It’s going to be a long time before I take a Christmas family portrait that I don’t have any qualms with. I must say, though, that this year’s portrait session went more smoothly than any so far.
If you’d like to know more, read on. Otherwise, accept our best wishes for a happy Yuletide.
(By the way, I’ve posted all six Schnuth family Christmas portraits, 2002 to 2007, in a set on Flickr.)
Continue reading
Yesterday morning, I headed up to Michigan to hang out with Sheryl for the day. We had a great time shopping, eating, hanging out, and talking girl talk.
At my request, our first shopping stop was the Clinique counter at Macy’s. I really don’t know much about choosing cosmetics for myself, and I figured I deserved to treat myself to some nice makeup for once. The nice Clinique lady — Jill from Jersey — matched me up with a foundation color and put it on for me, then selected some powder and blush for a natural look. I already had eye shadow and lipstick at home, but I did let her sucker me into buying some brushes and some foaming face cleanser. I was splurging anyway, so what the hell.
The final total was an embarrassingly, staggeringly high amount for anyone to spend on makeup in one shot. But I now have oil-free foundation, powder, blush, three brushes, face cleanser, and some moisturizer samples.
As a side note, I put on all of my makeup when I got up this morning, just to see how long it would take me. Total time: 25 minutes. This is a major change from the two minutes it usually takes me to line my eyes and run out the door. I’m doubt I’ll be putting on my entire face every day for work; I’m sure I’ll get quicker at it as time goes on, though.
Our next stop was lunch at Baja Fresh. It’s a Mexican fast-food place that apparently has no franchises in the Toledo area. According to their website, there are a bunch in the Detroit and Columbus areas, but none in Toledo. Anyway, I got a steak quesadilla with peppers and onions, and it was quite yummy. Like Sheryl said while we were there: it wasn’t the nicest place we could have gone to eat, but after spending so much money already, cheaper was better.
After lunch, we headed off to Canton to shop at IKEA. We both went in with an agenda: Sheryl needed a file cabinet. I wanted to get kitchen organization stuff (as mentioned earlier), a Billy bookcase to replace the plastic shelving unit in the basement, and a couple of Japanese-inspired lamps for the bedroom. In addition to those things, I ended up getting a Lack endtable to use as my meditation altar.
All in all, I spent only $20 more on my IKEA haul than I did on my Clinique purchases.
Sheryl and I managed to Tetris everything into her SUV, although we were doubtful whether the bookcase would fit in the Kia for my trip home. Surprisingly enough, when we got back to her place and put down the back seats in the Kia, the bookshelf fit perfectly. Granted, we had to put the front seat all the way forward, too, but it worked!
After IKEA, we decided that we’d spent enough money for one day, so we hung out at her place and watched Princess Mononoke and snacked on some Sun Chips. Then we went to dinner at Claddagh; I ordered fish and chips, and she ordered shepherd’s pie, and we split our entrees between the two of us. I should totally do that more often.
After dinner, Sheryl and I swung past Best Buy and met up with Santa so he could give me one of Aaron’s Christmas gifts. Then it was time to go.
Once I got home, around 9pm, Mark and Rocky were here, playing Killer Bunnies with Aaron. They started their game over so I could join in (after Mark helped me bring in my loot from the car). So, the fun social day continued with a game of Killer Bunnies, then a game of Apples to Apples.
It’s not so much the shopping that I like about my Sheryl trips, although that is a big part of it. I really like just hanging out and talking and feeling comfortable and just being with Sheryl. Sometimes I forget how awesome it is to have girlfriends.
The only thing that’s weird is that I sometimes feel self-conscious about my weight when I’m with Sheryl. She’s lost a lot of weight and gotten a lot more fit over the years, and even though I lost fifty pounds myself (though I keep regaining and relosing that last ten), I’m still very aware of the fact that I’m teetering on obese, BMI-wise. I guess it’s just the fact that the Sheryl in my head is the post-Atkins Sheryl, and when I’m reminded that the current Sheryl is actually the post-everything Sheryl, I’m all, ‘Wow. She looks good.’ Which inadvertently reminds me that I don’t? I don’t know exactly what my brain’s doing, but I wish it would stop.
Again, I digress. I had an AWESOME day with my Sheryls, and I look forward to doing it again soon. Yay for girlfriends!
moar funny pictures
This is, perhaps, funny because it’s so true.
Having received severance and retention pay from my former employer, then having landed a job relatively soon after, I recently found myself with several thousand dollars burning a hole in my ING Direct savings account.
So many possibilities flooded my imagination. Another vacation to Japan? Or a trip to Ireland? Or maybe someplace else?
Alas, the grown-up part of me seized hold and reminded me that I have several thousand dollars in credit card debt that should really be paid down.
That’s not saying that this Christmas won’t be more kick-ass than usual, of course. There will also be a dishwasher in our future. And perhaps the professional installation of some ceiling fans, in view of the astronomical cost of installing central air in a house with no ductwork.
Generally, though, responsible finances reign. Oh, well.
A day or two after the Holiday Concert in 1992 (my Junior year of high school), I came into choir to find a VHS tape on my chair. Someone had given me a copy of the jazz band, concert choir, and wind ensemble performances from the concert — all of which I had performed in, and in one of which I’d had a solo. It’s obviously a copy of Mrs. Albrecht’s tape — she was the mom who was at every single performance with her giant late 80’s / early 90’s VHS camcorder. I’m sure someone else must have been taping, too, but they wouldn’t have focused in on the red-headed bass so often. 🙂
This video brought back so many great memories of high school. I’d forgotten I had any, honestly; when I think of high school, I think of my being a misfit of sorts. Watching this reminded me of what a great time I had in choir and band, and the great relationships (if not quite friendships) I had with my classmates. Fun times were had, like taking Geometry with the choir president, who claimed he knew a hit man who would break our teacher’s leg if we could collect a certain amount of money from everyone in the class. But I digress.
As I reviewed this tape, I also remembered every note and almost every word of every song. As I watched Ms. Beall cue the choir’s first note, I found myself singing along, accents and all: “GLO – RY to God in the hi-igh-eeeest—” She was a great director, especially considering that she had to accompany at the same time. (I’m sure she still is a great director, too, although these days she’s directing the junior high kiddies.)
The first thing I noticed while watching my solo (bookmarked in the above embedded video — just hit Play to hear my, um, glorious voice) is that the camera really does add ten pounds. As does that damnable outfit — mainly the cummerbund. When I was sixteen, I weighed about twenty pounds less than I do today, as I recall, although you’d never know it from this video.
The next thing I noticed was how nervous I was. It was funny: I hadn’t watched this video for years before digitizing it yesterday. Still, as I watched my younger self descend the risers and take her place in front of the microphone, my heart started to pound and my breath quickened with the memory of my nerves. It had definitely shown in my voice, too, as my normally smooth vibrato morphed into a nervous tremolo, and any semblance of breath support whooshed away with every quick catch-breath.
After not having seriously sung for so long, I’m taken aback by how mature I tried to sound at age sixteen. I’ve been known to sing to myself every now and then these days, and I don’t even have that dark and mature of a sound now (unless I’m being silly and singing all “looly-loo,” as Aaron puts it). To my ear, so many years later, it sounds a little forced. Overall, though, not bad for a high-schooler.
I won’t subject you to the jazz band or the wind ensemble. The memories are fun, but the music is painful. Especially the one *really* wrong note from the saxophones in the middle of Russian Christmas Music. The entire jazz band performance is pretty painful, too, come to think of it. (Remind me later to tell you about Ryan Galmarini, our drummer, aka Eternal Freshman. Priceless stuff. Jazz band rehearsals were awesome.)
I never found out exactly why I was given a copy of the performance, or by whom, or if anyone else was given a copy, too. I’m grateful either way, though, because this is the only visual record I have of myself performing with any of my high school ensembles.
Hope you enjoy. Happy Christmahanukwanzakah!
PS – For the music geeks in the crowd, here’s links to the specific songs in the concert:
“Be Not Afraid” — Jacobson/Lojeski
Bass feature: Bill Coersmeyer and Matthew Albrecht
Women’s trio: Jenny Waddle, Diana Cook, Cheri Burdell, and Amy Gumm
“Pat A Pam” — Simeone
Flute soloist: Melody Marco
“Christmas Hymn” — Baker/Jungst
Echo chamber group:Jennifer Waddle, May Ying Thao, Cheri Burdell, Brian Murawski
Conducted by Bill Coersmeyer
“I Wonder As I Wander” — Niles
Soloist: Diana Cook
“December Child” — Moline/Hayward
Soprano duet #1: Jennifer Reisner and Elise Bond
Soprano duet #2: May Ying Thao and Amy Thao
“Twelve Days After Christmas” — Silver
