sunday party

juilliard and i, like the city and i, have always love/hated each other

{this is less true now that i'm not a student there}

but when sunday night parties happen that are people running around holding

violins and bassoons, reading ives and stravinsky and poetry and original works,

i love love love love juilliard and the people that it shoots out, projectile-y.

it makes me feel like i'm in the party scene in amadeus. 

and i don't want it to end. 

unless it involves fried chicken in inwood. 

-yeh!

punch brothers

i took myself on a date to see punch brothers last night.

i ate extra garlic at dinner, arrived 20 minutes late,

and didn't have to worry about making dumb conversation or anything.

i'm so pathetic, i know. it was so lovely.

and the concert was-- once i got over the shock of how little a banjo 

player's fingers move and how much chris thile moves-- great.

however, i still want to know who chris thile wants not to get married without him.

-yeh!

p.s. my concert breath was horrific. 

but that is the last thing you worry about when you take yourself on a date.

these days

it is warm enough for outside pizza nights.

a new dinner table, which was christened with yummies from kashkaval, 

makes me smile so hard that i think my face will fall off.

i have been enjoying ramps, salmon rillettes, and serial music with this human.

grom is the best medication for my poor sore throat.

...an almond cookie candle, edith piaf, and the occasional bit of poetry plopped in my inbox 
make the world go round.

-yeh! 

a good apple

{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!