43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48 and 49

No excuses. Just the photes (sic). Last week was a complete blur of activity, so I'm really grateful for this project to help me remember all of it.

43/365 - I went into the studio to record with Jacob Metcalf, and he was getting ready to track some final vocals and guitar when I arrived.


44/365 - I went back to the studio in Fairview, TX the next day to lay down some solid gold violin tracks with my friend and fellow violinist, Petra. The studio was actually a house that had been entirely converted into a recording studio business, and it was in the most beautiful area. When I was leaving at about 3:30pm, the driveway looked gorgeous underneath the trees and with the remaining snow.


45/365 - For Valentines Day Kevin and I went out and did some preliminary house hunting to rule out/in certain neighborhoods we'd found online, then finished the night off at our favorite restaurant in Lakewood - Scalini's. I love that we have a place that's "our place."


46/365 - The 15th was the 33rd anniversary of Kevin's birth, and as part of his gift I got him a gift card to Good Records. After we went out to dinner we decided to drop by and put it to good use. I love this record shop and I hope it stays around forever.


47/365 - A friend of mine got me a special soap from her place of employment (LAFCo in Highland Park Village) for my birthday last month and I've been using what's left of my other handsoap like crazy so that it will run out and I can use my new soap! I've got a case of the crazies!


48/365 - I love the art on our walls, and I love that much of it has been made by local artists, many of whom are our friends. This little gem was a piece I got from my sweet friend Shay the female portion of bee-things.


49/365 - Some evenings after a long day at work, there's nothing nicer than picking up some sushi from Central Market for dinner. No dishes, no mess, just sweet (or would that be salty?) deliciousness.


There. Whatever.

42/365 et al

This will be today's photo and various others that I shot today in a piece I will call "snow day."

42/365 - "car trek"


first tree


prep


morning tree


en route


cathedral


belo


olive & ross


new neighbor


dusk

SNOW DAY!

41/365

I was home not feeling well yesterday from work. While I rested I was able to catch up on one of my favorite dramas (said with a short "a" sound) Damages. I hadn't realized that the new season had begun until my dear friend Liz reminded me. I LOVE this show! Such a stellar cast and so unlike any other law dramas on tv deez dayz.

"damages"

39/365, 40/365

Sunday was my good and long time pal Jesse's birthday. This is me saying Happy Birthday Jesse to him on my blog, but I don't think he reads this, but at least you'll know I said it, right, Internets?

Anyhoot, the day after Sunday, which was Monday, I went to work via a different route. My phone indicated to me that traffic on 75 was going to be a beast, so in an attempt to avoid the aforementioned traffic, I got to see some different scenery, like you'll see in the picture below. For some reason I have always loved these Ford model vans, do not ask me why for I know not.

"ford"


Tuesday, otherwise known as the day LOST comes on, I went for the first time to watch LOST with a group of 300 people at the Angelika. It was put on by an organization called Red Carpet Crash, and I'm thinking about going again next week, but we'll play it by ear . By the way, for those of you who love LOST like I's do, you should check out the weekly episode recap on videogum.com immediately:

Episode 1

Episode 2

Now, back to the blog. We went with several friends and ran into some others while we were there. I never knew there were so many LOSTees! Afterward, one of our friends Colin won a door prize - HOLLA! - and it was a bag full of comics. I love when my friends reveal their inner nerd.

"red carpet crash"


DO IT!

36/365, 37/365 & 38/365

I'm waaaaay behind, but I plan to trick you by blogging all the photos I missed in a few different blogs. You'll be nary the wiser. Without further ado.......I present you with the photos!

For 36/365 (last Friday) The Crash That Took Me was playing at the Double Wide, and on but a moment's notice, my sweet friend Sally Glass came up to see us play. I love her! This is a phote (sic) of her taking the stage before we went on.

"sally glass"


Then on Saturday, for 37/365, I spent a good part of the morning working on a film score project with a friend of mine. He's composing most of the music, and my job has been to arrange/transcribe a few of the pieces for strings and add a few parts here and there. It's been a really fun and exciting project and I hope I get to do more like it.

"garage band"


For 38/365, we went down to Cleburne to hang out with Kevin's family and "watch" the Superbowl. And by that I mean hang out, talk with family, then look up and get excited when everyone else starts yelling enthusiastically and hope they show and instant replay. I meant to take a picture of their house while it was still daylight because they bought a beautiful old home a little over a year ago, but I totally forgot, so instead I took a picture of a little CD that our friend Dragan burned for Kevin and left at our front door. I love it when people leave things cutely and gingerly leaned against other things. (What?)

"gift"


Until next time! (check back in about 30 min or so)

33/365, 34/365 and 35/365

Okay so here I am, blogging yet again with pictures in threes. But! I will not let myself fall behind to four pictures!! So this may be a little shorter and sweeter, but I'll get better! I believe in me!

First up, 33/365. LOST. Season Premiere. FINAL season. LOST watching party. Dharma themed snacks. Need I say more? Yes. I LOVE LOST.

"Season 6"


Next, for 34/365, I took a photo as we were setting up for band practice for a show we actually have tonight at the Double Wide, woop woop! That's where I'll be going after I finish this blog. I love music and I love the peeps I get to play with.

"Crash"


Finally, for 35/365, I was laying on my bed last night just winding down before I went to bed, and Kevin's closet door was ajar. I knew this would be my picture. I saw the remnants of Kevin's LOST watching outfit hang with quiet pride in the closet. I love hilarious things.

"Workman"


Til we blog again!

32/365

In our Project 365 group, February's theme, appropriately enough is "the things we love." Since I got to just stay home Monday night and not really do much for the first time in a couple weeks, I thought I'd start off taking a picture of one of the things I love most of all...that's right, get your trash cans out and your index finger ready...my husband.

He is my best friend, he makes me laugh harder than anyone else can, he challenges me and he's my number one supporter and fan. Plus he's not hard to look at.

"husbo"


Oh, in addition to loving my husbo, it should also be mentioned that I love hot tea, though I do not love the two in equal portions.

31/365

The 31st day of the year was also my dear friend Candiss' birthday as well as the final performance of Showboat. Unfortunately I missed Candiss' bday dinner, but Kevin and I did get to share the evening after the performance together. We decided that we would make some late night chili and just relax and we did just that. I got the chili recipe from my friend Rhealyn and we LURVE it. We had to go grab all the ingredients at the store after I got home, so I decided to take my camera with me.

I really like the O Organics branding at Tom Thumb. Some of you designer types might disagree with me, but I'll stand my ground!

"chili"


Here's a picture of the chili the first time we made it:



I's a gettin' hungry!

30/365

This post, like my next photo is inspired by the creatures of the sky. My new coworker and fast friend, we'll call her "Dana", knows that I have a definite and overwhelming penchant for owls, or as I like to call them, hoot hoots. Said penchant developed after I started dating Kevin many moons ago and he started to grow his glorious beard out. I was perusing the various booths at my favorite local antique shop Dolly Python, and stumbled upon the cutest little ceramic owl ever my eyes had seen. It was adorable on its own, but it was even more adorable because it looked JUST LIKE KEVIN. JUST LIKE HIM.

Naturally I purchased my new tiny treasure, and thus began a new collection of various owl items, most of which are antiques or unique representations of these sweet beasts of the night. Over the weekend, "Dana" sent me this article about an overly verbal owl disturbing his neighbors and it left me no other choice but to make my photo for the day owl focused. The small owl on the left was my first owl purchase (and Kevin's non-living doppleganger). The wooden one next to it is one my mom got us to add to our collection.

"what a hoot"


Now just try to tell me there's not an uncanny resemblance:

He's even got a feathered friend on his shoulder for crying out loud!

29/365

At work last Friday, as a spin off of our weekly Programming & Marketing meeting, we decided to do a little research for an upcoming event as part of our lecture series. On March 16 in the Winspear Opera House, we're presenting David Frost & Frank Langella in a conversation, an event I'm particularly excited about. To help with marketing ideas for the show, we ordered pizza and bought Frost/Nixon to watch over lunch. Such a great movie! And therein lay the inspiration for my photo.

"research"

I love my job.

28/365

Last night I missed the daily photo deadline by 3 minutes. Graciously, my group facilitator didn't ban me from the group and let me post anyway. I got home from the opening night performance of Showboat around 11:50pm, and started immediately "taking off my face" and getting ready for bed. As I was washing my face I realized that I hadn't taken my photo for the day! I looked at the time, making sure to not get soap all over my phone, and realized it was 12:03am. NO-hooooooooooooooo!! I quickly scrambled around trying to keep the soap out of my eyes and kept darting around the room like "a crazy" (as my former Russian violin professor used to say) chanting, "What should I take a picture of?! What should I take a picture of?!" with classic poor grammar, while Kevin laughed at me.

Finally I just settled on this art on our bedroom wall and snapped a picture with my phone before I crashed into bed. Oh the places we go. To bed.

"us"

26/365 and 27/365

I'm down to only two picture days at a time! Woop woop! This week it has been really challenging to find interesting things to photograph because my schedule has been exactly the same all week.

1. Wake up after snoozing as long as possible.

2. Go to work.

3. Leave work right at 5:30pm so I can get home, shove something in my face and make it to Showboat rehearsal by 7pm.

4. Go home around 11pm driving 70mph in hopes of making it home in time to see my husbo before he hits the adorable hay.

5. Repeat.

I've already taken a picture of my Showboat music score and a super secret shot I snagged during rehearsal. Since this month has been "The Places We Go," I've kind of tapped out my resources. But maybe I'm just not thinking creatively enough.

For 26/365, I had just plopped down on the couch after rehearsal. Kevin was already asleep and I was going to make a couple plays on my outstanding (read: yet to be dealt with) Words With Friends games to "unwind," and this was on the coffee table in front of me. K-Ho has been playing at home more lately, and he loves his new Nord baby (full working name: Nordstrom Electroliver, III)...hence my photo:

"Buttons"

For 27/365, I took my photo whilst I was at work, since I haven't explored that part of my life in photos yet. Plus I just got a promotion to a new position at work (what what!) and decided it was high time I organize my desk, and subsequently my life. So in the afternoon when I had a few minutes free I did it! And took a dang picture to commemorate:

"40 hours"

22/365, 23/365 and 24/365

Contrary to what I keep telling myself, and you, dear reader, I keep blogging in 3 day increments! I'm going to try my darndest to turn this around! Don't give up on me!!

SIDEBAR: I've recently learned that Latter Day Grammar Rangers now find it necessary to shorten the number of spaces between sentences from two to one. This is something I find infuriating. Not because I disagree with the idea necessarily, but because I find myself CONSTANTLY deleting the afore-necessitated space. Like just now I had to delete my extra space. And now. Also, I believe it was probably established as a new rule by a frequent twitterer. MUST MAXIMIZE CHARACTER UTILIZATION! TWEET! But that has nothing to do with this post. It's just that every time I'm writing a blog, I think about it because of the constant space-delete space-delete that will inevitably occur, and the unfair judgment it might bring upon me if any of the self-proclaimed enforcers of this new rule (read: Monica Hopkins) notice that I missed one.

Anybuns, on to the photos!

For 22/365, I went to go see Dallas Theater Center's Give It Up at the Wyly, then afterward we met up with Julesdwit who was in town from her homestead in NYC and headed to Vickery for some late night tacos with some late night friends.

"delicious"

For 23/365, I chose one of my favorite brunch locations, Garden Cafe, which I believe I've mentioned in a post before. I met Jro, Jules & Candie there for a delicious brunch after I got my hair cut. (space-delete)We sat outside to start until it started raining. It was one of those gray, but really bright days. (space-delete)I love those days!

"garden"

For 24/365, I decided to take my photo at home. (space-delete)After church, I came home, plopped on the couch and turned on NPR to listen to the rest of the This American Life that came on while I was in the car on the way home. I. Love. That. Program. Now they are in the middle of their winter pledge drive, so there were some interruptions, but I loved it nontheless. I love listening to that show in my living room. There's something that feels very old school about it until I remember that I'm listening to it on my DVD/mp3/TV/Radio stereo system, on top of which is our DVR. The only thing old school about the picture is the only game system we own, the original Nintendo. I'll Dr. YOUR Mario!

"this american life"

GO IRA!

21/365

This week has been absolutely crazy. I only realized in the middle of Showboat rehearsal last night that I hadn't taken a picture yet, so I just pulled my camera out while our conductor, the illustrious Jay Dias was stopping momentarily to go over part of the score with the brass section, and ever stealthily snapped a photo. Only my stand partner Miguel was any the wiser.

"act II"

I love music! Plus I have a 2 measure solo in this show! Ha ha! I love it! Movin' on up!

17/365, 18/365, 19/365 and 20/365

I promise I'm not going to keep blogging in multi day increments. This has been a pretty crazy weekend and beginning of the week....I got a promotion at work, woohoo! It's fantastic but it's left me busier than I have been at work in a while, and with rehearsals this week (see figure 19/365), I haven't had my evenings as free as in recent weeks.

So, a concise, yet not terse summary of the last four days.

17/365 - I worked on a film score with my friend Curtis of The Theater Fire fame for a film called "Carried Away" recently. There is a second project in the works, so last Sunday I went over to his house so we could work on a game plan for writing the music. I love his house and opted to take my picture there.

"recording"


18/365 - My birthday!! Kevin and I had brunch, then headed to the mall for a bit. We stopped inside the Nasher store at Northpark because we'd never been. At the back of the store is an awesome kids section, and when I saw these patent leather baby shoes I knew this would be my photo for the day. They are so ridiculously hilariously cute!

"tiny feets"


19/365 - I started rehearsals with Irving Lyric Stage for their production of Showboat in concert last night and decided to take a picture of some of the score. I do musicals with them about 2-3 times a year and I love it! I've been doing it for about 3 years or so now, and we've done Sweeney Todd, Carousel, Dallas Divas, West Side Story, The King & I, Funny Girl and now Showboat. I've been doing it long enough that I've become friends with the other musicians and it's a mini reunion every time we do these shows. I love playing in bands, but this satisfies the orchestra nerd that resides deep within my weary soul.

"showboat"


20/365 - Tonight was the second rehearsal for Showboat. It's a fun gig, but I got a little overwhelmed when I realized that we have Friday & Saturday off this week, but this Sunday through next Sunday will be constant rehearsals/performances every night after working every day.....it will be a tense week and I think I'll be cashing in a massage gift card I got for Christmas shortly after the run is complete. I can't think too much about my schedule and how little time I'm going to have to myself, I just kind of have to keep my head down and push through. I think I'll be looking to this phrase more than once over the next week and a half.

"mantra"


Wish me luck taking my pictures every day and getting them posted on my blog! SHOWBOAT!

14/365, 15/365 and 16/365

Sorry I haven't posted the last couple of days' photos! Yesterday was an eventful day at work to say the least and I was a little distracted.

First, we have 14/365, which was a fun filled evening over at Sir Jesse Hopkins' house. He got a new tv for his new place and invited a few friends over to watch our favorite Thursday night line up. Perched on his piano were the photos I got him as a housewarming gift. Love my friends!

"Jesse's House"


Then there's last night, 15/365. I left work a little early to meet Sarah Jaffe to play a show in Denton last night with Seryn and Robert Gomez. It was Sarah's last show in town before she goes on a fancy pants European tour with Midlake, woop woop! A couple of the guys in Midlake go to St. David's Episcopal church in Denton, where the show was held last night. It was a beautiful, traditional church and it was a gorgeous and perfect venue for the event.

"St. David's"


Today, as a pre-birthday celebration, I went with Jessica Roberts (Jro) to get my eyebrows threaded by Miss Kim then we met up with Jessica Allen and her ridiculously cute daughter Cecelia to eat at Garden Cafe. Then we went back and hung out at J-Ro's new place for a bit where I captured today's photo (16/365). Cece decided that she needed to reorganize Jro's bookshelf. And by reorganize I of course mean dump them all on the kitchen floor.

"Who Me?"

13/365

Well would you look at that - I'm actually posting a photo on the same day I snapped it! Tonight I went over to Elissa's house to eat delicious food stuffs and start our bible study that we've been talking about starting.

Tonight's menu was homemade tomato basil soup and grilled cheeses. Now I'm drooling thinking back about it. It was amazing. A little simmer here, a little blender puree there, and voila!! Gourmet in my mouth!! I know this isn't a very lengthy post, but the crack of midnight approacheth and my body is about to approacheth my bed so deal with it.

Love you!

"so I creep"

And as an aside, Elissa introduced me to a new book that is both disturbing and uproariously cute!

Check it!

12/365

Last night K-Ho and I went to see August: Osage County at the Winspear. It's the second in our Lexus Broadway Series (sponsorship plug, what!), and it's the first straight play (read: non-musical). I absolutely LOVED the show. The star is Estelle Parsons, who has done a lot of acting, but most of you probably remember her as Rosanne's mother Beverly on the 80s-90s hit sitcom "Rosanne."

Upon reading the cast bios I discovered that almost everyone in the cast has been on one or more of the Law & Orders, and that fact pleased me more than I think would be reasonable. I heart Law & Order. I also heart Words with Friends, but those are topics for another post.

I was initially taking pictures inside the theater at the beautiful set (which you can see if you click on the link above), but then an usher kindly informed me that it wasn't allowed. So, after much debate and not wanting to run into a cease and desist situation, I decided not to post my illegally obtained photo of the set and instead took a few photos outside on the walk back to our car. I took three that I was satisfied with, but could only choose one for Project 365, so Kevin helped me choose one that he felt was more unique than the others.

tree + wyly (this is the one I was originally going to use)


patrons retreat


and finally, 12/365 selection, "the lurker"