A day of firsts

Eric and I are enjoying the weekend up in Breckenridge. Today we went mountain biking and geocaching. For those in the dark, geocaching is like a treasure hunt with the assistance of a GPS. (For more info, see http://www.geocaching.com/.)

It was a day of firsts. First, it was our first time mountain biking. We rented some bikes at Peak 8, rode the chairlift to the top, and then rode the 4.5 miles down. It was very challenging and (for me) scary as much of the trail was steep and rocky. Eric was patient with me. I do a fair amount of biking in Aurora, but it's road-biking on paved trails. Not one inch of the mountain trail is paved.

Secondly, it was our first successful geocaching hunt. (Yes, emphasis on successful.... we tried once in Florida (2004) at the end of the hurricane season... very few things in that area were where they were supposed to be after four major hurricanes swept through.) As we made our way down the mountain, Eric periodically checked in with his handheld GPS and compared it against the coordinates we got from the geocaching website. We found it about 2/3 of the way down under a big a rock. There were several items in it. We took the sunscreen and replaced it with a box of mints. We were soon greeted by the cache guardian - a chipmunk. Then we signed the log, replaced the cache, and finished our ride down the mountain.

It has been a beautiful and relaxing weekend so far.

MySpace

I finally gave in and created a MySpace account a few weeks ago because it was the only way to communicate with my brother, so he said. I've had fun exploring since then, though. I've reconnected with a handful of friends from high school, and today I found SCC and Nichole Nordeman's MySpace pages. There's a great video of "Finally Free" on Nichole's MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/nicholenordeman).

I also visited her website for the first time in a long time and found an article she wrote for CCM Magazine that is very worth reading. She talks about how "unreal" the Christian music industry can be. Here is an excerpt:

"felt…still feel…uneasy about that photo shoot princess moment. Not because there’s anything wrong with feeling momentarily flawless…but because that photo and many like it, in no way represent my real life. I feel rather nauseous when I consider the young girl who sees that photo and has no idea that it took 5 hours and an entire team of makeup artists and stylists to make me look like a princess. She also has no idea that even after all that, somebody sat at a computer (with my enthusiastic blessing) and point and clicked away my acne scars, my 35 year old wrinkles and the roll of flesh around my middle that makes me look like I am perpetually stuck in my 2nd trimester. " http://www.nicholenordeman.com/article.aspx?id=528407

She also interviews several other Christian artists. It's a thoughtful and thought-provoking article.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, my MySpace page is http://www.myspace.com/denversop.

Bilingual beef

I suppose that subject heading could be interpretted a variety of fun ways, but my beef is with everything being printed in two languages. My phone books are twice as thick as they need to be because they print the whole thing in English and then if you flip it over and start from the "back," you get the whole thing in Spanish. Well, this is the final straw. The quick reference guide for my notation software is written in PC/Windows, and then if you flip it over and start from the back, you get the whole thing in MACINTOSH! The inhumanity!!



Disclaimer: This posting is entirely tongue-in-cheek.... poking fun at recent immigration issues just for fun and not making any political statement. Heck, if I had studied Spanish instead of German, I'd probably get a real kick out of the bilingual phone book.

Happy Birthday...

...to the only centenarian I've ever known - "Granny," Eric's grandmother. She turned 100 years old today! We went up to Fort Collins to celebrate with her. It was such a neat day. She wore a brand new outfit complete with new shoes, and I can't remember the last time I saw her so happy. She was on cloud nine all day. She got special letters from the Mayor of Fort Collins, the Governor of Colorado and the President of the United States. She also got so many flowers that when we walked back into her room after lunch, the aroma was almost overwhelming. It was a day to remember. She will have another big party in a couple of weeks to which we have invited many friends who have known her over the years. Today was "just" family.

What else is up?

I hope you enjoyed "My Perfect Day" - Eric and I have been doing a lot of "spring cleaning" and I happened to come across that in a box the other day. I still lived in Ohio when I wrote that. My parents had already been divorced for three years, but other than that, it was all feasible. It's neat to look back and see what I valued then and to see my old writing style. I'll have you know that I only added a couple of commas - I did not have to correct any misspellings. (Did I spell that right?)

I also found a copy of my Christmas letter from 1998. That was rather humorous. I was about a year away from graduating from IU and looking ahead to post-graduation life: "Right now I'm planning to move to Nashville after I graduate to pursue some sort of performing/recording career there. But God has taught me not to make plans. So, I'll go wherever He sends me." Hehe....good thing I was flexible! I haven't even been to Nashville since I wrote that letter, let alone moved there!

Other than spring cleaning, what are we up to?

1) Today was my studio recital. The kids did a great job - I was proud of them.

2) We are getting our house painted. They start prep work tomorrow and will start painting probably late in the week. It will be blue with white trim. The blue will actually be pretty similar to the original color, but it will look quite different because the original paint faded a lot over the years. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product.

3) We are finally upgrading from dial-up to high speed internet. I can hardly wait! I finally decided that high speed is no longer just a luxury. It is getting increasingly difficult to be productive online at 56K (Remember when 56K was really fast?), and I lost an opportunity to make $150 in a focus group last week because I didn't have high speed. The good news is that Eric's company will be paying for it. Otherwise, I couldn't afford it. (It costs more than 4x what I've been paying for dial-up!) Eric probably could, but he hardly ever uses it - he gets enough of the internet at work. But he occasionally needs to log in from home when they call him at odd hours, and they were getting tired of his slow connection. Works for me.

4) I am teaching a vocal master class this summer in Golden in collaboration with a longtime friend and colleague who teaches piano. I'm really looking forward to it - we have an outstanding group of 8 students signed up. Allison and I work really well together - we've collaborated in a variety of ways in the past - and I am a much better teacher when I don't have to play the piano and listen/teach at the same time, so this will be awesome!

5) My dad and stepmom are coming out for a 2-week visit in July. They haven't been out to Colorado since my wedding, and we were all really busy that week, so I am really looking forward to their visit. We're going to take them to the Renaissance Festival, which is where Eric took me on our first date, and we'll spend a few days in Durango, which is where Eric went to college, so my dad can ride the famous trains.

That's the scoop for now. Drop me a line so I know you haven't given up on reading my sporadic blogging. :-)

"My Perfect Day"

"My Perfect Day"

by Ellie Veigel

May 14, 1990

My perfect day would begin by waking up in my bed in a clean room on a warm, sunny summer morning and smelling homemade french toast from the kitchen. I'd walk downstairs to the kitchen finding Mom at the stove and my brother and dad at the table. As I walk in, I am greeted by pleasant family members and chirping birds in the window.

After breakfast, our family would go on a 3-hour bike ride all through Grandview. When we returned, Mom would fix grilled cheese sandwiches and bean soup for lunch while the rest of us played frisbee in the backyard till she called us all in for lunch.

After lunch, I would read a book on the deck until I would leave to spend the evening, night and rest of the afternoon at Mandia's. We would play the spin game and lots of other silly stuff till dinner. After dinner, we would ride our bikes down to Super Saver Cinema to see The Little Mermaid. It would be my second time and her first. It would be dark when we left, but we'd get home o.k. Then we'd play around till around eleven. At eleven, we'd sleep in a tent in her backyard.

The End

Note: I have other favorite things, but if I did them all in one day, I'd die of exhaustion.