Got your attention! But first, DC...
What a WONDERFUL and overdue weekend away from the city--my first since June!! I think my commuting or European choir tours or something has made me immune to bus bore; The 4.5 hour rides there and back didn't feel like any labor, especially with a ton of Hulu courtesy of free wifi (Megabus has it now too!) on the way there.
Friday and Saturday were full of adventure and activity... And LOTS of walking! We estimate 10 miles on Saturday. That's including a 3-mile walk for the DC Metro Area homeless, but still. 7 is a pretty good amount of trekking as well. Lots of great restaurants and enough site-seeing (They emptied the reflection pond! We walked in it!) filled Friday night and Saturday during the day. Then we (Meghan, Fraz, Cheeks, and I) had some good ol' Gato and mostly passed out from exhaustion and wine sleepies for the rest of the visit. Meghan somehow mustered up the energy to stay out 'til the wee hours of the morning though... Power to ya.
So the weekend was the perfect balance of fun and relaxation. Epic success.
Still plodding along with concert prep. Generally it's going well, despite occasional snags such as not having access to my classroom for an entire day of classes due to an overnight break-in at the school. I was informed by the police that my classroom was a crime scene and I couldn't touch anything, take anything from it, or teach in it all day. Nothing was stolen from my room (still have yet to hear the school-wide report), but it's suspected my 3rd floor, construction-obstructed window was compromised to provide an entry point into the school. That's effort right there. So I traveled the school as a musical hobo, complete with winter coat, cumbersome bag, and useless lesson plans. Got stuff done though, could have been worse. Seriously, I'm not sure if the appropriate response to the whole situation is anxious paranoia or naive amusement. For the sake of my psychological well-being, I'm going to go with amusement...
But now I'm in penguin slippers listening to Christmas music (screw you, day after Thanksgiving), having recently put into the oven my very first solo attempt at the famed Grandma Pie for Thursday. Meghan and I are going over to Sally's for dining and hopefully some wining as well... Though she's lived here with her fellow New Zealander husband for 6 years, they've never celebrated Thanksgiving. She's starting this year out of curiosity and has a lot of cute questions, among them, "So, what day do you folks do the eating?" Basically, way pumped.
To take a page from the Thanksgiving assemblies at my school this week, I will conclude with a list of that which I am thankful for this T-giving:
-Restful and joy-filled weekends with college friends
-A cultural background involving Christmas to appreciate the season of widespread holiday-themed decorations and grocery store music
-Generous, established friends with the ability to host a full-out Thanksgving meal
-The ignorance of burglars in the area of Orff instrument market value
-Penguin slippers after a day of hiking up and down stairs and across town in some of the less comfortable heels I own
-Grandma Pie.
-Conversation of all kinds
-A lovely family
-The promise of being with said lovely family in LESS THAN A MONTH!
-You. Cliche? Whatevs, it's true.
=) K
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