Monday, February 23, 2009

Another week has started

I’m listening to the song Summer right now. (Oh, it’s Summmmmer, Summertime is here!) Well, no. No it’s not here. But I’d wish it’d hurry up and get here. I miss my pool. Hehe!

Well, in case you didn’t know, or wanted to know, I have a chance to be part of a performance at Royal Albert Hall in London in September. I’ve known about this for a long time, since last summer actually, but Saturday night I got the details, talked it over with DH and made the decision, so now it’s a go! England has always been on my bucket list of places to go/see, and now I’m actually doing it. I am completely amazed about the opportunities that have presented themselves to me in the last year. It is fantastic.

We also made the paper today too:
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/feb/23/na-sing-live-concert-program-gives-every-voice-a-v/


DH has been on a cooking kick as of late. Which is a good thing, don’t get me wrong. The idea behind it is to not eat out so much, and save money. (Always a good thing, wouldn’t you think?) So, every night we have a meal planned. Isn’t that cool? I’ve been trying to do this for months, but I never seem to have enough time. So, we’ve been sticking to our guns.

We made baked chicken last night, like his grandmother used to make. He did a really good job, I was very proud of him. I made some asparagus (on sale at Publix this week), with some fake hollandaise sauce which was not too bad either. All in all, a very nutritious and inexpensive meal. And he has leftovers for lunch, too. Tonight, I’m making Sloppy Joes, with corn, and I bought a side salad yesterday at Publix as well.

I said if we keep this up, we’ll have to clean out the garage and make room for another fridge. Good luck with that! Haha!

I’ll be going down to So. Fla. This weekend to hang with that gang. Joelle invited me to come spend her birthday, so we’re going to go out Friday night and hit a few clubs and have a few drinks. Should be a good time.

Have a good week!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

A new week

Hey, it’s been a while! That’s what happens when nothing’s going on. I mean nothing. I’ve just been muddling through, with busy season and all that stuff. The weekend was pretty much a blur. I stopped by Pamela’s for an hour or two to hear some music stuff. Then DH and I went to ABC Pizza. Saturday morning got up and met my friend Gloria, and then we had to drive over to Orlando. I was back home by 12:30. Then I met DH for lunch at Honey’s.

After Honey’s, we took a long nap, as I had not gotten much sleep the night before. And, oh yeah, it’s Valentine’s Day. After we got up, we decided it was too late to go out, so we went to Publix, and picked up a few things to make dinner. I guess we dragged it into a Valentine’s “weekend” at that point. Hehe! Sunday morning, we exchanged presents and cards, and chilled out most of the day. Then we went to LeeRoy Selmon’s for dinner. We both had the Pulled Pork Nachos and the Sweet Heat Chicken (I also had a garden salad.) Oh, so yummy! I love that place.

DH has been on a cooking kick this week. Trying to save money, which is a good thing. Last night he made Roast Beef Sandwiches (Think: PW’s Marlboro Man Sandwich) with the leftover Mac-N-Cheese I made on Saturday. Tonite it is Tacos.

I need to get my nails done, but I’m going to put it off until Tomorrow. DH is determined to get our taxes done tonite. I’ve been procrastinating. I’m having financial anxiety. Could be the economy? Eh, who knows? I’m $3 off on my checkbook ($2.98 to be exact), and it bugs me. Yes, I am anal about that crap. Which is why I drag my feet on taxes, even though we’ve never owed. We are getting back less, not sure why (which is what I’m determined to find out tonite). But we always get something back. I know that it is something I inherited from my grandmother. She taught me this kind of stuff at a young age.

Remember in the old days, when you actually got your checks back in the mail. Well, I would read off the check numbers and she would check them off in the checkbook. I was about 7. And I’ve always done my own taxes. When I was 15, and got my first W-2, my step-dad gave me the EZ book, and said, sit down and read it, and if you have questions, let me know. When you’re done, I’ll look at it with you and make sure it’s right. No computers back then. Just a book and a pencil. But I learned. I was very self-sufficient. So I do have them to thank for that. But it is also where I get my anality (is that a word) from?

Let’s see what I’m listening to right now: This Can’t Be True by Eddie Holman (He used to be with the Temptations, I think.) It’s the R+B playlist, as you can see.
Have a good week, all!

Monday, February 9, 2009

Opportunity of a Lifetime!

I had the unique opportunity on Saturday to attend a program at Walt Disney World as part of their Magic Music Days. The seminar we took is here.

We went to the Performance Hall at Saratoga Springs. According to our facilitator, this building is THE most expensive one in Disney World. It is built to be acoustically perfect, and has all state of the art, high end recording equipment.

After working with a clinician (who was a former Miss Florida) we did two selections from the Lion King, and then a jazzed-up version of The Mickey Mouse Club with dance moves and everything. What an adventure that was! Then at the end, we got to meet Mickey. He’s short in real life, LOL! What fun!

Afterwards, some of the girls went to Chevy’s Tex-Mex for lunch. I had the Shrimp Fajita Salad, and it was soooo good! (No, I didn’t do a Kip and take a picture of it. My dang camera battery died, and I had left the spares in the car. BooHoo!)

Afterwards, I went to IKEA to buy my Expedit shelves for my room. If you do plan to do this in the future, do yourself a favor and take a buddy with you. These things are HEAVY!!!! So $200 in purchases later, and a side trip to Crate and Barrel, I was on the way home. DH had made pulled pork in the Crockpot for dinner and it was very good.

We’ve got a couple big shows coming up in April. The first is April 3rd in Orlando, and the second is April 18th here in Tampa. We are doing the Greats of Broadway, and with a big name Broadway arranger working with us on the shows. I can tell it’s going to be great. The Tampa show is going to be at the First Baptist Church downtown and tickets are $15. I’ll have more on how to get tickets when it gets closer to the time. Hope everyone has a chance to see it. If you want more info, just give me a holler!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

It's back to the grind again.

Well, first off, let me tell you that Winter Retreat was just fabulous! I had a wonderful time as always. I think the highlight of the weekend for most of us was the album we presented to Linda with all our pages in it. She was just speechless. Hard to imagine Linda that way, hehe. It has to be an amazing feeling to know that you are that loved by so many people. It’s really great isn’t, it?

Looks like everyone made it home safely, with a few incidents. Poor Gerri-Anne and her trailer. I hope they get it replaced, tout suite! Joelle and I were in a roll-over caused by a blow out one Spring Break. It was pretty scary. If we hadn’t had seatbelts on, we probably wouldn’t be here right now, instead we walked away with just scratches. This is why you will never see me without a seatbelt!!! Okay, that’s it for my PSA!

And it sounds like Kip is still out of commission. Migraines are a horrible thing; I don’t wish them on anyone. I’ve had a few bad ones, but nothing like what she’s going through. I hope she gets better quick on the new meds. And I’m also glad that Woody is still here to take care of her.

But other than a few mishaps, a very good weekend over all. It’s so great to see everyone. I almost wish we could do this more than once a year. (Okay, technically we do have FGT and Creepover, and B-day, but y’all know what I mean!) I guess it’s just people like Jayne and Lauri and Natasha (who I haven’t seen in EONS!) and Kelsey and Roz just live so darned far away. I wish everyone lived right here, and in this 30 mile radius. Wouldn’t that be a hoot! We would never be bored, would we?

Anyways, I got there on Friday after the great Eagles concert Thursday night (AWESOME!) and some shopping around and prepared to work. Well, some. Well, a little. Hey, I adhered a whole album! And then spent most of Saturday working on Elle’s album class. It is so pretty. I didn’t get to my cabin book, but I’ll do that one at the next crop. I’m “hoping” to go to the crop at Incarnation, but I’m depending on someone else (as always) to give me their schedule. Long story! Otherwise, it may be March before I’m cropping again…Boo!

Sadly, on Sunday, after lots of good times and good eats, we had to pack up and leave around 10 am. We hit Cracker Barrel for breakfast and then down to Griffin’s. I had already been there Friday, but went back Sunday and bought us a Christmas tree. Yes, a Christmas Tree in February. But we needed one desperately, and their trees are so nice, and I found the perfect one for 80% off. So I took the plunge. Monday, I plugged the pieces in and lo and behold! They work! So happy about that!

For this week, we’re going to the Disney recording studios Saturday morning, I’m stoked about that. Afterwards, I’m going to stop at IKEA and spend some of my bonus money, woo hoo! (About 6% this year. I was SHOCKED! YAY, I can pay some bills, too! And maybe finally get my floors). I know I have lots to talk about on that end, but these things always seem to get too long, so I will hold off until another day. Now, it’s back to work time!