First day of July, First post.

If any day would have finally inspired me to start a blog, it would be today.  It was a good one.

Here are some random things that made my day great:

(1) A group of us went to Schlitterbahn today.  Super fun.  I cannot believe where I am after my Masters' Degree.  It was almost two years ago when we were all just getting to know one another tubing on the Guadalupe.  It is reassuring to hear about where we are all going in our lives at this point.  Congratulations everyone!   It was a ton of fun to hang out with everyone all day.

(2) I learned some exciting news after Schiltterbahn: My ASTA conference proposal was accepted!  This means, Jessica and I will be presenting a session entitled, "Developing Musicality and Musicianship in Your Students: Using your core performing repertoire to enhance your students' understanding of music theory and history."  Santa Clara 2010!!!

(3) I realized today that my cooking style is modeled after Top Chef episodes, where the contestants run around shopping, cooking, and serving with time limits and deadlines.  Their footage is edited to show the chefs moving to exciting music with placements of GE equipment and short glimpses of the red digital clock.  

My patterns are the same.  Usually within an hour or two of guests arriving, I am still shopping for ingredients at the supermarket, running around back and forth to make sure I have what I need.  By the time I get home, the oven needs to be prepped right when I walk in, otherwise, nothing will ever be done on time.  At this point, I try to do at least three things at once.  Prepping, cooking, seasoning, stirring, etc. all simultaneously.  About now in the chaos, a friend will arrive 'on time' (or early) and I will enlist his/her help as my sous-chef.  Tonight it was Connor, who cooked my vegetables as I chopped and diced.  In no other instance in life, do I check the clock with this frequency and still do not know what the time actually means.  For how many minutes has the salmon been in?  It is crazy, but it is always a fun time.  (This excludes the Halloween party in October 2007).

My exciting meal for the evening was: 

(a) Quinoa served with sauteed zucchini, yellow squash, orange bell pepper, and onions with EVOO, parmesan cheese, lemon juice, and garnished with cilantro.

(b) My simple preparation of salmon seasoned with lemon pepper and evoo.

I was proud of myself.  This may not be an accomplishment for most, but I was very pleased.  It helped to received positive feedback from my amigos ;).

(4) Up (in 3-D...) and a $5 strawberry milkshake at the Alamo Drafthouse.  It was just the icing on the cake of a wonderful day.  The end.

P.S. One month until Ciara and Alex's wedding!!!!!!!!