Winter Recital

I must say, this concert season has reeked havoc on my voice.  With two concerts, a recital, and countless performances at church, my voice has been through the ringer, with just barely being able to sing tonight due to lack of voice.  That being said, I thought this particular performance (barring the random break in the middle of the song) was not too bad.  I don't usually do much acting when it comes to my vocal pieces, but after this one I think I should do a lot more.  This is a link to my video of the song "Adelaide's Lament" from the musical "Guys and Dolls."  Enjoy!  Adelaide's Lament

Christmas Party Prep

This was definitely a huge undertaking.  My roommates and I (yes, the same roommates who all decided to have a Halloween party.  What can we say?  We're party people!)  decided that it would be fun to have a Christmas party for our families.  There was so much to do and I had so many ideas that we couldn't do them all.  We split tasks again because of all that we had to do and again, I was one of two in charge of decorations.  I decided that I wanted to do a frame wall for decor in the kitchen so I took to the thrift stores and bought a couple of cheap picture frames of different sizes and I spray painted them the colors I was looking for.  Then I took different types of fillers, like wall paper and block lettering and filled the frames on the wall and I think it turned out great!  I wanted everything to be classy, so I took to the color theme of red and gold (thanks to the dollar store), and the Christmas tree came out beautifully!  There may have had to be some pull-back via some close friends and one or two of my roommates because of all that I wanted to do, but we made it happen and, in the end, the party turned out fantastic!

Voices of Christmas

Last year and this year I got to perform in one of the best choirs I have ever been in.  It is purely a volunteer choir and we come together to sing during the holiday season for Voices of Christmas.  This choir has been around for twelve years and it has only gotten bigger.  These last two years we were able to make it to sing in the Mesa Arts Center which has been one of our goals for a very long time.  The object of the Voices of Christmas choir is for families who are not able to go see the fancy shows that cost a lot of money because finances are tight to be able to come and enjoy a free concert that celebrates the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  I feel so privileged to sing in this choir, and I have been blessed to be able to share this experience with two of my siblings and several friends.

Below are some pictures from after our performance:

Halloween-Professor McGonagall

Usually I go all out for Halloween and it takes me months to make my costume.  This Halloween I decided to go super simple.  I am crazy about Harry Potter, and my favorite professor is Minerva McGonagall.  She has these gorgeous emerald green robes and always looks so sophisticated and classy.  Her robes were quite easy to make: I got the material from SAS Fabrics https://www.sasfabrics.com in Tempe for cheap.  The outside is velvet and the inner layer is a type of faux silk.  I measured myself from the bottom of my hairline down to my heels and added two inches for error.  At the store, I had them cut the material twice as long as my measurements, and then I just folded it in half, and had my sister lay on it while I cut around her to make the silhouette of the robes and making sure to leave extra room for the long, flowing sleeves.  Then I pinned it, flipped it inside out and sewed it up!  I took some of the extra velvet material and made a trim around the opening to make it look a little more realistic, and that's pretty much it.  Let me know what you think!

Halloween Party-Harry Potter Style!

This was my first Halloween with roommates, and one of them decided that we should throw a Halloween party!  We all thought it was a great idea, but we had a deadline of only a week to get everything together.  In working full-time jobs and going to school, that didn't leave much time to prep, so we have been running around like chickens with our heads cut off for the last week in an effort to go all out for this party.  It was Harry Potter themed and I was one of two in charge of the decorations, with my personal favorites being the floating candles and the giant six-foot spider, as well as the Moaning Myrtle sound effects int he bathroom.  Needless to say, we just had fun!

DIY Modge Podge

After a bout of sinus infections, ear infections and upper respiratory infections when moving out of my parent's house, I decided that I wanted to do something productive.  I have been very into projects lately and I wanted to try my hand at modge podge.  I decided to take an old filing cabinet and re-purpose it into a cabinet for my music to live.  I took some old sheet music and modge podged the top and sides, and then I took some chalkboard paint and painted the drawers.  It turned out looking like a cross between sophistication and quirky.  Pictures below!  Let me know what you think:

"Mary Poppins" Toes!

As a spin off of my last post about Mary Poppins, I took the liberty of doing mine and my sister's nails for the occasion. I put Mary Poppins flying on the big toes and I think they turned out great!

Gilbert High School's Production of "Mary Poppins"

This year was a musical year for Gilbert High School and the musical they chose to do was "Mary Poppins."  I must admit that I didn't know much about the music when they first started, but I had the privilege of helping with some of the costumes this time and I had so much fun!  Lots of long hours and back-and-forth, but the musical was a huge success!  Unfortunately, the only photos I got of the costumes were the ones below: