Day at the Beach

Playing tag with Michelle



Airplane!



Burying Aria



It's Liam's turn!





DADDY!

Views from Ashley's Rooftop





A gelato/pastry break from Modern Pastry in the North End





I'm not related to him - nope, don't even look like him!



Michelle's so goofy



Legal Seafood-ing it; except I Legal Poultry-d it!



The airplanes were so close!



Jonathan and Tige - ocean fun!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAREN AND BRIAN!!!!!!



About 6 weeks ago Ashley and I started a tradition of going to Ben and Jerry's once a week for an ice cream/sundae/shake or whatever. Ashley has a Ben and Jerry's booklet of coupons that are mostly all "Buy One, Get One Free" and several with a discount off of certain purchases. The booklet expires at the end of July so we made a pact that we were going to use as many coupons as we could (but only going once a week and always after a tennis match). One of the coupons is a discount off of an ice cream cake and we were trying to think of people we knew who had a birthday in July. The only two people we could think of were Karen and Brian - but they are both out of town until August. We decided that we would use the coupon and get an ice cream cake and celebrate with them in absentia!
So tonight (we had to celebrate a night early) we made our way to Ben and Jerry's in Harvard Square only to discover that they don't sell ice cream cakes!!! We came back to the apartment and went online to see what Ben & Jerry's in the area did sell ice cream cakes. Newbury Street. Out the door we bounded and into the car for a field trip to Newbury Street. We bought a 1/2 cookie dough 1/2 fudge brownie ice cream cake - unfortunetely we did not have enough room on the cake for them to write "Happy Birthday Karen and Brian" so we just had their names put on it.
I love summer!!!
Thanks Karen and Brian for having a birthday before the end of July!!! :)It's possible that there will still be some cake left by the time you come back!
Can't wait to see you both very soon in OH-IO!! xxxx



It's not the best singing in the world - but sometimes it's a little bit fun to not sing pretty!!

I just read and highly recommend the book Mudhouse Sabbath by Lauren F. Winner. It was an insightful and enriching book on the Christian faith and how it can possibly be enriched with eleven spiritual practices from Judaism.
The author converted from Orthodox Judaism to Christianity many years ago, but misses a lot of the traditions and spiritual practices within the Jewish faith. In this book she chooses 11 of these practices and traditions which she feels can crossover into Christianity and help Christians enrich our own faith and practice. Chapters range from topics such as the Sabbath, mourning, prayer, aging, fasting, hospitality, and weddings.
One of my favorite chapters (although, I loved them all and had several 'ah-hah' moments) was the one on Hospitality in which Winner states:

"Christians and Jews hold in common one theological basis for hospitality: Creation. Creation is the ultimate expression of God's hospitality to His creatures. In the words of one rabbi, everything God created is a "manifestation of His kindness. [The] world is one big hospitality inn." As church historian Amy Oden has put it, "God offers hospitality to all humanity... by establishing a home...for all." To invite people into our homes is to respond with gratitude to the God who made a home for us."

"In the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, we find another resource for hospitality. The Trinity shows God in relationship with Himself. Our Three-in-One God has welcomed us into Himself and invited us to participate in divine life. And so the invitation that we as Christians extend to one another is not simply an invitation into our homes or to our tables; what we ask of other people is that they enter our lives."

and

"God's creation gives us a model for making and sharing homes with people, but the reality of God's Trinitarian life suggests that Christian hospitality goes further than that. We are not meant simply to invite people into our homes, but also to invite them into our lives. Having guests and visitors, if we do it right, is not an imposition, because we are not meant to rearrange our lives for our guests - we are meant to invite our guests to enter our lives as they are. It is this forging of relationships that transforms entertaining into hospitality."

So - I just plagarized a whole lot (however, I have stated who the author is, what book it comes from and put everything in quotations - does this count?). Something about these passages within in this chapter really struck me. How God's hospitality to us is His creation - the land and landscape. Sky and sea. Trees, flowers and creatures. I've always known and believed that we are called to preserve and conserve the earth and all of his creation and that it is a gift to us but never as hospitality.
In addition, how many times do we invite people over because we enjoy entertaining, or because we're bored, or because it's just nice to have people over and have fun or quality time. These are all good and valid reasons to "hang out" with our friends and loved ones and even newcomers. But to think of it as being about hospitality and the sharing of our lives together puts a slightly new spin on it.It calls for thinking of these gatherings of friends and family more deeply and more meaningfully - even if it is just a game night or movie night - and because we are inviting them into our lives and not just our physical home! Don't mind me - I'm just chatting away here...
So that's just an example of a topic in this book - but there's so much more. Go out and get a copy today! (so cheesey I know!)

Ashley and I went to the beach over the weekend. Ashley fell asleep - I buried her feet AND built two sand mounds with motes :-)


Ivan and I "helped rescue" this little baby mouse from the library at Longy. (yeh yeh - i know it's a mouse...). He was taken outside and he looked hungry so I gave him part of my Luna bar. Oh - his name is Oliver and I called him Oli for short. Unfortunetely, Oli did not make it through the night.


Oli - so cute


She's a Kansas gal :-)


OH - IO!!


Sunshiney day!


Ashley, me, and Michelle


USS Constitution off of Castle Island - 4th of July


Arlyn and Karen - team "ghetto"


Brian and Karen and I on a Euchre night. I'm milking Karen :-) Don't ask... it's a Euchre thing.


Karen and I enjoying the sunshine at a studio picnic/bbq


Michelle getting ready to play Kubb!


Kubb! Karen on the "enemy" team doing her best to knock down a block


with the 'rents :-)


Me and Yi-Hui


Me and Yumi


Adam, me, and Sara

Ahhhh... finally. The first week for me where I don't have a rehearsal or a concert or anything officially scheduled in my book other than work. Friends at church were asking me yesterday if I feel any different now that I've graduated - but really, I don't. I think the biggest reason is because it's now summer and it really just feels like it always has for the past 3 years at this point. It's not until the fall when I think I'll feel "different" - once everyone returns to classes or whatnot and I continue working. And while I don't feel different since having stepped across the stage to recieve that diploma, life has certainly been interesting since graduation and I continue to wait patiently for what is to come next - in all things. Of course I'm still keeping myself busy with some practicing here and there (although I'm taking this week off - we'll see how long that lasts) as well the usual hanging out with friends. Last weekend we saw Shrek (so funny!) and also took a trip to Amesbury to Jaynes for a studio cookout she was having. Karen introduced us to the game of My Word and then we played several rounds of Kubb which is starting to become an annual tradition. I've been running - although I need to get up off my butt and step up the number of times per week I'm going out to do this. Motivation is very hard when my running partners are gone for the summer. I'm trying to decide if I'm going to run an 18 miler in the fall - but perhaps I need to do a 1/2 marathon first before I attempt an 18 mile run.
It's that time of year at Harvard now too. Books are being returned by the hundreds and hundreds. Literally. Harvard has a system where you can return any library book to any Harvard library. Those books, in turn, will get put in a bin for the library it belongs to and then a delivery is made once a day to that library with those books. Well, last week was a mad house. Normally we get 1 maybe 2 bins a day - last Tuesday we got 14 bins and Wednesday was a little lighter with 11 bins. It took 4 of us an hour to unload and discharge all those books. By the time we were all done we were a sweaty and exhausted bunch. This is why I don't need to go to a gym for weight training! Seriously.
The last Sunday for choir was yesterday so now the acadmeic year really does feel officially done. More free time in my weekly schedule is very welcome - but what do I do with it all???

Come down, O love divine,
seek thou this soul of mine,
and visit it with thine own ardor glowing;
O Comforter, draw near,
within my heart appear,
and kindle it, thy holy flame bestowing.

O let it freely burn,
till earthly passions turn
to dust and ashes in its heat consuming;
and let thy glorious light
shine ever on my sight,
and clothe me round, the while my path illuming.

Let holy charity
mine outward vesture be,
and lowliness become mine inner clothing;
true lowliness of heart,
which takes the humbler part,
and o'er its own shortcomings weeps with loathing.

And so the yearning strong,
with which the soul will long,
shall far outpass the power of human telling;
for none can guess its grace,
till Love create a place
wherein the Holy Spirit makes a dwelling.

Words: Bianco da Siena, d. 1434;
trans. Richard Frederick Littledale, Jr., 1867

This Game will keep you occupied for days or even months - but it's easy to come back to. If you need a clue go to View in you browser and then click on Source and scroll to the bottom. Sometimes it's helpful and sometimes it is not. Have fun! You have to get to Level 5 to get additional hints on how to be successful with the rest of this game. One other clue I'll give: Any text answer required anywhere in the game will always be lowercase, not UPPERCASE!
Have fun and let me know what level you get to!

Watch out because I'm going to get all sentimental on you now.

Other than turning in my Experiential Education Program notebook,(which is basically putting the notebook in order...), I'm done. I'm done not only with this academic year, but my graduate school career at Longy. The past three years have been rewarding, intense, difficult at times, and - well, fun! I think that this year, in particular has been my favorite of them all. I'm not sure why - maybe it's because I feel like I finally fell into my groove as a musician and an artist, the first year in my life that I've felt a little more than competent at what it is I do, or it could be because I didn't have those *#$& profeciencies looming over my head and I could enjoy academics and know that I was definately graduating at the end of this year! Whatever the case, staying an extra year after my masters was one of the wisest decisions I've ever made - even if it put me more debt!
It's been an extremely intense and busy year filled with accomplishments as we well as disappointments with lessons learned - but even those were good.

Our Experiential Education Program project (EEP) at the Boston Arts Academy (BAA) was a hug success - HUGE! I was blessed to be working with Michelle and Bree, not only close friends - but also excellent musicians and overall creative and fun people. The combination of the three of us working together couldn't have been any better - we worked off of each other so well in the classroom and our mutual respect for each other allowed us to come up lesson plans that we could all agree on without compromising our beliefs in what we would be presenting and expecting of these 9th graders. Our project was a 4 week session (artist in residency program so-to-speak) dealing with poetry and song - more specifically taking art song and today's "pop song" and comparing and contrasting them by first taking a look at the text. The emotion of a song stays the same, (whether it be a 19th century art song written by Schubert or 21st Hip-Hop), but the means by which these emotions are expressed change - and also keeping in mind that every song is someone's story. This class of 20 some freshmen gave us a list of their favorite pop song - to which we spent hours pairing an art song with that pop song trying to match emotions or stories. We chose a different theme for first 3 sessions we held with the kids, (Week 1 - Love/Love Lost, Week 2 - God/Power of God, Week Three - Lonliness/Emptiness - an ambiguous story), and chose a pairing for each week. For example, in Week 1 we chose Aaron Copeland's Heart We Will Forget Him and paired it with Lil'Bow Wow's Outta My System. We first read through the text and explained the importance of subtexting - having the students subtext all of or portions of each song - even the rap song. We always worked with the "pop" song first, listened to it, and then transitioned into the art song - subtexting that and then one of us would perform it. Each week we followed a similar format - but with different activities to keep the kids interested, always emphasizing the importance of knowing the story and the emotions that are read inbetween the lines before the song was even sung. This was a huge success - the kids got it, loved it, and it was special to them because we used their music and their interests and didn't dismiss it. Week 4 ended in a concert given by the freshmen class in front of an audience of the sophomore class. It was so exciting for us and for them and the three of us felt like proud parents. The concert was going so well that we ended up staying an extra hour and gave a mini-masterclass for both classes of students re-emphasizing the importance of subtexting, knowing the text well before you sing and how to fit that emotion into the song - as well as the importance the accompaniment by reminding them that the piano part tells the story in some way. This program was such a success that the three of us were invited back a week later to adjudicate the senior recitals and also choosing those seniors who would go on to participate in the Honor's Recital. In addition, there is now discussion about our program becoming something permanant at the BAA starting next year with us having an actual "artist in residency program" and being compensated as professionals for our work! VERY exciting! The interesting part about this program is that while the basic premise and work would stay the same - the actual music would always change because it will always be a new set of students with a new list of favorite pop songs.
Our group was also asked to speak about our project at the spring Board of Visitors meeting at Longy and it was recieved so well by everyone there - including Longy's new president. We were approached by a Harvard professor who is on the board who asked us if we were interested in copyrighting this project and even to go as far as suggest creating a webpage about the project as a source for other teaching artists to use. This project was also highlighted in Longy's yearly newsletter. I mean, really - Go us!

Another big accomplishment this year was the honor of being a finalist in Longy's Concerto Competition with Berlioz's Les Nuits d'été. Although the outcome was not necessarily what I was hoping for, the privilege and surprise of having been chosen to advance in the first place was reward enough.

And then there are the non-musical aspects of my life that are just as sweet. Picking up the running again first with Ashley and our 5 mile training and then training with Adam for the 1/2 marathon which I didn't end up being able to participate in in the end - but the friendship that was built out of our daily runs and our weekend long runs (yay 9 miles!). The Saturday morning running squad with Arlyn, Adam and Brian that ended with breakfasts - and that will sadly be no more as Adam is running off and getting married and Aryln will be touring with Barrage. And of course, my girls - Bree, Karen, Ashley, and Michelle. What joy they bring to life everytime we get together (which is all the time). The favorite memories of Balderdash evenings, wine parties, Sunday evening Rome viewings, apple picking, birthday parties, watching Bree and Karen reading their romance novels to each other (I'll definately be killed for adding that one), St. Patrick's day and all the other absolutely spontaneous things that we do. C.S. Lewis said, "Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... it has no survival value, rather it is one of those things that give value to survival." All of these people - including the support and love from friends and family at home and abroad have made these grad school days more than just about singing and refining my knowledge and skills as a musicican.

My final recital at Longy was on Monday and it went well. I was touched by the support of friends from church and work, Longy, and even a friend from way back in the day at Capital. LOL! I was also able to share the stage with some fabulous friends and musicians - people who made the night even more special with dedication to making some fine music. Of course - the post-party back at the house is always a blast and I'll leave that up to all your imaginations ;-)

Summer is coming and graduation is upon us and there will be lots of saying "goodbye" in the next few days - something that I haven't really had to deal with in my past 3 years at Longy. Bree has already left for the summer and Karen and Brian will be in and out all summer long. Fortunately, Michelle and Ashley and Rachel (you will won't you?? we have to get our bike riding in gear this summer!) will be around (Ashley lives just down the street now - YAY!!!!) so I won't totally be alone during these summer months.
What will I do after graduation?? I'm staying here in Boston - will work at Harvard during the summer months and then hopefully will have a job lined up for next year. Can't really dealve into the specifics of that yet (I know, I know... why mention it if I can't talk about it?? I hate people that do that too), but I assure you that you will all know when everything is said and done.

And even though I'm done, I'm not really "done". I'll be doing a portion of my recital at a concert series at St. John the Evangelist in Beacon Hill on 5/23, and my 20th and 21st Century American Art Song class will be giving a concert for the same concert series on 5/30. THEN I'm done! There's always something!

Well I warned you - I hope I wasn't too over-the-top sentimental and sappy.

My parents come this weekend - it will be really nice to see them!

Pictures to come very soon....