Buonjorno!





Life is, big surprise, ridiculously busy!!! Ahh! But it is fantastic at the same time. I have set all of my literature officially for my recital in October, so big yay for that being done! And most of my music is already learned, I just need to memorize it...ha ha. The only set that will take lots of time, although it will be completely worth it, is my Respighi set, Deita Silvane. It's gorgeous! I have one piece down, 4 to go for that set. I have to finish learning 3 arias for my trip to see Alan Held and then one other aria and a duet for my recital. Shouldn't be too bad all in all.





Ballet is still whooping my butt, but the time now flies, which is a huge plus for my aching quads and calves! I decided to put off the lap swiming until July when my class is over. But I am working on my own little opera project. I am desperately trying to expand my knowledge of opera literature this summer, so I have been hitting the WSU Library and checking out videos to watch at home...so far so good :) I have 2 more to watch from my last expedition to the library, Le Rossignole by Stravinsky (Natalie Dessay in the production, yea!) and Peter Grimes by Britten. It should be a fun weekend :)





I've been baking in Wichita. It's been in the triple digits and it's only June! Plus the humidity has been insane too!

So I've now officially started my ballet class....needless to say my skills are still the same....can't balance, can't straighten my legs out all the way, not flexible in the least! And did I forget to mention that I kinda look, for lack of a better phrase, like I'm taking a dump when I plie? I've decided that I will be the comedy relief for the others in the class, ha ha. I know that I'm not a dancer, I just have to take this class for my degree. I'm a singer, but hopefully taking this class will improve my posture and "gracefulness" on stage. But I'm the short "curvy" girl in the class in comparison to all of the tall twigs that are in there.



I've been working out lots thus far in the month of June. My ballet class is for 2 hours and then I lap swim for about an hour directly afterwards. So hopefully by the end of the month I will be more toned and loose a little of weight too. I've also been refreshing my languages via The Rosetta Stone software. It's been helpful, but not quite what I was expecting. In other news, just learning new voice literature. I have a lesson with Pina on Friday, so big YAY! My lessons are the high points of my week, I just love 'em! I always feel better about myself after them.

It's been a little warm here in Wichita the past few days, but the evenings are beautiful! About 70 degrees with a cool breeze. I love sitting on my porch in my wooden swing and reading a good book with a glass of wine....it's the perfect way to wind down at the end of the day. I also am being eaten out of house and home, but love it at the same time. There is a family of finches that live just off to the left side of my porch. I bought a bird feeder a few months ago and it has to be refilled about every 2 days or so. They are so fun to watch hopping along the wire bars :) And I bought myself a shrubbery...okay, it's not a shrubbery, it's a vine to be accurate...a Mandavilla. It looks like it could have a few blooms any day now! I just love seeing and watching the beautiful nature around me. It the little things that I enjoy so much. They are God's little gifts to all of us, we just need to take the time to see and enjoy them. I'm off to bed because I have ballet tomorrow...eek!

Hi all :)

I have a few updates since the blog. Today was my last day of my summer presession in womens' studies, Women In Popular Culture. It's an entire semesters worth of material crammed into 9 days for 4 and a half hours a day...ew...I loved the readings, but as much as I hate to say it....not the brightest crayons in the box were in that class....for example:

The first day the professor always wants everyone to get to know one another/ her/etc. She is an African-American woman with an accent, so logically she could be from Jamaica or Africa. She asks the class, "So what do you want to know about me?". A girl in the back of the room shouts, "Where are you from?". The teacher repsonds, "Oh dat is a very good question. Where do you tink (not a spelling error, just an accent attempt in typing) I'm from?". "Well she thinks you're from Jamaica." says the girl as she points to a fellow female on her left. The teacher replies, "I didn't ask her, I ask you. Where do you tink I'm from?". "Well I don't think you're from Africa". "Why do you say dat?"....."I dunno, I just don't think you're from Africa." The teacher tells everyone, "Well actually I'm from Nigeria." and here's the kicker......The girl responds with, "See I knew you weren't from Africa!"...........Crimeny! I have never felt so intelligent in my life! I've also never had to struggle so much to keep a straight face.

So now that that is over, I have finished yet one more requirement for my degree, yay! Now I'm on to my regular summer course.....Ballet...dun dun dun :( I have absolutely no physical rhythm and I also inherited my father's hamstrings, so this could very well be a catastrophe. I have to go buy a leotard this weekend. The last time I wore one of those was when I was about 4 years old...yeesh.

I also had my first church choir rehearsal for St.Andrew's Lutheran (my directing job). I didn't know what kind of turn out I would have and I had been told that there was little to no musical talent there. All I have to say is that God is absolutely incredible! I get there and I have a fabulous accompanist, and 8 choir members....4 men and 4 women...2 basses, 2 tenors, 2 altos, and 2 sopranos.....HOW AMAZING IS THAT?! And a huge plus is that they can sing the 4 part music I picked out! I initially came to WSU as a music education major, but they changed it because I couldn't receive a scholarship unless I was a performance major...then I did my first opera and the rest is history. But I had forgotten how much I LOVED choral music, especially the idea of directing one. It's a wonderful opportunity that has literally fallen into my lap and I'm loving it thus far. As a musician, we kind of need to be a jack of all trades...and directing would certainly qualify as a trade. I think I might even be able to give them some more pieces in addition to the music they already have.

Other than that I'm going to jump into learning my new audition arias and senior recital material this coming week. Life is busy, but it's good!