Baby Grand

I've always dreamed of owning a Baby Grand piano.

Don't get me wrong, my little Kawai that I've had for years is a good little piano. However, even as I was buying it I thought 'in five years I'll save up and buy my baby grand.. this is just an interim piano. That was 14 years ago..

So while perusing Craig's List about three weeks back I saw some interesting listings for an older baby grand or two at terribly reasonable prices. I thought to myself.. if they're in decent shape at all it would be worth it. So.. I watched the listings come and go and finally honed in on one. A 1934 Mahogany Kimball that was supposedly in perfect working / sounding condition with a few 'minor' cosmetic blemishes.

I thought and I figured and thought and figured. Then two weeks ago Saturday I needed to go down below (that's what we call 'the San Fernando / Los Angeles region) for a doctor appt, so I thought I would just call and see if it was available to be looked at.

It was, I went and saw it, I played it and in a rare moment of not-quite-insanity.. I bought it.

It was delivered to our house on June 9th. We then started working on getting it polished up (it has the original 1034 finish and looked it). A few coats of restorative wood wax (no worries.. it's all natural and safe for pianos) and all those 'minor' blemishes all but vanished.

It's a pretty little thing. The piano tech came and looked at it and is due back on Tuesday to give a good once over and then he says it will be in good working condition.

Now.. if only I had somewhere to put it in my house.. and a matching piano bench cover..

I guess that's just a project for my post-girls-camp recovery period..

First Piano Recital

On June 4th, I had my very first piano recital.. ever.

I never actually had to perform in piano recitals growing up and so I've never performed nor attended one. However, I decided to try it with my students. We had it in Joni Swindlehurst's (our music coordinator in the ward who loves to throw parties / events..) living room on her beautiful old grand piano. I had 5 of my 9 students perform and it lasted all of 16 minutes. They all did wonderfully for the amount of time they had been playing. I was proud of all of them.

Now I am enjoying a two month hiatus from teaching while I prepare and go to girl's camp and pretty much just rest. We resume up again in August.

With any luck we'll have a repeat performance come next May.

Unfortunately, my camera wasn't really being terribly cooperative and I have yet to obtain any pictures from those who have promised them. However, as soon as I get some, I'll post them.

Memorial Day Camping

This is the first of my 'catch up' entries. Yes, I know that Memorial Day was a month ago.. but I've been a little busy. I would like to appologize to all of you out there who have been faithfully making entries into your own blogs since I haven't had any time to read blogs either.. sheesh..

So.. back to the topic at hand:

Since it was around my birthday and I needed to go stake out the campground at El Capitan for Girl's Camp anyway.. we decided to go camping in the mountains north of Santa Barbara on the weekend over Memorial Day.

We drove up on Friday evening and found a campsite above Cachuma Lake down 'Happy Canyon Road' in a tiny little campground that had a creek running right behind it.



On Saturday we decided to do some exploring and, in an interesting 'side trip' ended up in Solvang where they just so happened to be having a Military appreciation day and were letting people climb on helicopters and humvees and such.. so.. of course.. we stopped and took some pics..



Since we'd already stopped, we decided to explore Solvang for a bit and sample the Danish pastries (YUM!)



Once we'd had our fill of the cute Dutch town with it's beautiful pastries.. we journeyed on up to Santa Maria where we were hoping to do some off roading. We were a little later than planned at this point, however, and by the time we got anywhere where off roading would have been an option, it was time to turn around. So.. we headed back to Solvang for some Danish meatballs for dinner with Danish pancake balls (that have some fancy Danish name I can't remember) for desert and headed back to camp. However, while the trip might have been short lived into the wilderness, it was beautiful up there



On Sunday we headed into Solvang yet again for church at what had to be the friendliest ward I've ever been to. Every person in that ward introduced themselves as they walked into church. Amazing.. After church we took the 'long way' back to camp and even took a tiny little four wheeling road as a 'shortcut'. It was amazing the differing landscape and vegetation on the other side of the little mountain we were staying on. Where we were looked like Central California.. where we drove through that day looked a little more like Arizona. Amazing..



We went back to camp that afternoon, hung out by the creek and were joined by Sam & Michelle in the evening. The next day we all headed down to El Capitan to stake out the campground I was going to go to and try out the 2.5 mile hike from there to Refugio beach. Both were beautiful right there on the beach. Unfortunately, though, I didn't take any pictures cuz I figured that Sam was taking enough for the both of us. So.. you're just going to have to take my word for it.

It was a fun little trip and we got to explore country we probably wouldn't have thought to explore otherwise. I just wish it had been a tad bit longer..

Fire on the Hill

I know, I know, it's been an eternity since I've posted. I seem to have been buried in Girl's Camp for the past month or so.. but I promise to update everything by Sunday (hopefully). In the meantime, there was a fire next door to my parent's house in Monterey today and my dad actually made the news...

Large Barn Fire in Prunedale

Nashville

A couple of weeks back I took a little business trip to Nashville, TN. I've never been to Nashville, and so I took the opportunity to get out and see a little of what the 'City of Music' had to offer..

I stayed in the 'Gaylord Opryland' Hotel -- which was HUGE. Nine acres of gardens, waterfalls, rivers, shops, restaurants, and nearly 3000 rooms all under one roof. In fact, it's the largest Convention Hotel in the country outside of Las Vegas and it was beautiful. Amazing, actually.. especially all of the indoor gardens/water features. Here's just a sampling of the wonders that are there:



In addition to just exploring the insane hotel, we also took the shuttle into town one evening and had dinner at B.B. King's Blues Club. I had catfish and fried green tomatoes for the first time -- both were better than expected. Nashville is a lot smaller and friendlier than I had imagined -- just a couple of 'downtown' streets that we explored.. and live music everywhere. They definitely take their country music seriously down there! :-)

The highlight of our trip was a visit to the Grand Ol' Opry. I was a little shocked when my boss wanted to go, and I mostly went just because I felt bad making him go by himself. However, I'm glad I did. It was definitely an experience. I've never been to the taping of a live radio show.. in fact, I'm not really sure how many of them are even out there anymore. We went to the 'Country Classics' night and between the old country music and the announcer actually reading all the commercials, I felt like I'd been transported back in time. It was more fun than expected and definitely worth the trip -- even if I didn't recognize more than two songs and none of the artists. Here are some of the highlights:



It was a fun little trip.. and the Conference I went to wasn't bad either.. (Actually.. it was quite amazing.. but full of all sorts of work-related stuff no one else would care about..)

Baby Chad

We just spent the weekend in Maryland visiting with Sharon, Greg and the kids. We were able to go a little earlier than the rest of the family, so we got to spend some good quality time with them (and Chad is actually still there while I'm at a conference in Nashville.. so he's still spending quality time). We played wii, hung out, took the girls to and from the bus stop every day and even got to see a very cool dance performance by Angela:





Chad and I were also able to go down to DC on Saturday and do a little site seeing. We ate lunch at Old Emmit's Grill -- one of the oldest eating establishments in DC, and then spent the afternoon at the International Spy Museum -- which is a terribly cool place for any of you planning a DC trip and wondering what to do..

It's so beautiful back there with all the green and trees. It rained the entire time we were there, but we didn't mind too much -- sometimes rain is a refreshing change from the desert.

While we were there, the rest of the family joined us, and Baby Chad was blessed on Sunday night. We were happy we could be there for the event. In honor of his big day, I thought I'd post some of the better family pics..









We had a great weekend and hope we have the opportunity to come out to Maryland again to visit soon.

The Happiest Place on Earth

Disneyland is running a special this year -- everyone gets in free on their Birthday. What a deal? Right? So.. never one to turn down a good deal.. and wanting to go check out all the new 'stuff' since I was there last, which was during High School, Chad and I played hookie from work last Wednesday (Chad's Birthday) and went down and spent a very lovely day at The Happiest Place on Earth :-).

When he got his free ticket, they gave him a special Birthday Button with his name on it and all the Disney employees (and a fair number of guests) were saying 'Happy Birthday Chad!' all day long. Which made Chad feel terribly special and loved.. or at least popular!!

We drove down there fairly early in the morning. It was a really beautiful day.. sunny and 65 and it wasn't terribly crowded, although possibly a tad more than I might have expected for a weekday in April. However, it seemed as if 1/2 the parties there had at least one Birthday Button.. so I'm guessing that little marketing tactic is working out well for them.

We rode all the 'good' rides.. and the longest line we stood in was only an hour.. Pirates, Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, Splash Mountain, Matterhorn, Star Tours, and even Small World. The most amazing part? The ride that was by far in the most demand was the old classic -- Space Moutain. There just must be something about roller coasters in the dark..

One of the highlights of the day was an exhibit that actually reminded me of Epcot called 'Innoventions' which had a 'house of the future' with all the cool toys and gadgets, etc. They also had a small demonstration from ASIMO -- the 'most advanced robot in the world', made by Honda. He was pretty incredible.. here's a short video of him 'dancing':



We started off our evening with an incredible Fireworks show in front of Cinderella's castle. Only Disney can produce such an amazing production.. Even Tinkerbell was flying around doing her magic:



After the show, we hit a few more rides and then headed home at midnight. It was a long day (and the next day wasn't so good).. but it was a lot of fun and definitely a great way to spend a Birthday!!



Happy Birthday Chad!!