Kjirsti and Tom

“The power of God is found in His attributes.” -Gene R. Cook

“Success is the progressive realization of a worthy idea.” -Thomas S. Monson

Why is it that sometimes I wonder if I could post three blogs for one day, and other times I have seemingly nothing to say about an entire week?

• Hosted a girl’s night in which my friends Claire and Megan came over, Claire and I dyed our hair, mine a nearly unnoticeable one shade darker and warmer brown, and Claire’s a darker brown that ended up looking red. We ate rice crispies, munched on chips and salsa and talked late into the night.
• made enchiladas (the ones I so often rave about but have never made for Tom)
• I made two kinds of breadsticks (the first ones got scrapped. The second ones were beautiful and delicious- I topped them with sesame and poppy seeds!)
• Tom made green curry (I guess it was a cooking week)
• Had a great lesson, in which Mr. Billions told me my audition had gone wonderful, and that the opera director had talked glowingly of it. (hurray!)
• Did a little shopping and bought a vibrant aqua scarf to brighten up my dark black coat.
• exercised
• received a package of Swedish music in the mail, from the fore mention Annette Johansson, what an amazing lady. Now I just need to pick which songs I want to perform on my recital.
• Scheduled my recital for May 7 at 4:00
• Found out I will be performing in the Wed- Fri cast of the opera (February 24 and 26 at 8:00)
• Received a check in the mail from Oberlin for $700! (Apparently I never received or never cashed a few pay checks!)
• looked through a seed catalog and grew even more excited about the seeds Getti and I are going to grow this spring!
• decided to finally go out and replace a few of the jewelry items that were stolen. Bought two beautiful necklaces, then went to Dillards and set down my bag while trying on a few pairs of ridiculous shoes for a laugh, returned to the bag to find the two necklaces stolen! Ouch, double wammy. Grumped the rest of the night.
• wrote a silly story in Italian that drew many laughs in class
• Tom made several more revisions of his paper
• mopped the kitchen and living room floors
• my visiting teachers came and we talked for a good hour and half, great conversation!
• Tom made the most amazing roasted red pepper pasta sauce- with peppers he broiled himself.
• went cross country skiing- breathed a lot of fresh air, soaked in a lot of sunshine, and smiled at the memory of Tom and I’s first XX skiing adventure three years ago for Valentines day. 

I’m not one to remember Groundhog’s day, but we talked about it yesterday in my Italian class, learning marmota is  groundhog in Italian, and ombra the word for shadow. So anyway, I figured hey why not see what the little fella saw this morning. So. I appropriately went to www.groundhog.org, and this is what I found:

“Punxsutawney Phil has predicted 6 more weeks of winter

We are sorry for such a simple page on such a great day… We will be back shortly with more details

in the meantime, send a free eCard”

My thoughts were: don’t apologize for the “simple page” you should be apologizing that rascal Phil just told me that I’m going to be wearing nothing by my black down coat for the next six weeks; that Tom and I will continually wonder why we didn’t buy firewood this year; that I will continue to worry that we are wasting money by trying to keep our house warm. . .  “In the meantime send a free eCard” What’s that supposed to mean, send a sympathy card to everyone I know saying, I was so sorry to hear that you (and I) will be experiencing six more weeks of winter.  Sincerely, Kjirsti

What a website!

Memorable moments from my week: (in no particular order)

• Feeling such a love for each of my students as I taught this week.
• Calling Anette Johansson, a Swedish song expert, hearing her call me Kjirsti (pronounced Sher-sti), and hearing that she was planning on compiling a potpourri of different Swedish songs for me to sing on my second masters recital.
• Exciting over a bunch of new songs I picked for my recital
• visiting teaching- what an inspired program
• Pot luck at the Hamm’s, having one on one time with Meg and Claire
• dinner and chocolate and Border’s with Steve and Mary
• studying Italian, and learning the colloquial uses of the word “Ecco!”
• sketching an idea for my sister’s wall and having her use it
• painting the chest of drawers in our master bedroom rustic-style
• reading an article by Elder Maxwell on being content with what we are allotted
• singing for the conductor
• finding out I’m going to have a great pianist for my recital
• listening to a book about the Nigerian oil wars, Little Bee, and feeling greater gratitude for the safety I enjoy
• doing more laughing than singing in my lesson with Kristy (Hey it’s good for the ab support right?!)
• trying to hold back laughter with Tom during Der Rosenkavalier