{the midwest young artists annual gala}

daddy, teresa, stoop, me, johnswik

photo credit: my six-year-old sister. look at that. annie leibovitz, watch out.

stoop does her hairs.

a heavily processed potential for a holiday photo/why daddy should take raw pictures

stoop and johnswik get pouty!

i creep in stoop's room.

daddy get's an award!

dr. niles crane, ladies and germs!

+++

midwest young artists is one big big reason why i play music. i grew up in the mya orchestra and percussion ensemble, and i can't imagine a better way to have spent my saturdays throughout junior high and high school than rehearsing with these ensembles. performing beethoven 9 in orchestra hall, competing in fischoff nearly every year, forming some of my closest friendships, and developing a deep affection for domino's pizza are just a few of the awesome things that became of my time in mya.

on saturday morning, i tagged along with my dad to rehearsal and filled in for the three missing percussionists. and it was by far one of the highlights of my week. more of a highlight than meeting niles crane from frasier {no offense, david}. playing in that beautiful sunny room in the old jail building with dr. d as the conductor, daddy as soloist...
i couldn't shake that feeling of oh, yes, this is why i love playing so much.
that night, we got all fancy schmancy and sipped cocktails and ate devils on horseback and bid in a live auction and enjoyed shostakovich. pops got an award and it was ever so sweet!

it was the loveliest of times, it was one of my favorite of times.

-yeh!