Year in Review: 2010

January

-Began final semester in undergrad

February

March

-Turned 22

-Spent spring break at home, resting and reading

April

-Last spring formal, with Sam, my best date in 4 years :)

-Finished undergrad classes

May

-10th Night with the 2010 girls

-Graduated from college!

-Moved home

-Flew to Orlando for job training

-Spent a week lesson planning in preparation for teaching to begin

June

-Began teaching 3 days a week in Greenville NC

-Flew to the ATL for a 24 hour whirlwind teaching trip

-Drove to Richmond for another 24 teaching trip

July

-Went apartment hunting in SC

-Found my apartment!

-Spent 4 weeks teaching in Gastonia and Charlotte

-Visited my aunt & uncle 3 times on my way home

August

-Finished teaching

-Beach week with the family

-Moved to SC

-Began grad school

September

-Got elected to the GEA as the Academic Research Committee chair

-Spent a whole Saturday at a Student Government training session

October

-Survived midterms, thank goodness!

November

-Came home for Corn weekend

-Began working on final papers

-Family came to SC for Thanksgiving at the beach

December

-Took finals

-Came home & saw lots of friends

-Brother got engaged Christmas Eve

-Got the flu

As you can see, 2010 was a year of change. I'm not one for making specific resolutions, because I usually fail at them, but since 2011 will be a year that is mostly stable (no big moves or huge life changes planned), I want it to be a year of small changes: physically, spiritually, intellectually, emotionally. That way, at this time next year when I have to start deciding what my next move will be, I'll be in a mental place where I can look at the big picture and make the best decision for me.

So long, 2010; hello 2011!

Christmas Music Weeks: Days 4 & 5

Sorry I missed yesterday's post; I took 2 exams and when I got home, my brain was fried. So I'll put 2 days in tonight's post :)

Day 4: Favorite Cartoon Christmas song

One of the highlights of Christmas time during my childhood was a VHS tape that we had with a bunch of cartoons, including Frosty. I love Jimmy Durante's voice and this song always makes me smile.

Day 5: Favorite Advent Song

Really, this one probably should have gone first, but what can I say? I'm a little backwards sometimes. The full lyrics and translation can be found here. This song is used at Vespers during Advent and is, I think, really beautiful. I love the simplicity of the chant and, even though I went to a women's college, I do love all male choirs :)

Also, since I figured out how to embed videos, I've edited my first 2 posts to have embedded videos

Christmas Music Week Day 3

Today's selection, favorite Christmas choral piece, will always hold a special place in my heart as a Meredith grad. This is always the last piece of the Christmas concert and the singers from both choirs circle the auditorium and, in the last few years, have started to invite the music alumnae to sing with them. I'm a huge fan of this song, obviously, and I chose this particular version because it's SSA, just like we do at Meredith.

Christmas Music Week: Day 2

Today's selection is a non-Christian holiday song that I've just found (yes, the one I tweeted about). I just think it's an incredibly clever twist that explains Hanukkah pretty well (to this non-Jew, anyway). Also, the beatboxing is great and the singers are pretty cute. I feel like this is a winning combination

Enjoy Candlelight by the Maccabeats.

Tomorrow, I'll be be back with a third song for you and perhaps a picture of my Charlie Brown tree if I've gotten it decorated.

Christmas Music Week: Day 1

I've arbitrarily declared this week Christmas Music Week, mostly because it doesn't feel like Christmas is that close yet (probably because I'm holed up under my exams.

Day 1 is (again, arbitrarily) Favorite Depressing Christmas Song. I'm probably partial to this one because of the wonderful arrangement Dr. W did for Winterfest last year; I actually like his arrangement better, but Diana Krall has a lovely voice. I can't do the red shoe song or the one where the guy meets his ex in the store and they sit in his car drinking and reminiscing... this one, though? Love it. Enjoy!

What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?

Stay tuned for tomorrow's category... it's a surprise!

Taken on the USS Yorktown the day after Thanksgiving

The man in the middle of the above picture is my wonderful Grandpa, the man I'm closest to next to my Daddy. We've always had a special relationship, ever since he retired 2 weeks after I was born. I learned to cook standing on a chair next to him, wearing his too-big aprons that he kept in a special drawer in his dresser. We watched cooking shows together, especially Justin Wilson, the Cajun chef ("Ah gawr-an-tee!"), sitting in his brown recliner together. He taught me how to peel potatoes just right and passed down his mother's recipe for pasty.

He's also a musician, playing the trumpet and piano. When I was in middle school, he took me to my piano lessons every week and in college, I knew he was in the audience for every concert and voice recital I participated in. Now that I'm singing for the CSA music ministry, I get to talk to him about the music we do and my own development as a singer (by the way, that's Catholic Student Association, not Confederate States of America... because that is a distinction that has to be made down here).

The family's trip down here for Thanksgiving was particularly special because on Friday, he took all 11 of us to the USS Yorktown, an aircraft carrier like the one he served on during the Korean War. We climbed all over the ship together and I understood a little better all the stories I've heard him tell for years about his time on the Kearsarge. As we walked the decks, I watched him travel back in time to when he was about my age and relive the memories. At one point, towards the end of our visit to the ship, just after he'd seen the memorial to those who had served on his ship and died during the Korean War, I couldn't think of anything to say, so I just slipped my hand into his and he held it pretty tight for a few minutes. I think it's safe to say that we have a pretty tight bond, and I am so glad that we got to share that day with each other.

I wish I had space to write about all the interesting things my grandpa has done. He and my grandma have some wild stories about their early marriage when they lived in Chicago, and they and my grandpa's sister (who has since passed, but was very religious when I knew her) would go out on the town. He worked for the government for years, in computers when the industry was just being developed. They moved down to NC from Washington in the 70s and he and Grandma are the original owners of their house.

I also don't have space to list all the things he's done for me, as he's been financially as well as emotionally supportive. No matter what I'm doing, both of them are incredibly interested and supportive of everything I try. This weekend, we were going somewhere together and talking about grad school. Grandpa told me how proud he was of me for what I'm doing and said that he thinks it's great that, if I go on and do a Ph.D., I'll be the first doctor in the family. Even though he didn't finish college himself, he's incredibly smart and encourages education. Which is good, since I'm planning to make that my career :)

Yes, I am one blessed lady.

Quote of the day

“It’s uh known fact, Pheoby, you got tuh go there tuh know there. Yo’ papa and yo’ mama and nobody else can’t tell yuh and show yuh. Two things everybody’s got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin’ fuh theyselves”

~Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God (p. 192).