I have been a bad blogger. :(

Hi all. I know---for shame. I blog less than I should. I have even had moments where I could have taken the time to write, but I decided to do something else. Like sleep. Can you blame me? :)
I don't think there's much chance of actually catching up, but I'll try:

Friday
*went to class and had my last listening exam for history. Gotta love that I'm dropping this one because it's my lowest. I really knew the examples Thursday night (see, the last blog tells you so). Ah well. [and mom, by the way, you drop your lowest listening exam. everyone does it, so I'm not going to fail or anything.]
*didn't go to the gym (there's a surprise. However, I have managed to lose 7 pounds by not going to the gym. Hmm.)
*had lots of rehearsals for the weekend musical escapades. See "Saturday".
*went to see my wonderful friends perform opera scenes. Overall quite enjoyable.
* Dinner with Adonis and his great friends, Faye and Adam. Lots of fun.

Saturday (aka:Lowa stay at home day)
*woke up late at 11am. Woohoo!
*Church Christmas rehearsal for 2 hours. Few trained musicians+lots of music= painful.
*Home for Lowa time--I made a nice dinner of pork chops, galuska (polish noodles) and broccoli. Had a little wine, watched a movie, and went to bed early.

Sunday (SING ALL DAY-day)
*woke up really freakin' early to sing at the 8:30 mass (rehearsal at 7:45am). I had to be really attentive too, as we are singing new mass parts and the director wasn't there. I had to be in control and know my stuff. Luckily it went well. Phew.
*sing for party at Mr. Samuelsen's house. YAY! The best part of the weekend. I Caro Nome-d like my old/new self, and even Ms. Wise seemed really pleased. The people at the party were all amazingly nice and enjoyable to talk to. I figure that if I can make a living singing and wining and dining with really intelligent and interesting opera-lovers, I'm pretty cool with that.
*Bach B-minor (pronounced Bah-tch, haha) and Orrego-Salas. We survived. I noticed that I have an absolute desire to go dancing. I could barely control the savage beast inside me at the end of the Orrego-Salas. Not my favorite piece of music, but once you get the rhythm section going, I'm pleased as can be [I miss percussion ensemble and Afro-Cuban Jazz concerts at MSM...]

Monday
*School-felt like mid-week already.
*Funny story of the day: I decided to make my peanut butter ball cookies for our last studio class and party at Mr. Samuelsen's. I had two hours. You'd think I could do something so simple in such a long amount of time. HA. I got the balls rolled in 45 minutes. Had no double broiler, and hardly any time, so did the chocolate coating in the microwave. It doesn't get as thin in the microwave (even with a little wax to keep it jelled right, and shiny to boot) and so that was more difficult than usual. They weren't setting correctly because I had no time to let them sit out. I had to move them to the freezer for a bit...well, that was a tricky manuever. Moving them they started sticking to each other, etc. and when I finally made it to the freezer door, as I opened the door, a nearby container of popcorn kernels that was open started to spill on the floor. All I could do for a few seconds was watch as the dozens of kernels spilled all over. By the way, this was 7 minutes before I had to leave the house, cookies and music in hand. Alas, I made it through. I was not pleased at the time, but all went well.
*recorded the Orrego-Salas piece from 4-6. Somehow this 2 hours was a lot longer than the 2 hours I had to make the cookies...grr.
*Studio party @ the Samuelsen's house! Yay! A lot of us were exhasuted from the recording, but it was fun. The Samuelsens are just so kind and loving. They opened their house two days in a row to bunches and bunches of people. Mrs. Samuelsen cooked up a storm, and we all brought a dish or two each to supply the appetizers, salads, drinks, and desserts. It was a really great evening. And for all of you who haven't met Mr. Samuelsen, this is a picture of us at dinner. Our tables were set-up in a space on their lower level where a lot of their grandchildren play (can't you tell from the background decor? :))



Me and Mr. Samuelsen.

Now I feel better that I've blogged. Hope you enjoyed my almost week's worth of adventures. Now I'm going to clean up this apartment, make some lunch, and relax before my church rehearsal tonight. Hope you are all enjoying the weather wherever you are...here in IN it's rainy and windy, but around 55-60 degrees. Definitely doesn't feel like winter.

~Lowa

ps-Rachel (Bug) and Matt (her beau) are coming to NY around New Year's. YAY!!! I hope they can stay for a few days...