I made this for my family's Mother's Day dinner. It was eaten up! The recipe is here:

http://kiraskitchen.blogspot.com/





It really wasn't that hard to bake. Just time consuming...

Mom loved her card and bracelet. I even made a gift bag to put her presents in:



Church was exhausting today. We had two anthems, plus it was Pentecost Sunday and youth Confirmation. The director made us do the Tallis "If Ye Love Me" again as a communion anthem- this time we did it right. I hope we don't mess up like the first time we sang it ever again!

...went very well for a change. Unfortunately, the air conditioning was out, so the choir loft was unbearably hot! All the windows in the sanctuary were open. According to the ushers, when we sang our anthem, people on the street stopped to listen to us! The director sent us all a nice email praising us. That's very rare.

I wasn't the only one in the family who cried after the Derby yesterday! My sister called last night...and the first thing she said was: "MY HORSEY DIED!!!!" :( The Derby was all anyone talked about in choir before practice started.

It really was too hot this morning. I hated wearing my robe. They aren't designed for warm weather.

I went into choir tonight thinking that our director would chew us out for our lousy performance Sunday. Instead, he complimented us for not stopping when he tried to start over. He singled out the sopranos for keeping it all together! We are pretty awesome...:p I still think it was a disaster, though. Catastrophe and fiasco also apply. But maybe it was just the beginning of the piece that was bad. Anyway, practice went well tonight. I'm still planning on taking a break, though!

From the "I hate my choir director" files...

We did one of my favorite works today: If Ye Love Me by Thomas Tallis. We practiced and practiced and had sung it well in rehearsal...but when it came time to sing in church, something went wrong. The director insisted on doing it without organ, and he directed from a spot where many of us couldn't see him. We started off wrong (his fault, totally), and he tried to get us to stop! None of us stopped...we kept on going. I think it would have been far worse to stop and start over. We did finally get it together, but he was not pleased. What the hell did he expect from us? If we can't see him, and we don't have the notes, we're not going to be able to sing. He insulted us by trying to make us stop. I never want to sing this work again. :( I'm dreading practice on Wednesday. He's going to chew us out for things that were his doing! I have a feeling that people are going to quit. I know that once Pentecost has come and gone, I'm going to take a long break.

It really was awful. I had to leave before the last hymn because I thought I might cry.

The bell choir rang this morning, too. We didn't do as well as we did in practice. The youth bells were much better than we were!

Other stuff- I read  You Suck by Christopher Moore, which was hilarious. I didn't know that it was a sequel! I'll have to read the first book, Bloodsucking Fiends, later. Also, I'm going to start reading M.C. Beaton's Hamish Macbeth series. My mom and I loved watching the T.V. series (though the episodes really didn't resemble the books much!), so now I want to read the books! The library has a bunch of them on audio cassette/CD/MP3. 

I finished my cousin's wedding present last night!



It really came out nice. I think it's a much better present than The Bride, which I gave up on. It took me thirty hours to do.

In other news, I went to a bell festival last weekend. It wasn't as good as last year's- the classes weren't interesting. I didn't go to any. The rehearsals and concert went really well, though. And I got a new bell shirt:



Hee, hee!

Only about half of the choir went this year. My nephew was a substitute for one of the players. He did really well.

I'm still tired from the weekend! And my new medicine is making me sick. I'm having a hard time adjusting to it. Yuck.

The Maundy Thursday service went well tonight, even though the choir really wasn't that well prepared. We sang one of my favorite pieces, the Kyrie from Schubert's Mass in G.

When I got home, I managed to finish my big project- Ivy. She turned out better than I thought she would. So many beads! Took me 50 hours to do...and about ten of those hours were beading!



Haven't gotten around to watching the latest Torchwood episode (though I have seen THAT scene...GUH!!! Drool...), and I missed Lost (no spoilers, please). No time! I'm going to spend my whole weekend cooking, at church, or at my sister's!

*does happy dance*

I'm cleaning my closet today, and getting my spring stuff out. It's been very warm...though tomorrow will be sort of chilly. But still warm enough to wear a spring dress for Palm Sunday!

The choir is not ready for Palm Sunday. I'm worried about the music. We're missing a bunch of people, too. And the Easter music isn't ready, either. What happened to the organized choir director we had a month ago? He's gone back to his old ways...:(

I finished reading Nights at the Circus, and I loved it! I'll post a bit of a review at my reading blog later...it's hard to describe the book in a few words. I'm about halfway through A Room With a View, and I love it.

The lunar eclipse was beautiful but a bit spooky. It was bright red! I watched from about 9:30 to 10:15, right up to the point of total eclipse. Glad I got to see it- the next one is in 2010!

Choir was exceptionally good last night. We got through seven anthems and one hymn. We're almost ready for Palm Sunday and Easter already! I'm stunned. Usually our director doesn't give us music until two or three weeks before Holy Week! I think going to that choir event helped us a lot.

My dad signed me up (against my will, ) for the Lenten book discussion- we're going through The Purpose Driven Life. I usually think that kind of stuff is a lot of hooey, but I'm keeping an open mind as I read through it. So far, it's not so bad. The discussions have been interesting, at least.

Speaking of books, I've read two more this month, bringing my total to eight (not counting Purpose, which I haven't finished). I read Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, which was very amusing, and Another Life, a Torchwood novel. I've read all three of the Torchwood books now, and can't wait for the new ones to be released! I'll put my thoughts on the books on my reading blog later this week. Next up is The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen (see a pattern here? ) and North and South. Both are due back at the library next week, so I need to get cracking!

Saturday is the big Oscar movie marathon at Potomac Mills. It's going to be fun, but I'll be very tired when I get home. I'll probably spend most of Sunday in bed (until the Oscars are on!). It will be nice to watch the ceremony after actually seeing all five Best Picture nominees.

The choir event at the National Cathedral was really something. I've never sung in a building like that! There were about 20 other choirs (about 400 singers total). Most of what we sang was Gregorian chant-like music, much of it written for the event- the 80th anniversary of the Royal School of Church Music.

Most of my pictures didn't turn out, but here are a couple- just to give an idea of how huge the place is!





The sound was just incredible. The ceilings are so high! I wish there had been time to take a tour. I'll have to go back someday. It was interesting to rehearse while tours were going on. We had a built in audience!

I would have had more fun if I hadn't been sick. I could hardly sing. One of the pieces had the instructions "ashen-faced, like staring into a void"- and that's exactly how I felt! Hee. It was really beautiful music. Some of it my choir will sing again in our own church.

Time to take more medicine and then crash for another 10 hours. I've got to get better. I couldn't go to church this morning, and the choir really needed me...

Nice time for me to get a cold and sore throat. I can't go to choir tonight. I must get better before Saturday. That's when I'm going to the National Cathedral to sing! We're singing very hard music. I don't think most of the choir members can do it. Fortunately, we're singing with about 400 other people...Anyone in the D.C. area is welcome to come to the service- I think it's at 3:00. It should be lovely.

I think I will go to the meet up next Saturday. It should be a lot of fun. I've only been to D.C. once since the last meet (for Spamalot). I love going to D.C., and I've been planning to visit the Spy Museum anyway.

To those who read my locked entry- I think everything is said and done now, so I'll nuke it in case it gets in the wrong hands. :p Thanks for the kind words, I'm going to be staying put for now. The Meet-up forum is a good place to mod, and I'd hate to leave the BR.

Lost is back tomorrow night! Yay! Happy dance! Running commentary at TrekBBS! (I knew there was a reason for me to stick around!) Eight whole episodes...then that's it because of the writer's strike. House only gets two more new episodes this season (last night's was pretty good). Thank God for Torchwood- eleven more new episodes..

Speaking of Torchwood, I'm really looking forward to next week's episode, To the Last Man. (Of course, I'll probably see it tomorrow ) It's Tosh-centric, yay. We don't get enough of her. And the guest star is Anthony Lewis, older brother of Matthew from the Harry Potter films. He's just as cute, and I think he might even be a better actor. We'll see after this episode. All those good looks and talent in one family, it's not fair! :p

I think I will make my goal of reading 50 books in 2008 with no problem. I'm about to finish Wide Sargasso Sea. That brings my January total to five: The others were Atonement, Kite Runner, Border Princes (a Torchwood novel, and it was so-so), and 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. Next up is Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter- someone recommended it years ago and I'm finally getting to it! My cross stitching has been suffering a bit. I'm really getting frustrated with The Bride. And I can't finish Ivy until I get the missing threads and beads...I'm going to pick a couple of one-nighters to do to clear my head. I always feel better about the big projects after I've finished something small.

For the next few weeks, at least. I get to spend an hour or two each week with my new T.V. boyfriends, Ianto and Owen! Hee hee. Can't keep a good fangirl down. I can't wait to pick up the DVD set. And even though I'll be able to see the shows early, I'll still be watching on BBC America. I need some good  icons now.

This is all I need, a new obsession!

I've been very lazy about cross stitching lately. I only did about two hours of work this week. Shame on me! On the other hand, I did manage to read a lot. I'm almost done reading Kite Runner (which is wonderful, and I hope I get to see the movie!). Next up, The Wide Sargasso Sea, Nights at the Circus, and The Black Dahlia.

Tomorrow, the new worship center is being dedicated at my church. I'm not thrilled about it. The service is all about the contemporary worship, and even though it's supposed to be a blended program, they'll drown us out like we don't matter at all. At least the music we're doing is nice. Maybe we can win over some new choir members and show people that there's more to music than rock and roll.

Next weekend, I'm going to Williamsburg for a day trip. I haven't been in years. I'll probably go to The Trelis restaurant for dinner with Mom and Dad. Weekend after that, I'm going with the choir for an event at the National Cathedral. I'm really looking forward to that. We're singing with about 400 other people, and the music is wonderful.  And the week after that, there's a Trek BBS meet-up at the Spy Museum! (are you listening, shatna?) That will be a blast. I haven't been there yet. And I think it's time to go back to the Air and Space Museum (either site).

The carol service went pretty well. Our music sounded good, and the kids were adorable. But it was too darn long! Two hours. There was just too much stuff to sing. I have no voice left! I sang in a quartet at the regular service this morning, too. I got a lot of compliments.

Now all I have to worry about is the Christmas Eve service- fortunately, we're repeating some of the music from today's service.

Two more days until Spamalot! Squee!

Don't think I really need to say how tonight's rehearsal went. Director started us late (his fault) and kept us very late. And we didn't get a thing done...nothing worth getting done, anyway. I'm almost praying that the winter storm we're getting this weekend will be bad enough to cancel the carol service. Almost. That wouldn't be fair to my sister or her kids' choirs and bells- they've worked hard and sound good. But the adult choir is not doing well at all.

...and other disasters! It's snowing and raining. And it's cold! There's going to be ice later.

Choir was cancelled tonight, but not because of the snow. There was a gas leak that caused an emergency evacuation! Yikes. As far as I know, the building is still closed. Well, that's one more choir practice shot to hell. I think the carol service will have to be cancelled. It's in two weeks, and we don't have any idea what we're supposed to be doing. Merry Christmas. Arrrgh!

I have tickets for SPAMALOT!!! Dad just got them. We totally missed it when it came to D.C. last year- I can't believe he got the tickets! Now if Wicked comes back soon, everything will be just great...

Messiah practice is still going well. Yesterday we got through six of the ten choruses we're doing, and Katie did the "voicing"- moving people around to get a better balance. She kept me in the front row- which means I'll be seen as well as heard. Yikes.

We had to fill out name tags last night as well. I almost had a little bit of fun- when I get a badge that says "Hello, my name is...", I'm always tempted to write: "Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." But I'm sure most people wouldn't get it. The Princess Bride is one of my favorite movies...

Oh, how I wish I lived in England. Bryan Dick is starring in Amadeus (as Mozart!) in Sheffield. Sigh. That's a little far away for me. But at least I found a cute picture:



I'm guessing that's from a rehearsal. He looks like he's having fun. Rock me, Amadeus!

Meanwhile, back on Earth...The bell choir rang this morning, and we did really well. Much better than when we made our recording. Regular choir was average at best today. Half of us were gone. And none of our hymns had anything to do with Veteran's Day. We're finally getting Christmas music. It's terrible this year. Really sappy.

A quick college football rant- I hate seeing my school get trampled. Colorado State has won only one game this year. They should play Notre Dame for the title of "Who Sucks the Most". 

I finished the Thanksgiving Harvest Fairy last night!

Big pictures under the cut...

The recording for the CD is finished. Ugh. Thursday's session was a waste of time- we did a piece with the praise team. Their instruments drowned us out. The leader was nice, though- he really tried to work with us. But the guitars and drums were just too loud...

Yesterday wasn't too bad. The bells did two pieces. One was perfect, the other had to be recorded three times. I'm not sure any takes were good enough to use. One of our ringers got so frustrated that she actually quit once we were finished. She wasn't a good player anyway. The final two pieces we did were with all of the kids. They were so cute. I think those numbers will be the best on the CD.

I hope we never do this again! It was hard work, and we probably won't make any money off of it. The performance copyright fees alone are going to devour any profit we might make...

I'm skipping choir this week. I think we all earned a break. Besides, I have a Halloween party to go to!

Tonight is the first rehearsal for the Messiah. I hope there's a big turnout this year.

I was busy most of the weekend because of choir. But I did manage to do two little cross stitch pieces!

Well, the first recording session didn't go as badly as I thought it would. We managed to do six of our pieces, and they sounded good! Tonight may be a different story- we're recording with the Praise Team, and their leader is in charge. Oh, joy. He can be as evil as Evil Choir Director™. Plus, I really dislike most of the Praise Team's music- it's a lot of noise. But it's only two songs that we're doing, and I like them both.

Evil Choir Director™ really needs to think about the things he says. He got a lot of amused looks and snarky laughter when discussing cell phones at the sessions. "Be sure to turn on your vibrators!" That got a lot of snickers. Yes, we're twelve. Obviously, he meant to say, "Turn your cell phones to vibrate".

I like most of the stuff we've done. My favorite is probably "Down to the River to Pray". We're doing mostly new music, except for a couple of organ pieces. The bells have two pieces that will be recorded on Sunday.

It rained all night! I think we got two inches. And it was still raining this morning. I hope this keeps up through the weekend.

I'm going to a Halloween party next Wednesday, so I actually had to get a costume! I just picked up a pair of fairy wings, and I'll wear them over a nice black dress.

*sighs* They aren't anymore. Funky Winkerbean just killed off Lisa today, Grandpa Jim of For Better or For Worse just had another stroke, the dad in Sally Forth lost his job...damn it, if I want to be depressed, I'll read some emo kid's lj.

I forgot to tape Pushing Daisies. I really want to see it. Oh, well. If I got attatched to it, it would only get cancelled.  I taped House and SVU on Tuesday and still haven't watched them. And tonight, Law and Order: Criminal Intent is on USA- up against ER. Sorry, ER. CI wins.

Choir wasn't too bad last night, but I'm really getting tired of the director throwing stuff at us at the last minute. Most of the choir members aren't that good at sight-reading music. I'm going to miss two Sundays in a row, and we're singing one of my favorite pieces, a Kyrie by Gabriel Fauré, one week. Darn it. I hope we sing it again. Bell practice went really well last Sunday. We've got a good choir with challenging music this year.

I'm leaving for my cousin's wedding next Thursday. I need to find a dress!