Friday, December 29, 2006

Blog meme

Elizabeth sent me a get-to-know-you meme. Here goes:

My Childhood Ambition: To live surrounded by beauty

My Fondest Memory: childhood: Spending summers at Gma's in the country. I used to pack my suitcase four weeks ahead of time and count down the days. Adult: College days in Apt. #4 at BJ...we had the best parties and bum-around times together. (Laura, you remember!)

My Favourite Retreat: a quiet spot in the woods surrounded by the fragrance of pine needles and wildflowers

My Wildest Dream: Be a paid accompanist for a living, sing solo in my choral group, own a bed and breakfast in the country with a flower garden and a few chickens, do interior decorating for fun, renovate old houses

My Proudest Moment: My wedding...once I got over the stress...I was so proud to be Jeffrey's wife!

My Biggest Challenge: Grad school recital with a 30-pg. concerto to learn plus other pieces

My Alarm Clock is: not for my use, Jeff uses it to get up at 4:30, but I usually don't even hear it. I don't teach until 2 most days

My Perfect Day: Devos with a completely open heart toward God, go hiking, do a little shopping, sew something, or write some music, paint something--hmm, that probaby wouldn't fit in one day.

My First Job was: cleaning house for Aunt Mae; after that, working in the dining common in college

My Most Decadent Indulgence: my $600 guitar was an indulgence...but a useful one. I also love coffee with those International Delight flavored creamers. I just finished a bottle of Pumpkin Spice.

My Inspiration: old things, nature, shiny things, and saving money (Jeff told me to add the last one...okay, so he thinks I'm cheap. Well MAYBE I AM)

My New Years Resolution: To invest myself more in others, be more positive, more thankful, get better at guitar and become a better teacher

My Ideal Companion: My accepting, loving, funny Jeffrey who always thinks I'm adorable no matter how much of a dork I'm being, and my cuddly cat who also sleeps beside me at night

My Favourite Colour: kind of a orangy fall red

The Last Book I Read: Ted Hughes' "Poetry in the Making"

How many Books did I read in 2006: I actually keep track--18

My Ideal Home would be: all hardwood floors, lots of interesting nooks and angles, wraparound porch, lots of windows, and out in the country surrounded by trees and nature

I am Expert at: blundering, toe tricks, playing piano

My Funniest Joke: I love this one, it's all-purpose; just say "your mom...." and repeat the phrase you've just heard. For example: "Wow, this steak is so thick and juicy!" "Your mom is thick and juicy"

My Favourite Animal: Frodo, my soft furry cat. If you made something out of his fur it would be like cashmere, it's that soft. He's a great lap cat and does some cool tricks, like "cat goalie" and "find the treat under the rug"

My Favourite Breakfast: Eggs, sausage and pancakes...don't get it that often though

My Favourite Snack: salt and vinegar chips, or any chips or crackers. (I love salt; will probably have health problems later in life)

My Favourite NEW TV Show: Haven't watched TV in years. Don't really miss it.

My Couch: I don't have a couch....we gave our old one to the friends who bought our house. But my ideal couch is comfortable, light brown, and classic

Your Greatest Fear: Embarrassing myself in public

Your favourite Entertainer: Jeff. He can do any accent known to man, and also any 70's or "soul" moves known to man. Yes, it is scary seeing a 300-lb. male doing this!

Your Favourite Meat & Veggie: I love steak and corn

Worst Person in the World: People who are cruel to children

Okay, I tag Jeff, Erin, Chuck, and Dayton!

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Christmas in Sumter

We had a great time with family, many which I haven't seen for a long time.

Grandma Dinkins holding up a gift















Mom and Dad--Dad was sick with a bad cold but came down for a while.
















Jeff with Mom
















Laurance and Jeff




















Mom and little Matthew--Ruth's youngest--in the parlor
















Laurance and I playing a duet.
















Elizabeth and little Matthew. He is such a ham!
















Aunt Frances and Laura, Ruth's oldest. She has the most beautiful red hair and is tall for her age!














Ruth, Aunt Frances, and mom getting food ready for the party.
















Laura and her beloved Aunt Elizabeth!















Kimberly, the cute mom-to-be, and Laurance

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Walk to Bethlehem

Two weeks before Christmas Jeff and I had the privilege to be in the church play. This is the second (or third?) year our church has done the "Walk To Bethlehem." They had full sets in three of the rooms plus a tent set up outside. There were real sheep and donkeys in Bethlehem, and some doves and chickens in the Jerusalem marketplace--they really went all out to make it look realistic. It was a great way to get people in from the community...we had hundreds of people come through! Jeff and I were Anna and Simeon having a conversation about the coming Messiah. Jeff was a great coach and helped me work on "older" mannerisms and voice. The makeup and hair dye helped a lot. We ended up doing our dialogue so many times for the groups coming through that it became easy! By the end of the week we had backaches from stooping over so long. It ran three days in all. It was a lot of fun!

Most of the pics didn't turn out b/c it was so dark...petting the nice dove....they sat there without moving so they looked stuffed.
















Me with my sewing basket and my bench. Stephanie was making me laugh. We got to go offstage after our thing, so we had a stash of candy and coke to help make the season bright.... :)










Wish I had a good picture of Jeff...none of them turned out well! I'm upstaging him but you can still see half of his face :)

Saturday, December 16, 2006

It's Official!

We finally heard back from the agent Thursday, and our offer on the house has been accepted! (They kept us waiting for nearly a month.) We went in that same night to sign the papers. The house will be built by the end of April. I'm very happy we have something definite nailed down...it will make the next few months easier.

Everyone was looking at me like "aren't you excited?" Thursday night, but I had a lot on my mind and was feeling sick, so the full impact of it hadn't struck me. But now it's starting to sink in, and honestly, it cannot come fast enough. SPACE closet space walking space breathing space dancing space!!

Us in a Carrington model that had already been built (this is the floorplan we're getting)


















Another shot of the Carrington front room. The door off to the right is a tiny parlor, perfect for a music room!

















Kitchen (though ours probably won't have the dark cabinets)

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Winter pics

It's 70 degrees today and we've hardly gotten anything close to cold weather! I'm missing the cold so thought I'd post some pics from last winter's ice storm. Though it was destructive and we lost power for 5 days, it was also beautiful. I love the variety God puts into the seasons and the changes in nature.









Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Making music with the Michael O'Neal Singers

Just thought I'd post some pictures from our Christmas concert Dec. 4! I love singing with MOS, and I was even able to make it into the Chamber Singers! That has been challenging as well as fun. Michael is a highly qualified conductor who studied under Robert Shaw...he was also a noted soloist for many years. We have a 120-person choir of people of all ages from the Atlanta area. I love that Stephanie and I are in Chamber Singers together! We are going to be singing in Spoletto in Charleston in the spring. We'll begin working on Brahms' Liebeslieder, Op. 52, when choir starts back up again in January.

During rehearsal--me in the pink sweater














The church...it seats around 3,000 and has wonderful acoustics. When we stopped singing, the church rang for several moments afterward.

















Me n' Jeff after the concert!

















Stephanie and I.

















Jeff and Tim...our faithful supporters