Playing Catch Up

So...it's been a while. Sorry about that. School kind of ate me.

But now I've got a treat for you. It's Melissa's Year In Review 2011 (a.k.a. I'm too lazy to send out Christmas cards). And as a bonus, it'll be told with only pictures from my cell phone...because when my computer crashed, I lost most of my other pictures.

Happy New Year!!!

I rang in the new year with a few thousand of my closest friends at the Seattle Center.

Beautiful Scenery

Living in Seattle provides some gorgeous views! I love it!

Mt. Rainier seen from UW campus
on a clear Winter morning.

The UW Quad with the cherries in bloom.
Made returning from Spring Break a little less painful.
... A little. :)

The Tulip Festival in Skagit Valley in April.

A Summer evening at Golden Gardens beach. 

The Fall colors in Seattle are incredible!

My favorite view out of a window in
the music building. Sometimes
it made concentrating a challenge. 

Friends! 

Me and Laura celebrating
the Summer Solstice.

I got to see Brenden, Kiera, and Kendra
when they came to visit Gig Harbor!!! It was so fun!

Melissa and Amanda came to visit me!!!
They loved the troll. 

Drew made breakfast for Melissa,
Amanda, and I cause he's nice. 

Julie and I on a cold morning boat ride.

Melissa and I celebrated my summer visit
to Utah with some In'N'Out

Drew and I went to the Experience Music
Project to celebrate his birthday
and he broke a guitar string. Oops! 

Matt and I went to see Jason Robert
Brown live. So good.

Drew and Lexy and I went on a ferry adventure,
and Lexy drew me this picture to remember it by. 

Me with Karissa and Julie.
I can't actually remember when we took this picture.
But we take a lot of the three of us.
Love triangle! 

Just Me Bein' Me

Great finds at DI. 

Good oral hygiene is important.

Before...

After! :) 

This was my Halloween costume.
I don't love Halloween. 

My cow slippers keep my feet warm on cold nights.
 I love them.

Food! 

I didn't really expect there to be so many pictures of food on my phone...but there are! So here we go!

Probably the prettiest pizza I've ever made.
Tomato, basil, & pepperoni with fresh crust and sauce.

QFC CARRIES ORANGINA!!!

The first time I've made my mom's recipe for
 chicken noodle soup. It was yummy!

Not exactly food, but does help solve the great
spoon vs. fork dilemma.

Pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving.

Fresh potato rolls

Delicious pizza and meatball from Mama Melina's for a girls' night out. 

Peanut Butter Nutella cookies

School

My roommate got this for me.
It was very true, I spent most of the quarter
in the Music Library. 

The pressure got to Brad and he started gnawing on his headphones...

This is what working in the Music Library looks like. 

 Christmas and Family

Neville dressed up and served as our Christmas tree in Seattle. 

My dad waited until I got to town so that we could
fulfill our tradition of getting a tree together. 

After stringing the lights. 

I taught Leah the appropriate way
to drink tea.  

Me and Leah

My cute baby brother Andy
and his cute wife Sam

Tucker playing with the marbles.

We went to Temple Square to see the lights. It started to
lightly snow and it was magical.

Overall it's been a tremendous year! I've worked hard, learned a lot, and had tons of fun! And I'm especially enjoying these last 2 weeks of the year as I get to be home.

A Break in the Clouds

Last Friday I had a very productive 2.5 hours in the library working on a pretty major assignment. I got it nearly done and felt pretty proud of myself since it wasn't actually due until this Thursday. I was almost a week ahead!

But then...over the weekend my hard drive died. Not the most fun thing ever.

I had a backup from just before school started, so while I lost a few pictures and my notes from classes thus far—the damage has been fairly minimal. Except for all the work I had done on that assignment.  That part definitely is not feeling minimal right now.

Needless to say, the last few days have been a bit overwhelming as I've tried to redo that assignment as well as keeping up on my others between classes, work, and sleeping.

But that's not the point of this post. 

This morning as I left my house to catch the bus (earlier than usual so that I could arrive when the library opened) the sunrise was beautiful. I wish I hadn't been running late so that I could have taken a picture of it! The sky was cloudy, as it often is in Seattle, but there was a break in the clouds near the horizon. As the sun rose behind the mountains, there were just a few minutes where it shone through that break and created beautiful orange and pink streaks across the clouds. Gorgeous.

And now it's risen far enough to be hidden by the clouds again and we're back to gray. But there it was, for just a few minutes; the exact few minutes I was walking to the bus stop.

There's a life lesson there. Something about watching for the breaks in the clouds, or that the sun is always behind the clouds, or remembering to appreciate the beautiful moments. But I don't really have the brain power to spare thinking about life lessons right now, I've got to go re-find some 16th century French Chansons.

Just thought I'd tell you about the sunrise. :)

I'm this tired

... and I want a puppy ...  

I have an idea!

Fact: I worked really hard my first year of grad school, got good grades, and was generally successful.

Based on that information, it can safely be assumed that I will do the same in my second year. 

This will lead to my being awarded with a Master in Music. 

So.

Can't we just skip all the actual work this year and give me the degree based on how great we all know I'm going to do???

I'm baaaaack!

Remember this?

Well, the list just came out for Chamber Singers this year, and...

It feels so nice to be home. :)

Date Night

Last night I decided that I wanted to get out of the house. So I checked out the discount theater and found a movie I thought would be entertaining, but there wasn't anyone that was available/interested in coming with me.

I figured I had two choices:
1 — Stay at home and watch the Dancing with the Stars premiere on Hulu.
2 — Go to the movie by myself.

So I took myself on a date to the movies. :)

And it was great. I could laugh when I felt like it and cry when I felt like it and I didn't have to worry about if someone else was enjoying the movie.

All in all it turned out to be a great evening. And I discovered that I make a pretty great date!
(Feel free to spread the word, as I'm not sure that I'm ready for the commitment of dating myself exclusively. I want to keep my options open, y'know?)

Gesundheit!

I once had a boyfriend who said he wished he could bottle the feeling of a sneeze because he loved it so much. I thought that was weird.

Yesterday I was driving along, minding my own business (and possibly singing along to the oldies station at the top of my lungs...), and suddenly I was sneezing uncontrollably. At first it was several sneezes in quick succession, and then it slowed down to one every few seconds. It just wouldn't stop! Has that ever happened to you? I wonder what causes it. I imagine it's a tiny dust particle throwing a party in my nose. The ruckus causes a sneeze but he's so good at holding on that he survives every time and then does a little happy dance to celebrate, thus causing another sneeze.

That wasn't the first time this has happened to me. It weirds me out. And I always worry that I'm going to end up like that little girl that was on the Today show because she didn't stop sneezing for months. MONTHS. Not that I'd mind being on the Today show, but I'd rather do it for something like winning Teacher of the Planet than for being stuck sneezing every few seconds for months on end.

So it's come to this...

Today I was driving and a song came on the radio and I thought, "Yeah! That's how I'm feeling right now!" Which is great. I usually love those moments—they can be very cathartic.

But this time, it was a Taylor Swift song.

...when did I become that girl?  :)

TGIF

I may not have a hot date tonight,
but my bathroom is now *sparkling* clean.

And that's more than enough to make it a great Friday. :-)

A Random Memory

Remember that time in college that this happened?

                                                                                                                

Large group sitting around a table in the Cougareat

Someone else: Did you guys hear what N***** P******* is doing this summer?!?!

Me: Making out with me?!

... oops. Was that in my outside voice? 

                                                                                                               

Yep. I'm smooth.

Calling All Stalkers

When I was teaching, I had a few students who begged me for the address of this blog. And I denied them. 'Cause I'm mean. :)

But now I'm not teaching anymore so I don't feel as much need for keeping parts of my life student-free. And I've actually been quietly blog-stalking a few former students to keep up on all the news, which makes me happy because I sure loved those kids and it's nice to know that they are still doing good things.

And then I've recently had a former student or two commenting on this blog!

So that got me to thinking...are there more of you out there silently reading and afraid of letting me know that you've found me?!

This is your chance! Stop being all stalker-y and leave me a comment to let me know you're around!  And if you've got a blog or an update, leave that too!

Ooh! And tell me how you found me too. I'm curious. :)

We have a winner!

Re-introducing my new plant...

Neville! 

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions, and especially to Jen for her brilliance in finding the perfect name! I'll see if I can come up with a suitable prize. :)

It's a cruel world

Y'know that point where a sunburn is just starting to heal and it itches, but it's still pretty recent so it hurts when you scratch it?

Yeah. I hate that.

Introducing...

My new plant!!!

It's a rescue. 

Drew found it abandoned by a dumpster and saved it. He took it home and it lived with him for a few months. Then it was going to become an orphan again when he moved so I gave it a new home here with me! 

The problem is, it doesn't have a name yet. And somehow I haven't been able to come up with just the right one.

So this is where you come in, dear readers.
I need you to suggest names for my plant.  

(I'm thinking there are at least 5 of you, so we should get a pretty good list to choose from!) 

Then I'll pick my favorite and you'll get a prize!*

Ready -- set -- start naming! 

*There may or may not actually be a prize other than bragging rights...I'll see what I can come up with.

Humble Pie

First, an apology:

At some point, I've probably judged you a little for various grammar and spelling mistakes, like using there/their/they're and to/too wrong. Sorry. I promise it doesn't mean I love you any less!

But then I noticed a text I sent the other day...and I died a little inside.

"You're skills amaze me!"

I'm so ashamed. And I will now stop judging you.


...unless you didn't catch why I'm ashamed. In that case, I'm totally still judging. ;)

Ode to Green Lake

Green Lake is one of my favorite places in Seattle. (Along with the troll...which will get its own post eventually, I'm sure.) So, to introduce to you this lesser-known Seattle gem, I thought I'd write a poem.

Ahem.

Ode to Green Lake

O Green Lake, you are so lovely. 

I love to wander with your trees above me. 

 

 Your waters are so vast, 

and their beauty will never be surpassed.

 

By moonlight you're oh so mysterious, 

 and in sunlight your beauty is serious.

 

 And you have ducks. 

 It's fun to race around your trail,

at speeds much faster than a snail.

You're a great place for forging friendships, 

and you make us look good with the way your wind whips.

I can't really think of anything else to say, 

but I don't want to throw these last two pictures away.

And you have ducks.