weekend=crazy

Whew! That was a crazy weekend. Fun, but crazy. My sister was visiting from Fort Wayne, and we had a great time. Friday night she got in around 7:30 and we proceeded out to the Hop Leaf for Belgian beers and the best damn fries with garlic aioli this side of the Atlantic. Saturday morning I had to get up for a loooong rehearsal from 10-1:30. I have Hadyn on the brain now. In the afternoon we went out to lunch and shopped and walked around in the beautiful fall-ish weather. I took her to a gem of a store called Pocket Puppies in Lincoln Park, where they sell teacup and miniature breed dogs and all the things that go along wih them (Luis Vuitton carrying cases, little outfits, collars, etc.). Elaine is a dog lover, so I knew she'd get a kick out of holing the little fur balls. I can never get Nick to go in with me; he hates that store with a passion. I think it's because of his size: at 6'5'' he's afraid he'll just squash one of those things without even realizing it. Saturday night we went out for small plates and wine in Wicker Park at bin wine cafe. I know small plates are supposedly on the "out", but I think it's a great way to taste a lot of delicious food.

Sunday I had to get up (again) for church. First Sunday of the church choir season. I got a big raise at church this year, which makes it an even more wonderful job. I thank the Lord every Sunday for my wonderful church job -- the volunteers are precious (and not bad singers and readers to boot!), and I enjoy my fellow paid colleagues as well, in fact, some of them are dear friends. Our director is a fantastic musician and person with an enviable career as a conductor, educator, and singer. And she has one of the cutest babies ever. She's a great contact and is always looking out for us soloists, providing opportunities to sing with orchestras and passing along gigs whenever she can. I'm doing the Messiah in December with a chamber orchestra she's put together, so I'm really excited about that. It'll be my first full Christmas portion Messiah -- a must-have for the rep of any singer, as you can usually count on doing it every year.

After church, Elaine and I went for a quick brunch at The Bongo Room South Loop before I had to rush off to another rehearsal. It was our first rehearsal with Jane Glover, the conductor for the Haydn oratorio I'm doing. In three rehearsals with the chorus master, we had put together a pretty damn good piece to give to Ms. Glover. I was a little starstruck when she came up to me and introduced herself (I'm one of the only newbies this year). It was an amazing rehearsal -- everyone was on top of their game, giving their all for her. Now I know why she's in demand and receives such terrific reviews. She is a FANTASTIC conductor. It felt so good to sing with her and make such high-quality music with these people. I'm so excited to rehearse with the orchestra next week! What a great experience -- and I get to do another concert with them in February/March, hooray!

When I'd finished singing, I hurried off to meet Elaine at the Folk Festival, the primary reason for her visit. I didn't get to hear much, but what I did hear was great. The band she came to see, Girlyman, was really good. Going from one awesome musical experience to another was really uplifiting for me and made me feel good about life. We left the Festival a bit early so Elaine could get on the road. She is doing a long term substitute teaching job at our old high school, so she had to be up at 5:30 am on Monday. It was great to spend time with her, as we don't get to do nearly enough of that.

So, after all that singing and entertaining, I'm exhausted. By some act of God, my voice held up pretty well through it all, despite singing notes above the staff for a collected amount of eight hours over the course of the weekend (go technique!). I'm granting myself a lazy morning today and probably not singing all day. I have to teach two lessons a little later on, but that's all. I need to go to the post office to mail some YAPS. Those God damn YAPS. It's like I apply to college every year, sending recommendation letters and applications and screening CDs and checks (grrrr) and letters about why I want to be an opera singer. I know that they need a rigorous screening and weeding out process, but sometimes it gets really depressing, not to mention breaks the bank. I'll stop now, because on any given singer's blog you'll find them bitching about this, and I don't intend to be part of the masses. I'm going to suck it up and get myself to the post office.

Hope you all had a delightful weekend. Back to watching The View -- Whoopi's getting fitted for a bra!