Busy, Happy Life!

Life has been full and busy and wonderful around here!  I'd love to blog more about it but much of what's been going on has been busy-ness and preparations.  That's not always blog worthy.

However, some of the things we've been working on are definitely blog worthy.

One of those things occurred last weekend...my daughter's junior harp recital.

She's been working for over a year on some of the pieces she performed.

And, we've been working for months on the details.

It took place on Saturday evening in a recital hall of the university she attends.

She did a spectacular job!  Her many, many hours of hard work and practice made her shine.

I was so happy for her about how it turned out and so proud of her.

She's never performed better or looked more beautiful!

The event was recorded and she's hoping to post it on YouTube

for everyone to see who wasn't able to attend.  I'll be sure to post a link when it's up.

I've been keeping up on my minimum five days per week workouts of running.

It gets tough sometimes and I've thought about figuring out another short term incentive

but my pace time improved this week and that feels really good.

I'm trying to keep with regular weight workouts too of at least once or twice a week.

And, whenever possible, I like to break it up with something different and extra fun like a hike or

bike ride.  Hubby and I went mountain biking on Valentine's Day morning.  :-)

Speaking of Valentine's Day....look what my sweet hubby gave me....

I was so excited when I opened the box!  I fell in love with this belt at Boot Barn last November.

Hubby and I were doing some boot shopping there a few weeks ago and I showed it to him and oogled over it.  He went back a couple days later and got the very last one...

which happened to be my size.  I'm normally not a glitzy type of person but I love this!

I think it's so pretty!  Hubby and I go line dancing sometimes and I think it'll be perfect for that.

I can't wait to wear it out on the town!  :-D

For those of you who've been following my blog and wondering how my husband's grandparents are doing....they're doing great!  Grandpa was moved to a place that could assist in his care around the clock.  He celebrated his 94th birthday while he was there.  He told us that he had a gift for all of us...that he was going to walk.  And, he did!  Here he is walking down the hall to his party...

He had lost so much weight that his pants weren't staying up.

So, my father-in-law held them up for him and stayed close by in case he needed assistance.

Amazing!  He hadn't walked in at least a month and we almost lost him weeks earlier.

He hadn't been eating much for weeks and weeks.  It was amazing that he survived that!

He literally lived off very little bits of juice and "Muscle Milk".  He had refused to eat.

But, just before his party, he had started eating a little bit of real food.

Some of his favorite foods were brought to the party and he couldn't wait to dig in.

He had a piece of shrimp cocktail in his hand before he was completely scooted up to the table!

He had some of my mother-in-law/his daughter's famous marinated mushrooms too.

And, of course, he had to have a beer!  He was one happy Grandpa!

Here's Grandpa and Grandma together that day.

Such an inspiring couple.  Married about 72 years and still very much in love.

They decided they needed to move closer to the family and bought a house here.

We got grandma moved in and that inspired grandpa so much that within a week he improved enough to go home!  Since then, he's gained over 20 pounds back and is feeling better and better.

I accomplished something this week that's been on my to-do list for a while.

I studied the California handgun safety booklet on Monday and took the test.

I got every single answer right...100%...and now have my handgun safety certificate!  Woot!

I've shot rifles before...even did some biathlons years ago.  That was SO much fun!

They weren't the cross country skiing type...they were run, shoot, run shoot, run.

We live in Southern California and there's not a lot of snow around here.

I wish they still had those races!  Anyway, I've been thinking it's time to get a handgun.

So, now I'm legal to buy one.  I plan to learn a lot about it and start going to a local shooting range.

I've been doing more knitting and crocheting lately.  Yay!  I finally found some patterns that I like.

I posted the mohair shawl last week.  I started knitting a hat too.  I'll post more about it when it's big enough to get a good look at it (it's made with sock yarn and size 2 needles...so, it takes a while).

I've been working on some other exciting stuff and I'll post about it when I can.

Just one more week to enter my Grow Your Blog Party give-away.  How's the party been going for you?  My blog following grew a lot last year from the party but has hardly grown at all this year.

But, it's been fun to visit lots of blogs and hear from lots of new people.  :-)  The give-away is still on...every comment posted on my blog (comments left on Facebook don't count) for the month of February and every follower will be entered to win.  There's about a week left.

I'll pick a winner on March first!  :-)

Magic!

My daughter is a harpist and will be transferring to a conservatory/university this Fall as a music major.  The excitement about the school she will be attending is already high.  But, then, you add on the opportunities that are already coming her way because of it and....WOW!  It's incredible!  She's thrilled!  We're proud!  Sometimes life can be better and bigger than dreams!

She found out about a month or so ago that she would have the opportunity to perform in the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.  She was super excited!  This is a place that she wanted to visit and only dreamt of playing there...maybe...in the far future.  She and some of the university students were asked to perform with a local...and I must add...VERY talented...youth symphony for a music festival.  She received her music, quickly learned it, bought a new gown, attended some rehearsals last week and we were off to LA early yesterday morning for the BIG day.

I thought the concert hall sounded interesting but seeing it in person is amazing!  It's beautiful!  Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera because they aren't allowed inside.  So, I had to settle for taking photos with my cell phone.  Some of them are were taken at an angle in an attempt to get as much into the photo as possible.  They aren't bad but I'm not sure that any photo could truly convey the magic of visiting this place in person.

It was smaller than I had imagined but the lines were so beautiful that I couldn't stop looking at it, taking pictures, and saying..."WOW!"  It's truly a work of art in every way.  Even the accoustics inside were amazing!  They didn't need microphones of any kind.  In fact, we were told that if everyone was quiet and a pin were dropped, everyone would be able to hear it.  We've noticed in other concert halls and theatres that it's often difficult to impossible to hear some of the instruments...especially the harp.   Not here!  We could hear every instrument...beautifully.  During the concert, I kept catching myself in such amazement at the music, the talent and the concert hall that my mouth was open...it was jaw dropping! 

Here it is from across the street...

This is the main entrance on the corner. If you look carefully to the right and just above the top of the stairs,

you can see tiny holes for lights that spell out, "Walt Disney Concert Hall"...

More photos looking above the entrance...

Every where you look is beautiful.  And, with each step you take or tilt of your head, the lines

 and beauty change to create another view that's hard to resist photographing.

Stunning!

I love how the pictures I took in the morning look blue.  So pretty!

The music hall is nestled in the middle of downtown Los Angeles, amongst skyscrapers and freeways.

I honestly did not expect to experience so much magic yesterday! I absolutely want to visit this place again for another concert...maybe the LA Philharmonic! If you ever get a chance to go...don't miss it!

Of course, a lot of the magic was because my daughter was a part of it all.  She looked goreous in her new gown (pictures are still on her camera) and she did a fabulous job. The orchestra and conductor she performed with were amazing as were the pieces they played. We're so proud of her and so excited for her. We're looking forward to what's next and attending more orchestra performances that she will be a part of.

Lullaby Doggie

My daughter is a harpist and I'm lucky to hear live and amazing harp music just about everyday. I think our pets love it too. I've posted pictures on here before to show our cat watching and enjoying my daughter's music. This time, it's our doggie's turn.

We have an Airedale Terrier with lots of energy but it's not uncommon for her to calm down when my daughter plays her harp. Last night was no exception when she decided on a front row seat, right in front of the harp...


She not only calmed down and relaxed, she fell asleep!


Now for a hairbrushing session...she was having a bad hair day. lol

Holiday Eye Candy

I don't have any new projects to show right now because I've been knitting away at my "Crescendo Shawl", trying to finish it. I measured last night and I have 12-18 inches to go, depending on if I make it the full 66". I really wanted to finish it in time for Christmas but I was busy making Christmas gifts and didn't quite make it. Now, my new goal is to finish it by my birthday. That gives me about three weeks.

So, in the meantime, how about a little holiday eye candy. Here's something that most people will never have the opportunity to see. It's a view in the orchestra pit at "Nutcracker". My daughter took this just before the show...


That's her harp in the foreground, right. They are actually below the stage. The conductor stands up high enough to see what's happening on stage while they are playing. If you look closely (or click to enlarge) you can see the side balcony boxes above. When she first did this show (last year), I found it interesting how all this worked. When we arrived for "load in", all large instruments, chairs, music stands, etc. were loaded in at basement level and then they raised the whole pit to the level it needed to be for the performance. After the final performance, they raise the pit to stage level and rolled everything off. I'm not sure why, but when they take everything back out they call that "strike". We've been learning so much about the world of music. It so interesting and there is sooooo much to learn.

Another piece of eye candy....


One of the orchestra members lives nearby and every year he and his family spend a couple of months decking their house out for the holidays. We had a chance to see it this year. Wow! We now understand why it takes so long. The picture above is a glimpse of a village they set up in their garage. It spans the whole front of their three car garage. Amazing! This shot above is the left side. In the center shot, below, notice the Disney Electric Light Parade (I think you can click the pictures to make them bigger and see the details)...


And, here's a picture looking toward the right side...


They also had a village with a train on their porch, and more trains, trees, and holiday surprises inside. It was the most popular decorated house in the neighborhood...probably the whole town...as you can see in the picture below with all the people standing in the driveway. Notice the second story windows with the animated Disney scenes.


They also had a warm fire in the driveway and soup and eggnog inside. The whole neighborhood was lined with luminarias down the sidewalks and the sides of every driveway. It was fun for us to see...I can only imagine how magical it would be for little kids.

Nutcracker

Wow! Nutcracker was amaaaaazing! The show was beautiful! The orchestra was awesome! We're sooooo proud of our daughter! She was one of two harpists in the orchestra and she did a fabulous job...all the kids did! There's one part in the show where it's just the harp playing and a ballerina dancing and last night my daughter played that part. She did great! She even got a thumbs up from the conductor. That's not always easy to get! The next scene was also really special to me as both harpists were playing and they slowly rocked back and forth together....ooohhhhh soooo beautiful! That put tears in my eyes. It's hard describe! I was reminded last night how magical this show is to the kids in the audience. There was a little girl behind us that was mesmerized. She was so excited! She commented on the mice and wondered if they could see us and "all the people" in the audience. One of the dancers reminded her of "Jasmine" from Disney and that was very exciting for her. Of course, there was the falling snow...that was pretty magical for everyone I think. At the intermission my husband was talking with a gentleman in the lobby who was so impressed and excited about the show that he wished he had brought his entire family but he'd heard it was sold out. When my husband mentioned that our daughter was in the orchestra he was impressed and said, "high five!" What a beautiful night and an awesome week for our daughter. Now that the show is over and she's on break from school, she gets to enjoy a some well deserved and much needed R and R.

Super Saturday!

As many of you may know, my daughter is a harpist. This week was an exciting week for her. Besides renting out one of her harps ($'s!) and starting to teach lessons (more $'s!!), she was asked to play Saturday afternoon for a tea at a boutique hotel in the gas lamp district of downtown San Diego. Before the week was over, she also received a call asking her to play in the upcoming Nutcracker performances at the California Center for Performing Arts in Escondido with the orchestra she was in last year. She had so much fun with that last year and she's sooo excited to do it again. It's a wonderful production! And, they needed her at rehearsal on Saturday morning!

So...yesterday morning we loaded the harp, gowns, camera, knitting, etc. and left at 8am for a full day in San Diego. First was rehearsal at 9am. Hubby and I visited a book store and then hung out in a coffee shop where he read and I knitted until our daughter was done. Then, it was off to lunch and further south to downtown. We got her all set up and we headed out on foot to see some nearby sights. We spent most of the afternoon at the Port of San Diego watching boats, cruise ships, people, and everything else we could see. The weather was really nice and we had a lot of fun. Here are some of my favorite sights from the day...

This was one of the first things we saw down there. It's a huuuuuuge statue...notice the man standing by her leg....


Artwork is spaced out along the waterfront and this was my favorite. It's a huge kaleidoscope...


It's soooo beautiful!!!


Here's one of the shots I took looking into it...


The day ended with loading up the harp, going out for a nice dinner, and arriving back home around 8:00 p.m. It was a full and wonderful day!

I promise to post more about knitting and fiber arts after I finish up Christmas projects and start working on things I can show. :-)

Eye Candy Friday

I've seen a lot of blogs that post cool pix on Fridays and call it "Eye Candy Friday". I think that's cool and I'd like to join in. I just hope it's not a club or something that I'm suppose to belong to to do it. Hmmmm?

Anyway...here's my eye candy for Friday. It's a picture my daughter took of part of her harp. It's such a beautiful instrument. For anyone unfamiliar with the harp these are some of the moving parts at the top of the strings that are moved with pedals at the bottom to make notes sharp, flat, or natural. For example, if the "c" pedal is moved to a certain position it will change all the "c" strings on the harp. This operation is on pedal harps. A harpist playing a harp like this plays with both hands and both feet at the same time.

A folk harp has a lever for each string which is moved to sharpen or make a note natural. They can only be flat if they are manually tuned to that. Each string is adjusted individually, by hand, during the song, as needed. There are other harps without levers or pedals that are tuned to the needs of a particular song. I believe a Paraguayn harp doesn't have any levers or pedals.

I find this all fascinating. It's such a beautiful and versatile instrument. My daughter has been playing the harp for over eight years. She plays classical music with a symphony. But, her true love is playing contemporary, jazz, latin and other types of music that surprise listeners...like "Stairway to Heaven", "Clocks", Rag music, etc. I feel lucky everyday to hear live harp music in my home.

Have a wonderful weekend!