Thursday, June 24, 2010

First Master's Recital


On April 17th, I gave my First Master's Recital. It was such an emotional and physical challenge. Working full-time, and practicing made my life absolutely crazy! With the stress of work and practice, I came down with strep throat two weeks before my recital. It was an absolute nightmare! Luckily I survived and passed my preview, and received an A from all of the members of my committee on the actual performance. It wasn't a flawless performance but overall I was very happy with it. There were hardly any dates available in April, and so I ended up giving a morning recital which was unusual. However, it turned out very well, and we had a breakfast buffet from Great Harvest.

My sister in-law captured this great picture of the keys!

My dad took some great pictures of the actual performance!

This picture makes me laugh...

After the performance. Such a relief!

My teacher and me. She is such an inspiration. I am so grateful for her patience, and for the countless hours we spent together to make this recital possible.

Giving my committee flowers. They were so supportive, and I am grateful to have such a wonderful committee!

My hubbie and I. I could not have done it without him. He was there for me at every nervous breakdown that I had the weeks leading up to the recital. Thanks for all your love and support!

Preston's family and me. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of my parents and me. My dad was busy taking pictures, and my mom was busy helping with the reception.

My darling teacher from high school who taught at the University for 23 years before she retired. She was like a second grandma to me. I love her so much! I played for her and her husband a few days before the recital, but she was not going to be able to make it to the actual performance. She surprised me by coming! I am sad that she left before I could get a better picture with her.

This is us with Preston's grandpa. I had such great support from friends and family.

It was such a special treat to have some of my students come! Thank you to everyone who came to support me!



Thursday, June 17, 2010

Memorial Day

As a tradition my family always visits the graves of my Grandpa and my Nana on Memorial Day. It was a big year for my Grandma. Since her stroke about ten years ago, she has always stayed in the car when we visited the cemetery. This was the first time since her stroke that she had seen my Grandpa's (her husband's) grave.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Park City Weekend

Every year Preston's work has a managers and board of directors work retreat. The first few years of our marriage, it was up at the Homestead, and last year it was held in Deer Valley. Last year was amazing, and I didn't think it could get any better, but I was wrong. This year it was held at the Hotel Park City. Our room/condo in cabin 10, was absolutely amazing!

We had our own personal hot tub on our deck. It was so relaxing, and because the weather was still pretty chilly, it was perfect!


The Steinway in the lobby was incredible! Preston talked me into playing a few numbers, but it turned into a mini recital, for his coworkers. I did pretty good considering I hadn't touched the piano in the month since my recital!

This is a view of the golf course from our room.

It would be fun to stay at Hotel Park City in the winter, because the chair lift is so close!


This is one of the three amazing fireplaces that the condo had.

Preston and I have always wanted a shower head that is on the ceiling of the shower.

Ruth Chris Steakhouse catered our dinner on Saturday night. It was incredible! It is one of our favorite restaurants. The steak is so tender that it literally melts in your mouth! It was also fun to hang out with some of Preston's work colleagues. We went to go see Robin Hood on Saturday night with his friend Trevor and Trevor's wife Nikki.

To finish off a wonderful weekend, we headed to brunch on Sunday at our favorite breakfast cafe, Ruth's Diner. Their biscuits are to die for! I laughed pretty hard though, when Preston ordered the Ruth Chris breakfast special. I don't think the waitress noticed, but it was pretty funny.