Practice...

Last night two couples came to have dinner with the family I am living with at the moment. One of the ladies happens to be a pianist, and so after dinner I pulled out my cello, grabbed my Brahm's cello sonata in e minor...

...and bombed it...it was awful...everyone else said that it was great to listen to us, but seriously, I am totally ashamed of my left hand. The second movement wasn't so bad, but the third...wasn't even going to go there. Not after how the first movement went...

Need. To. Practice.

To the Menfolk of the World

Dear Sirs,

For the last few years, you have been baffled by the sometimes obsession us womenfolk have with Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga. I too was baffled by it, until I finally relented this last winter and read all of the books. I am not a Twi-Hard by any means, but I definitely am now a fan of the books as well as the movies.

Us womenfolk have dragged you to the movie theaters and our television screens, forcing you to watch the movies with us. And you have stuck it out. And us womenfolk have promised you that the wait for the third movie would be worth it. We have read the books. We know what happens in Eclipse...and there is definitely a great deal of draw for men in the third book.

And then the first trailer came out...and you didn't believe us.

Well, my dear menfolk...the second trailer has appeared...watch, and then make sure to write down this date in your books: 6-30-2010.

Click here for trailer

Sincerely,

Elizabeth

(Eclipse is my favorite of the Twilight Saga...so I might be the tiniest bit an Eclipse-hard...:) I will embed the video when I can...currently, Oprah has control of the reigns for the trailer...)

Good Times

Despite the fact that 28 in my mind is a great deal older than 27, it was a great birthday. I was home not too long ago, so I was able to celebrate a bit with the family. Then Saturday morning, I met with a few friends and went to an arts festival up in Cullman, AL...and had my first cake of the day...a FUNNEL cake...yum!

Then we went to the Norris clan's home and nearly burned their house down making homemade potato chips...there was fire and smoke and everything...definitely made it a birthday to remember...the first batch, despite the impending doom we felt sure was coming upon us, turned out really well. Note to all you DIY peoples...when frying potato chips, use a pan with very tall walls so that the oil doesn't boil over when you put the elements you are frying INTO the pan.

Then there was the youth dance. The leaders from Tuscaloosa and I went out to dinner to this GREAT Hawaiian Burger place in town that I can't remember the name of...so yummy...then we went back to the dance, and a few friends and I shared a small thing of chocolate ice cream with chocolate chunks in it (they know me well!). The youth stopped the dance to sing happy birthday, which was wonderfully embarrassing. Then after the dance, I went home, got in my PJ's...and 4 of the youth from the ward here came in singing happy birthday with an ice cream cake in hand. :) Thankfully, instead of 28 candles which would've looked like an inferno, they had two candles with the numbers 2 and 8...didn't need to try and burn down another house on my birthday. :)

Sunday I went to Northport Ward Sacrament meeting and then took off for Jackson, MS where my Aunt Pat was hanging out with some of her cousins on the other side of the family...it was lovely hanging out with her and her cousins, they were so nice to let me come and stay with them!!! She reminds me so much of Aunt Linda (Aunt Pat is actually my Mom's cousin, but I call her Aunt anyways...kind of like how I am to all my cousins kids...)...they look and sound and in some ways act like each other. I love it. We had a great time.

So far a great start. Hopefully this year leading up to 29 brings even better things.

Birthday...

28 years old today...trying to wrap my head around that fact...

Birthday...and New Blog Reminder...

A) According to most of the USA, it is officially my birthday. All you Pacific Time Zone peoples, it will be another hour before it is...28 years ago, my parents became parents for the first time...

B) Just in case, you missed my last post, this no longer will be my everyday life blog...my new blog is:

http://theamazingadventuresofanelizabeth.blogspot.com

Please update your blog scrolls/rss feeds/etc etc to this new blog address. And then go to the new blog and wish me a happy birthday if you feel so inclined. If you don't, that's ok. :)

My First *Real* Entry

Hello. Let me introduce myself...I know most who will be checking this out already know me, but perhaps the following will shed some light on a few things that you don't know about me.

My name obviously is Elizabeth. I am named after my lovely Grandma Raisor who passed away when I was 17. I love my name, and always have. Both she and I do not care for the name 'Liz' or 'Lizzy'...sounds too close to 'lizard' for me at least. She went by Beth, and so I have kept that as her name and have never been called that.

Most call me Elizabeth, but a select few call me Lizbeth, Lizabeth, Iddlebet (NOT idle-bet), Eliza, Zissbess, and Babydoll (the last belongs ONLY to my Mom, so please don't call me that unless you the reader are my Mom, in which case I love it...I really do, too). Two of you who happen to be my best friends are still calling me Liz, and one day that habit will be broken. :)

I am six feet tall, white as can be, surprisingly still blond considering both my parents went brunnette when they reached adulthood, and on the overweight side of things...which I am not happy about, and never have been happy about. I have decided to start running. I never have been a runner, so I will be working myself up to this. But I want to run in a marathon, and actually be able to run the entire time. Hopefully by doing so, the overweight thing will go AWAY!

Tomorrow I will be 28 years old. Today I am 27. I feel like I am turning 30. Nope, not too happy about that either. Not really that I am getting older, but that I don't have anyone or much of anything to show for it besides my bachelors degree and buying my first car. This year is my 10th anniversary from graduating high school. I simply cannot believe it's been 10 years. I am quite determined that the next 10 years will have far more to show that just a degree.

I love long walks on the beach, movies, Indian food, chocolate, fresh mowed California grass, baseball, music, shopping, In-N-Out, Michael Buble, friends, family, KIDS, babies, being in love and all that mushy stuff that goes with it, the Gospel, playing Charlie (my cello), cooking, make-up, finding cute shoes that FIT, listening, talking, laughing, singing really loud to a good song when I am by myself in my car, driving, Halloween, diamonds (though I don't own any), New York City, doodling, reading...and a few other things...and definitely not in this order.

My favorites:

Color: White, close second is green...used to be black, but I changed my mind...
Sport: Baseball
Music: ha, not going there. I love it all practically.
TV Show: NCIS...the people I am living with have sucked me into it
Broadway Show: Wicked
Movie: The Slipper and the Rose...it gets me all romantical...I LOVE IT...
Book: Book of Mormon, obviously, the Blue Sword by Robin McKinley, but I have to say (and PLEASE don't judge me for this, I am entertained QUITE easily) I really like Eclipse...I am JUST saying! I need to re-read the Blue Sword though...it's been a while...I will probably revert to it, and this is just a passing fad...for non-fiction, currently it's 'My Life in France' by Julia Child. Loved it.

Why the beach theme? I love the beach. It's like a magnet for me...I nearly constantly feel a pull to go there. If I lived near a beach, I would go to it everyday. The feeling of sand underneath my feet, jumping into waves, being in the sun...love it.

There are other places that I love more, such as the temple, sitting anywhere next to my Mom, Disneyland...but having 'Disneyland' as a theme seems a bit childish, and I don't think my Mom would like a big picture of her and me at the top of this blog. :) And I can go to the temple any day, and since there are temples everywhere I pretty much will always be able to go to the temple. But the beach is a bit more elusive, and since it is on my mind right now it is my theme for this blog.

It (the beach) is kind of a goal for me, actually.

In ten years, I want to be in a position where if I want to go to the beach, I can just pick up and go. If my sister needs me to come take care of my future nieces and nephews, or really any of my cousins or good friends kids, I can just pick up and go. If my parents need me, I can go be there. If I feel like going to Disneyland, I can just (grab a few kids to come along with me...hopefully some of my own if the fates will go my way...and) go!

Now to get going.

New Blog...and Facebook...

Dear Family, Friends, Fans, Fools, Foes and all the rest of you...

I am changing my normal, everyday blog URL address. The new one is:

http://theamazingadventuresofanelizabeth.blogspot.com/

Please change my main blog to this URL on your blog lists.

I have been wanting to do this for years, actually. After the first year of this blog, I realized that it really has nothing to do with me being a music theorist. I hardly talk of it at all, in fact. So I decided that the URL and title are a bit misleading (for example, I could talk about what piece I am dissecting, give a review of an article I recently read, etc.).

I will keep this blog, but the new one will be where I do my normal everyday happenings posts to keep in touch with you peoples.

The new one doesn't look like much yet, but I will dress it up soon enough.

Also...and this might be the bigger news...I will be rejoining the Facebook world after about a 6 year hiatus. I decided that I would get back onto it once I leave the South, and I've told a few people about this decision, so be looking for me.

Won't be for at least a month, so be patient. I will make an announcement here and on the new blog once I do get onto there so that ya'll know to bombard me with friend requests. I don't want to be bombarded quite yet, though.

Why now? Just 'cause.

Coming Soon to a home near you...

This will be my new blog. This URL seems far more appropriate for me, since I hardly ever talk about music theory on my other blog. So, here ya go. I am going to keep the other one, and might use it to talk about music theory one day, but this will be my everyday keeping you up to date blog.

:) Cheers.

Baking...

I heartily believe that icing makes the cake. The cake itself could be dry, flour tasting, pistachio-flavored nastiness (NOT a fan of pistachios...gross!), but with great tasting, smooth, melts in your mouth icing you wouldn't even really notice the cake.

I don't have qualms about pulling out the box of cake mix. I usually add a little more oil than the recipe asks for to make sure the cake is moist, and I ALWAYS add chocolate chips if the cake would be good with them.

The icing in the canisters I take issue with. They aren't bad, but they aren't great either. So I started making my own icing. My favorite to make is cream cheese icing...but that's probably because it's so easy to turn it into caramel cheesecake icing or chocolate cheesecake icing or cinnamon bun icing, etc. AND you can actually make a cake filler first, and then add more powdered sugar to it to ice the cake with, which I did this weekend...

Filling:

1 lb cream cheese
3 sticks softened butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla

mix (preferably using kitchen aid or the like) cheese and butter until smooth, add 1/2 cup powdered sugar at a time, add lemon juice and vanilla. Mix until smooth. TASTE TEST.

Leftover filling to icing:

Add 1 1/2 to 2 cups powdered sugar, til the consistency is as thick as you want for icing. Taste test before adding more powdered sugar...you don't want it overly sweet.

A girl had her 18th birthday party, hosted by the guy of the house and his friends. He asked me to bake a cake for her. I got Devil's food cake mix, baked the cake in a 9x13, flipped it over, cut the top off (TIP: for rectangular cakes, cut at a diagonal so that you don't break the cake, especially when you get to the end), filled with this heavenly cream cheese filling (TIP: don't fill all the way to the edge, you don't want it to spill over), put the top of the cake back on, added powdered sugar to the leftover filling, and iced the cake with the rest.

It was divine. I saw the girl tonight and told her she needed to come over and have more of her cake...she said she couldn't, but then said "but...icing...mmmmmmm...".

:) Best compliment ever on any of my cooking skeelz. :)

The kids found these cool edible markers, so they decorated the cake with their writing...pretty freaking fantastic, although I think they would've worked much better on a harder icing like fondant...

Also made chocolate covered strawberries. Yum yum!

Pollen pollen pollen

I forget how crazy spring is here in the South. Seriously, one day, the trees all look like they are dead, the next you can't see the house next door...all due to these little bitty green leaves poking out...

The dogwoods are just gorgeous here...the flowers on the trees look exactly like I always imagined 'popcorn...on an apricot tree' would look like...the tulips and daffodils and clover and kudzu are everywhere, flowering beautifully...

Flowers unfortunately also bring the dreaded yellow stuff...as I was driving up 280, I came upon a unique stretch where you can actually see for about a mile ahead of you (very unique in the South due to the massive trees everywhere) and realized everything looked like a picture that was yellowized...my car, which is a very pretty red normally, for a few days looked like it was a very light orange...there is pollen EVERYWHERE...

I have been equally amazed by the fact that I haven't had any allergies in a few months...usually I am the first one feeling it's effects...I guess the South finally grew on me literally...now that I am leaving...ha! I decided to start taking my Zyrtec today anyways, because it's going to hit sooner or later and I would rather have an edge on it.

Happy Spring!

Finally!!

Saturday: I got back to Alabama...to a house that had no internet...I informed the homeowners of the predicament...since they were in NY at the time...found out that the phone had gone out at the house...so the phone had gotten fixed, but somebody evidently forgot that they were also paying for DSL...

Sunday: they get back from NY and chat with ATT. They say the problem will be fixed by 6pm the next day.

Monday: a guy shows up right before 6pm...in what looks to be his own personal truck, no ATT logo or anything...and proceeds to inform us that he isn't the 'fix-it' guy, he is just the guy sent out to confirm that yes indeedy, we have a problem...makes sense right??? He says that someone will be by the next day to fix the problem...I am starting to get a bit frustrated...

Tuesday: NO ONE COMES. They call ATT, and they say that someone will be by the next day before 6PM.

Wednesday: NO ONE COMES. They call ATT, and they say that someone is scheduled to come by the next day, that nobody was scheduled to come out the day before, and that someone came by Tuesday AT 6PM (LIARS...there were TWO people at home, and one of us were watching out front to direct the ATT traffic to the problem area in case they got lost)...and that the reason they didn't come and have tea with us (actually not have tea, but say a glass of water, a nice chat...how about a KNOCK ON THE DOOR?) was because the dogs were outside. Yeah, they might sniff you to death.

Oh, and they tell us that someone will be by the house between the hours of 8AM and 7PM and to have someone there AND to keep the dogs inside the house...

(can you tell that I am not amused at this point?? Oh, and the homeowners by this point have spent at least 5 hours on the phone with ATT...and one of them is the Bishop of the ward here...he has MUCH more important things to be doing with his time...)

Thursday: At 10:00AM, it is still raining outside (started in the middle of the night). I joke with one of the homeowners that maybe this time they will drive by because of the rain...and by a miracle, a truck drives up to the house that actually bears the ATT logo on it. The guys name was Bart. I recommend him for any job on the planet. He promised to not leave until the problem was resolved. Turns out the idiot who 'fixed' the phone line paid no attention to the fact that they also have DSL, and so instead of going the extra mile and making sure everything was working properly, he did a quick fix to the phone line and didn't bother putting a line on that would support both the phone AND the DSL...

I asked this guy about the dogs, because apparently that was a big deal...he said he'd come over anyways, even if they were pitbulls. He carries pepper-spray. Man I like this guy. ATT, give him a raise!!!

Shame on ATT for a shoddy customer service job. Shame on them for sending a guy out who couldn't fix the problem in the first place. And thank goodness they have at least one person on staff that actually goes the extra mile to get things done. Even he was stuck on the phone for HOURS (I know, because I was there) with who knows who at ATT to get a few simple things fixed. He only did about 3 minutes worth of real work. The rest of the time he was on the phone. He got here just after 10AM. He left at 1:30pm.

K, done venting. Hi world, I'm back!!! :)