I'm back home in Houston, this time for TWO WHOLE MONTHS. I've been here since Sunday. Predictably, I've already had approximately two and a half nervous breakdowns, of both the "What am I going to do for two whole months?" and the "What am I doing with my life?" varieties. I look forward to vacation time so much, but I always forget that I'm actually not that great at not having a job, particularly when everyone I know (including my hardworking husband) has one they go to every day. I'm thinking maybe I need some similarly unemployed Houstonian friends. Who's with me?
In the meantime, I'm throwing myself into the role of Suzy Homemaker. The other night (and by night I mean ALL DAY LONG), I braised short ribs for the first time. Oh lord, were those good. They were on a bed of creamy goat cheese polenta, accompanied by mustardy brussels sprouts, and followed by homemade nutmeg maple cookies and Nespresso. Trust me, CameraMan is not complaining about me being home.
Our house is finally coming together, and I'm excited to show you some pictures, once we've gotten some art up on the currently completely bare walls. Also, I've only posted half the wedding—there's so much more to show you! I've actually been getting motivated to blog again, but my computer has been killing me softly with his song, a song whose repetitive refrain is "I've lost all your Firefox bookmarks and iTunes purchases—what are you gonna do about it?" I know, I know, #firstworldproblems. Without a job, though, I have a lot of free time and brain space to spend cursing the good people at Apple. Everyone needs a hobby.
In other news, there is lots of fun on the horizon: a trip to Vegas, the Bossy Folks in Houston for a visit, a girls' vacation with Legs McGee, and an exciting contract just arrived yesterday for me to sign. Nervous breakdowns aside, all is well. Let's get to know each other again, shall we?
Hello again
Soooo...you're not going to facebook OR blog now?!? What - are you trying some pioneer lifestyle? ;-p
I got this text from The Wise Soprano a few weeks back, followed by several concerned emails from other friends. So perhaps I should start by saying, everything's fine. Life is good. It turns out that the day I deactivated my Facebook account coincided with the last post I wrote here, almost 2 months ago, but I hadn't actually thought those events were related. Now I'm not so sure.
My 30th birthday, although it was relatively unaccompanied by angst or crisis of any kind, did bring with it a certain amount of stock-taking. 30, that nice big round number, feels like an arrival, time to know who you are and what you're doing. The big things in my life are right where I want them to be: I've just married a man more perfect for me than any I could imagine, my career is going swimmingly, I'm surrounded by a supportive family and the best friends anyone could ask for. I do worry, though, that the day-to-day is passing me by. When I have downtime, I'm more likely to fritter than to make it count, particularly when I'm away from CameraMan, which has been an awfully long time this fall.
I went off of the 'Book as a month-long experiment. I found myself spending an inordinate number of hours checking in on people I didn't feel particularly close to, and I wondered if I would miss it if I quit cold turkey. Turns out, I didn't, not at all, which is why I didn't reactivate my account after the month was up. I wish I could say that I've devoted the extra time I now have to better keeping in touch with the few people I truly care about, but that's still a work in progress.
The not blogging thing is something I don't understand as clearly. I'm struggling with what this blog means. I'm not an expat anymore. I don't have problems I want to escape. I'm thoroughly content living a life that consists mostly of work and CM, and honestly, I'm not entirely sure I have much to say anymore. Work has been hard these past few months, hard and dramatic and in some ways disappointing, but ultimately I've been reminded that I find great satisfaction in my work. And in an attempt to be kinder to myself, I'm telling myself that it's okay if the most I can accomplish on any given day is going to work, trying to do my job really well, and then telling my husband I love him. I'm giving myself permission to let go of self-improvement projects, to read the books I want to read instead of the ones on someone else's list, to stay up late watching episodes of Downton Abbey just because, to write only if there's something I want to say.
Tonight I felt like writing. Tomorrow I might not. Thanks for being here when I do.
I got this text from The Wise Soprano a few weeks back, followed by several concerned emails from other friends. So perhaps I should start by saying, everything's fine. Life is good. It turns out that the day I deactivated my Facebook account coincided with the last post I wrote here, almost 2 months ago, but I hadn't actually thought those events were related. Now I'm not so sure.
My 30th birthday, although it was relatively unaccompanied by angst or crisis of any kind, did bring with it a certain amount of stock-taking. 30, that nice big round number, feels like an arrival, time to know who you are and what you're doing. The big things in my life are right where I want them to be: I've just married a man more perfect for me than any I could imagine, my career is going swimmingly, I'm surrounded by a supportive family and the best friends anyone could ask for. I do worry, though, that the day-to-day is passing me by. When I have downtime, I'm more likely to fritter than to make it count, particularly when I'm away from CameraMan, which has been an awfully long time this fall.
I went off of the 'Book as a month-long experiment. I found myself spending an inordinate number of hours checking in on people I didn't feel particularly close to, and I wondered if I would miss it if I quit cold turkey. Turns out, I didn't, not at all, which is why I didn't reactivate my account after the month was up. I wish I could say that I've devoted the extra time I now have to better keeping in touch with the few people I truly care about, but that's still a work in progress.
The not blogging thing is something I don't understand as clearly. I'm struggling with what this blog means. I'm not an expat anymore. I don't have problems I want to escape. I'm thoroughly content living a life that consists mostly of work and CM, and honestly, I'm not entirely sure I have much to say anymore. Work has been hard these past few months, hard and dramatic and in some ways disappointing, but ultimately I've been reminded that I find great satisfaction in my work. And in an attempt to be kinder to myself, I'm telling myself that it's okay if the most I can accomplish on any given day is going to work, trying to do my job really well, and then telling my husband I love him. I'm giving myself permission to let go of self-improvement projects, to read the books I want to read instead of the ones on someone else's list, to stay up late watching episodes of Downton Abbey just because, to write only if there's something I want to say.
Tonight I felt like writing. Tomorrow I might not. Thanks for being here when I do.
Happy weekend!
I suppose it's cheating to write the weekend post on Saturday night, but hey, that's when my weekend started. What are you up to on this first weekend of October? I'm having a much-needed night in, ordering in sushi and catching up on all the TV I missed this week. Tomorrow I'm having brunch with My Gay Husband and then trying to make some sense of my life, which falls apart like clockwork every time a production I'm working on hits the stage. Sigh. Thank goodness for the cool weather that arrived today, giving me an excuse to wear cable-knit tights, a red herringbone skirt, and a gray tweed jacket with stripey lining. I love the fall.
Some weekend linky goodness for you (it's been a while, I know, so I'm throwing in a few extra):
I have a new soprano friend who makes finger puppets for opening night gifts. Now she's making videos with them, too. I highly recommend Carmen, Act II.
I'm VERY excited about Mindy Kaling's new book. Did you read the excerpt?
Cookie Monster and Elmo do the fall TV lineup. I particularly like when Elmo looks into the camera during The Office.
Loved this guide to New York City. Since I live here several months of the year, maybe I should read this and go somewhere other than to work. Hmm...
Turned out the stripey rug was WAY too scratchy. Now we're thinking purple!
Scary, but completely true. Uh-oh.
I'm enjoying Whitney much more than I thought I would. Have you watched?
New shoes. I'm wearing them daily to work.
I went home last weekend and we stocked our bar. We are ready to entertain! (The only thing missing is…me.)
Here's hoping your weekend is full of mimosas, buttoned-up jackets, and no work whatsoever. xoxo LMB
Some weekend linky goodness for you (it's been a while, I know, so I'm throwing in a few extra):
I have a new soprano friend who makes finger puppets for opening night gifts. Now she's making videos with them, too. I highly recommend Carmen, Act II.
I'm VERY excited about Mindy Kaling's new book. Did you read the excerpt?
Cookie Monster and Elmo do the fall TV lineup. I particularly like when Elmo looks into the camera during The Office.
Loved this guide to New York City. Since I live here several months of the year, maybe I should read this and go somewhere other than to work. Hmm...
Turned out the stripey rug was WAY too scratchy. Now we're thinking purple!
Scary, but completely true. Uh-oh.
I'm enjoying Whitney much more than I thought I would. Have you watched?
New shoes. I'm wearing them daily to work.
I went home last weekend and we stocked our bar. We are ready to entertain! (The only thing missing is…me.)
Here's hoping your weekend is full of mimosas, buttoned-up jackets, and no work whatsoever. xoxo LMB
This post would have a clever title if "It's a small world" had better lyrics
I've written before about what a tiny world the field of opera is, how you're constantly seeing all the same people and how everyone's connected by far fewer than six degrees. Now that I've been doing this for a while, I don't even get excited anymore when I meet someone and find that we have people in common. Of course we do.
Lately, though, there have been a series of coincidental connections that qualify as something out of the ordinary, and I'm completely delighted by them.
In a conversation with a colleague, I discovered that he went to graduate school with the very first director I ever worked with, back when I played Molly in Annie, circa 1989.
The director I'm assisting right now arrived at the Met and found out that a member of our Giovanni music staff is actually his neighbor in Cornwall—their properties border each other…and they've never met before.
Last week I was talking to a soprano in our cast, and it turned out our fathers went to music school in Germany together, at a tiny school of 50 students.
Poetic conclusions are begging to be drawn here. Mostly, though, these discoveries just make me want to talk to people more, to take the time to find out where they come from and where they've been. I want to make a collection of these tenuous threads that are holding us together.
What's amazing you these days?
Lately, though, there have been a series of coincidental connections that qualify as something out of the ordinary, and I'm completely delighted by them.
In a conversation with a colleague, I discovered that he went to graduate school with the very first director I ever worked with, back when I played Molly in Annie, circa 1989.
The director I'm assisting right now arrived at the Met and found out that a member of our Giovanni music staff is actually his neighbor in Cornwall—their properties border each other…and they've never met before.
Last week I was talking to a soprano in our cast, and it turned out our fathers went to music school in Germany together, at a tiny school of 50 students.
Poetic conclusions are begging to be drawn here. Mostly, though, these discoveries just make me want to talk to people more, to take the time to find out where they come from and where they've been. I want to make a collection of these tenuous threads that are holding us together.
What's amazing you these days?
Happy Labor Day Weekend!
Some links for your holiday:
This slideshow is so beautiful. It's nice to look at pictures of other people's weddings for a change.
We can't seem to find just the right rug for our living room. I've ordered this one. Cross your fingers!
I love these fun coasters for parties! And they're on sale!
Have you noticed that mounted faux animal heads are showing up everywhere? We laugh every time we seem them. I kind of want these for our fridge as an inside joke.
This photo shoot is amazing! It makes me want to buy lots of cozy sweaters (and, you know, go to the gym once in a while).
Hope your weekend is filled with friends, sunshine, and good old-fashioned retail therapy. xoxo LMB
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