25 Random Things

*Warning* This is a picture- free post...

25 random things about me….I have a hard time doing something like this because I can’t imagine someone actually reading it clear through to the end. I’m really not that interesting. But, I have been tagged approximately 25 times (okay, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration) so I guess I’ll give it a go.

1. I am compulsively responsible. This guy I dated in college complained regularly that I wasn’t spontaneous (I retorted that I wasn’t STUPID) because I wouldn’t do things like take off in the middle of the night for Wendover with him. Who wants to go to Wendover, anyway?
2. I am a night owl. This started in college with post performance highs and has continued with child free hours post bedtime.
3. I am embarrassed that I am not speaking German yet.
4. I really, really, really want to learn to play the banjo.
5. Or maybe the mandolin.
6. One of the things that makes me happiest is watching my children really enjoy something and/or seeing wonder in their eyes when they discover something new.
7. I enjoy baking. Not cooking so much, but baking. I really love making fancy desserts – especially ones with a high chocolate content.
8. I started watching Stargate SG-1 with my husband and by Season 3 was hooked. (The first couple of seaons were lame.) We now own all 10 seasons.
9. Despite having been raised in a cold weather climate (UT) I don’t like cold weather. Or snow. I like skiing and sledding, but only for a day or so. I miss the weather in Georgia – humidity is a pain, but it keeps my hands from cracking and bleeding which is a definite bonus.
10. I am NOT athletic. People think that because I’m a musician I’m coordinated. Well, just because I can move my fingers does not mean that I have any gross motor skills. Let’s just say that PE ruined my 4.0 in high school. I think that they should have remedial PE for people like me.
11. I am looking forward to taking some tennis lessons this spring. There’s a tennis club here on post with clay courts, so that should be interesting. The difference between tennis and other sports is that I can be bad at it and enjoy it. I never enjoyed basketball.
12. I LOVE GERMAN YOGURT!
13. AND CHOCOLATE!
14. AND CHEESE!
15. I’m having to exercise more here as a result of numbers 12, 13 and 14 to keep the weight off, and it is totally worth it!
16. I don’t like to exercise.
17. The thing I hate most about Germany is my stupid, tiny, cramped apartment.
18. I feel like something’s not right with the world if I’m not in the middle of a good book. I always have a stack of books on my nightstand, and I can’t fall asleep unless I’ve read for a little while before bed.
19. I like numbers and statistics. Lately I’ve been addicted to the CNN Money page – the price of oil and the Euro/Dollar conversion rate are my latest favorites.
20. I truly believe that something worth doing is something worth doing well. So, when I do something, I go all out.
21. As a result of number 19, I sometimes get overambitious and overextend myself. Fortunately I have a fantastic husband who is willing to help me out of the fixes in which I so frequently find myself. I’ve dragged Ben into cooking projects, baking projects, MUSIC, MUSIC, MUSIC, sewing projects, Relief Society Projects…..poor guy.
22. I love period dramas. Pride and Prejudice, North and South (not the Civil War one), Bleak House, Emma, Martin Chuzzlewit, Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion are among my favorites. I love to read the books, and I love to watch the movies.
23. The thing I miss most right now (aside from family and friends, which goes without saying) is my Symphony job and the performance opportunities I had in Augusta. I’m having a very hard time finding places to play here. (Refer to number 3.) Hopefully now that Naomi’s FINALLY in pre-school I can work more on my German and work harder on finding a group to play with.
24. I want to work on my singing. I get asked to sing in church a lot, and it would be nice to feel like I was better in control of what comes out of my mouth.
25. I have the greatest husband and kids on the planet. (And yes, I really believe that.)

So, there it is. More than you possibly ever wanted to know about me. If any of you made it through all 25 I should give you a prize. There’s always chocolate…..

I Heart London Part III, or, I Have Been Changed for Good

Well, it's still Sunday.  Ben and Ian are still at Stake Conference.  Naomi has made it through Tinkerbell the movie TWICE and is standing precariously on a ball while holding onto the table while telling me that "This is my talent mom."  I'm afraid that this will only end in tears. *Update* As I finished typing that last sentence, Naomi fell off the ball and whacked her chin on the table.  Fortunately she was more scared than hurt.  And, it did end in tears.

Anyway, the Motrin hasn't worn off yet, so on we go with the final installment of our London trip.  Hopefully I can get this done before sitting upright becomes unbearable again.

Our third (and last) full day in London we spent with our friends.  Our first destination was Buckingham Palace.  You can't go to London and not at least stop by, right?  We decided to walk from the train station, rather than take the Tube, which turned out to be a great idea.  Have you ever seen footage on TV of processions heading towards Buckingham Palace?  Well, there are these wide sidewalks lined by trees all the way to the palace.  The kids had a great time just running.  We walked past St. James Place (I can never hear those words without recalling Sir Lucas' offer to introduce the Darcys and the Bingleys at the court of St. James) and were fortunate enough to have group of soldiers on horses (cavalry?) pass right by us.

                                  

We had wanted to see some of the pomp and circumstance associated with the British royalty and there was no changing of the guard that day, so this was the best we could do.  It was good enough for me - I saw the changing of the guard when I was a teenager and don't remember thinking it was anything special.  The kids loved the horses and the soldiers with their bright red uniforms.  I must admit it was an impressive sight.

One big advantage to visiting London in December is that the crowds are minimal.  We had no wait to see the crown jewels when we visited the Tower of London, and there were no big crowds outside of Buckingham palace. 

  

  

I can guarantee that you can't get pictures this empty of other people in July! 

So after we'd taken a gander at the palace (you can't go inside) we headed onward to St. Paul's Cathedral.  St. Paul's is one of my very favorite cathedrals.  While the outside is nice, the inside is spectacular.  It is truly beautiful inside.  Unfortunately you I couldn't take pictures inside. (Somehow they've got to keep the gift shop in business!  And, it is a church after all.) The ceilings (keep in mind this is a cathedral so the ceilings are extremely high) are all vibrant, colorful mosaics with gold accents.  There are scenes from Genesis - most particularly the Garden of Eden - which include beautifully rendered depictions of plants and animals.  There are also stunning mosaics of scenes from the life of Christ.

Something else I noticed (that I hadn't noticed before as a teenager) was the American Memorial Chapel at the back of the Cathedral.  It is a section of the building that was rebuilt after WWII (the cathedral sustained some damage) which commemorates the American soldiers who gave their lives in defense of the British Isles during WWII.  There is a beautiful illuminated book listing the names of all 28,000 soldiers.  Visiting this chapel was a particularly poignant experience because my husband currently serves in the army.  It was good (and sobering) to be in a country that owes quite a lot to the sacrifices made by American soldiers and to see that those sacrifices are still remembered and appreciated.  St. Paul's was probably my favorite stop in London.

                           

                                              

Our final stop as a family (and with our friends) was the British museum.  Can I just say that saving the British museum until the very end was a BIG, BIG, BIG, HUGE, TREMENDOUS, HORRIBLE mistake?!!?!  The kids were exhausted.  Ian lay down (on the floor!) in nearly every room we entered.  Naomi wanted to be carried the ENTIRE time.  I was really hoping that the mummies and Egyptian stuff would perk them up but no dice.  They just wanted to go home.  So, no viewing of the Rosetta stone.  No viewing of the pilfered statues from the Acropolis.  No viewing of pieces of pyramids from Egypt.  We did get to see some really fascinating old coins which the kids got to hold (they thought that part was cool) and we did see the mummies.  We are definitely going to have to go back.  Maybe summer of 2010.  There is still Wimbledon to see after all!

Oh, and there are no pictures of us at the British museum.  I guess I was tired too.

Here's our final picture from London:

                                            

Granted, this is a horrible picture, but can you tell what it is?  (I know Nicole can.) It's the Emerald City!  Yes, that's right, Ben and I (on our anniversary no less) got to go see Wicked!  Our friends took all the kids (that's 6 kids including theirs - oh, and we had done the same for them two nights earlier) on the train back to the house we were all staying in together and Ben and I got to go on a date by ourselves to see Wicked in London.  It was amazing!  We loved it.  After anniversaries here in Europe, it's going to be hard to go back to dinner and a movie in the States.  We're definitely getting spoiled.  And yes, I did cry during "Changed for Good."  We miss you all!

I Heart London Part II, or, How to Get Kids to Have Fun at Museums

Hello again all!  I realize that my goal of writing multiple posts in a short amount of time in an attempt to bring us up to the present has been, sadly, unfulfilled.  All I can say is that we are experiencing what so many families with young children experience after a move - weeks and weeks of being sick.  I think we're slowly making our way through every German bug out there.  The worst part of it all is that we haven't been sick at the same time.  Nope, I have had a sick child, a sick husband, or been sick myself for at least six weeks.  Today it's my turn.  I woke up with a nasty fever, cough, body ache combo that had me flat on my back until the Motrin and Robitussen kicked in.  So, Ben is at Stake Conference with Ian, Naomi is lying on the couch watching the Tinkerbell movie for the second time today and I'm taking the opportunity of my drug induced state of well being to do some blogging.  I have a whole bunch of pictures from London to post, so I'm going to try and get through them all today.  Here goes!

Our second day in London we split up with our friends for the day (in order for them to do things we didn't want to and vice-versa).  We started out the day at Westminster Abbey.  I love Westminster Abbey.  I think it is a fascinating church and I think it's amazing how many statues and tombs they have crammed in, and continue to cram in.  Our original plan was to just walk through the church and see what we could until the kids had had it, however after Naomi took this picture:

                                                

the greeter/guard (who joked with her that he hadn't been ready and didn't have a good smile) told us about the children's path that we could follow.  Inside at the information desk we found clipboards with a "treasure hunt" for the kids to do.  It was great.  There were questions like "Westminster Abbey has the highest ceiling in Europe.  How high do you think it is?" and "Find the statue of Shakespeare.  What is he leaning on?"  and "Find the tomb of Queen Elizabeth I.  What year was she born?".  The kids(especially Ian) loved it.  And, at the end, we got to turn in our answers for a giant chocolate coin.  I wish that every museum/church had something similar for kids to do.  We got to see more, the kids had fun searching for answers and there was candy at the end.  What more could you want?!  Here are some more pictures of Westminster from the outside. 

                                  

                                         

                                                            

Note how beautifully blue the skies are.  We really lucked out with weather.  London in December was definitely a risk, and this time it paid off.  In fact, it was warmer in London that week than it was in Heidelberg!

After a wandering Westminster and a really bad lunch at Quiznos (Not so good in London, much to our dismay.  STAY AWAY!  And they didn't even have bathrooms!) we walked up to Trafalgar Square.  Our next stop was St. Martin in the Fields (a church).

                                           

The church itself is nothing spectacular (although there is a cool cafe in the crypt downstairs - if only we had waited to eat there!) but for those of you who aren't classical music nerds (like myself) this church is home to the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields (one of the finer orchestras out there) conducted by Sir Neville Mariner.  Unfortunately they weren't playing that day, but I did get to see the church and hope that I'll be able to return for a concert someday.  And, the church is also the location of the London Brass rubbing center.  Our kid friendly activity of the day!  Coloring!  Here we are working on our masterpieces:

                                         

After we were done we let the kids run around Trafalgar Square for awhile. 

             

             

                                                             

Our final stop was the British National Gallery. 

                                              

I must say that our kids were troopers.  It did help that I made a bingo game for the museum - they spent their time searching paintings for things they could cross off on their bingo cards.  We had a wonderful day.  I really, really love London.