Thanksgiving in Atlanta...

This post is for the benefit of all of my Aunts and cousins and sister and Mom who have yet to meet their Grand-nephew Maine. There are a TON of pictures. The rest of you may wish to look just because baby Maine has the cutest big baby cheeks EVER. And Jones! I can't believe how big he has gotten.

My cousin Scott and Penny let me come spend Thanksgiving with them after my original plans were scrapped due to the freeway being shut down for a couple of hours. Atlanta is only 3 hours away, so Thanksgiving morning I drove out there and had dinner with Penny's family. I took a TON of pictures of their babies and a few videos, so family members (and all others of you) enjoy!

This is when I first arrived...one of the few pictures I have of Jones smiling. He tended to smile after the flash went off. This was his mid-afternoon snack...I had the pleasure of giving him a bath since a lot of the snack ended up all over himself as well as inside himself...:)

This is the only picture I have of both Scott and Penny...they were getting a couple of things ready for the Thanksgiving feast over at Penny's parents house...

Scottie and his two boys! Jones and Maine...


Check out those cheeks!

Jones will be a world famous chef one day...
It was Scott's idea to put Maine in the pot...

Another smiling picture with Jones...I had to work for that smile...

Scott reading the Book of Mormon (the little kid version) to Jones...


Isn't he CUTE?!?!

I think this is the only picture with a real smile on Maine's face...

He just had the cutest smile and I missed it by a flash...I thought this was funny anyways...

A good cheek shot...

Oh so tired!!!

This is what he did most of the time I was there. Isn't he just so sweet?

(WARNING, turn your volume down some...I am loud in the first video)

Introducing Maine...

Our future harmonica virtuoso!

A Sudden Change In Plans...

So I left my work's Thanksgiving lunch that the doctor's do every year for us with bonus check in hand, deposited said bonus, and started my drive up to Virginia. Traffic was a little heavier than usual, but that is to be expected. 20/59 to 459 went fine, 459 to 59 went fine...

That is when the trouble happened. Traffic came to a COMPLETE STOP. I mean, 30 minutes later I was still in the same spot I was. About an hour into this complete stop, I got out onto the interstate, made friends with a truck driver and found out that (by the way, you may not want to read this...) they found a car with two girls in it that they have been looking for for a couple of days. The girls ran the car into a ditch which had water in it and drowned. So they of course closed the freeway to pull the car out and exhume the bodies.

So I was stuck on the freeway for 2 1/2 hours (approximately, not sure exactly how long it was) before we moved up enough for me to find a path across the median to the other side of the freeway (yes, I know it was illegal, but by golly I was DONE).  

So with detour, that would've put me at my best friends place at 3 or 4 am...and that's dangerous with me driving. Midnight, 1 am, I can handle, but NOT 3 or 4. 

SO I turned around. 

Nearly had the most depressing night of my life (k, exaggeration, but it had potential to be really really bad), being that I have planned this for months, but I ended up having a really really good night in spite of everything, and my cousins in Atlanta (Scott and Penny) invited me to come over and spend Thanksgiving with them...I drove over this morning and will go back tomorrow sometime...no early morning shopping for amazing deals for me...:(

Who knows, maybe this happened for a reason...

Becky, we are spending every moment we can with each other at New Year's, do you understand??

The Injury Report...And She's Off!!!

Yes, another one. Another stupid injury. I got out of my car and for some reason my right wrist met the mirror on the door of the car...and now I have a itty bitty goose-egg on my hand.

Ha, when I described it too my roommate earlier I actually used the words "I don't think it's broken". Good grief!! Seriously, it hurts SOOOOO bad to bend it one way...so I am trying to not bend it that one way. We shall see how successful I am with this...

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Well, I am off to Virginia tomorrow. I am driving by my lonesome all the way up. 10 1/2 hour drive according to Google...I will let you know exactly how long it really will take me...hoping for 9 1/2 hour, but I don't really want to push it, it being the busiest travel day of the year and all...

Thursday: sleeping in (Becky, please don't let Matt or Archer wake me up!), laziness, turkey dinner, maybe put up Christmas tree
Friday: SHOPPING!!!
Saturday: Washington DC...yeah baby...maybe a temple session, but we are going to be touristy peoples that day. Hopefully meet up with my old roommate while I am up there...
Sunday: Becky's Primary Program debut (she is the Primary Chorister right now, my FAVORITE calling, so I can't wait to see her in action) and then the long drive back home...

Now, if the word SNOW even sneaks into the forecast for anywhere near where I will be driving, I will be making my happy way back down here. I don't want to risk getting stuck up there! :)

A Goal...and without fail...and a first...

I have decided on a goal, but I don't have a date of when to accomplish it by...I want to re-memorize the dates for all the major composers that I once knew by heart...it became apparent to me recently just how much I have forgotten over the last 1 1/2 years...I need to get back on that track, for sure...you know, being a professional musician and all...:)

I have a list of composers to start with, which also has their major works listed with them...I think I am going to start with that. A former professor of mine gave this list to all of his students. It's only 11 pages long, I think I can handle a page a day, just memorizing the dates and re-remembering important facts and such about the composer...so if I do that five days a week, it should take me little more than two weeks.

So, here we go! :) I will report later...

Of course, I still am doing my usual Stravinsky work...(June 17th, 1882-April 6th, 1971)

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I think it funny that in this ward, you just can't get away with a Sunday where football isn't mentioned within a talk or at least one of the lessons...

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Today I went to Church to find out my boss(member)'s wife gave birth to their first baby boy. I went to the hospital to offer my congratulations and such, and discovered that the baby was in the ICU. That was a first for me, to visit expecting to see the healthy baby and to discover that the baby was sick. He should be okay though, the baby is low on blood sugar and he had a spot that showed up on his lungs when they took an xray, possible pneumonia...

I went down to look/admire/be-even-more-concerned-than-I-was-when-I-first-found-out at the baby...I really hope that the room they keep the babies in is really warm, because he had no blankets on whatsoever...I felt bad for him. His Mom came down and put socks, gloves and a hat on, all with the Alabama "A" on them, the hat being crimson (yes, HUGE Alabama fans...).

Then I saw a little one that was only two pounds. TWO pounds. I mean, the tiniest little guy/girl (not sure which it was). My heart just gave out...bless those nurses and doctors working in that area to keep that little one alive. Thank goodness for modern technology.

I hope that if I ever have children that I never have to experience that...

Getting Personal...

Tonight we (VT partner and I) took our VT-ee out to dinner and to give her a lesson. It was the first time my partner had done a lesson from the Conference issue of the Ensign, and I thought she did an excellent job. I think the lesson was perfect for our teach-ee, but I think that the lesson was also for me. It got me thinking about a few things.

I had the opportunity last week to go to the temple...while there, I paid attention to certain parts of the ceremony more than I had before. When I came home that night I put a lot more effort into emulating what I learned from the session...and you know, I had a much better experience coming out of that simple prayer than any recent personal prayer of mine that I can recollect. There really is a significance to the pattern we are taught as children to the order our prayers. We make sure to thank our Father in Heaven for whatever it is we are grateful for before we ask for anything from Him. I have fallen into the trap of "ask, ask, ask, ask...etc. etc." without any acknowledgment for what I am privileged to have.

There are other things that it got me thinking about, but I won't bore you with them. Anyways, if you read this, good job visiting teaching partner!! :)

Oh boy...

Cheyenne, I am assuming the Elizabeth you tagged is me, so here we go...and I warn you, this might be kinda boring...

8 TV Shows I Watch:

1. The Office
2. M*A*S*H
3. John and Kate Plus 8
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

(yep, that's it...I don't watch TV...ever...)

8 Things That Happened Yesterday:
1. Work
2. A phone call
3. Temple Session
4. Watched Kung Fu Panda (love that movie, you may buy it for me if you really want to...you know...)
5. Spent the night at Amber's
6. Ate Chipotle for the first time in forever, loved it...need to go again soon...
7. Got a FREE ultrasound of my heart...more on that later...
8. Wore a hat to work...got loads of compliments from the doctors...

8 Favorite Places to Eat:
1. Frontier (Albuquerque, NM)
2. Country Basket (aka, Cracker Barrel) (anywhere, USA)
3. Rosa's (Mesa, Arizona)
4. Serendipity (New York, New York)
5. Cracker's (Mesa, Arizona)
6. Cheesecake Factory (anywhere, USA)
7. Maharajah (Tuscaloosa, AL)
8. Full Moon BBQ or Dreamland...it's a tie (Tuscaloosa, AL)

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To:
1. Graduating
2. My next paycheck (I just got paid today...:) )
3. A secret
4. My Christmas bonus
5. Going to Virginia for Thanksgiving with Matt and Becky (yay, Matt will be there! He doesn't get deployed until after Thanksgiving, woot!...)
6. Going to New Mexico for Christmas
7. Going to Arizona for New Year's
8. The man of my dreams showing up at my doorstep, sweeping me off of my feet, and all that good stuff...

8 Things on My Wishlist:
1. The man of my dreams showing up on my doorstep, sweeping me off of my feet, and all that good stuff...
2. A certain large amount of money which will pay off my car so I don't have to make car payments anymore...
3. A room where at night there is absolutely NO LIGHT...totally black...I sleep FAR better when there is no light at all in the room...
4. The entire Disney collection...
5. The scale at work to show what I want it to show me...(I work in a doctors office, and we have TWO scales...neither of which show me what I want to see...my family doctor here, now HIS scale shows much better things...)
6. New shoes...
7. An iPod Classic...
8. To get into CUNY for my PhD...

8 Tagged People
1. You
2. Du
3. Tu
4. Temae
5. Tu (little do-hickey over the 'u')
6. Jou
7. COKp
8. Anda

(If you are able to figure out what language each of those comes from, you win...(drumroll please!)...my great admiration!!!)

Cutest Video Ever...okay, maybe not, but it's definitely up there...

Two of the ladies at work gave birth a few months ago to baby boys. The babies sometimes come and grace the office with their presence.

Well, a few weeks ago the daddy brought in little baby Justin...and here is the video I took...(watch this on a laptop and turn it sideways...I apologize, but I do not own the software to flip the video and keep what quality there is...sorry!!!)

The song is called Daddy-yo:

Giving In???...and Report!

So I MAY be giving in to getting back onto Facebook. Perhaps it's morphed into something that I can stand...no, not making any promises that I will, but I am actually considering it now.

Why the change of heart?

No, it's not because I have a strong urge to rekindle past relationships from elementary school, I won't be avidly seeking people out on there for that.

No, not because I am looking for Mr. Right and he may actually be on Facebook (yes, looking for Mr. Right, but I will not use Facebook to find him...I did the internet dating thing for a while and decided that it sucks and is not for me).

No it won't be used to keep track of activities for YSA and other such things, or to see who is dating who, who is reading what, etc etc etc...

It will be used for networking. What got me thinking about it was something that was said at the conference I just attended up in Nashville for all the music nerds and geeks in the United States...the graduate students are going to make a group and connect using facebook...THAT is what got me thinking about getting back on. That is something that caught my interest, especially being that there really are very few of us graduate students studying this thing call music theory...

Don't get me wrong, if I had all the time in the world I would love to read up on how people are doing, rekindle past relationships...I still wouldn't do the online hookup thing...but you know, keep up with people and such, but there are far too many people that I know and care about and I simply don't have the time to keep up on them. I have a hard enough time keeping track of my own family.

Anyways, I will let you know if I actually got on there or not. I may add you as a friend, but you won't buy me, give me pets, write stupid things on my walls, or whatever else all those new things are on Facebook (I only know those things from the 2 or 3 times my sister showed me her page)...I know, I will have the lamest profile on Facebook to most of you, I am sure...:) It's funny, cause I really do love small and stupid things (like slinkys...I have a secret love affair with those things...they can entertain me for hours) but that is just a little much for me, in my opinion...

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I LOVE NASHVILLE!!! Seriously, one of the most beautiful places I have been. Very good roads and freeways for the most part, traffic wasn't bad at all, very easy to find my way around, and seriously just beautiful! I enjoyed myself tremendously...

Oh, yeah, the conference...that was great too!

Pictures! And I am not even going to bother putting them into any real kind of order, so if they are out of order oh well. I am up way too late as it is to be waking up at 6:00am...I can't wait until I don't have to work at 8:00am...oh happy day...oh right, pictures:


Proof that Chris does eat more than just Raman noodles...and this was his first time at a Hard Rock Cafe...great shot, I think...Chris is a fellow music theorist who rode up with me (yay for splitting gas money)...if it weren't for me, the man would have starved the whole time we were there. I swear, the kid doesn't eat.


The strip...Nashville style...complete with peddlar, carraiges, tourists, neon lights and bars...


The AT&T building at night, very pretty...not as pretty of a skyline as Atlanta has, but that's okay, I forgave Nashville that...

The King...


That's me...and a really big guitar...with pictures of a bunch of country stars...


Me displaying my excellent driving skills...children, do not do this at home...look at the trees though!


See!!! Look...


Now this shot was taken as I was driving very fast on the freeway...pretty dang excellent, I have to say...pretty pretty pretty...


Nashville skyline...and Church St...the building with the two spires is the AT&T building...


Oh, and for you NPR buffs, that is Tim Riley. I have decided he is not a very intelligent man. He got a number of things wrong. We are the 'Society for Music Theory' NOT 'The Society of Music Theorists'...and we are NOT musicologists, we are music theorists...and I am sorry, your paper...yeah, you seriously need to work on getting facts straight, friend...ESPECIALLY in front of a whole audience of people who know FAR more than you do about music...INCLUDING the popular music canon (the topic of his and two other papers, of which only one was noteworthy), which even us classical music nerds know plenty about. BIGGEST WASTE OF 30 MINUTES EVER!!!

Alright, here is your semi-interesting POST

Clint, the title is for you...

FYI, when you make an entry on a blog, you have entered a 'post', not a 'blog'. I think I am as much at fault at saying "I just entered a blog" instead of "I just entered a post on my blog" or "I just entered a blog post".

Good point Clint.

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I am tired. It is late. So maybe this won't be all that much more interesting than yesterdays post.

I did finally get the cord, and it is working like a charm (YAYAYAYAYAY) so hooray for that. I missed having a working laptop very very much...

I am leaving tomorrow night for Nashville, Tennessee to go to the SMT/AMS conference (society for music theory/american musicological society). Yes, it's in Nashville this year. Why, I don't know, probably because Vanderbilt is there...I am driving up with a fellow music theory student, this will be his first conference, this will be my third SMT conference and fourth music theory conference...woot! I am dropping him off where he is staying and then we are on our own for the rest of the conference. Lucky me, I will be staying with a member of the Church, they are opening up their home to me, and it really is so nice of them to do this for me. THANK YOU MARLA!!!

We are driving back Saturday night. What time we are leaving Saturday night, I don't know yet, we shall see...it kinda depends on whether something worth staying for happens Saturday night or not...so. But we will be back in town for Church Sunday.

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Tonight we had our first Stake YW presidency meeting it went very very well. Drove up to Bessemer (I have driven up there THREE times in the past week...I am SOOOO glad gas prices have gone down!!) to the stake center, and it only lasted 1 1/2 hours, pretty dang good for a first meeting, and the rest of our meetings should be shorter...emPHAsis on should...

It's amazing how busy I have been this week. I mean, seriously amazing...this conference is going to feel like a vacation, I am SURE of that. Work, school, Church, life...busy busy busy

Um...wonderful, clever, thoughtprovoking title: yeah nothing's coming

Yes, I am alive, I just have a broken cord and so I can't feed my laptop addiction, nor my blogging addiction...hopefully tomorrow life will calm down enough to let me get it (the cord)...more interesting blog entry tomorrow...maybe...good thing I didn't join Nablopomo or whatever the heck that thing is that half of you seem to be a part of...