(no subject)

hooboy. i checked in briefly on saturday morning, but other than that, i haven't really been on line since sometime on friday. i didn't even turn on my computer yesterday! whoa. but i've done some filtered catching up this morning.. and i have a lovely reading cue now that includes stories by ivyblossom and cimorene111 - and i'm going to pretend they're little presents for me for my hard work this weekend because that thought makes me happy. so don't go spoiling it for me, k?

thanks to addictedkitten for pointing out to me that all souls' day has been nominated for an hp slash award. ::is blown away:: dude, i could pretend to be all calm and mature and not excited about this, but what's the point really? i've already admitted to myself and others that external validation means more to me than it should. i'm amazed and delighted to see that someone took the time and thought to nominate my little story. and looking at the other stories in the 'romance' category... hoo. i would vote for ivyblossom's triptych - but who's surprised by that?

saturday

i had a completely fantastic weekend.

saturday morning was the dress rehearsal for the music service. only 2 of the 4 string players were there but it still felt extremely good to be working with more of the orchestral parts. the rehearsal went smoothly... i left feeling like we were prepared. amazing.

went out shopping in the afternoon - to find a good dark skirt or dress pants to wear for the service. i found a cute, black, calf-length skirt with a little flounce at the bottom. tried to find some non-leather, cheap, somewhat attractive black heels but failed. also bought cute cards and little music stamps to make thank-you cards for the chorus and musicians.

when i got home i only had a little time to start making out the (30+!) cards before it was time to go to the dar williams concert. the opening band - the ben taylor band - was just ok. they were entertaining but, i dunno, not my thing. dar was fabulous! she sounded a little hoarse - had a cold maybe - but was still adorable and energetic and great. she played mostly stuff from the new album but also the song from the smoke signals soundtrack, spring street, as cool as i am, iowa and the babysitter's here. so much fun. and i loved being out on a 'date' with mmm_cake. we need to do that more.

i got home and harrimad_sol was there! wheee! and i stayed up til 2:30 talking with her and writing out cards and picking out my outfit. this is generally considered a bad idea when one has a performance (service, whatever) at 10:30 the next morning... ::shrugs::

sunday

i got up around 6:30, feeling like i should sleep for another day or two, but alas, it was not to be. it was good to be up early though - i even managed to paint my nails and make out the last 5 thank you cards before leaving at 8.

pre-service rehearsal went smoothly again. the guy i hired to play first violin was really good. the choir seemed calm and confident... i kept waiting for something to go wrong... nothing did. so then, the service. went, i would modestly suggest, spectacularly well. it felt like conducting should feel - they were well enough prepared that i could be thinking about music - phrasing and dynamics and smooth transitions - instead of cues and cut offs and all that crap. and they were so with me. which generates and amazingly high feeling... a little but dangerous - bc if you screw up, they screw up (like when i cued the bass soloist one measure early, heheh, but we recovered quickly) - but also so good. ensemble music making. yeah. just good, that's how i'm feeling about this performance.

the congregation gave us a standing ovation at the end... and couldn't stop saying wonderful things afterward. but, best of all, the chorus was so happy. they were so proud of themselves. i loved seeing that. my parents and mmm_cake, camillafarfalla and harrimad_sol were there. they were sweet and happy too. all my dad said was 'wow.' *g*

after lots of coffee hour schmoozing, we all went to lunch. and then harri, camilla, rach and i came back here. we gave camilla an early birthday present - since it was from harri and i and harri was here. hahaha. i'll let camilla describe it, but i'll be posting some pics here soon. ahahha. we laughed until it hurt. and then some more.

and then we watched the CoS dvd - the scene with lucius and draco in the store we watched multiple time and wibbled over poor draco and his 'sorry, father'. ::wibbles again:: i was in and out of sleep while we watched the movie and that continued for the rest of the night - after camilla and harri were gone until i finally crashed in my bed. ahhhh. i was exhausted but in a really happy, accomplished way. god, what a fucking great weekend.

hope

rach just sent me a noho apartment listing that is in our price range:
Two Story, very close to bus, downtown and laundry. Back yard,
upstairs and downstairs porches. Wood Floors. Spare room.
and it's one street over from where scottxwl and harrimad_sol live. things like this make me want to cry with happiness.

whaddaday

it's so, incredibly beautiful outside. like... yeah. perfect temperature, sun, breeze. ::<3s today::

i've taken advantage of the weather to do a whole bunch of staining and polyurethaning in the back yard. i feel very handy. and i need a shower. but it's been great to be out there in just a sweatshirt and no shoes, getting dirty, being productive. ::sigh:: happy me.

and this means i can finally put my new desk together - as soon as i get my power drill back from camillafarfalla. i can't wait for that. maybe then i'll be inclined to clean the study and all. a nice desk would be some serious motivation.

if i hadn't just run out of semi gloss poly, i think i would be tempted to drag more furniture out in the yard and spiff if up. but i'll have to wait. hope we get another day like this one soon.

the only downside - my freshly painted nails did not appreciate the sand paper. ::sigh:: i just can't be butch and femme at the same time i guess. cuz then i'd be fetch. or... bumme?