait, not if I have everything else on this list to do!