Gospelfest10 is taking place this weekend at Seattle Pacific University. I have been one of the rehearsal accompanists for the mass choir for the last couple of weeks, and this morning I had the opportunity to attend the symposium: a collection of general sessions and breakout workshops dealing with the history and development of gospel music. Among the presenters this weekend are Melinda Weekes, Phyllis Byrdwell, and Elias Bullock - all three of whom are amazing musicians, scholars, and presenters. The symposium continues throughout the rest of today and tomorrow afternoon, and then the festival culminates in a mass choir performance and celebration of the gospel music tradition this Saturday at 7 p.m. If you are interested in attending any of these events, it is not too late! For more information, call 206-281-2966 or check out the website: www.spu.edu/GospelFest10. This is my fourth Gospelfest, my second in Seattle (the others were held in Detroit), and every time I attend, I learn something new and am inspired (and humbled!) by the quality of musicianship.
I am nearing completion of our second baby's room (Another girl! In June!), so I have been busy sewing...a crib skirt, diaper caddy, changing pad cover, baby quilt. And I found these cool fabric-covered letters at Anthropologie that I managed to duplicate using some wooden letters from the craft store, fabric scraps, batting, and my hot glue gun. Hand-me-down clothes have been washed and put away, diapers and wipes have been purchased, and now we just need the baby! :) Well, I want to purchase some blackout curtains and a somewhat compact rocking chair, too, but the crafting is pretty much done!
I've been reading a TON lately, random selections of fiction and non-. Some of the books I have loved recently: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (forgot the author's name - sorry!), March by Geraldine Brooks (likewise, Year of Wonders and People of the Book by Brooks), The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, An American Childhood by Northwest author Annie Dillard (one of my favorites of all time), James Dobson's new book Bringing Up Girls, Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood by Jim Fay and Charles Fay, and Stay Home, Stay Happy by former Real-world "actor" (not that I've ever watched the show...well, maybe a few times!) Rachel Campos-Duffy.
And...drum roll please...I've managed to carve out some actual practice time lately, since my daughter recently turned two and has developed the ability to...(shockers!)...play independently for as long as 15 minutes at a time!!! What a blessing this has been lately. I am enjoying reading through some new-to-me classical music and am putting together a potential playlist for my next CD project. Woohoo!
Altogether an enjoyable and productive time (shall we call it "nesting"?) before baby number two shows up to upset the routine a bit! But oh, how we are looking forward to meeting the next member of the family!
Until next time...
I am nearing completion of our second baby's room (Another girl! In June!), so I have been busy sewing...a crib skirt, diaper caddy, changing pad cover, baby quilt. And I found these cool fabric-covered letters at Anthropologie that I managed to duplicate using some wooden letters from the craft store, fabric scraps, batting, and my hot glue gun. Hand-me-down clothes have been washed and put away, diapers and wipes have been purchased, and now we just need the baby! :) Well, I want to purchase some blackout curtains and a somewhat compact rocking chair, too, but the crafting is pretty much done!
I've been reading a TON lately, random selections of fiction and non-. Some of the books I have loved recently: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (forgot the author's name - sorry!), March by Geraldine Brooks (likewise, Year of Wonders and People of the Book by Brooks), The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, An American Childhood by Northwest author Annie Dillard (one of my favorites of all time), James Dobson's new book Bringing Up Girls, Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood by Jim Fay and Charles Fay, and Stay Home, Stay Happy by former Real-world "actor" (not that I've ever watched the show...well, maybe a few times!) Rachel Campos-Duffy.
And...drum roll please...I've managed to carve out some actual practice time lately, since my daughter recently turned two and has developed the ability to...(shockers!)...play independently for as long as 15 minutes at a time!!! What a blessing this has been lately. I am enjoying reading through some new-to-me classical music and am putting together a potential playlist for my next CD project. Woohoo!
Altogether an enjoyable and productive time (shall we call it "nesting"?) before baby number two shows up to upset the routine a bit! But oh, how we are looking forward to meeting the next member of the family!
Until next time...