Stop the Holiday Madness!

The other night I was catching up with Nancy Porter, a talented musician and friend, and we were talking about making it through the holidays. She mentioned to me that she classifies people in two categories when it comes to the Christmas season: people who go to things and people who are in things. Those "things" I'm referring to are the many cultural events that surround this season and, for many, help to define it.

The people who go to things have a virtual smorgasbord of options when it comes to holiday entertainment. They are those who can say "Let's go to this concert on Friday," or "Hey, why don't we check out that performance?" Then they happily attend said event where they listen to great holiday music and have the chance to really soak in the season and infuse themselves with the Christmas spirit.

The people who are in things have quite a different holiday experience. Their holiday season usually starts around October. What? October, you say? Yes, because none of those wonderful Christmas programs would be quite so wonderful without hours, nay, even months of rehearsal. So while everyone else is gearing up for Halloween, here we are (yes, I fall into this latter category) pounding away at notes for another jazzed-up rendition of "Jingle Bells."

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with this, necessarily. We love the holidays just as much as the "go to things" people do. It's just more of a love/dread situation...

What's more, people who are in things tend to be "in" a lot of things. I don't know exactly how this happens. I'm fairly certain that every year we all resolve to say "no" to at least five invitations/requests to perform. But somehow we always end up doing more than we intend to. I feel completely authorized to speak in behalf of all of us "in thing-ers" on this point. Whether it be because of our love for performing, a desire to share our talents, adoration of all things Christmas, or need for some serious ego-enhancement, I can't say. My suspicion is that all of these play a factor. Add in the fact that all musicians are at least a little crazy, and you've got a recipe for holiday exhaustion.

For my part this holiday season, I'm only participating in 4 Christmas concerts (all on the same weekend). This is actually a huge step back for me, compared to my college days. I'm only in charge of directing 2 choirs and only singing 1 solo, 1 small group number, and accompanying 1 song. This is light work, trust me! In fact, I may even be able to go see a few concerts myself this holiday season! What a novel idea...

As much as I talk about being busy, I really do love this time of year. And I love to attend, but I'd so much rather perform in these myriads of holiday celebrations. Yes, I've resigned myself to Christmas in October. And hey, I usually do get at least a few days before Christmas to relax and soak it all in before we have to start rehearsing Easter music...

I'm Chinese Checkers...

You Are Chinese Checkers

You live a hyper, fast paced life. You rarely ever slow down. You are good at juggling many things at once. You are the ultimate multi-tasker. You enjoy being in a group - in fact the bigger the group, the better. You are an enthusiastic competitor, and you can be a little ruthless when you play games.

What Board Game Are You?

Lucky Annie...

So I was driving home from work the other day, and one of my favorite songs came on. I'm not typically a big fan of John Denver, but Annie's Song gets me every time. This seriously has to be THE most romantic song ever written! I mean, look at these lyrics:

You fill up my senses
like a night in the forest
like the mountains in springtime,
like a walk in the rain
like a storm in the desert,
like a sleepy blue ocean
you fill up my senses,
come fill me again.

Come let me love you,
let me give my life to you
let me drown in your laughter,
let me die in your arms
let me lay down beside you,
let me always be with you
come let me love you,
come love me again.

Seriously. What girl alive is impervious to this? What powerful imagery - mountains in springtime, storms in the desert, rain, forest, ocean... Just imagining these things is enough to fill up my senses to overflowing! And the second verse - wow. What more is there to say?

Nope, can't think of anything. Love this song!!!

What are some of your favorite love songs?

Halloween Time = Fun!

What is possibly the least scariest place you can think of to visit on Halloween? If you said "Disneyland," I'm with you. Which is why I went there with a bunch of ward friends for this spookiest of holidays. We had such a great time!

Rather than bore you with all the nitty-gritty details, I'll just comment on some of the photos I took. So, in no particular order, here they are:

Here's me, Shane Horlacher, and Adam Schmidt at the entrance to California Adventures. It was decorated SO cute - with little candy corns everywhere!

Tradition dictates that we take crazy hat photos while at any Disney theme park. Here is some of this year's selection. I totally pull off the pirate look, I know...

Two more fellow swash-bucklers, Adam and Parker. Pirates? I dunno... For some reason I'm getting an Aunt Jemima vibe from these two...

And here we have Ryan, the Mad Hatter. He's currently pondering the age-old question, "Why is a raven like a writing desk?"

Yes, that would be our lovely group on the back row of the Tower of Terror trying to do mirror-image YMCAs. The fun is limitless at Disneyland, folks.

This is us trying to do our most "terrified" faces before taking the elevator ride at the Tower of Terror. I don't know what directions Adam got for this though...

The "California" was spelled in candy corns! So cute!!!

Me, Shane, and Adam on Splash Mountain. For some reason, I didn't get wet at all...

Here's the lovely Stephanie Gourley in front of the Halloween-Time decorations on Main Street in Disneyland. It seriously was adorable.

Here's our entire group of "bugs" at the Bug's Life show. This was such a great trip with great people! It's going to be hard to top this one!

I'll Be Lovin' You...

Monday morning dawned bright and clear. Here it was - the day we'd all been waiting for since we were preteens. We had to hang tough to get here, but it was worth it. When I was 12 or 13, I never thought this day would come. And I especially didn't EVER imagine I would be 29 when it finally did. But step by step, things worked out just right. That day I just kept thinking "Tonight, tonight!" We made sure we had all the right stuff, and we really looked like cover girls by the time we were ready! It just about blew our minds!

Okay, was that hint subtle enough? If not, maybe this will help...


Get the picture now? That's right, ladies and gentlemen, we went to see (drumroll please) New Kids On The Block!!!

I know, I could hardly believe it either. It was almost surreal...in a Back To The Future sort of way.

It was actually Karena and Krystal that got Camille and I interested in the New Kids in the first place, so how appropriate was it that we were going with them?! It was technically a surprise 30th birthday present for Krystal. She was the most hard-core fan I've ever seen! Good times!

So, we decided that we needed to go all-out for this concert. "All-out" includes making t-shirts complete with New Kids photos, glitter puff paint, beaded sleeves/hems, 80's jewelry, etc. At first Camille was quite embarrassed to be seen in her amazingly cute concert get-up, but as the pre-concert festivities wore on and we were complimented again and again, she finally came around. Yes, our homemade concert attire was the toast of the town (I particularly loved my star-belt!). I'd even go so far as to say that we were everybody's favorite girls! Okay, okay, I'll stop with the random song-title blog distribution.

Before the concert, we got a hot tip to go around to the back of the arena and maybe we'd be able to see a New Kid or two. We got lucky! Jonathan Knight (!) came out and waved to us! He was pretty aloof, and only waved after Krystal shouted "I've waited 18 years to see you!" at the top of her lungs. Who wouldn't have pity on that? We also got a few waves and blown kisses from Natasha Bedingfield, who opened the show. I have to say, I was quite impressed with her performance! I don't care much for her songs on the radio, but hearing her live was a different story. She's a great performer and singer. Plus, she seemed like a decent person, which always helps...

I didn't quite know what to expect from the New Kids. Most of them are 39 or so and not exactly the young heart-throbs they once were. But I was very pleasantly surprised! The vocals sounded better than when they were young and they did all of their old songs. That little Joey MacIntyre (who happens to be older than I am) has got some chords! Not quite the range he used to have, but it's okay - he was so little back in the day!

It was such a great blast from the past! Some of the old dance moves were included and everything! I was especially surprised when Jordan Knight (my favorite New Kid) broke out an exact replica (only with better hair) of this little number. Careful ladies, don't let your hubbies or children catch you watching (and drooling over) this or you may have some explaining to do - it's a little scandalous...

We did our homework before the concert, of course. We spent three days listening to the songs and watching the old music videos. I couldn't believe how quickly it all came back to me!

The audience was SO crazy! It was full of 30-something women screaming their lungs out. Absolutely nuts! Okay, I admit...I couldn't talk properly for a few days afterward myself. But it was so much fun! I think the SLC concert is next weekend, so if you don't have tickets already, I recommend it. Maybe you can be Jordan's next Valentine Girl!

Girl's Weekend!

Why is it that I only manage to write about things that happened at least a month earlier? Oh well, something is better than nothing, I guess. And besides, this post is sure to be at least slightly entertaining to women between the ages of 25-35. Wait for it...

The summer after my sophomore year in high school, I left with my two cousins, Karena and Krystal, and my sister Camille for the greatest girls trip ever. We spent two weeks visiting our great-uncle Dale and his wife Sheri in gorgeous Kailua, Hawaii. We had the most amazing time! We saw all the sights as Sheri drove us around the island of Oahu in their convertible. We were and still are good friends and did a lot of growing up together, so this trip just upped our girl-bond!

Well, it's been several years now and we were due for another girl's trip. It all happened because of a certain performing group that is in the midst of a reunion tour this year. More on that later...

So, the first thing we did when we got to Phoenix (where Karena lives) was to go to the Arizona State Fair. I love Fairs! This one was particularly huge. We saw lots of fun stuff: the 4-H displays; a petting zoo with zebras, camels, goats, llamas, cebus, and some highly entertaining piglets; the Banana Derby - a race where monkeys ride on dogs' backs wearing cute jockey uniforms; some huge grizzly bears doing a show; quilts, quilts, and more quilts; Garlic Mashed Potatoes on a Stick (someone please explain to me how that works...); lots of bunnies, cows, and goats; a very talented charicature artist; and a crash-up derby where we totally felt like white trash - but it was fun!

Let me name a few highlights... Trying our very first deep-fried Snickers bar was definitely a memorable experience. They're highly overrated, if you ask me. Although the meltiness on the inside is pretty good... Another highlight was going through the Fun House. Imagine, if you will, four women in their late 20's/early 30's laughing hysterically as they maneuver their way through a series of obstacles meant for a much smaller clientele. Can you see why this was a highlight? In this photo, Krystal is seen emerging from the Fun House exit, which conveniently looks like a men's restroom. Indeed, a picture is worth a thousand words...

Another great highlight was when we pooled our money ($2) to play a rousing game of Skeeball. We each got to throw 2 balls. Krystal went first and did great! I went and did awful (such is my luck with anything ball-related). Camille did fine too, and then it was Karena's turn. Krystal had just finished talking her up - saying how great she was at Skeeball. We were on the end next to another booth, and wouldn't you know it, Karena threw that ball right off the track and between the booths! We all started laughing hysterically (again) and didn't end up winning anything. All Skeeball concentration was shot after that! Oh, the memories...

The next day we went to church (Spanish speaking - don't ask...), visited the Temple, had a BBQ at our uncle David's house, and walked through the Arizona desert. It was a great day! Here's us in front of the Mesa Temple. The weather in Arizona was absolutely beautiful!

This entry was longer than originally planned, so I think I'm going to split this into two. I don't know why, but I just have this idea in my head that blog posts are supposed to be somewhat shorter than a small novel, so I will continue this trip in the next post.

Logical or not? I dunno. Don't judge me.